Transferred again

Greetings from Canada. 

So the big news is, we are getting rice-washed out of this place! Rice washing is the equivalent of white washing, or were both missionaries are transferred out of an area and two new missionaries are put in. We call it rice-washing because we're Tagalog and Filipino culture revolves around rice. Go figure.

I'll be going back up to the North Stake, with Elder Henry. The last stint I did up there did not go super well, but I'm optimistic and hope we'll be able to have a really good 6 weeks. 

Now for the update on the work for last week. Basically we rode buses and the Edmonton Light Rail and made our way around to potentials on foot. And we still don't have a car for some reason. But it matereth not, we will be out of here tomorrow. The traveling assistants will be taking over our apartment. Good thing it's in pretty good shape. Dang it, I thought that would have been the last apartment that I would have to clean, but undoubtedly, I'll have to clean another one. But I digress. 

We were able to teach a few people. Denilo said he brought the Book of Mormon to work, but was not able to read it still for some reason. Haha, good start I guess. We were able to also pick up a former who hasn't been taught in several months. He let us in and was really receptive to our reteaching him the restoration. It was really hot in his house and there were distractions, but we did our best and tried to focus in. He agreed to be baptized on the 10th of December if he gets an answer about the Book of Mormon. 

One of the Filipino young men in our stake invited his friend to church this week and he came! But he didn't tell us, so we weren't there, but he wants to come next week as well evidently! This is what I've been praying for since I got here. Some solid member referral that we'd be able to put on a course towards baptism. And it seems to have appeared on the last day of the transfer. The work has really picked up here in the last 6 weeks. We've got 2 people on date and have found 28 new investigators. that is a serious improvement from the work that was happening before. We've talked to tons of people. 1,254 approaches as they've been recorded, which referrers to doors knocked, people approached on the street, bus, whatever - regardless of their response to us trying to share the gospel with them. President wants us to keep track and report all this stuff these days. I've done what I was supposed to do here. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I heard that California was exciting. Keep on doing the hard things and keep the commandments!

Love,

Elder Higginson

And Winter Came

Greetings from Canada! We have received a hearty portion of snow, especially on Friday but it's starting to go away thankfully. It has been pretty chilly! Kind of weird walking around seeing all of these Halloween decorations up and they're covered with snow haha. Also, It's harder to street contact because most people have retreated from off the streets and the ones who are left, well, they aren't quite as happy as they used to be. It's all good though! That's just part of the work! 

Unfortunately, our car was taken in for repair yesterday, so we've been trying to figure out how to use the Edmonton Transit System. I never really enjoyed Bussing, it limits the work we can get done by a lot, but it will only be until Thursday or Friday. The companion and I are having fun though! It's quite the ride trying to get from one place to the next. We missed one of our stops coming home last night and had to run a kilometer through the mud and snow to catch a bus that would get us home. We arrived at our pad at 15 seconds to 9:00. Crazy awesome miracle! So we'll do our best for the next couple days. Not easy covering the whole stake and we have no car. Good memories though. 

Oh, I haven't told you much about my companion. Elder Randeep Singh Ranu is from Quezon City Philippines. His father came from India to start a business over there and married a Filipino. He is a convert to the church and was baptized just 3 weeks after starting the missionary discussions. He's a really sensitive guy, but he has a big heart and I like him. 

I was able to go on exchanges this week over in Stony Plain with Elder Odicta. He was a Tagalog missionary before but was a assigned to English temporarily. We spent a couple hours tracting, meeting with very limited success. We then went to stop by a couple Filipinos and got in with an older couple and their grand-daughter. They seemed to be interesting in meeting with us and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. After that we went to check out the Filipino Store to contact people and purchase some Balut for district meeting haha. Unfortunately, they were out of Balut, but we did find a lost sheep! We started talking with some of the employee's and I was talking to this guy in Tagalog and getting no response. Turns out he was Hispanic! Not only him, but the 4 other guys too! everyone but the Main lady who was running the operation hahaha. Mexicans working in a Filipino store, go figure. But we started talking with this guy and it turns out he was a convert to the church back in Mexico! He hadn't been attending for years but he said to us "Some day I'll come back. I know that the church is true." He was such a nice man, We got his info, so well get his records the the ward. Tender mercies for sure.

On Tuesday we were able to meet with one of our more solid investigators, Randy, out in Stony Plain. He's really a great guy and he cooks for us every time we go out to see him! We just did a bit of Book of Mormon follow up and encouraged him to get going on it, because he hasn't read yet. Seems to be a problem with most of the people we teach, but especially in Tagalog. Try as we may to get it across that ang taning paraan - the only way for anyone to really know and gain a testimony of what we teach is through reading, pondering and praying about The Book of Mormon. And if you really don't have 5 minutes in the day to read, you need to wake up 5 minutes earlier! We really do love the investigators we have though and we're glad that a few of them are up to meet at least once a week. Randy agreed to come take a tour of the church today, so we are looking forward to that. Teaching opportunities are a sacred privilege, So I'm going to try to treat them as such for the rest of my mission. Really think about the people we are meeting with in the morning and prepare myself to teach according to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Never let anything keep you from being happy! 

Love,

Elder Higginson 

Snowfall

Greetings from the Wicked North! We got our first Snowfall this week on Friday and it didn't end until Monday! We got a decent bit, it was nasty. Super cold and windy. Not Ideal for doing missionary work but that didn't stop us from getting 5 new investigators and putting one of them on date for Baptism on the 26th of November! Hopefully we'll get this area to produce some fruit.

Last Saturday on the 8th, We were able to attend the first ever Tagalog Endowment Session! It was a pretty cool experience and I was able to go through without needing the head set. There is a bit of deep Tagalog in there, but I was able to understand most of the stuff from context clues and memory. Filipino members came from all over the city to attend and I got to see some old friends.

unfortunately just before getting to the temple We got rear-ended on the overpass. Not a great thing, because two days prior I hit a curb and caused some damage to the vehicle. So all the paperwork for that will now have to be done all over again. Lot's of things have been causing me anguish this week. Reminded me of when dad was serving in South Carolina and experienced the buffetings of Satan after being in a car accident that was not his fault. It is no surprise that when I'm becoming the best missionary I can be, I face great opposition. I spent the weekend with a little black rain cloud hanging over me,  but I was able to have a change of perspective that is helping me get back on my feet. For a lesson we were sharing with some members at our Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday, Elder Ranu found a Talk from Elder Uchtdorf entitled "Grateful in any Circumstances" I would encourage all of you to read it if you have forgotten what it's about. I'll just share a little. 

"My dear brothers and sisters, the choice is ours. We can choose to limit our gratitude, based on the blessings we feel we lack. Or we can choose to be like Nephi, whose grateful heart never faltered. When his brothers tied him up on the ship—which he had built to take them to the promised land—his ankles and wrists were so sore “they had swollen exceedingly,” and a violent storm threatened to swallow him up in the depths of the sea. “Nevertheless,” Nephi said, “I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.”

"This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer."

"We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"

"Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges."

"This is not a gratitude of the lips but of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the mind."

I have only 7 weeks left to prove my mettle and serve to the best of my ability. So I'll work through this and make it count. We've got a good week lined up and it should go by fast. Thank you all for the continued Emailing and praying for me! Have a good week!

Elder Higginson

This was after the Tagalog Temple session. So many wonderful Filipino friends from past area's! 

Baptism

Here are the pictures of Denise's baptism! And the skype afterwards.
No, I really wasn't paying attention to the look on my own face when I
look the screen shot. All so wonderful though really.