"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must
deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the
way of what is most important--and what is most important almost
always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must
know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let
them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, 'They do not love that do not
show their love.' We will never regret the kind words spoken or the
affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are
omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.
"Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your
child a hug; give your parents a hug; say 'I love you' more; always
express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more
important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow
up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until
that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with
feelings of 'what if' and 'if only.' Said author Harriet Beecher
Stowe, 'The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid
and deeds left undone.'" (Thomas S. Monson, Finding Joy In the
Journey, October 2008 General Conference)
Love is important in this life... It keeps us moving, it helps bear
our burdens, and it does, in fact, "make the world go round". Show
love to someone around you this week, someone different that you ever
have before. Remember, and strive this week to follow president
Monson's council (remember he is the prophet, so this is council from
God):
Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved
I know that charity is the pure love of Christ, and as we strive to
show love for those around us that charity will grace our lives and
become our rock, become our fuel, and it will allow us to become more
like Christ. Pray for the capacity to feel that love for those around
you. Work to know what you can do for those in your life. But most of
all, don't forget to love.
3/7
Awesome preparation day. We did a zone hike, hiking up to the Missoula
M (for university of Montana) and down. The hike isn't very long but
it sure sucks. I ended up staying at the back of the pack with Elder
Cobabe, as we are both profoundly out of shape, and it took us much
longer to get from switchback to switchback. The whole mountain up to
the M is basically like 2.5 miles of switchbacks. Gross.... Once we
got to the top though we had a fantastic view, and I got some sweet
pictures at the times i stopped with elder cobabe. Great hike, and
then we walked back down (significantly easier and less of a pain to
do) and all of us that we're there went bowling. I'm pretty proud of
myself to say that I scored 2 rounds of 92, and then I felt bad for
one of the sisters because she forgot her card so I let her play on my
lane. So according to the scoreboard I also got two 70s and a 110.
Haha we had lots of fun there, especially considering that bowling is
only $1 a game on Mondays. Then we went and played ping pong and
foosball and whatnot at the institute building, and i am really coming
to find out that you really can get better at just about anything with
lots of practice. I'm getting good at ping pong, and I'm getting
noticeably less bad at foosball and pool haha.
But after that we tried to visits a few people, and we talked with
brother Gowey about why baptism is essential for exaltation. Good day,
and I am tired as flip, not to mention still a little sick... ):
3/8
My companion's starting to get sick... Which I am not enjoying... I
guess I made him deal with me earlier this transfer, and so I can't
complain. Oh well...
With elder Hansen being sick, we didn't end up leaving the apartment
until like 2pm.... I had a lot of study time, again. Haha this seems
to be a common occurrence in this area. The Lord is apparently trying
to teach me some sort of lesson while I am here but not making it easy
to learn. I haven't found it yet, but onward I must move!
ANYWAY- after Elder Hansen felt up to getting around and moving, we
made our way over to brother Gowey's neighbor and helped her paint
some more. Elder Hansen made a comment while we were there that made
me laugh-
"you know elder Wallgren, I realized the difference between our two
painting styles. I paint slow and steady, and you just kind of paint
to paint. There is nothing wrong with that. I am being slow and
methodical, and I am getting no paint on me. And you are being.......
Not slow and methodical. You are getting a whole lot more painted, but
sadly that includes yourself! It's kind of like investment- with high
risk comes high reward. You are risking a lot by painting fast, and
getting stuff on your clothes. I am not risking a lot. Don't take this
bad though- you are in fact painting almost 3 times as much as me."
I hadn't realized until then that I was, in fact, being a little messy
with my painting. However, I didn't care haha. The walls looked nice,
and now whenever I wear my jeans you can definitely tell that I did in
fact paint! Hahaha
We had dinner with the Heilison family tonight, and that is always
fun. They are the sue or musical, super awesome, family that reminds
me a lot of my family back home. Big ol' family of 7, and they seem to
really enjoy doing things that the typical American family doesn't
enjoy. The stark contrast to my family is that what they enjoy doing
isn't musicals and whatnot, it is parcore (I have more idea how to
spell that). They go to the flippin gym for it twice a week, and they
go on family outings together to do this. Like.... What the?! Haha
cool family though!
Visited sue and brother Gowey after dinner, and had some good
conversations with them. Talked a lot about the Book of Mormon, and
what it does for us in our lives. Excited for their baptisms coming
up!
3/9
District meeting Wednesday! Talked a bunch about being dignified
missionaries and holding ourselves with decorum. It still feels weird
to be in a district that has more sister than it does elders. I mean
yeah, we have 5 elders when the other district only has 3, and only
have 6 sisters when the other one has 7, but that still is kinda
weird! We have almost twice as many sisters in the zone as elders!!!!
We are the only zone that has more than 2 companionships of sisters...
IN THE WHOLE MISSION. And we have 6... SIX. Haha I joke, having
sisters is great. President Wadsworth has said many times that having
a ton of sisters in the zone makes the work so much easier to do, and
it also adds a competitive edge for the sisters and elders to battle
for the work! He thinks it's great, and I... Sorta do. Yes, the
sisters are competitive, but I at times they are a little too much.
Haha it makes good fun in the zone though!
After that we spent a good chunk of time practicing our music with
elder Hatton for the upcoming zone conference, and then we visited a
few people on our way back home. No one let us in, but we set a few
hopefully solid return appointments!
Had a good lesson with the George's- read 1 Nephi 21-22 and talked
about following our ancestors and reading the scriptures. Brother
George always brings up the coolest questions about what we read that
I have never heard before. Nothing that is doubting the Book of
Mormon, but some cool questions about the doctrine contained within it
and how it is presented. He is really helping me realize that a lot of
what is in the Book of Mormon was written so that the people in that
time could understand it, but for our benefit in this day! The Book of
Mormon is the best!
3/10
Weekly planning! Woohoo! Haha I think that the whole concept of the
thing is starting to grow on me. I didn't really like it too much
before, but I think Elder Hansen has given me a new light on the
topic. We take it one pice at a time, and for some reason the way he
does I just kinda makes it blow by instead of taking FOREVER. And it
did seem to just kinda move by, finally a step down pushing bamboo
shoots up my fingernails! But afterwards we were able to practice
again with elder Hatton, and according to his companion who has at
into all our practice- "I don't know what you guys did in your sleep
last night but that sounds like 100 times better than yesterday!!!!"
Haha I don't know what it was either, but it is comforting to know
that we are getting better!
After that we went and had another really cool lesson with Sue and
Sister Godbout. (Good-boo). Talked a lot about priestcraft and how
prevalent it is in the world today. Talked a lot about how the world
today seems to be raging with all sorts of false prophets and teachers
that just teach what the people want to hear so that they can become
rush and famous! Good discussion there.
We had dinner with bishop Nystrom, which was pretty cool. He grilled
up some hotdogs for us, and we sat for a while and talked about the
work in Clinton. His kids came up after a little bit and started to
eat with us too, and then his son started to ask us some questions
about our home life. It was pretty weird..... But we answered. By the
end of like 30 minutes, his whole family was surprised to hear about
some of the stuff we had done back at home- almost like they thought
that we weren't normal people before our missions. Hahah his son even
said- "you never think of missionaries in a normal way... But now that
I know you two are normal people I kinda want to serve a mission
more!" So I think it was good.... But I'm not sure because his 18 year
old daughter was also there and there were a few times when she was
looking at my companion a little weird...........
ANYWAY- we also helped a family move a couple dressers tonight and
that felt good, even though I'm weak as a worm! And then we went to an
appointment we had scheduled and something weird happened. We walked
up to the door, and as we were we walked past a pig bay window.
Through the window I made eye contact with the husband of the girl we
were planning on meeting with; that's always a little awkward, but
whatever. I waved to him, and he waved back. So I thought, okay,
whatever. He doesn't think it was awkward, good! But then we knocked
on the door.... And waited. And then knocked on the door.... And
waited..., and then knocked on the door.... And waited. We knocked
like 5 times and we waited for a total of probably 5
minutes........... And he didn't come to the door. Confused.. We
looked through the window. There was the husband. Just... Standing
there.......... Staring at us. I waved again, and we waved back; this
time, however, I noticed that he had the biggest smirk on his face. So
I knocked one more time, and after waiting another minute we decided
that he wasn't coming to the door. As we walked away o made eye
contact with him one more time, and this time I could tell- he was
wishing death upon us. I dunno if that is a mission thing or just a
Montana thing, but flip it was weird, awkward, rude, and altogether
depressing!
3/11
Friday we spent another day save miles- we hiked all the way out to
East Missoula. Hooray! Haha it actually is a pretty cool walk. It's
about 5.5 miles one way, and so we have plenty of time as a
companionship to learn and grow closer together haha. Also, we have
time to visit people along the way. we tried as many people as we had
names for along the way, and only like 2-3 answered the door, and only
like one said we could come back. Missionary work at its finest,
right?! Haha but then we went to an appointment we had scheduled with
sister Nichols (the cat lady). As we walked up to her house, kind of
awkwardly the YSA sister missionaries were walking out of her front
door. Sister Nichols seems to like scheduling things like that, having
the both of us come over one after another. I think that is a good
thing, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, we had a pretty cool lesson
with her, and she gave me a recipe book!!! Now I have like 200 index
cards fill with different recipes from home and stuff I find on my
mission!!!!!!! Excited!
After that we had a dinner with the Lindons again. They made us tacos
and elder Hanson cracked us all up again; because he has been feeling
sick, we decided that some hot sauce would help him. So he grabbed
some- little did he know it was the hottest stuff that they had!!!!
Hahaha his face turned so red so fast when he took a bite of it. then
he made some weird concoction of apple juice and milk, which also made
most of us gag!!!
After that we had a good day visiting some people in the night, and
then we went home so elder Hansen could get some extra sleep and
hopefully start feeling better.
3/12
Saturday was interesting. We had planned to spend the morning walking
around Bonner visiting some people and hoping to some appointments.
Well, all the appointments we had either cancelled or weren't there
when we showed up! So, we kept trying to visit people, and eventually
we got led by the spirit to some an investigators house in which I had
never been, so we knocked. They immediately recognized us, and let us
in. We though that it was going to be great! But oh man... We then
spent and hour talking about conspiracy theories... About the bible,
the government, and religion in general. I kind of sat and bided my
time, and tried to throw in as much about the Book of Mormon as I
could. It didn't do much. Hopefully next time we visit them it will be
better.
Then we had brother Gowey's baptismal interview so we drove into
Missoula and hung out at the church while the interview happened. It
was pretty cool, and we got to see part of another baptism while we
waited for he interview to be over with. Good times. Then we drove out
to Drummond for the weekend. Betty dull day. We did get to sing for
like 20 minutes with brother Lacey while I played piano. That was
pretty cool.
3/13
Good day in Drummond. Church in Drummond is always cool- it's a branch
that should be a ward in half of a ward building! They members there
are awesome and super knowledgable in the gospel. Classes are super
cool and everything always runs super fantastic. The rest of the day
was just full of finding, visiting, and teaching. We taught an awesome
lesson to Dan wells in the parke's home, and we set a date for May 7th
for his baptism!!! We are super excited to onto i.e. Working with him
towards his date, and towards baptism!!
The only other lesson we really taught was to the Egberts as we were
headed back home. We taught the finger tricks to remember the 10
commandments, and the kids love them, as always. Thanks to Elders
Gillian and Hampton for being he best elders EVER. Really learned a
lot from those two, and they are kinda the missionary I want to be!!!
(The beautiful view.... Oh yeah and the tress and buildings and stuff
in the background behind me ;)
The ACTUAL beautiful view from the top of the mountain. You can see
just about all of Missoula, minus a little bit of what is hidden in
the tress and behind the mountain
I scored a 92!!!!!! I'm so proud of myself. That is like the 4th
highest score I have ever gotten.)
**************************************************************************************
I don't remember if I told you or not.... But this transfer (because
of the change in the MTC time) is 7 weeks, and as such I'm going to
get home from my mission 1 week later- so instead of August 12th, it's
going to be August 19th 2017. Serving exactly two years.... Like a
boss.
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