Elder Inman Letter April 8, 2013

Hey family and friends!

E. Villejo and I just got back from the Senior Center. Sister Talbot (an older widow here) volunteers to cook at the Senior Center for 11 months out of the year! Such a great lady. Today she was short handed so E. Villejo and I helped out with preparing the food, serving the seniors (kind of like waitors) and washing the dishes. It was actually a pretty cool experience and we got some free tukey burgers out of it! :D Mormons seem to agree to anything if there is food involved. It was also a really good opportunity to get our names out there and for the seniors to see us giving service. Hopeing that might open some doors for us! So we did that from about 10:45 tillllllllll 1:30ish I think. Going back tomorrow!

What an awesome session of conference huh?! Lots of good stuff, I hope you all got to watch it or attend! This week seemed a bit slow as far as missionary work goes. Not a lot went on but still had some good experiences. Transfers were last week so the mission in general has been kind of hectic with new missionaries coming in and old missionaries leaving. E. Villejo and i were pretty excited that we are still here in Sheridan though. The ward is just flat out awesome here. I don't remember what we did each day so I'll just write about the few experiences that we had as I remember them.

Monday night we had dinner with Sister Smith (the lady we built a fence for). She brought 2 non-members over to eat dinner with us so we were super excited! One of the non-members was actually who picked us up from our apartment. Her name was Gloria, and has been great friends with Sister Smith for a long time. Sister Smith's neighbor named Clous (CLOW-S) was also there. After an amazing dinner, (I just realized how much I talk about food in these weekly letters...but that's another experience), we all sat down and Elder Villejo took out his guitar. We sang, "I know That my Redeemer Lives" and he said it was "very nice." We asked him afterward if we could visit him sometime, and he said that we could! Sister Smith on Easter, had brought him over an Easter Basket with a Book of Mormon in it haha. he said he has started to read it! So we'll see.

On Wednesday we went back to Sister Smith's for another service project. This time, we raked here ENTIRE Montana-sized backyard to clear all the leaves, rocks and sticks so that she can plant grass before all the rain comes. It was actually kind of enjoyable and the weather was nice! I also got to drive her lawnmower haha. 

Thursday was the most productive day of the week. We first visited with a new investigator named Ron Kee. He has met with missionaries before, but isn't necessarily interested. He's an extremely nice guy who likes to travel a lot. After asking about his beliefs, he said that he doesn't feel the need to attend church as long as he "Loves God and treats his neighbor as himself." So he happily lets us in and is willing to discuss our "viewpoints" but has a difficult time committing to any one church because he is afraid of choosing the wrong one. This is why prayer and the Holy Ghost is so key! He's exactly right! We could preach to him allllll day long about how we are the correct church  We could throw every scripture imaginable at him and it would do no good. Until he (or whomever it may be), actually kneels down and sincerely wants to the know the truth, he will never know which church is correct. We are only the preachers. The SPIRIT is the teacher. (I got that one from E. Villejo haha). So after chatting for about 1.5 hours, we thought we would visit James (our ex-communicated J-dub). Turns out he used to work for "The Watchotwer" and got ex-communicated because he told them he felt like a slave. And he felt like they never gave him the support he needed in times of trial. So on our newly fixed bikes (thank heavens), we found James actually outside walking his dog. After telling us some random World War II history, we gave him the second Discussion (the Plan of Salvation) while still on our bikes outside. He agreed with everything we said and then (of course) Satan needed to interrupt. One of his buddies rolled up in his car and decided to conveniently visit with him while we were mid-discussion. Boooooooo. So we said we would come back later.

Later that night we visited a new couple called "The Wards." They moved here a few years ago from Alaska and are really into art. Jackie (the wife) was extremely kind to us and we just visited for a while. Her husband, Doug (who is also very nice) said something similar to what Ron Kee said. He does not see the point in going to church just once a week if the other 6 days people aren't religious. He said they weren't interested in the discussions but neither of them minded if we came by to visit at any time or if we shared a quick spiritual message each time. Both of them were extremely nice to us and open with us. Doug really likes the blugrass music, so E. Villejo and I are working on a song he really likes. Gotta open up a door somehow right? Then they sent us home with lemon bars :D

Friday we were in Twin Bridges. Nobody at all was home :( So we did a lot of roaming. Mike Bias has been out of town, he does guided fishing tours and stuff like that all over the state and in Idaho, so we havent been able to meet with him. The Vial's (an awesome member family) found us in the street and invited us over for dinner. So we happily accepted and had an awesome meal. They live on a beautiful set of property with a long rocky driveway. Since it is almost planting season, E. Villejo and I helped Brother Vial and his two sons pick up rocks a long side of the road so that it would be easier to till and what not (I think).

Saturday was conference and we watched it with Sister Stalder (who lives right next door). We then went to try and finish our discussion with James. We got to his house and he offered us, "non-alcoholic beer" haha. We declined but I thought it was funny. He then spent about 30 minutes showing us kung foo moves (keep in mind this guy is 75 and has a New Jersey accent). Haha so he told us all these stories where he has used kung foo. Apparently he also used to train for the Olympics and was a trainer for Mr. America. You wouldn't know that seeing him now, but I we just rolled with it. Everyone has their glory days! Our discussion didn't get very far. We got to the Spirit World...J-dubs DO NOT believe in anything close to the Spirit world. They believe that once you die, you more or less become mush. Both your spirit and body remain in a state of nothingness until the Resurrection. Which is a whole other topic. It kind of turned into a bash of conflicting scriptures and he told us that we were teaching false gospel (with reference to Galatians 1:6-9). We held our own but said we needed to go. He said that he still wants us to come back and teach him so that's good. Say a prayer for him!

So not a bad week. We did visit Gene. His excuse for not reading the Book of Mormon is that the print is to small...which may actually be true. But his Bible is the same size so we will never know for sure. So we're working on giving him a copy with larger print haha. No more excuses!

Anyway that's it for this week! I'm doing well and still pushing forward! Not the youngest in our District anymore! Hit my 2 month mark 2 days ago! Woooo! Sounds like home is doing well! i'm glad you got the package, I tried to make it fun for all of you! Glad to hear Jesse likes his coon hat haha hopefully it isn't to big! Torie's doll was handmade, I did't buy it at a store! I'm sure she'll take good care of it :) Sounds like the garden is looking good and I bet the flowers look pretty! What's the weather there? The weather has been warm here the last few days. But today it's a high of 36 and it hailed yesterday! Pretty sweet.

Thoughts from conference:

"Satan is no match for the Savior. Satan's fate is decided. He knows he has lost. But he wants to take as many of us as he can, with him." - Richard G. Scott (Sat Afternoon)

"There are some things that must be left to the Lord." - Richard G. Scott

"Peace comes from knowing that the Savior knows who we are" - Quintin L. Cook

"A friend will not make you choose between your values or their friendship."- Robert D. Hales (Priesthood Session)

"Sometimes we are the lightening rod, and we must take the heat." -Robert D. Hales

"Glorify God's name by standing strong with the Savior Jesus Christ."- Robert D. Hales

"With increased vision, comes increased motivation" -Tad R. Callister

"Healing comes from leaving the darkness and moving towards God's light" -Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Sun Morning)

"Spiritual light cannot be discerned by carnal eyes." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Hold the ground you have already won, even if it is limited." -Jeffery R. Holland (Sun Afternoon)

"Do not start your quest for faith by first stating how little you have." - Jeffery R. Holland

"Jesus' teachings were not theoretical. They were meant to be acted upon." -Dallin H. Oaks

And I have been trying to read the New Testament from beginning to end. I am currently in 2 Corinthians but came across these:

1 Corinthians 2:9: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him"

1 Corinthians 3:8-16: (from my journal)

      By God's grace, Jesus Christ laid the foundation for our souls. But we are the builders. We choose what goes on that foundation. We can put whatever we want on it. But the day will come, in a very real sense, that our "homes" will be tried by fire (verse 13). If we built correctly, are still standing, and have not burned, "he shall recieve a reward." For we are the temple of God.

Have an awesome week!

The picture is me today! I hit 200 pounds the other night...scary!

Elder Inman Letter April 1, 2013

Howdy howdy, Happy Easter!

Wow what a week. Elder Carter, our Zone Leader was with us from Tuesday to Friday morning. That was interesting, but alright I guess. On tuesday, we followed up with Gene, our investigator that came to church last week. Turns out he said he couldnt here most of it -___- Boooooo. But he said it reminded him of the Lutheran church. However, he had some questions about Joseph Smith that I was able to answer and we challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. We later found out this week that he needs a larger print of the Book of Mormon because he was having to use a magnifying glass to read it and it put a strain on his eyes. Either way, he said he would maybe come again to church. We invited him to come to yesterday's Easter program but he didn't :( So that's Gene, for this week!

After we visited him we were walking and someone shouted at us from his door. His name is James Fouler, an ex-communicated, semi-practicing Jehovah Witness. He told us his whole story and we barely got a word in. He eventually let us in and we told him a little about the church. He said he likes to read, so we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he'd have it read in 3 days. On our follow up visit on Friday, he said he didn't get around to it (which was kind of expected) but that he would for sure read it! We gave in the Restoration Discussion and asked if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ by eing baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God. His words were, "You know if I found out any church is true, I will join it." SWEET! The only disclaimer is that he does not know how to properly pray to Heavenly Father. J-Dubs pray to Jehovah and the Spirit is not available unless you are praying to the right person and sincerely want to know something. We're hoping to visit James this week and discuss tyhe Plan of Salvation! After that we went to the Relief Society Dinner. Soooooo much food. It was the birthday of the Relief Society and we were invited because all the women were at the party, so there was no one left to cook for us haha.

The next day we did a ton of service. We built a fence at a members house from about 10AM to 4PM. When we came home we tracted in the rain and found 3 new investigators to teach this week! Hallelujah! Praying that those go through. Thursday was awesome. Although we didn;t get to do any teaching, we did a lot more service. Sister Barnett is the 87 year old widow with the gnarled hands but is THE SWEETEST lady I have ever met in my life. However, she is very independent and will not accept from anyone if you ask her. SO, instead of asking, the three of us showed up at her house in work clothes and raked alllllll her leaves for her. SHe was so thankful and it was pretty fun! Then I installed ceiling for the first time in my life at Sister Talbots house. I'm learning how to do all kinds of work up here! For dinner we had pork chops...and I found out I don't like Sour Crout haha.

Easter has been the highlight of my mission so far. Such an amazing day. First of all, on Saturday we were invited to annual stake Easter hunt held by one of the ward members (the Dustins). They own a beautiful log house on a mountain overlooking a river and on several acres of land. Very nice people, a sweet family, and very generous. I love that family! They do a lot for Elder Villejo and I. Anyway, every Easter weekend, they hide about 3,000 EGGS across their several acres of land. Each egg is filled with at least one "Dustin Buck" that are later redeemed at an auction. All kinds of things are donated by members towards the auction that are bid on by the kids with their "Dustin Bucks." So much fun and so cool! There were lots of non-members and part-member families there as well, so lots of great opportunities.

That night E. Villejo and I were up late studying for our talks. We ran the Easter program. Elder Villejo spoke first on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Then, we got special permission to play the guitar for a special musical number, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." The Spirit was so powerful and there were some sniffles. The Spirit was singing, not me haha. Then I gave a talk on the Resurrection, and went into detail about the last few days of Christ's life. I have never gone so in depth into those last few days as I have this time. I used Elder Holland's talk, "None Were With Him" and read quite a bit of Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. I wish you could be there family! Such an amazing meeting. We got many compliments. I shared Meg Wright's poem (my FHE mom from BYU) and that got a lot of recognition! Thanks Meg (if you read this haha)! The Stockets had us over for Easter Dinner. A roasted Turkey with mashed potatoes, carrots, and stuffing. Basically Thanksgiving but I wont complain! That family is so sweet. They have 7 kids and waited to do the Easter hunt till Elder Villejo and I were there. They hid each of us an Egg with candy in it :)

The neatest part was probably after all that. We felt like we should go visit a less active member (Brother Shammal) who lives nearby. His wife, Roxanne is not a member but has had the discussions before and enjoys having us over. We got there and they had their children and grand-kids over. We said hi and were about to leave when Roxanne happily invited us in for Strawberry shortcake with their family. Brother Shammal came out of his room with a guitar of his own. Elder Villejo tuned it. After a few casual songs we asked if we could share a song about Jesus Christ since it was Easter. They happily said, "Sure!" and we sang "I Know that my Redeemer Lives." It was so powerful. Brother Shammal has been highly inactive for years. While we played, he was looking at his daughter and started to tear up. He said that was the highlight of his Easter and walked us out the door. Such a great experience. Music has opened a lot of doors for us and I am convinced that there is no better way to introduce the spirit than by music.

Thanks for the Easter package mom! And the shoes! They both were desperately needed! And both of them came just in time. I enjoyed Grandpa's letter to Lacey, that was neat to hear. It looks like Elder Villejo and I are sticking together for another transfer (6 weeks)! Woot woot! I love Elder Villejo, we get a long extremely well and the Ward members trust us. That's essential in missionary work. I love this ward and area here, I feel like we can have a lot of success here.

Dad, sounds like the backyard is starting to look pretty snazzy! I won't even recognize it when I get home! How did Torie's audition go? Or is she just preparing for that? Sounds like Jesse has a pretty good idea for raising money! A house party for only $10! Heck, I would go! Tell him that I would be the Bouncer (body guard at the door, making sure the kids are on the RSVP list). Goodl luck with that bud! I thought he was going to work at Plato's? Hahaha.

That's exciting that Kari is home! Seems likes she's been gone along time. Is Clayton home yet? I know he got an extension but shouldn't he be back yet? Oh! something random I remembered that I did last P-day. We went with brother Cooper moose-sighting. We didn't see any moose but we saw a huge herd of Elk. Over a hundred all together, I thought that was awesome.

I hope everyone had an awesome Easter weekend! Thank you fo r the letters and packages! It really helps keep me going! Looks like I'll be in Sheridan another 6 weeks so just send stuff to the same address! I got Jesse's letter and loved it! I'll write back to him this week sometime (probably today). Love you all!

Thoughts for the week:
"We cannot love, what we do not know" - David M. McConkie

"It was not physical pain alone, nor mental anguish alone, that caused him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood and every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing." -Jesus the Christ (613)

"How can we bare any moving, lasting testimony of the Atonement, if we've never known or felt anything of such an experience?"- Elder Holland

"On that first Resurrection Sunday, Mary thought she saw a Gardner. Well, she did. The Gardner that cultivated Eden, and who endured Gethsemane. The Gardner that gave us the rose of Sherim, the lily of the valley. The cedars of Lebanon, and the tree of life. I declare Him to be the Savior of the world, the Bishop and shepherds of our souls, the bright and morning star." -Elder Holland

Happy Easter everyone and remember what the Savior did for you!

Elder Inman Letter March 25, 2013

Exchanges week!

So once a transfer (6 weeks) the District Leader will switch places with another missionary for a few days to shake things up. So, Elder McKee (the DL) was with E. Villejo Tuesday-Thursday and I was actually in a town called Dillon. Dillon has about 5,000-6,000 people so it's considered a bigger town up here. I was with E. Richens who has been out 15 months and actually served in Sheridan for his first area. I wasn't sure I was going to get a long with E. Richins, but it turned out to be pretty fun! For one, Dillon has a car, so that was nice. We went to see a guy who is on house arrest and played Monopoly Deal, which is the card version of Monopoly and only takes about 30 minutes as opposed to three days :) Then we helped out with the Pinewood Derby and basically ran the whole thing.

On Wednesday, we had trouble finding people to teach so, we went to Murdoch's which is a ranching store with a little bit of everything. I bought my first ever cowboy hat (yes, I did) which is usually $50 but I got it for a $11! A cool thing about Montana is there is no sales tax on anything. Later that night we went with a guy named Javier to help him do his home teaching. That was kind of neat.

Thursday was probably the highlight of the week. E. Villejo and E. McKee came down to Dillon and we kind of hung out all day because we didn't have rides to get anywhere. The cars get limited amount of miles every transfer but they don't tell you your limit till like 2 weeks left of the transfer. We found out that we had only 50 miles left for the next 11 days and it was 30 miles just to get to District meeting tomorrow haha. But anyways, Villejo and McKee came down and we went to Murdoch's, McDonald's, and an ice cream place. We all used fake names on our orders at McDonald's haha! E. Villejo said his name was "Mahanna" (from Johnny Lingo) and they believed him because he's an islander! So they called out, "Mahanna?" and we all started laughing. I told them my name was Mufasa from the lion king and they just went with it. Awesome. I definitely recommend trying it.

Gene. The one we thought was over 90 turns out to be 82, we asked him. We've been getting kind of frustrated with him because he refuses to read the Book of Mormon and does not believe in organized religion. But this Friday we had a neat experience with him. I was back in Sheridan with E. Villejo and we went to see him. We were informed by someone who knows him, that he actually has dementia. That makes sense, because we've taught him the first discussion 4 times and he still has the same questions we've answered every visit. However, this last time, we challenged him to come to church. We have before, but he said his health isn't usually good enough. So...we PROMISED him...that by the power of Jesus Christ he would be healthy enough to come to church this Sunday.

Sunday came around and he was sitting there in the foyer waiting for us. He was wearing an eye patch because the sun irritates one of his eyes but he was there..dressed in all white. He almost looked like a temple worker. I was so excited!!! Our first investigator to come to church! And the Lord had answered our prayers and Gene's. Then we realized it was fast and testimony meeting. I got nervous reallllllly quick. Testimony meetings are hit or miss for investigators. It turned out to be an AWESOME meeting and the Spirit was so strong. Afterwards, he was supposed to attend his Bible study but instead went home. And we conveniently left a copy of the Book of Mormon in his living room. So we are hoping to visit him this week to check up.

After church was over, one of the youth was going to be baptized. The entire ward stayed just to see this 8 year old be baptized by his father and I thought that was so neat. Every single ward member was there to support. This ward truly is a family and has taken it to a whole new level. We had dinner at Bishop Breakall's home. His daughter from BYU-I was here for the weekend. It turns out that she snapped the same ligament in her ankle playing basketball as I did playing with Matt Smith about 2 years ago! She wanted her dad to give her a blessing and the Bishop asked us to help with the blessing. Jeanie (the daughter) asked if I would do the anointing and asked what the oil actually does. We explained that Olive Oil is the purest oil and has been consecrated and set apart specifically set apart for healing hte sick. An account of anointing with oil can be found in James 5:14-15. So we proceeded with the blessing. About five minutes later Jeanie started to get teary eyed and said her ankle didn't hurt. She was walking flat-footed on it and was limping on it moments before. My testimony grew of the power of the priesthood and that it works according to the faith of the priesthood as well as the one being blessed. A miracle.

So that was my week! Lots of exciting stuff and the work is finally beginning to pick up. E. Villejo and I are doing all the pruning here and Sheridan and more than likely, Elders later on will harvest the wheat. We are just planting the seeds. But I'm okay with that because the Lord doesn't count baptisms, he counts conversions. It doesn't matter who does the reaping so long as they are converted in the Lord's timing.

I can wait for this Easter Sunday. E. Vilejo and I are running the whole program. We are both giving talks, one on the Atonement and one on the Resurrection. We also are doing a musical number, "I know that my Redeemer lives." It isn't until this year that I have sincerely looked at what the true meaning of Easter is. Read the talk, "None were with Him" by Jeffery R. Holland from the 2007 April GC.

Home sounds crazy as usual! How was Prom Torie? Is Jesse still dancing away? He better not be taller than me when I get home! I'll definitely be fatter than him...I've only been out a month and have gained 9 pounds. Yikes. Mom, I've always admired that you magnify your calling in seminary. The kids dont realize how much work you do and I know the Lord will bless you for it. I hope they pay attention to their teachers because the MTC does not teach you doctrine like they used to. You are expected to know the scriptures and are taught more how to teach instead.

Hope you all are healthy! I love and miss you all! The church is true!

PS - So this is the end part of a talk ONLY GIVEN in the MTC. It is not published. I thought you would enjoy Elder Hollands Testimony. Happy Easter!

The Atonement- Jeffery R. Holland
(Two mp3 tracks below. Hope they work.)
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=bf6c6d0f7a&view=att&th=13da34e4f15d4137&attid=0.1&disp=safe&realattid=f_heq3hj890&zw

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=bf6c6d0f7a&view=att&th=13da34e4f15d4137&attid=0.2&disp=safe&realattid=f_heq3hmza1&zw

 

Elder Inman Letter March 18, 2013

Good morning good morning!

 

What a week. It flew by for you too it sounds like! This week was rougher than most, not a lot of success. We zone leadership training in Helena on Tuesday. Getting up at 5 in the morning is not my favorite. But we got to meet the other Elders and Sisters in our zone and E. Villejo and I sang...of course my throat was destroyed so I sounded like I was a smoker all my life. It's alright, it was okay enough to keep the spirit haha. Afterwards we went to a pawn shop and I bought a "Montana Knife." Believe me, they exist. Pretty awesome, I'll have to send home a picture next week, I forgot my camera. I have all sorts of stories today!

 

Wednesday no one seemed to be home so we did a lot of tracting. No luck there unfortunately :( BUT, we did get to go to the Pinewood Derby! That'sa big deal up here! Non-members come to that and even the young women and all other auxiliaries do the Pinewood Derby! Someone gave us a random car to race and we actually beat one of the scouts with it haha we felt bad. Eventually we got beat out but it was fun while it lasted!

Thursday is was pretty cool. We got to visit Virginia City (about 22 miles South of Sheridan...we got a ride). VC is a really old mining town that actually used to be the territorial capitol of Montana! Now it houses about 40 people during the winter and a few 100 during the summer. It's mainly a touristy place with lots of old museums, an opera house, blacksmith's shops, saloons, and my personal favorite...a hanging hall! How sweet is that?! There is a designated building for hanging people. There was a lot of vigilante justice in this town in the late 1800's. Unfortunately, EVERYTHING was closed for the winter including the museums and restaurants so we could only look through windows. There was only a small mercantile store and a homemade ice cream parlor open. During the summer they have all kinds of shows and stagecoach tours...Jesse would never want to leave! I'll try to send home those pictures, it's basically almost a western ghost town like you see on movies. Pretty legit. Anyways, the reason we were there was because we got a refferal from Bishop of a part-member family. The wife is inactive and the husband is not a member. I don't remember if I talked about them or not, but they had Bishop bless their baby while the non-member husband held the microphone. SO COOL. They told the bishop they would like the discussions. So we gave them a call and they actually invited us over for dinner! They are an extremely nice family. The own a photography business and travel the world. After eating an awesome roast we asked if they would be interested in the discussions. The husband (Grant) changed the subject :( He's not quite ready. So instead, we shared a scriptural thought about how families can be together forever. He seemed to have been paying attention and then he gave us a ride home. Hoping a praying that they will have us back!

 

Friday was Torie's birthday! So exciting! What did you do? How was it? I heard you did it actually on Thursday? And then went Ice skating Friday? Saweet! And you got a few battle scars from the ice all worn down from the hockey players! You're probably still feeling those bruises I bet. There's ponds up here that probably have smoother ice!

 

I had a pretty sweet day on Friday...first we visited with our 90 year old, Gene. He's frustrating sometimes and we kind of got into a small bash but we still got him to say he'd come to church if his health permits. But the awesome experience happened afterwards. I had a letter I wanted to deliver (to the Smith's, who sent me an AWESOME package of various green candy and gum, with a label, "Good Luck Greenie!" All of the kids wrote me a letter with pictures. Thank you Matt and Emily! I was afraid it was a "bad buy" that I had from Plato's...). Haha anyway, I had a letter I was going to bring to the post office to mail. As soon as we got there a truck pulled up and a lady got out saying, "Hi Elders!" We assumed she was an innactive or something because we didn't recognize her. We followed her in the post office (stalked, more like). After casual conversation we discovered she was raised in a Filipino home (so she speaks fluent Tagalog) AND she has LDS family that are Bishops in Arizona...if that is not revelation of why I was sent to Sheridan, I don't know what is! SO her and Elder Villejo were talking in Tagalog to each other and then we asked if we could teach her. She said, "Of course! Why don't you come over for dinner sometime!" She offered to make us Adobo (a chicken Filipino dish). We planned for it later on in the week.

 

THE NEXT DAY. We get a call from Helen Lansing (the Filipino lady above mentioned). She said she wanted to meet today and for lunch instead of dinner. Of course we weren't going to let that go, so we set a time and place. Her son is living with her and was sick so we met at the park and she brought all this cooked food for us. And it was amazing! We came to find out she's hardcore Catholic, and moved here 3 years ago. We had a really good discussion about the Atonement and how God has called a Prophet to lead and guide us today. It turns out she actually wants us to teach her son. Who is 38 and has several physical disabilities. Including 2 heart attacks and a stroke. I wouldn't doubt that she would sit in on the discussions as a protection kind of a thing, and we are hoping that we get to teach both of them! E. Villejo's mom was a hardcore Catholic and converted to Mormonism. There are so many ties to this investigator. It strengthened my testimony that God definately puts us where we need to be. It isn't coincidence that we find this Filipino lady with LDS family in Arizona who wants her son to take the discussions from a missionary raised in the Phillipines, and an Elder from Arizona. I also gained testimony of the Lord's timing. I didn;t think anything of it, trying to mail a letter before the mail was picked up for the day. But God wanted me to mail it at that particular time of the day, walk at a certain pace, and get there as soon as this lady pulls in. This experience reminded me of a quote by David A. Bednar:

 

"The overwhelming majority of impressions you recieve will come asa result of you being a good boy or good girl and you will have no idea it was revelation till after the fact. If you keep the commandments and commitments God has given you, you will be in the right place, at the right time, and will know what to do, even if you don't know why you're doing it."

So true. Earlier on Saturday we had something more funny happen. A girl just moved in next door. Her name is Amanda, she's 19, and works at the hospital. It's about 8AM and we get a knock at the door. It's her and she says to Elder Villejo, "Do you have a band-aid? I cut my hand." Lo and behold she had the smallest cut in the world on her hand. So E. Villejo asks me if I have a band-aid and while I'm looking she says, "Nice Guitar! I heard you guys singing last night!" E. Villejo says,"Thanks! Did we distrub you?" And she says, "No it put me to sleep..." Flirtatious much? We never found a band-aid. When we told her she said, "It's ok, I'm not going to die or anything, I'm just a wimp." So you work at the Hospital and not only do you not have a first aid kit, but you're a wimp when it comes to the world's smallest cut? Nice try haha. Elder Villejo asked if we could teach her some time and, of course, she says, "yeah just come over!" Little does she know that we'll be bring a member over to teach her. It's amazing to me to see how Satan will discretely tempt us as missionaries. I forgot to mention that while we teaching Helen at the park, there were two teenage girls there (probably about 15) that were flat out annoying. One of them asked if we did exorcisms...on her macaroni and cheese. I feel like my IQ went down just being asked that. But of course there needs to be some kind of distraction right?

Anyway, Sunday finally came. St. Patrick's day gets a litte out of hand here, especially in Butte. There are TONS of Irish Catholics here and they like to party, let me tell you. So we had dinner at the Dustins! Corned beef, potatoes, carrots, cheese and broccoli, with rye bread and green kool-aid. Classic. Then something cool happened. Their son is actually serving in Ireland right now. He sent home a letter SPECIFICALLY "To the Elders" in Sheridan. The Dustin family gave it to us un-opened and said it was for us. We read it out loud and he gave us a few of his friends he wanted us to go see. He has a good reputation around town and said if we used his name when introducing ourselves, they would let us in. So he gave us about 6 names of people he wanted us to visit and he said he was trusting us because his family said we were great missionaries. He had been holding onto these names for the right Elders. I thought that was extremely neat. He also gave us a warning, "P.S. Stay away from my sisters." Hahaha we thought that was pretty funny.

 

That's all for this week! Kind of long I know, but had a lot to say! Mom and Jesse thanks so much for the letters and the pictures! I didn;t have any and now I have something to put on my wall! I also really liked that picture of Christ. That stinks about the Expedition dying. It's been a good car and has been everywhere. Hopefully it's still got some life in it! How's my little white car doing? I miss that car, you don't realize what a blessing it is till you walk everywhere. And sounds like Dad has been doing some fun gardening! The only service I've done this week was some sheet rocking. It may not be the funnest but it was nice to do something physical and different. I love service projects.

 

Good luck Torie with the Driving manual stuff! That test is lame. But study the manual anyway, cause I failed the first time haha. Jesse, thanks for your awesome letter! I'll write back as soon as I can! Probably today. And mom thank you for everything! Especially the letter, it made me feel good :) Dad I love you and keep up the hard work! Say Hi to Marilyn and Bob for me! Love and miss you all!

 

Elder Inman Letter March 11, 2013

Hey Hey!

Week 4 of my first transfer. It was kind of an off week but what do I know, I've only been out a month haha. We met with one of our investigators named "Gene Halsey" who is probably about 90. I don't remember if I've mentioned him before, but basically he goes to a bible study and weekly "meeting" but claims it is not an organized religion but world-wide. Anyway, we came back to teach him a second time and he welcomed us in saying he had been thinking about us a lot. He's difficult to teach. Whenever the Spirit starts to pick up, he 'll COMPLETELY change the subject. And he knows it! For example we were talking about the Apostasy and and when we finished the first vision (spiritual high point), he says, "Did you know the Buddhist have the most members worldwide?" And then he gives us this smirk with all 6 of his teeth. Frustrating haha. Anyway, we actually committed him to coming the church but he has a hard time getting up in the mornings because of some health issues. He did agree to come though so we're hoping for this Sunday.

The weather changes every hour! We were in Twin Bridges and out of nowhere a rain storm hit, with mixed sleet so we got hammered while tracting. Kind of sweet. But freezing rain doesn't feel to good on the face. We also started teaching a 19 year old guy named Brian Todd. He claims to be atheist but has had all the discussions. He also owns the scariest dog I've ever seen. Half its face is ripped off and it's super mangy with an under-bite so you see its teeth. So we knocked on his back door haha and turns out the dogs name is "Natalie." Haha soooo scary. Brian said he's play bball with us so we're trying to get that started. We're actually at the church right now. Funny story about that, we actually got two bikes. And we thought we would try and ride them to the church about 3 miles away. The bike I was riding had no pedal, and no bolts to hold the sprocket on. It was stuck in 5th gear and the front tire was flat. And it was uphill the whole way against 20mph wind. My pedal bars broke off 4 times along the way haha it was the worst bike ride of my life.

On Saturday we actually attended a high school play! Shakespeare's, "The Taming of the Shrew." We heard about the play because one of the families we are teaching has a son who was in the play. We decided it would be good to go and support as well as to show ourselves at community events. We were the only ones ones in suits, so we stood out pretty well! The play was $7 bucks each...BUT Bro. Larsen from our ward (who looks like Gordon B. Hinckley) let us in for free. Righteous Exchange! The play was actually really good, I was impressed. It was hard to follow though, I never liked the way Shakespeare wrote.

One last cool thing! We got a referral actually from the Bishop. There was a family last week that came to church. The wife was Less active and the husband wasn't a member. They had a newborn baby and wanted it to be blessed so the bishop blessed it while the non-member husband held the microphone :) pretty legit. Bishop talked ot them after church and they both agreed to have the discussions. We gave them a call later in the week and they actually invited us over for dinner on the 14th! SO STOKED! Really hoping that the lessons go well. The ward members feed us every night and send us home with food. We have 5 loaves of bread...two of them homemade. And one of the members is a bee keeper so we have legit honey :D

Mike Bias. I think I mentioned him. He's been investigating the church 13 years now. We've been able to talk with him a few different times at member homes. Last P-day he actually gave us a ride home from a member's house and he told us we were doing a good job. Pretty cool to have an investigator tell you that. He's having difficulty accepting the Atonement. He feels like he has to much of a past to be forgiven and he feels like once he is baptized, that he will fall. I really feel for him. I think we all have a hard time accepting just how simple the Atonement is. We think that we there needs to be more of a punishment, or a way we can pay back for the things we do wrong. What he needs to understand is that Christ suffered so that we don't have too. "Repent and Forsake." Or "Confess and forsake" if it requires priesthood leader attention. Enormity multiplied by infinity are the things the Savior suffered for. He condescended below every pain. The cross did not kill Jesus Christ. The people did not kill Jesus Christ. Through Mary, he inherited Mortality. Through Heavenly Father he inherited the ability to overcome mortality. He WILLINGLY gave up his spirit into the Lords hands.

From Elder Holland's 2009 talk "None were with Him":
"...because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so...trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said, 'I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you.]'"

Other Spiritual Thoughts for the week:
"There is danger in the word 'Someday' when it means, 'Not this day.'" - Henry B. Eyring

"When we face such temptation of our time, we must declare, I will give place no more, for the enemy of my soul" -Elder Holland

Thank you all for the letters! And Olivia for the package! She sent me a box with a ton of candy, letters, and a coloring book with markers haha awesome :)

Hope everyone is doing well! Love you!

Between the elevation, wind, and cold, my ears are having a rough time. My right ear is almost 100% but now my left ear is starting to hurt. I still have some ibuprofen. Some sudofed and benedryl. And advil/dayquil. if it gets worse i'll call Sister Mecham and she will tell me where would be the best place to get medical care. Otherwise i'm healthy!

Miss you a lot. I'm loving it here but would be lying if I said I didn't miss home. Luckily I have an awesome companion for my first transfer and a pretty area with awesome ward members. Hope work isn;t stressing you out to much! Hang in there. Pretty soon we're going to be doing some service projects. Like sheet rocking so that will be sweet. Have an awesome week! Love you!

P.S. Tell Torie I say happy birthday! I'm sending home a letter, that's why I didn't type it. Hopefully she'll get it friday!

Elder Inman

Elder Jacob Inman Singing! With Elder Villejo in Sheridan, MT Feb. 2013

We could not upload the whole video here, so we uploaded to YouTube. Follow the link below to see this wonderful video. A little out of character for Elder Inman, but very nice.

As he told us, "Enjoy".

http://youtu.be/WDX_1e6qvJA

Elder Inman Letter March 4, 2013

It's been quite the week! Things are awesome here in Sheridan/ Twin Bridges. We cover 35 miles of ward boundaries and no, we dont have a car to get from city to city haha. The ward members do their best to help us out with that.The ward here is amazing. There are many widows and they treat us like their grandchildren! Sister Stalder (an 82 year old widow) lives next to us and she gets us food EVERY DAY including homemade bread from her own wheat. I've had Elk steak, pork chops, homemade potatoes, lots of homemade desserts and quite a bit of eggs. My companion loves eggs, being from the Phillipines haha. He's an older missionary (24) but has been out for a year. He actually bought his guitar up here and President Mecham told him he could keep it if he uses it in his proselyting. So we do! And as a result...we got asked to sing in SACRAMENT MEETING this Sunday -__- Elder Villejo wants me to do a solo. That's not happening haha.

Hmm...experiences this week.

1: Nobody was home in Twin bridges so we were tracting for a long time. We came across a devout Jehovah's witness that claimed we didn't know anything about the Bible (while still at the door step). Regardless, she let us in and we talked for over an hour. The conversation went from The Fall of Adam and Eve, to the end of the world, to "God's Government" and then she decided to bring up war and why she does not solute the flag...yeah. Everything was fine at first, and we were both respectful. Till she brought up the military and drilled it into us why we don't need a military. Carefully and as nice as I could I explained that she would not be living in the home, country, or town she is living in, nor would she or I be allowed to worship freely. I also explained that that is why the pilgrims came to this country in the first place. Freedom of Religion and a military to defend that right. It got contentious, we lost the Spirit, so we left. Kind of fun though :)

2. THE NEXT DAY (Friday March 1), we were proselyting/tracting in Twin Bridges. Just walking along a dirt road, a guy pulls over in his car next to us. I'll just quote my journal..

"Are you the Mormon Elders?"

"Yes! How are you doing?"

"Did you know Joseph Smith had 23 false prophecies that have not and will not come to pass?"

I replied, "Care to name one?" A little taken a-back he said,

"Doctrine and Covenants 1:17" So I read the verse out loud, and he said,

"No that's not the right one..." Strike One. Turns out he's hard-core baptist. If your going to claim something at least get the right verse. He proceeded to tell us how Joseph Smith was a false Prophet and how he has been to our sacrament meetings before. We testified of the first vision and the Book of Mormon. Continuing to deny it, Elder Villejo said,

"Who started the Baptist church?" He studdered and said it was made from Jesus Christ. We said,

"Cool, so is ours! A prophet and 12 Apostles!" Strike 2. I said,

"Well, do a little bit of homework, read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and when you find it to be true, give us a call." (Granted I could have handled that better but I got carried away haha).

He replied, "No you do your homework, I already know it's not true." How old are we? It's just a testimony to me that if a 60 year old man takes the time to stop two young men and persecute something he's ignorant of, the church HAS to be true. Real Christ-like man.

Anyways :) I DID have a great week. We are teaching a man named Mike Bias. He has been coming to church for 8 years now and investigating 13 years. We were over at the Bishops house for linner yesterday and he came. We talked for seriously 5 hours with him. Super genius guy who knows the church is true but is afraid that he will fall away if he is baptized. We testified that that is WHY we attend church. Renew the covenants we make. We don't go to church because we are perfect, we go to church because we are not perfect. We got him to tear up a bit and the spirit was incredibly strong. Later that night, some of the Breakhall's extended family came over for desert and familiy home evening so we sang for them. I dont know how this whole singing thing started but it works!

SO today I am in Butte, Montana. Such a sweet town. All the Elder's in our stake are getting together to play some bball and shop at Walmart haha. The library here is 3 stories. A super big mining town. I'm learning all sorts of history about Montana. Turns our there are 3 world famous rivers here for fishing. And Brother Clark, the high priest group leader in our ward, is internationally known. He's the only known Doctor to have performed a successful surgery on a baby while still in the womb...he gets calls from other countries for advice, it's kind of crazy. Lots of amazing ward members. Anyways, things are going amazing. We've found 4 new investigators, have discussions every day, and our name is going around town pretty quick. The people here are so humble and I wouldn't mind staying in this area another 6 months!

That's my spiel for the week. How is everybody? Thank you all for the letters, they definitely keep me going! How is good ole "Surp City?" (Surprise). It's been ridiculously windy here. In the 20's. The electric boots i've used once, and they're pretty awesome. I see deer every day and occasionally moose come around town! Love and miss you all!

 

Also, include in the blog I walked a good 6.5 miles uphill yesterday! haha have a great week! Miss you!

 

Jack, Dylan at the Brick Oven prior to MTC Drop-off

Elder Chelson, MTC Companion

MTC District

Twin Bridges, MT

Elder Villejo, 1st Mission Field Companion (from the Phillipines)