Flu shots don't work

I hate getting shots anyways, so I don't normally get flu shots, but our mission president asked us to get them. So we did because we're obedient. And then this week, we got the flu. So that was fun. And it's also the reason why I don't have much to say because we were out for a couple of days.

So, if you remember Alberta, she's the old lady in the nursing home we visit who started asking about baptism, we visited her again this week and sang her some Christmas hymns and then talked about the Saviour's influence in our lives. It was her 85th birthday this week, so we took some photos with the birthday girl. She's just the sweetest. The other lady we visit, Leona, she's in the hospital. So that's sad. We're going to try and visit her because her health is really poopy and she says her family hates her so.... we're going to hopefully brighten her day. 

We've started doing service through the Church's website, #JustServe, and it's really awesome. It's a great way to get us out in the community helping anyone who needs help. This weekend, we helped set up the Christmas lights for Airdrie's Festival of Lights this weekend. Luckily, it was a really nice day, because we were outside all day replacing light bulbs and making sure things work. It was neat because when we showed up, the people in charge were so happy to see us, they didn't think they were going to get any help at all! They fed us lunch and provided the best hot chocolate ever known to man. Except I accidentally gave an elder a cup of coffee on accident, so that was awkward. But it was a great service opportunity. Service is just one of those things that everyone needs and as soon as we step outside of our comfort zones and help people, it makes us just so much happier. I love it. 

And that's kind of it for this week, unfortunately. We did substitute teach the Valiant 9  primary class and that was a blast. I used to sub for Valiant 9 before I went to school and it was so fun. They're awesome little kids. When we first walked in, they got all excited and were like, "Yay, the sister missionaries are teaching us!" So that was awesome. We taught about Paul testifying of Christ and being a valiant disciple, even though he had it tough with people stoning him and casting him into prison and stuff. 

So that's my message to you this week. Is to be valiant like Paul. He always testified of Christ and stood firm in his belief of the Saviour, even when, and especially when, people were persecuting him for it. So as we each go throughout our individual weeks, remember the Saviour and how we can be a valiant disciple of Him. Be an example and others will notice it. 

Love you all so much! Hope you had fabulous a Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

-Sister Pipkin 

 1) ... "I saw a pillar of light..."

 2) Sister Durrand and Alberta and I

3) Sister Topley and I matched at Activity Days

Montreal temple re-dedication

This Sunday, we were able to attend the Montreal Temple re-dedication that was broadcasted throughout Canada. It was really awesome and the Spirit was so strong. It made me miss my family a TON because I was reminded of the blessings that come from having an eternal family. Gosh dang it was neat. We went twice, to the early morning session and again to the late afternoon session. The second time, we went with a really awesome lady in our ward whose family wasn't able to attend, so we went and sat with her and it was just sweet. 

Tuesday was an elder in our district's birthday, he was turning 20, so we made him a birthday cake and it was really stinkin' good, if I do say so myself. Lol just kidding, my companion made it. I just put the smarties on that spelled out 20. American smarties. In Canada, smarties are like m&m's but not really because they have m&m's too. They call our smarties rockets. It's silly. No offense, guys(; Anyways. We had a little party for him, complete with a banner that said, "Happy birthday, Elder Pugh!" which I did make lol I'll take credit for that one. 

Thursday, we were contacting a guy named Roger we met a while ago. Turns out he doesn't live there and never has, so we think he might be an angel or something. Anyways, the lady who does live there, we were telling her that we offer service and she said, "I don't know what kind of services you sweeties offer, but I'm not interested." So basically.... I think she thought we were prostitutes, because we somehow failed to mention that we're missionaries. Even though we were covered literally from head to toe because it is FREEZING out here. So that made for a fun experience to write in my journal. We still don't know what happened to Roger, which is why we're pretty sure our guess about him being an angel is correct. 

Friday, the elders in 3rd ward had a baptism that we went to and it was so neat. There's such a special spirit at baptisms and it just kind of helps you refocus as to what your purpose is here on a mission. It's to help others come unto Christ and help them make those changes in their lives necessary to feel the love and happiness the Saviour has to offer them. 

On a less intensely spiritual, lighter note, the elder who baptized had to wear one of the really old outfits that kind of looks like a dress because they ran out of the normal jumpsuits and it was hilarious. I had a hard time keeping my composure lol. 

Last night, we went to mission prep like we normally do on Sunday evenings, and only one kid showed up and like six missionaries. I'm sure he felt intimidated. But the teacher had us show off all of our object lessons and there's like so many it's not even funny. It's awesome, though because object lessons really help people understand what we're trying to teach. Anyways, I've turned into a total sister missionary because I have so many of them up my sleeve. 

So that's basically it for this week. It lightly snowed a couple of times, but nothing seriously Canadian yet.

Also, one of the apartment complexes we were trying to visit someone at has Astro-turf, so I figured I'd suntan.  Anyways. Love you all. Thanks for all your love and support, it means a lot(:

Love, 

Sister Pipkin 

A Grace Baptist preacher name Richard and a ferret named Sploch (I think)

For those of you who do not know me very well, I am extremely stubborn and I don't necessarily like being told what to do. If you know my mom, this won't really come as quite a shock. I also really really do not appreciate it when people try to tell me what I believe, and that I don't know what I'm doing. It makes me furious.

So, I bet you can guess what happened this week. 

Someone told me all of those things. 

His name was Richard. Richard is a preacher for the Grace Baptist church here in town and they basically hate Mormons. Why? I don't know. All we did was ask if he needed help putting up his Christmas decorations. Guess not. 

Richard tried to tell me that I don't believe in the grace of God, and that we believe we have to earn heaven. I wanted to quote to him 2 Nephi 25:23, "...for we know that it is by GRACE that we are saved, after all we can do." But I didn't because there's no point in arguing. He also tried to tell me that we worship Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon. I wanted to show him that the Book of Mormon is ancient records from hundreds and hundreds of years before Joseph Smith and that he only translated it through the power of God. But I didn't because that would be arguing. He tried to tell me that he knows more about what I believe than I do. I tried to tell him that I wouldn't give up 18 months of my life for something I didn't know what I believed. But I didn't because he wouldn't shut up long enough for me to. Finally, I asked him if I could shake his hand, (which he surprisingly let me) told him his Christmas lights would look lovely when they were done, and we walked away. 

So this experience really really made me angry, to the point that I was shaking as we were walking away. But! I learned a few things from this experience. Good things. First, that this poor guy really had no idea what he was missing out on. He can have his own beliefs, that's fine, and I totally respect that, but he doesn't even know what it is he's bashing! He was totally misinformed and that made me sad because this gospel is so. Good. And has blessed my life so richly. Second, I learned that contending with an idiot just makes you look like an idiot, too. (:

Later that day, we went to lunch with a member. While we were there, this guy named Brent came up to us and asked if we were Sister Missionaries. He basically talked to us the whole time we were there, asking us all these questions, and continually repeating himself. Guys, he was drunk. I don't know what it is about sisters and drunk guys, but we always seem to attract them. But the cool part of this story is that he was really interested in what our church teaches and let us get his information so we could pass him to the missionaries that cover the area he lives in. We hope he can get some help and let the gospel bless his life.

We visit this old 7th-day Adventist lady at the nursing home and she's really sweet and dying. She always asks us to sing her hymns and share stories from the bible, so we do and it's really neat. A couple of weeks ago, we met her daughter and her daughter said she wanted to come to our church. We gave her our card and hope to be able to help her out. But the other day when we were visiting this old lady, (her name is Alberta) she asked us about baptism in our church. We told her how it works and why it's so important, and that was that. We're not sure if this cute little thing might want to be baptized, or if her daughter had talked to her about it or what. But can you imagine baptizing a 90-something year old? We're talkin' oxygen tank and all! But it's never too late to enter into the straight and narrow. (: 

A couple of months ago, I started re-writing the lyrics to Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliat, and I just finished it a couple weeks ago during studies. For zone conference, our zone leaders called and asked if I would do a musical number and I said, "Only if Elder Weidner will do it with me." Obviously, he said no, but he ended up giving in. He learned the chords for the song on the ukulele and Elder Assily (who already knows the song and the harmonies really well) sang it with me. So we got a video of it but it's too big to send, so I'll have to try and figure out how to get it to ya'll. But basically it was awesome and I'm so grateful for "willing" and musically talented elders who make it fun(:

Later that day, we were stopping by our investigator's house to drop of the Restoration video for them to watch, and we saw this lady sitting on her porch smoking. We stopped to talk to her for a minute and ended up asking her if we could come back another time to share with her what our church believes. We expected her to say no and whatever, but she said yes! Like, she's totally interested! We were super stoked about that and we're excited to see where it goes this week. She has a cute little baby girl and it'd be awesome to see how the gospel would bless their lives. 

Highlight of the week: I GOT TO GO ON EXCHANGES WITH MY MOMMA!

Momma: noun - sister missionary who trained me whom I love dearly and am grateful for just how freaking awesome she is.

It was like hanging out with my best friend. We took a bajillion photos (k, not really a bajillion, but more than I normally take) and just had a blast. All the good times just came flooding back and I just love her so much. We taught a lady who had a ferret named Sploch. I think his name is Sploch but I'm not really sure because I asked the two year old and that's what I got. But anyways. Sploch kissed me. It was cute. It was a good time. 

A couple of sisters in my ward have sons on missions and they share their emails with us occasionally and they put my wimpy weekly emails to shame. So I've decided I need to do better, hence this super long email. My hands are cramping. Woe is me. But. I just love you guys so much and your support. It means a ton when I see names in my inbox that I haven't seen forever. It's just the best. 

I KNOW that this gospel is true and that it is of God. Don't try to tell me otherwise, or you might end up like Richard(; But I'm grateful for the impact it has had on my life and my family and for the Book of Mormon. I know it's true! 

Love you all so much(:

Love,

Sister Pipkin

The days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into days

And that's my cop-out for not remembering what happened this week. It's all a blur! Time is so weird as a missionary and I also don't have my planner in front of me with all the stuff we did this week. But we took some good photos, so that should make up for it (: 

Firstly, it snowed this week! Yay! So that was exciting. 

We did a lot of service this week which is always so awesome. It's great to see how we can help others and it always just feels so good to do something for someone else. Of course, we always find a way to slip a little spiritual message in the end(; 

We're teaching a family the discussions and it's so awesome because they have so many questions and they're so accepting of the gospel! It's the coolest thing ever. We have an amazing member, the bishop's wife, who comes with us to our lessons with this family and she's so awesome. She got their numbers and has been inviting them to activities and just being a great friend to them. We love her(: We're really excited for this family, we feel like they're progressing well and we're hoping to get them a baptismal date this week!

 


Ok, so that's all I can tell you this week because the computer's about to kick me off, and I can't remember anything haha. They say mom brain is a thing, but so is missionary brain. I'm so forgetful! Haha. 

Love you all!

-Sister Pipkin  

Sister Pipkin goes to the zoo

Nov 2 at 11:47 AM

That was supposed to be a play on a Curious George or Cailou episode but instead it sounds super lame... oh well. 

Anyways. This last week we went to the zoo for pday and it was super fun. They have this cool dinosaur exhibit and they're animated so when you push the buttons they move and make noises! Super trippy. The gorillas were probably the best part. We were sitting watching them, and this one gorilla starts to come closer to the window. I stood up really fast and ran to the window because I got so excited, I just wanted to see him! And it freaked him out and he ran and punched the glass where my face would have been and then ran away. Needless to say, I screamed lol. So now you know. Don't run towards gorillas. They'll try to punch you. 

For a district finding activity, we decided to set up a stand and pass out free hot chocolate at the park and hopefully talk to those people, telling them more about the church. We set up at the park by the lake and there was a Halloween festival type thing being set up up the hill a little ways. One of the elders went and talked to someone and got permission for us to set up our stand in the festival and they said we could! So we moved and within like 5 minutes we were out of cups! We definitely didn't plan it very well, so our district leader ran to the store and bought more cups. We passed out a ton of hot chocolate and talked to quite a few people about the church. We even gave away a Book of Mormon! At this festival thing, Calgary Batman was there. Guys, I love Batman. So I had to get a photo. I was disappointed by his lack of the Batman voice, though, he wasn't hoarse enough. Must be a fake or something. 

With Saturday being Halloween, we were asked by President to be in our apartments by 6, which was actually kind of nice. We baked cookies and painted our toenails, which is pretty exciting for a missionary. Earlier this week, however, we carved pumpkins with a member, which was super fun. I'd been begging our district for the last like month to do that for pday and they all wanted me to buy their pumpkins for them. Heck with that. So I was really happy when this member invited us over to carve pumpkins! We also went and walked around taking photos with people's Halloween decorations yesterday. People think we're weird, I can't figure out why, though. 

Anywho. 

This week was sweet. It's starting to cool way down and people are getting hyped for the holidays. Best time of the year! Jesus is the reason for the season(: Keep the faith in Him and things will work out. I've seen that as we visit people, that when we don't have our lives centered on Christ, things can be pretty tough. It's sad and it gives me an even greater desire to share the gospel with people, so they can have the happiness I've felt! Because, guys, the gospel is seriously the best. I pinky swear. 

I love you all and hope you all have a fantabulous week. Remember to tell those you love that you love them(:

-Sister Pipkin