Elder Logan Scott Ray: July 2015

Soreness and Seriousness

July 27, 2015

Dear Family,

First of all, don't play basketball for three hours at the beginning of the week, it will make you sore for days.

As for investigators, Gary is progressing so quickly. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he had a concern about tea but says he will follow Christ and stop. He gets baptized in two weeks! For Shane, we might be losing him because we also taught him the word of wisdom but he doesn't want to keep it and says our next meeting will be the last. We hope to resolve his concerns and see if we can help him find a desire to keep meeting. Melissa struggles to remember what we teach but she is hanging in, trying to do her best.

This week we had our zone training and it's always fun to get together and see past companions and other missionaries. This training was focused on how to address peoples concerns and relying on the Holy Ghost, it was a well needed experience.

On Saturday we went on exchanges and I got to go to Bridgewater for the day with Elder Marcellino, he is from the Philippines. That was a busy day with nonstop appointments and service, made the day go by faster than I wanted it to. It was a shocking good day.

Love you all more than a white girl loves her Starbucks (Here it would be Tim Hortons)

Love, Elder Ray

Zone Training!!

Ice cream on the go.

Elder Wolvers makin bacon in a trench coat
so he doesn't get splattered with hot grease.

Promptings and Patience

July 20, 2015

Dear Family,

Another transfer has come and gone. This week has been a little slow and hard, it being transfer week and all, but the work shall go on. On Monday we were supposed to meet Gary and when we went we knocked, we rang, and we called, nothing. We walked away, that was supposed to be the highlight of our day. About an hour later, I had a feeling that we should try again, and when we made it back, he answered the door. He was sleeping and had just woken up right before we rang the second time around. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it. It just comes to show how important it is to listen to the Holy Ghost and the promptings you get, because it blessed not only Gary but Elder Sortomme and I as well.

On Transfer Day I spent the day back in Cole Harbour with Elder Hansen, so that was fun, working with him again. I was there because Elder Wolvers, my new companion, flight was cancelled from Newfoundland because of the weather so he was delayed getting here. Elder Wolvers is pretty good, he talks A LOT, but that's okay.

There is this member in Dartmouth, Bryanna. She is a recent convert and always has questions. For some reason she always calls us though, but she has had two dogs die in the past month and is heart broken, so we answered her questions pertaining to life after death and helped comfort her. These situations can be difficult but are the most spiritual.

With the church members here I am a lot closer and know them better than in Cole Harbour, mostly because I was brand new out and had a hard time talking to people but it has gotten much easier now. It's amazing how far you can go and how much you can change in just a few months. I love it here, though some days are hard, they always end well.

Alma 7:23-24
And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.
And see that ye have Faith, Hope, and Charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

Love You!

Love Elder Ray

If you were wondering , this is what a missionaries desk might
look like at the end of the week, at least our does.

One of my favorite Maritime couples, the Haas's.

Always love having dinner with them.

I love the Winsor's cat.

His flat face makes him look forever unhappy.

Focus on Teaching

July 13, 2015

Dear Family,

I am a point in my mission where we don't have to be finding people all the time because we can now focus on people we are teaching. Though we are only teaching four people right now, Shane, Gary, Owen, and Melissa, it is busy and consistent. Last week we taught Shane the law of chastity and he is going to keep it, once he does that for a while there is nothing else stopping him from being baptized. With, Owen, we gave him a church tour on Saturday and we didn't know he was waiting in the parking lot for a half hour but we were inside watching out the window for him to pull up and apparently he was there before we started watching for him, so thankfully he didn't leave but waited. #Godismercifultoidiots Owen expressed that he may attend, but hasn't yet. With Gary, we started the plan of salvation and he is so excited to learn. He is really excited for his baptism and even announced that in church yesterday, so we are going to try and move it up a few weeks. For Melissa things are coming along slowly because of her ADD but we are taking it slow and focusing on like two points of the lessons at a time, so we started the plan of salvation with her.

On Wednesday and Thursday we had an exchange and I spent those days with Elder McGuire, my first companion. It was fun to work together again and I didn't realize how hard he worked until now.

Yesterday we had lunch with the MacLennan family and they have a room full of musical instruments like we do, a piano, a drum set, a fiddle, a saxaphone, a guitar. They were playing and it made me miss playing instruments and singing together.

We got our transfer letters and fortunately I will be in Sackville for another transfer, which is good because I feel like I have only just put my feet in the water, I have yet to jump in. Elder Sortomme has been in Sackville for six months and will be going to Yarmouth, so my new companion will be Elder Wolvers, who is coming from Newfoundland. I have never met him so I can't say anything about him yet. Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Missions, I tell ya, they change you.

Love Forever,

Elder Ray

Stop, collaborate, and listen.

We were knocking one evening and getting kind of discouraged from facing rejection,
but all it took to brighten our day was this cat that we saw.

Canada Day and Miracles

July 6, 2015

Dear Family,

WEEK OF MIRACLES!

What a roller coaster of a week, tough but one of the best, most rewarding weeks of my mission. Here we have a standard that we try to reach every week but most don't hit it. There is the silver standard, and there is the gold standard, and Elder Sortomme and I hit gold this week. I have never hit even silver on my mission and this week the work just blew up, like a firework. Speaking of fireworks, this year I got to celebrate Canada Day (July 1st). The work was a down kind of day because it being a holiday the desire to work is harder and it doesn't help that it is a day that absolutely no one wants to talk to you.

Our miracle on Canada Day though is that a member referred us to his friend, Gary, who has had many trials in his life and is looking to God for help. He was so engaged in the lesson and also committed really quickly to baptism on August 22nd.

Thursday, at zone conference, we officially met President and sister Pratt. They are awesome, and pretty funny too. They say that they are the mission President, and the mission President's boss, haha.

On Saturday we had three lessons in one day, and we got members to all of them, which was a miracle in itself because we spent all week stressing over finding people to go but it worked out. Shane, who we picked up as a new investigator, met with us at the church, taught him, he wants to change his life and committed to baptism on August 22nd, same day that we have Melissa for and Gary for, what an amazing day that will be.

Gary and Shane both came to church, which having people come to church can be really difficult, and two came. I am so excited for them. What amazed me is that Shane offered to give the closing prayer in Elders Quorum.

Everything this week went so well, and I have never prayed and relied on the Lord more, The work will go forth.

I love you all so much and hope things continue to go well.

Ether 12:27

Love Unfeigned, Elder Ray