DAY 399: JANUARY 3

THE WONDERFUL WEEK OF NEW YEARS!

Well, this was quite a fun week, full of a new year, exchanges, roofing, and investigators doing our missionary work for us. Let me explain those excitements. So every once in a while we are supposed to go on exchanges and see how other areas work is going and learn from one another. I went to North BR's area and went with my old companion, elder Sorensen. We taught some good lessons, and almost got shot in this really skethcy apartment complex. Ok not really, but we knocked a door and they said "who is it?!" and we said " missionaries" and they didn't answer. Being bold, we knocked again. This time someone from the back yelled something, then the other person yelled back, or maybe at us, all kinds of colorful language. Elder Sorensen slowly started backing away from the door, and I followed suit. But everything is just fine.

We had a really cool service opportunity on Saturday, we went and worked at a members house and re-did their roof! Yup, we tore it all off, laid down new paper and hammered down hundreds of nails in shingles. It was a blast, I ha vent done anything like that in a long time, and I could tell then next day. So eight missionaries spent about the whole day on new years eve tearing of roofing and putting it on again. The members were so grateful, they said they had all the stuff out there for months, but just never had the time or means to get it on, and we helped them so much. On new years eve, we we rent supposed to go out unless we had an appointment, and we didn't, so we stayed in and had a little movie night, and watched 17 miracles, a movie made recently about the Martin and Willy handcart companies, and showed some of the many miracles that happened during their journey. Really well-done, TC Christensen is an excellent film maker.

On Sunday we had with us at church Juan and JuanCarlos, they are both progressing well. On Monday we had a lesson with them two and the Powells about tithing, and it went really well, the Powells were able to share a great personal experience about having paid their tithing first thing for so many years, they have gained a strong testimony of it. Juan kind of brought out a doubt he had about changing religions and what his family would think, because Catholicism is a big tradition in his family (in all of Mexico and central America, really). Surprisingly, JuanCarlos was the first one to respond, by pulling out a scripture he had found in the Book of Mormon! In a chapter we didn't even ask him to read! How cool!

Also, we had another FHE with the family of Nino and Myra, they are the ones where she is a less active member, but the rest of her family is not, and their attending some church here in Baton Rouge. We had a good lesson with them about the plan of salvation, and they enjoyed it a lot, and we said one of the things we need to do to get into the celestial kingdom is get baptized. And all of the kids said they wanted to get baptized! So we told them to pray about it. Unfortunately, Nino, the dad, came across some anti-mormon stuff, likely from someone at his church. Last week he pulled out all these crazy questions about horses and metal and cement mentioned in the book of mormon (which have all been scientifically proven existed in that time period) and essentially wont read the Book of Mormon because we don't have the gold plates. Really, just a lack of faith is where that doubt stems from. But, hes still happy to have us over, and let his family attend church if they so please, so we're really hoping we can make some progress there.

Other than that, this week was transfers, and we are staying, as are the other elders in the district, so all the letters you were writing me, you can send them to the same address, 1343 Jade ave, Baton Rouge, LA 70810

DAY 391: DECEMBER 26

Hey Everyone! Merry Christmas again!

This week went great! We had some wonderful oppourtunities to teach people, enjoy christmas talking to family, and, we had a baptism! Rolando got baptized this last friday, it was a great day. I guess you could say it was a "white christmas". on Christmas eve, we went caroling, it was such a blast! I wish we had been doing it all week! I had a guitar we borrowed from a member, and it was us, the other spanish elders, and the Powells, and we visited a few less actives, and some of our investigators. It was a really cool night, we had some fun experiences. We also went to the hospital and visited a family in our ward who just had a baby that day! Picture attached, they are such a cute family. Its the dad with their three kids and the new little girl! I figured nobody wants their picture taken in the hospital after having a baby, so we just got everyone else. We sang Silent Night, and also, Feliz Navidad! It was a ton of fun. On christmas we had two dinners, one with the powells, and one with a member. We were soooooo full it was painful. I dont think I need to eat for the rest of the week. Srsly. A really cool thing is that this year president let us skype home! We had group calling set up, so I was talking to my family in WA, my sister in China, and my grandparents in Chile all at the same time! do we know anyone in africa? lets add them in the mix next time and make it even crazier. It was great to see them all.

So heres pictures of the family we caroled to in the hospital, our baptism, and me and the other elders in our apartment on christmas with our awesome christmas tree. Were about out of time, so I'll have to go now, but hope to hear from you all!

Love,

Cam (Elder Cardon)

 

 

DAY 384: DECEMBER 19

Well Merry Christmas from Louisiana!

This week was pretty good, we had five people at church with us, everyone from last week minus Benicio. The classes were great, I think a few of them might have been just a bit confused, the lesson in priesthood was about exaltation, how we get to it, and what it means. We talked about temple marriage, and Rolando asked the question "So my girlfriend is Buddhist. How would that work for us to be married in the temple?" A member answered it clearly and simply, and afterward I asked him "Rolando, I thought you were married?" He said "yea, I am." I said "so your wife is buddhist?" and he said "No, I was just asking the question out of curiousity". Huh. Interesting way to find out. We got a ride to church with a member, and he took Martin, a recent convert, and 2 of his roomates, JuanCarlos and Juan. Afterwards when we dropped them off, they invited us in for lunch. JuanCarlos made us a smoothie, and it was pretty good, though the combination of ingridients I never would have guessed: Bannana, strawberries, milk, sugar (so far normal stuff) chocalate milk powder (pretty normal, but a little weird) animal crackers (pretty weird) and 2 raw eggs (what!?). But, we each drank a big glass of it, and it was great! After that we had some tacos, and ended up pretty full.

This week we had the first week of starting up a soccer night, which we will start having on a regular basis. We did it on Tuesday, and we ended up having about 12 people there! investigators, members, and less actives! It was pretty fun. But in the middle of it a guy called us and asked us to come to the hospital with us and translate for them, so we went and did that. His wife was about 3 months pregnant, and was having alot of pain and they went to the emergency room. We helped them with their initial assesment thing, and helped answer a bunch of kind of awkward questions, but after that they said it would be a wait of at least and hour or two, and it was almost 9, so we had to go. But we followed up the next day and they said it all went well, and she would be alright.

On Wednesday, we had our missionary christmas program, which was pretty fun. We all got together at the stake center, and we did basically a nativity scene, with president and sister Wall narrating, and the different characters. One of the little scenes was samuel the lamanite, an Elder named Elder Anderson came out and gave a little speech calling to repentance, and after that I played and sang "Samuel tells of the baby Jesus" I think it went pretty well, I do have a video, its on the camera of one of the missionaries I live with, so we'll have to get that sent later. Also, on Friday, we had our ward christmas party, it went really well! We had several investigators there, a couple of less actives, and the part member family the Galeas (I think I've mentioned them before) We had some great food, the missionaries sang a song, and we had a pinata! I have the cutest video, but its too big to attach here. I'll get a link for it in a second.

Friday morning, during language study, the phone rang. The area code was 425, and I was a little confused about who would be calling from home! I answered it, and it was Bishop Gordon! He said I was in trouble. Worried he had found the watermelon I left in their attic before I left, I asked why. He said "Because I'm in Louisiana looking for you and I cant find you". (Sigh of relief). Turns out him and the family were there to go on a cruise that left from New Orleans, and they were there for a few days. They took us out to lunch at a place called Cane's, a tasty fried chicken restaurant, and got to sit and talk with them for about an hour. It was so great to see some people from home, and see my friend Stephanie, who just got back from her mission! Attached is a picture of us!

So, those were basically the highlights of our week. Christmas is coming! We have two dinner appointments for christmas day. We will be very, very full of delicious food. We will be allowed to skype, and it will probably be between noon and 2ish in our time, so 10 and 12 in yours. Is that when you have church? if so we can probably move it. Let me know! Christmas eve I think we are going caroling, though I have some doubts on the musical talent of several of the missionaries in the area. But, its about the spirit it brings, right?

Love you all, write back soon!

-Elder Cardon

P.S. The pictures!

1. Me and the Gordons at Cane's!

2. The coolest looking cake ever! Look closely at the texture!

3. A shot of everyone at the party. The food was great! This was early on, alot more people showed!

 

 

DAY 377: DECEMBER 12

Well, the time is short, and theres so much to share! The week went very well, we had 6 people at church!!! It was great. We've been pretty low on that particular number the last few weeks, but this week was great. We had Rolando, Fernando and Bresayda, all of whom came last week, and then 3 new guys we found this week, named Benicio, Juan, and JuanCarlos. The other day we were doing some service at a thrift store nearby (our president has asked us to do several hours of service weekly) and I saw a spanish guy while I was sweeping, and starting talking to him. He noticed my tag and said "you guys are elders? wheres the church?" turns out he was a member, had gotten baptized in Alabama a few months ago, and is here now and was looking for the church. Perfect! so we went over the next day to his house and had a little lesson with him and one of his roomates, then him, and two of his roomates came to church! We were super excited, and lots of members said hi to them. They are pretty cool guys. When we had the lesson at their house we were talking about repentance, and we asked "when is the best time to repent?" and JuanCarlos said "right now" and I LOVE that answer because so many people just say "well, when you feel it in your heart" or "when its convenient" or "later". Which type of people normally go nowhere. Benicio we just found, he's been here from guatemala for less than a month, and came from the same city in which rick is serving! He said he was meeting with the missionaries there, and was excited to see us here! maybe it was rick!!

Our district had some great numbers this week, we found lots of new investigators and had lots of people at church! The Zone Leaders commented to me that the district started doing so great once I was put in as district leader, but I dont know if thats really what it is- correlation doesnt always mean causality! But, I'm really excited for us. My companion and I have been running almost every day this week, one morning we went out to a nearby park with a frisbee, and since 2 on 2 ultimate frisbee is tough, I taught them how to run a frisbee play called the H-stack (if anyone cares) and it was pretty fun. Next time we play frisbee with other elders on p-day we will show them whats up! I've also been eating alot healtier, and I can really see and feel the difference, especially because I'm in a car instead of on a bike!

Well, thats about it. If anyone has any questions about missionary life, let me know! Hope everyone has a great christmas!!

Love,

Cam

P.S. My address is

1343 Jade ave

Baton Rouge, LA 70810

for when you send me all the cards and letters and presents :)

DAY 370: DECEMBER 5

Well, this week was pretty good, we had four people at church with us! It was great! Also, unfortunately, but fortunately at the same time, Jose Raul moved back to Honduras. Unfortunate because he's not here to help the branch stay strong, but fortunate because he's with his family. At church we had Rolando, Fernando and Brisayda, and William. Rolando I've talked about before a little bit, he's doing pretty well, but needs to quit smoking. Fernando and Brisayda are a really cool young couple, they basically want to be baptized, but arent married (very common problem). They want to get married, the only thing stopping them is she doesnt have an ID, so they cant get a marriage liscence. But, once they do, they will be awesome members! William is a pretty cool guy, he is very analytical and will pick out and examine every detail of something. I always have to be careful about how I'm going to phrase something as to not be misinterpreted and have some crazy tangent. I kind of feel like he'll go for the "try to prove it wrong" approach, and in doing so will realize that you really cant. That doesnt always mean they gain a testimony, which is the most important thing. But, really great to have them all there.

Other than that, a pretty average week, we had some pretty good numbers last week, which was great. President Wall isnt as concerned about numbers. They are of course still important, but shouldnt be the goal. Which has thrown me a little bit for a psychological loop, because its important, but its not- we should work hard... but not because we want numbers. But when we work hard it shows in the numbers... but we shouldnt work hard for that reason. But, we really do have a great and important work to do, so we need to get out there and be finding prepared people... But the people arent numbers. But we write down numbers about them. So they are. Wait, they're not. Are they? I dont even know. Just follow the spirit. =D

I havent told a good drunk guy story in awhile, so heres one: We door contacted this guy, he let us in, and we sat down and started talking just a bit. Just a second later, this oter guy walks in, his roomate, and is super drunk. I could already tell he was going to be a problem. I figured if he would just shut up and sit down we could have some sort of a lesson, but he was just standing right in the middle of us going off on some random tangent. He asked us why bad things happen to people in the world. He then said "We're all basically the same, why does God punish only some of us? I mean we all have a body (holds up his hand) with five hands on each finger, we're all the same! I was trying really hard not to laugh, realizing he might get mad if I did, so just kind of pretend to scratch my mouth in a discreet way to cover that I was laughing. I was sitting next to the guy we were trying to teach and just started explaining a little bit about the plan of salvation, while the drunk guy talked to my companion. The thought came to my mind to maybe just go into another room, so I just asked the non-beligrent guy if he wanted to go to another room. He sort of smiled and laughed because he could see what was going on, and agreed. We went into another room while my companion kept the lesson-ruiner amused, and I shared a 10-minute version of Gods plan for us, and testified of his love for us. He shared a personal experience of when he had seen the hand of God in his life, and even though it was a short lesson, we were still able to feel the spirit. So, even though the adversary tried to spoil our lesson, bullet dodged!!

Well, thats about it! I'd love to hear from some people out in the real world! Whats going on out there?

Love,

Elder Cardon