Monday, December 29, 2014

Welcome to Kelowna! (12/1/2014)

So I'm in Kelowna! I got here on Wednesday night and it was SNOWING! I'm so excited to be here, but it's seriously freezing. -15 degrees Celsius. But it's an adventure.
 
Monday we awaited the call. We got it while eating dinner with a member, so they were able to comfort us. I love members. I love Courtenay. I miss it already, but I know I'm supposed to be here in Kelowna. Tuesday was chaos with packing and saying goodbye to everyone. Tuesday night was the Relief Society Christmas party, so at least I got to say goodbye to lots of people there.
 
Wednesday we went to Nanaimo. Sister Bartlett went to Richmond to pick up her TRAINEE! She's training a brand new missionary. I'm so proud of her. 
 
Then I got to the airport at noon. We had a huge delay because there was so much fog. I was stuck in the airport with an Elder for 5 hours. It was an adventure. We flew to Vancouver and then had a lay over there. A member from Vanderhoof bought us dinner, so that was sweet! Being a missionary is so awesome. And then from Vancouver we flew to Kelowna, and I got my new comp Sister Bernard! She is SO awesome. I love her so much. She's from Utah :) She's been out for 3 months and we are getting ready for an amazing transfer together!!!
 
Thursday we planned. I hate planning...still. I think I say that in every email I have ever sent home. Oh well. Then we went out and worked! We live right in downtown Kelowna, which is nice, but is also kind of scary. But, I'm getting used to it. We talked to tons of people and found some cool potential investigators. We then went and visited a member. I knew her brother and sister-in-law in Richmond, so that was cool that we have a connection already. We also had our first coordination meeting. There are 3 sets of missionaries in this ward! So crazy. It's probably twice or three times as big as the Courtenay Ward. Friday, we walked around downtown again. We tried to visit some people. We met this awesome less active lady who is from Cuba. She was just waiting for someone in the church to visit her and show her some love. She has felt ignored for a long time, so we're going to work with her and help her a lot. I'm so excited!
 
Then on Saturday, we had our walk and talk day. It was so cold! We went and met the Bishop. He's only been a member for 8 years! It was amazing to hear his story. Sunday, I had to give a talk and my topic was about enduring to the end . . . because I only have 5 and a half weeks left. I was running around like a crazy person at church trying to meet everyone and get all of their names down. I'm determined to get to know this ward even though I won't be here that long. Members are just the greatest! Then, a nice family invited us over for dinner yesterday. It was really good. We went finding in the cold and everyone who opened their door was like, "It's cold, go home!" And we were like, "No, this is important!" haha - oh the joys of winter. 
 
I know that this church is true. It just is! There is only one true church on the Earth that has the priesthood power and all of the saving ordinances. It's the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 
 
I hope that y'all have a wonderful December and Christmas season!
 
Send me letters!
Sister Gabrielle Struempler
313 - 1425 Bertram Street
Kelowna, B.C.
V1Y - 8K4
Canada
Love,
Sister Struempler

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