Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances, People I don’t know, and anyone else,

I seriously don’t know where the time goes. I can’t believe another transfer is almost over and I’m beginning to get nervous again that I will be transferred.  But, if that’s the case, I had a good, long run in Bozeman. Not many sisters get to stay in the same area from December until August! But, if it’s all the same to President Mecham, I would love to stay here with Sister Session for another transfer. I love the ward and Sister Session is awesome!

Anyway, on to my week. On Monday we decided to stop by the W--- house really quickly because they had made an appointment and then cancelled it. When we walked up brother W--- was sitting out front talking with some of his friends. We thought it was kind of awkward because clearly he wasn’t busy and now we were showing up and sort of catching him. Well he got up and came over and invited us in to his house and we ended up having a great discussion with him. There was only a brief moment of distraction when their cat attacked my face. I really didn’t mind but his wife went to get hydrogen peroxide to put on the cuts.

We didn’t get out of his house til past curfew when his wife was leaving for the stocking shift at Target. He told us that he was glad we hadn’t given up on him because whenever missionaries had come in the past and he told them that he wasn’t interested in coming back to church they left and he never saw them again. He said he really appreciated that we still came by and tried to work with him. He said we were “welcome to try to get him to come back”.  It was a really good night after all and we were pretty happy with the outcome of our visit.

Tuesday was our day of volunteering. We spent the morning in district meeting; I was assigned to give a role-play on the same topic I got two weeks before. It is hard to prepare two different role plays on the same subject, but my second role play of “Panned vs Unplanned Lessons” went a lot better than the first time around. Sister Session and I brainstormed together. It was arguably the longest role-play we’ve had in a long time.

After district meeting was over we took Sister Templin with us back to our apartment to eat lunch because her companion, Sister Lemmon, had to stay for a meeting and Sister Templin would have been bored sitting by herself while they talked. It ended up being good because we got to have a long talk together and talk about some of the things that were bothering her. She is a really great sister.

We dropped her off at the church after lunch and headed over to the library for our volunteering shift. We got a lot done and got to meet some people which is always fun. Volunteering at the library is something I look forward to every week.

We had to cancel our dinner appointment that night because one of the ward members had called us in a panic. Our ward was in charge of running the Community Café that night and they needed 8 volunteers but only two people had signed up. She was desperate for more people so we agreed to come help.

The Community Café is kind of like a soup kitchen, only better. They get all of their food from donations to the food bank and their chef whips up whatever he can using the ingredients he is given. The people that come in are waited on and served like they would be if thy had gone to a real restaurant. Most of them are homeless or going through a rough time in their lives.

We showed up at 4 and were able to help them get ready for the night. We were servers and we actually met 3 potential investigators from people we met there! It was very successful. We aren’t allowed to proselyte at community service events but they all approached us, which then gives us license to talk about anything religious. It was a great night!

After we finished volunteering we went out to see D--- and C---. We talked about the Book of Mormon and its relationship to the Bible and ho they support one another. We also discussed Mary, the mother of Jesus and what our church’s stance is on worshipping her. We also covered what we think about praying to saints. We asked C--- if he would be willing to put in the effort to know if the church is true again and he said that it would be worth any amount of work to find out if it really was true. So it was a great start for him!

They agreed to read the two introductions to the Book of Mormon before we see them next. I believe that they can both receive the witness that the church is true if they only will put in the effort! The real trick will be to see if C--- will do it, because they are determined to do everything together, so if he doesn’t put in the effort, she won’t. Ugh! Agency can be so aggravating sometimes!

We worked on cleaning D--- house again. I tackled the main living area and much to my surprise  Sister Session volunteered to tackle the bathroom! Remember the pictures? The horror-bathroom? Well, with gloves and a face mask she went in, ready to do battle and she had amazing success! However it was probably the grossest thing I’ve ever seen. I helped her finish the sink and we found a shelf that was glass that we didn’t even realize was see-through. It was so gross! But it’s a far cry better now!

I cleaned the kitchen which meant removing about an inch of matted dust and hair from the kitchen floor. It was quite the job but luckily our Lysol cut through it and it looked so much better! I had to scrub it with a bath scrubber to get it really clean. It was nice to see that the things we had originally cleaned had stayed clean for a whole week.

We did have a lesson with R---, we had to run out the door to make it on time. We had no makeup on and our hair was almost dry (we had to abandon the blow-dryers to get there on time). We had a really good lesson with him though. He is having his temple recommend interview this Sunday and we have been discussing the temple a lot: what goes on with baptisms for the dead, why we attend the temple, post-mortal life, the blessings of going to the temple, etc. And this Sunday he got his recommend! We are so excited for him and will continue to discuss the temple until we are sure he understands.

We ran home really quick to finish getting ready for the day and then we drove up to Big Sky to teach the A--- and a few other people. The A--- sewer system in their store had gone out though, so we weren’t able to have a lesson with them or anyone else we had planned on seeing.

We did, however, get to see the professional bull riders who were in town. We heard about it when we stopped to see Sister A--- in her store. Apparently that’s where all of Big Sky was that night, which explains why no one was home. It was pretty cool, we got to see a little bit of it on the big screen they had up, but we didn’t get out of the car because Sister Session had a bad feeling about it. I was kind of glad we didn’t get out because after a minute of watching there were a lot of drunk men stumbling out and looking lost. One was led out by a girl with her arm around him and he kept pulling her tighter to his side. It looked really uncomfortable. We drove back shortly afterwards because it was getting late.

On Thursday we got to go to Butte. We got to see the massive mine that they have there and hear about a terrible mining accident that had happened there. It was the most deadly accident in hard-rock mining in America that ever happened.

We had dinner with Sister S--- when we got back from Butte. Well, I guess she is Sister R--- now. She got married recently after a 1 day engagement to a man that had been her husband’s best friend. Their story is kind of cute but we were all really surprised to hear that he had suddenly gotten married. She talked to us about it for all of our dinner appointment. She also fed us a massive diner because she didn’t want leftovers.

We also saw P--- that night and some of the students that I taught from the Bible College. It was a really interesting night. Poor P--- is trying so hard to quit smoking and he is so close! I’ve been praying that he will have the strength to get over his addiction so that he can be baptized.

On Friday we helped D--- because she was really stressed with this cake that she had to make and so we helped her to make 500 brownie bites and sugar flowers out of gum paste. I also learned how to make fondant which was pretty cool, and messy. It was a very interesting experience, one I’m glad that I had. We had to leave before we made a large dent in the amount of stuff she had to do, but I’m glad we got to help her out.

We had another lesson with R--- before we headed over to the S--- house for dinner. They fed us the most amazing noodle dish! It was perfect for summer and so delicious. I’ll have to get the recipe. After dinner and a good conversation D--- cleaned up a bit and we got ready to teach a lesson, however before we could start talking she comes over and puts Apples to Apples (the game) on the table and starts setting it up; needless to say that they were not interested in learning anything that night. We were so disappointed.

After we got back from dinner we had a texting lesson with D---. She texted us out of the blue about all of these doubts, questions and concerns. It was after curfew so we couldn’t call or go over to talk, so we ended up having a lesson over text. It was a little frustrating because it took so long and is an imprecise method of communication, but it did the job.

On Saturday we volunteered at the Sea Pea festival. It was really fun because we got to paint faces and meet a lot of people. It was really interesting to try and paint the things that people wanted without any prior practice face painting. I even got to do a few adults. One of my favorites is this little girl who came up to me and wanted me to turn her into a snake. So I covered her face in green then did tiny little scales all over her face and gave her a forked tongue. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

As we were leaving I stopped to get some cotton candy because it was super cheap and I couldn’t resist. As I was buying it this man who had got his face painted with his son came up to us and started asking us about the LDS church, what we believe, and what we do as missionaries. It turned into a 40 minute discussion and we have an appointment with him this week. He believes a lot of the same things we do, especially regarding abortion and gay marriage. The best part is that his real name is Lazarus. How cool is that!? He’s golden! We are so excited to get to talk to him this week.

We had a less-fabulous visit with K---. We stopped by and asked her if she wanted to work on Personal Progress or have a lesson and she kept complaining that she was too tired. When we invited her to church on Sunday she said that she was going to fighting practice with her dad. I don’t know where her fire has gone! It’s such a night and day change and it’s really disheartening. I don’t know what to do. 

And yesterday we went to two Sacrament meetings because P--- was going to bear his testimony in 2^nd ward, so we went to support him and to hear what he would say. It was a wonderful meeting and the Spirit was so strong. P--- did an amazing job! I’m so happy for him!!

We had a lot to do in our ward as well, we sang 2 musical numbers for Sister Pitcher’s relief Society lesson before we had to book it over to the High Priest’s lesson to give the ending part. It was a little crazy, not to mention that one of our less actives, M---, who hasn’t been to church in months, suddenly showed up on Sunday with his mom and his non-member girlfriend! It was a great Sunday!

After church we had dinner at the Monsons, complete with zucchini boats, summer squash spaghetti, salad, and chicken. I felt very healthy. She also made this amazing fruit salad! She told us what her recipie was, you should try it!

Strawberries

Blueberries

Mangos (when you dice the mangos squeeze the hard middle part over the rest of the fruit so that it gets covered in juices)

And lime zest (don’t skip the lime zest, it really is what makes the salad pop!)

We had a great time at their house. They invited a lot of people over so it was quite the evening. They also took us on a tour of their new house and I got to hold their new kittens. Oh! They also exploded a watermelon by wrapping rubber bands around it again and again (about 500+ of them) around the middle until it buldged and then burst! That’s also something that would be fun to try! Just don’t look directly above it because you don’t want it exploding in your face. Hold it with your feet. I’m sure there is probably stuff online about it, but don’t ask me, I’m a missionary. ;)

Well, that was my week! I was pretty pleased :) Write me! I love to hear from you!

Don’t forget to keep a prayer in your heart, even if it’s only a song. D&C 25:12

Much love!

Sister Draney