Tuesday Email times two and photos!

{We didn't get an email on Monday, but we were lucky to hear from him today....twice! Below is Letter #1}

Dear family,

Ok, so we didn't get to email yesterday, so we get to email today. The computers were down again. Anyways, we are splitting the email time between right now and later around five. So I only have a couple minutes to answer some questions, but the Big Kahuna {that's what he calls "the big family letter"} should be there around 5. So I guess I'll just answer your questions!  {every week in my letter I send him a few totally random questions and he is so good to answer them every time!}

 

**Are you able to play any church music in your apartment/room? Do you have a CD player? Do you need an ipod shuffle with music on it??

Um... for a birthday gift I would just prefer a flash drive. We can use flash drives in our cars to play music, which is nice! So that would be my only request as far as music goes. {love birthday ideas!!}

 

**Yes! Good idea to buy more fruits and veggies!! {replying from his last letter regarding veggies and fruits!)Your body will thank you big time!!! Did you buy some this week??

I already was loaded with some salad stuff, but I forgot to buy ranch so I bought that this week! So I should be good! I'm trying to lose some fat, because I've already put on around ten pounds. Woops! Haha, no worries mom, I'm working on it! {Believe me, he left here so tall and thin, he can afford to gain 10 lbs. Too bad I couldn't share mine....}

 

**How much $ do you get on your "card" each month to spend?

We get 200 for each month, which is decent!

{depending on where missionaries are serving / living, etc...they each get a certain amount of money to spend on their groceries, toilitries, etc.. They are asked to learn to budget and stay within that budget....he also has his own bank debit/visa card, but has yet to use it! Guess he's budgeting well!!}

**Do you always use all of your monthly allotment?

Pretty much! I'm trying to save though.

{whatever you don't use each month carries over to the next month}

 

**What was the best part of your week?

I'll let ya know in the Big Kahuna :) {the big letter coming later}

 

**Are you a pretty big hot shot bball player on sports night??

Ha! On occasion I'll make a shot ;) {haha, he's being humble again!!} Its just chill, fun basketball, which I like!

 

**Do you know that you are prayed for you by all of us several times a day??? WE LOVE YOU!!!

Thank you so much!! Remember in my setting apart blessing when I was told that I would have more love for my family? Well that is definitely already coming to pass! Gotta love the mission :) {we love you elder call!!!}

 

I love you! I'll email you tonight! Have a good day!! :D

 

Love,

Elder Call

We LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear from Elder Call! Letter #2 came around 4:30pm!

Dear Family,

Ok so first off I would like to share an experience. I was in my room the other day looking through the little family photo album you guys had given to me. After I finished the song from The Best Two Years {awesome misisonary movie that we all love!} that goes, "Don't ya know, can't ya see, what your love has made of me", was running through my head. I thought about everything that you, my family, have done for me, and I honestly can't say that I would be here serving a mission without you. So thank you so much for all the good experiences and for helping me to grow! I love you! {sooooooooo sweet!! love that kid!!!}

 

I feel so old out here! The other day, I found a gray hair on my arm. Scary right? And gaining ten pounds? And whenever we move someone I feel like an old man afterwards. And Erin is a Junior?? Yea, I'm old. {haha!}

 

Erin would love it here. Everyone loves to recycle. In fact some people make some good money recycling! So Im starting to take up the hobby haha! And Dad, I make salads now, and I would definitely have to agree that your way of cutting carrots is the easiest haha!! {only the family would get that one!} And mom, thank you for sending some pictures of the family!! 

 

Ok, I guess I'll stop lollygagging and share some spiritual experiences! So we were going to mow one of our investigators lawn the other day, and pretty much every other time we had tried to do so it rained. And as we were heading over there it started to rain. So I said a prayer that the rain would stop so we could mow Violet's lawn, and it stopped!! It was amazing. And then, I was mowing her lawn and I noticed that the battery was low (she had a electric lawnmower). I was only halfway done, if that, and the battery had already drained from 100% to 25%. So I said another prayer that I would be able to finish mowing her lawn. And guess what? I was able to finish. So those were some miracles of the day. It was pretty amazing.

 

So do you remember me telling you about the young man we met playing basketball that we were able to invite to sports night? Well he came, and he loved it! He had been to another sports night where he used to live and he said that this one was so much better. So that was fantastic! He really got along well with the young men who came too, which is really good. So we are hoping we can start teaching him soon.

 

This week has been pretty good. We were able to visit some less actives and also some investigators. Please pray for Alex, Francis, Violet, and Emma and Joe. Oh, we were able to teach Francis this week and he said he knows the Book of Mormon is true, but he says his heart tells him to stay in his religion. We are working really hard with him, and we are hoping for some miracles.

 

Our district meeting today was on finding people, which is probably the area of missionary work that I need to work at most. So that was a big help! The Lord answers our prayers! Sometimes you just have to look for the answers.

 

I'll tell you all one thing: If you want to make a missionary happy, do missionary work! Member missionaries are what every single missionary looks forward to meeting. So, my invitation to you all is to make the missionaries happy! :)

 

I love you so much! I hope summer is fun and sunny! Please send some of that sunshine this way please!! Thanks for all that you do for me, and have done for me. I love you! The church is true!!

 

Love,

Elder Call Me Maybe (thats Elder Lloyds nickname for me, haha)

And he continued to send 5 more emails 

(because apparently you can only send and receive one photo per email!)

 Downtown Calgary on their pday {preparation day / get ready for the week day}

Cowboy Spenc! 

{tie that tie a wee bit longer!!}

{He said he's gained 10 lbs so far! I can't tell at all! After all, he did head out on his mission tall and slim!}

Elder Call with a huge dandelion! This is such a Spencer face!

I love seeing the backgrounds, nature, his missionary attire, etc!!

Thank you Elder Call for the letters and pictures today!

You made our day!

{In addition to these emails, he also sent messages to Jeremy, Alexa, Erin, Grace, & Zac}

WE LOVE YOU ELDER CALL!!