Faith to Move Mountains--Pick Up a Shovel

So it was pretty dang hot up here. Pretty much all week it was around 30 or so (86F), with about a million percent humidity. I was dying. Its supposed to get down to 12 (54F)on Tuesday so its all good. There were some small thunder storms which were pretty fun. 

Last P-day we did a tour thing of a bunch of animals. We got to feed a moose, some elk and a bison. It was super fun actually. The animals were all tame so they would come right up to the trailer thing we were in and we could feed them by hand. 

We went out to the Sharps campsite thing and visited with them. They are really cool people and have super strong testimonies despite not being to church in a while. They showed us spider dogs or octo weenies. They are just hot dogs but cut a certain way and it is a spider looking thing. It was fun.

The Zobell's came up from Temiskaming to check our apartment. They are a super sweet missionary couple from Alberta. They have strong testimonies. Our apartment was nice and clean so they didn't have to do much. 

One of the days in the previous week we were having a really long day. It wasn't really a bad day but it was just taking so dang long. And we ended the night by walking around for the last 1 1/2 hours which didn't help the longness. But at somewhere around 9 we bumped into Fred. He is a super funny guy that was really fun talking to him. He isn't really interested but we offered service and he said we could come mow his lawn and hang out one of these days hahaha. He also said he would introduce us to his neighbors for fun. haha. 

We were finally able to volunteer at the hospital this week because I had to go through orientation and shots and things like that the past weeks before we could. We cut out stickers and folded pamphlets for 2 hours.... pretty fun....

We met with a recentish convert named Makayla. She hasn't been to church in a while cause her friends moved but she still believes everything and has just been procrastinating coming back to church for a while. We were able to meet with her and she is pretty cool. She really likes animals. 

So Sister Clarke who has been a member for like 50 years, is going to be getting baptized soon. Somehow, the church lost her records so for the sake of her having a membership number she is getting re baptized. She is a super nice lady and her grandchildren were baptized a few months ago. 

We were able to visit Earle and Terri this week. We ended up not teaching anything though. We just got to know them and just talked about life and hunting/fishing. It was nice. They are doing good though. They said they were going to come to part of conference which will be good for them. 

Spiritual thought comes from Ether 12:6:  And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

It is a scripture about faith that we were talking about with a member. Faith is a principle of action, so if we want answers to our prayers and help with things, we have to do our part and God will help us every step of the way. "If we have faith to move mountains then we have to be willing to pick up a shovel." ~Elder Cord Lowry. (Former companion)

Love
Elder Talbot 

Traveling Show

So not a lot happened this week. We had about 0 time but we squeezed some stuff in.

Monday night we visited Roger. We read the Book of Mormon and he really likes it so far. He said he is going to pray about the Book of Mormon. He really liked the first chapter and how it mentions stuff that happened in the Bible. I really like Roger. He is a honest, sweet guy. He likes to hunt and is going to read the Book of Mormon while he hunts. 

Tuesday. We did service on Sister Matte's farm. We fixed a fence and moved a bunch of old tin/wood. For the young men's activity we cut/chopped/moved/stacked a ton of wood. We got it all done, finally. I was chopping the whole time and by the time I got done my hands were shaking a bit.  

Wednesday. In the morning we did service for a member. They own a small farm and had us clean a barn out that was full of manure. It really sucked and smelled horrible, hahah. At night we swung by Earl & Terri, the less active part-member family. We watched the restoration video with them and she liked it. She definitely wants to know which church is true. We don't think she really knows how to find that out yet so that is something we are going to have to work on with her. 

Thursday. We packed/studied in the morning and we had a spare 20 minutes to go contacting so we went out and talked to a bunch of interesting people. We met one guy who got dumped by a Mormon when she moved to Cali, one crazy guy that said he was Donald Trump's son and that Canada was ran by dope, and a Pentecostal lady that grabbed Elder Johnson's hand when she was talking to him. Hahaha it was quite the 20 minutes. After that we had to drive to Orillia. Which is 7 hours away. So we made that journey and we were staying with the missionaries there because Zone Conference was the next day in Barrie. Elder Coffey was there. I haven't seen him in a really long time. It was fun to catch up with him. 

Friday was Zone Conference. It was really good. We talked about being more obedient to the morning schedule and being energetic about it. At the end they talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance. It was a spirit filled conference, it was great. I got to see a lot of missionaries. After that we had to drive to Sudbury which is 4 hours and stay the night there, because Stake Conference was the next day.  

Saturday we were staying in Sudbury all day, had interviews and went to a Baptism that the Sudbury Elders were having. The night session for Stake Conference was really good. The main theme was charity and having that pure love of Christ for everyone. 

Sunday we participated in the choir for the Sunday session for conference. It was fun. The conference was really good. The Sheilds' spoke and the theme was light. Funny enough the Stake Presidency did not give a topic but everyone chose to speak about the same thing, the inner light of Christ. Pretty awesome. We drove back to Timmins after that and on the way we stopped at Roger's house. We read the Book of Mormon and talked about the restoration a bit. He said he would pray and read. He is pretty busy so he said he is going to read the Book of Mormon when he goes moose hunting. He is progressing slowly but I think he will get there. 

Love you all. I don't have time but scripture of the week is the topical guide for Captain Moroni. (Alma 48:17: 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.)

He was a pretty incredible guy. 

Much Love 

Elder Talbot. 

Elder Talbot and a moose on the Cedar Meadow wildlife tour

Canada in the Fall

Beautiful sunset

Exchanges, Crab Apples and a Corn Roast

The weather was about the same as last week. It is getting cold in the mornings which is nice. I don't have to be hot. 

Not too much happened this week. We didn't have a ton of time and not too many people were interested. 

A senior missionary couple came up to visit and to take all the junk out of our apartment. Its amazing how much crap gets collected by missionaries after such a long time. The Spackmans are really sweet. He is a convert of about 10 years or so and met the future Sister Spackman in the temple around a year after his baptism. It is a really cool story. They have been going around the last two months cleaning out apartments. Sister Spackman makes really good cookies.  Because I've been transferred so much, I have had her cookies about 5 times. Which they say is the highest of all the missionaries. 

Thursday I went down to Sudbury for exchanges with Elder Robison. It was pretty fun. We had a good time. Thursday we had a dinner with a part-member family. They fed us ribs which was really good. And after, we shared a message about prayer and the non-member actually participated quite a bit. It was really cool. Friday, we had dinner with another part member family, it was pretty fun. On the way there we saw a bear book it across their front yard. It was really cool seeing a bear. It's my first one in Canada. We snagged a picture as it was running away. Also, to exchange we had to drive two hours to meet in the middle. And then two hours to get back to the different areas. So 8 hours in total. Lots of driving. 

Saturday, the ward had a corn roast. It was fun. It had a good turnout. You know what they say, lots of corn lots of fun. Me and Elder Johnson played soccer with all the little kids. The whole night was quite fun. At the end, about ten people were gathered around a fire just talking and shooting the breeze.

I had (or got to, I guess) to speak in church. After church an old lady asked a few people to pick some crab apples off the trees in the back of the church for her so she could make some jelly. After like five minutes 90 percent of the ward was out in the back picking crab apples for her. She ended up with four huge bags of crab apples. It was pretty funny. 

One of the days, we met with Earl & Terri, another part member family that hasn't been to church for a really long time. They are both super nice and he likes to hunt a fish a lot, he can talk about that for hours. We talked to Terri a bit about prayer and why there are so many different religions. We didn't have a lot of time but it was really good.

Spiritual thought is 3 Nephi 11. (verses 3-10 here as a small example:  3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.  4 And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not.  5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.  6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:  7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.  8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.  9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:  10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

Super good chapter that I would explain if I had time but I don't. Love all you guys! Hope everyone has a great week. 

Elder Talbot

Ice cream with Elder Johnson to celebrate Elder Talbot's one year mark!

Ice cream celebration at home.

More ice cream celebrations.  Sort of.

Frosty in Timmins, But It's Not Ice Cream.

So there was some frost on the ground when we woke up Thursday morning. Definitely different weather here compared to Brampton.

So the drive all the way up here was freaking long. It was almost 100% trees. Pretty ridiculous. It was fun though. The first half, I got to drive with up with Elder Robinson, one of my mtc companions.  It was good catching up with him. The second half, I went up with Elder Johnson. I really like him so far. He is from Cincinnati, Ohio. Played rugby. He has been out for 10 months or so and has only been in two areas. Timmins and Coburg. 

The ward is around 65-70 every week. I really like everyone up here that I have met so far. We get fed every night which is pretty nice, haha. Everyone is really nice. The town up here is like 45,000, and it is mostly a mining town. I really liked it this week. We can walk to most of the places here cause it fairly organized. 

We met with Roger this week. He is a former J-Dub. He likes hunting and fishing. He has had some really cool experiences and is really open minded. He likes the Book of Mormon as well.

We did a lot of contacting this week, and one lady we tried talking to just shushed us after we said hi and walked away while asking us if we had seen any oranges. It was pretty funny. hahaha. 

Spiritual though this week is, 2 Nephi 29. You all should go check it out.

(For example:  8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.  9 And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.)

Loves

Elder Talbot 

The Conley Family and Elder Talbot

MTC companion reunion! Elder Jensen, Elder Talbot, and Elder Robinson

MTC companions!

Elder Robinson and Elder Talbot traveling to Timmins