Hello Family!

 

That's cool that you met Elder Madsen. (One of Rochelle's friends told her that a guy moved into his Ward south of BYU campus and he had gone to Canada Calgary on his mission and just got home.  He said that this guy had all good things to say about Elder Dowd, including the fact that he was the funniest Elder in their mission!  Well, we had him to dinner on Sunday night and really enjoyed visiting about the mission.)

 

This last week was great we had another baptism.  Our investigator Josh got baptized.  It was really great.  The spirit was really strong. The Bishop of this ward baptized him. Tthen on Sunday Elder Orozco confirmed him.  

 

We had some other great miracles this week. We got some really solid referrals and we had a Filipino lady come to church on Sunday.  We will be teaching her this week.

 

It rained most of the week. President Archibald leaves this Sunday so I have been kinda sad about that.  I will really miss him.

 

Other than that not too much happened this week. The Book of Mormon is true. God lives and His son is Jesus Christ. We can all be together forever as a family. I love you all!

 

Love, Elder Dowd

 

PS: We are always joking with other missionaries about turtles and an Elder in my district showed me a scripture so I think you should read it.  It proves that turtles are doctrine, Songs of Solomon 2:12 - 12 The ^aflowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the ^bturtle is heard in our land;

Last Two Weeks with Mission President

This is a picture of Elder Staley, me, Sister Archibald, President Archibald, Elder Kuetell and Elder Langi in Cardston just before I got transferred to Calgary.  I still can't get the library computer to upload pictures, I asked the staff to upload this one because I had to send it to the Assistants.

It sounds like you all had a fun week! 

The first half of our week was pretty uneventful, but the second half of the week was really cool. We had a wedding for our investigator Josh who is getting baptized this Saturday. His wife is already a member.  Bishop Laycock performed the ceremony.  I was able to be one of the witnesses at the wedding.  Josh is a native living on a reserve.  Part of our area includes the Tsuu T'ina reserve.  At his wedding I realized that the Bishop and I were the only Caucasians!  I teased the Elder Orozco about being surrounded by Lamanites!

We went on exchanges on Saturday night. We helped out with a community parade and blocked traffic and that was a lot of fun. While on exchanges we talked to some Jehovah's witnesses. We volunteer at a place similar to the Boys and Girls Clubs in the U.S.

Other than that nothing too exciting happened.  We are going to the Cardston temple this week which I am looking forward to. We are going with the Zone Leaders and with a member from their Ward.  To answer your question, we serve in two Wards - The Woodbine and the Evergreen Wards.  I love Elder Orozco.  He is hard working and fun.  He knows all the areas where Grandpa Turley has lived in Mexico City.  We ate at a Mexican restaurant the other day.  The lady came and asked us if we could help serve at a dinner!    And we have a baptism this Saturday which will be very good.

We had s'mores yesterday.  It was the first time Elder Orozco has had them.  He thinks they are too sweet!  Mostly people feed us different food.  Lately we have had taquitos and burritos and it has been so yummy.  There isn't much in the way of Mexican food up here

Yea, the Calgary Temple Open House will be at the end of September and into October.  The Sister Missionaries will be serving there.

It is kind of drizzling today, but not storming.

So exciting things are happening, but the days are all just a blur.

Well, President Archibald is leaving on the 29th.  He has been a great Mission President and has been a great influence on me.  I am sad to see him leave. 

Love you all.  Bye!

Elder Dowd

Hello Family and Friends,

I had 18 emails today.  It is always good reading about my friends missions.  Keep sending them, if I run out of time, I will just not read all of them.  For some reason the computers at this library will not read the photo card, so I cannot send any pictures.  I may ask a member if they will send them to you.

This last week was good. We taught a 10 year old girl.  She wants to come to church and be baptized but her mom is less active and her dad is not a member so it's hard to get their support. We have an investigator who is living common law and is getting married this week. That will be exciting.

There is a man in one of my wards from Newbury Park. His name is Brother Babcock. He knew Dad and Uncle Brian.  We had a training this week and half of it was President talking about how he is going home. We get a new mission president this month. it will be really weird.

Dad,  it's funny serving around other missionaries that are weird or shy or afraid to do hard things and I wonder how much their parents play a role in that. So Dad, I am glad that you never inhibited my abilites but caused me to grow even when I didn't want to. I sure love you Dad!

We started teaching the Brazilian family that lives in the apartment above us. Hopefully we can get them to church. And yes we live in an apartment. It's just Elder Orozco and me that live there.  I hope everyone is doing good and has a good summer. Tell Grandpa Dowd and Grandpa Turley to have a great Father's Day.

Love Elder Dowd!

Lots of Work in Calgary

Hola!

Hello from Calgary.  This has been a good week. I am now in Southwest Calgary in the Woodbine and Evergreen areas. It's been really good. The wards are really great and helpful. So last week was crazy too.

Yes, Elder Staley and I did have a baptism.  It was a nine year old girl who we had been teaching forever! Her name is Eliza. So on Wednesday we had transfers and the bus from Calgary got held up so we hung out in Lethbridge for awhile.  Then we got on the bus up to Calgary.  I saw Elder Crowther for the last time on our missions - he went home Thursday morning, and I met my new companion Elder Orozco.

He is from Mexico City and he is a convert of two years.  He is still learning English and is very humble. He wants to know what sector in Mexico City Grandpa Turley lived in.  We have a few investigators and one of them got baptized this last Saturday. Next week we are having a wedding after another investigator gets baptized.

Other than that not too much to report.  Oh, we had a really cool miracle on Sunday. I was fasting that we could find someone new to teach and then in church a man came into church looking for us.  He was telling us how he had met a Brazilian family that had just moved to Canada. So, after some of our appointments we went and met the man and he took us to his house and he lives is the same apartment building as us!   Elder Orozco was able to talk to them and the ward is willing to help them and we will be teaching them this week! We left them some pamphlets and a Book of Mormon.  They said they could feel the spirit already and would read.  It was really cool. So I am really excited about whats going on here and I am glad to hear things are going well in Utah.

The connector to this computer at the library isn't working, so I will have to send pictures next week.  Sorry.

Also, Okotoks is in our Zone, so I may get to see Aunt Susan's sister who lives there.

I am really excited about how busy we are and how many people we have to teach!  Happy to be with Elder Orozco, he is hard working and has a lot of faith.

I love you all!

Elder Dowd

Transferring to Calgary, SW Foothills Area

I am being transferred from Cardston to Calgary for my last transfer under President Archibald.  The area is called Woodbine/Evergreen in the Foothills Zone.  My new companion is Elder Orozco, but I don't know anything about him.  So, I will let you know about him next week.  I am still a District Leader in that area. 

I didn't really want to go back to Calgary, but that is where I am needed and that is where I am going to go.

On Thursday night Elder Staley got a training call so we went up to Calgary and then we had to drive back right after the meeting to come back to Cardston because we had a baptism. Then we had a Stake Conference this weekend and it was a broadcast to all of Canada. President and Sister Archibald came and spoke in the other Stake Conference, so we got to take a picture with them in front of the temple. I forgot my camera, but I will send you pictures next week.

We just went to the temple and that's about all I can remember from this week. I sure love you, sorry the email is so brief.

Love you!
Elder Dowd

Happy Victoria Day

Hey!

Sounds like everyone is having fun, and it sounds like Mom and Dad are slowly turning into empty nesters!  This last week was pretty good, we had a pretty good week. We had some investigator lessons.  

On Wednesday Elder Crowther went to the temple and we went to lunch with them after and took pictures in front of the temple.

We had Leadership Training Meetings on Thursday. It was fun to see some mission friends.  I got to see Elder Pikula.

Then I went on exchanges on Friday, and Elder Langi and I went and visited with a member we both knew in Lethbridge.  Then we went to teach a less active family with a 9 year old girl who is not baptized and she said that she wants to be baptized this Friday so we will see what happens. We have been trying to contact their Bishop ever since and we just got a hold of him today.

On Sunday we went to church in Mountain View and three non members showed up and spent all three hours at church.

Then on Monday, since we couldn't email we went and played raquetball at the Leavitts in the morning and then we went with them to Waterton.  It was kinda rainy so we had an indoor picnic.  Then we played rugby and then drove up to Cameron Lake which is partly in the USA.  Then we went to some of the shops in Waterton and then we did a hike called "Bears Hump". It was a lot of fun.

And that's what has happened this last week.

Next week are transfers.  I feel like I will be transferred.  So, I will write next week on Tuesday (because of transfers) and let you know what is happening!

I sure love you all!

Love, Elder Dowd

Happy Mother's Day

It was great to talk to you all yesterday. Sorry to hear you are sick Mom, hope you feel better soon. 

That's cool that Grandpa, Grandma, and Carl got to go to the Provo Temple Ground Breaking.  The Calgary Temple should be dedicated this fall hopefully.  I am hoping President Monson comes to dedicate it!

Also, thanks for sending me Grandpa Turley's letter.  I will keep a copy and it might help me with an investigator. 

This week was kinda slow, but we did pick up a new investigator and he told us as soon as he is married he wants to be baptized. We have LTMs this week so that will be fun to go to Lethbridge. Other than that not too much is happening.

The church is true, and I am grateful for a divine mother! I love you all.

Love, Elder Dowd

Phone Call Summary Below

• He likes the smaller towns rather than Calgary
• He really enjoys the area and the missionaries in his area
• He and the other 3 Elders sang a Tongan hymn for us and it was lovely
• His favorite thing about being a missionary is teaching
• He loves President Archibald and is sad he is leaving next month
• Asked why we didn't have Chris Thurman over and asked us to tell him hello
• Said someone is coming this week and we can send a package back with them
• He talked to each of his sisters, his Uncle Carl, Grandpa and Grandma Dowd, Uncle Brian, Aunt Julie and cousin Shandra, as well as his mom and dad!