My weird week...Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!! How are you doing? I hope you are having the best week! I mean it's Christmas time so who wouldn't, right? I love Christmas, it is the best part of the year besides Easter. Haha but more on that later.

  To tell you why my week was weird, I have to decide where to begin...shall I begin with the lady that disrupted our sacrament meeting, or shall I begin with my best friend Anna who got baptized this week? I think I'll start with Anna! So there's a lady who got baptized this weekend into the Wanuskewin ward!! She is the most amazing person I've ever met. When us and the Wanuskewin elders met with her, she said that she wanted people to say in 10 years, "Oh, Anna? Yeah she still comes every week!" See? Amazing. She was kind of upset for a second that women can't baptize. Why? Because she wanted me to Baptize her! ️ But! I got to witness for her instead!!! It was so amazing. I love being in Wildwood. 

 Also, we started a prank war with the elders! They're pretty good at pranking us, but we're gonna be better!

  Yesterday was pretty much the craziest day I've probably ever had... 

So we invited this lady to church and she came, but when she got there, the chapel was pretty well full because we had both Wildwood and Wanuskewin in there at the same time. But she came in the chapel as they were passing the water around and asked quite loudly if this was the house of the Lord. No one answered cause it was the sacrament and we're all trying to be reverent, but she was like "Hello??? Is this the house of God?" A couple people said yes, and then, she went back to where this younger deacon was giving people the water and took a cup, raised it up like a toast and said "Merry Christmas!" then when she put it back, she tried to take the tray from the kid, and kind of argued with him about how she's an adult and she could take it. The poor kid was so shocked haha but someone told her it was his job, so she finally let it go, and then walked away and walked out. But not before quite loudly wishing us all a merry Christmas, which was nice of her. It was so funny, the whole congregation just muttered Merry Christmas back to her, then she walked out. Then, this guy who the elders have a baptismal date with, walked out after her. We felt so bad because we had been sitting next to him during sacrament meeting, so we walked out and saw him outside talking to the lady, then when we went back to check on them a few minutes later, they were gone! We assumed he had left with her to go to her church, but we later found out he had just gone to sit with the elders. It was so awkward haha but it's funny now that it's over. As she was driving away, she saw us and stopped to talk to us for a minute. But she ended up going to her church. She said we could contact her again though, so that's good! But yeah, it was a wild time.

 We had Christmas Zone Conference this week as well. I love zone conference! Especially this one! Shane Littlefield came and talked to us about the work and how we can help our friends we're teaching come closer to Christ. It was so good. There were so many things we learned from him and from the zone leaders, the STL's , the AP's and President Hitchcock.  It was fun! After we got done with the training part of Zone Conference, we got our Christmas presents, had some lunch, and then we watched the Grinch! (The one with Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch) It was so fun! It's a cute movie. Sister Hitchcock and President gave us popcorn, licorice, and sugar cookies! Not only that but we had ham, potatoes and salad for dinner! It was awesome.

 So there is a member in Wanuskewin who also helped us teach Anna with the elders, and she is the sweetest lady in the entire world. As a Christmas gift, she gave us a small loaf of sourdough bread, 2 kinds of balsamic vinegar (peach and pear) and then lemon olive oil. She also gave us homemade cheese with fruits in it, it was so good. She's awesome.

  I am so grateful that I get to be here in Saskatoon for Christmas! I am so excited for it too! I don't think I have ever been so excited to celebrate Christmas. And at the same time, it doesn't feel like Christmas! I think that is because this year, I'm less focused on the presents, and more on His presence. When we shift our focus of the holiday from money, and getting gifts, and all the bustle and stress of the holiday season, we get to feel the peace and love and excitement that comes from remembering the birth of Jesus Christ. We are so blessed to be able to celebrate such a special occasion! If you haven't already, you should watch the Christ Child! It really helps us to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas, AND it brings the Spirit so strong!! I love it so much. Anyways, I won't waste your brain space with too much more, but I love you all and I hope you have a merry Christmas!!!!

Love,

Sister Talbot

I'm a Mom!

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well! I am so excited to announce that I am training the bestest sister ever! For those of you who don't speak mission, being a mom (or dad) means you're a trainer. Her name is Sister Southwick and she is from Boise!!!!!! Like Idaho!! She grew up on a farm, loves vines and memes, and we are like two peas in a pod! I love training, it is great!

 This week has been so crazy, we didn't get a ton of finding done, but that is okay! Our ward Christmas party was this weekend and it was pretty fun! We had a really good lesson with a lady this week and she said she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon! The Spirit was super strong! We also had a really good time finding and stuff! 

   Last night we had a super good lesson with a couple and the husband's mother made us some African food! It was so good! We talked to them about the family a proclamation to the world and his mom really liked it. They all really liked it actually. So that was good! 

 In sunday school this week, we discussed the Come, Follow Me lesson about Revelations and as we were talking about overcoming and enduring trials, one of the guys in the back said that "Hard times come to pass, they don't come to stay." I loved that so much because it so true! Someone else said "Our fear comes from the focus on what we can't see-we don't want to see what lies beyond, just what's in front of us. If we gain a bigger and more realistic vision of what's out there, we won't be as scared." Y'all! We have the Lord, Jesus Christ to guide us through the dark. Something someone told me once is that we should run towards what we want to become and what we want, we shouldn't run away from who we were, and what we don't want to be. All of these things are so true, my friends. If we will just keep our focus on the Savior, and trust that He will keep us safe, all our fears, our doubts, our worries, all of it, will be gone! 

  I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Love, Sister Talbot

What a Week!

Hi everyone! I'm soo sorry I didn't write last week, I only had time to write a few personal emails! So this week was good, crazy, but good! I gave a talk in church yesterday about why small and simple things are effective, it was good! No one laughed at my jokes, but they were good, I promise. Idaho humor is much different from Saskatchewan humor 

 Something so crazy happened this week. The Wanuskewin elders are teaching this amazing girl who I love to death, she's so sweet! Anyways, she was having a hard time so she asked the elders if she could meet with us, so we did, and talked to her for a while. Afterwards, we were able to contact some members and find her some winter gear cuz she didn't have any. It was sooo awesome to see her face light up! She's awesome ️

 Another awesome thing that happened this week is we set a baptismal date with a lady we haven't been able to contact in 2 months!! We also found 8 people and had 3 people come to church! That's huge! It was so crazy!

For the first time, I had borscht. Which for those of you who don't know, it's a Ukrainian/Russian soup that's made of beets, potatoes, beans, mostly root veggies(?) and I don't like beets so I was nervous to try it but it's actually so good!! Add a little salt and sour cream? 

  It hit - 35 Celsius with the wind chill yesterday...yuck lol

Also, I'm training again!! Straight outta the MTC!! Sister Salanoa is going to the YSA in Winnipeg! I'm so nervous to train but also so excited!

For a Pday activity, we went to the zoo! It was so cool, we were freezing but we saw wolves and all sorts of things! Caribou, cougar, owl, meerkats, it was awesome. 

 The Christmas Devotional was so good yesterday! Something I loved is when President Oaks said "Peace is our Savior's promise and peace is our goal." I'm so thankful for the Birth of the Savior and for the best Gift this world has ever received because of our loving Heavenly Father. This Christmas, look for peace and share it with others.

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

Love, Sister Talbot