"Home" for Christmas

Hello everybody! So I'm sorry that the last couple of weeks I haven't sent very much emails cause the last couple of Mondays have been crazy. Both times I've had to drive to Toronto. And it's like fiveish hours away and we also had lots of stuff to do both days. It was pretty crazy and we spent lots of time in the car. It really isn't any fun sitting in a car for that long and it is really tiring. I had to eat about two thirds of a bag of spits. Sun flower seeds really start to hurt after about an hour. But it was all good in the end. We got there and it was a party. 

Last week we had zone conferences in Toronto. We had the conference with Oshawa and my old zone from Scarborough! I got to see lots of people from North York. Zone conference was super sick. The spirit there was really strong and President Shields gave some really good instructions. It was super cool.

Elder Leyton doesn't drive and so I'm the designated driver. Being the driver it has really helped me realize how much Tiwi sucks. Tiwi is the thing that keeps track of the car and stuff. When you are going too fast it lets you know very loudly to 'check my speed.' It is so annoying and even President Shields thinks its annoying. Zone conference he was talking about cars and said he had to drive a car with Tiwi the other day and he said it is obnoxious. 

Christmas was super good. I got to spend all day at members houses. I went to the Branch President's house for dinner, He has 6 daughters but 5 of them were at his ex-wife's house so he invited us over. It was pretty good food. We went to the Mckeevers house after and they are super awesome. Brother Mckeever is super funny and Sister Mckeever might be the best cook I know. We went over to hang out and we just talked to them which was super fun and on our way out she handed us two pie tins full of turkey and potatoes. It was super awesome.

I was so happy to be able to Skype my family on Christmas. None of them have changed at all. They are all still crazy and my mom was still crying. Being away from home makes me really appreciate our Church and that our families can be forever together. I'm so glad that I can be out here being able to share this message with everyone.

I have been reading a lot of the war chapters in Alma this week. (which are super awesome). One of the verses that stuck out to me was Alma 48:17-19.  It says, 

17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.

 18 Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were all men of God.

 19 Now behold, Helaman and his brethren were no less serviceable unto the people than was Moroni; for they did preach the word of God, and they did baptize unto repentance all men whosoever would hearken unto their words.

They were all studs and The Devil probably really didn't like any of them. I think that is something we can all try to strive to be like, be so righteous and good so that the devil is sad when we wake up cause he knows we will do something good and against him.

I hope you all had a good Christmas! 

Loves Elder Talbot

"Home" for Christmas

His view on Christmas Day

Not really sure what this is besides maybe someone breaking into the neighbor's house?

Family Picture

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

In case any of you were wondering, it is cold. Right now it is -18c. Idk what that is in Fahrenheit cause the conversion is screwy. (It's 0 degrees F) But it has been about that cold all week. With the exception of yesterday when it was -5 but it also had freezing rain. It actually was a ton of fun trying to scrape off 2 centimeters of ice from my car so we could get to church. I probably had more fun than I should've hitting the car. And yesterday church was cancelled cause of the rain. So we went anyways and just messed around on the piano for an hour. It was a party. 

Well, sorry I didn't write anything last week. We had a busy day cause of transfers. We didn't get very much time to do anything cause we had to drive to Brampton that night which is five hours away. Got to love being in the boonies. My new companion is Elder Leyton. He is a Spanish missionary from Peru. He has been out on his mission for about a year. We get along good. Sometimes he words his sentences funky tho. 

We didn't teach too much this week so we really focused on setting more appointments for next week. We got a lot set and we are hoping we are going to be busy this week. Life is a lot more fun when we work around appointments. 

A thought for this week is about trials. Last week I spoke in church about trials and overcoming them. I shared Doctrine & Covenants 122:7-9. 

 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.   8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? 9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever. 

A lot of people came up to me after and told me about how that was one of their favorite scriptures. It is pretty cool how much scriptures can help people and I know for sure it helps me. 

I unfortunately don't have very much time again this week but I hope everyone has a fantastic week! 

Loves

Elder Talbot  

Not cold enough to need gloves, evidently!

If your car has frozen rain and you punch it, all the ice cracks!
It hurts a lot though.  

Elder Leyton

Message in the Kinder Egg

Elder Talbot didn't have time for a long email this week because it is transfers, so we will piece together a little bit about what is going on with him this week.

We got an email from his camera on Sunday that said there was a bike in his kinder egg.  He explained today that the elders like to buy these chocolate eggs with toys inside then they try and guess their transfer.  We thought for sure he was being transferred and would need to buy a bike. Bike in the snow?  Elder Talbot will be staying in Smiths Falls, but his companion Elder Olson was transferred.  Today they had to pack Olson's things and drive to Toronto to the mission home, a 3 1/2 hour drive.  They will be staying the night there and Elder Talbot and Elder Leyton, his new companion, will be going back to Smiths Falls tomorrow.  He doesn't know much about Elder Leyton except that he is from Peru and speaks Spanish.  The work is slow in Smiths Falls, but he is cheerful and happy to be serving.  When they don't have anyone to teach, they spend their days trying to find people to teach.  He says it can be hard sometimes but he likes it.

We received such a fun surprise today!  The senior couple that is serving with Elder Talbot sent us a sweet email with pictures!  He has said that Brother and Sister Hatch feel like they are his grandparents.  We feel so blessed to hear that he is doing so well.  This is what they had to say about him:

Hello Sister Talbot:

We tried to send a message through Facebook which apparently didn't make it through.  So will try e-mail.

You have a fine son.  He is a very good missionary and has progressed really well under Elder Olson's tutoring.  He holds a special place in our hearts because he looks so much like our grandson who is also a Football player.

We are so privileged to associate with these spiritual giants.  They study and know their scriptures better than we do.  As Senior Missionaries we are serving in positions in the Branch and visiting active and less-active members.  We love to go to the District and Zone Meetings.  We enjoy our associations so much and they treat us so well.  We do love to feed them on occasion.

I know Heavenly Father will bless you and your families as your son serves here.

I will attach a couple of pictures.

Sister Merlene Hatch

Without Charity, You Isn't Goodish

Well the snow left for like three days then it all came back very quickly last night. Kind of. It really isn't that bad but all the Canadians make it seem like the world is ending when it snows a few inches.

So I wore a tie yesterday and I got a lot of mixed reactions about it. People either really liked it or they didn't like it at all. So please let me know if you like it or not. I won't be offended. If you are reading this on the blog just tell my parents.

Anyways. We didn't teach a whole lot this week so we visited a ton of less actives and members. Whatever day December first was we were about to go home for some food but the Light The World thing was help lift someone's burden so we went and helped this old guy install a tire wall holder thing. It wasn't too much work, but he was just so grateful for our help. It really helped me realize how cool the Light the world initiative is and how inspired it is. It can really help a lot of people, even if it might seem little to you. 

One of the days this week we went to the branch president's house to help them design cookies for their neighbors or something. It really helped me realize how not talented I am at drawing. It just makes it worse when it is with frosting. One of the cookies I made was a penguin and I felt like I did a half okay job with it, then Heidee, (one the branch presidents daughter, and they have five so its nuts most of the time.) puts this freaking perfect penguin that made mine look like a blob. It was good my confidence in my drawing skills was already low. But I made some American flag cookies and Lily? I think, came out and rebuked me for it. It was hilarious. 

We had district meeting Friday and The Hatches fed everyone tacos after. I dont know what they put into the taco shells they made but they were super good. I wanted to eat 20 tacos. but I didn't unfortunately. 

A scripture for this week is 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It is a super good chapter about charity and if you dont have it, you isn't goodish. 

1 Corinthians: 2, 4-8, 13  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away...And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

I hope everyone has a super good week. 

Loves 

Elder Talbot. 

Elder Talbot and Elder Olson

Flower tie.  Yes or no?