Week 16

This week has been packed. Elder Judkins and I have done a ton of stuff and have met with tons of people. We've been having a lot of laughs together and have met a lot of very interesting people. We got to go to the temple this week and it was AWESOME! The DC temple is absolutely beautiful, and It's also the tallest temple in the world. We got to go with a less active member who finally prepared herself to be worthy of receiving her endowments. After that we got dinner at a diner which was super good. It was awesome being there with other elders too. The same day we went to the temple elder Judkins asked me for a priesthood blessing. It was my first time I believe giving a blessing of comfort. I was kind of nervous, but it was an awesome experience being able to speak with inspiration from the spirit. The spirit was so strong in the room as we prayed and exercised the priesthood gift we have been given. There was an overwhelming spirit of love and peace and comfort. The Holy Ghost is a quiet feeling but an undeniable knowledge that it is the spirit of God, when you feel it, it is quiet and soft, but a feeling you cannot deny. This is what I have learned to feel and recognize as I am on my mission.

We got to go to another ward and elder Judkins gave the priesthood to someone he helped teach. It was so relieving being in a church building that felt somewhat familiar. The church I go to here in Arlington isn't "standard" and has a different layout.

I always forget what I do during the week when I write my emails. I'm excited go take a nap today though. Today should be a good P day. Last week we blew all our money at Costco so we don't have any money for groceries this week. In turn, we don't really need any groceries because we have 6 lbs of chicken and large quantities of everything else too.

We took Kenny out with us to street contact. He isn't a member, but told everyone about the Book of Mormon and how Joseph Smith is a true prophet. We were biking around one day and met this little kid on his bike. He wanted to ride his bike around with us because I could bunny hop my bike super high. He wanted to show me how he could ride with no hands and do a wheelie and stand on his seat while riding. Such a funny kid, we returned him to his grandma after we had to leave the area, he wanted to go knock doors with us too, so he did. He took his bike up to their door and listened to us as we knocked on people's doors sharing our message. 

Andrea is super ready for baptism, it's amazing to see a mighty change of heart in her. A month or two ago she never would have considered it, but she is willing to give up everything she has to follow Christ. She is reading the Book of Mormon and is going to church, and when she describes how this church is so much different than the other ones, but she can't describe what makes her feel good she is totally describing the Holy Ghost. We just need to teach her everything so she is ready to be baptized on the 8th of July. She talks a lot so it is a bit of a challenge, but I know we can teach her everything. We are still working on Donna, but there isn't a one size fits all in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We all have to form our own relationship with our Savior, and It's so awesome to see that Andrea is able to feel the blessings and saving power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Donna needs to loosen her grip on the Bible so that she can take hold of the Book of Mormon. Once she has a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, and will bring her closer to Christ than any other book, she will be converted quickly. 

We ate dinner at the Kuipo family's house, they are from Cameroon, so it is really cool to see what they eat and have a small taste of their culture. Elder Judkins and I have been eating well, we made a cilantro soup in the crockpot and have pancakes eggs bacon and sausage for breakfast. Sometimes we make waffles instead. I let my companion try the "cookie butter" my parents gave me, and he has told almost every investigator about this amazing discovery. We might go get some more cookie butter today at the store if we can find it.

One of the highlights of the week was something I never thought I would do! Elder Judkins and I went into a mosque during Ramadan and broke fast with them. They prayed for about 15 minutes and then we ate dinner. As they were praying the little kids were running around slapping all of the men's butts in the air because they were bowing. It was hilarious to see these kids run around during prayer. It was a cool experience to see how kind these Muslims are. A few wanted to just tell us how they were the correct religion, but most wanted to share their beliefs and invite us to go read the Holy Quran. We shared with them how our beliefs are very very similar, and how they are also different.

 We asked a guy if he could get us a prayer rug and he said he would call us when he got a hold of some prayer rugs for us... so that will be an awesome souvenir to take home and a great memory of when I went to the mosque for Ramadan. 

There was a woman who we met who seemed pretty homeless who we met earlier. She said she wanted to come out with us on bikes. We told her she could steal a bike and come along sarcastically. We had kind of a long conversation with her. She asked me if I could prove if I was a male and not a female.   It was weird because she slapped her face right on her mouth then asked us which one of us hit her.... She said ouch, which one of you did that? Pretty creepy. Then she was telling people around her to be quiet and go away, but it was just us next to her. She ended up getting on her knees and praying the Lord's prayer out loud very loud in the middle of a busy city. My comp and I just looked around like what the heck. Obviously is either permafried from drug use or very mentally ill. Maybe we will run into her again.

We also met with Sadiq and his family this week. They offered us ice cream sandwiches, and since we were talking about some Pakistan food I asked them a few good questions. I looked at the ice cream like I wasn't sure what it was and asked if this was a Pakistani dessert and what it was called. He looked very confused and concerned and told me that it was from Costco and It's an American dessert. I looked at him with wide eyes and said "really!?" 

I asked him which Costco (There is only one) and if it was a good deal. Since he has kind of broken English he said "I am to get them at Costco and get maybe get 30 for 11 or 12 dollars". They are a good family, and their little boy Bariam is super funny and energetic. He was begging me to make him a paper plane, he is 5 years old.

Hope you all had a good Week. Hope to hear from some of you soon,

Calvin

Week 15

This week was awesome, my new companion is a boss. This is his last six weeks so I will kill him and be here another transfer. That's the three months of summer basically that I will be on my bike. I hope this is a sign and a payment that I make so that I can be in car the rest of my mission. I really miss having the car. I literally show up to lessons and meetings dripping in sweat like I just climbed out of a pool. I have left stain marks of my butt on people's wood chairs. Even with no car and lots of heat I have been happy. Riding a bike is kind of cool I guess, it's fun to go down hill. Riding with a side bag is the worst though. I haven't put on sunscreen and my face is super tan.  

We broke the fast for Ramadan with some Muslims in a Mosque.

This week we got to meet with Ian again, he is the bald white guy who showed up to church and bore his testimony at sacrament meeting in a dirty white tee shirt. He believes he saw Christ come to him. He saw a bright yellow or gold light beam right into his forehead. Jesus had an electric blue light around him and told him to be the messenger. Ian asked what he should do and Jesus said "you could go to church" so he walked into our building. We met him to teach him at a restaurant called the Weenie Beanie. It's like Small Fries down on Fall City road on the way to Snoqualmie falls back home. Just a shack that sells burgers and other junk.

We got to go to a bible study at someone's house. They basically ask questions and no one answers so it turns into a lesson that the missionaries teach. They have a "study" that contains questions, and so the missionaries just answer them all.  They love having us over but we aren't sure how to work the Book of Mormon into their bible study.

We met with Andrea this week too, she has many physical disabilities and she has such a strong desire to follow Christ! She is worried about being Catholic previously but she wants to do the right thing. 

We met with the family from Pakistan again and Haroon was there. He is the 17 year old son who actually reads the Book of Mormon. We read in Mosiah 3 and he already knew that it was king Benjamin talking and it was AWESOME. He is now somewhere in Alma I believe. He knows what we teach is true and is hooked on the Book of Mormon, he said it just makes him happy and he can't stop reading it. He knows it's true but doesn't realize it because he hasn't read it cover to cover. We need to get a Book of Mormon written in Urdu so the family can read it.

Oh and the Pakistan family gave us this fried beef and bean patty thing. It's called a Shamitiki and it was really good. Elder Judkins kept speaking gibberish asking if he was saying it right and made them super irritated after like 5 times it was hilarious. It was basically a bean and beef spicy paste that was fried in a bunch of oil on a pan I think.

I'm excited to nap today. We are going to go to Costco today and get a bunch of groceries. I've got like 75 bucks on my mission card so I'm going to go hard hopefully at Costco with my comp. We are going to make some good food together. I love making food and I didn't get to at all last transfer so I'm excited to make some quality meals this next 6 weeks.

We took Kenney out for a bike ride

I have found this week that as I have been striving to be obedient as I can to the mission rules and care and love for the people in this area I am more happy. I'm not dragging my feet but am anxious to meet with these people and teach them this message that will change their lives forever. It's amazing to see the light of Christ work in people and see the energy and happiness they have when they make these changes in their life. It's been cool to show all these people to Elder Judkins and see the perspective he brings to the table. He really asks inspired questions and talks to them like they are ready to receive the gospel. Elder Judkins is a good missionary to follow because he does everything so fundamentally and how you're supposed to do it. It's very inspiring to see how God's hand is in everyone's lives if you let him help you. It's awesome to see how obedience and hard work make you happy, my whole life I have always thought the opposite.

Thanks for all of your support. Miss and love you all, please write me if you have time and send any pictures!

Calvin

Week 14

This week has been more of a struggle than other weeks. Maybe it's because I am stressed about transfers or something. I have found it difficult to be selfless. I knew that I would have to be selfless like Christ to be a good missionary, but as I am only a few months in I am finding it daunting to keep this up for 20 and a half more months! It's hard to believe that Christ did this his whole life perfectly. What a stud... I am excited to see my new companion Elder Judkins. Word on the street is that he is a very good missionary. I thought my trainer was very obedient, but he is telling me that this new guy is even more so. Oh boy. I've heard nothing but awesome stuff. One thing that really helped me this week was a letter that my good friend Alex Stout wrote me. I read it as I was looking to read a pick me up, to get me stoked for missionary work. He said that 99% obedience brings many blessings but 100% obedience brings miracles. This stood out to me as I was struggling to be selfless continually. He shared Matthew 10:39 which says, "he that finder his life shall lose it:and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it". This helped me realize that giving 70% of myself or 80% isn't going to do me much good. Yeah it will bring blessings, but why not give him everything I have? I tell people all the time, "you can't put a crumb on the throne of God without  receiving a whole loaf of bread back." How can I ask them to go put everything on the line and be baptized and rely on Christ if I am not willing to give all of myself for his work. It is a big task, and it's not easy, but as I lean on him more I have seen the increase in blessings. Get ready to hear about some miracles soon.

I may have forgotten to let you all know, but we had a baptism 2 weeks ago... elder Norton and I baptized the car. He said he had only heard of baptizing a car being a myth so he wanted to turn it into legend and make history. Since we came back from splits, and another elder was logged into the GPS system who is going home in a few weeks, we took it to triple digits on the freeway. Baptism. We drive a racecar. It may look like a corolla, but wait until you look under the hood. 😉

Met with lots of people this week. We normally have about 20 lessons a week. We have 30ish investigators, which is a lot. We had a good lesson with the Kuipo family. They're from Cameroon. It's hard explaining the difference between the trinity and the godhead because Christ was so perfectly obedient to the will of the Father. He is often referred to as our God in the scriptures. Brother Kuipo asks "was he the son of God or was he God himself?" It is hard for him to accept that the godhead is 3 personages who are perfectly one in purpose. I think it's hard for me or anyone for that matter to comprehend what perfect really means. There was a good talk this Sunday about how God is perfect because he has a perfect knowledge and understanding of the gospel. When Christ said "be perfect" he knew we couldn't be perfect as the Father was perfect because we do not have a good enough comprehension of the gospel. We must be perfect according to our knowledge of the gospel and our understanding of it. We must also seek to gain more understanding. One of my challenges is to get our investigator Donna Head to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She is so ready  but doesn't see it. She loves the bible but is hard for her to accept the Book of Mormon. She reads what we tell her to, takes notes, and draws parallels to the bible! She just doesn't recognize the spirit telling her it's true, or hasn't had that experience yet. I'm trying to figure out how I can get her stoked and feasting on the words of Christ which are in the Book of mormon!!

                                                           

Love you all. Please send me updates!! I'm out of the loop, so send pictures and emails. Don't be a stranger!

Week 13

I hit my three month mark this week, time has been flying by. We have been doing a lot of teaching and finding. We have found about 5 very potential investigators and one new investigator. We did a bunch of "sports finding". We go in our church clothes to a basketball court and just ask if we can play. I wasn't too good at basketball when I left but I sure hope to be good when I come home. 

Today we played some beach volleyball, for some reason everyone takes their shirts off while we play. It's super funny to hear Kenny say how there is not enough ladies around to see his guns. We were talking about one of the serves as a "cannon" and Kenny asked us to stop talking about his body like that. He is such a character. As we were playing we met a new guy who wanted to play. Every time we play sports in public we find someone to teach. We got his number and plan on meeting him soon. 

This Sunday there was a guy who walked into church who was wearing a dirty white tee, and tan O'Neill shorts and worn down Jordan shoes. He was obviously investigating. It was fast and testimony meeting so he went up to speak. He was so touched by the spirit there and you could see his desire to repent and to access the healing power of Christ's atonement. I bore my testimony and talked about my experience with atonement and as I was speaking he looked to Elder Norton and asked what that word atonement means. We definitely told him after sacrament meeting. He stayed for all three hours. He had to take a smoke break in between each meeting though. We are seeing him this next week. We had a total of 9 investigators at church. We could have easily had 12 but some people were sick. The Lord has been trusting us quite a bit. We teach many lessons every week. 

I'm glad it hasn't been too hot. It's been very hot, don't get me wrong, but I'm glad I haven't gotten heat stroke yet. The humidity here sucks. I can't wait till after August when it starts to cool down again, I miss wearing coats.

A huge thank you to Todd for taking Elder Norton and I to Ruth's Chris Steak House.   He spent 100 dollars each!! The total was 300 dollars. The steak was the best I've ever had in my life!! We had a good view of the Reagan airport and the capital building, haha, it was super nice.

Miss you all, email me if you have time. Send pictures!

Calvin