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

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

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

 

We didn't feel like paying $5 for washing and drying a load. The
things we learn on the mission.

 

It has been raining and it got super cold, so for a while it just
sucked. On Sunday it even snowed. It was 2 degrees so nothing stuck,
but still. It has warmed up quite a bit and now it's sunny, so all is
well.

We had the most awesome and crazy service ever Saturday. We gave a
bunch of clothing and household items to a bunch of Syrian Refugees.
It was intense; they are some of the most humble people I have ever
met, at least the ones who just got here. One , who looked like a 14
year old, had half a leg and half of one of his hands. He was in a
bomb, and he was the lucky one. Another family took him in as his were
all killed. These people A ward from a different Stake gathered a
bunch of stuff in just 2 weeks and game up and donated it all. We got
to help. I even learned a little Arabic. That was an awesome
experience.

We have been helping Salvador. He has been sober for 3 weeks now. We
got him Book of Mormon CDs because he is dyslexic so that helped him.
We taught a lesson with Salvador and Bryan yesterday, and we got them
exited to read the Book of Mormon by reading the story of Ammon. They
liked that.

We have been working to visit all of the members in the stake that
speak Spanish and invite them to pray for missionary opportunity. We
will report on that Wednesday to the Stake President.
With love

Élder Grimmer

spring

It has been very warm here. The trees are finally coming back from the
dead and turning green. It is still windy, not nothing too bad.

Not to much has been happening. We taught Sam's wife again. Salvador
is doing solid. It is just that he has a terrible situation. We taught
a new less active, but that was on exchanges and I went into another
area for that time. We did get to teach a nice family though, even if
they aren't in this area.

We got to go to the temple today! It was sweet. It is also our mission
president's birthday, so happy birthday to him.

We are well

Élder Grimmer

It has stayed relatively pleasant, but the wind has been nasty. Elder Russell says it reminds him of his native Idaho, but the people here sure aren't used to it. It got a little chilly but nothing compared to winter.

We met with Sam, but didn't teach anything. Instead, we Skyped his wife and helped her learn english. The entire time Sam was telling her she was doing it wrong and basically putting her down. At the end of the first time we taught her, we pulled him aside and told him to encourage her. Her english is not bad and her reading and writing is great, but she lacks confidence. We came by the next day and it was the same thing again. I'm not sure how they are still married.

Salvador is doing well. He went to AA and will go to ARP this week. He also came to church. We asked someone to give him a ride, but he never got back to us, so we called someone else. Turns out the first did pick him up, so the other guy was left waiting for 20 min. There was also a bit of language barrier which just made everything worse. But hey, life goes on.

I had tripe. It is now the most disgusting thing I've had on my mission yet. We had a dinner less than an hour later, which consisted of steak and shrimp.It was a pleasant difference. Tonight we will be eating with John Gaye, the actual man from the recent movie Freetown. He lives in one of the wards. We will get some Pics=)

With lots of love

Élder Grimmer

Still fine

The weather is still really nice. It got a little chilly, but really
not bad at all. We are getting close to the point where we can sleep
with the windows open, but not quite yet.

We had a good week. General conference was awesome. We had to watch
all of the sessions on Saturday by ourselves, but both sessions on
Sunday we were able to be with members. Sunday morning we came early
to a Colombian family and we had arepas and eggs for breakfast. They
were good. Later we went to a less active family's house. I really
liked the talks. We tried to change the language both times but it
didn't like us. We watched it in English, which is good for us but not
as much for them. We stopped by Salvador and he had a beer, and
everyone in that house were outside drinking. We showed him a video
about how a guy got saved by Christ, then fell again, but he heard God
say "l'm still here." It was really good for him because  Salvador
feels like a hypocrite when he drinks. We are still meeting with him
almost every day.

Our new apartment kinda sucks. It isn't really terrible, but it is far
from great. One thing that really sucks is that we don't have our own
washing machines. I had to pay 5$ just to wash and dry one load. It is
a lot dirtier and smaller than the other, but not really too bad.
Moving isn't fun no matter where you are going though.

Hope you all enjoyed conference!

Élder Grimmer