Greetings from Canby!!!
I am so lucky that I get to experience another autumn in the beautiful Oregon Country yet again! Being able to look outside and see the many different colors is such a treat. It is crazy
how we have to drive 20 or so minutes to get to district meetings and things...its fine with me. I just look out the window and enjoy! So thankful for the many beauties that can be found all around us.
I LOVE CANBY! It is so nice. The members seem very nice and laid back. I do miss Hillsboro though...especially living with members. I don't have the luxury of coming home each night to chat with and or making cookies with mama morris, and I don't have to worry about someone waiting around the corner to scare me (Brian;). Oh how I miss them! Off on another adventure! ;)
This past week was full of meetings and taking care of some zone items! :/ On Tues we had to scramble to collect all of the mileage reports for the zone and turn them in. We were in the car almost all day tracking people down and collecting the reports. From Oregon City to Canby to Molalla to Colton and back! It made for a long day. We also had to collect supply orders for MLC on Friday. We were able to complete everything just in time thank goodness! After dinner we were able to meet with Villalobos family and had a lesson with them. Carlos is wanting to set up weekly family home evenings with us so he can invite some of his friends over to meet with us! We are excited!
On Weds we had 2 district meetings back to back. We had our district meeting in Canby from 10-1 and then we went over to Oregon City for another district meeting from 1:30-3:30. Afterwords we had to help out the Spanish sisters with their bikes because their car was in the shop. We then were able to set some appointments up with some of our investigators for Thurs and got around to meet some of the less actives and members in the Canby 1st ward.
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| Sisters Anderson, Mercado and Elder Smith and I. We were able to drop off their bikes at their apartment! They are so funny! |
Thursday!!! YAY! We were able to spend the entire day in our area proselyting!! I was soooo excited! We met up with several of our investigators. We were able to meet with and have a lesson with the Talley Family. Drew, (father) Dominique (mother, recent convert) Josh (11), Aaron (9), little Oliver (3) and Paige (1). Drew, Josh and Aaron aren't members and Dominique was baptized a year ago. I LOVE THIS FAMILY! Josh and Aaron are sooo smart and they are able to remember everything you teach. They want to be baptized! It was so cool so Josh was talking to us about how he was talking to his friends at school about Jesus and how he loves him. We got a powerful future missionary among us! ;) They are real neat. Today is Josh's birthday so he invited us to dinner with his family to celebrate over in Tualatin at Buffalo Wild Wings. The entire family was at church on Sunday as well as some of our other investigators. We had 6 investigators at church! So awesome! Also on Thursday we were able to meet with Loren (less active) and his daughter Tenzen (investigator). After dinner we were able to go over to Brother and Sister Morehouse's, (recently returned to activity:) and had a lesson with them. Guess What!?! They pretty much invited the entire neighborhood! Their daughter, Tracy is a non-member who was there. We also met with Cassandra, recently divorced and a mother of several boys. We began reading from the Book of Mormon, the title page all the way to 1 Nephi chapter 1. It was soooo good! We paused for questions and taught parts of the restoration in between. We talked about Joseph Smiths experience and then when we recited the 1st vision the spirit was soooo strong...I was practically choking over my words. It was so cool to watch and see Tracy's and Cassandra's reaction as they felt the spirit! So neat! We committed them to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray about if it is true. We will meet with them all again this coming Thursday.
We have the primary program coming up this Sunday and Cassandra is planning on coming and bringing along her boys! We are stoked! By the end of the day we were able to teach 7 lesson and found 3 new investigators! Miracles!!!!
On Friday we had our all day meeting with President Ballard, MLC from 8-4 and went over to the office to get supplies for our zone. The meeting was good. Super excited to roll up my sleeves and get to work! We ended up getting back home to Canby around 7 due to traffic. We then had dinner and then went to the church and played some basketball with Canby 2nd elders and some potential investigators. Although I am not very good I did my best and made sure that I got out of the way! ;) Haha!
Early Saturday morning we had a zone wide meeting with the stake (SPC) from 7-10. It was great to see everyone together and to meet with some of the stake leaders. They are very missionary minded and want to help us the best they can! They are fantastic. We then gave out all of the supplies and then rushed to a baptism for Monica in the Oregon City 3rd ward we we performed a musical number and I gave the closing prayer. I love baptisms! The spirit is always sooo strong. We then got back to our place around 1 had lunch and then did some weekly planning before dinner. After dinner we went over to Molalla for a baptism for someone who Elder Smith taught. It was great! So happy for Devin.
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| MLC |
It was a wonderful week! It was crazy...every single day we had a laugh of some sort . . . . usually had something to do with me. So the first night we had dinner with the Reed family whom I love and while I was giving the spiritually thought I sat my I pad on the table and was pushing it back so everyone could see and while doing so I was pushing off their puzzle that they started to make. It was so funny! The next day while we were doing supply orders in the clerks office at the church, I thought I heard the Spanish sisters coming down the hall so I jumped out and scared them . . . turns out it wasn't them, but it was the Dunbar Family in the ward with their young children . . . awkward . . . I slowly closed the door and was hoping that they would forget when they passed . . . they didn't. Their youngest daughter said, "Boo!" Trying to scare me! I was so embarrassed . . . it was sooooo funny!
The next day at one of the district meetings I was with the OC 3rd Sisters helping them come up with good tracting approaches with Elder Casey (he his hilarious!) He was trying to bash with us and was asking the sisters about weed and how we do baptisms for the dead. I started to laugh hysterically! Everyone else joined in. Meanwhile, Elder Casey kept bashing these poor sisters until finally Sister Iremia said, "I would like to leave with you my testimony that I know the gospel is true. I also know that your girlfriend left you because you are smoking and selling weed...." She kept it coming and Elder Casey and I were dying laughing!! It was so great! Another cool thing about our ward is that we share it with the Spanish sisters: Sister Mercado and Anderson. We share dinners with them weekly on Tues, Weds, and Thurs. Oh my gosh! Sister Mercado is so funny! I actually came to Portland with her. I sat next to her in the plane. Anyways....I love her laugh! When she laughs I start laughing which makes everyone laugh. Dinners have been so great! haha!
It has been an amazing first week in Canby! I am loving it here!
Quick Spiritual Thought:
I absolutely loved conference this past week. I am grateful for Elders Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund and for their willingness to serve as members of the 12 apostles. I enjoyed hearing their testimony's and wanted to share with you a part from Elder Renlund's testimony:
"...No matter what the assignment or calling is in the Church, to
serve capably, one must serve knowing that everyone we serve “is a
beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, …
has a divine nature and destiny...” He then goes on by sharing an
experience of when, as a cardiologist specializing in heart failure
and transplantation, had an operation that went south and how as he
shared the news of a young man's death with his parents how he saw him
through their loving eyes. "...I saw Chad through his mother’s and
father’s eyes. I saw the great hopes and expectations they had had for
him, the desire they had had that he would live just a little bit
longer and a little bit better. With this realization, I began to
weep. In an ironic reversal of roles and in an act of kindness I will
never forget, Chad’s parents comforted me..."
I absolutely loved that story. As a missionary, I have been able to feel of the much love that our heavenly father has for his children. I have been able to see the people of Oregon through my fathers eyes and boy has that been a sweet experience. To effectively serve others we need to see other's the way our father sees them. "Only when we see through Heavenly Father’s eyes can we be filled with “the pure love of Christ.” Every day we should plead with God for this love..." I am so grateful for the impact that service has on my life. Whenever I serve and forget myself I am lifted. I know that as we see others the way our father does and serve them with love we can experience the pure love of Christ.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week and that all are happy and healthy! I love you all!
Elder Shaw
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