Hey all!It's been another wonderful week here in St.Catharines. I swear they keep getting faster and faster. It's hard to believe that I'll be starting my third transfer in just two weeks. Yikes! I'm getting old! We joke here in the mission field that when you leave the mission you "die" and that whoever is your last companion "kills" you. My current companion will "die" next transfer, and we're now wondering if I'll be the one to "kill" her or not. She jokes that, although I've only just started my mission, I'm almost dead. With the speed things are going, I can't help but feel that sadly, she's right.
It's things like Gilbert's baptism and confirmation this week that make me so sad that things are moving so fast! It was so amazing to have seen him progress so much over the past weeks, to grow and to change, and then to see his son and his daughter-in-law and their children come out all the way from British Columbia for his baptism. There was such a feeling of love as his son carried him into the water and, with no little effort, baptized his dad.
Some other miracles of the week! My companion and I have been working extensively to help the ward here in St.Cats find some "lost" and inactive members. We went to an address we had for one such member and discovered that it was inside an apartment building we had tried to get into to tract several times, but never had been able to. When we got there, we were let in with no problem and went to the ladies apartment. It turned out that she had moved several years ago, but before we left, we saw some Chinese character stickers on the door across from her's. We then heard Chinese voices coming from inside, and in true missionary fashion, decided to knock on the door. A young guy, opened the door and when I introduced us as missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he immediately invited us in. Turns out that this guy, Liu Xin Zhou, was a student at Brock University. He is already Christian, as are his parents and grandparents. He's been really busy with school and has been sick recently because of it. He said that just that week he had been thinking that maybe this was because he hadn't been to church much since he started college and how he had been wanting to start coming back to church. We taught him twice last week and he came to church on Sunday. He is SOLID and has a baptismal date set for August 18th. He even wore a suit to church, which very few of our Chinese investigators do. I'm very excited for him.

We also started teaching another Chinese investigator, Steven. He doesn't have any religious background, but believes in God and is planning to come to church next Sunday. He's also set to be baptized on the 18th of August. One really cool fact? He's from Nanjing, and when he found out I had lived there he told me the street and I knew exactly where he was talking about. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.
Take care all! Miracles are real!Sister Makena Bauss包爱蕾姐妹 Bao Ailei Jiemei

Well it's certainly been an exciting week! We had a serious heat wave this past week, and since my companion and I didn't have very many teaching appointments, we spent most of the week outside in the heat trying to find people to teach. At first, I was questioning how I would be able to survive the over 100F temps with humidity, but then I realized that at least I'm not in Taiwan where most of my MTC buddies are where the heat is constantly at those temperatures during the summer. I chose to look at the whole situation as a confirmation that my Heavenly Father knows me quite personally and knew that if I was to physically survive my mission I would need a cooler climate. Thank goodness I'm in Canada! Give me cold weather any day! (Remember I said that and remind me when I'm complaining about tracting in blizzards)

But in all seriousness, I have been so grateful this week to my Heavenly Father. Our investigator Gilbert is preparing to be baptized at the end of the week. We have been so excited for him and really amazed at his faith. However, this past weeks he read some confusing information online that twists what we believe and left him a bit questioning his decision to be baptized. My companion and I have been praying all week that we would be able to address his concerns and help him to be able to tell fact from fiction on his own and continue to prepare for baptism. We were pretty nervous to say the least. But this Sunday, God really did answer our prayers. First, in Sacrament Meeting at church, one of the members gave a wonderful talk (sermon for those of you unfamiliar with Mormon lingo) that addressed Gilbert's concerns perfectly. Later, some other members met with him to get to know him better and help integrate him into the ward. He voiced his concerns with them and they talked through them with him. This all, combined with a pre-baptism interview with the Bishop, left Gilbert at the end of the day with faith stronger than I had seen in him before. It was a miracle in so many ways.

Fun story of the week: This story isn't actually mine. It belongs to a member of our ward, but I thought it was great and worth passing on. For the past several weeks, the Hill Cumorah Pagent (a pagent all about the events that take place in the Book of Mormon) has been running in Palmyra, NY, only about an hour and a half from where I live. This was the last week of performances, and a family from our ward went down to see it on Friday evening. As they were leaving, they had to walk through the group of protesters that camp themselves outside of the performance every year. One protester was getting particualrly nasty towards on of the members of this family and then proceeded to yell at him "SHOW ME THE POWER OF YOUR GOD!". No sooner had he spoke, than a huge gust of wind came in and blew over almost all of the protesters tables, signs, etc. Apparently the man looked absolutely shell-shocked. There's a bit of me that really wishes I could have seen his face. What then followed was one of the nastier storms that I've seen in my life (the storm did reach me, as well as the pagent area). Call it an coincidence, or call it a sign from God, but either way, I appreciate the irony and find it an absolutely hilarious story.

Hope each of you has a fantabulous week! Keep cool!
Sister Makena Bauss 包爱蕾姐妹 Bao Ailei Jiemei

Hey all! It's been a slower week. We don't have a lot of investigators right now, so we've been doing a lot of tracting and visiting less-active members of the ward here in St.Catharines. It's so important that in every aspect of our lives we find ways to make people feel welcome. At school, at work, church, wherever. A smile and saying hello, getting to know someone, really goes a long way.

Joanna was confirmed this Sunday and has headed back to China until September. This probably marks an "end" to my Chinese teaching at least until school starts up again. But! I will not give up hope and am praying to get to use Chinese and am also just so grateful for the teaching opportunities that I have, regardless of the language.

We've been trying to teach a couple, Mike and Brittany, for a few weeks now, but the weather has been messing with his work schedule and been making it hard for us to meet with him. We were really struggling to find a way to get to meet with them when we met Brittany's mom. She turned out to be really interested, not just for herself, but for her daughter as well. We managed to arrange a meeting through her and will see them tonight. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers!

In reference to the title of this post, member dinners have dropped a lot. I joke to Sis.Meng that it's because the members don't like me, but it's really because so many people are out of town. We've been bummed the past few weeks because of the lack of dinners, but then I started talking with some other missionaries here, and elsewhere, who almost never get dinners. And of course, now I feel ungrateful. So, moral of the story, be grateful for what you've got! There's always someone who is worse off and we should never feel entitled to anything. Honestly, I'm just glad I have food to eat and a mom who taught me how to cook.

Eat well my friends! The gospel's true!
Sister Makena Bauss

Long time no see everyone! I know you all just heard from me on Wednesday, but believe it or not, it's P-day again and time for my weekly post! This past week has been pretty amazing, Joanna was baptized on Sunday and it was so wonderful to feel how strong the Spirit was there. I am so happy for her and cannot wait to continue watching her growth in the Gospel.   But other than that, I covered a lot of what happened this past week in my previous post, so I'm going to take some time to cover a bit of Canadian culture and fun facts for you all.

1. Poutine: Fries with gravy and cheese curds. Nasty looking, but delicious. Supposedly originated in Quebec. I feel that it really typifies Canadian cuisine. Aka, American food with more gravy.
2. Speed limits: First of all, they all say "miles per hour" despite the fact that they use kilometers. Little things like this get me confused and make my transition over to metric more difficult (I will never understand Celcius temperatures. Ever.) But basically, the speed limits here are all painfully slow. The average speed limit just about everywhere is 50kph. This is roughly equivalent to 30mph. For those of you from Novi, it's the equivalent of a never ending Meadowbrook. Never again will I complain about that two mile long speed trap. I will always love how fast you really are allowed to drive in Michigan.
3. Milk: It comes in bags and you put the bags in these special pitchers. It is something I have not quite gotten the knack of, and due to a few too many spills, I am wimping out and switching to Almond Milk for the rest of the mission. Primarily because it comes in cartons.
4. "Eh?": Canadians do say it as much as we joke they do. And I've already started to pick it up a little. It's quite catchy.

That's all for now and all my love! Sister Makena Bauss 包爱蕾姐妹 Bao Ailei Jiemei

June is over and with it, our "harvest' month has come to a close! We had a goal of 60 baptisms this month as a mission and...we had 78!! We're all really happy for the progress the work has been making here in Ontario. And while my companion and I didn't have a baptism this month, I'm choosing to count my lovely friend Hannah from back home in Michigan who was baptized this past week!!!! That's right Hannah, this shout-out is for you! I am so happy for you and I know that you are going to be blessed in so many ways because of your decision to be baptized. I just cannot express how thrilled I am for you right now! I'm pretty sure my companion is just as excited for you as I am, if not because of the blessings, at least because she won't have to hear me say "Hannah's getting baptized!" every couple of minutes. ;)
This past week has really been a week of miracles. We are preping for a baptism this coming Sunday, and simply seeing how the Lord prepares each and everyone of His children is amazing. He loves each and every one of you. Joanna, our investigator who is getting baptized on Sunday, was meeting with us and we started to review the interview questions and she pulled out her camera, took a picture of them and then said she was going to memorize them and write summary answers out in order to prepare herself. It was the funniest/cutest thing ever.
This Sunday, I also experienced my first "walk-in" since I've been on my mission. The Spanish Sisters had tracted into a French-Canadian man, Gilbert, over a month ago who had said he wasn't interested, but still took the card they gave him. Turns out his son is a member out in British Columbia, so he gave his son a phone call and asked if he had sent the missionaries to his house. His son told him he hadn't, and Gilbert joked that God had sent them. His son said God probably had and encouraged his dad to go to church. He told his son no and that it wasn't the right time, but for the past month he wasn't able to shake the feeling that the missionaries had been sent to him. He told us that he just felt very strongly he should attend our church this past Sunday, and so he drove himself over!  We taught him after church, and he accepted a baptismal date. He's called his son who will come out and perform the baptism at the end of the month.
Jen, a woman we've been teaching who has two young sons, also came to church on Sunday and has been meeting with us and then talking to her friend, a member of the ward, for hours on end about the gospel outside of our lessons. We're hopeful for her and praying that things continue to go well for her.
In other news, the Chinese is coming along well. I'm starting to think (some of the time) in Chinese, and have accidently responded to people who don't speak Chinese using Chinese. It's a problem, but one I'm glad to have! I've also become a bit of a Butter Tarts connisuer if I do say so myself (did you know they have Butter Tart flavored yougurt here?!), and I have yet to find any that beat Grandpa Jimmy's Scottish Bakery in Grand Bend. Maybe I'll make it out there eventually in order to get some. For those of you who haven't had butter tarts before, go. Get up from in front of the computer and find some. They're my favorite. They will be your favorite.
Love you all! And have a fantabulous week!
Sister Makena Bauss
Bao Ailei Jiemei
包爱蕾姐妹