First off,
All of you that are praying for and supporting me, to have success on
my mission, I would like to thank you so much, and thank you for the
support that I am feeling! However, I would invite you to think about
the missionaries in your wards. Their family and friends are praying
for the same exact thing, to have success in their mission. YOU are
the answers to their family's prayers. Think of simple ways to help
your neighbors, friends and those whom you associate with. As long as
they are exposed to the Holy Ghost, questions about the gospel will
naturally follow. Invite the missionaries over for dinner with
non-members. They may not get baptized or take the lessons but over
time they will remember how they felt at that time. The field is
white, already to harvest. But we cannot forget that in order for
fields to be harvested, fields have to been planted. We should be
planters, fertilizers, and harvesters. These are all important for
people to come to know of the truth of the gospel. Plant seeds,
nourish them, and through constant, diligent work we can reap the
fruits of our efforts!
10/26/2015
Productive preparation day today! Got lots of things done, even though
I still have lots to do! Workin on my Christmas presents for the
family (I hope they like them!), washed the truck, and went to get a
quote on the repair! $771 for that small dumb dent... What?! The
workers make $38 an hour for their "labor"... Man, that was kinda
dumb.
Got to email a bunch of people personally today, even the few friends
that Elder K. Potter has set me up with from st. George. It still
feels kinda weird emailing them... Never really met either of them! Oh
well, it seems from what I have said to them that if we ever were to
meet in person, we would probably get along very well!
We went to go visit the lumber yard with President Thompson today, and
we got to visit NP. She seems really cool, and her son is
flippin awesome! He is almost 8, and he definitely already has a
testimony, even though he has only been to church like three times!
He's "read" (watched/listened to) the Book of Mormon twice already,
more than I ever have!
We went to TF's today, and began to teach him his new member
lessons. He is still a pretty stoic kid, so teaching with the spirit
is kinda hard. Also, his mom NEVER comes to church, so we are hoping
to fix that and help him a better example and become more in tune with
the spirit!!!!
I started the new language course in the iPad app today, and I guess
now I'm learning to speak German. Well... Fun stuff I guess! Only
takes my 5-10 minutes a day, and apparently I could learn German in
like a year! I don't know why I'm doing German, when there would be so
many other great languages, but whatever works I guess! Lol I'm weird
xD
10/272015
Hallo! Gute Morgen! Ich sprach vier litten deutsch.
Lol I don't know what I'm doing... >.< this mission thing is starting
to get to my head I guess! If I'm like this at two and a half
months... Imagine what I'll be like at the end of my two years, D:
Anyway, pretty good day, today was. Did A LOT. First off, we broke the
phone. Played hot potato with it while calling someone to set up a
lesson, and Elder Potter threw it a little harder than he meant to. As
such, it went fly past me, and ended up in two pieces in the floor.
Flip. Haha we called Elder Kay and our new phone is currently ordered
and on its way! I guess we'll just have to deal with the no phone
until Friday! Dang karma.....Besides that, we got to go help out Molly
a little bit, helped her chop wood for the winter, and boy is that
hard work! I guess growin up in a little desert town I wouldn't have
much experience, which became evident very quickly. No one got hurt
luckily, but shoot we got darn close! Elder Potter says he would more
likely trust me with a welding torch than an ax. I don't blame him!
We got to teach Molly a great lesson after that, and got to talk with
her a lot about her baptism. She says that she has a few people in
mind on who might perform the ordinance, and that she was going to
pray about them. I can't wait for the 14th, and I know that she's
super excited also!
Found out that we have to be in By 6 on Halloween, so we are trying to
find some either member or investigator to stay with! We have a few
members in mind, and we hope that they will be happy to have us over,
because we have nothing to do in our apartment but basically sleep, which
is DEFINITELY not good to do for an extra 4 hours! XD
Besides Molly, basically all we did all day was tract. We ran into one
couple who has rich Mormon Pioneer ancestry, and lots of relatives who are
LDS. but for some reason they had no idea about anything in the Mormon
church! Weirder things have happened I guess! We got to sit and teach them
for a while, and we hope that maybe they will want us to come back to teach
them more!
10/28/2015
District Meeting!
I lead a role play on how to begin teaching today, which was actually
pretty cool! Elder Potter told me they felt the spirit, and that usually
means success right? Along with that, I am also the assigned District pianist,
which makes things interesting. I still feel like I'm not quite as good as
I can be, but with someone like my dad to compare myself to, I'm never really
going to be as good as I can right?! XD Haha, I know that I'll always have
room to improve, and if I ever want to get better all I can do is practice right?
After district meeting, the day actually went pretty slow.... We got to Three
Forks and just kinda sat around our apartment, trying to find more people to teach.
We went through our digital area book, as well as the ancient paper records that
we found in the apartment. We think we found some good people that accepted our
message at one point in their life, and hopefully will still want it!
Fun experience for the day-while tracting, we ran into a self-declared
unaffiliated scientologist.
What?! My thoughts exactly!!!
He told us what he was, and then proceeded to tell us that even though he was
about a gallon of whiskey in, he would be happy to have us come in and "sell me
your religion" oh man..... We didn't quite know what to do, so we went in.
MISTAKE 1. He spent about and hour talking about the aloneness that each particle
in the universe has, and how there is no way that we can know that there is a god,
or where we are going after earth. He started talking about energy, perception,
and the science of light and individuality. I felt so bad for my companion. He
looked so lost. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he started talking about Vietnam,
and how he didn't want to fight, and then long streams of cuss words and other
profanity began to be said about President Nixon and the US army. Oh man.....
We.... "Got a call to another appointment" and, so unfortunately, we had to leave.
Woot.........fun stuff.
After that the day seemed pretty boring. We got to go out with one of the priests,
out to teach one of the elderly widows. She was pretty cool, and I hate to say it,
but she was SUPER old. She had 7 great-great-great grandchildren. Flip. She has
trouble walking, but that is really the only thing that makes her look anything
close to her age! I have no idea how old she really is, but she comes to church
every week in her scooter, and she usually bears her testimony every first Sunday.
The faith of some people amazes me, how even through their trials, they do
everything they can to follow Christ!!!
10/29/2015
Pretty busy day today, so it seemed to go by SUPER quick! We got a lot done, and
taught a few pretty solid lessons!
Today was weekly planning day...... Those are always fun. NOT. We got a lot done.
Again..... I hate em, but I definitely know that they are necessary!
After that we got to go help out at the thrift store, where we got some AWESOME
things done, and as well saw some awesome jackets!
Afterwards, we went to the food bank again and got to help move some stuff from
the sketchy basement. No one came for a while, so the head of the department gave
us some cleaning jobs to do, as there was no restock jobs to do! Haha my skills as
a lifeguard came in handy!!! Not as a lifesaver, but as a sanitation worker XD
It really made me realize that those weird skills came in handy when I was willing
to reach into corners and empty mousetraps! Lol my companion, and the two lady
workers in there were FREAKING OUT each time I opened one, and there were like 10!
Man.... I guess when you deal with ghetto Phoenix kids in a public pool for a few
summers, dealing with mice isn't that big a deal! I finally found the sucker..
In like the second to last trap! Lol he was definitely.... Very alive however!
Haha it scared Elder Potter so bad HE actually scared me! Lol I closed the trap,
but as it was a food place, we had to dispose of the animal! I picked the little
guy up.... Mock threw him at my companion, (still getting crap for that today! Lol)
and we did the most humane thing we could think to do to get rid of him (I'll spare
the rest). Fun experiences I guess!
After that we went to Dorothy's to help her finish getting ready for her baptism
on Saturday! We are so excited! We had one of the ward missionaries come with us,
and boy can he talk. Flip Brother P.... We get it that you know a lot. But
Dorothy isn't even baptized yet... Why does she need to even THINK about knowing
about Kolob?! I don't think he's coming on splits again with us any time soon!!! XD
10/30/2015
Opportunity to teach a couple great lessons today, but overall it was a pretty
slow day.... A few cool things happened, but the day seemed to drag on FOREVER!!!
First off, we got to teach Andy again, that littler kid that is in his way to
baptism. We talked about the commandments, and as such I got to use the hand signs
that I learned back at home! Fun little memory from home I feel is great to have!
After that, we went to one of the members homes who was worried about an "evil spirit"
contained within his house. With skepticism, we pressed forward ready to get
stuff done! As we entered the home, something definitely felt off, but I don't know
if I would have immediately identified it as an evil spirit, but whatever I
had thought! After a few minutes of conversing, I definitely started to feel
something not quite right about the home. It wasn't the members, it wasn't any sort
of thing within the house, but there was almost a feeling that made us feel like
someone didn't want us there, like something was pulling us out the door! Holy crud
it felt weird! I don't quite know what it was, and still can't quite figure it out...
But someone deftly didn't want us in that house!
Anyway... As we began to bless the home (through the priesthood in the name of Christ,
of course) it seriously felt like there was a battle raging behind us. I could
feel a tension rise as the prayer continued, and it seemed to get a little electric
in the room! That same kind of feeling that you get when two people close to you
begin to argue, like super intensely. This feeling continued for a little, but as
soon as Elder Potter said- "in the name of Christ Our Lord and Savior, I bid any
evil spirits away from this home" the biggest feeling of peace, warm, comfort,
and love swept into the room, I almost fell off of the couch we were sitting on.
I don't even know if I can explain it fully, but that is the best explanation I
could come up with!
Compared to that the rest of our day sucked! LolXD
We tracted for a bit, and ran into a VERY less active members of the church,
who were super strong in the church except for two aspects- the didn't believe
that God would ever separate his children into three places, and they didn't
believe in the priesthood. Well.... While very carefully avoiding the subjects,
we stayed for a bit and got into contact with them about going over and teaching
them! The sister said that in order for us to come over again, we had to do three
things- 1. Never even think about bringing up either of those two sore subjects(duh)
2. Begin and end with a prayer (even more duh) and 3. We had to sing a song!
My companion is SUPER tone deaf, and he knows it, so the look on his face was
priceless! Me, being a Wallgren, am super excited for the opportunity to be able
to share some of my talents in order to invite the spirit!!
After that was the trunk or treat, so we gotta wander around for a bit and see
a lot of members of the ward! A few people not of our congregation were there,
so we got to talk to them, and we hope that those may eventually lead somewhere!!
We got thrown in as the last minute judges, and that didn't go well. We had no
idea what we were doing. We had 9 chili awards to hand out, and 7 pumpkin awards.
We had so little idea what we were doing that even the Bishop had to get up and
change one of the prizes... I think maybe it was cause we would have offended
someone, but it just made us laugh that even as missionaries, we are still 19
and often have no idea what we are doing!!
10/31/2015
Even slower day than yesterday... Jeez!
Dorothy's baptism was today, and that was AWESOME!!! She was so excited, and
seemed so happy to be finally there! I laugh kind of often at Elder Potter,
when I probably shouldn't.. He got super nervous beforehand because he thought
he was going to forget the words, and as an "experienced baptizer" (his words)
I guess I knew what I was doing more than him.... Lol not really, but I think
I was able to give him a few tips to calm his nerves. Nothing he didn't already
know, just some things to remind him and help him stay calm!
Dorothy invited a friend, and by golly she is the stereotypical case of a
nonmember at a baptism! Holy flip. She was in tears, on her knees asking God
what the feelings she has were (in public , mind you, and out loud.... VERY
loud) and by the end she was basically begging us to be baptized!
Stacey.... My name is Elder Wallgren, and I'm a missionary for the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!!! Lol she seems super ready!
I love this area... So many people are being so prepared by the Lord!
After the baptism we went and got our new phone, and as soon as we had it set
up we got a call from the Rumelharts requesting our help in moving a few trees
that had either fallen down or where cut down... Not fully sure! The branches
sometimes weighed more than I did, and more often than not they were definitely
bigger than I was! There was a few logs that, even after being hacked at with a
chainsaw, the only hope we had of moving them was attaching a rope to the back
of our truck and dragging it! It took us about an hour to get everything out of
the street, and even after that they still had probably three or four days work
left to do! We are planning to go help them out again, but hopefully after all
our current cuts and scrapes are healed, right?! ;)
With it being Halloween, we weren't allowed to be out past 5, so we got to go and
help another family in the ward lay some tile and some cement board type stuff
down for the floors in their new house. All I can say for that experience is that
flooring is definitely on my list of professions that I would NOT choose to do!
It was nice to have the new experience, and nice to be able to help a family out
in the ward! The dad of the family is the ONLY dentist in Three Forks, Churchill,
Clarkston, Amsterdam, Ennis, Virginia city, and Manhattan. And as such he is
definitely not short on funds lol. Happily though, he says he's going to call a
member endodontist that might be able to help me figure out the slight pain
I've been having in my root canal teeth. (Yes mom, I've been brushing and flossing
everyday... He just says that it's better to prevent anything from happening than
from having to deal with the consequences of it actually happening..... That, and
it's free, so might as well take it while I can!)
11/1/2015
Normal Sabath day stuff....
We taught Stacey (the chick we met at the baptism) and that lesson went great...
But nothing particularly amazing happened there.
We tracted for a while, found some less actives, & eventually we did go home to eat.
After we were done, it was was 5:30. And it was dark. What?! I dont get it.
Dang sun. Dang daylight savings time... Dang..... Dang. So tracting after dinner
was SUPER scary, and we were so happy when someone invited us in to warm up! We
got to takin to this guy (for almost and hour and a half actually) and found out
that he is definitely a mountain man. He paints pictures on skulls, he makes
tomahawks, and he is a world class archery champion! His wife makes quilts, and
the two of them are AVID baseball fans! We watched a few minutes of the World
Series with them, which was kinda cool. Then, he brought out his championship
winning arrow shot. He might as well be Robin Hood! He shot one arrow through
another arrow that he had just shot! Man.... This guy! We stayed and talked with
him for a while, but after a while we had to leave and head home!
And then It's today! :D
Love you all, don't ever stop being you!
Elder Braden R Wallgren
Montana Billings Mission
2015-2017
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
James 4:7
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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