3-31-14

Howdy from Montany,

Yes, yes, I am now a true Montana man because I went hiking. Ha, It was really fun, I never understand why people like hiking, cause it just causes pain! But the view was worth it! I want to do it again when everything is green! Missoula is surrounded by these gorgeous mountains and they are just breathtaking! AH! I love them. 

So the family that I live with, the Stevens are my favorite. They are in their 60's and all of their kids are grown and gone. But Sister Stevens is my hero. I want to be her when I grow up. I have never met someone with such incredible faith.  She is a convert to the church and is so solid. She is so in tune with the promptings of the spirit and knows what it is the Lord wants and needs her to do.  Her son died when he was 25 from a hiking accident and all of her kids have gone inactive, but she has all the faith in the world that they will one day return.  I wish I could explain it better. Basically, she rocks.  She said something that really stuck with me, but she said taht we will not be judged until we have all been taught the gospel perfectly. Do we really believe that the gospel can be taught perfectly in this life?  It strengthened my understanding of my Heavenly Father.  That he will do anything to get us to come back home. He wants us to come back so badly.  

So our ward has begun a 40 day fast for missionary work.  We pass around a calendar at church and families in the ward sign up for one day to fast together for missionary work. It has been awesome! The first day that we started, we saw so many miracles! FASTING IS THE BEST! I have gained such a strong testimony of fasting on my mission. If I could fast for the rest of my life and still survive, I would totally do it.  But, Sister Session and I have been praying to find more people to teach but we just not had a whole lot of luck.  We decided one day to go find a Mr. Gregory Berry on our less active list. So we went and a woman answered the door and I instantly knew we would be best friends because she was in her 60's and wearing this crazy cheetah print shirt.  hahaha she was so so so sweet and friendly to us. Apparently Gregory Berry passed away 2 years ago and they common law married.  She saw that we were with the LDS church and invited us in and gave us cookies and milk and I fell in love with her.  Hahaha it had been so long since we had had someone invite us in.  She said that she loves our Bishop because he helped out a lot with the funeral and that she has been meaning to come to our church to pay respects to her little common law hubby.  We chatted for a bit and shared a scripture and prayed with her and she just ate it all up.  She said we had to come back and that she wanted to go to church with us. SCOREEEEE!!! LOVE IT!  Sadly, she got the flu and couldn't come to church but she said she wants us to come by this week. :) Right on Marsha....I don’t think you know what you have just begun.  

But, we were able to go over to the family that fasted that day and tell them about all the miracles we saw because of their fasting. Really neat. 

Friday, Sister Drama had another episode that was kinda cray cray.  Basically her and her companion were not getting along and when her companion refused to take her home while they were driving she slammed the gear into park in the middle of the street. So naturally President called for an emergency exchange. So I am currently with Sister Drama and Sister Session is with the companion (who knows Lindsay Shwendiman from West Virginia!)  President told her that he talked to the mission council and if she can show that she can go a month without any issues she could be reassigned to another mission, possibly Spanish speaking.  Honestly, things have gone great. We have taught some solid lessons and had a ton of fun together. The thing is you just have to know how to handle people's different personalities and know how to present ideas.  Her and her companion are two VERY different people. And as I have met with her companion I could see how she could rub her the wrong way.  She is a sweet sweet sister and is very good with people (just not companions haha) and missionary work. That doesn't justify her actions and how she may react to the situations she is put in.  Because the way she reacts is a little extreme....a lot extreme.  But I haven't had any issues at all....that could also be because I am her Sister Training Leader...but either way things are going well. For instance, I FAIIILLLL at just talking to random people on the street. FAIL FAIL FAIL.  I love teaching and meeting people, but when it comes to random contacting I am one awkward fellow.  But the other day we went to find a less active man and as we got out of the car we saw a man sitting on the side of the road in the rain by himself, just getting soaked. And Sister Drama was like, "we need to talk to him". So she marched right up and just started to talk to the guy and getting to know him and so sly like brought up the church and gospel. Turns out the guy was baptized into the Mormon church but hasn't been active for years. We invited him to church, gave him our card and poof! The deed was done. I was so impressed with her willingness to follow the Spirit.  I have learned a lot from her and am thankful we haven't had any issues. I do have to say though, I love her. I really love her.  She may be kinda cray, but I love her. 

Update on JAMES:  James started the stop smoking program and hasn’t smoked for 4 whole days! What a star! He is still having issues with Gracie and called us Sunday and said he wouldn't be able to go to church because Gracie's mom is having an estate sale and was needing help.  We set up a time for us to come over that night and have a lesson with him and when we came in he looked so upset and immediately before we could even sit down said, "Sister's I sinned today."  The poor guy was with Gracie and when she had a cigarette he couldn't stand it and had a cigarette.  He said he was so mad at himself that when he came home he ripped off the motivational signs we put up for him and his "Declaration of Independence from Smoking"  It broke my heart to see him so angry with himself.  He said if he hadn't missed church he wouldn't have been put into that situation at all.  He said he learned his lesson and will never miss church again. COULD YOU BE MORE WONDERFUL JAMES?! I THINK NOT. AH! We reassured him and read the scriptures with him.  Oh, James. You are awesome.  I just hope the adversary (in the form of freaking Gracie) goes away.  Because he can't be baptized until we have her consent! He said he is going to talk to her this week about it and ask her if he can be baptized.  But he said he wants to do it at marriage counseling because a there will be a referee.....hahhahahahah

Today Sister Bragg our Ward Mission Leader's wife is taking us to Ronan to go Bison watching! WOOT! WOOT! Hahaha that will be an adventure! I am excited to go see me some Bison.  Haha

The relief society broadcast was sssssooooo gooooood! I loved it so much. I loved having all the women of the church there. 8 and up. That was really neat.  I have to say conference is my favorite time of the year. Especially on a mission.  But at the Relief Society Broadcast I was overcome with the spirit testifying to me that this is the true and living gospel on the earth again.  I could not doubt. I never have, but I think sometimes you kinda go through the motions, but that just reconfirmed my testimony.  That the men and women that spoke were men and women called of God. And I may not understand everything and I may not know everything but I know that God knows and that is enough for me. I don't know how you could watch conference and not have the spirit touch your heart and testify to you that the words spoken are of God.  Crazy Crazy. Also that little violinist girl was crazy.  hahaha LOVE YOU ALL!  

Until next week! Also next week I hit my 7 month mark! ITS GOING BY SO FAST!!! 

loveeeeee

Sister Montana Moline