Week 74 (9/1/14)

Get ready for a really focused churchy email this week :)

It's gonna be good.

As we were teaching Nathaniel this week he said something really

amazing- he said that as he has been living the gospel he has found

out that it was true.

When he was baptized, he said that he was taking a leap of faith, and

knew that this was all good, but didn't really understand it all. But

now that he has been living it, he told us his testimony has been

growing and he knows more and more that all of this is true!

His new phrase- "you just gotta live it!"

That's what he's been telling all his friends so that he can share

what he knows now :) ahhhh he's the greatest!

As I was reading the talk "Be Ye Converted" there was a part that

totally reminded me of Nate! It says-

"Conversion to gospel principles comes through righteously living the

principles of the gospel and being true to our covenants with the

Lord."

I really do know that is how we gain our testimonies! It's been so

amazing to see him progress and see this amazing ward take him in and

help him. In a couple weeks he will be going to the temple for the

first time and perform the baptism for his dad. He's SO excited!!!

The very first point in the first lesson is- "God is our loving

Heavenly Father". This week I feel like that's been the theme. Our

recent convert ended up in the hospital. His wife (who's not a member)

doesn't really know how to cook, so we went over and cooked her dinner

(yeah,,, we're in the south and she wanted tried chicken so that's

what we made her of course) one night and were planning on doing it

every night, but our other convert who's their friend ended up taking

her to her house to take care of her. But we've been teaching her

every single day since he was put in the hospital.

Her confidence in herself is really low, it's really sad to see :( so

Sister Shaumkel and I decided we needed to build it right up! Because

really, that's the first point of the lessons!! And our purpose as

representative of Jesus Christ.

For one of the lessons we did something I remember from young women's

a long time again. I remember Sister Delis (our stake presidents wife

and our really good friend) talked to all of us at camp. She told a

story of a girl she knew and how she built her confidence. She wasn't

the prettiest, and people made fun of her, but she knew who she was.

And that's all that really matters!

Every single night she would yell out her door-

"I AM WONDERFUL!!!!"

So, of course, I told her that story, and we gave her the commitment

to do that every night and so would we. :)

She told us the next day that her and Mary Nell did it together twice

outside. It was really cute :)

We have seen her confidence grow since we've been teaching her who she

is, and who our Savior is, because that is ultimately how we come to

know ourselves.

I also had a family that I was teaching before our ward split that

committed to being baptized!!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited for them! We

just passed them off to the elders and I think it helped a lot that

that they both are fluent in Spanish which is what the parents speak.

Family baptism :) best. Day. ever.

I got to see one of my favorite mission families today (Sister Leicht

don't worry, you guys are still on that list too;))!!!!! We went to

Hammock State Park and had a picnic. It was honestly one of he best

pdays ever! I miss them so much and loved hanging out with Maggie and

Brother and Sister Williams! It made me SO happy :) Maggie even gave

me the other half of a best friend heart necklace with a fish on it

because we love mermaids and the ocean :) sweetest thing EVER! I

cannot even explain the love I have for all these people I've met!!!!

:D

I love you all! Thank you for your continued support and

encouragement! It means a lot!!!!

Love, Sister Nicole Calder :) (the true Floridian)

Week 68 (7/21/14)

So guess what...? WE HAVE A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!!!!

I am SO excited!

I can remember if I have ever mentioned Nataniel... But I'll tell the

story anyways ;)

The sisters before us were biking and saw Nathaniel. He's a big black

man that sits on his porch waving and talking to every single person

that goes by. He's REALLY nice and friendly. Everyone likes him....

Including the Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh Day Venice, and the baptists.

Annnnndddd he was studying with all if those guys. So of course he'd

study with the Mormons! Especially because his son and grandson are

Mormons.

So we started teaching him. It really didn't seem to be going

anywhere, but he always let us come over and we'd have a lesson on his

front porch while he waved at every car coming by laughing and taking

to them.

It was pretty entertaining and hilarious to be honest ;)

We developed this really close love and friendship with him. He even

started telling us that he loved us!!! It was awesome. But he really

wasn't progressing and didn't seem to be taking anything seriously and

we didn't know what to do.

I went on an exchange one time and the sister that I was with came

with me to Nate's. We decided to crack down and have a super serious

spiritual lesson with him. So we talked a lot more about Joseph Smith.

Both of us turned our serious spiritual faces on and bore a firm

strong testimony (yes, we had done this a million times before because

he'd always look at us and say, "you KNOW" talking about the things

we'd borne testimony of).

He was taken back. I think for the first time he felt the spirit. He

even stopped joking around and said- "this is serious." We told him

that this gospel is the most important thing. We then asked him to

pray about what we'd told him right there and to wait for the answer.

He said a really heartfelt prayer and then just waited.

Okay. So you all know how much I absolutely HATE silence. That's why I

talk so much because I hate it when it's quiet... so I've got to do

something. It was a good 3 minutes of silence (I know a lot of people

exaggerate the time of silence... But for reals. That's how long is

was) after he'd said the prayer.

Then after he said, "something is going on here" Hahah I guess that's

how he feels the spirit.

Long story (that has already been WAY too long) short....

He's getting baptized!

Well... here's a plug! This has taken a lot more work than David! It's

been a struggle! But I've really learned that not everyone is the

same. People that we meet are prepared, but they are also at different

levels of being prepared.

Yesterday he told us that he told Jim Woods (we hear this name all the

time. Nate loves the guy. He's a baptist preacher) didn't act very

Christian when he told him that he was getting baptized. So I guess

that confirmed his decision!!! He loves the gospel. It's amazing.

Especially because right now I really feel like he's taking a leap of

faith. He doesn't know everything (not that anyone does) but he just

knows he needs to be baptized.

I know that his confirmation will come and that he will feel different!

He wasn't really wanting to give up his coffee. On Saturday he said he

hadn't had any! It was awesome! Then we told him that he should just

throw it away because he said that he'd still smell it. hahaha he said

he wouldn't drink it. But then randomly he just went inside, grabbed

his coffee and gave it to us! It was awesome!!!! And kind of hard for

him, but he did it!!

It was awesome.

Our whole zone has been praying for him and we can really see how much

it has been helping him. I love it! Ever since they started the prayer

thing for dates set he's been progressing even further!

Well. The world is awesome.

But missionary work is even awesomer!!!

I love it! :)

Love, Sister Calder

Week 56 (4/28/14)

Sorry about the SUPER downer letter last week. That was awful. I'm

really sorry. Sometimes I think things are the end of the world and

they really aren't. Good thing I'm pretty good at getting over things!

Everyone didn't need to know all that and hear my complaining. I guess

that just shows you that it's not real peachy here all the time, and

it gets emotional. Like I've said, you have some of your lowest lows

and some of you highest highs on the mission.

Good thing this week I've had some of the highest highs I've had on my

mission so far :)

We met this man named David. Apparently he'd been calling the sisters

and wanting to pray with them and things. He had a card from

missionaries from forever ago, but has kept it even from moving and

throwing away a lot of other things. We had a lesson on the

restoration with him and he just said that all if it makes sense. He

couldn't stop thanking us for meeting with him. Lately we have been

working on mentioning baptism in the first lesson. So with him, we

did. The next time we went over to his house a couple days later, the

first thing he said to us was- "last time you mentioned that baptism

thing, how can I do that?"

Haha you should have seen all our faces!!!! None of us have ever been

asked that before. We just smiled sooooo big and Sister Bennett

explained a little more.

He wanted to do it SO bad! He was SO excited! So the next meeting we

had (I was on exchanges, but the other sisters were there) we set a

date with him! Sister Orfila is leaving on May 14th back to temple

square, so we've been praying and seeking out someone who can get

baptized before she leaves. She wanted it so bad, and knew it could

happen! And the second David said that, we knew he was the one! :D

We asked him to pray about May 11th as his date (we only have 2

Sundays left until Sister Orfila leaves. You have to come to Sacrament

at least 2 times before getting baptized. And we have 3 Sundays left,

but the Fort Lauderdale temple open house is the upcoming Sunday so he

can't come to that one... But he'll just get baptized after church so

more of the ward can be there to support), he called us 20 minutes

later so excited telling us that May 11th felt so good and he was so

excited!

This is my first experience like this! I'd always heard stories about

people who were so prepared and got baptized so quickly, but I never

thought it'd happen to me!

Oh my goodness you have no idea. I. Am. SOOOO. HAPPY!!!!!!

I literally cannot even explain my joy! My cheeks hurt from smiling as

we gave him a church tour and he could feel the spirit and was in awe

by everything. I swear... He was ready to just jump right in the font!

He told us he'd be shaving his beard and getting a hair cut for his

baptism haha. I love him so much already :>

I can't believe how prepared he was. He's been being prepared by our

Heavenly Father for years. Now we get to be the ones to see it all

happen!!!! I feel like we've done absolutely NOTHING. That's when you

know it's all the spirit, and you rememberer that you actually never

do anything. We just get to be the instruments :D

This gospel truly does bring true happiness and joy in our lives! It's

the greatest thing in the world and changes peoples lives :>

Lately I've been worried that my mission hasn't been changing anyone

or even me. I've been wondering if I've done enough so far and if

Heavenly Father is pleased with my work. On Wednesday I asked out

bishop here for a blessing. The first thing he said in the blessing

was that my Heavenly Father was very pleased with the work that I have

done so far :) it was exactly what I needed to hear. I didn't even

tell bishop anything that I was struggling with, but Heavenly Father

knew :) it was just another testimony to me that my Heavenly Father

knows me so well and knows exactly what I am needing right now!

The blessing mainly was for me to love this area, the people, and to

know this is where I'm supposed to be (obviously from my break down

last week you can tell I've been struggling with this). I didn't

necessarily get my answer from the blessing directly, but a couple

days later we went on exchanges with our STL's. We thought it was

weird that they wanted my comps to stay in the area and me to leave.

But it was EXACTLY what I needed. Imagine that right? ;) as I was

there I was just wanting to go back to our area. I realized how much I

loved it and how much I loved everyone there! It was the most amazing

feeling to finally know that I'm supposed to be here!

I love it :) I know it was inspired and that even though it really

didn't make sense at first for me to get transferred here, I now know

I'm supposed to be here. :)

God hears and answers our prayers.

Always. No matter what. :)

I know it :)

I finished reading the Book of Mormon again this morning.

It's true :)

And I don't know it's true by simply asking and praying. I know it's

true because when I read it, I can feel it! Ah. I love it so much. It

just contains everything we need. I love the last 3 verses in Moroni

10. Basically it says everything that we need to do to come back and

become like our Heavenly Father :>

Reading the Book of Mormon will change your life :)

I love you all! Just be happy :) it's easy when we know who we are and

what our potential could be.

Loads of mushy love,

The Floridian Sister Calder ;)

(Let's be honest, that does not sound as cool as the other Sister

Calder's name….)

Terri's baptism that I got to Skype into :D

I'm finally gonna throw these shoes away they stink… And are falling apart. They had areally good run though!

My awesome sunburn… First one of the summer!

Sometimes we feed the ducks with fishy crackers

My Comps have my back

We teach an English class to Chinese people. We had them look at the picture and describe to it the one drawing. haha!

What we do when Sister Bennett gets gas

Cupcake!