"contact your investigators before Satan does"

Hey everyone!

Taking a new approach in sharing the Plan of Salvation!

The weather has been warming up and i have quite the tan line from my shoes...and my face is nice and red. Our appt doesn't have air conditioning but there is a window unit sitting in the closet I have to figure out how to work today...wish me luck. 

   We have been meeting with a few people and have had some good experiences this week. We have been trying to be clever with finding ideas. We drew with chalk on the sidewalk near the church he Plan of Salvation and a few other things but havent seen anything come out of that. Oh, the best one yet- I found a Messer in the yellow pages that lived out in East Caledon. That's in our area but we've never been out there because it's far with our kilometer limit. But we "tracted" into him. It was really funny. An old guy answered the door and I introduced ourselves and he was like, "wait! what's your name?!" and I was like, "...sister messer..." and he grabbed my hand and shook and squeezed real tight and sister anushya was like, "is that your name too?!" hahaha it was so funny. He was shocked. He was shouting for his wife to come and meet me. She was in the washroom and we told him we'd come back later. He was born in Russia but his dad is from Germany. His name is Victor. He told us his wife is really high up in the Anglican church and that we should come back later and we'd have some tea or something. (yum...) So later we came back and he answered and wasn't as excited anymore. He was just like," so what can I do for you?" I think his wife anti'd him a little bit. The leader of her church, Wendy, and her are going to Mexico next month to build houses. She's super big into her church so that was kinda a bummer. But the old guy was nice, i wonder if we're related!

   We've been visiting Carlos, the guy without legs we met outside the hospital, he was in house fire and he just got his 2nd leg amputated, that's why he's there. We're hoping to be able to share some lessons with him as we visit. He's a nice guy.

   As we were out in the Bolton area yesterday (we've only been out there 1 other time because of the distance) we got a call from the mission office and they had a referral for us! Her name is Natalie and she lives in Nobolton which was only 9 ks away! Coincidence? i think not! She requested a BOM online and so we went to deliver it to her. She told us she has been meeting with the Jehovah Witness lately but wanted to read the BOM. She seems really lost- looked like she had just had a baby or was prego and just wants to know why there are so many churches. As we talked to her by her garage and told her about the BOM and our church I said, "do you just wonder why there are so many churches?" and her eyes got big and she was like yessss! She said she would read and pray and we have an appt with her next week. Hopefully Satan doesn't contact her before we get out there again! That's become one of my fav sayings, "contact your investigators before Satan does" hahaha so true.

   Who else did you ask about...The guy at the bus stop who works in Toronto- Harjith- we saw him this week again! haha he's super nice to us now. We talked to him for about 10 min and it started to rain so he invited us onto his porch- wait, that was last week, i told you about him didn't i? He isn't interested but I think we've planted a seed w/him. I read a scripture today about the Gospel being spread to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people and it made me think of Brampton. We often pass people who we know are sikh because we know they won't be interested but w/out the Gospel they can't make it back to God again! So I know we need to talk to everybody no matter what.

   We went to Nanthini's last night. Her cousin got married and their house was decorated for this Indian  wedding. It was really neat. We met another one of her cousins and he seems interested so we're going to meet him next week. The old dad that we though was so anti against us has warmed up to us! He asked us for a ride to the hospital and we're going to have a member pick him up. He tries to talk to me in english and I just have to laugh. I can't understand anything. He keeps staring at my nametag and asking my name. Indian people are really into the question of whether or not we're married or not. They seem really concerned that we're young and single. But we assure them that we aren't nuns...i think we've comforted them some. haha

   We have an appt with Samantha tonight. She lives with a member family and loves the gospel! We taught a FHE lesson last monday and she was like, "I made a puzzle for you guys!" and we put it together and it was Joseph Smith finding the plates. She's awesome. We're going to help her be baptized. She just needs her moms permission, who is in jamaica. pray for her! We're really hoping that everything will go well with her.

   There were fireworks all over last night for Victoria Day i guess. Is it to celebrate her bday? We had bbq last night with a less active family for the holiday. We've been working with them since i got here and they came out to church on their own last week! cool, eh? Well, all is well i think. Sounds like you are all doing well too!

love and miss ya all

Sister Messer

Skyping with Sister Messer on Mother's Day!

Skyping Sister Messer on Mother's Day:  Ari, Lucy, (Aus), Mady and Taryn


This was a wonderful thing!  We got to SEE Sister Messer and TALK to her.  It was fabulous!

just livin the dream, basically.

Hey everyone!

I loved skyping too! It was great to see everyone and be able to talk to all of ya at once. haha The tour of the house was funny, my room looks the same! Minus my clothes laying on the floor ;) What's going on with us this week? Well, I'm pretty sure we're in Brampton for another transfer- we haven't gotten the 'no movement, keep up the good work' text yet but it's a little late to be getting a transfer call. Our district is changing up quite a bit though. the only ones staying is us and the spanish elders, and our district leader who is going home next transfer. So things have gotten shaken up a little bit but we're excited to stay. We were talking to Sean, the inactive member we found while street contacting and he was telling us how he has some friends that are interested in learning! So we'll be working with him which is awesome! I really hope something comes out of that :) Other than that we have a few appointments, trying to get a referral program going for the ward and just livin the dream, basically.   I forgot to tell ya this week we got caught in a rain storm and we had to run a couple of blocks to our car and we were soaked! haha it was really funny. One of those moments you wish you had on video to watch in 10 years. We have a lot of those.

  I'm not sure what else to tell ya...Our investigators are doing alright. None of them are super solid but we're working towards finding a solid one...that would be nice!

  Ummmm that about covers everything :) I'm gonna send some pictures via email too so look out for those!

love and miss ya

sister messer

These are the missionaries that cover the Brampton and Chingcousey spanish wards. Elder Silva, Mejia, Sis. A & I, elder nelson, fox and raikes

Canadian worms

Hey everybody!

Well this week was pretty good. Our mission has a goal to reach 65 baptisms in June so we're really trying to be exactly obedient and reach that goal! We have been walking a lot to try and find some new investigators. We found a new road that usually has quite a few people walking up and down it so we've been there almost every day. The first day we went we met some great people! We were at a stop light and an older lady had two big bags with her and so we offered to help her home with them. We walked all the way to her house, just talking to her. When we got to her house she invited us in for a second and her son was really grateful and offered to drive us home. Unfortunately for us she lives in the Heartlake ward boundaries so we gave her over to some elders...i don't know if they've met her or not. About 3 minutes later a middle-aged guy stopped us and said, "woww, you're the missionaries!" Needless to say he wasn't all there...it's the oddest street contact i've met thus far. He told us that he's sinned and that his weakness is women. We're like okkkkkay. see ya later! Have a great day! hahaha THEN 3 minutes after that we started talking to a lady sitting at the bus stop. She wouldn't look at us or give us the time of day but then i told her I liked her pink purse and then she started talking to us haha- she had been baptized awhile back and stopped going to church when her youngest child was born (who is now 5) and how she disagreed with some of the doctrine in the church so i said, "well, if you're ever interested in us explaining more to you and helping you understand what we believe here's our number." We walked away and were waiting at the corner to cross the road when she jumped up and poked her head out of the bus stop and said, "can you come over tomorrow at 6?!" haha we were like You know it! So we have an appt with her this week. Hopefully we can help her come back out! Then a few minutes after that we stopped a guy and he was kinda rude and just said, "i saw some ladies over there, go talk to them." We passed him two more times as he was waiting for a ride and the second time  we said hi and he said, "no one will listen to ya?" and i said, "actually, out of everyone we've passed you're the one that has talked to us the most!" He kind of laughed and said, "well, i have a few minutes now while i'm waiting for my ride, teach me." So we talked a little bit and then he gave us his number....a few days later I called him-he works in downtown toronto doing construction stuff and said we could come teach him on his breaks. Alas, we do not go downtown so we'll see if he's open to meeting in Brampton.

    Did you guys see that picture in the Ensign of students at BYUI watching General Conf? Did you notice travis rust, blake muns and dallin seely in it? haha i thought that was pretty cool!

Foggy view from Sister Messer's apartment

Sister Messer in front of her white apartments

   We got ahold of Nanthini this week. She has just been busy and sick and wanted to meet with us! She's great- she knows it's true (so she says) but can't change her hindu beliefs because she made a commitment that she would never change. That's why i said "so she says". We got invited to her cousin's wedding- which would be really interesting because it's a huge indian/hindu week long event. We will continue to teach her i think but it will take some work with her i believe. Her family doesn't care that we're teaching her though! She even invited me to come to SriLanka and visit in a few years. We'll see about that.

   This week it rained! The hardest i've EVER experienced. It was like in movies when they get absolutely drenched in 2 seconds. I couldn't see a thing! I even dropped my planner in a puddle while running to our car. awesome!

    We're teaching a lady English and she brought her family out to church yesterday! They're hindu and are from Sri Lanka. She has 4 kids and they LOVED church. yay! The boy who is around 6 got up and bore his testimony! An elder in our ward wrote down for him "My name is ___(i can't remember-it's a name i've never heard), this is my first time at church, i love god and jesus. amen." It was so cool- he probably doesn't know who Jesus is but we're gonna hopefully teach him!

   We also are teaching a guy named Dino from Jamaica and an old Sikh guy who's been coming to church for 4 years. He loves the temple and so we walked around it. He told us he tried to get in one time but a lady told him he had to have ID. haha he speaks Punjabi and limited english but can understand it alright with SisA's accent. He's so funny- we told him we'd take his picture in front of the temple next saturday so hopefully i'll be able to get one with him.

Hope you liked the pictures :) I'll try to take more this week. SEE YOU on Sunday! :)....mother's note:  She is skyping her family for Mother's Day! 

sister messer

Five new investigators this week...

Hey everyone! This week was alright. We walked a lot and talked to quite a few people which got us 5 new investigators (the most i've ever had in a week) but none of them seem really solid. We'll work with them though! We were walking down a road and i said, "let's knock on that house." So we did...and an indian lady answered the door and when I asked if they were interested in learning about Jesus Christ she said, "yes." I was shocked for a sec and kind of re-stated the question because I could tell she didn't speak really good english but she said yes again. Then her husband came to the door and he invited us in. They're sikh so they believe in worshipping their idols and stuff like that. There was a little bit of a language barrier-they speak punjab and hindi. But we offered to teach the wife and ESL class so we went back on saturday and shared a brief lesson and tried to teach her ESL but found out she's just shy and doesn't need that much help so we told her about the ESL class that the city teaches at our church during the week. Anyhow, we don't think they'll be investigators for much longer because they're really strong sikh believers but I think we'll give it one more try. On Wednesday after district meeting we went out to lunch together and on our way back to the car this lady asked us for directions. I whipped out my newly purchased GPS and we walked around looking for it. She told us how her husband died and now she has to find a job. She is Hindu. I told her that we share a message about eternal families and how she can be with her husband again and her eyes got big and she said, "I can see my husband again?!" We got her information but maybe we should have explained more on the street because yesterday we got in contact with her and she said, "i talked to my brother-in-law who is (some sort of) a priest and he said we shouldn't disturb the dead because they need to be peaceful" haha i was like oh noooo...a little miss-communication. So i explained it a little bit and told her about ldsjobs.org and how that could help her. She seems pretty set in her ways but it was a neat experience. We dropped by a former investigator named Mukata (moo-koo-ta) and he invited us right in! I don't think he realized who we were haha but he then explained how he's so confused about churches because there are so many and he just wants to know which one is true and how to know it. :) I promised him if he listened to our message that he would get a sure answer for himself if he truley seeked for it. There is a language barrier because he's from Congo and speak French but luckily there are 2 people in our ward that speak french and he said if we brought a translator that he could understand and listen better. We have an appt this Saturday with him. Nanthini has dropped off the face of the earth. She didn't return our calls so we dropped by and she was on the phone with her family in SriLanka and so we didn't wait. We can't get a hold of her and she lives with her cousins and they're devout Hindu. We were driving by yesterday and saw her cousin and 2 sons out in the front yard so we stopped and talked to them. Her son who is usually really excited to see us and laugh and tease us wouldn't even look at us! So we think her family did something to make her avoid us. We're not sure but we're gonna give it a break for awhile. darn, eh? We continue to teach Florence who is 7th Day Adventist. She is super strong in it but she misses church to meet with us. haha I don't think she has intent of changing but we've gained a good relationship with her. We'll see what happens this week. Every thursday we go on splits with our ward missionaries. It's been pretty fun. We've gotten into a few less-active members homes that would have been hard to do otherwise. Since you were asking about indian traditions...there are a lot. haha Shaving is one of them- but don't worry...we took care of that. She was so excited afterwards. haha I've taught her a few hair tricks that she likes. She was really self conscious about the way she looked-hair and clothes and stuff so we've been able to get a few things figured out. I think it's helping. She also continues to ask me for help with some english phrases. The other day she said, "i really like how you take time in the bathroom." I was like uhhhh...alright. But what she really meant was "I really like how you're quiet in the bathroom" how i don't wake her up during the night if i get up. hahaha oh the little things. Yup, she does speak with her hands a lot. I dont think that's a really big indian thing. I think it may have helped her express herself she didn't speak very good english. i'm not sure. Am i learning Tamil? That's a negative. I thought i'd have to learn a different language with my mission call but i didn't...but ya never know. There aren't a ton of tamil speaking people here. it's mainly hindi and punjab. But even the missionaries that get sent to India speak english because there are so many languages spoke in India. We ran into a spanish guy last night in front of the hospital and i used my 2 years of spanish skills to talk to him...it was horrible. haha so we called the spanish elders in our area and he talked to them on the phone. His son has been in the hospital for 5 months with meningitis! So he said he would talk to his wife and call us. We'll see...we'll see. pray that someone is led to US looking for the gospel :) that would just make it so much better ;) love and miss ya! sister messer

Thinking outside of the box

Helloooooo everyone! I'm doing well! This week we taught Nanthini a couple of times and committed her to baptism on May 6! We still have a lot to cover with her because she is Hindu...but we taught a really powerful lesson at the Brampton Soccer Center while her son was at school. haha We taught her how to pray and the Spirit was so strong! Sister Anusuya (that's how you "officially" spell it) said it in Tamil so Nanthini could understand it more fully and Nanthini just started crying. We just wanted her to know for herself that God loved her and knows her personally and she got that answer! It's probably the coolest lesson i've been involved with thus far. Having SisA translate some parts in tamil is such a blessing. I think she'll be in this area for a long time because there are so many indian people here. Why i'm here with her? I'm still trying to figure that one out...haha So that was really exciting. We are working towards that date as a goal but her cousin is getting married and she has something wrong with a disc in her back causing headaches and what not. She was coming to church yesterday to get a blessing but couldn't make it because she felt so sick. Investigators ALWAYS get sick and miss church the week after they commit to baptism haha...ironic, eh? She loves meeting with us though and we have a great relationship so I really hope we can help her out. Sister Wirthlin left on Tuesday. Her companion arrived from the MTC so we sent them off to Oakville. But Sister Scott invited us over for dinner on Tuesday night so Sister Anusuya, Wirthlin, Harwood & I got to spend dinner with President and Sister Scott! We're pretty lucky. In attempt to find some new investigators we've been thinking out of the box. So this week we set up a table on the grass outside the church by the sidewalk with BOMs in all different languages, pamphlets, cards...you name it, we had it. The coolest thing happened. Amidst the people crossing the road to avoid us a car came to a slow putt-putt stop right in front of the table. We stood there for a second in pure shock and then walked up to them and their car had run out of gas right in front of us. hahaha There's a gas station just 200 yards down the road. They were sikh but were totally open to hearing what we had to share. They said they were really excited to read the BOM...I was back at the table talking to people who were passing but the sisters didn't get their #! So hopefully they'll call. We thought that was the coolest thing though. I got a GPS! It's saving our life every day. :) It was right after SisW left we drove to Canadian Tire (kind of like WalMart but not as good) and there it was- the cheapest i'd found it so I bought it! So to answer about Vivian---she sounds great on the phone. Now that missionaries are in Oakville hopefully they can meet with her again. We took Sister A to her first Dairy Queen visit. I bought her a choc dipped cone. She kept saying, "oh sister, this is sooo goooood!" haha she's so funny. Every time we pass she says, "next month we're going there again!" If any of you would like to write her, she would LOVE it! Sister Wirthlin and I got on a topic about how scary it is to run up the stairs in front of someone in your family because they always try to spank you or something...you know what i'm talking about? hahah We were laughing and both agreed that when your dad follows you it's always the worst for some reason. Anyways, she was teary eyed and expressed how sad she was never having a caring dad because her dad was abusive and left her family when she was young... We got stopped by a pastor from a different church the other day. He was passing in his car and saw us walking so he pulled over and started to talk to us. He asked us how many people we had converted. haha He was really nice and was just curious about the work we do. He even thanked us for being young and active in church. It was interesting. We continue to do work in Brampton!Can't wait to talk to ya on Mothers day! I realized yesterday that it'll be here before ya know it! I"ll try to find someone who will let us use thier skype! :) love and miss you sister messer

Life in Brampton

April 16, 2012
Hey Everyone!
How do you like your apartment? What does it look like? The new apt is pretty good. It's in an older apt building and it's on the 4th floor. We have a balcony that overlooks some new townhouse apartment buildings and you can see some taller apt building in the distance in downton Brampton so that's good. Our fan in the bathroom hasn't worked in a couple years so we have some mild mold issues. I called the super intendent and they said, "ya, you've told us that before, we don't know what to really do about it." hahah well, thank you kind sir! So the couple missionaries in charge of our apt said they'll take care of it. What does it look like? Well, it's got hard-wood parquet flooring throughout the whole thing, except tile in the kitchen and bathroom. It's got a bedroom and a bathroom ... i'll try to remember to send some pictures :)
What are you learning from Sis. Anushya? Is she Sr. companion? How do you phonetically say her name? Why did she stand in elephant poo? Sis Anushya has been out for just a couple of transfers. I'm the senior companion. It's pronounced Anoo-sha. Standing in elephant poo is something to do with Hinduism. I'm sure you can google it ;)
Are you driving now? I am driving! We have a 2011 white Chevy malibu. It was weird driving after like 6 months. haha To make it even better I had to start driving on 6 lane freeway after dropping off SisWirthlin in Weston. It was quite exciting...But we made it alive. have i told you about the black boxes installed in all the cars? They talk to you if you speed it says "speeding violation" and you have to slow down or it's recorded. It's moniters your driving so they can tell who needs to be 'red dotted' and can't drive anymore and stuff. I only heard speeding violation a few times :)
Did Sis. Wirthlin leave today? She hasn't left yet. Her companion is being held up even longer but we do find out if she's staying with us the entire transfer or going somewhere else later today.
What did you do this week? I"ll tell ya in a sec!
How did your church tour to the Hindu family go? The father just came and it went pretty well. We need to focus on his wife but they're really hard to get in contact with.
Did you get a follow up with the film maker at the library last week? Nope, he never called. haha
Alright, so this week was pretty good. We had dinner with the Temple president and his wife. He actually served his mission here in Toronto and was the AP to Pres Monson. They're from Santa Monica and he said Pres Monson talked to him over a conference call and asked them to come back out here. I really like them, they're nice. Know what else he told us? Well apparently there are sister missionaries just assigned to do flower arrangements in temples! how cool is that? They were just here in Toronto and spent like 3 days in the temple making new arrangements for the rooms. They fly to different temples and do that. They had just been at the Boston Temple...cool, eh?
I got an interesting call from the mission office at like 8:45 on Thursday. It was sister sippel who works the front desk. She said, "a lady named Vivian just called the office looking for you." haha Vivian had called looking to talk to me but we're not supposed to call out of our zone. She said i could call her this once so i did. She was just wondering how I was...i talked to her girls and told them i'd come to their baptisms! haha
We were at the stake center for our district meeting on wednesday and saw this lady sitting on the bottom step of her bus in the parking lot, smoking. So we went and talked to her. She drives a school bus once a month to the temple with members from Toronto ward in it. She was interested in the gospel! Sadly for us she lives in Scarborough which is not in our area but we had a great chat with her and referred her to some awesome sister missionaries there. It was cool!
We have started teaching a woman named Nanthini. She's from Sri Lanka and speaks Tamil which is the same language sisterA speaks. She came to church on Sunday with her 2 boys! She's great. We were sitting at a park teaching her and she touched my legs and said, "so nice"...see? President put me here because of my porcelain whiteness! hahah whatever helps the work!
Wanna know something cool? The bishop's wife in this ward helped to translate the BOM into the Tamil language. She's tanslating the D&C right now...cool, eh?
Dad asked how Sis Anushya joined the church. She was 16 and she worked nearby the chapel in her town in India. She said they walked in and were interested. (golden!) She said her mom stopped worshipping idols and what not a couple of years earlier. They were Hindu and worshipped idols! So that's basically it...the rest is history!
We're trying to teach a few yw aged girls in the ward who aren't members...this area is open! The people have been really nice, even if they aren't interested. YEs, i AM getting sick of the indian food smell...I'll have to burn a candle...i did this morning!

love and miss ya!
Sister Messer

New area-Brampton, Ontario!

Me and sister Anushya with the Weston sisters at the Toronto Temple



Hello!
Whew, what a week! It's flown by. I LOVE serving in the Brampton 1st ward! Brampton is super diverse and it's actually the #1 most populated with people from India outside of India. Plus my companion is from India-she says they love white people. So we should have some success here-i'm basically as white as they get. There are old guys walking around with turbans EVERYWHERE. There are tons of sich people here (prounounced seek)-which are the guys with turbans and ladies with dresses. It's the strangest thing. The funny thing is they are super friendly and if you say "nameste gee" to them it means good afternoon in hindi. Sister Anushya (my new companion) taught me that. She speaks a little hindi and tamel. By the way i'm probably not spelling any of this stuff correctly. :) So we stop and talk to them often. They try to communicate but don't speak english hardly at all. The same man with the turban comes and sits on the church stairs every day at the same time and talks with 2 other sich guys too. On Saturday the elders in our ward had a baptism and we went and saw them sitting on the steps so we invited them in! Here come 3 turban guys walking down the hallway and sitting in the relief society room in the front row. It was quite the site. We tried to communicate but it didn't go very well. Sister Anushya can a little bit but doesn't speak their language very well. After about 10 minutes they all got up and said bye so they missed the baptism but they're the coolest. We wave to them a lot and say hello. They're pretty cool.
So a little bit about my new area- We share the brampton 1st ward with elders. We took the north side and them the south. It's cool having other missionaries in the same ward. They've never had that in this ward before so it's like whitewashing. We're opening up a new area. The mission home is less than 3 kilometers away and the mission office too. So sending packages to the office would be better than sending them to my new address-
47 McMurchy Ave N. #411
Brampton, ON
L6X 1X5
Because our mail comes through a slot on our door. Packages have to be picked up somewhere i think. We go to the office every pday to look for mail sent to the office so if you ever have a desire to send a package, send it the office :) But guess what? The temple is in our area! I get to see it every day. In fact, last Friday we got to go! Every 6 months or so the missionaries in the surrounding areas get up early and get to attend. It was a great day. We also had interviews with president that day too, they went well.
Sister Anushya is from South India. Her family converted to the church 6 years ago. She was Hindu and was blessed by elephants, stood in their poo, all that good stuff. It's really interesting to talk to her about it all. Her culture is SO different than ours! She was telling us how she would like an arranged marriage, she cooks indian food every day (it's pretty good!) and they sleep on the floor back home. Sister Wirthlin is with us until the 16th when her companion who is held up at the MTC gets here. Being in a threesome is actually pretty fun. However, we look like a mob if we're tracting or street contacting. haha
I was able to say goodbye to great people in Oakville. The saddest was definitely Vivian. We went to Dollarama (that's where she works) and she got off her ladder (she was hanging up paint rollers) and was really sad, she gave me a big hug and asked me to write down all my information for her. I told her i would come to her baptism...a couple of days later she was on the phone with Sis Wirthlin and she found out I was right by her and asked to talk to me. She was soooo excited to talk to me and I felt like maybe I had helped her out a little bit, it made me feel like my effort with her in Oakville really did help her and it made me really happy!
Easter for us was great. We dropped by some former investigators and met some Hindu people that are really interested in the fact that families can be eternal. In fact, the woman was crying the whole time...we're giving them a church tour this week so hopefully that will go really well :) Brampton area is so open to listening compared to Oakville. We had dinner with the elders in our ward (elder fox and elder raikes) and elder and sister carrol-a senior couple that also is brampton 1st that works at the mission office at the DeDios family's house. They're great! They have a son named Matty who wants to be a music producer and he is sooo talented at the piano, he played me a taylor swift song...shhh don't tell :)
For your questions-
What day did you end up moving? Tuesday we got to Brampton
Tell us all about your new place and your new companion. We live in an apt complex..it has a balcony, parquet flooring and with a little sprucing up can shine like the top of the chrysler building.
Maybe she can teach you some of her India dance….You know that’s one of the first things I’d ask her about! I did too! haha we haven't had time yet but she's going to teach me.
Can you still see Lake Ontario and Toronto? I can see Toronto when we're driving to Caldone (part of our area). But we're not close by lake ontario anymore.
Well, i hope that answered your questions...and i hope i didn't forget much information. We're just getting this are rolling and meeting all sorts of interesting people! The guy at the computer next to me told me i type really fast and then told me about a job he had working with a movie producer...i think he needs to hear about the Gospel! wish me luck :)
Sister Messer

I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED!!!

Pictures attached: Sister Woo and I at sisters conference in Brampton (she's from Hong Kong and i went on exchanges with her in Weston a couple of months ago) and our district at our district meeting in Hamilton...as well as me with my Easter packages! Thank you! haha

HEY Everybody!!!
Guess whaaaat?! I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED! Yup, we thought we were safe 100% but then this morning during companionship study, Assistand Pead called and gave us the news. I'm moving to Brampton 1st ward. Not too far away! Nearby all the mission headquarters and what not. Crazy, eh? I even recorded videos of me talking on my camera but the files are too big to send via email-what's a girl to do?! But really...what am i supposed to do? Hmm But more news about that area- my companion's name is Sister Anushya. She's from INDIA. Not even kidding...I was talking to her a couple of weeks ago at our zone conference. She seems pretty cool- but India? insane! She may be a woman of few words soooo that's gonna be a change. Probably means i'll have to talk a little more...haha Sister Wirthlin is training but her trainee is stuck at the MTC for an extra week, so she'll be coming to Brampton and we will be a threesome for a week.
This week has been full of miracles.
On Friday morning we had an appt with a member who had invited her friend over to be taught. She cancelled last minute so we were left with the morning empty. We called and got an appt with a less-active member so we decided to head over to that area and find something to do there before the apt. Usually we hate to tract in apartment buildings because missionaries get thrown out sometimes if they're caught but we had a prompting to tract this particular building, so we did! It's in a pretty sketch area (shhh don't tell Gma) But we started on the 10th floor and listened at the door- if there was weird rap music or yelling we didn't knock.haha But we knocked on a couple of doors and we met Charlene. She's living common law with her boyfriend and they have 4 year old son. She's super cool! They have been looking to get married and actually called our chapel in Oakville and talked to Bishop Watson about using our church for the wedding/reception. That was pretty recently and then we found her! She's really interested and we have an apt with her this week...well, i don't. :( Such a bummer! On our way out of the building, we ran into Mr.O (remember them? the family that were former investigators) and he said, "hey! how are you?! Why haven't you been coming?" and we were like, "hey, you bombed 2 apts with us!" and he's like, "whatttttt, whenn?!" So anyways, he said he wants us to teach him still. So we met with him and his 2 sons last night. He said they all would love to be baptized if they're mom agrees. She's busy but as soon as we can meet with them as a family they will be baptized! how great is that? Well to make this story even better as soon as we left our less-active cancelled. Had she cancelled any earlier we wouldn't have even gone to that area, tracted into Charlene and ran into Mr. O. God's timing...eh?
On Wednesday we had sisters conference! It was really great. We talked a lot about our calling & ministry, what makes the ideal missionary experience, how to work with The Spirit and things the other sisters didn't learn at leadership conference. It was really great to be able to see all the sisters. We took a picture all together- hopefully they'll send that around soon. Something I really like that I heard was "God's motivation is love, Christ's motivation is love and ours needs to be love too." Just as we try our best to be Christ-like and love everyone it's a great reminder. There was also a lot about love in General Conference this weekend which brings me to my next topic--
General Conference was great!
It was like Christmas for missionaries. I didn't notice Archie in the choir but that picture you sent me was sweet! I did see Taylor Cox in the choir though-how cool would that be? To be able to sing at GC? man...and with Archie! haha They talked a lot about families, eh? and missionary work too...i've never gotten so much out of Conference before! We did get to watch all 4 sessions. They started at 12 and 4.
One more story for ya, after the Saturday evening session, we were dropping by former investigators and at one house found Dani (a former's cousin) She said she had been crying the night before and really loved what we had to share with her. We haven't been able to talk to her since but hopefully we can get in contact with her soon. It was another miracle!
We continue to struggle getting V to set a baptismal date...but being so nearby Oakville maybe i'll get to come to it when it actually happens!
So you had a great time in Utah? That's cool. I thought of you as I watched all the way from here. haha We watched it at the chapel and not very many people came, i think many of them just watch it at home on their computers. But both days we were invited inbetween sessions to have lunch with some members so that was fun.

Sister Ence and I (who we met in St. George before I left)
The new elder from mexico sounds miserable! Is he getting taken care of by members? Something that means a lot to missionaries is a dinner apt on a hard day...do they get fed a lot by the ward? I think i'm good as far as stuff from the dist center or deseret book. Thanks for the Easter packages! They were fun to open :) i guess i could've waited until easter butttt the though didn't even cross my mind so i guess it wasn't supposed to happen! :) haha
Well, this should be a very interesting week. A new start...in Brampton! I'm kinda scurrrred. haha Love and miss you
Sister Messer

A pretty good week!

pictures- The one with 6 sisters is at zone conference last week in Etobicoke. It's just a few of the sisters in the parking lot at the chapel. Spot a familiar face? Sister Ence is the one we met in st. george back in September/october.
Also Vivian and her daughters Allegra and Chancey. Chancey is hamming it up. haha Vivian doesn't look too excited, i'm not quite sure why! haha Notice how it's in front of the baptismal font doors- we were showing her the font, of course!
And a picture of us bowling last Pday.


Anyways...this past week was a pretty good one. We were able to meet with Vivian a couple of times and at church on Sunday we were showing her the baptismal font and a member came in and was like, "hey Vivian! You're getting baptized! When is the date?" I just looked at her and waited for her response cuz we wonder the same thing! Every day. She said, "soon, it's soon." Sooooo how soon? Hopefully this sunday? :) Who knows if SisW and I will be here next transfer! It's possible but ya never know. We're really working with her though! She told us if she doesn't come to church, Allegra will cry. She's 9 and we asked her if she wants to be baptized and she said yes, then Chancey (who is 7) yelled,"That's not fair! I wanna be baptized too!" haha So hopefully Allegra and Vivian will be baptized together- soon.
Before a family moved out of the ward and to Utah we went to say bye and asked them to hand over some referrals because they'll never see these people again- they gave us 3 and we went to see one the a couple of days ago. She told us she was Catholic and wasn't really interested but we kept talking and found out she was a genealogist! We told her about our family history class on wednesday nights and she got super excited, we're teaching her this wednesday! I've learned that a lot- most times people will say they're not interested but as you start just talking and relating to them they become really open. You smile really big and just be really friendly and by the end they're totally open to meeting with you. It's happened a couple of times now. We're learning (SisW and I) how to be missionaries together. Who could resist a couple of faces like ours?
Last Monday was a fun Pday. We ate out at Swiss Chalet (a restaurant here in canada) and went bowling- as you can see. It was a really warm day and it was fun to just get out and do something different.
Zone Conference was really good. Elder Duncan and his wife came (He's president of the 1st quorum of 70 i believe) and they like to shake everyones hand and talk to you for a second before the meeting starts. He told me that his family used to live in St. George. He talked about concerns we had, how to work with spirit, exact obedience and some other good stuff. :) After the meeting we took a big picture outside with everyone. Hopefully a copy of it will be getting sent around! We shook his hand goodbye and he was talking to just sis W and I and he said, "I noticed both of you were really in tune the entire time, you're great!" Something like that, but it was pretty neat to be told we're awesome by someone so "up there" haha How could you not be in tune the whole time? I'm going to have a whole new appreciation for General Conf next week! Weird how that's the type of things I look fwd to now. Oh, i forgot the best part. I forgot my nametag! On our way there i looked down and i didn't have it on. So i wore sisW and covered it with my hair. I told Sister Scott (mission pres wife) and she laughed and said, "i've done that too- it always happens on the important days too!"

Well, it should be interesting to see if we stay another transfer. Sister missionaries only have 13 transfers and I have 10 left! Another in Oakville? If so we'll be moving into our new apartment then. March flew by! I can't believe it's amost April! Thanks for everything- love and miss you!
Sister Messer