Additional Photos

Canadian money

Big hailstone in a big hand

"Trekkies" love the town of Vulcan.

Chain of trainers (our "First Presidency" photo)

Canada Day Fireworks

Fooled the family with this end-of-mission suit burning. It was actually a suit left behind by another missionary.

July 18, 206

It’s kinda crazy to say that this is going to be my last letter, considering that I will see all of you on Friday! I am really, really looking forward to that. It is going to be an experience and a feeling that will not be forgotten. Just make sure that you are all there at the airport, and don’t forget to pick me up! Because that will be awkward for me to stand there and see all the other missionaries greet their families. I will be in the corner on the pay phone calling a taxi, if that happens! hahaha I’m sorry to hear about your back dad. It might so be that with the medication your on I will be coming home to a dad that’s high as a kite, because of all the pain medication(s)! haha . 

This week will be a breeze. We will have DTM. I will pack and on Thursday I will head to the Transfer Station the Stake Centre in Lethbridge. When I get there I will load my stuff in the trailer along with all the other missionaries that are going home or being transferred to Calgary. When we get to Calgary we will unload all of our suitcases take them to the mission home for all of those that are going home. We go to the temple in the afternoon with all of the missionaries that are going home. After that, we will come back to the mission home, eat a nice meal, we will have a devotional/testimony meeting, spend the night in the mission home, wake up, eat breakfast and they drive us to the airport! That is what this week will intel. That is how they send missionaries home in this mission. 

We have one new investigator. We helped some people that are relatives of a less active member. We have helped them with various service, so we have a pretty good relationship with them, and it all started with service. We drove by their house and saw them outside, so we stopped and visited with them for a while and taught a lesson, it was a good lesson. Very good questions and real intent. 

Even though last week was long and this week will probably be a little longer. We got some work done last week. We had dinner at a members house. He had some family over from Saudi Arabia. They are members of the church, but they are not allowed to worship how they wish. They have to do it in secret, all of the members do. They have normal police and "Religious Police" Proselytizing is forbidden there. No one is allowed to talk to others about religion unless they are asked and have permission from the person. Sometimes it is a trap, someone may come up to you and ask you questions, and you cannot reply unless you have their permission. You are always being watched over there. When they were talking to us about that they said that we are so blessed to be able to have that freedom. So count your blessings and enjoy that freedom of religion, because it is really so nice to be able to walk down the road in Sunday dress walking to Church. It was really an eye opener for me talking with them and about their lifestyle that they have to live. They are originally from Spain but moved for work reasons (oil industry).

I enjoy and I am thankful for the freedoms that I have in the Country that I live in. Even though other countries are kicking missionaries out, or taking Jesus out, the Church will continue to grow! I have seen it here in Calgary when they added a new stake, years ago Calgary was only 2 or 3 stakes now we are at 7 stakes. (use to be 6). 

The missionary workforce is stronger then it use to be and growing too! Tanner you will be on the front line for the Church, you will be a missionary, a representative of La glesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias! You will help others come unto Christ and experience the same joy you have, they will never forget you! 

Thank you so much for the love and support and for your prayers, I’m so excited to see all of you on Friday! 

Jully 11, 2016

Last week was a lot better than the previous week. You'll see why later on in this letter. 

But before I forget, I want to tell you something. There is a guy that moved into our ward. He is a member, a little older but not too old. He's retired, and he is a really nice guy. But for some reason he reminds my of you dad. We went over to visit him and we have visited him a few times at church activities. This guy has done a lot of things in his life. He’s been in the militarily, owned a business, he has taught classes, and so on. He has lots and lots and lots of stories. All of them are about him and what he’s done, and the life that he has lived in his glory days. For some reason the last part of my description reminds me of you dad, talking about the glory days, and all the things that you have done as a kid. Its weird that I made that connection.. hahah 

Independence Day here was okay. I know it was better in the states than it was here. After dinner we went on splits because we double booked ourselves. I stayed here in Claresholm to teach a less active member with a member, Elder Smith went to another town with the elders quorum to help someone move in that is a former investigator in a neighboring mission. We will help out with round 2 tonight. It seems like all I talk about in my letters is all of the moves that I have done. 

We helped out a non member that we can soon start to teach. All we did was clean off the driveway that had a bunch of TVs and a grill, some couches and a bed went to the landfill too. 

On Wednesday we had one last lesson with Grant before he goes off for two weeks for counseling, he will get back on the 29th. I think that this should help him.

We have two new investigators, they are unbaptized children over the age of 9. It is going to be a little hard teaching them because the parents do not come to church, and the 11 year-old son loves video games and is always wasting time playing something. When we are there to teach the games go off, same with the TV. I asked the mom about the kids getting baptized, she said that it was their choice, they can choose. The baptism is not going to happen in the next two weeks, it might happen in September.   

We had interviews with the mission president. Those went well. I have one last and final interview this week. It will be my departing interview. 

We were going through our former investigators and we went by one. We got a return appointment and taught them that week. Berry is a very very smart guy. He has studied most religions and has read much about our church. Jesus the Christ, Doctrine and Covenants and so on. We will be meeting with them this week to answer one of the questions that he has, and some concerns. One of the questions was about the great apostasy. Did the 3 Nephites have the priesthood during the great apostasy, because if they did they could continue the Church where it left off.  We found the answer for him, will will see him on Friday. So there are two more investigators last week. Total we had 4 new investigators last week. 

Thank you for the email, it is crazy to think that next week will be my last email. Maybe I will not send anything. Maybe you will have to wait to see me.. haha . 

Love you all, 

How is marking the Book of Mormon that I told you to do months ago, marking anytime it reference to Jesus Christ? 

The book of Mormon is the most important tool for conversion, once you get a testimony of that, then you know that the Church is true.  

July 4, 2016

July 4

My week sounds like the same as your week.. long and tiring. 

This week was probably one of the worst weeks as far as numbers go hahaa. 

We moved apartments. So there was a lot of packing, and things to clean, and packing, and moving. It was a long and dread-some move. But we got it all done, and the place that we moved to is really nice, a lot bigger, and an upgrade. That move occupied most of all of our time. I am so glad that it is over. 

We did not move far from the last house, we are still on the West side of town, we moved to an apartment complex on the top floor, moving the beds, and furniture and, desks were a challenge.The move was still smooth we had some the the youth to help and one of the members brought his truck and horse trailer. I’m thankful for their help because there is no way we are able to fit all of our stuff in our Chevy Cruze.  

We did not meet with many of our investigators. We met with Grant once, it is going to be longer before he is baptized. 

 July 1 was Canada Day, they had a small celebration in this small town that I’m in. They had a few blowup bounce houses and an animal petting zoo. We saw the fireworks from our window. They were really sad, nothing like the American fireworks that they do on the 4th. I got some pictures of the fireworks here. 

Dallin and Tanner you have a  very nice job, that makes me want to work for this guy during the summer. He sounds nice and has a lot of work to do. What better person to work for him than I! haha:)

The house is progressing so well. I can’t wait to see it with everything moved in. 

Dad I have a scripture for you in response to your email. Please look up Romans 10:15. :)

- 

-Elder Condie

June 27 2016

Had a good week, we met with Grant a few times. He is still doing good, and he is getting closer and closer to baptism. It seems like after each visit we get this close to getting him on date! His wife is supportive of him, Grant said that his wife is willing to give up coffee with him. Closer and closer. We have been meeting with him every morning at 8:30 for about 2 weeks now, and that has really helped him. When we go over there in the morning I can tell that there are a lot of things going on in his mind, but after visiting with him, and reading the Book of Mormon, and watching some Mormon Messages he just looks a lot happier. The spirit comes into his home and it makes a difference, it will make a difference in anyones home. 

We are moving! Imagine that! I guess our Landlord does not like us anymore. haha No that’s not the reason. His daughter is going to move in. We are moving to an apartment this week. This is going to be the third time that I have moved apartments on the mission! It’s sad because I have to pack everything up and unpack and then after that I will be packing again! So it’s great I guess because this will help so i know what things i will and will not be taking home because of luggage weight. 

We also did some service for our Landlords. They are members. 

Donna came to church again. We met with her last week, and that lesson went okay. We told her that we were speaking in church and that she should come, and she did. She only stayed for the first hour. We were asked to talk for about 7 minutes each to fill the time for someone that was not able to make it. We talked about the joy that we have experienced when sharing the Gospel. 

We have a Prospective Elders list that we got from the ward clerk. There was this one guy who we have been trying to see, and we knocked on his door about 4  different times before he answered and we were able to get a return appointment. That day came around, and we knocked on the door and he let us in. We got to know him and left with a return appointment and message. He’s a great guy, he just needs some help and the Gospel back in his life. 

It will help him, the Atonement is so real, it’s there and it works. 

Two P-days ago we went golfing in Pincher Creek. That was a lot of fun. It is a hard course.     

There are some less active families that we have been working with. One of them invited us for dinner. We had deep fried ribs, wings, bbq beans roasted potatoes, it was so so good! It is sometimes hard working with less actives when they once were a member and fully active but then they do not want anything to do with coming back to church. 

Another less active family we have been seeing has 2 unbaptized children. We went over there, and I talked to them about the children and how they are not baptized. I asked if it would be okay for us to teach their children the lessons so they can be baptized. She said that it was up to them, she will let the children choose, so maybe by this week we will be able to met them and start teaching them. 

June 13 2016

I dodged the biggest bullet of the week. I am not getting transferred. I’m staying in Claresholm with the same companion, Elder Smith. Transfer calls come out on Tuesday night by the Zone Leaders. We were keeping in contact with other missionaries in the zone to see where they got transferred too. The Pincher Creek elders texted us saying where they where going, but we still did not get a call, so I called the Zone Leaders asking what’s going on. They said that nothing has changed for us, so I’m staying in Claresholm for the reminder of the mission.

I have missed all of you! Not just this past week but throughout the whole mission! Love you all! Thank you for all you do and for your prayers, I have felt them and it has given me strength through out the days, and days to come. Thank you for the emails it is really something to look forward to every week.  

Every morning we have met with Grant, we have been doing some of our studies with him. I have really enjoyed it, and it has really helped Grant too. He has been smoke free for 7 days now, which is an amazing answer to prayers. 

We will continue to meet with him throughout this week. I also got a haircut, thought that you should know. I look pretty good. haha. 

I was able to do a baptismal interview for someone in the district. There were two baptisms yesterday that we went to for a 10 year old and an 8 year old. That was really nice to go to and to interview one of the kids, his name was Marcus. 

So we are moving apartments, and it will be kind of an upgrade for us, we have been living in the basement suite of a members home, which is a nice place. I love it. But we have to move out because their daughter sold their house and they need somewhere to stay. Fortunately there is a older sister in our ward who is serving a mission in Cardston so she is going to move down there for the time being, so we may be moving into her home for that time. We will have the whole house to ourselves! 

This Saturday I shook the hand of President Nelson! He came here to Canada along with some other Seventy, namely Elder Bassett and his wife and Elder Sowez and his wife, along with some body guards. I was not able to shake the hands of the body guards.  That was cool, I think that will be fun to do after I retire, work for Church Security. haha 

One of the things that I really liked that President Nelson said was: 

The secret to happiness is freedom. 

The secret to freedom is courage

I think that is right on. That is so true. 

Mom you might think this is funny. So I have bunch of pictures in my bag of the mission and back home, we were at a dinner appointment at an older couple's house and somehow we got  talking about when I crashed into the truck at age 5. I had that picture and showed them, and of course sister Hirchie wanted to see more pictures. So I showed them the picture that you sent of Callie’s baptism with Tresa and Grandma in it. I pointed out who all was who, and when I pointed to you and said that was mom, she did not believe me! She said “that’s not your mom, that’s a hot chick!” She did not believe how skinny you were after having 5 kids, and how young you looked.

Love you all.

June 6 2016

The last couple of days I have dodged a few bullets. Training calls came out, and I’m not training. Purge calls came out, and we are not going to purge out of our area, and now I’m just waiting on the transfer calls that come out tomorrow. 

I really want to stay here for my last transfer. I do not want to pack up and unpack and spend the last 6 weeks in a new area and then leave right after that! 

The weather here has been nice, probably because its June, but we have been getting really nice weather for the pass couple of days. I’m sure that it is not as hot as in Logan. The warmest it’s been was 31.

We had a Golf Activity in the ward for all of the Elders and High Priests. We were able to attend, but we did not golf. I wish we did, and we could have, but we were there for the food, and we had an investigator and a non member there. It’s a nice course but I”m kinda glad that I did not golf because there was about a 6 minute down pour of rain that came from nowhere!  But the food was really good, I know that you are probably wondering what we had. Hamburgers and baked beans, and they were really good!

There was a meeting out in Lethbridge. It was about ward council. President said that he has had the feeling that the whole mission needs to know how to work with the ward councils, but everything that was discussed I knew. It was a good review but there are also a lot of younger missionaries in this mission, and having that meeting was good for them. While in Lethbridge we got an oil change so our car is now nice and happy with us! :)  

On Friday we had a lesson with Donna. We just recommitted her to stop smoking and talked about Church. That lesson went really well, We brought a member with us, Again having members come to lessons is so helpful! 

Saturday there was a wedding (it was not my wedding). There was a member in the ward who was getting married to a non member. We helped with the food serving, and clean up. It was really cool to see a wedding like that. The bishop married them, and there were a lot of non members who were there. It was good to get them inside the Church. There were lots of people who were impressed with all of the decorations and the service. 

We knocked on Bob and Marva's door. They were investigators at one point, but we dropped them about 3 months ago because it was hard to meet with them, but we taught the first lesson, about the Book of Mormon. Bob said that he was curious about it because they have one that we gave to them. After the lesson Bob said that we sparked his interest! 

We have another lesson with them today and we will teach about the Plan of Salvation. 

That same day we went to a party. It was with all of the singers in the community choir. It was hosted by one of the singers in his backyard, so there was a number of people there. All of them know us and they love us. Even John was there, the one who told me not to sing very loud. I enjoyed going there because I knew them all and I enjoyed talking with them. Bishop and his wife were there as well. I like to say that we were the only ones having fun because we were not drinking the drinks that were there or that people brought. hahaha 

Sunday we had a lesson with Grant. He did not come to Church, no one that we are teaching did. The lesson with Grant went really well, fellowship is where it’s at. Friends in the ward is what every investigator needs. 

Congratulations Tanner on your High School and Seminary Graduation! That is a wonderful achievement. Because you are speaking Spanish on your mission, and depending on the music rules in your mission, I have a bunch of Spanish songs that you can have that are okay in this mission you will have to let me know.. 

Love you all.

May 30 2016

You had a much crazier week then I had... alcohol bottle through the windscreen, call form Lethbrigde Alberta Canada, summer break, and teaching youth conference. 

I thought that was really funny dad when you were teaching and you got that call, I thought that might happen, but you have also been getting a few calls and texts from Canada. It is also kinda funny because that happens to us when he calls. The call drops and it’s hard to hear etc. We thought it was our phone for a while but now it sounds like his phone is the problem. I’m glad that you got that box of goodies. That is all Canadian candy. I wanted to send some Tim Tams but I found them a few days after Johno left. I will have to send that some time. They are way too good!  

Last week from today on Pday we did some fun things with our WML. We went drifting. He has a Nissan 300zx twin turbo. He took us drifting on this pad. That was alot of fun! I have a few videos of it I will have to show them to you later. There is alot of power behind those cars. Dad I think that you would have liked to be in the car. 

Right after that, we had a lesson with Ferne. We taught the lesson at the same members’ house again. We got there before Ferne did. Much to my surprise Ferne came, her daughter came, and also her granddaughter! There were 5 members in that lesson. That is a little much to have that many members in one lesson but the lesson went really well, and it was well controlled. 

So I guess if we were to chalk our numbers we could say that we had 5 member present lessons just on Monday. hahha!    

Our ward had an FHE activity on Tuesday, and we had a really good turn out. We taught the lesson, which was pretty easy. It was on Love One Another. We had a handful of members and 9 non members show up. One of them was Ferne. 

We have  been having a Romanian mom named Valley and her daughter come to church every Sunday for the past 3-4 months. They are not members. They come to all three hours of church. We have given Valley a Romanian Book of Mormon, Pamphlets, and a Gospel Principles book. They speak okay English, but its hard for them to understand. That is why we are not able to teach them. Valley said that she understands English better when she comes to our Church. 

Valley came with her husband and daughter to that FHE activity. I saw them and went up to say hi. I noticed that Daniel (Valleys husband) had a really cool watch on. I told him that I like his watch and asked if it was a Citizen watch, and he said yes and showed me the watch. I asked if it was a Blue Angels Citizen watch and he replied with a yes. He speaks good English we talked about watches for a while and what he does for work. He is a semi truck driver. It was nice to have something to talk about right when I said hi, since we both like watches. haha

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders last week. 

When we got out of an appointment with a less active, which went really well by the way, we got a missed call from the ward clerk saying that there was an urgent move and the people were not members and they had to be out that night because they were being evicted. We were able to help out with that for a bit. They were really thankful for the help that they received. 

We got permission from President to go to the Stake Man Camp/Fathers and Sons just for Friday. That was so fun to go to! I really miss things like that. I miss camping and fathers and sons camps. They had a lot more show up then they planned for and they ran out of food. Someone had to drive to the store and buy some more food. We were not able to stay for the fireside nor the night but it was good to be there for that short while. 

We are going to teach Ferne again tonight. Looking forward to that. 

Love you all.

May 23 2016

Prayers have been answered here. We have been praying and fasting for rain, here and up north where the massive fire is. It has been raining for the past 3 days! I love the rain, its not pouring rain but its a light rain, good enough for the crops to get water, and to wash the car. 

We had a good week. We have a new investigator, and we are teaching her tonight. She is older and good friends with some members. We had dinner twice at their house. The second time we shared the first lesson and she (Ferne) liked it. She had a granddaughter who served a mission. Ferne has two copies of the Book of Mormon with testimonies of her grandchildren in it, so she has had some contact with the Church, and she has accepted to let us teach her. She has had very little questions. Any question she asked was answerable, of course. 

We have not been able to get in contact with Donna for awhile. I was thinking about her and that we need to call her at the beginning of the week and when I thought that, the phone rang. It was her! She heard that Todd, her son-in-law, the one that we did the smoking program with was 9-10 days smoke free! She called us and said that she wants this program. On Friday we taught her the stop smoking workshop and she is committed and is on her way to be a non-smoker. Its really fun to teach it and best of all to see the success that comes from it and to see someone overcome the addiction of cigarettes. 

Tomorrow we have this ward FHE activity. I think they did this same activity 6-7 months ago and it was a success, so tomorrow we are doing it again, we are teaching the lesson. 

We are having another apostle come to this mission. President Nelson is coming here on June 11. I’m looking forward to that. 

Yesterday in Church Grant came with his wife, which was perfect! The talks given were exactly what she needed to hear. I’m glad that she did not have work and that she came, because she needed to hear what the speaker was saying. 

Love you all 

May 16 2016

Because of the fire up north in Fort MacMurry, we had a mission fast. We fasted for those who lost their homes, for those fighting the fires, and for rain. Much needed rain. They reported that the fire was not acting naturally, meaning that the fire was not behaving like any other naturally caused fire. We have a less active member in the ward, whose son fights fires for a living. He said that no man is going to put out this fire. Only a higher power is going to put this out. 

This fire is big, 200+ feet high, jumping rivers and roads. Some houses and the LDS Church building were left untouched. It was recorded that only 30% of the town was destroyed, which is a small number looking at how big the fire was and how much it could have done. Elder Spackman (area 70 friend from Calgary) issued a province wide fast for rain. We fasted, and lots and lots of other people fasted. Fort MacMurry received rain! It rained there and it also rained here! 

When we gather in fasting and prayer the Lord hears and is quick to act. Just like the summer of 2009 or 10 or 11 or 8. We had a stake fast because of the lack of water received.  We fasted and rain came down. 

We had another zone conference last week in Cardston. The whole south part of the mission was there, so there was about 100 missionaries there. We all went to the temple. When we came out of the temple it was snowing! It was snowing hard, huge falling flakes of snow and it was sticking! Cardston ended up getting about a foot and half of snow in May. 

After the temple they fed us some Costa Vida salad which was so so good! At the zone conference we had a discussion about the atonement and a testimony meeting. That was very nice. 

President Miles said that we will have another opportunity to have another apostle come to the mission and the whole mission will be able to go! He would not tell us which apostle is coming, but he did say that if there was any apostle coming, this is the one the you want! We just had an apostle come to this mission 2 months ago. I guess they just can’t get enough of me. They just all want to meet me and shake my hand! Hahaha. But that won't be happening till June 11. 

The only thing that we can think of to explain why this is happening again so soon, (besides them wanting to meet me), is maybe we will be getting iPads. They will roll them out after I get home! That’s how it works. It would have been so much easier and better to teach with an iPad than with books, and USB. 

We shall see what happens......  

The next day I went on exchanges with a homie in the district. We had so much fun. We are going home together. We found a new investigator for their area. That was really cool. We knocked on this door that we got as a referral. His name is Chris. Chris's parents were there working on his house that he rented to some people. They did not take good care of his house. When we knocked on the door his parents were kind of stand offish a bit. They were probably taken back when they saw two good looking men on the doorstep. Hahahha. But we were able to get a hold of their son and 20 minutes later we helped him move some big things into his house. Chris's parents were so happy and they opened up more. They told Chris in front of us before we left, that he needs to listen to us. He needs to join the Church. He needs it in his life, and it will change him for the better. Chris said “I know.” They are from Hong Kong. 

After we helped him we found a park and talked to him and helped him more. He has met with missionaries before and almost got baptized, but he had a pending charge, so he was not able to get baptized then. 

Here it was a really slow week. We were not able to meet with as many people as we wanted. Numbers were low, but hopefully that will change this week. 

Tanner, keep an eye out for an Elder Drew Rollins in your mission. He speaks Spanish and he just might be training you. 

Thank you for the emails and the prayers.  

May 2 2016

Greetings! 

It is hard to believe that it is May. May is one of my favorite months because its spring, the weather is nice, and also because May is the easiest month to spell! ;) And Mothers Day is this Sunday! We will be Skype-ing on Sunday at the members we live with. They have Skype so this time we will give Skype a go, instead of Facetime. Also their internet is pretty good so I will be able to see all of your smiling face. You may, however, not be able to see mine because of the server....   Naaa I’m just kidding. Everything should work out. We have church at 09:30 so expect a call at abouts 14:00. I really, really am looking froward to seeing all of you! If more family is able to be there then the better. This is my last time calling home! I think that is crazy to think about, because I will see all of you 2 months later. 

So last week I got my trunky call from the mission office. That was weird. They asked me what airport I want to fly to. I told them to fly me to Hawaii and then to Florida and then Salt Lake City. They thought that was funny and that it most likely will not happen. So they are going to send me to SLC. They also asked who my stake president was, I did not know so I had them call you. What number did they call? I thought it would be funny to have an Alberta number call home like it surprised you when Bishop Galbrath called last year. 

This week we were able to help with some service for a non-member. We helped her move. We provided the manpower, and the truck and the trailer. We got there before all of that and we sat and visited for a while. I asked her what she was doing tomorrow at 9:30 (this being Saturday) she replied, “Nothing. Why?” I told her that she should come to church with us. She said that was a good idea, 

and that she would come... Next day Sacrament starts and she does not show up, for the whole time. I will give her the benefit of a doubt that she was too tired because of the move..... The member that we live with works at the hospital. She says that she knows her and that she is a regular at the hospital. I guess I'm not the only crazy one in Claresholm.. haha 

We also helped lay sod. That’s fun. It is also an art. The members we helped lay sod have 2 German shepherd’s. They love me!  One of them is about to have puppies. I will be bringing one of them home with me as a Canadian present for Harvey. 

We had a lesson with Todd & Candence... they basically dropped us. They are happy where they are, and a living prophet is kind of a struggle for them. But Todd has expressed that he wants to quit smoking. We have just the thing for that: The 15 step stop smoking program. He said that he is willing to give it a try. We will be meeting with him on Wednesday. Tanner, this smoking program will be a huge help for you on your mission. I’m sure your mission already has it but I will give you a copy anyways. 

We met with Grant last week. He is doing well. We were not able to meet with Donna. We called her but she was not home. We will call again... 

Yesterday I got a taste of what you, Mom and Dad will be going through when you teach primary. We were asked to teach the 7 year olds. All I’m going to say is that I’m glad that my investigators do not act like they do. 

Well, I'll see you on Sunday! 

Love you all