Mount Royal/Mandarin South- Week 4

This past week we had zone conference. It was planned to be in person because we were going to split the zone into two smaller groups and have two sessions. Otherwise we would not be able to have it because the group would be too large. This was the special Christmas zone conference too, meaning a   gift exchange and talent show was included in the program. Well, as it happened, at the zone conference happening the day before ours, some elders attended that had met with a member who later found out he had covid - there was the potenial that about 20 missionaries including President and Sister Low had covid. Of course, no one actually did, but nonetheless our zone conference had to be cancelled and moved online. It turned out alright I suppose , but defintely different then last years and much less social interaction. 

At zone conference, President Low challenged everyone to try and have 20 lessons per week - something we all kinda knew about already. Earlier in the week I had drawn out a list of 25 members of the branch that we could ask for a visit online. We had started scheduling all this visits and the it was difficult to arrange it all - our mission here has an emphasis on the time to have lessons and talk to members and friends is 6pm -9pm. Well, as it happens, that is when sizable amount of our friends and members are working, so it doesn't work for them and then they ask for the afternoon or morning when we are supposed to be doing other things like making facebook posts, studying, meetings or volunteering in the community. So then we are in craze from 10am to 6pm and then 6pm comes and we still haven't eaten so we eat and then feel disobedient because 6pm is supposedly the time when we are to have lessons or call people. This is all to say that we were both worried about how we were going to make this goal of having 20 lessons/visits - by saturday we had had about 12 lessons and had about 5 more scheduled for that evening and Sunday. Some of those lessons happened remarkably - some people just texted us and asked if they could call with us at that very moment. Anyways, This meant we just needed a few more, so we resolved to phone call a few people and see if we could just share a scripture and a prayer with them over the phone. Elder Zhou asked me what scripture we should share and I suggested Alma 7:11-13. We called this lady and shared the scripture and prayed and then in sacrement meeting she bore her testimony and quoted Alma 7:11-13 and explained how grateful she was we had called that morning and how the scripture had given her comfort. Likewise, another Sister we called was slightly in distress and started venting her recent life struggles to us - she said she felt so much better after hearing us share the scripture and said it was a miracle that we had thought to call her that day. So, all in all, I felt pretty good and it was very touching and we also made the 20 lessons goal so🥳🥳

Another difficulty of this, quite hilarously, was that since there are two teams of missionaries in the branch, we somehow managed to keep asking the same members for a visit at precisely the same time and day. To make matters worse, you remember last transfer the two teams just swapped companions, so the members did not realize the problem - they just figured we were confirming the time when actually it was the other pair calling. 

And as it so happens, transfers are next week. This past one was only 5 weeks instead of 6 becuase of some weird thing with the MTC. 

This past Saturday we volunteered at the bishops storehouse - something that I have done quite a few times on my mission. There, I saw this member who I keep bumping in to. I met him my first week in the mission and since then he just always seems to be where I am. I am seen him all over Montreal and in Ottawa and he was even in Quebec City for the single day I was there. So, I took a selfie with him. Volunteering at the bishops storehouse is nice because if there is ever a mix up with an order or someone forgets something they give the leftovers to the missionaries which means we can spend less on groceries and get more Dominoes. After leaving the office, I made an account with Dominoes and with every 6 orders I get a free pizza :) 

Love,

Elder Pinkney