Finally, a baptism in Battle Mountain!

Yeah it's a good thing Mom sent me that stuff, I'm not joking its cold over here! Does Mom still think I'm in Vegas? She said she couldn't believe it got that cold in Vegas. Well it doesn't get that cold in Vegas! I'm in the mountain of Nevada! And it gets way cold here! It got to a high of 38 a few days ago and its way high today at a whopping 50! How sad is that. And it doesn't help that a summer in Vegas on a bike has thinned out my blood considerably. But did you see the jacket she sent me?! It's sweet. I feel a little too dressed up in that thing for Battle Mountain. I might get mugged. :)

I miss Abi! And she would lick up the mustard! LOL! So Halle is finely getting some chubb to her? Good, she had nothing on her when I was home. How are Carrie and the rest of her kids doing? I've heard nothing about them since I've been out.

So I'm creeping up on 7 months now Cali! Can you believe that! Time has been flying by, for me at least.

And Jeff is 30? That's creepy. Jeff's only 10 years older then me! That just clicked in my head! I always think of him as way older.

So I decided when I get home I'm going to build a pizza oven. We ate at one last night and I want one bad. I would love to eat bread out of a pizza oven, all the time!

So I had a baptism on the 7th. First one since I got here. Felt like its been forever since I had one. It had been close to 2 months. Whooo! That's a dry spell I never want to repeat!

Well Grandpa Lane is coming into town in about 20 minutes! He went to Arizona or something and is driving through on his way home! I'm way excited, and I called and talked to my President and he said since its p-day today I could get some lunch with him and hang for a bit. He's only got a few more years in him, and no guarantee he'll be around when I get home. This could be one of the last times I get to see him.

Well I'm off! I love you Cali, give Dallas a kiss for me!

-Elder Call

Halloween

I got the pics! Holy cow my nieces and nephews are just too cute! My Halloween was kinda sad. We went to trunk or treat, there was like 15 cars there. It was sad.

So Jeff is 30? Holy cow that makes me feel old! I have no idea what to get him. I'm so out of the loop as to what there is out there. Um... I'd get help from Mom... sorry I'm useless. ;)

And Dallas is a year old?! I feel funny about that one. Well is any one pregnant? And how come none of Carries kids were in these pictures?

Love you Cali

- Elder Call

Brent was online emailing at the same time and this was our mini email conversation:

Cali: Katie's pregnant but I thought you knew that! Carrie's kids are in Idaho visiting Andersons.

Brent: What?! When did they find that out! When is she due?

Cali: She's 8 weeks, due June 9th. She told everyone about a week ago. Sorry! I thought you knew. :)

Brent: Well I'm only in another state! You're the only one who writes me, Cassie doesn't, Carrie doesn't, and Katie does sometimes. But all my news comes from you!

Got the swine flu!

So I caught myself looking at a thing full of coupons the other day... yeah. But I found some sweet deals! 2, 24 packs of chicken thighs for five bucks! We've been eating like kings the last 4 days, because of that and the massive package that got sent. The poor lady at the post office almost couldn't lift it! (Note: Carrie, Katie, and I have been clipping coupons and have VERY full pantries. We sent some to Elder Call)

I GOT THE SWINE FLU TOO! I was really feverish the other week and I went and got a check-up yesterday and the doctor said I had it. But that's Battle Mountain for ya.

Not much has gone down here. Our investigators are all crazy though! 2 super bad lessons the other day. But we managed to pull through them, just barely. At one the guy had a porno opened on his couch right where I was sitting. Got outta there real fast. Hoping to have some baptisms coming up soon, we'll see how those go, well I love you Cali!

-Elder Call

Tough times in the armpit of America.

Now that you mention it I think I might have given it to D-bo. Not sure but I have some very vague memory. And I can look at your website. I pretty much can do anything I feel like. My pres is pretty laid back, and anything to do with family we can pretty much do. Plus I'm in Battle Mountain, so I can really do whatever I want. The members we live with just got back from a mission in Croatia. They keep trying to get us to break rules! It's kinda funny. They say we can get on the computer when ever we want. It was pretty cool for about a day. But there's just not a lot of things to do on the computer. You really only get email once a week as an Elder, and it just got really boring. But I love this family. They are really good to us. They gave me a black Columbia hoody to wear as my coat and I think it should do.

I HATE MY MISSION OFFICE! They had a wrong address for us 3 weeks ago, and they said they fixed it, then they called us 4 days ago and asked what our address was. THEY HADN'T CHANGED IT! So we have had no letters since I got transferred here. I don't know how many of my investigators wrote me, and no letters have been forwarded back to us. So I think any letters I might have gotten in the past months are just gone for good. Totally sucks.

And my ward mission leader I think pretty much hates me. I can't say anything without making him mad. The other day Elder Winters got shoe polish on his pants and stained them. So he was joking about bleaching them white, and I said I wouldn't walk next to him if he did, ya homo. And my ward mission leader says, "I use to where white jeans." And he was pretty upset about that. And he keeps telling us how to be missionaries! That is my biggest pet peeve! People saying stuff like do this, do that, or my favorite one- oh they will never come back to church don't bother! I told a member the other day that Jesus was pissed that she just said that.

I kind of hate it here, but I'm making the best of it. December should have a few baptisms for us.

Well I think that's all of the new things on my end worth talking about anyway, love you Cali.

-Elder Call

Baby it's cold outside!!

Cali, the mission office had our mailing address wrong, so all of our mail from the past three weeks went to some house in Fallon. I might never get my memory cards back. So don't delete any of those pictures! They may be the only copy I have!

We got new senior sisters running our office, and they're kinda computer illiterate... hence the mix up with our mail, grrrr...

Well Battle Moutnain has gotten cold! It got to 34 the other day! They say it can get as cold as negative 30! Cali, I didn't bring a single sweater or anything! Not any missionary appropriate ones anyway. But we have some awesome members (the ones we live with) who own a store that sells Carharts and stuff. They said I could go get one there. What I didn't get was they meant I could go HAVE one, so I went and the only one that would work while proselyting was 100 bucks. And they gave it to me! It's just a black hoody but it's nice. They said it would work for awhile. But they said if it's get negative it won't work. I think I can manage.

BTW, can you send my black Columbia jacket? It's all black and has a kind of scout patch on the left shoulder that says Columbia. Or have mom send it!

I got the package the other day, which was good because I'm scared to eat anything out of this town. We've gotten sick 3 times in 3 weeks. My ward mission leader says thats normal and it just takes some time getting used to! It's because of all the nucleur testing they did up here. :)

And the ties were sick! I needed some more because I had a few that got destroyed by a dry cleaner. I had to go iron them all again with a damp cloth. But 3 will never be the same again... :(

And tell Jeff thanks for the tie, I've only had it 3 days and everyone keeps complimenting it! Well tell Jeff and Dallas I love them, love you too!

-Elder Call

Transferred to the armpit of America

So I got transferred, to Battle Mountain. Its been voted the armpit of America. I'm not kidding you, it really was. And for good reason too. The town has about 300 people in it. I also cover a place called Antelope Valley, and a town called Austin. Antelope Valley has about 12 families in it total, and Austin has about 1500 people in it. My area is close to 350 miles! I'm in a car all the time it feels like and we've been so busy we haven't even gone to Austin.Cali, there are only maybe 30 houses out here.

This town has been closed for the last 10 years, the only missionary effort here was done by Elders in the next town over, and they only came down for one day a week. There is a reason why the town has been closed to missionaries. It just seems to be bad luck for Elders.

We normally get our transfer calls from the AP's (assistant to the President) but the mission pres himself called me and "asked" if I would accept the transfer to come here. He told me my main job would be to fix relations in the town because people remember the Elders. So of course, I said yes. When President calls and says I have a special assignment for you, you don't say no.

Well that's all from the armpit of America! Love you Cali!

-Elder Call

A Quick Note...

I wrote Mom a huge email so I'm almost out of time. So get an update from her. Sorry Cali I feel bad not writing you a letter of your own. So are you sending me back my memory cards? I kind of need them... I also got the package! Thanks, I'm sure you helped out a lot there. I gotta go. Love you Cali! And Jeff too!

-Elder Call

I never got the update from Mom.. she deleted it! And I must confess... I didn't help with the package this time 'round. :)