I get tired of trying to think of subject lines...

Hello everyone!

We had a pretty good week this week and talked to a lot of people. We had a bit of a break through lesson with one of our investigators this week. She wasn't quite grasping why she needed to get married before she could get baptized for the past couple months, but for some reason when we saw her this week it just seemed to click for her. That was a big hurdle to get over, so hopefully she'll start working towards a marriage soon.

I think last week I wrote about Judith a little bit. This week we went by to teach her again and she totally opened up to us about basically her desire to come unto Christ. She came to church on Sunday, but we were stuck passing the sacrament (we shouldn't be the backups), and since she wasn't exactly sure about whether or not she should take the bread and water, and we weren't there to explain it to her, she left early. :( We're seeing her again tonight though so we'll be able to clear all that up and hopefully next time she comes she'll be more comfortable. She's solid though so I think she will make it out again.

Today we were planning on going for a hike but all the trails are closed since so many trees blew down in the storm so we're not sure what we'll do today. Hopefully we can find something exciting. I've been finding it challenging to be in an outside area where we rarely see other missionaries. You start to go a little crazy. We've been trying to think of good ways to make it exciting.

Time is flying by! I hope you're all enjoying the warmth of Summer.

Love, Elder Oxborrow

Stormy Week

Hello everybody!

At the beginning of the week we were dealing with some high temperatures and humidity which is never fun to do missionary work in, but on Thursday and Friday a cold front came in, which meant storms, which are also not fun to do missionary work in, but despite all that, we had fun doing missionary work this week! The storms got pretty scary. On Thursday we were talking to a guy on his porch when we heard a very loud bang as a tree a couple hundred feet away got struck by lightning, and I saw a big chunk of wood shatter. It was probably the coolest thing I've seen. Friday the storm was even worse. There were just sheets of rain smashing down on us as we drove around. Luckily we were indoors until it stopped. The aftermath was the craziest part though. Tons of trees lost limbs, snapped in half, and some even got ripped right out of the ground. There were leaves plastered to everything around town and some places were without power for over 48 hours. It was pretty crazy.

Saturday was transfer calls and Elder Wright and I will be staying again in Petawawa. I was pretty happy with it since I feel like there are a lot of good things startin to happen. The mission is receiving 21 new missionaries this transfer. That's a lot haha. Not too many in our zone though. My trainer is going home on Wednesday! That's pretty weird. He hadn't even been out for a year when we became companions. Time flies. Sunday was a pretty good day (church was almost cancelled due to the loss of power). After church a member came with us to pass by some investigators and less actives. When we finished that, he decided he wanted to come tracting with us. He suggested the area and we headed over. After knocking just a few doors, we came to a house where 3 girls (about the age of 11) were out playing in the sprinkler, so we asked if their parents were home. One of the girls went to fetch her dad. After talking to her dad, the girls as well as a younger boy nearby took an interest in the fact that we were going around knocking on all the doors on the street and they started to follow us. For about a block and a half we were knocking doors and having to explain to everyone we talked to why 4 little kids in swimming suits, as well as 3 guys in shirts and ties were standing in front of their door haha. It made for some interesting contacts. Despite all this madness, we found an awesome lady who told us to come back in twenty minutes. When we went back, she let us in to talk with her. Turns out she met some members in Jerusalem while she was living there, but since it's illegal over there, they weren't able to discuss religion. Basically, she was prepared to hear our message. We taught her about the restoration and left a Book of Mormon. We'll be returning on Thursday. It was an awesome end of week miracle. Hope you enjoyed the river trip! Enjoy your last year of not getting pulled into the water by your son, dad!

Love you all!

Elder Oxborrow

The Heat is On

Hello everyone!

It's been very warm and humid lately. Muggy is the right word. We had a great week though. On Monday we set a goal for baptism for our investigator JP which was awesome. That night we got a call from the zone leaders telling us that we had to be in Ottawa on Wednesday morning for and interview with President Patrick. No problem except now we're super low on kilometers for the month which means riding bikes, and as previously mentioned, it's hot outside. So basically, July is going to be a sweaty month haha. As uncomfortably as it is sometimes though, it feels good to just get out and work and not worry about yourself. A cool thing happens when you stop being concerned with yourself and starting just focusing on the people around you. It was a bit of a revelatory week for me. I love when I can look back and see the important lessons I've learned. Sometimes they come little by little so they're harder to see but sometimes they come in bigger portions.

The interview with President went well. By the time we got back from Ottawa I think we were both tired of being out of our area. On Saturday we passed by a family Elder Boehme and I had met and we were able to give them a back of Mormon after we visited for a bit (and saw some awesome card tricks from their son). They are a super cool family and are always super kind to us.

Yesterday was a farewell for the Browns in the branch who are leaving for a mission in Winter Quarters. So after church there was a potluck as a final goodbye. We are going there for dinner tonight so we haven't had to truly say goodbye just yet. We'll miss them though. They were a huge help for us in our missionary efforts. Anyway, the work is going great and time is flying by.

Love you all!

Elder Oxborrow

P.S. Congrats on the wedding Alyssa :) step it up Tyler and Brighton...

Living in the Car...

Hello everyone!

It was a very fast, out of the ordinary week. After Canada Day on Monday and P-day on Tuesday last week, we left for Ottawa so the Zone Leaders could go on splits with me Wednesday. The Elders we stayed with have a tennis court right outside their door so my good friend Elder Prawitt and I used our exercise time in the mornings to go hit some tennis balls. Splits on Wednesday was fun. I was with Elder Fronk who runs cross country and track for BYU, so we didn't have a hard time finding something to talk about. It was fun working in the city for a day. After being in an outside area for a couple months I forgot what it was like to have people to talk to all around me. It's hard to find a lot of people to talk to in a smaller area, especially when no one's home. In the city areas you just walk outside and can start talking to people. Thursday was zone study and we only got about 1/3 of the way through before President Patrick (who none of us had met) walked in and basically took over haha. He said something like "Hello everyone, I'm President Patrick. I'll be taking over the rest of your zone study." He has 4 kids who will be living in Montreal for the next 3 years. The rest of his kids are on missions or in their careers. Sister Patrick made a delicious batch of cookies and shared a strong testimony. Afterwards, we all ate lunch and then it was off to Val d'Or, Quebec! We left around 3:30 and got there around 9:30. It was quite the drive but it was beautiful. Literally thousands of lakes spot the whole area on the way up. Friday we were working in their area. I was on splits with Elder Smith from Lehi, Utah. He and I were in the MTC together and we had a lot of fun talking about all the common friends we had from Lehi. Saturday morning rolled around and it was finally time to head back to our area. it was about 300 miles from Val d'Or to Pembroke. If you're thinking we spent a lot of time in the car this week, you're right. Pembroke, Ontario--Ottawa, Ontario--Val d'Or, Quebec--Pembroke, Ontario. I'm not sure exactly how many miles we went but I do know it was a lot ha. I enjoyed the beautiful views though. Saturday and Sunday we were basically trying to play catch up with everything and everyone. This week we should be able to get back into the swing of things. Love you all!

Elder Oxborrow

Happy Canada Day!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a happy Canada Day yesterday (that's why p-day is once again today instead of yesterday)! We had a good day and heard fireworks going off around 10. Unfortunately we couldn't see them from our apartment.

We had a great week this week. I can't believe it's July. It's insane. Staying busy makes time fly. We've been finding a lot of great potentials through knocking as well as some a great referral this week. We had a member bring a friend to church and say "Here you go here's an investigator" (she's not very tactful haha). We'll start teaching him soon. We have a crazy week ahead of us. We're leaving for Ottawa tonight for splits with the zone leaders tomorrow. Then we have zone study Thursday after which we will leave for Val d'Or Quebec so that I can go on splits with both of the other missionaries in the district. That will be about a 500 kilometer trip, then we'll finally come back home on Saturday so we'll basically be out of our area all week. It will be fun though. It's gonna be a beautiful drive through forest and lakes up to Val d'Or.

It's been weird watching so many good friends finish their missions. My trainer goes home in three weeks! He hadn't even been out a year when I became his companion. I can't keep up anymore haha. Well I'm doing well. Love and miss you all!

Elder Oxborrow