Well it finally happened. Elder Rasmusson is getting transferred to Butte, MT! He will remain a ZL there. I am STAYING in Powell for another 6 weeks! My new companion will be Elder BRADEN who was in the MTC with me! I am pretty excited about it. He's really tall, lanky, and doesn't say a lot but is probably the most obedient missionary in this mission. He served in Cody (part of our zone) and will do a great job helping those areas pick up again! I am sad Elder Rasmusson is leaving but he has been here for 7.5 months and I was lucky enough to be his companion for 1/4 of my mission.
On Monday, we had a zone preparation day and President Hopkin from the Mission Presidency BBQ'd for us! We played kickball and ultimate Frisbee, so it was a blast. Got really sunburned on my shaved head though haha. We had a pretty good lesson with the Sullivan's that evening about prayer. It occurred to me during this lesson that anything bad in life happens because of miscommunication. Someone is either misunderstood or takes offense because there is not a developed relationship with that person (in some cases). It is the same with prayer. The world focuses so much on getting God out of our lives that we wonder where he is when disasters happen. If we are not in constant communication with our Heavenly Father, it becomes to easy to blame him for things we do not understand. A miscommunication of God's Plan of Happiness. That is why it is so essential to pray daily to Him!
Tuesday was pretty unique. As Zone Leaders, we are instructed to help minister to those in other areas who either are, or could be on baptismal date. There was a companionship in Cody who was struggling to teach a specific man and to help him realize that he needs to pick a side and not remain lukewarm. We offered to help and assisted these sister missionaries in teaching Aaron, one of their investigators of 9 months. That was such a weird experience but in the end he accepted a baptismal date of August 23rd :). Blessings for obedience!
Wednesday we visited Ann Hinckley. probably one of the most stubborn people I have ever met. This is the lady that has been investigating for over 60 years, has had a calling for over 50 of them, and has children sealed in the temple. She refuses to even PRAY about being baptized even though she knows it is true. Please pray for her.
I'll skip Thursday and talk about the 4th of July! We spent the entire day in Cody, WY which is the "Rodeo Capital of the World." We went to a ward pancake breakfast, and then watched the Cody Parade which was pretty good! Complete with a billion horses, lots of firetrucks and forest service, Native American's and even a Bat-mobile! The Cody Elders purchased a booth for the after-parade where we could hand out all kinds of things for free. We assisted them and I ended up teaching a guy from Turkey who was Muslim but was interested in Christian ideology. That was interesting. We were allowed to be out till 11PM (woohoo!) and watch fireworks. Someone totally lit their stack of hay on fire or something because across the mountain we saw a huge fire probably over 30 feet high and at least 6 firetrucks heading that direction haha. Gotta love cowboy country.
Alexis and Misty Pederson accepted a baptismal date finally! After 6 months of teaching them. We will see if they actually get baptized, we have some doubts as to what their real purposes are in getting baptized...but whatever :) Yesterday I officially hit my 17 month mark in the field! Crazy how the time flies. I will be home in less than 7 months. Very weird feeling!
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