DAY 76: There's probably a story behind that...

Well, Week 2 of the mission! It has been a really cool time. Let me tell you about one of the investigators we are teaching, his name is Eujenio. We met him on the street just next to ours, he and another guy were in front of their house with the hood of a truck open, and we went over to talk to them and he said "Hey Elders!" We asked if he had met with missionaries before, and turns out he used to live in another area of New Orleans, but then moved, but had met with other missionaries. We set an appointment to come by again. After he heard us speaking spanish, his friend handed me the packaging for a radiator sealant that they were putting in and asked if I could translate it into spanish. They definitely didnt teach us "radiator cap" or even "engine" in the MTC, but I did my best and I'm sure they at least got the jist of what to do.

 

   Anyways, that was Sunday night. We came by again on Tuesday, found out that he remembered pretty much all of the first lesson, already had a Book of Mormon, and had read various parts of it. We taught him some more, and asked him to be baptized on March 5. He was a little unsure about being ready by that time, but we assured him we could help him be ready, and he accepted! We stopped by one other time that week to say hi, and of course invited him to church. He already had a white shirt and dress pants, but said he didnt have a tie. Obviously I had the means to help him, so Sunday morning we went over, said "tenemos un regalo para usted!" and gave him the tie, and taught him how to tie it. He had a good time at church I think, he liked the hyms alot. On the way back he said he really liked the lesson in Elders Quorom, about the Law of Sacrifice, that when we give up one thing because of a commandment, we are blessed a hundredfold in return. Right after we went back and taugh him a bit, he asked us about the word of wisdom, he had heard that we dont drink coffee or tea and stuff. We gave him the basic overview, and asked if he did any of those things, he said he doesnt smoke or drink, but occasionally will have coffee. But after we read the promises of the blessings in D&C 89, he said "Oh so I guess its like a sacrifice, were getting something better in return for not drinking coffee" And what was awesome is he said that and realized that himself! In that same lesson he said "I dont have a doubt in my mind that this church is true" And I was so excited for him! He definitely has potential to be a great member of the church.

 

   This last Tuesday-Friday I was on an exchange with 2 other elders in a trio, because all of our companions went for a training up in Baton Rouge. Theyre not quite as "diligent" as some other missionaries. In the mornings our studies wouldnt be very focused, and one of the Elders Decided to make a Tres Leches Cake for language study time. Not that I didnt enjoy the cake, but ya know... The three of us were covering all 3 of our areas, and didnt have a car, so it meant lots of biking. LOTS of biking. We would have to bike for at least half an hour to get somewhere, and one time we biked for 45 minutes, only for our appointment not to be there and not answer their phone either. But, two or three times we got to get rides with members, which was a relief.

 

   Well, I think of lots of things I should write home about all week, then get to this point on monday and cant think of anything. Weird, right? Maybe I'll start writing some "one liners" at the end of each email.

 

One liners:

 

"Hey Elder, go contact the Ice cream man, he looks hispanic"

 

We went to a guys apartment where theres a door to get into the actual complex, so we called him to let us in. He came and got us, we went in his apartment and sat down, then his phone rang, he said he had to go let someone else in and he'd be right back. We sat there for half an hour waiting, tried calling him with no answer, then decided it best to just leave and come back later.

We talked to a guy on the street and asked what his name was and he said "Elder" and were like "Us too!" we talked a bit and asked for his address, he just kind of mumbled some street names and then said a number, so I repeated back what I thought I heard and he just said "yeah". Then we asked for his phone number and he said he didnt have a phone right now. About 10 seconds later his phone rang in his pocket and he said "oh ive gotta take this, see you guys later"

 

I'll try to think of more one liners next week :p

 

Well, it rained pretty hard one day last week, but the weather is alot better. Today we even went without suitcoats!

 

Thats about it, let me know how everyones doing!

 

-Cam

DAY 69: 1st week in the field!

So, we FINALLY heard from Cam today. There'll be two updates because his email didn't send last week.

Hey dad! thanks! Heres my email from last week that didnt send for whatever reason, I'm about to write some more about this week:

   Well, Ive been here 6 days and am liking it alot. I dont know what people were talking about with it being hot year round here, my first day was chilly, second day was colder, and I could barely feel my fingers after riding my bike when I got home at night, even with gloves, and the third day it rained. Moral of the story: Dont trust anyone. ANYONE.

    So I definitely was more confident with my Spanish than I should have been. Even at the first transfer meeting and everything all the American Elders were like "Wow Your Spanish is really good", then I got put with my trainer, who is a native speaker from Mexico, and he speaks FAST. His name is Elder De Los Santos, and he is really funny. He always tries to convince me of silly things, like when we were eating some leftovers from a meal that they made before I got here he was like "guess what kind of meat this is" and im like "Turkey?" (cuz it was) and he said "no". "Chicken?" "No. Its crocodile." I'm like "Yea right." And he wouldnt let up on it being crocodile for a good 5 minutes, then hes like "oh no es cierto, es pavo." Another thing he kept going for like 3 days and seriously almost had me convinced of is that we cant write any girls, only "Abuelitas". That they have to be over 50 to be able to write them. He seriously was for reals, and said "if you dont believe me ask about it in your letter to president" (that we write every week) since he was so serious I did. After they had been sent, and I brought it up he said "yeah I was just kidding". So now President Woods is probably gonna have a good laugh. Ah well.

   Let me tell you about our first night of teaching. We went to a house where two families lived together, and we were teaching both the fathers. One is from Honduras and the other from El Salvador. I thought Elder De Los Santos was hard to understand, but seriously about 40% made sense to me. I still got to jump in a few times and teach some things though. At one point, my companion was teaching and they were talking back and forth super fast and the guy turns to me and asks a question that I didnt understand, so I said "Que?" and he said "es cierto? que el dijo?" (Is it true? what he said?) and I just said "Si. Todo el dijo es cierto"(yes, everything he said is true), really hoping it was. I always heard jokes about when you stop paying attention to the lesson or dont understand whats going on just say "I know what my companion said is true", but that has a whole new meeting for me. But, even after just a few days of speaking Spanish with Elder De Los Santos the whole time and teaching other investigators, I've improved a ton.

   So we met a crazy bible basher on my second night. We were right outside the apartment where we were going to an appointment but they weren't there, and as we were gettin on our bikes deciding where to go this guy walking on the sidewalk was like "Hey Elders! Como Estan?" He spoke Spanish and English quite well. He started out really nice and was like "You know I admire you boys for takin your time and spendin all your money to come out here" and got into "You know, I always figured that God had a plan for me" and I'm like "Totally! We can tell you all about it!" And he basically was like "and after a while I figured out that it was to go and tell all the Mormons that their church isn't true, that that John Smith guy just made it all up". He pulled out alot of the stuff you hear all the time like "it says in Deuteronomy 4 and in Revelations that you cant add to the bible" So I said "Well if it says it in Deuteronomy than doesnt that make most of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament invalid?" And he was like "you don't understand the bible", realizing I probably had a point. But, not wanting to play his game of bashing, I tried to just bear testimony that I know that the Book of Mormon is true because the spirit confirmed it to me, and hes like "No, the spirit wouldn't do that because its not true". Well, he certainly didn't shake my testimony, and all he really had was "The bible doesnt talk about the book of Mormon or the Laminites or whatever the other people are, it cant be true" Sure, I could of thrown a few scriptures from the bible that do talk about the BOM, but clearly he wasnt going to listen. After a few more back and forths we just said goodbye. Overall he was pretty nice about it all, still a funny experience.

Well, I dont have a ton of time to write more, church was cool. It was fast sunday, and the member of the Bishopric who was conducting said "we have 3 new missionaries, we'd like them all to bear their testimonies" (there a 5 companionships of spanish elders in the ward). I feel like I did alright, and got a few compliments on my spanish.

Love you all!!
Elder Cardon

DAY 62: Safe in LA! (not the California one)

Yesterday, we got to talk to Elder Cardon for a few minutes at 5:00am. His flight to Dallas was cancelled (who knew it could snow in Dallas?), so he instead took a flight through Atlanta later in the day. He called later in the morning, then called his sister Aubrey in the evening (lucky!). He sounds happy and excited to get into the field and out of 'spirit prison' as they call the MTC. 'Spirit' because it's super spiritual and 'prison' because there's a fence. He's really sounding good in his Spanish-speaking and we're so happy for him.

Then, this morning, we got an email from the mission office saying he arrived safely in Louisiana last night! His new address (his apartment) is :

2416 Pasadena Ave #103
Metairie, LA 70001

Look it up on a map, he's right next to New Orleans, a couple blocks from Bourbon Street, and a pretty close to that gigantic causeway on Lake Pontrichartain.

Send him letters there instead of the mission office, because they'll get there faster!

DAY 56: Transfer Plans!

Hey Mom!

 

   Well, 2 items of big news for this week. You can decide which ones bigger. Number one, I recieved my travel plans!!!! I am leaving next tuesday, the 1st, to go to Baton Rouge. I have to be at the travel office here at the MTC at 3am! Ouch. My flight leaves from SLC at 6 to dallas, tx, and after a 2 hr layover I head to Baton Rouge. I actually met one of the elders I will be traveling with, he is a friend of my companion elder howell, but he is going english speaking to the same mission. and it does say explicitly not to have your family meet you at the airport, sorry :p. But, apparently I can call you from the airport in dallas during the layover, so watch for that one. Anyways, the other big item of news is that last week, we practiced up as a district, combined with Elder Jordan Barrett, and tried out with Seek this Jesus. We then got to perform at the big sunday night fireside in fromt of 2100 missionaries! It definitely brought the spirit, and the keynote speaker complimented the song and invited us to constantly be seeking that Jesus that we sang of. Small world: there is a Sister in my district named sister Young, who is from issaquah, and her uncle is President Chambers! And, there is and Elder in my zone named elder Olsen, when I met him I said I was from seattle and he said "oh my aunt uncle live in a city near there, it has a weird name..." I said "Sammamish?" and he said "Ya! do you know the Broomheads?" Turns out its Jeff Broomheads nephew, I can see some resemblence.

 

Well, I do miss you family, yes. And I am very much looking forward to heading to Louisiana. I can hardly wait! Its even harder when you have a date and are counting the days (even the hours). I wouldnt say I have a favorite person in my District, everyones a little different, but some people will have things that bother me, and others less, but thats part of life I guess. I am trying to be the best leader I can, relying on the lord for help, but continuing to press forward with faith even if I'm not totally sure.

 

Well, I've got a week left, so send me lots of dearelders before I go!!

 

-Elder Cardon

DAY 49: The new DL!

Hey Mom! (and everyone else)

 

     How has everyone been? I'm doing well! Some cool things have happened in this last week. Last Tuesday, just hours after I sent the email, Jeffery R. Holland came and spoke to all the missionaries. It was awesome.  But of course it was awesome, it was Elder Holland! He talked about the apostle Peter when after Christ was crucified, he and the other apostles went back to fishing, then saw Christ on the shore, and he said "if ye love me, feed my sheep". He made a great parallel to our lives as missionaries, that we need to leave our "nets" which are things of the world and old hobbies we had, behind us and focus on the work.  It was great. On Sunday, just before our sacrament meeting, a member of the branch presidency, brother Jurgens, asked me to step aside with him. Brother Jurgens is a tall, intense-looking, ex-military no messin' around kind of guy, so when he pulls you aside you know somethings bad. At the same time he said to my companion Elder Rose he wanted to talk to him next. I was totally freaking out and trying to think of what I had done wrong, but it turned out he called me to be District Leader! Elder Rose was the previous DL, and he talked to him just after me to inform him of the change. So the first two days Ive had as district leader have gone well, I think I will be able to do what needs to be done. We just got a new MTC presidency, president and sister Brown. They spoke to us in the sunday night fireside, I can tell they will do great (not like they call any old hack to come be the president here).

 

     Something else awesome is that my district just started practicing "seek this jesus" today to get it prepared to try out to perform as a special musical number. I went to get copies and they said "we cant do it its copyrighted" and I said "its by mom" and there like ".... oh. ok." so we got some copies and have been rehearsing, its coming along great!!! This week, we are doing "La Semama de Espanol", and so were trying to speak completely spanish, for every minute we are awake. I did direct our musical practice in english thought. Siento un poco extrano de hablar en ingles. Well, hope everyones doing great, send me a letter everyone! Dearelder.com or the real kind, I'm not picky!

 

Love,

Cam

I don't know how he managed to sneak out and see Aubrey, but I'm jealous.

 

DAY 42

Hey Mom!

     My Spanish is coming along great. Every monday is "El dia de
 espanol", where we try to speak pure Spanish the whole day. It went
 better than the last few weve had. Besides that, weve try to speak
 spanish as much as we can, but when were having discussions or other
 things where we need to be able to express ourselves fully and
 understand eachother, we speak english. The 501 verbs book is very
 handy, actually I'm planning on going through and testing myself on
 how many I know, to try to have all of them memorized before I go.
 Just by flipping through, I realize I know alot more than I think I
 did. There are sometimes where I think in spanish, I want to get to
 the point where I can just read or think in spanish without
 translating. I can already do that with most things, but some trickier
 stuff like the scriptures is hard to understand.

     Obviously we spend alot of time focused on the doctrine, but its
 mostly how to talk about it and teach it simply, not really learning
 it. We do have a branch, which is basically our ward, its about 80%
 elders. We have a sacrament meeting in the morning, and a priesthood
 meeting in the afternoon, and all the sisters have a giant relief
 society. We have the oppourtunity to watch music and the spoken word
 every week, its great, because thats the only music we get around
 here. Did you see the one right before christmas with Richard York?
 Legit. That guy is a pro.

    In my own scripture study, I'm not on a set plan, I will usually
 jump around, spending a fair amount of time in the New testament, as
 I'm likely to run into people who know that very well also. But I do
 want to know the BOM better also. Its weird to say I wish we had more
 time to study, even though we spend 2-3 hrs on just personal and
 companion study per day. I am definitely looking forward to getting
 out in the field. I felt like that at week 2. I have that feeling
 thats sort of nervous but excited at the same time about it. Its gonna
 be awesome.

    There are alot of things that are fun at the MTC. Gym time is
 always a blast, 4-square is still my favorite game, though I try to
 mix it up with running and occasionally b-ball or volleyball. Also, an
 Elder from down the hall, Elder Ragsdale, have started juggling alot.
 He is a pro. I have gotten alot better at juggling, thanks again for
 the Juggling balls for christmas, and I can do the throw behind the
 back trick fairly consistently. Elder R is really good, he can do 4
 balls at once, and do lots of cool tricks as well. He showed me one
 where you juggle like normal, but bounce them off of a wall in front
 of you. Then I showed him the 2 person juggling with 5 balls, where
 you go across to eachother, and then were like hey- lets combine them!
 So weve been practicing doing that off the wall to eachother, with 5
 balls. I'm sure it looks just crazy, us standing next to eachother
 hucking balls at the wall, and somehow cathing all of them and getting
 them going again. It's pretty fun. I took some videos of us juggling
 earlier, with my companion elder Rose, but I havent taken any with
 Elder Ragsdale, and in all kindness, Elder Ragsdale is way better. I
 gave my SD card to Jay today, who is going to take it to someone and
 have them email some pictures and videos to you, but keep in mind weve
 improved alot from tho.se

    I definitely laugh alot, our teachers tell us funny stories and we
 joke around when appropriate. I'll tell you a story my teacher Brother
 Adams told us, he went to Chile. So the little kids there had somehow
 learned swear words in english, and they would yell them at the
 Missionaries. But since their pronunciation is so bad it didnt really
 carry alot weight to it, and he'd usually just respond with "no, the
 playa is that way ninos". So one time on a bus some kids were swearing
 at them in english with funny accents and he said to them, "you know,
 those arent really mean swear words in english" and the kids said
 "tell us a mean one!" and he said "no, no I dont want you going around
 saying it" and the kids said "no, tell us! we promise we wont say it!"
 So he made them promise not to say it if he told them, and he said "ok
 here it is: Baptize me" and the kids immediately started saying it and
 asking him what it meant. He said "No I cant explain it to you, its
 too mean" and so all the little kids on the bus were yelling
 "Baptizeme baptizeme!!" and he would put his hands over his ears and
 say "No, dont say that! You promised!"  And so for the next few weeks
 when he was in that area all the little kids would yell at them "Hey
 Elders, Baptizeme!" I'm sure there are little kids in Chile still
 yelling at the missionaries Baptizeme!

Anyways, I'd love to hear from all of you via dearelder or
 otherwise, tell Daniel I love him! Thanks for the pictures!

Love,
 Cam

Extra note-

Oh yeah, we sang "we'll bring the world his truth" in a large meeting the other day, and they changed the words from " we will be the lords missionaries" to "we are now the lords missionaries" and that was a HUUUUUUUUGE rush and confirmation from the spirit that what Im doing is right. It was really awesome. You can put that in the main email if you want.

 

-Cam

DAY 35

Hey Everyone!

     Well, another week at the MTC. I reached the halfway point this week, which is pretty exciting. Time is this weird unexplainable thing, somehow it feels like I've been here forever but somehow I just got here last week. Crazy. We didnt have any special festivities on new years, at least not as an entire MTC. But on the night of, me and 2 other missionaries had recieved bottles of Martinellis from various people (thanks guys!) and we had a little midnight celebration.

      We all went to bed at the normal 10:30 time, and woke back up at 11:50 and all went to someones room. Before we went to bed (the first time) we took a small recycling bin (basically a big tupperware container), and went outside and filled it with snow, making my hands very conld and numb, but also giving us a sweet cooler to but the bottles in. We woke back up and had an fun little party, I wish I could attach pictures. I'll try to remember to see if I can get an SD card to Jay and maybe he could email a few.

     Not much besides the normal has been going on, still studying alot and learning alot, having fun in gym and in other things too. If anyone has any questions about this place they call the MTC, feel free to ask!

-Cam