Londonderry Chapter 10

This week has been pure chaos! Getting everything ready for Christmas and the whole holiday season was entirely too busy.

Monday

Well I told you most of went on last Monday. We went to Branco's for supper. We were going to go caroling to Dave and give him a Book of Mormon, but when we went he wasn't there. We had a busy night so we left. Apparently right after we left he pulled up and the sisters were able to talk to him. We picked up the others from their supper. We ran around and collected the wrapped BOM's that we handed out to the YW. That was pretty much out night. Gong show. :)

Tuesday

Well we had an adventure today. We went with the other guys to deliver some gifts to the Ft. Mac missionaries. We drove up to Grasslands and met them at a gas stop. We then drove back. Along the way we stopped and took some pics for a Christmas card that we were going to make. As we came back into the city, we stopped at the Sikh temple. That was an interesting experience. We walked in and took off our shoes and stood there not knowing what to do. finally some people came in that spoke english. They took us around. It was very different than any other Christian Church. After the tour, they took us down to the cafeteria and we had some Indian food. Still not my most favorite. We then left and went to pick up some stuff. We met Claireview at the Chapel, so Elder Canfield could give them haircuts for calls home. We played some ball in the meantime. We then took off for supper. We went to Dorrey's while the other elders went to the Hunt's. I really love the Dorrey's. We have really become pretty close with them. It was awesome, we had steak and potatoes. Delicious. While we were having our lesson with them, Bro Dorrey was telling us about in all of the times we have come over he has really seen us grow and be more comfortable in lessons. It was really cool to see in less than 3 months people can really see a change. We left the Dorreys and went to the Hunts'. They wanted to do a Christmas Eve FHE with all of us. Well by the time we got there they were just finishing supper. We had the lesson with them and then left. Sis Hunt kept trying to get us to stay, but we had way too much going on that night still. I always say 'some people are persistent, missionaries are more'. We were trying to get a hold of Claireview to give them some of their mail, but they didn't answer. Instead we drove around trying to find a Catholic church for mass. We finally found the Ukrainian Orthodox church. We were a little late, but we just came in and sat down. It was interesting being there. Afterwards we were walking around looking at some of the paintings and were able to talk to quite a few people. It was a really good way to talk to people, more like for people to talk to us. It was quite a day. We didn't get home until like 10:30. By the time we got everything done for the night it was already 11:30, so we just stayed up until midnight to open the presents. We didn't know when we would be able to on Christmas day, so we thought then would be the best time. We then went to sleep

Wednesday

About 5 hours later we woke up again to start our Christmas day. Spanish and us went to Calvert's for Breakfast. It was good, but missed the baked eggs. They got all of us stockings. We opened them up. Just as we were going to leave we got a text from Ladd and Canfield saying they were on their way. So we stayed there for a little bit, until they got there and opened their stockings. We then went to Palmers. They got us some huge stockings. It was some fun stuff. We then went to Thomas'. We got there and Skyped. It was great time to be able to talk with you. It really was hard to hang up. We then had lunch with them and hung around. We then left and went to the other Palmers (ward mission leader) for supper. We weren't hungry at all. They made Brazilian food. The other Elders stayed up as well, but Canfield made the whole night and day. He was like a zombie and Bro Palmer could see it. It was like 7 and Bro Palmer said "Well we are going to put our kids to bed, looks like your pretty tired so might want to leave." Pretty funny. We then didn't really have anything else. Stebners texted and said we could come over. So we went over there and ended the night there. It was a really fun day.

Thursday

Honestly Thursday was a complete blur. We had district meeting and had a really good time there. The sisters and Spanish had leftover turkey and potatoes and let us come join them. We told them we would take care of the clean up. They only thing else that happened that day was we went back over to Thomas' for supper. We had curry fried chicken. So good. It reminded me of Bro Joseph's curry chicken. It was super good.

Friday

Well we were going to try and catch up on some of the people we weren't able to visit, but that didn't happen. Elder Bramwell ended up getting an ET to Whitecourt. Don't know the whole story, but he was leaving that morning. We ended up going to lunch with Claireview and Elder Vega, before they took off. Elder Vega's new companion was who Elder Bramwell was replacing. It was super awesome to see Elder Vega again. We then went home and cleaned up the apartment. It was a super mess from earlier in the week. We would come home put stuff down and go to bed. We needed to clean up. We cleaned and had weekly planning until supper, which was on our own. Something was going on and so Elder Ladd was also leaving that night. They picked us up and went to their place to say goodbye. Too much going on. not a fun day.

Saturday

We really did play catch up. We did mormon.org and then had lunch. We went up and shoveled Stebners walk for them. We then went to Lopez to tell them that Elder Ladd had left. He was close with them. We then went down to see Bro Guinard. He was just heading out, but we got to chat for a minute outside. We then went and the other guys picked us up for supper at Anderson's. They are a really sweet older couple. He is the stake patriarch. Mom you would be jealous of her chicken collection. The others dropped us off at Alosious, who wasn't home. We grabbed some stuff from our place and went to Bro Duckworth. That was our day. Still got a lot done.

Sunday

We went to coordination. We then came back to our place for lunch. We had some perogies. Most of the time was doing the dishes we hadn't done yet. We then went to church. It was super cool after sacrament. A little boy came up to me. "Do you know Elder McMullen?" "Yes I do. Are you his little brother because you look just like him?". I think I told you that Elder McMullen's grandparents are in Londonderry. Well the rest of his family came for Christmas and were at church. It was really cool to meet them. She took a picture of me with his little brother to send to him. The rest of church went really well. Oh Shanon came to church. She had called the Skinners the night before and asked for a ride. They were out of town, but we found a ride from Sis Brimacombe. Just out of the blue she shows back up. We had dropped her like 2 months ago. It was really awesome and she had a great time. After church we went to try by some people. We were picked up by the others and went to supper at Brimacombe's. We took them down to Graus and stopped by some others. We tried contacting a referral, but could find his address. I hate when that happens. According to the address he lives in the middle of a field. So much fun. We then picked them up and dropped them off.

It was a truly crazy week. It felt really good the last couple of days to be able to get back to regular missionary work.

Well hope you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year,

Elder O'Neill

PS. I'm really bad at remembering my camera/ cord so pictures will come one day.

Londonderry Chapter 9

Merry Christmas!!!

Holy cow this past week has been crazy. A lot of things to do. All in anticipation for Christmas.

Monday

Well It was a pretty regular pday. The ZL's were going on exchanges right after pday so it was a little hectic. We ended up picking up some pizza's from Bro Palmer, changing and then going to the church for the weekly lesson with Sister Stamp. It was pretty cool on the way to Bro Palmer. Some one had lost control of their car and ran into the snow bank by a right turn lane. We went parked and went to help him. We were all in shorts and Elder Ladd was in sandals. We were coming back from Basketball. We were able to help push them out and met the two guys at a coffee place for a quick hot chocolate. They were super nice and we shared a mormon.org card with them. Pretty great.

Tuesday

Well Tuesday morning we went and helped out at the Food Bank. I don't really remember what we did that afternoon, but we went over to the Higgins for supper. We were able to have a good time with them again. It is probably the last time that we will see them until after Christmas, for a lesson at least. That pretty much was our day. We also got picked up from St. Paul. They were staying at our apartment for Christmas Conference.

Wednesday

Today was a really good day. We started off the day with Christmas Conference. It was really amazing. We had a training/ council with President Manion about a successful missionary and QGC's. It was really inspiring. We then had lunch provided by the Ed North Stake Relief Society. We then had the talent show. It was really good. There was a lot of talent. Their was a special musical number of Silent Night that Sister Manion organized. It started with two sisters singing in some polynesian language and then a verse sung by a small choir in German and then joined by everyone else in English. It was a special song to President Manion since he served his mission in Germany. Oh course I joined in. Who knew that after taking two years of German in High School would actually help. :) After the Talent show they passed out the letters. Thank you so much for your letters. It was really special. I was supposed to end at about 3:30, but as does everything with missionaries, it went long. We didn't end up leaving until about 4:30. We had supper with the Conrad's. Had a QGC on the bus ride there. Went to Bro Duckworth's after that and then rode the bus home. Had another QGC back home. Really amazing day.

Thursday

Well we did mormon.org in the morning. I did a little bit of family history again. I can know say that it was my last time until I get home. We had some questions and asked President about it and he said that "Our work is for the living. Unless it is to help an investigator or LA, you probably shouldn't do it." It was so great. Oh well. That just means I'll have a lot of work to do when I get home. We then got a lot of things organized and then headed up on the bus to the Fixsen's. Had a good time there. Bro Theissen picked us up to go to Sis Hernandez and it didn't work out so we helped him with a secret Santa. Pretty fun. He then dropped us off at the church. The CD1 elders needed to get in and get somethings, but were going to have a lesson there, so we stayed. It was with a new investigator Cody. He had called them the night before and had a lesson with them that day with the ZL's. He is super solid, the only hang up is going to be where he is going to be and where he is going to be baptized. He works in Edmonton, but goes to Calgary for family quite often. His girlfriend, who is LDS, Lives in Lethbridge. Crazy situation, but he will get baptized.

Friday

Well Our day was a little scattered. We had a lesson with Anette in the morning. It went pretty well. She gets distracted a lot. We then came back and had weekly planning. We left and went to stop by Dieter. He wasn't home. We caught a bus and went to supper at Ewing's. After that we had another lesson with Cody with the ZL's. Man I can't wait to be able to meet with him again after the holidays.

Saturday

Well today was a lot of waiting for nothing. We went and helped Bro Stelfox move some material from his basement to his garage. He had these boards down in his basement and needed to move them to finish the renovations. Super great guy. We went back and changed and then went to the Graus Baptism. It was a part-member family. The 8 year old son was getting baptized. We went there to support. We then came back stopped by Dieter again. Sister Hunt called and said her husband got stuck and she was going to go wait with him until the tow trunk came, so we weren't able to go over for supper, but she would drop something off for us. So we had to hurry back to our apartment. Well she didn't get there for a while. Then we had supper. We then were going to caroling as a district. Well teh ZL's got caught up and so us and CD1  played some basketball waiting for them. Nothing happed so we just went home. A lot of nothing.

Sunday

Well today was pretty busy. We had coordination first thing. We then had Ward Council. That was a little bit of a problem. They other elders had to leave and we really didn't have much to present to the Ward council. A bit of a gong show. We had brought some lunch and heated it up in the kitchen. We then had church. We taught GP and it went really well. Wasn't exactly how we planned, but got a good discussion going in the class. We then went to change to prepare for later in the day and were called by Sis Stebner if we could give her husband the sacrament. We ran up and did that and dropped the other guys off to change. we changed and picked them back up. We all had supper with Calkins and Massey's. We then went caroling to some of their neighbors with them. It was a lot of fun. We then stopped by the Palmers. That concluded the night.

Monday

So Today has been pretty eventful. We didn't get a chance to email until now. We went shopping and did the usual. We then went to the office to pick up all of the packages. There were a lot and most of them were for me. Thank you. I can't wait to open them on Christmas. We then dropped off all of our stuff at our apartment and changed to go sledding. Higgins took us sledding. It was a ton of fun. The other elders got me good. It was pretty quick into it when I found that I forgot to zip up my coat pocket and lost the keys. I was freaking out. It had our apartment keys, the car key, the church key all on it and I lost it. I was freaking out and tried to look for them. I couldn't find them anywhere. The others were getting on my case, but just kept saying "lets keep sledding and we'll look later. We walked over to another hill which was much better. Once we were done Higgins left and we walked back over to search for the keys. We had gone over by the river to do some business and that is where I thought I had lost them. Elder Ladd had the idea to go to where I thought they might be and we all kneel down to say a prayer. We kneel and say a prayer and open my eyes and the keys were right in front of me. The other Elders had found them quite a while before and were joking with me the whole time. They even got Sister Higgins in on it. It was one of those pranks that I had had too much fun and it was way to well planned out that I really couldn't be mad. It was really well played out.

Well that was my week. Can't wait to talk to you on Wednesday. I'll email you about the details.

Merry Christmas,

Elder O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 8

So this week was really pretty crazy. Everything is so different as a missionary during Christmas. It is going to be a different experience. I'm kinda excited. The Members just love the missionaries. I don't know if we will have time to visit all of the houses. Good thing that we don't have to do anything  that day. Anyways let me tell you about my week now.

Monday

So last Monday was a pretty crazy day. We had to ride around with Spanish because the ZL's had something else they had to do. Well everything took longer that expected. Well pretty much that happened until we finally got to zone sports. After that we went to the Laubmans' for supper. I was really pretty good. I really liked it over there. Sister Laubman had just got a new computer and was having some problems playing the videos. All that needed to be done was the flashplayer needed to be updated. It felt really good to be sit down at a computer and fix something even as simple as that. It's amazing the small things that you miss and the simple experiences that make you feel like your doing something good. We then went to the Branco's to have a lesson with Sister Stamp. She really didn't say much there as she does at the church. Pretty crazy day overall.

Tuesday

Well today was good because everything got planned out for us. We went that morning to do service at the food bank. It was a lot of fun. We just started to assemble the basic food box that they would give to someone. It was much different up here in the city than it was in Innisfail. It was pretty much our whole zone and some of the other zone. We all went to Wendy's afterwards. We then went back and did some stuff and then went on exchanges. I was going to be in Londonderry with Elder Cook. Well that was the first time I was over the area. It was interesting. Well we were supposed to have a lesson with Davin, but that fell through. We then had to meet Poulin's (the housing coordinators) because they had some furniture for us. Well we haven't found anyone to take some of our other stuff, so we are pretty cramped. We had to bring all of that up and then we did some stuff around the apartment before we went to supper at the Johnston's. It is always super fun over there. We then stopped by some people and then went to see Bro Duckworth. I found out that day what stress and coke does. Some members gave us some coke and cookies for p-day that we didn't eat. I was having a hard time staying awake in the morning so I drank some coke. I was wound up and my head was spinning all day. Coke is not good for me. I was think about you that day Dad.

Wednesday

Well we went to stop by some people that morning and then had lunch. The apartment managers were coming to inspect the apartment sometime between 12-1. There are only 18 apartments and we had to leave at 12:40 and they still didn't come. Crazy. We got a new investigator Annette. She was a former that was still interested in learning more. We had a lesson and brought Bro Massey with us. He is amazing in lessons. Well there were a lot of distractions. It is going to be another tough investigator, but I can't wait. We then went and exchanged back. We had supper at Higgins that night. Trevar is doing pretty well. It is hard to keep him going. We then stopped by some people. We went over to Stebners with the ZL's to pick up a present for a LA. We had some hot chocolate. Hot chocolate has become one of my favorite things ever.

Thursday

Well Thursday was pretty fun. It was all pretty much ZTM prep. The ZL's lost their keys last monday and asked us to go to the stake center to find them. Well we didnt' have keys to it so we were going to take CD1. Well Found out someone had picked up the keys and taken them home. So we ended up going all over for nothing. We went to Londonderry mall for lunch and ran into the ZL's and Spanish. Well all of us, but Spanish had ZTM. so We all piled into one car. I was driving. Good thing it wasn't too far. SHH. ZTM was pretty hilarious. We had a small insight last night of what was going to happen, but the ZL's still kept it a pretty good secret. It was a ZTM about finding and QGC's. They did a roleplay that was really funny. Elder Shreeve is an interesting man, I'll leave it there. Anyways after ZTM we went home to change. We went to the Dorrey's for Supper. We saw Jeff again. He isn't interested anymore in taking the lessons. One day. I don't really remember what else happened.

Friday

Well we had weekly planning. Got a lot discussed. We then went to meet with Bro Guinard. Our lessons with him are very border line. It is just getting him to talk about something gospel related and saying a prayer. Very informal. We then met with Davin. It was good to be able to met with him again. We then had supper at the Tanner's. They are pretty great. We went and had to pick up some things from Bro Duckworth and that was our day.

Saturday

Well today was supper fun. We went over in the morning to Higgins. Jessika was having a craft party with her sisters. They all pretty LA. We went over and made Christmas decorations. We each made a couple of ornaments. Mine are pretty cool. We then were going to go to our place for lunch, but instead we went with the ZL's to the Flea market where one of their investigators works for lunch. It was pretty fun. We then came back had a small Mormon.org time and then took off for the Stake Christmas Concert. It was really cool. They had a choir and orchestra at the Stake Center. It was really cool. To bad none of our investigators or LA's came. It was still really good.

Sunday

Well we had correlation and it went really well. We were able to have a good discussion with the EQ pres, HP councilor and RS pres. We were able to get a lot of referrals from them. The work is starting to really pick up. We then went back to our place for lunch then to church. We hadn't gotten a single QGC so before supper we went and rode a bus down to the LRT and rode the LRT for a little while trying to talk to people. Well the LRT only ran so far for a little while so it kinda threw a wrench in our plans. We ended up walking to 118 and catching up with the ZL's and went to supper. We had supper at the McLean's. It wasn't too bad this time. With the 4 of us the kids weren't as wild and the food wasn't too bad. Cranberry wings aren't too bad. Not the best though. We then went down and were going to meet with Robyn. Well when we got there he was in the shower, but we got to talk to his son Ricki. They would be a really cool family to teach. So far they are just potentials. We are going to try and do Bro Palmers idea of a home bible study. It will be really good for them to start off with. Talking to Ricki also gave us a QGC. No 0's this week.

Well that was my week. Probably one of the better weeks that we've had lately.

Love you all

Elder O'Neill

PS. With Regards to Christmas, I hope to be able to know more by next week. We are probably going to be Skyping from the Thomas'. I will find out more about when. I would love to be able to talk with Sean, Em and the kids. I miss them too. And possibly Grandma. TTYL

PPS I have pictures to send, but can't from this computer. Next week.

Londonderry Chapter 7

Well this past week has been really quite interesting. A lot of things happened that we just didn't expect. Really pretty crazy.

Monday

Well we had P-day. I really enjoy being able to ride around with the zone leaders. It was pretty strange because Elder Kinghorn was leaving. We had P-day and then we had to pick up dinner from Conrads'. They had signed up, but Bro Conrad was out of town. Sister Conrad was nice enough to get a pizza for us. We then got picked up for the scripture study class. We tried to get through it as quick as possible so that Elder Kinghorn could say goodbye to some other people.

Tuesday

Well we went to see Bro. Duckworth. Those visits are usually the same. Interesting guy. We then went home and had lunch. We needed to do some cleaning and did that. Couple hours flew by and then we went to supper at Higgins. We really needed to clean up and we really got organized too. The apartment looks so much better. We had a really great lesson with Trevor. He is really starting to understand things and he is asking really great questions. Elder Kinghorn and Ladd were there to say goodbye and were a huge help to us in the lesson. We then went and saw Bro Guinard. We had a good time with him and actually had somewhat of a lesson. It was a really productive day.

Wednesday

Well we had mormon.org time. It wasn't the best since my headphone jack wasn't working. I could hear the music for the videos and music on mormonchannel, but I wasn't able to hear the voices. I know it was just the plug in. We had lunch and then headed south for some stop-bys. Stopped by some potentials and formers and then headed back up for supper with the Palmers. Well there are 3 Palmers in the ward. This was Jim and Barbara. They are an older couple who are super nice. It was really cool too. They have a grandson on a mission in Halifax right now. I asked who it was. Elder Brenton McMullen. I was in the MTC with him. What are the chances. He is from Calgary and I'm now serving in his grandparents ward. Crazy. The Mormon world is pretty small sometimes. We then stopped by Alosious and a miracle happened. He was home and not busy. We have stopped by and talked to him just about every week this last transfer, but never had a lesson with him. So it only took 6 weeks, but we had a lesson with him. He is super awesome, just busy.

Thursday

Well we had district meeting and district lunch. Oh that was great. Elder Phillips had slipped on a huge snow pile as we were going to Alosious Wednesday. He thought it was more solid than it was. It was pretty much all powder and he just stepped right in and fell. Super funny. So he had to buy doughnuts for the district. We stopped at the store and all they really had were some cookies. Well Elder Cook had slipped too, so we had doughnuts and cookies. Sweet. It was probably one of the best district meetings we've had up here. I'm talking the spiritual side too. We went to the mall for lunch. We had a thing set up with some of the youth in the ward to come for lunch and bring a non-member friend. That really didn't go that well. Pretty much no one showed up. After lunch we had the car so we went back down south. The car is super nice. We got a different car at transfer meeting. We used to have a Chevy Cruise. The mission was trying to put a lot of the cruises in the city since they only have 2 wheel drive. Well we kept getting stuck, so we asked for a different car. We now have a Subaru Impreza. It is all wheel drive and so much better. We came up and had supper at the Dorreys'. We then had a lesson with Sis Hernandez. It went really well. We had a great lesson about the Tree of Life. We left and went to stop-by Josh, Sis Chemko's grandson. We kinda got the cold shoulder from his mom. We went and just asked if he was home. We hadn't seen him in a few weeks and just wanted to see how he was doing. He mom just said "oh he's busy doing his own thing right now". It was strange. We were heading back home and about to get gas when Spanish called. They were stuck in the snow. Well we drove over to help them. They went to make a U-turn and got high centered on a snow pile. They tried everything. We got there and tried to help break up the snow underneath, but didn't help. They called a tow truck. Well it was going to be a while, so we drove them back to their apartment to wait. We then drove them back. The tow truck was delayed, but they told us to go ahead an leave. We had to switch with the Zl's since they had MLC the next day to we picked them up and drove home. It was a late night.

Friday

Well today was even more chaos. So we got up early and went with Claireview to Seminary. The Seminary students had invited us to come and play a scripture mastery challenge with them. It was a lot of fun. You had your teams and 3 people from a team went up in each round. You had to pick up the BOM and find the scripture mastery that the teacher was reading. Then the 3 people on the team had to race against the other to get Tic-tac-toe by sitting in chairs. Apparently it was a tame game with us. I guess they are usually more aggressive and picking each other up or pushing each other around. We really can't do that. so it was a lot more tame. We then went and played some basketball with them too. It was still kind of our exercise time. We then went back and since we had a late night and an early morning, we decided to take a quick nap, before weekly planning. In hindsight it was a bad idea. We slept a little too long. we then had lunch. We were going to start weekly planning and realized we left the phone at the church. so we had to walk over and get that. We came back and we had a call from the Housing Coordinators. They were in the area and wanted to come see how our apartment was doing. So we had to do a little clean up. They came and checked out everything. As soon as we get rid of our couch and coffee table (very inconvenient) they are going to bring us some chairs and a microwave cart. It'll be way better. Well we then had Weekly planning. We got a call from Spanish and Sis Bonnell needed some help moving things. She said it would only take like 30 minutes. GONG SHOW! Service like that never takes 30 minutes. It was helping her get her late husbands electric scooter out of her truck (out of the cold) and upstairs. Well the wheels of the scooter needed air as well as her truck. So we had to follow her to somewhere with an air hose. Filled it up and then go back to take it out of the truck and upstairs, where there really wasn't anywhere to put it. It ended up taking like 3 hours. We both missed our supper appointments. Luckily Angells were nice enough to leave the Chili on the front porch. We stopped by and picked it up and then went home. Didn't really do a whole lot the rest of the night. The ZL's gave us the car back. That was it. Pretty much Friday = GONG SHOW TO THE MAX!!!

Saturday

Nothing could have been as bad as Friday. Well we did the usual morning routine. Then we helped Bro Anderson move some stuff. Crazy situation, but he is moving back in with his wife and kids. So we went over and helped him pack up the rest of his things and load up his and Bro Dorrey's Truck. We stopped at Burger King for lunch. and then went over to unload things. After we were done. Sis Anderson made us some hot chocolate. We talked for a little bit and then went back home to change. They gave us a little 3 foot Christmas tree as well. Now we have a Christmas tree. We are still planning on making one out of our lamp. I'll send pics when we get it done. Well we took the rest of our lunch and finished up our Christmas Packages. We then ran over and shipped them out. We then stopped by some people up north and set appointments. We then went and picked up the ZL's for supper at the Theissens. They are super awesome. They are so willing to help us out with anything and are reaching out to some LA families and friends by themselves. Such amazing member missionaries. Neither set of us really had anything so we thought about who we could stop by as the four of us. We decided we hadn't seen Sis Chemko for a while. Well I still have mixed feelings about going there. The first little while we were there was her chewing us out about how we stopped by to see Josh and how her daughter felt like we weren't getting to know them, but shoving religion down their throats. She was also saying how she didn't feel like we trust her because we have to have the right numbers of people. All in all, we probably won't ever be going back to help her or her family. They were too used to some disobedient missionaries back in Manitoba years ago that they don't like how we are trying to be obedient. It is going to really be up to the Ward now. There isn't anything that the missionaries will be able to do. Sad, but that's how it is.

Sunday

Well we had our usual Sunday morning. Correlation, Lunch, Church. After church we went to Doug Palmer's for a visit. We were going to go back to our place to have some spaghetti for supper before the Christmas Devotional, but we were invited over to the older Palmers again for supper. We were very grateful for it, even though we had to eat and leave. We went to the Devotional and none of us really ever watched it before. We all thought it was 2 hours long. Well we then had an extra hour. We went and stopped by Hancock's. Then went home.

Yep this past week has been a pretty crazy week. A lot of things happened that probably weren't the best. That is what the Atonement and this life is for it to learn from your mistakes and improve. This next week is going to be better.

Love you all
Elder O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 6

Well I'll start off by saying that we had transfer calls today and.....Nothing. I like it when that happens. I'll be with Elder Phillips for at least one more transfer. I'm pretty excited.

So once again I forgot my planner. We switched planners and I didn't bring my old one. Oh well.

Monday

We had P-day. It was really cool. We share a car with the other Londonderry elders, so we drove around with them all day. We Played basketball in the Morning and then did laundry at their apartment. They live in a condo that is owned by a member rented to the church. They have their own washer and dryer. We went and did studies there. We then went shopping and then went to the office. I could get used to that. We go to the office to pick up mail for the zone. Well guess who is usually in the office? Elder Marsh. The AP's usually do a lot in the office so I get to see him every week, since we go to the office now. We then came back and emailed. We then went to zone sports. We played floor hockey again. This time I didn't get hurt. We had supper at the Branco's. They are really cool. Elder and Sister Branco are well, missionaires. Elder Branco is the vehicle coordinator. Sister Branco does the mail. It was cool to be able to go over there for supper.

Tuesday

We really didn't do a whole lot. We found a former investigator who is still pretty interested. She had a bed bug problem and got that taken care of. She is interested in learning, but probably not too interested in committing to much. We then went and saw Bro. Guinard. It would be great if we could actually have a lesson with him. We then went to Higgins. We had supper and then Jessika gave us haircuts. My hair was getting long again. We then had a awesome lesson with Trevor. We did an object lesson and told him to choose which of Prayer, Scriptures, or Church attendance he could work on. He knew he needed to go to church more often. Hopefully he will start coming more regularly.

Wednesday

We honestly didn't do much. Things are pretty slow. We were able to have 3 QGC's which was a companionship record. We had supper with the Hancock's. They are a cool family.

Thursday

Today was pretty awesome. We had district meeting and we had a pot-luck with the other districts. It was a good thanksgiving lunch. We then went and tried some people down in the lower part of our area. We then rode the LRT and caught a ride with Spanish to supper at the Calvert's. It was more like the Calvert's/Hunt's. They had a Thanksgiving dinner for us. It honestly was a gong show. Needless to say, that was the rest of our night.

Friday

Well we had weekly planning. Things took a long time today. We didn't get much done afterwards. We had supper with Massey's. They are awesome member missionaires. We told them about a LA that lives around the corner that we are hoping to start meeting. They went that night to invite her to the Ward Christmas Party and the other stake things. They were great. We also took the bikes back to the Nolet's and Massey's. They have been in our apartment for a few weeks now. We haven't been able to ride them much since we actually have snow that stays. We then went were going to stop by some other people in the area. We stopped at the ZL's place and they were there. We ended up going with them to help the Stebners with somethings. Bro Stebner had hip surgery and Sis Stebner needed to get some Christmas decorations down. They are such a fun family.

Saturday

Well today was another all day long adventure with the ZL's. Pretty common truly. We went and helped this LA family move. They live up on the Army base and he quit the army so they needed to move. The 4 of us went up with Bro Palmer to help. Afterwards he took us out for Indian food. I now know that I don't like Indian food that much. We then were asked to help with the Food Bank. So we went down to a Grocery store and Elder Phillips and I greeted people as they came in and asked if they would like to donate to the food bank. They had $5 prepaid bags they people could buy to help "Stuff the Bus", fill the ETS bus outside. We greeted while the other guys were at the exit collecting more donations and taking the bags out to the bus. We then went and grabbed our clothes and changed at the ZL's place. Then it was off to the Ward Christmas Dinner. It was nice. Nice Turkey dinner. Not much else happened that night.

Sunday

Well we went and had correlation. The 4 of us went back to our place since it was closer to the church for a lunch break. No food since it was fast sunday, but still took the break. We then went back to church. Trevor did come, but left after Sacrament meeting again. Just stay. Oh well. Afterwards the Theissens were having a huge family dinner, since they blessed their baby. They invited all of the missionaires to come and join. That was right after church. We then went with the others to say goodbye to Sis Visaijye (?). She is from the Phillipines and had to go back since she is still working on getting permanent residency. We went over and sang a hymn with her. Then we had supper at the Calkins. It was kinda crazy since right after we were done eating (which we didn't eat too much since we had just barely eaten with Theissens) Sis Calkins and the two oldest girls had to leave for the Stake Christmas practice. We still got to share a message with Bro Calkins and the two younger girls. We then caught the bus down to go see Aylissa. It was pretty cool. It was a little cold so we didn't want to have to wait for the bus for forever. We texted the bus stop to see when the bus was suppossed to be there. It was going to come in like 3 minutes. Pretty miraculous. Aylissa still didn't let us in. We stopped by Saturday and said to come back tomorrow. We show up and she isn't there/ Didn't answer. We went and stopped by David another LA pretty close. We were able to get inside and talk with him. We didn't get to share anything since he had to go pick up his wife, but it was still really awesome to go in. He said we could come back. Progress is being made.

Well that is our week. We are pretty much going to start over with most of our investigators. I guess that's one of the patterns of my mission. Come in with a ton of investigators to drop most of them and find new ones. Sounds fun. :) haha.

Love you all

Elder O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 5

Now you are up to date. It sounds like winter has hit Canada: 

 

From Elder O'Neill:

So this week was pretty interesting. Things might be slow, but we are still doing all that we can and having fun doing it.

I might be a little sketchy on details. I usually have my planner open doing this but I left it Castledowns car.

Monday

Well It was a pretty crazy day. We finished emailing and then wandered around the mall waiting for the Claireview elders. We ended up just leaving and walking way down the road to Walmart. We shopped got what we needed and walked back. We dropped off the stuff and went to the church. Everyone else was coming there for sports. We went and played a little basketball. We then went to supper with the Ewings. We walked back to the church for the scripture study class and got a call from Bro Bonnell. He came and picked us up to go help with a blessing to a member from Fort Mac that came down to Edmonton hospital. She was pregnant and had severe complications. She ended up having the baby at like 24 weeks. Super early. We went and some friends had come earlier and given a blessing to her and her daughter. We were able to talk with her. she and the baby are doing great. She was able to get up and start moving around that day. She might be able to be discharged pretty soon, but the baby has to stay for a while longer. It was super amazing to hear her situation and how the Lord is really helping in every step along the way.

Tuesday

Today was a long cold day. I think the temperature was about -28C in the middle of the day. We ended up trying by a lot of LA and formers up north. Later on we stopped by Bro Guinard. We talked to him a little bit and asked if we could practice the lessons with him and his wife. He was fine with it, but was going to check with her. He is great. Didn't really have a lesson with him, but still a great visit. We had supper at the Higgins. We were able to have a pretty good lesson with Trevor. The basis was trying to see what we could do to help him progress. He has been an eternigator for a few years. We were able to see what he needs and how we can help him find his answer. He gave us a ride to our next place. We went to stop by the Nixon's. They are a LA family that we had stopped by before. We had called earlier, but they didn't answer. We went in and simply asked if there would be some other time that we could come by and get to know them a little better. Sister Nixon very abruptly denied us. "No were really not interested." Well that was a bummer. Luckily Trevor waited outside for us and gave us a ride home.

Wednesday

Today I really don't remember what went on. Like nothing. Must have been pretty boring day. :)

Thursday

Today was really a gong show. We had district meeting that morning. We left and went to the mall for District Lunch. I had my first Donair. It is really pretty good. They have some meat on big rotisseries. They slice it off and wrap it up in a pita with some veggies. We then wanted to grab some things and then went back to our apartment. We waited around there for a little while waiting for the other Elders. It was incredible. WE GOT OUR CAR BACK. We got the car and that's when the gong show started. We drove them up to there place to drop off some stuff. The were having a lesson with some investigators and the member they had fell through so we ended up going with them. We got out of the lesson kinda late. We were going to have supper with the Branco's but they had to go to a teachers training. So we drove the other elders to their supper. They went up and asked if we could join. The Christensen's were nice enough to let us. So we had supper with them. After that we were going to see Sister Hernandez again and we couldn't find anyone to go with. We drove them up to an appointment with another LA. We hung around in case it fell through and then they came with us. We had a great time at Sister Hernandez. We went over and made scripture boxes and decorated them with pictures from old ensigns and pamplets. Everything ended up working out. We just spent the whole day with them pretty much. It was fun.

Friday

We had weekly planning and then later on we went on exchanges with Castledowns 1. I knew it was going to be a crazy time. I was going on exchanges with Elder Shettell. I might have mentioned it before, but he is from AF. I went to High School with him. Ya now I'm going to be serving with him for a day. Insane. Everything went well. We had a lesson with a LA, Alex. We then had to stop at the church for a minute. We got a call from the other Castledowns elders. We went and picked them up and had A&W for supper. We went back to their place, ate and played poo. Sounds weird, but such a fun card game. We then went and stopped by some PM families. didn't get in with anyone.

Saturday

Well we got up and had studies. We went and picked up Castledowns 2 again and went to get bread. We were waiting at the Stake center. We waited in the car for a while and then went inside. Soon enough about there were about 12 elders waiting for free bread and treats. Yep that's what we do. We got everything and then went to exchange back. We came back to our apartment and dropped everything off. We then went and had mormon.org time. We were trying to figure out a supper for that night. We had called Sis Chemko and asked if she could feed us. She is LA, because she is on call 24/7 and often has to work. She said she would be able to feed us, but she pretty much lives alone. We called the other elders and finally got everything sorted out. We went down there for supper. It was really good visit. She lives in the basement. Her LA daughter lives upstairs with two non-member sons. We were able to talk to one of the sons who is potentially interested. (The other son is 4, not much conversation out of him). We then went and tried by some formers. We stopped by Dieter. We had had an appointment set up with him before, but he called and canceled. We stopped by and ended up having a really cool conversation with him. He is pretty anti-social and we were able to suggest some scriptures that he could read. We then went down and met with another former Robyn. He is a Figian man who is pretty religious. He goes to church at a number of churches, because he lives on 96 st where there are like 30 churches along that street. We can definitely go back sometime.

Sunday

Well we went to Ward Correlation and then we went to Ward Council. We were really able to discuss how the ward and the auxiliaries are able to help us. After church we drove the other Elders home and then went to supper at Brimacombes. After supper our lesson with Steve (LA) fell through. We stopped by Stebners. He had to have surgery on his hip. Younger family. His hip was formed right. The ball and socket weren't fitting like they should and it wasn't much of a ball. We went to see how everything was going. We then went and stopped by another LA Genie. We had stopped by before and she wasn't home. This time she was and we had a really good conversation with her. Not sure why she is really LA. We then had a lesson with Francis and Liz. It went really well. Still not sure if they are going to go to YSA or not. Liz seemed up to it, but Francis didn't. Craziness.

Well that was my week. We are able to do a lot more with a car. It's just so nice.

Love you all,

Elder O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 4

Here goes number two: 

 

So we have finally come to a normality in this area. The only bad part is that the normality is called slow. oh well.

Tuesday

So last tuesday we didn't do much for the rest of the day. We went shopping and just hung out at our apartment. We had supper at the Dorrey's and then we went to Bro Duckworth's with Sister Dorrey to teach him about indexing. He can't get out much, because of his health, so he thought that indexing could be a way to have some purpose in life. The only thing was that he doesn't know his username or password or membership number to sign on. We'll be able to get it next Sunday.

Wednesday

Well today was pretty usual. We really didn't get much done in the morning. CD2 picked us up for lunch. We went over to the Northgate mall and got our flu shots. They are free if you live in Alberta. We then went to the Food Court. They dropped us back off at our apartment and we went around and tried to find some more LA's in the area. It's good for figuring out the area too. It was pretty good. It also doesn't help when we read the wrong address. Elder Phillips read one of the addresses and we wnet to find it. Well the street where it was supposed to be on dead ended at a lake (more like a small pond). We thought then it would be on the other side of the lake. We walked around the other side and couldn't find it. We rechecked the address. Just read it wrong. We were just right about where we should have been. Pretty big detour, but we had nothing but time. We were going to go over the Higgins, but I guess there was a conflict of schedule so we couldn't. We ended up going to a 7-eleven and using a coupon for a free pizza. It was good for supper. After that we made our trek down to Vernon's again. We got there and talked to him a little bit...outside of his window. He told us that his life was looking up again and that he was taking some time and drawing some pictures that he is going to sell to some people. We asked if we could come in. "Oh no I'm busy. I've got to finish these pictures". Well we told him to call us when he has some free time. It isn't worth it for us to go down every other day to be turned away at the window.

Thursday

Well we had district meeting and then district Lunch at the Londonderry Mall. We went back to our apartment and waited for Mission Hill 1. They are the French missionaires for the mission now. Elder Kalala and Elder Jennings. They picked us up and we went to a lesson with Queen and Beatrice. Well we went down there and Beatrice wasn't home. She is the one that speaks French. We had a lesson with Queen and towards the end Beatrice came home. We said a closing prayer and suddenly there was Beatrice. Elder Kalala went off in French with her. We are trying to pass them off to French, but looks so far like we are co-teaching. We came back and did Mormon.org time. I love the Mormon Messages. We then had to hurry and go to the Noberts' for supper. We were about 15 minutes late. Oh well. They are a great couple. They are both converts and are supper funny. We got a ride from Bro Nobert up to Sis Hernandez. We also had a great lesson with her. Got to know her and her family. Kinda a tough situation, but she is making the best of it. Next time we go over there we are going to make scripture boxes. It's going to be fun.

Friday

We had weekly planning and then tried by some more LA's. We were supposed to go to the Stewarts for supper, but Bro Stewart wasn't home, so we had to go pick it up. It was actually really good stew. We then went down and met with Joe. He is a RC. We had a good lesson with him and his dad who is LA stayed in the room for the lesson. It was amazing. We were teaching him about how to teach. Went really well. We rode the LRT back home. It was the first time in about a month that I've actually seen someone come around and check tickets. We also figured out what is stamped on the tickets. It is the time in a 24hour clock and the date. We couldn't ever tell before. Our tickets were like 10 minutes expired. We didn't really know and luckily they didn't really care. At least we had tickets.

Saturday

Well the snow was starting to come down Friday night, but continued pretty much all day today. We in total probably got about 2 feet of snow. We were actually told to stay inside that morning. It was a lot of confusion. The wind was really bad and the snow was coming down pretty hard. We were told to stay in and then a little while later we were told to not drive, but go out and work. While we were still inside we saw some women trying to get in their car. They locked the keys inside and were trying to get the door open. They were on top of the car and slipping everywhere. We went out and helped them get in their car. Well we really didn't have anything to do, so we spent about 5 hours shovelling sidewalks for some LA's and other people. We were able to talk to quite a few people. Being a missionary is really weird sometimes. We aren't allowed to take money from people. Well doing service all day and people are gracious to try and offer and you have to decline is just strange. We could have gotten about $50. They were persistent, but we are even more. We had supper at the Johnston's and then went and met with the Senuk's. We didn't know them very well. It ended up being a lot of interacting with the kids and trying to keep the kids focused that being able to get to know the parents. We'll try some other time.

Sunday

Today was really good. We had correlation in the morning. We went to stop by Alosious, but he was doing chores and really couldn't meet then. We said we would be back later that night. We went and grabbed a little bit of lunch and then went to Church. There were some really good lessons and talks given. I love being able to go and learn instead of teach. It was also pot-luck afterwards. It was great to be able to get to know some of the member a little better. The food was also really good. one of the Calvert girls is really funny. She has her favorite missionaries in the ward. Elder Ladd is #1, mostly because he is mexican, I'm #2, Elder Phillips is #3 and Elder Kinghorn is #4. Don't know why it is that way, but it is. We hung around and helped clean up. We then went to go to Alosious' again and he went out with his sister. We can never meet with him. Ugh. We then tried to meet with Aylissa (LA), but she wasn't home. We got a call from Bro Duckworth seeing if we had gotten his membership record number, which we did, and told him that we would be down in a little bit. We went and helped him figure out his account and then went back to met the Tanner's at our apartment. We usually drop off our laundry at their house, but there is no way that we could today with all of the snow that we got and us walking, so they came to pick it up.

Well that was my week. Pretty slow as usual, but that's missionary life.

Well love you all,

Elder O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 3

Sorry folks I forgot to post the last couple. So you will be getting three posts today. Silly or crazy Missionary Mom!!! Now from Colin!

 

So I've realized something as I'm starting to write this email...not much is going on. We have had a lot of appointments that fall through and we spend most of our time walking around. Just keep that in mind as I tell you about my week.

Second, Yesterday was Remembrance day so that is partly why I wasn't able to email home and our P-day changed to Tuesday for this week for reasons I'll tell you later.

Monday

Well last Monday we had P-day. That was fun-ish. We ended up catching a ride to the stake center with Spanish. Well in the Stake center they have a closet with different sports stuff. Well half of the gym they were playing Basketball. The other half they were playing floor hockey. So I was playing floor hockey, because it is much more interesting than basketball. So we were playing and I was constantly going against Elder Simms. He is about 6' 4" and 320 lbs. Big dude. Well he is a competitive guy. Well went to go after the puck and totally smashed my thumb. It wasn't much fun, but I did ok. I didn't break it or anything, but there is still some bruising under the nail. Welcome to Hockey. Later on we went to the Calkins and had supper. Bro Calkins drove us to the church for a Scripture Study class that we are trying to start with our investigators and anyone else who might be interested. So far it's not a big turn out.

Tuesday

Well today was an interesting day. We went to Bro Duckworth's house, because he had called us and said he knew some people that were interested in his church. They wanted to change their life around and knew how happy he was with his church. So we went and started to teach them. Dwayne and Gailene. They are a really cool couple. They have had a really rough past but really want to change and get their life in order. We haven't been able to talk with them much, but they are also moving into Castledowns area so we won't be teaching them for much longer. We didn't do much the rest of the day. Stopped by LA's. We had a meeting with Bishop Greep that night and it was really an eye opener. Things aren't going as well as we had thought.

Wednesday

Well today we had ZTM. It was really different, because we see our whole zone pretty frequently. Our whole zone is Castledowns 1&2, Londonderry 1&2, Claireview 1&2, St. Paul, and Ft. McMurray 1&2. Well we usually video conference Ft Mac into ZTM, but before I got here someone broke in and stole the tv. so they weren't there. Everyone else was and the only people that I didn't know already were St. Paul. It is also very different than from RD. There are no sisters in our zone. We are the only zone in the mission without sisters. It is really pretty strange. Well at least to me. We didn't do much the rest of the night. We stopped by some members that we didn't know very well and that was about it.

Thursday

Well today the only appointment we had was supper with the Anderson's. We did a lot of street contacting, LA's, and tracting. A lot of walking. We were supposed to have a lesson with Jeff, but they cancelled.

Friday

Well today was the really bummer day. We had 5 lessons planned and didn't get a single one. We were supposed to meet with Dwayne and Gailene this morning, but he was called into work. So that didn't happen. We were going to have a lesson with Queen. She is one of our investigators and I have never met her. We were going to have a lesson with the French missionaries with her. Her mom Beatrice is also interested, but only understands a little English. We thought it would be good for the French missionaries to teach them. Well 30 minutes before She called and had to cancel. We went to supper at the Tanner's and we had prepared a lesson, but the other missionaries shared a lesson with them. It was in their area, but still. We got out of supper way late so we had to cancel our lesson with Vernon. We went to go to Trevor's and they weren't home. Didn't really get much accomplished.

Saturday

We again didn't do much. We were supposed to have a lesson with Shanon at 12. Bro Skinner was going to come with us. He lives in an apartment complex right behind her. Shanon wasn't home so Bro. Skinner asked if we would like to come over for some Hot Chocolate. We had biked down and it was snowing. We went over and had some Hot Chocolate. They also offered us Lunch. Did I tell you perogies are a big thing in Canada. Well we went back home and then tried more LA's. It was a long cold day. We also tried by Vernon. We got there and he had said he was reading again which was good, but was busy so we couldn't teach him. Life is life.

Sunday

Well we had correlation. After that the ZL's came over to our apartment, since we are pretty close to the church. We had lunch and then went back for church. It was really good. After church we went home and the went to the McLean's for dinner. Holy Cow. Words can not describe. Their kids were so hyper active. Wow. We then went to have a lesson with Francis. The YSA sisters wanted to come with since Francis is YSA. Well he wasn't home, but his two younger sisters left us come in. They had met with missionaries before they had moved and were still interested.
We introduce the BOM again and read the introduction. We were able to have 2 new investigators from it.

Monday

Well we didn't have P-day today so we had to have a normal day. Pretty much we went and met with Bro Duckworth to tell him about church, We tried by LA and found some active members we don't know very well, and then went to supper. We went to the Theissens. It was super fun. Supper wasn't quite ready, but while we waited he gave us a passion fruit. They are so weird to eat. It is like a pomegranate. You bite into it and then don't eat the outside. Inside is a mess of green goo with the seeds. You just suck it out and that is the passion fruit. It was really good. After we shared our message we sang some Christmas songs. It was super fun. We then went to the Scripture study class.

Tuesday
So for this week it was p-day today. Now I'll finally tell you it was moved to Tuesday because it was....TEMPLE P-DAY!!! We got to go to the temple this morning. It was super cool. It was also really cool getting there. Our car is still in the shop (making us mad) so since neither set had a car we got a ride from President and Sister Manion. They are so wonderful. It was cool to be able to spend the morning with them. Temple P-day is so great.

Well that was my week. Nothing really happened. Missionary life gets that way. I'll doing fine though. Walking everywhere really isn't fun, but it's what we have to do. We meet a lot of crazy people so it makes it interesting.

Love ya,
Elder O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 2

Hey there :)

So let me start off by saying that I'm feeling much better. My legs are getting used to biking and walking around everywhere. I learned also how much just raising the bike seat can help. I guess I had it way too low for me and that was where most of the pain was coming from. So let me tell you about my week.

Monday

Well Monday was P-day. After we were done emailing we looked around in the mall with some of the missionaries in Claireview 2. They wanted to look for some things. I ended up finding a bag that can be either an approved sidebag or it can be a backpack which is much easier on a bike. I used up some of my leftover US cash. We then went and shopped around. We went to Walmart to get some groceries, but it was very little. We didn't have much room on our bikes. We then went and played a little basketball at the church. It wasn't much of a game. Clairview is on bikes as well and 3/4 of us were too sore to do much. We went to supper at the Johnstons. They are a cool family. They used to live in PG. probably right around where Patrick and Steph used to live just south of the Hospital. They were pretty fun. Our other appointment fell through.

Tuesday

Tuesday is when I raised the bike seat and things were going much better. We went to meet with a LA girl that we were finally able to set up an appointment with. We got there had a member meet us and she wasn't there. Kinda crappy. We then went and helped another LA Bro Duckworth. We went down to the southern part of our area and then went tracting. There wasn't much success. We met with Shanon. It was a pretty scattered lesson. Not much desire there. We then came back and had supper. We waited around for a while because we were supposed to go on exchanges with Castledowns 1, but they were running late and it wasn't going to work out. So we did a lot of stop-bys.

Wednesday

We went and helped this guy Dave rake leaves. It is a weekly service thing. We help him rake his and his neighbors leaves. It is quite a project really. There are tall elm trees all down the street with a lot of leaves. There were about 8 of us helping him. (us, Londonderry 1, Kingsway 2, and Spanish North). He then took us to Tim Hortons for Hot Chocolate and Doughnuts. Later we had supper at the Fixsens. They are a nice couple. She is really involved with helping a lot of LA.

Thursday

Well we had district Meeting and then we went to the Londonderry Mall for lunch. Most of us don't have a car so it is really close to the church and really close to our apartment which is nice. Oh and Yes Mom. Halloween exists in Canada. It was fun to see everyone dress up and walking through the mall. Little kids are the best. We then went and did some shopping. We need to get some stuff to fix the bikes up. We found a bike repair place and finally got in. We also bought some tools and helmets that we hadn't gotten yet. We later went to the Dorey's for supper. I know I didn't really say much about last week, but we were there last Thursday too. They have us over for dinner along with their LA daugther and her Fiance' Jeff. Jeff really wants to learn more about our church. He said "I'm marrying into the family, and this is such a big part that I want to learn more." He was very up front with us that he doesn't want to join, just learn more about what the family believes. It's going to be slow, but good. We were supposed to be in our apartment by 6 unless we had a specific appointment. Well we did so we finally got in about 8:00. We ended up playing UNO for a little while.

Friday

Well we had weekly planning and then we waited around for Castledowns 1 for exchanges. I went to Castledowns with Elder Cook. He was cool. He is from Bear Lake. We were with the other Castledowns Elders for quite a while too. We went and raked one families leaves, they weren't home so we did our best. We then went to go rake this older ladies leaves and we helped this lady that was raking the neighbors leaves. We helped her out a lot. We went to leave and she tried to give us 20 bucks. She was pretty persistent and tried to give it to each one of us. We were just more persistent in refusing. We then went back to their apartment and changed. We then went to supper with this member. He was strange. It was kinda a make your own pita with the random stuff that he had cooked. It was pretty good, but interesting. Not much else exciting happened that night.

Saturday

Well in the morning the bread truck came. Some members pick up the old bread that the safeway is going to throughout. Nothing is wrong, just been on the shelf. So the missionaries and some other people get free bread. We loaded up the car with what we needed and some for LA. We then went and rode the bus to Alex's. It was cool to visit him. He shares a message with us and we share a message with him. We then did a little tracting while we waited for the bus. We then went back had lunch and then CD2 picked us up to take us back to LD. We got back and we went down to try some people. We were pretty much riding around in the storm. It was little ice crystals coming down. Not too much fun. but we made it through.

Sunday

Well We had corelation in the morning and then we went to walk back to apartment. We were almost there and Elder Phillips left the keys in his coat at the church. We just kept going to Alyssa and then just walked back to the church. We had church. We then went to the Laubman's for supper. We went to Bro Duckworth to catch him up on church and then went to meet with another investigator Francis. He is super solid. It was a really good night.

Well that was my week.

Things are going much better. Still no car and there is now snow. Not the best, but I can make do.

Love ya

Elder O'Neill

Londonderry-Chapter 1

Wow this past week has been a tough week. I have honestly had a hard time adjusting to this new situation. I agree with Bro Harris. The first transfer is the hardest. It was really hard to leave Innisfail. I had a hard time saying goodbye.

Well it has been an interesting overall week.

Monday

Well I told you mostly about monday. We had transfer calls. We then went and emailed. We went shopping and I really didn't need to buy much. We went back to the apartment for a little while and I started packing. Packing wasn't actually that bad.  We went and played basketball with some of the youth again. We had a good time. We then had to hurry back to shower, change and then go out to the Robertson's. It was a really cool experience out there. one of there daughters is LA and we were able to answer a lot of her questions and concerns. She had some concerns about eternal families. We told her that if she prayed and read her scriptures and came to church the next week that she would be able to find her answer and know for herself the importance of eternal families. The Spirit was really strong. We then drove back and stopped by the Mower's. We stopped by to say goodbye and we had some things to talk with Bishop Mower about. We were talking downstairs at his Japanese heated table. It is the coolest thing. It is a low table  that sits on this rug, it has a blanket that comes out just underneath the edge of the table. underneath the table is a heater that heats up the space underneath the blanket. It was soo warm and comfortable. We went back and we were about to do some planning when there was a knock on our door. It was the Georges'. They were dropping off some left over Turkey soup. I was able to say goodbye to them.

Tuesday

Well today we were running around saying goodbye to some more people. We got a call that morning and Bro Ellis wanted to make breakfast for us. We went over and then I said goodbye. It was probably the hardest goodbye I had to say. It was like leaving home again. Later we went up to Penhold and help Lori out some more. We ended up crawling underneath her trailer to try and put some supports in place so that the wood stove would be  stable. Well we crawled from the only opening available until we hit a wall. We pushed out the side of the trailer  to be able to see better and found out that we weren't there yet. Well we went to the other side of the trailer and pulled out a wall. Well then there was a wasp's nest built into the insulation. Elder Sorensen had gloves on and pulled it out and then we Raid-ed the rest. Well we really didn't want to crawl under there anymore, but we peeked under and found a giant stump already holding up where we needed it.

"Oh the guy that lived here before had a wood stove there."

"How big was it?"

"Bigger than mine"

It was not a fun conversation. Well with that done, we went and grouted her tile. Oh the things you learn how to do on your mission. Well then we drove back and Sister Kinder was going to meet us at a park so the kids could say goodbye. Met them at a park by the local pool. It was a good thing that the windows were closed, Elder Sorensen would have been dying. (He was a swimmer did I mention that). We went over and said goodbye. Then went back to change. We changed and went over to the Blanchards. We then went back and picked everything up. I got to say goodbye to the Georges one last time. Bro George was just getting home and they helped load everything into the car. We then went to say goodbye to Bro. Burns but he wasn't home. We then stopped by the Woodruff's and M&B Ellingson. We then had dinner at Sharon's. It was a great dinner. We were able to share a little message with them and I bore my testimony. The lesson didn't go really how we would have liked, but Elder Sorensen is going to start teaching her again one day. We then drove up to Edmonton. We got out of Sharon's late so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to the Christensen's and Joseph's like we were planning. I called them as we left town and said goodbye. It was hard. I still miss Innisfail and the wonderful people there.

Wednesday

Well we had transfer meeting. We had to be there early, because Elder Sorensen had to go to the trainer's meeting. His new companion is Elder Nemeth. He is from England. He seems really great. Well my new companion is Elder Phillips. Thought I told you that last week. He is a great missionary. He has been out for 3 months. Have I told you about missionary posterity? Well your trainer is you dad and his trainer is your grandpa and then there are brothers and sons and nephews and uncles. Well Elder Phillips is my nephew. He was trained by Elder Crow who was trained by Elder Marsh. Getting it?? Well anyways Elder Phillips has had a rough couple of weeks. Elder Crow had some depression and went home. He was with with another missionary in the next area over and they were covering both areas until transfers. He is great. Well we had transfer meeting and it was great. Then the adventure began. I thought it was a little unfair. So they were shuffling a lot of cars around because they were trying to get the Subaru's which have four wheel drive out to the outlying areas and leave the Chevy's Cruzes in the city. Well we lost our car. We are in a car share with the other Londonderry Elders. The bad part of it is that they are the Zone Leaders. So we don't really have a car. Well we called them and they came down to pick us up. They dropped us off and then the adventure began.

Well the next couple of days were just about all the same. We had to walk everywhere until we got bikes. It got cold. It snowed yesterday. My legs are in constant pain. All of our lessons with our investigators have fallen through. It hasn't been too much excitement or fun.

Well that was my week. I'm trying to stay positive, but it's hard.

Love you all

Elder O'Neill

Innisfail Chapter 18...Final Chapter

Innisfail Chapter 18...Final Chapter

Colin O'Neill

Today at 12:27 PM

Well this morning was a rough morning.

It was transfer calls and I'm being transferred. I am going to be serving in Londonderry. I am really sad to leave Innisfail, but I know that I am supposed to go up there now. It's going to be a new experience.

I did have a cool experience last night regarding transfers. I just had a feeling that I was. I was praying to really find out and I had a confirmation that I was. I really didn't want to, but I am.

Well let me tell you about this past week. I can tell you right now that I'm not going to be able to tell you much of what went on and it might be a little scattered. I'm still in a bit of shock from the call.

Monday

I guess I already told you about Monday.

Tuesday

Well we went and emailed on Tuesday. Then we went to see Bro. Burns. We were able to meet with Rob and really have a good lesson with him. He is also changing. He really has a desire to meet with us more. We had supper with the Hallman's and then did the PMG lesson with the Mower's. They are great and it is super fun to see how different people are learning. Oh I forgot the crazy experience that we had with Laurenne. We were calling her to see if we could still go see her tomorrow, and we couldn't. Apparently the night before she was walking home and was hit by a truck. Ya crazy right. She is doing alright though. She broke her wrist and her foot, but everything else is fine. Crazy things happen.

Wednesday

Well we went and meet with Bro Crawford. We are able to meet with him again. We can't go over when his son is in town. His son works in Madagascar for about a month at a time. He went back to work, so we went to meet with him. We then went to meet with Fred. It was a mutual drop. We won't be really seeing him anymore. We knew it would come out, but we just have too much of conflicting opinions. It was good that is was mutual. We then went over and started the PMG lesson with the older Ellingson's. They are really great. (talking about who we have visited is really tough. I'm really going to miss this area.) We really didn't have too much else happen. We had supper with the Byam's and we got to see their new son again. Little babies are so cute.

Thursday

Well today we had ZTM. Well we went out in the morning and went tracting. Not too many people were home or interested. It wasn't super cold. It was only like 5C, but the winds were ridiculous. We were only cold because of the 40-50 winds. We were on the Blanchard's street and we went and got to talk with Bro Blanchard a little bit. We then headed off for ZTM. It was really good and I learned a lot. We talked about some unique finding ideas. I might take some up to my new area. We then had supper with Melanson's. We went up to Springbrook and were trying by some potentials. We knocked on one door and we had talked to the wife Carry, but the husband Marty answered. He thought it was the neighbor that he was going to go help move a deep freeze. (ya another deep freeze). We ended up talking to him in the driveway for a little while. The neighbor texted and said it would be later so he went back inside. They are definitely still potentials. Well we were walking back to our car that was around the corner and the 3rd ward sisters drove up. They were lost and didn't know if they were still in their area. They were far from. They told us that they had just stopped by Marty, because he was on a potential form of theirs. Well Marty is definitely prepared if two sets of missionaries were sent to talk to him. It was great. We then had a small lesson with Lori. She went to the RS activity and we were talking to her afterwards. She was on overload and the lesson didn't really go too well.

Friday

Well pretty much all of our plans that we had set fell through. We pretty much just spent the day doing some tracting. We had supper with the Clark's. Later that night we went to stop by a family that we didn't know all that well, Beckers. We knocked on the door and no one answered. we were just about to our car when someone came to the door. Bro Becker, NM, answered and we went in and talked with them for a little while. I have seen her at church, but didn't ever really put a name to a face. It was a good visit. We then went and talked with Bro George. He is a fun guy. He told me that Big Bang has started up again. How is it?

Saturday

Well I was exhausted. We got up and helped the Kirkpatrick's move. Then we went down the street to help Lori lay some tile with Bro Ellis. We didn't have much else happen. We went and stopped by a bunch of people, but nothing worked out. We went over to M&B Ellingson's and continued the PMG lesson. They have finally finished L1.

Sunday

Yesterday was a really good day. It was ward conference so we had ward council with the stake. It was good and we talked a lot about how to help the ward become a more Zion people. Well Lori and her son Devin came to church as well. It was really good. She is really coming along. She is so willing to learn. Her son enjoyed it and said that he wants to come back again. It was great for them, they are really getting involved with the ward. We also had Pot-luck again. So much food. Afterwards we went out to do some visits with Bishop Mower. We were able to catch the Coopers and we know how we can help them now. They are going to be reactivated really quickly. The ward has got it covered. We then went back and had "dinner". Elder Sorensen didn't have much and I was still full from earlier. We tracted some more and then went to see Bro Votary. He is a great man. He hasn't been feeling good for a little while. Elder Sorensen asked if he wanted a blessing. It was really good for him. We then went and saw the Woodruff's. We started lesson 2 with them. They are so much fun.

Well that was my past week. Now I get to pack up and go to a new area on Wednesday. These next couple of day's are going to be a lot of goodbyes. I guess I'm ready for the change.

Love ya all

Elder O'Neill

Innisfail Chapter 17

To Family EmailMeDad's Work

Today at 2:07 PM

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (yesterday)

Well I'll get back to that later. This week has been just INSANE. This past week has been quite a roller coaster. So much happened. This was the most exciting week of my mission so far. Don't want it to ever be more. This isn't going to be a short email.

Monday

Well I told you about playing pool. It's very fun. I'm a righty but play pool and drive lefty. It's fun. Well later on we went and played basketball with some of the youth. We moved tuesday night basketball to monday afternoon so we don't have to play in pros. Well then we went and had dinner with the Propps. Bro Propp isn't a member and so our lesson was teaching him about the Book of Mormon. We might start teaching him soon.

Tuesday

Well we started by helping Mary drain her water barrel. Well it was about 5 C with a pretty strong wind. We had to take a bucket and fill it and dump it in the garden or on the dry spots on her lawn. It wasn't the warmest activity in my life. Well the rest of the day was quite boring. We had supper with the Ellis'. Later that night we went with Bro Ellis to go look at Lori's house. She is wanting to put in a wood burning stove and Bro Ellis has taken it upon him to oversee the job. At least he knows what he is doing. We went over to look at the situation and figure out what needs to be done.

Wednesday

Well we had district meeting today. We had district lunch afterwards and we made egg mcmuffins. It was really pretty good. We then went on exchanges. Well Elder T can't drive so I had to drive out to Rocky. It seems like a longer drive out to Rocky that the time I drove up to Logan even though it's only like an hour. Well we went out there and meet with some people. We ended up having supper with the Michele's. I actually already knew them. Sister Michele is the oldest Motley girl from my ward. They were living with her family over the summer and I got to know them then. Well I guess they moved out to Rocky about 3 weeks ago. It was fun to see them, because Bro Michele is super super sarcastic. I think I'm the only one who thinks he is even slightly funny. We then went to go to another member lesson. Well it was out on a range road. Well I'm driving and don't really know where I'm going. We are looking for 8-4A. Well all that I'm seeing is 38-5 38-4 38-3A. Well I thought maybe whoever wrote it down wrote it wrong so I'm trying to find 38-4A. Well it apparently doesn't exist. I guess the range roads don't make too much since and if you keep going the road curves and then there is 8-A. A little weird.

Thursday

Well we tried by some potentials and formers and went tracting a little and then had lunch and drove back to Innisfail. Well we had supper with the O'Connell's. We took some advice that Sister Manion gave us in the last mission newsletter we got. We had called them a few days before and asked them to invite a non-member friend over for supper. It worked. They invited Bro O'Connell's sister and we had a good talk with her. We still haven't quite figured it out, but she lives in RD so we might start teaching her at the O'Connell's or RD1 is going to start teaching her. It was way cool that it actually worked out. Well then we went and had a lesson over at the Herbert's with Lori. The Wolfes were busy and we decided to call the Christensen's since they are ward missionaries. We had a great lesson with her. We started teaching her the Plan of Salvation. We were teaching her out of the scriptures like she has wanted. We really broke through and we could tell that she was definitely feeling the Spirit and was starting to understand out message. At the end of the lesson we asked Lori if she would say the closing prayer. SHE DID!!! It was the first time that she had prayed out loud in front of us. It was amazing. I was at a loss for words.

Friday

Well today we had weekly planning. Not much else exciting happened. We had supper on our own. Kind of a boring day overall.

Saturday

Well today we did a lot of service. We started by helping Sister Kinder rake up some leaves and help her pick up her yard for the winter. We then went up and helped Lori. We were going to go with Bro Ellis to lay some tile before trying to install the stove, but Bro Ellis wasn't going to be able to make it. Well we helped her clean out her garage instead. She had moved some things so that we could get to the stove and pull it out. We helped get down all of the pipes that were necessary. She then wanted our help moving this big deep freeze. Well we had to help clear everything out of the garage so we could move it out. Well that thing was just toxic. It had food in it from 3 years ago and the best part was that it has been unplugged for just as long. Words can't even describe the horrific smell that was smelt. We didn't open the lid and we were gagging on the stench. We finally got it outside, but needed to move it over just a little more. Elder Sorensen had a dolly on the back trying to pull it back a little bit. Meanwhile I was on the front going to push it back. Well I didn't push low enough on front. I went to push and I pushed the door open. In about half a second I had realized what happened let go and started to walk away. I'm glad that I held my breath for a split moment. The toxic stench could be smelt to a gagging level within about 20 feet of the thing. It took a moment before we could resume. It was horrible. Well we went back and changed and tried by some potentials. Well not long after Bro Day called us and asked us to come help one of the Ellingson's move. They were moving out to her non-member parents house. So we went back and changed again and went to go help. We finally got back, and had supper on our own again. It was really good Elder Sorensen made a pork roast in his crock-pot. It was delicious.

Sunday
Well we met with the Sister's early that morning. We are going to try and meet once a week to try and coordinate a little better in case we find someone the others could teach and talk about lessons with member that we might both see. We then had church and we had to teach GP again. The lesson was rough at the start, but definitely got better. We went tracting a little before supper. Well it was pretty fun. Monday (yesterday) was Canadian Thanksgiving. Well a lot of people got together as a family Sunday for it instead. Well we were able to talk to one guy and actually were able to have some what of a lesson with him on his porch. He finally came to that he had worked for so long to free his mind from any type of bias and that his mind was soo open that he wouldn't take a Book of Mormon, because it would just close his mind to much. The logic that some people have utterly astounds me. Another lady we talked to saw us coming and ran to the door because her son was sleeping. She then goes on to chew us out about how this is a horrible time to be knocking on doors, and people are going to be busy with their family. I just love how frustrated and upset she was that she didn't know what to say. "This is a horrible time to be doing this. Just go home, just go...do....something" as she is waving her hands and shuts the door. We had a laugh about that one. In reality it is a perfect time to go tracting. Families are going to be home and together. We also held back that Thanksgiving is tomorrow not today. Tracting can be really funny sometimes. We then had supper with the Wells again. We then went over to the Blanchards. They are back from their trip to California. The whole time they just raved about how they love the PMG member lessons and now that they are home they really want to continue. We also went to the Woodruff's and they taught us the Restoration. It was a good lesson. Finally someone is ready for Lesson 2.

Monday

Well it was a pretty great day. 3 things. It was P-day, Thanksgiving, and Elder Sorensen's Birthday. Well we went over to the Ellis' that morning to do laundry. They had told us to come back about noon for lunch. Well we went shopping and then went back to the apartment for a little while. The Library was closed so we didn't have much else to do. Elder Sorensen had a headache and so we both took a nice nap. Well we woke up and went over to the Ellis' for lunch. Well we got there and Sister Kinder and Sister Coull and Tanner we just getting there too. We thought it was a little strange. Well they had a birthday party for Elder Sorensen. His mom had been in contact with Bro Ellis and she had ordered a birthday cake. It was super cool. Bro Ellis' brother was in town and was there too as well as the Blanchards. It was so much fun. We talked and a lot of them had left so Bro Ellis took us down and we played some more pool. I won two games again. I'm not a bad lefty. We then went and changed then went up to meet with Bro Joseph to go up and play basketball in Red Deer. It was a ton of fun. We had thanksgiving dinner with the Millers and Sister Kinder. She had a very missionary day. She was at the Ellis', then went with the Sister to the Mower's, then was at the Miller's with us and then later on we just stopped by the Ellis' to get a picture and she showed up a little while later. It was pretty funny. We then just hung around our apartment. We were supposed to be in our apartment by 6 unless we had appointments. It was a really good day.

Wow. See I told you I had quite an action packed week. It was utterly insane.

Life never stops for a missionary

Love ya

Elder O'Neill