August 18, 2014 - Nanaimo South

A REWARDING MOVE

The summer is drawing near it's close, but that hasn't stopped the weather from being nice. We also finally have some great news outside of Kevin and Bruce's progression towards their baptism.

As we were emailing at the church last week, we got a call from a non-member named Bob who was requesting some assistance with a move from his apartment on Wednesday. He's related to a member in our ward and we happily agreed to help out. The move itself lasted quite a while. Bob's daughter, wife and mother were all there, but it made things a little tricky because Bob had to follow us wherever we went due to our rule about being alone with someone of the opposite gender. He had a bit of a chuckle when we told him that we couldn't be alone with a woman in the same room but he agreed.

 

We helped out with the move from 12:00pm until 3:00pm to take a dinner break and then to teach Kevin. We agreed with them that we would come back for the last hour. After lifting out the last few heavier items in the truck, the Whites gave us 3 boxes of food and a Tim card for each of us as a reward! I almost cried when I saw how much food they were giving us and I couldn't thank them enough! It's people like this that will always have a special place in my heart.

 

Yesterday we contacted a couple of former investigators from over a year ago, a young couple named Eduardo and Ashley. Eduardo was working on his pick up and kind of preoccupied, but Ashley seemed quite happy to see us. They were apparently taught around a year ago and became too busy to have time to meet with the elders at the time. Eduardo will be gone for a couple weeks at work in the north but they were more then happy to have us come back and teach them once he got back. 

 

Later that night we talked to a homeless guy while street contacting downtown named Randy. He was looking for a place to stay. We'll be seeing him tonight and teaching him under an underpass so that could be interesting... Perhaps our teaching pool is about to become a little deeper. :) That's all for now! Glad the family had a good trip down to the states. Also happy 50th Dad! Your the best teacher I know and you taught me a lot as I've grown. Enjoy summer while it lasts everyone!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Maclean Samis

August 11, 2014 - Nanaimo South

A STOP IN VICTORIA

Well with the exception of our trip down to Victoria to the John Bytheway fireside, the week was almost a repeat of the last. Kevin and Bruce are both progressing towards their baptismal dates for August 30th and we've been working with them frequently. Our teaching pool has been thin otherwise.

 I suppose the focus of this email with be about seeing John Bytheway in Victoria. We left for Victoria just after our zone meeting from the Nanaimo stake center. It was about a two and a half hour drive with the Port Alberni Elders in the backseat on the long and winding Island Highway. We arrived in Victoria at about 3:00 pm. The landscape in Victoria is pretty similar to Washington. Much of the highway that runs through the city is almost completely enclosed in trees that shade the road. 

President and Sister Burt as well as all the missionaries on Vancouver Island were there. The Burts are good friends with the Bytheways and said a few opening remarks before John began to talk. For those of you who don't know who John Bytheway is, he's a remarkable motivational speaker, regarded by many as one of the best. He speaks for a living and is very passionate about what he does. He's also quite humorous. We had some good laughs when he told us about some of the experiences on his mission is the Phillipines. 

He told us about how we were "unusual" in the sense that we chose to serve missions. Of course, serving a mission is something very few people in this world are willing to do. He went on to explain how there is a much larger collection of evidence of the restoration then one would expect. Thomas Jefferson for example knew that there would have to be a restoration of the gospel as America would progress as a nation. Less then 60 years after this "prophecy" the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith! How's that for a cool bit of history?

 

The first session was for missionaries only but there was another one for the youth shortly after that we sat through. John talked about the invitation to come unto Christ. I preferred the first session but both were great! We stayed at the Victoria Chinese Elder's basement suit before leaving the next morning. 

 

Well that's about it. The weather has been very hot this week but things should be cooling down within the next few days. Hope the family continues to enjoy their trip to the states. Hard to believe the summer is close to being over now. Enjoy it while it lasts!

 

Elder Maclean Samis          

August 4, 2014 - Nanaimo South

THE PROGRESSION OF BRUCE AND KEVIN

The temperature has risen once again here in Nanaimo as August has begun, but with the heat has come success. We've been visiting Kevin a lot this week and his testimony of the gospel has really started to get stronger. He's still having a bit of trouble with the Word of Wisdom, but he's come a very long way from where he once was. We brought him over to dinner on Sunday with a member named Patrick. Kevin has been fitting in very well with the members it seems, partly because he is very easy to talk to. He currently has a baptism scheduled for August 30!

Bruce now has one for the very same day! Like Kevin he is struggling with the Word of Wisdom but Elder Burns and Elder Olsen set a date with him during an exchange. Both Kevin and Bruce came to church. Elder Stapley has currently been placed in a tri with the Nanaimo North Elders. Over the last transfer, Elder Buchanan got moved to New Westminister and Elder Stapley began training while being district leader. His companion went home for unexplained reason so now all our leaders are in the same apartment.

 

As for the finding, its once again been pretty quiet. It seems like there's less and less people home during the day since a lot of people have been on vacation. Even so there has been a lot to enjoy about working here. A big miracle we had was the fact that one of Port Alberni's investigators has moved into our area! Her name is Laura and she came to church on Sunday. I wasn't able to talk to her for too long but she seemed excited to be there.

 

Well that's the week. Hope everyone's not boiling this summer. We sure have been with all the humidity in the air! Fortunately we have been given another fan from a member. The current one we have is a smaller one from Wal-Mart that isn't really helping us too much. This Friday I'm going to Victoria for a special youth fireside featuring John Bytheway (yes, that is his last name) as a guest speaker. All the missionaries on Vancouver Island have been advised to go. I hadn't heard of John Bytheway before but he's apparently a widely known motivational speaker so this should be a pretty fun event. What I learn from that will be given in next week's letter. By for now!

 

Elder Maclean Samis