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| First apartment in Weyburn |
Monday, 30 January 2017
Week 3 - Arrived in Weyburn Saskatchewan
Hi From Weyburn.
I arrived here on Friday after staying at the mission home Wednesday and Thursday night. This week has gone by super slow. My companion is different than me but is pretty easy to get along with. There is a branch here of 20 active members. We haven't taught a single lesson yet. We went tracting for 3 hours and had one old lady take some pamphlets and shoo us away. It's really nice to be out and about because it distracts me from thinking about home and feeling sorry for myself. I don't like being in the apartment, and would rather be walking around all day than in the apartment. My companions name is Elder Gregson, he is from Calgary, we get along but i'm not very comfortable and open with him. Its kinda an awkward situation. The apartment was filthy so i started cleaning it up, especially the bathroom, ew! Its super depressing in there. I like the cookbook you made me but right now cant use it because i feel homesick whenever i look at it. We have been fed by members 2 times already and have another appointment set up! We ate at a members house named the Dudranges (do-drains) and they fed us something called Blute. OK this is a joke they play on new elders and is a delicacy in Vietnam, its basically a fertilized egg, hard boiled and you eat the half developed chicken out of it, its the nastiest thing ever!!! They got a good laugh out of it. I didn't get any photos but they did so I will get them to email them to me.
Other than that we havent had much to do because of the lack of members, but we did go serve at an Old folks home. They fed us then we did the dishes for them. It was fun but I felt like we could have done other things. It is hard because I feel like i'm not accomplishing anything. I dont care when people don't want to talk, it is just when we write all zeros on the planner I die a little.
So nothing got accomplished this week of much importance. The people here are old, and there is hardly any members to help with finding people. My companion snores like a bear and its hard to sleep. I do have a pair of earplugs but doesn't work too well, cause he is so loud. I'm trying to keep my mind off of what success my friends are having. I miss you guys all a ton. We just need to tract more I think to try and get someone to teach. I hope we can. We do have an investigator I haven't met who has a baptismal date but never goes to church, so I hope we can meet with her. In Estevan there is a man that is very close apparently. I hope we can get a least one baptism this transfer to lift my spirits. I have been praying a lot lately for help and guidance, and helping me know that this is not in vain. It has been rough on me emotionally, I can tract for days but the emotional toll is something I never expected. I was expecting it to be like the MTC with the first couple days being rough but this is so much worse. I will need to get my mind off of family and start to love the people here. I have an interview with the mission president tomorrow so I can get advice from him.Tomorrow is zone conference.
I arrived here on Friday after staying at the mission home Wednesday and Thursday night. This week has gone by super slow. My companion is different than me but is pretty easy to get along with. There is a branch here of 20 active members. We haven't taught a single lesson yet. We went tracting for 3 hours and had one old lady take some pamphlets and shoo us away. It's really nice to be out and about because it distracts me from thinking about home and feeling sorry for myself. I don't like being in the apartment, and would rather be walking around all day than in the apartment. My companions name is Elder Gregson, he is from Calgary, we get along but i'm not very comfortable and open with him. Its kinda an awkward situation. The apartment was filthy so i started cleaning it up, especially the bathroom, ew! Its super depressing in there. I like the cookbook you made me but right now cant use it because i feel homesick whenever i look at it. We have been fed by members 2 times already and have another appointment set up! We ate at a members house named the Dudranges (do-drains) and they fed us something called Blute. OK this is a joke they play on new elders and is a delicacy in Vietnam, its basically a fertilized egg, hard boiled and you eat the half developed chicken out of it, its the nastiest thing ever!!! They got a good laugh out of it. I didn't get any photos but they did so I will get them to email them to me.
Other than that we havent had much to do because of the lack of members, but we did go serve at an Old folks home. They fed us then we did the dishes for them. It was fun but I felt like we could have done other things. It is hard because I feel like i'm not accomplishing anything. I dont care when people don't want to talk, it is just when we write all zeros on the planner I die a little.
Other than that not much has happened. We played games at a members house for like a hour and a half and I felt like we shouldn't have been there the whole time. We taught a little lesson and left. I just don't know what to do yet and the only thing we can do is tract and my trainer doesn't really want to. I enjoy it because i'm out and about and we can MAYBE see someone that wants to talk to us. I had no investigators coming in and it is frustrating just walking around visiting less actives that are never home.
So nothing got accomplished this week of much importance. The people here are old, and there is hardly any members to help with finding people. My companion snores like a bear and its hard to sleep. I do have a pair of earplugs but doesn't work too well, cause he is so loud. I'm trying to keep my mind off of what success my friends are having. I miss you guys all a ton. We just need to tract more I think to try and get someone to teach. I hope we can. We do have an investigator I haven't met who has a baptismal date but never goes to church, so I hope we can meet with her. In Estevan there is a man that is very close apparently. I hope we can get a least one baptism this transfer to lift my spirits. I have been praying a lot lately for help and guidance, and helping me know that this is not in vain. It has been rough on me emotionally, I can tract for days but the emotional toll is something I never expected. I was expecting it to be like the MTC with the first couple days being rough but this is so much worse. I will need to get my mind off of family and start to love the people here. I have an interview with the mission president tomorrow so I can get advice from him.Tomorrow is zone conference.
Miss you guys soooooo much, and even more love.
Love
Elder Sheen
Other tibits:
Elder Sheen is in a driving area. They drive a Suburau
There is also a 7-11, he would love to go to but his companion doesn't drink pop
His companion Elder Gregson has been out 7 months. He is from Calgary
He wishes they could get Ipads in the mission as they were trained on them at the MTC
They have a dodgeball collection in their apartment
He may be missing his weekly dose of Krispy Kreme donuts from the MTC :) Don't worry he has Tim Hortons
He may be missing his weekly dose of Krispy Kreme donuts from the MTC :) Don't worry he has Tim Hortons
Wednesday, 25 January 2017
PROOF OF LIFE-- Made it to Winnipeg --Hello Elder Matt Stewart
Dear Parents and Loved Ones,
Please find attached a group picture of the missionaries with President & Sister Craig and the Assistants after having arrived safely at the Winnipeg Airport.
Our new missionaries are going directly to the Mission Home (President and Sister Craig’s Home) where they will have a lovely dinner with the Craig’s, the mission Assistants and the Office Staff. Following that they will get a chance to hear from President and Sister Craig and bear their own testimonies. We love this because we get a chance to meet your sons and daughters who we will be working with.
We thank you for sharing your sons and daughter with us. We have loved them from the moment we were notified they were coming to our mission.
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
The Lethbridge Boys-Elder Sheen, Elder Wilde, Elder Fernhout and Elder Black with a broken foot in the MTC--Volleyball a dangerous Sport! Also an aerial view of the Minneapolis Airport
Elder Brett Sheen was able to eat dinner with Elder Nick Fernhout and Elder Ryan Black before they left the MTC. Elder Black and Elder Sheen flew back to Canada together through Minneapolis. They were met at the airport by Elder Matt Stewart and President Craig and his wife.Elder Fernhout stayed at the MTC to finish learning Dutch before heading out to the Belgium Netherlands Mission.
WEEK 2 MTC
Hey family, what's up!
This week was pretty sweet and full of awesome spiritual moments. We
had the opportunity to go to the temple again and do initiatory
and endowment sessions. We took a lot of photos outside the temple
today and it snowed an inch or so, and everyone that's from here is
like " wow look at all this snow this is crazy!" Haha I was running
around and jumping on big snowballs that someone had made. They were
around the size of hay bales.
I liked the photos you guys sent and the letters. I got the Krispy Kreme's.
The straps on my bags began to tear a little so I had to sew it, sorta
worked! I hope you got all the photos I sent so you can update the
wall of me. Me and my companion get along. We had an
investigator named Grace who has committed to be baptized and she is
very involved with the gospel, and has a very strong testimony of
Jesus Christ. We had a man named Kaianoa or Kai and he was not very open and
didn't like god or he gospel. Our first visit was rough, he wasn't
listening and the spirit was not strong within that room, the second
visit however, was completely different. All we ( I was the only one
who talked) did was talk to him about the Book of Mormon, and as we
did that I noticed we taught the restoration just by talking with him
about the book or Mormon, I was unable to get him to commit to be
baptized but he was willing to keep meeting but we couldn't.
When we went to the temple we got to walk around it and see the back
of the temple where it reads " house of the lord, holiness to the
lord" it was pretty cool. We also took a photo of the district by the
sign on the temple which was pretty cool. At sacrament meeting we get
called on last second to give a talk and my companion got called on.
We got to hear from NeilL. Anderson of the quorum of the twelve which was pretty sweet to hear
from him. This was Tuesday the 15th and on the Sunday after that I got
to say the opening prayer to the Sunday night devotional, it was
pretty cool cause we got a new MTC presidency and I got to sit up
front with them. The following Tuesday so the 17th we heard from
Ulisses Soares of the seventy and I got to shake his hand!! We were
ushering for the meeting to which was pretty cool.
We got to do a Book of Mormon study session with the other elders in
the district. We followed along with the BOM voice on the iPad at 2X
speed and we would all share what we pulled from a chapter. It was
interesting to see what other people thought about the same scriptures
and what they learned. We also got to attend the infield orientation,
I don't know why they don't teach us those things the whole time we
are here but whatever.As a district we have really grown close
together and we really are connected. Me and elder Burnett usually
hang out together and get along cause our companions are just
different. I'm really exited to get into the field and be with a more
experienced elder.
I've barley eaten any of the candy you guys sent me so I gotta start
eating that before the other elders get ahold of it. I've been reading
the letters you guys sent and I like just reading them every once and a
while. The family photos were a good idea, thanks Scott haha.
Are you sending these to my friends cause I haven't yet. Any ways
that's about all that we did this week. I've found that a lot of
people in my district are suffering from homesickness, but I don't
really cause I don't love you that much, just the cat, haha, just
kidding. I've found that knowing I'm doing what I'm supposed to has
really helped motivate me to do better, and being in Canada is a huge
blessing. I've noticed how when dad said if your not yourself you can't
connect very well with the people around you, I find a lot of people
are faking till they make it and that doesn't really work all that
well. We leave At 4:50 am on Wednesday which sucks, and we have to go
through customs in Minneapolis, but staying with the district calms my
nervousness.
That's about all of have for this week, I will send more photos on a
Hey family, what's up!
This week was pretty sweet and full of awesome spiritual moments. We
had the opportunity to go to the temple again and do initiatory
and endowment sessions. We took a lot of photos outside the temple
today and it snowed an inch or so, and everyone that's from here is
like " wow look at all this snow this is crazy!" Haha I was running
around and jumping on big snowballs that someone had made. They were
around the size of hay bales.
I liked the photos you guys sent and the letters. I got the Krispy Kreme's.
The straps on my bags began to tear a little so I had to sew it, sorta
worked! I hope you got all the photos I sent so you can update the
wall of me. Me and my companion get along. We had an
investigator named Grace who has committed to be baptized and she is
very involved with the gospel, and has a very strong testimony of
Jesus Christ. We had a man named Kaianoa or Kai and he was not very open and
didn't like god or he gospel. Our first visit was rough, he wasn't
listening and the spirit was not strong within that room, the second
visit however, was completely different. All we ( I was the only one
who talked) did was talk to him about the Book of Mormon, and as we
did that I noticed we taught the restoration just by talking with him
about the book or Mormon, I was unable to get him to commit to be
baptized but he was willing to keep meeting but we couldn't.
When we went to the temple we got to walk around it and see the back
of the temple where it reads " house of the lord, holiness to the
lord" it was pretty cool. We also took a photo of the district by the
sign on the temple which was pretty cool. At sacrament meeting we get
called on last second to give a talk and my companion got called on.
We got to hear from NeilL. Anderson of the quorum of the twelve which was pretty sweet to hear
from him. This was Tuesday the 15th and on the Sunday after that I got
to say the opening prayer to the Sunday night devotional, it was
pretty cool cause we got a new MTC presidency and I got to sit up
front with them. The following Tuesday so the 17th we heard from
Ulisses Soares of the seventy and I got to shake his hand!! We were
ushering for the meeting to which was pretty cool.
We got to do a Book of Mormon study session with the other elders in
the district. We followed along with the BOM voice on the iPad at 2X
speed and we would all share what we pulled from a chapter. It was
interesting to see what other people thought about the same scriptures
and what they learned. We also got to attend the infield orientation,
I don't know why they don't teach us those things the whole time we
are here but whatever.As a district we have really grown close
together and we really are connected. Me and elder Burnett usually
hang out together and get along cause our companions are just
different. I'm really exited to get into the field and be with a more
experienced elder.
I've barley eaten any of the candy you guys sent me so I gotta start
eating that before the other elders get ahold of it. I've been reading
the letters you guys sent and I like just reading them every once and a
while. The family photos were a good idea, thanks Scott haha.
Are you sending these to my friends cause I haven't yet. Any ways
that's about all that we did this week. I've found that a lot of
people in my district are suffering from homesickness, but I don't
really cause I don't love you that much, just the cat, haha, just
kidding. I've found that knowing I'm doing what I'm supposed to has
really helped motivate me to do better, and being in Canada is a huge
blessing. I've noticed how when dad said if your not yourself you can't
connect very well with the people around you, I find a lot of people
are faking till they make it and that doesn't really work all that
well. We leave At 4:50 am on Wednesday which sucks, and we have to go
through customs in Minneapolis, but staying with the district calms my
nervousness.
That's about all of have for this week, I will send more photos on a
separate email with descriptions this time. Love you all and have fun
at school and midterms/exams, haha.
Loving it here and the chances I have to learn are endless, can't wait
to get out and serve the lord!!
Love
Elder Sheen
at school and midterms/exams, haha.
Loving it here and the chances I have to learn are endless, can't wait
to get out and serve the lord!!
Love
Elder Sheen
Monday, 23 January 2017
WEEK 1- MTC
Whats up everybody! First week went by swell, first couple of days were pretty rough with the pressure and the homesickness, but that all went away after the second day. I really enjoy writing in my journal and being able to reflect on the days and the experiences I have encountered. Loving class and all the role playing that we do and I look forward to continuing to do that. I had some ups and down with my teaching but after about the first couple days I really began to care for the people we are teaching. I was super nervous the first day because our teacher Brother Croft said that we would be teaching an investigator on Thursday(the day after we got here) and I was freaking out over what i was supposed to teach-how to teach, and how to work with my companion on the first day! I lead the discussion for the first lesson and I have done 90% of the talking throughout all of the lessons. I am learning to empathize with the investigator and to be loving and to smile and make sure they are feeling comfortable and loved by heavenly father.
I've really enjoyed speaking with investigators and sharing the gospel with them. We had a investigator named Leila (Lay-La) and she is from Hawaii, Oahu, so we got to talk about that for a while which made connecting with her a lot easier and we really befriended her. She had a husband who passed away and was a Mormon, so we taught her about the plan of salvation for the first lesson... BAD idea, we ended up confusing her but ended with the invitation to read, and I invited her to be baptized, and she said yes! but she wanted to know more. We taught her the restoration and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we set a Fictional Baptisimal date and she made the commitment to go to church. It was such a real experience and it really helped to grow my testimony as i bore mine (only cried a little).
The devotional on Tuesday was pretty sweet, we got to hear from Neil L. Anderson of the quorum of the twelve Apostles, his talk was awesome on emphasizing the importance of not being afraid to extend the invitation to read, be baptized, or to pray, simply because of our own fears, and that we should think about them and not us when we do invite because we never know how much they might need that invitation, and how it will change their lives.
Whats up everybody! First week went by swell, first couple of days were pretty rough with the pressure and the homesickness, but that all went away after the second day. I really enjoy writing in my journal and being able to reflect on the days and the experiences I have encountered. Loving class and all the role playing that we do and I look forward to continuing to do that. I had some ups and down with my teaching but after about the first couple days I really began to care for the people we are teaching. I was super nervous the first day because our teacher Brother Croft said that we would be teaching an investigator on Thursday(the day after we got here) and I was freaking out over what i was supposed to teach-how to teach, and how to work with my companion on the first day! I lead the discussion for the first lesson and I have done 90% of the talking throughout all of the lessons. I am learning to empathize with the investigator and to be loving and to smile and make sure they are feeling comfortable and loved by heavenly father.
I've really enjoyed speaking with investigators and sharing the gospel with them. We had a investigator named Leila (Lay-La) and she is from Hawaii, Oahu, so we got to talk about that for a while which made connecting with her a lot easier and we really befriended her. She had a husband who passed away and was a Mormon, so we taught her about the plan of salvation for the first lesson... BAD idea, we ended up confusing her but ended with the invitation to read, and I invited her to be baptized, and she said yes! but she wanted to know more. We taught her the restoration and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we set a Fictional Baptisimal date and she made the commitment to go to church. It was such a real experience and it really helped to grow my testimony as i bore mine (only cried a little).
The devotional on Tuesday was pretty sweet, we got to hear from Neil L. Anderson of the quorum of the twelve Apostles, his talk was awesome on emphasizing the importance of not being afraid to extend the invitation to read, be baptized, or to pray, simply because of our own fears, and that we should think about them and not us when we do invite because we never know how much they might need that invitation, and how it will change their lives.
I've really began to understand what Dad was saying about if you try to be someone else when you teach, you wont be able to do so as effectively, I just do what Dad does. haha
The first couple days went by in what felt like a whole week! getting into the grove and getting over your nervous habits and being able to cope with the stress of coping to a new life style. As I have been adapting to the new life, I found that unpacking everything really helped me cope with the newness of all of this. I haven't felt homesick at all lately, the hidden notes and stuff destroyed me the first night but after that i was cool. I kinda imagine Winnipeg as home so it makes me more comfortable about it all. I cant wait to get out there.
I've been trying to take lots of pictures so I can let you guys see what I am doing, having an ipad is awesome for planning and sharing videos with investigators. I haven't done that yet but i look forward to sharing that next week with some new investigators. being able to see what you guys send me right away is pretty sweet, the pictures of the cat are pretty funny, Brian, send me some of your stop motion and even a couple photos of your Lego army.
Have fun playing ball, I've been playing a lot here and have started to pick up a lot of my old skills :) send me some photos. All and all, it was a awesome first week and a bit, I have way more to write, I forgot my journal in the residence (bedroom), and I cant remember everything i did, well gotta go.
love you all, XOXO
Love
Elder Sheen
MTC Elders- So pumped to be here with Friends
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