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!