October 17, 2011

Hello everyone! How was your week? We had an OK week here. It was another really slow week. Pday was fun though. We spent a lot of time playing sports. I threw out my arm and now it won't stop twitching though. It's driving me insane! haha. Wednesday we had a training from the zone leaders with our district. It was all about faith and having faith in our baptismal goal of baptizing a stake before the temple is completed. It was good. I like our zone leaders a lot. We had a specialized training on Friday which was a really good training. My mission president is really excited. Apparently we are a more obedient mission then we have been in the past so instead of having to talk about obedience they can give training's on other things. This one was on goal setting and having faith in them. We talked a lot about the goal that we set as a mission of baptizing 2600 people before the completion of the Calgary temple. It was good though. Also they had me and Elder Gelwix, a missionary who came out with me, give our farewell testimonies. Each transfer at something like that they have all the missionaries going home bear their testimonies. It was weird. I never thought that time would come for me and I wasn't expecting to do that on Friday. It was good though. Also Sis Archibald told me I need a haircut but nobody in the ward knows how to cut hair and I'm not spending $20 on a haircut so I'm getting an RM to do it. He cut his comps hair on the mission. So if I come off the plane without any hair I'm sorry. haha. Then Friday night we went on exchanges with our zone leaders. So I went with Elder Henrie for 24 hours. It was a lot of fun. He's sweet. I wish I served around him more on my mission. We worked hard and had a lot of fun together. That's how a mission should be. It makes time go by faster and helps you to just be happy while you are out here.

Sadly we weren't able to meet with any of our investigators and we weren't able to meet with very many less actives or recent converts. But we did get some really good lessons with members. This ward seems to be more and more missionary minded each week. I can't wait to see what happens my last couple of weeks here.

Thank you all for everything! I love you and appreciate your support while I am out here!

Love,
Elder Townsend

October 11, 2011

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everybody! Well, it was actually yesterday, which is why I didn't get to email yesterday. So here I am! haha We had a pretty good week here. Actually it was really sad. We had an appointment with Robin on Thursday but she went to Okatokes for the weekend to be with family for thanksgiving so we couldn't meet with her and she didn't get to come to church. So that was sad. Also, we had two lessons with two other non members but they both fell through as well. They were both people that other missionaries had found and gave to us, but when we called them to confirm an appointment they wouldn't answer and then they never showed up to the appointment that we did have. So that was sad. It was really hard to find people to teach this week because it was thanksgiving weekend and all the YSA kids were all going back home to be with family for the weekend. So we actually had a really slow week and a lot of cancellations. So it was pretty sad. We still had a pretty fun week though. We had a pretty sweet FHE. We ate salad with random utensils and had to eat spaghetti while our hands were tied to the hands of the people next to us. It was sweet. Sadly they canceled FHE yesterday though... again. Nobody was here because it was thanksgiving. sad... Then Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday all of our appointments in the evening fell trough. So that was sad. Luckily we were able to find a couple sweet people at home we could stop by and share a message with. We only had one dinner this week since we couldn't pass around the dinner calendar last Sunday because it was conference. So that was sad. Although our dinner was on Wednesday and it was a really good one. Kole Moore took us to all you can eat beef ribs at Tony Roma. It was delicious. I had no idea beef ribs were so huge though. It was sweet. I ate way too much beef though. I could barely move the rest of the night, haha. Then Sunday was a pretty good day. The bishopric all had a big thanksgiving dinner and invited all the people who didn't have family around to go to so we went to Bishop's house and there was about eleven of us there. It was pretty sweet. It was really good food and it was a lot of fun. We had some pretty good conversations. I love this ward and I really like Bishop Kroeker. He's a lot of fun. Then yesterday for Pday we just played a lot of sports and I am really sore from it. It was fun though. It's weird to think that I only have three more Pday out here. I'm going to have to make the best of the time I have left. Hopefully we can see some success here before I leave! Thank you all for everything! I love you all so much!

Love,
Elder Townsend

October 8, 2011

Hello everyone! How is it going? We had a pretty good week here. It started pretty sweet. For Pday we went to a lake down in south east Calgary and we played beach volleyball and football. It was fun. It started really late because we were waiting for people to show up so that was kind of sad though. Then we had a lot of pretty good lessons with members and such. On Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Perez for the day. He has only been out for two weeks now. It was interesting. We didn't have a lot to do so we just spent a lot of time tracting. He was actually pretty good at it. I was impressed. Then on Thursday we met with Robin again. That was sweet. We took our newly called ward mission leader, Ryan Pinchack with us. That was interesting. He was a very interesting teacher. He laughed at Robin and said she needed to stop fighting what she knows to be true. So that was interesting. Not really the path I would have taken but I guess it works. It was a pretty good lesson. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how she will come to know these things are true. She is to the point where she knows everything pretty much. Now she just needs to start keeping our commitments. So hopefully she starts doing that. She came to the Saturday morning conference and she really enjoyed it so that was good. She said she was going to watch the rest online so let's hope that she did. I think there were a lot of really good talks that she would enjoy and that would help her.
I really enjoyed conference. It was really good and I've decided I love going to the church to watch it because I pay a lot more attention when I do. They make us go there as missionaries in case non members show up. So it's pretty sweet. How did you all like conference? I think my favorite talks were Pres Uchtdorf's in Saturday morning or Elder Holland in priesthood or Pres Monson in priesthood. Although I also liked Elder Carl Cook Saturday afternoon. Oh man it was sweet. I love conference. It's such a testimony that the church is true. I go with questions in mind. I go hoping they will say something that will help my investigators or help me with my investigators and they say exactly what we need to hear. I love the church. I really do!
That's pretty much the highlights of my week though. Sorry this email is so short... I love you all though! Thank you for everything and for the love and support you have given me on my mission! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Townsend

September 26, 2011

Hello everyone! We had a pretty fun week here. It was transfers so its always crazy with packing and getting a new companion and unpacking and trying to get the new guy to understand the area and what we do here. It's been crazy. It was really good though. Wednesday we spent a lot of time at transfers because I was waiting for my new comp to come in from Trail BC. That was fun. He is an interesting fellow. He has been on his mission for one year and is a short soccer player. He doesn't really talk much but when he does it seems like he's yelling at you. He is fun though. I think we are going to have a good transfer together. There seems to be a lot of work coming up which is great news! Thursday we met with Robin again. That was sweet. We talked a lot about the atonement and how it helps everyone and why we focus so much on Jesus Christ still even though he already did everything and how we need to accept him and follow his teachings and then we talked a lot about how the Book of Mormon is really the only way she can come to know that these things are all true for herself. She told us she hadn't actually been reading or praying, but she said she would this time, so hopefully she does. She wasn't able to make it to church this week which was sad. She was in BC with some friends, but she knows about conference and she seems really interested in watching some of it. So that will be sweet. Then on Sunday night we met with this man named Eamon (pronounced "a-men"). He was sweet. We ran into him when we were stopping by some less active on our record and he lived there instead. He was with a friend named Steve but he wasn't too interested so he wasn't there last night. It was definitely an interesting lesson. We spent some time answering some questions at the beginning of us being there and one came up about how in Alma 7:8-9 it says Jesus will be born in Jerusalem.... but he was born in Bethlehem.... so if anyone can answer that let me know. haha. Then we went on and shared the first lesson with him. It went pretty good. At the end he said that he knew that one of us was wrong and if he was wrong he wanted to be helped and if we were wrong he wanted to help us. So we told him to read and pray and find out for himself who was wrong so he accepted to do that and he said he would get baptized depending on the answer that he got. So that was sweet. It was a cool lesson. It's going to be hard to meet with him though because he doesn't want to set up anything in advance but he said he would call us when he had free time but probably not with too much notice. So here's hoping that he actually does call and we are available. He did say he wanted to come to church though and he said conference would be something he would like to watch. So hopefully he will come to one of the sessions. That is pretty much the highlights of our week though. I'm looking forward to this transfer. There are some weird and very new missionaries around me now so that might be interesting but I think there is a lot for me to do here still. I just have to find what it is. Thank you all for everything! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Townsend

Moore, Hansen and me

Some of my favorite missionaries. Hatfield, Heap, Hurley and Fowler. Hurley and Fowler are home now and Hatfield comes home with me.

me and Farnsworth

September 21, 2011

Hello everybody! We had a good week here. Me and Elder Farnsworth had a lot of fun. So it is transfers and we found out that Elder Farnsworth is going zone leader in the west zone and I am staying here and getting Elder Loveland. I don't know anything about him really. That makes 8 of my companions that have eventually made it to zone leader after I have served with them. So either president needs to keep me with good missionaries that can keep me in line or I am really good at preparing missionaries to be in leadership. haha. Who knows. But I am really looking forward to this next transfer. It should be a lot of fun and I think there is a lot of work to be done here in Edworthy Park Ward.

Last Tuesday we went to see a referral from the office that we got. That was interesting. It was for a man named Luke who was 21. When we got there it was a whole house of YSA guys and we sat down with three of them. Luke, Andrew and Jordan. One of the first things they told us was they were all going to Mount Royal studying religion and they just wanted to learn more... great... bashers. haha. So we talked to them for a while and apparently missionaries had been going by about a year ago but then stopped and two of them knew quite a bit. Jordan and Luke. Luke seemed more interesting and willing to listen to us. Jordan just asked a lot of leading questions to get weird topics on the subject. Andrew was really quiet the whole time. We did get through the first lesson which surprised me. Although it took an hour and a half and we had a lot of huge random tangents. We have another lesson with them this week. I don't really want to go, but we will. It might be our last time. The ward remembered them from last year and told us the last missionaries dropped them because all they wanted to do was bash with them. So I don't see this going very far. It was kind of fun though. A very interesting lesson, but not really one I ever want to have to go through again! haha. Then on Wednesday we went on exchanges with our zone leaders so Elder Kirklin came into our area with me and we spent a lot of time walking around downtown and talking to people. Nobody really listens to us downtown though. I don't really know why. Then we stopped by a bunch of people and talked to a bunch of people on the street as we went and we actually got a referral for us and one for the other elders in our district. So that was sweet. Then we had a lesson with a recent returned missionary. It was cool to talk to him. He lived with his parents in the sisters area and the sisters dropped by as well so there were four missionaries in the house. I hadn't had that happen before. It was funny. We shared a good lesson with him and he had a couple people in mind that he could work with. So it was sweet. I love recent RM's because they are still in the missionary mode. haha. Then on Friday we had a lesson with Nicole, a recent convert, who has been struggling recently. That went alright. She hasn't come to church in a while so that is what we are really working on with her. Then that night some other elders in the stake had two gator lessons to go to and they needed us to go so I went on exchanges with Elder Leany who has been out for like two months and we taught these two people they hoped to pick up as new investigators. It was a really weird lesson though. They were only there because they didn't want to say no to their friend who asked them to listen to us. They weren't really open to learning. They shut down pretty much every commitment that we gave them and it was seriously one of the worst lessons I have taught in my whole mission... and we didn't get a return appointment... but I guess we planted a seed in them. So that's good at least! haha.
That was pretty much the highlights of our week. We had a lot of fun. I'll miss Elder Farnsworth. But I'm looking forward to this next transfer. I'll let you all know how it is going next week! I love you all!

Love
Elder Townsend

Downtown

I'm the king of New York!... or Calgary...

Another dog from Tubby Dog. "the red fox" 1/3 lb dog wrapped in bacon and topped with deli mustard, bacon bits, sauteed onions and baked swiss cheese then topped with jalepenos

it was SOOOO good I love that place

September 12, 2011

Hello everyone! We had an OK week here this week. Nothing really too exciting. We didn't get to have too many lessons this week which means a lot of walking around downtown. Which is starting to not be as exciting anymore. haha. We did have some really cool lessons though. We had one with Addison, a guy who is coming back into activity. It was a really good one. He had us over for dinner with his family and then afterwards we had a lesson with just him where he talked about how he was going through some hard times in his life and some difficult changes and he thought that he would be devastated through it all, but he said that for some reason when it all happened he decided to start doing things more faithfully like reading his scriptures and praying more and coming to all three hours of church and he has noticed that even though all this is happening to him he just seems happy and everything seems to be going ok. Which was awesome. So we talked to him about obedience and sacrifice and how they both bring so many blessings into your life. That is so true. That is one thing I have definitely learned a lot about on my mission. Life may be hard but as long as you are keeping up on the basics of life then everything will turn out for the good. So it was awesome to hear Addison talk about that. We had another cool experience towards the end of the week. The other elders in our district had three baptisms this weekend and my comp did the baptismal interview for two of them. Then we were able to go to the baptisms. It was cool. I love going to baptisms. The Spirit that is always there is so strong. It's when I feel most relaxed as a missionary. It really is a huge reward seeing people go into the waters of baptism. I didn't even help with any of these but, it was still fun to be there. One of them was named Owen. He is like... 23 I think and just got married. Apparently he doesn't get excited very easily, which I can kind of relate to. haha, but we asked him after the baptismal interview if he was excited and he was all... eh not really. When we asked if he was happy and he said "yes". I thought that was really cool. Anyway. That was one thing that stood out to me this week.

Other then that nothing too exciting happened this week. Which means I also don't have any pictures this week... sorry mom. The sad part about this week was that we had a lesson with our investigator named Robin on Tuesday but she canceled and rescheduled for Thursday and then Thursday she canceled and told us she was going to BC for the weekend so she wouldn't be at church either. We have another lesson with her on Tuesday so hopefully that goes well. oh! Also, last Monday we were walking in the mall and a girl came up to us and started talking to us and turns out she is a less active member and she said she wanted to come back to church. We found out she was in our ward so we told her where and when church was so she could come but before we got a chance to get her last name or phone number she had to get back to work. So we were just hoping she would come on Sunday... and she did! It was sweet. Then we talked to her and got her phone number and she said to call her tonight and we could set up a time to go over to her house and meet with her. So that was sweet. I wish there was a number we could report for less actives to church. I've been pretty darn good at that in my mission but I get no recognition for it! haha. Anyway, that is pretty much my week though. I hope you are all happy and healthy. Thank you for everything! Next week is my last transfer so I will let you know if I am getting moved one more time or not. I love you all! Until next week.

Love
Elder Townsend

September 7, 2011

Hello everyone! We had an OK week here this week. It was kind of a slower week lesson wise but we still got work done which was good. Nothing too exciting happened though. I wasn't able to go to Heather Jaremko's funeral, but I hear it was nice and I wrote a letter to her husband. Tuesday we had a specialized training from the assistants and Pres Archibald about the second lesson. It was good. They are going over each of the lessons and helping make sure we can teach them simply and clearly. Which is good but it means a lot of role playing for us which I am not the biggest fan of... it was good though. I learned a lot. Then we had a dinner with Sariah Seaborn. She's sweet. She made some really good food and it's cool to talk to her and hear the changes she is making in her life to come closer to our Savior and to see how much it is blessing her life. The church really is true. haha. Then Wednesday we had our district meetings because the special training was when we would normally have them on Tuesday. After that we had a lot of lessons. We had four. They were all with members but they were all really good. Then Thursday we did our weekly planning and then went downtown and talked to people down there. There are some crazy people in this city! haha. Then we stopped by a bunch of people and then had dinner with a guy named Geordie. He's hilarious. I love him. He's kind of a redneck and is in the rodeo and stuff. He's really nice and really outgoing and is a good person for us to talk to when someone needs a friend. I want to be more like him. We got ice cream from DQ and then he threw it at us and it got all over our suits and ties... it was some kind of weird redneck joke... I didn't like it... haha. Just kidding. He didn't really mean to throw it at us. It was funny though. He was freaking out but I was just laughing the whole time. You can't get mad at Geordie and besides we are missionaries our clothes are destroyed anyway. haha. Then Friday we had a lesson with a girl named Jodi. She moved to Canada a couple years ago and hasn't been to church since but we got a referral from SLC telling us her mom wanted us to stop by so we set up an appointment. It was cool. She is a lot of fun and has a pretty good testimony from what I can tell. We just need to get her out to church. She has a social anxiety I think so we will have to work on that. Hopefully we will teach her again this week though. Then Saturday and Sunday we had a couple of lessons but nothing too exciting happened.

I got what they call my "trunky papers" this week. It's telling me my flights and time I'll be home and stuff. It was weird. It's weird to think I'm that close to coming home. It seems way too close but don't worry! I'm going to work my butt off for the rest of the time I am here! No excuses, do the work! haha. Thank you all for everything! I love you all! I hope you had a great week and a fantastic Labor Day!

Love
Elder Townsend

me and my comp

me and my trunky papers... Don't worry, I'm not trunky or at least I'm trying my best not to be! hahadowntown from our apartment window