First Email I received: (remember he is reading emails from the past 3 weeks, finally!! And answering them one at a time!)
Ok, so Im going to send a longer email, no worries. Just wanted to answer the Qs on this one.
Are you needing anything inparticular for your birthday?? (I know, 2 months away!!)
Bacon. Just kidding that wouldn't make it here alive. Hm... Probably just... oh thanks for your package by the way! That was awesome! Elder Lloyd liked it too haha! Honestly if I just got birthday letters from all of you that would make my day. :)
Do you miss the 115 degree summer days?? Cause it's been HOT down here!!!
Its gotten up to 35 degrees C here! Which is pretty warm! Everyone here is dying but not me! I do kinda miss the heat though!
What is a typical Sunday like for you?? Do you go to one ward {church}? Or several?
Im just over one ward right now so its good! The worst part is like the first 15 minutes of church when you are hoping your investigators (those who you have invited to come to church with you!) come! Stress! Ah!
I'll send more in a sec...
{random} Oh I know a good birthday present! I need something that I can plug into the usb port that reads my SD card. But Ive been trying to borrow other missionaries thingys so I'll try to send some pictures! :)
This is Spencers response to me telling him how amazing Tamara Girgor (Canada mom who has sent me photos of Spenc and updates!! True angel!!):
We saw Sister Grigor on Tuesday while we were doing service and she told me all about it! I started getting teary eyed. I really needed that. It has been so hard not being able to talk to all of you these past couple weeks. And when we saw Sister Grigor on Tuesday and she talked to me that helped me out a ton. Its no coincidence that we worked with her the first day and certainly no coincidence that she found us again. It helped me out a ton. Heavenly Father is watching out for us. I'm so grateful for Him, for Sister Grigor, and for my amazing family! I love you all!!
Such a sweet young man, sure love that kid!!! I love how Heavenly Father is constantly aware of each of us and our needs. It truly is usually through another person that our prayers are answered! Not always, but watch and you'll see!!
This is the sweet letter that he wrote to his older sister:
So sweet right???Alexa! Cool story. So this random lady that came across your blog sent me a letter. She wants to know about Mormons so she wrote me! So keep up the good missionary work Sis!! You are awesome! The work here is somewhat slow, but picking up. Working at the flood is good, hard, and spiritual! I love it! Its been hard not emailing family since the computers at the Library were down. But Im glad that my email was full of emails from family and friends! I love you so much and I am grateful to have you as an older sister. I wish you the best of luck with motherhood. You are a great mother. Ellie is lucky. So is Brian! (Let him know I said that!!) You have a great family. I love you all so much and I am grateful for you!!! I love you sis!Love,Elder Call
Here is the BIG KAHUNA letter to the entire family:
Dear Family,
Here comes the Big Kahuna! (That was the name of some burrito from some restaurant back in the day at summer games! How I remember that, I have no idea!) But yes, here comes the nice long email! Oh, where do I begin? Well, yes, I did rip my work pants, so its a good thing that we had those white jumpsuit things so I could cover up haha! {good thing I just sent him 2 more pair!!} Hm... let me update you with some mission terms.
Boy: This is the missionary that you have trained
Dad: The missionary that trained you
Trunky: Things that make you think of home make you feel this way. ex: I feel trunky when I look through my photo album of all of you!
Gong Show: To put on a gong show means to make a joke of something serious like when missionaries goof off during district meeting, they are a gong show.
Pile: When someone is called a pile it means they are lazy.
Just thought I should update you on that, just in case I use those terms! {missionaries always make up terms for thier own missions!}
So we had a great lesson this week with Agnes. Elder Lloyd had found her from chipping her ice on her house during the winter, and we decided to set up an appointment with her. We taught her the first lesson and it went really well. During the lesson I knew I was going to have to share the First Vision, which I had somewhat memorized. My brain was going crazy. I kept reciting it when Heavenly Father said not to worry about it! So I didn't. When it got to the point that I needed to share that it went so amazing. The Spirit was so strong. It was probably one of the times where I have felt the Spirit the strongest. It was so great and I knew Heavenly Father helped me. Turns out Agnes is going out of the country for a year but we did get her information and send it to the Mission Office who is sending it to the missionaries where she is going! Hooray!! Tag-teaming with other missionaries!
Oh, did I already tell you thank you for the box of stuff?? That was fantastic!! I loved it! Good food. but what I loved most was the notes! Thanks family! {a sweet missionary mom from Idaho had me send her a box for him and then she sent it up to Canada with some of her neighbors!! Talk about amazing!! A regular size shoe box to Canada costs about $45! This box cost me $12 and it was pretty big!! Thank you Chris!!!}
Oh, are you at the beach right now?? Big shout out to all my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa! You guys are great! I hope you all enjoy the beach. Dig a big hole and make it a jucuzzi in honor of me, ok?? I love you all so much and I hope you have the best of times in California!! Thanks for all the great memories! You are all so great!!
Hm... we also had the opportunity to teach our newest investigator Alex! We found him on a p-day. He was trying to work his lawn mower and we asked if we could help. Did I tell you this already? Anyways he said we could come back! So we were able to teach him the first lesson! It went well, and he said he would read the Book of Mormon! Yes! The work here is starting to pick up from the slow start we had. Its great! Heavenly Father has definitely been helping us!
A few weeks ago I was on splits with another missionary. We did church tours and one guy came in and wanted to ask some questions. We pretty much taught him the first lesson, but he didn't accept a Book of Mormon and was against that which we had to say to him. So, missionary work isn't this flower-filled field looking at some amazing sunset with the suns rays bouncing perfectly off the clouds to make them have some beautiful array of colors! But the Lord does bless you. And our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and as long as we do that we are fulfilling our purpose! People can still use there agency to choose wether or not to accept the message of the gospel. Yes, it is sad when people don't accept your message, especially when you know how much the gospel could bless their life. But the Lord does bless us!!
Oh man! What else to say?? The Church is true! I know that God is watching over us and can help us through our challenges. I know that the gospel can change your life and can bring the greatest of blessings. I know that I have a Savior and that He loves me. And I am grateful for the family that I have, and that God has blessed us so much and that we can be together forever! How great is that?? I love you all so much!!
Love,
Elder Call
It was AMAZING to hear from him!!! And last but not least, he sent me the sweetest email. It's personal for me, but it filled me with so much joy, I felt like I wanted to share it! He is a gem and I love him so much. He also sent letters to Jeremy, Zac, Grace, and Erin - but they haven't forwarded them to me yet. WE LOVE YOU ELDER CALL!!!
Mom,
I just wanted to send you a personal email because I haven't really done that yet! I'm so sorry! I love you so much. I think about you and the family every day and I pray for you all. Thank you for your light and for your example. Thank you for accepting the gospel and giving me the opportunity to come into this world into such an amazing family. My setting-apart blessing was right- my love for my family will grow as I serve a mission. I have already seen that. I love you so much mom! You are such a kind, amazing, beautiful daughter of God. Thanks for sharing your example with me! I love you!
Love,
Elder Call
{now if that didn't make you go get a tissue....}
1 comments:
Well you had to wait a long time for that Great email but it was well worth it. Thanks for sharing. I think of him every day and know he is in good hands. We are very lucky to be a part of your family.
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