Elder Inman Letter August 5, 2013

Emotional Rollercoaster!

I cannot begin to describe how weird this week was. So many things happened and so many things seemed to go wrong. Yet, some things worked out and that's how it is supposed to be I guess! All in the Lord's hands. We think our family home evening lesson went well! In fact we know it did (I'll talk about that later). We decided to teach the Restoration to the ward (to about 50 people) and at the end told them to take out their phones right then and text the very first non-member that comes to mind and invite them to church or an activity. We also brought copies of the Book of Mormon as well as some pamphlets. By the end, we gave away ALL of our remaining pamphlets and were left with on 2 copies of the Book of Mormon (gave away 18). SO we are pretty stoked to see that develop! Afterwards for the activity they had a jello war...we didn't participate in that one haha.

 

Wednesday. Most emotionally draining day of the mission so far. More so for Elder Bonaro. Wednesday are our District meetings at the stake center and start at 9:00AM On the way over, Elder Bonaro got a call from the mission home saying that his representative that keeps track of his visa wanted to contact him and give him an update. So he was pretty excited and called her. She asked the question, "Did you by chance go to the Consulate in Miami and picked up your visa recently?" He replies, "No....I am still in Montana." "That's what I thought...the Consulate is claiming that someone with YOUR photo ID came and picked up your visa on May second along with your passport and birth certificate" she says. WHAT IN THE WORLD?! Someone was THAT convincing to pick up his passport?! You can imagine the flood of emotions that hit Elder Bonaro. Someone had stolen his identity, and his visa that he has been waiting for since December, is gone. THe lady that represents him for the church just says, "So we will have to just reapply for a passport and then a visa so you should get it within another 2 months." Elder Bonaro is thinking, is NO ONE concerned about what just happened?! Apply for a new one and totally forget someone has my identity?! He was flat out angry. All light and hope went out of him. He asked Veronica, his representative, to give him the Conssulate number to call for himself. She said they had already called twice to confirm that this was the case. He said he didn't care, and called. Of course, they are all pre-recorded messages and to add they were all in fluent Portuguese. So we tried random numbers to even try and do extensions. No luck. As you know, we are the only Elders in the mission with a tablet. So during District meeting, he was using that to email the consulate to get the whole story. They actually replied with this email...

 

"Dear David Bonaro, thank for your inquiry about your visa. Your visa was picked up by yourself on May 2, 2013." Fuming Elder Bonaro replied, "Picked up by whom? I am in Montana and have never heard anything about my visa! Can you check again?" So first of all, his visa has been here for 3 months and he could have left forever ago. Second, he was being told that HE had picked up his visa. They checked and said they did not have it. We called President Mecham and he said that he can only reapply. So, Elder Bonaro sent one last email saying that he was really upset and wanted to actually talk to somebody. We didn't hear anything for a couple hours. We actually got to go pick up brand new 2013 Ford Fusions off the lot that day, so that was cool, but I was worried about Elder Bonaro driving himself when that angry. Anyways, we are on our way to an appointment and he got on email on the tablet.

 

"Dear David Bonaro, we apologize for the misinformation, your visa is here at the consulate and will have to be picked up by you between the hours of 3 and 4 on a weekday." He didn't even know what to feel. Or what to do, because now he had a visa and will actually be going to Brazil soon. So today, he is flying out to Miami, by himself, taking a cap to the consulate to pick it up, and then is supposed to back on a return flight by 5:15 to Montana. To add stress, his flight arrives at about 3:15, it's a half hour drive to the Consulate, and he will have to go back to the airport in Miami traffic during rush hour, go through security and be on a plane by 5:15. He has like a half hour window to get it all done. Chances are he will be there for another night in a Hotel, by himself, and leave tomorrow back to Montana. Ridiculous. Later that night, we went to Tim's (our investigator) house to celebrate his birthday! It was so cool that a non-member had an all Mormon party haha.

So that is where Elder Bonaro is at currently! I am with the Pioneer Park Elders Issacson and Schramm. Crazy story ever right? We are not sure whether someone actually did pick up his visa and it magically reappeared. We are claiming it as a 3 Nephite story haha. Maybe he was supposed to be in the Singles ward for that 3 months! 

 

Thursday we went golfing with a potential investigator of Hannah Stott's. Turns out that I like golf! A huge storm hit later that day similar to a Monsoon but with higher winds. Downpour of heavy rain as well as hail. Apparently in Twin Bridges, my last area, a mini tornado hit and up-rooted 13 full grown trees that damaged several buildings and the whole town was out of power for 3 days. 

 

Friday we did some service at Joe Weitz house again, this time spreading mulch and gravel. Later, we were celebrating another investigators birthday bowling! Her name is Meagan and she is actually on date for this weekend to be baptized into our ward! The sister missionaries taught her mostly and they were bowling too because no one could come to Meagan's party. The Friday night activity later was Bunco at Hannah Stott's house. Good turnout and a lot of fun!

 

Saturday we actually got to try and find people haha. That was refreshing. Another fun story, we felt prompted to talk to this guy that was sitting outside his home talking to a friend. After talking to him, he had been a stage 4 alcoholic for 24 years. You could tell. This guy was probably permanently drunk. I guess he has been sober for 15 years now though (other than communion he says haha). He now claims to have the Spirit of Prophecy, Healing, and was saved because Christ did all the work so therefore he does not have to any. Great mind set. I brought up to him, "So...say you went out and killed someone. You are fine because Christ payed that price and you hold absolutely no guilt?" He avoids the question and then says, "The scriptures do not say, thou shalt not kill. They say thou shalt not MURDER." I don't know what Bible he is reading but Exodus 20:13 clearly says kill. He claimed that was an earthly law, not a heavenly law. Yeah your right, Jehovah was just kidding when he wrote that commandment on a stone tablet without hands. Idiot. He said he is a preacher and was smarter than us. If only he knew.

 

Sunday. Best day ever as always. We had 111 people in the chapel! Record! The ward has more than doubled since we have been here. Not just because of us, but the ward is so missionary minded! Our lesson Monday, had brought SIX potential investigators to church. All three hours. How sick is that?! Later that night, Rylee Nelson who is a ward missionary, had her farewell party for her mission at her house. She leaves for a Brazil mission Wednesday. She has helped us out so much and because of her, we will have a reactivation soon! :D

 

Sorry this letter is enormous, just a lot to report. Today is also transfer calls! I was so stressed. Turns out that I am STAYING in the Rimrock YSA ward and will be officially training a brand new missionary. SO EXCITED! Elder Bonaro is going to Laurel (about 20 minutes away) to be companions with someone form my District. Tomorrow is also my 6 month mark! Hallelujah! Time flies so fast. I am so pumped for Alex Hackney! Tell him to email me! Proud of that kid. Dad how was your Birthday? Torie how is your drumset? Jesse is going to SEMINARY?! When did this happen?! Mom you are awesome for dealing with so many seminary students! If anyone could handle it, it would be you! I love you all. Thank you dad for the Journal entries, they are extremely relatable currently! Have a great week!

 

 

 

Bishop Williams and Sister Williams

Elder Bonaro

Elder Inman Letter July 29, 2013

Sunburned, Bruised and Sore!

It was a lot better week this week than last week. There wasn't a lot going on with the missionary end of things (as far as lessons go) but a lot less stressful :) Family home evening last Monday was at a Mercedes dealership owned by a member in the Bishopric. We talked about goals and preparation to be successful. It was pretty good, we had 2 investigators and a less-active there! Today for FHE, Elder Bonaro and I are actually giving the lesson, so we are going to do the Restoration (1st discussion) and then at the end, tell everyone to pull out their phones and text the first non-member that comes to mind and ask them to church. Hopefully it will go well!

 

Tuesday 3 members of the ward took us to Jimmy Johns for lunch because apparently they had met someone the week before river tubing who was lost (and drunk) that they gave a ride home too. He works at Jimmy John's, so they took us to meet him haha. Couldn't talk to him much at work but it was still cool.

 

I found some answers about Priesthood Keys. Members of the 70 do not hold keys, but act under the Apostles keys. Bishop Williams over the singles ward has Keys over all non-members ages 18-31 in his boundaries (in this case, both stakes), but he does not hold keys over any less-actives unless officially on the ward list for the Rimrock Ward. Otherwise, we have to contact the bishop of every ward that we talk to a less-active in and let them know.

 

Wednesday we taught a new investigator! His name is Josh Connor who has been introduced to the missionaries before, but recently ASKED for the discussions again now that he is in Billings. We taught him at the church and he is BEYOND golden. More so than Chase. He is extremely open, offered to say the closing prayer, asking to know if what we taught was true. He is doing this all on his own, despite family and friend opposition. In one of the pictures in the Restoration pamphlet, Christ is shown giving Peter the Priesthood. Without explaining at all, we asked him what it looked like Christ was doing and he says," I don't know...maybe bestowing the Priesthood upon Peter?" WHO IN THE WORLD KNOWS THAT?! So pumped to work with this kid.

 

Mentioned last time, there have been some missionaries that have been teaching young single adults who want to go to the singles ward. So, two of them were handed off to Elder Bonaro and I, both on baptismal dates. Although we can't take credit for them, it is cool to be a part of their baptisms! One of them, is named Meagan, and we taught her "Follow the Prophet." That is the very last thing you can possibly teach so she is set for August 10th! We were on exchanges this week, so I was with Elder Schramm, when we taught. Elder Schramm is awesome, we get along really well.

 

THURSDAY. Most fun day of my mission so far. Hands down. Ever heard of "The Dirty Dash?" It's a 5k run that started in Utah by a bunch of Mormons and it got really popular and is now across several states. Well, we were asked by a lot of the staff if we could help out at this event, where there would be about 4000 people running! So, from 7AM to about 330PM we got to help out at the dirty dash! SO FUN. It is basically a mud run with lots of obstacles. The Pioneer Park Elders (Issacson and Schramm), the Lake Hills sisters, the Pioneer Park sisters, and Elder Bonaro and I were there helping out.:) Us Elders, were chosen to run the enormous blow-up waterslide! About a mile in, there is a mud hill with pudding-thick mudd you have to climb and then slide down this big 4-lane water slide. So the slide was nice and muddy! At the bottom was a ton of hay that we throw on them while they're all wet...they hated us for that haha. Anyway, so Elder Schramm and i were at the bottom throwing hay while Elder Bonaro and Issacson were at the top of the water slide directing lane traffic. It was good we were there because a few people nearly died. No joke. A girl going down got caught in a tear on the slide which caused her to go nearly halfway IN the slide, choked her, made her pass out and foam at the mouth. The EMT's came, and we thought she was gone. She wakes up, knew exactly where she was, and finished the race. No harm. At all. Super scary though.

 

Later on, Elder Schramm and I were working at the top of the slide. The water supply came from a fire hose that connected to P.V.C pipe which shot up water into rubber tubes onto the slides. One of the tubes burst, making water go everywhere. So, Elder Schramm and I took turns sitting in the Mud trying to keep that lane open. So we would hold the tube over the shooting water by hand while people jumped over us. By 11AM, the dirt hill we were on, was clearing out from underneath us from the water leak. A few times, someone would get on the slide wrong, and almost fell 20 feet below. Twice, I found myself grabbing someone by the calf to prevent them from dying lol. By the end, we were all CAKED in mud. oh, and I forgot to mention, we were in our shirts, ties, and basketball shorts so those all got ruined. Haha totally worth it though! We got free hoodies and T-shirts for helping out. Surprisingly enough, we got A LOT of attention and recognition! Lots of non-members told us thank you for helping, and keeping everyone safe. It was one of the sister's birthdays, so she got called up on stage and the DJ says, "Sister Bain, did you ever think that on your mission you would be sung Happy Birthday by 400 drunk people?" Haha he was LDS so it was pretty funny.She shouted to the crowd asking if anyone wanted a Book of Mormon and they all said no lol. But the best service project ever.

 

Sunday 3 new wards were made in the Billings Stake! The sacrament was given to 1409 people at that Stake Center. Crazy stuff. Well that is all for this week! Thank you so much for the package, I got it today! A much needed shirt, a sweet razor (how did they even know it was my birthday forever ago?), notebooks and BOM reading charts! Glad to hear you are feeling better mom :) Jesse sounded like he didn't want to come home from camp (no surprise there), and Torie is yet at another camp! Busy busy family. 

 

Hope you are healthy and happy! Talk to you next week!

Pictures:

 

 

at the Dirty Dash, Billings

another of the Dirty Dash in Billings

Jake, Elder Schramm

Elders Issacson, Inman, Bonaro, Schramm

at the Dirty Dash in Billings

 

Elder Inman Letter July 22, 2013

Frustrating Week.

So this week was more frustrating than others, but still got to do some pretty awesome things :) SO last P-day was pretty much amazing. 7 letters and a package. All the missionaries in my zone hated me for it :) Hahaha. After emailing we went to the stake center and played some bball as well as Dodgeball. I got some pretty good bruises. We had dinner with our ward mission leader who got back from his mission 6 months ago. For a job he gets to put the carpeting in Temples! How sweet is that! For FHE that night, the ward did Ice blocking :) Elder Bonaro had never done it so the singles ward planned it kind of for us...haha. There were 69 people there, 2 investigators, and 2 less actives were there so it was awesome! Got a good grass stain.,.

 

Nothing really exciting happened during the week. On Wednesday we were called to go give a blessing to someone in ICU again. Usually, we go in, give the blessing, and leave so that we don't take away time with family. This case was different...a family from Wyoming were in the Billings Clinic because the husband had been fighting cancer for a while now and was starting to fail. Only the wife was there at the time and we gave her a comfort blessing while they were re-positioning her husband in ICU. Her kids were coming from Wyoming but weren't there yet. After about an hour, we were let back. This man was on his death bed. His wife told us that he had already been lost once and was able to be brought back. Long story short, his family arrived and were all giving their parting words and Elder Bonaro and I just felt really awkward :/ We asked if they would like us to leave but the wife kept saying it was ok. We ended up only providing the oil because her two sons gave the blessing. But it was just depressing, we left after they gave the blessing.

 

Zone Conference was probably the highlight of the week! So to those who don't know, a Zone is made up as Districts, and areas. So I am in Billings Zone, Billings East District, and my area is the Rimrock YSA ward. So the Billings Zone, Billings East Zone, and the Glendive Zone, were all at a conference at the Billings East stake center. Probably about 70 missionaries? This conference was pretty much an obedience smackdown. We want to become the most covenant keeping mission in the world. The main topics discussed were Obedience, Sacrifice, and Consecration, the laws of the Gospel. As a mission, President Mecham is allowing EVERY ZONE (the whole mission) to go to the temple next transfer! As homework before then, he wants us to study the Law of the Gospel, the Law of Chastity, and the Grace of the Atonement. All covenants we accept in the Temple. He promised each of us that this will be our best experience in the temple yet if we study those topics.

 

As far as teaching goes, we have had a lot of success with Less Actives! Chelsea, who I have mentioned before, hasn't been to church in a number of years. She likes our visits and participates, but just isn't sure what she believes. On splits this last week, we invited her to come to Relief Society Enrichment which was a movie night. SHE CAME! And she liked it enough that she wants to come to church next Sunday! Of course, there is no church this next Sunday for the singles ward...the Billings Stake is doing new ward boundaries and the rumor is that three new wards are being created, It doesn't apply to the singles ward because our boundaries are both stakes anyway. So we weren't invited to the meeting, but Bishop figured everyone would go to know what their home ward is. So instead, Rylee (her fellow-shipper) is going to take her to her home ward in the Billings East Stake.

 

Eliza, our Less active on the stop smoking program has been doing INCREDIBLE. Miracles happen. We presented that to her last week. We met with er Tuesday and Thursday to see how she was doing. Part of the program requires that, without exception, there is to be absolutely no coffee, tea, or alcohol, at least for that week. She has been drinking coffee faithfully since 16 and was concerned because the last time she tried to stop cold turkey, she had migranes. I promised her that if she switched to caffeinated diet coke (her favorite) she would not have one headache all week and the caffeine supply would be sufficient. She has not had one headache all week, hasn't smoked once, likes the grapefruit juice, and is stopping 3 addictions within one week. We are so proud of her, she is taking major steps and is planning on getting a patriarchal blessing!

 

So the frustration. As mentioned before, finding people becomes very hard in the singles ward. Tracting isn't really an option, and it is difficult to teach the young women. There is a set of missionaries that are currently teaching 4 investigators between the ages of 18 and probably 25. Prime for singles ward. When Elder Bonaro and I find people outside of our teaching range (which is all the time) we hand out referrals like candy, immediately. But apparently it's not the same for singles? It got to the point that we talked with President Mecham. His response was, that each Bishop has Priesthood Keys over his ward boundaries. I completely agree. However, the singles ward is created by the stake specifically for young single adults. His "boundaries" (our area) covers both stakes. So to me, it would make sense that Bishop Williams (our Bishop) would have Priesthood keys over all young single adults within his ward boundaries (both stakes). We have not brought that point up to President yet.He told us that WHENEVER we find a young single adult anywhere, we need to notify and ASK PERMISSION of the home ward Bishop to teach that young single adult. What Bishop is going to prefer that someone in their boundaries be taught by the singles ward as opposed to their home ward? Moral of the story, we aren't going to be teaching anyone if we have to ask permission with each investigator. It is just frustrating that we have to hand out all people we find that is not within our age range, yet the missionaries and Bishops choose whether or not they want us to teach them. It feels like everyone is stepping over everyone's keys. Any thoughts? We just don't understand. (To all reading this and aren't members, just disregard this whole paragraph haha).

 

On a brighter note we picked up a less active that came to church this Sunday. We had 2 investigators and 3 less actives at church it was pretty cool :) For dinner we ate the Sielers home. Turns out that the grandpa there was at one time a 70 and was ordained by Bruce R McConkie! He had one of the original "Mormon Doctrine's" in his home library.

 

Sorry for venting :) The work is still going well! We were in South Billings yesterday and it is all Lamanites (native Americans). It is sad to see how some of them live and to think that at one time they were a great nation.

 

Spiritual Thoughts from Zone Conference:

"The Ark of the Covenant carried the 10 commandments or the 'Testimony.' Are you an Ark? A Holy Vessel carrying your testimony? A temple (your body) being carried in a special way?" -Sister Mecham

 

"We leave investigators with commitments to prepare them to make covenants. The Lord leaves US commitments to prepare US to make covenants in the Temple and possibly beyond that."- (Own Thoughts)

 

"If you have a filthy home on earth, why would Heavenly Father prepare you a spotless home in Heaven?" (Own thoughts haha).

 

"What would your Title of Liberty say? Or more, what would others put on your Title of Liberty based on what they know of you?" - President Mecham

 

Abraham's sacrifice showed Abraham's will to consecrate his will to God's. Abraham was chosen to do this partly because Abraham need to know himself. What his faith was made of. We need to know our own Faith. -Sister Mecham

 

It is great to hear from all of you as always! I'm sorry your sick mom, it's never fun when Mom's sick :( And it's a bummer there was no one really home to take care of you! You work so hard with Seminary and sometimes you just out-do yourself! Sounds like Jesse had a blast at scout camp. And Torie is doing things one week after another. And she is going to be a senior. Wow. I will be praying for everyone as always! Stay cool and don't melt! Love you!

Elder Inman Letter July 15, 2013

Yet another week down.

Wow. I'm moving up on 6 months of being out. Can you believe that? It's getting faster and faster!

Did a lot of tedious things this week. Like re-aligning the truck and getting a replacement tire. Lots of online work went on as well. But it a very re-warding week, I was able to use the Priesthood quite a bit.

 

Tuesday, we went over to Dillon's (our investigator) girlfriend's house who is in our ward to play some games with them. Dillon hasn't been progressing and has been taking our discussions more for his girlfriend rather than for himself. So we decided to slow down and just be his friend. His girlfriend was adopted from Haitii a long with probably about 7 others from different families. One of the adopted kids is 6 months old, and has a breathing tube in his neck. The baby got really sick all the sudden and was in pain. We cleared off the island in the kitchen and put the baby there. We gave a healing blessing to which I anointed and the father sealed. Really opened my eyes to give blessing to such a young child. Later that night we got a call from the hospital to go give a blessing to a man who had hit a deer while on a motorcycle. He wasn't wearing a helmet. Interestingly enough, he broke almost every bone in his body it looked like, but absolutely no head damage. I can't imagine what it would be like to hit a deer...on a motorcycle. From there I went and picked up my dry-cleaning $26 later      -__-

 

Wednesday was neat because we got to teach someone we didn't think we would be able to. A girl named Tannah in our ward, has helped us out with so many different things. She has a brother who is not a member and she really worries about him. So, we told her to text us whenever he was randomly home, and we would just "show up." :) So we did! He was really kind of stand-offish at first but we talked to him about hunting for an hour or so and convinced him to give us his number to take us craw-dad catching :) Splits was later that night, and Elder Bonaro went to go teach another Portuguese lesson. I went to go see Kyle and moved yet 2 more (full) refrigerators. What was cool though, is that Kyle is a flat out genius. Almost to smart to function. He graduated in computer science and is actually going to build a server/database for the entire mission and help create programs to make missionary numbers and reports easier to run. What sold him is that this would give him awesome job experience and a recommendation from President Mecham who was CEO of either Zion's bank or Deseret Bank. President wants to talk to him about maybe even doing a service mission here just doing the IT work for the mission. Hope that will work! When I came back Elder Bonaro was so swollen I couldn't stop laughing! He blew up like a puffer fish and said he must have ate something he's allergic too. So funny.

 

Other cool things this week, we got to work quite a bit with Eliza Cannell, who has been struggling with so many things, particularly Word of Wisdom things. She is trying SO hard to quite smoking, drinking, coffee, and other things and her heart is totally there. She is going to all the programs offered by the church and making every effort to be reactivated. She asked Elder Bonaro and I if we could come dedicate her home, because she feels a pretty negative/evil influence there. So the both of us and Elder Hopkins (senior missionary) came to her house and Elder Hopkins did that actual blessing...very powerful. Elder Hopkins stated his authority and ours, with the four of us kneeling and cast out all evil in the home and commanded them not to return. Pretty awesome.

 

Bishop was holding a BBQ later that night, so we met with Eliza again about an hour before it started to start the "smoke-free program" with her as well. She wasn't entirely ready for it but she is starting it tomorrow (the 16th)! What's cool about that, is part of the program entails no tea, coffee, or tobacco over the course of the 7 day program WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Doing so, you will inevitably fail the program.  Eliza had previously tried to stop coffee cold turkey and revived horrible migraines. Thank goodness for the spirit, or I would have had nothing to say to her. I told her to buy her favorite CAFFEINATED soda and drink it every morning instead of the coffee. I promised her that if she did so for at least this week, she would not receive one migraine. And the Spirit confirmed that :) 

 

Saturday. One of the funniest days of my mission. We did our studies at the church with one of the pre-missionaries because he wanted to practice role-playing. When we came home from lunch, Elder Issacson and Elder Schramm were still there. Elder Issacson had bought 6 pounds of gummy bears from Costco, the same day I did. After about a pound, they all taste the same. So we were finding uses for the remaining 5 pounds. Throwing them, catching them in our mouth, etc. Well, Elder Schramm thought it would be a great idea to make a slingshot out of the elastic band the MTC gives missionaries for exercise. After a few trial runs at the wall and a few scatter shots, Elder Bonaro had the idea that we should try hitting a person. We held both sides and Elder Schramm pulled back...Elder Issacson now has a swollen eye in the shape of a gummy bear! Hahahahahaha I was crying laughing, We felt bad but even Issacson was laughing. Right afterward, we were strolling through the park and came across this group dressed in med-evil costumes fighting. Apparently, there is such a thing as "LARPing" which stands for "Live Action Roleplay." It's a league where you rank in classes of warrior or assassin's and the kings live in Salt Lake...

 

Well that was our week, unfortunately not a lot of exciting things missionary wise. Doing a lot of computer work for the mission. Thank you everyone for the letters! I hit a new record today of getting 7 letters and a package in one day! Thanks for the pictures Torie and Jesse and thanks for the ties and shirts mom!

 

Spiritual Thought:

Something in "Jesus the Christ" blew my mind the other day! It talks about Lehi and his family, and the actual route they took. I have always assumed that the crossed the Mediterranean and then the Atlantic, landing in Brazil or somewhere. Jesus the Christ says that they actually went Eastward over the Arabian sea, then the INDIAN OCEAN, the SOUTH PACIFIC, and landed on the WEST coast of South America! And worked their way upward. Totally blew my mind! I can't remember the page number but it's probably around the 60's/70's ish.

 

Picture of Elder Issacson's eye...more distinct now.

 

 

 

And LARP-ing

 

Elder Inman Letter July 8, 2013

Happy 5th Month Anniversary!

Crazy how I've already been out 5 months...almost a quarter done with my mission! And it only gets faster. Not a lot of really cool things to talk about this week but there were a few things! It was probably the funniest FHE I've been to so far...the ward did Zumba in the parking lot with a legit instructor! We couldn't participate but we got some pretty funny videos that I black mail the ward with to get dinners with! So far it's worked...there may be 4 times this month that we don't have a dinner! :D Hahahahahaha. But then I took that threat back and they are just more willing to help out. Something kind of cool is that while I was at FHE with our District Leader, Elder Bonaro and 2 other visa waiters went to teach a full discussion in Portuguese! They were pretty excited about that. Our whole apartment is labeled with Portuguese words on sticky notes.

 

We did even more service this week! Elder Jackson, a visa waiter, was with us for this one, we pulled a lot of weeds at this same home that we have been working on, and they fed us afterwards. Our week at Bishop's home was bittersweet. Their dogs HATE US. I've never seen more depressed dogs. They wouldn't eat, go outside to use the bathroom, and instead felt the need to take a dump right next to my bed. And then sleep next to us. So we took a half hour walk with them and they loved it! But as soon as we were back in the house. Back to hating.

 

Gave another blessing Wednesday to a less active named Eliza. Eliza had been coming to church actively for about a month but started hanging out with her old friends and got into Word of Wisdom issues. She called Bishop and told him that she needed a blessing because she felt the spirit leave and wanted it back. So we met her at the church and she was in tears. I don't remember what I said but Elder Bonaro said that I mentioned things I couldn't have known, so that was pretty cool :) We're hoping to visit her again.

 

Sounds like the Fourth of July was fun for all of you! We also had a nice July 4th because President permitted all missionaries to be out later, but be in by 11. So we went to a fireworks show with the Singles ward! It didn't get dark till like 1030, so we didn't see that many but still fun! We sang songs to guitar and mingled while I ate my 6lbs bag of gummy bears :)

 

Friday was probably my favorite day. All week I felt pretty strongly that we needed to present the "stop-smoking" program that the church has to our investigator Tim who I've mentioned before. He had told Josh (our Elder's Quorum President) that he wanted to stop chewing Tobacco. So all week I was studying the program and prayed to have the spirit and boldness to present it.So we went to Josh's house and actually helped move some 1300 pound hay bales! Farming is actually kind of fun! But a lot of work. Tim works with Josh so he was already there. We were all in the living room and Tim was expecting a regular lesson. So he was kind of phased out, had his Oakley sunglasses on, and waited for it. But we said we were going to teach something different this week, and brought up how he wanted to stop chewing. He lifted his sunglasses, and stared me in the eye. He was paying attention now! The program PROMISES that if obeyed with EXACTNESS that he can be tobacco free in a week. It involves a morning and evening prayer, Grape-fruit juice after every meal, cinnamon mouthwash, and a few other things. Tim said he would do it. Every part of it and we told him that if he cheated even one small step, he would fail. We told him to give us his tobacco. He willingly reached in his pocket, pulled it out and Josh says, "Let's shoot it with the shotgun!" So Josh and his brother got them, threw the tobacco can in the air and blew it to pieces :) Tim is doing awesome so far, keep in in your prayers! He quit smoking all on his own already. The goal is, that once he is tobacco-free, he will see how it has changed his life and then want to go further with baptism.

 

Saturday was hilarious! We got a call from Elder Issacson (our DL) asking if we could pick them up. His story was that he hit an "unforseen pot hole," popped BOTH his bike tires, and Elder Schramm then hit Elder Issacson and somehow popped HIS back tire. So we go over there. This "Pot hole" was an entire square of cement on the sidewalk that was broken up into several pieces...how do you not see that?! And only 5 days ago, they had crashed their BRAND NEW 2012 TOYOTA COROLLA. They had it for three days!  Ironically enough we had our own experience the same day. For about 3 weeks, the truck said we had a low tire and we ignored it. While out and about, Elder Bonaro said, "I really feel like we should take care of the tire right now." There are no air pumps in like any of the gas stations here. Luckily we found one, aired it up, and we heard a a lot of air coming out. Sure enough there is a gaping hole in our tire and it probably would have burst on the way home. In the parking lot, we changed to the doughnut tire but had a lot of problems with the crank. I have never seen a hippie before. Till that day. Wearing bright colors, 10 multi-colored bandannas, probably 5 teeth, walked up and said, "Hey do any of you fellas have $5?." We said, "No." Haha and this kid is probably like 22 and had a rubber duck stringed around his neck. Kind of creepy. He seemed gay as well. But long story short, we're on the doughnut tire!

 

Remember Jessica that we found moving and gave a blessing to? We were invited over for Rootbeer floats, so we went over and it turns out that her and her two brothers live there. It was so much fun and they are hilarious people. Gave us lots of prank ideas! They wanted to set up a kickball game with us so that is exciting! Kyle (the less-active we helped move) was at church this Sunday! So cool.

 

Well that's about it for last week! Today so far we went and got a haircut at sportclips for free, washed our car, and talked with President this morning. Elder Bonaro and I have been ahead of the game with all the new technology missionaries will soon get to use...We built an online spreadsheet that has every ward in both stakes that has the members names, age, address, phone number, a comments section, and a column to know who contacted them and what date. It is basically an online teaching record on steroids. We have 10 ward missionaries in the single adult ward, so we asked them to go through this spreadsheet of their homeward and put any information they have on someone, in the comment section. Within a day, all of them have been working and it is awesome! Saves us a lot of time. We showed this to President today and he was super excited about it! We also made maps populated by each ward list so that you can see where every house is and what houses are nearby :) Last and most cool....President gave us a tablet to use. We are probably the first missionaries in the world to actually use it for proselyting. He wanted us to pilot out a few things, use our online digital area book we made, and see how effective it is. So we aren't the first to get actual iPads because those aren't distributed yet, but we are probably first to start with tablets :) SO COOL!

 

Sounds like Torie did awesome as usual! I bet she's out of energy by now! Good to hear that Jesse watch the Best Two Years with my Teddy Bear replica of myself :) I miss you all and have a great week! Love you and stay classy!

 

Zumba Pictures:

 

 

Poem sent by Elder Inman July 3, 2013

He's Been There Before by Elder Whittle

The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet
I grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets

A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise?
It seems like just a second ago, I was able to shut my eyes
The morning activities follow- study, prayer and such
When it's time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven't accomplished much

"We have a super day planned,"
My comp. says with a grin
I lowly utter a faithless breath,
"Yeah, if anyone lets us in."

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street prepared to
Face another day of humidity and heat
It's 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through
My champion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate "air Box"
We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet

It's past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep,
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray
I need to talk to father, but I'm not sure what to say

"Oh, Father" I begin, "What happened to us today?
I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away
My hands, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat;
If our area was any smaller, we'd have knocked every street"

"Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it's very hard to see"

"Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough?
People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack
I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back"

"And what about my family: They don't have much to say
I'm sick of not hearing from home day after day after day
Oh Father, Why am I here am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry but that's on my mind"

"My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?"
The way he rides his bicycle, I don't think he can see
Now you have it, I can't go on, I don't know what to do
That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you"

My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead
Sleep start to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day

I'm standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice
A man walks to wards me and says, "My name is Jesus Christ"
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet
"Arise," He states, "Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak"

My attention's towards my Savior, total and complete
He says, "Your mission is similar of what happened to me
I understand how you feel, I know what you're going through
In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you"

"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do
I know you don't like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds"

"I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from ev’ry pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don't like your companion- you'd rather have someone else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth"

"It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back"

"Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see
I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

"We have a lot in common, but there's a difference between us you see
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me"
He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love
With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed
My companion let out a groan, "6:30 already, no way!"
I sat up and said, "Come on, I'll even carry your scriptures today!"

No matter what we go through,
When we feel we can't take more
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,
He's been there before!

By Elder Troy Whittle
Texas Houston Mission

Elder Inman Letter July 1, 2013

Busiest Transfer week ever.

We got THIRTY-ONE new missionaries Tuesday! The average was like 10-12 people! 15 Elders, 16 Sisters. Ridiculous. So the mission home has been really chaotic and stressful. Luckily to relieve that stress, we did more service! From 10-2 we were back at Joe Weitz's house. I dug 8 holes for trees, moved 15 full size railway ties, and shoveled some gravel. After showering and changing, we went to the mission and got a call from someone we didn't know. She said her name was Jayne Bryant and that she had signed up for dinner! We lost our dinner calendar so we just said, Ok, we'll be there! 10 minutes later, the Elders that live with us called us and asked if we had just talked to a Jayne Bryant. We said yes...WE STOLE THEIR DINNER APPOINTMENT! Haha so funny. They had been trying to call her all day and she told them she had already talked to the missionaries she's feeding. We called back and told her there was a number mix-up, so she served 5 missionaries dinner! Funny stuff.

 

Everyone in the mission home is cranky haha. We had 7 new areas opened which means 7 new housing arrangements, and 7 new phone lines. So there is a lot of work involved! At four o'clock we got kicked out of the mission home for the new missionaries and ate dinner at Denny's with a member named John Biddle. He served in Arizona! So that was fun to talk to him. Later Wednesday night, we went on splits with the ward missionaries. My group didn't have much luck, but Elder Bonaro's group went and visited Kyle Hamburg and we ended up helping them move the rest of their stuff into their new home the next day. It had rained and all their stuff was in the front yard...everything smelled like mildew and every box was soaked. Kind of gross. I had to move a FULL refrigerator by myself, and then it took 5 of us to pick up and move the full commercial sized freezer they had! Still sore from that.

 

Friday was one of the coolest days ever! Do you remember Elder Suggs? He was the one on a mini mission that we took home clear up close to Canada. It's been a month since then, so we heard word that he was receiving his Endowments! president permitted us to go :) Such a cool experience to see him go through and is still committed to serving his service mission! Elder Nay (my DL in my last area) drove 5 hours to come to Sugg's endowment at 10AM! He had to leave at 4AM haha. Later in the day we went to seek out more less actives. We received a full list of everyone in both stakes who should be in the singles ward...962 names. Not an exaggeration! So we will always have something to do!

 

Coolest story of the week...of the 962 names we have, we came across a "Jessica Kimball." So, we set off to find her. We knocked on the door and a guy answers, probably in his 20's. We asked for Jessica and he said, "She doesn't live here anymore. That's her stuff in the yard." Sure enough, there was a couch, a treadmill, an elliptical, and lots of other things. She apparently was moving that day and he said she would be back in probably 45 minutes. So we got in the truck and we weren't sure what to do. It was hot out. So I turned to Elder Bonaro and said, "Here's what is going to happen. We are going to go to the gas station, get some drinks, and when we feel like we should come back, she will be outside moving the rest of her things." So guess what. We did exactly that, and sure enough she was outside with her family moving her things into a trailer. We got out and started helping. Apparently we came at a perfect time because she had all the heavy things left! And we had a truck so we were able to assist in taking over some things...We drove to her new apartment, unloaded completely, and by then it was 9:25PM. She asked for a blessing. I had the opportunity to give it. Jessica just went through a divorce and we think she just got kicked out of the house, and the guy we talked to was her ex. You could tell that her whole family had been highly inactive for years. After the blessing, she was bawling. And she invited us over for root beer floats this Sunday and they want us to dedicate their home :) Out of 962 people, we found Jessica, moving, THAT DAY, at THAT time, and found her new address that we would have otherwise lost. So cool.

For the next week we are actually living at Bishop's house! He and his family are in Utah and we got permission to dog sit for them while they're gone. It's so nice to have a house! On Sunday, church was awesome as usual. We taught Gospel Essentials for the first time and we think it went well. Chase Slade received the Priesthood! Wooooooo! That kid is a star. Because it is fourth of July week, the Billings Symphony was putting on a show in the park. Apparently it's a big deal because there was 10,000 people there! We went to get some publicity, and some lady said, "Hey can I take your picture?" We said, "Sure." Afterwards we asked what it was for and she said, "I am a photographer." Elder Bonaro asked if she had ever talked to missionaries before and she said, "Nope and don't plan to. Move along. No thank you." I wanted to rebuke that lady. So we might be in the newspaper lol. Before the show started, Tim, our investigator, was there and we had a discussion about God. It was really powerful because we had 3 members there helping us teach him in the Park. Tim claims to not believe in God. But recently, his Brother had bone cancer that should have killed him. But he was miraculously saved. Tim knows something saved his brother. We also found out, that he wants to stop chewing tobacco! So we are going to do the addiction recovery program with him. Hope it is successful!

 

Well that's all I got for this week! Sounds like Torie had an incredible week at Legacy Camp, EFY, and now band camp! She's got to be exhausted. That's scary that Jesse walks of f all the time! Does he have a cell phone yet? He basically needs a tracking device under his skin or something. That may be more helpful :) Mom how is your foot doing from the nail? Dad how is work? Family reunion sounds like it was a blast and pretty! I do not miss 119 degrees one bit. Yuck. I'm now acclimated, and 75 is too hot. Thanks for sending my ties mom! And thanks for the meds dad! I am healthy, and feeling great! Any plans for fourth of July? President gave us permission to go to a firework show and we can be out till 11! So pumped! Have a great week! Love you all!