The Week Where Sister Cale was Sick‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale was
almost kind of sure that she had bronchitis, the Sisters had miracles
because good things happen when you work when you're sick, they made
cookies, played phone tag with President Daines regarding a baptismal
interview, and were busy, busy, busy.

Hello My Lovelies,

I have to admit that in the haze of feeling like I was maybe going to
die that I forgot to write down the highlights of the week on the iPad
so that I would have them to reference during e-mail time. My bad. I
do remember the major miracles that we were blessed with this week.

In an instance of divine placement, when we went out to try and
contact a potential investigator Saturday morning, the door opened and
it wasn't her. The woman who answered the door invited us in
immediately. I should have just gone in, but I was a little wary as no
one has ever invited us in. We paused first to explain that we are
missionaries and that we share the Book of Mormon with people. She
invited us in and we were able to teach her and her boyfriend the
first lesson. I love that when we plan by the spirit that Heavenly
Father will get us where he needs us to be, even if it's not seeing
who we thought we were going to be seeing. At the end of the lesson
both Tylisia and John committed to be baptized if they came to feel
that our message was true and it was awesome. Unfortunately they live
outside of not only our area, but mission boundaries, so we had to
refer them to the Cincinnati missionaries. I think I was really in
need of the reminder that God knows exactly where he needs for us to
be and if we will rely on him the work that he needs to have
accomplished will happen according to his will.

We had another really cool opportunity as we were teaching a less
active member of the ward about sacrament. There's a super awesome
Mormon Message for Youth entitled "Always Remember Him" that talks
about our baptismal covenants and invites us to do something in our
lives to always remember the Savior. We shared that with Kim and then
her daughter in law started asking us questions about baptism. They
were going to be going to a picnic on Labor Day for "Fairborn Against
Heroin" and they typically have a preacher/pastor/minister there who
will baptize people on the spot. She asked if we thought that she
should get baptized at the picnic. We were able to testify of the
importance of being baptized by priesthood authority after we are
prepared to make and keep covenants with God. Historically she hasn't
been interested in learning more from the missionaries, but we have an
appointment to teach her and her kids tonight. This experience was a
testament to me that not only does God help direct us as missionaries
to be where he needs us to be, he provides experiences for his
children that help them to be prepared to receive the message that
will ultimately change their lives if they will accept it and act upon
it.

I think the major blessing of this last week came for me in Zone
Training Meeting. At the end of the meeting we were evaluating what we
had learned and things that we felt we could improve upon for future
Zone Training Meetings at the Zone Leader's request. One Elder said
that he felt that the way that we handle accountability for goals can
sometimes makes missionaries feel like they didn't do enough because
the people they were teaching chose not to be baptized at this time.
One of our Zone Leaders proceeded to relate the story of his final
interview with his Stake President prior to entering the field. As he
told the story about how his Stake President had spoken with him about
the importance of definitions and how Satan will often try to use
definitions to throw us off our game and persuade us to feel defeated
and down trodden I realized that he was talking about President
Farrell. About halfway through his story we both made the connection
that since he lives in Syracuse that we have the same Stake President.
The truly important part was this though-he shared with the Zone
counsel from President Farrell that I had forgotten somewhere along
the way that I needed to be reminded of: A successful missionary is
one who repents and progresses. I had yet again received a reminder
that God knows what he is doing and where he needs for me to be at
this time.

Upon reflecting on this last week I've been blessed with several
important reminders of lessons that I think I have figured out to some
degree at other points in my mission. Our mortal minds tend to forget
things so easily. I'm grateful for the many ways that the organization
of the gospel allows us with plenty of opportunities to remember
Christ and why we're here.

The Church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you!

Love,

Jessica

The Week that Went By in a Blink‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the sisters
contacted a man who insisted that Sister Cale must have kids (nope,
really...yes I know that I seem old enough to have kids...but I
currently am a missionary...and I lack a husband), the Sisters bought
donuts after their second return appointment bailed on them, Sister
Cale had the scary realization that she doesn't hate knocking on doors
anymore, the Sisters went berry picking at the Bishop's Berry Farm
(fresh raspberries and blackberries for days), and the Sisters used
all the sticky notes (not really, but we used a ton, but conveniently
we have a lot left).

Hey Friendlies!

I think I spend the beginning of every e-mail talking about how weird
time is. So perhaps we'll skip that part today and get on to talking
about the life and times of the week.

Adjusting to a new area can almost be like a game if you choose to
make it one. And I typically do because I want to be happy. I think as
a missionary that I've been learning a lot about how we choose to look
at the experiences that we're having and the stories that we tell
ourselves and others. I'm getting a lot of really good practice
telling myself the missionary story with an eternal perspective in
mind that allows even moments that would otherwise feel like outright
rejection feel like seeds planted and a job well done. I think that
one such instance that highlights that this week is a man that we met
while out contacting doors. He was really nice, but once we started
talking about the Book of Mormon he was completely disinterested. He
said that he doesn't need another interpretation of the Bible and
wouldn't stop talking long enough for us to explain that the Book of
Mormon is not an interpretation of the Bible, but is instead another
book of scripture like the Bible. I think that particular contact was
really frustrating for Sister Wolf because he was so unwilling to
allow us to explain that his was simply misinformed about the Book of
Mormon. Strangely enough I ended up walking away feeling totally okay
about things. I was grateful that we had the opportunity to testify
that The Book of Mormon is the word of God and has blessed our lives.
I'm growing to love the opportunities that I am given to share my
testimony and don't really mind if those that I share my testimony
with are not at a place to hear more than that at that point. Of
course I want everyone to learn more about the gospel, but I also know
that there is a timing in all things and that sometimes all people are
ready for is a tiny sampling of the gospel. I'm grateful for
opportunities to have any part in this work.

One of the coolest moments this week happened with our new friend A.J.
We had the opportunity to invite him to read the Book of Mormon and
pray about it last week and were really excited that when we came back
that he said that God has a sense of humor. As he explained he said
that he had sat down and had decided to randomly flip to a page in the
Book of Mormon and start reading to decide if it was true or not. He
opened to Alma 22 when Aaron is teaching King Lamoni's father and
began reading as it said "And behold this is the thing that has
troubled me...". Aaron goes on to teach King Lamoni's father about the
nature of God, the plan of redemption and Jesus Christ's atonement.
The beauty in this is that is exactly the lesson and conversation that
we had had with A.J. and his family the night that we invited him to
read the Book of Mormon. When we asked him if he had prayed about it,
he said that he didn't need to, because clearly this was his answer.
Obviously it will still be good for him to pray about it, but I do
love that he had an opportunity to see that God answers the questions
of our hearts and does indeed have a sense of humor.

Other awesomeness this week included getting to help answer some of
Sydney's concerns regarding baptism. I adore Sydney so much. She's a
total kindred spirit and she has a pet wolf. So that's pretty dang
cool. We got to teach an awesome lesson to a ten year old about
teaching a learning in church using origami (thanks for the directions
mom, they were perfect) and almost managed to get to bed on time (but
not quite, because the missionary struggle is real and it's one of our
goals for this next week).

The Church is True, Life is Good, God's in Charge, and Satan hates you.

Love,

Jessica