May 12th: I have seen so many miracles as I have served the Lord

Well it was really fun seeing all of you yesterday for mothers day. its getting really weird, and starting to get harder to focus on the work. but I'm hoping to work really hard this last week. its weird though having to start thinking about packing and weighing my bags soon and silly stuff like that. today is a really beautiful day though, we woke up early and drove to a track so i could run it was really nice, i timed myself and i ran a mile in 7 min. but i got a side ache half way through so i think i can do it a lot faster. it was fun though. the family we called from are awesome they arent even in our ward, my companion actually grew up with them, and they are in the ward next to us. i think the mom wants me to marry one of the daughters. they said i should come back to Canada and stay with them haha. 

Well I'm not really sure what to say other then I love you. and that I know the gospel has been restored. I have seen so many miracles as I have served the Lord. but still the most amazing thing is the still small confirmations we can receive from and through the Holy Ghost. it has been such a blessing to be able to learn how to better follow promptings and see the beautiful fruits of living the gospel. I know  that the fundamental principles of the church are the true way to joy even eternal joy. I have gained for myself a sure testimony of the 9 core doctrines of the church. but most importantly I have come to know my Savior, I have seen his hand guide those I teach and I have seen his atonement change lives, mine included. I am so grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith. as I have gained a testimony of the event that took place in the grove of trees I can better understand what took place in the garden of Gethsemane. Anywho I thought I would share some things I have come to know since I don't think I have done it any other time through e mail.
sure love ya    Elder Knaphus

To Dad:

thanks papa smurf. ill have a good last week. it was really good seeing you all. I'm getting excited about starting life soon and trying to get married and what not. it should be an adventure. I'll have to chat with you when i get home about what i should do in life. do you know what time I'm getting released? ha during weekly planning i was looking at my planner and trying to figure out what I'm going to do when i get home. that was the only thing i didn't know about. well i hope things are going well with the temple. stay good ill see you in a few

               

May 4th: so that was a nice little miracle

My week has been great. we are teaching lots of African people. so thats been cool we are teaching some Hindu people from India as well. today we went to the temple and it was amazing i received lots of answers to my prayers so that was amazing,. now I'm going to get a haircut so i will be looking good for when i get home, the guy sitting by me i just started talking to him and i got his info he is from Rwanda and has been praying for guidance, he also lives across from our church so that was a nice little miracle. well i will be talking to you soon so i will just say stuff then sure love ya!!!!!!
to Mandy:
MOAB! ah I'm jealous we will call in the evening like at seven..... we are doing it at a Filipinos house so that will be fun. man tell mubby poo happy late birthday. see you in 15 days!!!

April 28th: I'm trying to find as many new investigators as possible before I leave

well things are going really good.  Its weird to be going home soon. I'm still working hard so thats good. I'm trying to find as many new investigators as possible before i leave so thats fun. i officially cannot possibly have another baptism before i go home. that sounds pretty cool having all those missionaries around for dinner. you should try and bring a non member for them to talk to. I'm excited to see Maxy puppy. so what color is my room? i will skype we already got offered to do it at someones house so we will set it up. thats just in a week or two isn't it. that's crazy. i will try to make a list of things i want to do when i get home so we have something to talk about when i skype. well pray for me not to get to trunky! love elder K
to Mandy:
  Man i have been playing with lots of little kids lately and it makes me think of Scar. man i could use some Pats bbq that sounds pretty good. i would be down to play some softball. are you excited to cut my hair in a couple weeks? haha,  you can tell your local missionaries that i would love to go out with them. well see you in 24 days <3

April 22: 30 days left "I'm still loving the work"

My Easter was just grand, we spent almost the whole day tracting and had very little success because everyone was doing family things. I'm thinking I'll prolly just wing my homecoming talk. if i chose my favorite topic we would be talking about the blacks and the priesthood. our Easter Sunday was neat elder Christofferson came to our stake and spoke to us. he talked to us about the name of Christ and how there is power in his name. its really cool that Logan is doing such a good job as branch mission leader. I have had a few mission leaders who didn't really care about their calling and it really made it harder on us as missionaries, so its cool to see how stalwart he is with it. i think it was definitely a calling that was inspired by god. well yesterday i got my flight plans and a letter from my president talking about going home. all the sudden things got real haha. its really weird he wants me to start devoting time in my studies to making lists about the future and stuff like that haha it pretty weird. its becoming harder and harder to focus on the work i have found that i just have to keep working or my thoughts wander haha also this p day we played some football and it was really fun. its really odd trying things for the first time as a skinny person. I'm so used to being the slow kid and not doing too well with stuff like that, but now I'm pretty good. but its like i dont know how to use my body I'm like a baby deer walking for the first time. but thats okay I'll adjust. my new comp is running with me now so thats fun, but he is really slow so its not much exercise, but its better then nothing, also since it was Easter week end there was lots of sales and i kinda went all out and decided to buy a whole outfit to come home in haha so i will be looking fresh to death when i get home. amyway its been a good week I'm still loving the work and I'm excited to be home in just a few weeks. LOVE YA
PS.  hey so in conference members were challenged to read from PMG have you been able to do it at all?
I asked the ward what Riley's homecoming talk should be about and here is their answer:
" This is so exciting. Pres Boyer asks returned missionaries to share missionary experiences and bear testimony of gospel principles."
Riley's response:  "sounds like i will be talking about the law of chastity."  haha!!!
To Dad:
whenever there is a temple built in an area the missionary work increases. so thats a good way of getting non members to know about the temple being built in their backyards. you could also get a hold of some temple open house invites and give them away to everyone you meet on the streets of Indy. it would be easy you could just start talking to people, then let them know you are there working on the temple, then it would start an awesome convo about what temples are. then you could invite then to the open house. man I'm excited to hear a cute little Scar's prayer. little kid prayers are the best. nothing makes me happier then wen a little kid prays for us. it melts my heart, i hope this last month is a good one too. i set lots of goals to work hard and hoping that things pay off:)

April 14th: My new companion is a stud

my week was just swell. my new companion is a stud he is a really good teacher and I'm a good finder so we are going to kill it. so far this week we have found 4 new investigators. so that is really good. its definitely weird going to an old area but the members here like me a lot. so thats good. everyone is giving me a hard time though all they talk about is that I'm going home soon which is pretty annoying, but life happens. one of the people i found here got baptized and he is now not fully active so I'm working with him. we also have an investigator family from Sudan and there kids are so freaking funny just little black hoodlems. its really weird that Scar face is two! thats quite the landmark. whats her favorite type of toy maybe i can get something for her from Canada like a toy moose or something stereotypical. did you have the blister missionaries teach stu lesson one? the only big clothes i would keep is maybe some animal shirts. they are just tall tees now ha. I'm probably gonna do absolutely nothing for my birthday. prolly just enjoy doing some tracting.well i sure love ya lots im looking forward to seeing you in about a month.
to Mandy:
 Thats so crazy that scar is two! hopefully Maxy puppy is doing ok. my new area is great my new companion is really sweet. he was pretty disobedient before i came but he knows better so he is doping really good he is an awesome teacher and we should have lots of success before i leave. well i love you to the moon and back have a beautiful day byeeeeeeeeeee
To Dad:
 Thats too bad that Garrs knee failed... life happens then we die i guess. I'm surprised Manny is still fighting he is getting old. well I'm getting really close to the month mark so thaty is pretty scarry,.

Our Zone!  

When I asked about his ugly tan socks he told me they were wool and to leave him alone cuz it was freezing there!!!  haha!!

April 7th: Back to Lakewood for my last transfer

 Seems like there is a ton of stuff going on at home right now. hopefully Garr makes it. i really enjoyed conference i received some really cool revelation, so that was neat i really enjoyed elder Bednars talk it was something i have never really put thought into but rang very true to me and my situation at the end of my mission. so today i got a transfer call I'm going to one last area. and I'm serving with another struggling companion. haha should be fun. my new area is actually my old area. I'm going back to Lakewood. so it will be pretty unique, well I'm now on my last transfer which means a month and a half so thats really scary. I'm starting to freak out a little bit but I'm excited at the same time. i bought some clothes last week so i have stuff to wear when i come home haha I'm really sad that I'm getting transferred cause the elder replacing me is one of the worst missionaries in our mission. so its like all that hard work i have been doing will just go to waste.  I'm also pretty worried about elder Cassell because he wont be able to stand up for whats right... oh well thats life. i plan on just tracting and finding the rest of my mission because the area I'm going to has nothing going on, they have no investigators. so it will be a good time. my new companions name is elder Hedley i know him pretty well because i was his zone leader. he is a really good teacher but struggles with a few rules but i think he will be alright. well i love you lots look forward to seeing you soon!

March 30: Knockin' doors, takin' names

well this week has been great, nothing really new happened, we had an investigator come to church on a fast Sunday and she decided to bear her testimony, but all she did was tell her life story. it was super akward she talked about all sorts of things that probably shouldnt be talked about in a chapel haha. other then that we have been just knockin doors takin names. we have been getting bashed a lot lately, but i kinda like it. i have found out lots of ways to catch people lying so it works out well. but I try not to bash because no good comes from it. i have convinced some one we live with to come running with me in the mornings so hopefully that lasts. he is a kinda chubby mexican so its kinda slow pace but its better then nothing. jaja so I'm pumped on that, it makes me feel a lot better in the mornings. this week i also went on exchanges with elder Marsh! it was so much fun. he is a stud. when we were on exchanges i got to go to there gym and i ran for 4 miles after not running for a long time, and i got a blister because i was wearing service shoes but it was really nice. i have come to really love running. im getting excited about coming home, its gonna be weird when april hits this week because then in my brain I'm thinking its just next month! crazy! well this week I'm going to do some shopping becasue there is a memeber who works at H&M and gives us a discount so im going to get clothes to bring home so i have something to wear when i get back. its weird shopping for skinny person clothes haha. well this week is going to go by super fast we have a jam packed week especially with general conference.  well i love you with all my heart im excited to see you in a month and a half  Love Elder K

to dad:

man hopefully my room dosent end up being a super gay color. haha sounds like you are quite busy with the temple. i guess its better to be busy then not though. Garr is pretty wild, riding across the USA, that just sounds miserable to me haha. is he doing it on a ten speed or what? hopefully mom made him a packing list with everything he needs for the trip haha. I'm really excited about conference this week. it is always a good time. im hoping to have some prayers answered as i listen to those inspired men and women. well hopefully things go well at the job. i sure love ya lots and im excited to see you soon.  elder K

 

March 24th: Excited for Conference

Man it sounds like things are going really well. things here are going good. we are seeing lots of progress but also having lots of set backs. we are making lots of new goals and i think i will be very busy the next two months. its pretty weird that im officially under two months left. its going by too fast. im excited for conference because i feel like it will give my lots of inspiration of what i should do when i get home. also we are having an apostle visit our stake for stake conferenece in April so that will be awesome. i heard rumors that its elder Bednar. im starting to have dreams of home almost every night so that has been kinda sucky. but im starting to get more excited about coming home. it will be really sad not being a set apart missionary but life moves on. my mission president said that my new mission call is my patriarchal blessing haha any way the father of the chartrand family got baptized this week so that is really awesome. now all seven of them are memebrs and can be sealed in the temple. well im getting a haircut today so that will be nice. and im lovin life. oh how did your eye surgery thing go?    LOve Elder K

 The Chartrand father

 The whole crew!!  They are all members now

March 16th: Fear not, only be believing

Fear not only be believing. ha this week was really good. we found 3 new investigators and they are all really solid. we also gave a few potentails to the sisters in our ward and they became investigators too. so we saw lots of miracles this week. one thing that is a little hard is we don't teach too often we mostly find. i think it is becasue my comp has struggled so bad his whole mission that he has never really even tried teaching someone, so our teaching unity is terrible, so God just has us find people who are in other areas or single women to pass over to sisters. but its all good. we are doing lots of practice teaching so he gets more comfortable. lots of the people we have found are on date to be baptized so its been really neat. anyway things are good here im excited but nervous to come home its wild that i now know the time of my arrival that scares me haha

STAY BLESSED  Elder Knaphus

to dad:

hey there! its not wildo baggins its gimly the dwarf with the battle ax. well thanks for telling me my flight info. thats pretty wild to think about. I'm not sure i like it. man it is wild to think Jon Deidrich is going on a mission. i still view him as a child. i think it will be pretty wild to see how much older people are. it might be weird for them to see me skinny too haha well this week was good for me. we found 3 new investigators and they are pretty solid. the only problem is one is in another ward and another is in YSA so only one we get to keep teaching. its been kinda funny in this last area. i think becasue my comp struggles a little god dosnt give us too many people to teach but we have been finding people like crazy. just for other missionaries. which i really actually enjoy. i have come to really love tracting. and most missionaries refuse to even go tracting so I'm completely fine with it because someones got to do it. anyway i love ya lots it sounds like things are going well

BYE    Elder Knaphus 

to Mandy:

I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do. I'm leaning towards staying at home cause then i can figure out career stuff a little easier but also i fear that if I'm at home i will fall back into bad eating habits and bad habits in general. i also think it would be fun to be able to continue doing lots of missionary work in Indy. but i signed up to take that fireman test that dad emailed me so i might look into that. im not sure. i have lots of ideas but nothing to solid yet.  anyway i love you to the moon and back! sounds like i will be seeing you at around 4:30 on may 22nd :)

LOVE YA    Elder Canophouse

March 10: I have had a milion answers to prayer this week

Things are going nectariney here!!!!!!!! its warm!!!!!!!!!!!!  my companion has experienced a mighty change of heart and is doing amazing. like he is honestly a top notch hard working missionay now. so that has been a mighty miracle. i have seen like a million answers to prayers this week so im pretty pumped. a less actie i fouund tan months ago is now fully active so thats neat. also we are just having tons of success in our area. our investigator showed up to church and really enjoyed it. he wants baptism at the end of this month. also another family we tracted into but passed over to the sisters came to church. so we had 7 investigators which is really good. i can feel God moving this work forward. thats good that Logan got a calling, i really want to be a ward mission leader when i get home. well on our p days we just meet up as a zone and goof off pretty much. i snuggle with elder Marsh a lot because he is in my district. i also play chess sometimes. I'm getting really good. you should tell Garr that i could beat the poop out of him. there isnt really anything fun to do in Edmonton. i could go to the zoo or the west ed mall but i have been to zoos and malls already in my life, so i really have no desire to waste money. ha but im planning on going curling with some members sometime soon because that would be realy awesome. you should study preach my gospel. its the best. well i love ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      Elder Knaphus

to Mandy:

im so freaking good. how are you dearest sister? Sundays are a good thing. i felt the spirit a lot this week as well. we had a zone conference and our mission president threw down! it was so awesome. he made a new mission standard and he expects us to get 6 new investigators a week. so we are going to be working our little bums off. man i want to hear baby Scar singing. do you think she would want to make a blanket fort with me when i get home? what do you think i should do when i get home? im kinda scared...    well i love ya lots   Elder Chickie Knaphus

March 3rd: I feel like my time is growing short

Hello cute mom!

my week was great! it was really cold here. with wind chil it was almost -40 which is really bad. so we couldnt really just walk around or go tracting so we stuck to the busses and just talked to people. you don't have to worry about me getting a ticket because i don't have a car. this week was fun though i talked to lots of people on the bus and we met with some families in our ward. there have been six baptisms in Red Deer this month. it is a little hard struggling in this area and working really hard while all the harvest of my last area is being reaped. but thats okay. i see why i need to be in this area and things are going a lot better. its starting to get really weird i feel like my time is running really short. today i bought deodorant and i thought to myself this is probably the last  tme i will buy deo as a full time missionary. haha also we live really close to the airport so hundreds of planes fly over us each day. and every time my companion says woah that airplane is pretty close! almost two months away. ha hes a jerk.  but its all good it doesn't effect me to much. well mommy dear i hope you have a good birthday. i hope all your wildest dreams come true:D your the best mom a guy could ask for. im really excited to come home and give you a big ol hug! love ya!

Feb. 24th: the dad is ready to get dunked

I had a fine week. we found a new investigator but passed her over to the sister missionaries. we are having lots of success but its mostly for other areas. one person i found on the bus is getting baptized in a couple weeks. so that is neat. also the Chartrands are doing really good. the dad who is the only one who isn't baptized called the elders this week and said he was ready to get dunked! so thats super ccol. im pumped. that means in total 7 people in that family have now joined the church. well im staying in my area and keeping my companion. so thats fun. one of the sisters in our area is leaving though so that will be sad she was a really good missionary. do you not see the missionaries at church? i imagine they have missionaries covering every ward there. anyway im really trying to figure out what to do with my life when i come home. it will be fun to figure it out.   love yall!

To Mandy:

  man when i go home I'm probably gonna have like ten cavities. so that will suck. i might try to find a Mormon dentist before i leave and get some free work done. that's nice that it is warm in Utah. it is still -20 here. i thought i was going to get frostbite last night i was so cold walking home. man its so weird to hear all about my buddies hanging out with the fam and stuff. hopefully they don't all get married before i get back!  love you lots <3

Feb. 18th: Went to the Temple today

this week was great we have p day today because yesterday was family day here so everyone was home with family so we could work hard that day. and also we went to the temple today which was really great. i saw the new new video it was cool. do you still go to the temple often? we have been doing a butt load of finding. it has been good. right now two people i have talked to on buses are on date to be baptized. so that's pretty cool. also this week Cindy Chartrand got baptized, the grandma of the family i taught. so thats really cool. it has been a ripple effect. man I'm pretty pumped to come home and meet baby Scar she sounds so adorable. yesterday one the bus there was a lady with a 4, 3, and 1 year old. they were the cutest kids ever, they all had red curly hair. one of there names was Riley. and i became friends with them all then i started talking to the mother. and turns out that she went to our church for a little with a good family friend. and there 19 year old daughter has a friend on a mission. so that was really neat. she said she would love to learn more about the church. so I'm pretty excited to teach them. my comp is still doing good he dosen't wake up in the mornings so i pretty much just do everything myself but he will come work, so things are going really good. for my birthday just send me a letter. i honestly don't want a package for my birthday. just save the money so we can go shopping when i get home. anything you send me i wont even be able to use because i have too much crap to take home already haha. im not gonna bring home any clothes or anything so i will bring home a bunch of candy or anything you guys want. its pretty weird that my birthday is coming up. also this is the last week of the transfer so that means i only have two transfers left. pretty scary. well love you lots. <3
to Chris:

sounds like scar is in charge of our household :)  anyway the weather here is beautiful. it makes me a little scared because i have programmed in my mind that when it warms up i go home haha so thats fun.   well new things we are doing... on valentines day i bought a bunch of chocolate hearts and taped them to pass-a-long cards and gave away over 60 so that was kinda fun. we are starting to keep track of every single door we knock on. so that we can talk to every person in this whole area. we are trying really hard to get our ward more united, its a new ward in newly developed houses so no one knows each other and there is no fellowship. we need someone to do scone Sundays. i wont get my exact travel plans for awhile in fact i think they will tell you guys first. well sure love ay to death. 

Feb. 10th: My companion felt the spirit really stong this week

I get home on the 22 unless they can't book a plane or something weird. but the funny thing is this week i actually got my "trunky call" when they call to book the flight so i will know my travel plans next month they said haha thats pretty sad. we haven't heard anything about the olympics. and we don't watch TV either haha  this week was good for me we saw a great bounty of blessings. and we worked really hard. my companion felt the spirit very strong this week and we talked a lot and he is doing really good. and he has a desire to be here now. one cool thing that happened, we were talking to like an ancient native American guy and he randomly said. "we knew you" and i was like what? and he said before you came here(white people) we knew you would come. i asked him how his people knew and he told us Jesus Christ came to his people. we then told him we have a record of this account in our church and told him all about the book of Mormon it was super cool. he said the way he knew about Christ coming to them is because when he was little some of his elders where praying and Satan and Jesus both appeared and had a battle then Christ taught the two elders in his village that he came to them after he talked to the people in Jerusalem. pretty crazy stuff. anyway we also found a lost sheep this week and that was a miracle as well, just lots of cool things going on. 
 It sounds like Stu and Megan are gonna get married haha crazy stuff. I'm glad all my friends are still hanging out at the home. I'm grateful for you guys being so welcoming and having all my friends love our home so much, it has made a huge impact on my life. well i love you a lot peace!

Feb. 3rd: I'm trying really hard to stay motivated

Dad, I would love to come back and visit the mission. I have no idea when my release date is. you are probably right though. its somewhere around May 22. I should get a call in the next week or so asking what airport I want to fly into and what not. I'm not sure what we would do though in my mission. there aren't too many people I would want to go visit. but vacation would be a good time. to be honest i really dont know what we would do. my mission is a pretty bland place. haha but it would still be fun if we did all the outdoor things. and i could see some of the people I taught and what not. 

I didn't see too many people in Red Deer when I went to the baptism, just the people who were there. but it was really cool. the new area is going good. we have lots of potential we just have to get things going. my comp is still struggling a lot. i think there is a good chance he will go home. but I'm not sure. its hard though, because it makes it hard for me to work hard because he wont get out of bed and what not. but I'm trying really hard to stay motivated no matter what circumstance I'm in. anyway i love you lots. thanks for trying to make me trunky talking about home and what not. haha 

to Mandy:

 im doing just grand. thats too bad that the superbowl was a flop. at least it was a good excuse to eat good food. Is Garr gonna try to get married before me? haha we dont have a car. we walk around everywhere. im not writing that Payson girl anymore it was more of a funny thing then anything else. i don't know about coming home. i don't want to be picked up. i would be down to visit Canada. but at the same time there isn't much here besides oil. but i hear Hawaii has nice beaches. haha well i love you to the moon and back hope you have a beautiful week!

 

January 27th: The Chartrand baptism!

My week was good i got to go to the baptism so that was super cool. it was actually really cool. the Chartrand family had been praying that i would be able to go. and the girls were pretty positive that i would be able to, but there is a mission rule that if its farther then an hour you cant go. but my mission president called me and said well elder Knaphus for some reason God wants you to be able to attend that baptism, because another missionary needs to go down to Red Deer for a doctors appointment the same day, so that was really cool. i also got to hang out with one of Garr's mission buddies, so that was fun! he told me that Garr was the biggest goofball in the mission. i have been seeing lots of little miracles in this area but its been hard to be super productive because my companion is really struggling. we spent all Sunday at the mission home and what not but I'm hoping he is motivated to do stuff now. anyway the mission is going fast Im starting to freak out a little bit. but thats okay. I'm still determined to work really hard so that's all that matters, anyway i love ya byyeeee

 The girls who got dunked!

Elder Gold (my replacement), Becky, Kayla, Taylor and Elder Dutson

Conversation with Mandy:
M: Scarlett looks all grown up which kind of makes me sad but this stage she's in is the absolute funniest. She has kitty cat shoes on too. You would like them
R: oh man, I'm wearing my kitten shirt today. i inspired my whole district to buy kitten shirts. so that will be cool. we started a kitten clan. anyway things are going really good i got to go to the baptism so that was awesome.
M: oh man i forgot to write a good email.  did you get to baptize the pregnant girl?
R:  no because i didnt get permission to go till the day before. it was actually really akward because i got there and suprized them type thing, and they asked if i could baptize them... but it was already written on their paperwork and what not.

January 20th: God is really helping me to come home on a good note

oh man. this has been a crazy week my new area is pretty crazy. my companion has been out for 4 months and he has only been in this area for two weeks because of an emergency transfer. so i have been staying up late studying maps and bus routes. but i think i have everything figured out now. i had to figure things out quick because my new comp struggles a little bit and he was really scared taking over the area. I'm really hoping that i can attend the Chartrands baptism, they are getting baptized this Saturday at one o clock. i email elder Dutson and he updates me on them. they are doing super good. they have completely changed there life's. i just really hope i can go because then i can baptize a pregnant teen haha.  thats awesome that you are selling those books and having success. and yeah i really want to go to school when i get home. you need to tell me what tests and stuff i need to do and how soon i need to be all signed up. and i want to go to work pretty quick when i get back I'm super scared of getting home and having nothing to do. hopefully you guys are finding me some cute girls. i feel like God is really helping me to come home on a good note because in walking areas you have to talk to a million people so its totally preparing me for my first date haha. except talking about J S prolly wont work to well on dates. also our ward has two sets of missionaries and the other set are sisters so that is pretty weird. and they get a car too, so thats pretty gay. but one of them is super cute so i don't really care hahahahaha oh and we live in a house with 2 other missionaries so its pretty fun. and my comp dosent work out, but the other guys I'm forcing to work out with me. its pretty fun. I'm going to come home with a six pack but im not sure its even possible. well love ya lots
To dad:
 The new area is good it is a walking area. I'm not a zone leader any more. I get to finish my mission working hard as a regular missionary. we are on the bottom of Edmonton and most of our area isn't even on a map yet because it is all new development. my new companion is from San Jose and has a hard time being a missionary, but I'm being overly enthusiastic so its working well. he just needs to forget himself and go to work. i really love my new area, its a fairly new ward and the ward really struggles with being unified so it will be a fun challenge but the bishop and ward mission leader are really good so things will be good. i love taking the bus and talking to lots of people so I'm enjoying life. man all my friends are going to be married before i get home.  i definitely want to work right when I get home so you can book me a flight to Indy now :) well i love ya <3
To Mandy:
 my new area is great its a walking area and my new companion is struggling a bit but that's okay. i really enjoy working in walking areas because you can talk to millions of people. man i had a dream a couple days ago that I was at the airport and gave Scar a hug. it made me pretty trunky haha. but any ways things are going good my new area has two sets of missionaries and the other ones are sisters so that's pretty weird but at least one of them is the hottest sister in the mission. hahaha well i sure love ya!

January 13: Transfer to Ellerslie

Well I'm off to the big city! my new area is called Ellerslie and my new comp is elder Cassel or something like that.  god does know all things he is Omnipotent. he has a perfect knowledge of what the end result of everything will be. we do have free agency he doesn't control us but he knows exactly what we are going to do, just like an imperfect parent can usually predict things that will happen in their child's life. but he is perfect and has a perfect knowledge of all things.  that's why the bible and the book of Mormon are able to prophecy of things to come and things that have happened in this dispensation because God already knows it all. anyway thats crazy that dad is in china right now. we actually met with the Mandarin speaking missionaries this week because we have a Mandarin person that might get baptized. man i would die for some Little America food right now. that sounds really good. today i have been doing some packing and i found my baptism clothes and i can fit in one leg of the pants they are so big. haha well we met with the Chartrand family the other day and they are super ready for their baptism. they have to be interviewed by our mission president though because they had pretty rough pasts. but thats okay.  I'm hoping that i get to drive down to see the baptism. well i sure love yall

January 5th: We had a little miracle this week

hi mommy. i wuv you. there is like a 90% chance i will get transferred and next transfer is on the 15th. so we will find out next Monday. but all is well i think I've been able to accomplish lots in this area so I'm good to move on and start over type thing. this week we went and gave a blessing to a guy in the hospital and we had to get all dressed up in like space outfits and wear masks and stuff it was pretty neat. our investigator family is doing really well they have been smoke free for about a week. and they are accepting everything, we taught them tithing this week and we thought it might be a little hard for them cause they are poor, but they pretty much accepted it immediately. so that was really good. hahahaha we work until it gets -40 and this week it got -46 and we still worked. I'm gonna be so grateful for Utah winters when i get home. there is literally so much snow that our city might go into a state of emergency because they have nowhere to put all the snow. anyway that sucks about the Bengals. we had a member tell us about the game and it seems like turnovers screwed us. anyway we had a little miracle this week. we have an investigator who wants to be baptized but his girl friend was the only thing holding him back and they split up and he asked us if he could get baptized this Sunday. haha it was pretty funny then we told him it was a process so he asked what he needed to do so we told him to stop drinking and he said he would so we will see how that goes. anyway i love ya to the moon and back.
To Dad:

well i will keep you in my prayers for your dr. appointment. but things always work out for the best so your good. anyway things are good here, i will most likely miss my baptisms, but that's okay maybe the missionary that replaces me needs the testimony strengthener:) but i will find out next week for sure. sounds like it was a hard week in the house for football. hows the weight loss going? you were lookin pretty fly at Christmas. anyway Christmas is pretty hard time to be healthy. today we got haircuts and the lady told me i have a deficiency of vitamin D so i will have more energy when i take some pills so that will be cool. anyway i love ya lots.

 

Dec. 30th: The Chartrand family is doing great!

Man sounds like it was a fun Christmas. yeah we all set goals for the new years. it is a good time to  re-think things. but its kinda silly for us cause we set goals every single week so it wasn't much different ahha. anyway things are going good the Chartrand family is doing great they are trying to move there date up so i can be there but i told them not to worry about me being there, but to worry about making sure they are ready, so we will see. i might get permission to come see it anyways. but my Christmas was amazing i think i got 6 stockings by the end of Christmas haha the ward here really takes car of us. well i love ya lots :)
To Mandy:
T25 is okay. we went from doing insanity to it so it doesn't really feel like we are getting a workout. but we also don't have to wake up an hour early so its really nice. we are starting beta this week so i think it will be better. the Chartrands are getting baptized on the 25 maybe the 12 we will see. man Scar really is the cutest. its gonna be crazy coming home and getting to meet her. yeah i prayed about joining the army and i didn't feel good about it, so i doubt ill do that. i think I'm just gonna try business college. i think seeing anchor man two would be a good way to break me back into gentile life. ha well i love ya with my whole heart <3 byeeeeeee
To Chris:
I get transferred on the 15th and their baptism date is on the 25 haha, but thats okay. they could possibly move their date to the 12th but they would have to be smoke free for the next two weeks. which would be hard for all off them. but we have been having really good lessons with them. and they expressed that they want me to baptize them so they want to get baptized sooner but i told them it dosent matter. and that they just need to do it for themselves. but it was nice seeing all off you aswell. hope your travels will be safe :)

Dec. 23rd:

man oh man. things are going so good right now. we are totally gonna have a baptism on the 11 so thats sweet they are progressing really quick. everytime we see them they have read and prayed and they have come to church every week and even quit a job to come to church. its pretty awesome to see such a crazy change in this families lives. they went from all of them smoking even the 12 year old. and the 17 year old is pregnant. but now they quit all their addictions. and are loving life. they even got us a bunch of christmas presents. it is really exciting. also are ward is the best, everyone is giving us gifts and stuff, its ridiculous. im excited to skype home on christmas at nine o clock. we will be skyping from the Highams house they are really cool they have a son on a mission in korea. make sure to have everyone be appropriate though cause they are kinda molly mormons. anyway im struggling with my diet this time of year but im trying to recommit its just hard. yeah I'm wanting to get into school pretty quick i was actually really thinking about going into bussiness so that would be great. welll make sure you plan out some good questions for me. love you lots

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

 The Tri Pan!

Dec. 16th: One of the best weeks of my mission

ill be sure to take moor pictures but its just not my thing. i don't have one of those brains that can remember to take pictures, anywho. who is dallin? is dallas married. does dallas live with us? hopefully all these randoms move out before i come home. I'll prolly be super mean to them and make them feel uncomfortable. man we have quite a few presents under the tree its pretty exciting. the memebers here are giving us quite a bit too, someone I have never met before gave me 12 new pairs of socks. i dont even know what to do with them all. anyway. this week was one of the best weeks of my mission. we pretty much had non stop teaching appointments and we had 4 investigators come to church and we have 5 people on date to be baptized. im pretty sure they want me to baptize them too, so that will be fun. unless i get transfered, then i will be pretty sad, but oh well. ha the other day i tried on my batism white pants. and i can fit in one leg. it was pretty funny. then my companions started to tickle me and i was stuck. ha we are pretty stupid. anywhos im pretty excited for our up and coming baptisms they are really excited plus one of them is prego so it would be a fun story to baptize a prego person. well im getting super excited for christmas time is going by really fast and its starting to freak me out. we i love ya lots and hope you have a very merry christmas <3

December 9th:

I got the packages and the stockings are hung :D elder Dutson was so pumped. but we did have kinda a weird thing happen we now have a third companion. so thats kinda strange. his companion got sent home so he is with us for a transfer. man it sounds like you had quite the week. and i definitely don't need a new coat, winter will be over in no time. my ankle is good, I've been working out on it and its getting stronger. yeah i got my bank card do you think that i need to call it or anything to make it work. anyway my new comps name is elder Thompson he is a nice guy he has been out for about 6 months. man this Christmas season is pretty wild as a missionary. we have been so busy that every week is just a blur. something cool we got to do is go teach at another church it was the word of life church and there church is more like a concert hall. but we taught them all and it was really neat the spirit was super strong. also elder Dutson got to play on there drums. i dont remember if I've told you but elder Dutson is a pro on the drums. this week we had our ward Christmas party as well. it was really great we had a ton of non members come out to it. also we had mlc so we were in Edmonton. it was pretty fun. well Im excited to see you in 13 days :D 
to Mandy:
 sounds like a super fun week. do you think it will really fall off? this week i could have lost limbs it was so cold. it got down to minus 44 pretty darn cold. man things are pretty crazy right now. we got a third companion because someone went home wtih a torn acl so its been hard to adjust to. and also we have the busiest month ever. hopefully i stay sane. i got to sleep in the mission home the other day that was fun. im going to send a package today so i hope it gets home by Christmas. shoveling has been going good we got a new investigator from it yesterday so that was cool. anyway i sure love ya i will try to plan out Christmas this week so we can set up the skype. also is everyone gonna be in town for Christmas? well i love ya lots bye

Mission leader conference

Dec. 2nd: Lots of success in Red Deer

Not Transferred! hip hop hurray! im really glad im staying. we already have members who have invited us for Christmas. me and elder Dutson are gonna take some fun fun Christmas pictures together so that will be fun. ill just send a few to you and you can give them away to my loved ones. man it sounds like you had lots of fun for thanksgiving. we are having lots of success here in Red Deer. we are getting lots of new investigators but having a hard time getting them to church. we meet in a building that's a 25 min drive and people make lots of excuses so its been kinda hard. on thanksgiving we just had a feast at a members house who is preparing to go on a senior couple mission. it was great they live on a big farm and had good food. they made us eat three coarses of dessert . so anyways i started working on a Christmas package to send home. so hopefully it gets there before Christmas. but if its late it will be a fun after Christmas celebration. we have been listening to some good Christmas music its great. we currently have been reppin Michael Buble. its pretty sexy. anyway i love ya lots! happy holidays!
To Dad:
 im pretty jealous it sounds like you had a great thanksgiving. im excited for calling home i feel like it will be a big milestone. it also sounds like lots has changed since last time i called. so am i gonna be workin on the temple when i get home? that would be sweet. anyway life is good the work is moving forward. we have so much potentail. its just been hard getting everything to work out. love ya lots:)
To Mandy:
 your prayers were answered im staying in red deer :D man i bet thanksgiving was fun. I'm preparing a Christmas package to send home so you should get excited. today we have a really bad blizzard. snow is flying sideways its pretty fun. man im excited for her to say my name on Christmas!!! loves

 Alberta

 For some reason, my comp thinks I'm gay

 Larping

 ankle still hurts

 Yay!!  My snuggie!!

Nov. 25th: Knitting

Man it sounds super fun spending Thanksgiving in Indy. man I'm really excited for Christmas. I'm really hoping i stay here for Christmas. next Monday is transfer calls so you should all say prayer for me. man Popeyes chicken is the bomb. that market sounds like a fun fun place. this week was great for me i got to go on exchanges with elder George. that was fun to catch up with him. we found an awesome new investigator the only problem is she is amazingly attractive so it might be hard for me to focus. also this week i finished knitting myself a cute little scarf. that's about all my ankle has still been hurting so i haven't been having good work outs. so that's kinda a bummer. when i get home we should eliminate sweets from our house.  im super worried i will get fat again when i come home. :) anywho im lovin life on the mission. my president gave me permission to look once a week on the internet for schooling and such. its scary i don't know what I'm gonna do. anywho i love ya lots!

Nov. 19th: Fainted in the middle of the hospital!

well this week was pretty wild. it started off with an exchange in a little town called Three Hills. the town is called the bible belt of Alberta because there is a bible college there. so everyone that lives there is a hard core christian. so pretty much everyone we talked to just bashed with us and told us we were going to hell. but i learned a lot so it was really cool. i now have a stronger testimony of the great apostasy. then we exchanged back but there was some missionaries in our zone struggling so we went on emergency exchanges. and that day we were so busy that we skipped breakfast so we could drive to these other missionaries then i skipped lunch cause i was talking to this missionary. then a member in our ward called us to give a guy in the hospital a blessing so we went there but he was getting some work done i think dialysis or something, so we had to wait for an hour in the hospital and it smelled really gross and there was sick people everywhere, so i got light headed and i totally fainted in the middle of a hospital hall way. haha it was really funny! everyone in my ward has been making fun of me, its great, but then we gave this half dead indian a blessing and now today he is walking around. so im pretty sure his whole family wants to get baptized, so thats pretty rad. we are going to go see him today. cause last time we saw him he couldn't even talk and now he is walking on his own. anyway the priesthood is real so that's good. also are new investigator is on date to be baptized and he is super solid so that's really exciting. i was also on exchanges with Scott Sorenson he is from Utah went to skyline he is really good friends with Travis Norseth. so that was fun to chat with him. anyway i got to go loves ya.

November 11th:

oh great a mission story..... this week we were trying by people and one of the people we ran into let us in and was super nice to us his name is Joe Bowers. he told us that ten minutes before we showed up he asked God to help him because he was about to relapse on drugs. he then went on to tell us that this isn't the first time missionaries have been the answer to his prayers. he told us that because of "mormons" he now believes in god. we are now meeting with him weekly. the only thing holding him back right now is chewing tobacco and his girl friend. we feel like we will be able to help him through those though. we also met with another family who we are teaching and the daughter who claimed to be an atheist when we first met with them now feels like there is a God and is really interested in learning more so it is really exciting cause we might baptize a family of six. so that would be a really big highlight of my mission. all we have to do is find a way for them to get to church because right now we are meeting in another city called Lacombe and its like 30 minutes away. but they are a really solid family. a goal i have set for myself before i get home is to be able to teach every single principle in the PMG just by using scriptures that i have memorized. and so thats what i have been doing lately. also this week we have another ZTM so we have been planning that. this Sunday we will be having a meeting with elder ward from the seventy so that  will be fun. thats about all going on. thats cool that garr and labot are doing some solid missionary work. if every member would just do one thing like that a year the church would be growing ten times faster then it is now. right now in our mission 85% of the people we teach are from our own efforts. if members did there part we would be super busy. and the church would be growing here ten times faster. but hopefully the lord will send some sort of disaster here to wake the people up.... half kidding. hey by the way you should send my comp some nice U of U sweats for Christmas i think size medium or large... hes like 5'8 and 170 pounds so whatever that would be. anywho i gots to go byeeeee. love ya
To Mandy:
thats weird that Andy has a kid. sounds like a crappy week in sports. what kind of sport analogy did Phill give? i spoke in church as well. it was good. my talk was how has my mission changed me. so i talked about how i have lost weight and everyone was pretty surprized cause i hadent told anyone in this ward, anywho i love you to the moon and back hope things are going well<3

November 4th email: I want to answer questions with the scriptures!

man oh man. i cant believe all my friends are home from their missions!  you need to make sure none of them get married tell i get home. and yes i loved the cook book! i havent made anything with it yet because i was doing a pretty hard core diet this last month and i was pretty much out of money but this next month we have plans on making some german pancakes. and i think before i leave this area I'll make some cookies. i have currently made a big decision to be able to answer any question anyone ever asks me with the scriptures. this will be hard for me cause im very bad at remembering scripture refrences. but our mission president challenged us to fiind new ways to be a good teacher so i decided to work on my weakest thing. tommorow i get to go on exchanges with elder Marsh I'm really excited about it. we will be doing a knitting class together with a bunch of non members so that will be awesome. I'm gonna make myself a scarf. anyway this has been a crazy week we had a random blizzard on suday so church got canceled so we spent thee entire sunday shoveling walks it was really fun but im super sore now. we would leave some notes on their doors after doing it, with our number on it, and we got a text this morning from a single lady who said we made her day and that the world need more people like us, so that was really nice.  man baby scar is ridiculously cute. i got to visit Innisfail also this week and I stopped by a guy who really liked me and he gave me a big ol hug and told me that he was gonna take me shooting before I went home and that he dosent care what the rules are haha. other then that not much new is going on. hope you have a holly jolly day

 

 

October 28th email:

man o man. this week was fun. we got to go spend a day in a town called Rocky Mountain House. its where Elder George is serving so that was really fun. we had a baptismal interview there. it was great, while Elder Dutson did the interview i played with a bunch of cute farm kids. i even took pictures. its fun being a zone leader cause you get to travel to all sorts of fun little places. and the coolest part was the old guy that owned the farm.  He only had one leg and he was 88 but he was still riding his tractor all over the farm it was great. we also spent quite a bit of time meeting all the new missionaries in our zone we have about ten new elders so its exciting. it seems like for the most part they are all very obedient and hard workers. thats exciting that you are getting released. now you can just travel freely and what not, man its pretty weird to think that larbot is home. he is prolly having a hard time adjusting. well im gonna end now so i can send pictures. loves
To Mandy: man if the Bengals win the superbowl and I miss it, I will be pissed. who else has a good record this year? thats cool phills cute little team is doing good. i dint get transferred i will be in this area for 6 months prolly. then i will just have one more area before i go home! crazy. me and elder Dutson set a goal to have six packs before we get separated. so that should be fun. we do ab work outs every night then do insanity in the morning. anyway love you lots sister girl!

 Cute little farm girl

 

How a one legged farmer gets in the tractor...  hop in the shovel...

and jump in!

October 21 email: Crazy transferr day

So you should be getting released from primary soon hey? thats exciting. i got those letters the kids wrote and they made me feel so very happy, i really appreciated how curios they were to find out if I was learning Canadian. Benson's made me feel the happiest. he is a stud. anywho life is good. Our zone is doing great they loved the cute papers you printed out for them. also today is transfers so the entire zone is changing so that kinda sucks. i am a little nervous because we are getting some missionaries who are notorious for being disobedient so thats a bummer. man next week is our primary program i am excited they are the best. you should try to invite a non member you know to come to it. that would be cool. man seems like things are crazy, everybody is moving around all the time and what not. anyway where are we going on vacation when i get home? hawaii? that would be cool. anyway this week we helped a lady that was praying for a miracle then we showed up at her house so that was neat. anywho our investigators are all kimda just stuck right now, none of them showed up to church this week. so we are just trying harder to meet with them more often and we are also doing lots of finding, anywho i got to go cause things are crazy on transfer P day

 Halloween Zone Party

ZL's of the Red Deer Zone! Elder Dutson and Elder Knaphus!! Represent!

 Batman and the two Amigos

October 15 email: Six months to sexy

This week was good. we weren't able to do too much in our own area because we had to do lots of traveling, but things are going pretty good regardless. Our most promising investigator dropped of the face of the earth, he started drinking alcohol again and we haven't heard from him for awhile so thats pretty crazy. but other than that things are good, we have 2 lessons today with people who seem really promising so we are looking forward to that. on Thursday we are giving our training to the zone so that should be fun. and as for winter clothing i am completely fine i actually have two winter coats that i scored for free. so i definitely don't need three. this week has been great. so has anyone set up any dates for me for when i get home? man its wild getting close to the six months to go mark. missionaries call it six months to sexy. its the time on your mission where you actually take the morning exercise time seriously. so im hoping to get jacked in the next six months. hopefully the rest of my companions like to work out. the area I'm in right now will probably be my second to last area. so that will be cool I'll prolly stay here two more transfers. this is the last week of this transfer. so that will be exciting we will be getting four more missionaries in our zone so that will be crazy.  I'm starting to think we will get our zone split soon so I'm a little worried about that, i might have to move areas or something. anyway thats about all new for now. hope things are going good back home love you all.
Conversation with Mandy:
 Only sending me videos?  (Riley sent a Mormon video for her to watch)

do you get on facebook these days?   I love your photos!

 yeah you need the videos... no i have only got on FB once on my mission. i felt guilty after. you findin me a wife?

 i thought missionaries could get on fb now.  our cousin rebecca reid gets on every week and posts gospel stuff.  i will get on finding you a wife.  phil likes his job, he's just crazy busy.  i need the videos!  what about garr and logan so they can find a wife!

 they are hopeless.... hahahahaha i send garr a video every week about retarded people. but mommy got mad at me and said to stop. 

How was Thanksgiving?
we had lasuanga it was kinda lame.

 

Here is a pull up bar we made out of our couches because pull up bars got banned, they were ruining doors

 Sexy Guy!!

Using the smile detector thingy on the camera!!

October 7 email: Important to find a good wife

well this week was crazy busy we had to go on emergency exchanges cause some missionaries got in a fight and I happened to be put with the big Samoan. haha he almost killed his comp because he is so big. so he will prolly be sent home so thats too bad. I was a little worried he would kill me while we were on exchanges haha. but we actually became really good friends. he calls us every night to let us know how his anger is doing. right now he is waiting to see if slc will send him home. then that same day we had interview with president so we had to check everyone in our zone's, area books and planners. then that night we traveled up to Edmonton spent the night with Jordo Marsh then had a leadership training that lasted till five, then we ate and went to the lds bookstore to buy cds and i got a ten dollar ctr ring. then we traveled home and got back about 8:30 then the next day was conference so it was a crazy week. we watched conference at a members house who is super cool between sessions we split wood it was really fun. they measure our bodies so they could buy us new clothes so that will be nice. i wont have to wear walmart stuff anymore haha. they are really rich he owns a welding company for the rigs. so we were literally at their house the whole day it was fun. they made their own wood splitter by welding stuff together then used their skid steer to fuel the hydraulic pump. anyway thats about all. during conference i thought a lot about being more grateful and i also thought about how important it is to find a good wife. so im starting to get a little scared about that. i also had a dream last night that i finished my mission but i came home wearing like rasta clothes and i just walked right passed everyone, it was really weird haha. anyway things are going grand i am now just getting ready to give a training to our zone and i will give them those papers you sent. i really love that package my watch is so beautiful and im grateful for that sweater cause my new coat might not be quite as warm so it will help, I  feel like you were definitely inspired what to send me thank you so much. well i got to mail pres bye
To Dad:

i really enjoyed the Sunday afternoon session. Elder Ballards talk and both of Pres Uchtdorfs.

thats fun being able to go back to turkey. just try not to seize up. Elder Hollaand talked about people with disabilities  and i dont want it to be a talk our family needs haha. anyway i bet its fun being a G pa. and i hope you get that temple job as well. im surprised they didn't announce any more temples thats kinda a bummer, anyway you are definitely catching up to me on weight. i plan on weighing 177 by next Monday. im doing a pretty strict diet. the only problem is im building muscle right now to so its pretty hard to lose weight cause im gaining good weight at the same time. but this whole week im only gonna eat slimfast and whey protein for b fast and lunch. anywho i love you to the moon and back

October Pictures!