3-3-14

HOLY SNOW.

I thought last week was a lot of snow....I spoke too soon.  Missoula has had record amounts of snow this week.  They have gotten 40 inches just in the month of Feb. alone.  THAT IS OUTTA CONTROL MONTANA.  Our house  is at the bottom of two hills so getting out is a joke.  We tried leaving one morning this week and totally got stuck, another man coming down the hill got, stuck and then another woman driving up the other hill got stuck.  So Sister Baird and I pulled out our shovels and started digging everyone out and pushing the cars.  One man was out from 7 am to 11 just snow blowing the road, because there was so much snow and the snow plows only did the main roads, so none of teh neighborhoods were plowed. We later made cookies and brought them to him and his family thanking them for helping out the neighborhood.  It was fun haha it made for a fun adventure.  We got stuck about 7 other times after that though...then it wasn't very fun. Ha The University and all the schools shut down and all of Missoula county closed early.  THERE WAS EVEN AN AVALANCHE! WHERE AM I LIVING???  It was non stop snowing everyday this week.  A blizzard came through on Friday and as a zone we decided to get together and shovel.....joke.  Haha it was so bad when we all got together that there was no point in shoveling.  The wind was so bad.  So we hung out at the institute and watched Mormon messages and ate pizza.  Haha that was the worst of it.  It has gotten better since then.  But man oh man. Outta control.  Montana is a mess.  Sister Baird and I one of the days just walked around town and shoveled for people.  My arms are looking pristine.  Haha The Poulsens were in Puerto Rico this week and kept texting us to make sure we were alive and okay haha Brother Poulsen just made fun of us...the punk. Haha

So transfer news! You thought there wouldn't be anymore changes?  FALSE haha we got transfer calls this morning and I am staying in the same ward, but I will be companions again with Sister Session again and Sister Baird is getting a new companion and still staying in the ward. I think that makes my 3rd transfer inside this one transfer. I am going to just live out of my suit case for the rest of my mission. Our Zone leaders are getting transferred and Elder Holland, my zone leader in Bozeman is coming to Zoo town! He has been in Bozeman his whole mission! An entire year in one area....cray cray. But I am excited to work with him in Missoula.  

SUCCESS THIS WEEK! So Sister Baird and I went to find some Less Actives on Wednesday.  We went to find a single woman and came to find out that she was living at her step sister's mother's house and has since moved.  Her step sister, Gracie, answered the door and through conversation we found out she was getting evicted and needed help packing up her house, so naturally we were all over that.  A huge sigh of relief came across her face and she hugged us and told us we were a God sent.  Ha so the next day we went to help her pack.....holy nasty. She lives in the basement of a house with her best friend Jenny.  The place is disgusting. She has two cats and the house was covered in cat hair and all over the house there was cat poop and pee.  The basement doesn't have a kitchen  so they do their dishes in the bathroom.  There were dishes piled all over the floor in the bathroom and in the bathroom sink.  But we went to work and we got a lot done.  We got to know Gracie pretty well as we were helping her out and I just really like her. haha We clicked from the beginning and she opened up to us about her life and experiences that she has had.  She was in a terrible accident last August that caused some brain damage, so she has a little trouble finding her words,but other than that is just the sweetest, most caring woman I have met here.  She also has Multiple Personality Disorder.....hahaha BUT SHE IS AWESOME.  She says she has about 30 alters  but I have only heard about one that she talks about Hahahhahahahaa she is kinda cooky, but I really do love her.  We went back later in the day to continue helping her and she started calling us her "Sistas" and said to us that she wanted to get together outside of packing her home because she really liked talking to us and felt really happy when we were there.  Hahaha oh Gracie thank you for opening up that door :) haha  We went over to her mother's house last night to see her and met her husband, best friend Jen (who lives with Gracie, we helped pack her room as well) and Jen's Fiance.  They all were so sweet and nice to Sister Baird and I. All of them have at one point had to seen a specialist because of various mental disabilities that they suffer with but I can't even begin to appropriately describe the feelings I had with each of these people last night. They asked a lot of questions about missions and the logistics of it and we were able to introduce the idea of prophets and what we do as missionaries and our purpose.  It was awesome.  We ended up talking about Christ and each of them bore testimony of the role Christ has played in their lives and as they were speaking I looked around the room and knew without a doubt that their Savior knew each of them.  Although they have had many traumatic, and terrible things happen to them in their lives, although they have spent time in a psych ward and have some serious mental disabilities, their Savior knows them and I felt so much love for them. It just was a witness to me that God is no respecter of persons. He doesn't care who you are, what you have done, or where you have been, he just wants us home. And I am ashamed to say this, but back home I would have just steered clear of these people and I hate that I would have been that way. These are God's children despite every judgmental thought I would have had.  I don't even really know Gracie, but I love her.  When all of her friends left the room we got to talking with Gracie and she told us about her relationship with her mom and how there are pictures of her brother and his family but none of Gracie, or pictures from her wedding anywhere to be found in the house. She explained her relationship with her husband and how right now it is fairly rocky but she is trying to pull through.  She broke down in tears and looked at me and said, "I don't feel loved in this home Sister." The spirit was so strong at that point and the love that our Father in Heaven has for her just poured over me. I knew and know that she is known by her Father in Heaven.  I think I may have found my Rhenon.  

Jen's fiance is all about learning about the Mormons. He wants us over for dinner and when we offered to come over later today to teach them he said he would love to be apart of it.  He even said he wanted to come to church with us.  Right on! Right on! 

So that is my miracle of the week.  I survived a toxic home, but met some of the most incredible people. 

Another family I need to tell you about are the Bollingers.  They are an older couple in the ward with rock solid testimonies  Brother Bollinger is disabled and is unable to go to church on Sundays and his wife just stays home with him.  We are meeting with them weekly to teach the lessons to them.  This week when we went over to their house we taught them the restoration and I swear I learned more in that meeting than they did.  The whole hour we were there they just bore testimony of the restoration of the gospel.  They are both converts to the church and Brother Bollinger is a recovering alcoholic and he was able to bear testimony of his conversion and healing through the gospel.  He is a collector of tons of random stuff and he gave each of us an envelope with some random things he has collected.  He gave us a piece of fools gold, an unpolished emerald, an unpolished ruby, and coins from the 1900s.  He told us that the fools gold represents other churches hahahahahaha and the unpolished emerald and ruby represent those that we find and when they understand the atonement and are converted to the gospel they become polished gems hahahaha. He is so cute.  It was such a tender mercy to talk to these sweet people.  It was a rough day and just listening to their testimonies just showed me that they are why I am on a mission.  I need to find them. 

I also was nasty sick on Wednesday.  Being sick on a mission blows.  But I am better and so happy I am alive. 

Mom, I am glad your finger did not fall off....dad sent me pictures...YUCK! Hahaha 

BIRTHDAYYY: I would love pretty blank note cards and pretty letter writing stuff! And stamps....I would love stamps.  ummmm Another white wonder tee would be cool.  But I won't die if I don't get one. I just want a cheap binder from Target, so like $5-$10  And maybe $20 for a bag OH and money to print pictures from my mission! But that is all I can think of. 

Have fun skiing this weekend! I am so jealous!! Have so much fun! ALSO I am so proud of little baby Saryn getting into the celestial kingdom of all universities! Tell the Nally's at the MTC I say hello and thank you for all that they do.   

I LOVE YOU! 

Have such a fun week! And send me pictures of everyone! 

Till next week!

Sista Crazy cool pants