Week 15

Hello all!

Happy late Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Boy, has this week been insane! First of all, we had transfers and we all met up in Helena to meet our new companions and disperse to our areas from there. My new companion is Sister Schwendiman and she's super sweet. She reminds me of one of my roommates in college, so I love her. 

Well right as we got to Helena a huge winter storm hit and we got stranded there for 2 days so they put the straggler sisters into trios with some companionships in Helena so we could do missionary work while we were there. I was put with our sister training leaders and they have a cabin in the mountains outside Helena and it snowed like CRAZY up there! Within 2 days, we shoveled their driveways and walkways like 6 times. They are long driveways too so it was not fun. It was my first time shoveling snow like that though, so I can mark that off my Montana bucket list. Hahah.

We eventually got to Dillon, which is a couple hours south, and it is cold there too. We cover Dillon 2nd Ward (there's 2 wards here) and the "Big Hole" which consists of Polaris, Jackson, and Wisdom (which people say is the coldest town in the nation but who knows).  I went from serving in Big Timber to Big Hole. 

Dillon is a cute town and there's a college here so we have some YSA here. It's University of Montana Western and there's around 1500 students. They only have one class at a time here and it goes for 3ish hours. 

The church building is set up just like the Jomax building at home, so I love it! I feel at home :) Everyone in the ward asks me if I'm related to Elder Nay who served here a few years ago. Nope. Different spelling. Hahah.

Our ward mission leader actually served here around 5 years ago! He felt like he needed to live here, so here he is! Crazy! But it's neat having a ward mission leader who really knows the area like that.

It's not windy here like my last area but it is still chilly! When we are out in about at night, it's usually 0 degrees or below. It hit -8 degrees once while we were out. It's so cold. I use a golf ball to knock on doors so I don't have to take off my gloves. And hand warmers are the bomb. Saved my life. And there's color ice within our car too that never melts. It's insane and everyone makes fun of me because I'm from Arizona. :P

Our apartment is nice and warm though. We live in an apartment that is in the basement of an elderly lady's house. We don't have wifi though, so we have to email at the church.

Anyhoo- I was kind of nervous to have thanksgiving with a bunch of strangers because I planned on being in Livingston for the holiday but it ended up being good. In the morning, we volunteered at a community Thanksgiving dinner at the Catholic Church, which was fun.  Later, some member families took us in and we played games, had 2 full thanksgiving dinners and a couple desserts at other peoples houses and we about exploded. We got sick afterwards and were in for the night the next day so we watched a biography of Thomas S. Monson. 

The work has been a little slow this past week due to transfers and the holiday. So I'm gonna try to start cranking it out this next week. We do have two people who could get baptized this next month so I'm hoping I will be able to help make that happen! I was bummed I got transferred right before our investigators in Livingston got baptized (which was on Saturday) but I was able to get over it kinda.

Anyway, I'm on a time crunch so I gotta go now! Hope everyone is doing well! Happy holidays!

Love,

Sister Ney 

Me shoveling snow for the first time

 me and the sister training leaders

me and sister Schwendiman with our balloon turkey

 way too cold

Week 14

Hello family and friends!

Transfer news! I'm going to Dillon! It's north of Idaho and it's a smaller town than Livingston but there's 2 wards. I'm going to be in the Dillon 2nd ward. I'm being transferred tomorrow morning and I'm going to be with Sister Schwendiman. I was super upset at first because our baptisms are coming up on Saturday and I'm going to miss them but I know the Lord needs me somewhere else at this time. It's also hard because we had all these  Some members of the ward kept trying to pry the news out of us yesterday at church but we couldn't tell anyone about transfers until today. And don't sent me anything until I get my new address in Dillon! :)

I almost broke both of my knees this week! Good news is that it was just almost. They are still intact. Here's how it happened: we had to get out of parallel parking and Sister Meek needed me to back her so she didn't hit the car behind us. She normally has me directly behind the car while she backs, so I went behind her. Bad idea. I gave her the sign to stop but she kept going and crushed my legs between our truck and the car behind us. Once the pain hit, I started yelling and waving her to pull forward or else I would've been in seriously bad shape. Once she figured it out, I limped over to the sidewalk and made sure my kneecaps weren't fractured. They seriously hurt for a few days and they're badly bruised but I'm fine now. She hit me with the truck once too because she was going too fast. I seriously hate backing but I'm still alive...which is good! Haha. Now I know to stand clear away from the truck when backing. Lesson learned.

We found some new investigators this week but it seems like whenever someone seems promising, they get sick. Satan uses biological warfare apparently. Anyhow- it's amazing to hear how people sometimes say how just our presence showed them that Jesus Christ is there for them. One lady said that by seeing us "saved her [that night]". I have no idea what would've happened if we weren't there but I'm glad we were. It was because we went to an appointment late and they ended up cancelling because they were sick. So all things happen for a reason, folks! 

For a few days here, the wind was 80mph!!! That's hurricane wind! But that was at night thankfully, so we weren't in the middle of it. Lots of people in the ward are in the roofing business because the wind always messes up people's roofs. 

One thing that I learned this week is that loving people honestly and genuinely is one of the keys to success in missionary work. When you love people, that's when you want to help them. That's what motivates you to go day to day fulfilling your duty and representing Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ loved everyone perfectly and we need to too. We are commanded to be like him, so that's one thing we have to do as well. It may not happen all at once, but when we try  to look at people through a perspective of love-that's when it will become easier and more natural to instantly love people. One thing that I try to do to help me is to just remember that I'm talking to one of my brothers and sisters and I don't know their life story perfectly, but I can love who they are now.

Sorry I can't give any more details this week, but I have to pack for transfers and it's stressing me out! 

Love you all!

Sister Ney

The two people on the left are getting baptized this Saturday!

Week 13

Hello all! 
Here are some of the highlights of this week! 
Our 2 investigators are still on track for baptism! They're eating all 
of the lessons up and have the whole baptism planned! Man, I hope I 
get to stay and see them get baptized! :) 
We had interviews with President Wadsworth and it was fun. I was 
intimidated at first but he was super nice and it wasn't because we're 
screwing anything up. :) 
On the way back, we saw a semi tipped over on the highway because of 
the insane wind here! They had to close down the highway because the 
crosswinds are too strong! It's like tornado weather all the time. I 
was cracking up the other day because we were tracting in the wind and 
we looked drunk because we couldn't walk straight. It just pushes us 
over like we are nothing! I get to a door and my hair is insane too. 

These poor people have me show up on their doorstep out of 
breath (because I can hardly breathe against the wind) and looking 
like a banshee. Hahah. 
Speaking of hair, last Preparation Day, Sister Meek and I got haircuts 
and the lady felt like she had to make my hair look like I just came 
out of the 80s. Sister Meek looked at me when I got done and her eyes 
widened. Haha. I had to do some serious damage control when we got in 
the car so my hair wasn't a foot off my head!! 
We went to Gardiner yesterday for church and it's the smallest church 
building I've seen so far! And there were elk just laying 
on the lawn out front. We could get super close to them and they 
wouldn't flinch. They had Sister Meek and I give our testimonies at 
the end and I talked about how I'm grateful for (because it's 
Thanksgiving season!) and have a testimony of our Heavenly Father, 
Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I shared the story of how when I was 
a custodian at BYU, I was sweeping a stairwell of an apartment 
building and listening to the Book of Mormon on my phone. It started 
talking about when Christ visited the Nephites and I started crying. 
It reminded me of all Christ has done for me and all of Gods children 
and how He even cares for and loves me- a student custodian in a dark 
stairwell, away from home and feeling like I was drowning in my 
classes. He knows each of us and has suffered for our individual sins. 
Think about it. He loves us enough to sacrifice Himself for us, no 
matter how small or insignificant we may feel. Don't ever forget our 
Savior and Redeemer. He lives. 
 
Love, 
Sister Ney 

Mormon Elk

 I'm not really fat. I have lots of layers on.

 Bad hair day

Week 12

Hello, all! 
 
This week was crazy! We had a blizzard but the snow has already melted. People 
say that in Livingston, the insane winds just blow it away so snow doesn't ever 
stick for long. That was a crazy day. Roads were slick and everything was piled 
on with snow. Then it made everything muddy. 
We found out this week that we have transfers the day before Thanksgiving, so we 
were shocked because that will kind of mess with holiday plans but we will see 
if I'm staying! 
We went on exchanges this week with our Sister Training Leaders. Sister Meek 
stayed here in Livingston and I went to Billings for a few days! Oh my goodness. 
I loooove Billings! The way it's set up is like home, so I felt comfortable 
there. And there's no snow there, so that was sweet. I really hope I get to 
serve there during my mission. I got to drop by the mission home, drive by the 
temple, and go to the church building we had meetings at during the first few 
days we were out. It brought back memories!! We taught a lot of people and then 
a member took us to dinner at the Golden Corral. The assistants were there too 
because they share a ward with our sister training leaders. We were in charge of 
the lesson and I thought I was gonna puke because I was going to have to teach 
in front of the assistants, but they ended up having to leave early to get to a 
lesson so it was all good. 
We taught a cool lesson this week to a member family. We called it "choose your 
weapon". We set out several objects to use to share the gospel with: pass along 
cards, the Restoration DVD, pamphlets, a Book of Mormon, etc. We explained how 
to use them all in missionary work and then we had each family member think of 
someone they wanted to share the gospel with and what object would work best for 
them. It was fun! 
Here is a miracle that happened! I truly learned that the Holy Ghost is the real 
teacher. I kind of knew that before but it hasn't really hit me until now. We 
were teaching an investigator and we invited them to be baptized twice and they 
said no. I got really discouraged because I know that a significant reason that 
us sisters are here is for them. However, we fasted for them and while reading 
the scriptures one night, the Spirit hit them and told them they will be 
baptized on a certain date next month. How neat! I was mind blown! That's just a 
testament that fasting works and that the Holy Ghost is absolutely essential in 
the work. 
 
Love, 
Sister Ney :) 

Week11

Hello, everyone!

This week was great. We had the Livingston Trunk or Treat on Wednesday and the Big Timber trunk or treat on Friday. They're the biggest events the ward and branch puts on and there were a lot of investigators and less actives that went- so it was great.

We have been dying to do service and no one lets us. So we decided to just grab a couple rakes and rake this one yard that we saw that was absolutely drowning in leaves. I mean layers upon layers of leaves. And I've never raked leaves before (being from Arizona) so it was a fun but back breaking experience. I was nervous that if the owner of the house would get mad if they saw us just raking their yard out of nowhere. The lady stuck her head in the window and gave me a surprised, angry look. I smiled and informed her. Then she came out and asked, "what are you doing?!" Sister meek replied, "we're raking your leaves!" The lady, who later told us her name was Carolyn, then was super nice and kept thanking us and saying she feels guilty. She broke her hand in a car wreck earlier that day and obviously couldn't do it herself. It took an hour or 2 to rake her leaves and then she came out with $60 to give us. We kept refusing it and said we would rather share our message with her but she shoved it in Sister Meeks hand and ran inside. So we plan on buying her dinner with it or going to dinner with her with it because she wouldn't answer her door after that so we could give it back. 

We also were able to go to the temple last week! Some people from the ward came with us and it was a great time. I absolutely love the ward members here. They are really a family and you can just tell. Every other ward says they are a ward family but I haven't felt that as prominently as I have felt it here. Everyone loves each other and is involved in each others lives. If there's an event like a child's baptism, a luncheon, anything- the whole ward comes. The love is tangible. 

We have another person on date this week. She is a kid and her parents want her to get baptized. She also wants to be baptized. We were wondering at first if that's just because everyone else wants her to or if it's because she wants to. Honestly, children are much more receptive tot the spirit than adults. Every child I've come across just knows inside that the gospel is right. They're drawn to us too because we are representatives of Jesus Christ. How much better would the world be if we were all like children? 😀

For Halloween, we had some lessons and then we're allowed to go home a bit early. So we watched some interviews on our iPad of David Archuleta and David A. Bednar while eating candy the members gave us. We were living the life. Haha.

We also changed for daylight savings time. So now it gets dark earlier and no one likes us at night. Haha. It makes everyone want to go to bed earlier too, so it's rough. But the work will to go on!

One cool thing that happened was that we were teaching an investigator and he already believed some things about the plan of salvation and it was familiar to him. How neat is that? Frankly, we all knew these things at one point and now we are relearning it here on earth because of we have gone through the veil. As missionaries, we are just reminding people of these truths and inviting them and showing them how to come home to our Heavenly Father. We are guiding our fellow brothers and sisters to come home.  It won't be home unless we are all there.

Sincerely,

Sister Ney 😊