email | July 29, 2013

Wow, immediately after going home last week I remembered about a billion things to tell everyone.  So I started this thing where I write everything I want to say in my planner, so let me go through that real quick.

Okay, so first off, I wanted to tell a little more about my area and the landscape and stuff.  The 12th ward is basically like a single neighborhood and not much else.  But the town of West Lethbridge is kinda hilly but mostly flat.  Park Lake Ward is HUGE and is mainly flat farm land.  East and West Lethbridge is separated by what is called a Cooley or giant valley, almost a canyon.  It's so much fun driving down into it and back up on the east side which is where all the good stuff is.  I've been told several times, West Lethbridge is boring and has nothing to do.  And the food is very expensive, so we go to the east side to the low price stores.  Which reminds me, cheese is flipping expensive here!!!  I don't know why, but like a half pound of cheddar is NINE BUCKS!!!!  So much for scrambled eggs and cheese :(

Next is the weather.  It's been "hot" here, which is about 30 degrees Celsius.  Which reminds me, the different system of measurement is very hard to get used to.  30 C is about 90 F.  Also, there has been tons of rain.  Like flash floods on the east side and tornado warnings. A micro-burst went through the parking lot of the store we go to and all the cart stalls were destroyed.  This week we are supposed to get a lot more rain and it's going to get kinda cold.  Right now it's like 12 degrees Celsius or 60F. Speaking of rain, the flood relief was going really well, but they've told everyone that they don't need any more help, so I didn't get a chance to help.

This will make everyone kinda sad, our wards don't have strong youth programs.  The 12th ward, for whatever reason, doesn't have any young men show up.  Park Lake ward has 5 boys total.  In fact, Park Lake has 300 members on record and 170 of them are completely inactive.  Plus many more that are semi active.  It just goes to show that we have our work cut out for us.

Like I said before, missionary work is very different from what Dad told me about his mission.  Our focus is on reactivation and teaching current investigators.  Also, like I said before, most people are out of town or won't meet with us.  We've gotten two referrals (both of which said not interested) and we've been trying to set up an appointment with our single investigator and that's proving to be near impossible, but we keep trying.  This past week we had a goal to teach 6 lessons to less actives. We were well on our way to accomplishing this goal and surpassing it, until in a single day, 3 of our 4 appointments cancelled.  It was very aggravating but we are not getting discouraged.  

I went on exchanges on Friday.  I was with Elder Baker and we went around to a lot of the people he teaches.  I learned so much from him and brought some good ideas back to Elder Henderson.  One of our main goals that day was to teach a man named Scott.  He is very logical and wants evidence and not faith.  Since that is very much the way I am, I felt that I could get through to him by sharing my personal experiences.  So we spent 45 minutes role playing what we were going to do.  At the time of the appointment, he wasn't home.  At the end of the day, he texted back and told us that he was feeling sick.  Needless to say I was disappointed that I didn't get a chance to help him.  But then I thought, maybe it wasn't my job to teach him.  Maybe it was Elder Baker and Elder Wilson's job to teach him, and they just needed my insight.  After all, after the role play, Elder Baker said he liked a lot of what I said and was excited to use it.  It actually makes more sense because a stranger teaching can be awkward, but if the two familiar missionaries come in and use what I taught them, they can be more effective.  

On Friday we found out last minute that we needed to give 15 minute talks in church on Sunday.  We spent most of the day Sunday writing those talks.  I thought they went really well.

We've also set two goals to use the Book of Mormon more.  First, when we walk around we will always carry a copy to give a way or use to strike up conversations. Second, when we teach members, we are going to leave them with a challenge to write their testimonies in a Book of Mormon then prayerfully decide on someone to give it to.  I think this is a good way to get missionary work moving amongst the members.  I'd like to issue all of you the same challenge.  Just write your testimonies in the front, mark up some favorite scriptures and give it as a gift.  Oh, and put the missionaries phone number in the front of it, just in case.

Well, I wish this week was more exciting, but it's not so I'm almost done.  

That's so exciting for Larissa and Esmeralda!!!  I bet they are super excited.  If you email them let them know that they are in my prayers.  

That is so much fun that you got to go blow stuff up.  Although, this is the second time you've done it and both times I've been gone.  When I get back I want to participate, so you guys should start planning it so it can be huge :)

Tell Eli congratulations on finishing his Eagle.  That is awesome considering how little time he had.  Jared must be proud, I know I am.  Also, tell Jared congrats about getting ordained and Elder.  It's so cool to see friends getting ready for their missions.  Which brings up Dylan.  I'm sooo excited for him and the choice he's made.  I look forward to the day I get to read where he's going.

[Editor's note: Larissa, Esmeralda, Eli, Jared and Dylan are all from our Tomball ward. Larissa and Esmeralda left the MTC last Wednesday.  Eli is Dallin's age and just completed his Eagle project. Jared, Eli's older brother, will be entering the MTC in September and will serve in the Frankfurt Germany mission. Dylan is working on completing his mission papers.]
   
I'm sorry if anyone has sent a letter or something, but I still haven't had a chance to get mail.  So if you have sent something but I haven't replied, I apologize. 

Interesting fact.  People here pronounce Calgary different than we do.  Here it's pronounced like Cal-Gary (like the name).  It's kinda separate and weird but I guess they know how to properly pronounce it, since they live here and all.  

I love you all so much and just want you to know that I love serving the Lord.  Great blessings come when we dedicate at least part of our lives to him.  Remember the story of Alma the Younger when he gave up the judgement seat to serve a mission.  That is the same kind of dedication we should have.  Now don't go quit your jobs or anything, but be willing to sacrifice that basketball game, or that movie/TV show.  If you do, I promise you will see blessings in your personal, spiritual and social lives.

Oh, and I just learned that the Brethren have Facebook pages that are official.  So go "Like" them.

Okay, I love you all,

Elder Wake

A couple of pictures from the MTC

In Braden's email in this week, he sent us a couple of pictures from his time in the MTC. He wanted to send more but the internet was being slow and wouldn't send the pictures like he wanted. Hopefully we'll get more from him soon!

the elders in his district in front of a statue at the MTC

his district in front of the Provo Temple

Letter from Braden's Mission President

Braden's mission president sent our parents a letter via snail mail after Braden arrived in Cananda. They also included a picture of him with the mission president and his wife.

President Nicholas, Elder, Wake, Sister Nicholas

For Your Information: a map of Braden's first area

Now that we've finally heard from Braden and know what area of his mission he is currently serving, my husband helped me make a map. (My husband has amazing "Paint" skills!) We used the Church website (www.lds.org) to look up the Canada Calgary mission boundaries as well as the ward boundaries for the two wards Braden said he is serving in (the Lethbridge 12th and Park Lake wards). I don't know what the actual boundaries are for the mission zones and areas, but this will help us get a rough idea of where he is. We are planning on making similar maps for each time he changes areas.

(click on the picture to make it bigger)

The Canada Calgary Mission boundaries are outlined in blue in the picture on the left. Braden's wards' boundaries are outlined in blue in the right picture. The Lethbridge 12th ward is very small geographically so it is somewhat hard to see. The green and orange outlined areas are other stake and ward boundaries.

Finally- an email from Canada!

So, first off, I apologize for not emailing you sooner.  We missed our last P-Day due to the fact that we were traveling from  I wrote a lot of letters to a bunch of people but I didn't have any Canadian stamps, so I'll be mailing those off today.  Just for your information, all mail needs to be sent to the mission office address that you already have.  Make sure that you put "Elder Braden Wake" on it so they know who to give it to.  Mail is supposedly very slow here and my area doesn't help that (I'll explain later), so please be patient, it could be a long time before I get and respond to any letters.  Also, in case any of you were thinking of sending me packages, *hint, hint*, please PLEASE use only USPS, NOT UPS or FedEx.  Duty charges on simple things can be as high as $20 and USPS is the most reliable at making sure that cost is included in what you pay.  If it isn't paid by you it is taken out automatically from my monthly food allotment and I would really like to eat ;)

Well, that's all for this week, talk to y'all next time!!!


HA, fooled ya!!!  Okay, so I flew in on Tuesday as you know and landed around 2:30.  From the air, Calgary was beautiful.  I fell in love with it instantly.  The airport was basically abandoned from what I could see, but still nice.  Customs was interesting.  The lady was not really rude, but not nice either. Oh, and anyone that went to her desk was given a 24 month visa, not the 26 month we are supposed to get....   Soooo, I have to be out of the country by July 15, 2005 in case that changes any sort of summer vacation plans you may be planning.  President Nicholas said that it was okay that I got the 24 month, but not ideal.

On the topic of President Nicholas, he is awesome!!  He has a fantastic southern accent and is kinda gruff looking at first but is actually really nice.  Three Elders from my MTC district, one other random Elder and myself got to ride in his car on the way to the church.  We talked a lot, and then all of us in the back seat zonked out. Sister Nicholas woke us up at the chapel where we met the "staff" of the mission.  There were forms to fill out and things taught.  Then we went into the chapel, where President had all us "greenies" give our testimonies.  It was nice and the spirit could be felt.  After that we had a cool little thing where we turned in a guess of where we think that our first area is going to be, then we opened an envelope that had where we were actually going and who our trainer is.  Before I continue, I should let you know that there is a weird but kinda cool tradition here and it goes like this:  When you first arrive you are "born".  Your trainer is your "dad" and you are his "son".  So when they read the names of the trainers, if that "dad" was in the room, he would stand up and yell something along the lines of "I have a son!!".  And then people would talk about your grandfathers and great-grandfathers and so on.  When you leave the mission, you die.  So someone told me that my great-great-grandfather was awesome, but he died some time ago.  Okay, so to continue.  My guess was the Cranbrook Stake, which is in British Columbia.  Where I actually got sent was (drum roll please) Lethbridge West Zone!!

Lethbridge is a town way down south of the mission.  In fact, one of the Lethbridge areas goes into Montana a little.  My companion is Elder Henderson, but he wasn't at that meeting because he was still in Lethbridge   After a good nights rest we awoke and had more meetings until 10:00, at which time all of us going south loaded up into vans and departed.  My MTC companion is actually in my zone, another Elder in my MTC district is in the Lethbridge Zone and another is in the Lethbridge East Zone.  So that's cool.

So Elder Henderson, what can I say.  He is from Kent, England and has a pretty sweet English accent.  He is also an excellent teacher and has helped me learn and grow as an actual missionary in the field.  He knows the area pretty well considering he's been here for 7 of the 10 months he's been out.  However, it can be a struggle. At the MTC, we had the whole district to talk to and learn with, here it is just him.  I don't really like one on one situations anyway, and we don't have very similar personalities. I'm learning to be patient and tolerant.

Our area is HUGE!!!  We have two wards, 12th ward and Park Lake Ward.  So that's twice as many members, twice as many leaders and, since they are in different stakes, twice as many stake leaders!!  But it's cool.  Park Lake is very spread out, like it takes 20 minutes to get to the second closest town.  We don't have near enough kilometers to do enough work out there which is sad, but we do what we can.  12th ward is the opposite. It is probably about a mile or less in diameter and has a lot of members.  As such, our primary job is no longer to seek out new investigators, but to reactivate less actives and teach new member discussions.  And there are a lot of less actives in both wards.  Park Lake is a majority of less actives.  Here's something interesting, tracting is a no go now.  That's right, the days of going door to door to share the gospel are over, in at least our area.  In fact, finding in this area isn't a priority either any more.  Not that it would matter, almost everyone is on holidays or doesn't want to talk to us.  We've gone to the two referrals we've gotten and both said they didn't want to meet.  Then a lot of less actives have canceled their appointments with us or won't answer the door to set up an appointment.  We do have one ray of sunshine in the area, a family of less actives/recent converts.  Last night we taught them and the wife, Brooke, had an amazing experience.  She started crying when we taught her about the enabling power of the Atonement and how we are never truly alone in any trials we have.  I felt the spirit so strongly I was too afraid to speak at first.  I didn't want to ruin her experience.  But I did speak up and said my piece, bore my testimony and nothing was ruined, so that was good.

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I get more time, but the computer says I only have 8 minutes left and I don't want it to cut out and I still need to email my mission president.  If I do have more time I'll send a second email.  But just in case I don't, well, I love you all and miss you but I'm having a great experience.

Love,

Elder Wake

---------------------------------

So, I do actually have more time, I just had to renew my computer reservation.

I just found these interesting mission statistics so I thought I'd share them with you:

Mission Totals – July 14
5 Investigators baptized 
5 Investigators confirmed 
24 Investigators with a baptismal date 
60 Investigators who attended sacrament meeting 
127 Lessons taught with a member present 
87 Other lessons taught 
55 Progressing investigators 
44 Referrals received 
36 Referrals contacted 
38 New investigators 
326 Lessons taught to recent converts and less-active members 

I don't really know just how good or bad these numbers are but now have have a baseline where I can try to help the mission go up.

I guess I said almost everything I wanted to in the last email.  The work is going good and I still love it.  I feel like there is so much more I need to tell you but I can't really think of anything.  I guess I could do some FAQ:

Yes, Canadians have the stereotypical accent and it is awesome!!

Yes, many do say "eh" very frequently, though not at the end of every sentence.

They do use the metric system which is kinda confusing right now.

The speed limits are annoying because the sign will say 110 on the highway, which is only like 60 mph.  And there are school zones plus park zones (which are all day everyday) and the maximum is 30 (so like 15mph)

There are photo cops EVERYWHERE.  Since January, our mission has accumulated over $4000 dollars in moving violations.  This is partly due to the fact that missionaries are crazy, partly because of all the park zones, and partly because we have the largest fleet of cars out of all the missions (250 by the end fo the year)

Please feel free to ask any other questions about Canada and I'll answer them as quickly as possible.

I'm really sorry to hear about Hayden and I hope he is alright.  Let him know he's in my prayers. Dylan too, have him send some pictures of his post surgery chipmunk cheeks :)

Oh! and tell Sheridyn congratulations!!!  I'm sorry I won't be there for the wedding, but hopefully she'll understand ;)

Oh, I forgot to explain why mail takes forever.  So, mail is collected once a week.  But since I'm a 4 hour round trip from the mission office, we can't get it once a week.  They just keep it all until someone makes a trip either to Calgary or someone makes a trip down here.  Luckily President is coming down Thursday, so maybe I'll get some mail then.  That means that there could be at most a month between times I can get the mail.  Oh well. I say this because I don't want to offend anyone by not thanking them for letters.  I haven't received any yet, but if you did sent letters, thank you, I look forward to reading them. 

Tell Ethan something for me.  Although I haven't been to Montana yet, and I don't think I'm allowed to go anyway, but since my Zone has a piece of Montana in it, I owe him brownies when I get back.  That should make him happy, especially since it was my first area.  

Once again, I love you all and miss you dearly.  Hopefully something awesome happens in the next week so that I can have an awesome report.  I'll talk to y'all soon!!

Love,

Elder Wake

Farewell Utah, hello Canada!

Braden left the MTC early yesterday morning (July 16th). He was able to call home and talk to the family which was great. After a layover in Phoenix, AZ, he flew to Calgary. We haven't heard anything since then, but hopefully he'll have a P-Day (short for "Preparation Day") soon so we can get an email.

I've updated his address so make sure to write to him!

A few pictures from the MTC

We haven't gotten any pictures from Braden. But as he said in his email, he knows everyone at the MTC, so we've been able to get some pictures of him from other people.

Braden with his cousin Sister Kellsie Ayers on the day Braden entered the MTC.
Braden is only a week older than Kellsie. Kellsie is in the Arizona Gilbert Mission.

Braden and Sister Sarah Nicholas at the Provo Temple.
Sarah is a friend from home and will be in the Taiwan Taipei mission.

Braden and Sister Larissa Merrill. Larissa is another friend from home.
She is in the Utah Salt Lake City Central mission (speaking Spanish).

July 9, 2013 (first email, sent from the Provo MTC)

Howdy Guys!!!!

Wow, my first week is done and I can barely believe it.  The "experienced" missionaries in our zone told us that afterSunday everything goes fast, and so far it's true.  I say "experienced" because they've got here the Wednesday before us, but they are the most experienced people we associate with.  They leave tomorrow morning actually.  That's how fast it is.  In fact, we have our travel plans already!! We leave on the 16th at........ 3:30 am!!!!!! I know, everyone should be jealous that we get to leave that early, but it's for a good reason.  We have a 2 hour layover in (drum roll please) Phoenix, Arizona!!.  Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either, but we fly out at 7:20 and we land in Calgary at 2:30 in the same time zone.

So, the MTC is awesome.  A good analogy for the first few days is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.  They force so much stuff onto us and none of us can retain all of it.  By the end of the first day, we already had our first investigator and had to have the first lesson prepared by Thursday.  Now we have that same one and a new one we got yesterday.  I'll tell more on that later.  When I say we, I'm obviously refering to my companion, Elder Jacobs.  He is from Las Vegas and just graduated High School a couple of months ago.  In fact, with the exception of the Sisters, I'm the oldest in the district.  Speaking of which, my whole district is going to Calgary, speaking English, which is actually not common here.  We have two other Elder companionships and one sister trio.  All of them are so much fun.  I think I've grown closest to Elder Shaw, and between us and our companions, we have lots of fun.  In addition to my district, we have at least one other district going to the same mission.  33 of us are all going to Calgary next Tuesday.  One of the sisters in my district, Sister Gardner, is good friends with Cody, my roommate, and Hermana Merrill.  And the other two sisters are in the same room as Hermana Merrill, which is across the hall from Sister Nicholas.  I've seen everyone from the ward, and from school.  Plus people that I didn't even realize were in the MTC.  Almost everyday someone else comes up to me and says "Hey Elder Wake".  It's kinda the joke between me, Elder Shaw and Elder Jacobs that I know everyone at the MTC.  Sometimes it seems kinda true.

We have two teachers, Brother's Blatter and Barton, but often Sister McGill teaches or helps too.  All of them are awesome, but Sister McGill has helped me and Elder Jacobs the most.  She pushes us so hard and makes us think 'til I feel like I'm going to have an aneurysm.  Plus she's scary when she teaches, but I've learned so much.  She finally got me to teach using purely the spirit, which was incredible.  I'm used to just talking and teaching at full speed, so I don't notice promtings.  She had me slow down and a question came to my mind that she thought was perfect, deep and profound.  I know that the spirit put those words into my mouth.  it was really neat.  I now know that I need to work on slowing down and trusting in the Lord and the Holy Ghost.  She also gave me this piece of advice before I went to go teach an investigator, "listen".  At first I was like, well yeah, of course! Then after the lesson, I realized that I need to listen to the responses to questions I ask to better understand the needs of my investigators.  But later that night, I uncovered another layer, I need to listen to the spirit.  Who knew that one word could teach me so much?

I've figured out so many things I'm good at and bad at, and I have many goals.  One of which is to read from Genesis to the Articles of Faith.  I hope to be done by the end of my mission.  I've learned so much, even though I've only gotten to Genesis 6.

So, the way the MTC works now, in case you were wondering.  First, of all, they emphasize teaching by the spirit to the investigators needs.  Step one is to figure out what they want and what they truly need.  Then we need to form a vision for what Heavenly father wants of them.  Then our goals for achieve that vision.  Then our plan for achieve those goals.  It is a lot different then what dad said he went through.  Our teachers also portray real investigators that we get to teach.  Bro. Blatter portrays "Marcus" for us.  Marcus doesn't feel life has a purpose and has a Christian background.  We've already committed him to be baptized though and to read the Book of Mormon!! Elder Jacobs and I are on a role!!!.  We also get a progressing investigator, a less active member, and a referal, all actors.  We teach our PI twice, and we've already taught him once.  It didn't go so good.  First he made us sing for him.  Then he talked the whole time and went on tangents that had nothing to do with what we were trying to tell him.  By the end of the 45 minutes, we hadn't taught anything.  I'm very scared about tomorrow but I have a couple of ideas and I've been preparing by listening to the spirit.  I'm out of time but I can try to write a letter with more detail.  Plus I can call from the airport.

Say thanks to Bro. Christie to his letters, Cade and Kevin for theirs.  Also, please send me Paul and Nicki's address as well as Connie and Dean, both of their families sent me some goodies.  Also, thank you so much for you package, it was awesome and the jerky was a hit in our room!!  Also, please tell Dallin thanks for his email.  Finally Thank you mom and dad for your letters and emails, they meant a lot to receive them!!

I love you lots and I hope that you are well.  The Spirit is here and I'm safe, so don't worry.  I wish I could tell more because I learned so many new things that I just remembered, but I have no time.  Tell Erin I'm writing in my journal.  I miss you, but I can't wait to serve the people of Calgary.

Love,

Elder Wake

Welcome!

Hi! My name is Erin. I'm Elder Wake's older sister and I will be maintaining this blog during his time as a missionary. I will be posting Braden's weekly emails as well as pictures and other news on this blog for the next two years. We are so proud of Braden and know that he will be an amazing missionary.

Elder Wake was set apart as a missionary on June 30th.

Everyone who came to his setting apart

Braden's immediate family (minus nieces and nephew)

Braden and his siblings- Erin (me) and Dallin

He left Houston and flew to Utah on July 2nd and stayed with our aunt and uncle.

Saying goodbye to his nieces and nephew!

At the airport: 

With Grandma and Grandpa Ayers

With cousins Shandyn and Hayden

With sister Erin (me) and brother-in-law J.J.

With Mom and Dad

The next day (July 3rd) his aunt and uncle took him to see our Grandma Wake, followed by lunch at J Dawgs - and then he reported to the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC)!

Braden and Grandma Wake

With cousin Gavin at J-Dawgs just before entering the MTC