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!

Gasp! I am actually posting the same day?!

I used Google Translate to help me with what Calvin wrote today. Here's what it said:


Hey momm!
Dont worry about Chantal! You Will Be ble to skype her EVERYDAY if you want to, or call her up on a phone. And email, and instant messages, and all lots of ways to communicate. It'll be WAY better than me on my mission. That I just hope she gets as much as I was growing expirience.
Ban, so this week was very busy, due to the fact that we had our conference area, aves of trade, then one of our missionaries had a temple trip with one of his converts, ca it was cool, but he was the third wheel in our group. But the week ended, and another that is occupied PLUS begins, because we need to do three exchanges this week, and it's called payment transfer this Saturday. Wow, talk about was alive. oh, so we board the area on Friday. it's crazy ... In any case, in our neighborhood, we focus on working with people less active. With that, we hope to find more friends. OH! Something cool this week was that we had a less active father back to the meeting of St. cene! It was very happy, and also his family. Everyone was atonne he returned. The Lord benis us this week! With i-pads, we do not know when we will have them. Personally, I hope it's after my mission, because I know there have many missionaries who will use it in a bad way, and I do not want to quibble with them about it. But that's life. It myself, I'm not perfect-plus. Momm, some things you can do as a family to help the missionaries is to invite people you know are interested in the church home for a party or a dinner, or some things like that, and then you can invite missionaries to us at the same time. It is how we give referances to the missionaries. Also, you can go with the missionaries to contact people who are less active we know very well. It will help them a lot. Even if there are Features that what has come over leglise and their tresa knows well, invite missionaries to go with you to this person, to contact him. Sorry for this little discourse about the missionary work, but now I understand that the members do not know what we must do as members to help the missionaries. Oh, also, be good friends with the friends of the church missionaries! Prompts them to dinner! It will help them a lot!
In any case, know that I love you! I think about you a lot, but not too much.
I love you!
Calvin
Oh, one of our less active, she told me to say that she said "your parents, they will be proud of you."

[OY!]

Here's what he wrote:
Hey momm!!!

Dont worry about Chantal! You will be able to skype her EVERYDAY if you want to, or call her up on a phone. And email, and instant message, and all sorts of ways to communicate. It'll be WAY better than me on my mission. I just hope that she gets as much a growing expirience as me. 

Ban, donc, Cette semaine était tres occupe, au cause du fait que on a eu notre conference de zone, aves des echanges, puis un des nos missionnaires a eu un voyage au temple avec un de ses convertis, ca c'etait cool, mais il etait le troisieme wheel dans notre groupe. Mais la semaine a fini, et un autre qui est PLUS occupe commence, parce que nous devons faire 3 exchanges cette semaine, et c'est l'appelle des transfères cette samedi. Wow, ca c'etait vit. oh, aussi on a le conseil de zone  ce vendredi. c'est fou... En tout cas, dans notre cartier, on se focalise sur le travaille avec les gens moins actif. Avec ca, on espere de trouver plus des amis. OH!!! Quelque choses cool cette semaine etait que nous avons eu un pere moins actif revienne pour la reunion de sainte cene!!! On etait tres content, et aussi sa famille. Tout le monde etait atonne qu'il est revenu. Le Seigneur nous a benis cette semaine!  Avec les i-pads, on sais pas quand on va les avoir. Personellement, j'espere que c'est apres ma mission, parce que je sais qu'il y aurais beaucoup des missionaires qui va les utiliser dans un mauvaise facon, et je ne veut pas chicaner avec eux a ce sujet. Mais, c'est la vie. Moi meme, je ne suis pas parfait non-plus. Momm, quelque choses que vous pouvez faire comme famille pour aider les missionnaires est d'inviter les gens que vous savez sont intéressé dans l'eglise chez nous pour un fete, ou un souper, ou quelque choses comme ca, et puis, vous pouvez inviter les missionaires chez nous au meme temps. Ca c'est comment on donne les referances aux missionaires. Aussi, vous pouvez aller avec les missionaires pour contacter les gens qui sont moins actif qu'on connais tres bien. Ca leur aidera beaucoup. Meme, s'il y a quel q'un qui ne vienne plus a leglise et on leur connait tresa bien, invite les missionaires aller avec vous chez cette person, pour le contacter. Desole pour cette petit discourse au sujet de l'oeuvre missionaire, mais maintenant, je comprends que les membres ne savent pas qu'est-ce que nous devons faire comme membres pour aider les missionaires. Oh, aussi, sois les bonnes amis avec les amis de l'eglise des missionnaires! Invites les pour souper!! Ca leur aidera beaucoup!

En tout cas, sais que je t'aime! Je pense a vous beaucoup, mais pas trop. 

Je vous aime!!! 

Calvin

Oh, l'un de nos moins actives, elle m'a dit de vous dit que elle a dit "vos parents, Ils vont etre fier de vous." 

I'm glad his French is coming along, but . . .

These last weeks Calvin has written to me in French. I am so happy his foreign language skills are improving,  however it has been 20+ years since I have spoken French at all on a regular basis, and my mind isn't what it used to be, so it takes me a while. (Plus my translator MOVED TO UTAH on me!! AGH!)

8 August, 2013
Momm,

 Donc cette semaine etait tres bien! On a trouvé quelque familles partiellement membre d'enseigner, ou ban d'essayer! Puis, on a eu un rendez vous avec notre dirigeant de mission de paroisse et avec le 2me conseiller de la college des anciens, donc, on a trouvé BEAUCOUP d'information. On a haut, parce que on a deux amis de l'eglise avec un date de baptême. Alors, l'oeuvre progrès tres rapidement. [Rough translation: This week was really good. We found some part member families to teach. Then we had a meeting with leadership and we learned a lot. (something) we have two investigators with a date for baptism. The work is progressing quickly.]

 Aujourd'hui on a tué un oiseau avec notre voiture. C'etait un peut triste mais on veut prendre d'avantage de cette situation. On va le prendre d'un marie d'un membre, et lui demander s'il peut taxidermie le oiseau. ca nous donnerais un occasion de parler avec lui, et on peut avoir un oiseau!! Dit a papa que il y a beaucoup des membres ici qui sont des artists! L'eveque est un concept artist aussi. I will continue in a sec  [Rough translation: Today we killed a bird with our car. It was a little sad but we took davantage of the situation. The husband of a member is a taxidermiste and we asked him if he would stuff the bird. It gave us an opportunity to talk with him and we'll have a stuffed bird! Tell Dad that there are a lot of members here who are artists. Our Bishop is a concept artist too.]

[As I was reading this and translating to the family, Sophie became worried about the little bird. "Was it a baby bird?" she wanted to know. We only had this first message, so I typed back to him. Then we got the second longer message below, and then this short message:]

Non, C'etait pas un bebe, c'etait un adult. Vous avez traduit le message tres vit! [No, it wasn't a baby, it was an adult. You translated my email very quickly! Okay, so maybe my skills aren't as rusty as I think they are, but for those of you who speak French better than I do, my translations are VERY rough. I have the greatest respect for those who translate our scriptures and our church magazines!!] 

Ok, Je suis encore la. Oui, on fait pas trop grand choses cette semaine, Plus les choses comme le porte a porte, et les passbyes. Pas beaucoup, mais on vois les fruits. Je peut voir les fruits, et la vision de cette paroisse.  Il va devenir tres grand. Des choses qui nous aide beaucoup c'est le fait qu'on a des dirigeants qui ont l'enthusiasme pour leurs appells. [Rough Translation: Okay, I'm back again. Yes we didn't do big things this week, just door to door and passbyes. Not a lot but we have seen results. I can see the work and the vision of this ward. (RGH!! For some reason this computer won't let me write the exact translation of the sentence!! GRRR!) It w i l l be (HAH! outsmarted the thing!) very large. The things that help us the most are members who have enthusiasm for their callings.]

  oui, mama, tout le monde part, mais c'est bien, ne t'inquiète pas, ils vont retourner. on va pas vous lesser tout seul dans le monde (mais vous etes pas tout seul, vous avez toujours papa) on va retourner, je te promis. Chantal va retourner, mais peut etre elle sera mariée. j'ai aucune idee. 

 En tout cas, je t'aime, je vous aime tous, et on va se parler plus tard. 

JE T'AIME!!!!!

Calvin  [Rough translation: Yes, Mom, all the world is leaving but it's okay, don't let it trouble you, they will return. No one will leave you all alone in the world (but you are never all alone, you always have Dad), we will return I promise. Chantal will return, but maybe she'll be married. I have no idea. In any case, I love you. I love you all and we'll talk later (when he gets home I'm assuming). I LOVE YOU!!!!!

*another mail later*

Oh, le nom de notre Eveque est Gingras. Si papa veut le rechercher. Il travaille a ubisoft, sur assasins' creed.

[The name of our Bishop is Gingras. If Dad wants to look him up. He works at Ubisoft, on Assasins' Creed.]

*and I didn't find this email until about Wednesday*

OH! est-ce que tu peut m'envoyer un recit pour calamari? Je vois les calamari chaque fois on est dans le magasin, et je veut l'acheter. Oh, et est-e que papa peut m'envoyer quelque photos de l'art de Jerry Beck? SVP!!!! Merci, je t'aime!

[OH! Could you send me a recipe for Calamari? (shudder, ICK) I have seen calamari every time we're in the store and I'd like to buy it. Oh, and could Dad send me some photos of Jerry Beck's art? Please? Thanks, I love you!]

19 August, 2013

Hey Momm!!!! 

   Well, all is going well here, wer are working hard, trying to get stuff moving in our area, and things are coming. We are seeing success, and I can see this area progressing. We've found TONS of Part member famillies, so we are trying to focus on them. 

  Il n'y a pas grand choses qui s'eppasse cette sermaine. C'est just qu'on fait notre travaille. Oh, on a eu in petit accident en moto cette semaine. C'etait just un scratch, donc, c'etait pas des choses TROP grand. on n'est pas blesse, on est tout en santé. Oh, notre zone a un autre district, donc ca nous donne 4 districts dans notre zone, et ca nous donne, comme 29-30 missionaires dans notre zone. Quelque choses comme ca. Plus de responsabilité, challyn, je le déteste, mais c'est fun d'avoir quelque choses de faire. Vous avez conduit un audi, SICK!!! C'est fun. Moi, j'ai conduit un jour cette semaine, et je suis un peut dessous, parce que je dois practiquer un peut plus. J'ai perdu beaucoup de qu'est-ce que j'ai appris a chicoutimi!! GRR. Mais c'est bien. Hier c'etait bien pour moi d'aller au reunion de sainte-cene, l'esprit la bas me manque pendant la semaine. ET, au reunion de sainte-cene, on a eu un membre excommunie venir !!!! Avec sa blonde!!! On etais TRES content!!!!! 

Momma, je t'aime, et tu me manque beaucoup!!! tous les membres de notre famille! Je vous aime!! 

Calvin

[Rough translation: Nothing big happened this week. Just working. Oh, we were in a little car accident this week. Just a scratch, so, nothing TOO big. We're not wounded, we're fine. Our zone has another district, so that gives us 4 districts in our zone and gives us 29-30 missionaries in our zone. Something like that. More responsibility, challenge?, I don't like it but it's fun to have things to do. You drove an Audi? SICK!! That's fun. Me, I drove one day this week and I am a little down because I have to practice a little more. I have lost a lot that I learned in Chicoutimi! Grr. But it's okay. Yesterday was good for me to go to a meeting. The Spirit will stay with me all week. And at the meeting, an excommunicated member came! With his girlfriend! We were very happy. Mom, I love you and I miss you a lot! All our family members! I love you all!]

It's August? Already?

I have no excuses. Just apologies. I'll have to admit to myself that I am not good at all at keeping up with this blog. I keep trying to do better and I do worse. Maybe I should try to do worse? Then I'd do better? Hmmm. I'm pretty sure reverse psychology doesn't work on me. In any case, here are the emails since July 4th (remember we went to Boldt Castle the week of the 4th):

8 July, 2013
Hey Momm, 

 So this week was really busy. apart from the baptism, it wasnt the best week in the world, but with the baptism it was!!!!!! I'm so excited that it happened, but I want to make sure she understands everything. We just gotta get those new member lessons going! So, super excited abut her! 

   We also have a baptism coming up in 2 weeks. Super nice guy, who truly wants to follow Christ. He was Muslim before, but he believed that Christ was the Son of God, instead of just a prophet, as most of the Muslim community does. Really cool guy, who accepts everything we teach him. 

  Other than that, things have been going well. I love my companion, and we are getting along really well. I just hope I can learn everything he has to teach me!

  It's been the same for the last while, tracting, lessons, DA's (tons, by the way), striving to be more obedient, and just loving the mission. Oh, this week, we went to Montréal for zone study, and to meet our new mission president. He is truly prepared. I was nervous that I wouldnt feel the same love for them as i felt for the Cannons, but that was quickly taken away. They are going to do a great work here. President Patrick is already stressing member work, and working with ward leaders. Luckily our Ward leaders are already super on the ball with everything! Members are sooooooo important, especially inviting investigators over to their house. And inviting friends to your house to eat a meal goes a long way! The person who was baptized this week was super prepared by the members, the members invited her over to eat all the time, they were right there for her the whole time. That is a missionary's dream member family. I just hope that when I get off my mission I can do the same!

  So, yeah going to Montréal was super fun! It's COVERED in graffiti tags, and pictures, and cool stuff like that. I will probably NEVER be a missionary there because I wont be able to pay attention to what i'm doing, I'll be so distracted by all the cool stuff going on around me! 

  So, I'm glad to hear all is going well at home, and that everyone had such a fun time at the castle! I was just thinking during sacrament and priesthood about all the things I'll have to do with you all when I get back! Especially spending time with the girls. I thought a lot about that only because they were talking about families, and stuff like that

Well, Love you all TONS!!!

Calvin

15 July, 2013

Momm

Ok, now for the real email!

So, those baptisms didnt work out. We have one whom will have to stop smoking for him to get baptised, but that's not bad, because he still wants to get baptised, and he is getting professional help to stop smoking. [I included this little bit because I think it is amazing that someone would pay the money to get professional help to quit smoking just so they can be baptized. This man must have incredible faith. And I am humbled that he is asking for help to overcome a habit that he cannot overcome himself. I think there are a few habits I could use help overcoming.] the other one is still on!

Well, this week was slow. We did TONS of knocking because all of our investigators went away for the week, but we found tons of cool people, and had one SUPEr creepy experience. I'll have to tell you about it when I get home, it's too creepy.** But, this week went well besides that. Last night we went to a meeting with the mission president, the zoneleaders of quebec zone, and the stake president and his councillor, and the stake mission leader, it was cool and they outlined for us what they want to do for this stake, and taught us about keys, and line of authority, and stuff like that. It was super cool. So, we got home last night, with our mission president's permission, at 10:39. The other elders in our appartment were worried about us, they had called and texted twice. 

  Well that's a look at my life now. I have just been thinking a lot about the blessings I have received from the mission, and I feel soooooooo blessed! One of the Elders, Elder Lucas, who is from tahiti, we were talking about who we were going to mary, and he was like, "You will marry a beautiful woman, that's one of the blesssings of your mission! that's how the Lord pays you back," and I was like , "Yeah,but he has ALREADY paid me back with all these blessings DURING my mission! " It's nuts. 

 tell Sophie that I think about her a lot, and I plan to spend LOTS of time with her, and do fun things with her! Did I twell you about the dream I had a while ago where I came back, and Sophie spoke fluent french? That was super fun! 

I am so glad your concert went well, and that everyone adored sophie! 

Is Chantal heading out to college soon? I hope she sends me pictures of her experience, and I cant wait to write her about it.

tell Miranda that I cant wait for her to blow me away with her next art work. How much did that guy pay her for the book?!?!

Love you!!!

Calvin

**I wrote to him about this experience and I explained that he cannot just say he had a creepy experience and leave me to wonder! Not that I necessarily WANT to know the details, just that I want to know he's safe.

22 July, 2013

Hey Momm!!!!!!

  So, that scary expirience, wasnt too too bad, it was just some creepy lady, that's all. It was just weird. But, off of wierd stuff, we had an ok week this week, goal wise. We had to do knocking, and passbyes, because our investigators were all out of town, but we did some Less active, recent convert work, which was great. it's kind of sad, sometimes, seeing people who got, or are getting discouraged with the church, but we still go over and see them. So, oh, we also went and blitzed another missionaries area. They have been having a hard time, because last transfer they dropped all their eternigators,** and now they are working with nothing. But they are both still super happy missionaries. So to help them out, we both went over there to work in their area, and we brought pizza! [pizza makes everything better] That was fun. Sunday was the most exciting, because all three of the most recent recent converts were at church, and one less active! So, that went well. However the biggest news is that we got our TRANSFER CALL!!!!!!! We are stayig companions, but swapping wards with another team of missionaries. SOOOO wierd, but I'm excited to start over with a clean slate, and get to work.  The members were kinda sad and confused, but we are going to split the other Elders so we can mutually get to know each others area. So, that is the biggest news. I'm super happy to hear that the girls want to go to church, now we just gotta get them there. [I explained that I had headaches the last two weeks, so the first week I didn't go to church, just stayed in bed and Todd didn't wake Miranda or Sophie up when he left, so they were both very upset when they woke up and their ride to church had left. Then I had a migraine at church and had to go home. It's difficult for everyone to go to church and to STAY at church when I have headaches like this.]

 Thanks so much for helping the missinaries out!!!!! I know how much we LOVE members that help out, so keep it up!!! 

I love you sooooooooo much, I hope all keeps going well, and i hope your migranes get better!!!

Love You!!!!!!!!!!

Calvin

**"eternigator" is someone who has been investigating the church and asking questions, and investigating the church and asking questions, but doesn't show progress towards baptism. Though the missionaries love them very much and do all they can to help them and to answer their questions, if they aren't committing to anything, sometimes the missionaries have to stop visiting them. Sometimes the missionaries will stop visiting for a while, and then start visiting again at another time.

29 July, 2013

Momm,

 Hello Everybodeeeeeeeee!!!! [He must have been channeling Grover when he wrote this. Sophie LOVES "The Monster at the End of This Book" and this is how Grover starts the book.] So, this week was pretty hectic, because we flushed into an area. So, when we got to work this week, it was filled with knocking, and stopping by member's houses, so we could get to know them. That was fun, but the rest of the week was full of zone and area orginizational stuff. Meeting with the 1st councillor, stuff like that. Then i had to give a talk this week in sacrament, and I was nervous that I wouldn't take enough time so my companion would have to fill in with a half an hour long talk, but I actually went way overtime with my talk. So i was happy that i could ramble on in French, but my companion and the other speaker only had 2-3 minutes each. oops. [MY son? Rambling on in French?! Wow!] Oh well, I was happy. So what else happened this week, oh, we had zone leadership council this week, so my companion and I got to go into montreal again. I enjoy montreal, it's full of graffiti, and is super busy. However, I dont think we should drive on the island if we go, because drivers are HYPER agressive. Busses will literally cut you off even if you are  halfway through passing them, and they won't care. Zone council was cool. President wants to turn our mission into a mini Utah, where missionaries don't tract, they just drive from lesson to lesson, getting referrals along the way. Also, president cracked down on rules, such as you can't learn another language on your mission, unless you are called in that language. So I packed all the Hatian Creole stuff I had been reading away. Momm, I highly reccomend you pick up Hatian Creole, it's SUPER easy. It's just like French, but NO conjugations. It's cool! Anyways, I'm in an appartment with 2 spanglephones, and one white kid who was called in spanish in addition to french. so, half the conversations are in spanish, and sometimes the Spanish elders bring home leftovers from their spanish [dinner appointments]. 

  Momm, dont worry about me. I'm fine, I wont get run over, I always look both ways before walking, I mind the pedestrians..... I'll be fine. :) We arent even NEAR trains. (however, one did explode near here, causing the biggest train wreck in Canada history)  [yah, I read the news about that and IMMEDIATELY found a map and looked up where it was. I was very sad to learn that so many people were missing or had already been accounted for as dead. Such a tragedy, and in a small town. I was heartbroken for the people of the town and their families.] And IF i die, I WILL visit you as a spirit, and I will say sorry, and you were right, etc. but until that day comes don't worry. I love you too much to be THAT careless. I promise that i follow the rules of the road, according to my knowledge. My companion too. The only things I'm struggling with are speaking my language, and getting to bed on time, and I think that's it. 

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

Keep going well

Work hard!

Kick the missionaries out after an hour at the house!

Help them out as well!

Do your home teaching!!!!!!!! and visiting teaching!!!!!! I'll tell you, LOTS of our problems would be solved if members did their home and visiting duties!! 

Love!

Calvin

5 August

Momm

  THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they made my day!! I'm glad Sophie loved her toys. It's really funny, but when I went to the post office to send the package, (we had to do it on a day other than P day, because we were super busy) and while we were there, immediately this guy walks up to my companion, and starts reading his tag. My comp's tag is in spanish, so non one, but spanish people can read it. It's super effective for finding people! So, my companion starts contacting this guy, and the guy starts to go off about how Elijah and Jean the baptist had something no one else did, so we got his number. [I left in the French spellings. :-) ] Meanwhile, another lady, who was quebecoise, and she started speaking to all of us in perfect english aboput God, and all that. Then this other guy walked up to us, while these other two are going off about some stuff, and he said, "you mormons?" We said yes, and he said "good day" and walked off. It was such a cool experience! So, thanks for letting me know it was Sophie's b day!!!! Umm.. I will write more later, the mac dude is kicking us out. Bye! LOVE!!! [They write to us from the Mac store in their area. Blessings on that Mac store, wherever it is! May their business triple!]

*later that day*

So, I'm back, what else happened this week... well, we are still trying to get the area in good working order, but its hard because the bishop and ward mission leader are both on vacation, so we dont have too too much information about the area, so we are just passing by what people we can, and are doing a lot of knocking. I love the ward here, there are a LOT of artists, and the bishop himself is working at Ubisoft doing concept art sketches and storyboarding. soo..... i'm pumped for that. Oh, this week we also helped a hatian family paint their living room. with the 1st counciler in the Elders quorum, the sister missionaries, and another member of the ward. It was lots of fun to hold a PAINTBRUSH again. anyways, that's all that really happened this week!

Je vous aime beaucoup!Et Sophie, bon anniversaire!!!!! 

Amour, 

Elder Messinger

[We are very happy that Calvin was sent to this mission, and that he's had so much interaction with people in the video game business. Calvin wants to be a concept artist, and he has made some wonderful friends, and learned a lot about what his focus should be in school, and additional skills that will make him more marketable in the industry. This has been a testimony to us that the Lord  will do all in His power to help us achieve our goals.] 

Happy Canada Day and Happy July 4th!

We "waved to Calvin" in a Northeasterly direction from Boldt Castle.

  This past Monday was Canada Day (July 1st). Todd's factory is shut down this week, so we've had him home with us all week! We celebrated Monday by visiting Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay, NY. I wrote to Calvin on Sunday night and told him that we would wave to him from Boldt Castle. We took pictures as proof that we waved to him. *smile*
  Apparently Calvin's p-day has been changed from Monday to Tuesday. AGH! So here's his email from TUESDAY (it takes a lot to adjust to a new p-day!!).
  Happy July 4th to all my American friends. Here's something to think about:  http://www.purewatergazette.net/asimov.htm

Momm

  I don't know what is going on with P-Day, my personal theory is that they are just changing it because then we can have our Zone Activity the day just before the Zone Study, so it's easier on clicks, and yesterday was Canada Day, so nothing was open to go shopping. So that is why you haven't heard from me in a while. [It's only been a week!] I hope you haven't been freaking out tooo much, one missionary wrote to his parents the week before St Jean Baptiste day [June 24th], and told his family he was super sick, and that he would write the next Monday.... that email didn't come Monday, so the frantic mother called up the Cannons. [This isn't the first story I've heard of a mother calling the Mission President when her son didn't write an email on p-day] So ...

  This week was busy. We have a baptism coming up this week, and so we have been preparing for that, and then we had splits, and some other stuff to prep for zone activity, plus  zone study, and then trying to do missionary work on top of all that. It's been nuts! But I'm super happy about it. Its fun to be busy. [My companion] and I decided that we will do a huge Zone drawing for our zone. that's going to take a lot of P-Day hours, but it should be fun. 

 Other than that, all is going as it usually is. I have seen the power of member referrals here, for example our baptism this week is Quèbecoise, has two kids, and is super open to all our teachings. She was a member referral, and it turns out she was SUPER open to the message. then, that same family gave us another referral who has already been reading the "Gospel principles" manual. She also has a baptismal date. Member referrals are GOLDEN!!!!! 

   So, one of our investigators, the third with a baptismal date, we had a lesson with him about the Word of Wisdom, and he started off the discussion by telling us about an experience he had the night before. With tears in his eyes, he told us how he had been reading the Word of Wisdom pamphlet and how he read that smoking and drinking are against the will of God. He started crying as he described the horrible feeling he had, when he realized that he had displeased God. So, we are working with him to stop those bad habits. It was really special to see someone who truly wanted to do Gods' will, and that the mere thought that he had displeased God hurt him so much. That was a humbling, spiritual experience. 

   I'm so glad you and dad had some alone time [Todd and I went to the temple on Saturday. It's been a while since we were there together inside the temple. We usually go with the youth on their temple trips and Todd goes inside to help with the work but I have to stay outside with Sophie], and that all is going so well for you! All your fun stories are my favorite part of emails. I did feel your love this week, and I'm glad that you had such a cool trip [to Boldt Castle]! 

Love

Calvin