Elder Inman Letter February 17, 2014

I don't even remember this week.

This whole week was interesting and chaotic. But not a bad week I suppose. Congrats to Shane on his mission call to Chile! He better hang around Uncle Jimmy to learn some Spanish! Hahaha. That is great!

 

Monday after emailing, we played dodge ball with another set of Elders and the Sisters here in Powell. Pretty fun and tiring. Later that EVENING, we found out that our Zone Leader Training AND New Missionary Training were moved to the NEXT day at 9AM in Worland (2 hour drive), and that we were mixing it with the Wyoming South Zone...WHAT?! So we literally took maybe 10 minutes that evening to plan, cancelled a lot of things, and had our meeting Tuesday. It's always wonderful to be told an hour before going to bed that you have a 9 hour meeting the next morning that YOU are in charge of haha.

 

So Tuesday came, we drove out to Worland. Left about 6:30AM and didn't get home till 8:00PM. I was so exhausted. Although it actually went pretty well. Thank goodness for the Spirit! Elder Rasmusson gave a talk on Priesthood Authority and Leadership, and I gave a half hour discussion on Happiness. It is quite a difficult (broad) but interesting topic to study!

 

Wednesday we did some service for a new move-in to the Powell 2nd Ward. The Sisters cover that area, but we were moving several dressers, mattresses, and frames. That night we picked up a new Investigator named Mike Lindsey. He lives at home alone and has struggled believing in God due to the loss of his wife. To keep him busy, he builds 18-19th century guns. He also builds clocks for a hobby. Originally he had absolutely no interest in what we had to teach. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and gave him the pamphlet which he took interest in.

 

We shoveled an 89 year old's driveway. Her name is Ethel and she is not a member but has a best friend who is. She is devout Catholic, and is part native from the Crow Indian Reservation. Her memory is beginning to fade (she told the same joke twice), but we hope to teach her time to time. Incredibly nice. All of our other plans fell through, so we found an innactive member who lives alone and talked to us about aviation for 2 hours....I almost fell asleep. But we shared something from President Uchtdorf...because he's a pilot :)

 

Valentines Day was probably the most uneventful day of the week. Absolutely no one answered their door (or were not happy when they answered). So we spent the day looking for service opportunities. The only thing we found was picking up Dog poop at the Animal Shelter. Great day eh? Our shoes looked awesome afterward...

 

Saturday we spent about an hour tracting. No one seemed to be home then either. But we did end up getting to see some less-active families. One of them is an old couple who hasn't been to church in decades because they feel like there are some that go to church and are hypocrites. He claims that he is still living the Gospel, and the Lord will justify him for not going to church. That is a terrible argument haha. If a hypocrite is someone who does not live perfectly up to everything he/she believes, we are ALL hypocrites (in the words of President Uchtdorf). We got the wife to cry. We feel like she wants to come back but does not want disunity. Stubborn men!

 

Yesterday was pretty cool. We only had 3 investigators at Sacrament meeting. The Young's were sick, and we didn't get to see them all week so we went by in the evening and got there just as they were pulling in (the Lord's timing is legit!). Tracy (the mom) is retaining what she is learning in the Book of Mormon! Please pray for her and Dana Young (the Father). We also found a family that has lived in Powell for 13 years, and have managed to hide from the church. Leave it to the missionaries to find you! We talked with them for a long time. A nice old couple, kids married in the temple, and they said they have just been lazy. So we talked some sense into them and hope to see them soon :) Other than that, the weather has been beautiful (high of about 48), and we are all happy and healthy!

 

Congratulations to Torie on her band performances! I miss going to festivals and what not seeing both sisters perform. I actually really enjoyed those! I love and miss all of you! Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made in my behalf, and the prayers. They are definitely keeping me going. Have a great week!

Elder Inman Letter February 10, 2014

Most Successful Week Yet!

I officially hit my year mark this week! Thank you family for the letter, it came on the exact day (February 6)! Still can't believe it has been that long. When I first got to the mission home I wrote a letter to myself and opened it...It had $80 in it and told me to start working out hahahahaha. I pretty much rebuked myself :)

 

So let's see...We coordinated exchanges this week. There was a companionship that needed a break from each other. So Elder Rasmusson went to Cowley, and Elder Wilson came down to Powell to stay with us for a few days. We started the exchange Monday night and then had District Meeting Monday morning. We had to leave early because I had a DENTIST appointment! Yeah. There is a member here who offered to give us free check-ups and cleanings. Turned out I needed it (it's been over a year). I have 4 cavities haha and they are from not flossing. He actually had me set up a return appointment and is going to fill all of them for free. That it a huge blessing.

 

Later on Tuesday we visited our eternal investigator. She has been investigating for 61 years and is still not baptized. Children are married in the temple. She told us that she needs more time...if 60 years isn't enough, I don't know what is! We were pretty bold with her and told her that she has been fortunate to have the Gospel for 3/4 of her life, yet has missed out on all the blessings of the Holy Ghost. She wouldn't set a baptismal date. I'm actually pretty worried for her that she is going to run out of time. The rest of the day was spent contacting referrals. We got into one house. I won't go into details about the family other than there are a twin brother and sister who have had the worst childhood I have ever heard of. They are 9 years old, but the sweetest kids I've met. We are going to be teaching them weekly :)

 

Wednesday was the BEST. Of the 6 investigators that came to church, we put THREE of them on baptismal date in one day!! The first was Steve Rackness. He is the husband of a very active wife and kids. We are taking it slow with him, but committed him to read 5 pages a day from the Book of Mormon with his wife, and to be baptized March 22! That was so exciting. Our last lesson of the night was with the Young's. After going through the discussions three times in the past, she has decided she wants to be baptized! We set a goal for March 26, but she said she would be baptized earlier than that if she feels ready. The hope is that Brother Young (her husband) could actually baptize her. So we are helping him get active again. Their son Lucas will also be baptized, but we found out he is 8, so he wouldn't count as a convert baptism. But that is ok :)

 

Service this week was pretty legit. There is a member here that is remodeling an old bowling ally. So the sisters and us helped stain wood for a few hours! I have never done it before but it is actually pretty cool. And will stain your skin like no other. I used paint thinner on my face to get it out of my skin haha. We then had a unique opportunity to bless a mother and her baby who aren't members. The baby needs open heart surgery but is too sick to operate on. I had the opportunity to bless the 1 year old son. Wow. What an experience. This baby just stared up at me the whole time in silence as I had my hands on his head.

 

I'm learning what it's like to drive in snow (with a small car). When turning right (slower than usual even), the car decided it wanted to go diagonal. So we almost played bumper cars with the car at the stop light. I pulled the emergency brake and we fortunately had a nice drift that straightened us out. Pretty fun! Later, we helped 2 cars get unstuck. Actually we helped GET one stuck first. We stopped in the road to ask this teenage girl if she needed help. By stopping, the car behind us couldn't get going again. So we helped them out too :) Three times this week it has gotten below -20. The coldest I've seen is -31 degrees! Your nose hair literally freezes. It's quite the feeling! Something kind of fun this week was we were looking for a less-active family. When we knocked on the door they thought we were carolers! They let us in and we sang to them haha. They came to church the next day!

 

I am so jealous you got to go to the Gilbert Temple open house. It looks beautiful! Congratulations to Torie on all of her successes! Tell Jesse to expect a letter from Elder Wilson. :) I don't know when it will come. Hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

 

The pictures were another service project we did. We helped a lady take down her Christmas decorations and put them into a secret underground storage. Pretty cool :)

 

 

Elder Inman Letter February 3, 2014

Hump DAYYYY!

Wow. I hit my official year mark on the 6th, but I will be home in less than a year. That's really weird to think about! But kind of exciting as well. I am not trunky, it's way to early for that but it is a good feeling to count down rather than up if that makes sense?

 

Monday's P-day was pretty sweet. Originally we wanted to watch Ephraims Rescue as a zone  but decided we didnt want to establish a tradition of Elder/Sister movie parties...so we didn't haha. Instead we played games like "Signs" and other interactive games. Elder Rasmusson and I were fortunate to come across a 5 gallon bucket of Cookies and Cream Ice Cream. We cut it into 9 sections and had an ice cream carving contest between the 9 companionships there haha it was awesome!

 

 

 

Fun story about Monday:

On our way out of the house, Elder Rasmusson realized that he left the car keys inside. We locked the door on the way out and realized that the house keys are also on the car keys.. SO, we tried breaking in a number of ways but had no success. The members we lived with weren't home, so we had to be pretty creative. After praying about it, we decided to try the cat/doggy door. I was definately too big for it, so Elder Rasmusson tried it and got stuck! After getting him loose he tried head first. Didn't work. But then the thought came to go head first with one arm in, unlock the door from underneath, and open the door! He managed to do it and I pushed the door open while Elder Rasmusson was sweeping the floor with his torso haha. He was still in the door xD Pretty funny.

 

 

That evening, we actually travelled up to Billings with the Sister Training Leaders for Mission Leadership Council. This is my first offocial one, although I presented the phone reports to the mission leadership council previously when I was in Rimrock. We stayed the night in Billings and left for Helena at 4:30AM. The meeting mainly consisted of how we can improve as a mission while implementing things in our specific zones. I was actually in a frustrated mood, because I feel like many ZL's are way to prideful and abuse their leadership. We got back to Billings at about 9PM.

 

Wednesday Morning we drove back to Cody, WY to our District Meeting. I was SO tired! We took up probably an hour of the District Meeting implementing new iPad rules that were established at the Council. After District Meeting, a Sister asked me to give her a blessing. I had no idea what for but that was the coolest part. After the blessing, in tears, she said it was the best blessing she has ever recieved. I have a testimony of the power of the Priesthood. That God speaks to his children not only through prayer, but through other people. I don't remember one word I said in that blessing, but that is because it was not me. My mouth was opened and filled. So that was awesome. We also picked up a 3rd companion Wednesday. His name is Elder Ashcroft and has been out 19 months. He is with us for a special reason that I won't divulge, but be praying for him :) He has actually been awesome to have around and is pretty funny!

 

We double booked dinners by accident...I had "Hawg Heaven" which was a pound of pulled pork, and then forgot about the other dinner we had which was chilly and homemade cornbread. I couldn't move. Other fun things about Wednesday, we have begun volunteering at an animal shelter. All the dogs there are $45 WITH shots and neutered. I wanted to buy one! Anyways, they also had a cat room...a literal cat room of 32 cats. We filled their food and water dishes while Elder Rasmusson cleaned all the litter boxes. I HATE cats.

 

Thursday and Friday we helped a lady move and clean her home. Nothing too exciting. Friday we met with Beau ...I don't remember if I have talked about him or not. Beau is a member of the church but is very skeptical. He knows the answers to his own questions but lacks the motivation or the trust in God to follow them. We committed him to read and pray with his family for a week straight, no exceptions, and his desires would change. He accepted and we'll see.

 

Saturday I sheet-rocked! It's been a while since I've done that! We helped an inactive man sheetrock his home. He's really weird but I enjoy working. It is a break from the stresses of missionary work. The highlight of Saturday was visiting the Rackness Family. Sister Rackness is an active member but her husband is not a member. They had us over for dinner and we taught the first discussion. Brother Rackness is a super nice guy but might have a few hang-ups.

 

Seahawks huh? Super-bowl Sunday is a terrible day for proselyting haha. Either no one was home, or everyone was and we were not invited. However, we had SIX investigators at church and are planning on putting 2 of them on Bap Date this week! Pray for us!!!!!! I am doing well here, and Elder Rasmusson and I are a sweet companionship! He went to BYU, is majoring in Physics, and is from Reno, NV. We get along awesome.  

 

I am so jealous you get to go to the Gilbert Temple open house. Not fair! I miss the temple so much. Jensen and Shane are shipping out soon?! They were 16 and 17 when I left! Ahhhh! Tell those two to email me. They both haven't written or emailed me once! Love you!

Pictures of Mission Leadership Council

 

 

 

 

Elder Inman Letter January 27, 2014

Hey, hoe, and whadda ya know!

Hey! Kind of a crazy week to say the least. Lots of new things including scenery (or lack thereof), smells, people, missionaries, and responsibilities. It actually started to be busy before I got to Powell. On Tuesday (still in Bigfork), we had so many appointments lined up. SO I had like no time to pack. But, I got to say goodbye to a lot of people which was nice. Tuesday morning I had the privledge of moving a piano from one home, to the bed of a truck, to another home. Moving pianos across ice is no fun, I actually slipped while we had the piano horizontally off the ground. Fortunately I didn't fall, but I did manage to bite my lip pretty good out of concentration.

Other than that, Tuesday we got to meet with lots of people. One being Anne, who bought us luinch at Subway and then we taught at lesson in her gift shop. Brother Harris came with us and we re-taught the Restoration. I am not sure she is willing to be baptized, but she said she is going to miss me and gave me an, "Irish Prayer" coin that belonged to her. Our next stop was Sondra's, our progressing Atheist. She gave me one of her favorite books called, "Saints" written by Orson Scott Card, a member of the church. It's about pioneers I think. I can't read it though, so that will be getting sent home. Our last appointmet and dinner was with the Harris' again. We went over the Baptismal Interview questions with Amanda. Brother Harris asked me to bare my testimony. That was tough to get through. Everyone was crying haha. I am going to miss that family.

Wednesday was the Transfer Day. I didn't get to bed till 12:30 the previous night because the Polson Elders stayed the night and I still had to pack. Elder Beck and I started travel at 7:30AM and we made it to Helena at about 11, where I got to see Elder Schramm and Elder Villejo. Elder Schramm is a ZL now too (haha!). Rode in the transfer van to Bozeman and then was in a minivan with Elder Burrows (the new AP) and 5 other sisters on our trip to Billings. I lost my carryon somewhere along the way...so I have been without my own socks and several other stuff for about a week. Fortunately they found it and I will get thattomorrow haha. Then I drove down with Elder Jackson to Wyoming.

My first day as a ZL was exciting! My favorite thing is sending out voicemails to teh zone haha. Elder Rasmusson is awesome and an exceptional missionary. This is his second transfer as a ZL and has been out for 7 months. We are both new at this. We spent our first day visiting some innactive families that nighter of us have met. Lunch was AWESOME. There is a member here that owns a truck called, "Hawg Heaven." It is pretty much the best pulled pork ever and the pulled pork sandwhiches have 1 pound of meat in them...and he lets missionaries eat free whenever. SO GOOD. Later that night we had a lesson with the, "Young" family. The wife is not a member but the husband is less-active. Our lesson was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is my favorite. Our last lesson of the evening was with a recent convert named Jenni. We went over the commandments with her as part of the new member discussions.

Powell has 3 wards and a YSA ward, and it only has about 6000 people. We cover 2 of those wards, the 1st and 3rd. On Friday, we began the day doing service at "Loaves and Fishes." It's pretty much a food bank. We helped sort/box food and even got two free packages of oreos out of it! Woo! Aftyerwards, we met with an innactive member named Beau. He is actually in the Powell 2 ward (which the sisters cover), but the sisters are too intimidated by him to teach him. He is in his 30's, has a small family, and is an extreme pessimist. He wants the church to be true but thinks that it doesn't "logically" make sense. He's a miracle seeker. We made him the promise in Christ's name that if he went to church Sunday with ONE question...that it would be answered in Sacrament meeting. And we heard from the Sisters that it happened :). We did more service on Friday. We stopped by tyhe anaimal shelter and will be working htere on Wednesdays. The Police Department even seeked us out (for good reasons). They want us to remodel their break room...That's definately a first. Lastly, we visited a less-active family that we committed to come to church every week for the rest of their lives haha.

Saturday morning was spent at teh public library re-arranging the DVD's to fit a new shipment of them. That took us about 2 hours, but we are getting brownie points from the city. Later that day while visiting an active family, I fell asleep TWICE during the lesson! HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?! So we went home and I took a nap. I never recovered from the transfer. We had dinner that night with our host family which are the Yates. Very nice couple. We live downstairs in the basement, it's actually pretty sweet. That evening we visited some innactives named the Ackley's and the Andrews.

Yesterday was tough haha. This is my first time covering two wards. Ward council was at 7, and we weren't done with church till 2! But it was good. Then from 2-5 we went with our ward mission leader (Brother George) finding. It was awesome because HE set up the appointments and we just tagged along. It was nice! Then we took numbers from the zone and didn't get to bed till about 11:30pm.

So that was my week! Wyoming North Zone has 11 companionships, 2 Districts, and 2 Stakes. Powell isn't far from Yellowstone, but it isn't nearly as pretty haha. You can definately smell the sulfer though! Mmmmmm...It is pretty flat here, the wind blows, and it's all farmland sitting at about 4200 feet elevation. It snowed yesterday. The people here are much more receptive and nice compared to Montana though, so that's good. Congrats Torie on making Regional Orchestra! That is SO sweet! Did you make it for Saxophone or Percussion? Either way, that is AWESOME. Jesse sounds stylish as ever haha.  Tuesday is Mission Leadership Conference in Helena. All the ZL's and STL's will meet together. Hope you have a great week! Love you!

Picture of the McCanns :)

PS: The mission home is getting overloaded with mail. So, they have requested that mail be sent directly to where we live. I'll just tell you when we get near transfers when to wait. Our address here in Wyoming is

335 West 5th St.

Powell, WY 82435

Elder Inman Letter January 20, 2014

Goodbye Bigfork ...


Yup, transfers are here again already! After 12 weeks here in Bigfork, the Lord has called me elsewhere. I am actually going to POWELL, WY (a 9 hour drive) to be a ZONE LEADER! I'm both humbled and excited. It will be hard to leave Bigfork, but I guess that each area feels that way. We had a lot going on here in Bigfork, the next Elder will walk into 2 baptisms and a reactivation! But I am just happy I could be part of those people's conversions :).

So this week was kind of crazy. This week was, "Truck Crash Week." To clarify, our truck is "crashed" from 5-9 every day and the members are expected to take, and come with us to our appointments. The whole stake did it to get members involved. It was AWESOME!

Monday was a half-pday, as we had appointments throughout the day. I got a new movie called, "Ephraim's Rescue" which is all about being exactly obedient, being worthy, and the Power of the Priesthood. It is SUCH a good movie! And it's approved to watch, so don't worry haha. We had our lesson with Seanne (that's the correct spelling I have learned) in the afternoon Monday. Our discussion was on the Plan of Salvation because that is what she had most questions about. I thought it went pretty well, but we got a call later in the week from her saying she prayed about it and does not want further lessons :/ So that sucks but she has her agency. Dinner Monday was with the Hughes, who invited a partly-active family over for dinner and also Brother Hughes set up another appointment later that evening with one of his innactive home teaching families. It was sweet! And for dinner we had Elk Carne Asada with Mango Habanero salsa...SO GOOD.

Tuesday we finished the rest of our P-day, and had dinner at the Harris' who made Cafe Rio again :) Amanda Harris, who I have worked with since I got here, is now reactivated and wants to go to the Temple to have an eternal family! I am so excited for her and it has strengthened me to see her progress and rebuilding her testimony. They are a great family and I am going to miss them. Now I know why I was sent to Bigfork. I don't think it is coincidence that I was here to see her right up to the end of her reactivation.

We taught seminary Wednesday morning. Guess what it was about? Yup! Missionary work! Later in the day, we went to see Drew Jensen who just got surgery on his shoulder. He was pretty doped up when we came by but seems to be getting better. Dinner was with a family named the Adamson's. Guess what we had for dinner? Yeah, Hawaiian Pizza! Ahhhhh! Hahaha luckily they had a cheese pizza as well.

Thursday we helped a Senior couple pack for their mission to Portland, Oregon. They just needed some help lifting heavy things into the car. We then went to Subway and weekly planned. Brother Harris picked us up there to go with us on our appointment with Sondra. Sondra enjoyed Olivia's (her daughters) baptism, but had some questions as to why God "needs" to be worshiped. SHe has difficulty contemplating God. But she can somewhat understand the character of God if compared to a being named, "Que" from Star Trek! A being who has experienced life, perfected it, and is now omniscient and omni-present. That actually fits pretty well! Haha. We pushed her date back to February 15, but is keeping most of the commitments we give her.

District Meeting went long Friday, but it went well I suppose. We ate lunch at Five Guys, and then helped Anne spread some Ice Melt outside her Giftshop. Who knew they sold 10 gallon buckets of Salt to melt ice!? What is ice anyway? Haha. Dinner was with Bishop Bunker. We had Chili and Cinnamon roles! Then we went and visited Korry Bell who was baptized last June. Bishop was asking her about the three things Gordon B. Hinckley says every new member needs: a friend, a calling, and nourishment by the good word of God. She is struggling a bit so we (Or Elder Parker and new companion) will teach her weekly to help her testimony.

Saturday morning we actually went back to Korry's to stack wood and split some wood for her. I fell FOUR times! Her driveway is so icy! It is hard to swing an axe when you are sliding backwards mid-swing...I "split" the ice a few times haha. Then we had a lesson with Korry. We are beginning the Book of Mormon with her from the beginning, the introduction. And we are meeting with her tonight as well to go over her questions. 

Yesterday was a mix of packing and visiting people to say bye. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the area, it's beautiful. Definitely coming back in the summer! So it sounds like a busy week back home huh? I am so jealous that you all get to go to Trek. Watch Ephraim's rescue before going on the Trek! I might actually be close to where the real Trek was. Martin's cove and so forth. The only thing I am not looking forward to...sales tax! There is none in Montana! But oh well. WHat also stinks is that Elder Villejo would have been in my zone here in Kalispell. This is his last transfer.

Well I hope you all have a great week! I am sending home FIVE boxes of things that I either don't need, won't fit, or both. Sorry to keep sending home packages you can't open haha! Let me know when you have received all of them. They have some souvenirs in them that I want to know are safe :) I love you and miss you all!

First two are the Harris' and the last picture is the Allen's :)

Elder Inman Letter January 13, 2014

Mahalo from Montana!

A successful week! We taught over 20 lessons this week! It sounds like it was a pretty good week back home too, other than Dad getting sick. Glad you're feeling better now though!

Let's see...

Tuesday we did a lot of walking. No one seemed to be home (including Sondra), but we walked all the way up to Shawn's home (on top of the hill). We only had 10 minutes again but she had some PERFECT Plan of Salvation questions. She is a devout practicing Catholic but disagrees with some of its teachings. She had questions about those who don't have an opportunity to be baptized in this life so we talked briefly about the Spirit World. We left her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet that she says she has been reading :) We stopped by her house yesterday and she didn't have time so we set up an appointment today at 4 (even though it's p-day) for an actual discussion on the Plan of Salvation! Pretty excited about that. Fun act about walking up there, we had a random dog follow us for 2 hours straight. It even waited for us to finish our appointment and then walked down with us all the way to the Post office where our truck was. Maybe it wanted the Gospel!  Dinner that night was with the Reynoso's, an awesome family. However, we had a pineapple upside-down cake...I didn't know till I had already ate it. It felt like someone stabbed me in the stomach when I got home (I'm allergic).

Wednesday we actually visited with Tim Robins! After a month of not seeing him. He was happy we came back and says he misses the Sacrament. Also found a new investigator in a part-member family named John. His wife is inactive and he has read some anti-Mormon stuff. Here we go again.

Thursday we visited several people, including Sylvester from a few weeks ago. He showed us a lot of his woodwork. He built a sweet cabin chair. For dinner we ate at the Tanners and had a cool conversation about foreordination.

Friday. District Meeting. We had some incredible discussions! I was so stoked to give my discussion about faith. President Mecham challenged us to have faith enough to raise the dead. So, I studied Joseph Smith's, "Lectures on Faith" and Gerald Lund's summery on them. They talk about faith as a process, rather than a concept. There are 4 tiers of faith with 3 things in the process to develop them: hope, action, and confirmation. I have a whole new perspective. Later that evening we went to see a former investigator form several years ago named Rodd Stafford. He believes in spirituality, God, and Christ, but says our faith has to much "dogma." Added principles like the Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine & Covenants. But the lesson went well I guess.

Remember Dee? She has been a potential investigator for quite a while. Earlier in the week we set up an appointment with her for Saturday morning. What's funny is the Jehovah Witness' showed up right after we did when we set up the appointment. When they learned of the appointment, they asked Dee to be there for our discussion....a horrible idea. Thankfully Dee called first and asked us. We said we would like at least our first discussion to be just us, but maybe another time we could visit. She was ok with that. We taught the first discussion and...SHE ACCEPTED BAPTISM! That's TWO in two week!

So this week is "Truck Crash Week." The missionaries in Columbia Falls actually totaled their truck a few weeks ago (no one hurt). They had to rely on their on the members for every appointment they had. So the Kalispell Stake President says, "I LOVE crashing trucks! So we are going to have a Truck Crash Week where from 5-9 every night, the members are responsible for driving us to every appointment. A pretty cool concept!

Well that was my week. It has actually warmed up but windier. We had a rain storm that glazed all the ice so it is nice and slippery now. I hope you have a great week! Love you all!

 

Typical Montana. The first one is actually a 7 foot long wolf. Bigger than the bears. Crazy right?

 

 

 

Elder Inman Letter January 6, 2014

Happy Anniversary to you, and Happy 11 month mark to me!!


Happy Anniversary! Hope you saw my shout out on Facebook! Wow 24 years and still going strong :) Thank you for your example of what a quality and equal marriage should be like! You are both AWESOME.

We had a pretty good week. Other than last p-day which didn't. The zone leaders have a new rule. You have to call them if you are coming into town, explain why, and THEY decide if it is a good enough excuse to leave our area. Even for groceries. Stupidest thing I've ever heard. Us outlying areas have absolutely nothing to do. Must be nice to have 3 companionships nearby to hang out with, a walmart, and all these cool places to visit. So last p-day we did absolutely nothing. 

New Years eve was pretty good though! We spent the majority of it at zone leader training. The highlight of the day was actually a lesson we taught to a new investigator. Last week, we got a call from the mission home with a self-referall from a lady in our area. Olivia, a girl who currently is attending BYU Provo, is a non-member but works at the MTC as an investigator...she gets paid to investigate! How cool is that! Anyway, she is actually getting baptized this month. Her mother who lives in Bigfork, has a chronic illness of some sort, and Olivia told her that the Elders could provide her with a Priesthood blessing. Her name is Sondra.

The kicker is, Sondra is a devout Atheist. Absolutely no belief in God whatsoever. She is entirely comfortable with the idea of no afterlife, evolution, and being made of Carbon (in her own words). She has never hoped for a God, but would like to know about it, if there was one. So it is difficult for her to find an answer to a prayer when she has no faith, or even a desire to believe in God. BUT, she said she would accept baptism, should God answer a prayer. She has already read the Book of Mormon. She is also one of the nicest ladies I have ever met. Definitely the kindest Atheist that I have ever met. We gave her a blessing of healing, the spirit was strong, and we are hoping she felt it as well.

For New Years Eve we were allowed to stay out ALL THE WAY till 1030 :) Party animals I know. We only saw like 4 fireworks and celebrated by playing a board game called Catan haha. On New Years day, we spent it slitting and stacking wood (again), and then had another lesson with Sondra on the Plan of Salvation. It was a tough lesson because she is so scientific and uses logic instead of faith. But...we committed her to be baptized on the 18th of this month. Should she receive an answer. Accepting a baptismal date is an act of faith. It is comforting to know that now it is reliant on the Lord and her willingness to keep commitments. We encouraged her to pray specifically for humility to accept the message. I used the analogy, "If I asked you what 2+2 is, but I knew the answer was 5, would there be a point to me asking you the question? Even if you would be right?" She understood that she had been praying for the number 5. Her protective walls would not allow her to exercise faith in a God. So be praying for her to make her date of January 18th!

On Thursday I bought Anne a new Maul for breaking her other one haha. It probably looked suspicious for two Elders in suits to be carrying a maul into a gift shop, but oh well. Elder Pakrer took a sweet fall on the ice Thursday too. Kind of funny haha. Walking around downtown (it's one street), we went into a shop called, "Creative and Native." It has "Lamanite" merchandise :D We tried talking to the store owner about it. He wasn't very interested, but he couldn't go anywhere so we gave him a run-down on the Book of Mormon. We were the only ones in the store. Later Thursday night we ate at the Harris' who made us homemade Cafe Rio....SO GOOD. I had a burrito and four tacos haha. Afterwards we had a discussion with Sister Harris about the blessings of the Priesthood. One being that their baby daughter would be blessed that Sunday :)

Friday we walked around quite a bit. In a small town called Ferndale. The snow was pouring down most of the time, so we were drenched. Finally we came to a house looking for a Debra. She is inactive and not interested anymore, but she let us in for hot chocolate and we had a good discussion. I guess Bishop Bunker is her daughter's principle! She drove us over to our dinner which was at the Eddington's. Had a super good discussion on having one's Calling and Election made sure.

Saturday was sweet. We spent about three hours shoveling snow downtown. We were done and started heading back to our truck when a man asked if he could "bother us for a second." Of course! Bother us all you want! We went over to where he was and he actually offered us a paying job to shovel the walkway of his business while he was away on a business trip. He owns a firearm store (go figure), and we were actually talking to him while in his wife's clothing shop. We told him that we would not accept payment but would do it for free. He said he wouldn't agree to that. So, we left him our number and he left us with his. A few minutes later, we went back to the shop where only his wife was. We explained that we thought of a way they could pay us. We said, "we will happily shovel while you are away if you will let us share why we are out here. Just give us 30 minutes of your time to share the message we have. You are no obligated to accept it, but that would mean a whole lot more to us than any money would." The wife said, "...why not?" And said she would give us a call :) Cool huh?!

Didn't I show you that website scriptures.byu.edu? It is SUCH a cool website! I showed it to Brother McCann, and we read a lot of the Journal of Discourses. Brother McCann and I have some cool conversations. But yeah, that cite is incredibly helpful. And you got a copy of We Believe huh? It is SUCH a cool book! And much more accurate than McConkie's Mormon Doctrine because it has several different scriptures and quotes. I love that book! Thanks for getting it for my birthday!

Well I hope you have an awesome anniversary and a great week! I am doing well and things are looking up in our area. We are teaching 5 devout Catholics I realized yesterday. Pretty sweet. Love you all!