More Pictures from Whitehorse

Nicole's baptism day, January 9, 2010. Elder Squires, Elder Smout, Nicole, Elder Stephens.

Elder Squires and Elder Stephens.

This is the vehicle Mat has been driving in Whitehorse--Chevy Silverado, which is what he was driving at home. He's lovin' it.

Bro. McDonald's band--Elder Stephens on keyboard and Bro. McDonald on guitar.

And Mat on the drums! Sweet.

On the way to Juneau for Zone Conference. They drove to Skagway and flew to Juneau.

Mat had a pretty exciting flight on this little plane, trying to stay ahead of bad weather.

Zone Conference. Need I say more?

Skagway!

This is the LDS meeting house in Skagway. I received an email from Sister Stephanie Brown in Whitehorse and she gave me this information about this meeting house, "The meeting house in Skagway seats about 200 and the Branch President remembers that in the dedication of that building it was said the day would come that the building would be filled to overflowing and he didn't believe he would see the day. The day it happened he cried...in the winter there are 12 members and no missionaries but in the summer when the tourists arrive on the cruise ships the missionaries are sent in and all the LDS students who work for Holland America and other tour companies come there to work, the branch explodes and they are filled to overflowing every Sunday." I love this Church!

Mat's apartment in Whitehorse. Gotta love the cheerful wall color.

Well, did you?

Paper Airplanes

Well, things have been going really well in Whitehorse, but really slow last week. Every once in a while you have a slow period, and this is definitely one of those times. It was a tough week, but we worked really hard and hopefully this week we will start seeing the fruits of those labors. Not much happened last P-Day. We just rested and wrote a bunch of letters. The golf courses here are finally open though, so today I'm borrowing some clubs from a member and going to the driving range. Can't wait!

Elder Stephens and I had to spend a lot of time last week packing up the belongings of the senior couple that crashed. We had to take customs inventories for 16 boxes and suitcases, and we will mail them off tomorrow. It's been a big project.

Last week every single lesson we had scheduled with our investigators fell through. It was a little frustrating at times, but I've learned to take every situation and look at it as a learning experience. We had a tough and a slow week, but it was a good reminder that we need to be diligent and work hard in every situation, not just when things are going good. We spent a lot of our time last week knocking on doors and trying to find more people to teach. With all of the lessons that fell through we had plenty of time to do that!

Yesterday before we went in for the night we stopped by our Branch President's house. I made a little airplane out of a pass along card for their 3 year-old son, and that sparked a paper airplane contest. Our Branch President is pretty competitive, so they grabbed some paper and we made some planes. My first one was terrible because I made it wrong, and everyone was giving me a hard time, but I'm competitive too, so I made an awesome plane and surprised everyone. We went to their backyard to throw our planes off the balcony, and mine was clearly the best on the first throw. On the second throw I threw it pretty hard, and it went so far that it reached the back fence, hit the top of it, and fell over into their neighbor's yard. I went over with Elder Stephens to knock on their door and get the plane back, and a nice older woman answered the door. She laughed about the plane, and then I decided to take the opportunity to preach the gospel and approached the situation like a tracting approach. She said she had read part of the Book of Mormon, but was a "fence sitter" as she put it. We invited her to learn more and asked if we could come back to teach her and she said we could. We were pretty excited. It's funny how our paper airplane contest (inspired obviously haha) turned into finding someone we could teach the gospel. The Lord works in mysterious ways! Well, I hope you all have a great week!

Love Mat

Every Day is an Adventure in the Yukon!

Hey Mom,

So I heard from you and Eric about his mission call! That's so awesome! I'm so glad he's going on a mission. It's going to be a huge foundation for him. He said you text him and that you all have kept an eye on him for me. Thanks for being there for him and helping him so much along the way. To look back from where he was a few years ago to where he is now is just incredible. That's what the gospel does: changes people.

It's been a great week! Things have definitely slowed a little since the baptisms last week, but we are always working hard to stay focused and keep the work moving. Last week we spent some time getting a senior couple's belongings from the wreckage of their car. They crashed pretty bad last week in the Yukon on the way home from their mission, but they are doing ok. Their car was brought here to Whitehorse, and they were flown to the states. We picked up all of their stuff and took it to our apartment, and tomorrow night for the Young Men's activity we are going to box up all of it so we can ship it down to the States.

We also had our Zone Conference on Thursday. It's definitely not as cool doing it over the phone as it was when we got to take the journey to Juneau and see all the missionaries there from out in the bush. I can't complain though. I've had some experiences and journeys most people don't ever get to take. Time is really flying. There is just so much to do all of the time. Elder Stephens and I taught two investigators last night that are struggling with the Word of Wisdom. We taught them about making changes in our lives and how the gospel is here so that people can make changes in order to receive blessings. It was a great lesson, and they have been making great steps in coming closer to the waters of baptism. I love serving in Whitehorse because everyday something happens that you wouldn't expect! The members here are awesome, and I've been having great teaching opportunities. Everyday is an adventure in the Yukon!

Love Mat