This week was A-MAZE-ING

What a week!

On Monday we made ties for preparation day. It was a lot harder than we thought it would be because I had to explain, demonstrate, and then help each individual do it, which got a little crazy. But it all worked out and now we all got some more shnazzy ties.

Transfers were this week as well, but this time they were on Tuesday when they are usually on Wednesday. The other weird thing is that we had to deliver an extra vehicle down to the rendezvous point, which meant we didn't have enough missionaries to put two in each vehicle. 5 missionaries, 3 vehicles. What did this mean? Well this meant I had a 3 1/2 hour drive  We all by myself... which was super weird. I rolled the windows down, turned on some of my missionary music, and I sang at the top of my lungs as I drove through beautiful Montana. The ride was gorgeous, the music was beautiful and it felt good to sing without worrying about hurting my companions ears haha. When we got there, we saw a lot of missionaries and talked to a lot of people, but by far one of the happiest things was seeing my good friend Elder Peterson. On the way back I got to have Elder Christensen with me, which was good because we have so much fun just talking all the time:)

Tuesday night we got to meet with Autumn and Allie right after institute. Autumn is so prepared to receive the gospel! We explained to her that our goal is to teach her the basics of the gospel and that as we do so, it'll be easier to answer her bigger questions because she will have a foundation to build on. I was able to use my experiences as a pole vaulter to explain that we need to practice the basics before we do and learn the bigger things. I didn't know this before, but Autumn was a pole vaulter, so that clicked with her really well.

Wednesday we had our transfer dinner with our stake president, President Clark. It was such a good meeting!! He talked to us about getting the members doing work, we each bore our testimonies on conversion, and the food was AMAZING. It was Hawaiian themed and the even had MANGOES. Man, I love mangoes.

After the transfer dinner, Brother Wehrli gave us the best news ever... his daughter-in-law, Amanda wants the lessons and potentially to be baptized!!! Crazy right?? Welcome to the missionary field, full of miracles and awesomeness!

Weekly planning was rough on Thursday because Eric Gardner and Paxton Boyce were at the house and we got distracted talking to them for a while because they are so much fun to talk to, but we were still able to get most everything done, thank goodness.

That night we went and practiced the song we are going to be singing in church next week with Sister Cik, the pianist in the ward. First of all, Sister Cik is one of my favorite people in the world! She is so kind and friendly and one of the funniest people ever, and she is SO kind to us. Second of all, she had a guitar and I got to jam for a sec. I have forgotten EVERYTHING haha.

Friday was da bomb! For dinner we got to go over to Mike Roberts' place and eat steaks outside on his picnic bench. It was SO good. I've had some of my favorite food in the world in just this week. He also had his beautiful dogs out there with us! It was so good just to chat with him and get to know him even better. He is a very good man and his steaks are pretty good too. After dinner we went to a lesson with the Karr family, a less-active family that has decided to try and make it back to church. It was so much fun, Brother Karr and Elder Christensen got along SO well haha. They are both fly fisherman and I swear I have never heard so many words I don't understand! They weren't speaking English, they were speaking Flyfish.

Friday night the elders in Columbia Falls and Whitefish had a baptism with one of the coolest converts I have ever met in my life! She is more prepared for baptism than anyone else I have ever met. We are very proud of them so we took them out for Frozen Yogurt after.

As we drove home Friday night, I expressed to Christensen how much I miss backpacking and hiking. Well, Elder Christensen is a stud, and he expressed some pretty awesome ideas. We literally live five minutes away from tons of different short hikes! So the next morning we woke up at 6:00, so that we would have an hour for workout, and went hiking for an hour! It was the BEST THING EVER!!!! We then went back showered, got into proselyting clothes, studied, got into service clothes and headed over to do service with the Stuart family. We raked, we helped him install a drip system, and enjoyed an AMAZING lunch prepared by sister Stuart. Rice, kebabs, veggies. We were so excited for food after all the physical labor we had done that day!

On Sunday we both gave talks in Sacrament Meeting in the ward. It was actually fun! Crazy right? We both just really feel that the spirit filled our mouths and we said what we needed to. Such a good feeling.

We didn't speak in the YSA this week, thank goodness. That would have been four weeks in a row! Haha.

We had dinner with the Davis' the biggest teases I have EVER met in my life. I'm always behind in that household haha. But we love them. We shared a spiritual thought that we felt prompted to share and found out that the video we shared was perfect for Brother Davis' mother! I love revelation. One tender mercy from that dinner is that I was able to find out that my testimony touched his mother's heart one night when she was there for dinner. That meant a great deal to me to hear that. It's amazing that these little, insignificant young men can go on mission and the spirit can fill their mouths and somehow get them to say the right thing. It's such a wonderful opportunity! I consider myself SO blessed.

After dinner we went to Bishop Youth Discussion and got to chat with the youth for a while because bishop has asked us to get to know the youth and teach them whenever we can. We finished the night with some contacting which just wrapped up the whole night.

Shoutout to my incredible sister Alicia who just did INCREDIBLY well in the Boston Marathon, coming in fourth of all the women from utah. That's right y'all, that is my sister:)

Anyways, I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH.

Love,
Elder Thomas

Elder Christensen sat in a pile of leaves while I was looking the 

other way, and I turned around and saw this. 😂

Got to see Elder Peterson at transfers!

The drive to Helena was BEAUTIFUL!

Nala 😍

Lunch with Mike

RAINBOW

Morning workout on Saturday!

FroYo

I. LOVE. MONTANA.

Sunglasses cause we so cool

EASTER IS THE BEST.

Dear Family and Friends,

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Oh my good gravy, where to start with this week... last Monday we did
shopping, I got home and thought, "I don't really feel like emailing
today... so I didn't haha. But I did send my last weekly this morning
so y'all can't complain. Instead I pretty much just played with Nala
all day. She is completely healthy and growing like a weed! Love that
dog.

On Tuesday we tried some street contacting and came to the harsh
realization that our street contacting skills are very rusty haha.
We're going to have to get used to the fact that people actually go
outside again! Later that night we had a great institute lesson with
the YSA. The coolest part? One of the members of the YSA, Allie,
brought a friend! Her name is Autumn and she is the coolest. She
expressed to us after institute that she was just looking for God, and
Allie asked her if she would come to her church activities! Missionary
work is the best when members work with the missionaries. We just
chatted with her for a while after Institute and established that our
goal was to help her find God and that it would be her responsibility
to do the reading and praying. She really seemed to like that! Can't
wait to see where this one goes.

Wednesday was our last District Meeting of the transfer and it was so
good! I gave a 25 minute discussion and it really just felt like the
spirit took over and guided my every word. So nice when that happens!
After district meeting, we got together with the other district and
took the most epic Zone picture ever! It was awesome. That day there
was free ice cream at the local ice cream shop so we stopped in, and
let me tell ya, there is nothing quite like honey cinnamon ice cream.
Best thing I've tasted in the history of ever. That night we did
splits and I got to go with good ol' Brother Burningham. This man is
just good! He is fun to be around and he is a great teacher. While he
and I were out contacting less-actives, we knocked on the door of a
family that neither of us knew. When he came out, he was extremely
kind and said that he was busy right then but wanted us to come back,
share a message and have dinner with them! Sometimes you wonder how
some people went less-active. We can't wait to get back there. As we
left he said, "don't worry, I'll make sure you are fed very well!"

Thursday morning we had a really good lesson with Mike. We discussed
what he got out of the last chapter he had read and some of his
reflections on General Conference that he had been pondering on. We've
been feeling that he is just a little to comfortable with where he is
at so we have been praying that he will soon realize that there is so
much more available to him! That night we had an awesome YSA activity.
We played catch phrase, which is a very difficult game after being on
a mission for 18 months! Seriously don't remember anything.

Ooh this week we went to the post office to send a package off for
Elder Fleming and before we went in we decided to talk to as many
people as we could. It was sick, I was teaching the lady in front of
me while Elder Christensen taught the lady behind him. I love moments
like this! You can share the gospel wherever you are, especially
around Easter, everyone wants to talk about their Savior right about
now.

On the way out from the post office we bumped into a member and felt a
prompting to ask them if we could have dinner with them because we
didn't have a dinner that night and they always told us it was an open
invite. They got all excited and told us about this cool Passover
dinner thing that they were doing at another member's house. It was
one of the cooler things I've been a part of on my mission. There were
a bunch of nonmembers there and we went through the Passover the way
the Jews do and learned so much! One of the coolest things we learned
was that at every Passover feast, they set an extra place for Elijah
the prophet who was prophesied to return and turn he hearts of the
children to the fathers and the fathers to the children. Well guess
what, he did return... to Joseph Smith... on April 3rd... which in
that year was the same day as Passover!! Crazy. We also got some pics
with baby goats!

Had a fun, short, exchange with the Columbia Falls Elders. Elder Emms
came with me and I went and conducted a Baptismal interview with an
investigator of theirs. It was one of the coolest interviews I have
ever had, this woman was so kind, so good and so ready! One of the
interview questions asks if they believe that Joseph Smith was a
prophet. Before I could finish talking she stated her solid testimony
that, "Yes he is." What a cool lady!

Friday night was SUPER cool! Allie, the girl that brought her friend
to institute, invited us over for a super fancy, super yummy dinner
cooked by them because Allie, her non-member friend Autumn and another
member friend of theirs are all going through a culinary arts program
and they are very good! It was fantastic food. The dinner was at her
uncle Scott's house, Scott is a non-member as well and he was very fun
to be around. He is very intelligent and very funny. We spent the
night learning from each other and laughing together. Scott is also an
incredible woodworker and I was like a kid in a candy shop looking at
all the stuff he made! Before we left we got to share the Prince of
Peace video and talk about Easter. The spirit was powerful and
testified to each of us of the truthfulness of the message.

Easter was AMAZING! The talks in the ward were amazing. And I got a
few ideas and scriptures for the talk I would be giving in the YSA
branch a little later, so that was good! We also had Mike at church
with us and the non-member fiancé of a guy in our ward. To add on to
that, we also had a less-active member named Lee show up today to! She
is a character, I will have to tell you all about her a little later.
In the YSA ward, Allie brought Autumn and her uncle Scott. We gave the
talks during sacrament meeting, on the Atonement and Resurrection and
the spirit absolutely filled our mouths!

Last of all, but not least... Cookie night was on Easter and it wasn't
at the Boyce's, it was at Lori's! It was SO much fun. We had an Easter
egg hunt, which was surprisingly very hard. I felt like a little kid
again haha. We had so much fun! I was having a hard time finding any
at first, but then I got the hang of it. Elder Christensen however...
haha he only found one! He got ruthlessly teased haha. Afterward we
went in and had a scrumptious dinner and lively conversation. It was
sick.

Love you all!!

Love,
Elder Thomas

When Elder Christensen feels sick but we still gotta work haha

Nala!

Made Elder Christensen and I matching ties this week! 

We wore them on Easter.

More Nala :)

Passed this lake and had to take a picture!

Have I already sent a picture of Nala?

Cool passover dinner thing! 

We got to see baby goats!!

Exchanges in C Falls

Took this through a telescope

Easter photoshoot on side of road...

Easter egg hunt! 

Spring Cleaning

This week has been so very long. Not that it wasn't fun or anything,
It just feels like so much has changed and happened!

Monday was pretty awesome! We got to go hiking and see a great view of
Kalispell. Pictures to follow. That night, Elder Christensen got a
really bad migraine and started speaking gibberish so we took him down
to the Gardners theater room and had him sleep. It was VERY boring.
But I got a lot of thinking and praying done!

So this week... I don't even know where to start. This week I backed
over Nala. The puppy that I love. I was backing and she ran behind the
back tire. My companion tried to get me to stop but I didn't notice
soon enough. I hit a bump right as I realized he was trying to get me
to stop, and realized it was my Nala. My heart just fell apart, right
there, I thought I'd killed her. My companion came up to my window and
helped me know which direction to pull. I finally realized she wasn't
dead as I rolled off her because I could hear her yelping. I jumped
out of the car and looked under the truck to see where she was. Then I
saw her coming out from under the truck, dragging her legs. She
dragged her little body over to me, still crying, and stuck her little
nose in my side like she always does while I comforted her. She
finally calmed down and sat there shaking. Her owner came over to see
her so I went and stood a ways off. My companion was grabbing a towel
to wrap her up in because she was coughing up blood. I sat on the
stairs to gather my thoughts. I heard a car pull out, and realized
they had left to the vet without me... which was weird for both me and
my companion because we were separated. So I went inside and cried. I
thought she was going to die. I prayed so hard. I know my God is a God
of miracles. I knew he could save her. But my heart still hurt. They
got back a while later, she was still at the vet, but they gave me the
news. No broken bones, no fatal damage, only bruising and scratches.
THE ENTIRE TRUCK TIRE WAS ON TOP OF HER. I know God's hand was in
this, there is no other explanation. I didn't say much or eat anything
for a while. Elder Christensen was an amazing strength to me during this
time. Nala got home that evening and I almost cried when I saw her, she
was pretty beat, but she was alive and healing quickly.

The next night was cookie night at the Boyce's! And I know I mention
this every time I talk about them, but I absolutely love this family.
The entire evening with food, laughter, Easter celebrations and Easter
messages was awesome. When I got there, they informed me that we would
be having a special desert... MY MOMMA's POUNDCAKE! When they went
down to Utah for Conference and spring break, they also picked up some
cake and a beautiful Easter package from my mother:) it was so good,
my mom is the best. As I started opening my mothers Easter basket I
found a little wrapped package in it. I started to open it and had
everybody guess what it was, without hesitation, Brother Boyce
volunteered, "maybe it's driving for dummies!" Hahaha nope, but mom, I
really might need one of those! Later that night we were sitting
around the dinner table and we found out that the friend Payzlee had
over had just had a birthday. The conversation went like this,
Us: "So what did you get for your birthday?"
Her: "A puppy!"
Us: "Ooh what kind?"
Her: "A yellow lab... (then looking at me with a smile) just like the
one you ran over!"
Haha it was hilarious! Kids say the darnedest things.

We had a crazy weekly planning session this week. We are calling it
spring cleaning! We went through our areabook and dropped everyone
that wasn't progressing unless the spirit told us not to! Our areabook
is a lot whiter now, but that's just more room to grow! You've got to
weed the garden until it almost looks empty so that the good stuff can
fill it back in, and that's what we're doing.

We haven't been able to contact our recent convert, Tifani, for a
while because her phone ran out of minutes, so we stopped by randomly
this week. It turns out that she had just then gotten minutes back on
her phone and was typing out a message to send to us!  So we got to
stop in for a little bit and teach her family. I LOVE little miracles
like this!

Saturday morning we got to go do some service for the Stuart's again!
It was tons of fun. While we were working, Brother Stuart, the
less-active member, walked by and said, "did you guys see the
rainbow?" What a sight. I have never seen a more vibrant rainbow in
all my life. You could clearly see each color as if it were painted on
the clouds that worked as a bright white backdrop for this
masterpiece. I love this beautiful world God has given us, it's
amazing. Even better was the beautiful Easter message we shared after
lunch. You could tell the spirit was touching their hearts, even if
they didn't really want it to. The spirit is such a sweet, sweet gift.

That night after a rough evening of work, Eric Gardner and his friends
were in the hot tub listening to music, so we stole the speaker and
put out of their reach playing I am a child of God haha. Eventually we
went down and talked to them, it was good to just talk to some people
that actually liked us for a while. Mormons are the best. These silly
ducks are always threatening to play pranks on us in our sleep, but we
inform them that they don't have the guts... maybe we shouldn't
challenge them haha.

Testimony meeting in the Kalispell 2nd ward was incredible! Both Elder
Christensen and I were able to bear our testimony. After that the
mom's with missionaries got up and brought the spirit super strong. It
was fun to hear them and think of my mom back in Utah getting up and
bearing her testimony:) after sacrament meeting we got to go beat our
testimonies of missionary work again in a primary class! Children are
so innocent and good. No wonder Christ wanted to spend so much time
with them.

Testimony meeting in the YSA branch was pretty amazing as well. There
were like 15 of us, so pretty much all of us bore our testimony haha.
The YSA branch is such a fun place to be. It's weird to think this
will be my life soon.

One of my favorite songs on my mission is called happiness, but every
time we listen to the song, Elder Christensen sings "happy days"
instead of "happiness." So I have started correcting him. As we
listened to it this week he almost sang happy days, but caught himself
mid-word and ended up saying happy desk... so now we sing about
eternal happy desk every time we listen to it hahaha.

Anyways, long email this week! Yay:)

Love,
Elder Thomas

Lone Pine hike! 

Little Nala the day she got run over. This picture breaks 

my heart. God is so good, people.

Light trails with Elder Christensen's GoPro camera! 

Yes my current initials are ET haha

District Pics!

MOMMA's pound cake with The Cookie Grandma and those 

two little girls that are always roasting me haha.

A not very good picture of the rainbow... I wish y'all 

could have seen it in real life.