Welcome to Ottawa!

These past few days have been some of, if not THE craziest days of my mission so far!! SO much has happened!

First of all, last Wednesday I met my new companion, fresh out of the MTC. Her name is Sister Cunningham and she's from Utah. I love her! I'm going to enjoy these next couple of transfers together! :)

After that, we took a 3 hour bus ride to Ottawa, met some other missionaries, and found our new apartment. It's really cool because we live downtown - as in, within short walking distance of City Hall and Parliament. (We caught the beginning of some fireworks over Parliament Hill the other night.) Elders used to live here, but they did a nice job of cleaning up before we arrived, so it's pretty nice....but there are definitely some eyebrow-raising anomalies.....like SIX tubs of margarine in the fridge/freezer.....(We asked about that. Apparently they were all gifts. The elders were like, "I don't know, maybe you can use them as thank-you cards after dinner appointments?") Cool.

So, we're also on transit in this area. It's a pretty huge change for me, coming from an area where we drove 100+ km daily to lots of walking and learning to decipher bus maps...we've made a lot of mistakes...we missed one appointment completely because we got lost and were going to be an hour late, and another time we got off at the wrong stop and had to walk twice as far to get home in the pouring rain. It's been an adventure! But we're actually really enjoying it! :) On top of all that, we have a tiny teaching pool because even though technically we didn't open a new area, we kind of did. The previous sisters are still here, but they now only teach in Spanish, so they kept all their Spanish-speaking investigators and less-actives.

But hey! We've had some cool experiences! The other day we were walking down the street and this man leaned out of a coffee shop and asked if we could talk about the Book of Mormon (so we did). Haven't had that one happen before!

Till next week!

Sister Shaver

 Saying goodbye to Sister Hinkson and Saint-Jérôme families.

 Hello Sister Cunningham! (with the Patricks)

us soaking wet the day we got caught in the rain 

a squirrel we named Nemo because he has a gimpy paw

The transfer call strikes again!!!

Honestly, I think zone leaders enjoy doing transfer calls too much. Here`s what our conversation was like last Saturday:

ZL: Are you ready for your transfer call?

Us: Yes!

ZL: Sister Shaver - you are...(suspense)....GOING.....to.....Riverside!

Me: Where is that? (Ottawa) What language? (English) etc.

ZL: Oh, and Sister Shaver?

Me: Yes?

ZL: ....... You`re training!

*explosion on our side of the phone*

Yes! So Sister Hinkson is going home, elders are moving into our area, and I am flushing into an area and TRAINING! Whaaaaa! And it`s a little bit complicated, but from what I gather, there are already sisters where we`re going - who are staying - but they`re becoming exclusively Spanish sisters, and we are taking over their area. But they`re keeping their apartment and car etc. which means that on top of whitewashing, I`m also going into a new apartment! (There are pros and cons to this...)

So, that`s my exciting news for the week. It took me like 3 hours to fall asleep that night because there`s SO much to do in the next few days! Our members and investigators are really sad about it. Those poor elders. But I`m sure they`ll warm up to them quickly. :)

This necklace was given to me by an African family. It's in the shape of Cameroun.

Otherwise, it`s been a generally good week! Nothing else major happened except that one of our less-actives actually came to church for the first time in forever! Yay! 

Our peanut butter party snacks.

It`s bittersweet leaving an area. I won`t have a chance to say goodbye to some of the people I really got to love. 

But I am WAY excited for this next adventure!
Sister Shaver

My district is (was) Elder Sumsion, Elder Gonzalez, me, Sister Hinkson, Sister Meldrum and Sister Rawlings

There IS a plan!

A 30-minute zone training and sacrament meeting talk later and I`m still here! Wow! Amazing! Actually, I really enjoyed doing both of those! I didn`t end up being as nervous as I thought I would be to give the zone training. We did a little skit at the beginning that got people interested and laughing right away, and it turned out to be pretty good! It was cool to meet the zone. I didn`t know anyone. But I did meet up with Sister Beaumont, who`s also from BC. :)

One of the things I love about missionary life is that God always has a plan for our day - He just doesn`t always let us know what it is! But generally, when the plans we made don`t work out, it`s because there`s somewhere else that He needs us to be in that moment. This week a lot of lessons got canceled last-minute. But that was okay because it gave us opportunities to do other things we otherwise wouldn`t have thought of! 

For instance, yesterday we went to an appointment with a less-active who turned out not to be home. So instead we dropped by a former investigator who lived in the same complex and we ended up actually getting in and having a long conversation with this woman from Uganda. She`s a single mother of three working to learn English (an opportunity she missed because of having spent her childhood fleeing from one war-torn African country to another) so she can get her high school diploma so she can better support her family. We meet the most interesting people! That`s another thing I love about being a missionary! We also ran into this man who had traveled all over the US and visited Salt Lake and when we offered him a Book of Mormon he was like, "I already have one of those!" So that was cool.

I think that`s about all I have to say this week! I can`t believe this is already the last week of the transfer! Time flies when you`re having fun ;) 

Soeur Shaver

      

Sister Hinkson is going home next week!

   

This is the house I live in right now. The mom of the family sometimes leaves us food in our room...  

 "Eet Smakelijk!" is Dutch for "Bon Appetit!"

Friendly ducks, phone calls, and dignity

A really cool thing happened the other day! Sister Hinkson and I stopped by a less-active member to see how he was doing and see if we could maybe have a lesson with him. He happened to be available, so we went to a nearby park where we sat at a picnic table that was surrounded by probably 50+ ducks. I`ve never met such friendly ducks. It was strange. 

But that wasn`t the cool thing! While we were talking, an old man on a scooter drove up next to us and said something like (rough translation), "Oh, I was hoping you were eating something and I could maybe grab some" (jokingly) and the man we were teaching looked at his scriptures and was like, "No... but we are feasting on the word." And then that led into a Gospel discussion with this stranger who had some really sincere questions, and the one with whom we had been in the middle of a lesson got to bear his testimony about the topic we had been teaching! The stranger said he didn`t have a phone number but accepted a mormon.org card and said he`d call us.

But the REALLY cool thing is that he actually did call the next day!!! Unfortunately it was while we were in church so we didn`t answer, but he left a message and said he`d try again later! (Just so you know, when people say they`re going to call us, they don`t. Almost ever.)

Aside from that, the only other cool news I can think of right now is that Sister Hinkson and I have been asked to give a training on dignity at the next zone training meeting this week! It`s exciting! But also a little bit nerve-wracking. This zone is almost twice as big as my last zone. We`re looking forward to it though!

Until next week!

Soeur Shaver

Guess What!

Hey guess what!!! 

My friend, whom I`ve been referring to as "Jane," got baptized last Saturday! :D I`m a little sad that I didn`t get to be there for it (since it was in Québec) but I got to hear all about it from the other missionaries that night. YAY! She`s so wonderful. I have no doubt that she`ll continue to be strong in the church. :)

Other than that, there isn`t a lot of big news this week. We went on exchanges, so I got to serve in Montréal for a day, which was fun. I also got assigned to give a talk in sacrament meeting in a couple of weeks. Oh, and we taught a LOT this week! And found three new amis! It was great!

We also met up with a less-active who recently moved back into our area. I`m super excited to work with him. In our very first lesson, he basically told us that he knew the church was true, he needed to repent, and he would come back to church the next day and maybe bring his nonmember girlfriend! (He didn`t end up coming. Something came up. But still.) Which brings me to another point this week - I`m pretty sure that if everyone who told us they would come to church yesterday had actually come to church yesterday, we would have nearly doubled our numbers in sacrament meeting.... ha ha bear in mind though that this is a small branch, and lots of families are on vacation.

Well, that`s about it! I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Soeur Shaver

An instrument in the hands of God

Hola!

We had interviews with our mission president this week. When President Patrick greeted me as Hermana Shaver, I was like, "I`m not even wearing my Spanish nametag." and he answered, "I know. I`m just letting you know that I know." ....Soooooo now I`m scared. My Spanish hasn`t exactly improved dramatically since I got to the mission field..... :P

This week was pretty interesting! Lots of rain and lightning. Lots of mosquitos. Lots of emotional breakdowns (not us - people we work with). Lots of miracles though, too. Probably the most beautiful part of being a full-time missionary is that we get a front-row seat to the Atonement of Jesus Christ working powerful and monumental changes in people`s lives. I wouldn`t trade this for anything.

Check out this cloud!

The other day we walked into a lesson with a relatively new investigator. within the first three minutes he told us, "It`s not true. I don`t believe it." We reasoned with him and he gradually softened - but it wasn`t until the member we brought with us began to testify and share her personal experiences that he really sat back and listened attentively. Bearing testimony invites the Spirit so strongly. By the time this investigator said the closing prayer, he was thanking God for putting us in his path, and saying that maybe the message we brought was the thing he`d been looking for. 

I wish I could record everything I see and hear! But I can`t... so for now, I`ll have to settle for sharing things I`m learning. One thing that struck me this week was the phrase used in the scriptures, "an instrument in the hands of God." Heavenly Father needs different tools for different tasks, and He knows which one will be the perfect fit. In the short three months that I`ve been in the field, I can already see how He has been shaping me throughout my entire life to be the instrument He needs me to be right here and right now. It`s such a huge blessing to know that He trusts me enough to let me be a part of this work!

Have a great week! :)

Soeur/Hermana/Sister Shaver

Québec with Sister Davis

Saint-Jérôme with Sister Hinkson

Our apartment in Saint-Jérôme

Bienvenue à Saint-Jérome!

Bienvenue à Saint-Jérome! It`s so different from Québec! It`s a very rural area and we do a lot of driving. Rather than covering part of a big city, like my last area, we cover multiple little municipalities spread out over a large area. We could actually drive to Ottawa faster than we can get to some of our farthest members! It`s very green. I`m glad I get to spend most of summer here. :)

My new companion is Sister Hinkson. She`s great - and she`s excited about going home at the end of the transfer! Hallelujah! I was so worried I`d be killing someone who would be really upset. That would have made it really hard for me. 

The strangest thing about my new area is the living arrangement. We live with a nonmember family with two teenage boys and three cats. So, it`s basically like being home! They`re amazing. They speak Dutch, French, and English (in that order, as far as I can tell). Sometimes we come home and there`s leftover food for us. It`s wonderful!

I know I`m where I need to be right now. I haven`t even been here a week, and already I`ve had experiences that I know Heavenly Father wanted me here for. It`s such a blessing to realize that He trusts me to care for so many of His children. I love being a missionary!

Welterusten! :)

Soeur Shaver

P.S. sorry, I may not have time to get back to everyone`s emails today

Here are some pictures from my ward in Québec City just before my transfer: