Not all Weeks are Wonderful

Dear Family & Friends:

We found out what will be happening for transfers this Thursday and nobody in our entire district is leaving.  It doesn't really come as a surprise since 8 out of the 9 of us were brand new to this area last transfer.  

District:  Elders Jordan, Dragon, Ackley, Tripp, Tekanene

             Sisters Whipple, Call, Elder & Sister Thomas, Sisters Monroe, and Oman

This past week was interesting.  We had lots of appointments set up and basically every single one of them fell through.  So that makes it interesting, but on the bright side we can only go up from here! We haven't been able to get into contact with Thora in over 2 weeks now, but we are not giving up on her yet.  We were not able to contact Sylvia this week either.  So hopefully we will be able to contact all of those that we have worked with as well as the potentials that we had set up appointments with.
 
On the brighter side of things, we really enjoy doing service at Hills and Dales and we get to go there each Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday marked 3 months of me being on a mission!  It also was Sister Thompson's birthday and her last day in the mission field!  I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to work with Sister Thompson!  She was a great missionary and example throughout the mission.  But I am feeling a little lost, because I can't call her and ask her all of my questions.  The 1st Ward Elders had a baptism on Friday, so we were able to attend the baptism.  It was the baptism of a Marshallese woman, and so Elder Ackley was able to baptize her in Marshallese!  What a great start to his mission!  Sister Whipple and I have really tried to make an effort at getting to know the Marshallese and their culture!  And without fail, they cease to amaze me with their generosity!  Like Friday afternoon we went over and visited one of the Marshallese families in our ward and after talking with them and sharing a message.  They then gave us each a set of earrings and a hair flower, and then offered us lunch. 

The other evening we were out tracting and it was great!  We were able to meet several individuals that were interested in Family History.  In fact there was one couple and they were sitting outside and so we started talking with them and then the lady mentioned she had been doing geneology at the town library and the microfilm that she was looking at had been done by the church. So she asked about our family history program and come to find out both she and her husband know a couple in our ward.  And so they were really excited about our Family History Center at the church building, as well as that the couple they know are family history consultants.  

It is hot enough here that they are closing the schools early today because they don't have air conditioning.  Luckily Sister Whipple and I have the car this week.

Sister Whipple, Sister Call, Sister Thomas & Elder Thomas

I have loved all of the senior couples that I have been able to serve with.  This past week Sister Thomas has been getting rid of some of her clothes that she is not taking home with her, and so she brought over a large black garbage bag full of clothes and will continue to bring clothes until they head home.  haha so Sister Whipple and I had a fashion show the other night trying on all of the clothes and dividing them between us!  And these are cute clothes, so it's been a blast! 

 

I will be emailing on Tuesday next week since the Libraries will be closed due to Labor day.  

 

Love you!

Sister Call

My District

Editor's note:  This letter is a handwritten one dated August 12th.

Dear Family:

I am doing great!  I had no idea how physically, emotionally & spiritually draining a mission was/is.  But it is so worth it!  I have never had to rely on the Lord so much nor have I ever learned so much from the scriptures.  So slightly embarrassing story, but this past week I realized that there are two Moroni's in the Book of Mormon and that the Captain Moroni, with the Title of Liberty is not the same Moroni who buried the plates.  Haha, I felt a little stupid when I finally put 2 and 2 together, but it is all good, because I've got it down now!

I don't think I've said much about who is in my district so I'll tell you now.  Sister Oman and Sister Monroe are serving in the 1st Ward.  Sister Oman is 19 and has been out a transfer longer than I have.  She is from Wellsville, Utah.  Sister Monroe came out the same time Sister Whipple did.  She is from Southern California.  She is fun to be around!  The Elders in the 1st Ward are Elder Tekanene, who is our District Leader, and he was my previous D.L. in Carthage.  He is from the Kiribati Islands in the Pacific Ocean.  He is the only member in his family and has been out for about 19 months.  Elder Peter is also from the Kiribati Islands, but his family are members and his older brother and two of his sisters have all served missions.  He came out two weeks before I did and he is called as an English & Marshallese speaking Elder.  Elder Jordan is from Idaho and served six months in the Kiribati Islands, but got way sick from some mosquito disease, came home, got better and is now serving in the Iowa Des Moines Mission.  The 2nd Ward Elders are Elder Tripp, who is from Utah and he has two months left and Elder Dragon, who came out a transfer before I did and is from Bountiful, Utah.  Then we have Elder and Sister Thomas who are the Senior couple missionaries.  They are also from Bountiful, Utah.  It's official, I LOVE COUPLE MISSIONARIES and hope that there are some in every area I serve in!

I am doing great and am constantly on the search for more people to teach, so hopefully we can start adding more investigators to our teaching pool!

Thank you for all  your love and support!  It means the world to me!

Love,
Sister Call

my district + sister training leaders;  Elders Thomas, Tekanene, Jordan, Dragon, Peter, Tripp

Sisters Whipple, Anderson, Thompson, me, Thomas, Oman, Monroe

Busy Week

Dear Family & Friends:

 

I cannot believe how much has happened this week.  When I started to think about what to write home I thought for sure that I had already written home about it, but then I realized that this week has been full of stuff and that I had lots to write home about.  Last Monday was good.  We went with the first ward sisters to try and find shoulder bags for all of us since backpacks are being banned from our mission September 1^st, but we had no luck, so we will keep looking.  We had FHE with some of the Marshallese families in the ward and they fed us dinner.  We also found out Monday that Elder Peter (one of the 1st ward elders) was leaving on Thursday to open a new area in Waterloo and to train a new Marshallese speaking elder.  The other new Marshallese speaking elder is now with the 1st ward elders.  

 

Tuesday we had orientation at Hills and Dales Community Center, which is where we will be volunteering while we are here.  It has a day-hab for individuals with disabilities.  Afterwards we had an appointment set to teach Thora with a member.  As we were waiting for the member to arrive, Sister Whipple and I were reading from our scriptures and a guy named Jason started talking to us and asked what we were reading.  So we told him and come to find out he has a copy of the Book of Mormon in his apartment that one of his friends who is a member had given him.  So we have an appointment this week to go and teach him, we will see what happens there. Well the member came and we went up to Thora's apartment, but she was at work, so we haven't been able to teach her this week.  Later that evening we had a lesson with some less active members and it was the first time that their two girls have been asleep when we went so we were able to have a great lesson without all the distractions.  They said that they would come to stake conference on Sunday, but they didn't end up coming.  



Sister Thompson & Sister Call on exchanges.



 

Wednesday morning we were able to start volunteering at Hills and Dales, so they assigned an individual to both Sister Whipple and I that we will be working with each Wednesday.  We were able to play games with them and the goal is to allow them to do as much for themselves as possible.  It was so neat being able to work with these individuals!  When we were done with Hills and Dales we ran back to our house, because Sister Thompson and Sister Anderson were there because we were going on exchanges with them!!!!  Sister Anderson went with Sister Whipple and I was able to go with Sister Thomspon (aka Mama T).  I loved every moment with Sister Thompson and am so grateful that we were able to serve together in Carthage!  Sister Thompson and I decided to walk and to try by some potentials.  Well Sister Thompson had literally walked over 7 miles the day before on exchanges, so she had some huge blisters that were killing her.  Neither one of us had bandaids in our bags, so we decided that we would walk an extra mile to swing by Sylvia's and see if she had a bandaid.  Well the last time we talked to Sylvia she told us not to come by unless she called.  We ignored that and stopped by.  She was home and searched all over for a bandaid for Sister Thompson. So thanks to the blisters we were able to visit with Sylvia.  She still isn't very open to hearing any more of the lessons, but slowly and surely she is warming back up to us!  She even told us that Sister Whipple needed to come by.  So another reason to be thankful for the blisters!  Later that evening the Marshallese threw together a going away party for Elder Peter!  I seriously love the Marshallese people.  At the party we were able to get to know more of the Marshallese sisters! After the party we came back to the house and so I gave up my bed so Sister Anderson could sleep in it, and Sister Thompson slept on an air mattress downstairs, and I slept on the couch!  I love Sister Thompson so much!  She flies home Thursday which is way sad because I won't see her for over a year, but I am so thankful for all that I have learned from her.

 

Thursday was Sister Thompson's last click day! So I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast in honor of it!  Sister Thompson and Sister Anderson had to leave Dubuque by 9:00 am so we were only able to do a companionship study with them in the morning.  Thursday afternoon we had District meeting and I had been asked to do the training on one of the fundamentals of Preach My Gospel.  I decided to do it on the Role of the Holy Ghost in conversion.  We read John 14:12-27 and then each person answered the following questions on their own:

 

1.  How have you felt the influence of the Holy Ghost as you prepared for a mission?  As you have been on your mission?         

2.  How have these experiences invited you to Christ?

3.  How does this influence your understanding and commitment to your purpose?  

 

We role played and then watched the Mormon Message  “The Voice of the Spirit.”  

My district +Sister Training Leaders;  Elders Thomas, Tekanene, Jordan, Dragon, Peter, Tripp

Sisters Whipple, Anderson, Thompson, Call, Thomas, Oman, Monroe

After district meeting Sister Whipple and I ran over to the Beytien's to return the air mattress and they invited us to come to dinner with them.  So we ran to one of our appointments with some members, and then ran to dinner.  After dinner we went finding and as we were leaving one of the apartments another guy was leaving as well so we started talking with him and he is from Chicago, but has been searching for a church here in Dubuque and said he was able to stay away from all the gang activity and what not in Chicago so his record is completely clean.  We had an appointment with him for Sunday afternoon, but when we went there he said he was busy so we have another appointment set for Wednesday.  

Saying Goodbye to Sister Thompson

Friday was a great day as well.  There was a trainers meeting in Davenport so Sister Oman and I went down to the meeting and Sister Whipple and Sister Monroe stayed in our area and worked for the day.  The meeting was great!  President and Sister Jensen as well as the assistants trained.  It was so great and gave all of us the boost to finish the training off strong.  The first meeting was for the trainers in the first 6 weeks of training, and there was a second meeting for those in the last 6 weeks of their training so I stayed for both meetings.  As I was sitting in the 2nd meeting I looked down and my CTR ring from Ben was not on my hand.  I started to panic.  Of all the things to lose I was not about to lose that ring!  I have worn it 24/7 since I got it!  So I start searching all around me and in my bag, trying to find it.  I ended up saying a prayer and begged to be able to find this ring.  Once the meeting got over I went to the halls and started retracing all of the places I had been and asking others if they had seen a ring.  After a while of looking for it I remembered that I had dried my hands with paper towels after using the restroom earlier that day.  So I searched the garbage can, and sure enough the ring was at the bottom of the can!  Well Friday was the last time I will see Sister Thompson before she heads home. She has been such an example to all those in the mission and I am honored to have been trained by her!  

 

Saturday we drove down to Cascade, Iowa to give a pageant CD to a referral, so as we were down there we stopped by and visited with the only active member who lives in Cascade. Sunday was stake conference so it was broadcast from Davenport to Dubuque.  President and Sister Jensen spoke so that was fun to hear from them again.  We had our usual Sunday dinner at the Beytien's home which is a favorite part of Sister Whipple and I's week!  After dinner Sister Lowder was taking us back to our house and we were going to walk from there, but she insisted that she drive us to the next place we were going.  Thankfully, Sister Lowder insisted on this because when we got there, Laura who we were going to visit was outside and so we were able to talk to her.  Missionaries first met her in September, but she said she has searched all over and can't find the Book of Mormon.  So we gave her another copy and briefly taught about the Book of Mormon.  She was so excited and we will go and teach her next Sunday!!!  

 

Well Miracles continue to happen and I hope everyone is looking out for the tender mercies in their own lives.  

I love you all!

Sister Call

 

Check out how tall the corn is now!!  

Lots of Tracting

 Dear Family and Friends:


This is what happens on a hot day of tracting in the sun!

We didn't have the car this week so we really were able to notice the heat and the humidity, especially on the days where we did a lot of tracting.  The other day we were out tracting for at least 4 hours and we had forgotten to pack water with us, so we were dying.  Well we knock at this one door and a very nice Catholic lady answers the door and then asks us if we needed something to drink. She was heaven sent, even if she didn't want to hear about the gospel. Seriously never before has a drink tasted so good! On Tuesday we were able to meet with a recently reactivated sister in our ward who is working towards being able to go and perform temple baptisms come September!  She is so excited for the goal and we were able to get her excited about doing her family history so when she goes she can perform the baptisms for her family members!  Tuesday afternoon we had an appointment with a Marshallese woman named Thora.  We weren't sure if the appointment would actually take place or not, but we had one of the ward missionaries come with us.  Sister Hoff (ward missionary) has been working with the Marshalleese people for over 10 years so she knows how to build relationships with them.  So Sister Hoff brought cookies with her to give to Thora. So we show up at Thora's place and she was there!  Not only was she there, but she had told her friends/family not to come over until 3:30 because she had an appointment.  She had also done her reading from the Book of Mormon in both English and Marshalleese. The appointment went well and we have another appointment with her tomorrow!  So we are very excited for Thora!

Sister Lloyd & Sister Call

On Wednesday our district came to the house that Sister Whipple and I are living in and did service there.  We washed all of the windows, trimmed all the hedges, and fixed the steps up to the house. It was a lot of fun doing service with everyone and I always feel so much better when things are clean!  Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting which was great!  We got to meet the rest of our zone and we had Sister Alston and Sister Lloyd come in place of our sister training leaders.  Oh so fun fact, Sister Lloyd had a bunch of classes at Utah State with Laken before he left on his mission, so that was a fun connection!  Anyways Sisters Lloyd and Alston training was comparing getting maple from a tree to accessing the Atonement and how we need to help others so that they know how to access the Atonement!  The Zone Leaders trained on the importance of sanctifying yourself and we watched one of my favorite mormon messages https://www.lds.org/youth/video/sanctify-yourselves?lang=eng  It made me think if there have been any critical moments in others lives as they are searching for the gospel that I have missed because I wasn't completely sanctified. 

 

So this past week I have been studying the end of Alma which is the war chapters with Captain Moroni and Helaman.  And it was really neat because as I was reading in Alma 51 it was when there are the dissenters who want a king and they aren't willing to fight for the liberty of the country so the Lamanites have been gaining possessions of the other cities.  So Moroni realized the amount of destruction that would take place if he didn't take care of these dissenters.  So he received permission from the governor to give the dissenters the choice to fight for the liberty of the country or to be put to death.  It made me think of how could I be more like Moroni.  And I realized that these dissenters were inside the city limits and could cause complete destruction if left alone, much like a bad thought or whatever.  Whenever we recognize how potentially dangerous something can be we need to put an end to it immediately!

Saturday's service

Saturday was great!  Some of the members in the 1st ward had a neighbor who needed to get rid of all her weeds (which were a lot!)  by Monday so the first ward missionaries and Sister Whipple and I went and helped pull weeds!  We worked on it for over 3 hours and got about 2/3 of the way done!  

Cleaning at the apartment.

Well this past week was a great week and I am looking forward to this coming week!

 

We set up service for a place called Hills and Dales it is a community center for people with disabilities so we start tomorrow! I'm way excited for it!

I know the gospel is true and it brings me so much happiness to have the opportunity to share it with others!

 



Cute toaster at the apartment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love you all!

Sister Call

 

 

Another Great Week

Dear Family and Friends:

 

It was another great week in Dubuque!  Monday evening we had our first lesson with Sylvia that went amazing!  She loved it all and especially loved the first vision picture of Joseph Smith.  Sylvia accepted the baptismal invitation and we set up an appointment to do a church tour on Wednesday. On Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Jensen here in Dubuque.  It was so great to see them again!  They always know just what to say and what I need to hear. They said that as of now we have 278 missionaries in the Iowa Des Moines mission and we will continue to get 30+ missionaries for the next several transfers.  This past transfer they opened ten new areas, and President said that this coming transfer they will be opening another 10 new areas.  Well this is putting a lot of missionaries in car shares, which makes things a little bit more complicated, but as of right now it has been fine.  I'm not quite sure what will happen come winter time, but I guess we’ll fight that battle when it comes.  Tuesday night Sylvia called and she has been looking for work and a temporary agency called her to come in every day this week so we had to reschedule the tour for Saturday.  We were way excited for her to find some work. Wednesday afternoon we were able to teach a Marshallese lady, Thora and her sister is a member.  The lesson went well and we have an appointment to meet with her again tomorrow. Thursday was a little bitter sweet.  We woke up early so we could clean and pack up everything because that afternoon we would be moving into another home to live in.  I absolutely loved staying with the Beytien's!  They were so good to Sister Whipple and me, but they do have Sunday dinners each week at their home, so we get to go back each week.  When we went back yesterday for dinner it felt like I was going back home.  And I told them that their home will always be my first Dubuque home.  Thursday we had district meeting and so we went to Olive Garden for lunch before hand and then went to the church.  The Zone Leaders were there on splits with the 1st ward elders, so the zone leaders did the training which was fantastic.  It was on revelation through the Book of Mormon and revelation through church attendance. On Friday we coordinated a member to come with us for the church tour with Sylvia for Saturday, and once we got done coordinating with everyone including Sylvia literally 30 minutes later Sylvia called saying that she had been called into work and needed to reschedule the church tour.  She said that she would call us when she got home from work Saturday so that we could come over and teach another lesson. Well Saturday rolls around and the Marshallese were having a huge first birthday celebration at the church that evening so we were over there, and we hadn't heard from Sylvia so we tried calling and texting her, but no response.  Sister Whipple and I were worried sick that Sylvia was avoiding us, so we decided to go over to her apartment because the worst thing that could happen is that she would drop us.  Well we leave the Marshallese party and head over to her apartment.  Come to find out her phone had run out of minutes and she wouldn't be getting anymore until Monday.  She was so excited to see us.  But it was hilarious, so when we first got there she told us how the maintenance person had been working on her window and so quite a few flies got into her apartment.  Well she cannot stand the sound flies make, so since she doesn't have a fly swatter she grabbed her mop and was trying to kill the flies using the mop.  As she is telling us this story she explained that she was running all around her apartment chasing these flies and talking to them telling the fly that it was going to get it.  Haha she said she wonders what the person living above her was thinking because she was hitting the ceiling with the mop trying to kill these flies.  She then grabbed the broom and tried using the broom, but then ended up going and getting a newspaper and was able to get the rest of the flies with the newspaper.  Haha she said she thinks she lost 3 lbs killing these flies.  Haha oh how I wish I could have witnessed this scene.  Anyway we were able to  teach her the Plan of Salvation. It was so wonderful and the spirit was so strong.  Sylvia always mentions how peaceful it is when we are there. 

It is amazing that as I study and prepare for the lessons something new always sticks out.  And I am always amazed at the love Heavenly Father has for each of His children.  At the end of the lesson we extended a baptismal date and Sylvia responded "well how can I say no to that?"  We were so excited!  But she wants a church tour before coming to church so she wasn't at church on Sunday, but hopefully this coming Sunday she will be there.   We went over to her apartment yesterday afternoon and brought a member with us who joined the church about 5 years ago. Sylvia expressed concerns saying she wasn't quite sure if she was ready to be a Mormon and she just doesn't know what to do, so it was so wonderful to have the member with us, because she was able to relate and share the things she did as she was investigating the church.  Well keep praying for Sylvia and all the others we are working with.  

I am really enjoying serving in Dubuque, but I am getting way worried, because Sister Thompson is my sister training leader so I have been able to call her whenever I have questions, but she flies home on the 22nd so I won't be able to call her.  Oh well, I have other great leaders that have helped me out each time I've had a question.

Love,

Sister Call