In last weeks episode of being a missionary in Columbus Ohio, Sister Cale and Sister Hibbert taught over twenty official lessons, had a Sushi food adventure, and were so busy that neither of them could really remember exactly what had happened in the past week.
First I suppose we can start with this-I officially survived my first transfer as a Sister Missionary. So I think I only have 12 or 11 of those left, but who's counting? :) Honestly, the last two months (yes, I've been out for over two months now) have gone by in this strange blurry mess of I don't even know what. We've seen a lot of miracles and been shown time and time again how much the Lord is truly watching out for his missionaries.
It was really weird, but in a lot of ways very good to e-mail last Monday and then have to get to work (our p-day was Wednesday because of Transfers). Usually we will e-mail and then go grocery shopping. After that we go back to the apartment and start writing the snail-mail letters. Sometimes it's sort of hard to want to get back out to work on Monday evenings. It was crazy to start out the week with so much inertia. Monday afternoon, we taught the brother of two of our recent converts how to pray, and he said a kneeling prayer with their family. It was such a tender and sweet moment. It was really cool to see that it was possible for us to bring the spirit into their home, just like the Elders had when they came for the blessings. Things are changing for this family and I'm excited to be here to see it.
Tuesday was a day where nothing in our plans worked out. It was honestly comical at the point that no one was home that we had planned to see, despite our very best efforts to have been inspired in our planning. We chalked it up to some days just being like that, even in Ohio. We did get to see Karen on Tuesday night and she really is one of the sweetest women in all of the world. Last time she had asked me to bring some of my poetry, because of the week before I actually had "After the Unthinkable Year". She immediately wanted to make sure that I was going to try to get published and wanted to know how I make sure to share my poetry with people. I was a little chagrined to admit that I usually don't share much, because I get scared. After Sister Hibbert shared a song with her we talked about how our talents really are from God for the bettering of this world that we live in.
Wednesday was p-day. P-day was also hair cut day! I will go to my grave insisting that a hair cut can truly make just about anything feel better. My hair wasn't even that bad, but one of the members of our ward gave us an awesome recommendation of a completely affordable salon and life is good. Even though Margaret only cut a quarter of an inch off most of my hair, the growths on the side of my face are once again bangs and things are so much better when I can see. We also got to go to a prayer meeting at Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday afternoon. It's really such a cool experience to be able to gather in prayer with people of different faiths and see how they pray and what is different about it. We got our grocery shopping done and then got to go home to do the letter writing thing. Wednesday night coordination meeting was kind of a bummer because our Elders were getting doubled out (both leaving)-one home, the other to somewhere else in the mission. It was fun all the same to get to see them one last time and wish them luck.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are kind of honestly a blur of busyness to me. I know we did lots of things and taught lots of things, but I only really specifically remember a few things. We went on a Sushi Dinner Adventure on Friday night to celebrate the finish of my first transfer. Sister Hibbert is allergic to shrimp, which limited our selection, but we managed to find two really delicious rolls all the same. I was happy more than anything just to have one of my favorite foods. We sticky-noted several members doors like good little fairies and only nearly got caught once.
Sometimes I'm convinced that Sunday's are the day of the week to beat. Church this week was seriously everything that I needed it to be. Our Relief Society Presidency spoke and every single one of their talks had something in it that I needed to be reminded of. We sang the words of "Guide Me to Thee" to the music of "Nearer My God to Thee" with two of the young women in the ward between two of the talks. It's funny to be singing so much again. I think we're actually going to be singing in the ward talent show in two weeks...so that's only slightly horrifying, but I guess it will be good. Sunday School and Relief Society were also full of messages that I was in need of. More than anything, I love going to church because our ward really has become my family. We've really developed relationships with them all and it makes me so happy to have the chance to see them and see how things are going. I especially love seeing all the tiny humans that I've made best friends with. I continue to be successful in my goal to make a best friend in every family that we get to have dinner with. We got to visit a potential investigator after church and give her a Book of Mormon. The more I read the Book of Mormon, the more I realize how much I truly do treasure it.
Today was great because we got to go to choir practice in Reynoldsburg, which is about forty-five minutes away. Music is seriously the miracle mood fix in the land of Sister Cale. I'm not really sure why, but I woke up this morning feeling rather grumpy. As we sat with the choir and learned the parts for the two songs that we'll be singing for the Easter Fireside on March 22, slowly the grumpy melted away to reveal the typically happy and calm Jessica. It was amazing. I have no idea if there are good versions of "This is the Christ" on the world wide web, but I would highly recommend looking. It's beautiful and I'm enchanted by it.
I love you all. Let me know how you're doing. I'll be in Delaware until April 9 for sure, so send those letters and other magic packages (if you want). I wouldn't be able to be here being a missionary if it weren't for the goodness that you all are in my life.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you!
Jessica
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