May 29, 2017

This week was kinda crazy!

It was pretty normal for us but the whole week everyone else was in an uproar preparing for a wedding! There was a huge Tongan wedding this week and it was like an all week event for the family!! 

Starting on Friday there was a dance (I'll send picture of that in this email!)  it was freaking crazy they had more speakers than the Mother's Day party! 

So that was pretty cool!        




 And I don't know if I've told you all about Tongan time but it's like Mormon time on steroids. The dance was supposed to start at 6:00. We got there and it was still pretty empty so if a Tongan party starts at 5 it really starts at 6:20 to 7:00!  So we stopped by the dance but didn't stay for long. The next day was the wedding reception!






 We got there at 3:00 it started at 4:00 but it was super cool! There were a ton of traditional things and they even had a cava ceremony! Ask a Tongan I don't really know how to explain that one. All I know is that is has to do with the girl being pure and so it was pretty cool!  But during it they brought in a full size freaking pig!! The thing was freaking huge!!!

 It was really cool and everyone was in traditional garb too. The people who pay for the wedding- I can't remember what they are called- but it's like the uncle of the girl and the aunt of the guy- I think. They had on these huge robes like crazy long dragged behind them for like 15- 20 feet! They were pretty cool! It was just a really cool wedding and I'm forgetting a ton! Hopefully some of the pictures and videos will help!! Oh also we missed it but at part of the dance people threw money while the newlyweds dance and it's crazy!! I'm trying to find a video of it but I haven't yet! I got one when they did a little bit! The money goes to the couple! Also they aren't 1's, it's like 20's and 100's! 

Then the next day everyone was at church and it was like a Stake Conference not a normal meeting! After church they had another huge eat and I got a pig head again! This week was just super crazy!! 

So on a non- wedding note, we had a miracle find last night! So after the eat we went and stopped by like freaking everyone  we teach or are supposed to try and teach and nobody was home! And we cover a huge area so we were doing a ton of driving!! But nobody answered till the last person we tried at 8:30! And at first we were disappointed because the person we were looking for wasn't there! But then her cousin who answered the door said he had always wondered what we teach and he wants to learn more!! So late night find after a ton of driving and nobody being home was a great way to end the night!! 

Here is a sweet scripture from my personal study,

Matt 27:23-24 

23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

And here is what I thought about it! 

Never give into the fear of the crowd. 

Don't let others influence you to do something you know is wrong just because it might be unpleasant if you don't. 

Always pick the harder right over the easier wrong! Always! 

 Love you y'all!! Hope you have a great week!!! 
 Elder Caleb Dewald



May 22, 2017

Mālō lelei everyone!! 

This week has been really good!! Not a ton happened but we had a pretty cool miracle! So we were out on Tuesday trying to stop by some people and we weren't having any luck! But as we walked down from a house a guy named Anthony came up to us and starts talking to us and asked us if we could teach him!!! So that was pretty awesome!! But he was in a rush because he had to go so we gave him out number and we got his major cross streets! But he didn't text or call the next day so we decided to go try and find him, and after following the spirit for 10 min we found his exact apartment and he happened to be home because he'd been in a car accident earlier that day otherwise he would've been at work! God doesn't do random as B Rauch would say!! So that was pretty sweet!! 

Other than that not much else happened! 

Here are some awesome scriptures from my personal study this week and some things I thought about them! 

Matthew 25 is really cool!!  It's three parables and they are all super good! So the last parable is the parable of the sheep and the goats and this is a note I took while I was reading it! "Christ felt everything we have ever felt or ever will feel when He was preforming the atonement. 

This verse talks about that. Normally when we think of the atonement, at least for me we think of the pain he felt for each of us. But in this verse he talks about how he felt the kindness, charity and compassion we have on others too. He suffered the same pain as the starving man and then also felt the same relief as someone reached out and fed that person. 

Every act of kindness no matter how small, the Savior experienced that. The relief people feel from any of those experiences He also felt on a very personal level and in a very personal way. 

Never pass up the chance to serve someone because if you do you are simply passing up the chance to serve your savior. It's as simple as that. Show Him Love through others." 

Yeah this scripture just changed the way I thought about service. Like I knew serving others was serving God. But this just kinda explained why that is  to me and how much it means!  

Hope you all have a great week! 

Love y'all!  

Oh hey I almost forgot!!!! I had horse this week !! It was super good!! Those are plantations in there with it!

Elder Caleb Dewald                                       

 May 15, 2017
 Mālō lelei y'all!!
This week was super cool! We had a Tongan birthday party on Saturday because it was our dinner so we went to that and it was crazy!!! They had 20 roasted pigs!! Which by the way is super good!! I even got to eat the brain so that was exciting!  I'll send a picture of what they put on my plate for me to eat! The birthday party was for a 1 year old
cause I guess that's a really important birthday in Tongan culture!
And some of the siblings drove the little girl in in a little
carriage! A freaking remote control carriage!! It was sweet!! 



And there was a bunch of different Tongan and Samoan dances and stuff. It was bomb!!
Then yesterday we had another huge dinner with a family in the ward for Mother's Day!! And we had pig again!! It was really good! So I've been eating a ton a sweet food this week! And I'm excited to try more interesting and delicious things!
One of our investigators who is on date for baptism was at church and she had a really good time! I just met her and so I don't know her well, but I guess she was talking to the mom of her boyfriend ( who's
a member in our ward) and she said she wants to go on a mission so that is pretty sweet! We are excited for the people we are teaching they are all really great and ready for he gospel!!
Other than that not much else happened this week!
I love y'all!! Let me know if any of y'all have questions!!


May 8, 2017
Mālō lelei ( that's Tongan for hello)  y'all!!
This week has been bomb!! It was hard to leave all of my friends that I
made in St. John's but I still cover that area too so hopefully I'll
see them around! Shout out to B Rauch!!
 I'm in the rose city ward the Tongan ward and it's a blast!!! I've already had some pretty awesome Tongan food and I'm loving the people they are super loving and the members are super missionary minded so they are helping us find a bunch of cool investigators!! So that's sweet and super helpful!! We
also have some bomb investigators who are super solid! We taught one
at church and she is dating one of the members and her mom told her before she came that if she went (to church) not to come home.. and
she came anyway! That is a lot of faith and dedication and it was
amazing! We had a good lesson with her during the second hour of
church and we talked about that and the plan of salvation and
it was super cool! Our ward mission leader had the same thing happen
with his family when he joined the church. So he just testified to her
that it would bring more happiness in the long run and even though her
family didn't accept it she was doing the right thing by setting an
example for them! It was awesome and super spiritual!!! Also church
was awesome!!! We sang all the hymns in Tongan and the whole thing was
in Tongan!! I loved singing in Tongan though it brought a powerful
spirit!
I'm gonna have to learn more Tongan though!!  I'm looking forward to it
Other than that I'm just being stuffed full of food everywhere I go!
All the Tongan people want to feed us (and not a little- a ton) and
help us! They are so loving and it's a really humbling experience!
They also have a tone of faith! It's just awesome!!
Oh, also I got to drive today!!! I've missed it so much!  I'm
looking forward to driving a lot more now!!
I can't think of much else right now and I have to get going. Love you
all!! Hope everyone has a great week!!
Talk to y'all later!!
Also I've been reading the New Testament and I really loved Matthew
16!! It was super good!


Elder Caleb Dewald

May1, 2017

Hey y'all!!! This week was pretty good!!  We did a bunch of service!!!! We helped someone clean out there back yard and up a bunch of junk from inside the house! 

And also from their secret hole in the side of the house that is called the dirt side of the basement! 

 

 It was crazy but fun! We also helped someone move! And at was pretty cool they had this house that was 125 years old!!! It was pretty crazy!!

Also we had a sweet lesson with Mary this week and gave her a blessing a she is doing a 

It better! 

We also had a great lesson with our other investigators Christine and Jordan!! It's been a good spiritual week!  

Transfers came on this week and I'm going to the Rose City Tongan ward!!  I'm super excited to serve there!! Here are some great talks I read this week!! 

According to the "Desire of [Our] Hearts”, "The Greatest among You"

 Sorry it's short this week but I gotta go! Tell ya more next week!  

Love y'all!!

Elder Caleb Dewald

 April 24
 Hey everyone!!
This week has been pretty crazy!!
We haven't been able to meet with Angelina this week.  We did have
dinner with her at her grandmas house! The housing situation with her
family is going crazy right now so we are really worried about that
but we're pray for the best and trusting  in God! He knows what he's
doing!!
We also helped a new potential investigator move this week and it went
really good! One of the members was bringing up crazy deep gospel topics
at lunch.
 Later that day we went and did a "music blitz." A blitz
is where a bunch of missionaries go to one area and try and get a
bunch of people for the people to teach. So we did something like
that but we did it at a park and we were singing as a group. A few
elders were going around and teaching people! It was pretty fun!
We also had water leaking through our ceiling onto our kitchen table
this week so that was fun.  Our washer started leaking while we
were gone and when we got back it was leaking through the ceiling
 but it wasn't too bad so we are good! Other than that not to much
happened this week! Love you all! Talk to you later!!  Oh also we
found a secret hole in our apartment closet so that's pretty cool!! We
found a pogo stick in there



April 17
 Hey y'all!!!
How's everyone doing this week?
This week has been good!! We had a super cool miracle!!!
Last week we gave Niki one of our new investigators a blessing. She's
had cancer before and she just got more again a few months ago. So
she heard about blessing and she asked for one! So we gave her one!
Anywhos she texted us on Tuesday and she just got back from the
doctors and the cancer was completely gone!! She was healed and she
believes it was the blessing. So we are super excited to meet with her
again!! She is awesome!
In other news we had a cool lesson with Angelina and it was super
good! She decided to change her date because she didn't feel like it
was the right date but she is still super excited to get baptized so
that's exciting!!
Oh and we also went on a Spanish blitz this week too!! So we went to a
place where there a bunch of Spanish people we're and tried to get some new
investigators for the Spanish sisters it was fun! Elder Robinson and I
didn't understand what people were saying at all  but we got a few
people and it was fun!
We also helped cut a ton of wood for a lady in our ward this week!!
It was a crazy amount!!
Have a good week everyone!!

Elder Caleb Dewald




April 10 
Sup peeps
How y'all doing??
This week was pretty good! We followed up general Conference with a
mission Conference is Wednesday and it was super good! We learned a
ton and it was really good! Then we had a district meeting the next
day and the Spanish sisters taught us how to talk to and get a
referral from someone who speaks Spanish and it was super fun!


We are gonna go and blitz an area this next week and try and get a bunch of people for the Spanish to teach! It's gonna be bomb!! Even if Elder Robinson and I can't speak Spanish well at all  it'll be good! We also had a really good lesson with Mary and also one with Angelina.
They both went really well and we are super excited for Angelina! Her baptism is in less than two weeks!! It's coming up super fast!
We also got a really cool new investigator! She lives with Presley's
(the little girl who got baptized right before I got here) family and
she is super ready for the gospel! We had a super cool lesson with her
on Friday! Then on Saturday we had an awesome exchange with the
District lead and it was super cool I went to the area that wasn't
mine with him and we had a really good day! We had the chance to go to

a hospital and give a little girl and her family blessings! Her family
are new members and they just found out that there little girl has
cancer in her stomach. They are awesome they have so much faith!! And
it was cool because in every blessing we gave we felt impressed to
tell them she would heal or be okay and it was awesome!! Super cool
experience!!
Not a ton else happened!
Love y'all

 




April 3
Hey y'all!!!
This week has been pretty good!
We had a lesson with Kayla who we haven't met with for a while
because she's been busy! But we had a bomb lesson with her and taught
the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was just really awesome! She's super
excited to be baptized still!! She also watched some of Conference
this week so that was pretty cool!!
We also had a bomb lesson with Angelina and her mom Mary and then on
Friday we had another lesson at the temple and it was great they both
felt the spirit really strong! And they were excited about someday
being able to be together forever! It was a really great time and then
we went over and watched a session of Conference with them and it was
awesome Angelina is so mature for being ten! she was sitting and
listening to Conference and actually listening! She really liked it
too!
She is awesome!!
We also went back over to sister banks house to do service and play
with her dog and I got some pictures! He's huge
Conference was awesome!!! I really loved the talks by Renlund and
Uchtdorf they were both really good! Hope you all had a great week and
if you didn't get to watch conference watch it was bomb!!!
Love y'all

Elder Caleb Dewald

March 27, 2017

 Hey yaaaaaall!! 

This week has been pretty good we had a killer lesson with Angelina our investigator who is on date! And what made it better her Mom (Mary one of our investigators who was on date and dropped) was there and she participated in the lesson and it was awesome!! We got Angelina a little pot of flowers that were just starting to grow and compared it to faith and just had a super good lesson! We are also taking a trip to the temple this Friday with Angelina and Mary and when we brought it up Mary said she was stoked to go! And then Angelina was like " I've never heard my mom say stoked before" so we are stoked for that!!! 

We also contacted Kayla who we haven't been able to for a little and we have a lesson with her this week so we are excited for that!! 

Oh and we had transfers this week! I'm staying for another 6 weeks in St. John's! So I'm excited for that!!  We are getting a lot of potential now and we are excited to start teaching some more people!!

 Other than that this week we did some more painting for some members and did a ton of finding! 

Oh and today is B Rauch's. birthday!!! We went out with him today! We also went to the Adidas employee store and took some sweet pictures with him!!

Elder Caleb Dewald

  Mar 20, 2017
 Hey ya peeps! Whaaaaaaazzza up??
 This week has been really good! We had a great lesson with our new
 investigator Angelina and she is now on date for baptism for April
 22nd!  So that's pretty awesome! She also needed a blessing that night
 because she was feeling sick, so we gave her one and it was awesome!
 Brief background she is Mary one of our other investigators' daughter
 and her and her mom are living with Sister Beard one of our members.
 And Sister Beard's son is married to Mary. So then the next day we went
 over to give Mario, Sister Beard's son a blessing because he is
 struggling with a lot right now! And so I had the chance to give that
 and it was crazy the spirit was really strong! It was an awesome
 experience! And then Angelina told us that the night before when we
 were giving her the blessing she felt this peace and warmth and she
 knows it was the spirit! It was awesome!! And now Mary who had
 stopped meeting with us for a little because she was having a hard time
 is coming on a temple trip with her daughter and we are super excited
 for the whole family!! They are awesome!!
 Other than that we had and awesome lesson with Jacob and his
 girlfriend Jenny who is investigating and she said if she came to know
 what we were sharing with her was true she'd be baptized! So that was
 an exciting moment!
 We also helped this lady in our ward move. Her name is Linda Rico and
 she is kinda like an art collector  so we helped her and her son
 clean out her apartment and she had all these paintings that were worth
 a ton of money and vases and different kinds of art.  It took us like
 all day to do the move though because we had to pack a ton of stuff!
 She had like ten boxes when we got there and we filled at least 25
 more. But it was a lot of fun and she is a really funny lady so
 it was good!
 Not much else happened this week!
 Love y'all!!
 Talk to you later!!
 Elder Caleb Dewald

extreme training

March 13

Hey y'all!! What's up!?!?
This week has been pretty sweet! We got a new investigator and she is
awesome!! Her name is Angelina and she's Mary one of our other
investigators daughter! She is awesome! She wants to be baptized so
bad she's been going to church with her grandma for a while and she
even came last week by herself! She also has the first article of faith memorized
so she is on fire! I'm super excited for her!
So Mary, her mom was on date but she dropped us for a little
because she has some people in her life that are kinda pulling her
away and so she wasn't meeting with us! But we met with her about her
daughter and she is super supportive! I think she wants to meet with
us and we are hoping she will see the happiness it's bringing her daughter
and want to change because of it! Also we are gonna try and take the
family to the temple and I think that'll help a lot!!  It's awesome!!
So that's exciting!
It's been a pretty good week! We also had a pretty cool miracle
yesterday! We were gonna go to a lesson with someone we normally visit
on Sunday's but we prayed and we didn't feel like we should so we looked
at our area map and we saw a name that stuck out so we went there
instead and this young boy who was just baptized by the Tongan elders
because he had friends in that ward was there and he was wanting to
come to church at our ward but he didn't have a ride! So we are gonna
set that up! He also has a sister and a mom that aren't members and he
said we could come back and teach them so that was awesome! The Lord
really guided us a ton and it was super awesome.
It's awesome when the spirit leads us around like that!
It's been a great week love y'all!

Elder Caleb Dewald

March 6


Hey yaaall!! This week has been pretty good! We haven't been able to
meet with our on date people but we found a few new investigators this
week and we just started teaching them! Not a ton happened for gospel
this week but we got around and found some new areas to look for
people in!


                                       

We went out to Sauvies island this week which is in our
area! It's like a bunch of farm houses and big houses with a lot of
land so it was pretty cool! There was this Asian style house
that we got some pictures of and it was pretty cool!

 Also we did a ton of service this week for some of our less actives members! So that was fun! We painted for one and we cleaned up and played with a dog for
another! Her dog was huge!!!!! He was Alaskan Malamute and he was like 125lbs!! He weighs more than elder Robinson. It was pretty fun! I'll get a picture of him next time we go over so you guys can see him! I have some pictures from painting that I'll send.

























Elder Caleb Dewald




Feb 27

Hey everyone!!  This week has been pretty good! We had Zone conference
on my Birthday so that was pretty awesome!
We also met this super awesome lady named Linda Rico who is a less
active lady in our ward. [She] is like super funny and she told us her
whole life's story then she said she might come to church and we were
like "You definitely should"  and she came on Sunday!!!!   It was
awesome!!
Also there is this really awesome lady named Rose in the ward who is
like super diligent in coming no matter what. She told us when we
went to talk to her that she wasn't planning on going that morning
because she didn't have a ride and she was sick but then a ride showed
up and she was like, God wants me to go, so she came! She is a great
example of faith!! It was a cool testimony to me and it helped
strengthen my faith!
 Also I went on an exchange and with elder Hall (an elder that came out the same time I did! He's a Spanish elder so I was a Spanish elder for the day) and it was super fun! We were driving around trying to have lessons but nobody was there and so we did some knocking in these apartments and right next to it there were these guys playing basketball, and elder Hall is super good, like going-to- college good and so we went up to them and he challenged a guy to one on one for ten minutes for us to share our message and he totally beat the guy and we gave a Book of Mormon to one of his friends It was awesome! I'll send the video it's not great but it's still cool! It's been a good week!
 Oh also we arm wrestled the family who we had dinner with last night  so I'll send those too!
Elder Caleb Dewald
[I did not receive the video of Elder Hall playing basketball and I am having trouble posting the other videos. I will put them on when I figure it out.]