WE LOVE ELDER SHEEN

Hello Family,

Slow week, nothing too much happened and as a companionship we didn't teach a single lesson. We did have exchanges with the zone leaders and I went with Elder Grant, it was super nice and an uplifting experience.  He told me I was being too hard on myself, but I dont think that I am.  I think that I can do better than Elder Gregson and I are right now. Being with Elder Grant was fun because instead of me making sure we are actually doing something he had plans and we had made plans to follow throughout the day. We went to the university and walked around and did some street contacting, we didn't have any luck with that but we were able to come into contact with a man named ei-pi? We set up an appointment with him for next week but I wont be there so that's fine. We also got to have dinner with the Orr's, it was awesome! We had egg mcmuffins (homemade of course) and fruit, he has two kids and one on the way now. We taught a lesson on Christ like relationships, which went well, after photos and a goodbye we went to another appointment with a few native ladies.They were super nice to talk to and are very interested in the church. Two of them are baptized and they are just less active, they do try just not every week kinda deal.  I also got some great tips from Brother Orr, like how the first transfer/companion is the worst, and that as long as you are working hard you will see miracles. He said something that really stuck out to me was that if we aren't working hard, we are not worthy to have the people we want to teach and so forth,we need to be working hard so we are WORTHY to find those people that are placed in our paths. 

I've been doing things to try and make the apartments feel like home. I'm going to print off some of the photos you guys sent me ( maybe some jeeps!) to hang up around my study area.I think also im going to buy some fake greenery/shrubbery to put in my personal areas to liven it up. This is one of the loneliest areas in the mission. Its one of two of the areas that are super secluded. We rarely get to see other elders around here, but because my companion is district leader I get to travel around a lot more than I would if I didn't have him as a companion. Nice thing is is when he takes off I may be the new district leader. Elder Grant said that he thinks im going to be a Zone leader soon, he said that im a good elder with a lot to give to others, and I was all like "Heck yah im awesome!” hahaha, but I had to chill and realize that's not because of me, but because of the best parent's ever!  Whenever i think of a question or a debate I always think " What would dad do?" and that has helped a ton, even when me and Elder Gregson argue about things and it goes against what dad or mom said I know it isn't right, and rather an opinion on a fact. 

We had church in Estevan this week and it was super good. I learned a ton from just the talks and the sunday school lessons. In sacrament a talk was given by brother Pippo on the light of Christ and just being a helping kind of person. Brother Pippo works in a coal mine so he talked about how when he first started he had lunch with the guys and they finished a bit earlier, so they decided to turn off their lamps and relax in the darkness. We had done this when I was in grade five and we went to Franks slide,so I could definitely relate to what he was talking about. The whole time Brother Pippo had his lamp off he said he was thinking "what if the light never comes back?" "what if i never see the light again!" "how will I make it back to the light" and I thought that was really interesting in relation to the gospel and how we should always have the light with us so we can see what is around us and where we need to go and if we need to turn around.  In Sunday school we learned about stumbling blocks from a talk given in general conference recently, i cant remember exactly when, but it was talking alot about how stumbling blocks are often seen as sin, but rather one of the bigger ones we face as members is extremism.  What it meant by that is holding one law above another, and how we shouldn't be making rules that are easy for you to keep seem important and that are difficult for others to follow and chastise and judge them for not keeping the same ones you are when we should recognize that we are all not perfect, and "take the beam from our own eye before taking the mote from thy brothers eye" or whatever that scripture is. This was a huge answer to my prayers, I had been praying that Elder Gregson and I would be able to work together better, and hopefully we will.

This week has been a slow and uneventful one. Not much happened. It's hard to do stuff because of my companion right now, he is getting more lazy and doesn't want to work. When I suggested that if we got up and got ready faster we could be out of the apartment by 9:30AM he basically said I was being disobedient to mission rules cause the schedule is from 6:30 to 10:00 so we should be out at 10:00. I have suggested that we get up and run every morning and im going to do it whether or not he likes it. He said if it is below 0 he isn't going to go out, panzy, haha I hope the next companion I get is a lot more motivating. I'm going to start working out to try and get moving in the morning we don't have many weights but im going to use milk jugs with water as weights. Elder Gregson doesn't like to fill up with gas whenever I suggest it so we left to swift current Sunday night with little over half a tank of gas and we BARELY made it. The tank wasn't registering for  gas and we couldn't start it the next day. Sooo we had to get a Jerry can this morning to fill it up and then the battery was dead so we had to get some jumper cables as well. I was pretty ticked off at him but it was super fun I thought.

I've started to realize that unless I do it, it wont get done. Elder Gregson hates talking to people and hates talking on the phone, so I've gotten VERY good at that. I was already very comfortable with talking with people but now im even better. I'm starting to make the appointments cause Elder Gregson wont. We are in swift current right now and the terrain is soooooooo much nicer out here, rolling hills and such makes it alot better. I saw a Medicine Hat sign and I kinda giggled thinking, “ I could be home in like 6 hours" haha, that would stink though, i could definitely serve out here i think at some point. We have one appointment with Greg from Estevan on Wednesday, he was the most promising investigator so far so we hope we can get in with him at some point.

We have transfers next Monday, Im kinda hoping one of us gets transferred but I HIGHLY doubt it, Saturday this week is my 2 month mark,  1 year 10 months left,  i cant wait to see some green around here!!

Questions from Sadie:

Sadie wants to know have you been getting along with your companion?
Sadie wants to know if you have had any interesting food?
Sadie wants to know if you want it to get warmer?
How is your teaching going?
Are there any 9 year olds in your branch?

1. Barely,we have been arguing a lot and he is very stubborn. I have managed to get some blinds open in the apartment without him closing them cause he is a vampire, the man hates natural light. He was getting annoyed at how slow the camera was at uploading the photos so we uploaded them to google drive and thats why you cant access them, so Im not going to do that anymore.

2. Yes! I have been eating macaroni and hotdogs and peas alot!  all of my favorite foods! other than the Balute (chicken embryo) nothing crazy though.

3. Kind of, I like the hovering Around 10 degrees range

4. Not many people like to hear about how they can live forever with GOD apparently.

5. There is one young family they have a daughter that is probably 8 or 9 (Pippo's)

Keep on keeping on! have fun at basketball and whatever else you guys do, I pray for you everytime I pray, I love you all a ton. XOXO

P.S. love the fat cat photo HAHA!

Love

Elder Sheen

The Orr Family-Regina

Brother Orr was Elder Sheen's Young Men's President in Lethbridge. Elder Sheen was excited to have dinner with the Orr's now they live in Regina.   

Photos from Weyburn

It's a FARGO!

Elder Sheen & his trainer Elder Gregson--1st Companion. Elder Gregson is from Calgary Alberta

Hi Family & Friends,

This week has been pretty rough, but it had some benefits to it as well. I have almost ran out of money haha, because I buy food even though I don't really need it. Having two apartments is hard because we have to take food from each of the apartments each week so I don't die, and I have to pack a ton of stuff back and forth so I have everything I need and I always forget something. Life is going by super slow and we haven't done a lot of REAL missionary work right now. I want to try and get my companion out and about more, we sorta get along but I don’t know.  We had a lesson with an investigator this week named Brad, he wants to get baptized but doesn't want to set a date yet.  He had brought his friend and his sister to the lesson which we had in the library/rec centre, it went well for not having prepared very long. I have been playing a few piano songs on the little piano we have but its too small to play most of the songs. We have a baptismal date for the 25th of March and the investigator (Alicia) attended church this Sunday which was awesome, and she said she wanted to come again which is sweet. We also had a joint Weyburn/Estevan Church meeting with a potluck afterwords, and we got most of the leftover food which was nice. We haven't had a lesson with her in a while but I hope we can meet with her once every other day. That's one thing i'd like to improve on is actually meeting with people rather than messing around, but I find this hard with my companion.  We had exchanges this week and I went with Elder Shaw, he was a huge uplifter for me and actually talked with me, it was super nice. We had walked by a building that had a bunch of plants or something Green all over the floor next to the window and I thought "eh thats kinda cool/weird?" and not a half hour later we knocked on a door of a man named Rodney, he said he knew who we were cause of president Regnier and we said if he ever needed help to call us up and I gave him a pass along card with our number on it. So he goes "you free now?" and we said yes, so we hopped in his car and drove, guess where, to the building with all the plants in it, we helped him plant something like 500 trees with his 2 penny tree system, he thought of it one day and it was super fun to learn all about how it works and what he does. So I'm hoping after a little bit of service doing that we can get a lesson in and maybe his family cause he has a largeish family.

We also had a fun time helping Brother Woodruff lay some carpet tiles in his office, I forgot my camera so i dont have photos but I will take some when he gets back from a vacation. I think that service is the #1 way to do missionary work. I have started to get into the book of Alma and I cant wait to read about the sons of mosiah, and how they do it. I feel my companion is kinda lazy and I'm trying hard to not let it wear off on me. I'm going to start being less of a friend and more of a missionary, less doing what makes my companion happy and do more of what makes the lord happy. Good week, I think, all together though. I still sometimes feel like a failure after all the things I read, the invitations I give and all the stuff I try to do, to be more Christlike. I feel like my biggest challenge is being away from all you guys,  anyways enough whining for today.

I really enjoy going on Facebook cause it allows me to wind down and relax a bit more each day. Its nice to see what other missionaries are doing and how their missions are doing. I have been writing in my journal everyday and im going to need a lot more if I continue to write as much as I do, so next package you guys send out can you send one or two more of those journals I got, preferably not a blue one. I always make sure I take the family photos with me wherever I go, can you send me all the photos off my phone, so then i can print them off. Also can you send a USB or a similar thing so I can save all my photos to it. It's hard to take photos cause there is not much to take photos of around here. I try to take as many as I can, but my companion isnt really a photo guy. 

Questions from this week,

1. Where do you do laundry?

2. What fast food restaurants are in your area? 

3. How was district meeting?

4. What have you done for fun on PD day? 

5. Take and Send some pictures!!!!

1. we do laundry at the Estevan apartment, which is super nice cause it saves on money big time.

2. we have a KFC- all you can eat buffet- only one in Canada! we went there for our district meeting lunch, we have a McDonalds, A&W and subways.

3. district meeting was fine

4.we dont do much, we played games with members last week but not today.

5. I will, like I said there isn't much to take photos of here

Questions from last week that I forgot to answer,

What have you learned about your companion this week?
How many days do you spend in Weyburn and Estevan? Switch weekly?
Have you been fed this week?
Do you water your plants? or are they fake?
Where have you done service?
How was church this week?  any yw there?

1. not much, kinda weird

2.we try to split it but we spend 75% of the time in Weyburn but we try to switch weekly

3.yes by the Morseittes and the Woodruffs.

4. we dont have plants in the Weyburn apartment but i want to try and start a garden or something, Estevan has a rubber tree that gets watered twice a month.

5. at the food bank and at Rodney tree place now, we haven't gone to the commerce place yet to see what we can do.

6. church was fantastic, we had an investigator come and she really enjoyed it. We also had a potluck which was awesome.

I am having momentary bursts of fun here and there, trying to see the positive in everything and trying to be more like me and less nervous and shy, miss you guys and cant wait to hear from you guys. LOVE YOU soooooooooo much.   Mittens too i guess...XOXO

Love

Elder Sheen

Elder Sheen and Food

Hey Family,

This week has been a lot of fun, we didn't do much teaching but it was still very enjoyable. We have had very few lessons out so far,  but our investigators are staying strong. We have one investigator who said she wanted to come to church but just never showed.  It was actually awesome because she just sent a random text to us saying that she was going to try and come to church, so that was a pretty awesome moment. Yes, we have had meals with lots of people in this area, and whenever we do, we get a small food hamper from each of the members (Except the Woodruffs cause they feed us a TON).  It's nice to have these food hampers because then I don't have to buy food as often. My companion, Elder Gregson describes it as I live off of morning dew and universe juice, from Kung Fu Panda!! I'm the mantis and he is Po, haha! He eats a ton. I will have like one michalina's microwave meal (however you write that) and i'm good. I've been eating a lot of macaroni and hot dogs. I bought potatoes and onions and perogies and I left them in Estevan, that's the only thing that is tricky about having two apartments.  I couldn't bake my potatoes because I didn't have any tinfoil, so I got some off brand eggo waffles which have been lasting a while. I also forgot my eggs so I haven't been able to make the eggs and toast (like the dipping kind) which kinda stinks, but ill manage. I will eat them all soon when we return to Estevan this week. 

Enough about food, budgeting has been a lot easier than I thought, ill probably have like 80 dollars left over at the end of the month, so I might get some more ties or something (maybe some Lego hehe). My companion buys yu-gi-oh cards all the time, but whatever. This week has been alot better with studies and reading the scriptures.  It's kind of funny to see how Jesus responded a lot to the Pharisees and it's also cool to see how perfect his responses were.  We have also been listening to a talk called the true meaning of the atonement in the car as we drive and its an interesting talk,  I would suggest you listen to it.  It is pretty deep but really cool. We also got some coupons to 7-11 so we will be visiting it sometime (heck YAH). I have some Dr.Pepper in Weyburn but its just not the same as 7-11. All this food talk I'm starting to sound like Jim Gaffigan.  We also have Zone conference every 6 weeks now which is awesome and we have been getting better at getting up at 6:30.  When we get up we turn on all the lights and we are going to start working out, like push ups and such, that will be nice.

Last week or so we gave a lady a copy of the Lesson 1 & 2 and we finally got into contact with her husband Saturday night. He opens the door and we explain who we are and such and he says ,"do you believe in Zeus?" and we were like what the heck is this guy smoking? He goes on about how there has been 3000 gods in time and it was mans way of explaining the unexplainable and how through science we can explain all things. It irritated me that someone can be that ignorant, he said he doesn't believe in anything he cant see, so I pulled out a book of Mormon and was like BAM! What's this?  It was quite interesting cause he said that science is unchanging? like science changes everyday! 

Its been a nice week overall, we got to help Kevin move some furniture, and I got to wear that plaid coat mom so haha told yah I would use it! We taught a lesson to some nonmember kids that were being babysat by the Teifenbachs, and we showed them the pepper in a bowl with the dishsoap and how you can push trials away and be happy (We weren't supposed to proselyte) but they enjoyed it alot.

Happy Valentines day!(Tomorrow) love you guys so much, So far the mission has been good. Enjoy school, read the scrips, play games, have FUN!!!!!!

You guys are the best and I pray for you guys all the time!

Love

Elder Sheen

Elder Gregson, 1st Companion Weyburn and Estevan, SK

Estevan "The Energy City"

Week 4 Estevan Area

Hey Family!

So my area actually covers two small towns, Estevan and Weyburn. This week we have been in Estevan. We have an apartment in each place and drive back and forth usually weekly. Estevan is only 45 km from the US Border. It is a big Border crossing, open 24 hours a day.

This week has been a hard, but rewarding one. We had a meeting with an investigator Monday night which was a huge spiritual up-lifter, it was super nice to teach someone.  We met with a man named Greg, which is a super promising investigator, we meet with him tomorrow again before we head up to Weyburn again.  Its nice to see such dedication from the few members here in Estevan and to see how much faith they have. I get to drive now because my companion doesn't like to drive and I don't think he knows how to drive in snow! haha, he always seemed a little nervous. We attended sacrament and it is held in the basement of the Western Star Hotel,here in Estevan, its actually super nice in there. There is a family named the Pippos, Canadian family (Pee-Po's)) and they are the bulk of the branch. We got to teach brother Pippos son the plan of salvation in young men's which comprises of him. It felt like I was teaching Brian! I took a more understandable approach I felt, whereas my companion went straight doctrine on this 12 year old kid and never asked any questions, but that's what companions are for! Me and him have been talking a lot more lately, and been connecting a lot better. There is a member in the branch named Brother Woodruff, he runs a hearing aid clinic, and wears them himself. He is in the middle of renos so we go over and help him a lot with some of the tabletops and other things he needs us to do, its nice to be able to do some of the same things i'm used to.

There is a huge Philipino family that was super active in the Philipines but they became less active here, the Father went back to get his wife who is SUPER active and so hopefully she whips them into shape. We have done a little bit of tracting and have had one family say come back later next week. We are trying to get these two young men who are investigating familiar with the branch and get them out to church. They have a strong desire for the gospel so i'm hoping that we can get them familiar with members so they feel known. They would be a great addition to the branch. I got your guys package, LOVE the Canada Bracelet Sadie! I left the rest of the package back in Weyburn for the week. It was nice now that I've started to adjust because I can look at photos of the family now, reading the scriptures and other things is really nice because it gives me a sense of purpose.

Its crazy being out here, I've realized how short life and this mission really is, as much as I want to be home chilling on the couch, I've been thinking about how many people get the opportunity to do this, and how much more grateful I should be that I can take part in someones eternal salvation, or be the stepping stone that they needed to get to where they are going.

Church was a pretty cool experience, we got to bless the sacrament which was pretty great and we also got to bear our testimony. Every time I think about something that makes me cry I think that it is because I am nervous and homesick, but I know now that was the spirit testifying to me of the truthfulness of what I was bearing testimony of and the power and the love that heavenly father has for us. He has definitely given me the strength that I need this last week, and I know that he will continue as long as I am faithful.

Know that god loves each and everyone of us individually and knows our strengths and weaknesses. A member pointed out that "we CAN be tested above that which we are able to bear, but through Jesus Christ, he gives us the strength we lack and makes the burdens light"

Questions to answer from family:

1.  What is your apartment like? We like the basketball hoop

2. Do you get to drive? or just your senior companion?  Do you have limited miles?

3. Tell us about your companion

4. Do you have lots of snow? we do

5. We know you are in a small branch, so do you get fed a lot? 

6. Have you been to 7-11 now?

7. How will the changes in the daily routine for missionaries affect you?

1. We have two apartments. The Weyburn apartment not great at all. It is old and depressing, the Estevan, one is above a garage and is brand new and lit up and super uplifting!

2. Yes! i drive 99.9% of the time and we do have limited Kilometres, don't know how much tho.

3. Elder Gregson is cool, we get along but don't have the brotherly relationship I was hoping for yet, but you get what you get, he's a Type One Diabetic which means he has to give himself insulin shots all the time. He is from Calgary and is 22 Years old I think, Almost 8 months out.

4.We have a fair amount of snow, but they clear it pretty quick.

5. Yes! my mind has been blown from the expectations I had. We have been getting fed like 2-4 times a week so far!

6. No 7-11, haha but I got some Dr. Pepper!

7.Allows us to go to bed earlier at 9:30 if we want and get up later if needed to stay out later and gives us more time on P-Day for "Us" that's about it

Love you Guys, Know that the lord loves each one of you and so do I, Have Fun!

Love,

Elder Sheen

Little extras:

Brett is thinking of getting some form fitting ear plugs to allow him to sleep better at night. 

They serve at the Food bank and homeless shelters weekly

Hamburger and cheese is super expensive there

He understands why it is important to keep things clean now

Estevan and Weyburn are big hockey towns
Estevan has a Race track and indoor waterpark, ball fields, hockey rinks, No Frills and of course a Tim horton's