The Spirit Taught Me and I Learned...

I thought I was going to be done with the freezing rain. We had a little bit of it yesterday. It wasn't too much but it was enough to still be really annoying. The weather has been warming up for the most part. I didn't think it was very cold ever. But Elder Aspery is literally always cold. The "winters" in Brisbane only get to 8 (46 F) at the very coldest, and he had never seen snow before he got to Canada. He said he is going to be wearing sweaters till it is 30 degrees (86 F). 

After P-day on Monday we had supper with the Penny family. They had their family home evening with us during the meal. They said that is what they normally do cause they figure it is easier to get their kids to focus when there is food. Which is probably true and a great idea.

We went to Young Men's, and afterwards they all started to play basketball. So I decided to join. They were playing this weird 1 on 1 game and I killed all of them. Granted the oldest kid was 14 but I was in full church clothes with a sweater, so I think it was fair. 

Wednesday we had dinner with a squad. They are a bunch of older single sisters and they all go out to eat and hangout with each other all the time. Basically squad goals. Well they took us to a fish and chips place and the food was super good. We also didn't have to talk very much cause they just talked a ton. It was sweet. Also on Wednesday we were tracting, we knocked on this one door, and this lady from somewhere yells at us to go away. "I'm not going to open up the door so you might as well leave." So we just casually walked away and she opened up a window on the second floor and yelled at us saying thanks for waking up my baby. It was pretty funny to both of us. Elder Aspery was laughing pretty hard. 

We went to Smoke's after district meeting. Best food on the planet. 

We got some media referrals this week. Both of them seem super solid so we are pumped and hoping to meet with them this week. 

Just a quick thought. We had fast and testimony meeting yesterday. One of the little Zumbach girls got up to bear her testimony and it was about two sentences and then she sat down. It was short and sweet. Later in Elder Quorum the lesson was on testimonies and one of the members said something about how we all have our own testimonies and they are all so different and unique. While I was listening to both of those the spirit taught me and I learned that is why we are asked to share our testimonies as often as we can. We all can learn from others, and we might not have had an experience that they have had so we can learn from them and they can learn from us.

Peace

Elder Talbot  

Poutine from Smoke's
(Poutine is a Canadian dish made with French fries and cheese curds topped with gravy!)

Hope is Found in the Plan of Salvation

Well, I got transferred. I am going to miss Smiths Falls. There are a lot of good people there that really adopted me into their families. ​I am in Orangeville now with Elder Aspery. Elder Shepherd is staying in Schmitty with his MTC companion. Elder Aspery is from Brisbane, Australia, he has been out for a transfer less than me, he likes going to the beach, he dislocated his shoulder three weeks ago, and he is 20. We get along really well and he is pretty cool. Orangeville is a cool area. I think the population is around 30,000. But everything around it is just farms. And all the roads outside of the town are straight as an arrow. It is pretty weird. 

When we first got to Orangeville we had lunch with a family. The Zumbachs are super cool. They have 7 daughters or something around there. One of the daughters is preparing for a mission so the family is super missionary focused and they have some friends that might be interested. It was really cool though to see how much they all love the gospel. 

We got a media referral for a Book of Mormon so that's cool. 

A funny storyish I guess. We had dinner with this family and they have four crazy boys. They were almost literally jumping off the walls. We got to the end of the dinner and after we shared a message they asked one of their sons to say the prayer. The mom asked him to pray for the missionaries to travel safe and to pray for the Prophet. The little kid said the prayer, and the only things he said in the prayer was the two things his mom asked him to say. It was pretty funny. The mom just kind of shrugged and said at least he does what he is told. It was really funny. 

Friday we went to go see an investigator named Sergio. He is a super nice guy with a family. He has some medical issues and is trying to stay positive and happy. We taught him the plan of salvation and he really liked it. I love how much hope the plan of salvation can bring people. Just knowing that everything will be okay in the end is amazing.

Not too much else happened, we lost a little bit of time with transfers.

Loves
Elder Talbot

Oh yeah and we had a baptism yesterday. Alyssa is awesome!

Elder Talbot, Alyssa, Elder Aspery and others

Elder Aspery

Transferred to Orangeville!

Elder Talbot said goodbye to Smiths Falls, his home since last November!  He was sad to say goodbye to so many friends that treated him like family, but is excited for a new challenge.  He is transferred to Orangeville, Ontario, Canada.  Orangeville is northwest of Toronto.  His new companion is Elder Asprey.  He will fill in more details next week!

Smiths Falls Pictures

I Can't Feel My Face...

Well, it got really cold again. I really liked the whole 8 degree weather (46F), it would have been nice if it stayed there. Friday to Sunday were all around -20 (-4F) with a ton of wind chill. Me and Elder Shepherd were walking around downtown and we decided that we would go visit this member. We didn't have our car with us and so we decided to walk. Well, there are two ways to get to the member's house from where we were at and I was thinking one of the ways would've been funner to walk than the other and it isn't that much farther. WELL boy was I wrong. It took us probably 20-25 minutes longer than it should've. By the time we got there we were freezing and both of our faces were totally numb. It sucked but it was worth it cause we had a really good visit with the members They were baptized a year ago and they are preparing to go to the temple. They are super excited about it and they seem really happy. And they drove us home so we didn't have to walk thankfully. 

Our branch got a keyboard organ thing so we could still have music when our pianist didn't come.  Me and Elder Shepherd got to put it together. It was pretty fun. 

We stopped by the McKeevers this week and they had some family over. We got to talk to some of their families and he told us later that they had been really impressed by missionaries before and they might be interested in the gospel. We were super pumped about it.

President Sheilds came to Smiths Falls for church and got to teach a lesson in church. It was super cool to be around him and see him teach people. He is a super cool guy and has really helped this mission a lot. 

Sorry this is a short email, I don't have too much time today.

Loves
Elder Talbot