16 December, 2013

Momm

 Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for the presents!!!! And, now that you sent them to me, I might just have to hand deliver them, OH DARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) [Calvin had asked us to send some gifts for a family he knew. We sent the family's gifts in the package with his gifts, to save money on postage.] I am sooooooooo happy, because this week quite a few people progressed in our area! Oh yeah, I went on a split with [the other Elder from our Stake] this week. That was a lot of fun. We had some crazy miracles this week. Here's one:  so we were walking down the street, and we suddenly had the idea to make cookies for our investigator whom we haven't seen in a while.  So, we quickly made a mental inventory and came to the conclusion thaat we needed some chocolate chips. So we passed by the woman's house to see if she was home, but she wasn't. So we went back to the end of her street to get on the bus, and we saw this supermarket. Now, we are in the middle of Chinatown. There are only chinese supermarkets which are full of weird creepy sea food, and odd spices, and nice old Chinese women. So, this was a Chinese supermarket, but we were like, maybe just maybe they have choc chips. Now that I think back, that wasn't the brightest train of thought, but we were in a "let's follow the spirit" mode, so we went. We went in for 3 seconds, and said hi to everyone as custom, and this woman accosted me and was like HI I know you! turns out she had overheard me talking about religion with this other guy on the bus and she was super interested, but didnt want to butt in, so she left without saying anything. So now we meet her in this random Chinese market looking for chocolate chips (which they didnt have btw). So we got her number and now I think the sisters are going to contact her. Wow. The LORD is there, and He knows His sheep!!!!!!

 Hey, i love you all, and Christmas will be over skype at this less actives phone. I have no idea right now when we will call. probably early to late afternoon.

I love you ALLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all have a great christmas

Love

Calvin

9 December, 2013

Hello all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  So, this week was interesting. We realized early this week that the person with a baptismal date had that date THIS WEEEK!!!!!! So, it was a scramble to get things ready, and then she cancelled the baptism. So, that was a bit of a releif, because I didn't want her to get baptized that fast, however, I do feel she is ready to be baptized, I am not sure if she is ready to be an active member of the church, which is what we want. So that took up a large part of our week. Oh, momm, so [the other Elder from our Stake] is my district leader, If i didnt already tell you, and this week we are going to be going on splits together. I hope it goes well! Umm, apart from that, I am just trying to get to know the area, the bus routes, the investigators and less actives, the members. Etc. But this week had a rewally crazy fun side because we had a ward activity for Christmas, and the Ward decided to get creative with it, and made "A Night In Bethlahem." So, basicaly we all dressed up as if we lived in Bethlahem, and went to the Gym, wherein the place was done up like it was a marketplace in Bethlahem. So we ate food that was from the time, and location (which was all really good, btw) and then we had little activities to do, like look up your  name in Hebrew, and learn what a carpenter did, etc. It was a huge success, and at the end of the activity, certain members acted out the Nativity while the rest of us sang hymns. It was super cool! I got a few pictures.

  I am going to ask president about taking videos on your mission, because apparrently he did that or took recorkdings for his journal entries, and I thought that would be a cool idea for my journal. anywho, I love youy all and will talk to you all later!

LOVE!!!!!!
Calvin

Back in Ottawa

2 December, 2013

Hey all!!!!

 So, I am FINALLY BACK IN OTTAWA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!!!!! It's been quite a start as well! We have a baptism coming up this week, and they are soooo cool! Also, bus contacting on the bus is sooo boss! Not much to report now, except I feel wierd being in english.... But I love it. So, momm, I am in the same district as [the other Elder from our Stake] and all the District leaders in my zone are people I know super well, and love a lot, so this is going to be all fun and hard work this transfer. Oh, tell dad that I got to eat with a legit concept artist who moved the dayafter. NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lord just wants me to have emails, but nothing else!!! But we had a cool discussion before he left, and he showed me a little bit of his work. So that was cool. The game he is making looks fun. Its about cowboys who fight demons in gladitorial arenas. 

Anywyas, i love you all soooooooooooo much, keep up the good work, and I will send pictures soon!

Calvin

Transfers

25 November, 2013

Hey all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 So, this week was really fun. we were on splits just about all this week, so I served a day in the spanish area ( I felt like a greenie again) and then I went to montreal with one of the assistants. So, I was out of my area ALL this week. Also, we had a zone training meeting this week as well, which was SUPER special and sooo spiritual. So all that was incredable. But, I was out of my area ALL WEEK!!!!!! Geeze, but it was fun. We also got transfer calls this week, and I am going BACK to Ottawa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and serving with one of my BEST friends on the mission, so I am all sorts of excited! They split the Ottawa zone in half, and I get the half with CHAPEL HILL IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  [Chapel Hill is the first area he served in.] AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Also, [another Elder from our Owego Stake, who is serving in the same mission, but who is Mandarin speaking] is going to be in my zone, in the new mandarine areas, that were just started last transfer! This is going to be an interesting christmas!!

  However, I am soooooooo sad to leave the RIV SUD. I am going to miss all these people here. But, I have many emails, and I will come back to see them after my mission! I have to ! Its a sin if I dont, i live soooooooo close! Any ways, now I just have to make sure my luggage is less than 50 lbs, otherwise I wont be able to go. 

Hope you all are having a wonderful time! 

Momm, I love you!! keep hanging in there!

Chantal, study hard, and keep being awesome! 

Love

Calvin

What a day!

After a night of being up with a puking child, and about 2 hours of sleep, I got this email from Calvin. I happened to catch him while he was typing his emails, and messaged back and forth a little bit about his application to BYU for next Fall. We need to make sure he has been accepted to BYU before we send all the portfolio things for him to apply to the illustration program, so I have been trying to get his general BYU application finished before the end of this month. I also got photos, but I can't post any of them because they have his companions and fellow missionaries in the pictures. Sorry. :-(

So, Not too much by way of News.We had a few people come to church for the second time this week, which was AWESOME!!!! and we had a crazy baptism situation, where we didn't have the key to fill the baptismal font, and by the time we got it, it was REALLY late to fill the font, but we started boiling water for the font, and filling it up as fast as we could, and in the end we got the font filled with water that was actually almost too hot!! We were so happy and we had an investigator and less active show up to the baptism. So, that was the big thing, besides that we learned at the feet of a seventy today, which was FOU!!!! Sooooooo crazy! That was our week, Elder Piper, Service, baptism church. Eat breathe sleep. So cool! 

So that was essentially this week. 

Happy Veteran's Day!

Hey momm!!!

 So, this week was super awesome!!!!!!!!!! We had an investigator come to church who is super solid, and we are hoping that he will [make] a date for baptism soon! we also had a miracle where a less active member showed up to church this week, and he brought his two little girls with him! He wants to come back, and when we visited him this week, after he committed himself to come to church, we asked him, `would it be alright if we called you this week?`and he said yes, but take my word that I will be there, I am a man of my words and if I say I`ll be there, then I`ll be there!  so that was super awesome! we are so excited because the sisters in our ward have a baptism this week, and it looks like she will be super solid. She has been coming to church for a while now. so thats exciting. as well, we have had miracles with another less active man. he came to church this week, and he sang in the choir, and is doing really well. the members are doing a FABULOUS job with fellowshipping him. they invite him to family home evenings and stuff like that. Also, the guy I told you about last week, who showed up to the church and took us being here as his answer, we finally saw him this week, and he is set with a date for baptism for the 1 febuary 2014, which is his birthday!! right now we are trying to get him transfered to the ward closer to his home, but he wants to go to our ward, and be baptized here, so we will see how that works out.

Also, we had a super awesome mission leadership council with a member of the 70 there. It was one of the most powerful expiriences I have ever had!!!!!!! He opened up to doctrine and covenants section 1 and explained how the Lord`s vision is that all men and women speak in the name of the Lord, as moved by the Holy Ghost. It was a super eye opener! The spirit was soo strong there. The work of the Lord is moving forward faster than ever!!! 

  I hope that all is going well, know that I pray for you all, and that I think of you often.

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

Calvin

Yay! Another Update!

[I have started with the letter I got today, and put the last two weeks' letters after today's.]

4 November, 2013
Hellllooooooo everybodyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Momm!!!!!!
So, this week was crazy!!!!!!!!!!! We had such SUPER spiritual expiriences!!! I will try to get the best ones that I can remember. So, Tuesday night we were sitting in the chapel after a lesson there, and we were trying to make calls, but for some reason we could not stay focused. We were talking, then would remmeber to do our calls, then we would get sidetracked, so basically we spent an hour trying to do these calls, and finally we were like `OK, last call then we gotta leave` Then after the call, someone knocks on the door. We are like `ok, just a member who doesnt have a key`. so we let him in. The first things he says are Hello, I was receiving the missionary lessons from the sisters two years ago, but I couldnt get baptized because of a delicate family situation, but now things have changed, and i want to get baptized. So we were like OK' we can help you!!! And as it turns out the best part of this story is that he had left work that day, and prayed to Heavenly Father, and said `ok Lord, today is the day, I am going to the church, and if someone is there today to tell me this is the true church, then I will take that as my sign to join that church. `and we were there when he showed up. HOW CRAZY IS THAT????????????  So, we are going to take it slowly with him. 

  Another story, earlier that same day, we FINALLY got a lesson with this woman, and we brought one of the brothers that we dont usually go out with. Turns out he was PERFECT. he was doing really well helping us explain things and at the end he asked her if she would like a preisthood blessing and she accepted, and it was a VERY powerful experience. And, she CAME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited, and I hope all is going well at home, and abroad, sorry today was so short, but we have little time to write. 

I love you all!!!!!!!

Calvin 

28 October, 2013
Momm, 

So, what happened this week... tons happened this week, we had splits with some other missionaries, we had a really good stake conference in the presence of Elder Olsen, our area seventy, and we had one of the most spiritual mission leadership councils I have ever had in my life!!!! Mission leadership council is when the Mission President, the Assistants and all the Zone Leaders get together to talk about the mission. i love every second of it! This one was good, because president talked about what he learned in the mission president`s seminar with Elder Nelson. He said it was amazing, and shared what he learned from it with us. Wow, we have a lot to talk about for this weeks zone training meeting. I`m looking forward to it. 

 Then we had some amazing miracles yesterday! After stake conference, we went and had a lesson with a kid. That was a good lesson, and I feel like my comp taught in a very unified way. Then, we went to a less active`s house for another meeting. This was one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever had in my life. This man is ``the most active less active you will ever meet`` to quote Elder Christensen. We showed him this video   http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/members-and-missionaries?lang=eng

and he loved it!!!! We also showed him where he can find alll the Motab songs online, and he LOVED it!! He called us later to thank us again! Sooo cool! 

 Momm, Know that I  love you, I think of you lots, and make sure you keep doing awesome , fun things! 

Chantal, I love you!

Love!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calvin

21 October, 2013

[I should preface this with a few comments. I have started to write to Calvin AND Chantal, and another friend of ours, so my letters to Calvin have expanded a little. Also, I used Google translate to translate this because my brain hasn't been very well lately so I can't really think to translate, but I did edit the translation a little so it made more sense. :-) ]

Momm, 

  Jèspere que toute va bien pour vous toujours. Chaque semaine je suis TRES reconnaissant pour tous l`aide que Dieu vous donne. C`est incroyable pour moi! cette semaine etait tres bien! On a eu un neauveau Dirigeant de mission de paroisse la semaine passe, et il a lu toute les manuels au sujet de cette appel. Aussi, il a lu le hauter l`ouvre du salut ( hastening the work of salvation) et precher mon evangile, et il est le meilleure dirigeant de mission de paroisse que jài eu depuis un longtemps! On a haut de travailler avec lui! Aussi, on a plannifie le baptême. C`etait formidable! un des choses qu`il nous a dit c`est qu`il veut que nos amies de l`eglise sont enseigne chez les membres. Ca sera TRES bon pour nous parce que avec ca on va avoir les amis chez les membres ( qui peut etre les fellowshippers pour eux) ou ils peuvent ressentir l`amour que les membres ont pour eux. ca va aider les membres aussi de ressentir l`esprit travaille a travers eux. Je peut temoigne que cette esprit que les membres vont ressentir ( et vous aussi) est l`un des plus grandes sentiments qu`on peut jamais ressentir. Je l`ai ressenti! Combien des amis de l`eglise est-ce que les soeurs (et les elders) ont maitenant? Est-ce qu`il y a des amis qu`nous pouvons inviter chez nous pour un souper, ou un soiree familiale? Ca sera un bon excuse d`en avoir! 

  En tout cas, cette semaine on a eu des beaux expiriences avec l`esprit. On a passe chez un potentiel apres que on a prie pour savoir ou on dois aller, et il a accepte un autre rendez vouz! L`oeuvre progres! Oh! Et on a eu un lecon avec notre amie, C`etait tres bien passe! Elle veut se faire baptiser. Mais la lecon etait un miracle parce que ca fait 3 semaines qu`on l`a pas vu! Et, ELLE EST VENU A L`EGLISE CETTE SEMAINE!!!!!!!!!!! AAUUUGGHH! 

En tout cas, merci pour tout vos corriels! Je vous aime!

I hope that all goes well for you always . Every week I am VERY grateful for all the help that God gives you. It `s amazing to me ! this week was very good! We had a new ward mission leader this week, and he read all the manuals about this calling. As he read the Measuring Up's work of salvation (Hastening the work of salvation) and Preach My Gospel , and he is the best ward mission leader that I've had in a long time! I'm excited to work with him! Also , it was baptism Plan with [an investigator and the new ward mission leader]. It was great! One of the things that he told us is that he would like the investigators to be taught in the homes of the church members. It is VERY good for us because with this, the investigators will have friends among members (who may be the fellowshippers for them) or they can feel the love that members have for them. it'll also help members to feel the Spirit working through them . I can attest that this spirit that members will feel (and you) is one of the greatest feelings that we can ever feel . I felt it! How many investigators do the sisters ( and elders ) have now? Do they have investigators that we can invite home for dinner or a family home evening ? It will be good to have an excuse to invite them!

  Anyway, this week we had some beautiful experiences with the spirit . We went to a potential after we prayed to know where we should go, and he accepted another appointment! The work is progressing ! Oh ! And we had a lesson with an investigator and we took a member with us and that went very well ! She wants to be baptized. But the lesson was a miracle because it's been three weeks that we haven't seen her! And SHE CAME TO CHURCH ` THIS WEEK ! ! ! ! AAUUUGGHH !

In any case, thank you for all your corriels! [Yah, see, Google translate had no idea what this was either] I love you!

Hey I love you all!

Chantal, work hard, and have no fear! Study hard, and get to know your teachers! They have TONS of info for you! 

Momm, LOVE YOU!!!!!

Calvin