Its the final email!!!!!!!!!!! How did we ever make it to this point!?
IT is so crazy to think that it has been two years and that I am
flying out tomorrow night. it has been a great two years here in
Africa but now it has come to an end. I had my final interview on
Saturday and it went great. I am leaving with no regrets and am ready
to start the next chapter of my life. It is very bitter sweet and I am
really stressed because of the excitement and because I am really
going to miss being here with the people. But I am ready to come home.
It was a very good and hard week to focus but we had a lot of good
things happen. We finally started having success in tracting. We
handed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon and made a couple of
appointments so that was nice, Sunday was my favorite though. I was a
able to speak and teach gospel principles and everyone was fantastic
and very loving as now the entire ward found out I am leaving (I hid
it pretty good) :) Well I will keep it short this week and I will see
you in a couple of days :) Well I got to go. Some members are taking us go-karting
today and then another family is taking us elephant riding :) Should
be a great last day in Africa. Love you and see you Wednesday :)
Elder Coon over and out for the last time
Monday, September 30, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
MY MISSION AS BEEN EVERYTHING AND MORE THAN I EXPECTED
Things have been good in the area but they have also been difficult.
It is a very rich area and tracting has proven to be ineffective. We
are, however, starting a new member missionary program that should
hopefully get the members excited and more capable of doing missionary
work on their own. The Program focuses on educating members on how to
use "Preach My Gospel", teach the lessons that it contains, and
becoming comfortable in sharing the gospel with their friends. It is
very commitment based, requires weekly visits to the members homes,
and we must sign off on their homework assignments :) It is a very fun
program and the members are excited to start it. So we will see how it
goes over the next few weeks.
I look forward to coming home and being with everyone again and I
really look forward to school again :) Thank you for all you do and have done for
me. My mission has been everything and more than I expected.
Love you mom,
Caleb
--
It is a very rich area and tracting has proven to be ineffective. We
are, however, starting a new member missionary program that should
hopefully get the members excited and more capable of doing missionary
work on their own. The Program focuses on educating members on how to
use "Preach My Gospel", teach the lessons that it contains, and
becoming comfortable in sharing the gospel with their friends. It is
very commitment based, requires weekly visits to the members homes,
and we must sign off on their homework assignments :) It is a very fun
program and the members are excited to start it. So we will see how it
goes over the next few weeks.
I look forward to coming home and being with everyone again and I
really look forward to school again :) Thank you for all you do and have done for
me. My mission has been everything and more than I expected.
Love you mom,
Caleb
Friday, August 30, 2013
IM NOW SERVING IN THE SOUTH AFRICA'S CAPITOL, PRETORIA
I am now serving in the Countries capitol of Pretoria. The ward is
great! They feed us every night and there are about 5 families from
the states in our ward. They are either working for the embassy or on
contracted jobs and are in the country for a while. One of the
families hooked us up with cereal from home and said if we needed
anything from the states to let them know because they can get it
(pretty awesome). Oh and we also have one of the richest men in South
Africa in our ward. He deals with diamonds. He helps missionaries get
diamonds for cheap. What would cost the regular person $5000 he can
get for $1000 and its legal :) So if anyone wants a diamond let me
know and I can work something out if they can get me the money.
My new comp is Elder Dirkmaat from San Diego. We already knew each
other very well seeing as we lived right next to each other in
Johannesburg for six months so we get along great and have a lot of
fun. In fact we just went golfing this morning :) Two years of not
playing really shows. We just had a baptism on Sunday and have another
scheduled for Sept 22. The area has a lot of potential and Elder
Dirkmaat and I are really excited to get some work done. Five weeks is
not a lot of time but it is enough to change someones life with the
gospel :)
Things are going good right now though. I am happy and doing great. I
hope that this email find you well and happy. I love you and will talk
with ya next week :)
Love,
Caleb
great! They feed us every night and there are about 5 families from
the states in our ward. They are either working for the embassy or on
contracted jobs and are in the country for a while. One of the
families hooked us up with cereal from home and said if we needed
anything from the states to let them know because they can get it
(pretty awesome). Oh and we also have one of the richest men in South
Africa in our ward. He deals with diamonds. He helps missionaries get
diamonds for cheap. What would cost the regular person $5000 he can
get for $1000 and its legal :) So if anyone wants a diamond let me
know and I can work something out if they can get me the money.
My new comp is Elder Dirkmaat from San Diego. We already knew each
other very well seeing as we lived right next to each other in
Johannesburg for six months so we get along great and have a lot of
fun. In fact we just went golfing this morning :) Two years of not
playing really shows. We just had a baptism on Sunday and have another
scheduled for Sept 22. The area has a lot of potential and Elder
Dirkmaat and I are really excited to get some work done. Five weeks is
not a lot of time but it is enough to change someones life with the
gospel :)
Things are going good right now though. I am happy and doing great. I
hope that this email find you well and happy. I love you and will talk
with ya next week :)
Love,
Caleb
Monday, August 12, 2013
WE HAD A VERY GOOD WEEK
The new "Work of Salvation" training is exciting everyone and getting
wards moving in missionary work :) We have our zone conference
tomorrow and that
should be exciting :)
s what we are watching and talking about so thatshould be exciting :)
We had a very good week. The High light was we were invited to attend
a piano concert where various artists from the states performed and
David Glen Hatch was the main event. I don't know if you know of him
but it was fantastic! We had an awesome time during the rest of the
week though. We constantly stay busy which is a blessing. We have some
great ward missionaries who help us out and keep us very entertained.
Not to much to report on this week other than life is good and the
missionary work continues to progress :)
Love,
Caleb
Monday, July 29, 2013
WE HAD A GREAT BAPTISM ON SUNDAY
Chad looks like a beast in that picture haha. It looks like he is
having a great time with football. Thank you for getting the supplies
off for me. Sorry for cutting it so close again. I get caught up with
other things sometimes and forget to keep a good inventory of
everything. Thank goodness I have a super mom who can do anything :)
So we had a great week. We stayed very busy and had a great baptism on
Sunday. Nothing very new has happened since last week besides the fact
that time just continues to fly by. Elder Tuttle and I are having a
blast working together and accomplishing so many awesome things. we
continue to have about 6-10 investigators at church between the two
wards so that is fantastic. It is a struggle to see everyone as often
as we would like because everyone can only see us in the evening times
so our schedule gets packed very quickly for the entire week :) Its so
weird to think how close the end is right now. I know that back home 9
weeks is still a long time but here it just flies by. I am doing my
best to stay focused and endure to the end. I have started to
study the last week of the Saviors life to see from the best possible
example what it truly means to endure to the end. I know I will finish
strong but I know the battle is coming to stay focused but I am ready
for it :)
I am doing good. I am sending emails to Cameron, Caity, Chad and
Jordyn requesting emails for the rest of my mission though :) I want
to do my best to start emailing everyone again. My health is good
right now and we continue to workout every other day at a members
place so hopefully I can come home in a half decent shape :) Caity
cracks me up how she just struggles to enjoy being home but I know how
that feels. After serving a mission I will never dread going home :) I
love and miss you and hope you have a great week :)
Love your son,
Caleb
having a great time with football. Thank you for getting the supplies
off for me. Sorry for cutting it so close again. I get caught up with
other things sometimes and forget to keep a good inventory of
everything. Thank goodness I have a super mom who can do anything :)
So we had a great week. We stayed very busy and had a great baptism on
Sunday. Nothing very new has happened since last week besides the fact
that time just continues to fly by. Elder Tuttle and I are having a
blast working together and accomplishing so many awesome things. we
continue to have about 6-10 investigators at church between the two
wards so that is fantastic. It is a struggle to see everyone as often
as we would like because everyone can only see us in the evening times
so our schedule gets packed very quickly for the entire week :) Its so
weird to think how close the end is right now. I know that back home 9
weeks is still a long time but here it just flies by. I am doing my
best to stay focused and endure to the end. I have started to
study the last week of the Saviors life to see from the best possible
example what it truly means to endure to the end. I know I will finish
strong but I know the battle is coming to stay focused but I am ready
for it :)
I am doing good. I am sending emails to Cameron, Caity, Chad and
Jordyn requesting emails for the rest of my mission though :) I want
to do my best to start emailing everyone again. My health is good
right now and we continue to workout every other day at a members
place so hopefully I can come home in a half decent shape :) Caity
cracks me up how she just struggles to enjoy being home but I know how
that feels. After serving a mission I will never dread going home :) I
love and miss you and hope you have a great week :)
Love your son,
Caleb
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
HE ORCHESTRATES OUR LIVES
-- We had a great week! Things went perfectly and everything just seems
to keep falling into place. We had 10 people at church this week
between the two wards; 2 in one ward and 8 in the other. The work just
keeps progressing and the time just seems to keep flying by. I am
continually amazed at how personally the Lord works with each one of
us. The way He orchestrates our lives and just allows us to put the
pieces together amazes me. When we put our trust in Him and his
servants and follow his counsels everything will work out like he
needs it too.
I love the tie and music that you sent. I am doing great and the
members here know what diabetes is so they help and remind me of a lot
of things haha. I love and miss you very much and hope you have a
great week!
to keep falling into place. We had 10 people at church this week
between the two wards; 2 in one ward and 8 in the other. The work just
keeps progressing and the time just seems to keep flying by. I am
continually amazed at how personally the Lord works with each one of
us. The way He orchestrates our lives and just allows us to put the
pieces together amazes me. When we put our trust in Him and his
servants and follow his counsels everything will work out like he
needs it too.
I love the tie and music that you sent. I am doing great and the
members here know what diabetes is so they help and remind me of a lot
of things haha. I love and miss you very much and hope you have a
great week!
WE ARE WORKING WITH WONDERFUL PEOPLE
I am happy to hear that work is going so good for you right now :) It sounds like you are going to have a busy week ahead of you but busy weeks are nice :) So I am now covering the areas of Weltevreden Park and Florida so that means six hours of church on Sunday! Florida is an awesome ward and there is a lot of work to be done so we stay busy over there. As for Weltevreden Park, it is in the top two hardest areas within our mission so there is a lot to do to keep it going. It does have the coolest ward by far though. Our Bishop in that ward is awesome, we play rugby every Saturday morning and we have a member, Brother Maritzs, who lets come over his place every other morning at six to use his gym so I am enjoying lifting again :) We are working with a lot of wonderful people but my favorite has to be a young family we are seeing. Their names are Latson and Trizza and they are doing great! They came to church yesterday and brought their little two year old son with them. Latson should be getting baptized on the 28th of this month and Trizza should be getting baptized early next month. She just needs to come to church a little longer. My new companion is Elder Tuttle from South Jordan, Utah. He is a blast and we get along great! He is from my MTC group so we both have two transfers left and are pumped we get to work with each other :) Other than that life is great and the work continues to press forward.
I am very happy to hear that they are starting to push missionary work more and more with the members. It really is a combined effort and I look forward to doing more missionary work when I get home :) I got a package with a tie and awesome cd and oil container but I don't know who it was from. MOM you are the BEST!!!!!!!! When it comes to being a mother and a real estate agent you take the cake :) I hope you know that I love you and am so very proud to be your son. LOVE YOU!!!!!
--
I am very happy to hear that they are starting to push missionary work more and more with the members. It really is a combined effort and I look forward to doing more missionary work when I get home :) I got a package with a tie and awesome cd and oil container but I don't know who it was from. MOM you are the BEST!!!!!!!! When it comes to being a mother and a real estate agent you take the cake :) I hope you know that I love you and am so very proud to be your son. LOVE YOU!!!!!
--
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