Hello there!
On Tuesday we went the family history center with a new member and that was pretty cool! I've honestly never done family history very much before! So this was really cool helping her get everything set up and going and then to help her get her mom's and a few others names ready for her to take to the temple! I enjoyed it a lot and seeing how excited she was was pretty cool! Also there is a feature on the family
tree app where you can find any relatives around you and it'll tell you how you're related and everything! And so I did that with her and we were 15th cousins! So that was kinda neat!
So yeah family history is actually pretty fun!
Then later that day we had a way cool street contact! I think I told you all about how we've started asking everyone "Do you like to read?" because of this cool talk we listened to! But if not I'll forward the talk at the end of this email! But anywhos so we decided to go contact some people on the street after stopping by a part member family and we decided to use that question. The first guy we start talking to is gold. We asked him what he did that day and he said read a book! Me
and Elder Packer (I was on exchanges with another missionary) were like "Whaaaaaaat?" It was waaaay cool! So he is YSA age. And he ended up going to a sports night that they have! So that was cool! Then later in the week we had a good lesson with Kaydence another recent convert!
And we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and gave her a little cut out of the plan that you put together! It was cool! Then yesterday day we found two way cool investigators and a cool family where the mom is a member but no one else in the family is! So hopefully we can start teaching them soon! So yeah just a good week!
Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Caleb Dewald
August 14
Hey y'all! This week was really good! We had zone conference on
Wednesday and it was a really good meeting! We talked a lot about how
to talk to people and we got a few new approaches for talking to
people! One is a survey that we use and it's pretty cool. It's just
asking about what people's beliefs in God are and stuff like that. It
leads really well into teaching so that's kinda cool! It was just a
good zone meeting and I learned a ton!
Later in the week we went and did service at the meals on wheels place
again and that was pretty fun!
We also had way good lessons with both of our recent converts this
week! Debi is a nice older lady who has a really good testimony! So we
talked with her about the temple and going and doing baptisms for the
dead and also family history work so she could get her own names. So we
are going to go to the family history center tomorrow with her to get
some names! It should be a blast!
We also had a good lesson/ dinner with Kaydence! She's 9 and a ball of
energy! She's a ton of fun! She's the other recent convert! We taught
her the restoration over two visits, so I guess we had two lessons with
her. But the second one was lesson and dinner and her grandma made some
delicious lasagne!! It was like from scratch! She even made the
noodles!! It was way crazy good! And they had a friend over who wasn't
a member so we got to talk to him about the church a little and kinda
explain what we do. It was cool!
Also this week we found the coolest guy named Arron! Well I guess he
found us. So someone had cancelled an appointment on us. So we were
just trying to figure out what to do and elder Harris had the feeling
to go over to this member to make a visit. We had never met the guy! So
we got there and it was an apartment but we didn't have
the number. So we asked around and no one knew the name of the guy. So
we started to go back to the car when all of a sudden we hear "Hey are
you guys Mormon?"! Arron comes up to us and starts talking about how
he is looking for a church to go to with his kids so he can be a good
example for them and he is way interested in coming to church! Then
his neighbor comes up and starts talking to us too. And she just
started talking about how great the church was and how if she were
looking for a church for her kids she'd pick the Mormon one! It was
way sweet! She basically testified of the church without knowing it!
And she's not a member!... yet! Also another cool part is that all of
us are from AZ! So yeah it was way cool! We've had a good lesson
with him so far and he seems way solid! So we are excited about that!
Then on Saturday we got invited to have dinner with some Tongans in
our ward and went over and had some roast pig and crab and a bunch of
food! It was awesome! I've missed Tongan food!
But the coolest part of that is they had two non member family members
there and we got to teach them the restoration and give them a Book of
Mormon to read and to pray about! They live in San Francisco so we
won't be teaching them again probably, but it was cool to teach them!
And one of them even came to church on Sunday! Just a good week!
Spiritual thought!
I'm gonna start doing this again. I was for a little and I kinda
stopped, but I'm gonna start again!
So this week I've been studying charity and it's been really good.A
lot of what I've got from it so far is being able to see people for
who they can be not who they are or were, and then acting on that!
When we have charity we see others as Christ does. We see them for the
potential they have. And then we treat them like that. We let them
know they have all this potential and we know they can do it. And we
don't focus on the negative parts!
It's kinda like Johnny Lingo. If any on you have seen that! Johnny
treats Moana how he sees her and he does everything he can to help her
see that she is a "8 cow woman" and that's what she is to everyone at
the end. Nobody saw it at the beginning except Johnny. But he didn't
look at her like everyone else did. He loved her and saw her for what
she really was. And because he treated her like that eventually
everyone saw it!
So yeah I've just been focusing a lot on seeing everyone around me for
the eternal potential they have. We are all children of God and we all
have infinite potential!
Love you all hope your week was good! Talk to ya later!
Elder Caleb Dewald
August 7
Hey everyone!
This week was pretty good! Elder Harris and I are starting to get the hang of the area I think!We got to know a lot more of our investigators this week than last so that's good! Also we did a ton of service!! First we went to a kitchen to help out! It like provides meals for low income older folks in this retirement place so it took me back to my days when I used to do that for work. I used a big commercial dishwasher and served people food!
It was pretty fun! Also it was cool, in the down time we got to talk to the old people and explain what we do! So that was good!
Then later in the week we did district service for a guy in our ward whose wife is really sick so we are doing projects and stuff that needs done so he can spend as much time as possible with his wife before she passes away, so that was cool! We stained a fence and washed a bunch of windows and then elder Harris and I moved 1000 pounds of gravel over behind the fence to finish it off!
up to bear his testimony yesterday and thanked all the people who had been helping him and that's what he called us, Elder Cool and Elder
Buff. He's a cool guy!
Then later in the week we helped a new member who we've been teaching move out of the place she was in into another place! And that went really well! Then yesterday a member we ate with showed us his gun room I'll
send pictures!
Other than that not a ton else happened! We have a lot more teaching appointments this week which is nice so I'll have more exciting things to share next week! Love y'all! Have a great day!
Elder Caleb Dewald
July 31
Wazzzz up y'all this week was crazy! So I said good bye to a few
families in the Tongan ward! We made candy lays for one family, the
Ma'ukoloa's and it was super cool! We dropped them off and the kids loved
them!!
So Cherry Park! Cherry Park has been fun!! It's been hard because we
don't really know anyone in the area yet or what has been going on!
But I think we are getting the hang of it a little now! Our ward
mission leader has been a super awesome help! He went all day with us yesterday after church and introduced us to a bunch of people so that was really awesome! He absolutely loves missionary work and so he's a huge help to us since we are brand new and don't know much about the area yet!
In other news I think I forgot to mention this last week but I'm a district leader this transfer! It was super intimidating at
first and I'm still not sure how I feel about it but I think it's
gonna be good! I had the chance to do a baptismal interview this week
and was just a really good really spiritual experience and I was
terrified for it at first but it went really well and it was way
fun to go to the guy's baptism and see him make that step! So, yeah that
was really cool!
Something else that's cool is our church building is the oldest LDS
church building in Portland! It was finished in 1929!!
Love y'all if you have any questions let me know! Oh and my companion is elder Harris and he's from Gilbert AZ! So that's cool!
Elder Caleb Dewald
July 24
Mālō leleli everyone!
Well this week has been good!
We had a super good sports night on Friday and we had a ton of people
there!!! So that was super cool!
Then on Saturday we went and helped out at a community refugee day! It
was really cool! Our whole zone was there and we just helped them out
keeping everything clean and picking up everything! It was cool to see all the different cultures! There were a bunch of Indian and African people there selling stuff and It was neat to see!
Then later that night we got transfer info and I'm going to a ward called Cherry Park in Portland! I'm pretty sad to leave the rose city ward I've absolutely loved serving with all the Tongan people! They are amazing! God knows what he's doing though!On Sunday we wore the full tonga garb!! Tupenu tāvala and sandals! It was awesome!!! And all of the members loved it they were so happy!
We also had two investigators church so that was pretty sweet! One is a Chuukese guy named Alfred and the other was Kuulei she's a young Hawaiian lady who has 6 kids and she is awesome! She wants to be baptized! So we are excited for her!
Not a ton else happened this week! Let me know if you ha any questions!
Ofa otu!Elder Caleb Dewald
Oh also we got district lava lavas
July 17
Mālō lelei everyone!
This week has been pretty good!! We have been trying to meet with all
the Chuukese people we found last week but we haven't had a chance to
have a sit down lesson with any of them yet! We did get to go to a
Chuukese birthday party on Friday so that was pretty cool! Although it
hadn't started before we had to leave at 9:00. It was supposed tostart at 6:00. I think Chuukese time might be worse than Tongan
time! So ya we got to meet a bunch of new Chuukese people at the
party that aren't members though so that was cool!
We also had a cool lesson last night with Aj and Nupy
(some of the Chuukese members in our ward) about going to the temple and that was pretty sweet! Aj and a Nupy are freaking hilarious!
Also, Aj taught me so new ways to strum on the ukulele! And some other stuff so that was pretty cool!
Other than that nothing to crazy or exciting happened! At least I
don't remember it
Ofa atu! (Love you)
Toki sio! (See ya later)
July 10
Mālō lelei!!
How's everyone doing this week? This week has been pretty good! On
Thursday we got to go to the temple and that was a great experience as
always!! It's like the best spiritual recharge ever!! I wish I could
go more! Everyone who can, go to the temple!
It's the best!Anywhos so yeah that was cool!! Then later that day we had a sweet lesson with a Chuukese guy we started teaching named Enter! He is 60! And no, his wife's name isn't Exit her name is Yana and hey are bothsuper cool! They don't speak English super crazy well but they seem to understand and they enjoy the messages we share! Also they absolutely love when we bring a pamphlet or the Book of Mormon in their language!!! It's awesome! Also later in the week we stopped by just to say hi and talk to Enter, and as were leaving we said good bye in Chuukese and his son like freaked out he's like "Whaaaaat??? How do you guys know that?"
And so elder Wilde said "God just told us right now." It was super funny! Chuukese people are really funny!
We've found a ton of them this week! We have 2 new investigators who are Chuukese and another one who might be a new investigator this week! So that's kinda crazy!! Also we met a bunch of Samoan people too!! And some of them were interested so we are going back to teach them too! Just a good week for finding new people to teach!! Sunday was kinda weird this week! The power was out so we only had 1 hour of church! Then as everyone left, the lights turned back on! I've never seen a church building clear that fast! It was cool though. Sunday is like the
best day to catch people at home. So we got to talk to a bunch ofpeople that day!! It was sweet! Other an that nothing to crazy
happened! Hope you all are having good weeks! Talk to you next week!
Ofa atu!!
Elder Caleb Dewald
PS We went to a place called voodoo doughnut. It's something Portland is known for I guess!
