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