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!

Elder Inman Letter December 30, 2013

Happy New Year!

Hey Family and Friends! It was SO good to see you on Christmas. Almost unreal. It was a fairly relaxing week and I enjoyed all the letters and Christmas Cards! So my week went something like this:

On Monday, we ate at Five Guys and then someone paid for our haircuts at Great Clips :) For dinner that night, we ate at the Reynoso's accompanied by Elder Beck and Elder Keith who serve in Polson. They stayed the night because we had District Meeting the next morning in Kalispell. We played "Sequence" with the Reynoso's and my team won all three times! I remember playing sequence for Family Home Evening all the time as a kid!

Tuesday was pretty awesome. From 9-12 we had a "Zone District Meeting (riddle me that)" where we had talks centered in Christ's Atonement. Really good. Following that, we all went to the Shaw's home who are a senior couple that covers this zone. They cooked each of us missionaries a 16oz steak with potatoes and vegetables. So delicious. We spent the day there going on a short hike in the snow, some snowball fights, some indoor games, singing around a campfire, and we watched, "Mr. Kreugars Christmas." We were there for about 9 hours! Just relaxing. It was so nice.

Christmas was good as well :) Skyping home was awesome and I got to skype Lacey, Dom, and even Alex Hackney in Indiana. All serving missions which is so cool! We had breakfast cooked for us at the Allens, and had dinner at the Stimpsons. After dinner we went to the Wagers where we played a game called, "Aggravation." It is similar to "Sorry" but with marbles, dice, and no one is sorry when they get you out. So aggravating ;) Haha

Service Service Service! I would do service my whole mission if I could. Geri, the devout Catholic that eats with us at the Wagers, asked us to stack wood for her. Then she took us out to lunch/. Later that day, we coordinated with the Kalispell Sisters to do some service for a part-member family they are teaching. The sisters painted, while Elder Parker and I cut trim for a few door frames and the floor boards of the house. Cutting trim  is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Everything is so precise and the walls weren't even parallel haha. But it was fun and we got to teach a lesson afterward that I think went pretty well.

Friday I was a lumberjack again. We split wood for Anne. I ended up breaking her axe (oops). The wood was frozen, so it was a lot harder to chop. When stuck in the wood, you usually have to take a sludge hammer and it the top of the axe to continue splitting it.  hit it one to many time and the axe broke lol. But I'll replace it for her. Later on Friday we carpooled down to Missoula where we had a Training meeting (even though this is my fourth time training). I brought all of my gifts with me haha. We stayed the night in a set of Elder's apartment and I opened my presents the next morning (Saturday). Nice picks on the ties! I especially like the blue one! And I was so stoked to get that Book. I was hoping the whole time that was what it was! I have already read some of it and it is so helpful. Thank you so much! The meeting was not the most fun. It was long. But I got to see Elder Packham, so that was fun. My birthday dinner was at the Wagers who made me breakfast for dinner and a confetti cake! Provided by the McCann's :)

Yesterday we taught Primary. The key to success in Primary is candy. Bishop Bunker gave a really good "5th Sunday Lesson" about developing a testimony directly with God, and not just leaning on another's. People are constantly moving in and out of our lives, and can change. God is constant. We need to develop a direct link with him as soon as we can. We had a continuation of that lesson with Sister Harris referencing Alma 32. We also visited that really nice Catholic couple with the big house. They happily let us in and we talked for about 10 minutes before their dinner. THey invited us back and actually said we could come to their Bible study! SO that should be good!

Well I hope you all have an awesome new year!  I can't believe it is 2014 already. A time of change and resolutions. I love all of you and tell Jesse he did awesome on the Harmonica! I saw the video that Reed sent!

 

Thank you for the stories and especially the last one! That really opens your eyes to see what Christ did for each one of us who is spiritually blind. Family history has also been kind of interesting to me lately as Grandpa has been sharing some stories with me in addition to these! I hope you have a great week! You are a huge example to me and I miss you! Love you!

 

 

Elder Inman Letter December 23, 2013

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I just have to say THANK YOU to everyone who has sent me letters, packages, and Christmas cards! They truly have made a difference. Being away from home on Christmas is difficult but the support from all of you has helped tremendously. It may take me a bit to write back, but I will do my best!

This week was pretty awesome. Tuesday we spent most of the day saying goodbyes (for Elder Denslow who has been in this area a little over 8 months of his mission). The saddest one was him saying bye to Anne, who is the lady we chop wood for and works at the gift shop. We had told her a week before that we were both staying, and then we had to tell her that Elder Denslow was leaving. She was pretty bummed. Tuesday was also when Sister Stimpson called mom and put her on speaker phone! That was weird staying quite the whole time! I was right next to her haha.

Wednesday we spent most of the day packing. Brother Allen made us his infamous Fettuccine (?) Alfredo. I ate way to much of it.

Thursday was so long, but the highlight of the week by far. ZONE CONFERENCE! One of the best days of my mission. We had to get up at 3:00AM, pick up the sisters, and meet everyone to carpool down at 4:30AM. The conference was in Helena, and we were driving a transfer van (highly uncomfortable). So we got there late, at about 8:40AM. This zone conference was huge. The Kalispell, Missoula, Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Great Falls East, and Stevensville zones (equivalent to stakes) were all there. At least 120 missionaries and that is only half the mission! The Conference ran from about 9-4:30PM. It consisted of musical numbers (one of which I was in! HA!), talks, and I shared the poem that Meg Wright gave me at BYU. I had so much fun. We had an extended lunch where we played a few games, sang songs, and just kind of relaxed. Each of us got a Christmas Package from HOME (letters) in addition to lots of donated things like toothbrushes, candy, gum, etc. So cool! Thank you to everyone who sent a letter for that! I had some of the most letters out of everyone! :D I hung out with Elder Schramm and Packham the most. We got home at 9:30PM. Again by transfer van -__-

My new companion is Elder Parker. He has been out for only 8 weeks. We get along pretty well and had some great lessons this weekend! We split and stacked wood for a recent convert named Korry

Saturday was awesome. The Winter Solstice begins! I could have sworn it was here already. We parked at the post office today and walked for about 3 hours. None of our potentials worked out, so we kept climbing up this hill. At the very top, there was a gated, long driveway leading to what was probably at least a 10,000 sq. ft. home. No exageration. We knocked on the door and a man named Harvey answered. He explained that him and his wife were Roman Catholic and were actually about to go to Mass in 10 minutes. Even still, he said to come in and warm up till they had to leave. They gave us each a honey crisp apple (so good!) as well as a glass of water. When it came time for them to go, they actually gave us a ride to the chapel so we didnt have to walk all the way back to the post office :) super nice couple. I had accidentally left my beanie (the one Torie made me, which I wear everyday and everywhere by the way!) at their house. After dinner, we drove up there. At dinner, Sister Wagers gave us a bag of cookies and treats. So I offered that to Harvey and he said, "My wife never buys treats! I would love them!" Haha and then he said that we could come back and talk to them anytime :) So cool.

Sunday was awesome too! We finally got a Ward Mission Leader. It is Brother Harris! His wife is the one that has been coming back to church recently. Susan Jensen, the lady from Wales that we taught last Saturday and then came to church, is leaving for California the day after Christmas. And guess what. The ward she will be in down there would have been the exact same ward that Lacey was serving in before she got transferred to a Spanish area! How sweet would that have been for Lacey to pick up where I left off teaching! Oh well. 

Well I am stoked to see you on Christmas! And Grandma and Grandpa if they are there! That way I can thank them :) People have been so generous and thoughtful. I seriously have 3 stockings full of candy, that package from zone conference, a super soft blanket from the Kiedrowski's (thank you so much!), and a gift bag full of stuff from Anne. And lots of letters :) I am still not sure how Christmas Day is going to work. Tomorrow for Christmas Eve, we are having a Zone "District Meeting" and then going to Elder and Sister Shaw's from 1-8 just to relax and play games! What I am thinking about doing is staying the night there and come back in the morning and can skype right after Lacey so I can catch both her and you. I will be skyping off my iPad more than likely, so I can do it pretty much whenever! :) I'll call if that changes. I love and miss you all! See ya in 2 (days)! Merry Christmas!

 

 

Elder Inman Letter December 16, 2013

Weird Week ...

Well we did some things this week I never really thought I would do on a mission! But I guess in Montana anything goes!

Tuesday we went to go see a lady named Karen (CAR-IN). She's a very strange innactive lady who raises wolves. A wolf lady...Anyways, she knows a guy who cuts meat and he gives her all the left over deer parts to feed the wolves. So, Elder Denslow and I were hauling boxes of deer heads, backbones, legs, etc, into her backyard. Still with the skin on the heads and everything. So it was cool to see real wolves so close but kind of weird to the hauling a box full of deer heads to feed them!

It snowed SO much this week. The weather reporters are saying this winter will be the coldest it has been in 40 years! Just our luck huh? I don't care, I'm loving it! It snowed 2 days straight, so we had close to 15 inches outside! Super deep! And now I know what black ice is like! Nearly crashed into a stop sign :D But we didn't due to my superior driving skills...just kidding, I'm sure God is credit to that one.

Elder Beck was with us for 2 days. He's serving down in Polson and is going to be training this transfer so he didn't have a companion. We had a SUPER solid lesson with Sister Harris again on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She sincerely prayed and had an experience that most don't hear but in the Ensign. She read us her journal in tears about her experience (which I won't share in detail), but she has received her testimony again after 3 years of inactivity! Later that day (Wednesday), we helped like 5 people get their cars un-stuck! In suits we were pushing cars, it was awesome :)

Thursday was a really rough day. But we got to eat dinner with a less-active, part-member family that went really well! The husband is not a member. He was showing us all his war pictures from Iraq and let us sit in his sweet Porsche in the garage. Something kind of crazy, he told us about this man in Iraq who had this huge brick of cash and was willing to die before giving it up. It turns out that this "stash" was "Taliban Hold Money." In Afghanistan, the Taliban created their own currency. It's not worth anything at all. But the idea was, that should the Taliban ever take power (never), this is the ONLY currency worth something. He gave us each a bill. So if the Taliban ever take control, I have $10,000 Afghanis! Equivalent to about $10.

Friday Elder Beck was still with us. We helped Sister McCann (the members we live with), set up the Christmas lights outside, and I made my very first official snowman! It's a lot of work! Friday was also my first time giving a baptismal interview as a District Leader!!! That was so cool! The Spirit was incredibly strong and it was so cool to here someone's conversion story. We met with Sister Jensen that night. Brother Jensen's home ward is actually the ward that Lacey is currently serving in!!! Crazy right? That lesson with Sister Jensen was incredible. Both her and Sister Jensen were at church this Sunday :)

Saturday was the ward Christmas party. It went pretty good I guess. I wish it was more focused on the Savior, but it was all well and good. We were actually under the stage narrating the Grinch's thoughts.

 

Some news Elder Denslow is getting transferred to Great Falls. I am receiving Elder Parker, who was here about a week ago. He has been on a mission for 7 weeks.

Thank you so much for the Christmas packages! I got both of them :D I can actually Skype you from my iPad! So pretty much whenever. We are planning on a Christmas Breakfast and Dinner, so probably early or late afternoon. I'll work around Lacey like last time :) It sounds like the Christmas party was a success! I miss things like that! Something kind of cool though, is Elder and Sister Shaw (Senior couple over this area), is having the whole zone over for Christmas Eve from 1-8 just to hang out and relax! That will be so nice. Should still have P-day on Monday. Dad, thank you so much for your Q and A from your mission, those were awesome! I didn't know most of those things! I will be praying for Jesse. Hope you all have an awesome week! I love and miss you all!