Hello again! I hope you all had a good St. Patrick's holiday, and a wonderful week.
My week was, um, eventful. So last weekend my comp and I both got the stomach flu, so we took it a little easy for a few days. BUT in spite of that setback, we managed to have a lot of great experiences!
You'll be glad to know that the mission office finally swapped us the truck for two little cars, so no more sharing! The downside is we have only 25 clicks a day, so yeah, we will still be doing some walking to conserve :) But it's been such a blessing, and came right in time too, because the weather is back to being crazy and cold. I don't know what it is, but Calgary has the strangest weather, and it varies dramatically from day to day. On Friday and Saturday we got this super dense fog, and even the locals were amazed. I, of course, thought it was super novel, :) and there also comes something called hoar frost (spikey ice coating everything), which is super pretty.
Our zone has been doing finding activities to help out each area, and my comp and I found a golden investigator (so exciting!) Too bad we had to pass it off, but we are excited to hear what happens :)
We also had a training conference, and it was wonderful to reunite with my MTC district. I am so grateful for that friendship we built during our time together. Even better was hearing from President, and getting training on how to be more effective missionaries. Something we discussed was the fact that we as missionaries are not alone! We have the Spirit as the third member of our companionship, to guide and to witness, and we have the ability to go where angels fear to tread.
Sister Milius and I realized that we have loads of room for improvement, and so we have tried extra hard to be exactly obedient, and it's been amazing to see the blessings that have come from it. Heavenly Father blesses us immediately for even the smallest effort, and if we are looking, we will notice it. In our case, within 24 hours we got a referral for a golden family to teach.
My comp has given me some wonderful advice, and this week's was especially good: you know how in movies people say "it cant possibly get worse" and then it begins pouring? It's like you can almost speak something into existence. Well, in her family they instead say, "How can this day possibly get better?" and they see the wonderful results. I invite you to try it sometime, and see what happens. :)
This week we also got to start teaching some ward members how to do family history online. I got to work with this sweet old lady, who I'm convinced knows nothing about computers :) SO, after a long process of setting up accounts, I was able to show her how to look at and build her family tree. It was the sweetest experience to see her cry in joy for finding family members, and by the end, we had a name for her to take to the temple. I would re-extend the invitation to look at familysearch.org and look for a name to take to the temple. In our tree, you may have to go sideways or far back, but they are there, and they are waiting for us to find them!
I would like to conclude with some thoughts from my mission President:
"If we want to become the kind of missionaries that the Lord would have us be, then we must have the courage to hearken to His words, accept His will, exercise our agency, discipline ourselves, and apply the enabling power of the Atonement to change our lives for the better.
We ask our investigators and less actives to do this every day as we teach them about the doctrine of Christ, and many of them bring about marvelous changes in their lives. Do we have the individual and collective courage as a mission to do as we ask others to do?
Each one of us has been given the power to change his or her life. As part of the Lord's great plan of happiness we have the marvelous gift of agency, that we might choose the Savior and follow His will. As a result of His Atonement we have the power to do better and to be better. "
I can testify that these things are true, and I know that they apply to us all no matter the circumstance.
I love you all, and keep you continually in my prayers!
Sister Patterson
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