Last one, best one!

Last week for preparation day the zone leaders made it extra special! We got to pie them in the face!! The rest of the day they smelled like sour milk. It was great!! (:

For enrichment this month the Relief Society had a pool party.. no one got in the water though.. But that's okay! We got to know the sisters a lot better and connect with them. They are so much fun!! (:

We were able to meet with our returning member again this week!! It was a beautiful experience like always. She has such great faith and love for God. We taught her about tithing. She has a desire to pay it, but now she just needs to talk to her husband about it. But I know through her faith and prayers things will be able to work out! She was able to come out to church again this Sunday. I love being able to sit by her and share the sacred time of sacrament meeting with her. She has the sweetest soul. 

Thursday we got the greatest news!! The AP's called and told us they were giving us a car for the rest of the week!! (:  Miracle!! It was weird not taking the bus, but we got so much done!! What usually takes us an hour bus ride to get up to an area only took us 14 minutes to drive!! We were able to work around so many names!! We found some super sweet potentials while working around some less active members!! Cars truly are blessings! We were grateful to have it for a few short days. :) 

On Friday night one of the members had a farewell family home evening for me. It was so sweet of her. We had a ton of Filipino food. It was soooo good!! I am sure going to miss these people! They have the brightest spirit and always make you smile! We had a testimony meeting for the FHE activity. It was amazing to be able to hear everyone’s testimony and how the gospel has blessed their lives. I was grateful that they allowed me to bear my testimony to them about my mission and how it has changed me. I truly have been blessed to be in this amazing area! 

It has been a crazy great ride while I have been on my mission!! I have been able to see people recognize the Spirit and act upon promptings. I am so grateful I have been able to serve my Lord. I love every experience I have had. I can’t wait to share them with you when I get home.

See you soon!! 

Love, 

Sister Gillins 

We're sooo awesome!!!

"Things the MTC doesn’t teach you": how to hop a fence

This week.. seemed long.. Which is so good!! Cause I want these days to last (: 

We started this week off by going to visit some people with a member in the Stake Presidency.. The people that set up an appointment with us bombed.. but that didn't stop the Brother we went with!! He was like "well we are missionaries and we teach a message about Christ" to the person who opens the door! I was like dang!! He’s taking our job ;) But it was awesome!! Then he was like well... let’s go drop by this part-member family down the street and called them to make sure we could visit!! It was so awesome!! I love members who are so missionary minded! It truly helps us so much in this work and helps the work more forward so quickly! 

We had skills and interviews with President this week. It was weird.. Didn’t know what to say really.. My talk with him and Sister Clayton were about home.. I guess that is what you get when you die in two weeks!! But it was still a spiritual experience non-the-less!! We had exchanges right after that! So Sister Jensen came and spent the day with me in Etobicoke! It was her first time on the bus, she had a ball!! She was like,” the bus is so awkward and I love every moment of it!!” It was so funny to see her so excited!! She is an awesome missionary!! She is from the same small town my old companion Sister Bottcher is from :) 

Our ward mission leaders wife got us Samosas!! She knows the best place to get them.. so yummy!! She is one of my favorite people. She LOVES candy. And she always has peanut butter in her purse. She is super skinny too!! We asked her how and she’s like well I work out... and sometimes instead of eating real food I just eat candy and peanut butter.. so maybe that is why. I was like yes!!! So she also got us lots of yummy treats!! It was so nice! 

On Saturday we took one of the best member missionaries in the mission out street contacting with us!! It was so fun!! He was so excited to share the gospel!! Jimmy is known throughout the mission. We love having Jimmy around!! After proselyting we went and got some taco bell!! It has been a while! It was fun; Jimmy was teaching us some Spanish. After Taco Bell,  Sister Womack and I were headed to an appointment and Sister Womack remembered what I told her my dad just recently taught me; “ if you see a swing, go swing on it! And have a moment of fun!”  Well we walked past a park and she just stopped, looked at her watch, looked at the swings, back at me then started to run to them!! We took a few minutes and just swung. It was nice to just unwind before we needed to teach a lesson! Thank you daddy for the advice!! (:

Oh ya!! About the title of my email... haha. So Sister Womack and I have been trying to take short cuts.. but they always lead us to a fence and no opening. Well Saturday we were in an apartment building and I told Sister Womack to go out the side door.. Well I have done it a few times before, but I forgot that they just put up a fence.. and the door we went out was one that you can’t get back in. We were stuck.. So we tried to find a part of a fence where the least amount of people would be able to see us jump over the fence in our skirts. There were two people across the parking lot that were watching us.. They were probably like, “what are those girls in skirts think they are doing?!” We were able to hop over the fence and get on with the day, but we were dieing laughing and trying to figure out the most graceful way to get over it with out having our skirts fly up. I think we did pretty good!! ;) 

Love you all!! See you soon eh?         -Sister Gillins 

 "if you see a swing, go swing on it!
And have a moment of fun!"
-My Daddy

Me, Sister Womack and the
 Famous Member Missionary- Jimmy!

Sister Womack...I love you!

Never Dull !!!!

Missionary work here is always exciting and never dull!! When y'all heard I was going to Canada, some of you probably felt sorry for me! Well I feel sorry for you that you aren't here!! 

Literally, sometimes we will be out walking in the heat of the day, dead, and there is no one on the street to talk to, but then you will just look over to the side of the street and see someone driving their minivan on everyone’s lawns!! We just laughed and laughed.. We didn't really know what was going on so we didn't get our cameras out fast enough to take a picture. But oh well, it’s a good memory to have!! 

The one thing I love about this area is the beautiful statue of a mermaid on a sea horse fighting a giant clam!! It doesn't get any better than that right?! It’s just sitting out in front of a random apartment building, and it just makes me laugh every single time I see it :) 

So we live right by the highway, and we were dropping by a member, who wasn't home, so we decided to weed a little bit of her garden for her, then Sister Womack saw a whole in the wall that lead to the highway! She just stuck her head outside and was like wow!! ohhh!!! She cracks me up all the time. She also loves seeing the pigeons inside the subway! We thought this one was a one-legged pigeon, but it ended up having both its legs.. but we still took a picture of it. 

Last P-day we went to Chinatown! It was so much fun!! Lots and lots of people! Lots and lots of fun things!! We both got this beautiful silk wrap around skirt, and just lots of fun things. We were really close to the CN tower, so check that out!! :D 

So now on to the good stuff!! This week was awesome!! Amazing things happened this week!! We were able to pick up our numbers a lot! I feel like it’s because Sister Womack has a lot of faith and hope for the work! We found some sweet new investigators this week! We found one through tracting! We rang his door bell but no one answered so we went on to the next door, when we were stepping off of that porch we saw him and went back over to talk to him! He is really sweet!! He loves the idea of a prophet today! When we went back to teach him we had to teach outside because we couldn't find a member to come with us, and it was blazing hot!! We were all super sweaty and gross, but the lesson went well! And he kept the return appointment! Which is amazing!! 

Next was someone found through a media referral!! We have called him and called him but we never can catch him at a good time. So we decided we needed to just drop by him. Now the bus ride up to his house is an hour long.. so we were hesitating, but we knew we needed to! When we walked up to his house he was standing outside!! He was so excited to see us! He told us that he has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot! We taught him what it is and why it is so important!! It was awesome that the spirit guided us and allowed us to catch him at the right time!! 

The less-active that we have been working with came to church this Sunday. This probably made my whole life!! I was so happy to see her there!! She kept holding my hand through the Sacrament Meeting. She enjoyed her return and was so happy that she could be back!! I love watching people come back to the gospel and how much it blesses their lives. I am so happy I can’t even write how happy I am or all the details!! I just am so happy!!!! 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!! 

-Sister Gillins 

Amazingly Fun day in Chinatown!!

CN Tower over my shoulder Peeps!

Sister Womack makes my days
 happy and full of laughter.
She found the short cut to the Highway..haha!

We love seeing the Pigeons in the Subway...
Hello little fella!

The brave Mermaid on her Seahorse...
fighting the DEADLY CLAM!
(I love it!)

BALUT! Yum Yum!!

   Sister Womack is so awesome!! I love her to death!! :D 

   She has been in small cities and towns her whole mission.. So coming here was different for her! But she has done so well! She is amazing at bus and subway contacting!! (even if she doesn’t think so) But it is fun working with her!! She is a red head and I love that! So does everyone else!! :) They want to touch her silky red hair! :) She is getting along really well with the ward and our investigators already!! :D 

   For Canada Day, we went and had lunch with a true Canadian!! A cute member named Kathy had us over and it was super fun!! :) We also had a lesson with another true Canadian! It was the less active we have been working with to have her coming back to church! Things are moving really well with her!! If she was an investigator she would be so golden!! She reads what we give her, she comes with questions, and commits herself to things!! We love her!! She will be back soon!! :D There were also fireworks late that night! We were able to watch them from our window!! O' Canada!! 

   We did service for this wonderful charity "sleeping children around the world" It was fun!! The senior couple serving in our ward set it up for us and helped us with it! It was fun to be able to do service with them! ..And for them to give us a ride!! That helps  bunches!! But we cleaned windows!! I feel like a pro now!! But then we found this huge hornet’s nest!! We ran to tell Elder Lau to make sure he didn’t do that one! It was scary business!! 

   Friday night we had family home evening with a bunch of Philippinos!! :D They are my favorite!! We read through the First Presidency letter they sent out to members in regards to the new Marriage Laws in the USA and Canada. It is very good and helps explain our view very well. If you haven’t read it yet, you have too!! You will be questioned and this will help you answer them!!

   Then after that…they did me a favor and made me BALUT so I could try it before I left!! (ps I love Sis Womack because she is brave and will eat ANYTHING) So BALUT is a unhatched baby duck.. :) Yummy! They boil it for about 30 minutes and then its ready to eat!! So you crack it open and drink the broth (soup they call it) which tastes like chicken broth, then you crack it open and just start biting into it! It basically tastes like a hard boiled egg.. just a little bit slimier. I was brave and ate it!! After we ate it they all welcomed us to the family!! :D It was fun! There were lots of recent converts at the family home evening and a non member that we were able to connect with. While we were eating dinner we had "Meet the Mormons" running in the back ground. All of them loved the movie! 

   Our investigator came to church again this week.. he has been really busy so we haven’t had the time to teach him, but he loves church!! He loves the members, and he set up a time to meet with the bishop by himself!! Can you say prepared?! All we need to do it teach him the lessons and warm up the water!!  I am excited for this one. He will be a kingdom builder!! Pray that we will be able to start meeting with him regularly!! 

   Oh, and I got like the bestest presents from one of my bestest friends!! A sweet Blue Jays Jersey with my last name on it and a Pandora bracelet with an amazing Blue Jays Charm!! Made my week!! Thank you!! O’Canada…I love it!

Loves, 

Sister Gillins 

READY OR NOT...
HERE I GO BALUT!

I CAN DO HARD THINGS! HAHA

NOT SO BAD...JUST...SLIMY...

O'CANADA

SWEET SISTER WOMACK AND ME

I FEEL AWESOME!

THANKS FOR THE AMAZING SURPRISE!
YOUR THE BESTEST!

It's been a Whirlwind!!

So "this week has been just weird!" That is what Sister Robison has been saying all week. And she’s right. It has been a stinking good week! We worked our butts off and it was fun, but weird ;) 

We worked a lot with members this week! Working with lots of returning members and recent converts. We were able to really teach with the spirit this week and the spirit was the one who taught all of them, not us. It was amazing! From that they were able to open up and talk about the main and real concerns of everything. This has been a huge help because now we know where to go with these people. We just aren't spinning our tires in mud anymore but we have traction and we are gonna start taking off! I am really excited for all of this!! :D 

I got to see Sis Lindquist this week at zone conference! Still as beautiful as ever!! It is fun to be able to see good friends! :D 

But there was a huge centipede in the gym while we were eating lunch and no one would kill it for me... so I ended up at the other side of the gym.. I hate centipedes.. Ontario seems to be covered with them!! 

We also got kicked out of our apartment... JK! They were just doing some repairs and we couldn't be there with men in the apartment.. that would just be awkward! So we decided to do weekly planning out on the grass behind the building. It was a very beautiful day for it as well. Not to hot and not to cold. And there was no wind so nothing blew away! The only concern we had was bugs crawling up our skirts!! But we stayed pretty safe from that ;) 

We had dinner with a sweet Phillapino family! I brought up baloot and the next thing I know I am agreeing to eating it next week on Friday! So wish me luck! Pray I won’t barf!!! :D 

I can’t really explain what it is... you just need to Google it okay?

But we had this great food called Omu Tuo. It is from Ghana! It is rice balls with chicken in peanut butter soup! It is delicious!! You eat it with your hands! It was very very interesting.. but I will get the recipe and make it for all of you when I get home! I love serving here because the world comes to us!! We get to meet so many people and learn about there culture! I love it! I love hearing them speak! Cause lots of times they are speaking English but I have no clue on what they are saying. But they all say I have a way better accent than Sister Robison. They make me always repeat what she said cause they didn't understand her ;) 

Oh ya!! Crazy thing that happened yesterday! We got a call from President telling us that there has been a need for an emergency transfer. DUN DUN DUN!! But it’s all okay! We are fine! So Sister Robison will be leaving me and going to the wonderful land of Wellend!! yay yippe!! And I get the beautiful chance to serve with Sister Womack for the rest of my mission! She’s a red head so we will have lots of fun together! I’m kinda freaking out cause I still feel like I have no clue where I am going on the bus.. I just get off when Sister Robison does.. But it will be an adventure for sure!! Missions are beautiful things that always keep you on your toes!!! 

 (check out the front page of mormonnewsroom.ca)                                                                     our ward is on it!! :D  I am wearing green! 

I love you all so much!!       

XOXOXOXOXO 

-Sister Gillins 

I am in Heaven...we found a chocolate orange!

 they must sell them all year!

Omu Tuo

It is soooo yummy!

Pray about it!!

This week has been one of the best weeks we have had here with less-active and returning members! We have had so much fun and spiritual times with them!! We were able to drop by a less-active man and his family! We were able to get to know them and connect with his daughter that is our age. He loves having the missionaries over and his family is so kind to us! Their son brought us out popsicles!! Sooooo yummy! I pray that we will be able to go over and visit again and hopefully start teaching his children about the gospel!! Then we had lunch with another part member family! They are this really cute old couple. They have the best sense of humor ever!! They had us take out the garbage for them before we ate and when we came back the old woman told us that they had moved and that they were the new residence.. we were so confused for awhile.. then her husband yelled "just let them in!" :D 

This week there was almost a fight on the bus... it was pretty crazy! I was afraid it was going to get pretty nasty so I made Sister Robison sit by me.. it was sketchy! But all is well.. one of the guys girl friends made sure nothing happened. 

We met with the pastor again.. it was kinda difficult.. He had a hard time listening to us. He brought up Revelations 22:18-19.. So I brought out Deuteronomy 4:2. After that they didn’t argue with us on that subject but kept trying to tell us we were wrong about something.. I’m not sure what we were wrong about.. but something. So he told us to go home and pray about all of it. I committed him to do the same. So that night I went home and prayed and asked God if all of this is true and I had the feeling that it was!! yipee! I just know from the bottom of my heart that this is all true! I have had simple but marvelous conformations of that each day this week! It has been such a beautiful thing! I hope the pastor has done the same. I pray that he has read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it so that he can get an answer himself! 

A member brought her friend to church this week! He is awesome! He is from Haiti! Guess where our bishop served his mission... HAITI! They hit it off, talking in Creole and cracking jokes! It was awesome! He loved church and we were able to make him a new investigator! He is awesome!! He had some really good questions too! I can’t wait to actually sit down with him and teach him about the Restoration. 

Things are amazing here!! Maybe even if things aren’t going our way we are still so happy and working hard. We are both just glad this is The Lords work and not ours.. if it was ours.. we would be toast by now! 

Love you all!! 

Sister Gillins

Our shirt for our district an Elder made for us..
 we are all elves.. :) 

Random Picture on the bus I always stare at..

This plaque talks about the early saints here in Toronto!!
 cool beans!! 

This unicorn is at one of the recent converts homes..
 it stares us down during lessons! haha
I love it!

Fishy Fishy!

So I went to the Aquarium.. You can all be jealous because it was pretty dang cool!! :D Lots of fishies and sharks!! DUN DUN DUN! My favorite part was the jelly fishes though! They are just so majestic and cute! :D There were lots of weird things too! I got to touch something... I don't remember the name of it though.  It was hard and weird. But we got in for free! There is a member in the Mid Singles ward who hooked us up with some free tickets! So we are so grateful for that! It was an adventure to go down town too! Lots and lots of people and fun things to look at! :) We got to see the CN Tower! Maybe this transfer Sister Robison and I will go inside and see it! But we really want to go to China Town and Little Italy. 

Oh!! By the way Sister Robison and I are both staying here in Etobicoke North!! :D So happy! We have lots of work we still need to do here! :) 

We had this amazing experience with a less-active this week. Our Relief Society President sent out letters to all of the less active sisters in our ward. Some were sent back, so now we know those sisters have moved and most of them we haven't heard a reply until last Monday. A sister who has been on a do not contact list called the Relief Society President and told her how grateful she felt for getting a letter and that the church still remembers her. The president called us up and told us that she had set up a time to visit with her and would like us to go along! It was a beautiful experience! As we talked she opened up about everything. Her husband is very against Mormons and that is why she has been on a do not contact list. She has had a very hard life with having Lupus and having her leg amputated.. but yet she still knows God is looking out for her. She reads the scriptures everyday and prays. She asked us if we could reteach her the lessons and help her come back. It is amazing the results that come from working with the auxiliary leaders! I will cherish this moment for the rest of my life!! 

We also were able to teach a family! A missionary talked to this family a few weeks back on the Subway. We called and set up a time to meet with them. They just moved here from Pakistan. They are very Christian. All of their kids are named after prophets! The father is a pastor.. so we were really nervous to see what he would say or if the whole appointment would be him trying to convert us. But he and his family listened to what we had to say. They weren’t sure about a prophet, but said they will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it!! Pray that their hearts will open!! 

It’s been a great week and it will only get better!! Love you all!! 

-Sister Gillins 

CN Tower in Toronto
Sister Robinson and Me

Ripley's Aquarium - Canada!

HELP!!!

Eating Pho with the Elders!
 Hmmmm...It was actually
pretty good..Yum!