Letter from 8/18/15

Seriously I am so excited to get to Chile! It is coming so fast! All but three in our District are going to Chile. The Hermanas are going to Portland and Elder Welburn is going to Texas

School school school....I remember those days. Sounds like it´s pretty crazy over there! I hope the girls get some great teachers! Have them let me know who they have as teachers when school starts.

So we were playing volleyball on Thursday in the gym and all was going well. We were destroying....and the other team was crying. You know, same old same old. Then an Elder comes up to hit the ball. We try to hit it back. We got 3 hits and don´t quite make it over.....though Elder Andrews decided to try and dive for it anyway. Well....he kinda missed and tripped over E. Haymore. He fell, hit his head and everyone cringed as he hit the floor. What everyone did not notice however was that he didn´t just hit his head and get back up. Next thing you know you hear one of the Hermanas scream and run. My companion started having a grand mal seizure. I immediately pushed the Elders out of the way and ran over to my comp. At this point in my life I am thanking God many times for the knowledge and training I have received over the last few years in the medical field. I went and turned him to where his head wouldn´t hit the floor and let it play out until the seizure was over. It finally stopped after about 30 seconds and I was able to start talking to him and check vitals; He started responding after a little while and was able to start coming to about 20 min after it had happened. We took him on a stretcher to the Doctors office and had him rest for the remainder of the day. We later were able to give him a blessing and he is now doing a lot better.

I am really grateful that God is looking out for us. I am grateful for all the trials I go through too. I know that God is always there for us when we need anything and I know that he loves each and every one of us.

Letter from 8/11/15

This week went by really fast! It's crazy to think that I only have 2 more weeks here! I have been praying and fasting a lot about the language and it is coming along really well! 

We have firesides every Tuesday night and 2 on Sundays. They are so much fun! We also watch a movie every Sunday night too. I am glad to hear that you are going to be doing this challenge. I know it will bring many blessings!

I can’t even believe that Elder Burnett and Elder Thornton are home already! That went by too fast! That is not good for me at all! That just means I can't waste any time here. Got to work work work! That's all I do around here. Work for about 13 hours a day. Study work eat study work and eat. But I love it! 

This last Sunday I gave my first sacrament talk in Español. It was so much fun! I felt the spirit so much and I was really confident in myself. It was great (: I have 4 investigators now and I love teaching them. They are all really different from each other! My teaching is better, my Spanish is better, and life is just great!

Letter from 8/4/15

I am doing well! Thank you! This week was pretty much the same as all the other weeks busy busy busy! My district is so awesome! Most of them are from Utah. One is from Wyoming, another from Mississippi, and two from Arizona. Then we got little old Kuna, ID over here ;)

So in answer to your question about your lesson, I would add: the importance of realizing that a calling was made for a reason from God. We are all God's children and must all be treated as such. Yes some can be quite annoying or different, but it is important to develop Christ like attributes and love everyone. 

This last Sunday we had a devotional. We watched a devo that Elder Bednar gave to the Provo MTC a while ago. First off, I have never heard a devotional as inspiring as this one, it was SO amazing! In the devo it talked about how we as latter Day Saints need to learn to ''Turn Out" when others ''Turn In''. In other words, we need to learn to be Christ like when others are selfish. I don't know if you could watch it on LDS.org but if you can try to do so for next FHE! There is a challenge in this talk that I want to give to you all. The challenge is to find ways to be more like Christ and to learn how to Turn Out in those difficult times. The best way we can learn how to do so is in the scriptures. So, What I have started to do and what I would like you all to do is go get the family cheap copies of the Book of Mormon. Then from front to back, read the whole book with a question in mind. In this case, "How can I learn to Turn Out when other Turn In?" As you read, mark only scriptures that help to answer this question. I have felt a change in myself by doing so. I have felt the spirit constantly with me to help me become a representative of Christ. I know this will bring many blessing to our family by doing so and it will help us to come closer to Christ and our Father in Heaven.

Letter from 7/28/15

I am doing great this week! It went by so stinkin’ fast! I've been super busy this week and have had so much fun teaching and learning the language. 

My Spanish is coming along great and I love the people here. Los Latinos son incredible y me encanta hablar con ellos. They have such a sweet spirit and love talking to all the gringos ;)

I'm feeling really good now. The day after i wrote yáll last week I woke up with tonsillitis and rhinitis. It sucked...but I feel a lot better now. A nasty stomach bug is going around here and tons of missionaries are down with it. I've been making sure to wash my hands a bunch and use lots and lots of hand sanitizer. Está bien.

This week I learned a lot about patience. Elder Andrew's is a great guy and wants to do good, but he doesn't always want to work or study or doing any of the above. It was hard because I was in such a go go go attitude and it felt like it was dragging the whole time. Our lessons with the investigators went well but I feel it could have gone better. He's a good guy and I love him, I just want him to want to do better. I know he can.

So the funniest thing that happened this week was when Elder Haymore and Elder Coulotta went to teach our investigator and they were teaching about the prophet. He tells him: Alejandro, it is very important in our day to follow the prophet. So all of a sudden he takes out his phone while they are still talking to him and then he says: look! He had pulled up Pres. Monson's twitter page and said he would "follow'' the prophet. jajaja It was ridiculous.

Elder Coulotta has made a big impact on me this week. He has shown me what a great example of a missionary was and how to be the best you can be. I asked him to give me a blessing when I got sick and he was kind of taken back because he had never given a blessing before. He and his companion both helped with it and all the others stood around and helped. It was a really cool experience. 

I love this work! I love you so much and I am so glad to be able to get your letters! I hope you have a great week this week and I will talk to you next Tuesday!!

First letter from the MTC! 7/21/15

Mi compañero is great! His name is Élder Andrews. At first he was a little strange and then I got to know him a little more over the past week. He is from Draper, UT and he also is fresh meat from high school. He has a great spirit and loves to learn. He struggles a lot with the language so I have been trying to help as much as possible. He's got the drive and will power to learn I just sometimes gotta kick it out of him.

So the food is pretty much the most authentic food ever, and I love it! Though sometimes the food does not like me back...it's pretty much as they say, beans, rice, and corn tortillas! But today is pizza night and ALLL the white kids here all very excited ;)

Mexico is freakin ghetto! Seriously thought I was going to die on the way to the CCM. People just walk out in the middle of the road like they own the place and cars are constantly slamming into each other. It´s kinda cool though. I love the culture here and los Latinos are pretty dang awesome as well. The CCM is the biggest in property size but Provo is still the biggest one out of all of them. We have about 90 acres of land with so much to do around it. We have 20 ft barbed wire fences lining the whole place with guards at the entrance and exit points. I feel really safe here and the spirit is so amazing. We went to the temple today to go through the visitor’s center. It was so beautiful! The Mexico City temple is the biggest temple outside the US. We felt the spirit so much going through the tour. I got some great stuff al la Tienda (store) and we got to see some great stuff on our way back al CCM. We also sang hymns en Español the whole way there....my voice is shot!

I have come so close to my Heavenly Father here. I have especially come close to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that he lives and loves each and every one of us. He wants all to come unto Him. And yes, that is the MOST important news we can tell people today, and I am doing just that right now.

Welcome to Elder Damon Callister's Mission Blog!  I'll try to post here every week with Elder Callister's letters and photos.  He's having a wonderful experience so far and will be leaving the Mexico City MTC next week.  I'll post changes in his address and please send letters!  Emails are great but these Elders love getting snail mail too. :)