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