Hello!!

Hello from Mt. Vernon!  

Just an overview of my week.

Tuesday we had service at the community center where we called BINGO and helped with meals on wheels.  That afternoon we help at the historical society in Lisbon, IA, where we were polishing silver, which I am pretty sure it was my first time ever polishing silver and I was definitely a rookie!  I had the polish stuff all over both of my hands, as well as the table, and the dish I was working on.  But by the end I was getting a little bit better.  The Mayor of Lisbon was at the historical society while we were polishing the silver and she told us to never ask for silver, because it is a pain to take care of.  

Wednesday was great because I was reminded that I was in the country.  We were driving to try and find a member who lives out in the middle of nowhere and literally we drove on a road that told us to enter at our own risk.  These back roads reminded me of serving in Carthage where we would have to drive on gravel roads through corn fields, and we would just stop the car in the middle of the road to take a picture.  

Thursday was great because we had zone training meeting and so we headed down to Cedar Rapids for the meeting and President and Sister Jensen were there so we had wonderful trainings from them!  Sister Jensen talked about how as mission president & wife they have responsibility for helping each of the missionaries who come out on a mission with a testimony to return home converted to the gospel.  So her training was more focused on our own conversions, and as we become more and more converted to the gospel we are then able to touch so many more lives.  President has been focusing his trainings on chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel, which covers the Christlike attributes.  So his training for this month was on Virtue which and honesty.  President told of an experience he had when he was a Stake President and then Elder Eyring was visiting their stake.  President and Sister Jensen had picked up Elder Eyring from the airport and were heading to the stake center when they got to a stoplight that wasn't working, but all the cars in front of President were turning left on a red light, even though the light clearly wasn't working.  President said he remembers trying to decide what he was going to do, whether he was going to turn like all of the other cars, or if he would strictly obey the laws of the land.  When he got to the light he ended up turning right, to then do a u-turn and make it through the light.  To which Elder Eyring said "President, you chose wisely."  President said that he has reflected on this experience often and came to the conclusion that if he would run a red light with an apostle in the car, what else would he do.  President and Sister Jensen are such amazing examples to all of us and are so pure and Christlike!

Thursday evening we were able to have a lesson with our investigator AJ and we were able to go over prayer with him and how he can use prayer to help him overcome his addictions.  AJ has such a strong desire to learn and to be closer to his Savior that he asks for homework assignments that will help him in between our lessons!

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings we get to help with a running club for elementary and middle school age kids which is put on by some of the members in our branch!  And so Friday morning at running club the Eskelsen's (members who put on the running club) daughter invited Sister Stoffers and I to have lunch with her that day at the high school.  The Eskelsen's are wonderful because they want all of their friends to know the missionaries and to have exposure to us, and so we even helped out at their youngest daughter's birthday party on Saturday!  

Saturday was another wonderful day.  We began our day over at V's (recent convert)  where we were helping her husband with yard work.  As soon as we were done at V's, we rushed home to get ready for the baptism of April and Jethiah, who the Elders had been teaching!  April and Jethiah were so excited for baptism and the Spirit was so strong!  It was really neat, because on the baptismal programs they had a space for each person to write down their thoughts/feelings/testimony so that at the end of the baptismal service each person hands the program to the individuals who were baptized and they have all the thoughts/experiences of those who were in attendance!  

Sunday was also wonderful as we were able to attend church, have lunch with some members, and have a lesson with Chris.  We had asked Chris to read 1 Nephi 3 between our last appointment and Sunday, so when we showed up he had read chapters 3,4 and 5!  It was neat as we were going over the scriptures and how we are focusing on helping Christ to increase his faith, and realize a need for Faith in Jesus Christ!  

Well I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Call

P.S.  Mt. Vernon is good!  It is a small town, with small town mentality, so people are pretty relaxed and in no hurry to get anywhere.  Like the speed limit is 20 mph.  I don't think I have even seen a 20 mph sign before I arrived here.  

We are having Zip Code Day on Friday because Mt Vernon's zip code is 52314 and so it will be May 23, 2014. Anyways, that's about as exciting as it gets here!