Letter from Caleb 12-10-12

I received this letter from Caleb yesterday by e-mail.  If you are an outsider reading this, let me explain:  Caleb is my son who is serving a two year mission in Anaheim, California, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  His letters have been so awesome and I want to share them with the family and whoever else finds time to read them.

Here you go:

Mom, I love getting packages. Seriously, its amazing to feel like your parents still love you, but 

I know that there's no way what is in those boxes is worth the money you are spending in 

postage. I would like to offer a solution: don't spend so much on postage! If you must spend 

money on me (Which I honestly don't mind) it would be more helpful if you put it on my debit 

card and emailed me or mailed me what you want me to buy with it and I swear on my 

missionary honor that I'll get whatever you want me to get. except medicine, if you want to 

send me that please feel free. that's really really expensive.

Speaking of medicine, if you could send me allergy pills and an albuterol inhaler that would be 

wonderful. The one I brought is empty, and my pills go fast. The air out here is so disgusting 

some days. You can see peoples headlight beams at night, just like they are driving through 

mist because of how much smog there is. I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep at night. Any 

suggestions? My bed isn't very comfortable.

I'm loving the 12 days of Christmas. The office sisters and elders get really jealous. They say

the only reason I still get mail is because my parents still love me, but that it will change in a

few months. Sad. I love getting mail, and I can't wait to open things. I got the bike light and it is

awesome. I feel much safer at night, and I think other drivers appreciate it much more.

Hi Scott! What do I do all day? Well I wake up at 6:30 every day, work out for half an hour, 

shower/prep for half an hour, and eat breakfast for half an hour. At 8:00 I study for an hour, 

then at 9:00 my companion and I do lessons for an hour (since I'm training) and then study for 

an hour for our investigators. We usually take our lunch at 11, then leave the apartment at 12. 

We bike to the places we need to go, and teach lessons and knock on doors until about 5 or 6. 

We usually have our dinner at a members home, except this week the members are slacking. 

An hour later we go and teach lessons (we try not to knock after it gets dark, because people 

are paranoid here about burglars and people dressed like UPS delivery men who come into 

your house and kill your dogs and steal things) until 9:15, at which point we bike back to the 

apartment. Our area is 6x10 miles (not 2x3 like my companion who can't read maps thought) 

so it takes us a decent amount of time to bike anywhere. We live at (a place I'm not writing 

here for privacy)   I can't be more specific because people have a bad habit of breaking into 

missionaries homes here. At 9:30 we plan for tomorrow and then I usually write in my journal 

if I have something cool that happened that day, or write to people.

On certain days we do different things. On Monday I have a preparation day, so from 10:00 till 

6:00 I can do whatever I want, after our apartment and clothes are cleaned. We have to write to 

our parents once a week. On Fridays we have weekly planning, where we set goals for the next 

week and work on ways to find people, and to teach more effective lessons. We pray about 

each of our investigators and ward members who need help and ask for ways to be more 

effective teachers through the spirit. Some amazing things happen during weekly planning. On 

Saturdays sometimes we attend Baptisms of investigators other missionaries have taught. We 

have 2 baptisms coming up within 3 weeks of our own, and another one shortly after that we 

hope! One of them is a 10 year old girl named (name changed for privacy Sara) who's dad is 

inactive and who's mom isn't a member. We have worked to activate her dad so he can 

perform the baptism. We have another one, a 17 year old boy with an inactive dad and a sister 

and mom who aren't members. His mom is one of the main people at LA Fitness and she 

travels all over the US each week. (Name changed for privacy  Mark's) inactive dad has been 

coming to church and has been reactivated! He will baptize Mark in two weeks, and their 

entire family is coming!

Each day is fun, and riding my bike is awesome. The weather is perfect for riding in, and 

everything feels great here. On Mondays we play basketball and dodge ball and basically have 

fun until the sisters want to play and we have to throw with our non dominant hand. We have 

33 missionaries coming out in March! 75% of them are sisters.

Mom/Dad,

We have kept really busy except for last week, when Elder Healey was really sick. I really enjoy

keeping busy, as it makes the time go really fast. I can't believe its the last week of this transfer

already! We already have new elders and sisters coming out a week from tomorrow. It's crazy

how fast this has gone. Its also weird to think that when I get back I will be 21, and that I could

get married any time I wanted. I don't think I want to though, so don't worry!

 I freaking love my bike.  Thanks for sending money to get it.   I'm so proud of what I got it for too. In my letter to dad I explained how it was worth 700 but was on sale for 600 and I got it down to 370. I was exceedingly proud, and did wax strong in my knowledge of salesmen.

Love ya!

Elder Clark