Londonderry Chapter 23

Wow this week has been a bit of a gong show, but it was a good gong show. In total we got 3 new investigators and dropped one of them already.

Monday

Well we had a good pday. Crazy thing happened when we were shopping. We were walking down an aisle and this lady asked:
"Hey are you mormons?"

"Well yes we are."

"How do I get a Book of Mormon?"

"Well, we don't have one on us right now, but we can bring one to your door."

"Oh never mind then."

She walks away. Elder H yells at her saying that if she sees other missionaries to ask them. We continue shopping and a few minutes later she comes back.

"Do you have a card or something? I really want a Book of Mormon. Could we meet somewhere?"

"We could meet at your home."

"No I'd rather not. Could we meet here tomorrow."

"Well this is a little far from where we live. We live next to Londonderry Mall we could meet you there?"

"Ok, see you tomorrow.  My name is Elizabeth by the way"

It was one of the weirdest experiences that kept going throughout the week. You'll hear the whole story slowly. It's crazy. Well the rest of p-day was good. We didn't play basketball again. Instead we played floor hockey. We ended up playing full court too. It was awesome. We went to Laubman's for supper. Some thing hit me while we were there. I thought it was I just got a minute to finally relax for a bit, but it kept up. Our lesson fell through that night, so we went back to do some phone calls. I was wiped out. We planned out the next day and I went to bed at like 9.

Tuesday

LRT and prep. I still had close to zero energy. We went and met Elizabeth at the mall.

"Thank you for the Book of Mormon. It is actually for my son. He is really interested in this right now and would like to meet with you."

"Ok well can we have his number to call him?"

"No he'll give you a call to probably meet with you tomorrow."

"Ok well our number is in the back of the Book"

So we went back to our apartment. We had studies and then we went down to Dave's to help him out a little for this week. After that we went and did mormon.org time. I was still wiped out don't know what was wrong. We were picked up by Kingway and we met Dan and Jen from Parkland at OJ's for wing night. They have Tuesday night wing night. 10 wings for $3.50. It was a lot of fun. Dan also, I'm pretty sure when he went to the bathroom, paid for us all. It was super nice. We then went back home and Elizabeth called us seeing if we were available to meet on Thursday at 3. We didn't know what was exactly going on on Thursday so we planned for Friday. I don't know what was exactly wrong, but when we went to OJ's I was just fine. It was weird I had zero energy. I wanted to go out and do things, but my body didn't want to move. Totally fine now.

Wednesday

LRT, prep, studies, lunch. We then went to Bro Duckworth's I haven't seen him in a while. We weren't able to go last week and the week before they went on exchanges. It was a good visit. We then rode the LRT for a little bit and then went back to our apartment to wait for Tagalog to pick us up for supper at Stebners. It was fun. We then stopped by some LA's in the area.

Thursday

Well today was all sorts of confusing. There was a big meeting in Sherwood Park where some one from the missionary department came to give some trainings on how to teach better. Well the thing was that not everyone was going. Only about half of the city missionaries were going. By half meant half of each companionship. So while Elder Hentunen went to the meeting I was with Elder Scheiss in both of our areas. Well they came to pick us up at 7:45 and then we dropped of our comps at the ZL's place so they could go to the meeting. We went back to their apartment for studies. We then we out to try LA's in Clareview. We stopped at 7-eleven to get drinks for the day. We then stopped by some LA's in Clareview. We then went to pick up CD2 to go to the Italian Bakery for lunch. We then dropped them off and stayed there for a bit. We then stopped by some LA's in Londonderry. By then it was time to get our companions back. We waited around our apartment for them. We then planned the lessons for the night, then went to Ewing's for supper. Supper was running late, so we shared the message first and then ate. We told our next appointment, Purnell's (upstairs), we might be a little late. We then went up and met with Bro Purnell. We then went home for some phone calls.

Friday

LRT, prep, studies, lunch. We then did a little weekly planning until we had to go meet Elizabeth and Alex at Indigo, a bookstore. We met them there. Elizabeth went shopping while we met with Alex. He was interesting. He had a read a lot online about us. He had seen a lot of the negative and really wanted to know what we were about. We taught him Lesson one. We were going to meet him at the church on Sunday. We weren't really sure how interested he was in changing. "I still want to wear speedos on the beach and drink wine and go to clubs." We then went to Annette's for supper. She has signed up once a month to feed us and once a month for the sisters as well. We went over with Josh from the ward. It was really good and we had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon with her. Geordy had to work. Wish he could have been there. We then went back to finish weekly planning while we waited for CD1 to go on exchanges.

Saturday

Well We exchanged right before we had to be in so I ended the night in Castledowns. We went and played basketball in the morning. Prep, studies. Part way through studies Elder K wasn't feeling too good so he went to lay down for a bit. We waited for a little. He started to feel better. We were going to help this family move, but I didn't have any service clothes. So we went to get some clothes and then went to help them move. We then picked up our comps and met some others and went to lunch. We wanted to get together and go to lunch since one of the elders is going home in a week. It was so much fun. We went to this place where you build your own burger. They have different things that you can put on your burger. We had fun with our burgers. We exchanged back after lunch. We then headed to Higgins. When we got there they weren't home, so we caught a bus to head home. While we were waiting at Clareview, Higgins called. We asked if they could pick us up. He came and we went for supper. We didn't eat much, but it was still good. We then had an amazing lesson. We are going to start over with the lessons. We then went to a lesson which was amazing. We met Jonah at the bus stop on Friday on the way to Alex. We taught him the first lesson and challenged him to be baptized. He accepted. A new investigator and on date.

Sunday

Well we had church. We were hoping more investigators were going to show up. The only one was Annette and Kennedy. Church was really good. We then went home, had our lunch break, had a little bit of studies. We were talking about Alex and decided to call him to see if he was really interested in what we were teaching or if he just wanted the information. He said he was really interested so we told him we would meet him at the church at 3. Well we went to the church and waited around for a little bit. It was a little after 3 and we called him. Elizabeth answered. "You made it pretty clear you didn't want to meet with him"

"We just wanted to see if he was interested. We still want to meet with him"

"Well he thought you didn't, so goodbye."

That is the end of the crazy story. It ended in a little miscommunication. Too bad. Well while we were there we remembered about Sister Gillespie. We called Bro Skinner to see if he would go with us to give her the Sacrament. We went then he dropped us off at our apartment. We were picked up by Bro Branco for supper at there house. They are great. They are going on a trip this week so I won't be able to see them before transfers. It was a great time with them. We then went down to meet with Joe and Sheena. We finally met with Sheena. She already knows the church is true and wants to be baptized. May 10 is when.

It was overall a crazy week, but ended really well. 2 new investigators and 4 investigators on date. Londonderry is doing great. I'm going to miss this place. One week left. :(

--

Elder Colin O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 22

Hey there. I can't believe how quickly this past week went by. This week was a bit of a gong show. A lot happened and as a result I'm exhausted. We were working dang hard.

Monday

Well we had P-day. I'm tired of the drama involved with other missionaries. It would be so much easier if we didn't have to share a car. Anyways after p-day was over, we had to go help Sis Huff move some boxes. We had supper at Van Orman's. Bro Van Orman wasn't home when we got there so we had to wait in the car for a little bit. It was a nice break. We had a good time there. We then went over to Tanners for the night. Did a little bit of FHE with them.

Tuesday
Well we had Zone Conference. It was actually both Ed North zones. It was really good and we got really good insights and inspiration from it. It was long, but I always enjoy just learning. To have a little fun we played what we call fish bowl. It's kind of like Jeopardy. It was pretty fun. Pretty early on we picked the topic in Hymns/White Handbook. There were two people from each team. Elder H and I went from our team. We had to sing Behold a Royal Army switching words back and forth. We had a definitely better flow and tone, so we won that round it was awesome. We also had a training from our Zone Leaders about being prepared. We started off with an egg drop contest. They didn't tell us before hand. They had sent out a text saying be prepared, that was it. Well we were split off in districts to prep the egg. Well Sis M was awesome. She put the egg in her coat pocket and then wrapped the coat around it. Well at the end of it all of our districts saved the egg. Even the district who just put tissue packs lightly around it. It kinda ruined the lesson, because they were expecting our eggs to break. Pretty awesome. After zone conference we went home for supper. We were supposed to go to Dorey's but they never answered. We had just started eating when they called and asked if we were coming for supper. We just cancelled. We then went with Cody to Annette and Geordy's. We had a really good lesson. Annette is starting to gain a testimony It's great!

Wednesday

Well Wednesday was a gong show. LRT then we went to meet with Carl, someone Elder H knew from his last area. We then came home to study. We then went to the mission home for interviews. Well we knew interviews were going to go long. Our interviews were supposed to start at 3:40, so we got there at 3:30. We didn't have interviews until around 5. We also gave CD1 a ride so we had to wait until they were all done. We finally left the mission home around 7. We planned on not doing much that night. We went to Five Guys for supper. It is really good. Their cajun style fries are the best. We then travelled to drop off CD1 and went home.

Thursday

LRT, prep, studies Lunch, Mormon.org then helping Dave. We have decided we can't keep going over there. The sisters told us we need to find a member that could help him. Now we just have to find someone that is willing to help him. :P We then went home to change and to have supper. We then tried some LA's. We then stopped by and talked to Bro Skinner. It was great to just talk with someone.

Friday

This is the day I started to get tired. LRT, prep. Then we went to help a new family, White's, that are moving into the ward, paint their house. We were over there for a long time. They were nice enough to give us lunch. We then went home and quickly changed so we could go to a lesson with Savannah. It was a first lesson with her and also a pass-over lesson to the sisters. It was at Forsyth's. One of the Forsyth kids and one of the Bonnell girls are friends with her, so they were both there as well. It was pretty awesome. We then went home for studies and supper. We then had a lesson with Annette and Geordy with Bro Bonnell. It was good. We talked about what they still need to do before they came be baptized. They still have until June, but there is still a lot they need to do before then.

Saturday

I'm really tired from Saturday. We helped two different families move. We went to CD to help Dean and Ashley load their truck. They are moving into our ward. Ashley is LA and Dean is investigating. We were helping them load the moving truck with all of their things. We then went down to help White's move into their house. I'm so tired and sore from those moves. We were supposed to have a lesson with Wayne, but he fell through again. We went back to have a bit of weekly planning. We went to Angell's for supper. They are so funny. We then went back and continued our weekly planning.

Sunday

Well as of Saturday night we didn't have much going on. After church, we had a full day. We had Ward council in the morning. It went well. We then had Church. It was amazing Marie came by herself to church. Annette AND Geordy came. It was the first time Geordy had come. It was amazing. Church went well. We then went home for lunch. We then went down to the hospital. There was a member from Tofield that fell and broke her hip. We were meeting her HT/Branch Pres there to give her a blessing. We then went and had a lesson with Joe. We talked to him at chruch about coming at 3 to meet with him and Sheena, but when we got there. Their dad didn't know where Joe was and Sheena was gone. AHH! One day Sheena will be taught. We then went up to Pilisko's house for supper. It was miracle. That was the first and last time in 6 months that I've been there for supper. We then went to the Army base to Lee's. We had a family home evening with them. It was fun. We ran home for a bit and then went to Palmer's to do some coordination/ pday eve.

Last week was crazy, but I got through it. I've decided I will be able to finally rest in about 14 months. :)

Elder Colin O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 21

I was just looking at it and 21 weeks is a long time. I know this area so well. It's crazy.

Well my week was a bit of a gong show.

Monday

We had P-day. It was crazy we emailed for like 2 hours straight and I'm pretty sure neither of us were all the way done. We then went and did some shopping. Went to our apartment for a quick lunch. Then went to play some basketball. We went to Habing's for supper. We then went to stop by a few people and then went home to make phone calls.

Tuesday

LRT, prep, Food Bank, Lunch, studies. Food Bank was pretty fun. We have been starting to do the individual hampers. There will be a label with how many adults children or infants. Depending on the number of people depends on how many boxes of food to fill. It really feels more personally doing that. We then had a lesson with Jen and the sisters. She is so golden. Unfortunately the sisters haven't been able to meet with her since. We then went to Higgins for supper. We then had a lesson with Annette and Geordy and Cody came with and Marie was there. It was a really good lesson.

Wednesday

LRT with the ZL's. We did splits with the ZL's to ride the LRT and contact. I was with Elder Sorensen. He was big help that day for me. We had a lot of success that day. We then were going to have a lesson with Wario and he was asleep. we went back and did studies. We then went to help Dave. That was the most work that we have done in the 2 months we have been helping him. We really took a step forward. I was exhausted, but it felt good. We then had supper with Dorey's. We then walked to the church. We were supposed to go on split's with the priests, but only one of them could come. We went and he taught a lesson at the Moen's. It was really good.

Thursday

LRT, prep. District Meeting, District Lunch and then EXCHANGES. District Meeting was really good and district Lunch was fun. It was weird to go on exchanges with Elder Coomer because I still had to drive. It was fun. We went through a lost sheep list with the other CD elders and then stopped by a few of them. We picked up the others a little while later and went to the Italian Bakery for supper. We then stopped by a few more people and ended the night. We ended up having a late night just talking.

Friday

We woke up and did the normal. It was good to not have to hurry and get out the door. I tried making pancakes and I failed. We then went for our interview at the Stake Center. We then went to McDonalds for lunch. E Coomer had coupons. It wasn't too bad. We were really just taking our time. We went to exchange back, but they were waiting for Wario, so we just waited until the lesson was done. We then exchanged back and had Weekly Planning. We had supper at Thiessens and then really didn't do much else that night.

Saturday

I was exhausted by the end of the day. We helped a member move into our ward from Barrhead. It was a lot of boxes. It was the most organized move in the world though. They had every box labelled of what room it went. We then went home and had lunch. We then went on splits with Bro Thiessen and Bro Ewing. It was awesome. Bro Ewing and I went to visit Wayne, but he wasn't home. So we tried by some potentials. one wasn't home. We then went to try Cameron. Well he was actually home. It was also a really interesting visit. I didn't know anything about him before. He was just a potential. Found out that he was raised in the church, served a mission and then got in a debate with his brother and isn't sure if there is a god or not. It was crazy at how far and fast he had lost the truth. We then had a lesson with Don. We were able to answer some of his questions. He isn't going anywhere. He said we could come back in a month. We traveled home and spanish picked us up to go to supper with Andersons at fatburger. It was really good. It's like JCW's. We then went EQ games night. Dave was supposed to come but didn't. Oh well.

Sunday

We had church. It went really well. Did I tell you I had to teach EQ. It was a rough lesson. Luckily I only had 30 minutes. I know why we have companions on missions to help us teach. It was rough. After church we went to Goetz's house for a youth panel. They had written down some questions for the missionaries and we went to answer them. We had a really fun time. We then went home for studies. We went to McLean's for supper. We then went to Son's. We dropped him. He is taking an after school program to learn English and his whole family is Buddhist. Wasn't going to go anywhere. It was a really good day.

Well that was my week. Pretty crazy. The work is exploding in Londonderry.

Love you,

Elder Colin O'Neill

Londenderry Chapter 20

Well this week has been a week of many miracles. We have really seen the hand of the Lord in everything that we do.

Monday

Well Monday was pretty great. After we emailed. We went with Kingsway elders and went to Costco. One of them had a card. We went to Costco and stocked up for the month. We then went and played B-Ball. We then went to Tanners for supper. It was really fun. They also had us stay for FHE. It was really good.

Tuesday

LRT, prep then Food Bank. We were around the corner from dropping CV1 off and our car freaked. There were a lot of messages going off. Service traction, engine power reduced. It was wierd. We crept along as fast as we could go to Kal Tire to get it fixed. They said it would be about an hour so we just walked around to the other stores near-by. We were going to go to Burger King when they called and said it was done. It was slick and the tires were spinning earlier. one of the tires was spinning more than the other so it tripped the computer and slowed down the engine. Well we went home and finally had lunch and then studies. We then went to Higgins. We had supper and then watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie. We also got haircuts. :)

Wednesday

LRT prep. Then we met with our new investigator Wario. Yes his name is Wario. :) He is a guy we met on the LRT. He is awesome and really wants to learn more. We then went home and did studies. After Lunch we went to try Pricilla with the Sisters, but she didn't answer. We then went to the Lindbergs. I'm going to say it again, they are an interesting family. They need the Lord's help. We then went and tracted before supper with the older Palmers. We then had a fun night with the youth. They had an Iron Chef/Master Chef competition and we were the judges. It sounded fun at first but when we got there, we realized we got the short end of the stick. There were three courses. Salad, Kraft Dinner (Mac and cheese), and then Kiisseli (a finnish dessert). It was interesting. They at first had a relay picking up special ingredients to include in their dishes. Well we waited around for a little while and then the food came. Oh man that was interesting. The salads were interesting. I'm pretty sure one team didn't have dressing. Then the KD was by far creative. One team tried to appeal to Elder H by turning the KD blue. Well the color wheel worked against them on that one. Blue+Yellow=...Green. So we had Green KD. It was fine, it just didn't look good. The other was the better one, it had sausage mixed in. Then there were two different types of Kiisseli. Strawberry and blueberry. It is a fruit and gelatin dessert. pretty interesting, but good. It was a fun night. We also finally got pics with Cody.

Thursday

LRT prep, District Meeting. DM was fun. We had a really good time. We created our own Title of Liberty for our District. We put "In Memory Of..." at the top and then wrote some things we were grateful for and then signed our names. We then had district Lunch. Sis M made Idaho Baked Potato Soup. It was super good. We brought a Boston Cream Cake, with strawberries. It was also her birthday. We then met with A+J. They are doing so well. We then did studies. Sister G wanted to surprise Sis M with flowers so she gave us some money to get some flowers and we were going to surprise them at one of the gas stations they go to a lot. It was a great surprise for Sis M. We then went to visit Bro Duckworth. It was a longer visit, but it was good. We then met Cody at the church and he took us out for sushi. :) We were all super excited all day. It was really great too.

Friday

LRT prep PS, CS then lunch. We met CV1 at the Burger King right next to our apartment then went and did Mormon.org. We then walked back to pick up the car and we dropped them off. We then went back and did Weekly Planning. We had a long weekly planning and comp I. Part of it was there was about an hour where our phone was going crazy with phone calls and texts. We got a hold of a few potentials that we are meeting with this next week and also received a few more potentials. It was miraculous.

Saturday

Well today was a long gong show. We got up and did some studies. We then met with Wario with Bro Ewing. It was a short but powerful lesson. It was awesome. 20 minutes and that was it. We then went back and did some more studies then went to the Bread Truck. We came back and had lunch then went to a baptism for the ward. They asked us to give a presentation while they were changing clothes. We then went to meet with Wayne, but he wasn't home. We then stopped by some LA and tracted around. We had a lesson with Lucia. Part of the phone craziness was Lucia wasn't willing to meet with the other elders. So we had a passover lesson with CD1 telling her that we can't teach her and they have stewardship over her now. It was super good. We then drove to pick up supper from Pitzel's and they weren't home. We were almost home and bro Pitzel called. We turned around and picked up supper and then went back home. We had dinner and then went to bed. there was little time in between, but basically that was it.

Sunday

Well we had a ton of people at church. We had Annette and Wario. Sisters had 1 investigator family, French had a family and Tagolog had a person. A lot of non-members and 1 LA. It was good. We also helped teach Priests. They are coming out teaching with us on Wednesday so we helped them prepare the lesson. We had studies and then went to Calkins for supper. We met with Cody and tried to help find a place for a few weeks before he can move in to his new apartment.

It was a crazy week, but we got a lot done. We saw so many miracles.

Love you all,

--

Elder Colin O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 19

Well this week was crazy. A lot of ups and downs. We had to drop most of our investigators. So this next week is going to be a lot of finding. More than normal. We are actully excited about this week though.

Monday

We had P-day. It was good. We tried to get everything that we needed to do before sports. So I told you how it was transfers. Well I didn't know yet, but Elder Phillips was transferred to Spanish. Elder Marsh is also in a YSA ward now. A lot happened except for us. Well we had supper at Calkins. we then went to a lesson with Annette and Jordi. They are so awesome. They just have a few things to work through and they will be baptized.

Tuesday

We did our new usual. Pros, breakfast. Then Food Bank. We might need to find a new day to go. Tuesday isn't working out very well anymore. We then came back to our apartment and had lunch and studies. We had mormon.org then travelled to Calverts. We had supper there and then had a quick lesson with Davin. He needs some help. We then got a ride with Cody and went to a lesson with Lucia. It was so amazing. Cody has been a member two weeks and that lesson was by far the best lesson I've had in my whole mission. Cody was answering things just right and bearing his simple but strong testimony. Lucia was telling us, "I feel something so strong every time you come over." Cody " That is the Holy Ghost." It was so amazing. Lucia is so ready for baptism, but is now in CD. Still most amazing experience ever.

Wednesday

LRT, breakfast, studies, lunch. We went to Bro Duckworth's. We then went to Jacob. He wasn't there. We rode the bus to Lingbergs, but they weren't home either. We went home and made calls before going to supper at Ewings. It was a lot of fun. We then went to contact some referrals. Pretty boring day.

Thursday

LRT, breakfast and then District Meeting. Well it was MLC so we had a combined district meeting again. It was pretty fun. We then had lunch at the church and then went home for studies. We decided to do some weekly planning since we were going to be busy Friday. We then caught a ride with Tagalog to supper at Habing's. They moved into our ward about a month ago from CD. They are a cool older couple. We then tried the referrals and went home. Pricilla actually answered and we are going back on Wednesday.

Friday

LRT breakfast, studies, Lunch. We then walked to Rick's. it was really cold, but there wasn't a bus coming soon enough. We had a good lesson, we are probably dropping him soon. We are going to come back in two weeks maybe. We then got picked up by Kingsway to have a lesson with Suzie. She didnt' show up. We then went to a lesson with Jacob. He wasn't there. We aren't going back to him. He is always drunk. So we dropped him. We went back home for a little then caught the bus to Stebners for supper. It was really good and they sent us home with left-overs. Bro Stebner gave us a ride to John. He said he had good news, which was bad for us. He found his answer of the Sabbath day on Saturday and is sticking with it. We mutually dropped each other.

Saturday.

Well we went to the Bread Truck and then went to help Dave. We came back and had studies. It was too cold to go outside without a car or appointments so we just took a day in. Really kinda boring.

Sunday

Church today was so amazing. It was fast and testimony meeting and it was one of the most spiritual testimony meetings that I've been in. It was really multilingual. Sis Palmers mother went up and bore her testimony in Portuguese since she is still learning English. Translated by Sis Palmer. It was amazing. The Spanish missionaries went up and Elder H. It was really amazing. Gospel Principles was a perfect lesson on fasting. EQ we spent the whole time talking about the first few paragraphs of a talk. Church was so incredible. Too bad none of our investigators or LA's were there. :( We had supper at Johnstons. It was really good. Then we went to the Stake Mission prep to help out. It was fun. Way too many missionaries were there though.

Well my week last week wasn't the best, but this week is going to be so much better.
--
Elder Colin O'Neill