No Letter Today

Hey, I left my iPad at the church and my weekly journal is on it and I won’t be getting it back til tonight. I am super sorry there isn’t going to be a letter. I had one written up.

Love ya lots!
Elder Call

Editors Note:

We got to talk to Ben yesterday and enjoyed our visit with him.  He told us that he is being released as AP.  There are lots of changes coming in the next week or so.

Ordinary Week

12/11 Monday
Today was a pretty normal p-day. We did not meet with President Walker because he got the flu, so we had extra time today to do our preparation day activities. We had a pretty ordinary night nothing too crazy.

12/12 Tuesday
Today we went to district meetings. The district meetings we attended needed a little bit of polishing, so we will be meeting with those district leaders tomorrow. The highlight of today was teaching Art. Art was a referral from a member in the Town Center Ward! That’s right the ol’ stomping grounds! Art, the Hardy’s (the Town Center members) and us had a great lesson! It was pretty humbling teaching him, because he has had a rough past, but is up on his feet now and is a great guy. He drives forklifts and does construction for a living, so we get along well!

12/13 Wednesday
Today I was on exchanges with Elder Nemrow. He is from a town about the size of Grover, Wyoming, out in the no mans of New Mexico. We had a good day.  We taught AG. He is the super dope guy that makes flip flops that Elder Jensen and I taught in our last area! It was a good time!

We had a super cool experience this week. We knocked on a less active member family’s door and they let us in. We started to teach them a short spiritual thought and the dad showed up and joined us. At the end we invited the father to say a kneeling prayer with us. He was quite nervous, but said it and said a very heartfelt prayer.  At the end of the visit we asked what we could do for them. They all looked at the son-in-law and said, “well, we have a Jehovah Witness in the house, so you can help with that.” We started talking to him and he said, “that his grandfather told him that if he ever looked into religion, look into the Mormons” haha! He wants us to start teaching him and they are coming to church this upcoming week!

Overall it was a great week. I am looking forward to Christmas and I look forward to talking to all of you. I’m short on time today, so I will just talk to you next week.
Love you

Weekly Report

12/4 Monday
Today we made Christmas cards! We took a few photos with President and Sister Walker and then had some fun in our apartment! Tonight we had a super good lesson with a Samoan family tonight. The spirit was strong as we testified of eternal families! The grandma of the family is a member and lives on the east side and she has always been trying to get them to take the lessons so hopefully it will continue.

12/6 Wednesday
Today we had MLC and we did a year review. Tonight we had a dinner with a nonmember family! They are doing well! When we showed up, the husband said they had started to cook the hamburger and there was a latex glove in it... haha gross. They ran to the store and bought some more hamburger, thankfully! It has been cool to see that the first time we met them, and they honestly were not too happy to be talking to us, but they have made a 180 and love us now!

12/7 Thursday
I was on an exchange with Elder Smith from Minnesota today! He is a great Elder and we had a good day. We taught Henry and his girlfriend tonight and we had a kneeling prayer with them at the end. Henry said it and it was sooo awesome! The spirit was strong and Kathy was really touched as well!

12/9 Saturday
So tonight we received a referral from an inactive member in the ward. His house is in a crazy nice community with million dollar homes and it is gated, so we were a little nervous to go knock on this door but we did anyways. I went up and knocked on the door and it just opened up by itself.... haha we were like oh crap hurry and ring the doorbell!! So then this little kid comes to the door and then a dad comes and yells at the kid for opening the door! Haha the little kid says dad I didn’t do it haha the guy is like hey guys I am watching 5 kids tonight by myself can you come back later haha it was nerve racking!

😉😉 have a great week!

Editors Note:

A note and a picture was sent on while getting this ready to post.  Here is the note and picture:

"Got to spend the evening with your son with a new investigator.  Your son is an amazing missionary!  I just thought you would like to see a picture of him.  You should be a very proud mama."

Super, Super Good

The weekly.

Well this week was a super good week. On Tuesday, Elder Jensen and I were driving down the busiest road in our area. We saw a car ahead with its hazards on and two ladies pushing it down the road. We knew without a doubt we had to stop and help. Pulled into a little business hopped out of the truck and ran to the rescue. We were in quite some hurry to get the car out of the road because if we got rear-ended at 50 miles an hour, we probably would’ve been dead. Elder Jensen and I started pushing this car at a full run, thinking that we would be taking the next right and park the car. But, as we continued to push the car, the lady said we got to make it to the gas station. I looked up and saw a Chevron down the way but it definitely was a good little run pushing a car. By the time we made it, Elder Call was beat... haha The ladies said that Elder Jensen was like the Incredible Hulk. They didn’t say much about me....

Elder Call & Elder Jensen

Henry
Henry is struggling a little bit or a lot a bit. He is really struggling to keep his commitments and so we aren’t quite sure what to do with him.

AJ and fam
We had a super, super good lesson with AJ this week.  He felt the Spirit and definitely knows that the gospel of Jesus Christ could truly bless his family. We shared the children’s Bible video on the Atonement and asked his 10-year-old boy some questions, such as, why do you think Jesus Christ did all of that for us? His responses truly did touch me and I had to hold it together.  It was a great lesson. We texted him to follow up on his Book of Mormon reading and it was exciting to hear that he’s already read the first eight chapters in the last couple of days. We hope that he comes to church next week so that he can make his date for the end of December.

The Williams
They are a part number family that we’ve been visiting on occasion.  On Sunday night we had a super, super, good visit with them. We shared the “Light the World” video and they loved the service ideas. They are truly warming up to us and definitely have lots of potential. They are super great.

The Hiemarks
They came to church with us last week to hear us speak. It was super awesome to have them there. I have really connected with this family and I really hope that they continue to progress. It would be amazing to see them change.

Random:
This week Elder Juan Uceda of the Quorum of the Seventy came to our mission. I had the opportunity to conduct a meeting. It was a little nerve-racking to be honest, but after the first few moments, thankfully, the nerves calmed. During President Walker’s opening remarks, Elder Uceda leaned over and asked what do the missionaries need, I told him and he got up and gave an hour and half training on what I had said. I was sweating bullets because if I was wrong, it would have been a big waste of time for the mission. We biked last night and it was crazy windy.  We thought it was going to be cold so I wore a big coat and sweated super bad haha. My shirt was like see through haha!

President & Sister Walker, Elder Jensen, Elder Call

Hair cut from last week.  Elder Jensen is a pro.

Thanksgiving Week

Dear Family & Friends:

Here is this week's report:

11/20 Monday
Today was a normal proselyting day. Transfers and P-day will be tomorrow. We had a great day, we got in with a part member family and had a good little visit with them. Edna is the non-member wife and she is from the Philippines. They are very nice and we hope that we can start teaching them and help them come to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tonight, we also went to another part member family‘s house and they were playing some basketball in their gym. We were able to play with them a little bit and it was a lot of fun. There were 14 non-members there.

11/21 Tuesday
There are only four missionaries going home this transfer. Elder Jensen and I usually attend the temple with the departing missionaries, but since there are so few we decided that we would not go this time. Transfers took place this morning they went pretty smoothly compared to last time. We’ve been pretty stressed out and worried that they weren’t going to go that well but we were pleasantly surprised. Tonight we spent the evening at President’s house and had a wonderful dinner, played some games, and had a testimony meeting with the departing missionaries. There is this game we play every time that is super fun and let’s just say it’s been awhile since I’ve been beat.

11/22 Wednesday
It doesn’t stop! This morning we woke up and took the departing missionaries to the airport. We were worried that the airport was going to be packed because it’s the day before Thanksgiving, but thankfully, it was not that busy and we were able to get the missionaries on their way. After that Elder Jensen and I were able to go proselyting for a little while, then at 3 PM the new missionaries arrived on the shuttle from Salt Lake. There are 11 new missionaries in the mission. They are great missionaries and we are excited for them. There’s a sister that came from Lovell, Wyoming, and she knows Jacob Newman and Chase Erickson. It’s a small world. Elder Jensen told me the funniest story today. He was talking about his very first contact as a new missionary in the mission. He walked up to a guy in his garage that was working on an old car. The man was covered in tattoos, bald, super tall, and had one leg. Elder Jensen, scared to death, walks up to this man and asks if the car is a manual. The man looks at Elder Jensen in a puzzled, pissed off look and then looks down at his missing leg and says nope. Hahaha, I died when he told me that!

11/23 Thursday
Thanksgiving. Today was an interesting day to say the least. We had dinner with a wonderful family and there was a guy there that absolutely loves fly fishing and hunting and it was tough not to get distracted. Haha, it was a good time.  Later in the day were invited to go to a recent converts house and visit them. The mom was baptized in Utah three or four years ago. Her niece was baptized a few months ago and her daughter was baptized a couple years ago as well. Other than the mom being drunk and the dog taking a crap next to the table while we were eating, it was a great dinner…

11/24 Friday
Today was a sweet day.  We were on bikes pretty much the whole day and we were able to talk to so many people. It is nice because a lot of people are off work and so there were lots of people outside. It’s been a good minute since I’ve biked a whole day, so my legs are pretty beat tonight. Haha


11/25 Saturday
Today I went on an exchange with Elder Sorensen from Evanston, it was a great day! It was a lot of fun!

11/26 Sunday
Today we gave talks! It was great, I told a story and everyone complimented me on the story not the talk haha whoops!
Love,
Elder Call

Bean's

It’s been a stressful week for sure. Thankfully we have Transfers all figured out. It was pretty hectic because we have a new office staff. We have been trying to help them out, but it’s been very time-consuming and stressful. Elder Jensen and I had to do about twice as much as we usually do at transfers. That’s a pretty crazy story about Bodie (Grandpa Call’s dog) and Joyce. I hope that Joyce gets feeling better and that Grandpa does all right. Don’t have too much fun over the holiday without me, all right do you promise?  Well keep up the good work!

So we have a homeless neighbor that came up to us and started talking one night to us. He is straight up crazy but we asked him what his name was and he said, “my name is Bean, or that is at least what they call me... well I am not sure they are haha." I was taken back a little bit because of reasons you all know... I couldn’t bring myself to tell him we had the same name but he is our buddy now haha!

Elder Jensen and I will be staying another transfer together.  I thought for sure I was going to be dropped this transfer but it’s not the way it worked out.

Love you

PS this might be a good week for a treat. :-) Elder Jensen’s hungry

Should I be looking for a thanksgiving package this week?

 Beans house!

 our cribs (apartment) front door

Backyard of our crib

Will it waffle iron?

We got a waffle iron and we are seein' what we can cook in it!

Quesadilla✅ egg sandwich’s✅chicken✅hamburger✅corndog❌

Spectacular

Dear Family & Friends:

Elder Jensen and I had such a great week!

11/7 Tuesday
Today we taught a man named Henry. Elder Jensen met him last Saturday on exchanges. They knocked on an in-active member's door. A man came to the door and called out who is it. They replied that it was the missionaries. The man let them in right away and sat them down in their living room. It was not the in-active member but it was a man who is really struggling and so he felt like Elder Jensen and Elder Christensen were angels sent to him. He opened up to them and told them that he really struggles with drugs. They taught him the Restoration and set him with the baptismal day and he absolutely loved it. Elder Jensen gave him a pretty hefty assignment on that first meeting on Saturday, so we could know if he was solid to teach today. His assignment was to read three chapters in the Book of Mormon, as well as, dispose of all drugs in his apartment. When we taught him today he was waiting for us at the top of his stairs. He had read and felt the Spirit while doing so. He said it was like taking a nap but better haha. For a second I thought he studied Lehi’s dream, haha jk but he read King Benjamin’s account. As we taught, he continues to talk about his desires to serve God and change his life around! He is super awesome!

11/8 Wednesday
Today, I was on exchanges with Elder Ebert. We had a super fun day and were able to meet some great people. We met a lady that was super, super nice and said her family would be interested in hearing our message. We went on bikes for a little bit today and the weather is so nice for biking. We also taught Henry again today and we met his girlfriend, who he will be getting married to shortly. He is doing well.

11/9 Thursday
The other day we street contacted a man named David. David told us he would be interested in having a discussion and today we were able to teach him. He knows a lot about the Mormon Church and has read parts of the Book of Mormon before. He is moving in like three weeks but we will hopefully teach all the way up to his move! We had interviews with President and then had a short meeting with him and Sister Walker. Transfers are going to be fun this time...😐 (Four missionaries leaving, twelve coming to the field, opening up four areas and loosing ten cars.)

11/10 Friday
Today was practically a pre-pre transfer planning day haha.  We had an office staff meeting and then we started talking about transfers and the next thing we knew; it was 5:30!

11/12 Sunday
Fast Sunday's in Las Vegas are great except to bring investigators to. Haha I always enjoy hearing people’s stories and their interesting comments. Sometimes they get off track quickly! This week there was a 15-minute story from a guy nobody could understand and when he finished his story he just said “Amen” and walked off haha!

Elder Jensen and I had such a great week! We did some biking just for kicks and giggles and because the weather is just spectacular right now. It is like sunny and 75 and then chills down to like 60-65 haha it is beautiful. We haven't seen rain in centuries but can't complain too much haha. We are starting to teach more.

Love,
Elder Call

Step It Up

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was another good week. The front half of the week went by super fast, but the second half of the week definitely went by a little bit slower.

10/30 Monday
So today we got permission to go to Mount Charleston so that we could get rocks to use for training at MLC (Mission Leaders Council). They're definitely rocks a lot closer than Mount Charleston in Nevada, but we wanted to go do some exploring. It was way sweet to see pine trees and be in the mountains once again. As we were up there we felt the fall breeze, where the sun is really warm but the wind is really cold. It was a lot of fun we went on a little hike and then headed and played some basketball.

Nevada Las Vegas Temple

10/31 Halloween
This year for Halloween, President want to do something different than having all missionaries just sit in our apartments from 6 to 9, so he scheduled with the Temple President for the whole mission to go to the temple. Elder Jensen and I drove 10 of the out of the valley missionaries to the temple. Elder Jensen and I helped in the baptistery the whole time. After we did a few names ourselves we helped with confirmations. It was pretty cool to be able to help out at the temple. The out of valley missionaries came in and are staying at the mission home tonight. We drove them to the temple in the "Man Van," so that is always a good time. I was changing lines on the freeway and traffic was a little crazy and I smoked a big piece of a blown tire. Luckily, it just made some noise and a little bump, so nothing was hurt!

11/1 Wednesday
Today Elder Jensen and I had the wonderful opportunity to rebuke the MLC... haha  So, President has been really hurting lately with a bulged disc in his back.  He is hardly sleeping at night. He has been beat. We are pretty frustrated with the zone leaders right now and so we had to invite them to step up. President didn't want to do it, because when he is tired he comes off mean haha. We weren't sure if we should be the ones to do it for obvious reasons and so we all agreed that Sister Walker should give them the “step it up speech!” She did a great job and Elder Jensen and I did a couple training's to help the missionaries feel the need to be better and take lead! It actually turned out quite well, but I definitely think the missionaries knew we were serious haha! We met with Marco tonight and had a discussion on the Plan of Salvation. It went well.  We are having a hard time getting him to keep his commitments.

11/4 Saturday
Today I was on exchanges with Elder van Vleet. I have gone on exchanges with him a couple times before. He is a great missionary and I always have a super good time with him. We taught several people today and many of them are progressing well! It was a lot of fun to be in the south part of town again. I really enjoyed serving in the Painted Mountain and Coronado Wards. The missionary I was with eats some interesting things, so for dinner tonight we had fried spam and egg sandwiches.

11/5 Sunday
Tonight we had Zions Youth. We also met President’s son Corey and his family.  They came up for the weekend. President’s son served in Latvia and he was a very successful missionary there, so we were able to pick his brain on how we can improve! The Heimarks came to Zions Youth and loved it.

This coming week is going to be an easier week, we just have a temple trip this week. The following week is transfer planning....😰🤕haha

Love,
Elder Call

God's Work

Dear Family & Friends:

We had a slow week and only found one new investigator. It was still a good week though.

10/23 Monday
I forgot to mention, we met a man named Marco and started teaching him this last week. We initially met him by knocking, looking for a less active lady. She was not there and so we struck up a conversation with him talking about the Bible. He mentioned how he isn't even sure how correct the Bible is because of all of the changes. We told him that we believed in the King James version of the Bible, as well as, what we called the Book of Mormon. This intrigued him greatly and so he let us in and we begin teaching him. He asked many questions about the creation and fall and many other aspects of doctrine. It was a super fun visit because we were able to go back-and-forth and talk a lot about The Truth of the Gospel. We have taught him twice now and we will be going back on Thursday to teach him again. He is extremely interested in the Gospel. After the first visit with him, he followed us outside and kept asking more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but we just kept telling him we would talk to him about it at our next visit. Today, President returned from the Mission President seminar and we got our Zone Conference assignments, which start on Wednesday, so I'll be making a big push to get it done by Wednesday.


10/24 Tuesday
Today we did a lot of zone conference prep. We were able to work this evening and had a great evening. We have the ward Trunk or Treat later this week and it is going to be a big event, so, we stopped at members to have them invite their friends to the Trunk or Treat.

10/25 Wednesday
The first day of Zone Conference went smoothly. Elder Jensen and I gave a training on things that we can do as missionaries to increase the number of investigators we have progress past the first lesson. There was a study done and it showed that 50% of investigators don't make it past the first lesson. It is pretty devastating to think about and so we are working on that!

10/26 Thursday
Today I was able to have a bucket filler. At about 8:05, we decided we would go and knock on Brother Hiemarks’ door, the inactive that wants to return. He was not there, but his son answered and let us in. His son is 23 years old and works at Rhodes Ranch golf course. As we were talking we made the connection that nine months ago, when Elder Pedersen and Elder Ebert, Elder Jensen and I went golfing, we had met him. He is a nonmember and we were able to have a great conversation with him about the Plan of Salvation. It's crazy to see how God is in the details and the small things of our life's and this is truly God’s work! When we made the connection he expressed that I looked familiar but he didn't know from where. It was super awesome!

10/27 Friday
Today was the last day of Zone Conferences and that went all right. Period. There were lots of missionaries today that did not want to be there and are being very disrespectful and so that was pretty tough. On a better note the ward Trunk or Treat was tonight and it was a huge success. Elder Jensen and I set up the back of our truck and I think we were definitely the favorite. We had many pictures taken of us haha. This ward’s parties are nuts. They had a semi-truck that was a maze inside, they had several bouncy houses, cooked uncountable number of hotdogs and baked potatoes, and went all out on the candy.

10/28 Saturday
Today, I was on exchanges with Elder Price and we had a good time! We had a great visit with the Hiemarks! They are super awesome!

Thanks for your love and prayers.
Elder Call

Tools in God's Hand

Dear Family & Friends:

10/17 Tuesday
Today was a needed day! This week, in the mission, we are having not a push but a focus finding new investigators! As a MLC we set a goal for 225 new investigators this week. It will be a stretch but I know we can do it and I am stoked to work towards that. The District Meeting, I attended was really good! The elders in the district were super excited and were on fire. We all left spiritually lifted and encouraged. Elder Jensen and I set a goal today to find two new investigators and man did we see miracles! The first one to mention is we went and saw an inactive family and that was alright, but right after that we crossed the street and started talking to a man who is actually an inactive member! He went inactive when he was around 18 but still has a very strong testimony. Elder Jensen, asked him if he had been feeling a stronger desire recently to return to activity.  As tears welled in his eyes, he said, "yes, yes I have."  Wow, it was so powerful! We then asked what we could do to help him. He just told us that he needs to make time to visit with us and get back into it. He was a super great guy! At eight thirty we still had not reached our goal of finding a second new investigator and we were at correlation meeting. We asked our Ward Mission Leader if we could end a little bit short, so we could have time to reach our goal. At 8:40 we prayed and asked, where are we needed. We felt prompted to go to a former investigators house. We knocked and her sister answered. She was very apprehensive at first and as we started talking she opened up to us she said that she wanted us to pray for her because her pastor told her she could not be forgiven nor saved... we testified of the Atonement and set up a return appointment. As we walked away, we received confirmation that we were tools in Gods hand!

10/19 Thursday
A scare... today I almost got beat up, hardcore. Elder Jensen and I are cruising down the street and there is a group of people outside. They were all in their early twenties and all black, there were probably 6-7 of them. I talk with everyone I pass, but for some reason, I just said, “hello” and was going to keep walking. One of the guys stepped in front of us and said "give me five dollars" I said, “nope, sorry but I will give you something worth way more than five dollars.” He interrupted and said I am hungry (he said he was hungry, but I think he was “hangry” haha) give me five dollars. This escalated very quickly when he pointed at Elder Jensen and asked do you have five dollars on you right now. He said no. He pointed at me and asked and I said, “yes, I do.” He flipped out and started yelling and swearing at me. I honestly thought I was going to get punched. I thought, well, if I am going to get punched, I am going to take like a man haha. Thankfully, it cooled down a little bit and we started walking away towards the end of the dead end street, because we wanted to visit someone and it blew up again, because they wanted us to get off their "block." A lady, from the next house over, started yelling at them and told us to go inside and that she was a member. We told her to not yell at them and it wasn't a big deal and her son came out and wanted to file a report and so we told him we didn't want to file a report but he didn't care... haha.  We made our visit and we walked past those people again. A lady called us over and we started talking to her and she was a member and the guy that was going to beat us up came out again and asked for a Book of Mormon.  Elder Jensen gave him one and he said, "thanks I have been looking for one of these."  He opened it up and saw the picture of Christ and started to yell at us again because Jesus is black, not white... it was crazy!

10/20 Friday
Today, I was on exchanges with Elder Olsen.  We had a super good day! We found a family that is super awesome! We taught them about eternal families and the power of the Book of Mormon! They were very excited and very interested! Walking away from that, we both said there is nothing that we would rather be doing!

10/21 Saturday
I served out in Pahrump today with one of the super new missionaries in the mission! We had a great night and were able to teach and find many!

10/22 Sunday
We had stake conference today! One of the ladies that spoke talked about how it is important to have the temple in our sights. Both her and her husband were very far off course.  Her husband had been locked up for a while and she was not living correctly either. The Atonement is real and they we're able to make it! It was a powerful story!

I am starting to get cold in the evenings.  Anytime it is under 70 degrees, I get chilly. We found seven new investigators this week, which was way fun!

Love,
Elder Call

Turn To God

Dear Family & Friends:

10/2 Monday
Turn TO God, not from God. Las Vegas definitely was shook up today. (The result of the mass shooting.)

10/3 Tuesday
Today we were able to go see the McDonald family. They are a less active family that I've mentioned a couple times that we have been working with. We were talking to Sister McDonald about how her day was going and she expressed her gratitude towards Heavenly Father. Her and her daughter had purchased tickets to the concert that the shooting occurred but her daughter had her baby two months early so they sold their tickets and did not go. We had a great talk with Sister McDonald and she expressed her desire to return to church and to the temple. She mentioned that her husband has a fire burning within him to return to church also. It's cool to see that the Lord is continually preparing the hearts of his children to return and to come to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We, as members, never know when someone is ready to return to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to continually invite and fellowship our brothers and sisters. Today we also talked to one of our new investigators named Eileen. Her son just graduated from the Police Academy and his first day of work was front row at the concert. He had gotten a job being a police officer on the strip. Luckily, he was not injured physically, but Eileen shared with us he was definitely struggling with the entire ordeal.

10/4 Wednesday
We went on exchanges tonight with Elder Rivera and Elder Lungren. I was with Elder Lungren. He has been out for a couple weeks and is a super good missionary. We had a great night, we taught Charlie, as well as, AG, both of whom are doing well and progressing!

10/5 Thursday
We transfer planned today and wow it was a long day haha. It was good though! There are a lot of missionaries coming and a lot of things changing.

10/6- 10/15
Well I'm going to be super honest. I have slacked off the last couple weeks with my journal writing. It has been a crazy couple of weeks.

On Tuesday, Elder Jensen and I were transferred into a new area. The new area doesn't have much going on, so we are trying to work hard to pick up the work. At the beginning of this last week it was transfers. Transfers are super stressful and it kind of turned into a mess for a little while. The last few transfers, we have been trying figure ways to be more efficient and use a more effective way and this one was rough. On top of transfers, I ended up getting sick which added to the stress. One of the highlights of the week was being able to go to the temple with the departing missionaries. It is always super amazing to be able to spend time in the temple.

We woke up early on Wednesday and took the departing missionaries to the airport. After that we had a meeting with all of the district leaders in the mission and then following that, the new missionaries arrived and we are with them for a few hours before they met up with their trainers. We have 19 missionaries coming in this transfer as well as two more missionaries coming mid- transfer.

We spent Thursday training the trainers as well as the new missionary orientation. To put the cherry on top of the week we had MLC on Friday. It was another long stressful day. We had not had much time to prepare and we had to give an hour and a half of training. To give you an idea how tired I was, the other night I got on my knees to pray and I woke up drooling and my head bouncing a few moments later. Then, for companionship prayer Elder Jensen started praying and all I know is I woke up a couple minutes later and said, “amen,” but his prayer had been over for a several minutes, haha.

There were definitely some proselyting miracles this week as well! We went to knock on a part member's door and it got shut in our face and as we walk away we hear, "The missionaries, I love the missionaries," from down the street. We started talking to this young lady that looked pretty rough around the edges and she asks where we were from, Elder Jensen said he was from upstate New York and I said I was from Star Valley, Wyoming and she freaks out. She said, “no way! I lived there and I have a bunch of family that still lives there!” She is related to the Hunsaker family. When she first started talking to us her boyfriend started walking away mumbling things about us, but when he heard us talking about Wyoming, he came up and joined in as well! They were on the run but said to stop by anytime. They have really been encouraging and pushing what we call, “The Elder Ballard initiative,” here in Las Vegas.

Last night, we met the nicest old man I have met in a long time. He has been inactive for a while. He started telling us stories about everything you could imagine. He served in WWll. He also told us stories about his wife, who he lost three months ago. They had been married for 67 years. He was a great man. He also had a big talking bird.  It was the craziest thing I have ever seen!

I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting and I shared a line that President Walker uses a lot, "Christ was selfless not selfish.” It is a profound statement and takes a lot of work, but as we rely on Christ’s Atonement, we can always improve!

Well, I hope to get back on the normal routine of writing unless you prefer this way.. let me know. Next week!

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Pictures from today's hike to La Madrid Springs.

Update for the Week

This week Elder Call did not send a weekly update.  On Sunday evening a message was sent with pictures from a couple in the Pueblo Ward.  It said, “Your cute boys were a blessing to serve with in the Pueblo Ward!” Transfer news came from the member, “(Elder Call and Elder Jensen) are staying together and being transferred to the Meadows Stake.  They are busy-going to call all the missionaries to let them know if they are getting transferred too.  They are awesome and we will miss them.”

This was transfer week, so the family was not expecting a letter until Tuesday, but this is all we received. (We are really spoiled, because we usually get better letters.)

Early Tuesday morning, Elder Call sent this message to his mom:
“I got super sick last night and wasn't able to sleep.  What could I eat that won't come up today during transfers, temple and departing missionaries?”

After a quick reply to remind him that 7-Up or Sprite, bananas, soda crackers, applesauce and plain rice help upset stomachs, this was his last reply for the week:
“On our way out this morning we stopped by the gas station to grab a 7-Up. I accidentally dropped it and it exploded all over and we had to find another pair of suit pants for Elder Jensen. Let's just say it was a rough start to the day.  I'm doing OK now.”

This was his letter to his dad: “So we are actually getting double transferred out of our area. But yes we were teaching several promise investigators.”

This is the note to Hannah: “Transfer planning went well this past week. We are trying a new way to
do transfers and so that's been a little bit stressful but it has gone somewhat smooth thus far. I am staying with Elder Jensen for another transfer at least, but we are moving wards. We will be covering the Alexander and Pioneer Wards in the Meadows Stake!

General Conference = March Madness

Dear Family & Friends:

9/24 Monday
Today was a super great day. It started off by seeing Brian and Tracy. We invited Brian to Priesthood Session on Saturday and he said, chances are he will be there. We then had a lesson with Ken. When we knocked on his door, he was actually reading the Book of Mormon. He thought it was super awesome that we knocked while he was reading. We had a great lesson with him, but he did bring up a couple concerns that we will be able to resolve next visit. We invited him to watch conference this weekend. It will be good for him to watch because he struggles a little bit with the idea of apostles and prophets.

9/25 Tuesday
We visited the McDonald's... no not the restaurant, the family haha. We knocked on their door probably three weeks ago for the first time. When we did, we talked with Brother McDonald and invited him to come back to church. He has come two of the last three weeks!!! Today we invited him to come to Priesthood Session and he said he would definitely be there!

9/26 Wednesday
Exchanges! I was with a missionary from Guernsey, Wyoming. We had a couple great lessons with Kevin, as well as, Charlie. It has been a little tough teaching Kevin because he is struggling with medical issues. He is super great though and very open to the Gospel! Charlie is ridiculous! haha She goes to seminary every morning, reads the Book of Mormon and prays daily.  She watched Women’s Conference and took a bunch of notes. She is super awesome and would totally get baptized, but she doesn't live in our area and so we are waiting on her family situation to settle down a little bit and get passed off.

9/27 Thursday
Got sizzled like bacon. Man oh man!  So, today we got to teach an older Hawaiian lady named Flora! She is way nice and was part of the Jehovah Witness church in Hawaii but has not attend since moving to the states. She said a couple days ago that we could come by and so we did and taught her the Plan of Salvation! I thought the summer heat of Las Vegas was all over but I guess sitting outside on a pure bright white picnic table, surrounded by brick walls, creates a very hot and bright situation. Elder Jensen and I have extremely sensitive eyes and the sun beaming down off the table was so bright I could only keep one eye open just a little tiny bit haha. After the lesson I got in the car and pulled the phone out of my pocket and it was straight wet from sweat haha. It is a good thing our message is important and true because I would have bounced if it wasn't! She loved it and we all felt the Spirit testify to us of God’s love and His plan for each one of us!

9/28 Friday
Today didn't quite turn out as planned. Our plans fell through but thanks to Elder Jensen being in tune with the Spirit, we were able to teach a lady named Eileen.  Eileen is an older Catholic lady. Who is been through a lot in her life. We taught and testified of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was willing to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, but was not interested in changing religions. I feel if she truly does put in the time to read the Book of Mormon, she would receive answers that she is looking for. One of my favorite things happened tonight. I absolutely love it when I teach the Plan of Salvation.  It like blows people's minds haha! We taught Brenda's sister, Roxy, tonight and she was just loving the lesson! The whole time she was like, "wow, now I understand why Brenda joined your church,” “wow, that makes sense,” “wow, I can't believe how awesome this plan is!" It is my favorite!

General Conference!
It was a super, awesome conference! I loved every minute!  Conference on the mission is like March Madness haha! There were many things I learned: serve more, have faith, fear not, and the importance of the Book of Mormon! We had several investigators watch and they all loved it!

Love,
Elder Call

Pictures sent during General Conference from Las Vegas members:

A note received from the Church today about the shooting in Las Vegas:

2010577@LDSChurch.org                                                       Today at 10:33 AM
To: parents

Message body
Dear Missionaries and Family-

We are saddened to inform you of the recent attack in Las Vegas where an estimated 50 people have been killed and at least 400 were injured when a gunman fired on a Las Vegas country music festival Sunday night on the gambling strip of Las Vegas. The gunman killed himself after the attack.

This is not an area where missionaries proselyte in either of the Las Vegas missions and all of our missionaries are safe.  Please keep the families of these victims in your prayers.

Our missionaries are encouraged to continue blessing the lives and bringing comfort to the people in their area and to not spend time investigating or dwelling on the event.  We read in Preach my Gospel page 2 that President Ezra Taft Benson taught: "We are commanded by God to take the gospel to all the world.  That is the cause that must unite us today.  Only the gospel will save the world from calamity of its own self-destruction.  Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace.  Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family."

Our missionaries report that they are frequently asked why God allows tragedies to happen.  Missionaries are encouraged to ponder their response to such questions. How does our gift of agency prevent God from intervening in poor choice?  How does our gift of agency allow us to live by faith?  How do life's challenges allow us to grow spiritually?  How does this relate to the plan of salvation?

Bishop W. Christopher Waddel, Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, taught in the Sunday morning session of conference that whatever change in life's circumstance may come our way, and whatever unexpected path we may have to travel, how we respond is a choice.  Turning to the Savior and grasping His outstretched arm is always our best option.

We know that God loves the people of Las Vegas as do the missionaries.  We will pray for them and the missionaries will continue bless to their lives.

So Much Has Changed

Dear Family & Friends:

9/18 Monday
Today was a pretty good day. We met with President in the usual Monday morning meetings. We then were able to go play some ping-pong with the Las Vegas Zone. I just have to say, Elder Call is undefeated. Just throwing that in there. We then went to the Meadows Zone to play some basketball and some gator ball. It was a good time. We got some proselyting in tonight and had some success. We able to meet a man named Horatio and a lady named Monica. They are super nice and very set on their ways. We had a decent lesson with Ken. We continue to invite him to read the Book of Mormon every single day because that's what he struggles doing. I know that is impossible to get a testimony without reading and pondering and studying the Book of Mormon every single day.  I know without a doubt the Book Mormon is true and that it can change hearts. I think it truly shows how loving of a God we do have, that He allows us to put in the effort to find out if it is true and then He does his part by answering us through the Spirit.

9/19 Tuesday
Today we had District Meeting, as well as, we had interviews with President. Interviews were great! President talked about the difference between Ben and Elder Call. Haha so much has changed... Ben had a testimony, but it wasn't that firm and it surely wasn't getting the nourishment needed to sustain that relationship with God. Ben knew he could pray, but not that he could communicate with God. Ben used the Atonement here and there, but not daily. Ben may have read the scriptures... or listened to them on double speed haha, but he didn't study them. Elder Call has learned so much, but still has so many imperfections, but he is taking one step at a time! I love the opportunity to try to constantly improve!

9/20 Wednesday
I was back with the original brother (MTC companion) today. Elder Couch and I got to beat the pavement of North Las Vegas. We were in the Silver Stone and Arbor View Wards... and most of you probably don't know, but that is the ward that Aunt Maria and Uncle Daryll live in. I drove right past their house and didn't even stop :(. I would have loved to see them but that kind of thing is frowned upon while on the mission. It was fun to be back with Elder Couch. Supposedly, he and a couple other missionaries went fishing and got skunked, so he got a little humbling haha.

9/22 Friday
The long road out to the land of Moapa Valley. We were asked to go on exchanges with out of the valley missionaries. It was super fun to be out in the country and see cows again. Ha ha. One of the weirdest things was to be on a two lane road again. I am used to just being able to change lanes and pass people instead of looking for oncoming traffic. I have to say I do like four-way stops more than stop lights though. Overall it was a solid day.

9/22 Saturday
Elder Jensen and I got to do some service today! We were able to paint a bedroom for a less active family in our ward. Elder Jensen and I had a lot of fun while we did it. After painting we had a lesson with Ken, his baptism was supposed to be today but that didn't happen because he just really struggles with the idea of a prophet in the latter days, as well as the Book of Mormon. We knew today needed to be a game changer lesson and it was!! Ken doesn't respect much of what we have to say and so we brought our ward mission leader who Ken really likes. We taught the restoration and the spirit that was there was super amazing even though there was rap music in the background haha. Ken told us today he wants to get over this hump that he is on and wants to receive some answers it was a good lesson. We then went and gave a blessing to a man that had just had a near death experience and wow that was crazy!

9/23 Sunday
Today was a super, super good day. We were able to set up for Ken to meet with Bishop and so that was good! The last few weeks, several of the less active that we have stopped by and visited have come to church, so it was awesome. We had a couple investigators show up today. Kevin was not able to make it due to medical reasons but we are able to see him later that night. We gave him a Priesthood blessing and it was powerful. After a lesson with Kevin, we were able to go see a family in the ward. We caught them outside their apartment and they invited us in for a few minutes. It was a super awesome miracle. We met them as they were walking to leave for the night. I have been trying to visit with this family ever since I got to this area. There's another testimony builder of God’s divine timing. Earlier today, they attended a church service that they did not enjoy and they were looking for a new church. We were able to testify about the restoration. It was way awesome to see how prepared they were. They asked questions about tithing and about prophets and apostles. They committed to watching General Conference next weekend. A super cool thing is the wife (nonmember) is a good friend to one of our other investigators! Haha it was great.

I am stoked for General Conference this coming weekend.  We are inviting everyone! I am so excited to hear chosen servants of God talk to us! Elder Jensen and I are doing super well. When you serve your companion and when they serve you it is crazy how much better your relationship is with them!

Lots of Love!
Elder Call

Simple, but Profound

Dear Family & Friends:

9/11 Monday
Tonight we had a meeting with President and a recently returned missionary that is from the same town President is from. President asked him to come down for a few days because he served in an online proselyting mission. We discussed Zone Conference and hopefully it will go well! Elder Jensen and I are a little stressed out, because we know it is going to be a little crazy haha

9/12 Tuesday
The first day of Zone Conference! Wow it was crazy, it didn't go as well as we were hoping but tonight we went over to President Walker’s for dinner and talked about things we wanted to do different over the next two days to help the missionaries get a good start to online proselyting.

Elder Jensen and Elder Call

9/13 Wednesday
Today went pretty smooth, which was a relief, because it was the biggest group of missionaries we would be training (54). Tonight we met a girl that is a good friend of a priest in the ward. She loves the gospel of Jesus Christ and is very interested. She comes from a very rough family background and so being able to have a strong Mormon family as an example has helped her a lot. We were able to testify of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and will be able to visit her again next week.

September 14 Thursday
The third and final day of Zone Conference went well. Elder Jensen and I have given the same training 12 times. In the morning session of Zone Conference, we have a breakout session for two hours, rotating every 30 minutes and train the missionaries on the safeguards for using technology. One of the trainings Elder Jensen and I did was on part of the safeguards for technology booklet. It was specifically on the "What should I do if I am feeling vulnerable or susceptible?"

The three steps are:
Be aware and acknowledge
Choose to act
Learn and improve

As we trained, over and over again, I kept thinking this process is like our journey and purpose of existence. God has placed us here with the light of Christ and we know right from wrong. We need to be aware and acknowledge the good from the bad and we then need to use our agency and act upon the good. And no matter whether we choose good or bad, we need to learn and improve from our choices. When we do that, we will be blessed and reach more of our potential as children of God. Simple but profound.

9/15 Friday
I was glad to be able to get out and work once again! We heard today that Joseph and Janice would be speaking in church on Sunday about the Atonement and so tonight we went over and had them think of friends they could invite to their talks, as a missionary tool. I am super excited for them. Tonight when we got back to the apartment, we talked to the homeless man that sleeps near our apartment. He was like, "Hey, you don't need to yell at me." Haha, I told him that I wasn't yelling, I was just talking.  He then told me that I had a lot of bass in my voice.  I chuckled and explained we have to have deep voices when you are from Wyoming. What can I say?

Home, Sweet Home!

9/17 Sunday
Joseph and Janice's talks were great. It was super awesome to see people I have seen go from inactive to talking from the pulpit!

Love you all,
Elder Call

A Huge Miracle

Dear Family & Friends:

9/5 Tuesday
Today we Skyped into some out of valley district meetings. They were great! We talked about several things, one being what makes a successful missionary? It was really good!

9/6 Wednesday
MLC today.... Facebook launch to the first group of missionaries (Zone Leader's and Sister Training Leader's) it went pretty well. A lot of them are quite apprehensive about it but we got them more excited as the day went on! Tonight was super awesome and we saw a huge miracle! The other day we knocked on a door looking for a less active girl (21yrs) in the ward, who is the only member in her immediate family. When we knocked on the door the mom answered and was slightly standoffish but politely told us Amanda wasn't home and we weren't able to engage in much conversation because the dogs were barking and it was 8:30 at night haha. As we walked away from the door the garage opened and Amanda's dad was in the garage so we started talking to him. He said his brother was a Mormon and has been trying for years to get him to go to church. He then shared very amazing experiences he has had with God which brought the Spirit in very strong. Elder Jensen was prompted to ask him if he wanted another copy of the Book of Mormon, even though he said he had been given many! He accepted and we set up to come back by today. So, today, when we knocked, the mother answered again and informed us Bob was sick and wasn't going to be able to meet... bummer! But wait, haha so as we walk down the street, we contacted a guy that was working on his car. After talking for a few minutes a car stops in the middle of the road and a girl says, "Hey, I heard you were looking for me the other day.” Elder Jensen continues to teach the man on the street and I go to the stopped car. It was Amanda! She asked, "What did you guys say to my dad?" She then told me that her uncle has been trying for years to get her dad to read the Book of Mormon and now within a couple days he was halfway through Nephi! It was soooo cool. Amanda wants us to come next week! Oh yeah I almost forgot, as we were talking, I recalled actually meeting Amanda probably 8 months ago in a store haha crazy!

9/7 Thursday
Our meeting with AG was canceled, unfortunately, but he is doing good! We have been able to keep in contact with him thanks to messenger.

9/8 Friday
Tonight I went on a 3-hour exchange with a set of zone leaders! It was a good time.  It poured rain for the entire three hours. It made me glad I wasn't a missionary where it rains a lot, because, it is fun for like an hour and then being wet gets old haha. We taught a couple super awesome people.

9/9 Saturday
Today we met a man named Kevin. He is super awesome he started talking to us and he was super nice and wanted us to come back! He has beat cancer twice and is just a super awesome guy.  We will be seeing him next week.

- Elder Call NLVWM

Getting rid of the garbage!

Facebook Post

Hello Everyone!!
As you may have noticed the Nevada Las Vegas West mission has been approved for online proselyting to help hasten in the Lords work of salvation! I will be able to use Online Proselyting to communicate and keep in contact with people I am working with here in Las Vegas as well as post uplifting messages on my Social Media page. It’s such a blessing to be a missionary in these times and to have so many tools available to advance the work of the Lord! We are also authorized to use Facebook Messenger and Facebook to help us in fulfilling our missionary purpose by communicating with those we are working with. My purpose as a missionary has not changed, it is still to invite other to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. But I can now reach a lot more people. If anybody would like to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, send me a message!
Even though there is the ability to communicate to all of my friends and family, please help me in my efforts to stay focused on my missionary purpose. Monday is still the only time I can talk with you and share my spiritual experiences with you. So if you send me a message on Facebook and just want to talk for fun, I won’t respond to your message but if you are interested in learning more feel free to message me. Send me an email if you want to talk for fun!
benjamin.call@myldsmail.net

Changes

Dear Family & Friends:

8/28 Tuesday

The office staff

Today was well spent with the departing missionaries. We picked up Elder Jensen and he is now my official companion. He started his mission in one of the wards we currently serve and so tonight when we went to the ward activity they were super excited to see him! I am way excited because he already has a ton of member trust. We got to go to the temple today and while there, I got to see a bunch of members from previous areas!

8/30 Wednesday
Today was a great day. We were able to see Isis, who is a part member family that we have been working with for a while. They are a great family; they just are hard to get in touch with. Isis said she really would like to be baptized but she wants to figure out her medical situation first. We also were able to see Ken tonight; he is doing well. We asked him when he would like to be baptized and he said as soon as possible and so we set him for September 20th. The new missionaries arrived into the mission there were 17 of them.  They are great, great missionaries.  We are excited for them. We also had a new leadership training this morning that went pretty good. Elder Jensen and I got to train the new zone leaders.

8/31 Thursday
Today was spent by training the trainers and with new missionary orientation. We also got lots of weekly planning done and had Ward Coordination Meeting with the Town Center Ward. We got to see the Lane family tonight.  They are doing well.  We are really trying to help Emily overcome her fear of water so that she can get baptized but it is very difficult to work over that fear.

9/1 Friday
I cannot believe that is already September!  Time is flying here in the mission field. We had a lesson with Ken Yates tonight, about praying and the importance of building our testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It went well, we really struggle helping Ken progress and move forward in the gospel. He also informed us he may be moving because his golf course is closing, which is unfortunate.

9/3 Sunday
Ken came to church today, which was good, he should be all set for the 20th!

- Elder Call NLVWM

A Note from President Walker:

Dear Parents,

We are blessed to serve with your missionary here in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission. The missionaries here are dedicated and seek to do the Lord’s work, because they recognize the blessings that come from strict obedience. We have been trusted to now implement online proselyting to accomplish the hastening of the Lord’s work. Below is a letter that we shared with the missionaries. Please help your missionary in staying focused as they use media and technology to hasten the Lord’s work. Your encouragement and support will not only bless your missionary here but it will be a blessing to these missionaries after their missions to understand that safeguards will need to be practiced here, so that post mission, these same principles apply. Thank you for your attention to this additional effort in accomplishing the Lord’s purpose.

Warm Regards,

President Walker

Nevada Las Vegas West Mission

 Dear Elders and Sisters,

Under the direction of the First Presidency, we have been instructed to hasten the Lord’s work through online proselyting. We will now begin the training of the missionaries of the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission on the use of Facebook, and other social media tools, to share the gospel and bring others to Christ.

You will notice a new notification on your missionary portal. Missionaries are NOT authorized to down load any social media apps, including the Facebook app, Messenger app or use Facebook until instructed to do so. You will be trained at Zone Conference on the use of these new online proselyting tools. Again, you are not authorized to download or begin using these tools until you receive training from your mission president at zone conference. Members of the MLC will begin their training on this material this Wednesday.

Every missionary will need to complete the new safe guards course prior to zone conference. You are also to memorize, apply, and live the 4 safeguards. As you review safeguards please think upon the principle taught during the last round of interviews “Father in Heaven, I have nothing to hide.”

In Preach my Gospel page 4 it states, “When you were set apart by priesthood authority, you received the right and privilege to represent the Lord. You received a ministerial certificate that verifies that authority to the world. President Spencer W. Kimball said: “The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 478).  You as a set apart servant of the Lord may be very excited at the news of using online proselyting but we need to remember “Use technology only in ways that will help you accomplish your purpose and reflect the sacred nature of your calling.” As your mission president, I promise as you practice and live the safeguards and remain set apart from the world I know the Lord will bless you not only here in the mission field but your children’s, children. 

“I would rather get a Book of Mormon into someone’s hands then get them to friend me on Facebook”

- Elder P. Jensen

“The Safeguards are in place because we have a loving Heavenly Father that is watching out for us. Let us use and apply his loving protection”

-Elder Call

May we never have anything to hide,

Love President Walker

A New Companion

Dear Family & Friends:

8/20 Monday
It was a great p-day today. We got to do some shopping, as well as, play some basketball! Tonight, we were supposed to meet with a referral we received yesterday but it was a no show but that is alright because God needed us elsewhere! We were able to go see the Myers, as well as see Brenda and Tracy because they were struggling a little bit.

8/21 Tuesday 8/22 Wednesday
We met with President the past two days for transfer planning. It has gone pretty well, but it has been kind of tough. Something that is super cool that is happening is we are having some of our Zone Leaders as trainers as well, just to give the new missionaries a great start with a great trainer! I am excited about that!

8/23 Thursday 8/24 Friday
Well, I have spent the last two days with my new companion meeting with President for some BIG changes coming to the mission that are TBA haha! Elder Renel has gone out and served with other missionaries during that time and then we get back together and proselyte the rest of the day from 6-9. It has been good but there is quite a bit of prep for it because President wants us to be very heavily involved in the changes! We have had a couple great lessons the last couple of days. We had dinner with the Bos Family and the entire time we kept just getting the promptings to ask the youngest son (18) to take the discussions. When we asked him he accepted! We are excited about that!

8/25 Saturday
Finally, a full day of working!! There is nothing better than just being able to work all day long and enjoy the sun! I am starting to really like the heat! This morning we shot a text to Ken to see how he was doing and if we could stop by today. We have been super worried about Ken because he has been struggling and kind of avoiding us to be honest haha. We received a text from him today that said, "Brothers just listen I been. On that." We were quite confused with what he was trying to say and so we texted back that we were a little confused haha. He replied with an apology as well as "it's time to put all my faith in Christ, whatever it takes change is coming see you Sunday." We almost died haha. We have prayed for Ken time and time again and it has been rough and we knew we needed a miracle with him and the Lord blessed us! It was cool!

8/26 Sunday
Both Ken’s that we have been teaching came to church today, so that was a blessing! I talked to Joseph's mom today (Janice's mother in law) and it was pretty funny because she was thanking us for all we had done for her son and we started talking about when Joseph and Janice broke the news to his family. Sister Gonzales was like "yeah I tried to play it cool but inside was like IT IS ABOUT TIME I HAVE ONLY BEEN PRAYING NIGHT AND DAY FOR SEVEN YEARS." haha They are a great family and I have been blessed to be able to meet all of them!

8/27 Monday
Elder Renel's last day of proselyting! Today was super great we did some teaching, some tracting and some regular ol' finding! We met several really solid and nice people so we just have to make something out of it! Well you all may be wondering... my new companion will be Elder Jensen. There are two Elder Jensen's in the mission and the one you received a picture of last week is not the one. The Elder Jensen I will be companions with is from New York and came out the same time as me!! Finally, a companion that doesn't just have one transfer left! He is a great missionary and I am excited to work with him. Tomorrow we will be together for good.

Love,
- Elder Call NLVWM

Subject:  Careful about the Bird Flu

Message body

I sent the following to Hannah and I am so proud of my subject creativity I had to share! 

Haha did you like the subject? There is a story behind it. When I had to go to the doctors office a while back the doctor wanted me to go have my blood drawn. So Elder Bird and I go over to the blood drawing place and we were sitting in the waiting area and people are packed in there just like sardines and we get a call from President. Elder Bird answers and President asked what the doctor thought it was... one thing about Elder Bird is that he cannot talk quietly on the phone, it is impossible for him, but anyway in his loud voice goes, "Yeah they think he will be alright, he just has the Bird Flu." President died laughing hahaha and people gave us some terrible looks and people were avoiding the Mormons a little more than they usually do... which is saying a lot haha!  Watch out, Hannah... 

Well, I would like all of you to know Elder Bird was probably the best missionary in this mission. He never broke rules, baptized a slu of people and worked his butt off! He is a great guy. 

- Elder Call NLVWM 

Testimony of Book of Mormon

Dear Family & Friends:

8/14 Monday
Today was great! We had half of a p-day and then had a great day of finding and teaching. Today we talked with a couple of kids that are unbaptized and set up a time to go see them later in the week. After that, a guy stopped us and started to question us on a bunch of things and we backed him right into a corner at one point haha. He was talking about the Book of Mormon and said, "I want proof, I want the facts that it is true. No matter where I go and what country I am in 2+2 equals four. No, that is a fact"
I began, "Sir, do you believe God is an all knowing being?"
"Yes" he replied
"Ok, do you believe that this all knowing God loves each one of us"
"Of course"
"Alright," I continued "do you believe this all knowing and loving God answers your prayers"
Once again he agreed and said, "absolutely"
"So if this all knowing God that loves you answered many of your prayers about a certain thing would you take it as 100 percent truth with no doubts?"
"Yeah, If God told me in my heart I would."
"Bingo, God has told me in my heart time and time again and I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I know He can do it for you."

The spirit was strong, but like any time you have this type of conversation with someone it doesn't do much for either side haha! We met just the nicest guy tonight. His name is Ben.... must be in the name... but we met him in his garage and started to get to know him a little bit. He lived in Utah for a while and he knows a lot of Mormons and loves them. He said if there is one religion he would convert to from his Catholicism it would be Mormon! He is super curious about the church so we were able to teach the restoration and it went well!

8/15 Tuesday
Not too much happened today!

8/16 Wednesday
I was on exchanges today with Elder Jensen from New York. He is a great missionary and taught me a lot. They serve over two wards one of them being Charleston!! My ol' stomping grounds! We had a day full of teaching and appointments. We taught a recent convert that grew up Muslim on one side of the family and Christian on the other. She is around 18 maybe 19 but is headed to BYU and to work at the MTC. It was a cool lesson because we talked about the impact her decision has made and is going to make.  We had a great day and we saw several miracles. To end the night, I got to go visit Kitos and his family! It was fun to see them. It has been awhile since I had seen their family!

8/17 Thursday
Today was a spiritually uplifting day. We started it by going to the temple for our quarterly trip! It was great we rode there with the Smiths. Brother Smith has been a mission president twice and now serves as a sealer at the temple! We asked him all sorts of questions and got a lot of great insights from him. They also have probably the nicest car I have ever ridden in haha. After the temple we did some weekly planning and had interviews with President Walker. Tonight we met with Dan and he actually let us in this time and we were able to go over the introduction to the Book of Mormon he is a lot more open to it then he used to be. He lived by the scripture in Revelations until we were able to resolve that concern! After Dan we went and saw a lady named Pat. We were able to teach her the Plan of salvation and she loved it but to be honest she loves every religion and every belief, so that is going to take some work helping her feel the spirit and truth in what we have to say.

8/19 Saturday
I went on exchanges with Elder Jensen today and was on bike haha good stuff! It was good to get a nice workout again! We had a great night and contacted a ton of people! It was a lot of fun!

- Elder Call NLVWM

Editors Note:
On Saturday, Aunt Maria received a pic and a text from a friend in her and Daryll's old ward, this is what it said:

"Invited the missionaries over for peach cobbler and guess who came over?  Elder Call was on exchanges with Elder Jensen!! I mentioned to him that you were out of town at a wedding and he said it was his brother's wedding!  That's too cool."

Elder Call and Elder Jensen