Week 40

The excuses vary, but the lack of email stays the same. 

Hello everyone, it's been a while. It's been a whirlwind of a transfer, I don't know if I've ever been more busy in my life. Elder Jarrett is a very hard worker and together we've seen a lot of cool things happen. I learned a lot from his example, but probably the most important takeaway I had was seeing firsthand the difference that showing sincere love and concern for other people makes. We went to a Stake Missionary Training for the Phoenix YSA Stake and something they taught there stuck with me: "even if you don't have natural talent in things like people skills, everyone is capable of being a friend."

I'm not the most charismatic person, but I do think I'm capable of being a good friend. So for this transfer I'm going to try to not put so much pressure on myself to try and be someone I'm not, but simply to be a genuine, kind friend to people. 

- - -

Probably the highlight of the past transfer has been meeting our friend Viviana. She referred herself online to us through a Facebook ad on January 1st. As most of my fellow missionaries can probably attest, media referrals are pretty unreliable and are often either fake or from people who didn't mean to refer themselves (even though it's a 4 or 5 step process where you  acknowledge multiple times that you are agreeing to meet with missionaries). We got a notification that she was interested in meeting with us so we texted her and asked if we could call her. She said yes and we dialed the number.  When she picked up almost the first thing out of her mouth was that she wanted to be baptized. (It turns out she didn't really have a prior knowledge of or association with the church and didn't really understand what baptism was for, but it worked out in the end). 

A lot of things have happened in quick succession since then. We've met with her several times a week for the last month and a half, and our awesome members in the YSA quickly befriended her and tried to make her feel welcome. One of those was Nizhoni, our friend who got baptized at the beginning of January. It was pretty cool to see her go from the one being welcomed to one welcoming others into the fold. Our awesome friends Braedi and Diego were also instrumental.

Viviana learns quickly and has a beautiful relationship with God. She didn't want to read the Book of Mormon with us when we first met her, but she gave it a try and prayed about it. She told us about the powerful spiritual experience she had where the Holy Ghost told her that the book was true. 

She got baptized 2 Sundays ago and last week we went to the temple with her to do baptisms for the dead. I got to be the one to baptize her by proxy which I felt was a privilege. She said she felt really nice in the temple and wants to go back as soon as possible. 

Looking back on the whole experience, it's clear that it was another example of Heavenly Father doing his own work. We didn't have anything to do with finding her or giving her a testimony. We couldn't have forced her to listen to us or persuaded her to learn just on our own merits. All that we could do, and all we did do, is try to be her friends. 

In my last email I wrote about my feelings concerning baptizing people without building a friendship with them. I sort of regret doing that since this is supposed to be a newsletter and not a diary (sorry for talking about all those dumb icky feelings and stuff), but for those of you who weren't repulsed it's nice to be able to follow up somewhat about that. When I actually do know a person somewhat well and get to see a lot (in this case all!) of their progress and growth leading up to that point it's a much more special experience. I'm really glad that I got to be a part of that. The change in Viviana is really noticeable, she's happier and there's a good feeling around her that wasn't present when we first started meeting with her.  And it's nice to have that friendship as well. 

I'm excited to visit the friends I've made here after I finish my mission. 🙂

- - -

We had transfers last week. Elder Jarrett, who's been in Black Canyon ward for 4.5 months got word that he was leaving. He saw it coming though and was pretty depressed all through the first half of the week. 

Don't feel too bad for him though, he's been moved to the most epic area in the mission, namely the fabulous Sun City: The Original City of Volunteers. His area actually covers Sun City, the Union Hills YSA, and Apache Park ward where I just came from 2 transfers ago.  And his new companion is one of his best friends in the mission, an Elder C. Johnson (different from Elder D E Johnson, my previous companion). So I think he's in for a lot of fun over these next 6 weeks. 

As for me, I'm staying in Black Canyon and Glendale YSA North. I'm now with Elder Moyes, from Ogden Utah. With this transfer the natural order of things has been reestablished. Before this I'd had an equal amount of companions from Utah (E Cook/Christensen) and Ohio (Johnson, Jarrett). I'm probably going to get another Ohioan after Elder Moyes leaves though.

He's been out 13 months, actually came out in the same batch as Elder Jarrett. He's a calm personality but he can be really goofy as well. He's been a big help already in helping me to be less stressed and enjoying being a missionary. 

- - -

I'm still kind of stressed, but I'm figuring it out. I'm hopeful about this next transfer. Email me if you can. I still appreciate you regardless. 

Faithfully Yours,

Elder C. Calder

Melissa (one of the people we're teaching, she's super kind and it's always fun to go over to their house because of all the Miracles they see in their lives) took a selfie with us the night she decided on a date to be baptized. Sadly I don't have the original but you can have the marked up version we sent to the Zone chat. 

Viviana's first trip inside the temple to do baptisms for the dead.

Bishop Cathcart of the YSA at the Valentine's day party. As you can tell he was having a great time being a part of the impromptu photoshoot.

Obligatory Zone picture. I'm finally in the same zone as Elder Dalton, which is cool (He was my brother's [Elder J. Calder's] neighbor at BYU and he was my airplane buddy flying into Phoenix. He's my good friend but we've always served in different zones up until this point). This was supposed to be the obligatory 'silly' picture that we took after the real one. I never know what to do in these photos so I improvised.

The Squad at Viviana's baptism.

Epic double rainbow

Diego wanted to take a picture right before Viviana's baptism. Viviana said she never wears dresses but she bought one just so she could look nice for her baptism.

At the Valentine's day party one of the activities was making cut-out Valentine's heart cards. Braedi approved of my attempt and later sent me this picture after the Relief Society labeled it and stuck it on a wall to stand proudly as an ensign to the other wards that meet in the building.

Double rainbow again. We took this right before visiting a guy who's grandma had contacted us before because "If anyone needs Jesus, it's him." We stopped by and he was so drugged up that he could barely talk or walk. He took our pamphlet though!  

10. Elder Moyes being iconic. He found this sign tucked behind one of our Jesus portrait his first day in the area. 

Elder Moyes walking the apartment's pet duck.