The Week of Planting Seeds‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the sisters talked
to everyone (again) and planted a lot of seeds that will grow
(someday...maybe), they discovered that their car is cool enough to
read their text messages aloud (including emoticons like :) which
becomes "happy smiley" when read aloud), and the Sisters got to make
crepes, a calendar, necklaces, and blankets.

Hey Loves,

So this week was a weird one. I'm still really trying to get used to
being in an area where things need some establishing. I am dying of
exhaustion, but I'm really happy. It's probably not good that I start
to dream the second I fall asleep (shout out to the astronaut power
naps), but I'm running with it and trusting that everything is going
to be okay.

We get to talk to a lot of really cool and nice people here in
Pataskala. They're not always interested to learn more about the
gospel, but they're really nice to us about it. Finding is really hard
and I'm so much less awkward as a human being when I've met someone
and it's been established that they're actually interested in talking
to me. I just have to remind myself that I used to walk up to
strangers at stores and say, "Hi, I'm Jessica Cale, what's your name?"
#nostrangeranxietyhere. It's arguable that I have delayed stranger
anxiety now. Not exactly ideal timing, so we push through.

We survived the few days without our car and were able to get it back
on Wednesday after Zone Training Meeting. ZTM this time was pretty
interesting as we had received none of the texts regarding what we
were supposed to bring to the meeting or what they were supposed to
have studied in advance. Aren't phones just so fun? In the end,
because Heavenly Father is merciful and knew that I would have
prepared a talk had I known that was necessary, I wasn't asked to
speak. Phew! (Yes, I know that I could have just pretended that I was
back in debate and made up a talk as I went, but...that's really
beside the point). I get to speak in sacrament meeting this week. If
any of you have thoughts on how we hunger and thirst after
righteousness through obedience, I can check my e-mail every day and I
would love to hear what you think.

One of the roughest moments this week was when we got the texts from
Garrett saying that at his dad's request, he had decided to postpone
his baptism. His dad felt uncomfortable with how fast things seemed to
be happening (and you can't argue that two weeks isn't fast) so he had
asked Garrett to search things out a little longer. It was one of the
weirdest moments for me in terms of feeling calm and simultaneously
devastated. It made for a rough sort of emotional battle. I know that
the gospel will bless Garrett's life when he gets baptized, and he
knows that he is to make sure that Sister Gordon and I get invited
when he picks a baptismal date.

Other things from this week-

I am so grateful for the people here who are willing to love us and
take us in. Especially on hard weeks when things have felt so
unsuccessful. We had an awesome conversation with the Slack's about
the relationship between the Atonement and faith on Saturday night
when we stopped by to see them. They are another set of Ohio
grandparents that I have adopted into my life. They're so fun!

Sister Gordon and I were able to sing at Mary's baptism on Saturday
morning. We sang an arrangement of our own creating #missionarylife
that was a mix of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me", "Baptism", and "The
Holy Ghost". Elder Lloyd played the guitar for us and it was
beautiful. I was really glad that we had the opportunity to contribute
to her baptism in that way. It was a good reminder for me that we all
have something to give, even if it is just a song. (wow that sounded
cheesy...I'll refrain from deleting it so you can all laugh).

Well dears, I hope to have more to report this next week. We've got
our major contacting goals again and are excited to follow up with a
bunch of the people that we've met in the last two weeks. We have Zone
Conference tomorrow, which should be awesome. President Daines asked
us to read "The Path to Palmyra" and "The Coming Forth of the Book of
Mormon" from the last two Ensigns in preparation for our meeting. They
were both really awesome articles, so I'm excited to see how President
Daines teaches us from them.

The Church is True, Life is Good, God's in Charge (even when no one
seems to be interested), and Life is Good (even when you spent the
week knocking doors).

Love you all!

Jessica