This week was a busy week (as always)! For whatever reason I haven't been sleeping well all week. Lots on my mind I guess? Not sure, but either way I was exhausted allll week. On Tuesday I finishe reading the New Testament beginning to end! That was a super neat experience and now I feel better prepared when teaching the Bible Scholars around here. Now I need to finish the Book of Mormon before the Transfer is over (May 13)! I'm currently in Helaman 5 so I need to read about 12 pages a day :P Anyways, we did a bit more service this week! As the weather gets warmer, there are more and more projects to do. On Tuesday we raked leaves for Sister Barnett and then she cooked us dinner, She makes the best roles ever!
On Wednesday, our apartment was inspected by the Senior Couple missionaries. Luckily Elder Nay (our District Leader) gave us a heads up the night before so we had a spotless apartment! Haha. We fasted ALL DAY Wednesday. Mike Bias (our eternigator) said he would be home on Wednesday. So we fasted for a baptismal date and to have the Spirit. We walked around Twin Bridges for hours and he was never home. He was out fishing -__- That was frustrating. He's been hiding from us!
Thursday was sweet! We left Sheridan about 6:30AM for Helena which is about a 2 hour drive. The Dillon Elders picked us up. It was Zone Conference which is a big meeting of several zones. The Mission President, his wife, the AP's and 2 other zones were there (Boseman and Great Falls). On the way up to Helena we saw a $6 Million home...there are lots of those up here! Zone Conference was from 9-4..yeah. Long day. But I got to meet new Elders and Sisters, so it was fun! At the end they issued our new bikes! They look like they will last through the Millenum haha they are made by "Giant" and have 7 gears. They are actually $500 bikes and we only had to pay $300 so that's a blessing. Been a while since I've had a new bike! Although we haven't got to ride them yet since E. Villejo didn't get a Helmet yet -__- After Zone Conference we went to the Good Samaritan Thrift store, goodwill, and Ross haha there were al ot of missionaries there! On the way home we got Subway. All the ride home I was messing with Elder Nay. I convinced him he wasn't a man unless he ate an entire orange. Peel and all. So he ate it like an apple because I, "challenged his manhood." He gagged through it and ate it all! The next day he called me and informed me that the peel apparently had a lot of Fiber haha.
Away from that, I got the package from home! It was great to have Torie's Prom pictures, Jesse in his coon hat, and Mom's sweet Armour of God Costumes! How long did those take? Oh! Mom and Dad, I don't have ANY pictures of Lacey at all. Or the whole family. So if possible, could you send me some of those? Thanks!
On Saturday I hauled a lot of wood for the first time in my life! Brother Morgan, our ward mission leader, is already stocking wood for the winter. So we went out into the woods and he would chainsaw trees while Elder Villejo and I would haul the cut logs of wood into a big trailor. Good workout! Also got to see an actual tree fall and yell "Timber" haha that was pretty sweet. Some of the logs we were lifting were a good 60 pounds! Then the Morgans had us over for lunch in the woods. We roasted Hot Dogs on an open fire right next to a beautiful creek. Got some sweet pictures. Later on, we visited Gene! He's been reading! He said he's about 1/3 of the way done. What was interesting is that he is a History Major, and he told us that the Book of Mormon was historically accurate and that it matched his in-depth research of early exploration of the America's. So if anything, he is accepting the Book of Mormon has a history book! We hope he will get the spiritual aspect out of it, but hey it's a start!
I don't know what it is about Sundays, but they are just the best. We had hoped Gene would show up but he didn't. However....something better happened. A guy named Ryan Madison showed up out of no where. Bishop Breakall had given this guy a Book of Mormon months ago and has really been his friend. Ryan has a rough history and apparently is facing some legal charges. However, sometimes that is what it takes to be teachable! Humility! Anyway, Bishop invited him to church. He stayed ALL THREE meetings! That NEVER happens! Elder Villejo and I felt inspired to teach him a discussion instead of Priesthood. SO we asked him and he agreed. We went into a storage closet (the only open room) and taught the Restoration to him with Brother Morgan present. It was incredible. The spirit was immense. We asked if he would be baptized and he said he would think about it. He grew up Catholic and his wife is somewhat anti from what we could tell. It was so cool! Our teaching pool doubled (from 1 to 2)! Haha After church we went on splits to try and visit some less actives...yeah that didn't work. But we tried! For dinner we went to the Vials and I had Mule Deer for the first time. So good (if cooked right from what I hear).
Thanks for sharing your mission stories dad! I'm hoping to have a baptism here soon but since we are opening up a new area, we had to start from scratch! I'm staying healthy and the weather ranges from the 40's-upper 60's (perfect!). I've also grown a bit...I had to get my pants lengthened! Luckily not widened. Oh and as of May 1st we don't have to wear our suit coats! Thank goodness. Mom, could you send me some short sleeve shirts? About 3-4 would be good! I think my neck size is 16 1/2 or 16 3/4? Couldn't tell ya haha.
Good job on your band performance Torie! I'm proud of you! Fun story, Elder Villejo's sister just won 1st place in a singing competition for all the islands of Hawaii! Each island had a mini competition to select the best singer to represent the island and then there was one big competition for one winner of all the islands. His sister won!
Sorry, I know this one is long but I have a spiritual thought from my journal:
"Alma 49: Strengthen and Fortify (4/24/13)
Today in personal study I read all about Captain Moroni. Under the evil King Amalikiah, the Lamanites, Zoramites, and Amalakiahites were commanded to wage war on the Nephites so that King Amalikiah could rule both civilizations. The Zoramites (who knew the Nephites best) wanted to attack the weaker cities of Moronihah and Noah because they had 'hitherto' done so with success. It mentions Lamanites being, "dissapointed" 3 times and being "exceedingly astonished" 4 times. When they had reached these cities, they beheld that Moroni had built a wall tall enough that the Lamanites arrows would have no effect. In the city of Noah, "Moroni had fortified, or had built forts of security, for EVERY city round about;." Verse 14 reads, "the city of Noah which had hitherto been a weak place, had now, by the means of Moroni, become strong...."
I found it interesting that earlier in verse 10 it talks about Amalikiah (like Satan) would have sent his armies through the fortifactions anyway because he did not care for the blood of his people. It wasn't until now that I realized how much application this has. The weakest places that had previously been conquered, had now been fortified, had a body of the strongest men, swords, scimitars, and slings to "smite down all who should attempt to come into their place of security...(vs 20)." Are we fortifying our weak places where Satan has had success before? We need to fortify and strengthen our weaknesses enough to astonish and disappoint Satan.
Have an awesome week!