May 11, 2016

Dear Family,

Well it was great to talk to you on Sunday. It is weird to think that that was my last Skype call home on my mission. After the Skype call was over I realized that the call was only supposed to be 45 minutes for me. Whoops :P. But on those Skype calls I go by the spirit of the law not the letter of the law. The time cap is there for missionaries who can get trunky and get homesick easily. It also applies to missionaries who get distracted by talking to their families for too long. I don't fall under any of those categories so I feel like it was okay.

We found out about transfers yesterday and I am staying in Sackville for another transfer. I will be getting a "new" companion though. Elder Goeders is going to Halifax. My "new" companion will be Elder McGuire. He will be coming from Caribou, Maine. I served with him exactly a year ago around this time in Bridgewater. We served together for 2 transfers in Bridgewater. We both go home in 3 months so it will be interesting to see if we serve together till the end and go home together. Or if I end up doing a one and done in a new area next transfer. Regardless of what happens I am excited to be with him again. So I will get to go to the temple tomorrow.

The rest of my week was a pretty good week. We contacted a potential last Monday night that hadn't been followed up on. We stopped by and we set up an appointment for this afternoon. She's a black women that is very biblical. We also contacted a referral that was given to us by the Sisters on Friday night. He is 20 years old and just graduated high school. When we called him he sounded super interested and told us that he'd bring his friend to the lesson. We set up the lesson for last night but they didn't end up showing up. We picked up two potential investigators yesterday. One was a man who walked up to us at the waterfront and gave us his address and told us to stop by to talk about Christ. The other one was a 22 year old guy that we talked to at our lemonade stand. Him and his girlfriend are having a baby in 2 weeks. He seemed interested on our perspective of eternal families.

Last Tuesday, we went bus stop contacting up to the waterfront in Bedford and then we received a phone call from the Assistants saying that President Pratt has a special assignment for us. He assigned us to have a video interview with a member in the ward to talk about the principle of "We Succeed When We Invite." 

 

Last Wednesday, we had Elder Quinton's final District Meeting in Sackville. In the evening we had a lot of good conversations with people. This one couple talked to us for a good 10 minutes and referred us to their neighbor. They were Catholics. Another guy we talked to was from the Middle East and was showing us all sorts of pictures. He said he wants to visit our church sometime. We talked to him for 20 minutes.

Saturday, we went trail contacting on the Trans Canada trail in the morning. We went on a Mother's Day find that whole afternoon. We stopped by investigators, less actives, and members. We got them to sign a poster and write why they love their mothers. One member wrote "Because she eats my tomatoes" haha. 

 

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder O'Brien (the older)

May 2, 2016

Dear Family,

I am going on a special P-Day excursion today. One that takes us out of our area boundaries. I will be going to the iconic Peggy's Cove on the shoreline of Nova Scotia. It's famous for its view and ocean. I will be sure to send some pictures. Peggy's Cove is legendary in Nova Scotia for its unique view and scenery. Because of this I will have to write a quick letter this week but I am all good to go for Skyping home at 11:30 mountain time next Sunday. So we will have a nice family conversation with the 5 of us for 45 minutes. Hopefully you can get the logistics figured out and it all works and we can all see each-other.

It snowed twice this week. It began snowing Tuesday mid-afternoon into the evening. It snowed again Wednesday morning to the afternoon then stopped. I had to wear my winter jacket both times. I guess winter's not going down without a fight.  For the weekend it was above 15. It was 20 yesterday.

The Sister's in Sackville had a baptism on Saturday. She was a member referral from a young family. The baptism was at 10 am in the morning so that her father could come. All of her family was in attendance. There was about 15 members that showed up. The spirit was there in rich abundance. The talks were lengthy but they had a good spirit with them. There was some technical difficulties but we overcame them. There was a beautiful musical number by two young girls that fellowshipped Katelyn. After the baptism we had some refreshments and some fellowship. Yesterday she got confirmed and as they were confirming her I was reminded of when I confirmed a new member in December 2014. That is one of my favorite experiences on my mission.

Last P-Day we spent the day at the mission home playing in a ping-pong tournament with the metro missionaries. President & Sister Pratt even squared off against each other. It was President Pratt's birthday last Monday and that's how we celebrated. We also had nice hot apple pie and cherry pie. It was one of the most fun P-Day's I've had on my mission.

President & Sister Pratt were at Church yesterday. They weren't able to come to the baptism on Saturday so they wanted to make up for it by coming to the confirmation. Throughout the meetings I was able to see the lighter side of President Pratt. It took me a while to warm up to him but now I love him and I have an emotional attachment to him. He was being very light-hearted and humorous yesterday. He just got back from a mission president's seminar in Washington, DC. 

We went out to Windsor this week and saw a couple of members one who we home teach. They don`t come because of the distance and work makes one too tired to come in the morning. We like to got out there to reach out to those members who can get forgotten because of the distance and the circumstances. It helps them feel remembered.

We picked up a new investigator this week. He stopped investigating because his wife was holding him back. He reads his scriptures constantly and tries to be as active as he can in the gospel. They have a 7 month old baby. His wife was very unsupportive before but her heart is softening and she actually joined in on the last 10 minutes of the lesson. 

We had Games Night on Saturday and more people showed up this time. We played volleyball again and a lot of the younger kids joined in. It was a good family activity. I accidentally hit our ward mission leader in the face though :P.

Next week is transfer week. So next Wednesday will be P-Day instead of Monday. This transfer is very significant and will likely determine where I spend the rest of my mission. It is jump ball if I stay or not. I would love to stay here to the end. This is a very fun-loving ward but at the same time if I leave I will be ready and willing.

See you on Sunday! I`m off to Peggy`s Cove!

Have a good week! Last Skype home!

Love,

Elder O`Brien (the older)