Transfers got a little crazy. As you all know, I was going to be sent
up to Missoula to be companions with my first trainer. I was pretty
excited! However, the morning of transfers, President Wadsworth gave
me a call and told me that I'd be serving in Red Lodge and Absarokee
with Elder Ross instead. I am the senior companion now, which means I
have to do all the driving. Darn. I was told that this area had been
dead for quite a while and that we have a lot of work to do. I stayed
in the mission home Tuesday night and met Elder Ross the next morning.
Elder Ross is a super cool young man from Arizona. He's only been out
one transfer more than me so we're both quite young. Wednesday morning
we went shopping. We had to go in Billings because we live so far away
from civilization. We also had to get the car appraised, because Elder
Ross' last companion crashed the truck. We finally made it back to our
tiny little basement apartment. It's downstairs in a members home and
it's got a small kitchen, a bedroom, a closet and a tiny little
bathroom. I'll send pictures when it is more clean.
Elder Ross is really cool. He's willing to work hard and try creative
missionary tactics. He loves cars and I'm learning a lot about them.
He is from Arizona, so this cold weather is new to him, and yet he
doesn't wear a coat... Haha. He just shivers and tries to deny the
cold. He says, " cold doesn't exist, it's just the absence the absence
of heat." Ok. :) But he hasn't gotten hypothermia yet. So far so good!
I'm excited to work with him this transfer.
We live with The Fowlers. Brother Fowler is our ward mission leader.
They are an elderly couple and they've served a few missions together
and it is so cool to be able to teach with them because there is so
much we can learn from them. They're very fun to talk to and we do
whatever we can to get them telling stories when they are driving us
to appointments or when we're eating with them. They have had the
coolest experiences.
On Friday we went to Billings to meet with the Stake President at his
home. They fed us some wonderful food and then talked to us about
missionary work and stake goals. They really stressed member
missionary work. Missionaries need to take the time to get to know the
ward and the members, otherwise they limit themselves in what they can
do and people they'll find. It was a cool experience. Afterward, the
Stake Presidents son brought out his boa constrictor and let us hold
it. It was pretty cool. :)
Our main investigator family right now is the Pratts. Brother Pratt is
an excommunicated member but he really wants to get back into the
church. He is such a good man and he is always seeking the best
things. His wife is already a faithful member. Their son, however, is
not a member and he's very shy. His name is Kevin and he sits in on
all the lessons. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray
about it last lesson and we're really excited to see what has come of
that when we meet with them tonight.
We do a ton of driving. We cover a bunch of tiny towns. It takes two
hours to drive our entire area. I'll send a picture. This is a little
hard because we are expected to be efficient with our miles and it
takes a lot of time to get anywhere. This means that we have to plan
out each day according to where we're going to be.
One of my favorite experiences of the week was street contacting on
Main Street in Red Lodge. We often have the problem of not being able
to catch people at home, so on Saturday we took the missionary work to
them. It was so much fun just walking down the street and talking to
everyone we saw, even the owners of the shop. It was a really cool
experience.
At this point we feel two things are very important to our missionary
work in all these tiny towns, creativity and member missionary work.
Each of these ten little towns is so small and they've all been
tracted so many times that they shut the door before we say hello.
While tracting will remain a part of our efforts, our main focus will
be creative and new ways of contacting as well as working with the
members in unity to find and teach investigators.
I've taken a ton of pictures in the time I've been here. This place is
incredibly beautiful.
Love you all so much. Keep up the member missionary work, it's
important. I know that this gospel is true. It is definitely worth two
years of my life, and my entire life. I know the more you give yourself
to the Lord, the more he can bless you and give you peace and
joy. I am so grateful for all the blessings I've received and I know
as I try harder, I can help others receive those same blessings.
Philippians 4:13
Love,
Elder Thomas
Map of my area
Snake!
It says I can write home about it... It was alright!
Shoveling at the church
A tree! Whoa.
This place is beautiful.
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