Week 30

Yesterday was my seven month mark in the mission, it feels like a super long time but it also feels like it's been a blink of an eye. Time is a weird concept in the mission. 

Conference was awesome but I was pretty bummed that President Monson didn't speak yesterday!

I miss watching the Seahawks play on Sundays. We went to a guys house and he was playing the game and he fed us pizza rolls, this guy is super funny. He had an empty carton of cigarettes that he smokes every day and I had him sign a box and I kept it as a souvenir hahaha.

Week 29

Well the second coming didn't happen this week. Supposedly the planets were supposed to align in such a way that it was a sign the second coming was going to happen. That happened the 23rd. 

This week we did a small prank kind of. We had to go pick up an extra bed and box spring from some sister's apartment. Once we got the bed out we arranged their room opposite to what it was originally. We just mirrored the room so everything was opposite. They left us a funny voicemail haha. We helped some other missionaries move into their new apartment as well in falls church. 

This week was the last week for most of the senior couples in the office so elder Wamsley and I got them their favorite treats and wrote cards. The new senior couples look pretty nice. 

I'm hoping to get a new truck soon. The church bought a new truck for us, not sure if it's a Ford or Chevy, but it should be getting to us fairly soon! I'm pretty stoked for that. 

We had 2 new investigators this week. We found this one girl when we went to check on her uncle. This guy is always drunk... He is a Cherokee Indian and has long hair and is super skinny, he is always going off on random stories that have very little significance. He normally smells like alcohol, but his niece was there and we taught her. She was pretty interested in the message and wanted to read the book of Mormon. As we were there she was diving into the pamphlet we gave her. We also met a guy a week Go while tracting, he drove up to us and said hi and told us he was from Ogden UT. This week he showed up to church, it was pretty cool to see him just show up. He went to the ward before us for elders quorum and they directed him to our wards sacrament meeting. We plan to meet him this Thursday. 

As we went to lunch one day to chipotle we met this guy named Kevin. Kevin was working for D.A.R.E and trying to get donations. I threw him a few bucks and grabbed a prize from the table and then ate lunch. The guy at chipotle hooked me up big! I got a quesadilla burrito with everything on it. He even gave me free queso sauce on it and it was super good. Biggest burrito I've ever eaten, it was like the size of my face. On our way out we ended up teaching Kevin the restoration and giving him a book of mormon. He said he has been looking for a new church to go to, so we are excited to pass him off to the missionaries where he lives. 

We got a bunch of sparkling waters in cans this week and we have been drinking them in the shower and at night, it's a refreshing beverage that feels rewarding with no sugar consequence. I've been collecting my cans by making a wizard staff. I'm taping them all together in a long pole. This week as we were weekly planning I was standing in front of the mirror tracing my face with an expo pen. It is pretty funny. I tried to draw my smile but it's hard to see... 

This Saturday we spent a long time at a guys house helping him set up furniture and reorganizing his living room. He got a new tv and sound system. They have a huge dog named Tierra who is an English mastiff. We started gobbling like turkeys and made her start howling, it was pretty funny. That dog always gets excited when the missionaries come over, she always wants to chew on our hands and have us pet her. Whenever I set down she lays over my lap and rests her head in my lap or knees, she thinks she is a lap dog but weighs like 180 lbs. 

That's about it I believe, we have just been doing a ton of finding and office work. I feel like we are basically white washing the area because there are no investigators! It's good to see our investigator pool growing.

Love you all,

Calvin

Week 28

Couldn't decide on a name for this email, it was between "the cucumber accents the water in such a way" or "I can't believe I ate all this"

So this week we had to deliver a vacuum to some sister's and the key didn't work. We went to the leasing office because they normally give us a skeleton key. In the office they had some water with cucumbers in it. In one of my favorite movies,The Other Guys, Will Ferrell"s character "Allen" is given a glass of cucumber water and he is just blown away about how the water is accented by the cucumber. When I saw this in real life I had to go for it. I told elder Wamsley as I was drinking the water "the cucumber accents the water in such a way".

We also got to see this super cool turtle by the mission office. We found it crossing the road as we were driving out so we picked it up. 

We got to go to cafe rio for dinner one night, a member is also taking us there this week! I'm so far away from home and also Utah but I still get a cafe rio. I know Sherri Hainsworth is pretty upset about that hahaha. Another night we had a dinner hour back at the apartment. I had eaten a ton of food and just felt guilty and way too bloated and full. I went into the bathroom and purged the tummy real quick.  My companion told me that he heard me say "I can't believe I ate all this..." but I said it in such a cheerful and calm way as if it wasn't a big deal. I didn't even realize I had said it but when I came out he was laughing. 

This week we had 2 zone conferences, it's a meeting where President and Sister Huntsman, as well as the AP's and zone leaders provide trainings and tips for missionary work. The office elders help with videos and slide shows and setting up the meeting. I got a flu shot at one of them, the church is providing flu shots. We had to give some bed rails to some elders who got bed bugs this week, and we also got to drink some kava tea.  Here is the truck that we use to pick up elders and supplies in.  I feel lucky that we get such a nice truck to drive around in.

We met a lady named Sylvia, she is from El Salvador. She was a self referral and she was excited to meet with us. She wants to come to church and she said she wants to be baptized. She wasn't sure if it was a problem that she was baptized somewhere else first, so we assured her she was fine. 

One day we were in Alexandria so we stopped at TC Williams High School, so we took pictures next to all of the things that said TC Williams on it. There were some garbage cans and some benches and paintings. It was cool to walk around some of the campus again.

This week has been fun, seeing the whole mission and tons of other missionaries is really cool. It's a position that can make you real trunky but so far I've been okay. I'm excited to find some awesome people here and also to hopefully have a baptism. The work is fun and I am enjoying my time. My companion and I get along really well. I introduced him to the "shower bubbly" and we always drink a sparkling water during our shower. It's nice because our apartment  has two separate bathrooms.

Love you all,

Calvin

Week 27

Hey everyone!

Hope y'all R having a great week. The office is a super cool calling so far.  I've gotten a nicer apartment, gotten a full size bed, got more missionary funds for the transfer, and got a truck. It's the only companionship that gets a truck and I'm super stoked, they're actually supposed to give us a brand new truck here in the next couple days! My first night being in the office I didn't even sleep at our place, we got to go to the mission president's house and sleep downstairs. His son Daniel is super funny, he didn't want to go to bed so he just hung out with the office elders and AP's. We stayed at the mission home because we had to take the departing missionaries to the airport the next morning. We had to wake up at 3am to pick them up at 4 and take em to the Dulles international airport. We got to drive the moving van around and pack the bags, it was a super cool experience. After that we got Denny's with the AP's and went home to take a nap. President said we get to nap since we got up extra early, so we slept from 7:30 to 10 then went to district meeting.

Throughout the week we have driven pretty much across the whole mission. Surprisingly enough, all of Virginia isn't like Arlington! Living in Arlington only had apartments and super small houses that were way too expensive, also it was 60% immigrants, 25% blacks and 15% white people. Here in the Rolling Valley ward it's pretty pretty different. We have been to quite a few apartments and I have always gone in and said, "wow, this is pretty nice!" Multiple times and then Elder Wamsley says, yeah they're all different... The living here for the missionaries is all super nice, anywhere we stay is super comfy and homey. 

Elder Wamsley is my new companion. He is 6 feet tall has a size ten shoe, likes to skate and snowboard and is from Layton Utah. He did a year at utah State before coming out on the mission, he graduated 2014 and has one transfer after this before he goes home. Elder Wamsley is a goober, he and I have thought of some MILLION dollar ideas. I'm not going to say what they are but they are called "Yeet Hoodies"TM. We have had some nights where we just talk for 30 minutes to an hour talking about spongebob or doing a brainstorm workshop for our entrepreneurship ideas, we do a lot of laughing. It's going to be an awesome transfer. On the first day I called him broseph and he replied and called me manwhich, so I'm calling him Admiral General Broseph.

Today we went to Costco and got flannels that match because gainz, and we got some toy guns that shoot foam balls. I put a tie and name tag on my flannel and we had a little shootout, the battles will continue throughout the transfer. 

I'm hoping to pump up this ward area. Not too many investigators here and finding is a little hard, but this place has a lot of potential. We proselyte from 6-9 most days and we get the weekends to go out and do missionary stuff rather than office runs/work. I want to have a baptism this transfer. We met some ladies out street contacting, one was named Elke (Elka) and was out pondering. She was praying and in need of some answers. We gave her a restoration and book of Mormon, I'm excited to meet with her soon. Hopefully she reads and we can see some miracles with her! There was also this Catholic lady walking with a rosary. She was a little cuckoo. She was super Catholic but was really happy to learn more about our beliefs. I want to contact her because we got her phone number, also to see what she thought about the restoration pamphlet. I want to get some missionary work booming here, elder Wamsley and I teach and contact pretty well. 

Week 26

This week has been so much fun. I feel like my companionship has finally come together with elder Savage. There are still times where I try to ignore him as if he is an annoying little brother, but what do you expect. We are working well together and he is pulling his weight and we are seeing tons of progress here. This is our last week together, now that we are finally in a groove. He has been assigned to be a trainer! Elder Savage will be training a new missionary before he is even fully trained...

As for me, I am shipping out to a new area. President Huntsman called me late on Friday night  and told me I would be moving to become an office Elder! The first day we move the departing missionaries to wherever they go. The office elders are always busy, I see them running around all the time. They're always setting up or taking down stuff for firesides and some conferences. I will even be teaching some lessons, President said that it is a high up leadership calling. I hope I can live up to his expectations! So as of now I'm mostly packed up and ready to go. I got my clothes all sealed up in the vacuum bags (thanks Thomas Judkins) and I've fit all my clothes in one suitcase. I've acquired more stuff and have more room in my bags. I've got a change of clothes and my sheets to fit in my North Face duffle bag. Some of you have seen me stuff that bag, it's my favorite by far.

Last night we had Gene drive us and Donna to the new and returning member fireside. These are awesome, the spirit is so strong as people tell their personal conversion stories! Afterwards Donna got to speak to sister Huntsman, I introduced her as the boss man's wife. Donna was so excited to talk to her, it was awesome. On the way home Donna had finally admitted to feeling the spirit as we read the book of Mormon. I think she now considers it as scripture and is starting to have faith that it's true. I'm stoked for her! She will be in the water soon after Shamoon this week (the 13 year old Pakistani boy). At NARMF President found me and slapped my shoulder real hard and said he was very excited to work with me closely. Even his facial expression looked excited, I'm not sure what I did to impress him...

This transfer I've probably eaten a whole Costco bag of pancakes with my companion. I've eaten a whole jar of peanut butter in 6 week all by myself, I love peanut butter on my pancakes. I've discovered that placing bacon in between two pancakes (with peanut butter on the top of the bottom pancake) with p,entry of syrup on top is the best way to consume hot cakes. If you haven't tried it yet I plead with you to do so, do not delay. Elder Savage said to me "I've tried a lot of new things on my mission, and this is the best so far". It may sound like some type of dog treat but it's pretty dang good.

This week we basically dragged the Pakistani family to church. We got two cars to drive to their house and got them to get ready in 10 minutes and come to church. Shamoon was coming either way but we convinced the rest of them to join. We drove in a big Ford van with 4 seats, driver and a bench. The rest was open for the members son who is in a wheelchair. He is paralysed from the neck down, so the whole van was empty except for the bench in the back.

I had my last visit with Adela and Robert. Adela had to get out her magnifying glass to read some scriptures, I think she is 94 years old. She still takes care of Robert who is 52! He has some mental health issues. When I told her I was leaving she came over to me and gave me a big hug it was awesome to see the love she had for me. She is probably too old to be baptized but she loves having us over.

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