Well now that the trunkiness is over I can get back to work! Just kidding, it is always motivating to hear familiar voices on the other line. An interesting comparison was after we were tracting on Sunday and a born again christian was trying to save us from the church of the devil, we then went to church and saw many friendly faces. A couple of nights ago I was reading my patriarchal blessing which I try to at least do weekly. Something in the lines spoke out to me and I was prompted to ask myself a question. What does the gospel mean to me? I thought it strange and it took me some time to come up with a singular answer, but it was a powerful one that taught me a lot. I wrote "The gospel of Jesus Christ has created and improved all of my eternal relationships." I thought it was a pretty powerful teaching.

 

Monday we taught a couple that is living together and it was interesting what happened. I read and asked questions from 3rd Nephi 11 and the spirit was pretty strong. We had a member from the singles branch with us who particularly loved it because he was at one point caught in a hurricane on his mission seeking refuge. It was another great example of how we can seek all refuge in all the storms of life through the Savior. After that we went to family home evening in the branch and basically socialized with a few non members whom I have known for a while. Now remember that socializing to a 20 month old missionary is quite a contrast to anything else...

 

Tuesday was one of the oddest days of my mission but one of the best as well. We had an assistant exchange and both of them came to our area at 10AM so they could see a normal day in the great city of Allen. We had a phenomenal district meeting with 10 missionaries there and 10 spiritual experiences that were very faith promoting. For example, Elder Folau in the area next to ours was out in a rain storm last weekend but they wanted to tract and contact so he said a prayer that the rain would stop. It did. After talking to several people they began to cross a street but it started to rain heavily again so they turned around and headed in a different direction. It stopped raining when they did that and eventually they contacted a man who has already taken the lessons and was still interested. After that it started raining again. Elder Urqhart and I then split off and went contacting when about an hour into it he got a call from president explaining that he needed to get to the airport ASAP to pick up a returning missionary. So we raced to the DFW airport which was a super trippy experience. So many airplanes all really up close to me... We picked up the missionary and took him to the office. President did something simple and remarkable after interviewing him, he pulled out $20 and gave it to him so he would have something good to eat the next couple of days. Awesome.

 

That night we also taught Dina who proved to be one of the best investigators ever. We taught about 13 commandments in 40 minutes which was one of the best lessons ever. When we got to tithing I said my 'missionary speak' by introducing it "one of the greatest blessings of members of the Church of Jesus Christ is contributing to the growth of the kingdom of God..." she then stopped me and said something like 'oh no worries, I am already committed to pay a full tithe.' At the very beginning of the lesson she told us she had to say something. She began by saying how much she has been transformed by the message and that she knows the Book of Mormon is true. Something else she said was when she was at work and really thirsty she bought a mountain dew and took a sip of it, then she realized it had caffeine and threw it away. Remarkably she was no longer thirsty.

 

Wednesday we had a zone leader council in Dallas which is always fun. Elder Rice from Nac is a zone leader above me in Mckinney so we carpooled down and had a lot of fun together. Somehow he convinced me to go to moon's lds bookstore after the meeting and I ended up buying a Porter Rockwell CD... well purchased...

 

Thursday we had our monthly zone council and the missionaries really seemed to love it. We had 3 focuses, revelation through the Book of Mormon, setting and keeping dates, and obedience. Elder Davis and I used Elder Holland's talk Safety for the Soul which really set a tone for the meeting.

 

Friday we had a return appointment with a family that Elder Davis had set up with. The funny thing was when we got to the door and it dawned on me that 2 months earlier I had set something up with the husband that didn't work out but he had something set up with the wife. We got in and taught. It was awesome and funny that I already had been in the home.

 

Saturday Dina was interviewed and passed with flying colors. The district leader was in awe. He asked, for example, what does Joseph Smith mean to you and her response was something like 'he is a prophet that really clarifies what the bible and gospel are.' True indeed. We exchanged back and drove past a couple interesting buildings, they are building and In n' Out which is almost done, a wakeboard park, and just finished cabellas.  I think Allen is where its at!

 

Anyway Sunday was full of church, a couple investigators came. we tracted, ate dinner and talked to our families then hung out with our Bishop until numbers came in. Fantastic.

 

I sure do love y'all and it was great talking to you!

Elder Metcalf