Week 95

 After 6 days as a biking missionary I am happy to report that I am not dead. Yet.








...Actually, it's been pretty great. This area is actually very well suited for bikes; it's mostly flat, probably 95% pure suburbia, and maybe 35 minutes from farthest extent to farthest extent (not counting Sun City Festival, which is 11 miles out into the desert and now unreachable without getting a ride from someone). The weather has been beautiful, it's unseasonably warm for February and people are predicting an even more brutal summer than last year, but right now it's close to perfect. 

It feels good to work your muscles as you move from visit to visit, and you burn more calories so I'm hoping I start losing more weight. We've been talking to way more people in the streets, haven't met anyone who was too interested but we did talk to some interesting people. We met one guy who was from Lithuania and was actually baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ over there, his family is still active. Lithuanian members are very rare so it was crazy to meet one in Arizona. He started talking about how God is telling him he shouldn't be a part of any church and how we should try taking drugs in order to open our spiritual pathways. It was an intriguing offer to be sure, I'm sure it's a lot easier than reading the Book of Mormon every day. 

My favorite part of being a bike missionary is how visible we are. There are a lot of people at intersections, as they drive past, as they see us on the streets who honk their horns, wave, call out to us. Let me tell you, kitted up with my Camelback, reflective vest, helmet, and white shirt and tie, sweat on my brow and on my back, zooming down the sidewalk while people cheer us on, I have never felt like more of a hero. 😎 I do like the idea of being able to testify by my actions alone that I care a lot about being here. I definitely wouldn't be biking around in Arizona if it wasn't for the Lord. 

Yours Faithfully, 
Elder C. Calder

The incredible biking missionary fit. 

At the transfer chapel we had to go drop off our car. Happily this gave us a chance to day goodbye to all the departing missionaries even though both of us are staying in the area and we ordinarily wouldn't have a reason to go. We took a picture with Elder Tenney's trainer Elder Harding (the legendary missionary who kept the ASL missionary efforts in Phoenix alive for 10 straight months) and my good friend Elder Schoon, both of whom just finished their missions. 

Biking in a suit, my evolution into the ultimate servant of the Lord is complete. 

Saw this truck as we were riding back home from the transfer building in our roommates' car. Just in case anyone needs a little extra help. 

I saw Sister Calder at the mission office! We tried doing Relatives Around Me one more time and it worked. We are fifth cousins, which is honestly a little disappointing since I was expecting her to be a long-lost second cousin or something. However she is a direct descendant of George Calder, who is our common pioneer progenitor who came across the plains in the 1880s. The funny thing is Elder Tenney and I are actually more closely related (I think), we are 4th cousins twice removed. 

Found this as we were shopping today. Never expected to see this in the Easter section but I suppose it makes sense. It was a little out of place among all the Easter egg-related childrens' stories.














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