Never Again

I think I may have been the "Oh Elder what did you do to deserve that?" 26 weeks ago but it whipped me into shape!

This past week was pretty fun but its about the hottest most exhausting week of my mission. On Saturday we opted to set up a booth at the famous "Nacogdoches Trade Days" where about 6 people show up every 3rd weekend. Well in all seriousness it was a good experience. We had zone conference on Thursday and I remember President Smith talking about how we need to sacrifice personal comfort and go through the trials of our Faith to receive a witness. As the first hour or 2 went by I think we had a couple of Spanish people walk in and talk for a bit. By that point, we had about 10 "FREE" signs everywhere and still nothing was happening (the vendors next to us were noting how the swap meet customers here are terrible.) So I decided that I should put in my part a little bit more. I thought I could just stand up and give out pamphlets. There was just one problem... In between the padded chairs and the walkway filled with people was a 3 foot strip of death. They call it the "Texas Sun in summer." With one small sigh I stood in the thing handing out pamphlets and getting contacts for a couple of hours before finally switching out and getting a fairly priced $4 lemonade. Although no huge miracles happened, I can be satisfied knowing I committed a little bit harder to get the message (and 200 pamphlets) out there.

As for Kontessa (the girl that wants to get baptized) we had an interesting concern come up. She lives about 25 miles east of the church and comes with her member grandparents each week. We teach in the grandparents home as well. The 'something' that came up was her grandfather getting into a car accident, totalling his truck, and spending a few days in the hospital. That was crazy enough for us to step back for a few days. It was funny when we visited him in the hospital and he told us "just go on down and teach!"

Sacrament meeting yesterday turned out to be extremely interesting as far as the speakers go. It was high council Sunday and his speaking buddy wasn't able to come. About 4 minutes before Sacrament had begun, he came to us and shook our hands and the usual exchange of pleasantries was made. To which he then informed us that we would both be speaking...today...in 20 minutes. In all seriousness, it was fun and Elder Taylor and I both enjoyed it. I spoke on the how we all have fears or nightmares or are scared at some point in life. It happens to all of us whether we are totally faithful, sinful, or just trying to get along in life. It reminded me of Joseph Smith, who was totally faithful by praying to Heavenly Father, was overcome by the powers of Satan or Alma who brought upon himself the 'inexpressible horror' or Amulek who had to watch faithful saints die. No matter the story, they all have the climax of Jesus Christ and the Atonement and all is well. "I saw a pillar of light..." "joy as exquisite as my pains" "they were received unto God."

We have been doing everything we can to find a family to teach and baptize. We pretty much only tract in 'family' type neighborhoods, using the power of prayer and fasting, and desperately trying to teach. The results have been awesome. On Sunday we had a part member family move their records into the ward and expressed a desire to get back to Church. We have had some good referral experiences, as well as some great progress with some of our investigators. The Lord will bless us somehow, but in His way and his time. I don't doubt it at all. It does create a unique burning desire though to never really waste any more time.

Well we have some new investigators that will be fun to teach and see how and where their commitment is. I try not to spend as much time with those that don't really commit at all anymore. Somehow it will give us more opportunity to baptize!

We have been working with a couple of different investigators for a while now that both believe the Book of Mormon is true. The problem that they are having is the close ties to their own churches for over 5 decades. One of them we stopped by to teach had company. He responded by saying "I believe the Book of Mormon is true but next time tell me why your church is the one I need to join." The other, in one of our lessons, knows that the reason she is receiving so much opposition is because of the truthfulness of our message. Her pastor actually prepared a whole sermon on 'going down the wrong path.' When she expressed this in her last lesson my response was "Forget about the words that were said and remember how you have felt." She said she knows it's true, it is now the acting on her part that is making her nervous... Pretty unique. Just writing about it gives me some sweet ideas for the coming lessons.

Well its hot but not really. If I sit down or have a "extended dinner message" I am in lots of pain and totally exhausted but as I go out and work,the Atonement takes over. No pain, not tired. As President Monson said, When you are doing the Lord's work, you are entitled to his help. Wow how true that is...

Love Elder Metcalf

You said it, Buzz

Sounds like another eventful life in the Metcalf home. Hopefully I can match that.

Nope, I am not getting transferred which I am stoked on because I love Nac so much. Apparently the Stake President put in a word for me to stay which gets me excited. My time in Nac will be at least 7 1/2 months which means the Lord has much more work for me to do apparently and the pressure is on. Like Grandpa Metcalf says, may the Lord make you equal to every challenge. Although I think most of the time I make up a lot of the pressure in stress.

This past week was awesome. We had a missionary with what may be some mental blocks in the ward come home early so Bishop promptly assigned him to be with us as much as possible. It has been a big help to me and I am not entirely sure why. He was only on his mission for about 6 weeks so it's almost like double training in a way (Elder Taylor is staying too.) It just does not seem like a burden though and for some reason it feels like I am receiving a lot of help from unknown sources (I'll take it!)

Last Sunday we had a couple bring their 17 year old Granddaughter to church so we promptly set up an appointment to see them the following Thursday. The lesson began kind of weird (for lack of a better term) and you could tell that she was extremely shy towards anyone so after a little silent prayer, we simply stopped any teaching and started just a normal conversation. Well it wasn't long before she started to open up and really want to know what made our Church so special compared to all the others. She then accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of this month. Why wait?

We went on exchanges on Tuesday after district meeting and Elder Woodward came with me and Isaac. We mostly did some tracting and got into a few doors. A interesting experience was when someone didn't let us in and simply replied "come back tomorrow." So in my mind it was oh well... For some reason the next day we went back anyway. She let us right in. We taught the restoration and asked, "Why would the Book of Mormon be important to you if it is true?" Her response was interesting, "It would mean that I am in the wrong Church." So she committed to read.

We have been teaching a lady who I swear we know from before this life. I tracted her out with Elder Braford several months ago and she was dropped for a while but we picked her back up again. She came to Church. She knows the Book of Mormon to be true. She loves all the members. But her husband is the concern and is filling her up with doubts. Let the games begin... There is something about resolving concerns that is fun yet frustrating all at the same time.

Another lesson this week was with an older man named George. In one of our lessons about a month ago he asked for us to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost because he felt like we had the authority to do so. "George, you have to be baptized first." That planted some interesting seeds so we were considering for a moment if we were to drop him or not. When we got to the lesson he immediately prayed (something we could never get him to do in front of us before) and began to explain to us that he is reading and praying diligently to know the truth but still is finding his answer. He explained that it will be a tough choice to make since he has had one Church 70 years of his life...

Well that is a few of the fun things going on. I am excited to not get transferred but it does put the pressure on to really do well this transfer. I have no excuses. A great ward with missionary trust, an area that I know well and a good companion and district. Wish and pray me luck!!!

By the way, where are all the baby pictures???

Love Elder Metcalf

Transfers coming up...

The baptisms the past couple of weeks were awesome but they are now over so in the words of Elder Metcalf..."Get back to work!"

Jody was confirmed yesterday and it was awesome. She said she could actually feel it and was pretty overwhelmed by the whole experience. Now that our number 1 family has an eye of vision towards the temple, our investigator pool doesn't seem quite as awesome as it should be. Not too mention transfer calls are on Saturday so we shall see what on earth will happen. Hopefully I can stay an extra transfer because Nac-a-nowhere is the promised land (at least to me anyway.) Apparently Bishop Nielson spoke with President Smith yesterday and put in a word to get me to keep working in the Nac-a-baptize area.

This week was physically exhausting with the heat index some what in the 110 area. We had an exchange on Friday and we tracted for what I thought was an hour that actually turned out to be about 4. Needless to say I was ready for bed around 8. Sometimes you debate if you want it to rain or not because it usually rains for a few minutes then the steam from the pavement is enough to give you pneumonia.

We had a cool experience today and I think the Lord had His hand it. A part member lady offered to cut our hair for us and she is totally active yet her husband is not. He kind of dodges the missionaries and the whole subject of religion but it just so happens that the salon's air conditioning broke and he came in to fix it. He is going to cook us some sweet steaks this week he says. The funny thing is that he comes off as the "Bishop type."

This week's finding has been interesting. We have had some great experiences in teaching people yet I don't think more than one kept a return appointment. We will have to readjust our teaching strategy maybe. I think we always have to keep ourselves out of routines simply because the adversary picks up on them and it is easy for him to thwart. I suppose that is the awesome part about the Spirit, that if we follow him, every lesson will be completely different.

We have been teaching a lady for about 3 months now who came to church a couple weeks ago and knows everything from the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, to authority is true. We extended the commitment to baptism when the Spirit seemed to be the strongest but a really interesting concern came about the wearing of the temple garment. That is a bit beyond me so I asked President Smith what to do and his answer seemed all too obvious, have the relief society president fellowship her, you're a guy and that is not your topic.

We taught an awesome guy this week and apparently one of our inspired questions really got to him. "How do you know the Bible is true?" Then he proceeded to tell us that he believes there is more than just the Bible out there. As we were about to introduce the Book of Mormon his brother pulled up and he had to leave. Just like that, the adversary won a small battle and now we cant get a hold of them.

We had an awesome Sunday when 4 non-members showed up to Church that I have never taught. Lucky for us, we got some great return appointments and I am stoked. This ward has a ton of potential in it that is just waiting to be tapped at the right time. I think Nac will more than likely take off (especially since I will probably be transferred next week!)

Well I have had some pretty phenomenal experiences but I cant get enough, it is a serious craving that has to be worked for!
So much to do, so little time...

Love y'all

Elder Metcalf

Holy cow the baby pictures were awesome!!!!!

More Photos

Special Delivery

What on earth that is pretty unrealistic that Nicole had a baby. I still don't think it actually happened. That is awesome though. CONGRATULATIONS.

This week has been pretty overwhelming. I get an email that says Nicole will have the baby this week, we have a wedding, and then a baptism. I am not sure if it gets much more meaningful than that!

Pretty much the whole week has been pretty giddy. We had the relief society president meet with us on Wednesday night and we missionaries sat back and let them plan out the wedding pretty much. All smiles on my face the whole time. Couldn't believe that it was actually happening! The wedding on Saturday was simple yet awesome. When they got into the vows you could pretty much dang guarantee that I was sitting nearly front row at the edge of my seat desperate to here the words "I do." A big sigh of relief when it actually happened. The whole ward helped out a lot. It was awesome to see so many members put that together and help out. Jody seemed pretty overwhelmed by the support that they were getting. There was even a member who custom decorated a cake and it was glorious. Apparently at weddings there is usually someone that is supposed to give a toast. Nearly scared me half to death that they asked me to give it. It was an honor though and pretty fun to do. I think the word temple came out of my mouth 10 times in a couple minutes.

The next day we were all pretty nervous and anxious. She asked me to baptize her and needless to say the nerves were a bit high. Being fast and testimony meeting, Jody got up and gave an awesome testimony about coming to know it's true. She mentioned how 6 months ago she avoided missionaries and now waits for them to get on over there. Something interesting to note is that she had mentioned how "we didnt have normal lessons, it was mostly conversational." At first I thought 'uh oh' but then I remember in PMG those words and that we are not supposed to memorize the lessons but teach by the Spirit with conversational language. It seemed like over half the testimonies were directed to Jody and her entrance into the gate. Her new favorite phrase is "time and all eternity" she says. It was incredible to see the change in a matter of a couple weeks from 'I wont marry' to 'I am so happy that I know I can be with my husband and family forever.'

It seemed like all the meetings were focused around the Holy Ghost. It was a very unique thing. The way I feel is that He wanted to make himself obvious to all of us.

The baptism couldn't have been more perfect until I got into the water and made probably one of the funniest mistakes of my whole mission. I raised my arm to the square and said "Cassandra Jo Slater....." pause "Cassandra Jo Bennett. (married name) Having been..." Maybe it was a prompted mistake, who knows. She was then baptized.

Later that night we stopped by their home on our way back for 10 minutes. The difference in the home was dramatic. The Spirit was well established and very touching. She then asked the question "Do children have to be baptized?" The reason being she had a 6 year old niece that had passed away. Moroni 8...

Good heavens by the end of the night I was so tired, but I couldn't sleep. Purely incredible to have the privilege of serving a mission to be able to have experiences like this. There is no way I could ever say that I sacrificed to be a missionary. It is quite the opposite. Without a mission I probably would have ended up losing the greatest blessing ever. Talk about sacrifice.

The crazy thing is that we are getting more investigators to church that know its all true yet the traditions of their fathers are holding them back. Although something I have noticed is that as children of God we are meant to act not to be acted upon. To see someone make the choices, such as Jody, enables limitless possibilities. But to hold onto your past is a damming thought. And to think that all we have to do is give ourselves to the Atonement. Why do we make it so hard?

Holy cow (my new nickname, being Elder Met CALF) the mission is extremely intense. Is this really happening? Who knows, but I need to work harder.

Did Nicole really have a baby? That's crazy. I'll believe it in about a year...maybe. That is awesome. That is a very unique thing for you to say mom about how she knows Quinn already... Of course! Not too mention she has some of the finest parents and grandparents in the Gospel.

Happy Birthday!

Love Uncle Elder Metcalf