Pics 12-21-2015

I SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!! IT WAS AMAZING!

The Aurora Borealis! It was so Wonderful!!!

I may or may not have screamed and flung myself out of the car when i saw it..... 

I got to go on exchanges with my mission daughter Sister Bersie! I've missed her! It was super fun :)

I love the snow :) 

The days are so short here. This is how dark it is at 8:30 AM! and it gets dark by 5!

like my canada mittens? :) i love them :)

Email 12-21-2015

From Me:

"Glad to hear things are going good. We love you. We sure miss you right now. It's hard to have you gone at Christmas. We keep saying stuff like, "Next year Maddy will be home for Christmas"

We love you

What are you doing on Christmas?"

From Maddy:

"haha I CANT WAIT TILL NEXT CHRISTMAS ALREADY haha seriously though like this christmas is fun and all, but it just keeps making me a little homesick and excited for next year to come already. But I am trying to live in the moment just like usual haha. It's a daily struggle sometimes. I just miss you all so much. But the time will fly by before I know it. On christmas I get to sleep in till 9, if my body will let me haha, then make crepes and open presents :) And then skype home at 1 (11am for you) and then at 2 we are going to a members for games and supper at 4 and then in the evening we are going to another members I think to watch a disney movie which will be fun. :) So that's our christmas. everyone in our ward is out of town and we hadn't been invited anywhere so a lady in another ward invited us over. so it will be good. :)"

Email 11-26-2015

Transfers and the new area has been good. I like Saskatoon, it's pretty. The ward is fun. They are all young families from Alberta where the dad is going to school here. Mostly law, med and dental students haha. Its fun though. Things with the comp are good. Not too much to complain about haha. The sisters are fun, I love them. It's nice not having so many so we can actually get to know them :)

Lots of Pics, Dec 7th 2015

I've been slacking off in posting to Maddy's blog.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks.

Sister Wray and I, We had a lot of fun <3

Brother Pepin and Sister Maple, i love them so much. We got her that scarf! :) Please keep them in your prayers, her chemo is taking a lot out of both of them <3 It was really sad to leave them

This is Mandy and her kids, I love them! We found them tracting not too long ago, they are the best :)

I'm gonna miss Barb and her birds :) 

This is Annie, she is a cutie eh :) 

This is the Drozdowskis, I love them too :) They were fun :)

oh no, they are gonna burn the church down hahah 20 candles puts off a lot of heat haha

my surprise bday party :) it wasn't really a surprise though haha but it was fun :) and very nice, i felt loved

the tays are wonderful, they got me a really nice timex watch so "whenever i check the time i will think of them" :) cute 

these are the Tays :) The elders invited them to the little surprise bday party haha :) they are so cute Brother Tay is our ward mission leader

These elders are the best :) They made me yellow cake with chocolate frosting and threw a little surprise bday party for me on my last night in winnipeg :)

opening my presents! :)

love it! Im wearing it right now and it is so pretty :)

all my bday presents, i love my fam <3 they know me so well

BDAY SELFIE :)

This is the Barlow family. They are really nice and let us come over for family home evening and help them decorate their neat christmas tree. It was nice :)

This is our christmas tree hahaha we were so lucky to have a full size one in our apartment. Only half the lights work and As you can see the decorations are a little iffy.... notice the glittery deer antlers hahahahaha Those are what mom needs for her woodsy tree ;p But even if it isn't the prettiest, it still makes me happy :)

It was a rough night so we tried making snow angels haha. 

My first Starbucks since I've been in Canada. It was so good. Tasted like home :) haha #TypicalWhiteGirl

Email 10-5-2015

My week was good.

We went to I-falls minnesota for exchanges :) that was fun. And we brought back american oreos and cheezits :)

Conference was SO GOOD. I can't wait until the ensign comes out and I can study all the talks again.

Transfers are coming up and they are splitting our areas. We won't get our transfer call until Saturday so I'm not sure which area I will stay in, if any, or if i will stay with Sister Wray or what. I'm trying not to make any guesses or any hopes so I don't get let down haha. I'm just gonna go with the flow. Come what may, and love it :) So we will see what happens i guess.

The next general conference will be my last in the mission and by that time i will have 4 months left. totes cray. And Canadian Thanksgiving is next monday so then after that it's already christmas season :) haha So I'm sure the time will fly :) Christmas time always does.

At this point I'm just trying to figure out how I can have more courage to be a better missionary so that I will be happier and enjoy my last 10 months and not just endure. So that's about it :) I love you.




(I asked Maddy if she was ready for the cold weather around the corner)

I think I forgot how cold it actually gets and what it feels like. I'm worried I might need a bigger jacket haha the mission home has some Canada Goose ones they got for free but they only have smalls which is a little too small. But I might be able to make it work since the one I have is small anyway haha but other than that, I think I'm all set. It's already cooling down which is nice :) It might snow by halloween :)

awkward bathroom selfie cause no where in my apartment has good lighting haha but GENERAL CONFERENCE DAYYYY! :) and making it a tradition with Cadbury mini eggs for a conference treat since for some reason Cadbury mini eggs are year round in Canada haha #whynot #ldsconf

Our drive to I-falls was totes gorge :)

Our drive from Manitoba to Minnesota :)

look at this HUGE FISH! Baudette, Minnesota :) #USA

Tyler, I thought you would like this :)

last pday we went to Ikea and it was the best thing ever :) 

made it across the border 

:)

Email 8-31-2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Well I know it has been like forever since I have sent out a message. But all is well here. I was transferred back to Winnipeg and have been here for 6 weeks now as a Sister Training leader. So we are over half of the sisters in the mission and we go on exchanges with 5 companionships. So exchanges every week, sometimes twice a week! Life has been crazy. SO much to do, so many people to see. Which is good :) I am liking being an STL more than I thought I would so that is good haha. My companion of the last 6 weeks is being transferred this week so I will be getting a new companion. SO that will be 6 transfers with 6 companions. At least I am getting to know a lot of the sisters. Maybe ill be companions with everyone in the mission by the time i'm done! haha We are teaching some great people. We have an investigator named Atiel. She is a single mom of a two year old boy named Michael and they are literally the cutest. She will be getting baptized in just a few weeks so that is exciting! Well I love you all and hope you are doing well. Have a great week!

my first time eating from a food truck! haha Fridays are food truck days down broadway downtown and there are like a million options and it was so fun :)

I went on exchanges with Sister Wray in Brandon. It was fun. She will be my new companion this week

Pics 7-6-2015

We went to "Sidewalk Days" Which is just kinda a little street festival thing with vendors and stuff down mainstreet. And there was a one man band! haha he was pretty good too!

My Service Canada Day outfit haha. We helped someone move today :) 

Comp unity with the Canada Shirts eh? 

Sisters in Shades!

Us at Sidewalk Day's on the 4th of July :)

This is my 4th of July Firework show haha :) I shoulda sang I'm proud to be an american at the top of my lungs or something!

The 4th of july :) we got sparklers from the dollar store :)

This is basically what Canada looks like. the places i have been at least. haha. This is Flat Flat Flat Saskatchewan haha

There are 101 fires going on right now all throughout Saskatchewan. so it is SO SMOKEY here. The sun is just a red circle and you can just stare at it. Our Canada Day festivities got cancelled because of the smoke and so did Girls Camp.

Email 7-6-2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been pretty good. 2 Holidays in one week! haha. Canada Day was wednesday and then we celebrated the 4th of July as well :) It was pretty neat, because the fireworks on Canada Day were past our bedtime haha but, we could see them from our bedroom window! So we sat in bed and watched them :) It was pretty neat :) We had a barbeque and baseball on the 4th so that was fun too :) I am slowly but surely getting a little better at baseball. haha.

This week we met our new mission president, which was interesting. I'm sure he is great, it will just take some getting used to. Change is hard for me.

We helped a lot of people move this week and last week. 4 families in total, 2 of which were prepared and 2 of which were NOT. But we survived :) and hopefully everyone is done moving for a while. Cross our fingers, knock on wood. haha. It anyone else moves, our ward will become a branch! haha

We didn't get to see much of our investigators this week. Seems like everyone was sick this week or we just couldn't get hold of them. But there is always next week :)

Well, not much else is new. My companion Sister Bersie is great. She is learning fast and is already a great missionary. And she puts up with my craziness ;) haha.

Well, I love you all. Hope you are all happy and well, I pray for you all every night :)

Lots of Love,
Sister Maddyson Martin <3

505 Academy Road
Winnipeg MB R3N 0C9
CANADA

Throw Back Pics

Maddy, Dad, and Mom

Sealed at the Salt Lake Temple December 18th, 1996. Maddy was one.

Then back at the temple on January 20th, 2015, the day before she entered the MTC.

Email 6-8-2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this week has been a little crazy. We started the week with Zone Conference on Tuesday. That was really fun. It was nice to visit with all my missionary friends here in Saskatchewan. Sometimes we feel a little isolated out here in Moose Jaw with only the Elders and us. Especially coming from Winnipeg with a million missionaries. So it was nice to be with everyone again for a little bit. It was pretty long though. Meetings all day. And we had to role play, which I hate. But I am starting to get over it and just grin and bear it till it's over haha. The food was good though :) Pulled pork sandwiches.

Then we came back here to Moose Jaw and continued with our work. On Saturday we got our Transfer calls. So Sister Reyes will be leaving me and going to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, which is kinda sad. It is always hard starting over again. But I also found out that I will be training a brand new sister. She is still in the MTC this very moment. haha. So that should be exciting. Kinda scary, but oh well I guess. Live and learn and figure it out along the way. Haha.

We have a baptism scheduled in a few weeks and we're really working hard and praying for it to go through. And we're hoping to set another one this week. We haven't found many new people to teach, but we are trying. So we will see what happens next week. I am doing well, and I am happy. Life out here on the mission is hard, but I am surviving and finding happiness along the way. Time seems to fly by some days. I am 4 and a half months down with 13 and a half to go. Not that I'm counting down the days or anything ;) I promise, I am being good and trying to stay focused on what the Lord wants me here to do. :)

I hope you are all happy and well.
Love,

Sister Martin <3

505 Academy Road
Winnipeg, MB R3P 0C9
Canada