Elder Evan Baer: Canada Calgary Mission: A Stranger In a Foreign Land

May 6, 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

We’re finally starting to see some tulip buds in Calgary which is cool! And it’s been raining a lot more than usual! Has your spring been pretty good?

Not a lot happened this week. . . that is until Saturday, when we had an opportunity to hear from the one and only:

ELDER PATRICK KEARON!!!!!

I can’t tell you how excited I was after hearing that he was coming to speak to the mission! We all met up in the wilderness of Magrath and got to shake his hand before an absolutely fire meeting. There were some other great speakers there as well, such as Elder Kearon’s wife, Elder Bennett of the Area Seventy, and Sister Kristin Yee of the General Relief Society Presidency.

Here’s just a few takeaways front the meeting listed below.

Some cool thoughts from Sister Yee:

When the Lord moves/answers quickly, it’s with a purpose
When the Lord moves/answers slowly, there is a purpose for the pause
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to the one; it is for each individual. Each and every individual will receive the opportunity to hear of Him and to know Him.
God wants you to be happy now!

Some cool thoughts from Sister Kearon:

What would happen if Abinadi didn’t have the same integrity? Where would the second half of the Book of Mormon be?
What would happen if Moroni didn’t have the integrity to “not deny the Christ”? Sometimes we must be as Moroni, as pictured on top of each temple, and do what he does best - stand alone.

(Sister Kearon referred to the week of the Savior’s Atonement as the Passion, a title of many musical settings for the event. It made me think a lot about how Christ feels about each one of us, how the redemption of mankind is literally His Passion.)

Some cool things from Elder Kearon:

(If there’s one thing I learned about Elder Kearon, he’s a very righteous, intelligent goofball. I was surprised by his quick wit, his plethora of movie references, and a very accurate impression of Elder Dallin H. Oaks.)

We, as missionaries, have been set apart to proclaim “Glad Tidings of Great Joy.” We must become the message and be cheerful.
We thrive on opposition, hunt for stretching opportunities

There’s a small summary for you. Besides that, we mostly had a few lessons with some curious friends, where we taught them about prayer. We'll be trying to meet with them more this week.

Roda attended the temple to perform baptisms for the dead on Friday! We’re excited for the coming years when Ernest gets a temple recommend!

I’d invite you all to think a little bit about integrity and think about something small you can do to show your integrity this week. As promised, when we live with integrity, we gain greater self-respect and inner peace.

Stay cool Everyone!

爱你们！

–熊长老

Evan Baer

Photos:

Calgary