Happy Pioneer Day!!!!

MOM AND PAPS! Well everyone!! Hahaha

First off I want to say I love all of your emails, it’s hard to reply to everyone, but just so ya’ll know I realllllly appreciate them! Ok now, 2nd this week has been flipping amazing! Sister Romrell is amazing!!! I love being with her. We work work work and I love it. I have some pretty nasty blisters on my feet and am getting some sick tan lines hahaha, but it's awesome! I love working like this. A couple days ago we were told I would stay with her the rest of the transfer but then it changed.  We got a call from the AP's and I am going to Great Falls! I'm excited mainly because my companion will be Sister Taylor!!! She was in the MTC with me!!! I love her and she is amazing! She is 25 and from Springville.  Everyone thinks she's 19 though it's funny. I am so happy I will have a companion who I know and I already love. It is such a blessing from the Lord and an answer to prayers.  Honestly, I was scared to death about who my companion would be.  I just had so much stress and it like built up this wall back up in Bigfork and it took me a couple days with Sister Romrell to be able to take it down. I am grateful for that experience now though. It taught me that I can be strong and that I am obedient.  I obviously make mistakes; but that I try my hardest and that I don't need someone to make sure I am obedient. I am obedient and I want to be. I want to follow all the rules and work my butt off.

     

Oh also.....let me get this right, you, mom and dad went to a rodeo?? Whaaaa!!! I wish I had pictures!! Dang!! hahaha Well I'm happy ya'll went hahaha.  I need to get Josh in to this whole country thing, since all the family is embracing it haha, maybe I will send Josh some cowboy stuff, or Native American stuff, and tell him that he needs to become more country, because if he wants that Montana shirt he has to earn it hahaha!!  Just kidding.

     

Well now I will update you on why this week has been fabulous, and honestly I don't have a lot to say, because I have nothing to complain about.  It has been amazing.  We just walk and drive everywhere and knock on tons of referral's doors and sometimes just on random people we feel we should. Like I said I'm getting some tan lines and blisters; bad ones ha-ha.

A cool experience, after I emailed last week we went to get lunch at this cute little diner, "The Old Timer Cafe." Well our waiter is actually a less active we had an appointment set up with later in the week. We didn't realize any of this cause we had never met him before.  He asked us if we were stalking him haha. We were all joking and had a blast getting to know him, and talking about the gospel, he is less active because he works on Sundays.  We found out his wife is not a member, and they have an 8 week old baby. He actually asked us to talk to his wife.  So then later that week we talked to her at the appointment that was supposed to be for him. We taught the restoration and also about families.  I then thought I should ask him about something. I don't remember what now, but it doesn't matter because I asked and he ended up bearing his testimony to her and for like 15 minutes!! It was awesome!! She was in tears and the spirit was so strong.  We have another meeting with her this week, but I won't be here sadly, I will be in Great Falls. But anyways it was flipping awesome!! Like I started picturing them going through the temple and being sealed as a family for eternity.  I could just see it so clear. I know that they are ready and in a year and a month or two I know that they can be there. Family is everything to her, and I know that they can be together forever.  I feel really strongly that she will be baptized and they will get to the temple, because she is ready.  She has never had religion in her life before but she is ready now. It was awesome.

     

Ok now for my creepy experience. Yesterday we went to see this referral…. we'll call him Bob. When he answered the door he was in short shorts and no shirt and in his wheel chair cause he doesn't have a leg. He shut the door and put on clothes. Then we were able to talk to him. His dog had to go to the bathroom so we said we would take him.  We went into the alley behind his apartment. About 5 minutes later this hippie looking Native American drove up, he went out of his way to pull up to us because the alley is not a road.  He said something and we pretended we heard and he drove off.  Three minutes later he was back, he had gone around the block and came back and tried talking to us again. Sister Romrell went over and I just stayed turned around with my back to him but I could hear what he was saying. Bob was only like five feet away too. Well the Native American said "You need to be careful, that guy's a pedophile"...uhhhhh I am so happy I had my back to him, I would have had no idea how to respond. Sister Romrell said "We're okay" and then the man asked "Do you know what a pedophile is?" She said "yes" and the guy just stayed and watched us for a minute then he left. When he was gone Bob asked Sister Romrell, "What did he tell you" and again I am happy I didn't have to respond, but Sister Romrell is pro and said" I don't know. I think he was drunk" phew! Good save.  It was still freaking awkward, especially cause as we were walking back to his apartment, the other guy drove by again, very slow, to just check up on us. It was very nice of him I thought, it was good he was checking up on us. It was a little awkward. Then we stayed outside his door and Bob talked to us for a couple minutes and he said we could come back and help him mop his floor because he can't do that by himself.  He then told us that last week he was in the hospital and he told the nurses and doctors to shackle him up when he was sleeping because he does stuff.... stuff... and then he said he put his doctor in a choke hold. Anyways, that freaked me out. I didn't show it or anything but yeah... I'm happy I am leaving and I won't have to go clean his house for him...hahaha little scary... so that is my crazy experience.

I also tried to clean a hoarder’s kitchen.  There was a bowl full off maggots, and there were mice droppings everywhere.  I am so happy the Lord watches out for us it was a nasty to clean.  We cleaned for an hour and barley made a dent haha. 

Anyways I am loving life. Well I have never been so tired in my life and I hear it only gets worse.  But it's great haha. I love my personal study time, it can be really hard to focus because I am so tired but it’s awesome! I was reading in 2 Samuel 7 and it was great. It was talking about temples and also our Heavenly Father.  I know it didn't really connect but my mind went off and I thought about how temples are so great and we love being in them so much because they are home. They are a little piece of home from before, and it is our Father's home also. I loved putting the temple in more of a personal perspective. Like how God is our Heavenly Father and He really is that, our Father, and He loves us, and the temple is home. I liked it a lot and it just made me feel happy :) haha

I love ya'll and I will talk to ya more later...oh wait!  PS:  The Wagers wrote you!!! I am so happy they kinda sorta were my favorite family in Bigfork haha.  I loved them, they are so sweet.  I need to write them. When I was at their house it just felt like home. They actually have a daughter in Ukraine on a mission which is so cool! I'm so happy they wrote you.  When you write them back tell them I freaking love them and miss them, and that one day I will be back and we can joke about her knees again haha. I love them! 

I love you family! I hope you guys have a wonderful and amazing week! Tell Sarah Dotson I am so happy for her and that she needs to take advantage of the temple as much as she can because she will really miss it.  I miss it so much.  The temple is such a special place and it is hard not to be able to just go anytime, so make sure she really uses the temple while she is there.

I love ya'll :) oh I might be spending a lot of money soon, cause I leave tomorrow to Great Falls and well I'm gonna buy moccasins.. I don't know how to spell that, anyways they are super expensive, but I’ve got to do it while I’m here because I might not get to come back to St Ignatius and this is the only reservation Sisters serve on.

July 15, 2013

Please send everything to the mission home.  I was transferred and it will be much easier for everything to go to the mission home. 

I am in St. Ignatius which is about an hour and a half from Big Fork. 

Sunday we got a call from the Mission President telling me that I was being transferred right away.  He told me that I needed to pack up and the Sister Training Leaders would be there to pick me up after church. He told me that one of the Sister Training Leaders, Sister Romrell would take me to St. Ignatius and that Sister West would stay with Sister Wahlquist.  

Church was great that day.  After church we went over to the Wagers.  I just love that family and I said my goodbyes. Sister Wagers started to cry and even though I had not known them long we were so close. Sister Strong actually came over to their house while we were there, then funny thing happened she left and 2 seconds later she was back! She backed into our truck!!! bahahahahaha Two accidents in one week!!! Oh my goodness!  Crazy!  We finally got pictures and went back to the McCann’s where the sister training leaders were waiting for us. I ran in and finished packing and I said goodbye to sister McCann and we were off.

It was hard to leave. I loved Big Fork and I loved the people there but I am excited to get to work in my new area.

I love Sister Romrell! Like I said, I am now in St. Ignatius, with Sister Romrell at least until they send me to a new trainer. That could be anywhere from one day to three weeks. I love it here. It is not like Big Fork at all.  There are no trees, but there are these huge huge huge mountains!! It's really pretty. We walked around town and contacted some people in the ward and even investigators.  We ran in to these two brothers in their forties and talked to them for a while.  Their mom is from Germany and we just had a great time talking to them.  They were very nice people.

Okay so remember that experience I said I would tell you about?  Well here it is…. We went to a member’s house for dinner (the Lancaster’s) and they have 3 grand kids. Chris 19, Stephan 20 and Alexia 12 and their granddaughter’s friend was there. The grand kids are just getting back into the church. We had a blast getting to know them and we had a fire going where they cooked steaks, it was yummy.  The dinner started at 5, but they didn't even cook the food till 5:30 and they weren't done till 6. We had to cancel an appointment with another member.  It turned out to be a good thing because after dinner Brother Lancaster turned the conversation to the gospel. 

The grand kids are all members, but the two boys are from their mom’s first marriage and so they are the Lancaster’s step grand kids.  They stopped going to church and being active after their parents’ divorce. I don't know what happened but Chris doesn't believe in God because of circumstances with his dad.  I don't know what happened but it deeply affected him and his brother and they wanted nothing to do with their dad or that side of the family. He hasn't prayed for seven years because of everything that happened. It was really bad and he felt like Heavenly Father never saved him from the situation.  Until a year ago this poor boy hated himself because he reminded himself of his dad. 

Stephan is really trying to do well with the church.  He's gotten back into church and wants to serve a mission.  I think Chris is just hurt and he doesn't know what to do. 

Brother Lancaster asked what question Chris had for God. Chris then just said "Why? Why did we have to go through that pain?  Why did my family have to go through that, why couldn't it have just been me? Why did they have to get hurt also?"  Then Sister Lancaster offered a very amazing sincere prayer about helping him find answers.  I kept my head bowed for a minute just to think and to feel the spirit.  When I looked up, Chris was looking directly at me with this light in his eyes.  I had never seen such a light before.  He just smiled at me.   After the prayer the spirit was so strong and Brother Lancaster asked if he would want to offer a prayer and Chris said, "Yes, I would like to try." I have never heard such a heartfelt sincere, diligently seeking, honest prayer in my life.  The whole time I was thinking, Heavenly Father is finally being able to talk with his sweet child again. In the prayer Chris begged for answers.  He said, “I have waited seven years! Please don't make me wait longer.  I can't wait another seven years.  I need answers and help now."   He also asked about needing him and his love now. After the prayer we all just sat and their whole family had this super sweet hug. Then Chris came to give me a hug.  Of course I’m not allowed to, but his grandpa was there to give me and him, and his bother this weird three person hug.  It didn't work so well. Ha-ha! That was my super amazing story.

Oh, I had my first pig roast this week!  It was at Mr. Woodard’s (he is catholic). He just had a quadruple bypass surgery.  The pig roast was a celebration for him being alright. When we went to congratulate him he gave us hugs!! Ha-ha we didn't hug him back. Then he told us “Sorry I'm a little drunk.   I have had two glasses of wine”.   Then he unbuttoned the top of his shirt to show us his scar...oh boy that was funny...he is like a short tiny 70 year old man.  It was so funny.

Well I love you all and I am doing well.  I really am excited to start working in my new area.  Mom I love you so much and Paps I love you so much! I am happy you guys got the package!!! Oh mom!! I loved the pictures you sent.  They are amazing!! I love all the pictures of the family. I'm happy to hear Vicky is doing better. I'm happy my kiddos are doing well in preschool.   And I need pictures of Claire when she is walking.  Oh my goodness.  I miss Brookie and Gavin and Eva and Claire.   You guys better make sure they see pictures of me.  I don't want them to completely be like "Who is that?" when I come home ha ha :) I love ya.

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 :)