Hey Momm!!!!!!
We had a big week too! You know how missionaries fall asleep before their heads hit the pillow? that hasnt happened to me yet, but I am DARNED close. One of our investigators told me to go home and take a nap, which I did during my dinner hour.
So, we got the transfer calls this week, and I' going to be a Zone Leader in LeMoyen Rougemont, which is in Riv Sud. (south of Montreal) My new companion is Elder Baker. [GASP Zone Leader!?]*
This week we spent a long time out of our area. We went down to Quebec City monday, and had zone study tuesday, and did this MASSIVE contacting extravaganza. My companion and I contacted on a street corner for about 7 hours. That was fun, I got to meet many new people, and learn a lot about street contacting. [they posted some of the numbers from this contacting and it was astounding the work they accomplished. They contacted 10,000 people in one day!] Then we went to Alma on wednesday, which was fun. After we got home, [an Elder] taught us how to make dream catchers. Then we got back to our place thursday. We did service for this one lady for about 3 hours ( of painting, YAY!!!!!!!!!!) and she gave us dinner!!! Poutine and fried chicken !!!!!!!!!! then walked to our next appointment. I forgot a tie to change into, so i went the rest of the day without a tie. We had one lesson that night and then went home. The day after that Friday we spent about 11 hours in the sun about 9 of those was spent doing "service" for a golf tournament. They asked a service community center if they could get some volenteers to help them out, so we were reccomended. I was expecting to do some hard labor, and we had no way of getting there, because our truck's klick limit was cut. But the golf people paid for a taxi and we got there just safe. So then what happened? We sat at a hole each and watched people play golf to see if anyone got a hole in one. I was like "WHAT!?" That's all they wanted us to do. no one got a hole in one, and the golf course fed us lunch, which was nice. They gave us porc ribs, an eclaire, a really good baked potato, coleslaw, bread, and soup, along with a pepsi. We introduced ourselves as the missionaries the whole time, and I saw a guy there I had taught in Alma on splits. He was pretty happy to see me. [gee, how come I'm never asked to do service like that?!] Then we had to walk an hour home, because we didnt call any members for a ride. So we were super tired, and super sunburned. It was fun. Then we did some passbyes, and port a port. saturday was more service over at this guys house, who gave me a ghetto sword he made himself. Then we had a great lesson, then did some knocking, and went home for transfer calls.
sunday at church we sang in the choir and the lady we did service for came to church!!! Then [three of us] all bore our testimonies for everyone ( before the choir sang) Then church went as usual. We went and had a lesson (we almost got smurfed with 2 members yikes!!) and then did our weekly planning, and went to a house for dinner. after that we passed by some people, and I basically said goodbye to some of our investigators.
so that was this week
I am zone leader number 2. I have no idea whjat responsibilities I have, but I will effectively be a district leader for a whole zone.
Well, Love you lots!
So glad to hear sophie is ok, and that DAD GOT THE JOB!!! Chantal, felicitations! I hope college lives up to your expectiations, and fufills your wildest dreams! Miranda, Keep on being awesome!!!
I love you al!
Calvin
Calvin
* There are different callings that missionaries can have. Every missionary starts out as a
- Greenie, which means they are inexperienced in the mission. Usually they are called
- Junior Companions too, meaning that they have been out less than the other companion.
- Senior Companion - the one of the two who has been out longer - usually.
- District Leader - in charge of statistic reports for the district (remember that's from 6-12 missionaries usually) and does some training of missionaries in their district. I think Calvin went from Junior Companion to District Leader, but don't quote me on that.
- Zone Leader - in charge of districts, so anywhere from 12-30 missionaries? They are in charge of statistics for the Zone, and helping to train and encourage missionaries in their zone.
- Assistant to the President - usually the most responsibility a missionary can have. I'm not sure what they do, except help the Mission President acclimate new missionaries, drive new missionaries or perhaps transferring missionaries, work in the mission office, help to train missionaries in the mission.
June 17, 2013
Momm,
Dont you worry about writing me long letters since you were the ONLY ONE who wrote me. You dont have to worry about that anyways, because it takes me only 10 minutes to read my emails to you.
Well, here I am doing my emails on a MAC!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sooooooo happy! Everything is so easy and makes sooooooooo much sense!!! Anyways, yeah so we do our emails in the mac store, so I get to use really nice technology to do my emails now.
Here it is, South of Montreal, I'm having a blast here! My companion is super awesome. He was called here in French, but then President asked him halfway through his mission to learn Spanish, so he is one of the EXTREMELY few white guys here who goes home tri lingual. That's a big help too because our ward is HUGE, and it has people from EVERYWHERE. We have Hatians, latinos, Francophones, Africans, Quebecois, tons of different nationalities here, so tons of the members are bi or tri lingual. So, its a lot of fun. For example, we went to a dinner appointment with a spanish family, and the parents spoke french and spanish, and the kids speak french english and spanish. That is basically the story of this ward.
Oh, so we are in a four man apartment now, three anglephones, one francophone, two from canada, two from America, and one from Tahiti. [I count 9 people, but really there are only 4 missionaries in his apartment.] It's a lot of fun, and [one of the Elders] has started teaching me Tahitian. It's really fun. Let's see.. oh, one really crazy story this week, so this lady was contacted on our street right outside our home, and later that night, she knocked on our door at 10:30 at night. I wasnt there for that, but when I came in, we had another expirience with her. While we were training the District leader and trainer in our zone, they were both new at it, ( ok, the trainer wasn't, but we basically gave his greenie a run down of how things go) so , during that time, I heard this woman screaming " ouvre la porte! Ouvre la porte!" and banging on the window of this van. I thought it was some mom, whos kid had locked her out, but no, she was freaking out at the man she was staying with. It was so weird. Then, he pulls away, and she starts screaming at anyone who will listen about this. I see all this happen from our balcony at our coisplex appartment. So then, the next day, the sister missinaries talk to her on the phone, and she tells them that she has been kicked out of that guys house. So we go home, and we see the moving van, so we are like " ok, lets help her out." I didnt really want to, but [my companion] did, so whatever. So we go, and she is trying to get out as fast as she can, and she's freaking out at this guy, Who we think initially is the van's owner. Then he starts explainging to us that she goes from house to house, staying with friends, and boyfriends, and she doesnt really stay in the same place for long, because no one can deal with her personality. So, I'm thinking " ok, this guy is a social worker." Not true. So, the lady is bossing us around, trying to separate [my companion] and I, and trying to half do all the moving herself, and making us help her, meanwhile saying insults at the guy who kicked her out. Meanwhile, [my companion] is trying to call the sisters to get them out here so they can meet the lady. Then, she backs the truck to the side of the appartment so that we can start loading up all her plants into the truck. Then, she sees a friend and asks if she can keep drugs in her refrigerator. (she asked us before, and said they were syringes, and needed to be kept cold, and out of the blue, I just say "We dont have a fridge" No Idea why, but it just popped out of my mouth. We didnt want to keep those things in our fridge because, I didnt want her to have a reason to come back to our appartment, and we werent sure if they were really perscription drugs) So, then she started ranting at this friend, mostly because she is just freaking out in general, because she has no where to go, and anyone who doesnt help her out immediately, or shows hesitation at all at this point is against her, in her mind. So, she's getting herself worked up, and then all of the sudden we hear a huge CRASH. (oh, btw, by this time the sisters have JUST arrived) WE all look, and [the van owner] just backed the van into a fence, and almost drove it right through the house. We were like " what the.....?!" And the guy who owns the house is like "What is happpening to my house?!" The lady is speechless, and we are all trying not to just bust out laughing. So us and the sister walk around the corner of the street, to let things work out, and then come back when she starts shouting for us again. But, we got her loaded up in the van, and the sisters talked to her for a while, so it all went well. We got pictures of the fence too, we'll have to show them to you later.
Well, thus far, all is going well, and I'm excited to get to work.
I'm really sad to hear about Brother Owens!* He was a super awesome example for me, and I'm glad he will have the opportunity to teach others in the Spirit World.
Well, I hope you all are doing well!
Love
Calvin
*Brother Owens is a dear friend of ours who passed away. We have known the Owens family for almost 16 years. We have worked with them in our church callings, Todd has gone shooting with Dave, we have watched 4 of their 5 children grow up (their oldest son was on his mission when we moved into the branch). Brother Owens made these fabulous Molasses cookies for his Sunday School class. He served as Branch President when we were first in the Branch in 1997, he served on the Stake High Council, he served in his local Scout Troop. He loved the little children in the Branch, and was their truest advocate for love and affection. He loved to cuddle the babies in the Branch. Many a baby fell asleep on his shoulder - including Miranda and Sophie. I think his favorite calling was in the Nursery. And after branch social activities you could always find him in the kitchen doing dishes. His life was cut short by cancer, and we will sorely miss him. This little bit of writing doesn't do him justice, but how do you describe a spiritual giant of a man in a few lines? How do you describe a man whose life was filled with family and friends and a deep love for all of them? If the world had more Dave Owens in it, there would be a lot less heartache and sorrow and the very gates of Hell would rattle on their hinges.
25 June, 2013 - [notice this is a Tuesday! I waited all day long for a letter on Monday and it didn't come!!]
Momm
I am soo sorry that I couldnt tell you that i wouldnt be able to write, but they switched p-day and they did it the weekend before. so we had no idea. Anyways, things have been crazy because the Cannons are leaving this week. [The Cannons have served for 3 years in the mission. President Cannon has been a fabulous mission president, and his wife, hmm. How do you describe the surrogate mother of a few hundred young men and women, who also helps mothers who are worried that their son has warm boots for the winter? Yah, she's that amazing.]
So, to start,
Chantal FELICITATIONS!!!!!!!!!(confetti, fireworks, singing llamas) I am sooooooooooooooooooooo proud of you, that you SURVIVED high school!!! Agh! I'm gonna have to throw you a party when I get home, but know that I am celebrating up here! Go far, and keep it up! Well, what do you plan to do now? Well, go on to BYU i do, [Chantal will be attending BYU - Idaho in the fall. It's often referred to as "BYU I Do" because a lot of LDS young adults get married while they're in college, especially if they attend an LDS college] and get married, and have a billion kids, and be a world famous biologist, and discover the cure for cancer, and save the world!!! I am so proud of you! Keep going!
Miranda YOU ALREADY SOLD AN ART PIECE!?!?!?!?! where did that come from!?!?!? For how much??? I quote [my art teacher at BCC], " you can sell it, but NO LESS than $50" Oh my gosh I am proud of you!!!
Sophie HI SOPHIE!!!!!! I had a dream about you the other day in which you spoke fluent French because Momm had taught you. It was super cool! I love you lots, and I might teach you French when I get home, if you dont already know it by then!
So, this week was absolutly NUTS!!! we had TONS of stuff that was going on. We missed the missionary conference because we had a dinner appointment with some members and our baptismal committed was there with her whole family, so we missed it. The next day, we had a dinner appointment at her house with her, which was a super awesome surprise!! It was great because on ste jean baptiste day, we can't proselyte after 5pm because drunk crazy people come out at that time.
Other than that everything went well!
I will send you pictures next week! LOVE
Calvin
