Tuesday, March 28, 2017

It has been warm here, for the most part. It can get chilly, but we don't have to worry about freezing anymore. Most of the snow has melted and things are about to start growing. Only snow piles and snow that is in the shade is still hanging around.

This week the travelling APs came to Innisfail. They were here to help us multiply our efforts. It was a lot of fun serving with them. We found a new Investigator; a christian man who is unsatisfied with the hypocrisy he saw in his church. He is a good man but he has his vices. We had a good Three days with them.

The Spanish sisters in Red Deer found a guy named Oswaldo. They needed to have at least three men or a woman with them, so they invited us to the first lesson. He Is awesome. After Being invited to read 3rd Nephi 11, he read all the way to the end of the Book of Mormon! He said that he didn't understand everything, but he is willing to find out. Later we brought a Spanish speaking member of our ward and we read with him, and we talked about prayer. It's a miracle they found him. He hasn't even been here a month yet. His fist time going to the Spanish store in Red Deer he saw a flier for free English class and he came. The sisters asked if he wanted to learn about Jesus and he agreed. He is progressing now.

We don't have any progressing investigators of our own to talk about right now. but we have a few we are trying to work with.

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Sun and Slush

This week has been a lot warmer. It is still pretty chilly at times,
but I'll take -2 over -20 any day. It's been really windy, and that
makes things a lot colder. Southern Alberta is famous for incredibly
strong winds. Most of the snow has either melted or turned into tough
ice. That happens when it keeps melting and re-freezing. I made a few
snowmen, but they all fell down. One got hit by a car, which happened
to be driven by my companion lol. He really wanted to hit a snowman.
We have a video and everything. I found out building a snowman is a
really good leg workout, especially when you have to squat down to
roll the snow cause you don't want to get your knees wet.

Yesterday was Zone conference, and big things are happening. Our
mission president gave us an interesting initiative; we are going to
ask the members to show us their friends lost on Facebook, twitter,
the like, and send a special message to them. The idea is that it
creates a "safe" environment where missionary work is instituted. We
were also told of other plans to utilize technology to hasten the
work. Apparently they did this in a district in Arizona, and in three
weeks they went from having no one to teach to 13 baptisms. I am
exited to implement this.

We have been working hard, and we are teaching lessons, but we don't
have anyone on date or coming to church. We are trying to work with
more people. There are plenty of less active members that we are
working with. The work is going on.

All is well

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Last Freeze (hopefully)

This week was bitter cold, but it has warmed up a bit and the forecast
is all in the positives so that's good. It dumped a bunch of snow and
I made snow angels. Everything is so white and clean. The problem with
melting snow is all the dirt they put on the road gets airborne and it
all sticks to our car like a magnet. Still I like it better when it's
not -20 in March. Elder Santos is counting down the days until the
snow is gone. He is from California, and he hates the cold. We are all
looking forward to spring. The forecast said it would be +10 yesterday
but it was only -1. That still beats -20 though!

This week has been alright. We have a few people we are teaching, but
no one is really progressing right now. We are working with a lot of
less active members. We have one Investigator that lives in Camerose,
which is a town in another stake, he is going to school in the town of
Olds, out of our area, but he is staying in Bowden which is in our
area. His wife is a member, and we are teaching him while he goes to
school. It's a good old mixup. His situation is tough, but the members
are trying to help out though.

I'm starting to get used to Innisfail, and I'm getting to know a lot
more members here. It is a good little town. We are doing alright.

Élder Grimmer

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Ups and Downs

This week has been jumping up and down. Earlier this week was very warm and a lot of snow started to melt. Then the temperature dropped rapidly. It is now -15 and all the snow that was melting has become ice. We've had a few close calls.

So Innisfail. It is a nice little town. The members are strong and we have a few people to teach. We cover the surrounding towns as well, including Penhold and Boden. This is going to be a lot different than Edmonton, but change is good.

I am serving with Elder Santos. He came out with me, we were on the same flight to Edmonton. We also served around each other for a while in Millwoods. He has been sick for the past week, so that was hard. The work is different here, more member work and less random encounters. We have a lot more method as well, usually we would just trackt where ever we wanted to, but now we are keeping track of everywhere we go.

Well, Things are going well. I haven't got sick yet, so that's good.

Élder Grimmer

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

It dropped back down this week. We got a snow storm that covered up
everything pretty quick. Before the new snow, almost everything had
melted, and there are lots of patches of ice everywhere. It got down
to -16 in the morning; the coldest we were out in was probably well
under -20 with windchill. It was totally worth it though; we found
three people that were interested all on the same street. That is
almost unheard of. It warmed back up to a brisk -5, so nothing too
bad. The weather here is weird, the same air temperature can feel
really cold if you are in shade and it's windy, or it can feel warm
and toasty if you're in the sun. I've come to love the sun.

This morning transfer calls came. I'm going to Innisfail. This will be
my first time serving English. This is going to be a very different
transfer, but it should be fun.

This week has been a good one. We got tones of approaches, but we
realized we weren't actually teaching anyone. Upon further
investigation, we realized we had completely failed to do follow up.
There are a few people we had stopped by, but really we hadn't done
anything towards  teaching them. We had a very long Weekly planning
session about that.

One quick experience this week- I was walking down Whyte Ave with a
Chinese Elder. He stopped and started talking to a Chinese man, and I
was left trying to talk with as many people as I could. Everyone kept
saying no, and I was starting to get a little discouraged. I said a
silent pray that God would lift my spirits, and then the next guy I
talked to said he was a member. I could feel that he wasn't actively
living a Christian life. I bore testimony and invited him to come back
to the fold. Near he end I asked him what his name was. He said
"Ricardo" in a very Spanish accent, and I started talking to him in
Spanish. Up to this point his friend hadn't said much, but I was able
to talk a little with him as well. They were both from Mexico. I got
there number, but I guess I didn't save it when I put it in the phone,
so when I tried to text them, the contact wasn't there. I guess it
wasn't their time just yet, but I am thankful for that tender mercy
from God.

So life is good, aside from a mild sore through that is almost gone.

Con amor

Élder Grimmer