Elder Waldo P. Call

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Elder Waldo P. Cal

Following their upcoming, July 1, release from the Uruguay Montevideo Mission, where he has been serving as president, Waldo and Beverly Call had planned to return home to Colonia Juarez. There they hoped to put the affairs of their farm in order, leave it in the hands of their sons, and then find a temporary home near a temple, where they could serve by doing temple work.

Things won’t turn out quite that way. They will realize their desire to continue serving—but it will be through Elder Call’s new assignment in the First Quorum of the Seventy. It was not something either of them had expected. “This will change our life-style completely, of course,” he reflects.

“He always wanted to be of service more than anything else,” Sister Call adds. “It doesn’t make a bit of difference what he’s asked to do in the Church, he’s ready.”

Life has always been that way for Waldo Pratt Call—when he was called as regional representative over a wide area in Mexico, as president of the Colonia Juarez Stake, as a high councilor, bishop’s counselor, and Scoutmaster. He has been serving in Church callings almost continuously since he became a member of his deacons quorum presidency as a boy.

In this service, his love for people has always come to the fore. As a mission president, he has stressed that a missionary’s first concern must not be filling quotas, but finding families who have not yet heard the gospel and giving them the opportunity.

In his new calling, he says, “I feel very humble and very weak. But I feel that we (he often includes his wife in his references) can love the people. And we can teach them common sense in the gospel—basic gospel principles of faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, honesty, patience, and love.”

And how will the calling affect Sister Call? It will be an opportunity “to be with him, to share the ups and downs,” she replies.

Sister Call says her husband brings many strengths to his new calling. Perhaps the greatest is obedience. “He is totally obedient—to the Brethren, to the doctrines of the Church, and to the Lord, and he always has been.”

Their son Pratt points out that his father has learned leadership through Church experience. In addition, people trust him because they know his honesty, and he has an admirable “capacity for hard work. He’s never been afraid of it.”

Waldo Pratt Call was born in Colonia Juarez on 5 February 1928. He and his wife were high school sweethearts; they met at the Juarez Stake Academy. They have seven children: Sandra (Mrs. John Hatch); Rebecca; W. Pratt Call, Jr.; Robert David; Mark Anson; Nancy; and Jon Dana. They have eighteen grandchildren.

Elder Call says he learned hard work and service from his parents, Charles Helaman and Hannah Skousen Call. (Charles Helaman Call was a grandson of Helaman Pratt, the son of Elder Parley P. Pratt of the Council of the Twelve.) Charles and Hannah Call taught their thirteen children to work, and they set an example of Church service. When the children were old enough to receive Church assignments, those assignments took precedence over chores at home.

Elder Call graduated from Brigham Young University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy and horticulture. In addition to managing his orchards (apples, peaches, pears) and farm, he taught for nine years at the Juarez Stake Academy, in subjects ranging from music to math and anatomy.

With such a rich background of interests and devotion to the gospel, Elder Call now readies himself for this important service in the Lord’s kingdom.