Maria and Shaun are getting baptized this Sunday!

Hey Hey Hey Everyone!

   Well, I have good news! Remember Maria that I taught in London? She got baptized yesterday! Remember Shaun that I taught in London? He came to church the 1st time the last week i was there and had his coffee mug and cigarettes with him... he got baptized too! Sa--weeeet! It's always good to hear that news. We had a leadership training on Thursday with trainers/trainees/District leaders and zone leaders. I saw my zone leaders from London and they said, "guess what?! Maria and Shaun are getting baptized this Sunday!" It was great news!

   This week we've been trying to find people to teach! Story of my life :) We're still working with Garlyn. She's been sick this weekend so couldn't come to church but she's the most solid gator we have right now. We have an appt with a potential tonight that should be interesting. His name is William, he's an alter boy at a church nearby but is stoked to read the BOM. He used to be homeless but has a cute little appt that he is so proud of! It's really cool to hear people's story about their journey to God. Especially when they've overcome so much! We'll see how it all goes.

   Gma, I got your package! Thanks :) I also got a CAKE from the Carson's...so thank you! It's so great to get mail :) Just think...when I get home and see all those people that want to be my friends but never wrote me a letter....hahaha jk. I'll still love you. probably.

    This morning we had just woken up and we had our window cracked and heard someone talking to someone on the parking lot level outside so we looked outside and could hear someone groaning. There was a lady laying in the parking lot at the bottom of the stairs. You could tell she couldn't move her arm and couldn't get up very easily and the person talking to her was yelling through a window communicating with her and we heard her say, "i'll be right down." So we figured she was on her way to help but a couple minutes passed and still no one had shown up and she was trying to get off the ground and was crawling to a wall for support so we hurry and put our coats on and ran down in our Pj's. The lady couldn't move her arm and was in a lot of pain but was totally conscious and talking to us so we called the ambulance and she had dislocated her shoulder. So that was our excitement for the morning.

   Well, things are chuggin along. I forgot my camera cord so I can't send home any pictures! :( But I will sure try my hardest to remember it next week. Lo siento! Mom, you asked about Nemo...we have gotten snow this week but today it's the perfect day! The Torontonians say that it's been a bad winter towards the end here cuz it just keeps snowing. Spring is supposed to be here though, eh?!

Talk to ya'll soon! Have a grand week!

Sister Messer

This week has been a bit on the crazy side...

Hello Everybody!

   Well this week has been a bit on the crazy side. Our "solid" investigator Adriana totally got anti'd hard core. Pretty crazy stuff. But we just kept working hard and we got 2 media referalls this week. Yay! Both seem to be really great. The best part of the week was Garlyn. She was one of those referalls. She is from the Philippines and we taught her on Saturday. She's roman catholic but really interested in learning about the church. We arranged a ride for her to come to church Sunday and the member picking her up was there waiting for her but Garlyn was late so the member left and came to church. Garlyn called us and said, "i'm here waiting now." and We were like nooooooo. So i ran out into the foyer and in walked a member that we've gotten to know cuz he's a bus driver :) and i said, "Bro. Jardine, do you drive?! We have an investigator waiting at Eglinton Square who needs a ride to church...would that be too much to ask?" and he went and picked her and her friend up. Yay for great members! So Garlyn and her friend Ryan were at church yesterday. She LOVED it! She even wanted to stay afterwards for choir practice. (that means you'd like her, huh mom?)

   We're getting a bigger teaching pool too. Our investigators are probably the toughest i've taught my whole mission. They all love the Bible and want 'proof' from the Bible. They don't want to pray and ask specific questions but want to learn about the Gospel. It's made me have more serious personal studies in the morning. Things are going well though. We also picked up a mother and son that were former investigators. They're from Africa and are really great. We're excited to work with them more too.

   I was reading the mission's newsletter and guess what I found? If you go back and read my letters from like mid August you'll see I wrote some about an investigator sis. Tuia and I started teaching in Brampton- Shannon Leblanc. She got baptized last month! I was so happy when i saw that! It's cool to see how just a few months or when circumstances change they're finally ready to accept the Gospel. So many people are looking for the answers that the Gospel has but don't know that the Gospel can answer them! :)

   So, you've all asked if we went downtown last Pday. of course we did! It was everything I ever dreamed of! The next part of my email may sound like a bit of a travel log...but when you're in the best city in the world, of course you're going to explore on pdays! --

   So after email we took the Subway to Union Station. Toronto is known for their 28 kilometers of underground city. We discovered this quickly. When you get off the subways there are stores and restaurants all underground. Not only that but they connect to the buildings throughout Toronto as well. So we came up through the Fairmount Royal York Hotel (which by the way is the coolest old hotel i've ever seen.) We walked through the city until we found the CN Tower (holy tallness!) and Blue Jays Stadium is right next to it. We walked down to the harbour front that overlooks the Toronto islands and ate at a pizza place (mady, you were asking about Pizza pizza- they're all over the place.) Then I had read about the Flat Iron Building in NYC and I found out that Toronto had one as well and it was nearby so we walked to it. On our way there we walked through Maple Leafs Square (where the Leafs hockey plays). Pink was having a concert there that night so they were getting ready for that. We saw the Hockey Hall of Fame and went through different shops and tall buidings and what not. It was a lot of fun! I'm excited to show all of those places to you guys some day soon :) I'll attach pictures!

   You'll be interested to know that the Book of Mormon broadway play is coming to Toronto in April. We're hoping that will create some good publicity and finding opportunities :) haha

Well, thanks for keeping us in all of your prayers! We're being blessed as we strive to be more and more obedient every day! Talk to ya'll soon :)

The Blue Jays Stadium

Sis. Cross and Messer in front of the CN Tower in London

Flat iron building, which means it is really skinny!

Old London district

Sister Messer

I LOVE TORONTO!

Hey Everyone!

Toronto skyline mural

   Where do I start? My new comps name is Sister Cross. She is from the Seattle area. She was also a student at BYUI. She's been sick this week with a sinus infection which hasn't slowed us down much but it's a rough start for her! Hopefully she'll feel better soon! On Thursday we got to take a trip downtown for a doctor's appt. I love Toronto! So about my new area- there are 3 sets of missionaries in the ward. I didn't know this last week but on transfer day I showed up at the Brampton stk center to get the bag with keys/phone and the elder in charge said, "are you opening a new area?" Long story short, President didn't mention it over the phone but we are. They split the ward into 3rds and we cover Don Mills East! So we got a new phone with absolutely zero numbers in it, an area book that was totally empty and an old apartment that used to be the Korean elders. haha I met a sister missionary that just came in (There were 36 new missionaries that came in, 29 were sisters) who came up to me and said, "The day I left for the MTC i found your blog!" So shout out to Sis. Prescott (and her mom if she's still reading it. haha)

Toronto Stake Center-It's huge!!!

   About my new area- it's great. Our ward meets at the Toronto Stake Center and it's the biggest church i have ever seen. It's 3 floors, has an underground parking garage and it's made to be able to fit an entire stake there on Sunday. However, we're the only ward that meets there! haha It has the old Can-Tor east mission office and across the hallway from that is what we call 'narnia'. It's this huge room that the old mission used to store BOM's in every language, pamphlets in every language, pass along cards, movies, even old missionary clothing. It's got everything you could ever need so we get supplies out of Narnia. haha From a window in that room you can see the CN Tower perfectly. It's my wildest dream come true! haha SO ya, that church is crazy. Members have told us that it could be turned into a temple in the future. That may or may not be a myth. We are on bus/subway. The subway is really neat! They call it 'the rocket'. So you'll see advertisements that say "ride the rocket!" We're mainly on the bus though. This week we've been trying to figure out who's in our area and been learning how to get around. We've found a new investigator- Karthi. He's from India and is Hindu. I was able to use some tamil that sis. anushya taught me when we street contacted into him. He just laughed and answered in english but it totally broke the ice. haha

  A member in the ward just returned from his mission in Kennewick WA. So i remembered that E. Solomon and E. Maughan were serving there and I asked him about them. He told me exactly what they were up to and where they were serving. He was the AP in their mission- Elder Lim. Small world, eh?

  My new address-  

2 Swift Dr. #412

North York, ON

M4A 2A2

Canada

Mom, to answer your questions about the apt, we have lots of Korean material...and no, we cannot see the CN tower because of another building and some trees that are in the way but I see it as we walk around our area in the distance. I was hoping to be able to go downtown today but we have a lot of cleaning and shopping to do. Hopefully next week and if the weather is clear- the CN tower for sure!

  This are is really diverse and I guess i've gotten used to it over the past year. But i'm continually reminded as Sis. Cross is in amazement of all the different accents and people. haha It's great. Our ward is actually mainly Filipino, the bishop invited us over for Baloot (spelling?) there's no way i will ever eat that.

   Hope I updated you well enough :) have a great week!

Sister Messer