Week 38 (12/23/13)

THis week was awesome! Finally we are able to do work! This opening thing is not as much fun as teaching people ya know? BUt..... it's got to be done. SO there ya go! I love teaching though man....

We had our Christmas COnference.... ON THE BEACH... Siesta Keys, rated one of the nicest beach's in the WORLD.... maybe the US. But since I don't actually know we'll just keep it at world. 

I'm SOOOOO excited for Christmas! SO excited! I can't wait to talk to my family! That's all I really care about! DOn't worry, we're being taken care of here! Even though it's a new ward we have been invited to so many people's houses! It's great! 

Also, I forgot to mention that I'm serving in Sarasota Springs FLorida.... weird eh? 

I have calluses on my knees. This is not a joke. Weird right?! Hardwood floors will do that too you. Lot's of praying. And it always works! Always. I love prayer! I have such a strong testimony of it! ;) 

We have a member who owns Texas Roadhouse and we get to eat there for free whenever we want! Yep. Dream come true. 

I love this gospel. SO MUCH. SO MUCH! I can't deny it's true! At all! This time of year has made me realize how much family means around the holiday's. But it's been amazing to really just have a completely Christ centered Christmas though :) I love it. 

I love the work. 

Keep it hastening. 

Thank you for all the amazing support and love! I can feel all of your prayers! 

Love you all! 

Love, Sister Calder ;) 

President Cusick and Us

Sand Angels

White Christmas

Week 37 (12/16/13)

Crazy news! I'm back with my trainer Sister Andersen! AH! At transfers we were sitting next to each other and both of us still weren't getting called up! Then... there was no more English Sisters. So we thought we'd be in a Zebra! Nope! When  he said we were together I said, "wait, you know we've been together right?" then President said- "well, was it broken?"

So there ya go! He doesn't fix not broken things! But we've been having SO MUCH FUN! And we're so excited to work with this bran new ward!

We are serving in University Park ward! It's officially been a ward for 1 month! They pulled people from 3 different wards! This does not happen in Utah... it's been a little crazy compiling info! The ward is STELLAR though! I seriously love it so much! There are so many unique cool people here! People in the circus... a par-olympian... a biker girl.... a real life actor! 

It's so cool!

I can't even describe how amazing our first ward counsel was! I was blown away by this bran new ward and bishop! They really get this hastening the work! It was so amazing to see! I have never felt the spirit so strong in a ward counsel before! 

I've realized this week that sometimes you have personal experiences, and you don't have to share them! Let's just say, I was at a mission low, and now I'm at the highest high!!!!!!! :) and I couldn't be happier! 

"Few experiences compare to the joy of helping others learn and live the gospel."

That's truth right there!

I love it! :) 

Our WML rocks hard core. He got me SO pumped! 

I love you all! 

Merry Christmas! 

Do the work!

Love, Sister Calder ;) the one in Florida... the other one is a lot cooler.... in the Philippines ;)

Week 36 (12/9/13)

This week we learned to laugh. A lot. Hahahaha we talked about "Come what may and LOVE it" in DM and we just made a goal to laugh at everything. It's been working out really well haha :) everything is hilarious and fun.

I am being transferred. I dunno why, and it's been really hard for me to accept. It caught me completely off guard (like the girls camp song). But, I guess I am needed somewhere else! Which is crazy to think because I love it here so much. I think I have a problem with change eh?

I love Sister Beck so much! We've gotten along so well and have really done some awesome work here! Our members called us the dynamic duo! They are kind of upset.... one of my favorite people here is a 9 year old named Maggie. We're best friends. She came into sacrament meeting just balling and we hugged for a while. That made it real, and it stunk :( huuuhhhh. Who knows where I'll go. I'll find out tomorrow.

Ernie got in a car accident this week. It actually was a miracle. We had been having a really off and kind of frustrating day. Then our ZL's text us and tell us that we have to go and take a survey that we had forgotten to take. We don't have a key to our family history library so after 30 minutes and a bunch of miles we were so frustrated cuz the GPS was leading us to a fake library we decided to just use the miles to go all the way up to the Lakeland Library. We did and in the middle of taking the survey we get a call from Ernie... he was in an ambulance and told us that he's been hit by a car. We were able to call him and meet him at the library which was literally a mile from where we were. His wife Ashley was at work and wouldn't be able to get there till a little bit later. So we went there and got there right after he arrived in the ambulance. Sister Beck sang to him as he got a shot and he said that it comforted him so much to have us there because no one else could get there till a lot later.

He's ok! He got hit on his bike... he bikes with us sometimes and says that he always prayes that he will get his and not us. So he says that it's an answer to his prayers... SAD! He's just my adopted dad. I love him so much. It was really hard to say goodbye. He even called right after we'd said goodbye and told me I needed to come back cuz I stole his heart haha ;) I love him and Ashley. He says I'm his adopted daughter. :) I love it.

Anyways. Miracle that we were right there by the hospital for some crazy reason. It was great!

I have facebook now... Sister-Nicole Calder... but I cannot add people from home. So please don't be mad if you see it and I dont' add you. It's really strict...

I love this work SO MUCH! I'm going to miss Lakeland/Mulberry so much and all the amazing member here!

Better things are ahead...

I love you all!

Love, Sister Calder :) 

Ernie(adopted Dad)

Maggie-I love her so much

Sister Beck and Me

Week 35 (12/2/13)

Well my dad's birthday was on Saturday. Let's just say, I have the best companion in the world. In the whole entire world. That's no joke. She's amazing. She made it really special and fun for me ;) she wrote a sign that said "Happy Birthday Dad" and put little birthday flags over the apartment. I was thinking that I'd be a hard day, but really, she made it awesome!  That same day we had an amazing lesson with Felicia! She is SO happy! She can just see how this gospel is changing her life and she loves it! Her kids can see it and so can she. She reads the Book of Mormon every single night! GAH! This gospel changes lives. I love it. The same day later we studied with Ernie (my fave person and adopted redneck dad out here) and ate dinner with a LA and her family. Perfect birthday gift to my dad :) he loved it I'm sure. AND it just so happens that a member gave us some German chocolate cake the night before. So we ate that right up while we sang and blew out candles for my dad :) It was the best ever. My comp rocks. :) We even sang his favorite song "I stand all amazed" for our comp study that morning. She was so thoughtful :)

I'll keep going spiritual so you can read the HILARIOUS stuff later on. :>

This week has really taught me humility. We met someone who was recently raped. It really really made me so grateful for my safety as a missionary and just my life in general. I was moping that morning cuz I did not want to get up early. Pathetic. I know. But my family knows, I am not a morning person and being exhausted every day all day doesn't help my monster-ness. I've just realized how amazing our lives are having the gospel. We've just delt with a lot of depressed people lately... so you realize how great it is.

BUT! The mission is so HAPPY. So happy. I love it. So much. SO much. I am the happiest I have EVER been! I love this gospel. Love it. This week was just full of laughter and funness....

I ran into a sliding glass door. Hard. I bounced... hahahaha it was hilarious. My companion was rolling... literally.... and the Elders were as well. hahaha It was a little painful but so funny! I was running in to get my camera (we were having a fire outside) and the door was open before, and in my defense really really clean... so there ya go. My knee is a tiny bit bruise and my head should have been bruised but I don't bruise ya know? All I remember is falling on the ground cuz I was laughing so hard. apparently everyone that was there is telling everyone. One of the Elders gators asked me about it on Sunday! What the!? Hahaha it was like a movie. Especially the bounce part. I knocked the sliding glass door off it's hinges...

Thanksgiving rocked. We only went to 4 dinners. But only ate at 2. So it was great! My comp ran in the turkey trot 10k. I decided to watch haha.

Going to a baby shower is 10 times more awkward as a missionary. FYI.

We rescued a really weird sizing dog.... that we saw while biking. It was SUPER freaky! After calling animal control and thinking it was dead we left... but Christ would have done it so we felt good about it..... it was dark. But we were on the Lakeland side, not the Mulberry side. So it was ok....

Another dog story. My comp got attacked by a pitt bull. No joke! It came darting at us while we were biking. It was attacking her tire trying to get to her! If she would have stopped it would have attacked her for sure! The Lord looks out for his missionaries and the prayers really work! I have seen this and I totally know it was because of the spirit and prayers that she is not banged up right now really bad! It was such an angry dog holy cow! Luckily Ernie was riding with us and calmly told her to just keep riding. She said it was exactly like the still small voice. So cool holy cows. Where I was in this? Yeah... I dunno. It was a blur. Good thing it wasn't me being attacked!

I love you all so much!

Don't forget-

#hastenthework

Love, Sister Calder :)

Week 34 (11/25/13)

Well family. I have officially been told I have a VERY strong Utah accent. I would REALLY love to know what that is!? I thought for sure I was picking up this southern thing... but apparently not haha. Also, a LA we met this week told me within' the first couple seconds of meeting us (I didn't even say anything really) that she knew I was from Utah... by the way I look. Hahaha. Light skin or something. EVERYONE thinks my comp is from somewhere else. She doesn't have the accent or the "look" I guess.

We had an amazing lesson with Debbie this week! She soft committed to baptism! When I asked her if she would like to be baptized she said "YES! But who does it?" Next step already. She rocks :) it was one of the best lessons that I've had out here! The spirit was so strong! She just keeps saying that she believes it and it all just makes sense! Man. I love her!

We had a surprise birthday party for Ernie this Saturday! We did good too! Cuz  you know how good I am at secrets... he had no idea! He felt really loved and thought it was so cool :) I would like to say, the mission has gotten me a lot better at keeping secrets though! I still have A LOT haha :)

Homesickness rocks. This time of year is a lot harder than I expected. HAPPY THANKSGIVING BTW! We have 6 dinners lined up! Yep. It's been my goal to get as many as we can! It's working!

I think it'll help up to not be as sad...

ANYWAY! Happy!

This work is amazing.

The gospel is TRUE.

I love my family more than anything in the world!

I love my Savior.
I love my comp.

I am thankful for the whole wide world.

I love you all!

Love, Sister Calder :)

Week 33 (11/18/13)

I saw my first zombie meth head the other night.... that was pretty freaky. He was SUPER high... we were biking in the middle of the night too. Well... 8:00 is the middle of the night now I guess. He crossed a pretty busy street and then I just biked right past him..... he really was acting like a legit zombie. I am a true believer now. It was kind of freaky. I basically just laughed cuz I felt so uncomfortable. Especially cuz he said some pretty weird stuff. Then that night Sister Beck and I were sitting in bed and realized how creepy it was. Ewwwwww.

Also.... carma is real. Remember how I was bragging about the weather. The NEXT DAY is got down to 59 degrees. It. Was. So. Cold. HOLY COWS! I wore my coat biking one night. It went away now. It's back to nice summer/spring weather but we might have froze that night sleeping outside. Our beds are inside now. :)

I ate only the 3rd thing I didn't like on my  mission this week.

#1 Cactus

#2 Stuffed Cabbage

and this week #3 a lettuce mayo (lots of it) peas, onions (raw) and cheese salad.

It was hard.

There was a man sleeping on the roof of our stake center. We pulled up after DM and saw him. It was so weird! I have a video of us talking to bishop on the phone he like didn't believe us. It was hilarious! Really random. It ended up being a kid from our ward. He said he was board, so he started walking around on the roof and then fell asleep. It helped that he was wearing a really weird costume that he had on from some school thing that day. Hahaha. The police came, then we found out it was him. Good stuff.

On Thursday... I think....(Nov 14th) it was EXACTLY 1 year since I got my mission call! Crazy eh!?

I threw some fish chum in the water.... stinky fish. I think I can make that a talent on my list now ;)

I ate grits... a southern food which is actually pretty good!

We had interviews... which were super good. Haha

I fell asleep while saying an out loud prayer... haha it was for like 2 seconds but I totally dreamed.... it was SO weird! My comp didn't even notice. But we laughed pretty hard after haha

I have really recognized the spirit. I realized when that zombie guy walked by how the spirit didn't really leave, but how it was so different and weird. We could just feel it. Also, we went into an investigators house and right when we walked in, we both looked at each other and Sister Beck asked me if something was off. I was so glad she said something cuz I could totally feel it. She's kind of into black magic... so we think it was something to do with that. But it's been amazing to be able to recognize it so much! I love this work SO much! Also.... we are totally hastening the work! It's working and I love it! Being a part of this work makes me SO happy! I love being a missionary and I love being here with these amazing people!

I love you all SO much! ;) Keep hastening this amazing work! :)

Love, Sister Calder

P.S. To the youth of the Harvest Hills 4th ward (the best ward in the world)-

I love you all SO much! I just got your letters about a month ago and I loved them all so much! I honestly wish that I had time to write ya'll back but I really don't! Maybe one day! Thank you for lifting my spirits! I got them at exactly the right time! I really needed some uplifting! You all are so amazing! It's still weird that I babysat most of you and now you are all young men and women! Keep up the good work! I know that this world is insane... but please stay strong in what you know to be true! Even if all you know is that the Book of Mormon is true. Hold on to that forever and as you continue doing what you know, and your testimony will grow! Even if you aren't planning on going on a mission, prepare like you are. It will help you stay close to the spirit and help those around you! Cuz remember, this work is TOTALLY hastening! And I promise, you want to be a part of it! It's the greatest work IN THE WORLD. Nothing will stop it! This is the true church! I know it is with all my heart! These are for sure the last days and we have all been saved and prepared for this time. Remember who you are, and what you stand for! We are all part of this great army that will bring the people of the world the gospel of Jesus Christ! I love you all so much! I know it's hard... but here's the big secret to get through it.

Pray. Fervently to your Heavenly Father multiple times a day.  

Read and ponder the scriptures.

Read and listen to the words of the modern day prophets.

OBEY YOUR PARENTS.

Love those around you!

Serve EVERYONE.

Live the standards in For the Strength of Youth.

and last but not least,

Share the gospel with EVERYONE!

Being a missionary will help you stay focused on spiritual things rather than the things of the world :)

I know. So simple. But SO true. :)

I love you all so much! My line (don't call me haha) is totally open if you need help with anything you can email me or write me! I'm here for you!

Love, Sister Calder

Week 32 (11/12/13)

Hey guys! So.... I feel really self conscious writing these emails now cuz I guess people actually read them! Gah. Weird. Soooo if this seems awkward you'll know why hahaha.

Okay. Jokes.

Awkward is my specialty.

I LOVE MY NEW COMP! Have I said that? Sister Beck is her name and she ROCKS! Oh man. She is EXACTLY what I needed and an answer to my many prayers!

Cool thing. So as of today the Book of Mormon play is in Tampa. We had to read this whole big long thing on how to talk to people about it. I've already had a few people talk to us about it, so that paper kind of trained us on how to best deal with it. Crazy right!?

Our mission president created this new thing called traveling zone leaders. They are a companionship that travel around the whole mission the whole transfer and go on exchanges every single day. Crazy eh? They are trying it out, but it seems to be going super well!

This week was AMAZING! I still cannot believe how much work we got done and how much fun we had doing it! We are still working on To the Rescue that President Monson put out a few months ago and it has been great! We haven't had one Less Active yell at us! It's awesome. :)

We got a headquarter referral last Monday. We visited her. She came to the door crying because we were there. She said she wanted us to pray for her because her husband had just died and she was having a hard time. We told her we would. We comforted her for a while and gave her a Book of Mormon. She's been reading it and loves it! But anyways.... then we hugged her and sang to her. Sister Beck likes to sing... and I do haha but you know I am no good. But she loves to do it, so we've been singing to a lot of people and it's brought the spirit so strong! Heavenly Father for sure helps me so that I don't sound too much like a frog :) it's made a couple people cry! It's crazy I think I said this in my last email, but it's crazy to see all the people who are dealing with death out here and how I can interact and empathize with them. It's been such a blessing to be able to do it. I know FOR SURE that you go EXACTLY where you are supposed to. There is no doubt about that!

We got another referral from other missionaries... it was crazy. We were trying to decide what to say when we got to the door.... like introduce ourselves and say who sent us or just act like we were tracting or what. But we ended up not knowing and nothing was coming to us. She opened the door and yelled at us telling us how wrong we were and we didn't even get to say anything. Crazy eh? It was pretty awesome to see the spirit work in that way.

I love everyone here so much. That's the secret to missionary work. If you love everyone and are obedient, you will go so far. Christ-like love is something I pray for every single day, and it helps me so much!

Everyone here in polk county is related. That's all I have to say. It's very freaky.

We just went fishing with Ernie. We caught a turtle and saw some Gators... and wore mustaches. That's all ;)

I love this work more than anything else! Sorry this doesn't have too much spiritual-ness stuff. There's a LOT of that going on here!

I love you all so much! Keep doing what you know is right!

Love, Sister Calder :)

Week 31 (11/4/13)

This work is awesome! It's SO TRUE! AH! There have been so many miracles this week! The work is seriously hastening! AHHHHHH! I can't tell ya'll how excited I am! :) :) It's working!!!! I have seen it first hand!

First cool news..... our mission is getting ipads :) apparently we were one of the first to get approved and they are ordered! :D Crazy right!? Also.... I will be able to get on facebook soon :) all of our ZL and STL are able to, so soon enough I will be able to as well!

INSANE.

The spirit is so real! I have found that I smile really big when I feel the spirit! I have been starting to keep a prompting journal so every single prompting I have I write it down and then what happened through following that. It's been helping me recognize them so much more! My awesome comp made me the journal cuz I'd been wanting to buy one. SHE'S THE BEST. Yeah. She totally put a mustache on it. Aahaha. People know me way too well. It's starting to freak me out! Danny and Lindsay sent me a package with Reese's, Almond Joys, stuff to make cookies, and mustaches. No joke. I love it!

We had left the saviors peace and blessing in a members home a couple weeks ago and literally every single thing we prayed for came true! No joke! They had been searching for a new job.

Found one.

They hadn't know what was wrong with the dads knee in 20 years.

He's having surgery in a couple weeks cuz they found out what's wrong!

The son really wanted to make the soccer team even though he had an injury.

He went to the temple trip instead of the very last practice, and by putting the Lord first HE MADE THE TEAM!

And tons of others things!

We have received 9 member referrals since I've been here! That's AMAZING! Hastening. Good stuff.

My new comp, as I've already said, is AMAZING! I honestly love her so much! She even trained Sister O so she's been helping me... recover hahaha. It was an answer to my many prayers! But we decided to fast for Sister O and her new comp. It helped us both a lot. I love her so much!

Our transfer meeting was HILARIOUS. 170 missionaries got transferred. I think we have around 230. SO! The biggest transfer we've had so far! I was in the biggest and the smallest one :)

Halloween was hilarious. Pres Cusick is hard core so we were still out till 9:00 biking around. People thought they were costumes... so that was pretty funny haha :) they even said- "bikers... for Halloween"

I'm in the south. It's hilarious. That's all I have to say hahaha I love it.

So Sister Greene, the LA that her husband died. I love her! She really likes me too... I know that's weird to say.... but she really really does haha. I can't even explain. She called me Sister Nicole, which is super weird! But that's ok.... she said sometimes she makes a list of things that "I need to tell Sister Nicole" it's hilarious.

But we've been helping her a LOT! It's funny how intune with the spirit I am because I told her I could feel her husband was still there.... then she told her friend in NJ and her friend called me..... I think they think I'm like psychic or something haha Sister Beck and I laughed so hard. So I talked to that girl for 30minutes about the spirit and spirit world over the phone. Pretty funny. Hahahaha IDK what they think. But they love it :)

I don't think I told ya'll about the.... ya'll... I just typed it. Weird. So we had gone to a house of these people who their son had just died. I have never felt the spirit SO strong in a non-members house. It was like a brick wall. Their son wants them to hear the gospel! It is so REAL and powerful! It was an amazing experience for me. I gave her a BOM with my testimony in it and we'll go back this upcoming week. It's crazy how many people I have been dealing with here that have had people recently die. When President interviewed Sister O last week she told him that I needed to stay here because I have people I need to connect with. I have seen that every single day this week! So much death, and I have just connected well with all of them! I am just loving everyone I meet! The Christ-like love I've been praying for really has been working :) my comp even told me that I have the ability to show my love for people around me and they know that I love them. That's something I've developed on my mission!

We have 3 invites to Thanksgiving dinner and it's the 4th...

I love you all! Keep hastening this amazing true work! :)

Love, Sister Calder :)

My new comp plays rugby for BYU. Yeah. She makes me so happy and I just love her so much! :) she has helped me so much though everything already! I LOVE HER!