Elder Call's 20 Memorable Experiences

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:

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"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