Saturday, January 16, 2016

8/17/2015 From Elder Gary Crye and photos

Hello Elder Gary Crye!

Hey! 
 
We're hoping you're enjoying your new area now that you've transferred recently.  How is the missionary work going?  How is your companionship? Any interesting stories? 
 
Well, I'll take this moment to tell you a little about Orangeville. It's a little city, maybe 30,000 people surrounded by rural roads, farms, and little hamlets. However, it's maybe just 45 minutes or so outside of Brampton, so a decent amount of people commute.

The ward here's really young. Super young. They have a primary of about 60 kids. Holy cow!

You know how missionaries support the wards they serve in with their missionary activities? That's pretty interesting when about half the ward's under 20. We've been playing a lot of basketball and getting to know the youth.

We tend to do service projects for people outside of the city - several families have houses under construction that they could use help with. Other people just need weeding done. :)

Missionary work's building up. When we got here, the investigator pool was fairly small. We're building that up slowly but surely. We really enjoy tracting (knocking doors) in the new developments.

The companionship's great! Elder Anderson has a really nice singing voice.


Interesting things: I think we ran into a member that Ryan Almond helped to teach, back in 1991. His name's Alex Alexander, and he was taught by an Elder Almond and Elder Andrew Gagon in Pickering, ON.


Were you able to get any letters and/or packages from the deaf branch recently?  We'll be sending another one to you soon for your birthday.  Is there anything you wish, need, or desire to replace? Candy, food, certain clothing, or funds for clothing?

Yeah, I got some letters from the Young Women this last week. Some of them were very funny. My companion and I particularly enjoyed a letter from a deaf girl that just joined the ward. Taitem? She began by introducing herself and how she was deaf, then wrote, "Blah. Blah. Blah. I'm sure you've heard it all before." HAHAHAHA! Hilarious!

Speaking of packages, I'm not sure if I wrote back about the package I received from the family. I sucessfully got the Easter package. All the candy arrived safe and sound. Unfortunately, it seems they confiscated the flash drive at the border. The declaration clearly had it listed, but when I got the package, it contained a little flattened box, roughly the size of a flash drive. I got the letters as well.

Needs? Nothing really comes to mind. Wants? Perhaps some more socks. Ideally socks that match those that I already have. I accidentally got a bit of bleach on a pair or so of my socks. See attached photo for what those look like. They're black. GoldToe brand. I wear a size 9.


I hit my year mark this week. Weird. I'm starting to wonder what kind of arrangements need to be made for when I return. What clothes I'll wear, where I'll live, that kind of thing. I got an email from Garret Carroll asking about living arrangements a week or so back. He returns in June, I believe. To summarize what he wrote, we have no clue which apartments we're looking for when we get back. Perhaps some money for clothing when I return?

Swedish fish are the bomb. I think I have enough chocolate syrup for at least a little while, still.

We've had more families moving into the branch.  I'm not sure if it is indirectly related to the missionary-minded work we're doing.  It is nice to see our branch grow. We did lose a couple of families that moved out because of jobs elsewhere.  I suppose it all sort of evened out.

The Orangeville Ward here has a lot of families moving in too.
 
We love you. We pray for you.  The branch speaks of and prays for you constantly. 

Aww, shucks. :P

Love you too!

-Elder Crye

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