The one with Christmas zone conference

Bonjour à tous! How is everyone doing this week? This week here has been pretty good. We spent quite a bit of this last week in Halifax for interviews, zone conference, and exchanges. It was all super good and we had tons of fun. Here is a quick review of what we did.

While we were still here in Bridgewater we did quite a bit. Last Wednesday we did the normal stuff of street contacting and some Facebook  finding and whatever but we had this feeling all day that we had something else that we needed to do. That night we still couldn't figure it out so we prayed about it and almost right after we named a few things to do but then we kinda just looked at each other and both knew that we needed to shovel some snow and thought of a couple widows in the ward that would need help. The first lady we went to help didn't even know we were there but we did get to talk to her neighbor who was really nice and we had a good conversation and then as we continued to each house we saw little miracles everywhere. It was super cool and the Lord will direct you on where to go and what to do if you are willing to listen and act on what He says. It was super cool. 

Sunday here was really good. Church was nice as always but that night we had a christmas concert. It was really good. Elder constant played the prelude music and we both sang in the choir which was pretty fun. It sounded pretty good too. We had quite a bit of non members there and had some less actives as well. It was such a great activity and we were happy to be there. 

Yesterday we helped a lady in our ward move some wood. Its so nice to have a truck because we get to do so much more service. We moved about two truck beds full and then we drove up on the hill behind her house and she told us stories of the area and the history. We then went over and helped another lady in the ward clean up a few things at her house as well so that was fun. 

While we were in Halifax there was quite a bit that happened. We started off with exchanges on Thursday and I was with Elder Thacker and we dropped of my truck to get it serviced and then we went street contacting in the city which is always fun because there are so many people and you can just talk to everyone. That night we went over to their church and helped them set up for thier thier Christmas dinner and Zone Conference which was fun because we got to be with all of the YSA people again. 

Friday I spent the day with Elder Sousa who is from Brazil. After we did studies we went over to the stake center to have interviews with president which is always amazing. After that we went with the sister missionaries to the hospital to give someone a blessing but when we got there, the person we were supposed to give a blessing to was not so we went and got some lunch and did some finding until we got another call from the sisters to let us know if that person ever was back in thier room at the hospital. It was pretty fun. That night we went to the family ward Christmas dinner and Elder Sousa and I ate dinner with all of the Brazilians who were there. About 5 or 6 families. It was awesome. They tried teaching me some Portuguese and I tried to learn as much as I could. It was really fun. I know President Carnavale would have been proud of my efforts haha. 

Saturday was zone conference which was always the highlight of the week. We had two super great teachings on obediance and Member work. We read so many scriptures that stress the importance of obediance and how we will be blessed according to our obediance to Gods laws and commandments. We then looked at a few numbers for our mission and in comparison to other missions, our mission is good at finding people and very good at helping those people come to church but then when it comes to setting them a date to get baptised or actually getting bapized, there is a leak in the pipe somewhere because the numbers drop like crazy. We talked about finding the leak in the pipe and how members can be the fix to those leaks. We had an elder compare it to that amazing tv ad of Flex Tape. As missionaries, we have this pipe that we use to help people but there are leaks and holes but as we work with members, they can come around and slap that Flex Tape on it and stop that leak completly. As we as members of the church can work with the missionaries and do our part of the work as well, we can help so many more of our brothers and sisters recieve the Joy and Happiness which comes from living the gosple standards. After that we had lunch and a gift exchange and talent show. Elder Sousa played the guitar while elder constant sang along and it was really good. We then said our goodbyes to a few people and then headed back to Bridgewater. It was a good week. 

Thats about it for this week. We have seen quite a bit of miracles and I know that this is Christs church and that he leads and guides it and helps us fufill His work here. I love this season to remember Him and all that he has done for us. Keep being awesome and being a good example by sharing your talents and #Lightingtheworld! I love you all! 

Elder Beckstrand