September 12, 2011.

Hello from the great city of Toronto!

I have been here since Wednesday and it has been so good. I was scared out of my mind when I found out that I had to drive to the Toronto Stake Center on Wednesday morning because I thought I would just have to drive to Hamilton and take the transfer van to Toronto. I got some great instructions and a map from an elder and it helped me get there! I am just happy that I will probably never have to drive a car again on my mission! I've been riding busses, street cars, and the subway all week. I even felt sick the other day because of all of the motion going on. Even watching the subways go by can make you sick haha. I have also been extremely tired, which usually happens after I move to a new area. But it has been great. We are very busy here with FHE on Mondays, ESL Tuesdays, district meetings Wednesdays, weekly planning Thursdays, ESL Saturdays, and church/meetings on Sundays. Teaching ESL is fun and we had a miracle when about 15 asian girls showed up on Saturday for the first time ever.

Sister Hodgkin (love her!) and I were walking downtown on Saturday night and witnessed a huge miracle. There was a guy walking behind us and I turned around to say "hi." I asked him where he was headed and he asked us the same question. Then I told him we are missionaries. Eventually we were sitting at a picnic table and teaching him about the Restoration. His name is Mike and he is going to school for his Masters. He had lots of questions and had somewhat of a desire to learn. He said that he would love to have the strong faith that we have. We told him it is possible. He tried to refuse the Book of Mormon saying he could just read the assigned chapter (Alma 32) online, but he eventually accepted the Book. We had SO much fun teaching and we all laughed a lot. We didn't set up a return appointment but we have his phone number and will call in a few days to see how his reading went. I don't know if he will investigate any further, but it was still amazing to teach someone right after meeting him.

After our lesson with Mike we walked and took the subway home. Then came one of the funniest experiences of my mission. Sister Hodgkin and I were almost to our apartment and were just crossing the street to get to our block. I could see a man on the corner and he was about five feet away from the path that we were walking. He looked a little homeless but he was obviously crazy because of the next events that occured. When I was just about to walk past him, he backed up about three whole steps and ran into me on purpose. Then he looked at me like it was my fault and about five seconds later, I felt something hit my back. I turned around and he ran around the corner after giving us the evil eye. On the ground I saw his half eaten slice of pizza. He threw his pizza at me, getting sauce all over my favorite shirt and my backpack. Sister Hodgkin almost peed her skirt because she was laughing so hard. Only on a mission...and ONLY in Toronto!!!!!

We did not attend the CES fireside last night because there was a fireside at the Toronto Stake Center. It was all about goal making and making our main goal Exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. It was fun too see many of my missionary friends. Our investigator, Toshi, came as well. He is one of our only investigators right now but we're not really sure what to do because he doesn't live in our area, but he comes to our ESL and church. We're working hard to find new investigators. This week will be really great and I know we will find more people to teach. We have zone conference too, which will be great because I get to meet my new mission president. Everybody have a WONDERFUL week. Read the talk "Come What May and Love IT" by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. An elder gave it to me to read before leaving Burlington and it is so helpful to remember to laugh at any situation life throws at us. :) Be happy!!!! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Barton :)