Grandma’s cookies, The never ending song and Some great experiences...

It's been a great week and it went by super quick. We had an exchange this week which was super fun. It's always a party to have 2 extra elders in the apartment! Our mission is doing a social media fast for a little bit so we did some extra knocking this week.

Tuesday- it was a nice relaxing 

pday. We got some extra sleep, went to the store and got some groceries and just hung around most of the day and didn't do anything super exciting. That night we had dinner at the Shenfield's with the whole district and then we all went out knocking. It was a successful night. We found a few people that might be interested! The Grand Falls elders stayed with us that night so that was fun. 

Wednesday- on Wednesday we got up and had district council at the church and then we all had lunch together. When we got back to our apartment we started our exchange with the Grand Falls elders. Elder Benson and I went knocking for awhile and it finally stopped raining! Instead it got cold enough that it snowed haha. While we were knocking we got to a house that said "grandma and grandpa's house, warm hugs and cookies and milk." Grandma answered the door and she wasn't interested so I said we were actually there cause we saw the sign and wanted hugs and free cookies. She didn't think it was very funny so we left without any cookies. Maybe next time haha. We met back up with Elder Call and Elder Jones and had dinner at the apartment. After dinner Elder Jones and I went to branch council. There was lots of good ideas for the branch. 

Thursday- Today we continued the exchange. Elder Benson and I went knocking and then we're going to teach a lesson. The guy we were teaching wasn't home so we left a note and then left and knocked some more. After that we went back to the apartment and had lunch. We decided to try the jar of pork from President Sansome. It made an interesting lunch. We had it with rice and tried to put a bunch of sauce on it but there was still a different taste and smell that we couldn't get rid of. We all survived and nobody got sick, then we talked about the exchange and the Grand Falls elders left. Elder Call and I did comp study and then went and helped at the senior center. This time we did bowling. They have a modified version and they are all really good at it. Later we visited a member. We felt like we should talk about the plan of salvation with her. We went with it and it was exactly what she needed that day! It was super cool that we were prompted to talk about that because usually we talk more about how the members can help with missionary work. That night we went knocking in Pasadena. It was dark and foggy. I felt like we were in a horror movie.

Friday- Friday was a good day. We got up and then had some solid weekly planning. We went over to the Shenfield's for lunch and a meeting. After that we were supposed to meet with our friend Hayley, but she canceled so we prepared for young men's. When we got back to our apartment one of the people that was interested from Tuesday texted us. We went over and taught her the restoration and it went really well! After the lesson we knocked on some doors in the snow. Later that night we had young men's because we couldn't do it on Tuesday night. We played some minute to win it games and then their mom brought us pizza. It was a great night! 

Saturday- on Saturday we drove down to Stephenville. When we got there we ate lunch and had comp study. We were supposed to have a lesson with a less active member, but he didn't answer our calls, so we walked around and knocked. One lady let us in! She was really nice but she was absolutely crazy! We're going to give her some time before we go back haha. Walking back to our car some random guy stopped, rolled down his window and yelled "Hey Mormons!" We said hi and then he drove away. It was funny just because it was so random. For dinner we ate some pb sandwiches in the car in the parking lot of the beach. The sun was setting and a group of high school aged kids came by. I thought about the situation and was like "it's not what it looks like!" After dinner we drove back to Corner Brook and then helped some people move. 

Sunday- it was a busy day which was great! In the morning we went to church. It was freezing raining which is kind of like hail but worse. It piled up all over the roads. I tried to make the very first turn and the car didn't turn. We slipped off the road a little bit and found a ditch, then I found the AWD button and we made it to church safely. We had church and President Gallant from the mission presidency came and spoke. Our friend Brianna also came! After church we had lunch with the Butts and then went to the senior center and did a church service. We sang some hymns and Elder Call and I spoke. I was leading the music and we sang How Firm a Foundation. All 7 verses. The seniors sing about half speed so my arm was tired by the end. After that we went to the church and had comp study and then Skyped with the Whites. After that we had dinner with the Sheppards. That night we went knocking in Pasadena which is about 20 minutes away. It was pouring rain that night and the roads are so bad at getting water off. It's literally like there are waves on the road when it rains hard and is windy. 

Monday- we did call ins in the morning and then went knocking until lunch. After lunch we did comp study and put some things in our area book. Later we were going to meet with our friend Brianna and then she canceled and then like 5 minutes later she asked us to come over. We went over and had a short lesson about the plan of salvation. Then we had dinner at the church with a member named Gillian and then did some family history with her. After that we had FHE. Both Brianna and Hayley came and we carved pumpkins. It was a great activity! 

It was a really good week! We are starting to have more success here! We're gonna keep working hard and hopefully we continue being blessed. Hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Tait

Lots of rain and thankful for the sun

Hi everyone! It was a good week this week, but it was a little bit boring. We did a lot of knocking but not very many people answered. 

I've seen more rain this week than I ever have in my life! 

Tuesday- we napped in the morning and then went and did some grocery shopping. After that we drove to Cox's Cove for the funeral of a less active member's brother. The funeral was a little different than I was expecting! There was a folk band that played all the hymns. After the funeral we got to meet Dennis the less active guy which was great! He really appreciated us coming! After that we drove back to Corner Brook and emailed. We made spaghetti for dinner. I was in charge of the sauce and did my job by buying a bottle of tomato sauce. Elder Call made the noodles. I guess he didn't put enough water in, so some of the noodles ended up burning. I'm not really sure how. Eventually we got some good noodles and had dinner. 

For young men's we played kahoot. I got smoked when we did Harry Potter book trivia but got my revenge on NBA trivia! 

Wednesday- another district meeting in Grand Falls, so we spent lots of time driving. We had a good meeting. My district is Elder Call (District Leader), the Sister Training Leaders and the Zone Leaders, so I learn lots in district meetings! When we got back from Grand Falls we ate dinner and then went and met with our friend Hayley. It's hard to have lessons with her because her daughter takes a lot of attention but it was still a good meeting. She is going to do the challenge from the women's session of general conference and read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year! 

Thursday- in the morning we did a little bit of planning for young men's and then went knocking for awhile. I talked to one guy who is a big Raptors fan. There aren't many basketball fans up here so it's really fun to talk to them when I get the chance. We kept knocking and got to one house where a kid answered the door. We asked if the parents were there and he said he would go get his dad. The dad came down the hall and as he was walking said "how's it going?" I was thinking "This is the young family the branch needs! This is going to be great!" Before we could even answer he got to the door yelled "not interested!" And slammed the door. it was sad, but the first time I legit had the door slammed in my face so that was cool I guess haha! Elder Call was struggling with a little bit of sickness so we had to stay around a bathroom the rest of the day. We had a really good dinner with the Sheppards and later that night had a lesson with one of the members.

Friday - we did weekly planning and then went to the Shenfield's house and had lunch and then a long meeting. That night we set up so the women in the branch could watch the women's session from general conference and then we went knocking with no success. After dinner we saw the sun for the first time in like 9 or 10 days! it's been raining nonstop, so it was awesome to see the sun peek out! 

Saturday - we did lots of knocking. We talked to a couple people and one guy said we could come back. Later that day we were supposed to have a lesson over zoom with a less active guy named Matthew. He never got on tho so it didn't end up happening. In the evening we went over and visited with President Sansome. He is the best! He gave me a Corner Brook pin and a jar of pork! Last time I went with Elder Hatch he gave me a bottle of beef.

Sunday- not really anything exciting happened today. We went to church and taught gospel doctrine class about Isaiah chapters 50-53. I probably knew the least about it in the class and was one of the teachers so it was probably not the best. After church we had lunch with the Butts. We had "tacos" they didn't have salsa and there was no taco seasoning on the meat. Instead they use ketchup, the tacos are pretty much a loose meat hamburger on a tortilla. They were different but still good! Later we Skyped with the members in Labrador City.

Monday- we went knocking and it finally stopped raining! But the only reason it stopped raining was because it was so cold. There were still flurries coming down and cold wind. We went back over to the guys house that said we could come back. He talked to us for a pretty long time and told us his whole life story. He's a nice guy but he might just be wanting people to talk to because he lives alone. Him and lots of other people here do the Nova Scotia suck - when they say "yeah" instead of actually saying it they suck air in. In the evening we had a lesson with a member at the church and then had FHE at the church. Nobody came except for us 3 but we still had fun playing headbanz! 

This week wasn't the most exciting week but there were still some good times! One thing I've learned is to be thankful anytime the sun is shining, don't take that for granted! Have a great week! Love you all! 

Elder Tait 

New Companion, New Car, Meeting a Big Dog & Apartment Key Adventures

This was a super good week! I spent a couple days in Grand Falls with Elder Jones waiting for our new companions. I'm the designated driver this transfer so I'm the only one that can drive our car. I've already done lots of driving and have gained a testimony of Cruise control. I hadn't used it until now but it is life changing! I also have been trying to learn how to make balloon animals. I'm slowly getting better, I'm hoping to be able to make a pirate sword this week. 

Tuesday- we napped in the morning and then went over to the church and waited for our new car. When we got there we saw a bunch of yellow stains on the sidewalk. All of the eggs from our FHE activity were splattered across the sidewalk. We got some soap and water and scrubbed and scrubbed and finally got the cement clean. After that our car still hadn't been delivered so we were going to go to Gros Morne a national park here. Right as we were leaving we got a text and found out Elder Hatch was being transferred, so we ended up not going to Gros Morne. Later we got our new car and then went and got haircuts. The rest of the day was mostly just packing and emailing. That night we played clue for young mens and Elder Hatch said goodbye to Logen and Ethan. 

Wednesday- Elder Hatch and I got up and packed a couple last things, we went and he said bye to the Shenfields and then we drove to Grand Falls. When we got there he went with Elder Pitcher and they went to the airport and I stayed with elder Jones. Elder Jones and I got right to work, we did comp study and then visited a bunch of people and set up some lessons. We also visited a senior home. We talked to one lady for about 15 minutes, she kept telling us the same story so we just had the same conversation over and over. We finished the night knocking in a trailer park.

Thursday- in the morning we went to a town called Badger. Right when we got there we met a guy and helped him stack some wood. Then we knocked and visited some potentials. One house had a dog chained to the porch. It was a good sized dog and really loud and energetic. It was a person that was potentially interested so we had to try and talk to them. Elder Jones got it to come down and distracted it while I snuck behind the dog and knocked on the door. I knocked and waited and there was no answer, then I knocked again and still no answer. By that time the dog wasn't very interested in Elder Jones anymore and turned around and saw me and the chain was pretty long so it was around 10 feet away from me. It started running back to the porch at me so I jumped off the porch and ran the other way! I had to go around the whole yard but I made it out safely! Later that day we were going to teach a lesson but the lady we were going to teach was sick so we knocked around the neighborhood. That night we did some digital finding and to end the night we had a little nerf war.

Friday- We got up and ate breakfast and then our companions came! They came inside for a couple minutes and then Elder Call and I left. He's from Idaho Falls, Idaho and has been out for 17 months. We made the drive back to corner brook and went straight to the Shenfields house and ate and had a meeting with them. After the meeting we went to the church and Elder Call worked on the training plan because he's the district leader. It's his first time so it took a little bit. We went home and it was really cold outside. The apartment was locked and I had never asked which key we used to get in. We have 6 keys on the keychain so it had to be one of them. We stood in the cold for a solid 30 minutes trying every key at least 5 times and none of them worked. The lock on the door is broken so you have to try really hard to unlock it anyway and we also didn't know the key that should've worked. After 30 minutes we went to the car and prayed that we would know which key to try and that it would work to unlock the door. We got out and the first key I tried went right in and unlocked the door! It might seem like a stupid thing but it was a legit miracle! I had tried that key so many times and it would not even go in the lock. Prayers do get answers, and miracles happen if you have faith! Right after we got in I made sure to mark the apartment key lol. 

Saturday- Today we went to Stephenville. We went to the Rocky Beach and did comp study and then went over to a less active guy's house. He lives on welfare but he made us a turkey dinner and even sent us home with some leftovers! Really nice of him! We also taught him and a couple of his friends. Later we knocked on a few doors and then went back to Corner Brook. It was brother Sheppards 70th birthday party at the church so we went there for dinner. We ate and then they had a band come. They played some Newfie music and a bunch of people got up and did a jig. We left there and went to this art festival downtown to talk to people. 

Sunday- Sunday we had church and then went to the Butt's house and had lunch. After that we went to the senior center and sang hymns with them and I gave a talk. They were very disappointed we didn't have music for amazing grace. We'll have to get that for next time. After that we Skyped with the members in Labrador, the Whites. They are really cool! After dinner we did digital finding. 

Monday- in the morning we did call-ins. It was weird cause Elder Call was the guy doing call ins. After that we did weekly planning cause we didn't get to on Friday. After lunch we had a district comp study. Then we went knocking for awhile. That night we had FHE with Gillian and Robin a couple of members. We played telestrations it was really fun and there were lots of funny moments due to our bad drawing! 

It was a really good week! It feels good to have 1 transfer done! I'm excited for this new transfer! Hope you all have a great week! Love you all! 

Elder Tait

Transfer Week, Ugly Sticks, A Great Sandwich Recipe...

Hi everybody! I made it through my first transfer! Elder Hatch has been here 6 months and now is being transferred. I'm staying and getting a new trainer. 

General Conference was great! Here in Corner Brook we have 2 1/2 hour church so that won't be too big of a change here. It was a good week! 

Tuesday- P-Day! We got up for a little bit and then had a nap. After the nap we went over and helped Hayley move some of her storage around. On our way home we stopped at the Newfoundland Emporium. They have all kinds of things from Newfoundland there. They had some luxury ugly sticks that were pretty expensive. I got a free Newfoundland rock from there haha! After that we had lunch and then went to Cox's Cove which is across the bay from us. While we were there we hiked on the beach to a small fishing community. There are no roads that go there. On our way back we stopped at a waterfall and walked around there for awhile. 

That night for young men's we had a nerf war! Our car was pretty dirty on the outside so we gave it a hobo car wash. We got gas and used those windshield squeegee things to clean the whole car. It was a good night! 

Wednesday- we had district meeting in Grand Falls so most of the day was spent driving or in the meeting. The meeting was good and it was our last one as a district! For dinner we had a Tongan sandwich. It's probably not healthy but it's good! To make it you need ramen noodles, an egg, bread and ranch. First you boil some water and then put the noodles in for exactly 13 seconds and then you take the noodles and put them in a frying pan. You mix the ramen noodle flavoring with an egg and pour it on the noodles in the pan but try to keep the mixture in the noodles. Flip the noodles until both sides are golden and then put the noodles in between 2 pieces of bread with ranch on them. It's a good meal on a budget! That night we met with a less active guy in Stephenville over Skype and read the Book of Mormon with him. 

Thursday was great! We studied at Bowater park which looks awesome with all the leaves changing! After lunch we went to a senior center and were in charge of bean bag toss. It was so fun! Those seniors are ruthless with the smack talk haha! There was a funny couple named Walt and Nelly anytime Nelly would miss one of her throws Walt would start clapping and had a huge smile, when she made it he stomped his foot and angrily swung his arm. But anytime she would look over he would pretend to be cheering for her it was pretty funny. At the end Elder Hatch and I took a few throws. Walt told me to stick to scorekeeping haha! We had dinner with the Shenfields and our friend Hayley and then taught her about General Conference. 

Friday- we did weekly planning and then went and tried to talk to people on a trail in the park. Nobody was interested. Later we went over to the church and set up everything to watch general conference. After we set up we had the new missionary zoom call. Then we went and got some little Caesar's pizza and took it to Hayley and then taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Saturday- in the morning we did comp study and waited for conference. After lunch we went over to the church and got ready. Only 4 other people came to watch on Saturday beside us and the Shenfields. Conference was so good! It was probably the first time I've ever focused during every talk. Conference seems really short as a missionary! In between sessions we went to the trail and talked to people. The second session of conference was good too! It was really weird that general conference starts and ends so late here. 

Sunday was pretty much the same as Saturday. We taught the Whites (the 2 members in Labrador) over Skype. In between sessions we had a potluck. It was a good day! 

Monday- Canadian Thanksgiving! I didn't realize it was Thanksgiving until about halfway through the day but it was good. For lunch we went to KFC. As we were leaving I filled up my drink and Elder Hatch freaked out and we hurried and left. Apparently they don't have free refills here oops! We had dinner with the Shenfields and Gillian one of the members. Then we had family home evening. For our activity we did an egg drop challenge it was really fun! 

It was a good week! Pretty crazy my first transfer and my time with Elder Hatch are over! Hope you all have a great week! 

Sent from my iPhone

DIY pizza smoothie part 2

The finished product...

DIY pizza smoothie

Just in case you do want to try this at home 😂

Highlights of the week...

Ups and downs, A pizza shake, Do you have any flour? The Church is true!!

Hey everyone! This week seemed pretty long actually. There was definitely some hard times, but there were also good times! I'm thankful for the hard times because in those times when I read the Book of Mormon I feel happiness! That wouldn't happen if it wasn't true. I'm learning and growing tons!

Tuesday- Tuesday was a really good day! We went with the senior couple, the Shenfields and went to a waterfall. After that we drove to the end of the road to a place called Bottle Cove. We were there for a few hours hiking around, taking pictures and just enjoying the views. When we got back to Corner Brook we went back to the thrift store and found some Christmas ties. 

Around 5:00 that night the elders from Grand Falls came to our apartment. We were having district council in Corner Brook Wednesday morning so they came to spend the night. They ate dinner with us and we all had pizza. We still had lots from Newfoundland conference because we had 10 pizzas for a branch of 30 people. After we ate they went finding and we went to young men's. Our activity was a $7 meal contest. We spilt in 2 teams Elder Hatch and Logan vs Ethan and I. Each team got $7 to make the best meal. We went to the store and went and looked for food. Ethan and I walked by this lady and she said "do you have any more flour?" I was confused and thinking, "No I don't have any flour" that's when I realized I was walking around the store with nice clothes and a nametag so she probably thought I worked there, so I said "sorry I don't work here, I'm actually a missionary." After that she just walked away. It was a pretty funny situation! Eventually we met up with the other two. When we planned it we didn't realized how hard it would be with the prices here. They ended up buying a microwavable meal and we got jumbo pretzels and 7up. We just went back to the church and ate. When we got back with the other elders we ate some ice cream (thank you to my family for buying it!) and watched the old video Johnny Lingo. It was a good night. 

Wednesday- Today we had district council at the church in Corner Brook. I gave a training about initial contacting. It seemed to go pretty well and the whole meeting was good. After the meeting the Grand Falls elders came back to our apartment for lunch. We had pizza again. After 5 days of eating the same pizza I was tired of it and wanted a change, so I decided to try making a smoothie. I put a piece of pizza and a few breadsticks in the blender and poured in a can of root beer. I blended it up and took a drink... It was absolutely horrible! That drink is the early leader for worst thing I ate on my mission. Pepperoni, cheese and pizza sauce do not mix well with root beer, and the soggy bread chunks didn't help at all. I'm not sure why it ever seemed like a good idea but I was horrible. Don't try that at home! The rest of the day we studied and tried to visit some less active people around our area. 

Thursday- we started the day with comp study at the beach. The beaches here are all rocks and no sand but it was still fun to study there. Later we went and had lunch with a member and taught a lesson. It was a much better lunch than we usually make. That day a cruise ship from England came to Corner Brook. People were saying that it used to be the biggest cruise ship in the world. We had dinner with the senior couple. We usually do that once a week and it's the best! After dinner we knocked on some doors and that was it for the night. 

Friday- we did our weekly planning and set some goals for the week. We then had lunch and studied and did some digital finding until the new missionary zoom call. It was great again and we learned about working with members. That night we tried to visit a potential person we could teach in Deer Lake about an hour and 15 minutes away. It was pouring rain so it took longer to get there and then we couldn't find his house. We ended up leaving before we found him because we had to get home for the night. 

Saturday- Today we went with the Shenfields to Stephenville which is an hour south of us. We visited some people to see if they were interested in coming to church. We met with one guy and set up his computer so he can Skype into sacrament meeting. We talked for awhile and I got to dedicate his house. It was super cool and felt good. After the prayer he said it was the first time he felt good living there. Later we visited a member and taught her. Her husband is a fisherman and told us a story about him catching a whale. On the way home a moose crossed right in front of us. Luckily we had good lights so we saw it and stopped. Another good day! 

Sunday- we had church and it was just a normal day. Later we taught a lesson over Skype to a couple That lives in Labrador! They are the only members there so they want to meet once a week. It was really cool to teach them. The Sheppards had us for dinner again. Dessert is always part of the meal here! I ate and got stuffed and then sister Sheppard brought out dessert- a slice of lemon pie, a slice of Apple pie, chocolate rice krispies and cheesecake with fresh picked blueberries and a scoop of ice cream. It was like a whole other meal! 

Monday- in the morning we talked with the district leader for awhile. We told him things are going well here. After that we wrote down our monthly kilometers for our car and sent it to the mission office. That night we got to teach our friend Hayley! It was the first time I got to teach a fully planned and scheduled lesson. That's really good! The first 2 transfers elder Hatch was here they didn't get to teach a single lesson, so it was a blessing for us to get to teach! After the lesson we did Family Home Evening at the church. We played the game of life. It was a fun way to end the night! 

There were some great times this week and looking back it was really fun! Hopefully we'll get to keep teaching Hayley! 

Make sure to watch general conference this weekend its going to be great! 

Love you all! Talk to you next week! 

Elder Tait