Come Listen To A Prophet's Voice

Weekly questions and statements from home for the elder. His response follows in his email back today.

S1. Thanks for the update on the weather..it still sounds like it is still pretty much winter, maybe it will start to warm up some soon.
R1. Yeah things are warming up its been nice the past few days and the snow is melting super fast.
S2. Hopefully you were able to pick up a memory card for your camera at a store like Walmart or equivalent. It’s probably cheaper than sending one from home..we’ll put some in a box we’ll send up..pick-up one or two locally.
R2. Yes I picked one up so I'm good on that!
Q3. Your days seem pretty full, do you get a chance to exercise some, even jogging?, if nothing else to clear the mind. Rich and Cam said that's what helped or helps them deal with extra stress.
A3. Yeah we exercise every morning. We actually went jogging this morning and it's nice because we are out in the farmland very peaceful
S4. That’s cool about the food things you are discovering, maple syrup, noodles, and poutine. There is a truck in SLC that sells those, but it is a little hard to find as it moves from location to location. They use social media to inform location and seem to sell-out quickly.
R4. Yeah y'all definitely have to track that truck down!
Q5. Thanks for sharing the update about Mike, the Keen's and even the family where the dad seemed to be stressed out..and the the Samoan family referral.  Does the Samoan guy have his own church in town? Mom and I were saying that meeting was meant to happen. Hopefully some good can come from it even if it's planting or nourishing the seed of a testimony to blossom later.
A5. Yup we are hoping to meet up with him and start teaching. He is a pastor of the local Seventh Day Adventists church.
Q6. We’ll continue to pray for your investigators, less-actives, and members there in Fallowfield. Can we add others to our list?
A6. Marc B., Jess L.

Bonjour Famille!

What a merveilleuse weekend ayy! Man Conference was just straight up amazing. It's really cool to see how much of a difference Conference is when you are out on the mission. I can remember before not listening too intently on Saturday's and half asleep on Sunday's haha. 

View out front door

We were able to watch all 6 sessions at the Church building. It was neat and I really liked it. It was weird though as it was literally just us and two other families because everyone else watched it from home. And like you said I couldn't help but become emotional as they showed the pics of Temple Square and think of you guys! Yeah how cool is that, that they (BYU football teammates) would all go to conference. Dallin Leavitt emailed me and it was really one of the coolest things I've experienced. That dude is a real stud. I'm glad I have the opportunity to know him.

Fellow freshman DT Elder Meti Taliauli #54 (WA Federal mission) and S Dallin Leavitt #11 (now #2)

During Conference it really seemed a consistent theme from the brethren that we all need to STAND UP FOR OUR FAITH! In today's world Satan is ever increasing his armies and the temptations. People are letting their guard down because we might see ourselves as less popular if we show our true colors and faith. But its true we shouldn't be afraid of showing our colors. We should be like die hard sports fans and wear our colors as much as we can.

One talk that really stuck out to me was by Presiding Bishop Gary E. Stevenson. It was neat how he talked about the Olympic athletes that are LDS especially Noelle Pikus Pace and how she wore her young women's medallion on the medal podium. 

That sent some chills through me! His talk made total sense. This match, or life on earth is only "4 minutes" we need to constantly exercise our spiritual muscles to be protected from the opposing team. How do we grow our muscles?? Through daily prayer and scripture study!; they are our bench presses and squat racks for our spiritual workout.

Oh i want to share an experience this week!

We have been teaching an older lady who is less active. She is LA because she feels like God has abandoned her and given her a ton of trials in her life a lot more than she could bear. In past lessons she had just been really bitter and not really willing to change. We visited her on Sunday and it was amazing how warm and welcoming she was. We left with a really good feeling. On Thursday we had a lesson with her and we taught her about the atonement and Christ. As the lesson went on she became more receptive to the message and she flat out said I've been so selfish! Her attitude completely changed and even committed to come to church. At the end of the lesson she volunteered to say the closing prayer and it was way powerful..and hey she even invited us to dinner...SCORE!

I think back to Elder Neil L. Andersen's of the Quorum of the Twelve visit and how he taught us to testify and teach of Christ and miracles will happen. And yes this miracle did happen it's just so sweet to see as we talk about Christ that He will magnify us and miracles will truly come forth. So I invite you guys to always testify of Christ and see how it goes!

Well I'm doing good out here in the the land of Canada! I feel my Savior's love in all the world around me. I'm grateful for the Atonement in my life! I'm grateful for a loving family! I hope you all have a great week!

I love you guys so much!

Love Elder Gautavai