Week 25

Hello everyone!

So, for the record, I am ready for the snow to melt. I never missed Arizona so much in my life. Winter is just forever long.

This week we had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. This time we both went to Helena and just had exchanges there and stayed the night. It was a fun time. We taught a lady who was severely depressed and she seriously changed right before our eyes as we taught. She started smiling more, talking more, making eye contact, willing to have us drop by everyday, willing to have a priesthood blessing, and she said she felt lighter. It was amazing! The spirit really is a wonderful thing. 

The next day, we drove back to Dillon but then out to Polaris to teach a recent convert and then Jackson for dinner with the Big Hole branch president . We were so sick of driving by the end of the day.

We also had the baptism and confirmation of our older investigator. It went so well and he only had to go under once! Woo! Sister Schwendiman and I both spoke at the service again. And his kids (who are not members) came and it made him the happiest man in the world. He called us multiple times thanking us for helping him change his life and for giving him the opportunity to embrace the gospel. His daughter even said that she saw the difference in him once he started taking the lessons. 

The area is lagging in missionary work but we think the work might be within the YSAs right now. We just have to get through this barrier that is separating them from the church. They are their own distinct group of people that require us to approach them differently and we are still trying to figure that out. We also had a Ward Council fast for missionary work so I have faith that it will help.

Here's a funny encounter this week: we were inviting a Ysa potential investigator to our open house coming up and we were talking to him on his doorstep and he told us about how we went  on a fishing trip recently and then he came out with a package of fish for us to take home and cook up. He was all proud of how good it tasted and told us how we should cook it. So we took it and I then read a scripture from the Book of Mormon and I offered it to him to have and he was a bit hesitant, so I told him it was a trade. We would take the fish if he took and read the Book of Mormon and he said he would. Haha. That's how we do it in Montana.

Something I learned this week: Living up to our baptismal covenants is not as easy as it sounds sometimes but we need to do it for a reason. Do you remember what those covenants are? If not, read Mosiah 18 again! We need to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, bear one another's burdens, keep His commandments, always remember Him, and take His name upon us. Are we doing all these things? If not, ask Heavenly Father how we can improve on it so that we can receive the blessings we are promised and others can feel the love of Christ too.

Sister Ney