Oct. 18, 2010

Sorry this is a little late - Shirley and I have been in Calgary to visit my father, whose health is deteriorating.

AH! The cold is coming...and I say BRING IT. I heard Calgary got a little snow, and it has been unseasonably warm here in Saskatoon, a whopping 11 degrees today. I woke up and went running in -5 (MINUS 5) and was like, "This is not even cold." I must have Canadian blood.

I think I can say Welcome back to Canada to you, even though it maybe is not the best circumstances. Sorry to hear about Grandpa, I hope Grandma Jeannette is hanging in there well. It sure is great that the 3 children were able to all be there. I give my best to Grandpa. He sure never complains, and that is something really special about him: never a word of complaint. Give Mike and family a hug for me and tell them I love them. It is a little tough knowing that I could just drive a few hours to see family, but that would be SO against mission rules to do that and is a big NO. At the same time, its nice to be in the land of my family. Thanks to Auntie Susan again, that was great seeing family and was a blast!

Well, I forgot the sticky note that I wrote down things to say, so I may be a little more scatterbrained that I normally am.

I just have to say that many people here ask me how I have so much energy. I love having energy and feel I am learning ways to appropriately apply it to missionary work. Oh its great! So yes, I am definitely still the same person, but a slightly different version, if you would. I just played football for P-Day, which I often do, so tell Bros. Litchfield and Crandall that those Turkey Bowls are paying off!

Ok, so most of my ward is full of newlyweds who are attending the U of S, and about 90% of my ward is from Southern Alberta! How are there SO MANY people from all those small towns?! Raymond especially (whoot whoot!), Magrath and Lethbridge...I would not be surprised to hear they are now ghost towns because so many people here are from there. AND...I have met a number of people who know of the Fairbanks family in Raymond and of course, I get really excited there. So I really enjoy my ward here, the Wildwood Ward. They are very missionary friendly...maybe because so many got off their missions a few years ago, but whatever the reason, they are great. The work is picking up, but I can tell Uncle Robert I am still tracting a few hours each day.

So I have had a few good spiritual experiences this week, but I wrote them down on my sticky note...ah. But I do remember one specifically. I was listening to If You Could Hie to Kolob while in the car and my mind got thinking about the eternities...I thought of spirits and heavenly beings and all of the sudden a common phrase REALLY hit me--I am a Child of God. I literally stopped and just froze as I tried grasping that. All of my life I have sung the song I am a Child of God, but I stopped to think about that and the immense love that my Heavenly Father has for me--personally. He is my spiritual Father. How great that is! How great his love is! And I am here sharing His message. What a privilege! I know this seems such a simple thing to grasp, but never before had I been literally and physically stopped by such a thought as I attempted to grasp the entire meaning. I do not think I totally understand the implications that simple truth contains, but I know someday--hopefully in this life--I can begin to completely grasp its meaning.

Winter clothes...I have not gone shopping, but I picked up a rain jacket, winter coat and some boots at the mission office. I hope the boots work. We will see. I will need to buy gloves as it gets colder. Oh, so the Canadian Superstore (think Walmart) I shop at has a parking garage below it. Whoa, weird.

Hmmm. You ask for Christmas ideas...I almost feel selfish asking for things. It feels so odd, I do not know why. I suppose I would like a Stampeders hoodie (Saskatchewan people call them bunnyhugs) seeing as I do not have any intermediate coat. Oh, a number of pictures from the past year or so of mine printed out would be SO great! I cannot really think of much right off the top of my head. Oh ya, maybe a BYU tie, not necessarily an official one, but at least with its white and blue, would be so good! And an LW tie with solid purple and white would be amazing too. 12 or so ties rotated over and over do tend to get a little old. I know of 2 elders who each have over 70 ties with them!

I miss the Seattle Auto Show! If people think I am ever excited, they need to see me at the Seattle Car Show! Right Dad? I miss that quality time with you, and the cars of course. Uncle Garry's truck sounds like a beast! Its the brand new generation Super Duty right? Oh man...

I pray for my family and friends every day. Dad I pray for you especially.

Well I sure love you all. I know this work is true. I have seen too much to deny it, and felt too much to deny it. I have seen someone's life utterly change because they accepted the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.