July 28, 2014 - Nanaimo South

SIX MONTHS AND COUNTING...

Surprise! I'm still in Nanaimo! :) You heard correct, I will be staying in the city I've grown to love for another 6 weeks and I am very excited. Overall it has been a VERY slow week for finding. This comes as almost no surprise since the way we have been finding has changed dramatically. We didn't find anybody new to teach this week, a personal all time low. The good news is we had 3 current investigators come out to church this Sunday, a personal all time high! I also had the privilege of seeing some old friends from my homeward just before sacrament meeting. Anyone in the Edmonton North Stake know the Bachelder family? Well I saw them at church yesterday! :) If anything made my week, it was that church meeting!

I'm very excited to report that we have been working with Kevin again! Elder Burns and I have been working really hard with him to overcome the habits that he's been facing lately. It was his first time ever coming out to church and he said that although he has been to many churches before, this one is the closest thing that there is to the full truth! During one of our lessons with Kevin we read Moses Chapter 1 with him in the Pearl of Great Price. He was fascinated with the idea of the book of Moses being extracts from the book of Genesis. It really helped him understand why Joseph Smith was considered a prophet of God and what type of person he is. Once he is able to give up his addictions, he should be baptised soon after.      

Bruce came for the second time and we've began meeting with him again as well. Slowly but surly he is understanding what "sets us apart" from other churches. The third person who came to sacrament meeting was Paulette who is moving out of town. We helped her with part of the move with Brother May.

 

We met with the Sternal family on Friday in Ladysmith and ate dinner. After we shared a brief spiritual thought, Brother Sternal taught my companion and I some remarkable things he came to know when he studied energy in university. The human body uses energy in so many ways it's actually mind blowing. Almost supernatural. I can't really explain a lot about the things he told me but it made me further understand that only God could design the ways that our bodies use energy.

Well there you have it for this week. Also, Happy Birthday to my younger brother Hunter! Can't believe you're 16 now. Where does time go? We had a lot of memories together back home that will last forever and I know that there will be plenty more in the not too distant future. Bye for now!

Love, 

Elder Maclean Samis    

 

           

July 21, 2014 - Nanaimo South

THE COOL DOWN

 

Well folks the weather has cooled down considerably on the Island and it's a good thing too! It's rained for a couple of days which should help out the fire fighters quite a bit. Though I can't stay too informed by the news, we've been told by the ward members that there's been a lot of forest fires in BC this year.

Teaching and finding has been pretty low this week. President Burt has adjusted the way we find investigators. It used to be easier, now it's harder but I like the idea. It's helping us learn how to become better teachers. The way it used to work is that you could talk to someone on their door step and if they said you could come back and say a prayer with them, the person would become a new investigator. Now you need to get the return appointment to go through to make it happen so it's more challenging.

Dail has stopped meeting us again. Perhaps for a while. He sent us a text explaining that one of his family members told him to "STAY AWAY from the Mormons" so I guess we did all we could without being too pushy. We'll keep on praying for him and he'll come around one day.   

On Saturday we taught a homeless guy named Scott in the park downtown. He listened but it didn't really seem like he was "buying" what we were telling him. We gave him a Book of Mormon though and he said he would read it.

 

The brightest part of the week was the fact that we found Tanya! :) After over a transfer we dropped by her place and she was happy to see us again. The north elders had a baptism going on that night so we invited her to go to it. She did but for some reason she didn't come to church the next day. She has been traveling all over the island so maybe she's worn out. We'll be sure not to lose her this time!

 

Another miracle we received came this morning. We recieved a call from a family called the Sternals who are members and moved from Ontario to Ladysmith last week! This was huge news to us since it seems like little happens there. We felt prompted to go there on Friday and spent the entire day trying to contact less active members spending and finding without much success. The Lord must of blessed us with putting the Sternal family in Ladysmith. Who knows, maybe some other missionaries will be able to work with them and the handful of other members to get a branch there one day!   

That's the week! transfer calls are coming up. Within under 24 hours I could be told that I'm leaving Nanaimo. By the time you get my next post, I may be some where else in the province. Stay tuned!

 

With Love from,

Elder Maclean Samis 

 

 

      

July 14, 2014 - Nanaimo South

A RISING HEAT

Well it's July now, and as you might expect, Vancouver Island has been a hot place to be. The temperature has been going up to the mid 30s consistently throughout the week. I don't know how the missionaries survive in the southern interior. It's apparently common for the temperature to reach around 50 in places like Clear Water! Fortunately Elder Burns and I managed beat the heat (sort of) by placing a fan in our apartment study room. I've had to start taking cold showers each night after daily planning and that seems to be helping me sleep.

The Nanaimo Ward had a barbeque at a local park on  and we showed up for lunch there. The food was great and it was fun to see so many people we knew there. 

Well even though it's been a hot week in Nanaimo, the miracles have been everywhere especially on Tuesday. Elder Burns and I were going to see a couple of investigators named Edmund and Karen, but they weren't home. We decided to tract their townhouse complex and we found 7 new investigators within something like 26 doors! Even those who weren't interested were polite to us. It was difficult to feel happy about the finding but only because I was so surprised! We knelt down and thanked our heavenly father for helping us meet so many great people despite baking in the heat. We found another couple street contacting downtown as well!

On Friday we met Dail over by the Macdonalds close to our apartment and we taught him a couple of the commandments and part of the plan of salvation. We brought Brother B out to the lesson with us. At first he seemed ok with what we have taught him but he texted us the following night and told us that he wasn't ready to give up everything and didn't want to come to church with us. Brother B heard about this as well and he gave him a call to rest assure that we didn't expect him to give up everything all at once. Though Dail didn't come to church yesterday, we got a spiritual prompting to see him shorty after a dinner appointment with the McCallums, a member family who live in Ladysmith. We had a good chat with him and he told us that he misunderstood our expectations and agreed to keep meeting with us. Boy were very relieved that we hadn't lost him!

We've been teaching a woman named Paulette who once investigated the church when she was younger. She knows a lot of the members there and she seems pretty excited about being baptized! Elder Glover and I actually briefly met her on the street as we were tracting. She's really friendly and because she lives on her own she really enjoys our company. She also came to church yesterday. :)

Well with the transfers call looming and the fact that I've been in Nanaimo for all 6 months of my mission, it is quite possible that I could be packing up and moving to another area. Something tells me that I'll end up going somewhere more remote. Possibly in a more northern based area. A place like Terrace or Quenel. Whatever. It's not for me to decide. I'll let you know if I'm staying or not by the week after next. That's the week! Hope everyone enjoys summer while it lasts! As always, thank you for the support and I will email you on the day of transfer calls.

With love from,

Elder Maclean Samis

July 7, 2014 - Nanaimo South

WELCOMING THE BURTS

 

Well another week gone and you may also say, another mission president. The Tillemans left for Arizona on July 1. They will be greatly missed and I will forever treasure what they taught me in the 5 and a half months in the Canada, Vancouver mission. Less then an hour ago, I met president and I must say that I am liking what I've seen. Both President and Sister Burt have an amazing love for the missionaries here despite not knowing them for very long. Their first training earlier this morning really helped me understand why it's necessary to sacrifice so much to the lord as you serve him. I've been hearing that we'll start working with ipad minis, though I can't say that this is 100% confirmed.

Our finding has been good this week although as you may expect, not too many lessons have gone through as we would have liked. There is however, a very large miracle that was placed in our path when I was on an exchange with Elder Olson last Sunday. His name is Dail and Elder Burns and I taught him a couple times last week, He's a single dad and has a couple of daughters who seemed to not mind listening into the discussion as well. Dail said that he is grateful for that day we came knocking on his door. He's been reading the Book of Mormon quite frequently and has really enjoyed it. We also set a baptismal date for August 2nd and he came to church with his two girls on Sunday! :)

My birthday was a blast! Elder Rolfson and Olson came over for lunch and to my surprise they bought a DQ cake! Then a recent convert, Sasha took us out for lunch at a Thai restaurant downtown. She also bought me the coolest paisley tie as a gift! Then to finish things off we helped Brother B out with some service. We had pizza and another ice cream cake after that. Don't worry we still had enough time to do finding that evening. ;)

Well that's all there is to report at this time. I'm really excited to work with our new mission president and be sure to keep them in your prayers. Love you all and special thanks to those who sent me the birthday wishes.

Sincerely,
Elder Maclean Samis