Happy New Year

Hello family and friends!

It's only been about a half of a week since my last e-mail. Basically we just did a lot of knocking this week which isn't fun in the cold. We started knocking one of the few buildings in our area and everyone just kept kicking us out so we gave up on that building haha. So basically we're stuck to knocking outside. It's not too bad except for when it gets windy. We've got zone study tomorrow so we'll get to see all the missionaries. Should be fun. It's crazy how huge the banks of snow everywhere are. Yesterday there was a pile of snow about 20 feet high. Happy new year!

Elder Oxborrow

Happy Christmas...after

Dear family and friends,

What a great Christmas season! We had a great missionary Christmas party last week and got to see a lot of old friends from the MTC. We got to watch Princess Bride, and did a white elephant exchange with all the missionaries. I ended up with a tie. Pretty original haha. We got our Christmas packages from home which was cool. On Christmas eve we were at the Christmas family's house haha. It was a lot of fun. We had beef wellington and built gingerbread houses.They decided to make it a competition which was a mistake on their part because Elder Wilbur and I created the most beautiful gingerbread house the world has ever known. We also got to watch It's a Wonderful Life! It was awesome. That made it a real Christmas. After the movie, they gave us a stocking full of random gifts including deodorant and a Wal-Mart gift card. Good stuff. On Christmas day we got to sleep in! Best gift ever, although I couldn't sleep any longer than 8. We opened our packages and then we went to the Verstappen family for lunch and to call home. It was great to hear from everyone. Sounds like everyone's doing well. Since we had the rest of the day off we went to the gym at our chapel to do some physical activity. Great Christmas! Hope you're all enjoying the holidays! Happy New Year!

Elder Oxborrow

Christmas Skype

Happy Christmas

Hello family and friends!

The Christmas spirit is in full swing here in Ottawa! We had an awesome week this week. Our investigator Zoe has been coming to church for the past couple weeks, but her dad has kind of been convincing her to go home with him after sacrament meeting each week. This week she decided to stay and she loved it! The young women were awesome in fellowshipping her. After the second class Mark asked her if she wanted to go and she quickly told him she wanted to stay for the third. Mark also enjoyed the meetings and is planning on coming next week and singing with the men during sacrament meeting!

Tomorrow we have district study in the morning and then we're headed straight to Montreal to do splits and stay the night. On Wednesday we have our mission Christmas party which is actually only with half the mission so I won't get to see everyone but it'll still be fun. On Christmas eve we've got dinner with the Christmas family (that's their last name) and on Christmas we've got dinner with the Verstappens who have a son in France on a mission.

Should be a white Christmas up here I hope everyone is enjoying the season back home. Have a merry Christmas!

Elder Oxborrow

December

Dear family and friends,

It's been an eventful week. Wednesday was transfers, so I received my new companion, Elder Wilbur. We were in the MTC together so I already knew him, but he's been in Quebec for the past 4 months. I'll be in Ottawa for at least 1/4 of my mission, possibly more if I stay here again for another transfer (which is very possible). Thursday was zone study so the whole zone was here. On Friday we had a less with our new investigator Awuet (a wheat). She is from Egypt and has 2 kids. We committed her to baptism and she accepted and asked if her kids could be baptized too, so we should have 3 baptisms coming up soon! On Saturday we met a lot of very friendly less actives in the ward. Our ward christmas party is this Saturday, so it's a great opportunity to invite our investigators and less actives out. Sunday wasn't quite what we were hoping it would be. If everything had panned out we would have had 6 investigators at church, but we ended up with two. Such is the story with missionary work haha. Still a good week though. I'm a bit jealous that my best friend and my brother get to be in the MTC together, but I'm excited for both of you! The work is pressing onward here. This week the zone leaders were asking all the companionships if they think there's room in their apartment for another companionship... The mission is going to explode with missionaries before too long! This morning we woke up to freezing rain. I have never seen this before in my life. Apparently it's an eastern thing. It happens when the water in the clouds is still liquid when it starts to fall, and it drops below freezing as it falls through the air, but it doesn't freeze because it's being stirred by the air around it. When it lands, it freezes instantly to whatever it hits. When we woke up this morning there was a thin layer of ice on everything. It was pretty crazy. Well I'm gonna go play a board game or something. Love you all!

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