Christmas Time's a Coming

HEY EVERYONE!! It's so crazy that Christmas is already on Saturday! Where did the time go?!

 

Ok so for calls on Christmas, it will probably be in the morning we're not sure yet what time though because we will more than likely be calling from a members home, they are the Teixera's. I would think anytime after 10 here which is around 1 there. We'll call and let you know and then when I call you can call back so you can use the long distance thing. I'm super excited for Christmas though, we have two DA's on Christmas eve and then I think we're going to someones house on Christmas day for supper I'm not sure. That must be so bad for the missionaries that they both got flushed out of Lasalle they must have been really sad, especially since it's so close to Christmas!

 

So this week has been pretty sweet it was good but also I know that Elder Nielson and I can do better. Elder Nielson has been sick most of the week and then I got sick during the latter part of the week too so that hindered us a bit but we didn't let it stop us from going out and doing our work. We did find a couple of really solid potentials this week! 

We found a lady named Shannon and she's really nice and she said that she really wants to know more about God and how we can be together with our families. When we find people like that it makes my whole day so much better because the night before Elder Nielson and I were praying really hard asking Heavenly Father where we should go finding that day, and we had a choice between two streets. So we prayed about it and we both felt that we should go to the same street so we did and it took a while to find someone who wanted us to come back but then we found Shannon. I know that Heavenly Father blesses with inspiration we see miracles happen as we have faith and as we also do all that we can to work towards different goals we set.

 

We also had Zone conference this week which was great! I learned so much and I love President Nelson, I know that he is truly inspired in the things that he teaches us and you can really tell that he cares about all the missionaries and how we're all doing in our areas. We learned how to teach 1. Simply 2. Powerfully 3. Reverently and even since Zone conference Elder Nielson and I have been trying our best to implement everything that we've learned. It was amazing because I know that we were spiritually fed and we were also physically fed really well too. Which is always a bonus.

On Saturday night all of the Phillipino's in our ward which is like half of our ward, invited us over for their Christmas get together, it was alot of fun we sang Christmas Carols had some good food and played some fun games. It was really good though because there was alot of non members there so we were able to talk to a few and we got 3 new potentials out of it! There are so many families here that treat us missionaries like family and it's really nice because it gives you that extra boost that you need sometimes.

 

I'm really grateful for the chance that I have to serve in this area with Elder Nielson, the work can be hard sometimes but in the end it's very rewarding. We truly do get to see the Lord's hand in out work because it's actually incredible how many people are put into our path who are searching for the truth. Plus many of our investigators are new so I get to see the change that it brings into them, I saw that a little in Langley but alot of the people who we taught had already been meeting with missionaries before. But we get to see people what they were like before the gospel was introduced into their lives and after. The brightness that this church brings into people lives is Heavenly Father's love I know that's true and I 've also felt that while I've been out.

 

So yeah that Vancouver trip was alright, I would have liked to stay in the more downtown area but other missionaries wanted to go exploring so I didn't really have a choice. Vancouver is a really nice city it's clean and then people are relatively kind. On a scale of 1-10 I would say it was a 6 for the trip, Elder Nielson and I want to go again sometime just by ourselves though so we don't get caught into doing things that neither of us care about.

 

My Dejardins card doesn't work anymore...I don't know why but I've been doing okay money wise there's a safeway grocery store right across from our apartment and I got a membership there because it's free! So we get pretty good discounts on alot of the food that we buy.

 

Anyway I'm really excited to be able to talk to everyone I guess if on Christmas it gets kinda late for you guys in the day and you need to call you can just call our cell.

 

TALK TO YOU SOOON! love you !!!! <3 and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

Love

Elder Kameron Lahache

Still Raining in BC

Hi everyone Merry Christmas in 12 days! :)


        I did get Ma's package that she sent me I got it on Tuesday I think, I can't really remember it's weird because all the days are just another day of missionary work for me so unless someone tells me what day it is I usually don't know. But I have been keeping a Christmas countdown in our apartment that I update every morning when we get up! But it must have been a Christmas miracles that the package got here fine and everything. I was really happy to get it tell her I said thank you and that I will be sending her a letter too this week.

     This week was a really good week, even though it rained alot, the rain doesn't really bother me it makes things interesting. Plus I find it really funny how people around here freak out about how cold it is here and I'm just walking around and riding our bikes in a light jacket it's awesome. On Wednesday we we're riding our bikes to an appointment that we had with Nicholas he's one of our investigators. On the way there it was pouring so by the time we got to Nicholas' house Elder Nielson and I were both really soaked but it was fun to ride our bikes in the rain. I really like riding bikes in the rain rather than just walking though.

     Oh another thing that's awesome about this place is there is a Krispy Kreme store that's about a 7 min walk from our apartment it's sweet! Whenever we see the red light on we go get our doughnuts.

     Anyway this week Elder Nielson and I continued to serve and do the best that we could, Yesterday we had a Christmas fireside where a member in our ward told "The real story of Christmas", and there was 3 musical numbers. We sang first, we sang a song called lead me to the manger, it was a good song and everyone said that we did a good job, the spirit was really strong through the whole fireside though. Which was really great because we had 4 investigators attend it! We had Richard he has been investigating for quite some time now since before I got here and his wife Adelle is a member. There was Tajinder and Baljinder those two middle eastern ladies that we found I think it was last week or the week before that not sure, and Tajinder brought her friend. One thing that we were sad to find out this week is the Tajinder doesn't live in our ward boundaries so we had to pass her off to the other missionaries that serve in the right place. We were really upset because she was such a solid investigator and she even told us that she felt the spirit when we were teaching her and when she came to the fireside too. But I try really hard to not let it bother me because us doing all this work isn't about us it's about helping other people. So I think it's good that Tajinder and Baljiner go to the different ward because there are people in that ward that are of the same ethnicity so basically more people to relate and fellowship with.

     We also found some potential investigators this week! Fahal he is from Africa, I'm not sure what part but he is way cool we talked with him on the street for about 10 mins and he told us how he came to believe in Jesus Christ. It was awesome because he basically said that he prayed and received an answer by the spirit. We told him about the Book of Mormon and that God continues to lead his children today through a modern prophet and he said that he would definitely like to learn more about that, so we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and we got his number so we'll be calling him later this week to see when we would be able to go see him.

     I'm so grateful for the trust that the Lord has put in Elder Nielson and I, we have had so many people put in are path who are looking to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for us, the people here are really humble too. But there are people who are really stubborn and not so humble too but that's okay.

     Elder Nielson and I are pretty excited for Christmas but it will be weird not being home but I am excited to call you guys. We'll figure out what's going on with that soon too I guess. We're usually in our apartment until 10 in the morning and then we get back around 8:30-9 so I think if possible it would be better to send it in the morning.

     I'm excited for this week because we have Zone conference on Thursday and Friday it should be sweet,
well that's pretty much a really quick update for the week. We have alot of stuff that we have to do today, we're busy pretty much all the time.

BYE LOVE YOU!

Elder Kameron Lahahce

Week 17 Working Hard In Delta

Hi! everyone!

 

Well this week sure has gone by so fast! Me and Elder Nielson are having a blast haha that rhymed, well all that I can say about this week is that it was truly a week of miracles, we have been truly blessed and humbled by the experiences that we've had this week it was amazing!

 

Last week I was feeling a little down about moving from my old area to my new one, but this week I tried to see how I can grow and become a better missionary and person while I'm here and that perspective makes everything better. Elder Nielson and I are having alot of fun too, but we're working very hard as well, I'm not sure if I told you or not but Elder Nielson started out his mission in Langley too he was just in north Langley and I started out in South Langley and we were already in the same district so we already knew eachother and we're already good friends.

 

So yeah alot has changed in the Delta area this first week I've been here. We talked to 60 people street contacting this week and gave out 15 copies of the Book of Mormon! I think that's good but next week we want to have talked to more people and give out even more copies. This week we also found 4 new investigators! It's amazing how we are blessed as we do all that we can, that's when we receive help from Heavenly Father. It's been great because we have been doing all that we can to find people, we've been working with members street contacting tracting, the only thing that we are not doing yet is to do some service project, but we are working on that.

 

The names of our new investigators are, Kit and Richard (Kit's 13 year old son), Hulio, Baljinder and Tajinder.

 

On Monday night we went to the Santos' house for Family home evening and they invited another member family (The Leano's) and their Landlord's Kit and her son Richard. We had supper there and then we talked about the true meaning of Christmas, and we also talked about Christ's atonement and why it is so important to us and what a wonderful blessing it is that we can partake of the atonement. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was really strong. After that we played some games together with everyone and it was fun. After everyone was all settled down, Kit started to ask some questions about our beliefs and how we came to find out it was true. She wanted to know how we can be so sure in something that we cannot see. So Elder Nielson and I bore our testimonies of how we knew that these things are true. Then Brother and Sister Leano said that if Kit would like she could come over to their house and we would be able to help know for themselves. They said yes and then we met with them again Saturday night, the lesson went really well and we committed Kit and Richard to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to see if it's true. It was such a good lesson I'm so excited for them because they have no belief in God because they're Chinese and apparently in China the government teaches people that there is no God. I'm really excited to help them get closer to God and Jesus Christ and gain their own testimonies.

 

We found Hulio the first night that I got in Delta and he said that we would be able to come back. So we went back later on in the week and he invited us in and we had a really good discussion about what his beliefs in God are and how he came to know God. He said that we wants to be able to start reading the bible again because he said that he noticed that he felt good when he read it in the past. It's cool because while we were talking about these things Hulio's wife Fransisca and his son Carlos came in and got involved in the conversation too! They're a really nice family though they are from Guatemala and they're lived in B.C. for about 3 years now and they loved in Montreal before they moved here! 

I meet so many people here that used to live in Montreal it's crazy! I've met at least 9 people that used to live there already, it's really nice because it gives us something to talk about and lighten up the mood and make everyone feel comfortable. Because sometimes things get a little intense.

 

We also found Baljinder while we were tracing around only she was a referral we received from a house that told us that they weren't interested in what we were talking about. So we went over to Baljinder's after we were told to try her house, she opened the door and we told her that we were coming around talking to people about Jesus Christ! Her eyes lit up! She told us to come in and as soon as we walked in the door she called her friend and told her to come over, her friend was Tajinder. So we talked to them alot about the Book of Mormon also and how God continues to speak to us today because he loves us, they both received it very weel and they said that they would love for us to begint to come over and teach so I'm so excited for it!

 

But yeah those were just some of the amazing things that happened this week there was alot more! I just don't have time to write them all, I can say though that we are truly seeing some amazing miracles happen and I know it's because Elder Nielson and I are doing all that we can to fufill our purpose as missionaries. Our goal is to turn this area around from the worst area in the mission to the best area and make it the place where all the missionaries want to come! We know we can do it as long as we keep our efforts focused on the Lord and we continue to do our best as misssionaries!

Today we're going down to Vancouver so I'm excited to see it! What is Chris Gagnon's e-mail I don't have it on here! 

I can't believe you guys had 40 people at the party that's so many! wow!  I missed being there alot! Especially all the good food! But it's okay because the members here are so nice!

The snow here is already melted and gone! People are complaining how cold it is and I just laugh and tell them that this for me is like fall at home! It's great!  

Anyway let me know how everyone is doing! I love you all!!! Merry Christmas! :)