My First....BAPTISMAL DATE!!!

( A super jenky picture of me in a sketchy elevator with all the numbers plunked out- In a tall apt building in Oakville where we go to visit someone.)

YUP! Sister Wirthlin and I have something the last elders didn't have...and i'm not sure what it is but it got Vivian to come to church! We committed her for baptism on February 19. (the day after your bday mom! haha) So it's both of our first baptism date! The awesome part is-about a week ago i said, Vivian is gonna get baptized on February 19th and i wrote it on our calendar. She hadn't been coming to church but she came yesterday! She's excited and already has a very firm testimony. yay! We just have to teach her the commandments and get her to commit to those and we'll be good :) Did I tell you about Pat? She owns a music store called Leslie's Music Supply and sisW went in to buy reeds one day and we started to talk to her. She invited us to come back whenever and teach her...so we've been there twice now. She's super nice and open. We're hoping that w/out stressing baptism and really gaining her trust she'll come to gain her own testimony. We committed her to read & pray so next time we'll see her we will know a lot more. Mike (who we tracted into last week) said he would also read & pray. We haven't talked to him in a few days but we will be contacting him soon. There is a lot of potential for some great investigators IF they keep their committments! Jun didn't come to church on Sunday. She speaks ok English but better mandarin so we might talk to the mandarin elders about teaching her.

We've been doing a lot of finding lately as well. We volunteered at the Heart & Stroke Foundation Rally that a lady in our RS was in charge of. We met a lot of people, didnt find any investigators out of it, but they fact that they saw us and our nametags hopefully planted a few seeds. One lady thought we were nuns. sweet.

I got some new shoes! Sis. Cooper in our ward (she's the one from Utah, moving back to Utah) was telling us about good shopping places. We were asking her if there were any stores like Ross or TJ Maxx around..she led us to the best one and i found some red flats! But shoes get salt stains around here so i'm hesitant to wear them. haha We continue to visit a lot of member families and are on the brink of getting some great referrals, i just know it!

Interviews with President Scott were awesome! I left feeling rejuvinated and ready to go! He told us we were doing a great job and to keep on it. It was a really positive & spiritual experience. It was really fun to see all the missionaries in our zone and get to talk to them. There are 8 sisters in our zone and about 15 elders maybe. mandarin, spanish and english speaking. Like I said, it was a lot of fun to just get to see and talk to other missionaries! Our new district has been 100% better than last transfer. Even the elders that were in our district last transfer are a lot happier. A good leader makes a huge difference!

 Well, sounds like Logandale is as busy as usual. Hope everyone is doing grrrreat! Glad you posted a pic of corinne and i on the ranger to wish her luck! She'll love the MTC. I can't believe its the end of january already. Crazy! last january seems like a month ago. Time flies!

Love and miss you!

Sister Messer

WATCH OUT ARIZONA!

THANKSGIVING OF 2010 AUSTRIE'S FRIEND, CORINNE, SPENT THE HOLIDAY WITH US. WE GREW TO LOVE THIS GIRL WITH HER SOUTHERN TEXAS CHARM AND BIG SMILE. IN 2 DAYS SHE WILL HEAD TO PROVO TO THE MTC! SHE WILL BE SERVING IN THE TUCSON, ARIZONA MISSION! WATCH OUT ARIZONA FOR YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN :)

WE LOVE YOU CORINNE!

*THE MESSER FAMILY*

Home sweet home

Nice place for missionaries, eh? (said with a Canadian accent) They live in the basement.

kitchen

study area

Hola!

 So this week has been pretty good. We invited 2 people to baptism! In our district meeting they reminded us how to challenge them right off the bat...so we did! We ran into a 26 year old guy named Mike while tracting. He was really open to everything we had to say and we asked him if he knew the BOM was true if he'd like to be baptized and he said, "ya, possibly"...haha so we have to contact him, not sure if he's "golden" but we'll see. Then we also challenged JunYan (a chinese lady who just showed up at church on Sunday) and she was like, "ya, i'll mark my calendar." So i don't think she knew exactly what we meant. hahaha we laughed about that one. Our closest investigator to baptism is a lady named Vivian. She's from the Congo and the elders had been teaching her for months. But for some reason couldn't get her to come out to church---but sisW and i can! She was really sick on Sunday but our ward mission leader is picking her up next Sunday and she has been taught everything, we just have to commit her. That can be done! Hopefully she'll have a bapt date soon :)

Our district got swapped around a lot this transfer. All the new companionships (3) except sisW and I got a new companion. Our new District Leader's name is Elder Snow. He's from D.C. and cool (he looks like Prince William. don't worry, my heart is locked) ;) Also Elder Sloan from Alberta and Elder Prince from...Alberta too, i think. But our district seems to be going better already.

We visited some really great members this week. The Coopers are a family from the U.S. so we really like them because they're so american! haha She made us enchiladas (like you make mom) so we were happy! They are moving back to Utah next month and are so excited about it. We visited Gma Krause (i've told you about her before) and she was looking at the pictures i brought from home and she saw the one of all of us in front of the vegas temple and she pointed at trent and said, "oh, he's a good lookin guy!" then pointed at ty and said, "so is he!" hahaha i laughed. We had dinner last night with the Christensen family. They have 7 kids and are fun to be around. Crazy house, though!

This past week we've been working a lot finding people. which means being BOLD and talking and tracting...it's not the most fun thing but it's getting easier. We focused a lot on being Positive this week and were definitely blessed for it. It makes a big difference, it really does!

So the irrigation water froze? I see that all the time here! It probably melts a tad faster there though. That's a pretty big deal for little MV though.

Hope everyone is doing great! Just still tuggin along in Oakville...trying to get the work rolling! We have interviews this wednesday with Pres.Scott so it will be fun to get out a little bit (it's in weston/jane&finch area) and see other missionaries! 

love sister messer 

Like the Hunger Games...

These are the missionary sisters in Sister Messer's area with Sister Scott, their Mission President's wife next to Aus.  

Hello Everybody!

I'd like to compare this past week to the Hunger Games. Just as we're about to die in the depths of the forest, someone sends a little parachute carrying life saving ointment. But, it's true! All of our appointments wed/thur/fri were cancelled. ALL OF THEM. even dinner appt with members! We're like what theeee! So we decided we were going to pray more. So we started praying every time something good happened or even after an appt wasn't cancelled--basic things. Our shower head broke so we stopped at home depot to see if they had the part we needed..well, the didn't but the guy that helped us asked us about our nametags! haha and then we were praying in the car and we got a text with a referral from salt lake. right during our prayer! haha then we were calling former investigators and a lady named judith was interested! So things happen we you pray. just remember that! Of course seeing those things happen humble you and strengthen your faith. no complaints on my end! THEN yesterday at church, a woman walked in-she's totally open. Coming back next sunday, loved church, has a 17yr old daughter, is from china so she's mostly been taught that God doesn't exist but our ward has a gospel principles class for investigators or RCs and the lesson was on our Heavenly Father so it went really well! Super blessing alert.

I totally forgot to mention a super funny phone call we got about 3 or so weeks ago. I answered it and he was like, "Hi, this is John-i'm going to India to find myself a wife and i keep hearing my ex-wife's voice in my head saying she's going to kill me, I suffer from scizophrenia (sp check?) and i was wondering if you could say a prayer for me right now." I was like uhhhhhh and by this time i had it on speaker and sis Wirthlin was listening and i held it out to her and mouthed, "you do it! there is nooo way i'll be able to." So she was like, "uhm, ya...sure...what do you want me to say?" he explained the situation over again and we just couldn't stop laughing. which is probably pretty bad but we had no idea who this guy was! So we said a prayer and he really appreciated it but that was one for the books.

I WENT ON EXCHANGES! Wednesday night we drove down to Weston and I was companions with Sister Woo from Hong Kong. They only ride buses there! So i got to talk to people on the bus and we had some great appointments and i committed someone to baptism! First one! too bad i have nothing to do with her now! haha It was a great experience. The zone leaders were at the lesson too and then they drove us to another appt with a lady who is trying to quit smoking so she can get baptized. I learned a lot, it was really good! It forced me to be more outgoing and it got easier throughout the day. We were in Jane&Finch, a super sketch part of Toronto, haha it reminded me of ghetto Vegas. Plus riding the buses...quite the experience. Sis Woo was like, "you shouldn't be afraid to talk to people, they'll like you cuz you're white." hahah I was definitely a minority there! It was sister Woo's 6month mark and we had met up with some elders at subway and they convinced her to burn something. elders usually burn ties i guess? ya, so we burned an old shirt. Effective use of time? probably not...but it was fun! 

 I can't believe you quoted me in stk conf dad...totes embarrassing! haha 

To answer your questions...

no, didn't get a baptism date this week. it's been a hard week! our ZLs got mad at us cuz we use so many k's. like there's a zone party/get together in weston today but we would use over 200ks to go there and drive to milton that we told them we can't come. Hopefully that will show them that we're trying and make them feel bad for rebuking us. Today is transfers! and we got a new district leader and a 2 new: a mandarin & spanish speaking elder.  Sooo we're trying our best! and are frustrated sometimes but holiday weeks are super slow. and we're seeing things get picked up! holla!

Mom, do you put pics on my blog too? 

Well, this week has been slow but miracles have happened! I survived jane&finch and we're excited to be staying in Oakville another transfer.

love sister messer

A NEW YEAR...NEW GOALS!

Milton, Ontario-This is in Sister Messer's area

Hello everyone! It's cold. Today we stepped out of our apt and breathed in a little and we both started coughing. hahaha i was like, "so thiiiiiis is what they all warned me about!" it took me back to the old stomping day of Rexburg, ID. It basically feels like -30* in idaho when it's -15*C here...but i think that's only like 10*F. whatever, it's pretty chilly... and we didn't dress for it. holla! 

Our New Years celebration...well, we had to be in by 6pm but we had a dinner appt at 5:30 so we were home by about 6:45. We just did boring stuff and went to bed early. We thought about setting our alarms for midnight and then said ehhh nope, not gonna happen.

This week was slow too...we just are having the hardest time finding people! We got our oil changed yesterday at a jiffy lube. The mechanic working on our car was really nice and as we were paying he asked us how our new years and cmas was. So we told him that were missionaries and what we do. He is from Orange County, California and hadn't heard what we believe before so we gave him a mormon.org card and our numbers...hopefully he'll call! we've been praying that he will! It would definitely be a miracle.

We also met a 13 year old girl through a recent convert, her step sister, who is my age. She's interested in the Gospel but her parents aren't too keen on the idea but we went over and had a super casual conversation with her parents and just kind of got to know them. Hoepfully we will go over again this week. She's super cute, and really into ballet. Her name is Caroline.

Right before we went over, we had a dinner party with some families from the ward. They were all Phillipino and the food was so interesting! I might have eaten squid...but i though it was zuccini. So the good news is i survived.

We both set new years resolutions physical, mental & spiritual. We hung them on our wall and are trying to be better at them :) One of them is more energy at our 630 work out time! haha sometimes we just lay there and think about stretching. Most days are pretty good though. 

We think of new goals daily that will help us and help us find people. This week we're really focusing on loving EVERYONE! There's  great things in Preach My Gospel that are really helping us do that. Serving is a big one, we have a meeting at this place called Interim today. It's a house for woman who are being abused and have no where to go. We'll see how that goes...and how often we'd be able to help and what kind of stuff they would have us do. We're not entirely sure that's where we should be serving so we're gonna be really open to the spirit while we meet with this woman today. We are trying to serve the members more though because gaining that trust will hopefully lead them to giving us referrals and that's what we need, people to teach! The work continues to go along, and we have our great times and our slow and doubtful times but there are goals to work towards!!! 

Miss and love you!

Sister Messer

What is Canadian Boxing Day?

Boxing day...it's a let down. haha It's basically just a holiday where no one has to work. So we visited some families that were home. There were actually a couple people that we visited that asked US what boxing day was. uhhh ok. But someone told us it's like black friday in the US. good sales on electronics and what not. But that stinks cuz it's after Christmas.

 Sounds like everyone had a good Christmas. You're right...it wasn't the same! It just isn't when you're not with family.

I can't believe Lyndsay F. is going to MOSCOW. Holyyyyy!  i can't believe that! Russia. wow! Little lyndsay speaking Russian. crazy, crazy!

 Thanks for everyones bday dates! Taylors card is in the mail :) I never realized that the fam covers every month except Dec. that's cool! I also got 8 letters in the mail on tuesday! HOLLA! it was late tuesday so i didn't have time to write everyone back...and some of the letters were sent early december. i'm not neglecting any of you! I'm just being obedient! haha Gma, this is a special message for you too---i will write you on monday! pinkie swear.

Mom, people are pretty candid about what they call people--like african american. it's usally just "brown" or "black" or "white" and no one is offended so that's different. There are so many people from all over that a lot of the time they'll say "jamaican" or "white jamaican" like the lady yesterday telling us about her husband. so there ya go!

Yesterday we got our first real snow. It's probably the coldest it's been as well. It was -7*c but felt -15*c with windchill. If ya do the math, that's not super harsh...its like 20F or so i think...i dunno, google it. haha

Let me answer your Qs...
Did you do any Christmas baking? NOpe. we were gonna make popcorn balls but we're poor. soooo. didn't happen

  

What are you doing for New Year’s? We're in by 6pm that night...so going to bed early! yay! I'm not sure if it's still fast sunday that sunday or not.

Alright...There's a few cool things i wrote down to tell ya'll. Like...the freeway we drive on practically every day is called QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) I'm still waiting to find Prince Harry Way. Also to get the library i'm emailing from now, we take Duke of York Blvd. Oh canada, keeping it classy!

Last Pday when we were emailing, it was rainy and super foggy. We were walking along in downtown Mississauga (which we refer to as Missi'swagger'. so much cooler) and the tall apt buildings were covered in fog. it was pretty cool. when it's foggy and cloudy, it's not as cold. sweet! But you could really smell lake ontario that day--it smells nasty nast!

Everyone, EVERYONE drinks tea here! Herbal tea--so i guess we're allowed to drink it. dang. cuz it's gross. A sister we visit asked me to pour it for us 3 and i poured sis W a full cup of it and barely any in mine and the look she gave me was priceless. It was so funny because she had to drink it all...little things amuse me now. 

Congratulations to sis W and i! we're officially old, we got a fruit basket for christmas! Bro Marjanovich in our ward is super cool. He speaks Macedonian, so he has a greek accent and he said, "sisters! i have something for you!" (in a greek-like accent) and it was this massive fruit basket. See attached picture! haha

Another funny story- we were visiting this family and there's an old lady with alzheimers that live with them and she was so funny. Someone said "book of mormon" and she's like, "what?! the mooger norman?" hahaha and then she looked at my hand and said, "your nails are so tiny, they're beautiful!" she's awesome. 

Well, it's a pretty random letter this week...all over the place. But We did get an email today that says some GA's are coming to visit soon! to check out the mission. So...pres monson? sure! :)
Talk to ya soon!

sister messer

We finally got some pictures!

In Mississauga, Ontario

Hola! This week has been pretty good...Alright, let me see if i can answer all your questions! haha

How’s it going with your Macedonia friends?  We taught them yesterday. Sunday at Tim Horton's. it's the Starbucks of Canada. they are seriously on EVER CORNER! it's crazy. But our ward mission leader told us it was ok to go there on sunday. haha They bought us soup...i guess that's very European so whatever. But we brought Sis Radke with us who is a ward missionary. We didn't address her role very well and she ended up taking over a lot of the lesson. Plus, Gotes & Gordon were asking really weird questions like why aren't Dinosaurs in the bible. Ya, uhhh probably cuz it doesn't matter. So it got kind of out of hand and didn't go super well but they're just interested in everything and we'll see what happens.

Do you guys get the Ensign?  Dad and I guess that you do? Yes! we do...it's nice to read out of that during personal study sometimes

So, how does Canada not feel American?  Canada is so much different than the US. Sis W and I were talking about how much we both miss the US. We were looking at a picture of SLC on the back of an Ensign and practically drooling. There are no mountains here in Ontario...it's weird.

Do you two ever eat out?  Do you have dinner apts. Every night?  Do you ever fix your own dinners? Since we have an awesome ward, we get a lot of dinner apts. we also fix our own dinner sometimes or go out every once in awhile. There's a fast food place called Licks and its way good! I think it would be a hit in the US. It's basically a steak burger joint. You'll have to try it in about 16 months.

Did you get a new bedspread? yes, we went out on that 1st pday and i bought one for 15$ at walmart. it's purple dotted. just so nice.

What are you doing for Christmas? We have sac meeting at 9:30 and then we're chillin til about 2 and then were going to the radke's (a family in our ward) and they're letting us call from there. We just got an email from pres scott and we can skype if they have the hook ups  but idk if they do and i know it might be kind of sketch with our computer & the comp is in their living room where the party is at. so that probably won't work out. that way you won't see me cry either :)

Ok I'm glad people are reading my blog! so you're updating my blog & facebook with my latest letters and what not? sweet!

The police were stopping cars on the entrance to the freeway checking for drunk drivers. haha we rolled down our window and he saw our name tag and kind of snickered and let us through after asking if we had been drinking. haha it was funny.

Sister Wirthlin and Sister Messer

Not as funny as our tracting caroling experience. We were trying to make tracting a little more fun. Well, we were like, "it's the Christmas season! we'll just carol and hand them a joy to the world/lds.org card" ya...the 1st door we knocked on, all the lights were on so we started singing and no one came so we just walked away when were done singing. haha the 2nd door we waited until they were opening it and started singing. it was an older man and we were singing Joy To The world and he looked at us weird and said, "i'm busy." and shut the door! I said, "uhhh ok" and we were cut off and just walked away and laughed it off because that's what you gotta do! It was really funny though. we've been telling all our families and elders about it. we decided to go with a group next time.

Father, you taught me well. I carried on a good conversation with a non-member man who comes to our ESL (english second language class) about Baseball and Joey Votto. He even offered to take me and sis W to a Blue Jays game this summer. Holla. If that's totes allowed and i'm still in the area, i'm down!

I got a package from the barlows! they sent me their delicious cookies! i was excited :) the green ones are my fav! and a cmas card...it's fun to see pics from home! As far as your packages go...since we live like 20min from Brampton, where the mission office is, i heard they're going to play Santa this week and deliver packages. if not...i'll get them eventually! Sis W hasn't gotten any packages from home so she's quite anxious--we may drive down and get them ourselves ;)

 In front of Lake Ontario

We went tracting in a really nice area in Oakville. The people were all really nice too! and get this-i wasn't scared...haha but really, one guy was JW and he was like, "i really appreciate what you're doing! I went out when I was a young guy and knocked on doors. my parents are Jw but i'm not interested in anything right now." Sis w said, "thank you for being nice to us." hahah he laughed. But really, we ran into a lot of really nice people. It boosted my boldness a bit. Plus Sis W was totally scared and I felt like I had to be the senior comp for a second. Kind of like that one night when we were walking home from the leavitts in the dark and we heard something in the bushes and it was a skunk- mom you totally hid behind me. Sometimes i have to take one for the team.

I got the old cmas card you sent me mom! haha i laughed. Buzz, your girlfriend- woof! but for real.

Well, you also asked about my shoes and stuff- there's no snow here. the only time snow has stuck was sat night, when we woke up it was slightly all over the ground. but really, it's not that cold or snowy. So i don't even wear tights every day. my dansko shoes are comfy & i feel 7 ft tall. i haven't worn boots yet...and we might go shopping today, if so...i'll try out my debit card!

well family, i'll talk to you on Sundayyyyyyyyy!

sister messer

BE BOLD, SISTER MESSER! BE BOLD!!!

Hello Everyone!

This week has been pretty good. I miss you all!!! I can't believe i've been gone for over a month now though. 

Whoever thinks the MTC is remotely comparable to the field is crazy. I miss the MTC. haha It was so easy! I'm having a really hard time being BOLD. So i guess Pres. Batchelor knows what he's talking about when he repeatedly told me to "be bold". I'm really hoping that aspect gets a bit easier. We went tracting for the first time this week and I thought i was gonna throw up. Luckily i didn't...but i still don't like it. haha After a few doors it got a little bit easier but it's not effective. We've been working with members and less-actives more. Taking pres. Hinckley's advice that there is a smarter way! (when referring to tracting)...hopefully the members will trust us more and start to give us referrals. However, when it comes to tracting, i've found that i like that better than OYM (open your mouth) or street contacting.

We drove out to Lake Ontario and walked along a path along the lake. The view was amazing! I could see the U.S. from the distance and we both miss America. haha We could see the Toronto skyline miles down the shore and it was so cool! I hope I get to serve in the city after I get a little more accustomed to being BOLD. it was sooooooooo cold. The humidity makes a big difference. I can't tell it's humid and my hair doesn't curl weird but when it's cold, it's cold. We walked up to this lady who was staring at the sun and we were like, "hi, we're missionaries for..." and she was like, "I don't believe in organized religion, that people think other religions aren't good enough for other people" something along those lines...and then she said, "i'm actually talking to God right now, check out solarhealing.org" Soooo i guess she was worshipping the sun or something like that...and that is why I don't like walking up to people. 

We've had a few really odd experiences this week.

We did get a return apt from tracting this week and we drove to his house to meet him and was just walking out to walk his dog so we talked to him for a second and he wasn't interested at all. He's Roman Catholic and just didn't care much for what we had to say...BUT we didn't teach very well...being that Sis W gave the entire lesson in about 5 min and i just stood there...and so after that we were like uhhhh alright, we need to fix some things. We totally skipped a large portion of "how to begin teaching" when you get to know the person your teaching and she just started right into the lesson. So in the car we evaluated and practiced how we could've done that better and realized that we were put into that situation for practice because there's someone out there we're supposed to find that is prepared to receive the Gospel soon! and we're being prepared to teach them! Boom.

We had a zone christmas meeting this week with the entire zone. I have some pics i want to send. Hopefully i can buy the little device this week that allows me to do that.

Pres & Sis Scott showed up to our ward yesterday! I guess they go around the mission and attend different meetings but that was cool. it was a nice surprise. They're cool-pretty chill but strict at the same time. Sis Scott is super sweet & caring. She saw my deer in the headlights look at the mission office the day after getting here and she came over and was like, "how are you?" and i was like, "uhhh scared." haha but she assured me that it gets better & she was scared when they got here 3 months ago too. haha Hopefully I make it :)

We went cmas shopping last Pday at the biggest mall i've ever been to. It was insane & Sis W kept getting us lost...haha

Funny story- my district leader, elder fawcett, called sis Wirthlin on saturday night to express his "worry" for me because i'm quiet. I laughed. ya, i'm quiet...until you get to know me. I'm sorry I don't jump out of my seat and raise my hand in .05 seconds when you ask who wants to say the closing prayer :) I guess that just leads back to being BOLD!

I hear Allen Fabby got his call to NYC! oh my gosh! give him a high five for me! that's so sweet. NYC...that's so perfect for him.

We had a ward cmas party and had a few investigators come out. We're having a hard time just finding people who are interested cuz we're new and starting totally all over. Gotes & Gordon are meeting us tomorrow for an apt. AKA we're inviting them to get baptized...so hopefully that works out. haha they're funny guys.

Sis. wirthlin is from Farmington, UT. there are a lot of missionaries from UT. People think it's cool when I tell them i live by las vegas. haha She's a funny girl, we laugh a lot and get along well. We have a lot in common & are always on the same page. We'll seriously say the same thing a lot & while teaching have the same thoughts. unity. only the best.

It's sunny & 4*C today...that's something that takes some getting used to- celsius, meters, kilometers...it's weird. to figure out the temp in F you times the number by 2, multiply by 10% and add 36...i believe. haha well, i'm about to be kicked off the comp. maybe...i better send this to make sure you get it! love and miss you

sister messer

Our New Little Canadian Missionary!

Hello! 

My new address is:

(Leave a comment and Sister Messer's family will get it to you!)

Mississauga, ON

Canada

Alright, sooo i feel like i've been gone for a year already. Staying awake during personal study is a beast! Gah We live in Mississauga but it's actually outside of our area. our area is the Oakville area and it has Milton, oakville and part of mississauga in it...maybe. i'm still confused. it's big.

First night here we had a dinner apt that the elders set up. Elders have been living in our apt for like 10 years...that's a whole other story. haha It was with sister Radke. Her and her husband Slade are super sweet. She's pregnant and is having a rough time but made us dinner...plus they just moved so there were boxes everywhere. and her cat barfed on the carpet. haha Sister Wirthlin (yes, her great uncle is elder wirthlin) is allergic to cats so she was sneezing constantly. it was a good appointment. haha But we met the rest of our ward yesterday and it's a GREAT ward! We got invited to lunch at the Christensens house afterwards (the son, Aiden was baptized after the block and we had to fill the font) So we talked to members and ate lunch and she sent us home with a ton of food.

    The ward is ecstatic to have sister missionaries, we're "whitewashing" oakville which means we're both new to the area & know nothing. The only info we have is what the elders left us. OH! we were sitting in church yesterday and 2 guys in jeans walk in. after sac meeting we went up and talked to them- they're from Macedonia and learned about the church in New Jersey and moved to Canada 8 months ago, googled the nearest church and just showed up. Hallelujah. Its crazy! we're setting up an appt with them tonight. they're brothers and they have super thick accents (kind of like greek accents) their names are Gotse & Gordon.

   alright, next item of business...like i said, our area is very large. w/out a car would be impossible. When we're on the 401 going to Oakville i can see the CN tower in the distance! and lake ontario. I'm like say whaaaat! its pretty neat. The pic i sent of the tall towers i took on our way to the mississauga library (where i'm at now) It's a pretty city.

   The new District is pretty cool. there are 6 elders and us. 2 mandarin speaking elders, 2 spanish elders and another pair of english elders. We cover mississauga & oakville i believe. The houses in Oakville are absolutely beautiful! Theyre high-pitched roofs and brick and the architecture is just super pretty. They're unlike houses i've seen before & super duper schmancy. Lots of town houses as well. super classy area! Pretty wealthy area as well. the neighborhood I live in is really nice, not as fancy as oakville but a great apt for missionaries. The elders left a bunch of stuff...i'm currently using someones old bedspread...ya. that's changing today. For the toilet paper roller they screwed a piece of fabric in the wall and hung it on that. hahaha we laugh at it and continue to use it. There are a lot of tall appartment building where we have to buzz them from the bottom floor to get in. I've only seen that in movies. lol

    So like i told you on the phone, there were 15 missionaries that flew out to Toronto the same day as me. we all went to different places and I forgot to tell you! Sis Wirthlin, my trainer, has only been out 6 weeks. YA. 6 weeks! She's good though. Basically there are 2 newbies covering Oakville. president must see something in us. haha we'll see about that. Oh, crazy thing--elder bybee, i told you about him, we got out and Pres was like, oh, you're speaking farce (i dunno how to spell that but it's what people from iran speak) They don't teach it in the MTC.

    Flying into Toronto was crazy. we had to go through customs and immigration, it's SOOO racially diverse around here. Everyone has an accent and it's hard to understand them sometimes. We visited 2 older ladies my first night here, one was from jamaica & the other from Nigeria. See? everyone is just so diverse. haha then we had dinner with the Galletly's (who feed us a lot) and she's from China & he's from England and she cooks super delicious chinese food.

   Our district teaches an ESL class twice a week, maybe we can get Gotse & Gordon to come to that! haha but it's fun, it's an English as Second language class. mostly asian people come to it. Should be fun though.

 We have a cmas tree! it's so festive. haha The weather here hasn't been bad. the locals say it's really mild and will get worse but it's rainy a lot. It's snowed but hasn't stuck and it feels colder than 45 cuz of the humidity but its really not that bad!

   Flying into Detroit was really pretty. Michigan is beautiful! Super green and kinda swampy looking from the plane. It was quick, all 15 of us were rushing to meet our connection and the flight to Toronto after that was only like 45 min. tops. It was a tiny plane...i was just glad to get here.

   Sounds like everything is going good, can't wait to get your packages :) Hopefully the mail system will work well and I can get everything you send me!

That's about it...got lots to do today! ah!

love sis messer    

Sister Messer showing her future location in the MTC

                           Sister Shelby Bennet with Sister Messer.                                                                                                                   Shelby's from Logandale too & headed to Tulsa, OK

Outside the Provo Temple with companion, Sister Turvaville (to her left),
and roommates Stout and Palenokova

SHE MADE IT!!!

Sister Messer with Mission Pres. Brent Scott and Sister Scott at the mission home in Brampton, Ontario

Sister Messer with her new companion Sister Wirthlin

Sister Austriana Messer

Mississauga, ON

Canada

We haven't heard from Aus yet, but we were pleasantly surprised today with an email and pictures from her mission president!    We google-earthed Mississauga and it looks like a nice place right next to Toronto and Ontario Lake.