More photos from March 2021 in Airdrie with Elder Stringham

 

Week 83: Two new hobbies, one more cover safe

 Hello everyone!! 

After many weeks of routine and not insanely fun, I was desperate for some change. If for nothing else, for the email. And this week, though it still had its challenges, was pretty good!!

On thursday we went to the mission office to get supplies and mail. We then  headed downtown to drop it off to others in another district. They were just chillin, so we were with them a bit, and then they told us they found out that the APs (assistant to the presidents) street contact (talk to people seeing if they're interested in learning about christ) we can have  "out and about" time and we're meant to talk with people casually, but they go a bit far. But then I realized I haven't actually legitimately street contacted in English. So I just went with one of the elders, downtown calgary, neither of our areas, and street contacted a little!! We talked to like 10 people. One pretended to be on the phone, two put their beer cans in my face to show they weren't interested, and some were nice! We wore masks and kept distant and made it look casual but it was super fun and a beautiful day. 

Another super fun bit was doing family history. Seems like that wouldn't be fun, but I found out 2 lines on my family tree on one site straight up weren't my family and I didnt know how to fix it so I hit up a member who loves doing family history thinking he'd just say what to do over text.  He said he'd help and we planned a time to meet at the church. To our surprise he had set up two monitors and we went through so many people in detail. He fixed the problem, taught me lots, and he had a bunch of info book marked for me! He showed me three of the houses of one of my great great grandfathers, showed me an article on his job, exactly what he did, where he worked, a map from that day. He went hard on researching for me to show us these people can come alive. It was so fun and he gave me lots of direction. So that was super cool.

And to end, we taught a new guy this week and shared about Joseph Smith and the restoration and it was pretty spiritual. We then asked if he had any questions, and he said he did, then asked "can I finish my ramen". We kinda laughed and said yea, then he took an entire pack's worth, shoved it in his mouth, most of it hanging out into the container, and he started just sipping it up aggressively. I couldn't not laugh and the member was dying too (an old guy). The guy we taught then said, "you guys can keep talking" as he took another big slurp. So that was nice. 

Oh and also I got official news I'll be finishing my mission in the Canada Calgary mission! I expected it as I only have 4 months left, and president expected it too I guess as he told me in the most casual, chill way. He just threw it into a convo lol. But yea, not what I expected as my mission at the start, and not what I would've wanted before, but it's chill now. A lesson this teaches me is don't stress about the future, it'll be okay regardless. If a year ago you told me I'd finish and serve 14 months here I'd be so stressed and sad, but now having lived it I'm fine and it's been great. No point stressing before when the actual moment is okay.

Hope everyone has a great week and that it's warming up everywhere! March has flown by, thank goodness. 

Love,

Elder Fiore 

1. Alberta

2. Movie night

3. Missionary

4. Family history

5. Calgary with giles

6. Sky.

7. Calgary with me 

Week 82: Actually won a Bible bash!

 Hey everyone!! 

We had zone conference this week, a big missionary meeting which was fine. Good change of pace for a day. 

The weather has also been super nice, so we actually had an in person dinner with a member and it was awesome  just seeing people in person. Ate on their back deck and it was like 18 which was unexpected. So that was kind of the week's highlight. 

We also met with someone who was formerly taught and it was lowkey a bible bash and book of mormon argument but every concern I was actually able to answer to the point he was satisfied. It didn't get contentious at all and ended with him saying he'd want to meet again and he will actually read the book of mormon instead of just picking through it looking for faults. So it was super fun! Elder Stringham did not participate much but after he said he's glad I just kept going bcs he didn't know what to say lol. But that was also in person, so even better! 

I got a bloody nose mid prayer too in a lesson and it got on my shirt and another member gave us a bunch of proposal and marriage advice then got fired up and excited about missionary work after our message so that was cool! 

In Spite of tedious days at times, we are still slowly continuing on! Kind of a grind at times and awesome at others. But I spent like an hour writing all the whys I am even here. For others, for Christ and for myself. I have liked a page and a half of whys, so I go on. We need a why for everything we do. So ask yourself "why" and it'll either tell you to continue on or change paths a little. That's been a theme for me this week.

Hope everyone has a great day and march! A year ago we got Tahiti quarantined and all the madness started. Who would've thought I'd be out in Calgary now. Life is crazy. 

Week 81: Week zoomed by

 Gooood morning!

It is getting harder and harder to write emails lol. Covid makes life boring. At least the weeks are flying by. Never thought I'd say that. We literally are inside all day on zoom and technology. In our breaks we play ukulele (which I was able to exchange for ;)) and play basketball on a mini hoop we have with a foam ball. We seldom got out, just to drive, shovel+ pick ice, drop bibles off and volunteer at food bank. 

We had a zone council meeting in north Calgary and a mission wide meeting with Elder Renlund, one of the leaders of our church. Both were fun and inspiring. Zone council we really focused on Jesus Christ and how that should be the focus of everything we do which needed to be emphasized. Elder Renlund was a Q&A but it was pretty rushed. Something I liked and noticed was that everyone is at different places. Somethings he said that were mind blowing to some, I had realized months ago and applied already. And other things I was really touched and inspired by, others had been living with in mind for years. It was just a good reminder that we all need different things at different times and we all can contribute our part, our own realizations and our own experiences. And that even though he was talking to a lot of us, he was worried about answering the question of one person. Though I found some questions silly, if it helped just 1 person, he would answer it. God works that way. He helps all and is there for all, but also focuses on the one person, answering to their needs and questions. 

P day eve was pretty great this week! 

We saved our meal hours on sunday and had a movie night which was fun. Then had a nice call with some elders not in our district that I like! Good way to end the week 

Have a great week!!! It's starting to warm up which has been dope 

Love, 

Elder Fiore

Week 80: Companion one and done

 Yooo

New transfer here in the far north of the mission. And elder Johnson is no longer :(((. It came as a huge surprise and the first time I've only been with a companion for one. Of course its someone I got along with really well! It didnt feel long enough together, but I got... elder Stringham!!! 3rd in a row from Utah! He came out w Johnson, so is at about 20 months! So far he's awesome, teaches me ukelele and is fun! I think this too will be a great transfer. I love getting to know new people and they're always way different than I expect! 

Before transfers, last pday with Elder Johnson we had quite an adventure. We were bored in Airdrie and decided to go on a drive west. We got caught in thick fog so we couldn't turn around. We then realized we only had 30 km of fuel, Airdrie was 35 away and another city further west, Cochrane, was 25! So we decided just to go to that other city! (which is technically not allowed, but we had to! And its in our zone so). From there we figured wed just go further west into the rocky mountains! So that was BEAUTIFUL. Went on the Moorly reserve and stuff. I saw some beautiful mountains, bison and mountain goats! It was a super fun day trip haha.

The highlight of the actual week was that we found a $200 "guitalele" with a broken string. We simply and easily fixed the string and its perfect now. The missionary who bought it and left it said I can have it! So it's like a mini guitar and I'm tryna swap it at a music store for a ukelele. Great apartment find!

We tried to walk a dog and the owner just gave us the door code for us to take him whenever. The problem is he thought we were breaking in the house so he got mad then scared and hid upstairs. We tried to go get him but he was so scared and wasnt even responding to classic dog words like walk or treat! So we left dogless in Seattle. We enjoyed the nice weather though shoveling that same day and the woman we shoveled for trojan horsed gift cards in with some chocolate as a thank you! 

I was making some goals for how I could better develop a specific christlike attribute this transfer, something we normally do as missionaries each transfer. This transfer I chose hope. 

Something I realized when setting goals/plans was that there was one thing I did last transfer for humility that I equally needed to do for hope. Though it's similar and simple, I needed to specifically do it again. To pray for it! One of the most important things in achieving goals or plans is often overlooked! It often seems silly thinking "prayer" when thinking of things we can do, but that really is the best tool for everything! That should always be the first on the list for any plan or road to achieving anything. We want a job? A score on a test? A time for a run? We need to plan for work, but also for faith! I love prayer and know it works.

Have a great week everyone! February flew by!

Love,

Elder Fiore 

1. Elder Stringham!!

2. Bye elder johnson. Final selfie 

3. Bye elder johnson for real.

4- rocky mountains!