Londonderry Chapter 18

Well so I told you how today was transfers and nothing really is changing. I'm staying here another transfer with Elder Hentunen. What's crazy though is that we are getting a new ZL. It's Elder Sorensen. :) I'm so ecstatic!

Well here is a run through of my week.

Monday

Well we had P-day. We had supper at Van Orman's. Some how we got on the topic of flowers and she was talking about how she has 7 rose bushes in the front yard. I was telling her how we used to have rose bushes in the front yard but we couldn't handle the weeds so we pulled everything out, planted bushes and covered it with lava rock. She wasn't happy that we pulled out the rose bushes. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now. So I got a new nickname of rose murderer from her. :) We were supposed to have a lesson with a potential Jesse, but he wasn't home. Elder H had a headache so we went in so he could try and get rid of it before our next appointment. We then went to Tanners to pick up laundry and talked for a bit.

Tuesday

Well we went and contacted on the LRT. It is a great place to find people that we normally wouldn't be able to find. Then we went and did service at the Food Bank. We don't know why, but no one was there. It was only us and Sturgeon 2.  We came home and had lunch and studies. We then went and cleaned Bro Duckworth's floors. We then came back, changed and went to Thomas' for supper. We didn't do much else that night.

Wednesday

LRT contacting, breakfast, studies. We then picked up CD1 to help us help Lucia move some things. We went and taught her L3 then put her on date. She is going to be baptized April 12. She is moving to CD1 area that is why we invited them to help us move her. We then went back and changed and went to meet with Jacob. It was a little confusing. He was just coming from his friends apartment up a couple of floors. Well we started to watch the 20 minute restoration film. He ended up talking all the way through it. He also pulled out some wine and started drinking it. He had two small glasses and was gone. I think he got drunk at his friends. It was weird. We also got two media referrals earlier that day so after supper we went to try and contact them. Neither of them answered. We then went and met with Cody it was cool. He wants to start coming with us to teach people so we gave him a PMG. It's going to be awesome.

Thursday

LRT and breakfast. We then had District Meeting. Elder H made his Finnish Casserole for lunch. We then had studies. We then went to Rick. We were planning on dropping him, but we finally saw a change at the very end. He was talking about all of the struggles that he has been going through with his family and we really felt that we should keep meeting with him. It was actually pretty miraculous. The Spirit can really touch and soften peoples hearts. We then went to Thiessens. They taught us L3 like we were investigators. They were really good. It was exactly like they were missionaries again. We then ran home to have a quick supper so we could help Lucia move her big furniture. The Elder's Quorum really did help out. It was great.

Friday

LRT and breakfast. Then we had a lesson with Annette. We were going to teach L3 to Jordi, but he wasn't there. We ended up having a really good talk with Annette, trying to figure out the future and how everything is going to work out, so that she could be baptized. We then went home for lunch and studies. We then had Weekly Planning. We then went to Noberts for supper. We then were going to meet with Cody again that night. Well we had let some other elders borrow our keys to get into the library at the church. Well we hadn't gotten them back, so we couldn't get into the church. We try calling them to get our keys back. We tried calling the sisters, but nothing. We ended up calling Bro Purnell and borrowing his keys, since he lives close to the church. We were way late, but finally got in. Gong show.

Saturday

We woke up did studies, went to the Bread truck, then went and helped Dave. We are actually making progress in his cluttered garage. We then ran to go to a lesson with Kingsway, but fell through. We then had lunch. We then tried LA and potentials. We went to Hoag's for supper and we were actually out in one hour. We then went to try referrals. We actually contacted one of them, who was a mix up. He wasn't actually interested, but we talked to one of his housemates and he took a BOM. We'll go back in a couple of weeks. We then went to the EQ games night. We had invited a lot of people and went to see if any of them had shown up. No one did. Maybe next month.

Sunday

Well we had Ward council in the morning. It actually went really well. It was the best WC that I've been in here in Londonderry. We then had Church. It was really good. We got a new ward mission leader, Bro Palmer. Ya confusing right. I told you how there are 3 Palmers. One of the other Palmers is our WML now. We are sad to see the other one go. He was so good. It was like his eternal calling was to be a WML. Now he is a Stake Clerk. We went home and had lunch. We did studies and then went up to the Army Base to meet with a LA family the Lee's. They are the golden LA family. We were talking and Elder H just bluntly throws it out there, "So why don't you come to church"? I was shocked, but it was really good. We did the mousetrap faith lesson with the kids and commited them to come to church for the next 4 weeks. The kids don't really have an interest in church. So we promised they will find an interest. We then had supper with Davies and Sis Christensen from Parkland. It was a ton of fun. We then had lesson with Cody. We found out there really are more things that we can teach him. It was a pretty awesome day.

Well that was my week, and I'll be here for 6 more. :)

--
Elder Colin O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 17

Well this week was...(I don't know what to call it). So many things happened good or bad, I don't know.

Monday

oh ya I already told you about Monday and most of Tuesday

Tuesday

Well the only thing new is that we had supper with Massey's. They are a great family. They were telling us about all of the missionary experiences that they have had in the past. They are so missionary minded and so willing to help out. It's awesome.

Wednesday

Well we went out and did some early morning proselyting. That is going to take some getting used to, but it is so much more effective than what we have previously been doing. After lunch we went on exchanges. I was in Londonderry once again. I realized I haven't left my area in two transfers. Oh well. We met Massey's at Lucia's, but she wasn't home. We were really hoping to have a good lesson with her. We then went to Rick's. We showed him the D&C video to really try and show him the beginnings of the church. He isn't accepting of much. We might be dropping him. He just isn't ready for the gospel. We then went to Bro Duckworth's. He was doing well. It was a good visit. We then had supper on our own. We then went and had a lesson with Cody. It was a bit of a rough lesson. I didn't know what to share with him. We were mainly waiting for the other elders. It was going to be the last time we saw Cody before his baptism. We then hung around. Some of the sisters needed a blessing, so regardless it was kinda long night, but very powerful.

Thursday

Well we had district meeting. There was a bit of chaos trying to figure out where to go for lunch. I have finally figured out that there are a lot of conflicting personalities and strong egos around. I'm trying by best to stay collected. We were supposed to have a pass-over lesson with the ZL's but it fell through. We moved it to Saturday. We then went back and since Bro Palmer is going to be coming to check the apartment later this week we took some time to deep clean it. Forsyth's had to cancel supper, but they dropped off a pizza for us. We then went to a lesson with CD1. Their investigator is in the military and they wanted Elder H to come and talk to him how to be a mormon in the military. It was a really good lesson. The 3 of us mostly just listened, while Elder H talked to him.

Thursday we also started a mission-wide fast to help us focus on our purpose more. It was really powerful.

Friday

We went early morning contacting and then came back and had breakfast. We went to a lesson with Annette and Jordi. We taught them the first lesson to try and get them on the same teaching plane. It was really cool to see Annette being able to share her testimony, even if she doesn't know she has one. We then came back, had studies and did Weekly Planning. We went to supper at Thiessen's. They were great. They made us a Valentine's dinner. It was Breakfast for dinner, but the Pancakes were pink. There were also Bacon roses. It was really cool. "As if Valentine's day doesn't make missionaries trunky enough". They were awesome. We then went to a lesson with Davin. It had been a while since we have seen Davin. He is really trying to change his life around. He has been going through a hard time for a while and wants a change. He has already seen a difference in the past few weeks when he has come to church. We shared the Faith mousetrap lesson. It was prefect for him.

Saturday

Well we had studies then went to help Dave. We came back and had to hurry and change to go to the pass-over lesson with the ZL's. It was a very interesting lesson. We walked in and it was really smoky. We then go into another room to have privacy for the lesson. Well we had a lesson on this dudes bed. Whatever works. We then came back and had lunch. We then rode the bus up to Branco's. We had called to see if they would feed us, but were busy, but wanted to give us food that we could take home. It was sweet. We then went back home and had supper. We then went and did more drumming with David. The chili for supper didn't sit well. We had to hurry home afterwards. :)

Sunday

Well church was really good. We ended up having a lot of people at church. Annette and Marie came. Trevar was there. Davin and Bro Lindberg also came. So 2 investigators and 3 LA's. Not a bad week. It was a little confusing for Annette. It was Ward Conference. The talks and lessons weren't really tailored to investigators or LA's. We then went back and had lunch and studies. We then went to McLean's for supper. We then went and taught Son English. It was a miracle. He was able to understand much more of what we were teaching him. He would read it once in english once in Vietnamese and then explain it back to us in English. There was some definite progress. We then went home and called Cody. He said that everything worked out perfectly. His girlfriend got him his own scripture set with his name on it. I can't wait to see him on Tuesday.

Well that was my week. Transfer calls come next week. I don't think I'm going to be leaving quite yet, but who knows the Londonderry book might be ending. :)

Love you,

--
Elder Colin O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 16

So relieved that this finally came. It is hard on a MOM and DAD to have to wait one whole day to hear from your son. Love this missionary! Enjoy the news! Sheila

 

This past week has been truly pretty incredible. So much happened, and so many things are going so well.

Monday

We had p-day. We had supper with Dorey's that night. We also went to Van Orman's to follow up with their missionary work. They actually have some work and things to actually discuss. It was really cool to hear. They told us to do a tracting approach with one of their friends. Kinda a typical Monday.

Tuesday

We went to the Food Bank in the morning. We had lunch at K. mall. We then went and helped Bro Duckworth clean more of his carpets. We will finish sometime. We were cut short again. We then went to stop by some LA's. we had dinner on our own. We then went to stop by Alec, someone we tracted into last week and he wasn't home (typical). We then had a lesson with Noberts instead. We tracted Van Orman's friend and they weren't interested, but we found a Phillopino woman to give to the Tagolag missionaries. We then had a lesson with Cody. We were really figuring everything for his baptism. He is getting baptized this coming weekend in Calgary. It is exciting. MY FIRST BAPTISM!!! We had a lot to figure out.

Wednesday

It was kinda crazy day. We went and did service with Dave in the morning, then we came back and changed. We had lunch with Kingway and some people that Elder Hentunen knew in his last area. Kinda boring for me. We then went and met with President about Cody's baptism. We were able to figure a lot of it out. We had to call the missionaries, bishop, and mission president all down in Calgary. Holy cow. We WILL figure all of this out. We then had a supper at Tony Roma's with another lady from Elder Hentunen's last area. She actually talked to all of us and I enjoyed it more. She is also really good friends with one of the members here in Londonderry. We then had a lesson with John. He is an old Italian man. He has so many questions that we are able to answer if he is willing to listen. We then had another lesson with Cody where we filled him in on everything that is going on and what has to happen.

Thursday
Well we got up and did mormon.org time. We then had a quick lunch and went to pick up the CL1 elders for ZTM. ZTM was pretty good. The trainings were really helpful, but all of the announcements were a bit much. The way the ZL's were presenting everything just made a lot of us upset. It wasn't the best ZTM that I've been to. We then went and met with Lindbergs. We watched the Restoration DVD with them. They are going to be a tough family to teach. We then went and tracted around Jackson's before supper. We had supper with Jackson's. I didn't know them very well so supper was interesting. We then went to Thomas' to follow up on their missionary work. The kids are doing really well on sharing the gospel with their friends at church. That was pretty much our night.

Friday

Friday was really good. We went and had a lesson with Annette and Jordi in the morning. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. Annette is really catching onto things. We challenged them to be sealed in the temple one day and they accepted. We also told them flat out that they have to be married before they can be baptized. Hopefully things will go well as Annette really gets serious about the church. We then went to have a lesson with Lucia, but she was called into work. We then went home and had lunch and then did Weekly Planning. We had supper with the Johnston's. I haven't been over in a while. We then went to John to try and help him understand why we worship on Sunday and not Saturday. The answer was clear, but he was just too stubborn to accept it. It's going to be harder to teach him than we thought. We then went to the church and watched the Testaments with Cody. Really gave him a better glimpse at the Book of Mormon. He is so ready. Baptismal Interview is Sunday night.

Saturday

Today was a long day of service. We went to help Sis Bennett move apartments. Then we helped CL1 with some things after lunch. We then went and helped Dave for a bit. We then came back and had a lesson with Kingsway and Ken. It was interesting. We then went to Tanners for supper. They are great. We are going to start doing laundry at their house again. The sisters are moving into the other apartment so we won't be able to do laundry there anymore.

Sunday

Well we had church. Annette and Marie came. They also stayed for all three hours. It was incredible. After church was a bit crazy. We were trying to find so many people in such a short time. We then had Coordination. Bro Palmer is an amazing ward mission leader. We then went back and had lunch and studies. I had bought a plantain last monday to make chips. It was getting pretty yellow so I decided I needed to make them. It takes a lot of practice. Some of the chips soaked in the oil instead of fried. Weren't the best, but they were pretty good. We then went to the Greep's for supper. I hadn't ever been over there. Their family is really cool. We then went and taught Son some more English. That is a Gong Show. We got him some Vietnamese material to help translate. Don't know how effective it is going to be. We then went to the Church and Cody had his Baptismal Interview. He is just steps away. Can't wait for this weekend.

Monday

Well I don't know if I told you about the experiment that us and the sisters are doing, but we are doing early morning proselyting. We leave at 7 and ride the bus and LRT trying to talk with people. Well Monday wasn't very good. I was having a bad day and was having a hard time talking to people. Hopefully later on will be better. We then came back and had breakfast and then studies then lunch. We had a lesson with Lucia. She has a tough situation, but she is really accepting of the gospel and already believes that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We then went and stopped by some people. We had supper with Higgins. We haven't been able to see them in a while. It was a good time there. We then went with Cody to the Stake Center to show him the baptismal font. The Calgary missionaries figured out everything for the baptism and everything is set. It's going to be really good. His family, who aren't members, are very supportive as well. It will be really good. We we could go. :P

Tuesday

Well if you were wondering why it is Tuesday and you are now just getting an email it is because we went to the...TEMPLE!! :) It was so amazing. So no one ever told me that there are multiple temple films. It was a shock to see a new one. It was so incredible to go though. It was really helpful. I love the temple so much. We then went to Lunch at Chili's with the Spruce Grove missionaries. Elder Hentunen used to be in a district with them. We all went to Lunch and to Generations (LDS bookstore). I really got to know them pretty well and they are really great missionaries. We then came to email and now your caught up.

Like I said this past week was really good. Everything is going great in Londonderry.

I Love you,

--
Elder Colin O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 15

 I think he is catching fire! Little sparks every week. Mom

 

Hey There,

This week we were on fire.

Monday

Well we had pday. We have a new rule that we have to be out of the stake center by 4. It is something from the stake president. So we have to adjust our schedule so we still have a decent amount of time to play. Well after playing basketball we went shopping and then went to Stewarts for supper. They are pretty great. Didn't know them before too well. We then had a lesson with Cody. He is progressing so well.

Tuesday

We went and helped out at the Food Bank and then went to lunch at Kingsway. We then exchanged with CD1. We went to see Bro Duckworth. I love going to visit him. He's having a hard time, but doing well to get through it. We then went contacting, until supper. We were going to go to Higgins, but they called and cancelled. So we had supper on our own, then went and helped Sturgeon with their new apartment.

Wednesday

We didn't really get much done that day. The highlights were going to see sis Hernandez and Cody. We had a pass-over lesson with Sis Hernandez and the Sisters. It went really well. Our lesson with Cody went really well too. We were talking about the temple and he was asking us how long after he is baptized can he go do baptisms for the dead. He is so ready, just have to be patient.

Thursday

Well we had a combined district meeting today. It was a ton of fun. We really didn't know some of the others very well so it was good to get to know them. We then all went to Humpty's for lunch. It was for someone's year mark. We then came back and had a lesson with Rick. It is really going to challenge us to keep him focused and on topic. It will be good. We didn't have anything else. We stopped by some LA's and went tracting. We then rode to Calverts. We got there early so we decided to tract their street. It was amazing. Every house that answered we were able to have a QGC with them. We then had supper at Calverts.

Friday

Well one of the houses that we tracted into on Calverts street wanted us to come back. Well we had some conflicting appointments. It could have worked out if we had a car, but we were going by bus and it made things a bit more difficult. The Sisters ended up going to our lesson with Annette and we went to this other family. Well the guy that we talked to, and didn't get his name, wasn't there. It was annoying. We just went back to our apartment and had lunch then weekly planned. We then later stopped by Guinard, who wasn't home. We then went down by where our supper was, Nobert's, and tracted. We had some more QGC's down there and a return appointment for this next week. We then had supper at Nobert's. They are great. So the last time I went over there I had told them about Dad forgetting the salsa. Well that story is pretty catchy apparently.

Saturday

Well we started by going to the Bread Truck. Then came back and had lunch. We then went to stop by some LA's. We went to stop by Lindbergs, but their address isn't a street, so we called them. We ended up finding their house. We had a good visit with them. They are really lacking some gospel knowledge. Missionaries haven't been there for like 4 years. It's a good thing that we are going to start going there. We then got a ride from Bro Palmer to a lesson with Threesa. She wasn't home this week again. One day. We then went to try the house by Calverts again, but they weren't home. We then went tracting around Bonnell's. We ended up finding a few strong potentials and a new investigator. We knocked on her door. All she heard us say was "Jesus Christ" and she let us in. She is amazing. We are going to start teaching her and hopefully her kids. We then had supper with Bonnell's. They are so missionary minded. They gave us some more LA's that our ward just got their records. We then tried to have a lesson with Ken, but he wasn't home. We stopped by some people, but nothing. Still a really great day.

Sunday
Well we went to church and had coordination. After coordination we went with Bro Palmer to meet a potential. I had texted a bunch of the names in our phone that we didn't know and this guy was really close with Elder Crow. We set up to meet him at Tim Hortons. He is a Jewish Elder. We had a very interesting conversation with him. His knowledge was great. He is pretty much a member just before Christ came. He believes in all of the same things, but doesn't accept Jesus Christ. We then went to Thomas' for supper. We then went to Thiessen's to follow up with them on their missionary efforts. They are super great.

Well that was my week. We accomplished a lot. A lot of our appointments fell through, but we were being led to others that need the gospel. Our next week is almost already full with appointments.

Love you,

Elder O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 14

Last weeks email, sorry I forgot to post it last week. Hope I remember tomorrow. hehe Enjoy!

This past week has been really great. We had a lot more success than I have seen in a long time. Things are really getting done in this area now.

Monday
Well we had Pday. It was different from what it has been in the past. We were riding around with CL1 for most of the day. We went to the Van Orman's for supper. They are a pretty cool family. I didn't know them before. We had a great time over there. After that our lesson with Cody fell through so we stopped by some other members. We stopped by Bonnells and shared a quick message with them. Bro Bonnell is the EQ pres so he gave us a list of LA that he wants us to stop by, check address, check interest. It really gave us something to do this week. We then went to Thomas' and shared a message. We are trying to help get the ward excited about missionary work and getting them to have their own experiences. And we are going to follow up with each family.

Tuesday

So we went and helped out at the Food Bank in the morning. It was interesting, because pretty much all of us that went were new. I knew about going to the Food Bank, but didn't know what to do when we got there. We got everything figured out. We then had lunch at Kingsway mall. We then went back and went and met with Bro. Duckworth, then we went to meet with a potential investigator Maurice. He wasn't home. We ended up parking the car at the LRT and riding it around for a little bit, trying to talk to people until supper. We had supper with Andersons. They are a great older couple. I really enjoyed being over there. They were able to tell us about some people they are working with and they gave us the correct address for a LA that we have tried to stop by before. We then went and started to stop by Bro Bonnell's list of LA. Didn't get in but found out some info on some of them.

Wednesday

We had mormon.org time in the morning. I'm going to say it again. I love the church videos. They have really great messages behind them and you can really feel the Spirit strongly by watching them. It really helped brighten my day and keep me going. We didn't have anything to do for about 4 hours after lunch. We were going to stop by LA and tract around their house. Elder Hentunen wasn't too excited about it, but we still did it. We took a small break after about 2 hours then kept going. We were able to find out some info on some LA and were able to have some good conversations. We went to Palmers for supper. I had been to their house many times, but not for supper. They are a great family. We then had a lesson with Cody. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. He is so great to teach. He really wants to learn and as we teach him, he isn't afraid to ask questions and we were able to have a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation. He is so ready for baptism. We just have a lot of things to figure out, logistic wise.

Thursday

We had District meeting and then District Lunch. Our district is really doing good. We have a lot of good ideas. Well after that we were going to have a pass over lesson from the sisters and it was really just one of their investigators they were giving to us. It ended up just being us and Bro Palmer. His name is Rick. It is going to be interesting to teach him. We then went and helped clean his carpets. That takes forever. We then went to Fixsen's for supper. They are great. There is a reason she is RS pres. We then stopped by some LA and then had another lesson with Cody. We went through the Baptismal interview questions to just see really where he is at and what points we could reinforce. It was really good to do. It brought of some much needed info. He is really going to be baptized no problem. I just get so excited everytime we meet with him and when I talk about him.

Friday

Well for a change we never actually got to do weekly planning today. We had lesson with Annette that morning. We were going to have a passover lesson with the sisters, but we are going to keep her as our investigator. The lesson was really long and scattered, but she is understanding a lot. We then went and helped Dave. We are helping him with his garage, but it was warming up so we ended up clearing the sidewalks so it wasn't too slippery to do the rest of the work. We then came back and had lunch. Then we went on exchanges with the ZL's. I was with Elder Shreeve. It was pretty fun. We have been serving around each other my whole mission. He was Red Deer Spanish when I was in Innisfail, then when I was transferred up here to Londonderry, he was also transferred to Spanish North. Now he is the ZL in Clareview. We stopped by some LA and tracted. We had supper with Branco's. We then went back to try LA again. We stopped by Betty who we got the address from Sister Anderson. She can talk your ear off. We stopped by some of the usuals and then went home. We were still able to get a lot done.

Saturday.

Well that morning was a gong show. Sister Nelson had passed away so there was going to be a funeral for her. We were invited to come, because there were going to be a lot of non-members and LA. Well we were told that the funeral was at 10:30. We got to the church and no one was there. We were confused. Slowly people starting showing up, but not for the funeral. Found out they were coming to prep the food for the funeral. We helped out a little bit, but really wasn't too productive. We tracted a little bit, then had lunch. We then went and had our interview. It was really good. Elder Shreeve and I were able to talk about a lot of things. and really be able to recommit myself to work hard. We then exchanged back and went back to our apartment for some weekly planning. We had a lesson with a potential that fell through. We got there and were waiting for Bro Thiessen to come, because he got lost. He finally showed up. We walked up to the door and there was a note for us. "I had to go out. Please come back next Sat." Kinda frustrating, but I really like that she is interested and remembered our appointment. We went back finished weekly planning and talked some things out. We then went to Laubman's for supper. We then went to David's for some drumming. It was a ton of fun. We started by just having a jam session, then we had David play a beat and we would sing a hymn. We could really feel the Spirit strong. It was so cool.

Sunday

Well we had an early morning. We got up at 6:30 and had to be at Ward Council at 7:30. It didn't really go as we had planned. We are really trying to work with the ward and we are having some resistance. We'll just have to keep working with those that are willing to work with us. We then went into the chapel. Well a handful of people were there when suddenly we saw Annette, Marie and Annette's daughter. They were super early. They had to ride the bus so they didn't have much choice, but it was awesome that they were early rather than late. Church was really great. They ward is really willing to have us over for supper. We had to ask some people, but we have a full week this week. We then had coordination. We were able to talk through some things and it really gave me encouragement that this ward is still good. We then went home and had our studies. We then went to Stebners for supper. I had been there a few times, but never for supper. It was fun and interesting. We then went and taught English to Son. We gave him a Restoration pamphlet and had him read through it and underline and words that he didn't know. Well it honestly is most of the book. But we are going to slowly go through it and explain each of the words and help teach him english and gospel principles. We're tricky. We then had another lesson with Cody. We had answers to some of his concerns and then taught him about the organization of the church. It is coming close. We have a lot to discuss with President Manion, the mission president in Calgary, the Calgary missionaries, and Cody about the baptism. It will all work out and be totally worth it.

Well that was our week. There was a lot more to talk about this week. We are getting a lot of work done. I'm excited. I just hope I don't burn myself out.

Love you,

Elder O'Neill