HOLA de CANADA!?!?!

Como estan ustedes?!? It has been a fun week full of spiritual experiences and challenges that are making me grow!

First of all, we started our Spanish class this week and tried to make it really fun. We have two non-member people there so it should work out good if we can start teaching them. They are both not very good at Spanish so it is helping them to learn some English that they can use in their work. We also met with our stake representative for Spanish this week and he gave us some great advice on getting some of the less active members back to church. We also met with a man named Jaime and his family. They are interested in going to church and we are hoping that they can get involved with the members. We also stopped by the house of a woman that was a potential but turned out that she was a less active member. So we are going to try and get her back to church.

The work has been a little slowed down from the snow. But we are still pushing along and trying our hardest to find new people to teach. I'm sorry I don't have much time today but just know that things are going well. I went on exchanges with my zone leader on Friday and it was so fun. We worked really hard and I felt accomplished when my head hit the pillow. It is a different experience going tracting -ha ha.


Spiritual Thought: We talked in church on Sunday about the final judgement and exaltation. It is very interesting to hear all the opinions on who and how we will be judged. Read the last chapter in the Gospel Principles manual. This lines out the things we must do to receive exaltation and live with our families forever. Also Read Matthew 25:23. This is what I want to hear when I get to heaven.

Mucho Amor,

Elder Kipppppppppppp

Hola! Bienvenidos a la nieve y el frio!

Hola!

It is snowing a lot in Canada! Thats for sure eh. But nothing is prettier than looking out my 11 story building window onto the snow covering the city. It has been a little scary because the temperature keeps going up and down so there is a lot of ice. On Thursday it was -10 celsius. But with the windchill it was -35! It was incredibly cold. I cannot believe that it is going to get even colder. I enjoy driving because it is a new challenge. And I was suprised to find out that the drivers in Canada are very good in the snow. But that still does not change how many accidents there are. It makes it a little hard because we cannot book appointments with people too close together. And because we have such a big area we find ourselves in sticky situations. But the work still goes on and we are still trying to find people to teach.

Last week we made invitations to an English class that we are going to teach twice a week. It should be very fun. And hopefully we can get a lot of people there that are interested in the gospel as well. I don't know how good of English teachers we are but I am looking forward to helping people out. We figured we can promote the Book of Mormon by reading from it during the class. And then stress that it will help them with their English. BOOYAH! We are sneaky.

This week was a little slow because we are getting used to the snow but we have still been able to meet with some new people that seem interested. We still do not have any progressing investigators and that is difficult. But we excercise faith everytime we go out the door or call someone to get into a lesson. I have been praying very hard and I am learning that things never turn out the way that you think. People that are interested in the blessings of the gospel are never the people that you expect. That is why I constantly need to remember that we really do not have that big of a part in this whole process. We are just kind of "pushing" people in the right direction. But we are trying to find new ways to keep up the motivation.

I got the opportunity to teach gospel doctrine yesterday. It was such a fun experience because I found out that I was teaching during sacrament meeting! But I taught about the postmortal spirit world. This topic always is interesting to me because it gives the answer to where do we go after we die. There was an investigator that had been taught the plan of salvation but he had a lot of questions. We had a great conversation about what the world will be like after we die. It will be a great time for missionary work and the people that choose to follow Christ will find great joy.

Spiritual Thought: What do we need to do to take away power from Satan? And will Satan be bound in the millenium or will the people living have no desire to sin? (Hint: 3 Nephi Chapters 18-27)

I know this is the true work of God. I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives and guides this work. I feel happiness when I do what is right which brings me closer to my Heavenly Father. I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is true. I have read it and prayed about it. Read it. Pray about it. You will recieve an answer. This answer will bring you joy in your life.

Mucho amor para ustedes.

Elder Kipp

It Snowed!!!

Hola! ¿Comó estan?

It has been a very cold week here in old Canada and I am happy to say that I am staying warm. I feel really bad about the people that are homeless here because they must be so cold. We meet a lot of them and we try to help them out as much as possible. But it is snowing officially in Canada! It did not stick very much but everyone is telling me that it is going to get worse. I am ready for the snow though! It is so white all over and so beautiful. People tell me that it is some of the purest snow in the world because it is so far north. But remember to not eat the yellow snow!

Last night we went to the Spanish broadcast that they had at the conference center for all Spanish speakers. It was very cool to hear everything in Spanish. I could not understand most of it, but my companion helped me out a lot and I could feel the Spirit and that is what matters most, right? There was a slim turnout but the people that attented said that it was what they needed to hear and it was definitely inspired for the Spanish community. They talked about keeping our covenants all the time and constantly remembering why we made them. Also, they talked about the blessing of having the Holy Ghost in our lives. If you get a chance to read it or listen to it, I recommend it.

But we are continueing to meet with a lot of members and sharing the benefits for everyone when they participate in missionary work. We have been having a lot of work coming out of one of our areas named Castledowns. The bishop and one of his counselors are Spanish speakers and there are many families that are members as well. The English missionaries there are on fire and we are thinking we can tap into this as well. We don't have any investigators at the moment, but we have faith that the Lord will help us find people to teach. We went to an area in this ward boundry that is prominently Spanish. The first two doors that we tracted into let us in and allowed us to talk and share a message with them. This is always very exciting.

It was the end of the tranfer today. It is very funny how missionaries get so worked up about moving around into new areas. I am trying to stay out of it, but it is really exciting and sad at the same time to see people come and go out of your district and go to new areas. We just need to remember that it is all the Lord's work and he knows better than us the people that we can affect. I have realized such a big difference in the times when I focus on myself and when I focus on other people. You find more joy when you are working for other people and not for yourself. When we focus on other people we find that we get even more for ourselves and we grow even more. The Lord does know us and our weaknesses. The mission really does show you your weaknesses because the Lord wants you to fix them through serving others.

Spiritual Thought: Read Mosiah 5. This chapter outlines what it means to be followers of Christ and how we can grow and have his name upon us all the time. I always love hearing this in the sacrament prayer. That we will ALWAYS remember him and take his name upon us. We as missionaries need to do this all the time. Hopefully we can be followers of Christ in our actions and the way we treat others.

Everyone have a great week, and have a cup of hot chocolate for me.
Mucho Amor

Elder Kipp

¿Comó le vá?

This week has been a good week full of the roller coaster of missionary work. I don't think that at any other time in my life have I had the oppurtunity to do so much for other people. It makes you so happy. It really gives you a new attitude and I can see the difference in perspective I have gained. But it has been getting colder and colder. On Thursday it was -10 and the wind chill was pretty high. But I am staying warm. It has not snowed yet but maybe this week we will be receiving some nieve.

All the members up here that speak Spanish are so cool. When we go eat dinner they just keep wanting to feed you. But I love it. Not going to lie - it keeps me sane when we get to meet with members, share a message, and get them interested in missionary work. One ward in particular called the Castledowns ward has been helping us out a lot with finding people to teach. There recently-called bishop is from Mexico and there are a lot of Spanish members in that ward. So we are hoping for great things from this ward. One of the referrals that we received from a member in this ward is great. Their names are Carlos and Ofelia and they are really interested in the gospel. He is a member and wants to come back to church and wants his wife to get baptized. He is from El Salvador and she is from Columbia. She speaks super fast! Sometimes I have to look at my companion because I have no idea what she said to me. But I am looking forward to meeting with them again and sharing my testimony with them.

Elder EZ had leadership training this week for two days. It was really draining for him but I think he got a lot out of it. I got to work with Elder Skousen and it was really fun. We went and visited a man named Frank. He is pretty awesome. I think he has autism and is has been a member of the church for about 8 years. He invited us in ang gave us some frozen lemonade and some cheese puffs. He loves meeting with the missionaries and I wish I could visit him everyday. He is so fun to talk to and you can feel his caring personality from the minute you meet him. I love people like Frank because we can learn so much from them.

My Spanish has been growing but it is hard because we are not being immersed in it. But I pray everyday that I can learn more and keep having faith. People keep telling me that I need to drink a lot of hot sauce to keep my Spanish up. Anybody have some good tips on how to help my Spanish more? I can tell that it has grown so much in the little over a month that I have been here. I will come back a true Spaniard. Something that was hard yesterday was that we had to turn over an investigator named Vianney. He has been progressing well. He lived on the border and we thought that we could keep teaching him, but we learned last night that he needs to be taught by Spanish south. It is hard to not be able to see him anymore, but we know that it is the Lord's will and we hope the best for him.

Spiritual thought: Read 1 Nephi 8: What does the fruit represent and how can we grow our seed into a fruit. Compare to Alma 32. You will find that faith is the most important aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mucho Amor

Elder Kipp

Feliz Noche De Brujas!

Happy Halloween!

Que Tal? How is everyone doing? It has been a very interesting week, full of challenges and great times as well. Edmonton is started to show us the cold shoulder. I had to break out the gloves for the first time this week and my cheeks have been rosey red. I have learned in my short time here that life as a missionary is very unpredictable and it just seems like things are hard, but in the end it all works out. Today is going to be a little weird because we have P-day until 6 and then we all have to be in our apartments because there are going to be a lot of crazies out there. I keep telling people that we get to dress up too: Just as full-time missionaries. People get a kick out of that.

But we met with a lot of members this week and are trying to get in touch with the Spanish members because there has not really been a presence of Spanish missionaries here in about a year. But one ward in particular is getting really involved in the work and we received 3 referrals this week, which is really rare for Spanish in Edmonton. But Elder EZ had a very good idea to give members a copy of the Libro de Mormon and ask them to put a picture of their family and their testimony in the front. Then, they can start fellowshipping people into the ward. We need to remember that we are called as full time teachers and the members are full time finders. It really does make missionary work more effective when the memebers help out a lot. One of the recent converts is getting deported to mexico and he recently had a baby. He is going to spend about 6 months there. It is going to be hard for him but he is such a stud because he is being so positive about it. He finds it as an opportunity to see his family and share the gospel with them. I am going to miss seeing him every week.

But a lot of our lessons with investigators have been cancelling and it is really hard to stay in contact with them. But we are staying positive and trying to widen our teaching pool. No effort goes unnoticed in this work. Everyday I learn that our part in this work is very minimal compared to the Saviors. But I really love meeting new people and just learning about there background and seeing how the gospel can help them in their lives. We may never realize how we affect people and how the Lord's plan for them has us involved. I have learned that we are not only asked to follow the commandments in our own lives to make us happier, but to be an example to others and help them find that happiness that we so much enjoy.

Funny story. We were really late to an appointment last night because we got lost, so we just called them and tried to reschedule. So we went back to our apartment and went street contacting. Even though we don't find many Spanish people while we do this, we find that we meet many people that other missionaries can teach. But we met some very funny homeless people and they asked us if we had any money. I made a fatal mistake. I said "I don't have any Canadian money, all i got is some American dollars." I was done. Before we realized there was about 10 homeless people surrounding us asking for money. I told them that I would not give them any money but I would buy them some food. They all left except this one older woman and she was telling us some crazy stories and I eventually bought here some wonton soup. It was a funny experience. I love living downtown.

Spiritual Thought!: 2 Nephi 33:11 - This is a great scripture that testifies of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. If you believe in Jesus Christ you must believe in the words of this book because they testify of his divinity and life. If you believe in the words of this book, you will believe in Jesus Christ as well. They go hand in hand. So if you want to grow your testimony in Christ, read this book. It is the best way to do it. I also stress to get involved with your ward and missionary work. Pray about people that you know and be listening if they are ready to hear the gospel. The members are a major factor in the finding of people for the missionaries to teach. All you have to do is pray, open your mouth and be a friend. Everyone wins in missionary work!

Well have a great Halloween and don't eat too much candy!

Mucho Ammmmmorrrr!

Elder Kipp