Sister Syd: Canada Week 12: too BLESSED to be STRESSED

HELLO EVERYONE!! I hope everyone is doing fantastic! This was a wild and long but quick week. P-day on Monday made the week whacky and I never knew what day it was.....but I made it! All is well :) It will just be an adjustment for a bit. The mission is full of constant adjustments and change and in the wise words of President Thomas S. Monson, "nothing in our lives is more constant than change."

This weeks studies consisted of a lot of trusting the Lord and coming to understand our success. As missionaries we are taught that success is found in the doing of things and not the result or outcome of a situation. I read a talk by M. Russell Ballard called, "Put your trust in the Lord." He quoted Spencer W. Kimball who stated, "Perhaps the greatest reason for missionary work is to give the world its chance to hear and accept the gospel." It fit perfectly with what I have been thinking about. Success as missionaries is in the invitation. If we don't even give others the chance to make a choice, we are denying them the opportunity to choose God. We just have to be willing to open our mouths and ask or invite! Ballard stated that, "it is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord's errand." The last couple of days I have gained a lot of strength from my Savior as I have prayed to have the strength to change my mindset from thinking that I am not doing enough to realizing I am doing my best. I am talking to God's children and giving them the opportunity to choose Him and that in and of itself is a success! :) My favorite quote from the talk is, "Trust the Lord. He is the Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know His voice; and today the voice of the Good Shepherd is your voice and my voice." He is OUR SHEPHERD! He is constantly watching over his flock and they know His voice. Right now I am His voice for those who God has prepared and is preparing to know! This work is so cool! I have learned that even when people deny us and choose not to be part of it we are still able to see miracles because God is constantly blessing his children.

This week we had exchanges with some other sisters. It was so fun! We are both in trios so we had 6 of us in one apartment - it was one giant slumber party! It also made it kind of crazy to figure out who would serve with who and where but it all worked out. We saw some cool miracles with the Lord's hand in it. We met 3 people. All 3 came up to us and knew we were church people. They wanted to learn more and come to church and to discuss what we believe further! It was SO cool! All we did was say hello! Blessings come from talking to everyone that's for sure! My trainee Sister Jensen lost her name tag so we backtracked where we had been and found it next to a gas pump at a station we had been at! It was crazy! I was also able to learn a lot from the other sisters. It was a fun exchange.

Other things this week include:

1 - District Thanksgiving lunch - We celebrated American Thanksgiving for our district lunch. We were combined with the other district in our zone. It was after interviews with our Mission President so he joined us!

2 - A girl walked into the Edmonton Temple - someone came and got us across the street at the church to talk to her. Her name is Katie and she is sweet but it broke my heart to see her so lost and sad. She wasn't completely with it but we tried our best to help her.

3 - Crazy night - Last night was full of crazy things! We had a couple free hours after supper so we did some finding and it was AWESOME! We met a lot of cool people on the LRT. We got 6 phone numbers and will hopefully teach them! We met a really cool guy named Jahmali from Jamaica. He loves to watch cars and clouds. He is very observant. He made me think about us as members of the church and how often we fail to be observant of God's hand in our lives. I have seen a difference in my life during the times when I have looked for God verses the times I didn't and I can testify that God is ALWAYS there! :)

Random facts: We had a guy ask us for a lighter for his cigarette and another guy ask us for drugs. Another guy came up and asked us if it was pretty girl night. Then another guy I met on the train thought I was 24 so that was exciting. Also not the first time this has happened.

I want to end with my testimony of my Savior! He has been my rock and my light and I couldn't be more grateful for Him! He has carried me through the hard times and the days I thought I couldn't make it and the times I couldn't keep going. I am so grateful for the blessings and miracles he has allowed me to see. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the peace it brings into my everyday life. I hope to represent my Savior Jesus Christ the best that I can!

Love and miss you all!!!
Love, Sister Merrill :))