December 12, 2015

HEY Y'ALL!
This week was good. Quick and Short. It only feels like a few days since I last emailed home. I really don't have much to report, sorry.
We did have a less active we are working with bring a non-member friend to church! It was awesome!

During this Christmas Season, all of you should go to Christmas.mormon.org and check out the cool video they have on that site.  Also, check out the other ones they have been making!

Also, please remember to spread the Spirit of Christ first in your home with your family and then with those that you associate with.

Love,
Elder McCallson

#CHRISTMAS'DABOMB

Went on exchanges with my Zone Leaders and some Elders in my District. Both times I went tracting which is my least favorite missionary activity.  But hey, I guess I am good at it.  There was this one door we knocked, the guy unlocks and opens, smiling, and says "come on in"...SKETCHY!!  We don't know his name nor have we seen him before so we of course do what any rational person does, we walk in and sit down on his couch.  I stand up and shake his hand after he LOCKS the door and make the comment, "I am not trying to lock you in, I just want to make sure the door seals".  I don't remember his name but it was fun. We talked about Jesus and how he wasn't really born in December. Sorry for those of you who didn't know that before you read this. :P

I also got to work on my Spanish a little.  We were with the Spanish missionaries when we were tracting, so one of us went with one of them and we would take turns speaking if it was the language we were called to.  So it was fun. So all of that was with Elder Ohman, who is in my District.

One of my Zone Leaders is Elder Bowler who came into the mission with me. So it was awesome to get to see the different teaching styles and experiences we have had over the last 16 months. We reminisced on the MTC days and how much we have both grown since then.  Apparently he thought I was anti-social or something...:P  I probably was.

Thanksgiving was AWESOME!! We had our real dinner at the Ciccarello's, they are awesome!  We also had a few others invite us over for pie and things. So over all it was a good day. I am sad and happy because I have a car. I am sad because I now have to work out extra hard to keep off the weight that I lost but I am happy because we are able to make more visits in a day and it is cold outside so I don't have to walk out in it!!

Love,
Elder McCallson

November 23, 2015

Just another day in paradise.  The weather is still on the decline and we are supposed to get some snow before Thanksgiving.  This new ward that I am in is awesome!  They really love the missionaries. The biggest thing is now turning that love for us into love for those we can teach.  By that I mean, help us find.  I have found that most people don't want to come outside when it is 40 degrees and below, to talk to you.  It is kind of hard for us :(

I don't have much more news than that at the moment as this week was mostly a get-to-know-the
-ward week. I can't wait till next week!

Love you all!
Elder McCallson

November 16, 2015

Sorry I didn't write last week.  We were going out to lunch as a District and so I chose to sacrifice my email time so that we could get it done before our Zone's p-day activity.

Well, we had transfers. I am now in the Boise North Stake.  It is going to be Awesome! Elder Giler is my new companion.

Had a lot of "goodbye"s and "see ya later"s but I know that I am not far.  Literally from the edge of this area I can see that ward. :P It might be hard for a bit because all the people in that ward were awesome!!

I will have to go back for some investigators' baptisms.  They were so close...they came to church all three hours. (well, she did. He had to take the 3yr and 1yr olds home for naps.) But they both liked it!

Sorry, not much else.

Elder McCallson

November 2, 2015

This week was AWESOME! We had Elder Martino of the 70 come and tour our mission. We sat for nearly 6 hours to hear him speak and teach us how we can be more effective. I am not sure how to write out what he taught as most of it was missionary stuff. Sorry this is so short but ran out of time. It keeps slipping away from Elder Farnsworth and me. I wish things would just slow down for a moment and we would be able to get our feet on the ground and get things done but it just seems like there is not enough time to do anything.

HALLOWEEN! We watched Meet the Mormons and The Testaments.  I will write more next week.

Love you all
Elder McCallson


                                               

                                                  Elder Martino and part of my mission

October 26, 2015

We had Leadership Exchanges this week. It is when we swap with missionaries across the mission instead of just within the District or Zone. We found two new investigators, and by that I mean for the other Elders area that I was in. Micky and Shaylee. They are awesome. Micky wasn't sure if God existed but he prayed at the end of the lesson which is a huge thing. Shaylee believed in a God and has gone to different churches with her friends, including ours, but has never really studied Him.

We also have a baptism coming up in the District. She has been through a lot as she has made the decision to be baptized. She got kicked out and disowned by her parents. Quit collage so she could pick up a full time job so she can live and has had a few other hurdles to get over. She and her boyfriend were having problems. But when she had finally made the decision to be baptized and work with him she said it was a whole lot easier than she thought it would be. 1 Nephi 3:7 at work!! I love it when the scriptures can be applied to our lives.

We also taught Marisa and Ryan about the Word of Wisdom, which I thought would be difficult to share and have them accept the invitation to give up coffee, tea and alcohol. They had made a few comments before we taught this lesson about how they liked the flavor of beer and wine and when we go over they almost always have a bottle of tea in the front room. But all that day I was praying that Heavenly Father would soften their hearts to accept this commandment and to strengthen mine and Elder Farnsworths to say what He wanted us to say. Well when we got to the hard part of inviting them they readily accepted. I was almost stunned. ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE!

We helped re-roof a house which was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Mostly because we just put the new roofing onto of the old. I really liked it!

Well this next week is going to be awesome! I want to hear one time this week that a scripture applied to a time in your life. YES I WANT YOU TO EMAIL ME. jacob.mccallson@myldsmail.net just click it and write. I made it easy. These times happen all the time you just have to have your eyes open and your heart more open.

Love you all,

Elder McCallson

October 19, 2015

This week was good. We were packed with service. Elder Farnsworth is a big bike guy and there is this second chance exchange place that asked for our help to fix/repair the bikes so they could donate them to Bikes for Boise or something like that. So we now have an ongoing service project. It is fun because I get to learn how to fix my problems on my bike.

We also helped a family split wood. For 6 hours. Funny enough though only my right hand thumb hurts. Where as the other elders that helped said they hurt all over. We all walked away with minimal injury. One got hit in a bad place by a piece of wood that was on the splitter that jumped off. I dropped a hundred or so lb stump on my toe. It is good I think  I don't think it is broken.

Other than that this week kind of just slipped by. I was surprised when Sunday came around.

Love,

Elder McCallson