Week 20 (8/19/13)

First I would like to say this freaks me out.... I have really just been realizing how many people actually read this. So. Much. Pressure. So... I kind of forgot what went on this week cuz I didn't write it down before I came here! It's been pretty slow. Week 6 ya know... but I'm staying Naples for 4 more weeks! This transfer is only 4 weeks cuz we need to line up with the Haitian missionaries coming from the MTC. We are pretty excited!

We found a turtle shell. We made a pinky promise that we would pick up the next turtle that we found on the side of the road. We always take pictures but never pick them up. There are these things called snapping turtles that look.... really freaky. Like a mix of a dinosaur and alligator mushed into a turtle. So... you have to polk them with a stick to make sure they aren't one of those or we could lose a finger or something. So we poked it... and there was nothing in there! It was awesome... and so stinky. Good thing we were heading home for the night so Sister Whipple just held it while we barfed cuz of the stench. Then we put in on our lani (Ok.... what the. How do you spell that word!?)..... the screen door thing on our back porch. Then we boild some water and put it in a bucket. Hopefully that helped... we haven't checked on it yet....

 

Oh! We went to a Cathoic mass on Saturday! Michella's parents invited us! It was pretty interesting. We learned A LOT and already that knowledge from that has helped us connect better with people and teach people since there are lots of cathoics here. And it really helped me know better for myself that this is the true church. Honesly. I didn't have any doubts before, but now I really don't have any! We were so glad they invited us and everyone was so nice there. We are planning on going to a baptist church soon. It really was such a neat experience! Then Michelle and her dad came to church on Sunday! She is all set for being baptized on Friday and we couldn't be more excited for her! We had a crazy Saturday with the mass and then 2 baptisms in our ward! But it was so much fun!

 

You know how they say lock your heart? Well, Sister Miles gave me a real key to my heart! It's so awsome!!!!! Now it's locked for sure!

 

Eternal Families. That's what it's all about :) I love my family so much and am SO grateful for them in my life! I love sharing this message with other people! This is the best time of my life! I wouldn't trade it for anything! I love you all! Thanks for your letter of support and encouragment!

Never forget to stand for what you know to be true!

 

I love you!

Love, Sister Calder

The Farewell

I am shocked/disappointed to inform you I have NO pictures from my farewell. I was far too occupied the whole time to even grab my phone. If I don't take them, no one will. I have ruined my family. So good luck seeing any pictures of them for the next year and a half...

I couldn't sleep on Tuesday night last week. So my mind wandered and started thinking about my talk. I laid awake for about an hour, and planned my whole talk! The next morning I woke up and typed it all up!

Saturday was pretty much insane. We had this job thing for the stake in the morning that my mom and I helped with. The Rabbit Run (Easter family party) right after that. And family pictures right after that. After the family pictures my mom ran to the store for some food and we went to my cousin Michelle's house to practice Karly's song for Sunday. After that we stopped at the store for a few things, and then came home and did a little bit of cleaning. After that we went to dinner at Los Hermanos. We got home at about 9:30 and started cleaning and preparing at 10:00pm. I "polished" my talk (which is how I apparently say things at 1:00 in the morning) in the middle of all of this
We went to bed at 3:00am the next morning. I could not even explain to you what we did, but I was beyond exhausted.
I woke up the next morning convinced it had only been 10minutes since I'd crashed. But it was 7:30 and time to get ready.
I wasn't nervous. I mean, a little bit because I felt like I had to pee and my hands were cold (two things that NEVER happen... ok I pee, but I can hold it for hours) but other than that I was totally relaxed. I had people telling me that I looked so comfortable and that it was really easy to listen to because I acted like I was just talking to a friend. Guess what guys? I was. All my friends and family were there! That's why it wasn't that hard to do.
The spirit was for sure there. I felt like some (not the weird things) of the things I said were not even me talking. I prayed all week, that morning, and all before the meeting, that I would have the spirit to be with me and that others would feel the convincing power of God through the Holy Ghost.
Afterwords was insane. I went outside because I knew that you weren't supposed to keep everyone in the chapel. It didn't work like I thought it would. People still stayed in there! Goodness ;)
We had hawaiian haystacks after at my house. It was insane. Literally there was no room whatsoever in my house. There were way too many people in there! But, like I said, no picture. I loved talking to everyone and seeing people I haven't in a while. I have so many great people in my life I couldn't even name they all to you right now!
Thanks to everyone who has been a great example to my in my life. I couldn't have done this without your love and support and I am eternally grateful for that. :)

The Day the Call Came

I cannot even begin to express to you how impatient I am. It took 2 1/2 weeks for my call to come (I know. So long right?). It felt like eternity. I had gotten everything done with my papers that I needed to within 2 weeks after General Conference. Pretty crazy.
I thought it would come the week before it actually did because I had so many people telling me people were getting their calls in about a week. That week, it didn't come. I was so disappointed, but then I knew that it would come the next week. Longest week of my life. I knew the mail came around a certain time... I was just getting so bugged that I knew I couldn't wait by the mail box, although I have to say, it was SOOO tempting (But really, I would probably look like a freak if I was standing by the mailbox to greet the mailman).
Karly was home for lunch or something so I was just hanging out and talking with her (I only had one class in the morning that day, so naturally, I skipped it). I told her to play me her song on the piano. A few seconds after she started I get a text from Cindy Gocken, it just said- "Mail is here!!!" I freaked out and looked out the window. There it was. I could not contain myself. I started screaming and jumping up and down like a crazy person. I didn't even want to go out there, mainly because I didn't want to be disappointed if it wasn't there. We both watched in silence (ok, that is probably a lie. I'm pretty sure I was just squealing the whole time). I thought for sure I saw him put a big while envelope in the mailbox... but I still wasn't sure. I pushed Karly out the door to go and get the mail. I remember seeing her look into the mailbox and then get this huge creepy grin on her face as she help up the envelope. I screamed so loud! I do not think I have ever been so happy in my life. I kept jumping up and down, laughing and screaming. That went on for about 5 minutes. Me holding the envelope and rolling on the couch and floor (when I am writing this, it sounds super pathetic I have to say...). Karly just laughed at me.
I then started texting and calling people telling them my call was here. I could not believe it! It really didn't seem real. I honestly do not remember what the rest of the day went like...
But I do remember getting ready for the day (it was about 5:00ish) and my call was sitting downstairs. Karly had some friends over. They decided to play a trick on me and tell me that one of her friends (who would totally do this) had opened the call. When I heard them say that, I was literally so mad, that I didn't even say or do anything. I just said- "What an idiot. Don't tell me what it is. I'll open it by myself later." They thought that it was funny, I was pretty ticked. Hahaha. Once I found out that he didn't do it, I didn't let that envelope out of my sight for the rest of the night.
I was planning on opening it at 6:00. Once 6:00 came, my grandma still wasn't there, so we decided to wait. But also, Katelyn wasn't there either. She was at her friends house down the street, even though she knew we were opening it at 6:00. Since I had already had a prank pulled on me, I was feeling a little bit mischievous.
So we decided to call her friend (Kate doesn't have a phone) and joke with her that we had opened my call. Hailee my friend did it. She dialed it and I said, "wait, where should I be going?" she quickly just said- "FLORIDA!"
She called her and yelled so excited, that I was going to Florida on my mission! Katelyn, of course, was ticked. We then waited for her to get home to tell her that we were joking. She was not happy. At 7:00 I finally opened my call. I didn't invite a ton of people, mainly because I think that is what the farewell is for. Besides that, I had a TON of family that almost all live about 30min away on both sides and I didn't want to leave anyone out. So I invited both my grandmas, my cousin Danny, and my friend Hailee ;) (other friends would have been invited if they lived close enough at the time).
I remember just not even knowing what to expect. I had no idea, and the next year and a half of my life was planned right here in this envelope.
Freaky huh?
I thought for sure I would cry.
Surprisingly I didn't.

I opened it and read-
Dear Sister Calder, You are herby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Florida Tampa Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

My jaw dropped. We couldn't even cry because we were laughing so hard. I was not expecting that at all. We had this huge map with almost every state and county covered with peoples names. But not Florida. I was SOOOOOO excited. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the night. Or month really. I got texts and calls from so many people congratulating me. :)
Best. Day. Ever.
Wait, I think I said that in the post where they made the change. Hahaha well, they both were ;)
We then went to Young Women's and Young Mens because they were doing a talent show and my sisters were all doing something together. Before they started, they actually asked me to come up and speak for a second.
Then the tears came.
I shared where I was going and my excitement. Then I shared my testimony of missionary work and this church. It was such an amazing moment to be able to share that with some of my favorite people who I have grown up with and seen grow up. I couldn't have asked for a better night :)
We had planning that wherever I was going that we would celebrate by going to eat food from that place. We had no idea what people in Florida ate... except Alligator and frog legs which we learned on the cruise. So we went to Texas Roadhouse ;) American Food I guess. Haha.
But seriously, I am beyond excited for what lies ahead for me. I can't wait to serve my Heavenly Father and bring my brothers and sisters into the light of the true and everlasting gospel. :)
And I get to back to Florida almost exactly 1 year later! (1 year from my cruise;))

The Day they made the Change

This serisouly was one of the happiest days of my life.
I had to work at 11am on the day of conference. I was super bummed because my family had tickets to go to the Saturday morning session. I begged and pleaded with Macey's to give me the day off. It meant a lot to me to go with them. But I could not get it off. Even to this day right now it is making me mad because what happened and was said in that conference changed my life (dramatic moment) and I could have been there with my most favorite people in the world.
So because of work I was sitting in my work clothes watching conference with one of my roommates. You know- everyone always wants something awesome to happen in conference, a new temple somewhere crazy, they open China, or something insane; but this time it actually happened, and affected me directly.
President Monson started talking about boys that were 18 in other countries going on their missions and how well it was working out. Right then I knew he was going to change the boys age to 18. I was so excited! I didn't even think about him changing the girls. My roommate and I freaked out! I started thinking about all these boys in my ward who would be able to go soon and how great it was not to have that awkward year after high school. Because we were talking about it we almost didn't hear him say that sisters could now go at 19. My jaw dropped. I swear I almost had a heart attack. My roommate and I sat there in awe and then started screaming and laughing. It was AMAZING! I still right now cannot even explain what I felt at that moment. I couldn't even cry I was so happy. On my way to work I sure did cry though ;) I started calling people and people started texting me. I guess people just know me. They knew already that I was going to go. :) while I was at work people couldn't stop talking about it and I was going crazy because I just wanted to call my mom, I couldn't right at first because she was in conference obviously. On my break I texted her and told her I was going. She told me that she and all my sisters already were planning on that :) I love them. :)
Then I drove home after work. Balling. The whole time. It was completely overwhelming. I still don't think it's hit me after 4 months...
I wanted to make sure that I was making the right choice for me, even though I'm pretty sure that I already knew in my heart that I was going to go. Especially since I've wanted to go my whole life. So, I decided to fast and pray on Sunday to get the answer. I prayed the whole drive home and then forever that night and morning.
I don't even remember the definite time when I for sure knew that I was going to go. I think I really just always knew. But when I was fasting and praying I never had a doubt, that is what really made me do it. I remember sitting down next to my mom after the first session was over and telling her straight up that I was going to go on a mission. We both then cried and hugged each other.
Best. Moment. Ever.
Ever since then I have never had a doubt that this is my plan and that I am going in the right direction in my life ;)