November 21, 2016

Hey everyone!! This week was good! Crazy busy though!! Let's see, so
this was my last week at the MTC. My district's too! So on Sunday we
sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer in Sacrament meeting as a district and
that was really cool! The spirit was super strong! And later on Sunday
I watched The Character of Christ devotional by Elder Bednar again!!
And it was crazy spiritual!! It's such a good talk!
 He tells this story about a mother whose daughter is in a car accident with two
friends.  She (the mother) is on the phone with Elder Bednar who is her Stake President             asking if he can go to the hospital to identify the girls.
She then finds out that her daughter has died and she is worried about
the other mothers and letting them know that their daughters are on
the way to the hospital. Then later this same woman is worried about Elder Bednar and how he was affected by seeing her daughter and asks if he is alright. Then the day of her daughter's funeral this woman gets a call from some lady in the ward who is sick and hasn't gotten a meal from the ward yet ( the woman was the Relief Society President) and the sick lady not knowing about her daughter then chews her out and the Relief Society President- this crazy strong woman- takes a meal to that (sick) woman on the way to her daughter's funeral.
So basically he ends up saying that this is the character of Christ! To at our
hardest times turn out instead of in. It was such a good talk!! I haven't even scratched the surface of it!! It's so good!

 Anywhos so yeah.  Sunday was good! Then Monday was a really good last day at the MTC!        Both my teachers Brother Rogers and Brother Aston had great lessons!!
I learned a ton from them! Saying goodbye to everyone in my district
that wasn't going to Washington was sad but they are all gonna be
great missionaries! So I'm excited for them! So Tuesday we got up at
3:00am to leave and we took a bus and two different trains to the
airport.  The flight to Washington was good!

 And when we got to the airport President McAteer and his wife were waiting for us!                    They are such nice, happy people!! They gave everyone hugs and were super happy
the whole time!  It was cool! And then we went to the mission home and
had a bunch of meetings that we got all our info and iPads at.  Then
we went out and tried to place some Book of Mormons and that was cool!
Then we had dinner at the mission home!

The next day we got our assignments and I'm in the Portland Stake in Saint Johns area! My companion Is Elder Barton! He is a really cool guy!! He's been out 17
months and he's helped me a lot already!  Also there is this awesome
guy in out ward who we call B-Rauch! He is such a good guy!! He's 77
and he goes out with us like every single day!! He drives us all over the area because it's a
biking and walking area and he is he sweetest old guy of all time!!

So anywhos I've just been working since I got here and we are teaching a
lot of people! Last night we went to the Portland temple with one of
our investigators her name is Sammy and she has a cute little 4 year
old named Kaylee! It was a really good lesson! At the end she
committed to work towards being baptized on the 7th of January!!! It
was awesome  also the Portland temple is gorgeous!! So that's most
of the stuff from my week! Let me know if you guys have any questions!
Love you all!

Elder Caleb Dewald

Dear Missionary Family,

We are delighted to inform you that your missionary has arrived safely to the Washington Vancouver Mission.  We already love them and are excited to serve with them.  We have enjoyed becoming acquainted with them and are confident that they will become an effective instrument in the hands of the Lord in sharing the gospel with the people of Washington and Oregon.

We have assigned them a companion who is an experienced, devoted, and motivated missionary.  All of our missionaries understand that one of the greatest privileges available in the mission is to train a new missionary.  This first companion will be a special person to your missionary’s life and will help give them a great start here.

We feel that our greatest responsibility is the care and welfare of your child.  We want to assure you that we will be in close contact with them.  We will be observant of their physical health, happiness, and spiritual well being.  We will work closely with them throughout the mission to help them succeed and fulfill their calling as a representative of the Church and as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please be assured that we will be in contact with you if we ever encounter any concerns that would call for your attention.  We see you as a great asset to the success of your child while serving in the mission field and will work closely with you if the need arises.

Thank you for the sacrifices you are making at home to have your missionary in the field.  We have seen the Lord bless the families of missionaries who are serving in untold ways.  We know that his blessing will be upon you as well.

Attached are photographs of your missionary taken with us at the welcome dinner at the mission home. 

Please feel free to contact us at the mission office with any questions that you may have.

With love,

President and Sister McAteer

Washington Vancouver Mission

 

 October 26

 Hey mom dad just wanted to let you know that I got the MTC safe. I'm getting settled in. Everything is going well so far.



 October 28

 So things are going really good! It's been super busy! the last two day seem like they went on forever but at the same time they went by pretty quickly too. The spirit here is amazing! It's kinda like being at the temple but a little less strong most of the time. My companions name is Elder Johnson! He is a really cool guy! He's from Utah. Actually all the guys in my district but me are from Utah hahaha but they are are really cool elders! It's crazy how close I already feel to them! So the first day went by in a blur of info about all the things we would be doing and it was super crazy but still super spiritual! It's amazing how much my testimony has grown just in the last few days! Also all of the elders in my room are going to the same mission as me so that's really cool. We'll probably see each other out in the field! So the first night we had this meeting where we had a bunch of missionaries teaching people who were acting as investigators and it was super cool to hear so many testimonies and to feel the spirit in the room. Then the second day was a ton of personal and companion study and class time and it was super busy but super good! We are teaching an investigator in one of our classes right now and that's super cool! ( It's actually just our teacher role playing but it feels real)  And so it was really a good time teaching with elder Johnson! He really is such a cool elder and his testimony is awesome! So later that day we had a meeting with the branch pres. and that was super spiritual! We had everyone in our zone that was new (my district and one other. About twenty elders and sisters total) and we all got up and and shared our testimony of Christ and it was super amazing and the spirit was so strong!! Then we had more meetings and at the end they gave everyone callings and I'm the district leader which is crazy!  But It's great to know that the Lord has so much faith in me! it really gave me a boost of strength and I'm really grateful for the calling to serve. Last night was just a really strong witness that I'm where the Lord wants me to be and I know that with all my heart!

November 4
 
Hey everyone! So this week has been pretty great! The days have been running together a lot  but they have been good! The spirit is so strong here! My testimony has grown so much stronger!! So on Sunday we had a great devotional and then after that we watched a video of a talk Elder Bednar  gave at the MTC a few years ago, and it was crazy good!!!! His talk was on being like Christ and turning outward! IT WAS THE BEST!! I didn't take notes because I didn't have a note book, but I'm planning on it next week! So I'll tell you all about it next week!

We started this thing called TRC this week where we teach people and we aren't sure if they are acting or not! It feels so real and it's so freaking awesome!! My companion and I are teaching a guy named Arnold and he is super cool!! He's pretty old, not exactly sure how old but his wife died 50 years ago. So his Story is that when his wife was dying he was praying to God and he got the answer of when his wife would die and it was super hard on him. So because that happened he hadn't prayed since then. But last night we taught him about the plan of salvation and how he could be with his wife again. AND HE SAID THE PRAYER!!!   It was awesome!! The spirit was so strong!! I love that Arnold so much! and tonight we are gonna teach him about temples and then invite him to be baptized!

Also we get to go to the Provo Temple every P-day!! It's like right across the street! So last week we went to the temple and the Elders in my room ( elder Johnson , elder Berry and elder Oswald. Elder Johnson is my companion by the way and we are all going to the same mission.) we went and did sealings and then this week we did an endowment session and both were really good!! So last week after we went to the temple We all took Elder Johnson to the urgent care because he had been having headaches all week even before he got here and they kept getting worse, so we took him and he had to get a shot in the butt.  It was so funny after and he is doing great now so that's all good!

Halloween was pretty calm here they didn't really do anything! But some of the Elders went around to all the elders rooms dressed up 

That's about all I can think of!

November 11

There yall! How is everyone doing?  So this week was good! Both of my TRCs last week ended well. They both committed to be baptized  so that was cool!! This week I have two new ones and they are both great!! They are super interested and lessons have been going well so far.

So on Sunday we had another devotional and it  was great! it was Jenny Oaks Baker! Elder Oaks daughter and it was awesome! her and her family preformed a bunch of musical numbers and it was really good! Her son who's like 6 or something was playing a guitar! and he was so good! So that was really cool and the spirit was really strong! 

On Tuesday we had another devotional and it was good! I sang in the choir! It was really cool! And then the primary general president spoke! It was really good too! I don't remember what it was about right now... but I took notes so maybe I'll send something from it next week!

Speaking of, I fly out next week on the 15th!!

It's crazy! This week kinda flew by!

So yeah that's all I can think of this week!

The Beginning

Outside it was still dark and most of the world still asleep at 5:30 on the morning of October 26, 2016 when bid Caleb farewell at the airport to begin two years of service for the Lord.