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

April 29th email:

 We taught the primary  this week too... it was prolly the same lesson you had Logan help you with, was it on the restoration? did you ever get any mail from Lindsay's mom? her name is Sharon Davis. anywho they are super busy lately and we havent been able to teach them latly but we saw them the other day and they are doing really great. we are having a baptism on may 25 its a 13 yr old black kid from antegea(by Jamaica) his dad is a member and has some nice dreads. it will be cool to witness my first blacktism hopefully i wont get the boot out of my area. next week ill try to get some info on when im skyping home. anyway one of our investigators who is really weird wants to take some pics of us at the church with a camera thats like 100 years old. like the ones thats look like an aqordian so that will be cool he also has a sweet bible im gonna get from him. he really likes us he conciders us his best friends. it would be super cool to see him get baptized. well you should wait a year before you go on any trips........ just sayin. or you could go to this beautiful place called innisfail they have a little petting zoo and a local museum. well c ya
Some of the funny stuff he wrote to Mandy: (I can't post most of it!)
- its snowing here right now..... i havent seen Jordo for a really long time but hopefully i will see him in a week from now. i have bee hearing from other missionaries that he is a total stud though. i want a scar baby kiss!!!!!!!!! tell stu to back off and that he isnt even related to the family until we get married.
-im gonna get married while I'm out here, here is the link to her picture:http://mormon.org/me/BXT2/KileeThompson.
-http://mormon.org/me/C48G/Courtni this is who you get when you look up the Bengals on mormon.org.  

April 22nd email: Such a funny boy! And a great Missionary!

my birfday was neet. i bought a camera. we also moved into an apartment. its really nice we just dont have any furniture yet. we just have beds and 2 chairs ha its super weird. ive been workin on the kitty puzzle during my free time its coming along pretty well. we watch the restoration dvd about 2 times a week. i have it almost memorized. my favorite line is "remember boys horse high and hog tight" also the part where he gives him the cute little horsey and he is quoting Mathew ch 7 verse something about giving good gifts. anyway that barney bank is legit. how much money was in it? i didn't really care that all my drawers smelt cause i just put my close on the floor.... anyway our investigators are good we have 11 now and 2 of them should be baptized in the next 2 months the rest are moving pretty slow. we are teaching a really cool crazy guy who fixes antique things. he has a bible from like 1802 that he might give me so im stoked on that. they leave out the Satan part in the dvd cause it creeps people out..... what room do i even live in now? you should get phil a gift card to spencers... thats his favorite store. or get him a picture of marrissa miller eating a mcrib. anyway yesterday i got hugged by a girl..... its a pretty scary thing as a missionary. the good news is we will probably baptize her cause shes pretty stoked on the gospel. i made a goal  in my planner to take more pictures so hopefully that will work out cause i struggle, im almost at the yr make and i have a total of like 40 pics. oh well. anyways not much else is going on transfers are in the first week of may so thats pretty soon. oh and PS my wildest dream was that you would tell me my wildest dreams would come true so it happened! but seriously as a mother you shouldn't want my wildest dreams to happen while im on my mission... they should only take place after being sealed in a temple...........ha

April 15th email: Happy Birthday!

 you should watch the church video "only a stonecutter" it talks about magnifying callings and what not. it would get you pumped to teach those little kids how to sing and stuff. so what was the favorite Canadian candy? i like the wonderbars. we have this investigator who rebuild antique radios and i might get a really good deal on one and have it sent home he also has a bible from the 1700s that he might give me it has the apocrfah in it so its super rad it also has a bunch of family names in it so it would be really cool to take the names to the temple. the guy is super funny he is really weird but he loves us, he says he only has four friends on earth and we are 2 of them. man im really lovin the mission its actually really sad its almost half way over. this time next year ill have my travel info! dang its sucky. this morning my comp surprised me with a ton of reeses he is a good guy but i think im gonna start putting weight back on if i don't watch it haha anyway ive taken some pics on my comps camera so ill send them to you. then today ill buy a camera i think

Riley's note to dad:  
you stud muffin. there isnt such thing as a resturaunt where i live...... there is a subway. ha we eat with members everyday. there is actually a really good little diner in a little box car thing that we always go to it only has like 10 items on the meneu but its super good. man it seems like work is keepin ya busy. just remeber to have fun toooo :D i was really hoping to get a picute of you with your pants pulled up for my birthday but i guess a weird description of my birthing process will do. sure love ya

 That's my district with the matching ties, we are pretty big studs

 our church

 The couple we live with