May 26, 2014 - Nanaimo South

Saying Goodbye to Elder Lawter

Sorry but it's going to be a short email today :( We don't have a key to the church library and we only get 1 hour at the public library. Well Elder Lawter's time has almost come. He's going to the mainland for a little while before he dies. It's his last day on the island and its hard to see him go. He gets on the ferry tonight and Elder Glover will be my companion for a couple weeks before he goes home as well. What happens after that will be a little more interesting...

Elder Lawter and I went to a baptism in New Westminster on Saturday. The baptism was for someone who had been taught on and off for a few years. Elder Lawter was one of the missionaries that taught her. We stayed with the New Westminister missionaries that night. Elder Ockey and Elder Pedillot. Both of them are Canadian. Elder Ockey is actually from Calgary and him and I have been really good friends. He's the Elder that I mentioned in my phone call who wanted one of my name tags and to sign his Samis shirt. :P Anyway spending the night with them was fun.

Really not too much happened this week. We didn't find very many people to teach. We dropped by a potential investigator named Conny the other day. She's Native and she seems to be far more excited about hearing the gospel then we previously thought when we met her a while back. Elmer is stuck. (again) He hasn't been keeping his return appointments and its hard to say what exactly is going on. All we know is that Satan REALLY does not want him to be baptised. :(

Well thats all for the time being. My next email should be a big one.

All the best,

Elder Maclean Samis  

May 19, 2014 - Nanaimo South

ELMER HAS BEEN FOUND!

 

Hey everyone, it's been quite the week of blessings! There is much to report and so little time so I'll get right to it! It all started off with an exchange on Tuesday where I went to Port Alberni (which is now a part of our district) with Elder Jacobs. He actually grew up with Elder Lawter so he knows all about him of course. Hey, for all you Star Wars/Sci-fi nuts out there, we drove past a section of forest just outside of the town where George Lucas and his crew filmed The Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi! :) Too bad it's too far from Nanaimo to visit on p day. Anyways, the exchange went well, though we had to face scorching hot weather much of the day. It was a good thing it cooled down in the evening because we had to do some work for a member and mow their great and spacious lawn with the young men. Turns out a couple of them are pretty big into the Canucks and hockey in general. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I like talking about hockey! ;) It took about a couple of hours to do and Elder Jacobs and I were ready to crash by the time we got home at 9:00 pm.    

 

On Tuesday we taught Paul the word of wisdom and it turns out that he doesn't have much of a problem following it. On Wednesday we taught a First Nations woman named Chantelle who we found last Sunday evening. She is really friendly and lives with her husband and two kids. She's very spiritual and although the lesson started off a little shaky when we found out that she had a concern about the Book of Mormon, everything worked out ok in the end and she told us that she felt really good about meeting with us again next week. 

 

We helped a recent convert move on Saturday. During the move, the North Elders and us tried for what must have been a half hour to move an old upright piano from a garage onto a trailer. The really funny part was we got a phone call from another member who had a friend that was moving and he needed ANOTHER piano moved the next day at around the same time.  Not too many people get to have back to back days lifting pianos do they? I guess anything is possible on a mission.       

 

Then came what was obviously the biggest miracle of the week! Finally, after almost a month since we last contacted him, we found Elmer! It was Thursday night and Elder Lawter and I decided to buzz all the numbers on the apartment. After only buzzing a few, a lady came out of the apartment. When we asked her if she knew who Elmer was she told us that he was in apartment #5. Turns out he was! :) He was really happy to see us and we taught him the word of wisdom which he said he really wants to follow. He's apparently still really excited to be baptised and he came to church on Sunday! The best part? He has a phone now!   

 

There's the week for you. Hope all is well and I'll talk you all later in another chapter from the Canada, Vancouver mission.

 

With love from,

 

Elder Maclean Samis

May 12, 2014 - Nanaimo South

HEARING FROM HOME

Hey everyone, happy belated Mother's day. This week we found five new investigators and several lessons. On Friday I went on a really great exchange with Elder Glover and we found four new that day. We worked our butts off that night but in the end it was very rewarding :) Elder Lawter and Elder Duersch, meanwhile were teaching a young woman from China named Karma. Elder Lawter and I met her about three weeks ago. Though I wasn't the one teaching the lesson, they told us in the nightly phone call that the lesson went very well! Karma also came to church on Sunday!

We have also been meeting with a man named Paul who lives not to far from our apartment complex. Paul is a humble First Nations man who was baptized a Catholic and is very spiritual. We taught the plan of salvation in two separate lessons last week and set a baptismal date for him in June!

We've continued to work with Tanya. We taught her on Saturday. She has been out of town in Campbell River visiting her mother in the hospital. She says she still really wants to come to church and be baptized despite being unable to go to church the past couple weeks.

I forgot to explain what's happened to Elmer... well... we're stuck. We know his apartment address but not the number. :'( He also lost his cell phone so we have no way of communicating with him at this present time. The devil really threw a curve ball on that one!

Then came Mothers Day, the big night when all the missionaries phone home! It was a delightful experience talking to the family voice to voice for the first time in over three months! :) I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Sometimes it's actually difficult to believe that I am serving a mission. Well there's the week. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! I love you all so much!
 

Sincerely,

 

Elder Maclean Samis    

May 5, 2014 - Nanaimo South

LILLY'S BAPTISM

Hello everyone and welcome to another weekly update! It's been a bit of a crazy week. It all began with transfers. Not to worry, don't get excited, neither Elder Lawter (who is now into his extension and goes home May 29) or I have been transferred from Nanaimo. However, President Tilleman requested that we would come to transfer meeting for a personal interview. We weren't sure how long we would be staying at the mainland so we planned to stay a couple of day with the Burnaby Chinese Elders. Our interviews went just fine but by the time they were over it was too late to catch the 5:45pm ferry back to Nanaimo. If we took the 8:15pm ferry we wouldn't be able to get to the island in time for our curfew.

We ended up having to stay at the Richmond South Elder's apartment since Burnaby is too far away from the ferry port that night and we woke up to catch the 7:45am ferry. We made it back safe and sound but we were already behind in our finding by then. In other transfer news, Elder Duersch and Elder Glover are staying in Nanaimo! Elder Rolfson has also been replaced by Elder Stapley in Duncan. 

Despite what little time we've had to find, The Lord has provided us a way to find 7 new investigators! We were able to teach Kevin again this week. We taught him a bit about the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom. He seems willing to keep it but he didn't come to church on Sunday. We also gave Tanya a blessing on Tuesday while she was sick but she didn't come to church either.

 

Then came the highlight of the week: Lilly's baptism! You probably remember me mentioning her  family who were once less active before we met them. Marly has been coming to church regularly with her two children, Lilly and Malachi. Lilly turned 8 years old on May 4 and was baptized on her birthday by (if you can believe it) My old trainer, Elder Groeneveld! Because him and I were the first companionship to teach her, Lilly requested Elder Groeneveld to baptize her while I would perform the confirmation. Elder Groeneveld was very excited to have the chance to do it! He loved working with the Larsens and he asked President Tilleman's permission to go back to Nanaimo to take part in it. I'm very happy to tell you that his request was granted. :)

It was a very happy reunion! It was great seeing Elder Groeneveld again and to meet his new companion, There was a lot of people at the service including much of Lilly's extended family. It was truly an amazing experience to be a part of. Unfortunately I forgot the camera, but I'll get the pictures up as soon as I can. I love this work and I hope all of you are doing well. I'm not sure what will happen once Elder Lawter moves on. I'll miss his bad jokes and great cooking skills! Aw well some things can't last forever. Until next time farewell!

 

With love from,

 

Elder Maclean Samis