Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!

So I know it's not officially Christmas just yet, but this Saturday it will be! Dang, it came quickly this year! Hope you all have a great one this year!

So not much has been happening here in Welland. It's been snowing a lot, which Elder Bindrup hates because he's an Arizona boy, while I'm from rugged Alberta. It's quite entertaining when I'm just wearing a suit, and he's all bundled up with his coat, scarf, gloves, toque, etc. It's been warming up a little, but he still thinks it's cold. It'd be nice if a chinook came this way, but apparently they don't get them here in Ontario. Sucks for them (and me, at least for another winter).

We still haven't heard about that small church with the 90 members or so, so we have no clue what's going on there, though we have asked. We'll see how that develops. Other than that, we still aren't getting any new investigators, but hopefully the work will pick up soon.

Zone Conference has also been moved. Instead of being on the 21st, it's on the 23rd, which means I'll get to spend my birthday outside all day. Isn't that gonna be fun? Oh well. Soon I'll be twenty, then before I know it, 60 will be around the corner. But I'll still be alive and kicking.

Well, other than that, there's not too much going on. The ward had this Christmas Cantata (A bunch of singing) which was pretty good. The chapel was packed. People from other cities came to watch it. Apparently, it's a really big thing around here. I enjoyed it. The snacks afterward also helped.

Anyways, that's all I have to say. Merry Christmas everyone!

Elder Stubbs

A Birthday Wish For Carson

If anyone wants to wish Carson a "Happy Birthday" next Tuesday, December 21, just email him at: carson.stubbs@myldsmail.net

I'm sure he would be thrilled to hear from you. You could also wish him a Merry Christmas at the same time. Thank you for supporting and encouraging him.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas filled with joy and being with those you love. :)

Love,

Carson's Family

Staying In Welland With Elder Bindrup For Christmas!!!

Hey, what's up?

So how's everyone's lives going? Pretty good? That's great. Mine is going okay. It's gotten a lot colder and whiter out here now, so that's always fun. And we had transfer calls last night. Elder Bindrup and I are staying in Welland! Alright. This is a good thing because Elder Bindrup is awesome and we both wanted to stay, so hooray! Things are looking good.

So not much has happened again this week. Our best investigator, Mike, still doesn't have a baptisimal date. He plans for it to be in 6 months. Some people are saying that's too far away and he'll drop away before then. But he's engaged to a member and they plan on getting married civilly next October and then temple marriage a year later, so I think Mike is safe. He also has some other reasons he doesn't want to get baptized too quickly. Reasons I think are legit, so I have no worries about the guy. He's practically a member already!

Now our other investigators... We've pretty much been dropped by everyone, so it's like we're starting this transfer fresh. We'll see how things go. We haven't heard any news about that church with the 90 members from our members yet (which is good, because I'm not going to go to another church to preach my religion. If they want to hear it, then they can find us and arrange a meeting somewhere else. I'm more than willing to teach them outside of their church).

Anyways, still not too much happening here in Welland. Hopefully things will start to pick up soon. But on a brighter side... Christmas is almost here! In just about 2 weeks now! Awesome! Hope you all have a great one! Anyways, that's all I've got. Peace!

Elder Stubbs

This Cold Will Be The Death Of Me....But The Funeral Will Be Fun!!! Wish My Dad A Happy Birthday Tomorrow!

Hey everyone!

So it December! Yes! The lights! The snow! The music! The decorations! Christmas is coming around! And I'm here... in Ontario... In a place that isn't even decorated yet... In the cold. I don't even have boots. I should get on that.

Anyways, this last week has been pretty good. We've gotten a few more potentials, and our current investigators are doing well, though we were just dropped by one. Fun. We've been going out there teaching and freezing. Getting yelled at; getting to yell back. Fortunately, we haven't been attacked yet, but there have been a few times where we had to tread carefully, but were good. Only thing that's going to kill us this transfer is the cold, and it has a very good chance of doing that. My companion is from Arizona. And me, I hate the cold, especially this wet cold. So we are as good as dead. Just saying. You all are invited to my funeral. There will be snacks.

Anyways, on a bighter note... I'm going to Niagara Falls today! Woo! Get to see the falls all Christmasy! It's going to be good! Unless Elder Bindrup pushes me in, or I slip on some ice and fall in. That would happen to me. Fate is cruel, but what a way to go! I'll swan dive it and then you can catch all of the action on youtube 5 minutes after it happens! I'll be famous! Again, you all are invited to my funeral. I think I'll have a laser and smoke show there as well. You know, to lighten it up and make it fun. There will also be zombie movies playing if any of you want to watch that.

The ward here is also doing well, except they want us to go to some other church's service and teach them. It's a congregation of 90 people that a member found, and he volunteered us to go to their services to teach them. It isn't official yet (Seeing as he hasn't even asked them), but a bunch of other members jumped right onto his idea (maybe to make up for the lack of ward help). I don't know how I feel about going to some other people's service and preaching my religion to them during their's. It seems a little tacky. A lot of these people are farmers apparently, so I'll let you know how it goes if it happens and I don't get run through with a pitchfork.

Anyways, that's all I have to say for this week! I hope all of you are doing well and are keeping warm!

Merry Christmas!

Elder Stubbs

PS It's my Dad's birthday on December 7, tomorrow. Wish him a good one if you see him!

Thermals Anyone? Too Late For The Possum....

Hey everyone, how's life?

So I've been pretty busy this past week doing a lot of finding (No big surprise there). We did a lot of walking (Like usual) and a lot of talking (Of course), and in the end, we've ended up with 2 new investigators and quite a few potentials (A lot of 'ya, sure' (s), but hey, you get what you get).

It's been cooling down here a lot as well. Below freezing a few times. I know what I did. Bundled up and wished I was in California. Unfortunately, not all wishes come true. But hey, we can always look at the bright side of things. For example, this cold is good for... Ya, I've got nothing.

Anyways, sad story. Elder Tripp got transferred. I know! It sucks. He told us he kissed a girl in the St. Catherines ward (We believed him. It's Tripp after all) and so he was getting transferred to Woodstock. Turns out, he didn't kiss anyone. Some other missionary in Woodstock went home, so Tripp took his spot. Elder Bindrup and I are going to miss Tripp.

What else has happened this week... Elder Brindrup ran over a possum (By accident). We got to do a lot of wood and log moving on Saturday morning for a few hours. I got food poisoning (My own fault, I think, though we'll blame someone else). We had thanksgiving dinner with an Italian family. AND... Nothing. That's all I can think of. The city is still not decorated, but here's to hoping!

Anyways, have a great week! Stay warm!

Elder Stubbs

Anyone Want To Move A Cabinet?

Hey, what's up?

This week has been pretty good. It's getting colder now, but that's to be expected I guess. It's also rained a few times here, but that's life. Anyways, the work here is still slow. We did get some new potentials though, so hopefully those will work out.

We've also been doing a lot of service still. We've been packaging food for charity, and we've been helping people move stuff. This morning we actually had to move a cabinet from someone's garage up to their room, which was up a flight of stairs.... very narrow stairs. Long story short: it sucked. We both got hurt a bit, we now smell like cigarette smoke. I got really dizzy, almost threw up and almost passed out because I forgot breakfast and I hit my head quite a few times. Not fun, but we finally got it up there a hour later. Just the two of us. Alone. With no help. And it was big. And heavy. End of story.

Other than that, things have been pretty good. We've been doing a lot of walking (like usual), but a lot of driving because we cover a few other cities, so we'll spend some time out there, especially if we have an appointment or referral out there. Needless to say, we eat out a lot. Not much else has been happening out here though. We got to go to Hamilton yesterday for Stake Conference and I got to talk to some people that I know there, so that was pretty neat. I also got to do some Chinese work the other day with Elder Omer for travels, which was pretty fun, though I didn't really understand a lot. Omer is a pretty cool guy, and this week, I get to serve with Elder Tripp for a bit! Fun!

Getting to serve with Elder Bindrup has been fun as well. He's a great guy and we have a lot in common, so it's easy to get along with him.

Well, that's all that I have. I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week!

Elder Stubbs

Work Is Slow, But Life Is Good!

Hey everyone. How's your week going?

My week has been a little slow, like usual, but things are still going well. Serving with Elder Bindrup is still a lot of fun and Welland is still a nice place. It's been warming up here for awhile, which is quite nice, but I'm expecting it to get cooler soon. Dang.

Anyways, it's been another slow week. The work here doesn't really go too quickly, but we are still doing it. The ward here is great and we get to see the members a lot, more than Hamilton Mountain (Nothing against them though, just saying).

We've been doing a lot of service still, but it's been good. We help out the members and also work at the Hope Center (food kitchen). It's been good. But I'm not looking forward to when it snows and people start asking us to shovel their walks.

Other than that, not much has been going on. We don't have any new investigators, but we have been getting a lot of exercise. So that's good. And it's a pretty nice place we are in, so I enjoy walking around here.

Anyways, like I said last week, these posts may be shorter for awhile. I hope all of you are doing well. Have a great week!

Elder Stubbs

Knocking On Doors & Soup Kitchens But Having Fun

Hey everyone, how's life?

Unfortunately, this post will be a little short because I don't have my planner with me with all of my notes, and also because of limited time today.

So this week has been fun. Serving in Welland with Elder Bindrup is fun. He's a great guy to serve with.

Not much has happened this week actually. It's been a fun but busy week. The work here is a little slow, so we've been doing a lot of contacting and knocking (big surprise). We have been doing a lot of service, like helping people move and working in soup kitchens, but as far as teaching people, that's not going so well. Other than that, serving in Welland has been great, and hopefully I'll get more time to make a better post next week.

Happy November!

Elder Stubbs

Hello Welland!!

Hey everyone, how's life going?

So I'm in Welland now with Elder Bindrup. He's an awesome guy and so far, serving with him has been great! He's a fun dude and is just great to be around.

So a quick run down of my week:

Monday was a day of packing. Woo! Not much else to say. Said bye to a few people, then went to bed.

Tuesday I finished packing. Then I went downtown with Elder Giles for a few hours until Elder Bindrup came to pick me up and drove to Welland where I will now be serving. WE GOT A CAR! After that, Elder Bindrup and I went to a ward Halloween party. It was fun and I got to meet a lot of the ward there.

Wednesday we went and did some volunteer work at a soup kitchen and got an oil change. Then we did some tracking for the day and went to a member's house for dinner.

Thursday we did our weekly planning, then we got to do more volunteer work by helping some people move. That took most of the day. That night we got to go to another member's house for dinner.

Friday we did a lot of walking and knocking, so not much to report there. No crazy people yet. We got to meet more ward members though. One of those members was a guy who's name is Fronz Leory who is really cool.

Saturday we did a lot more walking, then we got to help more people move! Funstuff, huh? Basically, we did a lot of moving that day, but hey, what can you do?

Sunday I got to meet the ward. It's filled with great people and some of them know people in Medicine Hat! Cool, huh? We also got a potluck afterwards and food to take home. Then we did a little more contacting and knocking but only for the afternoon. We had to be in our apartment by 5pm because of Halloween. Sunday night was a little boring but oh well, what can you do?

So that was my week. Sorry this entry isn't too long or informative. I don't have much time today and I forgot my planner which has what we did in it. I'll make a better one next week. Anyways, I hope you all had a happy Halloween!

Elder Stubbs

Where, Oh Where Are the Elect?;Elder Ballard & Transfers!

Hey everyone! What's up?

Halloween is coming up! Awesome! It's one of my favorite holidays and I would be looking so forward to it! Except I have to be home by 6:00 pm.

Anyways, not too much happened this week. Monday we played basketball for a few hours which was really fun, and showed how out of shape I am. We also got to go to the Mandarin restaurant. The Griffens (Senior couple) took us all out to eat. They're great people, and I'm going to miss them.

Tuesday we got to meet with President Brower for interviews. He's a great man and I love serving under him. After our interviews, we basically went walking for a few hours trying to find the elect. Apparently they don't feel like being found right now. Go figure.

Wednesday we had a few appointments lined up for the day, but as luck would have it, they all fell through. We did get fed twice though! That was good. The ward here is pretty good at doing that, and I'm really going to miss it.

Thursday had many more cancelled appointments and was just a disappointing day.

Friday we got to meet Elder M. Russell Ballard! He was here for a stake conference in Brampton and he decided to hold a special meeting for all the missionaries within the vicinity. He's a great man and we also got to meet with his wife. Learning at the feet of an apostle is really quite the experience. This marks the second apostle that I've met. After that experience, we got to do a deep clean of our apartment (ugh). Funstuff, huh?

Saturday I got to spend the morning with Elder Call. He's an awesome guy and is a great missionary. We did a lot of contacting, then we went to a members house for lunch. It was their son's 2nd birthday and they invited a lot of people. They had a whole roast pig there! It was cool, but a little creepy. Elder Call and I had fun taking pictures with it. It was also pretty good. The Wee family is pretty awesome. After lunch, we switched back and did a lot more contacting in the rain. Unfortunately, we got no one and had some more cancelled appointments. We did meet this one really nice guy named Charles Watson. He's met missionaries before but isn't interested. He admires missionaries though and thinks we are a good people. I then found out that his brother lives in... Medicine Hat! His name is George Watson (I think) and he's stationed there for the army. Small world huh?

Sunday we had church and only one of our investigators showed up but left right after sacrament because she thought it was too boring. She said she'll come back though, so we'll see (Well, I won't). I ended up having to teach the Gospel Principles class because the regular teacher was late. From the way I taught it, I may be my Father's son after all. After that, it was just another fun filled day of contacting, but with a twist! It was super misty out! It kind of reminded me of that Stephen King movie 'The Mist'. It was fun, and it wasn't too thick, so we didn't get too wet. Just slightly damp.

Well, that was my week. Now for the big event! Today marks the 4th transfer in the field! Where is Elder Stubbs going? I am being transferred to... Welland! We get a car! Yes! I hear Welland is a pretty neat place, and it's close to Niagara, so I might get to see the falls again! I'm also going to be in Elder Tripp's district! Wooo! It's going to be fun! I don't know the address there yet, but I'll be sure to get it as soon as possible!

Well, that was my week. I hope yours was awesome. Have a Happy Halloween!

Elder Stubbs

Cancelled Appointments, Finding The Elect And Desserts!

Hey everyone, how's it going?

So it is now the final week of transfer 3! Dang, that was quick, huh? I find out next Sunday night if I getting transferred or not. Funstuff, huh? I'm getting into my 4th transfer, and that means I'll be a quarter way into my mission! Time certainly does fly, doesn't it?

So Tuesday nothing much happened after emails. We just did some shopping and relaxed. Then we had a few meetings we had to go to. A lot of people are feeling guilty now since no one fed us on Thanksgiving. Everyone assumed that some else had us for dinner that night. Here we see the effects of assuming!

Wednesday we had a district meeting in the morning, followed by lunch, then just a day of walking around, trying to find the elect. We found a dude named Mark who was quite interested in what we had to say. So we scheduled an appointment with him on Saturday (Which Elder Leishman and Elder Lee, along with Bishop, went to). He was pretty excited about church from what I hear and we arranged a ride for him, but then he never showed. Ouch.

Thursday was weekly planning and then we went out to try and find the elect. We didn't find any. We did however find a less-active who invited us in and talked to us, but he was always able to steer the conversation away from religion. He's a pretty interesting guy though and we had fun talking to him. But in the end, he told us he's agnostic and that he'll never go back to church again. Dang. After we left him and had dinner, we had a botched appointment, so it was just more tracting for the night. Joy.

Friday involved a lot more walking than we usually do, so I was pretty tired at the end of the day. Unfortunately, we didn't find anyone who wanted to listen and one of our investigators canceled our appointment with him that night, again. We are precariously close to dropping the guy. Anyways, after that, we headed downtown because of travels and I got to spend the night and Saturday with Elder Giles.

Saturday we did a lot of walking around, try to find the Chinese elect. It was fun, and we talked to a lot of Chinese people that day. Usually they don't talk to as many, or else the people the Chinese Elders find are Japanese or some other Asian race, so today was a good day. We also saw one of the old investigators who was so close to baptism. She got permission from her parents back in China and was fully prepared, but then she backed out, that apostate. Oh well, her loss. We actually saw quite a few people today that Elder Lee and Giles know, so that was cool. Then we had a spaghetti dinner at the downtown chapel, with a dessert auction. It was pretty fun, and some people gave the missionaries some of the desserts they got. One dessert Elder Plunkett tried bidding on, but the Bishop's wife kept bidding higher and higher, same with some other lady, until the cake's final bid was 30 dollars! (give or take a few). Dang! The Bishop's wife won it, the gave it to the missionaries. How nice, huh? They don't want the missionaries spending money, so they'll spend it for them. The dessert's were great, and I had a fun time downtown, but then Elder Giles and I headed back up to the mountain (escarpment) to switch back. Apparently, on the mountain, almost all but one of our appointments canceled. Dang! Again!

Sunday was church, like usual. After church we went to the Davies for lunch and Bro. Davies fed us some Laotian dish that he learned on his mission that was really good. It involved sweet rice. Sweet rice is really good. I love going over to the Davies' house. Then after that, we got a ride up to Concession Street for an appointment, which the kid canceled when we got there. So we did a lot of walking and talking, and eventually found this guy named Dwayne, whole invited us in his house and listened to what we had to say. We had a good conversation about what we believed, and he took a Book of Mormon and promised to read it. He seems really interested. After him, we went to the Pulsiphers and had a good night with them, then went home to prep for today!

So all-in-all, it was a fun but tiring week. It sucks not having a car in this area, seeing as it such a huge area, but we make out okay. This could be my last week on the mountain. I've been here sixteen and a half weeks. Dang, time goes fast. I hope everyone is doing well wherever they are. Halloween is coming up soon! I really wanted to dress-up as a missionary zombie this year, but apparently we have to be in our apartment by 6 on Halloween. Oh well, rules are rules. Anyways, that's all for this week. I hope everyone enjoys their week, and have a great day!

Elder Stubbs

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Hope you all had a great time!

So this week has been okay. After emails on Monday, we went shopping then went to the apartment and literally did nothing all day. It drove me nuts. I wanted to go out and do something, anything, but my companion just wanted to stay in and sleep. So I couldn't leave the apartment since he wouldn't. Monday was a very, very boring day.

Tuesday I got to go to Brantford with Elder Thompson and we had a busy day planned out for us, but then many of our appointments had to cancel, so only two really work out, but they were good. We got to visit a family called the Camellarries and have lunch with them. We also went to visit this new investigator the Brantford Elders got and she wanted to be baptized, so she has a baptismal date for the 24! Cool, huh? That day also involved a lot of walking around, but it was fun.

Wednesday, we got to help this one guy move and it wasn't a lot of fun. He lived on the top floor of a house and the steps up there were so narrow and had a few turns, so getting things down that was not fun at all, especially the huge couch with the fold out bed! That just sucked a lot. The apartment was also quite dirty so Elder Thompson and I spent quite awhile in the showers afterward, but hey, we got to help the people, right? Then we had a meal at the De Jaun's, the Ward Mission Leader's family. Dinner was awesome, and their son just got back from a mission, so that was pretty cool. Then we got to visit a member by the name of Teressa, which was a lot of fun and quite an entertaining experience. Then we had coordination and went home.

Thursday, we got to teach some more investigators and the lady with a baptismal date, so it was a good day. We had dinner with the Sillers, another member family. The Brantford Elders get fed a lot. We had a lot of time for finding as well, and then near the end of the day, I had to go back to Hamilton Mountain.

Friday was weekly planning since we couldn't do it yesterday. After that, we got to go to a member family know as the Pulsipher's. Paul Pulsipher actually served in this mission a few years ago (He's from Colorado or California, I can't remember), but came back here and married Lorraine Dufour. He served under President Middleton for a time and if you know Jordan Curliss, Paul was under him when Bro. Curliss was a district leader. Small world, huh? So they fed us a really good Thanksgiving dinner, so that was very good.

Saturday we went to Brampton to see President Brower and talk to him a bit. It was a good time and we had fun, then the assistant's gave us a ride back to the mountain. I started feeling really sick that day, but we still went out to find and contact people to bring them closer to God. We had no dinner appointments for the night, so we got to feed ourselves. I had Hamburger helper! The Cheesy Shells! Yum!

Sunday was church, like usual. Then we went over to Sister Falco's for an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. She's a great cook and it's always a joy to go over to her place. After staying there for lunch, we went home and did a lot more contacting, but also took a nap since we were both feeling a little sick.

Monday was a holiday, so our P-Day got moved to today. We got to do the Turkey Bowl yesterday! That was fun. It's the annual football game members in the ward have and we got to play it in the rain. It was a fun game. Then we went tracting for a few hours in the rain, and the rain just started pouring, so that wasn't too fun. Then I had my Thanksgiving dinner of some Hamburger Helper Taco stuff, which was good, a bowl of cereal (Marshmallow Mateys), a pop tart (S'mores), Dr. Pepper, some Garlic Cheese toast and a Caramilk bar. A feast fit for the gods! Then we went and had Family Home Evening with the Pulsiphers, which was a lot of fun.

So that was my week. I hope all of yours was exciting as well, and I wish you all the best!

Elder Stubbs

When It Rains, It Pours...Except For Finding Investigators!

Hey everyone, how's your week going?

This week hasn't been the best week, I'll admit. Things were slow going and even though we talked to a lot of people, no one really wanted to listen this week.

Monday was sports day. It was fun. After emails and shopping, we went with the other missionaries to the downtown chapel to play basketball for a few hours. That was a lot of fun. It was also raining a lot that day, and when we went out, we got drenched. Some of the older waterlines burst and parts of the road were destroyed. Crazy, huh? One street started flooding while we were on it, but luckily we didn't get caught in it. It's been really wet this week.

Tuesday, it was still raining. A lot of the streets we had to take were flooded, so that didn't help things at all, but it was actually pretty fun. As soon as we got in for lunch though, the rain decided to stop, but then started up again later on in the night. God loves messing with us. Tuesday was mainly a walking day, so not a lot happened there.

Wednesday, the rain decided to stop for awhile and we still had to do a lot of walking. Nothing exciting happened on Wednesday, so I'll leave it at that.

Thursday, was a lot more walking, again, but with a change of pace. We actually got to do some running to catch our buses since we had to go from one appointment to another, allllllllll the way across the mountain. Funstuff, huh? We also got a McDonald's cup filled with Root Beer or something (I don't know what it really was. It was dark colored and I wasn't about to taste it) thrown at us. Luckily, we got into a bus stop in time, so we never got hit. Elder Leishamn told me that when he was with Elder Tripp, the same thing happened, only Elder Tripp got nailed in the back by it while biking. People aren't pleasant, huh? Today was also weekly planning and I had to buy Leishman a doughnut, again. I really have to stop making bets with the guy.

Friday, more walking around, then we headed to Ancaster for dinner with a member family. Dinner was awesome (Pulled Pork sandwiches) and then we just did some more contacting for the day. It was an alright day.

Saturday was General Conference! It was really good this year. I really liked President Uchtdorf's and President Monson's talks and Patrick Kearon's (Priesthood session) talks. Elder Holland's was pretty good too. In between talks, we just ate and taught lessons. We went to the Ticas' house for dinner and they fed us these turkey sandwiches from El Salvador, which were really good. I don't know everything that was inside of them, but after I ate them and saw some of the leftover stuff, I decided it was best not to know. The three sessions today were really good.

Sunday, more Conference. I liked President Packer's talk, Elder Ballard's talk, as well as President Monson's talk. Conference was pretty good this year. Then we also did a lot of contacting afterwards, but that didn't yield any results.

Well, that was my week. Hope yours was more eventful! I get to go to Bantford (The City of God) again tomorrow for 3 days with Elder Thompson again while Elder Leishman goes to Brampton for Leadership training. That should be fun. I kind of hope it rains because the streets flood a lot there, and I want to see that. Hey! Did any of you play the game 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' (Name may be spelled wrong)? Well, in London, there's a member there that Elder Leishman knows. His name is Bro. Lafronz (May be spelled wrong), and he's the guy who does the moves for Batman in the game. The guy is pretty cool. I saw a video Leishman has of him poking a watermelon, then puncturing it and destroying it with his pointer and middle finger! It's crazy! The dude is a tank! Anyways, that's all for me. Thanks for all the emails and letters you have been sending out, and I'll respond, but it might take some time since I get pretty busy. Anyways, I hope you guys have a great week!

Elder Stubbs

There's a Critic in Every Crowd

Hey everyone, what's up?

So this week has been an uneventful one. Monday was our P-day, so we just did laundry, cleaning and some sports. Nothing too exciting, except the new Wal-Mart Supercenter that opened here! We were pretty stoked about it! Pretty sad that the opening was the highlight of our day, huh? It had a lot of great sales though. We're going back today!
Tuesday we went around talking to many people, and our dinner appointment forgot we were coming that day, so we stopped at Harvey's for dinner. I've never had it before, but it was pretty good. Then while sitting down, a guy came up and said 'Now it's my turn.' Then started preaching some anti to us and such. It was pretty entertaining. He actually carries around with him a lot of anti literature. After him, we had PEC, which went well.
Wednesday, I did the paperwork for Beverley's baptism and confirmation (thrilling, I know) and went to do some more contacting. We ran into another anti who started preaching to us and after him, we found this 16 year old that started hissing at us! That was pretty funny. I had to control myself because I almost burst out laughing in front of her. You'll meet all kinds in Hamilton. We actually got yelled at 6 times within one block while walking down the street. People here really love us. Anyway, after the contacting, we went to go visit a sister in the hospital to talk with her and give her a blessing. Her friend that lives in Australia was there too. That's a long way from home. After the hospital, we visited Bro. Bateman for the night to coordinate and such.
Thursday was a day of planning and walking around. We didn't get to teach a lesson all day, though we met so many people. That was a disappointing day and nothing funny happened. Dang.
Friday we had district meeting which was pretty good. After that, we had lunch and went to go visit a less-active we found named Moses (I can't remember if I've mentioned him before). We taught him the Plan of Salvation. After teaching him, we went around and contacted more people, but no one really wanted to listen... again.
Saturday, we finally got to teach Milan after many dropped appointments and the lesson went well. It's been hard teaching him since he mainly speaks Czech, but things have been improving and he's understanding more and more. He really likes what we are teaching and wants to come to church again because he says he feels closer to God while there. He's doing really well. After Milan, we went to a members home for dinner, which was really good and got to teach them a lesson on Christ's Atonement. The ward here is great.
On Sunday, Milan came to church which he really enjoyed. Bro. Bateman was able to get a copy of the Gospel Principles lesson in Czech, which helped Milan understand a lot more. He also really enjoyed Elders quorum, which I missed most of because Bro. Bateman and I were running around trying to figure a bunch of things out. It was pretty hectic. Somehow, we ended up with a key to the Bishop's office as well, so we were trying to figure that one out. After that, a potential investigator we had, canceled on us. So we headed home to have lunch, which was a pretty long walk. Then we did some contacting and a lot of tracking. Finally, we went to a member's home (The Wee's) for dinner. They are from the Philippines and Sis. Wee almost made Balut to scare us. Balut is a fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. She said next time we come over, she will make it. Joy. That will be an interesting experience. Oh! We also learned from some Muslim that the word/name 'Mormon' means 'One who doesn't sin' in Arabic. Cool, huh?
Well, that was my week. I hope your week was a lot more eventful than mine. It's getting cold out there too! Fun stuff, huh? Well anyways, that's all for now. I hope you guys have a great week!

Elder Stubbs

Ice Cream, a New Companion, Ward Members and Dogs

Hey everyone, how's life going for you?

So this past week has been pretty good. Last Monday after emails, we ran back to our apartment (literally) to meet with Bishop Beitz (pronounced bites) because he wanted to take us out to lunch. We went to Hillbilly Heaven and got some really good BBQ and then we went out for ice cream at Dairy Queen. (Sidenote: They have Cold Stone Creameries here but they are slowly combining them with Tim Hortons, so it'll be like a Dairy Queen/Orange Julius thing. Just what the world needs, huh?) Anyways, getting to spend time with the Bishop was really fun. He's a very entertaining guy. Listening to the things he says just makes you laugh so hard. After Bishop dropped us off back home, we headed out to Ancaster to have dinner with the Falcos again. Then we headed off to visit Jacob because he wanted to say goodbye to Elder Tingey (now Bro. Tingey). After Jacob, Bro. Davies and his two kids came and picked us up and took us to Dairy Queen for some ice cream (you can never have enough ice cream), then back to their house for a lesson. Then Bro. Davies gave us a ride to Bro. Bateman's house to pick up some stuff, then back to our apartment. I love this ward!
Tuesday was a little rushed in the morning. We went to go visit Leslie so she could say bye to Tingey, then we visited Beverley, because she wanted to say bye and give him a gift. Bro. Baeta (pronounced: bay-tah) came with us to both of those visits. He's a great guy, and has a real strong testimony after being in the church for only two years. Then we drove to Dundurn Castle to do transfers. There I met Elder Leishman. Turns out, I met him when I first got to the field in the mission home. We were temporary companions while role-playing teaching and such. He's from a small city in Utah (of course) called Morgan, where Elder Kilmer is from. So they know each other. He's a good guy. He's been out for 14 months, so luckily I'm not training yet. We also went to PEC that night, which was quite enjoyable. This ward can make anything fun.
Wednesday was a long day of contacting. We didn't have any appointments scheduled, so our day involved a lot of walking around and quite of bit of tracking (not too fun). Anyway, we got to go to the Grants for dinner (they know some of my cousins, the Malmbergs) and that was fun. They have a new dog that was just spaded so she's currently wearing the cone of shame. It's really funny to watch her run around with it on and knocking stuff over. Bro Grant's legs have scratches all over them from her. The best part was when she would try to scratch her neck because all she would get is cone. We were killing ourselves laughing, and Bro. Grant said that that was the most pitiful thing he's seen. Sister Grant took pity on Maddy (the dog) and went and scratched her neck for her. After the Grants, we had Coordination meeting with Bro. Bateman and Bro. Nantais, which went really well and much got accomplished.
Thursday was planning day. It was a cloudy day out and was kind of misty, so I was a little upset we weren't out in it. We planned for the week ahead of us and went to Tim Horton's for a doughnut (One is just across the street from us). Then last night, our dinner appointment for the day had to cancel, so we where trying to figure out what to have for dinner when Jacen Julien phoned us and told us about how some of their friends had to cancel for dinner, and the Julien's had a few extra T-bone steaks they didn't want to go to wast and they were wondering what we were doing for dinner that night. Divine intervention? I think so. So dinner was awesome, as usual (Both Juliens always make good food. The Julien brothers are twins, in case I haven't mentioned that before). Then after that, we got to go visit and teach Milan the Plan of Salvation, which went really well, considering many of the words he's never heard before, or at least hasn't heard their English names (He's Czech, just in case).
Friday was a long day of contacting people and getting rejected. Such is life. For some reason though, in the past few days we've met so many less-actives, or part-member families. More than the usual amount of maybe 1 per every few weeks. We actually met one less-active whose parents were mission presidents in the Missouri mission. That was interesting. All of them have been friendly to us, just not interested though. Other than that, nothing real exciting happened that day. Wait! There was one house we tracked at where the dog almost bit Elder Leishman, but the owner held back it back. The owner was really nice, but her next-door-neighbor who saw it told her that she should have let the dog take a chunk out of us. Then the same lady (the mean one) yelled at us and told us never to come to her house again, or else. I don't like that lady.
Saturday was just another day of contacting, but we got to go to the Elder's quorum BBQ, which was fun. I was talking to one of the members there and he told me how he got into a fight at Canada's Wonderland (some amusement park) because some drunk guy elbowed his wife in the face. So he and his friend (who's also in the church) took on the drunk and some security guards and were winning until the cops showed up and pinned them down. Then the whole matter got resolved and they never got into any trouble, except a small fine. He's an awesome guy. Then we went to meet with this man we met yesterday name Gewargis. He's from North Iraq, and is a devote christian from birth. He was actually a captain in the Iraqi army, but he left because Christians aren't too well liked there and his father was killed by Saddam for being Christian. He loves us and tells us we are like family to him. He's a good guy, and he really loves Christ.
Sunday was a very stressful day. First we missed our buses, so we were walking to church, but thankfully the Seppers saw us and gave us a ride. Then it was Beverley's confirmation today, and we thought she wanted Bishop to confim her, but then she did a 180 and had me do it. I've never done a confirmation before, so I was pretty nervous, but I think it went well. President Homer (The stake president) was there for part of it and told me I did well. Then after that, we heard from Jacob. He didn't come to church today and we found out why. He doesn't want anything to do with the church anymore and doesn't want us to contact him. He wouldn't explain why, but we think it has to do with his Grandfather, who is Presbyterian and anti-Mormon, but we have to respect his wishes. Milan and his family didn't come to church today because they were sick, but then we had a Stake Priesthood meeting that night and Milan wanted to come. He liked it (the parts he could understand), and is enjoying the church.
So that's my week. Things have been going well, and Elder Leishman is a really good guy. He's fun to be with. The ward here is awesome, and I just love the people in it. I wish you could meet them, especially some people like Bishop and both Julien families. Anyways, life is still moving along like always. Some days it goes quickly, and some days just crawl along, but they still go. Man, in about a week, I'll have been on my mission for 4 months. It's been quick, and yet so long. Anyways, I hope life is still great for all of you, and that you all are doing well, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Stubbs

Baptism, Puffy Shirts and staying in Hamilton Mountain

Hey everyone, how's it going?

Life out in the field has been pretty good. Busy, but pretty good. I experienced my second baptism in the field yesterday! Beverley has been baptized (Tingey did the baptism). She will be confirmed next Sunday. That's pretty good, huh?

Last Tuesday was a pretty good day. After emails and shopping, we went contacting and taught many lessons. Then we went to the Julien's house and I got to wear the puffy shirt Jack Black wears in Nacho Libre! Pictures should be coming as soon as I send home my memory card. Wednesday contained a lot of teaching and contacting as well. Someone found out at church that Tingey was going home, so many people have tried booking appointments with us. We got to visit the Hillman family, which was a blast! They're really funny and a joy to be around. They actually use to live in Edmonton, so they like me since I'm an Albertan kid. Thursday was planning day. Then we had to go all the way to Ancaster to have dinner with the Falcos. They're a great family. We really enjoyed going over there to visit with them. Then we also got a few teach nows that night. Friday was deep clean day, since transfers were coming up. We spent a few hours cleaning the apartment and then we had lessons to go teach. We taught Beverley (this was before her baptism) the Law of Chastity. Teaching that to 70 something year old ladies is NOT fun! After trying to block that lesson from my mind, we went over to the park on our bikes to do some contacting. I got a really fun contact. I was on my bike and I noticed some kid on his, so I went up along side him and biked with him for awhile and taught him a lesson on the Book of Mormon and the Restoration while on our bikes. That was pretty fun. Saturday was a busy day of biking to many appointments and having many of them cancel. Some we called even before going and they confirmed that they were still good to go. That was a little annoying. The day was also pretty tiring because of all of the biking we did. We also got cake from Bro. Bateman because of his new missionary policy about missionaries leaving or missionary's birthdays. That was fun. Bro. Bateman is a great ward mission leader. Sunday was a pretty hectic day. Our Czech investigators came to church today, so we had 4 investigators at church! Beverley's baptism went well and church was just busy today since everyone wanted to talk with Tingey since he's leaving. Then we headed out to Ancaster again (third time this week) to meet with the Rosearts and Beverley for dinner. Then we went to a member family's home to teach them a lesson. The best but worst part of the day though was waiting for the transfer call. We got a call. I was a little afraid that I'd be transferred, but I'm staying! Woo! I love this ward! A missionary by the name Elder Leishman is my new companion. I've heard a lot about him over the past few weeks. He was Elder Tripp's companion, and Elder Tripp is being transferred to my zone! I love Elder Tripp! We were in the MTC together and he's so awesome! Then I found out my MTC companion (Kilmer) and Tripp's MTC companion (Bracha) are training this transfer coming up! This is only their third transfer and already they have to train! Apparently, over 50% of the missionaries in the whole mission have only been out for 6 months or less! Crazy, huh?

Anyways, that's my week. How's everyone else's lives going along? Are you all enjoying school, work or whatever you're doing? I hope so! I hope you all are learning a lot, as I am and I hope you all are making the most of your lives. I hope life goes great for all of you. Thank you all who have written or emailed me. Your words have been really great and uplifting and I hope to hear from many of you soon.

Oh! Before I forget, it's my Mom's birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday Mom! Be sure to say happy birthday to her if you see her!

Elder Stubbs

Heat Stroke Anyone?

Hey everyone, how's life?

Life for me has been going on. Places to be, people to teach, things to get yelled at me. Other than that, not too much has been going on. Monday was our P-Day, and I was still feeling sick that day. They also had a heat warning for that day, and all the missionaries wanted to play Ultimate Frisbee, which meant I had to be there. Unfortunately, I got heat stroke/exhaustion, and that lasted for a few days. That wasn't fun. We also got to meet this new less-active member named Bro. Wee. He's a great guy and knows a lot about the church. He's from the Philippines, but he's actually Chinese. Tuesday was busy and sucked mainly because of my heat stroke. We had district meeting in the morning and a few lessons for the day. Then we had a dinner appointment with a new family in the ward, but we didn't know where they lived, their phone number didn't work and pretty much everyone we called didn't know where they lived. Fortunately we found one member family that did, so we were able to get there and have dinner with them. The family is from Zimbabwe. Cool, huh? We also got to teach Beverley and Jacob that day and things are going well with them. Wednesday, we went to go help a family across town move. We had to bike there, and I still was feeling sick. When we got there, we couldn't do anything since the Uhaul truck wasn't there. We waited, and waited and waited. Then the people who went to pick it up came back and told us they had to go to Ancaster to get it. We were already waiting for about an hour and a half, give or take, so we left since we had other appointments that we needed to meet. We then taught another less-active which went well and we taught John the Barber for a bit. After that, we went to the park near the mall and contacted there for the night. Thursday was planning day. We planned for the week and new month ahead of us, then we went to go visit John the Barber and Beverley. Unfortunately, Beverley had a cigarette, but we recommitted her to quit smoking. She also wanted a blessing to help her, so we gave her one. Right after that, she took her cigarettes and threw them across the room. The member who was there with us ran across the room, picked them up and put them in his bag to dispose of them. Good for him. Later that night, we went to go visit our new ward mission leader for Coordination meeting. That went really well. He's instituting a new cake policy for missionary's birthdays and for when they leave the area, which means we'll get cake this week since Tingey is going home! Friday was mainly just a day of finding. We got to meet with Jacob again and teach more about scripture study and what Lehi's dream meant. Then I got to head downtown with Elder Giles. Saturday contained a lot of walking as well. It was also pretty cold and wet and windy. Apparently a hurricane hit... Halifax? I can't remember, but we were feeling the after effects of it. So Saturday was just walking around trying to find Mandarin speaking Chinese (Elders Giles is a Mandarin speaking missionary). We met a lot of Chinese, but unfortunately, most of them could only speak Cantonese. Dang. We also got to watch some of the new Preach My Gospel DVDs that morning. Sunday we had church (duh) and then after that, more walking! It was a pretty cool day though, so that was good. We also got to go over to a member's house (The Sepper's) for dinner (he made ribs!). Dinner with them was really good. They're a great family. After them, a lot more walking until we had to go in. Monday we didn't get to email because of Labor Day, so instead we watched more of Preach My Gospel, then we played some sports for awhile, like volleyball, basketball and ping pong. Then we just ate and relaxed for the day since we couldn't do grocery shopping either. Then we went to the Goddard's for dinner. Bro. Goddard made this book of the history of the stake and mormonism in the news dating back to the 1800's! It's taken him quite a few years to make and he showed us his resources, which were a lot! The stake's 100th anniversary is coming up either this Sunday or next, so he made an abridged one for that, and the bigger one might be available at Stake Conference in... November, I think. Then it was more finding after that.

Well, that was my week. I get to go to a member's home who owns the actual puffy shirt from Nacho Libre, and I get to try it on tonight! Hopefully the pictures will be ready soon. Anyways, that's all I have to say for the week. Hope all of you enjoyed your summer and are getting back into the routine of things. Christmas is just around the corner! Have a great week!

Elder Stubbs

End of Summer. Yessss!

Hey! How's life?

So school is starting up soon, huh? Have fun! Study hard! Do well! That's what I've been trying to do too, but I have to do it 24/7, 365 days a year for 2 years straight! Fun, huh? Life out in the mission isn't getting any easier, but the days seem to be going by quickly. Last week it was Elder Tingey's birthday so on Monday we went with the Zone Leaders to some restaurant called Hillbilly Haven. It was a BBQ place, and the food was really good, but I ate too much. We also got haircuts by one of the members in the ward. I pretty much told her to take it all. Through the week, people thought a new missionary had come in and I had left. That was pretty entertaining. Then on Monday night, I headed downtown with Elder Lee for travels. A lot of the lessons I didn't understand since they were in Chinese. Elder Lee is a little upset because many of the members they meet with are less-actives that were baptized but then never really heard from missionaries again. He's upset because now it's his job to bring them back to church and to teach them all the discussions since many of them actually haven't heard them. He says it's like the missionaries who baptized these people just went around saying "He has two legs and a brain! Baptize him!" Elder Lee is quite entertaining. Tuesday, I was still with Elder Lee. We did a lot of walking. First a 10/15 minute walk to the park. Then we realized he forgot his nametag. We had to walk back home, then to the park again. Then we had to walk across town to go to a certain area. We realized that we went the wrong way, so we had to walk all the way to the other side of town. Then we had walk back to the west side again because we had stuff to do there. We then caught a bus to the next city over (Dundas) to do some stuff there. When we were finished, we went back to Hamilton and had some Toonie Tuesday at KFC. Then we had one more appointment that night which went well. I went back up the mountain. Wednesday, many of our appointments fell through, but at one member's house we went to, we had BBQ and cake for Tingey's birthday. We also came across a Jehovah's Witness and talked awhile with her. We seem to run into them a lot around here. Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful, and very tiring. It's really hot over here. Thursday we got to teach a recent convert's daughter (age 20). They both haven't really seen each other in years. Her name is Charmayne and she wants to take the discussions and rekindle her relationship with her mother again. We're going help them both out and see where God takes us. After that, we went to go visit Beverley to teach her. Currently, she has gone 8 days without smoking after 57 straight years of it! Awesome! Unfortunately, she won't give up the coffee just yet. She has one cup a day and she drinks it because her friend makes it for her every morning and Beverley doesn't want to tell her no because her friend is in bad health. She is afraid of upsetting her. Instead, she's waiting until her friend moves into her retirement home in the middle of September. Other than that, she's doing great! She's given up smoking, tea and alcohol! Awesome, huh? After her, we went to a Spanish member's house for dinner (which was really good)and then taught them. We did a lot of contacting for the night. Friday, we finally got to meet with Jacob for the first time in about 2 1/2 weeks. He's been canceling every appointment we made, so this was good. We talked with him a bit and tried to set a baptisimal date with him again, but he refused to set one. Turns out his main concern is he's worried what people will think once he get baptized. I was so tempted to tell him to get over it, but I held my tongue. After teaching him, Sis. Brower (The Mission President's wife) came and picked us up and took Elder Tingey and I out to lunch with her and President Brower to a place called the Stoney Creek Dairy. Apparently, it was President Brower's favorite place to go when he served his mission here, and he hasn't been back until he took us. He told us it was a historical moment. Then he took our picture with Sister Brower and sent it to Elder Ballard (of The Twelve. He's Sis. Brower's dad). Turns out this place was also one of Elder Ballard's favorite places to visit as well when he was the Mission President here. It was fun to get to go eat and talk with them. After that, we met the Bishop (he's an awesome guy. I love him!) at some house to help a new family move in. We waited, and waited, and waited. After a hour and a half of talking, sitting and eating fruit from off the trees with the bishop, we decided to leave since no one came or called. So after that uneventful event, we went to have dinner with the Ticas family (El Salvador family). Their son gets home from his mission in a month, so they are pretty excited for that. After them, more walking. Saturday was pretty good. We did planning in the morning and then we went to visit Beverly. After her, we went to go visit this potential with a member named Bro. Baeta, but the potential never showed up. Instead, Bro. Baeta took us to get some souvlaki and gyros at some Greek place. It was good. Then we talked to him about his concerns and about his endowment coming up. He's a good guy. He's been in the church for about 4 years and he's been doing really well. He has a really powerful testimony. After meeting with him, we did more contacting and teaching on the streets. Sunday, we got to go to church. Beverley and Jacob showed up and some random lady came in. Turns out, her son in Edmonton hated church, but the missionaries found him one day and he loves the discussions. His mom decided to come to church and figure out why he likes it so much. She actually made it sound like they are brainwashing her kid. She's coming back next week though because she said she finds it very interesting and wants to learn more. After church, we went to this family's house with Leslie and her son (our recent converts) and had dinner and family home evening. It went very well and Leslie is doing great in the church! Leslie is an awesome person. After the Gravis's, more walking and teaching. I almost got bitten by a dog and I think I'm catching a cold. Fun, huh?

Well, that's about it for my week. I'm glad summer is almost over, because that means a few things. First, this heat wave should end soon (it picked up again today). Second, fall is just awesome. Third, I want cooler weather. Fourth, the crunchy leaves come out. I love stepping on crunchy leaves. Anyways, I hope you all do well with whatever you do this coming school year, whether you're in school, at work or preparing to serve your own mission! I hope you all do well and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Best of wishes,

Elder Stubbs

Hide and Seek Anyone?

Hey everyone, how's life?

This past week has been pretty good. A little slow, but still good. On Monday we went to this all you can eat sushi place called 'Sushi Star' for Elder Lee's birthday. I hate sushi and fish. Luckily, they had beef, chicken and pork on the menu so I didn't have to suffer much. It was fun. Then later in the day, we got to go to a part-member family's house where the member is less-active, for dinner. She really wants to come back to church, so she came the Sunday before and Sunday this week. She's a great lady and her family is fun to be around. Her husband is Catholic, but he doesn't like organized religion because he doesn't like it when one religion tells another that they are wrong. We'll work on him. Tuesday I got to go downtown again with Elder Plunkitt. It was a good time, and we had a lot of appointments to go to and we did quite a bit of contacting. Contacting at Jackson Square is pretty entertaining. Thursday was mainly a teaching day. We met with one of our investigators named Milan. He's a gypsy from the Czech Republic. He's a great guy, and he's just absorbing all of the information we are giving him. Then we got to meet with the part member family again. (They are the only ones who have signed our dinner calendar this month). After we had dinner with them, we were going to teach a lesson, but the husband excused himself. When their daughters asked where he was going, I told them that he's playing hide-and-seek with the missionaries. If we find him and baptize him, we win. If we can't find him, kudos to him. Thursday was a slow day. We had our weekly planning session, then many of our appointments had to cancel. We did a lot of walking that day. Friday we had District Meeting and Schwarma pizza. The pizza was good.

Then one of our investigators canceled on us today. He was doing really well, but lately he's been canceling on us so much. Unfortunately, he ran into a run of Anti-Mormon literature awhile back and he's assured us that nothing is wrong and he still wants to meet with us but he's just been so busy lately and sick. He helps out with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats football team as a water-boy, so he's been busy lately. Then later that day while at the Mall's bus terminal, we saw an older lady fall of a curb into the middle of the street. She had troubles moving and was in pain, so we called an ambulance and waited with her. The paramedics said she should be okay, but they wanted to take her to the hospital because she hit her head and wanted to run some tests. Saturday, I went downtown again because my companion and one of the downtown Elders went to the Temple for a sealing of someone they both taught before. So I got to play baseball with the Elders Quorum. It was fun. Elder Lee played really well as this was his first time playing baseball. After that, my companion and I went back up the mountain. We were headed towards a baptism on the bus when Tingey saw a girl that he met awhile back while I wasn't around. He talked with her and she came to the baptism with us. She really enjoyed it and is going to take the discussions. Sunday was kind of gloomy. It started raining the day before so it was a pretty overcast day. Church was good, but Jacob didn't show up for some reason. Then later in the evening, we went to go visit the part-member family again. Luckily, today someone at church noticed our dinner calendar was empty, so it got passed around, and so we have a few more appointments this week. Some of the Leaders in the church (like the bishop), tried to make people feel guilty for not feeding us or even meeting with us.

All in all, this week was pretty good. I can't believe that summer is almost over! I hope you all are making the most of the rest of your summer, and have a great year coming up! Hope to hear from many of you soon!

Elder Stubbs

Sorry This Took So Long!

Hey everyone, how's it going?

So I'm sorry that I didn't send a blog post last week. I was transferred to Brantford for a few days, and the mission decided to cancel P-Day for the week because some missionaries had a leadership meeting or something. Anyways, the last two weeks have been decent. We are teaching a lot more people now. We have about 9 people in our teaching pool. 3 have baptismal dates, one is thinking about a date and the rest are steadily progressing. Pretty cool, huh? We've met a lot of people while walking around here. We meet people from all around the world everyday! Oh! We also had a baptism on the 8th. The family wanted us to teach their son, so we went through all of the lessons with him and set up the baptism and such. It went well, all up to the point where we realized that he didn't have an interview with the bishop! The bishop was pretty busy that day and said he couldn't do the interview, but then he was able to get a few minutes, so Maxwell got his interview and was baptized. Then on Monday the 9th, I headed to Brantford, the city of God, for three days. It's nicknamed 'The City of God' because of all of the churches there. There are so many! It was ridiculous. I lost count of churches after awhile and decided that I wasn't going to bother anymore. We got to do a lot of contacting and tracking on Monday (seeing as P-Day was canceled), and we got to teach a few people. A person I found there now has a baptismal date! That was pretty cool, but I won't get to see the baptism since it's not in my area. Then, around 8:40, we found this man crying in the park, so we went and talked with him and tried to help him feel better. We then headed home and started planning for the day ahead of us when around 9:20, we heard a knock at the front door. We checked the windows and peep hole, but no one was there. We heard it again, and checked again, but again nothing. Then we heard a knock on the side door, then the window. It was a little freaky. We saw that it was Cameron, the guy from the park. He followed us home and said he still wanted to talk, but it was about 9:30 and this point and we felt a little uncomfortable, so we had to send on his way. We went to his house the next two days, but he wasn't home at all.

So my time in Brantford was pretty enjoyable. We got to teach a few heathens and harlots, so that was productive. Then we headed back to drop me off in Hamilton at 4 on Wednesday, but the other elders never showed up until 8, so we did some more contacting for a few hours until they showed up. The next few days consisted of a lot of walking and quite a bit of teaching, so we've been pretty busy. All in all, my life out here has been really busy and very tiring. Some days go by quickly, so go by slowly. The slower days suck but hey, such is life. Anyways, that's life for me in the mission. Hope to hear from you guys and have an excellent summer!

Elder Stubbs

Transfers come and gone and I'm still in HM

Hey, what's up?

So this post is a little late since yesterday was a holiday, so the library was closed, and I was out of town at a ward picnic for the day. The picnic was a lot of fun. We had a baseball game at the beginning, the old men versus the young ones, and unfortunately, the oldies won by 1 point. We also played volleyball, had lunch, then a pie eating contest, which I was forced into as sort of an initiation. The guy sitting across from me (James Smith) and I had a fight during it where we were butting heads and I knocked his pie off of the table. It was fun, but he and I ended up with pie everywhere. In our hair, ears, nose, down our shirts, etc. Then after we got cleaned up, we played some Gatorball, which was really fun. It's a mix of football and soccer, and it's really fun to play. Then everyone went home, so we got cleaned up, then went out for the rest of the night to contact. We met a Portuguese family and taught them for a while, and they want to hear more, so we'll be continuing to teaching them.

The rest of the week (last week) wasn't as eventful. Transfer calls were Sunday night, but I'm still in the Hamilton Mountain area, which is good because it's a great place. The ward here is awesome. Monday was P-Day, and the senior couple in our area took us to The Mandarin, a Chinese buffet chain over here which was really good. Then we had to drive to some town that begins with a b (I can't remember the name) because Elder Tingey had to visit the mission doctor there. Tuesday was just filled with appointments, which I prefer over contacting or tracking, so that was good, and we had PEC meeting, which was quite entertaining. Then Wednesday was pretty much just a busy day filled with contacting and tracking, so I didn't enjoy that day as much.Thursday many of our appointments fell through, but we did have dinner with a Nigerian family in our ward who fed us some Nigerian food. IT was interesting. It was this doughy substance made from yams, like how you make mashed potatoes, except it was a bit stickier, and you use you fingers to grab it, then stick it in this saucy substance and chicken, and you eat it. So that was an interesting experience. Then on Friday, one of appointments fell through and the other didn't work out since the male member we needed couldn't show up. Then for dinner, we ate at this El Salvador family's house for dinner, which was good. Saturday, we went done to the Good Shepard to help out there for a few hours, then we got dinner from an African family in our ward, then we had hockey, which was a lot of fun and a good workout. Then Sunday we just had church and a bunch of appointments, but it was fast Sunday, so I was pretty hungry the whole day, so it wasn't one of my favorite Sundays, but you can look at it as 3 fast Sundays down, 21 to go.

Anyways, that about sums up my week. Hope everyone is having a great summer!. Enjoy the rest of it and I hope to hear from you in the future!

Elder Stubbs

2 Months in the Field

What's up?

So I was just thinking about how long I've been out here, and turns out this Wednesday will mark my eight week (2 month) anniversary since leaving home and entering the MTC! Crazy, huh? It's been going well this week, and we've gotten a lot accomplished. Monday we got to go to Niagara Falls, which was pretty cool, except they looked bigger on tv and we didn't get to go on a boat to head down there and see them up close and personal. They were still cool from a distance, and we got to stand right beside them at the railings. The Canadian Falls are much more impressive than the American ones. Tuesday not too much happened, except on one block we met a Jamaican dude, and Arabic person, a white guy, some Chinese, and a few other cultures, all in one block! That was pretty cool. Then I was swapped and went with Elder Lee (A Cantonese guy from Hong Kong, who was originally called to an English speaking mission, and now is switched to English and Mandarin speaking, so he has a lot to learn, but his English is great!) for the night and next day. Wednesday, Elder Lee and I did a lot of walking. A lot. I haven't walked that much in a long time, but we got Shwarma pizza, which was really good! Then we went to this dinner appointment, which we confirmed earlier in the day, but the people forgot somehow, so we got hot dogs from them. These people also have about 6 or 7 kids, which is funny, because Elder Lee hates kids, unless they are the quiet and obedient kind, which half of these kids weren't. Watching Elder Lee was just plain amusing. Then we did a lot more walking and switched back. Thursday didn't go as well, since many of our appointments canceled or didn't show up, except for two. One appointment was with this kid named Jacob, who found the church by himself on the internet one day, and decided to look into it. He's been to church twice now (We only met him last week Sunday), but we've met with him about 4 times last week, and he's just absorbing all that we've been teaching him. He's also been marking and highlighting the Book of Mormon we've given him, and so far, this guy is really close to baptism. It's been great! Then on Friday, I got to go to the Family History Center here and do some organizing and filing, but the guy who works there (non-lds), is a great guy and told me to bring my pedigree chart that I have and we're going to look up some of my family who should be residing in Ontario this Wednesday! So that should be cool. Then we had a few other appointments and then we got to go to a Quincenara (I think that's how it's spelled). It's a Latino girl's birthday party of when she becomes a woman, kind of like a Jewish Barmitzfa (I don't know how to spell that, but you get the idea). That was fun. Then Saturday I went with one of the Zone Leaders for the day. His name is Elder Baenziger, and he's a great guy. We had some meetings that we had to go to, then we did some tracking, and then all of our appointments fell through, so we did more tracking. Fun, huh? Then on Sunday we confirmed Daejaun into the church, so that's the second confirmation I've been a part of. So that pretty much sums up my week. How's everyone else doing? Having a great summer? I've heard that it's been rather wet in The Hat. Anyways, hope to here from you guys soon, and have a great week!

Elder Stubbs

Headed to Niagara Falls

What's up? How's it going?

I don't have much time this week to write since I'm headed to Niagara Falls today! That should be fun and quite a site to see.

We had a baptism yesterday. That went well. The boy's name is Daejaun, and he's twelve years old. His mom was baptized a few weeks before I got into the field, but I got to teach him all of the lessons. One of our investigators also came to church yesterday! His name is Hildaldo, and he only speaks Spanish, but luckily, we have a family in the ward that speaks Spanish, so we've been meeting Hildaldo with them, and things are going really well. He likes what he hears, and thinks that if what we are telling him is true, then it'll be a great opportunity! One other investigator didn't show up to church yesterday (we don't know why, we haven't contacted her yet), but she's been taking the discussions, and she really likes what she's hearing as well. Unfortunately, she still doesn't get the idea that authority was lost during the Great Apostasy, and she said that she refuses to get baptized again (she's been baptized about 2 or 3 times before), but we'll fix that.

I got to go on travels on Friday and Saturday with Elder Moody (he's a mandarin speaking elder from Utah), and that was really fun. We did however run into this guy who said he's a gay dude, then started making obscene gestures and such, and then got really upset and freaked out on us because we had to go since we had another appointment. That was on Friday. I also met this cool guy named Joe, who's really into all religions and Free Masons. He's currently working on becoming one. He was a neat guy to talk to. Then the rest of our appointments were a little boring for me, since they were all in Chinese, so I couldn't understand anything, but it was still fun. Then on Saturday, after another Chinese appointment, we almost ran into the gay dude and his friend again! We rounded a corner, saw them and quickly ran back before they saw us. It was pretty funny, but then we ran into one of Moody's investigators, and caught him smoking! He kept telling the Chinese Elders that he stopped, but apparently not. Elder Moody is thinking of dropping him, since this isn't the first time it has happened. And the guy wasn't very repentive. Oh well. Then we had some Jamaican food, which was really good, especially the Jerk Chicken. Then Saturday night, we swapped back, and I went back up the mountain with Tingey, and we interviewed Daejaun for his baptism (as mentioned before) and then headed over to the church for hockey. I played goalie again. So all in all, it was a pretty good week. It's still really hot and humid here, but I'm surviving. Anyways, that's all for now, so bye!

Elder Stubbs