"Everyone knows the moon is made of Cheese"

[Title may reference this scene from Wallace & Grommit.]

16 September 2024

 大家好！Hey Everyone!

We get transfer news tomorrow which is pretty exciting! My companion is pretty checked right now after being in the same area for four transfers and a little more, if you count the English area that covers the same chapel. Prayers up for him for the next day or so till we get news.

What do I even say in emails anymore? I can’t be certain, but here are some good moments as they come to mind:

We had a potluck after church and a BUNCH of people showed up. The second hour had a class for new members and people being taught, and it was chock full of people!! Crazy.

We met this new family of three. The mom’s name is Natalie, and she’s pretty committed to reading the Book of Mormon! Super cool! They go to an English ward at the moment with some Mandarin speaking members, and the English Elders were trying to help them out, but had a bit of language barrier and didn’t realize that we already gave them some copies of the scriptures.

We had an English class party, and a bunch of people came to that as well! It was a good opportunity to relate well to a lot of the students.

Tomorrow is the start of Mid-Autumn Festival! This happens when the moon is at its most full in the year, and the Chinese believe that the round shape of the moon represents unity and harmony, especially family unity. To celebrate a little, I'd invite all of you to think of something you can do for your family, whether that's something you can give, or some time to spend with them, etc. Harmony in the family brings harmony to all other aspects of life. Also check out some moon cakes if you can!

熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

church friends

random vid I submitted for the mission talent show, you're welcome

100 Days, 100 Nights

 [Title references this Sharon Jones song.]

 9 September 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

P-day got munched by a bunch of cleaning and also by the Prophet's 100th BIRTHDAY!!! This may have been written [with little P-day remaining] after watching the celebratory broadcast, which was *spoiler alert* pretty cool. Y'all should give it a watch if you haven't already.

Highlights from this week:

• Shoveling rocks out of a church members’ backyard—again
•  Talked to a Chinese Muslim lady in the park for an hour, super epic! We actually tried to teach her a few weeks ago and she didn't want to meet anymore, but we got a text on Friday from her and she said she had some thoughts recently she wanted to share, and my companion and I still didn't understand a lot of what she was saying besides that the people at Christian churches are more friendly…. She didn't want any books of scripture still, but we'll let her keep thinking about it
•  A family came to church on Sunday and seemed to really enjoy it; they said “see you next week,” so we really hope that's true
• Saw some crazy old cars, pretty cool

If you haven't watched the birthday broadcast, I'd suggest you give it a watch! It was pretty cool! I was reading over his talk “Peacemakers Needed” again, and I found a cool footnote that said “Being a peacemaker does not require us to agree with the beliefs or ideas of others” …kind of an eye opener for me.

Hope you all have a fantastic week! And remember 没有任何的家庭都不能你不成功的失败 [translation: "no family can fail if you don't succeed" -- a terrible mistranslation of "no success can compensate for failure in the home."]

熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

[Olympic ski jump site]

 

 

[Chinatown]

 

 

[Cute little roadster]

"Disastah!"

[Is the title possibly a reference to Gordon Ramsay?]

2 September 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

Kinda weird week, but also really cool week -- here’s what happened:

Zone Conference happened. I thought a lot about how much I’m prioritizing God in my life and “Letting God Prevail.” Immediately after Zone Conference we had a big party for the church's in-person English classes.

I went on an exchange with one of my Zone Leaders this week! Elder Taylor is super cool! We had a good time in the YSA ward where 7 lessons didn’t go through, and the one lesson that did happen was with a guy that said he didn't want to meet anymore. New high score! We were working pretty hard throughout the day though, so it was a good day.

Louie learned how to whistle! Louie is the severely debilitated kid that we go over to play music for. His mom said he was always so jealous of people who could whistle, but yesterday he finally figured out how to blow through a plastic whistle. He was SO excited!

We just received a referral named Alice this week from some other Elders. She texted us asking what to do with a guy who is renting her basement and keeps damaging the property, to which we said. . . “*confused head scratching noises* how about prayer?” And then a few days later she called us and said, “I think prayer is the best thing to do, I need God's help.” It was shocking to see faith like that come out of nowhere! We'll be praying with her this week for sure.

We had a wild and somewhat discouraging day on Saturday when my Comp was sick for a lot of the day, and then we had a disastrous miscommunication with the English class, which resulted in 4 people at our church who thought there was a party and 6 people attending class online. The people at the church were pretty angry at us, and it was extremely Awkward to say the least….oops I guess! You live and you learn. ¯\_(ツ)__/¯

There's a talk called something like “Unconquerable” that Hank Smith gave, that my district was looking at a lot this week, that talked about how determination and spiritual resilience can help us get through challenges in life. One of the examples he gave was of Ernest Shackleton, and man is he just the coolest (literally). He was in charge of a disastrous voyage into the Antarctic and made some incredible feats to get all 28 of his crewmen back home safely after their boat sunk and they were stuck on an island for several winter months. I highly recommend you look into this story; it's incredible! It makes me think a lot about how I can be more resilient and courageous in my life, and I hope it helps you find more in your life as well.

That’s all I got for this week! Take care everyone!! 爱你们
熊长老


照片：

Saturday's greatest success: a made bed

Sunday Pasta

Louie learning to whistle

You are free to eat.

26 August 2024

 “Am I!?” I don't know anymore what's going on with the food in Canada but my stomach has followed the bold example of Captain Moroni in “throwing up banks of earth” as it were. On Tuesday we went to get sushi with a member at a restaurant where the menu was only found online. I learned two things during that meal: 1) Sashimi, raw fish, and raw beef do not in fact fill my bowels with mercy, they only empty them; and 2) the menu website actually had side scrolling features, So we didn’t need to spend an hour and a half stuck on the same page of said raw beef. It's okay though because our district is going for more sushi today. I'm well prepared now that I've already practiced losing my entire breakfast this morning. This time I'll let you guess the culprit: was it the maroon colored bacon that was in the fridge for a week? Or was it the four scrambled eggs that were cooked in the bacon grease? Or was it the pan that may or may not have forgotten to invite dish soap to its not-so-thorough washing? The mystery continues….

Ooookay that's way too much Stephen King stories for one day. ✨️Anywho,✨️ 大家好！Hey Everyone!

Highlights from this week:

    Scott! Scott is a friend we met on the train station at the beginning of the month. He goes to a different church, but he likes to meet with us and he's got great questions! We met this week and he was in awe at the idea that his grandpa who has passed away could hear about Jesus Christ and accept his gospel right now in the spirit world! We hope he continues to grow in understanding and faith in Christ!

    Wan came to church for the first and possibly last time. He is a guy that signed up for our English class, and he's got to have been born in the Song dynasty. In any phone call or zoom meeting, he only shouts in enthusiastic, broken English. This has gotta be one of the funniest guys I've ever met for real!

    Michael and John got the Priesthood! They both got to bless the sacrament on Sunday!

    Cool moment in church! Kato is the guy who translates the meeting for everyone. Brother Hill in the Stake Presidency had Kato come up to the pulpit and translate a talk that I'm confident was directly for him and his situation. It was pretty powerful for the members.


There was a huge lightning storm on Friday night that I caught some pictures of through the window. And then I also made this cool connection! When seen in super slow motion, a bolt from the heavens searches it's way downward for a point of contact with the ground. Meanwhile some sparks appear from the ground and work their ways upwards slightly. The lightning strikes when both bolts meet, and the resulting burst of light is quite literally earth shaking. Covenants with God can bring the same power into our lives. God is in constant pursuit of us, and as we reach up to come close to God by making and keeping covenants with Him, he gives us power and light as strong as lightning.

The invitation from last week still stands…I didn't do so good, so I'm going to recommit to say my evening prayers earlier, but if anyone has any good experiences with this, you're welcome to send them over. I'll let you know how it goes next week for sure.

Take care everyone!! 爱你们

熊长老


照片：https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

He is Rizzin'

Lightning

Ferrari at the gas station

shrimp pesto, anyone?

You had one job.

 [Title references this common phrase.]

19 August 2024

Wowwwwww.  Great News, I fumbled the email. I sold. I done messed up. Here's what happened, Spark Notes edition.

Taught a random lady 2 hours south over the phone, she's now on date for baptism.

Went on a great exchange and learned a lot about being more bold. Also saw some deranged gal in the streets in blackface??? Don't know for sure, very strange moment.

Found some new friends.

Here's the one part I didn't fail at completely! One of the other Elders shared a really cool message the other day! This was a “Hear Him” video from President Jeffery R. Holland, and he extends a great invitation: start your evening prayers earlier and be more earnest in prayer. I'd invite you all to try this with me this week and try praying a little earlier each night than you usually would. I'll get back to you with some blessings next week, but just know that God always wants to talk with you.

Prayers up for Sam, we don't know much about how he's doing right now.

Feel free to reach out - if you want somewhere to vent, I'm happy to listen

Stay cool! 爱你们！
-熊长老

照片：https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

 Calgary in the rain

Duck dinner

Intermission and Poetry

[The title is a cool/terrible dad joke about being halfway through the mission.]

5 August 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

Not gonna lie. . . this week was kinda *gulp* boring. Maybe a little ungrateful of me to say, but there just didn’t seem to be a lot happening for most of the week. Here are some small highlights though:

Sam has had a hard time keeping some commitments as well as he’d like. He has a hard time saying no to his landlord and friends when they’re together and passing around a bottle of beer. Any advice? We changed his baptismal date back a week, but I think we oughta make sure he’s really committed first.
Remember the family that came to church last time? Maybe you do? We taught them a lesson on Tuesday, and when I say we taught them a lesson it was more like they told us all about Joseph Smith’s first vision and the Book of Mormon, and also all about baptism and how they want to become more familiar with the church before being baptized. They showed up with their daughter to Mandarin church this time *oooh, aaaah* and texted us afterward saying they will come next week as well! Super cool!

JOHN GOT BAPTIZED!!!! Y’all don’t really know John and that’s because I never taught him, but basically John is this 16 year old kid who’s been showing up to church for about two years but hasn’t been baptized because his parents haven’t let him. Elder McAffee somehow knew him really well throughout his whole mission, and this July he and Elder Pace both went to visit John every week and help out with random stuff. His Mom then miraculously gave the okay for a baptism for August 4th, and so Elder McAffee got to baptize John on his last Sunday in Calgary!

So now that I’ve written all that, the week looks a lot less boring. Weird.

As of this Tuesday or Wednesday, I’ll have been a missionary for a year. Also weird. The great poet Bon Jovi truly said it it best when he uttered the timeless words, "Wooaaaaaahhh we're halfway there!"

This week I tried to be more open and honest with God in my prayers, and it was actually really good! I received a lot of interesting insights and a lot more emotional help from God. This week I’d invite you all to be really open and honest with God in your prayers; tell Him how you feel, how the day is going. I promise that God will be able to help you better the more you communicate with him. (Then you too can say, as the great poet said, "Oooaaaaaaooooooooohhhhhhh! Livin' on a Prayer!")

Stay cool everyone! Love you all! 爱你们！

-熊长老


照片：https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

good food

John's Baptism

"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


照片

Elder Horsley jamming to songs out of season

smoke

don't know where this came from but it's funny to me

Food! (Costco Souvlaki and Chinese cuisine)

games after Sunday dinner

POV you're Louie

 

Cheers for Michael

July 22, 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

Big news from this week:

MICHAEL WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!!

It was a super special day; he told me afterward that he felt very peaceful and somewhat relieved. This is the first baptism out here I’ve seen/participated in where things seemed to go relatively smoothly. There was a miraculous number of people who are being taught that attended too! It’s usually extremely hard to get other friends to attend a baptism.

Elder Labrum and I also felt a bit of opposition leading up to Sunday, which was interesting. After Zone Conference on Wednesday and Thursday, we both felt super poop*d and tired, and on Friday Elder Labrum got super sick and nauseous so we did a lot of online proselyting and studying. By Saturday we were feeling better and actually had a cool experience in the morning by stopping by someone previously taught by missionaries. We were welcomed into their house and had a nice 20 minute chat with a guy named Richard. We have high hopes for future visits!

All of the challenges from this week paled in difficulty to Sunday morning when I tried to stitch up a hole in my pants. It was a fantastic learning experience. I learned that sewing has got to be the most aggravating thing a body can do. Huge respect to everyone out there who can sew.

Tuesday brought a fun surprise with the visit of some neighbors [from home]! I’m always amazed at the familiar faces that pass through Calgary!

I had a cool epiphany during personal study this week. I was thinking about the concept of “Kingdoms of Glory” or degrees of heaven while looking at a few resources referencing revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants that bring this doctrine to restored light. It occurred to me that the word “Kingdom” also applies to animals as a classifier in order to differentiate between them. Likewise a “Celestial Kingdom” of heaven may be more of a class of people—the kind of person we’ve chosen to become—as opposed to an exclusive gated community only for those who've deposited enough good works to enter. Dallin H. Oaks reminds us too, “In contrast to other preaching, which teaches us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.”

This week I'd invite you to think a little bit about who you'd like to become, and identify one aspect or one thing you can do to help you get there. Joy truly does come through growth and achievement, and through the Christ who enables us to do that

Have a great week and stay cool! . . .Actually though it's h*cka hot outside so stay cool for real!

Love you all! 爱你们！

-熊长老

 

[Side note for all email recipients: I'm gonna start putting all my photos in a shared album in the attempt to help everyone's email storage, some earlier photos are kinda scrambled.]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

照片

Dinner with Neighbors!

Elder Chapman's Last Zone Conference

Leaf?  [Can you find the moth?]

Baptism (featuring 7 year-old Chase)

 

 

 

Tree of Life - Calgary style

 

 

It's Super Effective!

 [Title refers to this Pokemon meme.]

大家好！Hey Everyone!

What a fantastic week this has been! It’s really amazing to have some incredible weeks like this in the mission, especially in contrast to the kind of weeks I was having about 6 months ago! I’m so grateful for these experiences that the Lord is giving me, both bitter and sweet.

Quick update on the usual friends:

• We’ve been sending various resources to Michael over text, which has been going fairly well. Before we met with him on Sunday we texted him some small passages about the principle of tithing, and he was really anxious about it, due to a ton of financial stress he’s under. We were nervous going into our lesson with him on Sunday, but to our great surprise he showed up in a white shirt and tie and told us that he had no clue how God would take care of him and his family, but that he’s committing to pay tithing regardless!! We’re super excited for his baptism next week!
• Sam wasn’t able to make it to church, but we met with him on Saturday and explained some other tough commandments including the Word of Wisdom, and he also surprised us by telling us that he was “eager to follow” God’s commandments!! We’re so lucky to see his faith in action!

We got to participate in a funny youth activity, a Pokémon Go competition. As one might expect, it was mostly all youth from the Mandarin ward with about 5 kids from other wards. We got to wander around University campus a bit, say hello to some FSY counselors, and got a few cards to take home. I’d say it was a pretty good “finding” activity for the missionaries.

While reading in the Book of Mormon this week I stumbled into an odd symbol. During a great war between tribes, the Nephite tribe was trying to find a way to retrieve some prisoners. The method they chose was having a Lamanite dissenter bring wine to the overzealous enemy guards who, perhaps as planned, fell right asleep after a good bacchanal. This let the prisoners escape easily, and the city was then taken back by the Nephites without any injury on either side. What I noticed during this read was how the wine was the essential element that saved the Nephites in bondage. Like these Nephites, we also are saved by the wine so to speak. The emblems of the sacrament are a continued tradition of the bread and wine that, as Christ has said, represents His body and blood. And so it is His wine that saves us from bondage; it is his blood that redeems us from the bonds of death and sin and lets us return home to the family of God.

It’s getting hotter for most of us around the globe, so be sure to stay hydrated! Keep soaking up the words of the Living Water as well! That is by far the most refreshing water when the heat comes.

Love you all! 爱你们！

-熊长老


照片

Poke-and-mon

Today's bbq and view

Impromptu karaoke by the Ukranian Elders