Fishers of Men: April 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

Winners!

It was finally a nice week. I think Spring should finally be here. It was about 11 to 15 (50-60 F) all week with some rain but it wasn't too bad. Everything still doesn't have leaves but I think everything just got delayed cause of that freak ice storm. Today is around 20 and it feels pretty good.

This week went by super fast. I think I say that a lot but this one flew by. I went on exchanges with Elder Wolford this week, and those just make everything faster. This is the third time I have served in the same zone as Elder Wolford but that was my first exchange with him. He is a super cool guy. We made some cookies and took them to some less active members in his area. It really brightened their days and was pretty cool.

We had a cool miracle when we exchanged, the Lindsay Elders hadn't eaten lunch yet but we had, so we dropped them off and just had little bit of time to do some finding. We were able to talk to this really cool guy named Phuong and we were talking to him about the Plan of Salvation and how that answers questions about why we are here on this earth. He told us that in the past he had struggled not knowing his purpose in life. He was able to make it to church this week and he really enjoyed it.

Just a quick thought, we were in Winners today, and someone came up to us and started talking to us about the church and some of the things he had questions about. He was a super nice guy. He gave us his number so that we could give it to the missionaries in his area. It helped me realize how important it is to be living your life in a way that people can see Christ in you and be an example of one who follows the Savior.

Elder Talbot

The District

Monday, April 23, 2018

Be Still and Know That I Am God

Well, Ontario is weird. Last weekend was cold and had ice storms and yesterday it was 17 degrees (62 F) and super warm and sunny. It is pretty interesting. I don't really understand but that is fine. It should be done with the whole cold thing now.

This week went by crazy fast. Some highlights, I went on exchanges with Elder Nakamoto again. He is an awesome missionary. It was pretty fun. We did some finding and went to a YSA FHE activity. That was really cool. They all seem very close friends and it was a good activity. Elder Nakamoto made me some Japanese food and it was super good. The next day we did some finding and the whole exchange we knocked on a total of 4 doors and got 5 potentials out of it for their area so it was cool.

Honestly this week went by super fast, I am not totally sure what even happened. We went back to that guy that said we could go teach his family and it turns out he lived at a college dorm house and there was no family there so I guess he wasn't listening very hard when we talked to him the first time. One of our investigators that had a baptismal date moved to Mississauga last week, he still wants to meet with the missionaries and be a part of the church which is awesome. Our other investigator is doing good! She is still getting closer to being ready for her baptism which will be sweet. She made it to church Sunday and looked like she was able to feel the spirit.

We were told about a bunch of General Authorities coming to Toronto next week, President Ballard, Elder Soares, Bishop Causse, and a couple of 70's. They are coming for a bunch of stake conferences but they are doing a missionary meeting as well, which will be soooo sweet. It's on 5th I think, which is our friend's baptismal date so it will be a sweet day.

Finding wise, we went out and talked to a lot of people but we weren't able to get too much good contacts with people but there were some pretty weird ones. It should be a good one this week, we had a good weekly planning session and have some good plans set.

Spiritual thought comes from my dad/President Nelson. "In addition to hearing the word of the Lord obediently, we manifest our love for God through prayer. And listening is an essential part of prayer. Answers from the Lord come ever so quietly. Hence He has counseled us to “be still and know that I am God.” (D&C 101:16.). My dad shared that with me and I really liked it. There has been quite the push recently about receiving revelation and preparing ourselves for the days to come. I was reading Joseph Smith History this week and that is a great example of receiving revelation. He studied out his question a ton and then went into a quiet place and had quite the revelatory experience.

Love,

Elder Talbot

Cold, blurry Elders

Late April snowstorm

Dad's Turkey Hunt

Beautiful Canada

Monday, April 16, 2018

Make Time to Be Still

So the weather was below average all week and it pretty much rained from Wednesday to Friday non stop. Then Saturday the wonderful place of Ontario decided to have ice fall out of the sky for two days. It was insane. It literally looked like salt granules or something. It just shut down Peterborough for the whole weekend. We could kind of drive on Sunday and pretty much everyone was at home so it was a solid experience.

Our investigators have a baptismal date, both set them for the 5th of May. They are both doing really good and are coming close to Jesus Christ in the process. One of them wants to start getting involved with the church and start helping people out. It was cool to see as he started getting closer to Jesus Christ he wanted to start helping people.

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Tetauru. He is a super good guy. I really like being around him. We had a good exchange. We did some service and some finding and just an overall good day. We got a couple of return appointments and one of them is potentially a family so it should be good.

Something I have been focusing a lot on in the last week is receiving revelation everyday, and I was reading the Book of Mormon and I came across Alma 26:22--

Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing-unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

It lays out a super good way to to receive revelation and just put down the process. Something that stuck out to me was that you need to make time to be still and ponder and give the spirit space to put things into your heart that Heavenly Father wants you to hear. I have been trying to do that the last few days and it has been a great experience. Something especially important for everyone to know is that God loves them.

Love,

Elder Talbot

Elder Earnest and Elder Talbot

Monday, April 9, 2018

Gold Mine for Miracles

Well not too much to say about the weather, it was just averagely kind of cold and didn't snow or anything.

We had an awesome week this week. Monday night after P-Day we had some finding time and we were able to find a few people that said we could come back. They all seemed genuinely interested. One guy that we talked to was on his porch and we when drove by again he was outside reading the Book of Mormon. It was awesome to see.

Tuesday we were able to teach a lesson to an investigator, she has been taught for a few months now and she has a strong desire to be baptized! She is still working through some things but it is still cool to see her relationship grow with Jesus Christ just in the small time I have known her. Afterwards we went contacting downtown and we talked to a lot of really cool people! It started off pretty weird though, it was just one of those days where the first people you talk to are just nuts.

We were able to go to the temple this week!!! It was my first time going in over a year and it felt amazing. The wind was blowing like crazy hard, and when I got in to the temple it was just nice and peaceful. It is just an amazing experience there. I am so glad that we have temples and that we can be sealed with our families for eternity. I was able to spend some extra time in the Celestial room and it was much needed.

Thursday was Zone Conference with Elder Nielson of the 70! That was also awesome! The whole conference was so spirit driven it was awesome. He talked a lot about being a child of God and how that helps us have the desire to do things in the way that God wants us to be. I have seen that affect so many people's lives as well as mine, it is so true and I am so grateful to have a loving Father in Heaven. Another thing that was talked about was how problems are gold mines for miracles and that is something that I have thought a lot about recently. They related an example of how the Lord uses broken things to accomplish great works and how he breaks us down by giving us trials. He doesn't leave us alone though, he gives us the strength and the help we need to overcome and reap the benefits of the gold mine that was placed before us. The Spirit was so strong for that entire conference, he promised us some blessings. It was just fantastic.

I met a lot more of the ward this week! This is a good ward. The members are really nice and very welcoming.

Spiritual thought comes from Helaman 7:6-9--
6 Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years; and when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast; and he did exclaim in the agony of his soul:
7 Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord—
8 Yea, if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren.
9 But behold, I am consigned that these are my days, and that my soul shall be filled with sorrow because of this the wickedness of my brethren.

and Alma 17:28-29--
28 Now the servants of the king began to murmur, saying: Now the king will slay us, as he has our brethren because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these men. And they began to weep exceedingly, saying: Behold, our flocks are scattered already.

29 Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words.

These are two examples of people that accomplished great things. But Ammon, unlike Nephi, had a good attitude about it and saw the problem as a gold mine to show them what God can do. Nephi still accomplished amazing things but he consigned (the dictionary I used this morning said that means commit decisively or permanently) himself to be sad. I truly believe that we are here to be happy, and even though we have trials and hard things in our lives we can be happy and excited like Ammon when the sheep got scattered.

Love
Elder Talbot

Elder Talbot and Elder Robinson at the Toronto Temple

Elder Earnest, Elder Talbot, Sister Keeslar and Sister Kim

Elder Earnest...changing a tire???

Monday, April 2, 2018

If Timmins and St. Catharines Had a Baby

So the weather was alright. It was pretty tame with some clouds and it really seemed like Spring was here and snow was done. BUT it snowed last night. It wasn't very much and all of it is already gone, it was just ridiculous that it snowed.

I'm going to miss St Catharines a lot but Peterborough seems cool. I have only been here for a few days and cause of conference I haven't gotten to meet too many members. The city itself seems like Timmins and St Catharines had a baby. Just right in the middle with pretty much everything. 80 thousand people I think. Elder Ernest is really cool. He has a strong desire to work hard and do good things which is awesome. He is from Haiti and has been out for 8 months now.

We have a few people that they were working with, one has a date for next week, and we were able to teach her over Skype on Saturday. It is pretty cool seeing someone wanting to make a change in their life. There is some other people they were meeting with I just haven't met them yet. We were able to watch conference with a returning member couple and they are awesome. It was fun to watch the session with them and be a part of that. We did some finding this week and got some solid potentials and saw some really cool miracles. We talked with this one lady that said she was praying earlier to meet someone to talk to about religion and then that day we bumped into her and got to talk to her for probably 20 minutes. It was a good week.

I don't have too much for this week, this next week we have a Zone Conference this week with Gifford Nielsen of the 70 and that will be awesome. And we will get to go to the temple. Which I haven't been to that thing for a whole year. It will be nice to be able to go.

Man conference was amazing. I have so many talks that were so powerful and touched me. The spirit was so strong during all the sessions. I literally have like 50 favorite talks.

Top 3, I think, are:

Elder Brian K. Taylor www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/media/session_1_talk_6/5761496438001?lang=eng

Elder Devin G. Durrant www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/media/session_2_talk_10/5761553145001?lang=eng

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/media/session_5_talk_9/5761932026001?lang=eng

I would just recommend everyone to study conference again. It was seriously so amazing and there was a ton of amazing talks. I always love how inspired the talks are and how perfect they answer all of my questions and prayers.

Love you guys

Elder Talbot