Jan. 19th 2015

Well not much went on... I’m now in Airdrie, Alberta. We have a car every other week, but we are suppose to get a car this week to ourselves. We did a lot of tracting. My new comp is Elder Williams. He has been out for 3 months.

Happy Birthday MOM! I sent a letter to you. I hope you get feeling better soon.

There is a Coasta Vida in our area we are going there tomorrow after district meeting. I can’t wait. I have been craving that for 7 months. Airdrie is a cool place. The traffic lights are sideways haha.

Jan. 15th 2015

Well this last week was kinda crazy! 

And also I'm being transferred! I'm being transferred to Calgary!

I don't know where yet but I'm going to Calgary.

 So we had Amanda on date last week but that did not happen because our bishop called president and he called us telling us not to baptize her because apparently she was not keeping the law "Sustaining and upholding the law". So President called us when we were teaching Amanda. That day we were on exchanges, I was with our DL and he interviewed her for baptism, and she passed! Everything felt right: the interview, the lessons, the baptism, and the spirit. That’s why we put her on date because it felt right. So after she had the interview and left we look at our phone and we have a missed call from president, like I said and so we called him back. He he told us that our bishop called him about Amanda and what is going on with her, and he told us that she cant be baptized on that date because she is not upholding the law because she is visiting her kids at school when she is not allowed to unless it is monitored by someone from social services. So that was way nice to get a little rebuke from President. It would have been nice to get a call from Bishop first letting us know what was going on and that he called President about this, but that did not happen. Oh well. 

Then on Sunday Bishop met with her along with someone in the ward that works with child services. I guess she thought that it was okay to see her kids in a public place without being supervised, so now she knows that and the ministry is going to give her a paper saying all the things that she can and can not do. And Bishop set her on date for baptism on the 24th, so that gives her two weeks to prove that she can obey that. Bishop also called President to give him an update about that, just so he knows. That night when we were at a members house eating dinner and President called us again. After dinner we called him back and he told us what Bishop told him and everything was all good and so now all she has to do is wait till then. And she wanted me to baptize her but I will not be there because I will be in Calgary. 

I do not remember if I told you that her kids got taken away because her husband was not allowed in the house or around the kids when they moved from Vancouver, by court order. She sorta let him stay on the day came when the RCMP or Social Worker saw him take the kids to school, so they took them away. Now the husband is out of the picture and Amanda just filed a restraining order on him (its about time because he has been verbally and physically abusive to the kids and Amanda) So he is out of the picture and Amanda is working on getting her kids back and she is going to get them soon. 

There has been a HUGE difference in her, because the gospel has changed her and has brought her family and extended family closer together. And her sister is taking the discussions by the missionaries in Cranbrook. A lot of things have happened. They are all good things too! 

That is about all that happened last week. I am in Creston right now with our district so soon we will be driving back to Trail and I will be packing tonight and in the morning and then I will say some good byes and then we will be driving to Cranbrook to the ZLs pad.  That next morning we will drive to Lethbridge to the transfer station (Stake Center) and then I will be getting on a bus with my luggage and the other missionaries and then the drive to Calgary. There I will meet my new comp and then we will go from there. 

Did Dad and Tanner have time to read that talk that I sent? 

Thank you for all of the things you guys do. Love you guys!

Jan. 5th 2015

Hey Family,

How are things going?!  Things here are going good.  Lovin it out here. 

So this week is not going to be a long email because right now we are in Cranbrook,  The drive here was so sketchy because it was snowing and the roads had about 4 inches of snow on them and the roads were not plowed.  Also here in Canada they do not salt the roads!  They just use sand and gravel.  Lots of gravel!  So you will get so many rock chips!  How would you like driving here Dad?  Hah! I know how much you love rock chips!  Haha! 

Anyways, transfers are coming up next week!  And to be honest I’m way excited for that and also I kinda want to stay because Amanda is going to be baptized and I think she will ask me to baptize her.  But even if I get transferred and she wants me to baptize her then President will let me drive down from wherever I am and baptize her.  She has come a long way and it is so amazing to see how the gospel can change anyone!  She is so ready for baptism and she is excited for that.  We have been teaching her for 3 months and from day 1 she has come a long way and has changed.

So this last week we went tracting in the snow and we were way successful!  We handed out 4 Books of Mormon and I gave a Restoration Pamphlet to a Jehovah’s Witness!  That was way cool! But that is another story for another week.

So we have one more lesson to teach Amanda.  We are going to teach her L5 on Wednesday.  We are going on exchanges when we drive back from Cranbrook.  I will be with our DL.  He’s a cool guy, way fun to be around and I’m way excited for that.  So that is what went down this week and hopefully we will have a baptism this Saturday. 

Love you all. Thanks you for the love and support. J

Elder Condie

Dec. 17, 2014

 A few days after Christmas, Tanner received this in the mailbox along with a copy of this talk:

Tanner,

‘Sup Bro! How are things going?

So in response to your email, here is that talk that I was talking about.  It is called “The 4^th Missionary”.  This has helped me so much on my mission so far.  It makes me want to become a better missionary.

I love being out here serving the Lord and inviting others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.

In your email you asked how to better prepare for you mission.  My answer is Preach My Gospel.  You will be using this every day so it is critical to get to know it.

My second answer is:

Read “The 4^th Missionary” and decide now what kind of missionary you want to be.  As for me, I want to be the 4^th missionary.  

I love being out here. I love my mission.  I love the Lord.

I hope you have a good Christmas. Love you.

Elder Condie

P.S. Read this with Dad 

December 29, 2014

Well this week was probably one of the slowest weeks of my life. We were not able to do much because it was the Christmas season and it was Boxing Day after Christmas and there are not a lot of people home and they are not interested at the time.

I just want to say that I loved Christmas! It was amazing and I loved Facetiming you guys. It was so good you see all of you. It looked like, by the pictures, that you all you a good Christmas. Tanner you need to smile more! :)))))))))))

So this Sunday our investigator Amanda came to church. She is the one who lost her kids because Brendon was not allowed in the house or to be around the kids. So he is gone living in Cranbrook with his mom and brother. The missionaries there are teaching him. So there was A LOT of emotional problems. This experience has brought them closer to God and has strengthened them as a family, because of what happened and the experiences that she had.  Her kids notice it and Amanda and her kids want to be baptized. They are not afraid to stick up for what they believe in. I do not know for sure if I told you about the experience(s) that Amanda had, but I think I did. Let me know if I did tell you guys.  

DEC, 8th 2014

 

So this week was transfers and I am still in Trail. I will be here till the beginning of January (hopefully). Being in one area for 6 months is too long, and also it does not happen that much.

 So this week was a week of packing and saying good bye, and driving to Lethbridge, Alberta. It is crazy driving in Alberta. And then I got a new comp. His name is Colton Simpson. Lybe went to Calgary somewhere as a Zone Leader. And that is about all that happened this week. 

Elder Bednar says some good things about missionary work and how it blesses the lives of others, and that it is a priesthood responsibility. He says

 "All of us who have received the holy priesthood bear the sacred obligation to bless the nations and families of the earth by proclaiming the gospel and inviting all to receive by proper authority the ordinances of salvation. Many of us have served as full-time missionaries, some of us presently are serving as full-time missionaries, and all of us now are serving and will continue to serve as lifelong missionaries. We are missionaries every day in our families, in our schools, in our places of employment, and in our communities. Regardless of our age, experience, or station in life, we are all missionaries.
Proclaiming the gospel is not an activity in which we periodically and temporarily engage. And our labors as missionaries certainly are not confined to the short period of time devoted to full-time missionary service in our youth or in our mature years. Rather, the obligation to proclaim the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is inherent in the oath and covenant of the priesthood into which we enter. Missionary work essentially is a priesthood responsibility, and all of us who hold the priesthood are the Lord’s authorized servants on the earth and are missionaries at all times and in all places—and we always will be. Our very identity as holders of the priesthood and the seed of Abraham is in large measure defined by the responsibility to proclaim the gospel." 

 I know that this is true. We all can be missionaries even though we do not wear the tag. We should all be acting on missionary opportunities because they are everywhere; School, Work, Store, Vacations, EVERYWHERE. We are all brothers and sisters of our loving Heavenly Father. If that is the case then wouldn't we want them to have that same happiness, joy, and salvation that we have?     

Dec. 2 2014

Hey guys,

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! My Thanksgiving went super good, just like I’m sure yours did too. I did not eat that much pie or potatoes at all. For American Thanksgiving we had dinner at our WMLs (Ward Mission Leader's) house. We had Ham, Potatoes, and Stuffing it was really good. After that, we drove to a members house and had some pie there. I had a piece of home made pecan pie! It was the best pecan pie I have ever had! So that was our thanksgiving. At first it was kinda hard not being home for that, because for 18 years it has been at grandmas house or grams house. It was different not doing that. But in the end it all went good. I got your packages that you sent me! Thank you so much Grandma and Fam. I can’t wait to open them for Christmas.

Today is transfer week, so that is why I’m emailing today on Tuesday our Pday and not Monday. So with transfers this week we found out that I am NOT being transferred. I’m staying in Trail, and Lybe is going. He’s being transferred somewhere south, so Calgary. So this week he will be packing up and we will be driving to Calgary. 

On Sunday we had another church open house, and we knocked, and knocked on doors handing out flyers inviting people to it. We probably knocked on 100 doors and we were hoping for a good turn out of at least one non-member. But that did not happen. We just got more members, which is good but non members would have been better.

We got a new investigator! He was also baptized this week too. So I got my first baptism this week! He is 9 years old, he invited us to his baptism at the church open house, and then we realized that he is 9 years old. That means we have to teach him before he can be baptized. His family is all members but they lived in a place with no church/ward/branch when they moved there was a LDS church (the one that they are going now) they wanted their son to go to church before he was baptized. But in that time he turned 9 so we had to teach him all 5 lessons first. One day we taught him lessons 2and3. That went great! We felt the spirit, and Weston (9 year old) did too. He was laughing and crying, two days later we taught him lessons 4-5 and he was interviewed by our DL the same day. They had family coming up for the baptism and for American Thanksgiving so they were not going to change the date. I will send that picture today.

We also did a lot of service this week which consisted of snow removal, people were really grateful for that, stacking wood for a member, and helping a member move in. They moved into a nice place. Nice house, 20 acres and it is 7 clicks to the US Border. 

So this week I will be getting a new comp, and we will be driving up to Calgary. And with the investigators that we have there has been a lot of things going on, a lot of things for the worse. Nina has decided to take a month long break from the BoM and read only the Bible, and see what fruit will grow just from that, meaning New World Translation Bible which happens to be the JW bible. We asked her if this was an idea from her friend Lina who is a JW, and she said yes. Nina said that she knows that there will be something missing, but she is doing it anyways. 

And then the Grieves. We met with them that other day and that went great, there are still a lot of things going on. They have to find a new place to live because the Landlord is going to sell the house.

So that is just great! So that is all the things that are and have been happening. Thank you so much for the Christmas Packages. That is just so awesome! It will be a great Christmas this year for me in Canada. 

Also the Church is doing this HUGE thing for Christmas. It is called the Christmas Initiative. The Church will be doing a YouTube Takeover like they did with Easter last year. So this month we will be giving He is The Gift pass-along cards along with DVDs. So if you get time watch that video, and if you get the Ensign there are He is The Gift pass-along cards, the some ones that we will be handing out. So if you get your hands on them then I challenge you hand them out to people. 

Thank you again for the Christmas Packages.

Thank you for the love and support .

Love you all and have a great week! 

Elder Lybe's birthday dinner at Parslow's