Dumbster Diving Diva

Here's the pic. I hope that you can see it!

Sorry this is so small. Getting it any bigger makes is look bad. But here she is! Wonderful Sister Call! She says that she's gonna get her camera fixed so she'll send us more pictures. Hope and pray she does. If you don't already please pray for her!
Have an awesome day!!

Lani's Letter May 28th 2013

 Hey guys! I know that this seems strange (Ruth by the way) but Lani mentions that she sent a pic. I'll TRY to post it but not promises. Here's her letter!

Hola!

Did you get my picture!? I hope you did because I was so excited when Sister Peterson sent it to me. We have been helping a family move this last week and they ran out of boxes, SO we trecked over to the gas station, noticed all of the boxes were in the garbage and so what do you do?? You DUMPSTER DIVE!!....in a skirt. It's all for the work! She took the picture and put it on facebook. On Sunday it was announced in Relief Society...we are hoping this will help the members get more excited about missionary work and want to use us more....it's all apart of the plan. ;)

We helped move the Weekly family. There are nine children in this family, the youngest, Thomas is Joseph's age. He is crazy! The father died just under two years ago. I am so humbled whenever I see there family. I see my own family, but without dad. That would be beyond hard. Sister Weekly got up on Sunday and talked about how you have to take advantage of every moment you have with your family because you never know when it is time. I was never really good at this, and I am sorry to say that. It has taken a mission to really open my eyes to that. I love you all! and don't do what I did. Every moment is precious!

Exciting news!! Mark Rossell is getting baptized on June 8th!! It was so interesting. We were over at his house last week. He was bearing his testimony to us about the power of the priesthood, but he said that he still doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith. WE GOT HIM! We opened up to Matt. 7:15-20, "by their fruits ye shall know them." We looked at him and said, "if you have a testimony of the priesthood, you have a testimony of Joseph Smith." His eyes widened and he said, "Really!..........great. Can I get baptized tomorrow." Haha, right. Just kidding. We talked to him about the 8th and he was good. We are going to see his family tonight. No worries mom, now that I have something important happening, I will get my camera fixed! ;) Love you!

This week was Zone Conference in Souix City, Iowa. We crossed the border of Nebraska to Iowa 7 times this week. Crazy! Sister Jasper is the Sister Trainer Leader, so she was in charge of training the 3 zones that were there (lots of missionaries). President and Sister Weston were there too. Anyway, she planned what she wanted to say and about 5 mins before she got up to train, she looked at me and said...I want you to come with me and train. She quickly told me what she was thinking about talking about and then said, "Ok, let's go!" AHHH!! I just about peed my pants...I was sweating up a storm too! We got up there and she started things out, then she looked at me to continue...I paused, desperately trying to listen to the spirit (I am sure I looked constipated)...THEN something came to mind it went great!! Great conference. The work is hastening big time. I don't know if you all and feel it, but it is go time!

Also, we had a Hurricane the other night. A lot of the sisters had to stay the night in their bathrooms for protection. Sister Jasper and I slept through it. Oops. But the Lord protected us!

This is hard work, and you are right mom, I have to study a lot! Not many people want to listen to us and we desperately need new investigators, but the Lord gives us trials to test us and push us to be better. It is up to us to make the most of our trials and cheerfully press forward. I am working on the cheerfully part. :) Life is good and Sister Jasper is doing well. She is pushing me a lot, which is a good thing. I don't always like it, but it is for my good. I love her.

Mom- I loved that last quote! Thank you. I know you are going to do great, as always, in your lesson. Sorry- I can't think of anything right now.

I am so glad to hear you had a good time at Garth and Mary-Gays! That is wonderful!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Keep working hard and pray for opportunities to share the gospel. You are all apart of this hastening work and therefore, have a responsibility to join in and open your mouths! You don't need a name tag to be a missionary. :)

Love you lots,

Sister Lani Call

Lani's Letter May 20 2013

My dearest Call Family,

So great to hear from all of you! Ruth- Congrats on the Recognition Night! I am so proud of you. That is great that the Twins shared their testimonies. Thanks mom for being crazy with them. I am sure they couldn't even tell the difference, we are pretty much the same person. ;)

That is wonderful that you are all going to Seattle this weekend! Party on! Be safe.

Ok, so the mission. This week was crazy! Everything has been mushing together, I can't even see straight...that might be because of all the sweat cascading down my face constantly, but yeah! I love it! I just love Nebraska, is that weird or what!? Who would have thought...let me tell you how it happened, I prayed about it. Yup, I am being so blessed because the Lord is giving me love those the people here and for Nebraska itself.

So where to begin? We have been doing a lot of service lately. We have mowed multiple lawns so far, moved a family, gardened (this week we are going back for more) and so on...

Mom- did you know that you can garden with hay bells? There are tons of Rabbits here and they eat everyone's gardens, so they plant in hay bells and it works! I will tell you more about it later.

Also, we are planning a Mystery Dinner Spaghetti Western for our ward! We are planning on having everyone invite their friends, so hopefully we will have some new investigators. We were over and Sister Dean's home last night (the member helping us do this) and we started writing the script and the characters and the plot....needless to say, I was in my element!! Sister Dean was in charge of the rodeo shows (mom-the shows grandma did back in the 80's...is that right?) anyway, the traveling shows for different wards. She wrote and directed hundreds of them. She is amazing and I am so excited to be working with her on this project.

This last week, Sister Jasper and I were out finding and we drove past this house with a black guy sitting on the porch. I felt like we should go talk to him, so we jumped out of the car and knocked on his door. (he was no longer outside). No answer. I was frustrated for a second. I felt like the spirit told us to go talk to him and now he didn't open his door for us!? Stinker. We kept going. We met Jennifer, who has talked to the missionaries before and we was the one that taught us about gardening in hay bells. We are going back tomorrow to meet with her. After that, we were running late for our dinner appointment and walked by this guys house again and THERE HE WAS! Sitting on his porch again. Well, we were late and I felt bad even though I knew I needed to talk to him, but! I kept going. We got in the car and started driving. Sister Jasper was talking on the phone to our dinner appointment when I couldn't stand it any longer! I knew I would regret it if I didn't go back and talk to this guy...I told her to turn around and go back. She stopped the car by the side of the road and I bolted out to see this guy. This was my approach...I ran up to him and said, "Hi, I am so sorry this is creepy, but I kept seeing you and I knew I just needed to give you this and tell you that Jesus Christ loves you." He took my little mormon.org card that I had grabbed and looked at me. His name is Laurence and he is actually an inactive member of the church. WHAA!! I couldn't believe it! He was so sweet and his son, Ibani (meaning Faith in Swahili) came out to talk as well. I asked if we could say a prayer after talking for a bit. The spirit was there and it was amazing! I just love them! Laurence is a turd though, he was sitting there smoking a cigar. Not going to fly. :) Following the spirit is what brings the joy. Seriously, I never want to regret not following the spirit and losing an opportunity to find someone who is prepared or just lift someone up by telling them that Jesus Christ loves them. Preach my Gospel tells us to talk to everyone. This is so important because we never know who is on the other side of a door or who has an open heart, but the Lord does. We just have to have the faith to find, which is something I am working on a lot. How is the Preach my Gospel reading going in the family!? Ford?? ;)

Also, two little things that are so funny. First, we have an ant problem in our apartment. Dad-sometimes I wish you were here. Haha! They are everywhere and we are not sure where they are coming from. Oh well, I just pretend I am in Paraguay and if I find one crawling in my bed..........I murder it. :) Good times.

Second, last night I was planning because sister Jasper has to call all the sisters and check up on them Sunday night. Well, it was hot in our apartment and there is a bog/pond right outside our apartment and the frogs and crickets sound just beautiful! I love to listen to them. Anyway, I wanted to feel the breeze and listen to the sounds so I opened the back door a little bit (mind you-the pond is about 10 steps away from the door)....I think you have already guessed what is about to happen. I finish planning, pray and turn around from praying and there sitting very comfortably is a FROG! right on the carpet, right in front of me. Needless to say, my heart quit working for a second. I had to save myself, so I ran back and got Sister Jasper off the phone, promptly informing her that since she was the trainer, SHE had to get the frog out. Yes I know, I have changed a lot. To make things short, there was screaming, some dancing around and eventually we got it out. I will never leave the back door open without supervision. I love Nebraska, but the Nebraska frogs are pushing it. We named him Butch.

Sister Jasper and I taught Relief Society yesterday. It was amazing. I have never taught with someone else before so it was a new experience. We talked all about temples. It is so interesting to me because all of the woman have such incredible testimonies of the temple and how they feel when they go, but sadly, the Winter Quarters temple is one of the least attended temples. The Senior missionaries are working in it constantly, just to keep it running. So if we have such amazing experiences in the temple or we see how the temple blesses us, why don't we go more often. The big answer: Busy. I do know this, whenever mom and dad would go to the temple and would come back, It always felt so good seeing them walk in, smiling. Mom and dad seemed happier, more contend, more in love and the spirit would be in our house whenever they came back from the temple. I remember this as a little girl. I just told them that going to the temple effects your children. It doesn't make them perfect, I am and was so far from perfect, it wasn't funny, but I know that somehow by my parents attending the temple, it protected me. Sibling! I am talking to you- I don't know exactly how, but I know that because mom and dad attend the temple and are constantly keeping their covenants, we are protected. It is very simple. Mom and dad- Thank you. I can never thank you enough for being worthy to go to the temple and for making it a priority.

Siblings- we seriously have the best parents in the world. You may not believe me, but especially when/if you serve a mission, you will realize how blessed we are for our parents. Where much is given, much is required. We have been given incredible parents who have taught us how to live the gospel. The Lord expects a lot of the Call children because He has given us everything. I love you guys!

One of our investigators did come to church! His name is Mark. He is doing well, but he needs to make time to read the Book of Mormon.

The members are great! I love them and they are feeding me well. :)

I love Sister Jasper and am learning so much from her. I am dreading they day that we will not be together. I guess I better enjoy the time I do have with her!

I love you all! Have an incredible time in Seattle, be safe! I will be praying for you. I love this Gospel and I love my Savior!

Have a great week! Onward and Upward!

Love,
Sister Call

Lani's Letter

My Dearest Family!

It was so wonderful seeing you all yesterday! Happy Mothers day mom!...by the way, Is it Abby's birthday June 2nd?? I think it is, but I am not sure. How embarrassing is this, but can you send me a list of everyone's birthdays so that I don't forget?? 

Thank you for all your emails. Sister Jasper just loved all of you. She is really tough, but we have really been enjoying each others company lately. We might be laughing too much and sharing too many inside jokes, but it is whatever.

Dad- that is a wonderful idea with the members. Like I had said, we are committing them to read the Book of Mormon for 30 mins a day and that is going to be extremely difficult for some of them. The singing is a great idea! Sister Jasper doesn't like to sing, but I can hear her secretly singing in the bathroom, even though she denies it. We will work on that. This next week is going to be great! We already have at least two appointments set up each day. That is one thing that I always am concerned about. I want to make sure that our days are full of service and appointments so that we are not wasting time trying to figure out where to go or try tracting, which hasn't been successful in this area. They all know we are coming!! It is actually really funny if you set back and think about it. :)

We met a young woman who moved here about a week ago who just got baptized. Her name is Mercy and she is incredible. She is from China and already has an incredible testimony. We took her to the trail center this last weekend and she seemed to really like it. We talked about the song, Come Come Ye Saints and talked to her about how she is a pioneer in her family. She is so excited about family history work, a little overwhelmed, nothing has been done of course. I told her all about my saying that I was going to be the first sister missionary in China...but while we were talking I just  kept thinking that her children are going to be the ones to serve in China...the Lord is preparing the way for China to be opened and I got to witness it in just one little Chinese woman, Mercy xie.

This last week, we got a new bishop, Bishop Townsend. He is an incredible man. I love him already. Whenever he calls us or we are in a meeting with him, he says, "How goes the work!?" He supports missionary work completely which makes such an impact on the ward. If the Bishop is supportive and acts, the Ward will eventually catch up. The Bishop is key.

That is sad to hear about the neighbors mother, but at the same time that is wonderful for dad to work with them! It is an act of faith, but pray for an opportunity to bear your testimony about seeing our families again. Plan of Salvation!! :)

It was interesting. The other day I was talking to Sister Jasper about some things and this is what she told me. She said, "Being a missionary is a big deal." I had never really thought about that. Representing the Lord is a big deal. I should never feel shy or nervous about sharing the gospel, but have the faith to OPEN my mouth and as long as I am being obedient, the Lord will fill it. :) I have so much to learn.

The members here are amazing. They feed us almost everyday. It is interesting, I have never been so willing to do dishes in my life!! Sorry mom and dad. :) I love doing the members dishes! We do them, and they talk to us, we laugh and they just seem to trust us more. You are so right mom- SERVICE is key. It is tricky though, because everyone here is in the military, so they are always moving around, so people don't really know each other well here because no one stays. I love it because we will walk into someones home and they will have crazy Danish statues or an Middle East rug or something from Asia....these people have lived all around the world. I am sure I get distracted sometimes.

Thank you for reminding me to be myself. I really needed to hear that. The Lord does send us to these places because of who we are. I need to just stop worrying about what the members think or what anyone thinks and just completely trust and rely on the Lord. Thanks mom and whoever else who made copies of my patriarchal blessing! I have been reading it often.

Priscilla- who cares about haircuts, live at Mountain Pines. No pressure.

Ford- Congrats on your date! I really like Rachel. She is sweet.

Thank you all for your love and support. I loved the analogy about the atonement. I know it is the atonement that changes people. It is so hopeful and powerful. I love the part in the Primary song, "He knows I will follow Him, give all my life to Him." I have been thinking about that a lot and how that applies to me. How are we all giving our lives to our Savior? Just something I have been thinking about.

I hope you all have an fantastic week. Good luck with school, work and Musicfest! I am so glad to hear Sarah and Jason are coming to support Ruth! How fun! I am so grateful for your prayers and I feel them everyday. Keep up the good work. I am doing my best to get focused back on the mission...with pray and hard work...IT WILL HAPPEN!! :) I am good.

I love you all dearly! Have a fantastic week full of LIFE! :)

With tons of love,

Sister Call

Lani's Letter #2 May 6th 2013

Dear Family,

How are you all? I am sure life is just crazy as always over there. How is school? Work? It was wonderful hearing your voices this last week. It feels like it has been forever since we have talked. '

I am here! In Nebraska. It is pretty crazy. It doesn't feel real yet. We got here and it was snowing. Today it is really hot....bipolar weather? I think so. :)

My trainer is Sister Jasper. She is amazing. She is 24 and wasn't active in the church until she was 20 years old. She has a crazy personality, which is great and has bleached white hair. She has never trained before, but she has been out over a year. So the situation here in Nebraska is that most of the Sisters that have been serving here have been trail center sisters (visitor center). There was only two proselyting sisters out working in areas. The visitor center sisters, most of them have never been proselyting, but we needed trainers for the 17 new sisters that came in last week therefore, many of our trainers have very little experience. Crazy! New areas have been created and Sisters are everywhere now. We still have a long ways to go, but it is amazing how much the Nebraska mission has changed because of the arrival of all new sisters. My area is called Fairview. It is one of the smallest areas and has been completely trackted out. We are in a family ward and it is wonderful. We went over to a dinner appointment last night at a members home. The father went to Argentina, Buenos Aires on his mission and then taught at the MTC. The mother went to Sweden on her mission then taught at the MTC. That is where they met and fell in love! :) I felt like I was at home. They are the Gray family. Besides that, I am doing well. We have a lot of work to do here. We need people to teach, so we are really trying to get the members excited about missionary work. It hasn't been easy so far, but I just keep reminding myself why I am here and that is because I love my Savior. He is my base and the reason I can do this! I hope you are all doing well. I am praying for you all everyday.

I cannot check my email until next monday, so I will not know when you are all available to Skype on mothers day, if that is what you want to do. Priscilla- you know how to work the Skype on your computer (my old) right? I will probably call you before I try to skype you. Sometime on Sunday...hopefully it will work! Cross your fingers!

I love you all dearly and miss you. Be happy and laugh!

Love you,

Sister Call