Hey! Kind of a crazy week to say the least. Lots of new things including scenery (or lack thereof), smells, people, missionaries, and responsibilities. It actually started to be busy before I got to Powell. On Tuesday (still in Bigfork), we had so many appointments lined up. SO I had like no time to pack. But, I got to say goodbye to a lot of people which was nice. Tuesday morning I had the privledge of moving a piano from one home, to the bed of a truck, to another home. Moving pianos across ice is no fun, I actually slipped while we had the piano horizontally off the ground. Fortunately I didn't fall, but I did manage to bite my lip pretty good out of concentration.
Other than that, Tuesday we got to meet with lots of people. One being Anne, who bought us luinch at Subway and then we taught at lesson in her gift shop. Brother Harris came with us and we re-taught the Restoration. I am not sure she is willing to be baptized, but she said she is going to miss me and gave me an, "Irish Prayer" coin that belonged to her. Our next stop was Sondra's, our progressing Atheist. She gave me one of her favorite books called, "Saints" written by Orson Scott Card, a member of the church. It's about pioneers I think. I can't read it though, so that will be getting sent home. Our last appointmet and dinner was with the Harris' again. We went over the Baptismal Interview questions with Amanda. Brother Harris asked me to bare my testimony. That was tough to get through. Everyone was crying haha. I am going to miss that family.
Wednesday was the Transfer Day. I didn't get to bed till 12:30 the previous night because the Polson Elders stayed the night and I still had to pack. Elder Beck and I started travel at 7:30AM and we made it to Helena at about 11, where I got to see Elder Schramm and Elder Villejo. Elder Schramm is a ZL now too (haha!). Rode in the transfer van to Bozeman and then was in a minivan with Elder Burrows (the new AP) and 5 other sisters on our trip to Billings. I lost my carryon somewhere along the way...so I have been without my own socks and several other stuff for about a week. Fortunately they found it and I will get thattomorrow haha. Then I drove down with Elder Jackson to Wyoming.
My first day as a ZL was exciting! My favorite thing is sending out voicemails to teh zone haha. Elder Rasmusson is awesome and an exceptional missionary. This is his second transfer as a ZL and has been out for 7 months. We are both new at this. We spent our first day visiting some innactive families that nighter of us have met. Lunch was AWESOME. There is a member here that owns a truck called, "Hawg Heaven." It is pretty much the best pulled pork ever and the pulled pork sandwhiches have 1 pound of meat in them...and he lets missionaries eat free whenever. SO GOOD. Later that night we had a lesson with the, "Young" family. The wife is not a member but the husband is less-active. Our lesson was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is my favorite. Our last lesson of the evening was with a recent convert named Jenni. We went over the commandments with her as part of the new member discussions.
Powell has 3 wards and a YSA ward, and it only has about 6000 people. We cover 2 of those wards, the 1st and 3rd. On Friday, we began the day doing service at "Loaves and Fishes." It's pretty much a food bank. We helped sort/box food and even got two free packages of oreos out of it! Woo! Aftyerwards, we met with an innactive member named Beau. He is actually in the Powell 2 ward (which the sisters cover), but the sisters are too intimidated by him to teach him. He is in his 30's, has a small family, and is an extreme pessimist. He wants the church to be true but thinks that it doesn't "logically" make sense. He's a miracle seeker. We made him the promise in Christ's name that if he went to church Sunday with ONE question...that it would be answered in Sacrament meeting. And we heard from the Sisters that it happened :). We did more service on Friday. We stopped by tyhe anaimal shelter and will be working htere on Wednesdays. The Police Department even seeked us out (for good reasons). They want us to remodel their break room...That's definately a first. Lastly, we visited a less-active family that we committed to come to church every week for the rest of their lives haha.
Saturday morning was spent at teh public library re-arranging the DVD's to fit a new shipment of them. That took us about 2 hours, but we are getting brownie points from the city. Later that day while visiting an active family, I fell asleep TWICE during the lesson! HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?! So we went home and I took a nap. I never recovered from the transfer. We had dinner that night with our host family which are the Yates. Very nice couple. We live downstairs in the basement, it's actually pretty sweet. That evening we visited some innactives named the Ackley's and the Andrews.
Yesterday was tough haha. This is my first time covering two wards. Ward council was at 7, and we weren't done with church till 2! But it was good. Then from 2-5 we went with our ward mission leader (Brother George) finding. It was awesome because HE set up the appointments and we just tagged along. It was nice! Then we took numbers from the zone and didn't get to bed till about 11:30pm.
So that was my week! Wyoming North Zone has 11 companionships, 2 Districts, and 2 Stakes. Powell isn't far from Yellowstone, but it isn't nearly as pretty haha. You can definately smell the sulfer though! Mmmmmm...It is pretty flat here, the wind blows, and it's all farmland sitting at about 4200 feet elevation. It snowed yesterday. The people here are much more receptive and nice compared to Montana though, so that's good. Congrats Torie on making Regional Orchestra! That is SO sweet! Did you make it for Saxophone or Percussion? Either way, that is AWESOME. Jesse sounds stylish as ever haha. Tuesday is Mission Leadership Conference in Helena. All the ZL's and STL's will meet together. Hope you have a great week! Love you!
Picture of the McCanns :)
PS: The mission home is getting overloaded with mail. So, they have requested that mail be sent directly to where we live. I'll just tell you when we get near transfers when to wait. Our address here in Wyoming is
335 West 5th St.
Powell, WY 82435
