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.