Mother's Day Preparations

Calvin's French is progressing - as you can see by this brief message he sent me the week before Mother's Day. Missionaries are allowed to call their families twice a year on Christmas and Mother's Day. A lot of people have asked me if having my son on a mission is really hard, especially when they learn that Calvin can only email us once a week, and he can only call home twice a year. Yes, it is hard, but the Prophet Joseph Smith said:  “a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.” My parents and Todd's mother were taught by missionaries who made the same sacrifice with their families (back when there were only handwritten letters, printed photographs, and expensive long-distance phone calls), and we are so grateful for the sacrifices of those missionaries so we can enjoy the blessings that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings. We are an eternal family, meaning that our marriage is in force not just "until death do you part." We know that this life right now isn't all we have. We know that God exists, that Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Saviour. We know that this earthly life is another part of our eternal progression. We have seen Calvin grow from a boy to a man this past year - yes, he is almost a year into his mission, just another week or so! There are so many more blessings we enjoy from living the Gospel, and we are excited to have Calvin sharing this same gospel with others so they may enjoy the same blessings. Now on to Calvin's last few letters:

6 May, 2013
Momm,

Alors, dimanche on a l'eglise a 9h jusqu'a midi. on peut faire le skype a 1h ca marche pour nous. Mais, nous n'avons pas skype, on a google plus icit s'il te plait, ecris mois, afin qu'on puisse trouver un solution. 

amour

Calvin

Loose translation: "Okay, Sunday we have church from 9 until noon. We could Skype at 1. But we don't have Skype, we have google plus here. Please write me so we can find a solution. Love (the noun, not the verb) Calvin" So because Todd was at work, I called a friend who also has mac computers and asked him how to get google plus. I set up an account on my iPad and Tuesday we figured out how to work google plus. Ugh. Skype is so much easier for my brain!!

6 May - later in the day - I responded to Calvin's email:

Dear Calvin,
  Alors, j'ai télécharge google+ mais j'ai aucune idee comment le utilise. D'accord quand papa retourne de son travail, je peux lui demande comment le utilise. Ca suffit?
Je t'aime,
MoMM

Mind you, my French is pretty rusty, so I THINK I said, "Okay, I uploaded google+ but I have no idea how to use it. So, when Dad gets home from work, I will be able to ask him how to use it. Does that work? I love you, MoMM" I had to cheat and use google translate - because it's so much easier than getting up off the couch, walking into the next room to retrieve my French dictionary, and searching for the translation to "upload" - which may or may not be in my relatively current dictionary.

And he replied back:

MoMM

Je t'aime. c'est tres chouette quand qqn autre parler le francais! Est-ce que je peux faire mes corriells completement en francais? 

Calvin

"MoMM I love you. It's really fun when someone else speaks French! Can I write my letters (at least I think that's what he means by 'faire mes corriells') completely in French?" Hmmm. Though Todd took French, he didn't minor in it, so he remembers even less than I do. I don't think Todd would be happy if Calvin wrote all his letters in French.

Even later on the 6th of May:

momm,

So, this week was interesting. monday, we drove around with one of our investigators, because we didnt have our truck. we had a lesson with a girl who is super cool, she is studying art in UQAC, so we talk about art. She is also into D&D, and other nerdy stuff, and her boyfriend (who isn't interested but is very nice) has a heavy metal band. So they are awesome, but she didnt accept a baptizmal date. then we had a lesson with a less active member.

    Tuesday we did a lot of area book work, tracking down former investigators, writing potentials on a calander, all this good stuff.  Then we had a lesson with 2 investigators. one was our chaperone, which was great of him to come, because we couldnt find a member to come, and he lives about 20 minutes away. But [he] rarely ever says no to someone in need, unless you are asking him to get baptized.  The other lesson was with a [young woman]. it was interesting. She said that she would read the Book of Mormon, so we are excited about that. [Mom's note: when the male missionaries find a female investigator, they either take along another male with them so they are not alone with the female, they teach the woman at a member's home with their family, or they give the referral to the sister missionaries. The rules are for propriety's sake.]

   Wednesday, we did more port a port, [door to door] got smurfed (stood up). So that day was a lot of knocking and passbyes. 

   Thursday:  we had district study, then we had TONS of lessons that day, we had a lesson with [a young man], in which he said he would come to church, then one 20 minutes away frm that with a less active member, then a dinner appointment, and finally another lesson. oh, yeah, and correlation after district study with Frere Truchon. 

   Friday: We had weekly planning, then a surprize dinner appointment. That was fun! It was super informal, because [the husband] was out cleaning their pool, so we ate while [the wife] told us stories, and he would come in occasionally to ask something, etc. He is american, from texas, and how they met was pretty awesome. Now he lives up here, speaking ban quoi with an american accent. it's soooooooo awesome! then we had a lesson [with an investigator]

   Sat is a special day ,its the day we get ready for dimanche.... anyways, so ..... OH!!!!!! j'adore quand qqn d'autre peut parler le francais!! Particuellement quand ca cést MA MERE!!!!! WHOO! Je t'aime! [I love when someone else speaks French! Particularly when it's my mother!]

    So, saturday, we did lots of knocking, got cancelled, and did tons of knocking in really nice neighborhoods. 

   Dimanche well, we did more knocking then service at [a member's] house, and ate dinner there in service clothes, and had a fire while dinner was cooking. I love her house. then we had our lesson  cancelled, but we went over there to give them a retablissment video, and  we then talked with them for a while, and they showed us their balcony with this EPIC view of Chicoutimi. 

  so, all is going well here.

Alors, je t'aime, on va faire beaucoup de travaille, et on va essayer de baptiser tout sagunay! 

J'ai haut de parler avec vous! 

Salut!

Calvin

[I love you, we're working a lot, and we're trying to baptize all of Sagunay. I can't wait to talk with you - even though Google translate says 'I up to talk with you.']