Service, service, and more service. Not a big week for missionary work, but missionaries aren't just called to teach, we're called to SERVE! On Tuesday we stacked some more wood for the Meeks while in our white shirts and ties. Then Brother Meeks asked us to move some rock for him. I feel really bad for Brother Meeks. His health is awful. I guess he converted to the church a few years back but one day while fixing his roof, he actually fell off, broke his collar bone, a few ribs, and fractured a few vertebra. It's a miracle he's still even alive. He has to have constant oxygen and he breathes as if he has endless hiccups :/ So we try to help him as much as we can. Anyway, we moved rock for him. Afterwards we went to Rereuns (the thrift store that we live off of), where we found Bryan, one of the teenagers we play ball with that has had the discussions before. Sister Jensen was at the grocery store so Elder Villejo and I visited her for a little while. We had dinner at the Breakall's (meatloaf, tortellini, and no-bakes!). Bishop Breakall took us out to see where the Beaverhead and Big Hole River meet to become the Jefferson River. Got some sweet pictures. Everyone up here has a 4-wheel drive Toyota to mess around in, so on the back from the River, Bishop floored the truck and we hit a sweet jump! Bishop loves that stuff.
Wednesday we had District meeting from 9-12. Elder Nay (our District Leader) sang me "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias on E. Villejo's guitar haha. Elder Nay is hilarious. After that we did service for Sister Smith...again. It's becoming a weekly thing and I guess she's abused the service of the missionaries in the past too. She lives alone on a big ranch and wants everyone to keep it up for her. She's probably in her early 70's or late 60's. She just had back surgery so we want to help, but she is a perfectionist. She had us move rock, put in three posts, and saw wood for an irrigation well. She had me SAW-ZAW a railway tie vertically and complained it wasn't evenly cut. I was frustrated haha. And this is all for a home she is planning on selling anyway. BUT on a more fun note, I saw a MOOSE for the first time in my life! Through binoculars by the river, but it was still cool! This was at the Clark's home. And guess what...for the first time in my life I had SHRIMP! It wasn't bad, I just wasn't used to it.
Thursday we did even MORE service! Thursday was fun though. At about 11, we visited Sister Bond (a widow) and landscaped her whole yard. I had the gas weed-eater and cleaned up her large flower bed. It hadn't been kept for 2 years so it took me about 2.5 hours but it was fun! We then went over the Meeks again, this time to change a tire on a truck he was working on. He also has this actual retired school bus that he transformed into a trailor that I took pictures of haha it was awesome. SIster Stalder's house was next. She took us to the "do-it-yourself" car wash and we cleaned the outside and inside of her car. She took us to serendipity's (an ice cream place) and then she dropped us back off at Sister Bond's to finish cleaning up the yard. 6 Black trash bags full of tree limbs, weeds, and grass. Today was the first day we were riding our new bikes, which are AWESOME. Have to say I crashed haha. Turned to sharp! But nothing bad, it was right in front of our apartment! Elder Villejo was making fun of me. It's been a while since I've ridden a bike! The Stocket's had us over for dinner for Turner's 7th birthday. We played soccer with them and gave him 5 bucks. Good day!
Friday was really the only day we got to do missionary work. We started out by visiting Gene. We knocked on his door and he happily let us in while informing us that he had just put eye drops in his bad eye. So we sat down...and Gene just lays down in front of us on his back with one eye closed. The whole time we were there we were just looking down at him haha classic Gene. We discussed the purpose of the Book of Mormon, he's still reading it! We visited Sister Jensen at the store afterwards and found out that her husband Dennis comes home from Utah finally! After having a leg amputated and getting a pacemaker put in :( They've been through a lot, and are such a great family. We try to see them as much as we can.
Saturday was the most fun I have had in the mission so far... drum roll...COW BRANDING. So awesome!! I feel like a cowboy already! Brother Shaw owns a ranch and he asked if we wanted to help with branding. We weren't going to turn that down! We started by rounding up the big cows, separating them from their calfs and leading the big cows through a chute. The chute locks their head and the chute tightens to hold them still. Basically you take an incredibly hot iron, and sear the hide of the cow. Needless to say the cows don't like it. Sometimes their hair even catches fire, it smells pretty bad. But it was awesome. We then sprayed all their backs with something called a "drencher" to get rid of all the pesticides. The calfs (calves?) were the fun part. Up until now, Elder Villejo and I couldn't be used for much. We were put into a pen of 68 calfs. We WRESTLED them into a different chute where they were clasped by their legs and head, turned up onto a table, given a vaccination, and a brand. Someone had to hold the hind legs while it was being branded. They kept farting and pooping all over the table haha apparently they were stressed out. It was so much fun to wrestle the calfs! I got kicked pretty good by the stubborn ones, got some sweet welts and bruises! All their tails were caked with poop, so it was nasty grabbing their tails and they weren't easy to move. Both Elder Villejo and I accidently got our fingers up their butt. So nasty but probably the most fun day of the mission so far! There were also two less-actives there and one of them came to church the next day!
Sunday was good as always! Elder Villejo and I both bore our testimonies because there is a good chance one of us is getting transferred next week :( It was a really spiritual meeting. And guess what. We FINALLY got to have a lesson with Mike Bias, our eternigator. During Sunday School and Priesthood we talked to him in the Kitchen of the church. Deep stuff. He's had all the discussions, he's quit so many things, and has been active for 8 years. Still not baptized. He just has a few concerns about the Atonement and has one more issue that he needs to overcome. We told him things we have been through, how we overcame them, and that the whole point of getting baptized and taking the sacrament is to PROGRESS. We don't come to church because we are perfect. We come to church because we are not. Pray for Mike!
That's about it for this week! Sorry, not a lot of spiritual experiences this week, just a lot of fun service! CONGRATULATIONS TORIE ON THE SCHOLARSHIP! That's huge! I was praying for you, and you deserve it! Sounds like you put a lot of work into it! And that's definitely something to be proud of that one of the judges was a Julliard Graduate!
Jesse's room sounds fun! I wish I could help paint it! I'm pretty acclamated to the weather here. But I don't get cold very easy in general. It's been a range from the upper 40's to the mid 60's. Perfect, in my mind!
P.S. Mom, I sent something for you in the mail, but don't open it till mothers day! Love you all! Have an awesome week!
4.25.13-Zone Conf at Helena-Butte-Helena zone