Elder Call's Passion for Family History Comes Alive

Note: I mentioned to Elder Call that my own life history—to age 50—is currently almost 600 pages long and will likely be close to 1,000 pages when it's finished, which I hope will be by the end of the year.
—Editor

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27 September 2010

Dear Dad,

I cannot believe that Mary Ann will be 16 in a couple of weeks. She and John are getting so old.

It sounds like Mary Ann is quite the missionary and that makes me so proud of her. That makes me happier than anything else I think. You are successful when you invite. She is successful.

I am also very happy that you finally have some people that might be interested in the house. I will pray that one of them will be able to go through with it.

It is cooling down here also. Idaho is weird, it will get cool then a random day of heat. Or get really hot, then a random cold day. But I think it is now fall, and every time I think that it makes me sad. I only have a few months left. Elder Durnall said once that it is like the dusk of my mission. So I guess that means it will be over in the cold of the night.

If you think that no one will be interested in reading your life history, I'd say you were off your rocker! Just think if Cyril had written 600 pages of life history! We would know about his conversion, about his blessings, his family's conversion, specifically what he experienced in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and crossing the plains, starting new in the Great Basin. Not just fragmented details drawn from children and grandchildren, glued together by memories and stories in the framework of history as a guide! But a whole piece of art—intact, beautiful, and as fresh as the dawning of the days he awoke to face the world!

This is a work that must be finished. Records, personal records, are vital to humanity. A family's history is the world's history. They must be created, consistently reviewed and updated, and then preserved.

I'm just a little passionate about this.

Love,
Elder Call