The Grand Finale!

Dearest Family,

I am extremely excited admist all the usual missionary post partum depression.

This week was great even knowing we had many moments full of some adminstrative business. One day in particular we had a member take us out to lunch and afterwords we had to take care of some planning at the apartment. Brother Glenn decided to draw an 8 foot tall picture of Christ on our while that is quite a nice addition. I think it ups the value of our apartment. Last night we stayed at another missionaries apartment who is going home this transfer as well and our talking kept us up a little bit...

ok now on to the goods.

So this area I have done very little tracting in comparsin to all my other areas. We have so many part member families its awesome. Considering it is not a zone leader area the ward lists had yet to really be dived into. We spent many hours actually inside the apartment making phone calls which proved to be really effective. One call we had was a lady who was happy to here from us, then she offered a free haircut which we of course accepted (yes mother, my hair was cut by a pro this time). During the hair cut she told us to come over and baptize her atheist husband and she then signed up for dinner. We went over Monday night and her husband cooked for several hours some amazing ribs which gave a better introduction to my young trainee of what Texas has to offer. During the course of the conversation he explained how he was born catholic, wants to die catholic but does not like the catholic church. One reason is because of how closed off the people tend to be. The spirit bore witness to him throughout the meeting that there is something good coming. Following the dinner I considered who would be good to follow up and meet with them. In ward council on Sunday, Bishop accepted the assignment readily. This catholic man wont stand a chance with that kind of fellowshipper.

We had another dinner wednesday evening with another part member family. We texted them way too late the night before asking if we could eat with them the following night to which she replied "we actually just took a whole turkey out of the freezer for some reason so that works perfect." They ended up feeding 4 missionaries a great meal but again, the spirit was there bearing witness of good things to come.

Tuesday night I gave Sister Harty a call in Allen and we talked awhile because lates face it, she's awesome. Something unique she brought up was a friend of hers that just had a stroke and has been in the hospital for several days. The comment she had was that no priests or people from her church had visited. Sister Harty's observation was that if she had a stroke the ward would probably fill the whole building and always be at their side. For some reason, that story stuck with me out of our 45 minute phone call. Well the next day we had zone conference, while we were there we had a break out that involved some role playing. In one role play a missionary that I used to have in my zone took the part of one of his own investigators who was not coming to church. As we went through the role play he gave me the concerns while pretending to be this investigator. Come to find out she is getting back surgery and is worried about being alone, she wasn't coming to church because she was consulting doctors on a Sunday. The Spirit took over and I bore my witness that when she came to church the members would immediately love her and help her out and be at her side during her times in the hospital so she would feel loved and companionship. That was divine!

Another big highlight was Sunday. We only had a couple investigators show up for sacrament but in between sacrament and gospel principles I somehow ended up on the other side of the church. A member approached me and said "hey someone is here wanting to investigate the church." So I met Jean from Rhwanda. He came to gospel principles and I changed the entire lesson to teaching the Restoration. Following which he recieved a Book of Mormon with a warm grasp of the binding. I was impressed with the member who he sat next to who guided him throughout his whole church experience. They hit it off really well. In priesthood he introduced himself and he had a great story to tell. He is moving from Indiana to Dallas and has come to find a job and prepare the way for the rest of his family. Sunday morning he woke up and felt he needed to go to church. He prayed then did a google search and miraculasly ended up in the Dallas 6th ward and is now investigating. Glorious.

Well dear family, this is the final sign off. The last "y'all"

Top lessons:

Follow the Spirit.

Know that you are a child of God.

Relationships are the things that matter most.

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf