Welcome to Oxnard !

Oxnard, California

Oxnard is really cool, I love it. It is nice, and has a nice coast breeze that comes in. I am not on the coast, but 5 minutes away from it. My ward is a little more inland but I see the ocean all the time now. 

View of ocean from Oxnard

Monday was, oh my, so much fun. I went and said bye to a few more families and said bye to Collin and had dinner there. We ended up being there for a long time and we all got into a huge towel whipping contest after dinner. It was a blast. I got some good lashes haha, but it was a great way to go out. They are one family I will for sure keep writing. 

Tuesday was an awesome transfer meeting. It was just so great. Some of the coolest Elders were going home, like Elder Clarkson. He was one of the Elders I lived with my first transfer, I love that dude. Such a good meeting. 

Elders Plummer & Routledge

Then I had my first hours in the Nard (his wording, not mine lol), saw the ocean and I am driving now, so that is very weird to be the driver. People ask me how long I have been out and I say, "Oh like 8 months", then, oh crap, I HAVE been out 8 months already DARN !!! (This Momma doesn't think darn ;-) )

Wednesday was good, we just went around saying 'hi' to people, getting me used to the area. Boy, I tell ya, it is much different than Simi. It is all Hispanic and there are gangs everywhere. ITS AWESOME because they are all SOO HUMBLE and so willing to listen to us. It is a whole new world to me though. I am finding that my Spanish is going to be used a lot I think. I have seen a whole 4 white people not including my ward in the last week. 

Oxnard District

Thursday was cool. We did some weekly planning, I went to a District Leader training because our District Leader's comp was sick, so he took me. It was really cool. Pres piped in for some comments and it was just a nice meeting. I live with 3 other Elders including my comp. The one is the district leader and all 4 of us get along really well. 

Friday we had a really cool district meeting, followed by our district lunch. We have 9 Elders and no Sisters in my district, so it shall be very fun. The other Canadian from Lethbridge who was in my last area is my Zone leader and in my district so it will be a lot of fun this transfer. My Companion is cool. He is from Utah and really cool. It is still the first week, so I'll get to know him more in time. 

So Sunday I gave talk. Yea, already. They asked me on Tuesday at transfer meeting before I was even in Oxnard. I talked on missionary work and I did not write my talk out, I just wrote down like 6 bullet points and kinda gave my talk by own stories. It was cool and I felt like I did pretty good, and it helped the ward get to know me. The ward is about the size of DeWinton and the chapel is the SAME IN EVERY WAY!!! It is a little weird. I felt like I was at home with just different faces. It has been a fun week. 

Well Mom, Dad, Shelbell, Scotty, I love you all. You 4 are the best. Say hi to all the cousins, aunts and Momma and Papa for me. 
I'll talk to you next week. Take care and see ya.

No idea what's with the car

Transferring to Oxnard, saying goodbye to Simi Valley

MOM !!!! I AM LEAVING SIMI!!!

But it is okay, I have some great memories to share with you, and something our mission president's wife always says is "Be happy you have been apart of it and not sad it is over"

Elder Routledge & Plummer

I am a little sad but so excited to go to....OXNARD 1ST WARD!!!!
I can not wait and I am going to be follow up training, ya, so I am a little nervous about that, but it is going to be cool. This weekend has been almost only goodbyes. My new companion is Elder Plummer. 
Hey, I got an email from one of the youth in my last ward. He is getting his papers ready so that was sooo cool to hear from him !! This week was crazy, well pretty good, I am going to jump around everywhere today because, why not ? 

This week was good. Monday for sports we went bowling again because we had no ideas on what else to do. We also had a lesson with Collin & Anna, oh and because I am leaving I am going to see if I can come back to see them get baptized. The cool thing is I am only about 45 minutes away, so still pretty close. 

Oxnard is the Southern part of the mission. Everyone tells me it is like the best place in the mission and the sketchiest as well, so we'll see if I can pull some crazy stories haha ;-). Anyways, back to Collin & Anna's lesson. Anna's two little sisters (which are our ages) joined us for the lesson and showed some interest so maybe in due time we can get the whole family baptized, then sealed. That was just a cool little miracle.

Sister & Brother Morris

Tuesday was good and yea, I am ending the paragraph above like that hehe. 
Tuesday we did some dog service and all that fun stuff. Tonight we had a pretty good Book of Mormon class.

Wednesday was a sick day. My comp was in bed all day so I just read books. I started 'Jesus the Christ' so yea, that was cool. In one chapter I think I gained 10 IQ points. Like it is insanely deep doctrine and wording, but I love it. 

Thursday we had our weekly planning session and we pretty much wrapped up the transfer with stuff we learned. It was cool, then we had a pretty crazy sports night.

Ruppert Family

Friday we had a really amazing last district meeting. We all said what we learned this transfer and we had Elder Hamson (the 7'3" Elder) talk to us as he goes home in 3 days. He told us what he has seen work for him while on his mission and he gave us some powerful tips. One of them was 'Teach by the Spirit and not by your knowledge'. Pretty much saying don't try to be a know-it-all and teach everything, instead just go with what the spirit tells you. Then he told us to refer back to the Apostles and Jesus at the last supper when he tells them, "one of you will betray me" and instead of them all pointing fingers they all say "is it I?", so he said fix your own life before judging others. It was just a crazy powerful meeting. 
Then Friday night I got my call to train, which nearly gave me a heart attack. 

Bishop & Family 

Saturday and Sunday were all goodbyes and getting pictures and all that fun stuff. They asked me to give a 5 minute talk/testimony because I was leaving and the told me 30 minutes before I went up, so in panic, I told them dad's conversion story haha. I can always count on dad haha. 
I would've told them ours but I have already done that in my last talk. 
Well it was a good week. 

Dad I love you old man. Keep writing even thought I don't reply. I still read your emails and love them :)
Scott and Shel, I love you both so much and wish you a safe, great week!!!
Mom, love you. Talk to you next week and say 'hi' to the family for me!!!

Elder Routledge

Hiking, Habanero Peppers and Wildfires

White Face Hike

Monday was good. We went and hiked White Face, it was a very cool hike. It was hot but very fun and I got some good pictures. We also got haircuts, so I'm looking all sharp. 
Tonight we went and had a bbq at the Ruppert's and they inspired us to habaneros and we DIES, THEY WERE SO FETCHING HOT!!!!!! It was like 100 times hotter than Jalapeno peppers and I seriously had a headache that killed me and made my hurt all night. Seriously the hottest thing I have ever eaten. I actually had two this week, the second time was not nearly as bad but it still sucked. 

Habanero Peppers

Tuesday was the day after Monday, so..good. We went and did some service at the dog shelter, then picked up Brother Morris and took him to a lesson with a less active member he is good friends with. It was a pretty good lesson, and he had some good insight. We had dinner with them later than night so it was a good day today. 

New Haircut

Wednesday we did service for a part member family and it was crazy. There was a path to their house with stuff on both sides 6 feet high. It was nuts. I had to leave early because it was so bad. After that we had a nice lunch with a member in our ward. They set up a big bbq so that was cool. After lunch we had a lesson with a recent convert. She is the lady that has a strong testimony and a cool conversion story. We had a strong lesson with her and she just broke down and talked to us about her struggles. It was cool to see the trust she has in us. I just love serving...well tonight was a bit hard, we got got fed so much it was a struggle ;) We went to Bob's. He is the guy that gave us a bunch of food a few weeks back. We had a huge rib bbq there and oh so good !!

Sisters heading to Brazil 

Thursday was weekly planning day so you know, it was okay. Then, because we have 2 sisters who got their Visas to Brazil, we went to a nice pie shop, like Denny's, and had breakfast and signed journals and all that fun stuff. That night we had a good sports night. Yeah, that was today. 

Friday was our last full district meeting with all of us. We had a very powerful testimony meeting in the chapel with the 6 of us, and boy was that spirit strong. When you get 6 powerful missionaries to bare their testimonies, well boy, you'd better hold on. 
It was a good day, but your probably wondering about the photos of the fire. So...there was a huge fire in Simi Valley. It was kinda cool. They had water bombers going and fire trucks everywhere. They were closing streets ,but we were fine because it was on the hill and not in the city area, but cool to see. I survived a Cali wild Fire :-D

Simi Valley Fire

Simi Valley Fire

Simi Valley Fire on the hill 

That night we had a really deep meeting with a member. He is very wise and we got into some intense talk about Solomon's Temple and some of the symbolism of the temple. DON'T WORRY we did not talk about anything we were not supposed to, more of the outside symbols and the power behind the temple. It was just cool. 

Hard At Work 

Saturday we had a cool bbq up at a ranch with a member in our ward. It was cool, Elder Comin killed a gopher by running it over with a car while driving up there. I just had to tell you that (gross!!). Then later than night, we met up with a less active member we have not seen in forever. It was cool to catch up with him and we tried to get him  to church. In time, we will get S to church. 

Sunday we had church and that was cool. We had a young man bare his Farewell testimony and that was cool to see. After we had a nice bbq with our Elders Quorum and that was a nice, fun night. 

Departing Missionary 

Tonight we went to Quinn's farewell party and it was cool. We got some pictures and stuff and he said he will write me, so it was very cool.
After we went and gave blessings for comfort on their journeys to the 2 sisters leaving for Brazil. I honestly have no idea what I said to the one Sister in her blessing, but I just remember saying 'Amen' and feeling so good. The spirit was incredible, it was one of the strongest spirits I have felt on my mission, it was cool. They we said our last bye to them and headed home.
My comp and I were having way too much fun with our cameras. Too bad I can't send videos home because some are soo funny. 

Well mom, I love you. Dad, Shel and Scott I love you. And Scott you and Niss are looking good in that photo. (I sent a photo taken of Scotty & Narissa all dressed up). Seriously, Thank you all so much for all that you do for me out here. I love you and you 4 are my heroes. My family and best friends, I love you all and Bless you with a great week. 
Til next week....MUAH !!!!

Elder Routledge

Elder Routledge's District

Bowling, Early Morning Hike...and A Heart Felt Testimony

This week has been crazy. I have made some real changes this week. 

Monday was good. We had breakfast with the Morris' (his favorite family, I think). We had waffles, and they were very good :) Then for sports, we went BOWLING. It was so much fun...it was 10 pin and oh man such a blast. I got smacked the first round, but pretty high up in the last two, but that is besides the point. It was freaking fun!!! That night, my companion and the two Elders who live upstairs in the same complex went to a park so those 3 could burn shirts because all of them hit their 1 year mark last week. They all burned shirts as a fun way to celebrate. That was kinda cool and weird to see, but fun. 

Missionary out 1 year = burning of white shirt

Tuesday was pretty cool. We went on another hike with Collin. It was so cool. We did not get all the way up because it is like a 40 mile hike and there are about 100 different branch offs from the main path, but we hiked deep into the back mountains. It was cool and the trail was an old Indian trail so apparently the higher up you go, you can see old Indian drawings in the rock. I did not see any, but it was still very cool up there. 

Collin 

After that hike, we went and did some service at the dog shelter and got to hold week old puppies. It was cool, they were just little balls of energy. 
We went to the Morris' to talk to them about a less active they know really well and talked to them about how to help her. We ended our day with the Book of Mormon class and that was cool. It was pretty sweet as it is going pretty easy now. No really crazy comments. 

Simi Valley Sunrise

Wednesday was cool. We went to the less active member's house (the friend of the Morris') and it went pretty well. We set up a time to come by and help her out and maybe just get her back to church. 
We had dinner with this really cool family. They are sweet and we joked around all dinner just like our family. It was the coolest dinner. 

Thursday a really cool thing happened. We have a member that we've been meeting with, but he is starting to lie to us. We know he is lying because we followed up on the things he said he was doing, so that is our new challenge. 
The sports night we started was awesome. We had 5 non-members there and it was just a good, fun night. 

Friday we had a meeting and this is where it all changed. 

Elders Comin & Routledge

So we had a zone meeting on The Restoration and it has inspired me to be a better Elder, to work harder and to teach better. The meeting got so intense and the spirit was so strong. I think for the first time in 7 months, I really know why I am here on a mission. The restoration is THE BIGGEST THING to happen to this earth in all of history (besides JESUS CHRIST COMING HIMSELF!!). The gospel is as true as it gets and for the first time, I think I can really make a strong difference here. I FEEL POWERFUL. I feel the Lord with me, I really do feel like a servant of our Lord, Jesus Christ!! 

Last night I prayed about the truthfulness of this gospel and I got it. I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THIS IS TRUE!! God would not have led me to a false church. I know he led me to this church. I know he led us to this church because it is true. I know that we have bashers because the devil can not stand us here doing work for the true church. 
Saturday I was on an exchange with Elder Gibb and we taught the restoration to this guy AND THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I think I taught it with JUST the power of the spirit alone, the first time I testified and I, myself, could feel the power behind it. MOM, DAD, SHEL, SCOTT AND EVERYONE ELSE BACK HOME, I know this is true, I am NOT DOING work in California for a false church. I am doing work for a real church and for GOD AND JESUS CHRIST!!!

Hike up the Indian Trail 

I love you and please keep reading and praying and keep being SO AMAZING. I love you all and I thank you all for your support. You are my moving and driving force out here. I love you and I'll talk to you soon !!!

Lots of Service...and more food

 Monday morning we went on a hike with Collin for morning workouts and that was very cool to see the sun come up in Cali with our solid dude. We are building a very strong friendship with him, he is very cool. He has come to church every Sunday since we met with him. Oh, mom, if you could only meet him. He is just soo great and soo solid. He paid a tithe this week and we told him he didn't have to until he was baptized and he was like, "no, I want to pay it, how do I pay it?", it was soo dang cool.  For sports we could not think of what to do so we went and hung out at the mall and went to some of the stores there. 

Elder Comin & Elder Routledge 

Tuesday was pretty cool. We started the day off with an exchange with Elder Klingler. I got to drive so that was sweet. We did service at the dog shelter this morning and that was pretty fun. We helped move some boxes around. That was pretty fun, or as fun as it could be. After we went to the house of a guy in our ward to help him fix his cords so he would not lose his progress while playing his computer games. Now this man is 55 (or older) and not married and has a bigger collection of Star Wars characters than a 55 should have, but he is lonely so we wanted to go help. He is a really nice guy and he has a lot of guns, but that puts him high on my cool list hahaha. 
Tonight we had dinner with the Moffets. They are cool. They are the family that brought me chips from Canada a month or so ago. I always love talking to Sister Moffet. We ended the day with our Book of Mormon class. 

Wednesday was pretty cool as we had some service with Cheryl. She is the one who always gives us cookies. Sadly we were meeting her with this week to see if she is interested and if not, then we have to stop meeting with her. Going to do service is great, but it comes back to our purpose and that is to help others come unto Christ and she has shown little desire to move forward. 
We had interviews today with President Felix in our apartment and that was pretty cool. He was pretty proud of the work we were doing and talked to us about some things and told us to keep up the good work. It was just a cool chance to talk to him. 
We also got to have lunch with Elder Comin's convert from another area so that was cool to see him still in contact with his converts. 

Thursday was very cool. We had a pretty cool district meeting, where we went into the chapel and read our blessings so that was cool. It was just a powerful district meeting. 
Tonight we started a member sports night in our ward with a few other wards to get the missionary member ball rolling. We had 6 missionaries show up and no members so..well hope to have more this next week. 

Friday we did some service up at the ranch and I hunted rattlesnakes again and no luck, so the guy we do service for said he will help me and we will go hunt them together because he actually knows where to find them, so yea, I'll have a cool snake head hopefully by next Monday. 
After we did our weekly planning. 

Emergency Prep Table Set Up 

Saturday was good. We cleaned the church this morning, had a good buffet and then went to an Emergency Prep thing in the park. We set up a table to try to talk to people and that was cool. We did not see a lot of success from it, but we talked to lots of people. 

Sunday was a good testimony meeting and we had dinner with the Rogers'. We had bbq chicken. 

Well mom...sooo sorry I had to gyp you on the email. I love you and say hi to all the family for me. Muah :)

Love, Elder Routledge

Food, Hot Weather and Movie Writers

HELLO!!! EVERYONE OF THE CANADIAN WORLD. HOW ART THOU?? (it's good to see Elder Routledge hasn't lost his sense of humor lol) 

So this week was a week of intensity and hard work!! 
Monday we had dinner at the Morris'. Very hard ;) 
After we had a zone activity where a few of the Elders (me included) played football in 100 degree weather with 80% humidity...that was fun. I was sweating buckets, but it was fun. Then we taught C and A and they are still moving forward (with baptism). It was really cool. They are both sooo solid!! 

No idea where this was taken. Or why lol 

Tuesday..the day after Monday...This was a busy day. We did service in 80% humidity and again i was sweating lots. Service was for the dog shelter place helping them move stuff into their new shop. After that we moved 4 - 200 pound rocks for Brother Groves. That was a sure joyful time. Not. Serious, it was joyful. We got home made cinnamon buns out of it and we got to toss a bunch of big heavy rocks :)

Elder Comin, Member, Elder Routledge 

Sister Groves makes quilts. She has made hundreds, if not thousands and one she made was a Christmas tree with a train all around the border with little candy canes and presents. The quilt has over 50 different snow flakes all through it and not one of them is the same or even close to the same. It is about 10' x 8' and is so amazing. I will take pictures of it, but it is the coolest quilt I've ever seen. (No picture this week. Hopefully next week). 
After that we had a lesson with M and C and then our Book of Mormon class. It was a pretty cool day :)

Wednesday we mowed the lawn of the Morris family and somehow we got lunch with it. I tell ya, they feed us too much. I think they feed us just because they need more room in their food closets. We had dinner with the Flinder's tonight and we took joy in seeing Sister Flinders tell us how nervous she is about her son coming home in 3 days. She is rather excited you could say. 
We also saw B tonight and he gave us a lot of food...including a bowl of Salsa, half a cake, a 4 pound bag of Salsa chips, 2 party bowls of rice and beans and burrito patties. I swear they think there is either 50 of us in one apartment or we are starving children, but then again, I am not complaining. Free food :)

Thursday we had our district meeting and that was fun. We helped at Brother Danible's home, then taught C and A again. We went over the Word of Wisdom. He does have a smoking issue we did not know about BUT he is willing to do whatever it takes and recently talking with him, he has said his smoking had gone down like crazy. 

Elder Routledge 

Friday we went and did service up at a ranch in the middle of the desert. I sought out the rattle of snakes to collect. If you kill a rattlesnake, you cut off the rattles and you got yourself a toy, so I was searching for one to kill, but no luck, but I'll try again this Friday. (Really??? I am starting to think that Elder Routledge is finding WAY TOO much joy in stressing his mother out !)
We had dinner with Brother Baker at a Chinese food restaurant. It was very good. 

Saturday had 2 main things of interest. First being our weekly planning which had to be moved to today because of the business on Friday and the Road Show. This was where all the wards in Simi Valley put on 15 minute plays for the Stake and we had C go, so we went with him. It was soo cool to see all of these youth do these little plays. Some of them were so funny. It was just intense how much effort they put into them. 

Sunday was sooo cool so I'll just tell you about the fireside last night. 
The two guys are partner movie writers and they related the movies they wrote to the Plan of Salvation. They are both very active and very big in the biz. They have written movies such as Despicable me 1 and 2 (and now 3), Bubble Boy, Santa Clause 2 and Horten hears a Who. They have worked with people like Steve Carrell, Jim Carrey, Julia Andrews, Ed Helms and Tim Allen, all of which they said were very nice. Steve Carrell would stop recording to go call his kids all the time. 
These guys were very funny and very nice. I got to talk to them after and they are very cool guys and they said they have turned down movies that were not okay with church standards. They have even put church messages in their movies, like in Despicable Me when the girls pray and in Bubble Boy being closed off from the world. That is what Satan wants, but we all need to break out of our bubble. There were a few other ones as well. It was cool to see them be so active in movies and the church duties. 

It was a very cool week, but I shall depart til next Monday. 
I love all of you Canadians. Keep being awesome. 
Love you Mom, Dad, Shel and Scotty and all the family and all of my extended family and extended, extended family in Okotoks.