(Elder Putnam)
No idea why I called it that ^^. divine inspiration, I
guess. go on a mission its awesome.
we did pumpkin carving
That is what I got time for
the language is coming together a lot nicer. shoutout to
humility, gratitude, and the gift of tongues
love you guys
last audio will be me saying the first vision in
Latvian...at least a portion
(Elder Putnam)
my mom said i have to write an email.
(Elder Putnam)
Dear Brother and Sister Putnam,
We are thrilled to let you know that Elder Putnam and his
entire group of seven missionaries arrived early with all of their luggage at
1:00 pm. Elder Putnam is well and looks good, and he has met his trainer, Elder
Argyle, and has been interviewed by President and Sister Huff. Elder Putnam and
Elder Argyle are assigned to work in Liepaja, Latvia, a beautiful place! The
Baltic Mission is filled with faithful, hard-working missionaries and Elder
Putnam will fit right in. Thank you for sharing him with us. We’ll take very
good care of him.
Our love and best wishes,
President and Sister Huff
(Elder Putnam)
ITs been a bit since I last wrote an email. So I'll do a
quick summary
Elder Bastow got a concussion and then he got a neck massage
and stim therapy. The doctor let me try it on my arm too. It was pretty cool.
Elder Beebe's mom has sent us sourdough bread which was delicious. We got to
try some garlic cheddar and orange cranberry loaves as well.
I've been taught all the grammar principles I need to know
(for the most part) now it’s just about using them correctly and on the fly
with fluency of speech.
If you’ve ever watched Liken, the dude who plays Alma in
Alma and King Noah's Court was there and I got a picture.
I’m singing in Conference, so look for me in the Saturday
Afternoon session (sorry to people in Saudi for whom it will be the middle of
the night)
When we aren't able to squeeze in a workout time during the
day, Elder Bastow and I do pushup challenges. He's a lot better at them than I
am, but I'm also on a cut, so the weight drop should help. I decided to cut for
the first week and a half of my last 2 weeks (I'm just gonna eat like crazy
those last few days) since I haven't ever, and they offer chicken and rice
daily with goodddd milk.
Scripture of the Week:1 Nephi 16:7-8,
7. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, took one of the
daughters of Ishmael to wife...
8. And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of
the Lord which had been given unto him. And I, Nephi, had been blessed
exceedingly.
Ok so there is some speculation on this one, but several
chapters earlier, Lehi promises that Nephi, Sam, Laman, and Lemuel will be
blessed for returning to Jerusalem, but Nephi will be exceedingly blessed for
not complaining. So I think this scripture is just Nephi bragging about his
wife, saying he got the best one or something like that. idk. On that note,
I've been doing all I can to complain as little as possible about the hard
things about my mission. One day I will say, "And I, Caleb, have been
blessed exceedingly." You Feel Me???
Conference Talk of the Week: The Greatest Possession | Elder
Holland
"-to love God wholeheartedly, without reservation or
compromise, that is, with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. This love
of God is the first great commandment in the universe. But the first great
truth in the universe is that God loves us exactly that way.-- wholeheartedly,
without reservation or compromise, with all His heart, might, mind, and
strength. "
Isn't it so powerful to know that we are Heavenly Father's
children and He loves each of us in a way so pure that we can't comprehend. He
loves us as we are, even when we make mistakes. Because He loves us this way,
He wants everyone, no matter where they are, to come to Him and become clean
again. Repentance is a gift from Him completely step away from sin. It makes us
better people as we learn from the mistake we've made, but are forgiven from
God (if we utilize the Atonement).
Latvian Word of the Week: Luk; translation: behold (in imperative
form)
Used in a sentence: Lūk Elder, svētais kebaba tirgus ir tur.
Behold, Elder, the Holy Kebaba store is there.
Pictures:
1. I'm posted up with Alma
2. Elder Bastow's prescribed neck massage
3. Bralis Hiltons is always flexing
4. I got to watch the BYU game (from T4)
Most recent weeks:
My pronunciation has gotten significantly better and I'm
pausing after commas, which is apparently very helpful as far as understanding
goes. That’s a result of reading from the BoM daily in Latvian; Mormona
Gramata. We have a new teacher named Brother Bastian and he's straight out of
the mission field so his accent is the best. We were practicing contacting and
I talked with him about Kristaps Porzingis for a bit and gave him a card for
sports night. Less goooo.
We listened to some Latvian songs, favorite of which is Mana
Dziesma, which translates to My Song. Definitely give it a listen. Mes Esam
Latvija is also pretty good.
We are meeting with representatives from Azerbaijan, UAE,
Mongolia, and a few others and they're gonna watch us as we learn our languages.
It'll all be in Estonian, so we won't understand it, but We'll then answer
questions about languages and whatnot.
There is an Elder in our branch that speaks pretty fluent
Arabic so I've been asking him about all sorts of Arabic questions. He lived in
the UAE for the past 4 years and that’s how he picked it up since he's from
California.
Elder Schmidt is one of the funniest guys I know. He's from
Germany and he got here 3 weeks ago. He's learning Polish and the rest of his
district got here last week. We got back from getting haircuts and asked who
has the worst cut. He looked at me and straight up said: You look funny haha. I
did look funny and I will also attach a picture. My mom says I look handsome,
but I think that’s just her obligation to say that.
One more Scripture of the Week: Moses 7:28-33, 37
Quick summary: Enoch, an ancient prophet of the Old
Testament is taken up into a vision where he talks with God. God shows him the
people on the Earth in our day. Enoch is surprised to see Heavenly Father
weeping. Enoch asks God, how can you cry, you are powerful and merciful and
kind forever, peace is the habitation of your throne. heavenly Father says
"Behold, these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands...
and also I [have given unto them] a commandment, that they should love one
another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but they are without
affection, and they hate their own blood...Wherefore, should not the heavens
weep, seeing these shall suffer?"
This scripture tells us a lot about the character of
Heavenly Father, especially about his love for us. We are created by Him, and
He loves us. He loves you and your siblings, and your friends, and those that
don't like you, and those that you don't like. He sorrows in our unkindness
towards other people because when we hurt or offend our neighbor, we offend
Heavenly Father. But "when [we] are in the service of [our] fellow beings,
we are [also] in the service of our God. This week, try to be kind to everyone,
especially those who aren't particularly kind to you.
More Pictures:
1. Jess the Celebrity (That’s how she introduced herself, so
I decided to call her that)
2. Fairlifeeee. It brings me joy
3. :)
4. Elder Bastow got a shot so he picked out two lollipops,
and 4 stickers to go along with a coloring book he found.
Thats all I have for the past 3 weeks.
We'll see if I can email next week
Elder Putnam
(Elder Putnam)
Whats good??
Ok So we got some Elders on our floor who brought a Carolina
Reaper to the MTC. Elder Bastow decides he'll eat it. What a silly guy.
Imma start making these a lot shorter since I got a lot more
stuff to do on pdays now. I met a dude from Saudi who’s going Persian speaking.
He was in Riyadh tho so we only went to one youth conference together.
The sisters are dope. I feel like I should specify that I don’t
actually and never had disliked them, I’m just a funny guy. I met a dude from
my first EFY which was dope. Shoutout to Elder Brooks. We got a devotional
where Elder Uchtdorf spoke to us and it was powerful. Hope of Israel is a good
hype up song but How Firm a Foundation is better. We tried playing it during my
peak set on chest day but the dude monitoring the gyms shot it down. what a
fool. The Starši (Slovak Elders) have been so good to us and we’ve played
soccer with them several times. We found out that Elder Beebe is the goat of
soccer. Mans scored 4 goals on the Starši last time we played.
I’m very likely to be a zone leader since elder Beebe and I
are the only eligible for the position. Which means Ill have 2 less hours on
P-day to help the early arrivals. We spent an entire class the other day just
talking about stuff that happens in Latvia, mission lore, food places, pday
activities. It was a good day, not productive, but good. I feel like I can say anything
I want to in Latvian now, it just takes me 5 minutes to put it all together.
Also my vocab is trash. I have good grammar essentially. I played in Sacrament
meeting on Sunday and basically had the congregation rapping the first verse
cause I was playing so fast.
I’m not really sure what else to say so I might add in some
additional notes later. HMU Id love to hear what yall have to say.
Latvian word of the week: bruņurupucis
(broo-nyoo-roo-poo-tsis), meaning: turtle,
used in a sentence: man ir bruņurupuča kaklasaite, I have a
turtle tie.
Scripture of the week: Alma 17:2-5
"...for they were men of a sound understanding and they
had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of
God."
This is taken from my favorite chapter in the Book of
Mormon. I have studied the scriptures significantly more since being on my
mission. There is so much truth contained in the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
The Bible explains so much the character of Christ and establishes Him as the
best example for us to follow. The Book of Mormon does the same. I know that
the Book of Mormon and the Bible are the word of God. I have obtained a
knowledge of it for myself.
General Conference Talk of the Week: The Greatest Possession
| Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
"To love God with all our heart, might, mind, and
strength is the First Great Commandment. But the first great truth of the
universe is that God loves us in that exact way."
Lots of people misunderstand our relationship with God. He
is our Heavenly Father. He created us and he wants us to return to Him. How can
He not love us. He has provided a wonderful opportunity for us to become clean
from sin, not just once, through baptism, but over and over again through
worthily partaking of the sacrament. Dieter F. Uchtdorf once said, "God
loves us just as much when we struggle as when we have success." Just
because you have wandered off the covenant path a little, or even a lot, doesn’t
mean you cant come back. At the same time, it doesn’t mean coming back is easy.
But relying entirely on Christ is not easy. I can only promise that it makes it
easier.
Pictures:
1. Mane bruņurupuča kaklasaite
2. Me with Elder Brooks, friend from first efy like 5 years
ago
3. Brother Trout visiting us before bedtime
4. The companionship in front of the Paul mural on our
floor.
(Elder Putnam)
I hate the Estonian Sisters
Let me give just a little backstory. Aight so one of the
district goals is to eat meals together in the cafeteria. We’ve been pretty
good about that but the conversations are pretty dry between the sisters and
the elders. So I ask this gem of a question ^^. Sister House, may she be
humbled, says she would whoop this whiny Gorillas booty. What a fool. Sister
Reynolds says she could last 5 minutes... BY PRETENDING TO BE THE GORILLAs
CHILD. She has until the end of Pday to figure out what a baby gorilla sounds like.
Sister Wood (she’s from Australia) just sits there politely but obviously
confused about the question. but she acts like I’m wack. Which is somewhat
fair, but this is a good question. I discussed it for hours with my cousin like
a year ago. Anyways give me your answer and how you intend to survive as long
as possible against the gorilla. Anyways, sister House mocks me by asking my
Latvian teacher this question. Like I shared that question in confidence what
the actual heck.
Sister Chase is the only sister missionary in our district I’m
on good terms with. I was asking the people at our table (for whatever reason I
was like, you know what I just wanna make sure) if they had a secret twin and
sister Reynolds was like oh my gosh I do. I felt incredible. I was like boom
called it. That’s modern revelation. So she introduces us to her twin who’s
serving somewhere in South America for his mission. I was so happy until she
was like, yeah that’s not actually my twin. She led us all on for such a long
time. I was at such an emotional high that plummeted so frickin hard. Now I
have trust issues.
Sister Wood is Australian.
Ok so my companionship is so frickin great thoughhh. Elder
Beebe is mad smart and corrects our grammar and stuff. I’m pretty quick and
accurate at translating written sentences from English to Latvian and also
recognizing Latvian words we know from like 1 Nephi and stuff where were
reading from They’re both so funny in such different ways. They keep me
entertained and sane. Were also pretty diligent about being reverent and obedient.
So much so that now we have a teaching assignment from President Peterson, our
Branch President. We’re getting along so great so far though. We’ve done
basketball and weightlifting so far for exercise and that’s been pretty great.
It’s been a week since I last sent an email so I’ll give a
quick rundown. also you may notice that I don’t use apostrophes. {Editor: apostrophes
added through publishing program automatically) that’s cause I can soften
letters using the apostrophe on a Latvian keyboard. Like this: lugšana, meaning
prayer. ok anyways, Latvian is harddd. We’ve taught one lesson in Latvian to
Olivia (basically our teacher after she put on a disguise) and it was a
trainwreck. I literally just read a sentence from Preach my Gospel in Latvian
and that was my whole spiel. It was a long sentence too though with a ton of
grammar principals I didn’t understand. So I was not feeling great about that,
but then Sunday rolled around changing my take on everything. At the MTC
literally everything is elevated except the food. I felt the Spirit so strong on
Sunday it was pretty great. Ever since then, Latvian has gotten easier. I’ve
started my day with prayer and scripture study which helps a ton. Hopefully I don’t
fall out of that habit. I saw Chloe (Sister Cloud)! I also saw that she didn’t
mention seeing me in her weekly email. I’m a little pressed about that. I just
feel the spirit so strong here it’s amazing. I’m trying to cultivate every good
attribute before I can go into the field so that I can at least rely on God
while I still suck at the language. I didn’t do much daily journaling so I don’t
really know what else to say.
I’ll see yell next week I guess.
Scripture of the week: Ether 12:6,
"I would show unto the world that faith is things which
are hoped for and not seen; wherefore dispute not because ye see not, for ye
receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." You will go
through trials. Everyone will. In fact most everyone is going through one in
the very moment that you speak with them. We are promised a witness of Christ
and His love for us after we complete our trial of faith. However, we must
continue to be faithful to Him to be able to recognize this witness.
General Conference Talk of the Week: He Heals the Heavy
Laden | Dallin H. Oaks
"The Atonement of Jesus Christ and the healing it
offers do much more than provide an opportunity for repentance. The Atonement
also gives us the strength to endure pains and afflictions and temptations of
every kind because our Savior also took upon him the pains and the sicknesses
of his people." Everyone has challenges. During His ministry, Christ
healed physical, mental, and spiritual ailments. He requested all those who
were afflicted come to Him.
(Elder Putnam)
Aright mama, I know your stressing out right now, so imma
just explain how being able to communicate with people works. I'm allowed to
open any message from anyone throughout the week (I don't have Instagram
downloaded) on Facebook or email. I'm not allowed to react to them though until
pday... if they are immediate family or unless its like an emergency or
something i guess. I'm not allowed to FB Messenger anyone outside of my
immediate family. All communication with friends needs to be through email on p
days. So if you want to get in touch with me email is the way to go. I can
message a person's Instagram through fb but that just doesn't make much sense
cause I'm not likely allowed to text them anyways. I'll write the rest of my
email later today. Imma ft mama right now
Elder Putnam
