Week 83 - Last General Conference in the Mission Field

Hi Everyone!! 

Here's a rundown of the past week.

Wednesday we had zone conference, and it was awesome! We talked a lot about how we can use our time in better ways. Elder Bringhurst and I also gave a training on a retention plan that we've made for the companionships in our zone. It went really well. Also, we found out after the conference that our investigator Jeremy (who came to church last week) doesn't want to meet anymore because his grandma doesn't want us to. Ahhhh, so lame!!! But it's okay. He'll be more prepared for when he meets missionaries in the future.

Thursday we volunteered at the local food bank, and Elder Bringhurst had to get a massage for some back pain he's been having. I decided I need to get hurt, so I can get a massage too haha! We also taught Troy about the temple, and he's excited to go. The first time he goes will likely be in the Hong Kong Temple because he's going back to China this summer. He's doing well though.

Friday we taught a lesson to a new investigator we found named Larry. He's a really humble guy. He had a stroke a couple years ago that basically paralyzed the right half of his body. He knows a couple members already, so hopefully he can progress well.

Saturday we watched Conference at the Morrisons with Mare. She really enjoyed it! She got to witness a solemn assembly her first conference! She was a little confused, but we all explained it to her afterwords. It was awesome to be able to stand and sustain a new prophet of God! I know we're in good hands! The talks were wonderful as well.

Sunday we watched General Conference again! Man, it was a good time. President Nelson kept us on our toes. I'm glad I've had a lot of practice ministering the past 19 months, and I'm excited to keep doing it at home! Troy watched the first session, and he liked it a lot. He's on track to get baptized this Saturday. It's weird to think that this is my last General Conference on my mission! Next time I watch it, I'll be home!

Monday, we had a lesson with Troy and talked about the priesthood. He said the priesthood session was his favorite part of Conference. He is excited to hold the priesthood after his baptism.

Love you all. Thanks for your support! The weeks are flying by!! Hope you have a good week!

Elder Haslam 

Cape Split Nova Scotia

Cape Split Nova Scotia

Cape Split Nova Scotia

Week 82 - Another Great Week in Nova Scotia

Hey Everyone!

Another good week here in Nova Scotia!!

Wednesday we had district meeting in Annapolis Royal! We also went on exchanges with the Yarmouth Elders. I got to be with one of my former companions, Elder Jones. It was nice to be with him again. We taught our investigator Troy together. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him, and he did well with all of them. He's progressed so much since we met him. At first he didn't even know who God was, but now he knows that God is there to help guide him through life. He's a great learner!

Thursday we had a big snow storm! We still went knocking all evening and that was fun. People thought we were crazy for being out in a blizzard, but we met a lot of nice people! We also stopped by a less active part member family we're going to try to work with.

Friday we waited in a walk-in clinic for 2 hours to get a prescription for Elder Bringhurst. Then we drove down to Halifax for our exchange with the AP's. We did a lot of contacting downtown and had a ton of fun! I was also able to teach a cool investigator they have named Greg who's thinking about being baptized. 

Saturday we were still on exchange for most of the morning. After some knocking, we went to have lunch at a burger restaurant. I got a huge burger called the Legendary CC Porker. I'll send a picture of it. After lunch we drove back to Wolfville and went finding. We found this awesome guy named Jeremy. I'll talk about him a little later. We also taught Troy again and talked about the covenant of baptism. We moved his baptismal date to April 7th. That'll give us more time to prepare, him, but I'm confident he'll make it!!

Sunday, our new investigator Jeremy came to church!! He's awesome. We met him on the street on Saturday night. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he read some of it that same night. We invited him to church and even arranged a ride for him. It was great to see him there! We taught him the Restoration during the 3rd hour and put him on date for May the 5th. He's awesome!! Troy couldn't come to church sadly because he had a job interview.

Monday we taught Mare about family history and got her started on Family Search. She has two names so far that she can take with her to the temple. She's pumped to go! She just needs her recommend then we're boogying over to the temple in Halifax to do some baptisms!!

Like I said, it was a great week! Hope you had a good week too! Love you all!

Elder Haslam

Just another snowy drive

The Legendary CC Porker Hamburger

Downtown Halifax from the City Library

Acadia University at Sunset

Week 81 - Mare's Baptism - So Happy!

Hi Everyone! 

It's been a pretty incredible week! Here are some of the cool things that happened.

On Thursday, we volunteered at the local food bank and had a lot of fun with the other volunteers there. Then, we drove down to Dartmouth to pick up my new companion, Elder Bringhurst. He's so awesome!! I'm going to have a ton of fun serving with him. Then we went to a dinner appointment that I thought was going to be just with the Drennan family, but the Morrison and Spinney families showed up there too to surprise me. They all celebrated my 20th birthday with me, so that was an awesome experience that I'll always remember. I'm so grateful I was in Kentville for my birthday!!! 

Friday, we made our final preparations for Mare's baptism. We also taught a lesson to our investigator Troy. Last lesson, he put himself on date for baptism March 31st. We thought he could make it, but we hadn't taught him tithing yet. That was the only commandment he hadn't been taught by us at that point. Troy's main problem is that he often looks at what he loses with particular commandments rather than what he could gain. So we were worried that tithing would be hard for him. But we taught him tithing on Friday and he just accepted it so easily!!! So if all goes well, we may see Troy get baptized at the end of this month!!

Saturday was probably the best day I've had on my mission. Mare was baptized!!!! She loved the whole service. She cried a lot haha. She bore her testimony, and I felt the spirit SO strongly. At that moment, I knew more of the truthfulness of the gospel than at any other point of my life. The gospel has changed Mare's life. I've been able to witness it from the moment we knocked on her door all the way to her baptism. The gospel simply can't not be true!!!! If it were fake or something like that, it wouldn't have power to influence Mare's (and all of our lives!!) for so much good. We went to Boston Pizza that night to celebrate and I had some beast pasta. Man, it was a good day!!

Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm Mare. She's so converted. Later, we had dinner with her at the Morrisons and taught her about the sacrament.

Monday, we had a bunch of Skype meetings, and we had to continue putting our area book into our phone. That was a long day haha. We went knocking all evening though, and we found a cool potential from Jamaica. We think he'll be a new investigator.

This was an amazing week. It definitely strengthened me and my conviction for the gospel. I have no doubt in my mind that this is true. It has turned Mare into a completely different person, and it's turned me into a better person as well. We often forget the purpose of the gospel. It's there not just to cleanse us. It's there to help us be transformed into someone like Jesus Christ, day by day, week by week, and month by month. The changes don't happen over night, but as we adhere to the principles of the gospel, changes do come. Those changes help us prepare to meet God and live in His presence again. I testify of this.

Love you all! Hope you have a good week! 

Elder Bringhurst, Elder Haslam, Mare Hatt, Elder Carlson

Week 80 - Still in Kentville - 20th Birthday!

Hey Everyone!

It was another good week here in Nova Scotia!

Wednesday we had district meeting in Annapolis Royal. We talked about the power of faith and the ill effects of doubt. We also got to go to a baptism in Bridgewater with  our investigator Mare. It was about an hour and twenty minute drive, but an awesome member, Sister Walker, drove her down so she could see what a baptism is like. Mare loved it too! We're shooting for her to be baptized on the 17th. She's definitely going to make it. She's really excited!!

Thursday we had Skype calls to help train the district leaders in the zone. I also got permission to have a Skype lesson with Howard and Elder Olsen! That was a good time. It was nice to get the Amherst crew back together. Mare had her baptismal interview in the evening and she passed! If she can stay smoke free from here on, she'll be baptized this Saturday! 

Friday we had probably the most snow this entire winter. We also had an awesome dinner appointment with the Spinney family. Sister Spinney made us Greek food, and it was amazing!

Saturday we got to attend a great baptism in Sackville. The girl who was baptized is a 17 year old who referred herself on Mormon.org.  We also had a lesson with our new, very short investigator Brenda, who's doing really well. She had already read part of the Book of Mormon, and she said she'd be open to baptism. So we'll see how her progression goes!! 

Sunday, was a great day! We had church and Mare came! Then we went knocking for the rest of the day, and shoveled out a driveway for this lady who has a sick child. That was a good experience.

Monday, we prepared Mare's baptismal program, and she asked me to confirm her on Sunday! We also taught our other investigator named Troy, and he put himself on date for March 31st! He's so great. We're hoping and praying he will make it.

Tuesday Mare made us dinner and we taught her about missionary work. She's already thought of friends who she thinks could accept the gospel. We also found out about transfers. Turns out Elder Carlson is leaving Kentville. I'm gonna miss him! We've had a lot of success together. My new companion is Elder Bringhurst, from Alaska! I'm excited to serve with him.

Love you all!! Have a good week! 

Elder Haslam 

Week 79 - Yet Another Great Week!

Hey Everyone!

This was a good week!

Wednesday, we had district meeting in Greenwood, and right after we drove to Halifax for our exchange with Elder Ipson and Elder Cox. That was a blast! We did a bit a finding and taught a couple lessons to some less actives and recent converts.

Thursday, Elder Ipson and I went street contacting in downtown Halifax all morning, and it was so much fun!  We met some awesome people too!! It was a little sad too though because that might be the last time we do missionary work together on our missions 😢😢😢. Guess we'll have to see what happens on that front.  Later, we drove back to Kentville and had a lesson with Mare. She's doing soooooo well! She basically put her self on date for March 10th. That's her goal! She just needs to quit smoking and she'll be golden!! We're just hoping that is enough time for her. We don't want to rush anything. We'll see if she makes it though!! She's making soooooo many changes in her life. It's insane to see how much she's changed in the last 3 weeks. 

Friday we taught a lesson to a recent convert/less active couple named the Keddys who are working to go to the temple for the first time. They're so funny. Brother Keddy will just blurt out in the middle of our lessons and say, "I'm proud to be a Mormon!" and give us a thumbs up. He'll do it no matter what we're talking about. We also had another lesson with Mare that day. 

Saturday was also a pretty good day. We picked up a new investigator! Her name is Brenda. No kidding, she's like 4 feet tall. We taught her about how she can build her faith because she's not been feeling happy lately. It went well! Then later that night we had a ward movie night. We watched the Incredibles and it was LEGIT. We had 50+ people there and there were quite a few non members too! Mare came as well. She actually ditched a party she was invited to to come to the movie night instead. She started to go cold turkey from smoking on Saturday, so hopefully she can do it!

Sunday, Mare came to church again and loved it. She also came to dinner with us at the Morrisons after our meetings. They helped us teach her the law of tithing, which she accepted wholeheartedly. She's actually excited to start paying her tithing!! It was an awesome Sabbath day.

Monday, we spent a lot of time doing call ins and putting our area book into our phones. We were in the apartment for a long time, and  it was gross and boring. But we got to teach Mare and get her set for baptism too.

It was a good week. Hope your week was as good as mine.

Go Jazz! And happy birthday wishes to grandpa, Alexis, and dad!!!!!!! 😁

Love you all. 

Elder Haslam 

Week 78 - Food Poisoning from Micky Ds!

Hey Guys!

Here's a quick rundown of the past week.

Wednesday we had a zone conference. It was very good, and we learned a lot. All the other missionaries in the mission received their smartphones, so the bulk of zone conference was setting those up and talking about how to responsibly use them in the best way to do missionary work. I have to say that as I've been using my phone the past couple weeks, it's increased my testimony that the Lord is definitely hastening His work.

On Thursday we taught a lesson to Mare. She's been going through a lot lately. I won't get into specifics, but she hasn't been able to maintain living the Word of Wisdom. It may take her some time to break some habits, but we're going to be patient with her and stick with it. She is awesome and she's trying her best, so we're confident she'll get to baptism eventually. Definitely remember her in your prayers please.

On a bummer note, our Indian couple dropped us because their family back in India didn't approve of them meeting with us 😐.

Saturday and Friday we had Skype lessons with Mare. Other than that we did a lot of finding, which felt really good. We found a couple of cool potential investigators, so hopefully we'll pick them up this week.

Sunday, Mare came to church and stayed for all three hours for the first time. She loved it too, so that was awesome! I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on parables, which was actually pretty fun  to prepare and deliver. We also had a dinner appointment with the Drennan family, who are one of my favorite families ever. I'm best buds with the youngest Drennan boy, Colby. He's my brotha from anotha motha. Sister Drennan got Grandma Judy's brownie recipe from mom and made them for us. She did a really good job too. Tasted just like home :)

Monday, we did a lot of finding, and unfortunately, I got food poisoned from the local McDonalds, so that was not fun.

Anyway, I just want to testify that I know Christ's church was restored to the earth by the prophet Joseph Smith. I'm so lucky that I get to share this with the good ole people of Nova Scotia. 

Love you all! Hope you had a good week. 

Elder Haslam

Week 77 - Found Bryce & All Is Well!

Hey People!

It's been a good week!

Wednesday, we had district meeting and interviews with President Pratt. Later, we stacked wood for a less active in the ward and taught a lesson to our on-date investigator Amarilis. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and it went well. She's going to start working to quit smoking!

Thursday, we had MLC and we got our smart phones! It's weird to have a smart phone on my mission. It's different but good! We also picked up an Indian couple as new investigators. They just moved here for work a few months ago, but they are now unemployed, so they feel like they need more of God's guidance and help in their lives! We taught them on Friday too!

Saturday, we had a legit ward activity. It was a women's appreciation night that we helped out with, and a band called Hidden Treasures played for us!! Also, we finally got a hold of Bryce!! He left school and went home to Dartmouth for reading week. He had just been stressed with a bunch of stuff going on with school and life in general. He was just struggling a bit. He really is such a good guy.

Sunday, we went to Dartmouth and attended Cole Harbour ward (!!!!!) so we could finally confirm Bryce! It was nice to see all the familiar faces. I had the opportunity to confirm Bryce too, and that was a great experience!!

Yesterday, we taught our on-date investigator Mare. She struggles with the Word of Wisdom, but we showed up, and she told us that she hadn't smoked a cigarette yet that day. She asked us to take her coffee and booze!!! She's the best. She should be baptized on March 3rd!!

So, things are going great here. I hope you all have a great week. Love you all!


-- 
Elder Haslam