Elder Inman Letter October 14, 2013

Another Baptism!

Last P-day, we went hiking! We were planning on going to the Pictograph Cave, but then we forgot the government shutdown affected all parks...lame. So we hiked the Rims instead which was fun :) We got a new investigator this week. Too bad we will have to pass him off -__- He is 32, and is just over the age limit for the Singles Ward. But his name is Beau, and he has absolutely no religious background which is sweet! We challenged him to be baptized and he said he would be if he came to know if it was true :)  He was actually a referral from Eliza! Super cool. For dinner that Tuesday, we got taken to Buffalo Wild Wings...I tried the Mango Habanero (3rd hottest sauce) and cried haha. But it was good!

Keep Elder Wade in your prayers...He had a super rough week. In the same day, he found out that his investigator died 2 days before her baptismal date, and he also found out that his mom took a fall landing on her head. She didn't know her own name when she woke up :/ But I gave him a blessing, and she will recover fully :) Another Update with Elder Wade, he got emergency transferred back to his previous area. The Elders there were scheduling appointments that they were not attending, setting up dinners that they never went too, and completely destroyed that area. Elder Wade, who those members love, was sent there to revive it. I called him yesterday and he said that their dinner calendar was empty when he got there, and completely full by the end of church Sunday. So cool! I am going to miss him though, we got to be really good friends. BUT....guess who replaced him down here in Billings? ELDER PACKHAM!!!! The one who was good friends with Dom from BYUI and who I came out with! So stoked!

We got in with Josh, the one who dropped us a few weeks ago. He let us come over, we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit was there. Josh has a lot of anxiety and has trouble focusing. I made him a promise, that if he took that leap of faith by coming to church, that that anxiety would leave the moment he walked through the church doors.

Zone Conference was this past Thursday. A 7 hour conference but I got to see Elder Villejo! I miss that kid! The theme of this conference was becoming master teachers like the Savior. And a HUGE announcement was made. We are the THIRD mission in the World to receive IPad Mini's for missionary work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And guess what. I'll be one of the few going around the mission to train all missionaries on it. We all get our own! How crazy is that! I knew about it for a week, but wasn't allowed to say anything :)

Friday night, the ward had a pumpkin carving competition! Mine was probably the worst haha. Me and Beau Tall, one of the members, worked on one. We messed up the eyes, so we made it a cyclopes. We messed up the nose, so it was huge. And we made the mouth a Nike Swoosh haha. We didn't win.

Saturday's baptism was SO COOL! We got to the church at 8AM to start filling the font. Mario's baptism was at 10 and it takes FOREVER to fill that thing. We had a pretty good turnout , I love this ward. I had the privledge of Baptizing Mario, which is the first time I've actually done a baptism on the mission :) There is probably no better feeling. Afterwards, we all went to Denny's to eat! That night, we went to volunteer at the corn maze again. Tim was there, and we got to help out out with the Zombies. We loaded the paintball guns for people haha. Fun stuff!

Sunday was very rewarding. Being fast Sunday, we got to hear lots of testimonies. Jason, an investigator that the Skyview sisters have been teaching, got up and bore his testimony ...so powerful. Here was this kid, wearing all black, gauges in both ears, hat on, headphones in, and red highlights in his hair...standing in front of people he doesn't know, telling us that God has taken care of him. In one Sunday, I got to see Mario confirmed, Kyle Hamburg passing the sacrament, an investigator bearing his testimony, and Josh came to all three hours of church saying he wanted to be baptized. Wow. All people that I have got to work with over the last 6 months. 

So we had a sweet week :) Lots of blessings. Happy Birthday Grandpa! You are amazing and I miss you. Congrats Torie on the band festival! Love you all! 

Pictures from the Hike, Mario's baptism, my pumpkin, and Mason's pumpkin with a sword in it haha

 

 

 

 

 

Elder Inman Letter October 7, 2013

Wait ... I'm a third done?

Holy moly I hit my 8 month mark yesterday. Time has flown by. I was sick ALL week last week. I caught some type of cold that lasted forever. Probably didn't help that I was biking in 30 degree weather facing the wind. It snowed twice this week! WOOHOO! Snowed for almost a full afternoon, I loved it.

Tuesday's institute was so sweet. Preston, our ward mission leader, taught and we were studying 2 Nephi 9, probably my all time favorite chapter. And also because Jacob is the one giving the sermon ;) Leah, the girl that has been coming to institute and is an archaeologist, asked me a few questions afterward about 2 Nephi 9:18...my plaque scripture! She had some reaqlly good questions aabout judgement and the afterlife :)

Wednesday we cleaned out the baptismal font because it is really old and probably hasn't been cleaned in years. In preparation for Mario's baptism this Saturday, we scrubbed it, washed it, rinsed it, etc. Took about an hour to clean because that font is huge! Splits was that night and I was fortunate enough to go with Preston and Wade (a ward missionary) to visit Chelsea, one of our less-actives. We decided beforehand, that we only wanted to do a gospel discussion. And that's how it turned out! The Spirit was so strong. We discussed what she believed and she said everything happens for a reason. That triggered my memory of the very first time I met Chelsea...Elder Bonaro and I had been in Billings for less than 6weeks and she was one of the 900 names we needed to find out about. That day, EVERYTHING seemed to go wrong on the way to her house. GPS was making up roads, construction, detours, everything. We finally found her house and no one was home. Walking away from her porch, she just happened to drive up and we shared a message right on her driveway about faith. THAT does not just happen. Since then we have visited almost every week. She agreed that that may have been for a reason. *Back to the appointment we had this week* Preston asked an inspired question. He asked her what she felt her purpose was. She said she hadn't found it yet. He asked, on a scale of 1-10, how bad do you want to know. She paused, and said "8." We made her a promise. If she would read even 1 scripture a day for 1 week...on that last day she would receive that revelation. She's going to try it!

Mario is so golden! We taught him Tithing this week and have the Word of Wisdom, as well as the Law of Chastity to teach him before Saturday. He invited friends to come to his baptism!

Friday was so exciting, as Leah (see Tuesday ^) met with us. We planned on teaching the Plan of Salvation because she had questions about it. However, we started off by asking her if she had questions right off the bat. She said yes:

 

Question 1: Why do we not drink wine, if culturally and historically it is accepted and Jesus Drank wine?

 

Ans: Luckily, Preston was there ,who got this question all the time in Mexico. It is scientifically proven that one glass of Red Wine a day is healthy for you (she expressed this). It is true that Christ drank wine. Preston addressed this question, in relation to history. In that day, there was not pure water. Wine was probably the most pure thing they had. The water could make you very sick (she studied history, so this was perfect). We also explained, that most people who drink, abuse it and it becomes harmful. We are given commandments over time. I brought up Moses. The children of Israel had been in the bondage of the Egyptians for years. Moses left them for only a few days and they went RIGHT BACK to idol worshiping. SHE made the connection, that Moses destroyed the first tablets because they weren't ready for them. It made sense to her, as now, we are held to a higher law of health :)

Question 2: Why is it, that women cannot go to Heaven without a husband?

 

Ans: We explained that this was false. Women can reach the Celestial Kingdom without being married. HOWEVER, there is a difference between Salvation and Exaltation. We were placed here in families fro the time of Adam. The very first commandment God gave, was to have a family. In order to reach the highest degree of glory and happiness, it is in the Plan of Happiness to be married in the Temple to a spouse for eternity. For those who have not had the opportunity to marry, they will get a fair chance like everyone else, hereafter. The same goes for a man. He cannot be EXALTED without marrying. She understood :)

WOW! Hard questions or what! Luckily the Spirit led the conversation and she left with a smile. We told her just to pray about it, and God will confirm the truth through the Holy Ghost.

I cannot even begin to describe how amazing conference was. This email would go on forever. I loved the two main themes though: Families and overcoming adversity. It was made very clear that God does not change. I loved how they stated that just because Civil Law will claim something as moral, that does not change God's law of it being immoral. It is not a law for us to change. It can't be changed! Dallin H. Oaks laid down the law haha I loved it. Have a great week! I love you all and the church is true!

P.S. This week, I will be starting a spiritual blog in addition to Facebook. If you would like, "Follow" my Facebook, and be looking for my blog posts!

Elder Inman Letter September 30, 2013

Cool Weather!

The weather here in Billings has been so nice! 60's all week and even some days in the 50's. Sweater weather! Out apartment got down to 57 degrees...how awesome is that :) Speaking of, last P-day we moved apartments. We no longer live with another set of Elders which is a bummer :/ I am going to miss Elder Wade. Our apartment isn't too bad. Concrete walls, a broken shower, no air conditioning...but the shower got fixed 2 days ago :D

Tuesday was Mission Leadership Council. This past transfer, THREE new zones were created, making a total of 13 zones. How crazy is that? All the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders came to Billings to discuss how to improve the mission. Although I am not in leadership, we got invited to present a program that Elder Brisco and I made. Basically it is a phone analysis that tracks calls out of area, keeps track of frequency of calls to a particular number, calls after 10PM, calls Longer than 10 minutes, and who is actually being called. It's a pretty extensive program so that was fun explaining to everyone. Kind of intimidating to. But basically, now the Zone Leaders can send us a text, we do a phone report on someone in their Zone, and email it to them. Pretty cool stuff.

Did I mention our new investigator Mario last letter? We are teaching a 21 year old guy named Mario who plays college baseball for MSU-Billings. Super solid guy. He's had the discussions before, dated an LDS girl, and is already in 3 Nephi! This week we taught him the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome. He is going to be baptized October 12! Woo hoo! He also came to church yesterday which was sweet.

We continue to meet with Eliza. She wants to take the sacrament SO bad, and wants it to happen over night. But she realizes it will take time and that the Lord will strengthen her through her trials. We've been teaching her all the discussions over again to help build her testimony and Gospel knowledge. We taught her tithing and chastity this week.

Josh...dropped us! :( Frustrating. He sent us a text saying he was done with church for now and thanked us for our time. We asked what's going on, and he said he just couldn't keep commitments and won't come to church. He said he felt it was disrespect to us...It's sad for me to see how so many people feel like they have to be perfect to come to church. Church is FOR imperfect people. We go to church to repent and learn. My WHOLE purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ and to partake of his Atonement. We are trying to see ho we can meet with him again

The ward did ice blocking again :) I didn't do it this time though. But, afterwards they had hot chocolate, marshmallows, brownies, all kinds of sugary stuff. It just doesn't get better than this :)

Saturday we got to volunteer at the corn maze! I love corn mazes! Parker Vonk, one of our ward missionaries volunteers there 3 days a week and actually volunteers as a zombie for apocalyptic paintball. Basically he wears motocross gear with a zombie mask and zombie clothes over it. A trailer equipped with paintball guns and 2 huge cylinders of CO2, drives by, and the zombies come running at you while they get shot a bazillion times by 10 paint ballers. It's pretty awesome haha. Unfortunately we can't do that, but we got to be "Corn Cops" and kick people out for throwing corn or cutting through it. Super fun :D 

 

Congrats to Torie on getting the Black Plume! She deserves it! Being a boss on that marimba :) And congrats to Jesse on his swimming merit badge! I miss swimming a lot :/ It's probably already to cold to swim up here though. Glad you were able to make it to your conference and back, Dad haha sounds like quite the experience! I hope you all have a great week and great General Conference! Love you!

Elder Inman

Elder Inman Letter September 23, 2013

Transfer Week!!

Well, weird to say I am on my 6th transfer! Only 11 to go! It's been a pretty weird week, but with lots of exciting things going on. At the beginning of the week, we played "Bigger or Better" for FHE which was pretty fun. For whatever reason, we ended up with all kinds of food. Cantaloupe, Zucchini, and then Tomatoes. We didn't win haha.

Elder Brisco didn't get transferred till Wednesday and I didn't get my new companion until about 5PM Wednesday. So all day Wednesday I was with Elder Pirillo, who just left today for Brazil. We helped teach new missionaries on how to do companion study, and then we went to candy town. I received my new companion, Elder Yeske, at about 5PM and we went straight to Missionary Splits. He seems like an ok kid. He's excited to work, knows the gospel well, and talks a lot. We have a few personality differences, but that is bound to happen when you live with someone 24/7.  Elder Yeske is short with blonde hair and is from Riverside, CA.

Thursday we had a cool lesson with Meghan Powell who was baptized a few weeks ago. She wanted to learn more about Temples and baptisms for the dead, so we got to teach a whole lesson about temples! So that was pretty sweet. We then gave her a Priesthood blessing to help her get over her cold and to help her with the stresses of college. We had dinner with  Mason, who took us to Cafe Rio and then he took us to Dairy Queen. Love this ward!

We taught Josh the Word of Wisdom on Friday, which is what he struggles with most. Drinking, smoking, and coffee. He seemed to take it alright, but I'm not sure he has the desire to completely give up smoking or coffee yet. He has this idea that if he indulges in all of it one last time, that he will be able to give it all up...we'll see how that goes. We also met with Eliza who is struggling with the same things. She's starting to progress though, and she no longer feels a need to drink coffee or tea (for now)! We have been weening her off of coffee by telling her to drink her favorite caffeinated soda. It seems to be working. One thing at a time!

Friday morning was so fun! Like the Dirty Dash, we volunteered for another 5K called, "Color me Rad" which entails everyone wearing white, and throughout the race, colored corn starch is thrown all over you. So cool! The actual race was Saturday, but Friday we helped sell merchandise and check people in/register. And we got a free shirt! Nothing beats a free shirt!

Because we volunteered Friday, we actually got to RUN the race Saturday morning (which is usually $50!). So crazy. We got to the Metra park at about 8:20AM wearing our button-up shirts, ties, and basketball shorts haha. I was also wearing Elder Brisco's shes that he left behind because I didn't want to get mine all colored. It turned out to be a bad idea because they were 2 sizes too big and hurt my ankles. But our whole zone was there. Before the race started, everyone (except us) was doing zumba, a push-up competition, and a costume contest. We actually got called up as part of the costume contest and got like no cheers haha! So the black guy announcing said, "Yo, if you don't cheer for these missionaries, they WILL come to yo house!" And then everyone cheered! So funny. I am so out of shape. But I got super colorful! My shirt was multi-colored  and my face looked like a zombie. Basically people throw "color bombs" at you at certain checkpoints. And then afterwards, everyone got a free color bomb and gathered in front of the stage. When the beat dropped, everyone threw their bombs in the air and there was a huge cloud of color. We were going to stay afterward to help clean up (which was the point in going), but it turned into a club scene  with bad music, immodesty, and immorality, so we left when the Spirit did. The lady in charge gave us free hoodies and shirts though!

That night, we got a call to go give a blessing to two new-born twins who were born a month pre-maturely and were in ICU. It was a Lamanite (native) family, which made it all the more cool and humbling. The babies' heads fit in my palm. There was something about just knowing that these babies were in God's presence less than a day ago that got to me. The Spirit was so strong. We picked up a new investigator on Saturday as well. His name is Mario! And he is on date to be baptized October 12. He plays baseball at the college here, has had the lessons before, and has lots of Mormon friends. He's read through Helaman already and feels like the church is true! He just needs a testimony if Joseph Smith. Be praying for him!

Sunday was good as always. The Lord's timing is always perfect. We were going down a list of less-actives, and came to a house where there was supposed to be two guys who could come to the single's ward. We saw someone walking their dog and that happened to be one of them, and the other one happened to be home visiting from out of town. We found out that the one walking the dog was just diagnosed with cancer. The mom told us their family is inactive, and didn't really have plans on becoming active again. Yet, both the son and the mother wanted Priesthood blessings. Elder Yeske sealed the son with cancer, and I sealed the mom. The son was actually promised in his blessing, that if he had the faith, his cancer would leave him, but it would also require the faith of the mother and family (part of the blessing given to the mom). So we will see what they do with it, but we both felt prompted to say he could be healed, if they basically exercise their faith by coming back to church and getting active. We'll see what they do with it.

Well that was my week! I got an interesting video of Alex (Inman) of his Elmo impression. He hasn't changed one bit haha so funny. Chloe and Kally are 7 now?! That's getting old! And Jesse is taller than Torie?! What the heck! I got his letter with the pictures from scout camp, he looks  a little taller! I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

Color Me Rad Race in Billings

Elder Inman and Sister Smith

Elder Inman

Fake Tattoo

Elders Inman and Wade

Elders Inman and Wade, and Sister Gold

Elder Inman Letter September 16, 2013

Transfers once again!

Looks like the Rimrock YSA ward just can't get rid of me! I am staying here another 6 weeks in the Singles Ward and in the office :D Super excited! Elder Brisco, is getting transferred to Livingston, just outside of Bozeman. I will be finishing Elder Yeske's training, who was Elder Packham's (one of my friends) companion. Super excited! From what I've been told, Elder Yeske is social and is also a tech guy.

We were able to teach a little more this week which was nice. Our newest investigator, Josh, is progressing and we have been meeting with him pretty regularly! He's actually on date to be baptized this Saturday, but that was just a goal. He won't make that date, but he will definitely be baptized! Monday we taught him the Plan of Salvation and it all seemed to make sense to him. He's a really smart guy but just has some anxiety. So we are doing our best to help him overcome that. A cool thing about that: we met with him this last Friday at the church and we taught the third discussion (The Gospel of Jesus Christ). He talked about how he has been praying out loud for an answer to one of his prayers, and that he had the faith that if he were to open the Book of Mormon, he could receive an answer (how cool is that?). Of all the chapters he could turn to, he was taken to Jacob 5, the allegory of the olive tree. He said he read a verse that talked about the natural branches choking the roots which were still good, and that he felt that way. And then how grafting in new branches (the gospel) could preserve those roots and help him get over his anxiety! How cool is that!? He then ASKED for a Priesthood blessing. I had the opportunity to give it, and he was told that if he took a leap of faith by attending church, that his spiritual body would be strengthened and would overcome his physical trials. Almost immediately afterward, he had this huge smile on his face, said thank you, and walked out. He was walking on cloud nine :) So that was a very neat experience.

Eliza is doing better. We have been meeting with her pretty regularly as well. This week, we taught her the story when Christ raised the Daughter of Jairus. That through the faith of the FATHER,, his daughter who was already dead, was raised. On the way to raise her, a woman touched the hem of Christ's robe, having sufficient faith to be healed. Notice, that not once did Jairus complain or try to get Christ to hurry and see his daughter. he was patient, and knew that with Christ, anything was possible. We promised Eliza that she could be healed too, but according to her faith. She feels like she has to be perfect to attend church. One of Satan's great lies. I am very familiar with that feeling. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I teared up when testifying about the miracle of Forgiveness.

Later that Thursday, we helped a member of our ward move some things out of one of his friend's basement. Everything they owned was destroyed from that storm. Everything. It had filled up 4 feet high. One of the things was a piano. Completely destroyed and unusable. We literally had to destroy their piano by breaking it to pieces, move it out, and uphill to the garage. Super sad :/

Friday...not a good day. Had a little Deja Vu. My bike got stolen. Our area hasn't had bikes in months. We just got brand new 2014 Giant Sedona's worth $450 a piece. Hadn't even ridden it yet. it was locked up and someone took a pair of bolt cutters and stole it. So maddening.

Saturday, we talked to a native for a little while outside of Albertsons. Every single homeless person here claims they were Mormon at one time. As if that would help them get money from us lol. "Oh yeah I was baptized Mormon." Every single one of them without fail. Anyways, this native was actually a lady I've talked to before named Rhonda Ray American Horse. She was really drunk when she was talking to us, but she just asked that we pray for her. Which never hurts.

Glad you got the sheet music Dad! And that Jesse got the sunglasses! Does he like them? That is so cool to hear of all the Tender Mercies the family is receiving from Lacey and i serving missions! You aren't going to want us to come home haha. Speaking of Lacey, she turned 22 yesterday! Crazy stuff! I don't know if she'll read this or not but i love you Lacey! You are one of my best friends and i can't wait to see you!

 

Spiritual Thoughts:

 

In Lehi's dream, it is interesting that we focus so much on the interpretations of the minor things. The mist, the darkness, the filthy water, and even the iron rod. We overlook the whole focus of the dream. The Tree of Life. Nephi describes the tree as, "whiter than the driven snow." The tree is the Savior and the fruit is his Atonement. The tree, "whose fruit was desirable to make one happy" should be our center focus. Lehi wanted his whole family to partake of this fruit, as does our Heavenly Father. We have all grabbed hold of the Iron Rod at Baptism and "feel" our way towards that tree. There were some who were ashamed once they took of the fruit because of those mocking. We never need to be ashamed of our faith.

 

Love you all! Have a great week!

 

 

Elder Inman Letter September 9, 2013

September?

I can't get over how fast time is going. I've been out almost 7.5 months already...and it's September?! The weather is finally starting to go down a bit, I'm ready to start wearing sweaters again. Or for it at least to be Fall!

So it sounds like Jesse had a pretty awesome birthday! HE GOT A PHONE?! Hahahahahaha that's trouble. But it will also be a blessing. What kind of phone did he get? He wanted a flip phone right? And he already knows how to text? I can't wait to text him all the time when I am back home. I can't believe he is 15 either. I'm worried he'll be bigger than me when I get back.

Well not a lot going on this week until the last few days. Eliza, our less-active who was claimed reactivated and then disappeared, is making a real comeback! We met with her almost every day this past week, just helping her to build upon her testimony and Gospel knowledge. So that has been really neat to see her have that drive to learn again! She said she has no desire for coffee OR tea anymore which is awesome, and she is consistently coming to church again! Sometimes we just meet up with her to do scripture study and talk about Christ's miracles. She has been doing her own studies on the temple grounds because she knows that Satan has no influence on her there.

We picked up a new investigator this week! His name is Josh and he just had a  friend baptized about 2 weeks ago in a different ward. He is extremely knowledgeable and just wants to turn his life around. We met him at the park and gave the first discussion. Everything clicked for him and he's been reading the Book of Mormon! He was asking all kinds of questions about Nephi and said there was one verse that just made him "feel taller" in his own words. He is date to be baptized the 21st of this month! Hopefully I am around for it, as transfers are in a week. Eek!

I am SO sore from this weekend. Pretty crazy. We had the chance to do a ton of service! Friday we helped a n old family move who had been living in this house for 40+ years. We filled an entire semi, and they had probably 5000 years of food storage (maybe an exaggeration). But there was so much to move out. Saturday morning we had the opportunity to plant flowers and various other plants at the temple! There is probably no better way to start a morning, than to make a Temple even more beautiful. I'm learning more and more about my companion Elder Brisco. We were planting pink cabbage, and the soil was really wet. I was digging the holes and asked if he could plant and fill them. His reply was, "With what?" Your hands Elder Brisco. Your hands. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty at all, so we literally had to switch jobs. 

Saturday night was RIDICULOUS. An enormous storm hit. 75mph wind, 3" of nickel sized hail, 24hr power outage, heavy rain, and 30 ft tree limbs everywhere! We went in the street where there was a full size blow-up swimming pool filled with hail that we ha to dumb out so that people could drive through (while it's hailing still). The sister missionaries living about 8 miles away called us at 10PM asking if we could help them move furniture and de-flood the basement of the member home they live at! They live in 8000 square foot homes (not kidding). So we head over there and it is down pouring. We get to these homes and have to tear out their brand new carpet and floor padding, take it upstairs, throw it out, and then use shop-vac's to suck up the 1" high water still on the ground. Crazy! We were up till 1AM helping these people and then went home. The next day, Billings looked post-apocalyptic. Mudslides, full size boulders in the streets, hail covered streets, cement walls broken up, tree limbs...it was awful. So President told us to all go to our sacrament meetings, but then go out and give service to everyone. We went to a home where the basement windows were shattered and the floor was covered in thick mud, hail and water. We shoveled all of it into trash cans and carried them out. There were probably 20 of us working on this for about 4 hours. The basement wasn't done yet, so there were probably 100 sheets of sheet-rock that got ruined. So we cut them into pieces, and had an assembly line going out the window and up outside. Such a mess, I felt so bad. So this next week we will be doing service non-stop! It really was a small natural disaster, I have never seen a worse storm. 

Spiritual Thought:

"I have noted that most Revelation to the children of God comes when they are on the move, not when they are sitting back in their habitations waiting for the Lord to tell them the first step to take." - Dallin H Oaks

In institute this last week, we talked about Nephi and Laban. If God is all powerful, why did he require Nephi to slay Laban? There is a number of reasons. But notice, that Nephi, tried twice a plan of his own. They cast lots and just asked...almost died. They offered all their worldly possessions, almost died. Then Nephi left without "knowing beforehand what (he) should do." He did all he knew how, and then just went, knowing that God would make it happen because he tried everything he could. Also, Nephi did not want to slay Laban. His conscience was fighting with what the Spirit told him to do. The Spirit had to tell him THREE times to do it. Nephi had met his Abrahamic sacrifice. We will also have to do so eventually.

"We cannot expect the blessings of Abraham until we have experienced faith like Abraham."

Have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Inman Letter September 3, 2013

Howdy all!

Don't worry, I dont really talk like that...yet :) It was a pretty bust week but with lots of blessings. Funny how that always happens! Kyle, our less active that hated people and has been making a comeback to church, is going to do a SERVICE MISSION now! We are so excited about that! He will be an office Elder and work on the Database for the mission. And on Sunday, he voluntarily got up in fast & testimony meeting and bore his testimony...my mind was BLOWN. He talked about how his friend James told him that he didn't know he was Mormon. A few days later, the missionaries show up (us) and how it got really annoying that we showed up every week. He said, "All I was wanting to do was play some video games and write code, but No, these Elders wanted to talk about Jesus!" Hahahahaha so funny. But he talked about how now he is attending weekly, and because of that, he is now going to be serving a mission. Oftentimes we wonder if we make a difference in someone's life. I couldn't hold back my tears, knowing that Kyle had been inactive for 5 years and we were able to help him serve a mission.

Monday night for FHE we played LIVE Mario Cart! We attached balloons to our belts and basically do the balloon stomp game. Super funny. Elder Hopkins (senior missionary), went in to have a tumor removed Tuesday :/ After having appendicitis in the same area. I feel so bad for him. So in his place, I picked up the slack. Sent baptismal records to Salt Lake, received and distributed referrals to the mission, ordering supplies, name tags and answering phones, etc...double duty lol. But I enjoyed it and got into the groove of things throughout the week. He is doing better now from what I've heard :)

Remember Eliza? She is the one who quit smoking, drinking, and coffee all at the same time and was doing SO well. And then one day she said she didn't want to be contacted and wanted to focus on other things besides church. That was really sad :/ We found out Tuesday that she had checked herself into the hospital and wanted us to come visit her. She needed a blessing. The next day she was discharged and she came to the church. Bishop was with us. She asked that Bishop anoint and I seal...wasn't expecting that but it was a neat experience. She told us about everything that happened (which won't be shared), but that she had a very spiritual experience that convinced her to come back. So cool.

On a random note, we had a lot of allotted miles left on the Truck. So...we took a road trip out to Roundup (about an hour away) to go see some less-actives out there. We cover an enormous area and never get out there. Friday we took an actual P-day! Probably the first one I've had in a month. We just end up working every P-day and we are permitted to take another day if we are working on our P-day. So...we went to Mystic Lake again! So pretty. And the Pioneer Park Elders came with us (Wade and Schramm), and did the hike. So much fun and much needed. I was stressed out of my mind this past week in the office. It's a 7 mile hike roundtrip and totally worth it, so we finished it. Elder Bonaro left today for Brazil :( And now Elder Brisco and I are getting our own apartment. Almost hit like 6 deer on the way home.

Baptisms Saturday! Woooo! Meghan was baptized :) It was really awkward because we weren't the ones who really taught her. The Skyview sisters did and decided to have her baptized in our ward last second. But it went well. Sunday, not only did Kyle bear his testimony, but Eliza did too! It was very spiritually rewarding to see that 2 people we have been working with 4 months got up and bore their testimonies about THIS being the one and only true church. And how big of a deal it is, that we are a part of that. We take for granted just how blessed we are that we know more than probably 95% of the world.

Well sounds like things are going well at home! Who would have thought Jesse would be good at Poker :) Doesn't surprise me actually! Everyone in the singles ward is leaving for BYUI! Pretty sad, the whole ward is changing! 

Happy Birthday Jesse! I miss you a ton and think about you every day. You are my hero and I am so blessed to be your older brother. You are so smart and I can't imagine my life without you. One day you will be a great missionary and you already have been! I love you and hope you have an awesome birthday!

Mystic Lake, MT

Elders Bonaro and Inman

Elders Inman and Schramm at Mystic Lake, MT

Elder Inman at Mystic Lake, MT

Four Elders at Mystic Lake, Mt