23 September, 2013

Momm,   Well, this week was full of miracles! We had to do splits with another Elder so his companion could go to the temple with a recent convert, and it was super fun! we did our studies in the chapel, and got to sing our morning hymn with the piano!!! But the best part was that we walked out of the sacrament room, and saw half of the chicoutimi branch!!!!!! We flipped out, saying hi, and catching up with all thats going on!! I was soooooo happy!!! So, thats one of the miracles we had this week. One of the others was our less active friend brought us to his friends house to meet his friend who is now a new investigator. Then, the next day [another] investigator came to church and LOVED it!!! That was super cool! We also had a potluck, and TONS of less actives that werent there at church came to the potluck! I was SOO happy, and astounded. It was a great success! So, our week has just been FULLLLLLL of miracles! Oh yeah, one of the less active ladies has us walk her man eating dog at night, which is really fun, because the dog is super nice when you both are away from her owner! Super fun! [Sounds like Bailey, so he has had lots of practice! Maybe he should bring treats?] Oh yeah, I got into a bike accident this week. [WHAT? These are not the things mothers like to hear!] I paid the price for the follies of my youth. [Um, not quite, but good try.] We were racing on a dirt track, and I was on a street bike. So I have some small scratches all over. Figured Id tell you since its an interesting thing that happened this week. Dont worry momm, I think i learned a lesson. (or did I) So, that was the week in a nutshell. Oh yeah, we challenged one of our investigators to quit smoking this week! She gave us all her cigarettes and her lighters as well! I have been contemplating making a lighter bandolier from all the people we help stop smoking, and having each person sign their lighters. Maybe... Anyways, things are going super well! My companion plays D&D, video games, and loves nerdy things, and we found an investigator who is SUPER into stuff like that, so Im having tons of fun! Love you!!! Keep up the good work!!! LOVE!Calvin

Pictures!

I hope his companion is taking this picture! And Calvin is driving!? Eek!

I'm assuming this is a road to Chicoutimi.

Waiting for the ferry to Rimouski. If the ferry was closed, Calvin had to drive from Chicoutimi to Quebec City and cross the river there, then drive all the way back up the other side to Rimouski. This ferry is at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River.

Yay! The ferry!

A book vending machine on the ferry. I have never seen one of these before.

The steak and lobster dinner Calvin promised his fellow missionaries.

I'm assuming this is a picture to show the white pull tab in case someone is stuck in a trunk? You get some WEIRD pictures from your missionary sometimes!!!

The Last Three Weeks

3 September, 2013

Momm,

 Well this week was interesting. We had to do exchanges with 3 teams this week, the assistants, drummondville, and lemoyne. I was in our area for 2 out of the 3 of those days, so I got to learn the area better. Transfers came, and [my companion] is leaving. So, I will be receiving a [new companion]. I have heard a LOT about him, because he served in Many of the same areas I served in, and trained one of my former companions. So I'm excited to have him. I'm super excited about one of the Less active members who is here in Longueuil that we are working with. C'est un homme avec un temoinage fort de Jesus Christ et Dieu. On a haut parce que il a confie beaucoup des choses en nous pendant notre lecon. On peut mieux l'aider fortifier son temoignage de l'eglise et nos prophets. Il a beaucoup de potential d'etre un detenteur de le pretrise formidable!

Okay, so basically he says the less active member has a strong testimony and he asks lots of questions during their lessons, and they're working to strengthen his testimony of the church and our prophets. He has a great potential to be a strong priesthood holder.

  Est-ce qu'il y a des membres moins pratiquant, ou des familles partiellement membres que je peut ecrire pour les aider? J'ai beaucoup pense a cela

He wants to know if there are less active members or part-member families in the Greene Branch that he can write to and perhaps help them. He's been thinking a lot about it. Then he shared one of his concerns and how he wants to help - and admonished us to be better missionaries ourselves.

[I am so grateful that Calvin cares so much about these people he has come to love, and that he is realizing the blessings of the Gospel. I have seen great blessings in our lives this year because of living the Gospel. For those of you who read this, and have questions, please feel free to ask us about what Calvin is doing and why we feel it's so important. Yes, missionary work is about preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is also about teaching people about who we are. Should you be worried that we will try to convert you to our religion? No. Not at all. My main goal with this blog is to share what Calvin is doing, and to let each of you see how his life is changing while he is away for two years. If you have questions, we will answer them as best we can.]

Mama, Papa, et mes soeurs, je vous aime!!

Avec tout amour

Mom, Dad, and my sisters, I love you!

With all my love

9 September, 2013

Hey Momm!!

  Donc, cette semaine était tres occupe, on a fait beaucoup des choses. Avec les transferes, on a fait un reunion de zone, puis un echange, et on a eu beaucoup des autres choses. [Okay this week was really busy, we did a lot of things. With transfers we had a zone reunion and an exchange, and a lot of other things.] I gotta do this email in english to be fast. So, I have a new companion, and he has a lot of energy. He is driven to keep this work moving forward. He already served in this area, so he already knows everyone here, and he has some ties that could help us in the long run. We are VERY busy now. We have one investigator who we are trying to help stop smoking, but we feel she could get her date for baptism. She even CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!! We were soooooo excited, and one thing that helped her out was that there was one family with one little child who was super excited to see her there, and they kept smiling at her in sacrament meeting, and making her feel very welcome. So, I was super greatful for that. We also had a less active brother come to church again!!! So that was super cool!!! We are making progress with our area, so we are excited about that, and I hope we can get things really going. [My companion] is bound and determined to bring all his former investigators and friends in the ward back into the fold. I'm excited to see how all this will turn out! 

 Yeah, so thats' the life of a missionary, pretty repetitive. Well, I hoep all goes well, for all of you, sorry this letter is short but we have lots to do!

  Momm, know how I love you, and that I think of you often, and I hope that all goes well for you! 

Love!!!!!!!!!!

Calvin

16 September, 2013

Momm

So, this week went well. We are SUPER busy. [My companion] is FULL of energy, and love for the work, and this ward. Its super cool because he served here before, so he is finding all his former investigators, and all his converts, and we are working super close with them to get them to come back. Lots of them are reacting really well, and are becoming super solid investigators. so, big news. Well, our Hatian investigator is doing really well. She is committing to stop smoking, and one of the other members, who is Hatian, helped us a lot during the lesson we had with her. We are REALLY excited about her. The other news was we were SUPER close to helping our excommunicated member quit smoking. SOOOO close! But he just needs a little bit of time. So, we are going to keep working with him on that. One of our other investigators, has accepted a date for baptism in january, but he just left for vacation for 3 weeks. Argh! But, we will have plenty of time to work with him when we get back. Oh, another miracle was that we got in contact with our investigator from mexico, who we lost contact with for almost a month, but we just found again!!!!!!!! We have another rendez vous with her this week, so we are SUPER excited about that. also, we met this kid, who thought we were TJs and we said we were mormons, and he was like, I wanna be a mormon, so we were like COOL! when can we come over, so he gave us his adress and phone number. SOOOOOOO Cool!

Momm, and family, 

know that I love you

I think about you often, 

but not tooo often!

LOVE!!

Calvin

So that brings us up to date so far! Sorry it's been 3 weeks! But Chantal did start BYU Idaho in there and I cannot believe how many phone calls and texts it takes to get a college student settled, and her schedule figured out - because one of her professors said she should take this 4-credit class NOW and she had to drop two 2-credit classes to make room for it. AGH!