November already

No shortage of news here. Transfers are coming up and I expect to stay here because Elder Butterfield is going home (or dying, as they say in the mission). I really respect him so much, and Kim: you have to meet him when he arrives. He leaves Winnipeg for home on the 12th.

To answer your question, missionaries service all sorts of outlying areas, such as the Battlefords, Prince Albert, just pulled missionaries from Flin Flon, but we are all over the place. My area in Saskatoon is in the southeast corner, and if you look at Google maps or something similar of Saskatoon, my boundaries are: to the north, College, to the west, Preston, with the southern and eastern boundaries extending for about 100km outside the city. But only a few members live outside the city, so the furthest I have driven outside of Saskatoon since I got here was about 40km or so to do service. Which leads me to.....

I tossed and stacked bays (bales - Dad)of hay on a farm! It was so fun, except for the fact that I wore shorts. Oops. City boy for sure, but it was so fun being out on a farm in flat Saskatchewan stacking hay from a huge pile into an even bigger barn! I felt like I connected with a few of my ancestors being out on a farm in Canada. And it was so much fun!

So after I emailed you last week it started snowing and has started melting away yesterday and today thanks to some abnormally warm weather. This week it is supposed to get up to 15C (~60F), which is REALLY abnormal for this time in the year. But I did go tracting in -9C. The wind is killer! The wind chill makes it way colder, but nothing I cannot survive. But hey, thats only -9...I will be dealing with -40 and below. Oh dear...so, cold. But I am way excited to take it on. It will make for a few great stories when I get home.

Ok, so to prepare for the snow we had to replace 2 badly worn tires on our truck and we took it to a Chevrolet dealership to replace them. We came back when they told us to but they were about an hour behind, and we were without a truck, so.....I browsed the showroom! Incidentally, it was the day the brand new Cruze came out and I read some of the specs and it looks pretty nice! What does Car and Driver say Dad? Their 1.4 turbo engine sounds like a nice engine. Yes, I still care about cars! What else is happening in the auto world? Too bad Pontiac is dead...sad day.

I am learning that I really am a social person. During our P-Day activity I love just talking to people and wearing my Captain Canada shirt. Love that thing. I am thinking that some kind of social job would suit me back home. Not sure about Civ. Engineering, but who knows. Sorry Ashley. Again, who knows?

As for things here my area...well I actually was able to phone my baptismal date, Edilyn, back in Winnipeg who got baptized yesterday. That was so great! She was excited about being baptized and so happy! I saw her really turn her life around and embrace God and the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was such a happy moment having her tell me that she was so thankful for my efforts to teach her and Roel and that she would never forget me. Its not necessarily what I taught, but what the Spirit taught her, which Spirit I tried to bring. It all took me aback, because that is the fruits of missionary work, which we seldom see. I have a baptismal date here in Saskatoon: her name is Linda Jurgens. She has been fellowshipped so well by my ward (the Wildwood Ward)! This ward is so missionary minded, which really is such a boost to missionary work. See, the work starts with members. Her date is November 20th. Elder Butterfield and I played a fun game with a family last night, illustrating the point of who we should listen to. We played Simon Says, and would occassionally leave out the "Simon Says" as usual. But towards the middle we started saying "Satan Says" instead of "Simon Says". At first the family did not notice, but after we sais it a few times they began to ask "Wait, what did you say?" We would just keep on going, but me, having no poker face, started smiling and laughing and they started figuring it out. It was so fun.

I had a special realization this morning during my Personal Studies. I thought about prayer, and that we mortals pray to the Highest of High, the Most Powerful Being, God. It hit me--I pray to God, this All-Knowing Being. And not just that, but he wants me to pray to Him, and actually commands me to pray to Him. This Omnipotent and Omniscient Being answers my prayers and wants to hear and help me. What a thing I have never contemplated! I also thought of the love he has for the Nephites, and the Lamanites especially. I read Helaman 15 this morning and on the second page Samuel the Lamanite "lays down the law" sort of thing. His discourse really shows the love Heavenly Father has for the Lamanite people and the remnants of Lamanite people.

I hear about transfers the end of this week, hopefully by my next email I can tell you who I will be with and where I will be (hopefully still here). Well, thats about it. The more I ponder the Gospel, the more there is to learn, the more true it all is. And all of it starts with the seed of faith, and must be nurtured. Please do all you can every day to grow your faith in Christ and His Atonement. Love you much,

Elder Galbraith