Hi Everyone!

Wow, it’s been a while! It’s been absolutely crazy these past few weeks. We didn’t get so send emails this week because my companion was in the hospital, so I had to stay with her. On Friday she was feeling a little sick so we stayed in and let her sleep and she said she was feeling better in the morning, so we went to church. At the end of Sacrament meeting we look over and she’s doubled over, clutching her side and crying. Luckily we had a surgeon in our ward that examined her in the bishop’s office and sent her to the E.R. We had to practically carry her out to the car because she couldn’t walk and she threw up all the way there. We were kind of panicked because we had never taken someone to the E.R before and she looked really bad. To add to the stress Sister Horrocks’ visa had arrived and she was leaving for Brazil that day! She ended up having to leave with Sis. Nashio in the hospital. She was really worried about her and it must have been tough to leave.

                We ended up staying in the E.R for 8 hours with our devoted ward mission leader. Then she and I were transferred to the hospital overnight. She stayed there for 2 days and they ended up putting me on exchanges so work could still be done in our area. It was really tough to leave her with Sis. Lasson, but they released her the next day. It turns out she had had a UTI, kidney infection, and an inflamed colon. It didn’t look like much fun, to say the least.

                She ended up staying home for two more days while I worked with Sis Glenn in our areas. It was productive, but not as productive as I would have liked. Our area is pretty slow right now and no one ever seems to be home. It’s tough, but it is what it is and as long as we are doing our best then the Lord is pleased with our efforts.

                When Sis Nashio was finally approved to leave home all we had time to do was go to our dinner appointment before we had to go pick up our new sister. Sister Hardy, our new third companion, is from temple square and she is doing her out-bound part of her mission which typically lasts for about 2 transfers (or about 3-5 months) depending on the assignment. She’s really fun and we’re enjoying having her. She’s been out for 7 months, English speaking, and she’s glad to get to try out a “proselyting mission” as she calls it. 

                We were also excited to finally replace our shower curtain this week! The elders had one when we moved in, it used to be clear, but it has been a muddy brownish-black color all this time, so we finally got a chance to go to the dollar store and get a new one. It’s cheap, but it’s clean and that’s all that matters!!!! It’s a funny thing to be excited about, but now I can touch the shower curtain without gagging. We held off so long because good quality ones are expensive at Wal-Mart, but a member suggested the dollar store and they had them!

 I have to tell you, it kills me to email in the library every week surrounded by books. I miss reading SO much!!! It’s not even funny. I tried to convince Siri on my ipad to tell me a story the other day. It wasn’t a very exciting story. Then I tried to commit her to baptism. She accepted the lessons, so it’s a start! I can be the first missionary to baptize the internet! Ha, ha ;) Won’t Nate be jealous?

                I had my aura read this week by a less active. It was pretty cool and apparently a lot of people can do it here and it always makes me nervous, I feel like I need to control myself better so they can’t “read” me. But apparently (for those of you who are dying of curiosity) I’m a rainbow, which is apparently unusual. And to make mattes even better, she says I need to marry a rainbow. Yeah, I don’t know how I’ll tell if they’re a rainbow or not. But I was pretty proud of myself for being unique ^_^ apparently a lot of people are blues or greens.

                I don’t know what it is with creepy things happening in Bozeman, but this week we were driving in a neighborhood and we passed a house where we saw a girl standing on a porch in with really long dark hair falling around her face. We remarked on it because she seemed weird and kind of out of place, but when we got turned into the neighborhood she disappeared. We were all pretty freaked out. I joked with them that we should go tract that door. Sis Nashio and Sis Hardy weren’t too enthusiastic about that idea.

                We finally got to go out to our branch in Big Sky this week. On the way there we saw a group of bighorn sheep right by the road, a huge herd of elk, a largish herd of deer, a herd of buffalo, and 3 bald eagles. The only things we were missing were moose and bear.

                The branch is amazing but small. The other sisters were kind enough to only take a few minutes each and leave me with 15 minutes to speak and only a few notes (we were each supposed to speak for 7-10 minutes, so I wasn’t prepared for 15) but somehow I managed to fill the time and everything was okay. But it was nerve-wracking because in a branch everyone pays really close attention. We did get to meet a woman and her daughter that recently re-activated themselves and we’re going to her daughter’s gymnastic tournament this Saturday. Her name is Elyse and she is so cute!

                We went out trying to find people last night and we tracted into this Baptist man and I ended up talking to him for quite a long while. He was so blunt and contradictory that my knees were shaking and I felt a little woozy but the other sisters said I didn’t seem flustered at all, so kudos for that I guess. I kept waiting for one of them to jump in, but no one did. I was able to hopefully clear up a few misconceptions he had about the church and even though he still didn’t want to hear our message we left of friendly terms.

                Now for the week before last week:

                I returned my scale that said I only weighed 50lbs every time I stepped on it. As much as I am flattered by that, I think that I would know if I was only 50 lbs because I would be in the hospital.

                We spent New Year ’s Day at a party at our ward mission leader’s house. It was an awesome opportunity to meet the members and to socialize a bit. We also got to play Catchphrase which is so much more fun when you’re a missionary and you haven’t played games in months!

                I frequently get distracted by the stars when the night is clear. They’re so beautiful I can’t help but stare! My companions tease me about it all the time. J

                We met Tyson this week. He is the most stellar 10 year old I’ve met on my mission so far! He’s reading the whole Book of Mormon by himself and he wants to read the Bible next. He says he wants to go to the temple and that’s his goal. He can’t be baptized because his dad won’t allow it, so we’re hoping he’ll let us talk to him so we can work out whatever is keeping him from letting his son get baptized.

                We also spent 40 minutes calling EVERYONE and trying to get appointments set up. We only got one appointment set up but then we missed it because we were in the hospital. We’ve had a lot more luck this week, we have a grand total of 4 lessons set up, which sadly is pretty good compared to weeks past. Hopefully the work will start picking up soon! But we love it here and the people are friendly and the ward is stellar.

                I have an invitation to extend to you. Our zone has really been focusing on our language this week. The world was created by words, the Priesthood is exercised through words and faith, so much in this world is only words and words are so much more powerful than we give them credit for. They had the power to hurt someone for ages after they were said if we let them. So, as a zone we’ve been cleaning up our language. We completely cut out the word “hate” because that’s such a strong emotion that we really don’t actually hate 90% of the things that we say we do. It’s funny because if we slip up and say it Elder Holland (our zone leader) is always like “wow, that’s a mighty strong feeling you’re having there”. It’s funny, but it’s so true. We’re also cut out decaffeinated words like “crap” and “shoot” or anything that could be mistaken for something worse. It really makes a difference and I would like to invite you to try it. Try and clean up your language and see what a difference it can make. Ever since I’ve been doing it, the word “hate” shows up like a red light and people use it so often. So try it and I would love to hear how it goes for you!!

                I hope all is going well in your lives and remember to read your scriptures every day and you’ll see the blessings!

                Lots and Lots of Love,

                Sister Draney