Hello Everyone!

It’s crazy that it’s almost July! Boy how time flies!

IMPORTANT: We are moving to a new apartment. It’s the same address in Bozeman, but send it to #201 instead of #120. Thanks!

It finally stopped raining today so Sister Session and I hiked up to a waterfall at 7am this morning . It’s called Palasade Falls and it only took us 30 minutes to hike up and 6 minutes to go down (taking the shortcuts; we’re so naughty!) We had a really good time but it was freezing cold outside because the sun wasn’t up yet. The falls were beautiful and it was a great way to start the morning today!

Well, just as I was typing this a guy walks up and goes, “oh! You’re Mormon.” And I said, “Yeah, we are.” And he talked to us for a minute and it was so nice! He believes some of what we do, but booked it out of the library before I could talk to him more. It was much more refreshing than what happened the other day.

Sister Session and I stopped by Walmart to grab some milk because we were all out and as we walked in this guy took one look at us and started swearing . I was like, “Well, for rude!” But it really didn’t bother me too much. It’s just funny how people react to you when they find out you’re LDS but they really know nothing about you or our beliefs.

Last Monday at dinner I got bit by a bird! We went to go visit the Poulsens and their bird bit me on the ear because he was trying to get at my eye. Then he tried to bite me as I tried to get him off of my shoulder. Finally Sister Poulsen had to take him down because I couldn’t get the bird off of me!

K---- is doing wonderful, she won’t make her set baptism date because her parents keep taking her out of town. Ahh! So frustrating! But other than her church attendance she’s all ready! It’s so great to get to see the changes she is making in her life. We’re working with her on making sure she understands the Plan of Salvation. That girl has a scary-good grasp on everything we teach her. It’s awesome!

On Sunday we had a rough day. We had 8 lessons planned (11 if you count our back-ups) and only 3 went through! It was exhausting and frustrating. Even the back-ups of our back-ups didn’t answer the door! Luckily, we still had a lot of lessons this week and we did just fine.

I don’t know what the deal is, but everyone has suddenly started conspiring to feed us jalapeños! They’re so good, but oh it can be miserable later!

Also, I have seen the strangest bird flying around Bozeman this last week; a PELICAN. I think it’s lost. There are no oceans here and I have no idea how it came to be here, or what it’s eating to stay alive. The first time I saw it I was practically in the front windshield trying to see if it really was a pelican. Sure enough, it was. And we saw him again a few days later. It’s so strange…

We had mutual on Wednesday night to help K--- get ready for Girl’s Camp. She is so excited!! We are thrilled she is going. Her mom is even getting involved. She is making purple capes for all of the girls and embroidering their girl’s camp flag, which is quite industrious of her! She even participated in our lesson this week, which was a huge step forward! I love their family so much and I just want them all to have the most happiness possible (which comes from the gospel!).

We had lunch at this place called FhoReal. It was delicious and they gave us so much food!! I couldn’t finish it all, but I would definitely like to go back. The reason we went there is because our dinner appointment cancelled on us and we had to go out to lunch instead. I didn’t mind at all.

Lately I have really been craving movie popcorn. You know, the buttery, salty stuff. The only downside is, I’m a missionary! So I can’t go get any in a movie theatre lest people get the wrong idea about us. *sigh* it’s so sad…

One of the elderly ladies in our ward invited her non-member neighbor over for dinner. I had so much fun talking to him about his career. He used to trade futures in Chicago and he told me all about how it works. It was so interesting! Sadly, he escaped before the lesson and we were so bummed! But sister Schwab was thrilled because he seemed to like us, which apparently is big for him. So maybe we’re planting future seeds.

Well, that’s about it for this week! I hope you are all doing well! Write me please!!

Tons of love,

Sister Draney

 Me and Sis. Session

 our zone in Bozeman

When will it stop raining? No one knows. It’s been raining all week, but since we don’t have to bike, I don’t really mind. Though I wish we could bike because I really need the exercise. I mostly just wish it could be warm rain, rather than cold rain. I’m so tired of the cold. I’m ready for the summer!

We taught a lot of lessons this week, most of them were to members (we taught 11 member lessons) and it was so fun! I love lessons with the members because you don’t have to work as hard to have the Spirit there and more learning can take place. Also, it’s great because the members in our ward are just so awesome! They don’t mind when we stop by to give a quick message and I love going to their homes for dinner. I always feel at home here in the ward; they’re like my second family. I’ll definitely have to come back to visit once the mission is over.

I was very sad this week because one of my very favorite people in the whole mission moved away. Sister S--- left for Soda Springs and I will admit that I cried all the way home from her house and through most of my shower and I went to bed with a terrible headache. I will miss her so much! I’ll miss being able to go see her in the mornings and I’ll miss always knowing that at least one person during the day will be happy to see us. She is such a wonderful lady and I hope to continue to be friends long after the mission.

K---- and her sister, father, neighbor, friend, and a few others all went away to war this weekend. Apparently it was a good time and the SCA did a good job of putting it together. Since I have no reference point for medieval reenactments I couldn’t tell you if it was good or not. They seemed pretty happily bruised though and plenty tired out.

One of the girls in our ward, B---, had a birthday this week, so Sister Session and I went to go sing to her. It was pretty fun and I can’t help singing as ridiculously as possible when singing any sort of birthday song!

We gave service at the cemetery with the ward this week. We got to help them rake and cart dead leaves and pine needles. It was a good time and a lot of the ward showed up to help. Many hands make light work and it makes me happy to see others volunteering their time and efforts in their busy schedule.

I learned how fondant is made this week. It’s pretty cool, delicious, and messy. Apparently it’s much better than store-bought fondant. I wouldn’t know because I haven’t had either. One thing I do know is that if it is at all possible, I wish Darcy would make my wedding cake. But that’s a long ways away, so we’ll see!

I got to hold wild baby rabbit this week. They had already been touched because the family had to move them away from their farm equipment, so we weren’t making it worse. Not to mention after we left the dogs ate them. So sad! But they were the cutest little things ever! Baby bunnies are adorable!

So, funny story for you. We had just arrived home for the night and were headed to the mailbox to get our mail and we’re walking down the little corridor that our apartment is in when all of the sudden Sister Session screams and comes running into me and wraps her arms around me and goes “Sister Draney! There’s a HUGE moth!!” I just kind of laughed because I figured she was overreacting and we went to the mailbox. As we were walking back I saw the moth. It was the biggest moth I’ve ever seen in my life. Then we both freaked out because there were two of them! So we ran past them as fast as we could and hid in our apartment.

 So, the next morning we had completely forgotten about the moths and we were leaving our apartment and I’m locking the door and I look down and see the moth, less than an inch from my hand. I screamed and moved away really fast, but then the keys were stuck in the door and I had to lock it because we couldn’t just leave our keys there, so I inched closer and I tried to talk to it soothingly. I was like, “shh, it’s okay, I’m just going to lock the door, real slowly like this, thaaaat’s right, don’t move….” And we got away with our lives. It didn’t move a bit.

Then, we got home and it was still there!!! So I had to once again unlock the door without startling it and we got in. Then Sister Session became very tired of the moth, so she took our mop and knocked it down, but didn’t kill it. (Something that big would have made a large splattering mess). So I got to herd it out of our hallway with the mop. It was a bit like walking a dog. It never flew and it’s huge, hairy body never left the ground. It was super creepy and so gross. We’re very glad they’re gone now.

Oh, and for the past few days we’ve seen these two people in star war’s costumes wandering around the city like they’re looking for something. It’s very puzzling and kind of funny. They look a little bit like Star Wars mixed with little blue martians. I’m not really sure what they’re doing. Maybe they’re looking for the Gospel! Ha, ha

Well, that’s about it for this week. I hope you’re all enjoying your summer and staying safe!

Lots o’ love,

Sister Draney 

And the pictures are of my dear deer friend Elliot. He finally acknowledged his affection and gave me a kiss. ;) He's growing little antlers! ^_^ So cute

Happy June!

I already feel like it’s been June forever, even though we’re only a couple of days in. In a few days I hit my 8 month mark; crazy, right? I only have less than a year! Ahh! Where does the time go?!

This week has been absolutely one of the longest, busiest weeks ever. We drove down to Billings twice this week (for reason’s I will disclose later) and tried our best to have as many lessons as we could. So we were jam-packed all week!

On Monday I got to introduce Sister Session to the Sullivan’s deer. She thought that was really cool. We also got to see a little bit of the house of her employer. Apparently I was wrong, he’s the 11^th richest man in England.

On Tuesday we got to wake up at 4:30am to drive down to Billings because Elder Carlos Godoy was doing a mission tour. It was really great to get to meet him and listen to him. All of the missionaries in the mission learned “Called to Serve” in Portuguese and sang it to him. He joked that for a minute he thought he had the gift of tounges because he could actually understand what we were singing! It was really great. He gave us a lot of good advice about how to find people, how to be a  better Preach My Gospel missionary, and (surprisingly) about marriage. It was extra-funny because right before he came in we had just had a discussion about elder-sister relationships and “locking your heart”. We all thought it was pretty great because he had no idea that that was what we had just discussed.

They provided us with a lovely Café Rio dinner (the staple of all LDS functions here) and icecream sundaes. You know, sometimes I think they’re trying to make us all gain weight. Sadly, I think it’s working. Sister Session has gained 25 lbs since she came out. However, she’s still super skinny, so I’m way jealous.

After we got home from the mission tour we were completely and totally exhausted but we still had 2 ½ hours of proselyting time left, so we pushed through and went to our dinner appointment. They had some really interesting blueberry muffins cooked with coconut oil, it was really good. Then we went over to K--- to work on Personal Progress and make sure she was going to go to mutual the next day.

On Wednesday we volunteered at the library and I got to show Sister Session around which was pretty fun. I enjoy knowing what is going on in different places. I also enjoy it when people come to me at the food bank to ask what they should do with certain items or jobs they’ve been assigned.

We had dinner in town the Mortensons who took us to Qdoba, a restaurant in town that is kind of like Chipolte. It was really good. Sister Session and I each got something different and then split it.

On Thursday after we did weekly planning and volunteered at the food bank our high priest group leader, Brother Evans, took us out to Ihop. (We’re really getting our fill of fast food this week!) But he’s a single man, so he can’t have us over to his house. I really enjoyed Ihop though. I’ve only ever been there a few times.

We visited K--- and her parents again. She was busy so we talked to her parents and her neighbor. They were building armor for their next SCA war. They let me try on their armor and it was so cool and heavy! I felt like I was ready to take on the world! I must admit it was really neat to watch them working on more armor. They were making some plastic pieces by putting them on the barbeque and heating them up. All of the metal pieces have to be welded. It looked really complex and we even ended up having a good talk with them, despite all of the fun we had.

I took Sister S---- the painting I finished for her. I’m so sad to see her go next week! Not to mention I have no idea  what I’ll do in the mornings now… She’s so awesome and is making such progress! I’m so proud of her for all of the work she’s put in to making this change in her life.

On Friday we helped a less active woman in our ward, K---, weed her yard. When she asked us to help her weed I thought it wouldn’t be too bad  and that we could finish it all in 2 hours or so. That was not the case. We barely got ¼ of the yard done! The weeds were huge and tough to get out. I will admit that I enjoyed it a lot because it was outside work and I love to be out in the sun. She fed us dinner and we had a good talk. If it wasn’t for her kids nap times we really wouldn’t have a problem!

The Kroffs let me borrow their keyboard this week because they asked me to accompany them in a musical number on Sunday and I had no time to practice! Luckily everything went well and the number sounded fine. I was so nervous though! I haven’t had that little preparation time for as far back as I can remember.

On Saturday we had another musical number practice because I’m in charge of the musical number for the zone training this next week. Once again, I didn’t have nearly enough time to prepare! I’m excited though. I love any excuse to play the piano.

Afterwards we had to go to Billing again because Sister Burton was doing a training meeting for all of the leadership in Montana. So we got to hitch a ride with a member from 3^rd ward and go to that. It was so informative and I learned a lot. I would share my notes, but I forgot them at home. It was really unique to get to meet her and get a picture with her. I was walking past her on my way to say hello to a Sister I knew from the Billing s Hilltop ward and she reached out and grabbed me and gave me a hug. I felt very special. J

The sister from 3^rd ward took us all out to Subway when we were done. We didn’t make it back to Bozeman until 11:15pm and we were all exhausted. It was all we could do to climb into our pajamas and fall into bed when we got home.

Sunday was pretty uneventful. We had some good lessons. I gave Melissa a good laugh when I tried to make her cello make vibrato noises. Apparently I was a terrible failure. She said (and I quote) “you look like you’re having hand-seizures!”. So apparently a cello career is out of the question for me unless I get some serious help.

I hope you all had a wonderful week. I hope you are all staying safe and having fun. I love you all a lot and I hope you know that!! J

Til next week,

Sister Draney

Happy June!

My how time flies! I can’t believe it’s already June. Weird!

This week has been absolutely crazy-busy with transfers. I got a new companion, Sister Session. Sister Sessions is awesome! She is not a morning person, just like me, so I don’t have to kill myself exercising because her exercise doesn’t depend on my ability to get up and get functioning. She had a morning this week when she was sick and I felt really bad for her, but at the same time I was really grateful because I really needed a nap and I was able to sleep while she slept and it did me a lot of good. She’s a really positive person which was just awesome. She likes to be clean which is a huge relief. She does let me drive, which makes me super happy! Overall she’s pretty cool. She definitely doesn’t appreciate all of our plants like I do ha, ha. She’s from New York, New York (Queens area) and her family recently moved to Salt Lake City. She’s studying nursing and is 22 years old, I think. She also loves ice cream and going out to eat. Woo!! :D She loves to blast all of our music, including Clair de Lune and the MoTab, so sometimes I discreetly turn it down when she’s not looking.

We had a fun RS activity this week. It was themed “This little piggy” after the nursery rhyme that I’m sure you know, (this little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy had roast beef, etc.) So it was “this little piggy went to the market…and used coupons!” and “this little piggy stayed home…to make smoothies!” and “this little piggy had roast beef…because she was prepared!”. It was pretty clever. We had French desserts at the end because the little piggy went “wee wee wee”, which sounds kind of French.

I tore apart this fan we had in our apartment because it was soooo gross!! I was very grateful to Dad for teaching me how to take things apart and think for myself! Boy did it come in handy! J

Oh goodness, I really don’t have anything to write about this week that is very interesting! We had a tons of lessons but no one is really progressing at the moment. It will change, but it’s been a slow week. The river is so high here from all of the snow melt off that it covers the road in a few places.

So, sadly, this is where I will end this week’s letter. Hopefully I’ll have more to write about next week!

I love you all! Thank you for the letters, they make me so happy! :D

Love,

Sister Draney

 Sister Sessions and 'the fan'

My favorite trees!