The Week Where it was Christmas‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the sisters got to
go to the mission Christmas Devotional (party), the Sisters were two
of the four Wise Women for the nativity scene that their district
pulled together, the weather was unseasonably warm (like don't bother
putting on a jacket warm, you'll be hot in your sweater warm), the
Sisters tried warm egg nog for the first time (delicious), the Ward
basically adopted the Sisters and made sure that they had the ultimate
missionary Christmas, the sisters baked cookies, new investigators
were found, and there was much joy in the land.

Hello Loves,

Happy New Year! (In a few days obviously, but you've got to work with
me, because if I wait until next Monday it will be several days into
the New Year, and since I hate being late I decided it would be better
to be early). This week was easily the weirdest missionary week that I
have experienced. Between having the Mission Christmas Devotional all
day Tuesday and then trying to just do brief visits on Christmas Eve
and Christmas, I feel like we sort of had three p-days. It was super
fun, and totally weird.

One of the coolest things for me this past week happened at the
Christmas Devotional. I love the Spirit so much. We were sitting in
the portion of the meeting where there were about a million musical
numbers and we had watched the mission year slideshow. President
Daines was talking about something or other...I honestly don't
remember what...when the spirit finished piecing together an answer
that I have been looking for pretty much since deciding to go on a
mission. I had seen so many people come back from missions so
different from who they were before and I had wondered if I would like
who I was when all was said and done. Obviously I still came and I did
everything I could not to resist changing, knowing that God must have
better plans for me than what I would want for myself. While I sat
listening to President Daines the spirit very calmly taught me that
when we use the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change, we need not fear
the change because we are in fact becoming exactly who God always
intended for us to be. That peace was a pretty remarkable Christmas
present from my Father in Heaven.

Christmas Eve morning we got to bake cookies with Jill and watch the
social media Christmas videos that were associated with
#ASaviorisBorn. We made sugar cookies and miracle cookie bars. I'm
really excited. We're going to be starting a Book of Mormon and Bible
Study with Jill. It will probably include some kind of art journaling,
because she loves crafts. We delivered some cookies and then it was
time for dinner with the Browns. They spoiled us and fed us surf and
turf. It was super delicious. I had a fun time talking with Katie and
Audrey. Audrey is eleven and her siblings kept teasing her that she
wasn't going to get the gift that she had asked for. For whatever
reason that reminded me of the year that Alex had the nightmare that
she got all Sponge Bob presents for Christmas. The Brownings invited
us to end our evening with them. We read The Christmas Story from Luke
2 by Menorah light and then read other scriptures about the Savior. I
thought it was the perfect way to spend my Christmas Eve. Of course
when I got home, I then got to read the Christmas Heart Stories. I
love the Christmas Heart Stories so much. They might just be my
favorite Christmas Tradition.

Christmas morning we filled the floor with wrapping paper and giggled
over the joy of opening gifts. It was fun, but I definitely missed out
on watching the reactions of people as they opened the perfectly
planned gifts that I had chosen for them. I spent some time reading
The Living Christ and then colored because Mom and Dad sent me adult
coloring books and pencils. My parents, they really just know me. We
spent some time with the Lewis Family in the morning and then we went
to the Lynch's so we could Skype home. Talking to the family was the
best part of Christmas. It's weird to be a tri-state family and it was
incredibly odd to be away from my family on Christmas, but through the
miracle of modern technology I was able to have Ethan show me a magic
trick (I still have no idea how that worked) and was able to laugh
with them. I called Tiny after because we couldn't figure out how to
three-way Skype. After the Lynch's we went to the Coulter's for a
Christmas Lunch/Dinner and then we went and saw one of our
investigator's Sandra. After Sandra we stopped by the Kurtz's, because
we had promised Callie and DJ that we would come see them on
Christmas. Callie gave Sister Clark and I makeovers and DJ showed us
his awesome Lego police station. And then the day was over.

I am so profoundly grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for his
birth, which went by largely unnoticed. His life is what makes my life
possible. Without him I could not become who I was always meant to be
and I couldn't return to my heavenly home. This Christmas season has
been miraculous and I hope that as we continue to seek out those who
are prepared to receive the gospel that we will find ways to remind
them that Christ is the reason for every season, not just the holiday
one.

The Church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica

The Week of Holiday Goodness

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-three of Sister
Cale's previous companions were assigned to her old areas, the sisters
went from being a trio to being a normal companionship, as a
consequence Sister Cale got to sleep in a real bed again and found
herself thinking that it was kind of too big, Santa promised to open
doors for them so they could share their message, the sisters helped
with primary and taught in Young Women's, Sister Cale fulfilled one of
her mission bucket list requirements when they helped someone move on
one of the coldest days of this winter so far, and the Ward took such
great care of the sisters that they really didn't have time to think
about the fact that they weren't at home.

Hello Whos in Whoville,

Guys, Christmas is this week! I don't know if you've been counting
down as much as we have, but that means that Christmas is basically in
THREE days! Three days! Holla! I'm pretty much convinced that this
might very well be the very best week of my mission. I love this
season so much. When people are already thinking of Christ before you
arrive at their door to invite them to think more about him, miracles
happen. Sometimes those miracles are small and they're very nice,
sometimes the miracle is bigger and you happen to get five new
investigators in the course of one night (last Thursday-wonders like I
have not previously seen). In addition to all the mission miracles,
Christmas also means that I get to talk to my family which is going to
be the highlight of the life. We're really excited for this upcoming
week because we have the Mission Christmas Devotional (to be read
Party with fireside at the end of the evening) tomorrow, and then
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We're so excited to bake some goodies
and take them around to all the humans that we love here in
Pickerington. Being completely fair, we probably won't actually get to
take them to all the humans that we love, because we really love a lot
of people here.

Enough about how great this week is though. Let's talk about last week.

I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the fourth time this year.
Can I just tell you how much I love this book? It truly is some kind
of magical. I love that the spirit teaches me different things each
time that I read and how it truly does draw me closer to my Father in
Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon has helped me find
greater peace and comfort and joy during this last year than any other
thing. My mission experience would have been and would be entirely
different without it. I know that it truly is the words of God and
that just as the promise in the introduction states, that in knowing
that the Book of Mormon is true, we can also know that Joseph Smith is
a prophet of God, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World, and
that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's kingdom
once again established on the Earth preparatory to the second coming
of the Messiah (don't get mad if the promise isn't verbatim, I was
going off of memory).

Thursday after we said goodbye to our beloved Sister Davis (who went
with Sister Gordon to Pataskala) we saw miracles happen. It was such a
good day. We were finally able to get into contact with several
potential investigators who we had been trying to get together with
all transfer. We were able to share part of the restoration with an
older woman named Barbara who is quickly becoming one of my favorite
people here in Pickerington, and then the whole first lesson with five
teenagers whose parents we were supposed to be meeting with. Miracles
happened. Our whole last weekend was good. We were able to teach and
serve and we had a blast doing it.

One of my favorite parts of this weekend was Choir practice for the
missionary fireside tomorrow night. I love singing and I love seeing
my missionary friends. All good stuff.

We got to teach the Young Women about inviting others to come unto
Christ yesterday. It was fun. We started out and told them that we
were going to share one of our most favorite holiday treats with them.
Most of them had never tried a chocolate orange. I was so confused by
that, but it made a good link to the concept that we naturally want to
share the things that we love that have improved our lives in some way
with others. When I put my papers in and was waiting for my call I was
decidedly nervous about how I was going to be able to share the gospel
with others in a way that wouldn't seem pushy or obnoxious. During
this past (almost) year I have been given more opportunities than I
can count to share the gospel in small and simple ways because it is
something that brings me peace, joy, comfort, motivation, happiness,
and direction. That has been the greatest blessing.

The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Merry Christmas Darlings!

Love,

Jessica

The Week Where I DID NOT Get Transferred

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale hit her
eleven month mark (what?), the Sisters celebrated Ward Mission Leader
Appreciation Week (A fictitious holiday made solely for the purpose of
feeling joy and celebrating all the good that our Ward Mission Leader
does for us), Zone Conferences were seriously super awesome, Sister
Cale got to go live the trio life in Reynoldsburg for a day on
exchanges, Sister Cale got to go to the temple with the Reynoldsburg
Sisters and their investigator Nate, and there was goodness in the
land.

Hi Loves,

You know that part in a Christmas Carol at the end where the narrator
is going through what has happened with all the characters and he
says, "And Tiny Tim...who did not die"? Well that's kind of how I feel
about the fact that I'm not being transferred. I don't know that I've
actually shared with the crowd at large what the transfer process is
like in our mission. So here's the deal-the week of transfers our
preparation day is moved to Wednesday. It's kind of a pointless sort
of preparation day because you don't feel like you can do very much
until you know what is happening with the transfer. Sometime between
one and four transfer calls come in. The transfer calls are made and
that's when you know if you're leaving or staying. You don't know
where you're going or who your next companion will be, just that
something is changing. By six o'clock that night you're expected to be
back to work like a normal missionary. Transfer meeting starts the
next morning at 10:45 and the rest is history. After four transfers
with four new areas each, I feel I could very much echo Dicken's
narrator in saying "And Sister Cale, who was not transferred..." I
don't know what's going to happen this next transfer, but it certainly
won't be boring, that's for certain.

So this last week and a half has been a good, albeit kind of stressful
one. On Tuesday while I was in Reynoldsburg on exchanges, Sister Davis
and Sister Bradford were able to help Leticia commit to a baptismal
date. We were so excited because she accepted the baptismal date of
December 19. We made the most killer of plans to help her understand
all the lessons in a week and a half and things were going to be
great. Unfortunately she has since decided that she wants to wait
longer and hasn't been able to determine when exactly will be a good
time for her to be baptized. I think the most important thing that I
learned during this up and down process was that our faith is never
wasted. We were able to fast with Leticia on Sunday and even though
she still doesn't feel like she's received an answer, I felt such
peace. More than ever I am really beginning to understand that there
is very little of this that is about what I think or want, it is about
what God wants and what his children will choose in accordance with
that.

Zone Conference this week was some kind of wonderful. President Daines
gave us an awesome training on the significance of the sacrament
ordinance and our preparation for it. I think one of the coolest
things that was pointed out during the course of the training was the
difference in the wording in the sacrament prayers in the term of the
covenant being made. I also loved Sister Daines's training on Avoiding
Discouragement. It was brilliant.

Well ya'll the church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and
Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica

Sent from my iPad

The Week of Spiritual Instruction

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-it was warm and then
it was bitter cold (but Sister Cale decided to resist tights or
anything like unto them), Sister Cale had all sorts of moments to be
grateful for everything she has ever learned about psychology, Sister
Cale found that she still has her skills in relation to making best
friends with the tiny humans (shout out to my new BFF Collin), in a
moment that was delightfully surprising Sister Cale realized that she
has missionary best friends at Elder Cardon's special Zone Conference,
Sister Cale and Sister Davis found out that they love the same
musicals and tv shows (#losttwins), Sister Cale and Sister Clark
nerded out over Doctor Who together, the sisters got to sing in a
missionary choir for Stake Conference, and weekly planning outfits
were among Sister Cale's more brilliant ideas.

Hello Loves!

Happy Thanksgiving Week! How is it that this Holiday season is already
upon us? I'm honestly not at all clear on how that happened. Isn't it
still January? It certainly feels like it outside here. I'm not sure
what the weather is like in your corners of the world. It would be
poor form motto tell you all how grateful I am for each of you. Your
support, love, and prayers mean the world to me and are so connected
to what I have been able to accomplish here. I cannot begin to express
what a miracle this experience has been for me so far. So many
missionaries talk about how they are completely different people
compared to who they were when they left. My experiment is similar,
but could more accurately be described as having found pieces of the
best version of myself. I'm still remarkably flawed and feel exactly
like myself, but better. So thank you for your sacrifices,
contributions, love, words, emails, prayers, and thoughts in my
direction. To some degree each of you has enabled me to find these
best parts of myself as I have been able to lose myself in serving
others. I love you all so much!

My major highlight of the week was getting to go to our special Zone
Conference. Something I have learned over the course of my mission is
that when we seek to receive answers to questions when attending
meetings that rarely will we not be blessed with them. Sometimes my
questions have been expansive and yet the spirit has somehow managed
to cover them with adequate answers. My questions on Friday were
intentionally rather broad because I had not yet determined even ideas
for how to navigate around these concerns. I was amazed and humbled by
the specificity of the directions that I received. God is so good. In
addition to all the direction and counsel that I received from the
spirit, I was always blessed to be able to understand and recognize
direction for me in the comments of President Daines, Sister Daines,
Elder Cardon, and Sister Cardon. I think one of the most significant
things that I came to understand was that charity, that perfect
Christlike love, possesses us only after we exercise great faith and
hope. Something that President Daines said that was an important
perspective changer for me was "the faith that got you out on your
missions, as great as it was, is not enough to get you home as the
person God intends for you to be."

I'm starting to learn how to be a missionary in a family Ward with
kids and youth again. Itis fantastic! I hope you all have a remarkable
Thanksgiving.

The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica
Sent from my iPad

The Week Christmas Crafting Began‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters went on
a (approved) road trip to London (Ohio), got to attend the Ward Relief
Society Christmas Dinner with one of their investigators, went to Zone
Training Meeting, got to help Sister Kurtz with baby prep service,
helped the Priests learn how to plan lessons, shared #ASaviorisBorn
with anyone and everyone who would watch it, made a missionary style
movie bucket for a sick investigator (complete with General Conference
and Joy to the World as viewing options because we know how to party),
made Great OCM sweats, and watched the Christmas Devotional.

Hi Guys!

Okay, seriously, being a missionary at Christmastime is some kind of
magical. I will happily admit that it also comes with more moments of
homesickness (#AngelsWeHaveHeardOnHigh), but those are far outweighed
with the joy that comes from talking about our Savior with everyone
that we come across. There is something almost tangible in the air
that just feels like anything remarkable could happen. Also on the
bright side, even though it has been sort of chilly, it really hasn't
been super cold yet and it hasn't snowed...yet. I acknowledge that all
these things are coming, but I haven't had to face them yet. I still
skip tights somedays (because I'm crazy).

I really just loved this past week. We were able to share
#ASaviorisBorn with so many people and it was so cool to see the
spirit work with them to encourage them to learn more about the Book
of Mormon and our Savior Jesus Christ through reading it. This last
week has been particularly cool for me as I have read about Christ
coming to the Americas and establishing his gospel here among the
Nephites. I love that the gospel was the same for the Nephites as it
was for the people in Jerusalem as it is for us. I can't imagine what
it would have been like to be there and be taught by the Savior. I am
grateful that through the Holy Ghost I am able to know Jesus Christ
even though I haven't seen him. I am grateful that I have been blessed
to feel of his love and concern for me even though I didn't touch the
wounds in his hands and feet. I am grateful to do his work under his
direction. He is why this season is so magical, because the hope he
offers transcends words.

I loved the Christmas Devotional. We were able to watch with the
Bishop and his wife at their house. Sister Kurtz is amazing. I hope to
be like her someday. Seriously, she is Wonder Woman in the flesh. I
adore her. Her baby is due in a few weeks and she's still working on
home renovation projects and she does all sorts of amazing things for
the Ward. She takes such awesome care of us.

So here are my major take-aways from the Christmas Devotional-

This next week is going to be awesome. I'm excited to see what we learn at Zone Conference and for the other magic this holiday week is bound to include.

The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you. 

Love,

Jessica

The Week We Baked and Ate‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters went on
exchanges and Sister Cale got to go to Pickerington 2, District
Meeting was absolutely on point again, The Sisters baked over 100
chocolate chip cookies, Sister Cale fulfilled a mission dream by
having not only one or two, but three Thanksgiving dinners (shout out
to the Coulter's, Kurtz's, Brazier's, Wilstead's, Neal's, and
Drysdale's), it almost got cold enough to convince Sister Cale to wear
tights, and there were many miracles.

Hey Loves,

Happy almost December! Seriously! I have now completed two of the
three holidays that I intentionally arranged to miss only once during
this missionary experience. I'll be totally honest, I was pretty
worried that not being at Grandmother's or Aunt Ginger's for
Thanksgiving was going to be pretty lonely and maybe a bit
homesick-inspiring. But I was so immensely blessed.

First thing Thanksgiving morning I made pomegranate salad. In terms of
life choices I feel like that was a solid decision. Even though it
wasn't fresh whipped cream or fresh pineapple, it was still a taste of
home. After companion study we went to Bishop Kurtz's house and helped
Sister Kurtz bake pies and do other Thanksgiving prep things. She's
expecting a baby in December, so it was awesome to be able to help
out. More than anything I felt so grateful that we had a family who we
could help do Thanksgiving prep things, because it helped the morning
feel so much more normal to me. After pie service we went to
Thanksgiving lunch at the Coulter's. They are such an awesome family.
It was delightful. We then took cookies around to the world...or to
our investigators, potential investigators, less active members, and
former investigators. It was so fun. When it was dinner time we went
over to The Brazier's and had Thanksgiving part two with them and the
Kurtz's and the Wilstead's. The Wilstead's are actually in the
Moundbuilders ward, so it was super fun to see a family that I got to
know really well in Pataskala. We delivered more cookies and before we
knew it the night was over.

So much more important than an accounting of the happenings of
Thanksgiving were the many miracles that we were blessed with this
week. The first miracle of the week happened Monday night. Getting
back to work after p-day can always be an interesting experience, but
we were lucky enough to catch a potential investigator named Marilyn
at home. We were able to share the first lesson with her and feel such
a special spirit in her home. When she said the closing prayer she
prayed for things that were so related to our doctrine and I know
she's going to love the Plan of Salvation. Our other major miracle
this week happened in part on Friday night and in part on Sunday
afternoon. We have an investigator named Shay who has been taking the
lessons for over a year now. On Friday night we were able to meet her
boyfriend and invite him to come to a lesson that we were going to be
having with the girls. I guess historically he has refused to really
even talk to the missionaries, to say nothing of agreeing to meet with
them. Well, he agreed to come. Yesterday we were able to teach their
whole family the Restoration. We had this really fun lesson planned
because Skye and Stormy are only 9 and 6, so we wanted it to be really
interactive. We played telephone and watched several Mormon Messages.
It was so cool to see their parents really engaged in teaching and
learning with their darling girls. At the end of the lesson they said
that they want to be a forever family and all accepted the invitation
to be baptized. The Church is so true! I love what the spirit can do.

If you haven't seen the new Christmas video yet, please stop reading
now and go to christmas.mormon.org. It's different than the last
three, but every time I watch it I love it more and more. The website
itself has a lot of really cool features and things to share with
people. I personally love the number GIF's that tell the Christmas
story. I'm also excited for the Social Media 12 Days of Christmas
vides. I really hope that we can get to them. I know that Jesus Christ
was born to be the Savior of the World. I am so grateful for the
righteous choices that he made every day in his life that allowed him
to be worthy to perform the Atonement which enables me to be a
missionary. I could not be a missionary without the love and support
of my best friend, older brother, and Savior Jesus Christ. I am
changed because He came.

The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica

The Week Full of Anniversaries (where I got to re-celebrate being transferred again)‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale realized
that a year ago on the fifth she got her mission call to this strange
and foreign land, that a year ago on the eighth that she had gone
through the temple to receive her endowment, and that ten months ago
on the seventh, she reported to the MTC. She also tried to take a nap
on P-day and failed miserably, got to eat Cafe Rio with Chelsea and
her husband Sam who are among the Sisters favorite people this week,
went to the temple with Megan, went on exchanges, dried her laundry in
a dryer for the first time all transfer, and rediscovered her love for
tights.

Hello Wonderful Humans,

What a wonky ten days it has been since I last wrote. Transfer weeks
and the weeks that precede them tend to be some of the most
interesting, most fulfilling, and simultaneously the most stressful.
The trickiest part tends to be that by the time I get to a Wednesday
p-day, I'm not entirely sure what has happened this week to say
nothing of last week. I'll do my best to give you a fair
representation of the life and times here at THE (I keep getting
corrected for omitted the) Ohio State.

Last week was the week where no one came to their return appointments.
I have to admit that as much as I prefer contacting on campus to
knocking doors, the positive part about knocking on someone's door and
having them agree to have you come and teach them is that you know
where they live. It seems to be pretty tricky for those college
student humans to actually make their return appointments. We were
talking as a district yesterday about how often people on campus tell
us that they just found their church by wandering in the door or
deciding randomly to attend a service that they were invited to by
other church groups on campus. Then we talked about how less
frequently that seems to happen with us. Elder Hildebrandt said,
"That's further evidence for me that this is the true church. It isn't
easy for people to come". I think I would add that it isn't always
easy for us to stay either. Maintaining a testimony and continuing to
feel the spirit after we have been blessed with such an abundance of
it in our lives can be complicated. Occasionally there will be things
that happen that are hard to understand or cause us to question the
reality of what we have come to know. Living the Gospel of Jesus
Christ is work. Just like Elder Holland said in Lord, I Believe,
"Brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the
manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so
please don’t hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that
need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will.
In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know.
And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith." I feel
that my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel is also
strengthened when I realize that it isn't just a walk in the park to
get people to learn more about it, nor is discipleship a way to live
life if you want to coast through without challenges.

Despite the many people who were in so many ways obviously prepared to
hear our message when we talked to them failing to make their
appointments to return more, being around the recent converts in the
wards always reminds me that there are those who are prepared to
receive a fulness of the gospel at this time. Getting to teach Victor
about family history this past week in preparation for him to go to
the temple this weekend, and then getting to go with the temple with
Megan last weekend both served as those reminders for me. I also heard
from the Delaware Sisters that Dan has received a calling in the ward
to work with the primary kids. Missionary work is a work of miracles
and I can't believe that I blessed to be so much a part of it.

So we just got transfer calls again...and I'm leaving again. So that's
kind of crazy. Am I doing something wrong? Well, I'm sure that another
new adventure is in store and wherever it is, it's bound to be good.

The Church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love You,

Sister Cale

The Week Where I Went to My Fifth Area‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-packing continued to
be Sister Cale's least favorite thing ever, Sister Cale left one of
her favorite companions so far and said peace out to Babylon, Sister
Cale received not only her seventh companion but also her eighth
(#triolife), being back in a family ward included all sorts of perks
like cute kids and people who want to love you, pictures were hung on
the walls, Sister Cale had to insist that they be treated like ladies
(details in the e-mail), and Sister Cale's new desk was the comfiest
missionary couch that she had thus far encountered (you can imagine
the potential ramifications this might have with her morning studies).

Hey Darlings!

Greetings from another part of this strange and wonderful Ohio land. I
am now serving in Pickerington 1, which is partially in Pickerington
and also in Reynoldsburg Ohio. I think we're kind of south-eastish of
Columbus. I really don't know anymore. I pretty much just know that I
get assigned to an area and I get in the car and go there. Some major
perks of this area include Target, Walmart, Hallmark, Joanns, Bath and
Body Works...and many other stores that I haven't heard of, but am
quite excited to explore. We went to Walmart and Target today and I
have to admit that I may have lost some of my ability to shop. I find
that I get overwhelmed by so many options and don't quite know what to
do with myself.

Something else that is pretty awesome about this area is that I have
two companions! They are so different from one another, but they're
both fantastic and I'm really excited to see what we accomplish
together in the next few weeks. Let's have a moment for formal
introductions since I have two new people that all my stories are
going to include. Sister Clark is most recently from Buffalo, New
York, but she's lived in Tennessee, California, and Utah at other
points in her life. She is an only child and has a rocking
relationship with her mom. I love hearing her talk about all the
admiration and respect that she has for her mom (it makes me think
about how great my mom is #shoutout). She is really good at listening
during lessons and you can see in her expression that she genuinely
wants to help those that we are teaching to come closer to Christ.
Sister Davis is the sixth child of seven children. She hails from
Logan, Utah and her family owns the Pickleville Playhouse in Idaho
(Juanito Bandito that the Parkinson's talk about all the time-her
brother writes a new one every year). She is like straight sunshine
and is so focused on the work. I love these two sisters so much
already. It's super fun to have two new friends. We had a lot of fun
while shopping today.

I still haven't met everyone that they have been working with, but I
love the people that we have met so far. I am always so grateful for
the way that the spirit enables me to contribute in new areas as soon
as I get there, despite the fact that I haven't met the people yet. It
truly is a testimony to me that God knows his children perfectly, even
when we don't. Our ward mission leader is super awesome here. He
really wants to make sure that we have everything that we need and
that we are able to do this work as Heavenly Father has planned for us
to.

The weirdest moment that we have experienced thus far this week
happened when we went to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to a
potential investigator. Sister Davis drove up to where she was sure
that Marilyn lives and it wasn't the right place. We decided to knock
on the door that we had walked up to anyway. We had a decent contact
with the woman who lived there and she let us leave her with our card,
though she wasn't interested in learning more at this point. We then
realized that we were right by Eric's apartment. Eric is an
investigator that had asked for a break to figure out his head space.
As we stood and talked we felt that we should go and check on him,
because clearly the spirit had led us there for a reason. Sure enough
Eric answered his door and set up an appointment to meet with us this
week right away. While we were talking to him the neighbor who lives
across the hall (but it's not a hall, it's like a deck) came up the
stairs. The first thing he said to us was "there isn't a God". Not
okay with leaving things alone I just very kindly said, "I'm sorry
that you feel that way. I know if you ever wanted to know otherwise
that you could." The man went inside and we thought that was that. No,
instead he came back out and demanded that we tell his daughter the
same things that we had been telling Eric's eighteen month old
daughter. We turned around and told her that we know that God loves
her and that Jesus Christ is her older brother and is always there for
her. I love the way the spirit accompanies what we say when we testify
of truth. That silenced the man for a moment. Then he made a complete
u-turn and started talking about the Amish and how strange he thinks
they are. He then became crude. I wasn't going to stand for that. I
looked at him and said, "We are ladies and you will not speak to us
that way", turned to Eric and told him that we would be happy to see
him later this week, and then we left. Major thanks to Chelsea who
taught Sister Harris and I that we are totally allowed to insist that
we be treated as ladies. I don't know that I would have had the right
words to handle that situation otherwise. I'm grateful for the safety
that companions provide and for my knowledge of my eternal identity as
a Daughter of God, and for the sass that exists in me that allowed me
to stand up for myself and my darling companions.

The Church is true, life is good, God's in charge, Satan hates you,
and I love you!

Love,

Sister Cale

The Week where it got COLD‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters
contacted a TON, they took fall pictures with all the gorgeous leaves,
survived a shooting threat, had dinner with Chelsea and her awesome
husband, figured out that one of their potential investigators thinks
that he is a prophet, Ohio went from cozy Fall weather to freezing
Fall weather over night, we went on an emergency shopping trip to
Kohl's to buy boots and other winter necessities (I got boots that
don't leak), we avoided the Halloween revelry by doing our weekly
planning and Daylight Savings Time was the best tender mercy in the
universe.

Hey Loves,

This week has been blessed on so many different accounts. I am so
grateful to be serving here with Sister Harris. She is such a rock
star missionary. I love her positive attitude and genuine desire to
become more than she is. Not to mention all the awesome
missionary-ness that she encapsulates, she is also just a lot of fun
to serve with. We're constantly finding things to laugh about and
finding joy in the work. I even love her enough to go running with her
every other morning (#charity).

After our less than successful contacting week last week we sat down
and made weekly goals for contacting with the help of the spirit. When
we drew the boxes on the board that said we were going to try to get
thirteen people's phone numbers and and at least six return
appointments, I knew that we would have to act with faith, because
that was a significant increase in what we had previously done. I also
knew that with the help of the spirit and a willingness to work harder
than ever before that we could accomplish anything that we put our
minds to. As often seems to be the case, when we set out to accomplish
righteous goals, Satan wants to do everything in his power to prevent
that. And boy oh boy did we come across quite a few interesting
obstacles as we set out to work this week.

On Tuesday there was a threat of violence on campus and while classes
weren't cancelled and everything seemed to be mostly okay, we were
counseled not to go contacting on campus proper. I'm grateful that
nothing actually happened, and my personality for sure tends to think
that it's probably better to be safe rather than sorry. As we all
talked about some of the recent violence occurring on other college
campuses, it brought to the forefront the reality of having to "stand
as a witness of God, at all times, in all things, and in all places
that ye may be in, even until death". Few things help you to remember
baptismal covenants of taking upon yourself Christ's name, like
wearing his name on your name tag every day. I know that when I go out
to share the gospel with people that I am acting as a representative
of Jesus Christ. This is His work that I am doing. These are His
people that I am talking to. They matter so much to Him. Even when I
don't know their names or am not sure about what I'm supposed to be
able to do for them, He knows. And I am grateful to stand as one of
his witnesses, though I am glad that I didn't have to do so to the
point of death this week.

Another tricky obstacle this week in accomplishing our goals was the
fact that suddenly it was significantly colder than it previously had
been. I kept thinking that it was much too soon to be feeling so cold
and then would remember that actually, it was the week before
November. Fall here is some kind of gorgeous. I can only imagine what
it looks like in a less city central location. That problem was
remedied easily enough with finally breaking out the tights and the
boots and putting on the light coat. On Friday night, Gretchen took us
to Kohl's for a hunting expedition. I guess it's good that I've been
required by Dad to specifically look for things and then get out. We
were all quite successful and got back to our apartments on time.

Halloween really was the final obstacle for this week. Weekends on
this campus are already pretty interesting-add the socially encouraged
invitation to dress up and let loose and suddenly this campus becomes
an even more interesting place. We went out contacting Saturday
morning and weren't even sure if we were going to be able to talk to
anyone at all. It turns out that campus on Saturday mornings, while
abandoned, is also a brilliant place to be, because the people who are
there are typically not those who were heavily partying the night
before. We met some great people and before we knew it our contacting
time was up for the day.

In addition to the blessed week of being able to achieve our goals, we
also got to see Victor receive the Aaronic Priesthood. There are very
few things in my life that have been a special as getting to see those
that I have come to recognize as my brothers and sisters do things
that I know that our Heavenly Father would have them do. The spirit is
always so strong in those moments and I feel so much of my Heavenly
Father's love.

The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love You All,

Jessica

The Week Where There Was Opposition in All Things‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-there was pumpkin
pie ice cream, a behaviorally backwards contacting competition, an
incredibly prepared investigator, a basher, crunchy fall leaves, sore
calves while running, a major mix-up with the building for the
baptism, the baptism happened after several hours of panicked
coordination, gorgeous fall weather, and an unsatisfactory interview
with President.

Hello My Friends,

I am here to say that you can survive the craziest week of mission
life and come out on the other end blessed, happy, and full of
gratitude. In so many ways, I feel like if something could go wrong
last week, that there was a pretty good chance that things were about
split even going to. There were seriously so many moments that were
those moments where you say to yourself "Hey, at least this will make
for a decent story." And there were so many other moments that I will
consider to be some of the most special and wonderful that I have been
able to participate in during my mission.

To be completely honest, the week didn't start out so hot when we got
back to work on Monday night, because we had been given the least
behaviorally sound contacting competition ever. I was beyond
frustrated because missionary work is not about comparing our efforts.
We are here to teach specific people and any form of competition is
largely inappropriate. We set goals as missionaries to help us improve
our performance and growth, but those goals typically happen within a
companionship under the inspiration and direction of the spirit. It's
a bit more complicated than just saying that whoever gets the most
phone numbers this week was the most successful. Luckily I was blessed
with a companion who intuitively knew that when I get sad and
frustrated like that, that ice cream is a definite solution. Try the
pumpkin pie ice cream, it's delicious.

On Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with Victor about the priesthood.
I am so blessed to have met him and have had the opportunity to teach
him. He truly is a choice son of God. I'm also so grateful that Ryan
was able to come to our lesson, because it is so much easier and
powerful to teach about the priesthood when there is a priesthood
holder present to testify of the way that having that priesthood has
given them opportunities to serve. I am so grateful for the righteous
priesthood holders in my life who have blessed me as they have been
worthy to use that power (Hi Dad! Hi Granddad! *waves*)

Wednesday we had two lessons. And they could not have been more
different. Our first lesson was so directed by the spirit. We were
able to invite her to be baptized and teach about several of the
commandments that we hadn't anticipated teaching and she was excited
about them. Our other lesson was devoid of the spirit as soon as our
investigator decided to turn the lesson into an opportunity to raise
questions about where we get the priesthood from and other church
doctrines that just feel absurd to him. I was so grateful that we had
invited Chelsea, a member who is also a returned missionary, to come
to the lesson with us. I don't know what we would have done without
her.

Thursday and Friday were full of baptism preparation craziness and
some great laughs. Saturday morning we had interviews with President,
picked up our Blaze Pizza (the Subway of Pizza-Ethan would love it),
and then quite literally, all hell broke loose. We were maybe ten
minutes into our lunch when the Sisters came in and told us that the
building that we had reserved for the baptism wasn't going to work
because the weather was bad and they needed to move their
trunk-or-treat inside. If any of us had really thought about it, we
would have talked to President and had him call President Birch to
resolve things. Instead we made a massive list on the white board and
started to go through the process of moving the baptism to
Reynoldsburg. We were ninety percent done with all the calls and
arrangements that we needed to make when the Reynoldsburg Building
Coordinator called us and told as that he had been mistaken and the
building wouldn't be available for our use after all. We restarted the
process after securing a spot at the Dublin building. Then we had to
go to the building earlier than anticipated to fill the font and there
weren't the right sizes of jumpsuits and overall it was just insane.

Miraculously, the baptism was able to happen, and the chaos and stress
melted away, replaced by the sweet peace that the spirit brings. The
longer that I am a missionary, the more convinced I become that I am
doing so very little for these remarkable humans who accept the gospel
and rather am blessed to get to know them. Victor, Asia, and Sean all
got baptized and it was a wonderful night. The joy of the gospel is so
very real and overshadows all of the other stresses from this past
week. I know that this is where God wants me to be, and I'm grateful
that he loves me enough to ask me to be here.

Love,

Jessica

The Week Where it was Fall Break‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters went on
exchanges (which is basically just changing the person you walk around
with all day on campus and then having a very mellow sleepover at
their apartment), all the students went home for Fall Break (rude),
district meeting included our district leader asked how we all felt
about referring to the Young Single Adults in the wards as brothers
and sisters (we were unanimously in opposition...which is not what he
obviously wanted), we threw an epic "See You Soon" breakfast as a
district for Elder Orton who has to go home early to have knee surgery
on his torn ACL, the pre-game partying began early in the morning on
Saturday (and was accompanied by such party songs as "I Want to Dance
with Somebody" and "Life is a Highway"...Sister Cale clearly knows
nothing about what makes for good party music as she would not have
put either of these songs on the playlist), and the Sisters had weekly
planning in the safety and warmth of their apartment after forgetting
to bring coats with them on a 35 degree weather day.

Hey Friends!

I am traditionally in full support of Fall Break. It typically
provides me with a chance to catch up with my friends, catch up on
homework, sleep, and Netflix, and all sorts of other things in my
life. As a missionary however, I do not support breaks that take the
majority of the student population away from the area in which it is
easy (easier) for me to talk to them. It was seriously so weird to
walk around a nearly empty campus. We would spot someone from one side
of the Oval and then very carefully plan which scattered paths we
would take to coincidentally bump into them so we could talk. While it
did make contacting a little bit more like a game, it was also not
ideal. Conveniently we had an area book full of potential
investigators that we could contact, so it all worked out in the end.

One of the most important lessons that I learned this week was how
the spirit can work with us to have us do what is necessary without us
realizing it. On Wednesday night we were talking to the students after
Institute and just because she happened to be standing there I asked
Megan if she would want to come to our lesson with Victor the next
day. My primary motivation in doing so was just that we could meet in
one of the bishop's offices rather than having to meet in the gym.
Megan said that she was able to come and we were super happy about
that. What I had no way of knowing at the time was that Victor would
ask us questions in our lesson that would be best answered by a
convert to the church. I have been so blessed to have the gospel my
whole life, and while I've had to come to a knowledge of its
truthfulness for myself, I haven't had the experience that is
converting from another religion. Megan got baptized about five weeks
ago, so not only has she had the experience, but it has been fresh in
her mind. She was able to say exactly the things that Victor needed to
hear so the spirit could testify to him and calm his concerns about
baptism. I never realized how crucial it was to have members in
lessons and involved in missionary work until I was a missionary. Now
I see that it is so much more about the spirit, then about the
members, then about us as the missionaries when it comes to helping
our brothers and sisters come closer to Christ.

One of the most fun things that happened this week was our "See You
Soon" Breakfast for Elder Orton. We got together as a district during
lunch one day and made assignments and hatched the plan that Elder
Hildebrandt (the district leader) would text Elders Orton and Yeh and
tell them that we were having a rules meeting Saturday morning. We all
came to the institute early and cooked quite the impressive breakfast
including pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns, and smoothies. It was
awesome.

Other than that, Fall here is gorgeous, if sometimes incredibly
unpredictable in terms of temperature in such a way that you end up
freezing. I am trying to avoid layering and tights and my coat for as
long as I can...yeah. Needless to say there were some pretty dang
freezing days last week. It's okay though. Mostly.

Well, it's been real. The church is true, life is good, God's in
charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica

The Week Where it Was Homecoming (and we didn't know it)‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale and
Sister Harris did a ton of walking (definitely wearing my shoes out
this transfer), the spirit taught the Sister's investigators as they
did their best to teach, contacting incentives were earned, Sister
Cale hit her nine month mark (WOOT WOOT!), Sister Cale received all
the useful packages in the land (thanks mom), Bibibop was tried (think
Cafe Rio/Chipotle with Asian food), and six hours of Single's Ward
church was a lot to take in on Fast Sunday.

Hello Dear Ones,

So I'm going to level with you, if my days and weeks felt blurry
before this area, they're even blurrier now. The planning life of
missionaries can be a pretty complicated one with a considerable
amount of time spent considering who should be seen on any given day
and when to try to see them (then you have to figure out where to
contact, if there are people in the records you should try to contact
etc.). It can take a lot of time. Something that is weird about
serving on a college campus when you don't have additional area to
work in, is that planning ends up being pretty simple. Our planning
conversations pretty much go like this.

Sister Harris: So when should we have lunch?
Me: Um, we can't get into the kitchen until two, so how about two?
Sister Harris: Two it is.
Me: When should we have dinner?
Sister Harris: We have to be out of the kitchen by six, so five?
Me: Sounds good.
Sister Harris: We have teaching appointments at such and a such a time.
Me: Great, contacting the rest of the time?
Sister Harris: Yep
Me: Bring it on.

Consequently, especially because all of our teaching time is spent at
the institute for the most part, my life is this weird blur. I'm
really happy here though. Even though there is something about people
my own age that makes me nervous, it also makes me pretty happy to be
able to talk to people who are at such a specific time in their lives.
Admittedly I really do miss families and the kid people. It was
particularly strange yesterday to go to not one, but two single's
wards. I had kind of forgotten how Single's wards are. They're such an
interesting slice of church culture.

Highlights of this week include the lesson on the Plan of Salvation
that we were able to teach Gabby. She is a med student in her third
year. I'm amazed that she is willing to meet with us, but she had so
many good questions and is excited to meet with us again. Victor came
to Kelsey's baptism and church on Sunday. He said that he felt the
spirit which made me want to throw my hands in the air and in the most
reverent way possible shout "Hallelujah!" I feel like helping people
to recognize that the spirit is working with them has been one of the
biggest struggles of my mission. We found a new investigator from
talking to her while we waited for the bus and then going to see her
at the store that she works at. I love seeing where the Lord tells us
to go.

I'm not sure where the last nine months went, but I know that I've
been working really hard and having such fun. So let's do this one
more time before it's over.

The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica

The Week Where I Went Back to School‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale was
actually in Columbus and was transferred to OSU Campus where she is
follow up training the brilliant Sister Harris, there was joy and
happiness (and a little horror) to be had as she realized that she was
going to be around college students pursuing higher education, the
wonder of lunchtime naps was removed (because no one has time to ride
the bus all the way back home during lunch), General Conference was
eight hours of uninterrupted brilliance and revelation, the OSU
District (all six companionships-we're basically a small Zone) got to
watch General Conference at the mission home on Sunday morning, and
things were just good.

Hey Wonderful Humans!

So, it's kind of funny, but before Transfer meeting started Sister
Dowell and I were talking about places that we could potentially be
transferred to. And OSU did in fact come up as a potentiality, but not
necessarily with the typical enthusiasm and wonder that most
missionaries express when they consider what it would be like to serve
on OSU. We both expressed a general anxiety about talking to people
our own age now that we've been generally teaching everyone but our
peers. At the same time that this conversation was happening I had a
passing thought that I felt like I could probably find ways to invite
college students to learn more about the gospel in a way that could
help it feel personally relevant. I let it go and the transfer meeting
started. When the assistants read that Sister Harris as junior
companion would be receiving Sister Cale as senior companion and
follow-up trainer I was shocked. Most of the missionaries that we were
going to be training or follow up training had been called and been
informed of the aforementioned fact. Not so in my world. After meeting
Sister Harris I was thrilled. She's already trained. She's a brilliant
missionary and things have already been so good as we have worked
together.

Some ways that campus life is different than regular missionary life-
-no knocking on doors
-people my own age
-non-gospel related music...sometimes played very loudly
-no naps
-Elders and Sisters still don't eat with each other, but we eat near
each other as the Institute is our home base and no one has time to
ride back to their apartments to prepare food
-the least effective days for contacting are Saturday and Sunday
-You actually see other missionaries. A lot.

I love the campus here. It is absolutely what a college campus should
be like (though The College of William and Mary still has a special
sort of place in my heart). I keep seeing buildings and having to stop
and determine if it would be too "touristy" to take a picture of it. I
need to remember all of these beautiful places. There is a courtyard
that looks like Hogwarts and gorgeous grounds. I'm kind of obsessed.

I'm excited to meet all of our investigators and find some more
wonderful humans to teach. Life is so good here and we're about to
leave for SDO (Sisters Day Out)-Sister Springer (she and her husband
are serving their mission here at the institute) is going to take the
three sets of Sisters in our district down to German Village in
Columbus. I'm super excited.

The Church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love you all!

Jessica

The Week I Got Transferred (Again)‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale and
Sister Wolf got to go to an End of Summer Event with Half the Mission,
the Sisters did the best service project ever and helped Sister
Ahlstrom plant winter pansies, not only did they sticky-note people,
they were sticky-noted by the brilliant Uptegraft's, Exchanges were
inspired and hilarious, the General Women's Broadcast was absolute
brilliance (and three of our investigators came!), the Sisters worked
like beasts on Monday and accomplished more than half of the week's
goals in the course of an afternoon and evening (because God loves
us), Sister Wolf got called to be a trainer, Sister Cale resigned
herself to leave her area after just six weeks again, and the Sisters
spent transfer morning touring Yellow Springs with all its very cute
shops.

Hello Dear Ones,

So, a week and a half is a lot to try to remember. One thing that I am
absolutely certain of is the complete joy and happiness that I have
felt in doing the work this last week and a half. I don't know that I
would want to be like Ammon and the other sons of Mosiah and be a
missionary for fourteen years, but I definitely can handle another
nine months (she says when it's not freezing cold yet) of this wonky
wonderful life.

One of the best parts of this last week was exchanges. Sister Crandall
came to Fairborn and miracles poured down from heaven as we went out
contacting. We went to try and give a referral the Bible that he had
requested, but he wasn't there, so we looked around and noticed an
apartment building that looked empty at best and sketchy at worse...so
of course we decided to go knock it. By the time we had knocked the
ten doors in the building we had taught a lesson, set up two return
appointments, received a referral, and were carried by angels down the
scariest staircase that I have ever seen (it was a metal staircase, it
gently swayed with each step we took to the top, and when we got to a
top there was a hole in the landing-definitely safe). We then went to
another street that we had planned to contact in and were able to
schedule three more return appointments and invite two other people to
watch General Conference this weekend. On top of all the contacting
miracles, we were able to teach three lessons and just had a blast. It
was brilliant. I feel like I learned a lot from Sister Crandall about
approaching doors and inviting people to learn about the gospel. It
was great.

The General Women's Broadcast was another one of those miracles this
week. I love General Conference so much, and especially now because it
somehow makes me feel more connected to home. I really appreciated
President Uchtdorf's parable. I learned something new about why the
Savior instructed in parables. Of course the Savior instructed in
parables because he wanted those who were prepared to understand more
to gain that instruction, but prevent those who weren't prepared to be
accountable for more from understanding. I have a testimony that
parables also open the door for personal revelation. I was able to
receive so many answers to my questions as I listened to President
Uchtdorf and the spirit. It was so reassuring and uplifting. I'm
really excited to see what General Conference brings.

Fun fact, there are things that Sister Missionaries can totally get
away with with greater ease than Elders. One such thing is
sticky-noting and this past week, sticky-noting worked a miracle. Last
Wednesday night we had an appointment fall through, but we were on the
sketchy side of town and didn't much feel like it was advisable to go
contacting in the dark. We decided to sticky note our investigators.
When we got to their house their front door was open with the glass
door closed, so we weren't going to be able to put the sticky notes on
the door like we usually do. We were going to stick them on the window
and then realized that we're both short, so that was going to require
us jumping and they would certainly hear that. So we left the sticky
notes on the side of the house, knocked on the window, and drove away.
Kim called us and asked if we had left the sticky notes. We said that
we had. She told us that it made a big impression on her son Adam
(we've been teaching his wife Megan and he's been uninterested in
learning himself). Well, it made enough of a big difference that when
Megan came to the church for a Chapel Tour on Monday night, Adam came
with her and not only accepted the invitation to learn more about the
gospel, but also accepted a baptismal date.

Miracles are happening in Fairborn, and that is why I have to leave.
There was an Elder at the last transfer meeting, who quoted Nanny
McPhee in his departing testimony saying that missionaries are just
like Nanny McPhee becase "When you don't want us, but you need us, we
have to stay. And when you want us, but you don't need us, we have to
go". I know that in these last six weeks in Fairborn Heavenly Father
has allowed me to be the instrument in his hands in bringing about a
lot of good. And now it's time for me to go elsewhere. (I would feel
less resentful about leaving if it didn't mean having to pack again).
Wherever I go next, it certainly won't be boring, and I know it will
be according to God's plans.

The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica

The Week that Fairborn Started Celebrating Halloween‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters got lost
trying to find member's houses for dinner (twice), Sister Cale
actually remembered to write in her journal (it's one of my goals),
Sister Cale taught Sister Wolf how to crochet during lunch and
finished a blanket, the primary program was the cutest thing that has
ever happened, the Sisters ate tacos, and Fairborn started decorating
for Halloween.

Hello Dear Ones!

Did you know that it is Halloween in Fairborn? I really hope that I
don't get transferred because this is September and things are surely
only going to get better from here on out. On the corners of Main
Street there are already full sized Halloween displays of Pirates and
Zombie catching vehicles. It's pretty cool stuff. Sister Wolf and I
have decided that one of our goals next transfer is to contact as
Zombie and talk to them about the Resurrection. As an important note,
I won't be e-mailing until next Wednesday because we have once again
reached transfer week (next week). Time...it's the least real thing in
my life right now.

We had a pretty remarkable week. I've been trying to increase my focus
on the tender mercies and miracles that are in my life. Guess what?
I'm surrounded. I have been in awe all week that Heavenly Father loves
me so much that he allows me to have the experiences that I'm having
at this time, both the good and the bad. Sometimes the tender mercies
are small, like having dinner with some of the awesome members of our
ward. Sometimes they're bigger-like when one of the primary kids gives
a talk during the primary program that is exactly what one of your
investigators needed to hear. Some of the moments have come as I have
had opportunities to just open my mouth and testify that the gospel
has blessed my life. One came as I tripped last night, totally tweaked
my ankle in all sorts of painful shocking ways, and then woke up this
morning able to walk just fine.

We are working with some of the coolest human beings that I have ever
met right now. Ryan is a rockstar. He is loving the Book of Mormon and
is making such awesome changes in his life. I love when the spirit
works with our people when we aren't there. Don't get me wrong, it's
cool to see it happen when we are there, but I know the experience is
oftentimes more powerful when we aren't there. We were able to teach
the end of the Plan of Salvation to Megan and Ryan separately this
week and it was so cool to be able to see the blessings that come from
the Plan of Salvation through the eyes of people who hadn't heard
about it before. My gratitude for the Plan of Salvation and the
blessings made available to all of God's children through it have been
increasing so much lately. Everything is so divinely appointed and
run. And I am lucky enough to get to help people know that those
blessings are available for them and their families! It's so cool!
Erik and Jenna have really been applying themselves to resolve their
concerns and overcome the things that are hard for them. They totally
caught us sticky-noting them the other night, but that's okay (I've
been caught sticky-noting more times this transfer than the rest of my
mission). They really loved the primary program. It would have been
hard not to. It was so super cute. Primary kids are the best. We got
to read Alma 1 with Tabitha yesterday and were there to witness as the
spirit taught her exactly the things that she needed to hear that day.
I had said something about, "it's funny how God works that out for
us." Tabitha responded, saying something along the lines of, "I've
stopped thinking it's funny and just know that he's going to teach me
what I need to know." We're pretty excited to start teaching the nine
and seven year old children of a family who is working to come back
into activity. Teaching kids is so much fun! I think that teaching
kids reminds me more than anything that as missionaries it is crucial
that we teach people, not lessons so the spirit can do his work.

My most exciting news is that Sam from Delaware is getting baptized
this Saturday. Please pray that President will give us permission to
go and that we can find a ride to get there. Sam has truly been one of
the miracles of my mission. A quick recap on my amazing Sam friend-she
started taking the lessons fifteen months ago, but her parents wanted
her to wait to be baptized until she was eighteen so she would be more
responsible for that decision. She faithfully went to church and was
even Seminary President last spring. She's seriously some kind of
brilliant. We would take her to lessons with us in Delaware all the
time and it was humbling to see how well she worked with the spirit to
teach and bear testimony of the gospel. The Elders started teaching
her Mom back in May. They are both getting baptized this Saturday. I
keep forgetting for a moment and then I get super excited all over
again. I'm so grateful that she's going to be able to have the
blessings of membership in the church sooner than she had anticipated.
The spirit is so cool and this gospel truly is the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. This is His work and I am so grateful that I get to be a part
of it.

The Church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica

The Week Where Sister Cale was Sick‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale was
almost kind of sure that she had bronchitis, the Sisters had miracles
because good things happen when you work when you're sick, they made
cookies, played phone tag with President Daines regarding a baptismal
interview, and were busy, busy, busy.

Hello My Lovelies,

I have to admit that in the haze of feeling like I was maybe going to
die that I forgot to write down the highlights of the week on the iPad
so that I would have them to reference during e-mail time. My bad. I
do remember the major miracles that we were blessed with this week.

In an instance of divine placement, when we went out to try and
contact a potential investigator Saturday morning, the door opened and
it wasn't her. The woman who answered the door invited us in
immediately. I should have just gone in, but I was a little wary as no
one has ever invited us in. We paused first to explain that we are
missionaries and that we share the Book of Mormon with people. She
invited us in and we were able to teach her and her boyfriend the
first lesson. I love that when we plan by the spirit that Heavenly
Father will get us where he needs us to be, even if it's not seeing
who we thought we were going to be seeing. At the end of the lesson
both Tylisia and John committed to be baptized if they came to feel
that our message was true and it was awesome. Unfortunately they live
outside of not only our area, but mission boundaries, so we had to
refer them to the Cincinnati missionaries. I think I was really in
need of the reminder that God knows exactly where he needs for us to
be and if we will rely on him the work that he needs to have
accomplished will happen according to his will.

We had another really cool opportunity as we were teaching a less
active member of the ward about sacrament. There's a super awesome
Mormon Message for Youth entitled "Always Remember Him" that talks
about our baptismal covenants and invites us to do something in our
lives to always remember the Savior. We shared that with Kim and then
her daughter in law started asking us questions about baptism. They
were going to be going to a picnic on Labor Day for "Fairborn Against
Heroin" and they typically have a preacher/pastor/minister there who
will baptize people on the spot. She asked if we thought that she
should get baptized at the picnic. We were able to testify of the
importance of being baptized by priesthood authority after we are
prepared to make and keep covenants with God. Historically she hasn't
been interested in learning more from the missionaries, but we have an
appointment to teach her and her kids tonight. This experience was a
testament to me that not only does God help direct us as missionaries
to be where he needs us to be, he provides experiences for his
children that help them to be prepared to receive the message that
will ultimately change their lives if they will accept it and act upon
it.

I think the major blessing of this last week came for me in Zone
Training Meeting. At the end of the meeting we were evaluating what we
had learned and things that we felt we could improve upon for future
Zone Training Meetings at the Zone Leader's request. One Elder said
that he felt that the way that we handle accountability for goals can
sometimes makes missionaries feel like they didn't do enough because
the people they were teaching chose not to be baptized at this time.
One of our Zone Leaders proceeded to relate the story of his final
interview with his Stake President prior to entering the field. As he
told the story about how his Stake President had spoken with him about
the importance of definitions and how Satan will often try to use
definitions to throw us off our game and persuade us to feel defeated
and down trodden I realized that he was talking about President
Farrell. About halfway through his story we both made the connection
that since he lives in Syracuse that we have the same Stake President.
The truly important part was this though-he shared with the Zone
counsel from President Farrell that I had forgotten somewhere along
the way that I needed to be reminded of: A successful missionary is
one who repents and progresses. I had yet again received a reminder
that God knows what he is doing and where he needs for me to be at
this time.

Upon reflecting on this last week I've been blessed with several
important reminders of lessons that I think I have figured out to some
degree at other points in my mission. Our mortal minds tend to forget
things so easily. I'm grateful for the many ways that the organization
of the gospel allows us with plenty of opportunities to remember
Christ and why we're here.

The Church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you!

Love,

Jessica

The Week that Went By in a Blink‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the sisters
contacted a man who insisted that Sister Cale must have kids (nope,
really...yes I know that I seem old enough to have kids...but I
currently am a missionary...and I lack a husband), the Sisters bought
donuts after their second return appointment bailed on them, Sister
Cale had the scary realization that she doesn't hate knocking on doors
anymore, the Sisters went berry picking at the Bishop's Berry Farm
(fresh raspberries and blackberries for days), and the Sisters used
all the sticky notes (not really, but we used a ton, but conveniently
we have a lot left).

Hey Friendlies!

I think I spend the beginning of every e-mail talking about how weird
time is. So perhaps we'll skip that part today and get on to talking
about the life and times of the week.

Adjusting to a new area can almost be like a game if you choose to
make it one. And I typically do because I want to be happy. I think as
a missionary that I've been learning a lot about how we choose to look
at the experiences that we're having and the stories that we tell
ourselves and others. I'm getting a lot of really good practice
telling myself the missionary story with an eternal perspective in
mind that allows even moments that would otherwise feel like outright
rejection feel like seeds planted and a job well done. I think that
one such instance that highlights that this week is a man that we met
while out contacting doors. He was really nice, but once we started
talking about the Book of Mormon he was completely disinterested. He
said that he doesn't need another interpretation of the Bible and
wouldn't stop talking long enough for us to explain that the Book of
Mormon is not an interpretation of the Bible, but is instead another
book of scripture like the Bible. I think that particular contact was
really frustrating for Sister Wolf because he was so unwilling to
allow us to explain that his was simply misinformed about the Book of
Mormon. Strangely enough I ended up walking away feeling totally okay
about things. I was grateful that we had the opportunity to testify
that The Book of Mormon is the word of God and has blessed our lives.
I'm growing to love the opportunities that I am given to share my
testimony and don't really mind if those that I share my testimony
with are not at a place to hear more than that at that point. Of
course I want everyone to learn more about the gospel, but I also know
that there is a timing in all things and that sometimes all people are
ready for is a tiny sampling of the gospel. I'm grateful for
opportunities to have any part in this work.

One of the coolest moments this week happened with our new friend A.J.
We had the opportunity to invite him to read the Book of Mormon and
pray about it last week and were really excited that when we came back
that he said that God has a sense of humor. As he explained he said
that he had sat down and had decided to randomly flip to a page in the
Book of Mormon and start reading to decide if it was true or not. He
opened to Alma 22 when Aaron is teaching King Lamoni's father and
began reading as it said "And behold this is the thing that has
troubled me...". Aaron goes on to teach King Lamoni's father about the
nature of God, the plan of redemption and Jesus Christ's atonement.
The beauty in this is that is exactly the lesson and conversation that
we had had with A.J. and his family the night that we invited him to
read the Book of Mormon. When we asked him if he had prayed about it,
he said that he didn't need to, because clearly this was his answer.
Obviously it will still be good for him to pray about it, but I do
love that he had an opportunity to see that God answers the questions
of our hearts and does indeed have a sense of humor.

Other awesomeness this week included getting to help answer some of
Sydney's concerns regarding baptism. I adore Sydney so much. She's a
total kindred spirit and she has a pet wolf. So that's pretty dang
cool. We got to teach an awesome lesson to a ten year old about
teaching a learning in church using origami (thanks for the directions
mom, they were perfect) and almost managed to get to bed on time (but
not quite, because the missionary struggle is real and it's one of our
goals for this next week).

The Church is True, Life is Good, God's in Charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica