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 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!

Week 29 (10/21/13)

This week has been INSANE! I can't believe how much work there is in this area! We are so busy and exhausted when we get home! I haven't written hardly any letters cuz of it. Also- just know. I have written everyone back. So if you don't have a letter from me and your wrote it, I probably didn't get it :( so please don't think I hate you! I love hearing from you all and it actually  makes the work a little bit easier to hear what's going on at home :)

We had a missionaries worst nightmare lesson in Gospel Principles on Sunday. Heavenly Mother. Good stuff. Not. Oh man. Hahaha It still feels like a dream.

On Tuesday we get ready to go out and look outside... they took our stairs out.... so we couldn't get down from our apartment!! They didn't give us warning or anything! It was CRAZY! But SO funny. Good thing we still had weekly planning to do! But we had to cancel an appointment! Funnnnn times.

We have had even more success leaving the Saviors peace and blessing in members homes!

We met one of the sisters previous gators and she was awesome! Millions of dollars worth of collectiable things in her house! That hard thing is, she doesn't believe in God. This is the first time I"ve had to deal with this and it's HARD! But makes you really wonder how you have and how you gained your own testimony of God and who he really is. I love it! :)

I got my hair cut on Monday. Worst experience ever. I will never do that again. Mom... you're the only one touching it from now on. 2 inches. GRRRRRRRRRR. Too much and it doesn't look good. Huh. It's hard I know. Hair. Of all the things I could worry about. Oh well!  

I had a cool experience.... not cool..... I got denied for the first time... while trying to give someone a book of Mormon. That was fun! Hahaha not. Everyone else has taken one, but he really wouldn't. Good thing I know where he lives haha :) jokes.... sort of.

Also... an avocado fell from a tree I went to pick it up and there was a lady there. I gave it to her, and now we are going back to pray with her! Lesson, pick up avocados.

I realy don't know what else to say!

Don't send me letters so my address, send them to the mission home cuz transfer calls are this week! :)

Ohhh.... and the bishop called Sister O. and I up to talk on sunday cuz their talks fell through! It was so much fun and awesome! :)

 

I love you all! :)

Love, Sister Calder

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 9 (6/3/13)

This week has been AMAZING! I seriously cannot tell you how much I love my mission!

I have really developed a strong testimony on prayer. I have had so many prayers answered and have really learned to listen and know exactly what my Heavenly Father wants me to do.

We have gotten caught in LOTS of rain storms. Welcome to Florida summer and hurricane season :)

Sister Miles left and it makes me want to cry every single day. I love her so much. :(

I love p-days! I had to buy a volleyball cuz Sister Miles left and she was the only one that had one! I used a whole bag of m&m's and threw them in the Elders mouths. That was fun. Plus we had a nutella party cuz Elder Langi was leaving. I brought pickles for it and people loved it! It really is good. Everyone go and try it now ;)

I left my first Saviors Peace and Blessing! It is just a mighty prayer on peoples homes. The woman was in tears by the end. We felt the spirit SO strong! It was amazing!!! The new people in our zone are pretty cool! Nothing compares to our old zone though ;)

It's funny how much comp inventory helps! Sister A and I are getting along better than ever!!!

We were going to visit a referral that the Spanish sisters gave us. We visited the whole house twice and when the wrong person answered we were shocked, but we decided it was good cuz then they have a chance to hear the gospel! Looking on the bright side :) that's what we are working on.

Sorry this one is so quick. It's been a crazy p-day.

I almost ran over a baby bird, but then we saved it's life instead.

I have decided that fasting on the mission is hard. I had a really hard time with it last week. So this week I prayed that I would be able to focus on what I was fasting for and not my hunger. IT TOTALLY WORKED. Imagine that :)

Anyways. I love you all so much!!!! :)

 

 "The trick is to enjoy life. Don't wish away your days, waiting for the better ones ahead. The grand and the simple. They are equally wonderful."

-Sister Hinkely :)

 

Love, Sister Calder

Week 6 (5/13/13)

This week has been cray-cray to say the least. 

We moved into our new apartment on Wednesday. So Tuesday was mainly spent packing and cleaning. Sister Andersen has more stuff from her 6 month mission than I did in my house for 10 years. It was very frustrating... but I found my favorite shirt of ALL TIME in our graveyard. So I'm trying to be ok with it. ;) 

It's weird being called Nicole. I've only been out a month... imagine how it is going to be in a year and a half! 

We had a cool experience with 3 prayers being answered in one day. I can't tell you how much my testimony of prayer has changed!

On Wednesday we met with an investigator. His wife was baptized 1 year ago and he just hasn't come along. He's had all the lessons, but doesn't think he should stop drinking coffee. He made that very apparent. We tried our best in the lesson not to argue, and to just answer his questions and bear testimony, but it was a rough go. I went home very discouraged thinking that not everyone is ready and we should just give up. Advice- never think that. It's not a good idea. But I had been praying like a crazy person that his heart would be softened. 

The next morning we get a text from his wife telling us that he said he would try drinking less coffee for her. And that if she wanted to go to the temple, he would take her there. I can't tell you how amazing this is. He is very stubborn and was not having any of that the day before. It was such a huge blessing! We screamed when we got the text and we were beaming the rest of the day. We knew it was an answer to our prayers and his wife's prayers.
Later that day we decided that we were going to visit one of our other investigators in the hospital. She was the one that just walked right into church. We hadn't been able to get a hold of her, and were feeling really discouraged about the whole thing. But then we got a call from her from the hospital explaining everything. She had been wanting to learn more but with all the hospital stuff she couldn't get a hold of us until then. So we biked 10 miles in the middle of the day (we were determined to see her) to the hospital.
We couldn't find exactly where we were supposed to go once we got there so we stopped at a desk to ask someone. The lady was very nice in giving us directions. After we were done visiting our investigator we needed to fill up our water bottles so we went back to that same place we had asked for directions. As we were walking in we asked that same lady if there was a place we could fill up our water bottles, she said yes and then immediately after said, "I think you are the Sisters that are teaching my daughter Gracie." We both looked at each other and started freaking out saying telling her that we were. We had been praying to get in contact with Sister Hilton for weeks so that her daughter could come to church. The father wasn't ok with us teaching her after 2 lessons but Gracie wanted to come to church to learn more.
We found Gracie when we were visiting part member families (I can't remember if I have told you about her). Her mom was a member when she was young, so she knew about our church. But we couldn't call Sister Hilton because she didn't want her husband to get mad. So we prayed that she would call us so her daughter could finally come to church. Seeing her there was an answer to our many prayers. It was such an amazing experience! She is going to start bringing Gracie to church because she begs for it every week. We are still beaming from the experience and can't wait to start teaching her more. :) 

The last experience of the day was a woman who the Elders have taught all the lessons to, but now that she is in our area (we switched with the Elders when I got here) We had been praying that she would set a date and know that she needed to be baptized. She had never been overly excited about it, but she teaches her 3 year old son about the stories in the scriptures and he loves it! So we had been praying for her. We met with her and she was just glowing. We asked her about the date and she was so excited. We still aren't firm on it yet because she has to check and make sure her boyfriend (who is actually a member... he's usually at the lessons, but he couldn't make it there this time) would be off of work that day. Also, beach baptism might be in the picture ;) but she was even talking about the temple! She was asking things like when can she go to the temple and what she would have to do for that. It was so amazing. We couldn't stop smiling that night. That was the best day of my mission so far, and I know that I'm never going to forget it :)

We have been doing service projects about twice a week for 4 hours. Someone recent converts in the Naples Ward (the ward right next to us, but it used to be our ward until they split it right before I came out) is doing habitat for humanity and the mother is pregnant so they asked the missionaries if they could help. They need 500 hours to get a house and it's just the two of them. So when you combine all the missionaries (there are usually 16 of us that come) times that by 4 and then that by 2 that's how many hours we can do for them in one week. We love doing it! We have painted the inside and outside of houses, laid sod, put sticky stuff on the floor, done molding things. We love doing it. This week it was funny because we got there late and all the missionaries were cleaning off all the paint stuff. The guy in charge told us they painted the outside of the house the wrong color. Luckily they had only done half of it. So we took a break to let it dry and then came back and started paining again. We thought it was the wrong color after we had painted about a 1/4 of it. So we asked the guy and he just said to paint it over with this other paint. Turns out it was the same paint, we were just painting it all over again with the same color... lots of paint and time because we are a little clueless ;) it was super fun though!  

On my mission so far one thing that I have learned is that I need to rely on others. We always are needing rides and food, and help with things. I have never been the kind of person that likes to ask others for help... but my mom always taught me that it is ok to ask for help from other people. So that's something I have been trying to be better about. I think all of us have to remember that. We need to let other people serve us. We can't deny them those blessings. We are here to help others and learn from each other :)

I love you all so much! I hope you had an amazing mothers day!

"Be a beacon to the whole world!" 

-Elder Perry

I'm loving the letters! Keep them coming :) they help me more than you can even imagine!

Moroni 7:31 (this is not just a missionaries calling) ;)

Love, Sister Calder:)

Week 5 (5/6/13)

My new address-

7779 Jewel Lane #101

Naples, FL 34109

 

If you have sent a letter to the other address in the past couple days don't worry about it. Some awesome Elders from our district are moving in so they can give me the mail.

 

Thanks again everyone for your prayers. They are much needed and I can feel them. :)

This last P-day we had the 4th injury of our zone.... Elder Shank twisted his anckle... let's just say I'm pretty hesitant to play sports with them at the moment... it's just so fun!

 

Aunt Diane- your first aid kit came in handy for Elder Shank ;) and also for another Sister :) luckly all I have needed out of it was a bandaid :)

 

We had a Sisters Conference on Tuesday! I got to see Sister Lee which pretty much made my week! I love her so much! It was funny to see all the Sisters legs though... it looks like we have a plague going around with all the ugly bug bites on our legs! So there are officially Sister Training Leaders in the field! They are kind of like zone leaders, but for sisters and they cover bigger areas :) Sister Bench and Sister Hill are the very first ones for a couple zones in our mission! :)

 

Wednesday was hard. We fasted all day for my mom. That was the day I have felt the most homesick so far. I know that because I was fasting Heavenly Father gave me strength to be calm and have peace. I don't know what I would have done without that peace. But that morning our bishop gave us a blessing. My comp and I and the Elders that are also in our ward. It was just to help us with the new area and everything. It was so powerful. He promised me that I would see one of my investigators get sealed in the temple with their family. I can't tell you how motivated that made me. It was a very specific and powerful promise. He also told me that my mission would help me be a mother in zion. It was such an amazing blessing that I needed so much at that time.

 

I had my first weird moment... one morning Sister Bench and I (she came out the same time as me) went outside and we were like- "OH! It's COLD!" We look at the thermometer on our car... it was only 69 degrees... this is going to be bad when I come home.

 

Remember that investigator that just came to church last week? Well, she wasn't answering our... many phone calls (Sister Andersen and I decided that missionaries are creepy stalkers....) so we went to her house. Right as we pulled up I had the feeling to not knock on the front door. I thought it was just nerves, but both of us looked at each other and said that we shouldn't go in. So, of course we followed that and didn't. We have no idea what would have happened. But I am so grateful for those very small promptings that we get from the spirit. I still cannot believe how small it was. But because we have been focusing and praying on having the spirit and listening to it we could feel that :) it was pretty amazing.

 

On Friday it was exactly one month that I've been a missionary! I celebrated by of course... taking 3 showers in a day (I'm not kidding) one after our workout, one after a serivice project, and then one after biking. It was a very eventful day.

 

Saturday I had my first door slam while tracting. That was fun... then we found this turtle in the middle of the road! Pics will come. I don't have enough time right now.

 

I have 18 bug bites on my legs... they will not be pretty when i come home that's for sure.

Everyone uses their car horns here...

There are tons of lakes. I'm pretty sure the whole state is going to collapse soon.

 

As my dad said in his mission journal- "This is true happiness, and nothing replaces this."

 

I totally believe that more than anything! Bringing someone to the gospel is TRUE HAPPINESS! 

I love you all! Sorry this one was short! :)

 

Happy Mothers day to all you moms out there! :)

Week 2 (4/14/13)

I cannot believe how much I have to tell all of you! I feel like I cannot even explain how much I love this work! 

Thank you all for your prayers on my behalf. It's amazing how much we can all feel the prayers. They were telling us that we are probably the second most people to get prayed for next to the prophets and apostles. That's pretty special! And we can for sure feel them. As you know our week was pretty crazy at first with Lawanna on Monday. We were very discouraged and could feel Satan working on us. As we tried to prepare better for our other investigators we only became more discouraged. It was hard. At first they started to tell us to teach with the spirit, then teach a lesson. We did both, and neither were working for us, we had to learn how to do both of them together.

Rewind.

I get really off track. So, Monday... Lawanna... discouraging.

Tuesday, I seriously do not remember what we did on that day. Probably lots of classes and teaching our other investigators Rob and Kirk (who are actually our teachers).

Wednesday was the worst day. I don't even know how we could have a worse day than this.

We had been preparing to teach Lawanna since Monday. We even pray about our fake/real investigators. We searched the scriptures and PMG to figure out how we could help her feel God's love for her. We went in ready to teach, but very humble.

I had the impression that we should teach her about the Atonement because that is how we can all know for ourselves that God loves us (don't worry, in our last lesson we had already tried to teach her to pray but she wouldn't have it).

We started teaching her about that. It wasn't going well. She was still looking off and was acting like she didn't care about what we were saying. Sister Lee started to share a quote that she had hear in one of our devotionals- "If we want to know answers we must get on our knees and pray. If we want to find them we must search the scriptures." She wasn't even done saying the quote and Lawanna interrupted and said- "ya'll aren't teaching me anything" she then started to go on about something and then said- "never mind"

Ok. Break. 

I just got back from dinner and such... but we SAW Lawanna walking as we were coming down here to do our laundry. Scariest. Moment. Of. My. Life. NO. JOKE.

Ok. Now that we are over that... let me continue...

So we didn't actually know what to say after that. Sister Lee finished her quote and then she just stared at us... very.... freaky. Then Sister Sliger chimed in and started talking about God's love for her (again... yes... this is like the 7th time). She wouldn't look and me and Sister Lee for the whole rest of the time. But Lawanna listened and her face got really soft. She told Sister Sliger that her answer was exactly what she needed to hear today. She then told us a personal experience about her friend being murdered... After she was finished both Sister Lee and I told her thanks for sharing that story with us and that it touched our hearts. She looked at the both of us straight in the eyes and said- "ya'll (me and Sister Lee) didn't have patience with me" she then turned to Sister Sliger and told her how much she appreciated her answering her question and told her that she would remember her name.
Talk about slap in the face. I could barely hold the tears back as we told her goodbye.
We got into the hallway and just cried. Wait, balled actually. The kind where weird noises come out of your mouth and you just can't control it. Sister Sliger had done so good, and we were so proud of her, but we had literally been crushed. We thought this time we would do better, but really it was a million times worse. 

Both of us questioned why we were even here. It was so hard to hear that you don't have patience for someone when all you've been doing for the past couple days is been praying for and about her, and searching fervently to find her answer. I cannot even tell you how sad we were.
Everything and anything would make us cry. We literally cried for an hour straight. I'm not exaggurating. Everything set off the tears. People in the hall, sitting in class, our Elders, thinking about it, talking about it in class. Right when we finally thought we had control, we would start thinking about it again and couldn't stop crying. So imagine me and Sister Lee in class doing this. We just went on with class and us crying. Our Elder's were so sweet, but they thought we were freaks. Let's just say, only Sister Lee and I truly know how it feels. Others tried to help and understand, it didn't help much. We just needed to cry. 

We didn't know what we had done wrong. We know that others connect with certain investigators, but she just shot our confidence even more than it already was. We didn't even think that was possible. I felt like someone had just yelled in my face and asked me why I was even here because nothing was working. And it was true, none of our investigators were doing well. The Elders would come in cheering saying- "they committed to baptism" and other things. While we just sat there and cried. All I wanted was my mom to tell me everything was ok. But, Sister Lee and I had each other.
We realized after our teacher gave us a lesson that we cannot teach by the spirit alone, or a lesson alone. We need to plan, and listen to the spirit. The first time we had only taught our lesson. The second time, we had only taught by the spirit. 

The rest of our day was not good. We tried to be happy like everyone had said, but I cannot even explain how hard it was. 

I finally realized the "hard" that everyone was talking about. 

We weren't doing much better for the next couple days. All our teachers and investigators kept telling us, "confidence Sisters. Confidence."

We just couldn't do it! All we needed was a time where we did good on our lesson. That just wasn't happening.
Today it FINALLY DID! We cannot stop smiling! We planned our lesson and taught by the spirit! BOTH of our fake/real investigators commited to baptism!!!!! They aren't real, but they just seem so real! We finally feel like we are ready to leave to Florida on Monday!!!

Now.... This is the good stuff....

Sister Sliger wasn't feeling good Tuesday or Wednesday. Elder Morse finally convinced her to go to the clinic after we passed him a note under the table at our infield training on Wednesday. 

We went to the clinic. She thought nothing was wrong. Neither did the doctors. They took her temp and it was a little high. They still weren't concerned. They decided to look at her. 

10minutes later they call us all back (Sister Lee and I and Elder Morse and Busch. The other Elders were in a different room in infield and had no idea what was going on). We see Sister Sliger sitting in a room. They tell us to look at a picture on the wall. It was of the Winne the Pooh charecters. They all had masks on and were pushing Pigglet away on a raft with a stick. We started to laugh and then were like.... wait what? They told us she had Influenza B and that they were going to put her in isolation for a few days. They they gave us all this medicine to take so they we would not get it since we had all been around her. It was pretty sad. Elder Morse and Busch went and got Elder Raia and Edwards to tell them to come and get some medication and to get tested because Elder Raia had been sick. Luckily, he just had a head cold. He was glad though cuz they told him to take naps haha. 

We laughed because we had to take her back to our room to get stuff for the white wall place. We had to wear these awesome masks. We felt pretty cool. Then she drove away on this golf cart thing.... 

It was pretty eventful. We are all fine. We basically just pop our pills all together at lunch. She just got out of isolation today and we were able to go into the real world (to Rite Aid) to get a perscription. I know we've only been here a week, but it feels like it's been eternity.

This week has been eventful and hard. We finally feel prepared and confident. Our teachers that we taught today as fake investigators said there was a night and day difference in our teaching. They also said that we've come as far if not farther than the missionaries that were here for 3 weeks. We are so sad to leave our Elders. We want to convince someone to send them to Florida with us, but we also can't wait to get out and do real missionary work!

This church is true! 

Thank you all for your letters and packages!

Wait... I forgot some stuff...
So I just came back for the 3rd time... We were at gym. My favorite thing ever. 

Story time... 

I beat all our Elders in speed... twice... and so did Sister Lee. We know it's because they are really good, but we are just really that much better. Annnnnnnnd just told I bet a whole other bunch of Elders.... yep... it's still here.

Remember that time I told you about how we laughed so hard we almost peed our pants? That was what happened 2 days ago, but it was for the whole entire day. Me and Sister Lee were on crazy pills I think (Sister Sliger still in the white wall place...).

Everyone said that we would laugh the hardest here, and cry the hardest. Let's just say, that is 100% true.

Sister Lee is the bread (if you only knew that bread is a million times better than best).

Mom- will you please send me some dry shampoo Kenra is the brand Sister Lee uses and I love it! You might be able to find it at Sally's. But don't worry if you don't.

Quote from Sister Lee-

"Without faith there is no power."

Now we shall see the other side of her-

Another quote-

"Sometimes, I wish I was black."

-Sister Lee

Also- Sister Lee and I have so much in common that when we say something and we don't have it in common, that is when we are surprised. But that has yet to happen. We pray we will be companions in the field. Haha I can't even tell you how much I love her! She reminds me of my sister Ashley and one of my best friends Amanda :) Let's just say, that's pretty much the best combination ever!!!! 

I love ya'll more than you know (just practicing... besides... I don't really know how to spell that....haha)! Thanks for you letters and packages.... wow... I'm repeating myself. Must be a combination of the food, the pills, our crazy Elders, and my amazing companion and our late night talks (we know each others whole lives... and we learned how importance obedience is).

Never forget how much our Savior has done for us and how grateful I am to be representing Him as a servant of God!

Love, Sister Calder :)

*Mom, will you please proof read this, I didn't have time, and the spelling thing is being weird... 

God be with you till we meet again :)

I know you are probably laughing historically at the title of this post right now, but... I kinda like it haha...
I just wanted to tell you all how much I love you and how much I am going to miss you. So personal, I know, but I mean it :)
I've already told you a million times how excited that I am for all of this, but here is my last blabber (until next week).

I wanted to let you all know that I know, without any doubt that this is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet called of God to restore the gospel in these latter days. I know that he translated the Book of Mormon and that it is the word of God. The Book of Mormon is true. Everything that was written is to us from our loving Heavenly Father. I know that if we read it, we can feel the loving power of our Heavenly Father through His words. I know that prayer is real. Our Heavenly Father listens and hears us. He knows what we are going through. Our Savior and Redeemer lives. He loves us more than we can even imagine. We can feel of Him through our own trials. He went through exactly what we have all gone through and will go through. Through Him, we can get back to our Heavenly Father and become kings and queens with Him. I cannot wait for that day. I know if we are faithful and keep our covenants we have made, that everything will work out in the end. I know that families are forever, and that through Gods holy Temples on this earth we can never be separated, even through death. I know that President Monson is a true and living prophet. Heavenly Father speaks through him so we can know what we must do to survive these last days. This gospel is the one and only way we can get back to our eternal home. If we trust in the Lord, and listen to the Holy Ghost we can know of our plan and what we must do to fulfill or duty in our life here on earth. The power of the atonement is real. We can become clean and free through it. The temple is the house of God and the covenants and promises we make there are binding, powerful, and real. I know that trials will come, for everyone. But I can promise if you take that time to turn your life over to you Heavenly Father something good will come from it. Trials make us stronger. They make us into the person that Heavenly Father sees.
Please never forget the feelings of the spirit and the peace and joy it brings into your life. Don't lose sight of what's important. I don't think I need to tell you what's important, I'm sure you already know.
Remember that your Heavenly Father loves you, more than you can even imagine. The love He has is eternal and constant.
If you have any doubts, fears, questions, or are even just feeling joy and gratitude, talk to Heavenly Father. If you ask, listen, and have the right intentions, He will always answer. No matter what.

Remember- NO EMPTY SEATS.

I love you!
See y'all later! ;) (oh the cheesey-ness)

Love, Sister Nicole Lee Calder :)

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 ;)