On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale
officially wore a hole big enough in her shoes that she shouldn't wear
them for safety reasons, the Sisters taught 25 lessons, knocked a
million doors, had a lesson at the temple where there were irises, got
to draw on fabric to make "Eye Spy" quilts for service, went to the
special Zone Conference with the other half of the mission, took about
a million pictures, and got to Sunday night with one question,
"Wait...where did the week go?".
Hello Dearest Ones!
This week was jam-packed with all sorts of goodness. I am convinced
that when things are hard and we show faith that God immediately sends
blessings in our direction to reinforce us to keep going (he is the
ultimate behavior therapist after all). Something that was so fun
about the blessings of this week was the fact that they were all so
different and each one was equally surprising and appreciated. So in
honor of my twenty fifth birthday, here are twenty five blessings from
this past week (in no particular order).
1. We had by far one of the best district activities of my whole
mission last Monday complete with fire pit, s'mores, two truths and a
lie, and never have I ever. The weather was nice, it was the perfect
amount of planned and relaxed, and s'mores.
2. The Noosa Yoghurt was on sale! So much yum!
3. When we stopped shopping to go to lunch at Chick-fil-a the man
working the register, Jose, happened to be a member. He gave us as
many discounts as possible, making what should have cost us $15.00,
cost $5.00.
4. Sister Barber took super fun pictures of us.
5. Both James and Lyndsay were able to come to our lesson at the
temple and I was able to be in the temple on my Birthday.
6. Kary had not only read up to 1 Nephi 7 since we taught him last
week, he had been reading everything with all the cross references and
foot notes in order to be able to take understand things better.
7. Mindy Nufer returned from her mission this week and were able to
hear her talk to the youth about her mission. There is a major
possibility that we enjoyed what she was saying significantly more
than any of the youth, simply because we understood every single thing
that she brought up.
8. Sister Lynch and Joseph came up to Westerville on Wednesday and
took Sister Bohner and I to lunch. When you can't have a birthday meal
with your family, your adopted mission family is as close as it gets
to perfect.
9. Cute new sunglasses at Charming Charlie
10. Sister Dillman bought us a take a bake pizza for one of the nights
that we didn't have a dinner appointment. It lasted us three meals.
11. Weekly planning happened on a rainy day.
12. We were able to persuade President Daines to allow us to attend
the special Zone Conference on Thursday with the Zones that we aren't
part of so we could be at My Very Own Blanket on Friday while the BYU
film crew who was working on a General Conference special would be
there.
13. At said Zone Conference I got to see lots of my mission best
friends who I haven't seen recently because our part of the mission
and their part of the mission don't get assigned to have meetings
together.
14. Sister Birch took us to Graeter's for Birthday Ice Cream.
15. On Wednesday night our plans fell through and we felt inspired to
go to a street in our area. It was a good thing that we did, because
seven lessons later we had met a lot of people with incredible
potential and awesome stories.
16. James was prepared with his final baptismal interview and he's
getting baptized on Friday.
17. I still have time to be a missionary which is a beautiful and
magical sort of thing!
18. My mama sent me my birthday story, which was by far one of the
best parts of my birthday.
19. I finished The Old Testament. When we started reading with Jake I
never imagined that I would learn as much as I did from the Old
Testament, nor that it would be so important in my next area for me to
be able to say "I just finished reading in The Old Testament".
20. We got to draw for service this week. How perfect is this area for me?
21. We received a referral from a sweet old man who wasn't interested
himself. When we knocked on the door, Gail began to tell us about the
struggles that her family has recently been experiencing and about how
important her faith has been in helping them to stay afloat. She then
invited us in and we were able to teach her and husband Frank.
22. We traveled safely to Galloway to the special Zone Conference
during Columbus rush hour and only missed on interchange exit.
23. We made no bake cookies with butterscotch chips in them...they are
to die for.
24. Leticia is getting baptized on Saturday.
25. My best friend sent illustrated words and they were exactly what I needed.
That's just a glimpse of this past week. I know that every night that
we were out that we would inevitably return to the apartment asking,
"What did we do to get to be so blessed?" I know that because
perspective every day of our lives can be like that. And that's what I
want to do. I know that God is always reaching out to us to help us
feel his love and know that we aren't alone. There is nothing we can't
do with his help.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Jessica
Monday, May 23, 2016
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The Week I Got Bit By a Dog
On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus- the Sisters knocked
many of the doors in the land, Sister Bohner made peanut butter bars,
Sister Cale found out that boiled eggs make for a filling breakfast,
the Sisters sandwiched quilts, the weather was so hot that the Sisters
both got sun-kissed, the weather was so cold that the Sisters pulled
their leggings and boots back out, The Sisters taught about The Book
of Mormon in primary, post cards came like manna from heaven, and
Sister Cale was bitten by a vicious little Havanese dog who is lucky
to still be alive.
Hello Loves!
This week has been seriously one of the craziest of my mission. For
instance, Sister Bohner and I were quite literally the beginning of a
joke-Two sister missionaries walk into a bar to have a meeting with
the Primary President...the food at the Winking Lizard is delicious
and when you and your companion are both over 21 you can sit on the
"bar side" with the Primary President and not have to wait to be
seated. It was so good to have Sister Jenkin's input on families that
would be best to work with and people that should could use help
loving. We found a gorgeous walking path as we walked all over
Kingdom-come to conserve miles. I wore a pretty significant hole in my
shoes as we traveled all over the area and quickly discovered that
sadly, despite having replaced the battery, my Fitbit is no more. Most
missionaries have a story about that one time when they didn't do
anything and they were chased/attacked/nearly killed by a dog. I have
to admit that I have frequently considered these stories to be full of
exaggeration and tended to think they had probably done something to
irritate the dog as most dogs don't just chase and attack for nothing.
Not so. So, on Thursday we were Tracting in this really nice
neighborhood and Sister Bohner said that we should go and check on a
potential that she and her last companion found a while back. We
walked up a long driveway and then rang the doorbell. No response. So
we knocked. No response. Then, just as we are about to turn around to
head out, an army of small yippy dogs (five) comes barreling towards
us from the back of the house. I wasn't worried because they were
small and I figured that they, like most well-behaved small dogs that
I have known would be all bark and no bite. Just kidding. A
particularly aggressive one, who I later found out was named Scrappy,
jumped up and bit me twice. The first nibble on my hand wasn't bad,
but he left teeth marks in my leg. My favorite part was that his
owner, who was not interested after all, asked us if we were okay, to
which we said yes because #missionaries and #shock, then acted like it
is perfectly acceptable for dogs to be so outright mean. So now I have
a gnarly bruise and a dog story. Guess that's one more thing off my
bucket list to qualify me to go home someday.
This week we also had Zone Conference. At the beginning of the day
President and Sister Daines said that their vision was for us to leave
uplifted and inspired. I definitely felt that as we returned back to
Westerville. I think one of the most important things that I learned
was that I needed to show much more faith in my Tracting and stop
looking at it like it was an existential exercise. It's been a tricky
paradigm shift, but I'm grateful all the same. It's been amazing to
see what a difference actively showing faith has made. The response
that we receive is still the same-people are incredibly disinterested
and largely dismissive before we can do more than even say hello;
however, I am happier. We've started testifying to one another and
teaching each other as we walk between houses to get to the next door.
It has made all the difference.
Last year when the mini-missionaries joined us for a week in the
transfer meeting President promised them that the good moments would
not necessarily outnumber the bad ones, but that they would definitely
out power them. This week as we have contacted to little success, it
has been the few lessons that we had with the prepared that have out
shined what otherwise might have been dreary and dark. James accepted
the baptismal date of May 27 and is so excited to move forward and
become a member of the church. Kary accepted a copy of The Book of
Mormon and said that he would read. Joe, who apologized as soon as he
answered the door because he is agnostic said that he would read The
Plan of Salvation pamphlet and showed a sincere desire to know if
there could be more than he has recently been thinking. Jill opened
her door and immediately invited us in for some hot chocolate because
it was cold. God's children, though often bewildering and frustrating
are also wonderful.
The Pickerington Sisters texted this week and said that Leticia is
getting baptized May 28, which I am thoroughly excited for. I love to
see the way that the gospel changes the lives of these people that I
have grown to love so much in this land that no longer feels strange,
but like a second home.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Sister Cale
many of the doors in the land, Sister Bohner made peanut butter bars,
Sister Cale found out that boiled eggs make for a filling breakfast,
the Sisters sandwiched quilts, the weather was so hot that the Sisters
both got sun-kissed, the weather was so cold that the Sisters pulled
their leggings and boots back out, The Sisters taught about The Book
of Mormon in primary, post cards came like manna from heaven, and
Sister Cale was bitten by a vicious little Havanese dog who is lucky
to still be alive.
Hello Loves!
This week has been seriously one of the craziest of my mission. For
instance, Sister Bohner and I were quite literally the beginning of a
joke-Two sister missionaries walk into a bar to have a meeting with
the Primary President...the food at the Winking Lizard is delicious
and when you and your companion are both over 21 you can sit on the
"bar side" with the Primary President and not have to wait to be
seated. It was so good to have Sister Jenkin's input on families that
would be best to work with and people that should could use help
loving. We found a gorgeous walking path as we walked all over
Kingdom-come to conserve miles. I wore a pretty significant hole in my
shoes as we traveled all over the area and quickly discovered that
sadly, despite having replaced the battery, my Fitbit is no more. Most
missionaries have a story about that one time when they didn't do
anything and they were chased/attacked/nearly killed by a dog. I have
to admit that I have frequently considered these stories to be full of
exaggeration and tended to think they had probably done something to
irritate the dog as most dogs don't just chase and attack for nothing.
Not so. So, on Thursday we were Tracting in this really nice
neighborhood and Sister Bohner said that we should go and check on a
potential that she and her last companion found a while back. We
walked up a long driveway and then rang the doorbell. No response. So
we knocked. No response. Then, just as we are about to turn around to
head out, an army of small yippy dogs (five) comes barreling towards
us from the back of the house. I wasn't worried because they were
small and I figured that they, like most well-behaved small dogs that
I have known would be all bark and no bite. Just kidding. A
particularly aggressive one, who I later found out was named Scrappy,
jumped up and bit me twice. The first nibble on my hand wasn't bad,
but he left teeth marks in my leg. My favorite part was that his
owner, who was not interested after all, asked us if we were okay, to
which we said yes because #missionaries and #shock, then acted like it
is perfectly acceptable for dogs to be so outright mean. So now I have
a gnarly bruise and a dog story. Guess that's one more thing off my
bucket list to qualify me to go home someday.
This week we also had Zone Conference. At the beginning of the day
President and Sister Daines said that their vision was for us to leave
uplifted and inspired. I definitely felt that as we returned back to
Westerville. I think one of the most important things that I learned
was that I needed to show much more faith in my Tracting and stop
looking at it like it was an existential exercise. It's been a tricky
paradigm shift, but I'm grateful all the same. It's been amazing to
see what a difference actively showing faith has made. The response
that we receive is still the same-people are incredibly disinterested
and largely dismissive before we can do more than even say hello;
however, I am happier. We've started testifying to one another and
teaching each other as we walk between houses to get to the next door.
It has made all the difference.
Last year when the mini-missionaries joined us for a week in the
transfer meeting President promised them that the good moments would
not necessarily outnumber the bad ones, but that they would definitely
out power them. This week as we have contacted to little success, it
has been the few lessons that we had with the prepared that have out
shined what otherwise might have been dreary and dark. James accepted
the baptismal date of May 27 and is so excited to move forward and
become a member of the church. Kary accepted a copy of The Book of
Mormon and said that he would read. Joe, who apologized as soon as he
answered the door because he is agnostic said that he would read The
Plan of Salvation pamphlet and showed a sincere desire to know if
there could be more than he has recently been thinking. Jill opened
her door and immediately invited us in for some hot chocolate because
it was cold. God's children, though often bewildering and frustrating
are also wonderful.
The Pickerington Sisters texted this week and said that Leticia is
getting baptized May 28, which I am thoroughly excited for. I love to
see the way that the gospel changes the lives of these people that I
have grown to love so much in this land that no longer feels strange,
but like a second home.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Sister Cale
The Week I went to Westerville
On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-Sister Cale said
goodbye to all of her Pickerington peeps (#somuchlove), Sister Cale
moved into the nicest missionary apartment in the history of the world
(at least in the history of her mission), Sister Cale and Sister
Bohner met a lot of really interesting people as they were out doing
the work, Sister Barber (a super fantastic member in the Westerville
ward) gave the Sister Cale the best haircut that she has had on her
mission thus far (and it was free), Sister Cale hit her sixteen month
mark, and there was rain.
Hello Friends,
So, I'm in Westerville now. And I love it here. It's very different
from Pickerington and I'm having to be brave in all new ways. I feel
like many of the times I have been transferred it has been because I
needed to learn how to share the gospel with a different demographic
of people. It has been interesting over the course of my mission to
see who I can readily share the gospel with and who I get intimidated
by. Right now I'm overcoming my natural man fears of sharing the
gospel with those who are financially secure and established in their
faith. I'm also having to face the reality of much more rejection as
the receptivity of those in our area is not particularly high. I can
imagine that it would be rather strange to have two strange girls
knock on your door and invite you to learn more about Jesus Christ's
restored church when you are already comfortable and well established
in your church community. I'm excited to see what happens as we get to
work and seek to find those who are prepared as we work with members
and try to find in other ways besides knocking doors.
One of my favorite interactions from this past weekend was with an
awesome couple who was out mulching in their front yard. At the
beginning of the conversation I thought that it was fairly likely that
they too would send us away and dismiss us as if we had been children
behaving poorly at the dinner table. I was reminded that I need to
have more faith as Scott and Rhonda accepted a copy of The Book of
Mormon and said that they would allow us to come back and teach them
more in two weeks. Though the good rarely outnumbers the bad, I know
that good will always out power bad. For every negative interaction
that we had had Saturday night, it was absolutely worth it to be able
to meet Scott and Rhonda.
My testimony of small acts of service was also strengthened this week
as we walked back to our car in the rain. Though we were wet and cold,
when we saw that Nate was carrying way more groceries than one should
attempt on their own we offered to help and carried a few final bags
to the door for him. We then introduced ourselves and asked him about
his religious background. He said that he believes in Christ and that
hypocrisy bothers him. He then said, "But there must be something of
Christ in you two, because no one else would have offered to help me
with my groceries." I know that it is not only important for us to
proclaim our belief in Jesus Christ, it is important for us to act
like we believe in Jesus Christ. It turns out that one of the best
ways that we can share the gospel is by doing what Christ would do.
Happy (late) Mother's Day! I feel so lucky to be able to stand with
the Army of Helaman and say "I do not doubt, my mom knows it." I have
felt such a sincere increase in my understanding of the divine role of
mothers in God's Plan of Happiness for his children. I know that
motherhood is indeed life's highest calling for a daughter of God and
that miraculously motherhood is not only about bearing children, but
bringing life to all of God's children. I have been blessed by the
righteous examples of so many wonderful women who have never been
mothers in a traditional sense. To those women, to my mom, and to my
darling friends I pay tribute today. I am who I am in part because of
the amazing women in my life.
Talking with the family was perfect on Mother's Day. For the first
time during my whole mission Tiny was able to be there because skype
finally joined the real world and got a group chat. It was so fun to
be part of The Cale Kids Comedy Club again. Nothing provides me
greater motivation to get out and work than knowing that there are
families like mine who need to know what we know so they can be
together forever too.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Sister Cale
goodbye to all of her Pickerington peeps (#somuchlove), Sister Cale
moved into the nicest missionary apartment in the history of the world
(at least in the history of her mission), Sister Cale and Sister
Bohner met a lot of really interesting people as they were out doing
the work, Sister Barber (a super fantastic member in the Westerville
ward) gave the Sister Cale the best haircut that she has had on her
mission thus far (and it was free), Sister Cale hit her sixteen month
mark, and there was rain.
Hello Friends,
So, I'm in Westerville now. And I love it here. It's very different
from Pickerington and I'm having to be brave in all new ways. I feel
like many of the times I have been transferred it has been because I
needed to learn how to share the gospel with a different demographic
of people. It has been interesting over the course of my mission to
see who I can readily share the gospel with and who I get intimidated
by. Right now I'm overcoming my natural man fears of sharing the
gospel with those who are financially secure and established in their
faith. I'm also having to face the reality of much more rejection as
the receptivity of those in our area is not particularly high. I can
imagine that it would be rather strange to have two strange girls
knock on your door and invite you to learn more about Jesus Christ's
restored church when you are already comfortable and well established
in your church community. I'm excited to see what happens as we get to
work and seek to find those who are prepared as we work with members
and try to find in other ways besides knocking doors.
One of my favorite interactions from this past weekend was with an
awesome couple who was out mulching in their front yard. At the
beginning of the conversation I thought that it was fairly likely that
they too would send us away and dismiss us as if we had been children
behaving poorly at the dinner table. I was reminded that I need to
have more faith as Scott and Rhonda accepted a copy of The Book of
Mormon and said that they would allow us to come back and teach them
more in two weeks. Though the good rarely outnumbers the bad, I know
that good will always out power bad. For every negative interaction
that we had had Saturday night, it was absolutely worth it to be able
to meet Scott and Rhonda.
My testimony of small acts of service was also strengthened this week
as we walked back to our car in the rain. Though we were wet and cold,
when we saw that Nate was carrying way more groceries than one should
attempt on their own we offered to help and carried a few final bags
to the door for him. We then introduced ourselves and asked him about
his religious background. He said that he believes in Christ and that
hypocrisy bothers him. He then said, "But there must be something of
Christ in you two, because no one else would have offered to help me
with my groceries." I know that it is not only important for us to
proclaim our belief in Jesus Christ, it is important for us to act
like we believe in Jesus Christ. It turns out that one of the best
ways that we can share the gospel is by doing what Christ would do.
Happy (late) Mother's Day! I feel so lucky to be able to stand with
the Army of Helaman and say "I do not doubt, my mom knows it." I have
felt such a sincere increase in my understanding of the divine role of
mothers in God's Plan of Happiness for his children. I know that
motherhood is indeed life's highest calling for a daughter of God and
that miraculously motherhood is not only about bearing children, but
bringing life to all of God's children. I have been blessed by the
righteous examples of so many wonderful women who have never been
mothers in a traditional sense. To those women, to my mom, and to my
darling friends I pay tribute today. I am who I am in part because of
the amazing women in my life.
Talking with the family was perfect on Mother's Day. For the first
time during my whole mission Tiny was able to be there because skype
finally joined the real world and got a group chat. It was so fun to
be part of The Cale Kids Comedy Club again. Nothing provides me
greater motivation to get out and work than knowing that there are
families like mine who need to know what we know so they can be
together forever too.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Sister Cale
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
The Week Where There Wasn't Really Time for a Weekly E-mail
On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-The Sisters had to
go on a spur of the moment cupcake expedition, the Blalock's threw
Sister Cale a birthday dinner just in case she got transferred before
her actual Birthday (good call, because she did), Sister Cale finished
a blanket, Sister Cale painted shirts for Amanda and Jake, the Sisters
cleaned their car, the Sisters made a Holy Ghost blanket with Jake,
Jake gave personality assessments to the sisters based on their
Chipotle orders, and the Sisters got sushi because they were sad about
transfers.
Hello Loves,
So-I'm leaving Pickerington and our dinner appointment is in less than
two hours...please don't hate me if this e-mail is short. I'm kind of
strapped on time and we all know that I am not a functional person
when I don't get enough sleep.
So-amazing things that happened this last week.
One of the most amazing things that happened this past week was
Leticia's cousin Ruth telling us that Leticia has been doing
missionary work and that we should ask her why she hasn't been
baptized yet. Leticia wouldn't answer on Friday, but we went back
yesterday and Daniel and Ruth were angelically relentless in helping
Leticia to open up with us about why she hasn't been baptized yet. It
turns out that there really isn't any reason at all. As such she is
going to be talking to her husband and then picking a date before the
Sisters go back on Friday. I love this gospel so much and I love the
way that this particular experience taught me about the role of
families in spreading the gospel and helping us to live up to our
eternal potential.
Another wonderful lesson this past week happened with Anita and Sister
Blalock. We taught about temples, eternal marriage, and family history
work. Something I have grown to love about Anita is how much joy she
takes in understanding the things that we teach her and how she allows
herself to feel the full happiness of that. It was so tender to see
Anita realize that she could live with her parents again. I never want
to forget her saying, "My mom would roll over in her grave if she
heard what you're saying." We were worried that she meant that her mom
wouldn't like it. She continued and said, "She'd be so happy to know
that she can see me again." I know that it is God's full intention for
us to have the supreme happiness of being with our families forever. I
can think of no greater joy than knowing that I can be with my family
forever.
The final experience that I'll include in this e-mail happened last
Thursday night. The weather was looking iffy and as we consulted our
plans suddenly nothing felt right. We said a prayer and the only thing
that could come to my mind was "Get somewhere safe." Well, the nearest
safe place happened to be at the Sharples, so off we went. Nothing bad
happened that night and I don't know what the potential consequences
would have been if we ignored the spirit, but there was a greater
miracle in that we were able to have a lesson with Jake that was
entirely led by the spirit. We were able to testify to him that while
we would love for him to choose to serve a mission, our vision for him
is to make it to exaltation. We talked about Nephi and building ships
and the things Jake would need to do to get where he wanted to go. It
was so spiritually led and I know it was a lesson Jake was prepared to
receive that night, thought we hadn't planned to see him then.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Sister Cale
go on a spur of the moment cupcake expedition, the Blalock's threw
Sister Cale a birthday dinner just in case she got transferred before
her actual Birthday (good call, because she did), Sister Cale finished
a blanket, Sister Cale painted shirts for Amanda and Jake, the Sisters
cleaned their car, the Sisters made a Holy Ghost blanket with Jake,
Jake gave personality assessments to the sisters based on their
Chipotle orders, and the Sisters got sushi because they were sad about
transfers.
Hello Loves,
So-I'm leaving Pickerington and our dinner appointment is in less than
two hours...please don't hate me if this e-mail is short. I'm kind of
strapped on time and we all know that I am not a functional person
when I don't get enough sleep.
So-amazing things that happened this last week.
One of the most amazing things that happened this past week was
Leticia's cousin Ruth telling us that Leticia has been doing
missionary work and that we should ask her why she hasn't been
baptized yet. Leticia wouldn't answer on Friday, but we went back
yesterday and Daniel and Ruth were angelically relentless in helping
Leticia to open up with us about why she hasn't been baptized yet. It
turns out that there really isn't any reason at all. As such she is
going to be talking to her husband and then picking a date before the
Sisters go back on Friday. I love this gospel so much and I love the
way that this particular experience taught me about the role of
families in spreading the gospel and helping us to live up to our
eternal potential.
Another wonderful lesson this past week happened with Anita and Sister
Blalock. We taught about temples, eternal marriage, and family history
work. Something I have grown to love about Anita is how much joy she
takes in understanding the things that we teach her and how she allows
herself to feel the full happiness of that. It was so tender to see
Anita realize that she could live with her parents again. I never want
to forget her saying, "My mom would roll over in her grave if she
heard what you're saying." We were worried that she meant that her mom
wouldn't like it. She continued and said, "She'd be so happy to know
that she can see me again." I know that it is God's full intention for
us to have the supreme happiness of being with our families forever. I
can think of no greater joy than knowing that I can be with my family
forever.
The final experience that I'll include in this e-mail happened last
Thursday night. The weather was looking iffy and as we consulted our
plans suddenly nothing felt right. We said a prayer and the only thing
that could come to my mind was "Get somewhere safe." Well, the nearest
safe place happened to be at the Sharples, so off we went. Nothing bad
happened that night and I don't know what the potential consequences
would have been if we ignored the spirit, but there was a greater
miracle in that we were able to have a lesson with Jake that was
entirely led by the spirit. We were able to testify to him that while
we would love for him to choose to serve a mission, our vision for him
is to make it to exaltation. We talked about Nephi and building ships
and the things Jake would need to do to get where he wanted to go. It
was so spiritually led and I know it was a lesson Jake was prepared to
receive that night, thought we hadn't planned to see him then.
The church is true, life is good, God's in charge, and Satan hates you.
Love,
Sister Cale
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)