Bean bag toss fun, A really great week, Remember to Light the World!!

Hey everyone! How bout the Utes! Playing for the Conference Championship! Also, another win over BYU which means the streak has now reached the age of accountability and is old enough to be baptized. Haha, anyway it was a good week here! We got to shovel lots of snow this week. Here's the play by play...

Tuesday- we just hung around in the morning waiting for transfer news. We went and helped fix the lights on the church and then went and got groceries when we found out we were both staying. We had dinner with the Shenfields and then had young men's. We played a game called Coup with the young men at their house. 

Wednesday- we had 4 lessons set up today so that was exciting, but then 3 out of 4 fell through. The one lesson we had was with Hayley and it went well so it was successful day. We did some finding in Stephenville. Stephenville is just a weird place I don't know how to explain it, it's just weird. We drove back and had dinner then had branch council that night and talked about Light The World. 

Thursday- Happy Thanksgiving! We did some snow shoveling in the morning we had around 1 foot of snow. For lunch we had turkey sandwiches in honor of Thanksgiving. Then we went and helped with the bean bag toss at the senior center. It was an all time classic! Nelly is usually the winner for bean bag toss but today was different. Underdog Tursh jumped out to a big lead at the start, but then Nelly came roaring back with a couple 500 point throws! The crowd was going crazy! It came down to the last round and Tursh came up with a clutch 100 point throw and edged out a 25 point win. He took home the toothpaste this week. Exciting times at the Mountain View Retirement Center! When we got home the power was out so we did comp study and had dinner in the dark. We played orange juice pong and then later that night we had a lesson with Brianna. We are working on some things with her but she is doing great! 

Friday- we did lots of planning today. There wasn't very much going on. Elder Call is the driver now and is still getting used to driving in the snow so driving is an adventure! 

Saturday- we spent awhile making a Light The World float for the Corner Brook parade with a couple members. The Sheppards fed us all lunch and we had caribou soup. I was expecting it to be really weird but it wasn't bad. That night we went to president Sansome's house. We talked and he gave us some Cod fish soup and canned chicken sandwiches. It was an interesting food day! 

Sunday- Sunday was great! We had our usual schedule of church, lunch with the Butts, senior center singing and zooming with the Whites but this time we also gave brother Hicks a blessing. He's a member of the branch and is really old and sick. His son was visiting so he asked us to come helped give a blessing. That night we were visiting people and met a really cool guy. We talked for like 30 minutes and he was interested and we gave him a Book of Mormon. 

Monday- it was a really good day! We didn't do anything really special but it was just a great day! In the morning we had call ins and then I worked on a training I'm giving. Later we had a district comp study where we got to meet the new district. Both other companionships in our district got whitewashed which means both companions are new to the area. It was fun to meet them and talk for a bit. Later we went knocking and had FHE that night. For FHE we got some things ready to pass out during the parade.

Transfer #3 is off and running, it should be a good one! Make sure all of you do Light The World this year. It's gonna be sick! Find a way to serve and do it! Hope you all have a great week! 

Love you all! 

Elder Tait

Kissing a Cod, Knocking in the Cold, Orange Chicken and another great week...

Transfers! Elder Call and I are both staying in Corner Brook! I'm excited to keep going here, we're starting to gain some traction. We didn't end up flying this week but there were still some good times! 

Tuesday - in the morning, Elder Shenfield came over and inspected our apartment and car. We passed then we got ready and went to get some groceries. We got home, put our groceries away and then went and got haircuts. After our haircuts we were going to make orange chicken, but we didn't have cooking oil so we had to go back to the store. Lots of trips to the store today! We finally got back and had everything we needed so we made orange chicken. We used a deep fryer so I had some fun with that, I deep fried an oreo. It was good! It probably would have been a lot better if I didn't use orange chicken batter, but it was still good. There was a small problem with the wok and we found out that our carbon monoxide detector works so that's good. After we made the orange chicken we had dinner with the Shenfields and then had young men's. We split in 2 teams and tried to make the best dessert for under 10$. Ethan and I made root beer floats and the other two made pudding with gummy worms and oreos. We definitely won. 

Wednesday - we got up early and drove to Grand Falls for district meeting. We had the meeting and ate lunch and then went to the airport to fly to Halifax. There was a blizzard that day so our flight got cancelled after we waited in the airport for a couple hours. We drove home and had dinner, then we went knocking for the night. It was pretty sad that our flight was cancelled but we got over it.

Thursday - most of the day we spent zooming into leadership conference. It was awesome to be a part of, even though we couldn't be there in person. That night we went knocking. Not much success but we did see a Newfoundland dog which was cool. 

Friday - in the morning we went to the church and helped a member make chili for the chili cook off that night. We also had member lesson with her and talked about member missionary work. After that we did some planning and then that night we had the branch chili cook off. It was really great! Our chili got 2nd place. We lost by one vote! At the end of the chili cook off Elder Call and I, the Shenfields and President and Sister Low got screeched in - which is kind of an initiation to become and honorary Newfoundlander. First we had to kiss the cod. It was so gross they've had it for 5 years and just put it in the freezer in between events. It definitely smelled 5 years old haha. After that we drank cod liver oil and purity syrup, ate a purity cracker and bologna (the driest cracker I've ever had it was like saltine crackers times 5) we also had a Newfoundland candy and said some phrases. It was a fun experience! 

Saturday - today was a really busy and good day! In the morning we had a lesson with our friend Brianna. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and it went well. After our lesson we helped the Sheppards shovel the driveway. There's a guy who plows every house on the street except for the Sheppard's, because they are members of the Church. After we shoveled, we drove an hour to Stephenville. We met with a less active member and read the Book of Mormon with him. He loves us and is really nice so he cooked us up some food. He lost most of his fingers to frostbite so it's hard for him to do things so that was really nice. My instant potatoes weren't cooked so they were still really watery, but had to finish all of them. Not my favorite meal I've had. After that we met up with a guy named Arnold. We got to know him and talked for awhile and then taught him the restoration. He is going to read the entire Book of Mormon which is great! We finished the night knocking. In between houses we talked to a girl and she was interested! We got her info and then kept going. It was snowing really hard and we were about to leave but decided to knock on one more house. No answer. But when we walked back there was another person walking down the street and she was also interested! Trying just a little harder really pays off! It was a solid day! 

Sunday- church was super cool! Gander became an official group of the church which is the smallest organization. They can hold their own meetings now and don't have to zoom into us. Our branch zoomed into them this week to watch that all happen. After church we did the usual schedule of lunch with the Butts, comp study and zooming with the Whites. That night we took the sacrament to a sick member. Then we walked to a potential's house. We walked pretty much across the city it was so cold! 

Monday - we did call ins in the morning and then did comp study. It was sad that it was the last time seeing the district! After lunch we had a zlc and then visited a less active member. We got talking about sports and he turned on sportscenter and I saw Alex Smith break his leg. Sad day. Then he changed the channel and we saw a bit of hockey. The meeting was more than just watching sports but those were the highlights. Later we went knocking and then had a dinner appointment with the Sheppards. That night we taught Brianna and then had FHE. For FHE we played a game called Doubles and then Phase10. It was a good night! 

Another good week! Hope you all have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving!! Love you all! 

New Missionary Conference, Staying at Lindsey’s old apartment, Pong with Prune Juice...

Hey everyone hope you are all doing well! This week was crazy but really fun! We spent a lot of time out of our area this week with new missionary conference and exchanges. All the travel and things going on make the weeks go by fast! Thankfully our plane to Halifax was bigger than to st John's. It's getting colder and starting to snow instead of rain. It's so humid that when it's under freezing temperature there's little ice balls in the air. 

Tuesday- for pday we had another lazy day where we mostly just napped and cleaned up a little bit. Later we went to the mall and looked around and I bought some postcards. On our way out we walked past Boston Pizza. The Jazz vs Raptors game was on at Boston Pizza, so I watched through the window for a little bit. That was amazing! We got groceries after that and then emailed. That night we had young men's. We went to the Butt's house and played a game with them it was super fun.

Wednesday- we had district council over zoom (zoom is pretty much the same thing as skype) in the morning. We knew we had New Missionary Conference on Thursday, but at this point we still didn't have our travel plans so we weren't sure what we were doing. We did lunch and comp study and then finally got our flight info, so we could plan the rest of our day. We went and tried to find a soup kitchen to help at or any kind of service we can do. Then later we were going to have zoom a lesson with Matthew but he didn't get on.

Thursday 11/8/18 - today was an awesome day! We woke up at 3:30 am,  got ready and drove to the airport. Our flight left around 6:00. We got to Halifax and went to the church for the conference. It was sick to see all the new missionaries! I got to see my MTC companion elder Atkins, so that was pretty cool. He's a stud. We had lots of great trainings and I learned a lot. In the afternoon we all got to go to the temple. It was awesome! Later after the temple we had interviews with President Low and then went on an exchange with the Cole Harbour elders. That night we slept at their apartment which is where Lindsey lived when she served in Cole Harbour! It was a really spiritual day! 

Friday- we got up and got ready and then went to the mission office. We waited there for awhile and then the APs took us to the airport. We flew back to Deer Lake and from there we went to Grand Falls on exchanges. We got to Grand Falls and I went knocking with Elder Jones for awhile and then we did a Book of Mormon read with 2 of their members which is half of their little group. 

Saturday- in the morning Elder Jones and I went knocking again with no success. We met back at the apartment and had lunch and comp study with the other two. After that elder Benson and I went and did some more knocking. We met these two guys, they wanted us to climb on the roof and help them fix the chimney, but when we tried they said they were kidding so then we just talked for a little bit. They had some great thoughts and are really funny. After dinner Elder Call and I drove back to Corner Brook. It was snowing pretty hard so it took extra long, but we made it. 

Sunday- church was good on Sunday. We didn't have to teach any of the lessons this time. That was kinda nice. After church we had lunch with the Butts again. This time sister Butt gave us some Turkish food. We had this thing called yogurt soup. It was interesting to say the least, hot yogurt with rice and chicken bouillon cubes for flavor. I had to psych myself up for every bite. Not my favorite thing I've eaten haha. After lunch we went to the seniors home and did our hymns and talks. After that we met with the Whites over zoom. That night we went knocking in the snow. Knocking in the snow is better than in the rain, at least for now. After that we went to teach a first lesson with a guy, but he wasn't home or just didn't answer so we did digital finding instead. At 9 we played pong with some unsweetened prune nectar that we found in the back of the fridge. I won because Elder Call quit after throwing up. Moral of the story prune juice does not taste good. 

Monday- in the morning we had call ins and then did weekly planning we missed on Friday. Later we did comp study and had a ZLC about how we can use the things we learned at zone conference to help the zone. That night we had FHE. Brianna came and brought 2 people! We played minute to win it games and everyone got into, it so they were really fun! 

The highlight of the week was flying to Halifax for the New Missionary Conference. That day was full of spiritual experiences and one of the best days of my mission so far! We've got one more trip to Halifax this week so it's gonna be another unusual week! Have a great week everyone! Love you all! 

Elder Tait 

Crazy flight to and from Zone Conference, Signal Hill, A Fast and Great Week

This week we had Zone Conference, so we spent a couple days in St John's on the other side of the island. It was a really fun couple days and that was probably the highlight of the week! 

Tuesday- we relaxed in the morning and then I got up and worked out. We cleaned a little bit and then went to the store. After that we emailed and then had dinner with the Shenfields. For young men's we were supposed to do something called rainbow loom but the Butts forgot to bring it, so we played Kahoot.

Wednesday- Halloween! In the morning we went knocking and we went 45 minutes before the first person answered! After that we had lunch and then comp study. We were supposed to teach our friend Brianna but she canceled. We walked around and knocked on some doors. At 5:00 we had a ZLC meeting over zoom about Light the World. After that we had to be in our apartment because of Halloween so we made some good Alfredo and studied and ate candy.

Thursday- in the morning we went over and had a lesson with Hayley. She is doing the Book of Mormon challenge to read by the end of the year so we talked about what she has read so far. We also read 2 Nephi 31 with her. It's a really good chapter! Later that day we did service at the senior center. It was a lady's 90th birthday so she had a party with bingo and cupcakes. We helped make sure they could hear the spaces being called and then handed out cupcakes. We also did weekly planning since we were leaving on Friday. 

Friday- we got up at 5:00 and drove an hour to the Deer Lake airport. From there we got on a plane and flew to St John's for zone conference. The plane was so small it was crazy! There were only 18 seats total, no flight attendant, the entire plane was about 5 feet wide and 6 feet tall. We landed in St John's and Elder Schow, one of the senior missionaries there picked us up. We took the long way home and got to go to Signal Hill, and the furthest east point in North America. We then had to run some errands with Elder Schow and then he took us to lunch. After that we met up with the St John's elders and set up the church for zone conference. Then we had comp study and went to the Schow's house for dinner. After dinner I went with one of the St John's elders, Elder Musgrave and we taught a lesson. After the lesson we met up with the other two and all four of us went and visited a recent convert named Moses. He is from Nigeria and has an amazing life story! He's trying to save money to get his wife and son over here. I learned so much from him, he's amazing! Later that night the APs got to the St John's apartment, so we stayed up and talked for awhile. It was a fun day! 

Saturday- on Saturday we had zone conference. The conference was great and we also had some good food. After the conference we got flu shots and then went back to the apartment and had dinner. It was Elder Call and I, the St John's elders and the APs all there so we did a three way exchange. We went and helped some people move for a little bit and then went knocking. After that we went home and hung out and then went to sleep.

Sunday- we had to wake up at 4:30 and went straight to the airport. The weather and winds were crazy! It was another tiny plane so we got tossed around by the wind. When we were trying to land they said they would try once and if they weren't able to land we would have to fly to Gander which is 3 hours away. The plane was out of control. It was like on The Bee Movie. We were able to land on the first try! Elder Shenfield picked us up from the airport and we went to church. Later that day we went knocking and then taught our friend Brianna. There was another guy there we invited to join the lesson and he just wanted to argue, so that was frustrating but it was still good to teach.

Monday- on Monday we did call ins and then lots of knocking. That night we had dinner with Gillian one of the members and then taught her at the church. After that we had FHE and played scategories.

It was super fun to fly to St John's this week and spend some time there for zone conference! We were pretty busy so it was a fast Week! We get to fly to Halifax this week so it should be another fun Week! See ya next Week! Love you all! 

Elder Tait 

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