Elder Jordan Ferg

December 5, 2010

2010-12-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I've had a great time in Edmonton in my last transfer. I have a great companion from Quebec.

I'll be home on December 16th and report my mission on December 26th. My meeting starts at 1:20 p.m. at the Midvale East First Ward. The Building is located at 250 East and 7570 South. Hope you can make it.

Look forward to seeing you

2010-10-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

October 20. 2010

Jordan was able to participate in another baptism. Courtney Hardy was baptized on October 9. He and his companion are teaching a 10 year old boy, Josh. His parents are returning to activity. They are also teaching an older couple, Alfred and Nancy.
Alfred plays the violin. He and Jordan enjoyed playing together last week.

We got the official letter of his release. He will be arriving at 4:14 p.m. on December 16, 2010. That time will be here before we know it.

2010-09-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Elder Jordan Ferguson had his first baptism, Gabriel, on August 31st. Gabriel's wife Betti has also been taking the lessons. Elder Ferguson said she told him and his companion that she knows that what they have taught her is true, but she has one question left to be answered. Elder Ferguson feels that she will also be baptized.

Elder Ferguson is to be transferred to Spruce Grove and will be serving there for the rest of his mission. His companion will be Elder Wilson from Kaysville. Elder Ferguson is excited to have the transfer.

2010-08-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

August 17, 2010

Elder Ferguson was able to take a temple session at the Edmonton Temple today.

He was excited because two of his contacts went to church on Sunday. They were Gabriel and Dallas. He is also hoping that Gabriel's wife, Betti, will go to church and feel the Spirit.

He and his companion had an Ethiopian dinner with Gabriel and Betti. He said it was delicious. I am sure they also talked to them about the church that evening.

2010-07-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

July 27, 2010

Elder Ferguson and his companion, Elder Smith are working hard. They have a couple, Gabriel and his wife, Betti, who are very interested, but are also trying to open a new restaurant. Gabriel has a stronger interest and is trying to get his wife to join him.

Dallas is their other investigator that has promise. She has quit smoking, but has lots of questions. She is being more diligent in her study and prayer with the Book of Mormon.

Elder Ferguson and others in their district meet at the stake center on their preparation day to play hockey in the gym. He likes the game.

Elder Ferguson is beginning to realize that his time as a missionary is going fast.

2010-07-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

July 5, 2010

Elder Ferguson has a new companion, Elder Smith. They were on their way back to their apartment and had decided to get some gas. They were near Gabriel's house and decided to visit him. He was so glad they showed up. Gabriel had been praying for peace when Elder Ferguson and Elder Smith knocked on his door. He has set July 29th as his baptismal date. Other investigators are coming along. Dallas has set July 17th as a baptismal date.

Elder Ferguson sent a pickture of him with his zone and his new mission president and family. He is kneeling on the front line. How appropriate. President Campbell, his wife and 16 year old daughter are standing on the second line. (Mom is challenged in trying to get the picture up, sorry). Maybe later.

The elders enjoyed celebrating Canada day on July 1st. They don't do much proselyting on that day because people aren't interested and the drunk ones may do them harm. They did visist with Gabriel and taught him that day. Elder Ferguson said he wasn't impressed with their fireworks, but enjoyed watching what they did have. They also sang the Star Spangled Banner during their companion study time this morning.

2010-05-12T20:55:00.001-07:00

May 11, 2010

Mom was on pins and needles for a few minutes on Mothers Day. Elder Ferguson had emailed to call around 7. I kept trying to call the number, but kept getting a fax machine. Finally, Brother Hogg from the ward Elder Ferguson serves in called to tell us to call about 8:15 and gave us the correct phone number. I tried at 8:15, but got a busy signal. His companion, Elder Phelps, was still talking with his family. we waited for about 10 minutes and tried again and got through. It was really good to hear his voice. He is doing well. He hasn't seen an Aurora Borealis. He is doing his best to work with his companion and the people of the area. Gabriel and his family are really busy with business right now, so have postponed their baptism until the end of the month. Most of the family got a few minutes with him on the phone. By the time he had to hang up, he was sounding in much better spirits.

Elder Ferguson emailed us today. He hasn't told President Rhodes that he is serving with a cousin. President Rhodes will be leaving after the next transfer. Elder Ferguson comments: That's going to be tough. It's been fun know him. He's a really neat guy. He is very strong spiritually.

2010-05-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

May 3, 2010

"Our investigators re doing pretty well. Some are stubborn, some are doing really good. Gabriel and Betta are golden contacts. Gabriel is already talking about baptism. The bishop is going to talk to the stake president to see if there is a way he can be baptized next week. Then he can receive the priesthood and baptize his family who are eligible such as his wife and nine year old son."

"Dallas and tony are okay. They really want to get baptized and are off cigarettes right now. They are just trying to get a divorce finalized so they can be married and baptized. They didn't get to church yesterday because Dall had a wicked bad migraine, apparently."

Jill and Cody didn't come to church as We pretty well knew they wouldn't. Cody doesn't feel ready to come yet and his Jill said she wasn't much of church person. We stopped by on Saturday and talked with them before church. They were drunk so we knew they weren't going to be able to come to church. We'll see what happens though. We'll keep talking to them and do all we can to help them progress in the gospel.

As for Mother's Day, most likely you'll have to call me around 7 p.m. My companion and I have to work out the time with the other elders as well.

2010-05-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

April 26, 2010

So sorry I didn't post this last week.

Jordan wrote: "Things are going pretty good here in Canada. We have found 4 new people to teach this last week. We were getting a haircut for my companion and had a couple of minute wait, so we walked into a little grocery store nearby. When we talked with the man at the counter, he asked about my name tag and that of course proceeded to what kind of Church is it, which led to the first vision and then we set up another time to come by and drop off Book of Mormon because neither one of us had a copy. We taught him all of Lesson 1 from Preach My Gospel and then invited him and his family to church. he said he'd come alone this week, but bring his family the next week if everything w okay and we weren't crazy or anything like that. Gabriel came to church and really liked it. He was actually talking about baptism. His wife, Betta, is also interested."

"The other couple are named Cody and Jill. We had talked previously with Jill, but wanted to talk to her more when her husband was there. Cody was former Jehovah Witness. He said he was forced to be there until he was 14, but couldn't take it anymore and left. he said that it turned him off to other religions for a while, but then he also said after a while he started looking into a few other religions to see what they were like. The only things he had heard about the LDS church was from the show, South Park. He said that he knows most of what they say is about 10% truth and the rest is just super exaggeration. Jill had questions about the Word of Wisdom and I tried to clear them up. We invited them to church."

"Iv'e been to the Edmonton Temple twice since I arrived. I will have another opportunity on May 11th. It will be nice to go to the temple again.

2010-04-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

April 19, 2010

The missionary work is kind of slow and just kind of going at this point. We are trying to do things but time always seems to run out on us or other stuff pops up. Dallas and Tony are doing really well though. They came to church again on Sunday. Tony wore a suit that he bought at a second hand store. He said he felt kind of like a slacker or something along those lines because he saw everyone else in suits. He had been wearing his nicest button up shirt and a tie, but they found this suit that fits him for 20 bucks and he's going to wear it all the time now. Tony is now working for the bishop in the ward, which helps a lot with their situation and some of problems they are having. They are talking a lot more about getting married now as well. Things are really looking up for them. They are working on quitting smoking.

So I recently met a missionary that has been in the Edmonton Canada mission for about 2 months. He is Elder Russell from Blanding, Utah. He said he knew the Richmond's, mostly Robby. He is serving in St. Paul with the natives.

2010-04-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

APRIL 12, 2010

Last week was a 3 day holiday for all government facilities so the library that he usually emails from was closed. He wrote: "I've been out for 16 months and the pace isn't slowing down."

They had some snow recently, "just a few inches here in St. Albert. Fort McMurray which is north got dumped on, two feet." His last companion, Elder Phelps was moved there and called to be a district leader. Elder Phelps is from Alpine. His Grandmother, Kathryn, passed away 3 years ago, but she was born a Ferguson. Hence Elder Phelps is a second cousin once removed of Elder Ferguson.

Elder Ferguson really enjoyed General conference. One of his favorite talks was by Elder Packer on staying alert. One of his investigators, Dallas, was able to watch most of conference. A cable company, Shaw Cable, is willing to service the church members in that area. "Dallas and Tony were able to make it to church and things are going better for them. They have set a baptismal date of May 15th. They need to quit smoking and get married." We will continue to teach and help them along the way.

Elder Ferguson is starting to think about when his mission is finished, but not too much. He wrote: "It'll be cool and weird at the same time, you know. I'll like the fact that I can finally have some time to just be myself again, but it'll be weird at the same time because I won't have someone right there with me to talk and joke with."

2010-04-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

April 2, 2010

We had a really good week this last week. We have 6 new investigators: two from tracting, two from contacting some people at a gas station, one from going out to an investigator's place whose appointment fell through, and the last one from a dinner appointment with members. Dallas also finally came to Church. her boyfriend, Tony, started taking the lessons last week. He really gave her that push that she needed because he really wanted to keep the commitments that we gave him. He also really wanted to come to church and he remnded her of it! it was really an exciting week this week!

The power of the Atonement is very real and is there to help with more than just our sins. In Alma 7:11-12, it talks about the pains and sicknesses that Christ also felt. It also talks about death and how because of the fact that he experienced these things that we can feel comfort from Him when we are in hard times with the weight of the world bearing down on us. I also like Alma 24:10. This is about the brother of Lamoni and son of the great Lamanite king, Lamoni's father. Anit-Nephi-Lehi becomes the next king over the Lamanites. He and those who converted had to leave or they would have died for they wouldn't take a weapon into their hands, fearing they wouldn't be forgiven again. I kind of look at it this way. They feared that if they killed someone again, they would remember why they enjoyed killing and turn back to their wicked ways and not be able to turn back to Christ and then they would be unable to receive for- giveness. We have our weaknesses and temptations, but through Christ we can be strong, praying we can always come off conqueror. This is what gives me the greatest hope in my life.

Not everyone understands everything all at once. We come to our conclusions and realizations of the gospel at different times and in different ways. It depends on the pride we have as well. It's all about when we are willing to let our pride go and ask our Heavenly Father for truth and testimony.

2010-03-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

March 25, 2010

I don't know what happened to the last post. I did it last week. Oh well, here is the report for this week. This is Mom writing. Now on to Elder Ferguson.

I'll be happy when it starts to really act like spring around here. It's been really nice the last week or two with highs in the 10s. Then all of a sudden we wake up to see it has snowed and frozen to the windshield of the car in a nasty way. It's minus 7 out (March 22), so not super comfortable. You would think I would be semi used to this by now, but I still don't like there being snow on the ground when I should be able to see greenish grass. It's just going to take a little while longer. The sun light is longer now, It is nice. Instead of going down at 5 p.m. it goes down at about 8:30. Of course the daylight saving switch helped with that. Now I don't feel terrible for ringing doorbells after dinner time. Before I would just feel really bad because it was like I was invading time when it was time for people to be going to bed.

We had a special stake meeting with Elder Melchin, an area authority. He spoke about temples. The Edmonton Temple President and his wife also spoke about covenants and genealogy work and temple work. We had a special meeting Saturday with Elder Russel M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve. He spoke on how we cOuld approach member missionary work a different way and tr a new way to get referrals, which I'm just fine with doing, but my companion doesn't want to do it. We'll see what happens. we also got the opportunity to shake hands with Elder Nelson and his wife, Elder Melchin and Elder Donald Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Hallstrom and Elder Melchin spoke on Saturday as well.

We go to the food bank here in St. Albert to do service work. We shelve and sort things, but last week we helped moved a refrigerator. We e-mail from the public library. I finally got my shoulder bag that I inadvertently left in Peace River. I practice on my violin on P-day by playing hymns and figuring out other songs.

We have 14 to 17 investigators that we are working with. Dallas Voung has a baptismal date, but is struggling to quit smoking. It keeps us busy. We also go tracting, but I don't like it. I hope to implement the new way that Elder Nelson gave us, working with members for referrals.

I 'm trying to be healthy and work out. It's hard when it's cold in the mornings though. Bishop Gatt, who's from England, bought a bow flex that we are able to use. It is really nice.

More later.

2010-03-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

March 2, 2010

Elder Jordan Ferguson has been transferred to St. Albert. It is just north of Edmonton. He is glad to be in the Mission Hill Ward. His companion is Elder Phelps from Alpine, Utah. He has been in the mission for about 6 weeks, but has gone through training. He is a cousin to Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer. Elder Ferguson wrote, "He's a pretty cool kid, very hard working." Elder Ferguson is no longer a district leader. He said it was fun, but he hated the paperwork. He is enjoying being a missionary.

Elder Ferguson reports that one of the investigators, a sister, has a baptismal date. Other investigators are new. One investigator used to be a changer for a Roman Catholic Church. He is going to be gone for a while and says he won't have the time to give the church the attention that he knows it deserves. Terry, a friend of the Bishop enjoyed going to church and said he will probably be back, but he actually lives in a different area of the mission. They will have to forward his information on to that area.

Elder Ferguson was glad to see the Olympics come to a close. "Now that the Olympics are over we may be able to get some more work done. No one wanted to listen when we went to the door during the closing ceremonies. When the American hockey team beat the Canadian team last week, no one was very happy when we came to the door. The chapel on Sunday was semi-
empty because the big game was on and people didn't want to miss it. We had a Stake Priesthood meeting we didn't attend. We were tracting instead, which really did nothing for us because the Olympic closing ceremonies were on, and NO ONE wanted to turn it off and let us in. It was ridiculous."

He also wrote: "Time has been flying by since I cam to Canada. I just can't believe that I'm more than halfway through my mission. When looking at it from the beginning I thought it would take forever, but time has gone by so fast."

2010-02-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

February 24,2010

Elder Ferguson and his companion, Elder Anderson along with Elder Smith and Elder Faber put on a musical Fireside on February 21st. I know Jordan played his violin and they sang hymns. He wrote, "We sang and performed the first lesson from Preach My Gospel. We did hymns: Nearer My God To Thee/Guide Me To Thee, I Am A Child of God, Love at Home, There is a Green Hill Far Away. We sang "How Can I Be? and The Things I Know." They also performed Joseph Smith's First Prayer, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, and I Need Thee Every Hour. They were hoping to have a lot of non members there. Only one non member came named Evelyn. Elder Ferguson feels it was "her first big step to coming to church, this really helped, I think." They had quite a few members attend.

Other than the musical fireside, there were two baptisms in Fairview. That is part of his district. It was a mother and daughter "who both really want to come to church...they also have a friend, who took the lessons with them, but due to current circumstances of her life has to wait for a little while to be baptized. She is determined to get baptized and the whole branch is supporting her. It's awesome."

"I haven't spoken in Peace River at all, but I have spoken in High Level and in High Prairie. It has been quite an experience working here in Peace River and High Prairie. I'm going to be leaving here this week. I don't now where I'm going yet, but I'll let you know ASAP.

2010-02-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not blogging for awhile.

The missionary work has been slow. He and his companion are hoping that the night of music they have planned will bring some non members and maybe in-actives out. They are trying to find people to teach. I'm glad that President Rhodes has allowed Elder Ferguson to have his violin.
Music is a powerful tool for good. I hope it works.

The economy in northern Alberta was never really exciting, mostly agriculture with some side industries. They all struggle.

The weather has not been too bad. Most of the time the temperature is around 0 to -5 centigrade.

They are trying to help Kathy get baptized, but they found out she is not married to the man she is living with. In fact she hasn't divorced her former husband. So there are a few things to take care of.

New Pics!

2010-01-25T17:17:00.001-08:00

Hey everybody! It's Heather... Jordan e-mailed me some pictures today, so I thought I'd put them up!

I'm glad he's up there in the cold, not me! (OOOH, I hope that didn't just jinx Eddie and I to go to a cold place on our mission someday!)

2010-01-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

January 18, 2010

Elder Ferguson says that 30 degrees Fahrenheit sounds pretty good. The temperature in High Prairie has been from -5 to -15 degrees centigrade. He says it isn't too bad and that he get too hot if he wears his winter coat over his suit.

He had a bit of a scare the other day. He and his companion joined in with the young men at the church to see how fast they could go through the obstacle course the young men had set up. Elder Anderson was first and made it through in two minutes and six seconds. Elder Ferguson went next and finished in two minutes and sixteen seconds. He commented that it wasn't too bad, but had to sit down because he was winded. Then he got really dizzy and nauseous and went pale. One of the leaders is an EMT and checked his pulse and blood pressure. He took Elder Ferguson to the emergency room at the hospital. They put a monitor on his heart and were checking his pulse and blood pressure. They drew blood to be tested, but in an hour they came back with no negative results. They took x-ray of the lungs, but they were fine. The blood pressure was up a little so they kept him over night. The next day, the doctor prescribed an exercise and diet regimen for Elder Ferguson. He was glad that all seemed well. Elder Ferguson was glad that he could now have a medical excuse for not overeating at the members homes.

He wrote about an experience of a 2 o'clock Sunday meeting with an investigator. The Branch mission leader was with the elders when they approached a door. The lady of the house opened the door and was "absolutely drunk. She asked us good and bad questions. She first asked us if we were all virgins and if we had to be virgins to be members. Then she asked how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. She told Elder Roberts that he had clown shoes. Then she kept glancing weirdly at me. She stared at me for a second and then exclaimed loudly, "Oh! I though HE was a GIRL!" Since then one of the members in the area, Brother Coward has jokingly called him a sister missionary. In fact, Elder Anderson and Elder Faber wrote a song all about the adventure. It was recorded at Brother Coward's home. He put it on You Tube. You can view it at Elder Sister Ferguson. It is a scream.

Elder Ferguson said that since the baptism of Kim Smith that the missionary work has been a little slow. They are working through it and are currently trying to find more people to teach. It is hard because the recession has hit that area pretty hard. Two of the three saw mills have shut down. Many people have to look elsewhere for work. Church attendance at Peace River is between 50 and 60 people while at High Prairie the average is about 28. There must be a lot of possibilities for investigators, but the work is hard.

2010-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry, Mom is so slow in posting the news. Kim Smith was baptized on January 2nd. Jordan commented that the water must have been a little chilly because she almost swore as she entered, but recovered quickly. She was glad the ordinance took place.

He and Elder Anderson are teaching a young man named Marcel. He was going south to a town near Innisfail, so Elder Ferguson was going to try and contact the missionaries serving there to see is they would meet with him.

Elder Ferguson was excited about an upcoming music fireside. He is hoping that it will generate some new contacts.

The mission has changed their preparation days to Monday. Mom is still getting used to it and was a little late in e-mailing this past Monday. Elder Ferguson commented that they changed their proselytizing to earlier in the day and hoped to get any late e-mails.

Elder Ferguson said that the weather has warmed up there recently to about 10 degrees above zero Fahrenheit.

2010-01-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

JANUARY 1, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Things are great with Kim Smith. We finished her lessons and had the interview on December 30. She will be baptized on January 2nd. It took a while for the interview to take place because the zone leaders had trouble getting to High Prairie including having to go out of the way to get gas, losing their way and sliding off into the ditch when spinning on black ice.

It was great to talk to all of the family on Christmas day. i was going to sing I'll Be Home for Christmas next year, but then decided not to.

I think I'll be getting a transfer in January. My preparation day is changing to Mondays on January 4th. That is the day I will get to read e mails and respond.

2009-12-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER 23, 2009

We have received about 6 inches of snow in the last couple of days. Our high temperature is about -18C which is about +2F. I'm getting used to the colder temperatures. I can actually go outside for only a few minutes without my heavy coat. I wear it if the wind speed is up or for a prolonged time.

Last Sunday we traveled to High Level with the Stake High Council representative and spoke there. I also played "What Child is This" on my violin. Brother Coward, the High Councilman requested it. It had played it last Friday at the Christmas party where he was in attendance and was amazed at the version I made. Now I have a lot of people asking me to bring my violin and play. I feel it is okay if it will help in the missionary work, but I don't feel that I should be playing for members just to be playing. It helped open the door for one of our investigators. His wife, who is a Seventh Day Adventist, was hesitant before she met us. She is more open to letting us teach her husband.

I hope to speak with you by telephone on Christmas Day about 10 a.m. That will be the best time for me because of members inviting us to their home on that day and my companion will be talking with his family about noon. I look forward to talking to you and the Gist family, maybe others if possible.

2009-12-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER 16, 2009

It has been in the low forties here, by that I mean minus 40 degrees. When it's that cold it is JUST PLAIN COLD. We can't leave our apartment too much because of bad driving conditions, etc.

Our investigator, Kim Smith, is doing well. Trying to get other investigators is slow. No one else has really taken much interest in us north of Peace River. There are a few people who we don' t think will ever be interested in Manning because it is a full hour drive from there to Peace River. People don't see the point of traveling that far to go to church. The work is also hard when many of the members here have a bit of a sour attitude toward missionary work. It's rough sometimes, but I know things will get better.

There were two sisters in the area which recently suffered some broken bones. One broke her hip as she was going outside her house. The other was on a ladder in her garage. When she was coming down something happened and she fell about 8 feet onto the concrete. She broke her pelvis and arm and cracked two vertebrae. She crawled to her living room and laid on the couch until her husband found her.

I'll be playing my violin for a Christmas party on Friday. I also will be playing for a New Years Party in High Prairie. We'll be there for Kim Smith's baptism interview and baptism. It'll be awesome.

2009-12-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

December 11, 2009

Elder Ferguson said the temperature has been about -15 to -25 degrees this week.

The High Prairie Branch had a party on the night of the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. They had a dinner and watched the devotional. They don't have the luxury of watching at home on their own TV.

He and Elder Roberts are teaching Kim Smith. She has set a baptism date of January 2nd. Elder Ferguson is very excited. We all need to pray for Kim.

His mission president gave his missionaries an exercise program. Elder Ferguson called it the 5BX (5 basic exercises). He said: "it isn't strenuous, but kind of hard at the same time. It focuses a lot on the abdomen where I need it. I'm on chart two. It's awesome!" Good luck Elder Ferguson

2009-12-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

December 3, 2009

Elder Roberts and I moved to a new apartment because the members we were living with had their single daughter move back with them. My new address is #105 10118 100 Ave. Peace River, AB, Canada T8S-1R3.

Here in the North it gets dark around 4 p.m. currently.

I'm doing my best to be a good missionary. It's hard some days when nothing seems to go right. I just have to have faith and look forward. Things eventually pick up.

I've been doing pretty well personally since last Wednesday. We haven't had too many lessons recently though, but doing our best to continue to be optimistic. We will be going down to High Prairie this weekend and doing some work there. We are trying to see people and meet with Kim and Vicky and Marie and Marcello. Marcello was recently involved in a car accident. He was driving down a highway at a good rate of speed and hit a patch of frost that sent him tumbling for a good long distance. He was able to walk away with a few scratches. The car was
pretty much demolished. We hope to be able to teach him the first lesson on Friday and then commit him to read and pray about what we teach. We will meet with the others on Sunday.

2009-12-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

November 25, 2009

Things are going okay for missionary work. It's slow, as it almost always is in these smaller towns, but it's moving forward. The missionaries in Fairview are doing really well. When Elder Roberts and I would go, we didn't really have the opportunity to give it the attention that it really needed because we had to go back to High Prairie. Now it's that was in High Prairie because we give more attention to peace river. It's a little rough, but that's the way things go I guess when you cover so many areas.
I'm still learning the ropes of being a district leader. We are focusing on mastering the doctrines of the lessons this transfer.
I haven't seen the Northern lights yet. They come out really late at night, so we are going to talk to a member of the branch that is a cop and ask him to call us the next time they happen.

2009-11-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

November 12, 2009

Canada had Remembrance Day, like our Veterans day on November 11th. Jordan and his companion were in Grande Prairie the next day to e-mail. He reported that the one contact they had been trying to get hold of, Chantel, just keeps giving them excuses to not meet. There are four missionaries in his district, he and Elder Anderson and Elders Faber and Hamblin. The snow had melted. He hoped to get some service done before it snowed again.

November 18, 2009
We received some snow in the last couple of days. I think it will stick around for a while. It's been pretty cold here in the Great White North. Things could always be worse though, of that I've been assured.

Things are going okay here I guess. We are trying to reign in the kilometers that we use each day. It was exceedingly high the last few months since the truck went to High Prairie. So we have been doing a lot more walking recently. The work has been slow in and of itself because we are walking, for one, and too many people are just content with what they already have. They also don't want help from others for the most part. It's hard to see people like this. I'm sure it's similar in the states or anywhere in the world. I think things are better in Utah because people usually open up more mainly due to the Spirit being so much more active there. We do all we can, but we can't force the people to listen or accept.

2009-11-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

November 4, 2009

I am currently being cold because we have temperatures about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. There is some snow on the ground, but it is starting to melt. I think the next big snowfall will stay.

This is all he wrote on his short e-mail. Maybe there will be more next week.

2009-10-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 21, 2009

HI EVERYONE,

Big news! I'm a TRAINER. My new companion is Elder Anderson. I have also been called to be a District Leader. As if that wasn't enough, Elder Anderson and I are opening an area that hasn't had missionaries for about 4 1/2 months. We are stationed in Peace River. It's going to be fun to see how everything gets rolling.

My area also covers High Prairie, Valley View and High Level. It is very unlikely that we will every get to High Level. We are currently staying with the Branch President, Brother Croward and his family. I think it will be temporary. The missionary work is okay so far. We will be finding out a little more as we talk with Brother Croward as to what has been happening and what we can do to make things happen. We will have to contact our investigators in High Prairie to give them our new phone number and set up times we can meet with them.

I received some sad news. Do you remember that I stayed with the Quintons in Innisfail? A couple of weeks ago, Brother Quinton found out he had cancer. Then a week ago he passed away. He was buried on Canadian Thanksgiving. The Quintons let me use an extra blanket they had so I never bought one. I will passing on my "heirloom blanket" I received from my trainer to Elder Anderson soon. I will have to purchase one soon. We are currently having an Indian Summer up here. It's cold, but not unusually cold like it is in the winter. It can get a bit nippy at night. Most of the trees have lost their leaves and are frozen. It think that is due to the cold spell we had recently.

I am looking forward to our Stake Conference this weekend. I understand President Monson will be speaking. I know it will be good. Hope you have a good week.

2009-10-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

It is cold and windy here in Canada. Recently it has been in the 30's. the wind make is feel colder. It is just about time to pull out the big winter coat.

Most of our investigators In High Prairie have not been coming to church. We hope they come to the music fireside in High Prairie on Friday. They said they would attend.

Elder Roberts and I are in Fairview today. This is about 100 miles away from High Prairie as the crow flies. It is longer by the roads. There are a couple of investigators who live here whom we are teaching. We are also trying to find a place for a new set of missionaries to stay because they want to open up this city next week. We are staying in the Branch Presidents fifth wheel trailer. Elder Roberts will be leaving next week, but I don't think I have to worry about a transfer. I think I'll just get a new companion. It's hard to believe that I've been on my mission for 10 months.

There are about 90 members north of Peace River which is approximately 80 miles north of High Prairie where I live. High Level is another town about 4 hours north of Peace River. Hay River is WAY up north in the Northwest Territories. There is not much potential missionary work north of Peace River. It is a very, VERY big area. We'll probably not get north of Peace River, especially with winter coming on.

2009-10-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 7, 2009

It was an amazing General Conference we just had wasn't it? We have been having cold weather recently. It was cold this morning with some snow on the ground, but it quickly melted.

We have been having trouble getting with Vicky because she is really busy and we have been gone with business in other parts of our area. She is close to baptism, we just need to finish up with the lessons. Our new investigator, Marie, is doing pretty well. She is struggling with attending church. That is understandable because she has never attended a church in her entire lifetime other that a few funerals. She has a firm belief in Jesus Christ and is interested in learning more. We hope to make contact with her tomorrow before we head to Fairview.

High Prairie has a branch with about 20 people attending regularly. People struggle to come. We have to drive for a couple of hours between our different areas to visit with members and non members. Quite a few members live about 30 to 60 minutes out of town. We try to visit once a week. I enjoy driving because the country side is nice.

The Mission Conference was really good. Elder Kikuchi encouraged us to follow the daily schedule we have been given, promising that it would increase the Spirit. We are actually one of the most obedient missions in the world. I personally try to follow the schedule though there are days where I struggle and just want to go back to sleep.

We helped out at the Old Folks home last week. I wanted to play my violin, but we had other assignments. I'll hopefully play for a little while this week.

2009-09-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Jordan received some "really good news." The Blanchard's that he helped teach in Innisfail were baptized last Saturday. His comment was: "It's way cool to know that I helped them find the church and come to the gospel!"

In other news about missionary work he writes: we have a new investigator in High Prairie that is very promising. She is a friend of one of the members and is very interested. She talks a lot about the church. She is very nice and is very interested in the gospel. She has a lot of parallel beliefs and experiences that point towards the church as the true church. Hopefully I don't leave before she is baptized.

The letter was short and sweet because he had a mission conference on Wednesday.

2009-09-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Jordan had a dream about visiting with a missionary in the Salt Lake City North Mission. Of course this was AFTER he had come home from a successful and honorable mission. He thought it was Josh Price, but it has turned out to be Daniel Rosenbaum, a friend from Pennsylvania. Daniel enters the MTC on September 30 and has been called to the Salt Lake City North Mission.

The missionary work this week has changed, due to the asking of president Rhodes. he has asked us to work with members and less actives rather than trying to do tracting or things like that. Tracting in this town is pretty much useless, especially since my companion has been here for 10 1/2 months. One of our investigators, Evelyn has kind of disappeared. We haven't been able to meet with her since we asked for a baptismal commitment. We have also lost contact with Jeremy, but hope to get his member friend who introduced us to help us get back in contact and start teaching him again. We fear he might have come across some anti-Mormon literature. Maybe he is waiting to get some questions answered by his friend rather than us. In any case I hope we can see him again.

Elder Roberts and I live in a basement apartment, but we don't have a stove. If we fill like baking we have to go to the church. Missionary life is great.

2009-09-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
This week for missionary work was about the same as the last, nothing exciting happened. Vicky came to church. We gave a lesson to Jeremy, another investigator. he's been doing pretty well since we first made contact with him a few weeks ago. He's been reading about a chapter a night from the Book of Mormon. I'm going to write a letter to the Blanchard's soon in Innisfail to find out their baptism date and give them encouragement.

I really miss going to the temple. It is a great thing to enjoy. I'm just out in the middle of nowhere. I might be able to go in a few weeks when we go down for the mission tour, but that might be it unless I get invited to another big mission conference where all the missionaries come together in Edmonton.

My companion, Elder Roberts has 42 days left in the mission field. I'll be his companion for that time. Nothing changed in my zone on transfer call day, Monday, except the sister missionaries that were in Grande Prairie got moved.

2009-08-31T18:23:00.001-07:00

August 27, 2009

Jordan received some great news from Innisfail. Chuck and Lorraine Blanchard requested to be baptized. This is a couple he and Elder Hamilton taught before his transfer north. He wrote, "Apparently they just up and asked if they could be baptized."

He also wrote that he had been very busy on exchanges with one of the missionaries in Valley View. His companion was doing exchanges with Elder Evans, the district leader, in Peace River. They were supposed to visit with Vicky . Hopefully she is doing well and will be baptized soon.

2009-08-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 19, 2009

Here is Jordan's new address in Canada: Box 3690 High Prairie, AB, Canada T0G-1E0. If you are not familiar with Canada postal codes, they have a capital letter followed by a number. In this case the numbers are 0 (zero) and 1 (one). I'm sure he would enjoy a letter.

Elder Ferguson answered a number of questions mom had for him. He hasn't been to Hay River, Northwest Territories as yet, maybe in September. It is a long trip. He has enjoyed some warm weather lately with a little rain. It is really green and beautiful in Peace River. The area they cover is farming country. The members in the area are feeding him just as well as he was fed in Innisfail.

He and his companion have two baptism dates set for their investigators: Vicky Barcello on the 29th of August and Evelyn on the 12th of September. This is their week for a zone conference in Grand Prairie. They will also be in Fairview. They return to Peace River for a district meeting and then he says he will be with one of the Valley View elders for a few days.

2009-08-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 12, 2009

So the actual boundaries of my current area extend into the Northwest Territories. We cover the High Level Branch whose boundaries extend into the town of Hay River, Northwest Territories. Thankfully we have unlimited mileage when it comes to traveling. We live in High Prairie, Alberta.

Our one investigator, Vicky Barcello, is reading from the Gospel Principles book and has accepted most of the doctrine in it. She is struggling to be baptized because she is afraid of going underwater. She is also doing her best to quit smoking and really wants to overcome that habit.

I had to buy another pair of black shoes because my old ones are falling apart.

2009-08-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 5, 2009

Sorry that we have missed the last two weeks. Mom sort of forgot the first week and then was out of town the next. Anyway, the Blanchards made it to Church in Innisfail and as far as I can tell, they loved it. A good portion of the ward came up and introduced themselves. They were sad though when I told them I was being transferred, but we explained why it happens. I hope to keep up with their progress by writing to Elder Hamilton in Innisfail.

Yes!! I have been transferred to High Prairie. This is north and west of Edmonton. My companion is Elder Roberts. They cover two areas, High Prairie and Peace River. Combined, my companion and I cover a third of Alberta. We will be going up to High Level eventually as that is the farthest north that you can go in Alberta, by road. We were in a pick-up truck for 4 hours after the transfer meeting. There were 5 people in the truck with a car following with some of the gear that didn't fit in the bed of the truck. I hear that we drive a lot and that the truck is for High Prairie. The two other missionaries in the district are Elder Evans, who served in my last district before his transfer. He is the district leader. His companion is Elder Stephens.

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting in Innisfail, before leaving. I talked about Alma, Amulek and Zeezrom, as well as Eddie's conversion story. I also talked about William Morley Black and about Elder J. Golden Kimball and his missionary experiences in the Southern states. I also played a hymn on a borrowed violin. By the way, please send my violin. I have permission to have it. I want to share my talents. The lady at the Care Center in High Prairie has actually expressed an interest in my playing for the residents there. I told her I would as soon as I got my violin.

We have an investigator with a baptismal date. her name is Vicky Barcelo. She is pretty well committed to being baptized, I think on the 22nd. She has a fear of getting stuck under water, though. I think she will get over that in time.

The worst annoyance here in High Prairie is the mosquitoes. It's really the first time they've ever bothered me too much. Otherwise, things here in the North Country are pretty good. I'm still getting used to the area and my new companion, Elder Roberts.

2009-07-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

July 15, 2009

The missionary work has been about the same this week, not too much of a change. We dropped the Ewashen family because we couldn't get in contact with them. They live next to the Bishop. We hope he will keep in contact with them.

Last night we had the opportunity to work with a less active man and his son, Landon. Landon is in his twenties and has never been baptized. We had a really good conversation with him and invited him to play basketball with us on Tuesday nights. He said he was busy that night, but to call anytime we need an extra player.

Ben was out of town this week, but we read and studied Third Nephi 11 with his mother on Monday night. The Blanchards should be back in town and able to get to church with us this next Sunday. We just have to make contact with them his week.

A typical Sunday is waking up and writing my weekly letter to President Rhodes, or reading the lesson that we may be teaching that morning. We arrive at the meeting house about 9 a.m. so we can greet people as they arrive or help where needed. Sacrament meeting begins at 10 a.m. with the other meetings of the block following. We return to our apartment afterward for lunch and a break. We also study for two hours from the missionary library; Preach My Gospel and the standard works. After that we usually go tracting for an hour. Then we go to dinner and visit a few members. We are back at our apartment by 8 p.m. to fill our reports.

Hmm! It's weird to think of my Dad being in the stake high council, but I guess I kind of knew something of the sort would happen eventurally. After all, he is worthy and knows a lot about the Gospel. Congrats Dad.

2009-07-10T20:04:00.002-07:00

July 8, 2009

So I have some exciting news. We have an investigator with a baptismal date? He is ten years old and is the son of a less active member who is trying to come back to church. Ben wants to be baptized in August and right now the 29th is set for the his baptism day. Judy, his mother, has been having a lot of really big trials. We're helping her through them the best we can, but of course it's still going to be hard for her. Of course I could be transferred by then.

Our other investigators are doing well. The Blanchard's, Lorraine and Chuck, have committed to come to church in a couple of weeks, after Lorraine gets back from San Francisco. They want to do things together.

We've been playing tennis with a couple of the guys in the ward on our preparation day. FUN

The visit to Jasper Park was good. It was a long trip, eight hours in the car round trip. We were tired when we got home.

2009-07-10T20:04:00.001-07:00

July 8, 2009

2009-07-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2009

I've got some pretty exciting news. Lorraine and Chuck Blanchard have been talking about joining the church! We've been taking things nice and slow with them. We haven't received an impression to challenge them to baptism quite yet, but they are progressing quite well. They are reading the gospel principles book, They have read the True to the Faith book that we gave them. We feel that they may get baptized in the closer future than we first thought.

By the way, I gave a talk in Zone conference a few days ago. We had the topic of how hearing the restored doctrines of the gospel helps people to eagerly choose to be baptized and join the church. I shared the story about great-great-great-great-grandpa William Morley Black. It was quite a good testimony of how things can go if taught to the needs and interests of the investigator. I even shared the quote that is on his head stone in the Blanding cemetery, "I found the Gold I was looking for." I've never forgotten that from the first time I saw it. It again touched my heart while I told the story of his conversion and how much he knew the gospel was true. It's amazing how the spirit works because that's similar to the way things are going with Lorraine and Chuck. They are becoming closer and closer to making that decision ever since they made the choice to listen to our message.

We celebrated Canaday day on July 1st. It is similar to July 4th in the United States. I feel more inclined to celebrate the 4th than the 1st.

2009-06-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

June 23, 2009

Our contact list has been actually steadily growing in the last little while. We actually have a full page of investigators, about seven, that we've been reporting on in the last little while. We haven't been able to get hold of Lorraine or her family for a while now. Elder Hamilton and I are getting the impression that we'll be dropping them soon as investigators. It's hard when people won't meet with you. The older couple we tracted into, Lorraine and Chuck, are becoming quite interested in everything the church does. They have been talking about it quite a bit apparently and are planning on coming to church this week. We'll be meeting with them on Thursday. We also have Raymond Smith and his son Caleb. I don't know much about them because Elder Hamilton and I were on splits when he and his temporary companion met with him. I was with the bishop teaching a few members here in the ward about the missionary plan.

We left our car unlocked the other day and upon return found that someone had stolen my sunglasses. They were cheap. They left the gas card and my companions REALLY nice sunglasses. I bought another pair for $15 and a new pair of Khaki's for $6. I also enjoyed going to the local Farmers market. Maybe we can generate some new contacts if we go again.

2009-06-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Jordan is in Innisfail for at least another six weeks. He wrote that their investigators don't seem to be progressing at this point. They are working with ward members through the Bishopric to get the mission plan started up. I'm sure your prayers for him and his companion as well as their investigators would be appreciated. He says, "We do our best to stay busy."

He thinks that Elder Hatch who also went to Hillcrest High school is being transferred to his district. He says it will be interesting.

He included pictures of him burning his ugly tie to celebrate his 6 months out on his mission. He was on some acreage that is owned by one of the members in Innisfail. Hope to get them on the blog soon.

2009-06-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

JUNE 10, 2009

Well, the weather here recently has been kind of rainy. It's been nice though, the area has really needed it.

Our investigators, the ones we get to see and talk to anyway, are doing pretty well. We are still struggling to contact Lorraine and her family. We found a couple of new investigators yesterday. They are a man named Raymond Smith and his son, Caleb. Caleb was originally investigating the gospel through the Fourth Branch which is the singles branch. His Dad went with him to a meeting where the Sister missionaries were in attendance. They asked Raymond if he was interested in taking the discussions. He said yes, so Elder Hamilton went with Brother Barker, our ward mission leader, to his house Tuesday night. I was on splits with Bishop Himmelreich. We met with some of the ward families to teach them about the ward mission plan and how they could do something in the mission plan to help the work progress. We will be meeting with member famlies on splits with the Bishopric once a month on the second Tuesday. Things went well Tuesday and hopefully it will continue.

Transfer day is coming up on Monday, June 15. From good information sources, I've been told that I have a 75% chance of leaving Innisfail this transfer. I've been on my mission for six months. Tonight, June10, I will be taking one of my really ugly ties I bought at Value Village, Canada's version of DI, and burn it. This is a mission tradition. I will send pictures with my next letter home so you can see what happened. Hopefully no really big fires or anything.

Elder Jordan Ferguson

2009-06-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

JUNE 3, 2009

The missionary work has been a little slow, but it's going. We've been tracting the last couple of days, but not much has happened. It's been a little odd though, people we don't know and have never seen have been waving at us. It's not a bad thing, it's just odd. Monday, we did meet with Chuck and Lorraine, the couple we had previously contacted. We met with Chuck for the most part. Lorraine joined us when she got home. They're nice and semi-interested it seems. They had questions like everyone else, but for the most part I think they would be able to join if they would attend church and read the Book of Mormon. We're still trying to set up an appointment with Lorraine Ewashen. She's been really busy with family stuff recently, so we'll see what happens.

That's about all. On our preparation day we will be helping one of the younger memebers of the ward work on his football skills. My companion, Elder Hamilton, is a former BYU football player and I can add a little. In return we get to use the exercise equipment his Dad has in his garage. We also helped clean out their garage so we could do these things.

2009-05-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

MAY 27, 2009

Not too much excitement on this end. Lorraine had to cancel because she had a lot of stuff come up. We haven't had a chance to meet with the new couple. We've been busy with conferences and service this last week. Last Saturday was pretty much taken up in service. We did a lot of yard work. We split wood for two and a half hours in the morning and then helped a member tame her unruly yard in the afternoon. Monday we had District Meeting and had a zone conference the week before. We went on exchange point with the Rocky Elders in Raven yesterday, Tuesday. It took us thirty-five minutes to get out to Raven due to traffic and construction. We returned to Innisfail to do a little tracting for the first time in almost a week, maybe more. We only got to knock on three doors though, because we were in a rush to get out to dinner, 20 minutes west of town. We can't disappoint the members.

2009-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

MAY 20, 2009

Things in Innisfail are going pretty well. We're working hard and we've found a few new investigators. A couple have promise. The other one has already ditched out on us once, so I don't think she's terribly interested. We will be teaching Lorraine Ewashen on Thursday. She hasn't heard that there is new missionary in the area. We will see how she reacts. We extended a soft commitment of baptism to her last time. She said she wasn't quite ready. She wants to learn more before she joins.

Times has gone by really quick for me. I still feel like I just got to Innisfail, but I've been here for five months now. I'm quessing that I'll be leaving soon and so does elder Evans, another missionary in my district. We've both been in this area for a while, and we are the most senior missionaries in the area, meaning that we've been in this district the longest out of all the Elders in our district. I've actually been out in the field the shortest time. I'll be here until the next transfer day, June 14th. I think I've gotten into a rut here, so I'll need to leave soon. My mission president joked about this with me. He commented that if I stay any longer I can run for mayor. I did find out that there was an elder assigned to Innisfail for nine months. I think I'm starting to get ready to leave.

My companion, Elder Hamilton was a companion to Elder Salanoa in Yellowknife. I hope to able to meet him someday. Elder Salanoa attended Snow College and played football and was in the LD singers for a semester. The most trustworth Elders are assigned to Yellowknife because it's so far away from everyone else.

Well, Canada being Canada, it snowed on Monday and Tuesday, just less on Tuesday. It was 24 degrees centigrade on Sunday and zero on Monday. I wasn't happy to see the snow that morning, but it had melted by the end of Tuesday for the most part. The weather will get better. I still have hope that spring will eventually appear.

May 13, 2009

2009-05-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

May 10th was a great day, at least for Jordan's Mom. She got to talk with him on the phone. It was good to hear his voice and listen to him tell about what he is doing. He seems to be adjusting to be a missionary and to his new companion, Elder Hamilton.

On May11th, Elder Ferguson and Elder Hamilton were driving down a street in Innisfail to see a less active member of the ward. They came across a former investigator, Cole, who they hadn't been able to make contact with. He said that he was very busy and had decided that the church just wasn't the path for him right now. Jordan still thinks he may join in time. They were glad to find out his situation.

2009-05-06T10:43:00.001-07:00

Transfer day was pretty good. I was able to travel into Edmonton with Elder Holder. He was transferred to a city known as Lloydminster with his new companion, Elder Piefinch. Elder Piefinch will be going home at the end of this new transfer, so Elder Holder will be killing off another missionary. Elder Holder has been out for about 13 months.

I will have been in Canada for five monthrs on Sunday. I got a new companion. His name is Elder Hamilton. He's from Seattle, Washington. He is a memeber of the BYU football team. He's pretty cool, course we just met yesterday. he's 6'3". I'll send a picture of him as soon as I can.

While I was in Edmonton, I was able to meet with Elder Bytendorp for a few minutes. We commented on the fact that the members feed the missionaries too well. He said he has gained weight and that I had gotten really big since he last saw me. He gave me a quick hug before he had to leave with other missionaries to go to the mission home.

I got to talk with some of the MTC companions. It was good to see how they are all doing.

Two of our contacts, Cole and Jason have not returned our calls. I think we'll have to get some help from Brother Walker who is a friend of Coles to get more information about him. Jason will not return our phone calls. We'll keep trying and hopefully our contact pool will grow.

2009-04-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

APRIL 29,2009

We are still teaching the Ewashens, and yes they are the family of five. We've just been running into a few brick walls with them. We have been trying to help them find the faith to make the leap to come to church

Kyle's family is debating on moving right now. The step-father's mother has MS and is getting worse, so they might be leaving the ward. Kyle actually has missed the last few Sundays, which is kind of disappointing.

As for Katie, we think she just up and quit working at the Sev. She might have moved back to Saskatchewan. We haven't been able to contact her for awhile. We never see her at the Sev during her normal work hours. We are disappointed, but we were never really taught her a formal lesson, every time we would set up an appointment, she would cancel.

As for the girls who came to the Reflections of Christ exhibit, only Christina is coming to the ward. She is actually dating one of the members. She helps him come to church half of the time.

Transfer day is coming. We are attending a Zone Preparation day today.

APRIL 2009

2009-04-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

APRIL 8, 2009
I had an awesome Birthday. Sister Quinton made me lunch. It was Alfredo Pasta sauce, on spaghetti noodles. Later we went to the Joseph's and they gave an awesome dinner as always. They also gave me a cake, cookies and cream Flavor. So that was really cool to! Brother Joseph, like I've said before acts a lot like Eddie. It's awesome to see him.

Yes we are still teaching Lorraine, we just only get to see her every other week. Unfortunately her father has become quite non conducive to the spirit being there when we teach. He is trying to bash the church right and left, when all the scriptures he uses, so do we. It's just annoying really. Tomorrow we will meet with them at the Bishops house, because he lives right next door, so HOPEFULLY that will help a lot. The Bishop has a lot of knowledge and can probably help us keep will from bursting out with another annoying rabbit trail of scriptures. It'll be interesting that's for sure

I did get to watch Conference. My companion and I watched at the Church here in town. We watched the final session with Cole, our most progressing investigator. He is really cool and we think he could be baptized. We just need to help him find his faith.

APRIL 1, 2009
So, I feel better at teaching, it's still not as easy as i wish it was, but it is getting better. We are currently teaching the Ewashen family and Lorraine and her family. We haven't been able to meet with them the last week but we have lessons with them tomorrow. Things are getting a little rough right now, because Lorraine's father is being really Anti-Book of Mormon, saying that all that is needed to be known is found in the Bible. He also thinks that he is proving us wrong when he quotes random things from the Bible, yet we still agree with all he says. For example, last time he quoted Isaiah on the verses that Handel's used in the Messiah, i.e. the verse that says he shall be called wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. It's getting really rough there, and Both Elder Holder and I feel that she won't really look into being a member, or truly studying the Book of Mormon unless he is not there when we discuss it.

We also have a new investigator who's name is Cole Baker. He is in a Common Law relationship with a less active member. He more than anything else, just wants to learn more about her religion. He is more interested in the points, and beliefs for knowledge sake. As we taught him lesson one last night, the spirit was strong in their home. so it was really cool. Elder Holder ended up doing most of the talking though. The member who came with us, Mike, and I did answer questions as well.

On a Brighter note we have an awesome investigator that we are meeting with twice a week right now. We have already taught him the first two lessons and half of the Third. On the second appointment, we unknowingly taught him the Plan of Salvation, because we were just answering the questions that he had. He later that same night said that all the problems that he ever had with Christianity has been fixed by the Book of Mormon. He's still in the process of reading it, but he has been able to feel the spirit as we testify to him of what is taught from it, as well as the modern revelations that are given through the Prophets in this Dispensation. He is actually in a common-law with a less active LDS member, and that has really been what has sparked his interest. They are looking into getting married soon, after they fix a few things in their relationship, so if he does want to get baptized, which both Elder Holder and I think he will, he'll be able to.

APRIL, 2009

2009-04-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

APRIL 15, 2009
Here in the Innisfail District we have District meetings Monday of every other week(2,4,and6). and we have Zone conferences once a transfer. Here they have been Tuesday of the third week.

Anyways, our investigators are doing well. Cole just turned 21 i think, they had a birthday party for him yesterday, so we weren't able to teach him. As for the Ewashens, we weren't able to meet with them last Thursday because most of them had Strep throat. We got good news from Lorraine. She has read 50 pages into the first book of Nephi, on last report, she's probably farther now. So things are going pretty well there now.

We fast every other week for a different area in our district, and the investigators they have in that area. That way each area gets the blessings they need in turn.

We do walk from time to time, now that the weather is warm enough to allow us out for longer periods of time. We do still use the car a lot, because we are in an outlying area and it's quicker. In other parts of the mission, especially in the city, there are areas known as walking areas. and it's really not all that bad out. I've acclimated quite well. I don't need a coat when it's +10C out after all. It's been pretty warm, and our suit coats keep us warm enough when it's between -10C and +10C. and it's really not all that bad out.

MARCH 2009

2009-04-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

MARCH 26,2009
Yesterday we were in a City called Rocky Mountain house. we went with Brother and Sister Quinton because it is about an hours drive to get there. we had lunch and played games with another pair of Elders who are in that City, but are in our district, Elder Gaboriault and Elder Fowler. We played games like Wizard, which is kind of like Mormon Bridge only you start at one and just go up till the deck runs out of cards each turn, and Canasta, and Stiks, which is a game somewhat like phase ten, only instead of everybody working on the same phase or goal, each person has their own goal, or stick that is drawn from a box, and the goal is to get to seven sticks before anyone else.

When we go to members homes for dinner we teach a lesson , usually consisting of something we read that day, or from the lessons in Preach my Gospel. We are actually currently teaching the members of the PEC the missionary lessons so that we can find a better way to teach the members of the ward, and be able to receive referrals from them to teach.

MARCH 18, 2009
Well teaching this last week has gone pretty well. Lorraine and her family had quite a few questions for us, such as the difference between Translation and Transfiguration, and resurrected beings as well. We taught them half of Lesson one in Preach my Gospel, and we made a return appointment to go see them in a week from tomorrow, they were really busy all this week. We did invite them to be baptized, and they said they would consider it, depending on how they felt in what they read, and what they felt when they prayed. It's exciting when we go and teach them. I might be transferred. Transfer calls are on Monday and I really don't want to leave Innisfail quite yet though. I want to stay at least one more transfer, to see how things go with Lorraine and her Family, as well as one of the Young Men in the Ward who just sent off his Papers. I wanna know where he's gonna go. He's really a cool guy, into most of the same stuffI am, and he's gonna be an amazing missionary, I can tell. He's just got that flame that's burning so bright right now, cause he just wants to help people find the truth. He's almost 21 now, and was less-active for a while, but has been doing really well recently, and has been teaching Primary Kids. He came with us to our last meeting with Lorraine and her family, and they were really amazed that a young man like him would take on the calling of teaching eleven-twelve year olds at Church.

We will be teaching one of our recent converts that is 11 about the priesthood soon. He turns twelve in May, so we're gonna try and prepare him for it, and we are also gonna see if his step-dad has any interest in taking the lessons. He wasn't the last time he was asked when Kyle first started to take the lessons, but he's always been supportive of Kyle in all that he's done, and he's always standing in the kitchen, which is right next to the front room of their house, when we teach Kyle and he joins in, and we've asked him a few questions, like about the Ten Commandments and stuff, so he might be more receptive now, who knows. We'll just talk to him and see how he feels. Kyle's Mother is less active and we've been trying to get to her as well when we've been teaching Kyle, and it has helped her, cause she would read with and pray with Kyle when he was investigating, and deciding whether or not he wanted to join. Then about a month ago he was struggling with coming to church cause he doesn't have many friends there unfortunatly, and were trying to help him get the number up, but it's a little difficult, but his mom suggested to him to pray about whether or not he should still come or not.

In this area we get invited to eat at members homes most every night. We have a list that gets passed around during Relief Society and it gets filled up really quick. Tonight we are going to a member who is an Elder for the Genealogy work and says he might have a way to help us over the pond to continue our work. I'm taking my stuff with me to see him so we can get a pretty accurate finding. We'll be having Sushi and Miso Soup there. He's really cool.

MARCH 10. 2009
Hello everyone!
I'm still in Innisfail for at least two more weeks, and I'm really hoping to stay, because I've really grown to love the investigators that we have and the members of the ward! They are all Awesome. It's been a bit cold this past week. The coldest day being today, at -28C, but it's been at max 10 degrees warmer than that. IT"S BEEN A COLD WEEK! YAY FOR GOOD WINTER GEAR!
Well, I've got a couple of updates on our Teaching. One girl we've been trying to teach, Katie, is going to meet us at the church tonight, to meet with the Bishop of the Inninsfail Ward. Katie works at the local Sev, and is a single mom, and going through a really tough time right now. We were talking to her on Friday, the day we had a nice little Blizzard, and the only thing I could think of the whole time was having her talk to the Bishop, so I suggested it to her, and she agreed. So we will meet her later tonight to introduce her to the Bishop and then show her around the building and explain a few things to her, as well as answer any questions that she has, which will hopefully be many.
On Saturday/Sunday we found a new family to teach. It's a Family of Four, and the reason I say Saturday/Sunday is cause we met the first half on Saturday and the Second half on Sunday. We are hoping to share with them how the Gospel can strengthen the family, cause when we were there, a few unkind words were said to each other.
Lorraine and her Family actually had to cancel our their appointment for last Thursday, because they had to go a few towns over for some reason at the same time that we were gonna teach them. So we are scheduled to meet with them THIS Thursday instead and share with them the full message of the restoration, since we didn't get to last time that we were there. This is the family that lives right next to the Bishop, in case you don't know, or remember.
That's really about it for our main focus investigators right now. we are still trying to teach a few, but they can't seem to get enough time to sit down with us and talk to us. So we will be doing our best to stay warm, and not freeze to death.

Next week on our preparation day we are Helping Brother Nagle, an older man, and one of the first members in this area, move some stuff out of his basement using Brother Quintons truck. It's all old Family History stuff too! I'll be on the email on Thursday.

The work is still kinda slow here, but it's not as bad as it was because we actually have investigators now! We still run into the annoying anti-Mormon people. Like the other day, some lady bit our heads off cause we are Mormon, and then stated the things that she'd learned in some sort of class given by one of the churches in town about Mormons. Let me tell ya, not fun. Both Elder Holder and I had things we could have said, but neither of us felt that we should speak to her further so after her rant we left. One of the boys in the ward is almost ready to go on his mission! I'm excited for him!

MARCH 4,2009
The meeting with the family of five, actually turned into us just teaching the Grandfather and Mother of the Family, cause her Husband was in another city for work and didn't have the chance to come back due to the weather, and I have no clue why the boys weren't there. The lesson went really well, and we shared with her the story of the stripling Warriors and we both bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. Mostly Elder Holder was the one who talked. We had more of a getting to know you type deal then an actual set lesson, cause they haven't quite agreed to take the lessons yet, but I think that she, and possibly the rest of her family, will be baptized. They are really kind folks and are really well read in the bible.
As for other investigators, we have a couple of girls that we are teaching, and they haven't quite truly started the lessons with them yet, but they have been coming to Church the last couple of weeks. They are friends with a few of the boys in our Ward.
We are also hoping to start teaching a man named Ron. He is engaged to one of our members, and said that he had a dream where they were in the temple, getting sealed, and Her non-member daughter was there as well. He came to church this last week, and loved it! He said everyone was really nice to him, which of course is one of the best things that we can hope for as missionaries.

As for studying, we study for a couple of hours a day. One hour is for personal study, the second is for Comp Study. Right now I'm studying the Book of Mormon, and Preach My Gospel. This is what my mission president has told me to study, cause it is the quickest way to learn the scriptures that we need to know

2009-04-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

FEBRUARY 25, 2009
Things are going pretty well here in Innisfail. We actually have a lesson tonight with the family of five at the Bishop's house. Hopefully they will continue after tonight as well because it would be way cool to see them get baptized! They are already very family and God oriented and have many feliefs that are right in line with the gospel, so it shouldn't be hard to help them see the light and help them grasp the iron rod, so that they never let go. We actually met them by tracting, about a week ago, and they welcomed us in and we talked about Christ and beliefs for forty minutes. It was really cool!

It has been a bit chilly here recently, just because it's been snowing and -17C for the average this last week. IT'S COLD! But it isn't too bad, after all, we have our coats and tukes and everything to keep us warm.

FEBRUARY 18,2009
Yesterday we got 5 new investigators! It's a family and they live right next door to the Bishop. They've had the missionaries before, for 5 years in fact, but that was a while ago apparently while they were living in Calgary. They moved here about a year and half ago. It is cool to see a family that has a strong belief about Jesus Christ and ost of what they talked about was very much LDS minided.

The snowfall here is about the same as it is in Utah. Most of the people say that it's pretty average snow fall. It is a little warmer than usual though. It's been between -4and -10 degrees centigrade most of the week. We had a cold day of -18 and I was wearing my tuque and scarf that day.

FEBRUARY 11, 2009
Well, as for things here, we had the Reflections of Christ display in our chapel on Sunday and Monday. The pictures are AMAZING! I want a copy of the book to carry with me. If every you get a chance to see the display, do it becuase it is just amazing! We had over 300 people come and about 1/3 were non-members. So hopefully that will help the work progress. Already we are seeing some fo the effects, because people that usually won't talk to us have been coming over to see how we're doing and it's been awesome! So things are improving. I'm staying in Innisfail for another six weeks, which is nice because I just got used to everything and it would be hard to leave all of a sudden.

FEBRUARY 4, 2009
Hello, All is well here in Innisfail. It is near the end of transfer one and I think I might be getting transferred to a different area. My reasoning being that most Greenies don't stay with their trainer more than one transfer and since my trainer is a district leader, it'll be very likely that I will be leaving.

We haven't been able to meet with Katie because every time we hae something set up she gets called into work. She calls us and apologizes though. I hope this is a good sing that she is genuinely interested. Jason is back. Hopefully we are going to meet with him soon to give hime another lesson and get the mountain dew we asked him to bring back. We've been teaching a boy named Berg that is about to turn 8. His parents are memebers, but there last son Jorgen when he was intereviewed for baptism didn't really know what to say to the Bishop when he was asked questions such as, "Do you believe that God is our Father in heaven?" So we are teaching him so that they are a little more informed. he doesn't count as a new investigator, but it is cool because it gives me practice in teaching.

The Rest of January

2009-04-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

More January 21,2009
It was cool this last Sunday, one of the recent converts, Brother James Thompson was given the Aaronic Priesthood. he's been a member for a few months, but the bishop likes to have them wail a little while to get an appreciation for the priesthood and make sure they have a solid testimony.

Elder Holders family is kind like ours. he's the youngest and his closest sibling is 8 years older than he is. He has 3 sisters and 1 brother. They grew up on a farm in the American Falls, Idaho area. They moved to Cedar City, utah about 5 years ago.

Elder Holder and I sing a hymn before our study period. He has sung bass in a choir. We haven't sung a duet in church and probably won't unless someone blabs that we sing.

Sister Quinton is very nice. She gives us food sometimes when we are running low on our own food stuff. Usually we are pretty good on our own stuff though. She sometimes hits us with a wooden spoon when we poke fun or talk back. It's not very hard, but it gets the message across.

JANUARY 28, 2009
Hello! It's nice to hear from ya! All is going well here. In fact we have a new investigator. Her name is Katie. We met her just last night as we stopped at a Sev to get a drink. We were just getting checked our and she started asking us a few questions, like if we believe in the trinity like other Chrisitan faiths and if were ministers for our church, which technically we are as we do have ministerial certificates. We are going to be meeting with her today and showing her around the church. Last night she said that se was trying to srat her life over, and get her life the way it needs to be and she also says she wants real friends, not the idots she'sbeen getting stuck with.

April 20, 2009

2009-04-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Well, not much has changed over the last week. We did have a good lesson with Lorraine though. We got through all of lesson 2, the plan of Salvation, in one lesson. It was really nice to not have her father suddenly pop in with random little comments on what he thinks about the bible. He was there. He was just quiet most of the time. Both Elder Holder and I felt bad for him, so we had him read about when Paul was talking about the three degrees of glory in his epistle to the Corinthians. He decided to read about 4 extra verses with the ones we asked him to read. He's a nutter sometimes, but a likeable fellow.
We weren't able to meet with Cole over the last week, and the soonest we get to meet with him is on Friday. That's about it for news on our part of the work.
Most of the members up here are apprehensive to missionary work. They have the common fear of losing a friend over the Gospel. We have a couple of referrals, but they are both under the age of eighteen, so we have to get parental permission, and we have to have their friend introduce us to them. It's been rather slow in the referrals area. It's rather annoying, and Elder Holder and I have been working with the PEC trying to find a way that works best with the members of the ward to get referrals.

We have six missionaries in the district. We have four from Utah, one from Georgia, and one from Quebec.
Elder Evans and Fowler are from Pleasant Grove. Elder Asay is from Georgia Elder Holder is from Cedar City
and Elder Gaboriault is from Quebec. I bet you could have guessed the last one.

From Farewell to Arrival in Canada...

2009-04-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

November 30, 2008

Jordan delivered his farewell address before he was to enter the MTC. He spoke on spiritual strength through prayer. He and some of his friends sang, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief."
It is a favorite hymn.

December 10, 2008
Jordan entered the MTC in Provo, Utah. We were almost late because he wanted to visit with
his grandpa one more time.

It was kind of hard to see him walk out of the room as we, his parents, went out the other door. We left the big room before he did and were able to see him walk away down the hall with the other missionaries. It was good. I was concerned because he had a bad cold.

He was in Branch 24 with President C. Lynn Patterson. His companion was Elder Bennion from Kaysville, Utah. In his first letter Jordan commented, "Elder Bennion is very talkative and had me feeling at home as soon as I walked in the door of our living quarters."

Jordan wrote that he liked the food and was trying to stay away from the sweets. He wrote letter on Christmas day. He enjoyed the devotionals with Elder Bednar and Elder Holland. He also got to shake hands with Elder Bednar.

As it turned out, Jordan got an ear infection and then pneumonia. He was given antibiotics and wrote, "I am almost over it now, so no freaking out and sending cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup." This letter was mailed on December 26, 2208.

One of Elder Ferguson's teachers at the MTC, Brother Yao, wrote a wonderful letter. He wrote,"I have to say that Elder Ferguson is a trooper. In the past week and a half, I'm sure you know that he wasn't feeling the greatest; however, he didn't let that keep him from progressing at the MTC. It has been agreat pleasure to hae Elder Ferguson in the classroom. The other missionaries in the class have a great admiration of Elder Ferguson's knowledge of the gospel, so thank you for helping him gain that."

Jordan left the MTC on December 29, 2008. He called from the Salt Lake City airport enroute to Edmonton, Canada. In a letter that we received from his mission president, President Rhodes, he wrote "the day was one of the colder days we've had this winter." The flight information indicated a delay, but the elders arrived at 2 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. Elder and Sister Rhodes and to hurry to the airport "when we dicovered the error and found them handling the situation beautifully."

Elder Ferguson was assigned to Innisfail. It is about 120 miles south of Edmonton. His companion is Elder Holder who is the district leader. They stopped in Red Deer to get Elder
Ferguson a warm coat, gloves, etc.

December 31, 2008
Hello Family, I got to Canada safe and sound. I am currently in a town called Innisfail and my trainer's name is Elder Holder. He is a really cool guy. I didn't get a chance to meet him til 3 and a half hours after the transfer meeting, mainly because we are in an outlyng city, and it is a long trip to Innisfail from Edmonton. So I actually already have a baptism this Friday. I won't be doing the ordiance. The boy's uncle will baptize him, but i will be in the circle for the confirmation. From what I could tell last night, he was an amazing kid, and is willing to try and life his life the best he can. His mother is a member, I'm not sure bout his step father or the rest of the family, but he is definitely ready. So our average number of baptisms here in the Canada Edmontion mission is more 110, but this past year they hve DOUBLED that number, and have gotten 224 and everyone is trying to get one more to make ti a round 225. It'll be cool to be a part of history!

January 7, 2009
More bout the baptism last Friday. The convert's name is Kyle and he is 11. He is really excited. he was bptized by his uncle, and then I was in the circle, as was Elder Holder, when he was confirmed and given the Holy Ghost. It was really cool on Sunday as he bore his testimony for the first times in his ward. It's really cool to see someone come into the church. his mom is less active. We re trying to get her to come out as well, but she's having a bit of a harder time, but she is getting better. She's been reading and praying more since the missionaries started to visit Kyle.

I'm getting a gym pass so i can stay in better shape. We have a half our in the morning to work out. The equipment at our place isn't the greatest.

My companion, Elder Holder was born and raised inIidaho, but moved to Cedar City with family before high school. Elder Holder knows Elder Bytendorp, but hasn't served him him.

My coat I bought will keep me warm down to -40 degrees. I also have some great gloves. As for cold temperatures, it has been down to -37 degrees C, but the last couple of days have been really nice, about -8C. So we have even left our coats in the car when we are just going to appointments. When tracting I still keep my coat with me.

The members we are living with, the Quintons, have provided that blankets and sheets for my bed. They are really cool. They like to play games like Cribbage, etc. I actually had to learn that game so I could play when we go do service. We play at the old folks home when we visit.

January 14
He wrote, "I'm not cold. It's only -10C, which is roughly 12 degrees F, so it's not terrible. It's only gotten below -30C a couple of time, so things are fine. It's also warm in the car and in my coat. By theway, this week it's actually been pretty warm, with highs being anywhere from -10C to 6C.

We have a new investigator, Jason. He has had the lessons before, but because he was a minor at the time, his dad held the final decision on his baptism and obviously said no. now he can be baptized and hopefully that will be soon.

So, I found out that the Quintons have Ferguson blood. I saw a group of tartans on the wall. one looked kind of familiar. I pulled out by Ferguson tie and compared the two, not realizing that the name was given underneath the tartan. Please send me the family group sheets or info.

January 21, 2009
I haven't told you yet, but Canada, at least the part I'm in right now is pretty flat. You could watch your dog run away for three days and still be able to call it back home.
By the way, I sprained my ankle, but not bad, just a minor sprain.

Jordan gets his call!

2009-04-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Oct. 2nd 2008...

Where will he go?

We all want to know...

P.S. sorry the graphics aren't so great,

but it captures the moment, eh?