Good morning!

 

This last week was all right.  It was Thanksgiving here last Monday and we had a meeting at the mission home.  They fed us turkey pot pie for lunch and had us all go around in a circle and say something we are grateful for. There was only one missionary in the room that has been out longer then I have been and so I said that I am grateful that I have been out on my mission longer than all of you!  It was pretty funny.

 

Then we had p-day on Tuesday.  The rest of the week was kind of a blur and really boring.  It was a slow week.  We went to the temple open house with some investigators on Thursday and they felt the spirit there. On Saturday I went on exchanges and the Plewrights took us to the temple open house with some non-member friends. I have been to the open house four times with investigators.

 

Sunday was good. I love going to the YSA ward they are a lot of fun and really great. A girl in the ward brought her friend to church and we are going to teach her on Tuesday. So that is exciting. Other than that nothing really too cool to report. And yes, I did get your package and that was marvelous! And it really saved my bacon! Thank you!

 

Here's a picture the Assistants sent out of last transfer.

The church is true!!!!

 

Love Elder Dowd

Yesterday Was Canadian Thanksgiving!

Hey! I am still here in the great white north zone! I am still with Elder Ellgen.  Things are going pretty good. President Nicholas has made a few changes in the mission and dissolved the segregated Spanish and Mandarin Zones in our mission so we now have a pair of Chinese and Spanish elders in our zone. Also, they opened up a new area in Airdrie so we now are the biggest zone in Calgary.

Yes, I watched conference and it was really good. That's great news about the minimum age requirement and that Nickie is getting ready to go sooner than she thought she could.  A lot of people up here in the YSA Ward are pretty excited about it as well.  I really enjoyed conference and it was my last conference on my mission. There are only three missionaries in the whole mission who have been out longer then I. So I have been feeling really weird lately. My whole mission I have felt like I have had loads of time and it has been comfortable. But now all of a sudden I feel like I have no time left and it makes me want to finish strong.  I have seen Elders get super trunky at the end of their missions and I think I would be so sad if I did that, so I am really going to try hard to be strong.  So yeah, that's what has been going on. Work wise we have some investigators right now, but they aren't really progressing and they are crazy some of them but we are getting referrals and stuff from the temple so we will see what happens.

Yes, we will get to go to the Calgary Temple dedication, but we will probably just watch the broadcast of it.  You don't need to send me a white handkerchief because they are getting them for all the missionaries. That's great that you can send my debit card with Cathlyn.  Also, since you asked, can you send some of those big bags of cereal?  I like Cocoa Krispies and the Fruity Krispies.  Cereal is so expensive up here, so that would be great.  Also, can you send some pull apart Twizzler licorice?

I don't know those two kids from the Church News that are from Calgary. I know who Elder Nate is, but haven't served with him.  He went to Lethbridge to open up the Spanish area for that Zone.  He is a good Elder.  I know you want to buy me temple clothes for when I get home, but I really like wearing Dad's old ones.

You asked if I know when I am coming home, looks like February 7, but at the next transfer they will tell me the travel plans and I will let you know for sure.  

Love you!

ELder Dowd

Calgary Temple Open House

Hey Everyone!

Yeah we went and helped clean the temple.  It was great and really fun.  We met Elder Walker as we were cleaning. I have been all throughout the temple.  It is beautiful.  We were able to take our recent convert through the temple open house yesterday.  (Pictures below are from the Calgary Herald Newspaper as Elder Dowd still cannot send pictures from the library where he sends his emails - some of these pictures are taken by the Calgary Herald, others are courtesy of the LDS Church.)

Elder Walker at the beginning of the Calgary Temple Open House

Back of the Calgary Temple

Front of the Calgary Temple

Angel Moroni on the Calgary Temple

Recommend Desk in the Calgary Temple

Bride's Room

Art work above chandellier

Ordinance Room

Tile Art

Sealing Room

Window and Inscription at the Calgary Temple



This last week was really good. We had another baptism on Friday and it went really well. The rest of the week is all a blur really.  A lot of crazy things happen all the time that seem to keep us pretty busy.

On Sunday our newly baptized member didn't show up to sacrament meeting, so we texted him asking him where he was. Halfway through the meeting he texted back and said he just woke up!  He made it and got confirmed in the third hour combined class. It was good. 

Yesterday we had a conference call with all the Zone Leaders and President Nicholas. He told us that the Spanish and Mandarin speaking elders are going to be combined into the English zones. So that is kind of a big deal and it will make all the English zones larger.

We had a fun family home evening with our YSA Ward yesterday and I said goodbye to a lot of people just in case I am getting transferred but we have not gotten any news yet, so we will see. Yes it's ok you can send me that lady's cell number if she will be up here that should be fine.

Well, I may be transferred, no news yet even though transfers are tomorrow, so you may not know until next week!

Love, Elder Dowd!

Calgary Shots of the Northern Lights on Sunday, September 30

(Not sure if Elder Dowd was able to see them, pictures are from Calgary Herald)

A Really Great Week!

Hello Everyone!

It was a really good week. Last Monday our YSA Ward went and helped clean and landscape the temple grounds.  We went and helped out it was really great.  Then on Tuesday we had district meetings.  On Wednesday we met with our investigator and arranged the program for her baptism. On Thursday we met with another investigator who is planning on getting baptized this upcoming Saturday, we gave him a blessing to help him quit smoking. On Friday we had a special zone leader council, because the MTC sent some people to come and evaluate our mission. 

We were looking at a chart of how effective our mission is compared to other missions.  It only takes our mission 5 new investigators to have a baptism overall where other missions in the area take an average of 15 new investigators. The MTC wants us to change the way that we keep track of new investigators so they can track how many people are expressing interest in the church or something like that.  Well, none of us liked that idea so we were all kind of fighting it, but they changed it anyway, which we will support.  Then he was complementing us on the fact that we are more effective and then I asked " Well could it be that we are more effective because we don't get as many new investigators? And that we care about them more?" Everybody laughed and he seemed a little frustrated.  Then after that we went to the office and got mail. I got my package thank you so much and thank you Sister Wagstaff.

Later our investigator had her Baptismal Interview.  On Saturday we went to another companionship's baptism.  It was really great -- he has a really strong testimony. And then we went to fill the font and had the baptism for our investigator.  It was really spiritual.  She was baptized by her friend that introduced her to the gospel.  There is a family in our stake whose dad is Tongan and their mom is from Iceland, and their son is in our YSA ward so we sang that Tongan song that we sang to you on Mother's Day at the baptism.

At church on Sunday we had her confirmation.  It was a really great week.  Today for p-day our whole zone is going to go help out at the temple site becuase there is still a lot of work to do and tours start tomorrow!

Well I love you!

Elder Dowd

Another Great Week

Hey Family!

I'm glad that Jason called and came over.  Thanks for having him. I loved serving around him -- he was a good missionary.

Jason Kuetell recently returned from Calgary with Elder Dowd's Sisters in Orem

I don't know why we cannot send pictures from the Calgary Library System, but, we live with a member and I will see if she is able to upload them to that photo account you made Mom.  Thanks for doing that.  So, hopefully you will get pictures soon!

Today Elder Ellgen and I are getting haircuts, then we are having a Zone activity.  After the Zone Activity, the YSA Ward in our area is cleaning up the new Calgary Temple grounds, so we get to go help do that.  I am excited about being able to do that.

This last week has been a lot of fun and really good as well. We had a really fun p-day with the Calgary East Zone last week. Elder Pikula was there and it was fun to see him.  He goes home in November. Then for FHE that night we played "Whose Line is It Anyway" which was fun and everyone participated.  I got called up with a member of the ward and we had to pretend to be Tarzan and Jane, it was funny. And then on Tuesday we had a meeting with the whole zone and it was funny because these two Elders put a wrong address in their GPS so I had to go rescue them because they were lost.

On Wednesday nothing too spectacular happened, that I can remember. On Thursday I went on exchanges with an Elder in our zone.  His name is Elder Krogue, we went on exchanges because Elder Wangsgard, the senior missionary over housing needed help moving some furniture and Elder Ellgen needed to get a brace for his knee at the same time. So it was a lot of fun.  As we were storing some of the furniture there was some furniture that was getting thrown out so Elder Krogue and I broke them down and it was a lot of fun.

On Friday we went to the office and got mail and that was about it. And on Saturday we went on exchanges again because the Wangsgards took us out  to eat for helping them which was fun. And then on Sunday our two investigators with a date came to church, which was really good. And we had dinner with a really fun family. Yeah, good stuff. Our investigator getting baptized this Saturday is really nervous about her jumpsuit and the refreshments and the program and all this stuff - it's really funny. So things are going really good and yeah we have a baptism this Saturday.

The Church is true! It grows despite its missionaries and members! Love you!

Elder Dowd

Things are Good in the Great White North!

Hello Family,

I am doing well! A lot of exciting stuff has happened this week. We had a really good p-day last week.  The whole zone showed up and we played basketball and dodgeball and street hockey.  Then FHE was held for our YSA ward.  It was really fun.  We went to a member of the bishopric's house in Airdrie and we played games and there was a slip-n-slide and a BBQ and lots of fun stuff.  Our investigator Ian was the last one to leave. (Ian is the guy who came up to Elder Grbin and me once when we were on the street and asked us if we would teach him.  He is scheduled for baptism in two weeks.)

Then on Tuesday I went on exchanges again in the Second and the Panorama ward area because there is a new elder there and his companion doesn't know the area very well and I have already served there. On Wednesday we had District meetings and President Nicholas came.

On Thursday we had weekly planning, and then on Thursday night President Nicholas invited all the Zone Leaders over to the mission home to have a party, which was fun, but really weird. Then on Friday we had Zone Leader Council.  On Saturday we helped with the Calgary Food Drive and Elder Orozco came to help. It was a lot of fun. Then we took two of our investigators to a baptism.

On Sunday we had 4 non-members and one really less active man (whose non member friend we are teaching this week) come to our YSA ward. So things are going really well. Elder Ellgen and I are enjoying ourselves and working really hard.

Today is really exciting! We have arranged for a multi-zone p-day, so the East Calgary Zone, which is Elder Pikula's zone is coming to have p-day with us today and I am really looking forward to seeing him. We are going to play a lot of basketball and dodgeball and it will be fun. We are expecting 24 missionaries and hopefully we can get the YSA members and investigators to come out as well. So that is going to be a lot of fun.

I am in good health Mom.  Elder Ellgen and I have been working out every morning with weights and a pull up bar and as you can see we are getting lots of exercise on p-day lately.  Elder Orozco told me I look skinnier, but...I don't know.  But, I feel good.

Good news! We also have two investigators set to be baptized in two weeks, which is even better then p-day (but just barely) =). Also, the other two investigators came to Church and are being taught with members.  They kept asking questions in class.  We are also teaching a less active man who works with a very active member and wants to be strong.  So things are good in the great white north! I love you all!

Elder Dowd

Things are Great!

Hello Family!

Things are going really well. Elder Ellgen and I are getting along well. We are teaching investigators that are progressing quite nicely. Things are going great. The weeks are like a blur.

On Tuesday we had dinner with our investigators she took us out to get Persian food, which was good. Then on Wednesday we went on exchanges and found out that one of our investigators moved and went back to Ontario. Thursday I can't remember what happened!  Friday we went to lunch with some Elders in the zone because they turned a year old, then went to the office to get mail and then got stuck in traffic the whole day and then on Saturday it rained really softly. On Sunday we had some investigators to church and then on p-day we went to the mall and then we played a lot of sports and it was fun. Elder Orozco is training in the Spanish program right now, so in the Spanish Zone you can go anywhere in Calgary on p-day so Elder Orozco came to p-day with us and it was a lot of fun.

Today I am on exchanges which have been pretty good so far. Oh and miracle of the week - last year on Christmas Eve I lost my camera and I looked for it for a whole month and I could not find it, and I was convinced someone stole my camera. And then on Thursday the Plewrights, a family in Panorama Ward called and said they had found my camera!!!!! So I now have two  cameras. But I will start using the one that I lost because it works a lot better. So that was really exciting. Yep!

Thanks for looking into colleges for me Mom.  I will keep praying and let you know if I think we should try any other schools.

I am doing exchanges with Elder Stephan from Alpine.  He went to Lone Peak, but doesn't know Brandon. 

Elder Kuetell, Elder Ellgen, me, Elder Stapley

Elder Kuetell is living in Provo.  I am going to give him your phone number so you can have him over.  I still can't upload pictures, but there's that picture of him with Elder Ellgen (my companion now) and Elder Stapley and me.  

I love you!
Elder Dowd