Last letter!

So this is about a year late or so but here it is, haha.

The weather in Utah is super dry. It hasn't been too hot or anything like that. Its felt really nice for the most part. With the dry air I don't get sweaty just standing for 5 minutes but my hands are not nearly as soft anymore. It's starting to get chilly sometimes but that isn't bad. 

Being able to serve in Toronto was absolutely the best thing that could have happened to me. The experiences that I was able to have changed my life so much more than I could have imagined. I loved/love so many people in Toronto. 

One of the biggest things that my mission taught me was what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. The Gospel means the world to me, being able to focus on what it means for me and learn more about the Savior has been one of the biggest blessings of my life. The idea of always having someone to count on and to understand what I'm going through gives me so much comfort. 

Another thing my mission taught me was learning to liken the Book of Mormon to my life. President Shields had challenged all of the missionaries to find a nexus between that and Safeguards for Using Technology and I had a really cool experience.  Since then I have been trying to find connections as much as I can and I have been so excited about reading the Book of Mormon. One thing that is really cool about it is that you can know what direction God wants you to go in your life. It might not be a huge decision but even the day to day ones that add up to be big changes. 

And a side note, President and Sister Shields were definitely inspired for me to be with them. The way they teach and lead is exactly what I needed as a missionary. 

An update on my life, I missed the start of school by a couple of weeks so I have just been working for Industrial Piping Products and saving for school. I am going to go to Utah Valley University and doing my generals for right now while I decide what I want to do. My sister got home off of her mission this week which has been really cool. 

Thank you all for the support for the whole thing and if I met you on my mission, I am so glad our paths crossed. 

Love

Elder Andrew Talbot 

Please keep in touch! My home email is talbotandrew98@gmail.com and I have facebook and what not. 

The family at the airport

Uncle Drew and Maylee

Nordhoff cousins at Elder Talbot's homecoming

Sydney, Spencer, Andrew and Sam

Pirates game just after Andrew came home

Back to the fishing and hunting!

Nice fish!

Cousin Mason happy to have Andrew home!

All together at last!

Enjoying To The End

It got hot again. That is one thing that surprised Elder Kelly about Ontario is that it's not cold all the time. Yesterday and Sunday we just sweated pretty much all day. I think this week is supposed to be good. That is the idea but whether or not Ontario pulls through is a totally different question. 

I feel like a lot has happened since last P-Day. I went to the Persian area this week with Elder Jensen, he is (one of) my MTC companion(s), and it was a really good exchange. We talked a ton about our missions and just reminisced about everything. He was one of my first exchanges of my mission and he was one of my last now. He has grown a lot and we both decided that one big change that both of us have seen in each other is that we are both happier. Both of us are in the Wards where we started and it is cool to see things come full circle. 

We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week a lot. One thing that stuck out is just how related all of the points are. Faith is the beginning, which leads to repentance, which builds more faith and also draws to baptism, which enables us to have the Spirit to be with us all the time. And to "finish" it, you endure to the end and go through the process again. It has been such a blessing in my life, I like to look at enduring to the end and enduring joy or enjoying to the end. If you are living the Gospel of Jesus Christ you are promised happiness and peace beyond what you could imagine.

Love
Elder Talbot 

Zone Conference

I Am Grateful to Be a Missionary

The weather was really nice all week. It wasn't super hot or too humid. Elder Kelly was cold at a couple points this week, aka fantastic temperature.

I went on exchanges to the Chinese area. I did not understand most of what happened. I was with Elder Smith and he is super cool. I learned two sentences in Chinese so you could say I am pretty fluent. One cool/interesting thing about Toronto is you can live here for 30-40 years and never learn English. 

So I don't remember if I said anything about this but a couple of weeks ago I sat down next to this guy on the bus, and he looked kind of familiar (like the first time I served in Scarborough familiar) but I wasn't sure. So I started talking to him and he said something about I probably didn't remember him or something like that. BUT it was this guy that East elders had taught while I was here the first time. They lost contact with him and I was thinking about it and I realized that I was the only missionary still in Canada that ever met him. It was a remarkable experience.  

We had Zone Conference this week, it was my last one. It was surreal giving my departing testimony. It did give me a lot of time to reflect on my mission. First is to love to study the Book of Mormon and liken it into your life and it can answer any question you have. Second is reading it every day can bring tremendous power into our lives to resist temptation and just to continue on. I learned how to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ on my mission. That has been one of the most valuable things I have learned on my mission. It has brought help from Christ and put me and my faith on him. I am grateful to be a missionary. 

Anyways

Elder Talbot 

When a Prophet Speaks

Well, it was good weather all week. It was relatively hot but not too bad. We only got caught in the rain once but other than that we were alright. One night Elder Coffey said a prayer that we wouldn't get rained on and ten seconds after getting home that night it started to pour. It was a sweet tender mercy. 

We lost a third of our trio this week. Elder Coffey finished his mission so now its just me and Elder Kelly. Having Elder Coffey for that little bit was sweet. He is a great missionary and I am grateful that we could be friends. This week was pretty good work wise. We are mostly figuring out the busses but they are still inconsistent, haha. 

Last night, I would say was the highlight of my week. We got to go to a fireside in Hamilton and see President Nelson and Elder Anderson speak! It was a super spiritual conference, seriously I wish I could bottle up that spirit into words to explain it but alas, I cannot. President Nelson talked about teaching our children how to live their lives centered on the Lord. I also saw a bunch of members from my past areas at the fireside and that was sweet seeing all of them and catching up a bit. 

Spiritual thought, I would say, is from last night. President Russell M. Nelson is the Lord's Prophet on the earth. It has been cool to see all the differences and adjustments between Prophets, but I can honestly say I sustain him and will do my best to follow him. I am grateful to have someone that can guide the church the way Jesus Christ wants it to be going.
Elder Talbot 

Elder Coffey, Elder Kelly, Elder Talbot, and Brother Herrera

Elder Talbot and Elder Coffey

Brother Bonfield and Elder Talbot

Nate and Bailey with Elder Talbot

Brother and Sister Hardt with Elder Talbot

Jones children with Elder Talbot

Andrew and Elder Talbot

Jones Family with Elder Talbot

Harding Family with Elder Talbot

Morton Family with Elder Talbot

Deja Vu

Hello. So for the record I typed one up last week and hit the send button. It didn't make it out and I have no idea what happened haha. I'll try to sum up the last couple of weeks in Scarborough, which has been great being back, a lot of memories have been flooding back the whole time. 

My first companion I got since my last email is Elder Kelly. He is from Las Vegas. He is such a stud. President was very inspired putting us together. It has been fantastic being his companion for the last two weeks. 

The second new companion I got was last Tuesday. We had to bus to pick up a car and then drive to Brampton, to pick up the wonderful Elder Coffey, who is going home Thursday and is spending the last 10 days of his mission with me and Elder Kelly, and then drive back and bus back. So I didn't really email at all but all is well. Me and Elder Coffey both started our missions in Scarborough, me in the west area and Coffey in the east area, and now we both are finishing up covering the whole ward. A bunch of Deja vu this last week walking around with him. 

Two weeks ago (Elder Kelly's first, and not this past week) was quite the first week. We didn't have bus passes and so we had to walk for 4 hours to find a place we could buy some. It took us forever but it was good for Elder Kelly to get right into missionary work. Also it was a tender mercy for me, cause I've spent the last 20 months in a car area and I don't think I would have appreciated the bus system had I not had to walk for that long.

 I think it was our second or third day In Scarborough and the classic 'only one guy gets off the train' happened. We came up to our stop and Elder Kelly wasn't prepared to get off. He started to make his way to the door right as I heard the doors start to close. I instinctively jumped off without thinking that Elder Kelly would also have to get off. I turned around to see him behind closed doors. It was super funny, thankfully the day before we had talked about what to do if that had happened. 

I have reflected a lot the last little bit about what has happened and what I've accomplished on my mission, and I am so grateful. It's been the biggest miracle/blessing in my life. I have been able to do a miracle journal the last few weeks and it has been eye opening to how involved God is in my life and all of our lives.

Love 

Elder Talbot 

Elder Talbot with President and Sister Sheilds

Elder Kimball and Elder Talbot

Elder Talbot, Elder Kelly, and a group of random strangers that wanted to take a selfie with them

On the bus

A different perspective

Sister Conley and Elder Talbot

Elder Coffey!

Elder Talbot, Elder Coffey, and Elder Kelly

Elder Talbot, Elder Coffey, Sister Rose, and Elder Kelly

My Dad is the Greatest!

Well, since Andrew didn't send a group email this week, I (his father) am taking over the post this week.  I really do think that this title is appropriate and that Andrew also thinks that I am the greatest.  But now that it is a title for his blog, it is truth.

Speaking of truth, we (his mother and I) received a few brief emails from him this past P-Day.  I will now attempt to construct what I think Andrew would have written had he written an email this week.  Here is my attempt.

Well, it was hot this week!  But that is nothing new.  I am used to it by now.  My new companion is Elder Kelly from Las Vegas.  He is super sweet.  I really like him as he is a super solid guy.  I also found out today that we are going to have another companion for 10 days.  Elder Coffey goes home on August 17th, so we will be in a threesome until Elder Coffey goes home.  Elder Coffey is also super cool and he came out the same time that I did.  In fact, Elder Coffey's dad worked with my dad at Sportsman's Warehouse.  I have served at various times around Elder Coffey and I am excited to be one of his last companions as we serve in both of our first area.

It has been different to be back in my first area. I have seen some of the members that were here two years ago.  Sorry this letter is so short.  We didn't have a lot of time today.  We had to borrow a car from some other missionaries to go pick up Elder Coffey. 

Well, it was either that reason or he drafted a letter and forgot to push send (I think we have all done that a time or two!).  Thanks for reading my attempt at an Andrew letter!  Until next week when we hope that Andrew actually decides to write a letter!

Elder Talbot ('s Dad)

Elder Kelly and Elder Talbot

Elder Coffey and some great looking food--maybe poutine?

Tender Mercies

So the weather was nice, not too much of a comment. It felt really nice this week, it rained a little bit. We were contacting people before one of our dinner appointments and this one lady that we were talking to told us about this crazy storm that is coming. And that there is a Tornado warning and Toronto had already gotten hit by hail and the storm. Nothing happened before dinner and during dinner it rained for about 5 minutes is all. That was the whole storm. People tell us that this has been one of the hotter/drier summer for out here. 

Well, I got transferred again. I am going to Scarborough, which was my first area that I was only there for one transfer. I will also be training a new missionary. It will be super cool going back. I don't really know the area very well so it will be a fun whitewash. This will be my 4th time white washing an area. 

The week was super good. It was pretty rewarding. We had the goal last week to have a good attitude about everything and then we proceeded to get thrown through the refiners fire and a lot of people were bashy or rudeish but we did our best to be happy about it. And this week people were a lot nicer and it just made everything that much better because of last week. We were also able to teach Anastasia twice last week. She is super solid and super smart. It has been really great meeting people like her in Peterborough, it is a super cool place. 

I have been keeping a miracle journal this past week, and it has been a pretty spiritual experience. It has made me appreciate all the little things as sent from God, which I hadn't really done before. I would usually see the big obvious ones but I wouldnt look at the little details very often. God really does put things in our paths and changes things in our lives for the better if we let him and look for the opportunities.

1 Nephi 1:20--And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

We also went to Bancroft this week, and it is still a super sweet place with a really good spirit. 

Goodbye

Elder Talbot 

Elder Huffaker and the feast

Elder Huffaker and Elder Talbot