July Letters

So this past week has been very interesting. We visited a lot of people, this one guy whose less active was drunk when we saw him I guess he's drunk every time. but I guess he was better this time, we went inside and his pit bull who I guess gets a kick out of biting people was super nice to us and the guy said we are truly messengers from God because his dog hates everyone but loves us. We had our 4th of July in a park from 10 til 3 handing out pamphlets and cards to people and watched fireworks at the church. yeah Laramie is pretty close well i love you mom.

-Love Elder Call 

The work is going good, a little slow but good.  We have like 3 investigators right now. One of them comes to church because her grandma was LDS and she's old and wants to get baptized, the other is her granddaughter, and the other is a lady who wants to be sealed to her family so they all seem rather promising. When does Nolan come home? 2 yrs does go by fast. I'm a pretty fast learner so yeah I have my area down pretty well. I haven't been to any rodeos yet. well I hope everything is good. Love you guys. Love Elder Call

June 26, 2013 Letter

I am doing great, we just got to go to the Cheyenne Air Force base. So, I've been thinking I have decided to join the Air Force........haha jk I'm not doing that. but we did get to go inside of a C130 cargo plane. I think most of the people who live here are in the Air Force theres a guy in another ward who is a pilot and flies the C130's. I did get a pair of jeans so thank you, and my watch broke so do you mind if I used like maybe a 20 off the Alaska card to get a new watch.  I've heard that with the new mission president they might let us create missionary FBs which would be awesome. I don't know you guys watch the missionary broadcast last night but it was really good I loved how L. Tom Perry was talking about never missing an opportunity to talk to someone about the gospel. As a missionary I'm learning the piano again and I've noticed how much better I can actually read the music then I did before. I have the right hand pretty much down when I play but I have to practice using both, so its fun. Have you talked to Tate yet sonce he's been home? If so hows the new life going for him? We always joke around with other Canadian missionaries and tell them how they should follow AP Youngs example and move to America for school. I just finished the Book of Mormon and I'm going to wait til the start of next transfer to start it again so I can do the 45 day challenge. I'm probably going to be leaving my trainer soon or vice versa. I feel like I'm never going to leave this ward but I know its going to happen eventually. Hows Jonathan doing in the Navy? I hope everythings good for him.   I have also grown very fond of English Bulldogs, the people we're living with their son has one and they had to watch her for the weekend and I want to get one, so you should add that as my home coming present. :D How are Copper and Daisy doing? I hope everything is going great! we aren't teaching anyone so I am getting bored right now but hopefully the work picks up. Love you guys. Elder Call

June 10th Letter

Dear Mother,

I am doing great here in Cheyenne, WY. We are going to catch crawfish today but i don't think we will be eating them because up here they aren't very good. My condolences to Jason's famil about their loss, is that the Grandpa Muelleck or his Moms dad? We actually had an investigator die this passed week from a heart attack. He wasin his sixties but its still sad because we don't have very many investigators. So we lost 3 investigators this passed week. One died, another dropped us and one moved to another ward so we aren't having a ton of luck. I'm kind of burnt out being with Elder Jones. He's just kind of picky about who we teach because there are people we could teach but he doesn't see any potential when we really haven't even tried. I am actually starting to feel fortunate that I went and got a job in Logan because Jones has never had to work for anything.So I don't know he's still hoping he stays next transfer but I'm thinking otherwise. We just don't get as much done as I want to and I talk to him about it and he says we gotta try harder but I don't see very much effort on his part. SLC sounds like fun, I wish I could go but I have my place here. Carlsbad sounds like fun too, I miss swimming SOOOO MUCH! I never thought I would actually miss being in a pool or being out in the ocean. It's getting hott here, at the end of july we are having Frontier Days. Its the Worlds Biggest Rodeo, so in mid July it'll PACKED. And I've been told that most people will be Drunk off their skynards as they say. We might actually get a chance to participate in the parade here. We helped with the Horses again this week and helped with a couple of the Therapy patients like this one kid Trevor, well he's like 31 but he looks like a kid, he has Fetal Alcohol syndrom and so he can understand everything he hears he just can't communicate veyr well. So we helped him learn these neat drills with matching these colored rings with the colored barrels. We as Missionaries just had to made sure he doesn't fall off the Horse, I think Julia would really like it here because when you volunteer at the Horse place you just help with the patients and you can ride, feed and groom the horses and thats what the girls do all day. We are actually required to do 10 hrs of service per week, So I'm gonna need an extra pair of Jeans. The black ones that I put in my cedar chest. If you could mail that too me along with my camera that would be awesome. Because the family we are living with is really stricting about how much water we use so I can wash my jeans more then once a week and I think I'm starting to grow out of them. We went to do service at this families house and they made us pancakes for lunch and I had 16 Man was I fuoll and they were excellent pancakes. If they were chocolate chip though I probably would've eaten the whole batch. And Jones is not going home for anothere 15 Months. oh Jones also got stepped on by a horse and he was freaking out because he thought he broke his foot. Well thats all I got! Have fun is Carlsbad. Love you guys. Elder Call

Happy Birthday Max

    I had a fantastic birthday. I went to church as usual and then after church we had dinner with the Bowler Family and they set up everything for me. They made me a cake, with cookie dough ice cream. Sister Bowler made Chicken Alfredo and the kids set up balloons and a birthday sign. The kids even picked out a card and the parents gave me $20. It was truly a great birthday. I love that family.  Bro Warby, the guy we live with, picked out a bolo tie and wore it to church and when we got home I was talking to him and I complimented him on his tie and so he undid his collar took it off and said, "Its yours, Happy Birthda." I feel so blessed to have such nice families in this ward. So it was great and we ended the day by going to another ward’s baptism.

    Its getting warmer and there will not be any more snow. It rains though and I hate rain! In church yesterday the people always pray for more rain and that it will keep raining. My birthday wish is the opposite. I'm working hard and am trying to find new people to teach.

LOVE YOU ALL, ELDER CALL haha that rhymes

Update!

I am doing great. Our mission is splitting on July 1^st.  I will be in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission. Two weeks ago the weather was very stormy and cold. It wasn't too bad just really boring. The newspaper said that this was the longest snowstorm we've had since 1892. That was surprising because it was only a few days so it didn't feel long. It was just REALLY boring. I came out here to work not stay inside and watch church movies. I pray for you guys every night. Hope you guys are doing well. Love Elder Call

Hit by a car...

Dear Family,

I actually did receive the Easter Package and I really like all the Snickers and Reeses. So something happened on Tuesday... I kinda got hit by a car, it wasn't going very fast since it was just pulling out of a parking lot. So my companion and I were trying to find this lady to do service for and his GPS was taking us on the other side of town. So we stopped and went back and as I was riding on the sidewalk about to cross over the High School Parking lot and teacher who seemed rushed was waiting for the lane to be clear.

I couldn't really tell if he saw me because the windows were really tinted and It looked like he was giving me some clearance.  So I slowed down and continued to pass and he hit me. My bike is pretty dinged up and he said he would pay whatever the cost it is to fix it but it looks like I'm going to have to get a new one. I saw a chiropractor this morning and he fixed me up but he's a member so it was all free. So It wasn't bad,just bruises and sores. I have had LOTS of trouble sleeping though and I got a little sick a few days ago so I've been coughing and sneezing a lot. So that was the Highlight of my week. I did enjoy conference especially when Pres. Monson was talking about the little forest fire he started. That was kinda funny. I hope to be getting that package from you guys anyday now. The work is going forth boldly, nobly and independently. We had a couple more people to teach last week and we set a baptism date with someone too. So things are going pretty good, I love being a missionary but I miss my iPod a little and you guysbut mostly my iPod jk haha. Happy Birthday Dad I hope it was a good one. Till Next time... Don't get hit by a car it really doesn't feel good. Talk to you guys later. Love,  Elder Call

Still in Cheyenne

The work here is pretty good. We just try to reactivate people mostly and convert little kids in less active homes. Its disappointing when I run into someone who has so much LDS potential, but deny it. We keep running into those. We started teaching this one old guy who is semi active, and it’s funny because every time we see him he asks me where I'm from like 4 times in one lesson and after that he tells me that he went to Pamona College. So that definitely tries my patience. I have to always pretend like that was the first time he told me that. I'm still waiting on that Easter package. I am learning how to budget again which is hard because there are so many things I want and never enough to get them. I'm still living in Cheyenne and I will be for another 2 months and I have the same companion and I'm learning a lot. So far there have too many cases where I have had to deal with teaching obnoxious families and maybe only one meal that I've had to force down my throat. With that meal, while eating it, I constantly remember why I HATE mushrooms. Because that salad type meal consisted of lots of mushrooms, spinach and tangerine slices and it was killing me to eat it but I ate it. So no worries when you and Dad always lectured me about food I have to eat on my mission because I'm eating it. This week I get to brand and castrate some cows, which should be fun. We were planning on having some rocky mountain oysters but not this time because cutting it is too risky for the cow’s life. I am alive and well and hope you guys can mail me some goodies.  Well, I'll write you again next Monday. Love you, Elder Call

New email!

I am doing GREAT! We are working with a couple part member families. That’s most of the investigators we have. We have families where the parents are inactive and want to come back to church, so they have us teach their kids. We are working with one guy who lied about his age and joined the navy in WW2 and joined the air force in Korea and Vietnam. He doesn't have many WW2 stories but his Korea stories are cool. About how his plane crashed and he got captured by Koreans and was held prisoner for a year and they tied him to trees and threatened to kill him if he didn't talk but he never did, Now that’s a true soldier. His name is Paul and we are working with him a lot, He says he wants to know as much as he can before getting baptized but we are trying to get him to rely more on the spirit. He's getting somewhere though. He says he read 1 Nephi 3 times in one day because he has a bad memory. I hope you can get some of that stuff to me soon. I need my light rain coat that mom got me too, it tends to snow a lot and my big jacket is a snow magnet. we were walking home from Walmart and by the time we got there I looked like frosty the snowman just a lot less jolly. I love the couple I am with, they are so funny and very generous, Brother and Sister Warby are really really old, but she's really nice and makes me feel like her own grandchild. I assume its cuz nobody really visits them and they aren't very mobile so they have to stay home most of the day. But its nice she talks about how her grandma helped the pioneers. I am doing great and having fun. You should also mail me my Batman beanie in one of the boxes I stowed away. I can wear it on P-days and when I am doing service which we do about ten hours of service a week so we do a lot. Hope you guys are going great and I'm getting my bike today.

New emails!

Hey Dad,

Its pretty good up here, I'm living with an elderly couple in their 80s and they are so funny. The entire mission I will be living with old lonely couples so I like it because its way cheaper and I only have to pay for food. We are teaching an old WW2 vet named Paul. He was a pilot and we are teaching these two kids also, their mom is a member and not active and she wants to come back to church so she asked us to come over and teach them last night. So far tracting we ran into one kid who was totally drugged out and told us to come back when his friends are gone so I don't know what’s happening there. We also went tracting on Saturday and almost got this guy to let us come back to teach him but then his girlfriend/wife came and said "We're not interested and closed the door" sounds like a dictatorship. She won't even let him speak for himself. That kinda ticked me off.

But anyways, that English couple that I told you about really wants to talk to you so you should call them back because they say they've been trying to get ahold of you. Love you Dad.

Hey,

I am doing awesome, the Twelve week program i guess just helps us ease more into the field, they gave us a goal to at least commit someone to baptism in the first week, but so far we haven't really found anyone to teach. They say in the MTC that baptism and confirmation is a big part because they don't have to know everything about the church to be baptized its just that first step. So we've been trying to tract which is cool, because we get the chance to talk to people of other faiths. Whether they say yes or no i guess doesn't really matter according to my MTC teachers because if they say yes then great but if they say no then it helps them to ponder more on it, so we can help them prepare for it. I did see Tate, I thought I told you guys, but yeah he drove me and about half of my MTC district to the mission home and then we had a long missionary seminar and drove to Cheyenne that night. We talked for a little and I think he tried to make sure I had a good companion, which I do. Last Tuesday night I had dinner with a nice old English couple named the Picot's (pronounced Peecos [the T is silent]).  So they want to talk to you guys. So this sounds a tad bit expensive but I'm gonna need about $500 for a bike. I swear I will take care of it. We just had to give up our truck to the district leader and I'm borrowing his bike as exchange till I get my own. He used to work at a bike shop and suggests that I get a good one so it will last and I can just sell it to a pawn shop, mail it home, or sell it to another missionary. The bike I'm borrowing is a $700 dollar bike and I really don't want responsibility over it because that’s expensive. So if you and mom could do that that would be awesome. There’s no snow out here now, but the wind is horrific we were riding in 60 mph winds on Saturday and it was trying to push me into the traffic, but its fine now. It seems that not very many people want to hear us, because lots of people just close their door when we tell them we're missionaries or they just say not interested which is fine i guess its better then people yelling at us which has only happened once but they didn't say anything bad they just told us to leave them alone. So, I'm doing my best and studying hard I miss you guys. Love you.

First Area // Cheyenne, Wyoming

Hey mom I did get the cookies and they were good, right now I have my first area in Cheyenne, WY. Its so great out here I'm so excited, My first companion is Elder Jones he's a good guy he's teaching me a lot about missionary life. I'm really happy too because an Elder in my district is here too so I get a familiar face. I'm at someones house right now because i guess in this mission old folks will set up there basement for missionaries to stay so its really nice up here. I will give the address next week because me and my comp are moving tomorrow. I'm so happy I came and I'm so thankful you pushed me into going so early. I will write you back next week. I love you!

P.S. the camera memory is full so I will send that to you in a letter soon. 

I also went and did a service project this morning helping a guy move stuff from his house to his garage. He was like in his sixties and was in a wheelchair. He's not a member but he might come to church on Sunday, so thats really exciting. Well I'm doing my best to serve the Lord and having fun doing it. We are going to go shopping in a bit and get me some food, so that sounds exciting. Hows work? Are the kids doin good?  I'm really happy here. I miss the people at the MTC but overall its not too bad and I'm glad I got a new companion because my MTC companion was crazy! He would take his shoes off in the middle of class and the teacher would tell him to put his shoes back on and then the next day we would have a different teacher and he would do the same thing. the day before we left for the MTC he got a sandwich which was in plastic and unopened but he stomped a whole in the snow and told everyone he was going to keep it refrigerate it and save it for breakfast on the way down the airport, not only that but when we did lessons would walk around and barely contribute. He was sleepwalking one night and he took someones cupcakes and someones pillow and blanket and we found outside our room on the floor sleeping with a half eaten cupcake on the ground and his hand was on the box and when he woke up he was like "how did I get here cause I don't sleepwalk" and tried to tell everyone that me and the other elders in there carried him outside and staged the whole thing. haha CRAZY!!!! But anyways I hope everything is going good. I always pray every night that the Spirit will stay in the home so I love you guys and hope you're all doing great. In a couple weeks me and my comp are supposed to help a farmer in our ward cut off cow genetles so that should be a blast. hope you're all doin good. Miss you guys, Love you so much. I'll write you back next week bye.