Christmas

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a wonderful week as we celebrated the birth of our Savior. I am so happy to be out here teaching about his life.

It has been pretty calm weather wise. We don't have a lot of snow and it has been mild weather.

We were invited to a lot of people's homes for Christmas dinner, but because of the phone calls home, we did not accept any. We did tell a lot of people we would stop by. We did end up eating a really good Christmas dinner with a family of one our Ward Mission Leaders. The people in these two Wards were really nice to us for Christmas. We were given lots of gifts - one member gave us $150. Others gave us candy, cookies, ties, shirts, etc. They are really great people. I did not yet receive your Christmas package, but all the mail goes to the Mission Office. The Zone Leaders go there on Fridays, so they pick up all the mail on Fridays, so maybe I will get it later this week. I did get the stocking package. I hung it up as well as the Christmas tree Rochelle and Chris made. THANKS!






We were going to go shopping yesterday for P-day, but...the malls were so crowded. There were people lined up outside the mall trying to get in, so we will go another day and get something for my birthday. It was really nice to get all those emails from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday. Thank you.

Well, my time is about up. I will be thinking of all of you and especially of Rochelle as she goes to the temple this Friday. Tell Rochelle I say good luck and I love her.

I love you all.

Love, Elder Dowd

Frog Legs & Fertilized Duck Eggs - Yum!!!

Hello Everyone!

I am doing pretty well. Things are going ok. The wards are taking good care of us. We have had several people call and bring gifts over to our apartment and at church. We have been having a hard time working because of my companion's health so I usually let him sleep in and take a nap in the afternoon. Otherwise he just can't focus or stay awake. He has a desire to be out here and to work hard and isn't afraid to talk to people - so he will be a good missionary.

Other than that nothing too exciting is going on. We met with a part member family this week and invited this man's daughter to be baptized and she said yes and was all excited. Then as soon as we left she told her dad that she never wants to come to church or be baptized! So that's kinda sad but there were a lot of miracles too. We had a ward Christmas party and there were at least a dozen non members there. We were able to talk to all of them.

Then there is this man from Iran who has been coming to church for several weeks now and he finally accepted an invitation from us to take the discussions so we will see what happens there.

I am definitely excited to talk to you all at Christmas time! My companion's family is going to call at 2-3 so you can call at 3 o clock!

I can't wait to hear from you. I can't remember what you all sound like anymore =). Last night we had dinner with a Filipino family and they fed us balut (fertilized duck egg) I will send you a picture. They also gave us frog legs as well.





That would be sweet to see Uncle Rick and maybe you in June.

That's exciting that Rochelle is receiving her endowments soon and all the other fun news! I love you all so much and your prayers are deeply appreciated!

I love you all.

Love, Elder Dowd

Training Another New Elder

I am staying in the Panorama Ward and will be training a new missionary again. I won't know who he is until tomorrow. I am still the District Leader. I didn't get the pre-Christmas package you sent, maybe I can get it tomorrow when I am at the office for New Missionary Training.

Do you know the Blackhams who live by Aunt Fredi? Their son is here on his mission and is serving in Cardston. He's been out for 3 months and he is training, so I saw him at the trainers meeting last week when I got my training call. That's exciting for Maddie to be getting accepted to colleges and Rochelle going through the temple. The Calgary Temple is supposed to be done next summer and our mission has a goal of baptizing 2600 people by then.

I got a letter from Carl. I know he loves dinosaurs. I sent him these two pictures we took last week on P-day. We went to Drumheller and saw the biggest dinosaur in the world!





About Christmas. I don't need anything, but I would like pictures, so send pictures. We don't find out until later this week about calling so I will give you the info you need next Monday.

Elder Pikula is being transferred to downtown Calgary. He is replacing Elder Grbin in that area. I am a little nervous about training in this area because I don't know the area very well, but I will just have to work extra hard and get it done!

Well, I had a lot of emails, so I am out of time. I love you all and I am praying for you. I am excited to talk with you on Christmas.

Love, Elder Dowd

December and Winter are Here!

Hello Family and Friends!

That sounds like crazy stuff has been going on at home. How was Maddie's birthday? I can't believe it's already December and that I can talk to you all in twenty days! Yes, we were able to go to the Christmas devotional. We were late though because we went to give this man and his little daughter a blessing, so we didn't get there until the end part of Elder Eyring's talk. I saw the video of the annunciation and the nativity.

Things have been good. We haven't been teaching any investigators, but we have been seeing a lot of miracles. There has been this Iranian man that keeps coming to church because he wants a friend. There are these two Korean girls that are living with a member -- we taught them the 1st discussion in gospel principles and we invited them to be baptized, but I'm not sure how much they understand. Other than that not much exciting is going on.

Elder Pikula and I are really close with this family from Australia. They are from Perth I think. Their youngest son is autistic. They are really nice. Also, the member who took us to the Thrift Store last week bought me the suit - it was $20! Also, about the weights - the mission rule is that the missionaries cannot bring weights into the member's homes with whom they are living, but if the member has weights and offers the missionaries to use them, they can. We live with a single man who has a weight set and he invited us to use them, so we do. I am kind of stuck at weight loss - but working out. I ate brownies last week though.

Next week are transfers - I hope Elder Pikula and I stay together. I will be writing on Tuesday next week because of transfers.

We spend most of our time shoveling walks nowadays, shoveling walks contacting, and babysitting the elders in my district -- one of them is going home next week and he seems like he is done. They are only getting like 4 lessons a week. But I need to stay positive!



On Christmas day Mom and Dad you can call me between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 pm. We can talk for 45 minutes. So, let me know next week what time works best for you. I will send you my cell phone number next week. I guess it will just be you and my sisters because Grandma and Grandpa Dowd and Carl are going to Arizona.

I love you all and hope that you all stay warm!

Love, Elder Dowd