great things continue to happen!

HEY! exciting news with transfers!!!

Sister Anushya is being transferred to Burlington (right by Oakville) and her comp is sis turvaville! cool, eh? Sister Tuia is coming to Brampton to be my comp. I'm follow-up training her (only meaning she's been one 1 transfer and still is in her training study in the mornings) and she is from Samoa! I honestly thought I was going to be her companion last transfer when I saw her picture in the office and was kind of surprised when i wasn't...but i'm pysched to go pick her up tomorrow!

That's exciting about President and Sister Dalley! haha I'll miss Pres and Sis Leavitt of course...but they'll do good too- his counselors will be a lot of fun as well!

I had salmon for the first time. end of story.

Mo is becoming a pretty awesome member missionary! He was confirmed yesterday at church and he was lookin fly. He's so happy! A new member in the ward brought her friend to church and Mo brought him to me and said, "this is kevin, he wants to know about the bom and be baptized." hahaha We also gave him pass along cards to hand out while he walks around brampton. He's so excited to be a member! 

The weather this week was sooooo hotttttt! Oh gosh. It wasn't totally unbearable but they said it felt like the heat of summer...if that's as bad as it gets, i may just survive. I think it was 40-45*C plus the humidity (which of course i love...)

I"ll answer some of your Q's.

Q- So, do you ever miss Mississauga?  Is sister Wirthlin still there? I havent missed that area too much :) the people are a lot nicer here (not as many white people) but for real- i have this fear of contacting white people...they're mean! SisW is still there--

Q- Is everywhere pretty and green like Nauvoo? It is really green! especially getting out into the country when we drive to bolton or woodbridge, it reminds me of eastern US.

Q- How is Sathri doing? SAD. He won't answer calls or anything. He called us to tell us last week that he couldn't come to church because he had to take his dad somewhere and sisA was disappointed and told him to atleast come for an hour but he didn't. Since then he won't answer calls. We'll keep trying though.

So there's a guy in the credit view ward (the boundaries we actually live in) and he has a mormon.org message! he takes clothes to Uruguay. You should look him up. I talked to him for quite some time at a dinner last night. The bishops son leaves for the mtc tonight (he's serving in india) and had a dinner open house yesterday. Practically the entire ward came- it was like a big family party! I really love this ward. I'm excited to stay another transfer.

A quick story that happened this week- last Friday (over a week ago) we saw some people moving into a house across the street from the church and so we walked over and helped them unload their truck, invited them out to church and stuff. We continued to run into the lady about every other day walking or just sitting outside. well, on Saturday we saw her walking across the parking lot as we had stopped by the church for just a second so we walked over and talked to her for a few minutes. She was really sweet, told us she was pregnant with her 10th kid and what not. She started asking about the church and temple and then smiled and said," ya, i was baptized in the mississauga church when i was 12." my mouth dropped open and i said, "well welcome home!" she laughed and i told her she should come out and she said she would talk to her bf about it. Miracles happen! We have a pretty good relationship with her and she lives literally like 20 yds from the church.

Well, great things continue to happen! Thanks for the prayers and the updates- have a fun week!

love sister messer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANNY!

I love & miss ya...I hope you're updating my blog & facebook correctly!

Oct '11 DISNEYLAND!

*Yes, yes...I PRE-mish blogged this too...you caught me. 

this week ended soooo good! Mo was baptized last night!



Elder raikes is next to me- he baptized mo. He also serves in the brampton 1st ward. Elder silva is on the end- he serves in the spanish ward but him and elder mejia, his comp, got to know Mo and so mo loves elder silva. So we're all just one, big happy family.

Hey everyone!

Well, this week ended soooo good! Mo was baptized last night! He looked so good afterwards with the white shirt I got him and tie. He loved it! He kept saying thank you and was smiling and super happy. What have I told you about Mo? Well, he's had a really tough past. He's 37 (doesn't look like, eh?) and when younger he was treated really bad by terrorist groups in Sri Lanka. After moving to Canada, that stuff really has bothered him. Then after seeing a doctor, he told him to find things that make him happy and get involved with that. Right after that's when we found him by the temple. He had been going to a nearby Catholic church and had learned a little bit about Christ from that I guess. But after spending time at the temple and church every day to get away from a bad home environment (his family supports the terrorist stuff) we've been able to teach him a lot and he's found a lot of peace. Anyways, he's sooo excited and we're really excited for him too! The ward is supporting him and he's getting some great fellowshippers.

You want a detailed day? Well, the only things that are consistent is get up at 6:30, exercise til 7, get ready until 8, personly study til 9, comp study til 10 and then out all day until 9pm. We have appointments that we schedule, tract, street contact and have lunch and dinner within that time. It's always different!

Fathers Day- the ward gave the dads cake and icecream, and we tried to explain to a member why we don't get to call home on fathers day- only mothers day. haha but it was great.

Samantha isn't set for baptism- she won't commit. Her mom is in Nigeria and I think she's afraid to do anything (we're not quite sure about her desire to get baptized) we're meeting again tonight- hopefully something miraculous will come forth :) As for Natalie in Nobleton- cancelled again.  But her cousin- we call him Gpa, his name is Arul, he committed for baptism the end of July, but we have a lot work to do with him. Last week Sathri came to church and wanted to pay tithing- we explained to him he doesn't need to pay but he insisted- we taught him this week and he committed for July8. His father may be interested too- they're also from Sri Lanka. We're excited about him!

I think you're right about sikh men never cutting their hair under their turbans- but those are the really committed ones. Nagra- who comes to church told us he cut his hair because it gets really hot. Makes sense!

We've been hearing a lot about the 1st stake in India being formed- we saw a picture from the church news article and sister anushya knew a few of the people! Our bishop told us a few weeks ago about all the happening. she'll be excited to get the newspaper about it though!

Lots of good things happening as we strive to be obedient! I've learned that a mission is like a lifetime experience in 18 months. You get discouraged, good things happen, you learn to rely on the Lord, you find out that obedience is key and so much more. The exact same things happen throughout life- with trials and having to learn that keeping the commandments is the only way to live with God again...profound, eh? hahah totally kidding. But transfers are this Sunday- we'll see what happens!

Love and miss ya!

Sister Messer

a picture from last week's zone conference here in Brampton. That's the church i go to multiple times a week! This is the Sudbury, Barry and Brampton zones. Can you find me???i have my eyes shut! haha go fig.

talking to strangers gets a little easier every day :)

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty good. We had a zone conference this week and that was a great thing. Thats the picture i attached- the sisters that were there- minus 2 of them because they wandered off. Also we were driving to Bolton yesterday and saw a punjabi guy mowing his lawn- we both just started laughing because it looked so funny so i attached that picture too :) I talked in church yesterday! We continue to teach people, find people...all that good stuff. I really don't have much to say! haha ummm It was  a full week of unsuccessful tracting, street contacting, appointments with potential investigators that don't seem to interested. It wasn't a bad week but it wasn't a super special one either.

Mo continues to work towards his baptismal date- it's next Sunday. He's starting to meet more people in the ward and really enjoys getting to know everyone. We're hoping he'll be ready by sunday and that all will go well. That's cool that you got to go to the temple so often this week! We go here about 1 or 2 times a year- so i hear. We just went the first week i got here in brampton so it'll be awhile before we go back again.

Mady's graduation sounds like a party! I thought about her graduating i think it was on friday? but then i didn't remember what day she graduated soooo it's weird not being there for it! But the pictures look like a good time.

Well, i'm sorry this email is a little shorter- it's been a good week! it really has- we've been able to visit some gators and talking to strangers gets a little easier every day :)

miss and love ya all

sister messer

my testimony of obedience has grown a million percent

Hey everybody!

Attached is a picture we took on the way to email, we said, "oh no we didn't take any pictures this week!" so i held out my NEW camera! (yay!) and snapped a picture.

This week we've been blessed and my testimony of obedience has grown a million percent. We evaluated what we needed to work on in order for a baptism this June and decided to tweak a few things. One of them was to get up and go outside and exercise from 6:30-7:00 instead of just stretching/whining because we are tired. We live in a cute neighborhood in downtown Brampton so there are pretty victorian houses and lots of trees and flowers, even an old train station and brick townhouses- i really like it. As we continue to become more obedient and are diligent in all we do, not only will we become better missionaries but also better disciples of Christ. I'm excited to become better!

   We have a baptismal date with Mo on June 17. If you remember anything about Mo, he's from Sri Lanka and has had a rough past with the violence and stuff there so he hates/is afraid of  tamil people (sister A) So it's an interesting situation when I teach him. But he comes to the church and temple every day for hours and just sits there because he feels so at peace and can take his mind off all that has hurt him in the past. He's learning well and progressing-he Loves to learn everything he's taught and is really excited to be baptized.

  Samantha and Mo were both at a baptismal service last night for an 8 yr old in the Heart Lake ward. Mo loved it and when we talked to Sam about it, she said she still wants to think about it. Being only 11 and her mom never around, I think she gets nervous talking about it. We have FHE with their family tonight and we have a really cool lesson planned about the commandments and how through baptism is the only way we can live with God again. We're hoping that helps :)

   The coolest experience of all was Thursday night. We go on splits every Thurs with our ward missionaries and we had a lesson planned with an inactive member at the church. We waited around a while and he never showed up (that happens waaaaay to often) so we were like, well- might as well leave! and our ward missionary, sis. Scott-Wright, said, "lets wait 15 more min. to give him the benefit of the doubt." and we were like ok. So we walk outside to see if we can see him coming and a guy walks through the doors, i assume he was a member by his confidence in coming inside and just open the door for him. But he walks in and starts talking to Sis A about any pamphlets he can have- when i heard that i came back in and started talking to him. He was on his way to the hospital (which is across the street) he said he had appendicitis. He parked his car in the church lot so he wouldn't have to pay for parking. But he has been going through some really rough times and decided to check out church because he had never been before. So when he realized he was parked at a church, he came inside and found us! He said, "I'm interested in becoming a member of this church so I just was looking for pamphlets i could read while I was in the waiting room at the hospital." There are some times (a lot of times) I wish a camera crew followed us around because i'd love to see my face when that happened. He told us he would come to church on Sunday and we'd talk then. Well, he called us that night and told us he had given us a wrong phone # to contact him and that he really had a broken rib. He came out yesterday! He was really nervous, not knowing what to expect but he genuinely enjoyed it. It was a great testimony meeting and everything that was said was really stuff he needed to hear! Amazing how that stuff happens, eh? But he has a lot of rough things going on and we're supposed to be in contact with him this week. The gospel will help him SO much. I really hope he realizes that! Along with him at church yesterday- there was also Mo, samantha and Arul (nanthini's cousin gpa i've told you a little about) So that's quite a few gators! holla!

   We had a few service opportunities this week. We've been praying for that to happen! We never get to do service- for some reason they ask the elders to move heavy things- they have no idea that strength behind this beautiful face. Just kiddin, that's fine if they want them to do it But we did get to plant a garden this week for an older lady in the ward and help a lady in a wheelchair with a few chores in her apartment. That's always a fun opportunity...saves you from walking aimlessly down the street :)

 Can you believe it's my 7month mark this week? This mission stuff flies by. It's insane! We have a zone conference this Friday with about 70 missionaries. Those are always fun, getting to see some people! Well, have a great week! I'll let ya know what obedience brings this week :)

love and miss ya all!

Sister Messer