Ho Ho Holy Cow It's CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas, HO HO HOLY COW It's CHRISTMAS!

Yes you got my package sweet that is so good to hear, and yes I did get the box and another package from you. I took a picture of them all under the tree so you can see if I need to keep my eyes on the mail box still.

The weather over here is getting crazy cool, the other day we went out on the frozen lake to cut time to an appointment I thought it was sick, at the same time a guy was dirt biking over the lake and poppin' wheelies.

Sacrament meeting this week was also very special so many Less actives came to church and we had a return missionary as well from the Philippians. The speakers were a sister in the ward from Mexico, the return missionary who returned, and one of our elders from New Zealand.They all shared how their cultures celebrate Christmas! Then they all read the Nativity in Luke in their native languages English, Spanish, Tagalog, and Maori.

Pretty sweet week heck I even sang in that meeting the primary version of away in a manger with a guitar that Elder Erueti played and it was fun!

Elder Bowman and I had a referral that we wanted to go contact and we want to go easy on our Km limit, so we walked for quite some time. After a fail of a contacted referral ("I'm Catholic") we decided to head back. Elder Bowman got terrified as a dog came barking at him from a back yard haha! so funny.Then we found a train rail road that would take us back way faster,  the journey was so beautiful out there in the bush covered in snow, little frozen ponds and stuff it was cool.

So for the moment you have all been waiting for the Skyping Information. So the approximate time I will be on is about 6-7 my time so in Calgary I am guessing 4-5 in Calgary, Better double check that is correct!!!***

I will also be calling you on mom's cell on Christmas eve some time to confirm the time But the phone call is going to be really really fast like 30 seconds fast k. You will have me online for about an hour and it is for immediate family to join in, but if some people are around I won't be rude haha. That is all I have at this moment on that. Pretty excited to hear from you all and hear how you are doing.

I love you so much guys!

Elder Muirhead  

In "The Zone"

THE ZONE!

Hey Mom if the gift you are waiting for is the CTR ring, they alerted me and I had it sent to Brampton and I got the package this week! I can't wait to open it at Christmas! Yes I will be here till the end of the month no worries about sending my Christmas Package to my apartment, that will be perfect. 

This week has been very low key and not too much has happened, unfortunately. One good thing is that I have been doing a purification challenge! This is when you fast for a day and pray at the end to compile a list of things hindering the spirit, then you pray each morning and night and fast to move past those things for 40 days. I have attempted once before but now I am motivated to make the 40 days. I'm seeing blessings and hoping to do the Lord proud. 

I will be heading to Brampton this week again for another Zone conference (we were there last week as well) and learn even more great tools to add in my teachings using the pamphlets this time. I'm Stoked!

That is super cute to hear you gave the kitty to Nan and Pa kiddos, I promise that she will be Okay and that your sacrifice will be rewarded from Heavenly father. 

I feel a lot has changed since the beginning of the mission Mom. My testimony is much more solid in the Lord and the Gospel of Christ it is so amazing really. I have been able to learn this through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and being able to allow change in my life in the way God wills it. CPR: Church Prayer and Reading the Scriptures are our tools to keep us spiritually alive. I love to be able to practice each day those gifts to grow and learn more and more. Although life isn't always peaches and cream it is a wonderful way to learn from experiences both good and bad. The Adversary is so real too, he tries to pull your strings every now and then whether it is by you or the people around you, even your companion sometimes, but "Hope is the physician of Misery." As we trust in God and just keep moving forward (just keep swimming) we can reach our goals at the time we need to achieve them.

Our investigator MJ has been super busy and No his date is not going to go through. We have not been able to see him at all so he is dropped for now but a seed of faith is planted and we hope it will grow at some time in the future.

Looking forward to the trip to Brampton again it will be nice!

I love you all and hope to talk more with you today, I actually only got 1 email so far and that is yours hahaha so I am free to chat! 

Loves,

Elder Muirhead

For My Birthday Girl:

LOLA LOLA LOLA!

Guess what?! It is almost your Birthday you little monkey, that is nuts you're 5 years old!

I love you lots and lots and don't worry, I know that Mommy will get you all the princess stickers, chocolates and other girly stuff you want, cause Im a guy...I don't know what to get you hahaha SO EAT LOTS OF CHOCOLATE! 

Love your Biggest Bro 

Elder Muirhead

For Everyone:

May we all remember the true meaning Christmas and that the Lord Jesus Christ has asked of us all to give him the gift of obedience, love, sharing the gospel and a willing heart!

It is the best time of the year to reach out in love to those around us and show that we care. This year let us also give Jesus his Christmas wish...

What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

I would bring a lamb.

If I were a Wise Man

I would do my part,

Yet what can I give Him?

Give my heart.

Share the gift of our savior to all this season!

http://www.mormon.org/christmas 

I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that blessings will pour from heaven as we look to the true meaning of the holiday Christ-mas.

Love you all and pray for your well being

Elder Muirhead

In Cooktown before we hit Brampton for Zone Conf.

With my Comp Elder Bowman

"The HEART of Sudbury" (reference to LOST)

It's Beginning To Look A lot Like Christmas

Dear Family of Mine,
This week we have been super busy with well a lot. Tuesday we went to Barrie to stay the night so we could go to Brampton for a zone conference with President Clayton. We were asked to study a story about a "Sister Fultcher" it was really good and had lots of gems of knowledge in it to use in our area. Things like - loving the members to help them go forward in their own efforts for missionary work. We also got to see MEET THE MORMONS!! It was so good! Oh man everyone needs this movie, when it comes out of theaters it will be on netflix and youtube so it will be big. We talked about what the presidency of the church call the "he is the gift initiative" we are focusing this month on the true meaning of christmas and sharing it with others their are new pass along cards that have come for us (members will get 9 in their ensign) it has the christmas.mormon.org website (watch the video and share it with everyone! links are at bottom of page.)  So yeah been working a ton with members and trying to help them out and before we even left Brampton we had a less active call us and gave us a referral who he will be fellow shipping every step of the way MIRACLES! gotta love them. 

Last night we got our Christmas tree from bishop and I got sooo excited and decorated the thing that night! My companion thought I was Christmas crazy ( like mother like son ;) ) my star changes colors with LED lights :D 

Thats right the tree decorating is all me but the garland that was Elder Bowman! He did a great job. I did the ornament trick you do with putting different numbers of them on one hook and it worked out and looks good. Bishops family went and got us ornaments from the dollar store so we are set plus there are candy canes so even better! 

My companion lost a dear friend this week I'm am trying my best to support him. Elder Bowman took it hard and cried for a bit but he is doing better today.  We shall do some service and get him feeling better in a jiff. I'll just love him the best I can and the Lord will bless his heart to feel comfort. I know it. Please pray for my comp.

Going to go look for some gifts today hopefully and see if we can't get them to you soon. I do have to help someone move today so we shall see how much time I have today to achieve that.

Enjoy the Christmas Spirit!

Elder Muirhead!!

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/the-nativity?lang=eng 

http://www.mormon.org/christmas 

John 3:16-17 

16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begottenSon, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but haveeverlasting life.

 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The Christmas Parade

Dear Family,

Well what a crazy busy week! We had a fun time getting Elder Erueti as one of our new zone leaders, He is from New Zealand (we make fun of his sick accent, we love it)!  This week we had the Zone leaders in our car due to mechanic appointments and we were asking each other what our power animal is (This is where you pick an animal and then look for signs of that animal for 2 weeks and if you see it then it is your power animal).  So, one Elder said moose, Another picked a rooster randomly. And they asked me and I of course picked my favorite animal "a wolf"  then they all said "Man, everyone picks that! So lame."  Not even 5 minutes later a timber wolf runs across the road in front of our car. We all FREAKED OUT! "Ok ok man you're a wolf!" It was so hilarious.

Do You Want To Build A Snowman? 

Elder Bowman and I went contacting for a while and came across a man named Jim who had a Uhaul and was moving his motor bike into it. We offered our help since he had trouble even getting it over the bumps of snow to his street curb. So Elder Bowman goes to town shovelling and I started to talk to him about who we are and what we do. He is a Baptist and loves the Lord and thought that what we were doing was great and he welcomed us back to give him a Book of Mormon and to talk about it. We prayed with him before we left and when I closed my prayer, he then started his own add-on of his own for our sakes and to praise our Heavenly father. I thought it was super cool to have that added blessing from a fellow brother in Christ.

This weekend we prepared for the Sudbury Christmas Parade and the ward came and made a float! All of the Elders went and handed out candies and pass along cards to kids and parents (30000 of them). There were lots of amazing 50 foot long floats involved and then us with our little trailer float. We actually had more pictures in the youtube slideshow of the parade from the photographers of the parade than other floats. (we watched it in priesthood so don't worry I'm not an apostate missionary - wink) 

So after a busy long and hard working week we were pooped, Elder Bowman fell asleep for a bit during planning as I turned to the map to pick a street to go visit, it took only 10 seconds and he was gone. Awww.

Can't wait to hear from you and love you all my family! 

Elder Muirhead

6 Month Mark - Staying in Sudbury!

Dear Mom, 
I love the family picture you sent to me so much! Just to let you know I shall be staying in Sudbury this Transfer (6 more weeks) at the same address with Elder Bowman! Christmas in the frozen North its going to be a blast! We are getting a tree from our Bishop this friday I think? Exciting!

This week we met a young guy named MJ and he is so awesome. He came on the bus to attend church and I taught him with a member (my companion was helping fix a door at the time - service rocks). Anyway he loved to hear the story of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, He said that "I wish I had known this stuff sooner, I want to hear more." Man my heart melted it was great. He's already set a Baptism date of Dec. 14th! Please pray for him as he prepares for Baptism. 

Also this week I found out that one investigator we had in Barrie that we dropped, the sister missionaries are going to baptize this month!! I couldn't believe it or sleep that night. Blessings!

This week we had two Elders come stay with us due to a special meeting for the leaders, so we went on transfers with them I got to be with Elder Tuilotolava From Tonga for 2 days. He is EPIC! made me feel like "Kolipoki" from The Other Side of Heaven movie. hahaha 

One thing that I really love to do on Mondays is to watch the Bible videos, they make the scriptures just come to life and help me see and feel how they really impact all of us. (there is a new one that is awesome, Jesus walking on water).

NOAH!!! Happy Birthday little man! Wow 10 years old now that went fast. I remember you as a little baby coming home for the first time which was so exciting cause I wasn't able to see you while you were in the hospital NICU (kinda ticked me off). But I got you and I STILL LOVE YA! Have the best day ever!

I'm Going to be burning my 6 month tie today...it's an ugly one.

Love Elder Muirhead

Oh yeah! The Muirhead Building!! Represent

P.S.
Mom thank you for sharing those amazing ideas. I will for sure think on the attitude of gratitude and how it affects our positivity. Love it!

I LOVE LETTERS!!!

Dear Family,
Hey it's now week six of this transfer! woo whooo, well we shall see this Sunday whether we stay or go....plus Sunday is my 6 Month Mark!!! YEAH! ...man that was quick..

The Sudbury ward is doing good, the zone leaders are finding new people like mad and we...still just planting seeds but it all goes to the growth of the kingdom so no worries there. We are keeping our spirits high and pushing through.

This last Friday was our skills and interviews meetup with President and Sister Clayton, so the whole Zone came and stayed at the zone leaders place ( the Ice Castle)  including us, and Elder Baumgartner was there too so I got to see my daddy, Awesome enough we arrived wearing each others ties we traded. We all were up really late and the morning was hectic. Me and Elder Bennet ( who sat with me on the plane) did a musical # but no one can play the piano.....soooooo We had a guitar!! And I learned how to play Brightly beams our Fathers Mercy by ear and we sang it at the end of our meeting it was sick!! 

The Zone sleepover

President Clayton gave me great encouragement from our talk and taught the principle of "losing our lives for the Savior and then we shall find our lives," from my experiences so far that is so so true that we need to go out of our way and think of how we can help others not how to help ourselves. I asked President how we I can find more confidence in my calling? He told me to focus on including the Holy Ghost as the third member of my companionship. That has been an experiment I've been implementing this week. 

It's kinda funny that although we don't have many people to teach, we are still able to have the Spirit teach us about ourselves and how he can continue to refine us, some times it's rough but so worth it. 

Cranmers!!! I got Nana & Papa's & Your letters! They were so Beautiful I loved the art! and the messages. Evan,Vienna, Segar and Felix I love you kiddos! I am doing well and a couple of you asked what I do? Well I teach others about Jesus and help them find happiness in their lives, just remember that going to church is what will help you to be happy yourselves. Listen to your parents and say your prayers! Aunt Liz thank you for your Letter too it touched me to read and feel of the spirit off of it, I really do appreciate it!

Cranmer and Nana/Papa Jim Letters!! YAY!

I testify that the Lord truly does answer prayers and had the power to comfort us in our times of trial and discouragement no matter what may occur. Numerous time the Lord tells us to lean on him for his assistance in our spiritual lows, he is the way we can endure to the end. The Atonement is Not just for asking of forgiveness for sins, but to give to the Lord all of our emotions that he may lift them off of us and then yoke ourselves with Christ again to achieve our fathers will. 

I can also testify that Satan comes in may different forms, an interesting story was told yesterday in Sacrament. There was a man in the desert who was walking along and came across a snake in the hot sun. The snake said to him "Sir it is so hot out will you please pick me up and put me in you backpack?" The man responded "I don't think so, if I pick you up you will bite me and inject your venom in me sorry mister snake but I can't do that" then the snake comfortingly says "no no no sure, I promise that I will not bite you..." The man then with the snakes word given, went and picked up the snake and right as he was about to put him in his backpack, the snake bit him! and then said " what? you knew what I was before you picked me up!"

 Watch out for those spiritual snakes that so sneakily come into our lives, remember to look to Christ to help find relief from the venom of the world. 

I love you all and can't wait to hear back from you all!

Elder Muirhead

PS - DEAR SIBLINGS OF MINE (Josh, Brigs, Noah and Lola) KEEP LOOKING AT THE MAILBOX I'M SENDING A LETTER TO YOU... Should take a couple days though so don't get to excited. 

PPS - Mom, Man I love your letters! Please continue writing me about everyone and taking photos, I like to see what is going on with those I love.

Halloween in Sudbury

Hey Mom and Dad!

This was an interesting week for Halloween, first off it snowed at least a foot and got to -4 degrees, Thermals in-gauged!  Met a member who has a lot of medical issues and he has been ignoring us (and everyone) for a while, but finally we got in to make sure he is ok. It was really good connecting with him.

For safety Missionaries go in to our apartment early on Halloween. During the extra time I found myself with, I suddenly discovered that I had I finished the Book of Mormon again from 3 Nephi to the end that night it was sick!! Starting my studies on the Doctrine and Covenants for the first time I am enjoying it a lot.

The Lord's Secret Service Agents at Ward Halloween Party

So that means that so far in the last 6 months I've read the New Testament, Book of Mormon again, Our Heritage, Half of the teachings of Joseph Smith book, and I'm up to Samuel in the Old Testament, and all the way to section 20 in D&C.....Since when do I read so much? 

Teaching at this moment isn't exactly happening, there's presently no one to teach. But we are trying our best to help out our less actives and members in their testimonies. I felt that this transfer would be for this purpose and It makes me happy to see them grow and progress, then share their light of Christ with their loved ones.

The other night a family had us for dinner and made these really AMAZING RIB RACKS!! and homemade chips that were fantastic. They have two little kiddos, they are super smart 6 and 5 year olds. They both go to french school and they taught us a little bit. During dinner the Daughter called Elder Bowman a "Big Girl" it was cute and he had zero response to that one haha.

Last night we were walking around Down Town and a lady yells from across the street, "Hey do either of you guys have a cigarette?" We yell in response "No, do you know anyone who would enjoy a message of Jesus Christ?" She was So confused! it was hilarious "Wha..what?" .....Priceless! 

The Awesome Halloween Care Package you sent!

Well Elder Bowman this week has had a cold and just starting today my throat got sore, So lots of herbal tea and prayers hahaha. We are doing just fine though the Lord takes care of his Sheep for sure. 

I love you guys so Much thank you from us both for the awesome Halloween Package you sent us it was legit!...and delicious!

Love 

Elder Muirhead