Zone Conference Adventures, Teaching, Knocking and Having Fun

This week was a great one! We had zone conference in St John's so we got to fly again! Because of snow we had to spend an extra day there and it was a blast! Here's how the week went down 

Tuesday- we spent a long time shopping for Christmas presents. After we finished  shopping we went to the church and played a board game with Gillian. It was a sports trivia game so I won. That night we watched the Christmas devotional with the young men and the rest of the branch. 

Wednesday- we spent the morning cleaning the church with the Shenfields and then they took us to lunch. After lunch we went knocking for awhile and nobody was home. That night we were supposed to have a lesson at the church but we waited and waited and the guy never showed up. It was kind of a rough day.

Thursday- we got to fly to zone conference again! We were on one of the tiny planes again but there was no wind this time so it was less sketchy. We got to St John's and hung out with the senior couples for like an hour until the other missionaries in the zone got there for dinner. After dinner we all went out and worked in St Johns. It was a blizzard and St John's streets are super confusing, so driving was interesting. 

Friday- today was a party! Because of the blizzard president Low's flight got cancelled so we had to move zone conference from Friday to Saturday. That meant we had an entire day with 8 elders together! In the morning we shoveled snow. There was lots of snow so we decided to bury one companionship's car. It was fun to watch people's faces as they drove by. Next we did weekly planning and then made some pancakes for lunch. After lunch we did a huge comp study and then had to go uncover the car. At first we tried to just uncover the back and have them climb in through the trunk and back up, but the car couldn't move. Eventually we had to take off all of the snow so it could move. After we cleared the car we all got shovels and went around helping people clear their driveways. After that we had pizza with the senior couples and then split up into our districts and went to an event where a bunch of boats were decorated with lights for Christmas. It was the 20th anniversary so they also had fireworks. It wasn't as cool as the pictures on the ad but it was still super fun. When we got back to the apartment Elder Groneman and I decided to dive into the huge snow piles. It was a super fun day! 

Saturday- we got up and went to the church. We had our interviews with President Low and then had Zone Conference/ Christmas party. It was a good time and the Lows did a really funny puppet show in the talent show. We went straight to the airport from zone conference and waited for our flight. Our plane got delayed for 2 hours because of maintenance so we hung out in the airport and had a video chat lesson with Brianna. 

Sunday- it was a good routine Sunday. We had church, lunch, sang and talked at the senior center and then had comp study and zoomed with the Whites. We had dinner with the Sheppards and then went knocking for the rest of the night. 

Monday- we did call ins to start the day and then helped out with an open door soup service at another church. The guy that told us he was God last Monday was there eating soup so he talked to us for awhile again. Haha he is a funny old man! Later we taught Harold and Stephanie the couple that we found and then baked a cake for Hayley for her birthday. Hayley, Harold and Stephanie all came to FHE and we celebrated Hayley's birthday with cake and ice cream. It was a great night! 

This weekend in St John's was the funnest part of my mission so far! It was a great time being in a missionary frat house for a couple days! 😂 I hope you all have a great week this week! 

Love Elder Tait 

Miracles, Blessings and a Whole Lot of Crazy Adventure...

It's been a good week. I can't believe its December! This week we had exchanges and got to be in the city parade! We also found some people to teach! 

Tuesday- we had a nice lazy morning and then went and got groceries. After that we went to the church and played a trivia game called Super Quiz with one of the members named Gillian. It's a super old game so most of the questions were about movies and things I've never heard of, but it was still fun. That night for young men's we helped the Butts cut and stack wood in their basement.

Wednesday- we drove to Grand Falls and had district council. I gave a training about finding people to teach. It went pretty well. After district council we stayed in Grand Falls and had an exchange with the Grand Falls elders. I went with Elder Groneman first and we went knocking. He's from Riverton and is pretty cool. We went to this ghetto apartment and talked to a guy for a super long time. He didn't  think we knew what we were talking about cause we're just kids. Near the end of the conversation I had an experience I'll spend the rest of my mission trying to forget. I looked down and saw that his zipper was undone. I also saw that he wasn't wearing underwear. I'll leave it at that, but it was not something I ever needed to see haha. 😱 

After dinner we zoomed into branch council and then to end the night we had a lesson with a guy named Darrel. We read Mosiah 18 with him. He's a really nice guy.

Thursday- I went with Elder Mcarthur. We went knocking and were going to teach a lesson but the lady cancelled on us, so we just kept knocking. Nothing super exciting happened. We went back and had lunch and then Elder Call and I drove back to Corner Brook. We had dinner and then went knocking again. It was raining but there was snow on the ground the wind was blowing so it was just a cold wet mess outside. We got to one house and they let us in! It was a young couple with a little boy. We talked for a little bit and they told us that they had each talked to missionaries in the past but it had been awhile. On Wednesday the day before, they had talked about maybe getting in contact with missionaries again. And then the next day we showed up! That's insane! We were guided to their house for a reason no doubt. After we met them we went and had a lesson with Brianna.

Friday- we had weekly planning in the morning and then had lunch and correlation with the Shenfields, after that we went to Stephenville. First we stopped by Matthew. He wants to have us for Christmas dinner so he can make us scrunchins. They are a Newfoundland thing where you cook a ham or something and then take the fat and the skin and bake it till its crispy and eat that. He also told us his plan to by an RV and then live in the church parking lot so he can come to church. He's got some... interesting takes on things. He told us that God controls his TV and that God likes Bart Simpson so the Simpsons is on a lot. 

Later we went knocking in Stephenville it was horrible. Stephenville is such a wack place. Just being there gives you a weird vibe. Whenever we go there its always a funny time though. There are lots of interesting people to meet. 

Saturday- most of the day we spent at the parade. We had a float and we dressed up as shepherds and walked along side it handing out Light the World calendars. Lots of walking! There were tons of people there and we handed out everything we had so it was a success!

Sunday- it was a usual Sunday. We went to church, taught gospel doctrine and priesthood and then had lunch with the Butts. We zoomed the Whites and then had dinner. That night we had a lesson with the couple we met. Harold and Stephanie. They are awesome! We were there for a long time answering their questions. Harold had some deep questions like "what is the universe expanding into?" It was a fun night!

Monday- we had call ins in the morning and then did some street contacting. Met some interesting people. One guy told us that he was God so I thought it would be good to ask some of Harold's questions. When I asked he said "I'm not God, I'm a Newfoundlander." He said he's not Canadian cause he was born before Canada joined Newfoundland, haha. Later we knocked and Elder Call got a parking ticket. Talked to some more interesting people. Its pretty amazing the things some people tell you when you just show up on their door! Then we did comp study and had dinner. After dinner we had a lesson with Brianna about the law of chastity which is always a joy. 😬 Then we had FHE and played mad gab. 

This week was full of interesting people! I guess the cold brings out the weird in people! Hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Tait 

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