January 9, 2017 Lethbridge, Elder Dolinar

I AM STILL ALIVE!! no blood clots I am sure haha

I am really liking Lethbridge. I got a stinkin cold just a couple of days ago, so I am trying to get better from that. It has been snowing off and on for the past few days that I have been here. I hate being in a town that consists of 89,074 people when I am used to only having 12,305 in Strathmore. I am trying my hardest to get down the grid system. They go by streets and avenues, really confusing. My new companion is Elder Dolinar, and so far I am really liking him. I think that he just might be my favorite companion so far on the mission. He is willing to work hard and to be obedient. I really think that because of that we are going to accomplish a whole lot more in this area. 

This morning we saw an old lady scraping her sidewalk (come to find out she is 89 years old), because it had snowed last night. I asked Elder Dolinar if we should go and help her, and he said, "You choose" and so I said, "Yeah I think that we better," and so we turned around and parked on the side of the road. I hopped out and asked her if she needed any help. She then said, "You are stopping to help me scrape my sidewalk?" And then I said, "Yes, I saw you shoveling and couldn't pass you by without helping you." She then said, "I am sorry but I don't have any money to pay you for this", and I said, "Don't worry I will just do it for you, I don't need any money." So she handed me the shovel and I started scraping. It was about -20 C but there wasn't any wind so it didn't feel cold which was good. She was talking to us as we scraped her driveway and told us "I can't believe that you are doing this. I have never had anyone do a thing like this for me." It was pretty cool. She asked if my companion was my husband, that was pretty funny. We then talked to her a little bit about our church and how we were missionaries. It was too bad that she wasn't interested, but I know that we planted a seed and when it snows again we are going to go and shovel her sidewalk again and hopefully by then she will want to here about the gospel. 

My ankle is doing a whole lot better, my shin is not leaving big old holes anymore when I push on it. I am walking on it and it doesn't hurt and I can jog on it and it doesn't hurt. I am planning on not jogging though for at least another week or two just so that it can completely heal. It is still a little swollen around the ankle but it is looking and feeling a ton better then what it was last week.

President Miles called us and told us that he was wanting to go with us to our lessons Wednesday night and so that is going to be pretty exciting. I don't know the area at all, and Elder Dolinar has been here for only one transfer, and couldn't work that much because his companion was about to go home and was all trunked out. So it is almost like we have purged a new area, and it is pretty hard. President Miles wants us to find some new investigators to teach with him, and we are trying and I hope that we can get some stuff scheduled for that night. I will have to let you know how it goes. He randomly goes on visits with missionaries and I have been hoping that this day would never come haha but I guess that it has. 

We cover two wards, and the one Bishop we live with. I don't know if I am going to like him, he is a mister know it all and I get the feeling that he could care less about us. He is about 28 years old maybe, and he loves the pile missionaries. But the other Bishop I think I might like more. One of the Ward Mission Leaders is way cool though. He is all about missionary work and is going to do anything in order to make things happen. I am really going to like him. Well that is a little bit about my week, I hope that you all had a good week and I will look forward to hearing from you all. Love you guys -Elder Allred