Sister Adrianna Wilson: Week 9: With Love, From Canada

Hello. It's me again!

This week has been really good! It's still snowy and windy. On Sunday we had a rain storm and the power kept going on and off at church because of the wind. Then the rain froze overnight and the ground was even MORE slick.

We have transfers this week and a lot of change happening with our zone (group of missionaries in a specific area). I will be staying with sister Neild but we are losing the Young Single Adult (YSA, singles who are 18-30 years old) Ward in Calgary (a "Ward" is a congregation of people who worship together). We are so sad about that. We were just getting more work and getting closer with the ward, so we're so upset to be leaving. But, we are picking up the Dewinton Ward here in Okotoks, and we will keep the Sheep River Ward, so we'll have the two wards in Okotoks now. That will be fun! The sisters that live below us have a change - one is training a new missionary and the other is leaving to a different area, so we are sad to see her go. We are all close! Every night we get together and talk about our day, so we are super tight.

Wednesday: Regular P-Day (Preparation Day, 1/2 day off once a week from missionary service to do laundry, shop, etc). We played games with our zone, which is always the best.

Thursday: RETRAINERS - It was so fun! This is were all the missionaries that came in together get to meet up at the Mission Home with our Mission President to catch up and talk about what we have learned so far. It was awesome!

Friday: had an appointment with Kelsey (the girl who was knitting the scarf on the train) and we taught the Plan of Salvation and it went good. At the end I was able to give my first invitation to baptism! She said she wasn't ready yet, but it was good to know so we can work towards getting her more prepared and figure out her needs. The Zone leaders are taking over the YSA, so that was our last lesson with her. We passed her off but I really hope she progresses and gets baptized. She's really great.

Saturday: So in previous letter, I've talked about Jewel (the Filipino lady) and her mom who lives with her. When we go to their house, Jewel is never home so Esther (the mom) lets us in and we talked with her. She is so hard to understand because she doesn't speak very much English. Long-story short, Esther talked about how her son died at 22 so we taught her the Plan of Salvation. She started crying and the spirit was awesome. I know she felt it and we testified that she will see him again. I don't know if she understood everything we were saying... but she invited us back on Saturday to say goodbye because she's leaving back to the Philippines. She will be gone for 6 months to take care of her sick husband. As a really cool side note... she knows Braden is there on his mission! She's from Quezon City so I told her to keep her eyes out for a really tall American guy and she said, "okay - I will. If I see missionaries there I hold up the Book of Mormon and say hi"! We were like, "Yeeees!" ha ha. We're hoping she runs into missionaries in the Philippines who can keep teaching her. So Braden - look for Esther! Ha ha. That would be the biggest miracle if you actually ran into her. 😉

Sunday: Last time with the Priddis Valley YSA Ward, but it was good. I fasted and that was so good. I have a testimony of the blessings of fasting!

I have a Native American friend in the same building that the YSA meets in and he's so awesome. He's in his 50's and we have a really weird connection. I feel like I've known him my whole entire life! He was so sad to hear that I'm leaving that area, but he made sure we'll keep in touch. He has a son on his mission right now and he's DYING for me to come back after my mission and meet him. Ha ha. He said, "I know that is not appropriate right now, but I'd love for you guys to meet when your get home." He's going to be disappointed when he finds out that I'm reserved. Love you Braden. ❤

Monday: Last day in Downtown Calgary since we're not with the Calgary YSA anymore. But, we went out hard and were handing out Pass-Along Cards and Book of Mormons left and right! It was so crazy. 😎 We ran into a funny dude when we were walking back the trains and I will never forget him. I wish I had time to tell you the story - sorry! Then, the RM's (return missionaries) from the YSA Ward took us out for dinner one last time and that was really fun. After that, the Osberg's took us out for ice cream at Marble Slab. I love them. ❤

Tuesday: We did service at local Food Bank. After that, we stopped by and tried to meet with Brandy but she wasn't home. We are going back for sure this weekend. I'm really excited about that!

This past week I feel like my heart has been expanded. The people I'm serving and meeting have made a special place in it. I'm reading a really good book by M Russell Ballard, which is called Our Search for Happiness. It's amazing and it's helping me look at my mission in a different perspective. I'm so happy! ❤

Hope you all have a wonderful week and of course thanks for the emails. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Wilson

p.s. I found out some family history stuff from my mom last week and told my Mission President about it and he was SO excited! He called us yesterday for transfer calls and he was like, "Sister Wilson, I'm putting you on an Indian Reservation sometime!" and he was going on about how excited excited he was and how he knows I'm here for a reason. I love my President. He reminds me of the grandma off of the Disney movie Moana! He's just such a special spirit - no other way to describe it! So yah, I'm going to be serving on a First Nation Reservation sometime!

p.s.s. Today we have zone P-Day and we are all going to some ice caves. I'm excited! And later this week its supposed to be in the -30's with more snow ...so not too excited about that. But, it's going to be another awesome week for sure!

p.s.s.s. Here are the pictures from this week. Special shoutout to my girl Enya - you said you read my Blogs so when you see... know that I love you and miss you already! Give the Elders a hard time in YSA 😉. Email me too so we can keep up! ❤

Love,
Sister Wilson