Monday December 29, 2014

White Christmas

I am pretty sure this year was the first white Christmas that I have ever had in my life, or at least that I can remember.  This week has really been a pretty good week, all such a blur so this email may be a little jumbled up.

   So on Tuesday we taught Amber St.George, the family that we had found the week before. It went so well and she was so prepared.  The spirit was there so strong and she understood that when she was baptized it wasn't part of that priesthood authority and she wants to be baptized by that proper authority! I can not tell you how many times I have recited Joseph Smith's first vision and every time I feel the spirit so strongly, it is by far my favorite lesson to teach those learning about the gospel.  I have decided that when Megan and I go to the Stake Presidents house to be released I just want to teach that lesson one last time to him(that is my request).  Anyway I also can testify how the adversary is real! No joke right after the first vision, her roommate came in who is less active and just started throwing out random facts. Nothing bad but it didn't add to anything. And then when extending the baptismal date all heck broke lose with kids and everything, so the mood was gone, but this week we are planning on putting her on date.  One sad thing is that she is holding off on her kids learning for the moment because of all the changes in their life and as well as some legal issues and she wants to learn for herself first. But I am still pretty excited for her! It was a great lesson overall, very typical as a missionary, there is always something that distracts from the spirit.
    Christmas eve and Christmas was a really great day to see members and those that we are working with. We had tons of fun and were filled with food to the brink.  I even got the chance to have some family traditions still, the people I live with acutally have pizza for their Christmas eve dinner as well so I got to have some when I went home. I also got to participate in a gingerbread house competition.  Christmas time is such a unique time as a missionary, but I just love the spirit that is in the air.  I plan on still using the "He is the Gift" as much as I can until I go home to keep the "Spirit of Christ" going here in the Boise area.

    So the day after Christmas my companion was sick. I was not too happy about that, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.  After all of my normal missionary study schedules in the morning I called up some sisters to go on exchanges with. Even though I am not an STL anymore I got our STL to approve me going with some sisters that live literally a street away from us.  So i still got to go out and work and see one of our investigators.  Just being home for those few hours made me stir crazy, i really hope this is the last one for this transfer. I did not like that feeling of being home.  But for those few hours that I went out I felt so productive and the Lord blessed me and the sister I was with to be able to teach in unity.

    So when I was on exchanges we went to our appointment with Sallie Fogg and it was such a great lesson.  We focused a lot on prayer and how she is going to recieve an answer.  We focused on Moroni 10:3-5. about the desire she has and the real intent.  She told us she wants to read all of the Book of Mormon, she is in Alma 30, before she prays about it.  We explain to her about not waiting for the "right" moment but to be continually praying and asking if it is true while she is reading. I don't want her to wait till the very end expecting something and then not get anything because the whole time previous she hadn't been reading it with the spirit.  She said she is not ready to come to church yet, there is something that is holding her back and now it is our job to figure out what her real concern is and help her to resolve it.

    Okay funny story for yesterday. So there is a less active family that I told you about last week. Well yesterday we went over to help the mom(in her late 20s) get her 4 kids under 7 ready for church.  It was a little chaotic and we were running around like a chicken with our heads cut off hahaha So she knew that the church was on Locus Grove so we left the house first and I had a thought about making sure she knew which one but brushed it off. So we got to the church and waited 5 minutes and they were there. For a second I thought maybe they had bailed out and turned around, so I texted her. So turns out that she went to another church on Locus Grove hahaha Well I laugh at it now, but I was a little sad yesterday. We had put so much time and effort getting the family ready and next week will be harder because we switch from 1pm church to 9am. I guess she knew some people in the other ward like her family doctor so it all worked out. She text us "first goal make it to A church, next week make it to the RIGHT ward" hahaha Only in Idaho and Utah would you have the issue of having multiple churches all on a road(there is four by the way on Locus Grove).  So hopefully next week it will all work out.

    It was so great to talk to all of you on Christmas! And to hear about all the exciting news! I love you and miss you all! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.  Thank you for all the gifts as well! I love them and will put them to good use, you all treat me too well! Until next year....take it easy.(Get it? cuz next time you will hear from me will be next year hahaha) I am loving every minute of my mission and soaking it all up knowing that it is going to end soon :(

Love
Sister Metcalf
He is the Gift

How will you keep the spirit of Christ going in your own life?

 SNOW!

Me with my "Beach House"

Monday December 22, 2014

Glad Tidings of Great Joy!  He lives!

Wow! Where has this week gone?! Seriously I feel like this week has just flown by :( But it has been a week of miracles, it really has been a great week! So on Monday after all our preparation activities we didn't have dinner until 7 so we went out trying to contact some people. Literally everyone we were trying was not home, but looking back I knew that the Lord was slowing leading me to where we needed to be.  After trying another house, I remember that their neighbors were also last less active that I had tried before but was unsuccessful in the past. So we went to try them again and write away they opened the door and welcomed us right in.  It was one of those things where you are kind of just standing there dumb founded not quite sure if that had just happened.  So they are both less active, a complicated situation but they have four kids all under the age of 4.  They use to live in caldwell and would go once in a while with his family which is all active.  They use to meet with missionaries all the time. So they were super excited to see us.  It was funny because at first she had asked us who had sent us because earlier that day she was emailing one of her former missionaries that had been working with them and the missionary had asked her if they were going to church.  When they said no they missionary had responded about finding out who the missionaries were in the area, this family had just moved in about 5 months ago.  It is funny the way that the Lord works.  She was really excited to finally meet someone from the ward because she had been wanting to go but was afraid to because she didn't know anyone.  They were suppose to come yesterday to church but one of her sons had some breathing issues so they had to bring him into the hospital for a breathing treatment.  She was super bummed and said how Satan must know that they are wanting to come back so he is working hard on them.  She wants us to come back this week and is really determined to make it to church this next week.  It was such a tender mercy from the Lord and a good way to start off the transfer right, this was the first hour of our companionship.  Her kids are adorable, they are all under 8 and just remind me of all my neices and nephews.  Is is sad to say that I am already attached to this family and am really determined to help them to come back active.

     But this isn't it, let me tell you of an even bigger miracle from this week.  This week we had set goals as a companionship for this transfer, and one of the goals that I set is that I have always wanted to find, teach, and baptize a family on my mission.  I figured I shouldn't let that goal go just yet.  So during weekly planning on Thursday we got a call from another set of sisters who had a referral for us.  The bishop of their ward knew of a lady who was interested in the church, she had gone through a divorce a while back and is kind of in a sticky situation with her ex so she had to abruptly leave and move for safety purposes.  She happened to move into our area and is actually dating a less active memeber.  So later that day we went to go see her with the appointment that the previous sisters had set up for us.  She has three boys(16,14,11) and she told us how she is looking for something to straighten out their lives and to keep them on a good path.  She had gotten a Book of Mormon from the other sisters bishop and has already read up to Mosiah! She is just soaking it all in and is loving it, she already knows how to apply the scriptures to her life.  We shared with them the "He is the Gift" video and they soaked it right up! When we explained what our purpose is as missionaries they had eagerly excepted our invitation to take the lessons. She came to church yesterday which was just so great.  She could only stay for Sacrament meeting because she had already previously made an agreement to go to a family birthday party.  Her sons went to it, but she went late to in because she felt like church would be more important and it would be okay to show up late.  She had such a great experience and was even taking notes!  The sad thing is is that we found out talking to her after church that she has recently started a new job and she normally has to work on Sundays :( but she got lucky and got this Sunday off.  She said that she is trying to get Sundays off, but she thinks it might take a while.  We are going back tomorrow to teach them so we will have to see.

    This was such a testimony builder to me of how aware God is of our wants and our desires.  This was such a great tender mercy from the week! I have been on cloud 9 since Thursday, to be honest I can't really remember all that happened this week.  It is funny how just a few events of the week can turn your whole week around.  That can replace the negative with so much positiveness.  We have been working hard this week which has been a blessing to me because I was nervous that I would be home a lot this week with my companion.  But she has been doing really well, I hope and pray that she can stay this strong these next 5 weeks so I can continue to finish strong.

    I cannot tell you how much I love this area and the people here.  When I got transfered here, I kind of had closed off my heart.  Because I had grown so attached to Eagle and it was hard leaving after 2 transfers and I knew coming in I would only be here for 2.  To be honest I didn't want to try to allow more people into my heart when I knew I would be leaving so quick.  But they snuck up on me, they have caught me when I was off guard.  I have grown to love this area so much and in such a short period of time, I know feel so much tie to all 5 areas that I have served in.  Things are going so well! I am loving every minute of my mission!
     I am excited to be able to see you all on Christmas.  Last little note, yesterday we went to the institute choir concert and one of the songs they had a group of missionaries come up and say where they were from and to send Christmas wishes back home while someone was singing "I'll be home for Christmas". To be honest it made me tear up a little bit, a part of me wishes that I could see you all for Christmas, but overall I rather be out here in the field serving the Lord.

    I love you all so much and I hope you have a Merry Christmas.  My little spiritual message for you this week is this video to help you to remember what Christmas is all about Glad Tidings of Great Joy.

Love
Sister Metcalf

Monday December 15, 2014

Lucky #13

This past week was pretty jammed packed with a lot of stuff and it was all bitter sweet as well.

    On Tuesday Sister Broberg and I ended preforming in our Mission Christmas talent show.  We did a parody of the song "The Scientist" by Coldplay.  I will have to show you all the video when I get home,it was pretty funny.  It was there that I realized signing is defiantly not a talent that I have.  Only one other person did something funny, everyone else kind of took it seriously.  That was a little sad. We were more of the show I guess than talent, but it was great to see half of the mission.  We got to see Sallie Fogg earlier that day, she took us out to lunch to say goodbye to Sister Broberg.  We talked to her about Faith and how it is more of an action more than a passive belief.  She told us how she is already all the way to Jacob in the Book of Mormon.  I really see such great things for her, we are hoping to get her out to church and to help her to see that Baptism is the goal for her.

    The highlights from Wednesday and Thursday was the Live Nativity that our stake did.  It was so awesome, the youth did such an amazing job, sister Broberg and I walked through a couple of times.  The spirit there was so awesome.  Over 3000 people came out those two nights and there were quite a few nonmembers.  We ended up going through the live nativity with a potential that lives in our area! It was a great event to reach out to the community and to remind those on what the true meaning of Christmas is all about.

   On Friday I went to all of the departing missionary stuff, there was 15 of us.  It was crazy and weird all at the same time.  I was just thinking how I was glad to be there to see how much all of my friends and those that I came out with have grown, but it was also hard because they were all leaving and I still have a transfer left.  I joked with them that it felt like that book "My friends are all dead" It is a dinosaur book hahaha Anyway so we went to the temple and it was so amazing there, I balled so hard talking to some of the missionaries in there and the office staff that was there as well when I first came out.  It was there when I was praying that I had an overall whelming feeling of peace and knowledge that my Heavenly Father was proud of me thus far on my mission. And how I knew that I just neede to keep working hard and finish strong.  A tender mercy that made me aware that my heavenly father knows me happen there as well.  Before going to the temple I became all anxious with my companion leaving, plus I had 3 other companions that I had served with also going home :( So it was kind of emotional for me, but it was when I was waiting for our session that I saw the card that they give us to make sure that we had a seat.  On there was the #13.  I started to tear up, I knew that was a sign from my Father in Heaven.  For those of you that don't know, #13 is my favorite/lucky number.  It was a reminder as well that I was suppose to be here for 13 transfers with 13 companions.  There are no coincidences in with the Lord.  It was cool because before our session the temple president spoke to us and he was talking about that.  We got to ask a lot of questions and I got to ask some questions I had had for a while, it was great to see things in a different perspective. Afterwards we went to the mission home to have dinner and a testimony meeting.  It was a great experience overall.  I was ready to go though when those who were being picked up by their families started to show up.  It was cute to see, but hard as well.

    I don't know what it was but their was a couple of times this week, during the departing stuff and during our Christmas devotional when our mission president was showing a video of a family that made me a little homesick.  It was then that I realized how much I miss you all.  I mean I love serving out here and I am focus I promise, it was just a moment when I realized how long it has been since I have seen you all.

    Saturday I dropped Sister Broberg off to the mission office to be taken to the airport and also saw Sister Hatch there, lets just say that Friday and Saturday were pretty emotional days for me.  There are so many sisters that I have grown so close too and just to think of the impact that they have had on my mission and so many I consider such good friends.  I know they are glad to be home, but I will miss them as being fellow missionaries.  And I will miss the good times that Sister Broberg and I had together and all the miracles that we saw.
   We got a few lessons squeezed in this week but not that many with all the things going on and with sister Broberg starting to pack and going home.  Plus for the last few days of the week I was with another sister in her area whose companion also finished her mission.  Someone who I have really come to love in our ward is Sister Dilworth, she is so great.  She is a less active member we have just started to work with who actually has a son out on the mission.  I think that I have talked about her before, but she said how she wants to start coming out to church! I was so excited to hear that, its tender mercies like that that the Lord sends you that make your day.

   Okay now on to Transfers! So I am staying, that shouldn't be a shocker.  But sadly I am not training :( To be honest I was a little sad about this, I think I got my hopes up too much on it and was too confident since I was "killing"(being with someone for their last transfer) companion.   My new companion is Sister Smith.  I don't really no her very well, all I know is that she has some health issues and has been in the hospital a couple of times. Her last companion told me that they had to stay home quite a bit when they were together these last two transfers.  I am a little nervous, but I trust the Lord.  That is one thing that I was wanting to do this transfer, is fully give my will to the Lord.  I just hope that I am able to continue to work hard and give my all until the very end.  

   This is the end of the fourth quarter, there is no time to let up and there are no overtimes or do-overs.

  I hope all of you had a great week, thanks for keeping me updated with life back at home.  I love you all so much!!!!

Love
Sister Metcalf

Monday December 8, 2014

"It depends on the hands"
I can't believe that it is already Preparation day again! This letter might be a little shorter since I just wrote you a few days ago.  So last Thursday the people we lived with took us out to dinner.  Brother Olsen left for China on Friday so this would be his last time seeing sister Broberg before she left.  They took us out to a restaurant named Fork, it was super good.  I love this family, they are so awesome and they really do take good care of us.

    On Friday we had zone meeting, the zone leaders asked me to do the following up training on finding vs. referrals trap.  It is the same thing that I did in District Meeting.  I think that is the one thing I miss the most of being a Sister Training Leader(except for going on exchanges of course), is training.  I love telling people the things that I have learned.  I love helping increase their knowledge as well as help motivate them to be better missionaries and to work.  It is so true what they say, I learn so much more than they probably do when I study for and give a training.  We tried to contact some people but were on successful, we ended up stopping by an older couple in the ward to provide service.  We helped them put up their Christmas decorations, they were so grateful for that.  Last year they didn't have the energy to do it and they weren't sure if it was gonna happen this year! I seriously love seeing the joy and happiness on peoples faces when doing things for them.

   A tender mercy from Friday happened around8:30, it is always at the end of the night.  We had gotten out of visiting a part member family, which that within itself was a miracle as well.  We had been trying to contact them forever.  He opened the door and let us right in.  He went on a mission and is less active and his now second wife is not a member.  They have a son that is actually serving a mission right now.  So we are gonna try to start working with them.  Walking out Sister Broberg and I realized that their son has probably been praying for them while he has been out on his mission and we could be an answer to that prayer.  Anyways so after that tender mercy it was about 8:30 and we seriously had no idea where to go. We tried a few people but nothing was working out, I said a prayer to know who the Lord needed us to go see a Rebecca popped into my mind.  She is someone that we tracted into on Sunday and was interested in the live nativity.  So we decided to go back and to give her a flyer.  As soon as she opened the door she invited us in.  Last time we only visited with her for a few minutes on her doorstep.  She was so happy to see us, we only had a few minutes so we invited her to the nativity and she told us that she wanted to bring her non-member family with her.  It was awesome!!! She even gave us some muffins before we left and asked us to come back.  It is just like Megan has said before, it is always the last house!

     Saturday was a pretty busy day for us as well! We helped make fruit baskets the ward gives out to those they try to keep in contact with in the ward that are less active or might be struggling.  We then help set up the lights for the live Nativity that the youth put on which is this week! Afterward we helped a less active move out.  That was pretty hard, I seriously loved working with her.  She so wants to be active, but her husband is not wanting to at the moment.  They are expecting a kid so I hope that that softens his heart.  We were trying to get her to come to church and go to the temple with us.  I pray that the missionaries and members in that ward will swoop them up.  They are so ready to come back, or at least she is.  All she needs is some friendship!

    So later Saturday night I got to go back to my old are of Boise South again!  I got to go see Charlie Wilson baptize and confirm his daughter! It was such a cool thing to experience, to see someone you have helped come into the gospel baptize someone else.  He has totally change, you can see it in him.  He did such a good job and you could tell how happy he was that he got to baptize his own daughter and not another relative.  I got to talk to Bishop Bates a little before and he updated me on everything.  He told me how he sees Charlie being in a bishopric in about 5 years.  That is just so amazing to me to see how much the gospel can bless someones life.

   So I just want to end with the concept that I had heard the other week that really had a big impact on me... I call it 

"It depends on the hands"

 A Basketball in my hands is worth about $20.99, a basketball in the hands of Lebron James is worth 19 million per year.  It depends on whose hands its in.

A tennis racket in my hands is worth about $17.99.,a tennis racket in the hands of Serena Williams is worth about 20 million per year.  It depends on whose hands its in.

A baseball in my hands is worth about $3.00, a base baseball in the hands of Derek Jeter is worth about 35 million per year.  It depends on whose hands its in.

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands would make a few fish sandwiches.  Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in the Saviors hands will feed 5000 people until they are full, and still leave 12 baskets left over.  It depends on whose hands they are in.

Some nails in my hands are worth about 5 cents.  Some nails in the Saviors hands will provide Eternal Salvation for each person who has ever lived on this Earth, and all of Heavenly Fathers' children.

It depends on whose hands they're in.  When we put our lives in the hands of the Savior we can achieve infinitely more than we ever could on our won.  It depends on whose Handsthey're in.

I love you all so much! I am so grateful to have you all in my life!  I hope you all know how important you are all to me, but more importantly I hope you know how important each and everyone of you are to our Father in Heaven and to our brother Jesus Christ.  They each love you immensely and I challenge you all this time of year to discover and embrace that love that they have with you and then share.  Discover the Gift of our Saviors birth.  Embrace that Gift. Share it.  Keep being amazing, look for opportunities to reach out to those around you and share that love that you and God has for them. Find the good and the positive each day, look for those tender mercies from the Lord.

Love
Sister Metcalf

Thursday December 4th, 2014

"He is the Gift"

It is hard to try and summarize a week and half worth of stuff that has been going on here, but I will try to do my best. It might be a little scattered and their won't be any pictures this week because I forgot my SD card reader once again hahahah

   Every week our ward mission leader feeds us, I seriously love that family.  And a while back ago we made a challenge where they had to read and pray as a family every single day and Sister Broberg and I had to find a new investigator.  If the other held up on their end of the bargain then the others had to eat a worm.  Yep a worm! So we all ended up accomplishing our goals which was awesome.  So last week on preparation day we bought some worms and we completed the challenge.  Sister Broberg and I ended up going first.  When it was the families turn only our ward mission leader and one of his sons did it.  It seems pretty crazy, but it was great.  We really got the family fired up and motivated to making it a habit.  But I don't think I will ever do that again, once in a life time type of thing, i don't think my body was too happy with me afterwards hahaha
      So last Wednesday I got to go to a baptism from my old area! I seriously have been so blessed by the Lord. Elizabeth Croft was supposed to be baptized in April when I was still in Boise South. Things came up with her husband (who is in prison) and it had to be pushed back but it finally happened. Before the baptism, I walked into the building and saw her standing by some missionaries outside of the Relief Society room.  We both just started crying before we even started hugging each other.  I really grew close to her. We had our weekly scheduled appointments but stopped by randomly through out the week. She always called us her angels because when we would show up unannounced, she usually had something happen that made her question or just ruined her day. Truly the best feeling is when you know you have answered somebody's prayers and we did for her a lot with out knowing. Love her and she is going to do amazing things!  I don't know what it is but my last few baptisms of mine have been people that have been investigating for a while, so there always tend to be tons of missionaries there. Got to love it.
    So last week was actually a really great week, I can't believe that it was Thanksgiving.  That seems like forever ago! But pretty much the whole week was Thanksgiving because all the people that feed us before Thanksgiving were going out of town but the still wanted left over turkey( good for them not for us).  And then even after Thanksgiving we got left overs with what ever they can think of with putting turkey in.  Let's just say that by Sunday evening we were all turkey out and we were done with having feasts.  Thanksgiving was great though, we got to see so many people and I even got to see a few people from my old area! It seriously was so great, it was such a great day and I feel like we didn't over eat...too much.

   On Friday Sister Broberg and I thought it would be the perfect time to try and accomplish the Big Judd's challenge.  It is a restaurant that actually a member from my old area owns, and they have an eating challenge that we both have been wanting to do since we came out.  It consists of eating a 1 pound burger, a pound of fries and a 72 ounce drink in 30 minutes.  We thought the day after thanksgiving would be perfect with our stomachs already being stretched out.  We spent that morning preparing for it, we had district meeting so the whole morning we just kept drinking water, which resulted in us going to the bathroom a ton hahaha The people we live with took us because they wanted to try to see us do it(i am sure mom you got all the videos and pictures).  We were so confident that we were going to be able to do it and everyone watched us that were in the restaurant.  Sadly we were defeated, and it was on that day that I vowed to never do a food eating competition again, i guess I can cross that off my career list hahaha

     Things with Sallie Fogg are going so well! Her health have finally been great and she is back to working again, but she has us come over on her day off to teach her.  It has been so great working with her, we taught her the Plan of Salvation last week and then this week we focused a lot on prayer with her.  The whole time that we have been teaching her she kind of has been responding like all religions are the same and they are all great, but this week she finally admitted that she believes that she is one true church(or one that contains the fullness of the gospel).  So the lesson this week was perfect, we explained how for her to find out the truth she needs to pray.  She agreed to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  I think she is a little hesitant to receive her answer because if it is true she will have to talk to her husband, who is a less active member and still has some hard feelings towards the church.  She is already in second Nephi which is amazing! We also got her to come out to a Relief Society activity this week! A lot of the women really reached out to her and so we are hoping that that she has made a few friends and knows so people in the ward she will feel more comfortable to come to church.  I see the change happening in her and I hope to be able to help set a date for baptism before I leave.

   So I am sure all of you are well aware of it and have heard of the big push that the church is doing this Christmas season.  We actually had a special meeting on it last week and have been focusing on that a lot this past week.  For those of you that haven't seen the video, it is amazing and you need to watch it! He Is the Gift This really helps us all to remember what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. So many people have been open to us talking about our Savior Jesus Christ, I guess this time of year has been really helping us with this.  We have had quite of few people that have been really excited and willing to go to the live nativity that the church is putting on in my area.  This is the perfect time of year to find those that are searching for something more.  

    As you go about your shopping this holiday season, don't forget the the reason for gift giving is to show our love.  That same love that our Father in Heaven showed to us by giving us the first gift of Christmas.  Christ was the first and greatest gift that we all could of received, it is only through Him that we are all able to be together with our families forever and be able to return back to our loving Heavenly Father.

    Things are going so well out here, I am loving every minute of it! There is no other place that I would rather be this time of year then trying to show everyone the love that God has for them.  I encourage all of you to share that video and while giving out cookies this year put one of those pass along cards you got in the Ensign(church magazine) or giving them a copy of "The Living Christ".  Don't forget the true meaning of CHRISTmas and share that love with those around you!

Love
Sister Metcalf

1) Elizabeth's baptism

2) "How to eat fried worms"