Monday August 25th, 2014

I feel like this week was a week full of miracles.  I can not tell you how blessed I feel to be out here serving here in Eagle. When I first came into the area the really wasn't much going on to be honest in the two wards that we are covering.  But for the past two weeks Sister Haas and I have been really working our butts off and we are really are starting to see the work pick up in these last two weeks.  Eagle is known to be a tougher area to serve in and the numbers are a lot slower and harder to get up here.  The average lessons a week up here is 5 to 7.  We were so blessed this week and so happy that we were able to get 19, which is a good week in area that you are in.  As well as we found 2 new investigators and a ton of potentials.  One of our mission commitments for this month is talking to ten people a day, which has really been good for us.  I mean we always try to talk to everyone we see,but when it is a number that you have to reach I feel like you are more driven and when people are not out and about we start knocking on some doors.

   A tender mercy from the Lord happened earlier this week.  We had already talked to our ten people for that day and it was about8:45pm, one of those times when you are trying to figure out what to do. Head home since it takes about 10 minutes to get home or try to knock on another door.  Well be tried the later, we went and tried to contact a less active that we have knocked on the door before, this time the door was wide open.  We found out that the person who use to live there moved out quite a few months ago.  We started talking to the lady at the door a little bit about the church and what we do.  She said that she hasn't heard much about the church but her co--worker had just given her a Book of Mormon a few weeks ago.  We asked her if we could come by another time to share a message with her and she agreed.  This was another testimony builder that it is always that last push,last knock on the door, last fifteen minutes of the day where the Lord is testing you to see if you will go that extra mile and if you give it your all until the very end and we were so blessed from that.

    So earlier in the week a lady who use to live in the ward called us up to tell us that her friend was moving into her old house and asked if we would be willing to help.  Pat(the nonmember moving in), wasn't sure if she would have much help and so hired 2 professionals to help her move as well.  We were worried because we wanted to get some ward members out there to help her move in and get to know her.  But it was in the morning so most men had to work as well as their was a cannery assignment.  We asked some of the Elders to come out and help but they could only stay there for an hour.  We got to her house at around 815 and we had a good group of missionaries and quite a few men turned out from the ward.  We had the whole moving van unloaded before the two professionals arrived at 930! It was just crazy and she was so shocked.  We felt a little bad that we had put the moving guys out of work, but she ended up having them set up some of the furniture and beds inside.  So in the end it all worked out.  The moving guys joked that we should start our own moving company, they said they have never seen a moving van unloaded so quickly.

   So one of the new investigators we found this week is Andrew, he is about 15 years old and his dad married a less active member in our ward.  We have heard a little bit about him and how he has gone to church a few times, but had never been able to meet him.  Last year when he was a freshman his friend told him how he should take seminary so he signed up.  When we talked to him about it he told us how much he really loved it, they were learning about the Book of Mormon.  He signed up again for seminary this year and he says that it is one of his favorite classes that he is looking forward to taking this year. We taught him the first lesson and it went really well.  I really do feel that if he gets involved in the young men in the ward and his dad is okay with it that he will get baptized.  He really doesn't have much of a religious background, but he said how great he feels as he reads the Book of Mormon.

    On Saturday there was the ground breaking of the Meridian temple and it was so awesome! Elder Bednar was the one who was in charge.  No missionaries got to go due to limited space, we were all encouraged to go to the stake centers and watch it there.  The people we live with actually got tickets to it and invited us to go with them. It was so tempting because it was just a stone throws away from where we were at, but we didn't do it.  Elder Bednar ended up speaking at the Boise West Stake, the stake that I use to serve in! He met with the missionaries before stake conference.  To be honest that was a little hard for me, to know that I use to serve there and I missed that opportunity to meet him.  It makes it a little bit harder as well because we have been told that because of last march before the mission was split that a ton of apostles came out and so because of that we probably won't be able to see any while I am here, but things move on.

   We went on exchanges this week with a set of sisters we are over and things went pretty well.  It was a pretty packed day with appointments and what not, but at the end of the day it ended pretty roughly.  We had about 30minutes left before the end of the night and we decided to contact this less active family, we had heard that the wife was starting to go to the Nazarene church, so we have been trying to catch them.  Well we finally caught her when she was home and she was home by herself we talked for a few minutes and asked her if we could come back to teach her family the Restoration because it is one of our mission commitments.  She agreed and we set up a time to come back she asked us if we could do a "cliff notes verse" for her and we agreed.  Let me tell you we were blind sighted by a huge spiritual bus! The questions she were asking were a lot deeper, so I was able to answer and some I was not.  You could tell that she was starting to allow what others were saying to creep into her testimony and make her doubt.  I tried the best I could but asked her if we could study some of the questions that she asked and come back with an answer with she agreed.  Not going to lie some of them I have no clue how to answer..I wish I could explain them to you, But I know that I will figure it out.  After leaving her house I just felt sick and when I saw my companion when we switch back I started to cry.  It was so sad to see what could happen to someone so active in the gospel who starts to feed their doubts before feeding the faith that they have.  Some things she said to me are a little scary, and to be honest I don't know if I want to know if they are true or not.  But a tender mercy from the Lord this week.  This week at District meeting, the last 10 minutes of our training on revelation on the Book of Mormon, they asked us to go to a quiet place with our companion and ask for a confirmation on things from our Heavenly Father.  It really hit me when my District Leader talked about even recieve reconfiramtions on the things that we already know.  So the thing I asked for was to reviece another witness about the first vision.  I can not tell you how blessed I have been this week.  We have been teaching the Restoration a ton and each time we got to that part wither it was me or my companion quoting Joesph Smith, I could feel the spirit so strong testifying to me that these things were true. Each and every time. 
    I love strengthening my testimony on the things that I already know, I think that is so important for us to always do.  Know that I love you all so much and am so grateful to be out her serving.  It is worth all the doors slammed in the face, all the comments people make about what they think we believe in, because I know that they can never take away from my testimony of the things that I know true and hold near and dear to my heart. I love you all!!! Eagle better watch out because Sister Haas and I are coming for them, guns blazing, no holding back! 

Love

Sister Metcalf

Picture of Me,Sister Haas(my companion with brown hair) and one of the sisters going home, sister Edstrom(blonde hair)