Dear Family & Friends:
What I am thankful for from this past week!
- The chance to be a missionary.
- To have the gospel in my life.
- To be serving with Sister Chirinos.
- Delicious meals with members.
- Warm clothes.
- To live with members.
- Service at the memory clinic.
- Coming home and finding a plate of brownies in our room from Emily!
- Tracting in the cold, because more people allow you into their home to get out of the cold!
- Following spiritual promptings!
- Dropping by a part member's house. The wife who isn't a member has been coming to church for 9 years and has had a calling in primary with her husband for about that long as well. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel, and decided that she wants to just go forward and be baptized.
- Having a mission president who holds Priesthood keys that allow him to receive revelation for the missionary work in this mission.
- A lesson with Greg, and how he has already planned out his baptismal program and both of his parents are planning on coming to his baptism!! Which is huge!
- Being able to take sisters from the ward out with us! There is such a spirit that members have that adds to the missionary spirit! Like we were able to take our Relief Society President to a lesson with a part-member family, where the kids are members, but the parents are not. It was on Wednesday night before mutual and activities days. The member has daughters the same age and so she knew all of the details for the activities and we were able to get rides for both of the daughters to go to the activities that evening! In addition to having a wonderful lesson as we read and discussed the story of Nephi breaking his bow and how we can learn from his example!
- We had interviews with President Jensen and what a wonderful experience it always is to receive counsel from him! He truly is called of God to preside over this mission at this time!
- Right before my interview as we were in the hall President Jensen put a name tag on his suit jacket and said "Sister Call, how do you like my new name tag that I found? Doesn't it look great?" He was wearing one of my name tags. So when I was serving in the Des Moines Ward last spring I had lost a name tag and figured that I had lost it when we had been out tracting or something, but apparently it had fallen off when we were at the mission home for Sister Jensen's birthday, and they found my name tag in the couch last week.
- Being able to feel the love that the Jensen's have for me and for all they serve
- Temperatures in the 40's and 50's Saturday and Sunday!
- Not having to wear tights or boots on Sunday!
- Have my eyes opened to the perspective of Mission President's and their wives as missionaries return home. Sister Jensen had me promise that I would come back and see her, because she said that it is so hard for her to see missionaries return home, because she never knows if she will ever see them again, whereas, when parents send their child on a mission they know that in 18 months or 2 years they will see their child again.
- Carlie used her last vacation day of the year to come to church yesterday with Tommy! It was stake conference, and so she was able to meet President and Sister Jensen as well as many members from the ward!
- After Stake Conference we were able to go to Tommy and Carlie's with their home teachers for the first time, and it was such a testimony builder of how inspired the home teaching and visiting teaching programs are. As well as the home teachers for Tommy and Carlie are such a great fit, because they both grew up in Iowa and both are converts to the church. One of the home teachers conversion story is very similar to Carlie's!
- I am so thankful for my family and friends that I can look up to and learn from their examples!
- I am so thankful for a Father in Heaven who loves us enough to have sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to perform the Atonement and to provide a way that we can return home to our Father in Heaven!
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Love, Sister Call
Monday, November 24, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
So Many Things to be Thankful For
So many things from this past week to be grateful for!
Last Monday, Iowa decided that it was time for winter and so all of our winter layers have been coming out and are being used! But it is great! There is a thrill that comes as you share the gospel in the frigid cold. It's wonderful, because some people look at you like, you are crazy, which we may or may not be, and then others are really nice and allow you to step inside to warm up for a little bit, or they even make you hot chocolate and send you on your way! Also, when it is cold and it snows we come home to a sweet message/note written on the driveway from the wonderful family that we live with!
Tuesday we decided that we were going to look for a place to volunteer at regularly, so that morning we looked all over and were at a loss, because the majority of our area is residential. So while we were home for lunch we asked Sister R. if she knew of any place we could volunteer at, and she thought of a nursing home that she had taken the young women to last year and they had been really welcoming to them. So we decided to give it a try and it was so neat. The activities director was so excited for us to offer to volunteer. She mentioned how she has been there for over a year and has tried and tried to get someone to volunteer and how we were God sent. We are going to be volunteering in the memory unit, and helping with activities there! The entire staff was very welcoming and appreciative of us. It was so nice, because not once did we get the look of "what are the Mormons doing here." The next day we were able to volunteer for the first time, and one of the CNA's came and sat at our table where we were painting the patients nails and she started asking questions about our church and how she has been looking for a church!
Tuesday night, Jenna, one of the Young women, came out with us and so since it was freezing we decided to go finding in an apartment building. Before entering the building we determined that we wanted to start on the 3rd floor. So we met a few people and then at the last door that we knocked on, on the 3rd floor, a woman answered the door and then kind of surprised she says, "You aren't my in-laws. I was expecting my in-laws." Anyways we continued to talk with her and shared briefly about the Restoration of the Gospel and how it will bless her family! She then said that her oldest son, Noah who is 14 asks a lot of questions and how she knows that we were sent to her to help answer some of her son's questions!
Jenna is Greg's girlfriend and so we asked her if she knew when Greg wanted to be baptized, because we figured if Greg had told anyone, he would have told her, but she didn't know. Now, a little background on Greg: He started coming to church last year around this time, and has had the discussions, attends mutual, and seminary, has his entire baptismal program planned, he could teach us the missionary lessons as well as we can, and all his friends at school are members. So we (us and the entire ward) have been waiting for when Greg will let us know when he wants to be baptized. Anyways, we encouraged Jenna to help encourage Greg to share his baptismal date that he had selected.
After we dropped off Jenna, we decided to go back to the apartments that we had been knocking on earlier and to try the building behind it. So we go in and the first person that answered wasn't interested and we started walking down the hallway, and one of the tenants was walking towards his apartment. We stopped him and asked if we could give him a mormon.org card. Turns out, he loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and has all of their albums!
Thursday, we had lunch with one of the Sisters who just moved into the ward two weeks ago! Afterwards we were able to go to the mission office and set up the Christmas Decorations!! We then stopped by Charlie's who Sister Chirinos and Sister Whipple met on exchanges. She was home and allowed us to come in! It was such an amazing lesson because it felt like we were able to tailor the lesson to her and the Spirit was way strong. She kept mentioning how she felt God's presence and how she couldn't wait to share the pamphlet with her daughter!
Thursday evening we were able to have a lesson with Carlie, at a young medical student family's house! Haha, the family has 3 sons and Carlie brought Maverick (5 months) and so there were a lot of distractions, but it was wonderful to have Carlie meet some of the members, and make friends in the ward! I think one of my favorite parts was when the members asked Carlie what her story was and how she started meeting with the missionaries! It was so fun to hear her story and when we saw her on Friday, we told her that she will be telling that story for the rest of her life! She said that that was something that she could live with!
Friday we had our mission tour Zone Conference with Elder Craig A. Cardon of the 70! It was wonderful! We were able to hear from President and Sister Jensen, as well as Elder and Sister Cardon! Sister Jensen spoke on Gratitude and seeing the Lord's hand in our lives! How grateful I am for all of you who have helped support me throughout my life and especially throughout my mission! There is such a strength that comes from the support and prayers of others! I remember very vividly the very first night at the MTC and kneeling down to say a prayer before bed, and physically feeling the support of the prayers of faithful saints across the world who pray daily for the missionaries!
President Jensen spoke on the Book of Mormon and making sure that we always have a burning, beaming testimony of the Book of Mormon!
Sister Cardon spoke on working in companionships and having unity within companionships.
Elder Cardon spoke on the organization of the 70, and the church in general. As well as learning from the patterns in the scriptures! He also spoke on the revelation and process of an apostle of the Lord assigning mission calls, as well as the revelation that comes to a mission president in determining the companionships and areas in which you serve.
Elder Cardon then role played for us, getting the head of the household to have a kneeling prayer at the end of the first lesson. He said that as we apply the principles that he demonstrated that almost without fail the head of the household will pray. . . . Sunday afternoon we had the opportunity to put it to the test. We had had a fairly rough lesson. It had started out great, and the middle was really rough, but then we applied almost exactly what Elder Cardon had told us for the prayer, and sure enough Charlie prayed at the end of the lesson!
At church on Sunday, Tommy came with the two sons! And he loved it! It was so fun to see them at church and I am so excited for Stake Conference next weekend, that way Carlie can attend the Saturday evening session with Tommy! Not only did Tommy come to church, but after Sacrament meeting, Jenna's dad told us that we needed to talk with Greg. . . We headed over to Greg and he said that he wants to be baptized on December 13th!!!!!!!!! The entire ward was so excited! And Greg had asked the young men's president to baptize him! We had dinner with the young men's president after church and so it was exciting! The only problem is that it is about 10 days too late, but the members said that they'll skype me or that we'll work out some way that I can watch the baptism!
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Call
Last Monday, Iowa decided that it was time for winter and so all of our winter layers have been coming out and are being used! But it is great! There is a thrill that comes as you share the gospel in the frigid cold. It's wonderful, because some people look at you like, you are crazy, which we may or may not be, and then others are really nice and allow you to step inside to warm up for a little bit, or they even make you hot chocolate and send you on your way! Also, when it is cold and it snows we come home to a sweet message/note written on the driveway from the wonderful family that we live with!Tuesday night, Jenna, one of the Young women, came out with us and so since it was freezing we decided to go finding in an apartment building. Before entering the building we determined that we wanted to start on the 3rd floor. So we met a few people and then at the last door that we knocked on, on the 3rd floor, a woman answered the door and then kind of surprised she says, "You aren't my in-laws. I was expecting my in-laws." Anyways we continued to talk with her and shared briefly about the Restoration of the Gospel and how it will bless her family! She then said that her oldest son, Noah who is 14 asks a lot of questions and how she knows that we were sent to her to help answer some of her son's questions!
Jenna is Greg's girlfriend and so we asked her if she knew when Greg wanted to be baptized, because we figured if Greg had told anyone, he would have told her, but she didn't know. Now, a little background on Greg: He started coming to church last year around this time, and has had the discussions, attends mutual, and seminary, has his entire baptismal program planned, he could teach us the missionary lessons as well as we can, and all his friends at school are members. So we (us and the entire ward) have been waiting for when Greg will let us know when he wants to be baptized. Anyways, we encouraged Jenna to help encourage Greg to share his baptismal date that he had selected.
After we dropped off Jenna, we decided to go back to the apartments that we had been knocking on earlier and to try the building behind it. So we go in and the first person that answered wasn't interested and we started walking down the hallway, and one of the tenants was walking towards his apartment. We stopped him and asked if we could give him a mormon.org card. Turns out, he loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and has all of their albums!
Thursday, we had lunch with one of the Sisters who just moved into the ward two weeks ago! Afterwards we were able to go to the mission office and set up the Christmas Decorations!! We then stopped by Charlie's who Sister Chirinos and Sister Whipple met on exchanges. She was home and allowed us to come in! It was such an amazing lesson because it felt like we were able to tailor the lesson to her and the Spirit was way strong. She kept mentioning how she felt God's presence and how she couldn't wait to share the pamphlet with her daughter!
Thursday evening we were able to have a lesson with Carlie, at a young medical student family's house! Haha, the family has 3 sons and Carlie brought Maverick (5 months) and so there were a lot of distractions, but it was wonderful to have Carlie meet some of the members, and make friends in the ward! I think one of my favorite parts was when the members asked Carlie what her story was and how she started meeting with the missionaries! It was so fun to hear her story and when we saw her on Friday, we told her that she will be telling that story for the rest of her life! She said that that was something that she could live with!
Friday we had our mission tour Zone Conference with Elder Craig A. Cardon of the 70! It was wonderful! We were able to hear from President and Sister Jensen, as well as Elder and Sister Cardon! Sister Jensen spoke on Gratitude and seeing the Lord's hand in our lives! How grateful I am for all of you who have helped support me throughout my life and especially throughout my mission! There is such a strength that comes from the support and prayers of others! I remember very vividly the very first night at the MTC and kneeling down to say a prayer before bed, and physically feeling the support of the prayers of faithful saints across the world who pray daily for the missionaries!
President Jensen spoke on the Book of Mormon and making sure that we always have a burning, beaming testimony of the Book of Mormon!
Sister Cardon spoke on working in companionships and having unity within companionships.
Elder Cardon spoke on the organization of the 70, and the church in general. As well as learning from the patterns in the scriptures! He also spoke on the revelation and process of an apostle of the Lord assigning mission calls, as well as the revelation that comes to a mission president in determining the companionships and areas in which you serve.
Elder Cardon then role played for us, getting the head of the household to have a kneeling prayer at the end of the first lesson. He said that as we apply the principles that he demonstrated that almost without fail the head of the household will pray. . . . Sunday afternoon we had the opportunity to put it to the test. We had had a fairly rough lesson. It had started out great, and the middle was really rough, but then we applied almost exactly what Elder Cardon had told us for the prayer, and sure enough Charlie prayed at the end of the lesson!
At church on Sunday, Tommy came with the two sons! And he loved it! It was so fun to see them at church and I am so excited for Stake Conference next weekend, that way Carlie can attend the Saturday evening session with Tommy! Not only did Tommy come to church, but after Sacrament meeting, Jenna's dad told us that we needed to talk with Greg. . . We headed over to Greg and he said that he wants to be baptized on December 13th!!!!!!!!! The entire ward was so excited! And Greg had asked the young men's president to baptize him! We had dinner with the young men's president after church and so it was exciting! The only problem is that it is about 10 days too late, but the members said that they'll skype me or that we'll work out some way that I can watch the baptism!
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Call
Monday, November 10, 2014
Following Jesus Christ
Dear Family & Friends:
This past week started off with exchanges with Sister Barker and Sister Whipple! I was spoiled as they allowed me to come to the Des Moines area one last time and to spend the day with Sister Barker! Sister Barker and I came out in the same group together and so it was a lot of fun to serve together for a day! We had a wonderful day! We were able to have a lesson with Patience, who is from Liberia and had been studying with the missionaries in Indiana, but moved to Des Moines a couple of weeks ago and requested the missionaries to come visit her! She lives by one of the universities and so anytime she would see students dressed up she would ask them if they were missionaries, as she waited for the Des Moines missionaries to contact her. It was really neat, so during the lesson we were talking about the Book of Mormon and Patience said "I love the Book of Mormon because it teaches you how to follow Jesus Christ." Which is so true! The Book of Mormon truly is another Testament of Jesus Christ and helps each person who reads it to know how they can follow their Savior!
Since it was my last time in the Des Moines area we stopped by a few of the members that I knew! Which was fun! We did try by Gary's but no one was home :(
We were able to have another lesson with Greg! We were talking about the Atonement and how the Atonement is a supreme expression of love from our Savior. And how Charity is the pure love of Christ, so we read Moroni 7:45-48 inserting the words "The Atonement" for the word "Charity" and I loved the line that says "[the Atonement] never faileth." The Atonement is real and will never fail us! We can become better and more like our Savior each day as we access the Atonement daily!
I love Carlie!! We were able to meet with her on Friday and Natasha came with us! Natasha joined the church like 2 years ago or so, and so it was wonderful as she shared her testimony! Carlie has been reading the Book of Mormon and she has cut down her coffee from 4 cups a day to just 1 cup a day!!!! It is so much fun to see the gospel working in her family's life! Natasha shared her experience of living the Word of Wisdom and how she still has cravings for different things, but her desire to be true to the gospel is what gives her the strength to live the word of wisdom!
Laramie and Moe are moving to Spokane, and so this past week we were able to help them load their truck and clean their apartment. They are such an amazing family and they absolutely love Mormons! Laramie has been in Spokane for the last couple of weeks and said that they live in the most densely LDS populated area in Spokane and how he has already spotted them out and asked if they could be friends! . . . They will be baptized some day!
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Call
This past week started off with exchanges with Sister Barker and Sister Whipple! I was spoiled as they allowed me to come to the Des Moines area one last time and to spend the day with Sister Barker! Sister Barker and I came out in the same group together and so it was a lot of fun to serve together for a day! We had a wonderful day! We were able to have a lesson with Patience, who is from Liberia and had been studying with the missionaries in Indiana, but moved to Des Moines a couple of weeks ago and requested the missionaries to come visit her! She lives by one of the universities and so anytime she would see students dressed up she would ask them if they were missionaries, as she waited for the Des Moines missionaries to contact her. It was really neat, so during the lesson we were talking about the Book of Mormon and Patience said "I love the Book of Mormon because it teaches you how to follow Jesus Christ." Which is so true! The Book of Mormon truly is another Testament of Jesus Christ and helps each person who reads it to know how they can follow their Savior!
Since it was my last time in the Des Moines area we stopped by a few of the members that I knew! Which was fun! We did try by Gary's but no one was home :(
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| Exchanges: Sisters Call, Chirinos, Barker, Whipple |
I love Carlie!! We were able to meet with her on Friday and Natasha came with us! Natasha joined the church like 2 years ago or so, and so it was wonderful as she shared her testimony! Carlie has been reading the Book of Mormon and she has cut down her coffee from 4 cups a day to just 1 cup a day!!!! It is so much fun to see the gospel working in her family's life! Natasha shared her experience of living the Word of Wisdom and how she still has cravings for different things, but her desire to be true to the gospel is what gives her the strength to live the word of wisdom!
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| With Laramie, Moe & Kinalee |
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| A song for the Sisters from the Rundall's. Oh how I love them!!! |
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Call
Monday, November 3, 2014
Mission Life in Iowa
Another wonderful week in Iowa!
Monday evening we had our monthly coordination meeting at Bishop's house and his wife was so cute and made a witch's hat for dinner! It was her first time making it so she was giggling as she put it together!
Tuesday we ended up packing our apartment and preparing for the move, but we were also able to take Emily out with us and we saw Moe and Kinalee again!
Wednesday we moved into the basement of a family in our ward! Aww it is so wonderful and I absolutely love living with them! It's like having family and they take care of you! Also, it is so nice to actually live within the boundaries of our area and so when we walk outside it is our proselyting area, and there are quite a few members that live close by to their home!
Wednesday night we had the ward Halloween party and Tommy and Carlie were going to come, but their kids had high fevers, but Kinalee came with a family in our ward!
But Thursday during the day we were able to volunteer at the community center in Grimes and the seniors had dressed up for Halloween so Sister Chirinos and I were able to take photos of each of them for Rene! We then had zone training meeting that took the rest of the day before we headed to the Ward Mission Leader's home!
Friday was Halloween and didn't feel like Halloween, but we had a wonderful lesson with Carlie! Tommy was at work, so he wasn't there, but Carlie is so excited about the gospel and she loves how it is going to strengthen their family even more! She mentioned how she can tell the impact that the gospel has had on our lives/childhood and she wants that in her family! She talked about how she has been praying and sometimes she forgets and then when she remembers she stops whatever she is doing and says a prayer! Then at the end of the lesson we suggested that maybe Tommy starts coming to church and then when she can come then that would be wonderful. Carlie just smiled and said that she and Tommy had just talked about that very thing the other day and Tommy had said that he should talk with his mom and start coming to church! So on Sunday in walked Tommy's mom with her grandson Jackson, and Tommy was planning on coming, but had gotten sick.
Saturday was freezing cold, but the ward was helping with a fall clean up in Urbandale where people who physically can't rake the leaves in their yard sign up and then volunteers are assigned to a house and rake the leaves! We went with the Russell Family and had so much fun! The yard we were assigned to had so many leaves! We filled 40 bags and it took us almost 4 hours! (Pictures of this activity were posted on the blog Nov. 1. http://hannah-call.blogspot.com/2014/11/happily-serving.html)
That evening we went finding and were able to meet Jill whose sister in law is a member in Missouri so it was fun visiting with Jill and being able to talk about the church a little more with her. She told us that her sister in law would be so excited if she knew that she had allowed the missionaries in. We agreed that yes she would be ecstatic about it!
I love Sundays and the opportunity to attend church and partake of the Sacrament! It was so crazy that it was my last fast Sunday, but it really allowed me to reflect on the daily experiences that I have had over the past 17 months that have allowed me to know my Savior! To feel of His love and to help others to enjoy the blessings that the Gospel brings!
Sunday evening we had dinner and lesson with a family and Greg, who is a friend of the kids. Greg is such a great kid! He has been coming to church for this past year, and attends seminary in the mornings, and even went on the youth temple trip Saturday and stayed in the visitor's center with the young men's president. Anyways, yesterday we taught about the Priesthood and it was neat because each of us can always be preparing for a Priesthood ordinance. Whether we are preparing for baptism, an office in the Priesthood (men), covenants in the temple, or the sacrament ordinance. We always should be reflecting on what more we can do to prepare ourselves for this sacred ordinance!
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Call
Monday evening we had our monthly coordination meeting at Bishop's house and his wife was so cute and made a witch's hat for dinner! It was her first time making it so she was giggling as she put it together!
Tuesday we ended up packing our apartment and preparing for the move, but we were also able to take Emily out with us and we saw Moe and Kinalee again!
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| Ohh, the things you'll find when you move from a missionary apartment...needless to say, we got rid of a lot of stuff! |
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| Our new home |
Wednesday night we had the ward Halloween party and Tommy and Carlie were going to come, but their kids had high fevers, but Kinalee came with a family in our ward!
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| At the Ward Halloween Party |
So the Des Moines area of Iowa does this crazy thing called Beggars night where depending on what city/town you live in determines whether or not you go trick or treating on the night of Halloween or on Beggars night which is the 30th. So in most of the towns it was on the 30th, but either way as missionaries we had to be in our apartment by 6:00 or at a member's home. Our Ward Mission Leader's family really loves Halloween! So we were able to help out in their "haunted garage" they did on Beggars night!
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| The haunted garage on Beggars' Night |
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| Sister Chirinos, Rene, Sister Call |
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| Photo Booth at the Community Center |
Saturday was freezing cold, but the ward was helping with a fall clean up in Urbandale where people who physically can't rake the leaves in their yard sign up and then volunteers are assigned to a house and rake the leaves! We went with the Russell Family and had so much fun! The yard we were assigned to had so many leaves! We filled 40 bags and it took us almost 4 hours! (Pictures of this activity were posted on the blog Nov. 1. http://hannah-call.blogspot.com/2014/11/happily-serving.html)
That evening we went finding and were able to meet Jill whose sister in law is a member in Missouri so it was fun visiting with Jill and being able to talk about the church a little more with her. She told us that her sister in law would be so excited if she knew that she had allowed the missionaries in. We agreed that yes she would be ecstatic about it!
I love Sundays and the opportunity to attend church and partake of the Sacrament! It was so crazy that it was my last fast Sunday, but it really allowed me to reflect on the daily experiences that I have had over the past 17 months that have allowed me to know my Savior! To feel of His love and to help others to enjoy the blessings that the Gospel brings! Sunday evening we had dinner and lesson with a family and Greg, who is a friend of the kids. Greg is such a great kid! He has been coming to church for this past year, and attends seminary in the mornings, and even went on the youth temple trip Saturday and stayed in the visitor's center with the young men's president. Anyways, yesterday we taught about the Priesthood and it was neat because each of us can always be preparing for a Priesthood ordinance. Whether we are preparing for baptism, an office in the Priesthood (men), covenants in the temple, or the sacrament ordinance. We always should be reflecting on what more we can do to prepare ourselves for this sacred ordinance!
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love, Sister Call
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Happily Serving
Editors Note: Hannah's mom got a text today with this message and these pictures. I wanted to share it with others.
Walnut Hills Ward service project. We joined UCAN & helped rake leaves for elderly residents. Your girls worked so hard. I was so thankful for their help! In 3.5 hours We filled 40 big yard waste bags!!!! What impressed me the most was how happily they worked with full & bright smiles. You both have terrific daughters!
Walnut Hills Ward service project. We joined UCAN & helped rake leaves for elderly residents. Your girls worked so hard. I was so thankful for their help! In 3.5 hours We filled 40 big yard waste bags!!!! What impressed me the most was how happily they worked with full & bright smiles. You both have terrific daughters!
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