Whack Bus

Hello dearest family!

   Wow, what a super great day to hear that my little niece is alive and kickin it! I'll be honest, I only broke down in like four sobs this email time. I got a drink though and used some kleenex's and it was allllll gooooood. This week was just like the last one except different, so that was nice. I named this email whack bus because there was one night we were getting on the bus headed to the metro station to go home and call it a night, and it just turns out that all of the people that get on the buses at night are supes interesting. After like the 27th interesting person that got on I finally wrote a note to my companion that said,"whack bus." and that was it. But I guess it's good to be on a whack bus every now and then, that way you really appreciate the none whack buses.

   I will be honest, I don't really feel like writing today. Sorry bout that. The baby news made me way too excited, so now I am really tired and just want to take a nap. You should all try and be home Mother's Day, I'll skype ya if you'd like. I am actually super pumped to talk to you all.

   Things here are going along nice and goingly. This week seemed to be pretty high stress and there were some lack of sleep nights (never good on a mission), but as of right now, I'd say things are pretty good. We are going to start having some exchanges this Friday, so that will be good fun! I will be with a newer sister that I don't really know, so I am pretty excited. Let's hope she enjoys LONGUEUIL aka my home aka the place where I have my records transfered because I might as well move in. But I am happy because I like it here and I love the members. We seriously need to find some new people though who are actually interested in the gospel. That's where we're at right now, a couple of non-progressing people. But slowly and surely things will come. We are trying to pick up the work with less active members and auxilary leaders.

   We had a super sweet regional conference this past Sunday! Elder Kacher, Elder Andersen, Linda Reeves, and Elder Hales all spoke about good things and it was really interesting. I liked it a lot. Missionary work is really changing, eh? Pretty sweet you guys, we are getting to be apart of something really great! 

   We have a Book of Mormon reading challenge for the whole mission and I am really behind, so there's that. 

   Well, I think that that just about covers it! Congratulations to the Wecker's on the new addition. I am super happy for you two and I hope that it is all smooth sailing from here on out! Send the babe and mother some love from me, I hope that everything is goin well!!!!

Love,

Snoop

P.S. America

Georgia Suzanne Wecker was born April 23, 2015!!!

Gerd is back!

Hey fam, what's up?   

   Woohoo! Gerd finally came home from Florida and I was so pumped! I didn't think I was ever going to get to see him again. Turns out we haven't actually seen him yet because we had planned to go over there and do some service for him, but when we got there he had gone to the doctor. Bummer. So we just raked his yard anyway and will try again this week. Other than that this week has been cold with a bunch of walking, yay! Walking actually isn't so bad, I'll send the pic of this blister thing I got though that was super gross. It rained today but the weather for the most part has been super nice. My companion got sunburned, bummer dude. We checked though, and we walk an average of like six miles a day! It's way sweet going from walking like two steps a day. Blessings in disguise. Also, I am always cold. Just always. That's it. Our apartment is cold. My feet are cold. My heart is cold. There's no escape. I don't know what the deal is because I wasn't even this cold in the winter... But anyway, it's all good because that means I can still wear socks and I love socks.

   We had a pretty good week. As good as good goes. We had some crazy things and some way sweet things. One guy named Sigfriedo that they elders found and we taught a few times was baptized on Saturday. He is the coolest guy. I was so happy for him. The baptism went smoothly and that was nice. They always seem to when you're not the one responsible for all of the stuff. But, it's like the scripture say, the power of godliness is manifest in the ordinances thereof. Or something like that. It just means that the spirit is present when the ordinances of the priesthood are being performed, and it is so true, because I just felt so calm during that baptism, and it was so so nice. I'm super happy for Sigfriedo, it's always great to have a brother come back to the fold of our Savior. 

   Our days are kind of funny because we spend some time trying to figure which bus to take and where to walk, but things have been  getting a lot better and that is really cool. Our mission just started a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in a transfer. I am way pumped because I love the Book of Mormon! It's tough for me though because I read it kind of slowly. So I have to hurry. But anyway, it's way great. The other day while we were filling up the font for the baptism we were just reading because we could, and I was reading in 2 Nephi 4 (might have already written you about it), and it was so good. It is true that you can get new things from the scriptures every time you read them. I read 2 Nephi 4 like a month ago and it was still so good this time around. I forgot to bring my notes here with me, but one thing that I remember loving was that Nephi is so bummed about being a natural man, and for the little sins that so easily beset him. He doesn't let himself get too upset about it though, and that is what I think is awesome! He checks himself before he wecks himself (haha get it, Jerm?). He then goes on to say how he can be better. But not even that, he keeps going and recognizes that it's our Savior that gives him that strength to change and be better. He doesn't rely on himself, he has put his trust in God before and he is committing to put his trust in him forever. I love that. And it's right after a huge trial, obviously he was going through an extremely hard time, he'd just lost his father. But he took that time to do some self evaluation and improve. He's an awesome example of that. I saw someone this week that I love very much hit a super low. And it was hard to watch. But, I am so thankful that they know that it is God in whom they have trusted, and that thanks to our Savior, they can overcome this form of rock bottom that they have hit. It's never too late to start over. When we covenanted at our baptism we accepted our Savior and his atonement, and in going to church each week we witness that we still accept him. But if we stop witnessing each week, we stop accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and we start rejecting him. That is why we have to be baptized, and that is why we have to keep going to church. We need to we need to we need to. Family please know how important it is. It kills me to see those I love turn their backs on the Savior, for those simple things that just so easily beset us. Please don't stop going. Please go if you haven't in awhile. Please do it for you. Do it for our Savior. Make his sacrifice worth it. You were bought for a price. We need him. I love you all, and I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only authorized church on the face of the earth today with the authority to make that covenant with Heavenly Father and accept his son as our Savior and redeemer. I promise you can know that for sure too if you do your part to truly study it out. I love you all again, hang in there, change is good and worth it.

Have a good week!

Love,

Suzy

Everyone is a missionary

Hello Family!

   Too bad my subject line was because of a mega bummer situation that we just had. People here are crazy. But turns out in times of trouble my companion is just pure great. This weirdo was bugging us at the metro station while we were waiting for a bus, and she just wouldn't have it. At one point though he mockingly said to me that everyone is a missionary. And although he was being a total punk, I thought that that should be true. If we truly believe something we should start to really live it, and be a missionary. I am grateful that even though some of our interactions with people here are super weird and sometimes scary, we can always learn from them.

   Well, I know Dad is wondering about transfers, so I guess I will let you know what this new adventure will look like. Exactly the same! Haha I am staying in Longueuil with Sister Fox as Sister Training Leaders. It is pretty funny. We are moving apartments though, so that is pretty sweet. Some kind of change will be nice. But I am thankful that I am staying. It has made me think a lot this week. And one of the thoughts that I have had is that there must still be some work here that with the Lord I can accomplish, so I should work even harder so that it can get done. If not I will be sent on my way one day and the Lord will make sure the work gets down through someone else. I just want to be able to be a useful instrument in his hands. So my companion and I set some sweet goals and we are going to go and #dowork. 

   We had kind of a weird week with trying to figure out the bus system and all of that. But we managed to still work hard and have two zone training meetings, so that is pretty good. I just wanted to tell you all about a cool talk that I read that was actually from two conferences ago? Or maybe not I can't really remember. But I think that it is called Your Four Minutes. And if I am thinking of the right talk, it says something about how if you ever think that it is too late, that you are too far gone as a hopeless case, you need to stop thinking it, and stop thinking it right now. I liked that a lot because that is what the Atonement is. Change right now, the minute we are willing. I really appreciated that talk because sometimes I feel like it's a little too late to change and be better. Especially since I have been in the same place my whole mission, I sometimes feel like I have already done all that I could to this place too much and that there is nothing left that I can do here. But that isn't true at all. There is always room for improvement. I am excited to change and work harder here. 

   We were able to teach a family this week from Ivory Coast, and I was super stoked to tell them about the temple that will be built there, but I don't know if they really understood what I was saying because I was just too excited. But it was cool because we saw them on Sunday on the bus when we were going to church. The dad seems to be interested, we are not so sure about the mom. I would tell you their names, but I don't know how to say them, and you know me with my spelling... not a chance!

   Well, I don't have much else to say, just to be nice. Sometimes people are super rude to us as missionaries and it makes me sad. But what's even worse to me, is when people are just straight rude to normal people who aren't trying to harrass them with pass along cards. We could all just be a little bit nicer, even when it's hard or inconvenient. I love you all a lot and hope this week is great for you!

Love,

Snoop

Here's this super weird graffiti thing we saw around, we took pictures with the other one too, but it literally 

was the exact same.

The temple! Lookin good Moroni! I am pumped for that opening day!

Stop texting in Sacrament Meeting

   Hello chums and chumettes! What's up?

   I thought my subject line was super fitting after conference. Wasn't that just the greatest conference ever? I think a whole bunch of us got called to repentance, and it would be foolish if we didn't take this opportunity to apply the Atonement before our day of probation is finished. But that is just my humble opinion on the matter. It was a bummer though because on the way to the Saturday morning session we got in a car accident. That was my first one. Pretty crazy. But it wasn't very bad or anything. There was like a random snow storm and a car two lanes over going the opposite direction lost control and started to fish tail over to our side. I slowed down a bunch but wasn't able to stop completely so we hit. But we were going slow enough that it wasn't that bad. They just towed our car though... So we will be blessed with public transportation for awhile. It is a blessing though because we just got dropped a few times this past week and we need investigators to teach, nothing like bus contacting!

   Our week was kind of a bummer though because we skipped weekly planning the week before and that was just about the dumbest thing we could have done, and the outcome of our past week proves it. But it's ok because there is no time like the present to change and start again. One day when we were walking into a building for our next appointment I contacted this guy that looked like Snoop Dog. It was a really great day after that. 

   We went on two exhanges this week and those were good times. We have some pretty great missionaries here and I am thankful that I get to work with  a good number of them. On one of the exchanges we had a lesson and the person didn't show up, so when we were walking back to our car to go and do our back up plan we saw a lady carrying grocery bags. So the sister I was with asked if we could help her. She said yes and so we ended up walking like over a mile with her. It was pretty cool though because we taught about the Book of Mormon and what makes the church different and it was a cool time. Then on the way back we talked to this guy named Pav who bowed before us as we walked up to him. He was super sweet and from Sri Lanka. We had to pass him off to the elders though because it wasn't our area. No worries though, the work is the same.

   I am way bummed because I left my conference notes at home, but conference was so good. I hope that you all watched alllllll of it, not just Sunday. Everything that was shared was really important, and it would be really good if you all watched and read the talks. And then do it a second time. If anyone feels like sending my the two conference Ensigns since I have been on my mission that would be sweet (don't worry, I know the May one isn't out yet.). I sustain the prophet and apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. And I know that if we heed their council we will be protected spiritually and physically. I really enjoyed the family theme. It really made me miss you all a whole bunch. But that is good because it just means thatI appreciate you more. I hope this week is a good one for you all! Transfer calls are on Saturday, so I guess we will see if I stay in Longueuil or not! Love you all!

Love,

Snoop