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. :)

Guitar Withdrawal

Man, I'm going through guitar withdrawals. We had one for a bit but the Elder that owned it got transferred. But it sucked anyway. Well I have 4 baptisms coming up on the 19th of this month. That's the day I find out if I get transferred. I hope to stay here one more transfer. But we'll see. I didn't realize how long I've been out. Almost 5 months, I was at this families house for dinner the other day. I had dinner with them the first day I was here and they had a little girl whose walking now! She was barely sitting up when I got here. It was just weird.

Well I gotta go, we're going to go play baseball today. In like 20. Love you Cali.

-Elder Call

More Baptisms!

All the weather stations lie about the heat so it won't scare away the tourists. Always add 5 to 10 degrees if its above a hundred. It was only 104 last night though. And I wrote Sister Olsen a letter and sent it yesterday. So she should get it soon.

I talked yesterday in church TOO! Me and my comp and guess what? I recorded mine so I could send it home! I'm gonna send it tomorrow because I just bought stamps like 15 minutes ago. And I got your package the other day. Thanks, we all enjoyed it. There are normally 4 Elders in our apartment, but one got sent home. So by default we became his new comp which normally wouldn't be a big thing, but he's a span-am (he speaks spanish) so half of our lesson the last 2 weeks have been in spanish. Not gonna lie, I've been catching up on sleep at those lessons. I'm also gonna send my momory card home so you guys can see what I've been up to.
I got a few more baptisms this month. 3 are set and we're gonna set 4 more this week. I've got to baptise 2 of the 5 people I've taught, baptisms are way fun.

And I was wondering when that baby was gonna get here. Congratulations to the new parents. (Molly and Chris Morgan)

I'm always down with pics of the g-babies! They all must look way different by now. It's been 4-5 months.

Love you Cali. You are the faithful writer!
Love
-Elder Call

To Cali...

Over drawing my bank account? What are you talking about? I'm broke. I've been eating peanut butter the last week because I have no money! My former comp went over minutes last month so I only had 60 dollors for the month. And when he got transfered this month on the 11th, he had ran out all of our minutes! We went over 110 minutes! And we have to pay for them. I'm way upset about it. I hate peanut butter!
But on a happier note. I baptised someone 2 weeks ago and last week and might again this weekend. We'll see how things go. I also got a new comp Elder Lewis, he's a stud. I freakin' love him. But we are probably only going to be comps for a transfer because he's going home soon and you usually go to your greenie area for your last transfer.
I'm having a blast. Minus the peanut butter, hope things work out well for you and Jeff with the new house thing. I'll talk to you next week. Love you!

-Elder Call

To Cali...

Man, it's getting really weird not seeing you guys. I can't even read that book you made me without crying. So it sits under all my books:)
Well transfers are tomorrow. And I'm getting a new comp. Thank the Lord. Elder Francis doesn't even know how many times he came close to dying...but all is good now. And as far as the weather goes I have zero sympathy. It's 109 on a regular basis. So I need the story Mom sent me called Jakes Sacrifice. It won't open up on any computer I use. So tell Mom. With the fair coming up she won't do it. Also send me some pics of the grand-babies. I haven't seen Dallas, Hannah, or Halle in over 3 months! They must look way different! I just had a baptism last week. 3 more for this month! Love you Cali!

-Elder Call

Letter to Mom

So you said Brian got another parrot? Polly Rockstar is dead? What happened there? Since you guys are selling all this stuff does that mean you're not moving to Bend?

I actualy had a dream that Grandpa passed away, it made me way sad all day. Tell Grandpa I miss him. I sent him a letter a while back. Make sure he got it. So the thing I learned from this dream was, if and when Grandpa dies, I get his belt buckles. Don't ask why. I just do. I've always loved 'em.

It was really cool this week. Only reached a high of 105! My blood is so thin Mom, in our apartment I can't have it any colder then 78. I start freezing.

My watch broke. I biffed it and ripped the wrist band in half. I keep it in my pocket so I can at least tell the time. But I'm kinda glad it broke. One of the big things Elders love is watches, along with ties, pens, sunglasses, and rings. And some Elders where teasing me about my "ghetto" watch. So i'm gonna try and get one that looks good but is cheap. It's weird. You have to wear sunglasses, its just not an option.

Well Mom, what do you want to know about Vegas? Guaranteed it's not what you think it's like. What's really funny is the people who live here never go to the strip. Unless they wanna go see a movie because all the theatres are in casinos.

So how are Donna and Addie doing? Cali sent me pics of Abbie and Kaitlyn. They look way different from when I left. Abbie does anyway.

Well mom, I miss you guys but I love it out here. I had a dream the other night that I was home. Not sure why but I woke up crying. I'm gonna miss being a missionary. Listen to me, I've only been out 3 months. But the time flies!

So a side note, me and my comp have 8 baptism coming up in August and we are teaching about 4 to 5 times the lessons as the Elders in our district. And we're on bikes! That stupid bike, my legs have gotten so big that 2 of my slacks don't fit anymore because they ripped when I was biking. The muscles in my leg expanded and ripped 'em. I know. I'm a stud.

But I do miss you guys a lot, think about you everyday. I love you Mom. And don't worry. I'm being careful AND good.

Love-

Elder Call

Photos!!! And a few videos too...

I'm finally getting around to posting these pics. Oops. Sorta forgot about them :)

Elder Call's Photo Gallery

Dear McKayla

What grade are you going to be in? Who is your treacher? How is it back home? Anything cool happened since I left? Did you like the fair? I didn't get any Doughboy's this year! I REALLY MISSED THEM!

So do you have any questions for me about Las Vegas? Email me next week and I'll answer them for you! I love you.

-Uncle Brent

To My Sister Katie

Thats funny! I wouldn't be able to say no to Blake either. Well Vegas is hot, but I'm still kicking butt! I'm on a bike but we've been teaching so much we're going to appeal to president for a car. The Elders with the most lessons in our zones get anywhere from 3 to 10 lessons a week. We got 20 lessons the last two weeks and 23 this week. And we have 7 baptisms coming up. So I think we deserve a friggin' car!

I'm finally starting to get used to all of this, being a missionary is hard. But lots of fun too. Don't let all the kids grow up too fast before I get back, ok?

And why the heck are Mom and Dad moving to Bend!? Don't they know Oregon City is god's country? Trust me, I should know. I'm in the Devils hood hanging with his homies.

I hate using public computers, it sucks trying to use these things. It took me over an hour to get on the one that I reserved!

Well what do you want to know? Let me know and I'll answer! I gotta go.

Thanks for the email it was good hearing from you.

Love-Elder Call

A Quick Note from Elder Call 7/20/09

Im kinda pissed today because I can't really email, I'm always short on time for email I swear. But I check them anytime on Mondays, usually in the mornings if we can. Always before 6 if we're going to check them. It got to 115 degrees the other day. Just about melted my face off. I emailed Kate about some of my goin' ons so talk to her, sorry I can't write much today. Love you tons.

-Elder Call

Elder Call's Mailing Address and Email Address

Elder Call

4455 Allen Lane

Suite 140 North

Last Vegas, NV 89031

eldercall at myldsmail dot net

Finally! An Email!!

My 4th sucked, we had to be in by 6 but we went to this members family that has a gorgeous daughter, but only 'til 7 and fireworks didn't start till 9.

I had to give a talk on the 5th about freedom, so I talked about Captain Moroni and I may have said turd over the pulpit. Apparently thats a no-no. I got talked to by the Stake President, who just happened to be there.

And just the other night. We were teaching some investigators, who have a large glass musket, filled with wine by the door, and on our way out I knocked it over. Who leaves a bottle of wine by the door, let a lone a musket of wine. It's a wine bottle in the shape of a gun.

Here is a run down of my day. Up at 6:30am. Go for a run with my comp who took 4th in state back in New Hampshire. Lots of fun there. Study 'til 10am. Out the door and teaching 'til 9pm. And in between all of this we bike everywhere in 100 or plus degrees. I'm so brown now. We go about 15 to 20 miles a day. My legs are so bike that I can't where some of my pants because my thighs are too big now.

Camouflage To Do List - July 2, 2009

Hey Cali,

Yeah my last letter was kind of a "to do" list but that's because I wasn't getting ahold of anyone. I was emailing you at... but I guess that's not it. So I was just really frusterated.

Vegas is awesome. The members are awesome. They treat us great. If it weren't for the hot weather and the strip it would be perfect. It's weird, there's this unspoken rule... the strip stays at the strip. Like Vegas is full of way nice people. Only tourists go to the strip.

Well what do you want to know? Lots has happened since I got here. I just can't think on my own. So as some questions and I'll answer them!

So how's it going back home? No one but you has written. Well, that's not true. Sister Chelson wrote me and sent $10! That was pretty sweet. I just can't remember who she is... :)

So what did you think of the pics? They're my only copy. So could you send them back? I just wanted you to put them on my blog. Did you see the pics of the guy that got shot right outside our apartment? Freakin' crazy!

I loved the pics of Dallas! Send me more! And all the stuff you sent was great even though the Bible on CD is totally not the King James version! (Note from Cali: I don't know where it came... Mom and Dad got it)

Love,

Elder Call

P.S. Andrew has a list of CD's I want. So try and help him with that. Thanks.

He's ALIVE!!

Elder Call FINALLY took time from his busy missionary schedule to send a letter... with pictures too!!

Dear Cali,

I never got a package. BUT you're forgiven (I sent him a package last week... they must have crossed in the mail). How's it going back home? I'm sending you some pics to put on my blog and I'm sending home my 4GB memory card. Please send the card and pics back!

So, I really need music! I bought a CD player but I don't have any CD's. I've been playing my comps which isn't too bad but I want more and my own. So please send me:

- A ridiculously long list of music. Most of which I put on the iPod in the package on it's way! :)

I also want pics of Dallas.

Love, Elder Call

The next 2 pages are captions for photos.

WHAT?! This isn't a letter! It's a Sister Please Do List!! If he hadn't sent photos and captions I would go on strike.

* I'll post the pics soon!

Elder Call is MIA

Apparently this Elder doesn't know how to write letters!! I haven't received any news to update the blog. I've sent him multiple letters chastising his non-existent letter writing. Whatever.

Elder Call is in the MTC!

Hey Cali! 

I got your letter yesterday. You and Cassie are the only ones to write me yet. Show Donna and Addie how to send me emails so they can start.

Well, I bet Rachel is happy to have that beast out of her! Is Donna staying downstairs? How's Dallas? Still chunky? It's only been a week I know, but I still want to know. It sucks but we can't send stuff by express mail so it's gonna take forever to send this.

The Elders in my district have all gotten a package. Some twice! So dear sister of mine, I need you to make the family step up and send me some stuff. You don't realize how cool mail is until you're an Elder.

I have learned so much the last week. Mainly that I don't know anything! Today is the first day I've really studied hard. I've read and marked everyday but my comp and the other Elders really buckled down and studied. My comp's name is Elder Finance. It's pronounced with a short "i". He's kind of a geek but it could be much worse! So I won't complain. Well I gotta go. Love you.

Elder Call

Breakfast Farewell

Brent's plane flew out at 7:30am so Katie suggested we have breakfast together at the ridiculous hour of 4am. Brian, Carrie, Katie, and I made french toast with hashbrowns. Well... we tried anyway. Brian had to come in and, "show us how it's done." I thought we were doing pretty good. Breakfast was great... it was nice to be together.

Dad, Cassie, Donna, Addie, Andrew, and Debo went to the airport to send Elder Call off to Vegas. Actually, they were the only ones without kids and nothing better to do! :)

Elder Call has arrived in the MTC!!

Elder Call has arrived in the MTC! Here's his new address: 

Elder Velan Brent Call

MTC Mailbox #200

NV-LVW 0518

2005 N 900 E

Provo, Utah 84604-1793

You can write to him for free at www.dearelder.com and he will get it the same day! Make sure you send your letters to the MTC not the pouch.