First week in Guelph!
12:21:00 PM
Hey everyone!
Address(right now):
Sister Wu
55 Yarmouth St #601
Guelph, ON N1H 4G3
Canada
(I like snacks, and real letters, and anything really)
Oh man, it's so weird to be out on the mission field without going to the MTC first. On Monday evening, I got dropped off at our mission president's home, President Clayton. The other new missionaries came from the airport a bit later and we all had dinner and a testimony meeting after (super short for each person). Could definitely feel the Spirit pretty strong haha.
I still didn't quite feel like one of them since I actually didn't even have a sister name tag yet :( Sister Clayton made me on though, by sticking Wu over her name tag haha.
On Tuesday morning we went to the Brampton Stake Center for training and to find out who our new companions were! My companion's name is Sister Nabhan and she's super funny and really patient with me. The worst part about Tuesday was driving from the mission office (where we went after) to our new home in Guelph! Although we printed out Google Maps instructions, we seriously got lost because the street we were supposed to get on had construction so it ruined everything! After an hour of not getting anywhere...we decided to knock on a lady's house (it's like farmland and all residential areas and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere) and she gave us instructions to the highway. Thank goodness! Yeah so it took us 3 hours to get to Guelph and we got lost finding our street because the sign was white when all the other street signs were blue. Lame. So imagine our relief when we finally arrived at our apartment :) Seriously, we prayed to get home safely and the Lord definitely answered our prayers and it felt like a miracle just getting home.
The next few days are kind of a blur, but I soon adapted I guess. When missionaries pray together, they always kneel, and I think it humbles our position to pray since we really bow down to Heavenly Father. But waking up at 6:30 on Wed was the biggest struggle! We kind of did some "stretching" but we also have a treadmill in our apartment! (We have yet to go use it though haha). I promise I'll try harder this week. Another sucky part of this week was I think since Tuesday the weather was super humid, our AC was on so Wed morning it actually rained outside so it got cooler. But since the AC was on and I was wearing a skirt, I totally got cold. And I got a cold that lasted the next few days ugh. So I also lost my voice on Thurs and Fri, so I couldn't talk that much when we taught, or talked to people on the street. But Sister Nabhan totally was awesome in teaching by example, but I kind of felt useless in that sense. I'm 90% back to normal today though :)
Teaching lessons didn't feel too bad! But the first lesson we taught was on Tues evening with our investigator Gerald and Donna and I was super nervous when I spoke. But using our planner daily and planning for everyone we were meeting seriously reminds me of how much
"work" we put in because we truly care about everyone and their eternal progression! Weekly planning takes hours because we plan things to follow up on, commitments, and lesson plans for like 18 people. It was a little overwhelming at first but I got kind of used to it. In the mornings, after we work out and shower, we have personal and companionship study. I'm gonna have to admit, I sucked at personal study because I would fall in and out of sleep a little. But it was still a great experience because we could feel the Spirit as we read scriptures and really got inspired to find things to share during the lessons. :) We mostly taught the Plan of Salvation this week and the Restoration, but before that, we just got to the know the people we met since we literally knew no one! Since both of us are new to Guelph, it's called "white-washing" (don't ask me why, I have no idea haha)
On Thursday, we met our district! So our district includes 4 other companionships, all of which are elders. It was really nice knowing that they weren't super far away from here and really, just to have other missionary friends is nice. I guess most of them have met so many missionaries already since they served longer, but I'm such a new sister, they're my first missionary friends I guess haha. We set goals for the district, and did role play to invite our teaches to come to church and take sacrament and keep the Sabbath day holy. Elder Cheng is one of our zone leaders!! (He served in Bayview Ward, my home ward back in June/July). It's so weird seeing him as a peer since I taught a lesson with him once haha. But I love our district, they're all super sweet. We all went out to Pizza Hut for lunch afterwards and they shared some stories of their mission; really fun to get to know them.
Oh man, since Prep day is on Mondays, and we arrived on Tuesday. We literally had to eat what we could find in the fridge haha, so there was homemade bread which was awesome, and jam. But WE FOUND A MANDARIN'S MENU!! So I bought some take out on Friday with my own money. I was super happy haha.
On Saturday, we had a pretty cool experience. We were trying to find a referral contact from one of the members but we couldn't find the house! We tried the address on the east, and west, but a guy was walking on the sidewalk and we talked to him. He said he belonged to the Canadian United Church so wasn't interested but we gave him a pass-along card anyway. We decided it was about time to eat dinner, so drove to the Tim Horton's nearby. And there we saw him again! It was totally fate haha. We ordered our food and went to sit by him. Although strictly speaking, it wasn't a "lesson" we basically chatted about our church and his church and taught him all the main points of the Restoration. Sister Nabhan explained that we didn't believe in the Trinity, because...how could Jesus be praying to himself in the garden of Gethsemane? And that just dawned over his face and he totally agreed. We sat with him for about 45 min until he had to leave but his name was Brad and we gave him the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet! But it was so fun to talk to him in such a relaxed setting. He was so kind; he bought both of us strawberry cheese strudels! Anyway, he said he probably won't be learning more because his parents would be so angry, but who knows? I really hope he reaches out to the missionaries one day! But I'm glad we planted the seed in his heart :)
Sunday was really exciting because I know Ariana Del Mundo is in our ward!! So awesome to see someone from Toronto. We got to meet a ton of members and we were asked after sacrament meeting to teach Gospel Principles class! I was freaking out. Some of the people we taught this week were in class, which was awesome! We taught on Honesty. It led to some great discussions and I know that we totally taught by the Spirit, because we didn't mess up haha. Sister Nabhan and I communicate pretty well and I just love her! We found out that the sister that makes the sacrament bread also gives us a huge loaf of bread every week. Yay! We met with the Ward Council on Thursday evening too, and everyone is really on top of planning and really care about the members and investigators. I love our ward :)
Sorry this email is so long, I'll probably get better at this as time goes! Oh and it's always so weird whenever I introduce myself because I have to say Toronto Mission isn't my originally assigned mission and I'll be leaving next transfer...but I'm super excited for when my visa arrives!
Lastly, when we were teaching a returning member named Ana, she said something that I really liked. "Without opposition, there is no progression" I know this is so true, because we only grow and progress after trying with opposition in some way. The power of prayer is seriously so great because I'm pretty sure we pray about 20 times a day, but we are always guided to teach with the Spirit and meet people that our put in our paths. As we taught about the Book of Mormon, and the gospel of Christ, one scripture I want to share is from 2 Nephi 29:9
"And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever."
This is like the gospel of Christ. The commandments and the scriptures are the same throughout all time. And God's standards is the same forever, never changing. I love teaching the gospel whenever we have lessons because it's what people need in their lives, so that we can all return to be with Heavenly Father one day. I mean, we're only instruments in His hands, but I feel the love towards everyone we meet, and that's so awesome.
I also miss my friends and family sometimes, but I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now. Seriously though, write me! I want to know what's going on with everyone :)
P.S. We got a GPS and named it "bae" because we couldn't survive without it haha
Love,
Sister Wu
Address(right now):
Sister Wu
55 Yarmouth St #601
Guelph, ON N1H 4G3
Canada
(I like snacks, and real letters, and anything really)
Oh man, it's so weird to be out on the mission field without going to the MTC first. On Monday evening, I got dropped off at our mission president's home, President Clayton. The other new missionaries came from the airport a bit later and we all had dinner and a testimony meeting after (super short for each person). Could definitely feel the Spirit pretty strong haha.
I still didn't quite feel like one of them since I actually didn't even have a sister name tag yet :( Sister Clayton made me on though, by sticking Wu over her name tag haha.
On Tuesday morning we went to the Brampton Stake Center for training and to find out who our new companions were! My companion's name is Sister Nabhan and she's super funny and really patient with me. The worst part about Tuesday was driving from the mission office (where we went after) to our new home in Guelph! Although we printed out Google Maps instructions, we seriously got lost because the street we were supposed to get on had construction so it ruined everything! After an hour of not getting anywhere...we decided to knock on a lady's house (it's like farmland and all residential areas and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere) and she gave us instructions to the highway. Thank goodness! Yeah so it took us 3 hours to get to Guelph and we got lost finding our street because the sign was white when all the other street signs were blue. Lame. So imagine our relief when we finally arrived at our apartment :) Seriously, we prayed to get home safely and the Lord definitely answered our prayers and it felt like a miracle just getting home.
The next few days are kind of a blur, but I soon adapted I guess. When missionaries pray together, they always kneel, and I think it humbles our position to pray since we really bow down to Heavenly Father. But waking up at 6:30 on Wed was the biggest struggle! We kind of did some "stretching" but we also have a treadmill in our apartment! (We have yet to go use it though haha). I promise I'll try harder this week. Another sucky part of this week was I think since Tuesday the weather was super humid, our AC was on so Wed morning it actually rained outside so it got cooler. But since the AC was on and I was wearing a skirt, I totally got cold. And I got a cold that lasted the next few days ugh. So I also lost my voice on Thurs and Fri, so I couldn't talk that much when we taught, or talked to people on the street. But Sister Nabhan totally was awesome in teaching by example, but I kind of felt useless in that sense. I'm 90% back to normal today though :)
Teaching lessons didn't feel too bad! But the first lesson we taught was on Tues evening with our investigator Gerald and Donna and I was super nervous when I spoke. But using our planner daily and planning for everyone we were meeting seriously reminds me of how much
"work" we put in because we truly care about everyone and their eternal progression! Weekly planning takes hours because we plan things to follow up on, commitments, and lesson plans for like 18 people. It was a little overwhelming at first but I got kind of used to it. In the mornings, after we work out and shower, we have personal and companionship study. I'm gonna have to admit, I sucked at personal study because I would fall in and out of sleep a little. But it was still a great experience because we could feel the Spirit as we read scriptures and really got inspired to find things to share during the lessons. :) We mostly taught the Plan of Salvation this week and the Restoration, but before that, we just got to the know the people we met since we literally knew no one! Since both of us are new to Guelph, it's called "white-washing" (don't ask me why, I have no idea haha)
On Thursday, we met our district! So our district includes 4 other companionships, all of which are elders. It was really nice knowing that they weren't super far away from here and really, just to have other missionary friends is nice. I guess most of them have met so many missionaries already since they served longer, but I'm such a new sister, they're my first missionary friends I guess haha. We set goals for the district, and did role play to invite our teaches to come to church and take sacrament and keep the Sabbath day holy. Elder Cheng is one of our zone leaders!! (He served in Bayview Ward, my home ward back in June/July). It's so weird seeing him as a peer since I taught a lesson with him once haha. But I love our district, they're all super sweet. We all went out to Pizza Hut for lunch afterwards and they shared some stories of their mission; really fun to get to know them.
Oh man, since Prep day is on Mondays, and we arrived on Tuesday. We literally had to eat what we could find in the fridge haha, so there was homemade bread which was awesome, and jam. But WE FOUND A MANDARIN'S MENU!! So I bought some take out on Friday with my own money. I was super happy haha.
On Saturday, we had a pretty cool experience. We were trying to find a referral contact from one of the members but we couldn't find the house! We tried the address on the east, and west, but a guy was walking on the sidewalk and we talked to him. He said he belonged to the Canadian United Church so wasn't interested but we gave him a pass-along card anyway. We decided it was about time to eat dinner, so drove to the Tim Horton's nearby. And there we saw him again! It was totally fate haha. We ordered our food and went to sit by him. Although strictly speaking, it wasn't a "lesson" we basically chatted about our church and his church and taught him all the main points of the Restoration. Sister Nabhan explained that we didn't believe in the Trinity, because...how could Jesus be praying to himself in the garden of Gethsemane? And that just dawned over his face and he totally agreed. We sat with him for about 45 min until he had to leave but his name was Brad and we gave him the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet! But it was so fun to talk to him in such a relaxed setting. He was so kind; he bought both of us strawberry cheese strudels! Anyway, he said he probably won't be learning more because his parents would be so angry, but who knows? I really hope he reaches out to the missionaries one day! But I'm glad we planted the seed in his heart :)
Sunday was really exciting because I know Ariana Del Mundo is in our ward!! So awesome to see someone from Toronto. We got to meet a ton of members and we were asked after sacrament meeting to teach Gospel Principles class! I was freaking out. Some of the people we taught this week were in class, which was awesome! We taught on Honesty. It led to some great discussions and I know that we totally taught by the Spirit, because we didn't mess up haha. Sister Nabhan and I communicate pretty well and I just love her! We found out that the sister that makes the sacrament bread also gives us a huge loaf of bread every week. Yay! We met with the Ward Council on Thursday evening too, and everyone is really on top of planning and really care about the members and investigators. I love our ward :)
Sorry this email is so long, I'll probably get better at this as time goes! Oh and it's always so weird whenever I introduce myself because I have to say Toronto Mission isn't my originally assigned mission and I'll be leaving next transfer...but I'm super excited for when my visa arrives!
Lastly, when we were teaching a returning member named Ana, she said something that I really liked. "Without opposition, there is no progression" I know this is so true, because we only grow and progress after trying with opposition in some way. The power of prayer is seriously so great because I'm pretty sure we pray about 20 times a day, but we are always guided to teach with the Spirit and meet people that our put in our paths. As we taught about the Book of Mormon, and the gospel of Christ, one scripture I want to share is from 2 Nephi 29:9
"And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever."
This is like the gospel of Christ. The commandments and the scriptures are the same throughout all time. And God's standards is the same forever, never changing. I love teaching the gospel whenever we have lessons because it's what people need in their lives, so that we can all return to be with Heavenly Father one day. I mean, we're only instruments in His hands, but I feel the love towards everyone we meet, and that's so awesome.
I also miss my friends and family sometimes, but I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now. Seriously though, write me! I want to know what's going on with everyone :)
P.S. We got a GPS and named it "bae" because we couldn't survive without it haha
Love,
Sister Wu
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