Week 21

This week I have been training a new missionary, his name is Elder Savage.  At transfers there were a ton of 18 year old kids who just graduated high school. Out of all of them I had my eye on the big kid with broad shoulders like mine, and after everyone was paired up there was only me and him left. I had guessed right. Elder Savage is from Utah and is a pretty cool guy. He is willing to work hard and be obedient. Day one he said he wanted to go out at 10am, which I have never done my whole mission. I've always finished studies before lunch. I was stressing because it was different, but ultimately it seems to be easier on us as missionaries. There are two short proselyting times with a study break instead of one huge one.

This week I hopped on my bike and the tire was flat... We have been on foot since then. Being on foot sucks. Also Elder Savage had a small cold so I've gotten a bit of that too. My body has been exhausted this week, I've been so tired I can't even think. There is just so much more going on as a trainer and so much more of the weight you have to pull as an "model missionary". He apologizes all the time and asks me for permission to use the bathroom and take off his tie, its super funny. Also, today when we went to Costco he didn't know his pin number so I had to get all the groceries.

We met most of the investigators this week, and had some member dinners. Elder Savage just has to get his missionary legs warmed up for a week or two and we will be Rollin. Yesterday we went to Cornelia's house and it smelled really good, she was making lunch.  We asked her what she was cooking.... "what do you think? Fried chicken"........How dumb of us for asking. That was some bomb fried chicken though, she knows how to cook. 

This week was super nice weather, I can't believe it! It's been disgustingly hot all summer and the week the new guy comes it's 75 and not humid.... what's up with that? It rained for two days straight, the first day was full of flash floods. We had an appointment right in the middle and peak of the storm so I just looked at him and said "we gotta go". And he looked a bit surprised as he looked outside, as it was raining literal cats and dogs. We showed up at the investigator's home as if we had just stepped out of the shower fully dressed. In the basement of the apartment, where we leave the bikes, we took off our shoes and literally dumped out a cup of water from each one. We were hoping it would lighten up after, but it just rained harder on the way home before dinner. It was a super fun day just biking in the rain. I started aiming for puddles and riding my bike with no hands and pretending I was swimming, because it was raining so hard. 

Donna gave us some microwave pizzas and we tried them out. The cheese turned brown and looked like Indian food on cheap pita bread. We showed Donna a picture and she just laughed because she was surprised we actually ate it. 

We went to a park to try and street contact and we met these Bolivian guys playing hand ball. It's like wall ball, but they smack the bouncy baseball like ball with their hand. Some of them use gloves stacked with duct tape for padding. They look really funny playing, throwing their whole weight and body into smacking the ball. I want to play a game one of these days. They let us smack the ball a couple times, but we didn't play a game. They would totally let us play though. 

Another day we found some guys playing cricket. They recognized us from the one day we broke fast at Ramadan with them. We got their number and they told us they would teach us how to play. Sounds like a jolly good time.

This week has been super stressful being a trainer and a senior companion, but there has been a lot of fun too. It's going to be a fun transfer. This next week is going to fly by compared to this last week. The Lord has definitely provided this week at times where I have felt like I was running on fumes. Next week will be full of miracles, I'm sure.

Love you all, send pictures if you take any. I love seeing what you all are up to. 

Calvin

Week 20

Lots happened this week. We had some people take us out to eat, like always. We had Andreas baptism. That was super cool. During the talks she would interrupt the speaker and give her thoughts. It totally disrupted their thoughts but you could tell and hear how passionate Andrea is about the church and the book of Mormon. We had to lift Andrea up out of her chair and into the water with a fabric sling, it was a super cool experience helping her into the water and seeing her be baptized. She always says bapticized. This week at sacrament she even interrupted the speaker in
sacrament and talked, super funny. It was awesome to be able to confirm her on Sunday. It was my first time ever confirming someone into the church and giving someone the gift of the holy ghost. The day after the baptism Andrea called us up at 8 am and thanked us again, and wished us a happy day. She is such a happy person and we have seen the light in her grow exponentially as she has read the scriptures and accepted the gospel in her life. This gospel really does bring happiness into every single person's life who sincerely seeks it's truth and accepts it.

She emailed us about a minute ago and wished us a happy pioneer day. She became a member yesterday and is already excited about the pioneers. Must have heard something about the pioneers at church or something, we only talked about pioneers for THREE hours...

We ate lunch at a less active home and she speaks mostly Spanish. The food was pretty good, it was el Salvadoran food, so it was cool to try that. Because she didn't speak much English she kept saying yes to questions. She obviously didn't grow anything herself, she was in an apartment, so we kept asking if she grew the cilantro herself, or grew the noodles herself. She kept saying "oh yeah, of course". We were laughing so hard. We asked her if she had chickens in her backyard and if she butchered them herself. She said oh yeah of course! It was such a funny lunch.

We got to go to lunch at Paul Heffron house like every Thursday, he is so passionate about the GOLD. Gospel of latter days. He made a "mission accomplished" cake for elder Judkins. Lunch at Paul's is always funny. He has such love for the missionaries, ask him anything and he throws the word no out the window. He is a man full of love and passion. 

The cultural event was this week, since there are so many people from around the world they all made a dish and brought to the event, A cultural potluck. I got to eat some Pakistani food, Filipino, Ethiopian, Mexican, southern, native American, Ghanaian... too much to say. The most interesting thing was the balut. That is a duck egg that has been growing for 16 days and then boiled. I cracked one open with my companion and ate it. First I ate the bottom, then I ate the head. The worst part was the head because the beak of the duckling was like a toenail. It was a bit chewy and the feathers were like hair. This place is so culturally rich.

Last night we got to go to a new and returning member fireside where converts and less active share their testimony of their conversion. The spirit was so strong as I was listening to all of these conversion stories. People who once had the gospel in their lives, had forsaken it, and had come back. People who never had religion but found peace in the gospel. People who were anti social and "psychopath" who could feel the spirit for the first time in their lives and could not deny the power. It was such a humbling experience to listen and to relate my own conversion to each of theirs. The further you have fallen the more christ can pick you up. The atonement of jesus christ is real, we can be forgiven and have the burdens and pains taken off our backs. It was such a great experience being able to listen to these people and remember my own conversion, and rekindle my desire to share this great gospel with others. This gospel is for everyone and anyone willing to change. If you have a desire to be a better person or be more happy, you can find peace in the teachings of Jesus Christ and by reading the book of Mormon sincerely, and with true intent you can find lasting peace comfort and Joy! 

Don't want to bore all of you with an extremely long email, so... love you all! Email me soon.
Calvin

Week 19

This week was full of ups and downs. There was a heat wave, and it was in the high 90s with humidity, it was nasty. There were times where I just dreaded hopping on my bike and going to do missionary work. Even though I'm doing things that I would never choose to do regularly I am seeing blessings. There was one day, it was just baking hot and it was about to rain. When it rains here it pours. There was a couple trying to get their bags of gardening dirt from their car into the yard before the rain started. We quickly piled all the bags of dirt in the yard, out of the car. They invited us in to avoid getting stuck in the rain. They were such a nice couple, they fed us cookies and gave us water. We had a really good conversation, we hope to teach them sometime soon.

I have felt like I'm not doing much as a missionary because we have dropped a lot of people who were not progressing or interested, and in turn we have been doing a lot of street contacting and tracting. This was super tough going out in the heat and not teaching as many lessons. The plus side is that we got to meet tons of new people and schedule lessons with new investigators. We had 8 investigators at church this week and we got 3 new investigators. When I have felt at my lowest and had no desire to go out, but I go out anyway because it's what the Lord wants of me, I have really been given strength and comfort. Its these times where we are struggling the most where we can rise or fall. Our opportunities to grow the most are at the times where we want to give up but push on anyway. Jeff Harmer always told me "do hard things". That has been a motto for me the last year or so and has pushed me to be a better person and a better disciple of christ. 

Today Elder Judkins and I played some pool with Kenny at the community center. We found Bernard finally, but he has a beard now. This community center is like a resort for old people. They don't work so they just play pool, cards, pickleball, and air hockey all day. There is a lot to look forward to after we retire.... hahaha

This week we got to take Gene to the temple for the first time, he was so happy to see the inside and feel the spirit that is there, it was great to be a part of that. 

I've been trying to learn as much Amharic as possible. There are a lot of Ethiopians here and they are so happy when you can say something to them in their native language. I also want to learn some Creole and Twee (chwee). The only thing that I ate that was weird this week was some dollar tree vegetables. We asked Paul where he gets his tasty vegetables and he said "oh the dollar tree has great prices for their frozen vegetables". It was a warm display of brownish red green and yellow peppers. Yum!  I don't remember if I said anything about eating Pakistani food last week but we did that. It was a little spicy and Paul was very vocal afterwards about how it was overdone and gross. I thought it was very tasty. The goat was probably my favorite. This week we made them a calendar telling them when we will come and what they have to do in order to be ready to be baptized on August 5th. 

Uzma the mother told me about how her family is being terrorized and tortured in Pakistan for being Christian. She gave me her phone number and address for back home, but I'm not sure what to do with that info. Her neighbors back home in Pakistan are terrorizing the family. They cut her sister's throat trying to kill her, they pushed the mother down the stairs and a few weeks ago they burned half the house down. They are seeking political asylum anywhere they can go, it was crazy to read the request paperwork she gave me. In the report it said they went to the police but they refused to do anything because of their religious views. I'm so grateful to live in a country where I can be free.

Andreas baptism was postponed a week. She wants a few more days to feel prepared, so this friday she is going to be baptized. Whenever she says it she says "I promise I'm going to be bapticized" it's super funny. We are still working on Donna. The issue is that she doesn't want to read the Book of Mormon sincerely to know if it's true, and is frustrated when we ask what she thinks of it. We hope she finds the desire to open up the book and read it to find the message it has in there. The message of the Book of Mormon and the spirit you feel when you read it will change your life. It has changed mine, and has changed many of the people I have met and taught here as well. Brother Kuipo got a new job at the airport. He is hoping to find out if he can get Sundays off so he can come to church. I am praying he can get Sunday off because if so, he will be baptized, I'm sure of it. He is so converted to the gospel, he knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God and knows that Joseph Smith and the Prophet today are true representatives of God. 

I'm hoping that this week we see the temp cool down. It's my companions last week in the mission before he goes home to Utah (originally from texas). He is making all these plans for after the mission and some days I feel so jealous. I can't wait to look back on all the hard work I've put in and feel joy and relief, it will be such a great day when I can go home and start school again. But the harder I work now the better that day will be, so I might as well give all of myself while I still have time. 

Thanks for all of your emails guys, and thanks for sending pictures!!

Calvin

Week 18

Calvin didn't have time to send out an email this week so I added a few things from my email. 


Just watched the fireworks in DC from the army navy golf course. Elder Judkins hopped the fence and ran to the top of the hill... the fireworks were NUTS!! I've never seen fireworks like that in my life, sooo cool. I'll have to show you the video, we were just a few miles from the capitol so we had a straight shot view of all the fireworks.

Hope you had a fun night too.... probably not as cool.

We got some prayer rugs from some muslims at the mosque, mine is the red one and the orange one is elder judkins'

Today was hot with a lot of biking, no one was home all day. We basically accomplished nothing, but it was fun.

  

                                                              Kuipo family from Cameroon

 and the kid is Brayiam from the Pakistan family. I told him to draw on his head and he really did it.

Week 17

This week kind of just happened. It was super hot so we showed up to our appointments super sweaty and with helmet hair. Almost like we had just been swimming with our bike helmets on. We are working with Andrea and teaching her everything before her baptism on the 15th. We are planning on how we are going to get her into the water. She is in a wheelchair and can't walk. We have a member in the ward and he has a sling that we can pick her up in and carry her Into the water.  We are hoping the baptism goes pretty smoothly. 

We got to eat a ton of Ethiopian food this week. Engeta bread is basically sponge like tortilla that tastes like sourdough bread. You pick it up and use it to eat lentils and chili stuff, so it is spicy and also has other different flavors.

We had another baptism with a guy named Desmond, he is from Sierra Leone. He is super tall and beefy and it looked really tough to get him up out of the water. We got to hang out with some other elders, one from the mtc that I knew and the other is the brother in law to Madison Huish. Elder Baxter is super funny. 

I got to give a blessing to a member in our ward. She is new, so I hadn't met her before, but I gave her a blessing because she has been super sick because of her pregnancy. She hadn't eaten in 4 days and was worried. It was a humbling experience being able to use the priesthood and let myself be an instrument in the hands of God. It was crazy because I had just read my patriarchal blessing and read about how I would have the opportunity to bless people and heal people which I hadn't noticed before. Also, my whole mission I had not had oil in my vile, but earlier that day I had filled it for the first time. There are no coincidences on the mission.

Today we get to go to President Huntsman's house for a bbq with all the other missionaries in our zone. Should be pretty cool, beach volleyball is super fun. I got some steaks and vegetables at the store to grill back at our apartment. I'm stoked to grill a bunch of stuff and see the fireworks in DC from our apartment in Arlington. 

Hope to hear from y'all soon,

Calvin