Power

Dear Family & Friends:

Another week has come and gone.

10/25 Tuesday
What a day!! We had lots of lessons and they went really well! Our investigator, Ruby, seems to be progressing very well and it is going to be just a matter of time for her to make up her mind. She is going to be an amazing convert! We had a lesson with Hugh and he asked us for more stuff to read because he had already read the Plan of Salvation one and the Restoration one! He is not sure he wants to read the Book of Mormon because it is so long haha. After he asked us for another pamphlet, we had to go to our car and grab one. We have these pamphlets that are in a crazy language. I grabbed one of those and one in English and said to Elder Barton, we were going to play a little trick! We handed Hugh the weird language one and he started looking at it and his jaw hit the ground... he probably thought that Mormons had a secret language or something. We all had a good laugh and we gave him a pamphlet in English! He is going to go to the Zion’s Youth Concert with us!

10/26 Wednesday
Tonight was the trunk or treat for our ward! It was fun to see all of the kids in their creative costumes. Not much else happened today!

10/27 Thursday
The big news of the day is that Elder Barton and I have been adopted.... it is supposedly Facebook official haha. Our investigator named Driana loves us a lot! We have met with her a few times and things are going well! She couldn't come to church but hopefully in the future she can come!

10/28 Friday
 Nothing to report

10/29 Saturday
Today was very interesting... during our lunch break we were messing around and Elder Barton took a fall and cut his eyebrow open... We called the missionary nurse and she had us go to her house and then she got a hold of a friend that is a plastic surgeon.  A pretty good person to stitch up an eyebrow! Elder Barton got plastic surgery and we got back to work! It was three layers of stitches and the outside layer has eight stitches! Ouch! We saw Sheryl and she committed to baptism on December 3rd!!! She has taken the lessons for a very long time so that was a super great experience. She told us how in the hospital she prayed and asked for help. She felt the Spirit and it told her that everything was going to be okay. The next day she felt better than she has in years!

10/30 Sunday
Today we meet with a part member couple who is from Montana. We clicked super well and I am hoping that there will be another spark in Brother Askins’ heart so he will have the desire to be baptized! I really like them! We also were asked to move a couch out of an apartment because it was infested with bed bugs... yum... after that we went and gave blessings to some less actives. We were standing there after sitting and talking to them and I saw this cockroach crawling up Elder Barton's back haha I let it crawl all over him.... no I am kidding I hit off and stepped on it. It was gross haha.

10/31 Monday
For Halloween we aren't doing anything fun! We are to be in or apartments and we are doing companion and personal studies!

This week was a testimony of the power of the Priesthood. I know that the power Christ gave to his disciples was restored through Joseph Smith! It amazes me when I think of all the things God has given me! He loves us so very much! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Call

God Knows

Dear Family & Friends:

10/18 Monday
Today was a lot of fun. For p-day we went to Brother Davis's house and hung out in his basement. He has a lot of stuff to do including: bowling alley, air hockey, pool, shuffle board, ping pong and a couple other things. It is super cool and way fun! Tonight we saw Diane. Thankfully she is out of the hospital and she is home, going like nothing happened.

10/19 Tuesday
Haha. So today, Elder Barton and I were tracting before an appointment and we went and knocked on a door and like the second we rang the doorbell a man opened the door because he was leaving his home. It surprised all of us and Elder Barton took a step back because it caught him so of guard! The man was Jewish and all dressed up in their clothing. (The two types of people here in Vegas that absolutely hate Mormons are the Jehovah Witnesses and the Jewish people.) He said he didn't have time and he most definitely was not interested, so we left and as we were walking away Elder Barton realized the step back he took was in fresh dog poop... gross. We had a lesson in like fifteen minutes and his shoe was so smelly there is no way we were going to a lesson with it. He had black socks on so he went into the lesson without one shoe. Haha just kidding, we made a record time back to the apartment and he changed his shoes. We weren't very late to the lesson so that was good! A miracle occurred this evening and we were able to meet with Fernando again. He continues to open up to us about his desire to change and become more converted to Christ.

10/20 Wednesday
I had an interview with President Walker today and I am continually grateful for the great man he is and the amount of love he has for the missionaries. Today there is a little envy in the apartment because Elder Barton and I got a new car. Elder Diaz and Elder Linton (the elders we live with) have the oldest car in the mission and we had one of the newest ones. We got a phone call today and traded our Corolla for an Altima! The Altima is the most coveted car in the mission. And Elders Diaz and Linton are still stuck with their old car.... the struggle of a state side mission is real!

10/21 Thursday
We set up an appointment to teach a lady that we have helped serve several times lately and she was very welcoming to our message. After helping her several times, she absolutely loves the missionaries now. She told us she posted about us on Facebook but couldn't remember the other three elders names so she called us (no pun intended) "Elder Call and crew" haha She told us about her cousins, who are LDS and how when she is around them she recognizes a light and she can tell that they are extremely good people. She told us she was jealous of them. The lesson went really well and I look forward to meeting with her again!

10/22 Friday
The election makes our job as missionaries difficult in several ways. 1. People are tired of political people coming to their door and so another knock from Mormon missionaries is usually not appreciated either. 2. People just want to talk about politics. They are so wound up about it. We will be in mid lesson even mid scripture and people will just out of the blue ask, “What do you think about Trump?” And they do not like the answer of, “we don't discuss politics as a missionary.” Our investigator, Hugh is quite the guy. He was telling us how the other day he received revelation that to improve his life he needed to get rid of all negative and just be positive. Right after this he started telling us his dislike of one of the political candidates. Haha I think he has a ways to go!! But at least he is trying!

10/24 Sunday
Today we got a phone call from a lady that is slightly crazy... imagine that in Las Vegas! She asked us to come and visit her. We went over there and no joke about thirty seconds talking with her she fell asleep and would not wake up! We weren't quite sure what to do so we just left haha.

What a week! This week we got in with a lot of people and the work is picking up in the area. My testimony continues to grow as I feel the love that God has for me and the people around me! I know that it doesn't matter where we are in our lives, God knows what we can become. Our investigator, Fernando, keeps thinking about being judged for the past mistakes but I know that God cares way more about what we can become than what we has been. God loves each of you and I do too. Have a good week!

Learning So Much

10/11 Tuesday
Today was great. Several lessons fell through but we were able to have great lessons with a couple investigators. Today we went to knock on a part members door but I had forgot that I had already tried this home with Elder Renel and was explicitly told to get off his porch. hahaha So as you can imagine the second time wasn't any better... Before we had even gotten to the door the young guy was already standing there... haha We started laughing as we walked away, because, I had then remembered my first experience at that door, being scared to death of the guy! He is a creepy dude!

Pday at a member's basement

10/12 Wednesday
Today we got into Kitos's house which was exciting because it is hard to get in sometimes. We got to talk to him for a while about his hobbies and it was good because we got him to like us. He is a super great guy and suggested we go and get a picture in front of "Wesley’s Wall". Wesley was a 6-year-old boy that died of cancer. This is one of the many memorials Kitos has made for the children he supports. He is a super nice guy! We also got to go eat dinner at Brandon F’s house. He is the lead singer of the _______. His house is super massive and nice.

L-R: Elder Call, Kitos, Elder Barton

10/13 Thursday
Today we had mission tour. Elder Cornish came and gave us a training. He is super spiritual and gave lots of great advice. Elder Cornish's conference talk was way good! (Here is a link to Elder Cornish's General Conference talk:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/am-i-good-enough-will-i-make-it?lang=eng  And it was exciting to hear from a member of the Seventy! The majority of the training was on working with members and discouragement! I love all the training's because you learn so much!

Mission Tour with Elder Cornish
(Ben is on the top row in the middle with the grey suit)

10/15 Friday
Today I went on exchanges with the Rancho Elders. I was with Elder Gonzales from the Philippines. He is good elder and we had super good success in his area. He cooked some rice and chicken for lunch, which was good. They have the most ghetto area in the west side of Las Vegas so it is lots of fun street contacting and tracting there!

Met this friend as we were
 walking down the street!

10/16 Saturday
Today we found out that Diane had been sent to the hospital. We went and saw her and she was waiting for tests to get back on her heart. We also saw Kitos again today and he said he would go to church!

10/17 Sunday
Today was the Primary Program. It was super funny! Kitos didn't end up coming so that was disappointing! We got to go to Interfaith tonight at the chapel. Six different religions got to talk about their beliefs on the afterlife! It was way cool to have so many people from different faiths together at once!

I hope you all have a good week! I know that God loves us and that he always is there for us.

Love,
Elder Call



Diners, Drive-ins, Dives Elder Call Style

God's Hand

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was a successful week and a testimony builder that God's hand is in our lives every day!

10/5 Monday
Tonight was an interesting evening. While Elder Barton was in DLC meeting I was with the other trainees talking with the YSA people that were there at the church. J showed up... J is in our ward and he comes on occasion. He started to get extremely rude with some of the people at the church. I can't tell if J hates me or likes me but I figured I couldn't let him say some of the extremely offensive things he was saying. I called him over and talked to him about it and he was mad at me the rest of the time he was there. He tells all sorts of stories that aren't true and one of them was about how he killed 50 people one time. A YSA kid started laughing and J got in his face and threatened to kill the kid to show he wasn't kidding!  Then going to our apartment this other crazy dude stopped us and nonstop talked to us for 30-40 minutes about the most random things… haha. Las Vegas is a foreign place!

10/4 Tuesday
Today was a great day and we no doubt saw God's hand in our work this day! We had a lesson with Tina and that went well. At the end she asked me if she needed to bring white clothes for the baptism! Haha she is so excited yet nervous for her baptism. When the sisters invited her to baptism, she said, “yes” and then what time on November 12th! Tonight, after our lessons, we went street contacting. The moment we got out of our car a man called us over and asked us if we were LDS missionaries. He then told us how he wanted us to teach him. We sat down with him and had a very spiritual lesson on the Restoration. He told us that God had answered his prayers and he knew in order for him to keep his family together he needed to change and this is how he would do it. He has a co-worker who is LDS and he said that he could see that something is brighter with him. He is a solid investigator and I am so glad we got to talk with him!

10/5 Wednesday
Not much happened today.  We saw a few less actives and that was it

10/6 Thursday
We had a lesson with Brian tonight. He is the one that is always taking missionaries out to lunch all over Las Vegas and we meet with him often. He has been investigating for five years. We thought we would invite him to baptism again and he said he would pray about it again. I hope that he will do as President Erying says, "You can pray to know His will, and with the honest desire to do whatever He asks, you will receive an answer." I hope Brian has the desire and faith receive an answer and act upon his answer. Tonight I had an exchange with the zone leaders!

10/7 Friday
Hola! Como esta? The zone leaders are Spanish missionaries and I was with Elder Morales in his area. It was a day full of Spanish. I was surprised that I could actually understand some what was going on. Teaching was extremely difficult though, Elder Morales would teach in Spanish and then he would pass it to me and I would teach in English and the people would get confused, so Elder Morales would then try to translate so they could actually understand! Haha it was so much fun! It was a day filled with super awesome people. Everyone tried to feed us or give us something! They are extremely humble people! It was a great experience.

10/8 Saturday
Today not a lot happened we had a lesson with Diane and Miley that went well.

10/9 Sunday
This morning we received a text from Letecia. She texted for a ride to church! She has not talked to missionaries in two weeks. For some reason she doesn't like the El Camino elders. It was exciting that she still is interested but she wants us to teach her. I am not sure what to do. She ended up not coming because she had to go to the hospital.

I got to see pictures of the Star Valley Temple online at LDS.org and wow is that beautiful!!! I can't wait to see it in person. I haven't received much from the family in the mail so I was wondering if stamps went up? ;) haha

Meeting Fernando was a miracle! God loves us and we need to show our love for Him! Hope you all have a good week!

Love you so much!
Elder Call

Testimony Builder Week

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was good. I am nervous that the work is going to slow. It seems investigators leave faster than we get them!

9/26 Monday
Today, Elder Renel left and my new companion is Elder Barton. He is from Colorado and we have a lot in common! He has been out for 15 months and he is a hardworking elder. I am excited to be able to get to know him better and to work with him. I am a little disappointed because it seems that our teaching pool is diminishing and we are not finding people as fast as they are leaving.

9/27 Tuesday

Today we had a lesson with Tina (our investigators that is deaf). it went really well and she showed way more interest than usual! So the lesson went way good, except for the extremely loud high pitched noise the TV was making because of the Skype with the sisters. We had to endure the noise because we have to be able to hear the sisters translate what is going on in the lesson. Haha. After we hung up the Skype, Tina was trying to ask me to do something and I couldn't figure it out. You don't realize how big communication is until you have to figure something out without it. After her little bit of frustration towards my lack of understanding, I figured out that she wanted the children's Book of Mormon on her phone! We got it all worked out! Tonight we had a lesson with a move in, where the mom was baptized in January and her 17-year-old son was baptized in July and she has a 13-year-old daughter that has not decided to be baptized yet. They are a super active family and are such a great addition into the ward!

9/28 Wednesday
Today we were blessed with a new investigator. Her name is Shay and we met her while we were in a park near Diane's house. We sat down with her and taught the Restoration.  She was very interested and asked if she could have a Book of Mormon.  Then she felt bad, because she thought it was the only one I had.... we laughed about it and she gave us her number so we can teach her more. She is living in a home with a friend that won't be willing to let us in so we have to meet her in the park. I hope she will read and pray like we asked her to do. Today, we found out some very disappointing news. Toya and Letecia haven't met with the El Camino Elders and told them that they would text them when they wanted them to come.  Which means pretty much never. They were progressing so fast and well and they were excited for their baptismal day of October 29th. I don't know what happened.

9/29 Thursday
Not much happened today we weekly planned, then we went and found four teens that were playing baseball.  They came and we sat and taught them the Restoration. I don't think any of them will progress but they were really friendly and willing to listen to us.

9/30 Friday
It was another frustrating day of appointments falling through. We were able to meet with Hugh again and he had read the whole first page of the pamphlet we gave him. He is pretty caught up in the political race right now so teaching him is a little interesting! I was in the middle of answering a question about the atonement and he just says, "What do think about Trump?" He then proceeded to tell us how ugly of a man Trump was and how he can't stand Trump’s hair. We get so many people telling us who to vote for and their political views... they don't like it when I tell them that as a missionary my only purpose is on the gospel of Jesus Christ so politics are not an issue.

10/1 Saturday
I am not sure what to even say today... there is NOTHING like hearing the Prophet and the Apostles testify as special witnesses of Jesus Christ. It was a great experience to be able to be fully engaged to the messages which were shared by the church leaders. Tonight we got to have dinner with the Newport’s.  They are great and I am hoping that the daughter will soften her heart and find for herself the truthfulness of the gospel. They are a great family! Tonight we got an exciting phone call from the ASL missionaries that are co teaching Tina with us and said Tina has a baptismal date of November 12!

10/2 Sunday
Today was another great day of General Conference! Many of our investigators got to watch Conference including Tina who watched it in ASL! It was such a spiritual weekend and a super great end of the week!

This Conference is a testimony builder of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As each General Authority closed their talks, they bore their testimony of Jesus Christ. There is nothing more powerful than hearing Apostles of Christ testify as special witnesses! I love this gospel and I love being a missionary! Hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Call

Enjoy Everyday of Life

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was great!  

9/20 Tuesday 

Today's highlight was a lesson with Sheryl. Sheryl lives with some members and was kinda of in the “one more lesson and probably drop her,” because she wasn't showing any interest. You could say it was the “do or die” lesson! We just simply did a Book of Mormon read with her. We had been praying for her lots and had been praying for the Spirit to touch her! Oh how our prayers were answered. We had an amazing lesson she opened up and told us her concern on baptism, which is, disappointing her parents who raised her Catholic. She wants us to come back more often! I feel she with be baptized here in the near future!

9/21 Wednesday 

Everything went right today except for we found out that Jerry our investigator didn't want us to come back! Welcome to missionary work! I walked away sick from his doorstep because I know that he could make his life so much better and have so much more joy! The gospel is true and he is turning from truth... it is rough to see that. But as we were walking away we saw another man outside his home and we talked to him for over an hour! We talked about all sorts of things, but the majority was the Plan of Salvation! His wife passed 8 months ago and he is still struggling with that. He is an amazing guy and wants us to return! Miracles happen every day. Other than that we had two lessons with recent converts and we had a lesson with a man whose friend saw us in the front yard and she stopped by to say hi to Victor (the man we were teaching), long story short, we got a life story of 27 years of drugs and living in the streets. In the nicest way possible... she is crazy. After that we finished the lesson and went to a couple more appointments that went well! It was a great day!

9/22 Thursday 

Coming off a great day yesterday we were hopeful for another but... we had to do weekly planning, which takes forever and a day, so we didn't have much time to teach. We went and saw the Walker’s. It was great to see them and our suits were all tailored. She is an amazing lady but doesn't like coming to church for some reason. She is constantly doing missionary work haha.

9/23 Friday 

Another great and busy day! We got to see Sheryl again! We discussed her concerns, but Sister Boocher had already discussed it! She told her how many blessings will come if she joins the church. It was another great lesson. We also got to see Letecia and Toya and they are doing great. Tomorrow we have to pass them off to the El Camino elders. 

9/24 Saturday 

Today we did service for Diane and Miley. It went well and they wanted to feed us, so we went and taught a pass off lesson to Letecia. It went well and they said they wanted me to baptize them! It was sad to pass them off. We went back to Diane's and I had the best meal yet!! She is from Hawaii and they cook a lot of food! She wants us to come on Thanksgiving! Tonight, we got our transfer call. Elder Renel is going to the Red Rock Zone to be a zone leader. I am staying in Charleston and getting Elder Barton. 

9/25 Sunday 

Today we went so Elder Renel could say goodbye to our investigators. It is hard to see Elder Renel go because I liked him!

The most spiritual thing that happened this week was when our investigator Toya shared with us an experience that happened when she was taking the missionary discussions the first time. Her son was 13 months old and had been diagnosed with Severe Narcolepsy. He would just pass out every couple of minutes. The missionaries offered to give him a blessing. They gave him a blessing and he hasn't had a hint of Narcolepsy since that time and it was two years ago! The priesthood has been restored and it is a blessing that is often taken for granted! 

The church is true! And we need to enjoy everyday of life! Joseph B Wirthlin said, "Come what may and love it"

Love,

Elder Call

When in Doubt

Dear Family and Friends:

This week was a slow week. Things just didn't go our way. We still had quite a few lessons but things just fell through right and left. We had a lot of fun activities this week and more great missionary experiences! Unfortunately, I don't have any funny stories.

9/12 Monday
Today we went ice skating.... I am a pro. I only went down a few times! It was super funny to see everyone fail! It was so hard to not fall down. One of the new elders from Mexico was clinging to the edge of the rink. I was talking to him and in his broken English asked why his foot was cramping. haha I thought it was funny because my foot was doing the same thing! We went to the empty nesters FHE (Family Home Evening) at a member’s home. They had us play a game with them which you would roll some dice and if you rolled a “4” you would try to answer a question about the history in the “Forties.” They thought it was so much fun but it may have been the most boring game I have ever played.

9/13 Tuesday 

Today we meet with a lady who has a lot of things against the church! She is very friendly and fed us some food.......! Cream cheese and onion and rotten lettuce on really old white bread!! She made us an entire plate and expected them gone. I got two down and Elder Renel stopped at one, he wouldn't even try for two! I couldn't take another because I would put it in my mouth and wonder how in the world I was going to swallow! While we ate we tried to explain all of her misconception but I don't think we got anywhere. She is extremely friendly and she wants us to come back. Today we also saw John. He is struggling a lot because he has to go back to Portugal on the 28th of this month. I am afraid he won't continue in faith. he doesn't want to go back at all and is getting a little depressed. Hopefully he will continue to grow the testimony he has already. 

9/14 Wednesday
Today we are on exchanges. I am with Elder Hill from Alberta, Canada. He is great and we have a ton in common. We talked about hunting and fishing all day! Tonight we met with Letecia and her many children and Toya.  We taught the Plan of Salvation and invited them to baptism. They accepted and want to be baptized on October 29. We love their family so much. We also had a lesson with Lilly and she is headed to New York, so we only have one more lesson with her for a while. I hope when she gets back she will remember everything we have taught her!

9/15 Thursday
Today we got to do service at the Trinity Church with a food drive they have each week. It helps a lot of people out.  Except, there was a lady going through the line with an iPhone 6 in her hand... haha some people need it more than others. We did a lot of finding and didn't get any solid people.

9/16 Friday
Today was a slow day. We had a lesson with Brian and that went well! He is fine being a lifelong investigator and I think that is what he will be. He is impossible to figure out! Nothing else really happened.

9/17 Saturday
Strike, strike, strike, strike, strike, and strike. NOBODY WAS HOME. We tried a lot of our investigators and none of them were home. This has been an extremely slow few days for our work. Tonight was the All American Stake Picnic. It was a lot of fun and there were a ton of people. It was great to be able to greet and welcome everyone that was there. They figured that there were near 2500 people. The elders had to show their dominance over each other on the bell ringer. (The sledge hammer thing). One elder couldn't do it very good and got beat by a 12-year-old.... there were a ton of people laughing every time he swung I felt pretty bad for him. The North Dakota, Canadian, and Wyoming elders showed that their mountain man skills were useful.

9/18 Sunday
Today proved to be just as tough as the rest of the week. We only had a couple people at church and all of our lessons fell through. We are glad to have a fresh start next week and be able to work hard so we don't have as slow of a week. Today we were done with church and Elder Renel got the prompting to visit an apartment that the investigator had left. We meet the lady that had moved in. She used to be LDS but married a guy that convinced her to not believe. I told her that when doubts come it is when we are not reading and praying daily. I told her that those doubts give Satan the room he needs to make you disregard all the spiritual experiences and testimony strengthening events that happened in your life. And he makes those doubts beliefs against the church. She accepted a Book of Mormon and wants to read it again. We had a lesson with Lilly and she heads out for New York on Tuesday she asked for a blessing because she doesn't want the plane to crash and she doesn't want to forget the things we have taught her. She is so awesome!

9/19
Walking into the doors of Walmart there was a very upset man and he chucked his cup of water and it got us all wet! Haha the Walmart greeter was mad haha. It was funny! I got the first mission haircut and it just keeps showing how bald I am getting... I am going bald fast! I don't have a “four” head anymore it is a “six” head- measured by fingers.... D & C 9:14 (Stand fast in the work wherewith I have called you, and a hair of your head shall not be lost, and you shall be lifted up at the last day. Amen.)

My testimony this week is about doubts. In high school I had some doubts about the church. Each time I had doubts it was because I was not reading the scriptures and praying daily. I meet a lot of people that used to be Mormons and I know that when they fell away they were not reading and praying. If you ever doubt go to the source and read. Satan works with the doubts and turns them to make them beliefs. The Book of Mormon is true. Read it every day and pray. God loves us more than we know.

Love you all and hope you have a great week!
-Elder Call