DAY 224: July 11

Hey Mom! Thanks so much for your super long letter!! Thats cool to read about your adventures with saving people and hiring hispanics from home depot. We've gone by the local lowe's hardware store a few times and contacted the Hispanics waiting to be picked up.  Happens all over the place!

  So, everyones going to San Diego? Too bad you cant bring me too! I hope you all have lots of fun. This week was pretty normal, same type of "missionary stuff" that we always do. We almost got the standard of excellence again, so darn close! We'll for sure get it this week.

  Since you said last week was such a great email, maybe I'll try not to be so exciting in this one, so that it really stands out. Also, because theres not really a whole lot of stuff to write about. EXCEPT: We got a new mission president!! His name is President Wall, and they are going to do very well, I can see. We had a zone conference with them, and they both gave wonderful talks, and both have great senses of humor. They are originally form Everett, and so I have a little bit of an "in" with being from the same area. He seems pretty by the book, but it just goes to show that you can have fun and work hard AND go by the book, all at the same time.

  Well, things with our investigators are going ok, its amazing to me how hard it is for people to just exercise some faith and pray! I know you can do it! We've been having a tough time getting out some doubts with people, they say they're kind of like an iceberg, only a little bit shows, and you have to go a little deeper to get to the real problem. A couple of them said that its just hard to believe something that they have never heard about their whole life. But, thats why we pray. And thats why we came to your door, to tell you about it!

But, I hope everyone is doing well, and that you send me lots of letters and packages for my birthday!

Love,
Cam

DAY 218: July 5

Hey Mom!

   Thanks for the update, its great to hear about everyone. Thats so cool about China! I wish I could come visit you! Well all have to go back someday. I also wish I could go with to Hawaii, and also to Chile. I also wouldn't mind going to San Diego. We can re-create any of these trips when I'm back from my mission. :)

  So, this was a fairly normal week, but with a few exciting things, and some big news. The big news was announced to us when two people came to our door at our apartment and told us they were from a church and invited us to their Bible study. They told us a little about their church, and told us that Christ has already come for the second time. He was born again in 1948, and has been teaching in Jerusalem for quite some time now. Also, our heavenly mother has appeared in the flesh, her name is New Jerusalem. The lady we talked to has met her twice. Well, thats kind of a big deal. Not sure what I'm doing out here preparing the world for the second coming if its already happened. Wish I had found out earlier. :)

  So in our mission, and I guess all missions, the president will establish whats called a "standard of excellence". It involves having a certain number of member present lessons, people with a date, people at church, and new investigators. We were one of only four companionships in the mission to attain it this last week! I hope we can keep it up for this week. We have this really nice older couple, named Marta and Marcos, that are progressing very well, and I have high hopes for. This other guy, Javier, is pretty cool, but is incredibly set on the fact that the sabbath should be Saturday. We've showed him in the scriptures why it was changed, but he still says "you havent answered my question, the ten commandments says the seventh day". We asked him to just pray about it, but I think he wants a answer from the scriptures. Plus, we asked which day he was keeping holy now, and he said none of them, but he didn't see why that mattered.

  Yesterday, we went fishing! We went with a member, Ponciano, out to this cool spot on the lake, where they go fishing fairly often. It was a fairly secluded spot, we had to hop over a levy, walk on a little path through the forest, which led to a nice sandy beach on the lake. Him and his brother and a couple of their roomates went out and we had a barbeque with some carne asada, some watermelon and soda and stuff. We went fishing out on the rocks, but unfortunately caught nothing. We had plenty of bites, but I think all the fish were too small to get around the larger hooks we were using. Two of ponciano's little Guatemalan friends went out wading with a net, and brought in about 8 fish. Maybe well try that way next time. There was also plenty of little crabs around that we tried catching. It made me miss being able to go out and swim, it would have been pretty fun. Although there's also gators in that lake, so you gotta be careful. A guy drove by in a boat and told a couple of spanish guys there was an alligator, but they didnt understand. The guy in the boat tried to do hand motions and stuff, but they just looked at him funny. I could hear what was going on from shore, so I yelled in spanish "Hermano!! Hay un cocodrio por alla!" and they started running in shore. A little while later we saw a few out there, so maybe its good I wasn't out swimming. It was a pretty fun day, super hot, I got a ton of sun, and also a ton of sunburn. After we got back I just wanted to go back and chill for the evening, we were pretty tired, but, we had to shower and change and get right back to work!

  So another crazy story: First off, I love this ward. There are some awesome people in it and they are always willing to help us out. But, nobodys perfect, and we saw a bit of that. On Sunday before church, we were out in the foyer shaking hands and welcoming people, and a member comes in with his family, not looking very happy. He goes over to another brother in the foyer and starts talking to him, a little heatedly, and they decide to take it into the gym. It gets a little more heated, and ends up turning into an all out fist fight. The bishop and a few other members were there, and a whole bunch more came into to separate them, which was quite a task, they were pretty into it. One of the guys in the fight brother came in, and so it turned into an almost 3-person brawl, but there was plenty of people to pull them apart. Someone ended up calling the cops, so I'm sure that didn't look good for the church, but luckily, both of the men in the fight got up and bore their testimony and apologized for their behavior. I totally would never expect something like that out of them, just imagine in our ward if Dad and Brother Maier or somebody came in a few minutes before sacrament meeting and started going at it. About the equivalent.

Well, Thats probably it for the week. I'll attach some pictures in another email in just a second.

Love,
Cam

P.S. So with my chase account, whenever I have less than 500 dollars in it, they charge a monthly fee. Do you think you could transfer some of my money back into it, just to avoid that fee?

P.P.S. Have you sold my bike yet? If so, sweet. If not, do you think you could take off the speedometer and send it to me when you send me my giant birthday package? I think it would be cool to keep a running total of how far I've gone in my mission!

P.P.P.S Another thing for my birthday wishlist: An electronic Spanish translator. My companion has one, and its sweet. Miriam webster makes some cool ones that have conjugation drills and stuff and you can make your own study lists and everything. that'd sure be cool.

DAY 210: June 27

Well Hey Everyone!

  This was a pretty cool week. We had some excitement of moving, but the not-so excitin part is where we moved to. We moved in with the elders in south metarie, into their apartment. It is alot tighter quarters. Its the apartment I used to live in, so my address will again be 2416 Pasadena ave, #103, Metarie,LA, 70001. That apartment was just right for 2 people, the bedrooms arent very big, so we would sleep in one and had our study stuff in the other, but now each companionship sleeps and studies in the same room. Its pretty tight quarters. We have a nice and small galley kitchen. The joke about the kitchen is that when you open a drawer, it hits the other side, but its almost not a joke. One side is the stove and the fridge, and the other side is the sink and some counter space, with a small dishwasher below. Its thin enough that you cant have the dishwasher and fridge open at the same time. We moved in saturday, so have yet to have a normal time where all 4 of us are trying to cook something. It will be interesting when that happens though!

  So, funny story about when we were moving in: The office elders came down from Baton Rouge with the mission van and a trailer to help us move our stuff and the furniture and everything. We were carrying stuff in, and a few of the local churns (see footnote for definition) came and asked if they could help. I wasnt really sure what to say, but one of the other elders said "sure thing!" So we handed them a few things they could carry. It ended up being a fun process, they were really excited to help, and climb inside the van. I was honestly impressed by this one churn who carried a twin mattress by himself! Luckily there were no casualties, except for one. The one bag the kid dropped was the one with Elder Rawlings eggs. Of course it was the one bag.

Well, wish I had more time, but, I dont, so I'll have to send you something longer next week!

Con amor,

Elder Cardon

DAY 203: June 20

Well Hey everyone! Thanks for all the emails this week, its cool to know that uncle Dave is now famous!

  I guess if I can sum up the week in one sentence it would be: Its freakin hot and freakin humid. Not really another way to put it. Walking out of the apartment is like walking into a wall, its crazy. Sweat becomes a thing you just cant not do, and you do it ALOT.  But, everyone deals with it, and its a good way to get into to peoples houses; asking for a bit of water, then all the sudden their listening to a message about the restored gospel.

  So during the week, I always think of stuff I think "Hey! I should write home about that, my family would love to hear about that." And then I get here at the library to write, and cant remember anything! So I'll try to remember a few. We had our last zone conference with President Woods on Friday, we are going to miss them, they were great mission presidents. But, we will be getting a new one on July 1st, named president Wahl, of whom president woods has spoken of highly and should do well. Some other mission news, at the end of August, 10 spanish missionaries are going home, and there are only 13 companionships, so 10 of them will be training. In my interview with President, he told me I would be one of them, so that's pretty cool, and exciting. Hope I don't get a weirdo.

  I attached a few pictures of us at the last zone conference, and of one night when it rained like crazy! We were in a lesson, and it was getting late, and as we were wrapping up, we heard what sounded like rain outside, and when we left, it sure was, and it was pouring. Rain is a little different here than in Washington, here, the rain isnt messing around. It rains.  So we put everything in our backpacks and zipped them up tight, then went for it, and by them time we went back, we may as well have gone swimming, no joke. It was pretty cool all the same.

Well, I'm out of time here at the library, so I'll talk to you all later!

-Cam

DAY 196: June 13

WHAAAAT?!?! China! Thats awesome!! I'm so jealous! Wish I could come! But, here I am. This last week was transfers, and I got a new companion, Elder Rawlings. I'm already getting along about 100 times better with him than I did with Elder Christensen. Elder Rawlings has never served here, so I've definitely had to step up with knowing the area and doing our daily plans. But, I can tell we are going to have success this transfer, and hopefully ones to come. We definitely have a lot in common, and have similar senses of humor. We often will make the same jokes about stuff, and get along really well. Hes a funny guy, always says "Holy cats!" when something is array, and is alot easier-going that my last companion. 

  I'm afraid besides the transfer, theres not a whole lot of news this week (except that my family is moving to china). We have a funny investigator named Mario, who always refers to Christ as "El Rey de Reyes" (the king of kings), and will do so about 30 times a lesson. He sometimes is hard to teach, because he will be so focused on el Rey de Reyes, and starting with "La Ley" (the law, referring to the Bible), but hes a good guy.

Well, time is low, but I'm really excited to hear more details about China! How far apart is the city you will be in and where Sarah will be? and is it a 6-month contract, or are you going to try to be back before the end of the year?

-Cam

DAY 190: June 6

Hey Everyone! Yes, I realized Ive been out for 6 months! Its crazy! Time really flies. This week was pretty good, it seemed a little slower, because we don't have Salvador and Alison as investigators anymore... but for a good reason- they got baptized! We are going around trying to get some of our other investigators progressing, which has been an interesting process. We have been working with this family, David and Dominica, and their 2  kids. They openly told us that they were having problems in their marriage, and they wanted help fixing it. We told them we definitely weren't marriage counselors, but living the Gospel of Jesus Christ solves all problems, and we could at least help with that. I definitely feel comfortable with the Spanish. Very often I will use a grammar concept or a vocab word that I had studied without even thinking about it, then I'll say "wow! I just used pluperfect subjunctive with the -se ending without even thinking about it!" I would definitely say I have seen the gift of tongues. Cant say I've had very many flubs, but it happens occasionally. I have been studying in the Book of Mormon, I'm trying to read it all in Spanish, and I'm in Alma 47 right now. I have to go to the dictionary sometimes, mostly for cause of less-common words, like you see in the English scriptures.

  I'll share a funny experience from this week: We had just taught a good lesson, and were leaving, and outside their apartment some people had an inflatable pool, some music going, out enjoying the day. Two of the guys asked us to come over, so we went and talked to them, and they had definitely had something to drink. We talked to them for a bit, and they kept trying to speak English to us, but their English was terrible, and we told them we could speak Spanish just fine (in Spanish, so it was even more convincing). I noticed one of the guys had a tattoo of a microphone with a crown on it, so I asked if he was a singer. He said he was a rapper, and asked if we wanted to hear some. I said "alright, I'll do the beat, you rap." I threw down a beat, and he did a pretty good rap (in Spanish) about how he and his friends had come to America. Afterward he was really impressed and invited us to come to his show on the 17th, and said I could be part of his show. We asked where it was, and unfortunately the club was out of our area, so we told them we wouldn't be able to make it. :)

  So, some big news of the week is transfers! Elder Christensen is going to Baton Rouge, and I am staying here in North Metarie, and I will be with an Elder Rawlings, whom I have never met, so well see how it goes. Everything else is just about staying the same though.

Well, hope everyone is doing well, I'm excited to hear the news on China!

-Cam

DAY 184: June 1

Well Hey Everyone!

    We couldnt write on Monday because of memorial day, and we couldn't write on Tuesday because in the library we email at there was "air conditioning repair". So here we are on Wednesday. This has been a pretty good week, we had the baptism of Salvador and Alison on Saturday, which was so great to see. Its been a long process with them, but, the spirit can do amazing things. I got the package you sent the other day, thanks alot! Its always exciting to get something in the mail. We havent had any music to listen to for awhile, so its nice to have that again. And of course, thank you very much for the pictures of Daniel and the snacks!

  Well, we don't have a ton of time today, but I'll tell you a story about someone who hadn't heard about the church. Most people have at least some knowledge, usually a misconception or two, about the church, if anything. We were knocking in an apartment complex and this big black guy answered, and introduced himself as Pastor Jones. We asked what church we were from, and after I answered he kind of smiled and said "you dont wanna mess around with me." I asked why not. He said "I dont like the way you interpret the book of revelation- that only 144,000 people will be saved" And we said "well... we dont..." and after a few other things we figured out he was mistaking us for another church that sends missionaries in a similar fashion. He said he was busy preparing his sermon for his next meeting, that he was really busy. Then he said "well, why dont you come in, let me show you my desk." We went back, and he had a little office with a bunch of bibles, and his theolegy degrees on the wall. He said "as you can see, I have many degrees in theology and Pastoral administration". He showed us his greek and hebrew bible, which he could read. We talked a little about what his next sermon was going to be, and got talking about God calling a modern prophet. I tried to explain the book of mormon as well, and he just wouldnt have it. He said "why you tryin to change Gods word? Why does this Jim Smith guy need another book?" And as soon as we tried to say christ came to the americas, he said " Alright, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." Maybe the truth made him upset. I really wish we had an english book of mormon or pamphlet or something to give him, but, well see.

I really am out of time now, so heres a few pictures from the baptism, and I'll talk to you all later!

-Elder Cardon

P.S. I think I told ellyn... I think china sounds like a great idea! Im just jealous that I cant come!
P.P.S. I'm at least sort of getting along with my companion... Its not that bad, but I'd be alright to change it up at transfers :P

DAY 175: May 23

Hey Mom! Happy Birthday!

   These here in Louisiana are going well! The flooding hasnt affected us, at least not yet. The only thing Ive noticed is the canals seem to be a little higher, but I dont know how related that is. Theres supposedly a high likelihood of a hurricane this summer, so we should be expecting an adventure, but well see what happens. Its been getting alot warmer, but apparently we're not even at the hottest it will be for the summer. Combined with the humidity, it makes for a real fun time riding around. So you all moving to China sounds just crazy! I want to come with! Or at least visit sometime later. I hope you all have a great time. Is Ellyn still going to go to Germany then? Whats the plan there? And are you all going to learn Chinese? 

  So anyways, this last week we had zone conference. They are always alot of fun, and we always learn alot. President Woods came and gave a great instruction about the Atonement, which was great. Its one of the most fundamental doctrines, yet I think its still something you can study deeply and still not quite understand. In the conference, they brought a few clip-on lapel mics to do some of the presentations. We have a senior couple for the office, and he brought the stuff and a small mixer. As he was setting up, I could hear some buzzing and could tell he was having a few problems. I went in and offered to help, fixed the problems, then ended up running the whole thing. It totally reminded me of the conference center, and also made me miss doing sound stuff. A really fun opportunity to do so.

  Surprisingly enough, I dont think we have a drunk guy story from this last week. One from a while ago is when I was with Elder Vail, we talked with some people outside, and ended up sitting down with them for awhile, and ate some carne asada. There was one of them who was totally plastered, and I somehow ended up sitting next to him. About every 30 seconds he would turn to me and say "Dios es maravilloso!" (God is marvelous). And I would say "Si, hermano, lo es". (Yes, brother, he is.) Then he would say "Dios es el unico!" (God is the only one). I would respond "Si, hermano, lo es". The other people there thought it was kind of funny, and after awhile I started to mess with him a little. He would say "Dios es maravilloso!" and I would say right back, "Si, Dios es el unico." Then he would look at me funny, pause for a second, then say "Dios es maravilloso!" Then he asked me why we suffer here in the world. I said its because we dont follow the commandments. He asked why we dont follow the commandments. I said "Pues, debe decirme, es mandamiento de no ser borracho" (Well, you should tell me, its a commandment not to be drunk). He just kind of looked at me for a little bit then said "DIOS! Es maravilloso!"

      This week we had a few members go out with us, which is always a great help. I dont have much time left, but I hope you all are doing well! If you do go to China, are you just going to rent the house out or...? And how are all the other people from our ward doing? would you mind sending me a few updates from everyone? I can print stuff out here, so dont worry about them being long. And casey is going to GHANA!?!? thats awesome! I'm jealous! I totally wanted to go somewhere like that! But, there's strange enough folk here in the south. When is he leaving? Is he speaking english?

Love,
Elder Cardon