May 24-May 31, 2010

hello my dear family and loved ones,

 this first full week in togo was still pretty dang awesome. it rained alot, and since the roads aren't paved, that creates many problems, but we managed to teach plenty. we have tons of investigators here, compared to cocody,because they are even more receptive here than in ivory coast. we will baptize two on saturday, and then the following saturday, a family of seven. they're nigerian, so ive been teaching in english, which is so incredibly hard now...

 so your probably asking yourselves why i said "yikes" in the subjject box... well i had a nice little conversation with the zone leaders and the first councilor in the mission presidency, president attiogbé, and they told me some things that rattled my cages a little bit...

 1) president wants my branch to be divided by the end of july

 2) to do this, i need to baptize at least 6 people each month, and reactivate 3 families each month, and i need to get the sacrament meeting attendance up to at least 100 each week.

 3) i need to look for investigators that can become future leaders, because since the church is so new in togo, the branches are not very strong. i need to "train" my branch presidency and totally remodel our branch mission plan before next saturday (the 12th)

 i hate to ask lots of questions, but WHY IN THE HECK IS IT ME?????!!!!

 i will do my best i guess, and keep on putting my faith in the Lord, pretty much all i can do.

 on a lighter note, me and my companion get along very well. we laugh alot and work hard. he's been the most obedient missionary that i've worked with so far, and its only been a week. i like him alot.

 i STILL dont know my address here, so try to email the baileys...

 oh yeh, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!!! wish i could be there for the picnic, but i will be there for the next one!!!

 well thats really all i can say this week. togo is awesome, but now the work is alot harder, and in stead having the pressure off of me a little, it has been dumped on even heavier, but thats alright. well just know that i love you all, and that i think of you constantly. i cant wait to talk to you all next week.

 much love,

 elder call

PICTURES!

May 17th - May 24, 2010

MMMM..... GOOOOD!

hey family

so day four in Togo, and it owns. its very warm, but lots of wind, so not too terribly hot. its very different here, for sure. there are motorcycles everywhere, the dirt and dust is very red, and it feels alot more like real africa. its very pretty here. church on sunday was interesting. its just a branch, and its very small and new, so the members are still trying to get the hang of things. the missionaries are very heavily depended upon. so i am one of ten missionaries serving here in togo, and our zone is very closely knit. the missionaries here are great. i have heard alot of negative things about my companion, but i will wait to judge him for myself. so far he's been good.

the appartment rocks, there's running water, and its very big. however, no air conditioning as was promised, but at least i am already used to that. kelli, no microwave, and yes send me whatever ties you like. i have not yet received the address for togo, but the bailey's said they'd send it to you. maybe they forgot... i will try and find it.

so everyone has said that hedzranawoé is the hardest secteur in Togo. AWESOME. not sure why i keep getting sent to the toughest areas... guess we'll see.

leaving cote d'ivoire was alot harder than i thought. especially angré. i just missed the baptism of three families i taught. one of which made me an african suit. i will send pictures later. its waay cool.

today, we played soccer as a zone, i suck by the way, then we went to a restaurant and i ate a real cheeseburger, and then we went to a real supermarket. yup, i love togo.

well family, since its only been a few days, i am sure i will have more details next week. just know that i love you all sooo very much, i miss you all, and i cant wait til next week!!

all my love,

elder call

The Bailey's Say Fairwell to Elder Call

Brother and Sister Call,

We wanted to send you a little note to let you know that Elder Call arrived in Togo, has settled in and is loving his new assignment. We had the priviledge to spend time with him and the other Elders going to Togo and Benin on Friday and are sending our "farewell" pictures for you.

There is a couple that has been called to come to Togo named "The Herr's", they will arrive next Friday. This is their third mission having served in Russia and Kenya. So the Elders will be in great hands being so far away from the Mission Home, and President Ayekoue.

We want you to know that your dear son in one of our very favorite missionaries we have come to love deeply. He is a "great" missionary who serves with obedience and sacrifice. He gets along with everyone and brings such a spirit of joy wherever he is. We will miss him and his wonderful French. He was our translator for our "Monday night dinners and discussions".
Thank-you so very much for raising such a fine son for the Lord. You should be very,very proud of Elder Call and the example he is to everyone here in the Ivory Coast MIssion.

We are scheduled to go home on August 7th, and will miss these "Mission Sons" that we have come to love so much. Please keep in touch with us as we would love to hear any news about our dear Elder Call.

Sincerely,

Elder and Sister Bailey

April 12, 2010

april is absolutely flying by to be honest... i dont mind it.

we had a baptism yesterday, which was awesome. the very first baptism of Angré. even President Ayekoué came. he was so syked and he paid me several nice compliments. we baptized three. finally the curse of angré has been lifted, so we will be getting alot more investigators now. in fact, its already started...

yesterday was ward conference, and it was probably the best sunday so far, other than when Elder Holland came. the members here make a huge deal about ward conferences, so they invited tout le monde. sorry, they invited everyone. we had a solid 40 investigators there. among the 40, they are about 8 who already made up their minds and want to get baptized. it was a pretty awesome sunday.

my companion, Elder Bongoua, got transferred, so my new companion is Elder Sadia. he's about four feet tall. and he talks in a very high pitched-voice, but its ok. my old companion talked too much and was a little bit arrogant, so i'm ok with the change.

on a lighter note, i ate RAT this week. i do not suggest it to anyone. i had the honors of eating the head. good thing i have an iron stomach, my mother and my future wife will be pleased to hear that i am no longer a 'picky eater.'

the taxis in Abidjan are actually on strike, so its kinda hard to get around. oh well, i am totally used to walking by now.

well i hope all is well at home, i am doing alright. the work is finally starting to move along. and yeh i am syked that its almost Mothers' Day, so i will get to talk to you all soon! well, HOPEFULLY you all...

know that i love you all, that i miss you all, but that what i am doing is right. its not easy, but it is right. its easy to keep moving on, when you know that what you are fighting for is right...

much love,

elder call

Small small world...

From the Senior Missionaries serving in Ryan's area...

Dear Parents,

My husband and I are serving as senior missionaries in Ghana, West Africa. Our assignment is as the Area Family History Advisors. We travel all over West Africa training Priesthood leaders and Family History workers. We were in Cote d'Ivoire last week and happened to be worshipping in the same ward where your son serves. He was sitting behind us in Sacrament meeting and kindly translated some of the talks for us.

When we asked him where he was from, we were surprised to hear him say 'Columbus, Ohio.' We then said, 'What is your Father's name?; What is your Grandfather's name?' We knew a Dickson Call at Ohio State University between 1951 and 1957. We think he was studying mathematics and married the daughter of the District President Harvey. Could this be the same one? Was it just an interesting coincidence that we happened to meet your son?

Elder Call is healthy and happy. He and his companion seem to get along very well. He is doing very well with the French language. They had three investigators there at Church. We'll enclose photos of him and his companions with their investigators and of him with us. He didn't know his Grandfather's e-mail but was sure you would pass this along.

Sister Bevan was Pat Campbell. She graduated from Ohio State in Elementary Education. Elder Bevan is John, and he graduated in 1957 from Dental School. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1953. We have seven children, thirty-two grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.
We would love to hear more about our friend Dickson.

With Love, Elder and Sister Bevan

1 year down...1 to go!!!

April 19, 2010

hello my oh-so-amazing family,

this are going quite well here in Angré. got another baptism this saturday. the doors to this area really have opened up quickly. we're finding people left and right, and the members' level of confidence in us has grown significantly. i guess i got here at just the right moment. my companion, elder bongoua, got transferred to marcory... so i am now with elder sadia, a four-foot-nothing missionary with the voice of a pre-teenage girl. he's got about four months left of his mission, so he's kinda annoying and treats me like a 'greenie,' but i'm his district leader, and i am three feet taller than him too, so i get my share as well. by the way...

I'VE BEEN OUT FOR A YEAR!!!

anyways, sadly one of the missionaries that came with me is going home, elder woolward, due to health issues. feel bad for him, but honestly he told me he's excited to go home... i'd rather return with honor.

we got the liahona magazines for april. strangely it talked alot about marriage. i read that thing in about 3 minutes. VERY interesting. i'm gonna be keeping those thoughts after my mission as well...

the water and electricity has been cutting out non-stop this week. actually there is no water in the appartment right about now, so i'm hoping that the water coes in the night... guess we'll see!

so a year ago today, i gave my farewell talk in sacrament meeting at church. that is absolutely nuts. dad to answer your questions (i guess, the questions i should ask myself...), YES to all of the above. of course i miss everyone terribly, and its way hard, but seeing how much i have grown, physically and spiritually, i am syked to see where i'll be in another 52 short weeks.

well thats all for this week, just know that i love you all, i miss you all, and that i'll be talking to you all soon!!! by the way...

I HAVE ONE YEAR LEFT!!!!!

much love,

elder call"