The Wonders of Buses!!

I love the buses!! I don’t know why I have been deprived of this opportunity my whole mission! But I am grateful to have it here at the end :D First of all, we had to run to catch the bus here this morning :) I love watching us run, we must look like weirdos!! Two girls in skirts and dresses running with about a 10 pound bag on our side.. OH it’s a joy :) 

Second of all, people are just so funny!! There are two different kinds of people on the buses.. There’s ones who will ignore you no matter how much of a conversation you will try to start and there are people who will just sit down and start telling you their whole life story whether or not you want to hear! I just sit and listen to those people and hear about their crazy hard lives.. And then I offer them a mormon.org card and they think I’m crazy!! Like this one guy... oh so funny. He gets on and is on the phone and points at the seat next to me and sits down.. he has this long conversation to someone about how he loves her and how he doesn’t like the other girl anymore.. then after the phone call he tells me about the whole situation and how family is super important and that I need to remember that. (He has had a pretty crazy life) Well right before he got off I gave him a mormon.org card and then he’s like oh boy!! You are one of those brain washed people.. I just smiled and said nope, but this will for sure bless your life. I love to hear about what people think about us as Mormons. It is nice to tell them that what they had heard was wrong and being able to teach them correctly. 

This week we had some fun food!! We got fed spaghetti a lot this week!! :D All super good. But we also got some yummy shwarma!! I love shwarma so much! We also had some yummy spicy rice from a family from Ghana! Next time we come over they said they will make us Fu-Fu! (I think that is how you spell it) So that is really exciting! 

On Saturday we were able to help this man we met on the street with some house work. We had a member come with us and it was really cool to see how much he appreciated what we were doing and how it helped him recognized us as servants of the Lord. As we helped we were able to talk about the gospel and we were able to testify how we are called of God. The spirit was very strong the whole time we were in his house helping him. We were able to make him a new investigator and he is excited to come to church with us next week!! It is fun using different finding ideas and seeing how well they work!! 

We also did service for another member! she was moving and she asked if we could grab some shelving for her from her old house... well we didn’t have a car so we had to take it on the bus with us!! Everyone thought we were lame.. but hey we were doing service!! 

But that is all for now! I love you all so much!! 

Sister Gillins

 

The key in this situation...is to laugh!

My companion is sooooo cute!

This is the bus stop we head to every morning...

We keep finding random things in our apartment...
like this wonderful
turtle neck sweater with leather lace up sleeves...IDK!

Fireworks!

So yesterday was Victoria day! Thats when we celebrate Queen Victoria. Like no stores or nothin was open yesterday. Thats why we have P-day today! But over the past few days there has been tons of fireworks!! It fun because we live at the top of our apartment building and we have these big windows, so right before we go to bed we just look out and watch the fireworks :) Its fun!! I cant wait till July 1st though! I am hoping there will be some pretty cool ones! 

So Sister Robison and I have been getting pretty crafty with our meals! We are sick of just sandwiches.. So we are making some fun stuff!! The other day we made some pretty sweet homemade stroganoff! We were lacking in a few ingredients.. but I was pretty proud of ourselves for how well it turned out!! We are also making some fun casseroles and pasta salads!! :D 

I don't really know what to say about this week .. Oh ya! I saw 2 red-headed Asians this week!! I don't remember if any of you remember how I was obsessed with finding a red-headed Asian.. but I finally did!! Dreams really do come true! 

So this week we found a sweet new investigator! We were out with one of our members from Kenya! She speaks Swahili!! So anyways.. our appointment bombed and we were standing in the lobby looking at our back up plans trying to figure out what to do.. then all the sudden a man walks by and starts to get in the elevator. Well he said something to our member in Swahili and then they just started talking!! He eventually allowed us to all come up to his apartment. We were able to teach him about the restoration! Then we committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to come to church!! He came to church this week and loved it!! :) The ward was really amazing at fellow shipping him and just being a friend! 

We also went and found 2 less active families this week!! We invited them out to church and they both came!! It was so fun to see the people you love come to partake of the sacrament and be edified by the spirit!! :D 

There is also this beautiful quote that I read this week!! 

"There is neither man or woman in this church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to prompt righteousness, to teach the principles or truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life." 

I am grateful for the work of many to help bring people to the gospel!! 

Sister Gillins

 The only ones on the bus!!
 #whodowetalkto
(Good thing the bus drivers love us)

Our yummy Stroganoff day!

Some funny and slightly yummy
 Canadian chips!! 

Mommy Day = Bestest Day

Moms day was the Bomb! so says every missionary in the whole world!! ;) But let’s be real here.. Who doesn't love to see their family?! My family is probably the coolest family though.. :D 

It was so much fun to see how they are all growing up! Both in the way of physically and spiritually! (my family is tall now, I am a shrimp) It is amazing to see how much we all have grown through the difficult times we have had! You can either take these terrible times and let them pull you apart, or use them to grow and step closer to God. My family has definitely used them to grow closer to God and I am sooo grateful for their example! 

I love my new area! It is different! That is for sure! I am getting use to all of this walking though! I am being healthy!! :D And I am starting to figure out the buses all by myself! I feel like such a big sister now!! The bus is interesting.. Many fun and interesting people. I know lots of people smoke weed here.. cause I can smell it all the time.. but I didn’t think someone would just whip out a joint and start smoking it on the bus! Now that was fun!! :) I probably should have given him a mormon.org card.. Ill find him again and give him one! I am also starting to get somewhat tan!! Still super white, you know cause I am Sister Gillins, but a little tan!! :D You would all be so proud of me! 

This week we met this super cool guy from Africa! He has been all over the world though! He met missionaries in Italy and had a Book of Mormon while in Africa that he left. We were able to meet with him this week. He really wants his family to sit down and listen to our message.. which is hard. They will sit down then get up and get something and just not really care.. but it will work somehow!! We have been praying for a family to teach!! So it was really cool when he said he wants his whole family to learn the gospel! :) Prayers really do come true!! ;) 

This morning in my studies I was reading from John (John is like my most favorite apostle!) and I came across John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace . In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world. I love it!! I was able to understand it. Christ gives us peace. That is why He left us with the Holy Ghost. The world, all it gives us is tribulation. Sometimes it seems like it is too much to overcome sometimes! We are thrown a lot of curve balls, but Christ, He overcame this world! He was here, He went through it all. So He is someone we can look to when things get hard, when we don’t feel we can take it anymore. We can be happy and have peace. That is part of the gift Christ gave us! 

I hope you all have a great week! I love each of you so much!! Thank you for the prayers!! 

-Sister Gillins 

I captured this on Skype..
I made all of my family line up in height..
several of them were not happy..because they could not deal
with being passed up.. Kyle would not even Stand up all the way.
Sorry Kyle...Spencer looks like
 he is equal and will be passing you soon.

Wow...no one was really cooperating with taking a picture.
Hello Missionary People!

Look who I found again?
Sister Lindquist and Me...
Herriman Buddies!

STAR WARS DAY!!

I am sooo happy about Star Wars day! I am wearing my yoda socks!! Boo-Ya!! May the fourth be with you all ;) 

Sooooo transfer news! I knew you all thought this would be my last area.. me too, but surprise! They are sending me to the city!! Yay! I will be going to Etobicoke North. I am whitewashing again, so me and my comp have never been there before and it is a bus area!! yay the bus in the summer!! :D I will be sweaty and stinky and I'll be burnt to a crisp!! Oh ya!! Living the dream! My new companion will be Sister Robinson! I don’t know anything about her yet but she looks like the cutest little thing! She has only been out for 12 weeks!! So this will super fun!! :D 

We have seen some pretty cool miracles this week!! We had a former out of the blue just text us and say that she has stopped smoking and ready to learn more! So that was really awesome!! And a ton of ESL students came to church this week!! We were able to set up times to meet with them during the week to be able to teach them the gospel!! It has been a hard and rough transfer, but through hard work and patience we have seen miracles! It’s sad that our area is closing down though... but the Elders who will be covering this area will take good care of the new people we were able to find this week!! 

Not too many exciting things happened… I mean I am getting a little bit of a tan line but that’s all, having a good time breaking in some of my new shoes! It’s great!! This week we took the Elders bus passes to ride the bus and talk to more people. I am kinda scared at bus contacting, but it was good practice for what is coming up now!! :) 

Don’t have too much to say except for this very important tid bit… so, listen… the Lord looks after each of us. Sometimes I don’t understand why things happen the way they do but God does. He is looking after every little thing and is cheering us on from on high!! We just need to stop and listen sometimes. 

Remember…”Yo-da-best”

-Sister Gillins 

OH!! Happy Cinco de Mayo tomorrow!!!! 

BATSISTER!
I heard there is going to be a
Batman vs. Superman movie..
I don't know if I like that...
can't we all just get along?

What an Adventure!

This week was jam packed full of adventures!! I got to see downtown Toronto twice this week!! Once on purpose, the other one was just bad directions given to us.. So Monday we got to go downtown to the Royal Ontario Museum!!! Fancy fancy eh? We took the Subway down, now that was fun. Especially cause we had no idea where we were going. We just hopped on a train and prayed we were headed the right way! But no worries, we were!! There are some interesting characters on the subway, reminds me a lot of Trax in Utah. Just a little bit more packed and interesting…haha.

            The museum was tons of fun! Sister Julian and I just ran from floor to floor looking at everything! There was sooooo much to look at! Our favorite stuff were the things you could actually touch! and the Dinosaurs!!! :) Man!! I was also able to finally see a Moose in Canada! and a Wolf :) It was an awesome day! 

On the way back home, all the Elders took the subway back with us. This time it was really full! It was awesome how all the Elders were surrounding Sister Julian and I :) It was like they were our big brothers trying to protect us! :) I’m glad.

            Tuesday we got to have skills and interviews with President and Sister Clayton! They are so wonderful and fun! I love being able to have time to just talk and listen to them! And turns out I got to spend even more time with them this week. They let me and Sister Julian sleep over at their home the day I found out about daddies surgery! They are the best! The Spirit is sooo strong in the mission home. I know without a shadow of a doubt that they are so inspired and that the things they invite us to do come from the Lord! They also gave us ice cream! There favorite is dark chocolate! It made me think of my Grandpa Glover and his love for dark chocolate!

            Yesterday was stake conference. It was awesome! Sister Julian got the wrong church address so we ended up at a church building somewhere downtown! It was nuts!! But it was all okay, we got to go on a fun adventure and drive downtown and we still ended up being really early to the conference! So there was no problem there! Just maybe a waste of our Kilometers. I got to see a lot of my besties too! I got to see cute little Winnie from Kingston who will be in Toronto all summer! YAY! And Elder Ellis and Sister Herfort who came out with me. It was good to see old friends again!! :) 

            I was soooooooo excited for Kyle when I heard he got called to Georgia!! Sister Julian totally called it too! (I think she only guessed it cause she loves cowboys) (jk, she’s inspired) He will be the best missionary any of you have ever seen!! So watch out!! 

            This week has been a great week!! Lots of up and downs (with daddy having open heart surgery), but my testimony is growing like no other! I LOVE bearing it to people. I bear it with meaning. I want people to feel the Spirit just pounce on them while I am speaking! I don’t know if it is happening, but I hope it is. I know that this gospel is true with all my heart! I have no doubt about it. It is what gets us through the good and the bad. It’s what holds us together when everything else seems to be falling apart. Testimony is key to everything. Jesus Christ must be the foundation that we depend on! This week it seems as if the world around me is shaking, it’s moving and wanting me to fall with it, but as I keep my testimony on my Savior I know I will not and cannot fall!! 

-Sister Gillins 

Romans always looked sooo good,
even without a nose!! 

I am not a slothful servant!!

Sister Julian and I in front of a tomb!
SPOOKY

And mommy... it's not a cat...
but can I bring home a raccoon?!

I finally got to see a moose,
 wolf and polar bear while in Canada! 

YOU GUYS KNOW I LOVE WOLVES,..RIGHT?

Our ride home with amazing Elders

Ok..look way back behind me...
The CN tower!! Trade mark of Toronto! :) 

I'm doing something Fun today!

Today will be a short email!! Sooooo sorry! I don’t have much time! We need to be in downtown Toronto at 1 and still have to go shopping!! 

Today we are going to the Royal Ontario Museum as a zone! Something fun!! I will take lots of pictures and send them next week!! 

This week has been amazing! A roller coaster, the best kind! The ones with up and downs and fast take offs and stuff like that!! :D It has been stressful but delightful in all sorts of ways! 

I think the stressful times makes the wonderful times even more wonderful! 

Yesterday we set 2 hours aside to just street contact. We talked to a total of 4 people... I was so tired by the end of it and so sad.. Then our appointment bombed us last minute.. even more sadness in my heart! We decided to drop by a less active in the area, but my heart just wasn’t in it.. I was just not having a good day. I was tired and sad and just wanted to take it easy the rest of the night. But I knew that was Satan. It took all my energy to walk up to the less actives door to have no answer... Sister Julian looked at me after and said.. "well now what?" I looked at her and said "Do what president has asked, let’s go contact 15 people around this area!!" It took all our energy to walk and talk to people, but as time went on …. we found people to talk to!  It seemed as if the burden we felt we were carrying was lifted! The Atonement works and I am so grateful for that!! 

As we follow the commandments the Lord will help us accomplish the things he has set before us. (1 Nephi 3:7) 

There is my short little bit for the week!! 

Ill make up for it next week!! 

I love you all soooooo much thank you for your help and love!! 

-Sister Gillins 

We were able to help

 with Joan's Birthday!

 Her Sisters live in Utah!

I’M NOT WEARING WINTER LEGGINGS TODAY!

Today it is WARM! It is finally warm enough for me to be able to walk around with no leggings!! Yay! I am the happiest sister now! I don't even care if I am blinding people with my pasty white legs! I am just a happy camper! Cause this week has been crazy! We have had rain fall, to which I am grateful I went and bought a pair of rain boots the week prior. We also had  a ton of wind!! The day it was extremely windy we allowed the elders to borrow the car and we took the bus.. crazy day! I decided to wear my long coat so that it would hold down my skirt. :) It was wonderful to be able to walk around not caring if my skirt was going to fly up! I was able to just spread the gospel! And buses are super fun! I just wish I knew how to bus contact better and that more people would actually ride the buses we were on, but all is well. 

We were able to meet with a really sweet family this week! :) They have met with missionaries in the past, but are now allowing us over. There was actually a member in Boston who sent us to them. Man I will tell ya, the little 11 year old is so prepared! The missionaries who taught him in Boston must be sweet because that little guy knows a whole bunch! He really wants the Holy Ghost. And we were able to teach him about Him and how he can feel the Spirit. He was so excited and so cute! Now we just need to get his whole family just as excited! :D They are golden I tell ya! 

We have been hitting the pavement hard this week! Out talking to people and what not! I love it. We meet a lot of foreigners. Lots of people don't speak English. So I have been trying to learn little phrases in different languages to get them to kinda try to talk to me. But once I start saying something in their language they think I'm an expert at it and start talking fast in their language. Then I have to apologize and give them an ESL card and the number to the missionaries who can actually speak their language. But we have been able to meet some pretty sweet potentials for the language missionaries! I hope they find success with them! :) 

ESL has been fun! We are having a game with the Elders. We came up with some goals we want and have a point system. So when you accomplish one you get points! The companionship with the highest amount of points at the end of the transfer gets a $10 gift card to Tim Horton’s and the companionship with the lowest amount of points has to buy it for them. So we will see how it goes! We will probably be going to Timmies sometime soon ;) OH YA! We had a sweet ESL student come to church this Sunday! We learned about prophets in Sunday School and he loved it! He said that we will be seeing him next week at church! YES!! Miracles do happen! :) 

I hope you all are having a good week and may God be with you! :) 

Love, 

Sister Gillins 

I found my way to Clarissa Drive!

A fun Indian Dinner with the Elders!