November 14th Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

The work is going ok. We have some part member families that we are trying to work with and a family has someone for us to teach -- we just need to meet with her. The Wards are pretty helpful so things are going ok.

The area's pretty big here. The Panorama Ward is kind of a new housing development and the Second Ward is more older houses so there are a few wealthy families but for the most part I would say middle class.

The members are feeding us, and the members are really great here. One of my ward mission leaders his name is Earl Goodwin knows Reed Doxey, Rick's brother so you should ask Sister Doxey about that or something.

To answer your questions - in a District Meeting we go over stewardships and then we go over a curriculum that the church has asked us to go over. There are 8 lessons and they all focus on certain points of Preach My Gospel.

I am not sure if Elder Pikula will be my companion at Christmas, but we are going to make some Christmas cards. Transfers are on December 14th so who knows he has only been here for 1 transfer and President Archibald usually keeps people in an area for 3 transfers so I hope that we are together for 2 transfers.

Not too much happened this week. We had LTMs (leadership training meetings) so for two days we had meetings from 9 to 6 so I was way tired of sitting. But, it was nice though because Elder Grbin was there because he was training so it was good to see him. We sat by each other.


Richie with Elder Grbin, his MTC companion

Other then that nothing too exciting. We taught our neighbors. They are crazy! In the lesson they were talking about when your spirit leaves your body its all about quantum physics and things like that. Nuts! Elder Pikula and I also saw these policemen chase this man and tackle him. We also saw a fire. So that was cool.

That's cool you got with my friends family for that FHE. I am glad it went well.

I hope that you all are doing good. I love you all!

Love Elder Dowd

P.S. My memory card is almost full so you might be getting it in the mail soon.

PICTURES BELOW ARE FROM AN FHE HELD IN OREM WITH RICHIE'S FRIENDS' FAMILIES



Part of the delicious sampler table - families brought treats relative to where their son is serving.


Berlin Boys Looking at Richie's Friends Mission Displays


Picture of some other pictures of Elder Stewart in the Texas McAllen Mission


Christmas Tree with ornaments featuring Richie and his friends serving missions with a world map from Berlin Home showing all the places the friends are serving

Serving in the Big City!

Dear Family and Friends,

I was glad to hear that you are all doing ok and that you had some prayers answered this week. My new companion is Elder Pikula. Like I said last week he is from St. George. He is Tongan and is teaching me some Tongan words. We get along really well and it is great being here with him.



Being in Calgary is quite different than the other two places where I have served. It is really big in comparison! The two wards which we are serving are the Panorama Ward and the Panorama 2nd Ward.

We are living with a member. There are weights in this home, so we have been doing our morning workout using the weights.

I am doing well. I am really enjoying my mission. I'm having a lot of fun serving out here and I am meeting a lot of wonderful people. It's really cold up here. So far it has gotten down to -10 Celcius which is 14 Farenheit!

For Christmas I don't need anything really, and the only thing I want are pictures of family and friends. You don't need to waste money on me for Christmas.

You asked what my duties are as District Leader. Basically I call my District and get their numbers for the week. Then I report them to the Zone Leaders. I also report how the companionships are doing. I conduct District Meetings every week and I go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and then with each Elder in my district.

I know that this work is important and that the gospel is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

Tell everyone hello. I love you all and I am sure glad to have heard from you.

I love you!

Love Elder Dowd

Transfer to North Calgary Panorama Hills

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy November!

I am getting transferred to North Calgary in the Panorama Hills area. My new companion's name is Elder Pikula. He lived is from St. George, but he lived in Orem with some of my friends. He played rugby at UVU. He is sweet. I served around him here in Lethbridge and he was trained by Elder Welling, so he is my mission uncle.

We had dinner this past week at the Kyle's home. He is Sister Bybee's brother. His daughter is in the YSA Ward where I am serving.





Other then that this week wasn't too bad. Nothing too much happened. We met with some ivestigators this week. I said goodbye to people so I will send some pictures.








Other then that not too much to write. I am going to be the District Leader so that will be fun. I will get to know more missionaries that way. I hope that everything goes well in Utah. It is starting to get cold here so that stinks.

I love you all. I am happy and pray for you all every day.

Love Elder Dowd

Busy Week

Hello Everyone,

I am doing pretty good. This last week was pretty fun. Nothing too exciting happened. On Tuesday we just taught member lessons, but then on Wednesday my companion and I stopped by a less active member's home. The week before when we had been on exchanges my companion challenged him to find someone to be taught in a week, but he never told me that he set up a return appointment. When we got there, the members asked us to come in and sit down. He then told us his friend was coming over in ten minutes. We had scheduled our dinner appointment at the same time. So, I called the home where we were supposed to have dinner. In the end my companion went with another missionary to teach the new investigator and I ended up going to dinner by myself. It was really weird.

Then sadly our investigator dropped his baptismal date for Saturday because he said that he wasn't ready. That was frustrating, but he did come to another baptism on Saturday so that was good. Another one of our investigators also came to that baptism as well. She is from the Caribbean and she is good friends with another investigator we have. We taught them both yesterday the Plan of Salvation and it was interesting because they both understand it. When I invited them to be baptized the newer investigator said no. I asked if she understood that our church is the only church that has authority, and she said she doesn't. The other investigator does but she said that she doesn't want to join the Church until her family knows about it so she's not even baptized and shes already being a missionary!

Last night we went to a fireside where President Archibald spoke. These investigators came and Sister Archibald's talk made the newer investigator cry as she felt the spirit.

That was pretty much our week. Oh and something crazy happened last night. I went to bed and then I woke up at 3 in the morning in our living room in our recliner chair! It freaked me out!

The usual time one stays in an area here in my mission is about 4 and half months. Also, not always, but usually when someone is training a new missionary, they are together for three months, and both of these factors are what has happened with me, so I am thinking I will be transferred next week, but I will let you know. So, that means that I will write on Tuesday next week rather than Monday.

I didn't know how you knew that Harriet's husband is related to Elder Welling until you told me you posted the picture of him on my blog. I am going to send out Christmas cards to my friends and family, so if you can get some addresses for me, that would be great.

I love you all!

Elder Dowd

A Better Week!

Hello,

The car above is the one I was driving when I crashed into the sisters car.

Sounds like you all had a crazy week! This past week was pretty good, we set a date with a former investigator and he is getting baptized on the 22nd. We also picked up a new investigator yesterday from Camaroon.

We had Stake Conference yesterday and it was really great. It felt like I was at General Conference.

We went on an exchange this week and we went out to Nobleford - home of the Noble Blade! (From Wikipedia: A major employer in Nobleford from the 1930s to 1998 was a cultivator factory established by Charles Noble, manufacturing variations of the Noble blade. This reduced-tillage plow was designed to cut weed roots below the soil surface without greatly disturbing the soil, thus minimizing moisture loss in the dry, windy climate of southern Alberta.)




Other than that nothing too eventful has happened. Oh I got a Flames Jersey for 40$ -- it's pretty nice.




These are the highlights of my week. I am sending some pictures as well. I love you all very much and I pray for you every night. The Gospel has been restored!

Love, Elder Dowd



Elder Welling - he trained Elder Crowther - who trained me!



Anyone down there????



P-day fun!



Karate Kid???

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello everybody,

Wow, that is crazy that Tanner and Christian leave for their missions tomorrow! I think that is about the last of my friends to be leaving, well Kade is going in a couple months I think.

Well, yesterday was our P-day, but the libraries were closed because it was Thanksgiving in Canada. We got invited to a dinner and they gave us enough leftovers that we fed our whole District lunch today!

This past week was pretty good we went golfing on p day. We went to the bridge and took pictures. It rained a lot this week and we had car inspections. Right after car inspections I hit the sisters car, so now I am not allowed to drive anymore the rest of my mission. :( No one was hurt, but it was pretty embarrassing. The sisters weren't even in their car.

That's fun that you (we) got a new Bishopric. I'm glad you could have had a good week. Because Thanksgiving was yesterday, and it was very strange because now I am in a Christmasy mood!

I really am thankful for you all and for all that you do. I guess the biggest news was that I hit a car.

Mom, To answer those questions:

Weather- It is not snowing yet -- it's like 10 degrees outside

Companion- Elder Roberts is doing good. He is kinda shy.

Ward- We try to involve the Wards with everything that we do so we work with the members to find people to teach. We bring them to investigator lessons and we try to reactivate less active members and a lot of times they have non member friends.

Meals- The members feed us when we can get them to sign our dinner calendar. They feed us pretty general foods. On Sunday nights there is a family from Tonga and they feed all the missionaries Hawaiian donuts that they sell so we get fed alright. All I eat at home is toast with Nutella for the most part. This past week I also had crackers and hummus. I try not to eat too much, so just light meals at home.

That's really all that has been going on or that I can answer I guess.

I love you all. I know that this Church is true.

Love Elder Dowd

I Loved Conference

Hello Everybody,

Conference was great! I really enjoyed the Saturday morning session. It was exciting to see Brother Richardson speak yesterday. I was sitting by our Zone Leaders and I told them I knew him.

It sounds like you are all having fun and learning and growing. I have been out for eight months now -- it has gone by incredibly fast. This past week was good -- we had a referral from a family ward and we had a nice lady come to conference who wants to meet with us this week. Also we got a referral from the Cardston Elders and some of our former prospects are starting to look up.

President Archibald promised us all that we will get a baptism for each Ward we cover in October so this will help in the miracles and be sweet to see. We had a leadership training meeting last week from 9-6 and it was really long. I kept track of how many comments Elders were making because some of the Elders just say things for brownie points, so that was fun. There was an elder in our Zone that made 27 comments! I made 8 and one of them was a question that President specifically asked me. But the good thing about that meeting was that I got to see Elder Crowther! So that was nice. We ate lunch together. That was fun.

I hope that you all have a good week. I sure love you all!

Love, ELder Dowd

PS Mom I wouldn't mind getting my friends letters. I will do what Rick does and take pictures of the email with my camera and read later.