Fun Fun

Our teaching has been sky-high and my new companion and I are having lots of fun. Miracles are penetrating just about everyday of the week, it's incredible.

I would have to say the biggest miracle of the week was the splits I was on up in Longview. Since I was getting a new car and a new companion they just had me spend the night up there and help teach. We went over to a simple return appointment that was tracted out. Something that doesn't seem very special and happens daily. However as we came into this man's home the Spirit was strong even in normal conversation before we actually started teaching. When the opening prayer was said and the Restoration lesson began, a whole new light entered into the room and as Brian the new investigator said "I feel as light as a feather." I have never felt the Spirit that strong teaching an investigator before. I felt immediate love for Brian and it was very bitter sweet to know that he wanted to be taught and baptized but I wouldn't be the missionary to help. He was so prepared and his heart incredibly softened. He absolutely loved the first principle that 'God is our loving Heavenly Father' and mentioned how it wouldn't surprise him if Jesus Christ visited other civilizations. I walked out of that lesson shouting a silent prayer in thanks to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to be part of that experience. Awesome.

The next day I got a new car and it came with my new companion, Elder Upchurch from the foreign land of Provo. Funny thing is that I only have him for 5 more weeks then he is dying, so he'll be the first companion that I have killed off in the mission. It pretty much seals the deal that I will be in Nac for a long long time which is much preferred by me. We have some great new people that we're staring at with white glasses on. We had an awesome Sunday. When we woke up that morning we had 9 LTMP's and settled on the fact that it was good enough for how much potential this area has. So after Church we grabbed a teacher and a YSA, split up and went tracting. The first door that Jordan and I knocked on let us in and we started teaching. Not too bad although ultimately he wanted us out of the house when we got to authority. We switched streets and the first guy we talked to there let us teach him for a while and invited us to visit him again. The next door we knocked that we got an answer, let us in as well although once we got in, the father of the family wasn't too thrilled since he was a baptist preacher. His wife, on the other hand, was happy to see Jordan since he used to be one of her students. We taught then he promptly sent us on our way. The next house we knocked, we got in to and started teaching but got the response "we've already looked up your religion." That didnt phase Jordan who invited them to Church after words and they agreed.

Elder Upchurch had similar success with Ben and taught 3 lessons in homes. What the heck? Just like that we were able to invite 7 families to come unto Christ while the Lord blessed us with 7 LTMP's in less than 2 hours. Ben had to leave but we still had Jordan with us and we taught one of our investigators and set up a Church tour later in the week. We didn't have a dinner so Jordan made a call to his dad and stated that "we're feeding the missionaries tonight and inviting our non-member friends. The missionaries need more lessons." When he said that Elder Upchurch and I just started laughing. It was awesome.

Well they fed us some good food and their non-member friends came over. It just so happens that they are a family of 6 (the youngest being 8) and we both felt prompted to teach the Restoration. During dinner the mother explained how she has tried several churches and is not happy with them. When we taught the Restoration they requested the Book of Mormon for their entire family. Interesting how we just happened to have 6 copies of the Book of Mormon on us. The mom then explained that her kids want to be baptized in "that church." We left that experience laughing because I don't think we realized what had happened. We ended up in one day with 9 LTMP's and 9 new investigators (something I never came close to in an entire week in Frisco).

Yesterday was ridiculous. I think the fact that we started off the day at iHop at 7am (right next door to us) and it wasn't preparation day (prep day was changed to Tuesday this week) threw us for a loop. Our normal schedules our bodies seem to have gotten used to weren't too thrilled. We got a call from the office requesting us to move our apartment so we searched around for a new place for a bit then decided to tract the richest neighborhood in east Texas. You're talking 20,000 square foot mansion homes. It was awesome. The first lady we talked to was Muslim and gave us some water. She was super nice when rejecting us. The next lady wasn't too thrilled to see us so in parting, I asked her for a broom so I could knock off the wasp nest in her front entry way. She declined. (lots of laughter). At the next house, there was a lady taking care of some flowers. We started to talk to her and then the rain came... So she promptly invited us in to her home!

We walked in and there was about 7 people in there and we all introduced one another and found out they have family members that are members as well as some close friends in the ward. Mind you this is the most expensive home I have ever stepped foot in and I think Elder Upchurch and I were a bit in shock with the fact that we were actually in a mega rich guy's house. We both basically ruined everything when they asked if we would like a ride back to our car and we said "yes." She gave us some grapes and we walked out to the garage (3 BMW's, Red Porche, etc) then he took us back to the new Malibu. See ya!

Instant laughter.

We plan on getting back there real quick with a thank you card or something so we can salvage the perfect opportunity we may have missed in not teaching. It is an interesting thought though, with my contacting and my teaching being completely restructured we seem to be having more success and I was a bit taken back by the fact that we actually got into the richest home on the block... I will expect to get into every home we knock from now on.

Because it was memorial day we picked up Jordan and got a jump start on our week. Nac has now become the promised land of the mission as Elder Upchurch has claimed.

I have to admit though that no matter how much I put into teaching or finding or baptizing or whatever I cant help but feel that I am being taught the bigger lesson. Example being last night when we went out to Chireno and visited a less active man who let us right into his home. I'll never forget how much he simply loved his wife (passed away last October.) He told us a story about how the doctors explained that the treatments were too harsh and to live the rest of her life in peace. They took a trip out East and he bought her a brand new diamond ring. To her surprise she responded by saying "you shouldn't have bought this knowing that I will be dying soon!" His reply was "Honey, I would give everything in the world just to see you smile once more." She passed away 2 weeks later. He was baptized about 2 years ago (age 70) so we set up an appointment to come back with our plan being the subject of the Temple.

After which he said "well my son is a Jehovah's witness, I'll invite him over because I still have hope for him."

Miracle after Miracle. (lots of laughs too)

Love Elder Metcalf