Atonement of Jesus Christ

Dear Family & Friends:

6/19 Monday
Today started early and quickly! We headed to the church, right away in the morning, to make sure it was all set up! Mission tour went super smooth and it was super great to learn from Elder Costa! The only p-day time we got this week was from 4:00-6:00 and so we got our shopping done and a couple other things taken care of!

6/20 Tuesday
I had the privilege to conduct today, which was a good time! It was definitely a new experience, because I don't have too much experience with that kind of stuff! Something that we have been discussing the last couple of days at mission tour is the “Enabling Power of the Atonement.” It all comes from a talk by Elder Bednar. We, as members of the church, understand a lot about the “redeeming power of the Atonement,” but not too much about the “enabling power of the Atonement!” The Atonement can not only help us go from bad to good, but also good to better! Tonight we got to go to dinner with President and Elder Costa and his family. President Walker was driving ahead of us with Elder and Sister Costa with him and then Elder Costa’s kids were in the next car and then us! It was straight chaos trying to keep up with them! Our tiwi kept yelling at us to slow down but we needed to keep up. The drive ended by President running over a curb because he went into a wrong turn lane to get to the restaurant and Elder Costa’s kids followed them, but Elder Bird and I decided we would drive a little further just to keep it safe! Haha Dinner was a great time and we got to talk a lot and share the gospel with our waitress!

6/21 Wednesday
Today was exchanges! I was with Elder Paige once again. Today started by doing a couple hours of service pulling weeds out of a backyard! It has been a minute since I was able to work like that, so it was fun to do that! Today we worked hard and we were able to meet with a kid named Graylon. We taught him the restoration and he accepted a baptismal date of July 22! Unfortunately, we will have to pass him off to the Young Single Adults (YSA). It was a great day!

6/22 Thursday
Haha, where to begin? Today was slammed with hints to do and it had an interesting start! We went on two exchanges during the day/evening and are on exchanges again tonight. I had a great experience with the missionary I was with earlier tonight. When Elder Bird and I meet up with this companionship, I could tell right away the missionary I was spending the evening with was not doing good. I sat down with him and he begin his rant of how bad of a missionary he was. I listened for a little while and told him that the Lord had someone out there waiting for us to find.  And after we had found him we would come back and talk! We had a super, super good night and set a man that we street contacted into with a date! This missionaries countenance completely changed and he was a different man in just three hours! It was cool!

The day's adventures. Report is "he is fine."

6/24 Saturday
We meet with Janice today and earlier in the week. We taught the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom. Janice was telling us that she is struggling big time with coffee! She has to go to Starbucks and get a cup of ice water because she needs the cup to cover her temptations! Haha she is solid!

6/25 Sunday
We were asked to speak in church today and so we did that! I talked about having the faith to find people that are ready for the Gospel! It went well!

- Elder Call NLVWM

Treat money well spent.

Where True Happiness Comes From

Dear Family & Friends:

6/12 Monday
Well, today, I got all my hair chopped off... and got to play some ball and that's about it!

6/13 Tuesday
Wow, that was a nerve racking lesson with Ken tonight. I thought he was going to drop us haha. We started teaching about following a prophet and he was not a fan of there only being one prophet. His idea of a prophet was that anyone who talked about Christ was a prophet. We were able to clear that up a little bit but we still have some work to do there. He said he would pray about it and see what God had to say!

6/14 Wednesday
So, today, I was on exchanges with Elder Tanginoa. He is from Tonga and he is super awesome! We had a great day.  We taught Brenda and Tracy and we were able to set them with a day to go to the temple! It was great! We saw Joseph and Janice tonight and we had a spiritual lesson, setting Janice with a baptismal date of July 15th! We talked about how one day they are going to have children that will be wearing white shirts and ties teaching people! That is the dream. Today we got a call from Dylan and he said he can't be baptized on Saturday 😪. The person he wants to baptize him isn't available on Saturday and so it has to be pushed back for the next little while, because, he leaves for scout camp on Saturday the 24th and doesn't get back until the 1st. Somewhat of a bummer but it will be better for him.

6/15 Thursday
We had a meeting with President and Sister Walker this morning. They fed us breakfast and we discussed the upcoming Mission Tour that we are having on Monday and Tuesday! I am way excited for it. Elder Costa is coming! We will get to have dinner with him on Tuesday night! We meet with Ken this morning as well and showed him the video of President Monson’s talk entitled "Principles and Promises." He loved it! He opened up to us and told us that he thinks God is answering his prayers in unexpected ways! He said that as he has been reading and meeting with us, he hasn't had the strong desires to continue a lot of his addictions! He is great, we are going to be starting the nonsmoking program with him! Tonight we made the long ‘ol, haul out to Pahrump, Nevada, for an emergency exchange! It was a long drive and I am excited to spend a day in Pahrump!

6/16 Friday
Pahrump is an interesting place... I will say that much. It is a mix between like, Hanksville, Utah, Evanston and Kemmerer, Wyoming. haha. Trailer parks and mobile homes all day! At one point we went up to a house and knocked and we hear a man see that it is us and starts cussing super loud at us and then he opens the door and says "Hey guys, what's up? Talk to me!" Haha I was shocked. His house was quite disgusting. He had particle board for his flooring which was saturated with animal you know what. We asked the dude for water and he brought us a couple sodas. As I drank the soda there was a terrible smell and I realized, the can smelled just like inside the house... gross. We also taught a lady that was from Evanston, Wyoming!! It went great and so it was fun to be around people from Wyoming!

6/17 Saturday
Oh boy, we had a rough lesson! We knocked on a less active members house and went in and started to teach the 15-year-old boy about the importance of serving a mission. During the lesson I randomly got a bloody nose. I went to the bathroom and couldn't get it to stop... they had me in a recliner with an ice pack on the head and drinking water. It was a warm one today but I am not going to complain. You all have been asking about the heat. Yes, it's hot but I have decided that I wasn't going to complain about the heat. I think that even if it is a small statement it would be negative and I want to be positive!! The circumstances around us will always change and many times they will be miserable, hard, or sad, but circumstances don't bring happiness, the Gospel of Jesus Christ does.

6/18 Sunday
Haha Good times. We left our car keys (which has our apartment key on it) inside and closed the door to our apartment which locks automatically... We had to call Brother Marshal and get a ride to church! Thankfully, Elder Logan saved the day and had a spare key at the mission office. Janice and Joseph came to church and stayed for two hours which was great and Ken came again! Tonight we set up for mission tour! We are super excited but a little stressed out because we want things to go smoothly!

Happy Father's Day Dad!!

We have been super busy the last couple of days! Sorry for the lack of emails. I love you all! I will write about mission tour next week!

- Elder Call NLVWM

We Need the Gospel in Our Life

Dear Family & Friends:

Traffic to the airport.

So the other day we roll into an apartment complex and we spot a man we are going to go talk to. haha We scoped him from a mile. So we go up to him and start talking to him. It didn't take long to realize the old man was a little crazy haha. Out of the blue he goes, "Where did you come from, Mars??" I said, "Nah, we actually are from Jupiter" and Elder Bird lost it.  He started laughing and trying to hide it and the old guy says, "Oh yeah, that is the one that has more rings right?" The dude totally believed us, I think haha who knows?  Well, keep it real!

6/6 Tuesday
Running and gunning! Today started off with another adventuress drive to the airport! We had eight missionaries coming in today and they all are going to be super good missionaries. One of the sister’s luggage got stolen, so she will have to go shopping and get all new stuff. We said goodbye to Elder Evanson today. He is going to do great things in the Rancho Ward his last six weeks. We let a set of zone leaders use our car to help with transfers and we got it back today and they had made a mess out of it haha. There was stuff stuck in the seats and crumbs all over it was pretty gross. We weren't too happy, but what can you do!

New Missionaries.

6/7 Wednesday
We had MLC (Mission Leaders Conference) today and that went well! Right in the middle of one of our training's, this monstrous cockroach was crawling on the wall behind me. As I was talking I started to notice that eyes were following something behind me and I turned around to see a real big cockroach on the wall behind me... gross. President stomped it after it started running around. At one point it was under Sister Walker’s scriptures. haha She was more disgusted than me hahaha. We had a couple good lessons tonight with Dylan and Brenda! Dylan is stoked to get baptized on the 17th!

6/8 Thursday
We got to go teach Ken today! To be completely honest the lesson was pretty rough at the beginning, but Ken definitely felt the Spirit and he is starting to change! It is amazing to see the gospel change people! We saw Jenny again tonight! We are really struggling getting her to change and really become committed but we did set her to be baptized on the 8th of July. She needs the Gospel in her life super bad. She is headed to San Diego for a few days so we won't be able to see her for a little while.

6/9 Friday
Well today didn't go as well as planned! Most of our lessons fell through and we also ran out of water and so it is going to be a long haul until Monday so we can actually get some water into our bodies! We talked to some nice people and got a return appointment but nothing crazy solid!

6/10 Saturday
We taught a lot today! We started at Joseph and Janice's place and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson! They are awesome! I can't wait for them to progress in the gospel as a family! We then taught Ken, and Brother Warden came and it was a really great lesson! Ken said that he is all in and ready to be baptized! He is definitely excited about the path he is on! He is changing so much! We also met with a lady tonight that right off the bat felt the Spirit because we shared a scripture that touched her big time! It was sweet! She said she would come to church!

6/11 Sunday
Ken came to church and loved it! Also Janice and Joseph came and they liked it! Both talks had amazing stories that were perfect for Ken and Janice! It was great. Dylan came to church and is all set to be baptized on Saturday! It was a great week!

Things are well in Las Vegas! Next week Elder Costa is coming for a mission tour and we get to go to dinner with him.  It will be sweet! I am super excited! Elder Bird and I are getting along well! We already have our halibut trip planned!
Love you all

- Elder Call NLVWM

Brenda & Tracy's baptism

Saying Good-bye to Elder Barton -- See last week's post

We Work Harder

Dear Family & Friends:

Time flies!  It has already been six weeks since last transfer, thus the Tuesday letter.

I would really appreciate some snail mail 😘😘

5/30 Tuesday
Stressful day today for sure! We did transfer planning and we found out that Elder Evanson was going to be dropped and we would be getting Elder Bird. I am little stressed to take the responsibility of training a new AP. We will be getting Elder Bird on Saturday. We met with Dylan and then also Brenda tonight they are doing well and Brenda is ready and super excited for her baptism on Saturday!

5/31 Wednesday
So yesterday we received a referral for a man named Ken. Ken went on Mormon.org looking for addiction help and started to chat with a representative and was referred to us. We met with him today and had a good lesson. It was pretty funny because pretty much everything we said about prophets, the Godhead, and the Book of Mormon he would just say, “Wow, I am going to have to pray long and hard about that one!” Haha at least he is willing to pray! We saw Janice and Joseph tonight and had another spiritual lesson with them!

6/1 Thursday
Satan tries hard, we try harder. Every time someone is getting close to baptism Satan tries to keep them from that. Brenda called us today and told us that Tracy doesn't want to be baptized anymore because she wouldn't be able to be confirmed with Brenda because they live in different wards and their Sacrament Meetings start at the same time. We panicked a little bit but called Tracy and so we have somewhat of a game plan of how we will accommodate both of them. We also had a pretty rough lesson with Dylan and Brandon. We tried the bribery approach and told them we would give them a candy bar if they would read the first two chapters and write down three questions. The only thing it did was make them lie and give them a few more calories. haha Never again.... Tonight we prayed our hearts out for Brenda and Tracy because their baptism is on Saturday!

6/2 Friday
Prayers were answered!!! Tracy talked to her mother, who has been very ill and she was fine that Tracy was getting baptized! Tracy said that it will be fine that she gets confirmed by herself so that was such a blessing! We had a great lesson with a man named Dan. Dan is super awesome he started taking notes while we taught so he would remember and know what he needed to do! It was great!

6/3 Saturday
The baptism went really well! There were 5 non-members there! The problem was there was an auction going on in the gym at the same time and so it got kinda noisy. We picked up Elder Bird today and he is such a good missionary! He is from Klawock, Alaska. He goes home in six weeks though. I am excited to learn from him!

6/5 Sunday
Dylan came to church!! Also, Brenda got confirmed and it was super cool to see her countenance change! Right after her confirmation she got up and was sooo confident and happy! She was shaking people's hand and went up to the mic and thanked everyone! It was so cool! Another really awesome thing was that at Tracy's ward she was confirmed and Brad Wilcox was there and he gave her one of his books and it made her life! Haha Tonight we had the departing dinner for the missionaries going home. It was a lot of fun to be with those great missionaries. The food was way good!

6/6 Monday
We went to the airport to drop off the missionaries. I said adios to Elder Barton. The route to the airport is straight insane! I was a little nervous driving because traffic is super bad towards the center of town. It was like driving threw a cattle drive where the cows won't move out of the way! We meet with Ken and he wants to be baptized on July 17th! He still has a lot to pray about and learn but he is excited for his baptism!

Lots of love,
- Elder Call NLVWM

On Friday night a messages was sent home by a member in one of the wards Ben serves in with this caption:  "Your boys providing service ... or taking home leftovers ... we're not sure! 😉😉

Never a Dull Week

Dear Family & Friends:

5/22 Monday
Today was a good one. We spent a lot of our p-day in the office and then we went shopping. We went to Smith's and we were talking to the lady that gives out samples and she was super nice. While chatting it up with her, a man came up to us, apologizes to the lady and then starts praying that the scales over our eyes would be removed and that we may see that what we are doing is wrong and a bunch of other stuff. Haha, he walked of saying a bunch of stuff. I felt super bad for the poor old lady that had to listen to that but it was fun to see her light back up as we started talking to her as if nothing had happened! Every time opposition arises, my testimony is strengthened of all I know, especially the scriptures! 2 Nephi 2:11 ("For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.")

5/23 Tuesday
What a day! What a day! What a day! Today we got a text from Josh and Amanda! We were stoked to hear from them again because the last thing we had heard was that Amanda was sick and in Michigan. Josh is the one that texted us and said that they were still in Michigan and Amanda's father was sick, so they were afraid they would be staying there for a while. A little later in the day we went and taught a lady named Tinisha. She is great and willing to learn more. After Tinisha, we were walking to our next visit and sure enough who did we see? Haha, Josh and Amanda! They straight lied to us. Haha it was a little disappointing but what can ya do??? We went to our next appointment and had a wonderful lesson with a lady named Maria! We saw Dylan again tonight and he already has a testimony of prophets, which was cool! We also talked with this older man that lives in a living home. He always is outside and had been taught by missionaries before but he said that the missionaries were inviting him to be baptized and that wasn't the missionaries right to do that haha. He wasn't interested at all and started to talk about politics and so Elder Evanson suggested he moved to Canada and then he started to go off about how great Canada would be. He liked the idea of living in an igloo and having a dog sled!

5/24 Wednesday
I was on exchanges with Elder Nemrow from New Mexico. He is a great missionary and we had a lot of success today. We talked to so many people that were super nice but just not interested which was a little frustrating because this is how the conversation would end:
"Could we set up a time to come by and share a message with you?"
"Nah, we aren't interested, but you are welcome to stop by anytime."
"Oh, ok, well have a good one."
"Hey, but put us down as a recommendation. We want you guys to stop by."
We had a couple conversations just like this haha... frustrating. But at least they were super nice and hopefully we will be able to meet with all of them eventually!

5/26 Friday
We had several meetings today and some office things to take care of. Missionaries were complaining a ton this month because it was a 5 Monday month and they are out of MSF so we had to come up with a way to give out some money to missionaries. It was more complicated than you might think haha. Conclusion came out to be just give the missionaries 20 extra bucks. I was all about leaving them be, but the Walker’s felt really bad for the missionaries! We had a drunk dude start yelling at us for knocking on his neighbor’s door late at night (who is a member). We told him that we knew the people real well but he wasn't buying it, he was upset, haha. The members didn't answer so it made the situation a little more awkward haha.

5/27 Saturday
We were on exchanges with Elder Jensen and Elder Ebert today. Elder Jensen and Elder Ebert have been companions for 9 months! Crazy how long they have been together. They are so awesome and Elder Jensen and I had a blast today. We were teaching these two ladies and they asked where Elder Ebert was and so I said that Elder Jensen was teaching me how to be a missionary and so they were convinced I had only been out a short time! Haha just the way I like it. We had a bomb lesson with them and they are super excited to read the Book of Mormon! We also taught a man named Joe. Joe is an interesting guy.  He is straight paranoid about homeland security and thinks that he needs to protect everyone in his neighborhood. His neighbors hate him haha! Tonight right before we exchanged back we felt we should knock one more door. We did! We met a super nice Hawaiian man who said that he would like for us to come back! It was a great way to end the night!

5/28 Sunday
Today we spoke in church! We had 7 investigators come and support us! I thought the talks went well. We spoke on the Restoration of the Priesthood and the Blessings of the Priesthood! It was a fun week folks!

Lots of Love,
- Elder Call NLVWM

Haha so here we go....

The other day we were walking down the street at like 8:30 and there was a garage that was open and so classic missionary move, we headed straight for that bad boy! Haha sure enough it worked again! There were two guys in the garage that were father and son. We started talking to the dad and we asked about his garage because this guy had a lot of music stuff. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.... he spent the next thirty minutes telling us about his band. He has what he calls a full studio in his garage and him and his son run the band "The Reflextions" after describing and telling every story the man has about his band we started to talk to his son who is in his thirties. The son probably hadn't showered in a solid couple weeks! We were a good ten feet away and our noses were on fire. Anyway they tried selling us their first actual sale on a cd but they didn't quite talk us into it. So they just gave us a cover haha.

Never a dull day in Las Vegas!
Love you all!

Exchanges

Dear Family & Friends:

5/15 Monday
Today was a lot of fun. We went to the outlets and went shopping for a little while and then played some ball! It was a crazy cool night too! We had another missionary with us tonight who is headed out tomorrow morning to the Boise Idaho Mission. He is a super awesome missionary. We were in a large apartment complex that is gated and super nice, so we weren't able to knock random doors, but, as we were walking away this Elder got prompted to challenge Elder Evanson to knock on this random door that was half the way open. Well we did and the lady was pretty nice and come to find out her and her husband are less actives and they know a lot of this Elder’s family back in Utah! It was nuts!

5/17 Wednesday
Today was an exchange with Elder Couch! It was a blast! It was fun to be reunited after all this time! We have changed and grown so much over the last 10 months. We still like fishing and hunting haha. We taught this guy that used to be taught a while ago but was never baptized. He struggles with a few of the commandments. We testified of the blessings and importance of keeping the commandments of God. We almost set him with a date but he isn't quite ready unfortunately. Thankfully, Elder Couch and I have gotten a little better at teaching since the MTC!

5/18 Thursday
Powerful day! We taught Joseph and Janice tonight. Joseph is a return missionary from Chicago. He was an AP for a long time in his mission. He hasn't gone to church for several years. He married Janice a few months ago and she is not a member. We taught about the Book of Mormon and at the end Joseph asked Janice to pray. She said that she wouldn’t and then after a little more encouragement she said she would do it if we each took a turn. Joseph prayed for the first time in their marriage and during her prayer she started crying as she asked if the Book of Mormon was true. It was so awesome!

5/19 Friday
I was on exchanges with Elder Paige today. We found a super cool guy named Martell. He felt the spirit and wants to continue being taught. It was in the toughest area in the mission, so it was super good to have the Lord bless us with a man in our path!

5/20 Saturday
Today, I was on exchanges with Elder Van Vleet! He is a super good missionary! He serves in the Franco's old ward and so it was fun to meet some of the Franco's friends at a luau! (Note:  The Franco’s are Aunt Maria and Uncle Daryll. Pictures are thanks to the friends via Aunt Maria.)

Elder Van Vleet and Elder Call

Friends of Aunt Maria and Uncle Daryll & Elder Call

5/21 Sunday
Brandi, Zion, and Salah came to church!!!!!  It was way sweet! (Note: Some Primary children made a sign for Elder Evanson and Elder Call.  A member sent the picture.)

Pueblo Ward Primary Class

Lots of love,
- Elder Call NLVWM

Best Referral!

Dear Family & Friends:

5/8 Monday

What a day... we got a lot done today and even got to play basketball for a short while! We met with a member family tonight and it went well.... sort of. This family has five real young kids that are super smart but full of energy. We asked them what blessings had come to their family thanks to the Gospel and while the dad was talking their son says "Boys aren't supposed to marry boys."  Wow, it was something else. Also, after we asked who they knew that could use the gospel their oldest daughter (8) blurted "Satan does."  That was the best referral I have ever gotten. Haha Satan most definitely needs the gospel in his life. I love the little story thing that talks about how we need to be the type of person that when we wake up and when we walk out the door Satan just cringes because he knows we will be doing all we can to fight against him and bringing others unto Christ!

Dream Come True!

Almost forgot to mention that while shopping today I found Lofthouse sugar cookies for 50 cents. If you know anything about me and Lofthouse cookies, you would be proud to know I only purchased two boxes. This was also funny, I got a haircut from a lady in my last ward today and when we walked into the salon Sister Walker was there getting her hair done! It was so crazy that we were there when she was there!

5/9 Tuesday
Zone Conference is this week and the first one was today. Today was the Rock Mountain and Las Vegas Zones. The conference went super well! Elder Evanson and I had it super easy. We only had to give one training on being happy.... haha it was way fun!  We had Sister Walker film everyone singing "If Your Happy." I think missionaries were a little surprised because our training wasn't a normal AP training but they loved it!  We also got to watch a video that was put together of a bunch of the baptisms in the mission! We taught Brenda and Tracy tonight and Brenda is doing super, super well! She has been reading and things have started to look up for her! She told us that she is happy again! I know that God does answer prays and he keeps promises! Brenda had been reading every day and she knows it is because of that that she has been able to overcome her challenges!!

Matching suits.

5/10 Wednesday
Another full day of zone conference! We had a couple lessons tonight and those went well! We are teaching an 11 and 13-year-old that are straight energy. It is super hard to keep them on track. Their mom is a convert and doesn't really want them to be baptized because she doesn't think they know enough but missionaries have taught them a lot. We are trying to get the mom on board so it will take some work.

5/12 Friday
It is good to have zone conference all done and be back to proselyting. We had to meet with President today and it is crazy the amount of things that change.

5/13 Saturday
We went on exchanges today! It was great. I was with Elder Rasband from Alpine, Utah. He has been out a transfer longer then me and he is such a great missionary. We were in their area and we did a lot of finding! We talked to some super nice people! There was one group of people that were outside with a basket of laundry that had white stuff all over their clothes they told us that they had left a little pack of tissues in their pockets. It made a mess. Haha reminds me of the gum in pocket days!

5/14 Sunday Happy Mother’s Day!
Church was great and got to see the family, so that was great. Just want to say I have the best mom. Love her to death!

The work is going well! There is another family that I didn't mention in the call--a lady and her sons that we are starting to teach this week. We have taught them once and they want to know more. They have a crazy story, the mom is scarred all over because her and her husband got caught in a house fire, her husband didn't make it out and now she is really having a hard time with all of the struggles that she has had. The amazing thing is that you the Gospel can help her so much. The knowledge of Christ's Atonement and the ability to repent and make and keep covenants with God can change anyone's life!

Love,
- Elder Call NLVWM

Editors Note:  On Sunday, during the Mother's Day phone call, Ben was asked what his favorite thing to teach/testify about was and his answer was “Testifying on the power of the Book of Mormon and how it changes a person’s life for the better and brings the person closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.”