Week 15

August 23, 2023

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 trainee got lumped in with us for a week. So it's been Elder Cook, Elder Bain, and me over three wards. The two of us were still in training so Elder Cook would always introduce himself as our babysitter.

Also, a big hurricane came in from California and the sky was overcast and rainy for 3 days straight. It was fantastic, by far the nicest weather I've seen since arriving in Phoenix. Nice and cool. It didn't even rain that much- it was mostly a light drizzle that continued through the day. The long-awaited Monsoon season that I've been hearing so much about never materialized, so this is my first real experience with rain since I left the MTC. It's funny what months of scorching hot, cloudless days will make you appreciate.

We spent a lot of time in the Osborne Ward with Elder Bain. He and his companion are on bike normally so the thought was that we could utilize the car to clear up their areabook, which was very full of possibly interested people. That didn't really happen- Osborne is deep in the hood and people don't like opening their doors for strangers (even nicely dressed ones). But we still had some good experiences. We had an exchange with one of the ZLs, Elder Belka. He says he loves the hood areas the most because you find more humble, teachable people. And more crazy stuff happens. I can't argue with that.

Phoenix is one of the most dangerous places to drive in the United State because so many people ignore traffic laws and get in accidents. More than half of all the billboards I've seen have been car accident attorneys. The flipside of it is that there are way more custom cars here than I've seen in other places.

People will secure their front bumpers with bungee cords, cover broken windows with patterned blankets, fit their cars with wheels that are way too big or way too small, make them high or low riders for no reason, give them crazy paint jobs, funny license plates, etc.

There are also a lot of old cars that have a "Historic Vehicle" license plate. So you'll see Teslas driving alongside monstrous 70's sedans, Volkswagen Beetles, and finned Cadillacs. You even see some of those tiny European cars like Jacques Clouseau drives in the Pink Panther.

Whenever we see a car that's obviously (and especially shabbily) modified, dented, and/or falling apart, we call it a Phoenix Car. In that same vein, whenever we see something particularly crazy or absurd happen we call it a Phoenix Moment.

We get a lot of Phoenix moments around here, this place is nuts. Just this morning we saw this guy pushing a baby stroller full of Chihuahuas. He took the whole yapping, barking ensemble into a Quiktrip. When we went to Subway this one guy was waiting just behind the line going up to the counter and would ask every single person as they came in, "hey, would you help a brotha get a sandwhich?" He kept standing there until someone paid for him. People wander across the busy main streets at random, with zero regard for traffic or pedestrian crosswalks. And there are lots of interesting philosophical and religious groups around town, like the Flat -Earthers and the Hebrew Israelites (who teach that Jesus is black and white people are Satanic).

It's been an interesting experience but I'll fondly remember the time I spent here. I'm interested to see how Glendale is similar and different from east Phoenix.

By the way, there's something I've been meaning to mention for a while because I think it's cool. Around Phoenix you can spot these white Jaguars with spinning cameras all over them. They are called WAYMOs, they're self-driving cars that act similar to a taxi or Uber. You'd think that people wouldn't trust a machine to drive them places but apparently they're safer and better at reacting quickly to dangerous conditions than taxis with a human driver behind the wheel. They're cheaper than an Uber too. I kind of want to ride in one to the airport when I finish off my mission.

I took a video of one for your viewing convenience.

Anyway, that's all for this week. I loved your emails, they were great! Keep sending 'em.

Faithfully Yours,

Elder C. Calder

WAYMO

Actual clouds, a rare sight in this part of the world

District Council

we saw a car driving around with no license plate. There isn't one in the front either.

the Chapel for the Osborne building. I thought it was really cool and different from any chapel l've seen before. Apparently people call it "The Ark."