Temporary Defeat is NOT Permanent Failure

Aaannnnnddd.....we are back! First letter from Elder Walters from the Mission Field! We have spoken to him 4 times this week. His situation is a little more relaxed then we thought it would be. We can maintain constant communication as long as he needs. Today for church he and his companion taught us a lesson. It's nice to see his face. I am feeling grateful for modern technology. He is currently serving in West Valley City, Ut. 


Well one week down... ish. I have a special P-day because of pioneer day which is kind of nice but they steal our usual Monday P-day for it and there aren't even any cool parades or anything :( BUT that's besides the point. If any of you have seen The Best 2 Years... I am Elder Calhoun. I can prove it, 1. There are 3 other Elders serving in the same ward and they have all been out 15+ months in Spanish missions 2. All 4 of us go everywhere together and basically live in the same place 3. My comp has 2 transfers left sooo... Elder Calhoun. PLUS if any of you know how I role... Elder Calhoun haha. Honestly, it has given me an opportunity to dive in the deep end a little. 

My comp is Elder Sutton and he's from Mesa, AZ! First day we jumped straight into Spanish as soon as I got there and we have been grinding trying to get the language ever since. I love how he is pushing me and giving me an opportunity to fall on my face a little in order to understand where I need to improve. I got to see basically everyone that I knew in the mission which was super cool! I know about 5 missionaries in the mission and I coincidentally saw them ALL except for 1. Oh and they put us in a hotel about 3 miles outside of our boundaries and my comp and I are whitewashing an area that got split in two. We spend most of our day at meetings and contacting members to get to know who is willing go help or not haha. My comp is the Zone Leader as well as an Elder in the other companionship we are with which gives me the opportunity to follow them around and see how everything works on a higher level. 

But enough of that haha, the title of this is "Temporary defeat is not permanent failure." I got an email from the one and only Elder Nick Jones that contained that very important phrase. He allowed me to see that sometimes falling on your face is what you need in order to stabilize yourself enough to not do it again. Spanish is an interesting language and I am in a ward and area that only speaks Spanish so it is a little hard to understand what they are saying especially over the phone. However, I will not be able to improve if I dwell on the amount of times I fail because the victories are what is going to propel me forward in order to meet my goals of fluency. 

Love you all and hope everything is good in AZ... or at least stable haha 

PICTURES!!!

1. My comp and I got creative with our hotel dinner and made rice and meat tacos.

2. We went on a beautiful hike as a district to Dog Lake. It was just about what it sounds like haha. Small pool of water where people bring their dogs lol. 

3. Flight into SLC at 6am had a few more missionaries than I thought. 1 of them being Sister Cranney! Crazy coincidence.