Email from Rusty 12/29/15 End Transfer 1 in Dawson Creek

Well it was the end of the transfer, so you know what that means..... :)

      Tuesday we had a lot of fun.  We had an awesome lesson with the Whitehead's after supper, and then we went and visited Mark.  He is a fantastic man, and he's very willing to learn more.  I'm excited to start teaching him!  

      Wednesday we had exchanges.  I went out to Fairview again with Elder Beutler. Last time I saw him was when he left Stettler right before I went to Yellowknife!  It was great.  We got in with a potential investigator named William, and we committed him to come to church.  It was awesome.  

      Thursday was Christmas Eve.  We had District Meeting, and for the district Elder Pollard and I bought a Subway platter and brought it for lunch after the meeting.  We had a ton of fun, and did a White Elephant thing as well.  It was so fun!  After that we went and we helped out with the fence some more.  It's taking a long time to get it up!  After that we went to Supper with Katie, a lady that works at the SPCA.  It was a great supper and they're all great people.  After that we went to see Joe.  We shared a simple Christmas message with him, and then Elder Pollard got to skype his family.  

      Friday was the best!  It was Christmas!!!!  I got to see mi familia again, so that was awesome.  Afterwards we went and visited Patrick in the hospital.  He's doing better than he was, but still not great.  We had lunch with Heather, one of the recent converts here in Dawson Creek.  It was awesome.  We had turkey and potatoes, and all that good stuff.  Then we went to a supper appointment, and had more Turkey, and Stuffing, and potatoes, and all that good stuff....  It was a lot of turkey.  Then we went and had a lesson with Nandon.  He's moving next week, so we were able to send all his information there so the missionaries there can teach him.  It was great.  Then we went to Sister Winfield's for dessert.  It was awesome.  I love Red Velvet Cake.  That's all I'm going to say.....  Then we went out to the Ward's for a message.  It was a really busy day, but it was one of the best Christmases ever!  

      Saturday we spent the whole day doing service and weekly planning.  It wasn't that exciting.  

       Sunday we had church, of course.  Jonathan, one of our investigators, brought his whole family to church!  It was great!  After church we went and shoveled Heather's deck.  It was good.  then we had a lesson with Shannon.  We talked about how "The Lord will consecrate all thy afflictions for thy good."  It was a really good lesson.  Sunday was a really good day.

      Monday was the exciting day....... Transfer Calls.  We got a call and Elder Pollard is going to serve in Red Deer.  I love that city.  It's awesome.  Then I found out that I'm going to Train!  I'm getting a brand new missionary.  It's going to be a ton of fun.  I don't know who it's going to be until Wednesday.  We had another Lesson with Shannon today, and Elder Pollard said goodbye to her.  We had a lesson with Jonathan as well.  He's awesome.  He's reading and praying everyday.  and he's come to church every week for 3 weeks now!  He's a very solid investigator.  Then we had supper with Willie and Bev.  The Whitehead's were there as well.  We had a sweet lesson on faith.  We talked about how faith is central to everything that we do.  If we don't have faith, then why do we do it?  

      This week marks the end of 2015.  If there's anything I've learned on my mission so far, it's to not be afraid of the future.  The new year can and will bring many adventures.  Look up the Mormon Message New Year's: Look Not Behind Thee.  It's a great video.  We don't have to be scared of the future, and we don't have to look longingly on the past.  Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.  That's all we need to do!  I hope you all have a great week!  

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Rusty Lofthouse

Run. Run.  Never look Back!

-Black Veil Brides

Email from Elder Lofthouse 12/22/15 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

This week was one of the best weeks ever.  You'll know why soon enough.  

      So Tuesday was awesome.  We did the normal  stuff.  Clean stuff, clean more stuff, and then shopped and emailed.  It was good.  After that we went to the Hills' for supper.  We had some awesome spaghetti. After supper we drove out to Hythe, Alberta to exchange with the Zone Leaders.  I went to Grande Prairie with Elder Petersen.  I haven't seen Elder Petersen since I got transferred out of Cherry Grove.  That was back in March that I left there!  We drove to Grande Prairie, and went to bed.  

Grand Prairie Zone and Fort McMurry Elders at the Edmonton Temple

      Wednesday was awesome.  Elder Petersen and I went to teach JP, a recent convert there.  We talked about Home-teaching, and the responsibilities associated with it.  He said he's super excited to be a home teacher!  After that we went and practiced a song that we were going to sing at Christmas Conference.  Turns out I was going to sing the Alto part...... in the same octave as the Sisters.  haha.  So that was cool.  We went and had supper with some members, and then we went back to practice with the whole group.  It was Elders Thomas, Pollard, and Killebrew on Bass.  Elder Finch, and Sister Nipko on Tenor, Me on Alto, and Sisters Schafer, Alldredge, and Scott on soprano.  It was awesome.  I ended up soloing it on the alto part.  

      Thursday was the best day of the week.  We drove down to Edmonton for Christmas conference.  I got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen since the Red Deer days!  It was a blast.  After the conference, We Got to go to the Temple!  I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!!!  It was the highlight of my life.  The Edmonton Temple is gorgeous.  It's small, but it's awesome.  I loved it.  It was the greatest experience I've had on my mission so far.  That night we went and stayed the night in Edmonton with the Assistants.  It was fun.  

      Friday we drove back from Edmonton to Dawson Creek.  Usually it's a 6 hour drive, but the weather said otherwise.  It took us 8 hours to get there.  After that we helped set up for the Christmas party, and all that fun stuff.  It was mostly driving.  

      Saturday was fun.  We had a correlation meeting with Jason, and then we went to the SPCA to volunteer.  While we were there, one of the Ladies that works there invited us to Christmas Eve supper at her house!  It was awesome.  So we're going to go and see what happens!  After the SPCA we went and finished setting up the Christmas party, and then it happened.  It was a lot of fun.  There were a ton of nonmembers and less active members!  I met people that I hadn't met before that we're going to try and stop by soon.  It was awesome.  

      Sunday we had 2 investigators come to church!  It was really good.  After church we went and dropped off a gift somebody had for Shannon, and then we finished weekly planning.  After that we had supper at the Wheat's.  It was really good.  After that we picked up Andy, a member here, and we went and visited Heather, the other Recent Convert.  It was great.  Andy helped in the lesson quite a bit.  after the lesson we saw a glorious sight..... the Northern Lights!  I have not seen them for a while, and they were a much needed sight.  They weren't as bright or colorful as the ones up in Yellowknife, but they were still gorgeous.  It was great.  

      Monday we drove out to Alberta in the morning.  We had a lesson with Blair, an investigator out there.  He's a very stubborn man, but we'll keep on working with him.  Then we went to Sister Travis' for lunch.  It was a really good lunch.  It was meatloaf with Bison instead of Beef.  When we got back to BC we played secret santa for a bunch of people.  We delivered gifts for 3 different people.  It was a lot of fun.  We had a really good week.  

      I love the Temple so much.  I know I've said it a bunch on my mission, but this week I got to go, so It's fresh on my mind.  The peace and joy that we feel there in the Temple is just a taste of what heaven will be like.  I don't know about you, but I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that I'm there.  I don't want to miss out on something like that!  During this Christmas season, try to keep the feelings of love and peace we get in the Temple in our everyday lives, and then try to help somebody else feel it as well.  It's the best thing ever!  

      Have a wonderful week and MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Rusty Lofthouse

Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.  If one only remembers to turn on the light.

-Albus Dumbledore

Email from Elder Lofthouse 12/15/15 Walking on Sunshine

This week was pretty fun, nothing too crazy happened, but it was good anyway!  

      Tuesday we did our normal stuff, and afterwards nobody answered the door, so it was not a super productive day.  It was still good though.  

      Wednesday we helped out Willie and Richard with the fence again.  We finally have some idea of what's happening there, so it was fairly organized this time, and we got a lot done.  Willie took us out to a Chinese Buffet called Meng Fans.  It was awesome.  I love Chinese food!  After that we drove out to Rolla, a little town about 20 minutes northeast of Dawson Creek.  We helped Brother Johnston split some wood and then we had supper with the Johnston's.  They're great.  I love the ward here.  After supper, we drove back and had a lesson with Shannon Miller, a recent convert here.  We talked about why we need a Savior.  Without Christ this life would straight up suck.  The more I study it and teach about it, the more I appreciate what Christ did for us!  He gave us hope, peace, love, and everything else good in the world.  It was a really good day.  

      Thursday we had a skype district meeting in the morning.  It was really good, as always.  We talked about how the Spirit is the key in conversion.  After lunch, we stopped by a potential investigator named Ryan.  He let us in, and we taught him the Restoration!  It's going to be a lot of fun teaching him, because he has some interesting beliefs.  So we picked up one new investigator!  After Ryan we went and taught Guy.  We talked about not "procrastinating the day of your repentance".  He knows exactly what it is he needs to do, he just doesn't want to do it right now!  It's kind of frustrating, but we'll keep working on it. Then we drove out to a less active's house to set up an appointment.  After supper we went to Sister Winfield's to help her put up some Christmas lights.  When we got there, Cheng, a potential investigator, was there!  So we taught the Restoration, and Cheng said she'd get baptized when she got an answer!  It was awesome.  Then we helped Sister Winfield with her lights.  It was a fantastic day!  2 new investigators!!!  

      Friday was really boring..... We did weekly planning.  After that, we went and helped Willie just a little more with the fence.  It's almost done though.  After that we went and we taught Heather, the other recent convert.  We read through a little bit of the Book of Mormon with her.  It was really good.  The rest of the day was kind of bleh.  

      Saturday, we went and we helped out at the Salvation Army.  It was loads of fun, just like always.  After that we stopped by a couple of former investigators, but nobody was home.  After that we stopped by Cheri's.  We helped her move in a couple of weeks ago, and we were going to see if we could teach her.  Turns out, it was her birthday!  There was a bunch of people there, and she gave us some food. It was hilarious because Elder Pollard had been complaining that he was hungry literally 5 minutes before we got there.  Haha.  The Lord does provide!  After that we went to Joe's.  He's so awesome.  We shared the A Savior is Born video, and talked about Christmas.  It was great.  After that, we decided to go Tracting.  We met a nice old lady who was not interested at all.  The spirit then prompted us to offer service, and she perked up.  She said she'd give us a call later!  After that we went to the Ward's.  We talked about how to recognize the Spirit.  It was a really good lesson.  I love it here.  

      Sunday was incredible!  We had ward council in the morning, and then one of Bishop Toth's friends came to church!  We were able to set up a lesson for later in the week with him.  It was great.  Then we went and had another lesson with Guy.  This time we talked about how we need to surrender our will to God's will.  It was good, and we started a fast with him.  Later in the evening we went to Shannon's for a visit.  We talked about sacrificing things we want for what the Lord wants us to do.  God always knows better than us!  We set up another appointment for later in the week with a less active member.  

      Monday was pretty good.  We did our usual Salvation Army service, and then we picked up Willie and went to visit Brenda, a less active member.  We read part of 3 Nephi 13 and the introduction to the Book of Mormon with her.  She loves the Book of Mormon, and it's awesome.  We committed her to read it more every day and to come to church on sunday.  After that lesson we went back and had another lesson with Guy.  It went well, and I think that he's starting to seriously consider baptism.  After lunch we went tracting, and then we went to Family Home Evening at Shannon's.  It was us, the Whitehead's, Shannon and her kids, Sister Winfield, and Willie.  It was awesome.  We had a super cool Christmas message, and invited everybody to do some random service for somebody this week.  It was a lot of fun.  

      This week I figured out that if you read 5 chapters of scripture a day, you will have the Standard Works read in less than a year!  There are 1547 chapters in the Scriptures.  Reading the scriptures every day has made me more happy, and more sensitive to the spirit.  I love them.  I just want to challenge everybody to read at least 1 verse of scripture a day.  It's not hard, and it will make all the difference in your lives!  

I love you all, and Hope you have a good week!  

Hugs and Handshakes!

Elder Rusty Lofthouse

Alma 37: 44  For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point them a straight course to the promised land. 

Email from Elder Lofthouse 12/8/15

So some crazy stuff happened.  You'll find out more at the end of the email.  HA!

      Tuesday was pretty good.  We did all our normal P-day stuff, and then we had supper with the Whiteheads.  It was awesome.  We had tacos, which are probably my favorite food.  After that we helped Brother Whitehead build a couple of beds that he got for his kids.  it was really good.  Afterwards we stopped by to see Guy, but he wasn't there.  So we went and had a really cool lesson with Willie and Bev, some members here.  They're great people.  It was awesome.  

      Wednesday was a crazy fun service filled day.  We went to the Salvation Army in the morning to help out at the thrift store.  We hung up clothes.  That was all.   It was still pretty fun.  We got to talk to a lady there who came from India!  It was really cool.  After that Sister Winfield took us to a restaurant called Sam's Kitchen.  It was really good.  We had a whole bunch of Filipino food!  It was really good.  After that we helped out Willie with some Christmas lights, and then we went to Shannon's to help her fix a bed. After we had the bed fixed, we had a lesson on service with her.  It was really cool.  Sister Winfield then called, asking for help getting some boxes down from her top shelf.  So we went and helped, and then we went to the Hills' for supper.  While we were there I ate something that was awesome.  I ate Cougar!  That's right, I ate Cosmo's Canadian cousin.  haha.  It was really good.  We had a lesson with them on service,  It was a ton of fun.

      Thursday was awesome.  We had a skype District meeting in the morning.  I love technology.  It was great.  After District meeting we went and helped Willie and Richard build a fence.  We had to dig through some solid, frozen ground.  It was pretty cool.  Then we had supper with the Langmuirs.  It was really cool, and we had a sweet lesson.  It was just a fun day.  

      Friday we helped Willie with the fence again.  It was awful.  We had to pound the posts into the ground through about six inches of frozen ground.  it was really tiring.  Afterwards we went and visited Joe, a less active member.  He wanted a blessing, so we gave him one, and then we did weekly planning the rest of the day.  

      Saturday was fun.  We had an awesome lesson with Joe.  We read President Packer's final witness in the December Ensign.  It was incredible.  Then we went to the mall to sing carols with some people, but nobody was there!  We did meet a lady named Sandy, from Fort St. John.  It was cool.  We'll get the Missionaries up there in contact with her!  Later we had a lesson with Richard, Jan, and Judy.  We talked about Enduring to the End.  It was really cool.  Great day.

      Sunday was incredible.  We had a lesson with a New investigator named David.  It was so cool.  We got him on date for Jan 2nd.  It was incredible.  After Church, we drove out to Chetwynd again.  We did some tracting, and we got a return appointment again!  Then we went with Brother Gorner out to Moberly Lake, which is about 45 minutes from Chetwynd, to visit Nellie, a less active member.  It was really cool.  We talked about the Holy Ghost.  More specifically how to recognize it.  It was a really cool lesson.  Afterwards, we had supper with the Gorners, and watched the Christmas Devotional with them!  And then they sang happy birthday to me.  It was awesome.  This ward is great.  

      Monday was a cool day.  We went to the Salvation Army in the morning.  We did everything!  Hung clothes, sorted hangers, and took donations for the thrift store!  Then we had an awesome lesson with Guy.  We talked about our divine potential as Children of God.  He knows he has to get baptized now, and I think he'll set a date soon!  We drove out to Pouce Coupe, a small town 10 minutes outside Dawson Creek to visit David.  When we got out there, he told us he didn't want to get baptized or go to church anymore!  It was devastating.  It's so sad to see people reject the Spirit and walk away.  It was sad.  We went and had a lesson with Bikrum later.  We taught the Plan of Salvation, and he understood most of it, and he loved it!  It was really cool.  We had supper with Willie, and then we went to Amber's for a lesson.  We taught about humility.  It was really cool, and I think she finally sees the need to come to church again!  

      So this week we got news from President Manion.  Here's What he said

      "Three years ago when President Monson announced the change in ages for missionaries, MTC time had to be reduced from three week to two for native language missionaries to accommodate the increase in the number of missionaries. As most of you have heard, the missionary department recently announced beginning March 1, 2016 that the time native language missionaries are at the MTC will be taken back to three weeks, as it was before the age change. One of the impacts of this change is that release dates need to be correspondingly adjusted. For our mission the release dates for all missionaries going home after March 1st have been extended by one week."

      So turns out instead of going home December 1st, I'll be home December 8th.  Which means I'll have 3 birthdays on my mission!  Cool, eh?  haha.  It's just one more week that I get to serve the Lord!    

     This week I studied a lot on Enduring to the End.  A lot of people I've talked to think Enduring to the End is just hanging on!  It's so much more than that!  I learned that the Hebrew word which Endure comes from mean "To make Everlasting and Omnipotent".  I looked up the definition to Omnipotent, and it means "having unlimited power, able to do anything."  That's so much more than just hanging in there!  It is probably the most sanctifying principle in the gospel!  When we allow the atonement to take effect in our lives, we change to become more like our Savior.  We start to be able to do more than we could.  Eventually, when we Endure to the End, We'll be able to do anything!  We will become Omnipotent!  It's the coolest thing ever.  Have a wonderful Week!  

Love you lots!

Elder Rusty Lofthouse

Email from Elder Lofthouse 12/1/15 Dawson Creek...Wishing it was a Winter Wonderland

On Tuesday, we did our normal P-day stuff.  We cleaned, shopped, washed the car, emailed all you people, and all that fun stuff.  It was good.  We went Tracting after all that, and the last door we knocked a guy named Ryan answered, and we were able to set a return appointment!  It was great.  Then we went to the Whiteheads for supper.  They're both from England, and my companion is from Australia, so I was the only one at the table without a cool accent.... haha.  It was a pretty awesome supper.  The rest of the night nothing too crazy happened.  

      Wednesday we went on Exchanges.  It was the first exchange I've gone on since before I went to Yellowknife, so it was a cool experience.  I went to Fairview, which is about an hour north of Grande Prairie.  It was really fun.  Elder Chadsey and I went tracting later in the evening, and we got 4 potential investigators right in a row!  It was incredible.  It was a really fun day.  

      Thursday was super fun.  We had district meeting in the morning, and then we went to contact some potential investigators.  We talked to a lady named Jackie.  She's super cool, and she was telling us some of the things she was going through in her life.  The spirit prompted me to tell her that the Book of Mormon can help through all trials and tribulations in life.  When I told her that she got kind of teary-eyed and said she'd read it!  It was super cool.  Later we talked to a guy on the street we were tracting on.  He said he was a Jewish Christian.  Very interesting.  We got to talking, and he started telling us how Joseph Smith didn't meet all of the qualifications for a prophet that are set out in the Torah.  Elder Pollard and I both testified of modern day prophets, but to no avail.  He just wasn't willing to listen to what we had to say.  It was an interesting experience.  We had supper at Sister Wilson's after that, and had a lesson with Nandan.  He's a super solid investigator.  Turns out he's moving in a couple of months, but he's said he'll be baptized wherever he moves too.  So that's good  Then we went to a Less active family's place and shared Elder Holland's talk "Behold, Thy Mother".  It was a super cool lesson.  

      Friday was awesome.  We helped Brother Otto move his wood stove in the morning.  It's a good size stove as well. Weekly planning then ensued.  It's sometimes a little tedious, but it's good.  After weekly planning, we drove out to Chetwynd to do some work.  We ate supper at the Chapel in Chetwynd.  There used to be a branch, but it got shut down. I don't know why, but it did. :(  So we tried by a potential named Norma.  She wasn't home, so we went tracting!  We talked to a guy named Sean.  He was awesome.  He and his family were super nice, and they told us to try by another time.  After that, we stopped by the Gorners, some members that live out in Chetwynd.  It was great.  Sister Gorner gave us a couple of referrals to go try out.  One was her next door neighbor.  We went and knocked on the door, and Wayne answered.  He study Theology in school, and it went south real quick.  We kept trying to bear testimony and leave, but he wouldn't let us get a word in.  It was quite frustrating, but it solidified my testimony of living prophets again.  

      Saturday we drove to Grande Prairie for Interviews.  President Manion is awesome.  Interviews took way longer than we thought were going too, so we were kind of rushed getting back.  When we got back to Dawson Creek, we went and visited a Recent Convert named Shannon.  We taught about the atonement and it was awesome.  She asked us for a blessing at the end, and it was a super cool experience on my mission.  I'm so grateful for the Priesthood and how it blesses all people.  Afterwards we got a call from Joe, a less active member.  He also wanted a blessing, so we went and gave him one.  Again, it blesses all people.  They both committed to coming to church!  After that we went and stopped by another Potentials house.  He let us in and a couple of his roommates joined in!  They're all from Asia, so it's going to be interesting teaching people without a christian background.  It'll be a ton of fun!  At the end of the night we met with an Investigator named Guy.  We taught about how faith grows when we study the scriptures and pray daily.  And that's what he committed to do!  It was really fun.  

      Sunday Elder Pollard and I both spoke.  They both went really well, and both Shannon and Joe were there!  It was great.  There were also 2 nonmembers there!  We talked to both of them, and next week they should be investigating!  So it was great.  In sunday school, Brother Wry gave a killer lesson on the Plan of Salvation and the hope that it gives to us.  It was super cool.  Priesthood was on keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  Then we joined the Choir.  After we went and had a talk with Sister Winfield.  She had brought a friend to church, and we set up a time for us and Sister Winfield to go and teach her later in the week!  We went and had supper with the Ottos.  It was really good.  We had candied carrots, which kind of defeats the purpose of carrots, but it was awesome.  Then we went and had a lesson with Amber.  We taught step 6 of the ARP.  It went really well, and we committed her to come to church next week.  it was good.  

      Monday we drove out to Alberta to do some work.  Part of the ward lives out there, and we had a bunch of referrals to contact out there.  We talked to a lady named Valerie.  She said she'd give us a call sometime to have us over.  We had lunch with Sister Travis, a member who lives out that way.  It was really good.  Afterwards we went and visited the Friesens.  Sister Friesen is a member, but her husband is not.  It was a really interesting visit.  He's willing to let us teach him, but I don't know how willing he is to change.  We'll see!  After we got back to Dawson Creek, Sister Winfield asked us to help her friend move.  So we did.  While we were there, Sister Winfield's son, Alex, was asking us questions.  Again, it went south.  It's really hard to teach people that aren't willing to change.  He's a good guy, and with time the Lord will soften his heart.  After moving, we went to Shannon's for FHE.  It was great.  We taught the Law of Chastity after supper.  It was a really good lesson.  The spirit was so strong.  It was all around a great week!  

      So this Thursday marks one year that I left home and started this incredible journey.  It's been hard, and there's been lots of challenges, but it has been the best year of my life.  I've truly come to know that the beauty of life comes through the ups and downs.  We have the hard times so we can grow and learn and come to appreciate the good times even more.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  I hope everybody will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  I know that if you ask in faith, you will come to know the truthfulness of it.  I hope that this next year is even better than this one, even though it'll be hard to beat!  I love you all and I hope you all have a fantastic week!  

Hugs and Handshakes

Elder Rusty Lofthouse