The Week that was just Weird‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale and
Sister Bassett were woken from their nap by a tornado siren, got
soaked as they ran into the Slack's house to wait out the
tornado-storm-ness, went to interviews and training where Sister Cale
rocked the missionary handbook chase, Sister Bassett went home, Sister
Cale got a new companion Sister Gordon, the sisters had an epic weekly
planning session, and somehow the side of the Sister's car swiped the
front of a member's car when they were leaving the missionary
fireside. 

 Hey Loves,

 So this week has been weird...and I left my keyboard at the apartment,
which is unfortunate because this touch screen isn't exactly ideal.
I'll try to keep writing anyway.

On Tuesday I survived my first legitimate tornado warning. I find that
weather freaks me out a lot more now that I'm not at home with Dad to
protect me...because he has super powers to control the weather?
Anyway, we decided to take a nap with our remaining lunch time because
Sister Bassett's headache was particularly bad. She woke up to the
sound of the tornado siren (I know what tornado sirens sound like now,
cool huh?). Seconds after she said my name we got a text from Buck
asking us how far we were from his house. We were going to respond
that we were just a few minutes away and ask if we should come, but we
just decided to go. Just as we got to the Slack's house the rain
really started coming down and we got soaked just getting into the
house. We worked from their house until the weather cleared up and
then went back to our schedule. I was really grateful to have a safe
place to land in the event that things actually had been bad.

 Wednesday we had interviews with President Daines. I know I was
skeptical before reporting to the field about them, but I love
President and Sister Daines so much. I officially believe that
President Ferrel was right when he said that there was a good chance
that part of the reason I was assigned to labor in Ohio was my mission
president. The training while we were waiting to be interviewed was a
bit long, but also awesome. It's just good to get to be around
missionaries. During interviews Sister Bassett expressed to President
that she felt it would be best to go home to resolve her health
issues. I thought we would probably still have a few weeks together.
Oh boy was I wrong. 

 We had a great day working Thursday and shared the first lesson with
an awesome guy named Garrett. I think it would be more than accurate
to say that Garrett embodies real intent and a desire to find the
truthfulness of the gospel for himself. All I could think while we
taught him was that it was amazing that Heavenly Father had trusted us
to teach Garrett and I really prayed that we wouldn't mess anything
up. I feel that way about all of the people that I get to intact with.
I'm still blown away that Heavenly Father trusts young adults with
something so important.

 Friday morning the call came that Sister Bassett would be going home
the next morning and would need to report to the mission home that
night. President Daines said that the trio of Sisters serving in
Cambridge would drive to our apartment and then my new companion,
Sister Gordon, Sister Bassett, and I would report to the mission home.
Friday was absolutely crazy. There is no other way to explain the
madness that occurred. But somehow everything worked out and we were
able to get everyone where they needed to be by the end of the night.
I was so sad to see Sister Bassett go, but so glad to have Sister
Gordon for a new companion.

Since I've only been in Pataskala for about a week and Sister Gordon
is new as well we get to start a lot of things from scratch. It's
exciting and scary and we are going to do some amazing things
together. I'm excited to see the miracles that come from our work. We
had the world's longest weekly planning session, but when it was all
done we had legitimate plans for not only the people we are teaching,
but for how we are going to find new investigators. Lots of work, but
that is what I'm here for. 

 The missionary fireside last night was awesome as always. It's great
to get to see other missionaries that I have served around. Especially
now that I'm away from my first Ohio home. Our investigator Garrett
came and even brought a friend. They left too fast. After it was over
for us to be able to talk to them, but it was really exciting to see
them there. I also go to see Clarence, Sam, Karen, and Sister Brown
who had all come from Delaware. It felt like a miracle to see my
people. 

Following the fireside we were pulling out of our spot when the
passenger side back door scraped against the front bumper of the car
next to us. I have no concept for how this happened. I did nothing
different from how I always drive and I was paying attention to all my
surroundings. They were parked in the middle of their stall, we were
parked in the middle of ours. I don't get it. All I can say at this
point is I felt like an idiot and was positively horrified. I review
President Uchtdorf's talk "A Matter of a Few Degrees" this morning.
Something obviously was wrong by a few degrees. Blah.

Well, I'm excited to get to work with Sister Gordon and get things
going in Pataskala. 

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

 Love,

Jessica