Monday, March 31, 2014
Hello Everyone!
I liked the women’s
broadcast, but sadly I don’t remember too much but the beginning, so I’ll have
to read it again. I have a much better retention rate for things I read, rather
than things I see. I think the music in this session touched me the most,
especially when one of the sisters started humming that song and all the kids
started singing along! I will admit, I cried. I cry all the time, it’s
terrible. I cried yesterday when I bore my testimony in church and I cry when I
teach and I’m just thinking that I’m going to get a job as a human water
fountain that talks about the gospel.
So this week has
gone by so fast, I have no idea where the time has gone!
We had exchanges with the
sister training leaders that lasted for 5 days! It was crazy fun. We are so busy
here it's not even funny. However, people are not progressing like I would like
them too. Sis Searle comes to church every week now, but says it's just for me.
So, I talked to her quietly and said she should be coming to church for the
right reasons and that if I found out she hadn't been going to church if I got
transferred that I would hunt her down. She smiled and laughed and said "No,
really. I will hunt you down, and not in the good way." It was kind of
funny and light hearted, but I could tell that she knew I was serious. So we're
really working on coming to church for the right reasons and helping her to
understand that she does have a testimony, even if it's not a big one.
We got our new bishopric! :
Bishop Barton, 1st is Bro Fletcher, 2nd is Bro Hicks. I'm really pleased with
it and Bishop Barton invited us to attend ward council!!! Yay!!!!!! We are so
excited and he gave a huge 5th Sunday lesson all on missionary work and we're
going to do a 40 day fast with our ward and he had us talk in the meeting. I'm
so excited!
I wish we had a key indicator for effort sometimes. We are
staying so busy and it makes me so happy. The work has really blossomed and
it's moving forward very slowly, but it's still moving forward. I'm so excited
to be able to help it along. So many of our people are progressing and I don't
think they even fully realize how far they've come until we point it out. Good
things are happening here and we have the ward's full support which is so
awesome. I can't say enough about 1st ward. Things are really looking up!
I'm happy with the nice weather we've had and I've been very
happy this past week; except for yesterday when fasting made me so sick that I
thought I had the flu, it was really strange. It never happens that badly. I
almost wasn’t able to go to our dinner appointment because I could barely stand
up straight and I thought I was going to throw up at any moment. But other than
that this has been a great week.
Funny story, so I
taught the Konzens for hours last
night in my sleep. I kept waking myself up when I was like, "well, can we
say a prayer with you before we go?" And Sis Governale kept making
affirming noises, so we were pretty much teaching together, even though I did
all the talking. I kept waking up and thinking, "this is silly, they're
not here, it's a waste of time and I need to be sleeping" but then I'd
fall asleep and start teaching again. It was pretty...interesting, to say the
least.
We had a really
neat Relief Society activity called “these are a few of my favorite things” and
everyone brought in one of their favorite things and talked about why it was
their favorite and then everyone brought in something inexpensive that was one
of their favorite things to share with everyone else, so we all went home with
someone else’s favorite thing (like a candy bar, chapstick, etc.). We also got
to eat schnitzel with noodles (I can’t believe I spelled schnitzel right the
first time! How is that for talent? Haha now if only I could spell “exercise”
without using spellcheck…)And Sister Searle came to the activity (after we
showed up at her house and told her I was expecting her to be there, she wasn’t
planning on coming on her own) but it still made me really happy. Even though
she’s not going for the right reasons, it’s still better than not going at all
and we’re that much closer to re-sparking her testimony and really helping her.
We went to Big Sky
this week and stayed with the Anderson’s.
It was so fun to stay in someone’s home. It was nice to come to a place that
really felt like a home, rather than just our apartment where everything is
bare or missionary-related, which isn’t bad, it’s just not too homey-feeling
because we move around so much.
We spent all day
tracting and gave away 1 Book of Mormon and found 1 less active. It doesn’t
sound like much success, but I thought it was pretty good. We talked to a lot
of people. We also tried to find a referral and ended up getting so lost that
by the time we saw a sign we were only 25 miles away from West Yellowstone
(yikes!) but our map made it look like the house was all the way out there. We
ended up finding him and he wasn’t interested unless we could tell him who the
referral came from. Oh well, it was good anyways.
I met someone this
week who told us he was part of a cult that worshipped death and the Virgin
Mary. It ended up being a really long, interesting conversation. Apparently you
move up in the organization if you kill someone (only in military service). It
kind of freaked me out, but everyone needs the gospel and he has potential.
Hopefully we see him again and he’s a little more open.
We have started
taking copies of the Book if Mormon to elderly members who are stuck in their
homes or care facilities and having them write their testimonies in the cover and
we give those out to people. Older people often have such strong testimonies
and it’s a good way for them to feel involved and needed, not to mention that
people really enjoy reading other people’s testimonies.
So we went to dinner with a family and they had a pet cockatoo and
it really liked me. It sat on my shoulder all through dinner and tried
to eat my dessert, then climbed back on my shoulder for the rest of the lesson.
It kept “snuggling” my cheek and tried to eat all the mascara off of my
eyelashes. When we were done with the lesson I put him back on his perch and he
threw a fit as I was walking away to use their bathroom before I left and flew
after me! Anyway, it ended up coming with me to the bathroom (I told him if he
fell in the toilet it wasn't my fault) and they had to coax him away from me
when I left. I was pretty pleased.
It was the strangest thing!
Yep, that was my
week, in all of its exciting glory! I hope you all are having a great week!
Remember to smile at everyone you meet and brighten the world.
I love you all!
Sister Draney
Monday, March 24, 2014
Hello Everyone,
Everything is great here in Bozeman! I am keeping busy.
Margret is doing well we
think. We haven’t been able to see her at all this week because of busy
schedules and zone conference. We haven’t been able to see Mark either because
he was out of town (again).
Sis Searle came to church again this week! I was so
excited! I love her so much and I really want her to have the Gospel in her
life again. I want to help her in every way I can and I think she knows that.
Steve and Debbie- we haven’t been able to follow up with
them yet but she’s taking us on a drive today for an hour and a half! So I’ll
know more soon hopefully. She’s going to come to the church to do family
history this week. We’re really excited!
A quick side story: so we thought we were running short
on miles and we decided to walk the 5 miles (one way) to church. It took us 1
hour and 12 minutes! It was great (and cold) and luckily Sis Searle gave us a
ride home afterwards. But we were trying to walk quickly, so that combined with
the leg exercises I’ve been doing made for very sore legs this morning! But the
walk was lovely and I’m glad a lot of the snow has melted.
As for how we’re helping Mark read with real intent: the
idea is to help him become interested in the message we’re teaching and have a
desire to know if it’s true so he’ll read the passages we give him with real
intent. Another thing we try to do is ask what questions they have and try to
answer them directly out of the Book of Mormon. People become very receptive
once they learn that the answers to all their questions about anything can be
found in the Book of Mormon. It’s such a great book! I have yet to find a problem
that it did not address in some way. It’s the best resource any of us have
(members and missionaries!).
Yes, we use a Mormon message when we teach, but usually
not with investigators unless there’s something they bring up that it covers
perfectly, which rarely happens. We use them more for dinner messages, however
we’re trying to cut back more and use the Book of Mormon as much as possible.
Speaking of which: We did a fun lesson this week with the Morrison family.
Their little boy has a hard time sitting through lessons so I decided we'd talk
about how important it is to read the Book of Mormon and we did it by talking
about Samuel the Lamanite and we had him get up on a chair and we threw balls
at him, but didn't hit him, and pretended he was Samuel the Lamanite and he was
like "that was so fun! Let's do that again!" and inwardly I was like
"Woot!!!! Success!!". Needless to say, I was very proud of myself. :)
But other than that there isn’t much new to report this
week. We had zone conference and we learned all about the importance of the
Book of Mormon. As a zone we divided into groups and read about 40 pages each
and finished the whole Book of Mormon in that meeting! It was way cool. And
another cool quote that I liked was “Be every day what you wish to become.”
Sadly, that’s the only quote I can remember since I didn’t bring my notes with
me.
Well, I’ve got to go because we have a tight schedule
today. One of our investigators is taking us for a drive up to Bridger Peak
Love you lots!
Sister Draney
Monday, March 17, 2014
Hello Everyone,
My birthday was really good. I
opened all my presents that morning, which I really enjoyed. I have a lot of letters
and cards which was awesome! I ended up getting a whole cake and most of
a lasagna and some breadsticks from the Warrens who fed us dinner. Then we went
to our next appointment and they gave me a birthday gift too! Then we went to
visit the Searles and they gave me another cake! It was so great but now I have
been working my way through tons of cake! But it was a really good birthday.
It’s nice to celebrate it in an area where I’ve been here for a while, so the members
really care about you. In fact, one young woman who is absolutely stellar, came
up to me and told me she had a birthday gift for me, but had forgot it at home.
I was so excited! :D
The Searles didn’t set a temple
date, but Sis Searle did come to church this Sunday. But her daughter, Melissa,
says she’s only going for me, because she loves me so much. So I have to figure
out how to get her to start coming for the right reasons so that after I leave
she’ll stay active. However, for the time being, I’m just glad she’s coming at
all. I love her so much and I just want her to be happy!! And the best way to
do that is through the gospel. Helping other people come to the gospel is the
greatest act of love any one person could do for another because it is a gift
of eternal significance that will never fade with time or be dimmed by years.
Why would we not then give the gift that is greatest, if we truly care about
those around us?
As for this week, I got to hold a
little chick last night at dinner. His other cage-mates died and so he needed
some love and interaction which I was happy to supply. I also met the hugest,
fluffiest dog ever. I think Sis Governale is a little concerned by dogs. She gets
really jumpy and I feel bad because she gets nervous when we walk up to houses
with huge dogs who aren’t contained. I have to leave the truck unlocked as we
walk up so she can escape. Most dogs out here really are nice though and they
know when you’re afraid. So if you’re calm and confident, normally they won’t
bother you.
We had an amazing lesson this week.
We met the most wonderful couple who were a
referral from a member in the ward. They are so great! The fed us dinner and we
had an awesome chat. They share a lot of the same interests as us and they had
a lot of interesting life experiences to share. They’ve also had lots of sets
of missionaries, but have never read the Book of Mormon before for the intent
of learning if it was true. The Spirit was there very strong and she started
crying (it probably didn’t help that I’m a bit of a spiritual boob and was
already crying myself) (I blame you, mom!) Anyways, it turned out really well
and they’re both going to read the Book of Mormon prayerfully. I’m really
excited to help them on their journey. She also loves family history, so we’re
going to set her up with the family history center. Hopefully things will turn
out well for them. Prayers are appreciated! Also, they made us cookies, which
makes them doubly awesome.
We also had another good lesson
with Mark. He’s very open to what we teach, but isn’t sure what he thinks of
all of it. He’s supposed to start reading the Book of Mormon and hopefully
he’ll read with a real desire and intent so that he can learn that it’s true
for himself. I think he has amazing potential and he’s invited us back. I hope
we can continue to help him progress and that his heart is continually open and
softened.
We also had a lesson with Margaret
again. She’s doing so well at her new job and is really enjoying life. However
it’s keeping her busy and she hasn’t taken the time to read, which is
frustrating. She also says she intends to move to Belgrade in two months to get out of the
trailer parks. I am happy for her because it would improve her quality of life,
but I would be sad because then we could no longer see her and the elders will
have to start stopping by. So we have two months to really help her and then to
transition her over. I hope she can get her answer and have the desire to be
baptized and strong in the church by the time she moves. That would make me so
happy. She’s an awesome woman.
But that’s pretty much it.
Someone’s pet rabbit might be having baby bunnies soon! I really hope that that
is the case. I’d like to play with baby bunnies!
I hope all is going for everyone and that you’re all staying
safe and enjoying life. J
Love,
Sister Draney
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This is Sister Governale and me in front of my cake
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Tuesday, March 11, 2014
My new companion
My
new companion is Sis Governale. She is from Chicago , IL
I’m
exhausted all of the time and sometimes it’s all I can do to drag myself out of
bed. I fall asleep as soon as I fall into bed. But I do enjoy training. I’m the
only person in the mission field training a new sister missionary, which is
pretty cool. It certainly keeps me very busy and stressed all of the time.
Margaret
cancelled our last appointment because she was going out to dinner. But she did
read the assignment we gave her which makes me really happy! We’re going to
drop by and see her today and see what she thought of the reading and hopefully
read some more with her. I have high hopes for her!! She’s a really amazing
lady and I want her to have the blessing of the gospel. Thank you for praying
for her! We really need it!
This
week has been crazy with transfers and trying to train again. I’ve been loving the
good weather and I’ve really been
loving being able to drive!! I’m so happy it’s raining today and I hope it
melts all of the snow :D
Hopefully
I’ll have more to report next week, but that’s all for this week. I’m going to
challenge the Searles to set a temple date. How could they refuse on my
birthday?! :D
Love,
Sister
Draney
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Hello Everyone,
Well, I’m sure the first thing you’ll want to know about is
transfers. Ha, ha actually, I think that’s only exciting to me; but here it is
anyways! I get to stay in Bozeman
1st ward and Big Sky which I am very happy about. I am losing Sis
McCain though and I will be training a new sister. She will be my 7th
companion. I think I’m working on a record for the most number of companions in
the shortest amount of time. Some people never have more than 3-4 companions in
their whole mission! I guess no one can take my awesomeness for too long ha, ha
We had a really good dinner on Saturday night. It was crepes
with fresh strawberries and whipped cream and all sorts of other delicious
things! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I ate a lot. A LOT. But it was totally worth it because Sunday was fast
Sunday; I had to make up for meals lost, right?
How have I been managing the cold? Terribly. That day that
it was -9? Well, it was actually -33 with windchill. It was terrible. Your nose
hairs freeze and your lungs hurt. You can get frostbite in less than 10 minutes
and it’s a pain to back the truck. You slip around everywhere because
everything is frozen and the truck has a tough time. There are accidents
everywhere because of the ice and terrible conditions. The good thing is that
people don’t leave homes on days like that so we can see anyone we want! It’s
great!! We were actually able to visit someone because of it and later that
night she called us in tears because her daughter was in trouble and needed
help. But anyways, she called us and asked for a blessing from the bishop (this
was her first reach out to the church in years!) and we were able to help her
out, all because we had been there earlier. Hopefully she will begin to see the need for
the gospel in her life again soon. It was quite the time.
We played dodgeball this week and I was so happy because it
seemed like the balls couldn’t hit me for the longest time! It was great! My
favorite moment was when I was the last one standing and Elder Holland was
chasing me around with the balls and trying to hit me, getting all worn out,
and finally he goes “what the heck Sister Draney?!” it made me laugh.
Apparently I made it look easy to dodge his throws which is tough because he
throws so hard! I must admit, he’s a bit too much of a gentleman to play
dodgeball (even though he wins almost every game) because if he corners a
sister, he can’t throw it at her. He’s always like “at least run, or
something!” and if you don’t move he feels bad and won’t hit you. It’s the
greatest. Sis McCain managed to win a game! It was great! We were the last two
standing and she caught my throw. Ah, oh well. Maybe it isn’t my destiny to
win, just to be evasive.
I learned to bind books this week which was so cool! I got a
copy of the instructions to put in my journal so I can do it again some day.
Our investigator, Margaret, finally agreed to a baptism
date! We’re super excited! Now we just have to work with her to help her gain a
testimony. Prayers would be appreciated; she’s such an awesome woman!
We went to dinner at a member’s house this week and we
played with the kids for a couple minutes while we were getting bundled up. One
of their boys got angry and started trying to hit me. Well, since I have
younger brothers and sisters that didn’t’ work too well. I caught his hands
when he tried to hit me and just kept holding on. His parents teased that we
were going to take him home with us because he had been so mean, so I started
walking towards the door and boy did that kid scream and cry! It was kind of
funny and his parents were laughing, but I did not expect him to panic like
that! I guess now he’ll never hit another sister missionary ;) But he kept
making funny faces to me at church, so I think he’s forgotten already.
We were also out in a really sketchy place and I told sis
McCain that I refused to get out and back her because it didn’t feel like a
really safe place and she agreed; so we turned around and suddenly she does
this half gasp, half scream and I panic, thinking someone’s coming to kill us.
Turns out it was just someone looking out their window. She still scared me
though!!
Well, that’s about
it! Keep the letters coming, you are all the best!!!!
Love,
Sister Draney
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