Week 17 (7/29/13)

This week was amazing as usual. A week ago I did something to my hamstring. It actually scared me A LOT! It was being weird in the morning after I ran, but then when we were playing basketball there was this super sharp stabbing pain in my hamstring. It was so weird! I had to hop around the rest of the day cuz it hurt so bad. It hurt way worse than when I strained it in soccer... or whatever I did to it haha. But guess what?! Yep. I'm healed. I thought it was going to be a problem, but prayers work. Always. Every time :)

We saw this week how much member missionary work REALLY DOES WORK. We were at a members for dinner. She said that she really didn't know how to do missionary work after we showed her the Hastening the Work of Salvation website and the videos. We tried to help her a little, but she was still scared. She came with us to some drop bys after dinner. We made 3 appointments with some referals we had in about in 30mintues. Afterwords she said that we should go and visit one of her friends that she hadn't seen in years becuase they lived in the same complex. We dropped by, they were SO happy to see her and her daughter. She introduced us. He then grabbed a chair sat it right down in front of us and said, "tell me about Jesus Christ." Nice. Cuz guess what? That's what we do ALL DAY! We were able to share some personal stories with him about how we had to come to know Christ. He was very touched. Then his wife, who wasn't there when we had shared the stories, said that she wanted to come to church with them. The Sister who was with us what beaming, and just amazing. We told her that people were prepared for her, just like they are prepared for us. We are meeting with the whole family tomorrow with the sister and her family that came with us.

Wow. I felt like I should have showed names. That really didn't seem to make sense haha.

BUT MEMEBER MISSIONARY WORK IS THE BEST! We got more done in an hour and a half with her than we had all day long. We were beaming when we got home. I seriosuly could not contain my excitement for everything! Now is the time! People are ready for it! It's true!

That night we got a text from a number saying that they had read almost the whole Book of Mormon that their friend had given them a month ago and that they wanted to learn more. We freaked out for 10minutes. Thinking it was a perfect ending to our amazing day. Yeah. 5 minutes later they told us it was the zone leaders hahaha they had gotten a new phone and texted that to everyone in the zone. Crazy funny though haha.

 

I love you all so much! I have had so many amazing experiences here! We even had a woman tell us that she could feel the spirit when we first went and talked to her. She usually doesn't let people in her house or trust them, but she now calls us her daughters :) it's amazing! Anyways! Love you all! Have an amazing week!!!! :) Oh and thanks for all the letters and things!

 

Love, Sister Calder

(1 Cor 2:5)

Week 16 (7/22/13)

This week was GREAT! Well, to be honest, I had a really hard time actually. Homesickness about killed me. I never thought that I would ever have the thought cross my mind that I wanted to go home. But I thought about it. It really was only for like 5 minutes. But I was just so sick of being away from everyone. Don't freak out though.... one of the sisters told me that's completely normal and I shouldn't feel bad, just don't do it. And guess what, I won't ;) hahaha. It gets hard, harder than I ever thought. We have been biking like crazy and our bodies are exhausted by the end of the day. I would like to proudly say that I have not gotten sunburned in a while :) thanks to my mom sending me some great sunscreen :)

We had a cool experience this week. We always pray that Heavenly Father will lead us to those who we need to teach and that we will follow those promptings. I also know that thousands of other people pray for that as well. Well- I would like to let you know that IT WORKS. Every single day we are in situations that are only because we listen to the spirit! We were at a farmers market talking to people. We thought we should leave but as we did Sister Whipple said that she thought that we should stay a little longer for some reason. Neither of us knew why... but we did. Then after 5minutes we left and headed to Pollo Tropical for lunch. We went to sit down and before we did this man looked at us and said- "Hey? Are you Mormons." Of course we said yes and asked him how he knew. He said our faces and the way that we were dressed. We asked him if he even saw the name tag and he was like- "Oh! I didn't even notice." We basically gave him the first lesson while we were eating. We realized how amazing it was that the spirit told us to stay there a little longer so that we could meet up with him at that time. It was AMAZING!!!! We see these things happen every single day sometimes they just aren't as big. Dawn has a baptisimal date again for Aug 3rd! We are so happy for her! It's funny how much love I have for her. It's very christ-like (I hear) the way that you will come to love your investigators on your mission.

I really want to encourage all of you to go to the website Hastening the Work of Salvation. You can find it through LDS.org. I know I say this every time, but I cannot stress how important it is. My comp said it's kind of like the restoration. This AMAZING life changing thing happened with Joseph Smith and NO ONE KNEW. Same thing with the brodcast. This happened and we all need to see!

Anyways! I love you all so much! Hope you have an amazing week!

Love, Sister Calder :)

Week 15 (7/16/13)

So this week has been really great. I got a new companion her name is Sister Whipple :) She is AWESOME! It's funny though, I didn't think I would miss Sister Andersen as much as I do! But I'll see her again so no worries ;)

Hilight of the week.... I totall fell off my bike.... twice... in one day.... I vowed I would never fall off my bike cuz only weird Sister missionaries do that.... and I totally did. I swear I know how to ride a bike! And I know how to get back on the sidewalk when you go off.... that's how I did it... I caught the curb just at the right angle. It was crazy! Like... I should be more injured than I am. I have no doubt Heavenly Father is protecting me! Sister Whipple was riding behind me... I was right at a busy intersection too hahahaha oh man. It's still funny. Just imagine how a dummy would look falling off a bike. That was it. My elbow didn't catch me, but neither did my hand.. my head was the first thing to hit the ground. THANK GOODNESS FOR HELMETS! WEAR YOUR HELMETS! Haha It was so funny. My shoulder is still pretty sore from it, but nothing else! Sister Whipple and I had to stop riding a couple times cuz we were laughing SO hard! It was hilarious! We are telling everyone about it cuz it was so funny! We laughed with so many people and they didn't even see it ;) then later that night I literally did the same thing. There was a pile of Palm Tree leaves in the middle of the sidewalk so I went off of it and for some reason AGAIN I fell off. Sister Whipple was in the front so she didn't see, but she said that she saw me coming out of the pile. I probably looked pretty heroic. ;) Jokes. Or like a crazy person. That was for sure it. ;) That time I got a good scrape on my elbow ;) but still! It could have been worse! Then on Sunday Sister Whipple fell off her bike. That one was in a neighboorhood and she got really scraped up! She even had gravel in her hand! We didn't laugh at the one... cuz it was way more sad. But I told her it was carma for laughing so hard at me... even though I laughed really hard at myself cuz it was pathetic. The Elders are still laughing at it as well ;)

We also have seen like a million dead things on the ground.... A rabbit, raccoon, turtle, armadillo, snake, frog, lizard.... everything! Being on bike is seriosuly the best hahaha and that's not even a joke.

Cool thing- We got an assignment from President. He picked only a couple Elders and Sister for this. He thought we were obedient so we could do it! We get extra time today to go over the website "Hastening the Work" if you haven't gone on or have seen the brodcast, DO IT NOW. I'm not kidding. It's SO important. So we will be training our members on it and using that website more. He trusts us I guess.... ;) He also asked me if my facebook was appropriate. I was able to say YES! So I will be using facebook soon I guess... hahaha they will have to go over it just to make sure.... but really I'm not sure exactly how that will be working. Everything is slowly getting different. I'm just glad that I am able to be a part of it! President said that in the MTC they said in 20 years we will be astonished and so proud that we were on our missions at this time.

Sorry! I don't have much time! We've just been doing a lot finding so I don't have much to say!

I love you all so much! Don't forget to go to the website!

For all you missionaries..... well... that means everyone ;)

"If we state who we are, representatives of Jesus Christ. They will NEVER forget that."

 -President Cusick

Love- Sister Calder :)

Week 14 (7/8/13)

Well honestly... this week was pretty slow. We didn't get to meet with hardly anyone and with the holidays no one is home and no one wants to talk to us. We had a fun 4th of July with the Elders. We went to a parade, which some people thought we were a part of.... hahaha they kept asking us who we were with and we would yell, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! It was pretty hilarious ;) We went and got this YUMMY thing called Gelati at a place called Rico's! Which is where Lazero who was on American Idol worked. They even had a creepy pic of him on the wall. It was so good. And the closest thing to a snow cone that I've had here, so I'm not complainin' haha. We did some other things, mainly played this new game we made up with a small ball and hymn books. That was pretty much the best. Then most of our zone met up at Olive Garden for dinner. That was pretty fun. Especially cuz we went with our recent convert who is going through the temple on Saturday.

I AM STAYING. Sister Andersen is getting transfered to Brooksville which is the most North you can go without leaving the mission. She went from the most North, to the most South. Crazy right? I have heard that my new comp Sister Whipple is AWESOME. She was in the MTC with Elder Chamberlin and was Sister Larrabee's comp in the MTC. They both love her. I am so sad to be leaving Sister Andersen, but I'm excited for the change!

We met our new mission president on Friday. He and his wife are so young! It's crazy! Their 15 year old daughter reminds me of Katelyn and her name is Kate! I am pretty much best friends with her now ;) They have been so strong and faithful in leaving everything and answering to the call of the Lord. It's amazing! I know they are going to be great! But we miss President and Sister Summerhayes so much already! President sure left his mark though. Our whole zone is changing. There is only 2 companionships that they aren't making changes too and that's because they just came out last transfer. Everything else is getting switched up a lot. We are excited though!

Also- I dissected a lizard. I have a 10 minute video of it. Actually- I dissected 2. It was pretty dope. The Elder caught them for me and then put them in their freezer. I bought an exacto knife and I ripped them open. That is probably way too much TMI I know.... but it was pretty fun. Plus those lizards are EVERYWHERE! They are literally like flies in Utah.... actually there are probably more lizards than that. So no judging ;) haha. I thought I would give you something exciting to ready since this week has been really slow.

Last night we planked everywhere. That was pretty fun.

Tonight we are having an oreo party....

We haven't been able to get a hold of Dawn. Her phones aren't working.She's still up in the homeless shelter, but we know she still wants to get baptized.

Michella moved back to Utah so we are hoping to get an email from her soon of her in white :)
Amy is in Utah this week so we haven't been able to meet with her either.

It's been kind of crazy as you can tell.

Remember that 11 year old girl? Well, we got to talk to her! She's still interested, but we have her moms number now we are going to call her and get some things worked out so she can come to church!

We got caught in a huge rain storm.... ok actually.... that happens every single day haha.

I went on exchanges on Tuesday and took over the area for a day. That was pretty fun!

I'm loving getting letters from all of you. But again, I always write right back so it could have gotten lost on the way to you or me :( let me know if that happnes cuz I don't want to lose contact with anyone!

I love you all so much!

OH!

And I wanted to tell everyone how proud I am of my Sister Ashley. I got to watch the video of her opening her call cuz I was at a members house and my mom was able to send it to her. It was amazing. I cannot even tell you how excited I have been this whole week. I'm telling everyone about my amazing Sister who has decided to serve a mission! I love her so much and am so proud to call her my sister! The Phillippines! They are going to LOVE HER! But probably not as much as I love her :)

 

Thank you all for your support and prayers! They are needed and I can feel them!

 

Love, Sister Calder

Week 13 (7/1/13)

Sorry this one will be short. I run out of time when I am emailing people back and forth :)

This week we had a district meeting where we did a thing called "I love you because" one missionary goes up there and goes around and tells each missionary why they love them. I thought it would be weird. But it was so cool! It was very spiritual and build my confidence more than I thought! People told me how they loved that I laughed a lot and that I made everything fun. They said I am not afraid to be myself, but I recognize that I am a representative of Jesus Christ. I loved it! Plus I have come to realize that I remind a lot of the Elders of their sisters... I guess I really don't act my age haha ;)

On Tuesday we had a huge strom. There was about 8 inches of water on the ground and I was the only one who could drive! It was freaky! The Elders said that is what a hurricane is like. So now we are prepared :) Heavenly Father is watching over us that's for sure!

Michella is moving back to Utah but we taught her all the lessons so she is ready to be baptized! We love her so much and can't wait for her to become a memeber of this amazing church! We are still working with her parents, but they say the more they see, the more they love about our church :)

We have a new investigator named Amy. She was a referal from mormon.org. She is AMAZING! We serisouly love her!!!!!!! She is so ready and prepared and we haven't even taught her the first lesson!

We made s'mores over our stove with stuff my mom sent me.

We found cotton candy ice cream (sooooo gooooooodddd!!!)

We eat fresh mangos and coconuts like they are going out of style!

I tried yummy Haitian bread! It's just like layers and layers of bread. It's so thick and yummy!

I got my first violation on the tiwi (we are like the only mission to have these great things in our car that record our driving. I got an RPM violation..... the car goes pretty fast....)

Dawn had surgery but is doing really good! She showed up to church on Sunday! She rode a bus from a place that is an hour away just to be at church! We might have to hand her over to other Elders, but we will see. She's ready to be baptized!

It's amazing how much the members have been helping since that broadcast! Our meal calender is FULL and more and more people want to come out with us. Sunday was focused all on missionary work. The 3 Elders in our ward spoke and the 3rd hour was the bishop talking about how they can help us. We love it! It's amazing what happnes when member and missionaries work together because we are all doing the same work! We are basically just here to help the members. :)

"We are making history." Don't miss it guys :) this is a once and a lifetime opportuity. Grab it while you can!!! Missionary work is the greatest thing in the world! Don't be afraid to share what you love with those you love!

"An invitation that is born of love for one another and love for our Savior will never come off as offensive."

"It's His work. If we do our best we CANNOT fail"

"Help is always there if we have faith"

"There is no line when it comes to preaching the gospel to every creature. Whether they have never heard it- or whether they have heard and forgotten."

I love that last one by Elder Nelson. It's so true. We need to focus on the members that may be falling, and then we will be blessed with new ones :)

I love you all so much! Keep up the good work! Don't forget to always be a missionary!!!! :) Write or email me if you need help with ways to share the gospel or if you are afraid. I'm here to help!

Love- Sister Calder :)

OH! And just to let you know I always write people back in 1-2 days. So if I haven't written you back please don't think I hate you. I either didn't get it, or it got lost in the mail. I love you again! Thanks for you letters by the way! :)