Hey everyone,
I'm still enjoying my time in the wonderful
city of Calgary. Bill Heaven and his family are taking us out to dinner
tonight and we're going to a Chinese buffet! It's going to be awesome!
Speaking of food, I've had plenty of interesting foods on my mission so
far. I've eaten Baloot, which is basically a boiled duck embryo which is
still in the egg, it's a delicacy in the Phillipines. It honestly
didn't taste that bad, the actual duck inside tasted a lot better than
it looked! I've also eaten some squid (tasted good but too squishy), and
we ate some senior citizen chinese food which tasted extremely weird.
What I mean by senior citizen chinese food is that it was plenty of
steemed vegitables, rice, and fish just covered in this weird sauce, and
since the people we ate with were old, Elder Smith and I decided to
call it Senior Citizen Chinese food. I've also had lumpa which is a
Phillipino spring roll and those are delicious! They've probably been my
favorite new food I've had so far. Since we've continued to have plenty
of dinner appointments, we also have plenty of leftovers. So in other
words, were eating just fine. the other Elders dared me to drink a whole
gallon if milk in a 24 hour time period and that was super easy, the
next step in the gallon challenge! Well that's the plan anyways... haha.
We've had a few perogy parties with the Spanish Elders and Zone leaders
because we all live in the same appartment complex, so we like to eat
together when we get the chance. We also hang out a lot and it's lots of
fun.
Elder Smith and I have been doing very well with our missionary
work, we now have 3 investigators on date for baptism, 2 men from
Nigeria and 1 Native gentleman from the Siksika reserve. He lives in our
area and has quit smoking and has been coming to church too! The Lord
truly does have work for me here, and I'm happy to be a tool for the
Lord's hand. Last Sunday was the fifth Sunday of the month, so the
bishopric told us to each give a 15-20 min talk about missionary work. I
spoke about everyone being missionaries and trying to bring others to
the truthfulness of the gospel. It went really well and everyone thinks
I'm a fantastic speaker for my age and for how long I've been on the
mission.
So I would like to give all of you a challenge, help be an
example to those around you and bring others unto Christ! Just because
you aren't set apart as a missionary like me doesn't mean we can't
still be one. I know when I get home I will continue my service to the
Lord throughout the rest of my life. A way to make missionary work
easier is simple, it's all about your mind set. Look at it like this; we
know this is the perfect and true church on this Earth that brings all
of us eternal happiness if we live it's teachings, correct? If we love
the Church and know it is true, then why would we not want to let
other's know it is true? God loves all of his children, and we should
try to love all of them too, no matter how annoying they may be. That's
my two bits for the day, haha. But Elder Smith doesn't want me to leave!
We're having way too much fun, and the work is going very well.
Transfers are next Wednesday so I'll have more pictures of the Elders
I'm with next week, I promise.
I've been working out somewhat often now, and I've been stretching
everyday. My left knee, the one with tendinitis has been killing me
lately. I've been icing it and wearing my knee brace, but I would
appreciate it a lot if you guys would mention that in your prayers for
me, thanks! We go to the Stake Center every morning and do this workout
program called Insanity, and it's insanely hard. It's pushing my limits,
which is good for me. I've enjoyed it thus far. Oh yeah, last week we
were playing basketball at a public park on P-Day, we played lots of
things like volleyball, soccer, etc., but while we were playing
basketball these 2 random kids showed up, these brown kids and they
asked if they could play. We obviously accepted, and it was one of
the funnest games I have ever played. My team had me, Elder Wilson, and
Elder Hafen, and we were versing Elder Pachecho and the 2 brown kids.
They were both pretty good, but my team still won. It felt awesome
because I had one of those games where I couldn't miss, it was the best
feeling and it's was awesome to get that feeling again. All the Elders
here are beauties :)
I'm so grateful to have all the support at home from all my friends
and family. Thank you for your support, life would be much harder out
here without your prayers and friendship to me, so thanks again for
that. I love all of you so much and I'm so happy you're all in my life!
Continue to be good people and help those around you!
Love,
Elder Strate
Grandma and Grandpa Strate:
Thanks
for all the support you guys have given me over the years, I got your
letter Grandma and I'm so grateful you were willing to send me that!
Everytime I ready letters I always feel good and the spirit reminds me
how much my family loves me at home. I'll continue to pray for you
Grandma, and I hope your health gets better! I love both of you so much,
and I pray for you both every night. May the Lord and Spirit continue
to affect your lives, and let the spirit guide you. Sometimes you're
guided in odd ways, but the Lord knows best!
Love,
Your tallest grandson :)
This is a random picture of me, it's from the inside of a building in downtown Calgary!
No comments:
Post a Comment