Andrea is in Montana : July 29, 2013

Hey Everyone,

I love it in the city!! I am so happy to be in a city ha ha! The sisters in Ronan are awesome. One of them was in the MTC with me. Sister Adams is so awesome, and then her companion Sister Cowan, is flipping adorable and awesome. She is actually waiting for a visa because she is going to Brazil! She's only been out 3 months, so she is new also. I have talked to them before and they are freaking amazing. Your friend is lucky to have them in her ward.

My week has been fabulous!!! I love Sister Taylor. This is such a big change from what I am used to. In St Ignatius and Bigfork it is a lot of finding and just trying to talk to people. The wards were great but didn't give us as many referrals. Here in Great Falls it is so good. First off it's a city!!! It's about the size of Orem.

Second the ward is very productive with missionary work, they are always trying to help. We cover the Belt Branch, which is about 20 minutes from Great Falls, and then we cover the first ward in Great Falls.

Driving here was crazy! We were running late. Our driver was a senior missionary, and then we switched trucks and I was with another senior couple and I had nothing to eat the whole day but 4 pieces of Twizzlers because that was all they had in one of the cars. We couldn't stop to get something because we were late and I had to get to Great Falls a.s.a.p. because we had to get to girls camp. So I was starving, luckily I got my mail though and I had a letter from a co-worker telling me where her son was going on his mission!!! Wahoo! I'm so excited for her and him. He is going to McAllen Texas Spanish speaking. Then I got a letter from my sweet preschoolers. There were two pictures/cards they had drawn for me :) aw, then my favorite, I got a letter (pictures) from Grant, my sweet little five year old in preschool. He drew me a picture of Iron-man, and batman, and Hawk Eye, ha-ha so fun! I loved it! So I was totally ok with being hungry because I had my adorable letters :) We finally got to Great Falls and I literally put my stuff in our car. We went to the Gunther’s (the sweet 80 year old couple we live with) and we took my stuff to the basement where we stay. I didn't even go into the bedroom and we ran upstairs hopped in Sister Downard's car and we booked it up to girl’s camp.

We had to be there at 4:00 p.m. and it was already 3:00 p.m, and it was an hour and a half drive. Somehow, like we didn't speed, we made it up there at 3:45, so in half the time! Wow what a blessing from Heavenly Father! We went into the main area where they do their devotionals and stuff and 10 min later at 4 we had a devotional for an hour on missionary work that me and Sister Taylor gave. She called me before I was transferred to give me a heads up that we had this devotional, but I didn't have a lot of time to plan. We went over a rough outline of what we wanted to say on the drive up to girl’s camp, and somehow we were able to present this devotional, not somehow it was obviously Heavenly Father, but how cool is that!! It was awesome! After our devotional we finally had dinner!!! I was starving! And it was amazing! This girl’s camp had warm showers, couches, beds, and electricity. Honestly the only bad part was it had concrete floors, like it was not camping by any means ha-ha. I know my girl’s camp wasn't really camping either, but this was even more not camping. During dinner we had a dad come up to us and tell us his daughter decided to go on a mission after we talked, and we had several girls come up and tell us they were going to serve missions because of our devotional. Girl’s camp was great we were there from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday night. Wednesday morning we had a devotional on patriarchal blessings! The Patriarch Pfile, gave it. He and his wife spoke together. Then after that we were hanging out with the YCL's (youth camp leaders) and we wanted to bring up the gospel and have a conversation, so Sister Taylor and I prayed right outside the cabin. When we walked in, not even 10 seconds later one of the leaders said “I really feel like we need to have a spur of the moment testimony meeting." And so we did. How amazing! Sister Taylor and I were able to bear our testimonies to the girls, and we all could feel the spirit so strong. How cool is that?! Heavenly Father seriously answers prayers, I know that for a fact it is true, and I have never known that more that I know it now on my mission. The girls here are so special. Girls camp was amazing. And by me saying that you know it really was amazing, because I always hated girls camp. Not that I didn't have amazing times, but I still hated it. Ha-ha, But I didn't hate it here. Anyways later that night we heard from President Pfile (the stake President) his dad is the patriarch, and again Pres. Pfile spoke with his wife! I just love that. I love that it's not President Pfile, but it's his calling, that they are united in it and that they work together especially up there at girls camp. It was really neat to see. We also were able to stay for testimony meeting and then we left.

There was a huge storm, and when we were 2 miles from Great Falls the road was blocked off because a power line had fallen, and so we had to wait for the power company to come, and it took forever! Finally we just took a super long detour. We finally got home, after midnight though and we were exhausted haha.

Thursday we had district meeting! So fun! Sister Taylor and I are the only set of sisters in our district, and it is a blast being with the Elders ha-ha. They are crazy! Elder Cupp and I have the same birthday. We thought that was pretty cool. Later that night he called us up and said "Sister Draudt....what is your first name??" and I was like ..."ummm why..." finally I said "Andrea" and he and Elder Teryan, just flipped they were like "No way!!! That is so cool, we saw your name in the newsletter, but we figured we had to call you to make sure." Then Elder Cupp said, “Because my name is Andrew." So we share the same birthday and his name is Andrew, and so we both were like, wow we are supposed to be best friends. Our district is awesome! So we have a ton to talk about haha.

Then last night the District leader called and I don't know what we were talking about but he somehow added a "ka ma ha ma ha" in the sentence, and I said something about Dragon Ball Z, and they didn't notice till like 10 seconds later and it got quiet and Elder Fayrbee the DL said "Wait..Sister Draudt, did you just get that reference?" and they were so shocked, it was so funny. They both just were like "ohhhhhhh, Sister Draudt you are like our favorite sister!!" ha-ha it was so funny. I thought elders would be so obnoxious to work with but they are actually flipping sweet! Ha-ha! Anyways the point is that my district is great and so is my companion. We totally just really are good together ha-ha! I love it.

We have a couple of investigators and I am still getting to know them. We have this mom who is getting baptized but she hasn't decided a date yet, because she wants to choose, and her 9 year old daughter Kaylee had a date for the 25th of August. That date has special meaning. It's her deceased dad's birthday. This little girl is great! She answers questions super well and is so excited to be baptized. She has waited a long time. When we went over to teach them a lesson, her mom Amber, and her brother Izack started to argue a little, not really, but it was funny and Kaylee was like "Stop! Stop! Stop! You can fight after the lesson. But it is our lesson time now" she loves the lessons. She was exhausted that day though, and fell asleep halfway through the lesson. After we all went to dinner at a member’s house and we arrived before them; then when they got there, Kaylee's eyes were just big and red. She had been crying and crying and was mad at Amber (her mom) for not waking her up during the lesson, and she missed it. Awww how sweet is she? Oh and Isack, the 14 year old son has not been interested, until now! He is so interested in the gospel, but like a normal 14 year old he will not admit it, but we found out that he has been watching you tube videos on how to tie a tie, and he has been asking his mom to go by some white shirts!!! Awww how stinking cute?!!

Then we have Tony and Deena. They are 23 and she's a nurse. He manages a dental office and wants to be a dentist. He is in the Marines. They are living together. They are freaking great also it's so fun to teach them. They come to church and like totally fit in! They remind me of Matthew and Mallory, like just how they act and their personalities, it's great.

We met this lady named Betty this week. She had a rough life, but she's amazing! She has 2 little kids and is a single mom and she is letting us teach her! She's great! Oh and we met Robyn who is an interior decorator and owns a furniture store here. She's a free spirit. That's the only way I know how to describe it. She's amazing, but it's just funny; when we pray, we hold hands with her, and she continues the prayer after we do ours. It's great. We helped her dust and wipe windows in this gorgeous riverside house she bought and is letting her parents live it. It was so fun, we just "spiritual talked" as she calls it ha-ha. It's fun, and she's great.

Well that's my week. I love it here. I really do. Like it hit me that in about 13 days, I will hit my 2 month mark, and it made me sad because 2 months for a sister is 1/9 of her mission. And I know that's not a lot, but I think it is and like that's a whole 1/9 I can't get back, and it's already gone! Like I only have 16 months left, which I know is a lot, but there is so much to do and I love it here and I know I will have bad days, But it's just so great like it's going too fast. It didn't feel that was a month ago, but it sure feels fast now! And it's crazy! Like I really need to just work work work. I don't have a lot of time! gahhhh. I just love it here so much. I love you all at home. Tell Chris I hope he had a great birthday and also tell Jessica that I got her blog post and letter and pictures! I love them; they are so cute. I am going to go buy some picture frames and put them in the frames and hang them around the apartment. Sister Taylor has already done that with her pictures :) Oh and my mailing address is:

Sister Andrea Christine Draudt
3212 14th Ave South,
Great Falls, Montana 59405

I love you guys. I know this church is true. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, to lead us and guide us today. I know that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and that He answers them in the best way. Better that we even know, even though sometimes the answers seem harder that what we think we can take , they are for our benefit and He has a better path in store for us than we could imagine for ourselves. He knows us by name, just like He knew Joseph Smith when He called him by name in the sacred grove. He knows us and loves us. We are His children. He is our Father, and of course when we make bad choices there will be consequences, but His love is never lost, He still loves us and He loves us more and more each day. The temple is His home, it is our home, that is why we love it so much and need to cherish it. The temple is literally a little piece of heaven, it is a piece of our home that we had before coming to earth, by going to the temple we have the opportunity to go home and to be with our Father for just a small moment. I love the temple and I love going home and feeling my Savior's love and my Heavenly Father's love for me when I am there.

Love, Sister Draudt