Week 34

January 01, 2024

The whole Phoenix metropolitan area is recovering from the New Year's Eve festivities last night. A ghostly pall has fallen over the Valley of Sun. The horizon is murky, the heavens a dull uniform brown-gray. The streets are empty, the air quiet. There is hardly a gust of wind to tease the corners of a flag. An omnipresent sheet of fog blankets the ground, full of the acrid taste of burnt gunpowder. Millions of people lay in their beds, on friends' couches, and slumped in the streets, nursing hangovers and sleeping in. The whole city is resting, and the air is quiet.

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We had transfers last Thursday. Our area, Windrose Park-Apache Park, was dismantled and split between some sisters in the Peoria Stake and the Sun City/Union Hills YSA Elders. Elder Johnson was sent off to Paradise Valley, his new companion is my friend Elder Schoon which is pretty neat. I'm sure they'll do well together.

Elder Hill stayed in Sun City/Union Hills area (now with the addition of Apache Park) and his new companion is named... Elder Johnson. But a different Elder Johnson. As I've mentioned before, there's at least 4-5 Johnsons in the mission.

As for me, I stayed in Zone 4 but was moved southwest into downtown Glendale (near to Phoenix proper, and back in the hood). I'm covering the Black Canyon ward and half of the Glendale YSA, so our area is huge. I've never been in a YSA before and neither has my companion, so I'm somewhat anxious about it. But I guess as long as I'm being myself and making an effort to be kind and considerate to other people, I can't mess up too badly. We'll see how it goes.

I was sort of sad to see my last area go. We never did have much success but I made some good friends with the members (especially in Windrose Park, but there were a lot of awesome people in both). But at this point I've spent more than half my mission there (4 1/2 months) and I think I'm ready for a change in scenery.

My new companion is Elder Jarrett. He's from Columbus Ohio, and actually lived in the same stake as my Elder Johnson for a while (though they didn't meet before the mission). He is loud, laughs a lot, and uses a lot of slang, which drives our district leader crazy. But he's a super good missionary, and he already has friends all across the valley.

This area is by far the busiest I've served in, which is nice. It helps that Elder Jarrett is really good at connecting with people and putting them at ease. We already have some people on date to be baptized and a few others who are committed and preparing to be baptized as well. It's encouraging to see that the work is actually moving forward somewhere in this mission.

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Sorry there are often big delays between emails. I don't always have the requisite time to write and when I do, my dad usually can't send them out until the beginning of the next week, so you get everything a week late. But I really appreciate everyone who writes back and I understand for those who can't.

Thanks for all the support you've given me. I look forward to seeing what 2024 holds for me as a missionary. By the time this year is over, I'll only have 4 transfers or ~5 months left. Most of the important stuff that happens to me will probably happen this year.

Let's just see how long I can keep avoiding going on bike.

Yours Faithfully,

Elder C. Calder

Elder Jarrett and me on New Years' Eve

Last district photo of the transfer

Elder Jarrett knows a lot of people in the YSA because he served in their families' wards in previous areas. Here we are with his friends Wade and Robbie.