July 8, 2013

FAMILY!!!  And FRIENDS!!!

I'm doing much much better. We are doing exchanges this week, my companion is going and I am getting Sister West for part of the week and then Sister Parr (they are both awesome). I can't wait! Tomorrow is zone conference which I am excited for.

         

Update on investigators. Dale leaves to go back to Helena tomorrow. Throughout this week we have met with him and taught him 3 or 4 other times. He has done marvelous. The last time we taught him we started the "stop smoking" program which has been really hard for him, but he has been doing great. We personally went out and bought him some of the supplies for that. I really hope he sticks to it. I know he can. If he can just quit he will be ready to be baptized.  We have a date set, but of course that will be in Helena… dang I won't get to be there, but that is okay.

Yesterday after church we had dinner with the Strong's. Brother Strong is in the bishopric, they are so sweet.  They are filling out papers to go on a mission. :) They had us over to meet with a friend Sister Strong has met.  Her name is Susan. We showed up yesterday and when we came in I saw this lady in khaki shorts, a polo, short hair, very nice lady, but intimidating. She is an ex-military amputee, who is training for the Para Olympics as a body builder (how awesome is that) I'm happy I don't have to work out with her because she would kick my butt. She has been turned out by other churches by asking them a lot of hard questions and she was asking lots of questions and asking them fast. Sister Wahlquist and the Strongs answered the questions amazing and fast, but I could not keep up. I didn't know how to answer them or I needed a ton of time to think. I ended up listening a lot.  Hopefully I will learn to answer questions better. I also played with her son and we teased each other. I have not been able to be silly and crazy with a kid since Kinderland, so I loved it. We even went outside before they left and he had me running around and being crazy. It was good because I could distract him while she talked so that he did not distract her. It was intense, but I hope we can meet with her again. Dinner at the Strongs was my favorite dinner here so far, it was breaded trout, homemade fries and salad, oh and all the food comes from her garden, and the trout Bro Strong caught the day before. It was yummy, they also had strawberry cobbler!!! From fresh strawberries they picked that morning, (their garden is like 2 times the size of our house) it’s huge. They sent us home with a Tupperware thing full of freshly picked strawberries.  I pretty much ate the whole thing that night... so amazing!

         

The fourth of July was AMAZING!!! We woke up and got ready, and by 8 we were at the church setting up for the pancake breakfast for the community. We had a table where we could take people on church tours if they wanted. My companion and I didn't take any but the elders took some people through. Sister Whalquist and I met tons of people, members and nonmembers and just got to know them and talk, it was awesome. The breakfast was so tasty.  Then they did the cutest thing ever, they had us all look in the air and they let off about 20 parachutes and all the kids ran over to go catch them! Such a cute idea! I loved it. After the breakfast we went to the parade with sister McCann, and had the perfect seats, at one point there was a Christian churches float going down and they saw us and gave us the funniest looks ha-ha, and were talking about us, we just smiled and took pictures....I know we’re great hahaha. There were not a ton of floats, but a ton of cars. It was really neat. I got a ton of pictures of the old cars. They had at least 15 different kinds of fire trucks! It was neat! After the parade we had lunch at the firehouse!!! Here in Bigfork the 4th of July is no joke ha-ha, it's huge! So we had lunch at the firehouse, and there was a Christian band playing. Some members actually paid for our food. It was hot dogs, potato salad and chips :) yummmm. 

After lunch I was so tired we went back to the Mccanns and took a nap. Then did some studies, and then went to the Allens for dinner. The Wagers were their also with a nonmember family that is visiting them from Saint Louis. They are catholic; they have a son named Sean. And then there is the Wagers son named Seth. Seth reminds me so much of Josh. He and I really get along, its funny.  Seth is 17.

Anyways, back to the first thing... his friend Sean (the catholic) said to us was "don't try to convert me" bahaha. We told him we just wanted to get to know him and be friends, and that we all believe in Christ. Brother Allen cooked dinner (he is a chef) so you all can be jealous. We had shrimp skewers, and stuffed mushrooms, stuffed pork chops, deviled eggs, pork and beans with bacon, water chestnuts wrapped in bacon, as well as lots of salads and other stuff. It was great!!! It was all so very yummy. After dinner me, sister Whalquist and the 2 boys played card games. I taught them how to play Spoons, they are addicted now, seriously it was the funniest thing watching them all try to fight over spoons ha-ha.  After that we went home and went with Sister Mccann to watch fireworks by the lake, we had permission to stay out till 11. We sat on camp chairs by the lake and some other people had camp fires going. The stars in the sky were so pretty. When the fireworks went off and their reflection in the lake was cool...seriously I didn’t think watching fireworks could be peaceful but it was.

For my birthday Sister Mccann had previously asked me about my favorite dessert I was feeling chocolate pie at the time. And well on my birthday she actually made it! Homemade, from scratch, chocolate pie! It was phenomenal! My companion and I ate the whole pie that day, seriously! Ha-ha. Later that day we went to get the mail! I got your package that day mom :) it made me so happy, the jewelry is so flipping cute and the gummy bears. My favorite part was the pictures for sure!!! I showed Sister Mccann all of them :) ha-ha we ate KFC for dinner with sister Mccann since we didn't have a dinner appointment we ended up chatting for a while with her. I love all her stories. Besides that my birthday was a pretty normal day. Oh my comp was so sweet she had her mom send a German Book of Mormon and dictionary for me!!! Because she knows I think it would be awesome to learn :) How sweet of her! I am officially 2 decades old now...wow!

I forgot to tell you… remember that wart I had?  I know that's gross, but anyways when I entered the mtc it started to die on its own, and now it is completely gone! How cool is that?  I have tried everything to get rid of it and then it just died all on its own, after me trying for like 4 years to get rid of it....okay that was a gross story but I thought it was cool.

On Saturday Sister Whalquist and I went to the grocery store to get some mouth wash and stuff for Dale. While there we ran in to Sister Wagers and her friend that is staying with them (the catholic one) her friend invited us to go to dinner with them! How sweet?! She is such a nice lady. We went to this little Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was funny her husband felt awkward having a beer in front of us so he asked his wife to ask us if it was okay. We obviously can't say no. They bought our dinner, and he had a beer, it was kind of weird. He's super funny, we all had a blast at dinner. Then on Sunday the lady and her son Sean, showed up to sacrament with the Wagers!!! I really think she doesn't know she's ready, but she is ready for the gospel, just really slowly. I don't think her husband is ready but I think she is. During sacrament I had a really strong feeling to bear my testimony. Ya'll know I hate getting up there, but I did it.  I bore my testimony on the atonement and how because of the sacrifice Christ made we can all change, and learn, and grow, and progress. That we are God's children and that he loves us and that I know the church is true and that's that. I literally said that's that.  After the meeting she came up to me :) and she told me she enjoyed my testimony and that I was glowing and she really appreciated it:) I really hope I planted a seed. I wanted to teach her without her knowing I was and I think bearing my testimony was the way to do it. She was in pants and felt awkward, but we told her it was okay because she didn't know.

I also had another guy in the ward come up to me. Sister Whalquist and I have been trying to get a hold of him. We actually finally saw him at the breakfast, and then we also went to visit him. He is less active and I was so happy he was at church; he thanked me for my testimony. He is such a sweet man, and humble man.  He literally lives in a shed in the middle of nowhere. He just got water put in about a month ago, which he put in himself. He has 3 teeth, but he is the sweetest man and a solid strong worker.

Montana is full of interesting people. There is a less active in the ward who Sister Mccann helps out. She lives in the middle of nowhere and had a wolf and dog reserve. She is really sweet, but she is so silly. For instance she was like hanging on me and Sister Whalquist and like screaming (in a good screaming way). She is very poor, and lives in awful circumstances, it breaks my heart. She let us go look at her wolves though, I got pictures. They were behind a fence obviously, but hey! I got within 6 inches of them, most were scared away, but there were a couple who came right up to the fence… I will send pictures :) It was awesome!

Well I love you all, and thanks for your letters. Tell dad I loved his letter!!! I love all the pictures he is sending. It makes me feel at home and I really appreciate them!! I love seeing all of them, I feel closer to him when I see them and I love getting the pictures :) PS did dad read the back of that picture of down town Big Fork? :)  Anyways, the next summer I am home we need to all come here and I will show you around.

I love you all thank you so much for the birthday wishes :) have a good week :)