Lani's Letter June 24 2013 Week 8

Hey Everyone!

Wow! Those pictures look great from the 50 MILE HIGH ADVENTURE THINGY!!! Why doesn't the girls go on hikes like that!? Priscilla- Start something up for the ladies in the ward please. :) 

I am so glad to hear that Ruth is alive and had a safe journey. :) Mom- don't feel bad, you just help your children create really good memories. :)

This week has been CRAZY! We were living with some other sisters last weekend and then on Tuesday we moved into the Zachary's home. They are AMAZING!! I feel like I am living with my parents! They take care of us so well and we always have food. They are so funny and really want to go on a senior couple mission. I love them and am so grateful for the opportunity I have to live with members.

This last week we had a lesson with James Brown. I am not sure if I have told you about him, but he is like our grandpa. We decided that we needed to watch the Prophet of the Restoration with him. He was crying almost the entire time....so was i. ;) We ended the movie and the spirit was so strong. We asked him how he felt. He told us that he felt good. (He is a man of VERY little words). I asked him, "Do you believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God?" Immediately he responded, "yes ma'am, I do." I do too. I love Joseph Smith. I know he was the Prophet of the Restoration. 

I have been struggling with finding scriptures that relate to people while we are out street contacting. I don't know the scriptures AT ALL! Sibling- be better than me. Anyway, so the other day during companionship study Sister Jasper and I were role-playing teaching revelation through the Book of Mormon. It was my turn to teach. I started flipping through the Book of Mormon to find a verse that could relate to the investigator I was teaching. Sister Jasper looked at me and said, "no no no, close it. and just flip it open. then start reading and teaching." PHEW! So there I went. :) I randomly flipped it open to 3 Nephi 11. This is when the Nephites hear the voice of Heavenly Father. I started reading about how they had to look up. Immediately, I knew what the teach. We need to open our ears to hear and look up. We just need to have faith and Jesus Christ was always be there. It is exactly what our investigator needed to hear. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I had actually been fasting on Wed. to receive a greater witness of the Book of Mormon, and there was my answer. 

I think one of the reason's why missions are 18 to 2 years is because we need that time to create celestial habits. Scripture study everyday. It was just a thought I had this morning.

How ABOUT THAT MISSION CONFERENCE!! SHOOT! That was amazing. So family! what missionary experiences have you had lately!? No pressure, but the conference was all about member missionary work. The missionaries are there completely for YOU to USE. Right after the conference we talked to our ward mission leader. The Lord's work is quickening and we all need to get involved! I walked out of there thinking how important missionaries are, but how MORE IMPORTANT the members are. The members are everything! In the fairview area, tracting is a waste of time. Everyone already knows the mormons, is catholic, with a big red truck and 8 billion dogs. ;) ;) We need the members. I love the members here. Our stake president told us that he wants his bishops calling him complaining that the missionaries are pushing missionary work too much. Wow! Also, I was thinking yesterday about why we are all here on earth right now? What I got from the conference last night was that our purpose for being on the earth right now is: Missionary work!

I hope you are all doing well. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth. Jesus Christ is our Savior and knows EXACTLY what we need for comfort and trials. (Alma 7:12). Joseph Smith restored the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on the earth. I pray every day to love the people more because as I love people, I will want to invite them to learn more about the one thing that will give them an eternal family and lasting happiness.  I love you all and am praying for you everyday. Have a great week!

Love always!

Sister Call

Lani's Letter June 17th Week 7

Family!!

Happy Late Fathers day dad!! Sorry that you haven't received anything yet, but no worries! It is on it's way! :) yay!

It's sounds like you all are crazy busy, but that is great! Being busy with good things makes us feel so much better about ourselves.

So transfers happened this last week...AND....I am staying with Sister Jasper! in Fairview. I am really grateful because I love fairview and the people we are currently teaching. Sister Jasper is still the Sister Trainer Leader.

This week has been intense. Everything goes crazy when transfers come along. We are teaching a man named James Brown. He is in his 70's and I treat him like he is my grandpa. :) We had a lesson with him on Thursday and it was so good. He doesn't want to set a date for baptism. He believes everything, but hasn't received an answer if Joseph Smith is a prophet. The issue: he hasn't prayed to know. Problem! In the middle of the lesson we asked him if he would pray there and then to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet. He consented and prayed. We waited and waited. He just sat there very thoughtful. As he was praying, I was praying my guts out! I want him to know for himself so bad. I felt the spirit. We asked him what he had felt and he said that he felt a new breathe of fresh air come into him. Unfortunately he said that he wasn't sure if that was his answer. We talked to him all about how the spirit feels and how to recognize answers. I have found that sometimes I can pray for answers all I want, but I will not recognize when they come. I need to pray to recognize answers as well and pray to receive them. James is wonderful and I love him.

We are homeless currently, which is an adventure. We are moving in with members tomorrow, so we are staying with some other sisters in their apartment. It's amazing because they don't have a bed for us, so I have been sleeping on the floor for the past few days but it doesn't feel any different than sleeping on a bed. The Lord is definitely blessing me. My one thought: Other Side of Heaven!!

I have been thinking a lot about love lately. Before I came out I feel like most everyone told me, just love the people. I thought, oh yeah, that will be easy. I love people. Well, my eyes have been opened. When we truly love someone, we desperately want to share with them what means the most to us. We teach them according to what they need to hear. It's like our parents. They love us so much that they will teach us the hard lessons so that we can learn and grow and not get hurt in the future. I am praying to love the people in Nebraska more because if I love them more, then I will not let one of them pass by without sharing with them the one thing that will bring them the most happiness. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love our Savior. He knows how best to heal us and comfort us. We are so blessed to be able to live this gospel and see the happiness it brings to our family.

Fathers day we spent dinner time with the Weekly's. They are the family that lost her dad two years ago. It was a hard day in their home, but Sister Jasper and I made them taco's. :) After that, we had a lesson with them. We talked about the Savior in Gethsemmane. The 4 year old, Thomas, was really distracting so I pulled him aside and started playing with him. We took pictures of everything! It was a blast. I totally felt like I was playing with Joe! It was really fun for me. By the way- Thanks for the email Joe!! I am looking forward to that hug and kiss. ;)

I am grateful for this opportunity. Thank you for making it possible family! I know that as we love people more, we will want to share the gospel with them and plead with them to come closer to Christ.

Have a great week full of excitement and adventure! I love you all! Pray to see the tender mercies and keep up the great missionary work! I am BEYOND proud of all of you. I will try to keep up!!

Love,
Sister Lani Call

Emailng

We got to email Lani back and forth today for a little bit. She is sounding wonderful!!

Lani's Letter June 10 2013 Week 6

Dear Family,
I absolutely LOVED the pictures! You all look so great!! Sarah and Jason are looking super good and so are grandma and grandpa. So much change. Crazy.

So Priscilla- Congrats on graduation! How do you feel my friend? You look great in the pictures. :) ALSO- FANTASTIC job with inviting your friends to your seminary graduation! You are such an example. I wish I would have done that more. Missionary work brings the greatest joy and I hope you experienced that as you brought your friends to the seminary graduation. Congrats again!

Ford- Drivers Ed huh? I am sure you are an fantastic driver already. Just don't be too cautious. Just kidding! Be safe! Or else...

Ruth- You look so beautiful with grandma and grandpa! I am so grateful that you have chosen to make young women's a priority. It is going to help you become the woman Heavenly Father wants you to become. You are awesome!

Everyone else looks great!

So, this week has been eye opening to say the least. Transfers are this Thursday and Sister Jasper and I are trying not to talk about it. We are just continuing to make appointments and do the work.

Here is the surprise....Mark Rossell was baptized on Saturday. I don't want to get into the full story, but as you know, we didn't have a preparation day this week. We had too much going on. We kept feeling that Mark needed more time. So, we went over to his home Monday night and talked to him. He was ok with waiting and being fully prepared. Unfortunately, his wife was not ok. The next morning, everything blew up in our face. We went over to their home Tuesday night to talk...the bishops wife came with us. It was a scary. To make the long story short, I needed to be humbled. Heavenly Father has His plan and nothing is about us. The Lord's will is everything and as long as we follow it, everything will work out in the end. And it did, Mark got to be baptized. His interview went well. I needed to be humbled. I have so much to learn! Ah!

The sad part- I COULDN'T GET MY CAMERA FIXED IN TIME!! I am so sorry. This week has been crazy.

Sister Jasper is doing very well. She is such an example to me of just being myself and really enjoying the mission. The other day we were listening the the Tabernacle choir...she starting singing falsetto, therefore, I joined in with base. We belong in that choir. ;) I love laughing with her when things get awkward, laughing with her when I want to cry and enjoying myself.

The members take such good care of us here. They are always feeding us and letting us come over to teach. I love the Fairview ward!

This morning I was studying while Sister Jasper was calling all the Sister's she is over. She was talking to one of the Sister's about just relaxing, because everyone is stressed with transfers looming around the corner. She started talking about line upon line. I was intrigued and read in 2 Nephi 28:30 and then cross referenced Isaiah 28:10. I needed to hear this because I get discouraged and need to learn that the Lord teaches us line upon line. Here a little, there a little. So I just need to relax, trust in the Lord and realize that our Heavenly Father loves us perfectly and knows us perfectly. He knows where we are at and what we need. Just just need to repent daily, humble ourselves and realize that we are meant to have JOY! Plus! We know the truth! We have the gospel and have the best family on EARTH! I am not bias. Trust me.

Also, we can know our Savior on a very personal level. He knows us and knows exactly how to help us. How is the preach my gospel reading going!? We have committed a less active member to read preach my gospel. I know it will help him because it teaches so simply the gospel truths. I am learning to love it more and more. Well, in the end...I have another week! I can try harder this week and pick myself up and be happy because the gospel is the truth!

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Call

Lani's Letter June 3rd 2013 Week 5

Hello Family!

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY ABBY!! are you ready?? ok.....

happy birthday to YOU.....happy birthday TO you....happy BIRTHDAY dear ABBERS!!....hem hem....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!....amen.

I hope you had a great day sis! I love you!!

Ah! I loved hearing about how the trip to Seattle went! That is crazy about Melanie Walker! I worked with her a lot and we were all really excited about her mission call. I know that she is going to do great things in Brazil. I am so happy to hear about Uncle Garth and Aunt Mary Gae. I wish I could have been able to get to know them some more, but i love the affect they have had on our family. Hopefully you will be able to go back soon! AND- I want some bread. Just kidding! Don't send it. I will dream about it as I sleep.

This week has been crazy!! We were so busy with exchanges. Sister Jasper and I went on two different 24 hour exchanges. It is such a blessing for me to be with Sister Jasper. It forces me to buckle down and work harder because I am with a different sister two to three times a week! and they have no idea about the area or the people we are teaching. I am honored that the Lord has given me this opportunity. I have been thinking a lot about the weaknesses and trials we have in life. They are so perfect for us. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need to grow and learn and become, therefore, why not be grateful for every hard thing we face? It is just to help us become the better us! Life is too short to waste a really tough trial. (a little backwards, but it's a thought).

I have also been thinking about the Lord's timing. It is impeccable!! Friday night, Sister Sacarawazza (from Japan) and I were coming out of our dinner appointment and walking up the street at the exact same time was a girl named Katie who we have been trying to see for a couple of weeks...she has never been home. It was incredible! She has been reading the Book of Mormon and asked for another for her friend Emma. The Lord puts people in our path, we just need to open our eyes and mouth and He will trust us more opportunities.

Do you all remember Mark Rossell? Some sad things have happened and we are having to postpone the baptism. Mark decided to go shopping on the Sabbath. Now, I know that this seems harsh that we are not letting him get baptized this weekend, but we have been praying for something to help humble him. We are told in Moroni 6:2 that before baptism the people had a "broken heart and contrite spirit and witnessed to the church that they truly repented for their sins." Mark is really struggling taking this seriously and needs more time. I have learned a lot from Sister Jasper. We were still going to have him be baptized until this morning when she said to me, "I will not let anyone get baptized who is not ready." It's a scary thought because it is our responsibilities as missionaries to make sure that these people are ready and have humbled themselves. It's not good. It has humbled me a lot because it makes me think about how important baptism is. We are making sacred covenants with God and are expected to obey the commandments. It's overwhelming sometimes because I desperately want these people to be ready and understand completely! but missionary work is a process and I need more patience. Sorry to ramble on about that. I know Mark is going to get there soon. He just needs to repent, I need to repent, we all need to repent and try again. :) That's the exciting news...that we can repent and feel that weight taken off. Phew!

All is well though! This week we have lots of appointments. The Lord is blessing us so much. It's not even funny! We don't even have a preparation day this week because we are so busy!

We are teaching more people besides Mark, which is great. Lynn and Jean are an older couple and they are progressing right a long. Jean  is a grumpy, old fart. We have an appointment with Lynn this Wed. and he said that he was going to the Village Inn (restaurant) at that time. YEAH RIGHT! were we going to let him get away with that. SO we are going with Lynn to Village Inn WITH HIM!

All is well. We went on exchanges with the Spanish sisters the other day. It was great! The hermana who is training was at the MTC with me. We talked for a little while about how she is doing. I love listening to the Sisters talk about things they are going through. I love them so much and I want them to be successful! We talked about our parents and the effect they have had on us. I would not be on a mission if it hadn't been for Michael and Samatha Call. I love you both so much!

Alright, well...onto another week! I hope you all have an incredible week full of exciting things! How is your Book of Mormon reading coming?? Are you still reading Preach my Gospel as a family!? Keep it up if you are. If not, repent. It is so sad to see so many people go inactive. How can people fall away? Simple. Because they do not nourish their testimonies. They aren't doing the simple things. It's an eye opening experience being on a mission and walking away from a LA members home and desperately thinking, I cannot let that happen to me.

Not too many happy stories in this email, but I am happy and doing very well! I am learning and the Lord is blessing me everyday. It sounds like He is blessing you all as well. I love you and am so grateful for your faithfulness. It is an example to me and makes me want to help other families find the happiness we have as a family! :) I love you all dearly!

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Call