Can you believe that Elder Calder is on his last transfer? It boggles my mind! Two years seems to be gone in a blink of an eye. We always talked about the days when he would be coming home and it is crazy that we are here. So much has changed, so much will change, but we are ecstatic to have our baby brother home! He is doing a phenomenal job and we couldn't be prouder of him and where he is at in his life. I thought I would share this last week's letter (it was a good one- even though they are all good ones!). Here it is:
July 8, 2013
Hey Fam!
Well, after everything I've heard about what is happening back home I thank God for the view that we have on this life as members of this church. I'm thankful for the knowledge that no matter what we know how much God loves us and allows for hardships to happen that we can handle. But, just like in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah chapter 24) we can pray for that "lessening" of our burdens that I know that only God can give. To all of us, all of our trials can seem like they will never end, as though they were meant to last a life time, but things will change, babies will grow, people will heal, hearts will be touched, and the "work of the Lord"-to give us immortality and Eternal Life-will always continue.
One of my favorite things I've ever heard on my mission is this: Being a member of Christ's church, or of his flock is not a cure all save all. The storms of life will always come upon us. Being close to Christ does not stop the storm or turn it away very often, but what it does give us is a sturdy pair of gortex boots, a nice poncho, and a good umbrella-so we can weather the storm.
I have often thought, why do we have Bad things happen to us all the time? Of course there are many opportunities to ask ourselves all sorts of questions when it comes to situations like these, but we need not even ask ourselves those questions. I think in the face of adversary is when the hurt really kicks in, but so does the faith. If you think about it like this: It's as though we are sitting there taking a pain pill every single day, one that really doesn't take too much out of our day. Well, we often feel a huge amount of pain and are so thankful for it, but then the pain subsides, and the doctor tells us we can keep taking it and it will have no adverse consequences. We continue to take it and no pain comes, for days, months, even years. We get lax on taking the pill, missing a day here or there, but before we know it it's been months since we have taken it, and we have even forgotten where the pill container is. Then comes the pain. It hits like the fang of a viper, it kills, it knocks us to our feet, we are at the mercy of the pain, we cry out for the doctor and scream in pain. Pain, pain, pain. But there is a solution, there is a cure, one that can take away the pain. It's in the Pain pill, but, so often, we have misplaced the bottle-luckily all we have to do is call the Doctor and order another prescription.
Just like the pill and the pain we so often find release from the pains of this world, and the mortality that surround it in the healing medicine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We become so grateful for it because the pain ceases, but at times we forget to continually take the medicine, or to take in the Gospel. My testimony is that this Gospel is real. Everything we hear in church, it can be found in the Scriptures. The teachings of Jesus Christ tell us that there is no hurt or pain that the pill of the Atonement of Jesus Christ cannot fix. It teaches us that we really can overcome these hardships and trials-even if they do or do not go the way we desire.
There always is hope, there always is a brighter day to the future, there always is a way through the fog. Modern miracles are very real, and they can and will help us to get through our trials.
What a blessing it has been to be a missionary this last week-boy have I had some fun and crazy experiences. First of all we had our first Zone Conference with President Slaughter. He got into the mission about a week and a half ago. He is totally awesome! He focused this first training on his goals for us. His main goal was that he wants us to know who we are-and act accordingly. He also spent a great deal of time teaching us about how to find-it's simple-the Lord prepares people, and we are led to them. He focused on how there are prepared people all over the place, and we will be able to recognize them. It was a blessing to hear the words that I have felt for so long be voiced by my new Mission President. I love him.
Man, I also had probably one of the most nasty experiences in my entire mission! It was nasty because it was so good and then so bad so quickly! We stopped at a Potential Investigators house for a bit of water and she gave us a real big glass of nice cold water (we were on bikes that day and it was super hot). She brought them out in these really sweet cups that you freeze and it has liquid within the cup that makes the cup cold as ice (except on the handle). She gave one to Elder Foster, and then one to me. I took a small sip and looked down and there was tons of dog hair all over in it! I was like, Nooooo!! Cause it was so refreshing. So I sipped on it, avoiding the dog hairs and everything was going good. I got even all the way to having it just 1/3 the way full-without drinking a single hair. We started to say our goodbyes (since we had to leave) and I was perfectly content leaving the cup at 1/3 full when then came the death words from the potential. She saw my cup and was like, "Oh honey, I'm in no hurry, you can go ahead and finish that!" Blehhhhh...... Bleh bleh bleh. I could see no way out of this one. So I looked down at the cup, then at both her and Elder Foster, everyone was smiling but me (they had no idea). I took a deep breath..... and....... gulp gulp gulp. Nasty nasty nasty! I was spitting for the rest of the day I swear just trying to spit any I felt in my mouth out...
Well the Gospel is true and the Book of Mormon is blue. Keep up the good work and keep having hope- and above all Keep your chin up.
Love ya,
Elder Calder
Keep up the great work Elder Calder! We love you so much!!
