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 :)
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| Elder Scott who just left to go home. |
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| The Smiths |
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| The First Snow! |
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