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"

Monday November 24, 2014

A week of "A-has"‏

Let me start off with talking about one of the greatest highlights of the week: The Cuiellars' Baptism!!!!! So this is a family from the Summerset ward that I had been working with for over a year!!! So the Elders back in March 2013 tried to work with them but they had dropped them because they didn't know what to do with them.  So when I opened the area back in Sept. 2013 there was no teaching record or info of them.  It was when I was going through old progress records trying to get information on stuff that I came across them.  They were written in on only two progress records but a long time ago, but I decided to go and try to contact them again.  I started working with Juanita who is the mom.  I worked with them a ton and then when I left I didn't hear too much about them.  Until a month ago we got a text from the mission office about their baptism(i think i wrote about this a few weeks ago).  This was a testimony to me of how I always need to go through all old papers and information.  What if I would of thrown all those papers out assuming that the area was well organized and the teaching records would of been there(well i guess they never really taught them, we were the ones that started teaching them) they could of been lost forever and would of never came to know the truth.
    Anyways so I went to the baptism and it was so good!!! As soon as I arrived it was packed with members from the ward and missionaries.  I went right up to Juanita and her two kids getting baptized and just hugged them.  Juanita and I hugged for such a long time and just cried to each other.  I told her how proud I was of her and the example that she has been to her family and how strong that she was.  She told me that she has never been this happy before in her life and she told me that there was no way that she would be able to go through her Baptism without me there.  She is seriously an amazing woman, some day I will tell you all about it.  It was such a neat experience to see her get baptized.  When the Bishop was welcoming her into the ward he did something that he had never done before.  He had every that was serving a mission and had ever served a mission stand up, then he had those that were not currently serving to sit down, and then he had all the other missionaries that had not served in the Summerset ward sit down as well.  As I stood there with a handful of other missionaries Bishop Root talked about how valiant we were and how grateful he was to work with us.  It was there that I started to cry! It hit me as I look at Bishop Root and at the Cuiellars and at all the other members in that room how much I missed them all.  That area  and ward had such a huge impact on my life, I could never forget them.  I had an ache in my heart thinking of all the great memories there and it killed me to know I will never serve them as a missionary again.  But I am grateful for the opportunity that I got to go to that baptism and feel the spirit there so strong and to see all the ward members and to hear the impact that I had on their lives.  I promised them that when I get home that one day I will just show up in the church meeting.  That is a promise that I am going to keep!  That is one thing that I am grateful for that I got the opportunity to serve in a place so close where I could come back to visit those that I have served.
   So things are going well with Sally Fogg in our area, we got to see her this week a couple of times because she is off work, but she goes back this week :( She has already read most of 1 Nephi!  You can really see the spirit working on her.  Last night we went with her and her less active husband to Hymns of Thanksgiving.  It is a community event that was actually started by a member in the church where the sing hymns of thanks.  It was really great to be able to bring them there.  Sally always jokes about us that one day we will "tie her down to the floor" to convert because that is what she thought missionaries do before she met with us.  But what she doesn't realize that it is her that is really "tying herself down to being converted".  It has been great to really see the change in her these past few weeks.

   Things are still hard at times in our area, but I came to a realization and committed myself to something this week.  Okay my thoughts are scattered but I hope this will all make sense to you.  This came to me as I was studying for a training that I had to do at District Meeting. Our meeting was focused on "traps" as missionaries.  Mine was on finding vs. referrals and us falling into the trap of waiting and relying on our only source of finding through referrals.  I have decided that this is such a great time of a year where people hearts are soften and receptive to the spirit and listening to a message about the Savior.  Even our stake is doing a two night event where they have a live nativity that is outside with the youth as actors and they bring in live animals, even a camel!!! hahaha Anyways, so here is what I declared to my district and to myself.  That I want to go home with bloody knuckles.  I want people to think that I was in a fight because in all honesty I am, I am in a fight against the adversary.  I want to knock on every single door in our area, even though tracting is not as effective.  But you know what, I want to go home swinging, I want to go home knowing that I tried to bring every single person I could closer to Christ.  I can't just wait until they come to me, I keep saying the area is tough.  But I know that I can't stay that there is no work until I have knock on every house.  So that is something that I have committed to: to knock on every door.  I want to come home so tired!

    Don't worry about me for Thanksgiving, I am going to be well taken care of! We have a Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Desserts, and lots of other people that have asked us to stop by the home on this wonderful day.  I think I might be too well taken care of this holiday season, hopefully you will still be able to recognize me when I get back ;)
   So I had this realization today as I was having personal study of why as missionaries we don't live in the world and the reason for the rules that we have.  They are all there to help us build our testimony.  This is the time in our life's where I have solely focused on spiritually things. I have been able to figure things out and question things while focusing on getting those answers by using spiritual resources(i.e. the scriptures and prayer) and not having the influence of the world.  There has been no other point in my life where things have been so clear to me and I know exactly what I know to be true with out a shadow of a doubt.  I realized how important it is for me to write down my testimony that I have right now because when I go back home that influence of the world will try to start to put its input into my testimony.  I see those that I am working with how the word has shaken their testimonies, it made me realize that if for whatever reason I start to question what I know to be true that it will be because of what the world is trying to make me think.  That I can look back at this point in my life and realize where I should when I was not apart of the world.  That is something that really burned deep inside me today and I just had this overall reassurance of how important my testimony is not only to me but to those around me. I realize how special and precious it is as well and that I need to continue to nourish it when I get home.  I challenge all of you that may be struggling or questioning things about what you believe to "take the world out of the equation". Study it out in the scriptures and talk it over with your Father in Heaven.

   I can not tell you how much my testimony has grown not only over the course of my mission, but so much even more this past transfer.  As I have been rereading the Book of Mormon and studying the conference talks about Joseph Smith, my whole body burns with the testimony that I have of him.  Over and over there is evidence that he was called to restore Christ original church and that there is no way that he himself could of written this "book from heaven".  I also had a realization this week as I was studying talks how important it is for me to know where my testimony is at and to strengthen it before I can help others.  

    If there is one thing that I could be grateful for this time of year it would be the opportunity I have had to be here out serving a mission.  This period of my life has changed my life and has changed my testimony for the better! I needed to serve a mission not only for others, but for myself.  I now know that I will never waver because of the experiences I have had on my mission that have built my testimony to where it is at today.  I am even more grateful for my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ.  Isn't it interesting how Thanksgiving come right before Christmas? That we realize what is good in our lives to humble us and prepare us to receptive to the spirit to remember what our Savior has done for us. Coincidence? I think not.  And last but not lease I so thankful for all of you. For all your love and support that you have given me on my mission, you will never realize the impact that you have had on my mission and life.  It is because of all of you that I am out here and still out here serving a mission.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Take a moment to not only public express what you are grateful for to those around you, but specifically to your father in Heaven as well.  

Love

Sister Metcalf

Pictures: Juanita Cuiellar and I

All the missionaries that I have worked with them

Sister Broberg and I in Idaho City

Monday November 17, 2014

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

This week has been another slow one for us up here in Meridian.  We walked most of the week to help keep us busy trying to talk to people on the street.  It ended up snowing Wednesday night up here and no joke probably snowed for almost 48 hours straight.  It was so nuts!  We really didn't have much planned for Friday so we headed so we spent a good part of the day shoveling peoples driveways.  Man I have never been so sore in my life.  We defiantly slept well that night.  A lot of people looked at us like we were crazy offering to shovel to shovel their walks for free. 

    The ward had a chili cook off which is such a great opportunity for them to invite their friends to.  I don't think that was ever anything that we did down in Simi, but I think it is a great idea.  I feel like in this area almost every ward does it.  Even though the roads weren't that great and it was pretty cold Friday night there was still a really good turn out.  It was also a great opportunity for me to be able to meet more people in the ward.

    A tender mercy from the week was picking up a new investigator.  Her name is Sallie Fogg, her husband is a less active member. The sisters had visited with her before but she hadn't shown much interest.  When I came into the area she has had some events in her life to humble her, she got a priesthood blessing the first week that I was here so I really didn't get a chance to know her.  This week we went by to see her because she has to now stay home due to some new health issues.  While we were talking she randomly asked us when church was and where just in case she ever wanted to sit in the back and observe.  This just blew our minds, no one has ever been the one to bring up going to church to us first, so we talked to her about learning more.  She has really come along ways and we invited her to take the discussions and she agreed.  We taught her the Restoration and it went really well, we committed her to read the Book of Mormon. And when we went by her house Friday to shovel her driveway for her she had told us that she had been reading! From what Sister Broberg has told me she has been taking leaps and bonds this transfer, we really have high hopes for her. We have really been trying to push the work along in this area and its been tough not gonna lie, but it was such a blessing from the Lord to be able to pick up a new investigator.

    One thing I learned this week as well came from a less active family.  They don't as active or don't come to church very often due to their daughter playing basketball.  The don't force her to go to mutual because she claims that their aren't girls there that she gets along with or play sports.  Their whole life revolves around her and her sports, they see her playing in college so they are doing everything in their power to help her make it there.  It made me realize how grateful I was for you Dad and Mom, that you didn't let my life be revolved around sports.  That you helped me see the importance of the Gospel in my life.  That one day I wouldn't be playing sports and their were different things that needed to be a focus in my life to prepare me for that day.  You helped me to start building my treasures up in Heaven then here on earth.  So thank you for helping me to build my testimony when I was young and making me go to mutual to help me to branch out and to be friends with those around me.

   This week we have been going around contacting people and teaching the members the Lesson of the Restoration to talk to them about those around them that would be receptive to hear our message.  It has been a great experience and it really has affirmed to me over and over again how true this message is.  It just burns in my heart and soul, one of the members we taught returned from his mission five years ago and he said to remember the feelings we have on our mission because we will never be able to feel them with that much intensity again.  That really hit me, so I went home that night to write my testimony down and to write the feelings that I had.  I love being out here teaching and testifying to everyone even when things feel like they aren't going at the pace that I would hope.

   I am just trying to enjoy every moment of the mission, snow or shine!

Love

Sister Metcalf

1-So much snow!

2-Us by our car before we went to go shovel peoples driveways...got to bundle up! 

Monday November 10, 2014

Faith has a short shelf life

Dear Family and Friends,

      I feel like at different points of this week that it went by quickly and other times it went by slowly.  The area I serve in is different from the one that I was in previously.  I know one thing that I wanted for the end of my mission was to be diligent and work hard and I feel like the Lord is really testing me.  There is not much work going on in this ward, and it is less than a square mile big so I am really going to have to dig deep and work hard to build up this area and get the work moving along.  Most of this week I spent the time organizing things and getting the area in order so we could more effectively plan and work.  It is funny because I feel like I really don't OCD about things but I guess when it comes to the Lord's work I like it to be organized.  I was a little shocked coming into the area because not much was marked up and not much information was written by people.  Luckily they had progress records from all the way back to before I came out on my mission which was funny to see.  So i went through all of them and wrote down the important stuff on the ward directory or teaching records and then threw out the rest that weren't recent.  TO be honest a lot of them just said about people not being home.  We then went through and redid our white board that way we could see everyone and all the potentials that we have to work with and even went through and created a street list( a list of all the members by street).

    We pretty much walk around a ton because our area is so small.  I think that is one thing that has been hard for me this week that our area is so small and their aren't really many people that we are working with.  We have one investigator but he is a schizophrenic and has actually removed his names.  So staying busy is really hard, I have been trying to figure out how to approach things in a different way here because it is so small and because it has already been worked in so much.  But I am going about it in a positive attitude.  I have so much faith that there is people in this area that are ready to be baptized, and that is something that we want this transfer.  We might have to track the whole area to find them(which we could probably do by the end of the transfer to be honest).  A lot of people have heard about the church before or know of us and so your typical door approach just won't cut it here.  Luckily we have a lot of activities coming up and holidays as well which should help.  I guess this is my big test to really see if I am willing to be diligent and work hard till the very end. 

    This week we met a lot of people, mostly those that are not interested, but Sister Broberg and I just saw that we are weaving out the "tares".  We had zone meeting this Friday which was really good, we actually have 30 missionaries in our zone which is a huge difference from 12 in my last zone. Things are moving along and we are determined to keep the work really picked up in the area.  It has been good serving with Sister Broberg, I feel like we are laughing all the time which is great and helps when we find those that aren't ready to take the next step in their life.

   So here is a little rewind for you, I didn't get an opportunity to write about zone conference that much last week so I wanted to this week because it was so great! The theme of Elder Godoy's address was "Every phase is building the future of you". He really focused on marriage and future families. As missionaries we've all gone through the stages of being a new greenie/missionary. Some of us have been a new leader or trainer. One day we will all be new RMs, new couple, new parents or grandperents, new dead person on the other side (he mentioned how he's pretty sure there is a MTC for the newly deseased). One day we will all be new gods talking classes like 'How To Create Worlds 101'. Elder Godoy brought up the idea that as important as DOING what you're supposed to in what ever phase of life is BEING who the Lord wants youto be. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." No one can be perfect in every phase as Christ was but we each have a level that we are perfect at. An apple is perfect as an apple should be. A banana is perfect as a banana. One should not look at the other and judge according to what they see as perfection (And then he started to go off on the Barney song about apples and bananas. I told you, he's crazy in the best possible way). So we all are given a level that we have to achieve at that time and no more. Just a brilliant talk. He then brought up that the baptisms in the world have gone up 11% across the world and 13% in the United States. How much in the Idaho Boise Mission? A grand total of 31%! Wooh! Just random tidbit he threw in:)

   Things here are good! I read a talk this morning by Elder Eyring, where I got the title of my subject.  This talk was so good and really hit me hard. I really feel like you all should read it! Spiritual Preparedness . You all should read it and really apply to your life, we need to be doing things daily to build our faith, we can't just build it all up and store it for a time that we need to dip into it.  This talk was given almost ten years ago and I feel like it applies to us so much today, it is a testimony builder today that the Prophets and Apostles have been called my the Lord to prepare us.

    I love you and miss you all and hope that you have a great week.  Pray with faith for and expect miracles, I know I am.  Create those miracles and tender mercies in your life.

Love
Sister Metcalf

Monday November 3,2014

"Dropping the little kids off at the pool"‏

Okay so I will start off with transfers, I got transferred to Meridian South :( I was really sad to leave Eagle. The people there are just amazing and the ward there is amazing and the work is going so well up there.  It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone up there that I have grown so close with.  I am no longer an STL any more, i went down to be co-senior companions with Sister Broberg! Yep you heard right, I am serving with the only other missionary that is from Simi Valley, CA hahahaha This is her last transfer so I will be "killing" her off.  I can just tell we are gonna have a blast this transfer and just work it! As sad as it was for me to leave I know that it had to happen in order for me to possible train before I go home.  I think it might happen.  Because since this is sister Broberg's last transfer i will have to get a new companion next transfer. She will be my 12th companion...that is just nuts to me, but I have loved every companion that I have had! So looks like I will be leaving with the lucky #13 companions(my favorite number...looks like the Lord does work in mysterious ways ahahah). I will be back to covering one ward :( And apparently it is small like half a square mile big, but hey I can work with that! I plan on seeing miracles this transfer and sending out Sister Broberg with the best transfer of her mission!
        This week was such a great week of tender mercies I feel like from the Lord.  The beginning of the week started out a little slow, but I feel like it ended with a bang for sure! On Thursday I was leaving the house with a feeling that it was going to be a great day, have you ever had those feelings before? I seriously love them on the mission.  So last week we had received a media referral for a girl who had referred herself. She said that she had taken the discussions before and wanted to refresh her memory.  Well we tried all last week to contact her but was having no success. Finally as a last resort we texted her on Tuesday.  On Wednesday we had gotten a text back from her about her losing her phone but had set up a time to see her the next day.  We met her at the church with our R.S.P. and taught her the Restoration. She is so amazing and so elect. She was just soaking up everything and asking about church on Sunday.  The sad thing is is that we will have to pass her off to YSA because she is 19 :( After that experience I was super jealous of Megan.  I would love to serve in the YSA ward, I agree with Megan that there is just something different about teaching those that are the same age as you.  Yow can just relate to them and be so much more bolder with them.  We are meeting up with the YSA Elders this week to pass her off to them. The lesson went super well and she excepted a soft baptismal invite! Meaning when she comes to know these things are true she will follow the example of her Savior Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God! Sometimes I think I get too attached to people, she is seriously so great!!!
    To top off that amazing day, as we pulled in to our house, Sister Clegg was going back reading through all the texts that the mission office had sent because they had kind of sent a lot that day. As she was reading text one of them was to tell me how the Cuillers for Boise West were getting baptized!!! I had found that family a year ago!!! That just blew my mind, I was so stoked to hear that.  I was overwhelmed with love and tender mercies from the Lord that day.  That sometimes when the going gets tough you keep going and pushing through and the Lord will bless you. Sometimes you don't see it right away, sometimes I won't see them at all in the mission, but I felt blessed that the Lord had allowed me to be even more blessed! It was a testimony builder to me that sometimes others take longer than others, but we just have to be patient and trust in the Lord's timing!
     We had zone conference this week with Elder Godoy, and it was just amazing, he is seriously such a funny guy.  Such a great spiritual experience, I wish I could write about everything that I learned and came away from it, but I don't have enough time :( He focused a lot on Chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel which was Christlike attributes. So he focused a lot on us becoming the person our Father in Heaven needs us to be! He was really inspiring. I also had to give my trunk-a-mony or my last testimony in Zone Conference, it was so surreal to me. I started to cry a little bit, it was a little rough. It kind of hit how quickly this is all coming to an end but I quickly reminded myself as well that I still have so much more time left to see miracles and so much more that the Lord needs me to do.

   Yesterday was probably my favorite Sunday in my whole mission! Well Alex(the new investigator came to the family ward on Sunday all by herself!!!!! She came there because she felt more comfortable since she knew us there.  There were quite a few less actives that came out as well as some of the youth brought some non-memner friends!!!! At first the fast and testimony meeting started out a little rough and i was nervous not gonna lie! But then it was amazing! Some of the most powerful testimonies I had heard were given about the basics of the gospel, about Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith which was seriously just perfect.  I ended up bearing my testimony as well, I just love doing that! There were tons of youth that bore their testimony as well, they are seriously awesome. I just know they are going to be great missionaries when they go out!
   So last tender mercy of the week, so as I was packing up this morning which was hard for me to do, not gonna lie. We got a text from Alexandria(the new investigator) just talking about how much she just loved church.  She also said she had been praying a lot about what we had taught her and she said she wants to get baptized! My heart was filled with so much joy! I felt so blessed to of been able to see this last tender mercy from the Lord before I left.  We told her how excited we were for her, I told her I would make it back for her baptism!

    The church is true! All of it, every single bit. Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know it to be true, to the world it doesn't make sense logically but to me it makes sense spiritually. I know that it is true and all the other stuff that people are trying to say about him do not matter. Don't let it matter to you either.  If you know that the First Vision occurred that is all that matters, that means that He was called to be a prophet of God, and that he translated the Book of Mormon.  No one is perfect, but I know that if he wasn't suppose to be a prophet or wasn't "worthy" or did things that don't seem the greatest, God would of pulled him from leading Christ's restored Church.  I love you all and pray for you all! Keep doing what you are doing!

Love
Sister Metcalf

P.S. I know that the title doesn't make sense, but it does to me. It is a quote this week that I don't want to forget hahaha

P.P.S. My new address is

2746 East Easy Jet Drive
Meridian, Idaho
83642

 Slot Cars

 Sister Haas and I where I probably lost my camera

Pre-Trunk Papers