Overcome All of Satan's Crap

Welp I procrastinated this email and I only have like ten minutes so here we go. 

It was really cold this week. It was around -18 to -20 all week and the icing on the cake coming Sunday morning with a nice -25. This week shouldn't be that bad and we are going around 7 hours south for zone conference so it should be nice and warm. 

I went on exchanges this week to Rouyn-Noranda which is in Quebec. French is Quebec's language of choice so I spent a couple of days not understanding anything. Thankfully most people there have decentish English and would explain most things to me. Elder Hunter, the missionary I went on exchanges with, kept turning to me after people would say something and tell me they didn't like my coat or stuff like that. It was really funny. 

My favorite scripture for this week comes from. Alma 16:1-2:  1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, on the fifth day of the second month, there having been much peace in the land of Zarahemla, there having been no wars nor contentions for a certain number of years, even until the fifth day of the second month in the eleventh year, there was a cry of war heard throughout the land.

2 For behold, the armies of the Lamanites had come in upon the wilderness side, into the borders of the land, even into the city of Ammonihah, and began to slay the people and destroy the city. 

And while I was reading it, I just thought about how Satan tries his hardest right before something great is going to happen. He also knows where our weakest points are, and where we aren't expecting it to come. But I know that if keep our focus on the Gospel that we can overcome all of Satan's crap. 

Love you guys,

Elder Talbot 

Jesus Christ Was Born So He Could Save Us All

It is -22 right now. It was pretty not so warm all week. It is finally a nice temperature to walk around in. It is pretty fun when your car struggles to start. This week I'm pretty sure is going to be no better. 

I think the only thing I did this week was drive a lot. We went to a town called Kapuskasing which is two hours north to go visit people. So that was long. We didn't really have any luck up there with seeing people so we cut down a tree on our way back for Christmas.  Then we got to drive to North Bay for a district meeting and interviews with president. The drive was supposed to take us 4 1/2 hours but it took us 7 cause there was a huge accident and it blocked one of the two roads to North Bay so we had to backtrack a bit for a freaking long detour. But we got there and District meeting was really good. There was a really good spirit there. Elder Hunter who is my district leader, is from England and he is great. 

Thursday we got to volunteer at the Hospital some more and we were invited to the Pastoral Care lunch thing cause we were going to miss the actual volunteer lunch. But the lunch was pretty sweet. It was pretty much a bunch of Pastors from most of the Churches here in Timmins and then two Mormon missionaries. We tried sitting in a corner by ourselves but one of the pastors volentold us to come sit at the table with like three other pastors from I thnk C

Catholic and Pentecostal. AND then the freaking CEO of the hospital decided to sit next to me. It was pretty sweet to talk to all the really cool people from other churches. And get free food. We got a shout out during the lunch and Elder Bagley got a free baby pine tree. It was cool to get ourselves out there a bit into the community to show that we aren't that weird just a bit peculiar. 

I love this Gospel and I really love the Christmas season and all the good things people are doing. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ to be born so he could save us all.  

Love Elder Talbot 

Elder Talbot and the Christmas Tree they cut for their apartment.

Frozen Picnic in the Bush!

The weather was pretty warm and that was pretty weird. It was 2 degrees (35 F) most of the week and a lot of people kept saying how mild it has been so far. But I was sent the weather forecast by my little sister for this week and it is going to get pretty cold if it's right.

We had exchanges this week with some French missionaries from Quebec last week. It was pretty fun. I went with Elder Bichon, which, fun fact about him is that I went out contacting with him his first day in the mission in August! He is a really good missionary and we are fairly similar. He has only been in a French area for two weeks now so he came to Timmins with me. We spent most of the day doing service, some was at Sister Matte's farm, and we had an extra hour and we weren't sure of what to do. So we thought to go visit this less active out in a trailer park. We ended up driving past Roger's trailer and he was out doing stuff. We stopped by to say hello and we ended up helping him move some stuff which was really good. 

While we were exchanging back we had a picnic in the middle of the bush (forest/trees). It was quite nice. 

We met with Angie and Don this week, they are doing good. Some members came and they just talked the whole time so it was good.

That is all I have time to write for today. 

Love you all

Elder Talbot 

The third picture is Elder Bichon from August :) 

Picnic in the bush at the meeting point after splits

Frozen Picnic

Elder Bishon's first day in the mission field.

The Special Witness of Jesus Christ

It rained on Friday, pretty much all day but besides that it was around -5 to -10 all week so it was pretty fun. Today is a nice -12 and tomorrow is supposedly going to be 6. We keep getting told different temperatures from different people so we never know what to expect.

It was a pretty good week this week. So I think a few weeks ago I told you guys about a couple of people that wanted to meet but were too busy cause of moose hunting. Moose hunting is now finally over.

Roger is the guy we met with a few times before hunting season and we were able to meet with him last week. He is doing really good. He read up to 1 Nephi Chapter 19 and had some questions about it so we were able to talk about it. At the end he asked us on what we believe about the afterlife so we are going to be sharing the Plan of Salvation with him.  

The other guy that was moose hunting is Bernie. We got an appointment with him for this week and he seemed pretty excited. 

We met with Angie and Don again. They are doing pretty good. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them a bit. We brought a member and they recognized each other. It was cool to see them reconnect with each other. 

We went home teaching yesterday night with Brother Neher. He is one of my favorite members here. He is pretty funny. We went and saw a less active lady and she could really talk. It was a pretty fun appointment. She has some health reasons so she hasn't been to church for a while. And we visited the Coopers after. They are still a super fun family. 

Spiritual thought comes from our appointment with Sister Clarke and her Grandchildren. We read 1 Nephi 9 with them and Brycen summed up the chapter for us. The small plates is the Book of Mormon and the one that talks about Jesus. And he is right. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon in my life and all that it has done for me. I love how much the Book of Mormon talks about the Savior and is truly the special witness of Jesus Christ.

Elder Talbot 

So Thanksgiving was in America last week and we got to celebrate it a little bit this week. The Scotts had us over for dinner and let me be friends with their parrot named Scoots. 

Scoots and Elder Talbot

Thanksgiving with the Scott Family

We Got Bombed But Only Once!

It's still winter. That's about all you need to know about the weather.

This week was something. We had a bunch of appointments but we got bombed a lot. 

Tuesday morning we had an appointment with the referral from Brother Morrisette. Last week we had one but he wasn't home then so we dropped by again last week and he wasn't home. And we felt we should knock a few doors and after the first door he pulled into his driveway so we were able to talk to him and get an appointment with him again. He was not home Tuesday morning but hopefully we can catch him again this week. He has a couple of kids he is raising so he is pretty busy. 

That night we went on splits with the young men. I went with a priest and we went contacting. It was pretty fun being able to see how uncomfortable he was with talking to random people off the street like that. Elder Bagley went with the Young Mens president to teach a lesson with an investigator couple. He said it went well and they really liked the message.

Wednesday we both woke up sick with colds and we were both dead so not a lot happened. We were going to go to Iroquois Falls but there was a snow storm so we weren't able to make the drive. 

Thursday we were still sick so we spent most of the day trying not to die and calling people.

Not sure what happened Friday besides district meeting. And dinner. 

Saturday we got bombed but only once! We had an appointment with someone and a member was able to come. They hadn't seen each other for a while so it was cool seeing them catch up with each other. After that we hung out with the youth a bit at the church. They were doing a project for their school or something like that. That night we went to the Santa Clause Parade. It was pretty good. Lots of floats compared to years past is what we heard. It was nice weather and we saw some people there that we knew. 

Sunday was church, the talks were really good. Talked about over coming trials and repenting. Which go hand in hand I think. We had dinner at the Coopers, and they are a super fun family. We were invited to watch the YSA face to face thing and that was really cool. It was great being able to listen to some apostles.

It was transfers yesterday and we are both staying for another one. 

Spiritual thought comes from Brother Nehers talk about repentance. He talked a lot about the Prodigal son and one of the points I really liked was how he talked about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ is for everyone and anyone that is willing to cast off their sins and move closer to him. The Atonement truly is an incredible thing and I am so grateful for the opportunity that it gives me.

Elder Talbot ​​

Cold and Conference

Well, it was minus 18 Friday morning but it is like 0 right now so I don't really know what is going on with the weather. Before we left for Brampton all the snow had melted but when we got back it seemed like we were in the middle of the winter. 

I guess I can start with zone conference with Elder Pearson of the Seventy. It was really sweet. Half the mission was there for the conference this time. I saw a bunch of people I knew there including, I think 5-6 of my past companions. It was fun catching up with people. Anyways. Elder Pearson was awesome. In the weeks before the conference he had asked our whole mission to read two talks, and I didn't read it till the way down to Brampton. I wasn't driving so I had plenty of time but I only had my flip phone to illuminate the papers. The talks were really good and really prepared me for the conference. Elder Pearson really focused on becoming better missionaries but the way he ran his talk/instruction things really helped us be able to receive revelation for the stuff that we can change personally in our mission/lives.

We didn't get back till Wednesday night and we went straight over to Sister Matte's to go do some service for her. We fixed a door and moved some stuff but not too much. 

We went out to visit Iroquois Falls this week. I really doubt that any missionaries have been out there for at least 5 years or close to it hahaha. It was really cool. It is a nice little town. We went by one of the formers and he was happy to see us and said that we could come back next week.

We haven't met with the guy that was referred to us by our ward mission leader but we have another appointment this week with him so hopefully it goes well.

Earl and Terri are doing good still. They are really funny. It is always fun to visit with them. Hopefully they will start progressing. 

Sister Clarke was reconfirmed a member this week. It was nice. She can get a temple recommend again which is great.

All the lakes are frozen so I am probably going to retire from fishing for at least 9 months. 

Spiritual thought is the talk from Elder Pearson which I think I attached. 

Love you all

Elder Talbot 

"garden town"

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/09/seek-learning-by-faith?lang=eng

I Really Like Being a Missionary

It rained for the most part.  It was pretty windy towards the end of the week. but overall it was nice. BUT the high for next week is 0. yay. hahah

So I went to Sudbury on exchanges this past week. And they have 2 sets there and I saw missionaries a bunch for the two days I was there, and I really enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun. I was also thinking about it though. Being isolated in Timmins I actually really like never seeing missionaries but when I was in Sudbury I really liked seeing missionaries, and I realized I just really like being a missionary. So that was fun. 

So some other highlights this week.

Sister Clarke passed her baptismal interview and got baptized this week! The baptism was really sweet, she chose all the hymns that she had special attachments to so it was really cool. It was interesting having a baptism for someone who is already a member of the church, but she said it felt good.

On exchanges, I was with Elder Lee and that was a lot of fun. He is from Korea and is really funny. He is a pretty sweet guy. We had appointments all day so it worked out. I was able to go back and see one of their investigators I saw last time I was in Sudbury. It was really fun talking to her again.

So we didn't have a dinner appointment Friday so we decided to go fishing and we got into them pretty good. I caught 3 fish in the span of like 20 minutes and Elder Bagley added one in there as well. It was pretty fun. The final fish I caught was a toad. It was 31 inches and it was super fun. It totally swallowed my lure and broke the lip off the dang thing. We kept it and made a nice lunch out of it Saturday. 

This week we have Zone conference. So we have to drive to Brampton tonight after P-Day. But a member of the 70 is coming so I am pretty excited. 

Spiritual thought, is um my dad I guess. He is the new bishop of my home ward, it will be pretty crazy. He is going to be a great bishop. I know he will be able to help a ton of people and I am so grateful I was able to be raised by him. And my mom. She is an incredible lady.

Peace 

Elder Talbot 

Sister Clarke's Baptism

Good

Elder Bagley with a good fish

Better

BEST!!!

A Mighty Change of Heart

It snowed like 4 times this past week. Didn't really drop a lot, it just was a bunch of light dustings. But it was like 2 degrees (35 F) all week so it was just a bunch of slush. It should all be gone by the end of the week. 

Tuesday we worked the formers a bit and found one dude that said we could come back after hunting season. He met with missionaries quite a bit and seemed interested in meeting some more. We had dinner at the Tinneys which is always fun. They just got back from a temple trip and they were able to do the work for their family which was cool to see how excited they were. After, we went over to Young Men's to help set up for the Haunted House they were putting on Saturday. 

Wednesday we had planned to go up to a town called Kapuskasing which is two hours north of Timmins but we had to take our car in to get it fixed. It is pretty awkward to walk into a car place wearing a shirt and tie and telling them our car is squeaking. But it is all good now. Our car was 300 Kilometers under the warranty so it didn't cost the church anything and it stopped squeaking. 

Thursday we were going to work out in Porcupine but the 19 year old Young Men's president had us come help out with the Haunted house some more which took a while. Got a lot done though.

Friday was district meeting and then we did service at the farm again. We winterized a barn that had chickens and a goat in it. That was pretty fun. We let the goat out in the barn for a bit while we were working and he ran all over the place.  We had dinner with the Newtons who are a part member family which was really fun talking to Sunny. He is the one I mentioned a while ago who really loves Jesus Christ. After, we had an appointment with the Clarkes. She is going to get rebaptized this Sunday which will be a sweet experience for her. 

Saturday we moved someone in the morning, and that wasn't too bad. He had all the stuff packed so it was pretty easy. In the middle I got into a bit of snowball fight with the Elders Quorum President which was pretty fun hahaha. The Halloween party was also today and it went pretty well. People said they really like the Haunted house, and they only made a few little kids cry. We had correlation with Brother Morrisette and he gave us a referral for a former. We dropped by him and he seems pretty receptive and we got a return appointment. And he has read the Book of Mormon twice is what he told us which is sweet. 

An update for Roger we gave him a call and he said he is going to go hunting pretty much everyday for the next while and to call him after moose season. He also said that he is reading the Book of Mormon. He also said he plans on reading a bit of it everyday which is awesome.

Well a spiritual thought for the week. Last night at our dinner appointment we shared Alma 5:10-13

10 And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?

11 Behold, I can tell you—did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them?

12 And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.

13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

And verse 12 where it talks about a mighty change in his heart, Sister Sutherland pointed out that that was the difference between the Sons of Mosiah and Alma and Laman and Lemuel. Both groups had been visited by angels but only the Sons of Mosiah and Alma actually had a change in their heart. 

I forgot my camera at home. And I don't think I took any pictures.

Peace 

Elder Talbot 

Skype District Meeting

Fishing for Men. And Fish.

So the weather was not bad this week. But I have been told that this coming week the high will be 2 or 3C (35-37F) and rain/snow the whole time. Should be fun. 

Not too much happened this week. But we had a really good coordination meeting, and we made some plans to go out visiting the less active part member families this week so I am pretty excited.

We met with Angie and Don with Brother Morrisette this week. They are doing good. They gave us their son as a referral two weeks ago and he was not interested. But they are still learning a bit. Hopefully they start to progress which I think they will cause they do have testimonies of the Book of Mormon. 

Earl and Terri are doing good. They went on a trip down south to Barrie for a bit. We talked a bit about fishing and they got to know Elder Bagley a bit. They are really sweet people. 

We were walking around talking to people and some guy walked up to us and started to talking to us about the flying saucers that the Timmins airport is launching and the Mormon churche's involvement. It was pretty funny. 

We had dinner with the Coopers yesterday which was pretty sweet. They are a young family with 4 kids and they all are super cute and were bouncing off the walls the whole time.

I spoke in sacrament again for the second time in Timmins yesterday. I basically just gave my farewell talk again.

So spiritual thought is Conference. 
https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP14GC2&lang=eng

I have run out of time hahaha

Elder Talbot 

Elder Talbot, the Pike catcher

Service, Ships, and a Short Week

It snowed this week. Not too much and it's basically already gone. It was fairly coldish this week, but not too bad.

It was a short this week so not too much to talk about. Last week at transfers I was on a travel exchange with Elder Roundy who was in my district while I was in Orangeville. It was a lot of fun. We got lost in Sudbury and it was quite the time. He pulled over at one point and started contacting someone.

Wednesday we went fishing to end pday and caught 4 brook trout. Not very big but it was still fun. After, we had a dinner appointment with a fun family. Their kids were quite loud, so it was really funny. At one point a little girl had a cookie and she dipped it in her water and her mom freaked out a bit. Good times.

We did service at a farm this week and we started moving hay and Elder Bagley just started sneezing up a storm. It was really funny but we had to go do other non-hay related things after that.

We met with a member's husband who is a strong believer in Jesus Christ. Sunny believes that just the general body of Christ is what is important. We are going to go and visit him about once a week and chat with him and see where it goes.

Well, that is all for this week cause I am about to run out of P-day time. I went fishing and caught a pike but I don't have a picture yet. 

Spiritual thought is 1 Nephi 18:1-2

1 And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship.

2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.

Love you all 

Elder Talbot 

Fish in the mouth... 

Elder Bagley and his fish!

Fear not, Little Flock; Do Good

Well, it was transfers the last two days. I got a new companion. His name is the great James Bagley. He is from Utah. And specifically he is from the great city of South Jordan, went to Bingham High School so it is pretty great. If you know him you should let me know. 

So I don't have a whole heap of time this week. And the time between now and Monday is short so I will just write a really good one next week.

We met with Angie and Don this week. They investigated the church like 7 years ago. Both read the whole Book of Mormon and while talking to them they said the believed the Book was true. But they also said they don't want to convert for whatever weird reason, so me and Elder Bagley will be working with them on that, hahaha.

Yep, we did lots of finding and trying to meet with people but we have some good appointments this week so it should be good. 

I will write a better email next week and tell stories about this past week cause I can't remember any right now. 

Spiritual thought is D&C 6:33-35:   33 Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward. 34 Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail. 35 Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.

Love you all 

Elder Talbot 

Skype District Meeting! 

Wearing suit coat and shorts to the skype district meeting!

Elder Johnson in the hammock

Elder Talbot's fishing spot

Jesus is the Christ

So it was finally not hot this week. Stayed around 14-15 mostly (57-59F). Felt nice. Most mornings it was 2 (35F). 

It was quite the interesting week. It was a blast this week, anyways!.

Monday we did some fishing to end off our P-day. I caught two pike, one was the tiniest I have ever seen. But the second one was probably 24 inches or just short of it. Quite a nice looking fish. 

Tuesday we learned how to do more family history for investigators from a member, and played basketball with some young men and non members showed up!

Wednesday we volunteered at the hospital and cut more stickers, then drove down to Sudbury for exchanges. I stayed in Timmins with an Elder from Korea. His name is Elder Lee. He is a pretty funny guy. 

Thursday we did service at two different members farms. We got to chop some wood. It was fun. One of them had a llama and Elder Lee was absolutely fascinated with it.  

Friday We had a live district meeting in Sudbury. Me and Elder Lee got up at 4 o'clock in the morning so we could drive down there, and on the way fish a bit for exercise time. Hahaha I only caught one but it was a super beautiful morning. The District meeting was good. Talked about working with members. Got some poutine at Smokes after. Nacho Grande. Quite good. 

Saturday was General Conference! So much inspiration and personal revelation! But before conference, we were helping a member move. And in between each session we helped him move so we were super busy that day and were in regular clothes the entire day. But we got lunch at conference and pizza at priesthood session, so we have been well fed this week!

Sunday Conference was great again, its gotta be one of my favorite things every 6 months. I loved how they talked a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

But this morning I drove up an hour and half to Cochrane and we went to the polar bear habitat. We got to hang out with them and that was a blast, then went fishing afterwards on the way back. I got just a tiny pike but still fun. 

Spiritual thought comes from conference, of course. Neil L. Anderson said, "Jesus is the Christ." I 100% agree. He is quite the amazing guy and I am so grateful for what he did for me. 

Elder Talbot 

Elder Talbot and his pike

Elder Johnson and a polar bear

Happy birthday, Dad and Jonathan!

Elder Talbot and another pike

Elder Talbot

Elder Talbot

Elder Talbot

Elder Lee

Elder Johnson and the polar bear