"I meant what I said and I said what I meant. A (missionary's) faithful one hundred percent"
I feel like there is so much to write and so little time. I can't believe that it has been quite a bit of time since I have written you, I feel like so much has happened in the past 9 days. Would you be upset if I was to say that I probably could of made it until next Monday to e-mail all of you? I mean I love all of you, but I feel like we have been so busy that the weeks just fly by. So Monday was Labor day and the libraries were closed, and then yesterday we had Mission Leadership Council, so we had to push e-mailing to today. So I will try to catch you all up. Oh and a heads up next week I will be emailing on Tuesday because we are going to the temple that day!!! I am seriously so excited!!!
Okay so I will start off by telling you about all the fun I have been having, because missions are fun :) These past two p-days Sister Haas and I have been going out and doing things, which has been great. Normally our zone just gets together and plays sports at the church indoors. First off our zone only has 12 people in it and then when half the zone doesn't show up it isn't as fun. Plus the weather is only going to be nice for so long before the cold winters, so why waste the good weather in doors. So last week after email we decided to go biking in downtown Boise. Julie, who is the Dumas'(the people we live with) daughter took us, it was her last Monday with us before she was heading off to school. It was so neat to kind of see the sites and see Boise, we kind of just bike around and she would point out some cool spots and sites to see. We would stop every once in a while and park our bikes to walk. One of the sites we saw was called Freak Alley it is an Alley that is graffiti-ed up and each year they have a competition and paint over the old ones. We also had ice cream that is shaped like a potatoes. It was pretty cool, whenever you all come through you should stop by, it is called West Side Drive In. Apparently it is a must in Boise, and I guess it was even showed on the food show of that one guy that travels around the U.S. eating at famous food places. I felt like it was okay since we were biking around everywhere ;) I also ended up seeing my trainer later that Day when we biked by BSU. It was so good to see Sister Dickey!! I seriously loved her, but it was also weird to think that we were serving with each other a year ago! The time is just flying by!!!! It is funny because I seriously cannot call her by her first name, all the missionaries that I serve with I feel like will always be Elder and Sister to me. It made my day though to see her. So this past pday we went up to IDAHO CITY!!!! I was so excited to make it up there! We were planning on doing something else with the people we lived with, but that morning they asked us if we wanted to go up there because they both had the full day off work and we wouldn't be e-mailing so we would have more time. Plus it was the last day of the season to really go up there. After Labor day things start to slow down up there. I can finally say that I have been to every city on my mission. hahaha It was so much fun. It is a small little town kind of stuck back in time. They have a few main streets that you can walk up and down that are a boardwalk. There also had a shootout skit that we watched which was pretty fun. We just walked around looking in shops and museums and had some of their famous ice cream and ate at Trudy's which is where all the locals eat. And I guess people drive all the way up there from Boise just to eat lunch. It is a small little town, not much to see but I love it. I will have to take you back up there sometime when we come back to visit. I learned something new was I was up there, that there are people that actually still pan for gold up there! crazy, but seriously I feel like these past two p-days have been some of the greatest on my mission.
This week has also been pretty good for missionary work as well. I believe I told you about Andrew last week in my weekly e-mail. This past Wednesday he went to mutual and we had a few young men pick him up and take him. And then this past Sunday we taught him The Plan of Salvation and it went so good!!! We taught it at the family's house of the kid who is fellow shipping him. It seriously made all the difference, all though we should of prepped the kids a little bit more, they kind of started talking about deeper stuff more than they needed to, but they were great. Seriously Andrew is such an awesome kid, he can just tell and feel the difference when he is around members and at church. He told us how this feels right, we asked him what he felt like was the next step for him to make good choices and Fellow his Savior. He talked about how he didn't want to smoke or drink like his parents do, and then he paused for a minute. He then said that he wanted to get baptized into the gospel!!! We were so excited we invited him to pray to see him he would be baptized on Oct. 11 and he agreed! Now the last hurdle that we have to get over is his parents permission. They okay for us to teach us, but we don't know how they will respond about baptism. There are so many people out here in Eagle that the Lord has prepared. Sister Haas and I can just feel it, we are just needing to light the fire here and really getting things going.
We also found a ton of new potentials this week as well, it is crazy how receptive people are out here. I mean everything isn't easy, i mean we have been talking to everyone and I mean Everyone. I would say we probably get about 20 rejections before we get some that is willing to let us come back and from those probably half of them aren't really interested. But Sister Hass' and mines' motto is that everyone needs the gospel and we are the only ones that will need to give them the opportunity to learn about it and accept it. There has been a lot of hard work and sweat these past few weeks, but it has been great and it has all been worth it and it will continue to be worth it!
One of the miracles from this week was finding Scott and Jill. So this past week we have been going out with some of the girls in the ward and stake that have their mission calls or they are waiting to get their calls. It really has been a cool experience to take them out and help them to see what missionary work is like. I kind of wish that I would of done that before I had left to get a kind of idea and feel of what it would be like. It has been great for them to get excited and see how much fun missionary work is as well as that it is not easy work. They have seen when it is like when we have appointments or when people allow us in as well as when no one is home or no one is interested and knocking on doors with us. On Saturday night we went out with one of the girls and the appointments that we had feel through so we were trying to contact some less actives but were unsuccessful. It was about 830 at night and we decided to go knock of a few more doors. There were only a few people that looked to go home, my companion and I were deciding between one last house to knock on before calling it a night. She had asked me which house we should go to and I wasn't sure, so we started to walk to one house, but then I felt prompted that we should actually try their neighbor. So I told my companion and the other girl and we walked over. We knocked on the door and the lady asked us right away if we wanted to come in, I was so taken back by it. We ended up talking to her for a little bit and then asked her if we could sing her a song before we left and she agreed. As we were singing her husband came home. We were a little taken back by how he would react, but he was so stunned afterwards and just kept saying how cool that that was. We found out that his parents were members but went last active when he was a newborn. We talked to them for a little bit and they had told us that they have had missionaries stop by before but they were always Elders. We asked them if we could come back and they agreed. It was such a cool experience not only for Sister Haas and I, but for the other girl as well. That the spirit will prompt you to go and do something and how important it is for us to act on it. Sometimes it doesn't always turn out the way that we want it to and the Holy Ghost is just testing us to see if we will listen, but sometimes those people are prepared or we are needed to plant another seed to be harvested later in life.
Other highlights from the week is:
Zone conference: we talked a lot about becoming a consecrated missionary and the difference between consecration and sacrifice.
MLC: thought we were gonna get ipads or facebook because President Winder had all the District Leaders come, but it was a false alarm. It was so good though, we talked about being unified as a mission and raising more leaders up in our mission. To be honest I don't think I will see those things on my mission and I am kind of grateful. I am not ready to use worldly things just yet.
So we went back to go see that family I had mentioned last week that were less active and starting to go to another church and the mom kind of hit us on all sides about questions. I just want to tell you that I have a testimony that the Lord knows each and every one of us individually and that what matters to us matters to Him. It was crazy how through out the past week how those questions that the wife had asked us had been answered through out the week through other members and the conversations that we would have. We ended up having dinner with the family last night and teaching the family the Restoration. We didn't really answer any of her questions cuz last time that she told us that she rather that we only talked to her about that, I don't think that her family knows. But the lesson went so well, I know that the spirit was there whither they were receptive to it or not. I am not going to lie, it was a little scary and at times I wanted to pull back. But I just couldn't, I was as bold as I could be with them. I looked her in the eye and told her that although there are other good churches and men out there, they do not hold the Priesthood, that no other church can claim to have it and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church that has the fullness of the gospel. You could tell that she was upset with me and started to glare at me. But to be honest it felt good, this is what I have been called out here to do. I am here to call people to repentance and to declare the truth whither they like it or not. I talk to the kids about how their testimony is between them and their Heavenly Father and He is the only person that we can turn to to find out spiritual truths. That we shouldn't turn to others to find out the answers, and that when they have received their witness and testimony that they need to strengthen. And just like Joseph Smith, no one can take away from their testimony. I feel like that was one of the most powerful lessons that Sister Haas and I have been able to teach together.
I want you all to know that I love this work so much, and each day I am grateful to be out here serving the Lord and giving others the opportunity to come closer to our Savior. That is my purpose out here, that we are just relaying the message that Christ has continually extended to everyone: to "Come Unto Him". I know without a shadow of a doubt that Joesph Smith saw what he saw. That our Father in Heaven and Our Savior appeared to him in the Sacred Grove to answer his humble prayer. That he was told that although those other churches were good and had bits and pieces of the Gospel, they did not have the Priesthood Authority of God. It is by that same authority that people are baptized and that families can be sealed together forever. I know that Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today and that he is here to lead and guide the people. I know that our Savior lives and it is through him that we are able to return to our Father in Heaven. I know that although the Book of Mormon was written by men(prophets of olden time), it is the word of God. Read your scriptures and pray everyday...EVERYDAY!! I love you all so much and I am so blessed to be able to have your support out here serving a mission.
Love
Sister Metcalf
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