2015-06-27

this past week we taught Togeg, Ali, francella and keioni, arvin and
linda, mike flowath, kayleen, maia, rita, carl, megan, yanrow, yinmed,
maria, wilma, shelma, velma, justina, jim, and.... I think thats
it...? Before every lesson we pray to invite the spirit. It's
interesting I've noticed that when I feel the spirit I get chills that
wrap around me from my spine to my extremities. It's kinda cool. I can
feel when I teach if it's just me trying to spit out words, and when
it's the holy ghost. When it is the holy ghost I can feel authority
behind my words. I don't need to stop and think of what I'm gonna say
next because it just comes I try to always teach this way because
well, it's the most effective way. If i was a pagan missionary... man
life would be rough.
hmmm answers to my prayers? well I think my biggest answer was the
language. In the packet it says to always pray in yapese, but it felt
empty to me I didn't feel like I was talking to God, plus the locals
always pray in their native language (woliean, chuukese, palaun...etc)
so i thought they would think I was fake if I prayed in Yapese. one
night I was super frustrated (sister T kinda nagged me about my
praying) so I went out on the tiny back balcony alone and prayed in
yapese that God would help me with the language. slowly as time passed
I learned. I can now understand people well enough to reply in short
sentences but thats all I need to share the gospel. :)
next question, I may not ever go to Guam again :/ they pulled sisters
off Saipan so now were the only island with no STL and they will
probably just skip over us :P no Fro yo for us :[
next I can't really pin point one BOM story. but often times we relate
ourselves to Alma and Amulek  because Alma was a totally foreign
missionary and Amulek was a local. They were together for a long time
and they suffered together. Finding the "isles of the sea" scripture
was cool we used that in a lot of lessons. Abinidi  was a power house
missionary Gotta look up to that guy. Ammon was pretty good with
knives I can relate to that ;)
well I hope this answers your questions kafel!

Dad's Facebook entry April 2, 2015

For those who are wondering how it all played out with my daughterMoranne Calder in the pacific "super storm" Maysak. We received word from her mission president that she has been accounted for and now they are seeking members and other islanders to help them recover from this storm. It was a category 4 typhoon when it slammed into her island. Reported that sustainable winds of 140 mph. My faith is truly being tested like the disciples of old in Matthew 8 when storm tossed sea rocked the boat they woke Christ and he rebuked them saying "Oh ye of little faith". Those who think a life of faith is not high adventure have never sent a son or daughter away on a mission. This has been one of the most faith building and trying things to give up my role as protector and literally trust in God. This is a picture of Maysak from outer-space. That big round eye grazed her island of Yap.

Facebook entry March 29, 2015

Dear Friends and family,
My daughter Moranne Calder is serving a mission for my church on a tiny island called Yap. She is going to be enduring typhoon Maysik tomorrow, please pray for her and those good people on Yap. They expect gust up to 130mph. We trust in God and know she is in good hands. I will sing hymn #105 "Master the tempest is raging" with gusto in class on Tuesday, and exercise faith in his mercy and goodness to me.

2015-03-23

Dad, I'm sorry I usually email mom because she worries the most...
Psych! not his week Muahahahah!!!!!! I have an interesting tale to
tell. So as I've said everything on these islands is like triple the
price it is in the states. When sister T and I were in Guam we bought
all our soap and razors and girl things and perfume and makeup because
for the most part you cant find that stuff on yap. Well. we returned
to our island and realized we are pretty much broke. We talked about
how we would find healthy things so we wouldn't get sick. we were kind
of at a loss. (our remaining food is oatmeal, pasta, 2 cans of tuna,
and sauces {bbq katsup mustard etc.})  last week when we went shopping
we looked at our groceries and realized it wasn't enough for the week.
when we walked to our front porch our land lady had put a bunch of
coconuts on our door step. last saturday we were doing service and
juanita, (young womans leader R.m. from the Philippines)  Offered us a
heaping plate of good local food. Sister T and I ate taro and tapioca
till our hearts content. We know that God is watching out for us.
There is a scripture that says "take no thought of where with ye shall
eat or find rest" I don't know the scripture exactly but I know that
it is saying God will provide. If I ever find myself discouraged I
just think on your quote, " Suck deep from coconuts and don't get
discouraged"

2015-03-15

 Well, yesterday was interesting, Sister T and I woke up with puffy throats and pounding headaches. We went to sacrament and I had to give a talk luckily we had 13 less actives at church and 2 investigators :) YAY FOR REALS!!!! Lately we have been trying to teach more basically with all our investigators.For example instead of teaching lesson one right away we try to teach a lesson on faith (as an action word) That lesson is the one that pushed one of our investigators (andrew) to come to church yesterday.Just as sister T and I are one up-ing our game, Satan is one up-ing his. On Saturday we stopped by a local fruit stand to get mango's and bananas as we were pulling away some dude runs out of nowhere and yells for us to stop. We did and I rolled down my window. He says " I hear you two preach the word of God" he said he wanted an "appointment" and so sister T pulled over. Before we got out of the car I told her I didn't feel good about this. She said we would be fine if we were by a public road. well. The guy wanted to meet then and there and he was flippen wasted. the guy wanted to tell us his life story then he practically proposed to me and told me " I don't know what state your from but Some day I will come find you."( for some stupid reason Island men are obsessed with white women) I was pissed and so was sister T. I told him if he came to church we would talk then sister T straight up said " Are you drunk?" and he looked at me and said "I am so sorry... Yes." We left and got in the car only to realize we didn't have the keys. Sister t told me to stay in the car
so she could go look over by the drunk dude. She got back in the car and said she still didn't find the keys and that she told the drunk dude she was looking for an earring. Suddenly there's a knock on my window and the drunk dude is right there. In some weird trying to be seductive but failing miserably voice he said " I know, it's not the earring she was looking for!" then he handed us our keys and we peeled out of there.  when we told the zone leaders they laughed super hard apparently they had an interesting experience with alcohol as well. There's a young man that they always take teaching named Mickey. Awesome kid, always comes to church and young mens activities. Well,he was doing the finale for the local dance on Saturday and apparently there was a ton of drinking happening there. Because of this he got a soda so he could be drinking something but not beer. after the dance the Chief of his village walked up, took his soda and said, you are a man now and handed him a beer and said Drink with me. ( in Yapese culture the chief is a big deal. If he told you to murder someone you would have to do it or face severe punishments) so mickey drank his first Beer. Seconds later the elders came to pick him up to go teaching. When he got in the elders truck, the alcohol still hadn't taken effect as they kept driving he got crazier and crazier then elder mackie said " MICKEY! are you drunk?" and mickey paused then said " YAAAAHAHAHA!!!" needless to say, they didn't take him teaching that day. The Elders also say that in the new bar that opened up ( in
our area) you are allowed to do whatever you want and the cops won't stop you unless you leave the bar. So now Satan has strategically found a way to ruin the work in the heart of Colonia. Kamagar ko Dairy Mo'oniyan! (thanks for nothing satan) well I miss all of you! I did the math and when I skype home I will almost be halfway done with my mission. July is my halfway mark. Time flies!

2015-02-28

Family,

so... the good news is, I'm emailing you from guam and the computers here are super fast. the bad news is... none :) I'm still serving in Yap I'm just here for a meeting. Elder Waimila was moved to guam and he is being replaced by a philipino named elder roque. since the explosion of drama last week everything has settled down. We actually had some super good lessons last week. One was with a guy named Alex. He has probably tried every drug known to man and he sleeps around. he told us when he turned 13 his father told him he was free to do whatever he wanted and pretty much gave up as a parent. since then his life just got worse and worse. He told us he wanted to change and come back to church. He has been coming and we have been teaching him. two lessons ago we read him the story of alma the younger and tried to liken that story to him. Our next visit he was super excited. he opened his book of Mormon and started telling us all about alma and continued to talk about stuff that was in the following chapters. i said i was impressed by his understanding. (most yapese have trouble reading English let alone book of Mormon english) he said he would read english B.O.M. then if he was confused he would compare it to the yapese version. the other awesome lesson was with moobpin (of course :)  )   sister T. asked her bow her book of mormon reading was going and she said. "It's really good. I'm a history buff and I just can't believe it! There's another book! " I'm pretty sure I was smiling like an idiot then she said " My father will be here on the weekend and I think he would really like it to. I think I'm gonna give him one!" She still won't attend church because she's scared of people judging her but dang she has a testimony. though I love Yap i'm super stoked to eat panda express later today. The mission health couple gave a training on healthy eating and most of it was about not eating at restaurants Me and sister T. just laughed (the only resturants on Yap are A. for the tourists B. super nasty and C. super expensive) lifes good out here :) I will keep grandpa in my prayers and all of you. I will send a flash drive soon 

p.s. that is a turtle. It laid there, alive on its back out side our house the neighbors are outer island and ate it for dinner :p

p.p.s. we found sister T.'s moms house in the village of mabu we also found out that lady is her aunt

2015-02-08

#local dance #nature #Almost got in trouble with the chief because sister T is yapese and she wore makeup thus disrespecting the chief for which the punishment is having your hands tied up and being sent off island.  we went to see this dance with Moobpin. She told me I had to tie my hair in a low bun and not lift my knees off the ground when I sit or I was disrespecting the high class. whoo so much "local culture" to learn

Dear Sierra,
I am at the Yap library and This is literally the slowest internet I have ever experienced. (It will let me type at the speed of light though...hence my much typings.) I'm kinda pissed at dad for hitting that fox and not stopping to make sure it was dead. Please do me a favor and punch him in the face for me. (don't punch his shoulder blade. It's harder than it looks. ) It was weird to talk to non missionary palangis (tongan word for white people) Sister Nay just speed walked right up to us during Franks first lesson... awkward. she was all like " HI SISTERS!!!!" and we were slightly confused she told us she worked for the mtc. She asked me where I was from and I said Utah she just laughed and said she was from Mapleton. Then she turned to sister T and asked her making sure to articulate because she thought sister t was straight up from the islands. Sister T replied "um... I'm from Washington. All the while frank, maryalei, and her daughter maggie were just waiting for them to leave. It was funny because she turned to them and said " these girls have an important message to share! you should heed their words." Utahns are weird. Please do me a favor and write sister t a letter. since I've been here she hasn't gotten a thing. not even for christmas. I miss you guys and I miss quich quach and Jessie taking food from you politely. Gosgos (the dog that lives on our porch) takes food like a crazy mongwa. Last night we visited Moobpin. on Friday we actually had her kneel with us and pray with us. her "Husband" (long story short) is a major drinker and he is using all the money she had to support her and her daughter. We prayed for help how ever God was willing to send it. When we saw her last night he had been sober all weekend, and she was finally able to talk with his parents (they always shun her)miracles happen! I hope you keep on being an optimist and help lift everyone else up. Dey be down in da dumps. oh and share this email with everyone. this computer is so slow I've already gone over my hour :p

2014-12-28

So far I have only gotten your packages. The other stuff you mentioned hasn't come. :p  if you can, please put my yap address on Facebook and my blog so that people have the right address. I think its funny that you got that calling. Something I am learning out here is that the lord really does answer prayers another thing is that there is always time for doing what pleases the lord. The reason a lot of our investigators stop progressing is because they don't make time for what matters. I am not exempt I need to prioritize because when I do the rest of the day goes better. besides it's really his time anyways. I loved hearing from you guys I'm gonna try to send off the package today hopefully it reaches home. Sorry there's no Christmas pictures... I put them on before Christmas and now the computer wont work. Surprise, surprise. after the typhoon knocked down our awesome palm leaf tree we had to buy a tiny 2 ft. tree. Christmas was awesome though :) Sister t. and I cooked all day for Christmas dinner (because sister Strother isn't feeling so dandy. they think it's kidney stones) At night we all ate and had district meeting. (thanks for the candy canes by the way. be used those on the brownies sister Whipple (the sister I replaced) sent us. After district meeting we did a gift exchange and a white elephant. Sis. T. got my name ironically. she gave me a shirt and 2 Chuukese combs. I love those things. I had elder Mott and elder Mackie. I just got them little Japanese treats and toys. ( a Nerf gun thing and a cardboard basket ball hoop. and they both got those blowup bouncy balls that are always in Walmart) The white elephant was hilarious. like 4 p-days ago The Tamil elders gave me a giant conch spray painted red for no reason. when they gave it to us i just looked at it like "...What the heck..." they were both laughing and they said "to remember the Tamil elders." I'm pretty sure it was just cluttering their apartment. So for the gift exchange, I wrapped it up wit a can of Vienna sausage and put a bow on it :) The funniest part was that elder Roberts ( one of the tamil elders) picked it. Every one else guessed exactly what it was and they were all like "NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!" but he opened it anyways. hahahahahaha!!!!!!! now he's stuck with it! 

2014-11-29

Yap Zone with Elder and Sister Whiting. We were truly blessed to be taught by one of the Lord's anointed.

We love our Yap Missionaries.

President Zarbock

2014-12-24

2014-12-24
From Quinn Calder's facebook post:

The missionary Skype moment from our daughter Moranne Calder on the island of yap...I know you are seeing pictures like this all over the internet, but until you experience it there is now way to describe how big of a deal it really is. I'm so grateful for technology even though in our case it was a little stressful when all we could do was see her and not hear her. We had to wait for an hour or so while Moranne went to one of the other three reliable computers on her island so we could then hear her. Happy Christmas for the Calder family. Big thanks to Brother and Sister Strothers who helped her get connected.

 — with Sierra Calder and 3 others.

The first photo is Sierra waiting for Moranne to call back.  She was way into it. 

2014-12-21 Mom

Mom,
I plan on skyping you christmas eve any time from 4-9 at night your
time. I'm trying to set up a skype account but it may not work :/ If
not i will use sister toumoefolau's or sis. Strother's If all else
fails I will just call :p The internet here is just as shifty as the
meat and the taro. It makes me want to burn down orphanages. Just know
if I haven't emailed you I haven't emailed any one else either... The
email about daylen made me miss him really bad. He has sent me one
email since I got here but it's ok. I know he's trying to help me
"lock my heart" or he's just a really good elder that just also
happens to think I'm annoying and sends me the occasional charity
email :( either way I still like him. To quote Lilo, " Yep. He's good
I can tell." I miss you like crazy and every one else I will try to
email them but if I don't please show them these emails (Flippen'
shifty internet >:[  )

2014-12-21

dad,  You asked about the weather... the weather is sweaty. You remember how I sweat like a pig anyways? well here, it is ten fold. It's funny because on really humid days when we go tracing the locals give me a concerned look and either offer me a coconut or some barrel water ( the equivalent of irrigation water) The spiders are giant but they don't really bite. The massive spiders I told you guys about are kinda like fat daddy long legs. The locals pick them up. EEEWWWW!!! some how word has leaked out in our branch that sis. Calder is deathly afraid of spiders. Everyone here thinks it's hilarious... da struggle. So fun story. The other day we were tracting down a stone path and we saw some baby chicks with no mom chicken. They ran up to us and started following us back to the car. It was SOOO CUTE! We figured that they were hungry so we found a coconut and husked it then cracked it open. (on the movie castaway he makes opening a Coconut look super hard. Its not. we did it in like 5 minuets without a machete.) oh another fun story I bought a really long machete. turns out I got ripped off and it was super dull. lots of members say that their gonna help me sharpen it and fix the loose handle. Its been passed around so many times I think I'm just gonna suck it up and buy a good one today. as far as yapese goes... chiney kug fil buch e thin nu wa'ab ( I've learned a little yapese) I miss you like crazy!!!!

2014-11-16

There is an older couple on the island of Yap named Brother and Sister Strother from New Zealand
and they post pictures of Moranne from time to time on facebook.

Posted November 12th

YAP MISSIONARIES - Farewell to Sister Whipple, Welcome Sister Calder.
Elder and Sister Strother - sending a Mogethin greeting to all the Micronesia Guam Missionaries xxxxxxxxxx.

YAP MISSIONARIES - Lunch at the Strothers and a picture of all of us taken after District Meeting today. Especially for Sister Calder's family.

Posted November 15th:

2 Yap baptisms today. Jeffrey Leefyang Fogolmad baptized by Elder Waimila, Sister Calder spoke about the Restoration, then President Jim baptized his nephew Shamrock.

Posted November 16, 2014

Sister Calder and Sister Taumoefolau taught the lesson in Relief Society today - great job, loved the object lesson of Hersheys candy too yum!!!!!!

2014-11-09

Moranne receives her mission call within her mission call.

She has been called to serve on the island of Yap!  

First letters from island to home.  

To Mom:

I am currently on one of the three computers on the island. This is a third world country.I'm positive that God had a sense of humor. My apartment is infested with ants and spiders, the rest of the island is covered with stray dogs and chickens. My new companion is sister Tomouefolau. her ethnicity is Yapese but she was adopted and raised in Washington. It's crazy how the Lord works. The people we teach are very poor. Yesterday, we taught a lady who lived in a homemade shack by the ocean. She spoke little to no English and was weaving baskets and lei's when we arrived. Sister T. spoke to her in simple English and gave her a book of Mormon in Yapese. She gave us the head leis. It was a crazy first teaching experience. I'm going to try to send pictures. I may have to split them into several emails. 

At first I thought flying was cool, but after 14ish hours I was done. I hate flying. Um Christmas... I'm still not sure. We haven't gone shopping yet. I know that the dairy here is three times more expensive because none of these people have cows...weird. If you could send me some dairy free recipes that would be great (especially a bread recipe) There is a stray dog that hangs out in front of out apartment. She is shy but she wags her tail when she sees us. We named her Isabelle

Love you all hopefully the pictures will say more than this email. (I wish I had taken more of the jungle. It's crazy! we park under a banana tree at our house!)

To Dad:

Hey! I'm here in Yap! I'm trying to send you pictures but these computers aren't the finest in quality. It may not work. The sister who I replaced left a few memory cards so I Guess I could mail this one home. I arrived here just in time for an event called canoe fest. People will all be out in the streets selling stuff they made, kinda like Yapese Swiss days. I'm excited. I thought because the people spoke Yapese and english teaching would be easy. I was wrong. Here, I am the one with the weird accent. I knew this was coming but well... no one thinks I'm funny here. They just ignore my jokes. It's fine I guess. But what makes it really weird is that they laugh at realy stupid stuff that makes zero sense.Oh well.  Bananas here are super delicious. They taste even better cold :) I only have a few minuets so I will try to send a hand written letter. Not sure how long it will take but thats the plan! keep sending pictures I love getting them :)

2014-11

Hey all, I actually love the MTC! the food is amazing and never ending!
My district is awesome. My companion is Tongan. she called me palangi,
meaning white girl.
Today we had and actual investigator. her name is Kenzi. When we asked her
about her beliefs, she said, "If there really is a God, I would be black."
At first I had no idea where to go with that... but then I actually had a
prompting. It was weird but this was my first actual missionary prompting.
Instead of teaching the restoration we just ended up bearing testimony of
Gods love for her and the impact the Book of Mormon could make on her
life. When we started teaching her, she was sarcastic and silly. When we
finished, she was almost stunned, quiet. Sister Misinale finished saying
"This book, this little blue book changes lives." I challenged her to read
it and pray about it. Tomorrow we have a follow up lesson and hopefully we
will actually teach her the restoration. I'm so excited to actually teach
real investigators in Micronesia!

2014-10

2014-10-20

Back to where it all began. 22 years ago I met my wife in the Dixie national forest on the slopes of Boulder Mountain near Pleasant Creek falls. This past weekend we took the family back to Boulder for a "final" family vacation. We built a fire, laughed, talked of nothing important, while I realize that things are changing.Moranne Calder my daughter enters the mtc this Wednesday and she gave a wonderful farewell talk today in church. I love what has happened since I sawLaura Lewis Calder, that cute blond on the banks of Pleasant Creek, I love where this is going, but I also feel the ache of losing my daughter to the Lord. I'm beginning to understand how Hannah of the Old Testament must have felt as she let her son, Samuel walk away towards the tabernacle with Eli. This is the great adventure of my faith, the great love of my life, and the offering of my heart.