Crazy storms

Last Wednesday we had a crazy storm. Apparently it was cyclone, there

were hurricane force winds and crazy rain. Plus it was really cold, it

snowed in Calgary. A bunch of trees got blown down by the wind. Some

people had trees hit their houses or cars. Some people lost shingles

off their roofs. A bunch of branches are still lying everywhere. It

has been really calm since then.

Also on Wednesday we had transfers. Elder Rodriguez went up to

Edmonton to serve in Bear's Paw Ward in Millwoods, and l am in

Innisfail with Elder Sepulcri from Argentina. He is learning English.

We are roughly equal with my Spanish and his English. We generally

talk in English to help him.

This week we did a lot of service and we knocked a lot of doors. We

didn't have a lot of lessons. We didn't see  Stephanie, but we did see

Ron. He is doing all right. Hopefully we can get him connected with a

member and then we can help him to come to church. He really wants to

come to church and he wants to progress but it is slow. We just talk.

He says it lifts his spirits, so that's really good. Where are you I

hopefully going to help him to start doing some things on his own.

He's been reading from the book of Mormon and he ordered a large print

version which hasn't come yet. We didn't really ask him to do that so

he's taking initiative on a few things. He just seems like a really

good guy.

Charles was evicted Saturday. We talked with the landlord, and he said

that he just left the keys in the door and a mess. He wasn't too happy

about that. We have no idea where he went so unless we find him he's

probably gone. Hopefully he will figure everything out.

We are doing well.

Élder Grimmer

Warm

I don't have much time to send this letter.

This week was really nice. We took advantage of the sun and mowed some
lawns. I Think I got a little sunburn, but it's not bad at all.

Today was transfer calls. Rodriguez will be heading off to staying in
Innisfail. I will be getting a elder from Argentina named elder
Sepulcri. He is likely going to be my last companion. Tomorrow marks
the beginning of my last transfer.

Not too much interesting things happening this week. We finally met
with Charles. He still alive, but he's going to be affected from his
house pretty soon. Stephanie came to church again. Everyone's doing
pretty well.

Take care

Élder Grimmer

"All the Canadians Are Thawing Out"

Most Canadians just close themselves up in their houses and hibernate

for the winter, so when it gets nice out side it seems like they thaw

out. Everyone is outside. This week has been the first consistently

warm week in a long time. The trees are finally starting to turn

green; just a week ago everything still looked dead, now it is coming

back to life. Even night time was warm, it has been just great. The

past few days it has felt like it would rain and thunderstorms have

been in the forecast, but we haven't seen any yet.

This week has been more preparation than going out and doing the work.

We went up to Edmonton for a special multi-zone conference. We would

have gone to the conference in Red Deer last week, but President

wanted us to come up for a special meeting. We got to go to the

temple. This was the first time in a long time that I've gotten to go

there. At first I was feeling like we would be spending the whole day

without doing any real mission work, but the spirit told me I would be

doing some of the most important missionary work. I had a sweet

experience in the temple. We stayed overnight with some missionaries

in Riverbend, the only area in Edmonton I don't know like the back of

my hand. Everything that could have gone wrong seemed to go wrong, but

everything ended up ok.

The next day we had the new missionary training meeting. We talked

about the basics for being a missionary. We had to get some things

taken care of for Elder Rodriguez's visa, then we headed back down to

Innisfail. It was about 2 and 1/2 hours. Then I got sick, so we ended

up spending three days without hardly doing any missionary work. I

guess we needed that through. The Lord gives us what we need when we

need it.

We found some cool people. One guy kept referring to us as soldiers.

He said he wants to be a guard in God's kingdom. He was fun. We met

with a super born again Christian family. They thought they knew our

religion better than we did, which obviously they didn't. Talking with

them was fun. Then we met a girl named Sam who had no religion at all.

The difference was Day and night.

We are doing well here.

If You Don't Like The Weather, Give It 5 Minutes

That's a common phrase here in Alberta, and this week we proved it to

be correct. On Sunday we went to a neighborhood to knock some doors;

it was a beautiful sunny day. Then out of the blue it started raining.

We both had rain coats so we put those on. Then 5 min later the rain

turned into hail. Then 5 min after that, the rain and hail suddenly

stopped, and the sun came back. Then the hail came back with the sun

still shining. It was very strange, but interesting. It didn't really

impede us though.

We had a good week. Stephany is doing well, she came to church and

stayed all three hours. She is meeting more members and she is

enjoying the spirit. We are meeting with her tomorrow. Member-

missionary work is the best! This ward is really good for that.

Charles is going through a rough time. He was in a mood Sunday and

didn't want to come to church. We have had a hard time meeting with

him.

We met a less active member named Travis. He seems like he wants to

come back to church, but something is holding him back. Just yesterday

we had a cool experience; we were about to knock his door, but just as

Elder Rodriguez was about to knock, a member, Bro. Ellis, called us.

The member lived just down the street, so we went over and talked. We

asked if the Brother Ellis would like to come with us to visit Travis.

He came with us and it turns out they have a lot of similar interests

and they got along very well, despite a 20 year age difference. Then

today we came over to play pool and have breakfast with Bro. Ellis,

and Travis was there. We had a good time. It was definitely divine

intervention.

We have been working hard. One day just before dinner we had some free

time so we knocked a few doors. As we were about to go, we were

talking in the car, then we went out to knock. After a few doors,

Elder Rodriguez turned and said " we've been out here for 10 min and

we were in the car for 2 min," but it felt like we had been in the car

for 10 min and we had been out only 2. Time flies when your doing the

work.

We are well.

Élder Grimmer