Good Grief what a week! Its been a busy one! Lots of meetings. Lots of
events! This will have to be a short email however.
We had our Photo night on campus Saturday! It was turned out well! Except
for the turnout that is... We didn't get as many families out as we were
hoping to, but what we did have worked out well and we were able to have
some small miracles work out of it. For instance, we found a less active
YSA girl by chance. She wasn't even there for a photo! But we were able to
get to know her and she welcomed us to come by and visit sometime.
Also did our gig for the Buena Vista Stake Youth Conference. Had 4 classes
of youth come through and we taught for 45 mins. I feel like it went pretty
well and a few of the Youth had some really good responses.
Found out in President interviews that Elder Gurney and I will be split at
the end of this Transfer (22nd), but both staying in the area. That way we
will both get one incoming Elder and know the area well enough to get work
done. We'll still be living in the same apartment so its all good.
Sorry this has to be short. I'm loving these days more and more. I want you
all to know that I love the Lord and all that He's done for me. He Truly
answers prayers and is Mindful of us all.
Till Next time!
Elder Sunada
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
EFY
Another Busy week is on the horizon. Lots to do and hoping to be
able to get it all done. This weeks line up, President interviews, Stake
Correlation, youth Conference, Moving people and our Family Photo
night. Next week will be another ZLC and Exchanges with the Assistants.
Sometimes I feel like there's so much going on that my mind is swelling
just trying to keep it all in. But Its been a fun learning experience,
stress and all.
Our Family Photo Event is really coming along. Just a few more
smallish things that we need to take care of. We were able to get it
advertised in the paper, radio, and the public service station on TV!
All for free too! So far we haven't had to cut into any of our budget we
received from our sponsor. But the Event still looms over me as no one
will know if it will be a success until it happens. I'm a little nervous
but so far things are going well and we have lots of support. Just
praying for a smooth Execution.
Earlier this week we also went down to Lynchburg for an exchange,
but we ended up both staying in the area (blitzing). I went out with
Elder Price, who informed us that we'd also be doing splits with the
members. Kinda funny being alone with a member of another area. But it
worked out well. We visited a less active Family who lived out in
Appomattox who happened to have 2 YSA's who were not active. I was
grateful that though the circumstances seemed askew, the Lord was
mindful of our objectives and we were able to help the Lynchburg Elders
in their YSA Goals.
We Were invited to help out at EFY this past week as well. It was
pretty sweet. They gave us about 20-30 mins to talk to about 100 youth
on how they could do missionary work and the effect that they could have
on others. I love to work with the youth. My youth meant so much to me
and I know that I was blessed with wonderful leaders and experiences
that shaped my life. I really hope that at least some part of my future
church service will be working with the Youth and helping them have the
same kind of opportunities that were provided to me.
Lately we've been struggling to get anyone on date for Baptism.
That is the 1 or 2 people we've been teaching over the summer who are
Non Members. I know Elder Gurneys discouraged by this and we've been
working hard to have the faith that we can find and baptize even against
the difficult circumstances of summertime in a Student Area. I'm
hopeful that something will come through. But I'm also very pleased with
the other work that is less visible in the statistics that we've done.
We've been able to help several struggling YSA's to strengthen their
testimonies and renew their commitments to live the Gospel. While it
might not seem as exciting as seeing someone get dunked, to me this is
just as valuable as there is nothing sadder than seeing one who once
knew the truth of the Gospel and then fell away.
If I were to do nothing
here but to help the struggling members then I would feel a great
measure of success.
Elder Sunada
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Mental Overloads
This may have been the fastest six weeks of the mission so far. And I can't even Recall half of what we did! But that's not for lack of doing anything. Rather we've been so busy that it all is just a big blur.
From the looks of it this next transfer wont be any less rapid. We've got district meetings in Lynchburg, President interviews, Church Pioneer day picnics, 4 workshops at a youth Conference and all of the planning and execution of our family photo event. And this all in the next 2 weeks!! It has been unreal. I'm not sure how its all going to get done but I'm sure we'll find a way. Lots of planning, but mostly lots of praying. Prayers from home always appreciated!
Amidst all this I've been able to find more time to do some cooking (students feed less that families) and have been learning to cook fish, chicken, beef and pork. I even made Tonkatsu! Mexican Burritos for the first time last night. I get really excited about the produce section of the grocery store, particularly if we don't have to shop at Walmart. Speaking of which, We have to get going to shopping cause everyone else is finished. So I'll catch yall later!
Elder Sunada
From the looks of it this next transfer wont be any less rapid. We've got district meetings in Lynchburg, President interviews, Church Pioneer day picnics, 4 workshops at a youth Conference and all of the planning and execution of our family photo event. And this all in the next 2 weeks!! It has been unreal. I'm not sure how its all going to get done but I'm sure we'll find a way. Lots of planning, but mostly lots of praying. Prayers from home always appreciated!
Amidst all this I've been able to find more time to do some cooking (students feed less that families) and have been learning to cook fish, chicken, beef and pork. I even made Tonkatsu! Mexican Burritos for the first time last night. I get really excited about the produce section of the grocery store, particularly if we don't have to shop at Walmart. Speaking of which, We have to get going to shopping cause everyone else is finished. So I'll catch yall later!
Elder Sunada
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
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
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
Monday, June 18, 2012
Llamas! ...actually, they're Alpacas
Haha so its been a pretty crazy week. We've had a few pretty important meetings with the Stake and Mission Presidents, zone and also our activities committee. It was great to finally be able to sit down with the YSA stake presidency and President Pitt to talk about exactly what we are trying to do. The comforting thing was at least we weren't the only ones who where still struggling to figure that out. There are a lot of special circumstances around this particular stake and no one's really experienced with what's going on so we are all pioneering in our own callings and trying to figure out the "how" of what we are doing. But we're off to a good start. I think the most flustering part for me personally is the paperwork. Not only is the stake new but the wards are constantly changing with the school year. Trying to keep track of where people are is a nightmare. We've been trying to go around and talk to members from the conventional wards as well as the YSA's to see if they know people who we can see. The Records are scattered everywhere! Its going to take a while to clean that up but at least it gives us something productive to do!
Another great perk of being a YSA missionary is going to activities! We've made appearances at water fights, service projects, A paint Dodgeball fight, and this week coming up our first Stake Social Ice cream in Maury River Park! Its strange being around people my own age again. Especially now that I'm 21 and considered an Adult by the State. Just a weird thought in my mind.
So I'll share a quick story of how some of our adventures go. We had a name on a list of a YSA who's been inactive for a little while. We Got Thomas, an SVU student, To come along with us to find this guy. We had an address but the GPS couldn't find where he was. So we got some mixed directions from several members and started off on what would be a 2 and a half hour hunt to find our friend. Finally we found what we were looking for. An Alpaca Farm. Yup. Llamas. But Not who we were looking for. His family owned the place but he lived somewhere else. The good news is now we know how to find him! So goes some days.
Oh! And we got a visit from the Covingtons for lunch this week! It was good to see some familiar faces again from Good ole Gretna. I hope to be able to see that town once more before I leave the mission, God Willing.
Well I think that's All I have time for this week!
Love ya!
Elder Sunada
Dana's Note: SORRY for the font/color weirdness on the blog!!!! I have been on a few times to try and get to the bottom of it but somehow it cannot stay fixed! I'll keep trying, stay tuned!
Another great perk of being a YSA missionary is going to activities! We've made appearances at water fights, service projects, A paint Dodgeball fight, and this week coming up our first Stake Social Ice cream in Maury River Park! Its strange being around people my own age again. Especially now that I'm 21 and considered an Adult by the State. Just a weird thought in my mind.
So I'll share a quick story of how some of our adventures go. We had a name on a list of a YSA who's been inactive for a little while. We Got Thomas, an SVU student, To come along with us to find this guy. We had an address but the GPS couldn't find where he was. So we got some mixed directions from several members and started off on what would be a 2 and a half hour hunt to find our friend. Finally we found what we were looking for. An Alpaca Farm. Yup. Llamas. But Not who we were looking for. His family owned the place but he lived somewhere else. The good news is now we know how to find him! So goes some days.
Oh! And we got a visit from the Covingtons for lunch this week! It was good to see some familiar faces again from Good ole Gretna. I hope to be able to see that town once more before I leave the mission, God Willing.
Well I think that's All I have time for this week!
Love ya!
Elder Sunada
Dana's Note: SORRY for the font/color weirdness on the blog!!!! I have been on a few times to try and get to the bottom of it but somehow it cannot stay fixed! I'll keep trying, stay tuned!
Monday, June 11, 2012
ZL Conference
This has been quite the ride so far. I don't think my planner has ever been so full.
Last week was pretty sweet. I was invited to go along to the Zone Leader Council, even though I wasn't a zone leader. I found out the night before too which was cool because the original plan was for me to stay in BV with the other Elders for the day. But Monday night we got together with the other zone leaders and drove to White Sulfur Springs to stay the night so we wouldn't have to get so early to make it to Charleston in time for the meeting.
White Sulfur Springs is a small town just on the West Virginia side of the Border and is mostly known for its proximity to the PGA Green briar. But we'd have to be driving on past it. More important business was ahead. The Meeting itself was an eye opener as to how the mission really worked. It was especially interesting because most of the participants, including myself, were there for the first time. President had used the craziness of the last transfer to hand pick exactly who he wanted to lead the mission. And I don't think he could have pick a finer group. I knew many of those that sat in the circle. I have served around a lot of them and knew that they were solid in both Testimony and Deed. This ZLC was a special one. It was time for the mission to make some changes and President now had a group of faithful elders to do it.
We reviewed that the mission had increased in our teaching and finding skills, but we were still not reaching our goals. He taught us how he received the revelation what needed to happen. He brought several things to our attention then turned it over to the council of Elders to determine what we should do about it. Many things were rough on us as we heard that we needed to changes some of the traditions of the mission that we had always been accustomed to. Even those that had always been accepted as okay. But as we sat there each of us received a witness that those were not only things that we could change, but things that we must so that the Lord could bless us more fully. In simple words, we committed to be Exactly obedient to all mission rules, and to be examples to the rest of the mission. We were to define the mission culture and chose that day the direction the rest of our missions would take. It was the most inspired meeting I have ever been in and driving home our attitudes were positive. We talked about things that we were excited to get rid of and habits that we were happy to drop. President Pitt is truly inspired.
This week we have even more training meetings and 2 meetings with the Stake to determine the role we will play in building the stake. It's way exciting.
Oh no! I have to Run! Love you all! Can't wait to share more! One of the things I've committed to do is to only email family as is outlined in the guidelines so I if you want to hear from me personally you'll have to write!
love yal!
Elder Sunada
Last week was pretty sweet. I was invited to go along to the Zone Leader Council, even though I wasn't a zone leader. I found out the night before too which was cool because the original plan was for me to stay in BV with the other Elders for the day. But Monday night we got together with the other zone leaders and drove to White Sulfur Springs to stay the night so we wouldn't have to get so early to make it to Charleston in time for the meeting.
White Sulfur Springs is a small town just on the West Virginia side of the Border and is mostly known for its proximity to the PGA Green briar. But we'd have to be driving on past it. More important business was ahead. The Meeting itself was an eye opener as to how the mission really worked. It was especially interesting because most of the participants, including myself, were there for the first time. President had used the craziness of the last transfer to hand pick exactly who he wanted to lead the mission. And I don't think he could have pick a finer group. I knew many of those that sat in the circle. I have served around a lot of them and knew that they were solid in both Testimony and Deed. This ZLC was a special one. It was time for the mission to make some changes and President now had a group of faithful elders to do it.
We reviewed that the mission had increased in our teaching and finding skills, but we were still not reaching our goals. He taught us how he received the revelation what needed to happen. He brought several things to our attention then turned it over to the council of Elders to determine what we should do about it. Many things were rough on us as we heard that we needed to changes some of the traditions of the mission that we had always been accustomed to. Even those that had always been accepted as okay. But as we sat there each of us received a witness that those were not only things that we could change, but things that we must so that the Lord could bless us more fully. In simple words, we committed to be Exactly obedient to all mission rules, and to be examples to the rest of the mission. We were to define the mission culture and chose that day the direction the rest of our missions would take. It was the most inspired meeting I have ever been in and driving home our attitudes were positive. We talked about things that we were excited to get rid of and habits that we were happy to drop. President Pitt is truly inspired.
This week we have even more training meetings and 2 meetings with the Stake to determine the role we will play in building the stake. It's way exciting.
Oh no! I have to Run! Love you all! Can't wait to share more! One of the things I've committed to do is to only email family as is outlined in the guidelines so I if you want to hear from me personally you'll have to write!
love yal!
Elder Sunada
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