Tofield Chapter 3

I can't even believe it has only been a week. It seems like it has been so much longer. I guess that's a good sign.

Tuesday

Well we did the usual. Then we went to help at the Tofield Lodge. It's a retirement. home. We went and played games with them. It was fun. We were there for a couple of hours. We went and emailed then we had lunch. We went and helped out at Busy Bee and tried some potentials and tracted. We went to Pilling's for supper and had a really good talk with Bro and Sis Pilling about getting their son baptized. We now have an investigator on date. We then went to the Stennes. I guess we used to go on Monday night, but since we don't live in Veg anymore, we can't do that. We were driving home to Veg and got a chance to go and share a message. 

Wednesday

Well our day was a little bit thrown off. We were invited by this guy that we talked to, to come to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. They have a service every morning at 7:00. We went. It is so different. We then came back and got ready. We went and visited Sister Yost. We also visited Sister Gillispie. She was transferred back to Veg. She was doing better. We then went out to help the Stennes' move some things around. That was fun...not. We moved one couch out of the living room and one couch into the living room. We had to go outside and it was raining. It was quicker than we thought it would be which was good. We came back and tried some potentials. We had supper with the Shaw's. Bro Shaw then came with us to teach the thompson's. It went pretty well. We then went to Bannack's. We had a good time there. We played crib for a little bit and I skunked Bro Bannack and Elder Garver. It was amazing considering I hardly knew how to play. :)

Thursday

Well we packed up more of our stuff and went to DM, had lunch at Kelly's, then went to Tofield. We unpacked and went and did mormon.org time. We had supper on our own. We then tried by some people. That night we stopped by Daniel. He is a really great guy. He pretty much found Jesus on his own. He read some of the BOM and is opening up a little to our religion. We had a really great talk with him. 

Friday

We did some Weekly Planning. we had lunch and then tracted a little. We were supposed to meet with Zoe, but she wasn't home. We just traveled to Veg. We met with Gerald. He was a former who is still a former. He isn't ready. We were supposed to have a lesson with Shirley with Bro Shaw, but she wasn't home either. Potentials. We went to supper at the Pufong's. They are a great family. They came from England like 6 months ago. That supper was really good. WE then went and talked with Soren.

Saturday

Well we were going to have a lesson with Bill, but he wasn't home/ didn't answer when we tried the first time. We went and visited Sis Yost. Sis Gillispie was released and went home. We went and tried by Bill again and he answered. Had a long talk with him. He likes to go on long tangent stories. We went and had lunch then drove to Tofield. We tried to unload a lot at the apartment before we had to go to Cahoon's to get our haircut. Well on the way out of town the train was stopped. We had to back track to cross the tracks to make it to the highway to get there. We finnaly got there and Bro Cahoon gave us both haircuts. I'll let you see on Mother's Day. It's short and I like it. :) We then drove to Hillyer's for supper. We ended up talking a lot about the Toone's. It was fun. They are a really great missionary minded family. We were going to have a lesson with Roy, but that fell through, so we tried potentials. We ended the night visiting Murray. 

Sunday

Well It was an interesting day. We started off with Branch council. Well it was the first Sunday with the new leadership. President Hillyer wanted to start it off right by getting everyone united by everyone saying what like admire and like about everyone. Well I only knew a few people in there. It was a little hard, but I guess I'm a pretty good judge of character. I was able to find something to say to each one. It was really funny when it got to Elder Garver. We had a comp I in front of the Branch council. made us laugh a little. We had church. We then had a quick lunch so we could make it back for coordination. Well it ended up not happening. Bro Cahoon came with us to some lessons which also fell through. We went back to the Church to pick up Bro Stothart and went to the Cahoon's for supper. We had a good time there. We then went to the Stake priesthood meeting. It was alright. Some technical issues made it hard to get the whole thing. 

Monday

Well it was P-day in Tofield. We did a whole lot.......of nothing. We ended up going shopping and looking at about the 5 different stores that looked good. I found a new wallet that was about it. We went to the Roncin's for supper. They live about 15 min south of Holden. Found out they actually live in the Camrose ward, but had permission to come to Tofield. We then drove to Veg. 

Tuesday

Well so far today we got up and cleaned up and moved out of our Vegreville apartment. The Poulin's came at about 10 and we moved and started cleaning until noon. We all went out to the Bates for lunch. They used to live in Veg. We then went back and finally finished everything at about 3:30. We are now emailing and then probably picking up dinner from Sis Skeem and then driving to Tofield. 

Well wish you all well,

Love you sooo much,

--

Elder Colin O'Neill

Tofield Chapter 2

If anyone needs translations, just let Mom know, she will feel you in.

Well this past week was a little crazy. I feel like we have to live one day at a time for a little while. I guess I wasn't too clear with some details. We are living in V., but we are moving to T. at the end of the month. Right now we have two apartments, so we are juggling around where we are going to be each day. It's a bit crazy, but we'll make it work.

I'm also emailing today, because the Library in T. isn't open on Monday's. I will most likely be emailing on Tuesdays while I'm here. :)

Monday

Well we had P-Day. We emailed, shopped and then went to Gillis'. They invited us over to play board games since it was a holiday. We were there for a while. We played a couple of different games. It was a bit tedious because we had to learn a new game each time. Legendary is a fun game. Sean would probably like it. It's a Marvel super hero game. We then drove to V. and went to Chuck and Mary's.

Tuesday

We were going to help out at the Library, but that didn't happen. We ended up going to T. to help move stuff into that apartment. We stopped by some places and stopped by some people. We had supper with Svenson's in R. We then drove back to V. and had a lesson with Roy and Crystal. They are awesome, but are stuck with common-law as well. The best investigators seem to always be stuck on that problem. Ah!

Wednesday

We went and helped out at the Stennes in the morning. We had half of our Mormon.org time and then tried formers and potentials and LA's. We had supper and then went and kept score at bowling for the special Olympics. We then had a lesson at Thompsons'. It started out all right and then just went off. Oh well.

Thursday

Well we had District meeting in SP. It was a long drive. I got to see Elder Canfield and Elder Eyler again which was pretty cool. After District meeting we went on exchanges and I was in FS. We first went and they play games with an elderly group at the United church. They were also having a lunch honoring the volunteers. It was fun. We then went and hurried to change to go help with a move that when we got there was done. We drove back and went to pick up supper. When we got there she wasn't home so we went back and had our own supper. She then called us and still wanted to give us a pizza. We met her at the church. We just threw it in the freezer for later. We tried by some members, but no one was really home.

Friday

Well we had the morning usual. We then met the others at Kelly's for lunch. We exchanged back. We stopped by the Pillings on the way back. Had a small lesson with them. We then went back and Weekly planned. We had a lesson with Shirley. It went really well. She is very accepting. Chuck and Mary then took us to dinner in B. It was really good. Steak dinner buffet. It was  lot of fun.

Saturday

We went to visit Sis Yost, but we found out she was in the hospital. We went to stop by and she was asleep. We made a card for her and left it. We went and got our tire retorqued which took like 5 min. We had lunch. We finished our Mormon.org time. We then tried LA's and potentials and formers. We had supper with the Bates. They are great. We met their LA nephew who lives in VV. He was nice. We then went to Chuck and Mary's to talk with them.

Sunday

Well we put as much of our stuff in the car as we could to take it to T. We went to church. We ended up teaching Gospel Principles. It was rough, but ended up going really well.

We visited for a minute and then went home for lunch. We unpacked everything and got the apartment mostly set up. We then tried by the Hindi house. We first met Jaganesh, but since we have gone he hasn't been there. We started teaching Kishar though. We'll see where it goes. They are nice, but not likely to go anywhere. We tried some LA's. and then went to supper at the Kastendieck's. It was a lot of fun. It got interesting after supper. Almost everyone there helps out with the dishes. We roll 3 dice. If you get triples or a run of 3 you have to help with the dishes. There are two people in there help sis Kastendieck and has people roll they switch out. It was pretty fun. After supper we tried by some people and ended the night at Murray's. He is technically a potential, but not going anywhere. We just go over to more or less talk with him. We went so I could meet him. It was alright. Our conversation didn't really do much, until he asked if I could draw. I told him I like to think I can. He makes wooden puzzles and wants new ideas. We went home and started coming up with our own ideas. Some of them I think are going to be pretty cool.

Monday

Well we had P-day. We didn't really do much, since there isn't much to do in T. We didn't leave the apartment until noon. We did go to the church and played some games with some of the youth. They didn't have school for Easter Monday. It was really fun. We went to the Woodruff's for supper. We stopped by some people. and that was it.

Well that was my week. I'm loving my time out here. I love outlying towns so much.

Love you,

Elder Colin O'Neill

Tofield Chapter 1

Wow this past week has been great. It was a lot of goodbyes in Londonderry, but a lot of hello's in Tofield. I'm already loving it out here!

Let me tell you a little bit about the area. (It might answer some of the questions from Dad's email.) So I'm now serving in the Tofield Branch. Yep it's a branch. It really is a lot like serving in Nucla to me. We cover a lot of towns. We cover Tofield, Ryley, Holden, Bruce, Vegreville, Chipman, and Mundare. They are fairly small towns, but it total they are the area. Tofield and Vegreville are the main towns. Tofield has about 2,000 people and Vegreville has about 6,800 I think. Veg is a lot bigger than Tofield. Anyways, we have to have a car out here. There would be no other way of getting around.

Well let me tell you about my week. 

Monday

Well that morning we went to play basketball. We got back and got ready. We went over to CV1's so that Elder H could get a haircut. We were there when we finally got the transfer call. I was almost worried that it wouldn't come. I don't know how I could have survived another transfer. It finally did. We then went to email. we went shopping and then went to sports. We had a great time there and then went back to get ready to go out. We went to Bonnell's for supper and to say goodbye. There are great. We then went to Tanners to pick up our laundry and to say goodbye as well. Cody then picked us up to say goodbye. 

Tuesday

Prep. We then went to say goodbye to Annette and Geordy. I'm going to miss them. I keep praying that they will finally get everything worked out so they can be baptized. Geordy might take some more time, but Annette needs to be baptized. We then went back so I could pack up everything. We had lunch somewhere in between. I have a lot more than I thought I did. We then went to say goodbye to Bro Duckworth. He taught me a lot while I was there. We went to have mormon.org and then went to Thiessen's for supper. We then went to Thomas' for Elder H's 6 month mark. It is tradition that you burn a tie at 6 months. I never cared to do it, but he did. It was a finally goodbye to the sisters as well. The four of us got work done. We also borrowed the car from them, since CV1 needed the car for transfers too. 

Wednesday

Well we got up for one finally day of basketball. We then went back and packed everything up. We went to the Italian bakery for one last time. We were going to meet CD1 and CV1 there too. They were way late which was crappy. We had already eaten, but they got some sandwiches and we left. We followed CD1 all the way through the city to finally get to RB stake center. There was probably an easier way, but we had a good drive. We then had transfer meeting I was able to say goodbye to some good friends that went home. I can't wait to see them again. We then headed off for some lunch. It was me, my new comp Elder Garver, and the high prairie elders. We ate at 5 guys and then took off to Tofield. Well it was actually Vegreville. We are living in Veg until tomorrow. We went back and got settled a little bit. I didn't unpack much since we are moving. We then went to the Bowling alley. They have a special needs league that we go and keep score on Wednesday night. It was a lot of fun. We then met with the Thompson's. They are a LA fam with a 9 yr old that isn't baptized. We are trying to reactivate the family so that when he is baptized they won't fall away. It's a bit of a struggle. 

Thursday

Back to the normal morning. Prep, studies. We then had district meeting in Lamont. It's interesting. Our district is us and Fort Sask 1&2. We try to meet about half way since it's pretty far for either of us, so we had district meeting in a members home. They are pretty cool I guess. They just leave the house for us. We then go to a diner that is owned by a member. We then drove to Tofield. We dropped off some BOM to a RM so she could give them out. We then met with Stephanie. She is a new investigator. Don't really know much about her, but she's interested. We then tried by formers and potentials and tracted. I haven't tracted in a while. I still like it better than Bus contacting. We had supper with McDaniel's. They are a nice older couple. We tried by some more potentials and then drove home to Veg. 

Friday

Did the usual. Then did some weekly planning. We went to help out at the Food Bank. The Food Bank here is a mix between Innisfail and the City. We do a lot more here than in Innisfail, but not quite so much as the city. Every Friday they have a lunch that we went to. We then went and taught Maggie. She has had some crazy experiences really finding our Heavenly Father for herself. She can also talk. We shared the first couple of principles and then went home for some more Weekly planning. We tried by some potentials and tracted. We went out to the Stennes'. We were going to go out and they invited us for supper. Well everyone was running way behind. We finally ate around 8:30 and then had to leave. Didn't really accomplish much, but we go out there a lot. 

Saturday

Usual. We then had to take some bikes back to a LA that were borrowed. I guess Poulin's had come for an apartment inspection and said we had to give back the bikes. We took them back and visited for a little bit. We then had lunch and went to Tofield for a wedding. A returning LA was getting married so we went. He is kinda an investigator, but not too serious. We then went tracting for a little while. We came back to Veg for supper and then went to Roy and Crystal. They are awesome. They would get baptized, but He works every Sunday. He is going to try and get every other off, but nothing yet. We then stopped by Thompson's to make sure they are coming to church. 

Sunday

Well we had branch council at 8:30 so we had an early morning. We then had church. This branch is awesome. I love it here already. I made some pretty cool connections already. The whole Branch presidency was rearranged, so we had some of the stake leaders there. It went well. We had lunch at the church. We actually forget to get anything so we used some of the hotdogs that were in the freezer of the church. We then went to meet with Jaganesh, someone we tracted into the day before, but he wasn't home. We then went to try a LA then came back to finish our lunch hour. We were driving by Jaganesh and there was a car, so we went to try again. Well we were invited in. There are 5 guys from India that came here to work and are living in the house. We met the other 4 other than Jaganesh and talked with them. We are going to try and go by again next week and teach them. They are Hindu so it will be fun. We then went out to Holden for supper with Lu and the Kastendiecks. They are great. It was really fun out there. We then drove back to Veg and tracted a little. We met Brent and Stephan. They work on power lines. Similar to the Indian house there are 4 of them that rent the house and work while they are here. We sat down and talked with them for a little while. They are totally not interested, but liked us since we weren't pushy with religion. Get that a lot. 

Well that was my week. It was a lot more eventful than usual. I love it outlying. People say that the city is so exciting, because there is always something going on, but it is the routine stuff that is going on. It's the same thing day in and day out. Outlying is so much more exciting. 

Love you,

Elder Colin O'Neill

Londonderry Chapter 24-Final Chapter

Well we had transfer calls this morning. It was really annoying because they came so late. We were one of the last ones to be called. I'm going to Tofield!!! It's out of the city, so I'm happy. :) I'm going to miss Londonderry, but it was my time to go. I'm excited for the change.

Well time to go through my week. Not much happened, because it was the last week of transfers and General Conference, but still a pretty good week.

Monday

P-day and then we went to Tanners for supper. We were there for a long time. It was a lot of fun, but long. We then went home and did phone calls.

Tuesday
We were going to go out on the LRT in the morning, but my stomach hit and I wasn't feeling good.  We met Wario at the church and had a lesson with him. We put him on date. He believes that the book of mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. It's awesome. We then had studies and lunch. We then tried LA's for the afternoon before supper with Laubman's. We then tried more LA's that night, until my stomach hit again. We went home for a bit. We then went over to Pilisko's to go through the ward list and mostly so I could give any information on what I knew about people. Any contact. We only got to the G's before we had to go.

Wednesday

LRT, prep. We then went and helped out at the Salvation Army store for a little bit. We then went to Pilisko's for Lunch and continued going through the Ward list. Finally spewed out all of the information that I knew. I knew the ward directory way too well. We then went to help Dave for a little bit. I'm not going to miss helping him. "So ya uh right now then so shall we..." :) We then went home did a little comp study and then went to Johnstons for supper. We then went to try some more LA's.

Thursday

Prep, studies. We went over to Annette and Geordy's and taught then the Word of Wisdom. It went really well. We are trying to help Geordy quit smoking. We then went and did some more studies. We then had a zone lunch and then ZTM. It was a lot of the trainings that were given at the meeting last week that Elder H had already shared with me. I was still able to gain some new insights. We then went to try a LA Micheal that we had called we drove all the way down there and he wasn't home. We then drove to supper at Fixsen's. They had invited Davies' over, because Bro Davies isn't a member. We went through the restoration pamphlet with all of them. Didn't go as well as we hoped. It was a really good lesson, Bro Davies just isn't ready yet. We then went over to Higgins. We had the same lesson with them. The Spirit was supper strong. We just hope he could feel it.

Friday

Prep, PS. We then had a final district lunch, since we haven't had district meeting in a while. We got together at the church. It was a lot of fun and we were able to say some goodbyes. It was amazing. We then went home for some more studies. We then did weekly planning. We had a lesson with Jesse and then went to the church for the young men's activity. It was quality time with the young men. It was super fun.

Saturday

Well it was conference so it was an awesome day. Pristhood session was my favorite. Everyone should watch it. We got up and went to the Stake center. after the morning session we drove CV1 to an appointment. We ended up going to the Thomas for the afternoon session and lunch. After that we went to older Palmers for supper. We then went to Priesthood. We then left there and had a quick lesson with Jonah. He was going to come to one of the sessions but he wasn't feeling too good. We met with him quickly and then went in.

Sunday

We woke up and went to the Stake Center. We watch Music and the Spoken Word then conference. Castledowns ward had a lunch in between sessions, so we just hung around in between. We watch the second session and then we went down to Joe and Sheena. We didn't ended up going in because Joe wasn't home, so we went to Skinners. We then had supper at Calverts. We then went to Palmers for coordination and p-day eve.

last week was a lot of goodbyes and this week is still going to be some more. I'm excited for the adventures waiting for me in Tofield. :)

Elder Colin O'Neill