And the Crowd Goes Wild!

 大家好！Hey Everyone!

We are experiencing a lot of grief and loss in the mission currently. Elder Liu has "died." He has gone the way of all the earth, Taiwan in particular. I'm gonna miss him. Our Mission President is also "on his deathbed," and will go back to Utah on Tuesday. He will be succeeded by a certain “President Barth,” whom we have yet to meet. We hope he eventually becomes as awesome as our last mission pres.

Elder Scoresby and I went street contacting a lot this week. We had an funny time once when we passed by this beggar with a cardboard sign and everything, who suddenly started shouting that we and all the church members are pedophiles, as well as some other nasty stuff involving shotguns. It was hilarious! I feel sorta bad for the guy as well, he was really shooting himself in the foot there.

Transfers happened this week! I'm back in the northwest area—the apartment I've been in most of my mission. Hooray and what not! I'm also with Elder Labrum again who finished my training. I also basically got called out at transfers when the Mission pres. said these words:  “Some of you are moving back to old areas. Some of you even have old companions again. Know that even though things may look familiar, this transfer will be a different experience.”

… and boy oh boy has it already been different because of this:

¡¡¡INSANE MIRACLE ON SUNDAY!!! 👇

So there I was… on my way to church, and Elder Labrum told me he found this guy named Sam when talking to people at the public transit stations. Sam met once earlier in the week and then came to church, and he seemed super stoked to be there. We snuck in a little lesson at the end about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and God was so generous as to give me a very fitting basketball analogy** that he understood very well. When we got to point #3 about baptism, we had a member explain and show him the font. That's when he shook us with, “So when can I get baptized?” So SAM IS NOW ON DATE to be baptized in mid-July!!!!!

**This is the extended, thought-out edition of the basketball analogy, aka “The Gospel, as told by Michael, Magic, Larry, and Jon”:

• God is the coach. His winning streak has no beginning and is without end. He has put us on the court to become basketball players. We get to choose what kind of player we want to be. But if we want to be an NBA All-star, here are the steps we need to take so we can be champs:
• Have faith in the coach. He knows how to win, He's got the perfect game plan. Trust the coach and follow what He says.
• Practice. The coach asks that we practice. We'll frequently miss shots, passes, and rebounds, but the coach will help us improve as we practice. (Or as Michael would say, “Stop it, get some help.”)
• You can't be in the NBA if you're not on the team. Sure, some of us may know the coach pretty well. Some of us might’ve practiced on a few Sunday afternoons. But all that practice won't amount to as much unless we try out for his team. And the great news is no one gets cut from God's team!
• Get a Jersey! The Jersey reminds us whose team we're on, it helps us get the words of the coach in our heads all the time. When you're on the team, you can hear what the coach is saying all the time, not just on Sunday afternoons.
• Repeat. Keep trusting the coach. Keep practicing. Don't quit the team. Play worthy of the Jersey. March Madness is stressful and the opposing team is in everyone's brackets, but remember the coach’s game plan! Remember how happy you'll be when the buzzer-beater shot is made, and the coach and all the retired players in the bleachers storm the court with him—for in the coach's case are many trophies, and there is a place prepared for one with your name on it.

That's it for this week! Stay cool everyone! Literally though, It's getting mighty hot this time of year!

Love you all! 爱你们！

-熊长老


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park job

Calgary Tower