Our Two Missionaries: Its so cold here!!!! -18 last week!!!

Hello from...not Newfoundland, but New Brunswick!!!

Sorry I did not have time to send individual emails....

Mom, Dad, Alex, Mickey:

I am so gald that you made it back home from Hawaii safe and sound...and right into a snow storm..you all kinda deserved that! I cant wait for the family trip to Hawaii in 2014!!!! :D Now back to real life...school and work?! And boys Alex?! You still need to email me!!!

Amanda, Nick, Kaylee:

Looks like you had a fun warm weekend too!!! I am slightly jealous..I miss those red rocks!!! Nick...I am not going to lie...You look like a mountain man! Haha It kinda thru me off...seeing Amanda and Kaylee standing next to...you? Is that really you in the pictures? Kaylee looks like you are ready for summer!!! I love your new swim suit! Hey so what is your new sisters name? You should tell me...who am I going to tell half way around the world?! Amanda you look so cute!! Miss you all so much!!!

Bobby....You went monkey finding?! Haha I cant wait to see pictures of that! Congratulations on your baptism this past week...that is so exciting! We are hoping to get one of our investigators on date tonight. We shall see what the spirit says when we get there. I love the spirit!!! I love being able to trust so much in God that we are given in the very moment what we should say to someone...it scares me thought...not to have that (well as much as we do now) when we go home!

Well the first part of the week was really good. We had a few lessons! We had the most interesting thing happen last Monday. So we got this call from a girl her name is Samantha and she was a recent convert in New Jersey (she was baptized in Oct). She is going to school in the very same are that I lived in!!! Ahhh I miss Jersey!!! She called and said her grandmother had just passed away and she needed to get out of her family house and she always went with the missionaries in New Jersey and she wanted to come out with us. So we decided to take her with us to different lessons for that night and it was a pretty good time. She told us her conversion story and how she came to know the gospel was true. Samantha is also preparing to go on a mission in the next year or so. She has such a strong testimony and we had a really good time with her.

Well I finally met one of our investigators Trissa! It was such a great lesson. It was directed by the Spirit completely! We talked about faith, Godhead and then we also taught her how to pray. She is still really nervous to pray, and wont pray in front of us. Maybe she will say the prayer next time.

I am not sure I have told you about Sandra and Butch? Well Sandra is a recent convert, and her husband is Butch. The previous missionaries have never asked Butch if he wanted to learn (slackers!!) well we gave him a Book of Mormon, and he is reading!!!! He said he is reading to learn more about the Mormon religion. We told him that is what we come to do, is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help people come to learn more about the gospel. He said "I know that is why I am learning." We are so excited to help him learn.

Brendan (a less active member).. We are trying to meet with him about once a week and help build his faith in God. That is something he is struggling with. He knows that God is there to help but he doesn't feel like God loves him or that he can care about him which is sad. We read with him a bit about Faith and challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. We are hoping that he acts on the faith that he has and be able to receive and have the faith to get his answers.

Friday finally came!!! We had to wake up at the butt crack of dawn!!!! We left Saint John at 5 am and drove to Dartmouth NS which took 5 hours. We got to see all of the sisters...I got to meet the other two sisters that I have never met...Sister Hart and Sister Broadhead. I also got to see Sister Rust!!! Miss her face!!! We had training that day from President Leavitt which was so good!! We all learned a lot and did role plays that helped us understand more for our area. Friday night we went to the temple. It has been almost 7 months since I went last. I have missed the temple so much. It felt so good to go back...I think living in Utah we always take it for granted living so close to a temple. The temple is always so peaceful and amazing. I don’t think I ever leave without knowing something that I need to do.

Sister Hart's parents all made us orange t-shirt that say on the front "when all else fails, send in the sisters" on the back are two scriptures and then our name tags are on the sleeves they are so cute and fun. We slept in the basement of the mission home (which was not very comfortable) the furnace broke the night before so it was a bit chilly and the furnace made so much noise durning the night...it was so hard to sleep. All night it sounded like someone was hitting the ceiling with a boot..stupid furnace!!!! but it finally started working again.

Saturday we woke up at the butt crack of dawn again to head to Peggy's Cove for the sunrise. It was so beautiful but so freaking COLD!!!!! There was ice on the rocks! We went penguin sliding across the rocks!!! I sent pics. President made us take a lot of pictures...maybe I will see them one day and send them to you. We had some more training on Saturday, lunch and then headed back home to Saint John again another 5 hours. It was a really fun time. Learned a lot!! cant wait for our next sisters conference!!

Well I cant think of much more to add! Hope you all have a great week!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Rachele