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| This is fall, in case those of you in AZ have forgotten. |
Ha! I'm so funny This weeks email is gonna be short... I don't have a ton of time today sorry!!! Lol some things happened this week, some more thingy than others... Some more stuffy and than thingy, but nevertheless they happened! I'm just gonna copy my journal that I'm keeping in my notes (laziness for the win!) 9/28/2015 Preparation day today! We had a pretty relaxed day, I watched videos and wrote emails for most of our preparation time! Like I said, pretty relaxed! We went over to Sister b's house in Virginia city and got to help her clean out her garage a little bit, specifically by moving a really old, dusty, mildewy, all around gross couch. There was a dead bird on one of the couch cushions, and yeah.... Elder Potter actually threw up a bit. Fun experience! Sister b said we get to come back next week hopefully to help her finish tearing down her shed and to build it back up to become a great man cave for her husband! I can't wait to see some great results from the work that we get to do!After the service there, we went to EO's house for dinner. We got there and she made us change and wash her car before we could eat! Laughing, we washed her car and then we got to have some great steaks that she gave us. She seems to be a real nice lady with a real sensitivity to the spirit, just only if she could recognize it for what it is! I hope the lord will help us in helping her! As we left, she gave us two more big steaks, some pork chops, some chili, crackers, cheese, spaghetti, sauce and $50! We tried to deny it all but she wouldn't let us leave without it! Really cool lady that we can't wait to see again!
After that we went and saw TM, a recently baptized 11 year old. He is slightly autistic, and to be honest, I probably taught him better than I have taught any adult! Something with how I teach seems to work better with the learning disabled and the younger kids... Makes me wonder what I should do as a profession..... Either way we were able to teach him the plan of salvation and draw him a great picture to help him understand the great things that God has in store for us! I know that even though his physical mind might be different, his spirit needs all the same kind of nourishment that we all do! Remember, the worth of souls is GREAT in the sight of God!
9/29/2015 Today was a bit boring, didn't get to do too much. We tried to set up meetings with the names that Brother B gave us, but none of them seemed to be solid! The work seemed to be goin slow, but I know that if we go forth with faith we will be able to conquer all!!!! We went to SS's house for dinner, and I'm not going to lie, her daughters were pretty people. We taught what I thought was a good lesson, but Elder Potter didn't think it went as well, Se la vi I guess! We spent a lot of time attempting to get more referrals from ward council, and I know that Elder Potter is definitely helping me learn better on how to work with the people here, and how to meet the Lord's standards! Even if the days may seem slow I realized today that transfers end in just over 2 weeks! What?! It is not seemed like 5 weeks, even if the days seem to last FOREVER!!!!!!
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| Zone Meeting: Last week |
9/30/2015 District meeting today, and a great one at that! We had to travel all the way from Ennis to Bozeman, and that trip is always something different! Lots of cool mountain scenery, and lots of cool places that I would someday like to visit. District meeting was great, and even though I was nervous not only because I play the piano for the district and zone, but because I had to lead one of the role plays that we were doing! I learned a lot on working with the spirit through the Book of Mormon, and how to help people make and keep commitments. Our district leader Elder Demile gave us a great discussion on how we can better fulfil our purpose of being out here, and how every day we need to try to do something better, wether it be obedience or listening to the people we teach. Definitely an impactful meeting! Afterwords my companion and I, as well as the Belgrade 1 Elders went to Olive Garden and pigged out on breadsticks, soup, and pasta! Great, great companionship unity not only in my companionship but in our district was built through something as simple as a lunch together! After lunch we drove to Three Forks, and after being there for about 20 minutes a member called us, and asked us for a blessing because her husband wasn't home and her son isn't old enough to have the Melchizedek priesthood yet. Oh heck yeah! So we went over to her house, happily, and asked if I could do the blessing! I'm going to be honest, until this point I guess I was always trying too hard to discern needs, and not letting the Lord work through me. But today, I basically zoned out when I began teaching, and I learned real fast that all I was at that point was a vessel for the Lord to use to bless this sister! I basically stopped thinking about anything, and then words just came flowing out of my mouth, and... I actually didn't even hear my own voice there for a little bit! Oh man! I don't remember a thing said, but I know that the sister felt the spirit as well as we did if not better! After that not much happened, but we were able to go to Brother R's and begin to create a list of all the less actives in the ward. We got about half done and had about 107 names! Wow! Lots of work to be done!
10/1/2015 Cool day today! Got to do another movie marathon training session with Elder Potter, and even if it seemed like we were slacking we seemed to get a lot done, and I seemed to learn a lot! My companion is teaching me a lot and helping me progress as a missionary more than he even knows! Weekly planning went well, especially as we prayed for inspiration each and every step of the way! We seemed to be able to fill the week a little faster and with less doubt as we worked to know the things the Lord would have us do. We got to go help at the food bank today, and got to go down to the nuclear basement shelter thing again. Yeah, it's still just as frightening! We got to do some great work over there, and we got to definitely show some people that we are only there to serve them! With conference coming up this weekend, we have been thinking about making some flyers to send around to hopefully invite some people to see the words of the prophets!
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| With wind chill, it's about 10 degrees colder! |
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| ...and brings fog. |
We got to teach the Hs today, and not only that but we got to have dinner with them and meet their daughter! She's a really cool person, and I mean I know that her dad deciding to be baptized has definitely touched her heart! We invited him to ask a question before conference and listen for his answer... And we hope that the Lord will provide as he acts in faith! Sister H gave us some haircuts. My first one on my mission! She is great, and I actual,y really like the way she cut it... Just enough to style it, but not so much that it's crazy nuts in the mornings! Fall is really starting up in here! 10/2/2015 Fun day today! We got to have another fun movie day with our training videos, and another day full of learning! We studied ways to find today in PMG and decided that we would try a few new things- random service, missionary firesides, and talking to EVERYONE that we may meet! I have faith that as we try to do more than just tracting, the Lord will bless us in our efforts!
We got to go do some service today, raked a lot of leaves in a few yards today. We filled 15 bags full of leaves! It's been so long since I've gotten to play with leaves that I even forgot how annoying they are to take care of! Oh well, we got to do some service for a few older folks today, and it all ended well for us! We felt great and we knew we were doing a good work! When we finished serving, we went to go tracting and find some more people to teach. We knocked. Doors today without any luck, but we did place a lot of cards and let everyone know we're only here to help! We also got to go inside a non-member's garage and see "Jim's house of horns" aka the coolest thing ever:
Over 16,000 horns collected over about 60 years. Lots of memories with all these I'm sure!! Cool, cool, cool place this Three Forks place is!
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| "House of Horns" |
We then went to the dinner with the Hs, and we attempted to teach them about member missionary work, but idk how successful it is. Either way, I'm happy that they were at least a little willing to help the work progress! On our way home, Elder Potter and I began to talk about fun things we did back home, and I quickly found out that he was one of those immature jokesters who seemed to find fun in the dumbest, most redundant things ever. Oh boy, how was I going to deal with that?! I prayed at that moment for some help. I needed it. I wanted to love my companion. I asked the Lord for help. At the exact moment I said amen, Elder Potter asked me this- "Why do you think the Lord made me your trainer?" I knew that that was the answer- the Lord blessed me! Besides that today was pretty chill and not a ton happened!
10/3/2015 General conference today- always fun times! Learned a lot, and I've made some goals to help me be a better missionary. I hope that by keeping these goals (thinking about everyone, and EXACT obedience) I can better progress the work and do he things I need to do to get done what the Lord needs me to do! Then, and only then, is the Lord going to work along side me, multiplying my efforts and pushing me along in the things that need to be done! Having increasing amounts of trouble with my companion as he seems to not realize that his version of "having fun" while on your mission is either talking about breaking rules, or breaking rules. We always complain about having nothing to do and I think it may be due to our lack of obedience and lack of consecration to the Lord. I have set aside, paid for, and been set aside for these two years as a complete, devout servant to the Lord, and I need to treat my time here as such. Anything that I may be doing now that is going to keep me from doing anything that the Lord may need me to do! I hope that, by the grace of Christ and by and through his pushing arm with me will work to help me bring many souls unto him in my area!
Elder Braden R Wallgren Montana Billings Mission 2015-2017 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
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