27 October 2014 "Well, who knows what to say..."

Hola Amigos,

This week my companion, Elder Howard, hit his year mark and I changed another tire this morning.  We contacted lots of less actives and had a grand old time in a place in Missouri. 

As a zone, we went to Grand Gulf and I need to go back there when I can swim, I decided.  The water got up to my knees pretty quick as I was trying to get to the gulf.  Can you say spelunking?  In Missouri it's kinda like taking a mud bath.  It surprisingly feels pretty good.  Half mud, half water, and a few Elders.  Some Elders cared about there service clothes a little too much. 

NOTE: Anyone thinking about going on a Mission....Please don't be afraid to get dirty!  If you do..you will limit who you can help.  That's what I have found on this Mission.   Service is always more than you bargain for and it is always more fun then one would think.   I have wrangled goats and pigs in a white shirt and people are so appreciative. :)   

Just Loving every day I have to do this and to help those around me.

         Love Ya'll

             Elder Caldwell

20 October 2014 Wahhahahahahahahaha

  Subject line be awesome!! Ok, well anyways, on with my week.  I have been doing all sorts of different things. We have been doing some Family History and I was able to get rid of some duplicate info. I found my Grandma's Obituary.   I am so proud of her.  She is an amazing woman and I cant wait to see her again. The Gospel brings such peace to my life.   I can't imagine what I would do without the knowledge of an afterlife.

      This morning we found out that we are able to go to the zone outing today. We got up and got ready to go and my companion Elder Howard walks out to the truck and walks right back in and says "We ain't goin' nowhere." I then walk out and kick it into high gear! I drop the spare and change the tire right there in our monsterous gravel pit (folks...9 inches of gravel is way too much for a driveway.) Anyways, I was able to change the tire in less then 20 minutes and be on the road.  Good thing we had some wood to put the jack on, otherwise it never would have worked.

      I found out this week that I might like to be an electrician.  When you learn more about Electricity it becomes pretty intriguing. I learned this from working on a school that was built in the 1940's. I was running new wires and testing old wires and all that fun stuff. I really enjoy doing that.  Maybe it just might be a career option. I have learned so many things on my mission. I could almost build my own house with what I know.

      Oh also while I was down there, we found a dead cat that was like it had just been petrified.  It still had skin on it, but that is about all it had.  It was really weird.  I don't even know how to explain it. I have never seen anything like that other than in Haunted houses.  Pretty cool stuff.

     We were contacting less actives and we walk into Brother C's house.  He has been breaking everything in his house and is going through a divorce. His wife has become unfaithful.  It's really sad. He told me to take a picture and give it to to the M Family so that he does not break it. I did not know he knew the M Family but apparently he does. It was the kids baptismal picture. I thought that was pretty special.

                                     Love,

                                         Elder Caldwell

                         That's all folks!!  

14 October 2014 "...you don't find better people then them."

1st NOTE: Don't ever tear a bed apart the last week of the transfer. Even if you think you both are staying because then you have to put it back together in a rush and build a new bed! We were kinda in crunch time and put together this bed for me to sleep in, so we could get Elder Howard into the other bed. We only had one bed ready until 3 hours before we had to leave to go to the transfer point.

2nd NOTE: One full week of service. We are trying to get a 110 year old lady into a members home, so she can come to church and its pretty crazy. She was baptized at age 103 and is still going strong at 110. Her name is D Wagner and her conversion story is all because of BYU TV. Pretty crazy! BYU TV actually did a documentary on her. I don't know how to find it but the story is pretty cool.

Brother C's sister in-law is moving into the branch, too. We have been building her house. As we have been doing this, we have spent lots of time in G's Grocery eating lunch and stuff. The G's are about to be taught by the Missionaries. They may not even know it, but they are pretty receptive and you don't find better people then them. Good ol' town of Oxford.

I really like this place. The people are so amazing. I don't know that I could be in a better place. Elder Howard is my new companion. He is from Erda, Utah. He is familiar with Rush Valley, kinda. He likes to snowboard and he has a sheep ranch with 2100 head of sheep, not too bad. Much more adventures to come, I am sure of it.

Love Ya'll

Elder Caldwell

Rickety Bunkbeds Before

Loft Bed After....no more fear for the bottom bunk Elder. :)

                                       

07 Oct 2014 "Our Mission President told us to build our branch..."

How to tell you about this week.....Hmmm........Fantastic. Service for 6 days in a row. Our Mission President told us to build our branch. Funny thing is how we just took that to heart and started building some houses for new move ins, building wheelchair assessible ramps for the elderly so they can make it to church. While on the side fixing our rickety bunk bed. I did fear for my companions life a few times. After we took the bed apart I know Heavenly Father was watching out for me. I know it took a few nights after planning to get the bed to what it is now.

Oh, and I bought a fantastic cast iron skillet! Hopefully it can go on the plane with me home..hahaha. I love ya'll. This week has been a little hectic.

Oh, one more thing our Branch Mission Leader signed us up for taking care of carnival games. We were over the Nerf dart booth. Learned that I will train my kids how to behave so that they never become free range chickens with nerf guns...haha. I love kids, but where are the parents?!? Who knows. (I should have told my ward Mission leader that we can't babysit. It says so in the white Handbook for Missionaries:)

I am glad I got called to a tractin' mission...everyone needs that opportunity and training....it's like fast food, the things you learn you just can't always explain.

Hope ya'll like the photos

Elder Caldwell

Our mode of transportation...car miles just don't go far enough in Ash Flat.

Mission Central

Suring up a rather rickety old bunk bed.

So glad to have a dad that taught me how to fix things.

 The Rickety Bunk Beds!

My new amazing cast iron skillet.