November 25, 2009

HEY GUYS!!!

It seems like it has been forever since I've seen any of you! Well, I am here in Canada. It is pretty awesome! Actually it really isn't that different from the states. It is really cold and I think I might die of frostbite, but other then that it is nice. Also, I'm having a hard time understanding the language here, haha. The first day I got here my trainer, Elder Byington asked me if I had a tooke... a what?! Well, apparently that's what they call beanies here. A garbage disposal is a garberator. and a couch is... well I don't remember that one but it is kinda funny how many things there are. The gas is really cheap here! It is only 89 cents! But then i have to remember everything here is in the metric system so that is per liter... and the speed limit is in km and their money is weird! They have one dollar coins and too dollar coins (called loonies and twoies or something like that) but it is annoying! That means you always have to carry around change because the lowest bill is a five. I don't like carrying around change...

Well, things are going really well here. My companion is awesome. He has been teaching me so much and he is pretty fun to be around. He is kind of hard to wake up in the mornings but I usually just get ready and then he is awake. The Elders in our district are hilarious too! Probably not the most effective but they are pretty funny and fun to be around when we can be.

It is hard to find enough to keep us busy sometimes. My area is a tiny little town. More like a neighborhood, called Capparal. We only have one ward, the Chapparal Ward. So there aren't that many people to go see in a tiny area and apparently the people in Calgary aren't very receptive to our message so they tell us that we shouldn't go tracting all that much. So I haven't been tracting at all yet. They say that one in five people will answer the door and of those one in ten will listen to you at all. So we spend most of our time going around to members and talking with them and seeing if we can give a quick lesson to them. Most of the missionary work we do and the investigators we get are supposed to come from member referrals.

We have two girls that we have been teaching. Jordan and Alexa Grey. Their Mom died a while ago and their Dad left them so they are living with a family in the ward, the Frenches, and they aren't members. But they have become more interested so the missionaries have taught them the lessons. Which leads me to having my first actual lesson out in the field!

Last Sunday we went over to the Frenches house and taught the girls the secnod half of the fourth lesson. They already had the rest of them. It went pretty well. Elder Byington said I did great and I think it went alright too. They aren't very talkative and it is kind of hard to see if they are taking it all in or if they are really understanding it. We can't really get them to open up to us but they do want to get baptised!! They set a date on Sunday to be baptised on Dec 6th. Isn't that exciting? I already have two baptisms coming. I kind of just walked into them... but I think it will be a good way to start off my mission. I am pretty excited!

We have a couple more investigators but they are not that far along and we are still trying to find a time we can go and teach them the first lesson. I think they are pretty interested and we will eventually get in.

The members here are great. They are so nice and so far I have had a dinner appointment every night. They are all so nice and polite but it probably means that I am going to gain a bunch of weight on my mission. I should have done more research on Canadian culture before I came out here. More specifically before I bought my shoes. I am learning very quickly that it would have been nice to have slip on shoes because when you go into a persons house you are supposed to take off your shoes. And it takes way too long to tie up shoes. So I am just leaving my shoes kind of loose and slipping them on and off anyway. One of my pairs has a really high back to it and is pretty much impossible to slip back on... so we'll see how often I actually wear those shoes, haha.

I made a list of things to tell you but I forgot it back home as well as my camera so I'll have to send pictrues next week.

Well I am so excited to be out here on a mission and to learn to love and serve everyone I meet. I hope that by the end of the two years out here I have changed so much and for the better would be a good thing too. haha. But I know that if I work as hard as I can that I will do what the Lord wants me to do and that I will feel successful as a misionary and be able to come home with my head held high. I am so excited to be here and I hope I get to hear from you guys soon! I love and miss you all! I can't wait to hear from you and to be able to talk to you again next week!



Love,
Elder Townsend.



ps. I forgot to mention that we found a family that is going to feed us a Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow! I am so excited! You dont even know! It is so weird to me that it is Thanksgiving time though. Which means that is is almost Christmas. It seems like when you are out on a mission none of that really matters... but that doesn't mean that I don't want Christmas presents! haha