Transfer Calls...

Hello family and friends!

It has been a pretty eventful week. Actually mostly just an eventful Saturday. We started off the day with the baptism of our 9-year old investigator, Isaac. It was a great morning. There was a pretty good turn out from the ward. His grandparents were also there and were very emotional. His dad (who was recently reactivated) baptized and confirmed him. We did some knocking for the rest of the day, until we turned in an hour earlier than usual for transfer calls. Elder Rasmussen and I were both anxious because we knew there was going to be a change. He has been here in Fallowfield for 7 transfers, or about 10 months. He kinda had a bit of a spoiler a couple weeks ago when he was interviewed by President Cannon. One of the first things president Cannon said to him was "Well you've been here for a while, I think you're ready to move on." I figured I'd probably stay if he left so I was just wondering who would come in to replace him. By the time Saturday night came around we were both quite on edge about it. Calls start at 8 and you just need to pretty much be in your apartment waiting for the phone call. Last transfer it didn't come until 9:15 so you basically never know when it will come. We waited and waited, and finally the call came at 8:45. It was from Elder Bagnall, one of the AP's. I answered, and after he made sure we were both there he spilled the beans. "Elder Rasmussen, you're going to be training a new missionary on the island of Montreal. You will be opening up the area and you are going to be the district leader." I've never seen him so shocked haha. He's been here for so long that I think it was hard to accept that he's actually leaving. He continued: "Elder Oxborrow you will be staying in Fallowfield and you will be training a new missionary." Although I was surprised, I knew that there were a lot of missionaries coming in this transfer, so it was a possibility. I won't know who I'm training until the moment he gets off the bus in Ottawa. He'll get here Wednesday and then I'll be the senior companion in Fallowfield. I hope I'm ready, but ready or not it's coming.

The same address works for letters since I'm staying.

It's:

Elder Brenden Oxborrow

3231 Steeple Hill Crescent

Richmond, ON K0A-2Z0

Canada

Feel free to write. Love you all!

Elder Oxborrow

P.S. The photos are from the baptism and some I took around our apartment.

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

I'M HERE!!!

Family and friends,

I made it safely to Montreal, and met the mission president and his wife and it all went great. I described most of that in the last e-mail. The next morning, I got to find out what area I'd be serving and.... Ottawa! I'm in an English zone so that makes it a little easier haha. It was about a 2 and a half hour bus ride from the island of Montreal, and while I was on the bus I actually sat next to a guy from Western Canada and had a long conversation with him and for a lot of time we talked about religion. He had a lot of questions about missionary work and some other doctrinal things so I answered those and then when we got to the stop I gave him a Book of Mormon and he promised me he'd read it. So that was cool, but anyway the area is called Fallowfield and there's an awesome ward here. My companion is Elder Rasmussen from Highland Utah and he's been in this area for about 8 months so he knows it really well. They actually had a baptism the Tuesday I was flying in. His name is Steve and he's super cool. He invited me to stand in the circle to confirm him so that was cool. Got to stand in the confirmation circle my first Sunday here haha. Since it was testimony meeting the bishop asked me to come up and share my testimony and I forgot to introduce myself haha. I didn't say my name or where I was from ha. Oh well I'm just a greenie. The ward is super supportive of missionary work though so it's awesome. We've had dinner appointments almost every night since I've been here. We have four hours of study every morning. 1 hour each for: personal, companionship, language, and training. We've done a lot of knocking since I got here. It's not bad but I don't like feeling like I'm bothering people but I'll get over it haha. It's been really hot here it got up to like 38 degrees celsius and it's so humid ha. It makes it so you can't escape the heat even in the shade. Our apartment is attached to some members' home and they are really nice. It's funny cause everyone up here actually says "eh" a lot and has a Canadian accent haha. So we had some pretty awesome experiences already. Yesterday we were out knocking and we weren't having any success so just as we were getting ready to head back to the car we saw a guy walking down the side walk so we decided to talk to him. We told him who we were and about the Book of Mormon and it turned out that he had read some of it before and even prayed about it and had a really good feeling when he did and he felt like there was "something to it". He even said he'd buy one from us! Haha so we gave him one and told him to read the introduction and we got his contact information and everything so we've got high hopes for him. I guess fasting works! Then today since it's p-day we were doing laundry (at a laundromat) and a lady approached us and asked us for a Book of Mormon. We were amazed haha. 2 perfect investigators in 2 days! Turns out her husband used to be mormon and it seemed like he still had a pretty strong testimony so I'm not sure why he went inactive but I guess they were going to a different church and didn't like how their church would teach one thing and then turn around and do another. So I guess for a couple months now she's been seeing the missionaries at the laundromat and trying to work up the courage to ask! She knew exactly when we were going to be there! It was pretty crazy. So we talked to them for quite some time and got their information and gave them a Book of Mormon, and they even wanted another one so she could give it to her mom. So we've already had a couple miracles just in my time here. The work seems to be pressing forward strongly in this area. Before this year, the ward's record for baptisms was 3 in a year, and at the start of this year they made a goal to have 8. So far they have 4 and we have one date set for an investigator, and some more promising investigators popping up. We get to drive pretty much everywhere we go since the area is so huge, and we drive a 2012 Subaru so that's super nice. There's a lot of different kinds of people up here. You never know who's gonna come to the door when you knock. Some people like to talk, a lot don't haha. A few are rude which is funny cause we just tell them to have a nice day very politely haha. This one guy and his brother started bible bashing us so we had to get outta there ha. Basically I'm just trying to learn as much as I can and get used to the schedule. I'm always wiped out (and usually sticky from sweat and humidity) When we get back to the apartment. I can't figure out why I'm so tired in the morning though because I sleep way better here than I did in the MTC. I do kinda miss it there though since I could play basketball every day. That was nice. We actually can't play basketball at all here since so many missionaries have gotten injured but at least we can play instruments and listen to music. Well I won't make this too much longer. All is well, and they weren't lying when they said it would be hard work. I hope I'll adjust to it more and be less tired. It feels like it's been a lot longer than a week since I got here, and it hasn't even been that yet haha. Well I'm doing well and I hope you all are too.

Love, Elder Oxborrow

p.s. Since I'm pretty far from the mission office, it will probably be more effective to send mail to the apartment. The address there is:

3231 Steeple Hill Crescent

Ottawa, ON K0A

Canada

I'm Here!

Hey family. Just a quick e-mail home to let you know I'm safe and sound here at President Cannon's home in Montreal. President and sister Cannon are great as are the assistants. Sister Cannon made roast beef au jus sandwiches. They were delicious. There's a room full of air mattresses in the basement where all 14 of us elders will sleep tonight. It's beautiful here. I'm looking forward to finding out where I'll be serving in the morning. Everything is in French before English haha. The flights were good. Looking forward to getting to work tomorrow! Love you.

Elder Oxborrow

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well It's Monday night and I leave at 4 tomorrow morning so I hope I'm ready. My day tomorrow will consist of plenty of traveling, then at 4 pm eastern time I will arrive in Montreal where I will meet the mission president and his wife, and the AP's. We will then travel through Montreal seeing all the beautiful views, and then we will arrive at the president Cannon's home where we will have dinner and a testimony meeting with the 15 other elders who are also leaving tomorrow. Then we'll get settled in a little more and president will start interviewing us. Then we'll go to bed on inflatable mattresses, and on Wednesday morning I will meet my trainer and (I suppose) get to work! Pretty exciting if you ask me. I won't know til probably tomorrow whether or not I'll be speaking French or English for my first transfer. Not sure which I'd prefer. Well I got to host again on Wednesday and I hosted one elder who is headed to the Ogden, Utah mission, and the second elder I hosted was my good buddy Derek White. It was awesome to see him. His mom took a quick picture of the two of us, Elder Munns, and Elder Tyrell Stephens (who was also just arriving being hosted by Elder Munns).

Elder Stephens, Elder White, Elder Munns and Elder Oxborrow

That was pretty cool. All the French speaking elders who are headed for Paris or Lyon (the two missions in France) left this morning and this afternoon. It's been kind of a weird feeling all day with them gone and knowing that we'll be leaving so soon. One quite eventful thing that happened this week is Elder Hansen (my companion) and another elder in the zone cooked up (in the microwave) some canned "escargots" and for those of you who don't speak french, or aren't into fine dining, that means snails. It was pretty gross. they were out of a can and they looked just like the ones you find in your back yard. Elder Hansen had no problem chewing it, but every time he tried to swallow it, he almost gagged. Oh so another Elder who came in on Wednesday was the kid who plays Joseph Smith (when he's younger) in the restoration video! It was crazy haha. His name is Elder Nicholas Whitaker. He's going to Charlotte, North Carolina. I think it would be funny if he had one of his investigators watch the restoration movie haha. well I need to go finish packing so I guess the next time I e-mail home I'll be in Canada eh (my companion from Canada really says "eh" a lot)! And hopefully I'll have more alotted time for the task ha. Love you all.

Elder Brenden Oxborrow

Travel Plans!

Well I got my travel plans last Thursday and... I only have one week left from today! I have to week up at 3 in the morning on Tuesday the 31st. I'm excited/ scared/ nervous. Today we sat next to an elder from Quebec during lunch and he spoke a little Quebecois french to us and I could barely understand a word he was saying haha. It's so different. I don't know at this point whether I'll be in a french area or english area to start off, so Tuesday will be the day when I find out if my first six weeks will be in my native language or not haha. I'll arrive in Montreal at 3:57 Eastern time (1:57). Super excited. Trying to learn as much as I can for my last week. We had a pretty chouette (like "sweat" but with a "sh" [means groovy]) tie trade last night. I bad farewell to a couple but I got some real beauties. I got to be a missionary host last week and I hosted a few missionaries which was a cool experience. It was cool to see the first day at the MTC from a different perspective. I get to do it again tomorrow too! I've got a couple friends coming in so it would be sweet if I was their host. I hope I'm ready for the field and I hope I get a good trainer! I'll probably be able to e-mail Monday since it's kind of a P-day because I leave Tuesday. Love, Elder Oxborrow