no matter what I always feel like there's something I can improve..

Hello everyone!

Hope you got those pictures I sent. The worst thing happened, after taking those pictures with the sikh guys, my camera got bumped out of my hand and fell to its death. I'm hoping to find a good deal on one today so i can take pictures...kind of a big deal. It's been pretty warm around here this week and humid on a couple of days too. Should be a hot and humid summer! yay

To answer your questions about our investigators-Yesterday was stake conference and samantha came, we talked to sis. Nwaka (the family she's living with) and she said her mom said it was ok! If all goes well she should be baptized in a couple of weeks. We're meeting with them tomorrow for a FHE, I told sis.Nwaka we were going to set a date. After the meeting was over, we were in the cultural hall talking to some people and Carlos came driving by in his wheelchair! He had escaped the hospital and come over for church. haha He was in his hospital gown, back totally open to the world. I think some members thought he was an escapee and we should be concerned but i put their concerns to rest. On Saturday we went over to see him and he was sleeping so we left him a BOM with our testimony in the front. He said he had found it that morning. We gave him a tour of the church and he met the elders- he seemed to really like it. He is moving home tomorrow though...he doesn't live in our area but i think kind of near to it. We will try to stay in touch and he said he might come out to church more. We'll see! Remember Mo? Ya, he came to church yesterday too. He's still the same, old Mo. We might have an appt with him tonight, that's if he shows up. We're going out to Nobleton tomorrow to see Natalie, the referral we got and gave a bom to. I talked to her on the phone a few days ago and she had read Mor10 and 1Nephi 1-4. She asked me why God would tell someone to cut off someone's head :) haha The cool part is the day before in personal study I was reading that story and I had never been asked that question before but while reading i thought, "i bet people have a hard time with that, it takes some faith to believe that nephi was prompted to cut off laban's head." and i was thinking about what i would say when somebody brought up that concern. So i guess i was prompted to know that natalie was going to ask that question. It was a cool experience. Even though I guess people bring up that concern a lot, no one had ever asked me that before. We were also able to visit nanthini on saturday. She loves our teachings but she won't change. she said her husband in sri lanka told her, listen to them, believe them, but don't change. No worries husband, she's not.

   Alright, so those pictures i sent you- with sister wolske- she's from Germany! I asked her about our last name Messer and she said that's a name you hear in southern switzerland. She said she new of some gublers in switzerland too. Are Gublers from Geneva? that's what i was thinkin...and i asked her about Swapp (is that a name from over there?) She said she thinks she's heard it once before. She's awesome, she made us a German dinner- some authentic meat and cabbage. it was good. It reminded me of when we had dinner in solvang in cali.

German dinner-with the Wolske's

   Here's a story for ya, we were street contacting around the church/temple last night and sisA notices this bird laying in the grass that can't fly. She goes over and picks it up and examines it and throws it in the air and it flies a little bit but lands in the grass over by the temple. After contacting a little more we went over to check on it and it was doing worse and was sitting there with it's beak open so she starts feeding it water out of the cap of her water bottle. It only tried to bite her a couple of times. haha But then she notices an ant that crawled in its mouth or he tried to eat- whatever and she picks a dandelion and scrapes the ant of its throat with it. Then we decide we'll take it home and nourish it back to health so we take it to our car and find a box to keep it in and all this time she continues to feed it water. We're driving to an appt we have and it's eyes start to shut and she's like, "it's dying!" there it goes, it died right in our car in her hands...and then i look down at her skirt and it had pooped all over her! I laughed so hard. She's sitting there holding a dead bird in our car and now there's poop on her skirt and we aren't anywhere near our apt to go and change and so we went to our appt with bird poo on her skirt. Classic story, we were going to take such good care of it. :)

   But we are trying some new finding ideas, planning a movie night at the church to bring in people as well as we've been giving a lot of church tours to people we find out on the sidewalk nearby. We're trying hard to reach a baptism this june, really working up to it but no matter what I always feel like there's something I can improve...just striving to be a good missionary! I'm learning a lot and i know we'll be blessed for our efforts. Thanks for all your prayers and letters! Hope you enjoyed the pictures :)

love and miss ya all

love sister messer

"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