Well I made it to Winnipeg!!!
But I have some neat things to share before I tell you how things are going in this chilly city. We left the MTC on Wednesday morning at 2:30 am and boarded a bus that took us to the airport. I paired up with Sister Smith (I met her by chance on the first day and we bonded over our potential Winnipeg connection) and caught our first flight to the Denver airport. I know kind of an odd way to get from point A to B but it was interesting. It was still pretty early in the morning but Sister Smith and I were starving so we got a Jamba juice (like booster juice but a trillion times better!!) We got the opportunity to talk to lots of people in the airport while we waited for our next flight. There was a kiosk set up selling collagen cream and the guy pulled us over. We agreed to talk to him about wrinkles on the condition we could share a message about Jesus Christ. He willingly accepted and showed some interest for direction and guidance in his life but was solely focused on getting us to buy this lotion product. I can't recall his name but oh my what a character! he is 22 and wants to be married by 25 and start a family. He said all the American girls are after one thing - money and he has no interest in being the provider of fun Friday's out. I think if he was more open minded and less focused on his goal of making a sale, the message we shared would have helped him.
My favorites Denver airport experience was with a man named Alexander. Sister Smith and I went over to use the airport phones to call home quickly but they were all taken so we walked down a bit to a free set just a few gates down. There was a man sitting by the phones and he started talking to us!! (Missionary DREAM come true!) He was holding a sketch book and I asked if he is an artist. He told us that he really likes drawing architectural designs and right now he is building his mom a house. He moved both of them clear across the country to Alaska to build her this house and start a new life. He shared a bit from his past and his struggles with PTSD and how he is working to improve his life. Alexander shared that he doesn't' t really know how to build a house but he is learning as he goes. They also don't have a lot of money so they use a 'freegan' center near his city to get a lot of the materials. I have heard of freeganism before coming out and I just think it is the neatest thing ever. Basically people drop off used items to a center that allows people to just come and take what they need/ want. He said he has been able to get a lot of needed items from those kinds of places.
Sister Smith was able to find a scripture in 2 Nephi chapter 8 (in the Book of Mormon) I think that was relatable to Alexander's situation. I wish I could remember the verse right now but I have it written down at home. We shared a little about the Book of Mormon and what was going on in this section of the book. Sister Smith and I explained that Nephi was a prophet called of God and he was commanded to build a ship and leave his home. Where he was living the people were very wicked and the city would be destroyed. Nephi didn't know a thing about building a ship and he didn't even have any tools to do the job. He really had to trust that God would show him the way. Through Prayer and faith he was able to construct tools that allowed him to build the ship. His brothers and other people laughed at him - telling him he had no business building a boat but Nephi knew that he was commanded by God to leave his homeland and sail to a new place. We told Alexander that he was like Nephi! He said he could relate - he left his home to move to Alaska to start a new life for he and his mom. He said he didn't know how to really go about building a whole house from scratch but it was moving along. He asked some great questions and was very open and kind as we talked with him. I asked him if he had ever read from the Book of Mormon and he said he hadn't but he does own a copy!! Picked it up from the Freegan store!!!! Gah! It was wonderful! He said he wanted to learn more about it and that he would read a bit from it. We left him with our emails and our thoughts how reading from the Book of Mormon would improve his life. I am loving this book more and more each day as I can see how relatable it is to any situation any person may be facing in life!!
Okay so Winnipeg time! On Wednesday when we flew in we went to the mission office and cleared up some paperwork. That night we had dinner at the Craig's house (President and sister Craig are the Mission president and his wife- they take care of all the missionaries and oversee all the work that is done in the Canada Winnipeg Mission). All the new missionaries spend their first night in the mission home before being assigned to their areas. The Winnipeg mission is huge- it covers Saskatchewan, Manitoba and part of Ontario - to the USA boarder. I spend the night with a set of sisters in their apartment because there were too many missionaries and not enough beds to sleep everyone at the mission home. The next day we were assigned to our areas - I got assigned to the Waverley ward in Winnipeg. I'm in a tri - pan ( meaning I have two companions to work with in this area). Sister Alder is training both Sister Geddes and I. She has been out for a little over 6 months and is from Utah. Sister Geddes is from Idaho and is brand new like me!
I'll be honest I really miss the MTC. Being out in the field has been really hard for a number of reason but one of the big ones is my health. On the general conference weekend sister Sorensen and I watched from the bleachers - we got there early and sat at the top. With all the people filing in and moving around the seating shook quite a bit. I didn't think anything of it at the time but after we got off things were still moving and things have not been the same since. I have been feeling a constant state of nausea and that has really effected my focus. I went to a doctor in Utah while at the MTC and he said he didn't think it was what was diagnosed before ( I had this first start in 2013 with a boat ride while on vacation) but rather that it might be a different vestibular condition. He did say that from what he was seeing that it didn't fit either diagnosis perfectly and for that reason he wasn't sure how to help me. every day has been rough but I just keep praying it will go away. I have another appointment with a specialist today so we will see!!!
We opened up a new area in this ward and Sister Alder was serving in Regina before here so we know nothing and no one. The first few days felt very unproductive but it's starting to pick up now. I've also been struggling with my companions. We have very different personalities and I often feel cut down by how my trainer speaks to me. I'm just really trying to keep positive and serve both my comps. Love conquers all right? For the past few days I've wondered why I'm even in Winnipeg and if for nothing else it was to meet and talk to Alexander.
Some neat things about the CAN WIN mission....
The focus with the work is
1- be diligent
2- be obedient
3- be faith- filled
And we are always supposed to use dignified language which basically means that we can't say things like cool, awesome, dang, shoot.... and well the rest of the list is escaping me which is okay because I never used those words before but awesome and cool are my hang ups!!!! It has been so hard. As a representative of the Lord we need to speak like one too so the goal is to get our appearance to match our speech.
Alright this has been a long one and I have to run
take luck!
Sister Taylor
Also my mailing address is
505 Academy Road
Winnipeg , Manitoba Canada
R3N 0C9
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