A request from our mission office: please send all letters to my actual address, not the mission office, until after Christmas. They are getting bogged down with a ton of mail. My address is:
3655 Meadowlark Rd.
East Helena, MT 59635
Also, they request that any packages not be sent til after transfers on December 16th because they can't forward packages and we may be moved from our current address.
Thanks!!
So, this week we met a whole slew of new, interesting people. We were trying to track down less actives and tract at the same time and we met a man who made a monument to his dogs in his backyard. I thought that that was very Montanan. We met a woman who slammed the door on us before we even made it to the porch. We met a man named A--- and were chased by his guard goose. It was funny because we couldn't figure out what was coming after us at first. It was really unexpected to discover that it was a goose!
One of the elders in our district was threatened with a gun. I'm sure it was pretty exciting, but I would not want to meet that man!  Being threatened is definitely not on my bucket list! He was pretty excited about it though.
We had mission leadership training this week. The meeting lated 7 1/2 hours and was really good. It kind of put a kink in how much work we could get done that day though. We learned a lot about "coming to the mountain of the Lord" and about how the mission leadership council works.
On Monday we had a meeting with our stake president and I put my groceries in the church fridge and freezer so we didn't have to use a bunch of miles to go home and drop them off. When we came back from the meeting someone had opened my new box of hot pockets and eaten the whole thing! I was beyond furious. It wasn't any of the missionaries because they were all with me at the meeting. So let this be a lesson for everyone: if you didn't buy it, don't eat it! They ate my lunches for half of a week! It's a good thing I didn't know who they were because I was not having very Christlike thoughts towards them. Not to mention, I couldn't replace them because Walmart was all out of them. It was a bummer.
We met a girl named E--- this week as we were looking for less actives. The less active had moved but she ended up letting us in because she thought her fiancée used to go to our church when he was little. Turns out he was actually Baptist, but we were able to share a little lesson and leave them with a pamphlet. The most awkward thing is that when we arrived their atheist friend stood up and left.
E--- said she would read the pamphlet and pray about it. She told us to come back when she was finished. So I was like, "okay, so next week?" And she gave me the strangest look and said, "next month. I don't read that fast." I was definitely surprised, seeing as how the pamphlet it only 16 pages long and 6 of those pages are pictures... But we will see her in a month. Hopefully I'm still here.
I'm sincerely hoping that I'll get to finish my mission here. Two more transfers after this; it's totally possible!
D--- kept the Word of Wisdom again! Only he thought it as just for one week, so he had coffee yesterday morning. We committed him to 3 months though. It's great to see him making progress. We just pray that he will see the blessings from living the Word of Wisdom because that's what he is looking for is the fulfillment of the promises in the pamphlet. I know they will happen, but the real question is whether or not he will notice them. Sometimes these things happen gradually.
We called T--- this week and asked if we were still on for our first lesson and he said, "one minute, I'll let you talk to my wife". I had the "great, now she's going to tell us they aren't interested and to never come back" moment, but to my surprise she was so friendly and told us we could come over in ten minutes! So we took our ward mission leader and went over.
It turns out she is a member which I why she was so okay with us coming over. We had a great lesson with T---, but we can tell it's going to be slow going. He's 86 and very set in his ways, but he is also very willing to listen to what we have to say. We are excited to go back! We got the wife visiting teachers this week.
We had dinner with the elders at the L--- family's house. They put elder D--- in charge of making the pancakes and it was so gross because he kept pulling dog hair out of the batter. It made me really glad he was cooking them, rather than the family, so that he could pull it out, but it was still so gross. This is why we don't have pets inside.
I made funnel cakes this week and the elders ate so many that they made themselves sick for the whole morning. It was pretty funny. Poor elders...
We finally got in to see S--- again! He is finally recovering from the hypothermia and severe dehydration. He has to get an MRI this week because something is wrong with his legs. The lesson was great though because his Bible basher friend was no longer there. His new roommate is a less active LDS member who left because she was offended. Ugh, it makes me so frustrated when people deny themselves eternal blessings because of something someone said or did!
We are hoping to re-set his baptism date this week because he's not going to make the old one. He's supposed to read out of the Book of Mormon this week. I'll keep you posted.
This week has been SUPER windy! It blew so hard that it knocked over someone's massive black trash can and we got to do some spontaneous service and help them clean up all the trash that blew everywhere.
It made me very glad that we had some set appointments on Saturday morning so that we didn't have to be out tracting in the wind. We tried tracting in the morning but the wind was blowing so hard that it was extremely difficult to make it back to the car, not to mention that we could barely see and we were narrowly missing the tumbleweeds that were taking flight all around us.
We had dinner with sister O--- this week. We were able to help her hang all of her pictures because she can't stand for long periods of time, so it would have been practically impossible for her to hang her own decorations. She made us really good soup but it was so hot that I was sure I wasn't going to be able to taste anything for a week.
Then, on top of that, last night I bit my tongue so hard at dinner that it started bleeding. My poor tongue is just taking a beating this week!
The R--- have actually been doing family scripture study and prayer!! FINALLY some signs of progress! It's funny because we actually went over to give them the ultimatum: either you start progressing, or we can't keep visiting. So thankfully we didn't have to give it!
Two sister missionaries that went home a few months ago came back to visit yesterday. It was so cool to see them! But it was also a little weird. They were all cute and they could hug boys. It was really strange to hear them refer to each other by first names as well because I don't know them by their first names. It was kind of strange to see the "other side". I think I'm good where I'm at, haha.
The I--- are doing great a well! We had scripture study last night with M--- and she told us some very personal, spiritual stories about her life and it was amazing to see how God has played such a huge, obvious part in her life. We are excited to keep working with her.
We also had a lesson with the whole family earlier in the week. We sat down to give the lesson when brother Ivers asks us out of the blue to teach about the Word of Wisdom. We were more than happy to comply, as I'm sure you can imagine.
It ended up going really well! S--- was so upset that she had disobeyed God and had had tea that morning. We explained to her that she wasn't in trouble and that now she could not drink those things because she knew what God wanted her to do. She is so enthusiastic about doing whatever God asks of her; it's simply amazing! I tell you, the kids that I have met have had stronger convictions and testimonies than the adults I've met. It's no wonder they are a chosen generation and it's no wonder that God tells us to be like a little child, easy to be entreated. They are all so eager to follow the Lord. It's really admirable.
I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. The bishop's family is coming from out of town, so we are getting booted out of the house for the week. We are going to live in J--- empty house. It should be very interesting...
Other than that, life is good! I hope you are all staying happy and safe! Don't forget to remember to look for things to be grateful for this week. If you have time, you should watch the Mormon message- "In the Spirit of Thanksgiving". It's a great message!
I love you all!
Sister Draney

Well, this week wasn't too exciting. We had transfers and I got to see a bunch of missionaries I haven't seen for a while, which was really fun.
It's been freezing all week, literally. The church parking lot was so covered in ice that when the vans came in to get the missionaries they couldn't stop and slid quite a bit. All of the incoming missionaries were full of stories about how they almost died during transfers. I rest my case, snow is good for no one! (Well, it's good for water supply, but rain could take care of that too...)
Sister Beckstrand got to say goodbye to a lot of people, which was nice. It also meant we got a lot of lessons because we shared a brief message with everyone we visited.
This week I discovered I am better at playing air hockey with my left hand than my right. Who would have guessed? Sister Beckstrand was soundly thrashing me while we waited for the transfer van so I switched to my left hand because I figured it couldn't get any worse, and up ended up beating her with my left hand! Woo! New skills.
We had another great lesson with J--- this week. He had so many questions and actually had read the pamphlet and studied it out! He had also read from the Book of Mormon! He promised he would come to church on Sunday but he slept in and missed it. I was really disappointed and he felt really bad about it.
We weren't able to visit S--- this week because he got lost while hunting. Luckily search and rescue found him, but he still ended up with severe dehydration and hypothermia, so he wasn't really in a fit state for a lesson.
We had a great lesson with the I--- this week! He told us he wanted to be fellowshipped in, so boy are we taking that as a challenge! We brought the entire Tyler family to the lesson: two adults, two teenagers, and one returned missionary. So when all was said and done there were 11 of us crammed into the living room for a lesson! It went really well and the whole Tyler family was really involved. It turned out that they already knew the I---, so it went even better than we had planned! They are committed to praying each night as a family and we are excited to see how it goes!
We had a lot of cancellations this week, which means we didn't have nearly as many non-member/less active lessons as we had wanted to. We had a ton of active member lessons, but it was fairly discouraging. Hopefully this week will be better.
P--- dropped us this week because his wife doesn't want him to meet with us. I am SO bummed because he knows the Book of Mormon is true!! Ugh! Sometimes people can be so frustrating! I guess there are people out there who are ready that the Lord wants us to find and He is taking great care that we don't spend time with people who aren't ready. I just wish it had happened before it became absolutely freezing! It physically hurts to be outside. I'm so excited for it to warm up to the 40s for a few days this week.
On the bright side, D--- kept the commitment to keep the Word of Wisdom! I am so happy for him! Usually that's a hard one for people to keep right away. He's going to keep doing it to see if the blessings that the Lord promises will come.
This week we taught him about the law of chastity. Talk about one awkward lesson! Two young women teaching a grown man to be chaste. We totally should have made the elders do it. It was a hard lesson because he doesn't believe in keeping the law of chastity.
Oh well, we keep pressing forward and hopefully this coming week will be better! I hope you are all safe and happy! (And warm)
Lots of love,
Sister Draney

To see a spiritual message involving this snake, follow Sister Shaela Draney on Face book

J--- was baptized this week!! It was an amazing experience. She was so excited even though none of her family showed up to support her and her uncle told her friends that she is ruining their family.
The Spirit was there so strongly and when she bore her testimony she talked about how she felt like her heart was going to explode! She said she felt amazing!
Everything went really well and one of her friends even showed up! The whole room was completely filled with people to the point where there was standing room only. The wards did such a good job coming out to support her.
They're going to have to transfer her over to 4th ward because that's technically where she lives. So  her boyfriend, is going to go with her to both meetings until she feels comfortable switching. Everyone is being really relaxed about it which is nice.
She is such a special spirit and she is so prepared! All of this adversity before her baptism will just make her stronger for all that will continue to come later.
Nothing else this week was quite as exciting, but we had some other good moments.
We have been trying to get in to see the C--- for months and we finally got in this week! All of our appointments had cancelled one night and we were discussing what the Lord wanted us to do, because clearly He wanted us somewhere or all of our appointments wouldn't have cancelled. So we decided to try the C--- and they were actually home and free to talk! We had a great lesson and the Spirit was there very strongly. We testified of the need for them to return and of the blessings they are promised for returning. We were quite bold with them but because the Spirit was there so strongly they really listened rather than getting defensive. One of the members of our ward joked that only sisters can get away with being so bold. People would get angry with elders. Ha, ha perks of being a sister missionary!
Sister C--- said she wanted to come to church this Sunday if she could make it. She didn't actually end up coming and I don't know if something came up or if she just decided not to come, but it's a step in the right direction at least!
We had another lesson with the I--- where we were really bold. We told them how it is, and told them that if they don't keep commitments that we can't continue to visit. Our purpose isn't to just be friends, it's to help them move forward and if they're not doing that then there are other places the Lord needs us to be. I really pushed Brother I--- because he always says that someday he will come back to church and we managed to progress to he will "try" to come to church, but I wasn't having any of it because either he is going to put in the effort or he is not.
We talked about not letting other people influence his salvation because he wants to be fellowshipped back in and he had some past offenses.
We were also bold with M---, even though she isn't a member. She knows the Book of Mormon is true, but she isn't acting on it.
We had a long talk about how to increase our faith and set out a game plan for helping them return to church. We will have to try it and see if they start to progress. They don't want us to give up on them and I told them that we never would as long as they were progressing and keeping their commitments, which means they will be active in the near future. It was the longest lesson I've had in a long time, but it was completely needed.

We had another lesson with P--- and we brought the W--- couple with us this time. I was sincerely hoping that he would actually invite us in to his house this time despite his wife's attitude, but I was completely wrong and I wasn't dressed to stand outside for an hour and give a lesson, so I was freezing the whole time. It was a good meeting though, we talked about the Priesthood a lot and explained what it is, what it does, and how it sets our church apart from other churches.
I never know what he is thinking because he answers all of our questions in one or two words statements, which makes it really hard to get a feel for what he is learning and how he feels about all that is being taught. Hopefully the lesson this week will result in more active question-answering. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, he just doesn't quite have a grasp on the rest.
We had a fun Word of Wisdom lesson with one of our active families. We got two big containers and labeled one "good" and one "bad" and as we listed off foods they had to throw the ball into the right container. It was pretty fun! They certainly enjoyed it and the little kids got the point, which is what we were hoping for.
We had a good Word of Wisdom lesson with D--- as well. He's really starting to change but he won't admit it. He actually has been saying some of the prayers at our lessons and has been doing our assignments each week. This week we had a lesson about the Word of wisdom and he committed to keep it for one whole week, which is a start. It will be perfect because we meet with him a week from today and we can commit him to another week! Luckily he doesn't seem to have any strong addictions that will really be a struggle to get over. He does really like his coffee, but he says he can give that up. I'm excited for him! We both feel that he could be ready to start coming to church in a few weeks. He won't commit to it yet, but we are getting there.
We had a lesson with the M--- and we talked about where they stand. Sister M--- believes that any church could be right, she thinks what matters most is where you are comfortable. She has tried the Book of Mormon but isn't interested in reading it. She doesn't read the Bible often either. She hasn't gone to church in years. We talked a lot about faith and talked about how it has blessed their lives. She prays regularly. She has attended a few LDS services a few years ago. She feels fine where she is at. She doesn't want to read the Book of Mormon with us.
It's so interesting how so many people believe that all the churches can be right, but yet they don't have the things Christ said must be present in his church.
S--- and S--- weren't home for our appointment...again. It's getting really frustrating because we brought the same member with us all three times and I feel bad that he keeps having to drive out, just to have to turn around and go home. He is such a trooper though. We have been discussing dropping them. We have had several doorstep lessons with him in which he is really interested, but every time we actually set an appointment he isn't there.
Our zone leaders have started having companionship study with all of the companionships in the zone. It sounded really strange at first, but we had ours this week and we were able to work on teaching at the door, which is something Sister Beckstrand and I really wanted to improve at. It was hard and awkward to role play it with the elders, but it turned out to be really effective! We had so many door lessons this week and even found a potential new investigator named L---!
L--- is so cool. He can do all sorts of impressions and Sister Beckstrand and I were laughing so hard as he demonstrated! He says he is Baptist but hasn't been for a while. He is very open to new ideas and is going to read the copy of the Book of Mormon we gave him before our next appointment (not the whole thing, obviously), but we are so excited! He's a cool guy who seems really prepared.
We had 31 lessons this week which is a lot for us!  The mission goal is 20 lessons a week. What a way to finish a transfer!! We have also been getting 100% pamphlet lessons and the mission goal is 75% so we are pretty proud of that. And we have been getting 100% member-present lessons which is a huge accomplishment! Not to brag or anything, I'm just so excited about what has been going on here!
I'm really sad Sister Beckstrand is leaving. We teach so well together and one of the people we taught on the doorstep remarked how we just seemed to feed off of each other because our transitions were so smooth. It was quite the compliment. I will really miss her because she isn't afraid to go out there and work hard. I know I can depend on her when we are in stressful situations and I know she has got my back if I suddenly draw a blank. It's going to be a little frustrating to start all over with a new companion. I guess I still don't get to break my record of having a companion for more than two transfers.
Sister Lasson will be my 10th companion and I will only get her for one transfer because she goes home at the end of the transfer. Hopefully that will mean she will want to work hard. I really, really hope she isn't trunky because that could make things really tough, especially because the weather is so rough, it's going to be all I can do to motivate myself to get out in it ha, ha.
We had another awesome moment this week when everyone cancelled on us. Once again, there was somewhere better the Lord needed us to be. We had decided to go track down less-actives and tract around since we had so much now-open time. However, as we were driving out of the trailer park I looked over at S--- house out of habit because we are always trying to catch her home, but she is never there. This time was different though! I saw her sitting on the porch and made Sister Beckstrand turn the car around.
We ended up having an amazing lesson with her. We were able to talk about the Plan of Salvation and what happens to babies who pass on, because she had just recently had two miscarriages. It was a very good lesson and the Spirit was there. She still wants to be baptized which is a miracle in and of itself because the first question she asked was a make it or break it question.
She looked right at me and asked what the church's standpoint was on gay people. I was able to explain and talk about the law of chastity that God expects all people to live by. It was a satisfactory answer thankfully. It was such a miracle to catch her though because we have been trying to for so long!
We were asked to visit the L--- this week. Brother L--- has gone inactive because he believes that he can prove that the church is false and he is well on his way to atheism. We had a good lesson about the human body and the world and how it couldn't have all happened by chance. We also talked about the scientific method and null hypothesis and how it is possible to test the promises in the Book of Mormon to see if they are true. He really looked like he was thinking about what we talked about, which is a good start.
We found a ton of people that are on our lists that have either moved or have gone less active. There were a few angry ones as always, but luckily only one of them turned out to be dead. That's always awkward. For example, "Hey, is Jody home?" (Awkward pause) "Jody has been dead for almost 3 years." (Us) "oh goodness, I am so sorry....". Yep, there is all sorts of fun to be had while trying to find people. We keep hoping and praying to find the prepared ones.
We have been going in circles with C--- and C--- which has not been fun. They will probably need to be dropped soon.
We introduced C--- to the R---. They had such a good time talking and discussing church that we had to interrupt them frequently to get the lesson in. It was good though because C--- needs more friends and she needs a couple that can come to lessons with us and help her build her testimony. Our ward is so great at missionary work!
We stopped by E--- place at the care center. She is the little 90+ year old lady that snores all through church. It was a really funny visit because we had to yell everything- the lesson, the prayer, the song. But it was totally worth it because she seemed so happy. We also got to share a message with two other non member ladies who were sitting in the living room. The caretaker was standing right there and looked kind of intimidating and we hoped she wouldn't tell us off for sharing a message and singing to them, but afterwards she pulled us aside and thanked us for coming and told us that we had made the ladies day. Apparently they don't get visitors often. It's so sad. It's like they were just dumped there by people waiting for them to die. The ladies were really nice.
Yesterday at church we had a ton of people there! Jess was confirmed and that was wonderful! We also had two excommunicated members there, one of which we have been working with for a looooong time. I was so shocked to see him and his wife walk in!
We also had quite a few less active members there which was so great! J---, K--- cousin, even came all by herself! I was so impressed. She didn't stay for all three hours, but this is the second time she has come to Sacrament meeting and it is definitely a start!!
It has been such a great week and it was a great way to end a transfer. I am so excited for all of the wonderful things that are going to happen this transfer! Hopefully our lessons will continue to improve, our investigators and less actives will move forward, and we won't lose any toes to frostbite.
Thank you for all of your support and prayers! They do matter and they are needed! And a shout out to those who have sent me letters, it makes my day so thank you so much!

Love,

Sister Draney

Happy November! Boy how time flies! Some of the missionaries in our mission are posting pictures of several inches of snow on their facebook pages. I’m so glad it has only snowed once in Helena and it didn't stick! I'm still not mentally prepared for winter and I don't think I ever will be. At least I'm not in Siberia where it is really, really cold.

We met S--- this week. She is a less active, her husband isn't a member, and they have a cute 10 year old daughter that they adopted from China. We have only met S---, but the rest of them sound nice. We are meeting with her again this week because she has a lot of questions about Joseph Smith and she wants us to prove it with the Bible. She is sincere, just very doubtful. She wants to know it’s true but she can't talk to her family about it because they are all so emotionally invested that they get frustrated when she doesn't see the truth. Funny thing is she is actually related to the H--- from Bozeman! Who would have thought?!

We did a lot of tracking people down this week because we had a few extra miles at the end of the month. We had to do a lot of it in the dark because it's getting dark earlier here. People kept shutting off their porch lights before we get off the doorstep, so it is hard to get back to the car without falling flat on our face in some of the areas. That's why I always carry around a flashlight with me.

We got to meet Sister R--- granddaughter this week and we are going to start teaching her at Sister 

R--- house. She's 17, her name is H---, and she's had it really rough lately. She was really interested in the message we shared.

We also tracted into this lady named C---. She has 5 kids in her blended family and she is so nice! We met her as we were trying to track down less actives in the area. The people that had lived in her house had moved, but she is super interested!

I had the grossest food of my mission this week. A family made us tofu soup with mushrooms in it. I couldn't even choke it all down. Luckily, they also made this amazingly delicious oriental chicken thing, so I ate lots of that instead. Tofu and soup don't mix well. Then again, tofu and anything doesn't mix well in my opinion.

We stopped by the H--- house to see if we could get an appointment with them, since they didn't answer the door the last time. We just wanted to know if they were interested, so that if they weren't we would stop bugging them. As we walked up we saw the mom looking through the window, so we smiled and waved. We went up and rang the doorbell and two of her kids answered. They told us their parents were busy (clearly a lie, since we just saw the mom) so we asked straight out if they wanted us to come back and the kids were like "probably not". I can't believe the parents hid from us and sent their kids out to send us away! It's not like we bite or are going to get angry. Seriously.

We saw the I--- again and had a very bold conversation with them about why they aren't coming to church/getting baptized. We told them that we had come because we felt they were ready to move forward, but if they weren't ready that we wouldn't be able to keep coming over. The other missionaries would come over and hang out. Not us. We are here to work and if they aren't willing to make the needed changes in their lives then we have other places that the Lord needs us to be. Personally, I really hope they are ready. I like them so much and they are all so sweet, especially their grandkids. They have such pure intent and they want to make good choices. They even want to read the Book of Mormon and come to church!
Something I am seeing more and more is that it's the kids who are making the push. It's the kids who want to get baptized, who are pushing the parents to go to church. It's amazing to see. They clearly are the chosen generation. They don't need a parent to pull them, they are going all on their own!

We had a crazy amazing lesson with J---.  She taught herself tithing.  She already knew why we pay tithing and that it was ten percent and already pays tithing, she has since she was little, so it was no big deal for her to pay it now. She also already knew what fasting was and bore a testimony of how she sees it bless her life. We shared with her what the funds go to.  We discussed the law of chastity and the blessings of living it and she wears a purity ring.  We went over the baptism interview questions and she answered them all and bore her testimony of the prophet and repentance! We hadn't taught her the word of wisdom yet so we summed it up and she immediately said she was drinking coffee and tea but was fully committed so she quit then and there.  We moved her baptism date to the 8th of November! So she is getting baptized this Saturday! We are beyond excited for her!

We had another crazy lesson with the man we found, S---. He received everything really well.  His friend was trying to convince him Mormons were wrong and God stopped miracles and there aren't prophets, and he even started yelling about how "Mormons talk to the dead!" Which clearly isn't true. S--- wasn't having any of it, he even argued with his friend to support us, which was surprising, but we would have much rather there had been no arguing or yelling at all. The two members we brought with us were very taken aback and Brother M--- said it was the most intense lesson he had been to in 30 years!  We used his friends Bible scriptures to support the lesson and it ended up working out.  The Spirit was really strong when we were teaching, then it wasn't when his friend was talking so you could definitely tell the difference in the room. S--- accepted his baptismal invite for November 29th and is so excited to read the Book of Mormon and come to church.  He said he's been searching for his purpose in life and hasn't tried this religion yet and will sincerely read and pray.  He prayed at the end of the lesson to know the truth and he was so sincere.  He is stoked to meet with us next week! And we are going to be meeting with him at member houses from now on to avoid crazy lessons like the one he had last time.

Mountain adventure- we were looking for a less active named L---and she lived way up in the mountains. It's a good thing it wasn't snowing or we would have been in deep trouble. We started off looking for her and the mountain gradually started to get steeper and steeper, and the roads started getting rougher and rougher, but we were so close to her house number that we kept going. The roads started getting so bad that we weren't sure if our car would make it, and eventually we didn't. So I had to get out and push the car up part of the mountain then eventually I couldn't push anymore so I had to back her down the mountain until we could find a spot that was wide enough to turn around. So I got to walk down the mountain backwards so I could make sure she didn't drive off the mountain! It was actually pretty fun because the grass was over 4 ft high and it felt like we were on safari. So that's how we track down less actives in Montana!

Halloween was fun, I was a pirate and Sister Beckstrand was a nerd. It was so fun! We walked around the trunk-or-treat and asked for referrals. We got quite a few referrals and a lot of candy which made me really happy. We had to be in by 6pm so we went to the Binghams house and watched them catapult flaming pumpkins with their trebuchet. It was just about the coolest thing I've seen in a long time!
This week was a really good one and I'm excited to see what November brings!

Love you all!

Sister Draney