Thursday, January 28, 2010

January 27, 2010

Hey guys!

So this week was pretty fun! On Thursday we went and taught an investigator that we have. Her name is Jeanette. She has been going to the Sundance Ward because she has some friends over there. So the Sundance missionaries taught her a first lesson and got her out to a church tour. But then they gave her over to us because she lives in our area. That was so awesome! The lesson went really well and she asked some really good questions! I didn't really know how to answer them myself but Elder Byington and the younger Bro Ady were there and they did a really good job of answering her questions. We are going to see her on Friday again and we hope to ask her to be baptized this time. That will be pretty exciting! And we also are going to try to get her daughter to sit in on this next one. She seemed pretty interested the last time we were there. So that will be awesome!

Then Friday was full of a lot of service again. We went over to Laura Knights house again and did the stuff that she always has for us to do. I painted a room and her bathroom for her. It was pretty fun. And she always feeds us pretty good when we go over there. Then Saturday the Ady's that we live with had us over... well up. For breakfast. That was awesome. Sis Ady cooked a bunch of pancakes and sausage. It was good. And they actually talked to us so that was good! Then after breakfast they had us clean the basement and she came down to make sure it was all good down there. We passed! haha. Then we helped them move some new couches into their theater room. That was pretty fun. And they are really nice people! Bro Ady is kind of grumpy whenever we see him but I think that is just what he is like. So that was pretty exciting! Things are going a little better with them.

Monday was Elder Byington's birthday! That was pretty exciting. I woke up before he did and decorated the apartment a bit. Just with some stuff that his family sent me to put up. And then we went and bought doughnuts with some money his parents sent and then we went and had our meetings. It was a pretty fun day. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to my birthday out here though. I think it is just going to be really weird not being home. haha.

It is getting pretty cold here again. Not too bad though. And it has started to snow again so that is fun. It means we spend a lot of time shoveling for people. Which is awesome! It is a really good way to fill our day time hours since we can't find much to do usually because everybody is at work. So that is nice. I've decided I don't mind the cold all that much though. I think I could actually live in a place like this. I like wearing winter clothes. But I definitely do not like Canada. I couldn't live here. It's so different. haha.

This morning me and Byington had to take a trip up to northern Calgary to get some medicine that his mom sent him because the Canadian border took it out of his package and then sent it to some weird building that felt like a DMV... not a very fun place to be. But they made him come and get it and they charged him for having to store it. And if he didn't come and pick it up they were going to charge him like $200 to destroy it. Anyway, Canada is just weird. It made for a pretty fun little road trip though. haha. I went to a place I hadn't been yet so it was fun!

Well, that is pretty much it for me this week... things are still going really well! Me and Byington are doing great and keeping ourselves busy and entertained. We could always use more people to teach though! haha. Well, I love and miss you guys all so much! I can't wait to talk to you again next week! Sorry this one is a little short... the road trip made us late to getting to the library and Byington is anxious to go and play some soccer. haha

I love you guys!

love
Elder Townsend

Me and Byington
Our district
downtown Calgary!
Byingtons birthday!
Whore frost. (yeah, I don't know why it is called that....it looks really cool though! It gets over everything!)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

January 20, 2010

Hey guys!

Well not all that much happened this week. We stayed pretty busy teaching members and visiting with them. We even got to see a couple of our investigators! We haven't been able to go see Chris Burrows since he called last week and told us he was reading in the Book of Mormon. He has been pretty busy with another surgery apparently. But we hope to be able to talk with him and set something up for the beginning of this week. So hopefully we can. We stopped by Jason too. He still seems really excited about the church and wants to learn more. He is always open to learning more but he never really has any motivation to learn more. Whenever we try to make an appointment with him he never really wants to set anything in stone. He always just tells us to keep popping by. But those kinds of visits don't ever go anywhere! So hopefully we can get in with him sometime or get him out to a church tour.

But we were able to teach the Olsen Family. They are the ones that had gone to church before for a while and had taken all the lessons but when the topic of baptism came up she just slowly stopped coming to things. But she wants to have the lessons again because she wants her kids to know about the church. So we were able to get in and teach her and her kids a first discussion. That was amazing! It was my first experience teaching a non member family. The lesson went really well and we have another appointment with her on Monday. We hope to get her out to a church tour that day so hopefully she can. That would be awesome!

Well, the weather here has been really nice lately. A lot warmer then it is supposed to be and it has been really nice! Whenever we go out to do service I don't even have to wear a sweatshirt! haha. We do a lot of service though. That has been what we have been staying busy with a lot this week during the afternoon. We helped the Sundance missionaries one day and tore up the carpet and sub flooring in one of their investigators houses. That was awesome and a lot of fun! And we helped move a couple of people. And every Monday and Friday we are going to go to Laura Knights house and help her. She is absolutely crazy! She is a recent convert in the Sundance ward. But she is so funny! She always has the most random things to do for her. I swear she just breaks stuff so we can come over and fix it... but she is always very grateful and it fills our days so its a good thing to be doing. I've been eating a lot of pizza lately too. It seems like every time we help someone they buy pizza for us. It's awesome. You can never have too much pizza. Especially when it is free!

Elder Byington is doing better. We still have a lot of fun together and staying busy has made him happier lately. So that is good. And it is his birthday on Monday. So that is exciting. His family sent me a bunch of stuff for his birthday. Like signs to put up and balloons to fill for the night before. That was pretty awesome. I actually got really close to not having mail on Monday, but I got that from them. That would have been really sad! It was almost the first time that the zone leaders got the mail and I didn't have any! Luckily it didn't happen and my streak is still going! haha.

Anyway... that is pretty much it from me this week... I know it isn't much but not much exciting happened this week. Although we did say pretty busy so it went by really fast. I also didn't get too many pictures this week either... my bad...

Well, thank you all for everything you do for me and I cant wait to talk to you all again next week! I love you guys!

Love

Elder Townsend

Ketchup flavored potato chips anybody?

Overlooking Calgary

Thursday, January 14, 2010

January 13, 2010

Hey guys!

How is it going? I hope this email finds you all in good health! I haven't been feeling all that good lately. Yesterday morning I woke up and did not feel very good at all. They say that Chinooks will do that to people though. The dramatic and fast change in air pressure can mess people up. So hopefully that will go away soon. It's nice to be warmer but not so nice to be sick. All the snow is melting so it isn't the best walking conditions either. There is slush and muck everywhere! haha And, yes, we do have a car in our area so I don't have to walk all that much. But we only get 1000 kilometers a month so our district thought we would save on clicks and walk to DDM's. So we started walking there pretty early in the morning and it only took us an hour to make it. But we were still late and I was in pain, haha. It's been a while since I've walked that far and it didn't help that I was wearing huge boots! Like I was saying it was all slushy and stuff so I wore my boots. But I just borrowed them from someone in the ward, so they are a little big for me so that didn't help the walk very much. And it sucked that each boot weighed like ten pounds each! haha. But we made the walk home a lot more fun. We weren't in such a hurry so we stopped at the welcome center of Fish Creek Park (the place we walked through to get to the church we went to) and we walked around there a bit and saw the Indian artifacts and stuff they had there. And we had some snow ball fights as we were walking and we took some pictures of our district. So it was a pretty fun morning/afternoon. Our district is pretty sweet this transfer.

But the main reason we walked there was to save clicks because we had already drove all the way out there for interviews earlier in the week so we had used more then we usually do. Interviews were pretty fun though. Sis Archibald always brings us some kind of food for breakfast so we had muffins. And she always talks to us about something, this time it was planning, and then we talk to her about whatever we want to while everyone is in their interviews. The companionships all go to meet with the zone leaders and they talk about whatever. That is always fun. Elder Crippen and Elder Rice are our zone leaders and they are hilarious! It is always fun to talk to them. And we also go individually to talk to Pres Archibald. That is always a thrill. He is really nice and fun. But my interviews haven't been very long so far. Some people are in there for like 15 mins or something but mine only last like 2 or 3. I don't know if that is a good thing or not though... Let's just say its a good thing. It will make me feel better about myself haha.

So we have started being a little more busy. We've been teaching lot of members and such which keeps us busy but is not nearly as nice as it would be to have investigators to teach. But we are getting there! It has been a while since we have seen Jason. He's been sick or gone a lot so hopefully we can stop by him sometime. When we talk to him he always seems excited to talk to us and learn more still, so that is good! And Chris Burrows is coming along pretty good! On New Years Eve we stopped by and gave him a Book of Mormon. And the other night we called him to make an appointment to see him and we made one for Thursday. But he talked to me about how he was reading in the Book of Mormon and how he could see where it came from and stuff and he was excited to talk about it more when we see him on Thursday! So that is awesome! Hopefully we can get in and teach him the lessons soon. We also stopped by Jodi and Ashley Olsen. They were in our area book. We had been trying to see them a lot since I've been here but we never really had seen them until like last week. and we had an appointment to teach them on Monday but they moved it to tonight so hopefully we can get in tonight. We are wanting to get these people to church tours too. We have been doing a couple of church tours lately. It was something we have been told to do by Pres for a while but we haven't ever had keys to the church but we have started borrowing them so we can do them. Church tours are awesome. We basically teach a first discussion and use the rooms of the church for different parts of
the lesson. They are pretty sweet. So far we have only done two and they have only been with members but they have been amazing! It is a wonderful way for people to get comfortable in the church and to be able to feel the Spirit! There is a room we call the Christ room where there are pictures of Christ and his ministry and everything all over the room and scriptures opened on tables. And there is music playing and we let the people walk around a read them and look at the pictures and just ponder. It is basically a guarantee to feeling the Spirit. Every time we have walked into that room it has basically been like walking into a wall of the Spirit. It is so awesome! So hopefully we can get some of our "investigators" that aren't really investigators yet to a church tour and let them feel of the Spirit and hopefully they will want to learn more. That is our main goal for right now.

So hopefully we can do that. Other then that everything is going great here! It's a blast! It's so warm here and it is definitely not usually like this at this time of year. They say this is when it is supposed to be the coldest. So hopefully we just skipped over the cold instead of just delaying it, eh? haha. Well I cant wait to talk to you guys again next week! I miss you all so much and I appreciate all the love and support you give me while I am out here!

love,
Elder Townsend


The sunrise from our new porch


a back view of our giant house (the brown one)
This is our laundry room/kitchen. If you look close enough you can see
instructions for the washer and dryer on the wall above them. and you can see our toaster, skillet and industrial sink on the counter and in the bottom right is our mini fridge and microwave. It might be smallish and only one person can fit there but at least we can eat, eh?
Our big bed room that is the size of our entire old apartment. And that is the table we are allowed to eat at. The only one. Because they put extra carpet down just in case we make a mess. haha
Our living room. That is where we study and I am standing next to a fire place with couches in front of it. Not bad eh?

I don't know if you guys have seen Elder Miller yet. Here he is. Yep. He's the
english one haha
Us walking through fish creek park

Thursday, January 7, 2010

January 6, 2010

Hey Peeps!!

This week was pretty fun. It seemed like it took forever though since our last P- day was on Tuesday. They say all the first weeks of transfers take forever though. It's kinda nice not being the youngest missionary out here anymore! We have a couple of greenies in our zone so its pretty fun. They seem like really nice guys so I think our zone is going to be pretty cool this transfer. Elder Byington seems like he is a little more excited to still be here. I think he has decided that if he stays busy he will be happy.

That is basically what our zone leaders told us at our meetings on Monday. They have really wanted to start cracking down on the plan that our mission has of getting at least 20 member lessons a week. The ward mission leader is supposed to set all of those up though but ours doesn't really. He's a really cool guy though. But we have to set most of ours up ourselves. This week we have actually been doing pretty good with the lessons. We figure if we get at least three a night then we will be able to reach our goal of 20 a week. This week is the first time we might actually get that. We have had at least three every night so far. It's been really nice. We stay really busy and it makes time go by really fast. So I think Elder Byington is getting more into being here so that will be nice. It will be nice to be busy and doing stuff. I think this transfer is going to be good.

This week was also pretty fun because of New Years. It was a very different New Years for me... We had to be in our apartment by six o'clock New Years Eve so that was kind of a bummer. There isn't really much to do for 4 and a half hours with just you and your companion. So we just caught up on our sleep that night. But before that at like 5 we went over to Chris Burrows house just to visit him. We talked for a while about life and stuff and then we talked about the Book of Mormon and where it came from and stuff and we gave him a book and he had us write our testimonies in it. So that was really awesome! Hopefully that can progress and we can eventually get in to teach him. It's kind of funny but I think wanting to teach him is the first time that I have wanted to teach him so that he can have this gospel in his life and the happiness in his life rather then me wanting to teach him just so we have somebody to teach. It's pretty awesome and I hope that sometime we can actually teach him!

Anyway, that was pretty sweet. Then Saturday we moved into our new place. It took a lot longer then we expected. We just planned to do it for a couple of hours in the morning but we started at ten and we took our first load of stuff over to their house. Yes, we had to take more then one load because the day before we moved they took our truck away from us and gave us a 07 gold Malibu. sweet.... anyway. So we took our first load over there and when we got there the Ady's had a whole thing that they gave us and they took us around and showed us what we could touch and what we couldn't and stuff like that. That took a while. Then we had to go get the rest of our stuff. Then we put together the "kitchen" we have, which is a microwave, toaster, electric skillet and a mini fridge. We put all of that into their laundry room that has a big industrial sink in it. So that is pretty... fun. Kind of small but it works right? haha. Then we unpacked and got everything organized and that basically took up our whole day. It wasn't a very fun day... but it had to be done sometime, right? haha

But yea, this week so far has been good with the teaching and stuff. Two nights ago it snowed pretty good so yesterday morning and afternoon we spent shoveling for people. That was awesome. It gave us something to do in the day time and it made the day go be quickly and it was actually pretty fun. We met up with the Sundance missionaries, Miller (the hilarious english guy) and Norman (he just got transferred in but he seems really nice), and we helped them shovel in their ward and they helped us. And having more Elders made it even more fun. So that was pretty awesome. Our district has pretty fun Elders in it. I've gotten to know Elder Miller better lately and he is hilarious! Everything he says makes me laugh pretty much. I love English accents. I've decided I need more English friends back home. (and Polynesian friends too. haha.)

Anyway. Taht was pretty much it for our week. We have been looking for places to do regular service in the week to give us something to do during the days. But there aren't very many places in our area so we haven't had much luck. But hopefully we can find some. That would make the day time a lot better. It's hard to find stuff to do during the day because everyone here works or isn't home. So hopefully we can find service.

Well, thank you all so much for the awesome gifts and support you gave me for Christmas. It made my first Christmas away from home a little better. I hope you all are enjoying the new year and are having a wonderful time with family and what-not. Thank you all for everything!

Love
Elder Townsend