Monday, October 27, 2014

Halloween in Apt 104

Our apartment looks super spooky for Halloween! But not too spooky, we still need the spirit to be with us ;) But I am getting excited for Halloween!! :) Institute is holding a YSA Halloween dance and all the YSA are getting excited about their costumes! :) And tonight for family home evening we are carving pumpkins! So Sister Droge and I are going out with a member today to pick them! :) That is my favorite part,.. picking pumpkins! There won’t be much we do on Halloween this year though. Missionaries need to be in their apartments by 6pm. Smart eh? But it will be fun. We will open our windows and watch the trick or treaters go by while we do our weekly planning!

So we have this awesome investigator! He is from India. He is so smart! Like, he knows 4 languages! He has been learning about the gospel and loves it! He wants to be baptized, but his family doesn’t want him to. They belong to a different religion and are against him joining another. It is hard :( But it has been so fun teaching him. It is so cool seeing him progress. When we first met him he wasn’t sure what he believed, but he told us he believes in Jesus Christ and I asked him how, and he said by reading the Book of Mormon. How amazing is that?!

Yesterday we taught the word of wisdom to one our investigators. He was hesitant about it. But then our member friends that was with us threw down on him! It was so cool, because it was what he needed. She gave him facts and told him that it’s dumb to take those things into our bodies. Members are the best because that is sometimes exactly what our investigators need! So today at lunch, we are going to go over and chuck everything he agreed was not good for him… in the garbage for God! It’s going to be awesome! :)

I love you all so very much!! Keep being missionaries. All of you!


- Sister Gillins 

There is a missionary couple from Utah
 that live in our apartment building.
 It's like I'm home everytime I see their car! 

Doan's Baptism! 
Baptism Selfie!! 

SPOOKY AND FUN HALLOWEEN


Monday, October 20, 2014

Doan was Baptized!

This week was a fun and great week! Our dear friend Doan was baptized :)
Sister Droge met him a few weeks ago while we were contacting out on the street. He was so prepared! He ate up everything. He truly does love this gospel and understand it so well. After meeting him the first time and inviting him to read, he went home and read all of 1 Nephi! Every lesson we had with him he came ready to learn. He wanted to understand this gospel and he is applying it into his life. During the teaching processes we had our recent convert Joe come with us to teach. It is amazing to see someone who is so new to the gospel being able to teach it. It was a blessing to have Joe along with us because he was able to explain the gospel to Doan in the way Doan needed it explained. Joe is also still making changes! He has now started wearing a white shirt and tie to church and took out his earrings! And no one even asked him to! :) The gospel changes our nature. It changes us for the better :)

We had a lot of appointments fall through this week. Like a lot! But that just made us really good at drop by lessons and lessons on the street. We are becoming pro at it. I love the short lessons we have. It helps me cut the fat and get straight to the meat! The gospel is very simple, but so powerful! Even if you do only see someone for 3 minutes you can help them feel the spirit. That is something President Clayton and I have talked about. That we need to help people feel the spirit. Go out and be happy and allow people to feel the spirit. It can be frustrating when people don’t care or want to understand, but if you are yourself and you have the spirit with you, the least you can do is allow that person to feel the spirit.

We also had a Turkey Bowl for Canadian Thanksgiving! It was zone against zone! Our zone is full of foreigners.. so none of them know how to play American football. It was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. They just were running around and did as they were told. Good thing missionaries don’t keep score.. :) I bet we would have won anyways ;)

This week was also Sister Droges birthday! Happy birthday to her! We were everywhere on her birthday! We went to Mississauga for an appointment (which bombed) but it was fun! It is like the future there! It is so nice and rich.. not what I am used to. I like the ghetto. But that is what I think I like a lot about where I serve. I get to be in so many different places and be with so many different people. It’s so amazing being able to see how each person has been prepared to hear and learn about the gospel.

OH!! And this past week we had a zone challenge. It was to see which district could commit the most people to church. Our district blew it out of the water! Mainly on Elder Akre and Elder Ellis's part. They worked hard and allowed our district to dominate! This week we are focusing on getting member presents. I have a feeling we will win this one too ;)

Love you all. Keep up the great work!
-Sister Gillins 

Sweet and Wonderful DeDios family.
They have us over all the time for dinner.
Thanksgiving was amazing!


Tuesday, October 14, 2014

CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving before Halloween?! Ya, its weird I know! :) But it was still such a wonderful day!
But mostly because I got to talk to people all day!! We actually had exchanges yesterday so Sister Stoddard came to the Churchville YSA area and we had a ball!! We only had one appointment set up, so the rest of the day was free for us to go street contacting!! And we went on a road trip for that one… stopping at every place to share the good news! ;) We first went to the Humber North Campus and talked with people there. We actually met two solid girls who love the Lord! We taught them about the Restoration and they are excited to learn more! Then we went to York University and contacted around there and little and then decided to walk over to Finch and Sential and we met the best person ever! It was this man from China! He was so excited about everything and he even said his first prayer with us! :) The spirit that comes when someone says their first prayer, even if it is on a busy street corner,… is pretty amazing.

Now Thanksgiving dinner!! :) Yummy!! We have this wonderful couple in the branch presidency who had us over for dinner. They treat us too well!! It was like the Thanksgiving dinner we have at home. We had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and lots and lots of turkey! I was so stuffed! Probably gained like 15 pounds, but that’s okay! We all do on missions ;) Well at least Sister Gillins does.

Oh! And we are finally getting our gross moldy ceiling fixed! yay!!! No more gross showers :) haha it was actually all cut open this week and stuff kept falling out. So Sister Droge and I decided to go to the chapel for work outs and just take a shower there! :) It was actually not as bad as I thought! It worked out swimmingly. :)

For PDAY…. We are getting ready to play a Turkey Bowl. Our Zone is getting together. I am playing center because I think I am big and can dominate(; haha…Jokester. Actually I want to play that position because the only thing I can catch is the common cold. I won’t be able to catch the football.


Love you all!!


Sister Gillins 

ZONE TURKEY BOWL
SISTER G- "HUTTING THE BALL"
SISTERS DOMINATE
The gross moldy bubble!! 

Awkward zone pictures are the best! :) 

We love the Hermanas!! :)
(spanish speaking Sisters) 

Monday, October 6, 2014

LIFE SAVER !!

Sister Droge saved my life this week! I was taking my vitamins in the morning as we started personal study and one just wouldn’t go down!! The little booger was just chillin' in my throat like it was no bodies business! I kept trying to cough it up but it wouldn’t go! Luckily I was still breathing. So Sister Droge told me to get up and jump, so I started to jump around our apartment. Nothing. That booger was hanging on for dear life! Sister Droge started to hit my back. Nothing. It was probably the worst feeling in the world. I sat there for about a minute in the bathroom hacking up a storm!! Finally Sister Droge came to the bathroom with some gross yellow water, (which I found out was my apple juice that she mixed with water) and I drank it and was fine. This whole experience was very traumatic and I never want it to happen again.

We got stuck in traffic. Again! Just like we do every day of our lives. But this week we took videos!! too bad none of you can see them.. You'll just have to wait 11 months and then you can see how funny Sister Droge and I are! :) But I did take some pictures.. but it doesn’t even capture how horrid it is to hit traffic at 3 in the afternoon.. like how does that even happen? I don’t know.

For PDAY….We get to put up Halloween Decorations today. Because my mom is awesome! She sent the whole District some Halloween Candy and decorations. Then I get to clean, get some icecream and go WATCH sports. The Elders are nice and tell me to play…but, I’m not good and I don’t enjoy being smashed with a ball multiple times… The Elders and some Sisters take their sports serious…haha. I smashed my finger just trying to put up the volleyball net last week. I think I will just catch up on writing some letters….

Conference was the best!! We are so privileged to hear from a living prophet and his apostles every 6 months! I think the week of conference is the best. I love telling people that they could hear the prophet on a live broadcast! There reactions are the best! Most people think I'm crazy but some people think that is really cool!! And it is really cool!! The things they say to us really do apply to our every day lives! They are NOT just old men with beards and robes, but smart educated men led by the Lord to help us get through every day life!! I learned a lot from conference, but I think the best thing was the overwhelming feeling of my Saviors love as I watched. I know that my Savior loves me and all of His children. It is amazing that I have the opportunity to teach that each day. Missionary work is the best! Good thing every member is a missionary so I can do this for the rest of my life!! :)

Oh ya!! We survived transfers!! Sister Droge and I are staying is Churchville YSA! The anxiety that goes into transfer calls is almost too much to bear! So we watched, "How rare a possession" to keep our mind off of things. :) ! This place is the bomb!!

Love,

Sister Gillins 

I love my Companion! She is so Cute!

The Anxiety of "WAITING"
for transfer news!!

Watching "How rare a possession"
 to keep our mind off of things. :) 

I can't take this Toronto traffic anymore!!
IT IS HORROR TO ME!!

17 min car rides turn into
45 min car rides in the blink of an eye!