Zone Conference, Big City Traffic, Meeting “The Flash”...

Hey everyone! Hope you all are doing well. Here's the week!

Tuesday- we did our shopping and called our families and then walked around downtown for awhile. That night we did bus contacting.

Wednesday- we got up and took a long bus ride to the mission office and had interviews with president Low. After our interviews we hung out at the office for a little bit and then got a ride back to the apartment. We were supposed to have a lesson but it fell through. We finally got a key to the church today! That night we did a booth downtown with some other missionaries in our district.

Thursday- Today we had zone conference for most of the day. It was really good and crazy that there were so many missionaries compared to Newfoundland! After zone conference we had a dinner appointment but going from Dartmouth to Halifax had crazy traffic on the bridge so a 15 minute drive turned into 1 hour and 15 minutes. I really gained a testimony of big city traffic haha. We had a good dinner and went finding for the rest of the night.

Friday- we had weekly planning in the morning and then went out finding. Nothing too exciting happened. After dinner we had correlation and institute. Institute was awesome like always and I learned a lot!

Saturday- we finished watching the safety videos in the morning. They are actually really good! Later in the day we went finding and talked to one guy for over an hour on the sidewalk. He was really knowledgeable and it was a good talk. It ended with hugs and a prayer by him. Hopefully we see him again sometime. One of the members took us to dinner at a sports bar and it was heavenly. There were some college basketball games on while we were there. After that we went finding and I talked to a guy on the bus who is from China. His English name is Barry and he named himself that because he likes The Flash.

Sunday- we had church and then a linger longer. Kudzai came for the second half of church and the linger longer! Then we had a member lesson with a member named Ava she is really funny! After that we did comp study, went home and changed and then went to service. After service we went with the APs to a dinner appointment and then went and gave a blessing.

Monday- the main highlight of today was ferry contacting! We rode the ferry across the bay to Dartmouth and back since our bus passes work for that too. We met some sweet people doing that! FHE was way fun too!

We are trying some new things to find people and have met some cool people! Now we're just waiting for some responses and we'll be loving life! Have a great week!

Love,

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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 

Pickled herring, shoveling snow, road trip and running on empty...

Hi everyone! It's been a good week! After a few months here we were fed fish for the first time! It was a fun to have a Newfoundland meal! Here's how the week went...

Tuesday- we got some good rest and then went to the store and also got haircuts. Pretty chill day. That night for young men's we did some science experiments with bubbles.

Wednesday- today was full of knocking but nothing exciting happened. We had dinner with the young Butt family and had a good visit with them. We finished the night with some more knocking and teaching Harold and Stephanie. 

Thursday- Road trip! We got up early and drove 4 hours to Gander for district council, had lunch with them and drove back. When we got back we had dinner at the Sansome's house. They fed us a traditional Newfoundland meal cod fish and brews. Which is cod fish, potatoes, and this stuff called hard bread. The cod still had the skin on one side so that was interesting! It was fun to have a traditional meal but I didnt have seconds Haha. We also tried a jar of pickled herring. After that we drove back to town and had a member lesson with Gillian to end the day. 

Friday- we did weekly planning in the morning and then knocked until we had a lesson with Hayley. Then we had dinner and tried to call some people and set appointments up. One guy we thought was super interested apparently blocked our number. That was a bummer 😂 then we did some more knocking and then had a lesson with Harold and Stephanie. 

Saturday- we helped people shovel snow all morning. It's always nice when people actually let us serve them! Then we had a member lesson with Brother Small and did some knocking. While we were knocking we talked to a guy in his garage. He has a Porsche. It's 1 out of 2 in Corner Brook. After that we did more shoveling and then had dinner with the Sheppards and a member lesson with them. We finished the night knocking.

Sunday- it was a good day pretty normal. Church, lunch with the Butts, knocking, zoom with the Whites and then dinner. That night we knocked and found one lady that we asked if we could help her shovel and she said no. She wasn't interested in hearing our message either so then we asked again if we could shovel for her. She said she thought we were joking but this time she let us help. It is so great when people let us help them! It's crazy how many people dont let us serve them. After shoveling we taught Harold and Stephanie.

Monday- we had call ins and then the soup kitchen like usual. Then we taught Cynthia and did some knocking. At dinner time the Gander elders got to our apartment and we ate and started our exchange. Elder Groneman and I knocked for the rest of the night. Nobody that we talked to was interested but we had a good time. That night the other elders pranked me. Long story short they planned for a couple weeks and they scared me during the night. They got me good Haha. I'll have to think of a way to get them back. It was a good laugh tho.

Tuesday- we got up in the morning and drove to Stephenville. Elder Mcarthur and I did some knocking and then had lunch and comp study. After that we went and helped Matthew fix his tablet so he can zoom in to church. Luckily Elder Mcarthur is really smart so he was able to download some things and get the tablet running smoothly. Then we drove back to Corner Brook. I didnt look at the gas gauge until we were a little way out of Stephenville. We were low and the car said we had 60 kilometers to empty. But we were 70 kilometers from the nearest gas station which is in Corner Brook. Somehow after praying and putting the car in neutral anytime we went downhill we made it to the gas station. It was a close one the tank was empty. After we got back and had dinner the zone leaders left and we went to young men's. We played a card game for the activity it was a good night.

It was another solid week! Hope you all are doing well! Talk to you later! Love you! 

Elder Tait

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Icicles, Blizzards & Knocking oh my!!!

Hi everyone! It was a good week and we worked hard. We did lots of knocking and met some interesting and some really nice people. Winter is here!

Wednesday- p day! We went around to the different stores and did some shopping and got some more cold weather gear. That night we had a lesson with Harold and Stephanie. We taught about fasting and about fast Sunday we got off topic a few times but it was still good. After that we had to go home for the last bit of the night because there was a blizzard.

Thursday- we got back to work today and knocked for most of the day. We also went to the senior home for bean bag toss again and Walt took another W. He is in midseason form right now it's an absolute privilege to watch such greatness! He may be the best bean bag tosser to ever walk the halls of Mountain View Retirement Center! That night we did some knocking in a trailer park. It was so cold that one of the doors we knocked on was frozen shut. The lady was pulling as hard as she could for like 15 seconds before it opened!

Friday- we had weekly planning and it took awhile. Later we went knocking and then tried to go to KFC for dinner, but apparently the entire city had the same coupon we did, because that place was packed! We went with subway instead. That night we had a lesson with Harold and Stephanie. It was super good! Harold told us about his experience praying about the Book of Mormon and the spirit was really strong!

Saturday- it was a full day of knocking! We were supposed to have a lesson, but it fell through so we had nothing today but knocking. One house we went to had one of the biggest icicles I've ever seen. I do't know how it hasn't taken the rain gutter off yet.

Sunday- it was a good day! Stephanie got up and bore her testimony during sacrament meeting it was awesome! After church we tried to go to a lesson but it fell through so we got to do more finding. After that we had a lesson with the members in Labrador over zoom and then had dinner with the Butts. That night we got let in by a husband and wife. The guy's dad used to be the chief of Newfoundland, so he told showed us a picture of him and we talked some more. He is a funny guy! We were talking about prophets and he started saying something. His wife quickly shut him down and was like "shut up Bernard that is prostitute not prophet" Haha we made sure he knew the difference by the time we left. They wrote down their address for us to send a postcard when I get home. They are some funny people!

Monday- we had call ins and then went and served at the Open Door Soup Kitchen. We shoveled a lot of snow because it was snowing and blowing hard. Later we had a member lesson and then dinner with the Sheppards. We then were shoveling for a member and felt like we should shovel her next door neighbor too. She poked her head out while we were shoveling and thanked us. She was really grateful and it was her birthday! After that we had FHE and played a game called codenames.

I'm glad I made it through this week without freezing! I'm hoping we'll get a lot more snow soon. Everyone we talk to has really hyped it up so my expectations are high! Congrats to Lindsey and Adam for getting engaged! Hope you all have a great week love you!

Elder Tait

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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