The Master is Calling! : Kalispell

Dear Family and Friends,

The last few days in Corvallis were rough. I have been serving there
for almost 8 months and it just felt like home. Every picture I sent
last week is of a family or investigator that has played a significant
role in my life. One of the hardest goodbyes was with Austin,
Mitchell, and the Chapman's. We had a testimony meeting where each of
us bore our testimony, there were a lot of tears. I started crying
pretty hard during my testimony and Mitchell stood up and gave me a
big hug. It is hard not to be at his baptism but the Lord needs me in
Kalispell!

The first few days as a Zone Leader have been... interesting. Day 1 we
had to drive from Corvallis to Helena where I met my new companion
Elder Fleming. After that we spent another 4 hours driving back. In
total, I was in the truck for 8 hours. The next day we had to go back
to Helena to get the new missionaries. The roads were icy and we were
driving in a blizzard. I drove at first and it was very stressful. It
took about five hours to get to Helena. We picked up the missionaries
and started the long drive back to Corvallis. As we approached a town
named Ronan we saw an ambulance coming our way so everyone started
slowing down and pulling over. I put my foot on the break... but the
truck didn't stop, it didn't even slow down. I did my best to pull off
the side of the road but we ended up sliding along the passenger side
of the bumper in front of us. I was pretty frustrated. However, the
damage wasn't bad at all. This delayed us for another hour, totaling
in 12 hours on the road. We were so happy to be home. That night we
got a call that almost made us cry, we were to stay inside for the
next two days unless we had set appointments. Blech. At home this
would've been awesome, however, on a mission, there's not much to do
besides study... and you can only do that for so long before your
brain goes numb.

It was absolutely terrible to be inside for TWO DAYS! The first day we
were with some other missionaries at our apartment most the day.
After we went and talked with the Gardners. I love the Gardners, when
you are a missionary, they just adopt you into the family.
Their son Eric is such a crazy young man and we have tons of fun with
him. Random snow fights are expected here. We spent the rest of the
evening playing games with them in the basement.

The next day, we were able to provide service around the Gardners
home, watch Finding Faith in Christ and Mr. Krueger's Christmas. It
was bitterly cold. -22 without windchill, about -30 with windchill. We
still had a lot of fun though.

I have loved getting to know the members; they are SO KIND. I am very
excited to work with them. Elder Fleming is such a fun companion! He
is HUGE. When he finishes his mission he is going to go play football
for BYU.

It was an amazing week! Will tell you all more next week. Hopefully,
sorry this was boring, it was a weird week!

Love,
Elder Thomas

Saying bye to Elder Porter and Elder Rich. Imma miss them so much,

they are both very dear to me.