Dear Family, Friends, and whomever stalks my mission blog,

Dear Family, Friends, and whomever stalks my mission blog,

Well, I forgot my planner which had a bunch of stuff I needed to say! So if this email stinks you'll know why, haha! Oh first, before I forget, Dad, which mission did you serve in, in the Philippines! Theres a Filipino guy in my ward who is a convert and wants to know! Anyways, I guess I'll start off by telling you a story!

So me and one of the Mandarin missionaries were on an exchange. We were going to find this one English speaking guy who was interested. They kinda knew about where he lived so we went knocking. We talked to a few, and none were his home. We were at this one house, when in the distance we saw two basketball players playing ball. We do a sports night every Friday (thank you mom for forcing me to bring my basketball shoes) {loved that!! he really didn't want to bring them on his mission and I pretty much made him!! I just felt like he would have the opportunity to play a lot of ball!!} and we decided to invite them. We've been trying to get more to come out to play but nothing has happened yet. But, one of the kids was really interested and said he would bring another one of his friends along! Hooray!! So even though we didn't talk to the guy that we intended to (we eventually found out where he lived) we did find two people to invite to sports night! So the Lord really does place people in our path for us to find! It was awesome!

So about your questions...

How many days during the week do you typically spend doing Mormon Helping Hands?

We go by Zone. So there is a zone that goes every day, but we just get to go once per week. It is so insane though! Picture the Santa Clara Flood x 483719. Its crazy. Apparently there are still houses filled with water.

How many days do you typically dress in your Sunday missionary best and teach / look for others to teach?

We dress Sunday best every day, excluding when we do service. Even on Pdays, if we go in public we are supposed to wear Sunday best. So pretty much all the time! But its not that bad. We don't have to wear suits during the summer, unless we are going to meetings.

What was the best meal you ate this week?

Sushi! Ha, not really. Its kind of weird, but actually not that bad. We got to make our own sushi, so I put the raw Tuna in mine! (It was weird) Calgary has lots of different cultures so we tend to have some really weird things. Which is fantastically weird! Its fun. We never know what we are going to get. It goes from pizza to uncleaned shrimp.

Did you eat dinner with members every night this past week?

Nope. That only happens on really good weeks. We get about 4-5 meals from members on the average week.

What is the best thing you like about your companion?

Haha, he plays basketball! Which is great! He gives me lots of advice too which is good! 

What is one thing you are learning to love about your companion?

Haha, is this a fancy way of wording, "what problems are you having with your companion??" Ha! We are actually getting along quite well. We have disagreements every now and then but we talk them out. {perfect! learning to communicate is the best thing ever!!!} :)

Did you get your jeans from the mission home??? {I was able to send him 2 pairs of jeans with a sweet lady from St George who was flying to Calgary!!}

Haha, yes, yes I did!

Hm... what else to say?? Oh, Im going to try to send some photos. Hopefully I can get some this week of High River. Sorry its been awhile since I've sent some! Oh and I'm also trying to find a place to buy stamps! So to all those who have sent me letters that I have yet to respond to, I'm sorry! I still love you! Haha :)

Oh mama! How could I forget about this?? So, story time. We had mowed this one man's lawn who didn't speak English, but his daughter did, and agreed that we could come over and share a message! So, we went over there, and its a family of about 4 20-30 year olds with their older parents. They ask what we do as missionaries and we tell them we talk about Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. Apparently these Muslims don't talk about Christ. The whole family starts arguing in a different language. Thats when they tell us they are Muslim. So Elder Lloyd asks what Muslims believe. Apparently they aren't supposed to talk about their religion. So there was some more arguing in a foreign language. It was pretty intense. So after we figure out we probably won't be teaching them, we just ask some simple questions. Turns out they are from Afghanistan. They ask where we are from, and we proceed to say Utah and Idaho, which are oh so conveintly placed in America. I was pretty scared actually. But then Heavenly Father reminded me of some lines from my Patriarchal Blessing, and I was no longer worried. So we just ended up leaving. But, we went and visited another young man who was kind of investigating the church, who lived near-by. This is why we went over to the Muslims, and it didn't work out. Because Heavenly Father had something different in store for us!! This guy had not been reading the Book of Mormon. We asked if he knew why he should. He said he didn't know why we had asked him. Perfect opportunity. We were able to explain to him the importance of the Book of Mormon, reading Moroni 10:3-5, and also the introduction. And then he said that he would read! Hooray! So, it was pretty great. Heavenly Father leads us to the right place.

The Church is true! I cannot deny it! Yes, missionary work is hard. But it is such a blessing to be out here! I love it. I love you all! Have a fun summer! And to quote VeggieTales, "Remember, God made you special, and He loves you very much. Goodbye!" {we all cracked up laughing at this part!! Love you Elder Call!!!}

Love,

Elder Call

 One day when they got in their car, their temp read 49 degrees C, which is 120 degrees F!! No worries, it was wrong!

 Elder Call and Elder L live in the basement of a members home. This is their bedroom.
I thought it was pretty clean for two of them living in there!!

 Calgary during the big storms.

 Downtown Calgary on a sunny day, after the big storm.

 A cute little duck family. Look how green it is!!!

 Elder Call and Elder Short emailing from the library
(Yay! The library is open after the floods so they can email!)

Money in Canada is magnetic....everything except the nickles! Crazy, huh??

We love you Elder Call! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us! We miss your smiling face around here, but know you are doing so much good in Canada. Thank you for sharing with others the joy that you have in your life. We are so very proud of you and love you with all our hearts!!

{On a side note, Elder Call has been gone for 2 months!! We decided as a family to celebrate each month he has been gone by doing something Spencer-like. Month number one, Zac made Spencers favorite ice cream pie. Mmmm! Month #2, we were at Manhattan Beach with the family and we were all eating peanut butter cookies (Spencer's favorite!) together. It's just a little way for us to celebrate his service and how much we love him!}