Email #70 March 10, 2016
Sorry, Forgot to Send
Dearest Family and Friends,
This past week went really well. Elder Cardon have been working really
hard and have been blessed to see some amazing miracles and get our
area going a little bit. It's been pretty dead these past few weeks,
we've had no progressing investigators since I got here, so we've been
busting it trying to find new investigators. We still haven't found
one through our own efforts, but not because of lack of effort!
Honestly though, I am really loving finding more and more and really
like trying to build up an area. This past week was pretty normal, so
I will just share some of the highlights. One of the highlights was
getting our area super clean, setting up a lot of lessons with recent
converts that haven't been taught recently despite needing it, and
teaching quite a few lessons. We still have a lot of room to improve,
but we're getting there. The biggest highlight of the week was for
sure from Sunday. We went to church, and one of the recently returned
missionary sisters in the ward brought a friend from middle school
named Tak. She approached Elder Cardon before church started and asked
him if we could teach Tak about the Plan of Salvation. Tak stayed for
all three hours of church, including a brutalizing lesson in the
second hour about the law of chastity, and during the third hour we
were able to teach him. He's super cool. He's 21 and speaks English
really well. We were talking before the lesson started, and figured
out super quickly that Tak lived in Irvine for 6 months! We were able
to hit it off super fast just talking about Irvine and fun things to
do there. He's the man. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it
went really well. The member who brought him, Sister Eri, was a huge
help during the lesson, explaining and testifying like a champ. He
promised to read from the Book of Mormon to know whether or not it and
the Plan of Salvation is true, and wants to meet up again and learn
more! Super huge miracle! It's pretty amazing how blessed we have been
lately, and it's also pretty crazy how big the Irvine connection has
been on my mission. People like Tak are a huge testimony builder to me
that transfers are by revelation, and that I am supposed to be here in
Narita. Please pray that we will be able to meet with him soon and
that he will continue to want to learn more and progress! Tak even
stayed for the baptismal service for one of the primary kids in the
ward, and enjoyed it. Over my mission, I have noticed something about
the miracles I have seen. I see the biggest miracles when I am working
my hardest and am being the most obedient, but it is never because of
my own work. Despite busting it during finding, Tak was found through
a member. It's a good reminder that really so little of this work is
done by me and none of it is about me. God seems to just be reminding
me that really none of this is a result of me doing work, which is
always a good reminder. Today, we went to the temple. It was amazing.
I truly love the temple, and am loving it more and more. After the
temple, we went shopping with Shohei, a super cool member in Koiwa who
was baptized 3 years ago and loves the missionaries. I've gotten to
know him pretty well through various mission events and temple p days,
and he's super cool. He's 26, decided to serve a mission a little
while ago, and just got called to the Orem, Utah mission! He's going
to be a beast missionary. I bought a pretty cool watch at a recycle
shop. Life is good.
I had an epiphany at the temple today about repentance and the
Atonement. I've been thinking a lot about repentance recently and how
amazing it is that we can change through Christ's Atonement. I am so
grateful for Christ and His love for all of us and His willingness to
help us and to perform the Atonement for us. Whenever I have thought
about the Atonement in the past, I've always kind of divided it into
two different categories: First, how the Atonement allows us to
repent/allows Christ to emphasize with our sorrows and hard things;
and second, the enabling power of the Atonement. This is the Bible
Dictionary definition of Repentance:
"The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of
mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world.
Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to
mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin
to which we are naturally inclined."
Here's my epiphany. Utilizing the enabling power of the Atonement is
not only a way for us to improve and change, but also a way for us to
repent. There are a lot of things I have done in my life and in my
mission that I regret, and recently I have been thinking a lot about
these things and how I can leave them behind. Nothing incredibly
serious, but a lot of little things that I just need to put behind me.
I realized that if repentance is a fresh view of ourselves and turning
our will to God, by using Christ's enabling power to change ourselves
and improve ourselves and become more like God, we are repenting. What
an amazing thought! When I go out and give it my all, not only am I
just doing all I can and setting myself up for more success in the
future and changing and improving, but I am also repenting for the
things I have done in the past, because I am bringing my will in
harmony with God's by working my hardest and being the best I can. I
thought that was pretty cool. I also realized today just how amazing
it is that after we repent, God just forgets our sins. That is truly
an amazing principle. He doesn't give us a strike and warn us not to
do it again or else, or say it's ok and tuck it in the back of His
brain, He just forgets it and moves on. If God is willing to do that,
I sure should be able to as well. I am so grateful for the Atonement
and for repentance and how they bless me and help me improve and
change and become.
I love you all and am so grateful for all of you! I know how general
and cliche and insincere that sounds, but I really do love everyone
and care about everyone I send these weekly emails to. Please know
that I think about all of you frequently and really wish I had time to
email you all individually more often. Please know that you are all in
my thoughts and prayers, and that I truly am grateful for all of you!
Love you all, have a killer week!
Love,
Elder Calhoun
P.S. Something happened to my Facebook a few days ago and it liked
this inappropriately named page. I unliked it when I saw what
happened, but please know it wasn't me if you saw anything!
P.P.S. I'm about to blow up your inboxes with a ton of pictures
because it's been so long. I apologize, especially because you're
going to see you have a ton of emails and then be super disappointed
when it's just me.
This past week went really well. Elder Cardon have been working really
hard and have been blessed to see some amazing miracles and get our
area going a little bit. It's been pretty dead these past few weeks,
we've had no progressing investigators since I got here, so we've been
busting it trying to find new investigators. We still haven't found
one through our own efforts, but not because of lack of effort!
Honestly though, I am really loving finding more and more and really
like trying to build up an area. This past week was pretty normal, so
I will just share some of the highlights. One of the highlights was
getting our area super clean, setting up a lot of lessons with recent
converts that haven't been taught recently despite needing it, and
teaching quite a few lessons. We still have a lot of room to improve,
but we're getting there. The biggest highlight of the week was for
sure from Sunday. We went to church, and one of the recently returned
missionary sisters in the ward brought a friend from middle school
named Tak. She approached Elder Cardon before church started and asked
him if we could teach Tak about the Plan of Salvation. Tak stayed for
all three hours of church, including a brutalizing lesson in the
second hour about the law of chastity, and during the third hour we
were able to teach him. He's super cool. He's 21 and speaks English
really well. We were talking before the lesson started, and figured
out super quickly that Tak lived in Irvine for 6 months! We were able
to hit it off super fast just talking about Irvine and fun things to
do there. He's the man. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it
went really well. The member who brought him, Sister Eri, was a huge
help during the lesson, explaining and testifying like a champ. He
promised to read from the Book of Mormon to know whether or not it and
the Plan of Salvation is true, and wants to meet up again and learn
more! Super huge miracle! It's pretty amazing how blessed we have been
lately, and it's also pretty crazy how big the Irvine connection has
been on my mission. People like Tak are a huge testimony builder to me
that transfers are by revelation, and that I am supposed to be here in
Narita. Please pray that we will be able to meet with him soon and
that he will continue to want to learn more and progress! Tak even
stayed for the baptismal service for one of the primary kids in the
ward, and enjoyed it. Over my mission, I have noticed something about
the miracles I have seen. I see the biggest miracles when I am working
my hardest and am being the most obedient, but it is never because of
my own work. Despite busting it during finding, Tak was found through
a member. It's a good reminder that really so little of this work is
done by me and none of it is about me. God seems to just be reminding
me that really none of this is a result of me doing work, which is
always a good reminder. Today, we went to the temple. It was amazing.
I truly love the temple, and am loving it more and more. After the
temple, we went shopping with Shohei, a super cool member in Koiwa who
was baptized 3 years ago and loves the missionaries. I've gotten to
know him pretty well through various mission events and temple p days,
and he's super cool. He's 26, decided to serve a mission a little
while ago, and just got called to the Orem, Utah mission! He's going
to be a beast missionary. I bought a pretty cool watch at a recycle
shop. Life is good.
I had an epiphany at the temple today about repentance and the
Atonement. I've been thinking a lot about repentance recently and how
amazing it is that we can change through Christ's Atonement. I am so
grateful for Christ and His love for all of us and His willingness to
help us and to perform the Atonement for us. Whenever I have thought
about the Atonement in the past, I've always kind of divided it into
two different categories: First, how the Atonement allows us to
repent/allows Christ to emphasize with our sorrows and hard things;
and second, the enabling power of the Atonement. This is the Bible
Dictionary definition of Repentance:
"The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of
mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world.
Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to
mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin
to which we are naturally inclined."
Here's my epiphany. Utilizing the enabling power of the Atonement is
not only a way for us to improve and change, but also a way for us to
repent. There are a lot of things I have done in my life and in my
mission that I regret, and recently I have been thinking a lot about
these things and how I can leave them behind. Nothing incredibly
serious, but a lot of little things that I just need to put behind me.
I realized that if repentance is a fresh view of ourselves and turning
our will to God, by using Christ's enabling power to change ourselves
and improve ourselves and become more like God, we are repenting. What
an amazing thought! When I go out and give it my all, not only am I
just doing all I can and setting myself up for more success in the
future and changing and improving, but I am also repenting for the
things I have done in the past, because I am bringing my will in
harmony with God's by working my hardest and being the best I can. I
thought that was pretty cool. I also realized today just how amazing
it is that after we repent, God just forgets our sins. That is truly
an amazing principle. He doesn't give us a strike and warn us not to
do it again or else, or say it's ok and tuck it in the back of His
brain, He just forgets it and moves on. If God is willing to do that,
I sure should be able to as well. I am so grateful for the Atonement
and for repentance and how they bless me and help me improve and
change and become.
I love you all and am so grateful for all of you! I know how general
and cliche and insincere that sounds, but I really do love everyone
and care about everyone I send these weekly emails to. Please know
that I think about all of you frequently and really wish I had time to
email you all individually more often. Please know that you are all in
my thoughts and prayers, and that I truly am grateful for all of you!
Love you all, have a killer week!
Love,
Elder Calhoun
P.S. Something happened to my Facebook a few days ago and it liked
this inappropriately named page. I unliked it when I saw what
happened, but please know it wasn't me if you saw anything!
P.P.S. I'm about to blow up your inboxes with a ton of pictures
because it's been so long. I apologize, especially because you're
going to see you have a ton of emails and then be super disappointed
when it's just me.
Powerful limovan we saw. It isn't playing any games.
Nakazawa Kyoudai and Elder Fananello from last transfer. Nakazawa Kyoudai is an absolute animal. Super solid.
I look trashed in this photo, but these are the Yamamoto Twins from Kasukabe Ward. They recently returned from their missions and are super cool!
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