Oh What Fun it is To Run!

Bonjour!

What. A. WEEK! Yes we did quite a lot of running around as we are always running to a bus stop to make the bus on time... which in the past couple days we gave up on running for a couple reasons: 1) There is snow on the ground (like 2 feet of snow everywhere) and we don't want to slip and fall - Have nearly done that too many times to count... 2) The bus is late to the stop because they haven't cleaned the roads and everyone is driving at snail pace. I was a little scared Sunday because I thought the bus was going to tip over... Sister Clegg would have sandwiched me between the window.. I wish ai was mocking haha ?

Shovelling snow on our Balcony

Well why have we been running everywhere? There is so much to do and so little time, I'll share some highlights!

We had a feast this week ... and discover the Italian shop right across the street from DQ which is a nice 3 minute walk from our suite

We took a picture with Santa

We had a great District Council Thursday along with a late American Thanksgiving Dinner or early Christmas dinner with a beautifully cooked turkey cooked by our one and only District Leader Elder Kay! We had fun cleaning up the kitchen and brushing our teeth together afterwards!

Brushing teeth as a District

TURKEY!

* Friday afternoon we helped out at Roxy's house. We met her a couple weeks ago and offered to help her with some house cleaning. She has the cutest little boy! 

* That night we went to the hospital so we could visit one of the people we are teaching, Daphine. Some of her family was there too and they all have a belief in Christ! We were talking a little bit about Africa and I mentioned that I want to go there so bad and really want a traditional dress from there. Well, Daphine then takes off her giraffe scarf that she has only worn twice and gives it to me...! I nearly cried and it was a very tender moment.

* Saturday.. that was one crazy day! We went up to Clareview by bus and LRT. We were hoping to meet someone that Sister Clegg had met last transfer who speaks French, however they weren't home so we started shovelling the sidewalks in the neighbourhood– am may have taken a mini photo shoot lol 

Shovelling snow photo shoot

Joseph (from Grande Prairie) got baptised Saturday!!! So awesome! Picture at the bottom!

Joseph got baptised

Sunday night we had the opportunity to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional! It was so awesome!!! We had dinner at a family's home and we were able to invite Vincent, whom we are teaching. We all had a great time! We took a picture with Vincent afterwards.

Selfie with Vincent

* We had Hospital singing Monday, and it is so fun to be able to sing lots of songs either about Christ, or about Christmas... which are about Christ haha so it is great to sing songs about the Saviour and help others get into the reason for the season.

Hospital singing

So one of my favourite things said during the Devotional was the African proverb: "If you think you're too small to make a difference, then you haven't spent the night with a mosquito." 

This Christmas I know we can all make a difference in one way or another! Pick something you can do this week or each day to make a difference in the world! Watch this video for ideas! Light the World

Lots of love,

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

There Was CHRIST

Bonjour! 

What a week! So transfers were Wednesday and I left the Great White North also known as Grande Prairie! I'm in Edmonton for my last couple weeks and with an awesome companion named Sister Clegg!

Me and Sister Clegg

Happy American Thanksgiving

Doing a hot chocolate stand

She came out with Sister Hathaway and Sister Eckton so she is now the third companion from that same transfer or generation of missionaries. 

Me, Sister Larsen, Sister Paxman, and Sister Ball

So where in Edmonton? Well, I'm back in the Mount Pleasant YSA! Crazy I know! So I'm familiar with the area, however the Ward has a lot of new faces, we have a different (nicer may I add) apartment, and we are also sharing a car and bus passes with the Elders in our Ward. So that makes for crazy hectic days at times! 

Face masks after a long day

Me, Lellow, and Sister Clegg

We have been meeting with lots of the members to achieve our "one lesson a day" mission goal, since we aren't teaching anyone right now. It has really helped to get to know the members better. 

It has been so fun being in the city, there are so many lights, specifically Christmas lights! 

Edmonton at night

It is really exciting because #LIGHTtheWORLD starts this week with a world-wide day of Service on the 1st of December!! Go check it out because it is different this year with a theme each week which helps you get more personal each week!!! It is such a fun time to be a missionary to share with others the true meaning of Christmas!!

Because before there was Christmas morning, before there was Christmas shopping, there was CHRIST! I hope everyone can watch the the First Presidency message this Sunday! 

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

17/18 Months

Bonjour!

So yes crazy to believe it is already that time! I celebrated my 17 months and that leaves me with one more to go!! 

We did many fun things this week:

* We had District Council in Dawson Creek (#roadtrip!) 

Our "Relief Society" District

So I have now been to three provinces on my mission so that is pretty cool!

Elder Kinikini, me, Sister Eckton, and Elder Mattson

It was such an amazing meeting, with the spiritual part as well as the goofy part where Elder Kinikini acted out Laban from the Book of Mormon and dropped "dead"– we all died laughing!

* We went over to Angie's house lots, to help her with some Christmas decorations. Her six year old is the cutest child ever!

Decorating the tree with six-year-old Devon

* We had a fun time shovel tracting this week with a fresh fall of snow, and then it all melted this past weekend! One lady we offered to shovel the driveway for invited us in for hot chocolate and asked us how we had picked her house. We told her we had prayed this morning somewhere to go and upon arriving to that street we selected her home because of the amount of snow in the driveway. She said we had been sent by angels and were angels ourselves!

Snow Angel!

 She sent us home with some homemade Indian Currie, cookies and chocolate! 

* We had 10 lessons this week, one with James at Tim's, another at Tim's with Joseph, one with Yamuna, and more! 

Sister Eckton, James, and me

Yamuna, me, and Sister Eckton

We had a Family Home Evening lesson with the Wrays they are just the best!

The Wrays, Sister Eckton, and me

 Chuan and I took a picture together as we had matching berets!

Matching berets!

* We had four people come to church today James, Joseph, Zhen Zhen and Sandy! 

Me, Zhen Zhen, Sister Eckton, and some treats

Sandy and me

Me and Mel at Giant Tiger

Which was so awesome! I recognized that by small and simple things great things come to pass. As we take the first step (opening our mouths to share the Gospel with others), and teach with love, power and confidence, others will recognize the difference within us, and within themselves. 

Have a great week!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

POWER HOUR

Bonjour! The week flew by! And the months! Tomorrow is my 17 months mark! Crazy to think I have one month left, but I don't think about it so there you go haha

 Breakfast at Cora

17 fingers for our 17 months--with Sister Larsen

Monday through to Wednesday, the Travelling Sisters were with us, Sister Larsen and Sister Stastny.

Exchanges with Sister Stastny

We did lots of teaching and FINDing and it honestly felt like we did a lot of running around...! Cool story from Wednesday night: We did a POWER HOUR!

At the end of one of our suppers we asked the members to pick a street where we would go FINDing for the next hour. They picked 110 Ave. Upon arriving both companionships went different ways down the street. 

Sister Larsen and I knocked on the first door, he asked who sent us, and when Sister Larsen replied "God", he slammed the door. The second door didn't even open however they talked to us through it, the third door the man was nice but not interested. Fourth door, a nice young adult opened and she let us in to share with her the Book of Mormon Map! One lesson later, we knock on the fifth house, we meet sweet single mother who sets up a return appointment with us! Sixth door we meet another single who gave us her number to contact her when she is back in town next week! 

As for the other Sisters they also had the opportunity to talk to many people and found a father of a 6-week-old baby who also set a return visit for next weekend even though he had no religious background!

Sister Eckton and I had the opportunity to teach the first single mom I had met Friday! She said she wanted to start meeting weekly to get comfortable with us before she comes out to church. We felt the Holy Ghost the strongest when we talked about following Jesus Christ through Baptism. We are so excited to keep teaching her and start teaching her kids as well!

We've been able to do the POWER HOUR several times this week and have gotten some really good results! There are so many ways we can work with members! When we ask them to exercise their faith in missionary work, miracles can happen! 

We nearly reached all our goals this week!

Hope you all have a great week! 

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

"Look around... it's white!"

Bonjour!

Yes yes! It has been snowing non-stop since November 1st, here in Grande Prairie! It is absolutely beautiful and white! It also has been very slippery and Sister Eckton is still getting used to the Canadian winter driving and road conditions haha Anyways, the title of this email is what someone said to us this week lol

I finished exchanges Wednesday, Halloween! The Sisters "dressed up" - Sister Eckton was Lumière and I was Belle.

Truck or Treat at the church

 We had 6 Sisters in our apartment that night and we had a PARTY!!!!!

Halloween PAR-TY

 It was really fun since we had glow-sticks!

Breathing Exercise

The rest of the week was filled with lessons and FINDing. Yep, the cold, wet, snowy weather doesn't stop us!!

Birthday Dinner for Sister Wilson

Zhen Zhen and us

Yesterday, we met up with Sandy again at Tim's and he shared some of the big miracles he has had in his life. He loves God. God is literally his best friend. He shared the sweetest testimony of his faith and trust in God and Jesus Christ. He told us about the song he is currently writing called Blue Angels. It talks about sometimes angels need angels, that when they are blue, who is there for them to talk to? 

He also talked about the 1%er. Someone who gives their all to the Lord. He said that he and us are part of that 1% of people in the world that give our all to God. I know there is a difference in myself when I give my all to this work, when I put things aside. Consider what you can put aside to further the work of the Lord! 

Lot of love!!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

Death is Part of the Plan

Bonjour!

The week has blown by! Quite literally haha ?

We are cherishing the last couple weeks of fall. We have been doing much park, street contacting along with tracting! It has been fun to see all the Halloween decor out! ?

Jabba the Hut?

 We have even spotted some Christmas things out and about!?! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!! ?????????????????

Authentic Mexican food! Yummy!

Grande Prairie Swan

Sunset Jump!

Saturday walk in the park

Some highlights were District Council Thursday morning. 

District Council -- oh yeah!

I was asked to lead out the training (which I got to pick what I wanted to give a training on...!). So I did it on our Mission Motto:

Mission Motto

Learn to Love the People 

FIND with Faith Always

Strive to be Exactly Obedient

Teach with Power 

Invite with Confidence 

It was such a powerful meeting!! I had asked each companionship to talk about one of the sections and I took the responsibility to do the rest. Everyone was very well prepared and we all learned lots from each other! I love my District!

Also yesterday, Sister Wilson and I were on exchanges and we had a Family Home Evening at the Pope's (family in our Ward!) home for Chuan and Dean! We talked about eternal marriage and Chuan shared something very insightful. She told us of a famous Chinese man who had just passed. He had pulled himself out of his career about a year ago and many people were upset and didn't know why. At his passing, it was clearly understood that he had left his career due to bad health and needed treatments. Unfortunately he passed away leaving people more sad then mad now because they really loved him. Chuan said that if only she could share with his wife her knowledge of the Plan of Salvation with that man's wife and that she could be an Eternal family, and would be able to see her husband again.

What I beautiful testimony and example Chuan is to all those around her. Although she doesn't say much or doesn't know how to say it all in English, she still can say things in a way that the Spirit testifies to everyone around that she gets it. She lives it and she loves it! 

I too want to share my witness and testimony that as we stay, or get back on, the covenant path - as we are baptised, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, receive the Melchizedek Priesthood (for men), and receive a Temple Endowment and Temple Sealing for all time and Eternity - and keep pressing forward with a steadfastness in hope and love, we will have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:20) I know that as I do these things, as I put my trust in God and as I rely on Christ and His Atonement in both the GOOD and the BAD, I will see my family and friends again one day.

Lots of love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach

The Influence of the ONE

Bonjour!

Well it has been a busy weekend! I'll start with the beginning...

Friday evening Sister Herzog and I had a little bit of time between the activity we had just finished and before we had to go to a lesson. We decided to go to the tracting spot we had chosen that morning. We knew we would only have 10 minutes however we went with faith, calling down angels and miracles.

Exchanges with Sister Herzog

 We knocked at the door of a former however no one was home, feeling that she wasn't the one we had been sent to the street for, we walked across the street and knocked at this door. A mother answered soon followed by husband. As we got talking we shared some principles with them and invited them to church. They were really excited about it being in the afternoon! Sister Herzog and I knew after leaving that they were the ones we had been sent for, and we were so grateful we chose to be diligent and act on our faith. 

Our lesson was at the Diniz home with James. We read Ether 12 with him, talking about faith, miracles, weaknesses and strengths.

Diniz baby eating my finger... yum!

 That night all 8 Sisters did face masks! 

8 Sisters! Face masks ...

...  & Zone Conference

Yeah! So fun... Sister Pattison posted it on our Mission Facebook chat. 

Saturday! Probably the busiest day! We started with Zone Conference which was all morning and half of the afternoon!

Zone Conference & our pumpkins 

 I gave my training after the Elders gave theirs and the participation was great!

Giving my training

 We had a long lunch since the Stake put on a Pig Roast for everyone, so lots of members and lots of friends! 

Pig Roast!

I was privileged to see many families that I love and miss from Peace River so that was tender.

Our English class family - at the Pig Roast ...

... and dinner at their home

Selena and Joseph came along with our English class family!! We had interviews with President then headed off to dinner at the Wray's! 

Dinner at the Wray's

It was a great time, enjoying the food, enjoying the company, and enjoying the Spirit. Being the eldest Sister, I was asked to give a blessing on the food and I led the discussion/lesson after dinner. Everyone shared their favourite Book of Mormon story. The Holy Ghost was building up as each story and principles from those stories were shared. After everyone had shared, I had the opportunity to testify. I know that there is power in the Book of Mormon. I love that book more then any other book! I am so grateful for companions who have been so diligent in reading from it everyday. I know that their example has helped me to take more time to study and ponder than simply read it. I testify, in the name of the Lord, that the Book of Mormon is true. 

Sunday was great, we had Stake Conference in the morning, did some contacting in the afternoon and then had dinner with our Spanish family that comes to English class! They are the sweetest! We were able to share the story of how the Book of Mormon came to be.

Yesterday we visited someone in the hospital and then had dinner at DQ with some members!

Elevator pic at the Hospital

 Following our dinner, we went FINDing at the park and enjoyed the pretty, full moon!

Pretty night & moon!

 We then had a lesson at the Wray's for which Zhen Zhen was present! She has accepted a baptism date so we are working on helping her baptized by the end of the year! So exciting! 

Have a great week!

Lots of Love!

Sister Tatjana Zumbach