Elder Carston Mark Calder

It's been interesting to see how missionary work functions in areas that are very different. I wouldn't say that Glendale is the exact opposite of downtown Phoenix, but it's definitely on the other side of the sliding scale between poverty and wealthy. Things are nicer and more upscale here, but it seems there are a lot less people who are actually interested in hearing the gospel. I guess it really is a universal principle- the wealthier and better-off temporally people are, the less they feel the need for God in their lives. It happens all the time in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle and all that. We do a lot more work with members here- pretty much all of the apartment complexes are gated and people are generally less receptive to street contacting. Getting to know the members of the wards is a much bigger priority than it was down in the Biltmore/Country Club area, it's been kind of nice to settle in and get to...

I'm writing on a Wednesday this week because we got transfer news yesterday. The idea is that they announce it and then the next day can be used for packing and preparing to leave on transfer day, which is Thursday. I've successfully weathered one transfer in this area already, so I got to go through my whole training with Elder Cook. That's been nice. But now it looks like my luck has run out.  We got word yesterday that both of us are being booted out of the Biltmore-Country Club area. Elder Cook is going over to Daisy Mountain in the far north of the mission. His new comp is Elder Dalton, who is a friend of my brother's from BYU and who came out to the mission field in the same group as me. I think they'll be a great companionship. As for me, I'm going up to Glendale with an Elder Christiansen, who I'll meet tomorrow.  It's been an interesting week. Our district leader got transfered out early to go be a zone leader over in Avondale, and so his traine...

  It was a slow week. We honestly didn't get a lot done, I wasn't in the proper mindset for a lot of it. But I'm in a better place now and I'm ready to get back to work. A lot of our success has been among the Hispanic residents of the city. More than half of the people we're meeting with now are Latino, and the places we frequent while tracting tend to have a lot of Spanish speakers. My favorite place to go so far is this public park in the southwest of our area, Los Olivos. The name is very fitting because it's actually a large grove of olive trees, with real olives on them and everything. The olives aren't in season right now so they're all light green, but honestly it wouldn't matter either way because I hate olives. Still, I can appreciate the beauty of the park. We often so around sunset, and if there's one thing Phoenix is known for, it's spectacular sunsets (something about how all the smog filters the sunlight at dusk). Seeing the or...

Yesterday, August 6, 2023 was a momentous event in history. I, Elder Carston Mark Calder, became a full legal adult. I am now 21 years of age, old enough in the eyes of the law to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages. As a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I could not be more ecstatic at reaching this incredible milestone in my life. The mind fails to fully grasp the sheer breadth and width of the riotous living and partying in which I will now no doubt be engaged by the time of this email's release. To those who helped me to get this far, I give a solemn and heartfelt thanks. It feels as though my whole life has been building towards this moment. My birthday was fine. We don't get the day off or anything, so it was mostly a normal proselyting day. It was a fast Sunday so I abstained from the usual hearty birthday breakfast. I figured since it was my birthday I would get double blessings for giving it up. That resolve, however, only l...