April Showers Bring May Flowers

Dear Family & Friends,
Another week has come and gone in Des Moines and once again it went to show that you never know what to expect on a mission. . . or life in general. 

This week started off well.  Now on Easter I began to worry that the Easter Bunny had forgotten about me, but then I remembered that the Easter Bunny would always hide our basket and we would have to find it.. . . this year the Easter Bunny was so good at hiding the basket, I didn't find in until Monday afternoon and I bet you couldn't guess where he hid it this year!  The mailbox!
 

Monday we called Gary to see how he was and he said that he had been showing the picture of his baptism to EVERYONE!!!  He said that several of the people that sarcastically said "Gary thinks he just did the greatest thing in the world."  And Gary said that he would respond that yes he did just do the greatest thing in the world!  Gary then said to us "Yesterday when they confirmed me a member, I received the Holy Ghost. Right?"  We told him that yes he does now have the gift of the Holy Ghost.  He then said "that's why I've felt so much power today!"  The gift of the Holy Ghost is real and one can have the constant companionship if he or she remains worthy of it's presence!
A week or two ago we were tracting and met a man, late one evening, so he was putting his daughter to bed and said we could come back another time, just earlier in the evening.  So last Tuesday we dropped by again.  He answered the door and said that he was sort of surprised that we actually came back.  (But if we go back to Gary's story, Gary became interested after we stopped by several times trying to contact Sophia)  Anyways, he didn't know very much about our church so we were able to teach a 5 minute version of the Restoration! 

Tuesday night we were able to meet with the Woods, who are a referral from a member in our ward.  They are a couple probably in their 50's, and currently don't have a church, but have several friends who are members, have attended different activities at the church, and overall have had very good experiences and feelings towards the church.  We have the lessons on their porch, which has been nice, especially since the weather has been nice the evenings we have visited them.  But this time there were a lot of distractions, like the dog, traffic, and kids/grandkids going in and out of the house.  But it was really neat.  The last time that we had met with them, we left them a Restoration pamphlet to read before our next appointment.  So when we came Tuesday evening, they had the pamphlet, and they had a copy of the Book of Mormon that they had been given in the past! 

Wednesday we had interviews with President and Sister Jensen, who are seriously some of the most amazing people ever!  That evening we were also able to attend mutual with the young women and talk about the Book of Mormon and encourage them to read the Book of Mormon.  It was really neat, because the majority of the young women in this ward have not been raised in the church and English is their second language.  But the young women leaders made a book mark that has each of their testimonies on it, so that the young women can read their leader's testimonies to help them gain their own testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Thursday we were supposed to meet with Gary, but that afternoon he called us to tell us that he had to cover another shift since one of his coworkers was sick.  But he wanted to take us to Starbuck's to get in his own words "anything but coffee" haha the following evening. 

Flowers from the Anderson's garden.

Thursday we were able to have dinner with the Anderson's, and Brother Anderson is Gary's home teacher so we were able to coordinate the new member lessons and helping Gary with the transition of being a member!  Once again, this ward is wonderful.  For example, Brother Anderson asked if we would like him to do the new member lessons weekly, or every other week!

Okay Friday night rolls around and we show up at the Starbucks, and I'm pretty sure that Gary has arrived earlier than we have every time except once.  But we figured that he had just gotten caught in traffic, since the Drake Relays were going on.  15 minutes pass and still no sign of Gary.  We called and got his answering machine.  7:30 rolls around and still no Gary.  We called again, and then left.  Still no word from Gary.  Now Gary has never missed an appointment without letting us know far in advanced.  So it was weird to say the least.

Saturday afternoon we missed a call from Gary and he left a voicemail saying that he had been in an accident near Omaha and so they took him to the hospital and his blood pressure wouldn't go down, so he was kept overnight which is why he wasn't able to make it last night.  Then yesterday he wasn't at church, but his car wasn't home, when we went to drop by that evening, and we haven't heard from him.  So, we really aren't 100% sure what exactly has happened with Gary.  We are just praying that everything is okay. 

On the bright side of things we were able to see Stella on Saturday!  It has been forever since we have seen her, so we decided to drop by and she was home and has had some crazy things go on recently, but it was really good to visit with her and to be able to read from the Book of Mormon together! 

Happy Birthday! Sister Jensen

Saturday was Sister Jensen's birthday so we were wishing her a happy birthday constantly throughout the day, and then last night we were able to go over to the mission home and deliver her a birthday present! 

Well next Monday we find out if we are being transferred or not. . . I'm really not sure what will happen, but I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Call

In Des Moines.