Thursday, February 9, 2017

Week 77

Hello all! 
So I think I always say that the week has been crazy and eventful, but I think this one takes the cake. We were in the car for a good chunk of it.
Sooooo we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council for zone leaders and sister training leaders) in Helena on Tuesday, so Sister Jacoby and I drove up to Billings on Monday night to stay the night because we had to meet at the mission home at 4:30am the next morning to carpool over to Helena.
On Tuesday, a big ole snowstorm hit and that made things a lot more interesting. Sister Jacoby and I rode in a big van with 6 other missionaries from Billings and a senior couple from the office. Many hours later, we got there late but safely. 
MLC was great. We talked about what we learned in the worldwide missionary broadcast last week and discussed the new schedule and made some mission- specific changes. The significant things that I learned were related to the spirit. I learned that 
-you don't need to know you are receiving revelation to receive and act on revelation
-you can know you are talking/ teaching by the spirit if you have learned from what you have said 
-have confidence in the spirit. If you allow him, he will do his job 
It was an awesome discussion and I'm sad that this was my one and only MLC on the mission (because it got cancelled last transfer). 
The sisters that were there that are in my departing group had to bear their testimonies too. It was hard but I hope I was able to touch a few people with what I said. 
On the way back to Billings that night, the weather was still bad and when we got to the Big Timber area, the highway closed because a semi jackknifed. The alternate route was congested too, so we all said a prayer and decided to turn around. Our whole van, another van with the 2 sets of Wyoming zone leaders and the car with the assistants headed back to Bozeman and we stayed the night at a hotel. We had dinner at Perkins and had to make a Walmart run because we had nothing on us for staying overnight. We then headed back to Billings the next morning (via a longer, alternate route) and to Wyoming from there. It was quite an adventure. The car rides to and from Helena were very spiritual too. We discussed doctrine and sang hymns. It's a miracle that nothing happened to any of the mission cars that were traveling for so long a time because the whole way back to Billings, the highway was lined with cars and semis that slid/ rolled off the road and into ditches. There were LOTS of police cars and ambulances too.
On Friday, we had zone training in Lovell, WY about what we learned from the broadcast. So this was round 4 of the broadcast. Sister Jacoby and I gave a 25+ minute discussion/ role play about establishing the church and we decided to focus on establishing the church among members. It's so important to build the members faith, and in turn, they will help establish the church/ be missionaries among those who are not members. Some cool scriptures that we found and shared about it were 3 Nephi 5:12-13 and Alma 4:3-4. They're worth a read. :)
Right after that, we went on exchanges with the Burlington sisters. I was with Sister Robertson and we came back to Worland. We had an awesome lesson with a 27 year old less active/ recent convert and and her less active 18 year old brother. They are still very strong in their testimonies but because of hurtful things people have said and sickness (because of winter) they haven't come lately. We read 2 Nephi 31 with them and it really struck them. I think they will progress and come back in no time.
We have been really trying to get to know the members in our ward and teach them the doctrine of Christ because we know that as they gain trust in us and strengthen their own testimonies, they will think of those they interact with who are prepared for the gospel.
Hope you have a great week! 

Sister Lauren Ney
Montana Billings Mission 

P.S. My new address is 1613 Culbertson Ave. Worland, Wyoming 82401 

Picture 1- our group that got stuck in Bozeman  
2-exchanges with the Burlington sisters 
3-Icicle removal service! It's so fun. (Don't worry. We did it safely)
4-heavy duty coat 
5- the sisters at MLC that I came out with! 
6-the nothingness that is Wyoming 







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