The Week We Baked and Ate‏

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-the Sisters went on
exchanges and Sister Cale got to go to Pickerington 2, District
Meeting was absolutely on point again, The Sisters baked over 100
chocolate chip cookies, Sister Cale fulfilled a mission dream by
having not only one or two, but three Thanksgiving dinners (shout out
to the Coulter's, Kurtz's, Brazier's, Wilstead's, Neal's, and
Drysdale's), it almost got cold enough to convince Sister Cale to wear
tights, and there were many miracles.

Hey Loves,

Happy almost December! Seriously! I have now completed two of the
three holidays that I intentionally arranged to miss only once during
this missionary experience. I'll be totally honest, I was pretty
worried that not being at Grandmother's or Aunt Ginger's for
Thanksgiving was going to be pretty lonely and maybe a bit
homesick-inspiring. But I was so immensely blessed.

First thing Thanksgiving morning I made pomegranate salad. In terms of
life choices I feel like that was a solid decision. Even though it
wasn't fresh whipped cream or fresh pineapple, it was still a taste of
home. After companion study we went to Bishop Kurtz's house and helped
Sister Kurtz bake pies and do other Thanksgiving prep things. She's
expecting a baby in December, so it was awesome to be able to help
out. More than anything I felt so grateful that we had a family who we
could help do Thanksgiving prep things, because it helped the morning
feel so much more normal to me. After pie service we went to
Thanksgiving lunch at the Coulter's. They are such an awesome family.
It was delightful. We then took cookies around to the world...or to
our investigators, potential investigators, less active members, and
former investigators. It was so fun. When it was dinner time we went
over to The Brazier's and had Thanksgiving part two with them and the
Kurtz's and the Wilstead's. The Wilstead's are actually in the
Moundbuilders ward, so it was super fun to see a family that I got to
know really well in Pataskala. We delivered more cookies and before we
knew it the night was over.

So much more important than an accounting of the happenings of
Thanksgiving were the many miracles that we were blessed with this
week. The first miracle of the week happened Monday night. Getting
back to work after p-day can always be an interesting experience, but
we were lucky enough to catch a potential investigator named Marilyn
at home. We were able to share the first lesson with her and feel such
a special spirit in her home. When she said the closing prayer she
prayed for things that were so related to our doctrine and I know
she's going to love the Plan of Salvation. Our other major miracle
this week happened in part on Friday night and in part on Sunday
afternoon. We have an investigator named Shay who has been taking the
lessons for over a year now. On Friday night we were able to meet her
boyfriend and invite him to come to a lesson that we were going to be
having with the girls. I guess historically he has refused to really
even talk to the missionaries, to say nothing of agreeing to meet with
them. Well, he agreed to come. Yesterday we were able to teach their
whole family the Restoration. We had this really fun lesson planned
because Skye and Stormy are only 9 and 6, so we wanted it to be really
interactive. We played telephone and watched several Mormon Messages.
It was so cool to see their parents really engaged in teaching and
learning with their darling girls. At the end of the lesson they said
that they want to be a forever family and all accepted the invitation
to be baptized. The Church is so true! I love what the spirit can do.

If you haven't seen the new Christmas video yet, please stop reading
now and go to christmas.mormon.org. It's different than the last
three, but every time I watch it I love it more and more. The website
itself has a lot of really cool features and things to share with
people. I personally love the number GIF's that tell the Christmas
story. I'm also excited for the Social Media 12 Days of Christmas
vides. I really hope that we can get to them. I know that Jesus Christ
was born to be the Savior of the World. I am so grateful for the
righteous choices that he made every day in his life that allowed him
to be worthy to perform the Atonement which enables me to be a
missionary. I could not be a missionary without the love and support
of my best friend, older brother, and Savior Jesus Christ. I am
changed because He came.

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

Love,

Jessica