Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/22/15 Baptism in Yellowknife

This week was incredible!  One of the best weeks on my mission so far!

Tuesday was preparation day, as you know. We did our emailing, went shopping, and then we went to the 'Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre'. There was some awesome stuff there. I learned there that I really want to try some muktuk. Go look it up, I don't want to spoil the surprise. It was a super fun day. After all that we had supper with the Iverson's. It was a super delicious meal.

Wednesday we had district meeting in the morning. It was a lot of fun. Then we went out to Dettah to finish tracting out the little town. We've got a couple more blocks to do another day and we'll have the whole thing finished. Then we went to supper at the Johnston's. We had chicken pot pie, which is super good. Then we went to the church and I interviewed the Hunt's investigator, Jessica, for baptism. She's so ready. And she's super excited. I'm excited for her!  It's going to be a fun time.

Thursday was really good. We went and picked up the food kits from Steve and dropped them off at the schools. Then we had lunch and after lunch we had a lesson with the Selfs. And Sister Self agreed to be baptized!  We set a date for November 14. I can't wait. I'm super excited. After all that we had supper with the Bellis'. It was awesome. I love being here.  That night we went out with Stephan to the houseboat to see the northern lights. Last time I went to the boat with Elder Anderson, they were awesome. But that night was absolutely incredible. The words I use to describe them will not do it justice. It's something you have to come experience. The pictures I sent will not do it justice. It was a swirling, waving, shimmering mass of red, green, pink, and a little blue. Right above us. It was amazing. It was basically a tornado of color right above our heads. And it was the most incredible thing ever. I love Yellowknife.

Friday was a decent day. We went and played balloon badminton, and one of the residents at Avens, had it out for Elder Holden and I. He kept hitting the balloons as hard as he could at us. It was a ton of fun. After that we ate lunch and then we weekly planned.that was fun..... Then we went and got a haircut from Steve Payne. He is an awesome guy. He puts together the food kits that we deliver, so he give us our haircuts for free. After that we had supper with the Hunts. It was good. It was a pretty slow day today, but we tried our best. We just did what we could.... It was an ok day.

 Saturday was excellent. We had a ton of fun. The best part of the day was the baptism of Jessica Gravel. It is always fun to see when people take the step necessary for salvation. It was super cool. In the evening we stopped by to see Melanie and Leo, a part member couple. It was the first time I met Leo, and he's a super cool guy. He said that he's willing to take the lessons!  So that's fun. We also got to see Everett again!  He is an awesome guy. We taught a lesson, and he said he was going to come to church. It was an all around amazing day.

Sunday was excellent. In the morning we went to PEC.  Church was good as usual. In the evening was the good stuff.  We met with Randy and Cynthia, a part member family.  It was really good. I can't wait to continue meeting with them. Then we went and visited Kelsey and Neil. That was fun. We had supper with the Hunts, Stephan, and Allyce. It was awesome. I love everybody here. It's kind of the best thing ever.

Monday was pretty good. We were able to help the Selfs out cleaning their trailer, so that was good. We had supper with the Hunts and the Gravels, and had family home evening. It was a lot of fun. After supper we went and visited the Skinners again. They're doing good, and we were able to teach the first lesson, so it was really good.

This week was just awesome. Whenever I see the beauty of nature, I just wonder how people can think that there isn't a God or that God doesn't love and speak to his children anymore. It baffles my mind. I know, without a doubt, 100%, there is a God and he loves us and wants what is best for us. We are literally his children. No question. He has given us the gospel so that we can return and live with him. He has given us EVERYTHING we have. All God wants for us is to be happy!


Just look up Moses 1:39. That is his work and glory. He has given us every road to success. We just have to follow the path. I know that God lives.  I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer. We can, through the power of the atonement, be made clean and whole so that we can live in the celestial kingdom with our Heavenly Father. I know it. And I hope you know it. Have a wonderful week! Much loves from Yellowknife!

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/15/15 Fun Stuff

This week was a really interesting week...  But fun none the less!
   
So on Tuesday last week we were in the midst of emailing home and all that fun stuff, when we got a call from President Manion.  He said that Elder Golden, from the first quorum of the seventy, wanted to meet with us to discuss some stuff about missionary work. It was awesome. Elder Golden gave us a 2 hour training. It was so cool. It made me realize that this is truly the Lord's work. We don't have to convert anyone, we are just the mouthpiece. The rest of p day was good, but that was awesome. We had supper with the Purcell's which is always fun. After we saw their neighbor doing some work outside, so we went and talked to him. He said to drop by tomorrow, and we could help him haul wood!  It was awesome.
   
Wednesday was pretty fun. We had district meeting, which is always fun.  Afterwards elder Holden and I drove out to see the Selfs. We had an excellent lesson with them, and then drove back. It was sure fun. I still haven't seen any bison, but I'm sure I will before I leave. Then we went back to the Purcell's neighbors place and we helped him haul and stack wood. It was pretty cool.
   
Thursday we skyped into mission conference. It started at 7 AM! And we didn't get finished with everything until 1:30 PM. So it was really long, but we got some great council from Elder Golden and President Manion. After the meeting we went and started visiting all the members we could on the branch list.  President Manion told us to do that to get more people out to church. So we started. We met several people who were active 20+ years ago, but were offended by someone and haven't been back since. It's really sad. Then we met with Lenny Brotherston, a Less active guy.  He's super cool, but his wife isn't too keen on the church. She'll come around though.
   
Friday was plain awesome. We played balloon badminton. I love that game. One of the residents called us his angels. It was really sweet. Then we went and helped out Lenny with some work around his house. We were able to talk a little bit about coming to church. It was really good. After supper we stopped by some part member families. It was good, but nobody let us in, but they did tell us to come back next week. So that was good. As we were moving down the list, we went to see somebody (turns out he moved) and we knocked on the door. A lady answered and the first words out of her mouth were "hey! Do you guys want a cupcake?". It was pretty awesome. So we went in and me the Jones family. They're awesome and we are definitely going to stop by again and start teaching them. It was great.
   
Saturday we had brunch with the Sutherland's and brother Taylor at the Red Apple. It was pretty awesome. I loved it. Then we went to help the Selfs move some stuff in their trailer and their garage.  It was good, and we were able to commit them to come to church the next day. After helping them, we went and changed, and went to Amelia's baptism. She's a girl in the branch who just turned 8. It was pretty awesome. After the baptism we went to teach Rob and Tammy, a couple who've shown interest in the past, and we picked up 2 new investigators! It's going to be fun teaching them the gospel. After the lesson we had supper, and then we started on the list again. We met a guy named Clarence Hudson that said to stop by whenever we want to get him back to church. I can't wait to start to bring him back. We just have to help him feel the spirit.
   
Sunday was awesome. We went to church, did all that fun stuff, and then we were going to visit more members. There was one guy on the list that was really interesting. So we stopped by his house, knocked on the door, and heard some dogs going nuts inside. So we're standing there, and then the side door on the house opens and we hear the dogs come out. There was a fence there, but these dogs had a look of blood
in their eyes. It was kinda frightening. So yeah. Some guy set his dogs on us.  That's a first for me. After that, we found another less active part member family that is going to let us teach them!  I love being a missionary for that exact reason. Because people are great.
   
Monday was pretty fun. We drove out to Rae, a native community about an hour outside Yellowknife, to visit somebody but they weren't home. So we just did some work there for a little and then drove home. Then we had supper with the Coopers, and then we did some more stop-bys. It was a pretty good day.
   
This week I relearned a lesson that I have learned multiple times now. I'll probably have to keep relearning for the rest of my life. Never giving up is a huge part of missionary work. We cannot Give up on these people. We know what will help them, but they don't know it. So we can't give up after one rejection. Even after a thousand rejections, we have to get up and get going. I've noticed this past week that everybody we stopped to see didn't want to talk to us or to have anything to do with us, except for the last house we would stop by that night. We found people to teach almost every day this week, because we didn't give up and we didn't let them get us down. Keep your head up and a smile on your face as you push through trials. It
will make it 1000x easier to overcome them. I know it and you know it.

Have a wonderful week everybody!
Hugs and Handshakes
Elder Rusty Lofthouse

Don't let anybody tell you "you cannot achieve your dreams"
-Falling In Reverse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/8/15 It has Begun

This week was really good, but the whole week I didn't feel 100%. I couldn't figure out why..... Then it hit me. College football started this week. :-/ First college football season I have missed in a long time.  Oh well. GO COUGARS!
   So on Tuesday we did our shopping and all our prep for the week.  Fun stuff like that. We had lunch with Brother Sutherland again. He's an awesome guy. It was a really good day.
    Wednesday we had district meeting. It was the first training I have ever give on my mission. It was really short, but I got everything I wanted to talk about done in a short amount of time. But studying for that training was awesome. So after district meeting we drove out and saw the Selfs. They're doing good, and we put them on date for October 10!  I'm super excited for them. Them we drove back and met with Stephan at wing night. That was really good.
    Thursday was fun. We went in the morning to drop off the Hunts at the airport. They went down for Stake Conference. But it turns out they're flight was for the day BEFORE we dropped them off. So that was fun. They made some calls and got a flight for later that night. Elder Holden and I went to Dettah, a small native community, to do some work. It's about a 30 minute drive in the summer to get there, but in the winter you literally drive five minutes across the lake. The ice-road is a great thing. Haha. I hope I get to do the ice roads.....  So later that night we dropped off the Hunts at the airport. Then we went street contacting. We met a couple of aboriginal people. They were all super drunk, but when they saw us they were like "hey guys!  It's good to see you again!"  Almost all of them had either a pass along card or a pamphlet or something that missionaries in the past had given them. It was interesting.
    Friday we went and played balloon badminton again. I love going to the senior center. The residents that we play the game with are some of the coolest people I have ever met. I love it. Then we went to lunch with Brother Taylor. That was fun. We went to a small burger place that closed this weekend, so we got it the last day it was open. So that was fun. Then we went and did our weekly planning. It was pretty good. After that we went to the SPCA to see if they needed any volunteers. It was pretty awesome. They said they would love to have our help. After that we had supper and we stopped by a lot of people to see if they were home. Not a lot were, it being the long weekend. Everybody was going camping and what not. It was still a really good day.
    Saturday was sure interesting. We were going to help somebody build a deck, but they weren't there when we went over to help. Then he told us he wasn't going to build it that day. We were kind of disappointed. But we got our stuff back together to do some good work. We went around stopping by and we set up a couple appointments for next week!  So that was good. Then we met a couple on the street. Russell and Lisa. Turns out Russell is a less active member, and Lisa is not a member, but they both want to come to church and learn more about the gospel!   So that's awesome. That's what happens when the Lord guides us. I love this work. We went and listened to the adult session of conference, then we went and visited Stephan again. It was a really good day.
     Sunday was fun. We went and set up the stuff for the broadcast later that day. Then we went out to the streets to invite people to come to church. It was interesting. We met a guy named Ron. He was super drunk, but we talked to him and he said he wanted to change his life. That was a cool experience. Then we went to watch stake conference. We got to listen to the words of  Elder Golden of the seventy. That was awesome. After church we went and did some finding. We did a lot of finding this week. We've set up a lot of appointments for this next week. I can't wait! After supper we went out to the streets again, and we saw Ron again!  We got his phone number and we set an appointment to meet the next day at the church.
    Monday was incredible. We went and picked up the Hunts from the airport. It was good to have them back home. :) After that we went and got some milk so Elder Holden could make some no bake cookies for the potluck. They were really good. After that, President and Sister Manion, Elder and Sister Golden, and President Garside came in. They all came up to visit Yellowknife. It was a ton of fun. We had lunch together, and then President came with Elder Holden and I while we went and met with some people. We went to see Jessica, a lady the Hunts have been teaching.  She is going to get baptized on September 19. I'm super excited. Then we took him to see the Hartfords. They are great people, but are a little bit less than welcoming towards the church right now. So it was kind of sad. Then we took him to see Steve Payne, our barber.  He loved him. It was a really fun time. Then we went and had interviews and supper. After supper we got to have a fireside with Elder Golden. It was awesome. I learned so much. Monday was the coolest day ever.
     This week was full of good stuff. But the thing that has stuck with me the most is something that Elder Golden said at the Saturday session. He said to increase our faith, we need to increase our personal righteousness. It makes total sense. The only way for us to come closer to God is to obey his commandments. Another thing he said is that the reason we do the simple things, the reading scriptures, praying, and going to church, is to increase the influence of the Holy Ghost and allow it to change us so that we become new people. If we do those things faithfully and strive to keep the commandments,  we will have no more disposition to do evil. How incredible does that sound? I challenge you all to read your scriptures and pray every day. It's not hard.  Even if it's only a verse and the shortest prayer ever, it doesn't matter. As you do it, the spirit's influence will grow in our lives. I promise.
Have a great week!
Hugs and Handshakes
Elder Rusty Lofthouse

A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it’s the only weapon we have.
-Roger Rabbit

Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/1/15 A good time to be had by all

This week was amazing!  I loved it. Wednesday was p day because of our road trip. My new companion is Elder Holden. He's from St. Johns Arizona, and he's been put 6 months. He's awesome. We emailed and shopped and all that fun stuff. Thursday was a good day. We started to go through the list of potential investigators and stopped by s couple of them to see if they were still interested. We saw one guy and he said he was going to come to church on September 6 because he had to work this week. So that was cool. That was a pretty sweet day. Friday was super fun. We helped Stephan paint a deck. Apparently we are deck painting specialists now. That was super fun. After we painted we did our weekly planning. During said planning session, we decided that it was time for both of us to start eating healthy again. So we made a plan to start on Monday to eat right and to workout hard. It'll be great!
Saturday we went to a free pancake breakfast in the morning. It was really good and we got to talk to some pretty cool people. It was really fun. When we got back to our apartment, there was somebody moving out, so we went and saw if they needed our help. They graciously agreed, and so we helped somebody move from the penthouse in Fraser Tower. The view from that room is amazing. It was really cool. Then we went to Niel and Kelsey's and helped them split and stack wood. More manual labor. It's great. Then we went and finished the deck with Stephan. So that was even more awesome!  Later that night we visited Everett. He is doing fantastic as usual. It was a great day to be here in Yellowknife. I love it.
Sunday was another good day. We went to church, and then after church we went and tried by some more potential investigators. Nobody was there, but we got to talk to a really cool lady who has a catering business. It was pretty sweet. Then we were on our way to stop by another guy's house, when we saw a giant Uhaul in front of a house. So we stopped and asked if they needed help. They said they didn't, because they had just finished. But they were very surprised that we stopped. So we told them what we were all about, and they said they weren't interested at the moment, but they would give us a call if they needed some help with something. So that was fun. Later that night we went to the Milnes for a visit. They're awesome people. This whole town is just amazing.
Monday was super fun.  We painted some more. We've painted a lot the past few days. But painting is good. So we did that and then we went and did Facebook stuff. We were going teach some people today, but nobody was home. Well just keep on trying. So then we went to a birthday party for Sister Hunt, a girl in the ward, and another member. It was pretty fun. Then we went to bed!  Great day!
This week I was studying from chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. That chapter is the Christ like attributes. As I was studying I realized how much I need to improve. I realized how much the work of salvation hinges on our ability to teach with the spirit, and the best way to have the Holy Ghost with us all the time is to strive to be more Christ like. The more we can emulate the Savior the more we'll feel a concern for the welfare of people. The more we want to help people, the more effort we'll put forward into helping them!  It's an amazing cycle. I hope that everybody strives to become more like Christ a little everyday. If we all did that, the world would be an amazing place. I challenge all of you to pick an attribute and to pray for
strength and opportunities to work on it. I promise it will make a difference in your life.
    I hope you all have the best week ever! I love you all. Now go do something amazing!
Hugs and Handshakes
Elder Rusty Lofthouse

You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.
-Inception