ASK

Bonjour!

Well it has been a week! The weather has been beautifully warm during the day, then has rained a couple times at night. 

Hair trim

Glasses Day 

Wednesday we had some cool experiences! I had mentioned the name of this one street that was standing out to me while we planned the activities of our day. My companions liked it so later in the day we went and knocked at the doors of the houses there. Every one we talked to was pleasant, but what was really cool was that we met 3 young adults. Although the first appreciated what we do, he was not interested. We met Xiang next, and he is very interested in doing some volunteer/service work. His neighbour was named Lucy, she is from China and let us in to talk more about how to find happiness from God's plan for us. We quickly learned that she does not know who God and Jesus Christ are, so explained that to her instead. 

Thursday was a very busy day! It started at 6:30, like every day, however unlike every day, I spent time making crêpes until about 9:30 (I had already spent 1 hour the night before), doing my studies as I cooked–it is awesome to have technology and great apps that will read things to you, particularly the Book of Mormon en Français! So why did I spend 4 hours making crêpes? Well they were for our District meeting lunch. I had assigned everyone to bring toppings and we all enjoyed the meal! 

Crêpe Party for District lunch! 

Authentic Italian Pizza!

After a yummy lunch, we had a lesson to get to with a young adult named Livia. She had great questions such as: Why did Joseph Smith organize Mormonism?, and Why is the Book of Mormon called the Book of Mormon, and not the Book of Joseph? So we shared with her the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Following, we did some service at the Ronald MacDonald house, and did some LRT contacting for the rest of the night. 

Due to the nice weather we have been able to meet with Brittany at a park near her house both last Tuesday and yesterday. We have been helping her read the Book of Mormon so she can gain a testimony of its truth. It's been great! We've been lucky to have Andrada, one of the young adults from the YSA ward come with us to the past two lessons. She is a returned missionary and is awesome!

Art in the Park

More Art in the Park

Campus singing

The theme of the week seems to have been that you need to ask a question in order to receive an answer. We read that in the Bible, and in the Book of Mormon many times (James 1:5 and Moroni 10:3-5 as examples). In answer to Livia's questions:

Due to a simple question Joseph Smith asked ("what church should I join?"), the answer he received directly from God and Jesus Christ was that Christ's original church (the Church that Christ had established while He was on the Earth with Priesthood authority, Prophets and Apostles) was no longer found on the face of the Earth. Joseph Smith was then instructed to organize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once more. Many people know the Church by the nickname it has been given: Mormon. Well I'd like to say that I'm not Mormon because he died many years ago, back in some time after 421 A.D.! That can be confusing, why are we called Mormon if we are not Mormon?  The answer is simple. In the Americas 400 years after Christ's death, the people were at war with one another. They turned their hearts away from the Lord. Mormon was a prophet at the time and had been commanded by the Lord to gather the entire history of the people, from Lehi's family journey about 600 years before Christ's birth to the current time, 400 years after His death and resurrection. Mormon spent most of his life compiling this record, and his son Moroni finished his father's work after his death, and hid it in the ground. In honour of his life's work this record of ancient scripture is called the Book of Mormon. 

I am so grateful for the scriptures. I know that the Bible and Book of Mormon go hand-in- hand to testify that Jesus is the Christ. I know that they can answer the questions that we have if only we will ask them as we read.

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Jesus the Christ

Bonjour!

It is going to warm up a lot this week, and this week was really nice as well! 

A couple highlights from the week:

ZONE CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love, love, love Zone Conference! It creeps up too fast being near or in the city, however, I still enjoy it. We were trained on several things, including how to better work with the members, how to use the Doctrine of Christ in our day- to-day activities, and President Pattison demonstrated the Plan of Salvation map (which most of us already do, so it was a refresher and reminder to use it). Sister Pattison trained us on table manners and etiquette,

then we practised during our lunch together.

We continue to use the bus as a way to get around when we don't have the car and I briefly met this very nice Indian man, who asked to take a selfie with me before I got off. 

We had a messenger lesson with a young lady named Livia. She had some good questions about what are some differences in our church from other religions. We told her one of the differences was that we read and teach from the Bible as well as another book of scripture called the Book of Mormon. What makes us different from other Christian religions is that we have a prophet and twelve Apostles called by God who hold His priesthood (or His authority) to preach and act in His name, the same organization Christ had when He was on the Earth.

She was very curious to know more so we set up a time to do so for Thursday this coming week. Apparently some Elders met her street-contacting and she was very excited about our meeting. Yay!

One of the members we had dinner with this week asked what more he could do to help with the work, so we decided to set up a lemonade and cookie stand in the park on Victoria Day.

So come the day arrives, Sister Cook has spent her entire morning making what we estimated to be 200+ cookies. Well, the cooler spout had broken this weekend apparently so by the time we figured out how to fix it, we ended up setting up our table on Whyte Ave. The cookies were a success and the lemonade as well due to how hot it was out. We talked to many different people and hope to be meeting with some in the coming weeks.

 It will never cease to amaze me how many people will ask us if we are Christians and that say we do not believe in Jesus Christ. It is right on our badge, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Right there for all to see. Page and page again in the Book of Mormon and the other scriptures, He is mentioned. As a companionship, Sister Beauchat, Sister Karcher and I have also started reading Jesus the Christ. Although I don't understand every word, because the author uses really big words, I get the main point. It is so good! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and His gospel. I am a better daughter, sister, friend, person and missionary because of it. It has given me guidance when I've been lost. It has brought me peace and comfort when the storms of the adversary are brewing. It has brought me confidence when I have stared fear in the face. It has given me hope when others around me see the negative. 

I invite you all to find a place for Christ in your life. This might mean giving up or cutting out some things, but it is all worth it.

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Learning From Experience

Bonjour!

What a week, what a week!!! We had so many cool things happen. It has also been beautifully sunny, so enjoyable!

First thing first, we get home to have dinner last Tuesday, and realize that we are missing our extra set of keys… someone mentioned when they think they saw it last. So after dinner, Sister Beauchat, Sister Karcher and I prayed and headed on a scavenger hunt. We bus all the way to the street, then walk for a good 20 minutes down the street at a brisk pace in the hot evening sun. By the time we arrive a the location we hope the keys are we are hot and sweaty, and our feet hurt. At first we didn’t see anything, however I believed that they were here so I looked under one car. And there, resting on the pavement, were our lost, now found, keys!!!

 We celebrated by walking across the street to get a milkshake 

which helped cool us off, before getting on another bus that took us directly home.

First chicken I have baked ...

... and carved

It was for a District lunch, which we invited President Pattison to.

Dinner with our neighbors again (it was Ahmed's 30th birthday)

They prepared a traditional meal–it was sooo good!

Preparing our gift for Ahmed

I’ve had three different opportunities to speak French this week!! Two were in the same day! I was invited by the other set of YSA (Young Single Adult) Sisters to a lesson with a young man that spoke French. Well to prep for that did my studies of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ en Français and put a French pamphlet in my bag. Well as we were busing somewhere, I started talking to this lady, and it turns out she was from Montreal!!!! Before parting ways, I gave her the pamphlet. Later that evening, at the lesson with Adama, I translated what he said from French to English. What I beautiful experience it was, one that I treasure. The other moment was on the LRT yesterday. I talked briefly to a beautiful young lady, from Africa she told me, about what I was doing here in Edmonton as a missionary.

Yesterday we went out tracting and one of the first houses we walk up to we talk to this young adult man from Colombia, his name is Carlos. We shared with him the story of Jesus Christ visiting the Americas and used the Book of Mormon map as a visual way to explain. We set up a return appointment for Friday this week.

Later in the day, I met an older man that had moved from Hong Kong many years ago. His name is Dave, and he had met Mormon missionaries before and has attended some of our church services. As we rode LRT, he asked me different questions about missionaries, such as: How many other missionaries live with you?, How long do I do this for?, How old do we have to be?, What I hope to learn from this experience?, and so on. I was sad to hear that he is getting a divorce, however I offered some help with his move, and he said that would be great and even asked about times for church on Sunday! We are going to be in touch later this week.

In answer to Dave’s question, “What I hope to learn from this experience?”, I have learned a lot so far. I have learned to use sweet boldness as I make the effort to talk to everyone around me. I have learned that the Lord puts people in our path for certain reasons, which can also help us develop and use our talents. I’ve learned time and time again that Heavenly Father guides this work, that He is mindful of me and of His other children. I have learned that my Saviour Jesus Christ can help me, hold me, lift me and comfort me when there is no one else to do so. I know that “[n]o one is more on [my] side than the Saviour” (Until Seventy Times Seven, Lynn G. Robbins, April 2018 General Conference). I know that this is true for all.

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Life is never slow...

Bonjour!

Life is never slow in the city! It has been so nice and sunny this past week which has been fantastic. Life is also never boring with 3-5 Sisters

and occasionally more missionaries! My favourite game is "find the missionaries"! It is particularly fun to look for the trio of Mandarin Elders (sent a picture of them last week) Haha  ☺

We have done lots of LRT contacting. LRT is a public transit/busing system which is great for contacting young adults. And everyone else in between! I've learned, and my companions tell me, of how good I am at striking up a conversation and talking to those around me. 

At the LRT station

I love that we are invited to talk to everyone. One young adult man I met on the LRT was watching something on his phone and I asked if it was STAR WARS (you know, May the 4th?), he said no and went back to watching. I gave it a second attempt and he put it away and we had a discussion about missionary work and school–he gave me good advice too!  

I talked to another young man, who apparently had been sleeping all day and we talked about why he was in Canada, if he was religious, what I was doing in Edmonton. At the end of the ride we got off and I invited him to church the following day and invited him to download the Book of Mormon app. He didn't make it to church because he was sleeping but he downloaded the app and was checking it out! Awesome!

We also had exchanges!! Sister Beauchat and I said bye bye to Sister Karcher for the following 24 hours and welcomed Sister Morris to the city.

Welcome, Sister Morris

 On our way to a park that evening, we stopped a mom, who was on her way home. She opened up right away saying she was actively religious however hasn't been reading the Bible constantly recently. We invited her to meet and read with her from the Bible and this other book of scripture that testifies of Christ's ministry to the America's (aka The Book of Mormon!). We also sent her a video on messenger and she said she loved it! Could have missed a great opportunity had we just beelined it to the park to talk to people there. Which we still did after talking to her. We met another mom who had investigated the church for a year before taking off with Cirque du Soleil ...! Yep haha she asked her daughter if she wanted to go to church sometime. So that was a cool evening.

We helped with a lemonade stand Saturday

Helping with the lemonade stand

and we also did campus singing yesterday. That was fun. We have a small group of missionaries gather and sing hymns to people walking by. 

This morning we attended the Temple. In this beautiful House of the Lord I was able to feel God's love and the love of others that pray for us missionaries.

Attending the Temple

 I am grateful that I can spend this time serving my Heavenly Father and Saviour Jesus Christ, and all of God's children, in the Edmonton area. I know that as I talk to everyone around me, Heavenly Father will provide a way for me and his children that are prepared to meet so that they can benefit from the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love you all!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Welcome to...

Bonjour!

HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY to ME!

Transfers were Wednesday!! As you all know, Sister Zazymko went home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She had an amazing mission and it was time to say goodbye for a little while. 

Sister Zazymko went home

This of course means that I needed a new companion! So President went ahead and told me on my transfer call, that I was being placed in a trio (meaning three missionaries in one companionship),

and that he was moving me from Fort Saskatchewan and placing me in a YSA Ward right in the middle of the city of EDMONTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The area is doing so well that President split up the existing companionship and placed them with new companions. So the 5 of us live together (we just received bunk beds

Setting up the bunk bed

yesterday, so up until then it has been a mess moving in!), we share a car and bus passes. So as you can probably imagine, there are now 5 little Sisters

5 little Sisters running all around

running all around our area from lessons to finding to meetings to service! It's been a blast!!!!

So my companions' names are Sister Beauchat (Rigby, Idaho; she has been out 15 months) and Sister Karcher (Southern Oregon; she has been out 4 months- she just finished her 12 week training!). We live with Sister Cook (Oregon; she has been out 16 months) and Sister Fox (Cardston, Alberta; she has been out, well about a total 4 months too). 

Meal with the only male member that feeds Sisters, he didn't have enough cups! haha

So many crazy things have happened with my not-even-one-week here, however one highlight was the dinner we had last night with our neighbours across the hall! I met them a couple nights ago, and then the other Sisters ran into them and they invited us over for dinner! So last night we had dinner with them.

Our meal with the neighbours

They are so fun! One of them accepted us to share with him more words about the Lord Jesus Christ so we are looking forward to that. 

Spotted some Mandarin Elders walking around

We also taught the entire Book of Mormon map to a family we met at the park Sunday. My companions thought it was so cool, because I had told them that morning that we were going to teach the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to someone today. One of them admitted after it happened that she hadn't thought it was going to happen, and then it had! I am so grateful that I can strengthen my Sisters and myself by exercising faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that "faith proceeds the miracles".

Love you all lots!! 

Sister Tatjana Zumbach