Referrals and Food are Good

Well the freezing rain came back and it is still really annoying. This time though it snowed about 2 centimeters before it rained so it was really weird walking on it. I would just crack the ice a ton while walking on it. It wasn't as slippery like that. We spent a lot of Wednesday clearing ice off of our car/the church/members driveways. 

The Hatches got a referral from a member in our branch. She is a friend and a recovering alcoholic and really wants God in her life. They are hoping they are able to comfort her and get her happy. The Hatches are the best so I know they will be able to help her a lot. They are hoping that she is interested in our religion and she would let me and Elder Leyton to come teach her. I really love the Hatches. They are basically my grandparents. They make life a lot easier in Smiths Falls cause sometimes it can suck. But most of the time I have loved it out here. They feed us every Sunday and they were trying to think about what to have and I suggested Haystacks and they didn't have a recipe so I had my mother email them the recipe. They really loved it. I also loved it. Food is good. 

Speaking of stuff that sucks. I was on exchanges when we had the dinner with the less active and her husband. Elder Leyton and Elder Oldham went there. Elder Oldham was telling me about that night and he said that it was awesome. The family was super chill and was asking them about their missions and stuff, the food was super good. They got to the message and shared the restoration. He said that the spirit was there super strongly and at the end they asked them if they would read the Book of Mormon and all they said was "No." They just kind of awkwardly left after that. Elder Oldham was really upset. It is hard sometimes, especially when the spirit was super strong and they still say no. But people have their agency and we can't/don't want to force people to do anything. Agency is a huge part of the Lord's plan and I really love having it. 

Isaac is the name of the guy with the St Bernard's. We went by for our appointment but he had gotten called into work. His dad was home though and we talked to him for a little bit. He seemed nice. The St Bernard's were outside of his house when we pulled up and they jumped all over Elder Leyton. I'm pretty sure they were the same size as him if not bigger. It was pretty funny. 

This week really flew by. Not a whole lot has happened. but for some reason it just flew by. I went on exchanges with Elder Vargas on Thursday. He is from Mexico City and is just about to go home. He has one transfer left. He is probably the funniest person I have ever met. He can just tell stories so well they are hilarious. And he is absolutely crazy so he has lots of good stories to tell. 

Friday night after we had exchanged back we hadn't checked referrals yet, so we hurried to the church and the Richardson's were there. They were cleaning the church but the wife (who is like 80% of the member missionary work in Smiths Falls.)  had a referral for us! I really have hardly gotten any referrals so we were really excited for this. Sister Richardson works in a Hair Salon and a couple came into her Salon for a hair cut and they got talking about religion and I guess the wife's mom told her to join a Christian religion when they got to Canada. (Rose is from Vietnam and Dylan is from America.) Sister Richardson gladly told them about our church and got their number for us. We are going over tonight to meet them and stuff. Hopefully it goes well. 

Thought for this week come from District Meeting. Elder Vargas was telling a story about how his family/dad joined the church. His dad played baseball with some missionaries when he was ten and joined the church 30ish years later. Those missionaries probably have no idea that Elder Vargas' dad is the bishop right now, they have three kids on missions, and the Mom is the Seminary teacher. You never know what difference you could be making in peoples lives. Just something small could turn into something amazing later.

Love you guys 

Elder Talbot

Elder Talbot and Elder Oldham