Februrary 22, 2011

Hey everyone! Happy Family Week!... Apparently it's some Canadian thing. The kids all have this week off of school... apparently they like families more up here or something. haha. Today is transfers though... and for the first time in FOREVER I am not going anywhere! haha. I am getting a new companion though. We will see how that goes. His name is Elder Brighton. He was in the west when I was there. He never really said anything and he was just kind of shy. Other missionaries said he's pretty fun and easy to get along with though. So hopefully that is true. He is a male nurse from Utah. So I will let you know how that is going next week. It should be exciting. It's been like 6 transfers since I have been the one that has been in the area the longest... so we will see how that goes. haha. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm looking forward to it.

Other then that the week was pretty average. We got new windows in our apartment last week. That was exciting. So Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday morning we couldn't leave our apartment because there were guys in there putting our windows together. So that was boring... and Thursday I got sick anyway so we didn't leave our apartment because I didn't want to get too far away from a bathroom, just in case, and Sister Archibald told me that I should get some rest. So I did. I felt better the next morning though. But I felt bad for making my companion stay in the whole day. He didn't have much to do. He just did crossword puzzles all day. It was sad.

Other then that this week we just taught a bunch of members and tried getting in with less actives, but they never let us in. This is a pretty good ward though. There are some good members here. It's a small ward but they are all very close. I guess the highlight of our week was on Wednesday we went and taught Dannyelle up in Coleman. That was exciting. We just talked about how the stop smoking program was going. She hasn't gone a day without a smoke, but she says she is improving. So I guess taht's good. It's hard for her though since her mom and her mom's boyfriend still smoke. And then we talked about the three pillars of a testimony, scripture study, prayer and going to church. that went well. She still didn't come to church on Sunday though. We are going to try to start going out to the pass for two days every other week and spending the night out there. So we will work with some new people we don't get to see much of out there. President Archibald is pretty skeptical about us keeping busy enough out there, so we will see how long he lets us go out there. It should be fun though. We are going on Thursday and Friday this week.

Other then that nothing really happened this week. So I will let you know how this week goes. Thanks for everything! I love you all!

love,
Elder Townsend

There are deer everywhere in Pincher



Pincher Creek is one of the first places they put up windmills. And there are TONS of them!

The piggy bank again

February 15, 2011

Hello everyone! How is it going? This week was alright for me. We were going to teach Dannyelle on Wednesday, but she called that morning and said "personal things" came up and she couldn't anymore. So that was sad. But we still had a pretty good day that day. Nothing too exciting just a lot of lessons with members. We helped Bro Barfus move 14 huge filing cabinets around in his office. that was fun. then Thursday we taught the Buffalo family. A native family out on the reserve who have been taught for a while, but it was my first time meeting them. It went good. They like to talk a lot so we didn't get to say much, but we did get a lesson in and she wants to come to church, he doesn't, but she doesn't have a ride out there and we can't find one for her. So that is actually really sad. Then Friday we got another lesson with Danyelle so we went out there and taught her. We did the 7 day stop smoking program with her. I don't know if I've told you guys about that. It's these 15 steps that if they follow them everyday will make it so they have no more desire for nicotine at all. It completely eliminates that, but the "cool" factor will still be there. We can't seem to get rid of that... but the lesson went really well. She was really excited to follow it, which is awesome. I hope she can quit! Unfortunately we called her Sunday morning and she wasn't going to be able to come to church. That was sad. And while we were talking to her she told us that she had slipped up on smoking... dang it. So she had to start the seven days over again, but she still had a really good attitude about it. She new that she slipped up and that she could try again and do better next time. That was sweet to hear her say that! (ya, that's right. I'm an awesome teacher. Just kidding. But seriously... I am. haha) So hopefully she can do that.

Then we taught this old lady. Like mid 80's. It was ridiculous. She said she knew like everything about our church and had a Book of Mormon and all that. She had me go grab it from this shelf that was full of every religious books ever! OK... maybe not, but a lot of them. So we were talking about the restoration and stuff and she seemed to like it. Answered any question we gave her and it was pretty sweet. Then we came to the first vision and she asked where in the bible that was so she could look it up... and we asked her if she wanted to be baptized on March 5th and she said "yea, I could come to that" and wrote it in the cover of her bible and then we asked if she would want to come to church and she said "oh no, of course not. I have my own church." So... I don't know how much she got out of the lesson... but the Spirit was there! haha. Then we talked to a lady in our ward Sis Le Pard and she just told us that we shouldn't continue. The old ladies family would get mad at us if they found out we were there. So in a space of less then 24 hours we got a new investigator, set her with a baptismal date and then dropped her. haha. It was weird. My companion still put it all on our numbers for the week. haha.

Elder Lafond is interesting. He is a fun guy, really weird at times though. Sometimes I am just embarrassed to be around him. I can't really not like him though. I think our personalities are just ones that don't really go well together... at all. Is it bad to pray for him to get transferred next week? I thought about doing that but then I thought if I did then he would stay for sure... I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. haha. But whatever happens next week at transfers is supposed to happen. Maybe there is something I am supposed to learn from him... I hope not, but maybe. haha.

Thanks for everything! You guys are the best! Thanks for all the love and support you give me! I love and miss you guys!

Love,
Elder Townsend

PS. Mom I got the package from Aunt Jenny and Uncle Bill. I got it today, but that means it probably got to the mission like two or three weeks ago. haha.

Random little town in the pass... apparently the best water in Alberta... tastes like water to me!

Februrary 8, 2011

Hey! What is up? How is the party in the states going? I hear "it's a party in the USA" haha. Well, I had a little bit of a party here in Canada. Good old Pincher Creek. Actually it kind of sucks here. It is cold and it's snowing A LOT! More then they have seen here in like 5 years. And it's freaking windy! I hate the wind... its official. I ran out of money last month so I couldn't buy stamps to send mail to you guys so I got money this month went and spent $20 on stamps to hopefully last me a while and what happens? We open the door to the car and the wind sends all of them flying!! So that sucked. I wasn't too happy. So all of you waiting on mail from me... (especially Michael) I'm sorry. I'm trying... hopefully I'll have some in the mail today though. Speaking of mail. Another reason why I don't like Pincher Creek is I haven't gotten mail in forever! We were supposed to get it at zone conference but the assistants forgot to bring it... darn assistants. So I won't get mail until transfers probably. So that sucks. Why can't I just go back to Calgary where I get it like once or twice a week? haha.

Anyway. I really did have a little bit of a party here I promise. We were able to teach Danyelle again. That went pretty well. We taught lesson three and set a date for her to be baptized on the 19th. So that was sweet. That was on Saturday. We also got her to commit to coming to church. So Sunday morning we got up and called her to make sure she was still planning on coming before we drove all the way out to the pass to be with her. She said she was coming but she also said that she thought the 19th was too soon to be baptized. So we have to work on that again. Then we got to church and I realized we forgot to tell her church was three hours long so she wasn't too happy. Her kid was hungry and tired the whole time. So she was busy with him the whole time. I don't know how much she got out of it. She left early so we didn't get to talk to her about it. Then Monday we called her and all she really said about it was that it was too long. We are teaching her again tomorrow and she wants to do the seven day stop smoking program so she must not be too mad at us. haha.

So we were in the pass on Sunday. Which was weird. There were only 20 people in church and it was sacrament meeting. The only people that bore their testimony were us and Pres Hummell and another guy. Then they ended sacrament 20 mins early. So that was weird. Especially for being the first sacrament meeting an investigator came to. The members love us out there. They don't get to see us too often. So someone invited us over for lunch so we went there. That was fun. He is the high priest group leader and they live in this fun little mobile home that they turned into a log cabin looking place. It was sweet. Then we stopped by some part member families and less actives and then someone had us for dinner and then we drove home. A nice full day in the Crows Nest Pass. We are trying to find a way to get out there more. Maybe stay at a members house out there overnight or something because it kills our kilometers driving out there too much.

Then Monday was sweet. The Wright's took us out snowshoeing. It was awesome. The Wrights are really fun and they took their dog with us. So they take us out to Beauvais Lake and we start up this trail and we are trying to get up to a peak they haven't been to before. so we start out on this "trail" if you can even call it that. We were walking through trees and following orange signs that were nailed to trees. The snow came up to our knees even with snow shoes on. The dog disappeared when it jumped in. haha. It was really fun though. Then the trail ended and we started to make our own trail. It got really steep with a lot of snow. We crawled for parts of it. It was well worth it though. The view from the summit was definitely worth the effort. Coming back down the steep part took us 15 mins... it took us an hour to get up it. haha. It was a pretty fun Pday though. I am freaking tired and sore now, but it was awesome. I loved it. They want to do it again in a couple of weeks and since there isn't anything else to do here in Pincher, I'm looking forward to it! haha. It helps that the Wright's are awesome. He is an RCMP and she is a hair dresser and they are hilarious! I love going over there.

That was pretty much my week though. Pretty exciting. A party if I do say so myself. Thanks for everything! I love you guys!

Love,
Elder Townsend

snow shoeing

the "trail" haha

the summit

the wrights

Februrary 4, 2011

Hey! How is it going? This week was pretty good for me. A lot of times there wasn't much to do but we still got a lot done! haha. Last Tuesday we were walking around after emails and we saw a lady who was scrapping ice off her sidewalk so we went and helped her and after she invited us into her house for some hot chocolate. Turns out she lived with her older sister and her mom and the mom is kind of less active and the daughters are very less active. So we talked to them for a while and they said we could come back if we could find a time that worked. They are a busy little family. But that was sweet. Apparently they haven't talked to missionaries in forever.

Then we had a couple days of not much to do. A lot of walking around trying to find someone to talk to or something to do. But then Friday was a great day. We had a lesson with Danyelle at noon. So we drove out there and had this older lady from the branch come with us so we could have a member there. She was the only one that was available then. The lesson went really well. We watched The Restoration and talked about Joseph Smith a little bit more and we started to talk about baptism and found out that she hasn't been baptized but that she had a name and a blessing when she was a baby. So she said she would be willing to be baptized. We weren't able to set a date and we told her that it would be good for her to come to church and the lady from the branch offered a ride and to sit by her during church. She didn't come because she didn't feel like she was ready. I think she'll make it there eventually. Then we stopped by a couple of people and headed home.

Then we had a dinner with a family. Elder Lafond said it might be weird because every time he had talked to them they didn't really like the missionaries. So we got there and they were all happy and a fun family. They even told us that we were the first missionaries they have had over in years because they didn't like any of the other ones. But apparently they like us. So that's cool. It was really weird when I walked in though because they had some pictures on their fridge of people I knew from BYU. Apparently their daughter went there and got married and was friends with Allison Slater and Morgan Thorup and there were some pictures of them at her wedding. So that was cool. They talked about that for a while. It's weird to see people that know people I know. I guess I'm not really that far from home even though it feels like it, haha.

Then after dinner Bro Westrup called us and said that we could teach his friend, Rob Frost, at the church at 8. So we went there and taught him a little about the restoration and we talked to him and found out that he wants to be baptized but not for a while. He wants to read the Book of Mormon and the Bible in a year and he thinks that he will be able to make the decision to get baptized after he does that. Which I guess is good and it's good that he will be reading. Once he starts to read and think about it the Spirit will get working on him.

Saturday we went on exchanges. I was with Elder Fowler here and we didn't really have all that much to do. We had a lesson in the morning. Our dinner canceled and we had a lesson in the native reserve in the afternoon but it was snowing too much to make it out there. So we spent a lot of time walking around and shoveling snow. We seem to do that a lot in this mission. haha.

Sunday we called this lady named Stacy who we had talked to on the street once and seemed nice and gave us her phone number. We called and she said we could come over later so we went around five with Bro Barffus and that actually went really well. There were three little kids there. Two where her own. So beside all the distractions and times where we had to stop because of crying kids it went really well. We taught a first lesson and she seemed to accept it. She said she wanted to get baptized but we couldn't set an exact date. She grew up Christian and kind of fell away but she wanted to get back into it. That's the only reason she talked to us on the street which is awesome. (she did think that we were from another church... but that's irrelevant. haha) Her dad seems to know a lot. She said that her dad always tries to talk to her and teach her and she doesn't really listen. So I hope that he doesn't start to anti her. I think that will be the only obstacle in her life and maybe smoking. But we can fix that. Easy peezy lemon squeezy. haha

Then Pday was pretty fun. The district all came here and we just played some games and stuff and then went to the really good Mexican food out in the middle of nowhere. So that was exciting. So it was a pretty good week. We got two new people to teach. I hope we get somewhere with them. But if not then we did our best. Thanks for everything guys! I love you!

Love
Elder Townsend

So Coleman (where Danyelle lives) is really close to the BC border. And the BC border is the border for our area. so we were going to go there and get a picture next to it. But we got there and it had snowed too much to get any closer then this...I tried

Trying......

Failed