The Blessing Of Fasting And Prayer

 Hi everyone!
 
 Hope everyone has had a fantastic week! I know we did here in Burnaby, although it has been pretty clear that the warm weather has left us. It had been raining for pretty much a week straight!
 
 Elder McGahan and I were incredibly blessed with guidance from our Heavenly Father as well as one of his special witnesses. On Wednesday we had a member of the first quorum of the seventy come to give a training to our mission! We were visit by Elder Richard G. Maynes and he gave a talk at last general conference about having a Christ centered home. I remember I really enjoyed his talk so I was really excited to be able to hear him speak to us! So we had to be at the meeting at 7:45 A.M.! Which I thought was a little crazy, so we got up early Wednesday morning and left home at 6:30 which is when we usually wake up! I was actually really surprised because I wasn't tired once the whole day, so it shows that Heavenly Father will help us out as we rely on him to give us strength. 


So in the conference we learned the importance of teaching people who will receive and exercise their faith by living the commitments that we as missionaries give. I learned so much, in the training Elder Maynes told us that if we wanted to find people who were sincere seekers of truth that we need to have 10 "Quality Gospel Conversations" a day. A quality gospel conversation is when we go and begin talking with someone and listen to a bit of what they tell us, as we listen to what they say we have to listen to the spirit so we can be inspired as to which gospel principle we will be able to share with that person. As we do that the spirit will be there to testify of the truths which we will share, then we ask if they would like to learn more about the gospel. We were promised by a member of the seventy that if we do that everyday then our area will be successful! 


I can testify that is true! I've seen how Burnaby is being blessed as we have been diligent in our efforts and have been working hard everyday! The important thing for us to to always have a positive attitude and to NEVER get discouraged. Discouragement is the devil's tool and we need to punch the devil in the face!
 
 So remember last week how I asked you all at home to pray for Gordie that he will receive an answer to his prayers? Well this week Elder McGahan and were praying with all our hearts to Heavenly Father asking what we should do about Gordie. When we met with him in the past we asked him how he felt as he came to church and as he read the Book of Mormon, and when he described how he felt he pretty much described the spirit. But for him he felt that wasn't an answer to his prayers. So last Monday Elder McGahan and I decided that we should pray and ask our Heavenly Father what we should do. Should we 1. Help Gordie understand that he has already received an answer to his prayers or 2. Continue to pray with him and ask for a miracle. So we asked Heavenly Father what we should do and we both felt very strongly that we should wait and let Heavenly Father do his thing. I felt that was right because I know that Heavenly Father knows what each of us must feel or understand in order to be converted to the gospel. So I fasted on Tuesday and Elder McGahan and myself fasted on Wednesday, I had complete and total trust that Heavenly Father would answer Gordie's prayers. Gordie was praying and working hard for his answer so I knew that it would only be a matter of time. So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all passed by and Gordie still hadn't received his answer. 


On Thursday morning just as I finished saying my opening prayer for my personal study we got a text message from Gordie that said "hey so last night after I finished talking to you guys, I read the Book of Mormon a bit, I prayed about it again. Only this time I got my answer." When I read that text message I jumped out of my seat and I started dancing around the room and I was just so happy. I was especially grateful to Heavenly Father, I was grateful to the spirit, it was just amazing! So Gordie wants to be baptized now and he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon. When we met with him on Sunday, we asked him to share his testimony, it was incredibly simple, BUT it was powerful and I was able to feel the spirit as he bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. Since Gordie is 16 he needs permission from his parents to be baptized. Gordie talked with his mom about being baptized before, but I guess she never really took it seriously so when he went and told her that he received an answer from God and that he wanted to be baptized into the church it caught her off guard. So now we're working with her and we will probably start teaching her the lessons this week! She's going to meet with Bishop on Wednesday, I think it's good because she'll get a chance to see what Gordie has been experiencing, it's really exciting because now I can see Gordie's whole family being baptized and being solid members!
 
 So he should be getting baptized within a couple of weeks. So thank you so much for your prayers and for the continued support that you give me! I am so grateful for the chance that I have to be a missionary, because I get to witness miracles happen! However I know that the Lord works mighty miracles according to the faith of his children. My heart rejoices because  as missionaries we are bringing people the message of true happiness, that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that there is a plan for all of us to receive all the wonderful blessing that out Heavenly Father has to offer us. Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice is central to that plan. The Book of Mormon is true! This is the Church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth, we have a modern prophet who leads and guides the church through inspiration that he receives from Jesus Christ. I love the gospel, I know if blesses us as we live it. I've never been so happy in my life! I just love being a missionary and I love my Heavenly Father.
 
 I got Ma's letter this week also so you'll have to tell her I got it and to say thank you and that I love her! I love everyone at home actually so you can just tell everybody! At least twice, but I think I would prefer thrice! 
 
 So this will be another week of working hard, but Elder McGahan and I are excited to be here working together!
 
 I Love you all thanks for you love and prayers!
 
 Elder Kameron Lahache

Week 59 Still Serving In Burnaby

Hey everyone!

 First of all I'm so sorry that I didn't get to e-mail last week, it was insane! Unfortunately Elder Soucy had to go home for personal reasons, so I was companion less for about a week and a half. I was really sad to see Elder Soucy go, but he needed to take care of some things so I respect his decision and I pray for him often. So transfers were last week and I DID NOT get transferred from Burnaby! I'm still here and I'm so happy that I get to serve the people here for another 6 weeks, we'll be giving it our all! My new companions name is Elder McGahan, and he's from Cedar City Utah, which is near St. George. He's awesome we've been together for four days now but already I find that I'm learning so much from him. He is really motivated to do missionary work and wants to give 100% all the time. That's what I like!

 The work here in Burnaby has been exploding! I don't even know what happened but all these awesome new investigators are coming out of nowhere! The Lord is truly blessing us with opportunities to teach people! This week we had 5 investigators come to sacrament meeting! That's the most I've had on my whole mission! It really helps too that members are helping us make these wonderful people feel loved and welcomed at church.

 So funny story with the family from Sri Lanka! They really nice and very humble. We had a lesson with them last week and it was the first time that we went visit them. We knock on their door and they open it and they're all excited to see us and they let us in. It was so funny because they had their living room all set up for our lesson. They had these two big comfy chairs that were right next to each other and then they had their huge couch sitting directly across from us and that's where their whole family of 6 sat while we sat in the huge comfy chairs, it was pretty funny. One thing that I'm learning from teaching them is that we have to teach them incredibly simply! Their English is good but it's not 100% yet, and they don't know many gospel terms that we use when we teach people, so we've really had to adjust the way we teach to meet their needs. They're really good though and we have a lesson with them scheduled this week and we're planning on bring a family in our ward who is actually from Sri Lanka and they live less than 5 minutes away! What's even crazier is that they already know each other! I'm not going to lie it's pretty awesome to have the Lord on out side!

 So before Elder McGahan came to be my new companion I was all alone. I pretty much had to call a companionship of missionaries every night and see if they would be able to spend the day with me in Burnaby. It's pretty funny because I had missionaries calling me up asking if I wanted to go to their area for the day or even overnight! So I kept telling everyone that I'm the missions first free agent missionary! It's crazy though last week we had 16 lessons and this week we had 14!

This week Elder McGahan and I set a goal to have 19 lessons! I have full confidence that we will be able to achieve that too, especially as we put our trust in Heavenly Father! 

 Oh and I also have to tell you and give you an update on Gordie Carley, I don't know if you remember but he was an investigator who started investigating the church because he went to Mormon.org! He's still doing amazing, he actually has a baptismal date for this Saturday, he wants to be baptized and everything the only thing that he is waiting for to be baptized is an answer to his prayers confirming to him that he needs to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

Today Elder McGahan and I will prayed really hard about what we could do to help him be baptized by Saturday. We felt the spirit incredibly strong, and we both felt that what we can best do to help Gordie is to fast. So we're going to do that tomorrow! We were also wondering if everyone at home could pray for Gordie, that he will receive an answer from the Holy Ghost that he will recognize. Confirming to him that baptism is the next step that he needs to take. I have faith that Heavenly Father will answer his prayer by Saturday! Mom's story of how she got her answer just the night before gives me alot of hope. But I know Heavenly Father hears and answers every single one of our prayers as we have righteous desires!

 So I should be sending you pictures of his baptism next week! That will be exciting I'm so happy for him, he's a great guy. I'm blessed for the chance Heavenly Father has blessed me with to work with this amazing young man! (He's 16) I couldn't find my camera this morning so I can't send pictures today, but expect some next week!

 That would really be too bad if Jason got home at 2:30 A.M. that's incredibly inconvenient. Did you get to talk to Thiago much about how he enjoyed his mission, it's weird calling him Thiago again, I'm used to calling him Elder Morais!

 Tell everyone that I love them and that I think about everyone at home quite often! I pray for you everyday and I can feel the power of your prayers especially with the success that we've been blessed with here in Burnaby!

 Have a great week I love you!

Elder Lahache

It's Awsome To Be A Missionary!

Hey!
 
 Sounds like everyone had a great weekend! I actually do remember going to thousand islands as a kid. I remember that we played tug of war boys against girls and the boats racing, and that one day it was really windy and uncle Joe was going crazy trying to keep all the tents from flying away. Is that the right place? It's also crazy to think that Jason is coming home soon! I remember the days when I would think about being a missionary and it always seemed like this far off distant event. Now I am a missionary and it's awesome, now the far off distant event is coming home! Time seems like it goes by fast and faster every week! Transfer calls are already next week and it just seems like Elder Soucy and I became companions. But it was will great to have Jason back, his refined strengthened testimony will help strengthen Lasalle ward greatly! How is the missionary work there going anyway? Do you still have the same missionaries there?
 
 It's really awesome being a missionary! I always feel so blessed. It really humbles me and gives me inspiration to do better. It's really important to have the spirit with us, because without the spirit, people just don't seem to listen to what we have to say! I know that obedience brings faith, and Heavenly Father works by faith this brings to pass great miracles. As a missionary it is a miracle to have to spirit with us, to testify of the truths of what we speak.
 
 So remember that Family from Sri Lanka I was telling you about last week? Well we called them up last week and we have an appointment set with them for Wednesday night! Elder Soucy and I are both super excited to go over and get to know this family they seem so humble and ready for the gospel. It's good because we have a family in our ward that is from the same country and they speak their language and everything, we're definitely going to get them involved in the work.
 
 Also we were blessed, with a new investigator this week! YES! So there are missionaries that serve in an area called white rock which is pretty much south east of Delta. They have an investigator that they have been teaching for the past few weeks and one day they went over to teach and one of the investigators friends Silvia sat in. So they taught her too and then asked if she wanted to learn more about the church, and she said of course. So then the Whiterock Elders called us and we went see her right away.

 We went on Saturday night, and we were really praying that the spirit would guide us in what we say. We went knocked on her door and she came saw us smiled and invited us in. We talked about what she believed as well as how Heavenly Father has guided here in her life, she's from the Caribbean. She has so much trust in God and she was so open and receptive to our message, we shared with her the Book of Mormon, how it brings us closer to Jesus Christ. The whole time I was able to feel the spirit in the room, it's so powerful! She was able to feel it too, because she couldn't stop smiling! It always gives me new hope to see how the gospel is for all of us. Silvia is just a wonderful lady and I was already able to see just how much joy the gospel brought to her with our simple visit. It's wonderful to be the messengers of such a wonderful message, because we get to bring people to Christ. I am grateful to be a missionary. We set a return appointment with her and we'll be going visit her again on Wednesday. I'm so happy for her and I can already see how much the gospel will bless her life!
 
 We've been working hard here in Burnaby and we're starting to see some fruits of our labors. But that doesn't mean that we are going to slow down, we need to work even harder, because I feel that this area has so much potential and we've only realized part of it. 

 I'll be praying for everyone that you've asked me too. Also I appreciate you praying for Andrew, I hear he is beginning to start to come back again, I'll probably be calling him tonight.
 
 Have a great week! Love
 
 Elder Kameron Lahache