To Mom

Wow it seems like everyone is moving! It will be really sad to not see the McKells when I come home, 

It is really quite amazing how the spirit works like that. We are able to receive revelation to help us overcome trials. The same thing happened to me in my first area with the investigator we were teaching. President called us twice about it and said some things, I was really mad and upset. One morning for personal study I prayed that I would come across a scripture that would help me and I opened to a random scripture in the Book of Mormon.  I knew what it said when I saw it because it was high-lighted a few days before. I was not mad and had no more of those negative feelings. The Lord lifts our burdens.

That’s good to here about the fireside, I do remember Elise Turner and I met her mom one time at a fireside like 2 or 3 years ago. That’s really cool, thanks for sharing that.

Love you too    

Sept. 22, 2015

Well this week is transfer week, and I’m getting transferred!  I’m the only one in the whole zone getting transferred! I’m not too happy about this because I really like this area and I do not want to leave!  All I know is that I’m staying north in Calgary, which is good because I do not want to go south. 

We had a General Authority come to this mission. I do not remember if I said this already, but he did a very good job. He will be speaking in General Conference on the Saturday afternoon session so keep and eye and an ear open.   

Bob and Pat dropped us. We had dinner with them and talked to them after that for about 30-40 minutes. They are really, really nice people and they were really good about saying that they were not interested. They said that they do not want us wasting our time with them because they will never change. They go to this HUGE first alliance church that is off of Deerfoot, on a major highway. It’s really big. It looks like a Rec. Center. She got a book from the library there called Mormonism 101, which is not good to have at all because I know that there are incorrect and false things in that book. But they said that the door is open to us and that we can stop by anytime. 

We have a new investigator. His name is Paul. He is Vietnamese. We only met with him 2 or 3 times. He is kind of crazy. He wants to move to the jungle where there are no cops, and we think that he might be building his own church. But he believes everything we have talked about. We tried to set up a lesson with him, but at the time he was in Salt Lake City and headed to California. So I will not be teaching him any more because I will be gone! 

We met with Heidi. Things are going okay. She is getting frustrated or stressed I guess you can say with Gail. I guess things are going down hill. She is always talking about the farm, and lawyers whenever we are there. I do not even want to know about what she talks about when we are not there! haha Tomorrow we will be doing some service for them, (painting their deck) before the snow comes. Winter is right around the corner! All of the leaves are falling off and changing colors! 

This year is almost over! It has gone by so fast! Thanksgiving here is on Oct. 12! Wherever I’m going there better be some good turkey and mashed potatoes!  

Last week we went to the mission home, because Elder Gregory had to get a temple recommend interview. After the interview, we were visiting with President and his wife. President brought something up that was kind of trunky and funny. hahah He said to me, “Not to bring it up, but when do you go home?” I told him next year in July. And he said, “Good. We will still have you for a while.” haha 

On Saturday we had a huge food drive. The Calgary Food Drive! Last year we set a world record. I think this year we might have broken that record. It was so neat to see all of the food that people will donate, there was a LOT of food. The sad thing is they said that all of this food will last 4 days! Glad that we were able to help out with it. 

Elder Condie

To Dad

Lots of things are happening in the Canada, Dad. Lots of work, lots of investigators in our zone, and we are all moved in! It was a big move! Our last transfer date was August 13 and the next one is September 24. After that it will be a 5 week transfer and then a 7 week transfer. Then it will go back to the normal 6 week transfers.

Wow so you’re the teachers’ adviser! That’s cool! I think that would be a fun calling even if it’s for a few weeks or months. That’s good to hear that Dallin’s Patriarchal Blessing went good. I am certain that there are some amazing things in there! Yesterday was Labour Day (Canadian spelling)  for us too. The library was closed so we were not able to email. So I get to email today! :) 

Thank you for the sports update! That’s sweet that BYU was able to pull through! I bet they will go far. 

Thanks for the gospel lesson. I think it is important to set goals and deadlines. Without deadlines goals can carry on and on forever and ever! 

The reason why members set dates and nothing happens is because there is not enough VISION, PASSION, and DISCIPLINE! You absolutely have to have all three of these! 

Vision: An end goal- Where do you want to go or what do you want to be in "X" amount of days or months? What do you see in your eyes? What is the vision you have? 

Passion: What will drive you to reach this goal? What does this goal mean to you and what is it going to take to get from here to there? 

Discipline: I think this is one of the most important parts. Are you disciplined enough to make the deadline? Do you have enough self-control to resist that doughnut so you can lose that extra 5 pounds? When you are coming closer to the dead line and you’re short, will you be able to discipline yourself so you can make the deadline? 

That’s my 2 cents on setting goals and reaching deadlines. Hope you liked it! haha :)

I love you too dad!    

Sept. 14, 2015

  

Last week we had a General Authority come to this mission!  He spoke to us and trained us. It was Elder Martino. He is a great guy. I learned a lot from him and it was exactly what this mission needed to hear. It was what our zone needed to hear too. He is going to give a talk in General Conference on Saturday afternoon, so keep and eye out for him! Some of the things that he taught were working with members and bishops! Members and bishops play a HUGE HUGE role in missionary work! When we teach a lesson, finding the right member will make all of the difference. Investigators need a friend and a fellowshipper so they have someone to turn to for help or to answer questions. This is because missionaries come and go, but their neighbors will stay. One big thing that we are pushing and I would like all of you to do it, is when you have the missionaries over for dinner, invite a less active family and or non member friend. Again, members have a huge role in missionary work!  

We picked up three new investigators last week! We taught Bob and Pat. You probably remember their names before. We have taught them once before. Bob and Pat are an older couple,and they are very nice. We had planned to teach them later in the week but we taught them a day before which worked out just perfect for the both of us. We taught about the Plan of Salvation because they experienced some deaths in the family. For the most part they agreed with everything except the spirit world after reading from 4 different bibles. They came to the conclusion to agree. The lesson went really well they invited us to eat dinner with them. We are going to have dinner with them on Thursday. 

Our new investigator is named Paul. He’s a really cool and nice guy, he loves to talk! Not sure if he likes the visits more than the lessons, but the first time we knocked on his door he invited us right in. He said that he had a headache all day and when we knocked on the door his headache went a way! He said the he knows we are sent from God and he believes like everything we believe in. 

We had a lesson with Rocio, again that was another good lesson! We passed her to the Spanish missionaries so they will teach her now. 

Love you all 

Sept. 7, 2015

I don’t have too long. We were cut short yesterday because of a teaching appointment. I have not too long to send this letter, before we will have to go and get on to the rest of the day. 

We are finely moved in! It was a long-some, tiring, move. Which is good because it’s just more experience. I think we are lucky because we do not own any pianos, or hide-a-beds, or anything above 6,000 pounds. It took awhile driving back and forth with one truck. Other days we had our Equinox. Last week on P-day we had a zone clean-up. We had to clean a missionaries apartment that both left last transfer. It was a mess! Very dirty. We had half of the zone there and some of the zone at our apartment to help clean it. Not because it was dirty, but because it had to be super clean for the inspection. We had the inspection and we passed! There was no damage but there was more cleaning to do like on the stove top, and the fan above the stove. Overall we passed with flying numbers. 

We had a lesson with Flora. It went well. It would have gone better if an iPad was not involved. haha 

We went on exchanges on Saturday with the district leader in Crystal Ridge. That was a lot of fun. I was with Elder Kelly. He’s from England and was just recently AP. We visited a LA member in the morning he was there but his wife was not. On Sunday his wife was at church as always and thanked us for coming by and said that it meant a lot to her.  

Bobcat in someones yard!