July 22 email: Spoke at a Catholic funeral

I told Riley I want him to come to the parade next year....  He answered...by this time next year im gonna be married so i probably wonnt have time to go to a parade. well this week was pretty cool i got to speak at a funeral. It was intresting because it wasnt a mormon funeral so we kinda had to just speak like we were normal Christians. it was super weird cause behind me there was all creepy Catholic, stuff like there was a huge cross with Jesus on it and stuff. it was funny because we read from the Book of Mormon a lot but just started by saying a Prophet once said... haha! my companion talked about plan of salvation and I spoke about Christs mercy. One of the ladies there was super offended that Mormons were duing the funeral it was pretty funny. but we did it for free so no one could complain. it was super weird though speaking at someones funeral you have never met. also this week we had a ward BBQ that was super fun. there was a water fight thaty broke out at the end, missionaries were the favorite target of the little kids. my companion got really grumpy cause a little kid got him wet then the bishop came behind him and soaked him with a bucket. it made me extremely happy. i thinik next week i will probably get transfered from this area, witch is pretty sad. but oh well. I'll keep my eye out for those type of candies. you should just not go on any trips and then we can go on cool trips when i get home. well our investigators are doing ok. this week our only good investigator had a baby so we cant meet for a while. well love ya bye

To Dad:  man sounds like a crazy week. that's cool that Ben is home, do you think he will be married shortly? i really hope William makes it back out. serving a mission is something that will provide a huge foundation for anyone who goes. that's too bad that Stu passed on this week i actually spake at a funeral. it was a very neat experience it was a non denominational service so as i was speaking there was a giant cross behind me, it was very unique.  i sent a package home today that has the invitation for it. but it was really nice being able to see how blessed we are with a knowledge of the plan of salvation. as other people were giving their remarks they really didn't know where we go when we die. i highly doubt the i pads will even come out before i go home. facebook might come out in a few months. but the mission President doesn't have any info on it yet. so for right now we are still just knockin on doors. well i love you lots have a great day bye

July 15 email: "Pondering Buffalo"

To Mom:  yeah those shirts are pretty awesome. this week was super cool. my companion was sick all week so for half the week i just cleaned our apartment and read the BOM but then i went on exchanges with the zone leaders and it was super fun. we went and taught this native lady who is super funny she named me "pondering buffalo" not sure why. but then she invited us to a freaking POW WOW and we got permission to go, so we went and watched the native do crazy stuff, and bought some fun things. then they announced our names on the speaker system and we gave away tons of BofM and the crazy native lady that took us was telling everyone to become a Mormon, it was funny. and then we went and visited this other crazy lady with a funny little girl who was torturing a cat. it was funny she would pick up the cat and shove it in a plastic bag and hide it places then run around holding it and the cat didn't even care.  also on my exchange we went to this burger joint called fat burger and did a eating challenge called the triple king burger. it was one of the better burgers I've had. i also scored a sweet shirt for eating it. the place was called fat burger. they took pictures of us and said they would put them on their face book page so you could look that up. also this morning i cut my hair for the first time i think i did a pretty good job. also we got a new investigator this week it was a really cool lesson she said she felt like it was true but she is not sure what god wants her to do because her husband is a pastor in a baptist church but in the closing prayer she started to cry so it will be interesting to see how things turn out. anyway things are going really well and i love you all very much byeeeeeeeee

Missionaries in their Fatburger tshirts!!!  So fun!!

Oh also im hoping to send a package home this next week so let me know if there is any thing that you want. if you have the name of those candies i could look for you. also tell everyone to make requests of there favorite candy and what not. oh and I'm starting to get pretty good at cooking. i made some alfredo sauce without directions and it turned out really good. this week Im gonna try to make like a four cheese sauce that i can eat with this chicken i bought. oh and Dan Jones is super cool. bye.

To Mandy:   Man baby Scar is super cute. there is a little girl in this area that just turned two who is really cute she always comes up to us and shows us her toes and hair then makes cute noises with her tongue. It makes me think of Scar a little bit. Man this week I went to a pow wow and got some cool stuff. like a poncho and necklace. its pretty rad. love ya lots <3

To Dad:   man those mini pizzas are something i definitely miss a lot. that's super cool that you are loosing all that weight you are lookin like a stud. where in the world is Hartford? sounds really cool. you need to get a cool job for when i get home so you can send me off somewhere. anyway the work in this area is doing good we are slowly building up this area. the ward is awesome we get fed every day and people are super willing to help us out with anything, the new mission president is super cool he has a neat way of doing things and I'm really hoping he changes up a lot of thing in the near future.

July 8 email: New dress code

Well well well things are going really good our new mission pres is a super cool guy. and it seems like this mission will start to take off a bit. we have an investigator on date now. he will be baptized in the beginning of September so pretty far away but its because he wants to be completely cured of all his bad habits. so that's cool. we have otter pops but they are called freezies. i don't think i will spend that cash you sent me. I'm trying to be good with money for the end of my mission. you know develop some good habits. so i have thought about some fun things you could send me in the future. like a family cookbook would be cool i have been cooking fun meals lately. anywho you should look at all the crazy changes in dress code that were just made. we can wear sandals and all sorts of crazy stuff. our mission President thinks our mission will have i pads by august so that would be fun. oh and you need to tell balerina Ben gay that he cant get married to Natalie Bryson for me.  man is Garr reppin a ten speed? im really starting to enjoy biking as well i could see myself getting into it. but i don't know if im quite happy enough yet. thats sweet that Logan is going on the road. what am i gonna do for dad when i get home? work on the Brasilia temple? anyway i have been planning out my future a lot because im scared i will get home and work for MacDonald's and live in a old folks home or something. so hopefully my ankle dosent brake too cause that would suck. man baby scar face sure is lookin cute! is she blonde? that would be weird. anyway i G2G i sure love ya hope all your wildest dreams come true bye!
Link for new missionary clothing rules:   https://missionary.lds.org/dress-grooming/elder/dress/slacks/?lang=eng

July 8 email: New mission President

hey Dad, you need to send me some cool pictures of your brain. things are going great here we have one guy on date to be baptized but its in awhile so we are taking baby steps with him he will be baptized though. i hear Lindsay is doing good i can only communicate with her through letters so i haven't heard from her cause i suck at letters. her mom is doing super good though i have talked to her a little. she has the missionaries over for meals every week and bakes them food. Elder Marsh is really reaping the rewards of my work haha. we have had the new mission president for about a week. he is awesome he is a super dynamic guy. i think he will be an apostle someday. when he gives talks he write 15 to 20 talks then just says what the spirit directs him to say. so thats really cool i had an interview with him this week and he told me to get ready to train again haha he is super funny cause he is just telling everyone what is going on.
Mandy, man sounds like you are having a great summer. i have a couple cute little kids that like me. the is a really cute chubby nigglet baby named Abook that really likes me and always tries giving me hugs. also another little black girl fell asleep on my lap this last week while we were teaching her mom it was super cute. then there is another family with a bunch of cute little girls and last time we were there we had a pillow fight. i will try to get pics with all the cute kids around here. anywho as long as the jazz have Hayward there is HOPE love you bye

July 1 email: Canada Day

holy cow its July! weather is really nice but our apartment is super hot i fall asleep sweating every night. i feel like I'm in Africa. i got the package yesterday! it was super cool! i love the shirts also i thought it was funny that you sent me a bunch of candy that i can get here haha.

well i now am a proud owner of a new suit. i went to a thrift store yesterday and there was a pretty cool light suit that fit me perfectly so i bought it. it was 30 big ones.

 i have made a new personal goal to take lots of pictures. so that will be good for you also im gonna send some today for you. that missionary broadcast was super cool. im really glad you are actually trying to put action to it. cause most members just watch it then go back to living in there sinful states haha it will be really cool getting to have i pads and facebook. its funny that you have missionaries per stake and here its two sets per ward. you should challenge Darel to take the missionary discussions. anyway my new comp is still weird but we get along well. i make him come sit outside while i run sprints and stuff like that so its cool. well im gona go so i have time to send pics bye

Email to Dad:   canada day was fun. but not nearly as cool as the fourth is in the USA. canadians just dont love there country as much. its weird now that im at the point in my mission were every holliday is my last one in canada. also i cant beilieve that this year is half way over pretty wild. the mission is going really well we are having quite a bit of success with less active members right now. and we have six investigators. they are progressing really slowly though. our most progressing is a native dude who wants to be baptised but is having a hard time quiting smoking. the members in this ward are awesome though we get takin care of super good and im having a hard time losing weight. well im glad you are doing so well and that you ge too take naps im pretty jealous. its been a long time since i have takin a nap.  well love you lots oh and you should ask for pictures of your brain.  byeee

Ties we wore for "Canada" day

Rest of the pictures he sent:

 Elder Marsh

 Elder George

 me being "me"

 Our living room

Elder Lee

June 24 email:

hey thanks for writing me this week........... :( just kidding ill get over it. well things are going just swell here my new comp is hard to get along with, it's going to be a long transfer. oh well anyway im runnin out of time i should have a baptism soon so thats cool im gonna try to write a letter soon as well so that will be fun okay love you lots bye  
To Mandy:  ha we taught a guy named phillup the other day and he was in a psych ward of a hospital and he told us he knew the book of mormon is true because they are his words. then talked about how he is jesus. so that was cool. well love ya bye

June 17 email: transfer is coming

well my week is great. my companion is gettin the boot my new companon's name is Elder Hale he is really tall like 6 foot 8 so that will be interesting. i hope he can ride a bike and work out and stuff like that. its pretty hard getting a new companion when you have a super good comp then he is gone in 6 weeks. oh well, things will work out. we get a new mission president in the middle of this transfer too so that will be really interesting. i hope that he is super stern and get things going on this mission. well i didn't send dad anything for fathers day cause I'm not that loving but you should find him a nice spongebob kids helmet and get it for him and say its from me and that he needs to wear it around. i hope you are able to get caught up on everything and remain sane. i should be getting my camera this week so thats good, i can start sending lots of pictures and stuff. there is this really cute nigras baby named Abook that i will get some pictures with cause she is really cute and funny. last night some drunk girls tried really hard to hit on my companion it was super funny. anywho not much else is new just livin the good life and what not. well love ya bye.

June 10 email: this week has been really cool

Man it sounds like I'm missing out on quite a bit of exciting things. this week has been really cool. we have been having lots of neat experiences. on Sunday we were able to give lots of people priesthood blessings and it was pretty neat, me and Elder Canfeild are having a really good time together. its kinda a bummer cause transfers are in a week and we will be split up for sure cause there is 26 new missionaries coming out. thats a record in this mission. so i will prolly end up training again or something.  the ward i am in is really great. there are a ton of young married couples who are super cool. it actually makes it kinda hard because it gets easy to become too comfortable. when you are in a hard area the only thing you can do to have fun is work hard. here the members always want us to come over and have ice cream and all sorts of stuff so it gets hard to be productive. elder Georges dad had a brain tumor awhile back too. and his dad had to relearn everything even how to balance and stuff. will papshmere have to do that type of stuff? i always thought that would be the craziest thing to have to relearn things. man those stitches are super gnarly. i would think they could just make a small hole and snake in there or something but they straight up scalped him like a red man. is his speech improving? next week i will send you some pictures through Email. well i love you all lots!

June 3 email: I think it will be extremely hard to come home

im glad to hear things are going swell. sounds like it has been a fun week :D anywho things here are going good. i learned how to make home made beef jerky and also how to make sushi this week it was extremely tasty. i also had an extremely good idea for a clothing company for black people. the company will be called the drinking gord and so far the only shirts i have designed is one with a cotton gin on it and a farm scene with the big dipper supper exagertated. maybe a little tunnel that says under ground railroad. its a work in progress. also the  black kid i was teaching in my last area is getting baptized this week so thats cool. oh and we had a baptism this week but it dosent really count cause we only taught her once haha she came ready to be baptized. are investigator from Sudan his name is Riak and he is a DJ and has preformance anme is DJ poormillionair its pretty funny he is a cool guy. i might sell him a shirt. so we were teaching this Brazilian girl the other day and she lives right next to us so she took the bus home with us and while walking home she was tryin to get all up in my bussiness she totally wanted to give me an SJ and a BR. anywho im thoroughly enjoying my mission. i think it will be extremely hard to go home. i dont remember how to be a normal human. well  if you wanted to get my clothing company started for me that would be fine.  oh and this week an old muslim punjab lady cursed me. she was just sitting there mumbling stuff while looking at me. so if i die anytime soon blame the poonjabbies.  anyway hope you have a beautiful day lolz byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  

May 27 email: Chris is in Paris Hospital

second honeymoon in Paris:
yea my mishy pres has been keepin me updated. actually someone in the mission office had the exact thing happen to them so i haven't really worried at all about it. so while you are in France you gonna go visit my home boy Florian? anywho there is a really cool CES devotional talk by elder Bednar called it is better to not shrink. you should watch it. well things are going great here i love my companion and time is flyin by I'm officially past the year mark so that's weird. we are starting to see loots of miracles here in Lakewood its really cool area we are 1 of 3 walking areas and we recently got bikes so its super fun. I'm getting in a lot better shape. we run 5 miles every morning now and ride bikes all day. so I'm really hoping i stay in this area all summer and have fit companions. i weigh like 195 right now but i think I'm gonna start dropping again pretty quick. so how many books have you read since you have been there? are you doing fun things there or just spending all your time worrying? just wanted to let you know that i prayed about this whole thing and i feel very strongly that everything will be solid so you shouldn't worry about it. well hope you enjoy the honeymoon. love ya bye bye

May 21 email: Love my new comp

Dear Mom,  I think you ask me every email if i burn stuff. the answer is no, i think it is really dumb. i am pretty thoroughly convinced that the end of the world is pretty darn soon. you should go on a mission soon or else you wont be able tooooo. anywho this new area is really sweet we got some free bikes this week from some members and its super fun to just cruse around and stuff. we are starting to have a bit more success but its a pretty hard area cause everyone we talk to isn't in our actual boundaries so we just hook up other missionaries, i got and email this week from Sharon.(lindsays mom) she says she misses me and she is reading Our Search for Happiness. a book i gave her before i left. i really hope she will get baptized some day. time really fly's on the mission i feel like I'm brand spakin new, but its been a year. hope fully it slows down a bit. anywho my new comp is super cool he loves working hard and we have tons in common. its like chillin with buddies back home cause hes so chill. he even quotes Dave Chappelle. this week was really cool there was a giant PUNJAB parade this Sunday and we went to it. I've never seen so many Indians in my life. and all or them were reppin' swords on their hips. they gave us a crap ton of free food it was really cool ive never had so much curry in my life. anyway back to my companion he has 11 siblings in his family and he is the only active member in his family. his dad has been married 7 times. pretty crazy stuff also his last companion was a dirt bag and tried fighting him and Elder Canfield knocked him out. haha anyway he's a good guy though. he just wrote his lady friend back home that he wasn't going to talk to her anymore cause he wants to focus on his mission. so he is a really good missionary. well my legs are prolly gonna get ripped cause I'm biking so much now so thats fun. maybe Garr can send me a really nice bike for free. well CYA love ya bye

To Mandy:  this morning im doing quite swell. thanks for asking. im am rather happy for your current feelings of goodness. i am glad baby scarface is progressing in her physical and mental capabilities. i also sorrow for the agony she endures through her trails. i have a hunch Garr does well in the sales business for the same reason that the one legged freak at the carnival gets lots of tips. my current area here in Lakewood is a very small area. we actually recently acquired bicycles do to the smallness thereof. my companions family is very dysfunctional so i fear he would rather you not visit them.

until we meet again

              Elder Knaphus

May 11 and 14 emails: Mothers day!!

Hello,
My name is Tyler Vreeling.  I was recently called as the ward mission leader in the Lakewood Ward in Edmonton, Alberta where Elder Canfield and Elder Knaphus are serving.  They’ve asked that I get in touch with you to set up a time for Skyping tomorrow, May 12th.
I hope 2:00 – 3:30 PM works for both of you.  I believe we’re in the same time zone, so it should be the same time here as it is there.  I have been told they each get 40 minutes to speak with family.  Unfortunately we didn’t discuss who would be first, etc.  Please let me know if this is alright with you.

hi Mom, this time next year ill be on my way home. whos gift was the best? anyway i dont have much to say we got bikes this week so thats fun we are now teaching 2 people so we are on the up in up. 1 of our investigators is black his name is riak and he is from sudan. he is pretty hard core. well i hope all your wildest dreams came true this mothersday :D  my comp is really cool! he is for sure my favy compy. he is a super cool guy.

May 6th email: Transfered to the big city!

hey o! well I'm off to the big city again, my new comps name is Elder Canfeild or something i hear he is a red head. my new area is called Lakewood. and my boy, Elder Marsh is coming to Innisfail! so  thats really cool. Innisfail just needs someone from Olympus at all times. anyway I'm still district leader in my new area so that should be fun. and its gonna be crazy skyeping, ill prolly have a member in my new area just call you and set it up or something, and dad just said to look up his name on skype so im a little skeptical. it gonna be hard to coordinate a time cause i don't know anything yet, so just make sure your free all of mothers day haha. we talked to Lindsay's mom and she isn't ready to progress at this time but still lets us come over. Lindsay is doing really good though she got her patriarchal blessing and temple recommend. I'll prolly go say bye to them soon and take some cutie pictures. you should get a hold of sister Marsh I'm sure she would like that. i got the exact same camera on sale for like 80 bones. man I'm pretty sad leaving Innisfail, its a really great place and the missionary work is progressing so fast I'm glad they sent Jordo here though, cause he will work hard and keep things going. man it sounds like Garr is always getting hurt or braking things or cars. man im 20 days away from the year mark thats pretty crazy! well i got that bible from the crazy guy i was talking about. its from 1854 in Philadelphia the people who owned it were Scottish and it has there family history back to 1712 its really cool i might send it home.

I'm really excited to do the temple work for the people in it. he also took pictures of us with a really old camera ill send a pic in a little showing him and the camera. anyway I'm gonna be missing 4 baptisms cause I'm leaving so that really suck it seems like that's the way my whole mission will go though. anyway i cant think of much else to say! love ya bye

 Me, jumping over an investigator!

Part of email to Mandy:  Elder Marsh is coming to Innisfail to be with Elder George, we have four people on date to be baptized so he is pretty lucky. anywho not else is new today we are going biking around a lake with some really cool members. and i see my future spouse on Wednesday! pretty stoked. tell gar to send me the pic of the west side meal! anywho i love ya lots 

Elder George

 

An Eagle