On August 1, 2018 our family gathered together at the Salt Lake City International Airport to welcome Elder Call home from his mission.

Waiting...





All together!

Dallin, Morgan, AnnaMae, Sam, Thomas, Evan, Dale, BethAnn, Hannah, Elder Ben Call, Justin

We spent a few minutes at Grandma Jensen's, had lunch at Greek City Grill, then headed home to Star Valley.

Ben was released as a missionary and reported his mission to the Meadows Ward on August 12, 2018.  That same day Thomas and Anna were blessed by their dad's.  It was a great meeting!

Missionary Life

Letters and pictures received from members the last few days Elder Call was a missionary.

29 July 2018

Hey Sister Call, this is Toni Ogden from Las Vegas. Your son Elder Call is in our ward and he is absolutely the best missionary! The whole ward just adores him and Elder Rabago. My kids say they are the best elders we’ve ever had! We’ve been so lucky to have been able to sit in on lessons with them as they have been teaching the Bovills’ and Aubrey in our ward. So in April our ward didn’t have much going on missionary work wise so Elder Call and Rabago asked the Bishop to meet with them and they asked him what we could do as a ward to help them with their work. After praying about it with the bishop they decided on our ward having a ward fast for us all the find those looking for the gospel. A couple weeks later Aubrey started coming and then the Bovills. The power of fasting is so cool and how amazing that they sought out to meet with the Bishop to address this and come up with a plan. Seriously you have got to be so proud of how great Elder Call is, he has the strongest testimony and is so good with the investigators. I’m sad that moms can’t see their missionaries in action. I have a son that is going to be a senior in high school and he is planning on serving a mission next summer when he graduates. I am always telling him that Elder Call is the kind of missionary you want to be like. He and Elder Rabago are so obedient, when it’s approaching 9:20 and we are in lesson they let us know they need to hurry and get home by 9:30 :) He was so cute a couple weeks ago when I was cutting the elders hair, he said “Sister Ogden this is my last haircut before I go home so make me look good!” A few weeks ago they taught young women’s on missionary work and did such a good job! I could go on and on. I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful missionary your son was and thank you for sacrificing him for 2 years! I’m sure you are counting down the hours until you get to hug him on Wednesday, I’m so excited for you and your family! I’m tearing up just thinking about your reunion! As a mom I can’t imagine how hard it is to have your son gone for 2 years! Tomorrow night a few of us are getting together and having dessert with him and Elder Rabago and a new member lesson with the Bovills. We are so sad to see him leave but so excited for you and your family! Elder Call has definitely touched so many lives!
Love,
Toni Ogden

31 July 2018

Hi Sister Call!!

We wanted to take just a minute and let you know of the outstanding job your son Ben did here on his mission.
We knew there was something extraordinary about him from the first moment we met.  He was strong and kind, humble and capable, and filled with a desire to be obedient and hardworking.  Our youngest son, Cooper is almost 17.  He’s preparing to serve his mission in the next few years. I could not have asked for a better example of a diligent missionary than Elders Call and Rabago.  What a team! They were literally unstoppable!

I know the Lord was waiting for those two missionaries to serve in the Durango Heights Ward to teach our friends Chris and Cipriana.  We have been inviting and fellowshipping them for FOUR YEARS! It was an almost immediate change in their level of investigation when they met our Elders.  I know that they are forever changed because of the faithfulness of Call and Rabago.

We are so happy that you get to see him again, but boy!….we are so sad to see him go! He’s such an incredible young man!! Please post or send pics of his homecoming.  We would all LOVE to see that!

Lots of love to the Call family!!!!

Love,
Amy, Tim, Cooper and Harry Weiland

Elder Rabago, Harry, Amy, Tim, Cooper, Cprinia, Cihris, Elder Call, Bishop Young

In action.

Happy Life

Well, I decided I wanted to be on good terms with Mom when I went home, so I decided to write a good letter! Happy Mom, happy life; mad mom, bad life. Anyway, here it goes. This is the last letter I will write as a missionary. Next week I will not be writing on transfer day.

July 16 Monday
Tonight was great. We taught Chris and Cipriana. It was a spiritual lesson and it was another testimony of God’s perfect plan. Elder Rabago shared with us how the last four years he has been prepared by God to be where he is. The reason that four years is significant, four years ago the Weiland’s and the Bovill’s meet and little things have happened to be where we are today. Elder Rabago is a little older (24) and four years ago he began his steps back to activity in the church. Chris and Cipriana are all set to be baptized on July 27th, exactly two years from the day I first put that little black square on my chest that reads:
                       Elder Call
         The Church of Jesus Christ
               Of Latter Day Saints.
I am excited for them to be part of the church, that I know to be true and to be followers of the Savior, that I know lives.

July 17 Tuesday
Tonight we were able to teach a part member family! They are actually the next door neighbors to Chris and Cipriana. Towards the beginning of the visit we made the connection that I know Brother Gurlide’s parents from a previous area in my mission! I remember his parents telling us about their wayward sons and how they wish they would come back! Hopefully, tonight was a start. We taught them a very simple plan of salvation lesson and the spirit was present as we testified to their family that they can be together forever!

July 18 Wednesday
Today I was on exchanges. I was out of my area serving with an Elder that struggles to work, so I felt I was dragging him all day today haha. It ended up being a successful day and we were able to teach a lesson to one of the investigators they have that is progressing towards baptism.

July 19 Thursday
Well I haven’t said much about this, but it has been a pretty big part of my last transfer, so I am going to mention it. Elder Rabago for the last 4-5 weeks has gotten pretty darn sick. We have gone to the doctors and they have a good idea about what he has, but have to do a procedure to be 100 percent sure. The soonest available appointment for the procedure was on July 27th, the same day as the baptism. In the meantime, Elder Rabago has been dropping almost 2 pounds a day and weighed in at 134 today. He started out just above 160. He is a beast and is still working hard. They have tried to send him home twice now but he refuses. It is still up in the air but we are praying hard for him. He is starting to tire out super-fast during the days because he is not able to eat much of anything. Well other than that, we went over the baptismal interview questions and things seem that they will be all good!

July 20 Friday
Nothing too crazy happened today. We tracked into a lady that Elder Rabago had previously talked to and she was super nice. She struggles with a lot of things but has a desire to improve her life, as well as, get her son who is 3 on the right track. We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church. Elder Rabago was able to eat more today than he has been able to in a long time which was really good and much needed.

July 21 Saturday
Today was a long one. We had a lesson with a super awesome family that Elder Couch and I tracted into on exchanges a little while back. They are having a baby within the next week so it will be hard to meet with them but they said they will make it happen! Other than that we had one other lesson where right at the start our investigator started freaking out because he was pissed because they didn’t have any bottled water. After kicking some of his kids toys across the room he settled down and his girlfriend drove to the store and bought him some water. Needless to say he needs a little Spirit in his life.

July 22 Sunday
Church was great! The talks were great and the spirit was felt. Chris got up in gospel Principles and started drawing out a visual for the class haha. I had a little flash forward of him teaching the class one day! They are still drinking coffee so we got to cut that. We also heard they have had some of their friends reach out to them tell not to get baptized and sending them anti material. Things are still a little up in the air but things should work out. We taught Aubrey the principle of agency. And a family that we have been trying to meet with since I have been in the area showed up to church today and we set an appointment to teach them this week!

I love serving the Lord and I have a strong testimony of agency. In 2 Nephi chapter 2, it talks about being free to choose captivity and death or liberty and eternal life. Liberty and eternal life may at first be temporarily inconvenient but then the reward. The other is temporary pleasure then the misery. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the light!!!

Love,
Elder Call

Curious

I am not going to send any weekly’s anymore and leave you guys curious with what happens my last little bit so I will have something exciting to tell you about in the drive home!

To Evan, he wrote:  "Well...my week was full of working and fishing...for people not fish.  We did have a couple of good catches though.  Chris committed to be baptized with Cipriana. And we are starting to teach another two new families!  Things are going well and the members in one of our wards are freaking out because of all the work that we have done.  haha"

Let everyone know I am doing well! 😁

Love ya!

Elder Call, friend Adam, Elder Rabago

South Diamond Zone--best zone in mission

Another Solid Week!

The weeks are passing as if they were days and this week was another solid week. We have lots of progression in our investigators.

To give you an update on the Bovill family:
We invited them to be baptized Saturday night, July 28th and they said, “well, no, try again another time.” haha. They told us though that when they are in they are going to be all in so they just want to be 100 percent sure this is what they want! Cipriana decided on Monday night she was going to fast to help her try to figure out what is causing all of the health problems she has. For the 4th of July, they went to one of the member’s house for a party. Then on Thursday, when we taught them Cipriana told us about how awesome she felt that morning as she attended a Book of Mormon study with some of the sisters in the ward. On Saturday, they came to a baptism and they both loved that. After the baptism they were talking to President Walker and Cipriana let us know that she was on board to be baptized on July 28th. Now we just have to get Chris on board. They told us that they were going to do it together no matter what. On Friday they also went to Deseret Book and bought a set of scriptures, as well as, several other books about the church.

Aubrey:
Nothing too crazy to report on Aubrey. We also talked to her about baptism on July 28th and she is on board. She was with members almost every single day this week hanging out so that was great.

I went on an exchange with Elder Couch this week and it threw us back to the MTC days haha. We had a good day tracting in the 112° heat, we found some super awesome people and had a lot of fun!

The work in this area is super great! We had 6 investigators at church and members continue to give us referrals. It has been super awesome the last couple weeks. When President transferred me down to this zone, he said, that it had been the lowest baptizing zone for months and he wanted to see that change. This zone in the month of June was the highest and will take the cake again in July. We started the month off with 7 baptisms on Saturday! The Lord has blessed our zone!

Love,
Elder Call

Release Letter / TB info

2 July 2018

       
Dale and|BethAnn Call       
91266 US Hwy 89
P.O. Box 186
Grover, WY 83122
USA
                             
                         

Dear Dale and BethAnn Call,

Your son, Elder Benjamin Dee Call, will return home after having served faithfully in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission.  He will depart for home on 01 Aug 2018.  You should have received His flight itinerary if the missionary is flying home, and a letter concerning tuberculosis testing.  Upon his arrival home, he will need to be interviewed by his stake president who will officially release him as a full-time missionary, and present to him a release certificate.

He has been a faithful missionary, has accepted assignments cheerfully, and has worked hard to achieve the goals he has set.  He has worked with priesthood leaders and members and has shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with many people.

His family and the Church have been represented well.  You should be very pleased with his service and efforts.  Significant changes have come to your son as he has served the Savior.  He will have many experiences to share with you and your family.

We are grateful to have had your son serve with us.  Your support has been a great blessing to him as he has served in this mission.  May our Father in Heaven continue to bless you, and may you experience a joyful reunion with Elder Call .

Sincerely,



Martin N. Walker
President, Nevada Las Vegas West Mission

02 Jul 2018

Elder Call ,

Tuberculosis is a serious disease caused by bacteria that attacks and destroys the lungs and other organs in the body causing disability or death.  It is spread through the air from person to person.  You may have been exposed to tuberculosis while serving your mission and not even know it.  If you were infected during your mission, the disease may progress to active tuberculosis with persistent cough, fever or night sweats, weight loss fatigue, and weakness.  In most cases, however, the body's immune system contains the infection (this is referred to as latent tuberculosis).  There is a 10 percent chance that the disease may reactivate later.  It is important, therefore, that you are tested for tuberculosis on returning to your home.

Before beginning missionary service, you should have had a skin test for tuberculosis (PPD test or something similar) or a chest X-ray.  After returning home you should go to your doctor's office or a public health facility to have another PPD skin test.  This will determine if you have been infected with the tuberculosis bacteria.  If the skin test is negative, you have not been infected with tuberculosis.

However, if you have been infected, the skin test will become positive, and there will be redness and swelling where the material was injected into the skin.  A chest X-ray should be done if the skin test converts from negative to positive.  If the skin test was positive before your mission and infection occurred during your mission, the redness and swelling will be greater.  A chest X-ray should be done.  An abnormal chest X-ray requires further testing to determine if there is active tuberculosis.  When the skin test has changed but the chest X-ray is normal, this indicates latent tuberculosis.  Current medical practices in the United States, Canada, and some other countries, is to offer treatment with Isoniazid (INH), one 300 mg tablet per day, for nine months to reduce the number of bacteria lying inactive in the body, thereby reducing the possibility of ever developing active disease.

It is your personal responsibility to be tested for tuberculosis.  Testing for tuberculosis cannot be overemphasized and should be high on your list of things to do soon after you return home.

Sincerely,

Martin N. WalkerPresident, Nevada Las Vegas West Mission

Busy and Crazy

Hey Family & Friends:

6/25 Monday
Tonight we had another lesson with Chris and Cipriana! At Stake Conference yesterday there was a lot of discussion regarding the temple. So tonight we taught about the temple and the different aspects of the temple. It went alright but not as good as we were hoping. They felt the Spirit and understood what we were teaching, so that was definitely a good thing! They are both still moving along in the Book of Mormon! Chris is now starting Mosiah.

6/26 Tuesday
We had a lesson with Aubrey tonight! It was a good lesson. Her boys Eli and Mattix are pretty crazy haha. The entire time we are there they fight like crazy and remind me of what is was probably like between Dallin and myself! We taught her about the Priesthood and organization of the church as well as prophets! 

6/27 Wednesday
Today, I was on an exchange with Elder Bickham. He is in a bike area so we were cruising around today on the bikes. We taught a guy that owns a very successful tattoo shop here in town. This guy is super cool, he needs a lot of life style changes, but he believes in the Restoration and the Book of Mormon so that is a start.

6/28 Thursday
Tonight was crazy. We taught Chris and Cipriana the Word of Wisdom. We had a member of the Stake Presidency there, as well as the Weiland’s. Before the lesson Chris was like I have a question. He then talked about how he thinks it is cool how every worthy male has the opportunity to have the Priesthood. He was like during Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry he didn’t chose the super smart and educated Pharisees, He called more or less the “nobodies.” He then told us that because of the restoration, it came full circle back to the way it was!  After that we taught the Word of Wisdom. When we asked them to commit to live it, it went really quiet for a long time and then Chris proceed to tells us he was indifferent about it and kind of dodged the question. We turned to Cipriana and asked her. She started to cry and told us about how she is having a lot of eating issues and goes through a lot of pain and the two things she looks forward to are her coffee and her wine because those thing don’t make her body react. She was like, you guys are asking me to give up two of my main joys... we left it at that and gave her a priesthood blessing which was amazing because Chris was able to see the Priesthood in action.

6/29 Friday
Today we got a text from the Weiland’s saying that Chris and Cipriana had talked about it last night after our lesson and were going to give up coffee and alcohol!!! That was such a big step for them! Elder Rabago is having a few health concerns so we spent a good portion of today at the doctors. Tonight we interviewed the Palafox family for baptism. They are a great family and will be great members!

7/1 Sunday
There has been a series of events that have really been a blessing and a miracle for Chris and Cipriana and we are way proud of them! Aubrey is back reading the Book of Mormon again and progressing! We had a lesson with her tonight at the Bishop’s house and that went really well but we weren’t able to cover everything we wanted because the members had plenty to say haha. Tonight we had a youth discussion! We had several nonmembers and like 30+ youth! The entire stake presidency showed up so that was cool to. I will send a pic!

The week has been busy and crazy with a few things but that is ok because that is mission life.

Love ya!

Working Hard

6/19 Tuesday
Today was transfers and Elder Waters (one of the elders that we live with) got transferred. Elder Bickham will be training, so he is staying with us for today and tomorrow. Tonight, we had a lesson with a man in Elder Bickham’s area named Joe. He is a super awesome guy and has taken the missionary discussions for years. We had a spiritually uplifting lesson talking about receiving answers from God.

6/20 Wednesday
We picked up the new missionary today and his name is Elder Daum. He is from Minnesota and he is a complete genius. He got like a 35 on his ACT and is big into reading and chemistry. He seems like he will be a good missionary. Tonight we finally taught Aubrey again. She has had a lot happen the last week and a half. We retaught the Plan of Salvation and talked to her about her baptism. She has lost some progress and so she isn’t ready to be baptized yet and so we are going to have to push her date back again... She is still super solid and wants to be baptized!

6/21 Thursday
We taught Chris and Cipriana tonight about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how living the gospel will help them receive blessings from God such as an eternal family. It was super cool because during the lesson Cipriana turned to Chris and was like, “Do you want to be with me FOREVER?” And there was a lengthy pause and then Chris says, “I can’t imagine not being with you forever.” We invited them to be baptized and they said that they both absolutely love the church and it is what they are looking for, but they don’t feel they know enough. Chris had read all of 1 Nephi and all of 2 Nephi! He is on fire!

6/22 Friday
Today, we went to teach Ralph but he wasn’t feeling good and so we ended up teaching Lalli. Lalli is his girlfriend. She is super awesome and has a strong desire to do what is right. She works on Sundays but wants to come to church, so we will be praying for that! Tonight we taught the Davis family and they will be going to church on Sunday with their grandparents

6/23 Saturday
Not much happened besides Elder Rabago got bit by a dog Haha. It was hilarious. It drew a little blood but nothing crazy!

6/24 Sunday
Today was Stake Conference and the Bovill’s came. It was a good conference and talked a lot about the temple and so tomorrow we have a ton of questions to answer! Haha.

Just working hard and getting my money’s worth, as President Walker would say. I love missionary work.

Love,
Elder Call

The Power of a Testimony

Dear Family & Friends:

6/12 Tuesday
Today was crazy! We tracted some this afternoon and it was pretty slow going. Tonight we taught the Estrada family. We had invited them to church but they had bailed on us. It was a really good visit tonight though, because they were very open to us. They pretty much said, hey we want to convert and begin in this journey, but we need a little bit more guidance along this path! They asked us about our conversion stories and why we do what we do, so we were able to share our testimonies with them. After the lesson, we were driving down the main road in our area and as we approached an intersection there was a car that didn’t see us and pulled out in front of us. Elder Rabago slammed on the brakes and then realized he wasn’t going to stop in time so he turned the wheel and we luckily were able to turn out of it and miss the car. It was crazy.

6/13 Wednesday
Tonight we had another lesson with the Estrada family. We read about Lehi’s dream and applied it to today’s world and their life, it went great! We also taught Chris and Cipriana tonight. The Weilands, (their fellowshippers) were out of town this week, so it was just us and them. Tonight was the lesson where we got the question, “so are all other church’s wrong and yours is right?” It was a little iffy at times in the lesson but it turned out good in the end!

6/14 Thursday
This morning we did our weekly planning session. After that we started knocking and just got baked in the sun haha. We taught this guy the restoration, but he wasn’t interested the entire time, so that was a little awkward. Tonight we went out with one of our bishops and knocked some part member doors and some good success came from that.

6/15 Friday
This morning we had a lesson with Ralph. Ralph is from Nicaragua and has a brother that is a member of the church. He is good guy and has desires to change and do good but he has a hard time actually falling through with the commitments we extend. Ralph and his family just got a German Shepherd puppy and it pretty funny to hear Ralph talk about it because it stresses him out like crazy. This afternoon the second door we knocked on was a guy named Lamont. Lamont had gotten in a car wreck two months ago and was almost killed. We started teaching about the Plan of Salvation and he was super interested. He was like man a light-bulb just went off and this is why God still has me here! We are going to teach him on Tuesday!

6/17 Sunday

Friends of Elder Call on Trek

Today we had 2 people at church. It wasn’t the best but next week we will have a bunch hopefully! It was Father’s Day today and I am very grateful for my dad and the lessons he taught me and the example he is. Tonight we got transfer calls.... Elder Rabago and I are staying together!!!!!!! We are soooooo stoked. We were super worried that we were going to split up but definitely a blessing from the Lord haha! We were doing a little victory dance in the street! Got to give a shout out to Aunt Dani this week for meeting a bunch of ward members! Yes, those people all live in the ward where I serve! They are super awesome! There were a ton of people that came to me and were like we met your aunt we met your aunt haha! (Side note:  Aunt Danielle Call and cousin Emi, went to Martin’s Cove with their ward.  While there, they met a group from Las Vegas.  Dani asked them if they knew Elder Call.  Dani told me (mom), “The whole group went crazy like he was a famous person! He is serving in their ward. It was awesome!  These 3 (in the picture) came over to talk to me more….Every one adores your boy!)

6/18 Monday
Today was super awesome! We had a lesson with Chris and Cipriana tonight. The other day we had taught them about the gospel and things didn’t go super well, so tonight we focused on the importance of gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith and understanding the necessity of that testimony. We watched the
Restoration film and had a testimony meeting and wow the Spirit was strong! I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know it. I know that through him the gospel was restored. I love in Helaman chapter 7 verse 29, which states:
29 Behold now, I do not say that these things shall be, of myself, because it is not of myself that I know these things; but behold, I know that these things are true because the Lord God has made them known unto me, therefore I testify that they shall be.
I know that God answers prayers.

Love,
Elder Call

Update

 Well this last week was a great week.  Here is an update on our investigators.

Chris and Cipriana
We taught them twice this last week. Both lessons went very well. Chris is done with First Nephi and Cipriana is through the first 14 chapters. On Sunday they didn't end up coming to church because they are shopping around for churches. It was good though because they absolutely hated the other church so that Is another tally in our favor! Chris said that he is really enjoying this journey that they have been on. On Sunday we had dinner at their house (it was super awesome), but anyway, their 18-year-old daughter was super standoffish; she listened in to our lesson from the other room and by the end she was super nice to us and talking with is. haha

Aubrey
She is as great as always! We moved her date to the 30th because of stake conference and the lessons are going well!

Estrada family:
We had an awesome lesson with them this week. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and invited them to come to church.  They said they were all in and that they were looking forward to it. On Saturday, we ended up getting a text from them and they said they weren't quite ready to make the step to come to church. It was kind of a bummer but we are going to continue working with them!

Davis family:
We didn't see them this week because they were out of town. The members that live right next door to them though told us that they posted a picture of our drawing of the Plan of Salvation on Instagram! It was pretty cool to hear some of our investigators sharing the gospel!

Hernandez/Reed family
On Friday we talked to one of the daughters, Jaden. She told us that she has been reading out of the Book of Mormon and enjoys it! We're excited for their family to continue to accept the gospel.

Reminder:  Next week is transfers—No letter until Tuesday.

South Diamond Zone
Best zone in the mission.

 

Awesome

This week was super awesome. On Friday, I went on and change with Elder Law. Elder Couch was in our apartment for the night, as well, because he was on night changes. It definitely has been awhile since we were companions in the MTC, but we still get along super well. That night I fell asleep on the couch at like 9:45 and woke up right before 10:30, so I could go brush my teeth. I started brushing my teeth and all of a sudden my mouth went on fire. I guess Elder Couch decided that he wanted to play a prank on me and put ghost pepper that had dried pieces of it in my toothbrush. The next morning, I woke up with sores on my tongue. I haven't come up with something to get him back yet, but it will happen. Elder Law and I were able to teach four lessons on Friday night. They were solid lessons and we are starting to get lots of investigators here in this area. Saturday was definitely a rough day for Elder Robago and I. At the end of the night we just laughed it and told ourselves that we took a loss. Honestly, we probably lost worse than the Golden Nights did... So we hear haha.  The Lord blessed us on Sunday though, we had five investigators come to church and we are able to start teaching the Weiland friends that came to church last week. They are very intelligent, so it's fun to teach them. We taught the Restoration and they definitely see how it could have happened. They need to rely on the Spirit now so they can receive that witness. We also taught Aubrey again Sunday night. She is doing very, very well.  This last week, Aubrey came to Zone Conference to help us with a training. We were going to have her show up at 12:50, but she ended up going to the wrong church building, so she was a few minutes late and Elder Rabago and I had to go into scramble mode. It all worked out in the end and it was great. It was a solid week. I hope you enjoy the pics.

Love,
Elder Call

Sporting "Glasses."  People seem to let us in more, They think I am smart.

Happy Memorial Day!

Super

Hey Family and Friends:

This week was a super awesome week.  I thought I would something a little bit different and just record myself talking about the week for a little bit.

So earlier this week or late last week, there was some records in our Area Book about a part member family that did not have too much information about them.  Missionaries had tried them for a while and we ended up going by on Friday or Saturday and met these two awesome kids and they are like, one is 12 and one is 15.  Their names are Jayden and Ashton. They started talking to us and they were like way cool. They had no idea that their mother was actually a member of the church and they told us to come back by when their parents were home.  We went by on Monday and met the dad and he said, “Hey, my wife is not home, but come back by tomorrow.”  So on Tuesday, we were able to teach them and really feel the Spirit with them.  We were actually able to teach them again on Friday.  They weren’t able to come to church this week, because they had some visits from step-parents and things like that, but they are planning on coming next week. So we are super excited about them. They are a way awesome family and they definitely need the gospel.

We were also able to teach Aubrey a couple of times this week.  She has set a baptismal date of June 23rd.  She was not able to come to church this week, because one of her kids actually got sick, but her husband is getting a little bit more interested in the Gospel, so we are really hoping and praying that the Spirit continues to work on him so we can teach all of them.  Aubrey is actually going to be coming to a Zone Conference this upcoming week to help Elder Rabago and me with our training there.  She is super awesome for doing that and we are super excited for that.

We were able to teach another part-member family this week (the Davis Family). Brother Davis grew up a member of the church, the youngest of nine or ten brothers, I think.  So, he fell away from the church but still has a pretty strong testimony and we were able to teach them on Friday night. Afterward, we got a pretty good compliment from his wife, who is not a member of the church, by telling us that the message that we shared, we taught the Plan of Salvation, was the best missionary discussion they had ever had, so that was pretty cool.

Elder Bickham, Elder Rabago, Elder Call

We got to go to the temple this week and we were able to ride in a Tesla. It is a super nice car. You probably have not seen them in Wyoming.  They are all electric kind of sports cars, so that was fun.

We were also able to teach Aubrey in a member’s home on Sunday night and after that we were able to teach a man named Rocky.  Rocky is a super, super, cool guy. He is a little up on some Satan lettuce, aka, marijuana and probably would have been a cough syrup. But he is a super cool guy and he enjoyed the lesson on the Restoration.  His family definitely needs the gospel, but we will see what we can do to help them progress. He also owns his own little studio and they record rap music and he has a ton of tattoos.  He is a good guy and has desires to do good. So we are going to keep trying to help them out.

For the most part those are the main things that happened this week.  We taught a couple of other lessons but nothing too crazy.  At church on Sunday, we were able to have five investigators there and so that was super exciting and super awesome.

Love you all!  Hope you have a great rest of your week.  Talk to you later!

Bye, (Elder Call)

Tender Mercy Stories

Here are a couple stories from this week.

Ralph:
We taught Ralph this week the about the Restoration. He has been taught by missionaries for a little while now and has a hard time keeping commitments. We helped him understand the importance of keeping the simple commitments such as coming to church, praying and reading. We set him with the baptismal date of June 16. He promised us he would come to church but sure enough he didn’t come...

Matthew:
So on Saturday night, Elder Rabago and I were knocking some doors and a door opened and guess who answered, Matthew Heimark!! I freaked out haha it was crazy. So you all probably don’t remember, but I met Matthew probably 16 months ago golfing and at Rhodes Ranch and then knocked on his parents’ door 8 months later in a different area in town and became super good friends with his parents and him. So I guess in January, he moved out from his parents’ house and moved into this house here in the south part of Las Vegas and I just so happened to knock on his door! Talk about a crazy miracle. I feel God is trying to tell him something haha … maybe that he should get baptized!

Aubrey:
She is as awesome and solid as it gets for an investigator. She went to the Relief Society activity and a baptism on Saturday and church on Sunday. She purchased ties and bow ties for her boys haha. Her husband still isn’t too sure about it all, but she is all in! The baptism we took her to was super cringy.  We showed up like twenty minutes before it was to start and there was one person there. Right before the baptism began, the grandma answered her phone and was talking super loud haha. The Spirit was still there.

Russell:
We had a great lesson with Russell on Sunday and taught him the Plan of Salvation. We drew it with chalk on his driveway and his dad loved it. We are praying, as we teach Russell the lessons, his parents will feel the Spirit and become interested! Haha we asked his dad if he wanted us to wash the chalk off, but he said we could leave it and so there is a big Plan of Salvation drawn out on their driveway!

This week after the baptism Aubrey went to, we sat down and read 1 Nephi 1. I love the last bit of that chapter “But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.”

I truly felt that the Lord was blessing us with tender mercies this week and I know that God is aware of us and He loves us! I know that as we acknowledge Him and show gratitude towards Him, He will continue to bless us and direct us!

Love,
Elder Call

Flight Plans

Flight Plans for Ben to come home came today in an e-mail, which read:

If there are any changes between now and August 1St, I will send the updated itinerary.

 Sister Rands
Nevada Las Vegas West Mission
702-522-4110

From: USMissions
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2018 10:16 AM
To: Nevada Las Vegas West Mission <2010577@ldschurch.org>
Subject: Return Travel: CALL/BENJAMIN DEE 01AUG2018 LAS SLC


Illustration of an airplane silhouette

Flights are based on the departure time requested by the mission, airline contracts, and available fares. Please review the itinerary. Electronic tickets have been issued.

Tickets can be canceled or changed at no additional charge until 5pm MT the next business day. After the void period, cancelation or change fees may apply.

Parents: Please contact the mission office for changes to the following itinerary.

Please check in for your flight with valid government issued photo ID to receive your boarding pass.

aiga baggage check in bg

Checked baggage fees may apply. Please be prepared to pay these fees and request your bags be checked to your final destination.

Let us know how we are doing! Go here to complete a 2 minute survey on your experience with Church Travel: Church Travel Office Survey

 Your trip

Booking ref:

U2U95Z

Check My Trip

Issued date:

15 May 2018

Baggage Info

Traveler

Benjamin Dee Call (576806-R)

Robert Jonah Deal (582267-R)

Emalee Obray Estrada (606342-R)

Landan Michael Knowles (581615-R)

Austin Alexander Linton (586798-R)

Travis Scott Nielsen (564480-R)

Kayla Makenzie Rose (601793-R)


Wednesday 01 August 2018



Delta Air Lines DL 1483

Departure

01 August 10:38 AM

Las Vegas, (Mccarran International) (+)

Terminal: 1



Arrival

01 August 01:05 PM

Salt Lake City, (Salt Lake City Intl) (+)

Terminal: 2 - Terminal Unit 2

Check-in

Duration

01:27 (Non stop)

Distance

368 Miles

Booking status

Confirmed

Class

Economy (T)

Baggage allowance

2 Piece(s) for Benjamin Dee Call


Seat

27C (No smoking seat) confirmed for Benjamin Dee Call


Equipment

BOEING 737-900

Ticket details

E-ticket DL 006-7113287143 for Benjamin Dee Call



General Information
NEVADA LAS VEGAS WEST
MISSION PRESIDENT MARTIN N WALKER

**NOTICE**
ARRIVE AT THE AIRPORT 1 HOUR PRIOR TO DOMESTIC FLIGHTS AND
2 HOURS PRIOR TO INT*L FLIGHTS
WITH REQUIRED STATE OR FEDERAL PHOTO ID AND TRAVEL DOCUMENTATION
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE, OR SIGNIFICANT
DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE
MISSIONARY TRAVEL (800)537-3537 OR (801)240-5111
EMPLOYEE TRAVEL (800)537-1232 OR (801)240-1000
GENERAL AUTHORITY TRAVEL (800)453-3860 OR (801)240-1000

Happy Mother's Day

5/9 Wednesday
Today was super awesome! Elder Rabago and I are already seeing a ton of miracles and blessings from the Lord! So yesterday, at Albertson's the lady behind us in line punched in her rewards card for our groceries and so we briefly talked to her. Today, one of the first doors we knocked after lunch was HER door! It was crazy haha. We testified and she felt the spirit strong, it was a cool experience!
Christian- this was a pretty crazy experience, so there was a lady that we started talking to, as she was sitting outside her house. She told us that her mom had converted, as well as, her sister and some others but she hadn’t. She had just moved from Texas and when she lived there with her mom, the missionaries gave her 7-year-old son a Book of Mormon. They brought out the Book and I looked in it and one of the sisters that had signed it was Hannah Carlisle. What a small world. Her son then sang to us, “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission.” As crazy as that was, she still told us that it wasn’t her time and that she likes her ways...

5/10 Thursday
Today was sweet.  It was a slower afternoon but the evening made up for it! There is a 10-year-old kid that has come to church a bunch, but just never met with missionaries for some odd reason. We went to his fellow-shipping family and we were like, alright what do we need to do to get him taking the lessons? As we were talking with them, Russell (the 10-year-old) knocked on the door! He came in and we taught him and then his mom came over and we got her on board to have him taught the lessons and baptized! We were stoked.

5/11 Friday
Today was a grind; it felt we knocked a ton of doors and didn’t see much come out of it until tonight. We met this guy named Rocky. Rocky was super touched that we stopped and talked to him and he felt we were sent by God, because he had been dealing with a dilemma and not sure which way to go, but we were able to help him with that. It was cool because all day we had just been praying like crazy to be led to someone!

5/12 Saturday
We taught Russell today and his dad was there and he told us that we could teach Russell but he wouldn’t be getting baptized... bummer, but that is ok, we will still work with them and hope the dad feels the spirit as we teach Russell!

5/13 Sunday
Happy Mother’s Day! The started great by talking to the family. It is good to see the families faces because it seems it has been a long time since I have seen them! Haha  Today at church we had Aubrey come! Aubrey is a member referral that has come to church the last five weeks. We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation and invited her to be baptized. She wants to super bad but she hasn’t really told her husband much of anything and so it will be a hurdle we have to jump. We promised that God would prepare a way! 1 Nephi 3:7

Love ya!

Editor's Note:  Thought we had pictures of our FaceTime talking, but they did not save to the i-pad.  No pictures, just memories.

New Assignment

10 May 2018



Dear Elder Call ,

I am pleased to confirm the assignment you have received to serve as a zone leader in the South Diamond Zone.  Elder Raul Rabago will be your companion.

Through willing obedience and hard work, you have demonstrated trustworthiness and faithfulness.  You will now have an opportunity to influence and assist other missionaries to serve more effectively and with more diligence.

It is important to lead with love, kindness, and understanding.  You must be exemplary in keeping mission rules and standards with exactness.

This assignment comes to you through the inspiration of the Lord.  As you prayerfully plan to train and assist district leaders and other missionaries, you will be directed and assisted in the discharge of your duties.

I express my love and confidence as you accept this additional responsibility.  May our Heavenly Father bless you as you continue to serve in your assigned proselyting area and in this leadership role.

Sincerely,



Martin N. Walker
President, Nevada Las Vegas West Mission

Transfer Tuesday

4/30 Monday
Today is the last p-day of this transfer. I can’t believe how fast the time goes. We went the outlet malls and Elder Rivera purchased a pair of Cole Haans. We played some basketball, as well as, some gator ball. Tonight, we taught the Gotchy Family, saw Vernon and prayed with him, because he was in a hurry.  We also went and saw Patsy, who is an older lady that is quite ill, but interested in the gospel.

5/1 Tuesday
The rains came down and the floods came up! Haha This afternoon we were in an appointment and the storm that had brewing that morning finally erupted. The thunder was crazy loud and there was quite a bit of lightning. As we left the one appointment and were heading to the next it all came down haha. The street was flooded and there wasn’t a dry part of my body! Haha We had a ton of appointments today and so we went out in it too much.

Here are a few other things that happened this week. President Walker called me in on Saturday and called me to be a Zone Leader. I found out on Sunday night that I’d be serving in the Durango Heights and Sterling Ridge Wards, in the South Diamond Zone.  President told me he needs me to train leaders.  My new companion will be Elder Rabago! I lived with Elder Rabago for two transfers when I was training Elder Goold. He is from California and is a super awesome missionary we get along super well and we are looking forward to being able to do some good work! I am soooo pumped!

Elder Rivera and I played a little basketball the other day with Fernando and Jason and they beat us and were like “get off our court” and talked some serious trash, so I was disappointed that I couldn’t redeem myself there.

Well, love you all!
Elder Call

These are the good-bye pictures:

Josh & Elder Call

Elder Call and Lomax

Elder Rivera and Elder Call

A Good Week

This week was a good week! The work is going well and transfers will be next week and I figure I will be transferred bit we will see.

Monday 4/23
We went to see Renee, who was the new investigator we found last week. Her mom answered the door and said that she was not available, but that we could teach her! Her name is Diamond; we taught her and she loves what we teach and has a strong desire to grow closer to Jesus Christ. She asked for a Book of Mormon so that she could read it!

Tuesday 4/24

We went running on Tuesday for exercise and here are some pics.
We had district meeting, as well as, interviews with President. We topped that off by having a lesson with Fernando and his wife Jennifer. Their son was sick and so we stayed in the garage and mostly just talked to them about him.

Wednesday 4/25
We had a good lesson with a man that we met tracting. His name was Charles and we had to refer him off because he was just visiting his girlfriend's house, but we gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him the Restoration of the Gospel. Today, we also had another lesson with Diamond. This lesson was absolutely crazy she was quite distraught because her son had just been arrested for two counts of murder the day before on Tuesday... he is 17 😲 We talked about how we can reach to God in the time of trials.  We ended the night by having a lesson with Mason and his mom. They are less active members that we found a couple weeks ago.

Thursday 4/26
Today we had a lesson with an atheist. Those are always quite difficult but she is open and willing to listen. Other than that not much happened.

Friday 4/27
There are these apartments in our area that I have felt strongly about ever since I've been in this area that there is somebody in there waiting for us. We tracked them several weeks back and nothing much came out about it but today we went back to visit a lady that we had met named Nancy. Nancy let us teach her and so we're able to teach her about the restoration and she said she has been looking for a church. She's an older single lady and is very nice we are looking forward to teaching her more.

Saturday 4/28
Today we went to the ward party and there were several non-members there! We were able to also have a lesson with the kid named Josh. He read out of the Book of Mormon and actually choked up as he read some versus, it was cool to see the Spirit touch his heart. It’s starting to get plenty warm here in Las Vegas this week.  It has pretty much been in the 90s every single day. Let's just say I have to drink lots of water haha.

Sunday 4/29
Tonight was pretty crazy.  We had a lesson with Diamante, who was the former Jehovah Witness for 15 years. After that lesson, we also had a lesson with Dave, who is also a former Jehovah Witness. Some Mexican guys saw us walking down the street and they called us over and had us come eat at their party. It was a Christian group that was celebrating a lady’s birthday. They had a little taco truck thing and cake and lots of singing... At this party, we actually met a less active member, who was baptized in Hawaii about 10 years ago but since has gone all inactive haha. It was pretty crazy and I couldn't understand a thing they were saying haha. At one point they were passing a kiss around the room from couple to couple and they looked at US and we were like never haha. Thankfully they let it skip us. Haha

Here is my failed attempt to make dry ice root beer. The extract was terrible. I might need mom to send me the good stuff.

Testifying

4/16 Monday
Tonight was sooo awesome, but kind of frustrating though! We had a Family Home Evening with Alex and Anna and their family! Elder Rivera brought his ukulele and so we sang “Families Can Be Together Forever” and “I Am a Child of God.”  We also did a few magic tricks for the kids and then taught the Plan of Salvation. Their kids are Matthew (15), David (11), and Jocelyn (5). After we taught the Plan of Salvation, Anna was like, wow, that is absolutely amazing. She then told us about a dream her mother-in-law had about her husband who had passed away. I guess he came to his wife in a dream and was dressed in all white and he told her, “hey, there are three levels and I am in the lower one and told her to continue on.” Like I said, he was dressed in all white except he had a little bit of mud on the bottom of his pants. The Spirit was like crazy strong and she was like yeah they are Catholic and so I guess it is all the same..... My face was like what?!?! Don’t you get it? haha We testified of the Plan of Salvation and then headed on our way. On our way back to the apartment the wind gusts were crazy and it was like funneled down this road and when we took the corner, Elder Rivera actually got blown off his bike haha.

4/17 Tuesday
Tonight was interesting, we went to teach an unbaptized 9-year-old named Ashton. Ashton was ticked that we were there to say the least haha. He was like yelling at us to leave and was super rude the whole time. It was so awkward and so we ended up leaving without really teaching much.

4/18 Wednesday
Today was Zone Conference. It was a super good conference and I learned a lot. We had several trainings on teaching techniques, as well as, using ward council to coordinate missionary efforts. We taught Roxanna today and read out of 2 Nephi chapter 2. It was really good and she enjoyed it.

Zone Conference - Elder Rivera and Elder Call (front row far right)

4/21 Saturday
We had exchanges today. I stayed in the area and we had some cool experiences. We went to see a less active part member family and the dad came out and we started talking to him and he had been baptized a few years back. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to think about a question that ways on his mind. We then asked him to open up to a random page and read the first verse that sticks out to him. He started reading and about halfway through the verse he started laughing, then you could see the Spirit touch him. He said, “wow, that is crazy. It answered it. I can’t believe it.” We testified that the Book of Mormon will answer his questions and he said that he would be asking that book a lot of questions haha.

4/22 Sunday
We got a little bit of a scare tonight. We dropped by Alex and Anna and they were in their garage enjoying a few drinks because it was there anniversary. Alex is kind of a tad drunk and he was like, “Guys, I am going to be honest with you. My parents are Catholic, my wife’s parents are Catholic, we are Catholic.... “ In my mind, I was like, oh no, he is going to drop us. He then continued, “and Anna and I were thinking about you guys and we have a question, “Why don’t Catholics do what you do?” Haha, we were like I don’t know, but what we do is right haha! It was cool and we are starting to see some real progress with them!

The Stronger the Wind, the Stronger the Trees

4/8 Monday
Tonight we had a lesson with Vernon! We were finally able to get in there and sit down with him. We had previously set him with a baptismal date but he didn’t make it on the day and tonight we were able to extend another baptismal invitation for May 17th. It has been pretty cool to see how the Lord has helped him take stumbling blocks from his life so he can learn about and accept the gospel.

4/9 Tuesday
Today was a solid day. We had District Meeting this morning and in the afternoon we had correlation with one of our ward mission leaders. Tonight we contacted a referral that a member gave us. This guy is a retired nuclear physicist at least that is what I think it was... the guy is way awesome and said he is actually about halfway through the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, he is reading it as a historical book instead of with “real intent, having Faith in Christ.” We also were able to get the green light to teach an unbaptized 9-year-old in the ward and so we have our first appointment next Tuesday.

4/10 Wednesday
Today we went on exchanges with the elders we live with. I was with Elder Windham. He is from North Carolina and is a straight genius! He got a 36 on his ACT and wants to go into Astro physics or something like that. It was kind of a trashy day.  We got to teach two of their recent converts in the YSA ward and then spent like 2 hours at the dermatologist because of some skin issues he is having. We exchanged back at dinner time and Elder Rivera and I had a decent night.

4/11 Thursday
Wow it was super windy today and it honestly was super terrible! haha If you opened your mouth you would be chewing on dust. It was pretty miserable, but as President Monson would say, “Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.”

4/13 Saturday
Today we had a lesson with Diamante. He is a former Jehovah Witness. He hates that church and when we street contacted him he wasn’t super interested, but, said he would like to look into the church a little bit. We met with him tonight and he had a notebook out and took a ton of notes haha. It was a super good meeting.

4/14 Sunday
Today was nuts! Today at church they announced that Alex Boyé would be at the stake center tonight performing! We got approval to go and brought Diamante! It was soooo awesome haha. Alex has a great conversion story and is super funny and obliviously a super good singer. His message was about our true identity, as well as, many other things, like the importance of reading the Book of Mormon daily. It was way fun and Diamante enjoyed it.

Diamante, Elder Call, Alex Boye, Elder Rivera

IS IT GETTING GAS?

4/3 Tuesday
Solid day. We taught Gilmore today and it was the usual. He doesn’t remember that he has told us the same stories every time and his teeth are falling out the whole time 😂😂 haha it kills me. We taught about the importance of going to church, praying, and reading. A few weeks back, we contacted a lady that has six kids. She told us to come back but we hadn’t been able to contact her until tonight. She is super awesome and has Mormon friends and accepted a Book of Mormon and loves the strong family aspect of the gospel! We also played some basketball with a part-member family that we have been working with!

4/4 Wednesday
We had a lesson with Lomax today and it went quite well. She told us that she wants to join the church but she doesn’t understand the idea of Priesthood Authority. She feels that she does not have to be baptized again and is quite opposed to the idea. We are praying that she can receive an answer from God regarding that matter.

4/6 Friday
So we had a lesson with a lady named Nahtalya today. She was actually taught by Elder Rivera a while ago, in one of his previous areas because she had walked into their church. Because she didn’t live in that area they passed her off to this area but she never met with missionaries here. We reached out her and set up a lesson for today. It was a decent lesson except it got way off topic and our wonderful member got to talking and talking and talking and talking. She is super awesome but is married to an atheist and has tons of questions herself but slowly and surely she will come along! We did a couple hours of tracting and found a couple people and taught the Gotchys.

4/7 Saturday
It was hot and super windy today haha. It was 91 degrees! We honestly biked like crazy all day and had a couple lessons. Not too much else happened.

4/8 Sunday
Church was great today. Tonight we were riding down a road and we saw one of our investigators out working on his truck. We stopped and started helping him. His truck is a 1990 GMC 1500 haha so it gave me some flashbacks of the ol’ truck back home haha. We were trying to start it and Fernando was like look right here when I turn it over to see if it is getting gas. He turns it over and I was looking and all of a sudden it blew up in my face haha. I jumped like super high and freaked out and Elder Rivera was like oh my gosh haha. It was nuts! Thankfully, it didn’t hurt me at all just gave me a good scare!

Things I KNOW

3/27 Tuesday
Transfers were today and everything went well. We found out that the other elders were going to be moving out of our apartment and it would just be me and my new companion. My new companion has been out for 10 months and is from Maui Hawaii. He is a convert to the church and was baptized at 15. He is super awesome and a great missionary. Tonight was an interesting one haha. It started off by a less active lady trashing on the church and then we saw some success finding a new investigator named Juan. Juan is 17 years old and has many friends that are Mormon. He said he hadn’t thought much about the church, but he wants to check it out. That great contact was then followed with another person bashing the church. We had a decently long discussion with him and we bore some powerful testimonies and said a prayer with him. After that we were able to place a Book of Mormon with a super nice guy named KT. Elder Rivera has a strong testimony and so do I. The second man  we were talking to, told me that he wanted me to go away for a week and just study anti-Mormon stuff on the internet and followed that up with “there is people, the internet, and God if I want to know truth I should go to the source of all truth!” I know God is truly the source of all truth and He has given us the opportunity to know for ourselves the truthfulness of the restored gospel. I know God answers prayers and He has answered mine! I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God; I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I know that my family will be together forever!

Elder Call & Elder Rivera

3/28 Wednesday
Today was a great day! We had some good finding time, as well as, we taught a couple lessons. The first lesson we taught was with Roxanna. It had been awhile since we had seen her and she is still struggling a lot with being a single parent and trying to work and go to school at the same time. The gospel really could help her out, but she is having a hard time seeing that. We also had a lesson with Alex and Anna. This lesson was a little embarrassing. They let us in and said to come eat with them, so we sat down at their table and they gave us some orange juice. Elder Rivera accidentally knocked his glass over and sent orange juice everywhere. We followed that by me just getting a random bloody nose. Haha It was a little rough, but the Spirit was there and they loved what we had to say.

3/29 Thursday
Today we had a special meeting as a zone with President Walker talking about Priesthood Keys and the importance of alignment. It was great. We had a pretty good night. We contacted a less active and she has a 9-year-old son and we want to start teaching him and she said she needed a few days to think about it. Hopefully that works out!

3/30 Friday
This morning, first thing we had a lesson with a girl named Sky. She is in her early twenties and has two kids. We taught the Restoration to her and it was pretty good. We also had a lesson with Dave (Gilmore). Gilmore is quite the guy to teach. Every time we teach him, his dentures keep falling out over and over and then he finally just takes them out, but then he is super hard to understand, haha so he puts them back in and that just goes on repeat. We went tracting for a little while and had some decent success finding a couple potential investigators.

3/31 Saturday and Sunday
General conference was great today! It’s was amazing to hear the prophets and apostles speak. I walked away with a lot of great things. We did not watch it at the Stake Center except for Priesthood Session. All other sessions we watched at member’s homes. I was quite surprised by the changes, but
I am excited for them because I know that they will help both of the wards I serve in.

Great Week (Lame Letter)

This week was a great week. Transfers are today.  The big news of the week is I will be staying in the area. Elder Goold got transferred to the Lakes Zone. I have been disappointed the last two transfers because I have not been able to get a baptism in this area. I have high goals and high expectations for these upcoming transfers. My new companion is Elder Rivera, he is from Maui, Hawaii. He's a super awesome elder and has been out for about 10 months. I look forward to serving with him and seeing a lot of miracles with him.  We will have a lot of fun together. My district is 100 percent different than last transfer.  I don't have much to say this week. I will write an update of the investigators next week.

Good Times

3/12 Monday
Today was a good time. We went to a restaurant where I have wanted to go my whole mission! It was super good and could feed me for three meals! Tonight was pretty interesting! We were biking and it was pretty late, like 8:15 or so. There’s a guy that called to us and asked if we were Mormons. We said yes and he said come have a study. We went over there and started talking to him.  He was quite beat up and he was in his front yard getting drunk. We asked him what happened and on Friday he got in a motorcycle accident where he T-bones a car, smashed his face on his handlebars and then flew over the car. He completely destroyed his chin and knocked out all of his teeth. It was quite disgusting. We taught him a little bit and then bounced.

3/13 Tuesday
Today we had a lesson with one of our investigators named Dave. We tracted into Dave last Friday. We took the ward mission leader with us and had a great lesson. Dave grew up in the back of a Baptist church down in the letter streets of Las Vegas. Dave cracks me up because as he talks his dentures keep falling out and then he gets frustrated with them, so he just takes them out in front of us and just talks with no teeth, so he is super hard to understand. It is pretty funny!

3/15 Thursday
Tonight we went tracting with a member friend of ours and had some decent success. One of his neighbors thought we were his kids haha and came in for a big hug, haha, we then had to break the news that we weren’t his boys haha. She was super nice! We also did some service for one of our investigators and pulled his weeds in his front yard because he has leukemia.

3/16 Friday
Today was super great! We had a full day of teaching and set a man named Robert with a baptismal date! We also got to teach Alex and Anna. Alex is a new investigator we found a week or so ago. He let us in and we taught them about the restoration. Anna said wow that is amazing but it will be so hard to convert them because they are extremely catholic but hey the spirit can touch their hearts! Tonight we started an exchange with the zone leaders.

3/17 Saturday
This morning we got a phone call and they told us that our apartment was flooded. Haha we had to go and clean it up and get all of our stuff out of our rooms. The cleaning guy came and took care of the carpet and then we had a lesson with our next door neighbor in our apartment complex! She is super cool but has a lot of struggles and is very lost!

3/18 Sunday
Today was Stake Conference and it was really good! Elder Kim B Clark of the Seventy spoke!

I am doing well!

The Flow

3/5 Monday
“Only dead fish go with the flow.” Today,

the elders I live with and another set were begging to go hit up this crusty, dusty, Asian buffet. They wanted to go eat the sushi. I was a little hesitant and was trying to convince them otherwise but decided to “go with the flow.” The place was nasty and I felt sick walking in there haha. I tried sushi for the first time and a mussel. There are some pictures attached. We tried convincing one of the elders the wasabi was guacamole. He didn’t believe it, but we still got him to eat a bunch of it with his sushi haha. Elder Goold complained all day of an upset stomach and I am not surprised haha. We have felt the last few days, we needed to go and see a lady we met a long time ago and had given a Book of Mormon to. We knocked with no answer, but as we were leaving the dad of the family pulled up in the driveway because he had just gotten off work. We started talking to him and he asked “What is the difference between Catholics and Mormons?” It was all over from there.  We started teaching and testifying of many gospel principles and he loved it so, hopefully, we will be able to start teaching them!

3/6 Tuesday
Tonight we had two lessons that went decently well! We taught the referral, Roxanna, as well as, JC and Niki. It was hard to teach Roxanna, because she was trying to eat, as well as, take care of her 6-month baby, while listening, so it was a little rough haha.

3/7 Wednesday
Today we had Zone Conference. It was pretty good.  We talked about the importance and the power of the Book of Mormon. We had another lesson with Nada. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and invited her to pray about it! She said that the Book of Mormon that had been given to her was taken by her dad, so he could read it haha! So we gave her another one! She is super awesome!

3/8 Thursday
Today was absolutely crazy. We did our weekly planning session, went and did some finding without too much that happened. After dinner, we saw a guy that we street contacted the other day and so we started to talk to him again. His car was broken down and so we helped him start it, after the car got started the man started to hit on me... he was like would you like me to give you a kiss to say thank you? And I just had to say “I ain’t about that.” Ha ha. He then wanted us to go for a ride with him in his car. We denied and bounced. Later that evening we were riding through this park and this girl started screaming for help. It was dark and late, probably 8:15 at least and so we rode over there and she was like “call the cops, call the cops.” We did and she was there with her boyfriend who just hurt her and stole her stuff. The boyfriend bounced and jumped a wall and took off and then she took off. We tried following them but they ended up jumping onto a car and taking off. We talked with the officers for a little while and then we went home!  Crazy night.

3/9 Friday
It was the big 20th birthday today and nothing too crazy happened! We had a good lesson with the Gotchy’s and asked them the interview questions and they are all set except they won’t come to church.

3/10 Saturday
Today was a wreck. Actually two wrecks. Today started off with a lesson with Lomax. We finished teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had the lesson at the Bishop’s house. Bishop’s dog came out to say hello to everyone and Lomax was like, “What in the world! I saw this dog in my dream last night.” It’s kind of weird, but hopefully, it was a sign to her. We taught her about the necessity of Priesthood Authority and she definitely did struggle with that a little bit, but she is going to pray about the restored authority.
In the afternoon we were riding and Elder Goold went to ride up on a curb and his tires slide out and he went down on the concrete! Later tonight, after dinner, Elder Goold was riding and a truck caught his eye and his handle bars went into the fence and it threw him over the handle bars and bent and ruined his front tire. It was a rough day for Elder Goold!

3/11 Sunday
We got two new investigators tonight. It was a really, really, GOOD NIGHT. We met a man named William. He let us take a seat on his front porch and we started to teach him. He had many questions about the gospel and about Mormons. After we had talked for a little bit he said, “something I did not tell you guys at the beginning was me and my wife are heavily involved in a Pentecostal Church.  My wife is the Pastor’s Assistant.” He then asked the question, “We both believe in God, and we both believe in Jesus Christ, what should motivate me, and my wife, to convert to Mormonism?” We then were able to testify of eternal families and of the Plan of Salvation. We have a return appointment with him on Friday and he told us that he wants to read the Book of Mormon. He is sooo awesome. We also taught a staunch Catholic and that went pretty well too!