Wow what a busy week! How was everyone's Halloween? It was probably the coldest Halloween I've ever experienced haha. But i loved it!
So this week was transfers week. And transfers literally take all week since our mission is enormous. Luckily I love roadtrips!
So Tuesday was my last day in Billings. Such a sad day. I spent most of the day packing and cleaning. We went to institute at night and that was SO sad. We ha a great lesson on what true conversion is, using the books of Enos and Omni in the Book of Mormon. Eliza was there and Tannah came as well...when it came time to leave, both were crying :( Eliza was the one I got to work with for 6 months and see her turn her whole life around. Tannah and I got to be really good friends and I got to go to her endowment session. Eliza brought her scriptures that her grandfather gave her before he died and had written in. Eliza asked me if I would write in it as well before I left. That was a truly humbling experience. It's amazing how much love you can develop for people in such a short amount of time.
Wednesday was the roadtrip. We were at the mission home at 6:00AM and I ended up being one of the drivers. Wasn't expecting that but it was really fun. Got to drive one of the 2013 Fusions for 3 hours :) I got to see Elder Schramm in Bozeman and he got to ride with me, so that was fun! He's going to Helena to be a District Leader there.
Halloween was fun. The ward had their "Trunk or Treat" when we arrived Wednesday. On actual Halloween, we just walked around downtown Bigfork. Super cool town! All the little shops were handing out candy to a ton of dressed up kids from all over town. People asked us if we were actual missionaries. I guess we looked pretty authentic. :)
I went tracting for the first time in 6 months. That was weird! BUT, we found FOUR potential investigators and had a less-active lesson with an older man named Tim. He was baptized a little over a year ago but has since then not been real active. Keep him in your prayers please!
Saturday. SO FUN. Elder Denslow and I got to split wood for the first time ever! A woman named Anne, who owns the gift-shop in oldtown Bigfork, accepted our offer for service. For 4.5 hours, we split and stacked firewood. Pretty sure I might be a lumberjack someday! And it was an awesome workout.
Being Fast Sunday yesterday, we had some pretty sweet and spiritual lessons. One with an investigator named Fletcher. Super nice guy, just with some concerns which is ok. We promised him that if he would read 3 Nephi 11 and pray about it, he would have an answer by the time we showed up this Wednesday. So stoked! We had lots of pretty bold, powerful lessons. It was so sweet.
So Bigfork itself has about 4200 people. A relatively small town, South of Kalispell. It is beyond beautiful here. Picture Pinetop or Flagstaff, but with 3x as many trees and they are changing colors. Bigfork is right on the Flathead Lake (biggest freshwater lake West of the Mississippi), and it's all mountains. I LOVE it here! Feels like I'm camping in the Celestial Kingdom! There are a lot of rich people here. Gerry (pronounced Jerry) Molen, who helped produce several movies with Steven Spielberg is in our ward...and a member of the 70 lives in our ward. Crazy stuff! Elder Denslow and I are getting along awesome and we are teaching really well together! It will be a sweet transfer :D
Looks like Jesse had fun! I still haven't even been hunting! Congrats Torie on going to Super State! That is so awesome! Can't believe you are already a Senior...weird. And sorry to hear about Ed. Travel safe Mom, it's starting to get icy up here! I love and miss you all!
And check out the couple from the movie UP!
Pictures from Big Fork, Mt
