First Transfer - to Lethbridge from Cochrane

Hello everyone,

Yes, I am being transfered to Lethbridge. I am going to be covering a YSA ward, and my companions name is Elder Whiting. That's about all I know. I have to drive down, I hope I don't get lost =)! I am driving two other Elders down.

This past week has been crazy. We met with a former investigator named Debra on Tuesday and she accepted a baptismal date for July 16th. We found out Elder Hawkins is going to be training a new missionary on Thursday, so I've known since then that I am going to be transfered so I have been saying goodbye to everyone in the Ward this past week. On Sunday I spoke in Church and I cried. I talked about missionary work and how it's a responsibility of every member of the church. A lot of people came up to me and said that my testimony was very touching. That's about all of the stuff that has happened this last week.

I am having my last dinner tonight with the Nzojibwamiis and Sister Nzojibwamii called last night and told us that she would have four of their friends there for us to teach, so that will be really cool.


On Sunday we saw a house burning down and that was exciting.

I also remembered to bring my camera today so I am sending you pictures of a lot of stuff, my exchange in Banff, Temple Trip, some of the members in Cochrane. =) Umm I don't know what else to say except I am glad that I got to serve here in Cochrane. It was a really interesting place and I got to see a lot of cool stuff. I am excited to go to Lethbridge - it should be a lot of fun.

I love all of you and I am praying for all of you. If there is anything that you need let me know!

Love Elder Dowd


Cardston Temple




Calgary Temple Construction









Fairmont Banff Springs













Elder Dowd, Dallin Bachynski, Marc Nzojibwami, and friend



Elder Dowd 6'3" Dallin Bachynski 7'

June 20, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

It sounds like a lot of stuff is going on at home. That's too bad the Dickson's are moving. Tell them goodbye and that I will miss them all. That's great you got to hear Rick Doxey's farewell talk and Tragen's. Wish them Good Luck and tell them to keep the rules! Tell them and all my friends hello and to email you so you can get the letters to me since you can't mail letters to Canada right now. ( blairandsteph@gmail.com )

We had a somewhat eventful week. We had a special training on Wednesday and they trained us on how to leave an effective 7-day challenge (which is where we challenge the members to have someone for us to teach in their home in the next 7 days). At the end of the training I had to go up in front of all the missionaries and President Archibald and role play what we just learned. Then we used the new 7 day challenge in a lesson the next day and they told us they would have someone for us to teach this Friday, so that's exciting and we also taught more of the Nzojibwami's friends on Saturday. Their names are Christian and Letari and they are from Burundi as well. We are meeting again with them this week and they went to church.

That's about all that's exciting that has been happening here. We went out to Morely the Indian reservation and met some of the members out there. I have been riding a bike and have lost 15 pounds. My belts don't fit any more!

I forgot my camera again, so I will send pictures of Cardston and Banff soon for you to see.

This week should be good, we are potentially going to be teaching 5 investigator lessons this week. Next week is transfers so I won't be able to email until Tuesday. I am guessing I will be transferred and I am a little sad. I am anxious to go see some other places though I have really loved it here. I will make sure to thank those who have helped me before I leave.

I love you all!

Elder Dowd

MORLEY, ALBERTA

Morley is a First Nations settlement within the Stoney 142/143/144 Indian reserve in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located along the Canadian Pacific Railway between the Trans-Canada Highway and the Bow River, upstream from Ghost Lake. It has an elevation of 1,240 metres (4,070 ft).

The settlement is located in census division No. 15 and in the federal riding of Wild Rose. The settlement and the Indian reserve are part of the Stoney Nation.

BURUNDI



Burundi (pronounced [buˈɾundi]), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of almost 8,700,000. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.

Went to Cardston Friday

Hello All,

It sounds like you all had another crazy week, I had a pretty boring week for the most part. I did get to go to Cardston and to Banff last week, but I forgot to bring my camera so I will be sending pictures next week. The Cardston temple was awesome! I definetly want to go there again.

That is great you are studying Preach My Gospel for Family Home Evening. It is really good and I hope that it helps all of you with your missionary work. I might be speaking in church in a couple weeks and I am planning on using Preach My Gospel for most of it.

Mom, I will get you the address for the Nzojibwami family. Their names are Egide & Beatrice. She is better at French than English, so you may want to write her in French.

It is warm and sunny today. I am wearing a short sleeved shirt and a pair of cheap hand me down slacks that are brown were left behind at an apartment!

What are the girls doing now that it is summer? Nickie sent me a picture of her hair all cut. It looks really good.


I heard there is a play about the Book of Mormon on Broadway. A member told us about it.

I hope that you are all feeling better soon, we are working hard out here, but not seeing a lot of success, but that will change soon.

I love you all and am praying for you every night!

Love, Elder Dowd

Congratulations to Nickie on her graduation!

Nicole on the left, her friend Brittany in the center, and her friend Emma on the right.


Dear Family and Friends,

Congratulations to Nickie on graduating. That is great. It doesn't seem like it has been a year since I graduated, but I guess it has been. This week the youth in our ward here in Cochrane have been graduating. I was thinking about Nickie's graduation all week, and I realized that I turned 4 months old the same day (mission time!) so I am 1/8th of the way through my mission already!



Nickie Dowd and Elder Dowd at his Graduation in 2010

Guess what?! I get to go to the Cardston Temple this coming Friday. We get to go to the Temple every six months, so this is the first visit for me. I am really looking forward to it as it has been four months since I have been to the temple. I will be buying a new memory card for my camera so I can get lots of pictures. I think I will buy a new one and send the full one home to you. You can take all the pictures off and then send it back to me and we can always have one in my camera and one you can get the pictures off.


Cardston Temple

It sounds like life in Orem is good overall. I sent Jordan a letter today as well as Chris and Jake. Also I sent Jason White the traveling missionary tie. I am excited to keep seeing my friends get their calls and go out on their missions. Do you know anything about Jamal Lythgoe or Kade Bishop? I would love to hear from them.

Yesterday we had this man named Dave come to church. He lives all the way across Calgary, but came to our chapel. He belongs to a religion that I hadn't heard of and wants to read the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price and give some to his friends so that was cool. The son of a less active member came to church yesterday too so that was awesome.

I hope everyone's health gets better and that you can enjoy the summer. We don't have to wear our suit coats until September so that is really nice. I haven't gotten any regular mail in two weeks as I guess that there is a postal strike up here so I may not ever get mail again =).

Love, Elder Dowd