Elder Robert M. Call

Elder Call Completes Mission, Arrives Home Safe and Sound

2011-03-01T09:55:00.004-06:00

The day finally came: Thursday, 24 February 2011.

Elder Call was to fly from Pocatello to Salt Lake City. Then, after a three-hour layover, he was to fly home to Kansas City.

His older sisters, Rachel and Rebecca, were living in Provo.

I had to be in Provo working with a client that day.

This was warming up to be a wonderful day.

Elder Call arrived on time, at about 10:30 or so in the morning, at the Salt Lake City airport, where he spent a couple hours visiting with Rachel and Rebecca.

I spent the morning working.

We had all managed to keep my surprise a secret.

After Rachel and Rebecca said their goodbyes, Elder Call got into the security line to board his plane to Kansas City. What he didn't know was that Rachel was texting me, informing me where Elder Call was at the airport, so I could hide from him. He didn't know I would be joining him on his flight home.

Thanks to Rachel's text messages, I was able to be at the very end of the security line as Elder Call was near the front of the line.

I stood on my toes, scanning the hundreds of people ahead of me, looking for my dear son. I spotted a tall man with a missionary haircut near the front of the line, but he was facing away from me. Could this be my Elder Call? He started to turn his head. He too scanned the crowds. He looked right at me for a split second, then continued to scan.

Yes! It was Elder Call!

The next 30 minutes were spent hiding from him. After everyone boarded the plane, I made it to the gate.

I had arranged for Elder Call to be in seat 12A. I was assigned to seat 12B.

The plane was full, and everyone was seated. I slowly made my way down the isle, looking for row 12. There it was. The lone empty seat. Next to a handsome returning missionary.

My son. My heart skipped a beat. I could barely contain myself. Should I smile? Should I call out his name? Should I be low-key? Should I draw attention?

Before I knew it, I was at the seat.

"Hi Elder," I said.

He looked at me.

"Hi."

I smiled. He looked away. He looked back at me.

He did another double take.

"Oh. Hi!" he said.

I sat down as we tried to hug in the snug seats.

We both laughed.

Elder Call shook his head. "This is something you would do," he said.

The next two hours literally--and figuratively--flew by.

We arrived in Kansas City, where Mom, Mary Ann, and John were anxiously awaiting Elder Call's return. As we walked through the security door, hugs were given and tears were shed. John couldn't stop jumping up and down out of excitement. Mary Ann had made a beautiful "Welcome Home" sign.

Elder Call is home.

--Editor, otherwise known as "Proud (in a righteous sort of way) Dad"

A Lot of Goings-On as Elder Call begins Final Week

2011-02-21T11:31:00.005-06:00

21 February 2011

Dear Dad,

Thank you so much for the past couple of emails that you have sent. It is really good to hear from you. Sorry this email is coming kind of late in the day. It is President's Day so all the libraries are closed and we had a weird schedule this morning.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown came up to Rigby for lunch today! It was so good to see both of them. I wasn't sure if they were going to make it up--I kind of figured that since Salt Lake was closer I would just see them there. I didn't realize that they have been experiencing those kind of health issues. Sister Christiansen called me this morning and told me that they were going to come up for lunch today. They made it just fine, a little longer drive than I think they expected (I don't think they knew I got transferred up to Rigby a few weeks ago). They are such good people. We had a really good visit. They were surprised that they were able to find our house, it sounds like Sister Christiansen talked them all the way here. Bless her heart. Those office couples are really something special, and I don't think they know it.

I hope the Spring has come. The last couple of days were windy and snowy again.

It sounds like you guys have some big plans for the house, that would be really good to have fruit trees and a garden. It would be fun too.

We had the Departing Missionaries Temple Trip on Thursday. The Temple in Idaho Falls is an exceptional place to visit and ponder. Being there with missionaries that I have learned to love and President & Sister Colton, what a neat experience. Brother Mengel gave us a ride down to and back from the temple. He and his wife gave us our first meal here in Rigby. They are good people.

I also was able to get together with Grandpa Call's cousins again for lunch this week. I love those people also, they absolutely insisted on getting together. Sister Barbara Call Brown copied a bunch of pictures for me again. She is a funny 80-year-old woman, very spry for her age.

That Valentine's card wasn't only my idea. Last Monday while we were in Walmart an older couple stopped and said hello to us (as many do), but she then said, "Let me see, it is Valentine's day and you would love to send a card to your mothers, telling them how much you love them, but you just don't have the money. Let me give you each a card to mail to them." She handed us the cards and they went on their way. She was right.

It has been a good week. We found four new investigators--that was a miracle. I hope that this area can start to blossom some more (not a whole lot was going on here when we got to Rigby). I really love Rigby it is a wonderful place with some amazing people. I wish I could be here forever. One of our new investigators in particular seems really promising. His wife is a less-active member and he said he is easing into the church. He told us that he will be baptized, just didn't set a date. We will teach him again tomorrow and hopefully set a date with him.

As cold and as hard as it is sometimes to go out and work and keep trying, I don't want to leave. I don't want this to end. The mission is too good to me. Being here and watching as the Lord's work and purposes unfold is a miraculous event--beautiful and awe-inspiring. I love the Lord.

Thank you for everything that you have sacrificed for me for the past two years. I can't thank you enough.

I love you,

Elder Call

Dad's Final Post (At least at this point. . .)

2011-02-20T23:15:00.002-06:00

On Anticipating My Son's Return

I wonder. . .

I wonder if all the longing I feel

to embrace. . .

to hold. . .

to see. . .

I wonder if the hunger of my heart

to welcome. . .

to listen to. . .

to simply be. . .

I wonder. . .

I wonder if these longings, these yearnings, these wishes of my soul. . .

could they be. . .

could it be. . .

they are but a foreshadowing. . .

they are simply a type and a shadow. . .

they are but a drop in an ocean of longings yet to come. . .

I wonder. . .

I wonder. . .

I wonder if, when I am on the other side. . .

awaiting my loved ones to return. . .

Will I feel as I do now?

Will my heart hunger as it does now?

I wonder. . .

Are today's longings

simply another lesson

from my mortal journey. . .

to prepare me for my eternal experience?

I wonder. . .

Finding Investigators, Meeting Relatives

2011-02-14T18:49:00.002-06:00

14 February 2011

Dear Dad,

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thank you for the emails this week. It has warmed up a little bit here also these last few days. It has been kind of nice. I don't know if it will stay this way or not.

We went on exchanges this week, Thursday night through Friday night. I went with Elder White in the Rigby East Stake. I think it was a really good exchange. It was cool because Elder White wanted me to meet Bishop Wayne Call in one of their wards--Grandpa Call's friend and cousin. We went over there Friday morning and they were excited to meet me, and it was lots of fun to be able to talk with them. They had lots of good stories and even pulled out an old picture that had Grandpa Call's grandpa and Wayne Call's grandpa in it (they were brothers). Bishop and Sister Call's sons lived in the Taylor Mountain Stake and I knew them both, they are a really good family. They insisted on feeding us also, so Sister Call made some fried halibut and shrimp for lunch--it was delicious. They are extremely friendly people with a lot of faith and trust in the Lord.

I don't know if I will be able to get a hold of the Olavesons, I will see what happens. But it is going to be a pretty busy week coming up.

It has been a good week here, still just trying to find more people to teach. A few weeks ago we tracted into a couple of teenage girls who said they weren't members, but had been to church before and liked it. So last Monday night we finally met one of the parents, the father. He told us that he isn't active in the church or anything, actually that he hasn't been baptized. He told us to come over though and to teach him and his family. We set up an appointment, and he called and had to reschedule for tomorrow night, I hope that we will be able to teach him and his family.

That is kind of funny about the Primary kids not going to the right classes, but everything always works out better when done how the Lord wants it done. Kind of a similar thing that I have learned on my mission is people don't go to the wards they belong too! It can get rather frustrating, because we want the investigators to go where they can receive guidance from their inspired priesthood leaders. President Colton told me once that it is a big problem in the church and the way we are going to fix it is one person at a time, starting with our own investigators (or the people we have stewardship for).

I had forgotten that you were going to school also, that is a big thing to try to do that and work and family and church callings all at the same time. I hope that things will be done when they need to be done.

It makes me happy to hear that Mary Ann and John are doing good in school, I can't believe that they get up at 5:30 every morning. I don't think I could ever do that again for an extended period of time.

Thanks for letting me know about Rachel and Rebecca and meeting them at the baggage claim, I actually didn't even think of that! I don't like airports, they can be so confusing.

I got Mom's letter about how Grandpa and Grandma Brown wanted to see me before I leave, I called the mission office and Sister Christiansen said she would talk to you about the whole deal. Did she get a hold of you? I don't know if they realize that I got shipped back up to Rigby, which is a lot farther away from Logan than Pocatello is. I suggested that if they really wanted to come up and see me the best day would be on Monday the 21st, or they could meet me at the airport also. If you haven't had any contact with the mission office about it yet, could you please give them a call? Thank you.

Love,

Elder Call

Inspiring Zone Conference; Thoughts on Searching for Ancestral Land

2011-02-08T15:55:00.004-06:00

7 February 2011

Dear Dad,

It sounds pretty crazy with what is going on with the weather. I bet Mary Ann and John loved having a week off of school! I don't think I ever had anything like that. I hope it is nicer weather when I get home. I think we have only had one day where it was blizzard conditions and that was just a few days before Thanksgiving. It was really cold here the first few days at the beginning of the week, but it has warmed up a bit these last few days.

The $100 visa card should be more than enough to cover for things that I need. Thank you so much for sending it.

I am excited for Uncle Darryn. I am sure that he will do a great job as stake president. He has always been so nice and such a good guy. I am excited for him.

I am really excited to look around and see all of the different sites in Missouri. That will be a lot of fun. I love church history. I have thought about trying to find some of our ancestors' land in the area. That would be really cool. If you do start looking around, it would be good to look in Anson's journal for clues about where to look--also in Samantha Call Willey's life sketch. If I recall correctly Cyril Call and his sons (Harvey, Anson and possibly Josiah) went to Missouri in the summer of 1838 and bought land at a place called Three Forks of the Grand River. It was a little community with a few families.

We had zone conference this week on Friday. It was probably one of the best zone conferences I have been to. It was held in Ammon at the Ammon North Stake Center. The topics were pretty much The Book of Mormon and Repentance. It went on to 5:15, and was supposed to end at 4:00. Long, but good.

Thank you for all of the things that you do for me.

Love,
Elder Call

Family History Brings the Spirit

2011-01-24T16:35:00.002-06:00

24 January 2011

Dear Dad,

It sounds like it has been quite the week for the family! With school and church being cancelled. I bet that is a ton of fun for Mary Ann and John.

I am glad that Mary Ann was able to visit some of her friends up in Roscoe! I bet it was a great experience for her. I hope that she can make some new good friends in Missouri, it makes me happy to know that kids in the ward were asking about her.

I am cool with speaking on either the 20th or 27th, whichever works out better for you guys. If 27 March is best, then that is what we will do. I don't need to speak in the Wood Heights Ward, just curious if they were planning on it.

That is so good that you are getting some more jobs, I hope you can find new clients. I do know about the Lord stretching us, to teach us to lean on him. He really knows how to test us.

We had a couple of neat things happen this week. In one of the ward directories we saw that there was a Call family and decided to go visit them. The same day we decided that we should see them, the Relief Society President told us that we should go see the Call family because they could use a visit. So we thought we should go over that evening. We knocked on the door and Sis. Call answered and seemed a bit skeptical about why we were there. I told her I was just curious to see if we were cousins some how. She smiled and called to her husband, and said "Elder Call is here and wondering if we are cousins."

So he came to the door and invited us in, we sat down and talked for a minute. He is descended from Anson Call's son Anson Vasco Call. He is part of the Star Valley branch of the family. He asked me about my family history and I explained that I was from the Rigby branch of the family, through Anson's brother Omer. He told me that he had heard about the twin brothers Omer and Homer and that he was related to the Calls from Rigby. We got to know him a little more and he told us he hasn't been active for about 5 years. He then invited us over for dinner tonight. He stopped and said, "Wow, I just invited you guys over again. That's good, twice in one week. I haven't let missionaries in for 5 years."

He also told us that the other day he saw a couple of missionaries walking by as he was shoveling and they offered to help shovel. He said that he didn't need any help, so they kept walking. As they left he noticed that the good feeling he had as he was talking with them left also, and he almost called after them, but was too scared to.

I guess we just don't realize the impact we make on people sometimes.

I think I will write about the other neat thing that happened in a letter home.

Thanks for the email, it is good to hear what is going on at home.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call and his New Companion Enjoy Rigby

2011-01-17T16:53:00.002-06:00

17 January 2011

Dear Dad,

Thank you for the email. It is really weird how some ares have so many members of the church. Even here in Idaho some stakes are really big, with lots of families and children and others have very small wards. That is good that our new stake has so many people in it.

My new companion's name is Elder Taumoepeau (Tau ([as in abOUt]-moy-pay-au), and he is straight from Tonga! He is a good guy and a good missionary. He is well prepared.

We are enjoying Rigby--it is a good little town. I like it a lot, nice and quiet. We cover four wards; 4th, 5th, 6th (YSA), and the 14th wards. Everyone in Rigby is way nice and always trying to help us in anyway possible.

Earlier this week we were tracting and met one of the Hamer girls from Freeport, Illinos. I can't remember what her first name is, but she is married now and I think she was about Rebecca's age. She said she knew her. It was way funny because she looked familiar (but we meet so many people that we see all over the place) and she said she recently moved here. I asked where she was from and she said Chicago. So I said I was from the Rockford area and we made the connection. Her married name is Curtis. It can be a really small world.

It has been really cold, snowy and wet this week. Elder Taumoepeau has had a heck of a time adjusting from the nice warm Tonga weather to Idaho snow.

Everyday this week I have been asked at least once if I am related to the Calls from Rigby, and everyone is so excited to know that I am.

I really just feel at home here in Rigby. I feel so comfortable, like it is perfectly natural for me to be walking up and down the streets.

I get along with Elder Taumoepeau really well. He is quiet and a bit shy, but funny when he opens up. He is a solid missionary. You can tell that he is out on a mission for the right reasons--to serve the Lord. He has 5 older brothers, one older sister, a younger brother and a younger sister, nine kids in all. His mom was the principal for Liahona High School and his dad was the seminary coordinator. I am glad he is my companion.

Hopefully there will be more to tell you next week.

Love,
Elder Call

10 January 2011: Elder Call Moving to Rigby!

2011-01-16T14:35:00.002-06:00

Note: Elder Call's paternal grandfather, Dennis Call, grew up in Rigby, Idaho.
--Editor

10 January 2011

Dear Dad,

I'M GOING TO RIGBY!

Ya, I'm getting transferred on Wednesday. How crazy is that? It was totally--I mean TOTALLY-- unexpected. I will be opening up a new area with a new missionary. I am so excited to be going to Rigby. It will be awesome. Elder Rudd has been in this area since the end of July and I was only in Alameda for 6 weeks, so we figured that we would either stay together or Elder Rudd would get transferred. Then on Saturday night we were listening to the voice mails President sends out with all of the transfer info, he said I was going to to be training in a new area. I was way shocked. But it should be good. I am excited.

It really sounds like you are getting into the swing of things in Missouri. That is pretty neat that we have these neighbors with eggs and milk. What are you planning on planting in the garden? Are you going to try to be as self-sufficient as possible? That would be good, I hear from people that food prices are going to be going way up. I am glad that Mary Ann and John are getting involved in the new schools.

I can't believe that John has to get on the bus at 6:20. That is way early.

That is weird that you guys got my flight plans this week. It would be great to see Rachel and Rebecca at the Salt Lake Airport! I think it should be fine to see them, in fact, I would love to see them.

Yesterday at church I had a funny experience. One of my first days here in Alameda we ate dinner with the Rhoades family. She was asking me if I knew a family by the name of Bradley in Aberdeen. I think it is some relative of hers. I said I didn't, but she was convinced that they were my cousins. She said we looked and acted like I was part of their family, same mannerisms. Then yesterday at church Sister Rhoades came up to me and said, "They are your cousins!" I didn't know what she was talking about, she reminded me and told me that she asked them and they said that their grandma was a "Call" go figure.

By the way, does Bishop Webb want me to speak in the Beloit Ward? And if he does when am I speaking?

We met a cool guy this week. He wants to be baptized on the 12th of February. He is a golden investigator. But I think I will write home about him.

Good luck with work this week, I hope that you can find some good clients.

Love,
Elder Call

3 January 2011: Time Flies By!

2011-01-16T14:32:00.001-06:00

3 January 2011

Dear Dad,

I cannot believe that it is 2011! That is so weird to say. I don't think I ever imagined it would ever be 2011. Time really does fly by.

Ya, we had a good New Year's Eve. We are supposed to be locked up in a church building as a zone from 6-9 PM, then head straight home. So we all got together at one of the ISU (Idaho State University) Stake Centers and played mostly soccer and basketball. Holidays are never very much different for missionaries.

I didn't even think about John being able to go to Stake Youth Activities. That is strange to think he is old enough for that now. That is kind of funny that he didn't want to go. But I don't blame him, going to his first dance and being a place where he doesn't know anyone. That would be really tough. I am glad that they had a good time.

It does sound like a busy week. I really hope that you can continue to find work. It has got to be really stressful for you right now. About BYU, I think it would be wise to work at home for a while and then head out to school later in the year. If I get home at the end of February then that will give me 5-6 months before the Fall Semester starts to earn some money to pay for school. The trick will be finding a job quick. And if I find a very well paying job then I could head out in the summer again, but I will probably wait until the fall. I don't want to start school up again and starting out in debt, that would not be good. Thank you for doing that.

That would be cool if you were able to fix up a barn to make it livable. Every time you talk about the house I get more and more excited to see it in person.

This week was kind of slow for us on the one hand, but on the other it flew by again. Elder Rudd and I got some pretty nasty colds at the beginning of the week, so that slowed things down a bit. I went through a full box of tissue and half a role of toilet paper in 24 hours. My nose hurt! But we are back up to speed and feeling a ton better.

We had some really good testimony meetings yesterday. Sometimes they are just a dud. But yesterday was mostly good. We also saw a missionary that served here in one of our wards yesterday. His name is Elder Colbert (Coe-bear). We had to rush to a meeting with our stake president, so it was real brief. But he is getting married and moving into our stake. So that is pretty cool. We call it the Idaho Trap. So many missionaries end up back in Idaho after their missions for one thing or another (usually school at BYU-I or ISU) and then meet a girl from Idaho that will not move so they just settle down in the Upper Snake River Valley. It is funny.

Thanks for your email. I continue to pray for you and the family.

Love,
Elder Call

26 December 2010: It's a Small World

2011-01-16T13:58:00.005-06:00

Note: Our family was again blessed to be able to speak with Elder Call on Christmas Day. Here are pictures of Elder Call's Mom and his Dad talking with him. Photos taken by Elder Call's younger brother, John.

--Editor

26 December 2010

Dear Dad,

It was great talking with all of you on Saturday! It is always good to hear your voices.

Thank you so much for the picture. It looks great! Mary Ann and John have both grown, especially John. HOLY COW! He has gotten quite a bit taller and bigger, I almost didn't recognize him. It is great to have a picture of the whole family.

I do miss all of you, it will be good to be home. It will be sad though to leave the mission and not be able to do this again. We are emailing at Brother Morrow's house again, because the family history center is closed. They have a man here doing some work for them. I taught him way back in the Poky West Stake in the Spring of 09. I don't think he ever got baptized. He wanted to while we were there, he came to church and everything just never quite prepared himself. He is a really nice, humble man. It can be a really small world sometimes.

That is cool that the stake presidency member's son is in Boise. Elder Rudd's younger brother just got called to that mission. He will enter the MTC on February 16 2011. Elder Rudd goes home at the beginning of April. So President Colton said he will see if he can work something out where they can see each other. That would be pretty neat for both of them.

So it sounds like you are still traveling frequently. I don't know how you do it, I don't think I would like that at all.

Oh, I do have one question. I have been wondering about my enrollment at BYU. I still want to go there, I just am kind of worried because I have been gone since the Summer 2008 semester. Do you think that they still consider me a student, or will I have to reapply? I hope that all works out there.

Sorry this is kind of short, not much has happened the past couple of days.

Love,

Elder Call

19 December 2010: Reflections and Expressions of Gratitude

2011-01-16T09:00:00.003-06:00

19 December 2010

Dear Dad,

I think it is an absolutely gorgeous home! I loved the pictures that you were able to take and send to me. When I see the home it seems to be exactly what you and Mom have wanted for years. It fits you all perfectly. I am actually kind of jealous that I don't get to be there while you unpack and get settled in, it sounds like so much fun. I love the home and can't wait to see it in person.

I was impressed with how grown up Mary Ann looks now! Boy, she has changed. I can't begin to imagine how much John has grown up too. He is taller than Mary Ann?! Mary Ann was always really tall. It will be funny to see you all again. I was thinking of John yesterday on his birthday and how good of a kid he is. I am proud to say that he is my brother.

Just whenever you have the new Bishop's and Stake President's information go ahead and send it. It is no rush.

That makes me really happy to know that your ward has welcomed you right in. I have served in nearly 40 wards on the mission and some are very kind and welcoming and others are cold. I think those wards that come off as "cold" mostly just don't act for themselves and go and do. Most people are very wiling to welcome and to serve, they just need to be told to do something. I am excited to meet the people in the new ward. Isn't the church a wonderful thing? Having people at every corner, willing to help at a moment's notice is such an amazing thing.

When you guys told me that were wanting to move to Missouri it hit me to the core with peace. I felt right about it and never had a doubt or a worry. On the other hand, when you told me that you wanted to move to Texas, that was pretty hard for me to grasp (just ask Elder Walker). I look back on it now and it makes me laugh. I read the email and pushed myself back! Then I just got up and walked back and forth in the Family History Center in St. Anthony for 40-50 minutes before I could sit down and reply! Isn't it funny how things happen. Maybe the Lord had that happen so I would be more at peace with moving to Missouri.

Don't worry about not being able to send a Christmas package. I understand that times are tough right now and that you can't afford it. I know that the greatest gift that can be given is the gift of love. And I have felt that love for 21 years. That should be an adequate gift. Besides that the Lord has already blessed us with so much! Knowing that you have a home to be in right now is more than plenty. You can read Anson Call's journal about being in Adam-ondi-Ahman (I believe) and sleeping in the snow with his son's fingers being frost-bitten. How grateful I am that you are living in a warm home, and I have one also.

I have been blessed with so much lately. This morning Elder Rudd and I helped move a couple of nice couches that a family was going to take to the dump. But we asked if we could use them, and they said sure. So we have new couches in our place. Then a couple of weeks ago a kind brother in one of our wards gave me a new, very nice, winter coat. That has been a great blessing. Many people have asked us to make sure we had a place to go on Christmas. The Morrows have invited us over for breakfast and to make phone calls, and then they want us to come back later for dinner. Another family, the Morrises (a young couple), would like us to come over for a little bit also. She says she has stockings for us. So in short I don't need anything, the Lord has already given me more than I could ever ask for.

We have had a pretty good week here in Pocatello. It is such a wonderful place to be right now. Down to earth, good, loving people, everywhere you go. The Lord knew that I needed to come to Pocatello, how thankful I am for that.

Well, I will pray that you will be able to get that client. If it is something that we need the Lord will provide for his children (D&C 50:40-46). I hope that things continue to go well and you can get settled in. All of you need to know that I love you.

Merry Christmas,

Elder Call

12 December 2010: Short Update

2011-01-16T08:57:00.003-06:00

12December 2010

Dear Dad,

Thank you so much for the picture! Those were great, it is nice to know where I will be going home to. It is a beautiful home. I like it a lot. It looks totally like something you would love. I still can't even imagine 25 acres of land. That is crazy. It seems to be on a beautiful spot of ground. It will be so much fun to go home to a new place. I hope you guys can get all settled in soon and that everything will work out.

There are several elders in our mission all from the Kansas City area. Elder Bryant (goes home a transfer after me) is from Lee's Summit, Elder Slocum (he went home a few months ago) is from Olathe, Kansas, and Elder Burris (goes home with me) is from our stake, but I can't remember what city.

Speaking of that could you either send me our new bishop's name and address and same with the stake president. You could either call the mission office or email it to me. I think the mission office phone number is 208-237-8992.

Not much has happened this week out here either. There have been a few ward Christmas parties and people always give us food, actually insist that we take it. So we will be living off of pancakes, eggs, and hash browns this week. It is really good, people here in Idaho are so nice.

Speaking of Christmas I think I will be calling home some time between 9:30 and 10:00 Christmas morning. That is Idaho time. I am looking forward to it. It will be really good to talk to all of you again. I know I say this all the time, but it is absolutely crazy how fast time flies by. It was seven months ago last time I called home.

Thanks again for the email and pictures and I will look forward to seeing more pictures.

Love,
Elder Call

5 December 2010: We Share News about our New House in Missouri

2011-01-16T08:20:00.008-06:00

Thursday, 2 December 2010

Dear Elder Call:

I just had to write to give you the great news! The original house we wanted to buy in Missouri is now ours! It's just amazing how this happened. As you know, the offer we had originally extended wasn't quite right, and so we started to pursue other homes. Then, on Tuesday night of this week, the seller of this home (it's near Richmond, so I'll just call it the Richmond home) called me and said he wanted to open discussions again if we are still looking for a home. On Wednesday I called him and told him what we would could do as far as a down payment, monthly payments, etc.--and believe me: we were asking for a lot. He told me to put it all in an email and send it to his real estate agent, which I did late Wednesday. Then today, Thursday, I received an email from the real estate agent saying that they agree to the terms we offered! I couldn't believe it! I think it must have been your prayers, and Mom's prayers, and the faith of Mary Ann. I have to admit that my faith has been waning a bit lately.

Anyway, this is the home on 25 acres. It's 95 years old, being built in 1915. It has beautiful woodwork and the rooms on the main floor are pretty big, but the bedrooms upstairs are small. And it has only one bathroom. But it does have a basement that is suitable for storing things, which most older homes in this part of Missouri don't have. It has at least three ponds (it may have a fourth one on the extra acres we are buying) and some forest and some pasture. We are so excited!!! We move on Friday, December 10. Until we get you the address, feel free to send your letters to our address here in Roscoe and the Post Office will forward them. By the way, we need your new address for a birthday/Christmas present we are sending you. Please provide it ASAP. Thank you once again for your prayers and faith in our search for a home in Missouri. We have been greatly blessed!

I'm attaching some pictures of the house.

Love,
Dad

5 December 2010

Dear Dad,

That is absolutely a miracle about the house!!

I am so happy for you guys. I bet that was a really nerve-racking few months. I am so glad that you guys are able to move this week. I have to admit, that is kind of weird that you will be moving this Friday and that you are probably packing right now. I bet you are all so excited to finally get to move.

That is pretty cool that it has 25 acres of land, three ponds, forest, etc. I can't wait to see it. Do you have pictures?

I am serving here with Elder Rudd and Elder Goncalves. It is a ton of fun and we all know each other pretty well. Elder Goncalves and I were both in the IF West Zone until we got transferred here on Wednesday. Elder Rudd was serving in Ashton while I was in St. Anthony and Elder Goncalves was in Jackson (we were all in the Rexburg Zone). I have been on exchanges with Elder Rudd. Elder Goncalves goes home on the 15th of this month so he won't be here for very long. Usually when you get with a new companion for the first few days it is kind of awkward, trying to get to know each other and finding out what your companion is like. But it hasn't been that way at all, we are having a great time.

Elder Goncalves will be home for just a few weeks and then come back to Rexburg in January for school. It is way funny, because so many elders do that. Often times they all end up being roommates together.

We cover the Alameda 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wards in the Pocatello Alameda Stake. It is a really small area about four or five blocks wide and no more than 15 blocks long (that might be a stretch) so it is a walking area. We went to all three wards yesterday and they have pretty small sacrament meetings. I really like it here. There are four investigators with baptism dates right now. They all want to be baptized, but it seems like they have a few things holding them up before they can get baptized. I am excited to be here, and it is crazy how fast time flies by.

I was wondering the other day what phone number I can call home with on Christmas Day? Hopefully by next week I should know about what time I will be calling at. Could you let me know what times would be good for you guys.

Other than that I don't think a whole lot has happened this week.

Congratulations on getting the home!

Love,

Elder Call

5 December 2010

Dear Dad,

So I wrote most everything in the other email, but I have a few more questions.
I sent home last Tuesday a box of letters, planners, etc. of stuff that I wanted to keep, but didn't have room to pack. Did you get that?

That would make a really sad Sunday yesterday, but it is good to know that our family will be missed. You have helped so many people there in the Beloit Ward. I will miss it dearly. For sure I will come back and at least speak, if that is alright with Bishop Webb.

I understand about the birthday/Christmas presents, I don't expect a whole lot. And if you can't really afford anything don't worry about it. Just having a home in Missouri is the best Christmas present I could get.

Good luck on the move and I hope you can all get down there safe and get settled into the new ward and everything.

Love,

Elder Call

Editor's Apology

2011-01-16T08:18:00.003-06:00

All:

Due to our family's recent move to Richmond, Missouri, my time and energy have been on other tasks, and I regret I haven't kept up with Elder Call's blog. I'm now updating it so you can read all about what has been going on during December 2010 and into January 2011.

--Editor

More Success in Taylor Mountain Stake; Transfer to Alameda Stake in Pocatello this Week

2010-11-29T14:58:00.003-06:00

Dear Dad,

We had a pretty good week. We went over and had dinner with the Collette Family on Thanksgiving. That was very nice of them to invite us over. They have a son on a mission right now.

Thanksgiving was an all day Preparation Day. So we didn't have a whole lot going on. In the evening we got together with some other elders in our zone and played different games. In the morning we all volunteered at the "Run to Feed the Hungry" We had to be over at Freeman Park in IF at 7:00 in the morning. It was the coldest year they have done it. It was a whopping zero degrees when we got there. We had different posts along the path to point the runners in the right direction. Elder Durnall and I with several other elders and a few sisters were posted at the end of the race to cheer and form a tunnel as the runners finished. It was funny, because nearly all of the runners had frost all over their faces. Lips, cheeks, eyebrows, eye lashes, ears, hair, everything was white with frost. By the time we left at about 10:30 it had warmed up to a whole five degrees.

One of our investigators is experiencing some serious opposition. She told us she called some distant relatives who are LDS, and that helped her a little bit. She also called a neighbor that moved away seven years ago that is LDS. He is very excited for her to be baptized. So we think that this should go pretty good.

Last night we had a really good lesson with one of our other investigators. We have been teaching him for a few weeks now. He has been to church twice since we have been teaching him. We read through the second half of Alma 32 and discussed faith. We asked him what some goals were that he and his wife wanted in life. He wants to become a doctor, and she wants to make sure that her home is peaceful and happy. He told us he wants to be a "good son" to his Heavenly Father and do the things that God wants him to do so that God can bless him with the things that He wants to bless him with. We told him that is exactly what baptism is. We invited him to be baptized. He told us that he will prepare to be baptized, that is what he is doing, but that he wants to make sure that he knows the commitment he is making. It was an amazing lesson filled with the Spirit. His wife then chimed in and said that she is grateful that she was baptized because she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and that that has helped her a ton throughout her life. So we explained that to him a little bit.

So this Wednesday I am getting transferred. It will be five months to the day that I served in the Taylor Mountain Stake, 1 July to 1 December. I am sad to leave, especially with all of these things going on. But on the other hand I was hoping to have one more area and I wanted to serve in Pocatello. And that is where I am going! I will be serving with Elder Rudd in the Alameda stake. Elder Goncalves (Gone-Sal-ves) will be with us for the first few weeks because he is going home a little bit early. Elder Rudd was serving in Ashton, as my Zone Leader, while I was in St. Anthony. He is a really good, easy going, kind, hard-working type of guy. Elder Walker (the one I served with) is replacing me in the Taylor Mountain Stake and I will be replacing him in the Alameda Stake. I am way excited to serve down there.

I really hope that you guys will be able to find a home in Missouri sometime soon. I also hope that being able to rent will work out for you guys. That has got to be way stressful not knowing where you will be living. I pray everyday that something will work itself out soon.

That is way exciting that John was able to finish his Eagle Scout Project. Tell him congratulations for me.

I think that is about it for this week. Thank you.

Love,

Elder Call

Member-Present Lessons Off the Charts!

2010-11-22T12:36:00.002-06:00

22 November 2010

Dear Dad,

I am so sorry that that home in Missouri might not work. I have prayed that you guys will be able to find a house though. That has got to be really stressful to not know where you will be and having to be out by the end of December. I so hope that you will find the right home soon.

That would be pretty cool to live in the Gallatin Ward. It would be really interesting to live in that area with so much history. I loved Adam-ondi-Ahman, it was very beautiful there. I will pray that this home or another will work out soon for the family.

I would like to speak in the Beloit Ward if that is possible. That would be good to be able to see all of them again. The Hobbs have also offered that I could stay in their home. I'm not sure how long I would want to stay in Illinois for. It would be good to see some people, but honestly what would I do? I think we just feel so disconnected from the world and everyone while on a mission, we just get used to not having roots set down anywhere. We move from place to place every few months, eat dinner at a different family's home every night, rotate through several wards each week, missionaries coming and going every six weeks, etc.

Speaking of that, transfers are coming up a week from Wednesday. Again we will find out sometime this weekend what is going to happen. Honestly, I have no idea what will happen here in the Taylor Mountain Stake. I was only here four weeks longer than Elder Durnall. We are completing our third transfer together, either one of us could go. Or maybe we will stay together again.

We had a snow storm this weekend. Now there is a good five inches of snow, maybe more. And we have 70% chance of snow today, and 90% tomorrow. Then it will be cold the rest of the week. A couple of weeks ago it snowed a bit, then it got warm (40s) and melted. But I think this is here to stay. It is strange because I got here on the 1st of July and it was hot and sunny, middle of summer, everyone was out and about camping, now it is cold and snowy.

We had our training meeting this week. It was really good. We had Elder De Mola stay with us Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. He is from Italy and he and Elder Durnall served together over in Ammon. That was a lot of fun. We were able to teach eight member present lessons this week--that is an absolute miracle for the Taylor Mountain Stake! We struggled getting two or three for the longest time, those were good weeks. Then we had two weeks in a row where we were able to have three, then the next week we had four. We were very excited, then this past week we had eight! That was huge. I think this week might be lower because it is Thanksgiving, holidays are always tough for missionary work.

Yesterday at church Brother Romrell gave us each ear warmers, that was very nice. He is a very thoughtful man.

I hope John's Eagle Scout project goes well. That is exciting that he is getting it all done so soon. I hope it doesn't snow before Saturday! That will be one cold Eagle Project.

Thanks again for the email. I will pray that you can find a home to move into in Missouri soon.

Have a good Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Call

More Miracles in Taylor Mountain Stake

2010-11-15T13:10:00.002-06:00

15 November 2010

Dear Dad,

Your email was great to read. I have been and will continue to pray that you will find a home in Missouri, especially that the current home owner will accept the offer that you give him.

That is pretty interesting about the real estate agent having a similar experience as you and Mom, also that others in the area all have felt compelled to move their. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and we don't always understand why or what the outcome will be. As long as we trust in the Lord and lean on Him he will direct all of our paths to where we need to be.

That would be neat if you are able to purchase 25 acres. What would you do with it all? Would it just be left alone, or would you improve the land at all? That would be way neat if you are able to acquire more land as the years go on. I think it would be cool to live in Missouri. I really liked it the couple of times we have been there.

I think I will write Dan today. I hope he is enjoying his mission. We are getting several more visa-waiting missionaries (like Dan) today, President Colton found out last night. Then most of the ones that we have right now are getting transferred over to Boise to get there visas and hopefully head to Mexico in a day or two. I am so glad that I don't have to be one of those missionaries. It would be exciting, but never knowing what is going on or where I will be next would be a bit stressful. I am also glad that I am not one of the assistants who have to figure out all the logistics of it all.

This week we are having another Leadership Training Meeting. The good news is it will be held in Idaho Falls!!!! It will be at our stake center, which is only 2 miles from our house. So it is good for two reasons; 1) We don't have to drive all the way to Pocatello and shut down our area for a few days. 2) All the companionships in our zone will have a third companion in the evening. So they will get to go out and apply all of the things that we have learned. It will be from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Tuesday, 8:30 Am to 4:00 PM on Wednesday and Thursday, and 8:30 Am to 12:00PM on Friday. So this week will probably fly by also.

We had an amazing day at church yesterday. In the Thayerwood ward alone we had one investigator, another investigator and his less-active wife and kids, another investigator and her children, a less-active man and his kids, the recent converts, Pam and Alyssa, and the less-active husband!!! That is eight people plus some children!! That was a true miracle that all of these people were able to come to church. We were floored actually. Then in the Sunnyside Village ward there was another part-member family, Jason and Tiffany Rigby, that we started teaching this week, and another less-active woman. In the Park Taylor ward there was a less-active man. So it was truly a day of miracles.

The Rigbys, the part-member family that came to church, we started teaching this week. They have been coming to church for about a month and a half. We asked them at the beginning of the lesson what they expected and the husband said, "We want to learn more about the Church, especially help Tiffany and get her baptized." We had an awesome first lesson and set a baptism date for 18 December.

Things are going extremely well right now in Taylor Mountain and the Lord continues to bless us.

Thank you so much for the prayers that you have offered for me, they are being answered.

Love,
Elder Call

Another Investigator Commits to Baptism

2010-11-15T11:03:00.002-06:00

8 November 2010

Dear Dad,

I can't believe that you guys were able to find a family to buy our house! That is truly a miracle. I hope that it works out for the new family. I am also surprised that the other buyer of the home in Missouri was unable to reach an agreement with the seller. I hope that you guys will be able to come to an agreement for it also. It would be pretty cool to have that home.

I am glad that Elder Bunker and Elder Brabazon are doing well on their missions. I need to write Dan again. They were all such good friends growing up. I am sure that they are excellent missionaries.

It sounds like John is being very diligent. That is good. Definitely a missionary skill that he needs to develop. I hope that he doesn't get too stressed out about getting his Duty to God award and his Eagle Project done.

I think only a few things worth writing about happened this week.

The first is we had zone conference on Tuesday in Blackfoot at the Blackfoot North West Stake Center. It was really good. It is kind of weird; we used to have zone conference once a transfer, but now just every three months. There is always a testimony meeting and the missionaries that are departing bare theirs and the new missionaries share theirs also. So some missionaries share their testimonies three months before they go home, and the new missionaries have already been in the mission for three months when they share theirs. The next zone conference will be in the beginning of February, so I am one of the lucky ones that shares his when he is close to going home. It just wouldn't be the same if I shared it two or three months before the end of the mission.

Elder Durnall and I were asked to give a training at zone conference. We trained on the Qualifications of the Holy Ghost. I think it went well. I kind of like doing things like that. But that was the first time I have trained at a zone conference. There are usually three zones in attendance, so we don't have the opportunity every conference.

This week we met with an investigator whose wife was baptized back in August and they have struggled with coming to church. He is a non-member, but loves church and has been reading the Book of Mormon. Every time we go over there she says something about having to hurry up and get him baptized. Whenever she says that he throws up another wall and takes a step back. But this week we went to go share a lesson about the Restoration with him. It had just clicked in his mind that we have prophets today. He was very excited about that. So we invited him to be baptized on the 8 January. He said maybe he would. But as we discussed with his wife, he ended up settling on 7 February. It is good that he has a date, a goal, to work towards. But it is three months away! He did agree that if he got his answer about the Book of Mormon sooner that he would move that date up. That was an exciting night.

Other than that not much happened this week. I will still pray for you and the family. Thank you for your prayers.

Love,
Elder Call

Two More Baptisms; Visits to Family History Sites

2010-11-08T10:32:00.040-06:00

1 November 2010

Dear Dad,

Thank you so much for the email this week! It was great to read. That is way sad that the family that wanted to buy our home fell off the face of the earth. I hope that something goes well and someone else will be interested. I know what it is like to have people disappear. A recent convert soon after his baptism kind of disappeared also. He doesn't have a phone and I have a feeling that he doesn't have a real home, just goes from place to place.

Halloween isn't much of a big deal on the mission either. Saturday night (most people went trick-or-treating on Saturday) all the missionaries in our zone had to stay in a church building from 6-9. We played some basketball and got permission to watch a movie called "Up." It was pretty good. Of course everyone that we saw insisted that we take candy all weekend long. I am sick of it. Sis. Newbold has about 30-35 pumpkins left over. We might cook some of the seeds.

I am so glad that Grandma's cancer might be gone. I pray for her a lot and hope that she can regain her strength. One older sister here in Taylor Mountain always asks about Grandma whenever we see her. Her brother that lives in Salt Lake has cancer also. That is Brother and Sister Isaacs. They recently got sealed in the temple and Brother Isaacs reminds me so much of Grandpa Call.

I am glad that everyone is doing good at school and work and everything. Seminary can be tough with the lack of sleep, but I know that Mary Ann can get through it. She is a tough girl.

We had Pam and Alyssa Snooks get baptized on Saturday! That was way exciting. It was such a good baptism. Elder Durnall baptized Pam and I baptized Alyssa, then we switched for the confirmations. Alyssa is only 9 years old but she acts just like Mary Ann did. She has very similar mannerisms. Pam's friend was baptized back in August and that friend's husband is investigating the church also. So that was good for him. Pam's husband also came to the baptism and to church on Sunday. These two families are so funny, to see them interact.

I don't hear anything about politics on the mission. But I do wish that things will work out for the best and that if it is necessary some changes will be made. Good Luck. I am always curious as to what is going on, but here in Idaho nearly everyone does not support Obama, so they just always make little remarks or jokes about him. But they are out of context to us so they don't make sense to us.

Anyways, this morning we were able to go up to Rigby and see some family sites and have lunch with all of Grandpa's cousins. Bless Elder Durnall's heart for doing that. I don't have much time, but to give a brief synopsis:

Left to right: Barbara Call Brown, June Call (Brent's wife), Brent Call, Elder Call, Nona Call Hunter, Trudy Hammond Potter, Jay Hammond.

Note: Barbara, Brent, and Nona are all children of Cyril J. Call Jr.Trudy and Jay are children of Lila N. Call Hammond.

1. We saw two homes of Cyril J. and Mary E. Wood Call. One is the original that they built back in the 1880's. That was way cool. And the other was built about 1920 in town. Barbara Brown (Grandpa's cousin) had arranged with both home owners to allow us to look through.

2. Drove past the home of Ellis Heber and Lida Call that got moved when they built the highway. We didn't really have access to it.

3. Went to the Rigby Pioneer cemetery and saw a bunch of headstones.

Brent Call also brought some pictures. I took a lot of pictures and he had some copies that I could keep also.

Original home of Cyril J. and Mary Ellen Wood Call, built in the 1880s. Only the part of the home on the right is original.

On a side note, Bro. Hammond grew up in St. Anthony, 25 miles north of Rigby. His father was not a church going man, but he remembers his whole Call side of the family was very religious and active in the church. In particular he remembers his Uncle Ellis (grandpa's Dad), whenever they were visiting each other, would pull Brother Hammond's Dad aside in a corner and try talk with him about going to church. Of course his Dad would react to it a bit. He never went to church. Brother Hammond's mom wasn't real active in it either, but was involved in the Relief Society and would go to church sometimes. Brother Hammond always went to Primary and he and all his siblings were married in the temple and were active in the church.

It was a once in a lifetime event. I am so glad that I was able to do that. And grateful that all of these people were accommodating. The cousins were all so gracious and kind.

Love,
Elder Call

Cyril Josiah Call home, built about 1920.

Home of Ellis Heber and Lida Perry Call, moved from its original location.

New Investigators Abound in Taylor Mountain Stake

2010-10-25T13:03:00.000-05:00

Note: We received a letter from Elder Call’s mission president asking us to let the mission office know our preference on Elder Call’s flight home. In my email to Elder Call, I asked him if he wanted us as his parents to fly out to Idaho and visit the various areas in which he served, or if he would rather just fly home.
—Editor

25 October 2010

Hi Dad,

That is weird about your laptop!? I hope that you are able to fix it soon.

It has been cold and rainy up here for the last couple of days also. I don't think that we are going to get anymore really nice days for the rest of the year, well not until next spring or summer. Shelley got a little bit of snow Sunday morning, but we just had rain up here in IF. But people are telling us that we are supposed to get snow this week some time. On the one hand it is nice that we don't have to worry about the hot, hot sun. But now it will just be cold and snowy.

That is way funny about the BYU game! I bet it was still fun to get together anyways.

We picked up a couple of new investigators this week. We have one ward where not a whole lot has been going on. So we decided to go visit the leadership in the ward and set expectations on both ends--what they expect of us, and what we expect of the ward. So the Relief Society President gave us a list of about eight less-active sisters in her ward that she thought would be receptive to us. The Bishop had recently asked her to go and visit every sister in the ward. So we went contacting these people and one of them told us she would call us some time, because her son might have questions and hasn't been baptized yet. So we gave her the number not real hopeful, but on Wednesday at about 1:00 she called and asked us to come over at 8:00 and begin teaching her and her son! The lesson went very well, he is a smart kid. We didn't set a baptism date yet, but I'm positive that he will be baptized.

One of the other investigators is a man whose wife is a member. He has lived in Idaho his entire life, and people mistake him for a "solid LDS man" frequently (He doesn't drink, smoke, chew, swear, has a family, and drives a minivan). He is very welcoming of us coming over, doesn't seem to have a very firm belief in Christ being the Redeemer--just an excellent, if not the best, teacher that we all need to follow. So we will see how that goes.

The other new investigator is a lady that is active in the church, has a calling, her children are active, the father pretty active (he drives truck so is gone a lot), yet she isn't baptized. The biggest hold up is that both her and her husband smoke. And she wants him to baptize her. She also said she is still undecided about Joseph Smith. The oldest son is 15 and they have been going to church since he was 8 or 9. He was baptized at age 10 with his younger sister who was 8 at the time. Hopefully we can help them. The father grew up in Brigham, but stopped believing when he was 12. Then shortly before they started going to church he had a few questions and found the answers in the Bible. So he decided that he better read the Bible. The son said they read it all day on Sundays. I thought he meant just a long time, but they read from 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night with an hour tops for lunch! They read the Bible and believed and the father said, "Well I am LDS so I should read the Book of Mormon too." So they read that and believed it also. They have been going to church every since. They are a way good family, and I am excited to teach them.

I think I would rather just fly home. That sounds a lot better than touring the mission. Some missionaries do tour the mission with their parents, but that just doesn't feel right. I would rather be able to just walk off the plane and be home. Not have any of this in between stuff.

By the way, on exchanges with Elder Fife this week in the other half of the stake we had dinner with the Crandall family. Bro. Crandall is helping a business get started in Rexburg called "Yellowstone Hotel Systems" (I think) and their product is called "Open Book." It is basically a way to book hotel rooms online. He said they are in need of raising money. I have no idea if that is along your line of work, but you might want to look into it. I told him your business is called "Civicus Consulting," he said he might be interested. I told him I wasn't sure if it is what you do or not. Either way it sounds like a cool business he is helping to start.

Thank you for everything.

Love,
Elder Call

Work Moving Forward in Idaho

2010-10-25T12:52:00.004-05:00

18 October 2010

Dear Dad,

I am so jealous that you all get to go to the BYU game. That sounds like it would be so much fun. That is too bad that BYU isn't doing well this year.

We are having some good success here in the Taylor Mountain stake. We had some investigators come to church again yesterday. They really enjoyed it. The daughter is about 10 years old and she reminds me so much of Mary Ann when she was that age. They have very similar mannerisms. They live in the Thayerwood Ward, and the Thayerwood Ward does an excellent job with missionary work. Our ward mission leader's name is Jordan Sermon and he is one of the best WML that I have been able to work with on the mission. While we were waiting for church to start yesterday he and his wife and kids came in, I thought she looked like she was extremely pregnant. Not nice I know, but true. Then part way during sacrament she left and a few minutes later Bro. Sermon got up and pointed out the door and said something to us. We couldn't tell what he said. But right as Sacrament was over he left a message for us saying that his wife just had the baby (we could hear crying in the background) and he wouldn't be able to make it to coordination meeting! It must have been quick for her! She was at Sacrament meeting at the church and within 1 hour and 10 minutes she had had the baby!

I think I told you that I met Jay Hammond. Bro. Hammond is Grandpa Call's cousin. He is Lila Nancy Call's son. Lila and Ellis Heber were siblings. So we went over and talked with him for a little while on Friday. He is 85 years old and very nice. He is your typical member of the church in IF that has lived in his home for the past 40 years, served as a bishop, and has a good active family. While we were there he called another cousin and asked her if she wanted to get together for lunch. So today at about noon we are going to have lunch, it sounds like there are are going to about 4 of Grandpa's cousins. It should be fun. I will have to write home about it.

You don't need to send me President Monson's biography. I can scrounge up enough money to buy it out here.

Everything is moving right on along here in IF. Elder Durnall and I are staying together another transfer. We weren't too surprised about that. We could see it going either way, 50/50. This will be our third transfer together. And I have only been in the area 4 weeks longer than he has. I know it is six weeks away, but I bet I will get moved next transfer and have one more area. Elder Durnall and I get along great and have a lot of fun together. This transfer President Colton created a new zone, the "Yellowstone Zone"! It is zone number 10.

We have the:
1) Pocatello South Zone
2) Pocatello Centeral Zone
3) Pocatello North Zone
4) Blackfoot Zone
5) IF West Zone (us)
6) IF East Zone
7) Ammon Zone
8) Rigby Zone
9) Rexburg Zone
10) Yellowstone Zone.

This new zone includes St. Anthoy, Ashton, Driggs, West Yellowstone, and Jackson. Basically it is the same as when I was there, but without any of Rexburg. There are also more missionaries in those areas now. When I was in St. Anthony there was one set of English missionaries and one set of Spanish. Now there are 2 sets of English and 2 sets of Spanish. So the work up north just keeps increasing dramatically. I loved the North end of the mission. When I first got into the mission there were 6 zones and about 160 missionaries. Now there are about 200 missionaries and 10 zones. The work moves forward.

It is exciting about the move. I will pray that you will be able to find a home in Missouri. Thank you for all of the things that you and the whole family do for me.

Love,
Elder Call

Work Progresses; Elder Call Enjoys Country Life

2010-10-12T12:45:00.004-05:00

11 October 2010

Hey Dad,

Thanks for the email. It's all right that you missed last week. Things happen.

It sounds like everything back home is going really well. I am glad that Mary Ann is 16 and enjoying life. I never went to any high school dances, I don't think I missed much. Friends would always go and no one ever liked them.

I am way excited for that family to buy our home. I hope that it works out for them. I remember moving in almost 10 years ago. That was a fun drive across the snowy plains with Grandpa Call and Mary Ann! Then I got sick, we lived in the hotel that smelled like cake, and the missionaries helped us move in. That was so nice of them.

I hope that house that you found north of Richmond will be available. I really liked Missouri when we went there and visited. It was beautiful. My dislike for cities has grown a ton since I have been on the mission. I think that is one of the reasons I liked St. Anthony so much.

This week I was on exchanges with Elder Goodman in Shelley. I was there only one day, but I loved it so much. I just felt at peace and at home in the small town. The Taylor Mountain Stake has a lot of rural areas, but it doesn't have that small town feel. There will be neighborhoods with big, expensive houses. And a lot of the stake is in Idaho Falls proper. I still like the work here, it is just a city.

I really liked your description of the home. It sounds perfect. I just hope that you are able to get it. I will pray for that also.

One of our investigators that has a baptism date went to church yesterday and really liked it a lot. She said that some of the testimonies were "tear jerkers" and really clicked with her. That was way cool. She actually told us that she wanted to be baptized this Saturday. But we think it would be best if we kept the goal of 30 October. We need to help her be firmly rooted, taught, and committed. She is a really good lady.

Transfers are just about a week and a half away. We will find out on Sunday what is going on. I could easily see Elder Durnall and I staying together a third transfer, but I could also see me getting transferred into one more area.

It makes me sad to think that I probably only have one more area before my mission is over. It has gone by way too quickly.

Oh, the family we ate with knew you and Aunt Jenni when you guys lived in Michigan. Her maiden name is Barbara Murphy, I believe. Her married name is Rovig. They were way nice. She asked if I knew any Calls in Michigan (I always get, "Elder Call, do you know Calls in...or "Elder Call are you related to..."). So I asked her which ones and she said, "Jenni Call." I was so surprised. I told her that she was my aunt. She said she was really good friends with Jenni when they were just kids. She kind of remembered you and she remembered that Grandpa and Grandma Call's names are Dennis and Connie. So if you could tell Jenni that I met her that would be great.

Anyways, I hope that you guys have a good week and that you will be able to find a home in Missouri.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call's Passion for Family History Comes Alive

2010-09-27T13:08:00.003-05:00

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

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

Elder Call Demonstrates He Hasn't Lost His Family History Acumen

2010-09-27T13:00:00.002-05:00

Note: I had forwarded to Elder Call a request from a member of the Cyril Call Family Association on LinkedIn for any information regarding Joseph Smith's prophecy to Cyril that he (Cyril) would have a large posterity that would remain true to the Church. This is Elder Call's response
—Editor

27 September 2010

Hi Dad,

I so wish that I could do some real serious genealogy on the mission!

I have heard of that "prophecy" before. I don't remember right now of finding any original source. I have all of those black bins of genealogy stuff. It is sorted alphabetically by last name by couple. So Cyril and Sally Tiffany Call should have a folder with information gathered about them and any children that I am not a direct descendant of, so Omer and Sarah M. Ferrin Call should have a separate folder. You can go through that and look to see if there is anything.

The one thing that might be similar to that "prophecy" is his patriarchal blessing given by Joseph Smith Sen. I believe that talks about a large posterity that would be a part of the church. I should have a copy of that in that folder. I believe they received those in May 1836, the same day that Anson was baptized. Sally's makes note that if she would be baptized, then the blessings will come.

There is a book that has early patriarchal blessings compiled. There is one listed for Cyril and Sally "Cabb". Whoever transcribed it misread "Call" for "Cabb" (an easy mistake).

Samantha Call Willey (1814-1905) also wrote a life history (I think about seven pages) that might give some insight. I think in her's she mentions being baptized in the Grand River (in Ohio) in 1837 with some siblings. Her cousin Orvis Call was also baptized in 1837 (she refers to him as "Uncle Orvis" sometimes). That should be in Cyril's folder also.

If I remember correctly there are two possible dates of baptism for Cyril:
1) October 1831 (according to Anson's journal begun about 1839)
2) November 1832 (I think that is on a High Priest Group Record in Bountiful)

In May 1836 Cyril and Sally had 12 children, 8 of baptism age and Anson being the only one married. Children are: Harvey (27), Anson (26), Samantha (21), Fanny (turned 21 in May 1836), Lucina (16), Josiah (14), Mary (12), Sonora (9), Sarah (7), Melissa (6), Omer and Homer (2).

Cyril definitely had a large posterity. According to one researcher it is the 6th largest in the church.

Out of all children it seems as though they all stayed active except for Melissa. I think she joined The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Good luck and let me know of any developments on that.

Love,
Elder Call

Baptisms Continue to Come

2010-09-20T12:07:00.002-05:00

20 September 2010

Dear Dad,

Isn't it crazy how fast the weeks are flying by? This past week it seems like we have been constantly running all over the place trying to get things done. The busier you are the quicker it goes. This upcoming week we have another training meeting in Pocatello. That will be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So that will make this week go by quick also.

Elder Fife's half of the stake is having some crazy things happen with missionary work. For probably the last 7 or 8 months there hasn't been a baptism. Now He has four baptism dates. Two of the dates are 10 year old twins, another is 23 year old lady, and the last is a 22 year old man named George [not his real name].

That last one is a pretty cool story. We tracted some apartments earlier this week and met a lady that said she is less-active, but would like us to come teach her and her husband. So she set up an appointment for Friday night. We got there and she left a note on the door saying she had to work, but "please do come back." So we left kind of dejected. Then as we were getting in the car Elder Durnall and Elder Fife saw a man outside. They both thought we should go talk to him. But they didn't want to get back out of the car and walk straight up to him. So we parked on the other side of the building and walked around to talk to him. He is less-active also, and not interested in hearing about the Church (incidentally, he went to school Uncle Scott Kunz down in Bear Lake). So we walked around and saw another man outside. We chatted with him for a minute. His name was George.

I said, "George, I think we met your wife, Susan [not her real name], the other day." He said that was her. We talked about how she wanted us back to teach about the gospel. We asked him if it was alright to come back. He said, "Ya, maybe tomorrow night."

So we went over Saturday night. We started talking about how the gospel blesses families and how prayer has affected their lives. (This approach has had a huge impact, especially lately.) We asked some questions to help him identify his feelings and the Spirit (one of the things we are taught in this new curriculum). Later on in the lesson Elder Durnall extended a baptism invitation and he accepted, without any hesitation! It was so cool.

We had another investigator baptized on Saturday! He is 20 years old and we have been teaching him with another family. One of the members of that family was baptized last week. This investigator is way cool and really gets the gospel. He is the kind of guy that never really had too many friends in High School and his parents haven't treated him very good. He told us after the baptism, "There are some things you do before you're baptized. And some things you don't do after you're baptized." He wants to serve a mission.

That's pretty cool about the new family moving into Aditya's neighborhood. Aditya has a sister that is considerable younger than he is. Some of their kids might be her age, I'm not sure. I hope Aditya is doing alright.

I pray for you and for the family, about work, school, and the move. I know that everything will work out like it is supposed to.

Love,
Elder Call

A Miracle in Taylor Mountain

2010-09-15T12:35:00.003-05:00

13 September 2010

Dear Dad,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE CAMERA!!! I can't thank you enough for it. It will be great to have and I really wish I knew what happened to the other one. The new one looks like it is working great and is really nice. Thank you.

It sounds like you had a really good Sacrament. As a missionary here we go to multiple sacrament meetings each week so I have been to scores upon scores upon scores of sacraments. Some of them are much, much better than others. We had a couple of really good sacraments yesterday also. One family talked about the Holy Ghost and its influence. It was a very powerful talk.

So like I said this past week was transfers. We only cover half the stake and Elder Fife who covers the other half was supposed to train a new missionary. The new missionary decided that he needed surgery last minute. He is delayed 2 or 3 weeks. So Elder Fife is now in a trio with Elder Durnall and me for the next little bit. It has been way fun and pretty cool covering the whole Taylor Mountain Stake.

Wednesday was absolutely crazy though. Elder Durnall and I had to pack a bunch of stuff and move in with Elder Fife (his apartment is much more central) and get all settled in. Then in the afternoon we found out that a new set of elders in our zone that were whitewashing in couldn't live in the place the mission was planning on. So we got a phone call asking if they could live in Elder Fife's place also. So now there are 5 missionaries crammed into a small apartment. We probably will be moving into our original apartment though--it is just too crowded. We will see what happens.

I will pray that this fundraising book project will work out and be a steady stream of income. That would be pretty neat if it works out. Does Brooke and her family live here in Idaho? Or have they moved?

We had one investigator baptized on Tuesday night. That was a really good baptism and hopefully it will help lead her family in the right direction. She was supposed to be confirmed on Sunday, but was in the hospital. I hope that she can make it and be confirmed this coming week.

I just remembered we had a crazy experience on Wednesday (mixed in with all of the transfer stuff). We went to go talk to a family that we were told might be able to help fellowship someone. We will call her Sis. Smith. We knocked on her door at about 4:45, having never met her. She answered the door and looked completely shocked and very emotional, "What are you doing here?!" We could all tell something was up, so we just asked here how she was doing. She then went on to tell us the following:

Sis. Smith is in the process of selling her trailer. She is married currently but her ex-husband who is deceased was a convert to the church. She never met any of his family. All day long she felt him telling her that she needed to sale her home for cheaper so that the man coming over could buy it. He also told her that the man coming over to buy the home was his brother. He told her that she needed to sale the home to him because he needed to be a missionary. Sis. Smith was talking about this in a manner that was quite extraordinary. Her communications with her deceased ex-husband were extremely real to her. She didn't tell us the were real, but how she described the account. As if he was actually there conversing with her. We are actually confused for a bit about who was deceased.

The deceased husband told her that when the man came over she needed to show him their wedding pictures. So he came over and she talked with him for a bit and said she had something she wanted to show him. She went into the garage and brought out the wedding pictures.

She said to the man, "Who is this in the picture?"

He replied, "That's my brother!"

She then told him what was going on. Of course, he was quite moved. She told him that he needed to be a missionary.

So then we showed up and she had us wait for a while. But eventually we had to leave. Shortly before 7:00 she called us and said that we had to come over, because he was supposed to come back with his girlfriend to see the house again. Elder Fife was with a man on splits. But Elder Durnall, myself, and Preston (RM, team teacher) went over. We sat down and talked with her for a few minutes. We were all way nervous because this man was coming over for a business deal and didn't know we would be there. But we just sat and said we would trust in the spirit. The longer the wait the more nervous I got. But then he pulled up. There were 4 people, with more kids. Two of the men were absolutely huge. I was terrified!

Sis. Smith answered the door, they came in and saw us and were kind of surprised. She told them about us coming over and that it wasn't a coincidence. She said she wanted them to listen to us. So we all sat down and talked about the events that had transpired earlier in the day. They knew that it was all true, that the deceased man really did work from the other side. They had talked to their mother about and she had been in tears and believed it all also.

Preston asked, "Matt (name has been changed), do you feel like something is missing in your life?"

Matt said, "Yes. I feel like there is something more that I need."

Preston: "We have what you need."

A little bit more talk. Then it seemed like the conversation was done.

Elder Durnall asked, "Do you have any questions or concerns?"

A moment of silence. Some kind of shook their heads.

Matt: "What makes the Mormon church different from the Baptist church?" We all smiled at each other. I went on to explain the apostasy a bit and shared the First Vision. Elder Durnall taught and testified. Preston asked how Matt was feeling.

Matt: "That was powerful. True. I can just see the truth of it in you. The completeness. The fullness."

We almost fell off our chairs. We gave them our phone number and are going to help them move in and teach them.

That was a down-right miracle. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it--a miracle.

Things are happening in the Taylor Mountain Stake.

Love,
Elder Call

Ruminations and Reflections by Dad

2010-08-23T12:32:00.012-05:00

It seems almost impossible that our dear son Bob has been on his mission for 18 months already. Time passes quickly, and we pray that the Lord will hasten time for the sake of the righteous.

Held ever so close, as an infant child: You looked in my eyes. . .and smiled.
Then holding my hand, as a growing boy: You gave me such love . .such joy.
Off to school, my son who scampered and ran,: You waved. . .your new life began.
Stretching, maturing, you left on your own,: You seemed so strong. . .and full grown.

II
Now my example, my friend, and my son: Time cannot be captured, it cannot be won;
Past joys have eclipsed my time with you here,: Yet I long to be with you, to talk, to be near.
But these wishes are selfish; they cannot come true;: I hope. . .and I pray. . .the Lord's blessings on you.
With love,: Dad

Elder Call Hits 18-month Mark

2010-08-23T12:24:00.003-05:00

23 August 2010

Dear Dad,

Thank you for the email. Things keep trudging along here in Taylor Mountain Stake. We have several investigators that want to be baptized, they set dates for themselves. But they just aren't quite ready yet. They need to rely on the Lord just a little bit more, then they will be able to make it. Elder Durnall and I just need to do everything we can to help them get there.

I am so excited for Dan and Jared. They will be excellent missionaries. I am so glad that I got to know them growing up in the Beloit Ward. We had the best youth and friendships. I don't remember a time when the Young Men ever had a bad time together. We were like brothers. And it is amazing how quickly time passes by. If Ryan comes out here to Idaho in the fall for spud harvest, you will have to let me know how to get in contact with him. I would like to see him again and maybe we could go to lunch or something.

Alissa and Allyson were pretty much the youngest in our group of good friends, so it is weird that they are seniors now and going to go off to college soon. They will bring up the tail-end of everyone going their separate ways. But the church has a funny way of bringing people back together. You can count on that one.

I hit my 18 month mark a little bit ago and it is so weird to be at dinner appointments and tell people that. We also had stake conference yesterday. I have only been to two stake conferences on my mission, one in IF South and the other just yesterday. President and Sister Colton came and spoke. They did a really good job. President Colton reminded the members that this work is really their own, and that the missionaries are here to assist in that. Most people seem to not fully grasp that concept. I hope that when I am back to being a regular church member that I can be a good member missionary. Entice and invite.

A couple of weeks ago my camera stopped working. I'm not sure what happened. We were out on a farm in Salmon and I took a couple of pictures then turned it off and put it in the case. Then I took it out and turned it back on. The lens extended, but the screen says there is a lens error and it won't retract. I took it to Best Buy (there are no camera repair stores in IF) and they said they need to know if it was purchased at a Best Buy. Like if you have a receipt or know what credit card it was purchased with or anything. They said that either a little hook broke, or a piece of dust got stuck in there. I don't know if you can help at all, but I'll figure something out. Thanks.

Well I will pray for you guys and for Uncle Ted. I hope that he will do alright. I was just thinking of him and Aunt Joyce these last few days.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call Exhorts Us to ACT

2010-08-16T18:35:00.002-05:00

16 August 2010

Dear Dad,

How are things going this week for everyone back home? For the most part things are going well here in Taylor Mountain.

This week we talked with a couple of different families about some friends and doing missionary work. The one family was telling us that their friends know all about the gospel (some of friends are less-active). "We have talked with them a lot about the church. They know." "Oh, they have been invited. They know how we feel...They know about the church." We were trying to help them understand that they need to invite their friends to act frequently, but they just wouldn't hear it. "They know about the church."

It is simply not enough for our friends to know about the church, we need to ask them to act. The Savior didn't just sit there being a good person and being a good example. But he taught, and true teaching comes with an invitation to act so that the student can learn by becoming.

On the other hand we went and talked with a sister that has truly tried to help her friends become as the Savior is. She has invited them to church, frequently. Even asked them to take the missionary lessons. The friends declined, but they were given the option. They were allowed to exercise God given agency; to choose "either liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Nephi 2:27)

That is the point of our existence, to help Heavenly Father, in the small way we can, to bring our brothers and sisters eternal life. As the Savior prayed in John 17:18 "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."

It is a cause with love as the pure driving force, love that allows this redemptive plan to function.

As Moroni taught in Moroni 7:48 "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

We will "be" like him, "as" him. Eternal joy is a state of existence--it is life. We become as Christ is--he is life.

"Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other." (2 Nephi 2:16)

This is all stuff that you already knew, but I have realized how true that is, I feel like I am not fulfilling my purpose if I don't invite others to act.

Not many exciting things have happened this week. Keep me posted on what has happened back home.

Love,
Elder Call

Missionary Work Changing; How Potato Harvest Effects Handshakes; Etc.

2010-08-02T13:43:00.004-05:00

Note: I shared with Elder Call a bit about our house-hunting trip to Missouri, updates on some of his friends here in Beloit Ward, and how Rick and Nancy Ritter of Beloit Ward have a grandson who just arrived a few weeks ago in the Idaho Pocatello Mission.
--Editor

2 August 2010

Dear Dad,

It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun in Missouri! It would be pretty cool to see all of those church sites again. I hope that you can find the right home that would work for what you want and I also hope that the home in Illinois is sold soon. Is it up for sale?

I loved going to Missouri and seeing everything there, it would be neat to go back and maybe try to do some family history research there. I've always been curious because Cyril Call and his family stopped in Palmyra, Missouri (I believe it is about 14 miles west of Quincy) while they were trying to make it back to Far West. I think I read in Samantha Call Willey's life sketch that the family bought a home in Palmyra where they waited until Anson came from the Far West area and then they went up to Warsaw. So it would take a little investigation to find out if some sort of deed exists in Palmyra for Cyril Call. Anyways I am glad that you all had a good time.

I bet that John, Mary Ann, and Mom will have fun with their trips this week.

It is a wonderful time to be in the mission right now, especially with all of these changes. In one of our last meetings with President Colton (can't remember what exactly the number was) he said we had about 160 baptism dates in the mission. That was a HUGE jump. So this new training is working, we just need to keep it up and have it become the standard. It is so much fun learning about all of this.

Yes, I was called as a zone leader. That happened when I got emergency transferred into Taylor Mountain. As a result President Colton hasn't sent the little letter that confirms your call to a new assignment that is mailed to me, my parents, and my stake president. So I guess it hasn't been confirmed, but that's what they've told me.

I am so excited for Jared Brabazon! The Baltic Mission sounds like it would be so cool to go to. He will love and I bet he is way excited. I am glad that he has made that choice to serve a mission and I hope that he can continue to be fixed upon that.

I pray for Ryan that he can overcome whatever challenges he might be facing right now. He is such a good guy. The potato harvest here is pretty popular. I believe it is at it's peak the first two weeks of October. That is when all the kids are let out of school to go help. Then it carries on for a little bit afterward to wrap it up. They make good money. A lot of people losing fingers though or at least the hands get messed up somehow. While in St. Anthony you just get used to shaking men's hands that aren't working like they should! Then in Sacrament when they raise their hands a lot of them are mutilated, but no one ever thinks anything of it.

I think I have heard the name Elder Ritter. I thought about the Ritters in Beloit, but didn't think there was a connection. But I will keep my eyes open. We have Zone Conference on Thursday so I will look for him then.

My new companion is Elder Durnall (pronounced Dur-nell) from Sacramento. He knew Elder Poppleton back home. Elder Durnall is way good, and nice too. He has been out for only 9 months. I am excited to be his companion.

Things are going well here. I will continue to pray for you.

Love,
Elder Call

P.S. Could you send me Addison's mission address and if you have it his MTC address?

Travels and Meeting Interesting Man

2010-07-31T18:53:00.002-05:00

26 July 2010

Dear Dad:

I hope your trip to Missouri is fun and productive. I kind of wish that I was able to go. But that's alright.

I am glad that work is keeping you busy, and I pray that you can continue to find more clients to help keep you busy. Thanks for mailing me the book, I am looking forward to getting it this week.

Not a lot is going on right now. We went up to Salmon and Challis this past week. Well, Elder Meredith and I drove up to Challis for a district meeting. We had to drive through the Arco desert. You want to talk about the land of desolation! That's where "the Sight" is. The Nuclear research center that a ton of people work at. I think it was the place where the first nuclear submarines were tested. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive all the way to Challis from Idaho Falls. We left at about 7:15 Tuesday morning to get there by 10:00 for the meeting. Then I stayed with the Challis elders the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Elder Meredith rode up to Salmon with the Salmon elders. That is an hour north of Challis. Challis is very pretty nestled in a valley. It is extremely secluded from absolutely everything. That whole area (Arco, Challis, and Salmon) are the outskirts of our mission. We drove back to IF in the early afternoon.

So transfers are coming up on Wednesday. This transfer absolutely flew by. I can't believe it has gone so quickly. Probably because of all the crazy stuff that has gone on the last few weeks, we have just been flying all over the place. We actually forgot that transfers were coming and Saturday night Elder Meredith was talking with another elder on the phone and he mentioned that transfers were Wednesday. Then we remembered, and right then President Colton called us. Elder Meredith was asked to train a new elder in Menan. So they will be white-washing that area. It was Elder Meredith's first area and will most likely be his last. He goes home in October.

President Colton hadn't called the elder that is going to be my companion yet, so he wouldn't tell us who it is. I will just have to wait until Wednesday at transfers.

It sounds like you guys are staying way busy also. Everyone is going all over the place. Summer is always a busy time I guess. I hope that you guys all enjoy everything that is going on. I know Mom will really like being with Rachel and Rebecca.

That is way sad about Ryan. I will pray for him that he can do what the Lord wants him to do. That is really good that his whole family has come to church the last couple of weeks. I hope they can stick with it. I know that he can make it back out. I really love that family. They have been such great friends to me. I can't even describe how good they have been to me. I will always remember the Sarver family.

Saturday we met an interesting man named John. He is part of "The True Gnostic Church of Azrael Ondi-Ahman." That just makes me laugh every time I think of that name. He was a member of the Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and served a mission and was ordained a seventy (we are assuming a stake seventy) about eight months after he got home. He says he was excommunicated for asking too many questions. The last time he went to the temple is in 1993. He says that "we" were (we are not sure who the "we" were) looking to see when the LDS Church wasn't true anymore (they believed it had become corrupted) so they started researching in the library down in Salt Lake. We don't know what happened after that, but now he doesn't even believe in Christ. It is so strange he has some very true dead-on beliefs, but others are just completely wacked. You can see where they took LDS Doctrine and it has become perverted.

Elder Meredith actually met him a year ago, but didn't recognize him right away. He told him then that Azrael Ondi-Ahman was a stake president, but he went into the mountains and talked with God. Then he wrote a book called the "Song of God" and started this church. He gave him then (a year ago) a paper with their beliefs and disbeliefs (their own statements contradict each other). This all started in the 1970s.

Anyways I could tell you all about it, but it was just so crazy. We sat down at a park bench (he was really nice) and he started talking...and talked...and talked... We didn't say really anything, he talked for an hour. We just sat there. I looked into his eyes the entire time, I just felt sad for the guy. His eyes were bright blue with the smallest pin-prick pupils I have ever seen, they darted back and forth the entire time. Rarely would he hold a steady gaze for more than a couple seconds. Every once in a while he would call our doctrine a not very nice word. But we didn't say anything.

After near an hour I told him something like, "John, I can tell you have a sincere desire for eternal life (I think he really does)" He corrected me and said "exaltation." I continued with something like, "There have been some events in your life that you do not want to confront, things that need to change."

"Really, what are those?"

"I don't know. But you need to repent."

He then said a few things and I said something else. He then cut me off and said, "I know where you are going with this. You are going to bear your testimony, that's a cop-out." He then continued to try to speak.

I said, "Hold on, John (at this point he began to look scared). I represent God. I do not appreciate that. For nearly an hour we have listened to you and we have not said one negative thing about you or what you believe."

"I haven't said anything bad to you."

"Yes you have."

"What did I say?"

"You told me my testimony is a cop-out."

"Oh, I did say that, didn't I."

"Yes you did. And don't you ever say that again."

Elder Meredith then went on to testify and reminded him about meeting once before and some of the things Elder Meredith told him a year ago to think about. We told him we had to leave. He was surprised that we had stayed that long. (He had talked at us from 4:00 to 5:00, and we had something at 5.) He tried to keep talking, but we just stood up and told him we had to leave.

I have met a few interesting people like that on the mission, but John has got them beat a thousand times over. People can say whatever they want, but when they begin to attack like he did--it's over, and I will have none of that. Elder Meredith told me later he thought I was going to throw the table over on John. I keep my cool, remember that I represent Jesus Christ and speak with His authority. All power in heaven and earth is given to Christ, and we need to speak in His authority.

I thought the whole thing was kind of fun. Definitely a mission story I will remember.

I know that was a long one, but it was a good experience.

I will continue to pray for you.

Love,
Elder Call

Missionaries' World Flipped Upside Down

2010-07-19T16:30:00.004-05:00

19 July 2010

Dear Dad,

I enjoyed reading your email this week. I can just imagine you, John, and Bro. Wright pulling up a pump! That would be a huge job. I can't believe you did that. I am glad that it was just a small problem and the three of you were able to fix it.

Speaking of John, has he grown very much?

Just send the money or suits whenever you can and don't worry about it too much. Things always work out, especially as a missionary. I'm excited to see what your book is like. That would be fun to look through.

I am really enjoying my new area. We are teaching a couple of families, although we could be teaching more. But people here in this stake seem to care a bit more about missionary work.

In my last area we went to a ward mission leader and asked him about the 15 names (that is a program that the Missionary Department asked us to do in November 2008) in his ward. He had them, but as far as we could tell no one had been invited to take missionary lessons (which is the whole point of the program).

So, on Saturday when Elder Meredith said we needed to go talk to a WML about the 15 names, I admit I was worried. But the brother was so kind, willing to listen, and thankful.

He said, "Thank you, elders, for coming and telling me this. I didn't know we were supposed to invite these people to take lessons. Now I know. Thank you so much."

In short, he was humble. I'm not the most humble guy on earth--I have learned a lot about humility on the mission--but I sure appreciate it when others are humble.

We had this three-day meeting in Pocatello this week. That was way cool. I will have to write home about it. But as our mission president said, "This [the simplified curriculum framework] is bringing Preach My Gospel to life." "It is unlocking Preach My Gospel." There are 8 lessons that the missionaries are taught. They are about being better missionaries. We were taught 5 of them while there. We will have a similar meeting in August but for only 2 days. We, as leaders in the mission, now have to go out and teach this to the rest of the mission. Basically our world as missionaries was just flipped upside down this past week. Everything is changing--from the way we teach to district meetings to interviews to zone conferences. It will be good. Rumor on the street (and this is strictly rumor, I have no idea if it is true) is that while we (the 50 or so leaders) were working with other missionaries in the Pocatello area Tuesday and Wednesday night, that 40 new baptism dates were set. I don't know if it was that many, but in one appointment we set a date. Elder Hernandez and his companions in American Falls set 4 in one night. So regardless of how many were set, a lot of people committed. This is changing everything and I am so stoked for it!

I pray for your work and the move to Missouri every night. I hope that it will work out. I think it would be neat to live in the Far West area. I will pray that the house sells. I know that whatever happens, it is the will of the Lord. We were taught something in this meeting about faith. It is imagining what the outcome is. Creating it in our minds first. That is the spiritual creation. Then we go about creating it, doing what is necessary. That is the physical creation. I thought that was an insightful perspective of faith. I need to work on doing that. (See Alma 5:15-21)

This mission is a very unique mission (I am sure that Provo is similar). I think that every missionary knows someone that is at BYU-I or will be, or has been, or lives in the mission. I also love it when I meet missionaries that were at BYU-I when they got there mission calls. Or elders that were in the mission that we see around--because they are at BYU-I. It is also funny when an elder has an ex-girlfriend at BYU-I, or a girlfriend at BYU-I who isn't really waiting, because he is here, but she kind of is too. It just makes for funny experiences. Or when elders guy friends/brothers are here also and "accidentally" run into each other. But it is really strange when you do run into someone, like Christina, in those spots where you don't expect to see them. You would think that with me hanging out in Rexburg every single p-day for 6 months straight, that I would run into someone from our stake. But then while eating at Famous Dave's in IF, one of the waitresses is someone I know. Weird.

The Webbs and the Burninghams are way cool people. Two families in the ward that I really liked. I am jealous that I never got Brother Burningham as my seminary teacher-he was way cool. Sister Evans was neat also.

I will never forget one 4th of July party we had at our house. At least I think these two things happened the same day (they were both the 4th of July, maybe different years). I was sitting there talking with Brother Burningham about playing basketball or something with us. He had that job with a bad work schedule, but he had just gotten a new one. He was saying something like, "Ya, with my new boss things should be better. It is a great place to work. It is a good job."

"Oh, that's good you got a new job. Who do you work for now?" I asked.

He looked at me with a really confused look on his face and said, "I work for your dad."

"You do?! I didn't know that." It was pretty funny.

Then when the Webbs moved in you invited them over for the 4th of July. Allyson was sitting across from me out back, not really doing anything or talking with anyone. She had these big sun glasses on and a cold attitude. So I thought I would be nice and talk with her. She would hardly give me the time of day, and only say "yes" or "no." After a minute or two of that I thought, "OK then. Never mind, I'll leave you alone."

She warmed up over the years though. Just not in the best of moods from being a new-move-in. I probably wasn't either.

Right now I think Dan is really the only good friend I have at BYU, so that would be a ton of fun if Allyson went there also. It seems like everyone always comes up here to BYU-I.

Love,
Elder Call

"The Winds of Change are HOWLING"

2010-07-13T11:30:00.004-05:00

Note: I mentioned to Elder Call that we have a new missionary in the Beloit Ward who thinks he remembers meeting Elder Call in the MTC. . .
--Editor

12 July 2010

Dear Dad:

Things are going steadily here. It hasn't really slowed down, all the hectic stuff. But it will eventually.

There is a new thing called the "Simplified Curriculum Framework" that is coming out for missionaries. It basically seems like it is a new way to teach missionaries how to teach with more focus on certain aspects. It doesn't replace "Preach My Gospel." So all of the leaders in the mission and some sisters in the mission are having a massive three-day training in Pocatello. It starts at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning and goes until Thursday at about 4:00 PM. They are going to be teaching us during the day time and then in the evening we are going to split up with elders in the Pocatello area and go implement what we learned. Then we assume we are going to come back and teach it to all those in our zones and districts.

We had interviews with President Colton last week (I attended two of those this transfer because of the ET) and he told Elder Meredith and me that "the winds of change are HOWLING around us!" Based on other things he has mentioned it sounds like everything is going to change. We are not going to have zone conference every transfer anymore. That is sad. So I will learn more about all of this in the next few days and will tell you more next week.

I am really glad that your work is going so well. I don't know how you do it and run your own business. It's pretty cool. What kind of feature would you write for Mormon Times? I'm excited to see a copy of your book if you are able to send me one.

I don't remember Elder Brander/Brader. I could have met him, I met several elders that were coming to one of the Chicago missions. (I hear they are now combined.) I remember meeting about 4 or so at the airport as I was getting ready to fly to Salt Lake. They were going to Chicago North. I also met an Elder Hill from Pocatello that was going to Chicago South.

I will keep you updated on everything that is going on here. Thank you for your emails.

Love,
Elder Call

Emergency Transfer to Taylor Mountain Stake

2010-07-05T12:16:00.003-05:00

5 July 2010

Dear Dad,

I can't believe the 4th of July has come and gone already! I remember last year watching the fireworks down in Pocatello, having not even been out six months yet. I was thinking that this time next year I will have nearly been out 18 months. I can't believe how quick time goes by.

We had p-day time on Saturday to go watch the fireworks. I don't know about back home but the major firework display was put on on Saturday night because the man that does it is LDS. People have said that it is the largest fireworks show west of the Mississippi. I don't know if that is true or not, but they were pretty spectacular. Every year they have about 100,000 people from around the area come down to the river and watch. We could do p-day stuff from 6:00-11:00 PM.

On Wednesday afternoon at 4:26 we had just gotten back from doing some service for a ward mission leader and Elder Duffin was about to get into the shower when President Colton called.

"Hello, this is Elder Call."

"Elder Call, this is President Colton. How are you?"

"Good, president, how are you?"

"Good. Are you light on your feet?"

"Sure. What does that mean?"

"Are you ready to move at a moment's notice?"
(At this point I was thinking some one needed our help. Some missionaries were in trouble or something.)

"Yes, what do you need us to do, President?"

He then went on to explain that an elder's father had passed away and he needed to go home.

"As a result of that, Elder Call, we need to move a few companionships around. We are going to move you over to Taylor Mountain Stake to take Elder Semanski's spot. You will be companions with Elder Meredith...can you do that Elder Call?"

"Yes. Are you sure president?"

With a chuckle in his voice, "Yes Elder Call, we're sure."

So I got emergency transferred again. I found out Wednesday at 4:30 and I needed to be at the transfer site Thursday morning at 7:50 AM. So very little time to pack or say goodbyes. I started to get some stuff thrown in suit cases took a shower, then had dinner. Had two appointments one at 6:00 and one at 7:00. Each lasted about an hour. Then said some goodbyes. Stopped to help a young family load up a trailer because they had to move back into their home in Rigby. Randi and Bro. Vaalemoen weren't home. So I called and left messages for them. Stayed up until about midnight packing and was gone before I even really knew what was happening.

The Taylor Mountain stake is just next door, but we only cover 4 wards (half the stake). Elder Meredith is a way cool guy from North Carolina. He has been out 20 months. He is a way good missionary.

I told Elder Lacey when I first got with him that I didn't feel like Idaho Falls South would be a very long area for me. I never really felt comfortable there. I was there for two transfers and two weeks (14 weeks). That is very short. Especially since they say we are going to stay in areas for six to nine months.

So, needless to say, it has been a very exciting week here. I was with Elder Duffin for only two weeks, but I miss that guy so much. He was one of the best companions I have ever had. I am sad that we were only together for two weeks.

I am glad that you're work is going so well. Rebecca wrote in a letter a couple of months ago that money doesn't bring happiness, but it does bring peace of mind. That sounds like something either you or she would say.

I know that you and Mom will do whatever the Spirit directs you to do. I trust in that. Things will work out no matter where you are or where you need to go. (Missouri sounds much better than Texas.) It would be cool to live in the Far West area. I know what it is like to have the Spirit tell you what to do--maybe one day I will learn to listen. There have been several times on the mission when I knew a major event was going to happen. Didn't really know what or why or when--then it happens, the Spirit reconfirms what it taught before and you go on and do what is right.

Love,
Elder Call

P.S. There was a Brother Moncur in IF South that is a couple of years younger than Grandma Call. He says he grew up next door (or maybe it was down the road) to Grandma Call's family, the Etsel Wheeler family, out in Ririe. He says he remembers the family had a lot of tragedies in their lives, with children dieing etc. But he remembers Myra Fay Morgan Wheeler as a woman full of compassion. I said that was nice to say. But he was very serious and said, "No. She was a great woman with lots of compassion." His mother was always sick and in bed when he was a child. He said that whenever Sister Wheeler would walk into town she would stop take care of his mother and visit with her. He says hello to Grandma Call. I wish I could remember his first name. He works at the Temple Visitor's Center.

Suit Coats, Baptisms, and Ward Goals

2010-06-30T23:32:00.001-05:00

28 June 2010

Dear Dad,

We had our Zone Conference for the transfer this past week. It was really good.

We have a new mission rule that we have to wear suit coats throughout the whole year! And that is not an excited exclamation point. We have to wear suit coats after 6:00 PM during the summer. It is so incredibly hot wearing them. We are constantly just dripping with sweat. On the first day Elder Duffin and I were talking to a lady outside and she said, "Aren't you guys hot in those coats? Oh, you're sweating pretty bad aren't you." But we will be obedient. "Willingly because we have to...Willingly because we want to!" Maybe we'll get to that point.

I'm glad that youth conference went well. Where did they go for the pioneer trek? It sounds like a ton of fun. Do you think the church is going to do a giant pioneer trek on the 200 year anniversary like they did at 150 years?

That is really good of Aunt Jenni and Aunt Denalee to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Call. I hope and pray that she can make it through this difficult time.

I think it is pretty cool that you are doing all of this work for these different businesses and organizations. People ask us frequently what our parents do for a living.

Two of our investigators were finally baptized on Sunday. Everyone was holding their breath that it would go through. It was a pretty good baptism. Their non-member father really liked it and was excited for his kids. Hopefully we can help him get closer to baptism and activity in the Church also. The talk on baptism was really good. It was given by their home teacher, Todd Hillam. He is also a seminary teacher here at IF High School. I suppose that is a plus in his ability to deliver doctrine in a simple, clear, profound manner. I think it helped the father see the eternal significance of the whole thing.

We are collecting the goals for the month of July from the wards. I had no idea something would be so hard. A couple of wards want to have half a baptism each, one ward wants to have a quarter of a baptism, another is going to get a quarter of a prospective elder ordained. But these are goals that the wards are setting for themselves, so they need to achieve them.

Hopefully things will pick up here.

Thanks for the email this week. I will continue to pray for you and the family.

Love,
Elder Call

Oliver Cowdery's Covenant; Possible Connection to Calls

2010-06-21T13:17:00.009-05:00

21 June 2010

Dear Elder Call:

I am reading a book about Oliver Cowdery and this one chapter has a copy of the covenant that Oliver, Parley P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson made as they set out on their mission to the Lamanites in 1831. You may recall that this was the first major missionary effort in this dispensation, and on their way through Ohio they came upon Sydney Rigdon and the other Campbellites who were in the Kirtland area, ended up staying there for about six weeks, and baptized about 130 individuals.

As I read this I thought of you and feel to share it with you:

I, Oliver, being commanded of the Lord God to go forth unto the Lamanites to proclaim glad tidings of great joy unto them by presenting unto them the fullness of the gospel of the only begotten son of God, and also to rear up a pillar as a witness where the temple of God shall be built in the glorious New Jerusalem; and having certain brothers with me who are called of God to assist me, whose names are Parley, Peter, and Ziba, do therefore most solemnly covenant before God that I will walk humbly before him and do this business and this glorious work according as he shall direct me by the Holy Ghost, ever praying for mine and their prosperity and deliverance from bonds and from imprisonments and whatsoever may befall us, with all patience and faith. Amen.

Oliver Cowdery

We, the undersigned, being called and commanded of the Lord God, to accompany our brother Oliver Cowdery to go to the Lamanites and to assist in the above mentioned glorious work and business; we do therefore most solemnly covenant before God that we will assist him faithfully in this thing by giving heed unto all his words and advice which are or shall be given him by the spirit of truth, ever praying with all prayer and supplication for our and his prosperity and our deliverance from bonds and imprisonments and whatsoever may come upon us, with all patience and faith. Amen.

P.P. Pratt
Ziba Peterson
Peter Whitmer

Signed in presence of
Joseph Smith, Jr.
David Whitmer

Love,
Dad

21 June 2010

Dear Dad,

That is way cool. Thank you for sharing it. I wish I could get back to reading Church History again. I really miss it a lot. But I am loving the scriptures more and more.

That mission really catapulted the spreading of the gospel. It is really neat.

I have always wondered about what kind of connection the Calls had to Sydney Rigdon and those that joined the Church. Cyril's daughter Samantha said that Sidney Rigdon, Almon Babbitt, and other early Church members were all good friends with Cyril Call's family. We know Cyril's father, Joseph, was a baptist preacher in the Grand River Baptist Association and taught with Sidney. Joseph Call died about 1821/22. Cyril's brother, Cyrus, was a Campbellite preacher also about the same time (but he never joined the Church). His other brother Rufus and his son Orvis were a part of Sidney's congregation. As far as we can tell Rufus never joined the Church but Orvis did. Orvis, I believe, was baptized in 1837. I can't remember where I read that. He could have been baptized earlier, and had a re-baptism. They did that sometimes back then.

Cyril and his sons Harvey and Anson (the two oldest) went and bought land in Missouri in 1838. Then Cyril left them there and went back to get the families in Ohio. They were making their way back in the winter of 1838 but stopped in Palmyra, MO (west of Quincey) due to the persecution. Then Anson came from Far West and they all went up to the Warsaw area. Orvis was with Cyril and the families on the trip to Missouri, but it looks like he died in Quincey about 1839, if I remember correctly. I was working on this family a little when I left so this is kind of sketchy. But it looks like Orvis' wife (Phoebe Tiffany- sister to Cyril's wife Sally) possibly remarried a man by the name of Star (or Starr). I think Orvis and Phoebe had two daughters. I don't think any of that family stuck with the Church, if they were even members.

I just love family history.

Thanks,
Elder Call

P.S. Some of that info could be off a bit because I haven't really done anything with family history for so long now.

New Companion; Investigators Progressing

2010-06-21T13:04:00.003-05:00

21 June 2010

Dear Dad,

Thanks for the update on everything. It sounds like it was an exciting weekend for the girls in the ward. We don't really get bad storms out here in Idaho very often. It is kind of funny because people will tell me, "Oh we do get tornadoes out here, Elder." "We do get them sometimes." The most recent one that anyone remembers was 20-30 years ago out north of town towards Iona. It didn't really do any damage. I'm glad they're all safe.

Did I tell you I met a family from Belvidere? It is the Fullmer family. Sis. Fullmer said she is good friends with Sis. Webb. You might want to tell the Webbs that.

That sounds like a pretty cool book that you have come up with. Everyone here, whether they are members or non-members always comment about how Idaho Falls is a great place to raise a family. That is why a lot of people move back here after they get married and have a few kids. Sounds like your research must be dead on.

The Nielsons are back from the Netherlands! That is funny. Is John still good friends with Hugh, or did they change too much over the last couple of years?

My new companion is Elder Duffin from Los Angeles. He has been out 5 months. He is an AWESOME elder. Truly a God-send. He has only had one other other area, ISU.

One of our investigators is still set for baptism on Sunday. We are going to call the mother tonight and make sure that they have asked all the family members to participate in the program. Another investigator is still working towards baptism. We are going to teach him tonight and possibly reset a date for him to work towards.
We had another investigator get baptized on Saturday. But I will probably write about that in the letter home. It was a very spiritual baptism.

I will continue to pray for you and the family and Grandma Call.

Love,
Elder Call

Updates on Investigators; Sleeping High Priests

2010-06-08T08:19:00.003-05:00

[Note: Elder Call had asked us in his written letter to send him copies of the three patriarchal blessings bestowed upon Lida Perry Call, his great grandmother. –Editor]

7 June 2010

Dear Dad,

That's alright about forgetting to email last week. I kind of figured that is what happened.

I hope that progress can be made with the investigators we have. We were supposed to have a baptism this past Saturday and the week before. They both got postponed. The first because he is in the hospital. Then the second because the mother called up Saturday morning and said they were all too sick to do it. So they are both rescheduled and we are praying hard that they can make it.

We went to the last 10 minutes of a high priest group yesterday to try to motivate them to do missionary work. I don't know if it was very effective. We went over time by about 2 minutes and one of two men that were asleep the entire time (heads down, eyes closed, heads bobbing back and forth) suddenly woke up looked at the time shook his head and pointed at the clock. He was upset that we went over the time. You can probably imagine how I feel.

Thank you for sending me the blessings I just got curious and wanted to read them. I can't believe the rate at which you are writing your life history. That is great.

I pray for Grandma Call frequently. That is sad about her chemo being postponed; I will pray more for her and hope that she does well.

That is excellent that you won that major job in Virginia. It is also good that you won't have to travel very often. I don't know about you, but I don't like to travel very much. It would be especially hard having to do it every other week or so. What kind of stuff are you going to do for this client?

How are your books coming along?

I wrote the Webb's last week I think. But I will write another to Bishop Webb and the ward. Speaking of the Webbs, yesterday at the high priest thing I met a family that moved from here a few months ago from the Belvidere Branch. I think the father's name was John Fullmer. I know it was Fullmer. The wife said she was really good friends with Sis. Webb. It can be a small world sometimes.

Transfers are a week from this Wednesday. Elder Lacey is pretty convinced he is moving. This is his 5th transfer in this area. So that is kind of a long time.
He just told me his family is moving to Iowa Falls (an hour from from his home). But I thought he said, "Idaho Falls!" I wonder what would happen if your family moved into the mission?

Well, I think that is about it from the mission. Thanks for your email and for sending the copies of the patriarchal blessings.

Love,
Elder Call

Investigator Hospitalized; Another Family Connection Discovered

2010-06-02T08:56:00.003-05:00

31 May 2010

Hi Dad,

Happy Memorial Day!

How are you guys doing this week? I don't know if a whole lot has happened.

Elder Lacey's eyes are corrected as best as possible, according to Dr. Elliott.

One of our investigators was supposed to be baptized on Saturday, but he was hospitalized on Wednesday. The doctors finally think they know what is wrong. He has two disease 1) Wagner's something or other, it attacks his major internal organs. 2) Vasculitis something. That limits the blood flow to joints and causes swelling and stuff. He will be on steroids for 6 months and he should be cured. Wagner's is very rare I think they said it affects 1 in 50,000 American men between the ages of 30 and 40. Our investigator is 28. He should be back this week sometime and he wants to be baptized on the 12th of June.

We did a bunch of service this week for a family that bought a house and wanted to gut it. So we got about half the zone there and ripped out walls, tiles, ceilings all sorts of stuff. It was a lot of fun.

How is Grandma Call doing? Anything new on her chemotherapy?

I keep meeting people we are related to. Yesterday at church (in the Park View Ward) there was an older couple sitting behind us. As we were leaving they said hello and he said "Elder Call! Where are you from?" People say it in a way that I know they are thinking either "Hey I know Calls." or "I'm related to Calls, I wonder if we are related."

I told him I was from Illinois and he asked "Are you related to Anson?" I said, "I come from his brother Omer. Are you?"

He pointed to his wife and said, "She is Anson Call's great-granddaughter!"

Her Grandfather was Israel Call! It seems as if most of Anson's great-grandchildren should be dead. Her grandfather (Israel Call) was born in the 1850's, I believe 1854. Her name is May Call Adamson. She is 88 years old. Israel Call was a patriarch. She told me he also worked in the temple a whole lot. She is my 3rd cousin twice removed. Her grandfather and Grandpa Call's grandpa, Cyril Josiah Call (b.1860), were 1st cousins. I thought that was pretty neat.

Anything else new on the home front? Thanks for everything you guys have done and do for me.

Love,
Elder Call

Mracle with Elder Call's Companion; Updates on Comings and Goings

2010-05-24T23:16:00.005-05:00

[Note: You'll see a parenthetical phrase Elder Call includes that is a family joke. When Elder Call was only 13 or 14, he once was explaining to the family that something was too expensive, and he went about it in a very strange way. He said that it was "way too many dollars too expensive," and we all spontaneously broke out in laughter. Ever since then, we've all used that phrase to describe something that really is "WAY too many dollars too expensive"!
--Editor]i

24 May 2010

Dear Dad,

Thank you for the email. I always look forward to hearing about what is going on at home. It has been an exciting week. First off I want to say I am SO SORRY! Yesterday when I put my suit jacket on to go to church I found the letter that I had written last Monday to mail home after district meeting on Tuesday. But I forgot! So you guys will be getting 2 letters this week, I feel so bad.

Elder Lacey had his eye surgery this week. I don't know if I told you about that. His eyes get pulled off in opposite directions. We had one appointment in Pocatello in April where the doctor told him what he would do and all of that. We then went out to the secretaries to schedule the surgery. They told us they had talked with Sis. Colton and Sis. Sutton and the surgery would be too much money (way too many dollars too expensive) to do in the mission. So he wouldn't be able to have it done.

Then about the 12th of May Sis. Colton and Sis Sutton called and said the surgery was going to happen! The doctor (who is not a member) volunteered to do the surgery for free. The aneathesilogist (sp?) was going to charge a very low amount and Elder Lacey's home stake was able to raise enough money to cover that cost. Talk about miracles. It was completely out of the blue. It was a complete surprise to Sis. Colton and Sis. Sutton.

So we went down Thursday for one last appointment. We stayed with the assistants and the surgery was Friday morning. It went well. His eyes are completely blood shot not just red lines, but actually blood stained. We go down tomorrow for a follow up visit.

While I was at the hospital on Friday a brother from the Shamrock Park ward called and asked me to speak. I told him I could, but someone would have to stay with Elder Lacey and someone would have to go with me. So he said he would work on that. Then Saturday he called and said he was still seeing if he could arrange it. Sunday morning at 7:30 he called and said I was definitely speaking, but there was only one other speaker. I don't mind giving talks in Sacrament any more, we give them so often. Usually at least once a month. So it was fun. I spoke on The Restoration, the respsonsibility to act, and how that should lead us to do missionary work. That was nice of the Brother to send you an email. I hope I got my point across.

That is weird to think that all those people you told me about are graduating. Time marches on I guess. So did Tiffany start going to the Beloit Ward? I didn't really know her very well.

We are having success here. If all goes well, there will be 5 converts baptized in 6 weeks. They all need to keep the commitments.

I remember you talking about that "Best Places" book. That is neat that you are nearing completion. It is actually kind of exciting. It would be something that I would love to look through. It would be even cooler if Deseret Book agreed to publish it. It would probably do a lot better that way.

By the way it just started snowing. It's Idaho.

The coldness and amount of snow is about the same as Illinois I think. But here we will get a freak snow storm every once in a while. It doesn't last, just snows a little. It had one on Saturday morning for a few minutes. Then it was sunny. Then it hailed. Then it was sunny and warm the rest of the day.

Good luck with your work and the books you are doing.

Tell the family I love them.

Love,
Elder Call

Kind Note from Church Member in Idaho Falls

2010-05-24T23:09:00.003-05:00

[Note: We received this email from a member of the Church in Idaho Falls on Sunday afternoon. I referred to this email in my weekly note to Elder Call, and he responded in his email on Monday. As always, I've deleted the name of the individual to protect privacy.
--Editor]

23 May 2010

Brother and Sister Call,

I am a member of the Shamrock Park Ward, in the Idaho Falls South Stake. Today at sacrament meeting your son was the featured speaker. What a fine young man. I was impressed by both his knowledge of the gospel and his enthusiasm for missionary work. There was a great spirit attending his talk.

I thought, it is too bad that his parents couldn't see him in action today. You would have been so proud. Thanks for raising such a fine young man who could come to Idaho and help build the Lord's kingdom here.

I went away from the meeting very impressed and hope to find someone for Elder Call to teach in my neighborhood.

Have a great day,

Brother ---

Musings, Admonitions, and Updates

2010-05-19T11:49:00.002-05:00

17 May 2010

Dear Dad,

Time is going quickly. The 17th of May. Tomorrow I will hit my 15 month mark. That goes too fast, I remember being with Elder Burton and thinking that I still had 23 months left to go. That seemed like a really long time. But now I look back on it and it has all gone so quick. Elder Burton has been home for 3 months now and I only have 9 months left. It is kind of sad.

That is awesome that you are able to get some of that work done. Rebecca wrote me last week and she said something like, "Money doesn't bring happiness, but it can bring peace of mind." What is this book that you have been writing? Is it one about business stuff?

It makes me so happy that you are writing your life history. That is a big undertaking and takes a lot of diligence. I wish I had been better at writing in my journal my entire mission. I have written in spurts. I hope to do better with it. I have written for two weeks now everyday. I want to continue that for the rest of my mission. I also have a little journal I call my "baptism journal" where I write about each investigator that I got to help teach that was baptized. I am way behind on that. I need to get caught up in that one.

This Thursday Elder Lacey and I are going down to Pocatello. He is having an eye appointment, then his surgery on Friday. We will stay overnight, probably with the Assistants. I am going to take my journal down there and try to get caught up in that as much as I can during all of that stuff.

That is so cool that you have had a few baptisms in the ward recently and more to come. As you very well know, missionary work is so important. Of course right now some of my favorite scriptures are missionary scriptures. Two of which are Moroni 7:13 and D&C 35:12.

Moroni: "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God."

There are two parts: 1) Invite. We need to invite people to act. To experience and learn for themselves. As they do so there faith will increase. That is invite people to do something that will increase there faith. Inviting to cub scouts will not, in all likelihood, increase their faith. 2) Entice. We need to make the gospel something everybody else wants. That would be the "just be a good example" part that people are SO set on.

We need both parts giving 100% of each. Then we get a perfect balance. If we just invite, that is when friendships will be ruined. If we just entice then at the last day, they will ask why we never told them about the gospel. The guilt that I will feel will be too much for me to bear.

D&C: "And there are none that doeth good except those who are ready to receive the fullness of my gospel, which I have sent forth unto this generation."

Too often we meet members who stand on their doorstep or sit in their chairs, while pointing to there neighbors, and tell us, "They're active. They're active too, she's in the Primary presidency. They're less-active, but they'll come to ward activities. They're active. They're not members, really good people though..." And they don't want to talk to those people about the gospel. I hate to say it, but those "really good people" aren't going to make it to heaven on good works alone. They need faith in the fullness of the gospel. And as the Lord tells us in this verse those that do good are ready for the fullness of the gospel. Ready now. Not later, not never, not once before when you sent the missionaries there a year and a half ago. They are ready for the fullness.

So that is my little soap-box cry.

I am doing pretty good on everything. Really the only thing is that my shirts are way baggy and that just gets annoying. They are still good to wear. My suit you sent is slightly baggy, but there are plenty of sisters here that are willing to help take our pants in and stuff. I have pretty much stayed about the same weight since December, so the suit is good. Thank you for offering, but don't do anything that you can't afford. I will be just fine, the Lord provides.

We had dinner with a family last night and the wife knows the Bundersons [one of Shannon's sisters, who is living in Utah]. She is from Ferron, Utah. I should have asked her maiden name, but her name now is Michelle Elison. She said she really knows Landon and Nathan, went to High School with them. She said they were a lot of fun and really good boys. So that was pretty good.

We had a baptism on Saturday of Al Vaalemoen (Vall-min). That was way cool. It was the first baptism we have had since I have been here in IF South. It was neat to see, it has been a long time coming and he finally committed. I will probably write more about that in the letter home.

I will continue to pray for you.

Love,
Elder Call

Baptisms. . .Family History. . .(what else?)

2010-05-03T12:40:00.003-05:00

3 May 2010

Dear Dad,

It is crazy how time flies by. It is the beginning of May and it was this time last year that Elder Bednar came to the mission. It is so weird to think that was a whole year ago already! I have been out more than 14 months now. That is kind of sad.

I will get to call home on Mother's Day this year. That kind of snuck up on us, or we would have been arranging times a few weeks ago. But yesterday an older couple told us we can use their phones. I will probably be calling at about 2:45 my time. So I guess that will be 3:45 your time. They said they will get home from church between 2:30 and 2:45. I think Elder Lacey and I decided I will call first (He said he might talk longer than I will).

The man who is letting us use his phone is Bro. Ron Wheeler he is a relative (go figure). His dad was Arnold Shannon Wheeler and his grandpa was Joseph Henry Wheeler (b. 1882). His great-grandfather was Levi Lincoln Wheeler (b. 1838). So we have Connie Wheeler Call and her father was John Etsel Wheeler (b. 1891) and her grandfather was John Albert Wheeler ( b. 1869) and her great-grandfather was Levi Lincoln Wheeler (b. 1838). John Albert was the oldest and Joseph Henry was the 6th of 8 children of Levi Lincoln Wheeler and Sarah Jane Lavender. So that means Grandma and Bro. Ron Wheeler are 2nd cousins! He and I are 2nd cousins twice removed. That is actually pretty close. I think that is the closest relative I have met so far on my mission.

We set two baptism dates! The man that we took to the temple visitor's center a couple of weeks ago, and his son. They will be baptized on the 15 May. I am so excited for them. He is a great, very spiritual man.

Transfers are this week and Elder Lacey and I are both staying. I kind of figured that was going to happen (based on things President had told me). Elder Lacey will have been here for 7 and a half months at the end of next transfer.

Other than that not a whole lot is happening.

Thank you for the email from Grandpa. Those will be really good to get. I hope that Grandma and Grandpa can get through this hard time. I will continue to pray for them.

Love,
Elder Call

Investigators Progressing in Idaho Falls South Stake

2010-04-26T12:11:00.005-05:00

Note: In my weekly email to Elder Call, I updated him on some comings and goings in the Beloit Ward, including information about the new YM and YW presidency, Mike Hobbs receiving his Duty to God award, Dan Bunker submitting his missionary papers, and the Stewart Family.
—Editor

26 April 2010

Dear Dad,

I hope that jury duty will be more exciting this time around. I actually don't think that I would like to do that very much, too much could hang in the balance and I wouldn't want to have to make that decision. Good luck to you.

That Young Men's presidency will do awesome.

I'll have to write Mike and congratulate him on earning his Duty to God. His birthday is actually on transfers, about a week and a half away.

I can't wait to hear where Dan is called to serve. That makes me so happy to see that he has stayed worthy and has the desire to serve. He will be a great missionary.

The Stewarts are great people. I have many great memories of them. Especially when President Stewart was our young men's president. I think that Sis. Stewart was in the mutual program pretty much my entire time being involved with the youth.

Not a whole lot of exciting things have happened this week, but there are a few things of note.

We took one of our investigators to the visitor's center last Monday night and watched the Joseph Smith movie. It was very powerful. He definitely felt the Spirit there. He has family that was baptized a few months ago. Elder Lacey told me that the first time they met him he basically told them to get off his porch because we are a cult! Now he goes to church every week. He told us after the movie on the way home the he ordered a quad and is having his name put on it. He also said that he recently considers his religion to be "Mormon." When we meet with him tonight we are going to ask him to be baptized. I have no idea what he will say. I guess we will find out.

There is a part-member family that we have been teaching. Their two daughters committed to be baptized later in May.

It can be kind of mind-boggling sometimes. This family (like others I have met) all know the gospel very well, and seem to have testimonies. But when it comes to staying active it is hard. So then their kids don't get baptized when they turn 8 so we come in and teach. We get them coming to church in hopes that they will stay active, or that in the future they can have a place to go. The father isn't a member, and he doesn't say much, but as far as we can tell he doesn't have a problem with anything we teach. He even said a prayer yesterday at the end of the lesson.

One of our other investigators is on the edge of dropping us. She is a good lady. She told us she isn't sure she will continue to go to the LDS Church. She is going to a different church each week. She said she just doesn't think the Church is what she is looking for. So we hope we can get her to realize it is not about what we want, or what we think is fun, or what the spirit is. But we should look for Christ's church and the Spirit as described in the Bible and Book of Mormon.
I hope that things will continue to progress here.

I will also continue to pray for the family and for Grandma Call.

Keep me updated please. Thanks.

Love,
Elder Call

Physically Demanding Weekend; News from Ammon West Stake

2010-04-23T22:05:00.004-05:00

19 April 2010

Dear Family:

This week has been pretty good. We had a crazy weekend, though.

Friday night we took a nonmember family to the Idaho Falls Visitor's Center. We went in to see the Joseph Smith movie, and even now they still have one or two boxes of tissues on every row. The family looked kind of confused about that. But during the movie, the mother started crying when Alvin Smith was dying. She would cry periodically throughout the rest of the movie.

At the end she could hardly say anything. She was so choked up. Then she said, "Now I know why they have so many boxes of tissues here!"

Then on Friday night we went on exchanges in the Central stake with Elder Potts. On Saturday morning at 8 o'clock all four of us helped a nonmember family move to the South stake, That took until noon. (On Friday morning we had helped another family move, too."

Then on Saturday afternoon we helped one of the ward mission leaders in the Central stake do yardwork. Again, that was all four of us. Then we went to a dinner appointment. Just as we were walking out of the dinner appointment, the ward mission leader called and said his basement had flooded! He needed our help. We arrived at about 6:30. Every room in the basement had some sort of water damage. As we walked on the carpet, the water would just squirt. He had a ton of stuff down there. It took us until 1:00 a.m. to finish the night's work! Then we didn't get home until 1:15 or 1:20 or so. We didn't get to bed until closer to 2:00 a.m., and we had to get up at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday. It was the longest, most physically demanding weekend of my mission so far.

Sunday we were absolutely exhausted. But it was a very good day! The family that went to the Visitors Center with us came to church! We think they even bought their young boy some Sunday clothes. They had expressed some concerns about being accepted, but at church several people came up to them and introduced themselves, and the family was very excited. Then, after sacrement meeting, two or three boys came up to their son and asked him to go to class with them. That made the parents so happy. Then other people came up and helped the parents feel comfortable at Sunday school.

That ward had a girl speak who is going on a mission to Hungary, so there were a lot of people there from different parts of town, including one family from the Ammon West Stake. They had helped us reactivate a family. They told me that that family had just gone to the temple on Saturday! That makes me so happy to hear all that.

Thank you again for all of your letters and support.

Love,
Elder Call

Expressions of Love for Grandmother; Thoughts on Family History

2010-04-19T11:42:00.004-05:00

Note: In my weekly email to Elder Call, I informed him that his Grandmother Call has been diagnosed with cancer and will be undergoing chemotherapy beginning this month. I also shared with him the progress I've made on my life history—it's now up to 165 pages.
—Editor

19 April 2010

Dear Dad,

I know that the Brumbles will do a great job on Easter Island. I hope that Jared will be prepared to serve a mission, he would be a great missionary also. Have you heard any news about Dan Bunker. I haven't heard from him for a few weeks and I think he said he was going to come home and submit his papers from Beloit Ward, is that still the plan?

That is absolutely astounding that you have written so much about your life history! I can't tell you how much our family is going to love that. Just think if your dad or grandparents had a life history that long. Do you know if your parents have written a life history, journal, etc? Rebecca mailed me some copies of things from the Call Connection that they wrote about their early life. They were fascinating to read. Also, consider if Omer or Cyril wrote life histories. As far as I can tell they didn't, but their children and gandchildren wrote some life sketches of them.

Thank you for telling me about Grandma Call. That is very sad. I hope that she does alright. I will keep her in my prayers. Tell her that I love her and am proud that she is my grandmother.

On my mission so far I have met several people who have been close to passing on. I was asked to give a blessing to one man that was near death. We tracted into him and his family. Apparently he had been lingering on for an extended period of time, just hanging on, though he was hardly coherent. There were probably 15 family members or so in the room. One son said that a blessing of release might be necessary. He passed away a few days later. However, the peace that was in the home was strong. A family with knowledge of life here and in the hereafter. The Holy Spirit was extending his sacred calling of comfort that visibly affected the family. I am grateful for that.

Spring has finally hit Idaho for good I think. That is a blessing! It has fluctuated for the last several weeks.

Thank you for the email.

Love,
Elder Call

Expecting Miracles in Idaho Falls South Stake

2010-04-05T13:40:00.006-05:00

5 April 2010

Dear Dad,

Things are great here in IF South. My new companion is Elder Lacey from Iowa. He has been out 9 months and is doing a good job. We cover 7 wards and a singles branch.

They are:
Sunnyside Ward
Shadow Mountain Ward
Cedar Ridge Ward
Summerfield Ward
Shamrock Park Ward
Home Ranch Ward
Park View Ward
Community Park Branch (Singles)

We are going to see miracles here in the next few weeks.

The President of the singles branch is President Kevin Call. Owner of Farr's Candy and Ice Cream. He comes from the Star Valley Branch of the family. He is pretty nice and everybody in Idaho Falls seems to love him.

General Conference was very good. Our zone watched it at the IF Stake Center on 1st street.

It was spring break here this past week and the week before it was getting pretty warm, but it tricked us and we had a few flurries of snow. We are supposed to be able to take our suit coats off at the end of April Conference, and we have, but it has been in the 30's which isn't very warm.

I wish that I could be doing family history research right now! Outside of family and friends that is probably what I miss the most. It was kind of funny--we went to a man's house the other day and he told me that when he first saw me he thought, "He looks familiar. I should know him." It turns out he spent a while in Rigby and knew a bunch of Calls there. He said we all look similar.

I had one family in Pocatello we were eating with kept looking at me kind of funny, especially looking at my eyes, and asked if I had family in Bancroft (just outside of our mission--that is where a lot of the Chesterfield Calls went when Chesterfield became a ghost town). They told me that my eyes looked just like the eyes of some Calls they grew up with over there.

I hope that work will provide itself for you and that you will be given the inspiration to know how to get new clients.

Last night we had a lesson with a couple that wants to get baptized. They pretty much told us that the first time we met them. It was our first lesson last night. We had a brother from the ward with us. We had plans to set a baptism date for the two of them. This area just really needs a baptism date to kick-start things. We had plans to share a short, powerful first lesson (as we are instructed too) and invite them to be baptized and we both (Elder Lacey and I) felt very strongly about needing to do that. But it just didn't quite work out the way we had planned.

We ended up setting another appointment to come over on Tuesday afternoon, and we hope to set a plan for him and his wife to get baptized.

Thank you for all of your support.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call now in Idaho Falls South Stake

2010-03-29T17:10:00.003-05:00

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

More Baptisms; Transfer to Idaho Fall South Stake

2010-03-22T13:08:00.004-05:00

22 March 2010

Dear Dad,

Thank you for the email. That was so much fun to read. That is very exciting that the Brumbles finally get to leave. I am glad I didn't have to wait so long. I think that I counted 19 missionaries from our stake! That is amazing!

St. Anthony is doing well. We set a baptism date with a twelve-year-old boy this week. His father is a member and his mother a non-member. But the whole family has been going to church since the beginning of January and we started teaching them at the end of January. The mother wants to be baptized also (and has had that desire since she was 8) but is scared she can't prepare. It is so cool to see people's lives change. The father is actually a descendant of Omer's son Omer Samuel Call (b. 1857) and we come from Cyril Josiah (b. 1860). It was those two and their cousin Josiah Call (son of Homer) and their brother-in-law, George Albert Cordon, that came up from Willard in 1883 to settle in Rigby.

We also almost set a baptism date with a 21-year-old man last night. We have been teaching him for about 4 weeks. We have tried twice before. But he now feels like he has his answer and his faith is increasing (that was his concern last week). He told us he just doesn't have the courage and that he "need[s] to just buck-up and do it." I hope that he can continue to strengthen his faith.

So transfers are this week and I am being moved. I am going to the Idaho Falls South Stake on Wednesday to be a district leader down there. Elder Walker and I were here for 3 transfers together and we have only heard of one other companionship that has been together 4. But the really cool thing is that Elder Walker is training! It is highly unusual to be in your first area with only one companion and then be called to train in that same area! So in mission language that means "my son will give birth in the wilderness of his birth." My grandson will also train in St. Anthony that would be sweet.

I am very sad to be leaving, but I kind of half expected it. I love this area. You are right though about being able to return.

I do love the spring break trips we had and I will always remember those. Especially looking for Cyril Call's land in Ohio.

Thank you again.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call's Dad Reminisces

2010-03-21T15:50:00.003-05:00

21 March 2010

Dear Elder Call:

Wonderful news from the Brumbles: They finally will have their visas and will be leaving for their missions next month. Bless their hearts. I think their original date was back in November or December, so their delay has been a long one. But as I told Brother Brumble, the Lord knows what He is doing and I am confident they are going when the Lord needs them there.

Speaking of missionaries, the stake website has on its front page a list of all missionaries currently serving from the Rockford Stake:

Taft Gearhart - Baltic Mission - November 18, 2008
Robert Call - Idaho Pocatello Mission - February 18, 2009
Cody Weiland - Utah Ogden Mission - March 25, 2009
Dan Abbot - Mexico Torreon Mission - March 25, 2009
Jordan Johnson - Florida Tampa Mission - May 6, 2009
Kathryn Abbot - Argentina Buenos Aires Mission - May 20, 2009
Dan Merrill - Nevada Las Vegas Mission - May 20, 2009
Nelson Walker - Arizona Tempe Mission - May 27, 2009
Tyler Evans - El Salvador San Salvador East Mission - June 3, 2009
JB Gustafson - Paraguay Asunción Mission - June 10, 2009
Devin Hansen - Colorado Denver North Mission – Spanish speaking - June 17, 2009
Travis Williams - Uruguay Montevideo Mission - July 23, 2009
Lonnie Robertson - Riverside California Mission August 19, 2009
Jacob Ensign - Australia Melbourne East Mission, Mandarin Chinese speaking - November 11, 2009
Joseph Ziemann - Guatemala City North Mission - November 18, 2009
Jaclyn Howze – Dominican Republic Santiago Mission – December 16, 2009
Mary Ellen Stocks - Lima Peru South Mission - January 13, 2010
Wesley Jeffrey - California San Fernando Mission - Spanish speaking - February 3, 2010
Jake Spencer - California San Jose Spanish speaking - February 10, 2010

Missionary Calls:
William and Rosalia Brumble - Chile Santiago North Mission

Isn't it amazing how many missionaries we have? And to think that you were among the first of this large group to embark on your mission. You are an example to so many, Elder, and you have greatly influenced more people than you could possible ever imagine.

We are so thrilled to hear of your successes. It is truly a blessing to our family to know you are serving the Lord and that He is guiding you and directing your efforts. It seems like every week you have new prospects and new opportunities, new and exciting progress being made among the investigators and converts. We love to read your letters and we draw strength from them.

This coming week is spring break here in Illinois. I think that for the rest of my life, when spring break comes I will think of our youth trips to Nauvoo, Missouri, and Kirtland. It's amazing to think that the Nauvoo trip was so long ago. . .2006! That was a fun trip. I don't remember a lot of what we did, but I do remember the fieside meetings. Then there was Missouri. . .wow. You did such a great job helping to organize that trip--I don't know what I would have done without your help. That was absolutely awesome. And then, the most memorable of all: Kirtland. Remember how you and I got up early to go find Cyril Call's property? That was great. But of course the testimony meeting in the Kirtland Temple was the highlight. I'm grateful the Lord has given us the capacity to remember.

Enough reminiscing, though. It sounds like St. Anthony has been a blessing in your life, and that you have been a blessing to St. Anthony. It would be great if you and Elder Walker are there another transfer. In my mission, I ended up being in an area called Tseun Wan for 8 months. . .first, I was there for two months as a junior companion, then I was transferred out to two other areas (three months in Aberdeen, one month in Central), then I was sent back to Tsuen Wan for six months as a zone leader. I loved Tsuen Wan. There were two wards there, three or four missionary districts, and one zone. I was transferred out of Tsuen Wan on 28 March 1980--30 years ago this week--and it still brings back fond memories to me. St. Anthony will be the same for you, as will each of the areas where you serve. I am a bit jealous of you, however. You will be able to return to your mission and visit and remember much easier than I've been able to return to mine!

This week we will be spending time cleaning up the house and yard, and we hope to list it for sale by the end of the week. This is an emotional and difficult event for us, but at this point we don't see any other option. Being away from the family 50 percent of the time just is not meant to be, for any family.

We love you, Elder Call, and we are so proud of you. We pray for you every day. We know the Lord is with you.

Love,
Dad

Another Baptism Brings the Spirit

2010-03-21T15:39:00.004-05:00

15 March 2010

Hey Dad,

Thank you for your email this week. It is good that I will be able to go to Beloit and see some friends when I return.

Let me know all of the updates on the move.

I am glad that work continues to go well for you. I hope that you get the donors that you need.

Last Saturday (6 March) we were able to baptize Robert, the 75 year old. He was very excited and very committed to the whole thing. He had had the heart attack a week or two before and was given a pacemaker. The doctors told him he could still be baptized, but if he lifted his arm too high then there might be some serious problems. I had the opportunity to be the one to baptize him. I was pretty nervous because I didn't want to hurt him. But it all went off with out a hitch. The next day he bore his testimony.

Transfers are coming up not this Wednesday, but the next. I have been here in St. Anthony for four transfers now. Three of which have been with Elder Walker. I have never heard of any companionship being longer than 3 transfers. And only a couple of missionaries being in areas longer than 4 transfers. So I kind of figured I would get transferred. But on Friday at interviews President Colton told us there is a good chance that no one in St. Anthony will be moved. There are only three missionaries going home and only four coming in. That isn't very many. He said he wants this transfer to be as "invisible" as possible. Elder Walker and I figured that as "invisible" as possible would be only moving one missionary. We don't know if that is what they will do, but probably only a handful will get transferred.

Other than that, things are going really well here, and I pray that we can find some new people to teach and baptize.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call Adjusting to Thoughts of Texas

2010-03-21T15:21:00.003-05:00

15 March 2010

Dear Family:

Well, a week (or less than that) from now we will know transfer information. I used to think that I was going to be transferred because I have been here so long and also I've been with one companion for so long. But at interviews on Friday President said that he is going to try to make this transfer as invisible as possible. Only three missionaries are going home and four are coming in. He said there is a good chance St. Anthony will stay the same.

I have to admit that last Monday when I found out about the move to Texas I was pretty blown away. We do emails from the Family History Center, and some of the workers there offered solace and comfort! It was probably pretty funny if you were a fly on the wall. So today when we got to the Family History Center one of the brothers had hung a Texas flag above the computer I use! Then he played a Youtube video of Texas music and all the things to do and see in Texas. It was pretty funny. Now Elder Walker has hung the flag over my bed.

It is even funnier because the week before I was talking about how Texas is the most prideful state in the Union!

Nothing much is going on besides all that. Can you tell Rebecca the next time you talk with her that I did get that package with all the copies. And that I really enjoyed reading them. Thank you.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call Reacts to News of Family Move

2010-03-21T14:56:00.004-05:00

8 March 2010

Dear Family:

Another week has flown b y and time marches onward. I was thinking that it was a year ago that we were packing at the MTC and getting ready to fly to our missions. I remember an elder in our district that went to Colorado Springs. The entire time we were in the MTC he was itching to get out and go teach the gospel. The rest of us were kind of nervous to actually go and have people's salvation depend on our ability to listen to the Spirit.

The day finally came when we got our flight plans. We got them and everyone was excited and eager, nearly impatient to get out and get to work--except for this elder! He was scared and terrified. I think when that happened, it really hit him. He was going to go out and represent Jesus Christ. Now we have been in the mission field a year, and I am sure he is doing fine.

I am so happy that everyone is doing well. It sounds like things keep moving forward. I hope that Mary Ann continues to do well in school and seminary. I learned that it just isn't worth stressing out over hard classes. And congratulations to John for his Science Olympiad stuff.

I heard the news about moving to Texas! That should be exciting! It will be the beginning of a brand new chapter for the Call Family. It will be sad to leave the Beloit Ward. I love that place so much. But it will be better for the family to move to Texas. It can't be good at all to have Dad flying to Texas every other week. I know that you have made the right choice.

It will be good to live close to Grandma and Grandpa Call. We have never lived close to them before. For some reason I keep thinking about Joseph Call, my 5th great grandfather. He lived with one of his grandsons, Asa Cyril Call, for the last few years of his life, until he was 80 years old. Asa writes about it in his journal and seems to have truly appreciated those years of being with his grandfather.

So, of course I have a thousand questions to ask, but here are just a few:

1. When will we be moving?
2. Do you have a place picked out?
3. Is it in the same stake as Grandma and Grandpa?
4. If you have a home, what is the address? (Investigators want to know my home address so they can write.)
5. How is everyone taking the news?

I can't think of any more, but please tell me all you can.

Love,
Elder Call

Baptism Bring Joy

2010-03-21T13:33:00.013-05:00

Note: In order to preserve privacy, full names of individuals are not included in these posts.

1 March 2010

Dear Family:

The most exciting thing that happened this week was the baptism of Aaron!

I think I have written about him before. His wife and two kids, MaKayla (15), and Bubba (13) are all active and have been looking forward to his day for years. Our teaching record shows that Aaron has been taught by missionaries off and on for three years. He finally overcame what was holding him up. We started teaching him on the 19th of November--that was Elder Walker's second day in St. Anthony and, I believe, his first teaching appointment to a nonmember.

It has been a long struggle, but he finally got there. When he showed up for his baptismal interview, he seemed a little scared. But when he came out of the interview with the zone leader, he was all smiles and talking, in contrast to the straight-faced, quiet man a few minutes before.

It was like "Field of Dreams":

If you baptize Aaron, they will come.

We asked him if we could invite a few people to his baptism, and he said that would be alright, although he wanted it to be a small thing. So we invited just six people, three of whom are in the bishopric.

So the day of his baptism finally came: 27 February 2010. Aaron and his friend who was going to baptize him arrived and went in to change their clothes. We had 53 chairs set up. But people just kept coming and coming. We didn't think--at least I didn't think--50 chairs would be filled up. And I figured it would be just his brothers-in-law and their families. But it was kind of like the movie "Field of Dreams": "If you baptize Aaron, they will come." We had to set up more and more chairs. Then people had to stand. That little Primary room was packed, filled with at least 75 people!

It was a very, very spiritual baptism. Many people were emotional, including Aaron and his fellow cowboys. I hope they can make it to the temple in a year. It brings me such joy to see someone like Aaron make those covenants with God. A man like Aaron makes it all worth it. It is a testament to the divinity of this work. How could anyone deny the change and the power by which it was wrought, that took place in Aaron's heart and behavior? I know I can't.

Love,
Elder Call

Laser Tag; Baptism; New Stake Looming

2010-02-12T09:48:00.003-06:00

1 February 2010

Dear Family,

We are looking forward to Saturday because they are rearranging the ward boundaries int he St. Anthony Idaho Stake. They are also creating a new ward. Everyone has their theories about hot it is going to work out, but nobody really knows. We have heard that the last time they did something like this was 25 years ago. It is the talk of the town. Everywhere we go people ask about it.

Transfers are coming up again a week from Wednesday. We will find out what is happening on Sunday night. It is weird how quick time goes by. I honestly have no idea what is going to happen. Elder Walker is pretty convinced that he is going to leave, and that I will stay. We'll just have to wait and see.

In Rexburg there is a place called "The Craze." Some missionaries have done a lot of service there. It is just a fun hang out spot, food, games, laser tag, etc. The owner told the missionaries that we could have a zone activity of laser tag for free. So about 12 of us from the zone went and played laser tag for an hour. It was a lot of fun.

Zoey Bloom was baptized on Saturday. It went well. I wrote to Dad about it in an email. She is a nine-year-old girl and the family is doing a pretty good job of staying active. Both the parents are converts. The mother was baptized in her late 20s or early 30s, and the father's family are members, but he was never baptized until a few years ago.

Well, I know this is short, but I need to go. Thank you for everything and just hang in there.

Love,
Elder Call

"Miracles Continue to Happen"

2010-02-12T09:25:00.005-06:00

25 January 2010

Dear Family,

To be honest, I don't know if much of anything of note has happened this week. It has just gone by so darn quickly. Transfers are coming up in a couple of weeks. Elder Walker thinks that I will stay and that he is going to be transferred. But I think it is the other way around. At the end of this transfer it will be 4.5 months in St. Anthony.

When I was on exchanges with Elder Flores this week, Elder Walker and Elder Hernandez went to go teach one of our investigators. He is probably about 40 years old, and his wife and kids are all active in the Church. Just a week or so before Elder Walker came here, Elder Johnsen and I were going through the former investigators section of the area book. We saw his name and we both felt inspired to visit him. He lives in Wilford 1st Ward. A couple days later we were talking with Bishop Stoddard out in Parker 1st Ward. We asked him if he knew anyone we should go visit, and he mentioned this man's name.

So we went out and met him and set up an appointment to teach him. That appointment was to be on Elder Walker's second day in the mission field. That first meeting was pretty powerful. We have met with him probably about every week to 10 days since. We have had several meetings that were very Spirit-filled. But we would never commit to being baptized. In our first meeting he told us he believed the Book of Mormon to be true as well as Joseph Smith's being a prophet of God.

Then in this last appointment that Elder Walker, Elder Hernandez, and Brother Nelson visited him, he told them that the next time we would meet he would have a day in mind to be baptized! He said he needs to talk it over with his wife, but he will have a day. We are very excited and hope he can have the strength to overcome what it is that is holding him back.

Miracles continue to happen.

Love,
Elder Call

Beautiful St. Anthony

2009-12-31T19:22:00.012-06:00

Elder Call sent these photos home a few weeks ago. What a beautiful place to serve!

A view of the Grand Tetons from Elder Call's and Elder Walker's home in St. Anthony. The Elders are living with Brother and Sister Crapo, who are wonderful and giving members.

Sunset in St. Anthony. . .a memory Elder Call will hold dear for his entire life. Note the irrigation sprinkler.

What an awesome view of a sunset over the Grand Tetons as seen from the Elder's home!

Elder Call and Elder Weatherston with Sara, one of their baptisms.

Elder Call and Elder Johnsen with the Gold Family.

Elder Call's Hopes Realized: Staying in St. Anthony; Elders Meet Interesting People

2009-12-31T18:30:00.002-06:00

28 December 2009

Hi Dad,

Thank you again for all of the gifts that you guys sent me. I love them.

Nothing much is happening here since I called home and wrote home on Christmas. We did find out that Elder Walker and I are both staying here in St. Anthony. So I will be here at least another 6 weeks, unless another ET (emergency transfer) occurs. At the end of the six weeks I will have been here for 3 transfers or 4 1/2 months! I will also be short a week of hitting my year mark! Isn't that weird, by the end of this transfer I will have been out for pretty much a year already.

Saturday we had the baptisms of Stephanie and Kyle Westover. Stephanie is the mother and Kyle is her 8 year old son. It was a very good baptism and Stephanie and Kyle are solid converts. They both have very strong testimonies. Stephanie's husband is not a member so Kyle is a convert even though he is 8 years old. They are a good family. It is really cool to see people's lives change through baptism.

I am really excited for all of the cool things happening here, I hope that they can continue to happen.

We met a couple of interesting people yesterday while tracting. One is named Mad Jack. He just kind of lives in a shack. He is an older man probably in his late sixties or seventies. He described himself as a mountain man and he pretty much looked like one too. He took us into his quarters and he had probably a dozen or more buffalo skulls hanging on the ceiling, with hides stretched, drums, bows, etc. All sorts of random things all over. He used to be in biker gangs and grew up on an Indian reservation. He says he is a member of the Mormon faith. He has a few "choppers"(motorcycles) that he is very proud of. We have heard all about Mad Jack from people around the community. He was really nice. We think he might have been slightly intoxicated.

The other guy we met was Amil Quayle. He lives in the house on the banks of Henry's Fork of the Snake River that his father built when Amil was one. He grew up in it. He is very into learning and accumulating worldly knowledge. He has a lot of books and National Geographics and several sets of Encyclopedias. He also is a member; his son served a mission. But Amil really didn't want us to proselyte to him at all. He was a river guide on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and I believe he has also been a professor. He insisted on giving us some homemade sourdough bread and some jam. He also gave us a book he wrote--poetry. He is an artist. He is about 70. Interesting guy. Told us to not spend too much time reading his poetry and forget about the Book of Mormon. But then he also told us we should go home and have fun with the girls. So we are not quite sure how he feels about the church. He really wouldn't tell us.

He did tell us that his family was from the Isle of Man and came to Utah in 1847 in the "John Taylor Company". (Wasn't George Q. Cannon's middle name Quayle and wasn't he from the Isle of Man?)

He said that his great-grandfather and his brother had a problem with tithing and Brigham Young and went to California during the gold rush and sold whiskey to the workers and then came back. I think he was implying that they have never really been very active, but I'm not sure.

Some of the people that I have met here in St. Anthony (several different families) have all been less-active. It is pretty sad.

It makes me grateful to have a family history with ancestors that have had testimonies and taught their children to gain testimonies so I could be where I am.

Love,

Elder Call

Elder Call Expresses Gratitude for Christmas, Love and Appreciation for Area; Fears Transfer will Come Soon

2009-12-31T18:10:00.004-06:00

25 December 2009
Christmas Day

Dear Family:

I cannot thank you enough for the presents you sent me for Christmas. I was very touched that you would send so much--especially a new suit. I am very excited about that. It is a very nice suit and I am glad that it is just plain black. The other suits that I have that fit me are gray with pin stripes and the other one is dark green, and both are from the DI.

It is also nice to get the little things we need, but are a bit of an annoyance to buy, like paper, pens, etc. Thank you for the stamps you sent a little while back. These are like gold to missionaries.

Things are going very well. This area is definitely blessed. Miracles just keep on happening. I hope the miracles will keep happening. Tomorrow we are supposed to baptize a lady and her son. Every baptism that I've had so far is for someone who is an overage youth (parents are less active) or for a part-member family, except for one other baptism. And for this baptism tomorrow, we are pretty sure the father and other son will get baptized in the coming months.

The other day we went to have an investigator interviewed by the zone leaders for baptism. Elder Navarette, who is from Chile, did the interview. When he was signing his name, I saw his full name, so I said, "Oh, your name is Sebastian." He said, in his Chilean accent, "No. My name is 'Say-bass-tea-own!'" It was quite funny. Elder Dangerfield remarked, "Sebastian is the crab in The Little Mermaid. Say-bass-tea-own is the dignified Chilean Elder Navarette."

I am beginning to truly love this area, and that scares me. Every time an elder begins to love and appreciate an area, he gets transferred. Transfers are coming up on the 30th, just a few days away, and we won't find out what will happen until Sunday night. I hope we both stay here at least one more transfer.

Thank you for everything. Tell all the family and the ward that I am doing well and thank them for the cards they have sent.

Love,

Elder Call

Missionary Work Goes On. . .

2009-12-31T18:07:00.001-06:00

13 December 2009

Hi Dad,

Thank you for your email and thank you so much for the birthday present. It will really help keep me warm. And it is alright that I didn't get it right on my birthday.

Things are going well here in St. Anthony. We do have a bit of a crisis that began to develop at about 8:30 last night. Our investigator that was planning on getting baptized on Wednesday we found out is on probation. That means that he probably will not be baptized this week, or really anytime soon. I don't know really what we are going to do. But it was a chaotic night with phone calls between us, the district leader, the zone leaders, President Colton, Bro. Chelson (High Councilman over missionary work/Seminary Teacher), Bro. Johnson (High Councilman over missionary work), President Walker (Stake President/judge). I am praying that a miracle will occur and that doors will be opened. We will find out more today hopefully.

It sounds like everybody's plans are changing pretty drastically. I hope that all goes well for everyone and the decisions they are making. I am confident with faith and prayers that all will work out.

I sent a letter to Rachel, but it was returned with a note saying she didn't live there anymore. So tell her I am sorry and will probably just mail it home so she can get it during Christmas break.

Thank you for everything and I am going to try to send Christmas cards to people, rather than letters this week and next week. I have gotten so many letters these last couple of weeks that I think it would be impossible to write a full letter to everyone.

Good luck with the Artisan Theater this week.

Tell Mary Ann not to stress out over high school and that it all works out in the end and just to take it one step at a time, and pray.

Love,

Elder Call

Elder Call Answers our Questions Regarding Missionary Clothing

2009-12-31T17:59:00.005-06:00

Note: We discovered through pictures that Elder Call has sent us that he has lost a lot of weight, so we inquired regarding what sizes he wears and how he is doing with clothing. —Editor

7 December 2009

Hi Dad,

Things are going well and thank you all so much for all of the Christmas Cards you sent us! Those were so much fun to read and they really brightened the day. Also thank you, Rebecca, for all of those chocolates! They are really good. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Elder Walker is one of the few people on Earth who doesn't like chocolate! Tomorrow is District Meeting and interviews with President and the APs, so maybe I will take to share.

I have bought two suits at the DI. One has a funny story with it. I bought it at the DI and it had a handkerchief in it that said "Elder B. Bartschi." I heard Bro. Johnson talking about a man named Brian Bartschi. He is in the Wilford 2 ward. So I went to their home. Just his wife was home and she said that was his suit and that he served in the Alberquerque New Mexico mission before I was born. It is really nice and is grey with pin strips.

I did bring ear muffs. Hats really, really bother me. They are tight, annoying, scratchy, etc. So if I am humbled enough by the cold and wind MAYBE I will go by one somewhere! (I am serving in a car area, and we don't do much walking for extended periods of time. We are some of the lucky few.)

My dress coat is a little big, but not so much that it looks funny or is annoying. It is plenty warm.

My shirts are too big (but still in good condition). The ones I have now are a size 18 neck and sleeves are 34-35. Elder Walker has some shirts that are a little too big for him so I tried them on. The neck was a size 16. That was several days ago, so I can't quite remember. But I think the neck was fine (maybe a 16 1/2 would give a little breathing room). The torso, though, was kind of tight. The 34-35 sleeves are good.

Everything that I have is good and I don't need much. So don't spend a lot of money. As long as I am covered that is what matters.

I have been thinking lately that the suits I have that are too big I should donate to the DI. I have three that are too big. One that I have had for a few years. The black one with pin stripes, and the gray one you gave me that we got tailored. If you want they gray one or either of the others I can mail them to you instead of giving them to the DI, just let me know.

The mission office asked that packages get mailed directly to our homes rather than the office. So our address is 684 N. 2100 E. St. Anthony, ID 83445.

I will continue to pray for you and the business I am excited for you guys and hope that things continue to go well.

Love,

Elder Call

Elder Call Muses over Personal and Mission Geneology; Gets Pulled Over by Police Officer

2009-11-30T19:29:00.003-06:00

30 November 2009

Dear Dad,

Thank you for your email and for the excerpts from your journal. I really wish I would do a better job of keeping a journal. I just kick myself every time I think about it. I started a little journal where I write about each investigator that I have helped progress to baptism. I need to catch up though, because I started it after I had been out several months. I write about their conversion. It is kind of fun.

I also have a little journal that Elder Poppleton named "Journal of Relations." Being in Idaho I have met many people that we are related to. So if we can figure out how we are related I put a little chart in this book and then on the back of that page I write about them. I figured it would be kind of cool to have. I think I have met about 40 people that have told me they are descended from Cyril Call, (mostly Anson). Most were in Pocatello, several in Idaho Falls/Ammon, and only a couple up here in St. Anthony. I think that is because there used to be a town called Chesterfield, Idaho. It is just outside of the mission, just east of Pocatello. It was founded by Chester Call (b. 1841 in Nauvoo to Anson and Mary Flint Call). Chesterfield is now a ghost town and a bunch of the people that lived there (most were related to the Call's) moved to either Bancroft or Pocatello. So their families are all in that area now.

I looked in the phonebook and there were a ton of Calls in Idaho Falls, but not in my area.

I also know that there are a lot of people that we are related to, they just don't realize it. Sorry, you know me. When I start talking about family history I go on and on.

So that is really funny that John is acting more and more like me. I think we are WAY different. But we are probably more similar than I think.

I am excited to be Elder Walker's first companion. He is a great missionary. Like I said his middle name is Rigby. And we met one family that is related to him. I am sure there are others. I don't know how unusual it is to be called to senior companion and trainer at once, but I know it has happened before. It is a little scary, especially since President sent me a letter that said I could have a large impact on the rest of Elder Walker's life.

In this mission we do a mission genealogy. The person you train is your son and the person he trains his your grandson. So Elder Pieper(one of the APs when I came out) trained Elder Burton and Elder Cameron (also one of the APs when I came out). Elder Burton trained Elder Bridgewaters and Elder Call. Elder Cameron trained Elder Dangerfield (one of my Zone leaders). I am training Elder Walker, Elder Burton's first grandson. Elder Dangerfield trained Elder Canales, Verdune, and Moller. Elder Moller is training this transfer also and he told me that he has three nephews. That is Elder Pieper's posterity. It is a large posterity for the mission. He had a couple mission brothers and they have large posterities also. Elder Cameron told Elder Burton (who is serving as a zone leader in Pocatello) at the transfer site that I was training and that made Elder Burton so excited that he found Elder Walker at the site and got his picture taken with him. Poor Elder Walker, Elder Burton is so crazy and I remember what he was like at the transfer site my first day in the mission also. I was kind of scared! I will probably never see Elder Burton again on the mission because he goes home in February. We will be at different Zone conferences this transfer because he is serving in the south and I am in the north. So unless one of us gets transferred at the end of the month then we won't see each other.

I have to tell you that I got pulled over the other day for the first time in my life! It was about 8:00 at night and we had just tried to contact a referral and got back in the car. We had gone through all our plans for the day and we still had an hour left. So we sat in the car for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. We decided to go to a church building (just around the block) and pray about it. We were parked on the side of the road and I looked and no one was coming (it was in a quiet neighborhood) and I pulled out. Drove about 10 feet and Elder Walker said, "Um, you’re getting pulled over." My first thought was, "Shoot, I didn't use my turn signal to pull out. I bet he was just waiting for that."

I pulled over and the police man walked up.

"What were you doing?"

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't use my turn signal."

"Why were sitting out in front of that house?"

"We were just looking at our plans, trying to figure out what to do."

"That's my father's house. I was just wondering why you were sitting in the car outside his house. You guys have a good evening."

Other than that, things are going great.

Love,

Elder Call

Elder Call's Dad Remenisces

2009-11-30T16:00:00.005-06:00

[Note: With Elder Call's being assigned as a trainer this past transfer, I went back to my own missionary journal and read about the one month I served as a trainer to Elder C. Blaine Peterson. I included some of my journal entries in my email to Elder Call. --Editor]

30 November 2009

Dear Elder Call:

It is unbelievable to me that tomorrow is December! Where has the year gone? It seems like only a couple months ago that we were celebrating the arrival of 2009, and here we are just a few weeks away from 2010. Time marches on. . .
We were so surprised to receive your email on Thanksgiving! It sounds like you had a wonderful day of service, feasting, and maybe even some recreation. We had a good day, celebrating with just our own family. Mom and Rebecca made a terrific feast. The turkey was the best we've ever had, and Mom says she doesn't know how she did it. She says she roasted it just the same as she always has, so we're chalking it up to another blessing.

The day after Thanksgiving, of course, we went and got our Christmas tree from Valley View Farm. John seemed to take great pride in being the son to cut the tree and step in where Bob left off with helping to carry it out of the grove, getting it off the van, etc. He also set up your train around the base and when we had the Stewarts and Burninghams over to watch the BYU-Utah football game the next day, we thought we were witnessing a transformation as he started to sound and act just like you! At first he was very willing to show the little kids the train, but the first time it came off the tracks and he had to climb back behind the couch to fix it, well. . .you know better than we do how that feels. He was a good sport and seemed very proud when we laughed and said he was acting just like Bob. . .a little put out but very patient. It was great.

Speaking of BYU-Utah, oh my goodness. Did you hear about the game? BYU won in OVERTIME! It never should have gotten to that point. We were up 20-6 going into the fourth quarter, but Utah tied it up with about 1 minute left. In overtime, Utah had the ball first and we held them to a field goal. On our possession, the second play was a pass up the middle to tight end Andrew George, who ran another 15 yards or so into the end zone untouched. It was great!

We were so thrilled to receive your letter about your new assignment as a trainer. Wow! That seems unusual to go straight to senior companion AND trainer in one move. Is it unusual? And it sounds like your new companion (Elder Walker, right?) is a great missionary and that you will have much success together. It was almost 30 years ago that I was made a trainer--a position I held for only one companion. The following is from my missionary journal:

*************************************
July 30, 1980.
Wednesday.

Well, today was Elder Brown's last day here. We got the call out at lunchtime. Also Elder Hibbert is moving to Kwai Chung to be a senior. Elder Pincock is also moving and Elder Keene is the new district leader. He's really neat.

Elder Brown sure took it hard.

July 31, 1980.
Thursday.

Today was a mission conference with Elder Marion D. Hanks! It was really great! I really like him!

Also got my new companion--Elder C. Blaine Peterson from Salt Lake City. He's really great--a lot of fun. I really like him, and I'm looking forward to a lot of success.

August 1, 1980.
Friday.

Today was a really good day -- our first day out together. In the morning we met with Leih Sou Mahn—it was going pretty good until her little sister and friend came. We closed the meeting—tried to make another appointment, but she wouldn't let us. I think we'll be able to see her again—I hope so, anyway.

Then we went to Olivia's—Mace went with us. Mace is great—she really is.

This afternoon we went and bought my companion all kinds of stuff – briefcase, pillow, etc. Tracted a little bit.

At night we went and saw the Cheuih couple—the deaf couple that is inactive in our area. It was really a lot of fun communicating with them—I know a little bit of sign language. They were really excited to see us and to have us over. Also went and saw Sister Lee—the one with two kids. I really like them.

***********************

I'm surprised I didn't write more about Elder Peterson those first couple of days we were together. But my memories of our time together (only one month) are still very vivid.

We are confident your mission president is inspired and that you will be a terrific trainer. You have a glorious work to perform there in the Idaho Pocatello Mission. We are grateful you are making good use of every day you have to serve the Lord.

We are proud of you and love you deeply. We pray for you night and day. Keep being the best!

Love,
Dad

Thanksgiving Day Message

2009-11-30T15:55:00.001-06:00

26 November 2009

Good Morning,

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we get an all day P-Day! We have already helped a little bit at a community thanksgiving dinner and then we are going to go back and help serve at about 11:00.

Then later in the day we are going to go a family's home and eat dinner there for a couple of hours.

Other than that we are just going to hang out and maybe go to a church building and play some basketball.

A couple of weeks ago I found a suit jacket at the DI that fit me really well, but there were no pants. At the DI they have several big racks of slacks and just two minutes after I found the jacket Elder Lagazo called me over. He had found the pants that go with the jacket! The jacket was 10 bucks, and the pants only 2. Somebody had taken the pants in so they were a little small, but Sister Crapo was kind enough to take them back out. So now I have another new suit that fits me and it was only $12!
I didn't get to write a letter on Monday because we were only given 2 hours for p-day because of Thanksgiving so I will write one later today. I am so sorry I didn't get to write one earlier in the week.

Elder Walker and I are doing great! Things have slowed down a little, but hopefully they will start to pick up again. We still have 2 people being baptized in December and hopefully a third and fourth.

Next Thursday is a special Zone Conference. It is going to be Idaho Falls, so that means it will probably be about half the mission. It is going to go to 6:00, about 3 hours longer than normal. We were told to bring sport clothes. We also heard rumors that we might watch a movie. President Sommers did that last Christmas, so we don't know. It will be weird, that's for sure.

So you know how I have said I want to name my son Rigby. Well, Elder Walker's middle name is Rigby and his family all called him "Rigby" or "Rigs." So no one can make fun of me anymore. It is a name. I think "Rigby Call" is a cool name.

Love,
Elder Call

New Junior Companion Already a "Pro"; Teaching Seminary a Success

2009-11-24T13:54:00.003-06:00

23 November 2009

Hi Dad,

Thank you for your email. I am doing well and you can tell anyone that asks that I am doing well and truly enjoying the mission. It is nice of people to wonder how am doing.

This past week has been a hectic one. With that meeting in Pocatello I had to be at, transfers, etc. The meeting was pretty good. There were 20 trainers attending. That is the largest group of missionaries coming to the mission that anybody can remember. Basically they told us at the meeting that the future of the mission depends on us. That we need to be the absolute best missionaries we can be and then teach the new ones how to be better. It was lots of fun, it was a bit of a reunion. I drove down with Elder Moller, Elder Slocum, and Elder Poppleton. Elder Moller is serving in Terreton, Elder Slocum in Driggs, and Elder Poppleton in Jackson. Elder Poppleton said his dad still reads the blog and loves to find out what is going on.

At the meeting in Pocatello I got to See Elder Travis Taylor. We were in the MTC together and quickly became good friends. We were standing in line to go through all the medical stuff on the first day at the MTC and he told me he was really hungry. We then found out we were both going to Pocatello! We bonded really quick. I haven't seen him since May 3 at Elder Bednar's conference. So we had a really good time together at the meeting. Monday night I stayed at the mission home with the three elders I drove down with. Then Tuesday morning we left right before the new elders arrived.

Wednesday morning Elder Johnsen and I went to go teach the Seminary kids how to give away a Book of Mormon and how to share the gospel with their friends. It went really well. We had to go to transfers after that first class. But Bro. Chelson (the teacher and a high councilman over missionary work) asked us to come back and teach the other classes as well! So We picked up my new companion (Elder Walker from Castle Rock, Colorado) and drove from Rexburg straight to the seminary and began to teach. It was his first experience in the field. His bags were still in the car. Elder Walker did a terrific job. He is a pro already. It was a ton of fun to teach that class and Bro. Chelson asked us to teach every class. He wanted the whole school to experience it. So for three days we got to teach seminary.

It has been really productive already. Two people asked for Book of Mormons to give away, we have a couple less actives we get to work with, and a few referrals and we know that other kids are sharing the gospel with their friends from what we have heard.

We are extremely grateful that the seminary teachers allowed us to use their class time and that it has been so successful already.

It snowed for several hours yesterday and I think it is here to stay.

The work is going extremely well, new things are happening and the doors are being opened.

Love,

Elder Call

New Assignment Humbles Elder Call

2009-11-24T13:29:00.004-06:00

16 November 2009

Dear Family:

That is pretty cool that the Beloit Ward Relief Society hosted the zone conference. We always appreciate the sisters (or brothers sometimes) that are willing to prepare a lunch for us. They are always really good.

It's good to hear about Sister Novak and the help you and other have provided to her. She must be very lonely.

Things are going well here. I wrote Dad an email about a baptism we had on Saturday. It was really good. A teenage boy named Nick Gold. His birthday (age 15) was yesterday and he was excited because, as he said, the best gift he could get was the Holy Ghost. He was confirmed yesterday.

Transfers are on Wednesday. Sometimes the zone leaders have to stay at our place for a night or two because they live with members and sometimes those members have family come over for a few days. So they got to our place on Friday night.

As I was talking with Elder Hingano, our phone started to ring and it was President Colton. I figured he was calling about the zone leaders staying at our place. I answered and he told me he had a new assignment for me. That kind of scared me, but I figured it was just a calling to be senior companion. He asked me to train a new missionary coming this transfer.

I am really, really scared. It is going to be pretty hard. I have to teach him how to do missionary work, but more importantly, how to become a missionary. I have a meeting way down at the mission home in Pocatello tonight at 6:00. It will probably go late so we are staying at the mission home tonight. Then I get the new missionary on Wednesday morning. I have no idea who it is. I hope I can do a good job.

Thanks for your letters this week. Thank you for everything.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call Waxes Elequent on. . .what else? Family History!

2009-11-03T08:02:00.003-06:00

[Note: In my last email to Elder Call, I told him that I have been called as the Family History Center director for our ward. Additionally, some months before his mission, Elder Call and I had discussed getting permission to publish the journals and related papers of John Scott, a family ancestor—but we had decided to wait until after Elder Call's mission to move forward on the project. In my email to Elder Call, I mentioned this project and said I may not be able to wait until he gets home to move forward with it. —Ed.]

2 November 2009

Hi Dad,

I loved your email!! It was so much fun to read. Don't ever worry about it if you forget to email me, though. You are very busy. We have a set schedule every week that is the only time to email, so it is easier for me to do it.

So I finished that letter I wrote you guys about that one couple on Wednesday. I had been praying every opportunity I had for them. On Wednesday night I prayed even more sincerely and earnestly for them. I pled with the Lord that they would be able to work things out. Thursday morning at 8:00 we got a text message (we can receive them, but not send any). It read, "Please pray for me. Help me be strong." It was an answer to not only my prayers, but to many, many others' as well. That is the last we have heard from them.

That is so exciting for the Brumbles! I can't wait for them!! Elder Naverette, one of my Zone Leaders is from Chile. He goes home at the end of December or the beginning of January. Is it a 2 year proselyting mission, service mission, office couple, or what? They will be great missionaries. Tell them congratulations, and please thank them for all they have done.

I am glad things are going good with your clients. I will increase my prayers on your behalf. I have seen literal miracles happen when we pray with faith and humble ourselves to accept the Lord's will.

That is so cool that you are the ward's Family History Center Director! I am so jealous. You will do great, I just know it.

The John Scott Journals would be sweet to publish. It would be great if you were able to publish them. If I can remember correctly, we were thinking of doing the John Scott Journals. I think there are two of them, maybe, but in that one packet.

He served two missions, I believe. One throughout the Midwest with an epistle from the brethren about gathering the saints to Salt Lake. (It might be kind of cool to maybe find that letter and include it.) And then I think he served a mission in Ireland.

We were also thinking of Jacob Scott's letters to his daughter(s?). They are in possession of the Community of Christ, I think. I seem to remember that you and Rachel got me a CD from BYU with some John and Jacob Scott stuff on it from their Special Collections library. The CD would probably be in that cupboard with the family history stuff.

We also considered finding letters or other documents written by John Scott's siblings. They would probably be in possession of the Community of Christ. As you know John's siblings went apostate. The one brother Isaac Franklin Scott I believe wrote some letters too.

It could be a "Jacob Scott Family Papers" project, or whatever. It would be really interesting because the Jacob Scott family was involved in things, but you never really hear very much about it all. The Scotts were Irish Canadians and converted around 1836. They knew people like the Laws and Isaac Russell in Canada. They all joined the church and moved to Missouri. A lot of them were excommunicated.

Apparently there were some financial dealings with Joseph Smith, because Jacob Scott writes a letter of apology to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo and mentions it. He also wrote an unkind letter to Joseph and Hyrum while they were in Liberty Jail. Its whereabouts is unknown, to the best of my knowledge. Ann Scott (I believe), one of John Scott's sisters, carried the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible under her dress to keep it safe from the mob. Then gave it to Emma who carried it under her dress to Nauvoo. I think Ann's husband was James Mulholland, one of the scribes to Joseph Smith. I think he got sick in the Nauvoo swamps in the spring/summer of 1839 and died. Then Mulholland Street was named after him.

There is a possibility that Sarah Scott, John's sister, was a plural wife to Joseph Smith. (On that same thread John Scott had three wives while in Nauvoo: Elizabeth Menerey, Mary Pugh, and Sarah Ann Willis. Sarah is our ancestor.)

Of course you know the Robert Scott story with the group that was organizing against Joseph Smith. (That was the Laws; could they have invited him because they were family friends and there was already dissension among family members and the church?) I think there was some sort of Irish Rebellion in Nauvoo and I bet you anything that the Scotts were a part of that. It would not surprise me at all. Then all of the Scott family joined different apostate groups and were quite active in them.

As far as I can tell the only sibling that didn't join an apostate group was Robert. Was that because of his experience in being a spy for Joseph Smith in that dissenting group? One thing that always makes a researched, published family history better is if you ask yourself what was going on at the time of the events, what could have influenced the family members to act as they did, why did they choose to do so, who did they know, or were there individuals outside of the family who seem to be involved in those same historical events, etc.

There is a lot that could go into the project. You might consider putting together some sort of researched and documented brief history of the Scott family. It doesn't need to be anything too detailed. Just major points in each of the siblings lives; i.e. moving to Canada, baptism, Missouri, excommunication, joining apostate groups, etc. Just so people can kind of have an idea about the movements of the family members. I don't know, just do what you feel inspired to do.

Of course you would need to get permission to publish the journals and letters. As you know any authoritative work is well documented and cited. I am sure you know much more about writing and publishing than I do. I've just done research.

That is probably way more information than you wanted to know, but you would do a great job with however you decide to do it.

It will be great, just do what you think you should.

Love,

Elder Call

P.S. One more tidbit of information that just popped into my mind: If I remember correctly Jacob Scott and possibly other family members were still living in the Far West Area in the 1840 census. Active members were out by that time. The 1840 census only has heads of households listed. So it would be helpful if you knew who Jacob and Sarah Warnock’s children and sons/daughters-in-law were.

Elder Call's Family History Skills Retained in St. Anthony

2009-10-20T11:28:00.008-05:00

12 October 2009

Dear Family,

Right now I am writing from St. Anthony, Idaho. I wrote about the emergency transfer in Dad's email. My companion is Elder Johnson from Minnesota. He is pretty nice. I really like it here. It is farm country, very rural. Ammon was the city and I didn't like that so much.

Our district includes Ashton, St. Anthony, West Yellowstone, Sugar City, half of Rexurg, the sisters who serve on the BYU-I campus, and Island Park. There are mountains all around us, mostly in the distance. It is pretty cool. We can see the Grand Tetons! It is really pretty.

The brother of one of Mom's ancestors was the first stake president here. At the time I believe it was called the Yellowstone Stake, but now it is St. Anthony. His name was Daniel G. Miller and he was stake president from 8 January 1909 to 11 June 1925. He was the son of Daniel A. Miller and the brother of Mom's ancestor, Clarissa Miller Hammond.

Daniel A. MillerClarissa Miller HammondClarissa Hammond BrownJames H. Brown IIIThadeus H. BrownT. Dee BrownShannon Brown CallRobert M. Call

Daniel G. Miller is Mom's 3rd great-grandma's brother. Mom's 3rd great-grandmother, Clarissa Miller, was born in Quincy, Illinois. Her family joined the Church when the Saints went to Quincy. Then her mother, Clarissa Pond, died before they went west. Daniel G. Miller was born to Hannah Bigler in Farmington, Utah, in 1859. So there was quite the age gap, I believe.

Nothing real exciting has happened today. We went shopping at the Walmart and at Albertson's in Rexburg. That is where we do all that kind of stuff. Though we do the emails at the Family History Center in St. Anthony.

Have fun in DisneyWorld! I am glad you guys are able to go.

Love,
Elder Call

P.S. Remember that God is watching out for me. Remember that I love you very much and am grateful for all that you do for me. Thanks.

Elder Call Receives Sage Counsel

2009-10-20T11:25:00.001-05:00

19 October 2009

Hi Dad,

Thanks so much for the email. It was great reading about your mission experiences. It is truly amazing to see the miracles that God unfolds for the salvation of man when we pray with faith.

I am enjoying the work here in the St. Anthony stake. It is going really well. Within my first week here we have set 2 new dates. We already had 3. It is all through the grace of Christ and through the actions of inspired members that so many people are prepared for baptism.

Nothing real exciting is going on besides all the work.

That is terrible to hear about Bro. Fairbank. He was such a good man. It must be really hard on his wife. But she is a strong woman with incredible faith in God.

We were tracting the other day on Main Street in St. Anthony and the last house we knocked on was the home of a 94-year-old man. All old people always invite us in and talk for a long time. But he told us in a very stern, sincere, heartfelt manner, "Impressions--follow them. You should always follow your impressions." He told us how he was pulling into his driveway and thought he should go visit a friend. So he drove over and walked in the house. He called for his friend, but there was no answer. Then he called again and heard a moan. He ran up as quick as he could. The friend was crumpled up on the floor. He asked what was wrong, and his friend said, "Hubert, I think I am dying." So he called the ambulance just in time and saved him.

"Impressions--follow them. You should always follow your impressions."

Love,
Elder Call

Lord Blesses Elders Call, Weatherston with Baptisms

2009-10-08T18:29:00.002-05:00

5 October 2009

Hey Dad,

It sounds like your trip to Utah was a lot of fun. It would be cool to be there at the game with some of the family.

That is kind of cool that you all got ordain Addison to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Did I tell you that Dan wrote me a letter saying he met Addison? It is such a small world.

The work here continues to go well.

We did get to watch all of conference. In between the sessions on Saturday we baptized Sara Morrison. That was really cool. Her parents and sister came to the baptism. That made us really happy. Sara's boyfriend Jonathan baptized her. Due to the surgeries she has had this year she has no stomach muscles. She is also quite a bit taller than Jonathan. So they asked me to assist in the baptizing. I was just there to make sure she went under all the way and was able to come back up. We baptized her and I looked at the branch presidency member that was acting as a witness and he nodded and said it was all done right.

Then as I was just beginning to change the brother came running in and asked me what the wording was. Jonathan had said it wrong! So we all rushed back into the clothes and got Sara to change again. Jonathan was really nervous but he said it correctly and we got her correctly baptized!!

Transfers are this Wednesday. We found out transfer information last night. Elder Weatherston and I are staying together here in Ammon West. This will be our 3rd transfer together. Elder Weatherston is going home at the end of the transfer, so that means I will probably stay here at least one more transfer after he is gone. So Ammon West will probably be a 6 month area for me. That is good; the work is going extremely well. We have plans to baptize 6 people on 5 consecutive Saturdays. So if the Lord keeps blessing us, we can continue baptizing weekly and achieve the mission standard of excellence!!

Thanks a lot for all that you do. Good luck with your future and current clients.

Love,

Elder Call

Elder Zwick of Seventy Visits, Inspires Missionaries

2009-09-30T19:29:00.004-05:00

28 September 2009

Hi Dad,

Thank you for the email.

We had a couple of exciting things happen this week.

First off, on Tuesday we had Elder and Sister Zwick of the Seventy come and speak to us. It was really good and it is quite obvious that they are both inspired. People were a little frustrated for a few things and I think it is all rather funny. First off we were told that we had to have a presentation prepared because we might get asked to stand up and do the training/roleplay. We were told to prepare one thing, then it changed to another, and then to another thing, and then to another thing. Then the location changed a couple of times. Then the time changed two or three times.

It was held at a stake center here in Idaho Falls and we were told we needed to be seated by 8:00 AM and then reverently prepare. When zone conferences happen we need to be there a half hour before it starts. Then the President, seventy, apostle, APs, or whomever would show up a few minutes before that half hour is over.

Well, it got to be 8:30 and President and Elder Zwick still weren't here. Elder Weatherston had to go use the men's room. We decided to wait, mavbe he was just a few minutes behind. Then at 8:40, Elder Weatherston said he thought he should go. I said, "Well, maybe it starts at 8:45." He said he would wait. Then at 8:45 he said, "I am going to go to the restroom." So we got up and left.

At about 8:50 several other companionships (elders, sisters, and seniors) all started to come and go to the restroom too. It was kind of funny. Then while I was still waiting outside the restroom, Elder Zwick, Sister Zwick and Sister Colton all came down to the restrooms. Elder Zwick said, "Elder Call, How are you? I'm Elder Zwick."

"Good," I said. "How are you?"

"Good. Where are you from?"

"Northern Illinois."

"Oh, that's great!" (Everybody says that because they know nothing about it and want to make missionaries feel good.)

Then he stepped in and came out a couple of minutes later. I was still waiting for Elder Weatherston. Then he came out.

I said, "He's here."

"Who?"

"Elder Zwick. He was in the restroom with you."

"I was in the restroom with Elder Zwick?!"

Then we went in and it was just getting started. Elder Zwick did the whole handshake thing and when it was my turn he said, "Elder Call! All the way from Ohio!!" I just smiled and laughed to myself.

Sister Zwick shared a cool story that I would like to relate:

When they were first put in as mission president of Santiago Chile in July 1989 they had just dropped the previous president off at the airport. The first phone call Elder Zwick received was this:

"President, I'm Elder So and So. You don't know me and I don't know you. I am standing in a telephone booth with only my companions over coat on. A few minutes ago. My companion and I were in a chapel conducting a baptismal interview when seven terrorists with machine guns came running in. They put the guns to our heads and made us take off our clothes, all of our clothes, infront of the seminary students."

"They then poured hot wax on us. They lit us on fire and the chapel. The chapel is currently burning to the ground. What would you like me to do President?"

Sis. Zwick said she really didn't think she could do this. She almost got back on the plane to go back home.

Her 8-year-old son said, "Mom, don't worry. Heavenly Father will help you."

Elder Zwick finished the story later in the meeting.

The next sunday after it burned the little branch of 35 showed up for sacrament meeting. There were 200 people there.

One year later in July 1990 there were two strongs wards in the same boundaries.

One year after that in July 1991 there were four strong wards and one branch in the same boundaries.

A little less than one year after that in 1992 there was a strong stake thriving.

I thought that was an amazing story.

Later when I was thinking about it I related it in my mind to how we need to be purified and sanctifed by the Holy Ghost, or the baptism by fire, before we can grow strong and steadfast in the Lord.

Well, I should probably go.

Good luck with the work trips and have fun at the football game. Tell Grandpa Happy Birthday for me.

Love,
Elder Call

P.S. Yesterday morning at the stake center Brother Farr (The one who baptized Dora Goldsworthy) came out of his bishopric meeting and asked us if we had met Elder Clark. We said no. "President Clark from BYU-I is here," he said. "They are fininishing up after the bishopric meeting. You should wait here and meet him." So he came out and we met him. He was then in the Sacrament meeting we attended. At the the end he spoke on D&C 84:88 I believe. It was kind of cool.

The Hand of the Lord is. . .Well. . .of Course it's in this Work!--It's HIS Work!

2009-09-22T14:20:00.004-05:00

21 September 2009

Hi Dad,

Things are going really well here. It is amazing to see the hand of the Lord in the work. Well, I guess it is His work so of course His hand is directing it and in every detail.

That is too bad that BYU lost.

I am glad that everyone in the ward is doing well. On Saturday we were asked to help move our ward mission leader. We helped him move and somebody told us he was from Illinois. So I brought it up and it turns out he is from Rockford. He moved away 27 years ago though.

Sister Tippetts, the Relief Society President, under her own initiative, started a list for members to provide meals for us. Her and her husband do so much for us. We really appreciate them a lot.

A few exciting things have happened this week, but I think I will write a letter home about them.

By the way we were in the stake center's library earlier this week and I found an article that you wrote several years ago. It was about being a shepherd in Hong Kong and what a successful missionary is. It was very good and interesting to read. I had no idea about any of that. It is definitely one that I will keep. I had no idea that you were ever an AP (I know that wasn't the point of the story). But we meet people who served missions and tell us "when I was a zone leader" "when I was in leadership for 18 months" it is kind of sad, because alot of them say those things just so we know that they were "good, successful missionaries". That was a really good article.

Love,
Elder Call

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The article in The New Era to which Elder Call refers is fiction. That's why he never heard that story before. I think he's heard ALL of my true missionary stories at least half a dozen times. :-) --Ed.]

Elder Call's 20 Memorable Experiences

2009-09-07T18:37:00.002-05:00

Note:

Elder Call's paternal grandparents have been publishing a monthly family newsletter, The Call Connection, for 20 years. This month marks the 20th anniversary, and so Grandma Call has asked for family members to write lists of 20 things for her to include in the newsletter. These lists could be of anything we'd like. . .20 favorite songs, 20 favorite scriptures, 20 funniest jokes, etc. Here is Elder Call's response:

"20 Somethings?" Hmmmm....hmmmm.

Well, I think I will go with 20 memorable experiences.

1. If I remember correctly this was the first time that I got interested in Family History: While we were still living in Utah we went with the extended family to Battle Creek near Pleasant Grove. I remember hiking up there with cousins and going to a bridge. It was a lot of fun. Uncle Bruce told us about the battle and about John Scott leading the expedition there.

2. I also remember going to the Wheeler Reunion and running around up there and then Rebecca falling into a Cow Pie! That was pretty gross, but funny.

3. I have a few different memories of going to Bear Lake with my mom's side of the family. I loved spending time with all my cousins and playing in the beach, lake, and mud.

4. I also remember when Mom was teaching my preschool class and then one day she told the class that she wasn't going to be teaching anymore because she was having a baby!

5. I remember when Mary Ann was just a toddler and we were playing with these plastic blocks making towers. I knocked it over and Mary Ann cracked up. Mom was cooking just around the corner and we were so shocked! Mary Ann laughed for the first time!

6. I also remember one year, I think it was for one of Dad's birthdays, he opened up a book as a gift and "found" Disneyland tickets! We were so excited, Rebecca and I started dancing around in circles holding hands!

7. The day after Thanksgiving of 2000 we were all sitting downstairs talking and Dad asked us what we thought of moving to Chicago! That was a shocker. Then Grandma and Grandpa Call helped us move and Mary Ann and I rode with Grandpa in one of the trucks. We were somewhere on the plains and it was snowy and cold outside and Grandpa laughed. Mary Ann and I asked why he was laughing. "You two are just like your dad. He would sit in the car, look out the window and never say a word!" That made us laugh. It's not like there was much of anything to look at.

8. At the family reunion in Alaska Uncle Darryn told us he didn't want his kids learning how to cheat. Then at the reunion in Nauvoo Christopher and Geoffrey were cheating at "Pit"! It runs in the blood I guess.

9. Speaking of the Nauvoo reunion. Rachel, Rebecca, Tom and myself rode down to Nauvoo together. That was a way fun car ride.

10. One year for High Adventure, it might have been my last year, we went canoeing in Northern Wisconsin. Our second day the winds were at least 50 mph and we were in a marshland with lily pads and small stumps about 4-6 inches in diameter. We had no control. There was a lot to that High Adventure, more than I have room for. But it was one I will never forget.

11. I remember when I was really little riding my tricycle over to Bishop Pyne's and their dog came running over! I got knocked over and lost my cowboy hat! Rachel went back and got it for me!

12. My first summer at BYU, Summer 2008, Brooke got married. Rachel, myself, and Bruce and Patti's family got to help the with the reception. That was an experience!

13. 27 March 2008 our youth went to the Kirtland Temple. That was an amazingly spiritual experience. That was 172 years to the day of the dedication. That was one of those experiences that a person has that tells them the Church is true.

14. At that same Kirtland Trip, Dad and I got up early one morning and found some land that Cyril Call owned in Madison, Geauga, Ohio. I-90 runs right through it. On one side there are a few houses. On the other it is a Christian Church Camp and still forests. The Grand River also runs through it. We hiked through there. That was way cool.

15. I also remember driving to Logan, through Logan Canyon I believe, and knowing that there was a place called "Brown's Roll Off" that I wanted to see. I was telling the family about it and looking. Then I saw the sign, Dad zipped by, I whipped my head around and said, "There it was!" I wanted to stop, but they just laughed and kept going. It was a funny moment.

16. On the mission we taught a lady named Mona. One night she was going on and on about how she would make it into the Celestial Kingdom without being baptized into the LDS church. She said she would force her way in. Then in all seriousness said, "Bring it on, God." Right then something fell. Mona looked scared. We looked around in confusion. Her husband said, "Oh it was just a book." The book was called "Following Christ." Mona was eventually baptized.

17. I also remember the first day of kindergarten and someone made a joke about my name backwards was "Call, Bobby." Funny. The first of many jokes to come that were never very funny.

18. Also on the mission Elder Bednar called a special Mission Conference in May 2009. We sang "Redeemer of Israel" and "How Firm a Foundation.” The singing of those 160 missionaries was more powerful than the 2,000 in the MTC. It was truly an astounding experience.

19. John and I went to the Father and Son's campout one year. That was a lot of fun. I remember driving back from White Pines State Park and it had been raining in the morning. We were driving through Byron or Oregon and I we saw a couple of teenage boys walking down the road. Wet, long hair, dirty clothes and dirty feet. They look like a couple of hillbillies and I said so. John was appalled at me even though he didn't know what the word means. That was a fun trip.

20. I also remember the Alaska reunion and we went salmon fishing. You are supposed to be able to just throw the line in and snag a fish. Real easy. I somehow missed all the salmon, but caught a star fish. That was a fun reunion.

I hope that that works.

Love,
Elder Call

Two Elders and a Goat

2009-09-06T15:12:00.013-05:00

31 August 2009

Dear Family,

This will probably be a shorter letter, so sorry for that.

It sounds like everything is going great and there will be some changes in the ward when I get back. That is great.

This story is mostly for you, John. I thought it might make you laugh.

Elder Weatherston and I were trying to contact someone who has a little farm with dogs, horses, goats, etc. You have to walk down a long driveway to get to their house. There was a loose goat just kind of walking around. Well, nobody was home, so we started to walk back. But the goat decided to follow us!

We got to the road but figured it wouldn't leave the property. But it kept following! We tried turning around really quick and scaring it, but that didn't work. We kept walking and it kept following.

So we turned around and walked all the way back and started over. It kept following. So we got to the road and it still followed. We tried running, but it ran after us.

We decided to walk

backwards.

That worked for a

minute,

but it started

chasing us again!

We decided to walk backwards. That worked for a minute and it stopped following us, but started chasing us again. We then walked back and we tried to get it distracted by something else. I turned the corner of the house, sneaking away. Then Elder Weatherston turned the corner and the goat saw him!

Elder Weatherston yelled, "Oh shoot! It saw me! Run!"

So we ran and I looked behind me and the goat ran around the corner chasing us down the driveway and road and almost got hit by a car!

So we walked back and found a rope and tied him to the fence.

It was quite the experience.

Love,

Elder Call

Photos of Pokey West

2009-09-06T08:43:00.013-05:00

These pictures arrived about three weeks ago, and include photos of Elder Call's first area in the Pocatello West Stake. . .

Spirit Whispers to Elder Call Regarding Beloit Ward's New Bishopric

2009-09-05T15:35:00.003-05:00

Note:
For those not in the Beloit Ward. . .we had a new bishopric sustained on Sunday, August 30. Bishop Brian Webb is the bishop, Brother Matthew Lakko is first counselor, and Brother Mike Moncur is second counselor. Read on!

31 August 2009

Hi Dad,

That is exciting about the new bishopric. I had a feeling last week when you told me you were getting released that Bro. Lakko would be in the bishopric. I suppose it was the Spirit.

Then last night just for fun I wrote a list of all of the men in the ward that I could think of/remember (25 total) and guessed that the following would be in the bishopric: Bro. Webb, Bro. Warner Jr., Bro. Lakko, Bro. Moncur Jr., Bro. Foster, and Bro. Crave. I know that was six men and odds were on my side, but it was just guessing.

It sounds like the meeting was very spiritual and uplifting. That is really good. Your bishopric did a great job for our ward and really helped a ton of people out. I am sure that the new bishopric will do the same.

I don't know if anything real exciting has happened out here this week. Just sort of the usual.

Tell me how everyone is doing and what the are up to.

Love,
Elder Call

PS. We just found out this morning that Elder Weatherston's brother who is attending BYU-I just moved into the singles branch we cover! Isn't that crazy?

Elder Call Responds to Father's Release; Missionary Work Moves Forward

2009-08-26T14:46:00.001-05:00

24 August 2009

Hi Dad,

It is sad that you have been released, but you have done an excellent job and helped many, many people as bishop in the Beloit Ward. It would be bittersweet. What do you think your next calling will be? I suppose that by next p-day you will know who the new bishopric will be. Please let me know.

It sounds like it was a very spirit-filled day yesterday for our ward. That is really good. Many people in our ward love you and appreciate all that you have done for them. I am sure that you must be physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained. Being Bishop is hard work and it will be a big load taken from you.

I am happy for you though.

President Stewart is a very good man. I am grateful that he was my young men's president.

We had a baptism on Saturday! It was for "Three" his real name is Heakchun (pronounced Hitchin') Song. He is in the Singles Branch here. It was really cool. He need to get baptized at 8:00 in the morning so he could go to work and Elder Weatherston and I had to be at the church by 6:00 to start filling the font. So we had to get up at 5:40 AM! That seems so early. But it was all worth it for his baptism. Speaking of getting up early, Mary Ann is in High School today! She starts seminary soon! That is just weird.

We were also asked to speak in the Singles Branch yesterday. That was pretty good. I have spoken about 5 times so far in sacrament meeting on the mission. And we are speaking again this Sunday in a different ward. The people in Idaho love the missionaries. All day long we get people honking and waving at us as they drive by. It is kind of funny. Kids, especially, like to run to their windows and front doors and say "Hi missionaries!" or "Look! It’s the missionaries!" It is very nice of them. But I must admit all the honking and waving does get quite annoying.

Transfers are this Wednesday and we found out last night what was happening. Elder Weatherston and I are staying together here in Ammon West. This is his second to last transfer.

Things in our area are really picking up. Last week we taught 13 lessons! That is amazing. Our district leader and his companion, in the Ammon Foothills, have only taught a few LARCs this transfer. A LARC is a Less-Active/Recent-Convert.

We met a cool guy by the name of Ray Murdock yesterday, but I think I will write a letter home about him.

Good luck and thanks for everything you have done as bishop.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call's Dad to be Released as Bishop

2009-08-26T14:35:00.001-05:00

First, an email I sent to Elder Call. . .

24 August 2009

Good morning, Elder Call.

Yesterday in Sacrament meeting President Stewart concluded the meeting with the announcement that next Sunday we will be sustaining a new bishopric for the Beloit Ward.

Mom and I had met with President Evans a week ago, when he extended the release to me. It is a bittersweet time. I will greatly miss the opportunity to serve the Lord and to be an instrument in His hands in helping ward members and others come unto Him. It has been a glorious opportunity and I know that in all likelihood it will never come to me again. For these reasons it is so difficult and makes me so sad to be released.

On the other hand, it is time to move on and to grow through other means. What those means are, we do not yet know. But we trust the Lord will provide us the opportunity to serve in some capacity that will help me become a better person and that will bless our family.

Yesterday's Sacrament meeting was very spiritual. Following the sacrament, we had a musical number by some sisters in our ward. Erin Grush, Deb Wright, and Cammy Patton (I don't think you know the Patton family) sang "Abide with Me," accompanied by Terisha Foster. They did a superb job and truly brought the Holy Ghost into the service. We then invited Karrie Stewart, Jon Stevens, and Ken Davis to share their testimonies. The Spirit had whispered to me to invite them to share their testimonies, and they each did such a wonderful job. I then had Brother Webb, who was conducting, invite Lindsey Ealy, Valerie Smith, Paul Crave, and Adam Foster to share their testimonies. It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong, and many tears were shed, both by those sharing their testimonies and by those who were edified by their words.

We then stood and sang the Parley P. Pratt hymn "Come, O Thou King of Kings." I love that hymn. It is a pleading for the Second Coming and expresses so beautifully my own desires for the renewal of the earth through cleansing.

I then spoke. I had prepared some remarks around the theme that the Holy Ghost knows all things. But when I stood, I felt to go a different direction and share first my thoughts about another Parley P. Pratt hymn, "The Morning Breaks." Another favorite of mine. Isn't Parley wonderful? When I had left for bishopric meeting early that Sunday morning, I had the wonderful experience of again seeing the sun as it was just over the horizon. This hymn of course came to mind, and I sang it over and over again on my way in to the church. During my talk, I reminded each of us that "the dawning of a brighter day" can come to us EVERY day. . .that each day we begin with a humble prayer on our knees can be the dawning of a brighter day. . .that each day we forgive someone can the dawning of a brighter day in our lives. . .that each day we strive to serve others can be the dawning of a brighter day for our mortal experience.

Then I felt impressed to share a brief version of my experience as a missionary in Hong Kong when I knew my family back home in Philadelphia was in trouble and yet I felt so helpless to come to their aid. I shared how that evening as I cried myself to sleep, I felt arms around me, holding me and comforting me. And I shared that in the morning, I felt the dawning of a brighter day in my life, for I knew the Lord was with my family back home.

After sharing my testimony, I closed and President Stewart spoke for about 10 minutes. He was very kind and generous in his words about my service--more generous than I deserve. He reminisced a bit about some of his and his family's interaction with me and with our family, and then announced that next week a new bishopric will be sustained. He asked ward members to pray for three things: 1) express gratitude for the current bishopric and their service; 2) pray for the new bishop and the new bishopric; and 3) pray that we will be able to accept and to sustain the new bishop. It was a wonderful talk and the Spirit testified to me that President Stewart is called of God.

Following the meeting and the block of meetings, I had a few interviews, including one with our Young Women president, Sister Stewart, and our Relief Society President, Sister Burningham. What wonderfully uplifting meetings each of these interviews were. I felt the Spirit in the room with these and all the other interviews I had that day.

Then, at night, we had our final youth fireside at our house. It was wonderful. We opened with "Now Let Us Rejoice." I then shared with the youth the teachings about the Holy Ghost found in 2 Nephi 33:1. I told them that tonight we were going to put that teaching to the test.

I then invited anyone who felt impressed to share their testimony to do so. Melissa Wright spoke up first and offered a powerful and touching testimony. Jon Stevens was next--what a wonderful testimony he shared. Next, the Timmin's grandson Ben shared a very sweet testimony about how he had come to know of Heavenly Father's reality and love for him.

Megan Wright then sang "Adam-ondi-Ahman" a capella. . .it was beautiful! And it brought back a rush of memories for many of us who had been on the Missouri trip.

I then shared my memories of the past five years and some things I hope the youth will remember. I had compiled the list earlier in the day after praying for guidance. It was very special to me, and I believe it was special to most of the youth as well. I cried. So did a number of the youth and adult leaders. We all laughed, as well, as we remembered some of the funny things that have occurred. I expressed my love for the youth and then reminded them that throughout their lives, their bishop will always be someone who loves them and wants the best for them. . .someone they can trust and to whom they can go for help. I encouraged those facing challenges and difficulties in their lives to go to the new bishop immediately and open up to him.

Finally, I offered the closing prayer. It was amazing, Bob. The Spirit was so strong. It moved upon me to pronounce blessings upon our youth. I don't remember very many of the blessings, because they weren't my desires, but the Lords. But I do remember that the Spirit testified boldly and plainly that the words were of God, for as I was praying, many youth and adults were crying. It was truly a joyous experience, and I hope the memory of it will dwell with me so I may savor it for years to come.

It has been an emotional 10 days, and I'm sure this Sunday, when the new bishop is sustained, I will be emotionally drained. But the work goes on. The Lord calls us and the Lord releases us. And we build upon the foundations of those who have gone before us.

We love you and are so very proud of you. The Laurel class is delighted with the puzzle you sent them, but they have yet to all get together to see what you have written to them. You are an example to us all, and we pray for you daily.

Love,
Dad

Six Months Out. . .er, 18 Months Left. . .uhm. . .No, It's. . . .

2009-08-26T14:27:00.003-05:00

17 August 2009

Hi Dad,

Thanks for your email. Things are going pretty good here. I wrote a letter this morning detailing a couple of the cool events that have happened this past week.

Tomorrow I will have been out 6 months! Isn't that crazy? It hardly seems like it at all. Well, I could say that I have 18 months left, but really that isn't quite true. I entered the MTC on 18 February 2009 and my Ministerial Certificate expires the 22 February 2011. So Tomorrow will be the "I've been out 6 months" mark and Saturday will be the "I have 18 months left" day. But, I guess I might not even go home on the 22, that is just when the certificate expires.

Speaking of tomorrow, it is going to be a busy day. We have district meeting and 5 other appointments set up! That is a great day for our area. Last week we taught 11 lessons. That is more than any other week that Elder Weatherston has been in the area. The week before we had only 1. But that was unusual and a bad week. I think generally this area has been getting about 6-8 lessons a week for the last couple of months.

It is kind of funny to tell people where I am from because of four responses that I get quite frequently:

1. Almost EVERYBODY says "Oh, IlliNOISE". Even after I tell them "Northern Illinois." (And they’re not trying to be funny, they just don't know.)

2. "Oh, I've been to Virginia." (or New York, Massachusettes, Connecticut, etc.) Maybe they don't worry about geography too much in the public schools of Idaho.

3. "IlliNOISE! They kicked us out already! What are you doing there? (Or “Did you get left behind?") It was funny the first couple of times.

4. "Oh, Coool. IlliNOISE." (As if they really are interested in that tidbit of eternally insignificant information.) A typical response from a member who wants to make me feel loved and special, yet knows nothing about the place and is floundering for something to engage me in conversation with. It's the thought that counts. No, really, it is.

So I thought I might try to recreate the typical introductory conversation (which we go through several times a day) that takes place between a member and a companionship:

Member (while shaking your hands): "Hi Elder...(pause while they read your nametag)...Call!" "And Elder.......... Weatherston!" (Weatherston or weatherSTONE or weatherSPOON, seriously.)

Elder Call/Weatherston: "Hi, how are you?" (It is a dangerous thing to ask for a name right off the bat, because you never know if you have met them before.)

Member: "Good. How are you? Whereyafrom?"

Elder Weatherston: "Texas."

Member: "Oh really!? What part?"

Elder Weatherston: "Corpus Christi."

Member: "I've been to Texas, but never Corpus Christi. Been to El Paso and to Houston."

Elder Weatherston: "Well, you've probably been through Corpus Christi too."

Member: "I bet you don't mind the heat then do you?"

Elder Weatherston: "No. I actually kind of like it."

Member: "And Elder Call, where are you from?" (notice more enounciated, because their excitement in meeting the missionaries is wearing off by the time they get to the second elder.)

Elder Call: "Northern Illinois."

Member: "Oh Coool."

Elder Call: "Yep."

Member: "I bet you’re used to the heat/cold then." (I would say it is about 50/50. Some think that Illinois is a ice chest and others a humidifier. When really the temperatures are pretty comparable except for the humidity.)

Member: "What town in IlliNOISE?"

Elder Call: "Have you ever heard of Rockford?"

Member: "Heard of it, not sure where it’s at."

Elder Call: "I'm about an hour and a half from Chicago."

Member: "How close are you to Nauvoo?"

Elder Call: "About 3 and 1/2 hours."

Member. "Cool, well it was good meeting you."

Elders: "You too."

Never knew their name. Never knew anything about them. Generally on their way somewhere. Generally never really talk to them again. Sometimes we're asked about the work. They are happy it is going good.

Well, apparently the place is about to close. So I have got to go.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Weatherston Invited to Confirm Convert

2009-08-05T06:54:00.000-05:00

3 August 2009

Hi Dad,

Ya, our p-day changed. It is now on Monday. I figured that you wouldn't find out until after it changed.

It sounds like the Wheeler Reunion was lots of fun. About how many people showed up? And if it is possible would you mind emailing a copy of the group picture? I have some pictures that I should probably send to you in the next few weeks.

It is pretty crazy that Grandpa was at Aunt Marjorie's! Elder Weatherston and I walk past her house when we want to go to a part of our area. It is kind of weird because one of our wards isn't even touching our stake. So we have to go through Aunt Marjorie's stake to get to one of our wards. We don't get up that way a whole lot, but we should stop by sometime to say hi.

That is weird to think that Mary Ann will be in high school and starting seminary. That was five or six years ago for me! Is Bro. Burningham still the teacher?

There was a man in one of Elder Weatherston's old areas who was finally able to baptized! Elder Weatherston got a phone call asking him to give a talk and to confirm him. So on Saturday we went to his baptism. It was really cool. There were 3-4 companionships there that this man all invited because an elder in each helped teach him. He then took us all out to lunch, which was a ton of fun. He seems very solid and appears to have a very strong testimony. His wife and daughter are also converts.

I think that is about it this week.

Thanks.

Love,
Elder Call

Elders Call, Weatherston, Recruit Grandpa for Help

2009-08-05T06:47:00.004-05:00

27 July 2009

Hi Dad,

Well I don't remember if I told you, but our p-day got switched to Mondays.

You have probably been at the Wheeler Reunion since I last emailed you. How did that go? Were there a lot of people there? What did you guys do?

We had our Zone Conference on Thursday. It was pretty good, it was our first one with President Colton. He did it a little differently than President Sommers did, but I liked it. He gave us an assignment from Preach My Gospel. We were all given blue copies of the Book of Mormon. We are supposed to read it and as we do mark, in four different colors, every reference to Jesus Christ, his words, his attributes, and doctrines and principles. Then we are to total each page up for the different categories. I started it this week and it is amazing to see how many times Christ is referenced, a lot more than you would suspect.

Zone Conference was in Rexburg this transfer. We had a ride up, but couldn't find anybody to get help us get back down. Elder Weatherston has a grandfather and a few uncles that live in Rexburg, but they were all busy. So I told Elder Weatherston that I knew that some of my family would be in the area and they might be able to help. I decided that I would look up Aunt Marjorie's phone number and see if she had Grandpa's cell. I found her number in the phone book and called late Wednesday night. I asked if it was the Cleverley's. She said, "yes." I asked if it was Marjorie. She said it was. I told her who I was and asked if she had Grandpa's number. She said she could do one better than that and that he was sitting on her couch! Then she asked if I wanted his cell or if I wanted to talk to him.

So Grandpa said that he could bring us back down from Rexburg. It was very kind of him and I am grateful that he was able to. It was pretty fun seeing him and grandma.

Good luck with work and everything.

Love,
Elder Call

Work Picking Up Dramatically; Lord Moves in Mysterious Ways

2009-07-08T08:48:00.011-05:00

30 June 2009

Dear Family,

Things are going well here in the Pocatello West Stake. We had a baptism! Kalob High was baptized on 27 June. He is such a cool kid. He is only 10 years old. They had all sorts of family from all over come to his baptism. I even believe he had a great-grandmother there! That is the first baptism of someone I have taught on the mission. (I guess Alexis Zamora actually was, but she was 8 when we taught her and didn't tell anybody she had turned 9 until 1/2 hour before her baptism. I think I wrote you about that.)

Last night we went to say "hi" to one of our investigators and she told us she already had her baptism planned! We have a sheet for the program we help investigators fill out, but this investigator is ahead of the game and excited. It is all planned out to the last detail.

So, there are two sets of missionaries in our district that serve in the Central Stake. One companionship is Elder Walter and Elder Huff. Their area has a large hill that they like to ride down on their bikes really fast. They were going down the hill and a lady opened up her car door! It hit Elder Walter's arm and he crashed and broke his arm.

But this is the miracle. The lady had been taught by missionaries in high school and wanted to be baptized. Her parents wouldn't allow it. But she had been thinking lately that she lived on her own now and could be baptized. So Elder Walter has a broken arm and an investigator who wants to be baptized! The Lord works in mysterious ways!

"Now Elder Walter has a broken arm

and an investigator

who wants to be baptized!"

One thing that I have learned is that the Lord prepares people, and all we have to do is find them. We have two or three people with baptism dates, others who are close, and we are picking up new investigators. Elder Poppleton and I are getting busier and busier. We are consistently teaching at least 10 times a week! Last week we taught 12 times and the week before that we taught 15! (These are formal, "sit down-pray-teach-pray" lessons.) When I first got here we were teaching only two lessons or so a week. We are very excited and hope to teach 20 lessons a week by the end of the transfer.

There is a program from the Missionary Department that wants each companionship teaching 20 lessons a week. That is rare and hard to achieve. But we think we can do it. Especially since Elder Poppleton has been sick the last couple of weeks and we still taught 27 lessons in two weeks!

Well, I don't think anything else too exciting has happened around here. Let me know what is going on back home, please, and how everyone is doing. Thanks.

Love,
Elder Call

Elders Learn the Lord is "in the Details of [their] Lives"

2009-07-02T16:30:00.005-05:00

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that while the Lord always preserves our agency, He is also involved "in the details of our lives" (“Becoming a Disciple,” Ensign, June 1996, 19). Elders Call and Poppleton discovered this to be true. . .

24 June 2009

Dear Family,

Again, thank you for the letters this week. It is always good to hear from home about what is going on.

Last Wednesday we lost our phone! Elder Poppleton thinks it is less botherrsome to ask a random person we see in Wal-Mart to give us a ride home rather than calling someone ahead of time and planning to have someone pick us up. I think it is more bothersome to ask someone we don't know, who could live anywhere and who might already have plans. So we compromised and call for a ride from the library to Wal-Mart and then Elder Poppleton asks a random person for a ride home. But that is probably more than you wanted to know. Suffice it to say that we've compromised.

So, after we were done shopping, Elder Poppleton asked for a ride home. The man hesitated, but agreed. His name was Ken and he had stopped to buy some donuts. He was on his way to the Palisades for a Boy Scout camp. He was from a town near Malad (which is outside our mission).

We got home and a little over an hour later we realized the phone wasn't in my pocket anymore! We looked all over the place. We had gone bowling with an older couple, so we called them. It wasn't in their car. We called the bowling alley. They didn't have it. We called Wal-Mart; they didn't have it.

Elder Poppleton asked if I remembered the man's name. "All I remember is that his name was Ken," I said. "I don't know what his last name is." Elder Poppleton remembered seeing that the name on the tent started with an "El." So we looked in the phone book and we found a man who lives in Firth. But that isn't anywhere close to Malad.

Well, to make it short, I found a Ken El--- living in ---, Idaho. We tried calling several times, and eventually we got ahold of him on Friday.

His wife said he was rounding up the cows. So she took the phone out to him (in the meantime, all the cows were mooing). He said they had been in and out of the car a lot, and they hadn't seen it, but he would look. Lo and behold, there it was!

He was coming up to Blackfoot and would be driving right past us, so Saturday morning he heard a semi pulling up and Ken, a typical cowboy, gave us our phone!

That saved a lot of stress and $100. That was definitely an answer to our many prayers.

Love,

Elder Call

Rain Finally Stops; New President to Arrive

2009-06-30T14:33:00.003-05:00

30 June 2009

Hey Dad,

I loved reading your email! Thanks for emailing me before today. We should be back to p-day on Wednesday next week. Our new President came in yesterday I believe. We will meet him tomorrow. We are very excited to meet President Colton and found out more about him. It is pretty cool being here at this time of transition.

By the way, Elder Poppleton's dad loves your blog! It sounds as if he checks it quite often. E. Poppleton had forgotten to tell his family that p-day was today. But Brother Poppleton read it on the blog and made sure to email sooner this week.

It finally quit raining so much. It rained at least once a day for 3 weeks straight. Now Idaho is going back to its normal dusty self.

That is exciting that Bro. & Sis. Brumble are preparing to go on a mission. They will love it and will do a great job. Let me know where they are going. Pres. Evans emailed me and said that there are 11 missionaries that entered the MTC since March from our stake. Then there were the few who left before and he said there are 2 scheduled to enter in August. That is way cool to think there are so many missionaries from our stake. Do you know who they are and where they are going?

I am also very excited to hear that you will be doing work for Nauvoo University! That is so cool. You will have to keep me updated on the university's plans. I was wondering where they will hold classes? Is there already a building, or do they have to build one?

That is cool that you and Rachel will be in Idaho for the Wheeler Family Reunion. When is that? Transfers are 15 July. Who knows I might get transferred to Ririe! Wouldn't that be crazy?

Keep me posted and thank you for all that you do for me.

Love,
Elder Call

Elders, Bishop are Inspired; Changing of the Guard an Emotional Experience

2009-06-25T10:54:00.006-05:00

Next week Elder Call will experience what only some missionaries get to experience: the transition to a new mission president. As I read his email this week, I thought back upon my own experience of seeing my first mission president, President David H.H. Chen, be replace by my second mission president, President Garry P. Mitchell. I couldn't help but pick up my journal and read from it. . .

July 2, 1980.
Wednesday.

Today was a special mission conference --President Mitchell and his wife were there. First Sister Chahn spoke--she was so emotional she could barely speak. She just bore a quick testimony and sat down. Then President Chahn got up--he is so sai-leih [amazing]! I respect him so much! He just got up and built up President Mitchell--he talked about how great he is, and how much good he's done, and all that kind of stuff. He didn't say a thing about himself. I really love and respect President Chahn.

At the end of the conference, President Chahn stood at the door and we all walked by and shook his hand. I was the first elder to shake his hand--I said, "Thank you, President Chahn." He said, "Elder Call"--and he just looked at me for a second and said, "be successful." It hit my heart and soul so hard. "Be successful," was the last thing President Chahn said to me--the last advice he gave -- and I will follow it.

24 June 2009

Hi Dad,

Thanks for the email and don't worry about getting it to me after I already checked my email.

Last night we had another appointment with one of our investigators. This time she invited 3 friends of hers. They are all younger and RMs who served in the same mission. She has always wanted Bishop Sparrow to be there, but he was never able to make it until last night.

She still had some concerns about when she would be baptized and if it was what she really needed. We were answering her concerns and sharing scriptures with her and Elder Poppleton promised her that if we all prayed together then she would receive the "sign" that she was looking for. We all knelt down and she prayed. The Spirit was very strong. By the way she worded her prayer it was evident that she already believed the Church is true and she believed she needed to be baptized.

After a few minutes and a few more scriptures that she shared, she said that she will be baptized on 11 July! We were all very happy and all grins. She told the Bishop that he could put it on his calendar for 11 July definitely. Her husband said, "Did you watch him writing it down before when you told him the possible dates?"

"No?" she said. "What do you mean?"

"He didn't just pencil you in," her husband replied.

Bishop Sparrow said, "I wrote it in pen on the 11."

"How did you know?" she asked.

"I just knew," the bishop said.

It was pretty funny and cool.

Another of our investigators picked up smoking again. The poor man has tried so hard to quit. He is hoping to be baptized on 13 July when his other children will be up here. We are praying for him really hard.

One of the Elders in our district got here late because of the swine flu. He said that they stuck everybody in 4M on the second floor and quarantined it. Nobody was allowed up there. If you had to go there you wore masks and everybody had this breathalizer type stuff they had to take twice a day. Food was slid into the quarantined floor real quickly and the doors shut. His MTC district leader got sick and was in there for 5 days. Apparently it was just chaos and anarchy. No order whatsoever and no one in charge. They could do whatever they wanted.

Some elders got the janitors to smuggle in food from Wendy's. Well, that just made them worse and were throwing up all over the place. The janitors came very close to being fired. The sickies were staring out of the windows all day long.

I am certainly glad I wasn't there while all this was going on.

That is way cool that you will probably do the work for Nauvoo University! That is so exciting! That would be great if they ever got a family history or church history major.

Everything is going great here . President Somers leaves this weekend and President Colton comes in on July 1! We had our last Zone Conference with him last Thursday. "How Firm a Foundation" is his favorite hymn and we sing it at pretty much every meeting (all seven verses). I love that hymn too. So as the meeting was closing Pres. Somers said that we would sing "How Firm a Foundation" for the closing. He said that while we sang that at the Mission Conference with Elder Bednar, as we were transtioning from the 4th to 5th verse, Elder Bendar leaned over to Pres. Somers and asked, "Do they understand the doctrine behind these verses?"

"In full confidence I was able to tell him that you do," he said.

So we all stood up for President as we sang. It was extremely powerful. Sung with great earnestness, force, vigor, zeal , and spirit. Then as we got to the 7th verse it was sung with all that much more effort. It was astounding. Many, if not most or all, were in tears. President Somers is a man of God, a man we all love. It is sad and heart-wrenching to see him go, but exciting and anxious to have President Colton in.

Well, I think that is pretty much all from Poky West.

Thanks again for the update. Oh--next week we have P-Day on Tuesday, 30 June, because of President Colton coming in. So that is when I will be checking my email.

Love,
Elder Call

Elders Call and Poppleton Find Joy in Sharing Gospel

2009-06-18T09:21:00.005-05:00

17 June 2009

Hi Dad,

How's it going with you? Things here are going pretty good. One of our investigators decided he wants to be baptized on the 27th June. He told us that he had been thinking a lot the last couple of days and decided that quiting smoking was something that he couldn't do by himself, he needs God's help. He also wants to do it before his son is married on 3 July and before he is gone. This is the RM son who is going to baptize him.

We pray really hard to help him gain the strength to quit smoking.

I don't know if anything really exciting has happened this week. The missionaries that were quarantined at the MTC came in yesterday. They were quarantined for the swine flu. I've heard through the grapevine that the missionaries that were going to go to Mexico were either sent somewhere else or missions delayed. Have you heard anything? And didn't Dan Abbott get called to Mexico, do you know what happened to him?

How is the missionary work going in the Beloit Ward? Are they teaching a lot of people? How are the elders or sisters?

One exciting thing did happen last night. We had an appointment with an investigator and it was going pretty good. During the lesson Elder Poppleton and I both felt like we needed to set a baptism date with her. It seems as though what is holding her up now is just the Word of Wisdom. She doesn't have addictions to anything, she just likes to have coffee every once in a while. So we had previously committed her to stop for a week. She did it except for a day. Last night we committed her to stop for good. She accepted. Then we set a baptism date with her for the 11 July!!!!!!!! We are so excited. She says that is a goal she can work towards. When she said she would shoot for the 11th it made her husband cry.

I don't know if it has quite set in yet. We just need to help her make those last few steps to the font.

Well I'll write next week. Tell everyone "hi" for me and that things are going very well here in Pocatello West.

Thanks.

Love,
Elder Call.

Elder Call Loves the "Typical" Pocatello Family; Remains Well Fed

2009-06-15T16:48:00.003-05:00

Well, Elder Call is really getting immersed with the people of Pocatello. And he's learning more and more about the "typical" Pocatello family. I remember having similar experiences in Hong Kong nearly 30 years ago. Seemed like every family in Hong Kong

Had a relative in America
Had a parent or grandparent who survived the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong
The dad worked either in "the factory" "making things" or "at the ocean" "fishing"
Everybody, including children, was "working hard"
Wanted to learn English
Didn't "believe in church"
Worshipped traditional Chinese gods
Couldn't understand you, no matter how good your Cantonese was

Here's the latest from Elder Call:

10 June 2009

Dear Family:

Thanks for your letters. It sounds like everyone is having a ton of fun this summer. I'm glad you had such a good time in Utah, Mom. It is good to see family every once in a while.

On Monday night Elder Poppleton and I were coming up with traits of the standard Pocatello family. These are just a few things that we have noticed. Every family pretty much fits a few of these descriptions:

Born or raised in or near Pocatello
Parents or older children went to Idaho State University
They hunt or fish and some animal head in their home
They know Calls or Poppletons
Usually related to the Calls
Usually went to school with the Poppletons
Someone in the family works or has worked at one of the following:
Drives a truck or school bus
Simplot or FMC
Heinz
Railroad
They have a son or nephew on a mission
The teenagers are going to ISU

Oh—and every time they have a teenage-to-twenty-something daughter, she is mysteriously absent from dinner (We’re missionaries—can’t they trust us?)

Most families usually fit several of these. Se,e we came up with that Monday after dinner because the family has a nephew in the ward who just left on a mission. Their teenage sons are going to go to ISU. Their 21-year-old daughter showed up right at the end. And the father drives a truck.

Then our dinner appointment on Tuesday night had a daughter who is about 19 or 20 who was going to come home for dinner (it sounded like she was going to ISU) but decided she couldn’t make it. Oh—and the mother of this family is Ruth call’s great-granddaughter. Ruth Call is an Indian girl who Anson Call adopted. So that makes this sister and me fourth cousins once removed. She and her husband went to school together (they grew up in Pocatello) and knew a guy named Gary Poppleton! We firmly believe our “Standard Pocatello Family” to be pretty true!

Well, things are going well here. I’m still in the Pocatello West Stake. We’re usually teaching about 10 lessons a week. Some weeks less, others more. Our nights get filled up pretty quick and are busy. We just wish more people would keep their appointments.

Tell me what is going on and what everyone is up to.

Love you all,
Elder Call

P.S. We just realized that we have six sirloins and six rib eyes and 15 hamburgers in our freezer! The Saurey’s give us way too much!

Elders Call and Poppleton Follow the Spirit, Become "Answer to Prayer"

2009-06-06T07:26:00.003-05:00

3 June 2009

Hi Dad,

I got the SD cards on Monday and on Monday we found out that we are both staying here in the Pocatello West Stake! That will mean that I will be here in this area 4 1/2 months! That seems like a way long time. I really like it here and hope to see some of these people we are teaching get baptized this transfer.

This one investigator quite smoking for a week and picked it up again. So he won't be baptized this Saturday. I don't know if I told you, but his oldest son that is a RM is getting married a month from today and then 3 kids from a marriage in Texas are coming up at about that same time. He wants to be baptized while they are here. He also wants to be done smoking before then. His one daughter is a convert to the church and his son who is 11 will be living with him. He wants his son to be baptized also. So that is pretty cool.

Another investigator is inching closer and closer to baptism. This past week she told us that she is "leaning towards baptism"! And for her that pretty much means she knows she is going to be baptized and knows it is the right thing to do. We are way excited for her and so is her husband.

We have been helping a couple who are almost 90 years old . Their home teacher thinks that we can help get them to the temple. That would be really cool if that happened. We helped them weed about a week and a half ago. They have a huge garden (as in at least 20 very long rows, Elder Poppleton says maybe 1/2 an acre) that they put on for show and competitions. Then on Monday morning we decided to go over without any notice and weed. We got there and Sis. Erikson was so excited and happy we were there. She kept yelling back at her husband that the missionaries were there to weed! She starting clapping for joy. She told us, "You wouldn't believe it, but you are an answer to a prayer." She had been praying that someone would come and help her weed. She is practically blind and can only see a weed that is about 3 feet tall and has a yellow flower on the end.

I am way excited for the work that you have coming in and potentially will be doing. Maybe you could tell Nauvoo University to have a Family History Major and I might go there after BYU! That would be fun.

We had a dinner appointment with a family and the father's name was Spencer Stucki from the Bear Lake area. (Don't you have some Stucki cousins? He said there are 3 unrelated families that came from Switzerland, joined the Church and settled in Idaho. One in Bear Lake, Idaho Falls, and I can't remember the third.) Anyways, he said he knows Scott Kunz (spelling) quite well. I thought that was pretty amazing.

That is great that all those youth went to the Temple Baptisms. That is a crazy amount! Tell them all I wish them well and pray that they will continue to be strong in the faith.

Well, I'll get going. Thanks for the letters and the SD Cards.

Love,
Elder Call

Elder Call is Happy and Healthy in Idaho

2009-05-30T17:46:00.003-05:00

27 May 2009

Dear Family,

Happy late birthday, Mom! Sorry I didn't write about it last week. We figured out that Elder Poppleton's sister, who is 38, is closer to your age than his mom, who is 59. Isn't that really weird?

Things are going well here. One of our investigators quit smoking on Saturday! We are so excited for him.

We met a man who told us that we had never studied the Bible! We thought that we pretty funny. He also told us that the Bible and Book of Mormon don't agree. We told him that he can know the Book of Mormon is true by the Spirit because John 14:26 teaches us about the role of the Holy Ghost.

He then told us we don't need the Holy Ghost to konwt he truth. We only need the Bible. We asked if we could come over and teach him. He said no, only the Bible. He said we could study teh Bible without him, thinking we wouldn't agree). Of course we said we would. He hesitated and said he had to talk to his wife about it. We said, "Okay. Can we come by Sunday to see if you have figured out a time for us to meet?" He hesitated again and said, "No. You shouldn't."

I just got all your letters this afternoon. Thanks for them. It is really good hearing from you. It sounds like everyone is doing good.

We have had a really busy day. It was a Zone Memorial Day activity. I wrote Dad an email about it. Last night we went to a ward's mutual in the Central Stake and did little trainings/workshops on different sections of Preach My Gospel. That was a lot of fun, but we only had 10 minutes. That was not enough time for the kids to really learn much. It was kind of a quick in-and-out type deal.

It is getting pretty warm and hot outside now. But it isn't very humid, which is really nice. The only thing that is bothersome is that freak thunderstorms just appear out of nowhere and then we get really wet.

Next week is transfers once again! That seems really strange. It will be 3 months in Idaho already plus the three weeks at the MTC! How crazy is that?

It sounds like Mom will have fun in Utah. That is really good that she will be able to see her sisters and parents.

The West Stake is slowly moving along. Hopefully we will have a couple of baptisms next transfer. I hope that these people we are teaching will be able to follow through with baptisms. Our area hasn't seen any baptisms for at least 4.5 months! Thre are plenty of nonmembers and poeple being prepared; they just need to be found.

Tell me how the family is doing and how the ward is. Thanks.

Love you all,

Elder Call

Photos of Elder Call Arrive

2009-05-30T14:59:00.009-05:00

Okay, so. . .these photos arrived a couple weeks ago, and I feel awfully guilty that they aren't up until now. I'll try to do better!

To the left is Elder Burton (Elder Call's trainer and district leader), and to the right is Elder Call. They are fishing at Lava Hot Springs. Isn't missionary work tough? :-)

Elder Call, left, and Elder Burton on the way to Bannuck Creek.

Elder Call and Elder Burton monkeying around!

Elder Call, Elder Burton, and an investigator.

Even in Missionary Work there can be Nothing New

2009-05-30T08:44:00.003-05:00

Elder Call's handwritten letter this week is pretty short. And it's even shorter on the blog because a friendly reminder was posted a few weeks ago by someone who stumbled onto the blog. He reminded me that sensitive information about investigators or members should be kept private, and he is right. So I'm more careful about editing out Elder Call's personal perceptions or his desires that specific investigators will be baptized.

But his letter is nonetheless nice to read!

20 May 2009

Dear Family,

Thanks for your letters this week. I really like reading them and hearing all about what is going in. It sounds like everyone is doing really good. Rebecca wrote me about Adam Foster's talk. . .what he said about Mom is service. Also what he said about Sister Crave. That one made me laugh: how she would have taken charge and been first in teh Valley.

Things are pretty much the same. . . . [We had a great meeting] with Mona. We talked about everything from Abraham to Joseph Smith, from revelation to families. She has a greater understanding about revelation now. She is now [hoping] to meet President Monson! I believe she will make it happen.

Sorry this letter is short, but there isn't much to write about this week.

Love you all,

Elder Call

Elder Call's Gaurdian. . .DOG?

2009-05-27T17:55:00.003-05:00

27 May 2009

Hi Dad,

Thank you for emailing me. I can't remember if I said thanks for the stamps or not. Thanks for the stamps. (I got them a while ago.) I enjoyed reading the email.

That sounds like an awesome Memorial Day Breakfast! I wish I could have been there to see all those people. It sounds like Sister Crave and her family did a good job once again. How did they get so many people there?

Our Memorial Day was actual kind of boring because everybody was gone or were having parties and we didn't have any appointments. Nobody really seemed to want to talk to us either. Oh well.

But today, on the other hand, we had a Zone Memorial Day activity at a park just down the road from us. That was a ton of fun! It started at 11:00 and ended at 3:00. We played softball, had a barbecue (with the grill the Saureys gave us) and then played Ultimate Frisbee. I didn't really like the softball part though. I just don't like playing baseball type games.

That is really nice of Pres. Evans and Bishop Ensign to ask how I am doing. I was wondering if Pres. Ward was still around or if he is in Salt Lake or whereever?

It sounds like you travel a lot now for work. Do you like that or would you rather just do work around Rockford?

I can't remember if I told you but we had a district blitz last week. All the missionaries in our district went to work in Elder Rose and Elder Fletcher's area for a few hours. I was Elder Fletcher's companion. We had a dog follow us all over town! It was kind of scary. . .it had its mouth open with its tongue hanging out the entire time. It would walk just behind us or next to us. And we would stop to knock on a door and it would lay down while we talked and then get back up again. People even asked us if it was our dog! One time it even walked quite a ways ahead of us and we turned into a trailer court. We saw it stop and look around and then came running over to us! We then went inside a trailer and when we came out 10-15 minutes later it had disappeared. We joked that it was our guardian angel! Who knows maybe it really did protect us from something or someone.

It sounds like Mom will have a ton of fun in Utah visiting her family.

Tell everyone that I am doing good and appreciate them asking about me. Tell them all "hi."

Love,
Elder Call

New Meaning to the Phrase, "Shake off the Dust of Thy Feet"

2009-05-22T19:04:00.003-05:00

Okay, I feel bad. Really, really, bad. Worse than not doing my home teaching. Worse than the time I got a technical foul called on me when I was 15 years old. I mean, I've really blown it this time.

I've just been so doggone busy with work that I haven't updated Elder Call's blog.

But it's a new day, and a new commitment is being made. Here's hoping for the best.

21 May 2009

Hey Dad,

It sounds like work is keeping you really busy and you are getting new clients pretty steadily.

I'm sure that Mary and John are way excited to be out of school pretty soon. With the weather warming up there it has got to be hard for them to go through each school day. It sounds like it is getting pretty green out in Illinois. It is greening up here in Idaho too, just not nearly as much as back home. It is kind of funny to see all of these yards with sprinklers. Idaho is a dusty place that's for sure.

I have two pairs of shoes. One I only wear to meetings or other nicer occasions and the other I wear when we are out working most days. The pair that I use while working I don't clean them or polish them very frequently, but yesterday morning I decided it was about time. They looked pretty nice. But by the end of the day they were dusty and gray again. You just can't keep them looking clean and nice for very long.

Fortunately we don't have to worry about tornadoes in Idaho. I am glad that they all made it home safe. Here we just have freak rainstorms that seemingly come out of nowhere and then we get drenched.

I am feeling completely better now. It is really nice not being sick. When we get sick as missionaries we feel really lazy and useless.

The work in the Pocatello West Stake is pretty much the same. We did set a baptism date with Kalob for 13 June. He is so excited to be baptized. That family is so cool. All four boys were asking us all about being a missionary. What it is like, what we do, where we wanted to go, etc. They were even saying they couldn't wait to be missionaries! The two middle boys were baptized at the same time and were talking about how they felt and other times they have felt the Spirit. They are way cool kids. They will all make great missionaries one day.

Things are going pretty good here, it is hard to believe that it is already 4 weeks into this transfer! Elder Poppleton and I both feel like he will get transfered and that I will stay. But we really have no idea. If I do stay here one more transfer, then I will have been in this stake for 4 1/2 months! That seems like a long time. We were talking to a lady in one of our wards and she served her mission in Cleveland Ohio mission. She only served in two areas (neither of them were visitor's centers or historical sites). She stayed in her second area for 10 months! That is truly a long time! That is especially long for a sister missionary who is only out for 18 months. She told us it was way hard to go home because she was in that area for so long they seemed like family. There were very few members in her area so she had dinners with some families at least once a week. She ate with a couple of families at least 40 times! That is crazy.

Well, I guess I will get going. Thanks for everything and tell me how everyone is doing. Thanks.

Love,

Elder Call

Three Baptismal Dates Set; Work Picking Up

2009-04-27T13:15:00.004-05:00

20 April 2009

Dear Family:

Thank you for your letters. We think the mail got a little backed up because of Easter. Elder Burton loved your letters, Mary. He really enjoyed reading them.

It is our last Monday of the transfer and both Elder Burton and I feel a little sick in the stomach. We are allowed to write if we are sick.

All last week missionaries have been joking that Elder Burton would be a zone leader. I didn't really know if he would be, but I think he would be a good one. Last night the zone leaders called at about 10 minutes to 9:00 p.m. and said they had received their calls at 7:30 telling them they would stay. So we figured President was done making calls. Then at 9:15 President called Elder Burton to be a zone leader in Rexburg. He was freaking out. While he was on the phone with President, he has sheet white, shaking, and scared. His zone covers Salmon, Rigby, Ririe, and part of Rexburg. He is excited to go there because he served in Ririe for five months and loves it there.

That's cool that Mary got to help paint the scenery for the school play. I remember they wouldn't let me help paint it, except for the base coat. I've never been very creative. I can't believe you are so smart, John. I could never make it to a science state championship contest. Tell Rachel congratulations for me--I wish I could win $500!

We are teaching quite a bit more than we have before. The first three to four weeks we had maybe one or two lessons (scheduled) a week. Last week had had 10! Things are really picking up. We now have three baptism dates. 1) Samantha--10-year-old daughter in a less-active family; 2) Patrick, in his 40s, whose son just got back from a mission; 3) Mary, in her 40s, her friend just died and she likes the plan of salvation.

We set Mary's date yesterday. It was pretty cool. When President called last night he asked how things were going and Elder Burton said,

"Good, we set a date today."

President said, "How many dates do you have now?"

"We have three."

"Too bad you won't be there for any of them," President said. I thought that was pretty funny.
Mary, your story about seeing the movie is hilarious! It made me laugh right out loud. I'm picturing you Mary, McKenzie, Emily--three 14-year-old girls in a movie theater seeing a scary movie all by yourselves. I would probably freak out too. I hate those kind of movies. I'm glad you all left, because it doesn't sound like a very good movie.

I don't know if I am being transferred yet. I bet I am staying.

Tell everyone "Hi" for me and that I appreciate their help and prayers. I am doing well and it is hard to imagine that I have been in Idaho for six weeks already. It is starting to go by pretty quickly.

Love you all,
Elder Call

"Things are Picking Up"

2009-04-20T19:07:00.003-05:00

15 April 2009

Dear Family:

Today is tax day! And it snowed yesterday. It all melted, but it is not fun to say it snowed in the middle of April.

Thanks for the Easter box. I loved it and so did Elder Burton. I got it the day before Easter.

Something exciting happened this week. We woke up on Monday morning and found that someone had completely side-swiped our car. It is still drivable--just a bunch of dents and scratches. We had to call the police and the misison office. It was kind of a big deal. Elder Burton is convinced that someone did it on purpose, but I don't know.

We taught Mona last night. Well, we really just watched "The Testaments." She loved it and we think she will set a baptismal date tonight.

We also taught the 10-year-old daughter of a less-active member last night and set a date for her baptism. She pretty much begged her mom to let her go to Church.

There is a Johnson family in one of our wards and they are amazing. We have a few appointments through their referrals. They all sound like they will be baptized. Another one of their referrals said he wants to become a fully active member of the Church and we think that we will set a date on Friday. We are so excited because things are picking up and going well.

Thank you, Rebecca, for the cookies. They were delicious and we almost had a full cookie when we got the bug!!

I really wish we had more time to write, so please tell people that I wish I could write them more frequently. And I do appreciate their letters.

I am so glad that the business is going well. It definitely relieves a lot of stress. Tell me about school and work and how everybody's doing in the ward. I really wish I had more time to write.

Love you all,
Elder Call

Elder Call Inspired with Stake President's Call to Seventy

2009-04-12T17:37:00.003-05:00

Well, this is turning out to be a pretty good system. Since Elder Call prefers to write letters as opposed to emails, it turns out we get a short email from him on his preparation day, and a letter from him a few days later.

8 April 2009

Hi Dad,

We watched all of the sessions of General Conference at the Pocatello West Stake Center. I wrote about some of the things we did in a letter I wrote earlier today.

The weekend before conference I was sick and Elder Burton made me stay at the Davenports with Elder Johnson (the elders in Chubbuck stay with them) so that I could recover more quickly. While there we were talking about who the new apostle would be. I said it could President Ward, but then said that he isn't quite apostle material yet. :-) But that he would probably be a seventy. I was so excited to hear that he was called! I don't think many seventies come from Illinois.

Sister Davenport guessed that Neil L. Andersen would be the next apostle! Our apartment is in the basement of an older sister. Her name is Sis. Price. She has lived in Pocatello her entire life (she is 73). Elder Andersen's dad was her bishop here, and if I understand correctly they met in a building just down the road from us.

She told us that while she was pregnant with her son Bishop Andersen had a book about raising boys. He said to her, "You have raised two girls, but raising a boy is different" (Elder Andersen is older than her son). She said she was offended and said she had already raised two children and didn't need help raising her third. So she didn't take the book. Sister Price then said, "And look at where his son is now."

It sounds like conference was great for the family and lots of fun. That is kind that people ask about me, tell them I am doing well.

I'll try to send more pictures, I haven't sent any because I haven't taken very many since I got out of the MTC. I'll try to take more and send them.

I am grateful that I am in Idaho.

I am so glad that you are getting work to do. And thank you for emailing and writing me.

Love you,

Elder Call

Following the Spirit in Pocatello

2009-04-06T17:44:00.004-05:00

This past weekend Elder Call's former stake president, Jack D. Ward, was sustained as an area seventy during general conference. The last missionary President Ward set apart before being released was Elder Call.

Today, Elder Call's adventure continues with his experiences of following the Spirit. . .

1 April 2009

Dear Family:

Thank you for your letters. I love to read them. I am writing on this [unlined paper] because we are at the library doing emails and the other elders aren't done yet. It will be hard keeping the lines straight. That is one thing I have always wondered when reading older documents in family history. How did they keep the lines so straight?

Yesterday we were on exchanges and I was with Elder Johnson. We had a few minutes before another appointment so we decided to do a little tracting. We started to walk down one street when I didn't quite feel right about it. So I said, "Let's turn around." We were walking up a street and then I felt good about it and said, "Let's start right here." We knocked on the door and a lady answered named Debbie. We shared a short message and she said she was inactive, but knew she really needed to go to church. She expressed interest and we were wrapping it up and then she said that her grandmother was a Call and was a member. I think we will go and visit with her every few days and maybe I could talk with her about family history a little. That might encourage her to go and it will build a relationship of trust.

Yesterday we had another appointment with Mona. It went really well. Elder Johnson is a convert of about 1.5 years. Elder Burton was definitely inspired to go on that exchange because Elder Johnson was perfect for her. I feel baptism is very close for her. We are very excited for Mona and her husband.

Tell me how things are going and anything new that is going on. Say "hi" to Rachel and Rebecca for me please.

Love you all,
Elder Call

New Ward, New Investigator, New Members. . .

2009-04-01T12:33:00.013-05:00

I was sitting at the computer doing some work today when Outlook notified me I had an email from Elder Call. What a time in which to live! Isn't technology wonderful?

Anyway, it sounds like Elder Call is learning more and more about missionary work and about the world. . .

Hey Dad,

It is exciting to have a new ward in our area. We are slowly getting to know the area and the members. We talked to the Bishop and he is really excited and is very missionary minded, and he says the rest of the ward is also. But it was hard for the sisters to get out to that part of Pocatello so not much work got done. A lot of the ward is right across the road from us.

We do have an investigator in that ward (52nd ward). Her name is Billie Anne Stump (that sounds like a pirate's name to me!). She is in her fifties and has two autistic sons, 18 and 21. The first time we tried to teach her, the 18 year old was their. And he was asking me all sorts of questions that were completely random. Billie Anne told me to teach Alex(18) while Elder Burton taught her. We obviously didn't get much of anything done.

"Our new investigator's name is Billie Ann Stump.
That sounds like a pirate's name to me!"

Then the day before yesterday we went to go see how she was doing and she had fallen and her glasses cut her eyelid pretty bad. They had cleaned up the blood and her son was taking care of her (he was very proud) and they had called the doctor. The doctor told her go to the urgent care center but she had no way of getting there. She didn't want to call 911 because her other son would be coming home from work/school and somebody needed to be there. Billie Anne was really losing it, she wasn't making sense, sluring, and repeating herself. So we took her glasses across the street to Sister Mitchell's. We have never met her so it was kind of weird, but she was very helpful and said she could take the glasses to get fixed and could take her to the urgent care center at about 4:30 when Billie Anne's other son (Aaron) was home.

We still needed someone to watch the sons, so Sister Mitchell recommended Sister Jones* who lives near Billie Anne. We went over there and she is an older lady. She was quite rude about the whole thing and had ABSOLUTELY NO COMPASSION WHATSOEVER! We told her that Billie Anne had a problem and she said "She has alot of problems." "No I can't." "What did she do this time?." "She drinks." "She smokes." "Her sons are..." So we left and found a Sister Wakely. She was helpful and recommended some men in the ward who might be home. Both Sister Wakely and Sister Mitchell's husbands are in the bishopric and both were very helpful.

We found a Brother Johnson who is very kind and willing to help. He said he could go over and watch Alex and Aaron. He also is very excited about missionary work and has someone that wants to learn more about the gospel and we are going to have dinner with the family and then probably teach the non-member father.

It is amazing to see how the hand of the Lord works. Billie Anne had fallen and three of her neighbors helped her in a time of great need. That will probably have a huge affect on her decision to be baptized. And we also found someone who is willing to learn more about the gospel. And we built good relations of trust with some members of the ward. I am very grateful for that experience.

Just to kind of wrap up the whole story, yesterday we went to go see how Billie Anne is doing. The doctors bandaged her up and cleaned it. They did other tests to make sure everything is all right and they found she had a high alcohol content in her blood. They asked her if she had been drinking and she was offended by that. She blamed the fall on her diabetes. She couldn't really remember anything. I think she might have been drinking because she was incoherrent, slurrring, repetative, forgetfull, and Sister Fallis says she has a history of drinking.
Hopefully she will have a desire to continue to learn and to make the neccessary changes to be prepared for baptism.

I know that was a long-winded story (kind of like Uncle Bruce's "highlights" of the Summum story in this month's Call Connection. That was probably longer than 2-3 of their normal submissions combined.) Well, I will probably write today and tell you about what else is going on.
Thank you for writing and for emailing.

Love,
Elder Call

*Name changed to protect the innocent!

Elder Call Sings, Makes Sisters Cry; New Discovery in Book of Mormon

2009-03-31T17:51:00.011-05:00

Well, Elder Call's dad was slothful last week. . .seems like the work piled up higher and higher and I just couldn't get through it all. But we did receive an email and a couple letters from Elder Call:

25 March 2009

Dear Family:

Thank you for sending your letters. It's lot of fun to read them. Elder Burton doesn't get a lot of letters; that's probably because he's been out a little over a year.

Things are going well here. We still only have one investigator, Mona. So we do a lot of tracting and walking. Not very many people are real receptive. This Saturday night we are going to officially swap wards with the sister missionares in our stake. A ward they cover is right across from us, and a ward we cover is very close to them. It will be really nice to have it so close. We have pretty much tracted everything in our area.

Tell everyone "hi" for me and that I am doing well and love the mission. Please tell Rachel and Rebecca that I love reading their letters (I don't know if I will have time to write them back) and I'm sorry I haven't written them much.

Last Thursday we had zone conference. It was really good. Some sisters from one of the Pocatello stakes who have sons or daughters serving missions right now prepared lunch for us. It was really good. We then stood and sang, "Called to Serve" for them. It made some of them cry. I don't know if it was because they were touched or because it hurt their ears!

Congratulations, Mary, on being called to be Mia Maid president. I know you will do great.

By the way, I came across something totally strange. The Book of Mormon is talking about the wars, then in Alma 46:40 it talks about using medicine! I thought that was cool.

Again, thank you for the letters. I love to read them. Tell me how things are going.

Love you all,

Elder Call