Yesterday was the Sunday that missionaries dream of. After Gospel principles class I went out the opposite door that I never go out of. More than likely because I was fighting a cold half the week and that door was the closest to the nearest tissue box and hand sanitizer. I noticed in the foyer a man who I didn't recognize and thought it was a bit odd because I have been in Nac long enough to know all the members that show up. More strange, was that he was around all the Spanish speakers. So I followed him as he left the building to go home. I lost sight of the man so I approached a less active member that was skipping out a little early. The man then came to me and introduced himself as Barry and that he wants to be a member of this Church.

You can imagine how many replies went through my mind.
"Hmmm, I think we can arrange that."
"Where's Ashton?"
"Very funny Elder Jones."
"Thank you Heavenly Father."
"What size are you in 'white jumpsuit'?"
"Are you sure you came to the right place?"

However after a small pause I asked him if we could meet. He said "Yes, I'll be here next week."
"How about sometime this week?" was my reply to which he said yes. "How about right now?"
So after we finally found a available room and talked to this wonderful soul - here are the details. He has read the Book of Mormon cover to cover already, has been dating an active member for a while, wants to kick the habit of smoking and coffee, wants more spiritual satisfaction, wants to be baptized. So we set up another appointment for tomorrow and he offered to take us to lunch. Needless to say I was a little floored.

The rest of this week went well but not without some challenges. We had interviews and specialized training on Thursday which was pretty sweet. President Smith remembered the Lake Powell invite that somehow he magically received from a known source... His reply was that he'll probably take y'all up on it. Thursday night was rough because my body started to give up in the fight of having a cold. I decided to give up trying to sleep around 4:30am so I took a shower, made my eggs and breakfast then started my studies. Luckily it was a planning day so I was able to relax a little before going out. I got the guts to call Sister Smith for some advice and thankfully a 'quarentine' wasn't necessary. So we went out contacting and a parking lot came to mind that we could find a lot of people to contact. The first 7 or so people were pretty 'sloshy' contacts to say the least but once the Spirit found me worthy enough to help out I actually felt healthy and could talk normal. We found a lady that was pretty excited to test out the Book of Mormon so we placed one and got a return appointment.

Tyler's lesson was pretty fun. We taught keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and really hit on Church attendance, then the Word of Wisdom and then my all time favorite, the Law of Chastity. I don't think many details will be included here but yes, his baptism is still on for this coming Sunday which will be Elder Jones' first so we are pretty stoked. He is a remarkable 16 year old (Tyler, not Elder Jones)

The happy hour with the Bennetts on Friday was pretty funny and entertaining (what's new?). We got over there and both Brother Bennett and I had voices that were about lost. We talked about the weird article about the Methodist church that didn't allow Mormon scout leaders because of the accusation we're not Christian as well as polygamy, etc etc to which Sister Bennett replied "I haven't had that lesson yet."

We had a funny experience tracting in Garrison this week. We knocked the first door and the lady nearly had a heart attack when she saw us, she was way mad. We got in the door on the third contact with a sweet lady (luckily we had a member with us) and right after we said the prayer, she got a phone call from a friend on a different street in town letting us know that the ever so dangerous Mormons were here. Apparently the neighborhood watch was on us pretty quick. It was a great lesson though. She asked us because of her husbands and sister's recent deaths if she would see them again or recognize them. The spirit helped out a lot.

Well hope y'all are havin' fun. Keep prayin' for your favorite Texas Elder.

Love Elder Metcalf

Congrats, holy cow to the 2nd grandchild of the family. What the heck, that is all pretty surreal that I am a double uncle now. Although I see that everyone had to wait for me to get on the mission before I could teach them the ways of rebellion. Eh, I buried those a while ago I think anyway. We'll see. Good luck Matt and Ashley! That is pretty sweet y'all brought in a new investigator into the world!