Last Week

This is the last email which I will be sending home. I guess I'll be there soon enough that I can probably keep it short and just fill you all in when I touch down in Canada, but for the benefit of those who wont be in Calgary, I'll give an accounting of my final days in the Mission. 

Last Week was incredible! We had some great lessons, Wonderful Sacrament meetings, Fabulous meals, and 2 beautiful Baptisms! It was a huge blessings to be able to have both Jack and Sunny enter into the covenant of Baptism on November 10th. Strange to think that 2 years ago from that day I was entering the MTC with dreams of doing that very thing. Jack's Baptism was well attended by the YSA's and the spirit was so strong. It was amazing to think that his whole life has change in just the past 5 weeks. But he was prepared and happy to receive our message. His parents and grandmother drove up to see it and it was wonderful to me to see how his bold choice has had such an overwhelming effect on them. The Gospel of Jesus Christ Blesses Families. This I know without a doubt. Though we work with only singles here, we've seen how their families have grown with them. I'm so grateful that because my family has been so blessed that I've been able to help others experience the happiness that has meant so much to me. 

Yesterday we continued to teach. I'll admit its getting more distracting. Everyone knows I'm going home and many goodbyes are being said. I love the people here. One of the reasons its so tempting to come back to SVU is simply because of how great everyone I've met are. The Bishops, teachers, Students, and locals have won a huge piece of my heart. I will always miss this place.

Now I think I must come to an end. I'll put it in the words of the Apostle John in his Second Epistle:

 12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

And now I bid unto all Farewell. I loved my mission. I love The Lord, and I love each of you.

Elder Sunada

Back to School!‏

Hey Everybody! 

Its been a pretty action packed week. Every first week of the month is usually pretty busy anyways and there's always something that makes it crazy. This week was no exception. Monday's Family Home Evening in YSA wards was a Marshmallow battle using cut up lengths of PVC pipes. Needless to say the Elders Dominated though I had several sticky spots which I had to clean off afterwards (The only way to get the marshmallows to fly well is to give them a slight lubricant...). Then It was early to bed, and much earlier to rise. We got up at 4:30 am to make the 400 mile round trip to Charleston for our Monthly Zone Leader Council. This time I was actually a Zone leader instead of a guest.  I also meant that Both Elder Holder and I had to do a heck of a lot more. 

Wednesday we had booked up almost full from appointments set on Sunday and we ended up teaching 7-8 lessons throughout the day. By this point many of the students, especially the freshmans, had signed into their dorms. Thursday was a painfully long day of planning. There is even more to plan for now. We had to prepare for our area, as well as for our Zone/District meeting the following day. Three hours directed between the two of us. There was a lot to cover and I was pretty nervous about going into it. But Friday morning we got up early again and made the trip to Lynchburg to meet with the other Elders. Surprisingly I think it went pretty well. I was much relieved when it was over. It was also helpful to get to know the new Elders in the Zone. We have pretty solid bunch and I'm excited to know I can trust them to work well in the area's they've been assigned too. That evening was SVU's freshman welcome party. This included many booths, an mechanical bull, Roof repelling, karaoke, blow up Sumo Suits, and many other stations. It was great to finally see the campus bustling again with students. 

Saturday we packed up early again to make our way over to the Washington & Lee campus in Lexington. It was their freshman check-in and the school had set up a local religious area where we were invited to set up a booth and make the students aware of our presence. The booth was kinda slow, Maybe we should have parked farther away from the Jehovah's Witnesses. But Elder Holder and I Reverted to the Ammon Approach by helping students carry baggage up to their dorms. We were able to talk to many more people this way. That night we had a great lesson with Navi. We'll get him one of these days!

Sunday was just as busy as all the other days combined. I think it will be a common occurrence for us to be at church from 8AM to 4:30 PM. Our evenings have been equally as busy with many appointments and firesides. 

Monday was Labour day. Apparently that has been a historically significant day for Buena Vista, particularly in an election year. Back in the Day, BV used to be a bustling little town where politicians started their political campaigns. Now years later, The glory of the town has passed, but the people still seem to make a big day of it and have a parade and fireworks. We used to opportunity to get some cards passed out seeing as the local politicians were passing out so many of their own tracts. It was crazy to see how many thousands of signs (and thousands is no exaggeration) were posted along the parade route and around the town. American Politics... Thank heavens I don't have to pick sides or vote here. It was pretty wild. But we got through it and spent the rest of the day visiting students and bishops. 

One Crazy Week. I need a nap. But I'm grateful to be so busy and to be so useful to the Lord here. I couldn't think of a better cause to wear myself out in. 

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Sunada

Yee Haw!

Hey Everybody!

Man its been hot!! And Humid. Ugggh. I know I shouldn't complain seeing as there are thousands of Elders in warmer places than I am, but still. its been in the high 90's and 100's (+32-38C) for the past 2 weeks. When your outside working you get used to it but the moment you step in or out of an air conditioned building the reality hits you in the face. Literally! Thankfully its cooled off a little this week. In fact, the Library's AC is currently down and its cooler outside than in. I'm sweating a storm just sitting here! The forecast is calling for lots of thunderstorms which is nice because the rain cools it off even more, about 70F (21C). Can't wait for some good ole Prairie weather!

Otherwise the work has been going well this past week. Not so much in terms of big events. EFY (Especially For Youth; a youth church summer camp) is in town at SVU and a lot of our students are working it for the next three weeks. We've been able to teach a few good lessons even though our Non member teaching pool is pretty small (normally 1 or two people). Oh! We had a great Sunday! There were some recent converts who spoke in Sacrament meeting that did a phenomenal job and really brought the spirit. We finally got some Ward missionaries and a Ward Mission Leader assigned to help us, which should make finding and teaching a lot easier we hope. 

This week is also transfer week. Elder Gurney and I will be staying together, though that's no surprise. I'm hoping to Die here, But so is he. Its inevitable before the end that one of us will have to leave to train who ever is coming into the area after us. However Elder Gurney's been in the BV area for 9 months at the end of this transfer and I doubt that he'll make it to the end. But Then again President Pitt has been unpredictable in his Transfer assignments. He threw several more Curve balls and moved people around that we didn't expect. Sadly Elder Kieren, One of the Younger Elders who lives with us will be going to Roanoke North, with an Even Younger Elder Confer, also from the BV/Lexington area. We're going to miss them but They'll both love each other and Roanoke North where they'll be stationed. 

Well I think that's all the News I have for now. Have a Great Stampede for everyone back in Calgary! Go Ride a Horse for me or something!

Elder Sunada

Microburst

Good gosh, where do I start? Ah, Monday.

With our new determination to Use P-days explicitly for what is outlined in the Missionary Handbook (laundry, shopping, writing, cleaning etc), its become one of the busiest days. No more naps, Its all I can do to find time to write out a short letter or two. But I'm going to try and squeeze out a few extra minutes to write to those that I really need too. Monday night we stayed the night in White Sulfur Springs again as we would be traveling to Charleston again in the Morning. From BV to Charleston its almost exactly 200 miles and 3 hours one way. It was my turn to drive as well. I did pretty well considering I slept on the floor and probably for only a few short hours. We had another Great Zone Leader Council and left uplifted. 

One of the things that has kept me busy almost since the first week that I got here was a project that Elder Gurney and I have been working on. We are planning an event to be held at SVU entitled "Preserving the Family". Its a free family photo shoot where members of the Community will be able to come as a family and have a professional Photographer take their picture and later receive a high quality 8x10 photo. At the same time we will be having other booths sharing our beliefs on Family Values and strengthening the family in today's world. I've never really taken on a project of this size before and I've been doing the majority of the planning on it, though we have formed a committee to help us delegate some of the responsibilities. This week we got permission from both the school and the Church to go ahead with the event so we've been scrambling to get everything in place and get advertisements out. 

Thursday was our Exchange with the Assistants to the President. Elder Gurney made the trip to Charleston for the day and Elder Brady and I were able to stay in BV and continue working. It was the first time I had to plan things out in this area on my own, which was stressful because I'm still learning lots but we were still able to have a Very Productive day. The Lord certainly blessed me on that one because I was fretting we wouldn't have very effective plans that day. We exchanged back Friday morning and we're able to plan for the rest of our week. That night we had another surprise though.

We got into our apartment and had just finished praying for our daily planning session when we heard a tumultuous noise outside. We opened the door and were hit with massive winds. We'd received a text from the Assistants earlier asking Elders to report damages from a storm, but we'd figured that it was somewhere else in the mission. Apparently it was a freak storm system called a mirco burst. But there was nothing Mirco about this storm. 80mph winds blew down tree's and wreaked havoc from Ohio through West Virginia and Virginia to New Jersey. From what we've heard over 6 million people are without power and water, including the greater part of Lexington and Rockbridge county. We are all safe. All the Missionaries are safe, however mission damages so far report 46 missionaries without utilities and 1 car totaled. The death Toll in Virginia alone was 14 people. 


During the storm the 8 elders in this area gathered in our apartment parking lot and examined the storm. Probably not the smartest Idea. We we're all blinded by sand and rocks as one particular gust hit us and almost knocked me off my feet. The sky was the strangest blue I'd ever seen. Apparently the same colour it turns when a tornado is afoot. I think I heard reports that some touched down near by but I'm uncertain. After the storm quieted down in our area we retired to bed. A phone call came in at 11pm asking us to meet at the school to help with clean up in the morning. At 7 am we were there and finally saw the damages. Lots of trees down on the hills especially. Tree shrapnel littered everywhere. on our walk up to the school we came across a members house where their carport had been totaled by a large oak, but fortunately the cars were saved with a few scratches. Others were not so lucky. We spent from 7 that morning till nearly 5 that evening helping remove trees from the roads and sidewalks. Most of the town was alright, but I think the outlying areas had more damage and power outages. They say there are chances that more might come up but we don't think they'll be as strong. Fun times though! Great Services opportunities! 

Well I think thats enough excitement this week so I'll Leave you till next. 


Love Yall!
Elder Sunada