"Do you mind if I make a bong?"

 Hello everyone! How was your week? Mine was pretty good! I am slowly adapting to the never above -26 degree Fahrenheit weather! Seriously, everyone was  right, I am freezing my tail off!!!! Once in a while it get up to the single digit negatives in Celcius and we could walk around outside with only 2 layers of socks instead of 3...but that is rare. Honestly it's not that bad if the wind is not blowing.Also did you know that there are women that are prophets and write scriptures? yep! I know, because I am one of them. Allow me to explain before you start to get scared of me being struck down by lightning. Sister Karr has a strange way of knowing if things will happen and thing like that so one day we were video chatting with our district for district council and she goes, "yeah, I knew you were going to say that." "Oh, how? 'cause I'm a prophetess!"It was hilarious!A couple of days later during personal study, I was just really feeling the Spirit so I started writing down the words in my mind. Well, after it was done, I re-read it and was like...woah! So Sister Karr comes walking down the hall to the kitchen and I looked at her and went I just wrote scripture...we had a nice laugh. Later when we got back home, after a rough time trying to find people to teach, I said,"You know I figured out why we can't find anyone...We're out speaking blasphemy!!" Sister Karr was like "What?" I said, "your a prophetess and I'm writing scripture!" No wonder we can't find anyone! She laughed a little, she doesn't think I'm as funny as I know I am!

 A fun thing happened this week is we went to music night at the Hall, which is the community center here in Berglund. One of the members of our branch, our landlord, and a man who was recently baptized were playing some really good but really old music! It was fun! We had dinner at the Larsen's last night and so Brother Fisk and Leonard played music for us again. I also made cookies today and they even turned out.

 I almost forgot, the subject of my story, We were out tracting and knocked on the door of a guy we had met at the band office in Big Island. He let us in and we were talking to him and asked if he wanted to learn more about the church. He said sure, so we sat down to teach him about the Restoration and he goes,"Do you mind if I make a bong?" Not sure what to do, so we watched him make a bong with a water bottle and a pen while we talked to him about the Restoration...interesting things happen all the time. You never really realize how sheltered a small town is until you leave.

 For a spiritual thought for the week, read Alma 26! It is my favorite!Another thing happened while studying "you're calling gives you authority, keeping covenants gives you power." I love that! I encourage all of you to find a conference talk you like from last year and read it! I love "Believe, Love, Do," by Elder Uchtdorf. Remember the small and simple things are great thing brought to pass! Love you all, have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Talbot

My Companion Thinks I'm Ghetto

 Hello friends and family!!!!!To explain my subject line, my dear companion, Sister Karr, just does'nt understand that when you come from Marsh Valley, you naturally say things like "Y'all" "fam" and "yeet"!!!We were tracting one night and I said something along the lines of "Yeet, Fam"She just stared at me and said "You are so ghetto"HAHA. We were dying of laughter, it was great!She has also added to my vocabulary and a list of weird food combos. Macaroni and cheese with pork and beans. Because what else was there to make for lunch on Pday...besides anything else lol it honestly wasn't bad, but i just laughed and said"we are super ghetto" honestly Sister Karr is the best, I love her. It hasn't been even two weeks and we have broken almost all comfort barriers like she said"who ever said your companions prepare you for marriage was completely right, its been a good week.

 We meet with a woman named Elizabeth, who is First Nation, and she showed us a Book of Mormon she has that was in a house fire before she moved here and it was the coolest thing ever. The pages were barely touched, just the edges were a bit damaged. Tell me that isn't awesome! I have heard of things like this happening but it is so neat to see it in real life!!! She is the sweetest lady, we were freezing by the time we got to her house so she made us hot chocolate. In Sister Karr's words, "She's a homie".

 Church was canceled on Sunday because the temperature outside was -40 celsius and fahrenheit!!!Its the same on both scales when it is -40...yikes!!!We stayed inside most of the morning because we aren't supposed to go tracting if it is that cold. Later it warmed up a bit so we went and seen some of our people. We went to Barb's, and her caretaker, Derok, made us a loaf of banana bread. He is awesome. He isn't baptized, but we are trying to teach him. It's complicated.

 Visiting teaching and one of the first churches!

 Anyways, zone conference was this past week, so we had to go to Winnipeg! It was fun! We did exchanges, I went with Sister Cruz, and that was fun...until we realised that I am not allowed to drive yet...that wrecked us a little! We figured it out though.

I hope you know how much I love and miss you all! I know this church is true and that Heavenly Father really watches out for us. He has given us so much. I am so thankful to be here in the Berglund branch and to be able to teach others about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it is true. I promise that as you read the scriptures, and ponder them, and endure to the end, the Lord will continually bless you! Do the small and simple things, have Christlike love for others, and repent daily. I love you all!!!!Also if you send letters or packages send them to the mission office, the mail sistuation is complicated. Have a great week everyone!!!

with love,
Sister Talbot

Welcome to Canada!

 Hello, everyone! This has been a pretty good week! I love Canada! It's been so fun so far! My sweet companion Sister Karr is training me well and she is super awesome! I am currently in Berglund, Ontario and yes it is cold, but not to bad. I live in a cabin! It's cool! The work here is kind of difficult because we proselyte on a First Nation Reserve. They aren't called Indian reservations here, and if I remember correctly, people are kind of touchy about what you call it. But it is difficult because we only have a certain amount of kilometers we can drive a day and people are really spread out.Big Grassy is where we do most of our proselyting. It's cool, quite a few of the people are less active. What's also difficult is that no one is ever home. It's kind of hit and miss because for groceries and such, everyone goes to Winnipeg...which is 3 to 4 hours away...so they stay for a few days...BUT the area is beautiful! I saw a bald eagle today! Also I jinxed myself...there are spiders here...I killed one yesterday because we have a wood burning stove and it was in the wood...ugh. Very funny Heavenly Father...just kidding. It's amazing here! Super cool miracle yesterday, we were stopping by someones house and they didn't answer so we went down the road to another house and this guy and maybe girlfriend who happened to be the daughter of a lady we contact, were there and they allowed us to share the message of the restoration! They committed to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and pray about what we taught them. It was awesome! I miss you all and love you, hope your all doing well!

I know this gospel is true and that God is truly looking out for us. He does answer our prayers and we have to be willing to accept the answer if we want to progress. He sent Christ here because He loves us. He knows everything we're going through and He wants to help. Let Him!

Also enjoy some cute pictures of my companion and me with 2 other sisters in our district. We are in Winnipeg for zone conference. Have a great week everyone!!

My Last Day!

     Ya'll, it is my last day at the MTC! I cannot believe that it has been 3 weeks already! I have met so many amazing people and had so many amazing experiences. My companion, Sister Whiting, and two other sisters in my district left this morning! I am going to miss them so much. So much has happened this week, yet I have no idea where to start! I will start with some funny things. For starters, Sister Salvesen kept talking in her sleep, it was so weird but it was hilarious we could not stop laughing. We also started singing old throwback Disney channel songs so that was awesome. Honestly, the more I think about it, this week wasn't as funny as others. It WAS packed with miracles and tender mercies though.
     So I lost a bracelet that is very important to me. I prayed for days about it and still couldn't find it. So after looking for it all over the place, I said a prayer and said "Heavenly Father, if you help me find my bracelet, I will swear I will get up at 5:30 tomorrow." And of course, there was opposition in that because I almost didn't set my alarm and then in the morning, I almost decided to go back to bed but I didn't want to break my promise, so I got up and got ready. Well that night, Sister Salvesen let me use one of her face scrubs and there were no paper towels on our side of the bathroom, so I had to go to the other side. When I was going back, I seen a lost and found and on a towel hook, I saw my bracelet!! I don't know where I lost it or who found it, but I know our Heavenly Father answers our prayers.  I have never felt the spirit so strong as I have here on my mission, it is incredible. The more we practice teaching the more I learn, my testimony grows immensely. Our teachers are amazing! My people are amazing, and I have grown so close to so many people. I love them all. I love you all and I hope you know how much God loves you. I am running out of time and focus so until next week from CANADA!!!

With love,
     Sister Talbot

Week 2 - My almost New Years Kiss!

 So this week was great! I got to meet David A. Bednar and shake his hand! I also met and shook hands with David Archuleta! I also met so many distant cousins and a few closer ones! Family search is so cool, plus I am related almost everyone here.

So to start with some really awesome things that are funny, the Elders in my district are hilarious. One of the Elders going to Canada with me got pink eye, and the other one had rolled his pants up in class and our teacher Brother Kim said "Elders, please pull your pants down," whoops! Earlier in the week we were having a lesson about when people run off topic in lessons and I said, "well, sometimes you have people  that talk about their family that died recently and they end up talking clear back about their hamster that got vacuumed up when they were 7, we seriously had to take a break cause we could not stop laughing.  We were really stressed that day there was so much that happened and it was rough. But! Laughter prevailed.

One of the elders showed us his "baptism dance", it was fantastic!

To focus on spiritual things, my companion and I have taught several TRC's which are basically teaching simulations with real people (who most of which are members) It was awesome, honestly! Our first one, Cindy, was wonderful, I invited her to be baptized and she accepted! Made my day!  (until I found out she was a member) Our other TRC is Daniel. He kind of difficult to teach just because he doesn't leave us much room to talk, and I struggle with my teaching skills and confidence when I'm teaching. But that is why i am here! We got a media referral as well, his name is Juan.  We asked him to read the Book of Mormon, and he accepted! We met with him yesterday, it was so cool. The spirit here is so amazing, I love it!

Christmas here was amazing, plus that is when we met David Archuleta.

And finally, my subject line. So for New Years, us and the sisters next to us were out in the hallway having a food party which was very fun.  Close to midnight, i thought is would be great to start the new year with a prayer, everyone agreed. So we kneeled in a circle, and I said a prayer starting at December 31, 2018, and ending January 1, 2019. so very cool.

After, we hugged and this sister in our room, Sister Salvesen went to hug me and our faces went the same way and luckily we missed but I almost got a new years kiss! A little awkward, but hilarious! We then ran out in our p.j.s to take a picture, and could see fireworks in the background. Happy New Year everyone, make this year better than the last! Love you all!

with love,  Sister Talbot

 A new way to dry your tights!!!

 A little facial with my companion!!

Happy New Year!!