Just a mule in the middle of nowhere.  I had to touch it!

                                   Uncle Brandon and the FAM BAM!  LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

                                                
                                                                    New Ipads!!!

                                                 Brazilians Sister Greenfield has been teaching

                                                            Elder Jensen is going home!

October 28, 2013

TRANSFERS....drum roll please..... BOZEMAN! Sister Greenfield and I are staying in Bozeman together! WOOOO! I am SO HAPPY! UGH! SO HAPPY! One companionship of Elders is getting replaced with another set of Sisters.  So Sister Greenfield and I will not be the only ones.  And guess who is coming.....just guess, out of all the missionaries that are serving in the Montana Billings mission.  Sister Glenn my MTC companion.  Hahah she is being transferred here and is training a new missionary.  No surprises there. I am interested to see how she is doing and how training will go.  This is just another instance that Heavenly Father KNOWS his children.  There is no way in heck I would be able to train right now. Nope, not at all, no thank you.  I will gladly stick with my chicken loving, scientific, skinny companion over here.  

Thanks Dad for the pictures! I love the new addition to the scarecrows! And Saryn you are boss! I love the v-ball pictures! Good luck in Nebraska Chicka!  I am so bummed that this is the end of v-ball for you.  But I am so happy you have had this experience.  Remember when you didn't want to do it at all and cried?  Yep, me too.  Oh what a pansy you once were.  I am so glad mom talked some sense into you.  haha kidding.  

Before I forget here is Helen Jensen's address for Ryan.  Spring Meadows 3175 Graf St. #107 Bozeman, MT 59715.  We saw her again this week and it was as wonderful as ever.  Love that lady. 

BIG NEWS! THE IPADS ARE IN! We had a training with our whole zone on Tuesday and were given the beloved Ipads.  It is crazy awesome.  Each missionary gets their own that they take with them throughout the rest of their mission.  What I love about it is that our planners and area book are on it. So wherever we go our Ipad syncs with SLC and we get the area book for the area we are in.  Right now it is just the transferring the physical information from the area book to the Ipad.  But it is awesome because right when you get out of a lesson you get on your Ipad, update what you taught all that jazz, and it automatically updates your numbers and everything for you.  So it is much more organized and efficient.  There are still some kinks that need to be worked out, but once we get the hang of it, it will be awesome.  We also have the gospel library app so we have access to all of the conference talks, videos the whole shabang.  WONDERFUL! I love it.  Sister Greenfield hates it.  hahaha She is just so used to doing things the way she has.  The scripture they shared with us at training was D&C 88:73 it says, I will hasten my work in its time.  The work is hastening and the Lord has made that plenty clear.  The Montana Billings mission is one of 30 missions they are testing this out on.  Crazy Crazy!  

I got a letter this week from Elder Nine aka Johnathon Nine and his companion....JOSH NORTON! Josh is from Houston area ish and I know him from Teen Conferences and HEB camps.  They apparently were talking and found out that they both knew me, Kelsey Edwards and a million other people  That was so much fun to hear from both of them.  

Wonderful news of the week! Cara and her roommate Keeta came to church this week.  We went over there on Thursday and ended up teaching the first lesson and bore our testimonies of Joseph Smith and our prophet today.  It was a powerful lesson.  The spirit was totally there.  We were able to share a video of different apostles and President Monson bearing their testimonies of Christ.  It is so cool to be able to bear my testimony and then have an apostle of the Lord back my testimony up.  Keeta is WONDERFUL! She has so much potential.  I am so excited to see what this next transfer brings for her! It has been so incredible to see Cara's whole demeanor change as we have been meeting with her and reading scriptures with her daily.  I love being able to see her desire and happiness grow with each step that she takes.  So fulfilling.  

I don't remember if I have told you about the Arujo's or not.  The husband is from Brazil and his wife lived in Brazil for 2ish years studying the Cello.  They were reffered to us because Sister Greenfield knows Portuguese.  She pulled the, “I am going to Brazil can I practice my lessons on you in Portuguese thing?” and so she has taught him the first two lessons.  It is so cool to see her open up and just speak in Portuguese.  She tells me how she normally has such difficulty understanding others, but whenever she teaches it’s like he's not even speaking another language.  HOW COOL! She was able to get a BOM in his hands and was able to get him to read a chapter in Alma and another chapter to prepare for the 3rd lesson. 

Also! Super fun fact! I came home one night and in front of my door was a big bag with a card addressed to me and TONS of candy and snacks.  I was so perplexed as to who this was from and kinda freaked out and when I opened it, it was from one of Jason's Uncles, Uncle Brandon!  We would go over to their house a lot in Utah and OH HOW I LOVE THAT FAMILY.  Uncle Brandon happened to be in Bozeman for a business trip and got my address from Jason.  SUCH AN AWESOME SURPRISE! 

Dad, I see first student buses driving all around town and think of you! 

Also I have been thinking about cool things about Montana.....nothing thus far is very different BUT! there is this wonderful place called the pickle barrel that everyone eats at.  It is native to Bozeman and is DELICIOUS! It kinda reminds me of J Dawgs in Provo.  Kinda has that same feel to it. But it is sandwiches and glorious pickles that you eat from a barrel.  haha So maybe I will send you a Pickle Barrel shirt....or a moose head, I don't know yet haha

I cannot believe Daniel is already home. WOW.  Time seriously does fly.  That story you shared Dad was so cool.  Make me more motivated.  Missionary work is incredible. AH! So Wonderful!  

I was talking with Sister Greenfield today and it is really humbling to think about all the people that are praying for us, whether it be our families, friends, but people in our home wards and people in our ward now that have told us they have been praying for us by name and how in every temple prayer how missionaries are prayed for every.single.time.  We are not alone in the work.  It is so comforting to me to know I have so many people backing me up and praying for the work to progress.  This work is real, and it is beautiful.  How blessed we are to have the fulness of the gospel restored on the earth again with Christ at the head.  I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers! 

Today it is supposed to snow like crazy.  Bring it on Montana, you aint got nothin on me! 

LOVE YOU LOTS!

Sure love ya, Moline's Rock, and MISSIONARIES RULE!

                                                  Helen Jensen, Bozeman, MT  10-21-13

October 21, 2013

HEYYYYY!!!

Another week already gone! What the heck! How does that happen! I LOVE the picture you sent me Dad of Saryn and Kazer.  Thanks so much! 

Mom! I got your package! It twas the best! I ate all the cookies with Sister Greenfield in two days.  Yep, no joke.  That happened.  The weather here is weird, it will be freezing one day then warm the next, so I am fine right now.  The sun is out and it is beautiful.  Thank you for the address book and thank you cards! i will for sure be using them.  

Sounds like you all had a fantastic week! Houston vs BYU game sounds like it was a blast! And pish posh on the $$$ it sounds like it was worth it.  Bummer Tanner didn't get to go.  

So first things first I have to say that my favorite part about my mission thus far is meeting people.  I LOVE being able to sit down with people and hear about what makes them work. Where they came from, past experiences, what makes them who they are today and how their life has affected their points of view.  We will be sitting down at an appointment and I just feel such a sense of love and admiration for these people that we get the chance to talk to.  I think I mentioned before that there are some people that we talk to as referrals or less actives from the ward that normally in my life I would steer clear of.  The way they look, smell, act, whatever but the minute I start getting to know them, none of that matters.  They are a child of God that deserves the gospel and needs it just as bad as anyone else.  I LOVE IT.  It is so interesting because everyone also has some sort of relation to God.  At some point in their life they have seen the hand of God whether they have wanted to or not. 

One of these people that I LOVE is Sister Catherine Wallace.  I think I may have written about her before, but she is an older woman that is in wheel chair that lives in a nursing home.  We visit her every week and she LOVES us coming.  She has no visitors.  Sometimes her daughter will come, but that is close to never.  We were riding our bikes over there and we had just gotten out of a lesson with a woman named Brandy that just ruined my day.  I was riding on my bike and my mind was just racing, I was thinking about how no one wants to talk to us, no one cares about listening to what we have to say and how I as a missionary am supposed to be a representative of Jesus Christ himself and be able to answer their questions and I can’t.  And then I thought as we were riding you know what?  No one may want to talk to us today, but Catherine Wallace does.  No one may appreciate our attempts to lift them up, but Catherine Wallace does. No one may love us, but Catherine Wallace does.  She just inspires me to be the best missionary I can.  And she doesn't even know it.  She has had a rough life and had such a hard time and still she gets choked up talking about how blessed she is.  It puts into perspective my problems and makes them seem so small.  I am so blessed. 

Sister Greenfield is a genius and had this idea of making cookie dough and splitting it up into sections and freezing it, so when someone is sick, or someone needs a pick me up, or we just straight up need to get into a door, we can throw the cookies into the oven and have them ready in no time.  One such instance will be used today.  On Tuesday we were riding our bikes around a neighborhood and stopped to find out exactly where we needed to go when I noticed an older woman cleaning up her flowers in her front lawn.  I commented on how nice her flowers and lawn looked and we got talking.  We told her we were missionaries and offered to rake her leaves.  So we did! It was awesome! She was so sweet and funny.  She lived in SLC for a few years and knows a little about the LDS faith.  Her landlord was LDS and she said, "that man was as strict as you Mormons come, he would never have a drink with me and my husband."  haha in return she gave us apples from her tree.  WHICH! by the way there is this super awesome apple picker thing that I have never seen in my entire life. It was awesome.  it like a claw with a basket so you can reach up and pluck the apples way up high with it.  I guess it isn't really that cool.  But I thought it was legit.  I was going to town with it.  But we are going back again today and giving her cookies to say thank you for the apples and hopefully get to know her a little more and start making consistent visits with her.  

OKAY! Listen up familia! That Mortenson kid that served in Montana! I saw a picture of him! We were visiting that old woman from the nursing home we play bingo at that was just hilarious. Her name is Helen Jensen and she is blind and swears like a monkey.  She is 91 and is as sassy as they come.  Haha she will be trying to explain something to us and forget a word and we will help her out and once she has it she gets this scowl on her face and says, THAT JUST BURNS MY BUTT! I should know that word! I am just so freaking old! Hahaha anyway, her husband died 30ish years ago so she has been meeting with missionaries for years! She has a missionary book with pictures of missionaries and little notes they have written to her.  As I was flipping through it I saw Elder Mortenson! He has a picture with her in it and has a little note that he wrote.  I think he even sent her a Christmas card as well.  Tell him she is still swearing and still as sassy as ever.  Every missionary in the book calls her a potty mouth and teases her.  You can tell she loves it.  Ill attach a picture I took with her.  Sister Greenfield and I are printing our pictures and putting it in her book this week.  

GOOD NEWS! HALLELUJAH! Cara and Danny came to church! Woot Woot! That is how it is done! Sister Greenfield and I fasted on Sunday that they would come and I am sure that the fact that Sister Greenfield pulled the, It's my birthday on Sunday card, also helped.  Haha Cara and Danny could only stay for sacrament, but they came to church none the less! HOLLA HOLLA! AND! Danny read his scriptures! YES YES YES YES YES YES! AH so happy. It is incredible the blessings that come from reading our scriptures daily.  To be honest we could not read them and still find success and happiness in our life, but with daily reading it just becomes more! And who doesn't want more! It has been so wonderful to see Cara begin to recognize that.  

So it was Sister Greenfield's birthday on Sunday.  And I rock.  haha Last Monday we went to Wal Mart and I had Sister Greenfield hold on to the cart with her eyes closed as we went all over Wal Mart.  She looked ridiculous, hahah it was great! I kept making comments like, man Sister Greenfield you are looking super weird, everyone is staring at you, haha or I would pretend to talk to someone and say, oh don't worry about her, she just wanted to see what it was like to be blind.  Hahahhahahaha I had too much fun.  My favorite part was we got in a fairly large line to check out and I forgot something, so I told Sister Greenfield to stay there while I ran to grab something.  When I got back, the line had moved forward and Sister Greenfield was in the very middle of Wal Mart standing right next to the cart with her eyes closed just smiling.  All by herself.  hahaha people were walking around her. I just started cracking up.  Anyway, on her Birthday I made her put on makeup in the bathroom while I laid her presents on her bed.  She loves oranges and Sobe drinks and looooves Germany.  So I wrote out, Thanks for not being a Sour Patch (with sour patch kids) and for always making me Snicker (Snicker bar.  Don't worry it gets better)  and I found some chocolate that looked German (German chocolate) I hope that this next year of life brings you health in your navel (Navel Oranges....yes, that happened, I am brilliant) and if you are stuck in Montana for the rest of your mission, So be it! (Sobe drink....yes another brilliant moment of Mckenzie Moline) Cause I love your face!  Then I wrote how awesome she was and put funny pictures all over her bed.    I know, I know, so good, so good.  Hahaha she loves me.  It's great. 

Anyway, transfers are next week....whattttttttt!!! Can you believe it! This could be my last week in Bozeman! I hope and pray I get to stay with Sister Greenfield.  I will be sad if I leave Bozeman, but I am fine taking on a new place and new people, but if Sister Greenfield gets transferred....I will die.  haha cross your fingers!!!

I love you all so much! And I love your emails.  Thank you for emailing me each week.  I LOVE this gospel so much.  My testimony has grown incredibly these past few weeks that I have been here and I am so thankful.  I know that my Redeemer lives, I know the comfort that he provides and I know that through Him we can live to be with our Father in Heaven again.  I think we will be surprised at how familiar our Heavenly Father's face will be to us when we see Him again. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored again on the earth because our Father loves us.  He cares about us and he knows us.  I like to think about the kind of person I was before and if I am living up to the person that I was in heaven, the person that my Heavenly Father knew.  I sure hope that I am. 

Keep doin what you're doin! I love you!!!

Sister Mckdizzle Sizzle

October 14, 1013

Well Howdy Hey Thereeee

This week is a blur.  It feels like forever ago that we had P-day.  haha but some highlights! 

1) we found a new way to get into Less Active members homes.  Sister Greenfield and I were going to make contact with a LA in our ward that we had never met before.  We go up to the door and when she answers Sister Greenfield says, "Hi we are the new missionaries in the ward and we were in the neighborhood and saw that you lived here, could I use your bathroom, I am dying!?"  where that came from, I have no idea.   BUT! It worked.  No matter what your religious beliefs everyone can relate to the urgency in going to the bathroom.  Haha so while Sister Greenfield did the deed I talked and got to know her a little bit.  GOLDEN! haha we will be using that more often fo sho! 

2) We went to go make contact with another LA couple in the ward one night where we knocked and the their dogs went nuts. (side not: everyone and their mother have dogs here, even their dogs have dogs.  They get their dogs, dogs so that they aren't lonely, and then they end up getting a cat because the dogs dog does not get along with the dog....WHAT hahaha) Anyway their dogs are going nuts and then we knock again, lights are on in the house we know people are  home, and then we knock again.  FINALLY a man answers the door but only opens it up a crack so we can see his face.  We introduce ourselves and he kinda laughs and says, I am so sorry I am in a towel right now, let me grab my wife.  The door had a glass window and sure enough the man was straight out of the shower.  Coool cool.   We met his wife and she just died saying how sorry she was her husband answered the door.  hah they ended up being super awesome and want us to come back.  WOOT WOOT!

Worst shut down of the week.  There was a woman that we talked about in Ward Council that we planned on going to meet that is LA.  She answers the door and is the sweetest woman! She came out on the porch and talked with us for a while and told us that she LOVES missionaries and has so much respect for them.  She said, "It is such a sacrifice for you to be away from your family, I appreciate what you do and for coming over here, but we aren't active right now.  But thank you so much for stopping by.  It's very thoughtful of you."  what. like what?  If you appreciate us so much, LET US IN! It was so sad to hear her story, apparently she and her family had been active for years and years and years when BAM! Out of nowhere they stopped going to church.  No one knows why. I am not sure if that shut down was worse or if someone were to slam the door in our face....

So each Saturday we go play Bingo at the nursing home.  BEST PART OF MY WEEK! I love it.  We have the same people come each week and they are hilarious! There is this old woman that always sits in the same spot next to whoever is calling, and if someone yells out a bingo or we get talking she will look at the caller and say, heyyyy whats the hold up.  hahaha she is a champion bingo player and does not mess around.  We got to meet with one of our ward members that lives at that nursing home beforehand and ohmygosh I want to be her! She is 91 years old and is basically blind but SO FUNNY! She saw us walking down the hall and said, hey you! Are you the missionaries?  I am so freaking blind I can't tell! hahahahahahaha we got to visit with her and she was telling us about back in her day she slept with all her siblings in one bed to stay warm and how they didn't have a bathroom in the house but would high tail it to the out house in the winter.  She was saying freaking and crap and just funny as all get out.  

Sadness of my life! We met with Cara the LA and her roommate Keeta on Thursday.  I think I told you about keeta, but she is 16 her dad owns the house she lives in, her parents are divorced and she doesn't want to live with her Dad and step mom so she lives there with Cara.  Anyway we read 2Nephi something something about feasting on the words of Christ and through that we will know what we should do in our lives.  And it was a really good talk, she was super engaged, giving her thoughts and got a little choked up.  TENDER.  Cara planned on coming to church this week and was going to bring Keeta! Solid Solid! 

At the end of this week we had 4 people coming to church.  Ketta, Cara, Danny and LB. HOLLA HOLLA! And then.....none of them came.  Stab in my heart.  I was so frustrated when no one showed up.  It was a week killer for sure.  But there is next week! And the week after that! Hopefully they can come this week.  Sister Greenfield and I have been fasting since sacrament yesterday.  Because we feel like we have all of these Progressing Less Actives and investigators that are all at a stand still.  We were able to talk to Cara and her husband came into town and stayed longer than she had expected and I assume Danny didn't come because he had to pick up his girlfriend from work.  We met with him on Saturday and he told us that he usually picks up his girlfriend from work but that he has asked if she would start walking home so he can go to church, but it was raining during church, so I wonder if he went and picked her up.  It's okay though! There is always next Sunday! 

In answer to your question Dad, no.  hahaha I am so bad! But I seriously do not have time.  We get home at 9:00 do numbers and plan for the next day and we are in bed by 10:30. I have no idea how Maurie had time to make forts with her companions.  We have no time when we get home. But on Sunday we still get up at 6:23 but don't have to exercise so I write in my journal then.  I will try and be better!  MAURIE finally wrote me the bum! hahaha And yes Mckay emailed me a few weeks ago.  Something that I get a lot of strength from is meeting with older members and hearing their stories.  There is a woman we meet with every Wednesday named Catherine.  She lives in a nursing home by herself and she told us about her conversion and her life.  She has gone in active 2 different times since she was baptized and now is as strong as can be.  Same with another Sister in our ward.  She grew up LDS and all that jazz and has gone in active before but is back and has been for several years.  And sometimes the inactivity is 10 years before they come  back.  But they do.  They have come back.  It seems that way with many of the people I have met with.  They go in active for a time but always return. Knowing about Kay gives me motivation to do my best and work my hardest.  

OH! NEWS! I am on Facebook! Our ward just called a facebook specialist where they make a ward facebook page where both sister greenfield and myself are admins and can post spiritual thoughts, activities, info about the ward for not only the ward but less actives, and investigators.  It will be an easy way for us to connect with the ward and get in touch with people we are working with.  Anyone can FOLLOW me but cannot be my friend.  I can only be friends with those in my area, missionaries, ward members, investigators and less actives.  my name is Sister-Mckenzie Moline I don't have a profile picture yet, but I will put that up this week.  By following me you can see what I post and stuff like that but I cannot see anything that you post on my newsfeed.  Also don't tag me in any pictures. 

Another big thing is that we are starting to pilot ipad minis.  We got a voicemail the other week about that starting up within the next few months.  Part of me doesn't even want to have to deal with it. hahah but obviously it is supposed to help.  We shall see. 

I am excited for you all to spend time with Mckay and Adrian! I am so jealous! That sounds like such an awesome time.  Totes jelly yo!

Anyway, I better go.  Sorry for the randomness of the letter.  I love you all so much! I feel your prayers everyday.  Thank you thank you.  Lots of love!

Sure love ya!

Sister Moline

                                                     
                                                             Bozeman Zone in Helena

October 7, 2013

Howdy Hey there Fam bam! 

THIS WEEK WAS NUTS! So much happened.  It feels like 2 or 3 weeks in one.  We had zone conference on Wednesday so we drove up to Helena for that and ohmygosh....so good.  We had to leave Bozeman at 6:20 to get there on time so I slept on the way but zone conference  was amazing.  The discussions led were good and we were broken up into groups to discuss different lessons.  Mine was on the Word of Wisdom and we focused on asking inspired questions that get the investigator thinking and focusing on the Savior.  But what was really incredible was hearing from President Mecham.  He is a man called from God.  President Mecham is bold and powerful when he speaks and there is an evident power and authority that fills the room whenever he speaks.  It's a power so strong that you cannot deny that they are the words of God. INCREDIBLE.  President Mecham is a leader with high expectations for each of us because he knows that we are capable.  He talked a lot about our power and authority as missionaries.  That as missionaries we have been called of God and given the power to bring to the remembrance of our investigators of less actives what they have always known.  Something he said that hit me was, do you have the faith today to raise someone from the dead?  Because as ambassadors of the Lord, God we have the power to do so.  He also talked about hope, belief, know and how most of us have come out here hoping that we can be an effective missionary but as we have faith that hope is believed and that belief turns into knowing.  He said that if we go into a investigators home knowing they will be baptized, they will.  We have that kind of power.  At the end of the conference President Mecham pronounced a blessing to all of us and that is when you could physically see the power he held from God.  I cannot even explain it.  He was speaking when he kind of paused and looked right at Sister Greenfield and said and I bless you to have the gift of tongues. It is really hard for her to be waiting for her visa, the poor girl.  She said that at the beginning of serving here she had a bad attitude because it wasn't "her mission"  but she says she has been her long enough to the point where she feels like she truly belongs here as a missionary.  But it has been hard with learning the language and we were just referred to a family where the husband is Brazilian and his wife lived in Brazil for a few years so she has been nervous teaching them in Portuguese.  It is amazing how President Mecham was able to discern that.  

Conference sounds like you all had a BLAST!! I am jealous! Bakers, Heins, tubing and food? Best combination ever! We were invited over to the house of a family in the ward.  The husband owns the apartments we live in and his parents are in the ward so we went over to his parents house.  One of our less actives Danielle came.  I hadn't ever met her, but she is awesome! And the Niedens were so sweet to her.  Watching conference over at the house was nice, it felt like home.  President Uchtdorf's talk was my favorite.  I immediately thought of Mckay who actually wrote me last week! He gave me advice and told me how reading my emails reminded him of his mission.  It was so good to hear from him.  But I loved what Uchtdorf said, First doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.  AH! So good.  ALSO! Did you notice that 6 of the 14 talks given were about missionary work or mentioned missionary work????? FAMILY! What are you doing?! Be good members that the missionaries love! We have a family in our ward that ROCKS! the wife makes an effort to come out with us once a week whether we need her or not! Members add a totally different spirit because they are living the gospel in their life as a choice.  We have been talking to members allllllllll the time about sharing the gospel with their friends and associates.  There is a quote by Niel L. Anderson ( who got fat by the way) that says basically that as you pray for missionary opportunities names and faces will come to mind. And as we pray the powers of heaven will fill you.  Our Heavenly Father will not leave you to sounds ridiculous or stupid, but will fill your mind of what you should say the very hour you need it.  As you pray Heavenly Father has your back.  Don't be afraid. DO IT! You never know that the people that are brought into your lives are there because Heavenly Father wants you to help bring them back.  

After Saturday Morning session we went tracting around the neighborhood of the Nieden’s which didn't result in anything so we went back to watch the Afternoon session.  AND THEN SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENED.  But I will tell you after I finish about conference. So hold your horses.  It snowed earlier this week which made me want to cry but luckily it melted and is warmer so we are embracing the warmth while we can which means biking....I don't hate it....I don't love it.  But Apparently President Mecham has promised that if we bike more we will get into more doors.  IT WORKS.  It is so dumb but it works.  One day we didn't bike at all and no one was answering their doors or wouldn't let us in. Super bummer day.  Next day we biked, every single door was opened.  WHAT THE??!! Like why does biking even matter?  But whatever, it works so we are doing it.  Anyway, so we biked after conference and contacted a majority of our referrals which was awesome, including a less active.  His daughter just had a baby and was married so they came to church because the daughter and son are wanting religion in their lives since they now have a baby girl.  We went to visit the daughter and husband...no joke they are 16 years old.  Probably a little older, but the husband has to be 17 or 18....CRAZY! He was way cool and open to talking to us.  I am so glad I do not have a baby.   Sunday session of conference we had a less active come to the stake center to watch it.  His name is Danny Casteneda.  He is 50 and was baptized a million years ago.  He is legit.  He has a desire to come back to church and sees God's hand in his life all the time. He had some pretty cool stories about seeing the hand of God.  He has a girl friend who is super sweet. We are meeting with them tonight.  He loved conference and says that every time he goes to church its like they are speaking directly to him. Haha Second session on Sunday we had an investigator, Shyla come! Holla! Her roommate grew up LDS but is no longer active and she is dating an LDS guy. She has been reading, praying and told us she has been praying to have her heart softened so that she can understand what we teach her. So we were so pumped that she came to the last session of conference . . . hopefully she felt the spirit.  So conference was great and I look forward to getting the Ensign.  Mom, we get our own so don't worry about mailing me one.    

Some of my thoughts at conference. . . What did I do to get so lucky to be born into the gospel.  Can you imagine being in heaven and knowing you would come to earth without any knowledge of how to get back?  How scary! I am so unbelievably blessed to have this in my life. I cannot even explain how grateful I am for the direction and purpose it has given me.  I have grown so much closer to my Savior and my Father in Heaven.  They know us.  Whenever I am having a hard time, I just think about how I may have promised someone in heaven that I would find them and I would help them make it back.  It helps me keep perspective of what I am doing here.  

Some amazing things I have noticed this week is how the spirit works through the story of the first vision.  When we have taught the first lesson the spirit has always been there but when either Sister Greenfield and I recite the first vision the spirit is THERE!  It is incredible the intense feeling of truth that fills the room.  Sister Greenfield and a few other visa waiters were practicing their Protuguese teaching to a Brazilian family this week and I can't understand what they are saying, but I know exactly when they begin to recite the first vision because the spirit is so strong.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called from God to restore the truth on the earth again.  I KNOW it.  I know it because I have felt the spirit witness to me on multiple occasions that it is true.  I love this gospel.  I am so unbelievably blessed.  

GRANDMA WARRRR!!! I got your package and I cannot tell you how happy I am! I have been reading out of the binder everyday for personal study and have grown and learned so so so much! I cannot thank you enough for that gift.  I know I will use it in lessons and for personal growth from here on out.  You are absolutely wonderful.  Thank you thank you thank you! 

To answer some of Dad's questions.  Best and Worst of the mission thus far.  Best:  my testimony.  I had a testimony before, for sure.  But since being out it has grown in ways I cannot even explain.  I'm sure I would have gotten to this point if I hadn't gone, but why wait.  I have always felt a deep connection to my Heavenly Father. That he is my literal father. I have felt of his fatherly love for me, how he knows me like you, Dad, know me.  I have always felt that kind of love.  But for my Savior I haven't always felt that deeper connection or love like I have for my Heavenly Father.  I believe in what he did on earth and the Atonement but I guess I haven't really felt that deeper appreciation and devotion to Jesus Christ.  But I can tell you that I know that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer, he knows me and he knows the feelings that I have and the thoughts and desires of my heart.  I know Him.  I love Him and I know that through Christ I can do ALL things.  We can do ALL things through Christ our Savior.  I still have a lot to learn and my relationship can always improve. But that is the best part of my mission.  

The worst is probably Satan's influence on my thoughts.  It is awful and I hate it.  I think about how long I have still to go and I wonder if I will be able to handle it.  But with my growing relationship with Christ and my understanding for the atonement I know I can.  And I look forward to it.  Also worst is waking up at 6:30.  Its a butt. 

Maurie hasn't written me once. what. the. heck. 

I went tracting for the first time on Saturday. Sister Greenfield doesn't like it very much so we don't do it. The members are doing better at getting us referrals.  hahah so not really.  Right now we are going through the ward list and meeting with ALL of the less actives which keeps us really busy.  

Sister Greenfield and I get along really well.  I feel like sometimes we don't have much fun hahaa its work work work.   But we do sometimes. We get a long really well and I do learn alot from her.

Okay I better end this! I love you all so much.  I feel your prayers every single day.  I love you all so much! You are the best best best!

Sure love ya! Moline's Rock and Missionaries RULLLEE!

September 30, 2013

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

I am still alive....barely! The beautiful Bozeman Montana turned into rainy and cold Montana.  Hahaha I was not prepared!  One of the Elders gave me one of his coats he isn't using till I get mine.  Mom and Dad, could you send me my brown coat??  From what I am hearing it will work just fine.  I can hold on to the Elder's until that one comes.  I am going out after emails to buy boots, tights, socks and gloves so I don't die.  Everyone I talk to apologizes for what I am about to endure....NOT HELPING!  Haha But I really think my coat back home will be good. 

This week has been so so so much better.  It had its rough moments, but nothing I couldn't handle. 

First off there is a older woman, Sister Williams in our ward that we go over and do service for.  Her husband served his mission in Germany, was a branch president and then out of nowhere stopped going to church.  She has recently been coming back.   We went over and cleaned her blinds while she sat on the couch and just talked to us, she even made us lunch and had a spot for her husband, but he avoids us at all costs.  He wouldn't even come to eat lunch with us.  And a few days ago we went over and cleaned her windows while it was butt cold out. 

Cara!! I love Cara! I forgot what I said about her last week but she is a Less Active that goes to school at MSU.  Her husband lives in Butte so she usually drives down there over the weekend which is why she hasn't come to church. She came to the RS broadcast this week though! Holla Holla! I was so happy! We also went and visited her at the beginning of the week and brilliant Sister Greenfield offered to call every morning right before she goes to school to read a chapter with her over the phone.  She loved that idea and it has been working out.   

Sheila! We met with Sheila this week and had our Ward Mission leader's wife, Sister Gillian pick her up and bring her to the church so that we could give her a tour and teach the first lesson.  MOM, DAD, FAMILY EVERYONE! GO WITH THE MISSIONARIES! Members add so much to lessons that the missionaries can't.  The lesson went really, really well.  I got the feeling that maybe it was a lot to take in and a lot to handle for her.  We asked her about prophets and her thoughts on there being a modern day prophet and she said that she believes that it is possible and that God would have prophets on the earth but she needed to ponder and think about ours being the prophet of God.   Cool, Cool.  

Grandma Sharon! Okay okay this woman is the best thing ever! Her voicemail is one of the greatest things I have ever heard.  I wish I could play it for you.  We met with her and her son in law is who we actually ended up teaching.  He is in his late 40's early 50's and he came over and said, ladies, I tried reading your book and I don't understand it, can you give me specific things to read so that I can understand.......Why yes, yes we can.  He then told us about how he just had back surgery and had a coming to Jesus moment through that.  He says he now knows there is much more to this life than our physical bodies.  And that we need to save our souls.  His wife died about 2 years ago and he said that he swore she was standing beside him the whole time.  YES BRIAN, YES! While we were inviting Sharon to the RS broadcast he asked if we had a men's group he could attend.....yes we do in fact have a men's group! 

So some interesting facts, I found out that the apartment we live in used to be a janitor's closet! hahahahahaha It is teeeeeny tiny. And I always wondered if all the other apartments were that small. Nope! Because the other apartments are actually living quarters, not closets.  Hahaha  Also, we were over at a part member's house and Sister Greenfield asked, Have you seen how living the commandments can bless your life?  And the less active, Krista thought she was asking if she had seen the movie, how living the commandments can bless your life.....what?! She was like, oh the movie?!

Another awesome experience this week.  When it gets dark here, around 8:00, we will usually have appointments or have a list of Less Actives to visit that either bail on us, or don't let us in.  And President Mecahm is hard core, do not go back home until 9:00.  So when it is 8:30 we call people on ward council and see if there has been anyone on their minds that we could go visit or anything we could do to lighten their load.  In this process we were told to visit the Ruegeseggers.  We go over there and we meet Becky and Sean.  Becky is an MSU student who grew up in the church with active parents but since then has fallen away.  She lives with her fiance Sean and her brother.  THEY ARE AWESOME! She let us in and just chatted with us and we got to know them.  They were super open and nice to us.  She even said whenenever we need dinner to just come over and they would feed us.  Even as we were leaving they both said, come back, we would love to have you.   Where were these people all of my life! 

The houses here are adorable, there are green houses, yellow houses, blue houses, pink houses and they are all that vintage Victorian style.  We got a referral to a family, the Arujo's.  The husband and wife are not members but the husband is from Brazil and low and behold, Sister Greenfield is going to Brazil.  We stopped by and introduced ourselves and Sister Greenfield explained that she is in need of some help with her Portuguese and asked if she could practice the lessons with him.  :) ohhh yeaaaahhhhh.  We will see where that goes.

Also this week we had New Missionary training in Helena.  I got to see most of my MTC district there except for my companions in the MTC.  But it was sooooo good.  They talked about how companionships should be, the schedule, and exact obedience.  I also got to meet with President Mecham one on one.  I grew to really love him in that meeting. Before I didn't feel any connection to him and didn't really feel anything personal for him except that I was going to obey what he said because he was the President.  But after the meeting with him I know that he is an inspired man and he truly cares about each of his missionaries. 

Speaking about President, they made some new changes to the mission rules. They made a list of music we can listen to as well. Which means all my music has to be sent home. I know with obedience we will be blessed and really what is music in the grand scheme of things. 

After the New Missionary Training we brought home with us Sister Ward.  She is a Sister Training leader for our zone and goes on exchanges every other week.  She is awesome! I loved having her here.  Bozeman was her first area and so she was able to help us out. Anything to make us better.  And we have been doing well.  The Standard of Excellence each week is to teach 20 lessons and we taught 24! That was amazing.

I am jealous you have awesome weather! It's only going to get worse from here on out.  But that's okay!!! Because we have a car and I am buying warm things today! Haha

I love hearing from all of you! I am sorry if I didn't touch on the things you are doing at home.  But I love hearing about it all! It is so much fun! Keep it up! You all are great! And I appreciate all the prayers, I know God is hearing them! This is hard and every once in a while I have a hard time, but I am determined to do my best and be my best!

LOVE YOU ALL!

p.s. send me my coat please please :) Annnd I would love a package :))))

Oh! And here is my address for anyone and everyone, it is just the mission home address.  It is safer to get things that way.  1848 Rimrock Rd Billings Montana 59102