The big news from last Monday was that Sister Brown and I would be together for another transfer in Des Moines! This is a first time for both of us to be with a companion for longer than 2 transfers!
We had another great week here in Des Moines! And my love for this area, the ward, the people, etc., continues to grow the longer I am here!
Highlights from the week:
Most nights we had dinner with members! Which seems like something so small, but it makes your day as a missionary to have dinner appointment!
Gary is still doing amazing! He had dinner with a member on Tuesday and the elders were also there. This ward is seriously phenomenal at fellowshipping. They just automatically welcome anyone with open arms and it makes missionary work so much more fun and that much less stressful!
Wednesday, Sister Simons came with us to a lesson with Gary. Sister Simons has come with us before and I seriously love it, because she served a mission and so we learn so much from her and how we can improve our teaching as missionaries. Oh so when we arrived at Gary's he had been reading the Book of Mormon and not just reading, but really studying it. He had verses underlined and notations around the pages and he says he takes the Book of Mormon everywhere with him!
Wednesday was also our p-day since it was the week of transfers so we went with the Hermanas to tour the Iowa State Capitol Building! It was fun since they are still in session, so it reminded me of my time spent in the Wyoming State Capitol Building as an intern!
Have I ever mentioned how much I love the senior couple missionaries? Well they are seriously the best and I am so grateful for the ones that I have been able to serve around! I honestly hope to never serve in an area that doesn't have a senior couple. (Tried that for one transfer in Dubuque and we saw how well that worked out ;) Anyways, Elder and Sister Crapo took Sister Brown and me out for an early birthday lunch on Thursday, since Friday and Saturday were crazy days!
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Sister Brown & Sister Call with the Cupcake Fairy treat.
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Elder & Sister Crapo
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Saturday was such a special day! It was crazy busy but it was amazing! The sun was shining bright the entire day and the day started off with a wonderful breakfast that Sister Brown made! We were supposed to have a lesson with Gary at the church before a baptismal service, but things didn't go quite as planned, so Sister Brown and I taught Gary the Word of Wisdom as we stood outside of the church building. He has already given up coffee and he was so funny, he used to get coffee at Starbucks every morning, and then he did the math to figure out how much money he used to spend on coffee and he just said "that is stupid; I used to spend over 700 dollars a year on coffee." Anyways, we then attended a baptismal service for George who the AP's have been teaching. What a wonderful spirit that can be felt as you witness one of your brothers/sisters make a covenant with God and experience the cleansing power of the Atonement!
At the baptismal service the members were talking with Gary and he said "I have to wait a month to be baptized." Like his baptism was forever away, but our ward only has one baptismal service per month, so April 19th is Gary's baptismal date.
We had district meeting and lunch on Saturday and we finally switched our lunch locations, so no more mall food court!!!! We only had one new elder in our district so not very many changes took place in our district! But I love our district and am so excited for another transfer here in Des Moines!
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Des Moines District minus the Crapo's
L-R : Elders Bowden, Zabriskie, Hensley, Anderson, Dutson, Wardle, Weiss, Standage, Sisters Call and Brown
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Also, we saw many missionaries throughout Saturday so they all wished me a Happy Birthday!
The members we had dinner with also sang Happy Birthday and had little Lemon Meringue tarts for us! We then were able to watch the Women's Broadcast which the messages were so inspiring! What a wonderful sisterhood we have and how much good we can do for all around us if we use the strengths we have been given to help lift all those around us!
We have reached our compliment in our mission so we are getting groups of like 6 missionaries because we are not increasing in size any more. They are now starting to increase the size of all the new missions that were opened last year.
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
Was at church yesterday! Carrie came! I love her so much! I even get to switch her oxygen tanks during Sunday School which I am so grateful to know how to do this simple task and not be afraid of it either.
Also, Gary came again to church and he was fasting, since we had fast Sunday yesterday! Before sacrament meeting we explained fast and testimony meeting, so sure enough Gary stood up and bore his testimony!
With lots of love,
Sister Call
