Mission Report - Zoom Fireside tonight

Hello everyone!! Elder Tait is home and doing well. Since there are no meetings at the church right now, we will be hearing a little bit about his mission tonight, at a fireside via zoom. The information is below if you'd like to join. Have a wonderful sabbath day. ❤️

Elder Conner Tait, who recently returned from his mission in Montreal, Canada, will be speaking to our ward via web conference tonight!!  Sunday, May 31st at 7:00 PM. 

We are excited to feel the Spirit as he shares some of his experiences in the mission field and his testimony with us. We invite everyone to join us for a wonderful evening focused on the Savior.

This meeting will be held under the direction of Bishop Osborne and should last around 30 minutes. You can join the devotional via Zoom web conference using the following information:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75932908768?pwd=MFlDNkkrOWJleUI1MjA3VFFNbFhidz09

Meeting ID: 759 3290 8768
Password: 8vbJLm

👨‍💼😪🛫🛬🥳👪

Hi everyone! I've been sitting here thinking about what to write, but it's really hard. It's hard to sum up 2 years of a mission in an email. My mission means everything to me. Over these last 21 months I've learned and grown more than ever before. Very early on I was pushed over my limits. My limit of work I could handle, the emotions, the knowledge I needed but didn't have. It was all too much for me. And it was probably one of the first times in my life where I didn't feel like I could do things myself. But, when I was pushed to and past my limits I had no choice but to rely on God. As that has happened, so many things have changed and I have experienced for myself the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His grace. I could go on for awhile, but in short, my mission has changed me forever and I'm so grateful for that! The progression of my ramen mirrors the progression of myself throughout my mission. In my first area I just microwaved the ramen and ate it. In my second area I started adding in some frozen vegetables when I boiled the noodles. When I got to my third area, I started putting an egg in with my ramen. And since I've been here, we've started using the ramen to create a stir fry with fresh vegetables and some meat. I didn't plan it like that, but that's how it happened haha. I'm eternally grateful for the many blessings I have in my life. The people I've met on my mission, all of you back home and so many other things and so many great experiences. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. God is good and life is too! I Love you all! See ya soon! Love Elder Tait

Teaching with technology, Traveling the zone...

Hello everybody! The work is picking up here! We are learning how to better find and teach using technology and it's going well! This week we put out a Bible ad on Facebook and so far we've had 35 people respond! It's been really cool because the people have been from all around the zone so we've been able to send referrals to all the different teams in the zone! We've been able to teach a couple of the people so far so it's been really good! 

On Saturday we took a trip around the zone and dropped supplies off to the different teams, it was really fun to be out for the day. We also stopped in at a little restaurant and got some amazing burritos! The only sad part about Saturday was that it snowed. I guess winter still isn't over here haha. 

On Sunday night we had a fun video chat with our friend Nuru. He doesn't speak much English or French, mostly Swahili so we went back and forth reading Bible verses in Swahili and English. It was a fun time! Those were the main highlights of the week! We have plans this week to fill our biggest plastic container with 2 bags of avocados worth of guacamole and see if we can eat it all within our last week. It should be fun. Have a great week everyone! Love you! 

Last Zone Conference, Treasures from Walmart, Another great week...

Hey everyone! Another great week here! This week we had zone conference over zoom. It was my last zone conference so I gave my closing testimony. It was sad, but it was really cool to think back on my mission and all the things I have learned. My mission has changed my life. 

This week we recieved multiple referrals from people going on the church website and requesting to meet with us. That hasn't happened to me very often so it was really cool that it happened a few times this week! We have been talking a lot with the other missionaries in our zone and seeing how everyone is doing, we've also been doing FHE activities over messenger every Monday night and it's been super fun! Everyone in the zone is doing well and God's work is moving forward. 

I wanted to share a scripture and a quote I really liked this week. The quote is from Terrence M. Vinson. He said "Peace is not the absence of trouble, it is the presence of Christ". The scripture is 

1 Thessalonians 5:16 - go check it out! It's a good one! 

For pday today, Elder Scott and I did all of our shopping and the other things we needed to, then we went back to Walmart for fun. It's the only place that's open right now haha. We explored around for about an hour and ended up leaving with a half pound reeses peanut butter cup and a pack of 40 temporary tattoos. Life is good. Have a great week! Love you! 

Elder Tait 

Detained for a minute or two, Crazy transfers...

Hello everyone! This week we have been super busy with a bunch of different things! We had our zone conference last Wednesday over zoom. It went really well even though we couldn't be together in person. The next day we spent a long time cleaning out the apartment of an area that closed down in our zone. To clean the apartment we had to go from our house in Quebec across the river over to Ontario. We went there and everything was fine, but on the way back we got stopped by the police. They are stopping everyone that tries to enter Quebec and questioning them about what they are doing. They did not like our explanation, but after a few minutes of them talking to us we finally got back into Quebec and got home. We also spent a ton of time this week working on travel plans for transfers. This is going to be the craziest transfer ever in this mission. Almost every companionship in the mission is being changed, so creating the travel plans was a long process but we did it! Sadly my companion Elder Thacker will be getting transferred. General Conference was definitely the highlight of this week! A couple of my favorite quotes were "The Lord loves effort" and "we didn't come this far, just to come this far."
The restoration restored the truth that God still works in this world. Miracles are still happening wherever there is faith! Have a great week!

Love you!

Elder Tait

We are limited, but God is not...

Hey everyone! Things are going well for us up here! This week Elder Thacker and I got a new companion named Elder Sorenson. He was training an elder from Germany who had to go back home, so we'll be in a trio until transfers next week. The work is still progressing forward! We had a really good week as a zone and it's awesome to see the miracles that are continuing to happen. Right now we are a little limited, but God is not. We're putting in the effort we can and he is making up the difference. I'm working on Swahili in language study and it's coming along, it's such a cool language! I've been studying a lot about virtue this transfer. Before, I never realized what exactly it means and why it's so important. Virtue is a prerequisite to having the spirit with us, so if we want to be in tune with the Holy Ghost we need to actively be thinking virtuous thoughts. Sometimes it's hard because letting your mind wander is easy and natural and so a lot of times that's what we want to do. As I've been studying I realized that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about changing our desires, not changing our will power. Our desires have a big impact on our actions, so we need to make what we want the same as what God wants. It's a hard process but we can do it! There's a scripture in the Bible I really like. It says "anything is possible to those that believe". (Mark 9:23)
I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and it has been restored in its fulness. Have a great week everyone! Love you!

Elder Tait

We are limited, but God is not...

Hey everyone! Things are going well for us up here! This week Elder Thacker and I got a new companion named Elder Sorenson. He was training an elder from Germany who had to go back home, so we'll be in a trio until transfers next week. The work is still progressing forward! We had a really good week as a zone and it's awesome to see the miracles that are continuing to happen. Right now we are a little limited, but God is not. We're putting in the effort we can and he is making up the difference. I'm working on Swahili in language study and it's coming along, it's such a cool language! I've been studying a lot about virtue this transfer. Before, I never realized what exactly it means and why it's so important. Virtue is a prerequisite to having the spirit with us, so if we want to be in tune with the Holy Ghost we need to actively be thinking virtuous thoughts. Sometimes it's hard because letting your mind wander is easy and natural and so a lot of times that's what we want to do. As I've been studying I realized that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about changing our desires, not changing our will power. Our desires have a big impact on our actions, so we need to make what we want the same as what God wants. It's a hard process but we can do it! There's a scripture in the Bible I really like. It says "anything is possible to those that believe". (Mark 9:23)
I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and it has been restored in its fulness. Have a great week everyone! Love you!

Elder Tait