August 14, 2018

Hello Mom and Family!

This past week has been both crazy and hot.. Mainly hot and these people don't have AC.... Anyway I'll get into my week!

On Wednesday we met with Susan and Japhet and taught her the 10 commandments and such. We put her on date for baptism for the 22nd but we ended up pushing it back farther on Monday night after assessing where she's at and how ready she is. We also had supper with the Konoskys.. A single mom with a boy and boyfriend. She is super awesome and we help her a lot with her front yard. Anyway, she invited her friend Bill over as well who isn't a member. We ended up teaching the restoration and he liked it. So technically he's a new investigator but not at the same time. He doesn't live in our boundaries.

Thursday morning we went to the doctors office for Elder Pyles because he's had a rash on his arm for months. Turns out he has a history of eczema and it was just a flair up. Also we met with the lady who we cut cut down her forest of weeds and taught the restoration. She's had the lessons before and had a date to be baptized but her husband decided to divorce her and that set her back. She says that she's ready now so who knows what will happen there. So that is  a new investigator for us!

Friday was a monumental day for Lethbridge.. It was the hottest recorded day ever in August, and tied for the hottest day ever back in 1886! And I can say that I was here on that day! Also, going back to how these people have no AC.. I roasted so many people on not having AC it was so funny. They were all complaining about the heat and I was just like "If you guys had AC you wouldn't be having this problem" it was so funny. We also had dinner with the Smiths who are a young newly married couple and we had tacos in a bag.. Amazing. And amazing cornbread.

Saturday we were invited to a brunch with a young couple in our ward that we like, he's from Utah and she's from here and they met while on their mission in Halifax Canada. They are so awesome. Then we helped a family in our ward move out. The move took literally all day and my arm still hurts.. Lol. But the mom reminded me so much of Aunt Krystal! She's so funny and I'm sad they moved out of our ward!

Sunday was our ward council day so you can imagine how that went.. It was a long day!

Monday we had District Council Meeting and it was uneventful. But Elder Kretchmann is going home Tuesday morning so we will be taking him to the bus station early in the morning on Tuesday. Idk if I told you guys, but he trained Elder Walker so in mission terms, Elder Kretchmann is my grandpa.... So we went to lunch and let him enjoy his last night. Oh and we had another lesson with Susan and Japhet. Susan was taking a nap so we talked to Japhet about the prophet and his apostles. The Susan woke up so we taught her the rest of the commandments. They are literally some of my favorite people ever! Haha!!

Chris our investigator hasn't been around lately so we haven't been able to meet with him. Pretty much he was taught everything in the past but he couldn't quit smoking. Then he quit smoking for 2 years by using some medication. Then stress hit him and he went back to smoking. So basically he's in a money crunch so he can't pay for the meds but as soon as he can, he's gonna get baptized (whether or not that's while I'm here) but he has good support so it will happen.

Anyway that was kinda my week. It's hard writing emails because I can't relate the stories of what happens but I'll have some good stories for when I come home! Take care and I pray for you all, all the time! Love you guys!

Sean always makes me laugh! :)

Elder Pyles 

Love,

Elder Seanzee

August 7, 2018

Japhet got the priesthood!

Hey everyone! 

It seems like a lot happened this week so it has been nice. On Tuesday after P-Day we got a text from a former investigator named Nidel. She is in a rough spot in her life and realized that she was so much happier when she took the lessons from missionary's in the past. So we went over and visited with her and ended up giving her a blessing to help her during this time. So she is now a new investigator but the only thing is that she is super hard to meet with but we try.

Wednesday we helped move someone from another elders ward into our ward here. They had so much stuff and a lot of it still wasn't packed up there was a lot to do. We had a lesson with Susan and Japhet and we taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ. After we taught them we had dinner with some members who invited us to have dinner with Japhet and Susan. It was such a great time, definitely one fun and memorable dinner. They showed up in their full African clothes it was so cool. We ended up teaching Susan a couple of the commandments and invited her to baptism. She said that she wants to be baptized eventually but wants to learn more before she makes a decision. We encouraged her again to read the Book of Mormon and pray. It will come with time I know.

Thursday we did some service for a potential investigator named Jen. She had weeds as tall as me in her back yard, it was crazy. We had to make a big pile of all that stuff we were gonna throw away at the dump on Saturday.  It was good that we could help her :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Also it was Pyles's birthday so we went to lunch at Fatburger which was really good actually. Had some chicken finger poutine which was amazing. Also I lined up a special dinner with an amazing family in Copperwood ward named the Low's. So I surprised Pyles's with that and it was so cool. Had an awesome dinner plus his favorite cake which is Sheet cake. Oh also we had a lesson with Japhet about the priesthood since he was having his priesthood interview later that night, and he passed!!

Friday was kinda dead so we went contacting in the park and handed out a bunch of pass along cards. Japhet called us and said that Bishop gave him is membership record number (mrn) so we went to his place and set up his account with lds tools and stuff. He's literally one of my favorite people. He is so oblivious to anything we do, we on purpose try to see how many weird things we can do before he notices.. He never notices. Love the guy :)  Also we got WiFi at his place so we love going there! Haha then we had dinner with the Courts who have a son going into the MTC on Wednesday to go to the Fort Lauderdale Florida mission. They are so awesome too, they got Pyles a birthday cake as well! Such a baller family.

Saturday was pretty dead for us as well, so we went contacting in the park and had no luck again. But hey, we're trying. We had dinner with the Klines (the returning members who took us to Waterton) and they had a birthday cake for Pyles! I'm not mad because I've had so much cake I'm loving it!

Sunday was pretty dang baller. So Japhet got up and bore his testimony which was awesome, it's a long story and I don't know how to write it so I'll send a video explaining it. Also he was ordained as a priest which was so cool to be apart of, I'll send a video explaining that gong show too. Monday we had DCM--not DTM any more, the new Preach My Gosple manual calls it a District Council Meeting, they changed quite a bit in the new PMG just to catch up with everyone using technology, plus they hadn't revised it since the book was released. Then we went to Taco Bell with zone leaders which was cool. Then we did service for Sister Konosky, which included shoveling gravel on her front lawn.. We spent 3 hours on it and I just can't wait for it. She's amazing though and we are gonna start teaching her friend soon!

Anyway that was my week.. A little more exciting that it has been recently! Love you guys and take care!

Love,

Elder Seanzee

July 31, 2018

Hello Mom and Family!

This week was pretty good. Last Wednesday we had our first lesson with Japhets wife, Susan. We taught the restoration and she really enjoyed it and it really clicked with her. Japhet wants her to be baptized by the time that Pyles leaves probably on the 16th. That means we are trying to teach her fast, and we are getting Japhet the priesthood so he can baptize her! Thursday we our housing inspection.. Well while I was cleaning the bathroom they decided to show up early, so I shut the door and turned the fan on so they couldn't hear me cleaning. I took like 10 minutes then came out and the lady went in there and was like "wow this is the best looking bathroom in the mission!" little did she know I just barley cleaned it! Haha it's so funny!

Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Wilson, our district leader. I was in his area. We did service pretty much the whole day so there's not a whole lot to report there. Although we went by our housing inspectors house and he has a super clean mustang like mine! There's only almost 50,000 miles on it and it never goes out in the snow. It puts my car to shame! Haha Saturday we helped with a move, which seems to be all we do right now. But after the move we went tracting and had no luck finding anyone.

Sunday was pretty good. Susan came to church which was awesome. Monday we had DTM and then went to Streats to eat. We also had a lesson with Chris who was a potential investigator but he's now our new investigator!! He's been taught before and knows everything about the church as his wife is a member. His only problem is he needs to stop smoking. He wants to stop so we are gonna help him!

I heard that Clarice passed away, that is so sad, please tell Grant I am thinking of him and send my love.  I didn't know she was a teacher in Trail BC, that's in our mission boundaries!!! And she grew up an hour north of where I am now :)

Today we went down to the river and hiked around and stuff. Went to the train bridge then went back to church and had a water balloon fight :)

Anyway take care everyone! I keep you all in my prayers all the time!

Love,

Elder Sean

July 17, 2018 Funny week :)

AC and Japhets Baptism!

Hello everyone!

So last Wednesday was such a good day. We had interviews with our new Mission President and he is so awesome! We just talked about how Elder Pyles and I are doing awesome in this area and stuff like that. Seeing as he's new I can see if Pyles stays with me for another transfer! We also had a Elders quorum BBQ which was super productive for us. So Japhet came to that.. With his wife!! And because she came we are going to start teaching her as well!

Thursday was Japhets baptismal interview and he did so good! He understood everything we taught him and is able to teach us about a lot of things.

Friday I was sick!! Yay.. So we helped with a move in the morning and I was not feeling well, so I was like we need to go home.. But the people we were helping wanted to take us to lunch. So they took us to a Chinese restaurant and it just made it worse..  but long story short, we canceled the rest of our day and I came home and threw up a couple of times..yeah..good times!

Saturday was Japhets baptism! He showed up in a full suit which I had never seen him in! His exact words were "Everyone else at church wears a suit, I will too" he really is so awesome! So Pyles baptized him and I confirmed him and a good amount of people showed up for the baptism.

Then we went to the Orr's for dinner and they took us to a Japanese festival in downtown Lethbridge which was cool! Haha!!

Sunday was a lot of church again but it was so special because I got to confirm Japhet a member of the church and give him the gift of the holy ghost followed by a blessing. I don't remember what I said but everyone was telling me after how great of a blessing it was! We had dinner with the Secretans which was cool, they have a huge nice house with AC! Monday we had no DTM because of Zone Conference this week which should be awesome with the new mission president. Also our landlord gave us a AC unit to put in our window!  It works so well! I'm so happy it's actually a decent temperature in our apartment!

Today we got up and went to Wal-Mart and will do some golfing and then going to the Japanese gardens.

Beautiful!

Anyway that was my week! It's great to hear that everything is going great with all of you guys and I hope you all continue to just be awesome!

Love,

Elder Sean!

July 10, 2018

"I don't believe in A/C" & "Did Grandpa lose an eye?"

Hi Mom and Everyone!

Wow so this week was a wee bit of a gong show! Let me get right into it..

Last Wednesday we finally got to meet our new Mission President and wife, President and Sister Keung who are from New Zealand and have a sweet accent! We had a mini Zone Conference where they both spoke and let us know their expectations for us as missionaries and how we can take our missionary work to the next level. Having a lot of Indian reserves around here that we can't proselyte on, he said that he is gonna go to the Indian tribal council and greet them in their own native language and sing for them! They are such amazing people and we are lucky to have them! One thing that stuck out to me was he told us to become devoted disciples Now! Not later but do it now.. I thought that was pretty cool. Also we had a 4th of July BBQ with a sweet older couple who didn't want us to miss out on what's going on in America!

Thursday we had another lesson with our investigator Japhet. We talked a lot about temples and why we have them. He said that he us excited to be able baptize people in the temple.. He's so golden! Also we had dinner with this family and it was hot outside and they are one of the few that have A/C here.. We mentioned that they are lucky they have it and the dad was like "Yeah but I don't believe in A/C"... What?!?!!

Friday we had a lunch appointment with this family that has 3 sets of twin girls all under the age of 7..yeah it was loud and a lot of screaming.. Lol!! We also had yet another lesson with Japhet where we went over the baptismal interview questions and retaught the plan of salvation! He is so excited to be baptized its so cool

Saturday was the absolute Gong Show! Now I'm gonna tell a story everyone.. So we are visiting this inactive family that we are teaching the 9 year old son for baptism. Anyway there's the Grandpa that speaks like no English because he's from El Salvador or something and he lives in the basement. The whole family dislikes this grandpa because he's just a trouble maker. So the 16 year old boy saw the Grandpa in his room so he went down and started yelling at him.. Then we heard some crashing and stuff so the Dad ran down to control the situation.. Well while he was separating the two, the boy grabbed grandpa's cane and smacked him in the eye with it! Well it started to gush blood and stuff, but long story short we got them a ride to the hospital and grandpa is doing fine.. His eye is OK, he just got a nasty cut on his eyelid! Geez! But glad he's ok.

Sunday was a lot of church.. Like a lot.. Ward councils and everything! But one of our awesome members had our investigators and friends over for dinner and invited us as well and it was so great to see members working so well supporting us in our work! Monday we had DTM and did service for someone until dinner. After dinner we had a last lesson with Japhet before his interview on Thursday! We read from the Book of Mormon and helped him apply for jobs! Day in the life of a missionary folks!! awesome!

For Pday today we went to Waterton (again) and did a hike and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Also I was so close to Montana but yet so far away.. Lol

Anyway that was my gong show of a week! I hope you are all doing fantastic and having a great time with everything y'all are doing! Talk to you all later!

Love,

Elder Sean

July 3, 2018 A good week!

Riding in a new Mustang/More lessons with Japhet!


Hey everyone! 

Some things have happened since my last email so I'll just get right into it!

Last Wednesday we helped this old guy clean up his pool area. It was hard work because we had to take off all the carpeting surrounding the pool and we sprayed it with water and scrubbed it. It took like 4 hours total but it was kinda fun! After that we had dinner with a family in Copperwood that Pyles knew and it was fun. We had Cafe Rio style burritos which were pretty good! And we ended the night having a correlation meeting in Sheran Park with the ward missionaries and the ward mission leader.

Thursday was the fun day! I got to take a ride in the Klines new Ecoboost

Mustang! They know how I love Mustangs so I insisted that I got a ride! So we put the top down and went for a rip! It just makes me want one even more now! Haha also we are planning on going to Waterton with them I think next P-Day so that should be awesome! They really are an awesome couple. Then we had dinner with this single mom and her child. She also invited her non member friend and her grandma who is totally against religion. Well we shared a lesson about how God sees the worth and potential in each one of us and they were all crying.. Well they ALL came to church on Sunday! How amazing is that?? So awesome.. Oh then we went to a mutual activity which was their summer party..

On Friday we helped with 2 moves! I'm telling you, people have too much stuff! By the time I come home I'm gonna be so fit! Lol we also had another lesson with Japhet which went great per usual. He's still on date to be baptized so we are starting to arrange that. He really is a golden investigator. Then we had dinner with Sister Sanderson who is a ward missionary. She is so awesome! She made burgers and brownies which was awesome. Saturday we had a few visits with families here and we also had another lesson with Japhet. It's great because he asks so many good questions and wants to know the organization of the church and what he's gonna do after baptism. He is so ready and I'm so excited!

Sunday was church.. And it was also Canada Day!! It's so weird hearing "O Canada" instead of our national anthem. The highlight of my night though was being able to go to Magrath and see Dylan (the 9 year old I taught) get baptized finally! I also stopped by the Bartons while I was there to visit them. Monday we didn't have any district meeting because the new mission president and wife are here now and we are having a meet and greet on Wednesday. I talked to him on the phone Saturday night and he sounds so awesome! We talked for like 15 minutes and his accent is so sweet.

Today for Pday I don't really know what we are gonna do. It's a cool 50 degrees and raining so I don't think we are gonna golf.. Maybe though.

Anyway it's good to hear from all of you and I pray for you all everyday! I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

Love,
Elder Snydog

June 26 2018 :)

Hey everyone!

Not a lot happened this week but I'll tell you about it!

So on Wednesday was my 6 month mark! So naturally I had to burn a tie.. I don't know why we do it but it's funny! It's hard to believe that 6 months of my mission is already gone. It honestly still feels like I just got here, but I feel more confident in my teaching and stuff.

Thursday we went to a young mens activity at the Lethbridge University here. We got a tour of the space program which was really cool! The guy giving the tour is LDS and he is more and more convinced everyday that God exists because of the complexity and infinitness of the universe. It was awesome to go to that. Oh also we put our investigator Japhet on date for baptism! He said if we think he's ready then he's ready.. So I was just like "Japhet, I know you are ready for this and you know you are ready also" so his date is set for July 14th! He's so awesome and so prepared for us!

Friday we had another lesson with Japhet and it went really good. Also our ward had a Chilli cook off and there was 25 pots of chilli that people brought!

Saturday we helped a family move out of Crossings and into Sheran Park ward, so we didn't lose them! They are really cool so we didn't want to lose them. After we got haircuts! I've lucked out so far with haircuts, but I know I'm gonna get a bad one someday!

Sunday was church so nothing to report there. After church Elder Allred and Sorenson came to our apartment to sleep over because Allred is going home on Wednesday. He's really awesome and it's sad to see him go! Monday we had DTM and after that we went to a members house so Pyles and Allred could lift weights and stuff. After that we went and did service for this family that is moving to BC. We took down their storage shelves and also cut their lawn that was pretty much a jungle. It was pretty fun to cut! Today we are of course going golfing again! Other than that idk what we are planning on doing.. It's always a mystery! Anyway as always I love hearing from everyone and I hope and pray that everyone stays safe and healthy. Talk to you all later!

Love,
Elder Snydog

June 19, 2018 :)

6 Month Mark Tomorrow!


Hey everyone! 

I hope you all have had a great week! So let me tell you about my week.

On Tuesday after I emailed we had a zone P-Day activity. Pretty much every companionship came with a game or sport that they wanted everyone to play. So we played things like glow in the dark volleyball, spikeball, stuff like that. It was a lot of fun actually, it's a nice change from the basketball and scatterball that they usually play! After dinner we had a "get to know you" lesson with someone in our area.. Turns out he isn't a member! That really shocked us but his wife is a member, and he asked us to come back and he's gonna see when he's off of work! It's awesome how somethings just seem to work out.

Wednesday morning we did yard work for a non member in the other elders area. It was so hard, her lawn was just rocks and she wanted plants dug out but there was hardly any dirt! Well after 2 hours we only managed to get 2 plants ripped out! We also did service for a member in our area who wanted rocks moved. So we hauled all the rocks out from under where her trampoline use to be and pulled up all of the landscaping tarp. Now she plans on filling it all in with grass so it should look super nice! We ended the night by going to a correlation meeting with Sheran Park ward missionaries.

Thursday we had a member visit with this inactive married couple. They knew why we were there and let us know why they don't come. He has a auto immune disorder where his immune system attacks itself. So he can be out in groups of people in fear of becoming very sick. They are such an awesome family and have so much faith but they really just can't come. Also we went to the youth night and they played football in the rain.. Which meant that we also played in the rain. I'm not one for football, but it was really fun to play with the youth and just have fun! Plus I got tackled by Elder Pyles and it was hilarious! Lol I'm okay though. Oh and we had elders from British Columbia who came and stayed with us for Zone Conference so that was awesome! I finally got to talk to Elder Tatton (my MTC companion) to see how he's been doing. It was a gong show having 6 elders in our small apartment and Elder Pyles and I hid our soda and good food from them! lol

Friday we had our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Miles. We talked a lot about the changes that are gonna happen with changing mission presidents. They literally have 2 hours with the new President! Only to inform them of the missionaries that have medical concerns! That's so crazy! But they are so awesome, they have both helped me so much in becoming a better missionary and learning how I can more effectively teach which is super awesome! They treat ever missionary like their own kid so they seem to be having a rough time thinking of leaving. We took a zone picture with them then signed a tablecloth with our names and dates of service. And we also hugged them goodbye because that's the last time we were going to see them most likely. That night we went to our zone leaders apartment and had a sleepover. Just because we were going to do service with them anyway in the morning.

Saturday we went to a cub scouts activity. We were assigned to different activities throughout the church that the cubs would come to and do that activity. Afterwards we played soccer with them which turned into intense tackle rugby! It was pretty much Elders against kids and it was so much fun! No one wanted to go home when their parents came to get them!

Sunday we went to church.... it was good! But it was Father's Day so we of course got the treats that are for the fathers (and potential fathers)  so that was cool! Haha

Monday we had DTM and after we had lunch at Costco.. It was awkward because I forgot they don't take visa and I didn't have cash.. So Elder Pyles had to pay for my food! What a good companion. Then we had a family home evening missionary activity that was done by our ward mission leaders. It was pretty cool, just showing people how to invite people to come to church and stuff

Tuesday (today) we went shopping for some food then went to the library to email. I couldn't finish mine that's why you're getting it later. After emailing we went to the mall for our free subway. Then we decided to go golfing which was awesome! We played 9 holes plus mini golf plus we tried out the driving range! It has been a lot of fun today so far! Anyway sounds like y'all are doing well! The Manti pageant is something I miss doing.

 I love hearing how everyone's doing and how Kaden is super cute! It makes my day looking at the pictures of him that I get!

 Christopher w Sean's new nephew

I show Kaden Seans pic all the time :)

Love you guys and stay safe! Until next week!

Love,

Elder Snydog (nickname Elder Lee game him)

June 12, 2018

President Nelson and Almost 6 Months?!?!

Hey Mom and Family!

So on Tuesday was our amazing trip to Waterton! I talked about that in the last email so I won't get into that again! But we did also get our bikes fixed up at the Masons house which was super nice of them!

Wednesday was a pretty normal day, just had appointments with members in Sheran Park Ward, they are super nice people! Its actually kinda strange because they didn't take to the sisters and no one would sign up for dinners! But when they found out that Elders took over they have all been signing up to feed us! We are completely booked for June! Thursday we had a lesson with one of our investigators Japhet, he is progressing really well! Then we just had more appointments with members in Sheran Park. 

Friday was pretty boring. The highlight was that we had dinner with our Stake President so that was cool. We also met even more awesome people here in Sheran Park! I'm convinced that Sheran Park is just awesome!

Saturday was super fun! We had a 8 year old baptism that we went to and we brought along Japhet and he loved it! I think he is beginning to understand why we do what we do, but he is the son of a Preacher so he is very religious. After the baptism we went to the Stake Sports Fest which was super fun! We got to meet a lot of cool people and play a lot of sports. We played badminton, softball, spike-ball, stuff like that! We also got to teach the stop smoking lesson to a members daughter who isn't a member. So far she is doing really well and not smoking! It really takes a lot to stop so I really admire her!

Sunday was the usual church from 7:30-4:30! We then had a amazing roast dinner with an older retired couple that was so good! The cool part of the day was being able to see the broadcast of President Nelson and his wife with Elder Rasband and his wife! They came to Raymond because his wife is from there! It was so cool to hear he message that he had specifically for the saints here in southern Alberta. He also left a special prophetic blessing on everyone there, so that was super cool! Then we had a correlation meeting with our ward mission leader in Crossings, and it was so fun! !

On Monday we had a lesson with another investigator named John. He is completely ready for baptism but he needs to get married to his common-law wife.. and he wants her to be baptized as well but she doesn't feel the same way as of right now..Later that night we went to a family home evening thing at the church, but no body showed up! It was depressing!

Today we went shopping and stuff for this next week. We are going to have 4 Elders staying at our apartment on Friday for zone conference because they are coming in from B.C. That's gonna be a gong show.. I have to hide my Mountain Dews! lol

Anyway It is good to hear about the things that are going on at home! I like being kept in the loop so keep doing that! I pray for you all everyday and hope you guys have opportunities to share the gospel with somebody! Something that I read this week that I absolutely love is Alma 58: 10-11! It talks about how through prayer we can gain strength and peace! I love it! Talk to you guys soon!

I am sure there is a good story here! lol

Love,

Elder Snydog