6/14/23

 Hi everybody! sorry for not writing an email last week, my P-Day (preperation day for those of you who don’t speak missionary lingo haha) was a day full of traveling so I didn’t get a chance to send out an email. This has been probably one of the most overwhelming two weeks of my life to be honest. It’s been great don’t get me wrong, but it has been tough. So just a fair warning, this email is kinda long just because so much happened and I don’t know what to leave out, I won’t judge you if you just scroll down to the bottom to see pictures because I do that too sometimes :)

To start out, I finished out home MTC. It was fun but i was sick of sitting in front of a computer all day and it was a lot harder for me to stick to missionary standards (like not watching TV and swimming, stuff like that) when I was at home. One thing I loved about Home MTC was my family. I was able to go on nightly walks with my parents and try to soak up as much time with them as I could. I was able to talk to my brothers and sisters and tell them about what I was learning which I hope was as good for them as it was for me.

Then on wednesday of last week, I said bye to my family. This was and probably will continue to be, the hardest part of serving a mission for me. It was brutual to say goodbye to my family, I will and already am missing them incredibly. The good news was that I had plenty of time on the flight to cry, so the people around me probably thought I was crazy.

The really cool thing to me was that, while I was traveling, I felt God’s hand in it. I was having a hard time and he put so many sweet people around me who were so kind to me for pretty much no reason. There was a super kind lady at TSA who was a member and in the Owasso stake, who recognized what was going on and came up and comforted me. Then there was a nice man while I was waiting to board my flight who came up to me and told me that everything would be okay, then he told me about his friends who served missions and how much they enjoyed them. Then finally there was a guy who approached me at my layover in Denver. His name is Don Hudson and apparently he works for the news but he didn’t tell me that until after the flight. He was one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. He talked to me about his experience serving a mission and how it will be hard but it is so benificial. He saved me a seat on the flight so I got to sit front row on a plane for the first time ever in my life, then he talked to me all the way until we got to the baggage claim. It was so incredible for me to look back at that day of travel because I saw God’s hand so strongly in my life through the people he put there.

My sweet grandparents picked me up from the airport and drove me to Provo. On the way we stopped to see some of my relatives and it was so fun! I’m going to miss all of them as well. We then went and dropped me off at the MTC. It was super scary and intimdating at first to be completely honest. But I went inside and met some people from my district for the first time in person and kind of just got thrown into the craziness of the MTC.

I feel like this email has had kind of a somber feel so far, so let me tell you one of the best parts of this last week. My district! they are amazing. I talked a little bit about them in the first email but I’ve gotten to know them all better since then and I’ve grown to love them more. Every person has valuable insights and knowledge that inspires me. These people are so smart and have such strong testimonies and I’m learning more and more from them everyday. Its sometimes hard for me to make comments in class because I feel like I have nothing to add because they all said things so beatifully and I can’t even begin to think of what to add on to their comments.

My companions! these are for real two of my favorite people already. They are both so strong in the gospel but are so incredibly fun to be around. I was nervous to have to be around people all day but with them, it’s a joy! I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten along with two people so well so quickly. I feel lucky to have them and I know that God blessed me by pairing me with these two amazing Elders!

Other than that, it’s been a hard adjustment to the MTC. It’s been tough having limits and restrictions on our phones, and the MTC classes and just schedule in general has been tough. I feel like my attention span has been ruined by things like social media and so I’m slowly but surely growing that attention span back. 

A tender blessing though is one of my best friends from BYU, tate (or I guess Elder Stubbs) is in my residence halls! His room is right down the hall just like at BYU. It's been nice to have him around. 

All in all, it’s been a busy, fun, scary, spiritually uplifting week. I’m excited to keep learning, its kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that this is my life for the next two years but I know that through God I can do it! I’m excited and blessed to be here.

-Äldste Calder

Also here is my address while I'm here if u wanna send me mail or whateva

Elder Jackson Kent Calder

07-14 | SWE-STO

2005 N 900 East, Unit #25

Provo UT 84602

United States