Teaching A Jellyfish The Plan Of Salvation

November 15, 2022

Hello everyone! It's been a really interesting but amazing week! Here's the highlights:

Goods:

-I made it to Port Alberni!

-Elder Walcer is a such a stud(means he's awesome)

-Its so much warmer here on the Island haha

-Lesson with Ken!

-Teaching through music🎼

-Teaching a Jellyfish

Bads:

-I do miss my old district, but its not bad

-The traveling to Port Alberni was Chaos but I made it

So Port Alberni: Port Alberni is a small town on Vancouver Island that only has about 18k people here. Its a big downsize from Kamloops which has over 100k people. Its a pretty serene, quiet town, but is absolutely beautiful. Picture Pacific Northwest, and Port Alberni is practically that.

My new Companion Elder Walcer is seriously amazing, it's awesome because we both knew each other from the MTC, so we are getting along so well. Its been a chill, yet fulfilling transfer so far.

Transferring to Port Alberni: Traveling to Port Alberni was a pain. 3 hours from Kamloops to Kelowna and stayed the night. Next morning found out after we got to the airport our flight was canceled and we couldn't get to Victoria for at least another 35 hours or so. So we took a flight to Vancouver that night, which was delayed twice before it came. Once we arrived in Vancouver, we stayed overnight in Richmond with the APs. Early the next morning, we landed in Victoria after an 11 minute flight haha. And LUCKILY, everyone had their bags, including my guitar. I then had another 4 hours before I arrived in Port Alberni. Let's just say I was VERY tired when I arrived haha.

I think its funny right as I experience snow in Canada I get kicked out to the Island where it doesn't snow haha.

Ken!: Ken is a guy who has been coming to church for years but has not wanted to be baptized and is reluctant to listening to missionary discussions. But he will play rummy with us haha. So we went over and Elder Walcer was saying we were probably gonna drop him since he's not making progress. I badly lost in the game of rummy haha. But we had an over TWO hour discussion with Ken after about Repentance and Baptism. He showed sincere interest in following Jesus Christ, and we invited him to pray about Baptism. Hopefully he will follow our invitation.

Me and Elder Walcer are both guitar players, so we decided that every 1-2 weeks we are gonna perform a hymn arrangement on Facebook! So stay tuned for the video this upcoming week haha.... also we decided to do a free beginner guitar class and there is a LOT of interest in that here in Port Alberni. So I guess I'll be like my sister Grace now and teach people an instrument haha. But sadly I don't get paid...

Now, the Jellyfish: We were street contacting at the Port Key(A little park/wharf downtown) and happened to find a single lone Jellyfish swimming off the dock. So we thought it would be funny to teach this Jellyfish the Plan of Salvation. Sadly the Jellyfish didn't show much interest... darn haha

Anyways, that's it for this week! I'm enjoying this transfer so far! I hope it keeps up! Hope everyone has a great week!

-Elder Biesinger

Pictures!!!

1- Seagull

2- Port Alberni

3- The Jellyfish

4- Cool Pic on the way to Port Alberni

5- View from the Pier at Port Key

6- Cool mirror pic of the boat docks

7- Me and Elder Walcer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darryl Has Come Back To Haunt Me Right Before Transfers

November 8, 2022

Hello everyone! This week has been pretty eventful! Lots to write about! Its gonna be a long email so bear with me haha. Here are the Goods and Bads:

Goods: 

-Tracting while being Sick

-Authentic Indian Food

-First snow in Kamloops!!

-Interviews with President!

-Stake Conference

-Transfer news!

Bads:

-Still being sick from the Halloween Party

-Saying goodbye to all the missionaries at Stake Conference cause transfers are today.

-The last week before transfers goes SO slow.

-Snow is now here, and its probably gonna last, so bye bye Autumn.

-Still getting colder by the day. We are at around freezing or below every day now.

-We were heading out to shovel snow for some members, and we slid into a ditch. Haha we are all ok tho the car didn't flip.

Tracting: One night me and Elder Achal were still pretty sick from the Halloween party. Elder Achal said he needed a nap and I said ok and did some Facebook work on my phone while he slept. All of a sudden, Elder Achal busts down the bedroom door and says: 'Elder we're going door-knocking'. It totally threw me off guard, but we got dressed and went off to do some tracting. It was my first time doing it, and it was flipping cold outside, my face and hands were dying. But it actually went pretty well, we were able to drop off a Book of Mormon! But the craziest thing was, when we were tracting, neither me or Elder Achal felt sick. We felt completely healthy and energized to do the work. And we didn't feel sick again until we went back home. Its so crazy that we were temporarily healed so we could go out and do some work. Even though it was cold, it was well worth it.

Indian Food: We had dinner with Hitesh this week! (Bro. Kanwar now). And he fed us Authentic Indian food which tasted AMAZING. I don't know most of the stuff I ate, but it was all soo good. But the best part of the night is when Hitesh asked if we wanted to drink some Buttermilk. I politely declined cause Buttermilk is nasty, but Elder Achal, not knowing what Buttermilk is, said 'sure ill try some' haha. Sadly Hitesh brought out two glasses so I had to drink some. But it was so funny to see Elder Achals reaction, he just about died haha. After I learned he had never heard of Buttermilk before and never had it. So that was funny. But the rest of the food was amazing!

Snow!!: Guess what? It actually snows in Canada! This week was the first snowstorm so the roads were really bad. And the snow keeps on coming down! We have about 5 inches or so at the moment haha. I'm gonna need to start getting my winter gear out haha. But it is beautiful to see the snow fall and to see everything blanketed in white haha.

Speaking of snow, when we slid into the ditch we were pressed up to a telephone pole. When we eventually dug ourselves out, we had a dent on the back left side of the car that looked kinda like the dent on my old Kia Optima Darryl haha. I guess he's come back to haunt me haha.

Interviews: It was great to see President and Sister Gill again! And this time they came here to Kamloops! It was a bit weird cause they did interviews in our apartment(don't worry we cleaned haha). But it was still good to get insight from them and to learn more from them!

Stake Conference: Stake Conference was up in Vernon this last Sunday! And we had the privilege of driving up! The messages were really good and President and Sister Gill spoke as well! It was very spiritual and it was fun to see the other missionaries. It was sad to say goodbyes to them though, cause lots of changes probably happened at transfers. 

Transfer News!: This transfer news is crazy! I am being transfered to Port Alberni!!! Its a smaller town a bit north of Victoria on the Island! I'm gonna experience Island culture in winter. I'm gonna have to wear my Hawaii tie haha. 

But what's even crazier is my new companion is Elder Walcer!!!! We were in the MTC together and he is a total legend! We both play guitar and are pretty chill! Its gonna be a sick transfer. I'm so excited!!! 

But I will miss Kamloops. Its been an amazing 2 transfers here, the members are great and my district was amazing. What a start to my mission. Elder Achal is being transfered as well! He is going to Victoria with Elder Canals! And they are gonna be Companions!!!! This next transfer is going to be amazing haha.

Anyways, an exciting week should be coming up! Hopefully it doesn't get too cold here in Canada haha. Hope everyone has an amazing week!

-Elder Biesinger

Pictures!!!!

1-Me and Elder Achal with Hitesh eating the amazing Indian Food!

2-Part of the First Snow here in Kamloops!

3-Me and Elder Spencer

4-Tracting! Don't I look so happy? Also I kinda look like the classic 90s Canadian Elder haha.

5-Autumn's final Hurrah!

6-The car damage haha

7-The Bartels: The most sick members of all time. They have helped us out in so many ways, and have just been so kind and friendly always. They've kinda been our family here in the loops haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kamloops Halloween Party Curse

November 1, 2022

Hello Everyone! Another week has passed!

Goods:

-The Chase-Falkland road & Pillar lake!

-Hanging out with the Vernon Elders.

-Exchange with Elder Cook!

-Digging a hole for service.

-The Kamloops Halloween Party.

Bads: 

-I got the stomach flu from the Halloween Party :( 

The Chase-Falkland Road: On our way to district council, we took the Chase-Falkland Road again! It was beautiful! The Autumn colors were amazing and we even saw some snow haha.

Vernon Elders: We had to go to Vernon for Elder Achals doctor appointment and we arrived early, so we hung out with the Vernon Elders for about an hour. It was so much fun and we had a lot of laughs haha.

Exchange with Elder Cook: I got to go on an exchange with Elder Cook, my Zone Leader. He is sick, and so friendly. We had a good exchange! We also had Volleyball night, which was so much fun! And lots of people came!

Digging a Hole: For one of our services this week, we had to dig a hole so the family could remove this massive tree stump. I found it enjoyable and it reminded me of when I worked for Sunwood Homes haha. But I did get sore from it haha.

The Halloween Party: Both Kamloops wards did a combined Halloween Party, and so many people came! We had some great food, a haunted house, and a bounce house! But 2 days after the Halloween party, all four of us Kamloops Elders got the Stomach Flu. So right now I feel kind of crappy, but I'm getting better haha.

Anyways, that's all for this week! I hope everyone is doing well!

-Elder Biesinger

Pictures!

1- Me at Pillar Lake.

2- Also Pillar Lake.

3- A Horse🐎

 

 

I'm Scared For Winter

October 25, 2022

Hello everyone! This has been an exciting and busy week! So here's what's happened:

Goods:
- Exchanges with Elder Spencer
- Hitesh's Baptism!!!
- I confirmed Hitesh, and it was quite an experience!
- Our members have been amazing this week.

Bads:
- Another Elder in our apartment got COVID :(
- Preparing for Hiteshs baptism.
- I had to speak at Hiteshs Baptism and in church the following day.
- It is getting soo cold already. I'm starting to miss the end of summer here haha.

Exchanges: After district council this week, I went on an exchange here in Kamloops with Elder Spencer! We were able to teach our friend Louis and have some fun as well!

Hiteshs Baptism!: After so much prep for it, inviting people, preparing talks and all of that, the Baptism went so well! We didn't fill up the font all the way... but it still worked! And our talks went really well! We also had over 30 members come to support Hitesh!

Sunday: I talked in sacrament meeting, which went super well! Wayyy easier than my farewell talk haha. I also had the wonderful privilege of confirming Hitesh which was my first time doing anything like that haha. I was nervous but the Spirit led me through and it went really well!

Thankfully everything worked out this week with the Baptism even though one elder in our apartment had COVID. Let's just say we took a lot of tests haha. They are not fun.

But the work still continued during this week! We had a lot of friends come to church this Sunday so they were able to hear us talk!

Also it is getting COLD here! We are now by freezing almost every day haha. I expected this but I guess I didn't at the same time haha.

Hope everything is going well for everyone!

-Elder Biesinger

Pictures!

1- Me and my District at Popeyes after the Baptism on Saturday!
2- Us and Hitesh before his Baptism!
3- I put LEDs on my guitar haha.
4- Me and Elder Spencer on our Exchange.
5- Basketball Night on Tuesday with our Ukrainian friend!

I'm so Grateful I Got COVID

October 18, 2022

Well hello everyone! It's been another week, this will not be too eventful as you can tell from the title haha.

Good things:

- Kamloops members are seriously amazing.

- The work does not cease even with COVID!!!

- We got golf clubs haha

- I got a new desk chair that's so comfy, and it was free!!!

- Elder Achal had his 21st birthday!!!

Bads: 

- I got COVID haha

- COVID makes missionary work boring haha.

- I want to go outside haha.

- Splits canceled

- Exchanges canceled

- Lessons canceled

- Services canceled

- etc.

Better than good!!:

- Hitesh has decided to get baptized!!

- Remember the one email I sent where I said we had too much food? Well now we have even more haha.

The members: Our members are seriously amazing! They not only provided us with covid tests, but gave us lots and I mean lots of food! They gave us lots of support, and even came to wish Elder Achal Happy Birthday! They brought over cake, ice cream, and all sorts of things! They have been absolutely amazing this week!

The work: Covid did not stop us from doing missionary work. We found ways to teach using zoom, Facebook, members, etc. We actually found people to be a lot more receptive on Facebook while we were stuck at home haha.

Hitesh!:  On Elder Achal's 21st birthday, Hitesh decided that he wants to be baptized! He has done his baptismal interview, and is set to be baptized next Saturday the 22nd!! We have to teach him a couple more things this week, but he is ready to go, we are so excited for him and that he is wanting to make this commitment and take the next step on the strait and narrow path!!

COVID:  Thankfully, none of the other elders in my apartment have tested positive for covid, it was only me haha. So next week, I'll be back at it with the normal missionary work! Let's go!

It has definitely been an interesting week, with covid and all. But I've truly seen that God does not stop blessing us because of sickness. The work never stops!  And in the words of Elder Mckenzie: Miracles have not ceased!

-Elder Biesinger

Pictures!!!

1- Elder Achal with his 3 birthday desserts haha.

2- My sick zone at zone conference.

3- An old typewriter we found at a service.

4- Autumn is in full bloom!!!

5- Pinecone😁

6- Some cool clouds

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn, Louis, Zone Conference, and Dungeons & Dragons

October 11, 2022

Hello everyone! This week has been super crazy, fun, and spiritual!

Now this email is gonna be pretty long haha so prepare yourselves.

Goods:

- Canadian Thanksgiving!

- Autumn is finally here!

- Our new friend Louis!

- Zone Conference!

- P-Day in Salmon Arm!

- Our Dungeons & Dragons Campaign!

- Salmon Arm Members!

- I LOVE Lasagna!!

- The weather is PERFECT!!

There aren't any notable bads other than I was tired some days haha but thats the usual.

So some explanations and experiences:

1. Canadian Thanksgiving:  It's the exact same thing as an American Thanksgiving just earlier haha.

2.  Autumn: Autumn has finally arrived! The trees have started to change color, and it's starting to get a little colder. The mornings are now brisk, and it's been perfect weather! Its absolutely beautiful and perfect!

3.  Louis: Louis is a referral from the other missionaries here in Kamloops. We've had one lesson with him. He is a returning member, and wants to be rebaptized and go to the temple before he dies. In our 1st lesson with him, we taught lesson 1 the restoration. And during the Lessen, we were talking about the First Vision. He mentioned he already knew it, and it seemed like he wanted to skim right over it. 

Louis is pretty stubborn, but super nice.  I told him that I wanted to keep talking about the First Vision, and he listened as I quoted the First Vision from memory. After I had quoted this this account, Louis was in tears. He said that he's a stubborn man,  and the fact that I was able to say the First Vision memorized and from the heart meant so much to him, and he felt the spirit so much. 

The lesson took a complete turn from there, it went from being just reviewing what he already knew, to us getting a spiritually uplifting experience, not only for him but for me and Elder Achal.

It was such a big testimony builder to see how something as simple as saying a memorized quote can affect someone so much.

4.  Zone Conference: Zone conference was absolutely incredible this transfer! It was so spiritual and enlightening lightning, it was just incredible. The main focus of this zone conference was about joy. And why joy is so important in missionary work, and why joy is so important to us as we continue to grow closer to Jesus Christ and become more like him.The biggest thing I learned from zone conference, is that the reason why we have pain and suffering is because of joy. Now this may seem contradictory, but it makes sense. Without pain and suffering, joy would not exist. In 2 Nephi 2:11, it talks about how there needs to be an opposition in all things. How good and bad cannot exist without each other, so we wouldn't be able to understand or value joy without first experiencing pain and sorrow. And that is so true, I have noticed in my life all the hard times, and they have been hard and are not fun, but they have built me up so much and helped me so much in my life. They truly have helped me grow into the person I am today.

5:  P-day in Salmon Arm:  Today, we are in Salmon Arm with the other Elders in our district, and we are playing games and hanging out for P-day today before we head back down to Kamloops. The reason why we did this, is because we were in Kelowna for zone conference yesterday, and Salmon Arm was on the way back, and we thought we would just all hang out for PA. It's been pretty fun today

6: Dungeons & Dragons:  So for the last transfer or so, my district and I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons on P-day. I have never played it before, and we decided it would be a fun way for us to connect and grow as a district haha. It's interesting, because I never saw myself liking roleplay type games, or anything like that, but I've actually really enjoyed it. It's been a ton of fun, and it's just been a great way for us to connect as a district. Anyways, we had a really cool experience the other night while playing Dungeons & Dragons. We were finishing up our session that night, and the funniest thing happened. We felt the spirit. Soft Music was playing, it was dark, and very serene. At first it was a very odd sensation to feel the spirit during this game, but it showed me that Heavenly Father enjoys playing games, and using our imagination and I had never realized that before. It was an incredible experience that I didn't expect from playing Dungeons & Dragons.

7:  After zone conference, we drove to Salmon Arm to stay the night, for P-day the following day. When we arrived, one of the members there invited us over for dinner! They showed us their Dungeons & Dragons setup in their basement, which was super complex and very thorough which was really cool! I have never seen anything like it. A couple elders geeked out about it haha. And we had lasagna for dinner which was amazing not as good as Aunt Brooke's lasagna, but it was still really good haha.

Anyways yall, sorry about the long email, it was a really exciting week, and I wanted to share with you all the cool experiences that happened. I hope everything is going well with everyone, just know I'm praying for you!

- Elder Biesinger

Pictures!!!

1: A rainbow in Kelowna after Zone Conference!

2: Elder Canals hit his one year mark on his mission! And a tradition around here, is to burn a white shirt on your one year mark. We happen to have an extra white shirt that was left behind, so we were able to go and burn it. It was a really fun time!

3: Kamloops at night!!

4: The Salmon Arm members Dungeons & Dragons setup haha.

5: My district, the best district ever haha. The goats🐐 haha.

6: My district playing Dungeons & Dragons haha.

 

 

 

 

 

How to Make an Anti-Depression Smoothie

October 4, 2022

Hello All! Its been a great week with lots of amazing insights and moments from general conference! 

First of all, no I am not depressed haha, its just what we called the Smoothie haha. So don't worry I'm doing great haha. Loving it here in Kamloops. Its seriously the Promised Land. 

Goods:

- Our new friend Riley!

- General Conference!

- Elder Webb's 21st Birthday! 

- The Anti-Depression Smoothie

Bads:

- I'm again playing the piano in Zone Conference haha.

- The Anti- Depression Smoothie

Anyways... I know yall have been wondering what the heck is this Smoothie? Let me elaborate...

It was Elder Webbs(Another missionary in Kamloops, he's not my companion) birthday on Saturday, so that night we celebrated. And Elder Canals, his companion decided to make us Kool-aid with Ginger Ale to go with the Ice cream cake and brownies we already had. He blended it up, none of us realizing he dumped the entire package in, blended it up, and served it to us. It was sugary and super sour. 

Then we realized his mistake. The directions on the Kool-Aid indicated that one tablespoon of the powder was enough for a liter of water. He used a liter of Ginger Ale, but ALL of the powder, so like 3 Cups or more haha. We each had about a cup of this Smoothie. We looked at how much sugar we consumed in just the one cup.

It was approximately 86g of sugar.🤦‍♂️ 

Elder Achal and Elder Canals went literally crazy for the next hour or so haha. Me and Elder Webb had massive headaches for the next hour. And going to bed was a nightmare, I was exhausted, my head was pounding, and my heart was racing. I couldn't sleep till like 1 AM. But it was funny to watch our realization when it happened haha. So I dubbed it the name Anti-Depression Smoothie haha. Anyways sorry that was a long story haha. 

So to be short on how you make this Smoothie:

1 liter Ginger Ale

1 whole bag of Kool Aid Mix

Some Ice Cubes

Blend

Another great part of this week was meeting our new friend Riley! We met him on Facebook, and had a zoom lesson with him a couple of days later. He was super excited to learn more about our church. At the end we invited him to pray to know what we told him was true. But he interrupted us and said that he doesn't need to pray to know if its true, he already knows its true because of the feelings he's been having during the lesson. But he still said he would pray about it. It was super cool to see the Holy Ghost testify to him of the truths we taught him. 

Also, wasn't conference wonderful? So many great talks that were super heartfelt and inspirational. I would say my favorite talk was Elder Holland's. It was super interesting to hear about about why we don't use the sign of the cross in our church, and how our church signifies the crosses we bear and how to overcome them, instead of the crosses we wear. 

Also President Nelson did have me shedding some tears at the end of his closing remarks. He is such a wonderful man, he is truly a representative of Jesus Christ. 

This upcoming week is Canadian Thanksgiving! I'm excited cause some members will be feeding us! Also we have Zone conference next Monday, so that will be fun! Other than that I have to play the piano haha.

Hope yall are doing well!

- Elder Biesinger

Pictures!!!!

1. The Smoothie haha.

2. Elder Webb on his Birthday.

3. Us watching General Conference!

 

 

Bridge Miracle and Transfers!

September 27, 2022

Hello all! A lot has happened this week! Also my P day has switched to Tuesdays, so my emails will now be coming out on Tuesday. 

Goods:

- National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Aaaarg!

- Blackwell Farms Chocolate Milk

- Earth Wind & Fire Day! 

- Revelstoke, BC, Tacos!

- Ruslan & Lev! 

- The Bridge Miracle!

- Transfers!

Bads:

- Transfers haha

- Nothing much else haha

Ok explanations for everything haha

The Bridge Miracle: Me and Elder Achal, my companion were street contacting on our last night before transfers trying to get one more person to hit our transfer goal. We went to 2 parks, but they were all empty and we had no luck. We started to head back to our car when we stopped and said hi to two people sitting on a park bench. But sadly they brushes us off. So we continued to head to the car. As we were walking back, I turned and looked at the Bridge nearby that goes over the nearby train tracks and thought should we go there? I thought why not. My comp was a little confused, but followed me to the Bridge. As we were about to get on the bridge, at the exact same time, one of the guys who brushed us off at the bench, happened to get on the bridge. We said hi again and kinda laughed, but he was super talkative and apologized for brushing us off. We talked to him while we crossed the bridge, and he gave us his phone number and wants to learn more! And wants to come to our sports nights! His name is Basith. He is super cool and I hope we can teach him and have him come to our sports nights. 

Transfers! The most exciting thing about missionary work! Haha just kidding. I am staying here in Kamloops with Elder Achal for another 6 weeks and I'm so happy about it! Also, my whole district is staying too! So we can still hang out on P day and have fun at district council! So sorry nothing too exciting haha.

Anyways that's one transfer down, 14 more to go I believe haha. Hope everything is going well for everyone!

- Elder Biesinger

Pictures! 

1- The local river at dusk taken at a park.

2- Another river haha, but taken at a different park.

3- Revelstoke street tacos!

4- The most Canadian thing I could find haha. Its a little bottle of maple syrup.

5- A tree we found at a park. Doesn't it look like the tree of life from Lehis dream? Haha.

6- The inside of a beehive. Don't worry I didn't get stung haha.

7- An overlook of Kamloops with a weirdo in the picture haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archery Tag, Chicken Curry Meat Pies, and I am very sore

September 19, 2022

Hello everyone! This week flew by! Lots happened, so I'll get right into it!

Goods: 

- Archery Tag in Salmon Arm

- District Council and lunch in Salmon Arm

- Basketball and Volleyball night

- Lots of service

- Chicken Curry Meat Pies

- The Cornfeast

- Autumn is almost here!

Bads:

- Archery Tag resulted with me getting over 30 mosquito bites

- I jammed my finger pretty good during basketball

- I also pulled my hip twice during the same basketball game

- The mixture of Archery Tag, Basketball, and Service has left me soooo sore. 

- One service we did was cleaning out this old ladys shed which was covered with rat feces, and smelled absolutely awful

But overall the week was really good! We had the Cornfeast on Saturday, which was a ward barbecue at a local park. Hitesh came and really enjoyed it! He is connecting well with the members and is excited about being more involved with the church community.

Archery Tag was so much fun! It was pretty much just a group of teenage guys attempting to shoot arrows at each other, but don't worry we had safety gear haha. I did alright, but some people were really good haha.

One member had us over to dinner and made us Chicken Curry Meat Pies and they were sooo good. 

The weather has drastically changed here. Before it would reach like 100 degrees every day, but now its about 65 every day, and the mornings even get down to 35 degrees. The leaves are starting to change colors, and it's raining almost every day now. Autumn is coming! I'm excited, I've heard the Autumns here in British Columbia are amazing!

Anyways that's all for this week! People have been harder to find this week, but our sports nights have been doing really good, and we are meeting so many new people each day! 

- Elder Biesinger

Also just a heads up, next week will be the last week I have P day on Monday, so the following week I will be sending my email out on Tuesday instead. 

Pictures!!!

1- Me and my Comp Elder Achal with Hitesh!

2- A double Rainbow while heading to the church.

3- Cool cloud cover after a storm.

4- My district at Archery Tag.

5- My district on P day playing games.

6- A sunset in the Wildfire haze one night.