September 13 Transfer time

Transfer time has come waay to fast. I was pretty calm about transfers since i had just gotten to Cole Harbour and my companion was going home i knew i was going to stay here and i was already 90% sure who my companion was going to be. All was well. Then we get to the church with the Elders.... and my NAME IS NOT UNDER COLE HARBOUR. So i am getting transferred. I am going to be serving in the Halifax YSA ward as an STLT... Sister Training Leader Trainer....I don't even know all that this entails but from what i understand It is nothing too crazy. It just means that instead of being over the regular sisters we are over the STLs and go on exchanges and do trainings with them. I am excited! It will be so much fun :) although i am very sad i had such a short time here in Cole Harbour. i really loved it here. Maybe i will come back! 

My new companion is Sister Howell! She served with Sister Pizzey and she is an awesome missionary! i am really excited to serve with her, im going to learn a lot from her in this time. She is going home in a transfer so i will have to learn as much as i can in this next 6 weeks! 

So last monday we went to Pier 21, it is a museum. Pier 21 is where all the immigrants came into Canada back when the east coast was a bumpin' place. It was cool from a family history perspective but also pretty boring from a 19 year old girl with a short attention span perspective. I got some pretty sweet pictures though. 

I went on exchanges in New Glasgow this week which was fun. I was with Sister Taylor again. this time we didn't run out of gas which was a nice improvement from last time... We went to a Lobster Carnival (only in the east coast) and we later knocked on a house that had a bunch of Catholic Nuns living in it... they thought it was great that we were Sisters to, and how we started so young... we corrected them a bit and talked for a while. They ended up taking a Book Of Mormon which is pretty cool.... 

1 big personal barrier was broken this week. I sang a duet with sister Shannon in sacrament meeting this sunday. i was beyond terrified but it actually went really well. It started as a way to get a less-active to church. He played the guitar to Nearer My God To Thee and we sang, the second verse Sister Shannon played the flute. It turned out really nice. 

I continue to feel so blessed for the many opportunities i have been given on my mission. I was reflecting on this in my personal study and came across Mosiah 2:22 -24

  And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

and then again in 41:And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

THAT IS WHY. I always knew of this promise of course. But i had such a confirming moment that i was doing the will of the Lord, i was following his commandments. And it is because of this i feel happier than i have ever felt. i get to teach people about something that can bring happiness into every situation. I get to help the sisters in this mission progress and feel confident about there abilities as well as learn from each of them. And i have friends and family from home giving me constant encouragement and love. 

 Alma 26:12

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I hope everyone can have an opportunity to reflect on the blessings they have received. And if you feel that you are in need of more blessings, reflect on the things that you feel may not be aligned with Gods will and change it. Because this promise of obedience leading to happiness is for everyone! 

Love you all, i will get off the soap box for the time being. 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :) 

September 7th.... 1 Year Anniversary

Yes yes, the rumors are true.... I HAVE BEEN OUT FOR A YEAR. my goodness.... it's crazy. 

This week as flown by!!!! Moncton. Dartmouth and NFLD Zone conference.... so much fun! But i am a wee bit tired now... just a little bit. The conference was jam packed with info and it was very uplifting and inspiring! We had the couple who is in charge of the medical stuff in our mission (and like 6 other missions) come and give us a training on how to stay healthy and stress free. Then Brother Cartier who is the CES representative in the east coast (and the institute teacher here in Halifax) gave us a training on how to study the scriptures and get the most out of our personal study. That was an awesome training! It is amazing how much you can get out of a single verse of scripture. 

THEN President gave a training on member presents and near the end said "and now the STLTs are going to train you on IPERF" (a new concept that we had just learned about from president the night before) So we had zero idea he wanted us to train on it.... and we barely understood it ourselves....but we did it. And it turned out pretty good. It was a fun surprise.... 

It was so great going back to Newfoundland again! Me and Sister Fenn both served there so it was a good time. And my old comp Sister Pitcher was just made STL there so we got to go on exchanges with them :) It was a struggle getting to NFLD though. The assistants put my name on the ticket as Emily Fenn, so i couldnt use the ticket. And to get my name changed on the ticket was a hour and a half long process.... and the check in for my flight was closing in 10 minutes... so i had to buy a whole new ticket (didnt help that it was 5am so nobody was answering the phone) ive decided that airports are the biggest rip off in the world... so sneaky with all there hidden fees and silly rules. anyways, it was great once i got there but a bit stressful. I had a nice chat with the assistants after that. But all is well!!!! 

I am loving serving with Sister Fenn, she is so fun!!! We are getting along great :) 

I may have sinned.... i didnt write in my journal all week.... MY BAD! so i dont have much to tell...Sister Fenn almost got hit by a car in Halifax and then we got in a car crash in NFLD. THAT was fun. I would tell details, but i think its funner to just leave it at that. 

The greatest thing that i learned at Zone Conference is that their are two reasons to read the scriptures: 

1.To be changed

2.To obtain light and truth that will save me, my family, and those i serve. 

And if these are not the reasons we have in mind as we read, then they need to become the reason! 

Thanks for the emails and the support, It is a blessing to reflect every monday on the love and care i receive from those at home. Love you all lots :) 

Sister Lambert 

August 31... Hipster or Homeless

Yes, the new hit game here in Hali is "hipster or homeless" we feel that the "rugged" look is starting to a get a little too much... i know mom is going to be laughing when she reads this considering she thought i looked like a homeless person about 50% of the time. 

So we had transfers this week. My new companion is Sister Fenn and she is AWESOME. She is hilarious! We are going to have a darn good transfer... The transfer time was pretty crazy! We had 8 Sisters in our apartment, but it was a blast haha It was 4 of the sisters who were going home and we just had a good night.... it was so heart breaking to see all those sisters going home. I realized that every sister that i had looked up to when i first came out is home now. :( Now im going to be an old lady in the mission. there are only a few sisters who have been out longer than me! ahhh! And so many new sisters coming out! We had 7 this last transfer and another 6-7 next transfer! Woohoo!! 

So we started working with a less-active who is the most interesting person ever... But i love her! Every time i see her i just imagine what she can become, she is going to be a solid member one day! She has some really crazy tattoos, few piercings and a mohawk. She was going to join the circus (walking on glass, and people would staple money to her body...) BUT she backed out and so thank goodness for that.... We spent an hour cleaning a layer of nicotine off her walls the other day.... on the way to salvation!!! one step at a time. 

We had the Halifax YSA conference this weekend! It went great!! People came from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec and PEI. It added up to about 100 people (thats a lot for the east coast) We got to attend the devotional and we came for all the meals....(cant say no to free food) Quit a few less actives came and we had our investigator John come for the second half.(John is from China, and so John is his english name) We had to leave to go to a lesson, so we asked the Elders to keep an eye on John while we were gone (make sure people are talking to him and that he is having a good time)  When we get back Elder Dudley comes up to me "hey we named him!" ....what? They decided to change his english name from John to Rickie... because apparently Chinese people can just do that. John/rickie was so excited. They had roleplayed different names and that is what they decided. So now we have to go change his teaching record to Rickie. But he was jumping off the walls with excitement.

So over all it has been a great week. Last week i was pretty stressed about things, but my companion is da bomb and so is President so im a little more calm now. The anxiety is gone and im just really excited for what lies ahead! 

Tomorrow we are going to Moncton for zone conference, then Zone conference in Dartmouth wednesday, and then thursday we are flying to Newfoundland and staying till saturday... i and then lessons all in-between!! woohoo! 

Love ya all. Hope everyone is doing great :) 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :)

August 24... Lots of Training

Oh well hello everyone.... Long time no talk! 

Okay. CRAZY heat wave has hit Nova Scotia.... IM DYING HERE.

This has been a pretty crazy week! First off, I am now in a trio!!! But just for the week. One of the cole harbour sisters got sick and needed to go home and so sister Smith is now here with us in Halifax 😊 it has been a blast since she speaks some Chinese and our investigators love it! So Sister Smith and Sister Howell are BOTHA going home on Thursday soooo this is going to be a short email, I got two dying missionaries to keep busy here! 

We had transfer letters!!! Drum role..... I'm staying here in Hali (WOOHOO) and Sister Fenn is going to be my new companion! Which I am so excited about because I love her! She is so fun! 2 days before transfers I was telling president that I had a feeling that Sister Fenn was going to be my companion (because we are the only STLs that have been out for 2 transfers, everyone else is newer or going home) and so when I saw him at our weekly meeting on Sunday he's like "I didn't make her your companion cause you asked me to okay? Don't think you can just go around requesting companions..." Hahaha I get what I want here.... Guess you could say I run the show 😉

This next transfer is going to be CRAZY. I'm over 6 sets of sisters now. That wouldn't be too crazy but it doesn't help that they are spread over the whole mission. So I have to help train 4 new STLs and then I have 2 sets of regular missionaries as well. I'm going to be going to Newfoundland again next week because I might be giving a training at zone conference and to go on exchanges with the sisters there... Then we are going to be teaching all of our investigators as well as the assistants investigators because they are going to be traveling with the member 70 that is touring the mission this transfer. So they will basically be out of there area for 2-3 week. All while trying to fit in my 5 other exchanges in the first 3 weeks of the transfer. Woohoo..... Oh, and president said that he wants me to become an "expert" in working on campus. Since our mission focus is going to be on the YSA and institute he is going to give me this transfer to get really good at working on campus and then the next transfer train the mission on it... He told it to me AND the assistants but they are going to be gone for pretty much the first 3 weeks of the transfer so they put it on me... And sister Fenn of course, but she doesn't know it yet. So this transfer has felt so crazy and went by sooo fast... And next transfer is going to be even more crazy and go by even faster! But it's okay.... We got this...with a whole lot of the Lord’s help. 

I'm sorry but I have no spiritual thought this week! We went to Peggy's Cove today with Ryan and the Tegge girls (they are from Edmonton, one went to school here and the other served her mission here) it was lots of fun! 

Love you, I might not have time to respond personally to very many of you! Sorry!!! 

August 17--- I'm 20!

Yes, it is true. I am now 20. But that was a whole 3 days ago, let's move on. 

Sorry my email is late. We have a senior couple in the YSA Ward, the Excels. And they took us to the beach today! It was so nice! 

So at the beginning of the week we went on exchanges with the Bridgewater sisters, Sister killpack and sister Lybbert. They are so fun! Sister Killpack came back with me to Halifax. She couldn't believe how many lessons we had in the day! Then we spent the night in Bridgewater and then went to district meeting in Annapolis Royal. (It is beautiful there btw) 

We had an awesome Skype call with all the STLs this week, their are 5 STLs going home at the end of this transfer so we made the topic "what I wished I had known when I first became an STL" it turned into a wonderful discussion on the things we had learned over our transfers as leaders. What I shared is the importance of being vulnerable to Christ. Vulnerable towards his love and direction, always looking for His guidance. Really becoming dependant on Him. And then furthering that to the sisters we serve. Being humble towards feedback and showing them our weakness and our dependency on the Savior. Oft times we think that a leader should not show weakness when in reality showing our weakness can be the most powerful way to strengthen others. That's something that has taken my whole mission to figure out, but it has been what's changed me. 

So on the day of my birthday they had a YSA barbecue, and yes mom, they did sing me happy birthday...thanks to the elders who ratted me out. In the morning Sister Howell decorated the apartment and made me a massive cookie for me. it was fun :) I can honestly say that this has been one of my best birthdays! We had weekly planning where I got to reflect on the amazing people we are teaching and working with, then we went street contacting and set up 4 lessons within an hour! Then went to the branch activity! It was a great day! And of course I really appreciate the wonderful cards and packages I recieved! Everyone made me feel very very loved. Thanks for thinking of me on this day. I especially loved the photo album with everyone's pictures in it! It was so fun! I look at it all the time now haha 

I'm sorry but I am going to be making this email a bit short cause I don't have a lot of time but I love you all! Thanks for all the love you show to me, i always appreciate it! I'm on an iPad right now so I can't send my pictures but I'm gonna take one on here of my sweet new Chinese name tag I ordered... We have 7 Chinese investigators right now so I decided that I deserve it haha 

August 10th... That's How IT's Done Folks

Yes it is true. Today is my 11 month mark. And YES it is ALSO true that i am going to be turning the big 2-0 on friday..... the teen life of wild games and adventures is over... or have they just begun? i guess only time will tell. 

My goodness what a fun week this has been! I must repent, i only wrote in my journal once this past week, and it was last night... and this morning... 

So on Tuesday we got 3 new investigators! They are all chinese (of course) Sam and Amber are students, they are dating and so darn cute. They have been here for 3 years and have pretty good english. We are also teaching Ambers mom Mandy, she has only been here for a month, and has brutal english, luckily we have some pretty solid Chinese members in the ward to help us out. In our first lesson Sam said "do you always talk to strangers on the street?" and so we explained how thats how we find people to teach, and he's like "i introduce you to my Chinese friends, you teach them so you dont have to talk to strangers on street anymore" hahaha it was great. On Sunday Sam and Mandy came to church, our recent convert sharon translated for Mandy and we sat with Sam. The gospel principles lesson was on tithing, Sam turned to us and said "i want to pay tithing" "okay great, you don't need to pay tithing unless you are a member though" "what do i need to do to become mormon?" "get baptized, do you know what baptism means?" "no" *explain baptism* Sam: "okay,i want to do that" ....... and thats how its done folks. 

We also started teaching another girl who lives next door to our investigator Glenna, her name is Kim. She converted to Muslim 9 years ago but is very interested in what we teach. She has a 2 page list of questions for us! We went over and started answering some of her questions. When we started we said that we are not perfect teachers, and we may not be able to answer all her questions but that doesn't mean that there is not an answer, and that the ones we don't know we will write down and study. Then Glenna stops us and says to Kim "if the sisters dont know the answers, you can just read the Book Of Mormon. It answers lots of questions" .... gotta love when an investigator teaches for you. 

How great are the people we are teaching right now???? so great... 

YES I DID GET TO GO TO NEWFOUNDLAND THIS WEEK! AND IT WAS SO GREAT! So we were supposed to go tuesday night, but then we may or may not have missed our flight... woops. But fret not, we left wednesday morning instead. We get to St. Johns safely and work with the St. Johns sisters for the day. We went to the Regatta which is apparently the oldest boat race in North America. It was pretty sweet! There were thousands of people there and it was pretty insane. The Sister i was with has some pretty bad anxiety so we took it pretty easy while we were in the crowd. It is hard to talk to people about the gospel in large and loud crowds, but i still managed to pass out at least one Book Of Mormon. Then we went to Bay Roberts and had an awesome time with Sister Christiansen and Sister Fenn. Im 99% sure Sister Fenn is going to be my next companion, she is an awesome sister! 

I forgot how easy it is to talk to Newfies. They are just so nice!!! You really will not meet a kinder soul, sadly more often then not they are also very content with mediocrity, making them hard to teach. But you will have a hoot talking to them!! 

But i am happy to be home in Halifax. There are some great works going on here and im very excited for these next couple of months!!! 

As for my birthday. The YSA is having a activity in honor of me turning 20. okay... well they might not know its my birthday, and they may have planned the activity before i got here... but my plan is to just walk in and be like "wow!! for me? THANKS guys!" and hopefully everyone will just play along.... 

I know these 7 months are going to fly by, and i hope to cherish every moment. It was a very cool experience to be back in my first area and see the progress i have made over the last 11 months. And i still have so much more work to do!!! And so little time!!! So i better get off this computer and get to work! 

Love you all lots, thank you for the early birthday wishes! have a great week me duckies' 

Love, 

Sister Lambert

August 3- It's a great day to be Alive!!

What a wonderful time to be alive, am i right? yes i am. 

Halifax is bumpin' right now!! There is a buskers festival on the water front and so there are always tons of people downtown. They also have cruise ships coming in and so half of our street contacting consists of trying to tell the tourists from the locals. Not that tourists don't need there souls saved, but they can be saved by missionaries in there own darn country. Us and the other metro sisters are going to see all the buskers for our prep day today :) 

Since i have been in Halifax, i have grown such a deep love for Chinese people. Oh my heavens they are so much fun. And once baptized, they become the best member missionaries! The Elders are teaching a kid from China named Chris, he is hilarious! And he just LOVES church. I was sitting beside him in sunday school and asked him what he thought of church so far and he was like "i like here. I feel like family. i keep come back" it was awesome :) YSA really are the best fellowshipers. 

i find it interesting how so many members seem to get worse at being friendly as they get older, dont you think it would be the opposite? 

We went on exchanges this week to Cole Harbour and Amherst. I spent the day with Sister Smith in Cole Habour, she is the sweetest sister! I am sad that she is going home this transfer. We got to go to North Preston to contact some referrals me and Sister Shannon had got our last day there. I finally got a picture by the sign, i was pretty stoked. 

It was funny doing the Amherst exchange. I got to bring Sister Mangelson, who was my first trainer to Hali with me. It was fun spending the day together and seeing the progression we both have made. 

We are getting more and more busy in Halifax! I love it!!! I just running around and never having a moment to stop. (and im not being sarcastic, i really do love it, it is exciting) we are going to be in NFLD wednesday and thursday so we are trying to mash everything into the other days. We are hopefully going to be having 3 baptisms is august and early september. :) 

Now for the spiritual part... 

Something i have always wondered is why scriptures are sometimes so harsh. i would always get a little frustrated when i finished teaching an investigator about how loving our Heavenly Father is and how much he wants us to find joy and then later we read a scripture that includes a nice little threat about fire & brimstone. 

BUT i finally understand why. I was reading in 1 Nephi, and this is when Nephi was having yet another problem with Laman and Lemuel. and he talks about how there hearts were softened. 18:20 "And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts" 

The only way to soften there hearts was with some threats and a good ol' rebuking! I was thinking how crazy that was that people needed to be given threats to finally make there hearts open enough to receive blessings. But then i realized how often that happens in my own life. How many times did i not realize how much i had hardened my heart to the promptings of the spirit until it had been completely removed from me for a space of time. Or how often have i waited to thank God for blessings that i had received in the past until God has withheld them from me. Now i have never been directly threatened with fire and brimstone, but i sure have received a kick in the butt here and there to remind me that this isn't my show, and that i need to soften my heart and become more reliant on our Heavenly Father for guidance. A goal that i have made for myself is to have frequent self evaluations. Considering the blessings i have been given, the actions i have made, and the things that i have done. Hopefully as i do this i will be able to stop myself from hardening my heart. Always being aware of my spiritual welfare. I feel i should not have to wait until God withdraws the spirit or blessings from me to realize how much i need Him.

So hopefully others can learn from this as well, do a inventory! Where is your spiritual dependency on God and our Savior? 

Thanks for the love shown to me, i truly appreciate it :) 

Love, 

Sister Lambert