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