We'll Harvest this Field from Sunrise to Sunset!

Monday, July 24, 2017

Trio Goals

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a week of miracles.

Monday evening we unfortunately had to drop Aaron, but it was needed because he is unwilling to listen and learn at this time. We talked with him about it though and he understands why.

 On Tuesday we had Mission Leadership Council in Helena. It all went well, till the fire alarm went off during the opening song... we finished the song anyways though haha. Someone had left a box of granola bars on the stove top and someone else had bumped the buttons, so Elder Baird, our vehicle coordinator, did the heroic thing, and picked up the burning box and threw the box outside on the grass. He did burn his finger really bad though, but it's healing. We quickly found out there was a real fire, after we finished the song, and all ran out to watch the box burn... haha it was crazy. The rest of the meeting was inspiring; my favorite thing that was said was, "You can't teach obedience and expect people to be obedient. You CAN teach Christ, and expect people to be obedient." -President Wadsworth

One of the coolest things about Tuesday is that Elder Chamberlain stayed with another elder that is going home soon and worked in our area all day! We felt very lucky to have that blessing, because we didn't get back to Billings till about 8:30.

This week we got to teach Andrea the full restoration lesson and it was incredible! Andrea has a heart of gold. We love teaching in a trio and we're each able to testify of the truthfulness of the restoration. We have seen her heart soften, and we are dearly hoping she will be willing to keep learning.

Friday was rez day! Elder Chamberlain spent the morning in Billings with Elder Hunter who was with us for the day before he headed home the next day. Elder Emms and I went to a tiny little town at the outskirts of our area called Pryor and it's part of the Indian reservation. It's decently ghetto, but the people are just awesome. We were walking the streets, getting funny looks and talking to whoever would listen when we got talking with two young men and Elder Emms followed a prompting to ask if they play basketball. Well soon enough, we were playing two on two, natives vs. missionaries, and boy we had some lucky shots. Now the native Americans think the white boys can play basketball... pray for us haha.

Saturday morning we got to help Loretta Beadling scrape off an old pealing layer of paint and begin applying a new coat! It was so much fun, we had the scaffolding, ladders, people everywhere. Just what every missionary dreams of for their investigators!

The next morning, Sister Beadling came to church! We were SO excited to have her there! Even better was that we had President and Sister Wadsworth there as well. Sister Wadsworth sat by her and they got pretty close. That evening we got to teach her a lesson, WITH Sister Wadsworth, and it was perfect. We discovered so many of her concerns and worries and we learned how we can help her even more! It was beautiful and the spirit was powerful.

Also on Sunday we found TWO new part-member families to meet with through tracting and contacting. We have been focused on setting goals for finding new people through prayer and then having the faith to go out and find those people and it works! Make certain to set goals through prayer, and then go out and work to accomplish those!

I love you all. One last thought: When I was young, someone in my family often would ask the question, when doing something hard, "Why are we doing this?" And the rest would respond, "because it's hard, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it."

We are often led to ask, why are we doing this in the eternal work? The toils of a mission weigh on our shoulders as a great burden. But remember, how much control would we have without gravity? How strong would we be if not for weight? How much would we grow spiritually if not for trials? So why? BECAUSE WE GROW. Because it's HARD. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Love,
Elder Thomas

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