Hello Everyone!

This week was beyond crazy.

I’ll start with the best thing first. R--- got baptized!! Our first baptism! Not to mention, he’s the first person to be baptized in Big Sky that anyone can remember, which is super cool! Everything went perfectly. He requested fruity pebble rice krispie treats, so we made one box of those and a box of regular rice krispie treats and then brought some of our leftover cupcakes. It was so great. Sister Governale taught me how to make them in the microwave which is SO much easier! But it’s hard to clean up well without a dishwasher. The marshmallow and butter stick to everything.

I got to fill a font for the first time which was so fun! But I couldn’t figure out when to stop the water. So I was super nervous because I didn’t want it to get too high, but I didn’t want to stop the water because of how long it took to fill. I wasn’t really paying attention to water levels when he was actually baptized. It was kind of funny because I forgot to tell him to plug his nose, so he looked like he was drowning! Then Brother Richards forgot the words and had to baptize him twice. But he’s all good now! He even managed to walk to the front of the chapel to be confirmed, despite his fears of large groups of people.

Last night he came to a big barbeque at Bishop Barton’s house and he had a great time. We had dinner as well and played some of the games with them and threw the football around (everyone was really impressed with my spiral and how far I can throw. I must admit, I was pretty pleased with myself!). Sister Kroff gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon on CD so he can listen to it on his long commute from Big Sky to Bozeman for work each day.

Well, in less exciting things. Brother C---- had his 90^th birthday this week, so we took some of our sugar pile-up and gave them cookies. They were so happy to see us and we absolutely love them.

K--- is progressing wonderfully which makes us so happy!

Sister S--- didn’t come to church this week and we don’t know why, so we’re going to go confront her about it later today. *sigh* I don’t know what to do about her!!

So, you may have noticed the picture of me holding an alligator. Yep. Well, mom asked me if I had held it and I had to say no, and then the item appeared on my imaginary, non-existent bucket list; so then I had to go do it. Alligators are slippery!! The lady asked me if I wanted a glove, but I was like, “heck no!” and I fished it out of its enclosure with my bear hands. Woo! What a woman ;P haha

Tons of people cancelled on us for dinner this week, but they all brought us food, so we were all set. I’m not a big fan of people cancelling on us, even if we have enough food in our apartment. I at least want to share a message! But eh, what can I do?

So, I forgot a funny story from a couple weeks ago that Sister Governale reminded me about, so I had to share! I was saying the prayer right before we went into R---- lesson. We were planning to teach the Word of Wisdom and for whatever reason I must have been kind of distracted because when we opened our eyes Sister Governale was looking at me funny. She said, “Sister Draney, do you know what you just prayed for?” and I was like, “Yeah, that our lesson will go well and R---- will have a desire to keep the Word of Wisdom.” And she’s like, “No, you prayed that we would have a desire to keep the Word of Wisdom!” We had a pretty good laugh over that. Obviously it still went well, since he just got baptized. J

We had the great cupcake fiasco this week! We made 112 cupcakes in Darcy Francis’ kitchen. We planned to give out free cupcakes and lemonade on downtown Main Street and hopefully find some new investigators. We didn’t realize how much of everything we bought and we ended up with 8 gallons of lemonade. Then it rained and almost no one was out! So now we have 70+ cupcakes and 6+ gallons of lemonade in our apartment. We meant to go do it again, but then transfers have been happening so life has been way crazy!! As we were packing up the stand though someone came up to us and she was wearing big glasses. She was so excited to see us and told us she was from Alkali Creek ward in Billings and we talked a little bit about Sister Asay who is there who came out with me from the MTC. It turns out, once she took off the glasses, that it was Sister Lion! (Someone I knew pretty well) It was so cool.

We gave talks this Sunday in Big Sky. It was really interesting because by the time we arrived, 20 minutes early, I was quite car sick and ended up having to lay down on the chairs in the building until I felt better.  It was quite the record. Only 2 members of the branch were there when we arrived and one more showed up halfway through. There were 9 of us total: Bro. Francis and his two daughters, the Gilpen’s girl who had to come because we couldn’t be alone with Bro Francis and his daughters because they’re both under 10. We gave talks on the temple and his little girl (10 years old) gave her first Sacrament meeting talk. It was so fun and not too stressful because there were so few people. As always, I got to play the piano which they enjoy because the piano only has a few pre-recorded songs on it. We got to go to Sacrament meeting in Bozeman afterwards to see

 R--- confirmed.

We got transfer news this week. I’ll be staying in Bozeman AGAIN! :D And Sister Governale will be going to St. Ignatius/ Ronan (I don’t know how to spell that… ). I’ll be getting my 8^th companion, sister Session. I hope she’s cool! She used to be a Sister Training Leader, so I’m hoping she won’t be a rigid-rule robot. I’m hoping she’ll be flexible and fun. I guess we’ll see tomorrow!

I love you all and hope you’re having a great week!

Lots of love,

Sister Draney

Happy Monday!

It’s almost June! Sort of.. I’m just really excited for it to be summer. Before I know it summer will be over though and I’ll have to dig out my big jacket again.

So, the most exciting thing that happened this week is that R--- passed his baptism interview!!! We’re SO excited for him!! He will be my first baptism and it’s scheduled for next Saturday, so I hope everything goes okay and that he doesn’t get cold feet. J

On to less-interesting stuff: We visited D---- this week and he was surprisingly excited to see us. We talked for a bit and then he looked at us very seriously and said, “It’s been a long time since you’ve been to see me.” And I was thinking, “well, yeah, you don’t take any commitments or read from the Book of Mormon, so we don’t have much reason to come over regularly…” but instead I said, “How do you know that?” and he pulls out his calendar and says, “Well, the last time you visited me was on (insert date here…I can’t remember what day that was…).” So it turns out he’s been keeping track of when we come and has been missing us! I was pretty touched. He’s such a sweet old man. He even accepted our small commitment to do something nice for someone that week. (We’re trying to work up to bigger commitments because he won’t take any of the bigger commitments yet).

 We stopped by and had a lesson with M---- about the Plan of Salvation. She really liked the lesson and had a lot of questions about what God thinks of people with handicaps and what happens to children that die without being baptized and what happens to the people that don’t get the chance to hear about the gospel.  So we recapped a few points of the lesson and bore our testimonies. It was really great. She still won’t do anything about it though! She told us that she believes everything we have said is true and that she’s worried she won’t have time to repent, but then she won’t do anything about it! It’s maddening.

K---- and her two friends G--- and A--- have continued to come to mutual and we’re working on Personal Progress with them. I got my third sunburn of the summer while working on Personal Progress outside on their trampoline. We couldn’t have the lesson inside because the TV is never off and it’s really hard to concentrate and learn anything from the Spirit. So now I have a ridiculous-looking farmers tan that really needs to even itself out. Anyway, our discussions are going great and K--- keeps asking us if we can come back the next day. We always have her ask her parents, but as of right now we go over to help them about 3 times a week and we spend about an hour in the scriptures and talking about who Jesus is and all about the Gospel. It’s so great!!!

This week we’ve been given the assignment by our bishopric to chase down all of the less active families that have kids of seminary age and try to get them to sign up for seminary. It has been largely unsuccessful, but the coolest thing happened because of it!

One of the people on the list was the D--- family. We had tried to find them the other night without success. So we borrowed Brother Francis’ GPS and set out to find them again. It turned out to be a blessing that we couldn’t find them when we had last tried because the whole family was deaf!! They never would have heard us knock when we first came, but when we came back again they were outside working on something. It was the coolest thing because I could use my somewhat rusty sign language skills to talk to them about why they haven’t been to church and to ask them if their daughter wanted to go to seminary! Even though they had no interest in returning, it was so awesome! It was hard because I didn’t know enough sign to communicate to them why it was important that they come back to church and I couldn’t adequately convey how important the gospel is to me. I did, however, understand most of what they said to me. They were so kind and patient. They seemed so excited that I knew how to sign. I left feeling really giddy and happy that I had been able to use sign language because at our lunch appointment I had just been talking to the guy that was feeding us about how cool it would be to teach a deaf family! Sister Governale turned to me as we were walking down the driveway back to our truck and said, “How is it that things that you talk about wanting to happen always just seem to fall out of the sky?!” Yeah, it happens to us a lot.

This week at the food bank a huge truckload of flowers that the store couldn’t sell came in and the people told us we should take some to brighten up our houses/apartments that we live in. So Sister Governale and I took one and decided to take it to V---, our little almost 91 year old grandma. She was so excited to get them! She kept kissing them and looking so excited. We love to do nice things for her because no one ever pays attention to her. We were happy we were able to brighten her day. I hope all the missionaries after us take good care of her so that she always feels loved and respected. No person ever deserves to be forgotten.

On Wednesday all of our appointments cancelled on us. All of them. Our dinner appointment cancelled on us too. So we were left with a terribly empty day and I was feeling frustrated when one of our investigators, D----, calls us up and asks if we want to go on a little hike with her. Boy did I ever! So we changed really quick and went on a hike with her. I had such a great time and we had a great talk. Well, I had a good talk with her. Sister Governale was having a hard time simply breathing. (Hiking is hard for her). Then she invited us over for dinner and I got to cook the wonderfully yummy birthday curry!! It was so great. So the day didn’t turn out that bad at all.

That night we went to mutual with K--- and her two friends. They were all going on a huge bike ride for mutual so Sister Governale and I had to borrow some bikes. It was the first time sister Governale had been on a bike in 6 years and she did remarkably well with the dirt trails. She only fell off once and that was because she tried to stop and her foot didn’t reach the ground, so she fell over. She didn’t even scrape anything up. It was a great time and K-- and her friends really love mutual. The girls even invited them to church this Sunday! They really wanted to go but had other plans this week. We’re hopeful for the future!

The cutest thing happened on Saturday. We went to a lesson and showed a video that President Uchdorf was narrating. Part way through the little girl turns to me and whispers “Is that God talking?”. I thought it was so cute! We explained to her who President Uchdorf was, though I was slightly tempted to tell her yes, it was God. But I never would have. ;)

We helped someone clean and oil all of their kitchen cupboard this week. She simply couldn’t believe that missionaries actually enjoyed doing things like that. We tried to assure her that we really did. We had a great lesson about how there is only one true church while we worked. She didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as we hoped, but I take comfort in the fact that people know why we’re there. I mean, we have a nametag, it’s not hard to figure out. So it’s not like she wasn’t expecting some sort of gospel conversation while we worked. She was happy that the task that would have taken her all morning only ended up taking us an hour and 45 minutes. So that was a bonus.

Well, that’s about it for this week! Thank you to everyone who sent me letters! I’m working on replies! Please keep them coming, nothing brightens my morning more than seeing a letter for me in the mail. It’s the most amazing way to start out a day. You who have been on missions know exactly what I’m talking about.

I love you all!!

Xoxoxo

Sister Draney

Hello Everyone!

When will Montana realize it’s May? It snowed again last night and this morning and I can’t figure out how it’s not getting warmer! I’m so ready to ditch my jacket and enjoy the sunshine.

The work has slowed down again here. It’s frustrating to have to really start searching again rather than having a bunch of people we’re working with. The thing is, we haven’t stopped working with anyone. Maybe we’re just getting better at managing our time? It’s weird. But we’ve both agreed that we feel like there’s something specific the Lord wants us to be doing with that extra time. The only problem is, neither of us can figure out what that is! So we’re doing our best to stay busy and figure it out.

This week some of the buttons on my coat were working themselves loose, so I re-sewed a bunch of the buttons back on. Now the only problem is that they’re on too tight! I’ll have to wait for them to loosen a bit again.

K------- went to mutual without us this week and loved it! We were so pleased. She also brought two friends! She’s better at missionary work than most member young women! They all want to start working on Personal Progress. We started working with Karla on a few of the faith value experiences and she’s so excited! She committed us to reading Hebrews 11 with her and praying morning and night like she has to. We didn’t bother to tell her that we do that already ha, ha.

The S-------- came to church yesterday! We were so happy for them. Mother’s Day is a tough one for quite a few people. I was never really aware of how hard Mother’s Day can be for some women until I came out on a mission. It’s so sad, but it’s good to know so I can be more sympathetic. They also got a new kitten this week! I’m so thrilled! It completely shredded my hands but it’s so adorable that I totally don’t mind.

This week we volunteered at the Community Café which is a place that takes the miscellaneous food from the food bank and turns it into wonderful meals that serve over 100 people on a frequent basis. So we got to go serve tables and take care of the people. It was so fun! The guests called us “the sisters” which was awesome exposure for us. The people there were really great and the food was quite good. I was really impressed. They have it in an old restaurant that was vacant for years and they turned it into a really fancy soup kitchen of sorts (only they serve a lot more than just soup!). We really enjoyed the experience.

Sister T---------- is giving herself a guilt trip for not coming to church and blaming it on us. We mentioned that we were sad not to see her at church on Sunday and she got upset and said we needed to stop guilt tripping her. After we left I wish we had said “well, no one can make you feel guilty, so if you feel guilty that could be the Spirit telling you where you need to be”.

We taught R------ the Word of Wisdom this week and it turns out he was already quitting everything on his own! He was like “yeah, after the first lesson I quit smoking and stopped drinking coffee. That’s why I was so sick that one week.” So he had started keeping the Word of Wisdom before we even taught it! And now he’s living it perfectly. Not to mention he called us last night and started telling us that he had been studying chastity (which is what we had planned to teach him this week) and he told us that he’s getting rid of his female roommate and looking for a place in Bozeman to be closer to the church! We are simply beside ourselves with joy. He is so awesome!!!

I learned about SMART goals this week. Smart goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time based (s-m-a-r-t). I thought that was pretty clever.

A family in the ward invited us over for dinner and they also invited their non-member friends and we got to teach them the first lesson! Nothing drastic came from it but the members were really pleased and we were so glad that they trusted us with their friends. It’s great to have the trust of the ward.

I haven’t written about M------- for a while because we haven’t seen her in almost 2 weeks! She hasn’t been home every time we have gone over. It’s like she just fell off the face of the earth! So updates will come when we are finally able to see her again.

But that’s about it for exciting stuff this week! I rescued some worms from drowning on the sidewalk and I felt pretty accomplished. I also got to hold these tiny newborn puppies! They’re going to sell for about $600 per puppy. The family uses it to pay for missions and college. It’s really smart and a lot of the kids do it here to make money.

I hope you all had a wonderful week! And if you didn’t get the chance you should see the new Mormon message “It was Mom”, it’s so cute!

Lots of love,

Sister Draney

holding a snake

Happy May Mi Familia! (that’s my best attempt at Spanish ha, ha)

A family from my ward here flew down to AZ and took some pictures of the Gilbert temple for me. It’s SO beautiful!!!! I can’t wait to see it myself!! Speaking of seeing things, I keep having dreams that I’m going home early and I’m always really confused when I wake up to discover that I’m still on my mission ha, ha! I also had the weirdest dream that they made an MTC for re-entering the real world and that Michigan (or one of the “m” states) got hit by some sort of natural disaster and I was being sent to help clean it up. Crazy dreams.

The chiropractor visits are going great! I feel so, so good! By back still hurts if I stand for long periods of time or do a lot of heavy lifting, but my neck and shoulders don’t hurt so much. So nothing is worse, only better!

M-------- has been gone every time we visited. We set an appointment but as we pulled up with our member in tow she was pulling away from her house! So we chased her down in our truck and pulled her over and turns out she had forgotten and made other plans! I was so, so, so frustrated!!

The S------ haven’t come to church for 2 weeks. Again, so frustrated!!!!

K----- isn’t coming to church, but hopefully she and her sister will come to mutual this week. They’re filling nylons with flour and throwing them at each other. Should be fun! Too bad we already have another appointment!

Sister T------- hasn’t come to church either. My life has turned into a frustrating sinkhole of hopes and dreams for people who don’t follow through!

I’m doing the best I can out here, but it’s hard to show all the work in just one letter home since we only share the interesting and successful stuff.

Things are going great here. It’s warm off and on, kind of in spurts. You never know what the weather will be like so we always have a jacket, just in case. For example, one day it was supposed to be 72 degrees so we decided to walk to our appointments instead of driving. It was really great, we walked 5 miles before someone picked us up about ¼ of a mile away from our destination. I ended up getting a horrendous sunburn but I’m hoping that maybe something good will come of it, like a tan. But I need to be better about the sunscreen, it’s just not as hot as Arizona and I forget that I can still burn even if it’s not hot.

We had a great lesson with the S----- this week and they asked a lot of good questions and we were able to resolve some concerns. She also came to the family history center and was able to trace her family history all the way back to 604 A.D so she was really excited about that. Success!! :D

I also got to visit the Museum of the Rockies for the first time last Monday. It wasn’t as cool as the Anchorage, Alaska museum, but it was still pretty cool. I think I enjoyed the exhibit of old kitchen appliances best, strangely enough. But it was pretty small and there were only a few big exhibits. It was still a good experience though and they let us in for free, so I was really glad I didn’t have to pay the $14 entrance fee. What they did have was super cool though. I really enjoyed all of the huge dinosaur bones and the gecko exhibit and the Native American way of life exhibit.

We got our free strawberry plant this last Monday, which means that we now have potatoes, strawberries, mint and yellow, white and red onions growing in our apartment. All of the plants are pretty happy except for the strawberry plant. Our studio apartment looks like a little jungle. J

We did service for the H------- this week and helped them decorate over 100 cupcakes. We had a good talk about why they need to come to church and gave an excellent lesson on baptism for their daughter who is almost baptism age. They are active in wards in Idaho, just not here! It’s frustrating!  

R------, on the other hand, is doing great! He went to church again last Sunday in Big Sky without us and we were so proud of him! He’s had 3 of the lessons and reads all the material we give him, not to mention a lot that we don’t. He has read over 7 chapters of the Gospel Principles book without our asking him and whenever he finishes the assignments we do give him, he calls us up to ask for more! He’s set a baptism date for May 24, so he needs lots of prayers that he will understand the things we’re teaching him and that his family will know when he’s ready.  He has a wonderfully blossoming testimony, it’s so exciting!

I got to go to a Vocal Point fireside on Saturday and it was really beautiful. I thought I recognized one of the singers and it turns out he’s from Arizona! But he’s from Snowflake so I have no idea why he looks so familiar. His last name is actually Flake; ha, ha go figure.

But that’s about it for this week. It hasn’t been a terribly exciting week to write about. It was pretty slow work-wise and we’re looking for more people to teach, especially during the day. So prayers are appreciated!

Love you lots!!

Sister Draney