Week 3

Day one and two have been crazy! It has been super hard work but it seems to all be worth it at the end of the day. I kind of compare it to a hike, every step of the way sucks... but at the top of the hike you decide most of the time you would do that hike again. A mission is kind of like a spiritual hike. It's hard to keep going sometimes, and you think to yourself why am I doing this? But then you get to the end of the hike and realize it was all well worth it. I'm in the Sherlington area, it's the closest area to DC. Everyone lives in town homes or apartments, there are almost no houses. We knock on a lot of doors which is hard because I know how much I would hate it if missionaries came to my door, I'm surprised daily at how many people are receptive to listen to us and invite us back again though! I've seen Heavenly Father's love and help in my life a lot this week, it's pretty cool.

 My companion is super cool, he is super obedient but is good at keeping me at work in a supportive way. Almost everywhere we go is to apartments or townhomes, I don't think I have seen a house yet which is super weird. About 3/4 of the places we go are smoker homes and quite a few of the people we talk to have issues with smoking. We get home and we always smell like cigarette smoke, but we get to wash the clothes that smell at the end of the day. There is a guy in our ward who calls himself our missionary dad. He is single and 65 and LOVES the missionaries. He is so nice to the missionaries . He comes to our lessons sometimes and just talks about how we are his missionary sons and he is our "missionary dad". He also has all these catchy acronyms about how to be a good person and about the gospel......

 Today I got to go tour the Pentagon, we got a member who is a marine to get us a tour. It was pretty sweet inside, it's basically like a mall for people who don't work there. I had to go through security multiple times and everyone has guns. At all the doors they have loaded mags ready to go at the drop of a hat. I don't think many missionaries get to do that kind of stuff. It's cool to meet all these new people though.

I've got 5 new investigators this week and I've put two people on date for Baptism! I have tried to take as many pictures as I can with people because pictures say more than words. That way I don't have to type as much. Love you all, and I think of everyone back home every day. I talk all day about how friends and family are important and sometimes it's hard knowing I can't talk to any of you during the week, but I'm glad to know that most of you are doing Well! Miss all of you so much! Calvin

Arriving to DC

Hey! I got to the mission house alright. We had cafe Rio for dinner... I miss you guys a lot! I slept on the plane but am still super tired. We are going to stay in a hotel tonight instead of the mission house because we are like 3 times the size of a normal mission group.

President and Sister Huntsman

First companion Elder Norton

MTC | Week 1 & 2

Miss and love everyone so much! Hope you are all doing great, I have been doing amazing and I'm learning so much. I feel like the more I put into my experience here the more I get out of it. One thing that I've learned from experience in being here is that you can't put a crumb on the throne of God without getting a whole loaf of bread back. It's really hard to explain how giving up so much can bring so much happiness, but I have found so much peace and happiness in aligning my will with Heavenly Father's. I have one companion and his name is Elder brown. We room with three other guys in the MTC. We are all in the same district and have the same schedule, so we have really come close these past two weeks! The food has been good to some and not so good to others. We have all had some really good laughs. Even though not everything is easy, I've found that when I turn outwards when I naturally want to turn in towards myself that life is so much more enjoyable. Even if there is a good reason that I am angry, when I turn outwards and look to help someone else, and forget about myself I am way more happy than when I sit and brew up anger or contention inside me. I've found that when I forget about my needs and wants, and lose myself in the service of others I am able to find myself and who I want to become. Don't even know where to start with what you guys want to know, it wasn't to let you all know that I'm not suffering in here, even though it is hard work and I'm tired all the time, I have gotten so much more out of this than I would have expected. This next Monday I have to be up for my flight to DC at 2:30 am. We go to Minneapolis and then to Washington DC, I'm super excited, we get in around 2:30pm.