The Gift of Tongues

So, I got to use my Spanish skills this week! Which is about 1% of what it used to be... which is sad cause I was already really bad before. But all worked out well!! :) We were given a referral of a woman that only speaks Spanish and French. Very little English. But I was able to use a little Spanish to get the point across! And she said she understood my English a lot better than Canadian English! woot woot! ;) It was really cool though. She is such a sweet lady and has a young daughter. She is looking for a church family and I feel like this will be the place for her! :) She was able to come to church this Sunday! It was a little boring for her I think because she didn’t know what anyone was saying... but we have some awesome members that can speak some French who talked to her and set up a play date for their children! The members here are so awesome and do so well in fellowshipping! I love it here!

Oh! The reason I am emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday is cause of family day!! They have a day set aside just for families! So that was really fun to use while tracting.  Except no one let us in... It was like -35 with windchill! Every time some one would open their door my glasses would fog up! So I had to take them off while I was talking to them! One person did let us in though! We were in the home for about 45 seconds until his wife said, "He is just being nice we aren’t interested, leave" well... the warmth was nice while it lasted :) 

We stopped by a potential investigator last night! He is 72 and the cutest old man ever! He got a Book of Mormon while he lived in Poland and says that there is evidence that it is true! :) So we are already off to a good start! I can’t wait to start teaching him! 

Oh ya! So right now Tim Horton’s is having a roll up the rim thing... idk what it really is. But you roll up the rim of your hot chocolate and you may win something!! I won a donut!! Now I never win anything so I am really excited about it! Plus free food!! :) yay me!! 

I love you all!! 

-Sister Gillins 

It's cold out here! -30 today!

I won a free donut! yay me!

BAPTISM!

This week was AMAZING! So many fun and amazing things have happened this week! :) 

First, it has been snowy! Really snowy! And I love it! It is giving me a pretty good work out walking in the snow! It’s not good packing snow though.. so no snowballs :( But it is a lot of fun to play in! We were early to district meeting this week and there was a huge pile of snow over in the corner of the church parking lot. So I climbed it :) All the way to the tippy top! Then Elders came and we all climbed to the top. Some spots weren’t to stable though. It was like quick sand! If you stepped one step out of line you would sink right in! Haha it was a blast! The elders were to lazy to climb back down so they decided to slide down on the backs and bellies and man were they soaked! Sister Leeson and I didn’t really have that choice because of our skirts.. #SisterMissionaryProblems. But all in all it was good fun! :) 

Then we got to take a ride on a ferry to Wolf Island to have dinner with the Branch President. The ferry is the only way to get to the island, and man was it fun! I probably took billions of pictures and videos. Everyone who goes on it everyday probably thought I was crazy but I was having the time of my life! How cool is it to be in your car and on a boat at the same time?! Super cool! :) The water was frozen so they cleared a path so that the ferry could make it across the lake. It reminded me of the Titanic cause it was so cold and if you fell in the water you would probably die!! Burr!! 

We also did some service this week and learned a new sport in the process... its called throwing snow balls at icicles so they don’t fall and kill someone! We spent a good half hour helping people on the street do that! :) And they were so grateful! They said we can come back in a few days when they form again and help out some more ;) Oh the joys of winter!! 

Also there is a new work out called trying to get frozen rain off of everyone’s car!! During church on Sunday there was frozen rain! So we were all out scraping cars for about an hour! The elders were silly and didn’t put on there winter gear.. There ears started to get white!! D: FROST BITE! So dangerous! They wouldn’t listen to us and get in the car.. but they sure did listen to Sister Whitehead! :) I love her so much!! I think she probably saved their ears! 

Don’t worry everyone I am staying very warm!! I layer up like its no ones business! 

Yifan also got baptized on Sunday!! Woot woot! It was an amazing baptism though. We are trying to make the baptismal service shorter and I love doing that. I feel like it makes the baptism more about the person and less about the speakers and the spirit is so much stronger! He was so excited for his baptism the whole time during church! He always laughs at me cause I give a billion high-fives but he humored me yesterday and just kept giving them to me! After he was baptized he had the opportunity to bear his testimony and it was amazing! He still remembers the day we met him. It was the day it was -30 out and he thought we were just asking him for directions.. turns out we were giving him some ;) It has only been a short month since then and he has loved the changes he has made. He loves the church and he loves that everyone tries to remember his name even when they pronounce it wrong (you pronounce it as E-fine) He was able to bear such a strong testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel! He is going to be such a strong member when he returns to China! He will definately help build up the church there :) 

Miracles do happen when we do talk to everyone. God puts people in our paths for reasons. I am so grateful that I took the opportunity to stop and talk with everyone that very cold windy day or we would have never met Yifan. Pray with faith and God will answer. I know that this gospel brings happiness and that our Heavenly Father loves us!! 

Love, 

Sister Gillins 

YIFAN'S BAPTISM DAY!
he is amazing

I climbed the mountain of snow

Ferry ride to Wolf Island....

so much fun!

TWINNERS!

I changed my mind about the animals... A recent-convert in the branch let me hold one of their baby rats while we gave a lesson. Well... in the middle of the lesson the thing tinkled and pooped on me! :( So gross.. But you know what.. It’s alright cause it didn’t faze anyone! Everyone kept going on like normal like nothing happened… after I cleaned myself off and the lesson went very well!! :) But I’m never holding an animal for an entire lesson again! 

So this week I wore my hair “natural” and someone asked me if I had ever read Harry Potter before… and I said "No, but I have seen the movies!!" And they said I would make a great Hermione.. thanks.. and he wasn’t talking about the cute one in the movie..he was talking about the big haired one in the book!! but its okay, they are all just jealous! (Man I love humidity... NOT!)

We had a dinner appointment fall through this week.. so I asked Sister Leeson where we should go to eat for dinner and we both decided on a Chinese buffet!! :) Yummy!! it was so good. we ate till we couldn’t eat any more! and I had Sister Leeson try her first piece of sushi! She liked it :) I feel successful now! 

This week everyone also humored me. :) If you don’t know by now..I will tell you a secret… I love to match and be twins with people and… everyone let me this week! :) Sister Leeson let me even curl her hair so we could be real twins! Then Winnie wanted to match us too so we all matched on Sunday as well! :) But this time I had to straighten my hair to be like the rest of them! We looked so cute. Everyone was like did you mean to match? And we exclaimed,” we sure did!” :) Yifan even matched! Not on purpose though! We asked him how he knew to wear what he did and he said "the spirit told me ;)" haha he is catching on fast! :) 

He is awesome though! In Sunday school our teacher asked us what was similar between all of our converts and we talked about how they are all prepared. At the end of the lesson Yifan was like, "I didn’t know I was prepared! I don’t feel prepared!" he is so awesome and so prepared! If all pans out he will be getting baptized this Sunday! :) 

Something I noticed about winter is that people don’t like to stop to talk to you.. or open their doors all the way.. I don’t blame them! It’s usually around -15 c outside each day. But Yifan is one of the only people who really stopped to talk to us! That’s another reason why he is awesome! But I keep praying that we will find more like him! :) 

Transfers are this Sunday!! Wish us luck! 

Love you all,

Sister Gillins 

TWINNERS

Hermione HARRY POTTER Hair

LOOK AT THE NAME OF THIS SIGN...
The Tragically Hip Way
 Temperatures below freezing
 and a wind chill of deathly!

BIG BUNNY!

I got to hold the big bunny this week! :D Y'all will probably get a picture of me holding some kind of animal each week. That’s one of the greatest things here in Kingston. Everyone lets you hold there pets :) 

But we were finally able to meet our Recent Converts daughter! We have been trying for weeks to meet her!! And finally she came to a lesson! :) She and her mom are exactly alike! They are so funny!! They remind me a lot of my mom and me! They tease each other like sisters but love each other soooo much :) It made me miss my mommy lots.. But so grateful for her as well. Our Recent Convert is such a good example to her daughter. She teaches her the gospel and how to help people by living the gospel.  I am so grateful that my mommy taught me those things too. 

This week we also went and got some yummy poutine! :) Sooooo good. I am going to start my own poutine restaurant when I get home. I don’t understand why we don’t have this more down in the states.. weird. 

On Tuesday we had exchanges! Sooo fun! Sister Warburton came here to Kingston and it was so great. We had a ball contacting people on the street! We had some awkward contacts where I almost ran into someone while saying hi and what not.. We just laughed and laughed! We were also able to meet some amazing prepared people! :) We met someone who asked for a Book of Mormon online. I love being able to talk to people who actually want us there!  :) 

Our investigator who is preparing for baptism in the next couple weeks was able to attend a baptism and he loved it! After I asked what he thought and he’s like "I need a few minutes to think" and then a few minutes he came and told me that he knows this is the right church for him! :)  That he loves how we are all different but we can all come to church every week and just worship God together. He loves the feeling of coming to church. Such a testimony builder for me! I know that everything he said is true! I love the Gospel just as much as he does!! :)  

I love you all. Thank you for all your prayers! 

-Sister Gillins 

BIG FLUFFY BUNNY

POUTINE

Elder Oaks

OH MY GOODNESS! I shook hands with Elder Oaks! He is about the nicest man I have ever met! He was late getting to our conference, so he didn’t have very long to talk, but the spirit was so strong while he did!! The one thing that stood out to me was that he kept saying that this isn’t your mission,… it’s Gods. And that is so true. When I focus on MY mission things don’t really work out. But when I put God first and make it His mission, things just seem to fall into place :) 

I also got to see Sister Lindquist at the meeting!! WooHoo!! BFF'S back together! Who would have thought I would see her again in Canada? Not me!! :) So it was fun to reconnect and share stories! :) The Mission President allowed us to go out to eat with whoever we wanted and wherever we wanted….So, of course Sister Lindquist and I grabbed our companions and ran together…for some yummy PIZZA! She is loving her mission…and I am so happy about that.

Remember our investigator from China?! Well he wants to be baptized!! We have been really focusing on using the pamphlets to teach and he loves it! He goes home and reads them and comes back with great questions! Last time he brought up the Holy Ghost and how great it feels! Sister Leeson then testified that he can always have that feeling after he is baptized. He then asked when he could be baptized! WooHoo! Talk about prepared! :) He came to church yesterday and loved it! I am so excited to continue to keep teaching him! :) He picks up on so much! 

We also had another cool event! We were calling media referrals from the past year and we called one who had asked for a book of Mormon. He said that a missionary had already given him one but thanks! Well I continued and asked if he had any questions we could answer. He paused and said, you know what, can we sit down and talk! In my mind I’m like HECK YES!! Long story short we are meeting him tomorrow! I’m super excited!! 

Things are starting to look up here in Kingston West! Miracles are happening all over the place and Sister Leeson is killing it in lessons. She is so bold and asks the hard questions! I love it :) 

PS: I held a rat. I am taking it home with me on my way back to Utah! And a cute member made me birthday cookies!! Sister Lindquist and I totally pigged out on Pizza!

Loves,

Sister Gillins 

Sister Lindquist and I totally pigged out on Pizza!

I held a rat.
 I am taking it home with me
 on my way back to Utah!

Generation Picture

A cute member
 made me birthday cookies!! 

SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW.....BURR!!

It is so COLD! And we have been out of A car! Okay, so we didn’t have a car on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and half of Friday... but that is a long time. And it was soooo cold on Wednesday. Like it got down to -30 Celsius and we were out all day! Apparently they were telling people to stay inside all day since it was so cold.. but we didn’t get the memo! But it was still super fun! And we met an awesome guy! His name is Yifan! He is from main land China! :) He was interested in learning more because there are no churches where he is from. So coming into the lesson he was just interested in the history about our church but after asking a few inspired questions… we found that he had some deep questions of the soul. He came into the meeting not believing in God, and after just a short 45 minutes came to believe for himself. We didn’t have to convince him of anything! And he was the one who wanted to pray at the end of the lesson! It was amazing! There is so much potential there for Him!! He is awesome! And YSA... I love YSA :)

On Thursday I had a wonderful birthday!! It was pretty chilly that day too. But we spent a while weekly planning and then went and talked to people on the street.. There weren’t many people, because of the blizzard.. but we did have some good conversations with the brave souls who were out!! :) Then the Prices brought us dinner! And boy was it good!! :) They made me Mexican which I have been craving for forever! It was soooo good! and home made everything.. ugh the best birthday meal! and I got more candy... I’m going to be fat everyone!! and I got this wonderful hat that sings...and dances..haha :) It’s so great and fun!! I’m going to have a ball with it with the YSA! :) Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts…I feel loved..

Yesterday church was not cancelled! YAY! We were really scared that is was going to be again with all of the snow we have gotten! But we stayed safe! The branch loves Sister Leeson already! :) And Sister Leeson and I taught gospel principles. It was the first time Sister Leeson has taught a Sunday lesson and I think she did well!! :) She is growing a lot already! She always says she is scared to teach but when we get in the lesson she does wonderful and  she is so confident!! :) It has been fun watching her grow! 

I love you all…..stay warm! Eh!

-Sister Gillins 

MEXICAN BDAY DINNER

SINGING DANCING BDAY HAT
THANKS GRANDMA G.

I LOOK HILARIOUS TRYING TO WALK
ON THIS ICY SIDEWALK IN A SKIRT

A New Year and Companion!

So, I would like you all to meet my new companion, Sister Leeson!

She is fresh off the plane on Monday..( district jokes!)  But she is super wonderful in everyway!! :) 

She is from the Village (yes a village) of Sterling, Alberta! So I have another Canadian companion! I will be Canadian in no time! She is also blonde :) Blondes are the best. But I still can’t blame the long hair that get’s everywhere because hers is short.. But that is still okay! 

So.. driving.. I had to drive a TON! Does anyone know how far Brampton is from Kingston!? About 3 hours!! Sooooo long! We are so far away! And driving makes you tired... but no one worry! I did not fall asleep at the wheel! We just listened to some beautiful music that my mother sent me!! :) And it gave me lots of time to get to know Sister Leeson. She has a twin sister! How cool is that?! 

So our first full day together we went tracting..(everyone knows how much I love tracting..not!)  but everyone we met was very nice!! :) Then we talked to someone on the street! He was awesome! He wanted to learn more about Jesus! But when we tried to call him later, the number didn’t work.. Dang it! But it’s okay because it showed Sister Leeson how fun it is to talk to people. She is a lot like me when I first came out. It is hard to talk to people! But I love that she gives everything a try! When I invite her to talk at the next door, she will!! When I invite her to give a card to someone, she will!! She is taking some great steps and I am so excited to work with her! I feel like miracles are  starting to come!! :) And everyone we have met so far loves her! So this will be an amazing transfer! :) 

Church was cancelled yesterday due to freezing rain! Man was it cold! The roads were pure ice yesterday! So you drive really SLOW! And you walk really SLOW! Cause not are just the roads icy but so are the side walks! Since church was cancelled we thought it would be a good idea to go contact people on the campus! But nope. Everyone is trying not to slip, so they don’t really want to talk. It was pretty fun watching everyone try to walk though. I bet it was quite fun for people to watch Sister Leeson and I as well. Watching two girls in skirts walking on the ice, trying not to slip…Funny!  I just kept laughing to myself and wishing I could have caught us on video! :) 

We also got to hold baby bunnies! So stinking cute!! :) And once they are big enough, the lady is going to kill them and eat them!.... Ahhhh! But, she said we can do it with her! YIKES!

I love you all so much. And shout out to my brother Spencer for being a trooper! He was just diagnosed with diabetes type1 and he has the best attitude ever about it!! You are in my prayers little brother! 

Love, 

Sister Gillins 

Sister Leeson and Me

Me and Baby Bunny

Kingston Ward Building