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

Me and my sand bird, haha

Happy Birthday to Me!

Me in the Hopticopter

That is Elder Bradley

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 bedroomThe three-in-one-room. haha

Devin's Birthday

we enjoyed having your son for his birthday

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

Hiking

Climbing up a rock... kind ofWaterfall

Epic"The view from the summit is worth the effort"

It said drinking water... so why not try it?!?!Where was this sign before?!....

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 warningGoodbye Elder Mott... :'(

July 27, 2010

Hey everyone! Guess what? I'm getting transferred. How sad is that? I knew it was going to happen though. I really started to like this ward this last transfer and have started to see a lot of really good friends come from here and I've been able to see this place really progress and make a lot of progress since I've been here. So I figured since all of that has been happening it was really just time for me to leave. Sad, but true. But the good news is that I'm still in the west zone and I'm only going to be like a half an hour away from here. So I'll still be able to see missionaries and hopefully members from here every now and then. That's going to be sweet! So I'm going to an area named Cochrane. It is actually another city I think.... just a little one. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere and a little farm town. From what I hear at least. And we cover part of an Indian Reserve so that is going to be awesome! I'm going to go teach the natives! And the last people to be in that area, Elders Basinger and Estes, have seen a lot of success in that area so hopefully I can continue that out there! My new companion is Elder Mott. I don't really know much about him except that he is about a year out on his mission, and my zone leaders here say he is a pretty good guy. So I am excited to go over there and serve with him and see what good we can do together.

The rest of the week this week was a pretty good one too. We didn't do much on Pday except play basketball. It was actually really fun though because we told Richard that he should come and he did so that made things a lot of fun. I love that guy. He is hilarious! Then Tuesday we had district meetings and then we went with the Royal Oak missionaries, Gelwix and Lake, and taught Richard together. That was awesome! The lesson actually went really well and the four of us missionaries and Richard and Emma had a blast together. It's times like that that are really going to make me miss this area. I've had a lot of good memories and hopefully lifelong friends made here. Then after Richard we went and taught a bunch of members for the rest of the day.

Then Wednesday we went on exchanges so I went with Elder Lake into his area and had a blast. We planned our day and then went and taught Richard again. This time just me and Lake. And we couldn't take the car anywhere so we had Richard and Emma come to Royal Oak and then we taught them in the chapel in the building there. That lesson went really well too. And we had a lot of fun together then too. And afterward we spent a little bit of time throwing a football around and having Richard and Emma try to teach me how to throw a rugby ball.... I really suck at that game.... it's kind of sad. Then we went and had an awesome dinner with some members in their ward. They gave us delicious steaks and then ice cream cake. It was amazing. And they were a really funny family too. They had a bunch of kids and they were hilarious! And we taught them a lesson at the end of dinner and then went to someone else and taught them. It was a really fun day though. I really enjoy exchanges. It's kind of a break from your area and companion and just kind of a day to get yourself rejuvenated. haha

Then Thursday was a lot of fun too. We had weekly planning and then went and did some service for Sis Moraes and her daughter. They wanted to go get some dirt and then move it to the yard of their apartment to even in out. But we didn't have a truck so we just threw a tarp into their trunk and then threw all the dirt into the trunk. It was hilarious! The back of that car was very weighed down and it looked really funny as it was driving down the road. But we couldn't be in the car with them so we had to ride our bikes to the dirt pile and back twice. That sucked... it was a huge hill! I almost died! OK, not really, but it still wasn't fun! We had a lot of fun with that and then we talked to them for a while. They are a pretty fun family. I really enjoy being around them, and Sis Moraes is hilarious! She's from Brazil which for some reason just makes her even more fun to talk to. haha

Then the funniest thing happened Thursday night. We got a call from the AP's and they asked for me and then told me to put it on speaker and then asked if I knew what happened the Thursday before transfers and I said "training calls" and they were all, yep. So would you mind telling Elder Reese that he is training! And then I just burst out laughing! Because this whole transfer I told him he was training and then he just got mad at me. haha. But, indeed he is training and that meant that I was pretty darn sure that I was leaving the area. It is very rare that they make someone go into a new area to train. So I really just spent the rest of the week saying goodbye to people when I saw them. But that also meant that the next day on Friday we had to go to a trainers training meeting for Elder Reese. It went from twelve to five so it took up our whole day and we had to cancel on two investigators to go. And then we get there and it's all just about how the trainers need to act and what they need to do to be good trainers.... so what did I do? Just sat there with nothing to do because it was all directed at the trainers. They didn't even ask me questions or anything. So that was kind of a bummer. I basically didn't do anything on Friday. Tnd then we got back and Sam finally came back from his vacation and he wanted to take us to dinner so we went with him to Montana's and had some really good ribs. We talked to him for a while just about stuff. He said he would have us over on Monday night and we could have a lesson. But when Monday night came around he wasn't home. So I probably won't get to see him again ever. Maybe missionaries won't see him again ever. He is going back to Malaysia on Wed or Thurs to go see his mom who isn't doing to good health wise. And I don't think they have missionaries in Malaysia. So that was actually really sad for me. But I guess we planted a pretty good seed for him.

Saturday was awesome! Richard got baptized! I was so excited that I was able to be here for it. It really was a great day. The baptism went really well. It was pretty funny though because the Allen's did pretty much everything for it. They gave the talks, conducted, baptized him, and confirmed him. Which makes sense since it was Emma Allen who pretty much brought him to this point and he got to know the Allen's really well. But it was kind of funny too see them all doing that and it was also pretty funny because he had to be baptized into the Royal Oak ward but the bishop and ward mission leader in that ward didn't even meet him until that day... so that was really weird and semi humorous. haha. The service was amazing though. Emma's brother and Dad gave really good talks and it was awesome to see Richard be baptized. There is always a special Spirit at baptisms and I really enjoy going to them. Then after the baptism we went over to the Allen's house for some snacks and stuff and then we went and played some rugby. Again they tired to teach me how but I must admit. I really do just suck at that game. It is really fun though. I wish I was better at it. But we had a lot of fun with that. Then we went and I said goodbye to a couple more families and gave quick messages.

Then Sunday we went to our ward and that was pretty sweet. I said goodbye to a couple more people there and it was actually sweet because the whole ward, pretty much, met together for the third hour and bishop just talked a lot about how we need to always be looking for those opportunities to serve in our communities and make our presence as a church more well known and hopefully that will help to bring more people into the gospel. It was awesome to see that and to see how much the ward's outlook on missionary work has changed in the four and a half months I was here. It was sweet. And I also got a lot of comments from people about how much they appreciated the work that I had done in the ward and how great of a missionary they thought I was and how grateful they were to have had me here for this time. It was cool to see that. It was fun to hear all of those things and how much people appreciate the work that I do. It's nice to know that the work I put into this area is appreciated. It was so much fun to hear that. And I guess its a good thing that I am leaving this area now. I'm leaving it on a high note. With two baptisms! well.... one and a half.... Richard doesn't really count for this area. bummer eh? But I am excited. I love this area and the people here but I'm sure I'll like my new area as well.

Then Monday was pretty sweet as well. We did some service with the Atwoods and an older couple in our ward. We mowed their grass and weeded and then we went down to a potential investigators house and did the same thing for him. His name is Alf and then he showed us his 1940 Ford and his 62 Thunderbird.. they were pretty sweet. Then he took us for a ride in the Thunderbird. It was awesome! He's a pretty fun guy. Then we had a lesson with Mitch and Savanna. That went really well. Mitch is doing really well on quitting smoking and says he feels like a new man. So that was sweet to see! He just seems happier and healthier. The Word of Wisdom really does help with health! Then we had dinner with the Moraes and Emma and Richard at Angel's drive-in. It was delicious and fun! The six of us all squished into a little booth and we just had a blast. It was a great way to remember this area. I love it here. The people are great. The area is great and I just love it. I'm going to have to come back and visit one day.

That was my eventful week. A lot happened and it was awesome! And if it doesn't make sense I'm sorry. People keep calling and asking where I am going so I get distracted a lot. haha. Oh also, we went and found the Silver Springs on Monday. We walked down this wooden path to a place where these springs are coming out of the rocks and that is why this area is called Silver Springs. It was awesome. I cant believe a place like that was so close to me for four months and I never knew about it. It was amazing. Well, I cant wait to let you guys know how my first week in Cochrane goes. I love you guys! Have fun! Be safe!

Love,
Elder Townsend

'40 Ford
'62 ThunderbirdWalking to the silver springs
The waterfallTrunk full of dirt... haha

Me and Richard!

Matching ties!!
Me, Richard and Emma

Savanna, Mitch and me

July 19, 2010

Hey everyone! How is it going? Hope you guys had an exciting week. I did. Exciting and crazy. I'm so tired.... only ten more hours before I can go back to sleep. But that is still way too far away.... it's going to be a long day... haha It was a pretty good week though. Just a really sad one as well.

Monday it hailed like crazy! It was insane! I've never seen so much hail! It damaged a lot of cars. In fact all of the Mandarin missionaries were at the same chapel for Pday and all of their windshields got destroyed! It was crazy. So none of them had cars this week because they were in the shop. It was a good time for it though because it is half click month this month so we only get half of the kilometers we would normally get. Which doesn't really affect me too much. I'm just stuck walking all the time because one of the missionaries we are in a car share with got planter warts on his feet so he can't walk. So I've been walking and riding bikes all this month. Which really isn't that bad. Our area is pretty small compared to others.

Tuesday we had zone conference. That was pretty sweet. I got to see a lot of people from my first area. I saw my trainer Elder Byington and that was awesome! I miss that guy! I also saw Elder Crippen. He was one of my ZL'S in the south and he is officially one of my favorite missionaries I've met out here. I love that guy. It was a pretty sad conference though. They always have the missionaries that are new this transfer bear their testimony and then the ones that are leaving this transfer. And Elder Crippen and Basinger are both leaving this transfer. (Basinger was another ZL in the south and is in my zone here as well) this is a pretty big transfer that is leaving and I got to know a lot of them pretty well. Crazy. I'm gonna miss those guys! Also at the lunch break I talked to President Archibald about what he thought we should do with Richard who has a baptismal date for this Saturday. We have been teaching him but he is YSA age and doesn't live in our area but asked of we could teach him because he has come to our ward for two months and knows us really well and the YSA Elders creep him out. Pres said we couldn't teach him but he could be taught by the missionaries in the family ward he is in so we had to give him to the Royal Oak Elders. Richard wasn't too happy about that but it isn't bad because we have just been going on splits with those Elders when they go teach him so it has worked out pretty well so far. But it does mean that he won't count as my baptism anymore. But in the end that doesn't really matter. What really matters is that he got baptized right?

Then Wednesday we were going to do exchanges and Reese was going to go with Gelwix to teach Richard and I was going to go with Lake and do.... something. But turns out Gelwix and Lake were on exchanges with the ZL's so I went with Elder Bradley one of my zone leaders. That was actually really fun. He is a funny guy and a really good missionary. I didn't really have anything planned for us to do though because I thought I was going to go to Royal Oak ward and do stuff there but at the last minute plans changed an we stayed in our area. So Bradley said we should go look through the area book and then pray about formers or potentials we should stop by so we did and then made a list and then before we left the apartment we prayed that some miracle would happen that day. Then we headed out. Not many people were home since it was four in the afternoon but we were able to find a former investigator home and we talked to him for a while and he said we were welcome to come back! How sweet was that? I was excited! I was so grateful for Elder Bradley and him teaching me a lot about missionary work while we were together. Turns out Fred, the former, when we went and talked to him the next day told us that he doesn't really like us but just wanted to be polite.... but hey, at least we know that now! haha

Thursday was pretty boring. Just a lot of lessons with members. Then Friday sucked! Everything fell through! It was crazy! And we got yelled at twice for being up in Greenwood Village when we were visiting members up there in the trailer park because the managers got mad at us because they thought we were proselyting up there. Which we weren't but they didn't believe us. So we might get kicked out the next time we go up there.... that could be interesting.

Then Saturday was sweet! We had a big Stampede breakfast as a ward at the church! It was awesome! It was all you can eat pancakes and sausage and there was line dancing and everything! It was outside and we had a lot of non members come that we were able to talk to for a while.... none that would want us coming by though.... but we had a lot of fun. This ward is hilarious!

I'm really starting to love this ward though! I really hope I don't have to leave on the 28th... but I probably will. I've been here 4 1/2 months now and it would be my luck that right as the ward starts to like and trust me and we are finding success in this area that I would get moved. I hope not though. As for the success. We do have Richard getting baptized this Saturday at one. That doesn't really count for our ward anymore though but I am going to go to it anyway. And we have Heather Halstead being baptized on the 31st at 6:30. That is going to be an awesome one! But as for the Somante family.... we haven't been able to see them in two weeks now... they haven't come to church. They don't have a phone so we can't call them. And every time we stop by their car isn't there, the lights are all off and the screen door is locked.... I think they got evicted since they couldn't pay their rent. So that is really sad. But at least we planted the seed, eh? So in the last week we have gone from six baptismal dates to one. Not a bad week... but I am still excited at the progress we have made in this ward and area. It's been sweet!

Thanks for everything guys! I love you all so much!

Love
Elder Townsend

PS. good luck on your MTC experience Eric! haha


Angels Drive In... DELICIOUS!
Ice cream!All you can eat pancakes!
mmmmm..... (Dad i miss your pancakes and syrup. haha)Bowness park
Ridin my bike.... haha
What the heck is a washroom?!?!Water bridge over the Bow River