Hey Everyone! How is it going? So transfers are this week. I am getting transferred down to the SE Calgary again in the South stake to Queensland and Parkland wards. I am going to be a senior companion to a guy named Elder Hurley. I don't really know anything about him but I am excited to get down there and see what I can do in that area. I really am sad to leave Cochrane but I guess it is what the Lord wants and I am looking forward to seeing the good that I can do there with the members and the investigators. I am a little nervous to be a senior companion but I am looking forward to it. It is going to be a great experience for me and will help me focus on being a great missionary and doing the best I can at planning and staying busy. I am truly sad to leave though. I hate that as soon as I start seeing some success in an area that I get transferred out of here. I was just barely starting to like it here. I came in and it was going really slow and I was working hard to get this area started again and then as soon as it starts to pick up I leave. And it's not just me. They are purging our area. Me and Elder Grace are leaving. He's going to Fort Macleod. And Cochrane is getting a trainer and a new guy. It is really sad but I guess it is what the Lord wants for all of us. It will be for the best and I am looking forward to seeing what happens.
This week wasn't too exciting though. We just had a lot of service that we did and lessons with members. We weren't able to have a lesson with any of our investigators. But we did go on exchanges with the zone leaders and me and Elder Clarke stayed in our area. That was fun. Not really. We spent most of the day at the library because he had to do a bunch of zone leader paperwork and then we went and had dinner and then we had a lesson with some friends of members in our ward. Their friends have been coming to church for two weeks and we asked if they wanted to learn more and they said sure we have a lot of questions you can answer. And they did. It was weird. He started out with questions like why don't we pray to Heavenly Mother and why Jesus is always pictured as a white guy with brown hair. And then the member friend showed up. He was late and then they just started talking about random stuff. We as missionaries didn't even get a word in once he came. Then when it was time to leave we barely even got a chance to have a prayer before we left. The new missionaries are going to have a lesson with them on Wednesday though. I wish them the best of luck.
That was pretty much it for my week though. Not too exciting. We have been able to spend a lot of time with Tina and answering some more of her questions. She really is amazing. She is sincerely interested and I can't believe how awesome she is. She is going to be really sad when we go tell her that we are leaving, but I am sure the next missionaries will be able to do a great job with her as well. I am really sad to leave. I truly am. I love it here. But it's what God wants not what I want. So I'll let you all know next week how things go. No pictures again this week... sorry... I love you all! Thanks for everything!
love
Elder Townsend
Showing posts with label Cochrane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cochrane. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
October 11, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! And no I'm not just saying that in advance. In Canada this is their thanksgiving. Weird I know. But it's pretty sweet. It means I get two this year. And we even had a turkey bowl this morning. It was fun. I didn't think I would get one. But I did! Whoo hoo! It was cold and wet though. And there were little rocks in the grass. It wasn't very safe. haha.
This week was pretty fun though. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures though. Sad day. But we were able to do a lot of service. Even Pday we didn't have anything to do so we went and helped Tina at Home Treasures. That was fun. Then Tuesday we had district meetings and then stake president Miller had the missionaries in the zone over for lunch and then talked about how we need to be more unified with our wards. So that took pretty much all day. That was weird. Then Wednesday we had interviews with President Archibald. He told us that we need to start having better back up plans and it's true. I'm pretty bad at those. But I am working on it. I guess I just get lazy because most of our first plans won't ever fall through. haha. It was good though. I like interviews with president. They are nice and we only get them every other transfer now. Isn't that sad? I thought so.
Then on Friday we had dinner with the Reilly's and their son Nick who we have been teaching was there and so we had a lesson with them afterwards and it went really well. His parents kind of took over the lesson but it did go well, but he isn't ready for baptism so he won't be getting baptized this weekend sadly but he will eventually.
Then on Sunday we went to church and afterwards Tina called us and asked if we would come answer some of her questions about the Book of Mormon. That's right she has been reading! A lot actually! It's awesome! So we went and talked to her and her daughter Megan for a while. That was sweet! They seem to be understanding a lot more than before. They are pretty caught up on coffee though. Well, Megan has a lot more problems but Tina can't get over that. But that isn't too hard to overcome though. And we are even going over to her house for thanksgiving dinner today so I am excited! It means this letter is pretty short though because dinner is pretty soon. So hopefully we can continue to talk to her about things today. And the rest of her family will be there too! Sweet!
Well, that's pretty much it for my week. I'll talk to you guys next week and let you know if I am leaving Cochrane or not. I really hope not. I don't like transfers. I like it here a lot. I really do. Thanks for everything guys! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Townsend
This week was pretty fun though. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures though. Sad day. But we were able to do a lot of service. Even Pday we didn't have anything to do so we went and helped Tina at Home Treasures. That was fun. Then Tuesday we had district meetings and then stake president Miller had the missionaries in the zone over for lunch and then talked about how we need to be more unified with our wards. So that took pretty much all day. That was weird. Then Wednesday we had interviews with President Archibald. He told us that we need to start having better back up plans and it's true. I'm pretty bad at those. But I am working on it. I guess I just get lazy because most of our first plans won't ever fall through. haha. It was good though. I like interviews with president. They are nice and we only get them every other transfer now. Isn't that sad? I thought so.
Then on Friday we had dinner with the Reilly's and their son Nick who we have been teaching was there and so we had a lesson with them afterwards and it went really well. His parents kind of took over the lesson but it did go well, but he isn't ready for baptism so he won't be getting baptized this weekend sadly but he will eventually.
Then on Sunday we went to church and afterwards Tina called us and asked if we would come answer some of her questions about the Book of Mormon. That's right she has been reading! A lot actually! It's awesome! So we went and talked to her and her daughter Megan for a while. That was sweet! They seem to be understanding a lot more than before. They are pretty caught up on coffee though. Well, Megan has a lot more problems but Tina can't get over that. But that isn't too hard to overcome though. And we are even going over to her house for thanksgiving dinner today so I am excited! It means this letter is pretty short though because dinner is pretty soon. So hopefully we can continue to talk to her about things today. And the rest of her family will be there too! Sweet!
Well, that's pretty much it for my week. I'll talk to you guys next week and let you know if I am leaving Cochrane or not. I really hope not. I don't like transfers. I like it here a lot. I really do. Thanks for everything guys! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Townsend
Friday, October 8, 2010
October 4, 2010
Hello everybody. How are things going with you guys? Things are going pretty well up here in Canada. It's definitely becoming winter again. I've already scraped ice off my windshield a couple of times. The leaves are all yellow and orange and covering everything. It's starting to get dark before I fall asleep again. haha. It's pretty weird. We had a really bad summer and they say this winter should be pretty mild too. So I guess that not too bad.
So this week was pretty good. Not too much exciting happened. Last Monday we went to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. That was pretty fun. We went and met the Banff missionaries in Canmore and then drove together there. It was pretty sweet. Those lakes really are beautiful. I love Canada. And the best part is that you don't really have to hike to them. The parking lot is pretty much right there! haha. It was absolutely beautiful though. I loved it.
Then Tuesday we had district meeting. Those are three hours long now though. The district leader is teaching us everything he learned in the meetings last week. So they are kind of long. But they are good. Then we went and helped a member and his neighbor lay sod in their yards. That was fun. And of course it decided to start pouring on us right before we started and stop right when we finished. So we were soaked and covered in mud. It was actually a lot of fun though. I really enjoyed it. Also on Monday I hit my 11 month mark... weird. Time flies when you're having fun I guess. haha.
Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we did a lot of service during the days and teaching at night. So that's good. I really like it here. The service opportunities are awesome and I really do have a lot of fun doing it. We even get a lot of opportunities to talk about the church to people. In fact this week we even gave Tina, the manager at the thrift store, a Book of Mormon. That was pretty sweet. She even said she might read it. And she found me on Facebook and is probably going to be reading this so everyone should tell her she should read it. Ready? one... two... three! TINA YOU SHOULD READ IT!... welp. There ya go Tina. they said it. haha, Tina is really fun though. I really enjoy working with her and the rest of the people at Home Treasures. So thanks to all of them!
Then came conference. That was awesome. I absolutely loved it. It was ten hours long but it was a great ten hours. I loved Elder Holland's talk Saturday morning. It was a great way to start off the conference. He really made me think of how much I really do appreciate all of my family and love them so much. So thank you guys. You really are awesome. It actually made me really sad when I heard him talk because I really wanted to go home and be with you guys and be able to just give you a hug. But then it made me also want to work hard so when I do get the chance to hug you guys again I will know I did everything I could to have a great mission. I love you all so much! I really do! I cant say it enough! The rest of conference was pretty good too. A lot about making the right choices in life. It was a good conference. It was weird though because here in Cochrane they had it in the church building since the stake center is so far away, but most people must have just watched it on the computer because it was really just me, Elder Grace, and like four other people there the whole time. So we had the whole building to ourselves. Which was a good thing though. I enjoyed the solitude a little bit. After I left the Sunday afternoon session though I thought about how I only had two more conferences on my mission... weird. But I'm going to make the next year the best year of my life!
Thanks for everything! You all are amazing! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Townsend
Glacier that feeds Lake Louise
This is Elder Hepworth... and his favorite sign. haha
So this week was pretty good. Not too much exciting happened. Last Monday we went to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. That was pretty fun. We went and met the Banff missionaries in Canmore and then drove together there. It was pretty sweet. Those lakes really are beautiful. I love Canada. And the best part is that you don't really have to hike to them. The parking lot is pretty much right there! haha. It was absolutely beautiful though. I loved it.
Then Tuesday we had district meeting. Those are three hours long now though. The district leader is teaching us everything he learned in the meetings last week. So they are kind of long. But they are good. Then we went and helped a member and his neighbor lay sod in their yards. That was fun. And of course it decided to start pouring on us right before we started and stop right when we finished. So we were soaked and covered in mud. It was actually a lot of fun though. I really enjoyed it. Also on Monday I hit my 11 month mark... weird. Time flies when you're having fun I guess. haha.
Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we did a lot of service during the days and teaching at night. So that's good. I really like it here. The service opportunities are awesome and I really do have a lot of fun doing it. We even get a lot of opportunities to talk about the church to people. In fact this week we even gave Tina, the manager at the thrift store, a Book of Mormon. That was pretty sweet. She even said she might read it. And she found me on Facebook and is probably going to be reading this so everyone should tell her she should read it. Ready? one... two... three! TINA YOU SHOULD READ IT!... welp. There ya go Tina. they said it. haha, Tina is really fun though. I really enjoy working with her and the rest of the people at Home Treasures. So thanks to all of them!
Then came conference. That was awesome. I absolutely loved it. It was ten hours long but it was a great ten hours. I loved Elder Holland's talk Saturday morning. It was a great way to start off the conference. He really made me think of how much I really do appreciate all of my family and love them so much. So thank you guys. You really are awesome. It actually made me really sad when I heard him talk because I really wanted to go home and be with you guys and be able to just give you a hug. But then it made me also want to work hard so when I do get the chance to hug you guys again I will know I did everything I could to have a great mission. I love you all so much! I really do! I cant say it enough! The rest of conference was pretty good too. A lot about making the right choices in life. It was a good conference. It was weird though because here in Cochrane they had it in the church building since the stake center is so far away, but most people must have just watched it on the computer because it was really just me, Elder Grace, and like four other people there the whole time. So we had the whole building to ourselves. Which was a good thing though. I enjoyed the solitude a little bit. After I left the Sunday afternoon session though I thought about how I only had two more conferences on my mission... weird. But I'm going to make the next year the best year of my life!
Thanks for everything! You all are amazing! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Townsend
Moraine Lake. Look how beautiful that lake is. Again though... the sun was in the wrong place for good pictures... Thats Elder Grace's fault this time.
Glacier that feeds Lake LouiseThis is Elder Hepworth... and his favorite sign. hahaFriday, October 1, 2010
September 27, 2010
Hey everyone! How is it going? This week was awesome for me! A lot happened so I'll try to get everything in without making this email too long haha. so Monday kind of sucked. we didn't have anything to do for Pday so we went to the church and I played with some Lincoln logs I found in the nursery and then took a nap... not the best Pday ever. haha.
But the rest of the week was exciting. Elder Grace had a bunch of meetings that he had to go to in Calgary and so did the senior companion from Banff so me and Elder Mercado were on exchanges pretty much all week. Tuesday through Friday until dinner. It was awesome! I love that guy! He is amazing! We had a lot of fun together. We were able to do a lot of service. Which is awesome. I love he service here. And the people there seem to love us a lot! Especially at the thrift store. There are a bunch of ladies there that are awesome! I love them! They are hilarious and make going there a lot of fun. And the manager there is named Tina. She is awesome. The last time we went there she bought us a whole box of peaches. She heard me say I liked peaches and then she went to the farmers market and bought us some. Isn't that awesome? I thought so. We work with Compassion Africa as well with Jon and Tim and Wanda. They are hilarious. Tim and Wanda are great. I've never seen two grown people act like them. It makes it really fun to go there when we do though. They are amazing. They are moving down to SE Calgary in Oct though. So we don't get to work with them for much longer. That's pretty sad. We have the food bank as well. Elder Mercado loves going there because we get free food. He loves food. As any good Philippine does. haha. It really was a great week though. We were able to teach the 8 year old out in Morley again. That was awesome. She seems to be doing amazing and it's great for her mom to hear this all as well. And we were able to teach Nick Reilly again. He is going awesome! He has a baptismal date for October 16th!!! I was so excited! He was a little hesitant about it and we did kind of push it on him. But at least he has that as a goal he can work towards. When it comes to that date either he will be baptized or his true concerns will come out. Either one will be good. haha.
Oh, then Saturday we had the Cochrane food drive. That was awesome! We went around and collected food all morning. And if people didn't have food on their porch then we knocked on the door and asked if they had any. It was awesome. I felt like I was tracting but it was weird because there were a lot of people that were actually excited to see us. haha. But we couldn't talk about the church at all because the food drive people didn't want us too. But our church hosted it so all the food that was collected went to our church and got sorted and boxed. That was awesome. It was a great opportunity for people to get into our church. There were even pastors and stuff from the other churches here that asked if they could go into the chapel and they were very surprised that it looked so normal and were very grateful they had the chance to see it. So that was sweet. The community is starting to think that we are a little more normal I think. haha.
But the most exciting part about this week. Besides the baptismal date was that I went to BC!!!!! That's right! Beautiful British Columbia! haha Wednesday when me and Elder Mercado were on exchanges a member from his branch asked if they could take us there to meet all the less actives there.... OF COURSE! haha. So we went to Lake Louise and saw the people there. That was beautiful! Then we drove on over to a little town of Fields BC. I was so excited! It was awesome and beautiful! No wonder they call it beautiful British Columbia. Although Lake Louise was still in Alberta... but still. I love it here in Canada. It really is a beautiful country.
That's pretty much it for my week though. Not bad, eh? I was pretty excited! And we are going to Moraine Lake today for Pday. I am excited!
Thanks for everything! I love you guys!
Love
Elder Townsend
BC!!!!!!!!
Canadian Rockies
Elder Mercado. haha
Dad wanted a picture of the sisters in the district. This is Sister Riley and Sister Ireland. Sister Riley got transferred though. Now we have Sister Hill. But no picture of her, sorry.
But the rest of the week was exciting. Elder Grace had a bunch of meetings that he had to go to in Calgary and so did the senior companion from Banff so me and Elder Mercado were on exchanges pretty much all week. Tuesday through Friday until dinner. It was awesome! I love that guy! He is amazing! We had a lot of fun together. We were able to do a lot of service. Which is awesome. I love he service here. And the people there seem to love us a lot! Especially at the thrift store. There are a bunch of ladies there that are awesome! I love them! They are hilarious and make going there a lot of fun. And the manager there is named Tina. She is awesome. The last time we went there she bought us a whole box of peaches. She heard me say I liked peaches and then she went to the farmers market and bought us some. Isn't that awesome? I thought so. We work with Compassion Africa as well with Jon and Tim and Wanda. They are hilarious. Tim and Wanda are great. I've never seen two grown people act like them. It makes it really fun to go there when we do though. They are amazing. They are moving down to SE Calgary in Oct though. So we don't get to work with them for much longer. That's pretty sad. We have the food bank as well. Elder Mercado loves going there because we get free food. He loves food. As any good Philippine does. haha. It really was a great week though. We were able to teach the 8 year old out in Morley again. That was awesome. She seems to be doing amazing and it's great for her mom to hear this all as well. And we were able to teach Nick Reilly again. He is going awesome! He has a baptismal date for October 16th!!! I was so excited! He was a little hesitant about it and we did kind of push it on him. But at least he has that as a goal he can work towards. When it comes to that date either he will be baptized or his true concerns will come out. Either one will be good. haha.
Oh, then Saturday we had the Cochrane food drive. That was awesome! We went around and collected food all morning. And if people didn't have food on their porch then we knocked on the door and asked if they had any. It was awesome. I felt like I was tracting but it was weird because there were a lot of people that were actually excited to see us. haha. But we couldn't talk about the church at all because the food drive people didn't want us too. But our church hosted it so all the food that was collected went to our church and got sorted and boxed. That was awesome. It was a great opportunity for people to get into our church. There were even pastors and stuff from the other churches here that asked if they could go into the chapel and they were very surprised that it looked so normal and were very grateful they had the chance to see it. So that was sweet. The community is starting to think that we are a little more normal I think. haha.
But the most exciting part about this week. Besides the baptismal date was that I went to BC!!!!! That's right! Beautiful British Columbia! haha Wednesday when me and Elder Mercado were on exchanges a member from his branch asked if they could take us there to meet all the less actives there.... OF COURSE! haha. So we went to Lake Louise and saw the people there. That was beautiful! Then we drove on over to a little town of Fields BC. I was so excited! It was awesome and beautiful! No wonder they call it beautiful British Columbia. Although Lake Louise was still in Alberta... but still. I love it here in Canada. It really is a beautiful country.
That's pretty much it for my week though. Not bad, eh? I was pretty excited! And we are going to Moraine Lake today for Pday. I am excited!
Thanks for everything! I love you guys!
Love
Elder Townsend
Lake Louise! Beautiful, eh? haha
BC!!!!!!!!
Canadian Rockies
Elder Mercado. haha
Dad wanted a picture of the sisters in the district. This is Sister Riley and Sister Ireland. Sister Riley got transferred though. Now we have Sister Hill. But no picture of her, sorry.
Hi Kim.
I am sitting here talking to your son and he is raving about your COWBOY SALSA.
He tells me you MAY give me the recipe if I ask.
So I am asking.
Would you mind sending it to me?
I will try to make it like yours so he will feel at home.
Thanks………Bonnie
PS…. We are really enjoying having your son in our home. Devin is very friendly and very willing to serve in this mission. We often just end up talking for long periods of time on any matter that may come up. We love him, he is a wonderful young man.
I am sitting here talking to your son and he is raving about your COWBOY SALSA.
He tells me you MAY give me the recipe if I ask.
So I am asking.
Would you mind sending it to me?
I will try to make it like yours so he will feel at home.
Thanks………Bonnie
PS…. We are really enjoying having your son in our home. Devin is very friendly and very willing to serve in this mission. We often just end up talking for long periods of time on any matter that may come up. We love him, he is a wonderful young man.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
September 20, 2010
Hello everyone. How is it going? My week was pretty good. I spent most of it still trying to get over this food poisoning that I had. At least I think it was food poisoning. But I feel a lot better now. It seemed like I was always feeling better as long as I never ate anything. So I always felt pretty good in the morning and afternoon, but then as usual we would have a dinner appointment... I've never not looked forward to one of those... but that never settled well with me after I ate. So most nights weren't too good for me this week. haha. But I think I'm over it now. The last day or two I've been eating pretty regularly and digesting at a normal speed. So that's good. haha.
Other then that not too much happened this week. We went in for Pday last week. So we were able to play some basketball and volleyball. That was fun. It means that we have absolutely nothing to do today though... we might play Risk... or go to the thrift store. haha. Then, Tuesday morning we got a call from Elder Zaugg saying that we needed to go change our oil in our car and he told us a guy that we needed to go to. It was way on the NE side of Calgary though. It took us an hour and a half to drive there. It was ridiculous. And it was kind of sketchy when we got there. We pulled up to this building. A little Chinese guy came out and asked for our keys and said he'd be back in half an hour and just drove off and left us in the middle of Calgary's "ghetto" area. haha. It was pretty sweet. Our car did come back though. So that was good. But that took up pretty much the rest of our day as well because we got lost... it gave us a pretty good tour of downtown Calgary though. haha.
Then Wednesday we had a special training from the assistants. President was supposed to be there too... but he wasn't for some reason. They talked all about how we make and keep covenants all of our life and then as a zone we covenanted to be 100% obedient in everything. Which we already did in March with our Miraculous March... so I don't really know what it was for... it was a pretty good training though. I liked it. And it gave me another chance to see the missionaries in the zone and then go to lunch with them afterwards. I haven't done that in a long time. Darn Cochrane and being so far away from people all the time! haha. Then we came back here and the Elords came and picked us up to go do some service with them. That was fun. I really like that family. They took us forever away and then we got to these old trailers that the church used for their nativity pageant and we took out all the electrical in them because they were getting new ones... which was good... those things looked like you would find better ones in a junk yard. It was a lot of fun though. Then that night we went to Mutual and taught all the young women how to be good missionaries and stuff and taught a lesson on the plan of salvation as well. That was pretty fun. I really like getting to know the youth in the wards. It makes me feel like I'm back home. It's a nice break from being around all the old people in the ward all the time. haha.
Then Thursday we did a lot of service and then for the evening we headed out to Morley. That was pretty sweet. We went to the House family. We are trying to get Brandon to be a priest so he can start baptizing people, but when we got there he was the only one there and he said his mom would be home soon so we could come in. So we went in and he went downstairs and went to sleep... so we just kind of sat there for like 45 mins talking to Bro Allison who took us out there. Then his mom finally showed up and we started talking to her and we talked about how she wishes that her family was more motivated when it came to church and she wishes that her husband was more supportive in it. And then her kids all came in and we taught a really good lesson. I was actually impressed that the kids all just came in on their own. That was sweet. Then we started to talk about the grandma who wasn't feeling to well and so the mom called her and asked if she wanted us to come give her a blessing and she did. So we were going to head there but then I asked Lana, the mom, if she wanted a blessing of comfort while we were there and she did. And then we went and gave her mom a blessing as well. It was pretty sweet. I really was thankful that we were able to go out there. Especially after the first 45 mins we were there when it looked like we had struck out for the night. But it was sweet in the end.
Then Friday we had a mission tour. We had Elder Zivic of the 70's come. That was pretty good. He was kind of hard to understand but it was good. He said it was his first talk in a mission that wasn't in Spanish. haha. He was really funny and we learned a lot from him. It was also a great chance to see the other missionaries from the mission. Well, at least the ones in Calgary. I saw Elder Byington my trainer and Elder Gelwix my old district leader and a lot more. That was sweet. It weird to think my trainer is going home in a couple of months though. And it's even more weird to think that I only have a month and like ten days until I hit my year mark... time flies when you are having fun I guess. But it's making me want to keep working hard so that I can make the best of the time that I have left. So I'm looking forward to it. I love it out here and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!
Thanks for everything! You guys are the best! I love and miss you all so much!
Love,
Elder Townsend
We went to the Flemming's for dinner this week and they live out in the middle of nowhere. And on the way there we saw a black bear... it started running away before I could get a good picture of it though. But it was right next to us on the road for a while. And then on the way back we saw a bunch of deer. There were six or seven of them... I couldn't seem to get a good picture of them though. It was getting pretty dark by that time.
We also did some service at the thrift store and we have a group of Hutterites that come in every Saturday and give the manager there, Tina, some leftovers from the farmer's market they have in Cochrane. And this time she gave her a pie and then she gave it to us. It was delicious. A homemade Saskatoon berry pie. Not bad at all. :)
Other then that not too much happened this week. We went in for Pday last week. So we were able to play some basketball and volleyball. That was fun. It means that we have absolutely nothing to do today though... we might play Risk... or go to the thrift store. haha. Then, Tuesday morning we got a call from Elder Zaugg saying that we needed to go change our oil in our car and he told us a guy that we needed to go to. It was way on the NE side of Calgary though. It took us an hour and a half to drive there. It was ridiculous. And it was kind of sketchy when we got there. We pulled up to this building. A little Chinese guy came out and asked for our keys and said he'd be back in half an hour and just drove off and left us in the middle of Calgary's "ghetto" area. haha. It was pretty sweet. Our car did come back though. So that was good. But that took up pretty much the rest of our day as well because we got lost... it gave us a pretty good tour of downtown Calgary though. haha.
Then Wednesday we had a special training from the assistants. President was supposed to be there too... but he wasn't for some reason. They talked all about how we make and keep covenants all of our life and then as a zone we covenanted to be 100% obedient in everything. Which we already did in March with our Miraculous March... so I don't really know what it was for... it was a pretty good training though. I liked it. And it gave me another chance to see the missionaries in the zone and then go to lunch with them afterwards. I haven't done that in a long time. Darn Cochrane and being so far away from people all the time! haha. Then we came back here and the Elords came and picked us up to go do some service with them. That was fun. I really like that family. They took us forever away and then we got to these old trailers that the church used for their nativity pageant and we took out all the electrical in them because they were getting new ones... which was good... those things looked like you would find better ones in a junk yard. It was a lot of fun though. Then that night we went to Mutual and taught all the young women how to be good missionaries and stuff and taught a lesson on the plan of salvation as well. That was pretty fun. I really like getting to know the youth in the wards. It makes me feel like I'm back home. It's a nice break from being around all the old people in the ward all the time. haha.
Then Thursday we did a lot of service and then for the evening we headed out to Morley. That was pretty sweet. We went to the House family. We are trying to get Brandon to be a priest so he can start baptizing people, but when we got there he was the only one there and he said his mom would be home soon so we could come in. So we went in and he went downstairs and went to sleep... so we just kind of sat there for like 45 mins talking to Bro Allison who took us out there. Then his mom finally showed up and we started talking to her and we talked about how she wishes that her family was more motivated when it came to church and she wishes that her husband was more supportive in it. And then her kids all came in and we taught a really good lesson. I was actually impressed that the kids all just came in on their own. That was sweet. Then we started to talk about the grandma who wasn't feeling to well and so the mom called her and asked if she wanted us to come give her a blessing and she did. So we were going to head there but then I asked Lana, the mom, if she wanted a blessing of comfort while we were there and she did. And then we went and gave her mom a blessing as well. It was pretty sweet. I really was thankful that we were able to go out there. Especially after the first 45 mins we were there when it looked like we had struck out for the night. But it was sweet in the end.
Then Friday we had a mission tour. We had Elder Zivic of the 70's come. That was pretty good. He was kind of hard to understand but it was good. He said it was his first talk in a mission that wasn't in Spanish. haha. He was really funny and we learned a lot from him. It was also a great chance to see the other missionaries from the mission. Well, at least the ones in Calgary. I saw Elder Byington my trainer and Elder Gelwix my old district leader and a lot more. That was sweet. It weird to think my trainer is going home in a couple of months though. And it's even more weird to think that I only have a month and like ten days until I hit my year mark... time flies when you are having fun I guess. But it's making me want to keep working hard so that I can make the best of the time that I have left. So I'm looking forward to it. I love it out here and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!
Thanks for everything! You guys are the best! I love and miss you all so much!
Love,
Elder Townsend
We went to the Flemming's for dinner this week and they live out in the middle of nowhere. And on the way there we saw a black bear... it started running away before I could get a good picture of it though. But it was right next to us on the road for a while. And then on the way back we saw a bunch of deer. There were six or seven of them... I couldn't seem to get a good picture of them though. It was getting pretty dark by that time.
We also did some service at the thrift store and we have a group of Hutterites that come in every Saturday and give the manager there, Tina, some leftovers from the farmer's market they have in Cochrane. And this time she gave her a pie and then she gave it to us. It was delicious. A homemade Saskatoon berry pie. Not bad at all. :)
Monday, September 13, 2010
September 13, 2010
Hello everyone! How is it going? Well my week was pretty short. With transfers being this week. But it seemed like it went on for forever. Not much really happened though. Last Pday we didn't have anything to do so we just went and did some service with Jon at Compassion Africa. We finally started packing a shipping crate. We got that full and it should be on its way to Kenya sometime this week. So that's pretty sweet. And we even got to talk to someone that was over in Africa. I don't remember her name... but she wanted to talk to me and Elder Grace and tell us how happy we were making the people in Kenya and how grateful she was for everything that we are doing. It was actually really sweet. It made me feel good for the rest of the day. haha.
Then the next day we went out to Morley and taught some of the natives there. That went really well. We were able to stop by a lot of them and teach them. including this young man named Brandon. He is a member but pretty less active. But we are trying to get him excited to become a priest so that he can baptize his cousin and the rest of his family when they decide to join as well. He says he wouldn't mind it but he hasn't made any steps towards coming back. It's hard for them to make decisions and keep commitments. It's just part of their heritage to not to. He even told us that he doesn't ever really make decissions for himself. He would just do what his mom or grandma would tell him to do without asking any questions and that's just the way they are. So it will be kind of hard out there. But I hope we can touch them in some way while I am here. Maybe get a branch out in Morley again. That would be sweet.
Then Thursday we went to Cochrane Home Treasures, the thrift store, and helped there. They had a big sale because they had way too much stuff in there. So whatever you could fit in a bag was only $5... so I'm going to be sending a box of stuff home soon. I was really good at stuffing things into that bag. haha. It was pretty sweet. Hopefully it makes it home... I don't really trust things going through the border... but I'm going to have to. haha.
Then the really exciting part of the week happened. Friday morning I woke up and did not feel good at all. So I went into the bathroom and destroyed it! It was bad. Turns out I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning... I'm pretty sure I ate a microwave bowl of chunky soup that was expired... not a good idea. I was out of commission from Friday to pretty much last night. The good news though, I lost all the weight that I've gained on my mission so far. haha. We did go to the corn bust on Friday though. That was fun. For those of you who don't know what a corn bust is, because I didn't til I got to Canada, it's where everyone gets together and all you eat is corn. Lots and lots of corn. There is a place in southern Alberta, Taber to be exact, that apparently has the best corn in the world and grows a lot of it. So every year around this time everyone is eating corn... except this year... apparently it was too cold and wet for much to grow... so I'm missing out on that experience. We did have some corn there but it was also made into a chili cook off. It didn't really matter to me anyway because I wasn't in any condition to eat food to begin with. That was pretty much my week though... not too exciting... actually pretty crappy... literally... but hopefully your week was better then mine! haha. Thanks for everything guys! I'll let you know about this upcoming week next time which hopefully is a little more exciting! I love you all! Thank you!
Love
Elder Townsend
"The Three Sisters" a mountain(s?) in Canmore. This one is for MY three sisters. haha
This one is for Dad. Because he is the "chief" of our family
And this is my three brother in laws because... well... they're weird. haha
Then the next day we went out to Morley and taught some of the natives there. That went really well. We were able to stop by a lot of them and teach them. including this young man named Brandon. He is a member but pretty less active. But we are trying to get him excited to become a priest so that he can baptize his cousin and the rest of his family when they decide to join as well. He says he wouldn't mind it but he hasn't made any steps towards coming back. It's hard for them to make decisions and keep commitments. It's just part of their heritage to not to. He even told us that he doesn't ever really make decissions for himself. He would just do what his mom or grandma would tell him to do without asking any questions and that's just the way they are. So it will be kind of hard out there. But I hope we can touch them in some way while I am here. Maybe get a branch out in Morley again. That would be sweet.
Then Thursday we went to Cochrane Home Treasures, the thrift store, and helped there. They had a big sale because they had way too much stuff in there. So whatever you could fit in a bag was only $5... so I'm going to be sending a box of stuff home soon. I was really good at stuffing things into that bag. haha. It was pretty sweet. Hopefully it makes it home... I don't really trust things going through the border... but I'm going to have to. haha.
Then the really exciting part of the week happened. Friday morning I woke up and did not feel good at all. So I went into the bathroom and destroyed it! It was bad. Turns out I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning... I'm pretty sure I ate a microwave bowl of chunky soup that was expired... not a good idea. I was out of commission from Friday to pretty much last night. The good news though, I lost all the weight that I've gained on my mission so far. haha. We did go to the corn bust on Friday though. That was fun. For those of you who don't know what a corn bust is, because I didn't til I got to Canada, it's where everyone gets together and all you eat is corn. Lots and lots of corn. There is a place in southern Alberta, Taber to be exact, that apparently has the best corn in the world and grows a lot of it. So every year around this time everyone is eating corn... except this year... apparently it was too cold and wet for much to grow... so I'm missing out on that experience. We did have some corn there but it was also made into a chili cook off. It didn't really matter to me anyway because I wasn't in any condition to eat food to begin with. That was pretty much my week though... not too exciting... actually pretty crappy... literally... but hopefully your week was better then mine! haha. Thanks for everything guys! I'll let you know about this upcoming week next time which hopefully is a little more exciting! I love you all! Thank you!
Love
Elder Townsend
"The Three Sisters" a mountain(s?) in Canmore. This one is for MY three sisters. haha
This one is for Dad. Because he is the "chief" of our familyAnd this is my three brother in laws because... well... they're weird. haha
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
September 7, 2010
Hello everyone! How is it going? We had an awesome week here in Cochrane! Last Pday we went with our district, me and Grace, Elders Hepworth and Mercado, and Sisters Riley and Ireland, to Johnston's Canyon in Banff. That was awesome! We had a lot of fun! It was a pretty easy hike! It was paved paths the whole way and it was beautiful out there. I love Canada. It really is a beautiful country. I love my district! We have had a lot of fun together! We are losing Sister Riley but the rest of us are staying. So that will be fun. It was a good Pday. I really enjoyed it.
Then on Tuesday we went out to Morley again. I love it out there. It is amazing! I love the natives! They are such nice and awesome people. And when we go out there we are able to see a lot of them. Which is good. We had some really good lessons out there. Including the House family which is one of the only two families that are semi-active.
Then Wednesday we were invited to go play fugitive with the youth. That was awesome. They dropped the youth at Cochrane Golf Course and they had to make it back to Cochrane Ranche without being caught by us and the leaders who were in cars. It was a lot of fun and it was a good opportunity to continue to get to know the youth and their families. We only lost one boy, haha. We started at seven and we all pretty much made it back to the Ranche by 8 or 830. But we figured out one of the boys was still out there somewhere. So we sent everyone out looking for him. We thought he died. Turns out he just took a really long way around and just walked into the Ranche around 10. haha. Well... I guess he did win. Good for him. haha. There were only about four out of the forty kids that actually made it back without getting caught. yea. That's how awesome we are! haha.
Then Thursday was fun. We went on exchanges with the Elders in Banff. So me and Elder Mercado came here. It was awesome. We did a lot of service but we had a lot of fun together! I love Elder Mercado! He is from the northern part of the Philippines and is amazing! He was baptized four years ago. Became a counselor in the bishopric, a Young Men's leader and a ward missionary. Before he came out on a mission he baptized five families into his branch. When I asked him what he did for fun back home he said missionary work in his branch. haha. He is awesome and he is hilarious! Everything he says is funny. Even when he doesn't mean for it to be. He is still working on his English so every now and then it sounds like he swears at you or something but he just gets words mixed up or doesn't know how to pronounce things. It's actually really funny. He really wants to eat a dog. Every time he sees one he says how good it would taste. haha. I love him. We had a lot of fun together. But it meant we had to drive him back to Banff as well... so we used 355 clicks that day... we only get 1700 for the month! haha. But it was well worth it and we had to do it anyway... the district leader has to go on exchanges. haha.
Then Saturday was awesome! We went to a powwow out in Morley! It was awesome! It was really loud... but a lot of fun. They were dancing and singing and beating drums. It was sweet. I wanted to buy a CD of the music but it cost way too much and I was going to buy some authentic, hand made native moccasins. But turns out they cost $90... yea.... I'm not spending that much on a couple of pieces of leather... I think it was because I was white... They like to take advantage of us "rich white people" haha. It was a lot of fun though. If you guys ever get a chance to go to a powwow I would highly recommend it. Then after the powwow we had a lesson with Nick Reilly. It was our second lesson with him and it went really well. It was at our ward mission leaders house again and he was an awesome help with it too. I think he is really interested and I think it's going great. We even got him to say a prayer at the end of it. Then we had dinner with his parents. His dad was baptized 11 years ago and his mom was just baptized a couple months ago. We were talking about the lesson and they were really happy it was going so well. We even told Bro Reilly that Nick said the prayer at the end and he told us that he knew how to pray because he had heard his father do it so many times. This made his dad so happy that it brought tears to his eyes and he told us that he had never heard his son pray before. That was an awesome experience. So for all of you parents that don't think your kids are listening or paying attention to you. They are. To everything you do. So keep being an awesome example. It will benefit them and you so much!
Then Sunday was church and lessons. Nothing too special. Then Monday came around... that day sucked... it was Labor Day so everything was closed, including all the places we could do service at. And nobody was home to talk to or didn't want to talk to us on their day off... so we were able to go to the Cochrane parade in the morning. That was awesome! It was a sweet parade! Especially the Shriners and their little midget cars. I love those guys. I was even able to see Canadian Mounties all dressed up! They weren't on horses though... sad... but it was a lot of fun. We were even able to talk to some members there. But after that nothing.... we didn't even have a dinner... it was really a sad day.....
Come to think of it I should have left off on Saturday... but oh well. haha. Well that's it for me today... I'm still in Cochrane and still with Elder Grace. So I'm looking forward to see what happens here this transfer. Thanks for everything! I love you guys!
Love
Elder Townsend
Then on Tuesday we went out to Morley again. I love it out there. It is amazing! I love the natives! They are such nice and awesome people. And when we go out there we are able to see a lot of them. Which is good. We had some really good lessons out there. Including the House family which is one of the only two families that are semi-active.
Then Wednesday we were invited to go play fugitive with the youth. That was awesome. They dropped the youth at Cochrane Golf Course and they had to make it back to Cochrane Ranche without being caught by us and the leaders who were in cars. It was a lot of fun and it was a good opportunity to continue to get to know the youth and their families. We only lost one boy, haha. We started at seven and we all pretty much made it back to the Ranche by 8 or 830. But we figured out one of the boys was still out there somewhere. So we sent everyone out looking for him. We thought he died. Turns out he just took a really long way around and just walked into the Ranche around 10. haha. Well... I guess he did win. Good for him. haha. There were only about four out of the forty kids that actually made it back without getting caught. yea. That's how awesome we are! haha.
Then Thursday was fun. We went on exchanges with the Elders in Banff. So me and Elder Mercado came here. It was awesome. We did a lot of service but we had a lot of fun together! I love Elder Mercado! He is from the northern part of the Philippines and is amazing! He was baptized four years ago. Became a counselor in the bishopric, a Young Men's leader and a ward missionary. Before he came out on a mission he baptized five families into his branch. When I asked him what he did for fun back home he said missionary work in his branch. haha. He is awesome and he is hilarious! Everything he says is funny. Even when he doesn't mean for it to be. He is still working on his English so every now and then it sounds like he swears at you or something but he just gets words mixed up or doesn't know how to pronounce things. It's actually really funny. He really wants to eat a dog. Every time he sees one he says how good it would taste. haha. I love him. We had a lot of fun together. But it meant we had to drive him back to Banff as well... so we used 355 clicks that day... we only get 1700 for the month! haha. But it was well worth it and we had to do it anyway... the district leader has to go on exchanges. haha.
Then Saturday was awesome! We went to a powwow out in Morley! It was awesome! It was really loud... but a lot of fun. They were dancing and singing and beating drums. It was sweet. I wanted to buy a CD of the music but it cost way too much and I was going to buy some authentic, hand made native moccasins. But turns out they cost $90... yea.... I'm not spending that much on a couple of pieces of leather... I think it was because I was white... They like to take advantage of us "rich white people" haha. It was a lot of fun though. If you guys ever get a chance to go to a powwow I would highly recommend it. Then after the powwow we had a lesson with Nick Reilly. It was our second lesson with him and it went really well. It was at our ward mission leaders house again and he was an awesome help with it too. I think he is really interested and I think it's going great. We even got him to say a prayer at the end of it. Then we had dinner with his parents. His dad was baptized 11 years ago and his mom was just baptized a couple months ago. We were talking about the lesson and they were really happy it was going so well. We even told Bro Reilly that Nick said the prayer at the end and he told us that he knew how to pray because he had heard his father do it so many times. This made his dad so happy that it brought tears to his eyes and he told us that he had never heard his son pray before. That was an awesome experience. So for all of you parents that don't think your kids are listening or paying attention to you. They are. To everything you do. So keep being an awesome example. It will benefit them and you so much!
Then Sunday was church and lessons. Nothing too special. Then Monday came around... that day sucked... it was Labor Day so everything was closed, including all the places we could do service at. And nobody was home to talk to or didn't want to talk to us on their day off... so we were able to go to the Cochrane parade in the morning. That was awesome! It was a sweet parade! Especially the Shriners and their little midget cars. I love those guys. I was even able to see Canadian Mounties all dressed up! They weren't on horses though... sad... but it was a lot of fun. We were even able to talk to some members there. But after that nothing.... we didn't even have a dinner... it was really a sad day.....
Come to think of it I should have left off on Saturday... but oh well. haha. Well that's it for me today... I'm still in Cochrane and still with Elder Grace. So I'm looking forward to see what happens here this transfer. Thanks for everything! I love you guys!
Love
Elder Townsend
Banff!
The powow. Yes. Everyone out there is dancing. They just dance and walk around for hours on end. Its sweet!
I love their costumes. They are sweet!
MOUNTIES!!!!!!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
August 30, 2010
Hey everyone! This week was pretty good for me. I hope it went well for you guys! Last Monday we went in for Pday. It was the only time this transfer that we could do that. So it was fun. I got to play basketball and volleyball for the first time this transfer. It was great! It was made even better by the mail that I got! I continued to get even more birthday mail! It was awesome! So thank you to everyone again! It was awesome! I love you guys!
Then Tuesday we had zone conference. That was pretty good. We learned a lot on how to ask good questions and make our members and investigators learn by faith through their own words and answers. It's pretty sweet. Really hard though. I suck at asking good questions, but I'm working on it and I am getting better. So that's good. Oh and the church came out with eight new lessons for the missionaries. Not ones that we teach but ones that are taught to us. They are all about how we can teach the lessons to investigators more effectively. So we are going to be being taught these lessons in zone conferences and special trainings that we have. So that will be fun. President says we already know a lot of the stuff in the lessons, but that we will still be able to learn a lot from them. So I am excited to get trained on them and learn how to teach better!
Then Wednesday we helped this non member move in. That was sweet. Iit was a friend of a member and we got a couple of the young men to come help as well. It went really well and they really appreciated the work and we were even able to talk about the church a little bit. They weren't too eager to learn more, but their friends are still going to work on them. Then we had a lesson at our ward mission leaders house. He had invited the non member son of one of the families in our ward to take the lessons. So we went and taught him. It went pretty well. He said that he would read and pray so hopefully he will. And he told Jason, our ward mission leader, that he wanted to take the other lessons as well. So that's awesome. He is YSA age though so we might have to hand him over to the zone leaders... darn zone leaders taking all of my investigators! haha
Thursday we did a lot of service. At the food bank and the thrift store and then that night we had a lady call us and say that her son needed a blessing so we went over there. It was pretty sweet. The dad and other son were camping and the younger son had a bunch of dental work done and was asking for a blessing, which I thought was sweet because he was like 6 years old. So we went over and gave him a blessing and he was really excited to have it. It was awesome. And the mom, Sis McKinnon was really grateful that we could come over and do that for them. It was sweet. I love giving blessings!
Then Friday we had training all day. Me and Elder Grace trained the rest of our district on the how to ask good questions. Just like we learned from the zone leaders last week. Then we all had district lunch at a Chinese buffet. Then we went back and had a training by the assistants and president Archibald. It was really good and I learned a lot. But it seemed like this week we were sitting and getting a lot of training. From that and zone conference. So it was good but I was definitely sick of sitting around this week! haha
Then Saturday we spent the whole day filling the font and going to the baptism of an eight year old native from Morley. That was sweet. We were able to meet a lot of the people from Morley and we even set up some appointments to go teach them this week. So that will be fun. Then we all went to the Scholl's house for some food afterwards and it gave us a chance to continue to get to know some of the natives which was good.
So all in all this was a pretty good week for me. And we are going to go hiking out in Banff today so that will be sweet. I am really excited for that! Thank you all again for everything! I love you guys and miss you!
Love
Elder Townsend
Then Tuesday we had zone conference. That was pretty good. We learned a lot on how to ask good questions and make our members and investigators learn by faith through their own words and answers. It's pretty sweet. Really hard though. I suck at asking good questions, but I'm working on it and I am getting better. So that's good. Oh and the church came out with eight new lessons for the missionaries. Not ones that we teach but ones that are taught to us. They are all about how we can teach the lessons to investigators more effectively. So we are going to be being taught these lessons in zone conferences and special trainings that we have. So that will be fun. President says we already know a lot of the stuff in the lessons, but that we will still be able to learn a lot from them. So I am excited to get trained on them and learn how to teach better!
Then Wednesday we helped this non member move in. That was sweet. Iit was a friend of a member and we got a couple of the young men to come help as well. It went really well and they really appreciated the work and we were even able to talk about the church a little bit. They weren't too eager to learn more, but their friends are still going to work on them. Then we had a lesson at our ward mission leaders house. He had invited the non member son of one of the families in our ward to take the lessons. So we went and taught him. It went pretty well. He said that he would read and pray so hopefully he will. And he told Jason, our ward mission leader, that he wanted to take the other lessons as well. So that's awesome. He is YSA age though so we might have to hand him over to the zone leaders... darn zone leaders taking all of my investigators! haha
Thursday we did a lot of service. At the food bank and the thrift store and then that night we had a lady call us and say that her son needed a blessing so we went over there. It was pretty sweet. The dad and other son were camping and the younger son had a bunch of dental work done and was asking for a blessing, which I thought was sweet because he was like 6 years old. So we went over and gave him a blessing and he was really excited to have it. It was awesome. And the mom, Sis McKinnon was really grateful that we could come over and do that for them. It was sweet. I love giving blessings!
Then Friday we had training all day. Me and Elder Grace trained the rest of our district on the how to ask good questions. Just like we learned from the zone leaders last week. Then we all had district lunch at a Chinese buffet. Then we went back and had a training by the assistants and president Archibald. It was really good and I learned a lot. But it seemed like this week we were sitting and getting a lot of training. From that and zone conference. So it was good but I was definitely sick of sitting around this week! haha
Then Saturday we spent the whole day filling the font and going to the baptism of an eight year old native from Morley. That was sweet. We were able to meet a lot of the people from Morley and we even set up some appointments to go teach them this week. So that will be fun. Then we all went to the Scholl's house for some food afterwards and it gave us a chance to continue to get to know some of the natives which was good.
So all in all this was a pretty good week for me. And we are going to go hiking out in Banff today so that will be sweet. I am really excited for that! Thank you all again for everything! I love you guys and miss you!
Love
Elder Townsend
This ones for you Mom! haha. A member gave us this at church on Sunday
cows
cowsFriday, August 27, 2010
August 23, 2010
Hey everyone! How is it going? My week was pretty good. It seemed like it went on for forever! Monday was fun. We went and met the zone in Tuscany for Pday. Only about half the zone showed up though. But at first it was just us, the zone leaders and the sisters and we went and saw this old abandoned house that the sisters said was really cool. It wasn't all that exciting. It was just a house that the garage burned down and was left there. It smelled horrible inside. I think animals lived in there and there were remnants of late night teenager parties there as well. So that was kind of exciting... not really though. haha. Then we went back and found the rest of the Elders in the field so we played football and soccer and ultimate Frisbee and then we all went and got slurpees. So it wasn't a bad day. It was better then doing nothing out here in Cochrane which is what we were planning on doing. haha. I got mail for the first time in three weeks! It was awesome! I got four packages and six letters! It was sweet! So thank you to my parents and the Farr's and Nana and Don for the birthday packages! They were awesome! I can't remember who the letters were from right now.... but thank you guys too! It made my day! haha
Then Tuesday we had district meeting. That was fun. But even before that we had a family that wanted us to teach someone. The Leavitt's had a girl named Carlie over. We went there at like 7 in the morning and had breakfast and then we taught her the first lesson after that. I think it went really well. She said that we answered a lot of the questions that she had about our church and she was really interested in what she learned and she wanted to learn more. But she is a really busy girl. She is only seventeen but has two full time jobs and is a barrel racer in the rodeo. She graduated from high school in four months and has been working ever since. The Leavitt's have been trying to set up that appointment with her for five weeks. So she wanted to meet with us again but we don't know when that will be. The Leavitt's are amazing people though. They just got back from a mission so they are still in that missionary mode and when Carlie came to their house trying to sell them a water filtration system, they just did what missionaries do and we ended up teaching her. haha. I love members like that!
Then Wednesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Bradley to their area. That was awesome! I absolutely love Elder Bradley! He is hilarious! We had so much fun together! Why can't I get companions like him? haha. But at the end of the day we stopped by this family, the Elfords. Who are actually in my ward but have a YSA daughter in the zone leaders ward. But they just had a helicopter in their front yard... it was sweet! So obviously we had to take pictures with it. haha.
Then Friday and Saturday we spent the whole day with members out in Morley. That was sweet. We just stopped by as many members as we could and tried to get to know them and leave a Spiritual message with them. It was awesome. I love the natives! They are amazing people! The land that they are on in Morley is absolutely beautiful. I love it out there! Most of the members out there are less active though. They don't like waking up early enough to get out to church and they don't like making commitments. It's just part of their culture.
We are also helping the members we live with, the Comstock's, redo their walkway in their front yard. Just whenever we find a spare hour or whatever. It's pretty fun. We took up a bunch of bricks and redid the border for them and then got a lot of sand to put under the bricks. I might have had too much fun with that sand though. haha. I couldn't help it! And there were two of the Comstock's grandkids there so we were all playing in the sand. It was fun. haha.
That's pretty much it for my week though. We also had a lot of member lessons. I think we are gaining more member trust which is good. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this next week though. Thanks for everything guys! I miss you and love you all!
Love
Elder Townsend
Happy Birthday to Me!
Me in the Hopticopter
That is Elder Bradley
Then Tuesday we had district meeting. That was fun. But even before that we had a family that wanted us to teach someone. The Leavitt's had a girl named Carlie over. We went there at like 7 in the morning and had breakfast and then we taught her the first lesson after that. I think it went really well. She said that we answered a lot of the questions that she had about our church and she was really interested in what she learned and she wanted to learn more. But she is a really busy girl. She is only seventeen but has two full time jobs and is a barrel racer in the rodeo. She graduated from high school in four months and has been working ever since. The Leavitt's have been trying to set up that appointment with her for five weeks. So she wanted to meet with us again but we don't know when that will be. The Leavitt's are amazing people though. They just got back from a mission so they are still in that missionary mode and when Carlie came to their house trying to sell them a water filtration system, they just did what missionaries do and we ended up teaching her. haha. I love members like that!
Then Wednesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Bradley to their area. That was awesome! I absolutely love Elder Bradley! He is hilarious! We had so much fun together! Why can't I get companions like him? haha. But at the end of the day we stopped by this family, the Elfords. Who are actually in my ward but have a YSA daughter in the zone leaders ward. But they just had a helicopter in their front yard... it was sweet! So obviously we had to take pictures with it. haha.
Then Friday and Saturday we spent the whole day with members out in Morley. That was sweet. We just stopped by as many members as we could and tried to get to know them and leave a Spiritual message with them. It was awesome. I love the natives! They are amazing people! The land that they are on in Morley is absolutely beautiful. I love it out there! Most of the members out there are less active though. They don't like waking up early enough to get out to church and they don't like making commitments. It's just part of their culture.
We are also helping the members we live with, the Comstock's, redo their walkway in their front yard. Just whenever we find a spare hour or whatever. It's pretty fun. We took up a bunch of bricks and redid the border for them and then got a lot of sand to put under the bricks. I might have had too much fun with that sand though. haha. I couldn't help it! And there were two of the Comstock's grandkids there so we were all playing in the sand. It was fun. haha.
That's pretty much it for my week though. We also had a lot of member lessons. I think we are gaining more member trust which is good. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this next week though. Thanks for everything guys! I miss you and love you all!
Love
Elder Townsend
Me and my sand bird, haha
Happy Birthday to Me!Me in the HopticopterThat is Elder Bradley
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
August 16, 2010
Hey guys! How is it going? This week was pretty good. Not too much that really stands out as exciting. Monday we had Pday but we couldn't go in to the stake center to be with the rest of the zone because we live too far away... I don't like that rule. But we called a bunch of the young men and they came out and played basketball with us at the Cochrane chapel so that was pretty fun. It was a sweet way to get to know the youth in the ward. There are some awesome ones here. And they are all really tall and good at basketball... and I'm not either of those so that was sad. haha. But today the zone is all going to go to Tuscany and play fugitive in some ravine, so we actually get to go in this time since Tuscany is in our district! Yea! And the best news is that I finally get mail!!!! I haven't had mail all transfer because we are so far away that we never see the zone leaders. That also means that I get my birthday package today! Woohoo! Yes, it was my birthday on Friday and yes that means that it was Friday the thirteenth.... sad. (mom I wasn't born on a Friday was I?) It was a pretty average day though. Not too different from any other day. We went and did some service at Compassion Africa and I got some free clothes from there. Then we went to the thrift store and I found a coca cola sign that was awesome and Tina gave me that for free. So that was sweet. I considered those my birthday presents since I didn't get my package that day. haha. Then we had dinner with this really nice older couple. They fed us really good taco salad with all fresh grown vegetables, even the corn. It was awesome! And then they even made a cake for me. I wasn't going to tell anyone it was my birthday, but apparently Elder Grace put it on the dinner calendar so they knew... haha. It was fun though. For a birthday on a mission in Canada I didn't really expect much else. Oh and in the morning I got the call from all the senior couples in the mission office and they sang Happy Birthday to me. That was pretty sweet and a bit of a surprise because I had actually forgotten it was my birthday until that happened. haha.
We still have a lot of service that we are doing though. Which is really fun. I wish we could teach more of the members though. But this ward is kind of interesting. Nobody really seems to want to meet with us. If we ask they say they will call us and never do or they will talk to us later at church and then seem to avoid us. But I think slowly we are building member trust. We got more lessons this week then we did last week. And we are getting more people to sign up for dinner. And even on Sunday the Leavitt's came up to us and told us they had someone for us to teach and so we are going over there tomorrow. So that is going to be exciting. And the best part about that, I thought, was that the Leavitt's are the ones that got mad at us when we missed dinner the first day Elder Grace was here. So apparently they weren't too mad at us, eh?
But one of the best parts of the week was we had a lesson with a recent convert named Pat Hocaluk and we couldn't find priesthood to come with us so we were just going to stop by and see if we could talk to her on the porch for a bit. When we got there she said she really wasn't feeling good so we asked if she wanted a blessing. We had to go find priesthood though. Bishop lives a couple houses down from her so we went to go see if he was home but he wasn't. His wife called Bro Henry and got him to come. So we went and talked to her for a while and Bro Henry was awesome. He just kept talking about the plan of salvation and temple work and how her son that passed away when he was 22 was still alright and how we don't always know the Lord's plan. It was awesome. The Spirit was very strong. Then she asked me to give the blessing. I was really nervous. Even though last conference there was a talk about how we shouldn't ever be nervous when giving a blessing because it doesn't really matter what we say. The Lord is still going to bless them the same. But yet I was still nervous that I was going to kill the Spirit there or something but it turned out great. I don't really remember anything I said, but it was amazing. I loved it. It was definitely my favorite part of the week.
Well it has come to my attention that I haven't talked about the place I live yet. So we live with the Comstocks. They are funny people. Not home much though. But we live in their basement in a tiny place. We have our room and then a room that is our kitchen bathroom and laundry room all in one... it's awesome. haha. It isn't bad at all though. And it really doesn't matter what the place we live in is like. We aren't there much. And they let us go anywhere in their house so we aren't confined to those close quarters which is good. So that's pretty much that. I don't have much else to say. Thank you guys for everything! I love you!
Love
Elder Townsend
Birthday!
Cochrane scenery
Downtown Cochrane! Look how small and cute it is.... haha
The bedroom
The three-in-one-room. haha
We still have a lot of service that we are doing though. Which is really fun. I wish we could teach more of the members though. But this ward is kind of interesting. Nobody really seems to want to meet with us. If we ask they say they will call us and never do or they will talk to us later at church and then seem to avoid us. But I think slowly we are building member trust. We got more lessons this week then we did last week. And we are getting more people to sign up for dinner. And even on Sunday the Leavitt's came up to us and told us they had someone for us to teach and so we are going over there tomorrow. So that is going to be exciting. And the best part about that, I thought, was that the Leavitt's are the ones that got mad at us when we missed dinner the first day Elder Grace was here. So apparently they weren't too mad at us, eh?
But one of the best parts of the week was we had a lesson with a recent convert named Pat Hocaluk and we couldn't find priesthood to come with us so we were just going to stop by and see if we could talk to her on the porch for a bit. When we got there she said she really wasn't feeling good so we asked if she wanted a blessing. We had to go find priesthood though. Bishop lives a couple houses down from her so we went to go see if he was home but he wasn't. His wife called Bro Henry and got him to come. So we went and talked to her for a while and Bro Henry was awesome. He just kept talking about the plan of salvation and temple work and how her son that passed away when he was 22 was still alright and how we don't always know the Lord's plan. It was awesome. The Spirit was very strong. Then she asked me to give the blessing. I was really nervous. Even though last conference there was a talk about how we shouldn't ever be nervous when giving a blessing because it doesn't really matter what we say. The Lord is still going to bless them the same. But yet I was still nervous that I was going to kill the Spirit there or something but it turned out great. I don't really remember anything I said, but it was amazing. I loved it. It was definitely my favorite part of the week.
Well it has come to my attention that I haven't talked about the place I live yet. So we live with the Comstocks. They are funny people. Not home much though. But we live in their basement in a tiny place. We have our room and then a room that is our kitchen bathroom and laundry room all in one... it's awesome. haha. It isn't bad at all though. And it really doesn't matter what the place we live in is like. We aren't there much. And they let us go anywhere in their house so we aren't confined to those close quarters which is good. So that's pretty much that. I don't have much else to say. Thank you guys for everything! I love you!
Love
Elder Townsend
Cochrane sceneryDowntown Cochrane! Look how small and cute it is.... hahaThe bedroomThe three-in-one-room. hahaFriday, August 13, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
August 9, 2010
Hey everyone! How is it going? So after such a busy week last week I had a pretty slow one this week with not very much going on. Cochrane is a tiny town and there isn't much to do here. The ward is amazing though. I love the people here. They are so nice to us which is awesome since they don't really know either of us at all. Elder Grace put that it was my birthday this Friday so someone signed up to feed us then... I was kind of hoping that the ward really wouldn't find out. I don't think I really like things being about me... but I guess it's a good thing. It got someone to sign up for the dinner calendar so we are going to get fed. So that's good. And the ward pretty much filled up the dinner calendar for the rest of the month which is awesome! We have had a lot of people come and tell us they might have people for us to teach. So that would be great because we don't really have that many people to teach at all. I think Elder Basinger and Elder Estes were too good of missionaries. They were the last missionaries here and they seemed to have baptized pretty much everyone that was interested in being baptized! Which is great for them and it means we have a lot of recent converts we can teach, but it left our investigator teaching pool pretty darn empty... but that is where the service we can do here comes in handy. I might have told you guys about them last week but we have the food bank, the thrift store, the library and Compassion Africa which collects clothes and sends them to Kenya. It's pretty sweet. I do love service and it's keeping us pretty busy for the days. But it would be nice to replace some of that time with teaching people. haha. That's pretty much all I really have to say about our week though. Not much really happened. Elder grace seems like a pretty cool guy. I haven't even been with him for a week yet though. And he is a little bit hard to understand. He went to speech therapy for twelve years of his life but he still has a pretty bad lisp. So me and members ask him to repeat himself a lot. I think he gets kind of frustrated with it at times. He is a good missionary though. He works hard and we still have fun together.
Anyway, so Cochrane is actually a pretty cool place. The downtown is pretty small but there are a ton of houses out here and they are pretty spread out. So it makes this area huge! We drive about 50 kilometers everyday and it doesn't even seem like we do very much every day. We also cover a native reserve, which is awesome. It's called Morley and it is the Stoney Indians. They are pretty sweet. The natives are so humble and willing to learn, it's pretty awesome to see. The only problem is that they aren't very committed. Pretty much all of the members there are less active. There used to be a branch out there, but nobody ever came so they combined it with our ward. We actually have a separate Sunday school class for the natives. It's pretty cool. They cover the basics and teach it really simply so that they can understand. It's pretty awesome. But there aren't many people there. Yesterday we had a Mom and her two sons and then some others from the ward in it. It is a really good idea though. I think the natives will learn a lot better in that environment. Especially because they aren't very outspoken and kind of shy around non natives so a class for themselves that goes at their pace is awesome. We haven't gone out to Morley much though which is sad. I really like it there, but its a 45 min drive to get there and "isn't safe" for us to go alone so we have to get a ride every time we go there. I've only been out there once so far. It was fun though.
And for how big this area is there isn't much fun things to do. Since we are too far from the stake center we can't go in for Pdays and play basketball or whatever with the rest of the missionaries so we are kind of stuck with not much to do... So we called a bunch of the youth last night and hopefully we can get some out to play with us at our chapel today. Last Pday was really fun though. That was when I was with the zone leaders and the Rockyview Elders said Bob, the guy we did service with when I was there, was taking them to Kaninaskis for a hike and he asked if I wanted to come. So I went with them. It was actually a lot of fun. We hiked along this river and then came to a big waterfall after a while. I really enjoyed it. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of hiking. But I hope that one of these Pdays we can get out to Banff. We have to find a member that will take us though... but I hear it's beautiful up there! anyway.... that's pretty much it this week! Thanks for everything!
Love
Elder Townsend
Climbing up a rock... kind of
Waterfall
Epic
"The view from the summit is worth the effort"
It said drinking water... so why not try it?!?!
Where was this sign before?!.... 
Anyway, so Cochrane is actually a pretty cool place. The downtown is pretty small but there are a ton of houses out here and they are pretty spread out. So it makes this area huge! We drive about 50 kilometers everyday and it doesn't even seem like we do very much every day. We also cover a native reserve, which is awesome. It's called Morley and it is the Stoney Indians. They are pretty sweet. The natives are so humble and willing to learn, it's pretty awesome to see. The only problem is that they aren't very committed. Pretty much all of the members there are less active. There used to be a branch out there, but nobody ever came so they combined it with our ward. We actually have a separate Sunday school class for the natives. It's pretty cool. They cover the basics and teach it really simply so that they can understand. It's pretty awesome. But there aren't many people there. Yesterday we had a Mom and her two sons and then some others from the ward in it. It is a really good idea though. I think the natives will learn a lot better in that environment. Especially because they aren't very outspoken and kind of shy around non natives so a class for themselves that goes at their pace is awesome. We haven't gone out to Morley much though which is sad. I really like it there, but its a 45 min drive to get there and "isn't safe" for us to go alone so we have to get a ride every time we go there. I've only been out there once so far. It was fun though.
And for how big this area is there isn't much fun things to do. Since we are too far from the stake center we can't go in for Pdays and play basketball or whatever with the rest of the missionaries so we are kind of stuck with not much to do... So we called a bunch of the youth last night and hopefully we can get some out to play with us at our chapel today. Last Pday was really fun though. That was when I was with the zone leaders and the Rockyview Elders said Bob, the guy we did service with when I was there, was taking them to Kaninaskis for a hike and he asked if I wanted to come. So I went with them. It was actually a lot of fun. We hiked along this river and then came to a big waterfall after a while. I really enjoyed it. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of hiking. But I hope that one of these Pdays we can get out to Banff. We have to find a member that will take us though... but I hear it's beautiful up there! anyway.... that's pretty much it this week! Thanks for everything!
Love
Elder Townsend
Hiking
Climbing up a rock... kind ofWaterfallEpic"The view from the summit is worth the effort"It said drinking water... so why not try it?!?!Where was this sign before?!.... Wednesday, August 4, 2010
August 4, 2010 - Sorry its late, I couldn't help it! haha
What is up everyone? How have things been going? This has been the craziest week of my mission so far. So, Tuesday we found out transfers and me and Elder Gelwix were both leaving and a lot of other people in the zone were as well so most of them went to go pack and say goodbye to people. So nobody got together at all so me, Reese, Gelwix and Lake all went and hung out with Emma and Richard for the day. We played Uno and rugby. It was actually a lot of fun. Then me and Elder Reese went to go meet his greeny because he was training. That was fun. He got a guy named Elder Hansen. He's really tall and seems really fun. I really like him. But it was kind of sad because I couldn't go say goodbye to people that night. Which sucked. That has happened to me in all of my areas now. But luckily they tell us if we are training the week before so I said goodbye to people the whole weekend. I really loved that area. It was awesome. I really understand how missionaries can grow to love an area and people so quickly now. I was only there for four and a half months but I feel like everyone there was family. Which is probably why I left now that I think about it... haha.
Then Wednesday was transfers. We had to drive to the Mission Home/Willow Park chapel and be there at 830. We got stuck in traffic and didn't make it till about 9 though. But we met our new comps there and I got Elder Mott. He's awesome! I love that guy! Then I said goodbye to a bunch of people there especially the ones going home. This transfer going home was huge and I knew all of them pretty well. It's going to be weird to not have them in the mission now. It was kind of sad. But I was actually really excited because me and Elder Mott get along great. So we go to Cochrane and this place is awesome. It's a little town of 15,000 people or so, I think. It's pretty awesome it's in the middle of the country and the town is tiny. Just a couple streets for the downtown area. There are a lot of houses around it though. So we drove around for a while trying to get acquainted with the area and then we were told by the previous missionaries to go to a place called Twisted Basil. (oh, just in case you were wondering we were both new to the area and had no idea where anything was or what was going on. but the two missionaries before us left pretty good notes so that was good.) So we show up to this place called Twisted Basil. It's a little hole in the wall Mexican looking place that sells all fresh local organic foods. We were told they would give us free food but we had no idea how that worked so it was really awkward for a while. Luckily the Bishop's daughter was there and recognized us and told us how everything works. It's owned by members and we just put whatever food we want on the "elders account". It's pretty sweet. We go there every Wednesday for dinner. It's not the best food or very much food but its free. I can't complain. haha. Then we went back and unpacked for the rest of the night.
Then Thursday we went to the food bank. We were told we do service there but we didn't know where it was. So it took us a while to find this little warehouse in the back of the city. It was awesome though. We went and collected food from the stores in town and then we helped the ladies there sort it into boxes. It was actually a lot of fun and the ladies there are pretty funny. The best part was that when we left they said we could take whatever food we wanted. Which was awesome! Because it was the end of the month and we had no money left and with both of us being new to the area, we had absolutely no food. So that was awesome! Then we helped this one lady mow her lawn. We didn't know she wasn't a member though till the end. So that was kind of fun. But we got eaten alive by mosquitoes! It was ridiculous! I couldn't believe how many of them were there!
Thursday night the assistants called and wanted to talk to Elder Mott. They didn't sound too happy. Turns out they had found out that Eder Mott and his companion while they had been serving downtown had gone to the Stampede and went to a concert. Which we are not allowed to do... so they weren't too happy about that so they said he was going to have to have an interview with president. So that was kind of sad/crazy. It wasn't a very happy night. Then Friday we woke up and went and did some service at this place called Compassion Africa where they collect clothes and sporting equipment and ship it to Africa and then we had a couple of our investigators we stopped by and said hi to and introduced ourselves and then we had dinner with a family that we decided we would walk to and on our way there was this huge black as black cloud coming towards us and then a guy in a news van pulled over and told us to find shelter because there was a tornado warning for Cochrane. That freaking scared us so we booked it to our dinner and they were watching the news and Elder Mott was freaking out thinking he was going to die but turns out the storm went right by us. It was still sunny the whole time. Kind of anticlimactic if you ask me. haha. But we had a really good dinner with them and then we started back home. But then we got a call from the AP's again saying that Elder Mott was going to get special transferred down to Lethbridge and I was going to get a new companion. He was going to leave Sunday night and I'd get my new comp Tuesday and stay with the zone leaders till he came. That was really sad. I freaking love Elder Mott. He was awesome!
Saturday we did some service at the thrift store here called Cochrane Home Treasures. That was actually a lot of fun. We helped them move a lot of furniture around that they kept getting in throughout the day and we were testing all of the electronic things and making sure they all worked before we sold them. It was actually a lot of fun and the people there were awesome too! It's sweet though. There is so much service opportunity here. We are going to be doing a lot of service here I can tell. It's going to be a lot of fun. Then we had a member that came in and asked us if we had a dinner and then invited us over. That was awesome. We had a really good dinner there! Then we headed back to Rockyview to go see Heather Halstead get baptized! That was awesome! It went really well and the best part was seeing her dad give her a big hug after she was baptized. He was the non member who wasn't too excited that she was going to be baptized. So hopefully that softened his heart a little bit. It was a great day though. It was awesome to see that go through and I was able to see people from that ward again too. Most of them didn't now I had left though because I only left like three days earlier. So that was funny.
Sunday we went to church and that was awesome! This ward is amazing! We had like four people come up to us and tell us they wanted to have us over for dinner and they wanted to invite a friend for us to teach as well. It was pretty amazing! Elder Mott wasn't too excited though because he knew he was leaving in a couple of hours. Then we went home and packed up Elder Mott and took him to the Stake Center where we met the AP's and they went and took him to Lethbridge. That was really sad. I was only with him for four days but I loved him. He was awesome! Then I went with the zone leaders. I was not too excited about that. I was with them till Tuesday. They were actually pretty fun though. Elders Bradley and Clarke. We had a lot of fun together and we were able to have some pretty good lessons. Then Tuesday I was supposed to get Elder Grace, my new companion at four thirty, but the AP's said they wouldn't be there till 730 so we went to a couple more lessons. Then we went and picked him up. He seems like a pretty cool guy. Kind of quiet though. But I think things are going to go really well this transfer. We are getting along pretty well though considering we've only been together for 15 hours or so now... haha.
I was really mad at the AP's though. Turns out for some reason my phone didn't work when I was with the zone leaders and there was someone who had signed up for dinner on Tuesday and were expecting us there at around six. But we didn't get into town around 8.... so that didn't work out so well. When we got into town we had five voicemail's from them saying how they expected us to be there and they were inviting a less active family and then that they were coming to pick us up and then that that they were at our house waiting for us.... so that was sad. Then when we called them back to apologize they forgave us but I get the feeling that it will take a while for us to gain their trust back. So that sucks. Those darn AP's ruin everything!
That's pretty much my week though. It was absolutely crazy.... so much happened. Even more stuff then I even put into this email. It was insane! This is really long though so I'll end it. Thanks for everything guys! I'll let you know how things are going next week!
Love,
Elder Townsend
Saying goodbye to the Woodruffs
Welcome to Cochrane!
Tornado warning
Goodbye Elder Mott... :'(
Then Wednesday was transfers. We had to drive to the Mission Home/Willow Park chapel and be there at 830. We got stuck in traffic and didn't make it till about 9 though. But we met our new comps there and I got Elder Mott. He's awesome! I love that guy! Then I said goodbye to a bunch of people there especially the ones going home. This transfer going home was huge and I knew all of them pretty well. It's going to be weird to not have them in the mission now. It was kind of sad. But I was actually really excited because me and Elder Mott get along great. So we go to Cochrane and this place is awesome. It's a little town of 15,000 people or so, I think. It's pretty awesome it's in the middle of the country and the town is tiny. Just a couple streets for the downtown area. There are a lot of houses around it though. So we drove around for a while trying to get acquainted with the area and then we were told by the previous missionaries to go to a place called Twisted Basil. (oh, just in case you were wondering we were both new to the area and had no idea where anything was or what was going on. but the two missionaries before us left pretty good notes so that was good.) So we show up to this place called Twisted Basil. It's a little hole in the wall Mexican looking place that sells all fresh local organic foods. We were told they would give us free food but we had no idea how that worked so it was really awkward for a while. Luckily the Bishop's daughter was there and recognized us and told us how everything works. It's owned by members and we just put whatever food we want on the "elders account". It's pretty sweet. We go there every Wednesday for dinner. It's not the best food or very much food but its free. I can't complain. haha. Then we went back and unpacked for the rest of the night.
Then Thursday we went to the food bank. We were told we do service there but we didn't know where it was. So it took us a while to find this little warehouse in the back of the city. It was awesome though. We went and collected food from the stores in town and then we helped the ladies there sort it into boxes. It was actually a lot of fun and the ladies there are pretty funny. The best part was that when we left they said we could take whatever food we wanted. Which was awesome! Because it was the end of the month and we had no money left and with both of us being new to the area, we had absolutely no food. So that was awesome! Then we helped this one lady mow her lawn. We didn't know she wasn't a member though till the end. So that was kind of fun. But we got eaten alive by mosquitoes! It was ridiculous! I couldn't believe how many of them were there!
Thursday night the assistants called and wanted to talk to Elder Mott. They didn't sound too happy. Turns out they had found out that Eder Mott and his companion while they had been serving downtown had gone to the Stampede and went to a concert. Which we are not allowed to do... so they weren't too happy about that so they said he was going to have to have an interview with president. So that was kind of sad/crazy. It wasn't a very happy night. Then Friday we woke up and went and did some service at this place called Compassion Africa where they collect clothes and sporting equipment and ship it to Africa and then we had a couple of our investigators we stopped by and said hi to and introduced ourselves and then we had dinner with a family that we decided we would walk to and on our way there was this huge black as black cloud coming towards us and then a guy in a news van pulled over and told us to find shelter because there was a tornado warning for Cochrane. That freaking scared us so we booked it to our dinner and they were watching the news and Elder Mott was freaking out thinking he was going to die but turns out the storm went right by us. It was still sunny the whole time. Kind of anticlimactic if you ask me. haha. But we had a really good dinner with them and then we started back home. But then we got a call from the AP's again saying that Elder Mott was going to get special transferred down to Lethbridge and I was going to get a new companion. He was going to leave Sunday night and I'd get my new comp Tuesday and stay with the zone leaders till he came. That was really sad. I freaking love Elder Mott. He was awesome!
Saturday we did some service at the thrift store here called Cochrane Home Treasures. That was actually a lot of fun. We helped them move a lot of furniture around that they kept getting in throughout the day and we were testing all of the electronic things and making sure they all worked before we sold them. It was actually a lot of fun and the people there were awesome too! It's sweet though. There is so much service opportunity here. We are going to be doing a lot of service here I can tell. It's going to be a lot of fun. Then we had a member that came in and asked us if we had a dinner and then invited us over. That was awesome. We had a really good dinner there! Then we headed back to Rockyview to go see Heather Halstead get baptized! That was awesome! It went really well and the best part was seeing her dad give her a big hug after she was baptized. He was the non member who wasn't too excited that she was going to be baptized. So hopefully that softened his heart a little bit. It was a great day though. It was awesome to see that go through and I was able to see people from that ward again too. Most of them didn't now I had left though because I only left like three days earlier. So that was funny.
Sunday we went to church and that was awesome! This ward is amazing! We had like four people come up to us and tell us they wanted to have us over for dinner and they wanted to invite a friend for us to teach as well. It was pretty amazing! Elder Mott wasn't too excited though because he knew he was leaving in a couple of hours. Then we went home and packed up Elder Mott and took him to the Stake Center where we met the AP's and they went and took him to Lethbridge. That was really sad. I was only with him for four days but I loved him. He was awesome! Then I went with the zone leaders. I was not too excited about that. I was with them till Tuesday. They were actually pretty fun though. Elders Bradley and Clarke. We had a lot of fun together and we were able to have some pretty good lessons. Then Tuesday I was supposed to get Elder Grace, my new companion at four thirty, but the AP's said they wouldn't be there till 730 so we went to a couple more lessons. Then we went and picked him up. He seems like a pretty cool guy. Kind of quiet though. But I think things are going to go really well this transfer. We are getting along pretty well though considering we've only been together for 15 hours or so now... haha.
I was really mad at the AP's though. Turns out for some reason my phone didn't work when I was with the zone leaders and there was someone who had signed up for dinner on Tuesday and were expecting us there at around six. But we didn't get into town around 8.... so that didn't work out so well. When we got into town we had five voicemail's from them saying how they expected us to be there and they were inviting a less active family and then that they were coming to pick us up and then that that they were at our house waiting for us.... so that was sad. Then when we called them back to apologize they forgave us but I get the feeling that it will take a while for us to gain their trust back. So that sucks. Those darn AP's ruin everything!
That's pretty much my week though. It was absolutely crazy.... so much happened. Even more stuff then I even put into this email. It was insane! This is really long though so I'll end it. Thanks for everything guys! I'll let you know how things are going next week!
Love,
Elder Townsend
Saying goodbye to the Woodruffs
Welcome to Cochrane!Tornado warningGoodbye Elder Mott... :'(
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
