Sister Willoughby has taught me a new mantra this week that goes "there's no such thing as weather". And with the ridiculous hourly cycling between pouring, freezing, and hailing, it's been a good one. I may only be noticing the weather this much because we're are low on "K"'s and have been "car fasting" for the majority of the week. Sore feet, soaked jackets, frozen fingers and I'm still loving the work! Even with weather like this it's been a really good week. Sister Willoughby and I had a goal this transfer of having at least 10 investigators by the end of the transfer and we hit our goal this week! We now have 11 investigators and it's so exciting to watch them study the gospel! Funny experience this week. So as my companion and I were leaving our apartment to go do some tracting, we saw a guy on the other side of the street and decided to go and talk to him for a bit. We had hardly said a word when he went on this rant about Greece (his homeland), beating up muggers in New York, spending money judiciously, and religion among other things. He kept going forever. But the true highlight? When he looked at my companion and I and assumed I was her mother. Yes folks, I apparently look old enough to have a nearly 21 year old daughter. And with that, hope y'all (my Texan of a companion is rubbing off on me) have a great week. Love, Sister Makena Bauss
It's been a very short time since I last wrote, so I don't have much to cover.Last P-day, we went hiking near Decew Falls, a really pretty part of the Bruce Trail. We then spent the evening at a Pumpkin Farm looking at all the really cool pumpkins! I spent this past Friday in Brampton on Sister Exchanges and really had a great experience. I was with Sister Tuia, who is from Samoa and will be heading home soon. We taught lots of lessons and ate curry (which was only fitting as Brampton is like 90% Indian). Had a good talk and am bummed that I won't get to know her better before the end of her mission. Yesterday, Sister Willoughby and I decided to go and stop by a potential investigator named Laurent. When we got to his house, he let us in immediately and we got to teach both him and his son. They reinforced what Sister Willoughby had told me concerning Romanians, in other words, they are the world's nicest people! They kept bringing us food and drinks and were basically really hospitable and even asked us to come back next week before we were able to ask if we could visit with them! Hope all is well! The Church is true! Love, Sister Makena Bauss Bao Ailei Jiemei
It has been an exceptionally long week. With P-day moved to Wednesday because of the Canadian Thanksgiving, we've been working hard to make it through. That, topped off with both Sister Willoughby and I ending up sick on different days of the week, has left us seriously needing some R&R. But! All is well, and with interviews with Pres.Scott yesterday now completed, we are looking forward to an AWESOME coming week. (Positive thinking is powerful people!) Most of our investigators have dropped us or been dropped this past week, and as a result, we're working hard to find new people to teach. One thing that we are really focusing on is (drumroll please)..........MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK! We've been working as a mission to really help the members here realize just how important it is for members to get involved in missionary work. Pres. Scott sent out some approved statistics from the MTC in his weekly email to the missionaries that emphasize how important member work is. "If the missionaries go out alone to tract or contact people on the street, only 1 out of 1000 people they talk to will get baptized. That's a lot of doors! If they use a member’s name, by simply saying, "Hey your friend Brother or Sister so and so down the street said you might be interested in our message”, then 80 out of 1000 will get baptized. If a member introduces their friend or family member to the missionaries, 340 out of 1000 will get baptized. And then here's the shocker; if a member introduces you to their friend and you teach them in that members home, 660 of 1000 will get baptized! Amazing!” And that is why we are working with members. The message that we share is just too important not to share. It's a message that tells us how to use the Atonement in our lives, or in other words, how to have happiness. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that God lives, that His Son, Jesus Christ, lived, died and lives again for me. And with that, I extend my challenge for the week. Go out and share the things that you believe with others. True happiness is found when you share your own happiness with others! All my love! Sister Makena Bauss Bao Ailei Jiemei
This week was great! I absolutely love General Conference! (our church's semi-annual weekend long broadcast where the prophet and apostles speak for those of you not caught up on Mormon lingo) I can honestly say that is was my favorite one yet, but then again, I'm pretty sure I say that every year. It's amazing how it seems like every talk is in some way written specifically for you. Yay for revelation! I don't have a whole ton to write today (my mind has gone completely blank on what happened this week, conference is taking up too much memory in my head right now), but I'm giving you all lots of pictures to make up for it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? I'll also embed the videos from conference. Check them out if you get a chance, they really are wonderful!
This week has been crazy! S.Willoughby is changing the face of the work here in St. Catharine's I used to feel as if there was no one out on the streets to talk to here and that the only way to find new people was to go tracting. I couldn't have been more wrong! On S.Willoughby's first day here, we contacted over 50 people in one day! And for a not-so-big town, that was crazy tons! We've already found two new investigators as a result and my testimony of (as Elder Ballard puts it) "opening your mouth and talking with everyone" is growing enormously. Another thing that I can now firmly say is real is the gift of tongues I don't know when it happened, but suddenly I've found myself being able to understand most of what people say to me, I can read a lot more, and basically Chinese is starting to click. (emphasis on starting) Sorry, it's going to be a short post today, but I hope you all are doing well!Love,Sister Makena BaussBao Ailei Jiemei
Makena Bauss is a student at Brigham Young University where she is studying Public Relations and Chinese. She is a returned missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served in the Canada Toronto Mission speaking Mandarin Chinese.