Elder Evan Baer: Canada Calgary Mission: The Wasps

7 October 2024

Hey Everyone

So there I was. . . doing some personal study of the holy writ when I heard a noise. . . and I perceived it not. . . and then I heard it again, a low melodic humming. It sounded faintly like an orchestra, perhaps an overture by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Could it be? It was! The Wasps!! Several of them inside our house by the window!!! But there was no time to take care of them, because we had to go to our District Council Meeting! And so around 3:00, we finally got some time to buy a can of Raid and go back to our apartment, which now had seven wasps inside. So we took a minute to gas out the house and vacuum them all up. We’ve now got our house cleaned out to an average of 3 wasps per day, and we’ve already got the queen in the vacuum so it’s all downhill from here. We found one nest by the roof of our house but we think they’ve been coming from the ventilation system. *gulp* We’ll let you know how the battle goes on the front this coming week.

In other silly news, we helped an old and kind of crazy lady move furniture in her house. We had to be very careful to maneuver around her ultra-realistic-looking baby dolls. . . definitely not horrifying. My companion also might’ve been cursed after stepping into that house, since he had his first asthma attack in 7 years, and his allergies have been going wild in the last couple days. Prayers up for Elder Kim.

Over the weekend we had the pleasure of watching General Conference with several members of the wards we cover. Saturday therefore gave us the great blessing of what was perhaps the best meal I’ve had in the mission, and also what was perhaps the worst meal I’ve had in this mission so far. Both felt like somewhat foreign experiences. The afternoon session was spent at a huge house in the middle of a dirt field with a family that made comments to each other in French. They gave us a taste of some pasta with an amazing sausage and tomato sauce all from scratch! We then drove up to our actual dinner in Glenwood, in a super old house, where we experienced a cool pizza with mushrooms and thick pineapple slices on a soggy bread crust. That was a pretty big switch, but at least they were both homemade!

What was your favorite message from General Conference? There were several good ones that really touched me and answered some big questions. I was especially impressed by several messages that held a message Elder Soares summed up well: “What works for thee works for me.” That really hit me, that if I let go of a few things I want to do “my way” and do a few things God’s Way, I’ll find even more joy from blessings I can receive. Change takes painful sacrifice, but it is well worth the change. I’d invite you all to look back over your favorite conference message and think about how you can use what you learned this week.

Stay cool everyone!

-Elder Baer

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