Finding, gallons of water, District pday...

Hey everyone! I don't have much time today cause we got to have a district p-day today! We played ball hockey for awhile and Pres Low came. That man is a wizard on the sticks. Then we came to the church and I played 1 on 1 basketball vs Elder Olsen for a while. Our series tied 3-3 until next time. You know that feeling you get when you've been ballin' all day, you're super tired and haven't really had anything to eat but you still gotta ball? I got that feeling again today, I've missed this.

This week was another good one, we did lots of finding again and met some cool people. People have been responding to our messages lately so we are living the dream right now. Good stuff! My water bottle got lost, so I switched over to a milk jug instead so we drank a lot of water this week (a gallon a day each) so we had some fun times trying to get to a bathroom while finding.

I've gotta go but I'll leave you with a good quote from someone we met this week- "I was thinking of being baptized but ain't nobody sprinkling Holy water on me... Naw no way not for Dewayne"

I love you all hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Tait

Zone Conference, Exams, Always a Miracle...

Hey everyone! Things are going well here and we are so close to meeting with a bunch of people! "I can't I have exams" has been the quote of the week. Hopefully after exams people will want to rejuvenate their souls with the gospel.

Tuesday- we went and got some music from the computer at the church and then bused to the Bedford elders apartment and did our laundry. We spent awhile there hanging out and then went to Walmart. We got groceries and then that was it for p day. Pday is so short when you gotta bus everywhere! That night we did some bus contacting 

Wednesday- we bused to the church in the morning and picked up our laundry from the other elders. Later in the day we took a long bus ride to the mission office and had our interviews with President Low. We bused through the ghetto of Dartmouth and I tried to talk to this guy, he told me we were in the hood so I shouldn't talk to anyone so I just kept talking with him. 

Thursday- Zone Conference! Zone conference was good and there were a bunch of good trainings given. We took a long bus ride home and ate dinner. Later that night we met with a member. We pulled out this box of random stuff from the primary room and taught him the restoration using the props. It was pretty fun and he was able to think of a friend that he can help out. We had some pretty good props in the lesson I think my favorite was using play dough talking about how we the gospel helps us shape our lives in order to succeed and be happy.

Friday- It was a full day. We had weekly planning and then went straight to service at the food bank. There was some extra orange juice that we took out into the lobby where people were waiting and we got mauled. It was scary! They all wanted those cartons of orange juice! After dinner we had correlation and then institute. It was the last class of the winter semester so no more institute this transfer sad day. 

Saturday- We went to the church in the morning and did some digital finding, there was a family ward Easter breakfast going on so we were treated to some leftover pancakes and sausage #blessed then we went and did some street contacting and talked to this Philosopher guy for a really long time about many things, especially absolute truth and relative truth. He thought he was going to destroy our belief in God when he asked us "if God is real why would there be people who never hear about him and then go straight to hell?" We agreed with him that it would be dumb so then we taught him a little bit about the plan of salvation. The gospel makes so much sense! He said he'll read the BoM and text us if he's interested. Hopefully he actually reads! The rest of the day was a lot of finding.

Sunday- We started off with branch council and then had church. Nobody we invited came to church this week because of finals. Finals is wrecking us at the moment, nobody is available to do anything but study. After church we had a little linger longer and sang to Elder Strong for his b-day! Then we did comp study and did service at the soup kitchen. That night we went to pick something up at the church but it wasn't there, it turned out to be perfect timing because there was a random dude outside the church who had come and was looking for a missionary who served here awhile back. We let him in and gave him a quick church tour and then rode the bus downtown with him. Miracle! Then we street contacted for the rest of the night. 

Monday- it was pouring rain all day today so we bus contacted for awhile. Later we planned an Easter booth with the rest of the district and then some members took us to dinner for Elder Strong's b day. I had a fried chicken and waffle sandwich. Halifax has some good restaurants! For FHE we did karaoke and it was a blast! 

We had some fun stuff this week! Zone conference was awesome and karaoke for FHE was hilarious. Elder Strong is officially 19 so we won't get kicked out of the sports bar now! Have a great week everyone! Good luck on exams! 

Love, Elder Tait

Sent from my iPhone

The last of Burger week, love general conference

Hey everyone! General conference was the highlight of this week! It was so great to hear from the Prophet and Apostles I hope you all enjoyed it too! 

Tuesday- we went back to Darrell's and got peanut butter burgers for lunch and then emailed at the library. After emailing we walked around downtown and looked at a bunch of stores, but the only store where we could afford anything was Dollarama. We finished off burger week by going to Krave Burger again. It was so good! That night a couple of members took us to get ice cream and then we had a lesson with them.

Wednesday- we had district council in the morning and then spent awhile learning about this English class we might help out with. It was raining pretty hard most of the night so we went bus contacting.

Thursday- we had exchanges today so we bussed across the city to Bedford in the morning, then we did comp study and went out. Elder Smith and I did some knocking and then visited some members. Later Elder Martinez and I were supposed to have a couple lessons, but they both fell through so we just walked around and street contacted. We were on Gottingen Street, downtown. That place needs the gospel! After we got to the apartment I got to video call into Lindsey and Adam's wedding and say hi to a bunch of people it was awesome! 

Friday- super short day we finished our exchange in the morning and then bussed home. We spent the afternoon doing weekly planning and then went to institute. 

Saturday- General Conference! We did some finding in the morning and then went to Bulk Barn and got some snacks for conference. Then we were at the church from 1:00 to 11:00 watching conference. Between the first and second sessions we played volleyball and while we were waiting for priesthood session we had pizza with the elders quorum and all the other elders in our area. There were so many great talks! I really liked Elder Hale's talk and his stories! 

Sunday- we went to the church and watched the first session of conference, then we went to the soup kitchen and did service. After service us we went and watched the second session at the Bedford elders apartment cause they have a theater room. 

Monday- winter came back and it snowed today! We spent the morning and the afternoon doing some finding and then Joan took us to get sushi for dinner. Then we had FHE where we played volleyball/ had a going away party for one of the members who is going on a mission. It was a fun night!

General conference is so great as a missionary! The chance to just sit back and relax and learn by the spirit is so great! I hope you are all doing well! 

Love Elder Tait 

Sent from my iPhone

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,

Sent from my iPhone

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

Sent from my iPhone