Tuesday, May 31, 2016

We had a few wet periods and a few short dry spells. It has warmed up
a bit. We went biking and the rain soaked through my rain jacket. I
was so cold. More on that one later.

We had some exchanges is week. One was with the zone leaders and
another was with the Assistants. There were many miracles. The first
exchange we went to a bus hub and just talked to everyone. We had a
few lessons just walking around. And I got a picture with Punjabis.
There are hundreds of them here. We even found a Spanish guy and he
agreed to let us teach him. Turns out his address doesn't exist... Oh
well. Then we had a lesson planned at 5 and we got there at 5:05 and
there was this guy in a car. My companion started to talk to him and
the conversation lasted 30 minutes. About five minutes in PJ, one of
our Investigators, called. She basically bore her soul to me. She was
talking about how she didn't feel like she could continue to grow
close to God because she kept making mistakes. I asked if she had
faith to be healed and told her about blessings. She said she wanted
that. We told her we would be there in 30 minutes. The lesson we came
for fell through because they were sick. We headed over. She had
invited one of her member friends and all of her daughters were there.
We shared alma 7:11 and I gave a blessing. Then we shared the
restoration. I felt PJ needed to read about the experience Joseph
Smith had right before seeing God and Jesus. She was feeling a similar
darkness. I asked her to read it out loud and she got about halfway
through and started to cry. When she finished we let her daughters
read when she stopped. Then we asked if they would be baptized. They
all agreed and they are on date for July 23. Miracles.

On the second exchange we went with the APs I was with Elder Merica.
Not even lying that is his  name. We went on bikes for two hours and
had only two decent conversations. I was throughly soaked, as I said
it went through my jacket. As I had no change of clothes, I just
ironed my clothes to dry them quickly. We taught several lessons and
they were all great lessons.

We have been working hard and are doing well. I am driving now.

With love

Élder Grimmer

Me with a Punjab ( who is Not a terrorist)



Monday, May 30, 2016

It got really cold and it has been raining. It was kind of miserable.
I heard "I would be complaining about this but we really need this" at
least five times. That is the attitude of most of the people here. But
even if it is needed 7 degrees and rain and wind just bites.
Considering it was 30+ just a week ago, 7 feels a lot colder; it feels
about the same as -20 did in January. The rain has stopped for now and
it has warmed back up, so all is well.

We had a car crash this week. It was really bad, but God had a hand in
it with out a doubt. My companion was driving. We hit concrete barrier
and the airbags deployed. I was sure there would be dents up and down
the side; nothing. The only damage was to the tires. One of the tires
was bent, which caused it to scrape against the frame. Someone stopped
and helped us. He suggested we replace the tire with the spare, which
we hadn't thought to do. That man saved us a lot of trouble.

we have been keeping busy. I had my first French ish lesson. It was
mostly in English though. But it was really spiritual. We sang I am a
child of God and nearer my God to thee. He agreed to be baptized, but
he can't come to church so we couldn't give him a date.

I also taught a woman named PJ. We taught her how to have a family
home evening and we are going to have one tonight with her. She is
awesome and really wants to progress with her daughters, but we have
had difficulties getting all of them in a lesson together.

All is well here in Canada.

Élder Grimmer

Thursday, May 12, 2016

It was very hot early this week, but it has cooled down significantly.
Yesterday was cloudy and chilly. The stake has been fasting for rain,
so I suppose it may be coming soon.

This week has been a good one. We went tracting in some of the Spanish
neighborhoods. At one house a twenty year old answered and was cool,
then his dad came and just said "goodbye" and tried to close the door
that my companion was standing in. Elder Russell just said thank you
for your kindness.

We stopped by a former in the middle of a Spanish community and there
were a bunch of guys playing soccer. They invited us and we played
with them. It was a ton of fun. We asked if we could talk about Jesus
and they all said yes. We stopped by and we couldn't find any of them.
Now I have blisters from playing in church shoes.

So Fort McMurray... It burned. No one got hurt, which is good. The
missionaries that served there are safe. We have been trying to help
in any what we can.

I love you all

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

summer



For the first half of the week it was perfect out side. It was about mid 20s. The Sun was out but it wasn't too hot. Then later in the week it got hot, up into the 30s. (20 is about 65 F, 30 is about 80, and 40 is over 100)  We helped with a move and it just killed us. I suppose it didn't help that we are still used to the cold. Hope that leaves me soon. The Canadians are still joking that it could snow any day though. Not even lying it snowed a little last Sunday,  so who knows?

This week has been an intense one. I got to be an AP this week, twice. Not really though, just went on exchanges while our companions went to court. More on that later. We helped with three moves. Salvador got drunk after a month sober, and now I have (knowingly) hugged a drunk person. Fun. I also babysat a sick ZL and then the next day went on exchanges with them. Lots of exchanges.

So Salvador. We just stopped by on Sunday and him and Bryan were drinking. We talked and he basically unleashed the entire situation on us. He had been working very hard to send money to his sister in mexico, who was buying a house for his daughter. But when he talked to his daughter, she hadn't received anything from the sister. On top of stealing his house, his sister had been spreading lies about how Salvador was a drunkard and whatnot to his family and severing ties. None of this was new, but his drunken emotion helped put it in perspective for us. He has no ideas what to do to fix the problem. We are going to fast with him. We stopped by the next day and had a little miracle. When we pulled up both Bryan and Salvador were in Bryan's car (Which is never a good sign). They had only been smoking so we had a lesson anyway. Bryan wanted to smoke a cigarette so when we invited him in he declined. We went inside and talked a little while and when we were about to pray I felt I really needed to invite Bryan. Salvador said he probably wouldn't come, but there was no harm in it. I went and invited him to join and he said he would be in in just a moment. I offered a heartfelt prayer and when I was done Bryan was in tears. Elder Russell showed a video that again left them in tears. We talked about Christ's love and shared Isaiah 49: 15-16. It was a great lesson. At the end Elder Russell asked if we all could go around and say a prayer. The spirit was so strong.

Elder Russell and Elder McMullan, the current AP, had to go to court to witness against a drunk driver who hit their car in December of 2014. Turns out he changed his plea and they were free to go. In the mean time I was with the other AP serving in their area. We did some contacting at a bus station nearby. After that we helped a lesbian less active woman move. Then we went out on bikes. My inner tube popped when I hit a curb, so we stashed it at a member's house. then we walked for 30 min to get home. A few days later we were back together for 2 hours while our companions tried to rescue a family who are about to go less active. I tricked some missionaries that I was the new AP. The new one has already been called, and is named Elder Merica. No lies. How awesome is that?

Elder Dodson got sick and wanted some soda, so we got him some. Then his companion needed to do something for a stake correlation meeting that night, so he took my companion and I was left babysitting. He was feeling better by the next day, when we had exchanges. They went well.

Two of the missionaries are leaving this transfer, and I had two cakes, so we made one. One of the missionaries is basically a professional cook, and he made us a budo fight, a Pilipino dish eaten  with your hands. It was awesome, yet incredibly messy. We used tin foil to cover the table. 

With lots of love

Élder Grimmer