Week 25

This week has been crazy. I had my first exchange with the district leader where I actually left the area! The whole 6 months I've been out I've slept in the same bed every night. Normally you go on exchanges 2 times every transfer period (6 weeks). We got lunch at this place called 1000 degree Neapolitan pizza. It's basically a MOD pizza and they have a 5.99 deal on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So after lunch on Thursday we were biking home and I was struck by a vehicle (I think a comedian said that in a skit but I don't remember who, someone look it up for me and "return and report"). I was going down a hill and a car creeped into the crosswalk as I entered it and I hit the front end of their car, rolled on and hit the windshield and bounced into the street on the other side. I hit my head pretty hard and my back crunched the windshield pretty good and they have a few dings in the car but it's mostly all good. I rolled around in the street for about 5 seconds wondering if I was okay and got up. I just had some holes in my shirt and backpack and a really sore neck. I filled out a police report and was on my way. Walked my wobbly wheeled bike home. The front wheel was a taco and the fork was bent back so I have to replace it, about 250 bucks for the cheapest parts you can buy, which I did... 

I went to the ER and they wheeled me around everywhere. This was on exchanges so I was with my district leader. I kept telling the people pushing me that I was promised an ice cream sandwich. I would say "see what you can do for me" referring to the ice cream sandwich when they left. I never got my frozen treat. One of these days I'm gonna get the bill and I'm going to complain that I didn't even get my complimentary ice cream sandwich! I paid top dollar for that 5 hour x ray CT scan and hospital bed stay. I deserved better.

Shamoon should be getting baptized this week, he is the 13 year old from the Pakistani family. He is so ready and finally came to all 3 hours of church. He wore a grey t shirt and bright blue jeans and flip flops. That was after I told him not to wear that outfit, but oh well... He loved church. My ward mission leader won a trip to Chile so he won't be able to help this week, going to be stressful pulling this all together! 

We might have to do a guy's laundry this week. Gary is an army vet with throat cancer. He is super racist and really sick but believes God gives him everything he needs (also the reason he doesn't pray, but that's another story). He has a hard time going up stairs n stuff so we always take his trash out and get his Ensure shakes out of his truck and bring them to him. Now we are doing his laundry I guess, but he has a good heart and needs the help. Maybe he will buy us lunch or something. 

Trying to get along with my companion still. There isn't much common ground. He always has a song stuck in his head, it's not even an exaggeration, he is always singing or humming or whistling a song. I could whistle a tune once and it will get stuck in his head and I won't hear the end of it for a day or two. He is a human jukebox/broken record. I'm trying to get along with him, and I have made a Ton of progress with him, but it's still a long journey. I think he would benefit from having another companion and seeing the differences in other companionship. Not sure he fully trusts my way of doing the work so there is a lot of friction, I'm sure he will struggle with that most of his mission. 

Still recovering from the accident, but I'm good. Stiff but can still play basketball on p day... The work continues and the biking up hills never ends. 

Hope you all have a great week, love you all!! 

Dueces, 

RIP harambe

Calvin

Week 24

I've had to be patient today... brother Terry gave us eclipse glasses and my comp walked up to some strange guy and said want to look at the sun with my glasses? He gave the glasses to him and now he doesn't have a pair. He said it's alright elder Grant, I can use yours! Now I'm the selfish one because he didn't have the huevos to tell him he wanted his glasses back.

On the way home we were starving so we grabbed some pizza. I was already irritated about the glasses when a lady begged me for a slice of pizza and I told her no. Elder Savage gave me this look of disappointment and disapproval for being selfish. I told her if she gave me her pack of cigarettes she could have a slice. I gave her the slice and she didn't fork over the stogies. I'm trying my best to be patient but I've never been so close to snapping.

This week was super hard, but I can also see how one day I will look back and see the growth that happened during this hard time. I'm trying to do my best at being patient and diligent. Training is not easy... I had an exchange with the zone leader, that was probably the highlight of the week. He said his experience with training was similar and that he understood what was happening, it was a relief. We also biked up superman hill in the rain, it was super hard. He was wiped out and physically drained afterwards. I told him that we had two more hills just as big the rest of the night and he looked at me with disbelief and horror. He slept well that night. He gave me some good tips on training and communicating with my trainee elder Savage. Since then we have had a better companionship and I've been less irritated and stressed. It's hard because I want the area to succeed but I need to focus more on elder savage, I think. It's a weird concept, but without a unified companionship there can not be any success in the area. 

This week we had interviews with President Huntsman, he is so awesome I love him. I've sent some super irritated emails explaining my view of the struggle and expressing the effort I am trying to put in to make this a successful companionship. In the interview he expressed to me how proud he was of me and how great I'm doing. He said he thought I was doing a great job even when I don't realize it. He shared the story of abinadi and how he never saw success. He was a prophet who never saw one convert and died at the stake probably feeling like a failure, yet he was probably the most influential prophet in the book of Mormon. Without him alma would have never heard the gospel and the rest of the book of Mormon wouldn't have happened. He expressed to me that elder savage is learning from me more than I know and that even though i don't see success the blessings will come. I think elder savage and I are way different, mainly because he grew up in the utah bubble and we have no common ground to talk about anything. I think we are put through this trial of not seeing as much success possibly because he was expecting to see miracles left and right because of his perfect obedience and dedication. He feels lost and confused because he doesn't see any results from his efforts. I'm trying to teach him to just love the people, period. If all you do for two years is view people and talk to people like you have something to learn from them, and loving them all you can you are fulfilling your job. 

I'm excited for next week. I'm hoping to have more patience and also to talk to way more people. We are working on stopping while we ride to talk to strangers, it brings a lot of joy for me because it makes me feel like I am uplifting at least one person at a time. Seeing people smile and making connections with people is the best, it's awesome learning to communicate with people you don't know and have totally different cultures. I love asking people to explain their cultures and backgrounds to me. 

Not many pics this week. I will try and be better this week and take a bunch for you all!

-Calvin

Week 23

I'm hoping this week goes by quickly, last week definitely did. I got to go to the temple twice and go to a sealing one time. A recent convert got sealed to her husband who died 25 years ago to the day. What a cool experience. My bishop looked at me and said the work you do is just the beginning. All the seeds you cast eventually grow into this crowning ordinance of the gospel. The spirit there was so much different than other ordinances, it was awesome.

I'm going to try and nap a whole bunch this P day. We gotta clean too because we didn't clean last week. Today will be super chill, I'm excited to sleep and lounge around.

Probably not going to bother with a weekly email. It's all pretty much the same stuff. I'm seeing the same people and stuff. You could probably share this email if You wanted to. 

I included a video of the rain here, it pours cats and dogs. It's so hard you can't see out your window with the wipers on full blast. I much prefer the Seattle rain, I miss the weather back home.

 Also, I complained to Elder Savage that he made small pancakes, cause I make them large, so he made them all different small sizes. He did it just to annoy me and it made me so mad. He doesn't know how to make pancakes.

Week 22

This week was rough. It's super tough being a trainer honestly, I feel like I'm pulling more weight as I'm used to and I don't feel like I'm as spiritual or as good a missionary as my previous senior companions. It's weird relying on the knowledge I have as a senior companion because I am such a new missionary. I've felt like I haven't had as much success as a missionary these past few weeks and I haven't been in tune with the spirit as I should. I've been a tad irritated with my companion as well. Because he is so young (turned 18 this march) I feel like he is a dog jumping you at the wrong time all the time. He has energy and makes stupid jokes that literally aren't funny at times where I'm thinking or being serious. Sometimes I just look at him and say "why do you do the things that you do"? I don't want this to be a complaining email so I'll just say, this week has been a struggle!!! 

Today we got to go to the temple, which was super awesome. I was just thinking to myself and asking, "why has this week been so hard? What am I doing wrong?" And as I read mosiah 24:15-16 I just felt the spirit as I saw the word cheerfully and patiently. The words brought comfort to me and screamed to my soul that I need to be patient. Like my companion before said is that sometimes the mission is like a slingshot. We are pulled and stretched until we think we are going to snap, then we are held there for a moment, and when the tension is unbearable we suddenly soar. I'm patiently awaiting the time where I will be set loose and can fly. It was a good P day and a really good temple trip.

This week at church I turned to Donna and told her it was her turn to bear her testimony. She just said okay basically and went up to the stand. I was so surprised, especially that I just asked her! I randomly thought it and just asked her without thinking, almost as if it were a joke. Im glad I asked her though. She said the best part was when she sat back down and I told her it was awesome. That was the most comforting part of going up there was what I said when she sat back down. 

Because two weeks ago it was so rainy I think that's what caused me to be sick this week. I had a cough, stuffy nose and was super low energy all week. Instead of taking a day off and resting I just went out to work, I'm not sure which option was better, or which was right. Either way, I was sick this week and it was terrible, I was sick all week and super tired!!! Some mornings I couldn't even think as I read the book of Mormon or PMG. 

One night for dinner Celia was supposed to feed us. We waited for the pizza guy to come for an hour, and we finally just said we had to go to our next appointment empty handed. Apparently the order was never put in the system. I was pretty hungry that night. I made some pretty dank mashed potatoes. It took so long to boil we couldn't eat them, but we took them to Paul's for lunch and it surprisingly fed 5 guys. Best part of the meal by far if I might say so. I'll be making more soon. I'm so glad we bought potatoes the other week.

Shout out to Eric Tidball, most of you probably won't understand this, but I bought a whole bunch of sparkling waters and am drinking them in the shower. I need to think of a good name for it, but cherries are a good pairing for the sparkling water. 

Lastly we met with Ian....... wow, what a gentleman. He basically told us he was the prophet, and God told everyone in the world that he was the messenger, and that Jesus told him to do acid and Molly and other "chemicals" in order to receive answers so he can spread the message. The message is world peace. Period. I'm not sure how he is going to accomplish this, but he is literally prepare to die for it he said many times. He wants to spread life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because "they are trying to take away his liberty". I told him it's probably because he is using acid and Molly and meth, but that's obviously besides the point. I asked Ian why I or anyone I know knew he was the messenger, and he just disregarded it all and said God told everyone he was the only prophet, and even though everyone before him has failed, he will do it somehow, because he is going to die trying. He said he did acid earlier that day. Our ward mission leader said maybe he is on to something...  I don't think so, it's a method we have never tried before. Ian said it's a leap of faith to believe in him. Let's send the world mind altering drugs and give them life liberty and happiness right? 

Love you all, send me pictures.

RIP Harambe

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