Rain Storms and Ice Cream

Hello everyone! I hope your week was great! Our week was so hectic 😂 I usually don't like doing the day by day review of my week but this week needs it lol also I will do a quick run down of last week. So LAST WEEK, on Tuesday, we had a super awkward lesson with this guy at Tim Horton's and after about an hour of painfully awkward small talk, he just randomly said, "Well I have to get going but we should meet again sometime!" and then just got up and walked away after wishing us a good day. On Wednesday, we had zone conference, my very last one! (Of course tears were shed) and then we were able to have our first in-person lesson with our friend Wendy! She's so sweet. On Thursday, we had a mission-wide devotional with Alex Boye! He is super awesome and I jsut need him to be my hype man or something 😂.  On friday, we got a miracle refferal from a lady in Salt Lake and her friend she told us about is awesome, he's so prepared! Then on saturday, the best day ever, we went fishing!!!! We got to go with our friend Grace and her son and her brother. It was really fun!! Then we met our friend Leo for the first time. He's amazing we love him. So that was last week.

 Here's this week! 

Monday and Tuesday: We had super great lessons with Leo, he's so spiritual, it's awesome! He is really prepared and so willing to grow closer to God, it's amazing to see him progress. 

On Wednesday: due to covid19, McDonald's stopped doing ice cream cones, but now they're back! We went and got one and I was super happy to say the least! It was raining super hard too, haha we thought it was going to flood but luckily it didn't. We also had another good lesson with Leo.

On Thursday: we weeded the garden that we have outside our apartment, we have a patio are with a little flower bed. I got some chives from this lady we did service for so I planted those back there, and then we saw a really pretty blue caterpillar (which I just found out turns into a moth...what a sad life lol), and a cute little baby bunny!  We had to go to the mission office for Sister Nelson's interviews and on the way back we passed this construction guy who we waved to and he got a big smile on his face and waved right back to us! It made our day, it was awesome. So never forget the power of a friendly smile!!!! 

On Friday: We had lots of fun helping Elder Ellis film his father's day video! I shared it so you should be able to see it on my Facebook. 

On Saturday: we had our last lesson with Wendy because she moved into the Waverly Area. We also had a good lesson with Leo, and had a really cool service opportunity with the elders! It was so fun because we were pulling weeds and then it started to rain super hard so we took cover in her garage and were able to share a bit about the gospel with her! 

Sunday: We had a fantastic lesson with our friend and she is starting to warm up to the gospel a little bit. It was great! 

 I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day and were able to remember or spend time with your dad! I am so grateful for my dad and the example and friend he is to me. I also hope that you took the time yesterday to remember your Heavenly Father! I know He loves you and wants what's best for you! I hope you will take some time every day to pray to Him and tell Him how much you love Him! 

 I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!!! Until next week,

 Love, Sister Talbot

 

P.S. Sorry this is so long, I wrote two weeks worth of news 😂❤

Sorry Everyone!

Hey y'all, I'm sorry I don't have a ton of time to write this week but I just wanted to tell you all how much I love you! God loves you too! Something I want you all to do this week is read a General Conference talk and follow the promptings you get! ❤️ Have a great week y'all, love you!

Love, Sister Talbot 

Tornadoes and Turtles 🐢🌪️

Happy Monday!! 

I hope you all are staying safe and healthy! This week has been awesome but also kind of sad. 

We found out our most progressing friend Wendy moved into another area. She is super sweet so we are sad to learn that she isn't in our area. 

We went "fishing" with our friend Grace and her son on Saturday which was fun! The Elders came because her son doesn't feel comfortable around girls lol. The Elders were trying to catch a turtle without any success. We got to peel down some walls with Grace which was good! Also, yesterday there was a tornado watch and the sky was all different colors and it felt really heavy and dark outside. Nothing happened but it was scary for a minute! There's been some awesome Lightning and thunder storms though! 

 This week, I want to share something with you from a General Conference talk called Take Up Our Cross: "Please never give up after subsequent failures and consider yourself incapable of abandoning sins and overcoming addiction. You cannot afford to stop trying and thereafter continue in weakness and sin! Always STRIVE TO DO YOUR BEST, manifesting through your works the desire to cleanse the inner vessel..." . I LOVE IT!! Don't let Satan win your heart! Keep STRIVING to do your best!! 

    There's a scripture in Helaman 7 where Nephi is lamenting to the Lord and preaching to the people, and he says this:"Yea, how could you have given way to the enticing of him who is seeking to hurl away your souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo? O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you? It is because you have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you. And behold, instead of gathering you, except ye will repent, behold, he shall scatter you forth that ye shall become meat for dogs and wild beasts. O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you?"

   This life was never promised to be easy, that was Satan's plan. However, it is God's plan to provide a way for His Children to come back from sin and mistakes! He knows that we will not always make the right decisions, but thanks to Jesus Christ, our souls can be snatched from everlasting misery and endless woe. 

 I love you all and I hope you know how much God loves you and that Jesus is our Savior. He loves you so much! 

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

Love, Sister Talbot 

Pictures:

1. A wedding at the park we were at

2. Sister Nelsonand I by the river

3. In person District Council!!

4. The beautiful sky

5. Fishing and talking

6. The river

7. Fishing and trying to catch turtles

8. Beach Volleyball

9. The turtle we were trying to catch

A Tender Mercy and a Green Thumb

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry but this week's email is going to be super short. I just would like you all to know that I have 6 weeks left, I'm not trunky, I am super excited about all this warm weather and I have some good stories for y'all. So for a fun story, this morning we were at Walmart and these two ladies were arguing so that was scary and awkward... but anyways, this tender mercy I was telling you about. So on tuesday we ran out of peanut butter which means no apples and peanut butter, which was so sad, BUT thursday night I was looking around in the pantry and I found A WHOLE JAR OF PEANUT BUTTER!!!! What a tender mercy we were so happy! We also had a great time doing service this week because we got to go do a bunch of gardening for this lady and she was so sweet. She baked us bread and cookies because we can't accept money. It was pretty great! 

 To end, I just wanted to share with you all something I heard at a devotional last night for our mission. The Saskatoon Stake Patriarch, Brother Spencer and his wife, talked to us,and he said something I just loved. "You are not the same person who was set apart." He talked about how over the course of our missions, we change and we become better and I have definitely seen that happen to me over the course of my mission. I testify that as we all align our will with God's we will not be the same people that we were yesterday! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Sister Talbot

1. Our tender mercy

2. Gardening

3. A piano picture I took for a photography page on Facebook

My Plan and God's Plan

 Hello everyone! I hope you are as excited as I am about this week's weather! It's been amazing! We've already had a couple of thunderstorms, so that's really cool. Today we found out something super exciting! We are now in phase 1 of opening up missionary work! That means, starting Saturday, we can teach in person, as long as it's outside and 6 ft apart! Woo-hoo!!!

 Also I start my plan this week! Crazy! I'm staying with Sister Nelson for my last 6 weeks, so that's super exciting!

Not much else has happened this week besides that soooo... Yeah... Sorry y'all this week was boring the more I tried to think of it haha I will try to write more next week!

Just remember that God loves you and everything will work out the way He has planned it to. I know Christ lives and He is always with you. 

Love y'all and have a great week!

Love, Sister Talbot 

Blisters and Miracles!

 Hello everyone! How was your week?? Ours was pretty great! Today, I made the best potato salad I've had in... A long time...  Anyways, it was yummy! So yesterday, we were taking a walk around the University of Manitoba and we ended up walking around the entire Winnipeg Blue Bombers football stadium, and then having to walk all the way back to the church. It took two hours and we had terrible walking shoes on so that wasn't fun  my heels had little blisters but Sister Nelson was worse off haha she was sore, sunburnt and her feet were blistering so needless to say I felt bad  but, as we were walking back, we decided to take a shortcut through the grass and as we walked we noticed there was tons of garbage everywhere. (Winnipeg is kind of a dirty city and the wind blows trash all over the place) We were talking about how we felt like the Israelites because it was so hot and we were tired and thirsty and then we were like, "Wow, we need to stop complaining." And then as we walked, we talked about how we wished we had a bag to pick up all the garbage. Well, God must've been tired of our complaining because moments later, Sister Nelson found a Safeway bag under a tree that was brand new with no tears or anything! So we used that to pick up a bunch of trash around the lawn. As we were about done, we were almost to the sidewalk when Sister Nelson just found a $20 bill on the ground! At first we thought about using it to buy groceries but then, we had the idea to put it in a Book of Mormon with a pass along card and our favorite verse marked and then give it to a homeless person! We're excited to see how that goes haha but yeah, it's been a great week! I don't have much to report as far as adventures go but I do have a thought to share.

  As I was saying, our walk was pretty difficult. It was hot and we were thirsty and tired of walking. Then we thought of the Israelites out in the wilderness and how they too felt the same way, until they realized that they weren't happy when they complained so much, only when they followed God! I realized that unfortunately, the world doesn't revolve around me. Fortunately for us though, it does revolve around the Son of God, who gave His life for us. He did this so that no matter where we are in the world or in our lives, we would never struggle alone. I'm glad we had the opportunity to serve by picking up garbage. Some of it was gross, but it really helped us to get over or complaining! So just remember, when you feel like complaining, and life is hard and you just wanna give up, serve! Go and serve someone! It will help you to turn outwards and its so fun! Serve as the Savior would serve, and feel the Joy that comes with it. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Talbot

1. Bombers stadium 

2. Sisters Call!

3. Outside the gates of the field 

4. Walking on the University

5. Our great idea! 

The Gifts of Tongues and Humility

 Hello everyone! I hope your week was great! Our week was super busy! We were just jam packed with lessons and english classes and all sorts of stuff. It was really interesting. As I've probably mentioned a few times before, I'm learning Chinese (mandarin) and I always love trying to speak to other people from China. Well, this week, I decided to try and get some practice as we taught our English lessons, since we teach people that we thought knew pretty little English. So when we were teaching, we read through the list of words and some of our people didn't know what the meaning of the words were so I tried to say the word in Mandarin and they weren't really impressed haha one of them even spoke Cantonese and I was trying to speak the word in Cantonese but she just said that she could read the Chinese....awkward... It definitely answered my prayers of help to be humble 

  Anyways, something fun that happened this week was we had a fruit snack that wasn't cut right so we got 2 for 1! We also heart attacked Sister Hitchcock's door yesterday with the Waverly Sisters for Mother's Day. It was so fun!

 Also, the other day, we were leaving the church and there was a few cars lined up in the back, all just chillin. It was sketchy but also, it was so cool because when we left, there was just a big huge line of cars and they were all super cool. There was Audis, mustangs, trucks, the works, it was awesome! 

 So, something I wanted to share with you all was an experience we had with someone we are teaching. We were talking to her about how sometimes it's scary to share your testimony or talk to people as missionaries and how it's tough because people might reject us and stuff and she goes, "Why is that scary?" That question kind of stumped me. Why is it so scary to me that someone might not accept the gospel? Let me share something that someone once told me. They aren't rejecting you, they're rejecting the gospel. Anyways, my point is, share your testimony anyways! Be a missionary! It's not hard to simply tell someone that you know God loves them. Honestly, the simpler the better. Get out there and share your testimony because you never know who it will impact for good! ️

I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Love, Sister Talbot 

Bannock and Sunshine!

 Hello everyone! This week was so great. It was so sunny and warm all week, it was crazy! We tanned a bit too!!! Anyways, not a lot much else has happened this week, it was just a feel good week! I made Bannock bread, which is super good! It was great! Also, I was trying to remember the name of this energy drink someone told me about and when I found it, I read the comments, it was so funny, see picture below. I don't know what else happened this week, not a whole lot really.

But to share a thought with you, I just wanted to share the importance of prayer! I encourage you all to pray honestly and communicate with your Heavenly Father openly. My mission has really taught me the importance of praying and being honest with Heavenly Father about how you feel. I've recognized that when I am honest with Him, I feel closer to Him. So I strongly recommend that!

 Anyways, I'm sorry I don't have much to write this week, so I will try and have more stories for next week!

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

Love, Sister Talbot 

Just goosin' around!

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great week! Ours was awesome! We have had such nice weather here! I love it. Also, to explain my title for my email,  there's a goose laying eggs in our church parking lot. She just lays there, rain or shine. What a good mum!

 Anyways, not much to report this week. It was a pretty slow week. We had some really good lessons with our friend Selina. They were pretty miraculous actually! She reads the Bible and the Book of Mormon in english and chinese. She's awesome! 

 

 I love being in Dalhousie, it's so much fun, so is Sister Nelson! Let's just say that this companionship is a party! We work hard though too, for sure! Also we found a flip chart for missionaries haha it's old but it was cool! Other than that, I really don't have anything to announce besides I AM NOT COMING HOME! Only missionaries that have health problems are coming home! So yeah, that's about it.

 To end, I just want to share this quote that I found this week. It says, "God didn't design us to be sad, He created us to have Joy!" Seriously all this week my studies have been about how to find joy by serving other people. If we want to be happy, we need to pray, ask for inspiration, and then get to work! Serving ourselves is only going to make us miserable in the end. If we serve others with the intent to make them happy and  not expect anything in return, it will make us so much happier than if we were expecting something out of it! I've learned that this week too! I have tried to be happier but I was only really happy when I was serving my companion out of love not selfishness expecting blessings for my service. So yeah, there ya go eh? 

 Have a wonderful week everyone! I love you all! 

Sister Talbot

Winkler to St. James to Dalhousie!

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great week! My week was totally insane. I got moved to Dalhousie which is 30 minutes from St. James! I am so happy to be here, honestly, it's awesome! I'm with an awesome new companion, Sister Nelson. I miss Sister Owen too.  Basically, I am loving life right now. 

 But honestly, things are so good. We are white washing Dalhousie which means they took the two Sisters who were here and put to brand new ones in. It's crazy but it's fun, it's something I have always wanted to do! 

 This week, nothing really fun other than transfers happened....oh wait nevermind haha Sister Owen and I took a road trip to Winkler and dropped some notes off to some of our friends, it was great! I loved St. James for the short time I was there!

 So funny story, in our apartment, we have found so many things that are Dill pickle flavored! Like almonds, some candy, chips, pickles, and lots of pickled asparagus and other such things.....oh and just some individually wrapped pickles...random! But the almonds and the candy are good. Just one more thing I have gotten used to since coming to Canada, they put dill in everything! Haha anyways, not much has happened other than that! I feel like I say that every week but only because it is true! 

This week I wanted to share something I learned from my studies in the Old Testament! When Abraham was in the wilderness with his famiy, his wife, Sarah, couldn't have children, so she told Abraham to go to Hagar, her handmaid, and have children with her. So he did, and then some drama happened, and eventually Hagar and her son, (who was 14) were  told to leave. So Abraham gave her food and water and sent them on their way. Well eventually, the water ran out and they were on their own in the middle of nowhere. So Hagar left her son by a shrub and went off in the distance to cry because she didn't want to see her son die. Now it doesn't say this in the story, but the context is there. Hagar's son prayed, with what I'm sure is great great faith, probably not just for water, but for his mother to be comforted, and probably for some deliverance from their situation, even though he was probably about to die of dehydration. Hagar also prayed, and probably pleaded for something similar. After hearing their pleas, the Angel of God said, " What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation."  It says that God opened her eyes to see a well and she was able to then get water for her and her son. It says "And God was with the lad;" God was with them. Even though they had been cast out, tried, and dehydrated to almost the point of death, God was still with them because of a promise He made to them. Well I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure God has promised us to be delivered too. Not just from this pandemic, but from our sins, our trials, and everything else we face in life. Not just by water, but by the Living Water a.k.a. Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder that Hagar and her son needed water to survive and that it was revealed AFTER  they were close to the edge of giving up and giving in? Just like Hagar and her son, we have been promised something great. Not just deliverance, but eternal life with our Heavenly Father. The only way to that is through Jesus Christ. So how do we get there? By following the example of many others throughout the scriptures and praying with all the faith we have for deliverance, help, hope, peace, or whatever it is that we need. I know that God keeps His promises and that He sent His Son to be the Water that will give us the strength to keep going and to return to our Heavenly Home. Things are hard right now. Loved ones have passed away, the world is facing a pandemic, some are facing financial crisis, and many more things. But this I know; God always answers the prayers of the faithful. So keep walking, and open your eyes to see the Well that He has for you to drink from. Help others on their way and keep pushing forward! God will get us through this, He promised. So be still, and trust Him. Keep going, keep praying, and turn to the Lord. He will be with us always. 

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

Love, Sister Talbot

Easter in St. James!

Hello everyone! How was your week? Ours was...pretty uneventful honestly...I don't really have much to report! We had a nice sunny day the other day, we walked to the church which was nice! I saw my elder friend Elder Bass yesterday so that was super exciting! We had a really funny experience where Sister Owen and I were trying to make pigeon noises and she said I sounded like Cardi B....haha yeah...we have lots of time spent laughing so hard it hurts! I love Sister Owen! Some members left us and the elders an easter basket so that was really nice! Our Easter weekend was good! We had some really good sacrament lessons with some members over video chat, it was cool! I miss going to church with everyone though, but it's okay! 

 Anyways, I just want to let you all know how much God loves you and how much our Savior loves you. I will do that by sharing a story with you that an Elder friend of mine shared on Facebook. 

 "There was once a bridge that spanned a large river. During most of the day, the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass through freely on both sides of the bridge.

But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river, allowing the train to cross it. A switchman sat in a shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed.
One evening as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train lights. He stepped onto the control and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance when he was about to turn the bridge.
He turned the bridge into position, but, to his horror, he found the locking control did not work. If the bridge was not securely in position, it would cause the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river. This would be a passenger train with MANY people aboard.
He left the bridge turned across the river and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river, where there was a lever switch he could hold to operate the lock manually.
He would have to hold the lever back firmly as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble of the train now, and he took hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply his weight to it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man's strength.
Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.
"Daddy, where are you?" His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him. His first impulse was to cry out to the child,
"Run! Run!"
But the train was too close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time. The man almost left his lever to snatch up his son and carry him to safety. But he realized that he could not get back to the lever in time if he saved his son.
Either many people on the train - or his own son - must die.
He took but a moment to make his decision. The train sped safely and swiftly on its way, and no one aboard was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the onrushing train.
Nor were they aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still clinging to the locking lever long after the train had passed. They did not see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked; to tell his wife how their son had brutally died.
Now, if you comprehend the emotions that went through this man's heart, you can begin to understand the feelings of Our Father in Heaven when He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between us and eternal life.
Can there be any wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and the skies to darken when His Son died?
How does He feel when we speed along through life without giving a thought to what was done for us through Jesus Christ?" 

 That story hit so hard because I have never thought of it like that. I am so grateful for the God's love for us and His Son's love for us. When I was thinking about the Atonement yesterday, I thought "Why me? What makes me so important that God, the Eternal Father, the most powerful being in the universe, had to send His Son to sacrifice and suffer for little ol' me?" As I prayed about it, I received this answer "You are my [child] too." I have never really understood why Christ needed to die for me, but as I looked back on my life, I realized how many mistakes I've made and how far they keep me from Heavenly Father but with the help of Jesus Christ, I can be closer than I  ever imagined. He took our stripes, through which we are healed, and I am eternally grateful for what that means to all of us. Because He lives, we can too. I love you all and I know Christ lives. Have a wonderful week! 

Love, Sister Talbot

General Conference

Hello friends! I love you all so much and I once again apologize for not being better! I don't have a ton of time to write my weekly email this week, but I do have some updates! General conference was AMAZING!!!! I loved it so much! There were so many great things that were said and I wish I had more time to go over it all but I will share something that I adored from it. It was when Elder Uchtdorf was talking and he said "God has not left us alone!" Another quote I loved was when Elder Giminez quoted the Savior who said "Let your heart be comforted for all flesh is in my hands"! I love that so much because it is so true! I have felt the Savior's love for me in so many ways! I know you can too if you will trust Him and His promises!

  In other quick news this week, I am growing a succulent plant and sunflowers! They are now in better pots haha so yeah, that's basically all I had to share this week. OH! I'm also staying it St. James in Winnipeg for the next 7 weeks with Sister Owen so that will be awesome! Sorry I don't have time to label my photos, draw your own conclusions haha  anyways, I LOOVE you all and I promise I will be better next week and write a sufficiently long email! Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Talbot

Covid 19 wreck

Hello friends and family! I hope you have had a better week than me! This week has been a tough one, won't lie. I am now in St James, even though we have 2 weeks until transfers. Sister Smith is now in England, at home. Why? Because all international missionaries have gone home from our mission. So now I'm not in Winkler, and both Sister Smith and the Andersons, the senior couple that was in Winkler, have returned home, where they will be in self-isolation for 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks, Sister Smith will be reassigned to somewhere in England. It's all fine though, I think I'm done crying and I love Sister Owen already so I'm excited for the next couple weeks. Also, as of today, I have 101 days left till I come home!  Scary. But anyways, Sister Owen plays the flute, and I play the piano, so we are trying to perfect a cool Medley we found, so pray for us to get it right soon and stay tuned! Also, my sunflowers are starting to outgrow their seeds so that's awesome. I'll take a picture and send it next week. I don't have a ton news for y'all this week, other than that, sorry! Quarantine doesn't provide many adventures for us here in the ol' CWM but we still manage to get things done lol. Anyways, I'm soooo excited for General Conference and I hope you all are too! It's going to be amazing. I hope you will all be able to ponder some questions to have answered so that you can learn and grow closer to the Savior! I love you all so very much and I know you are loved by the Savior more than anything. I hope you all have an amazing week.

 Love ya much, Sister Talbot

1. On a walk

2. My new view from the St James apt. 

3. Love this quote! 

4. On our way to Winnipeg for the last time 

5. Helping the Andersons pack up their car

6. My sunflowers-Sonny, Cher, and Bethany