Caden {4.27.15}

Okay, well it has been a really good week!! We had the best Sunday night of my mission and I gave a talk Sunday which I think went okay. I had a very spiritual weekend! It was nothing besides my studies and I wish I could explain it but I cant. It was just a really good week:) Awesome stuff coming up. Still hoping for Chris' baptism May 7th and other really cool stuff!

Caden {4.20.15}

Well we had an awesome weekend! Baptized Ivan on Saturday and then Demarco on Sunday! It was awesome to see these two guys accept the gospel. Especially because they were so prepared! They just accepted everything that is offered to them! They love Christ and will do what ever he needs!:) Me and Elder Jones set up the computers for the mission office which was pretty fun! We also got an appreciation dinner for doing service at EIS and it was at a designer showcase which was super cool to walk through!

Spring's Birthday

So for the past month or so my cute student Spring has been telling me about how her birthday is coming up and how I'd need to go to her house. Haha. Being the funny girl that she is, I thought nothing of it and told her I'd need a note from her parents if that was going to happen.

She kept talking about it as time went on telling me how I'd "make her nails like mine" and "eat cake." Finally, the day of her birthday came and she reminded me again that I was going to her house that night.. I had one of her Chinese teachers call her parents and clarify and sure enough I was going to her house that night. Hahah. I guess she'd been begging her parents all month and they weren't going for it since they were embarrassed that they couldn't speak English well. But Princess Spring worked her magic charm and next thing I know we're putting together a gift for Spring's birthday dinner!

All of us first grade teachers (and Jerem) walked home with Spring and her sister Lily, who is in second grade in ILP! Spring literally didn't stop bouncing the entire way there. She was so so so excited and it was the most adorable thing ever.

Her house was like a concrete castle. Haha. Literally just six floors of concrete. We got to meet her infamous chicks who I'm surprised haven't made their way into class yet. Her room was her own little library. Honestly. At least 1000 books. Makes sense; she's a genius. She opened her little gifts we got her and was all cute and tried sharing it all with us. HER present. Chinese people.. I tell ya. I've definitely learned a thing or two.

I finally got to paint her nails for her as she watched My Little Pony before dinner, but we were called down to eat after only painting one hand and spent the next five minutes blowing them dry.. hahha. Only to find out the next day at school that "painted nails are only for teachers" from little Spring who had to scrub it off in her previous class.... WHOOPS. Lol.

Dinner was a never-ending feast. Everything from peanuts, straight up pig, stinky tofu, assorted veggies, mystery meats, fish, liver and onions, to chocolate truffles. They looked at us like we were going to starve from how "little" we had eaten but really I'm not sure how much more we possibly could have downed. It's still a mystery to me at how skinny they are with all these never-ending dinners they have.

The night ended with Spring taking a solid twelve seconds to make a wish on her cake, getting into a frosting fight with Lily, and Spring's dad telling her "Spring, remember this day for all your life." It was quite the night and I'm so glad that she convinced them it was a good idea. Her parents were the cutest people. Chinese people are so humble and genuinely kind! They were so happy for us to be there and so welcoming. They raised the sweetest little girl who I love so much!

Happy Birthday Spring!!  

Caden {4.13.15}

So it has been an awesome week!! Oh my goodness! Elder Chapman and this guy right here went CRAZY this week. We both love to work and to try new things to get it going! We got 5 new investigators this week and between the two wards got 33 lessons done not to mention visiting with active members! Ivan will be baptized this coming Saturday which we are all super excited about and more to follow that:)

{16 Months}

8 more months!

This past weekend, a couple of us went and stayed the weekend in Suzhou! It's known as the "Venice of China" because it's a water town. Well.. a water town it was. It down-poured the entire time we were there so we didn't get the chance to do much. One of the days we were there though, we came across this family fun center and decided that would be a fun day activity.

We were all pretty tired and bummed out because of the rain so we weren't in the best of spirits. But Em bought us all a couple tokens cause she's sweet like that and that's when the fun began! Tara definitely was the most competitive of us all and won hundreds of tickets.

I however, suck at arcade games. Lol

But the story behind this month's postcard was I played a Chinese version of "Deal or No Deal" with some weird pirates instead of models.. haha. But I chose the lucky number 8 as my case and won the game! So thus.. I had to make my 8 months left countdown picture with my tickets since it was the 4th and all! 

The months are seriously flying by. Some days are long and it seems like he'll never come home, but other days I think time is going by too fast! He's doing great on his mission and making the most of this final chapter of his mission. It's tornado season in Oklahoma which scares me half to death but I know that he's in the Lord's hands and that he's being protected. Other than that.. not much new this month. 

Proud of you, Elder. 

P.S. I can't wait til we have pictures TOGETHER again. I don't even remember what that looks like. hahah

Caden {4.6.15}

IT IS ME! So read this because i am kinda a big deal... just kidding!:) Well this week was pretty dang good!! We did around 15 hours of service which was great! We also had 10 hours of service and taught 26 lessons! And had 4 active member lessons! It was sooo sweet. Conference was amazing! The importance of families was slightly hinted towards;) But it made me so excited. I love my family so much. And i love the law of chastity and how important it is in a healthy, lasting, eternal family that i hope we all strive for! Some things in life are so important but they are far too often pushed to the back burner with the things that truly don’t matter! A long with that i had a lot of thoughts on the importance of extended family! Once married our immediate family slightly changes... but how much should it change? Isaiah said that hearts of the children should be to the father and the father to the children! EVERYONE LOVE YOUR FAMILY AND MAKE THEM LAST:) OH YA! Special thanks to my Mom, Trav, Kennan, Mamma Em, Ty, Tamia, and James for the awesome packages! And Gram and Gramps for the Easter gift!

Much Love,

EM