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