October 29: New Area, New Zone, New Companion, New Orleans!!

Well, almost New Orleans. We're in Metairie, the city in which I started my mission. I'm living in the first apartment I lived at, and we are packed in here like sardines, 4 of us in a 2 bedroom, but very small bedroom, apartment. Our area is called Fat City. Fat City is a neighboorhood in our zone, and it is just chalk full of hispanics. We also had the awesome privilege of opening up a new zone! Its an all spanish zone, so we will be doing all training, all studies and everything in spanish! We're really excited. I know having a native speaking companion at the beginning of my mission was a big help.

   Heres a picture of me and my new companion,elder Pope. Apparently my parents and his dad, Brian Pope went to high school together! Wow! Small world, huh? We're pressed for time this week, so it will be a short email. 

-Elder Cardon

 

I almost forgot the most important thing! My new address! You may have seen it before, its

Elder Cam Cardon
2416 Pasadena ave #103

Metairie, LA 70001

Now you may think "well, hes about to come home, I'll just say hi in a month or so" But really, I would just jump for joy if I got a letter. A letter just makes a missionaries day! In the last 3 months I think I've got 2 letters. . One from my mom, one from someone else in the ward. So now is the best time to send me a letter. Do you want to live the rest of your life saying "man, I wish I had written cam more letters on his mission." ? I think not! 

:)

Love y'all!

-Elder Cardon

Abbeville

This is a note from a man in our ward who served in Cam's mission over 25 years ago, Cam emailed him and asked him for some stories from that time. 

Elder Cardon,

 

So thrilled to hear you are planted in the Atchafalaya Basin! My second day in the mission filed was in Lafayette where I was picked up by my companion, Elder Loper and a black member, Elijah Dee. I grew up with severl black friends so I felt very comfortable and even excited to meet brother Dee but when he spoke, I could only understand about 25% of what he said. It was an immediate udnerstanding of what my Patriarchal blessing said, "I would serve among a strange people", but, it also goes on to say... "where I will learn their customs and their attituedes and where I would find the pure in heart and they would be affected by my testimony and my faith, and realize that they are choice children of our Father".

 

Elder, it was 33 years ago and don't have my journals close at hand but some highlights from my first area, Abbeville, LA:

 

Densyl Haymond was our Branch President (son D.L Haymond lived in Baton Rouge). He was from the ward in Lafayette. We met in a small home in town that had wood floors and on a typical Sunday we would have three MPH holders at church, Bro. Haymond, me and my comp. His two counselors were active but worked offshore in the oil fields so they were only around occasionally. We blessed and passed the sacrament, I played the piano, we taught SS and PH and spoke in sacrament meeting often since there were no shows a lot and frankly, many times, no one else to speak but us anyway.

 

We tracked day in and day out, very little member participation but we taught a lot. The people were very welcoming as far as hearing a message about the Savior but the response was always, "I'm Catholic, my mamma's Catholic, my Grandma is Catholic..." you know. Mike and Katie Schwere (sp) were great members there and treated us so good. We went month's without a baptism but finally met Jake, an elderly black man who retained some paralysis after suffering a stroke, he loved to have us come and teach him and read the BofM to him. He was baptized in our font in Lafayette which was an old garbage dumpster with plaster on the inside that sat behind the church that we filled up with a garden hose and dumped what hot water we could heat on the stove in the kitchen into it to take the chill off. Jake couldn't climb the ladders in and out of our make-shift font so we had to lift him in and out. He was a very sweet man; I'm certain he has been gone for many years. There was also a single mom with two young girls who joined the church, I don't recall her name but the little branch had a start.

 

We lived in a dump of an apartment on the second floor of a fourplex in Guegnon St. It was roach infested and I was able to find a great place to live right before I was transfered (never slept a night in it). We worked in Abbeville, Erath and Perry, all on bikes. Our district leaders were in New Iberia. I went from Abbeville to NO for 12 months serving in Algiers and NO East and finished my last six months in Biloxi.

 

The greatest miracle in Abbeville was probably Elder Beeson's growth in knowlege and faith. I spent six difficult but wonderful month's in Abbeville, met so many wonderful people and learned what the church was like outside of Utah and how important PH leadership is and what modern pioneers were like. I passed off all my discussions and over 240 scriptures that I memorized while in Abbeville. I finally, really leaned for myself that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Holy Ghost can bring comfort as well as guidance in our lives and that "ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" but that when we press forward and endure, ultimately the window of heaven are opened and tremendous blessing come in many forms.

 

Elder, thanks for your faithful service. You may never know the tremendous impact you have had on others both in and out of the church, at home and away because of the work that you are engaged in.

 

See you before long, "The time is far spent, there is little remaining..."

 

Best Regards,

 

Sam Beeson

October 15--tabasco week.

Well, this was a pretty good week!

 

Again, I come to the library to tell you about all the cool things and stories, and then I sit down and my mind goes blank. Well, lets start with last p-day. I dont tell a whole lot of p-day stories, because we always do email first thing, so the rest of the day is the last thing in my memory from the week. Well, last week was definitely memorable, we went to Avery Island, the birthplace and only manufacturing place of tabasco sauce!! It was pretty cool. They talked about the history of it, the long-running family tradition, and the process of making it. they produce 700,000 bottles of tabasco sauce. A day. Its not really technically and island. There is a river, and the river splits itself around a mountain. Well, a hill, really, and probably (not joking) the only hill I've seen my whole mission. Louisiana is just a pancake. So the bridge isnt long, but I guess, by all technicalities, its an island. I sent a box with some overpriced souveniers home, did you get it yet?

 

We had a great increase in faith with Rafael and Virginia, they have desires to be baptized, but are just letting a few things get in the way. We are working with them, and should make some good progress with them soon. Other than that... thats about it. We helped someone in the ward move. Is that exciting? I dont know what else will spark interest in a routine email list, but, if you want, you can send questions, like my grandma did! so heres some answers:

 

 

How many missionaries do you share the apartment with?

Well, right here its just us two. In some areas its four, but I guess they try to avoid that for some reason.

Have your tried out your Mexican Cooking Skills on your new companions yet?

Well, to say it Louisiana style, I've been being doing that! It really is insanely cheaper to cook for yourself, and it turns out just the way you want it, every time!

Do you drive a car now that you are a zone leader?

Well, yes, but leadership callings arent always the reason you have a car, it depends more on the area. There are plenty of district leaders on bikes, and plenty of normal elders in cars. But all the zone leaders do have cars, because we have to go reeeeally far for exchanges and stuff sometimes. But, we still have mile limitations, so its not a free-for-all.

How big is the city of Lafayette?

Well, I couldnt give a population number, but its a little smaller that Baton Rouge. The hispanics are a little more spread out here, so we kind of have to go "hunting" for them, but we know a few good spots, and we stay pretty busy.

Where is it in the state, in elation to Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette are almost equal distances apart (about 80 miles) on a roughly east to west plane. so lafayette is closer to the center of the state.

Is it as hot there?

Well, it hasnt been as hot, because we are getting in to fall, but I think it gets just about as hot here as anywhere else. Although on conference weekend we had a cold front, and I wore a sweater to general conference!'

So there it is. Write me soon!

 

Love,

Elder Cardon

October 8--Weekly Update!

Well, this was a great week with some great stuff happening, especially general conference! I just loved it! What was everyones favorite talk? I was really excited about the announcement for new missionary ages! Thats going to be huge. We had a great time, just us at the church watching conference, only a few members came, and we just had one investigator. I guess just watching it online is a little more convenient. I loved Elder Cooks talk, he really boldy called the world to repentance! Elder Don R. Clarke actually came to our mission about 7 months ago, and shared his steps of getting more out of the sacrament. The priesthood session was awesome as well. conference is just the best as a missionary, I've got more out of on conference on my mission than any other time of my life. I always tell people I'm more excited for conference than my birthday. and its true!

 

We went on exchanges this week, with the elders in Morgan City, which is a cool little place south of Lafayette. We went with the spanish elders and the english elders down there, and did some great work with both of them. I had a cool experience with the english elders: So normally, we as spanish missionaries are "in the culture, but not of the culture" of Louisiana. We are very much involved in Hispanic culture as well. But on our exchange last week, I got to teach someone from a totally different culture. Normally, when we find someone who doesnt speak much english, its someone who speaks spanish and we're excited to teach them. But we had a great opportunity to teach a guy from india, who spoke a language called Myanlamar (or something like that), so it was kind of tough to communicate. But he let us in, and we had a short discussion of what he believed about Jesus Christ. In our talking, he mentioned that his brother had died about a year ago. We shared Alma 40:11, and he understood it, and we testified that his brother was ok, and that he was with God. The spirit was just soooo strong, and this man really could feel it, so much that he teared up a little, and I did too. He really did receive a witness that his brother was ok and everything would be alright.

 

We had a great zone conference this week, President Wall taught us some great things, and invited other missionaries to instruct for parts of it. Part of that, of course, was us, and we came up with a great idea for our assigned topic, companionship unity. We took one companion from each companionship into the gym, and blindfolded the ones that stayed. The ones in the gym were instructed on what to do, but the blindfolded ones were left quite aloof, being told only that their companion was going to come and get them and couldnt talk to them. Then their companion came in, brought them to the gym, and tied two legs together, and we had a blindfolded, non-communicatory 3-legged race. Luckily, there were no casualties. After, we said take off the blindfolds, talk, practice, learn, then we'll do it for reals. Then we all lined up, eyes open, adrenaline going, and had a REAL 3-legged race, down and back across the gym. Of course, Elder Dehart and I won. :) Of course, it had a spiritual connection, and the things that the missionaries learned were amazing, about trusting your companion, practicing, and getting a little competitive sometimes.

 

Well, I'm out of time this week, I spent a little time watching ABC's recent report on missionaries, which was filmed in our mission, with some elders I know, and also the press conference about the newly adjusted missionary age, found on mormonnewsroom.org. (check it out)

 

Love y'all!

-Elder Cardon

October 1--Weekly Update from Louisiana!

Well, we had an awesome week this week, with some cool experiences and a great leadership conference. We went on exchanges with the elders in a place called new Iberia, they are doing well and have some great people to teach. We also found some awesome new investigators in our area, the kind of people that you just say "wow, they are getting baptized, no doubt" and are really receptive. Speaking of baptisms, we had a baptism last week! His name is Antonio, he's an awesome guy from Nicaragua. Really humble, and has a great testimony of the restored gospel.

 

The leadership conference was great, President Wall is a great leader, and really knows how to help us grow and gain our own testimonies. He gave a funny example, relating to his past life as a newspaper manager he said, more or less " I used to manage multi-million dollar companies. I was successful, because I've got good ideas, and I know how to implement them. I got paid an obscene amount of money for what I did. I also have good ideas about finding. Give me 20 minutes, I'll give you 20 ideas for finding, and they'll all work. Give me 20 more minutes, I'll give you 20 more ideas. But I dont want you to use my ideas, I want you to use your ideas, and seek revelation for your zones and districts." He related that to a story of when he was managing one of his companies, and how he got his employees to come up with some ideas. He said " I called a meeting with all my employees and said 'instead of using my ideas to accomplish x task, we're going to start using yours'. I told them that we'd have an idea box, that everyone should put their ideas in the box. for every idea submitted, we'd pay them 5 dollars. for every idea implemented, we'd pay them 50 dollars. guess how much we paid out? 15 dollars. So I took a different approach. We broke them up into smaller groups, and I went to each group and said 'each group needs to come up with at least 10 ideas, and the group with the least ideas will get fired. so start brainstorming.' Well, ideas came out of the woodwork, and many of them were things I never would have thought of. I want you as Zone and District Leaders to come up with ideas of how to run your zones." It was really kind of different from presidents normal routine, because he really is very humble and doesnt talk about his business success much, but it was just a little bit of "look guys, I know what I'm doing here."

 

We had a great increase in faith with this family we have been working with, they are pretty involved in another church, but we meet with them alot, and they love us coming over and love the Book of Mormon. (who wouldn't?). They've apparently come once or twice in the past, but not since I've been here. On saturday night I was talking to him on the phone about something else, and just got the impression to just invite him. I knew he knew when it was and everything, but I just said "hey, wanna come to church tomorrow?" he said he'd be working, but maybe another time. The next day (Sunday night) we had dinner at their house. He told us that that morning it was raining, so he didnt have to work (he has a lawn care business) and when he found out he didnt have to work he heard something tell him that he should go to church with us today. He didnt know what it was, but he just really wanted to go to church with us. Well, the bummer is he didnt, but we told him about conference, and he's really excited for it. So pray that he and hopefully his family if they come will have a great experience!

 

Well, last week was a fun p-day, we went to a members apartment complex and played volleyball at their sand volleyball court. We're going there again, this time everyones bringing their own meat and we're having a bbq! the complex is super nice, and had 3 or 4 nice grills next to the court and pool. (why dont we live there?)

 

Love you!

Elder Cardon

 

P.S. to all- if you want to send me some questions to answer, I'll answer them. My grandma did, but the time ran out on me for this week, so maybe next week will be all question answering!

September 24--I Dun Had a Rajun Cajun Week!

Well, this was an awesome week, we had some really cool lessons and met some great people. I told a little bit last week about LaPlace again, it was nasty, but great to help people that needed it so much. We stayed the night in New Orleans again, and played basketball on p-day. This one tall elder was just messing around, and went in and dunked, and the rim came down and shattered the whole glass backboard. It was crazy, but pretty cool. I think he felt bad. That night, we had a dinner appointment with and awesome family in the ward. Dinner was great, but we realized they may have been buttering us up- they asked us to help them move some things from their storage unit to their house. Turns out "a few things" was alot of heavy furniture and 4 hours of it.

 

This week, I went on an exchange with the english Elders. So in the same area and neighborhoods and stuff, but teaching different people. One type of person I've rarely ever found, let alone taught, among the Hispanic culture is someone with agnostic beliefs about God. Its pretty engrained among hispanics to believe in God and to thank him for everything and always say his name. So much engrained, that it really switches from actual faith into almost a superstition. But thats another topic for another time. We taught this young couple with a 1 year old kid, they were really great people, but just couldnt connect the dots. He had a little more belief in God than she did, but just everything she was saying was totally highlighting gospel principles and the hand of God in her life, but just stuck to her guns with "Well, if there is a God, then after this life if you did good, you'll be rewarded accordingly". We talked about the commandments, and she said almost exactly that the 10 commandments were more like "10 creative suggestions". She talked about the wonderful feeling of love and peace she had when her baby was born, but passed it off as "feelings". She said sometimes she feels strengthened to do things she normally couldnt by herself or had an impression to help someone, but passed it off as just ideas. We truly testified of God and his power and influence in our lives, but she had a tough time bringing it together. It was just totally different.

 

On the same exchange, we had a chance to eat dinner with an authentic cajun family who, if my temporary companion hadn't told me, I would've thought were members. After a few colorful jokes from the parents, I would've guessed otherwise, but the reason I say that at first is because they had five totally nice, well behaved kids, and they fed us some really good homemade pulled pork sandwiches, and were so excited to have the elders over. We said a prayer, and then the Mom started serving up plates, and passed one to me, then my companion, then the rest of the family. Having been well taught by a loving mother, I knew you're not supposed to start eating your food until everyone has their food and is eating together. But, I guess my companion lacked such refinement and dove right in, and after his first bite got absolutely REAMED by the woman of the house for not waiting. He bashfully apologized, said he knew, it just looked to good! Afterwards, we sat down and had a lesson with them about the plan of salvation. That really is a great lesson to teach a family, they had just tons of questions, they were really smart kids. Other cool fact: they had a pet squirrel! No joke! in a little cage with food and everything.

 

We taught another lady on the exchange who was trying really hard to give up coffee. I asked if we could have her coffee maker. She said yes. So now we have a coffee maker, and one investigator closer to living the word of wisdom. Exito!

 

Here was one of the coolest things of the whole week: We were on the Radio! No joke! one of our investigators has a friend who is a radio DJ and wanted us to come and tell about some of the services we can offer to the Spanish community. They had a little studio, which I was of course excited to be in, I've been missing the microphones and sound board and everything I left back home. It was a pretty small but still cool room, just a desk with a soundboard and computer, with her mic on one side and 3 on the other side for us and the interviewer, and it was a really cool, spiritual experience. We told them about our english class, doing translation, and our Sunday church services. They asked us to share about how people can find spiritual guidance in their lives. They asked us some questions about missionary work, and they were shocked when we told them that sometimes people slam the door and dont want to listen to us. They asked us why we came out on a mission, how we know the Church is true, and what keeps us motivated to keep working. I shared a scripture over the radio, and it was a really cool experience. then afterwards she said, "well, this week was little improvised, but next week we'll plan out a little more. I want you guys to talk more about families." Sweet! we can do that, and we're going back next week! Apparently you can listen online, so I'll let you know when our next thing is so y'all can listen in!

 

Other news, we have a baptism this weekend! His name is Antonio, he is really prepared, and is really excited to be baptized. More on him and his baptism next week.

 

Love y'all!

September 17-- New Area!

Well, this was a pretty great week!

We have started off well here in Lafayette, and have already had some great lessons with the people we are teaching. We have some awesome families, and had some great increases in faith in them. We stay pretty busy, which is great. One thing I have resolved to do better this week and the rest of my mission is to write stuff down during the day that I want to share in my weekly email. Because I know I have some stories that would at least be somewhat interesting to you, but whenever I get here to the computer, they seem to disappear.

We had a great lesson with two families, we got them together and had a mini Family Home Evening, and it went great. I've come to realize even more that FHE is such an inspired program! I'm so glad my parents were so diligent in it, it really was one of the most influential factors of my spiritual growth. Its cool how something so simple like singing a song and sharing a lesson and watching a video and eating dinner could be so powerful- but it totally is! We had a lesson about Faith, and we used the one of the new Bible Videos on the Church website, (has everybody seen those? go watch them!) where Jesus raises Jarius's daughter. All of those videos are very well done. Afterwards we had a great discussion of how they exercise faith in their lives, and they really enjoyed it.

This weekend we went out to LaPlace again, to help more with the areas that were flooded. We had some cool experiences, except that in one house we did they literally had not started at all- that means that for two weeks, everything in there had been molding and rotting, and oh my, it smelled terrible. Just worst than anything you can imagine, especially back in the closet that had no ventilation and was still full of moldy clothes, yikes. Yikes yikes yikes. I couldn't even stay in there for any extended period of time. The two sisters we were working with deserve a metal of honor for working in there with the homeowner to get all the clothes out. It smelled like a combination of rotten eggs and sewage and- well, ok I'll stop there, I think you get the idea.

But besides the nastiness, its really great to see how much peoples hearts soften upon being served in such a hard time of trial. I heard that after Katrina the baptisms in this mission just exploded, and they are expecting the same in some of the areas, they actually just put another set of elders in that city to help teach all the people who we helped.

I know I say this most weeks, but next week- I promise, a longer update. Ok? But that is of course contingent on how many emails and letters I get. I have to know these are being read and enjoyed, not that I'm preaching to a unresponding crowd! :)

-Elder Cardon

P.S. New area means new address! Send lots of letters!

Elder Cam Cardon

100 S Meyers Dr #1201

Lafayette,LA, 70508
 

 

(NOTE: Because Cam got transferred on October 22, this address might not be applicable anymore)