President Smith and the leaders of the mission have been hitting really hard on contacting. It seems the more we implement this the stronger the opposition becomes (surprise!) Although at the end of the week my thoughts are always turned to the Savior and what He had to endure. It seems strange but amidst the battle we seem somehow to come off victorious with some awesome new investigators.
The first to mention would be Ron. He has been dating a member for a while now and referred himself 6 times to us on mormon.org. Unfortunately the media referral took about 5 weeks to get to us. In his own words "I pass by the Church multiple times going to work and I have tried to stop and pick up a Mormon bible but the door always seemed to be locked even with cars in the parking lot." Elder Jones was out on splits with another member that night setting a baptism date while Brother Cox and I met with Ron. He's awesome. When I was explaining that the 'Book of Mormon is our keystone' he replied "That makes a lot of sense, I grew up with the bible being the cornerstone so if you were to take it away not much would happen." He was pretty excited over the first lesson and gladly accepted a conditional baptismal commitment (they always seem to surprise the members when the response is "Yes, of course"). His work schedule is being on call 24/7 so it is hard for him to get to church. We'll keep praying.
Next would be Ceaser, this was an awesome contact. We got done doing our weekly planning session on Thursday and had scheduled to do some tracting afterwords. The thought came to mind to just 'go to SFA' and I acted on it because we had minimal time to get 10 people to contact. We got to SFA, parked the car, got out of the car and the very car next to us rolled his window down. He asked if we would teach him. We set up a appointment Saturday evening at the Church which he kept. He has said for some reason he loves the Mormon church, has always loved the members and for some reason has been drawn to it. He feels that we live what we preach. We started the lesson at 8 and he loved how the Book of Mormon answers his questions. We went til 9:15. He told us "when can we get together again? I will take you out to dinner." His week is extremely busy so we set up an appointment much further out than any missionary would like but he is hungry for that spiritual satisfaction.
In nightly planning on Saturday I looked at the map with a small sigh of "where haven't I tracted?" So after the prayer I closed my eyes and put my finger right on 'Jefferson' street. Yes, it was a very crude technique and one that if I had observed my companion doing, I would have questioned his guidance by the Holy Ghost. When we got to the street the next day it was an extreme battle with the natural man. I was tired and thirsty. Quietly, I reached back for my favorite Blue Book and read Mosiah 3:19 to rebuke myself into action. My companion knocked the first door. It was a man who invited us to sit down outside. "whats your message?" he asked. Elder Jones replied "...and there is a prophet on the earth today." "Whats his name?" the man asked as if interrogating him. "President Thomas S. Monson!" my companion testified. "Get out of here!" was the mans pricked response. The next door (there were only 2 houses on the street) let us in after some talk. At first she explained that she was sick. But then went on to say "I have been meeting with the Jehovah's witnesses and disagree with them. I am desperately looking for a church." Some time into the conversation after introducing the precious, dear to my heart book that I love so intensely, we turned to Alma 7. She has experienced many pains and heartache in her life. We read verses 11-13 and she talked some more and asked "but how can I get over it all and leave the pain?" "read the next 2 verses" was my response. (I'll let y'all look those up.) We have an appointment tonight, pray us some luck!
And I haven't even gotten into the regulars!
The Bennetts were fun during the week. Jody took time to slave over feeding us poor little missionaries which was much appreciated. (yes, Jody, hello again!) The lesson was actually simple but pretty awesome. We went through some of the cross references of the Bible mentioning the Book of Mormon and so on. It rekindled my joy for the simple scriptures that I hardly ever use because I think they are way too common.
We taught Tyler on Tuesday night the plan of salvation. He liked it although his member friends already explained it to him so he practically taught it to us. He didn't come to church Sunday which worries me a lot but we are still on for our lessons and resolving some stumbling blocks.
The Smith family is Elder Jones' family. I have only been over there once but usually we just split up and I let him do his testifying over there. So far it has been awesome because Elder Jones is an outstanding missionary (not greenie!) and has already set a date with him. The mom was in the hospital Sunday so he couldn't come to church. We pray that she will heal quickly!
Lewis is still golden. We taught him up til the Restoration principle in the first lesson and we had to leave. We gave him the Restoration DVD and he replied "dang, y'all always leave at the good part when everything becomes really interesting."
I love serving and I love the people I am around. The Lord is blessing us like crazy.
Love y'all
Elder Metcalf
Monday, October 18, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday night we tracted out a street that yielded some results but I have to admit the best door was the one that we left a note saying "Hey, we want to buy your desks please call..." The home had 2 huge desks sitting out on the porch. Since we're all the way out in Nac-a-nowhere we cant request sweet items like that. So he called us back and we got massive desks now. We threw away one of our couches just to make room.
We had a lesson that night with a lady who is dating a guy that works on oil rigs. We seemed to teach the lesson well but we kind of had the impression that she may be taking the lessons out of some boredom. Regardless, we are in the door and testifying with members. She couldn't get to church because of a vacation to meet parents but we think she has great potential with the right members.
Tuesday we had some appointments set up but most canceled. Elder Bhiel (one of the spanish elders) was super sick so I sent my son out on exchanges with his companion because of his really bad cabin fever. I spent the time making about 25 phone calls and talking to some excellent referrals. One guy (appropriately named Ron) is engaged to a member. He was telling me that "ya, I want one of y'alls mormon bibles. I tried to go to church last week to meet y'all but couldn't make it cause of work. I know my fiancee is what ya call a less active but she wants to be active again and from what I've heard about the church, I like it." He works on oil rigs so its been a bit of a hassle trying to set up an appointment. Needless to say I am itchin' to get out there.
That night we met with Tyler who seemed to have some concerns. As we read and likened 3rd Nephi 11 to him for the whole lesson, the concerns dissolved away. It is a very interesting thing when investigators actually read from the Book of Mormon that there doesn't seem to be much of a problem. The spirit was strong and he requested his baptism on Halloween. The teenage ideas for the baptism were a little less then sacred but funny nonetheless. I suggested that everyone show up in white.
Before that lesson we taught a young man that we had met right before conference. As we were talking to him he said "can we just skip all the awkward smalltalk?" So we said a prayer and got right into the true nature of God. Elder Jones and our ward mission leader who was with us could tell he was getting way into it (it is interesting some of the reaction you get when you explain that God has a physical body.) Just as we were moving into the next principle his mom opened the door and was livid mad. She promptly kicked us out with a less than happy tone. That definitely created some tension. We were all scared out of our minds.
Wednesday was probably the most eventful day of the week. We met with the whole zone and had a training in the morning and then Elder Cabrera, our zone leader came on exchange with us for the day. We started off right and got some BBQ at a gas station off Highway 21. We then headed up to Garrison to start knocking on some doors before dropping off a free bible referral. We met a guy who seemed to want to 'tell us the real truth' first but actually turned out to be pretty cool (just on a lot of pain killers.) We then tracted into a family who after a brief conversation at the door let us in. I felt inspired to use the cups lesson which miraculously got the kids to leave their video game and watch what happens to truth when Apostles die off. We only had 30 minutes which worked out perfectly so we could come back.
Thursday was fun. In the morning Elder Cabrera still didn't have a ride back to Longview (75 miles away) so we skipped out on planning and went out contacting. Man it was a tough crowd to teach! It was a more difficult battle to fight off discouragement. We taught the Restoration to a couple whose apartment manager tried to kick us out. It went well. That night we zipped over to another referral from the Spanish elders. He explained that he was no longer interested because of contradictions with the Bible but after we got him talking we discussed the priesthood, origins of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, etc before we ran out of time, he invited us back next week. It was pretty cool. If i can ask the right questions as inspired by the Spirit then people teach themselves.
Friday was more difficult knocking which tested my Faith and tried my charity but the Lord rewarded us because we got a call to go to the hospital to give a baby a blessing who's father is not [yet] a member. When we showed up the baby was fussing around. After the blessing he was laughing and wanting to play and when we left he began to cry again. You cant help but wonder if he really wants a true Gospel centered home and knows it at 10 months of age.
We had happy hour at the Bennetts and Elder Jones did a fantastic job teaching from 3rd Nephi 27. Interesting part was when Jody read a scripture on prayer and I flipped open my planner to show a scripture that nearly replicated the one she had read only this one was from the bible. It was cool because I wrote down the reference 12 hours earlier.
Saturday for some reason was a bit stressful because of the many appointments we had scheduled. I said a prayer to calm down and it helped out a lot. It may be a blessing that my watch band broke again so I wouldn't keep looking at it. Sadly, half the appointments fell through even knowing we had confirmed them that same day. The highlight was a lesson with a man named Lewis who let us right into his home. He had been given a Book of Mormon by Elder Cabrera and was reading it. He shared an experience he had as a kid when right after a heavy rainstorm he saw a white dove land in front of him. After some thought about what to read with him that may correlate with that experience we read the first 8 verses of 2 Nephi 31 then I quoted the song "when I am baptized" He was stoked.
Sunday was sweet. We tracted alot in a white rich baptist area so I have nothing to report other than someone accepted a Book of Mormon because they were part American Indian.
Elder Jones has done an awesome job. He even got an 11 year old to come to church with us and went to pick him up with a member while I reported in PEC. It has been fun.
Love y'all
Elder Metcalf
We had a lesson that night with a lady who is dating a guy that works on oil rigs. We seemed to teach the lesson well but we kind of had the impression that she may be taking the lessons out of some boredom. Regardless, we are in the door and testifying with members. She couldn't get to church because of a vacation to meet parents but we think she has great potential with the right members.
Tuesday we had some appointments set up but most canceled. Elder Bhiel (one of the spanish elders) was super sick so I sent my son out on exchanges with his companion because of his really bad cabin fever. I spent the time making about 25 phone calls and talking to some excellent referrals. One guy (appropriately named Ron) is engaged to a member. He was telling me that "ya, I want one of y'alls mormon bibles. I tried to go to church last week to meet y'all but couldn't make it cause of work. I know my fiancee is what ya call a less active but she wants to be active again and from what I've heard about the church, I like it." He works on oil rigs so its been a bit of a hassle trying to set up an appointment. Needless to say I am itchin' to get out there.
That night we met with Tyler who seemed to have some concerns. As we read and likened 3rd Nephi 11 to him for the whole lesson, the concerns dissolved away. It is a very interesting thing when investigators actually read from the Book of Mormon that there doesn't seem to be much of a problem. The spirit was strong and he requested his baptism on Halloween. The teenage ideas for the baptism were a little less then sacred but funny nonetheless. I suggested that everyone show up in white.
Before that lesson we taught a young man that we had met right before conference. As we were talking to him he said "can we just skip all the awkward smalltalk?" So we said a prayer and got right into the true nature of God. Elder Jones and our ward mission leader who was with us could tell he was getting way into it (it is interesting some of the reaction you get when you explain that God has a physical body.) Just as we were moving into the next principle his mom opened the door and was livid mad. She promptly kicked us out with a less than happy tone. That definitely created some tension. We were all scared out of our minds.
Wednesday was probably the most eventful day of the week. We met with the whole zone and had a training in the morning and then Elder Cabrera, our zone leader came on exchange with us for the day. We started off right and got some BBQ at a gas station off Highway 21. We then headed up to Garrison to start knocking on some doors before dropping off a free bible referral. We met a guy who seemed to want to 'tell us the real truth' first but actually turned out to be pretty cool (just on a lot of pain killers.) We then tracted into a family who after a brief conversation at the door let us in. I felt inspired to use the cups lesson which miraculously got the kids to leave their video game and watch what happens to truth when Apostles die off. We only had 30 minutes which worked out perfectly so we could come back.
Thursday was fun. In the morning Elder Cabrera still didn't have a ride back to Longview (75 miles away) so we skipped out on planning and went out contacting. Man it was a tough crowd to teach! It was a more difficult battle to fight off discouragement. We taught the Restoration to a couple whose apartment manager tried to kick us out. It went well. That night we zipped over to another referral from the Spanish elders. He explained that he was no longer interested because of contradictions with the Bible but after we got him talking we discussed the priesthood, origins of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, etc before we ran out of time, he invited us back next week. It was pretty cool. If i can ask the right questions as inspired by the Spirit then people teach themselves.
Friday was more difficult knocking which tested my Faith and tried my charity but the Lord rewarded us because we got a call to go to the hospital to give a baby a blessing who's father is not [yet] a member. When we showed up the baby was fussing around. After the blessing he was laughing and wanting to play and when we left he began to cry again. You cant help but wonder if he really wants a true Gospel centered home and knows it at 10 months of age.
We had happy hour at the Bennetts and Elder Jones did a fantastic job teaching from 3rd Nephi 27. Interesting part was when Jody read a scripture on prayer and I flipped open my planner to show a scripture that nearly replicated the one she had read only this one was from the bible. It was cool because I wrote down the reference 12 hours earlier.
Saturday for some reason was a bit stressful because of the many appointments we had scheduled. I said a prayer to calm down and it helped out a lot. It may be a blessing that my watch band broke again so I wouldn't keep looking at it. Sadly, half the appointments fell through even knowing we had confirmed them that same day. The highlight was a lesson with a man named Lewis who let us right into his home. He had been given a Book of Mormon by Elder Cabrera and was reading it. He shared an experience he had as a kid when right after a heavy rainstorm he saw a white dove land in front of him. After some thought about what to read with him that may correlate with that experience we read the first 8 verses of 2 Nephi 31 then I quoted the song "when I am baptized" He was stoked.
Sunday was sweet. We tracted alot in a white rich baptist area so I have nothing to report other than someone accepted a Book of Mormon because they were part American Indian.
Elder Jones has done an awesome job. He even got an 11 year old to come to church with us and went to pick him up with a member while I reported in PEC. It has been fun.
Love y'all
Elder Metcalf
Monday, October 4, 2010
My 2nd born son is awesome. Ready for this... He is Elder Jordan Jones from Kanab. Yes he knows the family. He has one of the best attitudes I have seen from anyone on the mission. He is definitely training me and it has been quite fun working with him. We graduated 4 years apart from one another but we have a lot in common. Tracting is very fun because we both easily dispel each other's fears.
For conference this year I was firmly determined to have a fully spiritual feast. I looked at what I did last conference that I took notes on. (yes, I love journals) I looked at things I could do better to be more prepared. Last time I remember simply going to the Church after companion study and 'waiting' for the onslaught of investigators to show up. I felt I could have been more developed to enjoy the messages so this year, the plan of action was to contact.
For conference this year I was firmly determined to have a fully spiritual feast. I looked at what I did last conference that I took notes on. (yes, I love journals) I looked at things I could do better to be more prepared. Last time I remember simply going to the Church after companion study and 'waiting' for the onslaught of investigators to show up. I felt I could have been more developed to enjoy the messages so this year, the plan of action was to contact.
We had a referral on the west side of town and knowing that when we get a referral it usually means the Lord wants us in that area for a reason, whether it be the referral or to find someone else. We gave the lady what she had ordered but she claimed to be too busy to meet with us so we set up an appointment and immediately began finding in the area. Eventually after knocking a few select doors that didn't look inhabited by our Spanish brothers and sisters, we got to a young man and young lady who were having a small yard sale that day. After some initial conversation she told us that she has a member grandmother and has already been to church with her elsewhere. We set up an appointment and made a mad dash for conference because we were running a bit behind. I love it! It seems that once studies are over in the morning, the Spirit says "Alright I'm outta here. Come find me." And once we are out contacting and inviting others to learn more, He jumps out from behind them and says "Found me!"
We had about 80 miles left over on our car allotment for the end day of the month, yet we got on our bikes anyway and rode to an appointment. As President Smith would say "We are in a jungle of people who think we're crazy." We rode through the campus on our route to the appointment and Elder Jones commented on how much we were stared down. We made some contacts that were fruitless but always they produce an increase measure of the Spirit.
On Thursday we tracted a bit of an older more well established neighborhood. As we got the first door slammed in our face Elder Jones looked at me and said "wow, that was actually kind of painful." But his attitude stayed strong and we pushed along talking to others. I have noticed my own attitude change with my new companion piece by piece. The talk by President Benson gave "Beware of Pride" sits on my desk regularly. It was awesome to hear President Uchtdorf resurrect it so to speak. Brother McConkie's talk was very eye opening to me when he explained that the attitude of the teacher and the love he has is what makes great teachers. Immediately as I have applied that at doors in between sessions I felt a difference. Instead of the prideful need of proving that 'come on, just listen about how we're right and you can know it' it is like a burden has been lifted and its OK to accept failure to not enter into a door. Just love them enough to move on while they become more prepared.
When Elder Nelson asked all the missionaries to stand up in Priesthood session I felt very proud yet humbled by my calling. I appreciated all the comments on accountability and time because it seems like getting home every night, I have to explain to my Heavenly Father why there was a certain time of the day we essentially did not use to all of our benefit. The more effective and planned out our time is, the more satisfied and self appreciated I can feel.
This first week I must admit was a trial of Faith in some respects. It seems as though I had not a single investigator lesson planned for my new son for his first week. Regardless, he was excited to tract and find, teach, and baptize. My prayers have been answered because I needed a renewed diligence in my life as a missionary. Yesterday, after conference we skipped both lunch and dinner to go teach and to find. We taught a lady on her doorstep and committed her to baptism on the 7th of November. It was technically the first full restoration lesson we taught together to an investigator and it went surprisingly very well. The excitement in Elder Jones eye got me excited.
I loved conference. I was determined to feast spiritually and the Lord answered my prayers. I felt stronger as a missionary to have confidence that the Spirit was directing me in my efforts. I remembered very clearly from one of the talks directed towards the youth to what I now interpret "pray your fears out of you." I chose to tract a rich neighborhood in between yesterday's sessions and when we pulled up we both were genuinely nervous, scared, fearful. But I knew we had already prayed for that to go away. We got out of the car and after a couple of contacts the Spirit filled us with love, trust, confidence, etc... I sure hope I can apply more of the messages and hidden treasures from conference into my life as a missionary and in the future. Direct prayers were answered, my patriarchal blessing was nearly quoted word for word 3 times this weekend. Questions were answered.
Isnt the restored Gospel exciting?
Love Elder Metcalf
We had about 80 miles left over on our car allotment for the end day of the month, yet we got on our bikes anyway and rode to an appointment. As President Smith would say "We are in a jungle of people who think we're crazy." We rode through the campus on our route to the appointment and Elder Jones commented on how much we were stared down. We made some contacts that were fruitless but always they produce an increase measure of the Spirit.
On Thursday we tracted a bit of an older more well established neighborhood. As we got the first door slammed in our face Elder Jones looked at me and said "wow, that was actually kind of painful." But his attitude stayed strong and we pushed along talking to others. I have noticed my own attitude change with my new companion piece by piece. The talk by President Benson gave "Beware of Pride" sits on my desk regularly. It was awesome to hear President Uchtdorf resurrect it so to speak. Brother McConkie's talk was very eye opening to me when he explained that the attitude of the teacher and the love he has is what makes great teachers. Immediately as I have applied that at doors in between sessions I felt a difference. Instead of the prideful need of proving that 'come on, just listen about how we're right and you can know it' it is like a burden has been lifted and its OK to accept failure to not enter into a door. Just love them enough to move on while they become more prepared.
When Elder Nelson asked all the missionaries to stand up in Priesthood session I felt very proud yet humbled by my calling. I appreciated all the comments on accountability and time because it seems like getting home every night, I have to explain to my Heavenly Father why there was a certain time of the day we essentially did not use to all of our benefit. The more effective and planned out our time is, the more satisfied and self appreciated I can feel.
This first week I must admit was a trial of Faith in some respects. It seems as though I had not a single investigator lesson planned for my new son for his first week. Regardless, he was excited to tract and find, teach, and baptize. My prayers have been answered because I needed a renewed diligence in my life as a missionary. Yesterday, after conference we skipped both lunch and dinner to go teach and to find. We taught a lady on her doorstep and committed her to baptism on the 7th of November. It was technically the first full restoration lesson we taught together to an investigator and it went surprisingly very well. The excitement in Elder Jones eye got me excited.
I loved conference. I was determined to feast spiritually and the Lord answered my prayers. I felt stronger as a missionary to have confidence that the Spirit was directing me in my efforts. I remembered very clearly from one of the talks directed towards the youth to what I now interpret "pray your fears out of you." I chose to tract a rich neighborhood in between yesterday's sessions and when we pulled up we both were genuinely nervous, scared, fearful. But I knew we had already prayed for that to go away. We got out of the car and after a couple of contacts the Spirit filled us with love, trust, confidence, etc... I sure hope I can apply more of the messages and hidden treasures from conference into my life as a missionary and in the future. Direct prayers were answered, my patriarchal blessing was nearly quoted word for word 3 times this weekend. Questions were answered.
Isnt the restored Gospel exciting?
Love Elder Metcalf
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