Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Really white Christmas

So the Friday before Christmas Eve it started to snow. It stopped
Christmas morning. The snow here is different, especially when it is
colder. It is pure powder, and it falls only a little at a time,
nothing like the massive and wet snow of Virginia. On Christmas Day we
spent some time shovelling some people"s driveways. We did that again
yesterday. My arms got a little sore from all the work. It was -20 and
it has warmed up to -8, which is nice.

So Salvador moved to Bonnie Dune! It is perfect, because Bonnie Dune
is the only Stake with a Spanish sacrament meeting. Plus the sacrament
meeting is pretty small, so they need people. We met with him on
Christmas Eve. One of his friends, a guy named Alex, basically let him
stay with him for the time being. We talked with his friend and he
seemed fairly interested in what we had to say, but more than anything
he really wanted to be a good host. He almost seemed offended if we
wouldn't accept a drink or anything. He is a very nice man, especially
for letting Salvador stay with him. We were going to teach Alex on
Christmas but he had to cancel and we were going to have to push it
back anyway. On Boxing Day we got Bishop to come with us and meet
Salvador. It was a really good lesson. We are going to work towards
helping him get the Aaronic Priesthood.

Christmas was a lot of fun. We came at 12, thinking we would go to the
Spanish group. Angel also came, which was a Christmas miracle in
itself, but we told him to come at 12. So we ended up spending about
an hour just visiting. There was a bit of divine intervention there.
The next Ward started at 1 and they had a beautiful sacrament meeting
with lots of music and narrators instead of talks.

So this week has definitely been a good one.

Élder Grimmer

Friday, December 23, 2016

So the beginning of the week was frigid, but it warmed up quite a bit.
It went from -20 to -1 basically overnight. What has really been
killer has been the wind. It was -17 one day, but with the wind chill
it got as cold as -40. Yesterday was relatively warm, but all of the
sudden a burst of snow and wind hit us. That was fun, it was literally
like watching a wall come towards us.  When I warmed up, it felt like
shorts weather, which is funny because when it first hit -1 it felt
very cold. I guess we adapt.

This week has been full of finding. We have tracked like no other,
street contacted, bus contacted, anything you can think of. On one
street we knocked and knocked and I felt like turning back, but we
kept going. It was a good thing we did; we found a Chilean man who
really liked to talk a lot. He was cool. Everything is fine up here.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016


Tuesday, December 6, 2016

It dropped about 10 degrees this week and is still falling. The
earlier part of the week was fine; it was still around -1 or so. On
Sunday we went tracking for about an hour; when we left it was -1 and
it started to snow. By the time we got back in the car it said it was
-10, all In under an hour. Plus wind chill, that was fun. Then
yesterday it kept dropping to a bitter -17. That's 1 degree
Fahrenheit. With windchill it was closer to -25. We went street
contacting. Plus I was on exchanges so I couldn't grab a better jacket
or gloves. Thankfully the elders I was with took care of me. It got so
cold my legs started to feel hot.

So other than the cold this week has been fairly normal. We just got
Tranfer calls. Elder Christensen is leaving us to train two
missionaries. He just finished being trained, but he'll do fine.

This week was the Spanish Christmas party. It was tons of fun. I
talked with a family one of the members invited. We had to leave early
but apparently they danced for two hours after we left. It was a lot
of fun.

So we haven't had a lot of things happening this week, but we have
been working hard. We met with Angel. He is doing alright. So random
mission moment, one of the wards was having a break the fast, and we
showed up as it was ending. One of the members works at a Safeway
bakery and he brought all the extra bread they didn't sell. He gave a
bunch, and we had already broken our fasts, so we just ate a bunch of
bread. I think I ate 5 rolls and 3 slices of rye bread.

So life is good.

Élder Grimmerou

Monday, December 5, 2016



So it has been a dry week, and it just started snowing this morning.
It has been hovering around zero for that past week. A lot of people
ask us why we don't have coats, but it's not really even cold yet, and
besides we carry coats in our car in case it does get cold or if we
are going tracking or something.

This week has been fun but a bit slow. We had a district thanksgiving.
We made potatoes and stuffing, and a member gave other elders the
turkey. It was really good.

We went on a lot of exchanges this week. I still have two more. They
have been really cool experiences; I got to interview one of the
people that the YSA Elders are teaching who is going to be baptized
this week. She was so prepared. I feel that there are people that have
been prepared for us as well, and in each area. We just have to find
them.

So we have been trying to find people a lot this week. We just got a
bunch of referrals from other missionaries, which is cool. We met with
Salvador, and he is a bit depressed. His situation is rough right now.
We had some members pick him up, but I guess he slept in. Not much we
can do there. We basically have a bunch of "wet Investigators" who
have been baptized but either don't know or never really learned the
doctrine. We are working with a part member family, but first we need
to help the Father really gain a testimony before we can try and work
with the rest of the family.

So we have working hard, and we are starting to see some fruit of the
work, but it is slow. Regardless, the work is sweet.

Con amor

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

It snowed a bit. It has been about -2 for a while now. We drove out to
Sherwood Park, which is only 5 minutes from the city, and there was 2
inches of snow. We have almost no snow here in Edmonton, so that was
weird.

So we had a great thanksgiving... Five weeks ago. Our district has
district meetings every Thursday so we are planing a district American
Thanksgiving. Everyone is bringing stuff and it will be great. What is
weird is Canadians still have Black Friday this week.

Mario came to church! He came in halfway through sacrament meeting,
but still. He is on date for December 10, so hopefully he can make it.

We stopped by a few old investigators in the north. There are a lot of
people, but it is hard to get in contact with everyone.

Well, we are well. It is a little cold, and the work is tough, but life is good.

Élder Grimmer
Like a boss.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016




Tuesday, November 1, 2016

It kinda snowed last night. Not much stuck, but it was snowing this
morning. It has been +4 +5 most of this week. Not freezing, but not
warm either.

We went to the temple this morning. It was very sweet.

So this week has been interesting. We talked with several born-again
Christians. They have a distorted view on who God really is and how to
be saved. It has caused a bit of introspection, and we have come to
the conclusion that God and Jesus really are two different people with
one purpose. Some people were more willing to listen and find out the
truth than others. We talked to a guy who had a concern about the Book
of Mormon and continuing revelation, and I felt inspired to tell him
to study the Bible to find an answer. Considering they both come from
the same God, they should line up. That was cool; we are meeting with
him again tonight.

We have found quite a few new Investigators this past week. A few were
referred from other missionaries, and a few are going to other
missionaries as they don't speak Spanish:). I have enjoyed starting to
stop by several members I knew a year ago. Several remarked how much
my Spanish has improved. How crazy is that, I was literally here a
year ago. Well, time flys. I've only got roughly 8 months left.

We are well

Élder Grimmer

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

It warmed up again and now all the snow melted. It's about plus 5, so not too cold. After the snow everything feels warmer. There are a few patches of snow here and there, but most has been melting.

So more craziness; we are gong to be getting another companion, Elder Nyman, and we are now going to be covering three stakes. Fun. We are covering the North, Riverbend, and Bonnie Dune. I already served in the north, so this should be a party. We have put so many clicks on our car already. This is all just crazy.

So we taught Maria. She has been coming to church, and she reads from the Book of Mormon, and yesterday was our first lesson. She is awesome. She is a foreign exchange student from Spain living with some members. There is a recent convert family from the same part of Spain that we are hoping to get to a lesson, so it is just awesome. Our lesson mostly consisted of answering questions, and she had lots.

Other than Maria we haven't met with many people, but we have been stoping by lots of people and we should have plenty of people to work with.

Con amor

Élder Grimmer

Thursday, October 20, 2016

So almost all of last week's snow melted, then Friday we got another 6
inches or so. Then it warmed up a bit again. There is snow on one side
of the street and the other side is wet. It's about +3 or so. Not bad
at all. We got freezing rain Sunday. Thankfully the roads weren't bad,
but our car had a sheen of ice all over it. It looked cool.

So we had some craziness this week. So I got transferred to the Bonnie
Dune stake with Elder Christensen, and we also cover Riverbend stake.
Here's where the craziness comes in; transfers are next Wednesday.
Elder Christensen came out with Elder Dike, just under a transfer ago.
As well, Elder Moody's not even done training. I just say Elder Moody
is training Elder Dike, and is also being trained by Elder Dike.
They're great missionaries, and they'll do great.

So we are covering two areas and we travel a lot. We can spend 30+ min
easy going to an appointment. The mission likes to filter out cars
once they have 60000 kicks on them; our Subaru had over 80000. We went
to the mission office today and I talked with the mission vehicle
coordinator, and he had us switch out all of our stuff into a new car.
Now we drive a 2016 Rav 4 with 108 kilometers on the odometer. It's
pretty awesome.

So RiverDune is pretty great. There are a ton of people that all seem
super solid, but the missionaries haven't been meeting with most in a
long time. We found some some solid people and have been trying to
connect with more for the past few days. The members are also awesome.
We don't get fed quite as much, but on Sunday we tried by a family
some of my old companions told me about. We wanted to share a quick
message about missionary work, and they asked if we had a dinner
tonight. We said we didn't, and they fed us really good tacos.

I'm still trying to get everything organized, but I'm fine.

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, October 11, 2016




So it snowed. We were doing our weekly planning, and we look out side
and snow was falling. By that night it was sticking, and it has snowed
off and on for four days. We have maybe an inch, and it's melting. I
want to make a snow man. It's not too cold, but with wind it gets a
little chilly. Everything looks different.

So we had thanksgiving this week. Yesterday was the official
thanksgiving day, but we got three thanksgiving dinners this weekend.
It was a lot of fun and a lot of food.

This week has been tough but good. We are starting to visit all of the
members and it has been good for getting people exited for missionary
work. In one of the visits I felt strongly to invite the sons to pray
for a knowledge if the church is true. It was cool. We also got a few
more dinners out of this, so that is always fun. We don't have much
work but we are keeping busy. Most of our Investigators are very hard
to get in contact with.  It has been a bit hard, but life is good.

Take care and stay warm!

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

This week has been cool. Sunday was frigid; it was raining and cold,
which makes a bad combo. We walked to a house that was right behind
the stake center, that was fun. We got very wet and very cold. Most of
the week has been relatively warm. Most of the trees are changing
color and losing their leaves.

We have been finding some new people. Yesterday we met a Mexican woman
who I could have sworn was Chinese. I guess she was raised in Mexico
though. She is currently investigating the Jehovah Witnesses, so this
should be fun. We have met a lot of solid people, but it had been hard
to get people to want to change.

So General Conference was awesome. We went to the church for each
session and no one came, but it was still awesome. I loved Elder Oaks'
talk and we plan to share it with the members here. Really, to be
effective missionaries, we need to involve the Lord in our personal
efforts to bring others to Christ.

It has been work as normal. Nothing too crazy to report.

Élder Grimmer

Friday, September 30, 2016

So this week has been cooling down some more. We just got a coat for Elder Dike. It has been fun.

This week has been a bit empty. We had lot a ton of approaches and found some cool people but we don't have many solid Spanish Investigators right now. We made a list of former investigators to call. We are working hard; we got well over 300 approaches.

We met with PJ twice. She is going through a very hard time. We gave her a blessing, and had a very powerful lesson on the full meaning of the atonement. The Savior was with us that night. She is on date for  Oct. 22. She has some awesome Fellowshippers, for which I can't take credit. God is taking care of her. 

We taught a man named Oscar. He is from mexico. We read Lehi's dream with him. We have been meeting with lots of mexicans. Some were having a party the other day. They gave us really good tacos. There are lots of people who are prepared, but we seem to just be finding for other missionaries. 

We have gone on lots of splits with other missionaries. It's been interesting. There is another group of three missionaries, so we split into three groups of two a few times.

We are all well.


Élder Grimmer

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Touch of Frost

So our car was covered in dew and I was telling my companions that
frost will be coming soon. Upon closer inspection, there was a little
bit of frost. Winter is coming.

Elder Dike is awesome. He is fresh out of the MTC from Arizona. His
first day we got six other lesson and got more approaches than before.
We found several awesome people in this week. Elder Dike and Moody
seem to have opened the windows of revelation. We have been searching
out the elect, and it has been bringing miracles. We met with a guy
named Cruz and it was awesome. We taught him on his doorstep and got
him to pray. The spirit was so strong. Then there was another day we
felt we needed to knock one more door. A guy was walking around and
Elder Moody said "we should talk to that guy." We knocked a door and
no one answered. Then as we walked back to the car, the guy walked
past on the phone. I said "hey do you want a book?" He said sure and
so I gave him a Book of Mormon and he walked away. It was sweet.

So we finally met with Drago. He was the Croatian man who was
supposedly reading the Book of Mormon. So he wasn't, but it was still
cool. Monica came to the stake conference! She has been the first
person to come in many a week. We are doing awesome.

I've had a bit of a sore throat and runny nose, but otherwise all is well.
Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Almost Fall

Tha leaves are changing. Fall is upon us. It has been cooling bit by
bit. The coldest was 6 this morning. Soon that will be the high.
Sunday was miserable. It was raining and cold, which is much worse
than snow.

So we are going to be training. And yes I am still training Elder
Moody. We are going to be a trio with two missionaries training and
two being trained. This will be fun.

We still haven't had anyone come to church. We have a lot of people we
are teaching but hardly anyone is actually progressing. It is tough.
We have been doing lots of finding recently and we found quite a few
Spanish. Canada really is extremely multicultural. We met a bunch of
people from all over Europe. The work is good.

So #Yegmormon was a blast! We did two service projects and taught
Eduardo. It was a great lesson. One of our members scheduled to come
with us fell through, as did two lessons, but that's life. It was a
good day.

All is well. I love you all!

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

It's been a bit cooler here. It's about 12-17 as of late. And with
wind, it's chilly. Pretty soon that will be warm, but we haven't been
acclimatized to the cold yet.

We met with Pj. Some member friends of hers invited us to have a
lesson with them. The husband speaks Spanish; it was a really good
lesson. We taught about the gospel. She couldn't come to church
because of work. Sad day.

We taught a guy named Hector. He was a bit of a bible basher. We tried
to teach him, but he wasn't too receptive. We also got dropped by a JW
family. They let us meet with them a few times, but were not
interested in learning. Oh well.

On a happier note, we taught a Mexican family a second time. They are
awesome. We're trying to get members to more lessons. Hopefully
#Yegmormon will be fun. We have been focusing mostly on finding and we
are seeing lots of fruits of our labors.

All is well
Elder Grimmer

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Cooling down

It started getting chilly Sunday. It warmed back up, but winter is
coming. Elder Moody got a coat from an Elder that is going home soon.
It is too big and swallow him up. It was nice of him though.

Pj came home! We are planning to set up a lesson in the home of a
member. We got two new Investigators last Saturday. We were stopping
by a former and we talked to an Indian man. He told us there was a
Mexican family in a house near by. We knocked and they let us in. It
was a large family but we only really taught two of them. They were
really cool and enjoyed the lesson. We also taught a few of the drunk
Mexicans. The work is picking up.

We still devoted a lot of time to finding. On Wednesday we had to turn
in the car for it to be worked on. We still haven't got it back.
Thursday was a lot of walking and on Friday we used the bus a lot. It
was good to meet more people, but everything took longer. Saturday we
really needed the car, so we checked to se if it was done. They gave
us a key, but it turns out it was for another set of missionaries. We
called them and the mission office to see if we could use that car
instead, so that is what we're are driving now. I have never been so
thankful to have a car.

We had a few fun experiences. We met and prayed with a prostitute. I
almost got in a fight with a drunk native man. We taught the whole
first lesson to a guy in a van in a parking lot. And we taught a guy
from a country I've never even heard of in Africa. Things have been
interesting.

So I finally got over my cold, and then all of the sudden I got this
knot in the side of my neck. I could barely turn my head. It is mostly
gone away now, but it was just the most bizarre thing. Otherwise I
can't complain.

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Another crazy week

It's been wet the last few days. It started cooling down.

We went finding like crazy last week. So many cool things happened we
can't even list them all. So here's a few cool things that that come
to mind.  A Muslim lady that let us in and talked about the Quran in
broken English, a bunch of Mexicans dyed their hair because their team
lost, and a Croatian man is reading the Book of Mormon. Funny story
their, we knocked this one house and the lady said she wasn't
interested. We kept talking with her though and she said her roommates
might be interested. We gave her a Book of Mormon for her to give.
Then we came back and we met her husband. He wasn't interested either
but he said the other guy was reading. How cool is that! We had lots
of little things like that. Our mission president had us count every
time we approached someone to share the gospel. We got 221 in a week.
It is interesting to see how even though we aren't teaching a ton, we
are still doing well.

I've been a little sick. I have a runny nose and sore throat. Nothing too bad.

Con Amor

Élder Grimmer

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Random Rain.