Week 72

Hey hey! 

So this week I learned that Wyoming really is the least populated state in America. I kind of guessed but it's official. The population is around 500,000. I have been called to serve in the least populated state in all the 50 states of this country. Weird. 

Our exchanges to Cody was canceled on Monday because of high winds but we did have exchanges from Thursday night to Saturday morning and the sisters serving in Worland came here. So I was with Sister Lisberg here in Sheridan and Sister Jacoby went with Sister Dayes to Ranchester. It was my first exchange ever as a sister training leader and it was realllllly rough because I got sick, a snowstorm hit that day, and we got stuck in the snow (in their Toyota Corolla) 7 times. People had to come save us 3 of those times. Some friendly neighborhood people saved us the first time, a homeless guy the second, and 4 elders the third time. Sister Lisberg was so sweet and was super understanding about my being sick but we still were out and about until 8:30pm. 

I'm still sick and went to urgent care yesterday and we were shuts ins all day. I slept and we watched some church movies from the apartment. I feel bad for Sister Jacoby having to babysit me but she's so awesome and willing. 

Some highlights of this week was that we were able to help teach our recent convert how to do family history and we got a huge chunk of her family tree filled in. She's super excited to take her family names to the temple. Her reaction to her discovering her ancestors was priceless. She was yelling for joy and in total astonishment. 

I was also able to Skype in on my investigator's baptism in Bozeman. She was the one who came and found us while we were eating dinner at Oba. She was seriously beaming and so overwhelmed with joy afterwards. It made me so happy. :)

So a major theme in our teaching that I have seen in this past week was the Plan of Salvation. We met with at least 3 people this week on a day that happened to be the anniversary of a loved one's death or someone they loved passed away that very day. I don't think its any coincidence that we happened to show up at that time and in that same situation several times throughout the week. It was so neat to see the spirit work in people and bring them peace as we testified of the truth of the Plan of Salvation. 

This week, we also were invited to dinner with the YSA branch president and some prospective missionaries. Its so fun to see the excitement people have while working on their papers and preparing to go out. That ambition needs to be remembered and maintained throughout ones mission.

So I was going to put a spiritual thought from Chapter 33: Missionary Work from Brigham Young's Teachings of the Presidents book, but I ended up highlighting the whole thing. It's SO good so I challenge you all to go read it! 

I hope you all had a happy new year and made some awesome resolutions! 

Sister Lauren Ney

Montana Billings Mission