"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.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
2/29-3/806/2016: The Stark Difference Between the Tablespoon and the Teaspoon
"There are times when we can become upset at imagined hurts or
perceived injustices. President Heber J. Grant, seventh President of
the Church, told of a time as a young adult when he did some work for
a man who then sent him a check for $500 with a letter apologizing for
not being able to pay him more. Then President Grant did some work for
another man--work which he said was 10 times more difficult, involving
10 times more labor and a great deal more time. This second man sent
him a check for $150. Young Heber felt he had been treated most
unfairly. He was at first insulted and then incensed.
He recounted the experience to an older friend, who asked, 'Did
that man intend to insult you?'
President Grant replied, 'No. He told my friends he had rewarded
me handsomely.'
To this the older friend replied, 'A man’s a fool who takes an
insult that isn’t intended.'" (Thomas S. Monson, School Thy Feelings,
O My Brother, October 2009 General Conference)
I saw this in a talk I was listening to this week... I thought that
last statement was pretty flippin profound. Just remember, no one can
MAKE you be angry. Having those hostile feelings is always a choice on
your part. Anything that is bad or contentious comes form Satan, and
anything that is good or happy comes from Christ!
2/29
Good preparation day. We were getting a lot done in the apartment, but
then the zone leaders called us and said they needed another set of
elders to be with them in the institute building so that they weren't
alone with the sisters.... So we kinda ditched what we were doing and
ran over to the institute building and did stuff over there for a good
hour and a half or so and then we made our way to the stake center for
zone stuff. Had a fun time as well as people started to leave- there
wasn't enough people to play any sort of game, but there was a youth
there from Ronan who brought his guitar and Ukulele so those of us
that we're still at the church just hung out, played music, and talked
about crazy people on our mission. I found out, that even amongst
missionaries that dang goat in Clarkston is not a Normal story. I told
the story to everyone, and it just about killed a couple of the
sisters. Haha it was fun to just kind of sit around and talk for a
little. Got to type some extra emails to send to friends and whatnot,
and eventually we just decided it was time to go!
The evening was pretty slow, but most evenings that we go out to
beavertail are... We spent most of the night at the Egbert's house-
talked with them for a while and then shared a message about Jesus and
the atonement. Lessons with them are always cool because our
conversations usually start out with nothing gospel related, but
somehow we always just naturally transition into a gospel topic. I am
really crossing my fingers that one day soon Dusty will decide it is
time for her to get baptized!
3/1
Another full day, but full of stuff we weren't expecting haha. We had
planned to start off at like 11:30am getting out and walking around
our neighborhood, but our plans got changed. We got a call from Sister
Wadsworth- Elder Hansen (and sort of myself) is (are?) now in charge
of a musical number for the upcoming multi-zone conference on Mach
17th. Oh man..... So we spent most of the rest of the morning trying
to figure out what number we were going to do, so that anyone else we
needed to ask to join us we could do so tomorrow at district meeting.
We have it narrowed down to like 2 numbers now, but it took a trip out
to Clinton to get a piano and play out some stuff that had been
arranged to make sure it sounds good. Elder Hansen is a fantastic
musician, and he is able to arrange and transpose stuff like there is
no tomorrow! I really am loving having a musical companion who I can
begin to relate to and have fun with!!
But besides that we taught a few lessons. Put Sue back on baptismal
date! We were finally able to resolve her concern, and now we just
have to schedule the interview for this weekend so she can get
baptized at the end of he month!! We think that President Wadsworth
wants to do it.... which I'm not going to lie- it makes me a little
nervous haha. He is coming into town for Stake Conference this
weekend, and in our emails to him yesterday he said that he would like
to interview her if possible... AAAAAAAAA this should be interesting!
We also stopped by brother Gowey's and gave him some butterscotch to
help him stop smoking. Apparently the butterscotch candy disks are
like the only thing that help the want to smoke go away. I dunno...
But I've never smoked so we are just going with what he had said
works. We spent like $8 on butterscotch, and he said that if we were
willing to buy that much candy for him... He really needs to stop
smoking haha. Good day... Good day.
3/2
Had a really nice district meeting today. Got to know all the members
of our new district, which is always really nice. The Missoula north
district is really turning into something great. We are all growing
closer together (even though almost half of the district is new). Even
so, we are having some great discussions. Today we talked a lot about
working with the members in our areas. Talked a lot about how it is
easier to build a relationship with investigators if they already have
a close friend in the area that they can relate to at church. Moral of
the story- members rock, and missionary work is so much easier with
them at the helm, and us in the background. After district meeting we
caravaned over to five guys as a zone and most of us ate a pretty
bomb-diggidy lunch. I forgot how great five guys is, make me kind of
miss home though, but oh well, such is life. We headed back to the
stake center to grab our car, but we ran into elder Hatton on our way
out, so we spent some time figuring out which of the four songs we had
arranged we should sing for the zone conference. After like an hour we
decided on master the tempest is raging, but a really cool arrangement
of it that I have never seen before. It is definitely not going to be
easy, but I love the opportunity to grow and become better in my
talents. It's going to be rough for me, because elder Hatton and elder
Hansen both have really strong voices, and in the range I am being
required to sing in I am not nearly as strong (I'm probably not nearly
as strong in any range I have, but I'm using the excuse this time that
it's too low haha). I'm going to o I work hard to punch myself, and
get to the point in which I can be better!! Haha
After a while of practicing with him, we made our way to an
investigator's house, one that I really have not much hope fore
unfortunately. We think he just wants us over so he can reminisce
about his high-school days. Whatever reason we can get into the door I
guess, but we don't think he has much interest in learning about the
restored gospel or about Joseph smith. To each their own, but I don't
want to waste my time! After that we tracted our Bonner a little bit,
and then we headed out to Clinton to talk to the George's house to
read the Book of Mormon. We talked with them about 1 Nephi 17, and the
whole point of the lesson we taught turned into a lesson about how the
small and simple things, like reading and praying, are the things that
are going to, in the end, be what keeps us from spiritually
"starving". We said that and brother George was like- "so you mean we
need these scriptures and to pray just as much as we need to eat?!
Well I thought I wouldn't do much for me because it was small and
simple, but eating is pretty small and simple. If I don't eat, I die!
So I guess that if I don't read scriptures or pray, in a way I guess I
also die!" Elder Hansen and I were kind of dumb-struck. Yes brother
George, it's just like that. I mean think about it, if we don't read
from the scriptures and pray everyday at it is just kind of like
starving ourselves... I swear I'm learning way more form the people I
teach than what I teach them!
After that we went to he church and recorded parts for the song. I
felt a lot like Mr. Hernandez back in school, recording parts for the
delinquents who may or may not listen to them!!! Haha.
3/3
We started to plan today, but then we got some false hope from another
set of missionaries in the ward that is was national pancake day and
that IHOP was giving away free pancakes.... But alas it wasn't....oh
well, we got to eat a pretty bomb lunch today, even though we didn't
get to plan. After I had ordered and consumed more sugar than I
possibly could, and probably should, we rushed out to go and give sue
some service in her home. It felt weird to be in jeans walking around
town. A member saw us and stopped and started questioning us, mostly
jokingly but we think maybe he was having some other thoughts about
us. Haha oh well I can't read minds! Either way, we walked over to
Sue's house and spent a good 4 hours or so helping Sue begin to clean
and organize all the bins in her house. She had planned on cleaning
them before (she moved in there form a bigger house so she's deciding
what to get rid of and whatnot) but then she had to deal with cancer
and all the stuff that came with it, so cleaning the house became less
and less of a possibility. We. Understand, but we also know that it
needed to be done! I was happy to help, plus I got a cool box CD set
of classical music to listen to in the apartment or car. As I've been
listening to it the past few days I am really starting to remember how
much I do love listening to that, and how much it relaxes me. Chopin,
Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel, Brahms, and Ravel. Mmmmmmm..... It
feels good. I'll attach a picture.
After that we finished recording Elder Hatton's part for the musical
number. We feel kinda bad- we think we gave him the hardest part.
Dang.... Oh well. The only reason this number could possibly crash and
burn is because it is completely a Capella. It is like 5 minutes of
straight a Capella voices.... Not gonna lie I'm a little worried! But
I am confident that with some practice we could sound at least halfway
decent and become the "talk of the mission" (as elder Hansen put it
haha). But once that was done we didn't have much time left, so we
headed back to the apartment to take care of some last minute
split-second planning, so that in our interviews tomorrow with
President Wadsworth it would be okay if he wanted to look at out area
book haha. Hooray for lazy missionaries!!!
3/4
We slept through all of our alarms this morning, didn't wake up until
like 7:30. Made me feel a little bad, not going to lie. But, ya live
and ya learn: don't leave all your alarms in the other room behind two
closed doors. Hahaha I don't know why it didn't occur to us earlier
that that was probably not a good idea...
But after a late morning and a rush to be on time for interviews, we
got to the stake center and found president and sister Wadsworth.
President was in an interview with other missionaries, so we hung out
just outshone the room and talked with Sister Wadsworth. She is
fantastic oh my goodness. We talked about the time when I first got
into the field and everyone was frantically looking for as missing
elder in the airport (we were supposed to have 30 but we only had 29!)
and after like 45 minutes I occurred to me that I didn't know the name
of who I was looking for- so I inquired. Upon learning the name of the
missing elder (I can't remember it for the life of me, and neither
could sister Wadsworth) the knowledge.... Was resorted to my memory
that it the same elder who had to go home in the MTC. I went and found
president and sister Wadsworth and told them the restored knowledge,
and they both just kinda stared at me............ I felt so bad today
but sister Wadsworth assured me that all it did for the two of them
was provide relief and a good laugh. She says they are still laughing
about it today, and that I really had nothing to worry about. We
laughed for a while, even though I still feel bad. But then president
came out of the office, and I jumped at the opportunity to get out of
the awkward situation and volunteered to go first in interviews. I
talked with president a lot about the situation back at home, and
about how the scriptures are a strength and support to us. He asked me
a lot about how my family was doing, and I was actually surprised to
find out that he still remembered the kind cruddy situation that was
happening back home last time I talked with him. It was really
comforting to know that even amongst the well over 200 missionaries he
has interviewed and dealt with since that last interview with myself,
he still loves and cares for me enough to take note and remember what
is happening with me! I am really, really starting to love that
man....
We got home after that and spent some time cleaning up the place- we
didn't I get to do much of it last Monday, so it was starting to get
kinda gross. I did dishes for like 45 minutes, cleaned the counters
for another like 30, and then started to work on the study area. It
felt good to clean, and the classical music I had goin on in the
background made it so I didn't even realize how long or how much I had
been cleaning. It felt good though to be able to have a clean
apartment (mostly) and to say that I had cleaned it!! Haha we spent
the rest of the day out in East Missoula, walking around, talking to
people, and trying to find people to teach. We had dinner with the
Lindons (which is always interesting) and at the end of the day a
lesson with the Slabaughs about death and resurrection. Good stuff.
Hahaha one last expertise for the day and the reason behind the
subject of the email.
So in order to keep ourselves motivated to remain hydrated, we buy
that powdered pink lemonade stuff and add it to our water bottles.
Well it takes 2.5 Tablespoons to make it taste good, and than like
9-10 teaspoons ( I don't they don't work out to be equal, but it just
doesn't taste right with 6-8 teaspoons). Well I had used the
tablespoon measuring cup to make some stroganoff earlier in the week,
so we didn't want to use that to make lemonade and began to use the
teaspoon measure instead. Well because I did dished today I switched
out the teaspoon measure with the tablespoon measure near that
lemonade cup thing. Here's the catch- I forgot to tell Elder Hansen,
and he doesn't have the largest amount of... Special awareness. So
tonight he was making some lemonade for himself, thinking that what he
had was the teaspoon measure.... But it wasn't. So Elder Hansen added
10 TABLESPOONS of the lemonade powder to his drink.............
Results: the most sour, lip-puckering, eyeball popping bottle of
lemonade your have never tasted. I learned today that there is, in
fact, a stark difference between a Tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon
of sugar. The only question left- which one helps the medicine go
down?!
3/5
Went back to the stake center today for Sue's interview with president
Wadsworth. I think elder Hansen and I were more stressed about it than
she was, but I guess that is life! Everything went fine and she is
still on track for the 26th, and we are SUPER EXCITED! After that we
went to bother Gowey's house and painted a couple of his rooms. Got
paint everywhere, like all good painters do. All over the walls,
myself, and my companion. Success! After that we had sake conference
which took up the rest of our night, so kinda a boring day!
3/6
Merle stake conference. After conference I was feeling super crappy so
we napped for like 4 hours... I woke up and didn't feel a bit better,
so I ate something and then we decided that sitting around wasn't
doing anything so we started walking around. We talked a a few people
in our way around town, and we visited those people who we knew were
along the way. Good day, but not too much to talk about.
(The CDs I got a sue's. It gives me the warm fuzzies to listen to...
My companion is obsessed with pugs.... I don't understand it but he
had to get a picture)
perceived injustices. President Heber J. Grant, seventh President of
the Church, told of a time as a young adult when he did some work for
a man who then sent him a check for $500 with a letter apologizing for
not being able to pay him more. Then President Grant did some work for
another man--work which he said was 10 times more difficult, involving
10 times more labor and a great deal more time. This second man sent
him a check for $150. Young Heber felt he had been treated most
unfairly. He was at first insulted and then incensed.
He recounted the experience to an older friend, who asked, 'Did
that man intend to insult you?'
President Grant replied, 'No. He told my friends he had rewarded
me handsomely.'
To this the older friend replied, 'A man’s a fool who takes an
insult that isn’t intended.'" (Thomas S. Monson, School Thy Feelings,
O My Brother, October 2009 General Conference)
I saw this in a talk I was listening to this week... I thought that
last statement was pretty flippin profound. Just remember, no one can
MAKE you be angry. Having those hostile feelings is always a choice on
your part. Anything that is bad or contentious comes form Satan, and
anything that is good or happy comes from Christ!
2/29
Good preparation day. We were getting a lot done in the apartment, but
then the zone leaders called us and said they needed another set of
elders to be with them in the institute building so that they weren't
alone with the sisters.... So we kinda ditched what we were doing and
ran over to the institute building and did stuff over there for a good
hour and a half or so and then we made our way to the stake center for
zone stuff. Had a fun time as well as people started to leave- there
wasn't enough people to play any sort of game, but there was a youth
there from Ronan who brought his guitar and Ukulele so those of us
that we're still at the church just hung out, played music, and talked
about crazy people on our mission. I found out, that even amongst
missionaries that dang goat in Clarkston is not a Normal story. I told
the story to everyone, and it just about killed a couple of the
sisters. Haha it was fun to just kind of sit around and talk for a
little. Got to type some extra emails to send to friends and whatnot,
and eventually we just decided it was time to go!
The evening was pretty slow, but most evenings that we go out to
beavertail are... We spent most of the night at the Egbert's house-
talked with them for a while and then shared a message about Jesus and
the atonement. Lessons with them are always cool because our
conversations usually start out with nothing gospel related, but
somehow we always just naturally transition into a gospel topic. I am
really crossing my fingers that one day soon Dusty will decide it is
time for her to get baptized!
3/1
Another full day, but full of stuff we weren't expecting haha. We had
planned to start off at like 11:30am getting out and walking around
our neighborhood, but our plans got changed. We got a call from Sister
Wadsworth- Elder Hansen (and sort of myself) is (are?) now in charge
of a musical number for the upcoming multi-zone conference on Mach
17th. Oh man..... So we spent most of the rest of the morning trying
to figure out what number we were going to do, so that anyone else we
needed to ask to join us we could do so tomorrow at district meeting.
We have it narrowed down to like 2 numbers now, but it took a trip out
to Clinton to get a piano and play out some stuff that had been
arranged to make sure it sounds good. Elder Hansen is a fantastic
musician, and he is able to arrange and transpose stuff like there is
no tomorrow! I really am loving having a musical companion who I can
begin to relate to and have fun with!!
But besides that we taught a few lessons. Put Sue back on baptismal
date! We were finally able to resolve her concern, and now we just
have to schedule the interview for this weekend so she can get
baptized at the end of he month!! We think that President Wadsworth
wants to do it.... which I'm not going to lie- it makes me a little
nervous haha. He is coming into town for Stake Conference this
weekend, and in our emails to him yesterday he said that he would like
to interview her if possible... AAAAAAAAA this should be interesting!
We also stopped by brother Gowey's and gave him some butterscotch to
help him stop smoking. Apparently the butterscotch candy disks are
like the only thing that help the want to smoke go away. I dunno...
But I've never smoked so we are just going with what he had said
works. We spent like $8 on butterscotch, and he said that if we were
willing to buy that much candy for him... He really needs to stop
smoking haha. Good day... Good day.
3/2
Had a really nice district meeting today. Got to know all the members
of our new district, which is always really nice. The Missoula north
district is really turning into something great. We are all growing
closer together (even though almost half of the district is new). Even
so, we are having some great discussions. Today we talked a lot about
working with the members in our areas. Talked a lot about how it is
easier to build a relationship with investigators if they already have
a close friend in the area that they can relate to at church. Moral of
the story- members rock, and missionary work is so much easier with
them at the helm, and us in the background. After district meeting we
caravaned over to five guys as a zone and most of us ate a pretty
bomb-diggidy lunch. I forgot how great five guys is, make me kind of
miss home though, but oh well, such is life. We headed back to the
stake center to grab our car, but we ran into elder Hatton on our way
out, so we spent some time figuring out which of the four songs we had
arranged we should sing for the zone conference. After like an hour we
decided on master the tempest is raging, but a really cool arrangement
of it that I have never seen before. It is definitely not going to be
easy, but I love the opportunity to grow and become better in my
talents. It's going to be rough for me, because elder Hatton and elder
Hansen both have really strong voices, and in the range I am being
required to sing in I am not nearly as strong (I'm probably not nearly
as strong in any range I have, but I'm using the excuse this time that
it's too low haha). I'm going to o I work hard to punch myself, and
get to the point in which I can be better!! Haha
After a while of practicing with him, we made our way to an
investigator's house, one that I really have not much hope fore
unfortunately. We think he just wants us over so he can reminisce
about his high-school days. Whatever reason we can get into the door I
guess, but we don't think he has much interest in learning about the
restored gospel or about Joseph smith. To each their own, but I don't
want to waste my time! After that we tracted our Bonner a little bit,
and then we headed out to Clinton to talk to the George's house to
read the Book of Mormon. We talked with them about 1 Nephi 17, and the
whole point of the lesson we taught turned into a lesson about how the
small and simple things, like reading and praying, are the things that
are going to, in the end, be what keeps us from spiritually
"starving". We said that and brother George was like- "so you mean we
need these scriptures and to pray just as much as we need to eat?!
Well I thought I wouldn't do much for me because it was small and
simple, but eating is pretty small and simple. If I don't eat, I die!
So I guess that if I don't read scriptures or pray, in a way I guess I
also die!" Elder Hansen and I were kind of dumb-struck. Yes brother
George, it's just like that. I mean think about it, if we don't read
from the scriptures and pray everyday at it is just kind of like
starving ourselves... I swear I'm learning way more form the people I
teach than what I teach them!
After that we went to he church and recorded parts for the song. I
felt a lot like Mr. Hernandez back in school, recording parts for the
delinquents who may or may not listen to them!!! Haha.
3/3
We started to plan today, but then we got some false hope from another
set of missionaries in the ward that is was national pancake day and
that IHOP was giving away free pancakes.... But alas it wasn't....oh
well, we got to eat a pretty bomb lunch today, even though we didn't
get to plan. After I had ordered and consumed more sugar than I
possibly could, and probably should, we rushed out to go and give sue
some service in her home. It felt weird to be in jeans walking around
town. A member saw us and stopped and started questioning us, mostly
jokingly but we think maybe he was having some other thoughts about
us. Haha oh well I can't read minds! Either way, we walked over to
Sue's house and spent a good 4 hours or so helping Sue begin to clean
and organize all the bins in her house. She had planned on cleaning
them before (she moved in there form a bigger house so she's deciding
what to get rid of and whatnot) but then she had to deal with cancer
and all the stuff that came with it, so cleaning the house became less
and less of a possibility. We. Understand, but we also know that it
needed to be done! I was happy to help, plus I got a cool box CD set
of classical music to listen to in the apartment or car. As I've been
listening to it the past few days I am really starting to remember how
much I do love listening to that, and how much it relaxes me. Chopin,
Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel, Brahms, and Ravel. Mmmmmmm..... It
feels good. I'll attach a picture.
After that we finished recording Elder Hatton's part for the musical
number. We feel kinda bad- we think we gave him the hardest part.
Dang.... Oh well. The only reason this number could possibly crash and
burn is because it is completely a Capella. It is like 5 minutes of
straight a Capella voices.... Not gonna lie I'm a little worried! But
I am confident that with some practice we could sound at least halfway
decent and become the "talk of the mission" (as elder Hansen put it
haha). But once that was done we didn't have much time left, so we
headed back to the apartment to take care of some last minute
split-second planning, so that in our interviews tomorrow with
President Wadsworth it would be okay if he wanted to look at out area
book haha. Hooray for lazy missionaries!!!
3/4
We slept through all of our alarms this morning, didn't wake up until
like 7:30. Made me feel a little bad, not going to lie. But, ya live
and ya learn: don't leave all your alarms in the other room behind two
closed doors. Hahaha I don't know why it didn't occur to us earlier
that that was probably not a good idea...
But after a late morning and a rush to be on time for interviews, we
got to the stake center and found president and sister Wadsworth.
President was in an interview with other missionaries, so we hung out
just outshone the room and talked with Sister Wadsworth. She is
fantastic oh my goodness. We talked about the time when I first got
into the field and everyone was frantically looking for as missing
elder in the airport (we were supposed to have 30 but we only had 29!)
and after like 45 minutes I occurred to me that I didn't know the name
of who I was looking for- so I inquired. Upon learning the name of the
missing elder (I can't remember it for the life of me, and neither
could sister Wadsworth) the knowledge.... Was resorted to my memory
that it the same elder who had to go home in the MTC. I went and found
president and sister Wadsworth and told them the restored knowledge,
and they both just kinda stared at me............ I felt so bad today
but sister Wadsworth assured me that all it did for the two of them
was provide relief and a good laugh. She says they are still laughing
about it today, and that I really had nothing to worry about. We
laughed for a while, even though I still feel bad. But then president
came out of the office, and I jumped at the opportunity to get out of
the awkward situation and volunteered to go first in interviews. I
talked with president a lot about the situation back at home, and
about how the scriptures are a strength and support to us. He asked me
a lot about how my family was doing, and I was actually surprised to
find out that he still remembered the kind cruddy situation that was
happening back home last time I talked with him. It was really
comforting to know that even amongst the well over 200 missionaries he
has interviewed and dealt with since that last interview with myself,
he still loves and cares for me enough to take note and remember what
is happening with me! I am really, really starting to love that
man....
We got home after that and spent some time cleaning up the place- we
didn't I get to do much of it last Monday, so it was starting to get
kinda gross. I did dishes for like 45 minutes, cleaned the counters
for another like 30, and then started to work on the study area. It
felt good to clean, and the classical music I had goin on in the
background made it so I didn't even realize how long or how much I had
been cleaning. It felt good though to be able to have a clean
apartment (mostly) and to say that I had cleaned it!! Haha we spent
the rest of the day out in East Missoula, walking around, talking to
people, and trying to find people to teach. We had dinner with the
Lindons (which is always interesting) and at the end of the day a
lesson with the Slabaughs about death and resurrection. Good stuff.
Hahaha one last expertise for the day and the reason behind the
subject of the email.
So in order to keep ourselves motivated to remain hydrated, we buy
that powdered pink lemonade stuff and add it to our water bottles.
Well it takes 2.5 Tablespoons to make it taste good, and than like
9-10 teaspoons ( I don't they don't work out to be equal, but it just
doesn't taste right with 6-8 teaspoons). Well I had used the
tablespoon measuring cup to make some stroganoff earlier in the week,
so we didn't want to use that to make lemonade and began to use the
teaspoon measure instead. Well because I did dished today I switched
out the teaspoon measure with the tablespoon measure near that
lemonade cup thing. Here's the catch- I forgot to tell Elder Hansen,
and he doesn't have the largest amount of... Special awareness. So
tonight he was making some lemonade for himself, thinking that what he
had was the teaspoon measure.... But it wasn't. So Elder Hansen added
10 TABLESPOONS of the lemonade powder to his drink.............
Results: the most sour, lip-puckering, eyeball popping bottle of
lemonade your have never tasted. I learned today that there is, in
fact, a stark difference between a Tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon
of sugar. The only question left- which one helps the medicine go
down?!
3/5
Went back to the stake center today for Sue's interview with president
Wadsworth. I think elder Hansen and I were more stressed about it than
she was, but I guess that is life! Everything went fine and she is
still on track for the 26th, and we are SUPER EXCITED! After that we
went to bother Gowey's house and painted a couple of his rooms. Got
paint everywhere, like all good painters do. All over the walls,
myself, and my companion. Success! After that we had sake conference
which took up the rest of our night, so kinda a boring day!
3/6
Merle stake conference. After conference I was feeling super crappy so
we napped for like 4 hours... I woke up and didn't feel a bit better,
so I ate something and then we decided that sitting around wasn't
doing anything so we started walking around. We talked a a few people
in our way around town, and we visited those people who we knew were
along the way. Good day, but not too much to talk about.
(The CDs I got a sue's. It gives me the warm fuzzies to listen to...
My companion is obsessed with pugs.... I don't understand it but he
had to get a picture)
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