December 22, 1014

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

I literally am almost in tears I am so excited to talk to you on Christmas! AH! I just can't stand it! I am so stoked. So here is the deal.  Our Bishop had members sign up to see us every hour on Christmas Eve and Christmas day starting at 1:00 pm.  So if we could figure out the Skype thing that would be superb.  So basically anytime before 1:00 I can Skype. And it will probably have to be skype on my ipad and not a google chat because I don't have a computer I can use.  So let's figure out who I will be skyping and stuff.  If you happen to be on now, go ahead and email me and we can figure it out now, or I will just have to get on later this week and see what you say. But President encouraged us to have you write back as soon as possible so we could get it all figured out.  I AM SO EXCITED! Also, did my package come?  :)

So! I got my new companion, Sister Storrs! I told you a little last week about her, but I served with her for 6 months in Missoula as her Sister Training Leader.  She is now STL with me and I honestly could not think of anyone better.  She is awesome.  She is from Palmdale California and went to BYU and was studying Psychology but wants to go to a dental hygiene school when she goes home. Let's see....she has 3 older brothers that all served missions and are married....hmmm and she just rocks! I am excited to get things going here. But real talk.  We had a BOMB week! So many amazing miracles.  

Usually transfer week it is pretty slow because there is a lot of traveling and meetings and figuring things out with the new comp in the area.  BUT NOT US! WOOT! WE had over 30 lessons this week. Found 6 new investigators and put 3 of them on date to be baptized.  And these people literally just fell into our laps.  UNREAL.  

One day this week we went over to Larry Albert's house to cancel a lesson we had set with him.  A woman answered the door and let us in and as we were talking to Larry I just had this thought to invite her to come to our next lesson.  I told her she was always welcome to come and that we were meeting with Larry at 4:00.  She didn't say much but appreciated the invitation.  The next day we were at the library with Larry and I saw her walking by us! So I yelled her name and she came over and studied with us.  It just so happened that we were reading the talk "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer" By Richard G. Scott from the April 2007 general conference.  And she ATE it up.  She kept relating the talk back to herself and how she felt about prayer and God.  We testified and she was SO there.   We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked if she wanted to meet again. She said yes and that she wanted her daughter Charlie to be apart of it.  WOOT! WOOT! Later that week we met with them and they were super late and we had another appointment so we showed them He is the Gift and gave Charlie a copy of the Book of Mormon and testified our faces off.  And then bold SIster Storrs asked them right then and there if they wanted to be baptized.  BOOM! Spirit was high and they said yes! Immediately.  Right on Sister Storrs! We had a member there with us and we set up another appointment for last night to teach the Restoration and our member picked them up and brought them to their house.  Seriously. Most incredible lesson I think I have ever taught in my life. You know the expression when people say the spirit was so thick you could have cut right through it?  Yeah. This lesson.  There were so many times when I opened my mouth and was speaking and literally had no idea where that even came from.  Leanne began crying when we invited her to baptism again and set a date.  She said she just felt so warm and tingly and so peaceful.  Charlie,  her daughter is a lot more quiet but she said at the end of the lesson she felt so loved.  The members we had there were so inspired. They said the right things at just the right time. Leanne is temporarily living with Larry and I have been over at that house a million times to talk with Larry or try and find him and never have been let in or spoken to anyone there. That house is so sketchy though.  A lot of drugs and a lot of sketchy stuff happening there.  Leanne told me that there would be such a dark spirit in that home when she would visit and she would pray for God to help them and then two Sister missionaries would knock on her door and she looked at me and said, " you are my hero."  I could have just broken down in that moment. I know that we were meant to find and teach these two women.  They are so prepared.  Missions are so hard at times, but this makes it all so worth it.  I have such a good feeling for Leanne and Charlie.  WOOT! GO SPIRIT! 

Another miracle of the week! I was at the library earlier this week and saw a man sitting on a couch in the library.  I saw him when we walked in and thought I should give him a He is the Gift card, but we were in a hurry so I didn't.  As we were leaving he was still sitting in the same place and although we were running out of there I promised myself I would not let a prompting go by not acted upon.  So I gave him the card, our number and teh address for the church.  Later in the week I saw him again at the library and said hi.  He said he stopped by our church during the week and two men showed him around.  He said he wanted to come to church on Sunday.  AND HE TOTES MAGOTES DID! He walked! HE WALKED TO CHURCH IN THE DANG COLD! We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and set up an appointment.  I just saw him and he came up to me and said, " I haven't forgotten about our appointment! I will see you Friday." My heart! He has stolen my heart! He is a rough looking guy, living at the Mission.  But let me just tell you, this gospel is for everyone and everyone can feel the Spirit and have it testify of truth. I know that!  I did not expect honestly anything to happen by handing him a card, but God knows who is ready, it is just up to me whether I am going to pay attention to God when he is telling me. 

Baby Llama Drama Mamma! Larry broke up with us and then took us back this week.  It is kind of anti climactic now that I tell you because we worked things out and now we are back to teaching him. We had a lesson with him and the moment I saw him I knew something was up.  He was not himself at all.  We had a lesson with a member, and at the end of the lesson I asked him a question and he pointed at me and said, "I know you. I have met with you and trusted you.  I am not going to tell random strangers my life. You get that?"  Whoa Nelly....where did that come from? and immediately after he bolted for the door. The whole lesson he was so off and not engaged or there at all.  I ran after him and asked him what was going on and he said things were going on at home and he needed to leave and just left.  The next day we go to meet up with him and right when we approached him he just told us. no.  Not today.  And was really upset.  He said if he wanted to be enlightened he would call us.  He told us not to come by anymore.  Apparently he was offended by something the member said that just set him off.  It literally felt like I was getting broken up with.  I have met with Larry EVERYDAY for the past 4 months.  He trusts me and knows me very well.  I can read him like a book.  I know exactly when to let him ponder and think and when I need to probe the conversation with a question.  I just get him.  And Larry is a very slow to warm person. It has taken so long to get where we are and then BOOM! He drops us.   I am not going to lie, my eyes filled with tears.  I am so invested into Larry and getting him to progress and renew covenants.  But I trusted that he would feel a difference from meeting with us everyday to not meeting with us at all. And sure enough.  We get a call THE NEXT DAY and he basically could have sung "BABY COME BACK!"  He apologized and asked for our forgiveness and said he knew that he needed to meet with us in order to get out of the hole is has been in.   We met with him yesterday and he said, " I come in peace and repentance"  Haha i love that man! Larry honestly is someone that I know God has placed me here for.  He has changed me so much and my goal is have him receive the priesthood by the time I leave.  That is happening.  

Also, fun fact, I totally stepped in dog poop and almost threw up.  Literally I was gagging over the sink as Sister Storrs, this angel sent from God, got it off my shoe.  My poor children...I will never be able to change their diapers either they are being shipped off until they are potty trained or the hubby will have to do.  Too much gagging. 

Also something that I just adore about Great Falls is definitely the people.  I don't know what is in the water or what, but people here instantly treat you like they have known you your whole life. You immediately become family.  I feel so at home here with the people.

It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord is able to comfort me and bring me back to reality.  There are times where I wonder where my efforts are going and what I am doing but I was reading in 2 Nephi 4 and I forget what verse, but where Nephi says, "For I know in whom I have trusted." Why do I freak out when I know that God is in control? HE IS THE KNOW ALL BE ALL.  I have no need to wonder or fear, because I trust Him.  And He is God. I know He will take care of me and my companion and my investigators and less actives.  I know that He is aware of our greatest concerns as well as the smallest concerns we have.  I am so grateful to have come to know him like I have.  He is my everything.  I have watched the He Is the Gift video 700 times and what I cannot get over is the fact that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten to us.  We are often told that Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. But I also think it is appropriate to say that we are the reason as well.  We are the reason He came.  He came because He loves us all infinitely. Which at times is difficult for me to comprehend. But I believe that.  I know that as we trust in Him and act we will know the peace we all are wanting to find.  I don't even know how to express my thoughts correctly.  But just know that I know He lives. I have felt his power and his enabling and redeeming power DAILY.  How I lived before knowing Him like I do...I have no idea.  He lives and I love Him.  

I love you all and cannot wait to talk to you! Peace and Love! 

Sister Holy Moly