Almost 10 months!

 25 March, 2013
Dear Momm

   I'm so glad to hear that everything is going so well at home. Sometimes, when i read your e-mails, it just sounds like we are all BUSY! I just want to take some time and relax a little. But i guess that's because now I'm thinking in missionary terms, and all that driving you do is UNHEARD of here because of our klick limit. But I'm so glad that life is still going on really well for you. I want to tell you as well, that looking at it from an outside point of view, I can see all the work you do for us without us knowing of it. I want to thank you for spending so much time driving us back and forth, and taking little time for yourself. Thank you! 

  What is happening here? Well, on monday a bit of the usual, just drew art, wrote letters, had a lesson with [investigators]. they are pretty awesome, super nice, but they progress very slowly, so sometimes its frustrating. Then had a lesson with [another investigator]. Then had a dinner with the Branch president and his wife (they are SUPER awesome) and then had a lesson with [more investigators]. They are doing SUPER AWESOMELY!!!! With them, we taught them the Restoration, and they accepted it pretty well. We left them with 3 Nephi 11. And they READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But that's on another day. The next day was knocking in the afternoon (the worst time to go knocking) but we found a potential investigator. Then we had a lesson with a man who is working to get the priesthood (the second one, i'm not even going to TRY to spell it) [Melchizedek] then we went to choir and had a pretty good lesson with [a lady].  So that was the end of Wednesday. Thursday, we had district study, lunch, prepped for Correlation, had correlation with [a member], then took him to the house of this Hatian woman who is super nice, and talked about her son, who is a former investigator. She wants us to help him put his life in order since sports eat up most of his time.  Then we had  a dinner appointment with [members], then went to have english class with some Iranians. They are super nice! Friday was crazy as usual, trying to get a little bit of weekly planning in between TONS of appointments. Had a lesson with [an investigator who] gave me a Quebec flag!! [He] is from Colombia, and he only speaks spanish and a little bit of french. He collects flags, and I mentioned i was interested in buying one, so he GIFTED me one!!! This man is SUPER nice.  THen had a lesson with an older man who studied religion a lot, and a super cool member, who is also working to get the Melkchezadeck [hey, he tried to spell it this time!] priesthood. Then saturday was mostly passbyes, and knocking. and we had a lesson with [investigators]. Sunday was nice, did lots of passbyes that might have some future results, and then we had an awesome lesson with [investigators]. We answered lots of their questions, and then tried to commit them to baptism with a date. The coolest thing was the reason why they said not right now, we'll have to think about it, was because they understand how important baptism is. So we were floored by that. 

  That was our week. I won't get my package until next week, because we haven't gone down to Quebec in a while. like about a month. So, I'll get them on the 5th of April, or so. 

I love you lots, and hope all is going well for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE
LOVE
LOVE LOVE
LVOE

Calvin

Migraines and Catching Up

I've been dealing with headaches for a month now. These are more like the headaches I had last year before Calvin left on his mission: visual disturbances, confusion, getting words mixed up, not being able to focus or to concentrate, forgetting things, yah, that kind of headaches. I keep trying to remember to do this blog, but then I get distracted by other things and another week goes by. Time to write out a schedule and plaster it to the wall I guess. Ugh. Sorry you've had to wait so long for more updates.


March 4th, 2013 - I have to preface this with the fact that three people we knew died this week. Two were family (Patriarch Yeates was a distant cousin!), and the other one was the mother of one of our friends.
Momm, 

Thank you so much for the advice. It helped me out a lot! im so sad to hear that everyone died! I was dreading the day that Patriarch Yeates would die. I miss him a lot. But its ok, because he's probably preaching the Gospel on the other side with Paul, or Mormon, or someone cool like that. Hopefully he's teaching Uncle Kermit! I will miss Uncle Kermit because I never really knew him. But I will see him some day, Please do one of two things for me either1. give me an adress for Aunt Gail, or 2. Tell her that I love and miss her and that I think of her often (which is true, i thought about her this week just out of the blue, while we were knocking, I thought "I wonder what Aunt Gail would say to all these people who are rejecting us" it made me feel better). Tell [our friend whose mother died] that I'm very sorry, and I hope she is doing well! And give her a hug from me. 

   So, as for what happened this week? [My companion] said goodbye to everyone, We drove to Quebec, then I went on splits with [another elder], which was super awesome. The next day we went to transfers, we went to help the missionaries in St. Foi clean and organize their new appartment, Then went to pick up our new companions!!!!!!!!!!! I drove us out to where we were going to knock, and we got kicked out of an appartment building for the first time! YES! the next day we had zone study, and then we drove back to Chicoutamie, I was almost asleep the whole time, but I made it! I looked back in the truck, and everyone else was asleep, and I was like " ït's just you and me Lord!" so that was fun, the roads werent bad, so that was nice. 

  Then my companion and I really, all we did was a whole lot of knocking. we went to some areas that I hadnt worked a lot, like La Baie or Jonquiere. Found some potentials, and found this one guy who called us to repentance, to leave the Book of Mormon, and only go with the Bible. That was fun! I always wondered when that would happen to me. I'm feeling like I might want to know the Bible more, not to Bible-bash, but to keep good on President Nelson's promise that the missionaries can help others know the Bible better. So, one really funny story this week was our lesson with [an investigator]. we had invited [a member] to go and see [him] with us. So we were late getting there, because a car was flipped over on the side of the road, so traffic was bad, and when we got there, [the member] wasnt there. so, we exchange the usual pleasentries with [the investigator], and introduce my new companion, when the door opens, and there is [the member]. She says "Sorry I was late", and enters, and 2 other girls walk in the room with her! They were her two sisters, one of them I had never met before, because she had just got back from her mission, like just the day before. This turned out to be and amazing lesson with [the investigator], because we finally got him to understand why he needs to pray to know if the church is true or not! and he did! We didnt have much time to follow up with that, but we will try as soon as we can. 

   That is really all that happened this week for us, we are SUPEr excited for these upcoming weeks! A lot is going on, and we hope that the work will progress. 

I love you all and miss you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!

I hope that you all are doing well, living full lives, and having as much, or more fun than I am!!!!

Love!!!!!!!!

Calvin

Occasionally I will send Calvin a letter dictated to me by Sophie. Here is a typical letter and response:

Sophie,

I LOOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Love, your big brother, 

Calvin

Dear Calvin,
  Sophie dictated an absolutely adorable email to me and I hit "send" and the blankety-blank &*$#! program quit and lost the email. So let me sum it up: Dear Calvin, thank you VERY VERY much for the
letter you sent me with Spiderman and Shaun the Sheep and the stickers. I LOVED it! And thank you for everything else I've done this week (seeing the zoomobile, going to the zoo when I stayed at
Grandma and Grandpa's house back in December) and thank you for everything.

STUPID PROGRAM THAT QUIT AND ATE THE ORIGINAL EMAIL!!! It really was adorable!

*barbaric yawp!*

Love and hugs and kisses,
Sophie

Mwah! [followed by more kissing noises]

March 11th 2013

Hey Momm!!!!!!!!!!!

so, this week was kinda stressful. I had my first full week of being a senior companion, and as [my former companion] says "the first week you go through hell."So I'm REALLY glad it wasnt as bad as it really was. So, monday we cleaned the appartment, played ping pong, and generally didnt do much too exciting. After that we had a lesson with [an investigator couple], and then had an awesome lesson with a less-active who is working her way back. Super cool. The next day we had NOTHING planned, and the little bit we had planned fell through, so I panicked. We did some area book work, and then passed bye some potentials, which yeilded one new investigator! He is THE steryotipical Quebecquoi. He has a Bedain ben plein ( BIG, round stomache) a crazy accent, the facial features of what I think is a ethnic quebecquoi, a HUGE deep fryer (for LOTS of poutine), and a HUGE nikita. he was pretty open. The zone leaders also called us to say that they were coming over to do splits the next day. So, the next day we drove and hour and a half to meet them, and exchange. I got to split with [my former companion]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a wierd day, because everything he did was so familiar. I spent the day learning even more about missionary work. We had district study, which went ok. Then we went knocking, and did passbyes. then we ate dinner [with a family], who invited [an investigator], their friend, and another one of our investigators. Their family is SUPER into missionary work. Two of their children, are getting ready to go on missions, and they just had a daughter return from her mission, and another son on a mission to France. They are AWESOME!!! then we taught a lady with our branch president and his wife. That was a fun lesson, she talks A LOT so it was hard to keep her on track in the lesson. The next day we knocked, then taught a lady, trying to see if she will still be interested in the message. She said that she would read the Book of Mormon, but in 3 weeks, so we'll call her in about 2-3 weeks. After that, the day got HECTIC, because I planned things WAY too close together. So, we quickly ate at [a member's] house, with President there. Then BOOKED it back to the lesson with [the investigator couple], to which we brought two members. Then we BOOKED it over to our English class with two muslim people. They are SUPEr nice, and the english class is basically talking to them in english. The next day was also kinda crazy. We got stood up at a lesson with a member, then went tracting with that member, met some weird hippie kinda lady, then ate at that members house, then did weekly planning, had a lesson with [an investigator], then had a little more weekly planning, then went to teach a recent convert, Then taught [a man], who basically told us he didnt beleive that we had any authority to say his baptism was not valid. He said we had no authority because we havent studied the scriptures a lot. ( seminary, bible studies, etc.) So we testified that we know that we have been called of God, by a prophet, and then invited him to pray and read the Book of Mormon. The next day we had exchanges with the Elders from Alma.  Everything fell though that day as well, so we did a lot of knocking. (we brought a member to one of those appointments that fell through, I felt bad.) Then we taught another less active, Normand. The next day was Church, then off to have another less active, cancel on us, then we went knocking, found a super solid potential, who looked like she was just out of High School, and in Cegep. Then we taught two Muslims, and invited them to read the Book of Mormon, which they accepted. Then we went and had a conversation with a member who is being baptised into the 7th day adventist. So, we basically invited her and her boyfriend to read the book of mormon. [A member] and her mom were both there. I really want to be like that after my misson, helping the missionaries out.  Then we basically tracted the whole night. 

  It was a good full week, and I am SUPER happy, and trying to truly give my all to the Lord in this work. It's awesome!

 I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love

Calvin

P.s. No I havent seen any northern lights,(darn!) It's pretty warm, I'm driving, and yes the truck has a plug for the engine, but we dont use it anymore. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CANT WAIT TILL YOU HAVE POUTINE!!!!!!  [This was in response to some questions I had]:

So I have a few questions:
Have you seen the Northern lights yet?
Is it any warmer there this week?
Does your truck have a thing you plug in at night to keep the engine warm? You know, a plug out of the front of the truck?

I happened to catch Calvin online that day and I wrote this:

Dear Calvin,
  Yay! I LOVE Mondays! It sounds like you are very busy. I'll have to look up the recipe for poutine!
  I'm so glad you're keeping busy, and working hard.
  Have a great week!
Love,
MoMM

To which he replied:

NO!!!! DONT TRY POUTINE UNTIL YOU COME UP HERE!!!!!!!!!!! naw it really doesnt matter, but the best poutine is up here, but if you make a good poutine sauce, it's not half bad.

I know I've described Poutine before, but I'd recommend you google it on the internet. Poutine is a Canadian dish that consists of basically steak cut french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. Yes, this description is overly simplistic, so I strongly recommend you google it! It sounds yummy! The only problem I have now is our usual grocery store has recently discontinued cheese curds!! AGH!

18th March, 2013 - I think I wrote Calvin a brief note telling him that we had received a letter from President Cannon telling us that he was called to be District Leader, and asking us to support Calvin in this calling. About mid-week, I wrote him a brief note about how happy we are for him with this new calling, and I wrote some "motherly advice" - basically to serve the missionaries he's working with, counsel together with them, and not to get a swollen ego!! I met lots of returned missionaries who bragged about their being district leader or zone leader or assistant to the president, or just had egotistical attitudes about serving in leadership positions, and I vowed that I would teach my son that leadership is all about service, not power. I think the email I sent him is what he's referring to at the beginning of the email. I think! Oh, and I also started my email to him written in a style after the epistles of Paul. I like to get creative sometimes. *grin*

Dear Momm,

  You are an amazing person. You know what i need exactly when i need it, and you are willing to follow the spirit. I love you so much and I am glad that you are my mother for time and all eternity. You are an amazing person, and i;m so glad to get your letters (which are written in the MOST creative ways ever) that reassure me of your love! You give me news, you make me laugh, advice, council ,comfort, and love issue from your pen ( computer keyboard) with  grace and beauty, rivaling those words of Paul, Shakespear, and Isaiah, and surpassing them all in love. I never once doubted that you loved me, and thought the world of me. I cannot express to you in words how much that means to me how much you mean to me. thank you!!!

  Dont worry about the dislexyc brain thing, I am getting that too. I cant think of words, or I use words that dont mean what I want it to mean, or I use french or quebecquoi words instead of english words, my brain feels like a big mess! Sometimes I cant even express what I am thinking, or feeling, and that gets really annoying. Or I'll just randomly say out of the blue what i am thinking, and my companion wont understand at all. Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with me, but i know that if I just had time to draw, or paint my feelings out, it might make some semblance of order. Then I wonder if I'm crazy. But that's ok! So dont worry about your mind, we'll just go crazy together! 

   [Because Chantal will be leaving for college this year, I asked him if there were skills or things I taught him that were helpful to him on his mission.] Let's see... anything i can say i have been exceptionally greatful that you have taught me on my mission..... laundry, how to clean, how to figure things out that I dont know how to do, how to ask for help, how to cook and follow a recipie, how to follow directions, stuff like that. But there are a lort of things you can only learn once you are out of the house. [Isn't that the truth!] The biggest thing is to be able to make mistakes, learn, and be humble without being hurt by that process. 

  For Miranda's allergy problems, Just get her a super cool lookin' gas mask, and make it neon colors, and cool like that. That way it wont look stupid! I would wear one of those to school if i could, Oh! and paint the biohazard sign on it, and make sure it's a sleek, modern lookin one. Dad knows what I'm talking about, and i'm sure they sell ones like that that work. 

  You did a sidoku in 4 MINUTES?!?!?!?! WOAH!!!!!! 

  So, what is going on here? well, we have found 2 new investigators, who are super cool! they are a young couple (not married) and they are just super cool! they are easy to talk to, they are into all the things i am into, and they are super nice! They seem interested in the message, we just need to actually get to teaching them ( we've been focusing on just talking to them, de faire un connaissance-cant think of the phrase in englsh-)  [Yay! He's starting to be able to think in French!!! And the phrase means "making a friendship, or being friends with" and I know what he means about it not translating well from French!]

So that's all cool, sorry i havent written much this week, but I put more thought into it, so I hope that makes it awesome!

Love you all sooooooooo much,  and i hope your week is amazing!

I miss you!

Love

Calvin

Now I'm all caught up. Phew! I hope you're enjoying hearing from Calvin. It is evident to me that he loves what he's doing, and that he's happy to be there.

February 19th and 26th

Here is a "traditional" missionary food photo. It is my experience that all missionaries send such pictures home.

Hey Momm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, what happened this week? Nothing really big or exciting. We just saw the people we normally see, and taught, and went finding. We wanted to make a plan with one of our investigators to stop smoking. When he was first met by the Elders, he was smoking 75 cigarettes a day, and over the past year or so, he has cut down to about 30 cigarrettes, so he really wants to.

   So, some interesting knocking stories: 

 We knocked into this Quebecquoi man who was REALLY drunk. Like, he burst out into tears in the first 5 minutes of the conversation, and we didnt really talk, it was just him talking and talking, and I didnt understand a word of it, because he was so drunk. Then he got mad, then he started sobbing again, and I'm sitting here making plans of howw to run away, and making sure he has no weapons near him, etc. But it turns out ( as later explained to me by my companion) he was just really sad, and thought he was worthless. We testified to him that he was a son of God, and had value. He cried and hugged us, and then we left. [I keep this story in, because I have found that a lot of times I have made "snap judgements" when I don't understand what's really going on, and I really need to be better at not being so judgemental!]

 Later that day, we knocked on a door, and a man with long hair jumped at us, "Rawr!" With a big smile, then he looked very surprized, and ran back in the house, apologising as he went, to put a shirt on. All I saw was he didnt have a shirt on, which is normal in Quebec, but he said that he thought we were his "Blonde" which is the quebecquoi word for girlfriend, and he wanted to scare/surprise her, so..... We talked with him, and he was SUPER interested in our message. Like, prepared interested, but he said he doesnt want us to come back, because his blonde, with whom he lives, is athiest. AAARRGGGHH!!! he was so prepared,too! so we left him our # and a book of Mormon, and we hope he calls us back. 

   How many houses that we tracted smelled like pot? I can't remember. But, we had a super cool expirience with two guys. They were two students, one had dreadlocks, and the other was Quebecquoi. They both had tooks on, and dreads, so they looked like Jamacans, or serious Bob Marley fans. Oh, and the house REEKED of pot, and the posters they had up were of Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Bruce Lee, they had a Bob marley doll, and a Guy Fox mask in the window, a Soviet union flag (there seems to be a lot of those here) and a Quebec flag with pot leaves instead of fleur de lys,  and drawings everywhere. I loved that apartment, aside from all the profanity, and pot, I would live there. The discussion was pretty interesting, and they seemed mildly interested, and were really friendly. One was studying videogames, and they told me there was a video game college up here! I'm sooooooo tempted!

  Anyways, really weird week!

  The reason I dont send KALDT anymore is because this computer cant download it in a sendable formatt, so I send pictures instead, because my comp has a card reader! I hope that is a good trade. :)
  Love you LOTS!!!!! 

I hope everything continues to go well for you!
I'm doing great, dont worry!

LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Calvin

We had a really tough week last week. It seemed like everything hit at once, and was relentless. We spent time on our knees pleading for a feeling of peace and comfort and the knowledge of how to deal with various situations. So Calvin's letter was extra nice this past week, and we did feel his love very much, which is good because this week was very difficult too.

Momm,

SO, I guess your week HAS been crazy! Wow, I`m just mad I wasnt there to help you all out through all this! So I will try to put as much love, brotherly protection, and support as I can in this letter. I want to tell Chantal, that I am sooooooooooooooo sorry that BYU snubbed you like that. I`m sorry, and they dont know what they are missing. Oh well, their loss! You will do amazing things, and be an amazing person, and they will miss out! I`m not even sure I will really ever go there, There are lots of places offering better than that. anyways, go where the Lord tells you, follow your heart, and everything will work out somehow. [I need to add here that Calvin was rejected by BYU when he applied too. We have taught our kids that they need to have a Plan B, Plan C, and even a Plan D! Calvin stayed here at home and was able to finish his Associate's Degree, and graduate from BCC two weeks before he left on his mission. So in a way it was a good thing he was rejected by BYU. Chantal has been accepted - so far - by 5 other colleges she has applied to, and we're still waiting to hear from 4 more. Yah, she has lots of other plans.]

Secondly, Miranda, I`m soooooooo sorry. No one deserves to be another's whipping post. 

Momm, just do your best. You cant please everyone, unfortunately, but what you can do is say `Sorry`and not let it get you down. I hope this is giving you support. 

Sophie, I love you! 

Its interesting, but one of the questions I asked myself this week was `How are we ALL going to  live in harmony in the Celestial Kingdom, if there are people you REALLY dont care for who get there too! I dont know how it will all work out, but somehow it will. 

So, I guess I'll give you a little rundown of what happened this week, [our investigator] fasted for help in his journey to quit smoking, and he reduced the number of ciggaretts he smokes again!!!!!!! That was a cool miracle. Then at District Study, we found out that transfers was 2 weeks earlier than we originally thought, and this transfer is going to be 3 weeks long. We were the only ones in the whole district taken by surprise by this. And at transfers, [my companion] got transfered to Montreal, and the Island. I am staying, and becoming the District leader for our District. 

We met and taught some interesting people this week as well, but nothing too insanely wierd. Then I met a family who is investigating!!!!! Soooooooooo awesome! I hope they accept the Gospel! I love them already! 

I love you all, and hope that things get better. I wish I was there to help you all out, but if you do need help, just write, and I will try to write back as soon as humanly possible. 

I love you all very much, and hope that you all know how much I miss you, and how much I love each of you!

LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calvin