October 28, 2013

Dearest Family,

I love you so much and I was so happy to hear about Claire's birthday party!!! I love you all so much. Well before I tell you about my week I want to tell you about yesterday.  So we had this appointment, with Calvin, a less active we met, who is awesome! Well it was pretty much one of the best lessons ever and I will tell you about it later because after this amazing appointment we came out to the car. First thing we do is check if we missed any calls, and sure enough we did, but this call was special, it was from Elder Smith, who is one of the assistants, and we know that if we get a call the day before transfer news from him it means You are training or you are becoming a sister training leader, either way it sucks. Well we called him back and immediately he says "Sister Draudt, you're being transferred" I slammed my hand on the steering wheel, cause I was mad, and I hear him say "...is that ok?" and I say "ya...." and then he says "You are going to Riverton Wyoming, and you are being doubled in. You are training a brand new missionary" By now I was crying. He then told Sister Barkdull that she is staying and training a new missionary as well. The phone call ended and I just cried. I love it here so much. I just do not want to leave, it seriously sucks. I am not mad to be going to Wyoming; I seriously thought that is where I would be assigned when I first came out to the field. I know it will be great and I will fall in love with the people there also, but I love it here so much and it is breaking my heart. I have met people, like Tony and Deena, and Amber and Carla, who I know I have been waiting my whole life to meet. I know they have been waiting for me also. Luckily I have my Facebook and I can stay in contact with them, plus I know we will be friends forever, cause I can drive up here whenever I want. Then in next June the Stephenson's will be coming home from their mission, and Tony and Deena will be sealed sometime after I am home, so there is 2 trips right there haha. Great Falls Montana is home, it is where my new family lives and now I have to leave. I remember first coming out to the field and I was determined to never call a place home, cause my home was in Utah and nothing would change that, but now I've grown to love it here and I don't want to leave my home here. It really is my home and it hurts to have to leave. Ok well enough about transfers cause I don't want to cry again. Oh but one thing I am excited for is that I will be going to Elder Normans Zone, I sent pics of him last transfer cause he was leaving and I was so sad, but I get to join him in Wyoming now :) we live 20 minutes away from each other, which means we might even be in the same district. I also am scared and kinda mad to train, just cause I want to have a comp who is older than me in the field, but apparently I won't be getting that haha, but I am going to be the best trainer, I will not let my new missionary feel alone, or sad. I will be there for her to support her and help her. I will help this sweet sister as much as I can.

        

Ok anyways this week has been phenomenal!!!! Well on Tuesday we had our last district meeting as a district before transfers. It was great I loved it. I had a discussion and it was really fun. Then we all drove to Helena, at least the Great Falls zone and the Great Falls East. We went to Helena for the ipad training. I totally thought it would be like the Facebook training where we had like 4 meetings before we could even set up a Facebook account, but no, they gave us the ipads then and there AND I thought we would be sharing an ipad, like one I pad a companionship, but no, we each got an ipad!!!! How legit it that!!! The ipad is our new planner, and area book, we have to transfer all the paper records over to the ipads, which is taking forever. Then we no longer have paper planners, which I am kind of sad about cause it's like a mission memory, but oh well. Our ipads will be used for teaching, we have the pamphlets on them and we have scriptures and hymns and all the church books! We have access to everything church related, like Mormon messages. It will be phenomenal. I think it is stupid when missionaries use there ipads for scriptures, cause that is not what they are for, like ya it's a plus, but that is not what they are for, and I think it looks better when a missionary carries there physical scriptures with them, so I will be using my scriptures, plus I want to annotate my scriptures and highlight them, and after my mission if I just used my ipad all my notes would be gone. They said that we might be able to purchase the ipad when we go home, they have not decided what to do with them yet. Anyways the ipads are very exciting, but I am very scared to, it is a lot to learn! Oh and when we call home, we will no longer be calling, we will be using our I pads to skype, or face time home :) so we can chat for as long as we want cause it is free and I won't have to take turns with my comp :) how awesome is that! I am really excited for that, less than 2 months and I get to talk with all of you!!! On our way home, we literally said over and over "Guess what?" "What?" “I just got an ipad" " no way" "Yup, it’s pretty cool" haha all of us missionaries were having a blast.

          

So funny story, on our way to get the ipads we passed the zone leaders in their car, and then then when they passed us, Elder Walch one of the Zone leaders, who is awesome I just love him, anyways, while they were passing us he stuck his head out of the window and turned his head back to look at us as they passed us, and in like a tenth of a second his glasses were swept off his face. There was no way to find them. His facial reaction was the funniest; I don't think I have seen someone’s face change emotions so fast. His mouth just dropped and he was so surprised and just like "oh crap," hahaha, it was really funny. We ended up turning around and looking, but no luck, and that sucks because he is like blind...poor elder.

          

On Wednesday we had 7 appointments, and none of them canceled. How cool is that?  It seriously was like the best day ever. We had a lesson with Patsy, and committed her to baptism, she accepted and we have her on date for November 16th! She is so happy and so are we! Then we also had the Smith family, and Sorina read from  the Book of Mormon, it was awesome, she had a ton of questions, she read the title page, the intro and the testimonies and Joseph Smiths like intro to the Book of Mormon!!! It was amazing!!! Oh and we had 2 potentials hit on us, one of them wrote me on facebook, and said "Come over anytime.  I would love to talk to 2 pretty girls, it's been a long time" ...and then when we talked to him on the phone, he asked if he was talking to Andrea... And I was like "...uhhhh my name is Sister Draudt..." it was weird. That is the one down fall about Facebook people think it is fine to call us out first names. Then we were telling a less active about the single activities and he said “well you're single, so if you go I will come"

            

Ok so I have a really exciting story about some people but I can't write about it through an email, so I will send a letter home :) this story happened Friday while we were making calls when we were in Belt. Don't get your hopes up because if you do it won't be as exciting haha. When Sister Barkdull and I found out we just were screaming out of pure happiness :)

           

On Saturday we had stake conference and President Mecham was here and it was so freaking awesome, but he would look at us, because we sat in the front, and then take notes, and then look, and take notes, so I am pretty sure that is when he decided that I would be transferred! Lame! Stake Conference on Sunday was amazing also. President Mecham told us a story that was really neat so I am going to share it. So President served in Mongolia, but only for a couple months, because Sister Mechum got sick, and then they came here. Anyways he told us a story about Mongolia. So there was this senior couple who decided to go on a mission and requested a ward somewhere.  They were very excited for their mission call and when they received it and found out they were going to Mongolia, they were very upset, that is not what they requested at all. They decided they did not want to serve and did not accept the call. They continued to live their lives and not go on a mission, but something was missing and after a long time they decided to re-apply, this time they requested some place and said it was because of medical reasons. They knew they would get a great call, and this time the call came and they were so happy and excited and when they opened it up they read...Mongolia...They again were not very happy. They gave it a lot of thought and realized there was a reason for them to be called there. They left for Mongolia, not very enthused. When they arrived they were assigned to the area with a huge prison, and not just any prison, but one of the worst prisons, where the scum of the scum go, they worst and most vial criminals. Well they had to do service and that is where they were assigned. They were so scared and worried about serving in the awful place. The husband caught on the language pretty fast, and since he was a male, they let him work with the inmates. He ended up falling in love with it and loved serving there, the inmates grew to love him also but his poor wife was assigned to the kitchen, they were too worried about her to let her work with these awful criminals. She did the same thing day in and day out, she cleaned and cooked. She never really caught on the language, she really was struggling. She could not communicate with anyone and still was really struggling with the language. One day she had had enough and was so alone, and sad, she ran out to the court yard and screamed, "Does anyone speak English" Sadly there was no reply, so she screamed again but louder "Does anyone speak English" She knew there would not be a reply, and just started to walk back to the kitchen, then a quiet voice came from far away in the prison, that was high security, where not even her husband was allowed. This is where the worst of the worst criminals were locked away. She heard a reply, “I do."  She was not allowed to go in to this high security part of the prison though. This ate at her, she needed to find this person, after months of coaxing and gaining trust, and her husband was able to let the guards let her in.  They brought her to where she heard the voice, and it was a small very cold, awful cell, with no light. They opened the door and she stepped in. The voice then spoke and said "Mom, I knew you would come" This was their son. A son who years and years before went off on his own and decided to not live the best life. They had lost contact and worried about him daily. They had no idea where he was. He had done some dumb things and ended up in this Mongolian prison where he was sentenced to a life in prison, until he was executed. He has been rotting in that cell for years. They will now return from their mission in a couple months and are bringing their son with them.  They are bringing him home. This story really touched me. There were so many sniffles in the chapel after he told this story. How amazing is that? This shows me that Heavenly Father has a plan, and we need to follow it. What if this couple denied the call to Mongolia again? They would have never found and rescued their son. This story was about a mother finding her son. But it relates to all of us, and I think about it especially with me. I may not have known the people I have met before my mission, but I knew them before this life, and they are waiting for me to find them, just like this son. They may not be in a prison cell, but they could be in a spiritual prison and I am here to find them. I know that I am here in Montana for a reason, and soon to be in Wyoming. I know Heavenly Father sent me to Montana because I was assigned in the pre-existence to find certain people, and they are relying on me, Andrea Draudt, to find them. I will find them; I will follow God's will. I will do what he wants me to do. I want to help others find eternal happiness and find their way back home to him. I used to think I was called to Montana because it was just a good place I could serve, but I can now tell you that it was not just a good place I could serve, but it is the one place I have to be at this time in my life. Other souls are relying on me. I KNOW I am in Montana because I have been called of God to serve here. When I first got my call I remember crying because I was so sad.  I WISH I could take that back.  I wish I could tell myself to shut up and deal with it because I was crying over the best place I could have gone.  How stupid. It's not where you go, it’s about the people. I have made eternal friends here. My life will never be the same. I am so thankful I am serving the Lord and that I have this special opportunity that many never have to help others come unto Christ. I am so thankful I cannot say it enough and I will never be able to put it into words when trying to explain how I feel about Great Falls Montana, and how I feel about the people I knew before this life and after 20 years have finally been reunited. I feel like I become more whole every time I meet these people.  Like something was missing I never knew was missing, until I find them. Just like them when they find the gospel. I am so thankful to know that I can spend eternity with these people I have known.

        

Oh I never told you about the lesson yesterday; I guess I should do that real quickly. So we went to this guy’s house who is probably about 26 his name is Calvin.  We obviously have to bring someone with us because it is against the rules for us to be alone with a single guy. Well he is less active. He is from Layton Utah. So I assumed he was raised in the church and I should not have assumed because I felt dumb after assuming because he was not. He learned about the church from friends in high school and joined when he was 16. He was active for 2 years and then when he was 18 his dad (who is a jerk) kicked him out, and so he went inactive, then he joined the air force and got active, then became less active again. He has a 4 year old daughter in Utah. He is amazing.  We asked him why he stopped coming and he was like "I don't know..." and then he said "But I will come this Sunday." I think he just needed a push.  Because we taught him the restoration and asked if he would read some of the Book of Mormon. He agreed and then we started talking about other stuff and he came back to the topic and said "Wait, where do you want me to be in the Book of Mormon before we meet again?" and we were flabbergasted. We assigned him to read the intro, the testimonies and the Joseph Smith mini history thing, and then he said, “That's only like 5 pages!!! Dang!  He is awesome.  So we assigned him the first chapter of Nephi also. Then he was like "Do you still do the dinner thing, like can I feed you next week?" and we told him we would have to bring someone cause we were not allowed to be alone and he was like "Ya, no problem, that's a good idea, like you need to be safe, and I understand that's totally cool." So we planned a dinner with him, and he is cooking, which says a lot, I think. Sadly I will be in Wyoming....lame...because he is awesome and I don't want to leave!!! Anyways Calvin is pretty much the bomb.com

But anyways that was my last couple days :) I love you all so much and I will be sending a package or 2 home, cause I have collected a lot while I have been here...so be prepared haha :) I love you

                       

                              -love Andrea :)

Elder Scott who just left to go home.

The Smiths

The First Snow!

October 21, 2013

Dear Mom,

     

I don't have a ton to say this week.  I do have some stuff though. First off I got you package :) thank you! I can't wait to give everyone their gifts. The Gunther's loved the calendar and the note, they told me that is a very sweet note and they loved it. Second, I am so sad to hear about Miriam.  That is crazy!!! She will be okay though, I hope she doesn't have a bad case of MS.  My thoughts and prayers are with her.

        

So this week has been interesting. Sister Barkdull has been very sick. We went to the Doctor and got her some pain meds but then they reacted weird and she just started puking. I have really been learning patience, because I did have a headache too, but normal headache medicine worked for me. I have really had to have patience. I feel bad for Sister Barkdull though cause she was really sick, and she stuck it out really well though, but sometimes that is where I got frustrated haha, she has been calling me mom a little because she says "Oh I'm fine I can do it" and I have had to tell her no, and to rest and stuff and she gets frustrated with me, but oh well, I think if she rested earlier she would be a lot better by now haha. But she is finally getting better. :) Wahooooo

       

This week a couple things happened. So at the beginning of the week we visited with the Smiths, So Jacob is a member, but he is not active, and his wife Serena was the atheist, and I say was, cause she is not anymore! We got a call earlier from them and they asked why we always bring a member with us, and we told them it is so they know people in the ward. They were so relieved because they thought that they had done something and so we could not go over there alone haha. So we went over the next day for our appointment and we did not bring a member. Best choice ever. They opened up so much more!!! Serena, we found out went to read a copy of the book of Mormon, that she thought they had and it was just a bible. So she asked us to bring one, and so of course we agreed. We also found out they have been thinking about their little boy Malachi being baptized. They also love the ward and want to know when the next potluck is and the Halloween Party. We found out the real reason Jacob would not come to church. He finally admitted that there is a guy in the ward who he used to work with. Jacob 3 years ago was in an accident and now suffers severe daily migraines and so he can't work. Well this other guy in the ward really started to be mean to him and be cruel. So Jacob has not wanted to come. We told Jacob that this guy actually does not come, he had not been to church in 25 years, and that he just recently started coming back, but the last couple Sundays has not been there. Jacob then felt so much better and said he would try and come! They also said they wanted their kids to get to know us and so we are going over there this Sunday for dinner!!! We did not have an actual lesson, but we just shared a message and it was the best  thing ever to just sit and chat and get to know them, rather than just be the people that come and talk about church every week. I think we made so much progress with them :)

      

I swear I told you about the referral Jeff, who we just felt like we really needed to talk to and finally after like a month got a hold of him and gave him a Book of Mormon. Well we checked up on him and he admitted he was not too interested, but then we offered service and I also was able to tell him how we found him, the crazy story. And it made him feel really good. It was cool I told him that we are supposed to talk to him, and that Heavenly Father found a way for us to talk to him. It was really neat! I felt so good after we left, he was not even interested but yet I felt so good after cause I know that we did exactly what Heavenly Father told us to do, and I know we planted a huge seed and when the time is right I know he will be a member of the church.

        

This week we went to Belt Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The whole purpose of being in Belt was mainly for people to just see us and to talk to people. We have like no investigators in Belt. But it was cool because our first night in Belt we went to a former investigator's house, Jason.  He took the lessons in 2008.  When we contacted him a few weeks ago he didn't seem too interested, but then we thought we should go back so we did. He was not home, but we left a note on a mormon.org card. Then we walked down town (the like 6 bars in Belt) haha and within 20 minutes we got a call.  He called us back and was like "hey I saw you walking down town and then saw the card you left and I want you to come over again! That is saying something because no one ever calls us back from a mormon.org card, ever. We told all the elders and they were freaking out haha cause the ones who have been out like almost their whole time have never got a call back. He told us he would love us to come back, and so we said yes and set up an appointment for the next day. Unfortunately we ended up moving our appointment and then he did and so we have not seen him yet. But by him calling us back we know he is interested! We then taught one of our investigators in Belt. Cheyenne, she is 15. Hee grandma passed away recently and we taught her the plan of salvation. She started to tear up, and after the lesson she told us, "That was the first time that when someone has talked about my grandma I have not gotten frustrated or just wanted to change the subject, I felt warm" AWWWWWWW we seriously almost cried.  It was the sweetest thing ever.

       

On Saturday we helped Amy and Gus Olsen (your friends with Amy on facebook), we helped them paint and hang lattes, well I got the paint job, which seemed great, but it was a sprayer paint thing, and so my job was to hold up cardboard so it did not get on the house. It was fun, but I did not know I would be doing that, so I got paint all over my boots and my hair, it felt like a can of hair spray was in my hair, cause like I said the paint was put in this sprayer thing. Everyone was joking that the paint just blended in with my freckles. But anyways my boots are covered in splattered paint....so I either need to buy some more or you could send me some.

          

Well that is pretty much what happened this week. Today we hiked the GF for Great Falls, and it was straight up a hill, and I seriously am so out of shape, and then at one point we were hiking down I totally biffed it and scraped my knee! We hiked up there before sunrise so we could watch it, but we couldn't see it, because of the clouds, but we had a very nice devotional, and of course I was called on to bear my testimony, that happens a lot actually, and so I know I probably sounded really scattered because I had three seconds to pull my thoughts together haha. But I really have learned to love bearing my testimony, it used to scare me so much at home, but I love it now. I LOVE being able to testify and tell others that I know Jesus Christ is my Savior, and my redeemer, that because of the atonement we can have a friend who completely understands us and can help us. We can also have a way to change for the better and get back on the right path. I am so thankful for this gospel. I am so thankful to be raised in it. I love my Heavenly family and my family here on earth, who are also part of my Heavenly family.  Anyways after the devotional we ended up losing our phone, Sister Barkdull lost it, and it look forever to find, but thanks to a prayer we were able to find it and after that we said a prayer of thanks :) I love being a missionary.

            

                      -Love Andrea

Happy October 14th!

 Dear Family (Mom)

     

Well This week has been fabulous, well at least Saturday and Sunday were haha. Sister Barkdull has been sick this week, which I really felt bad for her. We called the nurse lady in the mission and she said that she needed to take Excedrin, cause it is a headache that Sister Barkdull has, but sister Barkdull won't take the right dose cause she hates caffeine and doesn't want to take it. The nurse on the phone today said, if you need to go you can go to the doctor, but since you have not been taking the right dose, and you don't sound sick, then I would say don't go until you start taking the right dose. Anyways things are going better now.

I will now actually talk about my week haha. So this week we taught Tony and Deena the law of Chastity, I realized that it came up in some conversations. Everyone else has talked to them about it, except us! So we decided it was about time for them to hear it, and to be honest I was scared out of my mind because I knew when the bishop talked to them they got really offended so I didn't want to offend them. We taught them it and it went super well, but when we committed them to living it of course they said "No" They did say they are planning on getting married soon though, so hopefully it really is soon. After the lesson about 20 minutes later they called us up and said they felt bad saying no and so they asked for a different commitment. We figured a commitment of some sort was better than none at all, so we committed them to purposeful prayer, and really focusing on your prayers and also reading more of their scriptures, which they have slacked on a little since school has started up, but they said they would read a lot more, and they have. On Friday we had a potluck dinner and they were there and were discussing what they read with us. We were so happy they showed up.

A part member family, the Smiths that we have been working with also showed up! Jacob Smith joined about 6 years ago with his ex-wife, then he got re married to a non-member who is atheist, but I know she is not atheist anymore, we have been teaching her and they are just the sweetest, they have like 7 kids combined, it's nuts. Their littlest son James, who is both of theirs, he is 2. Every time we go to their house he is jumping all over us and climbing on us, and he is the biggest little flirt! haha we try not to  let him jump and climb on us, and they stop him also but he still does haha. Also a super less active (not active) Louie who used to live in 2nd ward just moved in to our ward, he joined cause of his wife but has not been to church since 2004, and him and his wife just went through a very nasty divorce. He showed up to our potluck! Which was huge because he has not been to anything with our church since 2004. Anyways when it was time for the food, which was so yummy, it was pulled pork sandwiches. We were talking to Deena about the Women's expo, that was happening that weekend and then about 5 minutes later in line for food they gave us 10 bucks to pay for us to go to the expo! That we so nice. So we ended up going and we got to talk to 9 people, about the gospel, and not like just a "hi I'm a missionary" but we had at least a 5 -10 minutes conversation with them about the church. It was super fun and so productive. One girl after we said who we were said "Oh so you're Christian." I was so happy that she recognized that we were Christians!!! She was Lutheran and asked what the difference were , and we talked about living prophets and how God loves all  his children, so he gives us a living prophet to guide us today just like there were prophets in the bible. She got this grin on her face and said "that makes so much sense!" and she took our number.  We were about to set up an appointment but her mom grabbed her away. The girl was like 17; she was so curious though and gave us huge hugs haha.

      

After the expo we then filled up the font! I love filling the font. Carla's baptism was amazing!  It started at 6, but Carla showed up at 5:30 with her mom and sister Evelyn, they look so much alike, and they all dress totally normal, even though they are polygamist. They are so nice!!! Oh my goodness. Then Carla tried on the jumpsuit, it was funny she refused to get a ugly white jumpsuit picture, and we told her it was tradition, and she was like I will never have a picture of me in this, but after you can get a picture haha. So I don't have any pictures like that, I just have one with her in her normal church clothes. Then her sister in law Addie showed up with her kids, she is a member she is from Bountiful actually, and her husband who is Carlas brother is a convert. Then Carla's other brother (different one) Clayton who was baptized a year ago showed up with his fiancée Elise who is also a member. Clayton baptized Carla. I know every time I talk about a baptism I say how spiritual it is, but this one was like times 10! It was so spiritual and amazing. I said the opening prayer and then the bishop talked about baptism, and then Clayton baptized Carla, and it was so sweet! It was his first time baptizing someone. I loved seeing her come out of the water, with a bright light surrounding her, it happens every time; they physically have a brightness, a light about them. After the baptism while they were changing Sister Barkdull and I taught the restoration (tell Brian thanks for that) it went amazing! The spirit was so strong, and her mom and sister were holding hands and I knew they felt the spirit, even though they believe in  the restoration also, I could tell they felt a little different than when they normally hear it. I seriously would not be surprised if Carla's mom joins the church and her sister. After we taught the restoration then there was a talk on the Holy Ghost by Elise (Clayton's fiancée) and it was good, and then Clayton confirmed her a member of the church and blessed her with the Holy Ghost. The blessing was not very elaborate, but simple and beautiful, exactly what was meant to be said. The spirit was so strong. Carla was crying, she cried pretty much the whole time, but then when she gave him a hug after the confirmation I seriously was about to cry, it was so tender, I heard him whisper to her "I am proud of you." No one could deny the spirit in the room, it was so powerful. After the program I gave her a hug and we talked to her family. A lot of people also commented about how we taught the first lesson and how powerful it was and how smart we were to do that. Brother Stephenson said "Why do missionaries not normally do that, that was the smartest thing, it is the best opportunity to teach others about the gospel and bring the spirit so strong before the confirmation." (So make sure Brian knows that his idea was like the best idea on the planet, and I did give him the credit. I told people my brother told me about it.)

They invited us over for soup. So we went over and had soup. We got pictures of us :) and they are great! haha Carla is seriously the cutest girl ever! We then pretty much talked to Elise and Clayton the rest of the time, haha we talked to them about how they met, and dang she went after him like a lot, but I loved his wording he said "she chased me until I caught her" awwww hahaha how cute, anyways it was fun talking with them. While we were talking, Carla's mom cut up an apple from the tree in their yard back home and had us eat it haha, she wanted us to try it and dang it was amazing! So yummy. Carla is a very reserved person so it was nice seeing her being completely being herself with her family.

       

At church yesterday right when we walked in Brother Eyring, who is like the 1st counselor asked if I would bear my testimony. I was so happy for that opportunity cause Tony and Deena was there so I knew I wanted to bear my testimony on temples and also Carla's mom was there so I also wanted to bear it on the priesthood. I was so happy to have that chance. I was also a little worried cause in Big Fork when I bore my testimony not even three days later I was transferred, so I hope this isn't like a sign that I will be transferred haha. Carla's mom totally came to all the meeting and participated! It was great! Oh and me and Sister Barkdull taught relief society about missionary work also!! Of course we didn't really go with the manual. Anyways me and you (mom) totally had a similar lesson then haha.

     

OH!!!! also we got a voice mail from President Mecham and in the message he said that we have been chosen as a pilot  mission for  MINI I PADS!!!!! How legit is that! Me and sister Barkdull literally screamed! and jumped up and down! We are getting mini ipads!!! WE are so stinking excited!!!! Anyways that is it. I love you all and I am thinking of you :) please send me some pics and letters I miss hearing from all of you I love getting a break in the week with a letter, it really helps :) i love you , especially you mom :)

                   

 -love andrea :)