The Week Full of Anniversaries (where I got to re-celebrate being transferred again)‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale realized
that a year ago on the fifth she got her mission call to this strange
and foreign land, that a year ago on the eighth that she had gone
through the temple to receive her endowment, and that ten months ago
on the seventh, she reported to the MTC. She also tried to take a nap
on P-day and failed miserably, got to eat Cafe Rio with Chelsea and
her husband Sam who are among the Sisters favorite people this week,
went to the temple with Megan, went on exchanges, dried her laundry in
a dryer for the first time all transfer, and rediscovered her love for
tights.

Hello Wonderful Humans,

What a wonky ten days it has been since I last wrote. Transfer weeks
and the weeks that precede them tend to be some of the most
interesting, most fulfilling, and simultaneously the most stressful.
The trickiest part tends to be that by the time I get to a Wednesday
p-day, I'm not entirely sure what has happened this week to say
nothing of last week. I'll do my best to give you a fair
representation of the life and times here at THE (I keep getting
corrected for omitted the) Ohio State.

Last week was the week where no one came to their return appointments.
I have to admit that as much as I prefer contacting on campus to
knocking doors, the positive part about knocking on someone's door and
having them agree to have you come and teach them is that you know
where they live. It seems to be pretty tricky for those college
student humans to actually make their return appointments. We were
talking as a district yesterday about how often people on campus tell
us that they just found their church by wandering in the door or
deciding randomly to attend a service that they were invited to by
other church groups on campus. Then we talked about how less
frequently that seems to happen with us. Elder Hildebrandt said,
"That's further evidence for me that this is the true church. It isn't
easy for people to come". I think I would add that it isn't always
easy for us to stay either. Maintaining a testimony and continuing to
feel the spirit after we have been blessed with such an abundance of
it in our lives can be complicated. Occasionally there will be things
that happen that are hard to understand or cause us to question the
reality of what we have come to know. Living the Gospel of Jesus
Christ is work. Just like Elder Holland said in Lord, I Believe,
"Brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the
manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so
please don’t hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that
need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will.
In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know.
And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith." I feel
that my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel is also
strengthened when I realize that it isn't just a walk in the park to
get people to learn more about it, nor is discipleship a way to live
life if you want to coast through without challenges.

Despite the many people who were in so many ways obviously prepared to
hear our message when we talked to them failing to make their
appointments to return more, being around the recent converts in the
wards always reminds me that there are those who are prepared to
receive a fulness of the gospel at this time. Getting to teach Victor
about family history this past week in preparation for him to go to
the temple this weekend, and then getting to go with the temple with
Megan last weekend both served as those reminders for me. I also heard
from the Delaware Sisters that Dan has received a calling in the ward
to work with the primary kids. Missionary work is a work of miracles
and I can't believe that I blessed to be so much a part of it.

So we just got transfer calls again...and I'm leaving again. So that's
kind of crazy. Am I doing something wrong? Well, I'm sure that another
new adventure is in store and wherever it is, it's bound to be good.

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

Love You,

Sister Cale

The Week Where I Went to My Fifth Area‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-packing continued to
be Sister Cale's least favorite thing ever, Sister Cale left one of
her favorite companions so far and said peace out to Babylon, Sister
Cale received not only her seventh companion but also her eighth
(#triolife), being back in a family ward included all sorts of perks
like cute kids and people who want to love you, pictures were hung on
the walls, Sister Cale had to insist that they be treated like ladies
(details in the e-mail), and Sister Cale's new desk was the comfiest
missionary couch that she had thus far encountered (you can imagine
the potential ramifications this might have with her morning studies).

Hey Darlings!

Greetings from another part of this strange and wonderful Ohio land. I
am now serving in Pickerington 1, which is partially in Pickerington
and also in Reynoldsburg Ohio. I think we're kind of south-eastish of
Columbus. I really don't know anymore. I pretty much just know that I
get assigned to an area and I get in the car and go there. Some major
perks of this area include Target, Walmart, Hallmark, Joanns, Bath and
Body Works...and many other stores that I haven't heard of, but am
quite excited to explore. We went to Walmart and Target today and I
have to admit that I may have lost some of my ability to shop. I find
that I get overwhelmed by so many options and don't quite know what to
do with myself.

Something else that is pretty awesome about this area is that I have
two companions! They are so different from one another, but they're
both fantastic and I'm really excited to see what we accomplish
together in the next few weeks. Let's have a moment for formal
introductions since I have two new people that all my stories are
going to include. Sister Clark is most recently from Buffalo, New
York, but she's lived in Tennessee, California, and Utah at other
points in her life. She is an only child and has a rocking
relationship with her mom. I love hearing her talk about all the
admiration and respect that she has for her mom (it makes me think
about how great my mom is #shoutout). She is really good at listening
during lessons and you can see in her expression that she genuinely
wants to help those that we are teaching to come closer to Christ.
Sister Davis is the sixth child of seven children. She hails from
Logan, Utah and her family owns the Pickleville Playhouse in Idaho
(Juanito Bandito that the Parkinson's talk about all the time-her
brother writes a new one every year). She is like straight sunshine
and is so focused on the work. I love these two sisters so much
already. It's super fun to have two new friends. We had a lot of fun
while shopping today.

I still haven't met everyone that they have been working with, but I
love the people that we have met so far. I am always so grateful for
the way that the spirit enables me to contribute in new areas as soon
as I get there, despite the fact that I haven't met the people yet. It
truly is a testimony to me that God knows his children perfectly, even
when we don't. Our ward mission leader is super awesome here. He
really wants to make sure that we have everything that we need and
that we are able to do this work as Heavenly Father has planned for us
to.

The weirdest moment that we have experienced thus far this week
happened when we went to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to a
potential investigator. Sister Davis drove up to where she was sure
that Marilyn lives and it wasn't the right place. We decided to knock
on the door that we had walked up to anyway. We had a decent contact
with the woman who lived there and she let us leave her with our card,
though she wasn't interested in learning more at this point. We then
realized that we were right by Eric's apartment. Eric is an
investigator that had asked for a break to figure out his head space.
As we stood and talked we felt that we should go and check on him,
because clearly the spirit had led us there for a reason. Sure enough
Eric answered his door and set up an appointment to meet with us this
week right away. While we were talking to him the neighbor who lives
across the hall (but it's not a hall, it's like a deck) came up the
stairs. The first thing he said to us was "there isn't a God". Not
okay with leaving things alone I just very kindly said, "I'm sorry
that you feel that way. I know if you ever wanted to know otherwise
that you could." The man went inside and we thought that was that. No,
instead he came back out and demanded that we tell his daughter the
same things that we had been telling Eric's eighteen month old
daughter. We turned around and told her that we know that God loves
her and that Jesus Christ is her older brother and is always there for
her. I love the way the spirit accompanies what we say when we testify
of truth. That silenced the man for a moment. Then he made a complete
u-turn and started talking about the Amish and how strange he thinks
they are. He then became crude. I wasn't going to stand for that. I
looked at him and said, "We are ladies and you will not speak to us
that way", turned to Eric and told him that we would be happy to see
him later this week, and then we left. Major thanks to Chelsea who
taught Sister Harris and I that we are totally allowed to insist that
we be treated as ladies. I don't know that I would have had the right
words to handle that situation otherwise. I'm grateful for the safety
that companions provide and for my knowledge of my eternal identity as
a Daughter of God, and for the sass that exists in me that allowed me
to stand up for myself and my darling companions.

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

Love,

Sister Cale

The Week where it got COLD‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters
contacted a TON, they took fall pictures with all the gorgeous leaves,
survived a shooting threat, had dinner with Chelsea and her awesome
husband, figured out that one of their potential investigators thinks
that he is a prophet, Ohio went from cozy Fall weather to freezing
Fall weather over night, we went on an emergency shopping trip to
Kohl's to buy boots and other winter necessities (I got boots that
don't leak), we avoided the Halloween revelry by doing our weekly
planning and Daylight Savings Time was the best tender mercy in the
universe.

Hey Loves,

This week has been blessed on so many different accounts. I am so
grateful to be serving here with Sister Harris. She is such a rock
star missionary. I love her positive attitude and genuine desire to
become more than she is. Not to mention all the awesome
missionary-ness that she encapsulates, she is also just a lot of fun
to serve with. We're constantly finding things to laugh about and
finding joy in the work. I even love her enough to go running with her
every other morning (#charity).

After our less than successful contacting week last week we sat down
and made weekly goals for contacting with the help of the spirit. When
we drew the boxes on the board that said we were going to try to get
thirteen people's phone numbers and and at least six return
appointments, I knew that we would have to act with faith, because
that was a significant increase in what we had previously done. I also
knew that with the help of the spirit and a willingness to work harder
than ever before that we could accomplish anything that we put our
minds to. As often seems to be the case, when we set out to accomplish
righteous goals, Satan wants to do everything in his power to prevent
that. And boy oh boy did we come across quite a few interesting
obstacles as we set out to work this week.

On Tuesday there was a threat of violence on campus and while classes
weren't cancelled and everything seemed to be mostly okay, we were
counseled not to go contacting on campus proper. I'm grateful that
nothing actually happened, and my personality for sure tends to think
that it's probably better to be safe rather than sorry. As we all
talked about some of the recent violence occurring on other college
campuses, it brought to the forefront the reality of having to "stand
as a witness of God, at all times, in all things, and in all places
that ye may be in, even until death". Few things help you to remember
baptismal covenants of taking upon yourself Christ's name, like
wearing his name on your name tag every day. I know that when I go out
to share the gospel with people that I am acting as a representative
of Jesus Christ. This is His work that I am doing. These are His
people that I am talking to. They matter so much to Him. Even when I
don't know their names or am not sure about what I'm supposed to be
able to do for them, He knows. And I am grateful to stand as one of
his witnesses, though I am glad that I didn't have to do so to the
point of death this week.

Another tricky obstacle this week in accomplishing our goals was the
fact that suddenly it was significantly colder than it previously had
been. I kept thinking that it was much too soon to be feeling so cold
and then would remember that actually, it was the week before
November. Fall here is some kind of gorgeous. I can only imagine what
it looks like in a less city central location. That problem was
remedied easily enough with finally breaking out the tights and the
boots and putting on the light coat. On Friday night, Gretchen took us
to Kohl's for a hunting expedition. I guess it's good that I've been
required by Dad to specifically look for things and then get out. We
were all quite successful and got back to our apartments on time.

Halloween really was the final obstacle for this week. Weekends on
this campus are already pretty interesting-add the socially encouraged
invitation to dress up and let loose and suddenly this campus becomes
an even more interesting place. We went out contacting Saturday
morning and weren't even sure if we were going to be able to talk to
anyone at all. It turns out that campus on Saturday mornings, while
abandoned, is also a brilliant place to be, because the people who are
there are typically not those who were heavily partying the night
before. We met some great people and before we knew it our contacting
time was up for the day.

In addition to the blessed week of being able to achieve our goals, we
also got to see Victor receive the Aaronic Priesthood. There are very
few things in my life that have been a special as getting to see those
that I have come to recognize as my brothers and sisters do things
that I know that our Heavenly Father would have them do. The spirit is
always so strong in those moments and I feel so much of my Heavenly
Father's love.

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

Love You All,

Jessica

The Week Where There Was Opposition in All Things‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-there was pumpkin
pie ice cream, a behaviorally backwards contacting competition, an
incredibly prepared investigator, a basher, crunchy fall leaves, sore
calves while running, a major mix-up with the building for the
baptism, the baptism happened after several hours of panicked
coordination, gorgeous fall weather, and an unsatisfactory interview
with President.

Hello My Friends,

I am here to say that you can survive the craziest week of mission
life and come out on the other end blessed, happy, and full of
gratitude. In so many ways, I feel like if something could go wrong
last week, that there was a pretty good chance that things were about
split even going to. There were seriously so many moments that were
those moments where you say to yourself "Hey, at least this will make
for a decent story." And there were so many other moments that I will
consider to be some of the most special and wonderful that I have been
able to participate in during my mission.

To be completely honest, the week didn't start out so hot when we got
back to work on Monday night, because we had been given the least
behaviorally sound contacting competition ever. I was beyond
frustrated because missionary work is not about comparing our efforts.
We are here to teach specific people and any form of competition is
largely inappropriate. We set goals as missionaries to help us improve
our performance and growth, but those goals typically happen within a
companionship under the inspiration and direction of the spirit. It's
a bit more complicated than just saying that whoever gets the most
phone numbers this week was the most successful. Luckily I was blessed
with a companion who intuitively knew that when I get sad and
frustrated like that, that ice cream is a definite solution. Try the
pumpkin pie ice cream, it's delicious.

On Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with Victor about the priesthood.
I am so blessed to have met him and have had the opportunity to teach
him. He truly is a choice son of God. I'm also so grateful that Ryan
was able to come to our lesson, because it is so much easier and
powerful to teach about the priesthood when there is a priesthood
holder present to testify of the way that having that priesthood has
given them opportunities to serve. I am so grateful for the righteous
priesthood holders in my life who have blessed me as they have been
worthy to use that power (Hi Dad! Hi Granddad! *waves*)

Wednesday we had two lessons. And they could not have been more
different. Our first lesson was so directed by the spirit. We were
able to invite her to be baptized and teach about several of the
commandments that we hadn't anticipated teaching and she was excited
about them. Our other lesson was devoid of the spirit as soon as our
investigator decided to turn the lesson into an opportunity to raise
questions about where we get the priesthood from and other church
doctrines that just feel absurd to him. I was so grateful that we had
invited Chelsea, a member who is also a returned missionary, to come
to the lesson with us. I don't know what we would have done without
her.

Thursday and Friday were full of baptism preparation craziness and
some great laughs. Saturday morning we had interviews with President,
picked up our Blaze Pizza (the Subway of Pizza-Ethan would love it),
and then quite literally, all hell broke loose. We were maybe ten
minutes into our lunch when the Sisters came in and told us that the
building that we had reserved for the baptism wasn't going to work
because the weather was bad and they needed to move their
trunk-or-treat inside. If any of us had really thought about it, we
would have talked to President and had him call President Birch to
resolve things. Instead we made a massive list on the white board and
started to go through the process of moving the baptism to
Reynoldsburg. We were ninety percent done with all the calls and
arrangements that we needed to make when the Reynoldsburg Building
Coordinator called us and told as that he had been mistaken and the
building wouldn't be available for our use after all. We restarted the
process after securing a spot at the Dublin building. Then we had to
go to the building earlier than anticipated to fill the font and there
weren't the right sizes of jumpsuits and overall it was just insane.

Miraculously, the baptism was able to happen, and the chaos and stress
melted away, replaced by the sweet peace that the spirit brings. The
longer that I am a missionary, the more convinced I become that I am
doing so very little for these remarkable humans who accept the gospel
and rather am blessed to get to know them. Victor, Asia, and Sean all
got baptized and it was a wonderful night. The joy of the gospel is so
very real and overshadows all of the other stresses from this past
week. I know that this is where God wants me to be, and I'm grateful
that he loves me enough to ask me to be here.

Love,

Jessica