Back to Hopkinsville: 7/25/2011

So first off, this is going to be a short email, bcuz we are short on time due to transfers being tomorrow. so I'm running around like a chicky with its head cut off! haha. So yes, I'm getting transferred :( 

I'm going back to the Hopkinsville Zone to be a Zone Leader up there in Clarksville with Elder Hill (my long lost twin who came out with me :)) So that will be fun. But it is super sad that I'm leaving Franklin :( I love it here, I am totally coming back to visit here, and who knows, maybe I'll live here!! haha. It looks just like home, no joke. 

Man thats crazy that Beau is home. 

Oh geez. Well I'm sorry this is so short, but I'll email you a longer one tomorrow morning before transfers :)) I love yall! Stay out of trouble mkay??

Peace and blessings!

elder cawley

Elder Cawley eating breakfast with other missionaries at the Mission Home. 

Hola family!  

So, sorry about the short email yesterday - it was a crazy day running people here, taking them there, just all that stuff.  We did have time to play some bball and then the Germans took us to Buca Di Pepo as like our last supper haha - so that was fun :)   

Man, Sunday was awesome!  We had an NFL football guy we are teaching and his family came to church and he was sooo big compared to everyone else!   We also had a really cool Brother come to church. We have been working with him ever since I got here, and he just never came to church.  He served a mission and everything.  He is divorced, has a new girlfriend and he has 2 kids ages 18 and 14.  They are super cool!   This brother told us on Saturday that we wasn't going to come to church, but when we pulled in to the church parking lot I noticed his BMW and I was like NO WAY!!!  He looked super fresh in his suit and what not. He had a good time.   

During sacrament meeting, Elder Thompson and Elder Boyack and Brett Raymond (sings for the EFY cds) did a musical number, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing - it was super good.  People were crying.  It was a great last meeting before my transfer as we had about 3 investigators at church and 2 less active members that we have been working with. Made me happy to see that :)   

So now I am all packed up, and in about 3 hours I will be in Clarksville starting my work there. I am gunna miss franklin, I love it here.  I'm seriously considering moving back here later on in life :) It is way swank here!   

Oh so me and Elder Thompson are starting a new fad. We found these watches at the shell gas station called Slap watches.  They are like those slap bracelet thingys that are straight then when they hit something, they wrap around it. So it's just like that with a watch in it. I have a red, green and blue one haha. EVERYONE comments on them and are asking us where to get them. We are going to be famous someday. 

So I saw that beau is home - I love and miss that guy!  Oh man, good times. Well transfers is gunna start soon, so I guess I'll get going. I love yall so much!!  Tell Beau and Ben I say hello!   Have a good week!

Peace and blessings!

Elder Cawley

 note: Elder Cawley has now been out for 9 months!

New Families to Teach!: 7/18/2011

oh... hey family.

So this past week was pretty fun. I had to go on an exchange with the assistants, bcuz President Mckee and 2 of the other assistants were doing interviews around the mission. So me and Elder McDermott stayed in his area and worked it. We made a goal, that the last day we weren't going to come into the apartment until we found 3 families to teach. 

So we headed out at 10am and we skipped lunch and dinner and at about 7 or 8pm 3 families just fell into our laps. It was crazy! One came up to us, and said they wanted to be taught, another one was a former family that was being taught awhile ago but stopped. So we went by, and they were totally prepared. and the other one, we were just sitting in the car, thinking of where to go, and a family walked around the corner going to the playground next to us. So we got out and talked to them and I got them all laughing (that helps alot haha) and they wanted to be taught. 

So we were all happy that we met our goal and we were starving! So we go in at 9pm and they had no food in the apartment! Except like 3 lil peices of chicken haha. But we couldn't go be disobedient and go to McDonalds, so we went to bed hungry. And in the morning we took a run to McDonalds and ate a ton! hahahha. We earned it I think :) 

Well I hope y'all are doing well! Tell Uncle Brad happy birthday for me! Give all the lil cousins a hug for me! That story about Camille is way awesome! haha. And mom don't throw your back out... that's bad for joo! haha Get better soon. love yall!

peace out girl scouts!

Elder Cawley

Famous People: 7/11/2011

Oh man this was a fun week :) So, there are so many famous ppl in my ward here. There is a country band of a mom and her 2 daughters... they aren't too active, but I will change that haha. They are like 34 on the charts right now, and they gave us a free CD. They are also filming a reality TV show soon, and I told them that they should feed us one day so we can be on it, and they said they would! woohoo! haha. 

Oh so, get this, type _________ into youtube and watch the first video that comes up... that guy is in my ward!!! He now has a country band, and they are pretty legit too. We were over at his house, and he wants to donate a guitar to us so we can learn how to play. He also gave us a free cd :):) I love Franklin!

We are also teaching this guy named _______ ( I don't know his last name haha) and he is a florist. Super good one. He does all the flowers for huge weddings, for Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, just to name a few. 

The work is going pretty good, we are still in the finding stage, as always haha. Oh a cool thing we can do now is pass a dinner calender around!! woohoo! Before we couldn't, our ward mission leader had to call less actives to have them feed us, and it didn't work too well, but now we got it approved to pass one around :) I love food!! hahaha. Well I hope all is well in Cali!! I love y'all! Tell Grandma Cawley that I love her!

Peace out girl scouts

elder cawley

Letter from a Ward Member: 7/12/2011

Dear Sister Cawley,

My name is ____________, and your son Elder Cawley has been serving in our ward here in Franklin for the past few months where we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him. 

With transfers looming soon, I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few of our family’s interactions with him.  We have a son (whose name is Spencer ) currently serving  in Tempe, Arizona.  Getting to know Elder Cawley has been a sweet reminder of our own son as we have talked high school basketball and such at dinners.  Anyway, I recently received a phone call from a ward member in the area he is serving in AZ just to tell us about how he is doing.  It felt so great to know all is well, so I hope you will enjoy the same.

Just yesterday Elder Cawley spoke in sacrament meeting.  He gave a wonderful talk without any notes at all using the analogy of the minors trapped in Chile to those seeking the gospel being trapped in darkness.  He spoke from the heart and it was a powerful message.  With the exception of making the congregation chuckle at a joke or two, it was silent as everyone sat thinking hard about his powerful message of sharing the gospel.  Hopefully, that will lead to a few members helping them out with people to teach!

One of the things Elder Cawley and his companions spend A LOT of hours doing each week is contacting and visiting inactives.   He is always asking us what we know about this person or that person.   It is so great that he is not caught up in baptism numbers, but that he understands the importance of the rescue as well.  We are so grateful for his service in not just helping to grow the church in our hometown, but to help strengthen it as well.

My husband has cancer and has had three major surgeries since Elder Cawley has been in our ward.  Every time we feed the missionaries, they always ask what they can do for us.   One of these times, we asked them if they would join our family and fast on a certain day for the surgery to go well.  They of course said yes without hesitation. (it even happen to fall on their P-day when they likely would have liked to have not been hungry)   Later that next week, we found out that Elder Cawley had gone back to the apartment that night and on his own called some of the other missionaries in the area and asked for their help in fasting as well.  The surgery was a success and our family continues to be blessed.  We thought it was so thoughtful he went the extra mile in pleading with the Lord on our behalf. 

Lastly, on a lighter note I wanted to share what a SWEET young man Elder Cawley is.  It is tradition in our ward that every summer the activity day girls (and some of their non-member friends) put on a musical that is directed by a lady in our ward and some of the young women. (They call this drama camp).   Anyway, this year the play was The Little Mermaid.  The missionaries came to watch and support this humble production, and afterwards the Elders went around and had all the kiddos in the play sign their programs.  It made the little girls feel like superstars! 

Elder Cawley loves you and misses you.  He is so excited to be an Uncle, and choked up bearing testimony of seeing his grandfather again that just passed away.  You must be so proud!

All the Best,

Sister _______

New Mission President: 7/4/2011

Hey family. well another week went bye bye haha. This last week was pretty fun. We went to a Seventh day Adventist Church, and it was totally different, but we are friends with the pastors so that's pretty awesome. We met the pastors in the hood walking around saying prayers with people, and they were super nice to us, and invited us to their church, so we went. 

On friday, we had ZLC with President McKee. He is super sweet! Way laid back, and funny. Sister McKee is HILARIOUS!! She was making me laugh so hard haha. The 5 daughters they brought are all like super musicians. They sang for us, and it was bueno. The littlest girl, who is 9, is awesome. She is so funny haha. 

 Bill & RaNae McKee

Pres totally has the greenie fire, he wants half of the congregation to be non members when he is done being a mish president. His idea is to have every member family bring a non member to church. Which is good, so he is pushing that haha :) We will see where that goes, but I'll back him 100%. 

Today, we went to wallieworld (walmart) and bought a lot of candy and soda and chips and snacks bcuz we have to be inside by like 6ish. Saftey rule, so we can't go watch the fireworks :( haha. Well yall are the best! I love yall!! Eat some carmel popcorn balls for me! I miss those, you should send me some :) haha. love ya!

Peace out girl scouts

Elder Cawley

Woohoo!: 6/27/2011

IM AN UNCLE!!!!   Baby G is so cute!   I saw the pics on facebook, the best one is his first car ride - oh man!  The _________ (family in my ward) fed us and we had cake and ice cream to celebrate me being an uncle :D They are awesome! 

So this week was pretty cool. We visited a member in our ward, his name is __________. He performed many cover versions of the James Bond theme song and he arranged "These Boots Are Made for Walking" and tons of other stuff. He played guitar for Elvis and many other famous people and bands... how crazy is that?!  Oh and Sister ________ is an actress! She was in DUMB AND DUMBER!!!  She showed a pic of her in the background of when they have the orange and blue suits on haha. So awesome!  It is sad though as her husband, Brother _______ is dying, he can't really breathe on his own, so we gave him a blessing of comfort - pretty neat. I hope Grandpa Cawley is doing ok too. I heard Dad and Uncle Mike gave him a blessing at the hospital. I pray that he will also be comforted (and Grandma).

We were walking around in this apartment place, and the anti family that anti'd the crap out of us, saw us and we were like, "hey you should feed us sometime"... jokingly. And they invited us over right there, and we had taco salad. She was drinking wine, so we gave her a hard time about that. We kept joking with her hahaha. It was fun, and we are good friends now :D 

A cool thing that happened on Sunday is they split one of the wards that meets here, and rearranged the ward boundaries. So now we don't live in our area anymore, kinda crazy. I hope we get to move into our area, bcuz it would be easier to travel to places. But I guess thats the mission for ya :)  

Oh I can't remember if I mentioned this in the last letter, but I got the Donaldson's package, of a ton of candy!!!  It was sweet! haha. I think like half of it is gone, we munch on it all the time :D haha. 

Since the boundaries were switched, we have no investigators now which stinks, so we have to walk a lot now. As if we don't already do that haha. but, life's tough, so get a helmet hahaha (boy meets world anyone?!) Well I wish I could be there to see BABY G!! Garsh I just wanna kiss him!  Let me know what yall name him, hopefully its Mega Tron or something :D   Love yall!

Elder Cawley

Note:  Baby G now has a name - Jacob Scott Garrison