Elder Call now in Idaho Falls South Stake

Note: Ryan Sarver, one of Elder Call's friends from Roscoe, Illinois, just received his mission call to Peru. The Brumbles are a senior couple in our ward who Elder Call was close to.

---

28 March 2010

Hey Dad,

That is so cool that Ryan is going to be going to Peru! That makes me so happy to hear that. I had a feeling that he would be called to a Spanish speaking mission and not be able to use his German!

I hope that other young men from our ward will be going on missions soon. That is also exciting for the Brumbles to be going to the Easter Islands! They will be great there and I just know that everybody on those islands will come to love them so much. I wish them the best of luck.

I hope that Grandma will be alright. I will pray for her. I received the Call Connection this month yesterday and I truly enjoyed the photos and stories from Grandma and Grandpa Call.

I have been here in IF South now since Wednesday and I can just feel that this area is about to explode with missionary work. I am glad to be here. Every day, no joke, I get asked if I am related to the Calls around here. And most notably if I know "President Call." He is the Branch President for the Singles branch in our stake. And also the owner of Farr's Candy and Ice Cream here in Idaho Falls. I met him and he is a really nice man. He comes from the Star Valley branch of the family. One of our ward mission leaders here, Bro. Roberts, is also a descendant of Cyril Call. I met him my first day here and he was extremely excited to know that I am a relative. He ran and grabbed his copy of Anson Call's journal and was talking all about it. Of course he comes from the Star Valley Call's also. Yet another one of Anson's posterity.

I don't know if I told you, but I met a man in Rexburg who has Calls in his family. He thought all of the Calls descend from Anson. And it took a lot of convincing that I am not. I told him I was from Anson's brother Omer, that they were both sons of Cyril Call who had 13 children, 12 of whom grew to adulthood. He kept talking and said a few minutes later that "Omer must be from one of Anson's sons or something." I said, "No they were brothers." Later on he was telling (or bragging) to another man all about Anson Call and how "the Calls settled the west. They settled Utah and Wyoming and Mexico and Idaho...Anson was the rescuer at the Martin Handcart company (he made it sound as if Anson did it single handedly and was the main guy)...he (Anson) even picked up two of his wives from there." The man asked what their names were. He could remember that Margaretta Clark (Margaretta Unwin Clark) was one of them (he must descend from her) but couldn't remember who the other one was. So I told him that it was Emma Summers. I think it was then that he believed that I knew what I was talking about.

Some of these people talk about Anson as if he was Adam. The founder of mankind and all the human race his posterity. No doubt about it--Anson was a great man. He had a lot of posterity because he was polygamous and some of his sons were also. But his older brother Harvey died on the plains and may have had one child, and that is a big "may." Salmon, the next son, died under the age of 2. Josiah had two wives, several children, but was killed before he could have had a large family. None of his sons were polygamous. Omer had 22 children (Anson about 25), but none of his children were polygamous. They were all too young to be of that generation. Keep in mind that Anson's oldest child (Anson Vasco) was exactly 6 months younger than Omer and Homer. So they (Anson and Omer) were pretty much a generation apart. Homer only had one wife and 12 children, once again none of his children were polygamous.

So that is a whole bunch of rambling that you probably didn't want to hear. But I think that is great that you are starting that Cyril Call thing. I wish I could be there to be a part of it.

Love,
Elder Call