Hello!

This last week has been pretty good, pretty busy. We had Zone Training meeting on Tuesday.  Then I was on exchanges with Elder Grodkowski, and that was fun.  Then on Wednesday we went back to Cochrane with a missionary that is being trained there, Elder Van Orden. It was really fun and I got to go to dinner at the Nzojibwamis! On Friday we went to the office and I saw Elder Staley and it was fun. I got to call Elder Orozco and talk to him for a while.

On Saturday our investigator Marc that we had taught and had to pass off was baptized.  Elder Renshaw baptized him. After the baptism we went out to eat with him and his fellowshippers and got sushi, it was really good except for the shashimi which was a big chunk of raw salmon. That was fun.

Me, Elder Church, Marc, Elder Young, Elder Renshaw

Then on Sunday we went to church and had a really fun dinner after.  Yesterday was a normal day because it is transfers this week. We had District Meetings and then we went and taught an investigator and his friend.  Then we had dinner and for FHE we went Christmas caroling on the ctrain, it was fun.

C-Train

Tommorrow is transfers and I am pretty sure Elder Renshaw is staying as my companion. Our p-day next week isn't until boxing day so that will be the next time we correspond. 

My friend Elder Trone left the mission this morning.  I think he will be staying with you tonight and for a couple days.  He will call you when he is there.  That's crazy Nickie is about done with her mission papers! 

I love you all! And see you in a week on SKYPE!

Love, Elder Dowd

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!!

 

Great Day Today!

Good Morning!

Hows it going? It's pretty warm this morning in Calgary for the winter so I am doing great this morning! This last week was kind of slow missionary wise but we did see some miracles. I honestly can't remember much of what happened this last week. We taught our investigator Mark on Tuesday and he told us that he wants to be baptized! But... he doesn't live in our ward! So they next day we passed him off to his Ward's Elders, but he is getting baptized this Saturday which is sweet.

Our other investigator is leaving to go up north and work on oil rigs, so he will only be back periodically. We had our family ward's Christmas party this weekend.  It was fun and there was good food -- they cooked 165 lbs of turkey! We went to a Christmas concert last night and it was really good.

We got some referrals this week that we are going to teach so that is looking good as well. On Friday we had Zone Leader Council and it was really good.  I got to see Elder Staley (one of the missions newest zone leaders) and a lot of other mission friends like Elder Grbin.

Tell Sister Sorrells if she would like me to help at that fireside in February, I am happy to do so.  We will probably SKYPE from the Pitchers home, they have computers we can use.  Mom, if you haven't sent the package yet, will you see if you can find some kind of missionary themed Christmas ornament for us to give the Pitchers.  They have had missionaries live with them for five years.  Also, since you offered, yea, sending something for me to give to my companion would be nice.  Thanks.  What are your plans for Christmas?

Also Mom, you asked about the email account.  I think it stays open for a little while after you get home from the mission, but our mission gives us a copy of all our correspondence with the Mission President before we leave, so I don't need to worry about that.  We can get on it when I get home and print out whatever other ones I want to keep.  The Church has a different system now for emailing the Mission Presidents.  We use that to correspond (if you want to call it that - I just report about the same thing each week!). 

That was my week! Hope you all stay warm and have a Merry Christmas Season!

Love, Elder Dowd

Mission Tour Week

Hey!

My last week was pretty good.  On Monday we had p-day. Then we had District Meetings on Tuesday. Later that evening we taught our investigator Rob. Wednesday we didn't do anything special. On Thursday we had our mission tour with Elder Evans. It was a really good meeting. We talked about the age change for missionaries and then we talked about a lot of other stuff. We had lunch and I was able to eat and visit with Elder Staley and Elder Orozco which was really nice. I have now and have had a lot of really good companions. I am really lucky.

On Friday we went to get mail at the office. Then we did a baptismal interview and then we ate out for dinner. On Saturday we reported numbers for the end of the month and then we went to that baptism for the people we interviewed.  They are a couple and their son joined the church 10 years ago. He baptized them. Rob our investigator was there.Then we had dinner with the Pitchers and it was a lot of fun. Then on Sunday we had church and none of our investigators could make it because they were all sick. Then we had a dinner with a bunch of YSA - they fed us Borsht? After dinner we watched the Christmas Devotional. Well, that was my week.

Uhhh, I got a speeding ticket.  I was going 120 km in an area that just barely changed to 110 and I wasn't slow enough.  I will need you to transfer some money into my account I think, or you can email the office and see if they prefer a different way.

Also, you asked if I have any requests for my Christmas box - can you send EZ cheese and RITZ crackers.  They have Ritz, but they don't taste the same.  I can't really think of anything else.

Love Elder Dowd

A Great Week

Hello!

This last week was really good. On Monday we had p-day and it was pretty fun. On Tuesday we had Zone Conference and it was pretty good. I had to give a talk that I had no preparation for! Elder Orozco was there.  So, it was really good to see him again. On Tuesday night we had dinner. Afterwards we went and taught a new investigator named Andre.  He is pretty cool and pretty interested in the gospel.  He agreed to read the Book of Mormon.

Nothing really special happened on Wednesday or Thursday.  On Friday we went to the office and picked up mail and then we taught another new investigator named Rob. He is really prepared. It was a cool lesson.

Saturday was pretty uneventful. On Sunday we had church and taught our investigator Mark. He is really prepared as well.  We were teaching him the plan of salvation and we were explaining the spirit world and he asked us, "Well is there a way that we can be baptized for those people in the spirit world since they don't have a body?"  It was really cool!

And yeah, that has pretty much been our week in a nutshell.

This upcoming week we have our mission tour.  Elder Evans of the First Quorum of the Seventy will be coming and touring our mission. 

Mom, I will look for that Sunlight soap you want from here.  Are you sure they still make it?  I will ask Sister Pitcher if she knows where to buy it.

I don't need anything for Christmas and I don't want to just get something to have to pack it up and bring home, so don't worry about sending anything.

I think Jason White is coming home this week.  Check with his mom to see when his homecoming talk is.  Let me know what he says.

I love you!

Love, Elder Dowd

Hello family!
It's been a crazy week! On Monday I finished saying goodbye to people.  I said goodbye to the YSA Ward at FHE and got a group picture with all of them. Then on Tuesday we had p-day.  That was fun.

On Wednesday we went to transfers (we meet at a Stake Center and have a meeting and are told where we are going and with whom).  I found out that I will be serving in West Calgary Zone.  This is the same zone I started my mission in. It's really wierd! I'm in the Brentwood YSA Ward.  It's the biggest YSA ward in our mission. I met one of Nickie's friends from BYU who is here on a Mandarin speaking mission.  We live with an elderly couple called the Pitchers, and they are super nice! They treat us really well and they have an unlimited supply of mango juice which we are more then welcome to! We also have a shower that is like 4 feet long and 4 feet wide it's huge! The best part is that we have a sauna! It's a really cool apartment.

The rest of the week went by pretty fast. We had two non-members come to church in our YSA Ward and we taught one of them after church. The other one we will be teaching later this week so things are really good. My companion's name is Elder Renshaw from Modesto, California. He's a really good missionary. He is a BIG Giants fan, so that it sad! (Richie's a big Dodgers fan.) He has been out for a year.  We will have a lot of fun, I am really excited to be here.

We have a zone conference on Tuesday and it's combined with the zone that Elder Orozco is in so I am excited to see him. Elder Staley became a zone leader this transfer and he came to Calgary. So every Friday we get mail at the office and I will get to see him which is really good too.

The Church is so true!!!

Love, Elder Dowd

Oh, sorry I forgot to tell you, I will be coming home on February 7.

Transferring Tomorrow to Another Area in Calgary

Hey all! It sounds like you had a busy week!  This last week was o.k. Let's see - on Monday we had p-day.  We went to the mall and I got a tie.  We played dodgeball and basketball and stuff. Then for FHE we had a lesson on finances from the YSA Bishopric it was pretty good.

Then on Tuesday we had a Zone Meeting. The assistants came. It was good and then we had a meeting with the Stake Presidency.

On Wednesday we didn't have any appointments until 7:00 which made for a long day. Then on Thursday we had weekly planning and a few lessons, but sadly all of our evening appointments canceled. Then on Friday we had lunch with all the Calgary Elders then we went to the office to get mail. Then we had dinner at the Toutais family's home which was a lot of fun. Then we taught some investigators.

Then on Saturday we had no appointments. We went to Applebees with the Chinese elders. Then we stopped by and read with a less active. On Sunday it was Rememberance Day. In our family ward all the talks were on wars. It was pretty good. In our YSA ward (which is always really good) we had ward conference. The Stake Presidency spoke which was really excellent. I really love the Stake Presidency -- they are great men. After church we had another "Linger Longer" which was a lot of fun.  I really love this YSA Ward.  I am going to miss it. Then we visited with some members.

Yesterday we had a District meeting we typed up some Zone Records. We went to a lesson that canceled and then went to dinner in Balzac with a family who have these really cool twins that just got home from their mission. The Payne brothers. It was a lot of fun. One of them went to Guatemala on his mission and got a lot of basketball jerseys for really cheap. He gave me a Magic Johnson jersey and a Kobe Bryant jersey! That was so nice of him. Then for FHE last night they played Where's Waldo but we didn't go because the mall they went to was out of our area. So we visited with some of the members that stayed behind at the church. Then everyone came back and I said some goodbyes.  I got a group picture with the FHE group.

That was my week! Oh and yes I am getting trasnferred, but I am staying in Calgary.  I don't know which area in Calgary or who will be my companion, but I will let you know.  We no longer get the list of where everyone is going, we get told what place to report to for transfer and they have a meeting and tell you.  But, this list says who is staying in Calgary, and who will be going to other areas.  So, I will let you know as soon as I can where I will be.

I never knew that Elder Ellgen has a card reader that works to load pictures until today!!! So, here are a few pictures!

I love you!  Elder Dowd

One of the Payne twins - he gave me BOTH of these jerseys!

The Confederate Park YSA FHE Group 

with Elder Ellgen and me 

Ian's Baptism

Another Week in Calgary!

Hello!

This last week was pretty good.  On Monday we had p-day.  Then we went on exchanges with one of the Assistants and we went to FHE with the YSA Ward.  It was a lot of fun again - we had a Halloween party. Then on Tuesday we went to Airdrie for District Meetings.  After the meeting we went on exchanges again to teach a new investigator we found for some other Elders. Then we took the Assistant back. Then I went on exchanges again so Elder Ellgen could teach a new investigator for us.

We went on exchanges with the Chinese elders on Wednesday. On Friday we had Zone Leader Council and I scared an Elder with a giant shark balloon and it was really funny. Then on Saturday we had a few lessons with some less actives and recent converts.

Then yesterday was pretty good. We had church.  In our YSA Ward a lot of people bore their testimonies (including me) and the meeting went 40 minutes over. Then we had a Linger Longer social afterwords it was fun.  I really love our YSA Ward. Then we were almost out of gas so we had the other Elders give us a ride.

It was a good week. Oh and my Temple Recommend expired, so I had an interview with President Nicholas on Friday and I got a new one.

Also, this year President Nicholas is letting us SKYPE for our Christmas call, so that will be fun.  Do you have SKYPE available?  Also, I will work on all the essays, etc. for the college applications.  I am not trunky, and am doing well with the work, it just feels very weird to think my mission is coming to an end. 

I am attaching some pictures of the temple at the dedication that a member took.  I still can't upload pictures at this library.

I love you! Bye!