Week 60 - Road Trippin'

Hi Everyone.

This week was pretty great! We had interviews with President Pratt on Wednesday after district meeting and that was great as always. After that, we went and played ball with our investigator Jerome!

Jerome is awesome! Although both of his parents are less active, they told us that they think Jerome should look into being baptized. So we've started teaching him, and he's on date for Nov. 18!! He says that he wants to get baptized too, so we're excited to keep teaching him. He's such a cool kid. 

This Saturday we're going to the temple on the other side of Nova Scotia with our recent converts to do baptisms for the dead! It's about a 2-hour drive, but we got permission to go, so I'm really looking forward to road-trippin' on Saturday!

That's about it for this week! Have a good one!!

-- 
Elder Haslam

Week 59 - Another Week in Amherst, NS

Hey Y'all!

This week was great! Tuesday we had zone conference! The area medical people, Elder and Sister Keyes, were visiting our mission, so they were there at the conference. Sister Keyes approached me and told me "Hi from Elder Roberts." I was confused at first, but apparently they're in the same district in Boston as Chase, so that was cool. She took a video of Elder Ipson and me saying hi so she could show it to Chase, so that was fun!

Friday we had a branch movie night! We got permission from our mission president to watch "Remember the Titans", so that was legit! The sisters and us both had investigators there, so it was a double success!

We also did a bunch of knocking and street contacting this past week. At one point, we were walking downtown, and we saw one of our investigators named Sam. Before we could get over to him to say hi, this sketchy van pulled up and he got in. After he got in the van, this RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) guy busted out of a store nearby and started talking into his radio as he was staring at the van driving away. It was pretty nuts. So, sadly, we think Sam might be rolling with the wrong crowd. We haven't been able to get a hold of him since then, so that's a bummer.

On a happier note, on Monday, we picked up a new investigator named Jerome. He's 16 and his parents are members, but he's not. We played basketball with him and then taught him about baptism and why it's so important. He says he wants to come to church and stuff, so we're pumped to work with him. He's bringing his buddies with him the next time we play ball too, so that should be fun.

Well, that's about it for this week. Love you guys!

-- Elder Haslam

Week 58 - Canadian Thanksgiving

Hey Everyone!

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, so happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you all! Because it's a national holiday, we have an all-day p-day today.  We drove from Amherst to Moncton in New Brunswick where a local member is going to feed us Thanksgiving dinner. We also went to a place called Hopewell Rocks this morning. I think it's one of the 7 natural wonders of the world because it has some of the highest tides in the world. Where we were standing this morning will be ten feet under water later today, so basically we were standing on the ocean floor.  It was pretty cool!

This week was great! We met this family, and we may start teaching their 10 yr old son!! I'm hoping that works out. 

Well, I don't have much time today. Here in Moncton we only have access to 3 computers and there are like a dozen missionaries who need to email. Since it's Thanksgiving here, I want to say how thankful I am for my mission and my family. 

Love you all!

Amen.

Week 57 - Having a Blast in Amherst

Hello from Amherst!

This has been a fun week! I love it here. It's a really small town, but I prefer that over a big city. We've been riding our bikes around town and talking to a lot of people. My new companion's name is Elder Olsen, and he's a stud! We're going to have a blast this transfer.

Conference was awesome! We watched most of it in the home of a recent convert here in Amherst named Howard. He was just baptized a month ago, so this was his first Conference experience, and it was an awesome one! He ordered pizza and bought ice cream for us to eat while we watched. It was a party!

There were SOOO many good talks from conference. My favorite was D. Todd Christofferson's talk. However, my favorite quote was from Elder Stanley Ellis. He was saying how "hard" is a constant in life, but the way we choose to react to the hard is a variable. We all choose how we react to our trials. God won't take our hard away, but he shows us how we can be happy though the hard. That's the whole purpose of the Gospel, and I love sharing it with people each and every day!

Hope everyone is doing well! Love you all! Have a good week!

--  Elder Haslam

Week 56 - Off to Amherst, Nova Scotia

Hi Everyone!

Not much time today. After 6 months in Cole Harbour, I'm being transferred to Amherst, Nova Scotia, which is close to the border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I'm really pumped!!! I meet my new companion tomorrow.

Not much to report on this week. We did a lot of knocking and finding. We taught James once. He's a really cool guy. I hope he keeps on progressing with the new elders here. I counted last night and I've knocked 107 different streets in my time in Cole Harbour. 

It'll be sad to say goodbye to some of the Cole Harbour members.  I took a lot of pictures,  but I left my camera at the apartment, so I'll send them next week. I do have a picture of the temple though, so here ya go!

Love you all! Take care!

Elder Haslam

Elder Haslam and Elder Swainson

Canada Halifax LDS Temple

Week 55 - Transfers Coming Soon

Hey Everyone!

 

So our investigator, Winston, dropped us this past week. It was a huge bummer because he had been keeping all of his commitments and was feeling his faith increase. He basically told us that he doesn't want to pay tithing or keep the Sabbath day holy. So that's been tough to deal with, but I'm confident he'll accept the Gospel sometime in the future. 

 

We did, however, find a new investigator! His name is James, and he's been blind his entire life. We found him while knocking doors, and he said we could come back the next day. When we stopped by, he let us in, and we taught him. It was very apparent the whole time we taught him that he was blind (he was carrying around one of those sticks that blind people use), but, my companion didn't quite catch that memo haha. Towards the end of the lesson, Elder Swainson gave him a pamphlet and told him to read it if he had any questions!! It was so sad. I was trying to mouth the word, "NOOOOO" to him, but my comp didn't see me. Anyways, James went on to tell him that he couldn't read it, but he did it very politely. So we're teaching him again this Thursday. Hopefully, that goes well. 

 

Other than that not much else happened. The next time I email, I'll know if I'm staying here or not. If I do stay, that'll be 5 transfers (7.5 months) in Cole Harbour.

 

Love you all. Have a good week.

 

-- Elder Haslam

Week 54 - Goodbye Elder Larson

Hey Everyone!

Sorry, this one's going to be short.

We taught our investigator Winston twice this week! He's almost to the book of Jacob in the BoM!! He's definitely progressing, and he said that he feels his faith increasing! We've just got to help him come to church because he's a little afraid. Still, I'm so grateful for the converting power of the Book of Mormon. Anyone who reads it with sincerity and without bias, will ALWAYS feel the spirit. I think it's a really cool book. 

I had to say goodbye to one of my trainers, Elder Larson, this week. It'll be SOO weird not having him around anymore. I'm going to miss him a ton.

Anyways, hope all is well back home. I miss you guys. Bye!!!

Elder Haslam

Pic #1 Me and my mission dad, Elder Larson

Pic #2 My planner cover for this transfer, Grandpa Don by his new truck