Tulip Festival

Hello!!

I hope everyone had a great week this week. May is just flying by as we are in the last full week of it. I got to experience the true meaning of April showers bring May flowers. In Ottawa this past week it has been a tradition to have a Tulip Festival. It started a long time ago with the Netherlands giving Canada flowers. The sisters in the apartment were able to go this past Monday and it was so cool! There are just rows and rows of tulip beds that are just full of different colors of tulips. As we gathered for district study this past Wednesday we conversed over how pretty they were. The Adams the senior couple in the District told us how they had no one to take their picture so they would ask people to take them and it would bring a great conversation with them. The Adams challenged all 10 missionaries that some time this week we should do it to contact.

CHALLENGE

* Go with companion and have different people take your picture.

* Take other peoples pictures.

* Ask lots of people questions about the festival and Ottawa.

Winner- gets a free Beaver Tail (pastry) from the Adams and of course bragging rights.  

 The Elders were very excited for the challenge and started as soon as the meeting was over. We had a hard time finding time to do it, but on Saturday I was on splits with Sister Wright and all of our appointments fell through so we were able to go! On the bus over there we ran into a women and two children who are Mormon from Washington they were also headed to the Tulip Festival. We helped them get there and when we arrived she took our picture and sent it to our moms. We ran into many members there and were able to take lots of pictures for other people and have people take pictures for us. This indeed brought up some great conversations about the church and we were able to hand out cards and receive contact information. I made a best friend with this Chinese girl who I took a picture for, I told her I could say a sentence in Chinese and when I said it she was so amazed and I told her you just wait until you meet my missionary friends who can actually say more then just a sentence. She then wanted to take a picture with me and told me how big my eyes were compared to her squinty eyes. Have I mentioned before how much I love Chinese people because they are the funniest!  

The work is going well here and we have been contacting a lot! It’s been really fun and as scary as contacting can be sometimes the reward is all the funny people you get to meet everywhere. I never knew how many ways you can start a conversation until now. Its easy to sit down on the bus, doctors office, restaurant, airplane, etc... And just not say anything to person next to you, but how are we going to share the gospel if you don't open your mouth. We should be praying for missionary opportunities and how we act upon them is by taking action and that starts with talking!  

D&C 123:12 "For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it"

A funny for this week is as you all know here in YSA we never get fed.. Well for the sisters we live with it is the opposite they get fed too much and many nights come home dying because of all the food they have had to stuff in their mouths. This is a funny story from this week with one of their many instances of eating too much I thought you would enjoy!

"There is a wonderful family from Nepal who we are teaching and they make dinner for us and feed us right after week teach and they insist on feeding us as we are feeding them the word of God. 

So.... we have an appointment that was right after them so sister may and I agreed that we would eat quickly and them excuse ourselves and run to the car pick up the member and then go to the lesson. So as soon as the blessing over the food was done we attacked the heaping piles of rice, curry and chicken that were on our plates. I guess we didn't think out our plan carefully because the message that we sent to them was not "We need to leave soon" it was "we are starving" and as I was eating as quickly as I could with my spoon Sister May was right beside me with a spoon in each hand shoveling food into her mouth. They looked on with amazement as we devoured a mountain of food and then they started piling more food on and we couldn't say anything because our mouths were full of food and they didn't seem to understand our gestures to please stop.  

And something else about this food was that it was really spicy. Burning lips and burning mouth spicy.... I thought I was stubble in hiding the fact that it was a bit much for me but Sister May said that my watering eyes and running nose were evidence as well as the fact that I was drinking lots of water. 

This family was laughing at us so much and they kept putting more and more on our plates as we insisted that we were full and then they told us that we had to finish because it was rude not to. After wards they asked me if it was spicy for me and I admitted that it was a little spicy and they about died laughing. Those shriveled black and red spicy peppers are so hot. 

Then we couldn't run to the car... it physically hurt to walk!"

This week I was able to get a wonderful priesthood blessing from Elder Adams to start this transfer off right! It was an amazing blessing and really made me grateful for the priesthood that we have here on this earth. I have seen many people already on my mission receive a priesthood blessing. They were not even members and didn't even know much of anything about a priesthood blessing and yet every one of them could feel the spirit so strong. I am happy that I was able to feel that spirit this week with a priesthood blessing of my own.

If any of you did not catch the Elder Ballard CES Broadcast that was broadcasted 2 weeks ago go and watch it because it is amazing! I love you all have a wonderful week =)

-Sister Dick