Tuesday, December 6, 2011

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

Saturday, December 3, 2011

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.  

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Sister Messer's new address

Sister Austriana Messer
Canada Toronto Mission
197 County Court Blvd., Suite 203
Brampton, Ontario L6W 4P6
CANADA

It takes two of our stamps and takes about 5-7 days for a letter to arrive.
Austrie LOVES letters...I'm just sayin'....And, she's good about writing back :)

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Good Bye Provo-Hello Toronto!

Hi everyone, Austrie's mom.  I have to tell you we were graced by a phone call from Sister Messer this morning at 5:45am.
 IT WAS SO WONDERFUL TO HEAR HER SWEET VOICE!!!
She was at the SLC airport with 14 other missionaries travelling to Toronto as well.
She will fly into Detroit at 10:00am, NV time, and then on to Toronto an hour later.  She'll arrive at 12:30NV time.
She was really looking forward to getting to Toronto!
So, we got a letter from her that she wrote on Thanksgiving Day.  She said they had a grand Thanksgiving meal in the cafeteria.  They also had a fireside that morning.  This is what she said
"This morning I had to usher the devotional.  I was in charge of the very front by the podium.  Guess who our speaker was?  Elder Russell M. Nelson!  When he came in I was only 5ft away from him!  Ushers had saved seating in the 4th row.  During a missionary's talk, I was looking at him and he turned directly at me, smiled and winked.  I'm not even fibbing.  I was like "What the?"  Then it got awkward cuz I wasn't sure he was looking at me so I kinda looked around and no one else saw it."
She also said that Sister Shelby Bennet accompanied a violinist for "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief."  Sister Bennet is also from our stake and she entered the MTC the same day as Aus.  She also saw Elder Derrick Cameron ushering the upper level, and saw Elder Zach Staley in the congregation.  Yay for Logandale Stake!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Last week at the MTC

LOVE the pictures!  I did get your cookies! Yum! Just got back from the temple. We did initiatories...how do you spell that? haha It was cool to do that again since I hadn't gone since i went through. WE took a district picture in front of the temple (minus the other sisters because they're always late/doing their own thing) But I will try to send it asap! Just think...one week from right now i'll be on a plane to Toronto!!! well, technically to Detroit. (did you get my last letter with all my travel plans?) We're quite excited.  There's about 15 missionaries going to Toronto in our travel group. BIG! It will be fun! Alright...I try to write down things I want to tell you through out the week but it's so hard to remember because SO MUCH happens! It's insane.
So mady, to answer your question about cute elders...I think you'd like it here. I'll have to send you a picture of my district. I think you may be rather fond of a few of them. As far as at the MTC, you'd love to walk around because there are an abundance of rather good looking young men. Don't worry, my heart is locked ;)
OHMYGOSH. a few nights ago there was a BYU fball game going on. Kill me! I fell asleep to hearing Beyonce or something like that. Alright, not quite but i did open my window and look out & I can see the fball field lights & hear the band and crowd. talk 'bout torture.
I can't remember if i told you this but I basically spend all day in building 8m. Sis. Bennett is right down the hall, along with elder cameron! and elder staley is on the next floor up! So everyone from our valley is in the same building. I see them quite often!
 I'm really learning how to recognize the Holy Ghost and it's crazy powerful! Like HEY hg, where have you been all my life? ;) Learn to recognize those promptings! It's so neat. I wish I could've learned a while ago! Or at least better recognize it.
Another thing we did last night was BOM study with our district. We start where we left off last study but we usually only get through about 4 verses in 1/2 hour or so. We get into topics that are just really cool that I never knew about the BOM. For example, When Nephi talks about he father "dwelt in a tent" Did you know that was referring to their temple? I guess they had a "portable temple" they carried w/them as they traveled. So the verse in 1 Nephi that just says "and he dwelt in a tent" or whatever, they're totes talking about the temple. Which totally makes sense! Why would Nephi talk about their tents all the time and where it was at? Cuz it's the temple! oh heyyy.
Well, I've only got a few more minutes. I guess I need to type faster but alas, i cannot! Hopefully I can print out that family pic you sent me, it's a keeper! Next time you get an email from me i'll be in TORONTO! ah!
sister messer

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sister Messer's First Letter!

Tuesday November 8, 2011
HELLO!!!!!!!
Today is Pday and our district went to the temple and did a session together. it was really cool to see our district all there together! We're all getting to know each other really well and it's so fun with everyone. Mom, remember the kid from vegas who went through the temple the week before me who was going to Toronto? Was his name Elder Rogers? He's in my district. I see Shelby Bennett pretty much every day. Our class rooms are in the same building, on the same floor so it's good to meet up by the bathrooms and talk about how things are going. The 1st time we taught an investigator, Sister Turvaville and I were feeling kind of down because we didn't have much time to prepare and we were just nervous! But we ran into Sister Bennett & her companion and she said she cried after they got done because she was so disappointed...that made me not as sad anymore. haha But just yesterday my teacher (sister christensen) told sis. Turvaville and I that she feels like she neglects us a lot but it's because she doesn't worry about us. We felt good after that! Kind of gave us some hope.
Side note---did dad see my blog post from yesterday? Happy Birthday dad!
Goodness, i don't quite know how to tell you about a full week at the mtc in one letter...SO MUCH happens all the time. SO much learning & long hours. It's crazy! But i think i love it...
After you dropped me off, I was lead to a sister missionary who helped check me in. Guess what? She's FROM toronto. It was crazy! I actually just ran into her at the laundry room today (about the laundry room...hundreds of washer/dryers...it's insane!) and her friend back in Toronto is really interested about the church. She said she has been asking questions about the Gospel because a family member just died or something like that. So she gave me her info and i'm supposed to do the goods once I get there...cool, huh?
I've seen 3 interior design majors here too! Sister Huppe who dropped out last year, Sister Neilson...who also dropped out & then Megan Pruden who i'd emailed before I left...remember her? Well we live on the same floor & see each other every day. familiar faces, yay! I've also seen 2 people from my BYUI 12 ward. One elder was standing behind me in the book store and i was like woah! You were in 12th ward! Things that like that happen all the time...small world.
OK so as i was saying, they checked me in & all the new missionaries met in a big room for a meeting with the Presidency. 421 new missionaries arrived last wednesday. The 1st lady of Honduras just happened to be on campus so she said hi to all of us. Pres. Hinckley's son (just got released from the quorum of 70) also said hi. That night we had a workshop and I got to sit by Sister bennett.
Ok, i got your letter that said you saw that girl from the nauvoo pageant--so did i! She was walking down the stairs in my building. So she must be a teacher here or something. I would've said something but she was too far away. Dad, there's some missionaries in my hall going to Billings...just fyi. haha
I've learned a lot about relying on the spirit. Basically that every good thought that comes to you is the spirit. I think that will help me a lot while teaching investigators. If it pops into my head, i'm just gonna roll w/it! We're getting better at teaching. It's hard though! Trying to relate all this doctrine so that it fits to the person you're teaching specifically...hard.
We get treated pretty good here! The elders in our district are so funny. We're trying to get used to calling people "sister" and "elder" instead of guys. So every time they say "hey guys" or whatever, someone snaps their name tag off. the one that folds over their chest pocket...i guess it's hard to put back on? haha anyways...They practice their gentleman qualities by taking our trays from us at the cafeteria (one time one yelled "sisters! Don't even think about it!!) Or run to the doors to open it first. I find it amusing and partially embarrassing but sister turvaville & I admitted we don't like to be served but we're letting them do it anyways. haha
Yes, busy 24/7. Wake up really early. The bathroom situation is good mom. haha and i had a top bunk until my roommates left for Germany yesterday morning so i moved! Shoes are good, robe is good, wearing dresses is alright...getting used to it.
AH! i only have 10 min. left on the comp. Uhhh but i think that's pretty much it. I'll try to write before next p day! Off to dinner then a fireside!
Miss & love ya!
Sister Messer

Monday, November 14, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
I love you & miss you!

Disneyland Oct '11


*don't flip out...i made this a while time ago and scheduled it to post on your birthday :)

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Austrie's pre-mission photos!





Aren't these so pretty!  Tara Leavitt took them.
Her photography website is: http://taraspurebliss.com/
P.S.  We are still waiting to receive her first MTC email....

Thursday, November 10, 2011

THE DAY AUSTRIE ENTERED THE MTC
               November 9th, 2011

Hello everyone,
Austrie's mother here.  I told her I would post her mission letters and pictures.  So, here we go. 

This is Austrie with her family right before we dropped her off at the MTC.



                                        
Posted by Picasa                                               As soon as we arrived, some nice Elder Missionaries
                                              greeted her, toted her luggage, and escorted her inside
                                              the MTC.

I can't wait to here from her!  I wonder what she's doing right now.  Well, I know what she's doing right now because it's 11:30pm UT time.  She's sleeping!

Monday, November 7, 2011

It's Like, Totally Weird.

Well, I'm off. Please write me!

Sister Austriana Messer
Canada Toronto Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
P.O. Box 326
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604