Birthday Week

Dear family and friends,

Just another week in paradise here in Quebec City. The work in the area is really starting to expand. It seems like it had been at a bit of a standstill for a while but little by little we're finding ways to hasten the work. It's been a bit of a challenge lately though since all of the students are studying for finals then leaving for Spring Break. We did have good lessons with our investigators Bin Li and Carlos.

The other day Donald, our investigator who had been in the hospital for a month was discharged. We happened to stop by the hospital a couple hours after he had left. I was immediately worried because I thought he'd probably start smoking again the second he got home. We went by his house and our fears were realized. I was super bummed since he had gone a month straight in the hospital smoke free, and had gained a lot of his strength back. He says the last few cigarettes he has are the last ones he'll smoke before he quits but we'll see. I wish there was more we could do to help him but it has to be his desire.

On Friday the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency took us out for dinner and Elder Leon mentioned that it was my birthday. He immediately started asking me what I needed for my birthday and I kept telling him I was fine and had everything I needed. He said he'd buy me a cake haha. So we walked to this fancy cafe/bakery place and he bought me a cake, then when we were walking back to the bus stop we passed a sport merchandise type store and he asked me if I wanted a jersey. I said I was good and he said we should just go look. He kept offering stuff and I kept trying to resist but he persisted and in the end he won by buying me a way nice Montréal Expos hoodie. Ah man I felt so bad but he said he's young, single, doesn't have a car, and has a well paying job so he's well off financially. In any case, it was a good birthday present. We also went out to get ice cream earlier that morning with the other missionaries. It was a good day. Thanks to all for the happy birthday wishes!

Love, Elder Oxborrow

Moved In

Hi everyone!

This week went quick. We finally moved into the new apartment and it's so nice! It actually has carpet! No one in Quebec has carpet and I don't know why but we do! I'm pretty excited about that haha. We live on the 8th floor so we also have a beautiful view of some of Quebec. This week we also worked with a lot of the recent converts and less actives like usual, but we also found two awesome new investigators. They're a younger couple from Morocco who are super nice. We met the wife first, and the first thing she did was offer us chocolate cake! Haha it was awesome.

The effects of the age change are going to start here this week when four new sisters arrive, and then there's another transfer the next week which means more missionaries. It's going to start getting hectic for a while but it should be fun. This upcoming transfer is only going to be three weeks long instead of six like usual. That's going to be weird. A lot of new areas will be opening and there will be a lot of trios in the mission until President Cannon can get all the apartments sorted out. We're lucky we were able to get into ours early due to the sisters coming into the area. Hope you're all doing well. We're just going through another cold spell here. Hopefully it's the last one.

Love, Elder Oxborrow

In Canada, it's not girly to wear a scarf.

Hello family and friends,

It's been a fun second week in Quebec. The language is still hard to understand. I hope I'm understanding more but it's hard to tell. Some people have some crazy accents. On Tuesdays we teach a free English class and that's a lot of fun. I never realized how hard of a language English is until I started teaching it to someone who doesn't speak it. We've had to spend a lot of time this week searching for an apartment because of the new missionaries coming in. I have a feeling my companion and I will both be training again soon. We have a lot of awesome investigators but right now our main focus is Constance. She's about 20 and is doing awesome. Her baptism date was set for February 23 but a couple things we were waiting on got lined up faster than we had expected so she's being baptized on the 9th! We're super excited for her.

A few days ago I was asked to give a talk in church. I was pretty nervous about it since my pronunciation still isn't the best, and I've never given a talk in French. I typed it all out though so I knew I could have that to fall back on. It went pretty well. I talked for about 18 minutes and didn't realize I was going that long so I hope I didn't bore anyone ha. Well the work here is progressing, and we're looking forward to the changes coming our way. Hope all is well back home. Sounds like a lot of people are getting mission calls. Good stuff.

Elder Oxborrow

Good Week

Dear Family and friends,

Happy Thanksgiving! We had ours over a month ago, but a family is going to celebrate American Thanksgiving and have us over so that's good. I don't have much time today, but thought I'd tell you about our new investigator Diane. She was a referral from her sister Darlene who is a recent convert. We met with the two of them On Thursday for the first time. Diane has had some diseases which have left her a bit crippled and some days in pain. Despite her physical disablilties, she has a wonderful spirit and knows where to turn for strength. We had a good lesson, and the spirit came in strongly on many different occasions. After talking about the restoration and the Book of Mormon, she said she's willing to be baptized without us even needing to bring it up. A few days later, we got a call from Darlene who said she'd like to come to church this coming Sunday. It's a breath of fresh air to have an investigator who is actively seeking to know more about the gospel. Hope you're all doing well!

Love, Elder Oxborrow

p.s. 1st pic- Thanks for the signed poster from the Snow side of my family!

2nd pic- we were proud of this meal...

Don't Look Under the Fridge

Hello family and friends!

This week has been pretty exciting. We've had tons of success finding new investigators, but when it comes to the second appointment, they haven't been holding up haha. On Tuesday Zoe went to mutual and had a lot of fun. It sounds like the young women really reached out to her. We helped a less active guy rake some leaves on Thursday, that was pretty fun. Saturday was a pretty big day. We started off with 2 different service projects, then we went home and showered. We had a lesson with Zoe at 3 and we brought one of the young women from the ward. She bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon, and it was a good lesson. At the end we committed her and her dad, Mark, to come to church the next day. They accepted but Mark said they'd probably only stay for sacrament meeting. The rest of the day we were knocking and doing some passby's with a member. We found four new investigators in less than 2 hours! It was a good day ha. On Sunday we had a service based on Remembrance Day. A military wife and Naval officer spoke. I think Mark and Zoe enjoyed it. Mark wanted to go but I think Zoe wanted to stay. Next time maybe they'll stay for the whole time. We have zone conference coming up this week. Should be good. Gotta run we have zone activity today.

Elder Oxborrow

Happy November!

Hello family and friends!

Hard to believe it's already a new month again. The weeks are starting to go quicker and quicker. It's been a good week. I'm adjusting to training more and more. It's a new challenge for sure, but I'm growing a lot from it. This week was a really good week of finding. We did a lot of knocking, and got 6 new investigators because of it! Hoping some of them are pretty solid. Our district leader asked me to give a training at district study on Wednesday. It was the first time I've done that but it went alright. I'm used to teaching non-members, it's a bit different teaching other missionaries. We also met with our 15 year old investigator, Zoe and got all the details for mutual on Tuesday ironed out so she'll be going to that! We're hoping the other girls reach out to her and she has fun. We also had splits this week. I stayed in Fallowfield and Elder Kastendieck, the district leader came in for the day. It was a good split. He's from Edmonton and is a pretty good guitar player. We had a dinner appointment with Steven (recent convert), and Kristal (his girlfriend) so Elder Grant was able to get to know them better. We had a good Sunday yesterday, but we had a dinner appointment 45 minutes away so that took a lot of the productiveness out of the day. Luckily we got a ride though. Overall a good week!

Happy 19th birthday to my brother Clayton!

Elder Oxborrow

p.s. President allows us to e-mail family and friends, so feel free to e-mail. brenden.oxborrow@myldsmail.net

First Week Training

Dear family and friends,

It's been a fun week here. Elder Rasmussen had to say goodbye to his friends and converts (photo is us and Steven). I got a new companion on Wednesday named Elder Grant and he is from SLC. He's a hard worker so I'm grateful for that. He's been enjoying the dinner appointments we get. It's definitely been an adjustment being the one who knows the area better. It's been stressful but good. I'm learning fast. We had a lot of good lessons. We taught Zoe, our 15 year old investigator twice this week. We brought one of the young women from the ward. We talked about mutual activities, and I think she's excited to come. We also taught Myrium, our Haitian investigator. It was a good lesson. We were able to invite the spirit pretty well and I think it hit home with her.

We fixed up a guy's trailer this week. He's not a member but he lives with members so he knows the missionaries. It was a pretty dirty job and he left us there to go the store twice, but he took us out to a steakhouse after. It was an interesting day to say the least.

I've been hearing of a lot of girls who are leaving on missions soon. I'm sure there are a lot more I haven't heard about. I've also heard some pretty crazy statistics about the number of missionary applications going through. Well I'm learning lots and working hard. Hope all is well in the US of A!

Elder Oxborrow

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear family and friends,

First off, I just wanted to wish you all a happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I'm looking forward to eating turkey tonight with a family in the ward. It's been a great week in Ottawa! It's starting to get quite chilly... I've already started making some purchases for the Winter season. While I'm excited now, I'm sure I will soon be wondering why I was ever excited ha. The leaves are amazing in Canada this time of year. They turn extremely bright red. I'll try to remember to take some pictures to send.

This week we went on splits with the zone leaders. I stayed in Fallowfield and Elder Talbot came in for the day. We had a lot of knocking that day so I learned a lot from him. We also taught a less active guy in the ward who always talks trash on America. On Thursday we taught Zoe who is the daughter of a former investigator. We found out that she had been telling some of her friends that she had been reading the Book of Mormon, and "liked" mormon.org on Facebook. Hopefully she's able to keep reading and feeling the spirit.

While we were doing our weekly planning on Friday, Elder Rasmussen and I decided that we were going to commit our 9 year old investigator, Isaac, to baptism. His parents are members and were less active when he was 8 so we've been teaching him. He accepted the date and will be baptized on the 20th of October. There are a lot of areas in Ottawa with investigators being baptized that day so it will be a good day for the zone. Friday night we had a dinner appointment at the home of James Reece who is preparing to go on a mission. He lives with his non-member uncle who is a funny character, and we were excited that he was ok with us coming over. James also invited his friend Marco who we've been teaching. It was a great dinner, and we shared a message about helping others. I think that everyone who was there enjoyed feeling the spirit in the room.

Saturday was conference, and with it the awesome announcement of the new missionary age! I assume a lot of people are reconsidering future plans. I was feeling disappointed that we didn't have any investigators with us at the Saturday morning session when Russell M. Nelson spoke directly to investigators, frequently repeating: "Ask the missionaries, they can help you". I felt like we had missed a huge opportunity, but after the session ended we got a text from Queen, our investigator from Naimibia, and she had been watching at one of the members' home! It's so great when members extend a helping hand without being asked. Queen loved the conference sessions (she watched both on Saturday). Afterwards, as the members were giving her a ride home, they asked her if she had any questions about anything, to which she replied: "I think I'll ask the missionaries". Haha she's awesome. We're planning on committing her to baptism soon.

The rest of the sessions, of course were amazing. Just one short line that stuck out to me from President Uchtdorf's talk in priesthood session:

"Constantly increase in righteousness!"

I think we can all apply this in our lives. Improvement is a process that is accelerated with consistency.

This morning we had zone study and interviews with President and Sister Cannon, so P-day got pushed back to tomorrow, but today we're doing e-mails since we won't have access to the computers tomorrow, so it's all just confusing haha.

I hope everything back home is going well!

Sincerely,

Elder Oxborrow

Transfer Calls! (and this weeks letter too)

Hello family and friends,

Due to a busy P-day I have 2 minutes to send this e-mail haha. Well we got transfer calls on Saturday and...... I'm staying haha. So is my companion so nothing new. I found out, however, that my two MTC companions, Elder Pehrson, and Elder Hansen, who have been out as long as I have, will be training this transfer! And they are both in a French speaking zone! So crazy haha. Well this week was better, things are starting to pick up. All is well. I'll send more details next week.

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Oxborrow

Dear family and friends,

This week has been a big relief. We finally saw some of the results we've been working for. We concentrated a lot this week on getting member present lessons since that's what we've been struggling on for the past few weeks. So this week we made sure we were bringing members to almost every lesson we had. We were getting some here and there although many were still falling through. We decided we'd fast on Sunday to see if that would help us meet our goals. When we got to church, James (a convert about a year ago, preparing to go on his mission) told us he wanted to come out with us for the whole day. We started off visiting less actives and went tracting before dinner. While tracting, we got one lesson, then headed to our dinner appointment. After dinner he texted two friends and asked if they wanted to learn about his church and they both said yes! So we got three member present lessons that we didn't have planned in one day! That was an awesome day. We've got a lot of so so investigators so we're working on solidifying them. Having a ball out in Ottawa! Love you all!

Elder Oxborrow

P.S. the photos are:

1. Snake a lady had who we found knocking

2. Different languages of BoM we have in our apartment

3. Our new pet

4. Steve's (our recent convert) ring from when he was with the Maple Leafs and they won their conference

Almost Transfers...

Dearest family and friends,

It has been a good but tough week here in Fallowfield. We've been struggling to get member present lessons since our solid investigator was baptized, so we decided to put emphasis on that this week. We planned member lessons with four different members throughout the week, totalling ten lessons. Then... they ALL fell through, so we got zero member present lessons this week for the second week in a row. So I guess at this point we're just being patient in the trial of our faith. We're working hard though and we know we'll find some more solid investigators soon. Transfer calls come this Saturday and then transfers are the following Wednesday! Pretty crazy. I think I'd like to stay in Fallowfield, even though my pants are getting a little too tight out here. The members are awesome out here and love missionaries. Today there was a ward party for the Champlain ward so all the missionaries came to that. We played ultimate frisby for a while which was fun. I'm kinda sweaty now though. I hope everything is going well back home. Sorry not too much to report this week... I'm pretty sure a miracle is just around the corner. Happy school year!

Love,

Elder Oxborrow