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

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

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

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