Texas Baby!

Mark's Homecoming

2011-08-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Friends and Family,

Mark's plane arrives in St. George on Saturday, September 3rd at 12:20 p.m.

Mark will report his mission on September 11th at 1:00 p.m. Our church is on Brigham Road.

We appreciate all the support you have given Mark while he was on his mission. It seems that those two years just flown by. He totally embraced his mission and would stay forever if he could. We are so excited to have him home!

We hope to see you there!

The Metcalf Family

The Grand Finale!

2011-08-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

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

2nd to last email

2011-08-23T10:41:00.001-07:00

Thank you for all of your wonderful, yet TRUNKY emails. Yes it is quite fantastic and yes I am excited. I have my trunky moments but mostly I am just nervous half to death. There is some sleep lost over the harsh reality that my perfect world of no work, no school, just complete and total focus on the work of the Savior to invite others to receive the restored Gospel, is about to take a most dramatic turn.

I have had some rather unusual experiences this week that have, quite frankly, tried my patience. We have a companionship in my district (one of which is going home with me) that can not get along! I do not intend to make this a negative report but it is somewhat disturbing how bad they really are. The missionary that is going home is wasting the last few precious moments in anger, jealousy, etc... This is definitely some of the more poignant moments of my mission, so I haven't quite understood why they cant work it out. The zone leaders and I are working with the President to make sure they are mostly separated for the final week of the transfer. It is a rather excellent learning opportunity for me to realize just how much I really need to forget myself to be happy. It is a lesson that I have been learning for 2 years, the more work of the Lord's that I do without my selfish intentions, the more blessed and happy I become. It is just that natural man that we have to fight off.

We had to do a few exchanges this week with this companionship and we had an interesting experience with the one I went with. We were getting food at Braum's and the man in line behind us started to ask us how hot it was doing our work. He then proceeded to do something that even astounded me with boldness. He begin to tell us we weren't Christian and believed in a false Christ. This is an occasional experience being a Texas missionary but it still irritates me. Although my blood boiled a bit I ultimately ended the conversation. I asked myself a few times, why is this church and its missionaries so bombarded? The answers are obvious but I heard a better one the previous evening at a Stake Priesthood meeting. The stake president, while on his mission, had President Faust address him and the missionaries of that particular mission. One missionary asked the same question I had "what are we supposed to do with all this anti garbage?" President Faust responded something like this 'these people continue to shovel manure on the little sapling of our church which will only cause it to grow faster, so let them shovel!' Most excellent.

Wednesday was great, we had some appointments fall through early on in the day and the zone leaders were going to the temple. So hey, we went with them. It was a rather powerful experience. As things progressed, I could feel the power in the room change. The things you do as the endowment continues seem to enable you with more power. The only thing I could think of comparing it to was putting a missionary name tag on. It was awesome.

We had a unique meeting with a less active this week. The spirit was powerful. His wife has separated from him and there were a few tears given as we talked about following the spirit. It is so important to live the Gospel. We got dropped off at the lesson and didn't have any bikes or transportation to get home, which was about 3 miles away so we just started to walk. As we did a man walked out and sat on his door step as we walked past him. We initiated a conversation and it was something that felt like it was straight out of Preach My Gospel. He was asking "why are there so many churches?" "Where is the truth?" "how can I know what the truth is?" and so on. It was fantastic, especially since the missionary I was with was a convert of about 3 years and bore a power house testimony about joining the church.

Another interesting event this week was getting asked to help with a primary class. The teacher gave all the 6 year olds a badge to wear around their neck that read "Jesus Christ loves me." At first I was like, 'oh that's nice' then there was some pretty sweet meaning attached to it. I started a 'church journal' a couple of months ago and so I started taking note of impressions I had as I watched these kids with their badge. The first was "how much different would the world be if everyone wore a badge that said that?" and then I asked, "How much different would I be?" One of the most important lessons I have learned as a missionary is that I am a son of God. How awesome is that?

I love this work.

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-08-22T19:35:00.001-07:00

Why is the Lord transferring me to a different department of service at the peak of my effectiveness?

Thursday night we had an incredible exchange. First of all I did a baptismal interview for a man who had a stroke in recent years and has to use a mobile device that he types on to communicate with others around him. What makes this so significant was about a week earlier a Bihsop in the stake went teaching with the Elders to this man. He felt a strong impression at the end of the lesson to promise that he will be healed after his baptism and confirmation. The Bishop told him and the missionaries that whoever confirms him must rebuke the sickness and disabilities at the time of confirmation. Needless to say, it was a great interview and the whole zone is awaiting the confirmation which is scheduled for this coming Sunday

Following the interview we had a decision to make. Bike the long distance to their home to have dinner or grab something quick to eat. We chose to bike the few miles. It was a good thing too because during the course of dinner, the missionary I was with got a text that a member was coming by to take us to an appointment... that we didnt have. A scheduling conflict was made earlier in the week. The missionary grabbed the phone and texted a former investigator who said yes to us coming over that evening on short notice. We were picked up and headed over. When we got there, I waited for the Spirit's promptings as the member and the investigator shot the breeze. Finally it came...strong. The member we were with began talking about his father who is going to pass away soon due to stomach cancer and how grateful he was for the plan of salvation. We said a prayer and begin teaching this plan of salvation that he was speaking about. After teaching the principle of the Atonement the investigator said "I just want to find a good group of people that I can follow." I asked him to read 2nd Nephi 31:10 and immediately after ask "will you follow the example of the Savior Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God?" His delayed response brought the Spirit in stronger and he replied "yes." I continued "Will you prepare to be baptized on September 10?" another spiritual awakening and another yes. I asked how he felt and he described the spirit in his own way, then the promise came that as you read and pray daily you will have that spirit with you leading you up to your baptism.

We walked out of that lesson fired up but we still had one more. This family that we were about to teach was contacted by another missionary in a parking lot. He said "is it alright if I just give you this mormon.org card?" The man looked back and asked "can I just have that Book of Mormon in your hand?" So they set up an appointment earlier in the week which for some reason fell through. This lesson we were about to have would be their first. We walked in with a strong spirit and began with no 'chewing the fat' conversation. We taught a flawless restoration that went right along perfectly with the questions they were asking. The spirit was awesome. At the end of the lesson the husband felt inclined to tell us that his 8 month pregnant wife was diagnosed with Lupus and she was seeing a few high risk doctors during the pregnancy... Following that statement I felt the impression... give her a blessing of healing. My heart was racing, I have seen almost instant recoverys from the flu and double ear infections, but Lupus? I asked the couple "Do you have faith that Jesus Christ performed miracles?" Their immediate response was yes. I explained a blessing, they accepted the offer and we acted with the power of the priesthood. I will hold off on the details at this point. Following the blessing we invited them to baptism, set a date and left.

The other huge highlight this week was the baptism of the Garpa sons. I dont really need to say much because the picture holds it all that I'll attach. What was great about this was my companion being chose to peform one of the ordinances. He was so excited. I was so happy for him. It was a fantastic thing to see him in white getting ready to step into the font, something I'll never forget my trainer arranging for me some 2 years ago. He only needed to have one try and he did it perfectly. The font was perfect and we gave each other a very wet and heartfelt hug following the ordinances we had just performed. The 2 sons were equally excited as well. The service was perfect.

It was interesting last week and this week when we helped a recent convert water some of his brand new fruit trees in his front yard. I'll never forget when he said "Elder, just think of how grateful future missionaries will be when they are able to eat the fruit of these trees." Then it hit me that although I will only have 6 weeks in this area and take off, by doing the Lord's work I can help this area for the future missionaries that will come through. An example of this was when we were told on Monday that a less active woman and her boyfriend that lives with her were moving in. We worked it out, which they accepted to have dinner by Wednesday. They were wondering why they had bought 4 steaks that day... During the dinner I felt impressed to ask "When are you getting baptized?" He responded after some silence... "as soon as I get the red tape out of the way." Meaning finalizing a divorce and marrying his member girlfriend. That was a fun one to report on Sunday.

I sure do love this work. I nearly had a melt down during dinner when my mind couldnt get the harsh reality of 'life as I know it' is about to take a dramatic turn to some different dimmension. I am excited to continue the missionary experience beyond...

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-08-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

Well this week had its miracles.

One night we split up and I sent Elder Eklund out with a member. I had another member with me just to cover more ground and do some drop bys. My GPS was about to die and I only had a minute to select what member to visit so I chose one nearby, memorized the route and we took off. The funny thing was that I didn't have my master ward list with me with all the notes of people we had already talked to. This member in particular had already told us over the phone that she moved to San Antonio. She had been living with her boyfriend here in the Dallas 6th ward and when we did knock, she just happened to be visiting at that time. Her boyfriend invited us to come in. We shot the breeze for a few moments and come to find out, he is a Navy Seal. We taught an inspired Restoration - quick, clear and attended by the Spirit. It just so happens that he grew up Catholic but wasn't feeling spiritually satisfied. Turns out the member I was with joined the church less then 2 years ago with the same Catholic background, they connected very well.

That night it was so awesome to reconnect with Elder Eklund and close the evening out. He taught a couple lessons, one to a returning inactive family who has 2 sons that will be baptized this coming Saturday and another young man we found 'on a prayer.' The night before we only had an hour to go finding so Elder Eklund offered a prayer to find a new investigator. Before we could make one full pedal of the bicycle we were teaching a 17 year old on his apartment stairs in our same complex. While we were teaching him, the young man who Elder Eklund was teaching on splits walked out and invited us to come in. He was so excited to hear a quick message of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. We set up the appointment for the following night, which my companion went to without me and set a baptismal date with him. He was so fired up when we reconvened. It was fun to see the light glow from him as he described his experience and setting his first baptismal date.

Later in the week we went back over to teach our Navy Seal friend. We followed up on his reading and praying which went very well. He gave a flawless summary of Alma 32 and recognizes that the answer is within the Book of Mormon. We then taught him a flawless, clear Plan of Salvation lesson in about 8 minutes which he understood well. He had very inspiring questions. He did tell us at the end of that lesson he needed some time to study more on his own so we didn't have an opportunity to set up a return appointment. Is it any wonder why the Lord had us teach these 2 unexpected lessons, especially the Plan of Salvation, the day before he lost many friends in a tragic helicopter accident...

Another large highlight this week was another scheme of the Elder Metcalf making. The Nesmith's from Frisco took us out to lunch, good heavens they are so awesome. The whole lunch was basically an exchange of faith promoting spiritual experiences. Not too mention we were eating delicious BBQ... They still haven't sold their home since its been on the market for the past couple months, but when they do they will be moving to Vegas. Thank heavens! I have a feeling they will get the home sold around the end of August and the beginning of September...

That same day we did some biking after dinner to hopefully connect with some individuals. On the way back I felt like we needed to go down a particular street. The natural man fought the feeling because it was the end of the night, the 30th day or so in a row of 100+ heat, etc... But I pumped myself up enough to turn around and bike the street. The first person we spoke to was actually a member of the Spanish branch that needed help. So we got the Spanish missionaries on the phone and the next day they were over there helping. Fantastic...

Thursday shall be a cut short report, we biked 23 miles. I think I was looking for George Bush's home which is rumored to be in the area... Oh yes, and some drop bys and tracting. It was good for me to 'build character' by biking that much.

We had several non-members and less actives to church on Sunday. One I'll mention, was the family of the 2 boys that are getting baptized Saturday. The husband and wife were separated, he was about to lose his home and job but then he jumped back into the Gospel a few months ago. Sunday the whole family walked in. I immediately looking at Bishop Robertson who began to cry because he was so happy. The family is what its all about.

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-08-03T20:04:00.001-07:00

Focus

Trunky

Again, an incredible week amidst all the administrative meetings this church puts us through. We never left to go work before 2pm this week which is rather tough on the spirit. However miracles always happen in the work of the Lord!

Saturday was by far the highlight. My diabolical plan succeeded with the Harty's. It just so happens that Elder Moses who spent 10 months in their ward and I were on exchanges. I then received permission to go to Mike's baptism in Allen and got the Harty's involved. They picked us up and it was a sweet reunion. The Baptism was most excellent. The simple fact that it is the first investigator that I have ever knocked on the door, taught all the lessons to and then saw baptized really had a profound effect on me. Granted I've tracted out people that have been baptized, but not like this. The spirit was strong. He asked me to speak on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. My preparation for talks include prayer and pondering but no writing other then looking at the organization of it (you always need preparation!) I told the story of how uncle Jame's, me and my cousins went through Checkerboard canyon and it was sort of a nightmare when at the half way point it was dark and we still had a huge cliff to descend. But the fact that our wonderful Uncle prepared by bringing flashlights saved us and that was where I took the comparison of how we leave the pre earth life where it is perfectly bright, descend into a world of unknown obstacles and how the Holy Ghost will light and direct our path when it does finally become totally dark. I do not boast of myself but I boast of my God as Ammon would say.

Elder Davis had the privilege of baptizing him. It was perfect form and Sunday he was confirmed a member of the church. I'll never forget several months ago being in that area tracting and feeling that something was down there, a work for us to do. Definitely a sweet experience. He went through a lot to make that baptism happen. Overcoming smoking since he was 8 for one...

This week I parked Elder Eklund in front of the ward list with the phone and we have been going through all 24 pages of the ward roster trying to find families that are prepared to be completed. Elder Eklund has the new missionary magic touch, when he calls he either has a great conversation with them for a while even if they are not interested or sets up a return appointment. He set up one particular appointment with a 25 year old and his girlfriend who we are now teaching. He wants to be reactivated and needs a lot of support. He let us right into his home and was excited to have us there. He even gave us $50 in Sonic cash. Take your pick at which is the spiritual highlight. And yes, that was the first person Elder Eklund called. Whereas most of the people I call are angry or the numbers are bad.

We have a man in the ward, Brother Davis that is phenomenal. He has really caught the Spirit of the Gospel. He was baptized 8 months ago but is even more on fire then he was then. For example: He walks into to church about 40 minutes early and drops his family off, he goes and picks up a Hindu acquaintance from work and brings him to church (he loved it) following church he took his Hindu friend home and then took my companion and I out to teach another coworker of his. Earlier in the week he also took us to visit his neighbor. He is bold and loves the Spirit. Crimeny, he is a better missionary than most of us!

Anyway, it was a good experience to have because with limited time I can look forward to continue being a missionary. We should never let that spirit fail!

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

The Big D

2011-07-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Lord has placed me in the Dallas 6th ward. I have a brand new missionary, Elder Eklund from Manticka California. Most the members have asked the standard questions, the most funny being "how long have you two been out?" I answer "about 2 years" and Elder Eklund answers "about 2 days." We are in a bike area and I think I am getting used to the 110 degree temperature, seriously. It cools down to a balmy 95 in the evening so we don't sweat or collect humidity as much. I takes about 60-90 minutes to get to each end of our area on bikes so I am considering the $65 monthly bus pass (I have a wonderful mother who taught me well in NYC).

I'll get the little interesting fact out first and then continue with the miracles. So the area had the Spanish missionaries cover it sparingly for 4 weeks and during the first day I flipped through the area book with the many teaching records embedded inside when lo and behold my jaw drops when I see who used to cover D6, yes, Hermana Barber. She is definitely a legend down here, we had Bishop Robertson over the first night to identify some families to go check out and he said something to the effect of "we have had some great missionaries down here, have you ever heard of that one Sister... Sister Barber?" Oh yes, and church on Sunday we had a Brother get up and talk about "many great people, like Katie Barber [and others], that have helped me stay on the right path."

I don't stand a chance!

Saturday was a huge mission highlight. We were in the mission office earlier in the week (about a mile and a half from my apartment) and I ran into President and obtained by stratagem permission to go to Tony's and Hardy's baptisms. I managed to get a hold of Brother Holbrook in the Allen YSA to come pick me up. We first went to Garland for Hardy's baptism where I had the opportunity to speak on the gift of the Holy Ghost since the original speaker had a family emergency. Hardy's baptism was a huge miracle and blessing to see. We strive to set baptismal dates on the first lesson in the mission but they rarely go through on the projected date but Hardy's did. It's especially a miracle since he was not Christian before he started reading the Book of Mormon. It was awesome to give him a big hug and to witness that baptism.

Then it was onward ever onward to my former home, the Allen building. We showed up and met Tony there. We conversed for a while then we both had to change. I was a bit worried considering his baptism was at 4, and when we went into change at 3:55 there was about 5 people in attendance. Then when we popped out, in true Mormon YSA fashion there was about 60. The talks were great. One lady, a member coworker who had been working with Tony for 7 years never thought this day would happen but it didn't surprise her because of the great heart he has. That was truly another miracle since he has been investigating for a while now. It was great to be part of that group for a couple hours.

We do have a 10 year boy that will be baptized in August in the Dallas 6th ward. He is a genius! At the first meeting we had with him I asked what he had learned so far and I think he explained the Plan of Salvation in better terms then I could. He is a stud. He loves primary and church, something I wish I knew what I had at his age.

We had a part member family show up to church that was rather unexpected according to some church members. We got to teach them later that afternoon. They are central American so when she asked if we had a dinner already and I said yes, they fed us anyway. I was quite funny considering the member that took us to the appointment was the one that would be feeding us. The man who is not a member, in my opinion, feels the truth of the Gospel but doesn't seem willing to make the commitments. Besides that, if Sister Barber couldn't baptize him...

Elder Eklund's 2nd day here, we had quite the experience. We were tracting 'by the spirit' and he picked a door. We got into it without hesitation and taught an extremely powerful restoration. He accepted baptism and the spirit made a couple big promises to him. Sadly he is 17 and his family told him never to speak to us again. He knows. He knows the truth and the major seed has been planted.

We have been doing lots and lots and lots of tracting and many member stop bys. I really feel this crazy dying missionary urge to 'find that family I am supposed to find' feeling. They don't tell you where you are going when you get a transfer call but I knew I would be coming here, to this exact area and I have strong feelings about it. My suitcases remain unpacked (then again, what is the point of unpacking them?), there is a work to do. Too much time has been wasted!

I sure do love y'all!

Elder Metcalf

2011-07-21T00:09:00.001-07:00

Why is it that when you see the finish line you figure out how to run the race?

It seems like all 22 1/2 months are just preparation for the final 6 weeks. I am way excited.

We have been doing a lot more 'following the spirit' in our finding. One night we had about 15 minutes before an appointment so we said a prayer that we could find someone to teach in 12. We started walking around the block until we felt like knocking on a door. At 10 minutes into it I was on the doorstep of a guy who wasn't interested. Once that contact was done we honed into one house and marched over to it. A couple answered with their 4 year old son with them and of course, accepted a return appointment.

Another experience was when we had about 30 minutes before a dinner in the family ward. So Elder Hong said the prayer and felt like asking to find a young single adult. We got out and started walking around knocking on whatever we felt like. I remember saying "lets knock 1206, I'm feelin' it!" but they weren't interested and sent us away after giving us some water bottles. Eventually we were walking around on some random bike trails until we ended up on another street. Finally we rounded the block and were back to where we started and there he was, the YSA. At first when we began talking to him he wasn't interested, then the spirit took off and we explained what the Book of Mormon was, then gave him one and set up an appointment. During that conversation we got a phone call....

It was President giving me a transfer call. At first he said I was being transferred then said I'm being doubled into an area then he said I was training then he said I would be a district leader. Yikes! Actually I am super excited. In my interview with President Durrant a couple of weeks ago when I asked if I could end my mission in Allen I knew that it wouldn't be so, but that wherever and whatever would happen would be right. It is a dream to be a district leader trainer opening an area to tell you the truth. I just don't have time to waste!!!

I'll leave the area with 4 people with baptismal dates who are all doing extremely well. Hardy is the one who converted to Christ after the experience reading Alma 7. He called me Sunday to say hi and talk for a bit and is excited for his baptism. Then there is Quinton who we had a miracle with last week. Then Tony the YSA who is right on board with being baptized on Saturday. As well as Mike who is bound and determined to be baptized in July. He quit smoking entirely for this! He asked me in our last meeting, "is there anything else to give up or is this it?" I assured him that he had been through enough amazing changes but that the changes would always keep coming.

Well the goodbyes continue to get tougher and it was hard to say anything other then see ya later. But it is exciting to have more love for the people and I am super excited to have another area with more loving goodness.

I am jealous of the trip to see the Smith's homecoming. That is awesome you got to go.

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-07-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well it is a bit interesting to hear "you'll be speaking in sacrament on Sept. 11 but dont get trunky." and I'll leave it at that...

This week was awesome. Tuesday I had a huge mission highlight when we met President Durrant. We got to the meeting one hour early because it was at our stake center and while we were setting up chairs he walked in. You could definately feel the mission president's presence. We had about 45 missionaries in our group and we basically hung on to every sylabol that he would utter. At the beginning of his meeting he read page 148 of preach my gospel and asked for a volunteer to role play a one minute message with him. There was silence for a seconds before the spirit worked on me enough that before I knew it I was role playing with our new mission president in front of the other missionaries. I dont care how long I've been out, that was a bit nerve racking! It went well though and it played and important role later. Our zone stayed after lunch for interviews that afternoon. I was the final interview of the day. It was the most powerful interview I have had and he paid me some wonderful compliments. I walked in and he said 'of course your a zone leader' referring to the example of the role play interview. He said some other things that were quite unique but I'll leave them to my journal rather then the world knowing. It was awesome. He is a phenomenol leader which got me very excited yet extremely depressed that I only have a short time with him here in the TDM... A missionary did end up asking him a basketball question and he talked about how when he was younger he watched Julius Irving play basketball, his hero. Then, years later he was playing against him in the NBA. I have full confidence in our mission president.

We had a great find last week as well. Elder Hong and I were in our nightly planning session and I introduced 'process of elimination' to him. We each pick 10 streets without the other one knowing what we are choosing. Then we take the pool of 20 streets, we each pick 5 and whatever streets match up, we knock. Well within the initial choosing of 10 streets I felt very impressed about a street next to Bishop Thomas' home. Turns out when we showed each other the streets we had picked, Elder Hong had the same street on his list. It was obvious we needed to go there. We also picked 7pm as the time to go. When we got there we saw a family outside and we approached them. They knew Bishop pretty well and quickly agreed to an appointment. We told Bishop about it that night, turns out he has had similar impressions about that same family and has spent the last 4-6 weeks improving their relationship. We teach them tonight with Bishop so I am excited. If they cancel, I will die.

A big event of sadness happened on Thursday when we turned Hardy over to the missionaries in his area. He had totally converted to Christianity and is dead set on baptism this month since we started meeting with him. We taught in a member's home in his area and I nearly lost it. It was then that while everyone was waiting for my direction that I heard a little voice 'this is it, you are at the height of your mission and it is about to be over.' That was difficult. Hardy came to the branch on Sunday anyway though.

Some other highlights were sharing mission experiences with most of the active members lessons we had, they are quite inspiration and you definately find the spirit when you are creative in how you perform missionary work. Sure do love the miracles.

Well it is fun to hear the lake stories from the family. However, I think the jealousy remains on your side of the court...

With love to y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-07-06T22:07:00.001-07:00

Another interesting week from your favorite favorite in Texas.

We had a unique experience at the beginning of the week. We taught a Muslim teenager who we think is interested in the Gospel. Following that appointment we dropped off one of his friends, wrapped around the corner and saw a group of young teenagers playing basketball. My instant reaction was to pull over and challenge them to a game. The deal was that if we won they had to get baptized. We got started in our proselyting clothes and they proceeded to destroy us, it was quite embarrassing. After playing with them they all started asking questions about the church. We aren't exactly allowed to teach without parent permission but their questions were awesome "How can I know your church is true?" "How do I get baptized?" "How can I know when God is talking to me?" It was definitely a major seed that was planted.

The next day was a big highlight. We picked up a YSA last week who we committed to baptism. He was pretty awesome yet had no christian background so we left him the introduction as well as Alma 7 testifying of Christ. On our follow up appointment, we asked about his experience. He told us how he had to read it several times to grasp an understanding of it but when he did, he knew it was true and now believes in Christ. Thank you Book of Mormon. It was quite remarkable how fast that conversion occurred yet the Lord was willing to make the process speedy through the provided tools.

One evening this week, Elder Hong chose a street to tract that I had already knocked before (I have been in Allen a while). What was interesting was when we were about to tract it we received a call from our ward mission leader who asked us to give a member a blessing since he was in a position that wouldn't allow him to do so. Where did she live? The street Elder Hong had chosen. It was a great blessing.

Our baptismal date, Tony is doing awesome. He was interviewed this week and passed with flying colors. He says he has been feeling the spirit a lot lately and continues to attend all the activities of the branch more than most active members. He did have to move his date back two weeks because of conflicts of schedules. It only has me a little worried... However he is still awesome and solid.

An odd but great experience was when we took the oldest son of the Fox family to lunch with us (the one who has yet to be baptized). One Elder tried to call Sister Harty to invite her but she didn't answer so I said "watch, she loves me the most." I gave her a ring and yes, she answered and came to lunch. I bought her a taco which was nothing since she found out we were 'dinnerless' for the night and fed us that evening. Following lunch, we played checkers with the Fox son for a bit and I gave him a mock baptismal interview to see where he was at. He did pretty well, just needs help with Joseph Smith. Since he lives in the other Elders area it has been a coordinated effort to help him out. They did pick him up for church yesterday and Elder Treasure told him to bear his testimony. He did. And I heard it was awesome.

I conducted a baptismal interview on Friday and it is always a divine experience. I love seeing people completely ready to go and be prepared. I have the interview memorized so we basically talked about the Gospel and his testimony the whole time without him really knowing it was an interview. I have noticed something awesome with most interviews I do though, there is always a connection with dates. I interviewed him on July 1st (mom's birthday) and his mom was born on Dad's birthday. In another interview the couple had been married on May 15th (my birthday and the restoration of the priesthood). Awesome to see some of God's little micro managing skills, he is the greatest!

Saturday Dina's parents took us out to dinner. It was a great experience but they called us by our first names the whole time which made us laugh. It was so strange. We talked about everything from the Gospel to NASA and Mom and Dad meeting them in September.

Sunday we had a unique 'casual miracle' as I would call it. We picked back up some investigators Elder Hall and I found while we were sick of our apartment, had the flu and in an ice storm. We taught her at 11:30 and finally got out of there at 1245, 15 minutes before church. She said "I think I'll come today" while holding a tiny newborn (8 weeks old) and her husband was in the bathroom. We kind of brushed it off but as sacrament started she walked in and sat next to us! It was a "Hey good to see you again." In a non-shalant way and then the meeting ensued. It was awesome. Goes to show some people are just craving the spirit no matter how much you believe them or not.

Anyway hopefully mom enjoys my card (it is similar to another one I have sent) Sure do LOVE YOU mother and hope you had a perfect birthday, Sounds like the Lord provided an answer to a prayer I gave Thursday night. "Please give my mom some great water to ski on for her birthday."

With tons of love,

Elder Metcalf

Jubilee!

2011-07-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

I had a really awesome week so I will just get right into the goods.

First of all, Friday and Saturday we had to go down to the Garland events center for the Texas Jubilee and youth conference. (Which was funny because a stake president mentioned that the youth of the 11 stakes in the mission have been practicing and putting this together for 2 years since August 2009.) They had the missionaries involved in one of the numbers so we had to practice on Friday then stick around all day and all night Saturday for the performances. I called it 'paid vacation' time as a missionary. What really made it special (other then my singing) was all the reunions. It was another Ammon like moment when he passed out from getting so excited meeting Alma again. This church is all about reunions. After our first rehearsal we had a couple of hours to kill so I convinced one missionary who wanted a picture with President and Sister Smith to chase them down before they took off. As soon as we walked out one particular door with the Smith's, we ran right into Bishop Nicholas of the Nacogdoches first ward. We talked for literally 2 hours waiting around for my next cue. It was awesome! Friday and Saturday I crossed paths with tons of the Nac youth which nearly put us in tears. When one of them saw me he screamed "MEEETTTTCALLFFF!" and chased me down for a hug.

Another tender mercy was during the 2nd performance on Saturday. They had ushers right above where we were sitting for the Jubilee and who was the volunteer usher that was right above me? None other then Brother Mcdonough of the Frisco 2nd ward (if you are questioning who he is, he is the member who has provided me with the most powerful spiritual experience on the mission.) We spoke with each other for an hour until the next performance began which was yet another spiritual experience and something that I needed to hear.

So needless to say there are some pictures attached.

Sunday night was awesome. We went over to Summer's house and talked with her for a long time and then spoke with her oldest son McKinnon who did not get baptized with the family. He now has a date for July 16th so pray your hearts out for him. He did have a huge concern though, he said "I am not going to wear one of those white jumpsuits! No way."

Friday we had a lesson with Tony who is getting baptized in July which was an awesome experience. He said he had been feeling the spirit pretty heavily lately and knew he was doing the right thing. He used my example of the 'learning the voice of the Lord' and said it worked perfect for his situation so he feels he is on the correct path now.

Sunday morning we had an appointment which we set up at the Slavens. I have taught in their home so many stinkin' times that when we walked in with Brother Slavens he told his wife "Hey we're having a discussion here in 5 minutes, just a heads up." We taught a YSA named Hardy the restoration and set a baptismal date with him in July.

We taught Mike a couple of times this week and then he met with Bishop Thomas on Saturday. He has stopped smoking for the first time in 40 years. He is ready for baptism but his job is making him work odd hours on Sunday while his sister is out of town. Normally I would think this is Satan's doing but considering the drastic changes in his life he has been making, he may need a little more time to fully feel he is doing the right thing with all the chemicals exiting his body. He is incredible. "Oh yes, I have a testimony which is strong about this truth" he says.

A huge highlight this week was with a part member family. We had a dinner at a active member's home and she invited them over to eat with us. What I enjoy about being in areas forever is that you develop relationships with just about everyone so there was nothing really awkward about the dinner. However the active mother had a son who was being tortured with a double ear infection. We offered a blessing after the meal which she accepted. The poor kid struggled heavily so we made it quick. I sealed the anointing and said a sentence "you will be comforted very soon." Well later in the week we ran into the part member lady at the gas station who approached us and said "about 10 minutes after you left he was healed."

Glorious.

I love you to pieces,

Elder Metcalf

2011-06-21T22:27:00.003-07:00

We had a very memorable week in the Texas Dallas Mission.

Our zone continues to take off so I am excited about that. Monday night we taught Anthony again who's mom is against the church. We listed the concerns he had about getting baptized and there was only one other one besides his mom which was callings. He was under the impression that when he got baptized it meant that he would commit to a 2 year mission to the church. Just kind of goes to show that we have a different vocabulary than most that can get confusing. His mom went to work this Sunday so he snuck out of the house and came to church (although he did have to leave early to beat his mom home). We had a lot of fun together.

A highlight this week was after specialized training I went to Melissa/Farmersville for exchanges. They had a 14 year old girl there who had been attending church for 2 years but had just received permission from her mom to be baptized. Elder Sullenberger and I went to a members home, taught her all the lessons and then I interviewed her in the shortest baptismal interview I have ever conducted. When I asked "What does it mean to you that President Monson is a prophet?" She replied "Well, every time I hear his voice or read his words, I am happy...It's the spirit." She was baptized Saturday night which went extremely well.

We have been teaching a young man named Tony for a couple weeks now who is preparing for baptism in July. He has been attending church for quite sometime now but needed a little extra loving boldness to get his baptismal engine turned on. We taught the plan of salvation on Wednesday by getting a white board, drawing it all out and briefly going over it. We kept the lesson to about 14 minutes yet he seemed to understand more about the plan once we were finished, than most. I have definitely grown a testimony of simplifying everything I teach into basic sentences to allow the Holy Ghost to work more effectively. He came to church on Sunday and loves the branch. In Elders Quorum, a few members were sharing 'missionary experiences' which he got a laugh at, since he is one.

That night we also taught a less active who hasn't been to church in years. I felt inspired to turn the pages to Luke 19. It seems whenever I or another missionary struggles that the best antidote is to tell them who they are! "You are a daughter/son of God for crying out loud!" I was reading the verses and it was another one of those experiences where you could tell when occasionally the Holy Ghost would step in and add something. I could probably count experiences as profound as that on one hand but they seem to be occurring more rapidly as I endure to the end. We had lunch with her Sunday then she came to church.

Friday we had an assistant exchange. They said that they were down for anything I had in mind as far as our regular work and helping out other missionaries, so I got creative. The assistants both have phones and each companionship has one phone so I organized a "phone blitz" in a particular, missionaries area, because the work was slow and a companion had just broke his foot. Elder McHardy gathered together about 100 numbers while we called all of them setting up many appointments. It turned out much more effective then tracting in the hot sun in the early afternoon in suburbia.

Tuesday was extremely heart wrenching. It was our final meeting as missionaries with President Smith. When we got there and he walked into the room on time and started the meeting, we stood up out of respect as usual but there was a great reverent tone about it. Sister Smith gave her training and promised not to blubber then the assistants gave theirs. After that it was our beloved mission president's turn to take the pulpit for the final time addressing the missionaries in Dallas. He spoke on 10 specific points of how we could be most effective in the Lord's hands, essentially, a summed up training of his 3 years in Texas. It was phenomenal. Then he gave his testimony which was the most sure and excellent I had ever heard. He had to stop and leave us all in silence every few sentences to hold back tears. Then with his amen we began the closing hymn, 'The Spirit of God.' President and Sister Smith couldn't sing, but the missionaries in the chapel sounded like we had angels in the background. Towards the end of the 3rd verse each row, one by one, began to stand up. At the 4th verse, the Smith's were up as well. The final hymn, the final prayer. I doubt there was a dry eye in the room. The missionary giving the closing prayer had struggled in the past with President but couldn't withhold tears. It was a tough mission conference. Then they went to the back and we hugged President and Sister Smith at parting.

Sure do Love Y'all

Elder Metcalf

P.S. watch the trunky comments... I have enough to worry about knowing the exact hour mom has me walking off the plane.

2011-06-21T22:27:00.001-07:00

Howdy y'all!

I received my new companion Tuesday and I was about as excited as receiving a package from friends or family. His name is Elder Hong (half Chinese) from Blackfoot, Idaho so he knows how to work hard. This week he has already proven to be quite the inspired leader and we have had an abundant amount of success.

One reason I thought I would be transferred is because the zone had one single baptismal date. This week we have 15 throughout the stake that are mostly solid. So already we are getting back on track.

Monday night went well, Elder Davis and I taught our last lesson together to a young man named Anthony who would like to be baptized but his mom is currently putting the ax on that decision. We made a few visits to Summer Fox and family and Bishop Thomas before wrapping up the evening.

Tuesday was transfer meeting and I think President was doing his best to avoid the fact that it was his last one. It lasted a couple of hours with some instruction from President and many departing missionaries as well as several companionship's getting changed up in the mission. I was excited to see who would be trusted in leadership when the new President gets installed in a few weeks. Should be interesting.

Elder Hong and I then got back to Allen, got some In-n'-out, helped out a few of the new missionaries then went out knocking. We were feeling one particular complex and a certain building so we went to work. We passed by one door and a few minutes later Elder Hong said "we need to knock 821." So we went back down but I left out the detail of telling Elder Hong that behind door #821 resided a Do Not Contact family. We knocked anyway and got in and spoke with the father who wants to get back into the church but is struggling because his wife was somewhat offended over something a while ago.

Another miracle was getting into the home again of the couple Elder Hall and I found during the ice storm. It had been about 3 months and she had her baby in May (the 17th to be exact, cousin Brad.)

Wednesday we met with Michael who is determined to quite smoking and be baptized this coming Saturday. We redid our calendar with him and made sure he understood just how quickly the baptism was coming. We had a few more unique moments, for example, when I asked how his reading in the Book of Mormon was coming along he responded in a similar way from last week "Terrible! I only am able to get in 20 minutes a day. I don't want to put it down."

Elder Hong continued his wave of inspiration by choosing a street to knock that I didn't recognize at first which was odd because the 5th ward is tiny and I have been here forever. I finally figured out why my memory was clouded because we had already knocked that street 5 months prior. Oddly enough, we started knocking it again and getting the same results. Nothing! Until...(once again I didn't inform Elder Hong that we were about to knock on a door of a part member family that I have been trying to get into for several months) we knocked and got in for an hour. It was another strange coincidence where they just happened to be home in the afternoon.

Thursday was toe chopping day. I had my ingrown toe nail removed which threw my grove off for a few hours. We did have a lesson right after the 'nail surgery' which we went to and had a great meeting. It was the lady we taught on Monday morning last week who wants to be baptized but her current living situation doesn't allow it.

Another big highlight was eating lunch with Elder Hall, his family and Summer Fox. It was an awesome reunion. His stake president released him over the phone so he was back to normal (however not adjusted) and when we parted ways we both laughed and said "see you in a couple months."

Friday we had a zone council with the new and improved Allen zone. It was powerful I believe because each Elder was assigned a Christlike attribute to train on and it was very well thought out. I got sick of the standard 'stand up in front train' format so we got in a circle and had a pow wow to make it more friendly and open. That day we also set another baptismal date with a lady named Katrine from Nigeria. Should be good.

Saturday we set a date with a young single adult named Tony who had been attending church in Plano for a couple months. Get this, it was Elder Hong's last area so he had already taught him before. We got the referral and it was funny how it all worked out.

Sunday was an incredible day. We had all our people who committed to church, come. Vivian who wants to be baptized came to church with a broken knee cap. Anthony snuck out of his home so he could attend the branch. Tony was picked up by a cute YSA girl (no more comment will be made) and Mike came with his granddaughter Alexis who ran to her teacher and gave her a giant hug during sacrament. Dina also taught gospel principles and nailed right on the head what our investigators needed.

Sure do Love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-06-14T17:52:00.001-07:00

2011-06-06T21:05:00.001-07:00

So Saturday was transfer calls night and yes the assistants did call us. Elder Davis answered the phone so I walked over with my hand held out ready to receive the transfer notice...

Nope, I will stay in Allen for another 6 weeks! So I will be here as long as I had been in Nac. Wild. Considering I only have 12 weeks left, it could be a interesting run for the gold.

So just a funny highlight before I dive into the miracles. I have become a coupon shopper under the education of our Bishop's wife. We do numbers and send in reports every Sunday night at the Bishop's home and its only a one man job that Elder Davis always volunteers for so I get to chat it up with the Thomas family. His wife got me hooked on the stuff. Last week I bought a gallon of milk and 3 boxes of cereal for $1.46 and this week it looks like I'll be getting proglide razors for 89 cents. I am also working on a deal right now to get crest advanced whitening strips and am currently up to $15 off so far... Anyways...

Every Monday we have been teaching a 19 year old whose mom absolutely hates the church. He told his best friend who is a member that he would love to be baptized except he doesn't have the means to move out, get a car, etc... So we meet with him again tonight and are hoping for the best. Someday he will be baptized so it is not a matter of if, but when.

Tuesday we had the most powerful zone leader council ever. It was President and Sister Smith's last one so they went out in apostolic style if I do say so myself. President Smith read out of the Book of Alma and compared himself to Heleman overseeing the stripling warriors. It took him some time to really get through it because he thoroughly considers us his sons. It was awesome. One of the Assistants is going home this cycle and he bore a testimony that really touched me. He was in a lesson and at the beginning he was talking about what missionaries do but when its all over he will go home and be a regular person. Well the zone leader that he was on exchanges with corrected him and said "we will go home and continue to serve God." It was awesome...

Wednesday I opted to give a training in a district meeting. I need it! I spoke on how missionaries need to act as angels sent from God and to develop the required Christlike attributes. I am at the point where it took 5 minutes to give a 20 minute training. I recorded it on the voice recorder so maybe I'll try to send it home on a disc. We will see, there are still some embarrassing moments. I really think that the reason I felt I needed to give that training was because I am lacking in the 'acting as an angel' department.

Friday we had a discussion with our next baptism, Mike. It is getting a bit intense because he was scheduled to be baptized this coming Saturday and he would do it and wants to do it except his coffee addiction is smack dab in the way. He had spent the night before our lessons cruising on lds.org for 6 hours so I think we will be ok. Please keep him in your prayers.

Saturday was unique. We drove up to Mckinney in the evening for dinner with a missionary who is going home on Wednesday. We had a great relationship the whole time we were around one another so it is pretty surreal to see him depart. We had 3 COR baptisms in our ward and were invited by a family because they had many non-members there. It was a great interactive experience.

Sunday we had a few non-members show up to church, which we got return appointments with. One being a man named Jose who has been taking lessons from the spanish missionaries for months. At the end of church I started to get to know him but then went into missionary mode and taught him about how God knows him, then committed him to live the word of wisdom, then ask God if the Book of Mormon is true, and then be baptized. He readily agreed which was pretty awesome.

The branch also threw a big party for Dina's birthday which was awesome so Elder Davis got to say bye to her.

This morning we taught a lady who loves the church. She easily committed to baptism but was a bit saddened at the fact that she has to marry or move out of her boyfriend's place before that happens. I think the spirit will work with her pretty well.

During ward council in the branch we have a high councilor assigned who always attends. While waiting for tardy leaders we shot the breeze about Metcalf mortuary. His dad was Robert L Simpson who was a GA whom dad took care of their funeral. They liked it so much that they had dad take care of his wife's funeral as well. Pretty cool....

Another huge highlight is for mom. If you recall about 15 months ago I reported a story about a girl in Nac that started taking the lessons after I approached her with the famous green eggs and ham. She did drop us shortly after the 3rd lesson because of some angst from her family. A couple weeks ago she went to church in Nac and told the missionaries she was now ready to be baptized...

Well Love y'all so much.

Elder Metcalf

2011-05-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

Dina had the best baptism ever! And yes, I should clarify a bit on that, just like Jody had the best baptism ever or Felipe and Vanessa did because it was their baptism.

It was a pretty powerful experience. For the talk on a baptism we had a former Bishop draw tears from half of the crowd of 50 or so people. Then a couple of Sisters sang the best song ever "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain..." and she was then baptized by brother Slavens. Following the actual ordinance, President Smith who came in behalf of President Wright, spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Extremely spiritual. About halfway through the talk he looked directly at Dina and said that tomorrow when she would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, she would feel it immediately. I wish I would have remembered the exact words because the next day she was confirmed. I was asked by Dina to do the confirmation and I felt very impressed about specific promises throughout the day leading up to the ordinance. She approached me during the break between sacrament and class and said to me 'Elder Metcalf I just wanted to let you know I felt it when I was confirmed yesterday, I felt the burning when I received the Holy Ghost.' Tell me that is some superior evidence of Heavenly Father's love. In my journal I wrote just how grateful I was for His love for me as well as Dina's outstanding example with her choices and that I could be a part of this event.

Monday evening we had a remarkable lesson with a YSA who we started teaching a couple of weeks ago. We followed up with his reading and praying then taught the plan of salvation in about 20 minutes. It is amazing to see his recognition of the spirit because he has all but borne his testimony that he knows its true. The difficult thing is that if his mom found out he was meeting with us or even that he had a book of mormon in his possession then he would be kicked out of his home and disowned by his family. He said something that indicated his faith that he would be ok with that because he knows that he would be doing what God would want him to do.

I had a bit of a scare this week when I had a difficult time getting a hold of Mike who is getting baptized in June into the 5th ward. I was worried that something or some concern was causing an avoidance however much to my relief we finally got a hold of him late in the week and his testimony of the church and the book of mormon is still strong and outstanding, He just wishes his wife would quit having so many concerns and get into the church with him. He came to church yesterday and brought his granddaughter Alexis who absolutely loved everything about church attendance. She is 6 years old and while she was in sharing time during primary she wrote a note to her teacher Sister Deaver and said ' You are the best teacher ever.' Now there is no chance that with that 6 year old angel in the home they will be on board with coming to church a lot more consistently throughout their lives.

Another random highlight this week would of course go directly to Steven. Tuesday night the same storms that wrecked Missouri went right through the middle of our mission. There were tornado sirens everywhere screaming at us. We were supposed to exchange back from Greenville but the assistants soon informed us that every missionary needed to be inside immediately. We had some missionaries locked down in members homes until 10pm until this massive thunderstorm gave some mercy. The location we were at in Mckinney was clear but you could look south and see lightning bolt after lightning bolt destroying downtown Dallas. It was awesome! Our branch mission leader had us at his house until we were given the clear to get home while the storm was more calm then usual. Of course he detoured to In-N-Out on the way back and we picked up a shake then we got home and were safe and sound.

Sure do love Y'all!!! take care and it is great to hear the missionary work.

Elder Metcalf

2011-05-18T14:14:00.003-07:00

Holy Cow (in remembrance of the birthday card mom got me) I am 23 years old! I actually forgot about my birthday yesterday until studies when I checked the phone. That was a bit strange. It was great though, to be in the mission field adding an extra year is quite an honor.

So anyway Dina's baptism was rescheduled until the 28th of this month which was a bit heartbreaking. She is still golden but something with coordinating schedules messed it up until a couple weeks later.

Another big piece of news was a man that we tracted out when Elder Davis first got here accepted a baptismal date and came to church on Sunday. The lesson with him setting the date was awesome, I thought for a moment the Preach My Gospel training DVD film crew was on us. It was one of those lessons that made all the tracting worth it. We found out he has been reading the Book of Mormon 5-10 minutes everyday and knows it to be true. He actually apologized that he didn't read more often. I had a huge smile on my face. So we set the date, the spirit was strong and we left. He really enjoyed church on Sunday as well.

I cant believe I am going to write about this but... on Tuesday Elder McHardy and I waited 90 minutes in line for a special event. The grand opening of the first In-n-out in Texas. We talked to about a thousand people while in line but I think I felt the spirit while sinking my teeth into the double double. So we became the first Texas Mormon missionaries to eat there. Yes... that is going to be one of my spiritual highlights.

On Saturday we had a very unique contacting experience when Elder Davis and I were trying out a new technique. We throw a baseball around near other people then talk to them. While at the park we ran into an interesting organization, The Allen Jedi's. Apparently it is some religious organization that is making it's way to the states. Needless to say when the contact began their mediclorines jumped off the scale when they felt the spirit. Their light saber didn't stand a chance against our sword of truth.

It was an awesome week, the investigators that needed to come to church, came. A great birthday present.

and our zone is on 7 straight weeks of perfect contacting...

Sure do love y'all

Thank you for the gifts!

Elder Metcalf

2011-05-18T14:14:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-05T21:03:00.003-07:00

Well yesterday I had an interesting lesson taught to me during personal studies. I was reading Helaman chapter 6 where the Nephites really get nasty which I thought was interesting because of the chapter preceding in vs 12 about having a solid foundation. During this, it was super windy. I was watching the wind ravage a tree outside but not a single leaf fell off, even a couple of the ones that were turning brown already. I suppose the lesson I was getting from this was even knowing the attacks are constantly coming and it feels like I am a single leaf on a tree, as long as I am attached through the Gospel, no wind strong enough will bring the tree or me down.

Early this week I was feeling this so called 'wind' when we went to some return appointments. Monday night we had back to back lessons where the questions revolved around anti Mormon literature. One of the ladies had some papers in her hand during this defense but sensing insincerity I bore my testimony and basically didn't make too many more comments. After all this time I am still dumbfounded that people hear our invitation to read and pray yet they rely on human wisdom and interpretation to determine their choices. Elder Packer's comment in conference comes to mind, something like 'if you want it easy, this is not the church for you.' Anti situations oddly enough create a climate for my testimony to grow because we are a people that receive answers directly from the Lord and need not worry about the sometimes ignorant interpretations of man. I say this with respect though because there are good honorable people out there who have been taught all their lives that we are 'of the devil' and it is not necessarily their fault for being trained to hate us but is a tradition of their fathers.

Tuesday was different, I drove down to Plano on exchanges because a missionary in our zone had to get staples pulled out of his head he received earlier in the week. The doctor was actually the Bishop from the Frisco 2nd ward so it was fun to reminisce. That night our dinner forgot about us even after we reminded them but it was interesting because we ended up at one of their daughter's homes in the 2nd ward and for some reason it just seemed like we needed to be there. It was something that felt like an orchestration of the Lord that cant quite identify the result yet.

Wednesday was super busy which was a lot of fun. We had an incredible experience with a man we have been teaching for a while who we didn't think was progressing too well. We went over to his home in the afternoon and he went inside, grabbed his 6 year old granddaughter and a Book of Mormon and came back outside. He asked for me to pull up a good chapter from it so I flipped the pages until 3rd Nephi 11 felt like a winner. He then gave the Book to his granddaughter who then read half of 3rd Nephi 11 all the while the family was listening to this angelic little voice. Every couple verses our investigator stopped to explain what was happening. The spirit was strong and it was awesome.

Thursday we met with Dina and taught the 3rd lesson to her and her family. This time we didn't have a stake president or a Bishop with us so the intensity was down yet high because we would handle all the objections. Dina is still super golden and came to the branch on Sunday. I asked her family if they wanted to join the church when she did but they weren't at that point yet so I used Elder Bednar's analogy about how she was like walking into a room turning on the light switch while they are more like waiting for the sun to rise. I thought it was rather clever...

Friday we went on a weird exchange. Unfortunately there are a couple of struggling missionaries who needed help on the same day so we altered 3 companionship's to make it work. Amidst this confusion my companion accidentally took our phone to Bonham, 50 miles away, so I didn't have communication with anyone via the cell. It was great! We met with Summer and her family and also felt it appropriate to take her oldest son who has yet to be baptized to the library to play checkers and some other shenanigans. Later that evening we received a text saying that her son was the best he had ever been. I ordered some 11 X 17 pictures from the distribution center for their home and they were super excited on that. Sadly, I also was working with a minor flu which I think I am getting over. I went to our apartment for a few minutes to get rest but then felt too much of the itch and pushed on through the evening. The spirit is the best medicine.

Saturday I met Elder Oaks and Elder Rasband... Yes it's true! They were in the region training the Bishop's and stake presidents and President Smith coordinated the opportunity for the entire mission to be addressed by them. I found Elder Jones my 2nd son from Kanab and we caught up on everything we could while being respectful. Elder Oaks' message was incredible. He referenced conference talks he had given which was quite unusual yet awesome. He also added some things to them that he said he couldn't in a general conference setting. He gave and expounded on 3 clusters of information on why we are the only true church and so on. He and Elder Rasband took a picture with the mission and took the time to shake our hands and greet all of us. Studs. I had a bit of a quiver in my voice when he asked how I was doing and when Elder Rasband asked where I was from. I was surprised they actually asked me something but thank heavens this wasn't my first GA or Apostle experience (Mom and Dad, did I ever mention I met Elder Holland while working at KCSG?) so I didn't make too much of a fool of myself.

Sunday we had a couple investigators at church. Dina and Huson (whose parents are Muslim). It went very well. It just so happened we ate dinner at the friend of Huson's home so we got to teach him the Restoration. Another orchestration of the Lord. Seems to happen a lot as a missionary...

Anyway, I will be talking to you on Sunday and writing Monday!

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

p.s. we have a brother Simpson in our ward, does grandpa know a Robert L Simpson who recently passed away but was a general authority?

I also met a Gale Swanson that knows uncle Rick

contacts contacts contacts...

2011-04-25T20:36:00.001-07:00

Well allow me a fair moment to brag about the Allen zone. The past 6 weeks we have had the best missionaries in the mission. To give you the biggest reason why, we have a 'point system' in the mission where each missionary gets one point for contacting over 10 people, so a companionship can get a perfect 14 points by the end of the week. An entire zone getting their contacts is quite difficult. For example, about 8 months ago there were only about 6-10 companionship's in the entire mission getting all their 'points'. Then a few months ago an entire zone got their points. Well something unheard of was an entire zone getting their points 2 weeks in a row. The Allen zone has managed to get every single point for the past 4 weeks straight. I did some counting and because of these amazing and faithful missionaries, 12 of us in the last 6 weeks contacted nearly 5,000 people... I rest my case.

So anyways the exciting event this past week was Thursday night. We met with Dina who is the 24 year old daughter of the family whom President Wright referred to us. Her dad was out of town but she is so involved with branch activities (FHE, institute, YSA conferences, etc...) that we set up a 30 minute discussion before one the activities. As we got started it was pretty obvious how wonderful this quick discussion would be. As she walked into the building she shook our hands and told us "I have done my research and have decided that this is the religion I want to join." I swallowed the golf ball in my throat and we got started. We went through some few points of the restoration and plan of salvation then I opened my scriptures to 2nd Nephi 31... I read a couple verses then she read 9-10. "Dina, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority?" The response? "I'm glad you asked! I've never been baptized before." So needless to say we are pretty excited. Sunday she came to church and excitedly told everyone about her baptismal date.

On Tuesday we had another one of our 'Stake President Reports' or in other words, a monthly power meeting. We spent 4 hours preparing it then presented it that night. It went super well, the best one ever. I suppose one of the reasons is the fact that we are in constant contact with the stake president. I firmly believe he will be a GA someday. In my own opinion he is the best stake president within the mission. PMG says that relationships with ward and stake leaders will help me out for the rest of my life. I think I am beginning to understand why. We're in a church whose goal is to produce perfect leaders so it is excellent to learn from those who are superb.

A huge highlight this week was lunch with the Bordasch's. I cant just say Felipe and Vanessa anymore because they having a little bundle of joy named Bianca who is only 6 weeks old and perfect. Mom, they really enjoyed your emails and gave many compliments. And Dad, Felipe looks forward to flying with you someday when he comes to visit. They took us to a Brazilian steak house and I nearly died... It was one of those places where they bring meats our to you and put them on your plate at your request. Of course, even better was the long conversation we had. They have expressed how much opposition there is towards the truth and never quite understood why. Their testimonies are still solidified. At one point Felipe was holding his baby girl and looking at her said, "I only provided the material and her spirit came from God. Amazing..."

Last night was pretty wild. Elder Davis and I split up but my appointment fell through. While leaving the home we heard a very interesting sound... Tornado sirens. With the ensuing storm coming fast upon us and a power outage I grabbed my companion, picked up a set of bike missionaries, turned in numbers and called it a night. It was awesome and I am sure Steven would be jealous.

Well take luck and I sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-04-25T20:35:00.001-07:00

yo estoy muy constato y necesito dormir. just kidding

Anyway we had another eventful week in the field which is called the city of Allen. Something that is pretty obvious about being a missionary is being put in situations that once were severly uncomfortable are now quite enjoyable.

Monday night we went to FHE with the singles branch. They usually have several non-members there. Walking in the door with 50 other people my age is a different ball game as a missionary. As the meeting was about to begin, they asked me to give the lesson since the person assigned cancelled. So I pondered for a minute then gave a nice message from 2nd Kings 4 that nearly made my companion cry. Such is the life as a missionary. We also ate at the Nelsons who every time we go over, make chicken roll-ups which equals Elder Metcalf's favorite food.

Tuesday after district meeting I exchanged up in greenville with Elder Grondel. Again, we are the 2 oldest missionaries in the zone wondering what on earth happened to our time. A freshly returned missionary was itching way bad to come out tracting with us so we went, worked, and watched the miracles happen. In the evening the branch president in the area came out with us and we visited a less active our age and were pretty upset after leaving because he bought us some dairy queen blizzards after he offered a prayer that he would come to church on Sunday. Elder Grondel and I are at the point where it is time to start losing weight which is the reason for "upsetness."

Wednesday we ate lunch with our investigator who is struggling with same gender attraction. Our purpose wasn't necessarily to go teach but to build a better relationship and strengthen him anyway we could. He made some awesome Honduran food which I was a bit nervous about the reaction my body would have (last time had some interesting side effects) but I seemed to be well adjusted by now. Later that evening he texted his fellowshipper friend and explained that he is really close to baptism! We will see how much more we can help him achieve the 'I'm ready for baptism' stage. That night, we also taught a young man named Josh who we tracted into. We taught the restoration which I am positive he didn't understand as well as a missionary would hope but the spirit was there.

Thursday we had some planning (ughh, I would rather tract but planning is a really good thing from what the GA's tell me) but we wrapped up early and went out teaching. We had an interesting experience. A lady who we tracted into in January would reschedule every time we went over there. A month ago she rescheduled for this week. The miracle of it all is that she let us right in to teach. We were surprised but excited so we taught the restoration. A funny reaction (which I am told is frequent in south america) is she said "well sure, I believe the Book of Mormon is true...for you." So after some resolving we helped her understand what the implications of the Book being true really are. She agreed to experiment on the word and see if there is more for her out there. That day we also began our big monthly report for the stake president (more planning...) which is for tomorrow. That night we had some more tracting with an interesting experience. We met a lady who at one point, was actually a neighbor to Gordon B. Hinckley while he was President of the church. She dropped the line "if Gordon couldn't do it, no one can" and after some talking we agreed and went on our way. It is just strange to me how much any member of the church would have loved to have been in her circumstances yet she only viewed him as a wonderful man (reference "Election" in the bible dictionary). We also met with a less active family that evening which went very well. The setting was right, as Elder Holland would say, to ask 'what are their fears?' And it was a powerful way to understand a lot of people's motivations. She fears, as a single mom, not providing a good life for her family so she works on Sunday... So we knew a great lesson to share with her to help build Faith.

Friday was a very intense day. We met with the 'stake president referral' family again and taught the plan of salvation. Elder Folau and I practiced with one of the main fellowshippers for about an hour during lunch to get the rhythm nailed down. We met with them later that evening. President Wright wasn't able to make it until about halfway through the lesson. It was when he walked in that the spirit really came to all of us. At the end of the lesson I taught the example of the baptism of Jesus Christ and Elder Folau extended the baptismal commitment...don don don...which they declined. Elder Folau then bore his testimony of the truths he has learned (he is a convert) which brought tears to some eyes and we wrapped up the lesson. While leaving we felt pretty down but opted to grab a frosty and continue to work. Excellent idea Elders... The 2nd person we dropped by was incredible. About 3 months ago I was out tracting singles with a member, it was about 8:59pm but I chose to knock one more door (here comes the awesomeness). The man at the door was a bit surprised but accepted a return appointment which he didn't keep. After some time the Elders for that area finally did get a hold of them and let them teach. They shared the Restoration and gave them a couple copies of the Book of Mormon which they are now reading. "There is such a special feeling that comes from reading this book!" Turns out the day we knocked on the man's door was one of the most depressing days of his life... What do I as a missionary remember sharing? "Hey, we felt we should knock your door before we left this complex. We share a message about God. That He lives and He loves us." Anything else and I cant remember. Apparently he told his wife afterwords that we were angels. I didn't do anything special! I am just a average missionary but am granted a few extraordinary experiences. All gifts and evidences of God.

Saturday everything cancelled except dinner so we tracted.......

Sunday was quite fun, although with 0000 investigators at church we held our heads high and contacted many more people. We met some great ones and got a few referrals for some other lucky missionaries. Needless to say they are each excitement in Heavenly Father's eyes so I am happy.

If a missionary works, he will get the
Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will
teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches
by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts
of the people and he will be happy.
There will be no homesickness, no
worrying about families, for all time
and talents and interests are
centered on the work of the ministry.
Work, work, work—there is no
satisfactory substitute, especially in
missionary work.”
– PRESIDENT EZRA TAFT BENSON

Love you all -Elder Metcalf

And it came to pass

2011-04-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

Chapter 14

The missionaries are low on lessons but

have many contacts - they exchange

with the assistants and others - someone says

they will come to church and they do.

1 And it came to pass in the fourth week of the fourteenth transfer of the reign of Metcalf in the Texas Dallas Mission, the companionship comprising of Elder Davis and Elder Metcalf were much please. Having reported two straight weeks of the entire zone who doth receive their contact points whereas no other zone has done it in months. And the zone leaders were well pleased and loved their zone with much charity.

2 Wherefore I Elder Metcalf do proceed with my weekly report to them who provide the good support and welfare of him that writeth. In other words, I Elder Metcalf write my family.

3 And it came to pass that the week was good notwithstanding the lowest amount of lessons we have had together. It so happeneth that we are teaching a young single adult who doth find same gender attraction within his personality and the missionaries pray oft for him and continue to teach him with little success. Nevertheless he is much loved by God, believes the Book of Mormon to be true and so the Elders continue to teach and support him.

4 And it came to pass that that same night the twenty and three year old daughter of the stake president referral thus came to family home evening with the singles branch in the city of Allen (otherwise known as A-Town). Elder Metcalf having been very worried and much grieved over the lesson of eternal marriage during family home evening was much pleased and surprised having learned that the twenty and three year old connected very well with the lesson and very much enjoyed the time with the other young single adults within the city of Allen.

5 And it came to pass on Tuesday there arose a great meeting, such a one that has been seen every first Tuesday of the month with the zone leaders and the mission president. Allen, having received much praise for talking to many of the Gentiles was in charge of leading a discussion helping the TDM missionaries contact more often. And it came to pass that the mission president was well pleased and saw that it was good.

6 And it came to pass for for that evening the missionaries having met at a cake shop where a member fed them a meal was invited to partake of the karaoke machine. Thus, the missionaries were full of fear and much anxiety. Nevertheless and notwithstanding the senior zone leader having great courage convinced Davis (the younger zone leader) to singeth praises to his name with the Celine Dione version of "God Bless America." Once sung, in front of a large gathering of 10, some gentiles, received much praise, laughter and glad tidings.

7 And it came to pass that the assistants to the president, having heard a goodly report, and wanting to come to the city of Allen with haste entereth into our area on exchanges. And it came to pass that the exchange was very full of the spirit and the missionaries were happy. Having received many revelations, and discovering the richest part of their area, having great desires to knocketh doors there, took upon the title of insanity and went forth knocking mansions. Thus, with the spirit the missionaries gave out few copies of the Book of Mormon, entered and taught one Hindu family, considered themselves successful.

8 It came to pass that the exchange was good, having located a lost member who gave us his information to return and report to the great leader of the area, Bishop Thomas. Thus we see that when the missionaries are full of the Spirit, find the lost lambs and returneth them to their proper pasture.

9 On the Fourth day of the fourth week of the fourteenth transfer of the reign of Metcalf within the zone of Allen, another mini exchange was held. Elder Davis having return appointments cancel, received revelation to continue to tract. Having knocked on a door and received an unwelcoming answer, Elder Davis heard a still small voice from within the back of the home say "Y'all are Mormon! I love Mormons, can I come to church with you on Sunday?" And Elder Davis having located this Vivian inviteth her to church and she came. Thus we see the effectiveness of younger missionaries, Elder Metcalf having worked weeks with investigators to come to church, Elder Davis accomplishes his designs in seconds.

Chapter 15

Elder Metcalf and Folau teach with a stake president and

Bishop - Much answers are given - The missionaries continue

to be tired - Elder Metcalf realizes his time is short

1 On the night known as Friday (according to their reckoning of time) Elder Metcalf and Folau exchanged to teach the Delarose family much hatred against sin and Faith on their everlasting redeemer. But much to the missionaries displeasure, the family having looked at anti, had many tough questions. Thus the stake president and Bishop whom they accompanied made many answers and confounded them. Thus we see the greatness of teaching with a stake president and a Bishop.

2 Elder Metcalf having been overzealous to bike convinced his companion to remove his bike which was considered to be a weapon of war buried deep within the closet and ride it. Nevertheless there was not much success and the missionaries encountered much fatigue. However, we see the offset blessing of such faith with the Delarose family attending church on the following Sunday. And the missionaries were pleased with their diligence.

3 Elder Metcalf having interviews with his zone on Thursday discovering an unusual and frantic reality as his mission president informed him he was weighed down with much old age in the mission and needed a renewed temple recommend. I, having received a renewed temple recommend, was much worried with a short time left in my position. Nevertheless I will endure to the end with much style.

4 Sunday we visiteth a family whom began to cry as we taught the Atonement. Elder Metcalf was much surprised as they stated themselves being Anti-Mormon-Religions.

Chapter 16

Elder Metcalf desireth mail -

he sends love to far away lands-

he thanks his family

1 And thus we see that the mailbox retained it's void throughout the week

2 Nevertheless Elder Metcalf loves his family with great charity and prays for them nightly

3 Thanks for your support

4 Inform Grandpa I love him and wish him my best and cant wait to read with him daily (even if it is in SLC)

5 I am Elder Kenneth Metcalf who is the son of Kenneth Metcalf who is the son of Kenneth Metcalf and do close mine epistle

Ok, anyway I thought that would be fun to write out my email like that this week! Hope y'all enjoy and can interpret my 'reformed Texan' with your urimm and thummin. Sure do love y'all and keep up the good work!

Elder Metcalf

2011-04-08T12:28:00.001-07:00

With my last conference on the mission in the books it is a little scary to review my notes and recognize the words 'marry' or 'marriage' several times. I think I'll be justified to not ponder that advice for a few more months.

Well this week was pretty awesome. Our whole zone got what we call the contact points while the others did not. It is pretty awesome to see all the demonstrations of faith and be on the receiving end every Sunday night reporting the names of those who now have baptismal dates as well as some of their information like how they were found or any obstacles they are overcoming.

This week with our new investigator, Michael, we had a small miracle to see just how much the hand of the Lord is in His own work. I remember a missionary saying one year ago "He is the greatest micro manager in the world." I bring this up because while we were leaving wal-mart after shopping last Monday and it just so happened that Mike and his son were walking in to fill a prescription. So we talked for a few minutes and he asked immediately when we were coming over again. We didn't have a scheduled appointment with him yet and he doesn't have a phone so that worked itself out perfectly. We went to his home the following day and invited him on a church tour. We beat the member that drove him over by a couple minutes so we ran through the building making sure we were good to go. As the tour began the Spirit was evident. About 10 minutes into it we were overlooking the baptismal font... Yes, he accepted a baptismal date.

Another evidence of the practicality of God this week was helping a less active member move out of his apartment. He offered us his couches (a love seat and sofa) and being the interior designer I have become with mismatching furniture we agreed to take them. 30 minutes before we were scheduled to go pick them up we visited another less active in the ward who we usually see on the weekends. As the conversation progressed we learned that her sofa had just become worthless after some pieces of it broke. In my mind I was a bit taken back by another orchestration of Heavenly Father to help out his children in unique yet practical ways. So we delivered the new couch within 20 minutes of learning of their need.

A couple weeks ago our stake president let us know that he had been called by another one of his 'stake president friends' in Houston that a friend and his family had just moved into the Allen 1st ward with a YSA aged daughter. As you can imagine, the Elders that cover the first ward seemed a bit pressured by a referral from a couple of stake presidents. I felt for them until I got the call halfway through the week that I would actually be the one to teach and conduct the lesson along with one of the Elders from the first ward. I gave Elder Folau a call and suggested he start preparing (3 days in advance). The lesson yesterday went incredible. We taught in the home of one of the YSA branch presidency with President Wright. You could tell how much more influenced the Spirit was with all the preparation. I think something that has helped me out immensely the past few months is understanding that we are not to share a "logical" lesson but an "emotional" one. Our grammar was simple and concise which increased the influence of the Spirit. They were the golden investigators. The dad asked "I just want to know why God would hide a record of this magnitude in the ground for 1400 years..." Elder Folau is a convert from Catholicism and it just so happens that they have a catholic background which greatly increased the openness of the conversation. Let me tell you, preparation brings blessings. Rather then a nerve racking pressured lesson teaching with a stake president to a golden family it was actually quite enjoyable.

Well my friends the revelation is stacking up. Conference is always an overload which never lasts long enough. I am shocked it is my last one but my focus is to apply the modern scripture to the work and destroy Allen!

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-03-30T20:37:00.001-07:00

The funny life of a missionary. There are 4 missionaries using the computers here and we all got severely distracted from emails because of an odd reason. A new revised version of "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" was posted on newsroom.lds.org. We all thought it was a bit humorous that we got an outstanding kick out of it. "Woah! No way they put that scene in it!" just to name one of the comments. So anyway, now I must refocus and give the weekly report!

The zone is doing outstanding and the Lord is helping us understand where improvements and praise are needed. Last week we had a concern come up with 16 baptismal dates and only 5 of them came to church on Sunday. So the district leaders and us put some ideas together fairly quick the following day and the plans were carried out. We had almost all of them at church yesterday. It is an awesome thing to be at a point where you can start to feel the 'rush of ideas and pure intelligence' as Joseph would describe. Although I would more than consider myself still in the infancy stage of recognizing revelation, I can tell I am improving! I think one of the biggest reasons for that is keeping post-it notes and a pencil next to my bed and every time I am praying and have a question that I feel *click* and get some answer I write it down. The results have been outstanding. It is fun to see a few jumbled words written on a 2 inch card turn into a lesson designed for a struggling investigator. Such I suppose was the setting for the translation of the Book of Mormon when they wrote on the worst paper ever and couldn't even afford food.

Monday night was hilarious, we went to FHE in the YSA branch because they always have non-members there and the presidency encourages us to go. The funny part is watching two missionaries trying to get to know the members and non-members while maintaining a professional appearance and avoiding females. We had one non-member there who I have developed a good friendship with. When he first showed up he wasn't really liking the Mormon scene but now he wants to come to church yet his mom wont let him. Definitely a big seed has been planted.

Tuesday after our district meeting we had one of the branch presidency members come out with us and we struck out like 10 times until we got to Michael. We tracted him out last week and he kept his appointment. I have been practicing teaching so incredibly simple and clear and was so happy walking away from that lesson with a sigh of relief to see that it is actually working very well. That night we had one of the most intense lessons of my entire mission when we went over to the home of our 9 year old baptismal candidate. I said 2 words of concern of 'church attendance' to her mom and sat back and listened to how crazy we were. Believe me, I was nervous after the can of worms that had been opened up. We had our Bishop meet us over there and when he knocked at the door I had the 'i'm saved' feeling. Eventually he took over the conversation and really smoothed things over and met her needs. That's why he is Bishop right? I think in some ways it may have been inspired because she now has a decent relationship with the Bishop.

Wednesday we had everything cancel. We were on exchanges and I experienced some interesting things. When we exchanged it was the first time I had met this Elder that would be coming with me since transfers. At first I had this weird impression of him but caught myself and quickly repented. Come to find out, this missionary had a very unique and challenging story. He and his family had been less active for years barely making a survivable income. The young man had something happen to him and randomly asked for a blessing from one of his neighbors. A miracle occurred. A few years went by and while sporadically attending church a thought came to his mind while praying, "Go on a mission." When he told his family his intentions his father stood up angrily and said "Absolutely not!" It wasn't long before they were all sealed in the temple and he had his call to Texas Dallas.

Thursday Elder Hall called me up because his companion was seeing a dentist in McKinney so we made a lunch date out of it. It was pretty hilarious to see how we reacted around one another, I mean come on after 5 months with this one person at my side we practically finished each other's sentences. We talked about our zones and the troubles we were experiencing and then it hit me... Holy cow I am an old missionary. We had a lesson that night with one of our long time investigators. We had a goal to invite her to church which was intense because she just had a death in the family. A very bold promise was made "As you come to church, that question of 'why' will be answered." She had the funeral on Sunday and is on for this one.

Friday was fun but I was stressing out for Saturday, getting prepared to train 12 Bishops, 12 Missionaries, a stake President, and a high councilman. We also had a baptism as well so we spent a chunk of our day making sure it would all go smoothly. Again it was another situation that was "We really need to tract to get a stronger spirit in my soul." It worked and we had some miracles.

Saturday we trained the missionaries and the Bishops and it went extremely well. Most special is being with President Wright the Allen stake President, he is super inspired. We had the baptism for the 9 year old afterwords and it was one of the strongest times during a baptism I have felt the Spirit. It was exceptional. They took us out to lunch after as well. That night the Plano stake had a giant youth blitz. They volunteered us to take 3 priests out but we had no appointments! I remembered at the beginning of the day I prayed the day into the hands of God. We had a couple of extremely good lessons with the Plano priests that night that came out of no where.

Sunday we had a couple really solid investigators at church, one of which should be baptized in a couple of weeks. We are starting to get things rolling again but so far it is just some small steps.

Sure do Love Y'all

Love Elder Metcalf

New companion, lots of work to do

2011-03-23T18:00:00.001-07:00

My new companion is Elder Davis from American Fork. An odd thing about him is where he just transferred from, Nacogdoches! He actually replaced me with a greenie 4 months ago and then followed me to Allen. We have been exchanging a lot of stories and it is a bit fun to hear what is going on. Especially all the updates on the wonderful Bennett family. I was pretty stoked. He has only been out 7 months but his work ethic is solid and his skills are high. This past week we went to work. Tuesday was transfer meeting and also the same day as the stake president report. It is funny to admit that amidst the stress for the meeting that night, we went tracting to 'take the edge off' so I could relax a little. The meeting went well and one man we met during that tracting experience was Jacob. We got a return appointment with him, taught him last night and he has a goal to be baptized in April. It's funny how all that works out. Wednesday after district meeting and lunch we went to knock doors except the problem was that the first door we knocked on invited us in to teach him. It went well even with his atheistic views.

Probably one of the biggest highlights of the week was getting in with a family and teaching them the Restoration. Elder Hall and I contacted them last week and tried to get in again but ended up rescheduling. The night we rescheduled, I accidentally double booked a recent convert lesson as well and we couldn't find or get a hold of anyone to split with us to take care of the 2 appointments. We ended up going to the appointment with the Perry's 15 minutes early and caught them right as they were walking out the door. They let us in and eventually accepted a soft commitment to baptism. We left their home about 20 minutes late for the other appointment that was scheduled and it just so happened that she called us and let us know that she was running 20 minutes behind. It was nice how that was all orchestrated.

Another cool experience this past week was the baptism of a 13 and 9 year old. I only had a tiny link to it but it was awesome to watch the process evolve. It was the family whom a few weeks ago on exchanges Elder Frost and I taught 3rd Nephi 11 to and walked out thinking the whole family was active members. The missionaries picked them up and he committed himself to baptism. In talks with President Wright, the father who had been excommunicated was rebaptized a while ago and had his priesthood restored so he could baptize his 9 year old daughter. When he did baptize her it was a supreme example of the power of the Atonement.

Well we are excited to be together, it is refreshing to get a new companion and use any awkwardness to the advantage of digging the heels a little deeper step by step. We have already had many little miracles throughout our 6 days together so far, including contacting a lady who's mom had just passed away and wants to learn about the plan of salvation, a family who wants to know more about where their daughter is coming from when she is born in the next month, and the most return appointments we've ever had. If half of them go through I will be overjoyed. It always seems like it is the Elders verses Satan and the world but we have Christ on our side.

We have a baptism scheduled for Saturday, pray like crazy for Hannah.

Sure do Love y'all

Elder Metcalf

2011-03-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well the joy continues to roll on. The sad part about most of the emails I send highlight the few miracles throughout the week, while the dirt is never something you want to broadcast. For example, Monday night Elder Hall and I were in a good rhythm tracting and have been using this new contacting pattern that is producing miracles that a member helped us come up with. About 20% of our contacts accepted return appointments. The sad part is that most of them fall into the trap of Satan and eventually, through anti, drop us hard like a rock. We had a family Monday that I contacted, we went back and taught them, and their sincerity was very apparent, "Well I grew up Catholic" she said "but I don't really go to church anymore but it is something I want for me and my family." She loved the Book of Mormon, read it but (I hate the deadly 3 letter word 'but') when I called to confirm the following appointment, the response was "I found some stuff on the Internet and I am no longer interested." My patience and charity is being tried to the core. The same day we found them we had the father of a family of four, that we taught the restoration, call and basically express the same things. It is quite odd the strange world we live in. The carnal, easy natures of men are being much chosen over the true paths of happiness. The hard part, for me at least, is to look into a new investigator's eyes, teach and bare testimony and have to come to grips that the majority of them wont ever let me come back again even while the spirit may be touching their hearts.

Two scriptures come to mind though that keep my hope going: "And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them." and "Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart." I think I am beginning to understand only a fraction of what you (yes mom and dad) must have felt raising me as a teenager. It gives me hope to realize that more than likely the Spirit has told everyone I have taught "it's true" but the choice to live the Gospel has yet to take priority or be desired amongst other inferior aspects of their lives... yet.

Now on to the happiness! Felipe got your email and said he cried through the whole thing and was grateful for it. I got permission to have dinner with them sometime soon although they wont be able to for a while because their daughter was born! Felipe sounded overjoyed on the phone and it was a similar feeling to having yet another niece born to the clan of 'papa de ron metcalf' so I was pretty thrilled.

Thursday night we had a relatively intense lesson with one of our golden investigators with a baptismal date for this month. I wont mention his name for obvious reasons but it is pretty easy to guess if you read last week's email... We split up for the night and one of the YSA's in the branch met me at the church to teach him. We taught the end of the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson, The word of wisdom and The Law of Chastity. That was the big one. Turns out he has had a girlfriend for over 5 years so needless to say it was a tough one to commit to. After 30 minutes of teaching the law of chastity he finally committed. He went to Austin the next day to visit her so we did our best to help set up parameters. I thought it would be unique to note that although we live in this strange world of sin and apostasy, there were 4 of us young men between 20-22 discussing ways of NOT breaking the law of chastity. Before we parted ways I gave him my iPod after making a quick playlist of conference talks to listen to on the way down.

Some interesting highlights this week was walking around Plano for 4 1/2 hours waiting for our brakes to be replaced the day after it took 2 hours for our oil to be changed. We worked on a Stake President Report that we have with the Stake President and Mission Presidency tomorrow (my new companion will be a bit surprised I'm sure).

We had a leadership training meeting on Tuesday that was pretty epic. I liked how they went over the basics of the same stuff I have been learning for over a year but did it in a way that was refreshing. I am becoming a bit of an old timer missionary I do believe which is super sad. Something that Sister Smith talked about was to be nice to others and that there was too much belittling within the mission. The next morning before studies I had a inkling of a feeling I would be giving a talk in district meeting and a few minutes into reading about Mosiah 27 our district leader called and assigned me to speak about Christlike attributes. It was awesome how it all worked out. I talked about who Alma was before the angel and who he was after the angel and how we need angelic motivation to develop our own Christlike attributes. Angels like the scriptures, righteous leaders, family, etc... and how we need to be Angels to other missionaries to help them develop. I suppose that talk was more for me though!

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

The Crown Jewel

2011-03-08T10:28:00.001-08:00

On Thursday afternoon we were planning, well sort of in a thoughtless stupor because Elder Hall and I were both extremely tired. I was sitting down, one of our companionship's called us and I ignored it. They called again and I ignored it. Any yet again they called. I finally mustered the stamina to grab the phone but missed their call so I called them back. "Hey Elders, this is Elder Metcalf, what can I do for ya?" The reply back was like the part in your favorite movie that sparks something heavy in the main actor's eyes, "ELDER METCALF! I forgot to tell you! Felipe and Vanessa are going to the temple tonight!" After a few seconds of silence and a load of thoughts circling my mind, my response, though poignantly frustrated at the late notification, was "I'll talk to you later." Never have I felt motivation as intense as that to make phone calls. Quickly I called the assistants, the Frisco missionaries, left a message with President who called back within a few minutes then I called Felipe. I was most nervous talking to President because naturally going to an endowment session with people you taught and baptized is at the top of the list of mission experiences. I told him the situation and he said back to me, "Well Elder Metcalf, is your temple recommend current?" later he also remarked "I will never deny the opportunity for a missionary to go through the temple with their converts."

After over a year of missing these amazing people, After not seeing Felipe and Vanessa for such a long time, I can not began to express the solemnity of the first time seeing them in the endowment room of the Dallas Texas temple. Although we could only shake hands because the session was about to begin, once we were all through the veil in the Celestial room, I experienced one of the sweetest reunions of my life. There we were, the epitome of the Gospel (and a missionary's short existence) in the temple with those that we love who were baptized just last year! But alas we could only be in there for a few moments before moving on into the sealing room with these two glowing individuals. They wanted to accomplish everything in one night for a very peculiar reason, Vanessa is pregnant and is due 3 days later. Felipe explained that the "Born in the covenant" blessings were something that they couldn't let their precious Bianca miss out on when she comes into the world! The sealing was sweet, I quickly got in a line to congratulate them, and gratefully prayed to Heavenly Father to give my gratitude.

Elder Hall also served in that same area before I did and although he never met Felipe or Vanessa, there were many friends present. The Bishop who served while we were there was beaming and we were borderline irreverent because we couldn't stop conversing. Surely that is what this church is all about, reunions. I think I have somewhat of an idea of how Ammon felt when meeting Alma for the first time in so long.

1) And now it came to pass that as [Elder Metcalf was serving in Allen,] behold, to his astonishment, he met with the [Bordasch's] journeying towards the [Celestial room of the Dallas Temple.]

2) Now these [Brazilians] were with [Elder Metcalf] at the time [when they were taught and baptized]; therefore [Elder Metcalf] did rejoice exceedingly to see his [converts]; and what added more to his joy, they were still his [converts] in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were [a couple] of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

3) But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they [were pregnant], they [were endowed and sealed] with power and authority of God.

Needless to say we took a picture after the ceremonies before Elder Hall and I flew like Moses home because it was getting extremely late. I think I have stared at that picture a thousand times. Surely this is what its all about. What makes the story incredibly remarkable? A member invited them to a trunk or treat while she was waiting on them at the cheesecake factory and this is what followed my friends... The homecoming talk that Lance gave rang in my mind a few times when he was recounting the couple that he taught, baptized and were sealed and I cant remember your exact words Lance but something like how I feel I am sure. Even if everything else in my mission failed, it would have been far worth it because of this wonderful couple being sealed.

Another fascinating miracle this week was with Miguel. I think I completely forgot to report meeting him last week. Probably because at the time I didn't think we would be able to teach him because of where he lives; the assistants called though and let us know he would probably be moving to Allen so we took over. Miguel came to church the week before yesterday and I went and talked to him after sacrament meeting. He has quite an outstanding story. He was depressed and looking for God but had nearly given it up when he offered a prayer and asked for something to reassure him of his Heavenly Father's existence. 3 days later his friend Josh gave him a Book of Mormon. The first night with this book Miguel was up until 3am reading it, "the stories, I feel like, are written for me!" When I met him he was already halfway through Alma and loving it. I followed up with the invitation to have a lesson and he said "Yes, please. That is what I want." He is now preparing for baptism at the end of this month (although we are considering recommitting him to a date much sooner).

Heavenly Father loves us all a lot and it is amazing with just a few basic things in our everyday life how much more amplified we can feel that love.

Sure do love y'all,

Elder Metcalf

2011-03-03T18:00:00.001-08:00

This week was very interesting to say the least. Thursday we had an emergency with on of our companionships in the zone that kind of affected both Elder Hall and me in a weird way. The best solution seems to always be the same, go out and worka nd have some experiences that will bring the Spirit.

Monday night we had a lesson with someone that Elder Hall found on exchanges last week. The funny thing was that when he opened the door and let us in at the scheduled time, we were both a bit surprised but excited. We have been working on teaching the first lesson to all our new investigators in about 10 minutes. We had a member convince us to do it that way. It has worked miracles. I think for me I had got caught up in asking 'inspired questions' too much to people who really aren't used to the spirit and they take everything to a different dimension, so it seems. The goal with the short lessons is to teach true doctrine to bring the spirit it in for the objective of a reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. I am starting to notice how effective this is. I believe we as missionaries get caught in 'logical ruts' with the Texans. We use a few biblical scriptures or prove through analogies the truthfulness of the message rather than just taking it to an extremely basic level and allow more reliance on the spirit to carry the message. The member said something interesting "I bet there are converted Jehovah's Witness' that have been strong members for 10 years that just barely have figured out that Christ was the Jehovah of the old testament and that's ok!" When he said that a very interesting 'case in point' came to mind, the brother of Jared! No doubt a great prophet and the strongest Faith of all, yet after all tha,t he knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood like man until he was shown.

Tuesday we buzzed up to Greenville which is about 45 minutes from here. We haven't been to any of the district meetings up there so we made a full day exchange out of it. I went to Bonham after the trainings and spent the day with them. We had a couple cool experiences. I had prayed that we would "get into the 3rd door" to teach but it was answered differently than we thought. We got into about the 6th door we knocked on and about halfway through the lesson it had dawned on me that it was the 3rd door that I had knocked on. We shared the restoration and he agreed to baptism. We met with a woman named Regina in the evening. She has a granddaughter who was born a few weeks early and is barely hanging on in the NICU. Regina had called many churches to put her granddaughter's name on their prayer rolls. A thought came to mind to explain what the temple rolls are and she agreed to have her name put on them. Surprisingly I made the phone call right there at the beginning of the lesson. Once the Baby's name was on the roll, Regina paused and with tears in her eyes said, "Now I know she'll be OK. I didn't feel this way with any of the others." Another experience was when we simply went to go get pizza and there just happened to be a former investigator who wanted the discussions again. The interesting thing was that the Elders had been prayerfully seeking former investigators to follow up with and he was one of them.

We had a sleep over then woke up Wednesday and headed home. We had an exchange with the assistants that night and it was a lot of fun. We tracted a lot and had many jokes. I think the worst part about it was that I was the youngest in mission age so all of our jokes were related to younger missionary questions. We went to a house that we randomly knocked on, gave service to and I asked if that counted as an LTMP because there were 3 missionaries. He responded, I think it's 2 LTMP's because we talked to her, gave service, then talked to her again. If you don't know what that means, then you know what I mean.

Thursday was the crazy day you'll have hear about some other time but when we finally got home from, we had dinner. We ate with the Lafyettes who are the investigator couple that should be getting baptized in March. It was super awesome. She cooked us some super good food because she wanted to really help us out. Just kind of cool. Today we went over to where she boards her horse and hung around them for a bit. It got me kind of excited although I cant ride a horse and I am in Texas. Hopefully dad hasn't sold them all because of the financial burdens of his 2nd born son. We were a bit despondent from the day so we contacted at wal-mart, ended up buying ice cream, and going home at 8:45. Thankfully president called explaining that everything was OK.

Friday we finished Thursday's planning session, had lunch with the Fox's 15 year old son to build more of a relationship with him, and ate my favorite dinner ever (chicken roll ups- mom send the recipe please!). Everything cancelled the rest of the day so we did some contacting and less active drop bys. At that point we accepted that our lessons this week were going to be super low but we could always desperately find new people to teach!

Saturday we helped some elders out in their area. I went with one of them and Elder Hall went with the other. We were tracting this street where the houses were an acre apart. Not a single person answered their door (besides a 10 year old) for an hour...until...(don't you just love missionary stories? I do!) we met Kelly. She has already been through all the discussions in New Hampshire. All of her friends including her godmother are Mormons. She said she would have already joined the church if she didn't go to church because of a bad experience in her former state. The cool thing is that she was already committed to attend church with one of her Mormon friends in Plano before we showed up. Odd coincidence eh?

Sunday was a heartbreaker. No investigators showed up to church and by the end of sacrament I was trying to convince Elder Hall to skip out and go contacting. An interesting chain of thoughts have crossed my mind as I have considered looking over a congregation of 250 active people and not a single non-member in sight. My initial thought was "why aren't these people bringing others to church on their own!" Then the following thought was something along the lines of don't talk the talk until you can walk the walk. The following thought was a commitment to put in a lot of effort after the mission to be that member that the missionaries would love to see by bringing others to church on my own.

It is odd what missions do to you. I remember being scared to serve one because of how much it would change me. I thought "man, I'll just get sucked into it all and not want to do anything fun like snowboarding again and just want to read scriptures and go to church." The funny thing is...I was right.

Love y'all

Elder Metcalf!!!!

2011-02-23T21:19:00.001-08:00

Alright, so dad really floored me by announcing that our new mission president has been assigned, so forgive me if the distraction alters my small writing ability.

This week was pretty interesting. Just to mention a few events that happened...

We got a text from our recent convert family that said 'I no longer want to be a Mormon.'

We had a appointment this morning that said 'I would leave my husband to make baptism happen.'

We had a very excited family committed to church that disappeared when the member went to pick them up.

Our baptismal candidate for Saturday has not come to church the past 2 Sundays.

The funny thing is that I could go on but I actually seem to be happy. Lots of prayer has taken care of things.

We went over to our recent converts home sometime after she sent the text and when we got there she began to ask "Well why did y'all come over?...OH YA I forgot to tell you that my home teacher already fixed it and I am happy to be a Mormon still."

The wife of the husband is teaching him the importance of the church, one step at a time, and he will come around.

The Bishop said that it is probably better to get the young girl baptized Saturday so that she may have a record for her lifetime.

We have an appointment with the family tonight.

All in all I guess you could say that I am worrying less and less now. The more efficient I work with the Lord, the more awesome experiences he provides. People often use their agency to make choices that hurt a lot, but usually the Lord works them out before I can make a dent in resolving the concern. It is just some cool examples of what Dan Dalton would say "The Lord is working harder than all 50,000 missionaries combined.

Tuesday of this week was concrete evidence of that. We had a stacked day with no room for error. We taught a lesson at the start of the day on a doorstep in ten minutes, the spirit was there and she committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We showed up to district meeting 30 seconds early. Once that was over we ran over to our appointment with Bob (the miracle who only goes to his mail box once a week.) We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and had a great discussion. We then had to create an entire stake president report in about 2-3 hours, something that normally takes 2-3 days. We collected all the information, reviewed it twice and just like that had 5 copies of a 14 page report. We had a dinner that let us make the copies. After that we rushed to a meeting with a 9 year old girl who's mom wants her to be baptized. We taught an excellent plan of salvation lesson in 20 minutes and when she closed with prayer, she basically repeated back the plan. Then we ran to a members house where we needed to have a fairly quick appointment so we could be to our stake president review on time. What ended up happening was the member we were with kept talking and we eventually committed them to baptism, making us one minute late for the meeting. Let me begin by explaining walking into a meeting with a stake president, a mission president, one of his counselors and 2 high councilors late was not the best situation to be in. When I gave my excuse President Smith laughed and said "That is the best excuse I have ever heard!" and President Wright said "Look brethren, we'll cancel this meeting if you're going to go out and set dates." We then proceeded to have the best SPR we ever had.

Another story was when I was in Farmersville on exchanges. I spent the night up there with the Elder I was exchanging with and had the worst night of sleep ever, it seemed like. I kept praying for some help. Now what I am about to say may or may not be an answer to prayer! BUT the Elder forgot to turn the alarm clock on... So we woke up late, got ready and had a quick study and planning session. We made interesting plans which included one hour of simply making phone calls in the afternoon. One call that was made was with a family that agreed to have us over that night. When we got to their home and started teaching, the spirit was strong and pretty soon it dawned on me that they were all active members of the church. Or so I thought. Elder Frost let me know as we walked out that the 15 year old son had yet to join the church. My entire questions and thoughts were basically geared towards him! He seemed to love what we read too, 3rd Nephi 11. His dad bore a power testimony as well on baptism. They want the Elders back as soon as they can for another lesson and dinner.

Well I am excited for the mission experiences I still have left. Now if I could convince my family to forget about signing me up for school and come down to Texas, pick me up and tour the mission for a month.

Love y'all

Elder Metcalf

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-16T20:34:00.001-08:00

As I sat in Sacrament meeting yesterday tears began to form in my eyes as I pondered on one question. "What if I didn't make the contact?" Katelyn and Sage, our miracle from the ice storm came to church yesterday and are preparing for baptism in March. What a substantial blessing to have. Surely this is evidence of a loving Heavenly Father. We taught them on Tuesday and you could tell she was pretty excited. When we got there, and got to know them, she had made the best cookies I have had. We taught a quick, yet powerful, lesson on the Restoration. She even completed the reading assignment we had left her at the first initial contact and immediately knew why she needed to read it. We are super excited but please pray in every prayer for these people. They are awesome! and as any missionary knows, you get attached fast.

We had a member come out with us nearly the entire week, he studied with us, ate with us, planned with us, etc... He is in the branch presidency of the singles unit and was determined to help us find 20 singles to teach this week. What ended up happening was miracles. Monday night Elder Hall went to FHE to help members out with referrals while I went out with this member. We were in an apartment complex working, finding and praying intensely. Finally the member said, "lets go to the other side." On the way down we met a man named Bob at the mailbox who we made a short, powerful contact with. He agreed to have us in his home a couple days later. We showed up at the right time and taught him the Restoration. The spirit really touched his heart. Later, he told us with a loving look on his face "I only go to that mailbox once every 3 weeks." During our 2nd lesson with him he explained at the end of our lesson "Its true!" It was interesting though to follow up with his reading. He said "Guys, I don't think I can do this." After some inquiring and discerning he thought we had committed him to read 90 pages of the Book of Mormon in 48 hours and he apologized for only reading 23.

Another miracle is when all 3 of us were together searching out singles at a apartment complex in McKinney. We were knocking doors like crazy but Elder Hall said pointing at a door "Let's knock this one." We went to it, he knocked and a older man answered the door. After some conversation he let us come in to talk to his 22 year old daughter. Before starting the lesson we invited him to come in and listen. What happened was one of the stongest Restoration lessons we have ever taught! Towards the end I asked a question "What is your desire, 1-10, to know these things are true?" They both responded with perfect 10's.

A huge highlight this week was having Elder Ringwood of the 70 visit the mission. He was incredible. He gave great talks on Faith and consecration. A very heart warming reassuring thing he said during zone conference was something like this, 'Sacrifice is not enough. We need to consecrate ourselves to the work. Then you will be able to see miracles' (then he looked at Elder Hall and me) 'like meeting those prepared in the soup aisle at wal-mart.' Pretty awesome! It is great to have a testimony that this is the Lord's work.

Sure do love y'all

Elder Metcalf

Talk about awesome.

2011-02-08T20:09:00.001-08:00

We had some crazy weather this week that nearly crippled the work but had a weird effect on my companion and me. The funny thing is that I haven't consistently contacted 10 people per day since my last area. It just so happens that the absolute worst week of the year, as far as weather is concerned, Elder Hall and I happily bundled up and went out amongst the elements and made at least 10 contacts each per day. The weather was awesome, how perfectly bad it was. One day it snowed, melted a little, then turned to ice, melted some more and turned to more ice. Then the next day snowed a few inches on top of that. About the 3rd day into it, my companion slipped and fell a few times and as I was bragging about my incredible skills of balance, the humility struck as I took off after a couple of people to contact. So it was a lot of fun. Something I have learned about myself is that I thrive in situations that are challenging.

Our efforts were recognized by the Lord and we were richly rewarded for our Faith. On Saturday we were contacted in a apartment complex and after the 2nd door knocked I noticed a girl about my age pulling up and parking. Elder Hall referenced later that as she was parking she was looking at us a bit differently than most. As I approached her, I had in mind to introduce the Book of Mormon and hand off a card (not too much of a fan of contacting girls my age). She opened the door to greet me but initiated the conversation by saying "Oh ya, I have studied with y'all before." As the 10-15 minute conversation ensued we learned that she lived in Utah and took the lessons there. We asked if she had read the Book of Mormon and her response was humble and grateful, "I have felt great reading it." We asked her if she was baptized at that point because it honestly felt like a MTC role play where the investigator was so awesome the role play almost didn't make sense. Her reply to that question was "No, not yet." She committed to baptism right there in the contact but we couldn't set a date because she wants her husband to be on the same page. Fine by me! We are excited to return tomorrow and witness miracles. I am sure Satan is already on the ball with this one so send your prayers loud and clear for Katelyn!

Another awesome moment was during stake conference. It was a broadcast to 76 stakes in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. We had the privilege of having Elder Jensen, Elder Ballard, President Monson and his daughter Sister Dibb speak to us. During Sister Dibb's talk which was on virtue she related a story that was about a girl. Sister Dibb had asked where this girl was from and the girl responded "From the great state of Texas!" Sister Dibb went on to relate that she grew up in a small town and my mind immediately thought, "I wonder if I know where it is?" As soon as I wondered that, Sister Dibb gave the account of this girl and her Faith being strengthened by the small branch of Nacogdoches. Awesome.

We had made some interesting ways to help motivate the missionaries this week. Obviously we weren't allowed to drive, so one day we invited them all over to come and play some games if they got at least half of there contacts on the way over before they froze to death. Another day I grabbed a couple missionaries while my companion and their companions were practicing a musical number for zone conference and we went to Domino's to get some pizza while getting some more contacts on the way over. I have noticed a drastic difference throughout my mission that the longer I go without having experiences in which the spirit can use me, the unhappier I become. Vice versa, the more experiences I provide for the spirit to use me, the more my joy increases. I have always thought of the spirit as if I am learning a language. The more I throw myself into situations where I need to use it, the more acquainted and familiar I will become with the tongue of angels.

We had a couple in the ward brave the snow and pick us up for dinner at their place. The great part about it is they invited their next door neighbor over. She came, we taught the restoration and the Book of Mormon. She is now investigating the church, just like that. Thankfully we have the Faith of members who in Texas have no idea how to drive on this stuff but are making small sacrifices to make a teaching opportunity possible!

Keep up the good work. Thank you for the support.

Love Elder Metcalf

Winner!

2011-01-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Finally, it is like the weight of the world has rolled off of our shoulders and turned into outstanding joy.

The Fox family was baptized on Saturday and confirmed members on Sunday. The baptism was incredible. Matti the 13 year old requested to bare her testimony at the baptismal service and although it is too personal to write via email, it was one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard. We had to get 4 people to welcome the family into the ward and it was like a zone conference with a quick talk after quick talk from the primary, relief society, young women, and the bishopric. Elder Hall and I are pretty stoked. This week we had to go on exchanges so we could get the last baptismal interview done for the family and later that night, I found out that my companion volunteered us both for a special musical number (pretty sure the last time I did that was singing "Armies of Helaman" with Lance and Vaughn). Summer chose the song and we had a great time. It is interesting what a mission does to someone to get them out of their comfort shell. It is beginning to get comfortable being uncomfortable! There was so many people at the baptism that we had to move from the relief society room into the chapel which I think is a great problem to have. I had the privilege of baptizing Summer and Landon and I was way nervous the whole time leading up to the actual baptism because I desperately wanted to get everything right the first time. I think I asked Summer 5 times if she wanted to do her hair in a bun just so there wouldn't be any floating. Lucky for all of us everyone went right down and right up first try. The support for this family is outstanding. We are in a great stake and I we had people from at least 3 wards there helping out. An interesting thing too is that there is an excommunicated member that she knows who distanced himself from the church but showed up at the baptism because he was apparently really touched by the Fox family.

Sunday they all were confirmed. Elder Hall and I gave them all the Holy Ghost and it was a bit intimidating at first being in a ward with 300 people present standing in a circle with a bishop and stake president. I have learned a great lesson about pausing for the Holy Ghost. It is amazing the difference in all things when we pause and wait to see what the Holy Ghost has to say. Something I wish I would have learned much earlier in life (Yes, dad is smiling right now, I know). As the confirmations began, I said things that were very surprising. I knew the Lord wanted the one boy I confirmed to serve a mission and influence others to be baptized as well. Summer was way stoked on that. For the rest of the day I felt like I could prophesy the day and the time of the 2nd coming. We have stake conference next week so it was fast and testimony meeting when they were all confirmed. The entire family bore their testimonies! Summer's was absolutely perfect. She began by praising and giving love for the Bible then went on to how much she loves the Book of Mormon. She also thanked Heavenly Father for calling Joseph Smith as a prophet. Each child that bore their testimony mentioned how grateful they were to be Mormon! Ahhh how I love the testimonies of others.

Anyway I am not quite sure on what to write about for the rest of the week because there was one thing my mind was focused on. We had another baptism scheduled that fell through because of some serious concerns - things I have never dealt with the entire mission. It really softened my heart towards issues of the world and the problems people may face. He is waiting for God to take away this problem before he gets baptized. Unfortunately he does not understand the meaning of the Gospel! As Brother Hughes in Nac would say "If anyone of those people in our congregation tried to walk on water, they would sink." We will continue helping him realize how much more help he can receive with the awesome gift of the Holy Ghost.

I am pretty stoked to get this investigator pool refilled now. Please pray for our wonderful recent converts. Time to cement them into the Gospel.

Love Y'all and thank you for your prayers and support

Elder Metcalf

2011-01-25T20:12:00.001-08:00

I finally figured out why this should be the most successful week of the mission so far - my mom wrote and said she is praying for all my investigators!

Yes, anyone who reads this please pray heavily for Robinson and the Fox family who are all getting baptized this Saturday. Elder Hall and I are experiencing the 'pre-baptism' stress so we both have been on edge a bit. Although we both admit that we secretly love it. This week has been awesome. There is nothing like holding multiple baptism and confirmation forms in one hand that are all signed and ready to go!

So anyway that is about the highlight of the week and I could end my letter now... However the financial support system would probably fail if that were to happen...

This week has been pretty awesome because it means we are that much closer to this weekend. Many more spiritual experiences have been remembered and will be recorded in the journal today. A highlight was Family Home Evening last night with the Fox family when the 6th ward Bishop walked in to introduce himself. He really brought the spirit with him. In my mind I asked 'Do I carry the Spirit in a similar way with my calling and commission? If not, then why not?' Summer has been really awesome and her testimony is strong. It is super humbling as a missionary to see how the Holy Ghost can really change someones life so quickly with several (or few) spiritual experiences. I have been so determined to help others receive those types of experiences on their own and I think it is finally working. "Whatever you focus on, happens." When we went over to the Fox home to help them get to church yesterday one of the sons yelled when he answered the door "The Mormons are here!" to which his older brother replied "Dude, don't say that. Were Mormons now too." "Oh ya, that's right!" he responded. It was hilarious and touching.

The adversary is working the hardest I think on this family as far as thwarting their entrance into the kingdom more than any other I have seen. It is quite remarkable. There is obviously something special about them otherwise he wouldn't go to such great of an effort. However as Summer expressed her concerns, my reply was "Were always fighting a little harder." I think the example of the Lord saving the fishermen in the 4th watch and being born on the day the Nephites were scheduled to be executed is a great example. He lets us go to the edge until we have to walk into the 'twilight of our faith.' Most certainly the Fox's have walked into that small dark tunnel with greater light on the other side and have had some incredible witnesses afterwords. It has been a pleasure to see.

We had the Stake President come teach with us on Tuesday night and we met Summer at the church without her kids. She had some interesting questions, ones I had no idea how to answer and basically waited for President Wright to answer. However, the memory of the fact that I was called by God for this kicked in and I began to teach and respond to her questions through the Book of Mormon. Something you must understand (as I am sure most of us do at some point) is how inadequate I was feeling at that time. President Wright read me, I know he did. He taught off of what I taught which gave great comfort. At the end of the lesson when we were leaving, he paid me one of the greatest compliments that a missionary can receive, "Elder Metcalf you are a really great teacher and I mean that." Believe me, I don't say that to brag but to get across the point that he was close to the Spirit enough to tell me something that he felt that I needed to hear.

Another big time spiritual experience was with a young man named Robinson. He has been taught for a long time now. We even turned him over to the Assistants to teach because we really couldn't get him to progress all that well. One of our branch presidency members went over to his home and resolved some big concerns that we wouldn't have been able to because of the extreme trust he has with that member. So we started back up teaching him again and the lesson was powerful and the date was set. Shows how far someones charity and concern really does go.

Well family, I feel I received a prompting to pray for the neighbors so keep up the good work of fellowshipping them! You are too good of a family not too help others receive the restored Gospel as you already have.

This work is definitely real and very true

Love Elder Metcalf

2011-01-18T12:42:00.001-08:00

I warned Bishop Hamblin when I first got in the area, the last 2 Bishoprics I have served with ended up being replaced. He laughed a bit, yet was replaced yesterday by our ward mission leader of all people. This caught both Elder Halle and me off guard but we are stoked. It is awesome to have someone in charge who is so missionary minded already.

Now for the huge news. We are in an interesting predicament with the family we have been teaching. Turns out she lives across the street from what is actually our area. So she belongs to another ward because she is off the boundaries by 1 home. We got news that she has to transition to the new ward eventually but after she received such a strong confirmation in sacrament meeting yesterday with Bishop Thomas being the new Bishop, it was a little difficult to have the heart to break it to her. So we haven't yet. Lucky for us, the stake president is teaching her with us on Tuesday and that is what we think would be the best opportunity... Hopefully I don't get into to much trouble. President Smith directed us to, no matter what, keep teaching her and although they may go to a different ward, we would still be the missionaries. It nearly broke our little hearts yesterday after a lesson when she started tearing up explaining how hard it is going to be when we get transferred. We have had many concerns to help her overcome but on the other hand, some excellent spiritual experiences. I opened up to Hebrews 10:32 before we finally left.

This week was full of much 'data collection' as we prepare for yet another stake president report. The leadership thing is starting to test me more and more. As I am sure all of us have faced frustrations as we take leading roles in certain situations, it is funny when we remind a companionship 3-4 times of things we need and when we need them by, and they space it, or have no idea what we are talking about! However, I have caught myself a couple times and have needed to ask "am I doing this with charity or anger?" Thank heavens for the gift of the Holy Ghost to give us even the smallest 'heads up' in life when it can make all the difference of trust or friendship.

We had a meeting with all the missionaries in the zone and the stake president. This is the 2nd time that this has happened. Something remarkable that I picked up on immediately the first time was that president Wright, even in a 'adminstrative' meeting, spends the first half (if not more) of the meeting talking about the gospel. I later asked "Is this something you always do?" He responded to something like 'I find that in church business meetings that getting the spirit first is essential.' Since that first meeting I have applied this a lot. For example, while setting my goals or working to set them, I found that instead of diving right into it I read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and the goal setting became much more smooth.

We had dinner with the Harty's this week and we picked up the missionaries in the area that were actually assigned to their ward (yes, the Harty's are not in our actual area) and on the way over they debated who should give the message. I felt an impression and acted on it "I'll give it!" and sure enough, my favorite 3rd Nephi 11 lesson was used. A special lesson for very special people. I will tell you, there is no other chapter of scripture that has had a more dramatic impact or personal meaning than that one. The savior and redeemer of the world, a God himself invited the entire nephite crowd to come forward and He met with them one by one. I would imagine that He called everyone by name as well. Powerful.

I also gave my training on Tuesday and it went really well! I couldn't have been assigned a better topic- the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. That is what its all about. Elder Bednar says something like, everything in the Gospel is intended for us to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Well anyway, I will hope to update you more on investigators as soon as we find them all this week!

Pray me some luck!

Love, Elder Metcalf

snow

2011-01-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

I must be a curse for Texas or something because for someone that doesn't like snow as much as I do, Texas keeps getting these 'massive snowstorms.' We had our car parked by President Smith's for a while so we were on our bikes for a bit and it brought back quite a few memories going through the snow. It was actually quite a lovely experience really.

This week I received some awesome miracles and witnessed many as well. An interesting one was our training and interviews on Wednesday. Due to the lack of time, Elder Hall and I determined that we would combine both our trainings into one super training about goal setting. We based all our thoughts on the talk by Elder Oaks "Good, Better, Best." We put the final touches on it then headed to the stake center to get everything ready and to brief the district leaders on some administrative topics with the Assistants. We got back into the room with everyone then President Smith came. We got started, sang, prayed and President felt impressed to give a few words. About 3-4 minutes into it he says "There was a talk given by Elder Oaks about 'Good Better Best, much like our goals there are good ones, better ones, and the best." What made this even more remarkable was the assistants had spoken with Elder Hall before the meeting about Good Better Best. It is truly amazing to say that we were all literally on the same page. We gave our training and it went very well. Essentially it was three parts. 1- A good goal is a set goal 'i.e. I will baptize 11 people!' 2- A better goal is a defined goal 'this is how I will baptize 11 people. 3- A best goal is a living goal 'I will evaluate my goal every week. Again, 1-Good=Set it, 2-Better=Define it, 3-Best=Live it. I thought that was awesome.

My interview with President was great. We immediately got into my goals for the year and he quickly commented on how I would be leaving. Ugh... Although as we began talking about the Fox family and their baptisms he was very excited and asked how they were found. I hesitated a bit but then gave the story about how on a Tuesday night we went to wal-mart to buy lunch for trainings the next day and that she approached us. I hesitated because I was a bit worried I was confessing to my President that I was shopping on a non preparation day. He quickly explained "Elder Metcalf, this is a classic example of following the Spirit in which you had no idea you were following the Spirit. I wish missionaries would understand this and not ask the typical question if they are following the Spirit or not. You had a need and followed it." I just thought that was kind of cool.

Tuesday we had an Assistant exchange with Elder Hubbard that went very well. We knocked 2 doors before getting in a home and committed someone to baptism (he dropped us though unfortunately). Elder Hall and I noted how spirit filled the exchange was after it was over and it was interesting how we noted that in situations like that, when you are expected to perform at a high level of missionary stardom, we step up to the plate. It is funny to note however, that when we began the exchange, our first activity was to take a 40 inch flat screen TV from one missionary apartment and deliver it back to the member that loaned it out. (It was the TV we used to watch Toy Story on Christmas Eve.) I asked Elder Hubbard if he has ever returned a TV on an exchange, to which he responded with a smile on his face, "No."

We also had zone leader council on Tuesday which was awesome. Elder Rice became a zone leader and we talked to each other every chance we got (we served around each other in Nac for 6 months.) He served a transfer in Nac after I left so I was naturally inclined to quiz him about the Bennetts, the ward, the investigators and the missionaries. Of course the most exciting topic was to hear about the Bennetts since we cant exactly communicate too frequently. Another extremely important note was the goal for baptisms in the TDM was set. 1000 for 2011! It was crazy because as he posted the graphic that was made up to represent the 1000 goal, it looked so very familiar. Another interesting miracle this week was with a future missionary in the 7th branch. Elder Hall asked me to randomly call him to help out with a teaching appointment we had that day. I asked how things were going as he is about to serve his mission in a couple months and I felt something. I asked "You're probably experiencing some doubt, right?" Turns out he had been conned in by the adversary to watch some anti movie. It was funny to see how we were alike as we were getting ready to serve. I asked "Did you feel that if you watched it you would gain an advantage because you would know what opposition was out there and would know how to defend it?" He said yes and then explained how he began to overcome the opposition he had gotten himself into with deceiving thoughts and questions. Later that night we had a lesson and as everyone was leaving (we just happened to be in the Bishop's office) he stopped and talked alone with me and went into more details about how he regained to spirit. For some reason the spirit was extremely strong and very touching. I felt impressed there was something that Heavenly Father wanted me to learn or know so I continued asking questions. My companion came in and the 3 of us talked briefly and then left the room. Still, I felt there was more that I needed to know. I asked him for a blessing, which he later explained that when I had asked he personally felt it had to be done immediately. He gave, by the spirit one of the most profound and needed blessings I have ever received. I made many notes which would be inappropriate to write in this setting. As we finally parted ways and we were driving home that night I felt deep gratitude for what my Heavenly Father had shared with me and noted how interesting it was that when I walked into to the Church, I felt there was nothing that I needed, but walking out of the Church I felt extremely edified.

Now on to the topic of most importance! Summer and her family our doing well. They are experiencing tons of opposition which is to be expected considering her entire family is about to take a huge step of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. She didn't make it to church on Sunday because she was sick and the snow became a major distraction for the kids. We went over to her home during the 3rd hour and spoke with her about some concerns she was having. When we left shortly after, she expressed gratitude and a desire to read the Book of Mormon before Family Home Evening during the night. She said that as soon as we left the opposition began. She got distracted, lost her Book of Mormon and couldn't find any of the 4 we gave her. So finally she picked up a Book of Mormon reader and said just by flipping to a particular page she got what she needed. It was awesome. They are still on board. Well I will continue to battle the snow and Satan for the day with some proselyting.

I thank you again for your awesome support.

Love you! Elder Metcalf

2011-01-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

Well this week was full of lazy missionaries taking many naps. We had the flu, so there is not much hesitation in reporting that so far! It was super interesting when we would rest up the whole morning and afternoon then go out in the night to teach a few appointments. The spirit would come into my body and quicken it when I would teach yet toward the end of the lesson it was game over. Luckily things weren't too bad, I think it was relatively minor. When we did get feeling better to the point we were confident to go out and tract, our hot water heater broke. Let me tell you about how long I would survive serving outside the states without a water heater... We used some other missionarie's heater nearby, but Sunday we braved the ice cave and jumped in. I have never had my breath taken away quite like that! Although I can only imagine what some foreign serving missionaries are thinking to themselves right now! (Yes, my foot and rear end are a bit sore from being in a car so long.)

Summer and her family are doing awesome! Super miracles yesterday when they all came to church. She wanted to meet with Bishop beforehand and it went very well. The sacrament was awesome and the testimonies were outstanding. Later in the evening when we taught Summer at one of her member friend's home, she explained that she had received her conformation. One thing she also pointed out was that when we teach or when she attends church, she feels great and on board but when we leave, the confusion builds up. It was a great opportunity to bear testimony of the precious gift of the Holy Ghost. She is pretty excited. The spirit on Sunday pretty much wiped all of us out, it was glorious! Since we opened the Book of Mormon and read with her, the concerns seem to have dissolved away.

It does remind me most especially of a valuable lesson that still sticks with me from before the mission. I don't think there is ever some fear or doubt that enters into a future missionaries mind. When I expressed this to Lance, he looked at me and asked "Mark, did Lehi sail to the Americas?" to which I responded "Yes." After that, concerns and challenges seem to melt away. How grateful I am for the insurmountable power of the Book of Mormon. It is the ultimate healer and assurance other than probably those of the Godhead.

I am giving a training this week on goals to the zone so I feel it appropriate to share my own since I am going to challenge the others to share their goals with family as well. Before I do that, I have to share how much I love the brotherhood I have with other missionaries. Elder Hall and I often have deep doctrinal conversations and joke about how after the mission we will probably still call each other todiscuss our points of view more than likely with giggles. As for goals go, I have a goal to help 11 of my investigators be baptized this year before I come home (yikes!) I need y'alls help in being held accountable for it. Now, anyone can ask dad when it comes to running if it needs to be broken down first before shooting for a marathon, so in efforts to spiritually qualify for this I have broken down the basics to this (which I think I have already shared). "Each week I will evaluate with a willing mind my four key relationships then I will set goals and make plans of what needs to be done to purify my heart and refocus my life." If you remember President Uchtdorf's talk from conference (namely "what does it have to do with flying an airplane?") you will understand why I have chosen this. So I am excited to put this into practice. Like Matt said, this is it. I am in the final quarter, my skills and knowledge are at the top. Time to dig the heels.

I must praise my dear mother at this moment. We had a couple of nights without a dinner and when I opened up the perfect present (other then the book) namely that of a George Foreman grill, I was quite pleased. However, the real climax of the gift came the next day when I discovered much to my pleasure and excitement, the very chicken seasoning I had craved earlier in the week. The chicken was bought, grilled and devoured which led to the missionary's happiness. Sometimes I do believe mom is so in tune with the spirit that her son's cravings 1000 miles away can be relayed and mom's love (and seasoning) always pull through.

I was quite surprised in a lesson on Saturday in which the spirit used me. It is interesting when you get called to teach on the spot (always appreciated though as a missionary). It was 9:15 and I needed something to be taught quick. I pulled out 3rd Nephi 1 and read about the poor followers of Christ who were about to be killed by the unbelievers if the sign of Christ's birth was not given. I asked the group "How would you feel being a Christian and being told by the unbelievers that they were going to kill you if this so called sign didn't come?" The answers brought in the spirit and broke down the wall that is so often between us and the scriptures. I read on the very day they were to be killed, the sign was given. Now I asked "What would it be like for it to come down to the wire like that?"The answers again were awesome, these people and their insights teach me so much. I finished "Now, in our own lives, our Faith in Christ and His Gospel often comes down to the wire. We are always taken to the very end when the pressure is on and the opposition seems as maximum as it can be. What will you do? Surely we may not ever be tested as unto death like these people but will be brought to commandments, choices, words, and decisions that will try us at times that are like the people that we just read about."

How awesome is the Book of Mormon!

Read it.

Love Elder Metcalf

2011-01-03T07:41:00.001-08:00

Christmas was pretty sweet. unfortunately my companion and i both got pretty sick which required many bathroom breaks. They asked us to pass the sacrament the following day but i had to take off halfway through the song. Tis the season! the gifts were awesome, still the book is genius and the best gift ever!

ok ok now on to what everyone wants to hear, mission experiences and investigators!

We taught the family that we are hoping to see baptized in January and i was prompted to teach my favorite lesson ever. Keep in mind that i have only taught it 3 times because of how special it is to me. Basically unfolding 3rd nephi 11 by putting us right into the story. "what would it be like to be on the coastline when rita or katrina struck? That is just like what happened to the nephites!" We got to about verse 11 when i asked the mom what she would do if she saw 'a man descending out of heaven and announced he was Jesus Christ.' her response was, "i would probably fall on my face" read the next verse i asked and she went on to read "and when they had heard this they all fell down." at that point the spirit was pretty tangible in the room. a few moments later i bore my testimony about how awesome the book of mormon is.

As i have thought about this during my much thinking time while being under the weather, i have understood just how much value there is knowing the book of mormon is true. When i think about all the times i have tried to get people to listen to our message either through tracting or contacting by using bible references and so on i ask myself why? am i trying to convert others to the bible or the book of mormon?

Christmas dinner, we had a humbling experience with a returning active in the 7th branch who just got out of jail. He had no family and no friends for Christmas so we all went out to dinner. It was like the movie 'A Christmas Story' looking for a place to eat until we stumbled on Golden Corral. We had a long dinner, talked about family, the plan of salvation and other principles. as we parted ways, elder hall and i gave him just a small gift bag, really of things that had been given to us. It may have been his only Christmas gift we suppose. We do know that he has a relationship, a special one with God, but we hope just maybe he will remember a lonely Christmas as a good one with the missionaries.

We are pretty stoked for this upcoming week, I hope we can get feeling better. i will do my best to make my emails longer but for now i am tired and need to write presidente smith!

love y'all. thanks for the phone call it was awesome, especially as i have bragged about hearing a couple of babies slobber on dad's phone

love elder metcalf

Christmas

2010-12-23T11:20:00.001-08:00

We had much more success this week. We put in more effort to find more people which always, in my opinion, demonstrates more ways for God to trust his missionaries.

We got back into the family's home on Thursday after much prayer. She had misinterpreted some things, so we were very happy to see them resolved. Unfortunately, like the rest of North Dallas, most all of her questions were from some anti movies. They may be sincere but it is evidence of the adversary and fulfilled prophecy that "the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." We had a fireside last night with investigators in the Stake and the Stake President spoke. She attended with her son and apparently it went really well. I was on splits with a couple other missionaries because we didn't want 8 missionaries in the room at once and so we went out to another appointment while Elder Hall worked his magic.

It was funny though because once again there was a connection made. We were at the Fisher's home in one of the Allen wards and his uncle is Bro Peterson.

We had an appointment this morning with a 28 year old who came to church yesterday. He stood up during introductions and said he had investigated the church in Canada and his best friend is a singles pastor of another church but that "This is it, this is the true church, y'all have it." Come to find out, he was already member though. He had a cool story but that was extremely tough. He was engaged to be married but when the family found out he was Mormon they did everything they could to get him to deny the faith. He of course began politely to say no but eventually one person became 50 and soon they all were trying to cast out 'mormon devils' from him. People were coming over to beat him up as well. The wedding was terminated. Tough! But like Elder Andersens and President Hinckley's talk "it's true isn't it? then what else matters?"

We have been working on our goals as a mission for next year. I have had a specific number of people to help baptize in 2011 in mind before leaving (wait...what??) the mission. It is interesting, setting goals is like setting a covenant. It is like I am being revealed what I can do and how to do it. I have a sweet way to help accomplish this goal and push my spirituality more. It is that each week, to focus on how to strengthen my 4 key relationships, set goals and make plans to accomplish it. Reference president Uchtdorf's last talk.

Anyway, sorry this is short. I will look forward to talking to you Saturday! Should be somewhere around 11:00 our time 10:00 yours.

Well love y'all
Elder Metcalf

2010-12-14T14:49:00.001-08:00

This last week was full of meetings meetings meetings. Tuesday was my first zone leader council which was pretty sweet. Basically all the zone leaders hop in a room and discuss the needs of the mission. It was good to see some old longview out east buddies. Wednesday we had a zone council where the zone got together and Elder Hall and I trained on Revelation through Church Attendance. Thursday we had to wait for an exchange back from Greenville then weekly planning and Friday we had a specialized training from President Smith.

Our week was a bit rough in some ways that proved to be a bit humbling. Our tire went flat on the way home from Dallas on Tuesday so our afternoon was eaten up with a trip to pep boys for a repair. Later in the week after we got the mail at the end of the day the steering went when our alternator died which translates to having our car towed away and now were on bikes! No complaints (other than the cold) because our area is 7 square miles compared to Nac's 1500. Saturday we were good to go without a car until my companion's tire decided to complain and we had to walk around to get a new one. Oh, and the golden family we found and committed last week announced that they were offended by the Book of Mormon and for the strength of youth pamphlet. Odd.

Now on to the good news!

President Smith gave an awesome training on Friday which was very centered on the true meaning of Christmas. He went on to say that as we go out preaching the Gospel that we would see windows with trees, presents and families and we would yearn to be a part of that. Sharing the Gospel is the greatest gift anyone could give and this sacred time that we have here in the mission will no doubt be some of the most precious. At the beginning of the meeting we all practiced singing called to serve the same way the motabs do which was awesome considering there were 168 of us belting it out.

We had a couple exchanges this week. The first was with Elder Haslem from a little town called St George Utah who lives by desert hills high school. He is about to die in the mission so it was fun to be with him. We tracted in an apartment complex and the first guy to answer the door was actually a less active member who invited us to come back. The 2nd person to answer the door almost immediately brought up baptism as something she would like to do but didnt feel ready for it at this time. We did offer our help of course to make that a reality which she accepted.

The 2nd exchange was with Elder Harris up in Bonham. Man, that place was a lot like out east minus all the pine trees. It was kind of crazy how similar we were. He left on his mission late, came from a family of 4, etc etc... It was a great exchange. We were talking to one of his investigators on the porch before he let us into his home. I asked him 2 very direct questions "Dwayne, do you believe Joseph Smith was a prophet?" he answered in the affirmative. Then "Do you believe the Book of Mormon is true?" Yes he answered. He was then committed to baptism. We also met with a former investigator in a heart breaking situation, she wants to be baptized but her staunch catholic husband is opposed. She was awesome and very happy. She attributed it to her reading of the Book of Mormon.

Yesterday we met with a long time investigator who allowed us to come in and teach unannounced. Elder Hall taught the Atonement very well, then I taught more towards how the Atonement relates to Life's eternal purpose. He was pretty stoked on that and for a few seconds I actually forgot he wasn't a member. The Spirit was pretty strong.

Sunday we also had a miracle call in which one of our members had stopped by the family who said they were offended but come to find out they were just a bit nervous with the whole sudden baptism thing. That is what happens when you don't read the Book of Mormon! Faith declines, fears increase.

Love Y'all

Elder Metcalf

Christmas Miracles!

2010-12-07T22:09:00.001-08:00

After dedicating an hour every night to our wonderful "FFT" (Finding Family Time), we had a miracle. We had leadership training meetings 2 full days this week and were asked to provide our own lunch the night before the 2nd day. So after much ,we went to Wal-mart to pick up something fat and sugar free (I am still in the lead of the Biggest Loser). We were looking pretty gloomy at the soup cans in one of the aisles when a lady approached us asking if she could buy us some gloves. Initially, of course, we thought she was a member but as the conversation went from one question to about 30 minutes in Aisle 6 at Wal-mart, we soon discovered tears that humbled us and brought spiritual relief. We got her info and were very scared to look it up on the GPS for fear that this golden daughter of God may turn into a referral but it just so happened that she lived exactly on the border. We finally had an opportunity to set up a return appointment later in the week for Sunday evening. While in Church however, we received a text telling us that she had 'stuff' come up and would be unable to meet. My finger was on the phone ready to type the rescheduling reply but my companion stopped me and said we'll go over anyway. So after dinner we had coordinated for a couple to meet us there for the lesson. After minor talk on the doorstep and apologizing for getting her message and still coming over she let us in. After sometime and tears directed towards the member wife that was with us, we helped her do some cleaning around the home and then shared a short message. It was a humbling experience. All cards were in our favor. She has been told all the Anti, experienced both good and bad members and knows what we're about but wants to be baptized with her 4 kids in January. The better part of this report is that many members are already taking action. A phone call at 7:30am this morning from a Sister in the ward explained that she would be taking her kids over to meet their kids so they would feel comfortable going to youth night on Wednesday. Glorious

Leadership training was awesome this month. We had an amazing first day especially when one of the trainings done by a new district leader, was caught off guard. He was told to give his training on "Revelation through prayer" when someone had already given it and it was really supposed to be on "Revelation through the Book of Mormon." Things got exciting when the young district leader stood up, explained the dilemma and then went on to say "Well the Spirit is strong enough so I am just going to do revelation through the Book of Mormon training." It was one of the best trainings I've been in. It was unique to hear powerful testimonies (especially since President Smith was present - an extremely passionate man when it comes to the Book of Mormon.) We had an awesome role play that same day and I felt grateful to be a part of it probably because I needed it the most. The situation was that we had a person who didn't want to pray because of intense family opposition to the Church. I have no idea where I heard or read this from but it really built my testimony as I testified in this role play "Think and feel how much Heavenly Father loves His Son Jesus Christ. Their relationship was outstanding. All that love is incomprehensible to our finite minds, the love is so pure and infinite. Now understand this, Heavenly Father loves you as much as our Savior Jesus Christ."

Well already I am running low on time so I will do my best to sum up the rest of the week. We had a fun exchange with the assistants this week and we did splits so I was with one assistant and Elder Hall with the other. We went to an appointment and had with us a member who has a brother in the 70. Needless to say, this troublesome investigator was in for a surprise. Halfway through the conversation he explained that going off feelings is such a dumb idea. The member looked at him and said "Do you love your wife?" Later in the conversation I asked "If you knew the Holy Ghost was speaking to you, would you believe it?" Then the Assistant went on to explain the Holy Ghost.

We set another date with someone on the first lesson who sadly lives out of our boundaries but it was such a fun lesson. Elder Hall and I went in there with so much passion towards the Book of Mormon that it could almost be said it was like Nephi who's words could not be disbelieved.

I love y'all
Elder Metcalf

Thanksgiving Texas Style

2010-11-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a bit (just a little bit) tough on the diet we are doing. We decided to have a Biggest Looser challenge and for some reason set it up a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Mom you'll be happy to know that in the first and second week's weigh-in, I am in the lead with a weight loss of 8.4 lbs achieved thus far in the first week alone. Thanksgiving was awesome, we planned out 4 meals to attend and pacing myself proved to be quite the struggle. I must admit that Texas food is in definite competition with the family's. We ate breakfast at the Harty's who were baptized earlier in the year. You couldn't really tell though because of how golden they are. (Kind of like when my 2nd born son in the wilderness thought Jody was a life long member). The breakfast reminded me of Aunt Kris' cooking so homesickness never existed all day. We were going to play football after, but a Texas 40 degrees is like a Utah 20 to say the least. Our next meal appointment was with a part member family who had awesome food. Our 3rd meal was with a part member family who had probably the best pie I have ever tasted. Our 4th and last meal was with an active family and that is when I had trouble getting anything down.

Anyway, now that the food journal is out of the way.

We have a young man named Ricky that we are teaching who was supposed to be baptized this past weekend but unfortunately bailed out. He keeps his commitments and we fasted for him but when it comes to agency regarding particular commandments, then we have no control. He believes the Book of Mormon to be true and Joseph Smith to be a prophet so it is only a matter of time. We look forward to meeting with him tonight and will have him set his own date within the near future.

Yesterday we had a random guy walk into Church during the 2nd hour and we are pretty sure he was homeless. Once the member who was helping him located a missionary (me) then I became his fellow shipper for a couple hours trying to meet his spiritual needs. Although it was a bit impossible probably because of certain Word of Wisdom issues. He was a bit surprised when he figured out that he was in a Mormon Church with all the Christian pictures and things all around the building...

Today we taught new guy named Robert in the 5th ward area. He received a Book of Mormon from the last companionship that was here and expressed that we could come over but that he had only read through 1st Nephi and a little of 2nd Nephi. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and around the Spirit World part of the lesson he mentioned that he thought there must be 3 different places where people would go once they were judged. We finished the lesson and set up a return appointment to meet with him again but it was a bit to his reluctance. He really wants to read the entire Book of Mormon and ask God and wait to make sure it is His word.

We met another Anti Mormon guy that we knocked into and within 40 minutes he had a Book of Mormon in his hand and committed to read it. The odd thing about this contact was that he was directly across the street from the atheist guy from last week that ultimately accepted a Book of Mormon to read. We look forward to the return appointment. We are sure that they will both have many questions. I am down with the super critical thinker though.

We got a call from a less active member who just barely showed up on the records after we knocked into them accidentally. He was baptized nearly 20 years ago which is odd because that is the average time in the Church that someone remains inactive. So now he wants back in with a calling and a fellowshipping friend.

I would report more but we are running out of time. P-day was cut short because we were asked to help set up the "Cresh". They basically go nuts setting up like 500 nativities in the stake center (ask Katie). The rest of the week we had a road trip or 2 for baptismal interviews and lots of tracting for FFT aka Finding Family time.

Love y'all
Elder Metcalf!!!

Happy Thanksgiving....Already????

2010-11-24T16:11:00.001-08:00

This week was both eventful yet uneventful. We had many lessons that fell through but I had some pretty sweet experiences.

We met with the Allen Stake President, a couple of high councilmen, and President Grant from the mission presidency. It was, as I call it, a fun power meeting discussing the missionary work in the stake. It was only my first week here so my companion did most of the talking but it was pretty sweet. It has been an interesting ride to understand more fully how priesthood and church government work. It is an odd thing to hear others declare their opposition to organized religion but in my mind I think, you have know idea what organized is. Thank heavens for revelation.

Monday, last week was quite strange. We did our laundry, emailed, shopped, played basketball and still had time to do stuff. Why is this surprising? Because in my previous are,a we never had any Elders within 40 miles of the 4 of us and everything was too spread out to do that all at once. Hence, my golfing skills died.
We had our 5th ward Bishop offer his services in coming with us to the family we tracted out who committed to baptism but sadly there was no answer even knowing they were inside and the following day they explained "yes, I talked to my friends and they told me that the Mormon religion is not the true religion." Elder Hall and I surprisingly held our cool pretty well. It is quite interesting to see people when they express why the Church is not true (or utterly evil) because they heard or read such and such and then ask them "Well, did you pray about it and ask God?" The answer, after a long pause is always no. Of course the vast majority of people think we're false! Its because it's true.

On Tuesday we had our first district meeting in the area and it was strange not to prepare for it since I had been doing district meetings in Nac for 18 weeks. It was actually kind of a relief to tell you the truth. (then of course later that day, we had to spend a few hours preparing the stake president report.) It was an interesting experience because I was now around totally different people rather than the same Elders I had been seeing for 6 months.
We met with a lady that day who we had set an appointment up with earlier in the week. We began with our "refined Allen approach" of linking Families and the Restoration. After the prayer and the first couple of questions you could see the Holy Ghost working with her. She had many great questions. Those are the best people, the sincere seekers of truth. We placed the Book of Mormon and she was glad to have it.
That night we also met with a man named Tyson. It was the first time in a couple weeks that I had taken total control of a lesson so it was a bit rough around the edges. It is amazing how if we don't keep using are skills, how fast we can lose them.

Wednesday was fun, we did some service in the morning which was nice because our area is tiny and it's all families, so usually no one is home during the day. You know how I am, building and fixing are some of my favorite things! It wasn't long before we were both on the roof of this one ladies house trying to fix a rain gutter.
We met again with one of our newer investigators and the Spirit helped pump him up on the Book of Mormon. Inspired questions are my absolute favorite thing to accomplish in a lesson. It is a process of first waiting and pausing for the Spirit to prompt you, second asking a very short clear question ("Kevin, what wouldit be like for you to meet the Savior?") third waiting for the response as the Spirit dictates then fourth testify! ("that is why we have 3rd Nephi 11. Imagine you and your family just survived a hurricane 10 times more powerful than when you experience Rita and Katrina...")

Thursday we had a ton of planning to do. Planning for our area and the other missionaries. We went step by step through Preach My Gospel planning so we could get every last drop of revelation that we could qualify for.
We have been teaching in every dinner lesson, the Restoration. A line in PMG states that teaching the Restoration will build Faith and trust in all the members to share the Gospel. It works! The Spirit always comes in strong when we hear their testimonies of the First Vision then the timing is right to think about names they are working with.

Friday was awesome, we did a lot of random parking lot contacting. We have dedicated also an hour every night to FFT which is Finding Family time. (of course we ended up finding a YSA girl who wants to know more about the branch though.)

Saturday was sweet, we tracted into a guy who was such a critical thinker that he thought himself into Athiesm. However within 30 minutes of discussion he accepted the Book of Mormon challenge.

Sunday was stressful, no investigators came. We are struggling with our last and only baptism date who hasn't dropped us yet. We are praying for some major miracles. Of course that night is when I met the Anderson's relatives. They were pretty funny. "ya they live on Sugar Leo" "I live on Sugar Leo" "across from their bishop who owned Lins" "that's my bishop!"

Anyway my time is running short, they kick us out of here at noon.

Love y'all
Elder Metcalf

2010-11-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Allen 5 & 7

2010-11-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

Back in the big city and it is a little bit of a culture shock. My new companion Elder Hall said it was pretty funny to watch me, with blank stares and looking around the apartment when I first got there. The ward boundaries are tiny. We do cover a singles branch as well, which covers a massive area. It has been pretty cool to see how the Lord is helping me with my faulty memory. Maybe I am just getting used to a transfer finally since I didn't see one for a third of my mission. But the area we cover is much like Frisco. Funny thing about Elder Hall is that I replaced him when he left Frisco. We had a few similar spiritual experiences in Frisco as well which was kind of a joy to rekindle. As far as investigators go, we are working hard to set dates like crazy. We prayed for the opportunity to set 3 baptismal dates on Thursday and the Lord answered our prayers the following night with a family that we tracted in to. The sad challenge still seems to be getting these people to Church. We will be enlisting a lot of help from the members. There is much more success when they do the knocking and inviting to make sure they come Sunday. The YSA ward starts at 3:00 which was kind of a shock getting out at 6 and finding it was dark.

One of the first things I noticed was all of the people. There are so many contacting opportunities that kind of gives me a lot of energy and little direction. There was a car parked in a driveway with its lights on and when I saw it, a thought flashed in my mind to "go towards the light." The guy got out of his car and seemed to enjoy us having us get a hold of him. He had been taught in Mexico and made references to the Joseph Smith story and seemed to really like it. We got his info then referred him to the Spanish missionaries in the area.

We had a blitz on Saturday and I was sent to a richer area with a fairly new missionary. We offered some pleas for help and a dismission of fears and started knocking. Man, I kind of forgot that there are a lot of hard hearted people in North Dallas but for the most part it was a great experience. We knocked on one door and the guy came out and started talking to us. We asked if he had ever read the Book of Mormon to which he said "Yes, I like it a lot and it complements the Bible really well." I asked if he was a member and he responded "of what?" But we got his info and made a referral to the Elders in the area. Another man we knocked into went to SFA in Nac which was pretty sweet because we talked and connected real well about the area. He accepted a missionary visit and we took off.

We have a YSA named Ricky that Elder Hall has been teaching for a couple weeks and he and his member friend are really into video editing (the advantages of being a nerd as well as a ski bum are awesome). He is pretty well committed to be baptized this month but keep him in your prayers. The YSA branch is awesome and many referrals seem to be received each week. The branch presidency is very supportive as well because we teach a lot in their homes so it seems. Ricky has been reading and he described the few short verses we left him as "when I read them, I felt like I couldn't get enough of it. I needed to read more." The faith developed through the converting power of the Gospel is something I always have needed to work on. I am always impressed to hear the results of someone's sincere reading of the Book of Mormon. The faith required to do that seems very simply but miraculous every time it happens. Faith is a manifestation of one's desire.

I definitely miss Nac a lot. It is interesting now that I have so many joyful memories to choose from those precious 8 months. It helps me get through sometimes challenging, difficult or even tempting times. I really do feel strongly about the area I am in now. There has already been a few times where I am nearly brought to tears thinking about the massive amount of families here in the area and just to think of one, just one that may join, really puts a sense of urgency into myself. It has been unique to knock just a couple doors yet talk to so many people that are somehow outside already.

We had a meeting with the Stake President and the Zone on Saturday and he is stellar. He said "there are many many many people that are ready here." It is kind of driving me nuts really. WHERE ARE YOU! Thankfully when we have asked God, we have been lead exactly where we need to go. I would never be able to do this on my own. My own intellect has been challenged and failed every time I have used it. But, when the Spirit is involved, the wise become confounded.

Pray me some luck in Allen 5 & 7.

Love, Elder Metcalf

Tough Joy

2010-11-09T09:49:00.001-08:00

Tough joy is one of the ways to describe missionary work.

Tyler was baptized yesterday and the baptism, I don't think, could have been any better. To set it all up we (I say 'we' because I have been here long enough) got a new Bishop who is actually Brother Nicholas. It wasn't a surprise to many of us though, because he is pretty stalwart. Uniquely enough, he and his family have fed us probably double or more then any other member here. He is also Tyler's Spanish teacher at the High School. So, at the baptism, Bishop (or Mr. Nicholas) had several of his students,because they were all Tyler's friends, in attendance. He bore a strong testimony which I don't think could have been more perfect. Within a couple hours of Bishop Nicholas' setting apart, one of his students was baptized whom he had helped teach the entire time. Coincidence? Ya right... Especially considering we postponed the baptism 2 weeks for the 31st.

Tyler asked me to do the baptizing which surprised me. Quite frankly, I think I was the most nervous one in the biggest audience we have ever had. We had mostly youth take care of the baptismal program and a of couple young women sang "When I am baptized." If any of you know me well enough, then you would understand that hands down, that is my favorite hymn and scripture. I think more than any other part of the baptism, that is when I felt the Spirit the strongest. Maybe it was because my nerves were running a bit high walking into the font. Ahhh, baptism. The central invitation of all my teaching. He'll be confirmed next week, I am curious to hear of anything that may be asked in Bishop Nicholas' Spanish class today.

Saturday night was pretty intense. We had a booth at the cities "Scare on the Square" which was packed with families. Bishop Nielson came down to help and him we always have hilarious discussions. The question he asked me when we were filling pales, pumpkins, and bags with candy, pass-a-longs, and pamphlets was "What do you think President Monson would say if he saw us down here supporting a holiday like this?" Another funny thing to note is there were about 30 other church booths around us. We had the spanish Elders with us so I sent out the 2 Jr companions while the old guys manned the booths. Apparently Elder Jones went out and contacted half the church booths and in the process a lady came up to him and Elder Beihl and said "You ready to walk with me?" After a brief conversation he had met someone that knows the Book of Mormon to be true and loved to Spirit on temple square. You cant go wrong with a companion that has tons of fire which I attribute most, if not all, our success too. At scare on the square we gave out over 1000 pass-a-longs, and about 400 pamphlets, 20 copies of the Book of Mormon. The interesting thing about this is that we ran out of all our supplies. It is a unique situation to be in...

I wrote in tough joy at the top because we have been meeting the most prepared people I have taught the entire mission. The spirit in the lessons has been obvious. The investigators feel the truth and accept baptism. The odd thing about it all is, that we never hear from them again. No phone calls answered or messages returned. In some cases they send their friends out the very next day after the lesson to tell us they aren't home. It is sad when they leave the blinds open and then we wave at what I thought was the golden investigator at that point. I think there is a process which Satan goes through with each investigator that ultimately destroys Faith in the message of the Restoration. After a very powerful lesson I am sure he laughs and says "Really Elder Metcalf? is that all you got?" then goes through the normal routine of some anti from close family or friends then whispers into the ear of the golden contact "come on... seriously, no way. Baptism? that would mean you would actually have to do something..."

As of now I am pondering more battle tactics against my enemy. A stronger testimony? Yes. Better teaching skills? Yes. More Faith and boldness? Yes. The game has been set, the field is white, and the opponent is growing stronger. What can I do to better my team?

A big success this week was a man named Willy that the Spanish Elders tracted into and referred to us. He is wanting and desiring more spiritual satisfaction in his life. We went to his home and it was a bit odd because he didn't let us in and we talked on his doorstep for half an hour. He agreed to a Church tour after using some "How to begin teaching points" from Preach My Gospel. The unique thing about this is that he actually came! He loved the Church. He felt the Spirit. He came to Church on Sunday! Loved it. Felt it. i ended up teaching Gospel Principles (a calling that was extending 40 minutes before it happened) and I felt the Spirit actually working through me and Willy participated a lot. He answered many inspired questions in a way that the Spirit entered into his heart more. I look forward to the next lesson we have with him because we talked a lot on baptism!

Another joyful experience Elder Jones and I have had is that we got on our bikes to contact. Ha! Its fun. Tracting is becoming a activity that is less routine. We have had great experiences getting out there and finding where that Spirit, that we all desperately want, may be.

Love Elder Metcalf

Bitter Sweet

2010-11-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon the air was cool and we had finding time scheduled. We took off on the bikes and went down to the border of the college area after contacting many people. We were sitting at the corner for a while talking about life and the mission when the phone rang. The ringer, which is rarely heard, but obviously very different, identified the caller as President Smith.

"Elder Metcalf, looks like your time in Nacogdoches has come to an end..."

1/3 of my mission in Nac has finally come to an end. Saying goodbyes was a bit strange. The hardest of course was at the Bennetts last night. They came home around 8:30 and so we talked for about an hour then the awkward "All right, we need to go" was said. Man, sure am going to miss that family. They were my first and last 'lesson' in Nacogdoches. The difference was awesome. Very strong friendships were developed.

Tyler was confirmed yesterday and with each confirmation, the Holy Ghost became more and more noticeable when someone receives it. Because it was fast Sunday, we challenged him to bear his testimony which was awesome because even with the opposition he did it. He described that when he woke up he didn't want to come, but did. He had a migraine and was a bit weary when coming up to be confirmed. Although when he was confirmed he said that all physical problems disappeared.

We set a baptismal date with Willie this week who is solid as a rock. He met with us the day after so we could set up a calendar with him with the events leading up to his baptism. He told is that his goal is to read 3 chapters a day. He said that he feels so good in the Church and it is like a little glow that gets brighter and brighter each time it comes inside of him (We referenced Alma 32). The missionaries coming in have many notes on his teaching record.

Elder Jones is getting transferred as well which is rough because the new missionaries wont know the area at all! I'll probably take a picture of the desk so y'all can see the million notes I've left. 8 months of knowledge is coming with me. Elder Jones will be transferred to another out east area and I am going back into the city, which I have not seen for 8 months. I am excited though because I haven't been to the temple since March. Hopefully I can go soon.

When I gave my last testimony in sacrament meeting I hit record on the digital recorder because I wanted to hear what I sounded like on the fly. It was hilarious when I did play it back because with the recorder in my front pocket you could hear my heart beating super strong and then slowly fade when I calmed down.

Well mom, you will like this story. For my last dinner we ate with a family that I really like (well, I like all of them of course) but they asked for my favorite food for a last supper. My response was "Chicken Roll-ups" (or chicken pillows) I think I had about 12. Not sure if you might be able to send that recipe.

Well it is pretty rough leaving Nac town for a while. I highly doubt I'll ever have a area as long as this but I loved it and being here as long as I was. It was super rough saying bye to the Bennetts. Most certainly the greatest joy felt was when they made the decision to be married and Jody getting baptized in the same weekend. AWESOME. (See y'all in the Temple!)

Farewell Nac-a-baptize. Nac-a-Metcalf. Nac-a-Nowhere. Nac-a-fat. Nac-town. Nac-a-contact. Nac-a-joy.
Off to the Big D.

Love Elder Metcalf

New Photos

2010-11-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

2010-11-04T11:50:00.001-07:00

Tough joy is one of the ways to describe missionary work.

Tyler was baptized yesterday and the baptism, I don't think, could have been any better. To set it all up we (I say 'we' because I have been here long enough) got a new Bishop who is actually Brother Nicholas. It wasn't a surprise to many of us though, because he is pretty stalwart. Uniquely enough, he and his family have fed us probably double or more than any other member here. He is also Tyler's Spanish teacher at the High School. So, at the baptism, Bishop (or Mr. Nicholas) had several of his students, because they were all Tyler's friends, in attendance. He bore a strong testimony which I don't think could have been more perfect. Within a couple hours of Bishop Nicholas' setting apart, one of his students was baptized whom he has helped teach the entire time. Coincidence? Ya right... Especially considering we postponed the baptism 2 weeks for the 31st.

Tyler asked me to do the baptizing which surprised me. Quite frankly, I think I was the most nervous one in the biggest audience we have ever had. We had mostly youth take care of the baptismal program and a couple of young women sang "When I am baptized." If any of you know me well enough, then you would understand that hands down, that is my favorite hymn and scripture. I think more than any other part of the baptism, that is when I felt the Spirit the strongest. Maybe it was because my nerves were running a bit high walking into the font. Ahhh, baptism. The central invitation of all my teaching. He'll be confirmed next week, I am curious to hear of anything that may be asked in Bishop Nicholas' Spanish class today.

Saturday night was pretty intense. We had a booth at the cities "Scare on the Square" which was packed with families. Bishop Nielson came down to help and we always have hilarious discussions. The question he asked me when we were filling pales, pumpkins, and bags with candy, pass-a-longs, and pamphlets was "What do you think President Monson would say if he saw us down here supporting a holiday like this?" Another funny thing to note is there was about 30 other church booths around us. We had the Spanish Elders with us so I sent out the 2 Jr companions while the old guys manned the booths. Apparently Elder Jones went out and contacted half the church booths and in the process, a lady came up to him and Elder Beihl and said "You ready to walk with me?" After a brief conversation he had met someone that knows the Book of Mormon to be true and loved the Spirit on temple square. You cant go wrong with a companion that has tons of fire which I attribute most, if not all, to our success. At scare on the square we gave out over 1000 pass-a-longs, and about 400 pamphlets, 20 copies of the Book of Mormon. The interesting thing about this is that we ran out of all our supplies. It is a unique situation to be in...

I wrote in tough joy at the top because we have been meeting the most prepared people I have taught the entire mission. The spirit in the lessons has been obvious. The investigators feel the truth and accept baptism. The odd thing about it all, is that we never hear from them again. No phone calls answered or messages returned. In some cases they send their friends out the very next day after the lesson to tell us they aren't home. It is sad when they leave the blinds open and then wave at what I thought was the golden investigator at that point. I think there is a process which Satan goes through with each investigator that ultimately destroys their Faith in the message of the Restoration. After a very powerful lesson I am sure he laughs and says "Really Elder Metcalf? is that all you got?" then goes through the normal routine of some anti from a close family or friends then whispers into the ear of the golden contact "come on... seriously, no way. Baptism? that would mean you would actually have to do something..."

As of now I am pondering more battle tactics against my enemy. A stronger testimony? Yes. Better teaching skills? Yes. More Faith and boldness? Yes. The game has been set, the field is white, and the opponent is growing stronger. What can I do to better my team?

A big success this week was a man named Willy that the Spanish Elders tracted into and referred to us. He is wanting and desiring more spiritual satisfaction in his life. We went to his home and it was a bit odd because he didn't let us in and we talked on his doorstep for half an hour. He agreed to a Church tour after using some "How to begin teaching points" from Preach My Gospel. The unique thing about this is that he actually came! He loved the Church. He felt the Spirit. He came to Church on Sunday! Loved it. Felt it. I ended up teaching Gospel Principles (a calling that was extended 40 minutes before it happened) and I felt the Spirit actually working through me and Willy participated a lot. He answered many inspired questions in a way that the Spirit entered into his heart more. I look forward to the next lesson we have with him because we talked a lot on baptism!

Another joyful experience Elder Jones and I have is that we get on our bikes and go out to contact. Ha! Its fun. Tracting is becoming a activity that is less routine. We have had great experiences getting out there and finding where that Spirit, that we all desperately want, may be.

Love Elder Metcalf

2010-11-01T07:54:00.001-07:00

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!

Another Sweet Week

2010-10-18T11:38:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-12T07:57:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-04T13:31:00.001-07:00

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.

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

transfer calls

2010-09-29T21:58:00.001-07:00

Some great unexpected things happened this week in Nac. I wont have very much time to write today though (there is never enough time.) Elder Taylor and I will be heading up to Lindale today for the transfer...

It was a interesting thing. I have been in Nac for 30 weeks now and with transfer calls and Saturday, I almost got out my suitcase early to get a head start. "For sure I am going this time" I thought to myself. Although Friday night I had an interesting dream that I would stay and train another missionary. "That was unique, but wont happen. I have been here too long!" Yet on Saturday night the call came... "Elder Metcalf, I am calling in behalf of President Smith, you will be staying in Nacogdoches and training a new missionary." So by the end of this coming transfer I will see all 4 seasons change, have had 4 companions (2 greenies) and watched conference twice in the same area. I love Nac though. I think they are talking about moving my records here as well...

This past week was awesome and lots of fun. We had another 3 day training in Longview that I had to attend. President Smith explained that much like the sacrament, we have to refresh ourselves on the same things. It was a good training though because he actually assigned the missionaries to run the show instead of President himself. Wednesday night we had a small miracle. Elder Christensen and I paired up (we always do, he is a Hemphill missionary and we get along well) and we only had 30 minutes to complete the Assistants challenge to give out a Book of Mormon to somebody. With that short amount of time and realizing that the neighborhood next to the church had been knocked out recently (some of which was my doing) we said a prayer that we would be able to give a Book of Mormon to someone in a car. With the prayer said we stood on the curb waving at people. That definitely didn't work so we moved down to a 4 way stop. It seemed like the closer we got, the more obvious California stops became. So we walked up the street a ways yet much to our disappointment no one was around. We were out of time so we began to walk back. At that moment a car broke down literally right next to us. We gave him a push home which was close by and handed out our copies of the Book of Mormon after some conversation.

We had a baptism yesterday for a 17 year old named Kontessa. Everything went well, the talks were good and the ward was supportive. Elder Taylor performed the baptism. She choked on some water and got scared but other than that all went well! We had a short testimony meeting while we waited for them to dry. Some great testimonies were shared. I think my favorite was when I looked back at Jody and then looked at the front of the room. It wasn't long before she gave a very spirit filled testimony.

Well I need to make a Book of Mormon booth for our open house tomorrow. I am way excited to be in Nactown still and pray for me to find those that are spiritually dissatisfied!

Love Elder Metcalf

PS CONFERENCE YES!!!

Good luck in the marathon dad!

out with the old in with the new

2010-09-27T07:37:00.001-07:00

Howdy,

This past week was pretty fun, the mission has been contacting like crazy with some sweet results. Indirectly from our efforts, the Lord blessed us with an awesome new investigator named Tyler. He has had a lot of contact with friends in the church and even his Spanish teacher has helped out. Cant go wrong with an investigator that already has a big support group. We taught the first lesson to him on Thursday night and it went really well. He is 16 so the members actually set up the lesson at his place so his parents wouldn't be too shocked when he decided to get baptized. At the very beginning of the lesson, he asked for his Book of Mormon then said "man, I need more of these so I can turn others into Mormons." When we got to the first vision, I was super excited to teach it. Lately I have been working on quoting it with more power and more conviction. Needless to say a few seconds after explaining the significance of the first vision he, without reluctance, accepted a baptismal commitment.

The first vision is something that lately has become more important and more significant in my life. When you consider all of the fruits that have come from it, it is almost like all of our beliefs summed up. It is an extremely bold claim (two personages, not one) and brings many comfort when they know of its truth. In most of our 'dinner lessons' I quote the first vision and ask them "Why is it important in your life?" and the answers have strengthened my testimony. Think how children feel the spirit when a parent reassures them that 'yes, they really did appear to him.' Man, this Church desperately needs more testimony in the home.

Contacting this week was an experience. As I look back now I see that I tried to avoid tracting. It seems like when you trust that the Lord is the greatest micro manager ever, that the person in the gas stall next to you (or the furthest one away), the cashier at the checkout, the one who asks "hey do you work here?" just may be the one that is totally prepared to talk to you! It still gives me some butterflies but there really is no reason to be scared. I think there may be a reason that I wasn't foreordained to speak massonically like Isiah, I would probably start writing "good heavens people, just open your mouth. and NO is better then not trying at all."

The lesson with the Bennetts this week was awesome, my voice started to get shaky when the Spirit and feelings in the room were more personal and powerful. But its one of those lessons that is very special to me as a missionary that I cant type up! I want to share it with everyone but my heart, their heart, must be prepared to receive such a sweet lesson (I learned it from another missionary in Hemphill.) Twice that day I used that message and both times it brought tears, comfort and the Spirit. Yes, straight from the Book of Mormon.

This week I got a way sweet letter from Patriarch Edwards and it had some sweet, comforting messages in it. I will share only one. He wrote, "You will only be serving those who are dissatisfied spiritually." It has been something that I have been pondering over frequently. Is the reason we don't get into many well established Christian doors because they are satisfied with their beliefs? Can we truly be satisfied spiritually without the restored Gospel? Can someone accept parts of truth and be satisfied? Hmmm... (Get back to work Elder Metcalf was my response, find 'em!)

On Saturday we gave a church tour to Tyler and it went well. Elder Taylor led the way in a "Lance Starling" like tour guide voice. Hemphill used our building for a baptism with the lady I gave my first interview too. It was a good motivator.

They called a new ward mission leader with a man named... Brother Burr (I've already asked him). He's been in the ward for about a month and I had a feeling he would be called. With Bro Hughes no longer at the head of this thing here in Nac One, I am beginning to wonder with transfer calls this week if its out with the old, in with the new.

Anyway, open your mouths.

Love Elder Metcalf

2010-09-06T16:38:00.003-07:00

They changed our email to today because of the Holiday.

Monday night after preparation day proved to be a bit funny. We had knocked on a door last week of a less active in the ward that we thought livde there. They let us know that she had moved to a different street. With no address and only a street name we went out to find her. On the records she was labeled as "Do not contact" but Bishop said we would be fine. Before getting out of the car we said a prayer asking that we would find her. As we got out we asked a man who was pulling in his trash can where she lived. He pointed us to the house and as we were walking there, she and her family pulled into their driveway. At this point you may be expecting some sweet story but she and her husband were actually pretty mad and wouldn't speak a word to us. But God did answer our prayer and reached His hand out to them, through us.

Tuesday night 'happy hour' with the Bennetts was awesome as usual although when I walked in she let me know that she had read my blog and it scared me for some reason. So since she is probably reading this right now, Hi Jody! We read Alma 46 together about Moroni going down the streets with the title of liberty and my question to y'all is "what would you put on your flag?"

Wednesday we had a tough lesson with one of our closest investigators. She wants to join the Church, loves the Book of Mormon and the teachings. For a while she had expressed concern about joining for fear of the temple ordinances. However she desires them and that seems to be enough to get over any concern - desire. The concern Cheryl has is that her family sat her down and explained all the reasons she shouldn't become Mormon. Her son is actually a pastor up in Sacul. They made her promise not to join. She said that she was disappointed in the choice of her family to dislike the Church so much and compared herself to Joseph Smith who, in some cases, received heavy persecution for no apparent reason. She did tell us that she crossed her fingers when she made the promise by saying "I wont join the church...right now." So pray for her. I imagine that this is one of those unique events that make missions tough...

Thursday's highlight was the backlot bash at SFA. Essentially all the new freshman had a giant meeting then were 'released' into the back lot of the arena where there was about 50 booths set up. We, of course, set up our booth (like trade days a few weeks ago) and attempted to lure in some hapless freshman. Before the event even started we had a young guy from the Bahama's approach us while we were finishing the set up. He asked about the difference between our Church and everyone else. He requested a Book of Mormon and we set up an appointment at the Church this coming week. I swear he's elect. He left and as soon as he was gone the thought crossed my mind 'I forgot to get a phone number...' so he walked back by again and said "I knew you would want this." and gave us his number. Other then that we gave out 10 copies of the Book of Mormon to those that took us up on the challenge to read and pray about it. Bishop is a professor at the college so he joined us. He made a funny comment that he only got to hand out 75 pass along cards whereas Elder Rice and I gave about 250 each out. Spread the word!

Friday we drove up to Timpson making various stop bys on the way up. Our first home we got into was actually an excommunicated family that is looking forward to rebaptism someday soon. Unfortunately he claims that he has trouble with crowds... Another stop was with a lady who said that missionaries always end up at her home when she needs them. We committed them to church.

Probably one of the coolest miracles this week was on Tuesday night when Elder Taylor and I did splits after dinner. Isaac who was with us needed to go to the bathroom so I made a couple phone calls on a list the Bishop gave us Sunday. The list was names on the directory of people with no address and no phone number. Well in one phone call I made contact with the mother who actually was the mom of half of our list. She was very happy that we had called and were 'checking in.' She has a non-member fiance who is interested in the Church and wants to learn more. Sadly they wont be back from working on pipelines until the end of October. Can anyone stay 9 months in Nac?

Anyway thank you for the pictures, I love them very much. That baby I swear always radiates happiness and energy. Awesome

Love y'all
Elder Metcalf

2010-09-06T16:38:00.001-07:00

The past week was almost like fighting the natural man each day. Pulling up to a well established neighborhood in the air conditioned car with comfy seats and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is always something of an opportunity to either grow spiritually or damn myself with complaints. Once out of the car, the battle continues. The sun beats down its rays upon you with bug like beads of sweat rolling down your back attempting to torture you with the thought of a cool apartment. Yet somehow, for some reason we move on from door to door inviting others to come unto Christ. Most the time the reactions are "I'm already in [such an such] church" to which well devised and clever questions are asked, "Well don't you want to come closer to Christ?" Usually the response is negative and the door separates us from the potential member of the restored Gospel. Next door. The anxiety moving to the next door increases as you look over the house checking to see if they are staring at you and the book that you dare to hold. The bell rings, the door is knocked and the Spirit seeking process begins all over again. At the end, walking back to the car, the satisfaction and confirming pat on the back from the Spirit is almost as much as a huge success as each door was failure, making the energy spent, the Holy Ghost felt, the rejected testimony, totally 100% worth it.

We had a funny experience yesterday when we set up a visit to a active part member family that has had bad experiences with missionaries in the past. I have been in the area 6 months and this is the first time I have been in the home. The nerves were a bit high and my social skills were challenged trying to reestablish trust between a member and a missionary. The funny part of it all is that we had a dinner appointment right after this appointment who was under the impression that we had asked her to feed us dinner. So yes, the Elders had 2 dinner appointments on Sunday in Nac. It was a very interesting experience referring to the first dinner. I didn't feel welcome and yet the situation felt familiar, like I had been there before. She preferred that we didn't share a spiritual thought, so we didn't, and no miracles occurred. She had an excommunicated daughter there with extreme animosity towards the Church. Hmm, not sure what the Spirit was trying to teach me but I recorded the experience in my journal. As I was writing in my journal I realized that I had let the opportunity for testimony slip away for fear of a negative reaction. This should never phase me again. Lesson learned. Whether I was in that situation supposed to share a testimony or not, I was taught by the Spirit. And yes, was very very full by the end of the night.

On Saturday one of the members of the ward was buried, Brother Johnson. He was a member that would come out with us missionaries at a moments notice. I think he averaged teaching with us 2-3 times a week. He had served something like 4 missions. I don't think I have seen very many members like him who were serving so well in building up the kingdom. He certainly, in my opinion, sealed his Celestial exaltation. No doubt he was asked to fulfill big assignments in the next life that will continue to fill him with joy and commitment to always say yes to the will of the Lord. It was certainly a shock and depressing to hear of his passing but he had served well and it was a great privilege to witness his example and see his response when the call was made.

We had a very interesting lesson on Friday night with a 17 year old that has a baby and wants to be baptized. We knew that we had to teach the Law of Chastity but I think the fact that we taught her in front of her dad and grandparents may have caused some embarrassment on all of our parts. Yet she committed, no problem, and reconfirmed her desire to be baptized. We will continue to teach and check for testimony. The last thing I want to do is baptize someone who is doing it out of pressure. We invite, they commit, we follow up. Agency is a role that is hard to understand at times. Especially when you teach a great week yet 1 investigator comes to church. The stress piles up and 'whys' begin to pour out. Then the Savior tests your commitment to always remember him and engage in the greatest work ever.

We have been working with a few people who all believe the Book of Mormon to be true (who can dispute after reading and praying about it) the issue resides in the opposition they get from close range, family, friends, leaders. They know its true. But leaving life and relationships is so difficult. Sometimes hard for me to understand. My inward response tends to be "It's true isn't it? Then what else matters?" So the challenge for us has been to connect the dots with the center piece of the Restoration. These are wonderful children of God as we all are. I pray hard every night to know how to best serve them. Some of are most disgusted doors tell me that I was an instrument in my Saviors hands in reaching out to that person in a time of need in their life.

On Tuesday we did something a bit unusual. We opted not to tract and instead we stayed inside and called every single Less Active member on our list. As the Stake President put it "there is plenty of work to do within the ward itself." So we worked the list all day. It is amazing to me to hear such bitterness on the other end of the line and one phone call later hear "ya know Elders, I have been wanting to get active for awhile. Come on over." The choice to act and not to be acted upon will definitely assure you of happiness now and eternally.

Well as I reflect on the first year of the mission it surprises me to see how much change and refining I have been put under. I am very privileged to have recorded one page per day for the past year so I can feel who I used to be. Yet this doesn't satisfy me. Yes, awesome, its good but I see the first year as ground work of certain patterns of success that have been instilled in me that will help me become more efficient and grow much more substantially. I am not looking for a better person for me to become but for my very nature and innermost desires to become intimately closer with those of the Savior's. My desire is to become like Him isn't it?

Anyway thank y'all for your letters, love and support. I sure am sad to know I only have a short amount of time left to fill in what goals and experiences the Lord wants me to have but I am happy for the time nonetheless. Let the Battle continue and the Lord make me equal to every challenge. As I testify, he supports - no matter the pain, heat sickness, tiredness, and sadness.

Love Elder Metcalf

Never Again

2010-08-24T12:21:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-24T12:20:00.001-07:00

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...

2010-08-16T08:17:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-10T16:12:00.001-07:00

Special Delivery

2010-08-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Overdue

2010-07-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

It is pretty unrealistic that Nicole is actually having a baby and the child will be kicking and screaming this week... Well maybe not kicking and screaming since I am told that he will have the best mother in the world. Either way it is a strange thing to say that a newborn will be in the family. I never remember Megan being small. Just stuck at age 13 is all. That is so awesome though. NEED PICTURES.

I guess I will have to report on the process of "rebirth" in Texas. The funny thing is that we actually had a convert baptism yesterday and Elder Taylor and I didn't mention him in either of our letters! Sorry! His name is Nicholas and we helped teach and baptize him in 13 days. He is 8 (neither of his parents are members so he is a convert) but comes to church every week with his grandparents and enjoys it. His grandpa baptized him which was touching for all of us. He was very nervous about saying the baptismal prayer correctly so we had Elder Taylor throw on his whites and help out in the font. Not too bad for Elder Taylor. Y'all can tell he is a great missionary since he is baptizing his 3rd week out. Nicholas is a great young man and he is asking us to come over to teach his parents. I think we're pretty good friends. Although every time I walk into a ward activity it takes about 30 seconds before 10 kids jump on me and need help spinning the merry go round at light speed. I love it though. Nicholas and his grandpa have an awesome bond and it probably jumped out 10 times more than before he baptized him. That's what the gospel seems to be all about.

The 3 day leadership meeting was awesome this week but wore us all out. The spirit was obviously there and great things happened as we went out and applied what we had learned. On the 2nd day I went out tracting with Elder Christensen from Hemphill (yes that's right) who has only been out 6 weeks but is training. He was at first overwhelmed being young but wow he was an awesome leader. We were lead by the spirit. Before exiting the church parking lot we prayed for 2 lessons and a baptismal commitment (I have a firm belief in very specific prayers.) We started walking a ways down the road because we were told "all the streets by the church have been tracted 10 times" until the verse in Doctrine and covenants which says something like 'it is not needful to move swiftly while the inhabitants on either side of the river are perishing in unbelief' so I detoured straight into knocking into the closest house. A few knocks later we taught a man who wasn't interested. A few knocks after that we knocked into a lady who let us right in. We did everything we remembered and applied all the new trainings and the difference was staggering. For example at the end of the lesson we had her grandson Nathan read Moroni 10:4-5. He struggled to read through it but at the end I asked "What does the mean to you?" There was silence for about 90 seconds. Finally he answered "God is going to tell me this book is true." to which our reply was "and when you come to know its true, will you be baptized?"
"Yes."
I think that was a good referral for the Elder's area we were in.
The best part about it is that although we may have not been teaching as powerfully by the Spirit in the past, we have been trained and we are doing it now. Move on, move up, move forward.

The next day in training President Smith asked an Elder to meet with him after lunch. President Smith started training once the interview was over but the interview Elder wasn't present. A few minutes later he walked in clearly upset about something. I think naturally we were all wanting to know what happened. However we forgot about it and moved on. In the middle of one of our role plays he raised his hand and said "President, I'm going to tell them what we talked about... My grandpa died and Elder Allen's testimony touched my heart deeply." Clearly the Spirit works whenever he can. It is pretty obvious that missionaries will be less teachers and more instruments.

I suppose it is time to report the big news of the week. Bishop Nielson has been talking up the 24th of July event and that every other year they get baptisms out of it. Naturally we were pretty excited. We got there and some kids and I got ourselves sick on the merry go round then joined in with everyone else for food. We were at Lake Nacogdoches which was a pretty awesome sight (i.e. A lake with boats on it). However the scene and the feel of being there seemed a lot like Deja Vu. Jody was next to us and we started talking about it before the conversation faded. Brother Hughes (my crazy east Texas best friend ward mission leader) sat down and we talked about how I was cleaning the font today and planning Nicolas' baptism. Brother Hughes announced that planning baptisms was his favorite thing to do. At that point Jody looked over at us and said... "How would you like to clean the font a 3rd time?" I looked over to see her serious face and noticed that she wasn't kidding. Brother Hughes asked "When are we going to plan your baptism?" "Soon she replied" "Next week?" "Yes."
Holy cow I cant describe the wave of emotion that put tears in my eyes. She has chosen to be married and baptized this coming weekend and so let the planning begin! I think Bishop may have surprised himself this year by not only getting a baptism but a wedding too. The absolute best part about this week is that one year from next Sunday... Hello Temple and eternal family! She is already planning on the first temple trip for baptisms for the dead... That was probably one of the most overwhelming moments of my life. Sweet. Glorious.

I have more to report but no time to write it. My journals are caught up though!

Love you all.

CONGRATULATIONS NICOLE ON YOUR BABY TONIGHT. I WISH YOU THE BEST AND WILL SAY SOME BIG PRAYERS. LOVE YOU (BOTH)

Elder Metcalf

Pics!

2010-07-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Start Bailing

2010-07-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Life seems exciting for all of us lately!

This past week we found out that the First Presidency is changing up the meetings and trainings in the missions. It is way exciting like most all changes can be. I am not sure what the schedule is for next week but I get to go to a leadership training in Tyler for 3 days and I am not sure what that will do for emails. Heads up.

Anyway this past week has been fantastic. I have Elder Taylor fresh from the MTC and he is from Medesto, California. I don't even feel like I am training. The MTC must also be changing up how they teach things because he already has some fantastic skills and is a very capable teacher from the get go. This past week we have really tackled some fears that needed to be taken care of long ago.

I probably wrote about this before but several months ago my district leader gave a training on "fear and the critical moment" meaning that each day we can either chose to grow or we chose the easy way. This past week I duplicated that training in our own Nacogodoches way to the district. Throughout the week Heavenly Father held me accountable to what I had taught.

In planning one night, I was looking at our map looking for the right area to tract. "Where does Heavenly Father have those that are prepared?" I asked. However the thought then came to me "What area on the map would I most fear to tract?" So we went there. Walking away from that tracting experience was interesting. The fear had been addressed, resolved, and destroyed. So the next area to tract was the next most feared. Gone and destroyed. It is amazing how we can look back at the hard things we have faced and come to find out that they weren't that hard. We seem to make them seem hard ourselves. Those of us with little Faith can massively be blessed when we look at a fear and take it head on.

Another fear I have had is calling part member and less active families. So I started to call less active and part member families. You'll never guess what happened! They answered and we talked. Amazing isn't it? That fear approached certainly paid off last night as we went to a Sister's home that hasn't been to church in 2 years. Just so happens that we ate dinner with the Relief Society president and her family and they volunteered to come out with us. It was a much needed appointment for that sister. She hadn't had any elders over for about 3 years and accepted visiting teachers again.

Saturday night was awesome. I felt like praying for a miracle to happen before sacrament meeting and sure enough the lord in His great mercy answered a prayer. We got to PEC and one of the leaders let us know that a less active who hadn't been on the records was going to become active again and wants her 13 year old son to get baptized. We didn't see them in sacrament immediately but Bro Hughes noticed a young man wandering the halls at the beginning of priesthood. So we went and found him and he came to priesthood with us. He is an awesome young man and we look forward to meeting with them this week.

We also had a 20 year old show up randomly to church and asked us to come over this week. Well turns out he has an 11 year old cousin that wants to baptized as well. What the heck? Now I can almost guarantee you that I will be transferred in 5 weeks because this place is about to explode with converts. I have seen a lot of growth here and none of it is because I did something special other then what any missionary is supposed to do. The cool part about it is that it gives more satisfaction to the work and a stronger spirit to approach a fear and say "Get out of here! Romans 1:16"

And don't get me wrong, I am still scared outta my mind half the time. I have, for some reason, made being bold a thing of fear. Why? No idea. Its what were commanded to do. And of course we have Nephi's words that the Lord will provide a way to overcome all of our fears.

As far as our investigators go, we know we have a lot of great plans in this upcoming week and it will require us to put fears that we have overcome in the past and to move on into new fears, or step into the twilight of our Faith. I know that as I, or any other child of God, does this we grow substantially. Any fears we may have provide the resistance and opposition necessary to gain strength spiritually. Maybe that is one specific way to define Faith. Acting on a fear by attacking it with all our might mind and strength.

Jody is about to make that giant step of attacking a fear called marriage. She is so close it is driving me crazy. Bro Hughes instructed us that it is much better to have a conversation of Gospel topics with her rather then strict formalities. That is something I love about Preach My Gospel, that we go by the Spirit. Probably the biggest reason the Apostles are changing up trainings and how they are done. They want me or any other missionary to teach more powerfully with the spirit. Holy cow there is so much to learn and so short of time to learn it. I know I have already figured out one way... don't be afraid! Good heavens I honestly believe that this is the transfer that Jody will be baptized. It is exciting. It is fears being tackled with confirmations of the Spirit all along the way. I love this family and I love these people. It hurts when progress is hindered or stopped. Whether it be a slam at a door contact or a investigator saying "I didn't read" It hurts. I am way excited to see how the Apostles will help me overcome these fears and challenges. In one way, that is what it's all about.

We don't have to be afraid of anything. We have everything. It's the Gospel and others need it! It cant be taken away from us and it stays with us more the more we give it out.

I love the Book of Mormon... Why oh why cant I get everyone to read it, perhaps its a fear I have that needs to be overcome! Either way I pray the Lord helps me to overcome it.

Love you all dearly. There is great comfort in knowing y'all are stuck with me forever. Cant wait to ride your coat tails into the Celestial kingdom.

love Elder Metcalf

It's a boy!

2010-07-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

Transfer calls were on Saturday and President Smith asked if I would take on the responsibility to train a new missionary. I don't know if I feel more sorry for him or myself but I don't doubt we'll have a lot of laughs. Kind of crazy to know that the Lord apparently trusts me enough with someone brand new. Good heavens I still haven't felt like I have learned anything.

Well last night was hilarious now that I look back on it. Elder Upchurch and I were trying to sleep around the usual time but about an hour later I hear "HEY METCALF YOU STILL UP?"
"YES"
Man, the worst sleep ever gets even worse.
About 2:30am last night is when all the fun started. I'll start out by saying that we probably don't live in the greatest town in the world so when I was abruptly woken up in the night by a loud BANG needless to say I was way freaked out.
"....psssttt...upchurch..."
"....whatttt...."
"I'm scared outta my mind....i think that was a gunshot..."
"..go back to bed..."
Finally when I unfroze I got up to check out the situation and it was just a couple slamming doors and fighting. The usual shenanigans at the good ole Northview complex.

Elder Upchurch goes home in about 3 hours so I will just say it has been a crazy past 6 weeks. I am surprised that we got so much work done while laughing so much. I think the good part was that I learned a lot more to relax and enjoy the hard and fun times of serving a mission.

Jody fed us last night for the 4th of July and I think we had barbecue for the 4th time that week. Which for some reason just keeps getting better and better. (Holy cow I talk about food way too much) However we did some running and cutting back on so much destruction to our bodies known as overdosing on BBQ that we actually lost about 7 lbs each.
The best part about the night is that Jody asked if she could come out teaching with us. Our response was funny because we were pretty stoked on it. She has a great testimony for the Gospel and the Book of Mormon and has no problem getting baptized. Just that one thing that is a big road block to the actual baptism.

This morning was fun, the ward threw on a pancake breakfast (oh great, more food stories) and we had many non-members there that were easy to socialize with. At times we feel like we just might be 17 year olds trapped in these 22 year old bodies because the youth swarm to us wanting to 'hang out'. Must be Elder Upchurch.

The majority of our dinner appointments this week, the members had non-member friends over which is awesome because it seems like the ward is trusting the missionaries a lot more. Everything was going great until a member asked "hey I hear y'all are leading the mission in teaching and have 7 baptisms lined up, is that true?"
"not really, we cant baptize!"
I have learned to deal with it more so instead of having my world crash every weekend I have to understand that these people have their agency and no matter how much I may be able to bring the Spirit, it still is their choice whether to hit the snooze on the alarm or not.

I had another unique experience where I was going to give that 'resurrection of the Book of Mormon' lesson to a family and then it hit me that it goes much deeper then I had intended it to. You think about when the church was set up by Christ during His mortal ministry the church itself was mortal and was eventually murdered by the persecutors to the truth. The Atonement is so powerful that it even resurrected the church and the Gospel and that they will never 'die' again. The cool part of it all was that at the beginning of this transfer I had been working and praying for a new way to teach and understand the message of the restoration. I was pleasantly surprised that I had received such a unique answer to a prayer.

Another great experience this week was taking out a youth who never seemed to interested in coming. Now he is participating and giving teaching a shot. In Sunday school he even started participating and following the lesson while the others simply took a back seat with their iPhones. Heck yeah, the Lord is well aware of His youth.

A big miracle this week was a lady that overcame her fears of the Church and came to tour the building. This was huge for her. She has received some great spiritual witnesses but has heard a lot of racist comments concerning the church (all anti is lies!). She agreed to come to a church tour but wasn't there at the time we had scheduled so we went over with our member to teach at her home but instead she put on her shoes and said "I'm ready! Let's go"
In the chapel, the Spirit was the strongest. For some reason it felt like I was experiencing exactly what she was feeling. So I asked "How do you feel?"
"I feel like I am at home..."
How awesome is that? Surely in some way we should all feel like home in the chapel.

Anyway I apologize for how weak this letter is this week. Still trying to recover from last night's stress...HA!
Pray for this new missionary to have compassion on his crazy trainer. I think we are going to have a great time though.

Love y'all.
Elder Metcalf

2010-07-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

Another glorious preparation day with some much needed 18 holes of golf. ok, so we probably didn't need it but it makes total sense why the general authorities golf so much. We had our elders quorum president who owns the place come out with us on the last 3 and it was a joke to watch him put it 300 yards down the fairway and then Elder Upchurch and I launch it straight to the trees about 2 yards or so it may have seemed. It is getting way hot and humid here and I am starting to use the sunscreen for the first time. I think I' ve gotten used to it pretty fast though and it isn't bothering me as much as my Provo companion. Maybe it's the reason Lake Powell conditioned me so much.

I couldn't help but think about how missionary work is a lot like the sports we play. In this case of golf I noticed that as the people played through us we kind of got discouraged. Every so often we totally crank that ball a couple hundred yards straight down the middle, why not now? Its kind of like how here in Nac we are teaching a lot but the baptisms seem to not be coming in like they should and discouragement sets in. Anyway enough gold analogies. I swear I am not that obsessed.

Our week went really well again this week but our entire district has been suffering big time from lack of sleep, heat and sickness. Our baptism that was supposed to go down yesterday didn't because she does not want to get married at all. Really discouraging but we us missionaries tend to forget that people have their agency and even with strong witnesses they wont do one thing here or one thing there which prevents progression. That is something huge as a missionary that has been profound. Sometimes the days come when you are either worn out physically or emotionally or both and it just doesn't seem like working is going to do much good. Then kicks in the thought that either you are out here because it is all true or not. So why waste time, missionary work is all true!

We had a way cool experience last night when our dinner was a ways away so we asked a non-member to take us out with him since he was going anyway. It was the dad of the family of 6 that we are teaching and we think it really broke some ice on the way out there. Of course with my obsession with smoking (the food kind) he gave me some sweet ideas for the smoker that we're going to build in 14 months. (I have to do something to keep me happy in that depressive state.)

Well I have shared with you are top investigators already and the rest of the week was very interesting. We had the youth out with us this week that helped a lot with the teaching. I think they are getting pretty excited now. "Hey, do you want me to take this one?" Referring to doors we start knocking on. Pretty sweet sense I didn't get that chance in Utah. I am living my teenage years through them all over again.

We had a pretty cool experience tracting where we knocked a door but no one answered so as we walked away she came to the door and as we were talking she simply cut me off and said "alright, come on in." We couldn't though because of the rules so we taught her on her doorstep and the Spirit really took over, she practically quoted the Book of Mormon a couple times and was touched as she read some of the scriptures from it. We gave her one that was signed inside of it with one of the young women's testimonies which seemed to be perfect. We look forward to going back and following up.

Well make sure y'all take some double dips in that lake for me. I will survive for a summer!

Love Elder Metcalf

2010-06-21T13:55:00.001-07:00

2010-06-15T07:41:00.001-07:00

Somehow we managed to pull off another great week without more then a few solid appointments. We have been using a deadly weapon which has been getting us into doors while we tract and teaching wonderful and not so wonderful people. The secret weapon being of course the Youth.
Ha
Were having a lot of fun. We take these teenagers to either the extremely rich or poverty stricken areas depending on what would be most beneficial at that time. Little do they expect when we knock a door then I turn around and look at them and say "alright, your turn." The best part is that it may be a simple question or line and then we get in the door. It has been awesome. They sure really put me to shame considering the first time I worked with missionaries is when I became one. It has been way cool though because I think Elder Upchurch and I may laugh too much and they see how much fun it is to be out in the field.

We have been teaching some interesting people lately that have been unexpectedly good. We have been going back to return appointments with somewhat of a so-so attitude but they let us right in and desire to read the Book of Mormon. We ran out on Wednesday but lucky for us zone conference was that week and we ordered 40 more which was a surprise that they gave us them since were only allowed 25. The young women on Sunday were awesome too because they got a bunch of their own missionary editions then signed them all personally for us to give out which makes our total potential to give out in 6 weeks about 50-60. The books are like bricks of gold to me and with all these material blessings that they are letting us have we plan on nourishing our part of the vineyard constantly. So far it has been a lot of fun.

The mom of the kids that wants to be baptized is struggling pretty bad on getting married. Apparently we made her a little mad with the challenge last week but gratefully she let us come over. When we got there the conversation quickly turned into a testimony session on the Atonement. We think there are some things or hurt in the past that has been secreted that she is looking forward to getting rid of but is having a hard time letting go. (don't we all...)

We had interviews this week as well. My attitude and personality has changed a lot. I must admit that in Frisco I didn't seem to be enjoying working as a missionary but as I finally motivated myself in Nac to go out and work hard, I have found a totally different person. Never have I been this consistently happy. Something I may have mentioned before is my belief that missions don't change people, the Atonement does. The best missionaries and the ones that are most deeply affected by their 2 years of service are the missionaries who dedicate themselves to helping others come unto Christ thus feeling the power of the Atonement constantly. Whether its in a contact that rejects you or a baptism, if I can go out and at least put forth some effort then I win because I feel like I allow myself to have the Spirit work through me and be sanctified by the cleansing power of Christ while helping someone feel the same. Yesterday in church I felt the Spirit constantly, nearly put me to tears. As some missionaries may say, I will agree with them, I wish I would have figured this out sooner!

In our interview President Smith gave me some key help with some of our investigators that we are having trouble to progress and let me know that Elder Upchurch and I are probably the most easy-going companionship in the mission. (hopefully that is a good thing.) I asked President if it were possible that he could leave me and Elder Upchurch together longer and his answer was that "his mom wouldn't let us."

Zone conference was good, for some reason they called on me at random to give a talk. A bit nerve racking if you ask me. The spirit gave me about everything though. They have all the departing missionaries at zone conference give their testimonies and it was a bit shocking how many are going home. Apparently from what we've heard a third of the mission will be going home which means a third of the mission will be brand new by the end of the summer.

We are having a lot of potential in one of the cities outside of Nac, known as Chireno so we have been down there a couple times a week. We have a lady that wants to get baptized that has been to church 4 times in a the past month and another guy who is married to a returning member that is stoked on the whole families are forever idea. Way exciting.

Were still working with a family of 6 who is having trouble meeting with us because of their summer schedule but little doubt that they will all be baptized by the summer.

Although I may be a bit depressed and discouraged with so much incredible success and so little baptisms, we are having a great deal of fun. I simply have to work harder.

Elder Metcalf
Nac-a-potential-for-a-lot-of-baptisms

New Photos!

2010-06-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

2010-06-08T09:18:00.001-07:00

It's been another week that suddenly came up with a lot of new opportunities and ended with the highest teaching we have ever done in a week. I don't think I have ever had this much fun in my life. I am not sure what President thought when he thought of putting Elder Upchurch and me together since we are probably the biggest goofball companionship in the mission. Well maybe just because we are having too much fun out in Nac-a-baptize.

We had a zone leader come down on exchanges with us and there were times that I was laughing so hard, I started wiping away tears from my eyes. One time it even crept into one of our lessons that we had tracted out. We were teaching this lady and it was a decent lesson, good unity, power questions, testifying, etc until Elder Upchurch asked "What happens to the people when the authority of God is not on the earth?" Her response set me off laughing way too much, "They go to hell!" Then the worst part was that Elder Upchurch couldn't teach because he started to laugh but lucky for us we had a level headed zone leader that was able to take over.

We started going through nightly planning with a lot of question marks over our heads. For example "Who on earth is Cobe? I have him scheduled at 3 tomorrow." to which my companion responds with "No idea." It wasn't until about 11:00pm at night thatl it finally clicked to where he lives and what we taught him. Lucky for us the Spirit occasionally gets past our questions.

It is really interesting how much fun finding has become. Not too mention our confidence is nearly rock solid. We have been getting in more doors in one week then 4 months in my old area. There is something about a strengthened testimony that basically has me expecting to get into doors. Several times in the past 2 weeks the very first door we knock on, we get in to. It almost seems like the Spirit is saying "it's about time Metcalf! I've been waiting to use you for months now."

We had a lesson last night with a way cool family of 6 that we were for sure about walking away (with the help of the Spirit) with baptismal dates. We planned a lot for the lesson that we were teaching and still had some butterflies going into the lesson. A few things stood up against the spirit though, the hot sun, humidity, distractions like dogs jumping into trash cans, etc so when the baptismal commitment rolled around it wasn't really solidified and although we are more then sure they will be baptized we cant officially say they are committed. The good news is that their best friends is one of the councilors in the Bishopric. Elder Upchurch was a bit bummed out since the date we committed them will be the last weekend of his mission and he wont be able to be there.

The biggest and best event last week though was the lesson with Jody (mom of kid's that were baptized) We watched Elder Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon and she said she was floored on how firm his conviction was. We started talking about 'goals' and she knew exactly what we were aiming for, the baptismal commitment. She said something along the lines of "I know what you are doing, is it the baptismal thing? ...I've actually been thinking about it a lot lately." "Will you be baptized on June 20th?" Elder Runyan (we were on splits) then read a baptismal scripture then handed Jodi Ether 12:6 to read at which point she immediately started to cry. Anxiety and confusion completely left the room when she accepted the 20th as her date. It was funny this morning too when we were on our way to golf we stopped at the gas station she worked at and she made sure that the 20th was still ok.
Glory.

Records continue to be broken, I look at each new week and its like a mountain of what seems like challenges. It is way stinkin' sad that a third of this thrill ride is almost over. Good heavens, its like I have learned maybe one one hundredth of what I am supposed to. How the heck am I going to meet my goals? In other words "Lord, how is it done?"

I must say how much I love Nac. There is something quite relaxing about having to dust off my shoes every morning and understanding the accents around here. I am quite happy being banished from the rest of the mission as well, it's almost like we're left here alone with some sickles and expected to harvest a quarter million acres.

Now if I could just figure out how to get more investigators to Church...

Love Elder Metcalf

Fun Fun

2010-06-08T09:07:00.001-07:00

Our teaching has been sky-high and my new companion and I are having lots of fun. Miracles are penetrating just about everyday of the week, it's incredible.

I would have to say the biggest miracle of the week was the splits I was on up in Longview. Since I was getting a new car and a new companion they just had me spend the night up there and help teach. We went over to a simple return appointment that was tracted out. Something that doesn't seem very special and happens daily. However as we came into this man's home the Spirit was strong even in normal conversation before we actually started teaching. When the opening prayer was said and the Restoration lesson began, a whole new light entered into the room and as Brian the new investigator said "I feel as light as a feather." I have never felt the Spirit that strong teaching an investigator before. I felt immediate love for Brian and it was very bitter sweet to know that he wanted to be taught and baptized but I wouldn't be the missionary to help. He was so prepared and his heart incredibly softened. He absolutely loved the first principle that 'God is our loving Heavenly Father' and mentioned how it wouldn't surprise him if Jesus Christ visited other civilizations. I walked out of that lesson shouting a silent prayer in thanks to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to be part of that experience. Awesome.

The next day I got a new car and it came with my new companion, Elder Upchurch from the foreign land of Provo. Funny thing is that I only have him for 5 more weeks then he is dying, so he'll be the first companion that I have killed off in the mission. It pretty much seals the deal that I will be in Nac for a long long time which is much preferred by me. We have some great new people that we're staring at with white glasses on. We had an awesome Sunday. When we woke up that morning we had 9 LTMP's and settled on the fact that it was good enough for how much potential this area has. So after Church we grabbed a teacher and a YSA, split up and went tracting. The first door that Jordan and I knocked on let us in and we started teaching. Not too bad although ultimately he wanted us out of the house when we got to authority. We switched streets and the first guy we talked to there let us teach him for a while and invited us to visit him again. The next door we knocked that we got an answer, let us in as well although once we got in, the father of the family wasn't too thrilled since he was a baptist preacher. His wife, on the other hand, was happy to see Jordan since he used to be one of her students. We taught then he promptly sent us on our way. The next house we knocked, we got in to and started teaching but got the response "we've already looked up your religion." That didnt phase Jordan who invited them to Church after words and they agreed.

Elder Upchurch had similar success with Ben and taught 3 lessons in homes. What the heck? Just like that we were able to invite 7 families to come unto Christ while the Lord blessed us with 7 LTMP's in less than 2 hours. Ben had to leave but we still had Jordan with us and we taught one of our investigators and set up a Church tour later in the week. We didn't have a dinner so Jordan made a call to his dad and stated that "we're feeding the missionaries tonight and inviting our non-member friends. The missionaries need more lessons." When he said that Elder Upchurch and I just started laughing. It was awesome.

Well they fed us some good food and their non-member friends came over. It just so happens that they are a family of 6 (the youngest being 8) and we both felt prompted to teach the Restoration. During dinner the mother explained how she has tried several churches and is not happy with them. When we taught the Restoration they requested the Book of Mormon for their entire family. Interesting how we just happened to have 6 copies of the Book of Mormon on us. The mom then explained that her kids want to be baptized in "that church." We left that experience laughing because I don't think we realized what had happened. We ended up in one day with 9 LTMP's and 9 new investigators (something I never came close to in an entire week in Frisco).

Yesterday was ridiculous. I think the fact that we started off the day at iHop at 7am (right next door to us) and it wasn't preparation day (prep day was changed to Tuesday this week) threw us for a loop. Our normal schedules our bodies seem to have gotten used to weren't too thrilled. We got a call from the office requesting us to move our apartment so we searched around for a new place for a bit then decided to tract the richest neighborhood in east Texas. You're talking 20,000 square foot mansion homes. It was awesome. The first lady we talked to was Muslim and gave us some water. She was super nice when rejecting us. The next lady wasn't too thrilled to see us so in parting, I asked her for a broom so I could knock off the wasp nest in her front entry way. She declined. (lots of laughter). At the next house, there was a lady taking care of some flowers. We started to talk to her and then the rain came... So she promptly invited us in to her home!

We walked in and there was about 7 people in there and we all introduced one another and found out they have family members that are members as well as some close friends in the ward. Mind you this is the most expensive home I have ever stepped foot in and I think Elder Upchurch and I were a bit in shock with the fact that we were actually in a mega rich guy's house. We both basically ruined everything when they asked if we would like a ride back to our car and we said "yes." She gave us some grapes and we walked out to the garage (3 BMW's, Red Porche, etc) then he took us back to the new Malibu. See ya!

Instant laughter.

We plan on getting back there real quick with a thank you card or something so we can salvage the perfect opportunity we may have missed in not teaching. It is an interesting thought though, with my contacting and my teaching being completely restructured we seem to be having more success and I was a bit taken back by the fact that we actually got into the richest home on the block... I will expect to get into every home we knock from now on.

Because it was memorial day we picked up Jordan and got a jump start on our week. Nac has now become the promised land of the mission as Elder Upchurch has claimed.

I have to admit though that no matter how much I put into teaching or finding or baptizing or whatever I cant help but feel that I am being taught the bigger lesson. Example being last night when we went out to Chireno and visited a less active man who let us right into his home. I'll never forget how much he simply loved his wife (passed away last October.) He told us a story about how the doctors explained that the treatments were too harsh and to live the rest of her life in peace. They took a trip out East and he bought her a brand new diamond ring. To her surprise she responded by saying "you shouldn't have bought this knowing that I will be dying soon!" His reply was "Honey, I would give everything in the world just to see you smile once more." She passed away 2 weeks later. He was baptized about 2 years ago (age 70) so we set up an appointment to come back with our plan being the subject of the Temple.

After which he said "well my son is a Jehovah's witness, I'll invite him over because I still have hope for him."

Miracle after Miracle. (lots of laughs too)

Love Elder Metcalf

2010-06-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

We taught an incredible week, better than last week I would say and then the whole world came crashing down yet again on Sunday when not a single one of our investigators showed up to Church. Heartbreaking. A good member friend came up to me and pulled up Moroni 9:6 on his iPhone and sent me on my way.

We are tackling some interesting situations here, our top investigators are smoking and living together unmarried. Apparently that is typical East Texas. The one we have been teaching for a awhile has finally let us in on this concern and has kicked the habit for the past week now. We call her everyday and she is still going strong. It was awesome that night we went over there.

I put Elder Braford in charge of the week and all the teaching plans so he was teaching the entire lesson with this family and it was really cool because it gave me a chance to really muster up the little faith that I had, to pray my little heart out in my mind that the Spirit would touch their lives. It was also very unique because Elder Braford was doing all the talking. It gave me a chance to read the body language and discern any trouble. She said she has always had trouble accepting Joseph Smith but that didn't sit right with us. Finally the underlying concern of smoking was divulged by the Spirit and the lesson was then taken over with the Word of wisdom. We went through the steps of preach my gospel and gave her a blessing after which she said she was peaceful. It sure was fun to send her kids to go get me all the tea and cigarettes so we could throw them away. She says a new light has entered into her life.

We had exchanges on Thursday and one of the Spanish elders came with me. After we grabbed some pizza we had some time to go out and find. I prayed specifically for someone by the 5th door and then we went knocking. No luck on contacts 1-4 but they were full of a lot of laughs. "Hey we're missionaries, can we come in?" "No" "What do you do for work?" "I'm an electrician" "How would you like to super charge your faith in Christ?" "No thanks" Then we got to the 5th door of knocking and I don't think anyone answered or they weren't interested at all. At that time I begin to think that I am lacking the faith. However we had to go anyway and as we were about to leave a lady walked out of her house and I made a contact with her. "May we come over and share a Gospel message?" "Yes" "Which apartment do you live in? This door that you are by?" "Yes, apartment #5." At that point I am sure Heavenly Father had a smile on his face. We taught her the next day and she was extremely golden. Has been praying for the right Church, likes the structure of the Catholic church but believes that it is missing something, etc etc... We walked out of that lesson laughing in awe.

But lightening struck and we got a phone call Sunday right before sacrament that she had family that told her to "stay away from that church..." ...Have I ever told y'all how much I HATE ANTI! We will go back on Tuesday hopefully to salvage anything we can. Please pray.

We have been experiencing many miracles, we didn't get into any doors alone until Thursday because we had too many return appointments (most fell through) so we said a prayer and it was a jump out of the comfort zone that often yielded much success.

However without anyone in Church this week, all the lessons were basically in vain. Nearly killed me off on Sunday so I prayed for comfort and a former investigator family randomly walked in having never ever come to church before. Wow. The Lord provides.

Well I get a new companion and a new car tomorrow so I am a bit excited but I have to leave my area for a while considering were out in Nac-a-nowhere to go find these new items. Kind of crazy how literally it is to have the Lord trust us with a part of the vineyard.

Its pretty cool to look at how the growth has taken over whenever I go out and do something even at times when I have no idea what to do or its the first time. The Lord provides. Its a fact that the worst sleep I have ever got in my life is out here serving but I have more energy and fun each day and am supported through every affliction when I am doing His work. Awesome.

Love you all

Elder Metcalf

Photos

2010-05-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday

2010-05-19T10:47:00.001-07:00

Heavenly Father hooked me up with some pretty sweet birthday presents this week but there was a condition on them, I had to unwrap them myself by going and getting them.

We had a fantastic week of teaching, probably one of the highest teaching weeks of the mission and definitely the highest here in Nac. We ended with 32 lessons taught but it all came crashing down when the 5 baptismal dates didn't come to Church. Ahhh so sad considering we had rides set up for them and everything. But I must be comforted somehow by setting a better focus this coming week on getting our investigators to Church!

We started the week extremely slow. By Thursday morning we only had about 8 lessons. Then for some reason Thursday, we were set up to shake the foundations of hell with several planned lessons. Interestingly enough, it just happened to be the day when we had an AP exchange. The race was on to salvage the week.

After lunch, we set off with a member to find and unwrap some miracles. We got to the apartments we were going to knock, and the AP (Elder Smith) wanted to know what the goal was. My response was an other lesson and 2 new investigators. The very first person we talked to, who was outside (we didn't even have to knock) let us in to teach. His wife just happened to be home and Elder Smith proceeded to humble me by his extremely bold example and teaching. Quite frankly I was a little floored at how pathetic my teaching had become since I have been here in Nac-a-baptize. Not only at that time we had instantly received a miracle but I was instantly being taught a valuable lesson.

After that, we went to the home of a lady we have been teaching for about a month now and by the time we walked out she was dropped. The reason being that once Elder Smith had explained that she had been incorrectly baptized and needed to be baptized by the right authority the situation was very clear. She wasn't really willing to find out the truth.

We went to a lady after that who we had tracted out about 10 days earlier and was committed to baptism next month. Man, our teaching was so weak! Good heavens it humbled me. However we did walk out of that lesson with another baptismal date with her son as well.

Then we divided so I could get some more help. I sent Elder Braford out with members and he went out and taught some more lessons and Elder Smith and I went tracting. He showed me a valuable example of being #1 - Bold, and also things like praying for specific events. He asked in prayer to teach on the 10th door that we knocked. Yup, you guess it, we pretty much walked in on the 10th door and taught that they were not baptized correctly and in order to be followers of Christ they needed to be baptized by the right authority!

Ok so that was all in one day, but for the rest of the week I think I have learned from that day immensely.

Friday held another huge miracle. we pulled up to a street to knock and I asked for (we were running low on time) a family of 5 that is ready to be taught and baptized on the third door. Sure enough the 3rd door that we had reached, a young man and his mom answered. She only spoke spanish but we had her son translate for us.
"You have not been baptized correctly. May we come in?"
What was even more interesting than getting in was when I asked him if he had 5 people in his family, his reply was "Yes."

We taught the mom with the help of her son translating for about 5-10 minutes then explained that some Elders who spoke spanish would come over soon. We left and immediately called the Spanish Elders to go over. they showed up about 10 minutes later and she opened the door and motioned them to come in and asked where the authority was today. As soon as the Spanish Elders sat down to teach, there was a knock at the door. She answered the door and it just so happened to be that she is the sister to one of the Spanish Elders investigators. Apparently teaching the restoration at that time with the new lady helped out their investigator so much. Tell me that wasn't inspired somehow!

Later that night we went to a couple who is unmarried with baptismal dates.
"When do you want to get married?" June 1st, Great! Her daughter will turn 8 the week they are baptized so she will be baptized the saturday before the Sunday the whole family will be confirmed.

We taught a great lesson at the Church. We took this new investigator on a Church tour and started off with the Joseph Smith story. We ended in front of the font with the doors opened and explained that she has not been baptized correctly and extended the commitment for baptism. She said she would pray about it.

Since becoming more bold and getting out of my comfort zone, we have gotten into at least one door every time we have knocked. And lo and behold we quadrupled our lessons in 4 days. Now that I have gotten to a level of comfort with it, I must find the next step of progression. I had better live up to what I said at my own farewell talk - "if you are ever comfortable on your mission, you're not doing something right."

The birthday was weird. When I was reminded that it was my birthday I got a little depressed becomes I am getting so stinkin' old. One of our investigators (the girls' mom) made me a birthday cake which was super delicious and nice of her and I had some chocolate chip pancakes at IHOP.

Best birthday ever.

Love Elder Metcalf (Uncle X2)

Wow! What a serve

2010-05-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

We had a way good week as far as teaching goes. We had 2 baptisms last weekend then picked up a couple of more dates the day after they were confirmed. The Lord is blessing us for some odd reason that I can not define. Fine by me! We set a couple more dates later in the week but for some odd reason they didn't want to come when the member went to go pick them up. Sad let down but what was awesome is the 2 with dates that did come to church brought along their mom and she cried through the whole meeting and asked to be baptized afterwords. A solid member explained that they have to listen to the lessons first to understand the covenant that they would be making so we will be teaching them all together this week and keeping them stoked. Only a couple of road blocks exist being that they had to stop and buy coffee which they drank during sacrament and oh ya, they aren't married. No big deal though.

I've noticed that we as missionaries focus really short term. Here the Lord prepares these people sometimes for years and we show up hoping to baptize them in a month. Not that it is a bad thing in anyway but just an interesting thought. Sometimes the Lord creates windows where if I can be obedient and I am working hard then the opportunity will produce fruits. The trick is, consistently staying obedient and always working hard on fulfilling my purpose and the windows will be opened all the more.

I had another sweet Book of Mormon experience during Gospel Principles. When we talk about the priesthood offices it always seems that (if you are like me) when we get to defining the "keys of ministering of angels" we come up with blank stares before a couple of scriptures are pulled out and we reach a level of satisfaction. I have been pouring over Alma 12 and 13 lately and it dawned on me one really sweet possibility of defining what this ministering of angels is for the priesthood office of a deacon. Considering it is the very first office you achieve (if you're not a convert) in the priesthood then it starts to make sense. When the priesthood is restored, what is something that is always revealed anew with it? The plan of salvation! How does our Heavenly Father reveal it anew since the time Adam fell?

27 ...it was ^aappointed unto men that they must die; and after death, they must come to ^bjudgment, even that same judgment of which we have spoken, which is the end.

28 And after God had appointed that these things should come unto man, behold, then he saw that it was expedient that man should know concerning the things whereof he had appointed unto them;

29 Therefore he sent ^aangels to converse with them, who caused men to behold of his glory.

30 And they began from that time forth to call on his name; therefore God ^aconversed with men, and made known unto them the ^bplan of redemption, which had been prepared from the ^cfoundation of the world; and this he made known unto them according to their faith and repentance and their ^dholy works.

Then what is the next thing Alma talks about? Priesthood. Aha! Angels and the need of the priesthood or in other words, the "keys of the ministering of angels."

We tracted out a sweet lady who seems very humble and very excited for each lesson we have had with her. She has little money so it was awesome when at Church, the day before our last lesson we had a member give us a bunch of random food. We had left it in the car 'accidently' and when she explained her situation, we hauled in the 2 boxes of food which she was stoked about. We shared the restoration with her first, then the plan of salvation and committed her to baptism in June which she had no hesitations about. The sad thing is that she is the lady that didn't come to church with her family... I do believe it is because she has a sick little one, so I still have my hopes high.

We had a way fun mother's day ward party in the park which the the 2 girls' family came to. I got like 4 ringers in horseshoes and even more important was understanding some concerns about why their mom wont get married at this time and baptized. Sadly it has been a rough situation for her but the positive thing about it is how much she has been able to recognize the Spirit from her daughters' baptism and coming to Church. She has even started asking questions and participating in Gospel principles. The relief society seems to be on top of it as well with the fellowshipping. I still have high hopes in our lesson tomorrow...

We have been teaching the young man that was kicked out of school and the last lesson we had ended at death and he was like "whhhattt.." so we hope that he will keep his appointment tonight. He said he felt a lot of the peace he was looking for as he read the book of mormon, so that was something awesome to hear.

We planned out most of this week really well so we hope that the Spirit will have a lot of more room to work with us. Obedience will be stepped up as well. I talked with the first counselor of the Bishopric for a while and I think we have rebuilt about 90-95% of the ward trust around here. Either way we will still be contacting like crazy. We have set a standard of contacting 10 ppl/day each that has yet to be broken for the last 5 weeks. We feel if we keep this up, it wont only bless us immediately but will allow the Lord and the Spirit to trust us enough to lead and guide us to those special people with windows of opportunity opened. The Lord seeks those who don't cling to excuses or give heed to distractions so I am attempting to shed the little ones as time goes on. If it wasn't for those stupid and delicious twisted vanilla oreo frosty's I would be playing on a higher level!

Well love y'all.
Thanks for the Birthday song again and stay classy.
Elder Uncle Metcalf X2