Eczema is getting better, and a very interesting week!

Well, things are getting better here this week. My eczema is getting a lot better since I got the medication. Most of it on my arms has gone away and on my face and back. There is still quite a bit on it on the back of my leg. But I think if I just apply it as I have been instructed then it will not get as bad. So that is great that that is getting better. :)

The work here is progressing better and better now. Our ward is getting more missionary minded. One family brought a family to church which is great. Only one thing I wasn't really happy about when that happened, the family in gospel principles attacked the person with our beliefs. The just stuffed doctrine down the families throat so we missionaries had to take over and start from the beginning with an organized lesson and taught them the first discussion in gospel principles. They seemed to understand it. But we learned later from the Mandarin Elders that she couldn't think that the first vision was possible and no one could know that. Maybe she missed a point in our lesson or she just couldn't accept it to be true. I thought it was a pretty good lesson, but there is just so much you can do I guess.

Funny story though: So we were at the Zone Leaders Pad which is Brother Pitchers home discussing what we are going to do for our P-day. While we were talking about it, Elder Carlton saw some boys going through the Zone Leaders car. We took after them telling them to get lost. Elder Carlton tackled one of them and got back what they stolen from the car which was coins and sunglasses. It was a pretty hyped up day for us! We learned then to lock our cars wherever we go. :/

As you know, Transfers are this week and yes we got a notice that Elder Olsen is going to get transferred. He is staying north however so he won't be going far. I don't know if my companion is coming from the south or from the north. Either or I am nervous who my new companion is going to be. :/ I do believe you guys know my feelings on transfers. It is so nerve racking! You just don't know if you are going to get a companion who will ruin your life for the next transfer or they will make your next transfer the best.

There are 2 other elder companionships that are getting affected this transfer. Elder Shumway and Elder Heuer are getting transferred. That means the American Fork group is now going to only two people in our district. It won't be the 1-801 district anymore. Haha! Oh well man.

Now time for questions:

 #1 - Did you have anything besides hot chocolate to draw peoples' attention to a group of missionaries?

We do a couple of surveys here and there. But usually hot chocolate is the thing to go. They give us a lot of ideas that we can do, but we haven't quite tried them yet.

#2 - How did you keep the hot chocolate warm and "advertise" to people that you had hot chocolate to share?

We had a cooler to hold the hot chocolate, but it wasn't that big so we ran out pretty fast. We just went to the people and offered hot chocolate and a Mormon.org.

#3 - Did you have to get permission from the city or somebody else to do what you did?

Not that we know of. We just do it and no one says anything. I think it is only when we are selling something that we have get permission or something.

 #4 - What are your district meetings and zone conferences like? How often do you do them?

We do district meetings every Tuesday at 10:30 unless transfer week where we do them on Monday. For Zone Conference that is every other transfer. So about 3 months. District meetings are usually the same pattern. Opening stuff, reporting, training, closing stuff. Zone conference is pretty much the same, but expanded out more where there are a lot trainings from different people.

Well that is all that happened this week. Here are a couple of pictures of our district. Love you all! I will tell you who my new companion is next week. Bye!

Eczema is getting worse....and worse

First thing is first. That picture I sent last week was not a recent one. That was when I was 10 months out so around June. It was just some glasses from a gas station that I decided I wanted to try on. I didn't have eczema then. Speaking of that, as you can see from the subject title of this email, my eczema is getting horrible. I have to itch a lot and it is spreading like crazy. The nurse for our mission told me to go to a doctor, but they are not open until today. So hopefully I can get an appointment and get something to help it. My face has gotten worst, my right arm is terrible and it is spreading to my side. It is not a good picture. I am doing all I can do to try to sustain it or get it better. It just sucks. New years has happened and you know what that means? New time for Church. Our church time has rescheduled to 9:00 in the morning, the earliest one I have been to so far on my mission and probably will stay that way. So far, none of our investigators have come to the new church time. Maybe they don't know or their fellow shippers didn't tell them or something. You guys remember Richard? Ya, he contacted us and said he was having a hard time believing in God. Our WML proposed we give him the movie, God's Not Dead. So we went and bought it at Wal-Mart and gave it to Richard to watch. He really likes movies and hopefully this solves his concern or something. We'll see. As you all know, this week was new years. We had to be in a members home or at our own apartment. We went to the Pitchers and played risk with other missionaries while the new years night was going on. The Pitchers showed us the ball drop at the New York plays which brought back good memories. We had fun. This week was pretty slow for missionary work as people were still busy or gone. We did as much member work, but that didn't do too much. So we focused on the last bunch on the lost sheep and so we are done with that list. Now we are mainly just waiting for good referrals from the ward. Also on Friday, our District went downtown to do a hot chocolate stand. It went...alright. It was cold as fetch. I think we took more Hot Chocolate than giving out to people. It was that cold. I wasn't in the best dress anyway so I kinda have to blame myself for that one. Alright Question Time! 1. What kind of goals do you set each week?  Or month?  Or day? Realistic goals for our area. As personal ones, mine so far is just having a good attitude and have an effective study. 2.Dallin sent in his mission papers and is now waiting for his call.  Wouldn't it be awesome if he got called to Canada?!!!   Fetch yes that would be awesome! This mission is pretty sweet and I think he would like that here! Sorry for only the brief explanation this week. Like I said, nothing too exciting happened this week. This week is board week and so maybe one of us will get a training call. I haven't trained before so I don't know what is going to happen. We still think Olsen is leaving. I don't like transfers because it is so nerve racking. One companion can turn your area and life terrible. That is what I am afraid of. Love you all!

First 4 days were a blast, the last 3 days were the worst!

This week started great! All the Christmas dinners and caroling with members and just the Spirit of Christmas was everywhere. Even as missionaries we celebrated together by playing boardgames, eating together at the Pitchers. It was just great! P-day was fun as well. We went ice skating! It has been a while since I have done that, but I didn't forget how to do it. I was pretty good. We had a lot of fun as a zone and also as a district! I just love the Christmas season wherever I go. It just that happiness and that excitment when it comes to Christmas! Plus thank you for the Christmas package and the cards I got from you guys. It lets me know how much you guys care about  me and what I am doing out here. Thank you for thinking about me.

The Skype call was nice, or Hangout. Whatever we used...It was great! It was pretty dang exciting to talk to you guys and tell you most of what is going on in the mission face to face. I wonder what we will talk about the next time we Hangout/Skype call. Probably plans on coming home or stuff like that. For Christmas morning we got up and opened our Christmas packages to see what we got. Elder Olsen got a lot of neat stuff and a lot of money. Lucky him! His family also got me a sweater and I must say it is a snazzy sweater. I like it! I love the book that you guys got me. I read it most of the Sunday meetings. It helps clear up somethings that I had troubles thinking about. Also thank you so much for that piano guys cd as well. I really like those guys and most missionaries don't for some reason. Meh, oh well. After opening presents we had this big brunch at the members we were skyping. We were so full after drinking so many egg nog, and lots and lots of waffles. Sooooooooooooo good!

After Skyping, we went to the Philippino's home and ate with them. Because of the Brunch we didn't eat much so ya. Still it was a great dinner that we had. But after dinner we had to be in by 6 so we went back home and enjoyed playing Risk for the rest of the night.

The next three days were just...terrible. Not only because there was no one who would set up appointments with us, but because everything wasn't going our way. Olsen lost his wallet and had to get ANOTHER money card so that didn't help the situation. Plus we went shopping for our hygiene stuff, but for some reason, the store we went to was closed so we couldn't smell nice for like 2 days. It was a hard 3 days. There were many times where we just wanted to go home and not do anything. Plus, Olsen got sick on Saturday so that didn't help either. It was meh.

But now we are doing better. Things are going back to what they should be going back to so that is a good thing. But we will see what this new year will bring us. I hope it will be better than the last one. The last one started great with two great companions, but started spiraling down the two companions after that. Eugh! That sucked so bad. But now I know how to deal with certain companions so I am good now. Another thing that is pretty cool is that our district wants to make shirts and one of our things that we are going to put on our shirt is 1-801 because the one is for the British Elder in our district and the 801 is for us Utah Elders. I will try to get a picture of it for you guys when they are all done. Well, thank you so much for your support this year and love you all for doing so. I wish you all a happy new year and hope that this will be great one!

Caroling Galore

NON-STOP CAROLING! We have been singing a ton this week for the Christmas season and I am not sick of the Christmas Carols yet. It was pretty dang cool how many people were so receptive to us singing to them. Not only did we carol as a district again, but some members yesterday took us caroling as well to a whole bunch of less actives. We had a lot to eat as well. They usually feed us like some mexican alad which is a big deal here because mexican food up hear is very expensive. We usually love members who serve us mexican food.

We couldn't really see our investigators this week because of two things: 1. They were gone for the Christmas season. and 2. Some of them had the flu and couldn't meet up. Frank and Annie were gone for this week it seemed so we couldn't meet up with them. Cade got super sick this week and we couldn't communicate with him. However, one of the members of the Stake Presidency told us that he basically told his dad that he and his entire family is going to be baptized. They even prepared for it by buying new suits and scriptures. The situation there is pretty complicated. Cade lives with his mom and stepdad, but wants to get permission from his real dad for the lessons. That is what we are waiting for. Come to think of it, both of our investigators are waiting games. All we can do it wait till they get permission or till someone finalizes his divorce. :/

Question time:

1. How does this time of year affect your teaching of your investigators and work with less active members?
Meh, it kinda makes a difference, but not by much. Christmas is usually time where investigators are gone and less-actives are always home. I don't think I told you this, but our mission is mainly less-active work and it probably always will be.

2. How did you know how many times the word atone or atonement are in the scriptures?

I have this book called "The Continous Atonement" by Brad Wilcox. I am a big fan of Brad Wilcox and his talks because not only are they interesting, but they are so simple, but complex at the same time. Missionaries out here like to talk about deep stuff which I am fine with. I have no objection to it, but sometimes you have to use hard words or wierd thoughts to do that. Brad doesn't do that. He keeps it simple and I love that.

3. Do you correspond much with other full time missionaries that were friends or fellow ward members before your mission?

A bit yeah. Sometimes it comes up about memories coming home, sometimes it doesn't.

Sorry for the short letter, but we are going to talk on Thursday so you can tell me whatever you want there. I believe the rule still stands as long as we are not a inconvenience or bothering the member, we can talk however long we want. But I guess its your call. We can use Google Hangout or Skype. I will set up both accounts just in case one doesn't work. By the way, a member invited us over at 10:30 and said we can use her laptops. We can begin at 11:30 or sooner or later. Just let me know as soon as possible. Love you all and see you on Thursday!

Surprise after Surprise after Surprise!

Well hello everyone! This week was just...great! Lot's of good tidings of great joy that happened here! First off, we had ZTMs this time instead of DDMs. Our entire zone got together and had a little training. This training was on how do we as missionaries fit in the restoration. It was a pretty good training. It was just on how we as missionaries can tie everything back to the Restoration of the Gospel! It is nothing I already heard before, but it is a good reminder to learn about these things.

Now Wednesday was great because it was our Mission party. All the missionaries from the north went to this gathering and it was just like last year at Christmas. President bought us pizza and you can probably guess that I went crazy on it! You know I like pizza! Anywho, after eating, President Nicholas shared his family tradition of Christmas. It was mainly telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ of what happened in the America's. We sang a lot of songs together as a mission and you could definately feel the Spirit of Christmas there. Now, I told you that this party was like last years party with President, but there was one quirk. Previously, President told us that they were playing "Meet the Mormons" in a movie theater in South Calgary. He told us we couldn't go to it or proselyte near it. However, he said he got permission from Salt Lake to show us the movie, and he pulled out the dvd! We were screaming and cheering because we were so happy to see this movie that has come out! I have to say I really liked it. *SPOILERS* The beginning was hilarious with all the rumors that were said about us. And...I have to admit, BUT I WASN'T ALONE, the ending was really emotional with the missionary mom. Most of the missionaries in the party were sniffing and crying a bit when that was playing.There are only two church videos I get emotional on now. "Meet the Mormons" and the Tyler Haws Mormon Message. But other than that I am good!

I also had interviews with President on Thursday and it was actually very good. We looked back on how I had progressed as a missionary. He could see it as well and could tell I was changing for the good. I also asked him about Google Hangout. He said I was allowed to use it. I have never used it before so I guess this is new to me. However, you can have more than one tablets or people on Skype as well.

We also went caroling as a district thie Saturday! It was pretty fun. We took a portable piano with us so that we could plug it into peoples houses when they came to hear us sing to them. I was the Piano player and Elder Shumway was the guitar player. The singers were Elder Olsen, Elder Olson, Elder Heuer, and Elder Carlton. It went pretty well! We sometimes changed the beat up for songs so they could be a bit catchy. We may go to a C-Train station and perform there. We sing and then we hand out the He is the Gift Christmas Cards that we got from the mission. That is another thing that the mission is focusing on is the He Is the Gift video.

There was a carol festival as well this Sunday that we went to. It was held at our Stake Center, but there were choirs of all sorts all around Calgary that were there. It was beautiful and I loved it! I would love to see it again.

Now it is question time!

 Question #1, do you guys ever shovel snow for service?

Yes we can do that, but like I said last week, it was mostly sunny so all our zone was gone.

Question #2, is there any more information on when your mission might begin using tablets?

We don't know too much. We just keep hearing they will come soon...:/

Well, we still need to establish a time for Skype so let me know as soon as possible when is the best time.

Also, without looking it up or searching it, how many times is the word Atone or atonement in the new testament? the book of mormon? Love you all!

The mission just keeps on changing

As you know, last week was transfers and everyone in our zone, except Olsen and I, was effective in the transfer meaning either their companion got transferred or they did. So our entire zone changed! Crazy! I have never seen that before in my mission. It wasn't like it was a big transfer, just I think our zone got the most change. Also, President announced a few things at transfers that were pretty odd since I have come out a bit ago. First, they way it has usually been for leadership here in the mission (ex. District and Zone Leaders) is that in order to become a zone leader you need to be district leader first and it goes up the chain and so on and so forth. President says now this has been disbanded so anyone could be called to anything. The best example of this was that our new AP (Assistant to President) is now an elder who has only been out 6 months. Isn't that crazy? It may be crazy to me because of how young he is. But this is wierd news because now I could be randomly called to be a zone leader next transfer if that's what President thinks I can do. Another thing that he announced was that training calls are the biggest calling a missionary can have in the mission. There is a lot of trust when a missionary is called to train another missionary. I am still wanting to train, but usually those who want something out here don't get it.

That was basically all that happened at transfers. Things happening to change a lot. I think it is because our President has only 7 months left here and he wants to make sure that this mission is the best it can be when he leaves.

This week wasn't all bad. Weather was definately better than it was last time. It was mostly sunny this entire week and I do believe it is going to continue to be sunny this week which is good. Although sometimes when the forecast says it is going to be sunny, it means it gets colder here because of all the wind chills.

Things have gone well for our investigators though. Frank and Annie actually came to all 3 hours of church this time! YAY! They also signed up to feed us tomorrow so that is a very good sign that they are progressing and like us! We were teaching gospel principles and the lesson topic was on Praying to Our Heavenly Father. While we were doing small group discussion, we read out part in the book and asked what Frank and Annie thought about prayer. Annie was crying and said prayer was a big part in her life and Frank agreed with her. I believe they both know this church is true and we can't really figure out any major concerns for them. We just have to wait for Frank to finalize his divorce.

We also have this very golden potential investigator. You remember that refferall I told you that one of the Stake Presidencys gave to us. If I remember correctly his name is Cane. You remember I told you we just have to wait for his dads permission. He is taking care of that this week, but we also found out that not only did he want to take the discussions, but his mother, grandma, and sister also want in with the discussions. Isn't that amazing? Things are doing super well in our ward and I keep telling you guys, it is because of the member missionary work here! I love it! Our ward is really starting to trust us. :)

We also got almost taken advantage of again by an excommunicated member. She was moving and we told her that we couldn't help her at the proper time she wanted because we commited to another move. She starting texting us non-stop saying we didn't follow with our commitment with her even though we didn't ever commit and she said the Elders Quorum president had no authority. It was just a really confusing day. But we settled it all and everything is good now.

Family Search training is doing alright. The Elders Quorum has kinda taken care of it by doing a lesson of it this last Sunday. Now most of the Elders know what they are doing. We are still there to help when people need us though. :)

We have a mission Christmas party this Wednesday! We are going to be with all the north missionaries up here in Calgary and have a great time. Also interviews are this Thursday so I get to talk to President personally again. It is always nerve racking at first, but then when you start talking to President it is not all that bad. President Nicholas understands a lot of things we go through as missionaries which is great!

The other thing that is super cool that transfers effected is now we got another elder in our district who is from the same area as where we live. Now all of our district except one are from the same area! How crazy is that!! We can just say all these memories that we had. The thing is, two is from lone peak and they kinda rub stuff in our face about sports...but all of that is behind us!! This district is so cool!

Now it is question time!

Question #1: Do you have warm enough boots?

I don't have boots and I haven't had boots my entire mission. I don't think I need them on this mission. I do need new service shoes however. My green basketball shoes have been torn up on the sides so when we do service, snow gets in them.

Question #2:

Were you able to listen to the first presidency Christmas devotional?

Yes, we were able to listen to the Christmas devotional. It was pretty good. I like D. Todd Christoferson the most. He is probably my favorite apostle just because I like the topic he picks in his talks.

Question #3:Are the people in your area religious? Are they Catholic, protestant, muslim. What do you find they are. Have you run into any Jehovahs witnesses or 7th day Adventist? Or do you find people are too busy for religion?

Ha, I have met many different people on my mission! Spegatti Monster believers, Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Muslim, JW, 7th day Adventist. There are a ton of different people here in Calgary with many different religious backgrounds. I believe most of the people here are religious. The problem about people not letting us in is not the religion. It is how rich the community is. The west part of Calgary has very rich houses and people don't think they need anything other than what they have. That is the big thing that really stands in our way.

Question #4:  Would you be able to do Google Hangouts vs Skype for the Christmas call?
I do not know the answer to that question. I don't know what Google Hangout is either. But according to how you described it, sounds pretty cool. I will ask President Nicholas on interviews this Thursday and see what he has to say. Speaking of which, we should probably discuss a time where we should Skype so that we can tell familes when we would like to.

Question #5:

 Does/has your mission have ever had a "White Christmas" goal like my mission did where we focused on getting as many people read to be dressed in white for baptism and baptized on or before Christmas Day?

Um, I don't think we have and I didn't think we did last year either. We usually let people decide when they like to be baptized rather than just us choosing.

Well, that is all the week has given me. Quite a bit actually! I guess Christmas time is the best time of the year. Love you all! A little fact before I leave: I am going to talk to you a little something about prayer. Fold your arms right now. Now what shape does your arms make? Isn't it a infinity sign? Isn't it interesting that when we pray we are talking to an Infinite Being who knows all? Sweet eh!? Love you! Bye

Transfer week and HOLY FETCH SNOW STORM!!!

You will not believe how crazy the weather was this Friday. It was Black Friday here and of course people are going to go shopping that day and the streets were extremely busy. But there was a also a big snow storm that just slowed everything down! You couldn't see anything. Like 10 feet at max! We almost got in a lot of crashes because people kept on spinning out. This was only in the morning! Later in the day it got -39 degrees C and we couldn't really go out unless we got schedule appointments which we didn't really so we mainly just stayed inside and tried to call people to set appointments. Other than that, we just read our gospel books and played board games. Pretty fun black Friday right?

We had our Ward Christmas party last Saturday and it was set on a theme of Bethlehem. It was like going through a time portal from the chapel to the cultural hall. It was cool because I was playing prelude Christmas music in the chapel whenever people were waiting for the event to start. I was surprised to know so many Christmas songs by just ear and some I just tried to play on the spot and I did very well. Elder Olsen played a part as well in this so don't worry haha. He dressed up like a Roman Soldier and lead people through the "Bethlehem". We have a picture of us both that members took. We are just waiting for them to send it to us so I can send it to you guys. Usually that is how I share my piano talents. I just go up and play some prelude music or I start playing piano and members walk in and discover I have this talent. They really like it and so do missionaries. I play a lot of songs that missionaries know and it is cool to see them relax or sing along when I play that certain song.

Our investigators are....alright. We still got Frank and Annie. Still waiting on Franks divorce, but he is progressing well. Richard is still dropped but likes to contact us. The ward really wants to focus on the lost sheep I told you about before which we are doing incredible at. Again, couldn't ask for a better ward than this in missionary work. We are still pretty sick, but not terrible, but I guess that is what you get when you go in and out all day and are in contact with people as well. But we take as much medicine as possible when it comes to it.

My companion is not as trunky as he was before. I guess we are always trunky, but we can control how much it shows. Also, as you know it is transfer week and we get to know if either one of us are going to get transferred. Good news is that none of us are getting transferred. We get to spend another transfer together! That means we get to spend Christmas together! Woooo!!! I am excited that we both didn't get transferred!

I am coming on my 16 month mark which means I will be almost 2/3 done with my mission. Awesome! Crazy how fast things go!

Quick Question time:

Question #1: was the Spanish missionary finishing his mission and gave the coat to you?

He leaves in February so he is leaving soon. But he had multiple coats so he just gave one to me. I do have plenty of winter equipment. Plenty of thermals and warm stuff. It is usually the wind chill that we have to look out for.

Before I sign off, I want to hear your opinion on something next week. Why did David pick up 5 stones when it only took one to kill Goliath? Love you all! Take care!

Missionary work is becoming slower and slower...

You guys should already know my stance on the best way to do missionary work in any mission is. It is basically through members. Now here is the thing. If you remember, President Monson in General conference asked the members to work with missionaries and to do member missionary work. That was quite a bit ago. However, members up here still don't know what is being asked of them. Most of my ward doesn't have this problem thank goodness! However, there are a few members out there who don't know how to do missionary work, or don't understand how to help missionaries. For instance, we have told our stake hundreds of times that the BEST way for us to teach people or to find people to teach is through members. Most of the Stake Presidency knows thatm thank goodness! However, there is a bit of people that think we should do something else. The evidence is there that most or even all of the people who get baptized in multiple stakes is through member REFFERALS. Some people want us to track all in their area and knock on their door after and ask them to pray for us. They might be getting somewhere for praying for us, but not for tracting. I have been reading, "The Power of Everyday MIssionaries" by Chrisiansen and it shows a lot of ways that members can help missionaries and what is better for missionaries to do than other things. What our ward has been doing is trying to get members to read this book and it has made a big impact. I think that is the best way members can figure out what missionaries do, not by what they did alone on thier mission, because missionary work has changed.

Anywho, the summary is that I think our ward is great at missionary work because of what the bishop and the stake president is asking them. Not only are they helping us, but they are helping everyone by being an example.

This week was a bit slow, but as soon as our car got fixed, things were getting better. However, our investigator count is down because we either found out that these investigators were inactive members or that they weren't progressing at all. This was the case with Richard. Every time we are about to meet with him, he calls with some odd excuse like he needs to sleep more to get ready for his job during his...retirement. So we just dropped him, but he keeps calling and we don't really answer. Frank and Annie are still progressing. We are still waiting for his divorce to finalize so that he can take his next step to get baptized. So there is only so much we can do there. The refferall that you remember I told you about that we got from the stake presidency is still getting worked on. The son needs to get his fathers permission for us to teach him so we are leaving it to the stake presidency for now. When he get's permisssion from his dad, then we can teach him.

We had something called Zone Finding in our are this week. That is when every one in our zone comes to our area and we tell them where to find people. We instead gave them a list of people who we call "Lost Sheep" which is basically members who we have no idea about where they live or what is going on with them. It went well, but we were kinda hoping for more imformation about it, but that is alright.

This week was wierd because I got wierd feelings about the mission. It wasn't trunkyness or homesickness, just...I got bored or sick of serving a mission. It was like that thought where I just wake up and do the same thing over and over again. It wasn't too bad like I wanted to go home or anything. But I am sure this feeling should pass sooner or later.

My companion and I are getting along fine, but he is getting the Trunkyness feeling. It is probably because he hit his month mark not too long ago and is just thinking on how much he has left. It is pretty cool to think I knew him before my mission so I know what he is probably missing.

Now it is question time:

Question #1:  Did you get a coat?

Yes, a Spanish missionary gave it to me and it is not bad. 
 

Question #2: Did you see Meet the Mormons?

No, I haven't because it hasn't come out for us yet in Canada. It is this week playing in the theater, but we can't see it because our mission president says...so...no.

Queston #3: Where do you teach these new investigators since the ward members were the finders?

Sometimes we teach them at thier place and sometimes the members houses.

I guess that is all the questions that I have to answer. This next week is board week. This is where people get nervous. We have heard that 17 Elders are coming out this transfer so there can be a possibility of people training here. Love you all and hope you have a happy thanksgiving!

The snow is still here....and a broken car doesn't help :/

This week was kinda wierd because our car broke down through halfway the week and the appointments that we set up were pretty far and the travel distance would not help us to make every appointment. Plus half the time we were trying to talk to our fleet coordinator to fix our car, but he isn't answering and when he does he gave us these reasons that it isn't working where we know why it isn't working. We hope that he can fix it today since he told us that he will.

Other than that, the ward is spectacular here, work wise. The members as far as I know are not too cool as others I have met. But the work here is great! The bishop is really focusing and encouraging members here to do the finding for us to teach people. And also for service opportunities. And plus we met with this stake member and we told him the most effective way to find people is through members and for some reason he wasn't happy about it. I think he was just waiting us to say that we could find tracting which is not effective finding at all! Like none! But I totally believe that this ward has the correct mind set because of what they are doing, they have found 5 new investigators for us to teach and they all want to be baptized!

I am still sick and so is my companion though. We've been both sick since I got here and it totally sucks, but it is better than it used to be. We just have really bad stuffy nose and cough a ton. We have been trying to take a ton of medicine and it hasn't doesn't much, but maybe it will soon.

This Saturday we went to the temple as a zone. It was a great day actually! We started that day off with that meeting with the stake guy. Then we all went to Costa Vida here and a member paid for the entire zone which was amazing! Then after lunch we went to the temple. I should let you know that I took a family name to the temple as well. Lyman Spear was the one I took. It was awesome to go as a zone to the temple. After the temple, we went out to dinner with another set of Elders and a member paid for us there as well and it made our day! We really felt blessed because of that day. It was like because we were going to the temple we were getting constantly blessed! It was sweet!

Speaking of family history, the ward wants us to start teaching the members to do family history work so my companion and I started learning how to do certain family history. It has changed a bit since last time I was on it. A new kind of view to see your line, but it was awesome! We are continually learning more about history so that we can help everyone with troubles they are having.

Now it is question time:

Question #1: Do you see some of the above points (i.e. feel the Spirit, Love the people, Obey with exactness) happening regularly as you serve?

Hmmmm, sometimes. Some of them I see more than others like developing Christlike attributes. Not only am I doing that for myself, but helping others that we teach to develop those attributes as well. As for the "Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments", we have a saying in this mission. It is, "Be bold, but not overbearing." Meaning you want people to see why you are leaving commitments, but don't be in their face about it, because that to me is not loving.

Question #2 Can you share one or two spiritual experiences you have had this month that really touched you and maybe others?

I have been noticing a lot lately that my Heavenly Father has shown His love to me everyday, whether it me helping me feel better, helping me talk to people without making it awkward, or even the littlest thing I want comes to be. When that happens, it makes me feel great that someone is watching for me and caring for me out here. Someone who sees me and helps me progress so that I can become better than who I was.

Question 3 has 3 parts to it:

What amount of money do I get per month for food, gas, and other in my mission?:

We get $180.00 US dollars which converts to around $200.00 in Canadian per month. We only pay for food and emergency stuff for our money. There is a separate card for gas money. We also use our money for transit money to go on trains.

There are certain number of miles each companionship can use with their car each month. What is that in your mission?:

It really depends on which area you are in. In Creston I had 3000 kilometers. Here we have 1800 kilometers.

There are guidelines on teach members of the opposite gender when the opposite gender is by themselves with the two missionaries. What are the guidelines in your mission?:

Um, that we can't be alone with the opposite sex without a person who is 12 or older is there. That is usually when we have members comes with us. If they can't, we can teach a very short lesson to them, but we can't stay long. But you use your best judgement for that situation.

Question #4 Do you know that we here at home love you very much and constantly pray for your success and growth?:

Yes, I have been told that frequently actually and that really does help. I have seen people who don't get much encouaragement from home or out here and they feel down and depress. For instance, my companion yesterday was feeling very homesick and missed his previous life. Most of his friends don't support him to come out on a mission. He wished people could support him more.

Well, that is it for this week. I hope that we can get our car fixed today. Love you all and take care!

And the snow came a tumbling down...

Holy Snow fall!!! Tons of snow just came out of no where and it has gotten freezing cold since last week! It has been said that is will reach -29 degrees this week! I don't think I am ready for this since my first winter was in Creston. Also, I lost my heavy coat last transfers and I will have to probably buy a new one soon depending on whether the storm gets even worse! I will use my thermals and my thermal garments as much as I can for this one. It did sort of help when I wore them in Creston. Hard to believe by this time it was around transfers in my last year. Sometimes it is hard to believe that I have been out for this long.

This week has been pretty tough. Lots of dropped appointments and try to visit a lot of people hear and there, but a lot of them didn't answer or said they didn't want us to come back. This wards less-active work is kinda coming to a hold and the ward is trying to use us whenever they can to teach their friends. I think I talked about this last time, but the ward's main focus for us this far is that we just do teaching. Sure we can do service here and there, but they really want us to teach a lot in this area. And I am fine with that. The problem is the finding part. You can see however that our members are trying pretty hard to find people for us to teach and if they don't find us to be a trustworthy missionary, we teach them a 10 minute lesson for the dinner message so that we can gain their trust. This kinda paid off this week because right before our Ward Council, a member of the Stake Presidency came in and told us that three of his friends wanted the missionary discussions and wanted to be baptized. We haven't quite met them yet and they said for us to meet them today, but they haven't called quite yet and today is our P-day. So, we will see all that goes on I guess.

As for Richard and Billie Jean, not much has happened. First off, whenever we want to meet with Billie Jean, she is not home or does not answer the door. Richard we have met quite a bit, but he doesn't seem to be progressing the way we want or maybe even progressing at all. He seems just to want free stuff from our Church. Sounds familiar doesn't it? I don't think we are going to meet with them as much anymore because we can read him very easily. We are going to focus on our other refferalls for now.

We went downtown again this week and I find myself to have more courage this time to go. I believe the Lord has sent me to this area now because before then, I couldn't talk to people this easily. I still went with Elder Fekete for downtown. He is not my facorite person to go with, but I do what I can I guess.

I don't help with training new missionaries really. That is their own companion. Speaking of my Christmas package, I need a lot more pants and socks. They seem to be disapearing. Plus, I need some P-day shirts. Like excersise shirts. That is all I can think of for the package. As for your package that I sent you, I don't know why it hasn't got there. I left before he came back to report to me or something like that. I will try to contat him and see what the report is. I love you all and take care! Love you!

Thank you for the Birthday wishes! and a break down of Missionary work in my Opinion

Thank you all for all the birthday wishes that you guys send for me! It was awesome how many I got! And thank you so much for the surprise of the pizza. It was funny! The zone leaders told us that they wanted to have lunch with them. We were kinda skeptical at first because we thought that the zone leaders would ask us weird questions for the excuse for lunch. But the pizza was great! The Elders that did eat with us thought it was delicious and were so full when we were all done. I wonder how you guys got to do that and exactly where you knew where to deliver it.

We tried to visit Billie Jean again, but she didn't answer which is no surprise haha. I tend to get used to appointments getting dropped a lot. But what can you do right? Richard called us and told us that he couldn't come to church because his apartment was getting inspected that Sunday and he was busy. It kinda bummed us out, but again, what can you do right? You tend to get used to it as a missionary. We still have an appointment with him this Wednesday and we will have to see how he is going to react to like his 3rd time with the missionaries. We still get most of our referrals from other missionaries and we contact them as much as we can right?

The ward actually has been trying to help us with missionary work by saying that they should do most of the finding. I agree for most the part of it. Like to be honest, missionaries can only go so far as to find here. Areas have been tracted out plenty of times here and usually nothing comes at it when you go tracting again. That is where the members bring in their friends to help us to teach them, or they invite them to an activity. Now don't get me wrong, missionaries still do some finding out here as I told you before. We go downtown and all that jazz. But again, out of all the finding stuff, that usually is the last resort and it doesn't really work to well. There is usually a process to get members to trust that and that is teaching in their home or letting them see us while we go out to work. Without member trust, you can't really do much in your ward because they won't tell you much. Most missionaries think they can change an entire area by themselves and by themselves alone! That is pretty much the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We are supposed to come together with the members and work together to help bring souls to Christ. If you remember, I believe in the Hastening the Work of Salvation video, a stake president said that there isn't a missionary church and a ecclesiastical church over somewhere else. Now, sometimes it isn't the missionaries that is the problem, but the members sometimes need help too. Which is kinda what I think my purpose has been out here. Like I have said before, I have helped prepared areas to do missionary work as a ward and help missionaries to do so as well, and right when it starts happening, I get transferred. I find this a little annoying, but also pretty sweet as well.

That is my personal opinion on a little piece of missionary work so far in my mission. I still got a little more to learn, but I do what I can to learn. Plus some weird things have been happening in our mission. Lots of people are starting look like they look to President Nicholas that knows everything. I do believe you should go to the Lord first, and if nothing comes up, then contact our President. But oh well. The Flu Shot didn't cost anything and we were there right before the rush came for it. Thank goodness right?! We went with Rocky View Elders since they live pretty close to us. Our Zone is freakin awesome and as far as I know, our Elders are pretty normal.

Well, I think that is all I have to say this week. Again thank you so much for all birthday wishes and thank you Grandma for your present to me and happy birthday on the 8th! I probably need some socks for my Christmas package too. Thank you! Talk to you next week!

Very tough week

As the subject says, it was a very tough week. Not because of the work, but this entire week I was super sick. Well, I have been sick for the past 3 weeks, but this week just a wave of sickness to both me and the entire zone! It is terrible. The worst was when last night. I couldn't sleep like at all. Luckily I finally found my medicine pack and took quite a bit of medicine so that it would reduce so I could finally rest. I am still not 100%, but I am definitely better than I was before.

We have been getting a wave of referrals actually from both HQ and from other missionaries. We have been trying to contact all these referrals, but most of them have fallen through except two. We meet with them this week sometime and if my body seems to cooperate, then it should go well. One is named Richard, and he does seem...pretty promising. He is looking all around for churches and wondering which one is right for him. He has been taught before and is really scared on baptism and does not want us to push it on him. It seems like the last missionaries were too forceful or too on his case for that subject. The second one that seems more promising is this woman named Billie Jean. She is looking for a religion too. She was raised Catholic, but doesn't believe in any of it. We set up an appointment this week to meet with her. Hopefully, this will follow through. Lots of lessons get dropped a ton out here. I hear people in other missions that get lot of promising lessons and perfect investigators. Here, that is different. Well, I don't know. I haven't had any golden investigator. But just because you don't have any investigators doesn't mean that you are a failure. I have had a ton of reactivations on my mission and I count that as big as a baptism here, but people out here don't seem to agree which kinda bugs me. But what can you do right?

Oh I forgot to tell you. You remember Taylor Shumway? Well, he is in my district as well with someone who lived very close to me. That means like half of our district is from the American Fork area. It is freakin awesome! We get along as a district very well and I love my zone as well. This is a pretty sweet place!

Now it is question time!

Question #1: What is the name of the ex stake president that had you all for dinner?

His name is Brother Pitcher.

Question #2: Anyone else in you ward that is helpful to the missionaries? 

Our ward is trying to help us by finding people who we can teach. They really want us to use our time to teach and so they are willing to help us to do so, or so it seems. We will see what comes in this area.

Question #3, how long has Elder Olsen been in your area?  

 He has only been hear for 5 weeks since last transfer was a 5 week transfer. We are still trying to get used to the area together.

Question #4, what area of American Fork is Elder Olsen from?

Well, technically he is from Highland, but very close to American Fork so around there.

Question #5, Is it dry like Utah there in Calgary or is there some humidity like non-desert places in the US?  

It is sort of dry. You can feel the dryness. But it feels like Utah, but not at the same time. Calgary overall is just a city place.

Question #6, How many other missionaries do you live with?

I have already answered this a million times. But the only places where two sets of missionaries live together is in Cranbrook BC and in Okatokes Calgary.

Question #7 Are you guys teaching any lessons in church on Sunday or do the members take care of that?

Again, I already answered this question. We mainly teach gospel principles when needed.

Question #8 Did your last area get closed down or were there other missionaries put there so they can continue on with the investigators you were working with?

Yes, there are two new missionaries there. Elder Tesimale and Elder Poulter. I trust they will work with our investigators that we left them with. They will probably love the Ludwigs a ton as well. I am so jealous of them right now. Haha! I wonder how they are doing. Ha!

Well that is all this week. Hopefully there will be more next week.

For Christmas, pants and socks first comes to mind. I will let you know what else comes in mind when I do think of stuff.

This...zone...is...fetchin...AWESOME!!!

Hello one and all!

Sorry for the late email. The internet was down in all the library on Monday so we couldn't email that entire day. Sorry about that, but we had an awesome P-day! We played some flag football and scatterball! Our zone is totally in it all! I love it! Plus I know most of the missionaries in our zone! We have so much fun and we eat a lot with each other since a member told us we could come over whenever we want for food. I love members like that!

As you all know, I got a new companion named Elder Olsen. He is also from American Fork, and yes, I knew him from High School. This is my second companion from American Fork. Soon I will probably hit 3 haha. Nah that's kinda pushing it. But me and Elder Olsen get along very well. We get to be together in this 7 week transfer! That means till around December 6th I believe. This will probably be my Christmas area.

I went downtown for the first time today. It was super scary because I am not really a big city person. So many people and so much craziness! But I handled it alright. All my other experiences with talking with people made it not really crazy. I am still not a big people lover when it comes to talking to random people, but I do whatever I can to help. :) I placed my first Book of Mormon in a while. Last time I did that was probably...Creston. Haha! That is for a while. Lol! But it felt good to do that since in forever! I am still sad about leaving my last area, but I will be sure after my mission I will go visit that area first!

We did this little orientation the first few days here in this zone. We talk to the member that feeds us a lot. He used to be in the Stake Presidency and he has a lot of deep thoughts. He gave us this flash drive that has all this deep doctrine stuff and it blows your mind and it is awesome! I haven't looked up a lot of stuff, but everything you see and read of his is just...wow! Its awesome!

Now it is time for questions! Here we go:

 Question #1: Are you assigned one ward or are you serving in various wards?

I am only assigned to one ward and that is Bow Valley ward, the area I cover is freakin huge!

Question #2: Will you be able to go to the temple now?
I always been able to go to the temple. But we can only go to it every once in a while. But we shall see when we want to go.

Question #3:Is it cold up there?

It is getting colder up here, but not cold to me. But I think it will get really cold soon!

Question #4: Are you near the mountains?

Nope!

 Question #5: How many missionaries are in your area?

Um, I think you meant zone but I think around 18.

Question #6: How long has Elder Olson been out in the mission field? 

About a year.

Question #7

is West Calgary very close to where you previously served in Calgary?

Kinda, not really no.

Question #8, is my area a bike, car, or walking area?

All three!

Question (#9), how do you and your companion do companion study? 

We pick a subject we want to study about and study it together...

Question #10, do you stop to write down what you learn as a companionship or only as individuals?

Only when it's something I find very interesting. Usually I can remember stuff pretty easily like that.

Sorry for the short letter-ish. We didn't have much time this week to email as you can tell. I promise my next email will be a lot longer! Love you all and take care!