February 5th, 2018- I HAVE 8 FRIENDS

Dear people that still read my emails by some miracle of endurance on your part,

First, thank you. Ya know, for reading this. It's kinda fun to launch some words into an internet void and wonder who actually catches them out there and what they think about them.

Speaking of internet void... We officially got Facebook! I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, and I only recently figured out basic principles in having a smartphone, so I'm just living out of my comfort zone for a while, which is certainly not a bad thing haha.

Earlier this week, I had 8 friends. I think I have 30 or so now, which isn't something I was aspiring for, but Facebook was really excited about it ha. In any case, I've enjoyed learning and trying new things.

For all of you that may be interested in being my friend via Facebook, you're more than welcome to. Just be aware I won't follow you so I don't have to see everyone's constant feed, which would be more counter-productive than distracting. Also, this obviously isn't an open invitation to communicate with me. All of these things are obvious, but better safe than sorry I suppose. I am happy to be anyone's friend so that they can see the things I post to try and inspire others and invite them closer to Christ.

Church was canceled this Sunday because of snow conditions. No, it was not canceled for the Super Bowl, but I'm sure that was a contributing factor. My companion was rooting for the Eagles so I somehow empathetically was excited for their win as well ha. Who doesn't like an underdog anyway? (my companion informed me that it was reasonable to refer to their team as an underdog, so there ya go, I sound informed now) :)

Other than that I am just grateful for everything that my mission is. Getting smartphones and Facebook were not things my mission would bring, but it's funny how expected unexpected things can be. You come to know exactly what you're not going to see coming is coming when you're in the service of the Lord. I love how we are sometimes expected to walk on a path nearly blind, not to prove to the Lord we trust Him, but to prove to ourselves that the Lord is worth trusting. Doing these challenging things has helped me to learn more about repentance, and that HOW we repent is more important than how far we feel our sin sets us back. God wants good "repenters", or in other words, repentant servants. Learning this in the context of technology is preparing me and my generation to live righteously in a technological age, and raise the next generation in righteousness.

Some other Elders are talking to us while I'm trying to type this, so I'm going to end it there. I hope most of what I said made sense!

Thank you all for following the Lord. If you wanted to do anything for me; pay your tithing, pray often, and study the Book of Mormon daily. Just be good people. We need more good people in the world. :)

Love,

Elder Callor

January 29th, 2018- LONG HAUL MISSION, INC

Good morning all!

So let's get started with some various Canadian-missionary anecdotes!

First off, I saw an 18-year-old cat this week. Yes. 18 HUMAN YEARS. Basically, it looked like a bunch of bones with furry Saran wrap stretched over it. This cat was going to fall apart! He was pretty cool though.

Also, another zoological episode... we were trying to volunteer at a food bank earlier in the week, and while we were there we saw a gentleman who was there looking for food who had a dog with him. The woman at the desk required that he present papers that he could have the dog with him indoors, and he was really shady about all that, and then, later on, he ended up kicking his dog really hard, right in front of everyone! It was super uncomfortable and no one was quite sure what to do. Animal abuse is wrong. Everyone, please love your pets.

Okay, so every single missionary in the Canada Toronto Mission now has a smartphone (with a few exceptions). We instructed on setting them up and how they will/ought to be used. It was a pretty smooth process so that's a big weight off of our shoulders.

We were asked to give a blessing earlier in the week at the hospital, and apparently, the woman we were blessing had quite a few scary and contagious illnesses so as we went in the room to bless her with her husband, we had to suit up in some pretty heavy-duty sanitary accessories. We had a visor on, masks, gloves, and a heavy robe. You'd think we were building a spaceship or something haha. Well, this husband blessed his ill wife - which was the first blessing he had ever given - with sweet simplicity and love. The Priesthood is a wonderful gift that blesses everyone involved. I'm grateful not only that it is on the earth today, but also that it had an influence in my life.

All the time I've been in Kingston, not a lot has been happening in the missionary-work side of things, but all of the sudden the work has started to just fall into our laps. I can't even actualize all the cool miracles that have happened to get this area going, but I do know Elder Woolstenhulme and I were working hard. Even though nothing we did actually amounted to anything, other things started popping up and I know God was blessing us, as well as showing us that His work happens by His power, and through our commitment.

Final story: as we were driving to our zone conference, Elder Woolstenhulme tried calling a few of the areas around but we ended up just talking to Brockville for about an hour. We had quite a few scattered conversations; some about cryptozoology, others about scary stories, and even more about cool spiritual experiences in the past. At the end of our conversation, we decided we were road-tripping and communicating on the air, so we obviously were truckers. We mad some great trucker names. I, of course, was Ginger. While I'm sure there were many other unique and more appropriate names for yours truly, I decided I could be fine with what must be the most apparent name I could have as a trucker haha. Elder Woolstenhulme was the Lone Ranger, and the other Elders were Scarface (his last name has the word "scar" in it) and Pigpen (pretty self-explanatory haha). We named our trucking company: Long Haul Missions, Inc.

And with that, another week passes by. I have officially been out for a year and six months. The sisters that came out with me will be going home, and I'm always being reminded of that because one of the sisters in the companionship we share this Branch with actually did come out with me and will be going home on Valentine's Day. I suppose even if I tired I couldn't ignore how long I've been wandering the Canadian tundra :)

I'm sending all of you my love and appreciation for the Great White North.

Love,

Elder Callor