Sister Bakly, Sister Baird ( in the back ) Sister Session and meI!!

February 24, 2014

Oh Missoula the sun never shines! It is always overcast and rainy and snowy all the live long day.  This week was killer slow because we have no one to work with! AH! But we are trying hard hard hard.  Apparantly the ward I am serving in hasn't had any work for years. That is all about to change.  Watch out Missoula! The flood gates are about to open!! 

Okay so I failed last week in introducing you to my wonderful companion Sister Baird. She is from Heber City Utah, born and raised.  She is the 2nd oldest of 4 and has a brother that just got his mission call to Wisconsin! Woot! Woot! She went to a semester as SUU and a semester at BYU.  She doesn't know what she wants to study yet but is thinking Math education.  Sister Baird is awesome.  She has had a rough mission but is down to work.  I forget if I told you or not, but Sister Bair trained Sister Greenfield.  It's all coming full circle.  It's funny because we will be in lessons and Sister Baird will say something that I have seen or heard Sister Greenfield say.  hahaha Also random fact, Sister Baird's dad is the Bishop of her ward and apparently Elder Bednar has a home in Heber and will show up at church every so often.  WHAAA! OH the life of the Utah Mormon.  Anyway, she's cool.  I likkkee her

Funny story! So Sister Baird and I went tracting and came upon a house where a man answered and he told us how he all about the LDS church and believed we were a cult. He went on to say that he would be praying for us to make right the wrongs we are doing.  And then he asked if he could pray for us right then! Hahahaha so he did and he prayed that God would show Sister Baird and I the light.  Hahahahahaha it was awesome.  Tracting is so draining.  After one street I was exhausted.  

Missoula has 15 Sisters right now.  That is the most they have ever had! INSANE! They all are hardcore too.  Such good Sisters here. I love serving with them.  

This Saturday we had a stake relief society service thing and all the women from the stake came together and we made quilts, made goodie bags for patients at the hospital, made blankets and hats and all sorts of stuff.  It was awesome! Such a good  turn out.  Our stake president got up to speak and spoke on missionary work. He has challenged everyone in the stake 8 years old and up to each week have a gospel discussion with someone.  It is awesome! Because of that, the double sets of missionaries in each ward and teh whole "hastening of the work" idea, missionary work is on everyone's mind a lot more and they are seeing many opportunities to share the gospel.  It is awesome.  I give it another 2 weeks and the work will pick up here.  We got a new investigator and 2 new less actives to work with this week and I know with time the teaching pool will grow.  

Sister Baird, Session, Bakly and I all spoke in church yesterday.  We spoke on the Holy Ghost and the role it plays in missionary work as well as it has influenced us in our decisions to come on a mission.  It made me reflect on my decision to come on a mission and what made me want to come.  It was a good reminder of why I made the decision to come out on a mission.  I know I am supposed to be here.  I know it.  There is no where else I would rather be than right here right now.  I have learned so much and started to understand who it is my Heavenly Father sees me becoming.  I know without a doubt that this was all apart of my Heavenly Father's plan for me.  i am so grateful to be here and to learning and growing each and everyday.  I was studying today in Preach My Gospel and it said something along the lines of being a servant of the Lord.  And I got to thinking of what a servant is.  I thought about a server at a restraunt, and how the server goes and asks what it is the customer would like, and they go and do it despite what the server wants.  The server doesn't get to decide what the customer wants and doesn't decide how it is made or how it is done.  They just carry out the order.  And it made me think of missionaries and our role as servants of the Lord.  We may have our own ways of doing things but ultimately it is up to God.  It is my role to ask of him what he wants and to carry it out.  Although I may miss watching movies and wearing pants I knew what I was getting into when I signed up. I signed up for this and I am thankful to be on the Lord's errand.  Man, I love this work.  

Because we are low on people to teach we have been shoveling people's walks like crazy people.  Hahaha last night we shoveled FOREVER! We just picked a street and shoveled a majority of the driveways and sidewalks and were able to talk to a few people because of it.  Waddduuuppp! I am pretty sure after my mission I will want nothing to do with snow again. SO MUCH SNOW EVERYWHERE! ANNND it never goes away! I have heard of it snowing in July! That is straight up crazy talk.  hahaha

MOM! YOU DAWWWGG! Right on! Way to be so in tune with the Spirit.  Isn't it incredible how the Lord uses us to speak to His children?  I love that.  I remember one time you telling me that our Heavenly Father uses us to give his children that are struggling a hug because he can't.  I have always loved that so much.  

It sounds like stake conference was a hit and that the choir was phenomenal! Right on Plano 8th! WADDDUPPP! REPRESENT! Haha I played an arrangement of Come Thou Fount for a Zone Training on Wednesday! Be proud. Be proud. It rocked.

Sorry this email is so lame. I will be better next week. There just have been a lot of things going on and things have been pretty chaotic.   I love you all and miss you!

                                                 Danny and his girlfriend Tori.  Love them!

                                       Amy, Sarah, and Cortnee after my last lesson with Sarah.    

                                KITA! Love this girl so much....she will be baptized....it's going to happen.

                                                            Last day with my bingo ladies!

                                                               Oh, Rhenon!  Love her!!

                                                           Our last meeting with Cara.

                                           The Giullians.  I love this family!  They are amazing!

February 18, 2014

This week has been the LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE.  I feel like I have been here forever.  So much has happened and so many changes have taken place since I have been here.  So I got here on Monday of last week and met Sister Session and Sister Bakly.  Sister Bakly is from Great Falls Montana and is serving a mini mission for a month before she puts in her mission papers.  She is awesome! hahah I love her.  She is so excited about the work and excited to teach everyone she sees. I love it.  I had a hard time settling in at first.  Sister Session wouldn't look at me or talk to me when I first met her.  Super intimidating and made me feel so out of place. But once I unpacked and got settled in, things got better.  She is a stellar missionary.  So good at what she does.  She grew up in New York but moved to SLC when she was 14.  She is this tiny little Philippine girl and has an incredible work ethic.  I am excited to be working with her here in Missoula.  We live in an AWESSSOMMME place.  We are living with members that are fairly wealthy and have a decently sized guest house with its own washer and dryer, heated tiles and our own fridge and everything. SO NICE.  I heard it is the nicest place in the mission.  But I am actually no longer there or with Sister Session and Bakly.  Haha let me give you a quick low down of what is going on in Missoula.  So the Missoula stake is about 129 baptisms away from splitting the stake into two AND building a temple.  So President has moved all of the missionaries from the outlying areas of Missoula like Ronan, St. Ignacious, Frenchtown and somewhere else I can't remember and are bringing them all into Missoula so that each ward here will have two sets of missionaries.  This is with hopes that we can double the lessons and double the work so that by the end of the year each ward can have up to 25 baptisms.  So I am still in the same ward with Sister Session and Sister Bakly but I am companions with Sister Baird. Who only happens to have been Sister Greenfield's trainer.  Haha she is awesome.  She was serving in the university ward here but President Mecham has changed all of the companionships and split up all of the leadership so we can cover more ground.  Each ward has split up the responsibilities differently but our ward has split it up according to Auxiliaries.  So Sister  Baird and I will cover all of Relief Society, Primary, and Young Women while Sister Session and Sister Bakly will cover all of Priesthood.  Meaning that we will be teaching all Less Active and investigator Relief Society, Primary and Young Women. Sadly when Sister Session got here there were no investigators and no less actives to work with, so we are starting at ground zero and it may take some time to get going, but I know that we will blow up Missoula.  I had just finished unpacking all of my stuff and getting situated when I had to pack it all up and move again.  I am now living with Sister Baird in a members home, the Poulsens.  They have 3 kids, all grown and gone and their youngest daughter is serving a mission in Mexico.  We are living in her room. Hahaha I actually love living with a member.  They are really chill and super caring and nice.  I feel at home there which is nice.  

Dad you asked what my calling as Sister Training Leader is.  Basically I go to a million meetings a week.  hahahaha It is insane how many meetings we go to.  But we are in a sense the zone leaders for the sisters.  We are who the Sisters turn to with any questions or concerns or any problems they may be having.  We also go on exchanges with the companionships and interview them to see how they are doing personally, as a companionship and just see how we can best help them in any way.  Sister Session and I cover the Missoula zone as well as the Stevensville zone where Sister Greenfield is! I actually went on exchanges this last week with some sisters in the Stevensville zone, Sister Silata and Sister Erbe.  It was so fun! I basically just tag along with them for a couple days and go to appointments with them and observe how they are doing, how they could improve and just lift them up to be the best missionaries they can be.  I came out with Sister Silata.  She is from Samoa and is learning English on her mission. I LOVE HER! She is such an amazing person.  She is so humble and caring about all the people in her area.  She has been there her whole mission and the people just love her. But that is part of why this week was so long, we have had so many meetings and then I had exchanges and then I got my new companion and had to repack and move again.  And the chaos doesn't end there.  We have Zone training tomorrow so Sister Session and I have to help set that all up and we are all speaking in church on Sunday. Busy, busy, busy.  It is hard to balance the responsibilities that I have now as a Sister Training Leader and carry out the work in my own area, but I know the Lord will look out for us and help us as we carry out our callings.  

As a Sister Training Leader I know all about the struggles of the zone, the missionaries and everything so there is a lot of responsibility and weight that comes along with this.  Sister Baird's last companion was having a really hard time which is part of the reason Sister Baird is now my companion.  She is awesome and is so much fun but needs a new vision of the mission. I just hope I can give that to her and help her love her mission again.  I am excited and ready to take on the challenge and work hard.  We are in yet another car share, so we will have to work with that somehow.  But I know Missoula is going to blow up.  It may take a few weeks to get into the hang of things and perfect the system but I know we can make the goal of 130 baptisms at the end of the year.  Missoula is one of the top baptizing zones in Montana so this is cake.  

Missoula is another college town and apparently full of hippies and meth heads.  Haha Missoula is not as pretty as Bozeman.  It is alot more grey, but it is warmer! That is a plus. 

Crazy Crazy week.  I can't really think of anything else that happened that I need to inform you of.  But this is good.  I know I am supposed to be here and that great things are going to happen here.  

Also I am growing less and less fond of dogs on my mission.....so many dogs everywhere.

Being a missionary rocks! I can't wait to tell you more about the work here.  Love you all so much!

Until next week!

Sister Missoula Moline

p.s. I GOT YOUR PACKAGEEEE!!! Thank you so much I loved it so much!!!!!! And I got a package from the ward! Hahaha Woot Woot! loved it

also here is my new address: 3711 Brandon Way, Missoula Mt 59803

peace and blessings!

                                                                       The Shaws!

February 10, 2013

FAMILY

So are you  dying to know why the heck I am being ripped from Bozeman? ME TOO.  hahaha Sister Bonn and I were in a lesson on Thursday and when we left we saw that President Mecham called us.....that never happens. My first thought was that someone had died. So we were nervous to call him back.  But he has called me to be a Sister Training Leader in Missoula 2nd ward and that I was going to be leaving on Saturday.  Sister Bonn and I literally just finished celebrating that we had yet another transfer to spend together and to be apart of Bozeman. SIKE! It was a huge shock and I am very bummed but I know that this is where the Lord needs me and I have all the faith in the world in Sister Bonn to keep the work going in the Bozeman 3rd ward. She is a fantastic missionary.This means that I am missing Sarah's baptism.  STAB IN THE HEART! Leaving is already hard, but missing her baptism is cruel cruel cruel. Haha, but it really is okay.  The important thing is that she is getting baptized. At least I had the opportunity to teach her since day one. I really am blessed.  Right now I am actually waiting in Butte for some other missionaries then we will be on our merry way to Missoula.  Sister Bonn and I got a call Friday night from the Zone leaders saying that I had until Monday! WOOT WOOT! Moments later we got a call from our first counselor in the bishopric asking us to speak on Sunday......hahahaa something was up man, that timing was just too good. Haha but we pulled it off.  It was the worst talk I have ever given in my existence but it is ovaaa! Ha, and we sang in church with Cortnee, Kita and Cara. It turned out pretty good. 

I LOVE BOZEMAN.  Bozeman has my heart. I am sad to leave all of these amazing people but I am excited for what this next transfer has to offer. My new companion is Sister Session and I have only heard wonderful things about her. I am excited.  A little nervous about being a Sister Training Leader, haha I do not feel like I am qualified for that calling at all.  But I trust that the Lord has a plan and knows how I feel. I am ready to take on Missoula and magnify my calling and help the Sisters in the zone. 

No one could have prepared me for how hard saying goodbye was going to be.  IT WAS AWFUL. NEVER AGAIN. I never want to do that again.  Saying goodbye to Rhenon was the worst thing of my life.  I really hope that she gets along well with the new Sister coming in.  And saying goodbye to Sister Bonn was a bawl fest. Ohmygosh. I felt like such a child.  I love her so much.  It feels like we have been together forever, it is amazing how short our time together really was. But she has become one of my dearest friends.  She had an interview with President Mecham and he told her that he specifically remembers assigning our companionship and knowing that not only would we work hard and well together but that this companionship would result in a lasting friendship.  I believe that.  I know that our companionship was inspired.  It was great to have time to say goodbye to everyone. I have tons of pictures, but my camera is packed away so I will email some next week.  I got to talk with Danny before I left and he wrote me a card and bore his testimony and thanked me for working with him for so long and not giving up on him even though he has made empty promises and not followed through. He said that he truly has a desire to come back to church and thanked me for the time I have spent helping him come unto Christ.  I love love love Bozeman and I am so thankful that it got to me my first area for so long. I am thankful for all the amazing people I got to meet. I have grown so much because of them.  

I am so happy Sister Niedens emailed you. I LOVE THAT FAMILY. She was my momma here in Bozeman. LOVE LOVE LOVE HER!

I got Jovanna's wedding announcement too! HOLY MOLY! I am in love with it! They look great! It is weird to think that when I get home they will have been married a year...weirdddd

In answer to your question mom my coat is good good good. I am staying warm.  And as far as birthday goes all I can think of right now is a flash drive to put my pictures on. I will think this week and let you know.   

p.s. way to go on supplying the RS in the stake with that awesome scripture! Have you ever read verse 13 of Isaiah 41?  I shared 41:10,13 with everyone as my parting scriprture. I LOVE IT!

DAD! I KNOW SISTER PARR! I LOVE HER! She is super tall....like amazon tall.  She was my Sister Training leader in Bozeman so I knew her.  But I do not know the other Sister. 

Thank you for your testimonies and your support! I love you all so much and am so grateful to be able to write to a family back home. I know of many missionaries that do not have family supporting them.  THANK YOU! I love and miss you all.  Happy Valentines day! LOVE YOU!

OH! And Sister Bonn knows Adriane! She roomed with one of Adriane's good friends and has seen pictures from their wedding and stuff! Small world!

Sure love ya, Moline's Rock, Missionaries rule!

Sister Mcdizzle Sizzle