We Have A Savior

Dear Family & Friends:

1/9 Monday 

Today was alright. We got to play a lot of basketball and then got to work. We had a FHE with our ward mission leader and the Rodartes (recent converts). We were going to have another FHE with a part member family but they ended up canceling. 

1/10 Tuesday 

Rough day. We had a couple lessons set but everything fell through. It seems to be happening quite a bit lately and so that is super frustrating. We knocked a ton of doors today but not many people were home. We did see some miracles though! We were able to talk to a couple of in-actives today and set up a lesson with one of them so that was cool! 

1/11 Wednesday 

Things were better today! We had a lesson with a man who joined the church about 10 months ago. He is super awesome and we were able to hear his conversion story. We also had a lesson with the Herleans, which went well.  The members that came with us helped out a lot. The oldest son told us his story of feeling the spirit while he was reading the assignment we had left them. He is ready to get baptized and will probably have a date next time we see them so that is exciting!

1/12 Thursday 

It has rained all day today! I love the rain here in Las Vegas because it is so rare! Tonight was dope (super cool)! It started off by knocking on a less actives door and being let in and welcomed warmly! We got to know him quite well! We found out he has a boy that has autism who is fourteen and another son who is nine and a daughter that is seven. They are a great family and he said he hasn't been to the temple in ten years and wants to get back! He had just talked with his wife about inviting the missionaries over to get the spirit in their home again and help her testimony! It was cool to be a part of their beginning of getting back on the straight and narrow path! After this and dinner, we stopped by a part member and set a temporary baptismal date for the 28th of this month! It is quick but that is what they wanted and they have been taught everything and have been to church a lot! Their goal is getting sealed in the temple. After all of this we had a lesson with the Fullers! They wanted to sing a song and they chose, “Come Rejoice....” Y'all know me and I can't sing to save my life and my comp isn't the greatest either. The main problem was that they didn't know the tune nor worried about reading all the words. I was able to sing a few notes in between my resistance to chuckle! They would have sung all four verses, but I spoke up after the second and asked if they thought that was good and they agreed we had had Great day!

1/13 Friday

So tonight we had a great dinner! It was some type of chili and it was pretty good! We had parked a long ways away from dinner and had walked there stopping and seeing people as we went that afternoon! It was great except on the walk back it hit Elder McClure that he needed to go to the bathroom....soon haha.  He kept groaning as it kept hitting him! I thought it was super funny and I was messing with him and would walk slow or other stuff...I messed around and before long, haha, it hit me and there was no more slow walking haha. We hustled! Karma is not good sometimes haha. We did end up making it to the church in time so it was a blessing! I thought those things only happened in foreign missions!

1/14 Saturday 

We met a crazy/interesting man street contacting today! This man knows what is going to happen before it happens. He created a math formula when he was 11 years old that tells him what is going to happen 90 seconds in advanced! Pretty cool huh? So, when I think of a guy that is telling this stuff, I think of a younger guy that is just a little off but no this man is 77 years old and has been doing this since he was eleven. It started out with him seeing us and he said he wanted to tell us a story. In his 45-minute spill I asked him a few questions and had a few responses that were slightly on the sarcastic side... He was telling me that by knowing his formula you would save your life multiple times a day! And he talked about his books he sells and all this good stuff.  I had to ask him why he wasn't the richest man on earth? He said that all his money goes to his grandson because he doesn't care about money at all... that grandson may not have the equation for the future figured out but he has got the way to earn easy money figured out haha. On to the more spiritual side of things, religion was brought up and he said that any person could be Jesus Christ and the entire thing was a hoax . . . I was seriously baffled by his response.  I wouldn't say it made me mad, but I was immediately saddened from this man’s negligence. Alma 7:11-12 states:

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Family and Friends. No other man on the face of this earth now or will be or that has ever been on this earth could/can do what the Our Savior did. No man could suffer the pains of the world, no man could suffer for the sins that the world has committed, no man could loose the bands of death unless that man is the very Son of God. I want each of you to know that we do indeed have a Savior. We do indeed have an Older Brother that knows exactly what you are going through and He knows exactly how to help. We do indeed live after we die, thanks to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

1/15 Sunday 

It was a great day.  We had five people at church so it was a successful day!

I am so blessed to be able to see the change and see the Gospel truly bless and make a difference in people’s life! 

I love you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Call

Find the Blessings

Dear Family & Friends:

At Stake Conference on Sunday, a man said, "Elders where are you from?" We replied and he commented "both great places but there is nowhere better than Las Vegas because that is where God has called you to be...” Wow, that took me by surprise, but oh how true it is that there is no better place than Las Vegas, Nevada, because there is no other place where God has called me to be!

1/2 Monday
Tonight we had a lesson with a part member family where the father has Jewish beliefs. We had decided to teach the Plan of Salvation and the lesson went quite well. It was then brought up that this man’s mom had passed a few months previously. The wife told us that after his mom had passed they had a conversation where she testified to him that he would see his mother again. After she had said that in their conversations he said to her "I hope you are right, I hope that I will see my mother again."  Wow! It is true that the times we are closest to heaven are when loved ones come into or leave this life.  I am so happy that I can bring the knowledge and comfort of the Plan of Salvation to those here in Las Vegas.

1/3 Tuesday
Not much happened today but we started exchanges tonight and I will be with Elder Sorensen for the next 24 hours! He is from Evanston Wyoming so it is cool.

1/4 Wednesday
Today was a great day for missionary work because it seemed like every door we knocked on, someone was home. We had a lesson with a man from Guam, who is like a Fourth Knight in his Catholic Church. I don't know what that is, but he is a nice guy. We invited them to pray to ask if what we taught was true and he said that we believed the same things Catholics do so he didn't need to pray because he already knew... haha not sure if he was following what we had to say haha. Today we got super exciting news. Elder Bednar is coming to our mission on the 21st of this month! Along with him is the Presiding Bishop of the Church and a member of the Presidency of the Seventy and an Area Seventy! It is going to be amazing to receive counsel from them!

1/5 Thursday
Today was another lesson that didn't quite go the way we wanted it to. We were teaching the Herlean boys and we were teaching the Plan of Salvation. For the plan we drew one of those diagrams on paper. For the celestial kingdom we drew it yellow, for the terrestrial kingdom we drew it brown, and for the telestial kingdom we drew it pink... that was the problem, haha, the youngest boy when he heard he would be going to one of those said that he wanted to go to the pink one... not quite what we were shooting for haha. We may have to redraw them a diagram and switch the colors up a little bit!

1/6 Friday
Today we had interviews with President so that is always the best! We had dinner tonight with a single guy that had asked us what we wanted to eat a few days before. We mentioned that we liked steak and oh did he make us steak! The steaks were almost as big as the plate and a good 1"-1 1\2" thick. Along with that there was salad, a pasta dish, vegetables, and brownies and ice cream. The steak was super good but was still moooing a little as I ate it! It was rare! Haha, I finished everything so I was a little disappointed in how much I ate. Also, today I gave up drinking soda. I am tired of gaining weight so I am giving up pop... I have done this 5 times now on the mission but I think this time is for good haha!

1/7 Saturday
Today we able to go to the baptism of a lady (Brianna) I was able to teach a few time on exchanges with Elder Townsend and Elder Sorensen. This lady got married to this guy who served a mission in Florida, but fell away shortly after. When he met Brianna, he was not active at the slightest, but when he asked her to marry him she said she would as long as they found religion. The man’s parents were promised if they went to the temple each week all their children would be faithful in the gospel and for years they went faithfully and now their prayers and faith had paid off. The answer to their prayer wasn't even a member! They got to hear their daughter in law bare testimony of the truth that has come into her life! She has such a powerful testimony it was amazing!

1/8 Sunday
Today was stake conference and we got our stake split. We aren't sure exactly what is going to happen with the district/zone so it will be interesting. There was a talk today that was really good! He talked that the first principle that the missionaries teach is that God is a loving Father in Heaven and why that is important.  It is important because as we truly understand that principle, we receive a higher vision and we can live according to that higher vision. In a lesson today with Tom, it is apparent that he is very worried about what others think of him. He does not understand the blessings that await him.

One of President Walker’s favorite sayings is "claim your blessings." We as children of God and as members of the church, we have blessings that we are holding ourselves back from. This week, may we find the blessings that we are holding ourselves back from and live in accordance to receive those blessings. God loves each of us and he blesses us daily. Please look for His love and His hand!

I love you all!
Elder Call

Out With the Old

Dear Family & Friends:

Here is a look at my last week of 2016

12/26 Monday
Tonight we did a FHE with the Rodarte and Kidd families. It went super good, except that it was a little noisy because of all the kids haha. We talked about how, a lot of times in our lives, we look back and dwell on things of the past and how that slows us down. Our Heavenly Father loves us and will forgive us of past mistakes through repentance. We need to always strive to be better and improve!

12/27 Tuesday
Miracles happened today!! We have been getting worried about our teaching pool but today things took a turn for a little better! There is a part member family in the ward that has three unbaptized kids (the Herleans). The ward has been trying for years with these kids and nothing has happened. The dad is a returned missionary that served in the Dominican Republic. The mom has been a lifelong member but they fell away from the church and haven't let their kids be baptized even though they beg them. The dad called us today and said he wants us to come over and start teaching the discussions to his boys! Also Joseph and Claudette (who stood us up last week) reached out to us and asked if we were meeting with them tomorrow!

12/28 Wednesday
Today we were on exchanges with the other set of elders in our district. I was in their area for the day! It was way fun. Elder Townsend and I walked everywhere today, so that was good to put in some good walking exercise!  Elder Townsend is from Nebraska and is super cool, so we joked around all day and got a lot of work done! We almost got killed but it turned out good! We were tracting and we knocked on this door that had a sign with an AK 47 and it said "nothing on this property is worth dying for". We knocked on the door and a Russian man answered and said "wait there, I am going to get my brother" and he closed the door and left. Memories of the “Saratov Approach” movie flooded in and I was sketched out. I looked at Elder Townsend and he was like "this is going to be really good or really bad."  We waited for a little while and then his brother opened the door and we taught some of the Restoration and got his contact info, so that was cool. And we talked to guy from East Africa and that was cool! He knew like no English.  Elder McClure had lessons with Joseph and Claudette and the part member family and all five of those people are on track for baptism by the end of the month, which that could be 6 baptisms this transfer!! That would be so sweet!!

12/30 Friday
We had another lesson with the Herleans. Things are going great. The dad who doesn't consider himself a Mormon anymore was teaching his boys, along with us, about the Book of Mormon and the first story in it! Finding was uneventful today except a dude came to chew us out because we knocked on his door and I guess we scared his wife because there were dressed up guys at the door. He was from out of states and didn't know who we were, so we told him we are missionaries and he said sorry and left haha!

12/31 Saturday
Things keep getting better with Joseph and Claudette I thought there was going to be an issue with the Word of Wisdom but they said that they would give their iced coffee up no problem. They didn't think that Mormon’s drank soda, so they were pleased to know that was aloud haha! We had to be in tonight by six because of the New Years. So it was a pretty exciting night, I paced around the apartment and watched bible videos, and went to bed early! The mission life is sweet!

1/1 Sunday
Haha 8:30 church was a little too early for the ward members I guess. There were like two families there five minutes to the start of church. We had two kids walk in today and we sat by them. They had been taught all the lessons and even had their baptismal interview but then moved and so they never got baptized! We got their address and they live just outside our ward boundary... dang it!! Joseph and Claudette came to church today so that was awesome to have them there!

As missionaries we are promised that the Lord’s hand is unrestrained in our work! Sometimes I fall into the pattern of the mission and start taking the time out here for granted. This week I let myself fall into that trap a little bit... I know that God is involved in this work. He truly wants to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" Moses 1:39 He cares about the people we contact everyday. He wants them on His team and He is ready to pour His blessings on them! I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that God is involved in my life and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to help others find the love God has for them! I think that we all have so much potential that we may not even comprehend it! I am working each day to try to achieve my potential as a missionary and a follower of Jesus Christ. I love you all!
-Elder Call

Strengthen Your Testimony

Dear Family & Friends:

Here is a look at my past week:

12/19 Monday
Today was a great P-Day! This morning we had the Word of Wisdom lesson with Sister Fuapapa. Not very often, when you teach the Word of Wisdom, the person tells you that they have a testimony of it and that they have already stopped drinking coffee. She said that she had talked with her side of the family that are members and they taught her about the Word of Wisdom! She is super excited for her baptism on Saturday! Today for P-Day, young men showed up to play ball with us.  There were so many people! We just split in teams of four and rotated in the games! It was a lot of fun.

Sporting his Christmas sweater.

 12/20 Tuesday
The most exciting part of today was opening Christmas presents! I don't have the will power to see a present wrapped and not know what it is, so I opened all my presents... Mom is going to be mad! haha Oh well, I got some super cool things! I have an amazing family!

12/21 Wednesday
Dinner was a hoot tonight.  We had a lesson with a part member family that is from Louisiana! It was some of the best food I have had out here! We were laughing the entire dinner. So that was lots of fun. We also helped clean out a garage today and organize it. I love doing service.

12/22 Thursday

Lots of Candy! (About 30 pounds of candy)

Today was a busy day. We had Zone Conference and that was a great meeting.  We talked about how precious our time here as missionaries really is and how every minute counts. We found out today that one of the Apostles will be coming to the mission towards the end of January! That will be an amazing experience to be able to receive counsel from an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ! We get the most amazing things as missionaries! Today Sister Fuapapa had her baptismal interview and she is completely ready for baptism! Our Zone Leaders forgot that they had to do the interview, so they were super late and then they didn't have a baptismal record, so we had to go get one while they were doing the interview and it made us way late to dinner. But after all of that, we were able to have a lesson with some recent converts and that was super spiritual. We talked a lot how as missionaries we can tell people nonstop about the Gospel but that doesn't do any good if they don't ask and pray for themselves to know if God has restored his Church.

12/23 Friday
What a testimony builder this week has been. Tonight we had a lesson with a man who has been investigating for a long time. We went over all of the baptismal questions just to see where his testimony is at. He said that he isn't sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that we have a prophet here on the earth today.  He also isn't completely positive about following all of the commandments. It is interesting to see the difference between him and Sister Fuapapa. She has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and Prophets, therefore, the commandments are easy to follow. But when you don't have that solid testimony, all we are asked to do seems like too much. The Book of Mormon is the keystone!!! Joseph Smith is a prophet! We have a prophet that leads us and is giving his all for us every single day! If any of us are struggling in the Gospel, please, look at your testimony of those three things, and start strengthening that testimony now!

12/24 Saturday
Baptism!!
Sister Fuapapa was baptized today. Earlier this week she asked if she could have a few minutes to bare her testimony of the Gospel! She stood and bore her testimony and it was amazing to hear an absolutely clean from sin person bare testimony of her love and gratitude for our Savior! Her son came who is not a member and he felt the spirit, so I hope that we will be able to start teaching him. For Christmas Eve, we got to go and spend the evening with different members. We took it easy because Elder McClure got sick today and wasn't feeling too great! Hopefully he is feeling better tomorrow!

12/25 Sunday
Christmas!!
Church was super great today and I got to talk to my family! It was so good to see them and to talk with them. Saying goodbye sucked so next time I call I will just talk and then when time is up, I will just hit end and then l won't have to go through the goodbye haha.  Tonight's dinner reminded me of Star Valley dinners! We had a huge steak and a little salad! Haha I love Christmas and the spirit that can be felt!

I hope all of us had the chance to think on the gifts that God has given us. I thought a lot about John 3:16 and how much God truly does loves and what amazing gifts we have been given. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is a gift. Christ bled and suffered because of me and I will be forever grateful for that. It is a miracle every time we kneel down and ask for forgiveness. Family and friends, I bare testimony that God loves you! Count your many blessings, name them one by one!

Love, Elder Call

New Area

Dear Family & Friends:

12/12 Monday
Today was a busy day. I got to my new area around 10:30 and met Elder McClure. He is a really nice guy. We had to switch apartments with the sisters and that took a really long time. We finally got everything done and it was time for our dinner appointment. We went to the apartment of the member that was supposed to feed and knocked on the door and they let us in and it was really weird because there was no food cooking and we just sat in the living room and started talking to them. Elder McClure then realized that he had gone to the wrong people's house and so he told them that and the member misunderstood him and thought she was the one feeding us and she got embarrassed. We got everything worked out after that. It was super embarrassing.

12/13 Tuesday
We got right after it today. This morning at 9 am we had a lesson with Sister Fuapapa. She has been coming to church for a while now and will be baptized on Christmas Eve! There were two members at the lesson and it went great. After that we went to teach a mother and her son who is in his 30's. They are great we have work to do with them but they are keeping their commitments and plan on being baptized on the 14th of January. We then had lunch with a new couple in the ward that had signed up for dinner but had to move it to lunch. They are super awesome. He is a pilot and flies back and forth to Hawaii.

12/14 Wednesday
We had a couple lessons today. The first one was with a lady that refuses to have anything to do with the Book of Mormon, but doesn't want us to drop her because she wants God in her life. I am not sure what we will do, because she I don't see her changing. Dinner was amazing! It was with a new investigator that doesn't speak like any English. We brought a member with us that knows Chinese and could talk with them and translate for us! When we first got there we were met at the door, took our shoes off and put on these slippers. I don't think that they usually have white guys go in their home because the slippers were a little small! I was so proud of myself because I ate almost the entire meal with chopsticks and only got one hand cramp. I was eating entire squid and all sorts of stuff it was great. We could not let her see the bottom of our bowl because she wanted us full and was offended if we said we didn't want anymore. She asked what type of meat we liked better and so we pointed to one and then they tried fixing a different meat so we would like it. It was a great dinner!  It was delicious...and a little different than Panda Express.

12/15 Thursday
Elder McClure and I are getting along great but we most definitely have our differences. He has the worst road rage I have ever seen... he gets mad at the stop signs, round abouts, red lights, green lights, cars going too fast, cars going too slow. It doesn't matter, he is a frustrated driver and constantly complains about the driving in Vegas. I just let it happen. It isn't worth an argument over it haha. Tonight we had a new member lesson with the couple that was baptized last week. They are great and super solid.  He is getting the Priesthood Sunday so that will be cool.

12/16 Friday
Members make your day sometimes. We made a pit stop today at a gas station and as we were looking around, an islander family saw us and were very happy to see us. Every head turned when they yelled "Mormons, Mormons aren't allowed in here."  They were talking crazy loud and giving us hugs, people weren't sure what to think. I went to pay and one of them pushed me out of the way and was going to pay for me. He was about double me so I joked that he better let me pay or I was going to beat him up. We joked some more and went on our way. They were super cool. Then for dinner we went to Cafe Rio for dinner and some members were going to pay for us but an anonymous person left a card at the register to pay for our meal as we went through the line. It made our night! After that we had a lesson with a Chinese man that has been investigating for quite a while now. We think that he will get baptized soon because he is definitely ready. It has been stormy all day and has turned cold again.

12/17 Saturday
We had two lessons today that went well. The work is going well for us, so I am excited and grateful for the people we have to teach. The ward parties were tonight so it was fun to try to get to know the people in the wards! The Coronado Ward has done a super cool service project where three families have adopted three refugee families and have taken them under their wing to help them. The ward did an angel tree for them so it was cool meeting them.

12/18 Sunday
We had 7 people at church today!! There are a lot of part member families that are in this ward. Things are seeming to be promising for us in the upcoming weeks.

The wards are great.  They are young wards and are full babies. We serve in both wards and I am having a hard time trying to keep things straight between the two wards!
Elder McClure is from Arkansas and he has been out for just over a year. The work is good in these wards so that is exciting.  We have a potential of four baptisms this transfer.
The work is great; things are just falling into our hands right now, so we can't ask for much more. I am grateful for the birth of our Savior. We are so very blessed for all God has given us. I often forget that I have so many blessings and I am definitely not deserving of His blessings. Prayers of gratitude have been a focus of mine because it helps me grow my trust and love for God as I do so.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

Love,
Elder Call

Transfers

Dear Family & Friends,

I am on early today and won't be back on until later because of transfers. It hasn't been as cold the last few days. I am nervous for this transfer because President called me and gave me a little assignment. The rest of it is in the weekly.

The man, the myth, the legend, it is pistol Pete himself. This is Elder Willie.  He was the mascot for UW cowboys for three years!

12/6 Tuesday
Today we finally got in and were able to teach Hugh! It has been a couple weeks, so it was way exciting to be able to catch up with him. We invited him to come to Friend’s Day at church this Sunday so I am expecting for him to come. He keeps his word so that is nice. He has been reading the Book of Mormon but he gets frustrated because he can't understand what it is talking about. We decided it might be better for him if he read the children's Book of Mormon to get the story line down and then read the real story, so he might understand more. He was excited to be able to read and understand! Tonight, Lilly was swearing and then she said something after and I didn't hear what she said so I asked her what she had said and then she didn't repeat what she had said after the swearing she just looked at us and said, "I said %#&$." There is something about an 86-year-old lady swearing that is really funny!

12/7 Wednesday
A funny story from today. So some other missionaries wanted to go out to eat for lunch and the elder that is from the Philippines is going home this Monday got to choose where to go. He chose "In and Out Burger."  We got our food and started eating. This man that was a little crazy was sitting outside eating and we had a perfect view of his meal. This man would get distracted from eating and talk to people that were outside as well. Every time he would turn away pigeons would come and eat his fries. He was starting to get mad. haha So he ran after the flock but they flew up and around back to his food faster than he could. That trying to chase birds thing went on for a while and we were laughing super hard because he was getting absolutely mocked by the pigeons! I don't think he ended up eating a single fry!

Elder's Diaz, Call, Barton, Gonzales

12/8 Thursday
Tonight we had a lesson with Kitos and his family. It was great we had a really good gospel discussion and he is trying to help get his inactive friend back into the church! Kitos needs a lot of help and has to change a lot of things in his life but he is a great man! He said that him and his family will be at church!

12/9 Friday
We had a great lesson with Brian Burton and we had a combined dinner with a few missionaries to say farewell to Elder Gonzales from the Philippines! He is a great missionary and we will miss him a lot. He is crazy good at basketball as well, so he will be missed more! We cooked s'mores for dessert. I miss campfires so much! I didn't think I liked them that much but it was way fun to sit around and roast marshmallows!

12/10 Saturday
This week was long because tonight we got transfer calls. I am leaving and going to South Stake. Elder Barton is staying and getting a missionary that has already been in Charleston Ward and requested it for his last area.  Elder Barton and I have really enjoyed the transfers that we have been together! We are great friends. We never got frustrated with each other, not even once! He is a great guy and I am glad he decided to serve a mission!

Posterity knife & tie.

12/11 Sunday
I said goodbye to a lot of people and that was hard I don't want to have to start over all of these great relationships! There are several families that tell us that we are family. I love them and they love us. Having these families here make it easier to be away from my family! Today It hit me that in two weeks from now it will be Christmas. It doesn't feel like Christmas at all because it is not cold and there is no snow. I started thinking that I will get to talk to my family! It made me miss my mom a lot! I have been blessed with such an amazing mother and family!

This week was great I am glad I could serve in Charleston! I am going to the South Stake in the Painted Mountain and the Coronado Wards. It is a new developing area. I am hoping that there is a lot of work out there.  I am with Elder McClure. I have heard a lot about him and I will fill you in more next week about him. I love you all!

Christ is the light of the world!

Love you lots!
Elder Call

Elder Diaz & Elder Call

Elder Call & Elder Barton

The Greatest Gifts

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was pretty good. As far as the work it is good it is crazy frustrating though because we will teach someone and then they just out of the blue completely ignore us and avoid us. They love us and we are always welcome and they like what we teach and then I don't know what happens but they will just be done. Some of the members are way good at sharing the gospel but most are pretty quiet! We are having a friend’s day at church this Sunday and the members are excited to invite their friends to come hear messages about Christ!

Next week is transfers.

11/29 Tuesday

Cheryl & Elder Call

We had a great lesson with Kitos tonight! We started talking about the Plan of Salvation and then we shared this video that does a great job explaining the great plan! We were almost through the video and we could tell that it was hitting home for Kitos. He stopped us towards the end of the video and asked us if we could watch it again because he wanted his kids to see it. He went and woke them up and had them watch the video again with him! We all felt the Spirit and it was great.

11/30 Wednesday
What a roller coaster! Today was a pretty nerve wracking day. We had Cheryl's baptismal interview and we did not think about the standard in the church where two unmarried people of the opposite sex may live together in the same household. We didn't think about it because the man that lives there doesn't have any relationship with Cheryl. The Zone Leader told us that she wasn't going to be able to get baptized. We talked to him and Cheryl and concluded we needed to talk to President because all four people in the house are on disability and cannot support themselves. President approved the baptism so we are still set for Saturday! Thank goodness!!

12/2 Friday
We met with Lilly tonight and taught the Plan of Salvation for like the twentieth time haha. She struggles remembering so we repeat everything we do a lot. She signed up to feed us dinner towards the end of December and she is so excited! She already has it planned out what she is going to cook and the whole works. She told us that she was talking to a friend (who is a member) about it and asked her friend what kind of wine she should get for this special occasion. She told us that the member pretty much got mad at her for even thinking about it! She had forgot that Mormons don't drink even on really special occasions!

12/3 Saturday
Today was the baptism! Except for several last minute problems, it was great! One of the talks didn't come and we had to get another witness and our pianist forgot and was a little late but once we got everything worked out is was great! It is a powerful thing to say, “Having Been commissioned of Jesus Christ.” I think everyone at the baptism felt the Spirit because it was obvious that God has lots of love for Cheryl and that He was a proud Heavenly Father. What a blessing it is to be able to know that we have the opportunity to make covenants with God that gives us promised blessings as long as we are worthy. Tonight was the Ward Christmas Party. In Vegas the Christmas parties are a big deal. They put ours to shame. They have a live band, catered in food, fancy desserts and little performance/comedy skits by the different groups in the ward. Elder Barton and I had to help the Elder’s Quorum out. It was a way fun evening to be able to interact with the ward and to see ward members befriend the investigators that we had there!

12/4 Sunday
Cheryl was confirmed today! Another reminder of the things we take for granted! The Gift of the Holy Ghost is a big gift that gets forgotten about and often times, mocked by us as members, as we sin and make mistakes. I loved the talk tonight in the First Presidency Christmas Devotional about the gifts we have been given! The one that I have been thinking about a lot is the Atonement. There is a kid that we see on occasion that we talk to. He is like 21 and he is a member but not active anymore. His dad is a seminary teacher and both of his parents are returned missionaries. He was really active until he left the house. He lives on the streets and he is a tagger so he goes around and writes and paints on stuff. I asked him the other day what pushed him away from the church. I was surprised by his response. He said that he was active but inactive. So he believes and I think he realizes that the life he is living is not going to get him anywhere. He feels guilt and it saddens me because I think he is not sure that God still loves him and he is probably a little lost on to what to do. I can testify that the Atonement covers all sin and is a Gift from God because God loves us and He knows that we will be lost sheep at times so He gave us a way back to Him. As I apply the Atonement in my life every day I feel more love for Him and his sacrifice.

Family and friends may we all look into our lives and notice the things that we need to fix and may we never take the gifts we have been given for granted! I love you all and hope that you all have a great week!

-Elder Call