How to deal with shock....

Okay...well since my subject line is so concerning, I'll tell you why I am in shock and what I did. We got transfer calls this morning...and I will no longer be in Bergland, ON...I am going to................Lewvan, Regina, Saskatchewan! A 10 hour drive awaits! Haha I am sad, but super excited!!! I will very much miss the people here in Bergland but I am really excited to see a different area. And of course I am going to miss Sister Blaine like crazy, she is the absolute best ever! Ah, but back to telling you how I dealt with my shock this morning...I made a delicious peach crisp! I'll send the recipe for you all so you can try it! I got the recipe from a member because she fed it to us one night and it was great! 

Soo HUGE HUGE news!!! Selena is finally getting the legal stuff figured out so she can be baptized!!!!!!!! She called us yesterday to tell us and we are so excited!!!!! We were so excited too, because we finally understood why we faced so much opposition this week! To start, we had a scary spiritual experience at the church, then we found out that for the past MONTH we have been passing out pass-along cards with the WRONG PHONE NUMBERS ON THEM!! And then, we had a bunch of other little things happen, like no motivation, sleep deprivation, and so on. It was a crazy week. BUT THEN...we saw a bunch of miracles. We found three new people, we were able to sit down and talk to a lady we haven't seen in forever, and we went to Nestor Falls to find a referral, so that was cool. We gave him a Book of Mormon! AND everything is finally starting to turn green! All in all it was a pretty good week. 

Since yesterday was Mother's Day, I thought I'd close my email by expressing my love and appreciation for my mom, and moms everywhere!!! I can't even describe how much I love my mom and all that she's done for me. She strengthens my testimony every day, and she always knows just what to say. I am so grateful for God's gift to us called Mothers. My mom has always taught me what to do and what not to do in life, and she has been a very great example of what a mother should be. I encourage you all to thank your mothers for what they have done for you! Even though Mother's Day was yesterday! I hope you all have a great week and remember how much your Father in Heaven loves you. Something we learned yesterday in Relief Society is to strengthen our families by being humble, faithful, and charitable.

 Read President Henry B. Eyring's talk "A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells" this week, it is so powerful and it really helped me know what I need to change in order to strengthen my testimony and my family. 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Sister Talbot

1. Buena Vista outlook!

2. Nestor Falls

3. Sunset

4.More Nestor Falls

5. A really unstable stair way that leads down to the water in the picture

You Best be kidding me!

Sooooooooooooo I have a very short time to write and a lot to say so I apologize if this doesn't make sense.

Story #1 We got stuck on a road this week that hasn't been used in 20 years! We had no cell service, and no shovels to dig us out. So we prayed, and then started walking because we were pretty close to the hwy according to the map on our phones. Soo we start walking and long story short, this guy comes pulling up in his truck and is like "What are you doing out here?" He told us that he owns the surrounding 200 acres and that no one lives up there except him and his brother when they stay at his hunting cabin. He almost didn't come back but he decided for some reason to drop something off at his cabin! Huge miracle lol without him, we wouldn't have been able to get unstuck and we would've had to walk 10 miles to the road to get someone to come help us. It was a crazy experience. However, I can happily report that we are safe now haha we also saw so much wildlife! We saw a ton of beavers, bald eagles, otters, a fox, a coyote, deer, and a black bear!! 

 

Story #2 I cracked my phone a little from slipping on a steep wet rock in rain boots! We were weekly planning and heard this thunder-like noise outside. Turns out the ice was moving!! It was breaking up and flowing quite quickly across the water and it was cool! No pun intended! 

Story #3 The power went out! We were doing personal studies and the power went out! Well, we decided to just finish getting ready for the day, so I went to get in the shower. Well, I noticed the water pressure was weak, but I didn't think much of it...until I put shampoo in my hair and the water came to a stop.....I sat there for a sec and then Sister Blaine hears, "Ooh, you BEST be kiddin me!" from the shower. I said some other stuff but I won't say what. Anyways, I got out and got dressed and being the great companion she is, she helped me wash my hair over the sink with some of the water we have stored in case our well freezes again. It was great!

Story #4 Sister Blaine dyed my hair today! It looks great! 

We saw a ton of miracles this week, but one of my most spiritual experiences was when we called a guy who we have been trying to meet with for a while. He is a very nice guy, but he has had a hard life. We were talking to him about the plan of salvation, and he just would not accept the fact that he an be forgiven. While we were on the phone, I started to cry and by the end of the phone call, I was really crying. I could feel Heavenly Father's love for him so strongly. It broke my heart to listen to him. It really made me think of how often we refuse to let the Savior come to our rescue. How heartbroken our Savior must feel when we refuse to repent, when we refuse to be healed, and we refuse to let Him in. My invitation to you all this week is to read the talk "The Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Elder Tad R. Callister and then apply the Atonement to yourselves in whatever way you may need. LET THE SAVIOR IN. There is no other way to be whole and healed in this life, than through Jesus Christ. He is the only way we will be able to return to our Heavenly Father's presence. Like the woman taken in adultry, the Savior will not look down on us with anger, or disappointment, or even a harsh word. When you look into His eyes, you will find only love. He wants to help you, and He wants you to choose to come to Him. Like Elder Uchtdorf stated, "We cannot be rescued against our will." He will lift you up, He will help you become better, and He will heal every broken piece of you, because that's why He died. Forgive yourselves, turn to Him, and ask for help. I know that as you do this, your hearts will be filled with a peace you have never known. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a great week everyone, love you!

Dirty Water and Dirty Tricks

  Hello Everyone! How was your week? Mine was good! Tuesday, I had a frightening experience courtesy of Sister Barrott and a dead bird. We were with the Warroad Sisters and we decided to go to the church and do comp study together. Well, while we were waiting for Sister Blaine to open the door, I didn't notice the bird, until Sister Barrott hollered "IT'S A DEAD BIRD!". Now a couple things happened after this. 1. I looked down and got scared because I was about to step on it, and 2. I did a little "Irish Jig" as Sister Blaine explained it. I also screamed my head off. It was scarring and hilarious for sure. It's still funny... 

The next day, we left exchanges in Winnipeg and interviews! It was kind of crazy, we were out of our area for 3 days and it felt like forever! Anyways, in Winnipeg, I got to sit and listen to a lesson that was all in Chinese for about an hour...it was really weird  It was good though.      So the night before Selena's baptismal date, we still weren't sure if she was going to be baptized or not so we decided to clean out the font, which hasn't been used in over a year, and see how long it would take to fill it. Well, when we turned the water on, the water was straight brown for a few seconds...it was gross, but we got it cleaned out. Sister Blaine was a beast and mopped the whole font out. I just filled the mop bucket lol but once we got it cleaned up, we had to figure out how to drain it...which took about 20 minutes....however, we got it figured out. Then once the water got to a certain point, it wouldn't drain anymore. So we spent a little while trying to figure out why. Come to find out, it only drains a certain amount and then you have to mop the rest up...so Sister Blaine did that as well. I know, I know, that makes me sound very lazy, but there was only one mop and very little room for us both to clean it, so I scrubbed the steps. Saturday finally arrived, and unfortunately, Selena was not baptized. We are hoping we can get things figured out so we can set a different and more solid date! She continues to have faith, though. She is so awesome. 

    Friday night, when we were leaving the church, President Larsen (who lives next to the church) was out for a walk and noticed that we were still there and that it was about time for us to leave, so he had the bright idea to scare us. Now to give you a little background as to why this was a scary experience, I will start by reminding you that there was a deer that ate on the bushes here during the winter so it would run away from us if we saw it. That usually scared me. Also, President Larsen likes to prank and scare everyone, especially us. It's a game we both enjoy and despise lol. So when we were leaving the church, we were a couple minutes late. He had hidden in the bushes where the deer usually eats and as we walked out the door, we went two feet from the door and heard a rustling in the bushes, which scared me because I thought it was the deer. Well, you will be entertained to know that I went from scared to horrified when a large man came out from behind the bushes with wide eyes. I don't remember exactly what happened besides me screaming and then laughing. According to Sister Blaine, I turned and grabbed her hair as I ran down the sidewalk  apparently my scream went in a crescendo as well  I just remember being absolutely terrified. Nothing else lol so that was my weekly fun experience...

   On Sunday, Sister Blaine and I gave talks! I got a little fired up in mine, but I talked about choice and accountability, and Sister Blaine talked about how we signed up for mortality and why we need to repent. It was super good! In Relief Society, we listened to Henry B. Eyring's talk "Try, Try, Try" and it talked about basically everything Sister Blaine and I talked about, so that was really cool. I invite you all to go read it again, along with "Come, Follow Me" by President Russel M. Nelson. They are both so good! Along with those talks read Doctrine and Covenants 58:2-7. They are such good verses. Something I learned in my studies this week, from Jesus the Christ, is that we are like dead minerals. Without outside forces, or the Savior, we cannot be changed, or received back into God's presence. Without the help of Jesus Christ, we could never make ourselves clean enough to be worthy to be in God's presence. I knew that before, but reading that analogy, it really hit me. It is NOT by grace alone that we are saved. We have to willingly let the Savior make us clean and change our hearts. I challenge you all this week to allow the Savior to change your heart. I know He will and that He can. I love you all and I hope you know that God loves you. Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Talbot

Pictures:

1. Sunset on the finally open lake!

2. A Crawdad! I have never seen one before!

3. Crazy companions lol love her!

4. Sister Blaine lets me use her as a model for my pictures, she's awesome.

5.Another gorgeous sunset picture