Just Keep Swimming!

 

 

Hello Everyone!

So I got some mixed responses from last week's email. I do want to tell you all that I am doing okay! Life is still good and trials are really what build our faith anyways and bother Jenkins told me once that he was praying for me to have more trials so I guess that just shows you the power of prayer right? HA!
 

All joking aside I really am just so deeply grateful I don't know how to really express the feelings that have come about these last few days but I would never trade my mission for anything. Trails, tears, moments of pain, sickness, rejection, over and over and over again. And also joy! Beyond anything I have ever felt before! We had a lesson in Gospel principles this week about God and his Nature and about believing in Him, and I felt so touched because yah! He is there and He is looking out for us and for every trail He will pull us through.
 

So this week started with confusion and so many people leaving for Chinese new year, so there goes like half our teaching pool but that's okay sister Chen and I really need to work more on finding new anyways. We've gotten a little bit lazy about bus contacting just because it's so easy just to relax for those few minutes of sitting down but we've got a new determination to talk to people! We'll see how long we can keep this one up!
 

Let's see big things that happened this week, sister Chen got a call to ask her what airport she wanted to return to and both she and I started freaking out because... WHAT? THIS IS GOING BY SO FAST!?! This week has been a week of fighting off the trunky! We have been semi successful! Kind of... We'll keep working on that. We keep joking that if president makes the mistake of putting sister Chen, sister Deng, and I together again we are just going to die of trunkiness! Because we're all dying at the same time!
 

Oh, and Tuesday sister Chen saw a mouse so we called the superintendent. He came in took a look around got some mouse traps and then found some cockroaches too and now we're hoping sometime in the next week the exterminator will come! YAY! So excited! He also gave us some cleaning tips and so we cleaned... and threw out like 6 bags of expired food! So grateful!

A miracle that happened on Saturday happened when we were dropping by less actives and we had to walk like 20 minutes to get to one house only to find that they weren't there. So we turned around and looked at the long street we had just walked down and then at our watches and realized we had like... half an hour before coordination and sister Chen sighed and said: I really wish we could get a ride. And I kid you not 30 seconds later Brother and Sister Lee drive up on their way to drop off a gift to a member. Literal angels! We barely made it to the church on time but we did make it! and it was just such a great example of how God does help fill our needs.
 

My studies this week have been based all around that actually, how God answers our prayers. It's always so much fun to see how He'll answer us next! Miracles come by faith! So keep believing!

Something else... we went to the aquarium with the sisters last week you are all about to get picture overloaded!

Anyways, I love you all and I hope you all can feel the spirit of God working in your lives because I can promise you that it's there!
 

-Sister Skinner

 

 

Trying Thoughts

 

Hello Everyone!

I'm really not sure where to start this letter. There were things that happened this week that were good, we went on exchanges, we taught lessons, we visited the sick and the afflicted, we prayed and prayed and prayed, but I felt like I was just walking through fog for most of this week. 

It's funny how when we get tired things just matter less but at the same time the more immersed we become in the work of the Lord the more alive we feel. I walked on the edge of life and existence this week back and forth trying to figure out the purpose of why, and where, and how, and who. There are so many people who need love and understanding and a hand of comfort and this is the time and the place that God has given us to be his representatives. Yet there are days where I feel like I will never live up to my full potential as a missionary or even as a person. Where do we start when we feel like we can't even move? The answers to all of this have come gradually because while it's so easy to fall, it's much slower to stand back up. 

But we do it anyways. 

We stand up and we try again and again and somewhere along the way things start to become better, not because our circumstances are better but because we are. Conversion isn't something that you do because you're supposed to, it's something you do because you WANT to. Look at that word 'want' and really think. What do you want? How are you going to get there? Who is your decisions going to affect? 

I found out this week that this life is more about choosing right from wrong it's about who you will become. 

We're all standing on the edge of eternity and God is reaching out and begging us to just keep trying! It's so much less about where you are now but where you plan to be. And Even if you don't make it right away you WILL MAKE IT! Please! BELIEVE GOD when He says He wants everyone to come home. I don't care who you were, but about who you can be! This gospel changes people and yet so many times we don't see it because we can only see the now! Just look! 

I forgot to look this week, I failed, I hit the wall over and over again, but do you know what answer I got? Get up and try again! He didn't send me here to fail or to sleep or to hurt. He didn't even send me here to learn, He sent me here to become more like His Son. 

THAT'S WHY WE ARE HERE! 

To have joy, to serve, to grow, to live! To be like God!

Not just for missions, not just for church callings, but for life!

Doesn't that just make you want to be better? Doesn't that just make you want to try a little bit harder! 

If your answer is sometimes that's okay too. 

Because mine is sometimes a lot. 

But God can fix that too. 

We just have to try again. 

And again, 

And again,

YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT!

I love you all, You are the reason I'm out here, because I want to see you all in the celestial kingdom someday, we'll get there because we tried to get there. So go out and figure out what it is you really WANT because God will give it to you. 

You just got to keep trying.

-Sister Skinner

 

Sorry I didn't write about our trip [to see the sky tower] but we're going again today this time to see the Aquarium so that'll be fun! Things really were good this week. Everyday's an adventure! Sleeping on the floor, and running all over Toronto, and doing surprise service! And wind... lots of it! 

 

 

Active and Moving Forward

 

 

Hi Everyone!

So sister Chen and I are planning on going to the CN Tower in the snow today so I'm going to try and keep this one a little bit shorter but with my track record we'll see! But it was a good week. The spirit is so strong sometimes and I'm so very grateful for every moment I have on the mission!

So Tuesday after p-day we had a lesson with Cherry and James the LA part member family with the smiling/spoiled/adorable 18 month old daughter. They fed us fried pea pods that were really, really good. The things that I've just gotten used to eating on the mission are far and wide but I still can't handle the texture of Chicken feet so sorry about that! Pig's blood, sure, the many parts and types of animals, why not? But Chicken feet? Sorry I can't do it! Mind you they got the fried/baked pea pods at Costco so maybe I found my new favorite treat after the mission.

On a more serious note, on Tuesday we found out that there had been a really bad car crash involving members in our ward and in our YSA, Daniel, the oldest son of the Lee family is doing mostly all right though he is still in the hospital with cracked and broken ribs, but from the other ward, Dante is still in a coma and the doctors are still uncertain. Because of that we've spent many days on and off this week trying to serve the families the best we can and praying constantly for them. I've seen so much faith from everyone throughout all of this. It's been so inspiring. The families still came to church on Sunday and still served in their callings and then went back to the hospital as soon as the services were over and their testimonies were just so beautiful, I'll talk more about that when we reach Sunday.

So like... a month ago I mentioned super briefly that our new convert's mom (WeiXin) wanted to get baptized the reason you've had no updates on them since then is that they went on vacation for three weeks! But they finally came back this week and she didn't drink coffee for that whole vacation! So proud! Anyways, we met with her on Wednesday and she told us she wants to get baptized with her other son, Dennis who is 11 and who has a miracle story behind him too. But I'll try and get to that one later. So she's totally ready to get baptized and Dennis is not yet, He still needs all the lessons and we're working on that! So right now we're tentatively scheduled for the 21st but that might change to the 28 depending on how things go! Still it's been a lot of fun meeting with them and teaching such a prepared family! Also on Wednesday sister Chen and I almost got blown away by the wind it was crazy strong!

Thursday we dropped by Alice again and taught her a very short lesson but it was still really good, we taught Dennis and WeiXin everyday this week so I'll just leave it at that, We taught an active member lesson and then met with Alwin, who asked, (in Chinese so I didn't quiet catch the entire meaning) the prophets who were in Egypt had their words added to the bible so why didn't the prophets in the America's have their words added to the bible? I totally thought I had miss heard him and sister Chen was just like '...' And then she was like. "Because America is really far away." and I was like. "See look at my quad we do have it added to the bible!" It was a fun lesson. 

Friday was Zone Council and that's always fun, we got one of the best mini instructions of my life, the Farsi Elders (Who I have crazy respect for as the MTC doesn't teach Farsi they are basically thrown into the field and told. "Good luck go learn it!" There is also currently four of them and they cover the entire mission so occasionally they show up late to things and be like sorry we were in Kitchener. And the rest of us are like... that's two hours away! Anyways, they are so much fun because the crazier your life is the more stories you have to tell. So they did an instruction on listening to the spirit and it was pretty normal and then they said they were going to do a role play about helping the investigator listen to the spirit and they sat down and started this role play and suddenly music starts playing and we get a wonderful lyric changed version of 'Mother Knows Best' from Tangled but it was "Spirit Knows Best" It was fabulous and I wish I had gotten all of it on camera but I only got a little bit. All in all it was a really good conference. We also did a lot of walking that day. 

Saturday we helped host/set up a wedding for another part member family. They were super sweet! And it was fun! We met with potentials who tried to teach me bad words in Chinese, and then we did weekly planning! We also had coordination and I almost fell asleep in the shower. 

Sunday as usual was fabulous the fast and testimony meeting was just so powerful. The words and the thoughts shared worked out really well and I was so happy just to listen and soak it all in. There is such power in trials and in trusting God. He's blessed the people here so much and He keeps blessing us all everyday. On Saturday I wasn't even sure if we were going to be able to get everything done and ready for Sunday and then when the day came we had 5 investigators at church and they all loved it. God is a God of miracles and if you have stopped seeing miracles it's because your faith has stopped as well. Don't ever stop believing. He's waiting right there to bless you and He does it every day. Faith is just opening your spiritual eyes and realizing how blessed we really are. 

I love you all so much and I pray that you will all have a safe week!

-Sister Skinner

 

Keep On!

 

 

Hello Everyone!

So Thoughts for this week. It was amazing! MIRACLES! and pain but mostly MIRACLES! 

Tuesday... I don't actually remember much of Tuesday because it was P-day and I'm always a little scattered after p-day but we did go out and talk to people and set up a lesson with Alwin! That one guy from a couple of weeks ago who actually has a Christian background, he's actually really cool. He's very busy though so we'll keep working slowly with him!

Wednesday we traveled to Weston to get sister Chen's teeth checked out and found out she is Cavity free! She just needs to brush more. It was a long travel but it was fun we talked to people and saw a deer. We then had a dinner with Iris! Paul's friend who is now an investigator and who loved Church this week! She's really cool and honestly so sweet! After dinner we talked for a long time about the Joseph Smith story. Afterwards we traveled to meet with Alwin who gave us even more Christmas Chocolate! (So much chocolate... so much) Anyways Alwin really likes his church but he likes meeting with us too and he was so excited to get that book of Mormon so hopefully his experience with that book with really change things for him. 

Thursday we walked to a formers house and accidentally pocket called the Elders while contacting giving them the opportunity to compliment us on our OYMing strategies we were super confused until they texted us and told us what had happened. HA! We stopped by her house and she didn't answer so we kept on walking and talking and generally having a great time. We also taught brother Wu that night also a really good lesson. 

Friday we kept up our walking and talking by dropping by Less actives. My GPS was our map of choice and we kept going in circles! But that was a blessing the miracles came when we just kept going. While we were knocking on doors we were let in by a lady named Alice, we taught her the plan of salvation and she invited us back. It was amazing to see her eyes as we taught the interest and the guarded wonder. Miracles do happen, you just got to keep going. After this experience we went to go do service at a members house and then have dinner afterwards. It was a wonderful day. 

Saturday was New Years Eve and President wanted us in by 6 o'clock. So we started our day by going to lunch with a member who took us to Mongolian Grill... I just about died it was so good. She was looking for ways that she could help her son who recently left on his mission and talking about how it really was going to get easier for him made me realize that things really have gotten easier for me too. Maybe not easier in the way the world sees it but I'm so much stronger and can handle the challenges God has placed before me. He really does see us as we can be not as we are right now. Afterwards we went to be interviewed by president, it's always fun to see him and we talked about how to keep moving forward with faith. Afterwards as we headed back to do our weekly planning we were both just so happy to be here in Canada. So we were almost done with planning when we got a text from the Richmond Hill sisters saying "we'll be there about 8:30 :)" and we were all like... Uhhh What? "... are you staying with us tonight?" and they were! They got locked out of their apartment and since their landlord was out for the night they were stuck! So we opened our doors found extra tooth brushes and had another sleep over! Don't worry they were so tired from being locked out for two hours and we were so tired that everyone was asleep by 10:30...

Oh! I almost forgot we found a bread maker in our apartment and I made bread! Or something edible I did not have a formal recipe and when we called bishops wife for one she told it to sister Chen in Chinese who wrote it down in pictures because she didn't know the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon. Needless to say, when she told me I needed half a cup of salt I stopped trying to read the instructions and just went for it! (only a tablespoon of salt and that might have been too much!) That being said if you have any bread maker recipes we'll take them!

Sunday was the NEW YEAR and both my mom and sister Chen's mom's birthday! So shout out to all those amazing missionary moms! Especially mine because she is amazing and such a joy!

Sunday sister Chen got bit by a members dog, I got sick and our dinner appointment where both things happened was on the other side of the city and the member driving us home got lost! It was fantastic and Sister Chen and I slept really well that night. But Church was awesome as usual! Sacrament really makes everything better.

Monday was another day of miracles, we dropped by Alice again and taught the restoration, and it was so good! Even if we did end up standing for the whole lesson HA! I was still feeling a bit under the weather but we kept on going! That night I decided to make Tuna helper because we finally ran out of leftovers! I was so excited because until last week I didn't think they had tuna helper in Canada! However while making in and putting the boiling water into the cup I spilled it on my hand and now I've got a couple of little blisters on my fingers to show for my cooking efforts. We had a lessons afterwards with a part member family who also asked us to teach English so we stopped by the local shoppers got some burn cream and kept on working. Or at least sister Chen did and I did my best to smile and not to cry. But it was a great lesson, two weeks ago Hong and Nie called the bishop and told him that they had recently moved (and gotten married and wanted to try coming to church) Hong is a member and Nie is so sweet! She was so interested in every part of the restoration and was so excited to pray. Miracles I tell you Miracles!

Anyways, things are looking up for the area! We need to keep going and keep trying and God really will make up all the difference. I know it!

I love you all so much!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Make it the best you can!

-Sister Skinner

The bread maker, the bite, sister Chen's new kettle that I got the boiling water from, and snow.

 

 

Christmas!

 

 

Hello Everyone! and MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

WARNING YOU NOW THIS IS A LONG ONE!

Wasn't Christmas just a beautiful day? I loved it so much. It was by far the most eventful day of the week so that was great! Sister Chen and I we're so anxious for it all week! 

Anyways, last Monday not long after we finished emailing we got a call from sister Chen's first English companion and so sister Thomas and sister Bingham, came to stay with us for the night in preparation for zone conference the next day. We were so stoked! First of all because we haven't had a Zone Conference in like... 7 months, and secondly because we both love those sisters so much and having roommates is always fun! Growing up in a house full of girls still makes me feel like something is missing in our apartment sometimes, but that night was great! And there was much laughter and bread and Chocolate and they brought a laser that can point at the stars and it was really cool! 

And then Tuesday was ZONE CONFERENCE! It was fabulous, we got to be with and see so many people and enjoy the season and we talked a lot about how there is now magic pill that's going to make you baptize more but what will is when you work as hard as you can for as long as you can. Diligence, persistence, consistence and just all around love is what it's going to take to be a successful missionary and your progress is not going to be a straight line. It's going to look like a rocky mountain at times but it's the striving that will make the difference. We also talked about going forward to BAPTIZE! Not just to teach but to teach AND baptize. That's the end goal and we need to have that at the center of everything all the time. 

Wednesday, we did service in the form of cleaning out the old apartment... again! so many cockroaches still it'  makes me appreciate the fact that only see about three a day in our current apartment instead of like 30! We had dinner at an all you can eat Italian Buffet and it was crazy good and crazy expensive but Paul was so excited to have an excuse to go. (His excuse was sister Skinner is probably sick of Chinese food (not possible) so what if maybe we go get ITALIAN! He was totally stoked to go) and we taught our only investigator lesson for the week to Jade the adorable 8 year old who had a testimony even when her less active parents don't she's super sweet. 

Thursday we made Christmas cards for like half the ward, and did more service in the form of helping a member make a Christmas present for his girlfriend.. that was kind of funny. But then we had another dinner appointment (which was Chinese this time!) and then we got to go caroling with the Chinese YSA, it was so much fun! Singing and just spreading love to everyone and seeing the surprise on peoples faces when they opened the doors... So sweet. We did get home late that night though... so that was sad but it turned out okay!

Friday we weekly planned all our appointments cancelled so we went to a dinner activity instead and then were late home again due to traveling all over Toronto. We also got a call from our ever dedicated but on vacation ward mission leader who was so sick and he called us to follow up anyways. He's so dedicated I'm always so blessed with great mission leaders. 

Saturday was Christmas eve! We sang a song for the elders baptism that day and did our best to help them out in the surprise baptism, we dropped by less actives and sang songs to them too, and then we went to bishop's house for dinner and it was so good! I think my favorite part about dinner was the fact that everyone had chopsticks and no one knew how to cut the turkey and then after the pictures of all the food were taken the rice was placed on the table so we had a very nice mix of eastern and western food. 

Sunday was Christmas! YAY! So much fun! We woke up and I called out MERRY CHRISTMAS! To the I'm-not-a-morning-person-sister-Chen, and it was okay because it was CHRISTMAS! and we opened presents and it was so sweet! Everyone is so kind and I loved it so much. You are all such a big part of my life I love you! I wore brand new clothes that day and got many a complement on it, my response was always, 'my family has great taste' So yes, thank you. We then went to the Lee house to Skype sister Chen's family and that was so sweet! They took us to church after wards. And then CALEB came to BAYVIEW! That was so much fun! He came by bus and slept at a hotel because their was no room at his friend's house (ironic no?) and then he just happened to bring a random person to church with him who he met on the subway and they don't live in our area but Harry (The random person) is going to go to church by his home now! SERIOUSLY! I'm like Caleb's biggest fan girl he is the sweetest new convert ever. He then spent the rest of the day going with us to our different appointments and doing service with us helping make others Christmas dinners and thinking that we were such good examples for giving little Christmas gifts to all the bus drivers who were working on CHRISTMAS! Really I love the bus drivers here they are so cool! So we went all over Toronto as usual before ending back up at the Lee's house to Skype my family on one of their many computers because they had five missionaries Skype at their home that day so that was cool. Chinese and Farsi! Still that meant that I was the lucky missionary who got to to do it in the front room where everyone could stare at my family and compliment them and me throughout the whole process. It was great! And then in those final moments the missionary mom came and gave me a big hug afterwards and they are just so amazing! We then proceeded to eat a delicious dinner with all the food from all over! So good. Everyone was talking and having a great time and it ended with a family home evening to bear testimony and it was fabulous. We then walked to the bus stop said goodbye to Caleb and told him to text us when he got home safe. (Which he did at 12:30 that night.) and then basically went home and collapsed and wrote a little poem to say thank you to all the members, investigators and just about everyone we interact with. 

Yesterday was not P-day and thus was boring... HA! Not really we had district meeting and so we had to travel early in the morning walked outside and the moment we got to the side walk sister Chen went down like a sack of potatoes and I freaked out because I was slipping too! Freezing rain is the one thing that I'm not sure I like about Canada. But it gave us a lot of service opportunities as we slowly made our way to the Chapel. District meeting was good. We learned about personal improvement. That was fun. And then we went to go have lunch with a member and that was delicious. Got to love that authentic ramen. We then walked out side to find that the ice was melting but that the rain was now coming down hard... our plan for the rest of the day was to drop by less actives so sister Chen and I looked at each other and then started out. We got so wet! I got home and had to change clothes because my winter coat is not quite that water proof. But MIRACLES we were able to visit with a part member family who invited us to come over and start teaching them the lessons! YAY! They have this adorable daughter Ana who is a year and a half and just smiles all the time. However, even though we still had time it was raining and our coats were no longer wearable so we started calling formers instead and that also went well. Finally we went to bed and I had a warm shower. 

So yes... this week was good. So many little moments of testimony builders that I can't even explain them all but there is so much to be grateful for! I know that with all my heart and soul! God is helping us every step of the way. Rain, Snow, Ice, they don't mean anything in the face of what we can do with God on our side. 

There are so many people who want to help and to grow and to become the best they can and we can help them with that whether we're a full time missionary or just someone at home who wants to help serve. God can point those people out to you. So I guess I'll just end with the poem I sent out to the members on Christmas day and hope you all can feel the great love that God has for each and every one of you. 

Twas the blessed day of Christmas and all through the land,

The Missionaries were singing and preparing to stand,

Singing and standing for what you might ask?

Standing for truth, for light, and for God for this is their task,

To work and to lift and share with much vigor,

Through both the heat and the cold, the sweat and the shiver,

What makes it all worth it at the end of the day?

Why, it's all the friends, family, and members we meet on the way, 

Thank you all for your love and your prayers!

You should all know that you're the center of our cares,

For the end of this wonderful Christmas Season,

We will continue to testify of our Christ for he IS the reason,

He is the truth, the way, and the Light.

With this simple fact we'll wish you all a goodnight!

Merry Christmas!

I love you all and hope you had wonderful Christmas weeks!

-Sister Skinner

 

 

 

 

Babies, Handbags, and Very Slow Weeks

Hello Everyone!

So this week was slow. We taught like... five lessons. Super slow. But it was also really good, sister Chen and I are back together and constantly sassing each other about how 'terrible' it is that we have a whole other transfer together. Just companions forever! It really is so funny. The best part is that we are both just so tired all the time so whenever we have a dinner or lunch at home the standard question is: "So what do you want to eat?" and then the answer is always "Sleep." It's funny because in Chinese dumplings and sleep are very similar sounding words... therefore occasionally we have dumplings and then we sleep.

Anyways, we cleaned the apartment this week, we prepared a Christmas video of all the members this week, we had the Christmas party this week, we did a ton of service helping prepare for that party this week, we got snowed on.. a lot this week, and we found two new investigators. 

So even though we didn't teach very many lessons... it was a very, very busy week. We also had a ton of good food too because they won't let you do service in this ward unless they get to feed you too so that was delicious. 

I think my favorite part about Sunday was overhearing one of the members saying: "Baby? You wanted me to get your baby? I thought you said bag! There is a big difference between handbag and baby!" (For all you non-chinese speakers Bao1-bao1 both first tones is bag and Bao3 bao3 is baby) Don't worry the baby was fine... He was just sleeping in his carrier alone in the chapel for a few minutes, until some primary kids found him and freaked out because there was a baby just sitting there asleep and they called the ward mission leader who called us who finally found the father teaching piano in one of the rooms. Hence the sentence. It was great. 

Also as kind of an add on to that paragraph... The hardest thing about serving in a family ward is not being able to hold the adorable Chinese babies! Who's rule was this anyways!

The Christmas party was fantastic. It was great and the food was great and the presentations were great and all was well! And then the toilet broke that night and the plumber had to come in on Sunday to fix it but that was okay the party itself was great!

Also those two new one of them is a girl named Iris she's so sweet! She came to church this Sunday and was part of the program on Saturday's party. We're very hopeful for her. The other one was Alwin, who goes to a different church but the lesson 1 was fabulous! We were saying the prayer and sister Chen forgot his name, and so I whisper. "Alwin" And she was like "Alwin" and he was all like. "Amen." We very rarely meet Chinese people who know how to pray already so we had a good laugh about that. 

Life is good the gospel is true. I think the biggest thing I learned this week was that God is looking out for everyone and is preparing people little by little. You will never know how your example is effecting the people around you. This is the time for us to prepare to meet God and we'll keep preparing ourselves little by little. 

I love you all! Merry Christmas!

-Sister Skinner

PS. I think I've gotten more presents here from the members then I ever have before... They are so SWEET!!!