i decided to talk to all of them at the same time. (mistake.)

Bibi and Avi's baptism yesterday :) It went great! 

Hey!

This week was a good one. It's always great to end it with a baptism! Bibi and Avi were baptized and it was great! They were both very excited and we had a lot of support from the ward and President and Sis Scott came too. Subhash was up in the middle of it all! He went and bough a bunch of indian food, when i asked him about buying food on Sunday he said, "i didn't pay for it! I just picked up and told them i'd come tomorrow and pay for it." haha is that cheating? He's so funny. He helped in the kitchen and stayed and helped clean up too. He also recieved the aaronic priesthood today! He was so happy. He's planning on going to the temple to do baptisms this week. We aren't allowed to go with him but some awesome members are going to help him out.

You're wondering about Mo? Well we did see him a few days ago. He was riding his bike around the church. Right after he was baptized, the place he's working at gave him a full time job (including sundays!) So he works Sundays for the summer but should be coming back soon. That's what always seems to happen, eh? He's doing pretty good though i think.

I did hear about that shooting at the sikh temple. It hasn't hindered our teaching at all. We never teach sikh people anyways. They're never interested.

So there's a new office couple- the Caldwells. So we're getting to know them since we visit once a week. Well, last week i found out she's an interior design teacher at LDSBC! Cool, eh? So we started talking design and i've realized how hard it will be to go back and try to remember all the software programs! haha uh oh. She said a lot of the teachers at BYUI are retiring this year :( sad day!

We had one of the most awkward street contacts this week. We found a pretty good spot in part of our area at an intersection. There's a bus stop on each corner so we were walking around. The buses come often so there's usually a good # of people. However, it's kind of difficult (i think) to talk to an entire group of people cuz they're all standing really close to each other. So you can either pull one person out and focus on them, but that's awkward too. Or i decided to talk to all of them at the same time. (mistake.) A couple of people turned and looked and turned away, a couple other people didn't even look in the 1st place and a few others just stared and talked on thier phone. So after introducing ourselves and saying a few other things there was no response whatsoever...so i just said, "no takers? alright...well have a great day!" it made for quite a journal moment.

We had a zone training meeting in Weston this week. Drove down to Toronto and met with all the missionaries in our zone. (about 25 or so) We practiced teaching and learned some good stuff.

So that about covers everything I believe. have fun taking mady to college! A few missionaries left a transfer early to be able to attend this semester at BYU. Just remember mady, nothing good comes out of a date with an RM. ok? :)

miss and love you all

Sister Messer

All you can do is testify

Hey everyone!

Well this week has been a busy one full of adventure. Now that we took over the elders area, we have like three times the area...we've been looking for good places to street contact and all that good stuff. Good thing is now we get to meet the entire ward! We have a lot more dinner appts (which means we don't have to pack dinner and eat it at the church! haha) and it's been great to talk to all the families I only met in passing at church. This ward is pretty sweet. We also met and taught a few investigators the elders left for us. I don't know if sisters are just smarter when approaching people or if it was just luck (I prefer to think it's the first suggestion) but I was involved in the first real bash of the mission. The elders had met this lady in this sketch appt building and taught her the restoration. When we went back she had this big thing typed up where she had researched and all this stupid stuff she was saying. All you can do is testify, eh? She wasn't mean, thankfully, but just kept asking stupid question after question. I was like, for real? Can we leave now? So we finally get out of the place and we're waiting at an elevator and we can hear her talking to her kids and walking down the hallway. haha we were like ohhh no cuz the last thing we wanted want is to get stuck in the elevator with her. We could hear her getting closer and closer and sis tuia and i are busting up- we were like oh my gosh, this would be our luck! i'm pressing the button like a million times a minute and finally it opens. We hop inside and push the door close button- we made it! haha

We had some great gators at church yesterday and have been teaching Bibi and her daughter Avi (who are set for baptism this coming sunday!) Joseph, who i told you about last week, is set for the week after that (26th) and Nadine too! So all is well and things seem to be going great for all of them. Thanks for the prayers on your side! I know they help for sure! We set a new date for Gay and Clint- we taught the WoW to them last night and they're so determined about it--they'll definitely need your prayers! We brought Subhash with us to teach them because when he bore his testimony last fast sunday it really made Gay want to baptized too. He was soooooo good! This man is gonna be the next prophet, no doubt. Gay & Clint's sister, Navene, is going through a rough time with a divorce and what not so he was talking to her and she had a super cool spiritual experience and just started crying! She said he heart felt like it was attached to a bunjee chord. She, out of the 3 of them, won't commit to be baptized, so we hope as she sees her siblings change and continues to experience these things that she too will want to change.

The coolest things happened a few nights ago- Sis Tuia sleep talking woke me up- she was teaching a full Word of Wisdom discussion. hahaha yes.

Hmm, let's see...i think that's about it. This week we'll be working hard with Bibi & Avi's baptism on Sunday, helping the trio (that's what we call gay/clint/navene) stop smoking and keeping in touch with all of our investigators helping them to progress!

Miss and love you all

Sister Messer

August 9th: Sister Messer's half way point!

some of our district by the temple last pday while saying our goodbyes

Hey everyone! happy anniversary mom and dad!
Well, it's been a pretty sweet and a crazy week so far. A huge transfer took place Tuesday. 71 out of the 91 companionships were transferred, so we played taxi drivers to some spanish sisters serving in toronto. I didn't know we lived so close to downtown. in a 25 minute drive you could actually make out the colors of the CN tower! You could see it from their balcony- totes jealous! But the stake center was a hoppin place. Subhash came and sat there and watched all the missionaries walk around in a hustle and everything. He was giving a few of us some wise advice- he's the best at that! haha This time it was about jobs and marriage- both things i don't have to worry about for at least 9 more months. (hump day tomorrow- say what?!) For us though we did take control of the entire brampton 1st ward! The elders got transferred out and so it's just us now. We have a really young mission. (straight from pres scott's mouth) One of our zone leaders and our district leader came out with me! We're the oldest missionaries in our district- can you believe that? minus one spanish elder that came out 2 months before me. crazy, eh?

sister tuia got a huge box of food from her aunt that lives in vegas.

sister hurst and me

Sister tuia, subhash, my fav elder silva and me! elder silva and i have been in the same district since forever! only 1 transfer that we weren't. he's the coolest kid everrr.

Subhash's confirmation went really well! Church this week was too. We had 4 gators show up and it was testimony meeting. in RS gaye said, "i want to bear my testimony too but not until i'm a member!" hahaha we set a date for the 26th but she has WoW stuff to change up. We have a solid date with Joseph for the 26th! He is a friend of a great member family. he was taught all the lessons about a year ago but has been traveling in the US for work a ton. but now he's finally ready and we're stoked he's getting baptize don the 26th! Also we're still working with nadine for the 26th and the elders had an investigator, Bibi that was turned over to us and her daughter which seem pretty solid too! so that's 5 dates for august. wow, eh? pray for them!

So it was fun to get a package from home on Sunday! april roberts walked up to me and said, "this is from your mom." and i didn't recognize her! i was like, "wait, who are you?!" and she inroduced herself and then just quickly walked away. I went up to them a few minutes later and they said they were just here on vacation. I recognized her name though! I guess since i'd been going to YSA and BYUI before leaving i never really got to know her. It was fun though! she introduced herself in RS and i was able to tell everyone she was from my homeward. You can imagine the ooh and ahhs from all the old ladies :)

quick question, is there an efy 2012 cd? if so, you should send me it! :)

So, the work is going well! The new district is cool, we have some pretty promising baptismal dates and the weather hasn't been totally unbearable!  I can't believe it's august already- i got my call a year ago! have a good week!

sister messer

Happy Day!

Sis. Tuia, Sis. Messer, Subhash and Elder Stark, who baptized him

Hey everyone!

President & Sister Scott

So, Subhash did get baptized last night! It was basically the best baptism everrrrr. Great support from the ward, too! Subhash brought a bunch of indian food and we had a feast afterwards. President and Sis Scott were both able to come and a bunch of the elders in our district who were able to bring some investigators. He bore an awesome testimony after he was baptized! Elder Rodee, in our district leaned forward and whispered, "you guys just baptized a quorum of the 70." haha it's true though! He's so awesome! Actually, all of Sunday was pretty legit. We had 5 investigators at church! RS and PH was combined the last hour and guess what the topic was? It was the stake's Reach Out and Rescue Plan- we were terrified! They started talking about non-members coming to church, dealing with less-actives and all that jazz. So basically our investigators were sitting in the lesson hearing about how members need to fellowship non members when they come to church and to be notified to fellowship before hand- we were like...uh, why are they talking about this? and one of our investigators- Gay, turned around and said, "you two are in trouble!" (she's sooo funny, we love her) but then it turned into the investigators telling the members how it works! haha It was a miracle! i was praying the whole time that the spirit would filter anything that may hinder their progress. Gay turned around and started to tell us how we did a good job making her feel welcome and excited about church so i said, "tell them that!" so she raised her hand and the teacher brought her to the front and she was able to tell everyone how excited she was to come to church and how everything we've been teaching her makes her happy and then subhash walked up and said, "those two taught me the same thing!" Gay was like, "now i'm stuck! I'm always coming!" hahaha Everyone was like, yaaaa! So things worked out perfectly and it ended up being a great way for the gators to get involved after all!

Our investigators are doing well. Gay, who i just talked about- we met her brother, Clint (who also came out yesterday!) while playing a bible game along the street. We stopped by to see if he was home and they were outside doing yard work so we helped gay and her sister nav in their garden. One thing lead to another and now we're all bff's. We're getting to share the gospel with all 3 of them! The cool thing is, we met Gay's son outside too and he's like, "now you guys are showing up at my house too? Oh wait, are you the ones who helped in our garden?" We had met him last transfer and he gave his # only to tell us later that he wasn't interested. So we've met all of their family in 3 different ways. Coincidence? they don't think so :)

Nadine is doing great! She was also present in that wonderful lesson at church. We're meeting her tonight. She's working towards baptism this August!

Guess what i tried for the 1st time this week? Sushi! Our district went for sushi after district meeting on wednesday- it was way good! mady, didn't you say you tried it in vegas? well, i'll take all of you next summer. haha

That's so cool about meeting with dad's half brothers and cousin. Who knew that my great gma was just like me! Man, she must have been pretty cool ;) I met a bunch of people from the 7th day adventist faith here in brampton.  So do dad and his brothers look alike? i'm sure dad's more handsome and charming too, of course.

This boy is hilarious!  We call him Papa

Your SF trip sounds like a classic! The youth in my ward just went to Nauvoo this week! They took a bus down for 2 days, saw the pageant and all. I told Sis Solomon if they'd done that last year i could have met them! haha I've been thinking about that trip this week- i can't believe that was an entire year ago! good times. I'm looking fwd to getting my giants shirt :)

Alright, well it sounds like things are going well! We're still chuggin along. Looking fwd to subhash's confirmation on sunday! talk to ya soon!!! love and miss ya

sister messer