Elder Evan Baer: Canada Calgary Mission: Life Really Can Be as Sweet as Potatoes and Molasses

[Title references this song from Over the Garden Wall.]

28 October 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

This week made me want to barf until it suddenly made me want to sing. Here are some highlights:

Our mission president surprised us by coming to Tuesday's district meeting and also interviewing everyone afterward. It seemed SO stressful for both the missionaries and the mission president for no good reason, but this interview was the best I've had with him so far, so that's neat.
We wrote a big apology for a dinner we missed. This was the 4th time in a row the missionaries hadn’t come for dinner, so we dropped off cookies, since they were not home, on Wednesday. On Thursday when we drove past on our way home, I had an inclination to visit again. My companion and I both rationalized not going, but I got up the guts to tell him to turn the car around. It ended up being a great visit! And now we have two more names for other missionaries to contact!
We performed at a ward supper on Friday! Everyone said they were really touched, even though most of the night everyone looked like they were everything but a fun time (I was pained a bit when I saw so many blank stares in reaction to a dude pouring his soul into the piano, singing “Great Balls of Fire.”)

…And this is when the Spirit of God came into the area like a flash flood from a monsoon storm….

We got a chance to meet with Cody again!! He hasn't had a lick of alcohol for a few weeks, and he made a goal with us to be baptized at the end of November!!! Please pray for Cody! He’ll need some rides to church for this to happen!
On Saturday night we met a new Filipino family that had been to church twice. When we knocked on the door, the first thing they said was, “So you come back every weekend, good?” Crazy!!!
On Sunday we get a call in the middle of one meeting from a lady saying, “Where are you!? I have a friend at church I need you need to meet!” So we raced over there and arranged to meet with Bro. & Sis. Fox in their home with their new friend Diddy. Absolute mayhem of a lesson: the first 25 minutes was Sis. Fox reading a random Wikipedia article word for word, and then we introduced Diddy to the Book of Mormon, talked over some questions, and NOW SHE'S ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!!?!? WHAT!!!

I now have a testimony that Satan really throws opposition in full force when he knows something good is coming. Joseph Smith experienced frightening darkness and power immediately before seeing God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This week seemed at times like a series of discouraging and exhausting events. After another derailed morning on Saturday, I felt really pressed down and all around just horrible. But we stuck it out; Elder Kim and I continued in the endeavor to do something in the service of God, and He shocked us by letting us witness events that were nothing short of divine miracles!

This Thursday is Halloween! It is the evening before the Hallowed Day, the evening when the spirits from beyond the veil are closer to the earth. It also happens to be transfer day for us :P but that's beside the point. The point is that your family who has passed away will most likely be closer to you this week if you let them. Take some time and think of something you can do to remember your family this week: sharing stories, helping them in the temple, or even spending time with family physically here, etc. etc. As we turn our hearts to [our] fathers, we truly can have a “Happy” Hallowe'en!

Also I say this all the time, if you want a GREAT show for the holidays, check out Over the Garden Wall. [Editor's note: For our deeper thinkers, Over the Garden Wall is a modernization of Dante's Inferno.] I think the themes of family and the conflict of good and evil are pretty sound.

Stay warm everyone! And Happy Samhain!

-Elder Baer (熊长老）

照片：

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