The Week the Apostasy was Real

Disclaimer-the apostasy is always real. It happened, it just so
happens that we were reminded of that on more than one occasion this
week.

On this week's episode of Sister Cale in Columbus-so many of Sister
Cale's favorite Pickerington Sisters met her mom at Time Out for
Women, the Sisters commented on all the dandelions in the land, the
weather was beautiful, the Sharples took the Sisters for sushi dinner
(and Jake tried some), The Old Testament was a struggle, the Sisters
had studies with Amanda (who is also doing The Book of Mormon
Translation Challenge), there was laughter, happiness, and miracles.

My Loves!

Hello! Buckle in because this week is full of amazing things that I
want to share with all of you. As I sat down this morning and looked
back at last week I kept thinking of other things that were remarkable
and I am humbled beyond expression that God loves me enough to let me
have these experiences. So here we go...

Monday last week was one of the craziest missionary nights that I have
had in quite a while. We drove out to Pickfair Square to see Anita and
had an awesome lesson. When we got back to our apartment complex,
where Karen our next lesson lives, we realized that we had three
missed calls from Sister Crissinger (who lives at Pickfair too). So we
called her back and she asked us to come back to pray with one of the
other residents of Pickfair whose granddaughter is dying of cancer. We
went to Karen, asked her if she wanted to come with us (she did and
drove us because she's a saint and cares about our miles), and then
went back to Pickfair square. When we walked into the room Peggy
started crying and I knew that we were doing exactly what the Savior
would have us be doing at that moment, even though it had nothing to
do with what we had thought we were going to be doing. Praying for
Peggy's granddaughter was a particularly humbling experience because I
felt what I am sure is a glimpse of the great responsibility that
priesthood holders feel when they are asked to give a blessing. I
wanted to make sure that the things I prayed for were in line with the
will of God. I know that God is aware of all of his children and it
was no small thing for him to send us back to where we were so we
could help one of his daughters.

On Tuesday we went to Hilliard and worked with half of the mission on
a service project in Hilliard Parks. The other half of the mission
worked at OSU on Monday planting over 400 trees. Sister Scott and I
got to paint park tables and benches. The best part was that we got to
peel the old paint off the tables because otherwise the new paint went
on looking less than pretty and we were going to have none of that.
Nail polish has nothing on chipping paint on park benches (speaking of
which-if you could see how chipped my nails are you would probably
demand to know what I've done with Jessica). I love to see the good
that a hundred missionaries can accomplish when they roll up their
sleeves and get to work. Tuesday was also my last day on the mission
with three digits left. (Translation-less than 100 days left folks
#nottrunky).

Wednesday we got in a slight fender bender where an angel stood
between our car and the car that hit us, preventing Gus (our car) from
being damaged. One of the coolest things about this was that we were
able to talk to the lady who hit us and she had spoken with
missionaries before. We were able to testify of The Book of Mormon and
the goodness of God. I love that God provides us with opportunities
everywhere to testify of the gospel and the many ways that we have
been blessed.

Thursday was our day of opposition in all things. In the morning we
got to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead with Karen. It
was perfect. The spirit of the temple is so quiet and peaceful. When I
walk into the temple I never want to leave. In contrast, on Thursday
night we had a really interesting lesson with an investigator's Mom.
Her daughter wasn't home but she invited us in to share a message with
her. We began to share a the message of the Restoration and she had a
serious issue with prophets and priesthood authority. What had started
out as a lovely lesson quickly became her attempting to save our souls
from the damnation that we were certainly bringing upon ourselves by
adding to the Bible with The Book of Mormon and then trying to share
it with others. Something I have learned is that no opposition is so
great that it cannot be at least silenced by testifying of true
principles of the gospel. We testified of the power that had come into
our individual lives through reading The Book of Mormon and the
blessings that she would be denying herself if she didn't even try and
the entire course of our conversation changed. By the time that we
left she had accepted a copy of The Book of Mormon and had committed
to read it.

Friday we were able to teach several lessons between planning and then
to end our night we went to get Sushi with The Sharples. It was so
utterly and completely fantastic. These wonderful humans have truly
become part of my family. We had a really great lesson with Jake in
the car on the way home wherein I was taught my big lesson this week.
My whole life I have been taught that God is my loving Heavenly Father
and rarely if ever have I been given any reason to doubt that. I've
always believed that God loved me and cared for me, but it has only
been recently that I have come to further recognize the reality of
these truths. God is truly and absolutely invested in our lives. He
cares for us. He cares for us for no other reason than the fact that
we are his children and he is our father. His love for us is not won
or lost because of what we do, his love is perfect. He rejoices when
we choose what is right because he knows that each time we do those
things that are right we are a step closer to him, a step closer to
home. He is real and he loves us.

Saturday was a blur. We taught eight lessons between 10 in the morning
and 9 at night. We taught people from India, Macedonia, Ghana, and the
United States. My favorite part of teaching so many different people
so many different lessons over the hours of one day was the fact that
it became incredibly clear that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is
for all of God's children on the Earth. There is not a single one of
us who is excluded from being able to receive answers and specific
help for our lives from the gospel. During the course of the day we
found out that one of our investigators had been hospitalized with
heart problems and we were able to arrange for permission to visit her
the next day with priesthood holders so she could receive a blessing.

Sunday we went up to the hospital with Sister Sharples so we could
visit Sandra. As we were driving there she realized that she had
missed her exit on the Freeway and became a little concerned that we
wouldn't make it to the hospital. I felt prompted to ask Sister Scott
to say a prayer. Sister Scott prayed and no sooner had we all said
"amen" that Sister Sharples realized that Brother Sharples' car
(though nowhere in sight when we realized that we were potentially
lost) was now right in front of us. God answers prayers! Even simple
ones prayed in cars about not getting lost! Brother Sharples and
Brother Reynolds gave Sandra a beautiful blessing and she was able to
share with us that she had decided that she wanted to become a member
of the church, and she had even talked with her priest about it. I
know that God has been doing a lot of work with her heart and I am
grateful for worthy priesthood holders who hold the restored
priesthood authority who were able to help her in a way that Sister
Scott and I could not.

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

Love,

Sister Cale