And The Work Goes On

October 26, 2015

Dear Family,

So, Elder Shambrook and I are making a video about missionary work to help others see some of the things missionaries do everyday. We are trying to include our whole branch in it, which shouldn't be too hard because their are only thirty of them. It should be done in this next week and will be up on the Missionaries in Montague facebook page. I'm super pumped for it.

On Tuesday we spent our morning picking apples with the people who volunteer at the food bank to help with their food supplies that they give out.

In choir we have a ten minute break in between where we can talk, and someone asked Elder Shambrook a question about being a missionary, and all of a sudden it seemed to get quiet, and we both had the opportunity to tell the whole choir a little bit about what we do as missionaries, and that is where the idea for making the video came from.

With Tom being baptized we still continue to meet and have spiritual discussions. We had an awesome one on spiritual gifts and patriarchal blessings. We all definitely learned something.

Slightly funny experience, at least to me anyway. we went knocking one night and we met this guy who wasn't interested. But the next day we were knocking a different street and the same guy answered one of the houses, I just had a look on my face like, what the heck, you live in two houses. He's was like, "Oh it's you again...this is my grandma's house." It was pretty funny.

After church we went to our investigator Joe's veteran awards ceremony to support him. But in the ceremony we were also recognized, which was unexpected to us. But it was because we go clean up at the Montague Legion every Friday morning.

Always finding, trying to teach more, the work will go on!

Love you all!

Love, Elder Ray

PEI sunsets

First Baptism

October 19, 2015

Dear Family,

This week went by so fast, it was full of hard work. On Monday, Canadian Thanksgiving, we played rugby with the Charlottetown ward because we were invited, which was so fun, but definitely left all the missionaries sore for the week. We are just not as physical as we were before our missions I guess. We ended up eating three dinners. So here's what happened, we were spending the day with the Charlottetown Elders and Elder Larson bought us all pizza around three o'clock. While we were eating the DeVries called and asked if we could move dinner from five to four...so we did. I was full after eating with them and then we had another dinner at a recent converts house, Bernice. Oh man I was dying in that appointment, I have never forced so much food into my system before, haha. Oh well, is was our fault, but definitely a good day. After being that full we helped a less active stack firewood for the winter for the rest of the evening. Woohoo! First Canadian Thanksgiving!

We taught one of our investigators, David, about church attendance and the sacrament this week because he hasn't come to church yet and that is the next step for him. He did pray at the end of the lesson though which was a huge surprise to me because for the past several weeks he would always say,"you do it, I will do it next time," and he never did. So that was a big step for him.

Friday morning we get a call from John, who we didn't know, and he asked us if we could meet and that he was sitting in the church parking lot waiting... uh, yeah of course we will be there. We got to know him and I thought he would become a new investigator but it turns out that he is a lost less active that lives in our area but is on different missionaries records, so we hope to work with him more now. It was amazing that he came looking for us, it shows that people do still want to change and have God be a part of their life.

That same evening we were knocking and got a referral to go see a Catholic minister, I was like uh oh, here we go. But Tim, the minister, was really nice and we ended up talking for like an hour and a half. He was so interested in learning about our Faith just not in the converting part, he just wanted to know more. So we discussed religion and I learned quite a bit about the Catholic faith that I had never known, so it was a new experience. I love that being on a mission you learn more not only about your own faith but others as well.

Sunday evening was the best way to end the week. We had a baptism for Tom, the person that we have been working with and past missionaries have been working with for quite some time. It was amazing to see his life change in just this short time that I have been in Montague.

I love the area and hope to stay here for a while, even if it is pretty small.

Autumn may already be coming to an end, we woke up to it snowing outside this morning, first of the season.
Winter is Coming.

I love you all!!

Love, Elder Ray

Tom's Baptism! (Tom on the right)

New Brunswick East Zone Training

PEI Fall

I don't want to leave PEI!!

It's only mid October... too soon.

This is the Dourte's "personal beach" It is not too far behind their
house and no one ever goes there. ....I just want to touch the water

This is the ferry that is always coming in,
thought it was beautiful. (always bringing tourists)

Canadian Thanksgiving

October 12, 2015

Dear Family,

Winter is Coming.
Where did the sun go?
Definitely not ready for the cold.

There is this less active member that we have been trying to see for the past two months and finally this past week we met with her, patience and persistence were definitely involved.

It's funny because the church choir that we are singing in may not even have us at their performances because we might get transferred by then. Oh well, it is still enjoyable and we are getting to know all the people there.

On Thursday we helped our branch President with digging holes to make a pathway for his horse, yoshi, to go from his stable to the field whenever he wants in the winter.

The excommunicated member that we have been working with is planning on being re-baptized this Sunday! Glad I get to be here for it.

Friday night we had a games night that we the young men planned and we made a facebook event and passed out fliers but not as many people showed up as we would have liked, but It was still a good night of playing games and fellowshipping.

Happy Thanksgiving...It's Canadian Thanksgiving today and we had a Thanksgiving dinner with some members last night and we have two dinners tonight, who idea was it to accept two Thanksgiving dinner invitations, oops, it was me, sorry Elder Shambrook...we will let you know how it goes.

Because it is a holiday and P-Day today, we met with the Charlottetown ward and elders and played rugby for a couple of hours, which was awesome because it was the first time that I have played rugby.

We teach about two to three lessons a week so things are fairly slow right now, but hopefully we can see something good come from it. Love the area, love the people!

Love You!

Love Elder Ray

Defrosting frozen soup.

Had a cold all week, better now.

Got to love working on a farm.

We are so Fresh!

There are literally pumpkins all over the island, I guess that's what
happens when Thanksgiving and Halloween are three weeks apart.

Conference

October 5, 2015

Dear Family 5,200 kilometers away,

It's transfer week...again. But luckily I will be staying in Montague and so will Elder Shambrook. He will be my first companion that stays with me for longer than a transfer.

On Thursday we attended a fireside about things you could do to survive without electrical power. The lady that was doing the presentation was Dian Thomas, who is supposed to be somewhat famous in this category. It was really cool some of the ideas that she had, some which I may use later in life.

This week has been kind of hard, more for one of our investigators than us, who had a stroke. They were in the hospital for a couple of days, and we didn't get to teach this week but we visited quite a bit. They probably won't fully recover and are weak, bad/slurred speech, etc. We will continue to teach and help them with their goal toward baptism, even if they forgot our names...

Because Conference here doesn't start until one o'clock, Elder Shambrook and I had the opportunity to attend another churches service on Sunday. Since we are in the Hillcrest United churches choir, we thought that we would go there. The experience was pretty good, but different. I think this may have been my first time attending a different church. It was cool to see how other faiths celebrate the Sabbath, but I was kind of confused. All the prayers we had to say and hymns we sang, it was hard to follow along and know when to do what when, but this nice lady that we sat by helped us out. I guess that because we weren't regulars that we didn't know how to do anything, but I could see the same thing happen to visitors in our church as well.  At the end of the service we asked where we could get one of their hymn books, and they just gave a couple to us. I don't know if any of you have been to a different service but it was a whole new experience for me.

That General Conference tho, definitely the highlight of my week. I have received so much personal revelation, not only how to better myself but things I need to do to help the area of Montague. My favorite, most inspired talk was by Jeffrey R. Holland, that touched me. I hope that all of you have had some witness of truth as you have enjoyed the many wonderful topics this past weekend.

Though this mission may seem hard, and baptisms don't happen often, I know that that is not what matters, though that is our goal, but that I am here to serve the Lord and to teach people the gospel, regardless of who accepts it or not. Though some days seem empty, it is the people that make all the difference. Invite a friend, invite a loved one, make a difference.

I love you all so much!
Stay Gold Ponyboy
Love, Elder Ray

Welcome to the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference,
where everyone stayed home to watch it...

Four way chess is so much more difficult than you would think.

This is my baby velociraptor cut...
okay you caught me, a three year old did it.