21 October, 2012

   This is a week of birthdays for our family (mine, Todd's, and my sister's) and I was thinking this is the first birthday in 20 years that Calvin has not been physically with us. That's a lot of years! Then I felt old. *grin* Calvin bought me a Kindle Touch for Christmas last year (2011). Then he put it somewhere and forgot about it until after Christmas. We had been out shopping and when we got home Calvin said, "Mom, sit on the couch." So I sat. He went upstairs to his room and came back down with a plastic bag. "While we were out today I realized that I had forgotten one more present! So here's your Christmas present. I figure I'll be gone for the next two years, so this is your Christmas presents and your Birthday presents and your Mother's Day presents for the next two years." Cute kid.

   I had asked Calvin a few questions, and I got answers this week! Yay!

Momm

I know you are asking for [other relatives], I didn't think you would come visit me. I just didn't want to give you or me that temptation. Anyways, here are all the answers president gave me:  I can't answer the duty question. I know you can send a certain amount of gifts without paying duty. Your Mom could check for her on the internet.

[for limitations and rules about packages to Canada, see this page:  

http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ce_003.htm  ]

When families have come we have allowed them an hour for a meal together. Anything more than that and homesickness can impact a missionaries focus. 

Fine with the picture of us on the internet. 

So, I hope that answered any questions.

Oh, and yes, i will be coming back right after my two years is up. I have so many people I have to see. 

Love you lots!!
Calvin

   YAY! The picture he's talking about is this one. It was taken the day Calvin arrived in Montréal at the Mission Home. At first, I was a little confused by the sign. See, Calvin's initials are CEM, his sister's initials are CMM. So my brain read it as welcoming his sister to the mission. Duh, Canada Montréal Mission has the same initials as Chantal does.

I have a policy of not posting any picture on this blog unless I have the express permission of everyone in the picture. So I was waiting for President's permission to post this photo. Calvin loves President and Sister Cannon, and they are taking very good care of him!

  I sent Calvin a response:

Yay! I will have Dad scan the picture of you and the mission president and his wife today and put it up on the blog! Woo Hoo!

About visiting: I don't want to do anything that would be distracting to you on your mission. I'm glad that you want to avoid temptation too *smile*

You are an amazing young man! I am so happy and proud to be your mom!

I'll try to look up the answer for Grandma on the internet.

Thanks for the answers! xx

Love,
MoMM

P.S. yes when you are done with your mission and you go back, Dad and I want to go with you. *smile*

Oh, you will be going with me, no doubt about that!!! It will be super fun! I actually could come back and visit every month if I wanted to! (which I think I might. I love this area)

Calvin

  The next email he answered was this one:

Dear Calvin,
  Yesterday Sophie and I went shopping for some things for missionary packages *grin* and on the way home she was playing with her window. I told her to roll it up and she did.
Then I put the window lock on:
Sophie (in an angry voice): MOM LET ME ROLL MY WINDOW DOWN!
Me: No, you need to keep it closed.
Sophie (even angrier): LET ME PUT MY WINDOW DOWN! THIS IS UNASSEPABLE! YOU ARE IN TIME OUT!!

I thought you'd enjoy a laugh. *big grin* Oh and we'll be sending the packages tomorrow. Do you need me to tell you what is in the packages so that you can make sure you got everything?

Love,
MoMM

A package! I am sooooo excited! I can't wait! Wow! Ok, I can't wait to see what's inside of it! Don't tell me. Until I tell you I got it. Anyways, I loved that Sophie story! She is getting so grown up, It's going to be so wierd, seeing her. But that's two years down the road. But I did the calculations, and I have like close to 7 months until  my 1 year mark. Wow, it went so fast. 

Love you a lot!
Calvin

  I did some calculating this morning. At the end of this month Calvin will have been on his mission for 5 months. He has 19 months + a week left. As of today, he has been on his mission for 148 days of the 730 days (2 x 365). He has 582 days left. He's right, it is going by fast! And no, I don't cross off the days and I usually don't keep track of how many days he has left either. *grin* Next message from Calvin:

So, this week, we had an amazing baptism. [A woman] was baptized, and it was super special. I hope that we can keep on seeing her and her family. Oh, I should send a picture, but I have no cord to download pictures, or ANYTHING. Grr.... This lack of postage is becoming REALLY inconvenient. SO, what else happened this week. Well, my companion is going home. It's so wierd because i feel like I should be going home as well, but not really. So it's just wierd.
So, this transfer I am getting a new companion. He is apparently a super happy guy, and everyone speaks super highly of him. So that is exciting. I'm not training, I'm so happy! That means I don't have to  be in charge just yet! HAhahah, and I know Dad is probably rolling his eyes, and saying "Yep, there's Calvin, avoiding responsability at every turn." Well, I will have a lot of responsability anyways. He won't know the area AT ALL!!! So, i will have to take control for a little while.

So, what else is new? umm.... not much. We have a LOT of knocking ahead of us. All our really well progressing investigators have been baptised, and all the rest we can't contact, so we will have to do a lot of knocking, and probably finding. But, I love knocking anyways, so this aught to be good. 

So, onwards to answering the rest of your email!

Dear Calvin,
  Hmmm. Where to start? I guess I'll just start at last Monday. It was so exciting to get your emails! I LOVE Mondays because I look forward to your emails. *big smile*
I forgot what we did Monday, except that Chantal's team won their game, and they're eligible for sectionals.

AWESOME!!!!! I hope you guys go far this year!!

Miranda was pretty bummed that they lost their JV game. She was very quiet - but then she's usually quiet on the ride home from practices and games because Chantal talks non-stop.

Miranda, I wish I could be there to see you. Go put on one of my old sweaters, and give yourself a BIG hug, and know that that was from me, and that I love you, and that it will all be OK. I love you lots, and I wish I could be there to talk to you for a few hours. I love you!

Chantal says
that for the season, she had 93 shots on goal, 71 were saves, and 22 were goals. Not bad for her first year as a Varsity goalie!! We're still waiting for Miranda's stats.

Wohoo!!!!! Good job Chantal!!!! That's pretty awesome! I hope you keep that going, and become the best goalie that Harpursville has ever seen, and then Miranda will keep the tradition alive! 

I can't wait to see Miranda's stats! IS this going to work like report cards in school? "My stats GPA is better than yours!!" "Only by one one thousandth of a point!!" lol, that would be funny. 

  Tuesday I called the temple about the youth temple trip this Saturday. Dad forgot what time we were scheduled. Grandma and Grandpa are going to go with us so that we have some extra room to
take kids, and I thought it would be nice for them to spend some time in the temple with their granddaughters. Oh! They posted some pictures on facebook of the new art glass windows in the Boise
Temple (remember it's been renovated for the last however many months? They're having open houses now (I think). So the pictures they posted of the glass in the temple are just stunning! There's one particular glass door that just takes my breath away. I think that was the day I made granola and my 10 grain rolls.

I cannot wait to go back to the temple. I am converted to going to the temple. The temple is such a special place, and you get so much spiritual strength from going. It's unlike anything else. I am so excited that you are going! I have been praying that our family members will go to that open house, and feel something there. It will be a really cool expirience, for sure. 

  Wednesday Sophie and I went shopping for things for your package and [another missionary's] package, and then in YW Chantal, Miranda, [and two other girls] got stuff together for your package while I was
cleaning the building. Speaking of your package: I hope it gets to you. [a friend] added something (I have no idea what it was, but it's in an envelope which I didn't open) and I'm not entirely sure I filled out paperwork correctly. So I hope the package gets to you okay. Please let me know if there was a problem. I mailed it Friday.

AWESOME!!! In this weeks' KALDT, there is a note about packages.

One of the missionaries left a pair of pants at the building for me to fix. He was bitten by a dog and the dog ripped his pants (I don't know if the dog's teeth made it into his leg or not), plus the seat of
his pants was ripping out a little, and the hem of his pants was coming out. I told him that I could try to fix the rip, and I discovered the other stuff when I was looking over the rest of his pants. He has
another pair that he's stapled the hems up. I hope you know how to fix your pants and things. I think we taught you how to do that, but I can't remember.

Wow, a DOG bit him?! That is so classic missionary life! So funny! and yes, you sort of taught me how to hem pants. I have Ghetto sewn some of my clothes back together again, so I do know how to sew, just not fancily. 

Oh, we had to take the van to YW on Wednesday because [we had two extra girls who] wanted to come, and there wouldn't be room enough in the Hyundai for all of us. [Their mom] showed up at church about 15 minutes before we were done, so the girls and I decided (on the way to the gas station, because the van's gas light went on) that since we could now all fit into the Hyundai, we would be funny and switch cars with Dad. So after we got a few gallons of gas, we drove to the Raymond parking lot and switched cars. The girls thought it was hilarious. Dad said that he knew when he came out of work he would find the van in the parking lot. Sheesh! Leave it to the Holy Ghost to ruin the surprise!

Oh, and then on the way home we saw some strange lights in the sky. The girls said it reminded them of Northern Lights but there were two pillars of light (very faint) in the sky. Not long or large pillars, and very faint, but still when I saw them they were definitely two pillars. I thought it was a reflection of light off the clouds (which it may well have been) because there were a few more lights like it once we got out of the car at home. It was very interesting to see though.

Cool! The clouds up here are spectacular! I suppose they are the same at home, but here I just notice them more! It's cool to see how clouds interact with light, and form shadows, and stuff like that.

  Thursday Miranda, Sophie and I drove to the [our friends' house] between the time Miranda got out of school and when we had to pick up Chantal. We stopped at the missionaries' apartment to drop off the pants but the missionaries weren't home and I couldn't find anywhere to leave the pants, so I still have them! AGH! I have visions of this poor missionary walking around without pants because I have them.
  Friday we mailed your package (and [the other missionary's] package), and it took an hour in the post office because the lady was so busy. Then I cut out Dad's birthday present and did some paperwork filing too. [Your aunt] called while I was filing the paperwork. She wanted to know if we'd be available to visit with her on Saturday. She was on her way up here to attend her friend's wedding. We didn't get to Stake Conference on Saturday because Dad had to work and then we were waiting for [your aunt] to call [so we could visit with her at Grandma and Grandpa's house].

Aww! I missed a visit from [her]!!!! Grrrrr! oh, well i will have plenty of time later to see all my family members.

Momm, I want to tell you how much i love you, and how much I miss you guys. thank you for all your support. I feel that love of the Lord, and the love of everyone every day. 

I love you all!!!!
Calvin

Next email:

The package is from us and the young women, we did it for an activity last Wednesday.
Don't you burn a tie or something when you've been out for 6 months? It's pretty close!!!
Then I think you burn a shirt at a year.
And a suit at 18 months?
But don't take my word for it *grin*
I was doing the calculations too, and you're at pretty close to 5 months. *big smile* You're right, it doesn't seem like that long and it's going by fast.

Momm, you are right, it is going fast, but at the same time it is going SOOOO SLOW!!!! It's just wierd. AWWWW!!!! Sophie is so cute! I hope she continues to be so awesome! Tell Dad I'm sorry I couldn't write him more, even though I said I would, we have no time! Love Calvin **  A word about burning clothing. It is traditional for missionaries in a lot of places to mark the time they have been on their missions. When Todd was on his mission, they burned a tie at 6 months, a white shirt at a year, pants at 18 months, and some guys would burn a suit at the end of their mission. I have noticed that missionary clothing wears out at about those times. It might seem a waste to burn a suit, but you have to realize that they've worn that suit pretty much every day for 2 years, so it might be worn out by that time. Todd didn't burn his suit when he came home. He wore it for the next 16 or so years (though just on Sundays for those years so it lasted a lot longer!) and then he gave it to Calvin to wear.