14 December 2015

Hello everybody!! Once again, transfers have arrived and it has come (thankfully) pretty fast!! This past week FLEW by and i don't even know where it went!!! If the rest of my mission goes like that... i don't even know!! But like i said, this transfer has come and gone quickly, and the knowledge that i don't have to do another one like it... YYEESSSS!!!!!!! Sanchez is is heading out of the city, and imma get a new comp.!! crazy because as of right now, i have no clue who it could be. the spanish program is getting SUPER switched up and it's looking like it'll be fun!! so i'm SUPA stoked to see what's gonna happen at transfers. Not to mention that the stake boundaries changed up last week too!! originally all the zones were organized based on stake boundaries, but now there's a NEW stake and like every other stake had it's boundaries changed.. CRAZY EH??? So this transfer will be quite the show!!! i've been waiting for this for quite some time i must admit :) Anyways, so this past week... it was AWESOME!!! two of our investigators cancelled our appointments, we had a lesson with some investigators who we haven't met with in like 4 WEEKS (I'll tell more in a bit), we picked up ANOTHER investigator, and our less-actives are progressing like CRAZY!!!! I must admit, i came in here feeling pretty bummed, but when i heard the news of transfers and when i look at what we've accomplished this week, i literally have nothing to be worried about.. SO DOPE!!!! This has been my best area so far and i hope it continues working after the native spanish speaker leaves.. haha! but if you have the spirit AS A COMPANIONSHIP and you put forth the effort, the Lord promises blessings :) So, the 4 weeks people!! We had our first lesson like for ever ago, and they've been cancelling every week since then and we've been pretty bummed about it. So on Thursday, we called them and were like "hey, do you think we could meet some time before you guys leave?" and we set up an appointment for yesterday, and it went AWESOME!!!! We taught about the restoration, and throughout the lesson, he was asking questions and really paying attention, and while he would be talking or we'd be explaining something and while we were talking, she was over there reading the pamphlet!! After the lesson, we invited them to pray and think about everything we've talked about and taught and he was like "yeah, i know i probably haven't been praying like i should have, but it's just hard because sometimes you feel like you just don't get answers," so we told him about how if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, then you can move mountains, and he really liked that :) we asked him to ask someone to offer the prayer of if he wanted, he could do it, and let me tell you, that was the most heartfelt, amazing investigator prayer i've ever heard.. seriously, he has such sincere desire and he is really searching for the truth and we're so excited for them both :) Another AMAZING story is that some sisters up here in Airdrie passed off a Spanish referral to us.. he's a guy who's been taught by the previous English sisters, but when these ones got here, they immediately recognized that he hadn't been progressing the way he should have been because he has good English, but he isn't fully retaining what he's been taught. He didn't even have a Spanish Book of Mormon!! So we came up on Saturday to join the lesson with the sisters and meet him and make the transition a little easier, and even though he had only had a BOM in English, he had totally read a pretty good amount of it!! He asked us about the story with Nephi having to kill his boss, so we explained that to him and a couple other things, and a bit about who Joseph Smith is, and he's SO AWESOME!!! He works in the oil industry, so he works 3 weeks, and has 2 weeks off. After the lesson, we asked if there was another time we could meet, and he said "well, i leave Monday afternoon to go back to work, so if you guys can come, Monday morning would be great." HOLY COW!!!! he's leaving TODAY, and he wants to meet before he goes back to work. This guy has real intent, and i'm really excited to keep teaching him :) he even came to church up here on Sunday!! so we're emailing now so we can have the lesson with him and get back to Calgary for our shopping and p-day. So I'm pretty stoked for that and i'm sure he'll start progressing really well now that he fully understands what is being taught :) also, on Saturday, we went to an English ward's christmas party to try and scope out the Spanish peeps in English wards, and TOTALLY FOUND SOME!!!! we went and started talking with them and they're super dope!! i went and introduced myself to them and sat with them, told them i'm from Texas, and they're like "oh, so you spoke spanish before the mission and you just want to practice?" i was like nope, i'm actually from the spanish ward and we just came here to visit the english ward party. then they were like oh! but your spanish is pretty good. how long have you been out? "umm just over a year." I gots to say guys, my spanish has been improving SO MUCH this transfer!!! i don't know how because Sanchez very rarely speaks spanish to me, but i've been catching myself thinking in spanish A LOT and i've had to sop myself several times from speaking to english people in spanish.. haha! i've forgotten how to say even a few things in english!!! i'm pretty happy about that tbh :) that's not all the nice things that happened this week and none of the negative ;) but it's been a FAST FLIPPIN WEEK!!!!! i gots to go because i need to try and reply to a few other emails before we head to our lesson, but i love you guys!!! i'm loving being out here and learning constantly and this is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity that i'm glad i took :) TTYL!!! Love, Elder Levi Windham

7 December 2015

Hey everyone!!! It's been a pretty good week and i ju st want to say HOLY COW I"VE BEEN GONE FOR OVER A YEAR!!!!!!! SO the work has been tredging along. Again, all of our investigators cancelled our appointments :/ but that doesn't mean i didn't have some good experiences still!! :) We met with the 3 less-active kids last week. All 3 were there, and it was a pretty good lesson :) we talked again about working on things spiritual, but primarily about acting on faith and doing things to build your faith. We talked about reading the book of mormon and how important it is. We told them at the end of the lesson that by the time we come back next time, we want them to have read and thought about something in the book of mormon, and we're going to talk about it with them. The oldest son didn't seem too overly enthusiastic, but they all accepted. We're seriously trying to work really hard with these kids. Like for reals, we teach them so much and go through so much to try and get them to ACT, but they're so absorbed in video games and just doing nothing that they aren't willing to progress, and it SUCKS :/ however, if anything, we're planting a seed that when they get older, they'll look back and think about everything and they'll start to have a change of heart because they know how much we love them and want the best for them and how much their father does for them to help them be happy and do what they want.. All in time, RIGHT?? haha Ok...... So i totally forgot my journal and this week flew by SO fast, and i can't seem to recall anything else really.. How lame eh??? haha but if time flies, that means i' having a good time right? ;) but back to the whole year thing.... HOLY COW!!! I just wanna bare a little testimony real quick :) like seriously, literally, a year ago today, i was in the MTC thinking that this point seemed forever away.. but now, it's actually here, and where has the time gone??? i had the chance to bare my testimony in a zone conference recently and i spoke about how i've been out for a year.. It's weird and sometimes depressing that some missionaries will be out for 2, 3 months and have a baptism, and i've been out for now over a year and haven't had a single one... and you know what? I'm not overly defeated! Like i can say that the mission has changed my life in more ways than i can count. I have developed more Christlike attributes and come closer to my savior more than EVER before. I used to REFUSE to say the mission is sometimes for the missionary more than anyone else, and i would NOT accept that to be true for me. I remember having almost a loathing feeling when i would think about that.. But now, looking back, and seeing the changes that have happened, and the growth i have experienced, i can say that to this point, the mission has been more for me than anyone else... Yes, i have helped a lot of people along the way, but where i see the biggest change in maturity and spirituality is in me. I am no longer the person i was before. i have changed for the better in almost every aspect of my life. i look at people differently, i think differently, i have different struggles, i worry less about the minor things, i learn to cope better with certain situations.. I've grown just so much, and i'm proud to say that this mission has been for me the whole time. Others will be blessed along the way, but i now have a FIRM testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His role in my life and the life of others. To have the opportunity to share that message with others brings me such happiness, and i thank my Father in Heaven every day for this life changing opportunity. I also thank each and every one of you for the influence you've had in my life. Some have helped me see the things i should do and shouldn't do, some have had a bigger role than others, but everyone who will read this message, i can assure that YOU have helped me in some positive way, and i thank YOU for what you have done :) I stinkin love you guys, and will probably give most of you a hug by this time next year...... WOW!!!! Can't believe i've been gone that long already.. I love you guys!! Have a great week and talk to you laterz! Love, Elder Levi Windham

30 November 2015

Hi there everyone!!!! Another week down in the "Great Canada Calgary Mission" and almost 365 days since i left behind my life to come serve the Lord for 2 years and learn more about myself than i EVER expected.. I LOVE IT!!! We taught all of our investigators except Harvey and Rosio..... ok, frustrating story about him!! So Sanchez is, well, a native spanish speakers from a Latino country, so people automatically like him because of that, and when he gives people our number, he ALWAYS gives it as if it his HIS number, and they ask for the name to put, and he says Elder Sanchez, so they think it's like his number and they'll be talking with him when they call.. So we tried to confirm our appointment for yesterday, and Harvey had to call us back later in the day and when he did, I answered and he's like "hola Nicolas, como esta??" and i'm like (in spanish) "oh sorry, this is Elder Windham" he's like sorry? "yes, this is elder windham.." who? "elder windham, the companion on elder Sanchez." oh ok.... then he told us that he couldn't meet yesterday, and while he was talking, at some random point, he switched to speaking English...... DUDE!!!!! i'm speaking spanish with you, i'm responding to what you say IN SPANISH, and you're gonna speak English? Sanchez was busting up laughing over on the couch because because we both know that he spoke spanish because, well, i'm white, and english is my first language.... Well at the end of the conversation, we were gonna call him back later in the week to see when they were available, and he's like "yeah, maybe when i call, i can talk to Sanchez." grrrrrr i HATE the latino bond that they all have because he shares similar countries and language with them and whatever. It's nice to be with a latino companion, but it's annoying that they obviously like him more just because he's latino, and it's so annoying..... Oh, Sanchez the tree, oh sanchez the Uruguayo, oh Sanchez the soccer player.. Bleh, thanks for giving us dinner everyday, but would you if he wasn't here? pretty dang annoying.. anyways, i ain't complaining am i? ;) haha! Just one of those things you gotta get through on the mission and learn from.. why can't i be browner?? i AM a quarter Mexican, soooo.... haha! whatevs, i'm learning from all of this so that's good :P We met with Maricel and were gonna meet with Tatian and Juan, but Juan wasn't there, so it was just Tatiana and the member we brought. But we taught them both the Restoration, and they both accepted it really good!! When we asked Maricel if she'd be baptized if she received confirmation that the BOM was true and the church was true, she said possibly.. so that's pretty good!! She's actually reading and praying sometimes she says, so if she reads the book of mormon and keeps praying, we think she'll most likely be baptized :) then when we asked Tatiana, she said probably yes!!!! So she's doing WAY good, and asked a lot of good questions at the end of the lesson and she continues liking all the answers and she's doing really good :) Also, on Saturday, there was a cultural night thing where the different members from different countries did some of their traditional dances and had little stands with food from their countries and it was SUPA FUN!!! At the end, they just cleaned up all the chairs and put on some music and had a little dance thing and we're like NOPE!! time to go!! haha but it was super cool, and a TON of nonmembers came and we talked with a ton of them and it was a really good activity to get nonmembers to and meet them :) we're gonna try and talk to the members who had friends come and see if we can get them to get there friends to start taking lessons :) great finding opportunity!! So yeah, pretty normal week.. I hope Y'ALLS was fun!! I love you guys and can't wait to talk to you on Christmas!! There was already a member who invited us and the other companionship of elders to come to their house on Christmas, so hopefully it'll be god Christmas food and they'll have more than one computer so we don't have to all 4 try and use the same one.. we'll see!! Have a great week everyone and i'll talk to you laterz!! Love, Elder Levi Windham

23 November 2015

Hi everybody!!! I hope you've all had an awesome week because i have!!! Of course, things are always getting better and (pretty much) always looking promising :) For starters, i got to see my first temple rededication!!! The Montreal, Quebec temple was rededicated yesterday so all normal church services were cancelled!! But we went to the final session at 1, and lemme tell you, i flippin LOVED IT!!!!! seriously though, the spirit was for reals so flippin strong, and it made me want SO BAD to go back to the temple!!!!! It's been way too long since i've gone :( however, we live pretty close to it here in Calgary, so i just have to wait until next transfer to go with Sanchez since he went last transfer already :P But yeah, that was a super spiritual experience and a good tear jerker and i really liked it a lot and am so thankful for the chance i had to see it :) Oh, also, as i said last week, i past my "one year left" mark this past week...... Eh, not too huge, but i'm halfway this week until i'm done O.o CRAY CRAY!!!!! see you guys in a year ;) haha! So something weird this week was some members asked us to come give a blessing to a baby.. not a huge deal, but the kid isn't part of a member family, and the parents TOTALLY have no clue we gave it a blessing... They wanted us to give it a blessing of wellness (ok) and also the blessing they do in sacrament meeting where they give the baby a name..... HUH???? Yeah, they wanted us to do a "baby blessing" to a kid who's parents 1) aren't members, and 2) had noclue we were doing anything at all.... I was like uuhhhhhh i don't think we're really supposed to do that... So we didn't :P So there are some less-active kids we are working with who play WAY too much video games, and we taught them this week and it went pretty good we believe!! The dad is really solid and bore his testimony a couple times throughout the lesson, and you could see in the eyes of the kids that they were like thinking about it this time. The oldest one is kinda the worst one of them. I looked at him a few times throughout and i could see the gears really turning and it was a pretty nice thing to see. We talked pretty much about how this life passes, and after this, we have what we did in this life and our testimonies, and how we need to really work on strengthening our testimonies and reading the scriptures, because THAT is where we find happiness and protection from the world, not in some man-made entertainment made to distract us from all things reality and important. It was a super good lesson and it was nice that we prepared for it too and were ready :) We ALSO had a lesson with another less-active guy and his (active) wife. We were going to talk about Nephi's vision and the scriptures, but when we started talking about it, we discovered he had NO idea what the vision was and like totally hasn't read the BOM through. We came to the conclusion after a bit that he was baptized as a kid, but maybe his parents divorced and he lived with his dad who wasn't super active in the church... I feel like i've met a lot of cases like that and it's almost always the guy who was weak and not founded in the gospel so he fell away after a time :/ Anyways, it was also a really good lesson and he was SUPER attentive the whole time!! When we were getting ready to go, he asked his wife like "hey when's the next time we can have them come over?" SO AWESOME!!!!!! That was also a super good lesson and made me really appreciate being out here :) Oh, so sometimes it's ACTUALLY cold now!! We went area book contacting the other day, and DANG it was nippy outside! like it was only -9 C, but we were outside walking around for about 3 hours, and after 3 hours, you really stop being able to use your fingers if you don't have good gloves... Haha!! but that was fun and fetching cold. I've been really trying to think of what we can say to people who are like "yeah, we're already Catholic but thanks anyways." Like how do you get them to see that it's good to be christian, but it's more than just believing, because this church isn't just a church where you belive in Jesus Christ, this is HIS church.. But you have to do that in like 30 seconds or less and you can't hurt their feelings and you still get them interested... Hmmmmmm any suggestions? Anywes, my spanish is getting better and better and i LOVE IT!!!! just last night, at the end of comp. prayer, Sanchez got up and was like "good spanish." tehe. YEAH BUDDY!! So yuppers, i love you guys and i hope you're all have a FANTASTIC time :) take care!! Love, Elder Levi Windham

16 November 2015

Howdy doody y'all!!!! It's been another week here in Calgary North, and lemme tell you............ It's been ight!!! We totally have like 5 investigators (2 couples and a single lady) who are all pretty stinkin solid!! We had a lesson with Maricel on friday and it was pretty nice!! It was the first time i met her but they had a lesson with her a week prior on exchanges. Sicne the last visit, they asked her to pray about what they'd talked about, and she had been doing it!!! We shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with her, and asked if she would be baptized if she received an answer, and she hesitated a bit... but then i told her that we know it's a hard choice to make and big change, but that as she prayed for help and guidance, Heavenly Father would give her strength and and she would know that she's making the right decision, and she was like "yeah, that's true, i'l definitely be thinking and praying about it." SO AWESOME!!!! She's pretty solid if i do say so myself :) We also had a lesson with a younger couple who are from Mexico. Super nice people. They have one 6 year old daughter, and the husband is attending the college up here studying oil engineering. We taled about the plan of Salvation with them and she had a couple questions about resurrection, which we answered and she liked the answers :) they both participated a bunch, and a couple times, the member we brought chimed in too, and it was so PERFECT!!!! It was a really good lesson overall and i think the spirit was at LEAST telling them that what we were talking about was good :) at the end of the lesson, we asked the husband if he wanted to choose someone to pray, and HE DID IT!!! It was also a real prayer and not one of the Catholic recited prayers, which is AWESOME!! They told us they'd be praying about what we talked about and are looking forward to meeting again next week :) Anyways, the work is going good!! It's pretty flippin nice to have investigators you have to think about :) i just need to get Sanchez to understand that just because the scriptures say "take no though before hand," it's not saying that you don't have to plan the lesson!! I've yet to do comp. study with him, but imma try and get pres. to talk to us because we have a few problems that i can't approach without him biting my head off.... BLEH!!!! Whatevs, i'm learning more than i ever expected to.. haha!! i KNOW i wouldn't have learned this much in the Navy. Again, thank you EVERYONE for all you do to help me be out here. I'm really trying to work as much as i can to show my Lord how eternally greatful i am for all the people who have made my mission possible and are still helping. Thank you guys, and i'll continue letting you know how i'm doing out here :) I LOVE YOU!!!!! until next week :) Love, Elder Levi Windham p.s. i named my email this because for SOME REASON, Canada forgot how to snow and it only snows like maybe 10 minutes a week, then a bit on sunday night just before pday.. what's up with dat??

9 November 2015

Well how's everyone doing??? I'm doing pretty good i think so :) a few ups and downs and trying to solve a couple clicks in our companionship (kinda a given in a new companionship), but other than that, it's going pretty good!! We actually have more work than it feels, which is pretty nice! We've had a couple lessons with investigators and some less-actives, AND we got some of those less-actives to church!!! SUPA dope!!! It's a guy and his 3 boys, but the dad works so he can't come, but we got the 3 boys to church which is pretty awesome :) they're 18, 15, 13, so they all go to young mens so it'll be pretty nice if the young men step up and are good fellowshippers :) We had a our first lesson with some new investigators yesterday and it went really great!! We talked about the plan of salvation, and they took like everything in!!!! The husband says he's a "believer", and the wife is catholic. They're both divorced but have been married to each other for 3 years now. They're in like their early 40's or so. They're super nice and really receptive. After the lesson, he was like "hey, can we keep these pamphlets? I'm looking forward to being able to meet and talk some more in the future." SO we have another lesson set up for next Sunday again. We had a family home evening with those less-actives i told you about. The dad is WAY nice and i stinkin love the guy. He's a single dad raising all 3 of them, and he's just so nice and loves them so much and it's nice to see :) we shared a message and played a little game (tooty fruity) and had a little snack after. They're super sweet and i gots a lot of hope for them :) the only problem is being able to get them to church because none of them can drive and like no members we've asked have done anything... pretty frustrating really :/ we asked our zone leaders if we could just give them a ride since they're all members, so luckily they gave us the thumbs up. The only problem is that we may not have sufficient clicks (kilometers) to be able to do that all month, so we'll have to keep searching for a way to get someone else to give em a ride. The only problem is that it's 3 boys, and most people wouldn't have that kind of room to give 3 people a ride :/ the struggle is real y'all!! Anyways, me and Sanchez are getting along for the most part. like i said, a couple bumps, but we're getting through em pretty quickly thank goodness :) guys, you learn so much on the mission!!! fo realzies, it's constantly demanding you to refine yourself and change who you were before and become a better person. One thing that it REALLY demands for refinement is humility.... HOLY GUAC pride is tough. We all have it, just in different versions and amounts. One thing on the mission is it's hard not to be jealous of other's success. It's something i'm getting better at, but SOME people still have issues with, and it slightly pulls you in.. then you just have to step back and think "hmmm, why am i feeling like this? oh that's right, because i'm a PRIDE SACK!!" haha but yeah, someone said one time that pride is more than just being prideful in your own success, but being jealous of other's success. So that's something i've been working on is not being jealous, but trying to figure out how they do it.. ya know?? ;) Anyways, i love you guys!! thanks for all your support and love and LETTERS!!!! i'm still working on getting out some replies so you'll be getting em pretty soon :) take care everyone and have a great week!!! Love, Elder Levi Windham p.s. it like snowed a TINY bit this past week, and this morning, EVERYTHING was covered in snow!!! it's about time Canada starts acting like Canada ;)

2 November 2015

​Hey everyone!!! I hope you've all had a great week this past week :) well, i was right ab out going with the person i thought i was!! He's from Uruguay, and we've been speaking a lot of spanish which has been pretty nice and good to help me with mine. It's funny because like i can ask him for help with how to say stuff in spanish and he asks me how to say stuff in english, so it's like a win win in that category ;) however, what's also pretty nice is that we have a couple investigators we are already trying to set tuff up with. However, they're not like super duper solid because they're latino peeps and so is my companion, so it's easier to get into that little friend point where they get along as buds, but don't necessarily preogress a ton because they're more friends and he doesn't like want to push them away by trying to be all churchy or something...... however, i could be pretty wrong about that because that's just what i think i see within these first few days. we have an appointment set up TODAY ON PDAY at 1, so i'll meet someone at least :P the members also seem a lot different than in the branch (or Rama in spanish), so that's kinda weird. It feels less homey and inviting. I've heard a lot about the ward, so i'm hoping that most of it is wrong :P but it is whatever you make of it, so imma come into this with high hopes of having a good time and enjoying it :) So, what are some things that happened this week..... Well, we went downtown contating on Saturday and that went pretty good actually!! My comp. (ELder Sanchez) didn't think we'd need jackets because it wasn't SUPER cold, so we didn't bring any.... that was a mistake -.- it was stinkin COLD yall!!! but eese all good, i talked to some pretty ight peeps :) i talked to these baptist people and had a pretty good conversation with them. They kept saying these things about our church and were like "so, correct me if i'm wrong, but you guys believe..." and i was like "ummmmm no, we don't we really believe..." So it was a good, educational conversation. I got to explain some pretty good, basic doctrine and our stance on some things. Overall, it was a pretty good little discussion :) neither of us got bashy, and at the end, they were just like "so, how old are you?... where are you from?... we respect a lot what you do.." SO it felt pretty good to actually give them a better idea of what we really believe :) ALSO, i talked with this guy from east Africa somewhere, and he's actually a christian and SUPER nice. He told me that apparently, a lot of the Muslim or Arabic​ people you see walking around don't even speak or read Arabic... like what the?? But he said he really likes our church because we know what we preach and don't go into it blindly just because other people do it. He also watched a movie apparently about how when the LDS church was starting up, how much it was persecuted and how many people were killed, so it made him wonder why it was hated so much and stuff and he wants to learn more. He asked me for a Book of Mormon so he could read it and understand our church a little more so he can look into it. He asked where our church buildings were so he could check it out. SUPER nice guy, and it'd be pretty sick if he actually gave us a call. Just a big bummer is that like half the people who are actually willing to talk to us are drunk or homeless or something, so it's like hmmmm you gots a bit of work to do :P haha but eese all good, not like they still aren't able to be taught and change their lives for the better :) But yeah, not a ton besides transfers. That kinda takes up the majority of the week :P packing, getting transferred, unpacking.. yeah, not a hauge fan, but at least i only have to do it like every 4 or 5 months which is pretty nice for me :) I HATE MOVING!!!! I remember when we moved apartments in Brooks, it stressed the heck out of me, like baaaadd.... but eese all good, i'll be here for a pretty good while :) we live in a basement beneath some non-member dude. We actually had to sleep in the zone-leaders pad on Halloween because they were throwing a big party up above us and we couldn't sleep, so we drove over at like 10 o'clock to stay at their pad :P whatevs, at least i haven't heard them breaking the ley yet xP haha! but besides that, i get to be in a basement for winter again, so it'll be nice and chilly if we want it to be :) we have this puny little portable heater for the entire apartment!! haha but it does a good job :) i'll have to take some pictures and send em so you can see :) anyways, i hope you guys all have a great week. I'm working on getting some letters sent out because it's kinda been a little while since i sent one. I actually work out in the morning!!! So that takes away that opportunity to write :/ but i'll be sending em out within the next week or so :) I lpove all of you guys, and i hope you have a great week. Take care!! Love, Elder Levi Windham p.s. It's snowing today!!! this is like the first GOOD snow day we've had and it's ACTUALLY sticking to the ground!!! So i'll get some pics of that and try and send em too you guys :)

14 September 2015

Sorry to disappoint but no investigator this week. BUT- Me and Battenfield had quite the discussion the other day about some issues we've been having as a companionship... Lemme tell you, there were some tears and a lot of humility in that discussion. I learned so much about myself that i didn't think about so much before. I learned how judgmental i am and how i seriously gots to learn how to give more compliments than things to correct.. I can honestly thank football for that, because all you EVER do is look for things you're doing wrong and work on it until you got it down to a perfection. The problem with that is some peeps don't want to know what they're doing wrong, but they want to hear what was right!! I sound retarded right now for thinking that (I'm too tired to try and put it in more reasonable words), but i haven't been a very uplifting person to be around. I personally wouldn't be affected if all i heard was what i can work on, but Battenfield isn't me, and neither is any other person in de hoe weld, so that's what i need to learn.. I came out here one way, but as i learn and progress personally, i can TRULY better myself by the ways that benefit other people the most, and not JUST what would benefit me. Anyways, that was a pretty nice little thing that happened this past week. Besides that, a ton more drop-bys and not a ton of success. I may have said last week how we had an appointment set up with a referral we received from some other sister missionaries, but that totally fell through... We went to the address and he said he lives in the basement... We went to the basement and THAT wasn't him either. However, we talked with those people who did live down there and after our little convo, we asked if they know any Spanish people around the area, and they referred us to a house at the end of the next street. So we went there and as we walked up to the door, i saw this big ole dude with no shirt, and as soon as i knocked, he just took off! Then this kid came back after a couple seconds and the first thing he said was "hola", so i was like HA!!! you speak Spanish, and i started talking to him and saying who we were and stuff. We asked if we could come back another time and he said yeah sure! But the funny thing is, we went back to our car after that and had the idea to check our less-active list to see if the address was on there, and it TOTALLY WAS!!!!! Weird, i still don't think they're super interested, but it's funny that someone randomly told us about a Spanish house and it ended up being someone on our less-active list. We may hand it off to the other Spanish sisters since it's on their list of people to work with.. But eese all good, we know they still live there :) We stopped by a ton of people this week, and have a couple people who told us to come back on like Tuesday or Wednesday or Sunday or something, so hopefully those maybe lead to something. But y'all, i can testify that when there is contention within a companionship, whether it's dating, marriage, mission, or whatever, then NOTHING will get done like it needs to. Contention sucks, and is of the devil. If you want to have the spirit with you and you want to have a successful companionship, then make sure there is as little contention as you can afford. I love all you guys and love hearing from you. Keep being awesome!!! Elder Levi Windham

8 June 2015

​So, this week we finally actually have some fun things to report!! So we went downtown a few times so we could just contact some random peeps, and BOY was that an adventure. I've never really done street contacting before, so I was a little nervous. We were walking down the street and I was sorta telling this to Battenfield, and he was like ok, I can contact the first person. who do you want me to do? So I looked ahead, and saw this random dude sitting on a bench (I also learn eventually that they're usually crazy), and I was like that guy. So we walk up to him, and sorta try and talk with him, and he's like no, sorry, I'm not interested. He had an accent, and so we asked him where he's from, and he was from El Salvador!!! But still, he said "I'm catholic, I don't need help. People like that *pointing to a hobo* are the ones who really need help." So we're like oh sweet, well thanks. So we went to talk to the hobo, and he was pretty nice!! even a little bashy, which I wasn't really expecting. At one point, we tried to offer him a BOM, and he like stopped, looked down, sat quiet for a second, then looked up and said "no, I think I'm good. If god wanted me to have it, then I think he would have told me." We suspect that he like said a quick prayer and decided no. Haha! but hey, I ain't gonna question my testimony because some crazy hobo said that Heavenly Father didn't answer his prayer. haha! Then later on the bus, there was this black looking guy with a Hispanic looking lady, so I just figured they were a random couple. However, we heard them speaking SPANISH to each other!!! So we asked them "De donde son ustedes?" (where are you guys from?) and they said Colombia!! So we talked with them and found out that they totally have seen people like us in Colombia, and they're like "yeah, I think they were called missionaries." And we were like hey, that's what we are!" (of course that was all in Spanish) But yeah, they were super cool. And what was funny, was when we told them we are trying to learn how to speak Spanish, they were like "no, no estan aprendiendo espanol. Hablan espanol!" (which is no, you aren't learning Spanish. You speak Spanish!) They said our accents sound really natural, which was SICK!! And THEN, later when we were walking down a sidewalk, there were some people looking down at the sidewalk because there was names written in the bricks, and Battenfield heard one of them say piedras (bricks), and the I heard one of them say "testigos" ( which means witness, or jehovas witness in in reference to us), and I was like "um, lo siento, pero no somos testigos" (sorry, we're not 'witnesses'). And they just went off in Spanish just like oh sorry, we didn't think you were, we thought you were.. umm, what's the other one? So we told them the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But so yeah, the reason I didn't think they spoke Spanish at first is because theier accents sounded very European. However, turns out they were from SPAIN!!!! So that was the first time I've met Spanish people from spain. They had CRAZY accents, which was super sick So like yeah, we found more Spanish in one day of downtown contacting than I basically have EVER outside of church (except that soccer game we found last transfer)!! Oh, and one more sketchy thing that happened there, actually yesterday.. So we were walking around downtown, and we were like HECKA thirsty, so we were gonna go into a McDonalds to use the water fountain. Well we went in, and there was like nothing. So as we were walking out, there was this semi crazy looking bro in front of us, and as we were going out the door, he turned around and like grabbed my arm and "what's up fellas??" Quite loudly. then he just turned around and kept walking. So I like INSTANTLY checked all my pockets and my bag and stuff to make sure he didn't take anything.... all good. But for like the next 3 or 4 blocks, he just went between our side of the street and the other, just like right next to us. And when we turned down one street to get back to the train, HE CAME TOO!!! We were waiting at the train stop for the train to get there, and he was like back against the building chillin there leaning on the wall. I was like "elder, I think I'm gonna end up having to bust someone's face if they try to mug me." (We both had already noticed him following us and talked about it a bit). And Battenfield replies "well elder, you really shouldn't do that. We could get in trouble. I'm totally willing to give him whatever. Do you have anything valuable?" yeah, my money, wallet with cards, license, etc., and a few other things. But I guarantee that if he even tries, it isn't gonna happen. But Battenfield was like yeah, but you know, we REALLY shouldn't. We're told to just give whatever over" Like BRUH, if I can help it, I'm gonna do it. So fortunately for the crazy guy, he eventually turned around and walked back down the street from the way we came. No harm done!! So, not a ton to report on. Kinda picking up the pace. Downtown is always pretty interesting. LOTS of crazy people and peeps asking for my doe. Haven't been pick pocketed yet, which is good. And weSTILL don't really have any investigators, but we're working on making a beautiful area book, which will be VERY helpful. We also walk and use the train and buses a lot now since we had our monthly clicks cut because it's summer time. It's always... fun to hear the wonderful things people yell at us. But I LOVE the mission, and am sooooooo happy I didn't join the Navy over this :) can't wait to hear from all of you guys. Got more mail this week :) Until next week!! Love, Elder Levi Windham

19 May 2015

Okey dokey, so I don't have my journal again :( but this week was really just a TON of service and chainsaw using :P haha! So we went out to Rosemary like twice to do service. One of those times, i literally used the chainsaw for 5 HOURS STRAIGHT!!! I had to chop up this GINORMOUS tree that had fallen down, and it took a LOT of stinkin gas to finish it up. I was using two separate chainsaws, a smaller and bigger one (the bigger had more power and was faster) and had to refill each like twice. INSANE!!! We also helped out Alaina a with her yard while they were off to Calgary for the day. That was pretty nice, and she was super appreciative. We have also been kinda like rebuilding our relationship/friendship with her and her family the last couple weeks or so. They even had us over for dinner Sunday night!! Oh, and they also came to church Sunday and stayed all 3 hours again!!! So that's 2 weeks in a row that they came to church. Hopefully they keep it up in the future :) So on Thursday we had another lesson with Edgar and Lady (that's his wife's name. Pretty sick, eh?). That went really good. I had to sit in on a lesson that some other missionaries had with a little kid, so i missed the beginning of the lesson. But they just talked about tithing and a bit about the Word of Wisdom, which they're totally down with since they understand tithing and why it's important and they already live the w.o.w. So that's awesome!! Then for the actual lesson, we talked about the BOM a bit and about prophets. Edgar said he really likes the church and believes the BOM is true, but just doesn't feel that Joseph Smith was a prophet or that we really have a prophet today. Kinda tough, but he knows the BOM is true, so that's a pretty good start!! I'm pretty confident that they'll eventually be baptized :) the church is too true NOT to be baptized!! haha! Ummmm oh yeah, so yesterday, we had some p-day time to use since we did service all day that one week, so a member took us golfing. We did 18 HOLES!!! it was super fun and he's a really cool guy. I actually got par on one of them!!! Something just funny real quick is when we were talking to him about it Sunday, we asked what about golf carts (he said we were gonna get one) and we were like well we'd be fine without one. You don't have to get it for us. And he goes what, afraid for me to break open the bank? We're like uuhhh yeah i guess. Which in reply he goes "well, you don't have to worry about that." Like DAANNNGGG!!! hahaha he's like a filthy stinkin rich dentist, drives a SUPER nice BMW to flippin church, and is just like eh, don't worry about me spending money. haha! so that was pretty funny. Anyways, super short email this week. sorry guys, i didn't have my journal :/ BUT, i want to let you all know that i am doing WAY better now with Farnzy and stuff, and i don't feel like such a pile 'o poo anymore. haha! But i'm way better now. Thank you all soooooo much for the love and support. You really helped me a lot :) So yeah, i love you guys a TON!!! and can't wait to hear from you all :) talk to you next week!! Love, Elder Levi Windham P.S. So, we got our tranfer calls this morning.... I'M GOING TO CALGARY!!!!!!! I'm gonna freakin miss Brooks SO MUCH, but i know i'm needed in Calgary, and it's where i'll continue to progress :) I'bve learned so much in Brooks, and can't wait to see what it'll be like n Calgary :) Wish me luck!

27 April 2015

Okey dokey, i don't even know what to think about this week. It's been pretty crazy with the whole... stuff i whined about last week. Haha! Monday night, me and Farnsworth stayed up talking about the situation with the Blumels and stuff like that. We're working on figuring out the situation with them. I don't want to go into too much detail, because i don't want to bad mouth him, but it's pretty gay, and no one involved likes it... Haha! but whatevs, he can do what he wants to make him feel like a successful missionary. I'm Just gonna keep trying to do what i do and ENJOY my mission while still being a missionary :) Tuesday was pretty ok. Idk what happened because all i wrote about was the situation again because it was so predominant. Haha! But i said how i think it won't be so bad now and we're getting closer to figuring it out. FLIP!! I keep typing like exactly what's going on, but i'm trying not to make him sound bad. Just know, it's a bleh situation, and no one likes it. Haha! Anyways, but later after dinner, i got 2 stuffies (stuffed animals) from the Blumels. I got this super flippin cute raccoon that's super soft, and I've slept with it every night since i got it. Haha! On Wednesday, Rosemary came into Brooks and we tracted these apartment buildings together. There was a lot of Tagalog people!! Me and Farns handed out 7 BOMs and Rosemary handed out 8. We also had this one lady, when she answered and awe said who we were, she invited us in and we talked about the Book of Mormon and what it is!!! So we're definitely gonna be trying to see if she still wants to be taught anything else. Thursday I didn't write anything that night, then the next night, i couldn't remember anything that happened, sooo i guess it wasn't that awesome!! Haha! Friday rocked. When we had just started to eat lunch, a family in the ward called us out of no where. They asked if we could come give her husband a blessing!! We said yes of course. So we read up a bit on the proper wording of the blessings, and headed out there. I didn't know if i was gonna be the one to do it, but i had a feeling i was because i have been here longer and they know me better. So we got out there, and they came and let us in. I guess he just has a little flu or something. But we got there, and were like "so, who do you want to anoint and who do you want to bless?" he said he wanted me to bless!! So i was pretty nervous since I've never done a blessing of the sick. But i didn't do too bad. He thanked me after and we said good bye and stuff, and on our way back, Farnsworth told me i gave a really good blessing, and it was really "on point". Haha! But it was super nice to have been able to do that. I felt pretty nice after :) Then later, we went to drop by a house that supposedly had Spanish people living there, while we were walking back to our car, we heard some guys across the street speaking Spanish, and we're like HECK YEAH!!! So we went and talked to them. One guy kinda seemed like he was just sorta sour and not that interested, but after a little bit, he went inside, but before he did, he told us "wait until i get back." I was like ummm ok? but once the other guys left, he came out and told them bye, and asked us to come in. He spoke perfect English too!! We also found out he speaks high German, low Herman, Spanish, English, and a little french. However, he's completely illiterate and can't read or write!! But he told us we came just in time, he's had a bad day, he's really struggling, and he really is glad we got there in time. He was super flippin nice, and started getting a little emotional a few times. He's divorced, having trouble with that, has a drinking problem, etc. and just wants help. At one point, he asked us to pray with him. We asked who he wants to give it, and he asked me!!! So we all knelt down and had a prayer. I got a little choked up during the prayer because i had a lot of sympathy for the guy. While we were talking about everything, he would say how he blames himself for everything that happened, and he doesn't want to put the blame on anyone else, and he cares too much about his wife and kids to say it was his wife's fault or anything. So i felt really bad for him, and kinda got a little choked up a bit during the beginning of our visit. So that was really nice, and Farns said my prayer was also really nice. After everything that happened that day, i was feeling freakin happy and like the spirit was so dang strong. like dang, that was a good day :) Saturday we helped Alaina set up for a party thing she was having at the middle school. That was super nice. Later on, we went and helped the Blumel clean the chapel. That was fun too!! Then we got dressed in pros clothes, and went to drop by a few people. no success. but the last person we did was pretty close to the middle school, so we just walked over and helped clean up since they were all done. After that, we went to the Blumel's and had dinner since no one was feeding us. It was flippin good!!! Sunday was a little frustrating but also kinda good i guess. We left to med hat right after sacrament meeting so we could be there in time for gospel principles with the Spanish people who live there. There were 2 there who are like super freakin solid already and have felt the spirit like cray, they're just waiting for an answer if the church is true, and this other guy who's from Thailand and doesn't speak English and BARELY knows Spanish. But after that class, they all left like they usually do. Then after church, absolutely nothing... Like literally, it got out at 2, we went to lunch at 3, stayed until about 4:45, went to dinner at 5, stayed until about 7:15, went to bible study with some other missionaries (no investigators or anything showed up), and left that at 9 to go to where we're staying. Absolutely nothing. Plus, the gospel principles class that was taught in Spanish, wasn't even taught by us. We were just there. If we had stayed, we would have been able to go to an open house for a senior couple who is going on a mission next week. But nope! We ate food, ate food, talked with other missionaries, and went to bed. Wasted day, and if we had stayed, we coulda tracted actually, or at LEAST supported the couple in our ward. So i'm kinda ticked about that, but whatever, what's done is done i guess :/ Anyways, i'm gonna stop telling you guys how crappy my weeks are. I'll try to focus more on the good or fun stuff instead of complaining a bunch :) thanks for you guys' support though!!! It's nice to have family and friends who can help you through your tough times :) i love all of you guys!!! Sincerely, Elder Levi Windham

7 April 2015

So, let's start with what's happening with transfers... Now, I don't know how much you guys know already since sister Blumel has like half you guys' numbers.... BUT I'M STAYING IN BROOKS!!!!!!!! We got the call THIS MORNING!!! The ZLs called us and were like so, we have a message for Elder Keck.. I was YEEESSSSS!!!!! So he's going to Calgary somewhere and I'm staying here!!! I'm sooooooo stinkin happy about that. Like holy cow, I'm gonna work SO hard now that I'm not gonna have a trunky companion who is lazy anyways... I feel terrible saying it, but i have literally felt myself get more and more lazy since I've been with him :/ but imma work my butt off with the new guy!! I already know exactly who it is, so I'm pretty happy about that :) Anyways! So, last p-day we played football, and i totally dominated!!! Like i had 4 or 5 touchdowns, an interception, a few blocked passes, and a crap ton of catches haha. One of my catches, got deflected up in the air, i fell on my back, and as the ball was coming down, i grabbed it before it hit the ground!! Another one, i was in the end-zone and he threw it back there, like right between 2 dudes who were in front of me, and it was a little low/behind me, so i slid down and did like a baseball slide, landed on my elbow (ouch) and caught it!! Everyone was just like flippin out and stuff and it was AWESOME!!! While we were playing, they all kept saying like man, are you from Texas or something? haha! Later on, i was talking with one of the elders who we were playing with, and he was telling me i was super quick and he like couldn't cover me. I felt pretty dang good about myself :) Tuesday we had a zone training meeting. There was a testimony meeting thing after, and it was super cool. Surprisingly, i got a little emotional from other peoples' testimonies, but not my own.. but it was super cool :) I LOVE THIS CHURCH!!! We had to cancel our lesson with Rebecca because we couldn't get another priesthood holder to go with us :( After dinner, we went to the Blumels house to see their cat, Kovu, get a haircut. He looks like a lion!!! Haha it's awesome. Then they had a b-day party for their son, Matthew. He turned 11. He's younger than Emily!!! And they had ice cream cake which is my all time favorite in the whole world :P OH YEAH!!! And i ran out of ink in my pen that i got in the MTC. that's the first time I've ever done that!! Wednesday was April fools AND training calls, so we took advantage of that fo sho :D we texted med hat Spanish and told them that me and Keck were both training, and they didn't believe it at first, but Keck said a few more things and they totally believed it!!! When we told them we were joking later, they were like legitimately upset at us. It was pretty funny, but i felt a little guilty after... Not too guilty though!! HAHA!!! Anyways, i got another haircut this time, and it's shorter than what i got last time, but i like it a lot more :) Thursday was totes cray cray!!! While we were tracting, Sister Blumel texted us and said Sara (their daughter) hurt herself!!! We didn't know exactly what happened for a bit, but we learned eventually that she broke her ankle!! We saw some pics later and it was a bad break... Like her ankle was jacked UP!! She ended up going to Med Hat for surgery that afternoon, but didn't even get anything done until the next day :( Canadian health care, eh? haha! but we got a lot of tracting done which was good!! Not a ton of success, but we tried, and that's what matters :) Later in the evening, we went out to Rosemary to interview their investigator who got baptized Saturday between the first 2 sessions of conference. Friday we went to the temple!!! We almost didn't go because the Blumels were going to take us, then Sara broke her ankle and through everything outa whack. But brother Blumel ended up taking us anyways, and I'm glad we got to go. It is was different from any other temple I've been to (only 2 others haha) but it was beautiful. I got a lot of really good pictures and i have them on my USB (or flash drive, since apparently USB isn't the right term according to Bub HAHA) But the only downside in going to the temple is they make it replace your p-day. So it's like okay, either go have fun with other missionaries on the only day that you get to do that, or go to the temple.. GAAAYY!! But it was a fun experience and i enjoyed it :) Saturday was general conference. Nothing else besides that really since you only have 2 hours in between each session. We went out to Rosemary after the first session for the baptism, and i had to give a talk in all Spanish!!! I wrote it all out so i didn't have to do it on the fly, which was good. I messed up on a few parts, but like no one else would have been able to tell since it was only me, Keck, Rodriguez, and the guy getting baptized who spoke Spanish. haha! But after i was done, Elder Keck and Rodriguez said my accent is really good and sounds way better. So that's good!! But Sara got home from the hospital!!! We went over and saw her after the second session. She was not doing too amazing :( she puked a few times and didn't feel very good most of the time, and she like couldn't move her leg the whole time because she was so sore. so that stinks :/ Sunday, after the first session, we went to the Blumel's for lunch and stayed for the second session. Jon (their other son. He turned 17 recently) was playing stinkin video games on his computer for like the first 45 minutes or so, so i kept shooting him in the head with a nerf gun. haha! Eventually he came and joined us all, which was good. But later on, after dinner, we went to meet Stephanie's sister, who used to be investigating. She was pretty cool, and we'll probably be able to pick lessons back up with her. But then after that, we were gonna go have a lesson with Hakeem, but he wasn't there, so we went back to the Blumels :P They're flippin awesome!!! Monday was flippin cool!!! We went to help Stephanie move at 1, which was super flippin easy because Rosemary came in and helped, PLUS she had like hardly anything.. Literally, it took us like 10 minutes to put it all into sister Blumels car. But while we were beginning to help out, it started snowing again!!! Then after that, we went back to the Blumels to help set up a trampoline. By the time we started doing that, the snow was really coming down... But we got it all set up except the net because we didn't want to mess that up and it was snowing pretty hard. Sister Blumel then made us hot chocolate which was flippin good :P After that, me and Elder Rodriguez helped sister Blumel make dinner. We had ham, potatoes, yams, and steamed veggies. It was pretty dang good!! After that, we went and got dressed in some basketball clothes to head out to Rosemary to play with Rogelio (the one who got baptized Saturday). He ended up not going, but we went out there anyways and played with the members who were planning on playing with them. I honestly don't think I've balled so hard in basketball in my life. Like holy cow, me and Rodriguez were going hard. we were on opposing teams the whole time, so i covered him and he covered me. It was a good fight the whole night. I'm not good at handling the ball, but i could rebound over everyone else there and i have really good defense. Rodriguez is quick, but i stuck with him the whole time. He told me several times that I'm really good at defense and why don't i play like that at p-day. I guess i could start doing that now :) But yeah, that was a blast, and my lounges were wrecked after that because of how much they were being exerted. Best cardio I've gotten on the mission :) Anyways, that's it for the week. I'm really looking forward to continuing working here in Brooks and serving with Farnsworth. He called earlier and we planned a cool handshake to do down at transfers, so that'll be interesting :) thanks for the letters everyone!! I'm sending another one to my family pretty soon. I wrote them this morning, and will try and send them today. So you'll get them probably next week. Listen to the prophets and apostles. They know what they're flippin talking about. Everything they say is doctrine, and applies to each and every one of you. The atonement is stinkin real, so use it to your advantage and make the changes necessary for forgiveness to take place. I love you guys, and hope to coninue hearing from ALL of you!! Sincerely, Elder Levi Windham 7044 Farrell Road SE Calgary, AB T2H OT2 Canada

Como sabemos, no somos perfectos y no sabemos todos que van a pasar. Lo que sabemos es que hemos recibido señales para buscar, y tenemos que ser preparado, y hacer todo lo que podemos para que estemos listo para Su Segunda Venida. "31 El cielo y la tierra pasarán, pero mis palabras no pasarán. 32 Pero de aquel día y de la hora nadie sabe, ni aun los ángeles que están en el cielo, ni el Hijo, sino el Padre. 33 Mirad, velad y orad, porque no sabéis cuándo será el tiempo. 37 Y lo que a vosotros digo, a todos lo digo: Velad." (San Marcos 13:31-33, 37"

16 March 2015

Finally a GOOD week!!! Didn't start off amazing, but it ended up being great anyways!! So we went to Moxie's last p-day again. Like literally everyone was telling me how it doesn't matter if we go. They were all saying how pres. knows and doesn't care, and member's take us there sometimes too, and all this crap. But like honestly, it doesn't matter. It still isn't the greatest place in the world for missionaries, and that's all that matters. After that though, we stayed at the ZLs apartment for the night, and they had a chess set, so me and Keck played, and I beat his BUTT!!! haha Then later, more people got there, and I played someone else, and destroyed him too!! He kept asking how I was so good and how does he get better. haha! Tuesday was zone training which wasn't too bad. Then we went to sushi and tai again, and it was flippin gay. Like when we got there, they were all sitting at a much smaller table than last time, and there was only two seats left. When we came over, Elder Mackey (the douche I told y'all about) was like, "oh hate to break it to you guys, but those are for the sisters". So we sat by ourselves the whole time and no one joined us... Like seriously?? But whatever, I'm still alive and kicking. But later on, back in Brooks, we had dinner at bishop's house and had splits after with the elders' quorum. I went with brother Vary, and Keck went with brother Blumel. Brother Vary is so cool!!!! He is only 26 and acts like seriously exactly like me and it's hilarious!! We got along flippin great, and later on, Keck even said that we looked like we would have gotten along. Haha! But at one of the houses we dropped by, there was only a couple Mexicans outside working on a truck, and when we asked in English if the person we were looking for was there, and they didn't understand. So I was like crap, they probably speak Spanish.... "¿Hablan español?" "¡Oh, sí, sí!" So, by myself, I asked if the person lived there, they replied and said no, he probably lived there before one of them (one of them lived there they also told me), and I understood like exactly what they said and they understood me, and I was the only one who spoke Spanish besides them!!! So yeah, I'm super glad I was able to do that by myself :) On Wednesday we found an investigator!!! Her name is Rebekah, she's from Congo, speaks french, and has only been up here for 7 months!! She invited us straight in when we got there, and she went and grabbed a bible once we were sitting on her couch. She said that she actually was pretty acquainted with the "LDS" church, but had never heard of "Mormons" until she got here. People also tell her we aren't Christians, which was also something she hasn't heard until she got to Canada. So we explained the nickname and how people just don't like us for some reason, so they make up lies to deceive other people. But she was super cool and really friendly! Thursday we went on exchanges and I got Elder Rodriguez. We got along so well!!! He's got a crazy inactive background, but he's super solid now and determined to do right and serve a good mission. We didn't get a WHOLE lot done, but we met with Ashui (a recent convert who speaks very little English), and it went great!! She received everything perfectly and was super attentive. I also found how great of a testimony she has. Her only concerns are that she has trouble paying her 10% to God (tithing) because of everything she has to already pay (i.e. for kids, parents, school, etc.). Like if everyone had a testimony like that and had that much of a desire to keep the commandments, that would be flippin amazing! Friday we went to DQ with the Blumels, and it taste so different!!! Like the seasoning on the chicken was way bland compared to back home, and the BBQ sauce was way gross!! I also discovered recently that like pork-n-beans are like the most popular thing up here. As in, that's the only kind they even sell in Walmart (which sucks up here)!!! And no one has ever heard of "ranch style beans", which are my favorite!!! :( And also, when we were tracting, this group of 3 black girls followed us around telling me I looked like human Ken (like barbie doll Ken. Look it up, I have no clue), and asking how many plastic surgeries I had to look like I do, and they were like messing around and kept saying that I was hot and stuff and whatever... It was weird!!! They seriously followed us for half an hour saying stuff like that. We just left after a while and they like followed us (basically just me really. They kept like getting in my way) until I drove off like as fast as I could. HAHA!!! On Saturday we didn't have a lot of success. The absolute best part though is that we got Rebekah to Ben Blumel's baptism!!! She missed the actual thing, but she was there in time to see his sister give a talk and see his confirmation. And the closing song was "Follow the Prophet", and for the last 2 verses, she sang the chorus, which was awesome!!! So she liked that, and she had actually also brought a friend with her!! At one point, she was asking how she could serve a mission like us, and she wanted to get her friend into the "ministry". But they met and talked with bishop, and it was super flippin awesome!!! And on Sunday, she came to church!!! In gospel doctrines class, we just taught the first lesson (the restoration). She took it all pretty well, but the only thing she didn't quite believe, was the Great Apostasy. But hopefully in time she'll warm up to the idea :) Not much else after church until after dinner when we had a lesson with a less active. His name is Hakeem, and he's also from Congo, but has been here for 10 years. But he was so awesome. We taught him about the Atonement and read him the scripture 2 Nephi 9:7. I did most of the explaining, because honestly, Keck doesn't do a very good job at it. But we explained how why the atonement is necessary, because we WILL sin, and how it's infinite, and we can use it any time we want because we will never not sin, and God put it there so we could repent and keep trying our best. But I explained like most of it, and when we were done and answered all his questions, he said thank you so much for coming by and how thankful he is that we talked about that scripture specifically. He was so awesome and understood like all of it. So I'm sure if we keep working with him, we could get him back out to church :) But have been working pretty hard, and I'm glad it's finally paying off and we're finding people to teach and reactivate and help change for the better. Thanks to all you guys for all the prayers and support. I'm so glad to be in this service and change peoples lives and show them true happiness. I hope all you guys are doing great and being great member missionaries ;) I'll talk to you guys next week!! Love, Elder Levi Windham p.s. I've been forgetting to tell you guys, but up here, they don't have the letter Z... It's pronounced Zed!! Isn't that weird?? Also, the garbage disposal? Yeah, they call that a garberator. Haha!! Just some funny things they do up here :P

9 March 2015

I only have one new picture this week. LOOK AT ALL THE MAIL I GOT!!!!!!! When the ZLs were giving it to me, it was just like letter after letter after letter, and everyone was like wow, looks like no ones forgotten you yet! don't worry, it'll come in time. HAHA!! but whatevs, as long as i get like at least one letter every time, I'll be fine :P A slow week... That's what this past week was. BUT i got everyone's letters last Tuesday and we have Facebook!!!! But it was still slow, and it SUCKED!! On Monday we didn't go to Moxie's because I told Elder Keck the I didn't want to, and I'm driving, so I basically have final say now. Haha! Then later we met with President for a "trainer's re-training" meeting sorta thing, where he basically told us we need to be doing 12 week more and stuff, and when we were leaving, Elder Keck goes, "I'm sorry Elder Windham. I've been a bad example and a trunky pile trainer." He said it kinda jokingly, nut he's actually been doing a little better this week! Like we've done 12 week every day basically. Then on Tuesday morning, we all had personal interviews with pres., and that went pretty good. That's where he told Keck to do 12 week more and stuff, and he promised he would do that and we'd have comp. study every day, and we've done pretty good!! For lunch we went to this place called Sushi and Tai, and I've never really had sushi before, but it's not too bad! Of course I didn't eat the raw fish kind of sushi, just the fake stuff, but I kinda liked it! Then when we got back to brooks, we read the online manual for Facebook. Then, we went to this black guys house who our bishop referred to us, and he was like really only interested in the bible and king David for some reason, but I am pretty sure he's not even all there, but whatever, he's not a bad guy... Actually, we found out yesterday that he got arrested on Saturday for stealing from his work..... SOO the bishop said to just keep seeing him and maybe we'll be a blessing to him or his family at least. IDK!! Wednesday we tried more stop-bys with no success. One lady was on her way to work and said come by Sunday, but that was it. Also, I read all my letters and they were AWESOME!!! Thank you guys so much, and I'm gonna be spending a lot of time today writing back!! It'll take a while, but we're getting haircuts today, so I can write while he's getting his and showering after. Also, Wednesday was the first time we did Facebook on the mission!! I'm just finding some people on the mission and in the area right now, but they are going to let us use it starting tomorrow and then we can begin posting!! Thursday we tried to stop-by some people again, but, no surprise, zero success. We gave a card to one guy, so now if he's interested, he said he'll call us... Also, I had forgotten my chapstick at the stake center on Tuesday (I've never actually kept it without losing it for that long. I got it in the MTC!!). That was a bummer, but I got some Burt's Bees!!! IDK why everyone says it's so amazing, but it ain't too bad!! Friday was almost entirely a waste of time. We did language training meeting which I GUESS is somewhat productive, even though we played this pool jeopardy game for the Spanish thing... Then we all went to Canadian Pizza unlimited for lunch. Then after that, we did FB for almost 2 hours, then it was almost time for dinner at the Blumels, so we went and helped make homemade pizza, and just sorta talked and hung out until 9:20!!!! So yeah, a wasted day when it comes to finding/being a stinkin missionary!! :( Saturday Pretty sure was also a waste of time. But we did some stop-bys and this guy answered. He was the husband of the lady we talked to a bit a couple weeks ago. He was really friendly and super nice, but he said they probably wouldn't be interested. So now we have enough people crossed off our stop-by list that we'll have to start tracting again pretty soon, so HOPEFULLY we'll finally find someone else. Also, when we tried to stop-by Suzanne, the one from Newfoundland, and she said not right now because her husband is on his way back because he found out his dad has cancer.. So hopefully he doesn't somehow associate that with us in some negative way!! Sunday was also pretty lame. We went to a members house for lunch at like 2, and it was pretty dang good!! We had burgers, steak (WAY different than back home. Not as good I don't think haha), and Mac-n-cheese, which up here they just call Kraft Dinner. Kraft is the THE brand up here. So everyone does Kraft mac-n-cheese, so they call it Kraft dinner. ALSO, a funny thing they say is a garberator... That's what they call the garbage disposal thing in the sink haha. Anyways, sorry, but we played a few board games at their house too, and we were gonna play settlers of Zarahemla (a little different from Catan), but I told my comp. that we should probably go and be productive somehow haha. So we left at like 5:30, and we tried to drop by that lady who said come Sunday, but she didn't answer, even though I think she was home because her car was there. We also tried to set something up with Alaina, but she gave us a BS excuse. I was like 7:30 and she said how she's doing dinner and she wants to set the kids schedule up to go to bed after dinner. Like she told us the other day that they were like staying up 'till 3 in the stinkin morning. So we just texted her a bit about some uplifting stuff fo show, and after like 5 texts, she just replies "ok.." Like COME ON!!! If you're interested, tell us. If not, TELL US!!! But yeah, I can feel myself feeling more and more depressed in the mission because of the lack of work and extra time we have because of it. Like we don't necessarily want to start tracting quite yet because there are still enough people to drop by that we could possibly pick up like one or two more investigators, but it's not looking too promising right now :/ anyways, hopefully it picks up soon. I'm not up here to spend my time working in circles and not spreading the gospel because no one's interested. People say even if you don't change anyone else's life or whatever, then you'll at least better yourself. I don't want to better myself! I'm up here for them, not me, and it SUCKS that it feels like everything I'm doing is in vain because none of them really care, they just say come back because they're too nice to say no. Like seriously, tell us no so we can stop wasting our time with you and move on. Thanks again everyone for the letters. I love reading them and hearing from you guys. Keep working hard in whatever it is you do, and I hope you all miss me!! haha just kidding :P Sincerely, Elder Levi Windham

2 March 2015

So, I actually remembered my journal AND my camera this week, but not much has happened... On Tuesday after we got back from P-day, we went on splits with the High Priests, and I went to visit a couple people we knocked into a few weeks ago. Both times it had been the wife of the person who lived there, and they said their husband was a member. Then both times this time, the husband answered!! One was baptized when he was 8 and moved in with his dad after a divorce, and they stopped going to church, but his mom is still a member... I guess that's just how it goes.. But he wasn't really interested at all, but he was nice! Then the other guy hasn't gone to church for only a couple years. I suspect he either had an affair or something along those lines, because he also got divorced a few years ago and at one point, he said, "I've made a few choices in my life, and I just don't think church is really cut out for me anymore." But he was super friendly and really nice, and we got his number and he said to give him a call whenever, and we could drop by any time he's not busy, so maybe we can reactivate him or something or get them out to church at least! Wednesday when I was reading the old testament (I'm gonna read the bible straight through now haha), I was reading where God said to change Sarai's name to Sarah, and in the footnote for Sarah, it said "i.e. princess", so I think I know what I want to name my first daughter!! haha Then later we dropped by this older lady who we had given a BOM a couple weeks prior, and she let us straight in!! We found out she is from Newfoundland (anyone from Canada knows "newfies" basically have their own language haha) and had Catholic background. She hadn't gotten to read the BOM yet because she had her grand kids over most of the time, but we explained what the BOM was and she seemed pretty interested, and she said we can come back any time. So hopefully that's a new investigator! WOOHOO!!! Not much of any success of any kind on Thursday. We did some stop-bys with no success. The only nice thing that happened Thursday was we got a call from the ZLs and they told us that I get to be the designated driver and now I'm driving!! FINALLY!!! I was getting pretty sick of Elder Keck's driving haha. Friday we went and translated for a former investigator at the car shop while he was getting his car fixed. I found out that they charge .8 of whatever it is they're doing just for labor... So like if you buy a $100 part, they charge .8 just for labor, so you're basically doubling the price JUST to put it in... IDK what it is in Texas, but that sounds ridiculous! Then we did more stop-bys... No success. We also tracted for several hours with no success again. It also started snowing pretty hard while we were tracting, which was pretty fun, except it was flippin WINDY, so that made it pretty miserable. Also, I've been forgetting to say how insane this weather is up here. In Med Hat, which is like an hour East of us, it could be +10 C or warmer on P-day when we get there, while here in Brooks, it's still like -3 C!! Then we got up to +6 C in Brooks for a couple days, then this past week, it dropped back down to -12 C.... It's worse than Texas!!! haha Saturday we did some more stop-bys and some tracting with no success again. One guy was a drop by, and the first time it had been his wife who answered. But when he came to the door, he looked at us and goes, "who are you guys with?" And I said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and he goes, "nope, sorry" and slams the door so hard I felt the air around us move and the ground shake!! Like bro, no one deserves to be given that little respect, especially if you literally just BARELY met them. But whatever, he'll be apologizing some day haha. Yesterday we didn't get much done, although we FINALLY got to go back by Alaina to see how they're doing. She's so nice and inviting, but this divorce sounds like it's flippin heck for her. Like the guy (a Muslim by the way) had an affair on her with someone at the police office he works with, and is a total jerk and is just trying to get the kids away from her. Like that literally sounds like it's the only thing he wants, is to get them and make her suffer. The number of things he does is just redonk (ridiculous). I don't want to delve too much just because of how pathetic it is and how long it would take to explain, but he's flippin lame and doesn't deserve anything. But I really feel like we can help her a lot because she is going through the same thing I have sort of gone through so I can relate in a lot of ways and I feel for her. But we spent like 2 hours over there last night and talked the whole time, and she really seems like she is seeing God's assistance in her life through all this. But this week has been pretty lame and unsuccessful, except we hopefully picked up a new investigator!! Also we are dropping Amanda for now since we can never meet with her or get a hold of her or catch her at home, so we will be trying to focus on finding other people and the people we have now :) Thank you guys for all the support and letter you've sent. I will continue to keep you guys up to date and hope you're all doing fine without me!! haha I love you guys, and you have all blessed me in so many different ways. Love, Elder Levi Windham 7044 Farrell Road SE Calgary, AB T2H OT2 Canada

24 February 2015

Okey dokey, so this will probably be another really long one, so prepare yourselves! haha So last Tuesday was pretty uneventful. I had told Elder Keck that morning that I wanted him out of bed and done with showering and stuff by 9:00 so we could start our day at the time we're supposed to... And he did it!! haha I was pretty surprised when he got up to take his shower at like 8:30 instead 9:15 like usual, but he did it! Then we did our comp. study like we were supposed to! Then Rosemary Elders came in for district meeting. Then around 1:30 ish when we finished, we came back and did language and 12 week, which wasn't TOO too bad even though I didn't really want to. I basically just translated a page out of the Liahona, which took LITERALLY an hour, but it was a pretty cool story about this lady who wanted to take a picture of temple square with untouched snow but there was one trail leading to the temple from the women who were on their way to work that morning, and how they were so diligent even though it was still pouring snow and windy. A little later we had dinner with this family who had three older boys and two little girls who were flippin adorable!! And they were all really well behaved and listened to our message pretty attentively and it was super nice. On Wednesday I got him to get up at 9 again!! We also did all our normal studies like we're supposed to do (i.e. personal, companionship, language, 12 week)!! I'm pretty sure that if I just keep being persistent, he'll start doing it on his own :) We did some more stop-bys but with no success. Dinner was good and we had homemade perogies, which are really hard and time consuming and DELICIOUS!!! They said they ONLY make them for very special occasions or Christmas because that's just how much of a pain they are to make, so I guess we're pretty special! haha Also, something Keck told me at some point was that for his last transfer, he'll probably just make his comp do everything, so if I'm his comp., there'll be a bit of a problem there... Thursday was pretty lame since we had to weekly plan. After we finished though, while we were doing some stop-bys, we had another companionship inventory, and I told him about how I really don't like his laziness and we came out to work, not to be lazy piles (a pile is kinda short of "pile of crap", or just a lazy missionary). Also how I don't like how much he calls other missionaries and texts them for unimportant reasons and I never know what's going on when he texts or someone texts him, and he said that's totally understandable. So now basically every time he calls someone, he puts it on speaker, and I also have the phone most of the time, which is pretty nice!! Then he told me I should work on being more humble... He didn't do a very good job explaining what exactly he meant by that. But he basically just used my example with Elder Mackey. IDK if I told y'all about him, but a couple weeks ago, there was an Elder who, with Elder Keck and another missionary, were talking about where we were going for lunch after Zone Conference, and I was kinda off to the side, and didn't really hear, and I said, "Where are we going? I didn't hear." And he just turns to me and goes, "I know, we weren't talking to you.." Like ok dude, what the freak ever. Then a week later or so, they were messing around on Facebook and chatting with some girls in the MTC on thhe Mormon.org chat thing (not supposed to do either of those), and I had sorta seen them doing it earlier, and was just like whatever. Then like a few hours later I came back and they were still doing it, and I came to the computer and just like leaned in with them and was checking it out, and he exes out of everything and closes it all up, and I'm like, "I already saw everything earlier. I know and don't really care." And he just goes, "ok, so, go away." Like bro, I have never said anything to you ever. Why are you like that..? Anyways, Elder Keck told me how I shouldn't be so prideful and think that it's his problem or whoevers problem and not mine if they act like that, and I should try to be kinder and more Christlike, and try to be less obnoxious or whatever. Because I talk a lot or make it sorta known when I talk, like I wasn't to be the center of attention. I'm just an outgoing person, and I don't like being quiet and sitting in the background. I like participating and be present. But yeah, I re-explained how I won't actually start anything with someone like that as long as he isn't going out of his way to bother me. Then he also said how from what he discussed with another missionary, there's only like 4 people in the zone who like me: both the zone leaders and this other companionship (one of them used to be Assistant to the President). And I told him how if those are the only people who like me, the people who are in authority and someone who used to be AP, then I must be doing something right, and maybe other people need to stop being so judgmental and rude. But whatever, never in my life have I had any enemies or people who legitimately didn't like me, so I'm not changing now that there are a couple missionaries who don't like me very much. Friday was actually productive! Elder Keck didn't really feel too good, so he made me decide what to do. I wanted to go tracting (since we don't have any really investigators). We placed several BOMs and one person seemed actually genuinely interested! She was very appreciative when we gave it to her and explained how it's a lot like the bible, and we went through the pictures in the beginning, and she seemed totally intrigued the whole time, and when we asked if she would read it and we could come back in like a week, she said "oh yeah, sure, definitely." Like PLEASE be interested!!! haha Saturday Morning we tried to get a hold of Alaina and she never picked up. then at like 1:15 she called and said they all slept in and we could come around 2:00 to help her out (we had asked the other day). When we got there, the task was to help her clean up her basement. that place was a DUMP!! She has five kids, so they all trash the place basically (sounds all too familiar haha). But yeah, that was pretty nasty and super messy and took a while, but we got it done and will come back another time to talk and have a little lesson with them! OH!! and her 5 year old son LOVES spider-man, which is funny and I told her about how my little brother loves spider-man too haha. So Sunday was another frustrating day in the sector of laziness. On our way back from Bassano from teaching Elizabeth after church, Elder Keck said we were gonna do more personal studies because he hadn't done them that morning (even though I had). When I saw him in the morning, he was just sitting there eating his stupid breakfast bar, doing nothing... So when we got back around 3:45 in the afternoon, he went and laid on his bed, got under the covers with the phone, and started reading... LLLAAAAAZZZZZYYYYYY!!!!!!!! Like yeah I know you're not breaking any rules, but you're SOOO flippin lazy!!! So I got to write in my journal a bit about it (a pretty funny entry actually haha) and read some more. But once we finally got out.... no success. A few nice rejections, but nothing. We placed one BOM to this lady who seemed pretty interested, but that's it. One guy actually answered the door in nothing but a red pair of boxer briefs and a T-shirt and goes, "oh hey guys, just making love to my wife." I didn't think he was serious, and when we asked if he was interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ, he turns inside and yells, "Hey honey, you want to talk about Jesus? *turns back immediately* nope, bye guys" and slams the door... I honestly think he just took his pants off before answering the door so he could say that hahaha. Yesterday was actually quite successful I think!! We placed I think six BOMs and several of them seemed actually genuinely interested! The first lady said her husband was Mormon but hadn't gone to church in a while. We later heard that he was raised LDS but hadn't gone for a while. She was very nice and said to come by in the evenings if we wanted to catch him and we could talk to both of them and see if we could get them back out. Then a couple doors down was another super nice lady who we gave one to and said for us to come back. A few more doors down was this lady who was about to leave with her kid and we told her how through the Book of Mormon and the bible, someone can come closer to God and and build their testimony in him/ She took it quite appreciatively and said she would definitely read it and we could talk about it later. Then one guy, when we approached the door, I saw a little sign in his house that said "prayer", and then he didn't seem to interested when we first started, then I introduced him the BOM and said how by using it and the bible, you can use it's teachings and message and it can help guide our lives and make us happier and bring us closer to God. Then he kinda got this look on his face, took it, and goes, "ok, you come back later.." haha so I think that was kinda his way of challenging us like "ok, we'll see if it brings me closer" haha. So yeah, I'm really glad we did this much tracting. It was pretty scary sometimes, but we survived, and I'm really thinking we'll pick up at LEAST one new investigator!! A lot of the people who took them were genuinely appreciative and very nice, so hopefully one of them at least will look through the BOM and keep some bit of interest, that way we can help them to feel the spirit and really come closer to God. I love this gospel and I'm so thankful I have this chance to serve The Lord and can't wait to help someone change their life for the better. I love all you guys and can't wait to get more letters!! I'll try and get some stamps to send you guys some, but I heard they're like $1.50 up here! Yikes!! But thank you all for all the support and I love hearing from you guys. Until next week! Love, Elder Windham

16 February 2015

So, this has been an eventful week. First of all, I got all the mail and packages that have been sent!!! In total, I've received 2 packages and I think 3 separate letters... It's flippin awesome!! haha So yeah, on P-day last week, after we finished all our P-day activities, we all went out to dinner at this place called Moxie's. I'm not entirely happy about it, but I had no choice. It's basically a sports bar with TVs everywhere playing different games on them, and skanky dressed waitresses working there. We went there because they have a wing deal on Monday where it's only like 29 cents a wing. They were really good, but that's not exactly the kind of place a bunch of missionaries should be hanging out. we're apparently going there again tonight, which is pretty frustrating, and I told my comp that I don't want to go there, and he said, "well we are, and you don't get to decide because I am the senior companion... yeah, I'm pulling that card." Like wow, I don't even get to decide whether or not I go to a bar for dinner... I feel like I'm the only one who wants to follow the stinkin rules around here, and it freakin SUCKS!!​ ​ Tuesday was zone training. They talked about serving The Lord more fully. In one segment, they asked for comments, and I raised my hand, and I said how we have two years to serve The Lord, out of our whole life's, and we aren't here to make friends and find girls to marry and whatever, but to serve Him and give it our all. When i was done, she asked me how long I had been in the mission. I was like ummm 4 weeks..? haha There were a couple people I heard, including her, who sorta chuckled or something, and she just said "wow, I wish that I had had someone teach me that at the beginning of my mission. So Elder Windham, will you consecrate yourself as a full time missionary to The Lord?" I said yes of course. But what I think is kinda funny, is no one had to teach me that. That's just the entire reason we're all out here is to serve The Lord and bring people unto him. Wednesday, I made myself some eggs for breakfast for the first time, and I used some Tony's!!! Also, i used some on dinner last night :P But we did some stop-bys but didn't have much success. I'm pretty sure only one house had the right person. But we gave 2 english BOMs and one in Tagalog (pronounced Tuh-gaw-lig). But it was super windy and cold, so after a little bit, we went to Tim Hortons (this candian restaurant with good hot chocolate and coffee) for my first time. The hot chocolate was flippin good!! We also met a member from out of town who was like "so elders, where are you guys from?" he was pretty cool. we only talked for a couple of minutes though because we had to go. Then we stopped by a couple more houses without much more success. After that, we went to dinner. It was just us 2 and the guy feeding us. his wife and daughter went somewhere (idk where exactly). We had hash browns and eggs, and i flippin forgot my Tony's!!! D: hah But after that i went with him and Keck went with soemone else in the elders' quarum on splits. I visited this "perspective elder", and he had the CUTEST white husky puppy!!! But we just talked with him and got to know him a little bit. Thursday didn't have much until service at the food bank. Although I have memorized like 150 words on flashcards.. After service, I got to take home a few more cans of beans, some all natural peanut butter (no sugar or any kind of additives), some pop tarts and apple juice. Then we did some studies and dropped by some who had said on Wednesday that we should try Thursday, but they weren't there. Then at dinner, I remembered my Tony's and put them on the potatoes!! The husband tried some too and said he liked them... haha I actually also found out that the only known place to sell Tony's up here, is the Bass Pro Shop in Calgary... So now I know where to get some when I run out haha. Then we went to scouts after (we were invited by a member. You can't say no to an invitation, right? haha) and played dodge ball and basketball. That was pretty fun. Friday we had to leave super early to go to Lethbridge for a training meeting for my comp since he's a district leader. They talked a lot about how even though you're in a position of authority, doesn't mean you don't have to work and serve the people you're in authority over, and they used the example of King Benjamin (I think) and how if anything, we should do more to serve the people than they serve us. Also, I got the rest of the mail that was sent!! So that makes 2 packages and 3 Letters :P that made me feel pretty loved haha. Then once we got back, I read and finished the Book of Mormon!!!! I felt pretty proud that I finished, and kinda wish it was longer, just like any good book haha. Then we did some more stop-bys and stopped by Jen again (I talked a bit about her a couple weeks ago) and she actually answered, but said she wasn't really interested. Saturday was almost a complete waste of time, like literally. We didn't do really anything all morning (like usual) until we went to got lunch. Then once Elder Keck was done eating (like 1:30) he goes "we still need to do 12 week". I was like bro, we need to be flippin missionaries and get out there and do something. Then he was like well you're the one who said you want to try and do all the things we're supposed to do... Wow, I guess you only care what I want to do if it lets you be lazy for longer than usual. So we went to the chapel to do the online portion of this week's 12 week thing. Once i finished (and I'm not saying I'm perfect), we just stayed and I'm pretty sure he went on youtube to download more music, which you're definitely not supposed to do. But no one will ever know because I can't see his computer in the family history center, and he deletes all his browsing history or uses a private browser, either one. THEN he also deletes all his application history on the computer so you don't even know what he used. Like could you be any more suspicious? But later on we went to dinner with Elizabeth (the recent Spanish convert in Rosemary) and had real homemade Mexican food for dinner and taught her the Plan of Salvation since you have to re-receive all the lessons after you're baptized. Then we exchanged with the Rosemary Elders and I got Elder Johnson!!! That dude is like my favorite person out here right now haha. Yesterday (Sunday) church was just normal church. After church, we came back and I had a quick lunch and then we left to exchange back. It was really nice to have that chance to be with someone other thean Keck. It was nice to have someone not so lazy and nerdy and lucky at pool and funny and fun to talk to. We and Keck's personalities are just so different. I'm already getting sick of him honestly. (I'm quoting my journal now) "He's fetching lazy and does some very questionable things. Like freakin every time he uses the computers, he goes onto "private mode" so there's no search history, and he deletes any app history on the computer so you don't know what he used, I'm pretty sure he was on youtube to download more songs yesterday, he freakin texts like everyone all the time, he like calls other missionaries in different zones and suff just to talk to them like all the time, and again, he's freakin lazy as fetch. Like once we got back from exchanges, it was like 2:45. Dinner was at 5:30, so we still had a little bit of time for proselyting or something. But no, he wants to do personal study, then comp study, and basically nothing.. I'm like dude, Sunday is supposed to be the best day for proselyting. We need to get out there. Because seriously, we haven't done Sunday proselyting once!!! And he goes "well what if I read something in my personal study that could mean something to someone we meet?" [And he isn't serious when he says that. It's more like a joking thing when he says it] Like holy crap, quit being lazy and let's freakin go. So we did some studies and i read 3 chapter in the BOM in spanish and then we did some comp study, and I basically just read/translated the first page in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Then at likw 3:45, we finally left to do some tracting. Tracting wasn't too bad. We stopped by the houses where they placed BOMs at, and one answered and said we could come back laer this week. Then I placed one with this older lady who said we can come back later. One guy though like came to the door and goes "yeah I don't want anything to do with *steps out and looks at our tags* any Jesus S---". But not much success after that.So yeah, I'm gonna talk with Keck about my feelings about this all, and we'll see how that goes." (That was pretty much my journal entry yesterday) I haven't talked with him yet, but I will Thursday during companionship inventory. Last time I didn't really say much, but this time I'm actually gonna let him know, because i don't want another transfer to go by feeling as wasted as this one has. These 2 years are too important to start off this lousy... But so yeah, thank you everyone for all the letters. I loved reading them, and getting them haha. I love you guys!! Sincerely, Elder Levi Windham P.S. You are able to buy U.S. to Canada stamps instead of international. I'm pretty sure they're cheaper, you just have to find them :)

9 February 2015

okey dokey, sooo i forgot my journal at the house.... this week will be a little smaller, but i can still remember a lot of the big points!! on Tuesday we went on exchanges with the ZLs and i went to Med Hat with Elder Alpentista. We did some tracting and had money given to us for dinner. but what super cool about tracting, is that toward the end, we found this older guy. we told him who we were and that we wanted to share a message about Jesus Christ. he was like "well i have to go pretty soon, but you guys can come in and talk for a bit." it was the first time anyone's ever let me in!! so we went in and talked with him a bunch. he is a super christian and friendly guy. he goes to the church of Christ. we talked about the BOM and how we have a latter day prophet, just like in the bible. he said he doesn't really believe in anything other than the bible and he doesn't think there is a prophet on the earth today. we told him and bore testimony about how if he reads the BOM and really wants to know if it is another testament of Jesus Christ and was translated by a prophet of the lord, if he truly wants to know, God will answer him. he also said he has a strong testimony in prayer and that God answers our prayers, so I'm hoping elder Alpentista tells me if they make any progress with that guy because he seemed super solid!! so we gave him a BOM and as we were leaving and still talking a bit about it, his grandson came down and was like "mom already has one of those." and the guy (willie is his name i think) goes "yeah well i want my own.." like seriously, why can't i find someone like that in brooks?? haha and then like 2 houses down, we met a guy who used to hang out with the missionaries all the time, and he like remembered a bunch of their names and we got his number and stuff!! so they'll probably start hanging out with him again, and i hope that goes somewhere good... Also, this week, how i said i wanted to start being more effective and stuff, i started going through the area book in hopes of being able to clean it out, because it's like super full and outdated. but I'm going through calling all the "previous investigators", and seeing who might be interested now or still is maybe. i got a hold of like 2 out of the like 50 numbers i called. one was this black lady named Mercy, and i asked her if she might be interested in picking back up lessons, and she said we could drop by the same time the next day!! we tried and couldn't find her both times we dropped by. we called her a couple times too and she didn't pick up, so we'll try a few more times and if we still don't have any success, we'll just update her sheet and drop it. but one lady we called was an investigator last year, and she owns a local cupcake shop. she answered like immediately, and was super flippin nice!!! we ended up talking for like 20 minutes because she recently went through a divorce with some Muslim guy and she has custody of the 5 kids, and he keeps fighting her for custody, but there's like a bunch of people who will see and approach her and tell her how lousy her ex is and they hope she wins and they can get stuff on him, but she said how she doesn't want to get dirt on him and make him look bad, which is what he's doing. she just wants the truth to be known and win fairly. she also talked about how the kids will call her when they're with him for the week or whatever, and they're like crying or upset and miss her or something, and he's trying to make it so the kids can't call because it's supposed to be his time. but we talked a lot and it went really well and i was able to relate in a lot of ways since i went through kinda the same thing. but she said how she doesn't understand how she can be so calm when all this is happening. and she can really feel God helping her out and comforting her trough all this and she can feel people's prayers helping her in her life. but she was really sweet and super nice, and seems like she would honestly get baptized easily because she already has such a strong testimony in God's love for us and stuff. we won't be able to meet her this week because it's Valentines week and she'll be busy, but she said definitely next week, so I'm really looking forward to meeting her in person. and apparently, like everyone at church knows her, and when we brought her up in ward council, they all knew who she was and said how she was just super busy, so that's why she had to be dropped as an investigator. Not much else happened this week that is too exciting, but yesterday i got to have breakfast for dinner with the Blummels!!! haha they're like the flippin coolest family I've met in the mission!! which is pretty cray, considering that like this entire ward is so cool and inviting and super duper friendly and stuff. i really am blessed to have been put in such an awesome ward, even if it means i don't speak very much Spanish... at all haha. but i know the Lord is looking out for me, and if we strive to follow his example in our everyday lives, he will bless us all. i love you guys and hope you're all doing great! enjoy y'all's week and I'll write you again next Monday!! Un Brazo. Elder Levi Windham this is the huge mound of snow piled up in the church parking lot. someone dug a hole in the side of it and it was flippin cool!! haha when we were playing pool with the ZLs before exchanges, i had a stick and was standing it up and just like let it go and it didn't even move!! it was pretty legit :P then that's all the food we got from the food bank thursday when we worked there!!!