This week was busy and slow all at the same time. We didn't have as many lessons as we normally do, but the lessons we did have were all with investigators, it was so great! We have plans this week to restock our less active teaching pool because for the most part, none of the ones we are currently working with are progressing, so we have to start from scratch.
We didn't have much luck tracting this week. We spent the whole morning of Christmas Eve tracting and no one wanted to watch a Christmas video or talk to us. It was so frustrating! It's CHRISTmas people! At least it wasn't too cold. That was a plus.
That day did get better though. We visited R--- and she was feeling much better and will hopefully be released this week. She will probably be readmitted though because she still can't keep food down. She has lost over 100 lbs because she hasn't been able to eat for 3 months and they've been giving her all the nutrients through IV. But we were able to commit her to a baptismal date! We are very excited for her and we hope she will be able to become well enough by the date we set.
It snowed a ton on Christmas Eve which is good because so many people have been wanting a white Christmas.
On Christmas Eve we got to help with the live nativity that the stake puts on every year. They have a truck to gather food donations, so that was our job, to collect the cans and the money that people donated once they saw the nativity. It was funny because everyone in the nativity looked really fat with their big coats on under their costumes.
I ended up running home from the Mangum's house, roughly a half mile, with Sister O'Mealy driving along side me playing Mannheim Steamroller. I felt really good when I got home. It's not every day that someone gets to run a half mile in a skirt and snow boots! :)
We had fun coming home and playing cards with the bishop and his family after the nativity.
Bishop opened all of our packages and wrapped everything, so we actually had gifts to open on Christmas morning! It was so fun! It ended up feeling a lot more Christmassy this year than it did last year. It helps that we had a Christmas tree and that the house was decorated I think.
We had Christmas dinner at the Hornby's and it was really great because there were 3 non-members there. It turned out really great!
We had a lesson with S--- and his friend H--- showed up. It turns out H--- had taken the lessons before and had read the Book of Mormon but was confused and thought it was strange. So we ended up getting into a conversation with them both and explaining some of the things that he didn't understand. When we set up our return appointment with S--- he asked if he could come too! It is such a miracle!! Our return appointment is today, so I'll let you know how it turned out next week.
The D--- family is on date for January 31! They really want to do this as a family and they are progressing so well! Keep them in your prayers! Our biggest challenge right now is keeping the lessons short and focused. The lessons are great but they are waaaaaay too long! So we are working on figuring out how to shorten them. They haven't been to church yet because he got called into work yesterday. Next week is the week! Pray for them!
L--- came to church for the second time this Sunday! He still doesn't have a testimony, but he is reading and giving it an honest effort. He needs prayers too that he will get his answer! He's another one that we are working on having more focused lessons with. He is insists on feeding us every time we come to teach. This week was pot roast, veggies, hot chocolate, and biscuits, with soda and pistachio muffins for dessert. I'm going to gain so much weight…. it just needs to stop! Ha, ha (I haven't gained weight yet, but I watch it like a hawk!)
M--- is doing so great! She is studying everything she can get her hands on and she has questions and studies out the answers. She is getting answers to her prayers about the truthfulness of what she is learning and she shares it with us! We took her on a church tour and she was crying before we even got in the chapel (which was our first stop). She said she felt such peace there and that she needed that peace in her life. She is coming to church next Sunday! It means we will be doing double duty because our church is at 11 and she can only get off work in time to make the 1pm Sacrament, but it will be so worth it! We are SO excited! She has only ever been to church once and has given us all sorts of excuses but now she is getting answers and finding that Spirit and the peace she has been searching for. I think something is finally happening after 7 1/2 years of missionaries! Please pray for her!! She's got a lot of trials ahead and she needs a lot of spiritual support.
As for funny/ gross things that happened this week:
I ate 4 bowls of cereal before I got to the bottom of the bowl of milk and realized that my milk was chunky. It didn't even taste different! Luckily I didn't get sick. I was so worried! I had to stop telling myself to stop worrying because I was going to make myself sick just from worrying so much!
On a different day, we knocked on a door and these two huge pit bulls come barreling around the side of the house snarling (there was no fence) and my companion screamed and scrambled around behind me. I told her just to stay calm as the dogs got to us, and they ended up being okay. I joked with her afterwards that she was SUCH a good companion. She was going to sacrifice me to the dogs! Ha, ha
That's pretty much it for things of significance this week. I hope you all had a good Christmas! I love you lots!
Love,
Sister Draney

For starters let me tell you that I know I spelled thief wrong in my last letter. But I didn't realize it until after is already sent, I was so embarrassed. I guess that's what you get for rushing!
I got my new companion this week, Sister O'Mealy, and we been having a lot of fun. She served in Lovell, Wyoming and this is her first time in Helena.
We finally got to have an appointment with D---, the fourth Ward sisters are teaching a family and they turned out to be related to D---! So we got to have a lesson with him and invite him back to church. It was good because we got to find out his concerns and hopefully resolve some of them so that he can come back to church in the near future.
I got to meet a lot of the people that the Fourth ward sisters are working with, and they all got baptized this weekend! It was so great! There were eight of them they got baptized in one night, and it was really special. They had to re-baptize one of them once, because her dad forgot her name. It was really funny because the mom had to tell him that he forgot his child's middle name. I think he was kind of embarrassed. But at least everyone got baptized and that's what's important.
Sister H---, the older lady who fell and broke her legs gets to come home from the care center a month earlier than expected! It just goes to show the power of prayer. She is doing so well, the ward thought that this might be the last serious injury for her because she is so old, they worried she wouldn't be able to recover. But she has proved them all wrong and is coming home just in time for Christmas!
We also found R---, one of our old investigators, in the same nursing home. She's not doing well and still can't keep anything down. We were able to read the Christmas story with her in Luke chapter 2 and in the book of Mormon. We were also able to sing some Christmas songs to her. That made her really happy, I guess a lot of people haven't been visiting her and she feels pretty alone. I'm happy to know where she is now so we can visit her more often. Sometimes I seriously think I'm a bad luck charm because something bad happens to all of our investigators, but they will all recover and be baptized eventually, right?
I had a great transfer, since I didn't get changed around. I got to see a bunch of missionaries I haven't seen in a while, like sister Templin and elder Greenwall. I wish they were in my zone, but it's unlikely since they both got sent pretty far away.
I got my new companion, Sister O'Mealy and she is great! I hope I'm able to finish out the mission with her because we both head home at the same time. She has a great memory and she's really fun to be around. She's from Nevada, she majoring in business, she has someone waiting for her, she has a bunch of siblings, and a great sense of humor. We were joking around this morning that companions spend more time together than people who decide to get engaged to each other! Too funny.
We met a new investigator family this week that one of our members introduced us to. They're really great, they're practically LDS and they don't even know it! We will be meeting with them in a few weeks because the husband works on an oilfield and will be gone for a couple weeks. But they still really want to meet with us which is great. They have a lot of concerns that the gospel can answer. They're younger and they say that they can't find many couples who are really family centered like they are, most people their age like to be out partying and don't want to start families. They have two cute little boys and they are just an adorable family. And they already know a member family, which helps! It's good to have friends in the Gospel. We are really excited to start meeting with them!
We finally caught up with J---.  He hasn't been to church since that first time, and we been really worried about him. I'm still not sure what's going on with him because he didn't come to church yesterday like he said he would.

We were talking to someone, and they think S--- might have dyslexia rather then an inability to read. I hope that's the case because I would feel bad if he couldn't read.
We ended up starting the lessons over with the I---, apparently from what they told us they haven't received any of the lessons. Bishop says that they have, but if the I--- want the lessons we will certainly give them to them. I hope that this helps them get over some of the issues and concerns they have. I like them a lot and I'm excited to spend Christmas night with them.
We met with L--- again, the woman who is divorcing her wife.  She read the entire pamphlet and took notes and had questions. It was a pretty good lesson, but we're not sure how to extend a baptismal date because of the past issues and we aren't sure how long they will take to resolve. So we met with a member of the mission presidency last night to discuss it. Hopefully it will turn out well because she has a lot of potential and she feels that the church could be true. It certainly is one of the most unique cases I've ever experienced before.
We had a lesson with C--- this week and bishop came to it. He was more focused than he's ever been, and he seemed to really take in everything bishop said. It was nice to see him actually concentrating and not making so many jokes. He agreed to come to church yesterday but never showed up, it makes me sad, and I want to find out why. But I'll let you know after our next lesson with him. I think he really enjoyed the restoration lesson, and agrees with a lot of the things we said. He also stop meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses which is a big plus! Apparently they didn't like the thought that he didn't want to sit around in heaven and play harps and things like that.  He wants to keep growing and progressing and that's exactly what we believe, go figure.
C--- is doing well, we found out that she smoking more again, which makes me really sad. I'm not sure how to help her, and we are sure she wants to be helped. She still wants to gain faith, and hopefully she puts more of an effort into reading, it will come.
L--- came to church yesterday! He laughed at a lot of things the speakers were saying, which made me happy. I hope he enjoyed it, because he left after sacrament meeting. But he said that he would probably be coming back next week, and I hope he stays for the whole thing. He even wore a suit so you couldn't really tell him apart from anyone, except for his earring.
I played a musical number in church, which I enjoyed. I love it when there is a lot of music in a sacrament meeting. I wish we could do it more often. We had a ton of people at church, they had to open up the second overflow!
D--- is doing great, we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ yesterday, and sister Bingham came. We shared He is the Gift, and talked with him about coming to church. We had a long talk on faith. He's changed a lot since we first started meeting with him, and that makes me happy. I hope he will continue to change for the better.

Also something funny happened this week, Bishop Campbell discovered that sister O'Mealy's dad was his roommate in the MTC, and that they've known each other for 35 years! What are the chances?! They are excited to talk to each other when she Skype's home. They both served in the Sydney Australia mission and they both have families, and live in two separate states. They lost track of each other and now his daughter staying in Bishop Campbell's house!
I'm excited for Christmas next week, and I hope you're all doing well! I want to hear all the good things that happen, so keep me informed! I love you all and miss you a lot. I hope you're doing missionary work, and continuing to smile. Merry Christmas! Don't forget to write!

XOXO XO XOXO XO

Love,

Sister Draney

December 2014

What a week! My companion, Sister Lasson, finished her mission and is now home in Tennessee which means I have spent the majority of this week on transfers with the sisters in 4^th ward. I’m sad Sister Lasson is gone! I’m going to miss her!

On the bright side, I’ll be staying in Helena for another transfer! That means I only have one more transfer where I could be moved! Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to finish out my mission and only have three areas. Wouldn’t that be weird?!

My new companion will be Sister O’Mealy. She will be my 11^th companion. I’m seeing if I can set a companion record! Ha, ha.  I don’t think I’ll quite make it to 18 companions though! 

This week was amazing as far as lessons go though. The C--- in our ward met a guy at Costco, and told him he looked like a Mormon bishop. He said he wasn’t and they asked if he would like to learn more about the church and he said yes! So we got to teach him the first lesson in their home this week. They invited us over for lunch and we taught him the Restoration afterwards and the C--- gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon that they had written a note in. Talk about member missionary work!! They rock! The lesson went well but he was a little intimidating because he is very intelligent and we, of course, teach simply. I had the feeling he was analyzing everything we said! It went well, but he said he wanted to study what we gave him before he set a return appointment. So I’ll let you know if we hear back from him again.

We also had our first lesson with L---! Our member that was supposed to go with us backed out at the last second, so we had to scramble to find someone else. Luckily, Sister R--- said she would come, even though she was about to jump in the shower. She is the best! The lesson went really well! He has already read all of 1 Nephi and plans to finish he Book of Mormon by tomorrow! My jaw practically hit the floor when he told us! The only downside is, he hasn’t received any feelings or witnesses that it’s true yet. Then again, I can’t imagine how someone could read the whole thing and not know that it’s true! So I’m praying that he will get that confirmation before we go back for our next lesson. He seems golden!!! I guess we will see how it turns out…

We had another lesson with T--- and once again it was like pulling teeth to get him to express an opinion, so we don’t know how much is getting through to him, if anything. It’s definitely slow going and hard to keep him on track. For example, we asked him where he thought he came from before he was born and he began to go off on a tangent about his pet pig named Bobo that he had had when he was a kid. So when he finished, I asked him again and he finally answered the question. That’s what all of our lessons are like. Very, very slow going. Not to mention he can’t really hear us talking, so we have to shout a lot of the lesson.

J--- forgot our appointment this week and didn’t come to church. He was sick earlier, but we need to get in with him. I’m a little frustrated with him. I hope he just forgot our meeting.

S--- is doing pretty well. He hasn’t come to church yet and we have a suspicion that he can’t read because every time we come over and ask if he has done the reading we left him he comes up with a really creative excuse. This week the excuse was “my friend borrowed my reading glasses”. How many friends borrow their friends glasses?! We would think he didn’t want to read, but then after he makes his excuse, he asks us eagerly if we will read it to him. So we have brainstormed some ways to figure out if he can read without offending him or coming right out and asking. I’ll keep you posted. He slept in yesterday and didn’t make it to church again. Bummer. We called him twice but didn’t have the miles to drive over.

The I--- are doing great! We came over and C--- started asking about what fasting was; so we taught them about fasting and she really wants to do it. So we’ll see if she actually made it. Fasting is hard if you’re only 13 and you’re doing it alone! And S--- has been keeping the Word of Wisdom! To make things even better, M--- asked if she could have a Word of Wisdom pamphlet, she wanted to study it! Oh, if only they would get married and the money thing would work out. They would be so ready for baptism!! Argh!!!!!!!!! So frustrating!

We met T---, the man who wants to be baptized but won’t go into the water because of a parasitic sore on the back of his leg. He was put in the VA hospital and they have drained a ton of fluid from his legs. They are still huge. He remarked on how skinny they were, but they’re still about as big around as my waist! I wonder how big they were before they drained them. Hopefully they will fix whatever is wrong with his legs so that he can be mobile so that he can get to church and be baptized!

One of the boys in our ward, Cyrus, is getting a bone marrow transplant this week from his 6 year old sister. He could use prayers.

I learned a cool new skill this week! Brother Monson taught me how to pick locks and I’ve been practicing on my lunch breaks so it doesn’t distract from the work at all. It’s so cool and I love it! I’ve only been able to pick about 9 locks so far, but I still feel successful. Maybe I can get good at it and be able to earn some extra money someday.

We have a return lesson with the D--- family this week. I’m really excited!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully we can get in with the B--- again before January.

I’m excited to be back solely in my own area so I don’t keep having to bounce back and forth.

That’s about it on the updates for this week! Hope you’re all having an awesome December!

Don’t forget to #SharetheGift!

Love,

Sister Draney

Happy December! This week has actually been pretty warm by Montana standards. It got above freezing once or twice and we didn't have any killer wind, so it was a great week!!
On Tuesday this week I woke up with no voices at all. I couldn't speak above a whisper. If I tried, nothing came out. It was really rough for lessons,especially lessons with older people where you already have to speak loudly. Sister Lasson had to "translate" for me when they couldn't hear me.
We had a lesson with T--- about what happens to us after we die. He doesn't believe that people get a chance after this life. I think that that is so sad! We really have to work at it to get him to express his opinion. He loves to agree with everything we say and won't bring up what he thinks, so we really have to drag it out of him.
People here really like to serve plain rice as a side dish. I will never understand that, probably just because I didn't grow up with it. I'm slowly learning to sort of enjoy it. I guess this is why I had to serve a state side mission. I couldn't have handled foreign foods! Haha
D--- is doing really well! He is still keeping the word of wisdom! This week we taught him how to find the answers to his own questions and introduced him to the index in the back of the Book of Mormon. He was very excited to learn how to use it and we invited him to play around with it this week and look up things that looked interesting to him.
We had another lesson with C--- and H---! It was hard to get them to concentrate because C--- loves to joke around. But we managed to sit down in their living room and talk about how the gospel blesses families and how we have a prophet on the earth today. C--- insisted on looking him up on Google. They believe so many things that we do but they just don't realize it!
We also found out that the Jehovah's Witnesses visit them every week.
I got to go on my first facebook exchanges this week as the Zone facebook specialist. It was pretty nerve wracking because I don't like to pry into other people's stuff, so I was more than a little uncomfortable.
We had our Christmas Zone Conference and it was wonderful! I got to play "What Child is This?" And we had a ton of fun with the slideshow pictures! Thank you mom for sending in such a cute picture! It made me smile!
I got my very first crèche (nativity) for $14! It's the cutest hing I've ever seen and I'm very excited about it! We got it while we were on a Christmas stroll in downtown East Helena. We were trying to talk to people and share the He is the Gift video and I saw the crèche in an antique store and I couldn't pass it up. It's been on my bucket list to own a nativity before I'm 30 haha (because they're so expensive).
M--- is doing great! She did her 3 assigned chapters of reading in the Book of Mormon! We are very excited about it.
We also had a lesson with S---. He hasn't had his MRI yet, so no news on that. We are trying to get a set time that we can visit him at every week so we don't have to just keep trying to catch him home.
J--- is great! He couldn't come to church yesterday because he was really sick. We stopped by to make sure he was awake and he was awake, but clearly not doing well. So this is his one free pass! I was pleased that lots of people asked where he was.
We helped Sister O--- put up curtains this week. I dropped each of the 4 nails at least 4 times apiece because they were so tiny I was worried I'd destroy my thumb if I hammered them too hard. It was embarrassing, but Sister Lasson was such a trooper and kept retrieving them for me.
Sorry this is short, but things are great! I'm sad sister Lasson will be leaving this week.
Sister Draney

December is here! I can barely believe it! There certainly is more than enough snow on the ground here to indicate that it's December. We got so much snow this week. One day was white-out conditions and I got lots of compliments on my snow-driving skills. How that for an Arizona girl? :D
This week was really good! Last Monday we had dinner with the W--- and Sister W--- asked how one of our investigators, C---, was doing. We hadn't seen her since her kids were sick because she was never home when we stopped by. So as we were out and about that night we decided to stop by because we thought that maybe Sister W--- was prompted to ask how C--- was.
Not only was C--- home, but she invited us in right away! We had a great lesson and were able to answer a lot of her questions. Her husband was asleep on the couch for the whole discussion which was kind of uncomfortable because we didn't know what he would say when he woke up and found us in his house. It turned out to be okay. He was in the military and his unit was full of LDS guys who he said, "tried to convert him". Hopefully we will be more successful than they were! They are both so great! We will be visiting them again soon hopefully (December is busy for them).
Then again, no ones lives seem to ever get less hectic. Isn't technology supposed to make our lives easier? Instead we just find more things to fill up the time it gives us; for better or for worse.
We also had our first lesson with A---, the elder's investigator, this week! She is so great and has so many sincere questions! She is very wary of false prophets because she grew up in a cult where the leader was a "prophet" but would tell them to do things against what was in the Bible.
She was very comforted to know that God never speaks anything contrary to what He has spoken and therefore, nothing that our leaders say ever contradicts what the Lord has already spoken.
We had dinner with the C--- this week and he told us about the study he did of the precepts that are found in the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith said that, "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book", so Brother C--- made a study of all of the precepts in the Book of Mormon and so far he has found over 300 different precepts! That is a lot... I asked him how part two of his study was going, the application, and we had a laugh together about how it was definitely a work in progress.
President Mecham has asked us to teach the leaders of all of the quorums and auxiliaries the Restoration, so we stopped by the B--- this week to teach them and we had Brother B--- pretend to be his friend from work that he is sharing the gospel with. It was a tough lesson because his friend doesn't believe in God and it was kind of nerve-wracking because they had their RM son there who just got back from his mission, so I kind of felt like we were being graded, but it all went well.
We spent the week in J--- empty house that she's trying to sell because the C--- had all of their family come in for Thanksgiving. It was very interesting to move out and we quickly realize some important things that we hadn't brought, like a spatula to turn eggs with. It was a very interesting week. We were simply glad that the heater worked, even though there were holes in the windows that let quite a bit of cold in.
We drove out to the S--- on a really foggy night. The visibility was terrible and we had to drive a lot slower than normal. We had a great lesson with the S--- and got to meet their son, B---. He even stayed for most of the lesson! I wish we had more miles so we could go out to visit them more frequently.
We also visited a retirement home and sang Christmas carols to them. They just lit up when we talked to them about the Plan of Salvation. It was really amazing! You never get too old to have the gospel speak to your spirit.
I thought of a lot of spiritual parallels as we drove through the fog. It reminded me of Lehi's dream and the mists of darkness. I felt like the yellow line on the road was the iron rod, because if I stuck to it I knew I would be safe and that we would arrive at our destination in one piece.
When cars were coming the other way I could see ahead to where the road was leading and it reminded me of being a light to others so that they can find their way through confusing times.
Sometimes you can only see far enough ahead to take a few steps, but if you keep moving forward the Lord will light the way before you that you will eventually reach where you want to be. The thing is, you have to keep moving forward. If you stop and wait you will never make it to your destination and you won't be able to reach the safety and warmth that awaits you.
Thanksgiving was great! I woke up with a dry throat and by mid-day it turned into such a sore throat that I couldn't talk, swallow, or yawn. It was quite miserable. I took NyQuil at 4pm (luckily it didn't make me tired) and sucked on cough drops all day. I joked with Sister Lasson that that was the Lord's way of making sure I didn't gain weight from the 7 dinners we planned to go to.
It was so painful that I thought it might be strep, so we only went to three dinners. We went to all of them with the elders. We had a big break in between the first dinner and the other two, so the four of us played board games. I won all of them..not to brag or anything ;) haha actually, technically elder Denslow and I won one because Pictionary was a team game. The Welch's were teasing us that we were all on the same brain wave because we would sometimes guess the drawings in less than five seconds, and the drawings would be really terrible. We played Jenga and I discovered that I am a pro Jenga player. We also played Scrabble with cards. That was really fun! We had a great time. Hands down better than my first Thanksgiving here.
The four of us joke that we are all going to get transferred this transfer because we have way to much fun together.
We had one of our dinners with A--- and she got her answer! Now she is pondering all that she will have to give up when she gets baptized because part of her family is super anti LDS. She was talking to me and she said that she didn't know if she had got her answer, but she felt really peaceful when she prayed about it. I about jumped out of my skin and showed her D&C 6:22-23 and she was so amazed! She just stood there quietly for a moment.
She also was talking to us as she was making the final touches on dinner and telling us how she didn't understand how bad things could happen to good people and why God would let people do such terrible things to each other and I told her that God allows bad people to harm others so that His judgements and punishments will be just. And she just kind of nodded and kept working. Then she slowly turned around and said, "say that again". So I repeated myself, and it turned out that tons of people have asked her that question and she never had an answer for them, but when I answered her question she was amazed because it was the answer she had been looking for! Then we spent some time reading Alma 14:11 and Alma 60:13 and talked about it.
It was a really amazing night and it was especially cool because I could speak just fine whenever I was teaching, but when I wasn't my throat would hurt so bad I could barely talk. It was such a blessing.
There are some moments as a missionary when it's hard to control yourself when the truth "clicks" with someone. You just want to jump up and down and shout for joy! But of course we can't do that. It would be undignified...not to mention it would probably scare them...and drive out the Spirit. But it is just so amazing to witness! I'm so blessed to be able to witness so many people receive their answer and come unto Christ!
We did a lot of "He is the Gift" tracting this week. "He is the Gift" is part of a new church wide initiative. It's an amazing video and if you haven't seen it yet, you need to! It's on YouTube and on Christmas.mormon.org. It is so amazing and the First Presidency have asked us to pass out at least 10 cards for it each day and we have already seen miracles!
We spent one whole evening doing "He is the Gift" tracting without much success and we were heading home and I felt that we should pull over at this one house, so we did and they definitely weren't interested. So we hopped back in the car and kept going and we decided to try  a few more before we called it a night. So we pulled over and hopped out and started knocking. No one was home and we decided to just knock one more door even though it was really late. The man opened up the door and asked what we were doing out so late and we told him that we were out showing a message about Christmas and Jesus Christ and he invited us in!
We ended up sharing the video with him and his wife and then it lead right into the Book of Mormon and it turns out he is really interested! His name is C--- and he  believes that no church on earth is true, but he believes strongly in God. He is very intrigued by the Book of Mormon and asked if he could borrow a copy to read it, so of course we said yes!
We had a return appointment set up with him and H--- and we are so excited! He and his wife are very interested and we can't wait to see what happens with them!
We had a lesson with the M--- this week in which brother M--- tried to convince us that the Bible says that Barack Obama is Lucifer in the flesh. It was quite interesting and I had to keep myself from laughing. It was something I had definitely never heard before! Then someone else tried to convince us that Walmart was the multiple headed beast from the Revelations.
We got stuck this week in our little two wheel drive car. Luckily we made it out without Sister Aller having to get out and push. It makes me wonder what people do when there is only one person in the car and they get stuck. Do they just put it in neutral and get out and push it?
We had a great time shoveling snow this week, Brother M--- blames it on me because I asked him if it was unusual not to have snow by Thanksgiving. Shoveling snow is quite the workout! I actually enjoy it, mostly because it's for other people. If it was something I had to do to my own house I don't think I would enjoy it as much.
We also got to be the bearers of some much needed blessings for two struggling families in the ward. One of them is a couple who are in their 90s and she just fell and broke her hip this week. And the other is a large family with a single, divorced mother who just found out her son is really sick and may die unless he can get a bone marrow transplant soon.
We found two envelopes with their names on them and took them to their homes because there was no other identifier on it and they were filled with money! It was really a blessing to be able to bring those to them and watch how touched they were to be on the end of some church member's thoughtfulness. I really hope everything works out for them both. Bone marrow matches are tough things to find.
It turned out to be a great week even though I'm still under the weather. I keep joking with Sister Lasson that I'd better not still be sick for the Christmas zone conference this Thursday!
I love you all and remember to keep Christ in Christmas this year! I'd love to hear any good stories you have resulting from your efforts to be more Christlike!
Lots of Love,
Sister Draney