Week 43

Hey family and friends!
Here's what's been going on:
For preparation day last Monday, the zone went to Thompson park in
between Whitehall and Butte and we had pizza and cake, and went on a
hike. It was pretty fun.
We had a really small district meeting, it was just the
Whitehall elders and us 2 because the Sheridan sisters car broke down
and they were stuck in Butte. So it was awkward but fun. 
We helped the bishops daughter in the first ward harvest a HUGE patch
of rhubarb. I got to be the person with a big knife hacking off the
leaves and roots over the trash can. It was quite an experience. We
also had chop all the stalks up afterwards.  We had dinner at a fancy restaurant 
with Catholic people
from the bargain basement that we volunteer at. I sat directly across
from the Catholic priest again and he had me say the holding- hand
prayer over the food. I was scared at first but he's still friendly
like he was last time and asked us questions about our missions.
We had some crazy rain storms this week and once, we were walking out
of the church right as it started hailing and when the downpour got
serious. So we screamed and ran back inside. Hahaha. :P
we had seven hours of church. It was long and we brought
food to keep us alive.
We met a lady this week who has a boat load of problems and she told
us every detail. It's awful knowing how hard people's lives are and
not being able to change much of it without them accepting the gospel.
She seems pretty closed hearted but I'm not giving up quite yet. :)
Our 92 year old had his interview this week for his baptism on
Saturday! Now it's a matter of how many people are going to be in the
font to help carry him in and out and all the nitty gritty stuff. But
we are excited! Imagine all of your sins being washed away after 92
years. It's incredible. We are just hoping that the VA doesn't call
him to go get a surgery that he needs before because they've
been discussing it for a while now.
And we put another guy on date who was almost baptized when he was 19.
He's 40 now and he knows everything already! He even reads an
encyclopedia in gospel topics for fun! He has some pretty hard
obstacles in the way though so I'm praying that he will be able to
find his answers and that his family's hearts will be softened.
Fun facts: Hardly anyone in Montana has A/C. So it gets pretty hot
during lessons during the daytime. We have been having an unusual heat
wave lately and it's no bueno.

Sister Lauren Ney
Montana Billings Mission