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!

Ohh, the things you'll find when you move from a missionary apartment...needless to say, we got rid of a lot of stuff!

Our new home

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!

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!

The haunted garage on Beggars' Night

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!

Sister Chirinos, Rene, Sister Call

Photo Booth at the Community Center

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