Exchanges, Bus Contacting, Changes & Another Great Week...

Hey everybody! Things are going great here still and I'm loving it! We had exchanges this week, which are always super fun! 

Wednesday- we had district council in the morning and there was also a conference going on for all the senior couples in the mission so we had lunch with them after our meeting. That night we had English connect and it was great! One of the guys that comes is from Brazil and he brought this drink for us to try. It tasted like warm grass but it was fun to try! There was a new guy that showed up to the class and then came to church on Sunday! After English connect we went home with the zone leaders and started our exchange.

Thursday- I started off the day with Elder Bluth, we bused downtown and did some street contacting. We talked to one lady who didn't speak much English. She whipped out her phone and called someone and handed me the phone. I was really confused at first, but it was a translator so we were able to invite her to English class. After lunch Elder Bluth and Elder Martinez and I went to a lesson with Nathan who is a recent convert. We talked about the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet and it went well, then we bused back for dinner. It was during rush hour, so a 30 minute bus ride turned into 1 1/2 hours. It was a good time to bus contact though, so it wasn't too bad. That night Elder Groneman, Elder D'eon and I went to sports night for basketball. We had a really good turn out this time, so we had a few different teams going. It was a fun night! 

Friday- we got up and finished up our exchange with the zone leaders and then went home to our apartment. We spent awhile doing our studies and planning and then went to the radio station to follow up with this guy we met. He was busy doing an interview, so we weren't able to talk much. That night we had institute and we studied the book of Acts.

Saturday - we did a Plan of Salvation booth downtown. It was a lot of fun! Booths always bring out some crazy people! Elder D'eon and I talked to a cool guy and were able to teach him the restoration for a solid 20 minutes. Later we dropped off a triple combination to a lady that responded to a Bible ad. We were pumped because she seemed super elect. When we dropped it off we realized that lady is already being taught by the sisters. It was pretty funny! In the evening we went and played basketball at another church with a guy we met on the bus and a bunch of other guys.

Sunday- we were pretty much at church and meetings all day. We had an area coordination and now we are just covering the YSA ward. We had a musical fireside in Dartmouth with Wayne Burton who does a lot of church music. We sang a song called "The Living Christ". The fireside was awesome! 

Monday- the highlight of the day was when we went to the library and did some digital finding. There was a bunch of guys in their 20s playing minecraft and they were super intense and were saying a bunch of funny stuff. I cried from laughing so hard. We did some street contacting in the rain and then had dinner with Joan. After that we had a great lesson with Kudzai where he taught us the restoration. He is doing great and wants to go to the temple! We finished the night with chair soccer for FHE.

This transfer is flying by and is only going to get busier! We've got more exchanges this week that should be a blast! Have a great week everyone! 

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Creative Finding, Choir Practice, Where’s the Sun??

Has anybody seen the sun? I haven't seen it in a few weeks and I'm starting to get worried that it might be lost! Haha it rained a lot this week but we still had a good week!

Wednesday- we drove way out to the middle of nowhere to help a guy we are teaching move. He lives by the church now so it will be easier to meet with him. Then we had district council and then a dinner appointment with a couple that are big NBA fans so we got playoff updates. That night we had English connect and taught how to describe family members.

Thursday- we spent the day doing a lot of service at the food bank and then doing our studies and calling people from our area Book. Then we went to sports night and played basketball.

Friday- we did all of our planning and studies and then went downtown and street contacted to dinner. Joan took us to Your Father's Mustache! We went to wash our hands before we ate and had a good laugh at the bathroom wall Haha! After dinner we bused to the church for correlation. I was pumped to ride the bus again but right when it pulled up I realized I made the rookie mistake of leaving my bus pass at the apartment so I had to buy a ticket. After the meeting we just street contacted the rest of the night.

Saturday- in the morning we used the media room in our apartment for wifi and did some digital finding. While we were there another guy came in and turned on the TV and was watching golf. So we watched and talked with him for a bit. We did some street contacting and accidentally went way over time but it was good because there were tons of people to talk to! That night we had an awesome church tour with a guy from the bus. He asked a lot of good questions and was really interested. He's going home to Bangladesh for a month, but we are going to start teaching him when he gets back!

Sunday- we spent most of the day at church and then singing practice. This time we had a member who is a legit choir director come and lead us and it was really good! It's amazing what a good choir director can do! Later we did service at the Sunday supper and then on our way home we saw a couple guys playing basketball so we went and talked with them and shot around. They are going to come to English connect and Thursday night sports. Basketball is a great missionary tool!

Monday- we had a lot of time to go finding today which was fun, we also had a lesson with a returning member and talked about forgiveness and then met with Kudzai before FHE and went over the restoration in basketball form. Next week he's going to teach us. For FHE we played volleyball. The talent was low, but the fun was high!

That's all for now! Our mission is trying to do more creative finding so we are going to try new things to find people to teach. It's going to be fun! Have a great week!

Transfer Week, Seeing old Friends, Hard to say goodbye...

Hey everyone! Transfers are here again! It has been a great few months. Elder Strong is getting transferred to New Brunswick and I am kind of staying here. I will be moving across the city to a new apartment and I'll be in a trio. We will cover the family ward and YSA. It should be really fun!

Wednesday- We had district council in the morning and then practiced singing for a musical fireside we are doing at the end of the month. That night we went to the English class all of the missionaries in Halifax are doing at the church. Our job is basically to sit by a person and help them along during the class with pronunciation and the activities we do. One guy we met street contacting a few weeks ago came! His name is Shun, it was crazy that he came for the first time that night because it was also our first time going.

Thursday- We did a few hours of service at the food bank again and had some fun sorting moldy bread. The rest of the day we spent street contacting and also met with Shun and helped him with some English and also taught him a little about God. 

Friday- Today was a really nice day so we decided to go finding down on the boardwalk. There were people everywhere but none of them were very excited to stop and chat. Eventually we made our way to the ferry and took a ride on it. I met a really cool couple from China on the ride. Then we went home and did weekly planning and then did bus contacting for the rest of the night, I met this kid who knew every fact about the buses and was telling me all about them, he even had the robot voice that announces the stops down perfectly, I was impressed.  

Saturday- We did some bus contacting while it rained all morning and I talked to one of the first guys I ever met on the bus. We reminisced about the our first time meeting, he's still not interested in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ though. Maybe next time. Later we went to the church to do some digital finding and there was a party going on. One of the members invited us in and we ate some food and talked to some people. That night we bused around some more.

Sunday- We had church and Kudzai got up and bore a great testimony, it was awesome! After church we practiced our song for the fireside and then bused home. I sat next to this older man that I've talked to before and had a great conversation. He got off with us and asked to take our picture because we looked so "smart" with our suits on. So he took some pics of us and said he will print them off and give them to us next time he sees us. Later we helped out at the soup kitchen. For dinner we made alfredo and bacon and then put the alfredo in the bacon grease. It was amazing, maybe not healthy, but really good! 

Monday- We were supposed to have a lesson in the morning at the library, but the guy didn't come, so we just street contacted and then went home for studies, lunch and our apartment inspection. In the afternoon we had a really crazy experience, every morning we pray that we will be guided where we need to be and we definitely were. We were in the right place at the right time and ran into this guy we'd talked to before. We were able to sit down and just talk, if we hadn't run  into him when we did it could have been a really sad day. We ended with some hugs and then ran to dinner with Joan. We had dinner and then got ice cream and went to the church for a lesson with Kudzai. He has had all of the lessons taught to him since his baptism so now we are having him teach us. He did a great job! Then we watched the YSA devotional for FHE. 

Tuesday- We had a member lesson in the morning and then we went street contacting for most of the day. We got wrecked. We talked to a lot of people, the only problem was most of them didn't talk back. We bused around for the night and got to ride our favorite bus driver's bus, it was emotional when Elder Strong had to say goodbye to him. 

It was a good week here! I'm really excited to be in a trio this is gonna be a fun transfer! This week I really gained a testimony that Heavenly Father will guide us exactly where we need to be if we pray for his guidance and then act. Have a great week everyone!

Love, Elder Tait

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

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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 

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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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