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