An Eventful Week: 10/31/2011

So this past week, we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders :) elder ____ (one zl) came to linden to stay with me, and my companion went to franklin (my most favorite place ever) with elder ______. Elder _______ and i had a blast haha. 

on Wednesday after district meeting, we all went to Sonic as a district and had district lunch. then we were off. we went and saw some less actives that were in linden, and a couple appointments fell through, but thats otay haha. life goes on. so we traveled back to the trailer around 5 for dinner and it was a nice day outside. So we decided to take our table out on our porch and eat outside, while we played monoply deals haha. its a pretty fun card game. and people were driving up our hill just honking while we sat at our table on our porch hahaha. 

Then we walked around Parsons, TN for an hour and then at 7, we went to ______________ Church. it was nuts haha. people screaming, talking in tounges, it was not a very spiritual place haha. i felt the spirit leave me once we walked in... not a good feeling. but i did get a sweet pink and blue tie from one of the missionaries there at the church hahaha. 

then on thursday, we went to hohenwald... not holdernald mom haha. and that place is sketchy!!!! a cop was shot there, a kid was beat up and is bleeding on the brain and another guy was like stabbed 5 times... it was sweet!! haha and we just walked around knocking doors bcuz missionaries havent been in that area in about 10 years. so people were staring more then usual hahaha. we found a good 3 solid investigators. so we are just going to expand our teaching pool there. President promised us double didget baptisms haha. so we will see!! i love hohenwald though, its a great town.

that is crazzzyyyy that beau and katie are engaged!!! i plan on getting engaged soon after my mission too :):) so head up mom and dad :):) haha. 

on saturday it was the trunk or treat party... and we didnt have any halloween decorations... so i just hopped in the trunk and held a b of m while i passed out candy to the kids hahaha. it was great :):) oh and on sunday, we went to this church called "_________________" and the preacher totally preached against halloween and how it is of the devil and if you celebrate it you are going to hell. i was like wow... well i guess im going to hell. hahahaha.  

its P-day so we are going to go do our shopping at the one lil food store that we have here in parsons haha. it stinks being out in the middle of nowhere. i love it!! :):) i hope all is good in good ol' cali!! i love yall!! eat some candy for me!!

peace out girl scouts.

Elder Cawley

One Year on the Mish: 10/24/2011

hey family :):)

So this week is when i hit my YEAR MARK!! how crazy is that?!?! it sure doesn't feel like i have been out a year. I can truly say, that time flies when you are on the Lords errand :) 

So here in the Linden area, its super hard to find people. the place where we work, Parsons, has been over worked alot since it is so small. I brought up this concern to President McKee in interviews and made the suggestion that we move to Hohenwald, since there have never been any missionaries there, and it is the largest town in our area. (and it actually has fast food places and a walmart haha, all we have is hardes and a sonic, but that's not why suggested it... maybe haha) He came up with the idea that before we move he wants us to work each town in our area. We are going to be like traveling elders in our own area. Let the ward know what day we will be in what town so they will know. So we tried it this past week, and we RAILED our miles hahaha. its a good 45 mins to hohenwald from our trailer. That was without members help though, bcuz the week we decided to do this was stake conference, so we couldn't talk to our bishop or anything, but they know now and they are excited about it :) and we are going to start having dinner appointments now hopefully! :) haha. 

Like i said, finding in Parsons is quite hard, but when we do find someone... they are solid! We met this person named _______. He is an ex-body builder and a 3rd degree black belt and all this crazy stuff hahaha. and we taught him a first and he is totally dry Mormon. we told him about no paid ministry and he was like "YES! finally someone agrees with me!" and he thought it was awesome that we have more scripture to help us get even closer to Christ. just way solid, he even invited himself to church! but he didnt come :( so we are going over on Tuesday to talk more with him. but yeah... super solid. 

Oh!!! here is a crazy cool story that just shows the church is true. ready? ok here we go.... So there is this family here in the ward named the __________. and sister __________ has had brain surgery like 10 years ago bcuz she had a tumor on her brain. and she has been sick ever since and hasn't really been able to go to church, too much, but they are some of the strongest members i have ever seen. and yesterday on Sunday, we went to there home to give her the sacrament (idk why no one has gone by to give her the sacrament) so we bless it and give it to her, and once she drinks the water, she starts to cry. and we all just sat there feeling the spirit. and her husband goes on to tell us that when she had the surgery done, something happened to where she wasn't able to weep. He told us that what we just witnessed was truly rare. so she hasn't been able to cry for 10 years, but once we gave her the sacrament, she just broke down and cried for a good 5 mins. it was awesome. spirit was super strong :) 

The church = so true. i love it. eat some in n out for me! :) i love y'all!!

Peace out girl scouts.

Elder Cawley

Met an Apostle!: 10/17/2011

So, this week was awesome!!  I GOT TO MEET AN APOSTLE!! on saturday, we got up super early bcuz we had to be at the franklin stake center by 9am. and it takes like almost 2 hours to get there. But at 9am we took a mission picture :) it had all the missionaries, it was awesome! i put it up on facebook, so you can see it there. Then at 10, is when it all started, from 10am-12am, we had a meeting with Elder Christofferson. So it was just him, his wife, president and sister McKee, and a 70. i forgot the 70s name, but he lives in lexington, KY haha. 

anywho, Elder Christofferson is so funny!! he was craking jokes left and right!! He talked to us a lil about how we always need to be in tune with the spirit, and how we are all companions and need to help each other out. Before he did his talk though, he had each of us go up and shake his and his wifes hand. it was awesome!! I shook his hand and he was like "Elder Cawley" so i said "Elder Christofferson" hahaha. i said that his nephew was my neighbor at home and he was like "oh very interesting. tell them i say hello" and then he was on to the next person. i was like YEAH!! i had a convo with Elder Christofferson!!! hahaha. 

Then he opened it up to a Q & A. so he was asked certain questions and he the other people to answer the questions. and after Pres Mckee answered a question and sat back down, the pulpit was super short bcuz Sister Mckee is short, so he turned to Elder McDermott (who is an AP that was controlling the pulpit) and said "hey captin kurk can you raise this thing up??" and we all just started busting up hahaha. i almost peed my pants. and then Pres Watson came in with his wife. He is a counsler to President McKee. And Elder Christofferson knew Pres watson when they lived here and he said to him "i remember when they were teenagers, they married young, how young was she Pres watson when you married her... 13??" hahahahahhaha again, we all started laughing. It was just so awesome to see an Apostle of the Lord cracking jokes left and right, yet he knew when to be serious. 

Thats what im working on still, how to determine the line when to have fun and be funny, and when to buckle down and work haha. Transfers are on tuesday, but we are not going, we are staying the same haha. I have been made district leader over this district now though :) so that is exciting :):) Pres told me that i was going to lead this district and something amazing would happen. He told me that he recived revelation that our district is going to be a double didget baptizing district. We only have 3 companionships, but im not doubting him haha. he is super in tune with the spirit. That is about all that is going on in the mission right now :) i love yall!! stay safe and remember....

Peace n Blessings!!!

Elder Cawley

D. Todd Christofferson is Coming to Town: 10/10/2011

hey hay hey!! so this past week was pretty much like all the other weeks. We did A LOT of walking. haha. we did a couple cool things though this past week :)

so tomorrow we have interviews with President McKee and he told us to bring our Area Book and planners. my planner is good to go, but the area book... man that thing is HORRIBAD haha. there is stuff in there from like 2008 and all this stuff. so we went through it and just took out a crap ton of stuff that was useless. Almost all the past teaching records had their name, and stuff about them but no phone numbers or addresses or anything. so we cleaned it up... and burned the rest! hahah. it was pretty cool, we did it at night, so we had a lil fire in our front yard (aka. the woods haha).

Then another weird/crazy thing is that on the side of our trailer there are always at least 50 red wasps, trying to build a nest or something, and i keep throwing ice at em and they go all crazy and then i run inside haha. i guess the missionary before me got stung by one, and it put like a crater in his arm for 3 weeks. they are pretty nasty... but ill take the risk haha.

Yesterday, we went out with the 1st counsler in the Bishopric, Bro. ________, and he is the man! haha. he drove us out to the boonies of the boonies. We never have the chance to go out there bcuz its a good hour drive haha. our area is huge. But we managed to see about 5 recent converts/less actives. it was awesome, and bro. _________ and us just talked for like hours. we started at 4pm and got done around 9pm. lots of driving, which means lots of conversation :)  it was lots of fun.

i got some sweet pictures too!! bcuz the leaves are changing and we were out in the boonies, so it was just yellow/red/orange leaves for miles :) when i get the chance ill send them to you, or ill try the walmart thingy tomorrow when we go to walmart :) This saturday, D. Todd Christofferson is holding a special meeting for just the missionaries :):) so we will get some good advice here!! and he was the franklin stake president, so he is gunna love us for serving in franklin zone haha. and maybe if our investgator goes on saturday, we will hear him 3 different times!! the adult session is on saturday, then sunday, and the missionary session on saturday :) my mind is gunna be like jello from hearing him speak 3 times. its gunna be awesome!! its gunna be lots of driving though haha. but so worth it!!! i hope all is well in cali!! i love yall!!!


Peace n' Blessings!

Elder Cawley (or as they say here "Crawley" haha. the curse is everwhere!)

Watching Conference with the Homeless Man: 10/3/2011

woohoo!! yay for general conference!!! it was weird, me and elder _______ were the only people at the church watching conference. it was fun at priesthood session though, awesome session. then after, we played a lil game of ninja with all the priesthood brethern. haha i totally owned :):)

then on sunday, we had a kinda weird experience. it was the first session on sunday, and we were sitting 3 rows from the front, where the tv was. and i just looked back, and there was a homeless man standing there. at first i jumped, haha, then i went up to him and was like "hey sir, how are you doing?" and he was just looking if we had any cans or anything. of course we didnt :( we had like nothing in our kitchen haha. but we told him he could fill up his bottles with water if he wanted. and so he did that, and then we invited him to watch conference with us. So he sat down to watch the last 30 mins... and he was talking about how he was fighting his human nature recently... and then President Monson spoke about the natural man! it was neat!! and i was getting all excited and looked over... and he was sleeping....... hahaha. i was like... of course.

but then after conference was over we talked to him for a good 20 mins, and gave him a book of mormon and talked about that. and we walked with him to the door and on the way he told us that he has been walking for 5 years. he flew one day to dallas, texas, and just started walking. He said he has been up to Canada, and to New York and now he is in the South. i was like holy crap... we told him that we have some soda in the fridge, but we didnt know how long it has been there haha. so he took a sprite and off he went. but man... did he know his bible. i was quoting scriptures from the bible, and he would finish the scripture for me. i was like... yeah... you know it better then me thats for sure hahaha. idk if i could walk for 5 years... thats like totally Forrest Gump status. "i just felt like runnin'" haha.

but i gave him all the cash that i had... which was only 5 bucks. i dont carry cash too often as a missionary. and he asked me how far the next town was. i told him 10 miles, and then he started walking. it was crazy. but way cool at the same time. but that was the only person that showed up to watch conference with us at the church :( but im thankful that he did stop by and that he was able to hear the Prophet speak :)

its starting to get pretty cold here in linden. last night at 8pm when we were walking, it was 54 degrees. i dont like it haha. i like the heat, and the warmth :) i hope all is well in cali!!! yay for mom not gettin bit by the black widow! and lina you cant drive if the cast is on your right foot :O haha. bummer. dad is a beast for doing that triathalon haha. when i get home, we are gunna do one together! :):) i love yall!!


Peace and Blessins'

Elder Cawley

A Tuna Sammich: 9/26/2011

oh hey peeps :)


So another week down here in the good ol' country of Linden haha. i cant believe it but "yall" just comes naturally, and im pretty sure ive said "fixin" and "reckon" a couple times without knowing haha. im starting to become a southern boy.

So this week was a lot better then last week, for one reason, it was my birthday!! woohoo!!! thank you all for the packages and food and ties and cards!! i loved em all!! its crazy, i started my mission with only like 10 or so ties, and now im half way threw my mish, and i have about 30+ ties haha. its great. idk why, but missionaries love ties. so thank you for all the ties i got for my birthday :) i love em all!!

So yesterday after church, we went with Bro. ______ to go see some people in the nursing home. we go there and do the sacrament for them. it was crazy, i took the sacrament 2 times on sunday haha. They got special permission to do that. While in the nursing home, we went and visited other members of the church that were in there but couldn't come to take the sacrament. and there is a lady in there that is 102 years old!!!! it was crazy! and she was just sitting in a chair watching t.v. she can still feed herself and everything. but bro. _____ helped her and fed her for a lil, then we helped also. I fed her some of her tuna sammich, and while she took a bite of it i said, "do ya like tuna fish?" and she ate it and just yelled "NO!" hahahaha. i was like.. "oops my bad, sorry." hahaha. I forgot her name though :( but she LOVES the candy bar 3 Musketeers haha. after eating like all her food (she can put it away for a 102 year old lady) she woofed this candy bar haha. it was so funny. she is the oldest person that has lived in Linden her whole life. crazy.

That is all that im working with really in the linden area, old people haha. Our ward is basically 98% old folks and 1% young parents and 1% kiddos haha. so funny. but oh on sunday, sister ______ walked in and handed me a cake and a card and said happy birthday. she said she was sorry that she was late, but i looked at the cake and i was like "is this German Chocolate cake?!?!"  and she said, "yup!"  i told her that this cake is like my favorite cake ever, i almost have it every birthday. so i was pretty excited. Sister _____ is like a pro baker, no joke. she does it for a living. so every sunday we have like 3 loaves of bread, and some sammichs and all that. its great haha. there is good food down here in the south thats for sure. :)

i started to put on some pounds haha. but ive stopped drinking soda, and just drink water, and starting to eat more healthy haha. oh man what i would do for a chicken Cesar salad from corner bakery hahaha. its stinks though, the only thing we have in the linden area is sonic, and i can tell ya, im getting sick of sonic hahaha. but our trailer is packed with tons of food! so we are doing good. i hope all is going well back in cali!! i love yall!! everytime i wear my palm tree tie i think of cali :) haha. love yall!!
peace out girl scouts.

Elder Cawley

Elder Cawley turns 20!: 9/19/2011

oh hey family...


So, today i turn 20! woohoo!! although, i don't really feel any different, i guess that's what the mish does for ya!  i haven't gotten any of the packages/letters yet. but then again, they might be coming today! so woohoo!! haha. so i guess now that im 20, i have to put away childish things, bcuz I'm not a teenager anymore. dangit :( hahaha. but i can still be goofy and silly right?!)

This week is going to be a good week :) hopefully better then last week, bcuz that wasnt such a good one haha. so ill give ya the short run down. So we had pday and all that last Monday, and we just chilled, bcuz there is nothing to do here in parsons hahaha. then Tuesday happened. we start walking down the road (and mind you we are friends with all the pastors here haha) and one pulls us to the side and said that the one pastor that put anti in the newspaper (he is the only pastor we are not friends with, so i guess we ain't friends wiff ALL of em haha) did a second article. so we go and take a look at it, and it talks all about this anti stuff. so we were both ticked haha.

And then all week our appointments just cancelled left and right (then again we only have like 1 a day haha) so we ended up just walking forever. i think on average, we walked about 6 hours a day. And we weren't able to meet with _______, or ________ or _______ :( so we haven't seen our baptismal dates all week. _______ and _______ (a married couple) live super far and we need a member to take us, and _________ was sick and kind of avoiding us bcuz of what happened on last Sunday haha. but i guess i would do that too if i was taught the word of wisdom AND law of chasity all at once at church and i wasn't a member haha. crazy stuff.

So yup that's about all i did this past week, was just walk... forever. haha. Our bishop here loves how we are out just walking though. i call it bill boarding time hahaha. since its such a small town... EVERYONE sees us. like we were at Sonic in our car, eating some food, and this random girl comes up and is like "hey are you the guys that walk around all the time" and i was like "yup" hahaha. and so we talked to her for a lil and she wasn't interested, she just wanted to meet us. i guess we are famous here hahaha.

I am so excited for Wednesday though, bcuz we get to go to the temple!!! woohoo!! yay for temples! haha. they are great. oh and idk if i told you this already, but D. Todd Christopherson is coming to the Franklin stake conference!! its on Oct 16, 2 days before transfers!! WOOHOO!!! so i get to see him!!! that will be so shweet!

well, I'm pretty stoked for this week to just be better then last week hahaha. Oh, and yesterday, we went to the "Church of God or Christ" thats their name haha. it went for 3 hours and 30 mins! i was dying hahaha. so we got done at like 6:30, and we had nothing to do, except walk. and it was raining, then randomly we got invited to a new penecostal church. so we went there, and that lasted like 2 hours! i was super dead hahaha.  but yea, that was our sunday.

i love yall!! i hope yall have a good day!! im fixing to go to the store and by me some fatty foods haha. i reckon ill gain alot of pounds this week. oh well haha.

Peace out girl scouts!!

Elder Cawley