This whole week was interesting and chaotic. But not a bad week I suppose. Congrats to Shane on his mission call to Chile! He better hang around Uncle Jimmy to learn some Spanish! Hahaha. That is great!
Monday after emailing, we played dodge ball with another set of Elders and the Sisters here in Powell. Pretty fun and tiring. Later that EVENING, we found out that our Zone Leader Training AND New Missionary Training were moved to the NEXT day at 9AM in Worland (2 hour drive), and that we were mixing it with the Wyoming South Zone...WHAT?! So we literally took maybe 10 minutes that evening to plan, cancelled a lot of things, and had our meeting Tuesday. It's always wonderful to be told an hour before going to bed that you have a 9 hour meeting the next morning that YOU are in charge of haha.
So Tuesday came, we drove out to Worland. Left about 6:30AM and didn't get home till 8:00PM. I was so exhausted. Although it actually went pretty well. Thank goodness for the Spirit! Elder Rasmusson gave a talk on Priesthood Authority and Leadership, and I gave a half hour discussion on Happiness. It is quite a difficult (broad) but interesting topic to study!
Wednesday we did some service for a new move-in to the Powell 2nd Ward. The Sisters cover that area, but we were moving several dressers, mattresses, and frames. That night we picked up a new Investigator named Mike Lindsey. He lives at home alone and has struggled believing in God due to the loss of his wife. To keep him busy, he builds 18-19th century guns. He also builds clocks for a hobby. Originally he had absolutely no interest in what we had to teach. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and gave him the pamphlet which he took interest in.
We shoveled an 89 year old's driveway. Her name is Ethel and she is not a member but has a best friend who is. She is devout Catholic, and is part native from the Crow Indian Reservation. Her memory is beginning to fade (she told the same joke twice), but we hope to teach her time to time. Incredibly nice. All of our other plans fell through, so we found an innactive member who lives alone and talked to us about aviation for 2 hours....I almost fell asleep. But we shared something from President Uchtdorf...because he's a pilot :)
Valentines Day was probably the most uneventful day of the week. Absolutely no one answered their door (or were not happy when they answered). So we spent the day looking for service opportunities. The only thing we found was picking up Dog poop at the Animal Shelter. Great day eh? Our shoes looked awesome afterward...
Saturday we spent about an hour tracting. No one seemed to be home then either. But we did end up getting to see some less-active families. One of them is an old couple who hasn't been to church in decades because they feel like there are some that go to church and are hypocrites. He claims that he is still living the Gospel, and the Lord will justify him for not going to church. That is a terrible argument haha. If a hypocrite is someone who does not live perfectly up to everything he/she believes, we are ALL hypocrites (in the words of President Uchtdorf). We got the wife to cry. We feel like she wants to come back but does not want disunity. Stubborn men!
Yesterday was pretty cool. We only had 3 investigators at Sacrament meeting. The Young's were sick, and we didn't get to see them all week so we went by in the evening and got there just as they were pulling in (the Lord's timing is legit!). Tracy (the mom) is retaining what she is learning in the Book of Mormon! Please pray for her and Dana Young (the Father). We also found a family that has lived in Powell for 13 years, and have managed to hide from the church. Leave it to the missionaries to find you! We talked with them for a long time. A nice old couple, kids married in the temple, and they said they have just been lazy. So we talked some sense into them and hope to see them soon :) Other than that, the weather has been beautiful (high of about 48), and we are all happy and healthy!
Congratulations to Torie on her band performances! I miss going to festivals and what not seeing both sisters perform. I actually really enjoyed those! I love and miss all of you! Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made in my behalf, and the prayers. They are definitely keeping me going. Have a great week!