Merry Christmas everyone

Alrighty so this week has been pretty exciting i guess you could say.... basically the only thing that we have done this week is what we call Operation CC. Which consists of the Christmas cards that we made for the entire ward, and cookies that we made to go with the Christmas card when we visit less actives! I will be sending the letter and Picture here this week, sorry that i've been slacking in that department. So this week we ate at Bro Okeys house.... he is part owner of the company called Cardel Homes, its the family business, and he let us sit in his Ferarrie FF so that was pretty sweet haha, he wants to take us to his company warehouse one p-day and let us see the other cars he has so thats neat! Then we also had the YSA christmas party, Even though I moved out of the YSA ward (I think I told you that haha) I was still invited to come and it was sooooo well put together! They re-inacted "how the grinch stole christmas" and Brody... the less active I taught  was the Grinch and man was he AWESOME! other than that, that was pretty much my week.

 

Brody and Elder Martin

Cool lamp according to Elder Martin.....LOL

Life Is Good

Alrighty then.... where do I even begin with this week well, Tuesday we had Zone training meeting, that went alright I suppose haha, when you get 26 missionaries together it can tend to get a little hectic. But the training was delivered nonetheless! Wednesday we were able to head downtown for some good contacting... I placed a Mandarin Book of Mormon in Chinese!!!! it was awesome haha then we had our mission Christmas activity! all of the zones in Calgary met and we ate pizza and then the secret.... We got to watch MEET THE MORMONS!!!! can I say WOW! what a spectacular film! very well promoted and put together! :) very touching stories. My favorite would probably have to be The candy Bomber, and then the coach, then missionary mom! Oh backtrack to Tuesday, a member in the ward took us to her friends house who is looking for god in their life, and we were able to comfort and teach them and pick them up as 2 new investigators! they are sweet, Leo and Juana! from Columbia. So on Thursday we went back to teach them more, we talked on the atonement and the Plan he has for us, also gave them both blessings! :) come Friday we had interviews with president and we delivered mail to the zone. It was a nice comforting interview and reassuring in my eyes, President is a very inspired man!

Saturday came, and we attended our Stake Presidents Father's Funeral, he was 93, and an amazing man, it was a wonderful service, he reminded me of the Candy Bomber in a way, he received the DFC award. or the Distinguished Flying Cross. he served as a bomber in WW2 for the English air force... he will be missed. we then helped set up for the ward Christmas party and then WENT to the ward Christmas party and Leo and Juana also came with their 2 kids who are about 14 and 12. Then sunday church came, and sundays are usually all the same, we did go Visit Leo and Juana, gave them a Christmas basket before they leave for Columbia for the Christmas season! they were in such happier spirits then they were on Thursday, Its amazing to see the lord play a role in the lives of others! So that was pretty much my week in a nutshell! it was a pretty great one! :)

Elder Smith and Elder Martin changing a light bulb

for the Sisteres

Elder Martin

Elder Smith and Martin's Christmas Picture

New Companion, and new Ward...... Canyon Creek

Alright onto this week! Transfers were INSANE!!!! For starters we have a new assistant and he has been out 8 months! no leadership experience except for training. President has gotten rid of the whole "ladder" leadership nonsense.... it is more in-tune with the lord now and he calls who the lord wants to in this mission as leaders..I'm excited! Elder Smith is an example of that also he went from Senior comp to Zone leader! pretty exciting! :) So Coming from the brethren Elders and Sisters no longer should be serving together in the same ward, so president moved me out of the YSA ward and replaced me with Sisters there, so there is 2 sets of sisters in the YSA ward, and I am now in the Canyon Creek Family ward! I was a little bummed and saddened by that, but its OK, the lord wants me here, I'm going to find out why and get to work! starting from scratch basically! :) should be fun!!!

Qing and I (recent convert)

Elder Campbell (my son) and his greenie Elder Reynolds (my grandson)!!!!

less active Alicia and the gang! Sister Harris and sister Hassan (Harris is home now) and Elder Baker!

Daniel, Elder Baker and I

December 2nd 2014

Alright soooo this week has been exciting.... training calls have come out and transfers are among us!!!! We helped someone moved on Tuesday..... went downtown on Wednesday and had a great time down there, was on exchanges with the assistant and that evening I found out that elder Campbell is training!!!!!!! I'm going to have a grandson in the mission! yaaaay! :) also Elder Baker is training... again! crazy so I'm getting a new companion on Thursday.... I wonder who it could be! Thursday we planned for out missionary FHE activity and put the finishing details on that then ate dinner at the Babcocks house, he Grew up in Murrieta! small world once again, on Friday we went to trainers training for Elder Baker and then went to eat lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings :) then went to the hospital to meet with a returning less active :) Saturday we baked cookies with Daniel our WML and then wrapped them up with a "he is the gift" attached to them, they were walnut oatmeal chocolate chip and butterscotch :) we then got the Zone together and went zone snow shoveling! :) Sunday went well.... good church  services and then went to the hospital to visit the less active again! :) 

 

Alright now for the fun! :) Last night we had a MTC for FHE (member training center) we put it on to help the ward get excited for missionary work, one room was Role Plays, another room was addressing missionary work fears and starting a personal mission plan and the grand finale was an obstacle course! The members were blindfolded and had to hold on to a rope that lead them who knows where and keep their egg we gave them from breaking..... and goal was to make it to the end without having a broken egg.... catch was that everyones egg was broken... but through the atonement of a loving savior we can still be put back together... and we gave them some chocolate :) it was SWEET! that pretty much wraps up the week! all in all was fun and now its going to get even more crazy!

Elder Baker and Elder Martin

Zonies

Zone Snow shoveling party

That's my kid

November 24th 2014

The Birthday week! Started off with a nice FHE with a wonderful family named the Moores... they were awesome. on Tuesday was when we really had P-day because of the move and what not on Monday, then Wednesday was Elder Edwards Birthday.... we went to Downtown Calgary... it weird when it gets dark so fast now! but then we drove down to Highriver to give elder Edwards some donuts! then back to Calgary for institute! it was a pretty good lesson, we were tracking the life of the saviors last week before the Crucifixion... Friday was his last day and that's where we were, very deep lesson.... then Thursday! started off in the morning with a Birthday call from the most awesome Ward Mission Leader ever, Daniel!!!! Then a nice singing from Elder Baker and then we Weekly planned some and collected all the numbers for the Zone for board updates! Then Elder Baker took me out to lunch, we went to chilis.... mmmm so good! I miss being able to go there just about once a week haha, Then I was asked to "talk" with Elder Halford while secretly Elder baker went out and got me 2 ties.... which I found on my bed later that night upon returning to the apartment haha, then we gave the sisters a blessing, and went to dinner with Daniel after that! it was Delicious... .as always, we mad home made pizza and had Tres Leche Cake! :) or 3 milk cake for those who don't know Spanish :P or I just suck at spelling ha ha..... Friday we went and got mail....  Saturday we went to visit a less active in the hospital... she was super happy to see us! we were also dropped by a less active man named Hamish who said it actually wasn't his time to start coming back.... sad, then we met with our Recent Convert Qing... hes happy as every and is awesome then Sunday we had some awesome church, starting out morning with the stake presidents council at 7 then ward council at 11 and church at 1.... that's our normal Sunday haha and now im here! Love ya! your Awesome! and thank you for the Birthday Wishes!


Dad.... Danny JUST emailed me! he says he is getting baptized Nov 30th! its so exciting!! this is what I told him..

DUDE!!!!! I would never forget about you man! you were my Goalie for life! as I tried to be your defender hahah.... ya my dad has informed me on what you have been up too and might I just say WOW! I cant exclaim how excited I am for you! The Restored Gospel has been the greatest blessing of my life, and my Mission has been the best thing for my life. Your a very Stalwart young man for taking these steps in your life, I can promise you, as scary as it may be,  that as you exercise your faith the lord will see that and he will bless you in every way possible for that! God will show you his way and how to get there. I promise you, from one friend to another you will never regret the steps you have made in your life. I will keep you in my prayers!

 

November 17th 2014 Service all day

Well today for p-day we helped someone move..... all day that is why I am not just getting on.... it was pretty good.... we had 18 missionaries there i'm exhausted, so i think i forgot to mention but Elder Campbell is in my zone!!! :) and he is a district leader! it has been so good to see him again and serve around him! :) i love that kid, he is doing awesome! So this week, we went on exchanges and I was down in high river for the day with Elder Edwards, his birthday is the 19th haha crazy... Great Elder, thoroughly enjoy serving around him, I was his zone leader in Airdrie when I was there last too, he goes home this transfer, this is the 7 week transfer so it ends on Dec 4th,  tell grandma she is awesome for sending the money! I love her mucho! how is she doing by the way? and poppy? ummm after the exchange we heard word that one of the Elders we live with is going home so that was sad... he did go home honorably though... so that left us with 1 missionary and he was transferred to brooks so our apartment is empty now.... which led to Elder Baker and I super deep cleaning it and it looks SOOOO nice now! im excited :)  While on exchanges we got to teach a lady named Pam, and it was probably the sweetest lesson ever, I was able to share many experiences that could relate to what she had to say and question and we asked her to pray about Joseph smith being a prophet and what we have to testify of is true, and she started praying in the middle of a lesson, kinda funny but super awesome at the same time! :) her husband just needs to stop being a drunk and support her! then we would be solid! Saturday we had a stake conference priesthood session and that was just super fun... being questioned and having to reply about missionary work because we are the zone leaders ha ha.... all good though, its getting the stake excited for missionary work! then Sundays session of stake conference was amazing! the choir was amazing and the speakers were just phenomenal, i don't remember me as a youth or our youth back home being able to give such great talks but man up here they slayed it! all in all great week.... sure not a WHOLE lot of teaching but it seems like every day is just a spiritual high! :) its nice!!! hope you have an amazing week! your the best love you! :) and sorry no new updates on pictures

November 10th 2014

Not quite sure what to email about this week.... I would say winter is officially back... its 5 with windchill -13..... We Found a new less active who is reaching out, his names Chad and he is awesome! he is way into sports and what not, he also has a sick lumberjack beard ha ha thought I should throw that in there, other than that we had MLC this Friday talked about how to Hold the mission accountable and Discussed the topic for teaching this month which is Doctrines of Christ and how we can more fully apply the atonement to become Truly Converted Missionaries... aside from all that that's pretty much my week... we had a cool Remembrance day themed sacrament meeting at church that was nice, and then we have been planning for Zone Training Meeting for tomorrow! should be Exciting! Hope your weeks went well! Love  ya! 

November 3 2014

Well then another week in the life of a missionary!

So i don't know how exciting this weeks email will be so lets see what happened... well Monday we went to Sheep River Falls again and had a weeny roast, that was fun haha, cooked them on good ole fashioned sticks :) Then Tuesday we had to go to in the evening to Walk through an apartment that missionaries would be moving into then we had some delicious breakfast for dinner! :) on Wednesday we had institute, and had to clean the car because it was zone conference on Thursday, so we had one conference and that was pretty sweet, it was based off the Elder Robbins Talk "which way do you face" then we had to go change the sisters tire after Zone Conference. For dinner we went out to Buffalo Wild Wings for boneless wing Thursday haha, doesnt make sense to me but oh well and then we were told to go down to Okotoks to help Sheep River (the elders who are moving) to clean their apartment better, so we had to go down and babysit more or less and clean the apartment to perfection, that went on till the early morning haha Got some sleep only to start cleaning again on Friday before we had to travel the zone to pick up Gas Receipts and car log information to turn into the mission office that day. That took most of the day, then we had a lesson with Courtney who we picked up a few weeks ago, she seems to love missionaries and is super interested in what it is we do! so we met with her at Tim Hortons. Then we had to be inside by 6 unless we had a dinner so we went to the dinner at the Babcocks, they are awesome! He was born in Murrieta! pretty crazy, so they are an American family. On Saturday we correlated with our WML and went to Brothers for lunch, mmmm so good :) Then had a lesson with Qing who is our recent convert. After we went to dinner at a members house, and after that we had a second dinner! A returning less active in the woodbine ward saw us when we were teaching Courtney and told us Saturday he is feeding us no matter what ha ha, so he took us and the woodbine elders out to Joeys! They actually had some very good fish tacos! it was nice to have those ha ha. Sunday was Break the fast and that was delicious of course! :) had some AMAZING roast beef actually ha ha then we had a fireside with elder Hallstrom. that pretty much sums up my week! :) 

October 27th 2014

Well last week was pretty busy i suppose Monday was P-Day then For FHE we did Glow in the dark human fooseball that was sweet! Tuesday we had district meeting and then Wednesday exchanges with Elder Manning... we helped the senior couple in the mission office move (Elder and Sister Bryant) they go home on Friday.. they will be missed :( with that we made a trip to the dump! :) haha then Thursday we had to go to the mission office to pick up planners then run them around the zone so people could weekly plan. we stopped in Okotoks for some taco bell... I got out of the truck and heard a TSSSSSSS...... we had a nice big hole in our tire... sooo iI changed it and possibly ruined a white shirt... no big deal! Still got taco bell and as I ordered a member walked in and payed for us! BLESSINGS!!!  then went to High River to drop the rest of the planners off....   we came up to Okotoks again to do some mission business with the Elders there... fun,  after that ate dinner with our bishop... he gave us half a Costco roasted chicken EACH.. it was pretty sweet! then we had an AWESOME lesson with brody.. it was just amazing.... then Friday we got mail for the Zone and helped build a nice swing set play thing and had an amazing dinner at Earls with one of Elder Bakers old friends from his other zone and had a deep lesson with Quing ...pronounced (Ching) and Saturday was more service! helping the Bryants move some more and then we got the windshield on the truck replaced.. gotta love Alberta roads!!!! had some Lunch in Calgary with our Elders Quorum President at the big cheese and talked about the work.... that was sweet. Then church on Sunday.. was ward conference and today... going back down to sheep river falls! :) Sorry i'm sure I missed some things, but I'm doing great.

October 20th 2014

Well this week wasn't super exciting with it being transfers and everything, Monday was alright we had thanksgiving all day.... so much food!.... emails and pday on Tuesday, then Wednesday we moved the high-river sisters to their new apartment that took alllllll day! oh well ha ha. then Bjarnson had to pack and what not because Thursday was Transfers and hes gone! :( super sad to see him leave.... I now have Elder Baker... hes pretty dope.... he is from Murray Utah... :P  He has a fellow Missionary Girl back home as well they will be together 5 years as of next month.... crazy! Her name is Megan Walker then Friday we had mail and more moving furniture and stuff for the sisters and the Senior Missionary's in the office we will be helping the senior couple more on Wednesday... then Saturday we had a get to know you for all the new people in the Zone, that was fun then some Planning for the next week and dinner with Kevin so much fun... and Sunday was church and a fireside! :P that was our week haha not super exciting but im still alive! :)

October 14 email

Well this week was pretty good. Been busy with organizing the zone and getting ready for transfers... Elder Bjarnson is leaving me :( we have been down to high river several times to get things in order for the High River Sisters to move back there so we have been helping them move and found a new apartment for them to live in, we will be moving them in tomorrow thats going to be exciting at least i get to drive a Silverado :)

So on Pday last week we went to Sheep River Falls and it was gorgeous! :) got to get back into the grand outdoors! then the remainder of the week was trying to set up lessons with people to teach and finding people to teach, The spanish Elders had a baptism this week that we attended so that was cool :) When we went to Downtown Calgary on Wednesday I was with Elder Clark and we saw a little boy literally right after he got hit by a car, the kid couldn't have been older than 3, He only broke his leg, but in 2 places and it looked pretty gnarly, reminded me of mine.... there was luckily a lady who was there who was an emergency room nurse, so we felt helpless and didn't know what do do anymore so we left but then stopped and offered the little tyke a prayer and literally after the prayer was over we heard the Sirens of the Ambulance! :) and in all honesty Calgary Emergency isn't the quickest ive been told ha-ha, Then we met a Native man... who met the stereotype of drunk and homeless but we talked with him anyways, he was on a park bench and Elder Clark asked him first if he had a belief in god and he said he did, then i asked him "where did you come to gain this knowledge for yourself" The Gentlemen Launy was his name replied that his grandma took him to church ever week, then he just broke down into tears! we knelt down with him so we were on his level, it was quiet for about a minute and then we bore witness of the Plan Of Salvation told him we and Christ loved him, gave him a copy of the BoM, a picture of Jesus, and our information, it was way awesome! :) So that was Wednesday, the remainder up until Friday was normal then Friday we Knocked on this Referrals door that our stake president gave to us, She answered! her name was Emily we asked if she.... and then Emily herself cut us off and was like hey lets go to your church right now (it was down the street) so we went to the Church and taught her the first lesson and about temples and families together forever! :) it was awesome.... then Sunday rolls along and i gave my talk :) I was able to pick my favorite talk from Conference which was "lord is it I" by Uchtdorf :) Delivered it well i was told... a lot of compliments so i was happy! :) then had 3 thanksgiving dinners over the last 2 days ha ha :) and that was my week! 

Love them socks

Sheep River Falls

Better late than never 10-6-2014

This week was actually a little slower believe it or now! So after P-day we has some delicious Mucho Burrito and Elder Bjarnson ate the Ghost Pepper Sauce burrito and just about killed himself it was great to watch ha ha. Tuesday we had Normal District Meetings and A lesson with Brody, Hes pretty much awesome and super strong in coming back to church, that night we went on exchanges and i woke up with a swollen eye... weird right? 1 problem after the next... it was called Iritis, inflammation of the iris so i was wearing glasses for a week, doctors don't know what really causes it, it just happens. i'm all better now! :) soo Wednesday I was pretty much down for the count because the inflammation causes your eye to hurt if you look or see any light so we didn't do much, I pretty much slept the day away until dinner because it was dark enough I could go out with Brody who took us to this amazing Stir fry restaurant. then Thursday went down to the Doctors to get the whole eye thing diagnosed and then had some good dinner with a cool member in High River...  then Friday we had the Mission Leadership Council meeting all day (MLC) that was nothing but a ball of joy.... we have to train the mission on how to Teach People not Lessons now :) then Conference was just awesome....I still have a hard time taking notes and paying attention, so i tried my best but i don't think i got everything out of it that i could have, so i will be downloading all the talks onto my USB and listening to them again!

Happy Birthday Dad! But sorry to hear about the Bad news :( They are in a happier place now and arent in pain anymore :) how was teaching the freshman? I always thought it would be cool to be a seminary teacher when i got home to be honest.... it would have to be junior or senior though haha maybe sophomores.... Mom sounds like you had some fun with aunt Chris! and its going to be another awesome Halloween! but hey the last fun one without me! next year i will be there :) 

Today im headed down to Sheep River Falls for P-Day so that should be fun, might get off emails a bit early so we can have a whole day down there but that's my week for the most part!

Put your shoulder to the will

Dinner with Brody

Brody's

Elder Martins Email September 29th

This was one of the craziest weeks I think I have had in a long while! Monday was nice. We had a good p-day, then Tuesday we got to hear from Elder Packer's son... Elder Packer haha. That was pretty cool. He talked about how we can further help those converted be an eternal convert. So mainly retention and what not :) Then on Wednesday we had interviews with president. That was cool because Elder Bjarnson and I got to hang out with president all day because we were inspecting all the missionary cars. President took us out to lunch :) He really reminds me of poppy. I'm not gonna lie. After Interviews we ate with our ward mission leader, that was sooo gooooood. We had arrepas. It is a Venezuelan meal. Sooo good! Then we had institute with our RC Kevin and the Returning member Brody, they are both the coolest people I have ever met. Brody's story is quite amazing! Very grateful I was able to meet him :) Then Thursday we helped with a baptism that went all haywire... It was suppose to happen at 3:30. Then the family got in a car accident. Then they rented a car... well an hour and a half later we finally started the baptism! Right after that we had to travel down to High River to pick up all the Car log information. So we got home at like 10! Such a crazy long day. Then on Friday we left to get mail and on the way we got a call to open the church building for a funeral that we were told was canceled. The member at the last second decided to say its on again, so we turned around and unlocked the building. We then proceeded to get mail, on our way back to drop the mail off we got a call from the Elders down in Okotoks to see if we could fill a font for them. So we rushed down to fill the font and didn't leave there until 5:45. We were 20 min. late to dinner. After dinner it was alright we got to teach Brody! Lets see and then Saturday we were on exchanges and I was with Elder Manning. We went back down to Highriver to do some service, ended up building a deck! Its been a while since I've been in work boots for 8 hours! Turned out nice though! :) and finally Sunday we were able to have nice quiet church and break the fast! Now I'm here emailing you on Monday! This week seriously felt like it was go go go go go! INSANE!

To answer your question about this Elder Lloyd.... yes he was AP and yes I know him. I knew him when I first came into the mission. He was training Elder Call. We saw each other every p-day back then and now I'm his zone leader! :) He is no longer AP he is serving in the Cimmaron ward with Elder Sorenson also from Idaho!


P.S I bought a nice light jacket for the winter because the big snow jacket gets to hot sometimes and it works as a good service jacket :)

Service

Building A deck

Downtown Art

Elder Martin Email September 22nd

well this week was alright.... Tuesday we went to visit the DR because I had this lump growing our of the center of my forehead and the doc said it was a oil gland cyst, so he sliced me open drained it and put me on an antibiotic and its all gone now! :D then on Wed, Thurs, Fri, we taught Brody and Kevin in the middle of our planning and mail getting for the zone.... on Wednesday in downtown I picked up some pretty sweet chopsticks haha I don't know why I did, I guess after serving with to old mandarin missionaries that went English speaking it rubbed off on me :) and on Saturday we had this awesome food drive!! it was a ton of fun, we unloaded so much food! filled up 3 semi trailers! :D and then Sunday came about and we went to church... got a whole new bishopric..... crazy! its going to be an exciting next month.... also hey check it, my birthday this year is on thanksgiving! :D(Wrong Elder Martin) well that was my week in a nut shell sorry its not super exciting.... but I love you all! thanks for all the support you give me :) 

Food Drive

Elder Martin Email Sept 15

Well this week was interesting..... we had Snow on Wednesday about 6 inches, which caused transfers to be about a good hour behind schedule all day, not to mention the power was out, and the street lights were down.... also about every singly tree snapped branches due to the weight of the snow! And Traffic was HORRIBLE! Oh well, all is well and I'm safe haha. The remainder of the week was pretty slow, Thursday was weekly planning, then Friday we picked up mail and then took it down to Okotoks this time because we had a dinner down there, then Saturday we were back in Okotoks for a zone finding activity, talked to about 20 people in an hour and placed 1 copy of the BofM then we had Church on Sunday and heard the CES broadcast of D. Todd Chirstofferson that was pretty good.... and went shopping today at Costco! yummmmm :)I think I have enough food for a long while now :) and that pretty much sums up this week!

Before Transfers

Zone Before Transfers

Elder Martin Email September 9th

well I don't know if its a late snowfall or early snowfall but whatever it is, its back and its only September! SO this week was pretty much surrounded by hanging out with our recent convert Kevin and our less active Brody.... so Monday through Wednesday was normal and then Thursday we went to McMahon Stadium! and got to walk out on the field and what not... that's where the Calgary Stampede  CFL team plays! all of the YSA in Calgary were invited.... there was a good turn out. Then on  Friday there was a missionary who needed to go to the Health Clinic... They were pretty ill, and so we helped them out with that... that was exciting sitting there for 3 hours hah, but then on Saturday we met with Kevin for a lesson on the Plan of Salvation,I gave him the simplified card mom gave me by the way and he loved it! and thanks for sending the package! :D We then had dinner with Kevin, Qing (another Recent Convert) Daniel (our Ward Mission Leader) and the sisters.... we made home made corn dogs! sooo gooooood and home made Greek salad with home made dressing.... Kevin and Daniel are AMAZING cooks! so after we ate we went to a Corn Maze with them and just had a great night!  Sunday was church, we had a yummy break the fast and then had another break the fast with the Spanish Elders... so, much, food! still weigh only 193.......  then Monday was exciting.... Went to Chili's for lunch, I FOUND ONE! haha it was sooo good, brought back some nice memories. Then it snowed..... yaaaay haha and now its TRANSFER TUESDAY! Elder Bjarnson and I are both staying for this next transfer, and this transfer is only 5 weeks crazy! sooo that was my week!

District

Break the fast YSA Ward