July 22 email:

We got a new area because today was transfers and some missionarais left so now we cover two places so thats fun. the new area is called Edson and I've been there twice on splits, no one lives there, but it has a solid branch so thats fun. ummmmmm we met a guy who thinks he is a secret agent and he lives right next door to us and said we could use his grill anytime so we might go cook some white tail buck soon haha but we already cooked up the moose sausage it was yummy i took some pics of it. we also met some dude named SLIM and he is a 33rd degree free mason, and invited us for dinner for some mystery stew so that will be fun. we had a baptism this saturday (an 8yr old) and our investigator showed up wearing cut off and jeans and he has lots of tats and stuff, it was pretty funny.  we have had lots of lessons this week witch was pretty cool. we fasted last week to get more lessons and this week we got 6 new investagators and we only had 3 before this week. we met a lady who answered the door basically completely naked but then we asked her to put close on and we taught her the whole first lesson and met with her again the next day and gave her the 2nd lesson so that was really cool. she was supper prepared. we also met this dood who walked up to us and told us that he used to go to church, so we thought he was a member, so we set up an appointment and went to his house and there were 5 people there and none of them were actually members but the were atheist. and we ended up teaching them a supper awesome lesson and at the end all of them took a BOM and one of them even said the closing prayer. and they all said that even though they were atheist they have a weird conection to jesus christ, and so we taught them forever and it was real cool. hmmm now our district only has us and 2 other elders so thats pretty funny. i thougt i heard a cougar last night it was really creepy cause it was a weird growl and then all these dogs went crazy. i heard about that shooting its pretty messed up. if someone was there who had a consealed he could have ended it a lot quicker. pretty sad though. im stoked that you finally got my mail it took forever. there is a pedofile here in hinton that goes around flashing kids at parks, and a less active guy in our branch everyday drives around town looking for him so he can kill him. its pretty intense. i could see phill doing the same thing though haha. ive been reading out of Our Heritage a lot its pretty crazy stuff. a JW tried to bible bash with us the other day and we got him to admit that he dosent recieve his answers from god it was pretty cool, my comp is a pro basher cause he is a convert. he just stares people in the eyes and reads Nephis last testomony about standing face to face at judgement day. and the person pooped there pants. it was intense the guy probably didnt even sleep that night. my comp basically told him that some day he will see him in heaven and say i told you so. anywho JW base there whole religion on like 2 verses of scripture its pretty funny they just talk about building up gods kingdomm but they have no idea how to actuallly buid it up haha silly religions trying to find truth though the knowledge of man. well i G2G but i love all of you lots and will hopefully be writing a letter today cause its rainy.

maybe ill send some pics home. i havent taken to many but there is some good ones on there

Sincerly: Elder Riley Christain Knaphus       <----degrees of glory

July 16 email: We gave the talks, did the sacrament and Sunday school

oh man the missionary work is going greatthe people here in Hinton are awesome. hopefully we will be having a baptism soon, but its hard to say because marriage is the thing holding them back and we cant really do much about it. i hear that there has been lots of Anti-mormon stuff floating around on the news and stuff. that sucks. satan really has his hands in lots of things now a days. all i know is that heavenly father has made it really easy to discern truths. if it brings forth good fruit it is from God and i know that the things prophets and apostles say bring forth good fruit. and the negative things i have heard about the church bring forth bad fruit and a feeling very much the opposite from the holy ghost. this church is Jesus Christs church on the earth today. man the church just needs to get missionaries into Jerusalem and China so the world can end already haha but really Satan is really pushing hard right now because the church is getting so much attention. opposition in all things i guess. anywho, im loving Hinton it keep switching from being really hot to crazzzzzy rain storms. we always go tracting when its rainy, because its a good conversation starter and people will sometimes just let us come in. its teetering on becoming priest craft haha.  hmm this week we had more visitors at church then members. our whole branch is either in the hospital or on vacation or has some sort of reason to be out of town. this week we had only 2 families come to church but like 15 visitors this week was our most successful week we had lots of lessons and lots of people are starting to progress in the gospel its really cool to watch. hmm we met a lady who used to be a member but she got ex communicated and she got in a car accident (she hit a moose) and we randomly met her in this park, and she had been praying to get help in here life then we showed up. it was really cool she came to church and we had to give talks and do the sacrament and do Sunday school haha it was crazy but she really liked it. but she cant read and stuff cause she got a hole in her head but she is really nice. hmm hopefully you get my letter soon cause i keep forgetting to bring our address to the library and in six week i might be transferred so don't send stuff close to that time < i miss hugging people.. haha  im pretty bored right now its raining so this P day we cant go hiking or anything. im writing my next letter on a drawing a cute little girl gave me so it should be exciting. i told the kid who gave me boots that if he ever finds our family to ask them for food so don't be surprised if a kid from cali asks you for dinner sometime in the future. one of our investigators gave us a bunch of moose meat and some other animal too so today we might try to cook some moose up. well im going shopping now but li love you all very much and hope that every day can be the best day-atmosphere tell garr  faith, work, and unconditional love, no bad mind, no hatred, no env,y and no grudge is the way Jah wants him to live byeeeeeeeeee

July 9th email: Taught a whole Filipino Church

Hello, this week was good we only had one lesson but have met lots of people. for some reason this week we met lots of gay people and each one actually said that the mormon church is there favorite one wich was very suprising. we met this plumber who was hammered and said we could eat at his house anytime, not sure why but he really wanted to feed us. hmmm a member in our branch is going on vacation to parck city and said he would try to find garr at mcdonnalds so thats fun. hows max?  we met with the skitzo lady this sunday and she talked alot about satan so that was intresting. umm we went and taught a whole filipino church the other day. they are called the church of christ, but they also believe christ is just a normal, guy so that pretty weird. hopefully we babtize their minister cause then all of them will follow. it would be pretty cool. one of our less actives thinks that we are some sort of prophets or something cause he always calls us with crazy questions about the ark angels and stuff. he says everytime that he looked it up on google but he will only trust what we say. its pretty funny. we also taught his freind a little bit and he wont call us by our last names cause thats what they did in prison and it brings back old memories, haha, he also said we couldnt go to his house if the blinds are shut so hes an intresting fellow.
 im really learning a lot about patience, and doing things in the lords time. its been prettyy tough because we set up millions of appointments but only a couple come through each week. and its hard because i feel like we are working super hard and doing all we can, but we are having no succsess. but every time i read any lds literature somehow the theme of the lords timing keeps popping up, so i guess its a good learning expierience. its pretty funny how sometimes the answers to our prayers can be so clear but just not what you want them to be, haha, like i was reading the ensign and the whole artcile i read was about a lady who couldnt have kids but she knew it was all on the lords time and he would take care of it, then i was reading about ammon and he was on a mission for 14 years before he did anything. then he babtized like a million people. so its pretty cool to have Heavenly Father talk to you so plainly and help you keep doing what he wants you to do. hopefully Hinton blows up with babtisms some day that would be pretty cool. it will be fun 2 years from now coming back here and visiting all the people and seeing all the sights and what not. im allready trying to pick what cabins or what hotel to stay in in Jasper haha. but anyways there is a really good restaraunt in jasper ill have to take you all too, they make some mean poutine. at fast food joints instead of ketsup they give you gravy. its great. hopefully all is going good back home. oh you could send me some good music like some iron&wine, sayde price, damien rice, my mission pres is way chill. you can even have an ipod here. so if there is an extra ipod you could throw tons of good jams on it and send it to me. today we are going to the local gun store cause a member owns it. should be fun. we got invited to a bahi (native religion) spiritual meeting. and we were gonna go, but i feel like they probably all just smoke weed haha byeeeeeeeeeeeee love you
Some more questions:
 1. did you take pictures of the animals you saw in the park? most of them just not the mountian goat and eagle
2. did you get a rain jacket yet? no its a million deggrees right now so its less importyant    
3. I got you your winter coat, what else should I get for you? i dont know i scored some free boots from this elder who is bailing. maybe just some gloves?
4. do we get an address to mail to yet? i forgot to bring it here to the libary but i will send letters today with the address on them
5. do you walk or ride in the car most?car everything is pretty spread out. our area cover jasper and all sorts of far away places
6. how big is your area? pretty big but not alot of peopel
7. did you have fun on splits? um the elder i was with was in a boy band before the mish and made me listen to his music. so no
8. are you able to see photo attachments when you get emails? yes mandy and colemen do them every week. i would send you some but they blocked it at the library
9. How much do you love your mother:D? this much <------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------>

July 3rd email: Lost my towel, so I'm using paper towels

We were in Jasper on Monday so we are emailing today. we saw a bear, some elk swimming, some mt. goats and an eagle and a glacier and other neat things.  we taught a schizophrenic less active lady who said demons would kill her if she went to church. then we taught her son and he said if we try to read the bible to him we would pay. normal people. we then went to my favorite less actives house to drop by. and he said perfect timing we are getting a divorce. and we thought it was gonna be really bad but we just sat them down and shared a message about charity then my comp said a pretty intense prayer and the guy started crying. it was neat. hopefully he comes to church this week. we dropped one of our investigators cause we caught her snorting cocaine.... it was scary, she said she needed to do it for her toothache. a little girl got hit by a car by our apartment the other day it was extremely sad. the mom is still in the hospital. stupid drunk drivers. today we have like four solid lessons set up so we are pretty stoked for that. we have met so many really cool people its crazy. this week at church there were only like 10 people, it was sad. hmm soundz like things at home are swell. you should make nick make me some sweet tunez. tell stew to email me. ill send you my Hinton address on next monday. sounds like baby scar is doing good and cute. while i was in Edmonton i lost my towel so i use paper towels.  we ate really good food in jasper. we went with a member named  Ryan Honch, hes the coolest guy i know, hes had like 3 surgeries on his brain, so he cant read to good but hes a champ at everything else. and since he cant work cause hes in-between surgeries he just hangs out with us and goes to all of our lessons.  i think im just gonna buy a thin jacket so i can handle the rain a little beter. but maybe  you could send me a coat. just have logan decide what to get. well i G2G but I'm lovin it here. hope all is well back at thee home front. byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

eeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Here are some questions I got answered:

How cold has it been getting? rains a lot, so kinda cold 

Does it seem a little like Yellowstone? kinda

 Did you get your last shot in the MTC ? yes
When you got to the mission home that first day, was my letter there yet? no, Mandy's was  

 Do you have a car?  do you get to drive? have a truck i get to drive in 3 more weeks
What is your apartment like? its in the valley in the ghettoest part. Is it in the middle of town? no 
 Have you used your Canadian money? yes.
What is your bed like? rectangular.  Would you like a warm blanket for the winter? no
Do you get to see any of the olympics? ??????not sure  

What do you get to do on your p-days? anything.  do you get to hike or go into Jasper park at all? already did
How close are the nearest missionaries? hour in a half.  do you ever get to go on exchanges? yes this Wednesday

I was so happy to hear he has a rectangular bed!!  I hope it is comfortable, what a silly boy!!

June 25th email: Cougars and Bears every day!

 Hinton is going great i might be attending a wedding soon, so that's fun. just to give you an idea of our branch, here our the names of the active members: the Stills the Tuinukuafes the Holts the Bratts brother Honch the Reays the Calihoos the Daniels and sis Bennet.  that's the entire branch. yesterday was branch conference and the stake presidents and there families came and it doubled the attendance at church. my comp is from twin falls, and wont let me listen to music. its pretty rough but watevs. um his mom was less active and the rest of his family was catholic and he decided to meet with missionaries and they asked him to pray to find out if it was true, then the next day he was eating at panda express and opened a fortune cookie and its reply was "ask your mom" so he called his mom and she said that she wanted to start going to church again and so he got babtized three weeks later. pretty funny. he was only baptized when he was 19 so he came on his mission fresh from the waters. we don't have a microwave so we eat a bunch of these things called parogies it like an eggroll with mashed potatoes in it. we have bacon flavor and cheese. they are pretty good. lots of really good chips too, bacon chips are amazing. our appt is pretty ghetto yesterday a man was beating his dog on the floor above us then the dog ran outside. it made me pretty mad. the lady that lives next to us told us she died and came back and saw all of her friends and jesus. so she is neat. she is a native and her last name is Beaverbone. all she does is smoke and walk her dogs. hmmmmm everyday i have been here it has rained so we go tracting in the rain to get sympathy aka priestcraft mwah! mwah! ha!  I bible bashed with a guy yesterday, it was great cause he started his own church, but then left it cause it started to change, and i told him that our church is from god and will be the same yesterday today and tomorrow cause he said those exact words about the bible and how the BOM is false. he got really frustrated and by the end he agreed that the BOM is about Jesus and not Joseph Smith so it went pretty well. ummm this Wednesday i will get any mail you have sent cause we are going to Edmonton for a meeting. in my next area or when i get a new comp i will give you an address but my comp is really strict and because the mission pres recommended to just use the mission address thats all he will let us use. anywho, people here see cougars and bears every day. the walkway we were going to go on today was closed because there is bear chilling on it. and 2 months ago there was a cougar sitting on the welcome to Hinton sign for a week. i bet you could find pics of it on the interwebz. anywho, one of the less active guys in the branch that we visited is an ice road trucker and he has guns so i got to play with them it was nice. he has a pretty sweet sks that he was cleaning when we went over. brother and sister Tuinukaufe are really cool they might be the only polys in Canada but he comes and teaches with us all the time and it makes me feel cool to have a big poly with us teaching people. he has 2 little kids that are really cute too. today for lunch we are going to go eat these things called donaires which aren't legal in the states because they are so unhealthy. its like a gyro on steroids. we email in the local library we even got library cards. every person here has at least 2 dogs they have one husky or some other type of wolf dog then they have a little yappy rat. im not sure why but everyone does. the JW people here are actually pretty kind and will talk to us for awhile.   they have to do missionary work before they can be baptized and they don't know the name of there leader and they don't celebrate anything. and at church kids cant talk to other kids they can only talk with there family. its a pretty neat cult. and i think their church is called like the grand master hall or something. the branch members who are active are really cool though they help us a ton and feed us regularly. on of them works at KFC so we get a good deal there. hmm we have pretty much tracted every house in Hinton. the problem is that everyone works and when they aren't working they are camping. so its really hard to get appointments with people. we had about 20 lessons canceled this week. so it was pretty rough but the 2 lessons we had went really well. and i can tell that Hinton is ready to explode with success. well bye, my comp is nagging me. send this to err body tell stu i love him. and did coleman come home? tell nick that he is cute.

June 18th email: first from Canada!!

So I'm in an area called Hinton, its really small and in the middle of nowhere. its like an hour away from jasper. which is like a national park or something. 1/5 the population is Jehovah witness and the rest are addicted to meth. our branch here in Hinton has about a solid 25 members who come usually. but since missionaries haven't been here for awhile, lots of people showed up to see us so it was fun at church.  there were about 40 people there,  including the 4 investigators we brought. one was in a swim suit so that was fun!  then we have a a really old couple who should be getting baptized soon cause they say they know everything is true, they just don't want to get married. and then a girl named Felisha who is mots definitely on meth. then craig the guy who were a swim suit he is awesome he has three kids and no money but he wants to change really bad. he is getting baptized on the 28 of July. everyone here works at a coal mine haha!  it reminds me a little of the town in  justified, there is even a member here named Lue Bennett and all here kids are less active. so ya its fun here, lots of people go camping and hiking and stuff like that cause is in the middle of no where. but i am kinda by the mountains so that's fun.. my companions name is elder Watt he's from Idaho and he sounds like Willow. and he is really short. come to think of it he might be part midget or something but he is really nice and is a convert of 3 years so he's a stud and has a strong testimony. I think im gonna just buy my winter stuff here cause i dont get mail ever. we dont have a mail box so i only get mail when we have zone meetings and stuff like that so if you have mail just send it and I'll get it sometime in four weeks.

  Lots of members feed us sheperds pie so thats fun. there is lots of really good food here like candy bars and chips. also one of the members is the Filipino girl who Logan should marry she is way nice and when we went to visit her she gave us a whole load of groceries it made me remember how nice Pinoys are. she also made us eat ice cream. anywho in about an hour im gonna go ask our investigator named Craig to get married so that's fun. i didn't think i would be marrying other people my first week.  anywho ill talk to ya l8er

Three weeks at the MTC. . .

 My district

 Me and my Comp Elder Ricks

 Elder Tempest

 The Barbacoa made it!

 Thanks Mom

The Oly Kids

Phippen's, Me, Tempest, Riley Nelsen, Izzy, Stu Pace, Mason Thatcher