7/11-7/17 2016: Another Week in Paradise

"Feasting on the good word of God each day is more important that
sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media."
-Richard G Scott

Dang..... I dunno what I can say to that...

Read the scriptures. It's more important that sleep. Dang...


7/11
We had a super cool preparation day- we went over to the zone leaders
place as a zone (A BRO ZONE) to play around for a while. We played
lots of rugby, basketball, soccer, and then even a little bit of
ultimate frisbee. We would have played a lot more, but the only
injuries that happened were during frisbee. Even with almost 2 hours
of rugby... Yeah it was interesting. I split my lip open and another
guy was bleeding pretty bad form the top of his nose. Made me laugh
though- I guess for missionaries, ultimate frisbee is a much more
dangerous game than rugby!
But after a fun while there, we ran home super quick to finish laundry
and get to dinner. Had a good dinner with some members, and then we
went to go make some ties at a part members family house. We were
super excited to do that. But it turns out that the husband in the
family was gone, and so we couldn't really go inside and make ties. So
that was kind of a disappointment.
Doing things at the end of a preparation day is hard, as many times
you lack to motivation to do things. You know they need to be done,
but you just want to go home and go to bed! That being the fact, we
didn't really know what we wanted to do so we just kinda wandered
around town, handing out some flyers for sister Hemsley (the members
we live with). They are for a bike ride for cancer later in the year,
and she's just trying to get them out as much as possible. So it's
good to get out and be seen, as well as give some service.
7/12
We had some service to take care of for a less active family, an older
brother/sister in K3. We were able to dig up a huge fence, as well as
an oddly placed random post in the middle of their yard. Then, we
moved it all to the other side of the house and began to put in back
into the ground. We thought it was kind of pointless, but then we
realized they needed a gate on the other side of the house to be able
to keep the dog in. So it was good, I suppose. We weren't able to
finish the Job- we had a lesson we had to get to. So we told them we
would come back and then we headed to our lesson.
The lesson we had was with Jonathan and Natalie, our two investigators
that we have on date. We really just kind of went over there to talk
with them about their baptism coming up on the 23rd, and about all the
arrangements that need to be made for that. They already had basically
everything figured out, and so really all we were doing was being
there to write it all down and to make the program. Makes our job
easier haha. So that was cool! They area SUPER awesome!
Later that evening we went on splits with the K1 elders quorum. We had
Brother Kalschmidt and brother Allred with us. Brother Allred is a
teacher in the quorum, and brother Kaltschmidt is one of the
presidency councilors. I went with him to visit a few families he had
in mind. The only house we actually got in was a returning to activity
sister- sister ward. She is super sweet, with a few older kids going
through some really hard times. It was good to visit with her for a
while.
While we were there, we found out that it was one of her daughter's
wedding anniversary, but they didn't really have the money to do
anything. Well, as we were leaving brother Kaltschmidt pulled out a
$100 bill and just SLIPPED IT INTO THE HUSBANDS HAND! Like it was
nothing!!! I mean, yeah his dad owns a car dealership (or 4) and he
helps manage it, but man! To be able to just be THAT charitable, no
questions asked! Holy flip!
7/13
Another early breakfast with brother Cassan and bishop Cahoon in K1.
Had some really good biscuits and gravy...... Yum. After our meeting
with them, we went to the church and took a nice nap before district
meeting. That felt super good..... Even though it wasn't very
comfortable.
We had a pretty good district meeting- even though everyone was
getting pretty distracted. It took some time for the discussions to be
over with, but we were still able to get good stuff out of them. I got
to lead a role play about using the Book of Mormon in teaching. I just
kinda gave out some BOM stories and told people to teach using them.
It wet better than I thought! Everyone said they liked it, so that's
always good!
All we did basically all day was make tons of visits. Tried to get to
know the members a little better, worked to figure out who all of our
teaching pool is, etc. It was tiring to ride out biked all day, but
that is com thing that we are doing A LOT now. I guess it's easier in
a small area like K1, and most of K3. It's good for us too! I can feel
myself slowly starting to be in less of a shape like a circle, and
more like a potato.
7/14
Had a really good weekly planning session this week. We were able to
schedule down a lot of time for visits to get to know the area, and we
also were able to set some good goals for the rest of the transfer. It
was sweet!

After planning we went back over to that less active's house to finish
building that fence. It felt like good to be done, and then we got to
give a cool lesson about the restoration. It was kind of hard to
teach, as the brother of the two wanted to talk about what he wanted
to talk about. Even though it was all good stuff and all about the
gospel, none of it was pertinent to basically any situation. It was
cool though that when we talked about how if we read the Book of
Mormon and pray to Heavenly Father about it and about our lived, we
would be blessed- the sister looked me dead in the face and said,
"Really? All I have to do is read and pray and I will be blessed?" And
I assured her that it was true. She looked super realized and super
thought-provoked when I told her yes! IT WAS AWESOME! She seemed like
she really wants to get back into the gospel, the only problem being
that she gets offended by just about everything under the sun. We just
need to talk to her about choosing not be offended. We don't know
when, but we will!
We had a couples active member lessons that night, which are always
cool. Get to meet new families, and get some referrals for us. It is
always sweet. Then we had splits with K3. It's cool having two wards
that are both open to splits once a week. We get to do a lot more work
when we plait up with the members. This week we teamed up with the
elders quorum in K3. Myself and brother Hardy went to try to visit
some people he had on list, as well as some people I had.
Unfortunately, no one was home to welcome us anywhere, so we just
ended up heading back to the church to visit for a while while we
waited for brother Hammer and Elder Bishop. I got to know brother
Hardy super well- he is LEGIT! Really cool conversion story, and a
really cool life story!
When Elder BIshop got back it was like 9:05, so we had to hurry home.
Our problem? We were on bikes.... And home was at least 35 minutes
away (with traffic). So we said a prayer that we wold get home in
time.

And let me tell you- the lord hears prayers. EVERY SINGLE TIME we came
up to a street crossing, the ought would turn green for us to go.
EVERY. TIME. So instead of 35 minutes, it took us 21. TENDER MERCIES
OF THE LORD!!!
7/15
Had a correlation meeting with K3... Sort of. It was just brother good
man, the WML, and then one of 22 ward missionaries. Harsh. Oh well, we
were able to discuss the work pretty good.
After that we went to help with some moves, and then brother good man
took us out for ice cream at baskin robins. later that day we had some
more moving service outside of Kila- about 25 miles outside of town.
Fun. Well he came and picked us up, and then we found out that he was
one of the investigators we had on list! He is interested in learning,
but at his own pace. He LOVES the church, but he wants to make sure
it's his idea to join, not his less-active wife's. Either way, he is
an absolutely awesome guy. We helped him move some dressers, and then
shared a message with him about accepting god's will, even if his will
doesn't seem to be the best. He said that he REALLY REALLY REALLY
needed to hear that at this point in his life, and his wife agreed.
That is always awesome, when the lord inspires us and we don't even
know it!
We came back into town super quick and we had dinner with a big
family- 7 kids and one more on the way!!! The parents were super cool,
and super fun with their kids. Just before we left the dad was
spraying down his kids with a water gun while they jumped on the
trampoline. Makes me remember fun things form back home with my
family...........
After dinner we went to the church for missionary game night. Didn't
really have many people show up, but it was still super fun either
way. He plugin em see how in shape I'm starting to get back into.
Still not great shape, but it's some shape none the less! My knees
aren't hurting as band anymore..... Which is always good! Haha
7/16
Saturday was full of finding. We went to a baptism for K2, hoping some
of our investigators would show up (they didn't.... :( ). Elder bishop
went. And get a haircut, we had to fill out some incident report forms
for the car, and then really the rest of the day we spent riding
around trying to find people that we had on list, as well as people
that we didn't! We met all of our investigators, and also found out
that a few of them didn't really live there anymore... Sad. We got o
tweet with Pam, and investigator that has almost dropped the
missionaries. Why? Because the missionaries have skipped out on doing
a lot for things that they said they would do for her. Dang... Makes
me sad that the laziness of other missionaries is going to make
someone not want to hear the gospel.......
7/17
Church was cool, and also super weird. After K3 sacrament meeting,
elder bishop and I split so he could go to K1 meetings. It was weird
to sort of be alone! I mean yeah, I ha people all around now me to
watch me, but really I was kind of alone!!! Just... Abnormal I
suppose.
It got even weirder when I was walking down the hall after Elders
quorum and I heard a very familiar voice call from down the hall-
"Elder Wallgren!"
I turned around
SISTER WADSWORTH?!?!?!
Let me tell you- a missionaries worst nightmare:

Being alone, and having the mission president's wife call you out on
in from down the hall.

Man I felt so weird! She just called me over to say hello and talk
about the area of Kalispell, and she said she didn't even care that I
was alone. She said she knew if I was alone I would have a good
reason... But man I still felt super guilty! I know I had a good
reason and that I was fully justified..... But that didn't change how
I felt!! It was kid of funny to run into her though. Apparently they
came down for some interviews and then I guess they are going to be
going to glacier park. I guess that the mission president wants to see
it just as bad as we do! Hahaha I didn't actually get to see
president, but I do know that he was there because it was a phone call
from him asking where his wife was the lead to the end of the
conversation between her and I. Man........ That felt weird!
After that, the musical coordinator from K1 came over and asked to
talk to us. (I had found Elder Bishop at this point). She said that
she heard that one of us sang, and after elder Bishop volunteered me
as tribute, she asked me if I would sing in sacrament meeting next
week.....

I guess if you got the talent the lord won't let you hide them, right?
So I sat down with her for a while and figured out a song to sing. She
said that as a missionary she knew I would be down to do just about
anything last minute, including a Musca number! Hahaha

After church we headed home for lunch and a nap. You don't really
realize what 5 hours of church will do to you until you get home from
it and you are absolutely BEAT! It feels good, but also kinda sucks.
Oh well. The only other thing we really did that day was dinner with a
family of a priest getting ready to go on a mission. Heck yeah.
We also, while I was practicing a the church, ran into the zone
leaders and got to hang with them for a while. We have some pretty
awesome zone leaders. They are super good missionaries, and they are
also super cool people.

So I took only like 1 picture this week.... Sorry. I'll have a ton
next week- we are headed to glacier national park today and so I will
have a bunch to send by the end of the day

A pun  

And then my thoughts on the world right now

Elder Braden R Wallgren
Montana Billings Mission
2015-2017
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

What happens when you mix alcohol and literature?

Tequila Mockingbird

7/4-7/10 2016: Getting to know the area

We have to forgo some good things in order to chose others that are better or best." -Elder Dallin H Oaks 

There are a lot of good things in this earth.... So often times we have to chose between a few. Are you choking the BEST things to do? Playing football and being shape are GOOD, but wouldn't the BEST thing be to visit a sick relative or friend? Think about your choices this week, and chose the BEST! :) 

7/4

Being the 4th, there were a bunch of cool things happening in town. First off, there was a parade! We got to go wander around downtown Kalispell for a bit looking for a place to stand/sit, all the while getting some of the dirtiest looks I've ever received on my mission. It kind of makes me realize how much the world really hates what I'm doing..... Serving the lord.... But, I guess these people just don't really understand what I'm doing! 

ANYWAY

So we eventually found some members to go and sit with to watch the parade. It was a cool show, almost an hour and a half long!  It started at 10 and didn't get finished until just after 11:20! Lots of really cool old cars driving down the road. Something about Kalispell- there are a ton of people that have REALLY nice cars. Like........... A TON. 

After the parade we got a call from the zone leaders- well our little plan to have the day be a proselyting day instead of a preparation day was shot down by president Wadsworth. He called them and said that it would be in our best interest to have preparation day like normal. So....... That's what we had to do! So we went home and started typing emails, doing laundry, then we went shopping, etc. All the normal pday stuff. After all the normal stuff was done, we went over to the zone leaders place (the members they live with have a HUGE house and yard to go with it) and played some rugby, soccer, football, foosball, and anything else we could fit in the short time we had. 

We had a barbecue with a family in K3 for dinner, which was cool. Had a bunch of nonmember friends over, so we were able to talk with them for a good time. The members seemed super cool, and everyone was super happy to have us over. All the members in Kalispell seem to just be flippin AWESOME! They all are super missionary minded, and they all have a desire to do the work!!

After that we headed over to the Newtons, to hang out with them for the night and to watch some fireworks. We were allowed to stay out until 10:30, but we had to be with members. Not going to lie, it did feel weird being at one persons house for 2 hours, but it is one of few times that we can do that and have it be okay! We had a great time there, plus we got to talk with one of the nonmember kids that was there (they are working on adopting him.... Long story short) so that was legit! 

Let me tell you- fireworks in Montana are DUMB! Everyone seems to just go all out in buying and using as much pyrotechnics as they can! It doesn't help that for like that past month there have been fireworks stands on every street corner! 

7/5

Trying to get to know the area is proving to be a bit more difficult than we thought. With both of us being brand new to the area, and with there being no other missionaries in the main city of Kalispell, we are kind of on our own! With that fact in mind, we spent a majority of the morning kind of wandering around Kalispell slowly figuring out the area. We spent a good amount of time on Main Street, with all the shops and sights to see. We wandered through the mall, all through the neighborhoods, and basically just began to get our bearings of where to go! Well, as we were walking around we got a call from the Zone Leaders- apparently, Elder Sedig popped one of his tires while they were riding their bikes. Well, problem #2- they were almost 15 miles away from home. So, they gave us a call and asked us to come find them and help them out. So we ran back home and then drove out to go get them. By the time we went and got them, brought them back home to get their truck and bike rack (apparently the last elders broke our rack.....) and then made sure they were all good with their bikes, it was time for dinner! (Took up more time than we thought! Haha) 

We dinner with this really awesome engaged couple in K1. Elder Nuffer, the other zone leader, has made comments that they are his favorite couple he has ever encountered on his mission (which is about 22 months at this point...). They were pretty cool, and then to add onto that, we played some FARKLE after dinner. Sister Mower (well.... Soon to be mower) won both games that we played, but it was super fun anyway!

7/6

Every Wednesday morning we have correlation meetings with Bishop Cahoon and Brother Casaan (WML) from K1 at 6:30. So we planned on waking up at 5:40 to start getting ready. Well apparently, my alarm decided it didn't want to go off, so I woke up to Elder Bishop desperately exclaiming- 

"Elder! Get up! It's 6:15!"

Well dang......... 

Needless to say, we RUSHED to get ready, unfortunately skipping showers, and then out the door to get to the meeting on time. The meeting was good, even though Elder Bishop and I were zombies. At the end of the meeting and breakfast, we went back home to shower and do a little bit of studies. 

After that we went to district meeting (showed up a little late for that.... Oops!) and had a super cool meeting. Elder Kimball, the district leader, sounds like he's going to be a lot of fun, and that he's not really goin to let district meetings be boring at all. Makes me excited for this transfer!!! 

After district meeting we went and gave some service- we went and helped some people in an apartment complex move back in (the complex burnt down like six months ago or something like that and is just now livable again... I guess). All I know is that it was the easiest move I've ever done. With 6 of us there, there was no more than one box a person for every person that showed up. It was super easy..... Most of the time was actually spent just kinda sitting around waiting for someone else to show up, so yeah it was kinda boring. But, I love giving service and it was super good to help people out that needed it!! 

We biked out to dinner, which was about a 40 minute ride. We stopped counting miles, and we just kinda are going with whatever happens. We are trying our best to not use the car at all. The weather here is super nice- usually hangs around the 60s or so for most of the day. So biking is just kinda PERFECT right now. It also feel good to get some cardio in. Loosin some o dat weight that I've gained on my mission. It feels good to at least sort of be back in some form of shape! Haha 

We ate dinner with this super cool couple that just finished serving a mission in Korea, under Army relations or something like that. They had some super cool stories, and the diner was pretty cool as well. Good food. 

We had to bike home, and just for our luck- it started POURING right as we started biking. We got about a mile into it and had to stop because our bikes were slipping too much in the rain! Neither of us had raincoats with us, and so we were both just soaked to the bone! It was fun though! :D 

After a long a gruesome uphill ride home, we decided that with the amount of mud and water that had soaked into our clothes, a change was necessary. So we quickly changed clothes and then we rushed over to the Perertsons, the people we gave service to last Wednesday when we first got to Kalispell. She's a really cool less active member, and he is a nonmember. They both are super cool. And we had a great discussion about keeping our standards in the crazy world of today, and about working hard to follow God. We also got to play a fun game of keep away with one of their dogs, only the dog was the one keeping away from all of us. It made us laugh pretty hard. 

7/7

We spent the first part of the morning in the public library working on figuring some stuff out for the area. Computers are great........ I miss having one easily assessable... Oh well. I'll live. 

After a boring while there, we went to the church to being planning. Planning was a little rough, and we really didn't get a ton done. But I mean, what else comes from not knowing the area, right? 

4 hours and many breaks later, we decided it was time to be done planning, so we biked over to the WML's house for K1 to get our pictures taken for the ward bulletin. It's cool that they post our pictures and then some stuff about us for the ward to see. I guess the stake president had a goal that every member will have a posted picture of their missionaries in their home. It feels kinda weird, but I get the point behind it so imma just have to deal, I guess. 

We had dinner that night with a really cool family. The husband is a programmer, an avid scouter and a cancer fighter. They are a super cool couple, and they invited us over to give them some service, so we area excited for that!!

We had a sweet lesson with the Newtons after that, about balancing your life with scripture study, prayer, and church attendance. We showed them this really cool physics trick with three knives and three cups about balancing any weight on a sturdy enough structure. It was super cool to be able to show off my nerdy-ness. I only got made fun of a little for it, so it was okay. (I'll include pictures).

7/8

We gave service to that family first thing in the morning. (The Bahrs are their name). We sanded down some stairs for them so that they could be repainted and redone. We had a belt sander and a paint scraper, so it was a good amount of work to be able to get it all done. It felt good to help them though, as Brother Bahr is too sick to be able to do any of it on his own, and sister Bahr didn't want to do it without help. So it was nice to help!

When we were done with that, we realized that we had no idea where the phone was. Well, then I realized that I left it on top of the car..... As we drove away. So we walked the streets for like an hour searching for the phone sadly, without success. 

We went to the church to make some calls after that, and then we went to the library to do some online proselyting. We then went and visited a couple investigators we have on date, a 13 year-old boy and a 12 year-old girl. They are both super solid, and really just waiting for an interview to get baptized! Makes us super excited!!!!! 

We had to rush to dinner after that, and we had dinner with a couple where the husband actually grew up in Chandler! (Phoenix) So we got to talk about stuff at home for a while, which was pretty cool! 

After that, we had to rush to the church to have a missionary game night that we planned with K2. We invited all the youth to come, and about 8 showed up. We had tons of fun playing basketball, football, and then a little bit of Ultimate Frisbee. We had a ton of fun, plus we got to share a nice spiritual message after we got all done. We are hoping that we will have more kids show up next week!!!! 

7/9

The phone was found! Haha apparently our neighbor saw the phone in the street and then called a bunch of people to find out who's it was. So when we woke up he had brought it over!! It was a legit miracle!!! 

As we started our studies we got a call from the high priests group leader to come help with a move. SWEET! So we got over there and we had to move this lady out who fit more stuff into a small apartment than I have seen in most large houses. It was nuts! We didn't know when it would end! But, it was awesome to be able to help!! 

We wen to the library a again after that to get some music and other things offline. We then biked to dinner- another gruesome 10 miles uphill. It was "fun" though! 

At least that's what I'm convincing myself

After dinner we went around the church to just kinda meet as many members as we could. We met a lot of cool people. Another testimony to me that the members here in Kalispell are just LEGIT!!!

7/10

I went to both ward councils.... One with my companion and one without. Both. Very. Boring. Not much about missionary work discussed, and so I just kinda felt....... Out of place. Like I didn't need to be there. Oh well, Se la vi. 

We spoke in K1, which is always fun to do. As I was sitting in the stand before the meeting I noticed a familiar face in the crowd- Brother Strang?! So I made my way over to him and asked what he was doing here? He looked back and me and said that he heard I was speaking so he came to watch. Man....... Not gonna lie I really am starting to miss Helena 2. There were some awesome people there! Brother Strang has probably been one of my more legit WMLs during my mission, even if I only was with him for 6 weeks. 

I found out after church that Elder Bishop is almost as at napping as Elder Hansen........

ALMOST. 

But yeah. So I just kinda hung out and studied a bit. President had challenged us missionaries to begin reading through the BOM again as a mission, looking for attributes of Christ. So I started again..... Time #4 on my mission!! Hahah I'm loving that though! Lots of Book of Mormon study!!! 

After a nap, we went over to visit a less active couple that wanted us to come over. So we went and visited them and they are also pretty cool. I'm really lovin the area!!

We had dinner with a family out in Kila. They kinda reminded me of life back home. They are all computer savvy, and also VERY musically inclined. When they heard I also did music stuff they immediately started asking me to sing musicals songs with them... And as a Wallgren family member I wanted to, but as a missionary I was conflicted. Luckily, mom came to the rescue and said that a missionary should not really be singing songs from Les Mis. Thank you, Mom! Haha 

I had to practice a little bit of the piano for district meeting after that, then we went finding for a bit, then we went home!!

Elder Braden R Wallgren

Montana Billings Mission

2015-2017

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

What's the worst thing about ancient history class?

The teachers tend to Babylon

6/27-7/3 2016: Enter THE BRO ZONE

Cathedral of St. Helena

"Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He
does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not.
Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego knew they could always rely on
Him because they knew His plan, and they knew that He does not change.
They knew, as we know, that mortality is not an accident of nature. It
is a brief segment of the great plan of our loving Father in Heaven to
make it possible for us, His sons and daughters, to achieve the same
blessings He enjoys, if we are willing.
They knew, as we know, that in our premortal life, we were
instructed by Him as to the purpose of mortality: “We will make an
earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see
if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command
them.”
So there we have it--it’s a test. The world is a testing place
for mortal men and women. When we understand that it’s all a test,
administered by our Heavenly Father, who wants us to trust in Him and
to allow Him to help us, we can then see everything more clearly."
(Elder Dennis E. Simmons, But If Not, April 2004 General Conference)

President Wadsworth recommended that we all as missionaries read that
talk (and the same recommendation goes to everyone). It is all about
the statement "But if not..." In Daniel 3. Reading over the talk, I
began to think that I was kind of better than that, that I had the
better faith in knowing that Heavenly Father will provide... But then
reading it over again all I could think was "But if not.... If I
didn't get any miracles would I still have the full fledged faith that
Heavenly Father would provide for me?" And I realized that is what
true faith is. Faith is more than just hoping for things.... More than
just wishing that things will happen, more than what I originally
thought. TRUE faith in Christ is knowing that whatever happens is what
God knows is best to happen, as long as you are doing your best to be
righteous. It reminds me of a musical..... (Thanks to my family back
at home I suspect)

"Lord who made the Lion and the Lamb,
you decreed I should be what I am.
Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan,
if I were a wealthy man?"

You know, the lord gives us the situations we have because we need
them. The challenges and trials we face come to us because THEY WILL
HELP US! It's that simple. Does that make them suck any less? Of
course not! But, with that enlightened perspective, we can see: even
if we don't get what we want, or if we get something that we didn't
want, the Lord ALWAYS knows best! He will lead you in the direction
you need to go!!

My New address:1027 5th Avenue WestKalispell, MT 51909

6/27
Had a super cool last preparation day in Helena! We went and saw the
Cathedral of St. Helena, which is just a SUPER big church in Helena
with super cool stain glass and super cool structures. It was cool to
see the insides of the Catholic Church again- it had been quite a
while since I had really looked. It was weird how many questions I was
able to answer about stuff inside, even surprised myself about some of
the things I knew! Haha (I think I can really thank Miguel for
that.... Don't know if you read my emails anymore but thanks man!
Learned a lot from you.... Apparently! ;P)
I took a thousand pictures and I'll attach a bunch at the bottom.
Really, SUPER cool building!

After that we went to the church to play some good ol' podball. Had a
fun game with EVERYONE actually here this time! Played for a good 2
hours or so! I heard that there is rarely any games like that played
in Kalispell, so I guess this was my last good one for a while!
Found out that both the elders that came in last transfer (Elder
McMiller and I) are leaving! Haha Either we did something right, or
something VERY wrong. I guess we'll never know!
After that we packed.... Elder Merrell (even though he is not getting
transferred) is moving to the new place on Wednesday, so we both had
to pack like CRAZY!


6/28
We basically spent most of the day packing and cleaning. We went to
dinner, then went to the Oldryods to pick up a kickstand they had for
me, then stopped by bishops to help him with some stuff. But then we
really just packed and go ready to go.


6/29
Being in Helena, we were the first ones to the church- at 9:45.

My new area

Everyone else started showing up around 10:30.... Except for of course
Kalispell. We waited a good 2 hours for them to show up... Just
sitting and waiting to leave. Most the other zones had arrived by the
time they got here, and then we tossed our stuff in the truck and
started driving. Elder Bishop and I had the truck to ourselves, and so
we had plenty of time to get to know each other. It was super nice! By
the end of the ride I felt like I had known him for a long time! Plus,
I had also heard a lot of stories about him from Elder Hansen, so it
all sounded super good! I think it'll be a great transfer!

On our way to Kalispell, we had to pass through my old area (Clinton
and Drummond) and so as we passed through Drummond I started talking
about Parkers with Elder Bishop. Naturally, we had to stop so he could
eat. Naturally. While we were there we ran into the Wises, and I got
to catch up with them for a while! It was super cool! Plus, both Elder
Bishop and I were super poor and we actually said a small prayer that
the lord would help us. Members... TO THE RESCUE!

ELDER MERRELL:

I STILL HAVE THE FAITH FOR FOOD!!!!!!!
Hahaha it was super cool!

desert at parkers.. fancy

But anyways, we got to Kalispell around 5:30 and we had dinner with
some members. After that we tried to meet with the Zone Leaders, but
we got a call from a member that she needed help and wanted us to come
over. So we looked up where she lived and we headed over there to move
couches, dressers, desks, and so forth. Great way to start off,
right?! Service is me FAVORITE!!!
6/30
We spent most of the day planning and trying to get our bearings for
the area. We went and got a bunch of maps and drew out our area, and
then we tried to map out a bunch of people so we could go on visits!
We went to Wally-world and went shopping to be able to survive until
Monday on things beside trail mix and wheat-thins. We also bought a
fan... Because the room we sleep in is super HOT. I keep forgetting
that NO ONE in Montana be lives in Air Conditioning. Open the windows
and turn on the fans! (Hey it works, makes it pretty cool inside, so
why the heck pay for a machine?!)

missionary tan

The members we are staying with (the Hemsleys) are super chill!
Everyone around us says that they are the coolest members ever, so I'm
super excited!!!
We had a dinner with the stake president at night as a whole bro zone
(all the missionaries in the Kalispell zone are Elders) which was
super cool! He is a super stud! Talked a lot about the members. It's
sounds like there is some legit members in Kalispell!!!
7/1
We had a sweet zone training in the morning all about working with the
members, about finding, and then about what we learned with president
Clark. We did a zone blitz in it, where we all went out into the city
and we just found as many people as we could. Split up into different
companionships so things would be different. I went with one of the
Elders from Eureka, and we just went out and knocked doors! We found
some cool service opportunities, and we also found a few new
potentials!! It was SICK!
The zone leaders talked with us also about biking, and how important
it is, so that's what we did the rest of the day! Went around and made
visits to members and investigators on our bikes, getting around as
much as we could! We met some super cool people! I am LOVING Kalispell
so far!
7/2

We went MAD on bikes! About 33 miles total biked!! It was super dumb,
but also super cool! We got to see a lot of the country side, plus we
got the sheriff called on us, so that was cool! Haha we stopped by
this one guys house and he wasn't there but a Filipino woman came to
the door, and after we thanked her for her time she stopped us and
looked at our bikes down the road-
"oh you biked here?! No no! That is not okay! You are tired. You eat
our food! Come, come inside and eat! We have all traditional food from
the Philippines! You eat... You like! We good Christians!"
Confused but a little happy we went in and we ate! Haha it was super
good food, and I guess they were having a family party or something
because there was a TON of people there for us to talk to. It was
great! Until the husband came in..... White and definitely Montanian.
He called the sheriff and gave us the phone. I talked to the sheriff
for a while about what we do as missionaries, gave him president
wadsworth's phone number, our ID numbers, and then gave the phone back
to the guy. The guy looked grimly at us that spat a hasty "good, now
get outta here!" As we marched back. Fun story... Reminded me
of the time we got in trouble for chasing deer in Ennis! Haha good
time with Elder Potter!

Surprises me that it wasn't my first time dealing with the sheriff on
my mission.... Huh

ANYWAY! We went to dinner with this HUGE family in 3rd ward, and
afterwards they told us to "work" for the dinner. So we went out and
fed, washed, and milked the goats. Man.... Goats are stubborn. It's
almost like Christ new what he was talking about with the sheep and
goats......
7/3
Church was NUTS!
First off, we try to attend as much of both wards as we can, so we
have almost 10 hours of church on Sunday. Then, to boot, we didn't
know ANYONE, so we just kinda wandered around super lost!

Also, with it being a holiday weekend, there were a ton of visitors to
1st ward at 11, and we filled up not only the chapel, but the ENTIRE
GYM. Not even kidding, we ran out of chairs to use and so there were
people standing in the back and sitting on the stage. President Clark
joked that it was bigger than stake conference! It took a good 45
minutes for the priesthood to pass the sacrament, not including 6
prayers being said instead of just 2! It was AWESOME!!!!!! The spirit
was super strong and man you could feel the covenants being renewed!!!
There were a ton of Canadians visiting... Apparently, and so is was
cool to see all the different people there all coming together for the
same purpose!

Even with all those people we still had an empty gospel principles
class..... Oh well!
We went home after that completely exhausted, and so we took a good 90
minute nap, and then pigged out on dinner, then we headed out to work!
We got to visit with an older widow, and talk with here about all the
things that are holding her form coming back to church. She is a super
nice lady........ But we found that she gets offended and everything
under the sun, so it is going to be some work to get her to come back
to church!
After that we visited with a recent convert family. They seem super
cool, super converted to the gospel! Haha we walked back home after
that and both just passed out because of how tired we were haha

Lots of cool picture this week!!!

Elder Braden R Wallgren
Montana Billings Mission
2015-2017
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Moroni 7:40-41

40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning
hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have
hope?

41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that
ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of
his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of
your faith in him according to the promise.