Elder Callor is leaving Wright, Wyoming and being transferred to Mandan, North Dakota. Mandan is located just across the Missouri River from Bismark, the capital, close to the ND capital Bismark. As of the census of 2000, there were 16,718 people, 6,647 households, and 4,553 families residing in the city.
Elder Callor received transfer calls a week earlier than expected so that no returning missionaries needed to fly the week of Christmas. Unfortunately, he won't be spending Christmas with his current companion, Elder Bringhurst and the families he grew to know in Wright, Wyoming.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Week 6, Transfer 10
Elder Callor and Elder Bringhurst have been working hard. Megan Charon was baptized on Wednesday the 23rd of September 2009. The ward mission leader was a great support in getting talks and prayers lined up for the baptism. They had a great turn out! Pretty much all of the Young Women were there to support Megan. Even Eric Geis was present. The spirit was strong, especially as the Restoration video was being shown while Megan and Brother Hansen were changing.
Sean Ryan is still doing great. The bishop brought up the doctrine of becoming like gods, and Sean accepted it. He is actually pretty excited about it because it shows that there is a good reason to be doing all of the good things. They were able to review the Plan of Salvation with Sean as well as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to help him understand what it took to achieve eternal life. He understood and accepted each of the doctrines and challenges they presented that evening.
On Sunday the 27th of September Brother Randy Charon was ordained a priest. Elder Callor was asked to perform the ordination, this was his first time ordaining so he was a little nervous about getting the wording right, but it went well.
A former member of the ward who moved to Iowa came back to visit for the month and the first thing he did on his return was give the elders an amazing referral. He asked his friend Dave Goff if it would be okay if the missionaries visited with him and the friend said "certainly!" Apparently they have passed him on the street a few times, but hadn't spoken with him and he was very confused as to why. Brother Christiansen (the member) assured him that there was no malice intended and that the elders would love to visit with him. They arranged with Brother Christiansen for the three of them to visit Dave together.
The elders had a fantastic visit with a less-active family that the bishop had requested them help with. They had a great heart-to-heart about some of their concerns about the Gospel and answered them with the Articles of Faith. As the discussion progressed, they could see the change in their countenances. At first they were very skeptical and cynical, having met with many missionaries in the past. By the end, they felt that everything they had discussed made sense. In fact, in the course of the conversation, they learned that they had quite a collection of teaching aids for primary aged children (they had purchased them for family home evenings in the past); they joked that if the Bishop found out he'd put them in Primary. To all of their surprise the wife said that she would love to be in Primary, because she is terrified of going to Sunday School. She feels that the discussion in Sunday School would be out of her depth, but that the basic doctrine discussed in Primary would be more suitable for her level of understanding. she was even willing to meet with someone before teaching the class in order to make sure she didn't teach anything incorrectly. They spoke to the bishop about it a few days later and he was shocked. he had never imagined she was ready to accept a calling. He had no problems with the idea!
Elder Callor thought for sure he was going to be transferred. He has been in Wright, Wyoming for 6 months and couldn't imagine staying, even though he wanted to. Obviously they are doing an amazing job and have many more people to teach; he is staying in Wright and was called as District Leader. During transfer week teaching usually slows down but Elder Callor and Bringhurst taught 34 lessons and got the Preach My Gospel class started for the youth. They are excited to continue the work together in the wonderful little town of Wright!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Week 4, Transfer 8
Happy Father's Day Yesterday! We had a fantastic sacrament meeting: Sister Jody Geis and her daughter Lyndy Geis spoke about father's/husbands--this last weekend Lacy (other daughter) was married in the temple to a young man. At the same time, Eric Geis was there (Jody's husband, who is not a member), and he was able to hear about how much his wife and daughter appreciate him. He went through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House and has agreed to meet with the missionaries! We also received today in the mail a referral to see him (he had filled out one of the referral cards at the Temple Square Visitor's Center).
Saturday's activity was a great success! We ended up having 19 youth, about 10 adults, and 12 missionaries present. The youth were divided into three groups: English, Spanish, and Japanese. There were 4 English, 6 Spanish, and 9 Japanese. Elders Wallace, Morrell, Jones, and Bair taught the English group; Elders Correa, Wuthridge, Hall, and Finn taught Spanish, and Elders Stephenson (AP), Rigg, Nelson, Robinson, and Callor taught the Japanese group.
We had Brother Booth act as the MTC President for the activity, and his wife accompanied him. Bishop Bertagnole and Brother Nichols (member of the bishopric) acted as his counselors. Sister Bertagnole played the piano for the activity, Brother and Sister Bohn prepared lunch, with help from Sister Benedict, Brother Cowley and Sister Wrigley played the part of investigators for the kids to teach! Every group was taught about the Message of the Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The foreign language groups were also taught a little about their language, and learned two songs in that language, Spanish learned I Am A Child of God, and Called to Serve, Japanese learned Kaeru No Uta Ga, and Called to Serve. The English group (during this phase of the activity) was taught how to conduct music, and received a lesson on "How to Teach." We had a scripture chase activity for each group (separated), a relay race (combined) and tracting (separated). The Relay Race had three Stations: Companionship inventory, Cheerful Chores, and 5 Minute Lunch. Companionship Inventory consisted of one companionship per group trying to match items from two bags: The point was that a companionship had to be unified in order to work effectively, and there was only one matching item per set and they were separated by a chalk board from seeing into each other's bags. Cheerful Chores was to teach the kids that even when missionary work is hard, you still need to be happy: they had to chew up 5 saltine crackers and then whistle a song to someone (very hard to do!). 5 Minute Lunch Break was to demonstrate that missionaries are often in a big hurry: they had to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (for the entire group), but because "they had forgotten to wash dishes this morning, and didn't have time to do so," they had to use CHOPSTICKS to make the sandwiches! I think the English group finished first, but they were disqualified because their sandwiches were awful! (mostly jelly, one dab of PB) Therefore the Japanese group won (almost perfect sandwiches!)
We also had a testimony meeting where some of the kids bore their testimony in a foreign language. "Elder" Jeffrey Benedict (12) bore his testimony in Japanese! A lot of the Spanish missionaries did theirs in Spanish. We ended the activity by having the youth sing Called To Serve: verses were in English, but the first chorus was Japanese and the second was Spanish.We then had a lunch of hamburgers and the missionaries sang Called to Serve (to show them how it's done!)It was a FANTASTIC experience! All the youth want to do something like this again. Hopefully they can make a Stake-wide version of this!Well, all out of time,Love,Elder Callor
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Week of Memorial Day
Elder Callor and his current companion, Elder Robinson are both staying in Wright another transfer.
This week Elder Callor played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," arranged by Michael R. Hicks and Elder Robinson sang in sacrament meeting. It was an amazing meeting: Brother Booth (of the Stake High Council) and his son (who is preparing for a mission) gave spectacular talks. After church Brother Booth addressed the Ward Council (all the leadership of the various organizations) and gave them a super-charged missionary pep talk, followed by the Bishop, and then they asked Elder Callor and his companion to stand up a say a few words. Everyone was so charged up from the meeting! Elder Callor said "It was a good end to the week and a wonderful start to the transfer!"
This week Elder Callor played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," arranged by Michael R. Hicks and Elder Robinson sang in sacrament meeting. It was an amazing meeting: Brother Booth (of the Stake High Council) and his son (who is preparing for a mission) gave spectacular talks. After church Brother Booth addressed the Ward Council (all the leadership of the various organizations) and gave them a super-charged missionary pep talk, followed by the Bishop, and then they asked Elder Callor and his companion to stand up a say a few words. Everyone was so charged up from the meeting! Elder Callor said "It was a good end to the week and a wonderful start to the transfer!"
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Wright, Wyoming
Elder Nick was transferred this week to Wright, Wyoming. He says that the city is small, but the field is ripe and ready to harvest! The new missionaries there already have 30 investigators. He is excited to start out in the new location! He travelled for most of the day on Monday, but was able to find a short amount of time to send an email with the new mailing address. If you need that, please just let us know here and we can get that to you! Wright doesn't have a Walmart! Wow, it might feel a little like living in Helper again, only we aren't sure how close the nearest big city is! When he was packing he realized that he has accumulated a lot of stuff in the last 8 months! Funny how that happens!
http://www.wrightwyoming.com Here is a fun website about the town of Wright!Good luck in Wright Elder Callor!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
For those of you who subscribe to the Elder Callor chronicle you may be curious about the Armor of God visual that we sent him for his birthday! This is the finished project. We took the picture of Skyler which was so perfect as the before picture. Notice that he has no shoes on and that without his armor he is "Mr. Mischief!" We thought that it was a perfect representation of people who are "of the world". Each peice of clothing is seperate so that Elder Callor can talk about the importance and meaning of each peice. Once properly clothed Skyler is ready to go. Brandon hand drew the outfit to fit exactly with the picture (isn't he so talented!)
I think that it was such a great idea and a wonderful way to visualize the lesson for new converts. I know we all loved the lesson reminder and helping to create this!
Monday, January 26, 2009
5 + 1 = 6
One more for the Callors. Elder Callor's sister Amy had her baby yesterday. Brayden Adamson Maughan was born January 25, 2009 at 4:55PM. He was 6 lbs. 15 oz and 20 inches long. He is adoarable. Congratualtions Elder Callor you have another nephew. Brayden makes #6 grandchild! Elder Callor has 2 nieces and now 4 nephews.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Casper Wyoming
Elder Callor was transferred to Casper, Wyoming. If you need his new mailing address leave a comment and I will get it to you.
He is excited for this new area and looking forward to getting to work. He is sad to have left Rapid City but he knows he is where the Lord needs him.
Casper, Wyoming
Natrona County
Casper was settled on the banks of the Platte River in 1888 prior to the arrival of the Chicago and North Western Railway. As the point of convergence for all major westward trails (Oregon, Mormon, Bridger, Bozeman, and Pony Express), the community developed as a crossroads to the West and North West.
The name "Casper" was the misspelling of the railroad clerk who filed the plat for the town as it was supposed to be spelled "Caspar" after Fort Caspar.
It is the second-largest city in Wyoming with a population of approximately 49,000 and offers a variety of things to do. There is a diversity of terrain to view, wildlife to see and attractions to enjoy, including museums, historical sites, rodeos and more. The largest mall in central Wyoming is located in Casper and a vigorous downtown area offers plenty of restaurants and a diverse blend of shops to make a stop pleasurable.
found at http://www.travel-to-wyoming.com/casper/casper_home.htm
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
TWO THOUSAND AND NINE!!
Elder Callor is doing well and staying dry. He said that it hadn't snowed since before Christmas, that it is just really windy. At least it has been around the 30s and not in the negative degrees.
They continue to work hard and stay busy. He said "I thought that with all three companions together, we'd have less activity, since we could split up; WRONG!!! Even when we do split up, we have more things to handle than we're comfortable with!" They had so many appointments that they had to scheduled some on preparation day so they got permission to email today. He had high hopes of getting a hair cut, going shopping and emailing on Monday but they didn't have time to do anything but run to appointments.
The New Year has brought many opportunities for missionary work and some fun. Elder Callor was excited to be able to have the opportunity to do missionary work while playing some games on his own level. He was able to play a game similar to one of his favorites, Zarahemla. They played Settlers of Catan with an active member family where they were able to strengthen friendships and in turn missionary opportunities. He has even been able to polish up on his math! He was even praised in an email newsletter sent throughout the mission from President Cannon on his enthusiasm, commitment, revelation, spirit and love for the gospel and people.
Below is a copy of Elder Callor’s email today.
Wow, time is flying by so quickly! Can you believe that it is already TWO THOUSAND AND NINE! We had a great kick-off to the year, so hopefully it will continue in that strength!
On New Year's Eve, we visited an active family, the Kennards. They had learned on Christmas Eve (at a dinner appointment) that some of us knew how to play the game Settlers of Catan, and they pleaded with us to play the game with them some time, as it is their favorite, and it takes 3-6 players. Well, we decided that it would be a good chance to develop a good relationship with the family, and possibly meet some of their friends. Unfortunately, their friends were unable to make it, but it was an excellent time to talk with the family about missionary work. They are now working with us in order to fellowship, get to church, and baptize a fellow by the name of Jonny Cage. They asked us if we could invite him to dinner with them, and when that didn't work out, asked if they could go with us to his home, so that THEY could do the inviting! They are so fired up about helping Jonny all because we spent an evening playing a silly game with them!
Then, on New Year's Day, we received a referral from the Mission Office; a man named William Brunson called in requesting a triple combination and a copy of Gospel Principles! He was baptized about 20 years ago, but because the missionaries did not make sure he was ready, he was ex-communicated shortly after. Now, though, he wants to come back!!! He stills has a testimony of the things that the missionaries taught him so long ago, and knows that God wants him back in His true church! He is excited at everything we teach him, and sets appointments for almost every day he is in Rapid City!!!
It didn't slow down there, though! In Preach My Gospel, non-English speaking missionaries are encouraged to start an English as a second language class in their community in order to find people to teach about the gospel. I have been thinking, pondering, and praying about how to adjust that to meet English-speaking situations, and received the answer to start up a math tutoring class. Well, as soon as I mentioned the idea, it blossomed! We had two families inform us that that was exactly what they needed at this time: one mother is working on her GED and desperately needs help with math, and three daughters in another family are struggling with high school math! They each agreed to invite non-members as well, so that this could be a missionary experience. Well, I then received an offer from Sister Hinton to assist with English literacy, and her husband offered to attend the class so that my two companions could continue to see appointments at that time! Sister Cannon learned about the class, and somehow word got to Sister Lyman, who volunteered to help with the other half of English!!!
Well, on the first night (New Year's Day), I didn't have quite all this help yet, so I talked to President Cannon about coming with me, so that an adult male with the Priesthood could be there, so that my companions could go out and see other appointments! He agreed and we met up at the church.
Now, I thought that the night didn't go very well, because no one showed up to the class, and none of the people we tried to visit were home! We ended up driving around for nearly 2 hours, discussing ways to make the class a success and how to meet the needs of our investigators. At the mission office, I took a moment to share a spiritual thought with President Cannon, so that the night would not be a complete waste. I told the story of Enoch raising peninsulas, moving mountains, and rivers, and calling forth beasts of the wilderness to defeat the enemies of God, and explained that part of the reason he was able to do that was because he kept good records (you need to read the whole chapter in order to see that particular connection) and challenged him to keep a better journal! I tell you, I was scared out of my wits doing that! I had no idea how he'd react, but in an email to the mission this week, he had this to say:
"This past week I spent the evening with a young missionary. I observed this great young man assuming the pressure of being a productive missionary. Our first stop was at the church where we had an appointment to help a mother fulfill a goal of receiving her G. E. D. Also scheduled to come to the church were some youth to receive tutoring toward preparing for upcoming A. C. T. I was impressed with the wonderful missionary service this young missionary was offering. I was extremely pleased that he was praying for and receiving personal revelation. In this regard he was a Preach My Gospel missionary. Later that same evening, in a pocket of time, he taught a member companion a lesson from the heart. He bore testimony and thanked me for coming out with him. He helped me come to the Savior that evening."
I was so excited to learn that what I thought had been a pretty lame night, was quite a bit more successful than I could have hoped for!
Well, after several exciting, but not easy to describe, appointments, we found ourselves looking for more people to teach on Saturday night. Enter the Jessen family: Jesse Jessen (the husband) was baptized a few months ago, but the missionaries said something wrong, and he stopped coming to church; however, he and his wife have always had a goal to be married in the temple on their tenth anniversary, which comes around in 13 months!!! So, when we stopped in, he got really excited, because their life is in just the right position for them to re-receive the light of the gospel! He asked us to come over the next two nights in a row in order to talk to him about church (he was not going to be able to come at such short notice) and then to start teaching him what we thought he needed to relearn!!!!
Sunday was a total blur of activity, but the highlights I remember are that the Jones family brought their non-member sister and nephew to church, and the sister sat through Gospel Principles, which we taught, and learned about the Plan of Salvation!!! This is the second time she has been to church, and she seems to have enjoyed them both! She even volunteered to read a scripture during the class!!!!
Monday was the peak of activity so far, though! The Thiele family (TJ is a 9-10 year old being baptized on the 17th, father isn't a member) invited us over to help skin deer at their friend's house. We had a great conversation with the friends and they invited us BACK to lunch on Wednesday!!! They seem like they would accept the gospel readily, and hopefully that will kick Brother Thiele into gear!!!
Then, we ran around talking to some recent converts that called us asking for help, and at dinner, the Thiele family came with us to the Hintons, where they had a great conversation, and where we also received ANOTHER referral from the Hintons to teach a woman in their apartment complex, Helen Zapp (she met us Christmas Eve and agreed to receive the lessons!!!) AND FROM SISTER THIELE to teach a part-member family whom she visit teaches!!!
And that rounds out the end of my week!!!!
Hopefully I wrote understandably, but as you can tell, we've been very busy bees!
I Love You All,
Elder Callor
They continue to work hard and stay busy. He said "I thought that with all three companions together, we'd have less activity, since we could split up; WRONG!!! Even when we do split up, we have more things to handle than we're comfortable with!" They had so many appointments that they had to scheduled some on preparation day so they got permission to email today. He had high hopes of getting a hair cut, going shopping and emailing on Monday but they didn't have time to do anything but run to appointments.
The New Year has brought many opportunities for missionary work and some fun. Elder Callor was excited to be able to have the opportunity to do missionary work while playing some games on his own level. He was able to play a game similar to one of his favorites, Zarahemla. They played Settlers of Catan with an active member family where they were able to strengthen friendships and in turn missionary opportunities. He has even been able to polish up on his math! He was even praised in an email newsletter sent throughout the mission from President Cannon on his enthusiasm, commitment, revelation, spirit and love for the gospel and people.
Below is a copy of Elder Callor’s email today.
Wow, time is flying by so quickly! Can you believe that it is already TWO THOUSAND AND NINE! We had a great kick-off to the year, so hopefully it will continue in that strength!
On New Year's Eve, we visited an active family, the Kennards. They had learned on Christmas Eve (at a dinner appointment) that some of us knew how to play the game Settlers of Catan, and they pleaded with us to play the game with them some time, as it is their favorite, and it takes 3-6 players. Well, we decided that it would be a good chance to develop a good relationship with the family, and possibly meet some of their friends. Unfortunately, their friends were unable to make it, but it was an excellent time to talk with the family about missionary work. They are now working with us in order to fellowship, get to church, and baptize a fellow by the name of Jonny Cage. They asked us if we could invite him to dinner with them, and when that didn't work out, asked if they could go with us to his home, so that THEY could do the inviting! They are so fired up about helping Jonny all because we spent an evening playing a silly game with them!
Then, on New Year's Day, we received a referral from the Mission Office; a man named William Brunson called in requesting a triple combination and a copy of Gospel Principles! He was baptized about 20 years ago, but because the missionaries did not make sure he was ready, he was ex-communicated shortly after. Now, though, he wants to come back!!! He stills has a testimony of the things that the missionaries taught him so long ago, and knows that God wants him back in His true church! He is excited at everything we teach him, and sets appointments for almost every day he is in Rapid City!!!
It didn't slow down there, though! In Preach My Gospel, non-English speaking missionaries are encouraged to start an English as a second language class in their community in order to find people to teach about the gospel. I have been thinking, pondering, and praying about how to adjust that to meet English-speaking situations, and received the answer to start up a math tutoring class. Well, as soon as I mentioned the idea, it blossomed! We had two families inform us that that was exactly what they needed at this time: one mother is working on her GED and desperately needs help with math, and three daughters in another family are struggling with high school math! They each agreed to invite non-members as well, so that this could be a missionary experience. Well, I then received an offer from Sister Hinton to assist with English literacy, and her husband offered to attend the class so that my two companions could continue to see appointments at that time! Sister Cannon learned about the class, and somehow word got to Sister Lyman, who volunteered to help with the other half of English!!!
Well, on the first night (New Year's Day), I didn't have quite all this help yet, so I talked to President Cannon about coming with me, so that an adult male with the Priesthood could be there, so that my companions could go out and see other appointments! He agreed and we met up at the church.
Now, I thought that the night didn't go very well, because no one showed up to the class, and none of the people we tried to visit were home! We ended up driving around for nearly 2 hours, discussing ways to make the class a success and how to meet the needs of our investigators. At the mission office, I took a moment to share a spiritual thought with President Cannon, so that the night would not be a complete waste. I told the story of Enoch raising peninsulas, moving mountains, and rivers, and calling forth beasts of the wilderness to defeat the enemies of God, and explained that part of the reason he was able to do that was because he kept good records (you need to read the whole chapter in order to see that particular connection) and challenged him to keep a better journal! I tell you, I was scared out of my wits doing that! I had no idea how he'd react, but in an email to the mission this week, he had this to say:
"This past week I spent the evening with a young missionary. I observed this great young man assuming the pressure of being a productive missionary. Our first stop was at the church where we had an appointment to help a mother fulfill a goal of receiving her G. E. D. Also scheduled to come to the church were some youth to receive tutoring toward preparing for upcoming A. C. T. I was impressed with the wonderful missionary service this young missionary was offering. I was extremely pleased that he was praying for and receiving personal revelation. In this regard he was a Preach My Gospel missionary. Later that same evening, in a pocket of time, he taught a member companion a lesson from the heart. He bore testimony and thanked me for coming out with him. He helped me come to the Savior that evening."
I was so excited to learn that what I thought had been a pretty lame night, was quite a bit more successful than I could have hoped for!
Well, after several exciting, but not easy to describe, appointments, we found ourselves looking for more people to teach on Saturday night. Enter the Jessen family: Jesse Jessen (the husband) was baptized a few months ago, but the missionaries said something wrong, and he stopped coming to church; however, he and his wife have always had a goal to be married in the temple on their tenth anniversary, which comes around in 13 months!!! So, when we stopped in, he got really excited, because their life is in just the right position for them to re-receive the light of the gospel! He asked us to come over the next two nights in a row in order to talk to him about church (he was not going to be able to come at such short notice) and then to start teaching him what we thought he needed to relearn!!!!
Sunday was a total blur of activity, but the highlights I remember are that the Jones family brought their non-member sister and nephew to church, and the sister sat through Gospel Principles, which we taught, and learned about the Plan of Salvation!!! This is the second time she has been to church, and she seems to have enjoyed them both! She even volunteered to read a scripture during the class!!!!
Monday was the peak of activity so far, though! The Thiele family (TJ is a 9-10 year old being baptized on the 17th, father isn't a member) invited us over to help skin deer at their friend's house. We had a great conversation with the friends and they invited us BACK to lunch on Wednesday!!! They seem like they would accept the gospel readily, and hopefully that will kick Brother Thiele into gear!!!
Then, we ran around talking to some recent converts that called us asking for help, and at dinner, the Thiele family came with us to the Hintons, where they had a great conversation, and where we also received ANOTHER referral from the Hintons to teach a woman in their apartment complex, Helen Zapp (she met us Christmas Eve and agreed to receive the lessons!!!) AND FROM SISTER THIELE to teach a part-member family whom she visit teaches!!!
And that rounds out the end of my week!!!!
Hopefully I wrote understandably, but as you can tell, we've been very busy bees!
I Love You All,
Elder Callor
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