May 26, 2014

Dear Family!

      

This week has been crazy! More like just long. We didn't have a lot of appointments, well ok we had a couple but that was it. I think with it being transfer week it has been nuts also. I have been stressing out, and I realized this week how exhausted I am. I know i am tired but I have recognized just how worn out I am getting haha. The mission really does take a toll! But it's totally worth it. I am going to work so hard and then sleep for 2 weeks when I get home haha.

    

I had an interview with President this week and it was a miracle. I know it was a gift from Heavenly Father. I have been panicking cause I feel like time is going too fast and I have so much to learn still. Well president gave me assignments for when I go home, before I even told him about how I felt haha. He gave me a couple assignments and that really helped me haha. He also told me that I will have a new companion this transfer. Sister Spencer is going to Missoula. I hope I get there before my mission ends. That had been the place I have been wanting to serve since I came out haha. After my interview I literally could feel this weight come off of my shoulder that I did not even know what there. I felt so much peace and jsut relaxed! President Mecham is inspired I know that. Oh my know companion is Sister Debry, she is from a tiny place in Utah...I think. She was in Wyoming with me and she came out with Sister Austin. I don't know her really though, so fingers crossed! I am positive it will be great though, cause every companionship I have had has been great, except in the beginning and I think it is because i am learning how to work with companions better haha. So it will be good. 

     

This week we also got a new ward mission leader. Which freaked me out cause Preston was a great ward mission leader, But Dallin will be great. I could feel that change was coming to this area and I am excited i feel like that ward mission stuff is changing and so will our missionary work i am so excited!

       

Yesterday was such a wonderful sacrament meeting. The choir sang and Ben, sweet Ben sang with them. He is the best I will have to send pictures sometime. Luke walker also sang in it her is Less active. I will tell you why that is so cool in just a minute but first i have to address Ben!

       

Last Monday we met with Ben's mom because we really want her to be know why we are visiting Ben and what we are teaching him. She her self is not religious, and her husband is Jewish. She told us that she has been hoping he would find a church that accepted him and that he felt comfortable and she is great with him joining. The we started talking about what we teach, and she thinks it is all great but Tithing. That is her biggest hold up. She will not support Ben paying tithing, cause he supports himself and just doesn't have enough money. Which to me makes sense, they don't want anyone taking advantage of Ben. So he probably wont be baptized in the next little bit, but we are still going to work with him and he will be baptized haha. I know it. On Saturday he called us up and told us that he would be coming to church. Normally he only comes every other Sunday cause of work and he called us up and said "I was talking to my boss, and for some reason he said I could have Sunday off! That is a miracle. So...I will be at church! I just wanted to tell you." Ben is the sweetest! Then yesterday at church he sang. That was awesome, then in Sunday school we were talking about how baptism is vital to returning to out Heavenly Father. Then in from of the whole class Ben says " I am going to be baptized soon, but the sisters went to talk to my mom about it...in fact (then he turns to us) Sister Draudt and Sister Spencer how did that go?" bahahaha he is so awesome! We told him after class we would talk. so after class we pulled him aside. and I asked "Ben do you want to be baptized" he sad and thought for a second and then said with his pointer finder on him chin "Well, I must be baptized to Live with Heavenly Father again, and I want that...so...yes! I must be baptized!" Wow what a sweet heart! Ben is amazing. We are going to work our hardest to get him baptized cause he has a desire, a strong one. He wants it. :) Maybe that is why I am staying so I can keep working with Ben.

    

OK now to Luke. Luke is so great he is 18 and knows the church is true, he was active his whole life until like a year ago, he comes sometimes but not a lot. He loves his scriptures though. Well i have been wanting him to get active so he can go on a mission. Well Bishop talked to him last week and asked if he wanted to go on a mission "he said of course" and so bishop told him to come every week, to wear a white shirt when he comes and to cut his hair" BAHAHA  bishop is the best! We saw Luke in the middle of the week, and his hair was cut! Then he was at church this Sunday for all 3 hours and he wore a white shirt and sang in the choir! He is awesome! I am so happy for him! I know his will be that missionary that works so hard and will be fully dedicated! Gah I am so excited for him!

    

Yesterday one of our less actives was finally reactivated! She has been coming consistently but we just wanted to make sure it is for real. She has quit smoking! over 3 weeks free of smoking and a week and a half free of coffee! she is doing amazing! That is Eliza. I love her so much. Wow so all in all this week may have been slow...but some good things happened! Haha well I love you all have have a wonderful week! :)

                        

                       -Sister Andrea Draudt

Korin's Baptism

  This week has been the best and most interesting week of my mission. I have several funny stories to tell and some really spiritual ones :)

    So I'll begin with a funny one. So we had dinner with this guy, Mike in our ward at Olive Garden and the night before, we confirmed the dinner appointment and we are all good to go. Well the next day it was 4:30 and we were finally meeting with a less active who kept postponing out appointment, we finally get in to see her and it is 4:30 and the only way we got this appointment was to have her paint our nails. So we start painting our nails and her active sister comes out and we start talking and she starts telling us she has a date at 5 at Olive Garden. We stayed quiet for a second and then we asked with who and she said Mike. Oh my gosh Sister Spencer and I almost lost it laughing, but we did not cause we were so worried Mike had forgotten and that it would be so awkward. Well she goes on to tell us how she is worried about this first date with him and how it will be awkward cause elders are coming along. I look at her and say "actually it's us." Mike comes to pick her up and we follow them in our car and just panicked the whole time and laughed, cause well we were going on a date...So awkward...unique missionary problem...single ward missionaries problems. We finally get the the restaurant and actually it was not nearly as awkward as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty weird. It would get silent really fast and so sister Spencer and I kept the conversations going and half way though we both just stopped cause we were thinking we were taking over the date...and our conversation was all missionary related it was great haha. So funny! At one point were were talking with Anna, (she is a RM) and we are talking about missions and Mike answers his phone and starts talking to his mom all about problems he was having with renters haha for like 7 minutes! At the end of the dinner we still shared a message! I was pretty proud of that, haha on a date at the Olive Garden and we still shared a gospel message! I was so happy when that dinner was over! The next day we had another scenario like that, but not nearly as bad haha.

     Ok now to the best part of the week that honestly was some of the best days of my life. On Friday at about 3pm it started We called Korrin to go over the baptismal question with her since her interview was later that night. I read the questions to her and I could feel the spirit so strong. The best part was the last question, which was something to the effect "are you ready to make this covenant with you Heavenly Father?" I realized at that moment how special the next day would be, how special her baptism would be and how happy Heavenly Father was to see her make this covenant. After asking the question she replied immediately and said "Heck ya!" I could feel the happiness. I honestly can't explain it very well, but it was such a strong confirmation of how much Korrin was ready for baptism. 

     At 7pm on Friday Korrin and her mom met in the church parking lot and walked in together for her interview. Her mom met her there cause she had just arrived from Denver and made it just in time. It was so important to Korrin to have her mom there and it was important for her mom to be there for Korrin! How amazing is that! She came all the way from Denver, switched places with her husband so that he could be with their son who is in the hospital so that she could come back and go through this whole process with Korrin. She went into the interview with her and after we went over all the questions they still had about what they need to do for the baptism and everything. Then we had a lesson, our last one before the baptism and her mom was there :) We talked about following the prophet and Korrin said she knows Thomas S Monsen is a prophet and she knows Hinckley was one also. She told us her mom sends her a quote everyday from President Hinckley or President Monsen.  Korrin told us how her mom is just like a member and her mom said "I do everything a member does, I just can't make it official cause of circumstances." WOW! Korrin's mom has been so influential on her daughter, she has been one of the biggest missionaries in Korrins life, yet she is not a member! How crazy is that! It is so cool and I know that she will join soon, I know that things will work out so that she can become a member soon :)

       Ok now to Saturday! Wow just thinking about it I have chills. There were so many people there that we had to do the program in the chapel, our chapel was full! There was more people there to support her at her baptism than how many people usually show up for church! So many people came to support her! I know I will most likely never see a baptism like that ever again. The talks were wonderful :) We then walked over to the font, and there were not enough chairs , there was about a hundred people trying to shove into the tiny Relief Society room we have. Her mom stood right by the stairs in the font and we were on the other side. What a powerful experience to see her immersed in water and come up, pure, clean, and now entered into that covenant. Her dreams coming true. What a beautiful daughter of God she is. She is a special daughter of God. After the baptism everyone went back to the chapel and I just prayed in the chapel. I couldn't express in my prayer how thankful I am to heavenly Father. There are just not words to express. I know he understands though. I just kept thinking How happy I was to have met an amazing friend and to share this experience with her. I am so thankful that I could be part of Korrin's baptism. I can't express my joy! After Korrin came back in, Brother Jones in the bishopric welcomed her to the ward. That man can talk! He talked about how she was a pioneer! One thing that really struck me is well 1st that she really is! All of her posterity will have the gospel because of her choice! That is kinda like me, if dad was not a member our family would be a lot different so I am so thankful that he joined the church and that I was born into it. Also I thought about her mom and how even though she is not a member, all of her posterity will be members as well because of Korrin.  I believe that one blessing that will be given to Korrins for her choice is that her mom will be able to be baptized. Korrin had all of her grandparents there and they are not members! How awesome is that ! Oh MY GOSH! At the end of the program, we closed with Korrin bearing her testimony! She bore her testimony of a little bit of everything and she specifically talked about the sacrament and how happy she is that she would be able to take it the next day. She said something that never hit me till she said it. She said that she loves the fact that on Sunday the first thing you eat is the sacrament, which represents the blood and the body of Christ. This is what helps you hold on till the end of the fast as well as the rest of the week! How cool is that! We have to fully rely and partake of our Savior's mercy to be able to get throughout the week :) I thought that was amazing!

    After the baptism we took a ton of pictures! So I will be sending some of those for you today :) Ok now to Sunday. When Korrin was confirmed on Sunday she recieved honestly probably one of the most powerful blessings I have ever heard besides a patriarchal blessing. She was told that she was a pioneer and that because of her choice family would follow. It talked about how the Holy Ghost will help her with missions her as well as her mission! Wow! She will be a missionary :) I just cried. Korrin is one of my best friends now, she is someone I feel like I needed to meet so that she could help me and I could help her. Heavenly Father has a plan and I love seeing it unfold. I am so excited to see where Korrin goes in life. 

         OK I now have to write another funny story. On Sunday Ben came, he is our investigator with aspergers. Right before church started We were talking to him and Liza, a girl in our ward who is beautiful, and preparing for her mission, she comes to us and says hi to him. He says "Camile?" This is the name of another girl he thought was cute. Well she says "No, it's Liza" and Ben just stands up and yells "Liza!" with open arms bahahahha! Then it gets better. Liza has a wonderful voice and did a musical number later in the meeting. After she finished you hear Ben just started clapping fast and loud, and as she comes down from the podium he gets up and meets her half way down the isle and says "Good job" and just wraps his arms around her and starts patting her back! I tried so hard not to laugh but I totally lost it and the sister Spencer lost it and we just laughed. President Williams was there from the stake presidency...worst timing ever! Hahaha I tried so hard to contain my self and it took so much self control to stop laughing. After he wanted to talk to her but we convinced him to come to the gospel principles class with us..and guess what...we get in there and there she is..she is teaching! Bahahahah he sat right up front. But moved to sit by us and commented on everything she said haha. Ben is just awesome! It was so funny! Then in relief society Nancy Joy, who is Ben's friend, (she is also speicial needs). She asked us all to write a note to Ben on this piece of paper she had. We asked why and this was her response "I told Ben to stop talking about his girlfriend Lucy, because I am just sick and tired of it, and well I think I might have hurt his feelings." Bahahahahaha funniest and best Sunday ever! Ben's girlfriend is lucy and she lives in Bozeman. Anyways we all signed it and she gave it to him. 

     Yesterday was the best Sunday of my mission. A powerful confirmation and then Ben and Nancy just cracked me up! OH also we had a crazy hail storm that destroyed trees here and just was awful, dented cars, it was scary they were literally golf ball size hail!  It came out of no where and we barely got into our dinner appointment, if we were another 15 seconds we could have been hit by the hail! I have never seen such a ominous storm! The clouds moved so fast and the wind went crazy! It was so loud and scary and the hail was awful. An hour later the sky was totally clear! Crazy how that works...anyways Well I love all of you and I hope you have a great week!

            -Love Andrea

May 12, 2014

Dear Family!

       I have to say that talking to you made my whole transfer! Hahaha. I loved seeing all of your faces and hearing all of your voices. I can't believe how much the little kids have grown! I really loved all that you had to say. I loved when Chris mentioned working with the members, cause that is what I did a ton in Riverton.  But here for some reason it didn't even really cross my mind. I know that that will greatly help this area, so I am taking his advice haha. We went to tract down a potential investigator and his dad answered and I invited him to learn, he said no, but I am happy I invited him haha.

        This week was a really good week. We got 19 lessons! Which I know is not a lot compared to my last area, and other missionaries. But I really pushed my self this week, and I know that this new week we will reach 20 lessons! That is what I believe Elder Holland said was the amount of lessons we should have a week or more. This week we went over to Chelsea Adams and helped her pack cause she left on Wednesday to fly to the MTC. She is going to Lubbock Texas. She is awesome, and her mom was in the hospital and so we went over to help her out. I could just feel the excitement she had as well as how scared she was even though she did not want to let that out, cause she was more happy haha. It reminded me of me, and I just kept thinking about all the things she is going to experience and learn and how amazing these 18 months will be for her. She is in for the adventure of her life! I am so excited for her.

      So Korrin, well her little brother is in the hospital, like I mentioned but she is still going to be baptized on Saturday, she is very strong. Mom could you send me like a ctr necklace or ring, or something for her? Yesterday after church we taught her and she had 3 members come to the lesson haha. We taught Tithing and that was a cool lesson, cause all of the members testified of the blessings of tithing. One thing that hit me is that if we can pay tithing we are pretty set, because if we are willing to sacrifice 10% of our increase chances are all the other commandments are going to come pretty easy. Tithing is like the most humbling commandment. Chastity is super important, but most people know it is a good idea, same with the word of wisdom, alcohol people know is bad for you, but when we bring up tithing people look at us like we are crazy. Tithing is money we earn, and that is how the world operates, so to give up something that would bless your family (like feed their family, or put gas in your car etc) To give up that blessing is very hard. But if we can give that up we can be even more blessed. I know this is a rambling, but I just want to talk about how cool it is to live the commandment of tithing. We had a lesson in institute a couple weeks ago about being blessed and what is holding us back from being more blessed. I think that applies to tithing, we work hard for the money we earn and God blesses us with money to live, and then he asked for 10% back, so if we can sacrifice part of that blessing he already gave us he will bless us even more. This concept of being blessed or being more blessed applies to so many aspects to the gospel. Like me I hate working out in the morning, I just want to sleep, and I will admit often times I just lay on the floor pretending to stretch, and I do a couple of sit ups. I am obedience because I am working out, but I know that when I do more that just keep the lowest standard of obedience and actually work out, then I have a much better day. Blessed or more blessed. I know that was a lot to say. I really have thought a lot about this on my mission. This has really stood out to me lately, what can we do in our lives to be "more blessed" Well that was a ramble but I know that it is true, we can be more blessed if we just push our selves. Preach my gospel has taught me that and so have the scriptures :)

      So we are not going lambing after all today, That makes it a sad day...we have way to much to do. Oh I might buy some cowboy boots soon. I don't know though haha.  Anyways I love all of you and have a wonderful week :)

                    -Love sister Draudt