This week on Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters got to go to the
mission home, it rained, Elder Garmon (their not entirely trusty GPS)
navigated them to New Albany before taking them to the temple, it
rained, they had their first meeting with their district (now that the
transfer is halfway over), it rained, they were introduced to the Area
Book Planner app, it rained, and it rained some more. Oh, and Dan got
baptized.
Dear Loves,
Hello Friends! Weeks where P-day isn't on Monday are the weirdest in
the world. It honestly just kind of throws off the flow of everything.
First you have a week that feels desperately long. And then you have a
week that feels insanely short (all in the same seven day time
period). But was a blessed long and short week it has been.
The biggest blessing of this week was being able to watch Dan get
baptized. I get it now. The joy that they talk about when you help
bring someone to the gospel. I officially understand it. I also think
that it would be more than fair to say that it takes a village to make
a baptism happen. I was so grateful for all the ward members who came
to support Dan and participate in the program as well as our District
who all rallied together in some form or fashion to make sure that
everything went smoothly. I also have to send a major shout out for
Sister Brown out to the cosmic universe as she became my memory this
week in helping remind me of things like the fact that we needed to
get jumpsuits for Dan to try on and pick the programs up. I'm hoping
that having the planner on the iPad will somehow restore some of my
lost brain power as it would appear that I've completely lost it in
some respects. Really though, more than anything I was grateful for
the sweet spirit that was there as Dan made that covenant with our
Heavenly Father. Something that was really cool about his baptismal
service is that when Brother Morgan was giving his closing remarks he
said that people in that room had promised to come and share the
gospel with him during the pre-Earth life. This was particularly
powerful to me, because several months ago when Sister Hibbert was
still here we had a lesson with Dan where I testified to him that
exact thing. I know that's the case. And I know that Dan is one of the
people that I was supposed to come to Ohio for.
This week was the rainiest week I have ever experienced in my
life...and I lived at Scout Camp the Summer that it rained two weeks
in a row. Ohio rain is largely different from Utah rain because with
it comes the supreme joy and exciting experience of humidity. Neat.
We had an awesome District Meeting and I'm feeling a little ripped off
that transfers are July 9, because we won't have had any time at all
really to get to know each other better. It's just too bad because we
could all really end up being good friends. It's fun to be able to be
friends with missionaries.
The temple this week was awesome, even if our dear sweet little
outdated GPS thought it would be amusing to freak me out and take us
to New Albany (nowhere near the temple) before taking us to the
temple. I was just grateful that we had Sister Russ and Sister Dowell
in the car with us because Sister Russ served in New Albany so she
knew the fastest way to get to the freeway. We had to sprint to get
inside and they held the session for us, but we ultimately did get to
the temple. Granted that we didn't have as much time for pondering
before the session started, but the spirit was still there and I was
so grateful that we had made it that my normal feelings of panic and
horror at being late were washed over with relief. I love the temple
so much. And I feel really lucky that I've already been able to go
three times.
We had the best P-day ever and were able to go to Easton Mall with
Sister Turner, Afton, and Cohen. I love this family so much. And even
though it was only about forty-five minutes away, it felt like a
mini-vacation to be away from Delaware not on specific missionary
business (don't worry, we had permission from President).
This week we started stage two of having iPads-the Area Book Planner
app. Honestly, I hate it. It's kind of like when we got the data
tracking program and internet time card at work. Initially the idea
sounded brilliant. However, when the system deletes an investigators
information after you have already spent nearly an hour putting it in,
it's less than charming. So I've been praying for charity towards an
app. Which is not something I had ever thought would be necessary in
my life. Hopefully once all the information is in it won't feel as
awful.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Jessica
Monday, June 22, 2015
Thursday, June 18, 2015
The Week with Four Missionaries
On this Week's Episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale and
Sister Brown completed their time with their prospective missionaries
Sister Oviatt and Sister Edwards, Sister Cale snaked the drains in the
apartment (GROSS), the Sisters got to help clean out a garage (and
Sister Cale got an etch a sketch (which are from Ohio, who knew?)),
they finally found Golden Bears, and they got to go running with
Sister Morgan.
Hello Loves!
So I have a sticky note with notes about all the amazing things that
happened this past week and all the funny things...and it's totally in
my apartment. So that's pretty cool. You'd think that I'd learn to pay
better attention to what I'm doing and not forget to bring my planner
with me out to work. I guess it's a good thing that our planners are
going to be on the iPads starting next Monday.
Awesome things that happened this last week in no particular order
because time has become something that my life doesn't always appear
to be bound by and like I said, I forgot my sequential order sticky
note.
On Thursday we gave our prospective missionaries the assignment to
plan and prepare to take the lead in teaching Judy about the Life and
Ministry of Jesus Christ. Initially they were both pretty scared and
you could tell that they might even be more vocally resistant if it
wouldn't seem grumpy to do so. It was amazing to see the lesson that
they came up with and the spirit with which they taught. I was so
proud of them. And it was very tender to see Judy interacting with
them in a such a positive way (Judy is always awesome though, and
that's why we knew we could have the girls teach her).
We had a mini-Zone Conference on Wednesday where we got to gather
together and practice teaching using the Digital Pamphlets and
contacting using Mormon Messages. I know I say this all the time, but
there is such a special spirit and power when we get to gather
together as missionaries and work on increasing our abilities to do
the Lord's work more effectively.
Yesterday Dan had his baptismal interview and we got to experience one
of the sweet moments of agency as opposed to the frustration we
frequently experience as missionaries regarding the choices of others.
We waited out in the hall like nervous parents while he was in his
interview and were relieved when he came out and said that he had
failed (he's such a tease. I feel like he and Dad would get along
brilliantly). His baptism is going to be this Saturday and I'm excited
to get it all pulled together so I don't have to be stressed out about
it anymore. Another funny Dan story from this week happened on Tuesday
when we went to teach him about missionary work. We were ready to
start the lesson and I was going to ask a question about what he
thought he could do to be a missionary with his family and friends and
just couldn't seem to formulate the words. Eventually he said, "Dear,
I think you need to go to the temple to clear your mind." Fact. I do
need to go to the temple, so I think I'll do that Thursday this week.
One of my favorite things that happened this week was that we got to
go running with Sister Morgan on Friday morning. We had dinner and FHE
with their family on Monday night and she mentioned that she used to
go running with Sister Mathis and Sister Schauers a few times a week
while they were here if we were ever interested. I had initially
planned not to worry about it until after the prospective missionaries
were gone, but Sister Oviatt really wanted to go running with Sister
Morgan. I'm so grateful that that we important to her because I think
it was really good for me to have that pressure to make things happen.
I know it was good for me to have someone call out stop and go for the
intervals. I was so sore after, but I also felt the way one can only
feel after finishing a run. We're excited to get to go with her again
Wednesday morning.
Other highlights of the week include another stop at Ollie's Ice Cream
(we had to take the prospective missionaries), getting Monica's
wedding announcement-seriously super cute picture, and seeing
fireflies for the first time in my life. Sister Edwards will be going
to BYU in the fall and she said that she wouldn't trade fireflies for
even mountains...while I like fireflies, I think I would trade them
for mountains, though the ideal would obviously be fireflies and
mountains. We matched with the minis on Thursday and all wore
blue-pictures to follow.
Well friends, like Dan said, I need to clear my mind at the temple and
I don't much remember any other the major things that happened this
week. Sorry. I know that's kind of lame. It was a good week and we're
glad to be back to just arranging things for two missionaries to work.
The Church is True, Life is Good, God's in Charge, and Satan Hates you.
Love,
Jessica
Sister Brown completed their time with their prospective missionaries
Sister Oviatt and Sister Edwards, Sister Cale snaked the drains in the
apartment (GROSS), the Sisters got to help clean out a garage (and
Sister Cale got an etch a sketch (which are from Ohio, who knew?)),
they finally found Golden Bears, and they got to go running with
Sister Morgan.
Hello Loves!
So I have a sticky note with notes about all the amazing things that
happened this past week and all the funny things...and it's totally in
my apartment. So that's pretty cool. You'd think that I'd learn to pay
better attention to what I'm doing and not forget to bring my planner
with me out to work. I guess it's a good thing that our planners are
going to be on the iPads starting next Monday.
Awesome things that happened this last week in no particular order
because time has become something that my life doesn't always appear
to be bound by and like I said, I forgot my sequential order sticky
note.
On Thursday we gave our prospective missionaries the assignment to
plan and prepare to take the lead in teaching Judy about the Life and
Ministry of Jesus Christ. Initially they were both pretty scared and
you could tell that they might even be more vocally resistant if it
wouldn't seem grumpy to do so. It was amazing to see the lesson that
they came up with and the spirit with which they taught. I was so
proud of them. And it was very tender to see Judy interacting with
them in a such a positive way (Judy is always awesome though, and
that's why we knew we could have the girls teach her).
We had a mini-Zone Conference on Wednesday where we got to gather
together and practice teaching using the Digital Pamphlets and
contacting using Mormon Messages. I know I say this all the time, but
there is such a special spirit and power when we get to gather
together as missionaries and work on increasing our abilities to do
the Lord's work more effectively.
Yesterday Dan had his baptismal interview and we got to experience one
of the sweet moments of agency as opposed to the frustration we
frequently experience as missionaries regarding the choices of others.
We waited out in the hall like nervous parents while he was in his
interview and were relieved when he came out and said that he had
failed (he's such a tease. I feel like he and Dad would get along
brilliantly). His baptism is going to be this Saturday and I'm excited
to get it all pulled together so I don't have to be stressed out about
it anymore. Another funny Dan story from this week happened on Tuesday
when we went to teach him about missionary work. We were ready to
start the lesson and I was going to ask a question about what he
thought he could do to be a missionary with his family and friends and
just couldn't seem to formulate the words. Eventually he said, "Dear,
I think you need to go to the temple to clear your mind." Fact. I do
need to go to the temple, so I think I'll do that Thursday this week.
One of my favorite things that happened this week was that we got to
go running with Sister Morgan on Friday morning. We had dinner and FHE
with their family on Monday night and she mentioned that she used to
go running with Sister Mathis and Sister Schauers a few times a week
while they were here if we were ever interested. I had initially
planned not to worry about it until after the prospective missionaries
were gone, but Sister Oviatt really wanted to go running with Sister
Morgan. I'm so grateful that that we important to her because I think
it was really good for me to have that pressure to make things happen.
I know it was good for me to have someone call out stop and go for the
intervals. I was so sore after, but I also felt the way one can only
feel after finishing a run. We're excited to get to go with her again
Wednesday morning.
Other highlights of the week include another stop at Ollie's Ice Cream
(we had to take the prospective missionaries), getting Monica's
wedding announcement-seriously super cute picture, and seeing
fireflies for the first time in my life. Sister Edwards will be going
to BYU in the fall and she said that she wouldn't trade fireflies for
even mountains...while I like fireflies, I think I would trade them
for mountains, though the ideal would obviously be fireflies and
mountains. We matched with the minis on Thursday and all wore
blue-pictures to follow.
Well friends, like Dan said, I need to clear my mind at the temple and
I don't much remember any other the major things that happened this
week. Sorry. I know that's kind of lame. It was a good week and we're
glad to be back to just arranging things for two missionaries to work.
The Church is True, Life is Good, God's in Charge, and Satan Hates you.
Love,
Jessica
Monday, June 8, 2015
Five Months Later
This week on Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters got a new can opener,
CD players, and iPads, got soaked at First Friday, but not before
having a ton of people write about their Family History on leaves, had
two prospective missionaries join their companionship for the week,
and of course taught lessons and learned about the Savior.
Hello Darlings!
It's been five months. Isn't that some sort of sick and twisted crazy?
I can only express great gratitude that time seems to have gone by so
quickly, while I feel like I've been able to accomplish much more than
would be possible during that time. This mission life is some sort of
brave new world where I'm slowly starting to forget what real life is
like (at least I was until they handed us our iPads on Wednesday. That
was surreal).
This week has had a lot to do and has consequently left me often
feeling a little stressed. I love the work that we do as missionaries,
but there never seems to be enough time to accomplish what we would
like, and we never seem to be able to be on time anywhere. The
struggle is so real. I'm trying to accept those things that I can't
change and find ways to make other things more effective.
Some of the best moments of the week happened as we got to talk to the
people of Delaware for First Friday. Our tree was really cool and it
was so fun to have a chance to talk to people about where they're from
and other cool things about their families. I had prayed that morning
that the Spirit of Elijah would touch some people's hearts and that
they would express interest in learning more about how to do Family
History. We were able to give several people our contact information
and invite them to go to familysearch.org. I love when Heavenly Father
answers even the simplest of prayers.
While we were at First Friday, in one of the few slower moments Sister
Brown checked our phone and told me that contrary to what we had
thought, we would be receiving not only one, but two prospective
missionaries for mini-mission week. For those of you following along
back home where mini-missions would be a complete impossibility due to
the amount of youth who would want to go and the scarcity of
missionaries in Utah, a mini-mission is a scientific experiment where
Laurels and Priests get to come and be missionaries for a week. Our
mini-missionaries are Sister Edwards from Zanesville and Sister Oviatt
from Athens. It's a whole new world when you have to plan two sets of
plans for a day. I'll be sad to see them go, but I'll be glad to be
able to plan for only one set of missionaries, and to get to be with
Sister Brown in lessons.
Because weather in Ohio wants to constantly remind me of Sting (All
Four Seasons in One Day) and as a consequence of that my mom, even
though Friday started out hot, at about eight thirty it started to
really rain. Like downpour you're positively soaked rain. Luckily for
us we had brought umbrellas that sort of helped. The Elders were not
so prepared (despite having gone through the scouting program), so we
shared. We got wet and our leaves were pretty much ruined after the
deluge, but the experience was wonderful all the same.
Our ward got to go to our temporary new home in Marysville on Sunday
and it was wonderful to see everyone gather together, despite the
longer drive. We'll be excited to get to ride with different members
so our miles don't die. I know I talk about how incredible this ward
is all the time, but they really do look out for us so much. They are
so willing to help up and Sister Gayer even went and got us water when
we were still in the muggy hot portion of the First Friday experience.
Well my loves, I can't believe it's been five months. Let's do this
just a few more times and then this thing will be done.
The Church is true, Life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Jessica
CD players, and iPads, got soaked at First Friday, but not before
having a ton of people write about their Family History on leaves, had
two prospective missionaries join their companionship for the week,
and of course taught lessons and learned about the Savior.
Hello Darlings!
It's been five months. Isn't that some sort of sick and twisted crazy?
I can only express great gratitude that time seems to have gone by so
quickly, while I feel like I've been able to accomplish much more than
would be possible during that time. This mission life is some sort of
brave new world where I'm slowly starting to forget what real life is
like (at least I was until they handed us our iPads on Wednesday. That
was surreal).
This week has had a lot to do and has consequently left me often
feeling a little stressed. I love the work that we do as missionaries,
but there never seems to be enough time to accomplish what we would
like, and we never seem to be able to be on time anywhere. The
struggle is so real. I'm trying to accept those things that I can't
change and find ways to make other things more effective.
Some of the best moments of the week happened as we got to talk to the
people of Delaware for First Friday. Our tree was really cool and it
was so fun to have a chance to talk to people about where they're from
and other cool things about their families. I had prayed that morning
that the Spirit of Elijah would touch some people's hearts and that
they would express interest in learning more about how to do Family
History. We were able to give several people our contact information
and invite them to go to familysearch.org. I love when Heavenly Father
answers even the simplest of prayers.
While we were at First Friday, in one of the few slower moments Sister
Brown checked our phone and told me that contrary to what we had
thought, we would be receiving not only one, but two prospective
missionaries for mini-mission week. For those of you following along
back home where mini-missions would be a complete impossibility due to
the amount of youth who would want to go and the scarcity of
missionaries in Utah, a mini-mission is a scientific experiment where
Laurels and Priests get to come and be missionaries for a week. Our
mini-missionaries are Sister Edwards from Zanesville and Sister Oviatt
from Athens. It's a whole new world when you have to plan two sets of
plans for a day. I'll be sad to see them go, but I'll be glad to be
able to plan for only one set of missionaries, and to get to be with
Sister Brown in lessons.
Because weather in Ohio wants to constantly remind me of Sting (All
Four Seasons in One Day) and as a consequence of that my mom, even
though Friday started out hot, at about eight thirty it started to
really rain. Like downpour you're positively soaked rain. Luckily for
us we had brought umbrellas that sort of helped. The Elders were not
so prepared (despite having gone through the scouting program), so we
shared. We got wet and our leaves were pretty much ruined after the
deluge, but the experience was wonderful all the same.
Our ward got to go to our temporary new home in Marysville on Sunday
and it was wonderful to see everyone gather together, despite the
longer drive. We'll be excited to get to ride with different members
so our miles don't die. I know I talk about how incredible this ward
is all the time, but they really do look out for us so much. They are
so willing to help up and Sister Gayer even went and got us water when
we were still in the muggy hot portion of the First Friday experience.
Well my loves, I can't believe it's been five months. Let's do this
just a few more times and then this thing will be done.
The Church is true, Life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Jessica
Monday, June 1, 2015
The Week Where Everything Reminded Me of My People
On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale did not get transferred (hallelujah! I am not ready to leave these people yet), Sister Brown got 30 letters, Sister Cale helped some people dig a hole in a backyard in her skirt and got sunburnt (because clearly I'm porcelain or something), we had our now traditional Friday night stop at Ollie's for ice cream, she dreamt about her puppy and missed him, but it was okay, and she got to sing in the missionary choir (and the music was hard this time, not Noel hard, but harder than normal).
Hello Loves!
Here were are again. I'm hoping that the next time that I get to e-mail you all that it will be from my iPad (we get them this Wednesday!). We'll see how it all works out though. I'm sure that it's going to be different, but so effective. This week is one of those weeks where I really feel like we just listened to the spirit, went where we were directed, and watched the miracles happen as a result of that.
In the past few weeks we have had a hard time getting to see several of the people that we had been working with. I'm not super big on the idea of giving up on people, so when we were in an area where one of them lived we would try to stop by and see them, but it was becoming tiresome to see fingers lift the blinds and then still have no one come to the door. We had started to think that it was time to give a greater amount of space to these people and just try to see them later. One such investigator was Sara. We had stopped by to water some plants for Judy (because she was still at the rehab facility after her knee surgery), when we were leaving I asked Sister Brown if we should try to see Sara. We hadn't seen her in almost two weeks and she wasn't on the plans for the day, but we were nearby. She said yes. And Sara was home and let us in.
Honestly, there were three or four different instances this week where that happened and we were blessed to get to talk to an investigator that we didn't think was going to talk to us ever again. I love these Ohio people.
Other awesome things this week include the lesson we had with Sam and Jamie about the Christlike attribute of patience. Sister Brown and I may have needed this particular lesson more than Sam and Jamie. All week long we would think of a way that an iPad would make a lesson so good and would help an investigator understand something so much better, and then we would realize that we still don't have them, so we spent much of the week feeling like things really would just be so much better with iPads. I'm excited for the new tool that we're going to have, but I think it was also good for us to get to talk about patience and about how we need to wait for things in the Lord's time. I think that's one of my major struggles. I have a quote by one of the apostles in my quote box that says, "So often we pray for patience. But we want it right now". So that's something that I've been trying to work on this week. I've been trying to accept that even if I want something right now, Heavenly Father's timing has, and will continue to be better than what I could plan. I trust him to know what he is doing and if I truly trust him, I'll also wait happily for things to happen according to his schedule. Even if it's hard.
One of the highlights of this week was the Mission Fireside. I love these meetings. And not just because I get to sing and singing brings peace to my soul. There really is such a unique spirit present when missionaries gather together in such large groups. One of my favorite parts is when they have recent converts share their testimonies. It is so powerful. Sometimes I wonder if President puts that in the program for the benefit of the missionaries, because it is so good to hear that people have been found by missionaries knocking on their door or in a variety of other ways. It's important to hear that people do sometimes choose to accept the gospel fully.
Your funny story for the week is as follows-I had a dream a few nights ago that I was in Disneyland. But I was still a missionary. And all I could think about is what character did I want to go find, and what cute missionary picture could we take together that would also allow me to share some sort of gospel message with the handler? Could my Disney Geekiness and the Missionary-ness that is slowly but surely seeping into my brain have collided in a funnier way? I'm not so sure.
The Church is True, Life is good, God's in Charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Jessica
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)