What was in that cup, Ron?

I have been destroying the word 'Glorious' for the past month now. The first night I was out in the mission field, a lady that we met with was committed to baptism and gave me great advice that I have remembered since. 'You can go through life looking at everything as a miracle...or not' something like that anyway. So everything in Frisco is Glorious. It's pound time this transfer, I have no more silly excuses for being sick and now tracting will become a glorious experience. You can tell right off the bat who is going to be interested compared to who is not. The ones that are pretty obvious have become a lot more entertaining to practice skills with (I am starting a huge push in developing skills). On Friday morning we tracted in a wealthy area (eh, this whole dang town is brand new-average age is 35) and we met a couple of really good people. It is quite amazing how I learn all of these simple lessons that are easily looked over on my part. A simple change in attitude and God grants you who he needs to be taught. We'll see as time goes on.

While we were tracting we ran into a sweet brother that was doing pest control. He has been off his mission 13 months, been married for 4, and his wife has been pregnant for 3. They call themselves 'good Mormons' and offered us Wendy's before our next appointment. Of course we talked about the usual marriage stuff at lunch and the wife was a little bit frazzled because of the whole baby in the stomach thing. John was his name and he proceeded to tell me that the RM's that don't want to get married anytime soon after the mission are the first to go. Which being interpreted is, 'oh goody'. I guess the good news is that I will be almost 24. Wow, didn't realize I was getting that old (and less mature.)

Later that night we were biking in the Texas cold (its a different kind of cold here, 30-50 with the biting humidity is about 5 in Utah...maybe) and doing some drop by's and decided we 'needed' to stop by wally world for thermals and hand warmers. On the way there, I had a feeling we should finish out knocking the street from the morning. My companion was stoked and we finished with, of course, no success whatsoever. The fun story of practicing skills was asking why a church was called 'Celebration Covenant Church' to which a certain man was attending. He responded 'I don't know' and my reply was 'Well because its all about Celebrating the Covenant! But our Church is call the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because we're all about Jesus Christ.' (he didn't seem to thrilled and sent us on our way) However, the obvious blessing is that we fulfilled our end of the promise and the Lord fulfills his. Always.

On Sunday we were supposed to have some GOLDEN investigators at Church. They have been going to a different ward for a month now but live in our area. We got a call telling us how incredible they are. However, they did not come to Church because they wanted to say goodbye to all their friends at the other ward first. Well, the Lord doesn't ever give up so they came to the Christmas devotional at our building and we got to meet them. "Lucky" for us the Bishop and his counselors were there doing tithing settlement and met them as well. Glorious. They are a husband and wife from Brazil who met a member while eating at some random restaurant and the waitress invited them to the trunk or treat clear back in October. Since then, he has felt led by God to His church. They cried during the Christmas message and the Spirit took us all powerfully and I should mention that the feeling was oddly similar to the feeling that we should finish out tracting. They are literally GLOWING with the light of Christ. We had a nice discussion with them about Prophet Monson and some famous Mormons (founder of Jet Blue who is starting Azul in Brazil - who he knows) and by the end they asked 'so can you teach us? When? We will feed you dinner this Wednesday!' To which my quiet response later was... Glorious. Glory to God. Definitely its these experiences that make the mission what it really is. It makes the mission hard though realizing in a sort of cynical way that you only know them and get close to them for a matter of weeks... then its gone. Time slips by.

Can you believe its the start of the 3rd transfer? 14 more and you will have no more blessings! Although from the sound of it, life has been a little bit more challenging. Maybe they'll keep me longer until it all stabilizes out. I would rather stay here and have you all just come down. Home prices are way low too and I haven't seen too many mortuaries around with 'Quality Service with Dignity'.

Well the members continue to destroy me with sugar and there are times I cant get rid of it kind enough and have to partake of the terrible fruit. Then my memory dries up and is digested with all the nasty glucose. We have new planners and I cant quite remember all the other goodies this past week.

Another highlight was writing in my planner to ask you wonderful family members to send me a Mannheim Steamroller CD. Then suddenly my mind was filled with the calm reassurance... "You have a Wal Mart in your mission." and now I enjoy the Christmas spirit all that much more. Glorious. Our zone leaders tried to one up me with Transiberian Orchestra but it's about a tie.

The sad realization of Texas is that everyone is so set in their ways that I came up with my own quote... you ready for this?

'They are all running to Heaven, yes. But it might take a while because their leaders have them all on treadmills.'

The Christmas spirit is growing strong and soon it will all be over so I am trying to soak all the goodness in which makes things exciting. Take it easy with the Christmas gifts mom!

We have another meeting with the Church historian Cris Erekson this week and I am super stoked on it. He said he has a special article just for me that will destroy the Bible. As much as bashing won't get you anywhere, defense will. I read my patriarchal blessing very often and it's hard to fathom reaching that potential but it is promised so I will give it my best! We'll see... (although I try not to read the paragraph about finding my wife too much - scary)

love you
Elder Metcalf

PS - Yes I'm wearing my retainer and I'm not sure how much good its doing because my mouth is going to need braces when I get back anyway. I'll be happy to keep wearing it though and hopefully not have to wear the braces for too much longer when I'm home. I look forward to the chick-deflecting railroad tracks.

I might have forgoten to mention that transfers are Tuesday and I'm staying and only 3 missionaries from our zone are leaving. Sad story but exciting to see who the new ZL and DL are going to be. We have a feeling that it will be the AP that is getting replaced because our zone isn't doing to Hot. I like a challenge though.

Not too homesick at all but letters are still gold.

I will be looking forward to training Braden.

I Hate Food

Well I got over the cold and I think there is now a difference in my eating habits. I seem to react to sugar a bit differently now. We were fed by an awesome Mexican family and there was so much sugar my temperature actually rocked into the mild 101 region. So sugar is gone, I hate it. Last night felt like I had tons of energy while biking to an appointment because I didn't tire out as easily and was going super duper fast but then when the appointment was over and we headed home, I realized that we were receiving help from a 30 mph tailwind that became a headwind. It's getting pretty cold in Texas town this week so I will be making some 'warmer' purchases today at wal-mart.

As far as health and obedience goes, I have tried justifying waking up at 4am for the past 2 weeks like crazy. I am so happy to know that I interpreted it incorrectly but unfortunately shows the lack of brain power on my part. Guess I will look more carefully at a pill bottle that says "4 - A.M." instead of "4:00 AM." We had a pretty good laugh over that one, definitely one of the hilarious highlights of the mission so far. Bro Nesmith overheard and complimented me on my obedience without actually understanding why I had to wake up at 4 AM to take a pill (because the understanding doesn't exist) but I simply replied that it took me 21 years of hard living to understand what 'obeying thy father and thy mother' really means.

I heard about a cultural event that happened in Dad's life on Saturday. We had a die-hard BYU fan sacrifice sooo much by turning off his TV while feeding us. I mean this guy is so die hard that honestly it was very impressive.

I have been teaching a pretty well known Texas Dallas mission object lesson a lot lately known as the 'Rat Trap.' Seems as how object lessons seem to really teach the message, If anyone has solid ideas for teaching missionary principles then by all means, I need your help! I am thinking I'll start using Dad's about the sugar and golf balls fitting in the glass of time in helping our investigators actually come to church.

We had good success this week, mainly the climax was helping someone achieve Celestial glory by doing a temple session on Wednesday. The temple is way cool but I still have a lot of pride for our beloved St George. I still talk about when Grandpa was kind enough to show me around for a little bit and answer my questions. I am definitely one that while we always act on Faith, I always search for the How or Why. Curse of knowledge as we all have it and lack it.

Thanksgiving was way sweet. Although it was sad of course I had a good time and I am still way sore from it. We had a Turkey bowl with the Frisco 2nd ward and although I fumbled the very first 2 plays, I caught the game winner so I had a chance to redeem myself. My muscles were almost as tight as the day after the first time I went snowboarding though so that was a challenge. I limped around like a old man for a while. Glorious.

The members destroyed us with food. We went to one of the gospel principles teacher's house for the first dinner and the food was phenomenal. It was terrible. They had candied yams that were absolutely delicious. Being anti turkey didn't help but it was really good after the first bite. The 2nd dinner was just as good but I hated food by then, as Matt would say 'there was no more room at the inn.' Thankfully my weight has not gone above 190 since I have been here but I must be careful because it is only a matter of time.

We were supposed to do exchanges with the Assistants on Saturday so I got pretty stressed about that considering we don't have a huge amount of work going on and we planned like crazy for it. Saturday was also the day for the blitz in our area so we were up late getting ready for all the shenanigans. The blitz went well and I even set up a points system that included points for 'a good horn honk' 'receiving a water bottle' 'being mistaken as a J-Dub' and 'use of the word Glorious' although they were definitely minor points received for those compared to placing Books of Mormon and New Investigators. The exchanges with the Assistants fell through so that helped some stress disappear but I was disappointed to not get any help or tips from them. We'll see....

We picked up another investigator and he came to church on Sunday, he is way open minded but apparently was pushed too hard by another missionary so lucky for us we know the concern and we'll do our best as far as support goes. He is way cool. He is actually building a helicopter in his garage. Yes, a for real one. Dad will know them as the dangerous kit copters but he is several years away from the final product.

We met with the way awesome family we always meet with on Sunday night but there are some big underlying concerns that we don't even know about. So hopefully we can break through those walls and see the Atonement at work. Something huge I have realized this week is the horrific effects of divorce on peoples lives. Don't want to go into detail but way super sad. Just gotta give our load to the Savior but apparently it is harder with us prideful Americans.

I have been reading 'The Continuous Atonement' outside of our dedicated study times (that is my justification for wandering from the mission books) and although it may be mostly review it is super solid and uplifting.

We had a investigator's husband die a couple weeks ago (I may have mentioned) we tried to stop by but she is busy with family which is understandable and it is way interesting because the first reaction everyone tries to imply in some way is condolences. Yikes. Although maybe its different standards now that I am a 'minister'. One of these days I am going to somehow convince my companion and I to go down to the county courthouse and receive our official 'certificate to legally marry people'. Just as a keepsake of course.

Well things are going well with the companion and transfers are coming up soon but I am sure I will be here for a while which is great by me. Good place to learn to be great.

Thank you all for your help and support.

Love you,
Elder Metcalf

By the way, my 3 month mark was on thanksgiving
Hermana Barber's hump day is this week
Thank you sooo much for the sunglasses.
Help me stay motivated!
Love you all
Sunglasses are awesome.
Where are all my pictures I have been dying to see of you guys!
We watched The Other Side of Heaven today. hopefully I can stay an extra year. I would.

November 9, 2009

Well I have drawn the conclusion that missions are actually easy. The fact that we are all spoiled makes it hard. Tracting is something I loathe simply because I don't want to do it, not because it is hard. The mission is easy but we make it hard. I look forward to the work of 'un-spoiling' myself and staying humble before my maker.

Yes I love all sorts of books now. I borrowed 'Rough Stone Rolling' from one of the members and it is awesome! I am going to pick up a copy if I get transferred. It’s nice to hear how it is from a different perspective and how much more I want to be like Joseph smith. My idol.

I found out some really great news right outside of my area. Deron Williams’ house is in 'the colony' which is next door to us somewhere. I will have to make sure my district leader gets over there.

We had dinner with a way awesome family and Matt would appreciate them simply because the dad's father is the 'Will It Blend?' guy. We had some way good laughs over that. They even had the transformers from one of the YouTube videos so you'll have to ask Matt about it and look it up.

Teaching is going swell even knowing I am just doing average. We tracted into a retired military captain and it was pretty sweet to look him in the eyes quoting the divinity of the Book of Mormon. He is way solid though because he respects us strongly as young men that are actually doing what we believe in. He nicknamed us the 'ground pounders' which I thought was classic considering he is a tract out.

We finally got to get into one of our eternigators (eternal investigators) house and talked. I ended up teaching the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ to the kids in 20 minutes. Thank heavens for that one lesson we were placed in at the MTC which makes teaching sooo easy. It is basically easier to teach kids then adults because you can get them excited a lot faster. I have high hopes for them this transfer.

We had an amazing zone conference with about 3/4 of the mission there. We had elder Flukengher (sp?) of the area 70 teach what exactly it meant to be saved. Explaining that we are all saved from everything and the effects from the fall when we are born but through our own disobedience we fall and need the gospel for redemption. Also, I saw sister Barber at zone conference. We talked for a while about how weird it is to see the tag on my shirt and how crazy it is that Matt Jamision is planning on submitting his papers this January. That is absolute solid proof that the atonement is for real watching him go through the gospel. Invite him over sometime since I can’t get him to email at all. Zone conference was a crazy stroll down memory lane talking to sister Barber for a while and also getting together with most of my MTC district again, elder Moli, and I swear we have been friends our entire lives. The sisters from my district are slaying it as well; it’s good to hear we are well on our way to the goal of millions. It will happen through posterity and time.

I think I am doing really well and my self worth (not my cockiness) is increasing drastically. I’ve just got work through the motions of spiritually being so down and I will shine big time as I grow in skill, spirituality and knowledge. I think the biggest struggle I have right now is working on our companion unity. You know how I said that I would be 'that companion' that everyone would worry about. Haha maybe that's it but I’m trying to keep my hot headed mind down while we work through our errors. Elder Johnson has set about 4 more dates with people we were teaching in Rockwall so I hope I will be able to see them but who knows. The good thing is that they are entering into the kingdom and that's what really matters.

One very monster of a obstacle that is infuriating me down here is all the Anti-Mormon crap. We had a lady on a blitz try to tell us that Joseph Smith was deranged by illness and I had to shut my mouth because she went on and my blood was boiling. My companion handled it well but she made sure to refer us to the library so we could receive the so called bull crap they call 'truth' around here. I almost back talked her by responding with... "Well did you get to see the books on atheism too?" It is driving me insane! These ignorant deceived children of the devil (as the Book of Mormon 'might' say) is driving me up a wall and I am supposed to take the 'kind,' non offensive way out and let them continue their deceitful lies against the greatest men that have ever lived in this dispensation. Someone please give me good advice on how to defend without the contend. We all know how my p-blessing explains that I will grow in spiritual stature as I defend the doctrines, leaders and the savior himself so let’s get going here! I am ready to grow! But I am still in my tender youth on my mission. Watch to see if anyone is put in your path to shed some light on this problem of defense without contention.

Hmmm not sure what else to write. That just about sums it up. I still love teaching and I love people! So many laughs so far that this is the best my life is going to be. I am looking forward with a positive viewpoint of extreme success and I expect nothing less! I am my father's son (in 2 ways of course) and I am ready to destroy the foundations of hell that have been tormenting me as well as all of my brothers and sisters. I love it! "Shall we all not go on in such great a cause?" (Not sure if that is the actual quote) Alma 48:17 and Romans 1:16. Thank you so much for all of your help. You are loved a lot by me, so much that I can’t even tell.

Love Mark the current Elder Metcalf


We have interviews with president this weekend so I look forward to learning from him one on one. He gave me AMAZING help last time. I have full confidence in him. Not a shadow of doubt I was put here to learn from him as well.

Send pictures with the books! Anything you want to send, send it!

Frisco 2nd and 6th

I've been over my patriarchal blessing I still cant believe what's expected of me and I know it's going to take a lot of work to get there. I can't have anything holding me back. Not in the least degree.

It was super sad leaving Elder Johnson and my new comp is Elder Stetler from Layton. He is way solid but we didn't get off to a great start the first couple of days (he reminds me of a combination of Seth and me 2 years ago....sooo yaaa) but we are way solid now. I tried to jump into this area as a know-it-all elder but it didn't work out so well. I still have to build up a pool of experience for all the work Ii need to do although I do have complete faith if the situation calls for me.

We are teaching a pastor from the church of Christ who is way solid. He has the triple already so the last time we were there we talked about the gospel in the days of Adam and how baptism was also instituted before Christ. Although the focus always needs to be on the big picture and not necessarily just the small issues.

Lessons are not as frequent here - we have about 5 a week compared to Rockwall's 20 (although they actually split mine and Johnson's last area and now he is a zone leader).
It was way heartbreaking to leave Rockwall still. After developing those way good relationships with the people I got to teach and be a part of their life it is crazy that they just move us so far away. Good news is that they set more baptismal dates for some awesome people we were teaching. Hopefully someday they will be willing to transfer me back to Rockwall although now it is called the 'richardson east' zone.

Like I said earlier, this week has been weird just because it feels like I am starting a completely different mission in a new world. I guess it should be like playing with legos and the fun part is to start from scratch and build up.

I am now officially riding my bike and i really do not like biking as of late! my entire body is sore but that's the news from that. Now my motivation to develop even stronger relationships with the ward for rides has jumped to a new peak. Why is it that whenever and whatever direction we are biking in there is a head wind the is consistently laughing in my face? Oh well, thine afflictions shall be but a small moment...

We tracted a super rich neighborhood yesterday in which we met the 3rd highest selling romance novelist, a sports athlete agent for the Dallas area, and the CEO of Cadbury (sorry, he didn't take the Gospel). It's so sad when those doors slam in the face, we don't disagree that they all will be going to some degree of heaven but the full potential of the individual will never be tapped. I officially really do hate tracting...

Dan just sent me a way solid letter though about tracting the HELL out of my area so the work must continue. Hopefully I can return some more promising results soon.

We had stake conference and our mission president spoke, the man is unbelievable. He gets invited to all these interfaith meetings with upwards of 300 people and by the end they all are asking for the Book of Mormon. I don't want to brown nose in anyway but I need to figure out how to be like that! So sweet.

love your son,
Elder Mark

New address:

2845 Starshine Drive
Little Elm, TX 75068
(I'm pretty sure I'll be here for at least a few months)

my phone number is... just kidding

Trick or Treat

So I'll begin with the business. This morning I went a bit of a spending spree (a Texas state flag and some sharpies set me back nearly 50 bones) however the intentions were good. So I made a note card last week on what I should write you guys and things that happened throughout the week so that is why my last email may have been slightly more organized. However the note card this week makes absolutely no sense whatsoever half the time. Case in point, the first thing I have on the list to write you about says "Megan and I: Enos" so if anyone can interpret that, you have the gift of translation.

This past weekend was one of the most important days of my earthly existence and I waited until this week to tell you about it so I could attach a picture. Elder Johnson and I hit a pretty big milestone that I will brag about. We taught our hundredth lesson last week! Pretty sweet. We have done splits every week and I had the privilege of teaching the awesome kids of Stacey Peters in our ward (she was baptized on the 26th last month). Her kids, Sonya and Jaycee are super solid and I taught some of my favorite lessons with them. Every time I got to go over, half the time we couldn't stop laughing. Sonya was mentioning how sad it was the people in China eat Cats and Dogs so I asked her mom, "do you think if you eat a cat in China it would land on its feet in your stomach?" I have no idea why that is funny but we all proceeded to tell a 100 different jokes about eating cats after that. (they were feeding us dinner at the time ironically.) Both girls after seeing the blessing of baptism in their mom's life set a date to be baptized. They are now officially members!

The fact that I'm being transferred pretty much devastated me. We are having a ton of success and I can not believe how little time it takes to develop strong relationships on the mission. How dare they transfer me! Ok, I'm kidding. I know that this will continue for the next 22 months. So I said my goodbyes to the Peters family last night and Stacey gave me a hug (shh don't tell) which was great. I got their emails and I'm sure that I'll get to see Stacey go through the temple half way through my mission. (she is already doing baptisms for the dead).

So after that great weekend, anything other then seeing people being converted is almost worthless out here. But I will continue toreport.

Our last baptism before the Peter's kids was Holly and she is way solid. She is a 14 year old missionary. She was going through the scriptures with her step dad and reading the ones that she really liked. He asked her "where's that scripture?" she then promptly introduced the Book of Mormon and long story short he came to all 3 hours of church yesterday and the family asked if we could teach them tonight one last time before I got shipped out. Wow, so I hate to say it dear family but I am going to have a way harder time leaving Rockwall then I am when I left on my mission. (don't get mad, families are forever).

So one night when we were on splits this past week we got into our first doctrinal debate. I had an awesome member with me (he isn't afraid to admit he is the 'loud Texan' type). The guy we were teaching has been reading up on his Anti (a very popular thing to do around here) and approached us with the concept of us ourselves becoming deity. Mike (the member) jumped in before I could ever get air in my lungs and bore his heart and soul about the ultimate happy ending of the plan of salvation. He made some very good points one of which was 'could you imagine serving God and learning EVERYTHING throughout eternity and not being able to use that knowledge? That is hell and damnation to me, I can not think of a worse form of torture.' Also we expressed the relationship between God and us. It is the same as father and son (or daughter) except perfect. This seems like such a obvious principle to me and I can't believe how sheltered I was in Utah to the fact that sooo many people disagree!!! So Mike pretty much gave the lesson as one giant testimony which as a greenie helped me learn how to 'guide the conversation' (I failed miserably). Still, awesome points and I need to never be a wuss (as any of us under the covenant should be) to declare the TRUTH.

In other weird news, I totally prophesied the future in my dreams the other night. In my dreams I was riding Charlie (arctic cat) in the middle of winter on Brian Head alongside a bunch of skiers. When I woke up I brushed it off and didn't think much of it other than wow, I am weird. That same day we were 'decorating' our next transfers planners and when I finished putting the stickers and tape around to protect it I saw the true meaning of the 'vision'. I had taped on the back of my planner covering the whole thing a picture of a snowboarder riding down a huge mountain and on top of that picture I had placed a sticker of a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. HA! Ok so maybe that doesn't mean I am a seer but I thought it was funny.

Love
-Elder Metcalf

PS - Whenever you tell people what my address is, just give them the mission office address. I will always have it forwarded to me from there. I'll be sure to let you know what the new one is.

The gospel is restored, Joseph Smith is the prophet, the Church of Jesus Christ is the only true church on earth. It is the only religion based on revelation. A church without revelation is like a ocean without water.

Love you again

Elder Johnson & Elder Metcalf with Hayley Jordan

Two Texas Stars at the Texas State Fair

Amanda & Charlie will be getting baptized in Guatemala

Elder Metcalf & Sister Barber representing the Bloomington First Ward

A Tearful Goodbye

Every time you feel bad about not going to Lake Powell anymore, take a look at a mountain right outside of your window for me. The flatness is almost depressing in a way.

Well first things first. My companion is presumably infected with strep throat and I do believe I am in the early stages of catching it again... If possible please send amoxicillin ASAP. If I don't get it, great. But I can keep it as back up. The Lifty jacket is my favorite and I wrote Lance about it so hopefully you get in touch soon because the weather is way more crazy down here. One day it was 85, the next it is 45 and the humidity makes it biting cold. The cold down here is way different than the cold in Utah. 45 was super hot when snowboarding, but quite the opposite trackting in Texas.

My companion is one of the greatest missionaries in the entire world for sure. He really set me up to have a incredible first transfer so I give all the glory to him and I am happy to ride his coattails and learn from the best. He made huge sacrifices to get here (his family has been saying he is going to hell since the day he was baptized).

We had a way disheartening weekend, we had so many members and appointments fall through to the point where we were expecting this week to be the greatest week of our missions because what goes down, must come up.

Earlier this week we were doing companionship study (or at least trying) when the next thing we knew, we were 'caught away in a vision' until the fridge clanked and woke us both back up 20 minutes later. We were so delirious that we proceeded to hum and drum the "we will we will rock you" song. Way random but way funny. I think it was Uncle Jeff that told me I would know if I was doing a good job as a missionary if things would sometimes end up like that. I'll consider it a pat on the back. We got a super good referral, a guy from Wyoming whose son was just baptized. The best part other then him accepting us and the Gospel is the fact he has been a ski bum for the past 20 years. Perfect.

Hopefully I can be here to teach some more but this is the last week of transfers... I assume I'll be driven out of here into the lone and dreary world as well so it is very possible that my last day could be next Monday, if you send anything to my Rockwall address, please do it quickly (or the mailbox will continue retaining it void).

We trackted into a lady at a place we call 'Happy Country trailer park'. Not too promising but the point is she had a cockier spaniel which made me sad. Dad, that dog better be alive when I get home. Nothing other than wanting to go back to my old and lazy life is bothering me about home. Its crazy being thrown into the fire like this but if I were to go back home I realize that I would fall into the same lazy routine which makes me virtually worthless so I am happy to stay out and thrust in my sickle! (it builds character).

So I visited a less active guy who is crazy good at inventing things. I told him I would hit up dad about his patent about a casket that is made from recyclable materials and reuse plastics since everyone is going green. He is looking for that 'in' in the industry so maybe I could hook up a multi-million dollar idea. His other products are about to take flight in that direction.

Its crazy to see success like what Elder Johnson has been doing in the richest county in Texas but it goes to show that the field is white already to harvest. No excuses. We have a couple baptisms coming up this weekend which I am way excited about. Elder Johnson and I have been doing tons of splits so I have had the opportunity to teach them on my own and see the growth a little bit (they were way ready by the time I got there). So I'll be sending out some more pictures next week! I gotta figure out how to hook up a camera to the library computer since I have forgotten how to do everything of the world already.

The swine flu is infecting about a third of our teaching appointments which is way sad. Definitely something satanic about that flu I would imagine. Hopefully they get a solid cure out there before it really gets super dangerous. Everyone here trashes on President 'BamBam', it's hilarious but I don't want to talk politics, just thought that was funny.

A family we are teaching finally got their tickets to fly back to Guatemala this coming Sunday which is way sad. We thought for sure our prayers for a miracle of them staying so we could see them baptized here would work out.

My confidence in trackting shot up a ton this past week. Finally learned how to relax (a little). So it is getting lots easier. Whoever said missions are hard is lame. "Do something you like for work and you'll never work a day in your life." I am just making it hard on myself sometimes. Our ward mission leader is at Lake Powell right now, he made me angry when he was telling me how excited he was to go! Lame.

Other then that, send some pictures or something. I forgot what y'all looked like.

Love,
Elder Metcalf

Texas

This past week went well although we lost our standing as top teaching companionship, but we still doubled the average for lessons taught. Tracting is one of the most loathing experiences I have had so far. First some pentecostal lady started accusing us of being a cult who doesn't believe in Christ and then doors just start slamming. Oh well, I realize who I am and it's gonna be a sad day at judgment. I imagine the conversation going something like this...

God: remember those Mormon boys that knocked on your door?

pentecostal holy roller lady: ya, they started talking but don't worry I slammed the door and didn't let those people say another word

God: so what did they even say to you that was so bad?

pentecostal holy roller lady: they ...uhhh... first they asked me uhhh... how my day was going

God: did you reply?

pentecostal holy roller lady: of course not those crazy Mormons, I slammed the door as they were trying to talk to me!

God: oh yes? what else did they say when you were slamming the door?

pentecostal holy roller lady: uhhh.... have a nice day...

God: Telestial for you!


Ok maybe that wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, kinda sad really. I am surprised at how detrimental it can be to see people fight back against missionaries. Lucky my trainer is super knowledgeable on defending and proving the church and the gospel by the bible of all things.

We had a blitz up in Wilie and I got to go out with Elder Laub, the district leader who is a stud. We went to a trailer park somewhere up in there where doors kept slamming of course against the crazy Mormons! Luckily we knocked into a guy who was way receptive and will now be taught. My pride was boosted a little since we won the blitz even knowing it was all the skill of Laub. Hopefully that goes well for them.

We were teaching a couple where the husband fell away at a early age and the wife is catholic. When we got into the plan of salvation she was shocked to see at how much the bible corresponds with the correct truth of the 3 heavens, paradise and prison. It was awesome. Too bad he simply is just soo passionate about football that he can never find time to get to church.

We set 2 more baptismal dates this past week with the children of Sandy. They are totally stoked on it, which was obvious since they asked us when they could be baptized. One of the girls testimony was awesome on how she had seen her mom's baptism and felt the spirit and now wants it for herself.

We have another great friend in the ward who's wife comes off a bit atheist which is unfortunate. He really wants to pay his tithing but his wife is against it and the bills are in the way. He is awesome though so we are helping him in whatever way we can.

I'm trying to write a record of what actually happens in Texas rather then preach to you again. It's starting to get cold down here and the humidity just bites you whenever skin is exposed. Time really does flyby though. I'm practically sick of writing emails now but since I have to make a weekly accounting to those financing my endeavors in the first place it isn't too hard.

I'm still hovering around 185 but the members feed us so well that it is only a matter of time... the average weight gain is around 20-35 pounds so I am warning you now that more then likely I will hit that 200 mark easily.

Well until next week I make an end to my writings

Love your son
Mark

Howdy

well we only have like 10 minutes because were going to the Texas fair in Dallas today for P day, apparently the schools all have a day off down here for the fair, its huge. this year i think the big hit is 'fried butter' don't ask. don't worry Matt, they will be serving fried oreos as well! i got to read all of your emails too so thank you for that. i miss st george getting freezing and the first thing that always came to my mind was "yay! i don't have to mow the lawn for a few months!" although i bet dad was disappointed that there would be no more character building for a few months either.

we helped a 14 year old girl named Hayley get baptized in between sessions on Sunday. her dad has been a convert for a year (the one that looks like mark hadley) and just went to the temple so it only took just over 2 weeks of teaching to commit her. being 14 we weren't too sure how well she would take the Gospel in her life but much to my humblement she bore an awesome testimony about the Gospel and the church. elder Johnson and i contribute a lot of it to her young women's group. the fact is that missionaries only teach lessons and direct the rest of the conversion to the proper ward functions and leaders. if members would step up their level of love like what they talked about in conference the difference would probably triple the conversion rate. but that goes to show that missionaries are only full time and once you know the Gospel is true, you gotta scream it! i thought of one of my interesting analogies the other day, when i was working at park city a kid wrecked on a 45 foot jump right in front of me. he was seizing and probably dying. from the time he wrecked until patrol got on the scene to assist him and call for a life flight was about 10 minutes. he suffered 10 full minutes of his brain starving for oxygen and there was nothing i could do about it because i didn't have the knowledge to help! well i don't know what happened to him but now you know why i went to school to become a certified EMT to gain that knowledge, and believe me, it was used while working at brianhead. the moral of the story is that we all have the best knowledge of all time to heal and save peoples lives/souls. what do you think God will say to us at judgment day when we didn't raise our voice or give aid to this without the real and true healing and saving power of Jesus Christ? i never realized how important and substantial this work is until i was outside of my comfortable life. what a honor it is to be here serving others. just remember that it is better to share and be rejected then to never share at all. and i came up with that because while my comp was getting his haircut a lady started talking to me about who i was and why i was in Texas. of course i gave her the usual rundown but i never asked her if she wanted to know more or if we could stop by and share our message. wow, the regret and frustration i feel simply sucks... i am a full time missionary for crying out loud and i let fear of man come before God! do not make the same mistake.

as far as conference goes elder holland, elder scott, and bro callister of the 70 really brought it home and threw down how it is. callister destroyed the jehovah's witnesses which my companion was sooo stoked about. when elder holland sat down i just said "yessss..". that is who i want to be and will be. to stand before God at the judgment bar and confidently testify that the Book of Mormon is true.

gotta go, sorry

love you all
-elder metcalf

sorry if that was too preachy, my memory is shot as you all know so i cant really remember what else happened this week. i'll just let you read my journal i have been keeping everyday since i left when I'm home. we had lots of investigators watch conference and it all really helped them want to know more or if we could stop by and share our message.

Already 4% done... time is flying by

Texas is fantastic, I think my trainer is the top missionary out here but I can't get it out of him. I've made so many mistakes but it's expected of me so I just laugh. Church yesterday was one of the longest days of my life. We are over 2 wards (Rockwall and Heath) which translates into 10 hours of meetings. I was dozing off pretty bad in correlation and PEC but don't get too nervous, they had to wake up one of the stake presidency who was in the meeting as well when he didn't respond to a question.

We got a new referral last week and when we talked to him for the first time you could tell his head was full of Anti-Mormon doctrine. Lucky for him Elder Johnson set him straight but ended up telling me he is actually a really promising referral. Go figure.

We taught about 20 lessons this past week and I had my first successful split from my companion. I taught Amanda and her family some things about the prophet to get her stoked for conference but her 2 year old is like a stick of uranium because of the noise she creates. After that I visited a part member family who has a 10 year old with a baptismal date but they aren't really coming to church. She was pressing questions about the creation of the earth and how all her christian friends believe that the earth was created in 6 days but she believes that it's obvious it is billions of years old. I responded with saying she was exactly right and gave her my 'testimony' on the subject. I think she was happy about that. When I got home and talked to my companion about it, I was right! Joseph Smith said that the earth was 4.5 billion years old and we talked about the creation and it reaffirmed what I said to that sister. Pretty cool.

A couple days later I taught my first full lesson. yikes. Actually it went pretty well even knowing I would say random things every once in awhile and covered every piece of the first lesson in full detail (60 minutes worth). but it was to an 11 year old and he had water in his eyes at the end so I think that might be a good sign.

Sandy Powers was baptized last Saturday and wow, she was the first convert baptism I have seen in my life I think. Way cool service, she is solid. She bore her testimony at the end as well and really wants her daughters to 'partake of the fruit' so we will have to lend our hands to that great work. She was confirmed in sacrament yesterday and I was asked to be one of the priesthood holders to join with that which was again a great honor. Still, I haven't helped anyone from the beginning to the end so I don't think I got the full effect like my companion did.

I had my second interview with President Smith this week. I got help with a couple of things but he really felt prompted to talk to me about planning and the effect it will have on me and my life. Elder Johnson is one of the best planning missionaries here and President said that is probably one of the main reasons I am being trained by him and that I need to absorb every bit of that skill as I can. Not only for my mission, but the rest of my life. Makes perfect sense though since I can come off really ditzy sometimes.

The wards are really great here, every time I walk into a members house, I can feel like I am back at home. Way different then other homes out here.

During laundry this morning a J-Dub and her kid walked into the laundry facility and placed out some of their doctrine on the table. She said Hi but didn't approach us at all. Johnson was way disappointed because he has power skills to totally destroy any other churches interpretation of the Gospel (in a kind way of course). Not that it's hard by any means considering no one else has the restored Gospel.

I had my first exchange with one of the zone leaders last week too. He had a lot of trust in my teaching skills because he kept calling on me to teach principles to a few people. We went to one guys house and I had my first crazy drunk guy experience on the mission! 'Mormons, come preach to me' he said. Then he proceeded to tell us that he had the truth and we can be saved. Just another guy that believes all we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ to be saved with not a lot of effort on his part. Then we taught a blind man name Kenneth. Unfortunately before we walked into his house I could already smell the drugs. When we did start teaching inside his apartment it was instant headache. The smell was so strong. It seemed like Satan was just finding people to waste our time with.

I met a recent convert in Garland who was so euphoric about the Gospel it was awesome. He hadn't had a dream for several years but the night he was baptized he had a dream about his mother and sister who had died giving him a much welcomed hug. He has been dreaming ever since.

Good heavens I think everyone down here has 3 million different versions of the Bible. Its crazy. Just random guys interpreting the scripture and people wonder why there are 22,000 sects in America today. Oh well, the churches here in Rockwall are massive and beautiful and will be great firewood someday. Even Sandy who was baptized said she use to speak in tongues and would go to churches full of rock music and screaming. yes, smart. Texas is in for a big surprise.

My companion and I disagree on one thing though. In the scriptures it talks about hunters and fishers in the last days. The fishers being the earlier missionaries of this dispensation baptizing thousands of people and the hunters being today's missionaries who only average about 6 each. Well I want to be a fisher. Simple as that. Somehow I am going to figure out while I am out here a way to make that possible but of course its not going to be easy... we'll see. I was specifically taught in the MTC that the difference between a hunter and a fisher was your state of mind and your attitude. Everyone believes in Jesus down here, how hard can it be? ha....

-Love Elder Metcalf

A big Howdy from Texas!

i think i would live and die here if it weren't for the fact that you could stand on a tuna can and see the back of your head...ugh where are my mountains? good thing there wont be a temptation when winter rolls around, that and when the alarm clock screams at me every morning is about my only complaint so far.

The members are super good, my trainer has been working super hard to get everything rolling along since the missionaries here before him destroyed the area. We taught over 20 lessons from Tuesday til Sunday which is even a record for him. Pretty impressive since he claims about 40 baptisms. when we were setting goals on Thursday, i asked him to help me with my memory loss which occurs every 30 seconds since this is all a dream to me (reality slowly is creeping in). Also i told him that i demanded to be trained well enough to be the top baptizing missionary in Texas before he leaves. He said 'no problem' and the record is somewhere around 65.

My first week has felt like it has lasted about 6 months but i mean that in a good way, considering that i have done more in this week then i did for my last 6 months at home. the very first night we flew in to Dallas we went and got a picture with the president in front of the temple. After words we went and had BBQ at the mission home (ahhhh BBQ). we then bore our testimonies after dinner and i was probably the most pathetic missionary there because i was constantly blowing my nose and trying to suppress my embarrassing cough. Right as my turn came to give my testimony, i stood up and then as fate would have it, in walks sister Katie Barber. Don't worry, we got a picture before we all separated for our first night.

The first night here Elder Moli and I went out with the zone leaders as was our assignment, the goal was to commit a nice lady named Bobbie to baptism. yeah, not very intimidating at all. Needless to say she is going to get baptized this weekend. I think it was about a 2 hour meeting at her house.

My trainer is awesome, totally amazing. he was converted at 18 and his family has been accusing him of going to hell since then. He has been out 20 months and goes home in December but he definitely is a smart and hard worker. he has already taught me well. I feel like I am getting more and more into my element. we tracked out a nice Hispanic couple the other day and I went on my first split with a member to teach alone last night. I wasn't nervous but the adrenaline didn't help at all. So we knocked on the door and i was devastated there was no answer. i got stood up twice on my first night of teaching alone. lame. meanwhile my trainer was out committing people to baptism. Anyway the teaching is going well but i have a long ways to go.

President Uchtdorf was here yesterday and shook my hand by the way, I'm sure you can read more about it in sister barber's epistles since i have 7 minutes left to finish mine. He spoke for about 90 minutes and i took about 3 pages of notes. The fact of the matter is that the Gospel is simple and powerful. everyone and there dog needs to quit complicating it. its driving me insane to hear missionaries and members testifying that 'the church is true, the church is restored, the church blesses me and my family!'. OK, so its true in some sense but we are denying ourselves the purity of Jesus Christ. "The GOSPEL is restored in its fullness, The GOSPEL blesses families, the GOSPEL and its ordinances/principles will save us" not the church. The 5 principles of the GOSPEL are faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. the church is an appendage to the last principle and the administration of the GOSPEL. that's it. Notice how all churches are pretty much the same (especially in Texas) when they preach Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and repentance but then at baptism where the AUTHORITY was lost 1600 years ago see so many different ways that people get baptized! So much corruption down here. There is a great and abominable church on every corner destroying the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. OK I'm done preaching. I just thought that was something cool i would share. Anyway, President Uchtdorf really focused on giving that little extra everyday that you don't have to give then you will see miracles. Also, he stressed the values of companions (whether in my case or your married to them). and that love is central to everything you do or you will get no where. and yes mom, i saw sister barber at that meeting as well. It was in Arlington where Lance served but that mission definitely needs some work since Elder Starling left. That's all i better say!

Remember that God always will respect our free agency so we always have to ask. I forgot what else to say but we have 3 baptisms scheduled and have 5 as our goal this transfer. Let the games begin.

Love your #2 son,
Elder Metcalf

Mark Receives His Mission Call

Mark is set apart as a Missionary to Dallas, Texas

Kathryn made the tie & Grandpa Metcalf gives him a last minute lesson on how to tie it.

Letter #1

Dear family that I miss so much. The MTC is fantastic. A lot of work but it is easy as long as you practice. Every member gets worried about giving their testimonies when really it just needs to be about faith in Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith as a prophet called of God, President Monson as our prophet today. I love it. I am happy to be here pat of this Army. As a district we chose Nehemiah 6:3 as our theme. It was from from Elder Uchdorf's talk recently. Reading and hearing the talk gave me goosebumps. I have to keep baring my testimony and promising myself how real our gospel is and I will never fail or even get discouraged. I love you family, but too bad for you that you no longer have excitement in the home! Just kidding.

I am here to learn to cause less contention when I get home. This place is so safe from the outside world. It's like the temple, virtually there is not a single drop of negativity. Every once in awhile you have contention clouds brewing but I am learning that arguing is worthless and to just swallow my pride and be humble and follow the prophet. I am never getting married because I am never leaving, Sorry. Is Nicole Pregnant yet? Good news. I do believe I am over my past. As far as being a leader, I think I am really developing. We have Elder Mosca in our district and he is like 23 and a convert of a year. A real power influence. Elder Barton is Steven. My companion is Elder Moosman and he is Dakota Larsen. Elder Moli is the happiest Tongan you will ever meet. Then there is Elder Scott. He is in our district and I think the only physically and mentally disabled Elder here. He is awesome, love him to death, really strong testimony.

Letter #2

So fired up right now. Although it is right before bedtime so I am winding down. Had another AMAZING day. Our district is so awesome. Lots of power and love. I laugh too much here. I laughed so hard today that the spirit was driven away. I do believe God is looking down on us and me personally and smiling. Anything anyone has said negatively about the MTC is an abomination in my eyes. So fun here. I wake up and get up every time my alarm screams 6:05 a.m. Every lesson taught is by a powerhouse. Pretty soon I will be that powerhouse. Before I got my call I talked to my friends who went to Mexico on their missions. They said the Apostle told them they need to be baptizing at least once a week. So I got my call to Texas and let that goal slip by. So much mentality that you can't baptize in the Bible belt. Well we had a lesson today about how the yearly convert rate has dropped about 60,000 a year. Why? Because people come up with stupid and blasphemous ideas that baptisms aren't what's most important and somehow it became politically incorrect to want to baptize as much as you can. As the meeting progressed, so did our/my confidence. Ammon was not any different than me, not at all! I can be just like him and follow his example or even better, become an example ranked with Ammon. He is my example. Pray for him to assist me (with his spirit) on my mission. So I wrote 104 converts on my notes and stared at it. Felling the spirit, I wrote another 0...1040. Elder Mosca saw this and tapped my shoulder and said..."No, Millions...Millions!" I can change all their hearts. So this is what I came up with. Everything I give up is nothing compared to what I do - snowboarding is nothing (0), friends are nothing (0), good sleep nothing (0), dating is definitely nothing (0), I'll even put nothing next to family (0) and my life was of course nothing before the mission (0). Now what do I get in return for giving all that up? "Thy faith had made thee whole."

When I apply that to my mission and add all the spirit and courage of the sons of Mosiah, I get 1,000,000 (to the 6th power). Yes! I'll never come home, sorry mom. We chose Nehemiah 6:3 as our district theme. Apply it to your lives, everything you do. Say to yourself every time someone tries to bring you down. "I am doing a great work and cannot come down."

Love your 2nd begotten son.

A great and marvelous work is about to come for in Texas

Send letters to:

Elder Kenneth Mark Metcalf

Texas Dallas Mission

13747 Montfort Dr. Ste 120

Dallas, TX 75240-4497

A quick goodbye & he never looked back!

Nothing New In Spirit Paradise

Nothing new here in spirit paradise. My district and I feel like we have been best friends all of our lives. My companion is the district leader and he is the most letter of the law person you have ever met. The rest of us laugh like crazy. I've been enjoying learning more about my testimony because the gospel is so clear now. We shouldn't say the church is true but that we have the restored gospel. Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Church is just something that helps us endure to the end and of course renew covenants. Wow, gonna baptize millions I am! It's crazy how much confidence you get here. I bore my testimony yesterday and have the faith that if I open my mouth having faith, that through me I can speak the power of the word through the Spirit! I have not 'worked' a single day here. Sometimes it gets hard but only because I may lose a little faith or confidence. Wow, I just realized all the new emails I got are from Matt! I bet mom and dad are probably in Hawaii. Admonish mom and dad to repentance for me. I'm sure they are hiding it from me, ha ha. But like I said I am in the paradisaical state of mind. One of our elders is in a wheel chair and can barely speak. Such a power house though. Gym is super fun here. My ball skills could compete with Deron Williams because I value every minute like gold and also probably because I'm desperate to stay healthy. My legs and feet are killing me! Anyway I hope to here from everyone else soon.

PS - I'm still 187 lbs. Yikes. Where are my cookies?????? Got one more week to hit 200... Also, I may or may not be calling next Monday (the 14th) depending on what the rules are. between 6-8.

No New Messages!

I am doing laundry with half my district. The MTC is great. I love it and I love the people I am with. The speakers are a blessing. Well I am taking mom's and sister Anderson's advice and swallowing 6000 mg of vitamin C along with the MEGA MAN pills and my desire for candy has dropped of the face of the earth. The MTC food is great but they don't have anything nutritional, tell Matt the chocolate milk is phenomenal. Classes and lessons are amazing. The doctrine is so pure and simple and I understand everything in a whole new light. My testimony and connection with the spirit is growing at a staggering pace. I never felt anything like I have at the MTC. Thought processes and ideas come into my mind and out my mouth that I never have thought would be possible. My companion is the district leader, so I get the mail first. Too bad there was nothing in there today for me! Haha, just kidding, I don't mind. The second day here I noticed how much I missed all of you (yes yes, surprise surprise) and was looking forward so much to the mail. My companion forgot the mail office closed at 8 and we missed getting it so naturally I was a upset for a while. Thank havens for the Spirit, I have realized that I am here to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Waking up early isn't bad at all, I really love how much I am getting done each day. All the knowledge actually sticks around in my head too. Sister Green from our ward is in our district so I will have to get a picture. Our zone leader found out today one of his best friends was killed in a car wreck. So sad. Any advice? Maybe send me mom's dissertation. I hugged him and didn't say anything which Ii thought was appropriate. I have little Megan's picture in my shirt pocket everyday so she is next to my heart! Tell her to write me I WANT A FULL REPORT. I thought of her right after mom and father so maybe I won't be such a mean brother. (editors note: WHO IS THIS?!) Anyway stop crying about me, blah no biggie only 2 years. Not gonna come home so relax. Pray for me!

Love your son
Mark Metcalf

Oh ya, I am supposed to tell mom every week that I love her and the rest of the family too. Love love love.

Hello Dear Family

So far sooo good. Not a tear shed. This is exactly where I feel like I should be! We had a lesson with about 250 other missionaries where we role played with a guy name Daniel. It was really cool to see how answers could flow a lot easier now that I am actually a missionary. My companion is exactly how dad described him, an Idaho Elder who worked on a farm. I am already learning a lot about being humble since everyone in the MTC is pretty much in the same boat, I don't needed to be treated special or unique. I am feeling a lot still from President Anderson's blessing, a lot with the love and compassion from the Lord. A really simple and powerfully effective tool was that God will never take away our free agency, he will always respect it, continuing from that I need to always pray and ask for the Spirit to be the real teacher and that I am not the one talking necessarily but he is. It worked out almost immediately. I do not feel it incredibly strongly like we all hope (a huge manifestation we are all looking for!) but the important thing is that I feel it! So fun, I am laughing a lot (bye bye anger).
Anyway I need to go!

Love you all
Elder Metcalf
(pray for me!)

Finally!

Yesterday we dropped Mark off at the MTC. Pretty crazy! The new curb-side drop off is pretty quick and doesn't really give you much time to say goodbye or shed a few tears like the old system did. We pretty much parked, pulled out his luggage, gave him a hug and sent him off. He didn't even look back! Either he was really excited to finally get rid of us, or maybe (just maybe) he was a little choked up too... Anyway, he's finally on his mission and super excited. We are all very proud of him and excited for the work he's going to do in Dallas, Texas. Good luck Mark, we'll be praying for you!