Week 22: Mom Fails

5 months out!

Two days ago, I was like, I wonder why the blowy thing in the front of the car is called a defroster if you just use it to clear up your foggy windshield? This morning, I figured out why. Leaving the church at 10:30 am, our front windshield was coated on the INSIDE with ice! I didn't even know that could happen! It's so stinkin cold!

Ice on the inside of the windshield

We had a super fun week of door-knocking up here in Calgary! We had a lot of miraculous experiences, including a lady yelling at us that she'd been asked to be taken off the "knock list" (which doesn't exist), a man shooing us off his front porch, and a woman telling us she was not interested through her floor-level screen window. On Saturday morning we were tracting and my companion asked this woman if she'd like to hear a message about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the lady was like "how long is it?" and I was like, "what?" And she was like, "the message?" and I was like "oh, we can do it in a couple of minutes!" And she was like, "Okay, go ahead, but I'm not converting to Mormonism. We're very happy with our religion." So I gave the WORST explanation of the restoration in the history of the world and every time I said "um" her little boys yelled at me that I had to do push-ups, because apparently the rule in their house is that if you say "um" you have to do push-ups. It was not productive and very embarrassing and she didn't even want our Book of Mormon because she hasn't read the whole Bible yet. Sad day. 

A cute sunet with new companion Sis. Lamontagne.

My new companion's name is Sister Lamontagne and she's from Raymond! Which is like, 3 hours south of here. President and Sister Keung went down to Raymond last weekend for stake conference and brought her up a hug from her mom. She's awesome and so so good to go. She's waiting for her visa to the Idaho Idaho Falls Temple Visitors' Center, but I hope they never take her.

While we were tracting this week, we met a woman who invited us into her house to share the Light the World video with her family, and then told us we could come back to teach them more about Jesus Christ! I was SO happy, I almost cried. So we're definitely going to be back ;) 

A boy named Adam who I taught in my last area texted me today and told us he's getting baptized on December 24! I'm so so excited for him! If you're following my long and dramatic weekly emails at all, he's the one who sent us a break-up text while I was playing piano in sacrament meeting. But I guess it just wasn't his time, haha. I can't wait! I love him!

Trainers with new companions.

One of our wards is doing a forty-day fast for missionary work, and nobody was signed up last Saturday, so we got to fast! It was good until, like, 1:30 pm, at which point I started feeling like I was going to die. Door-knocking was not nearly as fun and we were soooo cold and tired (the high up here is -10 today! Which is like 10 degrees Fahrenheit!) We told ourselves we could get ice cream after dinner if we persevered, so I took us to a Superstore out of our zone (which I didn't even know was out of our zone! our chapel was already out of our zone, so it was just... FURTHER out of our zone) to get cartons of ice cream after curfew! #momfail! I was like, I'm the most disobedient trainer in the world! I'm raising my child with bad habits! But it's okay. I'm gonna learn where our zone boundaries are for next time 😬

Sis. Bangua & Sis. Willis reunited for a picture.

Happy American Thanksgiving! Alma 36:3 says "And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trails, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." I'm so grateful for the gospel! And especially for the knowledge that if we trust God, He will support us in all our circumstances. Don't forget to share the good news with your friends this holiday season! And don't forget to watch The Christ Child on lighttheworld.org and sign up for daily service prompts and invite your friends (or yourself!) to #comeandsee at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, December 22! Let's #lighttheworld this Christmas season!

I love you! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! Don't forget to be nice to your local missionaries! 

🦃🌽🙏💟Sister Willis

Another sunset selfie!