January 27th, 2014

Hey Family,

Dang I wish I could send a video but I tried sending videos before and it never seems to work with myldsmail.net.  I'm not sure why but I guess the mission doesn't want us to be sending too much stuff and get a bunch of videos from home.  I'm not sure how Jonathan Kaufman did it for Patrick though. Maybe I'll have to send my whole sd card home but I'm scared of getting the same problem that Chris had where they all got erased.  But myldsmail only allows 3 pictures at a time which is weird.  Oh well I'll make sure to send him something nice before he gets married.  I'm super excited to hear about all the stuff he's been doing and how he has such a strong desire to get sealed in the Lord's house.   I really love how Ephesians talks a lot about marriage and how men must love their wives as Christ "loved the church and gave himself for it" Ephesians 5:25.

But this week has been good.   We set Laton up for a baptismal date for the 8th. I hope it happens because my companion never had a baptism in this area and it seems to be a pretty solid ward we're serving in.  We've been finding a lot this transfer and my comp is wondering what we're doing differently than what they were doing before.  He told me that before he wasn't so focused on the investigators as he was more focused on teaching lessons.  Preach my gospel pg.135 is probably one of my favorite pages in the book because Elder Holland makes this bold and loving statement that has helped me love more the people that I teach and see what they need most.  I've loved learning out here in the mission this far and seeing others grow in the gospel.  It's been such a rewarding experience.  One of my favorite things to do is to treasure up the words of the Savior and see how he loves the people.  Because that's what the gospel is.  It's a gospel of love and if we "Have a love of God and of all men" and "Endure to the end" the Father promises us eternal life which is one of the greatest promises that I've applied in my life.  It's helped me love the people around me more and left me filled with the best spirit you could ever feel as a missionary. It's up to us though as members of Christ's church to spread that love because there are so many people out there that are kept from that love cause they "know not where to find it".

Well that's about everything that happened this week.  Hope to hear from you guys next week.

 

Love you guys!

Elder Justin Gagnon

January 13th, 2014

Hey Family,

This week was great!  We found this less active family who's looking to get back into the church and said they would like to meet with us 3 times a week. She had broken up with her husband and so she didn't feel to good about the church the past while, they also said that their 10 year old son wanted to get baptized but he was 7 when they were active in the church, so they never got around to it but now he's 10 and he said he still wants to get baptized but he said we should teach him cause he doesn't remember too much about the church.  We found two families like that this week, so our finding efforts are paying off this week.  We've been a bit shaky on teaching maybe just because she has a lot of anti-Mormon room mates that she's living with so that may not be the best influence on her.  If we do get in with her again we'll see what influence her friends will have on her and if she really wants this for herself.  She'll make a great member of the church though if she joins,  so I keep her in my prayers often.  There wasn't too much that happened this week but the computer is probably going to shut down soon because of the crazy hail we're getting out side right now.   The lights are flickering like crazy right now.... not sure how long it will last.

Love you guys!

Elder Gagnon

 

                                                   Bishop Holthe and Elder Gagnon

 

 

January 6th, 2014 - Transferred to Lethbridge!

Hey Family,

I would have liked everyone to guess just to make it interesting but oh well!   Mom guessed Medicine Hat, ask Dad, Andrew and Chris to guess before you tell them where I'm at.  So... I'm in Lethbridge, serving in the west Lethbridge stake in the Mountain Heights ward.  It's a pretty sweet ward.  I'm serving with Elder Eastus and he's from Vernal, Utah.  I'm his second companion and he just finished the 12 week program, I'm pretty close to Magrath as well. I was super excited to hear that I was going back to the south again.   At the transfer station the Assistance to the President asked me if I knew where Lethbridge was and I said "yep" so they handed me keys to a Subaru and told me to get some missionaries and leave.  So I did that really quickly.  We stopped at Clairsholm in between cause they have the missions famous chicken.  It's probably the best fried chicken I ever had!  We got it when I first came out and so we just had to have some again.  The ward is good though.  They're really down for doing missionary work. We picked up an investigator yesterday.  Her name is May and she's from China.  We picked her up when we had our dinner appointment last night and she's super nice.  We invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and she said she'll do it.  We've also been praying for her and hope the next time we meet her she found out it's true.  So that was a miracle find this week.  The apartment though is in a basement but not of a members house.  The people who live upstairs are non-members but not interested.  I found it funny because we live in a community called Laval in Lethbridge and it reminded me of the Laval from home.  The apartment gets really cold in the mornings though cause we're in a basement.  But we called the housing people right away to come with an electric heater.  Oh I also found at the apartment a new set of scriptures that my companion didn't want and had no clue who they belonged to so he said I can have them, so I took them and study from them every day.  They're still not as good as those ones that I showed you guys but they do the job and they are like new which is nice.  Well that's about it for this week but don't tell Dad or Andrew where I'm at until they guess.

Love you guys!

 

Elder Gagnon

Hope you like the pics. One of them is of me and Elder Fitamont who just got home to Montreal not too long ago.

 

 

                                                    Chee Wee and Elder Gagnon

                                          
                                                   Elder Fitamont and Elder Gagnon

 

December 31st, 2013 **Getting Transferred!!**

Hey Fam,

I'm getting transferred back south of the mission again and I'm so excited.  I think I might either get transferred to Medicine Hat, Brooks, Taber or BC.  I don't think I'll go to Lethbridge, it's a possibility though.  You should look at the mission map and predict where I'm going and I'll tell you where I am in a week.  It'll be fun!  Just to let you know that south of the mission is anywhere south of High River (High River is not south though) and anywhere in BC, and Med Hat or Lethbridge.  I also got word a couple days ago that some of the investigators that we were teaching in Cardston got baptized which was great to hear!  I knew they would get baptized but a lot of them would just take a while.

I also managed to talk to Minerva for a bit but I couldn't hear her cause I was looking at a screen . But it was super cool seeing her though for the first time.  Me and Andrew hung out for a while though and I tried telling him to take me to certain people but he just stared at me and drooled the whole time.  It was funny though seeing him again and being able to make the jokes we used to make.

The Old Testament is going to be great though,  I love all the symbolism that it has.  Oh and did I ever tell you that one of my favorite books in the scriptures is Isaiah? I also love the story in 2Kings ch.5 where Naaman dips in the River Jordan 7 times to be cleansed from leprosy. Or when Abraham almost sacrifices his son Isaac.  The savior is mentioned almost everwhere in the Old Testament we just need an open heart to find where He is.  I hope you have fun teaching it though and can't wait to hear from you guys next week.

Love Elder Gagnon

Hope you like the pics!

 

 

 

December 24th, 2013

Hey family,

Well I guess I'll answer all your questions tomorrow during the big Skype call, love you guys. :D

Elder Gagnon

Here's some pics though. hope you like them....

 

 

 

December 17th, 2013

Hey family,

Sorry I didn't get a chance to E-mail you the other day, there was a lot of stuff happening the other day.  Like first we had to get our car fixed which took forever because the brakes on the car got shot and the place we took it to was also not the quickest.  When it was all done we then got a call to give a blessing so all of our P-day got shot, we really had no time for anything.  Oh well the Lord blessed us though because as we were going to the hospital we ran into a man who moved her from Africa who we just talked to and said he'd been taught 1 time by the missionaries but he moved here so he hadn't seen them since.  So we asked him if we could share more with him and he accepted!   He also said he has a family and they've been reading the Book of Mormon after their first visit with the missionaries. His name is Chris Ozoh and he's super nice.  We also picked up another guy this week. His name is Amier and he's Muslim but he likes LDS ideas and is happy when we visit him.  One of our potential investigators also found us someone that we're going to meet in the New Year because she said the holidays are keeping her busy.  So the work has picked up a lot in the past week. I'll probably be gone New Year's day though so I might not be around for all the good stuff that's happening.  I've been serving here though for about 6 months now and loved every day of it though. In past areas it was hard to street contact and tract because of all the Mormons that lived around, who knows maybe they'll just transfer me within Calgary so I can get permission to see some of the baptisms that happen after I leave.  Kelsey is also doing well and we'll probably set a baptismal date with him this week.

Christmas is pretty close though and can't wait to see you guys the next week. Today was also district meetings.  Oh and this transfer Elder Fitamont is going home to Montreal and you should ask Patrick or his wife when he'll be landing so you can see him. He is such a great Elder and has developed into a great servent of the Lord as he's gone through his mission.

Love you guys!

Elder Gagnon

December 9th, 2013

Hey family,

This year we decorated the apartment a little bit for Christmas, we have some lights we put in the front of the balcony and we just leave them on. Elder Averett got a small Christmas tree and put it on our eating table. It's a small Christmas tree though, it's like 1/2 a foot, but it does the job.  Unfortunatly there's no choir this year in our ward.  Music is just not as good here in Calgary as it is in Montreal, but there was a stake choir thing the past week at the stake center which was nice. We also had our ward christmas party this past week and there was a lot of members bringing their  friends which was nice because we got to meet a lot of people. The ward has improved quite a bit with their member misionary work.   Oh and we picked up a new investigator this week, his name is Kelsey and we found him through a less active member. He told us that whenever we visit he feels something so we invited him to learn about the gospel and he accepted and came to church and he loved it. We'll probably invite him to be baptised the next lesson because he's so prepared. Right now it looks like transfers are the 1st of January and it looks like my time in the Bow Valley ward is coming to an end. It's been fun though and seeing the people that I've met grow in the gospel.  What's really been fun is seeing the ward's faith in missionary work grow as well because there are so many people that the members are working with.  We're probably going to pick up a couple new investigators this week.  One of them is Amier and he came to church once but the Spanish Sisters in the north stake have been teaching him and he doesn't even speak Spanish.  When we followed up with them it had been about 1 month later and he hadn't been to church since.  So then I was a tad frustrated because they've been teaching him for a month and never came to church.  We'll probably start teaching him this week and get him to church the coming Sunday.  Seems like the work is really starting to pick up again and I'll probably be leaving when everything happens but oh well!  Oh and for the Skype call I'll probably call you a couple days before and set it up for Christmas Day. It will probably be a skype call because that will be a lot better and President doesn't give time limits on skype calls because they cost nothing.

 

Well that's about it that happened for this week.

Love you guys,

 

Elder Gagnon

December 3rd, 2013

Hey fam,

Everything is going great here in good old Calgary!  We're picking up a new investigator today, her name is Mary Marcelin and she gave us a call the other day saying that she wants to quit smoking because she scanned a stop smoking poster or called the number at the bottom and said she'd be interested in trying it.  Can't wait to meet her and help her out.  Oh and we got Christmas all figured out.   We're going to the Stevens family and Sister Stevens is originally a Montrealer and apparently knows Dawn Ross, so tell her she says hi!  I'll try and find out her full name so I'll get it to you for next week.  I'll probably put my package under their tree and open it on Christmas day.  Me and Elder Averett are doing good.  

 

Everything is going good. we have a lot of potential investigators who are pretty close to becoming investigators and there's a ward Christmas party and a lot of members are bringing their friends.  Also there is a person that we do service for who found us someone who might be interested, and another area who handed off an investigator for us so we just need to contact him.  Marima is also hopefully coming back this week and so we'll probably pick her back up soon because she's been gone for a while.  We've also been utilizing our ward missionaries more often and the Lord seems to be blessing us because of it.

 

Too bad the missionaries in our ward have no one they're teaching because our ward seems to be a goldmine for investigators.  I remember when Nancy joined the church and the black lady from Botswana, I won't try spelling her name.  But that was when Elder Holm and Elder Bernier were serving and seemed to know how to find investigators in the area.  Elder Blank was also really good at picking the ward up and talking with everyone he came in contact with.  I remember it was him and that Australian Elder McLain who found Nancy.

Well that's about all that happened that was new and exciting for this week. Hope I'll have many other stories to tell for next week :)

Love you guys!

Elder Gagnon

November 25th, 2013

Hey family,

Everything is great here in the Bow Valley ward.  This is now my 4th transfer here in the ward and it's great because the ward is so great.  Ever since we've baptised Chee Wee the ward has trusted us more with their friends which is good because now there's more unity between us. This past Sunday our ward mission leader told us he had to meet with the bishop so he put us in charge of gospel principles like 1 min before class started and it was on the Sabbath day and it went really well.  The ward mission leader and a bunch of other people came up to us and told us that it was a really great lesson and were suprised we hadn't prepared for it.  It was a lot of fun.  My companion told me he'd probably not do too well in teaching the doctrine so I just had him bear his testimony at certain parts while I taught the whole lesson.  I never thought I was that good of a teacher though.  It was funny, because I've been so nit picky about the way I teach and to have all that at the end of a lesson felt good.

Oh and my new companion is Elder Averett.  He's from Arizona and has been out for 3 months. His first area was Cranston in South Calgary. It was cool because his first name is Sturling and it reminded me of a small town near Lethbridge called the same name and made me miss the south a little bit, but I love it here in Calgary.  The work is a lot of fun.   Anyway, I gave Elder Renshaw a big huge before he left and he told me how much he's going to miss this mission.  I remember as he was packing, he wept a bit about how it was all over.  It was a sad day.  We did get a whole bunch of pics together before he left though. I'll send them to you. Oh and I'm not sure when Chee Wee is going to the temple, but he'll let me know.

We also got another call from Jorgina telling us that she wants to take the lessons again.  So we'll be meeting with her again which is nice because we lost contact with her for a while.

Well that's about all for this week!

Love you guys!

Elder Justin Gagnon

November 19th, 2013

 

 

District Activity

                                                   
                                                     Saying good-bye to Elder Renshaw

 

 

Hey fam,

Yea I don't think I'll need the new scriptures, I read the feedback on them and looked at my comps new scriptures and it didn't look that exciting.  Oh well, maybe the next addition will have more stuff and be actually worth while.  But the ones I got right now are great.  I made some scripture boxes for them a couple of months ago with a bunch of mission and church memorabilia on it.  I'll see if I can send some pics of it next week.  My comp Elder Renshaw is pretty dead right now, he arrives home on Thursday and he's super excited but sad at the same time.  He loved the mission and is planning on visiting in the summer.  Just the other day we went to his final interview with President and after on our way back he wanted to see some of the memories of specific areas in Calgary.  I'll send you some pics of us and our final memories together. It was fun serving with him and we're probably going to miss each other.  We worked though and managed to find a lot of people to teach.

Oh and big news, Chee Wee is planning on going to the temple pretty soon to start doing baptisms for the dead and he wants me to go with him as a witness.   He's progressed so well in the gospel and has been reading the Book Of Mormon every day and has the Aaronic priesthood now.  We've also been working with a recent convert named Gram Padler and he's been a member for about three months but never got prepped to receive the priesthood in the YSA ward he was in and so we prepped him and now he has it and will eventually go and do baptisms as well. We also found this one investigator whose name is Kate and is going to UOC.   But we'll have to pass her off because she's YSA, but she's solid, she really likes what we teach and is pretty ready.  We're going to teach her on Friday and hand her off to the sisters of the YSA ward.  We had to do this to a lot of people and hand them off but it's alright because we're getting a lot of investigators handed to us as well.

About Christmas, I just picked up some socks not too long ago and they seem to be pretty sturdy so I think I'll be good for socks.  Maybe a tie or two would be nice, not sure what else I would like.  When I got to the apartment there were a bunch of study materials, so I think I'll be good for studying.  Oh, did Heather come back from Mountainview yet?  If so, I think she has a bunch of books that I aquired from the members in Cardston.

Well that's all for this week.

Love you guys,

Elder Gagnon