Elder Evan Baer: Canada Calgary Mission: "Had us in the first half, not gonna lie."

[Title references this meme.]

29 July 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

So basically this week was long and dry and boring as all get-out until the last two days! Prepare yourselves for a couple f a t paragraphs about some willy-nilly silliness that somehow always works out well and swell which we like to call “missionary work.”

As mentioned Tuesday–Friday were mostly uneventful. There were a lot of miscellaneous finding activities plus a lesson with Sam where we talked once more about the commitment not to drink alcohol.

Saturday was a good day. We did a chapel tour by the temple, and so we got to show a family around the inside of the chapel, as well as around the outside temple grounds. They said they wanted to come to the nearby English ward the next day. We then left that meeting to go play some music for a severely autistic kid named Louie, which was really neat. He had a bad fever and was unhappy, which was less neat, but we got to know the family a little bit and they are really amazing! We're going over again next week.

Sunday was a truly miraculous sequence of tender mercies. We traveled 15 minutes up to the church by the temple to meet THE SQUAD that pulled up! Our friend who was given a church tour brought his wife, his two kids, and three friends?!?! As we walked in with them, we noticed an acute tactical error which we had made by showing up to what was apparently the Young Single Adult meeting with a big family (oops). They all said they didn't understand the meeting (go figure), and so we're hoping to see them in the Mandarin Ward next week. As we said goodbye to the squad, we recognized Leon, a YSA friend from China we recently met, who said he wanted to attend the Mandarin Ward but didn't have a way to get there. We met him just in time to call our bishop, who lived down the street from the building, to give him a ride! As we arrived at church, we bumped into Sam! We worried he wouldn't be coming to church, since he never responded to our invite, so it was a good surprise, and we were able to teach him a short lesson before the meeting. Just as the meeting started, we were given a bag of hot dog buns leftover from a children's Primary activity. After the meeting, we talked to a member of the ward, who told us he has not been paid by his employer for over two months!! (Mega-yikes!) We were able to give him a priesthood blessing, and we also blessed him up with the hot dog buns, which he was really excited about. “I can make a lot of stuff with these!” The day ended off well with all the Mandarin missionaries going to dinner with a member of the Stake Presidency and good friend Brother Hill.

This week's reading for me included some cool ideas, like the idea that we don't need to wait anxiously to see if we can enter God's Kingdom after this life, but we can actually “Build the Kingdom of God” on the earth right now! The two greatest commandments God has given involve improving our relationships, both divine and mortal. The whole reason for Christ's sacrifice of the Atonement is to reconcile the relationship of all mankind back to God. We can truly bring more of heaven on earth by treating others the way Christ would. The Prophet’s invitation still stands, to reach out to the one. This week let's find one thing we can do to improve our relationships with others! I know the more we help others, the more joy we ourselves experience.

Stay cool everyone! Love you all! 爱你们！

-熊长老

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