Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Happy late Memorial Day weekend! I hope you all had a fabulous time enjoying the nice weather,I know I sure did.  Sorry that this letter is a little late, all the libraries were closed yesterday, and sadly this letter is gonna have to be a short one because we only have half the time to email and I already spent half the time trying to read everyone's emails. If I didn't respond to you this week I am sorry, I promise to next week.

    The last week was a really good week for my companion and I lesson wise.  We finally hit 20 lessons this week which is the standard of excellence(only 20% mission is suppose to hit that mark each week).  This is the first time I have hit since all the changes and clarifications on the lessons.  We were both super excited to have met that. 

    To be honest this week was a blur to me.  We went on exchanges with some sisters this week which went pretty well, we also went to lunch with another set of sisters that we are over that were struggling.  To be honest this is the one thing that I love about being over sisters, is that they feel like they can trust me and I am able to help them out or give them advice when they need it.  As much as a strain it takes to go on exchanges I love being able to meet so many different sisters and learn things from them. 

   Things have been going really well with me becoming bold, we have done a little bit of tracking each day but not too much. I have gotten a lot better this week just opening my mouth and being bold with everyone even members and less actives.  Its really been great, and its like how Nathan explained it to me, I feel totally different as a missionary.  I was always nervous to not "upset" people but it hit me a few weeks ago that I am here to cry repentance and was reading in the Book of Mormon that the words that I am here to give are not suppose to be smooth, that it is going to upset some people but that is just the way it is.  I really try this last night with the Wilson's. They are the family that we are working with where the wife is a member and he is not. My companion and I were just bold with him talking about the blessings that he could bring to the family.  There has been a lot of concerns that they both have that we have been trying to over come. The wife made a comment that was so directed by the spirit that hit him.  We had a good conversation about his desire and acting on that and we asked him if he sees himself getting baptized in the near future or down the road.  He said near future so when we asked him when he said sometime in June, we told him to pick a  day this week and really pray to know how we can help him to be ready and he said he would. So we are super excited about that.

   Well I am out of time, I am so sorry, i would love to write a longer email but I am trying to be as obedient as I can so I am respecting my Mission Presidents wishes on our shorter emailing time.  I love you all so much and I hope you have an amazing week. I know I will because I will be going back to my old area for a baptism. I will have to tell you about it next week! Keep being awesome.

Love

Sister Metcalf

Monday May 19, 2014

Does anyone know how to slow down time?‏

I can't believe that it is already Monday again, i feel like these weeks have just been flying by here.  This week was a busy one for us and a pretty successful one as well.  This week we met with our golden investigator, Elvira.  She is seriously so awesome! We taught her the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, it was great! The spirit was there so strong and she accepted everything that we had to tell her.  We extended the baptismal date of June 21st which she accepted.  When we met with her again yesterday we asked her about that date and she feels so right about it and she prayed about it.  She talked about the feelings she gets as we teach her and when she prays and we explained how it is the spirit.  I am just so excited for her!  The lesson on the Plan of Salvation was so amazing.  She lost her husband a year ago and she hopes to be with him again.  At the end of the lesson I just bore a simple testimony to her about how she can be together with her family forever through the gospel.  We both started to cry, i can not explain the feelings I have for her.  All the pain, hard-work, and tears are worth it for this one person that I have been able to teach in this area.  I can see how much it has already changed her life and how much more blessed she will be.

   This week my companion and I also did some training at Zone Conference.  We were a little nervous the morning of because the night before we kind of switched up our game plan and were a little unsure about everything.  But overall it went so well and our Mission President was so appreciative of what we talked about he said it was what the missionaries needed to hear and set the tone for the rest of the conference as well as lead in perfectly to what he talked about.  Sister Hatch and I talked about our purpose and I started out with talking about the reason why we all decided to come out on missions and borrowed someones call letter to read.  We talked about what we committed to when we accepted the call as well as the blessings that are promised to us.  We then went through faith, repentance, baptism, holy Ghost, and enduring to the end to us as missionaries and how that applies with us.  We talked about how we are hear to invite others to come unto Christ, which means we first have to be there.  We ended with a video clip of elder Hollands about Missionary Work and the Atonement.  It was so good and talked about how missionary work is not meant to be easy. Overall the Zone conference was really good.  President and Sister Winder talked to us about the families and the importance of us standing up for our beliefs because of what is happening around the world.  And it just really hit me that we will most likely be the last one standing on our beliefs about the family and marriage.  It is crazy how much everything is changing out there in the real world, I feel like I am stuck in my missionary bubble.

   This week we also had our Stake BBQ and it turned out a lot better than we thought it was going to.  It was pretty much my companion and I that were spear heading it.  Not a huge turn out like I am use to for stake activities but about 175 people came out.  There were a lot of non members as well as some less actives.  Over all I feel like it was a pretty successful event.  As well as at church yesterday we had a couple of less actives that we are working with come out to church, it was so awesome to of seen them.  I feel like the week was really successful for us.  I can not believe that it is already a new transfer.  My companion and I ended up staying together which we were excited about.  (But we have moved apartments so it kind of still feels like transfers to us.  I can't remember what our address is but I promise to send it in my next email so just keep sending my stuff to the mission office and they will forward it to me.)We sat down last night and set some goals for us this next transfer, we are really hoping to see a lot of success.  I also have decided to fully give up my fear to the the Lord and we are gonna do some productive tracking every single day.  We do track but usually not everyday so I have committed to do that.  I know that there are people out there just like Elvira that are in a famine and are thirsting to hear about the gospel.  I loved this week, I felt like our Zone Conference re instilled my drive and desire and made me want to kick everything up a notch.  

   I am glad that everything is going so well with all of you! I love you all and am glad to hear that everything went smoothly for the funerals.  Sorry that this is a short email again. I love you all! I feel so blessed to be out here serving a mission right now. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Gospel and the opportunity that I have to share it with those around me.  I am so grateful for family and the love and support that I receive from all of you!

Love

Sister Metcalf

Monday May 12, 2014

"Every little thing is gonna be alright"‏

Wow, I feel like it has been forever since I have last written you all.  This week was a long one for me and to be honest was probably the toughest week for me since I have been out on my mission.

   This week we had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council), this is where all the leaders in the mission get together to receive training as well as talk about things going on in the mission and changes that need to be made.  It is hard to explain but by the time it came to this meeting I was kind of at my wits end with somethings that my companion and I had to deal with and just stressed.  The meeting was really good, this month our mission is focusing on Christlike attributes.  I encourage all of you to study those in preach my gospel this month as well.  As we we taught, I just sat there and thought "Do I like the Missionary I am right now?"  And honestly I didn't, it is funny how the lord humbles you and shapes you to the potential that he sees in us.  There are so many little things I want to become better at and develop certain characteristics as well.  It hit me how far along in my mission I am and how there is so much I still need to accomplish in this short period of time.  I honestly love meetings like this because they motivate me and instill a desire in me to want to change to be a better missionary and person.  A lot of changes have been happening in our mission, and this time our mission president is changing up our preparation days now.  He feels like we aren't using our preparation day to prepare for the week but we are seeing it as a play day.  It is difficult in our mission since it is the 3rd smallest one in the church.  We have gone from mission wide p-days to zone p-days(20ish missionaries).  But I honestly I felt like that was good.  So every Monday we get together with our zone and last month an area seventy told our mission president that we shouldn't be getting together with our zone every preparation day.  So our mission president decided we can only get together with other missionaries every other week.  It was hard for a lot of missionaries to take that, but it really made me step back and think.  As I listened to the what ifs and the arguments going on, i really thought about what my purpose is being out here.  Yes preparation days are great and they are a way to relieve stress for the week, but were people up set about the change for the mission sake our their own.  My main reason of being out here is to serve the Lord and to invite others to come unto Christ. 

    This lead perfectly into our Zone meeting, my companion and I were asked to train the missionaries on whatever that we felt inspire to from our MLC meeting.  We decided to focus on Our purpose and why we all decided to come out on missions.  It went really well and I felt like the spirit was so strong as we taught.  I love teaching others, wither it be missionaries or others.  I love the preparation time that goes into it because I learned so much more when I am studying for others.  I guess the Lord is really testing me on what I can handle because my Mission President this week asked my companion to train at our Zone conference, (where about 80 missionaries will be there) on Our purpose as missionaries and the Doctrine of Christ.  I am excited, but at the same time am a little stressed out.  I have been praying to know how we can better inspire and help these missionaries that we will be speaking to.  As well as I really do not enjoy public speaking, i am fine with small groups, but when it comes to large groups and speaking in church I do not enjoy that.  I know that everything we be fine, but I really want to help these missionaries out here to live up to their calling and see the potential that they have.

   The rest of the week seemed like a blur to me, we went on exchanges on Wednesday with some sisters that were struggling.  It was nice for me to take off the stress of the week and focus on someone else and to help them out.  I just want to testify that a mission is really the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  Things were great that day and really looking up for me and we just had a good time on exchanges.  It was about right after that we exchanged back that my mission president called me to give me the news at Grandpa Raiser.  Not going to lie it hit me pretty hard and that night it was pretty hard for me to wrap my mind around what had happened.  I am grateful for how my mission president handle it, he had me talk about my grandpa with him and he told me about how he has lost both his parents since he has been out here serving.  He told me about those personal experiences and we had a good heart to heart.  I talked to me for some time and then asked me if it would be okay for him to call back Nathan to see what happened because he realized that this was a sudden thing and wasn't expected.  Nathan he seriously talked so highly of you and how what a great young man you were, which made me cry a little bit more.  After hearing about everything it made me worry about all of you back at home and how you were all doing.  I was a little upset with Heavenly Father because I felt like it was the worst timing ever with mom having her back surgery.  That night I gave one of the most sincere prayers that I have given in a while on my mission, just bearing out my heart to my Father.  I cannot explain to you the feelings in that room as my companion fell asleep(it was kind of a long one for me).  But at that moment it was reconfirmed that Heavenly Father was aware of me, the spirit was so strong and I felt as if both Grandma and Grandpa were there with me as I prayed just hugging me and comforting me.  It was something I have never really experienced before.  After I finished up my pray I really came to terms with things and felt peace in my heart.  I feel like that really prepared me as well for President calling me again Friday night about Grandma Metcalf.  To be honest I was in shock when he told me and it didn't feel to me.  Right now though I am at peace with everything and are moving forward with the work.

   I pray for all of you, it was so good to talk to Mom yesterday as well as with Dad and Megan.  Know that I seriously and doing okay now.  I wish I could be there for the funeral, but I know there is no other place that I am suppose to be then out here.  I love you all! Stay strong, know that you will see them again.  Find peace in prayer, the atonement and the love that the Savior and our Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of you!

  By the way transfers are next week and I may be moving to a different apartment so send all mail to the mission office until you hear from me next Monday.  I love you all so much and am proud of you! Sorry for the short email, i just ran out of time. Did I mention I love you all?!

Love

Sister Metcalf

Monday May 5, 2014

This is not something we do,but become‏

Table rock

Random poster for a ginger fest hahaha 

This might have to be a short one this week, i spent a little more time this week responding to peoples emails individually.  This week has been a pretty good week for us, well we started off strong in the beginning of the week and started to die towards the end, and a little of that had to do with Stake Conference this weekend as well.  We finally got to meet with Elvira who is one of our golden referrals that we received a while back.  We had a really good lesson with her and gave her a Book of Mormon in her native language, she was so excited to begin to read it.  It has been really hard for us to meet with her because her life is so crazy and hectic and she works so much since she is a single mom to two kids.  Her children are just awesome and such good kids, we actually picked up her children this week as new investigators.  She is really trying to look for something religious and something that will bless and help her children as well. I see such great things for her in the future, now if the adversary could just stop getting in the way that would be perfect. But I guess that we don't live in a perfect world.

    We saw the Wilson's this week as well, Sister Hatch and I have been able to be really bold with him which has been great.  I feel like we have a good relationship with him, but are helping him see the blessings the gospel can bring into his life.  We are actually going to teach him the Restoration tonight, he has been visiting with missionaries for so long, but they haven't taught him anything really besides sharing scriptures for at least over a year.   We are anxious to see what will happen tonight, he likes to joke around a lot, so my companion and I have decided that we need it to be serious. And if he is joking about it that we are just gonna stop and explain to him how the things that we are teaching him are important to us and can change his life if he lets the spirit touch his heart.  I feel like he is progressing well though, we just need him to commit and strengthen his testimony.

   We also got to see one of our investigators Kent this week, he is one that the sisters were teaching a while ago, but he hasn't been taught a lesson in almost 4 months.  We usually see him outside and talk with him and his wife about things and they say they are gonna come to church but then it never happens.  So this last time we were straight up with him and sked what he wants from us and if he is serious about learning more or if he has that desire to learn more.  He kind of stopped and thought for a second, and he said that he truly does and he really has been slacking these last few months and been letting little things get in the way.  On the positive side he says he now has Sundays off work(he has been working crazy hours lately),which is just awesome.  He said how he is gonna start making church a priority and we are going to start teaching him again next Sunday as well. 

    So this week we met again with one of our investigators Ann, she is seriously so amazing! I love her, she is just so hard on herself and feels like she won't be able to live up to the "standards" of the other women in the church.  She thinks they are all so perfect, we had a nice long talk with her.  I feel like this was my week of being bold with everyone.  I kind of laid down the law with her and shared the scripture in Alma 34:32-34 about not procrastinating the day of her repentance.  That really hit her hard, she actually in that moment called the Stake Executive Secretary to set up an appointment to meet with the Stake President.  I really have grown a deeper love for her.  She expressed to me how I really push her, and it is hard, but she says this is what she needs and she is so grateful that I am her missionary right now in her life.  I expressed to her how much I love her and I push her because I know the blessings that she can receive from entering back into the gospel.  She has low self-esteem which is tough but she knows that we can talk to her all we want and build her up, but she needs to see in within herself first.  I told her how I want her to feel worthy when she enters in the waters of baptism, that when the Stake President says that she is ready that she should see him as a representative of the Lord. As if the Lord was there telling her that she is worthy and ready.  It seriously was such a powerful meeting a lesson with her.  This is the first time that she has really opened up to us and expressed what is holding her back.

   Looking back on this week I feel like there have been so many tender mercies from the Lord, we have been able to visit some less active members in the ward that we haven't met before.  Things have been really progressing, slowly, but it is happening.  I am just staying positive on everything.  I set a goal this week to remain positive and I feel like I have been tested on that, with possibly one of our investigators just up and moving somewhere else, running into anti people as well as not having gas yesterday so we had to walk around a bit.  Okay I know we should of been smarter about the gas thing, but I saw it as a blessing because we got to talk to so many people on the street.  Not much came from it, but we did receive coupons from a lady.

    Stake Conference this week was so good, Elder Bats came and spoke and he is seriously so great! HE was so funny and at the same time had some really good things to say. A lot of good one liners. One that I want to pass off to you all is to "Get the missionaries off the streets" hahaha but seriously members need to give missionaries referrals for their friends to see.  God is trusting us that we will take care of his children.  This work is really not that complicated.  We just are to express love to others.  When we love our brothers and sisters, that is what changes lives and we need to continually invite, they have their agency to choose what they may.  Their are members of the church that have fallen away that are just wanting to feel apart of something.  Missionary work is not something that we do, but what we become.  Know that there is no such thing as "no" in hastening the work, when others say they are not interested, they are just saying they need a little more time.  I really like that idea and it is so true when you think about it.  We need to be a light in the world, but that desire to share the gospel has to come from within.  We need to do the little things to strengthen our testimonies, not just church, pray ,and read the scriptures, but bear your testimony.  Say to yourself everyday so you never forget it.  Tell your children, grandchildren, spouses, friends, whoever so often so that they know that you have a testimony of the gospel.  You can't just bottle it up and expect people to know that you have a testimony.  It doesn't have to be done at church.  John 14:18, look it up.  I know there are a lot of random thoughts in here, but this is some of the things that I pulled away from the seventy(Elder Bats) that came.  He made me want to be more bold and just track every house, I am gonna try to be a little more witty at the door when people respond to us. For example if some says they aren't a member, i want to respond "your not? well you seem like such a great guy that you would be a member? Do you want to learn more?"  It is kind of hard to express what I am thinking right now, but overall I just loved it.

   I want you all to know that I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the fullness of the Christ gospel on the earth today.  There is no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and our Savior.  I know that we have a prophet today to lead and guild us, just like prophets of old.  God still loves us, so why wouldn't he still have prophets on the earth.  I know that the message that us missionaries have to share can bless the life of everyone.  I am so grateful for this opportunity that can see the happiness that it can bring into peoples lives and see them change their life around!  There is no other thing nor no other place I rather be then out her sharing the gospel to others. I Promise you that if you kneel down in faith and pray to our Father in heaven to have a missionary experience he will give it to you!

   I love you all and miss you!!! Thank you for all your love and support.

Love

Sister Metcalf

 Random swarm of bees,seriously so gross and like an inch think of bees piled on each other 

      

 Breakfast on the porch

Boise State, got to represent I guess

Monday April 28, 2014

"It's been an up and down week".."Isn't that a normal week for a missionary?"‏

This week just seemed to fly by so quickly for me.  On Monday for our preparation day our zone combined with another zone to hike table rock, it was fun but super exhausting.  If you are to ever come to Boise for a long enough trip I would encourage all of you to hike it, it has such an awesome view at table rock.  Monday night we met with one of our investigators who is a part member family.  We extended a baptismal date to him for the beginning of June and asked him to pray about it.  Well he likes to make snarky comments to us all the time, just a little back round information for you. So when we extended that commitment to him he kind of laughed and said well the Lord won't tell me that that isn't a good day for him to get baptized.  He said he would have to make a phone call because his wife's brother who lives in CA he would want to do it.  So will find out tonight how all that went, they did come to church again this week for the third week in a row, seriously a miracle.  It makes me so excited when I see our investigators and the less actives that we are working with walk through that front door.

   On Tuesday we went on exchanges, so I actually wasn't in our area, it was nice to go and see how the sisters that we are over are doing in their area.  Really didn't get a break though, the sister that I was with had only been out for a few weeks so I felt like I was training all over again.  I helped her a lot with planning and figuring out where to go even though that I really don't know their ward.  She really did take a lot from it as well as seeing that she knows a lot more than she takes credit for.  I rode the bus for the first time on my mission and I seriously loved it, I wish that I could do that more often.  It was such a great opportunity to talk to so many people, it really helped me to push myself out of my comfort zone.  We then ended up walking around in the ran for 4 hours, the sisters were low on their miles and so I tried as well to help them figure out how they can best use the miles they are given each month instead of just driving around like a chickens head cut off.  Ran into quite a few people in downtown Boise that really aren't too found of the church and had some really skewed views of everything, but it was funny how I asked them if they would like to really find out what we believe they just denied it.  I love running into people who think that they know what we know, but they have never really want to learn about what we know. We had dinner with a family who lives at top of this hill and their backyard view is a gulf course, it seriously was so nuts.  I will send pictures of it.  I am pretty sure that we ended up walking 6 miles that day, i didn't mind so much but it would of been nice if it wasn't raining and people were walking around that we could of talked to instead of knocking on doors.

   Wednesday we went on splits with the Relief Society and it was really good, the people that I went to go see are less actives that we are already working with but it was good to go by with a member.  One of them that we saw was actually someone that the sister that I was with visit teaches.  I got to help her make a connection with her because she said she was having a hard time with that previously.  Sister Hatch and I are really trying to work hard at getting the members to get more involved in missionary work and having them be more involved with the less actives we are working with.  We are gonna start "assigning" members to be stopping by the less actives or investigators when we aren't there.  I think this will be good because this past week I have been really struggling trying to figure out how to help those progress that are really just stuck in a rut or are sitting on the fence with things.  Thursday we had a good lesson with one of the investigators we are teaching who had her names removed.  She is so ready to finish her interview with the Stake President but for some reason she is holding back and we cannot figure out why.  I have been praying and studying for her like crazy and I hope the Lord leads me to what she needs before our next visit.  I had a little tender mercy from the Lord this night as well, everyone that we had planned to see were not home or had cancelled.  We were trying to figure out where to go and my companion had now clue.  I just said a little prayer in my heart and this less active who I had never met before but had come across her name plenty of times popped into my mind. I decided to go out on a limb and go see her.  She ended up being up and allowing us to come in and visit with her.  She use to be super active, but when she moved into the ward 8 months ago with her daughter that is kind of when things dropped.  They went to church once and felt like there were not a lot of kids.  I feel like that is one of the biggest struggles that we are trying to overcome in this area.  That so many less actives prejudge the ward because it is a little older and there is no youth.  Which is funny because if all the less active youth would come to church there would be a good amount.  This ward is so amazing even though it is small, and many people do not give them a chance.   We have just been bold with people about the purpose of church, and although the social aspect is a plus it should not be the soul reason that determines whither they go or not.  There is only 33% of the ward that comes to church, so we defiantly have our work cut out for us in this area, which is good because it is keeping us busy.

    On Friday we went on exchanges again and I left the area again because the first few exchanges I ended up staying in the area and my companion left.  Things were pretty good, but I saw that it seemed like the sisters were visiting people just to get lessons.  One lady that they see is an atheist.  I had a really good discussion with her, but basically I asked her if she had a desire to know that God exist or if she would pray to know if He is really there.  She said no and she was content with her life.  When we left I told the sister how they can still stop by maybe once a transfer, but not once a week because really I didn't see any potential there.  I said how that we aren't here to just stop by and share a scripture so we can put a tally mark under our lessons, but we are here to help people progress in the Gospel or progress to the Gospel.  That they need to better focus on those that the Lord is preparing rather than the ones that are just easy lessons.  I have really learned on my mission that those investigators that are solid and make it to baptism are the ones that you really have to work hard on.  Which I like because that means that they really had to work for their testimony and I can walk away feeling confident that they will remain solid in the Gospel.  

   Saturday was a pretty hectic day with us because we were trying to get things organized for our stake BBQ that we are putting on in less than 3 weeks.  The stake president decided that he wanted to do a family history twist to it which I think will be great and it is a non-threatening event for people to invite their neighbors and friends to.  It is also a great way to use family history more in missionary work, I feel like I don't use it as effectively as I could on my mission with finding people. Sunday we had a pretty good day as well, it was fast Sunday because next week is Stake conference and the week after that is Mother's day.  One of the less active families(mother and daughter) we are working with have been coming off and on these past few weeks and I stopped by and actually visited with the daughter who is 15.  We had a really good conversation about seminary, church, and prayer.  Yesterday she got up and bore her testimony for the first time, I was so proud of her.  She seriously has grown so much and really is the reason that her mom comes to church.  Last week she actually came to church by herself.  It is so great to see the ward growing little by little and seeing the people that we are working with come to church.  Overall this week has been a pretty good week, some ups and some downs but that is normal in the missionary life.  Thank you all so much for your love and support! I love you and miss you all and hope that all is well on your end.  Continue to reach out to those that you home teach and visit teach as well as to those neighbors and friends around you, continually inviting.

Love 

Sister Metcalf

Monday April 21, 2014

On the downward slump :(‏

Can you believe that I hit my half way mark already?! This is just crazy to me, things are going by way to fast for me.  Things have started to move along in our area, we just got a new ward mission leader this last Sunday because our other one got called up to be the Elders Quorum President.  Sister Hatch and I are really trying to build up the ward in numbers and strengthen the members.  Lots of contacting and reaching out during the week to less actives.  This week the Wilson's( part member family that is less active that we have been working with) came to church again! Two weeks in a row, we are hoping that it isn't because it was Easter, but that it is because they are trying to get back into the habit of things.  We are seeing them tonight and are going to focus on repentance and baptism with them.  We are hoping to extend a baptismal date for the Dad and their daughter who is 8.  I think the previous sisters had gotten into a routine of just going over and "visiting" with them.  One thing that has stuck out to me with working with less actives is that as missionaries we don't want to be seen as visiting teachers or home teachers.  We are hear to call them to repentance and to bring them back to church.  I feel like sometimes the missionaries, including myself are trying to build up the relationship too much with them, that is the members responsibility.  Yes we should make a connection with them but I see that sometimes the less actives just expect from missionaries visits as just visits and not trying to help them to progress in the gospel.  I really have been continually working on being bold with everyone.  Kind of an inspiring story from this week, we had dinner with a family the other night and both of them are active members.  They told us how they were both inactive for 18 and 34 years.  I asked them what got them to come back to church and they said how for 3 years their home teachers and visiting teachers would come by every single month.  They always shared a message and invited them to church every time.  One day the wife woke up and starting getting ready when her husband saw this he asked where she was going and she told him church and asked if he wanted to go and he went.  Since then they have gone to church every single week.  The spirit really touched my heart about not giving up with people.  Sometimes it gets frustrating when we don't see people progress or we feel that our work has gone to waste.  But that is not the truth at all.  I love the story of Abinadi, where he calls the people to repentance and gives up his life for the Lord and he probably thought that he had done no good.  But Alma was one among them that went on to convert hundreds of people.  It just showed me not to give up on everyone, and I guess that applies to everyone back home to not give up on those less actives that you visit and home teach.  You are planting seeds and you never know where it is going to go.

    Sadly we weren't able to see our Bosnian family due to sickness in their family and her crazy work schedule.  We taught a lot more lessons this week which was nice, we are keeping pretty busy but we can always be busy as all missionaries would say.  We had a Leadership training meeting this week where we talked about planning more effectively at night.  It was so good and I felt like it was needed, I feel like the Lord is really whipping me into shape and when I think that I have gotten good at something he shows me where I need to improve.  I was the lucky one who Sister Winder choose to go out with for the night, a little stressful but we had a successful night.        I actually had a meeting already set up with the bishop that night to go over the ward directory, so she got to sit in on that and really see how we as missionaries work with the bishop.  We then went to go see a less active family that the bishop had mentioned, and had a really good visit with them.  The spirit was so strong and I shared a message on Easter of course and committed them to come to church and they agreed.  Sadly they didn't keep their commitment, but there was quite a few less actives that we did get out to church.  It might of been due to the fact that it was Easter but we are really going to stay on them to make sure that we can keep them coming.  I love sitting there in sacrament meeting a see the congregation grow, even if there are just one of two people that come in.  Slowly it is getting bigger, but there is still a lot more people that are out there in Boise that need to be sitting in those pews.

  

 This week we also went on exchanges with some sisters that we were over, I was sister Pratt, she is so awesome I love her.  We had a great time, she is an awesome missionary.  There always seems to be some event that happens to us when we are on exchanges together.  Last time is when we got roped into cleaning out that small fish pond.  This time we were driving to one of our appointments and all of a sudden we saw this little boy running around on the street with no clothes on.  We just started busting up laughing, she turned to me and just said you really do cover the lower class people in Boise.  I seriously love the area I cover, there is never a dull moment here.

    Yesterday Easter was really good, we had dinner with a family in the ward whose husband is less active.  They invited over a couple of their friends as well, there was a lot of good food and we also go to dye Easter eggs with their two little kids.  We were able to make some visits to some less actives that night as well.  It was a little tougher day during the afternoon because a lot of people were either not home or they had family over.  Overall it was good and I was so grateful to be out their sharing the message of the Savior on Easter.

   Nothing really too exciting from this week, the work is continually moving along and I am continually learning and growing and being shaped into the person that the Lord needs me to become.  I love you and miss you all and I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter.

Love

  Sister Metcalf

Monday April 14, 2014

There were a lot of success for the week here in the area that I am serving in, which was nice for the first week of the transfer.  There is a part member/less active family that we usually do family home evening with every Monday night, the sisters have been doing that with them for the past six months.  This last week we focused on teaching them a cute little lesson on the plan of salvation, but directed it towards their 8 year old daughter.  At the end when we talked about the 3 different kingdoms we asked her/ her parents what we need to do in order to live with our father in heaven again.  The nonmember dad said baptism, and they gave answers like church, prayer, reading the scriptures.  Which are all things that we are trying to get them to do.  It was kind of funny, we talked about their daughter getting baptized and the mom mention how they want the dad and daughter to get baptized at the same time and how they want her brother to do it who lives in CA.  When we asked them to set a "goal" for that they were thinking the end of August. My companion and I talked to them about not waiting that long, but we also know we need to get them back active again.  They use to come all the time a year and half ago.  Well yesterday they came to church!!!!! It was seriously such a miracle and I was so shocked, because they haven't come in forever.  They stayed for all three hours.  I seriously have no clue why they aren't active, they were making comments in the gospel principles class and both of them made really good comments in Relief Society and Priesthood.  We are seeing them tonight and we are hoping that we can keep them on the path to continually coming to church.

    Another miracle this week is that we contacted a referral that was given to us, i met of mentioned it before.  It is a mother, daughter, and son from Bosnia and her coworker who lives in Star has been working on them but she lives in our area.  We finally met with them this week and had a really good talk with them. We picked them up as new investigators, they just seem so golden and so well prepared by the lord. She talked about how she wants a church to raise her children with good morals and standings, she had talked about how she works around about 90% members and she just loves the type of people that they are.  With our first visit she asked what it would take to get them baptized, we talked about the Book of Mormon as well and extended a soft baptismal invitation as well, which they accepted.  We are shooting to have the baptism in the middle of May.  I really have high hopes for this family.

     On Saturday I got to go back to my old area to my investigators baptism.  It was for Emily, and it seriously was so good.  I loved that girl so much and was so sad when I had to leave that area.  It was so nice to have gone back and to see how much she had grown even more.  She seriously was so shy when I first met her, but she seriously has gotten so outgoing and has gain such a strong testimony of the gospel.  We got to talk for a little bit before the baptism and I just told her how proud I was of her and she told me how awesome I was and how grateful she was for me teaching her.  The spirit was so strong at her baptism, not gonna lie I cried a couple of times.  I knew that my Father in Heaven was proud of both of us and I just felt so blessed that I got to come back for her baptism.  Sadly though when I talked to the sisters that are serving in that ward, it sounds like all my other investigators have gone off the deep end.  This was so sad to hear, I wanted to cry.  The adversary had gotten to two of the youth I was teaching and by not getting any support at home at worn on them.  I hope to stay in touch with them after my mission and pray that they will find their way back to the church.

   This week we also went on exchanges with two of the sisters that we were over and it was a lot of success.  One of the newer sisters who I was with is kind of struggling with some stuff that is going on back at home.  I really feel for her, but it was a great opportunity for her to open up to me and for me to help her with what she was going through.  I feel like I worry so much more for these sisters out her, I want them all to succeed so badly.  It is such a blessing that I have been able to build a trust and friendship with them that they feel like they can open up to me and talk to me about their struggles.

  I found out the other week that my first investigator, Joe Rarick and his wife are planning on getting sealed in the temple at his year mark.  I was so excited to hear that he was doing so well.  I was nervous a few months ago because I had heard that about a month after his baptism he lost his job, and then his wife and him had some troubles and kicked him out of the house.  The advesary was working on him hard because he seriously has such a strong testimony.  He stayed faithful through it all and kept going to church.  Things are good between him and his wife and she is actually active again in the church!!! I hope he keeps strong because I would love to be able to be there when he goes through and gets sealed to his family! These are the types of people I love to find, it is not about the number of baptisms.  But it is about finding those people that will help build up the kingdom of God and stay strong in the church.

    Sister Hatch and I are really fired up about our ward, we have been talking a lot about how we can build up the ward and strengthen the members.  How we can help them to reach out to those last actives and to their nonmember friends.  We talked about building up the ward for our investigators so that way when they are baptism they will stay and that the ward will hold on to them instead of letting them fall to the waste side.  We really both got fired up and we had a meeting with the stake high councilor over missionary work.  That meeting showed us the indication of how the stake is doing with missionary work and members being missionary minded, which doesn't seem to be going so well, which got me fired up even more.  As a district we discussed how we want to do a Stake BBQ.  An opportunity for all the members to reach out to their less active friends and nonmember neighbors.  The stake president approved it so now we have to jump on the ball with it.  It is gonna take a miracle because we have 5 weeks to plan it and get the word out and we know that us missionaries are gonna have to be the driving factor for the success of this.  I have faith that it will be successful. 

   Hope all is going well back at home, I love you and miss you all! I appreciate all the letters and emails that I get from all of you! I pray for you each and every night as I hope that you do for me as well.  Still some struggles out here in the mission field but I try not to let that get me discouraged. I still can't believe that I hit my half way mark this week! Where has the time gone?! 

My challenge to you this week is to share this link/ video with everyone!

 http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694   

Seriously is so good, I love it! And I love how well the church is putting out these videos, they are such a good source of sharing the gospel, all you have to do is post it on Facebook. I love you all so much! Hope that you have an amazing week and am so excited for Easter this Sunday, may we all remember what Christ means to us in our lives and Remember what He did for each and everyone of us. I know that my Redeemer  lives and Because of Him.... (you fill in the rest) 

Love

Sister Metcalf

 A marque at a local church, kind of a smart saying

Helped some one that has an antique store move some things and found this sweet gem!

 1- Elder and Sister Olsons last day, they were our office missionaries and I loved them to death

 2-Me with Sister Gibbions and Sister Olson, they work in the office

3-Some of the amazing sisters I serve with

 1-Baptism of my investigator from my last area, Emily!

2-Emily and Sister Hess(the RSP, who was the reason for our success) after the baptism