April 21, 2014

Family!!!!

      

This week!!! This week has been great! On Wednesday Sister Spencer was sick, so we did not do a lot.  

 

We did our normal routine in the morning and we had a appointment with Eliza, she is sorta less active. Anyways she is amazing! It was the first time I really have met her, and oh my goodness she is great! That day got so much better cause we were able to see her. I convinced Sister Spencer to let us go back to the office, so she could relax, but I could also get work done, because I hate sitting around when I am not sick. We went to the office and I got a lot done. In the evening I was struggling because we went back to the apartment for dinner and stayed there for her to rest. At 8 Pm I asked if we could just get out of the apartment for a little bit, so we left and got her some medicine. After that we went back to the apartment and I did not want to go back inside, so we planned in the car for the next day. While planning Sister Strong called us and said "Sister Draudt, someone wants to talk to you" Then the best thing ever happened, I heard Sister Austin's voice! She was being transferred to Kalispell!!!(It was transfer day) I really wanted to see her the whole day, but I didn't know if I was allowed, so we did not go to the church where she was. So hearing her voice was the best!  She asked if I could come see her and well, I had to! Haha. So we drove over to the Stake center, and I ran in and Sister Austin and I just hugged for like 5 minutes Straight! Oh my goodness I love sister Austin so so much. We talked and talked and talked. We ended up having to take her and another sister to the Monad sister's apartments, which was awesome! We talked forever, she told me all about everything happening and caught up. I did not want to leave, but we had to. When we got home Elder Hemenway called (our ZL he is from OREM!) and asked if we would take the sisters to the mission home in the morning, so I was able to see her in the morning too. I could not have asked for a better 2 days! After Sister Austin left early in the morning we continued with our day and It was a good day.

     

On Thursday night we went to a less active's house, Brandie. I think I have mentioned her before. She is an interesting lady haha. Well we had a good lesson with her, but at the end we were joking around. She is from Powell Wyoming, she always says they need spunky Bold missionaries down there, and she was saying how sister Spencer would do great, cause she is bold, and I am not. It was not a rude comment at all, but it really started to bug me and I got really down. I realized I am not nearly as Bold as I was in Riverton. I was so sad.  I am determined to change. We were talking about Easter and I don't really remember what made me think about what I am going to say, but It helped me. I thought about how the Resurrection of Christ and how he lives again. I realized that We are not just physically resurrected after this life, but we  can be spiritually resurrected each day. We can repent and we can change, we can have new beginnings because our Savior paid for our sins, and he died for us and he lives again. We can live again like him also, every day. I determined right then that I would live again right then. I was repenting and determining to change. I would live again. I will be that Bold missionary again, I will be the missionary Heavenly Father wants me to be. This is my new beginning.   I felt at that very moment that my Savior lives!!! I know that he lives, but right then it  was so strong!!! I know that Jesus Christ lives!!! In one of Elder Hollands talks he testifies of God and says he is more sure that he lives than he is sure that that the people in the conference center sat before him. This is exactly how I felt, and I feel. My Savior lives! What a miracle that is! He lives. 

        

At the end of the lesson, Brandie looked at me and asked why I was crying (because I am totally a bawl baby now bleh) Right then I testified to her that I know Jesus Christ lives. It was a very simple testimony, but it is true. I know my Savior lives. I hope all of you know that too, that he lives and because he lives, we will too.

           

On Saturday during studies I really wanted to read about Christ Resurrection out of all the 4 gospels. That was one of the most powerful experiences I have had during my study time. I noticed how there were all different versions of the simple simple things that did not really matter, like how many angels there were and stuff. But the major points stayed exactly the same. I recognized that in all the gospels the last thing Christ said before ascending to heaven is to preach the gospel! His last words are to preach the gospel! How amazing is that? Obviously it is so very important if those are his last words! I love in John where it says "Why seek ye the living among the dead" I love that!  It is obvious with Christ Rising, but I think we do this all the time in daily life. We seek truly living (having eternal joy) in worldly ways and places (which all are only temporary, and will leave, will die) Ok that probably makes no sense but it makes sense in my head haha. While studying I had this idea, which was more like a prompting, to tract with an Easter message. Then it got more specific, to go share a Easter message with our very devout Lutheran neighbors. They are so sweet. I told sister Spencer about  this and she was excited also. We went over To Fred and Eileen's. What a blessing to be in their home. They shared so many miracles that they have seen. Fred is a walking miracle, at like 8 months old his head was burned so badly, and he shoulder. He had over 80 skin graphs and surgeries. Then one time he had a nail in his eye, and another time a piece of wood fell right in his head and went in his brain. He had cancer at one point, and they prayed and he had an anointing in his church and when they went in there was no cancer. We had a testimony meeting with them pretty much about how our Savior lives and everything he gives us. We shared that "Because of Him" video! I love that video, we have watched it over 15 times and never get sick of it. I know that we were supposed to go see Fred and Eileen, we were able to strengthen our relationship with them and help them. I love that even though they are Lutheran and we are Mormon it does not matter at all, we could just sit and talk about our Savior with them. We all can know that Jesus Christ is out Savior, and that he lives.

Ok so yesterday EASTER! Was the best Easter ever! We has a Morning Devotional with out District. Elder Thomas who is our new district leader planned it. He is also from Orem! He is a really great missionary. He only came out a couple months ago. We watched the "Because of him" video, and we all took turns bearing our testimonies on the Savior. Elder Thomas told us that today could be the best day of our missions so far. I really took that to Heart and decided that it would be the best day of my mission so far. After the devotional we went home and put scriptures about Christ Resurrection in plastic eggs so that we could give them away at church.

         

Sacrament was the coolest! It was a great meeting but what made it cool was that Korrin, who is one of our investigators brought her mom with her to church so she could watch her sing in the choir :) Then Ben our investigator with aspergers/ autism :) He is such a sweet guy, he sang in the choir also :) Right then his mom walked in the chapel and was able to watch him sing. What a sweet sight to see. She just grinned from ear to ear. Sacrament meeting could not have been better. These 2 moms were able to see their children in the choir and to see how much the ward loves them. 

          

After Church we went home and studied, not for too long though, because we had Easter Dinner with Eliza and her mom :) It was so fun and just awesome! Eliza's mom is a member but not active and we were able to have a great conversation about our Savior. Dinner was so good, and they are classy people, so it was very nice haha. We then went all the way out to Shepherd, which is about half an hour from Billings. Johnathan his aunt Randy and her daughter Promise and Promise's boyfriend Ernesto were there. We played chubby bunny with them and the elders. I got 5 in my mouth and it was awful I was like about to gag. It was gross, we all had marshmallow slobber..so freaking gross. It was so funny to go from Eliza's to Johnathan's haha, where we were all loud. I will have to send pics. We talked about Promise's baptism a little which was great! We then left and saw Jessie, he still does not want to come to our ward, but we will get him there, haha he is a very sweet person. Then we finished the night off at out Bishops :) Best way to end the night. Easter was one amazing day!

        

This week has been great. I want to bear my testimony that Jesus Christ lives, and that he is the Savior of the World, he is my Savior. He understand me perfectly and did what he did so that he can help me. I love him and am so grateful for his sacrifice and for Heavenly Fathers sacrifice. This gospel is true.  I love you all so much :) Happy Easter :)

               

                -Andrea :)

April 14, 2014

Oh my goodness where to begin this week has been amazing! The first couple days was crazy busy with office work and I was really beginning to become frustrated, I wanted to be out proselyting, but I was able to see so many amazing things in the office. It is really cool to see the work truly hastening, and seeing how every missionary is really hastening the work of salvation. That was miracle number one, the work is hastening. 

       

On Thursday morning we get a text while at the office and it is Johnathan's aunt, and the text just says "Promise wants to be baptized asap!" Promise is her daughter. Bahahaha this seriously made my day! I am so happy she wants to be baptized, and she is a great person, it is just funny cause of the situation..like over a text, and the phrase "baptized asap" We are going to begin teaching her, but it will not be asap, because there are a lot of things she will need to work out before being baptized. I love this because it shows that people in the world recognize truth and they want it in their lives. We are excited to being working with Promise.

        

On Thursday we also were able to teach Korrin the Plan of Salvation. She is so amazing! The spirit that was there was so strong! Everything was going against us trying to meet with her, like none of the members could come, and she was sick, but yet she still wanted us to come. We taught her, and she bore testimony to us. This gospel is true.

      

On Friday we were finishing our weekly planning session and we were at the church because we needed wifi. I usually don't use my paper planner at all anymore, but I decided I needed it just in case, so we ran outside to go get it.  When we tried to get back in the church the door was locked. Everyone who was there when we arrived was gone and well our keys to the church were inside and so was our phone. We did not know what to do. I said that we should say a prayer for help. Sister Spencer wanted to check the other door first. So we did...and well it was locked. So we knelt down on the grass and we said a prayer. Not even kidding, as I closed the prayer we heard a truck pull in. When we opened our eyes there was a guy in the parking lot. He just happened to need something out of the basement, and he had keys so he let us in. Miracle! Heavenly Father answers prayers!!!  He really does! That strengthened my testimony.  We had a wonderful rest of the day. It was beautiful outside and we were able to teach several people :)

       

Saturday was rough, but really it was not, it was absolutely amazing, just hard haha. On Saturday morning we went into the office and well it was different then most days in the office because the missionaries that were who were  leaving were at the Temple, and at about 9:30 they returned to the mission home to grab their bags and head to the airport. I have never been here to see missionaries off, and it was hard, because almost all of the missionaries who left were ones I worked with and knew personally. The ones who especially effected the beginning of my mission and really helped me out. Elder Julander, my first district leader in Big Fork, Elder Peterson, my first Zone leader in Bigfork. Then Sister Romrell, she left. She was my personal angel in the beginning. She helped me so much. I remember being in such a rough spot and so down and sad, and when I was transferred to her 3 weeks in and she helped me out so much. I remember telling her how it seemed like 18 months was forever and it was taking so long. I remember her looking at me, and saying "I love my mission, I never want it to end, It is going too fast. One day you will feel this way too." She really meant what she said and I could tell she did. I have reached that point, I love my mission. I did not believe her at first, but she was right. She had only been out about 8 and a half months when I was with her...now she is home. 10 months later. That went way to fast. She has 10 months left when she said it was going fast, I only Have 8 months left. How crazy is that, it really did go fast. Bleh....haha. Sister Romrell really helped me and I will always be thankful to her for that. Elder Farabee left, he was my district leader in Great falls when I first got there. His district meetings were always so funny and made me laugh. Elder Rust left this transfer also. He served in Great Falls 3rd Ward. The whole time I was there we worked really closely with him. He taught me so much. He has a strong testimony and is a hard worker. I admired him as a missionary and I want to be a missionary like him. He was probably the hardest to see leave, because I worked with him the longest and I learned so much from him. He loved the people, he always had a  positive attitude and wanted to bless others. He loves the Savior and when he taught, weather in a lesson, or in district meeting I always could feel the spirit cause he really believed and had faith in what he taught. I was lucky enough to be able to say goodbye to all of these amazing missionaries. Most missionaries don't have that chance, and even if it was hard to do I am so thankful I had that chance.

        

After all the missionaries left we went home and studied, then later went out to Hardin (45 min away) We met up with the elders there and tried several people with no luck at all. Sister Spencer was a little down cause we did not have any luck, but I realized on our drive home that I learned so much from that experience! Elder Howard really worked hard, he called so many people, and he had really purposeful prayers, he followed prompting that he had. At the end of trying people we went back to the church and made a "Game plan" for next time we come out so it is more productive. I learned that I want to have more purposeful prayers, like he does and I want to speak up and follow promptings of the spirit when I have them. I want to make a game plan with sister Spencer with this new transfer also so we can have more of a productive transfer.

 

Oh yes we got transfer news yesterday and I am staying here with sister Spencer! Wahooo Anyways back to Saturday! Saturday night we taught Brandie and well in the beginning her and her boy friend were fighting! There was so much tension there. But at the end of the lesson Brandie was so much calmer and I felt prompted to have us sing, so we sang Battle Hymn of the Republic because it is her favorite song and the lesson ended on such a positive note. We then went to Adriana's and watched the talk by Bishop Stevenson about "Your 4 minutes" which was one of my absolute favorites from conference. Adriana started crying during it, and well we just a had a wonderful time with her and her roommate Elise while we sat on the floor of their dorm room and watched that talk. I think it was good for Elise too because she is Less active and her husband is not a member. He is deployed right now and comes home this next week. She is meeting him in California where they live. While he has been gone she moved up here to go to school. She is such a sweet girl and I really hope that talked helped her.

Ok now to Sunday!!! YAY!!! Yesterday was such an amazing day! Well it was fast Sunday and we started our fast the afternoon before since they do a munch and mingle after church on fast Sunday. During sacrament almost every testimony was about the atonement, it was a fantastic meeting. The spirit was strong, it carried over to Sunday school also where we talked about the atonement also. Seriously I think it was just the best Sacrament meeting I have had since being here. I also was able to talk to Zoe and Teffy, who live in our ward, they are active, but Teffy just moved here from Utah, so I am trying to get to know them. Zoe is going to hair school, she is cutting my hair this week :) That should be fun...hahaha!! I also was able to talk to Korrin a lot : ) I just love her, she is great. We then had the munch and mingle! Dang that was awesome! I was so hungry and we had sub sandwiches. So good. After the munch and mingle we taught Korrin, and a lady she brought with her and with whom she is really close. We talked about Faith, repentance, baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. We asked her about how she feels the Holy Ghost and also the lady she brought and it was wonderful. We also talked about moving her baptismal date up and she said she does not want to wait till August, but she is thinking about June. I think it is really cool to see her pray about a date, normally we set it, but  I have to say I think Heavenly Father wants her to pick the day and I love being able to watch her choose. She is still praying about May. After the munch and mingle we headed home and studied (I have so much to tell all of you about my studies this week, but I will save that for the end) Then after studies and dinner we headed out. Funniest experience ever. We go to try this guy, Jessie, and his landlord sees us outside and tells us that we need to walk in the door to knock cause his door is further inside. We walk in and we hear a shower, but we did not know if it was a shower or sink...so we knock...MISTAKE! The water stops, we then knew it was the shower. This young guy peeks his head outside of the door and is quiet and then he says "oh...sister missionaries...give me a second." BAHAHAHHAHAHA So awkward!  We went outside and waited for him haha. When he got dressed he came out and got us. We stood outside the apartment though cause he was alone, and so we could not go in. He is a little slow, but a very nice guy. We asked why he doesn't come to our ward. He told us that he goes to the family ward cause our ward never fellow shipped him, no one really cared about him. My heart was breaking. He told us he had seen the elders, but they never tried to talk to him. If we were elders he told us he would have not talked to us. We asked if we could come back again and he said yes. I am determined to help him know the ward does care. I think one of the reasons I might be here is for people like him. We have a lot of special needs people in our ward, more than normal. Our ward is really nice, but they do not know how to work with people like Jessie, and I think I might be here to help them. Because there are a lot of people like Jessie in the ward who don't feel like the ward cares, we have run into him a couple times. I want to help the ward realize they are children of God! It breaks my heart to see them all be left out. Not that they always are, but there have been occasions and I just think about Josh and it breaks my heart. I never want anyone to treat Josh the way I have seen some people be treated here. Really though most people are very very kind to them. It is hard to talk to people like Jessie though and see how he feels. Anyways enough of my rant.

   

After meeting Jessie we went out to Lockwood (which is a suburb right outside of Billings) We tried finding one person, and they lived in the middle of no where, I had to back up Sister Spencer at one point so we could turn around and try finding someone else. We both Felt we should see "James" we have never met him, he is just a less active on our list. We started driving and I realized the phone was gone! We thought it was under my chair, it was not. We then got out and took pics with the sunset. :) So pretty. We finally got to Jame's house and knocked on the door. Sue Holman answered and said he did not live there any more  and he has a baby (her grandson) but she let us in and her husband was there and her other grandson John who is less active. He is YSA age and loved to talk to us. We were definitely there for a reason haha. Not for James, but for John :) We chatted with all of them for a while and held their baby ducks....it pooped on me! But it was so cute, so I decided I was not to upset... hahaha.  Brother Holman kept talking to us, which was great, but I kept having the feeling to ask John to come to the singles ward, but I did not get a chance for a while. Finally I sorta made my chance and just interrupted a little and told John he should try out the singles ward and he said "Ok, that sounds cool," That was so much easier than I thought. We got to talking and he told us he wants to come back, but he is just self conscious because of his tattoos and his beard haha. He is scared people will judge him. Sister Spencer was the best, she said "They won't judge you, and if they do, you tell me, I will punch them" Bahaha I love Sister Spencer haha. We also were able to get John to coming to FHE tonight. :) I hope he comes. He seems like he will. Before we left we asked if we could share a message. I have been trying to apply what I have learned in my personal study in teaching and so I shared something from my studies earlier that day. I really had no idea how it would go, but I really felt like I needed to share it, so I did. I shared 3 Nephi 17:5-8. I want to share it with you all also, because It really stood out to me in my studies It says 

"And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them. And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you. Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy. For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you."

     

This really made an impact cause I think about the Nephites and how they felt that the Savior had to leave the next day, and it was so hard for them. I would not want my Savior to leave me either. That would be so hard! Then the Savior decided to stay a little longer, and he heals these people of their infirmities. I love that he does not want to leave them either, so instead he heals them. I know that, is what our Savior does for us. He loves us and wants to help us. He will heal us. I love when the Savior says "I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you." I want to have that faith. I want my Savior to be able to say that to me also. While we were at the Holmans I challenged all of them to think of something that they can be healed from and to let the Savior heal them. I want to challenge all of you (who ever reads this) to think of something you need healing of, weather it is physical, spiritual, emotional. Ask and pray for healing, and then act on the faith you have to be healed from it. I can promise you that the Savior will heal you with the power of his Atonement.

      

When we left the Holman's;  Sister Holman gave us huge hugs and said "You were suppose to be here tonight. I needed that message. I need to be healed. She explained to us why and it was so special. We were able to feel the spirit so strong, and I know we needed to be there for us and for them. I love how Heavenly Father works.  He will put us where we need to be at the time we need to be there. Just like tonight :) What a miracle.

     

After the Holman's we prayed to find our phone and we went back to the middle of no where, and our phone was right there, so easy to find. That was a miracle also :) This week has been a week of miracles.

    

I was able to learn so much from my studies this week. I have been reading in 3 Nephi.  I am going to ask all of you to read chapter 11, because that chapter is Christ coming to the Americas, and I know we read it a lot, but it really is one of the best Chapters, so please read it this week, and also Chapters 17 and 18. I have learned so much from 17 and and 18. I promise that when you read these chapters you will learn something that you have not yet learned and you will also receive guidance that you have been seeking. I can promise that. Please read them. I love you all and I know that this church is true. I know Heavenly Father guides and directs our church and he loves us and he wants us to be happy. The atonement is real.

   

Sorry the email is so long, I love this gospel and I am so thankful I was able to share with you so much of what I learned this week :) I love you

                 

                 - Sister Andrea Draudt

 

Best sunsets ever!

Sister Mechams birthday! we decorated for :) and we got her that sash haha

Our life in the office..it gets crazy!!! That board took us forever haha...

Pictures!!!

Sister Draudt and her Companion

The Karikers

Duckies!

The ducks and us at the Holmans :)

April 7, 2014

I have noticed I always say in my emails that this last week was crazy! I have realized my mission is just crazy! haha But it is amazing! I love every crazy minute. I have to say this last week started off on a bad note. I had a hard Tuesday it started off with the temple, which was amazing! but then just like always Satan works hard on us when we have gone to the temple. Sister Spencer and  I both had a hard time. Then I found out that another missionary I love so much was having a rough time, lucky she is doing better now. So Tuesday was bad, I was so sad and cried..bleh. That night we went to institute and Brandie a less active we work with, went off venting to us about how awful her week has been, and honestly I was broken, I could not handle it. I just sat there. After institute we talked with Brandie, and I was on the verge of tears the whole time. Sister Spencer was my miracle. She was having a rough day also, but she was so sweet, and talked to Brandie and taught Brandie and let me just be sad. Sister Spencer helped me so much on Tuesday. On Wednesday I still was still having a rough day, but the best thing happened that made me so happy. We went with Adriana a recent convert to do baptisms :) Wow! What a wonderful experience. They had us put white dresses on to watch her and it was amazing. Adriana felt the spirit and she was so happy to be here. Adriana is such an example to me I love her so much! Wednesday got a lot better.

      

On Thursday I was all sad again! I was done being sad and I realized that I was being ridiculous. I had changed, I was Andrea from back at home, I was not being Sister Draudt. I began to Pray and pray to be able to change my attitude, because it was up to me to be and I was determined to be happy. When the sun was setting that night I realized that it was a wonderful day! I was so happy,  I was back to me. I was just Happy, and it was marvelous :) My prayer was answered! From then on my week was great! Even though we have been in the Office so much this week it gives me a headache thinking about how much we were looking at computers. I had to finish all these monthly reports and it was killer, but thats ok haha.

       

On Friday we met with Blanca, another recent convert. We had a bond fire and made s'mores with her and her friends. They are so funny! There was actually a boy there named Levi and he told us he was Mormon for 21 years....? He has fallen away and would point out things he did not like about our teachings, but it was a great experience cause he was able to talk with us in a casual environment and we shared Enos with the group of friends. It was so cool to see these friends back us up and stand up for us haha. The conversation turned toward God being Perfect, and it was really neat because it became their conversation and they could feel the spirit so strong. I loved it! Hopefully Levi will come back soon, cause he really is one of the nicest people.

        

Saturday and Sunday !!! Conference! I wanted to know what I can do better to improve my teaching, so that is what I was trying to find during conference. I seriously got an answer in Every Talk! I loved Elder Ballards about Following up! He extended a very Heavy commitment to share the gospel with at least 4 people a year! I am trying to think of people at home I can share the gospel with. I loved Uchtdorfs talk about Gratitude I loved how it was about our choice to be happy also. Especially since that is what I was dealing with earlier in the week! That was amazing. I loved Pres Eyrings talk about happiness also. There were so many good talks! I loved this conference.

         

Last night Sister Spencer and I were able to go see Johnathan and his aunt again. I remember I wrote about them a while ago. We went with the Elders and taught the first lesson. This time they listened rather than just talking haha. His aunt had one of her kids there to. The spirit was very strong in that lesson and powerful. I started to go into the first vision and I got to "light fell upon me..." and I totally stumbled, I was lost and I did not know what to say, I paused for what felt like 5 minutes, but it was more like 5 seconds and I continued, but I could not remember what I was saying or where I was so I just started at "2 personages standing above me in the air" Honestly that should have ruined the lesson, but the spirit was there and so it worked out. That was one amazing miracle. We continued teaching and invited him to be baptized. The elders explained more about baptism and soon Johnathan accepted. One cool part was while there elders were talking the aunts daughter leaded over to her and said "i need to be baptized" How amazing is that! We are now teaching her and her boyfriend also. Johnathan was looking through the Book of Mormon and we told him to read 3 Nephi 11 before next time and he reads the chapter heading and them turns to the pics in the front of Christ in the Americas and he says " This goes to this pictures right?" He is one amazing kid. I love seeing people come to the gospel and learn of Christ. I love watching people, cause you can tell when the spirit testifies to them :)

    

Being a missionary is the best thing ever. I have never been happier, even when I am sad, I still have peace and a happiness. I cant explain it, well yes I can, it is the Spirit. I know for myself that this Church is true. I know that Joseph Smith wanted to know which church was right, and I know that he prayed and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know the priesthood authority of God has been restored to the earth and we can all partake of the blessings of the priesthood. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer.

           

                      -Love Sister Andrea Draudt

Pictures! 4/7

Here are some cheesy pics of us sitting in all the grass after cleaning up the mission home.

April Fools Day

 So to begin, I know it is April fools, but I am not going to scare ya'll in my email and tell ya something awful has happened cause it has not haha. I will be all over in the email though, just so you all know haha. This week has been wonderful. I have a couple things to talk about. This last week on Monday we found out that the elders were transferred that were in our ward.That was over whelming, because we cover the east stake in the singles ward, which is huge, and then we just got handed the whole Billings Stake on top of what we already have. I felt overwhelmed, because our area needs so much improvement as it is, and now we have to improve a whole other stake also. We also had 40 miles to service off of for a week, which is impossible, we use 40 miles in a day. I really did not have strong enough faith that we could do it. But we prayed a lot this week and we also received blessings. I have not had a blessing in over 4 months..which a normal missionary has on every transfer. I could feel that I needed one. Elder Page gave me the blessing, he is pretty new, and I have maybe said 2 words to him, but he gave me such a personal blessing, which is a testimony to me that that blessing came directly from my Heavenly Father. I don't remember a lot about what he said, but he told me at least 10 times that my Heavenly Father loves me. He also told me that Heavenly Father is proud of what I am doing and knows I am working hard. I really needed that. Priesthood power is real. Throughout the week we walked a lot and we stayed around town and got rides to places. 3 days before the week was up the Zone leaders gave us 50 more miles :) We luckily did not even have to use all 50 of them. What a miracle that was for us this week. We had so much handed to us, with no miles to do any of the work, but yet it all worked out and the work got done. We were blessed so much this week.

      

Last Monday night we taught Korrin, she is 17 and graduates next month. Her best friend is on a mission. She told us 2 weeks ago she wanted to start the lessons. So we were lucky enough to teach her the restoration, we did not anticipate teaching her, because she would have been in the elders area, but they were not there..this was before we found out they were transferred. So we taught the restoration, and she literally bore testimony of every part of it. She knows it and knows it is true. Since we had not prayed about a baptismal date we chose a day with her and she picked August 9th but we were not sure because it was on the spot, so we committed her to pray about it and we would too. Korrin is amazing and has an amazing testimony. We were lucky enough to teach her this last Sunday also :) She has been reading out of the Book of Mormon every day. At the end of the lesson I asked her to pray about Joseph Smith, since we did not do it the last time and she looked at me like I was confused and she says, "I already have."! hahahaha That was the best;  I was like, "Well ok then, that's perfect!" haha! Korrin is such a wonderful girl and I am so happy to know her.

     

So we tract pretty much everyday cause it is a mission rule. We have had no luck so far, but I want to tell you all that I love tracking. Well actually it terrifies me but my favorite part is being able to talk to someone, and they tell us; "Oh ya my friend is a very devout Mormon" or "I have been to your church before, and all my family is LDS."  Something like this happens at almost every door. I love seeing that the work is hastening, and not necessarily by me with that person, but that they have people who love them that are planting seeds and really working with them :) I love seeing and hearing about all the seeds that have been planted :)

    

Next story!  Sorry I did warn you all I would be all over the place in this email haha anyways yes I went to the Women's conference broadcast! WOW. Within the first 15 minutes my eyes were watering and I was about to sob. I loved when they had the 8 year olds sing and then the rest of us sing to them! Then all those videos they showed! I especially loved the video that was showing different Mormon ladies at different periods of time in their lives. I am excited to be a LDS girl. I am on a mission right now and later I will be able to be married in the temple and eventually be a mother and teach my children about the gospel. I think about my mission and I get excited to be a mom and to teach my kids what I am teaching people here in Montana and Wyoming. Wow I have not felt the spirit that strong and that powerful in a long time. It was just flooding over me.  Anyways back to the broadcast. When they told the daughters to smile at their moms I took a second to smile at you mom. It was hard not being with you and seeing all the girls with their moms, but I knew we were watching it together, even though we are in different states. President Eyring's talk was so sweet and amazing.

     

We have an investigator named Ben, and as he says, "Ben the Bear" he has pretty severe aspergers and I just adore him so much! He is so pure and innocent. I sat by him at church Sunday, and he was borrowing my scriptures. He volunteered for the closing prayer :) Best prayer ever! He prayed for a girl in the ward who was getting married, he prayed to keep making friends in the ward and he prayed to know if he should get baptized :) I just love Ben. 

         

Today we went to the temple and I was so happy I have been waiting for 7 months to come back and I finally went again today. I saw the newest movie. I loved it. I was able to do a stake name, And I was so happy. It was amazing to be in the temple and to feel that rest, and peace, and happiness that is there, I never want to leave. I miss it already. I know that the temple is God's house.  I know that while we are there we can receive very direct and powerful answers. I know for myself it is the one place that I feel the most peace and rest and safety. I love how you can tell the difference as soon as you walk in. You literally leave all the worldly stuff outside. The doors close and all the sounds of the world disappear. I love the Temple.

     

 I want to just say how much I love my mission. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to come here and to serve my heart out. I love these people so much and I love my Savior and Father in Heaven. I love all of you and I hope you have a great week :)

           

                  -Love Andrea :)