Emails from Paul

These are now in order of the lastest first.  Remember that Paul is still a nut!

9 May 2007

It's getting warmer here too. It's really sweltering here in the internet cafe. It's gotta be like a bajillion degrees or something. I am melting. We have a new investigator named King Tu-tu, but I will tell you about that on Sunday. I will call you as soon as I can call you, the problem that is is that there is a baptism and a mix & mingle or a munch & mingle or whatever they call it afterwards and there is going to be a lot of foods so we cannot miss that to call home. So I  will call you and like order a pizza and then hang up and you will call me back immediately afterwards and then I will hang up again! Anyways...

We met a guy named John a couple days ago (OYM) and he was interrogating Elder Layton as to his credentials for being a minister. Then he asked if we had any Book(s?) of Mormon(s?) on us and of course we did, so we gave him our number and a restoration pamphlet and sent him on his way. To our everlasting shock he called us the next day (he's an middle-aged white guy!!) and left a message with his number, and then the next morning he called us and invited us to something  down on King and Dunn street on Friday (that's way downtown). We are not really sure what it is but I'm sure it will be exciting.

We're also teaching another guy named Nick, he's about 30 or so and is a drum instructor. He's pretty cool, especially because we gave him a reading assignment in the BofM and he READ IT! He even understood most of it!

We're still trying to get Pauletta and Cecil to church somehow. Right now we're thinking of asking an inactive family to be their ride to church, so we can get both families there at once!

I put up some new pictures of waffles and a grass jelly drink, that drink actually had jelly in it, little chunks of jelly. You need to  see if you can find some sort of aloe vera drink, because it is all the rage up here in Canadia and it tastes weird. The stuff I got had tons of little chunks of aloe floating in it, it's pretty good, it  tastes mostly like white grape juice. There are also a couple random pictures taken by Elder Layton.

 

I'm rambling on today because I don't really know what to write about and it is very hot. There was one of those crazy Jamaican guy talking to us the other day and he did not want to shake Elder Layton's hand when we left because he said "I don't shake hands with the devil!" He's pretty weird. There's another guy named Eric who is rather "less accountable" who keeps on calling us and asking us if we have any church DVDs we can bring him because he's watched "Finding [Faith] in Christ" and all those other ones. He's pretty nice though. Luckily he's in the sister's area so we told them to go see him.

We have a couple Nerf guns in the apartment and some velcro darts which are cool because they stick to clothes very well. Those guns are very good for shooting at each other, but sadly the guns we have are only single shots (so if you try to ambush someone when they come out of the washroom [or are having personal study!] if you miss the first shot then they can get away), which is why I need to get some Mavericks (because they have SIX shots! BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!), I will have

to look next time we go to a Wal-Mart.

Love,

 Elder Gerla 

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2 May 2007

I'll get a picture of Elder Layton pretty soon, I have looked at the pictures, but not lately, I am going to go look right now...

...That dumb baby, I guess she misses me! That cardboard me is pretty scary looking. You'd better watch out or he will  beat up all the wedding guests and eat all the food.

If anyone ever feels like buying a present for me they could get two Nerf Mavericks, they should be very easy to find and they would be very good for shooting my companions with. But more importantly is that machine washable suit I will mention a few weeks ago later on in this letter! (Because that would be totally rockin' awesome) I will be looking for one but they are not easy to find not on the internet. (I usually wear a 38R or 38L jacket and 32-30 pants, 30-32s ride too high  and I don't care what that lady and JC Penny's said about higher pants looking more professional, I put my hands in my pockets sometimes and they said at the MTC that that looks unprofessional so I can wear pants that don't look unprofessional too! HMPH.) We will discuss this further at a later date.

 

Also a list of everyone's birthdays would be good so that I can send cards or at least a letter when they are that much older. I think Andy's is very soon right right? I keep thinking it's May 3rd but I am not sure. I can send him a late one perhaps!?

There was a crazy thing happen yesterday! We were on a trolley headed to a media referral, (a lady named Vejide who apparently  lived in a school[?] but they had never heard of anyone named that!) and there was some construction work going on on the tracks, so we were going real slow, then we stopped at a light. Then some black SUV  came around the corner and hit one of those little stripy posts with the blinking light on top of it that they put up for construction. I  thought "gee, I guess that guy feels dumb, turning the wrong way."

But then the SUV kept going and hit like three more, and then it turned towards the trolley we were on (SUV's front would hit our side) and I thought "oh boy, I'm going to see a car crash! I'm glad I'm in the bigger one!" Then it turned slightly so it just skimmed the trolley and went *scccrrrape!* and shook us up a little. It kept going for maybe 25 meters and almost hit a couple construction workers for the TTC but they ran really fast and then it hit some more posts and turned into the oncoming traffic (big white truck) and I thought "oh boy, I'm going to see a real car crash, this is going to be bad!" But then it turned slightly so it just skimmed the truck and made the driver of the truck pretty mad.

Then it turned back the other way and went down a side street but before it got too far it hit something pretty solid but I didn't see what. About 20 construction workers and the cop on duty there started chasing it after they realized what was happening and piled all over that thing and they pulled some guy out, and then like 10 police cars came zooming up and some on motorcycles. Also there was a poor old man who had to pull over because he was hit from behind at some point, I felt sorry for him because he looked very sad and was talking to the policemen. Then some crazy(?) Italian lady on the other side of the street was screaming really really really loud about something and a cop came over and led her away. Then we started going again and got to where we were going. That was definitely the most exciting thing that afternoon!

For the week though some guy got hit by a bus while it was leaving the station, we needed a bus from that station just a few minutes after it happened and we saw a bajillion police cars and police men and a firetruck and talked to this guy and he said the guy who got hit tried to dash across the road but didn't make it and he  was now trapped under the bus and they were trying to figure out how to lift the bus up to get him out from under it. We don't know anything other than  that because we don't keep up with the news and had to go to an appointment.

Another time Elder Layton had to use the washroom really badly and the only place open nearby was a Spanish sports bar, so we went in and he went to the washroom and I waited by the door and pretended I was really interested in the soccer match until the bartender came back from the back room and looked at me funny and came over and asked me something in Spanish but I did not know what so I just said "Uuuhhhh... My friend had to use the washroom?" and she seemed satisfied and went back to bar tendering. That was a little awkward!

We met a nice little old lady who is a less-active member, she was showing us her paintings but we had to explain that we couldn't come in all the way because we didn't have a "third witness" as she put it.

I think my weight has stabilized, I'm staying at 160lbs now. We do a lot of walking and my feet are becoming casualties of war. There are  weird wiggling pains in the sole of my left foot when I walk without shoes, like nerves moving around, and the sides of my big toes are  numb and tingle if I touch them. It's pretty cool!

 

Love, Elder Gerla

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April 18, 2007

Pauletta and Cecil are doing well, when we last dropped by their  house, Cecil was the only one home and he was just about to leave again, he had 3 big garbage bags full of bread products (rolls, buns, loaves, so on) that he was going to go around and distribute. We told  him we were giving out spiritual bread to him before he went out to  give the other type of bread. He liked that. He actually owns his own  cleaning business, and he's usually dressed pretty sharp and always decked out in at least enough bling to fund a small country for a year.

Cindy and Adrian are doing well also, but Cindy going to have a baby in two weeks so she's usually not up to us coming over, but after that  we'll get them. Lucy we haven't been able to get in touch with again yet.

I went on travels with Elder Egbert last week, he's our zone leader, and we had some fun times. We were walking home in the dark down this alleyway, and there was a guy there working on his truck, so Elder Egbert stopped to talk to him, and just as he was about to ask if the  guy had ever met missionaries before, this *GIGANTIC* Doberman stepped out from behind the truck. Elder Egbert saw it and didn't miss a beat but instantly started walking quickly away while he was still talking, luckily the guy said he wasn't interested.

Also, Elder Fawson has exactly one week and one day left as a real missionary, then his parents will fly up from Cali and pick him up, and I will get a new companion and have to show the area to him. That will be interesting.

I can't think of much else exciting that happened this week so I'll talk more about the city itself. I need to get more pictures of it, actually. It's a pretty interesting place, the sirens on the police cars sound weird because they're Canadian sirens I guess. Somebody is forever putting up these yellow "DIVORCE - $300" fliers with the little tabs to rip off all over the city and we're always taking them down, which, by the way, is encouraged because it's illegal to put up fliers on city property! Recently there have been "QUICK DIVORCE - $200" fliers that are even classier!

I can't wait for it to warm up more, I hear there are a lot of musicians and street performers along the big streets once it warms up a little. I've already seen one guy that was playing on a saxophone on the sidewalk, and another lady that was playing some strange stringed instrument by the mall, and another one on a upright bass. We get to take our suit jackets off on May 1st, and that's coming up pretty  soon. I forgot to take pictures of the tags on my pants but that's okay, I can wait. One of my coats is developing holes in the lining near the corners of the pockets... I want to see if I can find a machine washable suit because that would be nice.

It's interesting the way in the city space is such a commodity, there's always somebody living in the basement or the second floor of  wherever you are. There's one family we know that lives in the basement of a laundromat, and another one that lives above a flower shop. The convenience stores or little grocery stores on the bigger streets are really really cramped, it's pretty cool to look inside and there's just stuff everywhere, sometimes you have to turn sideways to fit through the aisles, and for someone like me, that's pretty incredible.

I still need some more pictures of that cat of mine.

Gotta run!

Love,

   Elder Gerla

 

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25 April 2007

Weird! I am here with my new companion, Elder Layton, he's pretty cool, he's from Utah and has been out about a year, he's been out in the country his whole mission so I get to introduce him to city life.  Elder Fawson is off with Ian for the day, they went to the big mall downtown. The Eaton Center or something.

 

I got those cookies and pictures from Mary the day before yesterday, the cookies are very good, there's only one container left now. They  taste a lot like Chips Ahoy cookies but better. I hung the pictures on the wall, that fat cat though is hard to hang up because his side of  the picture starts to droop. I had to use like 23 tacks just to get it stay up.

We met some self-described "born-again Jews" the other day. It was weird. They said they were originally Jewish but now believed in Christ but were still Jewish. They believed in the trinity (Catholic style), and seemed to be pretty confused for people who were so sure of themselves. We wanted to sit down and talk with them but they said they would "never want to have the slightest interest in anything we  could ever have to say because they had been 'touched.'"

We had Zone Lunch yesterday at China Joy, which is a real cheap Chinese place we eat at every now and then, I actually ate the rest of my General Tao's Chicken for breakfast this morning.

I put some more pictures up, there's one of one of the families we're teaching, Julie and Marco and Gabby, with the member we took, Lyn Oliver. There's another with Pauletta and Cecil and one of their kids (Jade) and Lennard, of course. I don't have any pictures of Elder Layton yet so he will just have to remain a mystery! Another is a picture of the stake center, which actually has a parking garage in the basement! And another picture is of zone lunch at China Joy, and one of the district before this transfer happened, and two of the lunch I had a few days ago (cream of mushroom soup with lunchmeat with cheese on fries) it tasted pretty awful anyways but at least it filled me up! There's a picture of the tag on my pants, you can get 32x30 rather than 30x32, because 30x32 is a little too tight. I'm thinking I might get another suit off missionary mall as well, because the two coats I have are starting to get holes in the liner around the pockets.

Eeek, running out of time! And things to say! More next week!

Love,

  Elder Gerla

 

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11 April 2007

 

I will start taking more pictures if you demand it, there is one you have not put up yet it is named Charles C. He's the father of a recent convert (Maxine C) and he's really funny, he's incredibly hard to understand because he has a really thick Jamaican accent and he was hit by a car a few months ago and it messed him up pretty badly, but he's recovering slowly. The only way to understand him is to listen really really hard and pick out the key words that get through He really likes it when we read him scriptures.

 

I am emailing from ldsmail today because bluehost is not working. There was a bus driver on easter who would sing the names of the streets as we got to them. CallAAAdooniA!! NoooooorthhhcliIIFF!! He is my favorite bus driver.

Father in his letter asked about the composition of the ward. It's pretty similar to Grand Forks, the population is very transient because people in the city move a lot and there are a lot of colleges around here. The difference is that everyone is not white, and there are not many families, it's mostly older singles and younger couples. Bishop Wilson has five kids though. His two counselors, George Qurante (Koo-ran-tay), and Joe Ngai (Ngai as in Bill Nye the science guy) are not married.

We got a bunch of new investigators this week, but last week we hardly had any lessons with members so the Zone Leaders are traveling with us tomorrow, (that means that Elder Egbert is going to be here in our area and Elder Fawson is going to another one) that will be interesting.

The new investigators are cool though, it's three families, we've already committed one lady named Pauletta to baptism, her family had been meeting with the missionaries before but they moved and then we "just happened" to tract into their house while she was going through a hard time. She says that's always when the missionaries show up. Her answering machine is her singing a gospel song.

Lucy is a lady who lives in an apartment and is *very* religious. On her answering machine she just preaches a 5 minute sermon on forgiveness with gospel music in the background. It can be hard to wait though that thing to leave a message. She almost makes us look 

like agnostics! We're going to baptize her though, and then also the bible study group that she leads.

Then there's Cindy, we just finished convincing her that God has a body. Her answering machine is just somebody saying 

"Deb*chshsshshhh*orah." Nobody has a normal answering machine!

Did I ever tell you I got a job offer to work in Manhattan about 2 weeks after I got here to Toronto? I don't think I did. It was somebody who had seen my work on Pixelation and offered me a job there. That was pretty weird.

Th-th-that's all for this week, folks!

Love,

  Paul

 

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4 April 2007

 

It's rainy here.

I got that box you sent me, as well as 3 or 4 birthday cards so far, I haven't opened any of them but one's from Grandparents Gerla.

Poor Andy. Tell him to e-mail me though, I guess maybe he is too busy. Pshhh.

 

Poor my computer. What was the distance my screensaver got to? I wonder why that was overheating it. Oh well, I can get a new one when I get home anyways!

Tell David to e-mail me and show me what he's been pixeling, also ask him if he's tried Supreme Commander or Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars. If he hasn't tell him to, they should both been out now.

I've almost hit 160 lbs (158 or so). Just a few more to go! I don't think it's visible though, which is odd. I guess I just must be getting denser.

 

Those investigators sound pretty weird. The worst thing ours have done so far is take smoke breaks during church and not shown up to 

appointments, we're still working on both. Elder Fawson says I am funny but I don't know what he's talking about because I don't do any funny things!!

Today I went on splits with another green missionary (Chinese-speaking, he entered the MTC before I did, but I've been in the field a transfer longer) named Elder Mcomber, we went to go get our OHIP cards, we had to take the subway all the way to Mississauga! It was fun though, we're going to go on travels next week and I'll get to practice showing the area to someone. That will be interesting.

My new shoes are good shoes. I'm wearing them right now!

Our washer broke last p-day, we came home and we heard a really loud  hissing noise, Elder Fawson thought it was a gas leak at first, but we followed the sound and the cold water hose that goes into the washer  had sprung a leak, and it was spraying freezing water all over! I put my thumb over the hole and stood there while Elder Fawson looked for right water valve for about a half hour because the Lauders were not at home. He finally found one that worked hidden under the laundry  room sink. My hand was a little cold and sore and I was rather wet after that. Brother Lauder fixed the hose but it turns out that  turning the handle actually sprung another leak, so it'll be a bit  before we get it fixed, so we get to do our laundry at a laundromat!

I don't know what else exciting has happened lately, most of it I have probably blocked out of my memory. Tell my stupid cats that I am 

meeting a lot of new cats here in Toronto and that they better shape up or I will ship them out when I get home and bring one of the cats 

from here to there. Because they are nicer cats, but I guess probably not more beautiful than stinky-winky. So I guess she can stay, and the fat one probably couldn't be picked up.

I am out of time, later dudes.

Love,

Elder Gerla

 

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28 March 2007

 

Just bought my third pair of shoes! Now I have dress shoes and boots and walking shoes. My collection is complete. I need to get one more suit too, for meetings and interviews and stuff, because the two I  have right now have already become work suits. I'm going to

s ee if I can find a good place to buy one.

I forgot to tell you about this one guy. He's short, dreadlocked, and wears huge sound-canceling headphones and stomps around town 

*screaming* this awful hate music. It's really funny to see him, but sad at the same time.

Oh, for my birthday I have some stuff I want (I WILL BE 20)! Mostly a little book with phrases from all over the world. Not sure if they 

make something like that, but like a tourist book for someone who goes all over the world. Just so I can say bye or whatever in whatever 

language the people I'm talking to speak. Also more fruit leather is always good! Though it might not transport as well now that it's warmer.

I'm excited for general conference! We're going to put posters up for it all over our area in laundromats and grocery stores, so people will 

come and be baptized!

We were taken out to eat at the Rainforest cafe for Elder Fawson's birthday (March 23rd). That was pretty cool though it was busy busy.

We are still eating well. I will be fat when I get home. Jared is already over half of the way done!1!!1!11 When is the next guy from 

our ward heading out? There will probably be one kinda soon maybe?

I will write more again LATER. I am still writing a letter. It saves postage to write one long one every now and then eh?

Love,

Elder Gerla

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21 March 2007

 

We had an interesting dinner appointment yesterday. We went over to Lyn's (she's Filipino) house for dinner and to teach her mom, 

who is not a member. It turned out that her mom wasn't going to be there, so we had to get another person to come with us, we

called  Lennard and he said he could come. Lyn had said that her house is on 507 Glencairn, with the Marlee and Glencairn as the major

cross  streets. We went there and 507 Glencairn was nowhere near Marlee, so we figured she meant she was on 507 Marlee. We were

right, but we had told Lennard that it was on 507 Glencairn without mentioning the major cross streets. It took a while to get that

solved. In the meantime, so we could step in from the doorway, Lyn invited a friend from work--a Kurdish truck driver in his 40s

who only speaks a little English. Then Lennard and his 1.25 year old son Jamie arrived, and we started eating dinner. Then Lyn's

very quiet sister got there, and after we finished eating her mom showed up. Her mom is the most born again Christian I have ever

met. She was trying to convert the Kurdish guy and us at the same time, which is tricky because he's Muslim and we're missionaries. 

 

So to recap, we have:

Lyn (21 - Filipino - Mormon),

her sister (27 - Filipino - Not religious),

her mom (40s - Filipino - born again),

Elder Fawson (20 - Half-Filipino - missionary),

Me (19 - White - missionary),

Mehtat (40s - Kurdish - Muslim),

Lennard (21 - From Grenada (Grenadian?) - Mormon),

Jamie (1.25 - Half-Lennard, one quarter Spanish, one quarter Irish - Sleepy)

We did a spiritual thought on faith, and Lyn's mom decided that we better start with a prayer and that she'd better offer it. The thought 

didn't go too bad, except Lyn's mom kept cutting in, Mehtat didn't understand a word of it, and Jamie was playing with a toy cell-phone.

 

Oh, I had a request also, I would much appreciate if you could look here and ask there for ideas for effective things that missionaries 

can do that are not dropping by people's homes or tracting or contacting on the street, because we are always looking for things 

like that to "add balance to our day."

The weather is confused, I want it to warm up, but it's still windy and cold. My birthday is coming soon! I will be older then. I will 

probably need a bit more cash on my check card because I need one more pair of shoes (a good pair of slip-ons for the summer). I have just enough for a good pair, but it's hard to convert Canadian money to real money in your head, so I like to have extra so I know it'll go 

through. And also my check card and my credit card both don't work in any of the ATMs here, not sure why, they seem to work in other places (stores or resturants)...

Tell that dumb cat of mine that she is a good cat and that she should eat that plant before she knocks it off and then you won't put it back 

up anyways. How are she and the fat fat fat fattity fat fat fatty fat fat fat fattie fat fattie fat cat getting along now, anyway?

We get "bombed" a lot in the city, that's when people don't show up to their appointments. Probably about 60-70% of the time they aren't 

there, worse if it's a new investigator. Elder Fawson says this is the worst place for that he's been in. Zone conference is tomorrow, I need 

to get some new name tags because I lost one of mine, good thing they're cheap. I'm hungry, and we need to go shopping still. I buy 

lots of bagels and I eat them a lot too. Oranges are still expensive up here, I eat oranges that taste bad too, because they cost so much. 

I am running out of things to write as well as time to write them. Only 10 minutes left now.

There are a lot of stray cats around here. Lots of people walk their dogs. Dogs are so dumb you have to walk them around places, or they 

don't figure it out. Cats are way smarter.

Gotta go!

Love,

Elder Gerla.

 

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14 March 2007

 

I don't get transferred, I stay here with Elder Fawson until April 28th, then I'll probably stay here at least one more transfer to show 

the area to the next elder who comes in.

Only got one good story this week, it was near the end of the day, and we didn't have anything planned, so we went down to St. Clair to do some street contacting. Well, I found a pretty talkative guy, and we were discussing doctrines and stuff, when all of a sudden this short 

little guy with only a few teeth staggers over and punches him in the arm and says "wassssap buddy?!" I thought he must've been a friend of his, though I did wonder why he walked off so fast afterwards. So I said bye and walked over to Elder Fawson, but the short guy followed me, and started talking to me. It turns out that he had come up to Elder Fawson, punched him in the arm and said "wassssap buddy?" and Elder Fawson  told him to "go over there and talk to my friend"--pointing at me, hoping he'd come over and hit me, but he 

apparently though Elder Fawson was pointing at the other guy. So I didn't get hit.

Then we both talked to him for about 30 seconds and Elder Fawson asked him if he needed us to call him a ride home or something,

and he said "Naw man, you'd just call the cops!" and started trotting away. We walked in the other direction and after we got about 20 meters or so he turned around and yelled "GOODBYE UNDERCOVERS! GOODBYE!!"

There was another guy who called himself Brother Pedro, and we were talking on the way to church, and he was asking all sorts of questions about the church, and why women can't hold the priesthood and why the prophet's a man and stuff like that. I guess I

answered pretty well because when we got to the church he said "Well, you seem to know an awful lot about your church for a

19 year old."

I've noticed it's important to often mention that we aren't paid for the work we do, it gets people's attention really well. I also still 

don't like contacting on the buses much, mostly on the half-full buses where nobody else is talking, so it's dead quiet and there are 20 

people all around you who'll all look at you as soon as you say something. I'll get used to it though. Contacting outside is no 

problem at all, it's really easy.

It's been warm enough these past two days so that we don't have to wear coats, just our suit jackets, and that's nice. The snow is 

melting and it's all wet outside. We were going to go to Chinatown today but there was a guy who was supposed to come at 8:00 and do some electrical work for is in our apartment he never showed up so we were in the apartment till 12:00 waiting, then we just gave up.

Natale is still progressing, but slowly. He says he's sure he'll get baptized sooner or later, but that it'll take a while to stop drinking 

coffee. (The smoking and the beer are apparently going to be no problem.) Tell David to e-mail me and tell me about all the cool games 

that are coming out. I saw some lady on the bus reading a gaming magazine of some sort, and it made me miss playing games. Tell Andy to write me back too, and whoever else would write me, so I don't have days when nobody writes at all. > Sluggity-buggity-turtlely-mail 

letters take way too long to get here. But maybe I will feel like writing one today.

Oh, also do you have a cool sticker chart for me like you did for Andy? If not then > I will not be coming home. We have another Zone 

Conference next week already, there is one every transfer, that's my 2nd! Time goes by very fast on a mission, it's weird to think that 

your time is still going by at normal speed.

We went out to lunch as a zone yesterday too, it's a tradition at the end of each transfer. It's funny to see a group of 15-20 missionaries 

walking down the street and the looks people gave us. And it was funny when we were all in the restaurant and the people would peer in the window and come in and ask if the place was closed, and we would say "Hello!" because missionaries are very friendly and polite.

I had a sandwich. It had tomatoes and hot sauce on it so I ate it all anyway because I am way too cool to pick off those tomatoes.

We need to go shopping  soon. But anyways I am out of time so I will sign off.

Love,

Elder Gerla 

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7 March 2007

 

Brother Muirhead and Brother Case were our district's MTC teachers. (Some of the pictures on Paul's pages.)

 

I had to give a 2-3 minute "missionary moment" in sacrament meeting two weeks ago, I learned this about 5 minutes before the 

meeting began. :P I also had to teach one Gospel Essentials class so far, with more probably on the way.

N. D. is making good progress towards baptism, he says he'll be able to quit smoking and drinking pretty easily but it's going to be

hard to give up his coffee. He is reading the Book of Mormon regularly though, we gave him a nice little calender with a passage to 

read each day or so.

Last Sunday a lady named Gabriela came up to me before sacrament meeting started and asked me "how do I become a member

of this church?" Sometimes it's easy.

I'm getting a little bit better at getting phone numbers from people on the streets too. It's not so obvious I'm surprised that they're 

giving them to me anymore.

The buses are fun, sometimes they rattle so much it seems like they're going to fall apart, sometimes the bus drivers don't like missionaries and tell them that if they bother anyone they'll be kicked off the bus, and some bus drivers say "how are you brethren

doing today?" and they aren't even members.

My companion is almost dead. (Janet's note - that means he is about to go home because his two years is over...)  This transfer  

ends in less than a week and he only has one left after that, so if I stay I get to inherit a bunch of stuff. I can't believe I've already

been out for 2 months, time has been going by pretty fast here. 

I got some stamps from some lady in BC, so maybe I will write a letter someday, and if I ever do I will send a Chinese bulletin

from our ward as well. Once it warms up a bit I'll go down to Chinatown and take some pictures for Mary.

I'll find out on Monday if I'll be staying here this transfer or going somewhere else, Elder Fawson says he thinks it's about a 50/50

chance of me going or staying.

I got the sweater and the ties, and some letters, one from that lady in BC, one from Dad, and one from you with the Socrates

story at the end.

Well, I'd better go, I've done gone run out of time. Until next week!

Love,

-E. Gerla

 

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2 March 2007

I didn’t know until late that our P-Day was going to be all mixed up. The temple was good though, except it took us about 45

minutes to get there, and 6 hours to get back, because of traffic and weather, so I couldn’t write yesterday either.

I’ll try to remember most of the stuff I had written in the last letter now.

First there was some about Leonard, he’s one of our members, and he converted about 4 months ago. Before he was baptized

he was asking the missionaries if he could go out teaching with them. He has a little kid from a past relationship named Jamie,

and he used to be a rapper, but after he learned about the church (he met the missionaries on the street) he deleted all of his

recording software and stuff, and now he only listens to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He’s amazing, the only reason he’s not

out teaching with the missionaries all the time is he has to take care of Jamie and go to work and school. Other than that every

minute of free time is pretty much out with some companionship teaching.

The weather is crazy here; one day it’ll be pretty warm, and the next it’ll be freezing cold. There’s a lot of snow and slush and

ice on the  ground too. Luckily for me I bought some really nice dress boots at an Ecco store in the Yorkdale mall. Yesterday

(1st) it rained and snowed and ice pelleted a lot, it was a huge mess, and the phone lines went down for a little while.

On the last day of February I went on Travels with Elder Firth, he’s a Chinese missionary, and on that day they only had one appointment, with a Chinese guy for lunch. Good thing I knew how to use chopsticks still. (Thanks Bro. Leeser!) Before that

we waited at a busy intersection in Chinatown and just talked to people, he talked to Chinese people and I talked to everybody

else. After lunch we went and dropped by less-actives and converts, and talked to people on the way. Chinese people sometimes

get very excited and very loud when they find out the missionaries (well, one of them) can speak Cantonese or Mandarin. Then

we had dinner. Then we tracted for 3 hours, tracting for Chinese missionaries is different because they only go to specific houses,

I talked if it turned out to be English speakers. There was one house we went to that was all fenced in, and on the gate there was 

a big sign saying BEWARE OF DOG, Elder Firth looked in and said “I don’t see any dogs,” and reached for the gate handle. As he

was doing that the porch suddenly exploded and this HUGE black dog jumped out of the shadows barking and growling. I would

guess it was a little bigger than an elephant and it was covered in thickly matted black fur. It looked exactly like a meaner version

of the Hound of the Baskervilles so we got us out. Later on we went to bed.

That was a pretty interesting day, anyway. I have some more to write but I’m out of time.

-Elder Gerla

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21 Feb 2007  (A not so good day at the Internet Cafe!)

 

I really hate MyLDSMail (the webmailer missionaries use.) I just spent 30 minutes writing you a long letter and it logged me

out and lost it all. I don't have enough time to write everything again and that makes me very unhappy, but the snow is melting

because it's been warm the past days. There are some very bitter people in Toronto and some very weird people. My hair was

cut today. I could use a sweater and some ties if you could send them. I am trying to figure out the best way to send pictures.

We have two people with baptismal dates right now, and the baptism we had on Sunday went very well but I don't have any

pictures from it because I forgot my camera but I'll get Elder Fawson to send some to me and I'll send them to you. This stupid

thing will probably kill this letter too. I haven't gotten any letters yet. I like tracting. I better go shopping now or we'll probably

both die of no food, I'll write more next week when I have more time.

-E. Gerla

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