Saying goodbye to Corner Brook, Transferred to Halifax!!, Always an Adventure...

Hey everyone! Transfers happened and I'm in Halifax now! My new companion is Elder Strong. We are opening up a new area and trying a new thing. We don't have a car, we just have bus passes so we can meet people on the buses. Our district is 10 missionaries total and we are all in the same area its crazy! Us and the APs are working in the YSA branch. I'm super excited to be doing that! There are so many people in Halifax my mind was blown when I first got here! Here's how the week went 

Tuesday- we didn't get a call all day so we thought we were both staying again. We went to the church and played a board game with Gillian and then went to Boston pizza for dinner. Then the transfer table got posted and I found out I was going to Halifax! We then had young mens and played pie face and then went over and told Harold and Stephanie and Denessa I was leaving. 

Wednesday- we knocked all morning without many people answering. In the afternoon we went knocking some more. We were at one door next to an opening with lots of snow and there were some b'ys skidooing so we went over and talked to them. They did some crazy stuff and had some nice crashes it was funny! Then we kept knocking and one guy asked us if we were cops when we said we weren't he let us in and talked for awhile. He's an interesting guy to say the least Haha. After dinner that night we went and followed up with some people and then went and said goodbye to the Sansomes we had a toast with some grape juice. 

Thursday- in the morning I did a little packing and then we did digital finding. Later we went to the senior center one last time. They were having a valentine's dance so they didnt need us, but they had us go say goodbye to everyone anyway. Then we did some knocking and met a guy that said he'd come to church on Sunday so that was super cool! Then we went to the Butt's for dinner. On the way there we got a flat tire, but still made it. We got it fixed while we ate and then said bye to Gillian and then bye to Danessa, Harold and Stephanie. When we got home I said bye to the Sheppards and then had to finish packing. 

Friday- we went to the airport first thing in the morning and waited for Elder Broadhead who is replacing me, to get in. Right as he got in I went through security and waited for my flight. It got delayed an hour. My first flight was Deer Lake to St John's, so I got one more ride on a tiny plane. When I got to St John's, I met up with Elder Mcarthur and we waited for our eventual flight to Halifax. When we finally got there and got our luggage, some other Elders picked us up and took us to their apartment. They dropped us off and left so we kinda just wondered around the apartment area talking to people. After dinner we took a bus downtown and went street contacting. There were so many people it was crazy! Definitely not in Corner Brook anymore! We did that for the rest of the night and then bussed home. 

Saturday- transfer day! In the morning we went to the mission office for transfers. Both Elder Barkdull and I had to wait for our companions to come from new Brunswick, so we stayed together for most of the day. First, we helped a family move with a few other Elders. They are from the Congo and don't really speak any English. There was only 1 out of the 6 elders that spoke French so he translated everything. Somehow it ended up that it was just me and another English elder in the apartment with them, so we tried to talk a little bit. One of the girls told us a story about how she got kicked by a Gorilla and tried to teach us a couple Swahili words. Later in the day, the New Brunswick missionaries got in so I met my new companion elder Strong. He's a big funny guy from Lethbridge, Alberta. We had a meeting with the Dartmouth elders and the APs and got our bus passes. Then the APs took us to our apartment and we unpacked and then tried bussing to the church. We made it fine and then went in and looked around. After a little bit we left and went to the bus stop. After a couple minutes standing there I realized we were on the wrong side of the road for the bus home so we played a quick game of frogger. We waited a few minutes and then the bus app said that our bus wasn't coming. So we started walking to the next stop and a few minutes later when we were in between stops, our bus went by. We knew we were in trouble cause that was the last bus for the night and we missed it. Luckily the zone leaders were able to bail us out and give us a ride home. We had to get some quick groceries so we didn't starve and I saw a beautiful sight... a whole gallon of milk! They don't have gallons in Newfoundland, so it was nice to see again. Haha. 

Sunday- we got up and got ready and then took the bus to church. We got there super early and met some people. Church was awesome I haven't seen so many people at church in a long time! After church we had a little meeting with the district to correlate what's going on cause we are all in the same area. After that we studied and then took the bus downtown to do some service at a soup kitchen. It was like the Open Door in Corner Brook except 10 times bigger. After that we went home and had dinner and then did weekly planning. 

Monday- in the morning we had "call ins" with our DL, but they were in person since we were in the same church building. Then we studied and had lunch at this really good pizza place that has huge slices! Next, we bussed around for awhile and tried bus contacting and then did street contacting downtown. After dinner we did some digital finding at the church and then met with Samuel our branch mission leader. It's super nice to have a branch mission leader! Then we had FHE. One of the members talked about his trip to South Africa and then we had food and played basketball. At the end of the night Samuel gave us a ride home. Being a YSA missionary is awesome! 

This is going to be an amazing transfer! The first couple days here have been crazy, fun and super busy! It was sad to leave Corner Brook, but I'm pumped to be in Halifax! Hope you all have a great week love you! 

Elder Tait

PS - pics coming in a separate email. 

Service, Exchanges and lots of snow!!

It's been a busy couple weeks for us here! Another transfer over and we should get the news about where we are going really soon! I officially hit 6 months last week so that is pretty crazy! Here's the week

Tuesday- in the morning Brother Sheppard took us to the dump and we got rid of my old desk and all our pizza boxes. Later, we played star wars monopoly at the church with Gillian. It was my first time playing monopoly in a long time, so I was pretty rusty. It was rough haha. We had dinner with the Sheppards and then had young mens, where we did Duty to God and then kahoot. After young men's we visited a guy named Bill and talked to him for awhile. 

Wednesday- we got up and drove all morning to Gander where we had district meeting. After the meeting we had exchanges. Elder Mcarthur and I went knocking and then went and kept score at special Olympics bowling. Bowling is weird in Canada! There's only 5 pins and each one is worth different points. It was an awesome time though. They all had so much fun! 

Thursday- Elder Groneman and I went knocking in the morning and had a fun time. The highlight was talking to this guy who does not believe in God. He was super funny, but most of the things he said I can't repeat haha! After we got back to the apartment we had lunch and then drove back to Corner Brook. We had dinner with the Butts and then tried to stop by our apartment before we went out for the rest of the night. Elder Call shook the key a little too hard on the door and the key snapped. It was funny, but then we had to go steal the spare from the senior couple apartment. 

Friday- we did weekly planning and then comp study and then did some service for Harold and Stephanie. They fed us pizza for dinner to celebrate 6 months for me! Later we went to a lesson but the Curnew family forgot about it so we rescheduled.

Saturday- we did some comp study and digital finding in the morning and then visited the Curnews after lunch. Then we drove to the airport in a snow squall storm and picked up President Smith in the mission presidency. We did a visit with him and then took him to his hotel. We went to Isaac's birthday party and had some cake and hot dogs. While we were there we met Harold and Stephanie's neighbor Denessa and talked to her a little bit. After that we went knocking and then had a lesson with Gillian.

Sunday- we went and picked President Smith up and went to church. Harold and Stephanie came and Denessa did too! When we asked her what she thought of church she said she never wanted to leave she loved it! After church we had a potluck and then we drove Pres Smith to the airport in a snow squall storm. The visibility got so bad they had to close the highway. It was crazy! When we got back to Corner Brook we had comp study and then shoveled for Hayley and taught her and then went to ask Gillian if she could come to a lesson with us. On the way there we saw a lady shoveling so we stopped and asked to help. We shoveled for her and then she had us in and gave us some cake. We talked to her and her husband for awhile and by the time we left it was time for our lesson with Harold and Stephanie and Denessa so we went straight there and had a lesson with them to end the night.

Monday- we had call ins and then walked to our service at the open door. When we got there we found out it was cancelled because of the weather so we shoveled and then went and had lunch and comp study. After that we spent the afternoon shoveling and then had FHE that night. All the people we are teaching came and we played a game of jeopardy (church/ Corner Brook Trivia edition) that Hayley made. It was a great activity! 

Hope you all have a great week! Talk to you later! 

Love,

Elder Tait