Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Phone Call and a letter!! Double blessing day!!

Tuesday, June 4th 2013, around 9:45am we received a phone call from Elder Call himself!! He was at the Salt Lake airport with lots of other missionaries ready to fly out to their destinations. We were able to talk to him for about 10 minutes. Alexa was on a three way call with us, and the rest of us (Jer, myself, Grace & Zac - Erin had to work) were listening on speaker phone. It was SO amazing to hear his voice!! He sounded soooo happy and is loving being a missionary. He was so sweet to ask each individual family member how they were and what they had been up to. We all loved talking to him! It seemed to go by pretty quick! At the very end he energetically told us: "The church is true! I love you all so much!!" It was awesome!! He is such an amazing young man. How thankful we are that he is going to serve and help and love the people of Canada for the next 2 years! They are so lucky. Before he hung up he told us that he had sent a letter yesterday as well. Yay!!! We love you Elder Call!!!

So, later that day I checked the mail and was soooo happy to have received an envelope like this:


I am not even kidding for a minute when I say that it feels like a kid on Christmas morning when you receive a letter (or email or phone call!!!) from your missionary!!! I was so excited!! 

He actually sent two letters in this envelope, so I will tell you about both! The first one was to his family...

Dear Family,

I hope you all enjoyed my email. Thanks again for all your kind notes and letters. (Before he left we all wrote lots and lots of notes and "I love you's" and literally stuck them everywhere in his suitcase....his shoes, socks, pockets, and lots of other random places - plus we mailed him lots of packages and letters as well!). I love them so much. You are my best friends. Thank you for supporting me. I am so happy that I have such a great family. I am so happy that we have all of eternity with each other. That brings me such joy! (tears from this mama at this point!!)
I'm so glad that I can share that message with the world. It's hard but "We can do hard things" as Bishop Rogers always said. I know at times we have all been imperfect. Sometimes we mess up. We fall. Even as a family we have our times of struggling. But Christ is there for us. He loves you all so much. I wouldn't be here today without Hi. But I think it is safe to say I wouldn't be here without all you as well. Thank you for sharing your examples with me and for being my missionaries. I know that we aren't a perfect family (got that right!!) but I couldn't have asked for a better one than all of you. so THANK YOU! (more tears, what a sweet boy!) The gospel is great, you are all great, and I love that I get both! (I loved that!)
Oh, and on a more silly note, I've only gained about two pounds :) The food is actually pretty good! I enjoy having cereal for dinner every now and then. I keep you all in my prayers! Thank you for the blessing that all of you are in my life! Keep spreading the gospel by your great examples. I love you sooooooo much! All the way to Shelbies and back ;) 
Love, Elder Call
PS Look up D&C 100:1  (...your family is well...they are in my hands) {what an amazing kid!}

And now for letter #2.....
(Mom, Do you think you can post this for all my friends? Thanks so much! I love you!)
Dear Friends!
My free time is very limited, so I apologize for not getting back to you all. First off, the MTC is grand. It is hard, but fun. It has been filled with the Spirit , but has also been very hard. Dealing with investigators can be rough - even though right now it's just been teachers acting.
You really see that your mission is not for you, but for others. Forgetting yourself and getting to work is one of the greatest parts of success. You have to teach the gospel to meet the needs of others. Challenging, but exciting. For those going into the MTC soon, love hard work!
Thanks so much for the letters! They are really great and positive. Continue to have adventures! (I love that!) They are fun to hear about! Adventure is out there! ;) And bring the gospel in to everything you do. It is really the source of joy and happiness!
Oh I love you all! You will make such great missionaries. Be humble and willing to change because that's what the mission will do! (and he ends by saying...) (I LOVE seeing his handwriting!!)


 {As a side note, I just want to tell each of you dear friends (and family!!) how important you are to him! Thank you for being his dear friends all through elementary school, middle and high school. You have impacted his life so much by your examples!! Thank you for being so kind to him and for loving him!! We are soooo happy for the friends he has - he truly couldn't have chosen any better!! If you have a spare few minutes...I know he would be more than happy to get letters from his friends. Stamps to Canada cost about a dollar, so if you write letters - I would be happy to mail them for you. Stop by for a visit anytime!!! Thanks again for your love and support of our favorite missionary!!!} love ya, mama Call! :)

1 comments:

P said...

Glad to hear that spencer is doing awesome!! Love hearing about all his happenings through his letters :) And your excitement about getting letters, I can imagine it's the best!! xoxo

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