Transfer Calls~ Staying and made District Leader

Hey everyone!

Good week this week! For p-day we went and got frogs again just because some of the elders don't like basketball. Elder Haws and I love it though so that's what we are doing this week. We also had a Memorial Day picnic for the ward at a park. We made some cookies and apple crisp for the young women to auction off for a fundraiser. We also cooked some of our bear meat for the ward to try.

This week we did a ton of walking! We found a couple new investigators and we handed outa bunch of Hill Cumorah Pageant cards so hopefully they turn into something good. On day we didn't drive at all to save miles so we walked all of the way from our apartment to state street, then back to the apartment, then all of the way to Donielle Circle in Clarkson just to have a lady drop us! At least it was only 90 degrees though. Then we called Korey for a ride home and he got us ice cream so that's was good. 

The good part was Lauren the college girl who moved back to Long Island, texted us and told is that she was at a Yankees game and she saw some missionaries, then while we were walking we ran into her sister five minutes after she texted us! It's a sign!! She needs to join the church.

We went on exchanges twice this week and I went to Spencerport both times with Elder Coffey and Elder Haws! Both are awesome and we had lots of fun and miracles! We handed out 4 Book of Mormon the one day and got a couple new investigators! We found some Kingdom Builders in this huge rich neighborhood in North Chili!

The zone leaders came and did a training on Friday. Lee came to church this week with his girlfriend and they both enjoyed it. We are going to have some lessons with both of them and we are going to the sites on June 20th and to pageant with them. She is visiting from Georgia for eight weeks so hopefully we can send her back as a Mormon. ;)

The big news this week was transfers. We got calls this morning and I am staying! I'm the new district leader; my companion is Elder Ahola from Finland! Elder Gubler is going to Irondequoit and Elder Haws is going to Buffalo YSA to be a zone leader.

Well that's pretty much it for the week!

Love you!

To Mom:

That's good that Avery is going running and that you are going too!

Good for Ada going to the temple. Does Avery go too? He should. When I get home I'm going to go on lots of trips and visit every temple with some friends I've decided.

I'm doing good on money and food. It depends on how busy people are but they are pretty good with feeding us. There are a couple families who we can just call and hey will feed us. I don't need another package just yet I did think of something for later though you could send. Thanks for the honey stuff that was my favorite part. I didn't know how to use the creamed honey, but I found out that it's really good on pretzel sticks. I found some cox honey in Spencerport’s Apartment on exchanges this week. It's pretty cool that it's from our ward and in New York.

I did catch more frogs and a milk snake! It was pretty cool. It looks just like a coral snake! Love you!

First week in Wellsville

Hey guys!                                                                                                         December 22^nd, 2014

This week was a crazy week! But awesome at the same time!

So, Monday morning we got transfer calls so I packed and got all my stuff ready to go. Then I went to the Owens for the last time in a while which was great as usual! They do this special thing when the missionaries leave the area.

Tuesday was transfers so we drove up to transfer meeting in Pittsford. There were lots of missionaries going home so it took a while to go through all of heir testimonies and the new missionaries got their trainers. Then on the way home to Wellsville we rode with the Hornell Elders and we stopped at Nick Tahoes and got a garbage plate! Which doesn't sound that good but I really like them! Then the rest of the week I can't remember the separate days but we taught a couple lessons throughout the week. We went to a choir concert at the school to support one of the members. Also we got a call from the craziest guy on this planet! We talked to him a couple times but just a short summary he said he has trillions of dollars worth of inventions and patents that he wants to give to the church so we can build this temple that was designed by Joseph Stalin! This temple will be in Kansas City and it will be protected by lightning and tornadoes. He has worked on designing things for the army including submarines, helicopters, etc... He has this mob and the masons who are after him and trying to steal his stuff from this vault he has at his house. He is also a world-class chef apparently. And by building his temple he is going to solve world peace and improve our relationship with Russia etc... Also all of his inventions are mostly weapons and torture devices made out of PVC pipe like bows and arrows and flogging poles! So, obviously worth trillions of dollars!  He said he wanted to meet with us and he would bow down to authority but we decided that probably wouldn't be safe so we didn't. Anyways, that was crazy and I'm not even making this crap up!

We had district meeting this week and our district is huge! It has three sets of senior missionaries, the Hornell Elders that are a trio, us, Bath Elders, and the Dansville Sisters. So, that’s awesome! We had a branch Christmas party which was good so I could get to meet some of the members. Then the big thing for this week was we had a baptism on Sunday after church! So for a big part of his week we were planning for this baptism, which was a lot more work than I would've thought! I love Wellsville so far! The senior couple here is awesome and is really going to help this area. The area is progressing good and we are going to get a ton of work done! And Elder Christensen is awesome!

Wellsville is smaller than Springville but it is the biggest area in the mission. There isn't much for restaurants here though. The Millers who are the senior couple are feeding us on Christmas. We get to watch a PG rated movie on Christmas too. We can Skype anytime pretty much so whenever works for you and you have to remember the time difference.

Well that's pretty much it!

Love, Elder Daugs

This is from the choir concert it was on one of the walls painted from back in 1988. I doubt the people in the school even know that they have a Mormon temple in their school.

Moving to Wellsville! ~ Transfer day!

Hey everyone!                                                                                             December 15, 2014

So, this week was an awesome week! Monday we went to the Owens and did the usual stuff, which is always great! The rest of the week we did the usual stuff but I don't remember any specifics. Friday, we went to zone meeting in Orchard Park and learned some new things, played some games and made Christmas ornaments, etc...

Saturday was my favorite day! Lynette went to the temple to get her endowments and the Owens took us with them. We went to the temple, which was awesome! I had been praying about something in my patriarchal blessing for a couple weeks and it was answered right before the session started so that was great!! Gave me a little clarity about things in the future but not much, I'm still confused but it will come eventually!

Then, we went to the bookstore then to Cici's pizza then home. But the drive all of the way there and back went by so fast so it wasn't even bad!

The Owens make it fun! Then on Sunday we had usual meetings then we went to a stake Christmas concert thing in Amherst. Each branch or ward had to do a musical number so Lynette asked if we could help sing, which I don't know if that was the best idea! Anyways, that was fun!

This morning we got transfer calls and I'm going to Wellsville with Elder Christensen! So that will be great! I'm glad that I get to go to a new area but I'm going to miss the people here! Especially the Owens!!! I've really come to love them but I'm sure we'll keep in contact! Sandra will probably still keep in contact with you too mom. I don't know if I'll meet another family like them on my mission but I'm grateful I got to start my mission here and get to know them! They will be missed along with the other members of the branch!

Wellsville will be a great area! I'll be sure to try and take some pictures for you mom! Sandra might have to take some and send them to you though because I'm not so good at sending pictures home! Well have a great week and my new address is 19 Pine St. Apt 3 Wellsville NY

14895.

Love ya!

Elder Daugs

November 17th, 2014~ Winter has arrived!!

Hey guys!                                                                                                             November 16, 2014

Well, it's cold now and there's lots of snow! I saw a weather forecast that said Springville should get 24-30 inches in the next three days! So,

that will be awesome! This week went ok I guess, not that much different from any other week. So the first part of the week here was no snow but after Tuesday there was tons of it! Pretty much every day it snows at least a little. We've done a ton of tracting lately trying to find more people to go and teach. We've found probably ten potentials and we've got two new investigators, so I guess it's working! We've had appointments set up with a bunch of people this week but they've all been gone or said it was a bad time. We've tried to stop by and see all of the potentials that we have on our board a couple of times and none were available. So we'll keep trying! We've almost knocked on every single door in Springville only a couple more streets to go! 

It's kind of hard to find things to do once it gets dark because it gets dark around 5- 5:30 and people don't like us knocking on their door once it's dark. We've done the usual service at the trading post, and we did some service for Jim and Kelly. Hunting season started this week and Jim has already got two I think! And a boy from the branch got one and he said he's going to bring us some jerky! Stake conference was this week up on Amherst so that was great! We rode up with the Beckers and had lunch with them afterwards. I'm finding out that people really hate change out here! They have their religion and that's all they need they don't even want to hear what we have to say most of the time and the people that do listen are the ones that aren't religious! So I like talking to the people that aren't religious at all! They are much nicer! I think we're going to the church and going to build giant snowman for p day and then go to the Owens so that will be fun!

I'm keeping pretty warm. The humid cold is a lot different than the dry cold in Utah! I don't know what we'll do after we're done tracting? Nice elk! The Nissan is pretty good as far as I can tell! It's a little light in the back end so we might get some sand bags or something. It's going to be a blizzard for the next three days and zone conference was canceled because of the snow. Here's the fort so far. That's pretty much it! Yep!

 Love, Elder Daugs

Ether 12:4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Winter has arrived!

Guess, it's time to build a fort! (P-day activity)

 Me,  Elders Cramer, Passey, and Smith

November 10, 2014 ~ First week with my new companion

Rochester in the Fall

Hello!!                                                                                                  November 10, 2014

So this week was really busy!!

Monday we got transfer calls and figured out that Elder Vickers is going to Kodak Park in Greece. So, Monday he packed and then we did the usual p- day stuff.

Tuesday was the crazy day! The Freedom Elders are getting a new Nissan so we had to take their Colorado up to transfers in Pittsford. We also had to

take the back license plate from our truck because we still don't have the front one from the accident. The Freedom Elders didn't have a truck while we were at transfers. Then we got there and had the transfer meeting which was awesome! We got a new AP, Elder Bevan and a bunch of other missionaries went home. I got a new companion, Elder Smith and I got to see the other Elders from my MTC district for he first time! That was really great to see those guys again!! And now Elder Miller and Jones are in the Buffalo Stake so I'll get to see them a little more often. Then before we went home they were supposed to get us our other license plate but the DMV was closed so we couldn't get it so.... We had to take the Elders new truck and Cattaraugus' old truck for a temporary replacement until we could get our plates! So that meant we had to drive separate back down to Springville since we had

two trucks! So, I was all alone for two hours for the first time in 3 months! And it's not as exciting as you would think! Elder smith just followed right behind me back to Springville and I sat bored out of my mind in my truck! I had no music and I couldn't listen to the radio and I had no one to talk to! When we got there we went to Kelly's for dinner.

Wednesday we went and met some members, helped at the trading post, and went tracking. We got several potentials just from an hour of tracking! Then we went to family history night and I found some names and printed them off so I can take them to the temple!

Thursday we had district meeting, had dinner at the senior Owens and had game night, which was better than normal because 8 people showed up!

Friday we helped at the trading post for only an hour then Elder and Sister Ray came to clean and reorganize our apartment for 5 hours!!  We did a deep clean and set up the apartment so if we need to it can have four elders. They are super nice and have a granddaughter that goes to mountain crest. Then we went tracking in the snow!! Which I don't mind but I don't like the snow in early November!  One guy let us in and we taught the restoration for over an hour!! He said we can come back and teach him and his wife more but we haven't been able to get ahold of him yet.

Saturday we helped Roy cut down about ten big trees and haul them out, and we invited him to family history night and he seems to be really interested! Then we had dinner at the Miess', which was great!  

Sunday we had all of the usual things except we had to teach the youth for Sunday school (all five of them!) then after church we finally got ahold of some in actives that we haven't been able to speak with my whole mission in west valley!  That's pretty much it for this week! Love you guys!

P.S. to mom:

Elder Smith is great! He is a really good missionary and I've already learned a lot from him! We are going to get a ton of work done here together! He has been out 22 months and he just got released as a zone leader. It's been cold here, the high is low 40s and it's snowed three times already and next week is supposed to be worse! I'm not nervous driving or anything I'm used to it now! I've probably driven almost 5000 miles out here! The cities are definitely bigger than Salt Lake and there are metropolitan areas all around them. Traffic in Buffalo on the freeway if you go at the wrong time is horrible! The freeway is bigger here too. One thing I no that I don't like is that all of the roads in the entire state don't have numbers, all names and there weird names like Genesee, Cattaraugus, Cochrane, etc..  We met for transfers at the mission off ice in Pittsford. Yeah a lot of people like Springville mostly because of the people like the Owens, and the Beckers, not the area. We eat at the Beckers, Kelly's, Miess', Owens, Senior Owens, and some others. Most of the time for lunch and about half of the time for dinner we eat at the apartment or go to a restaurant. One thing that you could send me only if it's less expensive to ship than to buy a new one is the nice black jacket in the closet. Send me pictures of it and I'll tell you if it’s the right one or if I want it please! Thank you!

Love you!