Hello Everybody,

 

Yep, it’s WAY cold outside. My ears hurt so bad when I walk into a building after being outside. I can’t stay out long without getting a headache. We’re supposed to have a major storm soon, but it hasn’t happened yet. I’d really like to see a huge blizzard. I think that it would be really cool, but all we’ve had so far today is a light snowfall that simply looks pretty. It doesn’t pile up much, sadly. I do miss flowers and the color green and the sun. Boy do I miss the sun! Most days you can’t even see the sky, even though it’s “big sky country”. It’s usually covered with clouds or it’s completely white or gray with snow.

 

I got shot a this week... with Hepatitis A #2. I'm finally done with the shots! They didn't trust me not to pass out though so they made me lay down on the kiddie table to get the shot. It went really well and they gave me a juice box and offered me a sticker. I took the juice box but denied the sticker (I have my pride...sort of)

 

 This week I made Sis McCain call in our numbers because I couldn’t bear to read in so many zeros after all we had done this week. I wish they had a number to indicate effort. Oh well, we’re storing up brownie points in heaven.

We had two of our less actives start to read the BoM finally! We're so excited for them. I literally want nothing more than to go to the temple with them. If I could do that I would feel that I had come home from my mission a success! Oh I want them to sooo badly! One of our other less actives finally got a blessing for Word of Wisdom issues and hopefully will start having a desire to improve.

Let's see, what else... my comp made a cake this week for a woman's birthday that we're working with. I paid for the cake but she loves to bake, so she made it. When I came back to look at the finished product she had shaved off half the cake in an attempt to make it look pretty. I almost lost it because she'd wasted half of a perfectly good cake! Who cares how pretty it looks? We're just going to eat it! So yeah, apparently I have problems with the waste of perfectly delicious food. *sigh* sad day.

We were asked to help move someone into his house but no one showed up but us and one other Priesthood holder (when we had unloaded everything but the huge dresser and washer and drier). So the sisters moved someone all on our own (he did a lot before we got there too, in all fairness) but I feel like that has to win some points for the awesomeness of women! But at the same time I understand why one of our investigators has problems when he sees Priesthood holders not acting as they should or not helping out. I can't blame him. But there are a lot of good Priesthood holders as well. I just think we all in the church could do a little better and remember not to become so complacent, especially in church. We need to be an example at all times!

Oh so this week I was sitting on the floor doing something in my planner and Sis McCain crawls over to me and starts hitting me with her head. Obviously I was a little concerned for her mental well-being so I asked her what she was doing. She said "If I were a bighorn sheep, this is how I would show my love" and I broke down laughing! It was so funny because she said it so seriously! I was still concerned for her health, but it made my day :D

 

 One of the ladies in our ward gave us a ton of fruits and veggies from Costco. We were really grateful because they’re so expensive here that we can’t get them a lot with our budget. So I had grapefruit for the past two mornings and it was SO good.

   

I may have to break my rule about not buying soda and buy myself some for a birthday celebration. Sadly there is no caffeine free Dr. Pepper which breaks my heart. Oh well, it’s probably better that there isn’t any. I’m doing so much better with my soda intake though. No caffeine for me for 4 months now.

 

Well, I can’t think of much else that happened this week. We didn’t do much because we had a plethora of meetings and then Sis McCain had to stay in one day because she was sick. (I was SO bored.) I just don’t want everyone to think my letters are progressively getting shorter. Hopefully people don’t riot ;) ha, ha Maybe they’ll be relieved there’s not as much to read! J

 

I love you all!

 

Sister Draney

Greetings from Bozeman!

I think I've gained more muscle on my mission than I ever have in my life. I found a new one yesterday and I was pretty excited. It's all about the dodge ball! I'm telling you! I'm determined to beat Elder Holland if it is the last thing I do! I'm improving slowly but surely. :) But yesterday I was so sore I couldn't even climb into the truck and I hobbled up stairs to home like a little old woman :P  On p-day we usually play games with our district like dodge ball, basketball, volleyball, or we throw a football back and forth. They’re all very impressed with my spiral ha, ha. I play the piano on p-days after we finish dodge ball and they transition to basketball. I’m not too good at basketball. Sometimes I play with them, sometimes I play the piano. I love the piano. It’s so relaxing! It’s really one of the greatest joys I have when I get some time. I would be so sad if I had given up piano, I’m so glad you guys made me practice!

We’re teaching several people. Some of them are completely inactive, but we teach them just as much as we teach the others J I’m really excited this week because sister Searle agreed to read the Book of Mormon again for the first time in forever! I was way excited!

We’re assigned to one ward: Bozeman 1^st ward and one branch: Big Sky. It keeps us plenty busy!

As for my personal study, this week I was studying having faith in the timing of the Lord so I could give a discussion on it in district meeting. It was really good. I don’t have my notes on it, so I’ll tell you more about it when I have my notes! I remember one scripture I used was 2 Ne. 10:17 and Eccl. 3:1.

My comp and I got a mild case of food poisoning from a dinner we went to. She threw up. I did not :D I felt like a champ. But needless to say we went to bed a little earlier than usual.

We had a wonderful moment this week when we pulled up to a house and it looked like no one was home but we knocked anyway and it turns out the family that we’ve been trying to get in touch with forever was there! We had an awesome discussion with them and hopefully we’ll be able to start working with them.

We delivered Valentines in the rain this week. It was really fun actually. We made about 54 Valentines and we didn’t get to deliver them all, but we sure tried! People liked it a lot. We took on to Vivian (the 90+ year old lady we visit) and she was so happy to get the Valentine and see us! She had been alone all day and her family hadn’t even come upstairs to say hi. She kissed the Valentine and said how we made her day.  I was so glad we had stopped by so she wasn’t alone on Valentine’s day.

I read a really good talk in the August 2007 Ensign called “Overcoming Feelings of Inadequacy”. It was really good and I would highly suggest it, even if you don’t feel inadequate ;)

Our stake is being reorganized this week and we’re really excited! It’s going to be a big deal. They say something big is happening and I can’t wait! It’s going to be great!!

We went out to dinner with the nicest couple out in Big Sky yesterday. They’re really awesome. They spent WAY too much money on us for dinner though, I felt really bad. And then they took us to their grocery store where they made us go shopping and wouldn’t let us leave until we had taken what they deemed an “appropriate amount” (which was a lot). It’s a big blessing though because Sis McCain is out of money for the month and they just completely stocked our fridge with good food. They are stellar.

We did a lot of tracting in Big Sky yesterday and people were really nice (what a relief!) but we didn’t get any new investigators (yet!). We’re really hoping to jump-start the work up there! It will be a great opportunity for growth. The entire population of the town is less than that of Highland High. It’s pretty small. A lot of famous people live up there too sometimes at the Yellowstone club like Justin Timberlake. Apparently he comes into town to shop all of the time. It would be way cool to meet someone famous and share the gospel with them! What an awesome story that would be! ;) ha, ha

Anyways, this week has been pretty good and we’re trying to stay super busy!

Sister Draney

Hello Everyone!

Today I am writing my letter on a MacBook instead of a PC. I was a little nervous that I would like it better and want one (because they’re so much more expensive) HA! No chance of that! I have been endlessly frustrated by it and that fact that I can’t figure out how to copy and paste! So there are no MacBooks in my future.

This week’s letter is short because I’m short on time. We have to get to a dentist appointment for Sis McCain and we have no idea where the dentist’s office is. They’re fixing her front tooth for free because the dentist that owns it is in our ward. Sis McCain is really excited.

            Here’s a quick recap of what I did this week:

            - I learned to lift pallets of turkeys with a pallet-jack

            - I learned how to operate a hydraulic lift of a truck (not too exciting, but I was pleased)

            - I learned to crochet from a lady in our ward. It doesn’t look too good yet, but I’m sure it will get there!

            - All of our appointments cancelled on us, again

            - And we finally got ahold of Mark, the more than slightly attractive investigator. We were really glad he hadn’t skipped our lesson on purpose!

Sis McCain was having skirt troubles this week. Her skirt was a couple inches too big but she tried to hold it up with a belt and thought it would be fine. I fixed it a couple times during district meeting. Afterwards we were heading out to the car when the Zone Leaders called her back so they could help her with her iPad. I turned around to go with her back to the church and noticed her zipper was completely down! I called out to her, but just as she turned her skirt fell completely off! It was really funny. Luckily we’re dressed for warm weather so no one saw anything. It was pretty great.

One of the best things about the cold is that you can go grocery shopping and leave your groceries in the car all day before you have to take them in because it is so cold!

I also got to terrorize her with someone’s pet snake. She couldn’t believe I was holding it! It was fun.

            Well, we have to go to the dentist. Have a lovely week and don’t forget to write!!

            I love you all J

 

            Love,

            Sister Draney

Hi Everyone!

So part of this letter is answers to questions that I’ve been asked and the other half is what happened this week.

Question: Do I miss movies and books and what do they let you read?

Yes, I miss music and books SO much!! My new comp and I tell each other stories to pass the time. We keep lists of all of the books and movies we’ve seen that the other person hasn’t seen and we spend all of our free time telling each other stories. We go to the library to email and whenever we come here we make lists of books that we’ve read to tell the other person. Sometimes a story telling can last up to 4 hours! I tell her some of the stories I’m thinking of writing. She really likes them and says she’ll be my number one fan! :D I really enjoy it. All we’re allowed to read is the missionary library. Nothing extra. It stinks so bad! We have an approved music list, not even all music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is approved! My wish-list CD for the moment is the Vocal Point CD “Lead Thou Me On”. I miss my instrumentals the most. I also really miss movies. I miss a lot about not being on a mission actually. I haven’t adjusted as well as a lot of missionaries. I struggle to find things to keep me happy and the work is slow here at the moment which doesn’t help matters much. But we keep moving forward!

We have a lot of problems with dogs because everyone here has pets! I think the most animals I’ve ever seen in one home is about 40 animals. No joke. This last week I was licked by someone’s pet deer. His name is Elliot; I fed him a carrot and he licked my head. I don’t think I could ever be a hunter now! That animal absolutely melted my heart!

My companion Sis. McCain is a really awesome person and I’m so happy to be her companion. She’s really funny and is full of good stories!

 I can’t believe I’ll be 21 next month; it’s crazy to think about!

Question: What do we do all day?

Out here we do a lot of things. We do a lot of tracking down less-actives (whether they want us to or not. Usually they’re not too nice). We don’t have a lot of miles to use each day, so we drive to an area and stay out there all day. So if we run out of people to see then we spend the rest of the time freezing to death and tracting. We’ve actually had a bit of success from tracting.

Someone asked what we do for lunch and dinners, we haven’t packed a lunch yet. Sometimes we make calls from our apartment, visit a little old lady who lives nearby, or do online work. We usually keep busy, but eventually we’ll run out of stuff to do for that hour, then I’ll be in trouble because I despise sandwiches. Members usually cover all of our dinners though which is usually nice. One of our investigators gave us something to drink that smelled like a horse-barn! I just tried to stop breathing ad chug it. Luckily I kept it down, but it was a close call. I almost threw it up and then the next day I was sick with a stomach ache. Go figure. And it finally happened. Someone fed us fish. I was a little alarmed when I walked into the house and smelled it, but luckily it was salmon, which I like. It was a narrow escape. Apparently I’m a picky eater.

Question: How is the church doing in your area?

The church is doing okay here. Our ward has 440 people and only 75 are active which means there’s a lot of work for us, but a lot of people like to move and just disappear. It’s tough to try and figure out where they ended up.

Question: Why do you name your trucks and what is your truck’s name?

Everyone out here names their vehicles. Don’t ask me why because that’s just how it was when I arrived! We were going to name the truck Tiancum (or however it’s spelled in the Book of Mormon) but that name was already taken, so we had to change it. He was going to be Samuel, but I liked Samson better and I’m persuasive…so we named him Samson. It’s funny because sister McCain’s last car was named Delilah.  He’s a 2012 Nissan Frontier. I am in love with that truck and I really wish I could own one. But, I’m poor, and that probably will never happen! Haha

As for this week:

We taught seminary for two mornings in a row. I was shocked at how rude a lot of them were by being on their cell-phones, refusing to participate, and blatantly being rude. Finally Sis McCain and I finally got tired of it so we took the candy that we had been using as a reward for questions answered correctly and finally chucked them at one of the boy’s head. Boy was he surprised! Eventually we just gave up and taught the responsive half of class. I now know why I want to teach college.

I learned CPR this week at a Relief society activity. I must have been a little over-excited because I ended up bruising my hand in the process. It just finally started to get better. This week has been one of aches and pains. I bruised my elbow playing dodgeball, then I got really sore from shoveling snow.

It snowed about 6inches- 3 ft in some places, so we went out and did a lot of snow-shoveling service. It was so tiring! See, this is why I love Arizona- you don’t have to shovel sunshine off of your driveway!

All of our set appointments this week forgot or weren’t home when we came. It was really disappointing and this week was really slow for missionary work which makes it tough to stay optimistic.

I don’t have much more to write this week, it was a slow week for us. Hopefully next week will be really busy! We’re looking forward to -20 to -30 degree temperatures, over 23 mph winds, and overall freezing weather.

I love you all and please write! This week I got fewer letters than I ever have in my entire mission, which was sad. Shout out to Grandma Draney, Grandma Gonfel, and Grandma Tingey for writing me! You guys are awesome!

So everyone, keep ‘em coming! ;)

Lots of love,

Sister Draney