Oct 5 2014

I do not have my GPS yet. Elder Lybe got a package from his family too and there was another missionary that is going to be getting a package that his mom sent. She told Sis Parslow so some time this week… some time this week.

General Conference was really good! I really liked it. But the only thing is that it went by SO SO SO SO FAST!! Maybe it was because no one paused and waited for everyone to be quiet! haha

We watched all of the sessions and priesthood at the church, and we ate food that a member brought for us at the church. We did not get Nina (our investigator) to come but she said she watched it online and that she liked it. But that one lady that I think that I talked about, Jenifer, the one that one Sunday, she just came to church and wanted to see the bishop. So we have been helping her and working with her. It turns out that she is a member. She was sealed in the temple, but her husband died. Her boyfriend right now is bugging her and she does not want to be with him. But we have been helping her and working with her. She has a lot on her plate right now.

We met with Nina this week, we did not teach her anything but we just talked with her and asked her questions. We invited her to stake conference and she said that she could come and she even had relatives to stay with. But her ride called her mom and asked if she was ready and her mom said that she was in a meeting, and that she couldn't go. When we met with her she did say that she was at a Jehovah witness assembly (we already knew that she was doing something with the JW). She said that they are nice to her and she has friends there, and she said that a woman there gave her a blessing one time and she did not feel anything. And we talked with her, we were more bold with her, we told her about a talk that was given in Stake Conference about this kid who can play a song on the piano with one hand and another song with the other hand, and it sounded awful! That is the same way with her (in a way) we told her. We said that you can’t be studying with the JW and at the same time study from us. She needed to choose one or the other. We told her to read the BoM again and pray about it. I gave her a promise, and that same promise is in the Introduction in the BoM, and bore my testimony about it and the spirit was there and I could tell that she could feel it. When it was time for us to leave it almost seemed like she did not want us to leave, so that is good.

After the Saturday morning conference session we went street contacting at Gyro Park (its really, really nice, I will send a picture of it). I did all of the talking, I started the conversation cause Lybe wanted me too. We ran in to a lady probably in her lower 30s. She sounded really interested. we gave her a PoS pamphlet with our number on it and the church address and she said that she will try to make it to church. 

And there is a foreign exchange student staying at a member’s house (she speaks English and French). We are kind of teaching her but we have not started yet, she said that she does not know if she believes in God, we gave her a English BoM the last time we went over, but that was hard for her to read. We ordered some French copies of the BoM from the mission home. Yesterday before we headed to Crambrook for Zone Pday and Zone Training, we stopped by to drop it off. (The plan was to give her the French BoM and talk about it and then go street contacting. But we were there at the members house for an hour and a half. Just talking, playing with their kids and they fed us dinner and they were not on the dinner calendar. They asked us if we wanted dinner and we said sure. They are a really nice family. The husband is American/Canadian (maybe just Canadian) and the wife is Polynesian I believe, and they made a REALLY, REALLY good Polynesian dinner! It was SO good. Super good beef and rice and some sort of beef soup. It was GOOD! (By the way I don't know if you want to hear this hah but I gained 5 pounds) haha It has been weird I gain pounds and then I loose pounds. So I hope but the time I go home I do not gain more than 20 pounds. haha So the foreign  exchange student told us that she sent the English BoM to her mom because she wanted to know more about the Mormons. And she said that she would read the French copy that we gave her.

Also we have a new family that moved from Vancouver. Bishop called us because the missionaries there called him and he let us know. So we helped them move in and they said that they will all be going to church and they want to take the discussions. They want that in their lives they said. And before we left from helping them we left by saying a prayer. They wanted that. They have like 6 super young kids that are super loud! haha The oldest is 14 and her boyfriend is living with them, but they do not sleep in the same room, which is good. The boyfriend comes from a disfunctional family so I guess they kind of adopted him ha ha. So I’m excited to start teaching someone now. 

That's about all that happened this week. Love you all

Elder Condie     

Sept. 29 2014

Okay so just a little run down with what happened this week. We helped a member who knows a lot about the Bible, and Book Of Mormon, and other doctrine. But he does not come to church. He called us and asked us for some help to cut down his tree so he can have some firewood for the winter. He is an older man. So this tree, it was huge! And there were power lines on one side and other things on the other so we had to cut it perfect and make sure it falls just perfect. We cut the tree like 20 feet from the ground because other wise it would hit the power lines. And we tied a cable around the top (about 20 feet high) so it would fall where we wanted it. So we had the chain saw and the ladder and we cut the tree and it made cracking noises and we cut all the way through but it did not fall because the branches of that tree and another were weaved so the tree was holding it up and the wind picked up and we started to loosen the rope. And TIMBER! The tree fell perfectly where we wanted it to. It did not hit any power lines or the big nice dog. I think that was a miracle because it could have fallen the wrong way. Also we saw two bears in his yard up in a tree. A mom bear and a cub. It looked like a mom bear. Not for sure. But the mom ran off and climbed another tree and the cub was in the other tree. We got kinda close to the cub and got some pictures. I will send them later. But we were definitely being watched over if that was a mom bear. 

Yesterday in church we were in priesthood and someone signaled us to come here. And it so happens that a lady walked in church. she said that she’s a member (someone that knows her says she’s not) but she was sad and she said that she has not been to church for 17 years. Someone said she saw her walk in and asked her “can I help you?” she replied, “where is the bishop’s office?” Anyway she was wanting a blessing. she knew a member in the ward so we got him and the three of us gave her a blessing. I anointed the oil and the person that she knew gave the blessing. Anyway we are going to see her and help her pack boxes out of her apartment because she said that she had a lot of stuff and we offered to help. She told us that she once got a blessing from the JW woman and she did not feel anything. She did not feel different. So we will be meeting with her.

The other day we went street contacting and walked up to this guy sitting on a bench. He is a Catholic but he is a cool, older guy. He’s way nice. He told us the general area where he lives so we will go door to door in that area and see if we can run into him. He said that he was looking for religion and he went to different churches even the LDS church. this was like in 1987 but he went with the Catholics instead. Its sad. I have never heard of that before but I know if we try hard and pray we can run into his house. 

I want to let all of you know; Tanner, Dallin, Caleb, Tallie Wallie, and Harvey the Dog that I know that this is the one and only true Church. it is Jesus's church once again restored on this earth. In Ephesians 4:4-6 it says one Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism. There is no other way or religion to be able to return to live with your Father in Heaven again. The Bible testifies of Christ and so does the Book of Mormon because in Ezekiel 37:15-17 it talks about the stick of Judah which is the Bible and it also talks about the stick of Joseph that is the Book of Mormon. In verse 17 it says "They shall become one in thine hand. And in 2 Nephi 3:12 it talks about the Bible being the stick of Judah. The Book of Mormon and the Bible go hand in hand with each other. Both books testify of this. I know it to be true. This is the one and only true church. We are led by living prophets today that receive direct revelation from Jesus Christ. How lucky are we to be blessed by our Heavenly Father that sent his son to pay for all of the sins of the world so that we can be forgiven of all of the sin that we make, so that we can be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father again!  One thing that I learned is that earthly time and heavenly time are WAY different. 1000 days on Earth is only 1 day in heaven! So that is why it is important to live righteous lives and to obey all of the commandment and to keep all of the covenants that we make because when we die we have only been away from home for a couple of hours. All of us on earth made the decision to come and receive a body and all of us know somewhat of the gospel. That is why missionary work is so important because we are finding God’s lost children. We are helping them to be able to return to live with God and to receive the Holy Ghost which is the most valuable gift ever given. I know that all of you will make great missionaries. Serving a mission will be the best decision you will ever make. I am so happy that I was called to Canada, because that is where the Lord wants me to be and I am called here for a purpose! I know that Joseph Smith, by the power of God was able to translate what is called now The Book of Mormon. It is the most true and correct book here on this earth. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and they are waiting for us to return home. I miss all of you and I love all of you. I’m grateful to be placed in families, especially the family that I have now, and that we will be able to live together forever as a family for eternity. I am so grateful to have wonderful parents that raised me and all of you in the gospel and in the true church, and parents that were married and sealed in the temple that made it possible for us to live as an eternal family.

I say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen.    

There is a wonderful talk that I heard and that I have. I will try and send it to you.

Love you all! Thank you for all you support, fasts, and prayers. 

Sept. 29 2014

"This burger is made for missionaries, and missionaries only, by a member. Whenever there is a new transfer, then we have these.  You have to eat the whole thing, otherwise you will never hear the end of it!  This is my 2nd time doing this and I finished both times :) Haha! They are really really good.  They are full of flavor."

"Here is the coat that I bought! :) I think that it will keep me warm!"

"My hair was getting really long again, so this time I cut it all by myself! :) Lybe did it last time. Although I loved getting my hair cut by you Mom...it actually does not look bad. :) I think I did a really good job!"

Sept. 24 2014

Well today is the first day of school! yay for Canadian school!!:) haa I guess the government and the teachers finally agreed on something. The government did not do anything about the protesting but I think that the teachers got their way.

So this week our whole zone drove up to Cranbrook (2.5 hours from Trail) for stake conference and Leghbridge (3.5 hours from Cranbrook) the next day for zone conference.  For zone conference and stake conference  Elder Allan F. Packer was there and he talked to us and I got to shake his hand and eat lunch right by him at zone conference!:) he asked me if I was related to the organist that play the organ in general conference, I said I'm not sure. So can you find out if there is any relation? Because there has been about 20 people who has asked me that question. Elder Packer is going to speak in this upcoming General Conference so make sure that you pay attention and when you see him speak you can think me. :) hah He spoke in stake conference when they called a new stake president. 

Yesterday for zone pday we went golfing! A member owns the golf course so we got to golf for free! It was so fun! I want to make golfing a hobby. Although right now I'm not very good at golfing I got 71 in a 9-hole that's not very good haha. I rented a cart! (we had to pay for the carts):  ), that's okay it was so fun! I almost tipped the cart                                              

over when I was driving because we were doing doughnuts and trying to drift in the wet grass, and also because I was driving backwards from hole to hole. haha Im the worlds best backwards driver! I jumped out of the cart while it was driving because I lost my ball, I almost caught my balance but the ground was too wet and the cart was going to fast I slipped and slid 6 feet. haha that was fun.   :)

This week was slow and we did not go much because my comp got sick and then I got really sick. I was out, I slept for like 20 hours. Last week was a very productive, a week of sleeping, reading Scriptures, studying, watching church stamped movies, and taking medication. haha  So now this week we have to make up for last week. And this week we may be having a baptism because our investigator said she wanted to be baptized! If not then it will not be the first time she cancelled  her baptism. 

Sept. 15 2014

September 15,2014

So this week went good. We did a lot of service, probably more than we should have, but we did. We helped someone in the ward move. she was moving from an apartment that was not a good place and not in a good location. She was married. She wants to get her kids back. Her parents are very active. they were the ones that called and asked us to help. So we helped her move into a home that is nice. That was a two day job. We helped for about 3 hours the first day and about 2 hours the second day. There was a lot of stuff, more junk than there should be.

We taught our investigator a lesson last week and she even fed us dinner on Thursday. She gave us steak and it was good. We got a call from someone in the ward asking us to help someone not a member to pick apples, and pears in her yard. She is an older lady, and a heavy smoker. But she was so happy that we were picking

Elder Condie's watch obsession

the apples and pairs. She was really nice. She thought that I was really handsome (she said that a couple of times). She said thank you so much lots of times because otherwise the fruit would fall off and rot. As we were leaving she said thank you and we shook her hand. But then she was like “I have to thank you like this”, and she put out her arms and gave me a hug. haha I was like “your welcome, thank you for the fruit.” And then we hopped in the car because it looked like she wanted more. haha;)  We filled like 3-4 boxes of apples and pairs. We gave them to people in the ward.

We did some street contacting last week at a nice park that we live by called Gyro Park. The Columbia flows right by it. We meet some interesting people there. We do more street contacting because it is more successful than door-to-door.

Right now we are in Creston with the district because interviews with the president are tomorrow. So that is what happened last week.

Thank you for all you all do. Love you all.   

Sept. 9 2014

Hey Family!

So Thing are going so well right now. So this month President has challenged all of us as a mission to hand out 10,000 Books of Mormon, which is possible! Every missionary as a companionship has to hand out at least 2.3 Books of Mormon a day. So far my companion and I handed out 6 of them. That is really good for this area because this is a really hard area- Trail is. Because there are SO SO SO many different churches! Like 2 JW, Gateway to Trail, Church of Castlegar, First Baptist Church,  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day saints, and like 5 others haha so there are a lot of religions. There are also a lot of crazy people like in the head crazy haha but that's all good. In two weeks we are going to Lethbridge for like 3-5 days because its some conference, and there will be a general authority there speaking to us. Elder Allan F Packer. Elder Packers son. There will also be interviews by President, like just to see how we are doing, and other things.

Today is p day because it is transfers this week. I’m staying in this area for another 5-6 weeks. Our DL Elder Hulse is going to Calgary. He is from Utah and went to sky view. He is going to USU.

 So this week went good. last week we had district meeting and the ZLs were there. One of them handed me  a letter and said this is for you. And I was like “I got mail?!? no way?! Really?!” and it was from the Hermansens. They sent letters to me. That was cool.

 So there was no baptism this week. But she came to church on sunday and she was crying all through it. You could tell that she was feeling the spirit. This last week we have been doing a lot of street contacting trying to find someone.

 So good news! this month they are going to approve the use of Facebook for missionaries. we could still get on but they asked us not to. So they will let us use it and this fall they are going to give us ipads. I’m way excited for that! So as far as winter clothes go, I am not going to buy boots because you dont really need them because we will be doing alot of driving. But I will be buying a coat. Elder Lybe said that he bought his online. But I dont want to do that so I will try and find a store somewhere that sells coats.

Thats way cool that my mission plaque is up. I bet it looks good.   DAD! that football from the USU game is MINE! hahajk I did not see the video yet, but I will watch on a different computer. The members here in Trail are way cool. they feed us dinner like everyday. We have a dinner like 6-7 days a week.  

 Everything is going good. Thanks for everything. Love you all!

Hey Caleb!

CAnada is way awesome! I have not had any doors slammed in my face yet. I saw that video of mom and the bucket challenge. I would never have thought that she would do it! haha my comp is nice. he’s a cool guy. thanks for the letter Caleb.

Love you too. 

Sept. 1, 2014

Taken from the ferry

Wow!! Thank you so much for the suitcase and everything inside it! The handbag is way nice and the suit was nice. I wore it to church when I gave my talk! I talked about finding joy through scripture study. I was asked to speak for 15 minutes and I honestly thought that I had less then 8 minutes. But when I gave it it turned out that I took almost 20 minutes! That was amazing! It was a great talk! The funny thing is that none of the bishopric was there! Bishop Redakop is a way cool guy but some Sundays he works so he misses church alot. His 1st counselor was in England all of last month and his 2nd counselor was gone. So none of the bishopric was there. It was kinda funny.

Thank you for the bread and cookies. it did not go bad. That is the right size of suit case. With the address you will have to wait because I don't think I will be in this area until Christmas. 

This week went by so fast! That baptism has not happened yet, but it will sometime. This week we did alot of street contacting at two huge nice parks that are in Trail and Castlegar.      

Elder Condie

"Look what book I found!!" -written by Elder Condie's seminary teacher, Donny Anderson