February 20, 2014

New Companion - Sister Keeler

Lunch with Sister Leavitt - their favorite lady!

                         

Sign for the Free Hot Chocolate Booth

February 17, 2013 (Wowee 11 months?!? YIKES)

Thanks for your emails I much appreciate them wow it is at an end of transfer coming up here and this Sunday we open up our transfer emails! CRAZYCRAZY! I am expecting and hoping that Sis Keeler and I will both stay seated here!

 

So I just love serving here I could not imagine my life with out it! I love where I am serving it is so nice to be in the "metro" around President and Sister Leavitt, it is just so convenient! For example we will be having a lesson with Andre tomorrow at the mission home with President and Sister Leavitt.... YES at the MISSION HOME! the things you just appreciate sooo much when your mission is so huge!! As well Sister Keeler and I were able to bring Sister Leavitt with us to a lesson this week but unfortunately that person no showed us so we did not end up teaching with her.  We were talking with her in the car and we shared how we are just so happy to be serving around her and that we feel we have so much wisdom to learn from her.  She invited us to come over for lunch today!! And we had a fabulous lunch it was so much fun and so great! We have pictures that I will be sending! We got to see President Leavitt but we had a wonderful lunch with the 3 of us and I feel I just learnt sooooo much from her! Sis keeler and I always are having deep gospel conversations which proceed and open the door up for learning from one another.  I just learnt so much from her and feel like I have so much more of a clear understanding of where I want to be and how to get there!

 

So this week has been great we have done many unique ways of finding!!  We had a hot chocolate booth this week where Sis keeler and I handed out close to 100 cups of hot chocolate; we actually had to run home get some more hot chocolate it was such a success! We are becoming better known in the community, which we feel will lead to success in due time! We started volunteering at the hair salon which was great! We organized their color and got to know all the stylists in the hair salon real well!  They all love us there and actually a member from our ward and her family are faithful clients of theirs! It really is so much fun and such  a great service opportunity! -- memorizes of a lifetime!

President Leavitt has talked about the 4 ways that lead to success they are;

1) Faith of the missionaries

2) Skill of the missionaries

3) Faith, skill, and dedication of the members

4) Preparedness of the people

And we are really trying to apply all 4 of those in this area. Sister Keeler and have been having great companion studies.  We have been doing all we can to serve love and strengthen this ward and warm them up to missionary work, and we feel through finding unique ways to serve in the community we will be able to soften the hearts to the community and like us! So far we have been blessed to see that things have been working!

 

We are seeing success with two investigators the hearts of the people here are certainly hard but we have been seeing success in many different ways! Andre is still progressing great.  We talked to close to 300 ppl this week in inviting them to learn about this gospel and picked up no investigators but it is okay! We are looking forward to this week and have faith that we will find new investigators; it is all about a consistent effort.

 

Since this area does not have a busy high populated area to go "street contact" people we go to grocery store parking lots, and bus terminals haha it is great! We also have been doing alot of knocking, service and working with the members! We are teaching a family in the wards friend this Saturday.  She is a single mother and has had contact with the church before.  We are so looking forward to be able to teach her with them because WE ARE ONE and then with that same family we are going over for dinner next Monday and they are having another family over for dinner!  They are absolutely fantastic and everyone should follow their example :)

 

This ward is embracing us finally and it is great! We are having a dinner apt everyday this week and on Weds two times because we are having the New Glasgow sisters come visit in our area that day so both sets of us will be able to come it is great! Normally I would rather to go work, but dinner apts are not for the food, it is to gain trust and get in the hearts of the members and inspire and uplift them to do missionary work every which is the BEST work ever!!

 

Church was cancelled everywhere on Sunday here except for our ward and Dartmouth ward so in our ward we had like 12-16 missionaries attend! Sis Belford (LA from New York) attended church in this "flash freeze" storm for her 3rd week in a row, it was such a blessing to see!

 

We are having a visit with the New Glasgow sisters this week and a mini exchange with the Dartmouth sisters, we will be having a leadership training this Weds where our zone; Elder Jarvis and Steed and Sis K and I are giving a 25 minute Doctrinal Discussion together on the power of BOM in conversion! I have studied about that this morning in preparing for that and I really have come to realize that the Book Of Mormon is UNREAL and that is is the keystone to our conversion and lives!

 

We are seeing so much here, and we are at the start of a great work in this area! I love my mission so much it has completely changed me I can not believe 11 months ago I was giving ya'll a hug goodbye in the airport time has gone by so fast and yet I feel like a completely different person at who I was then. I hope to continually change so that when I am home I can continue to do what is right and be an instrument in the Lords hands. Volunteering in the hair salon on Thurs really made me realize how perfect of job it is, to love others and build them up and...SHARE THE GOSPEL AND BE A LIGHT AND AN EXAMPLE TO ALL. I can not wait to practice these skills in the future and continue to bring others into the Light of righteousness.

 

I love you all it is a great day to be a Mormon  and a missionary!!

 

LOVE,

Sister Pizzey

xoxox

 

February 14, 2014 - Pics (from Christmas time)

Paige, got love her!

Cutting hair somewhere - maybe a nursing home

Sis Starkie, Sis Pizzey, Sis Aslett - with their Christmas Gifts
Missionary Christmas Party!

 So many kind people having them over for
Christmas!

With their Christmas PJ's we sent them!

More kind members having them for Christmas!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

February 10, 2014

So this has been an amazing week! I can't believe how much Sis K and I are going through and learning it truly is amazing and I feel so blessed to be serving with her. I know me serving a mission is apart of Heavenly Fathers plan.  It truly is amazing, we are meeting people and serving around missionaries that we know we are here to help.  As well we are learning things from one another that I don't think I would ever be able to learn from anyone else!  I stand all amazed and am so grateful to be here, I could not imagine my life without this mission.

So WOW this has been an amazing week !

Monday we started teaching the MOST prepared investigator every like SERIOUSLY. It was a blessing straight from heaven.  Andre requested missionaries from mormon.org we started teaching him Monday night and put him on date for March 8th!  He has already booked work off for it and informed his boss that he can't work Sundays because church is a priority.  He is french catholic from Montreal has been here 30 yrs and is in his 50s. He has a wife who is not interested YET but he is working on her! He came to church Sunday and everyone loved him and we have been teaching him in members homes, and we will be actually be teaching a lesson with him and the Bishop tomorrow! Truly was such a miracle and mercy from the Lord to be teaching him. He called us last night after church and left a voice-mail about how excited he is and that he cannot but the BOM down.  After every lesson Sis K and I are just like "WOW did that just happen?!" And Sis K coming from Newfoundland for 10 months is just like "people like this actually do exist??!"

haha we have been blessed :)!

So you are all going to laugh but we have set up some amazing service opportunists in this community because one way to success is softening the hearts of the people living here by helping them see us in a different light and see that we are cool! hhah.  So we are doing the hot chocolate booth with the elders but as well Sis Keeler and I set up to work in a salon two hours a week thurs from 1-3 hahaha. President Leavitt okayed it and think it is a great idea! As literally we will be salon assistants at "Fusion Hair Studio" a classy busy new high end salon full of kingdom builders - our fear was we would be around trashy people but we had a great talk with the owner this morning.  We are on the floor mixing colors, sweeping, booking hair appointments and seating and greeting people.  I will be helping more hands on, taking down colors etc! hahaha its great and if their clients ask what we do we are allowed to talk about it, just as long as they start the convo. The owner has asked to many questions like "what are your beliefs?" why do you do this? haha she loves us and it will be great!

So we had a leadership training this week for District leaders and sister training leaders and zone leaders in nova scotia it was great! and then Sis K and I picked up 3 new gators this week and have some potentials lined up for this week we are hoping to begin teaching!

One lady named Betty whose friend is a member in Sackville, and referred us to her, she is going through a hard time and funny thing is she came to the church for an activity and accidentally walked in the temple and she said she felt the Spirit so strongly, we are hoping to have her attend church this week and have her on date!

We are hoping as well to get a free hair cutting booth set up a the farmers market as well!

So many amazing things have happened this week but also hard things as well. Sis K and I are serving in a District of missionaries that are struggling, 3 of the 6 other missionaries in our District were actually about to go home; 2 because of discouragement and 1 because of illness. All of these things have led to a really discouraged slow district.  We are working hard with training and trying to motivate the sisters to be unified.  It was sad to see missionaries struggling so much and missing out on the joy and blessings a mission can bring- yes its hard but its like a refiners fire every growing pain is so worth it! It was saddening to see this all and Sis K and are were so grateful to be serving with one another through this all!  

It has been an amazing week of growing, learning, and teaching! Things with the ward are going better and better! Sis K and I had a great meeting with the Bishopric yesterday, just us two as the elders could not make it; it was funny this is the most "hip hoppiting" Bishopric ever.  They all look Blakes age and are like Blake and also have young families, they are pretty casual which is weird for me but they are so willing to help us out and be one with us.  We are learning lots from them and we are all working together on helping the ward be a more welcoming ward and not so clicky.

This week has been one for learning and I feel so blessed! I am working on changing my diet consecrating that aspect of me to the work and giving up my unhealthy eating and being more charitable to others!

Sis Keeler and I are having a blast and building a friendship for eternity we totally were pre-mortal besties ;)

haha
I LOVE you all and hope my letter was not to confusing to follow along and understand!  This is another crazy week in a life of a missionary!!

Have a great week!

xoxox Love,

Sister Pizzey

February 3, 2014

"Hiiyeah!" thats what the English people say!

Anyway so Jordan was baptised this week! whoo hooo! His sister sang two musical numbers at his baptism apparently it was a powerful baptism and when he was confirmed he hugged all the people that confirmed him-- ahh amazing!! He was pretty pumped! Sister Aslett gave him a note for me, and took pictures and is sending them to me as well with is baptismal program! So it was pretty much like I was there ;)

I really could have of pulled some strings to attend but this work is not for me! Its the Lords and I have been called to serve in this area! Therefore as badly as I would of liked to go deep down in my heart, I knew it would be best for me to stay and knock the evening in our area!

So this week went by crazy fast and was all about crazy growth! I feel very blessed that Heavenly Father has entrusted Sis Keeler and I to serve here and feels like we can handle it here! It is a challenging area and the soil is alot less fertile than the other areas in which I have served! but none the less we have been very blessed and have had many wonderful things happen this week!

So Monday night we had diner at a members home and we got a ton of referrals from them which are quite promising! The husband of that family actually got up yesterday in testimony meeting and bore his testimony about our visit and how member missionary work is so easy and he talked about our visit with him in it, so that was quite exciting! We knocked that evening and it was great!

Tues: We drove 45 mins and met the New Glasgow sisters half way and then Sis Burton and I (who is in her 3rd transfer and training a new sisters) drove to New Glasgow and we were on a exchange in her area as Sis K and Sis Curtis were in Cole Harbour. It was a wonderful exchange best exchange I have been on as a STL! Sis Burton was soaking everything up like a sponge, such a humble dedicated obedient missionary really nice to see! I feel so blessed to be serving over such amazing sisters.  We had great lessons and we were able to find some great potentials! As well we were able to do some great role plays that gave her more confidence with some skill areas of missionary work that she was lacking in.  She was quite stressed out because she was focusing alot about "me me me!" in missionary work and worrying about her growth and potential as a missionary more than she should be; so we had a great real conversation about how as we forget our selves completely and go to work we are blessed with becoming who the Heavenly Father needs us to be! It was great her eyes were open about how looking outward truly is the key to success and how when she looks outward puts the mirror down and looks through the window and serves her comp. in helping her comp. be the best she can Heavenly Father and the enabling power of atonement will strengthen her in her weakness! We both walked out of our exchange feeling very strengthened!

Weds: Sis Keeler and Sis C drove up to New Glasgow and then Sis K and I hopped in the car and drove and hour to meet the Sydney sisters halfway from Sydney to Cole Harbour (as they are 5 hours away) Then Sis Nelson and I drove 2.5hrs back to Cole Harbour for our exchange with one another! It was quite a bummer as Sis Nelson got "sick" and we only were able to attend one LA lesson then she called it quits and decided she couldn't work no more due to a migraine so she slept the whole day, I did work in apt. it was alright tender mercy in a sense I was able to catch up on my BOM reading!

We met a LA street contacting though and she just moved from New York 3 months ago and has not attended church for 15 years! We had a great lesson I was bold and she is very repentant and wanting to prepare for the temple! She is in her 70s and is wonderful she attended church this Sunday!!

Thurs: We drove swapped back and SIs Keeler and I were quite excited to be with one another in our area! We love serving with each other! I truly feel Sis Keeler and I was totally besties kicking in the pre-mortal existence haha ;) its TRUE though I love her so much and she is my sister! She is great everywhere we drive we have no music playing just the most amazing inspiring gospel conversations! We are very open and honest with one another and have gotten into the grove with teaching with one another! I love her so much and feel so blessed to be here building relationships for eternity! We truely feel there is one person waiting to receive us here and we feel that Heavenly Father is teaching us so much here, I feel very humbled that He has chosen us in this area, it is an area where the ward members have their backs up towards missionaries.

This week I was on Alma 17 on weds I woke up at 5 am Thurs and Friday and finished BOM this morning I completed the BOM! Sis Keeler and I have done much prayer and we decided that alot of fasting, waking up early, and greeting every sister in the ward on Sunday with a hug! We have recieved alot of guidance from the Holy Ghost and just feel we need to stretch and jump out of our comfort zone and be excited, happy and just approach every member with sincere love for them.  We have seen alot of amazing results already and have faith things will change as we are patient and consistent-many members have responded well. i love this opportunity to grow and serve as Christ would!

We have been very blessed to see some amazing success with LA`s- the relief society pres. has given the same list of LAs for the past 1.5yr and never has anything happened, with the list we have been teaching a family and had some powerful lessons. We had 3 LAs attend church, 2 of them who have not been to church for 15 yrs! It is amazing and they both want to go to the temple! I love serving in a area where the temple is literally 2 mins from our apartment, everyday I see it and I just feel so happy looking at it!

 

BTW I am now just doing a general letter... as you can see from above

Yesterday it was church and I was able to go up and bare my testimony Ì said something along the lines how two years ago I read BOM for my first time and it changed my life, I testified of BOM and how excited I am to serve in Cole Harbour ward-blah blah blah you know!  I was able to share a bit about myself and my excitement to be here Sis K when up afterwards it was great! We were blessed to pick of 3 investigators yesterday! One was a mother and daughter from a member who is there husband who is LA, and as well a family that we will teach in two weeks once they are home from being out of town!

SIs Keeler and I are learning so much, it was a harder week but I feel we are here for a reason, I feel honoured to be put to this challenge and have faith that as well stay meek and humble willing to submit all things to the Lord we will see great things happen here. The elders and us have created a vision for this ward and are becoming more unified which is great!  The elders have told us that the ward is loving us and that they never met sisters like us... I feel its a bit of our excitement ... The ward is great reminds me of our Sherwood Park wards SO FAMILY PLEASE DON`T BE 3 HR MEMBERS and not help missionaries out and don`t be all passive towards missionary work when the missionaries ask for referrals and invite you to join in the work JOIN IN and GIVE SOME REFERRALS (because really when we missionaries do we are inviting you to partake of the blessings of missionary work).

I love this work, and I love our Heavenly Father!
I want to always be a missionary and I will, I love people and talking to everyone out of a genuine way to just love and laugh with others!

This morning from 9am-1 we cleaned the temple! It was amazing! I love diligently scrubbing the temple- the house of the Lord! The senior missionary couples that are serving in the temple here are in our ward, this week we knocked into one of them and we did not know it was a missioanry couple the elder answered and invited us in and I asked ``are you alone`haha he laughed and turned out they are missionaries too!! They live 3 apts down from Sis Belford (LA from New York!) So we were able to tell them about her and they are going to fellowship her, they just have so much charity these senior couples ! It is amazing this couple is 88 years old on their 7th mission, he was a mission president, and served for 2.5years as his wife has two children at home! Now that is consecration and they will be heirs of the celestial kingdom! We must follow saints examples! People like them truly seek the kingdom of god first! It is so apparent as we serve others and do missionary work that we are in the service of our god, the quality of this couples life is so much higher than the 88yr olds I have met in old folks home and that is because as we serve the Lord we are blessed in ways we can not imagine!

I love meeting such legendary people here on our missionary with such  strong faith! It is amazing and I am just realizing how much I have to change, grow, serve and learn!  My eyes have been so opened and I love it! I can not imagine my life without this. I feel I have been blessed 10 fold for the sacrifice a mission is! It is amazing words can not describe!

I love you all very much !

And have a great safe trip mom and dad and I love you! And keep up the reading and family prayers:)

much
LOVE

SIster Pizzeyxoxoxo