I'm being transferred??

Dear Family and Friends,

What a great week! It's hard to imagine a week that could be bad when
you start it off with a trip to the temple. It was so nice to hear the
covenants we make in the temple again. The spirit is always so strong
in the temple and answers to questions come so easily! We left there
walking on air.

This week we didn't have to shovel elk poop, which was a huge plus.
Instead we got to do yard work, I love yard work! We spread mulch over
the paths that were getting grown over with grass. The best part was
that we got to talk to a lot of people! None were interested but it is
always fun to have a conversation with a kind person!

That night we also helped the elder's quorum with splitting and
stacking a cord of wood. I love the members in this branch! They are
the absolute best. After we did that service they fed us until we
could barely move. Members really like doing that to missionaries.

The best day this week was Saturday. Biking weather is finally here so
we rode our bikes everywhere we went in Columbus. It was such a great
day! The first house we went to, a young boy answered. He said we
could come back the next day, he seemed very familiar with the
missionaries. The next door we knocked on was a young woman named
Mandi Leeper. Her young son knew who the missionaries were and as we
walked up to the door he called out, "hey missionaries! I'll go get my
mom!" When she came out she smiled and greeted us enthusiastically. As
we talked we learned that she had a Book of Mormon and she had read
from it. We also learned that she did want to meet with us but had
just gotten married and would need to talk to her husband first. We
went to another house and the woman who answered told us to come back
later that night. The next place we went, we got to talk to an elderly
couple that really loves talking to missionaries but they aren't too
interested in learning the lessons. We had a cool conversation about
religion with them. We're praying that their hearts soften and
they gain a desire to learn. Finally we went back and knocked on the
door where he woman told us to come back. Her husband was home now and
they came out on the porch to talk to us. They had so many questions
and we could barely keep up with everything they wanted to know. We
eventually had to go because it was getting late but they really want
us to come back!

I have spent a ton of time and energy trying to get the work in this
area moving. I love the members here and all those I've had the
opportunity to teach. I know I was called to Red Lodge and Absarokee
for a reason and I'm gonna leave that place better than I found it. On
Sunday we got transfer calls, I am getting transferred to Corvallis
Montana. My companion will be Elder Angle, who came out with me. I
love Elder Angle, he is a good kid and he reminds me of Nephi. He is
the district leader up there in Corvallis and everyone tells me I'm
going to love it! I'm really excited. Just to make me even more sad
that I'm leaving, Eliza,that less-active we taught, Mitch Johnson, the
investigator we were going to go hiking with, and Adam & Christina
have all started coming to church! We also went and contacted that
last person who told us to come back and though we caught the family
around the dining table, he asked us to please come back. Saying bye to
the Fowler's and the Mccally's was hard because I have grown very
close to both of them, they're our respective branch mission leaders.
The work is moving here and I am ready to find out what work the Lord
has for me in Corvallis!

I love you all very much!

Love,
Elder Thomas

The FOWLER'S

Sister Green was taking pictures of us when we stopped by this week.

The MCCALLY'S

Mother's Day

Dear Family and Friends,

This is a weird preparation day. Today we are going to the temple
which means we have preparation day today, Wednesday, instead of
Monday. It started out great, we woke up at 6:00 instead of 6:30 so
that we could get everything done, but then we locked ourselves out.
Even better, the members we live with are gone! We spent the next two
hours trying to break in but we couldn't find any windows open, any
credit cards, and I wasn't able to find sufficient tools to pick the
lock! We finally got in the house at about 8:40, therefore, I have no
time to write this email, but I'm going to try my darnedest!

Service wise, the story of the happened at Yellowstone Wildlife
Sanctuary. When we walked in and asked for Tom, they informed us that
he didn't work there anymore. We don't know why, all we know is he's
gone. From now on, we were going to be doing different kinds of work,
animal care. We were introduced to Mallory and she took us to where
they keep the elk. Our job that day was to clean out the space where
the two elk had been trapped all week because of renovations. It was
quite horrid, standing on and shoveling a weeks worth of elk
deification into a wheel barrow was interesting... hopefully I will
never ever do it again.

A woman in the Red Lodge branch is battling cancer and has had quite a
few chemo treatments now. This last week they held a large benefit
auction for her. This auction was gigantic. All the local tourist
shops were in on it, as well as local artisans and craftsman. Such
beautiful things were donated! It was amazing to be a part of and so
much money was raised.

I gave a talk on Mothers on Sunday and cried. It was embarrassing, b
the spirit was very strong!! Lastly, I got to talk to my family on
Mother's Day! It was amazing. I got to see my beautiful, amazing
mother and talk to her face to face! I love her. She has blessed my
life more than I can say.

I am out of time! I will write more next Monday!

Love,
Elder Thomas

Auction

SNOW???

My district!

Nature

TEMPLE!!!!!!!

Working With Others

Dear Family and Friends,

Being a missionary is all about work, not just by yourself, but with a
plethora of other people! This is a major theme I've seen throughout
this last week.

Obviously, the first person I must learn to work with is my companion.
It is very hard to get along with a companion who doesn't want to
work, but you can always love them. I am lucky to have a companion who
likes to work and will work as hard as he can! Elder Harper is a good
man and we have been working so hard this week.

We also worked a lot by providing service. We worked with Tom at the
Wildlife Conservatory again this week! Tom, in my opinion, looks like
a jolly ol' lumberjack with his trim beard, red cheeks, overalls and a
constant smile. It is so much fun to work and laugh with him. I really
want to teach this guy, he'd make a great Mormon! So many people here
would be so blessed by the gospel and they are so close to living it
already. They just need to allow us to give them the rest! Like Rae
Ellen, the woman who is in charge of the thrift store we serve at. She
spends her whole day helping people and she is so good. We would love
to teach her as well. When providing service we talk about the gospel
as much as we can but sometimes they just aren't prepared yet.

We are also working with the members. The goal is to help the members
become more involved and more comfortable with missionary work. We are
going to be role playing the first lesson with members and resolving
their concerns about member missionary work. So far the members have
accepted it really well and we have seen their faith and excitement
grow as they have though about sharing the gospel with their friends.
I can't wait to see where this goes! Already, a young woman in the Red
Lodge branch wrote her testimony in a Book of Mormon and went out of
her way to give it to her friend. I'm very proud of her, that takes a
lot of courage.

We finally contacted a referral we have been trying to contact for a
long time but he turned us down in the kindest way he could. Lynn is
still very kind to us but avoids the topic of the Book of Mormon. We
weren't able to visit Patty because their work was closed. We want to
talk to Patty! I know you are all probably a little tired of hearing
the same things, but Adam and Cristina are on ANOTHER TRIP! These two
are travelers and it is so hard to ever catch them at home, but we
aren't going to stop trying.

I love you all very much! This work is not easy, but it is worth it. I
know that Christ died for us and suffered for our sins. I know because
of his sacrifice we can find greater joy in our lives and we can live
forever with our families forever. What a message worth sharing!

Love,
Elder Thomas

1. SNOW???

2. Brother Ames in the Absarokee branch has some cool sword replicas.

The day after we got snow, it all melted. This place is more bipolar than Utah!

The Branches

Dear Family and Friends,

One of the common confusions we get asked about is the three kingdom's
of glory. They ask, "do Mormon's have a hell?" Into the past I would
show them 1 Corinthians 15:40-42 and try to explain it all that way,
but this week I read a scripture that says it all for me! I want to
share that. It's Mormon 9:2-6.

2 Behold, will ye believe in the day of your visitation--behold, when
the Lord shall come, yea, even that great day when the earth shall be
rolled together as a scroll, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, yea, in that great day when ye shall be brought to stand before
the Lamb of God--then will ye say that there is no God?

3 Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of
God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness
of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that
holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt
that ye have ever abused his laws?

4 Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with
a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before
him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell.

5 For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before
God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it
will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you.

6 O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the
Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless,
pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb,
at that great and last day.

I LOVE THIS!! I've had so many people disagree with us because they
feel that we've turned God into some vengeful being that takes joy in
punishing everyone that doesn't follow the rules, but that's not it at
all. Like it says, how could we "be happy to dwell with that holy
Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that
ye have ever abused his laws?" We couldn't! God wants us all to live
so that we might come back to live with him, but if we don't obey his
laws he will be forced to put us away from him because he'll put us
where we can be happiest. I know this is kind of random, but I enjoyed
this so much I just wanted to share it with everybody!

I also wanted to tell everyone about the work in this area. We live in
the middle of nowhere. We cover about ten little towns, the largest of
only has a population of about 2000 people. We are only able to work
in one town every day because of how limited our miles are and how
many miles we have to drive just to get to the town. Once in the town
we tract, visit active and less-active/non-active members and
sometimes we do street contacting. The common response we receive is,
"no thanks, I'm not interested." They are usually quite polite, but
they are not interested by any means. We spend most of our time being
rejected, which is a little hard sometimes, but it strengthens our
testimonies as we face trials with patience and with Christ. We've
received a few referrals but because we only visit one town a day, it
often takes a while to get to the referral. If they're not there the
first time it takes a few days before we can knock again. Essentially,
the only way to really do missionary work in this area is through the
members. A lot of the members have someone they're slowly trying to
introduce to the gospel through materials and conversation but this
last week we have invited the members to step up their game a little
bit and have someone, an investigator or a less-active, at every
dinner! They seemed to accept it well so we hope and pray this will
make a big difference and help the members and missionaries to be more
unified.

This week has been a week with a lot of rejection but things are
looking good for next week! Adam and Cristina just got back from their
honeymoon, finally, and we're hoping and praying they will come to
church next week! Patty and Lynn are still both reading the Book of
Mormon but we only got to visit Patty for a minute this week. Lynn is
still doing really well and we were able to talk to her about how
innocent children are and how much God loves them! She was a teacher
at a Christian school so she loved talking about this. We tried to
contact the referral we received last week again, Wesley, but only his
wife answered and said he wasn't home. She was very kind. We're not
going to give up on them! When a woman calls and asks you to go help
her father, it becomes very personal.

We got to have a ward trek fundraiser with the Red Lodge branch this
week! It was so much fun, they had games, food and it was good just to
talk to everyone. For games they had a stick pull which Elder Harper
was the champion of, a tug-o-war with Elder Harper and I as team
captains (my team won), and an arm wrestling tournament won by a very
muscular kid named Terik! It was a blast. We love our branches!

We both gave a talk in the Absarokee branch this week and they also
had us sing (a little much...). I love this small little branch with
these people. It is so easy to get to know everyone and have a
personal connection with most everyone in the ward. The Absarokee
branch is much smaller than the Red Lodge branch by about half, Red
Lodge is almost a ward! Absarokee is so small and they are desiring to
make it bigger! They are becoming very missionary minded.

It has been a lovely week and we are excited for next week! I know
miracles happen and I know if we do our best we will find those that
Heavenly Father needs to find. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

A foggy night in Red Lodge.

Montana sunset!!

Morning runs!

Skipper goes running with us!

Terik beating me in arm wrestling. This kid is pure muscle. Notice how he's just smiling the whole time...

What a view.

Short one

Dear Family and Friends,

Time flies by and I can barely keep track of it! I don't have much
time today but I'll cover the highlights of the week.

We got to do service at the wildlife conservatory again! This time we
painted a barn and ended up getting very messy! It was a blast. It's a
lot of fun because the main man there (I don't know his
official title) is named Tom and he has been very kind to us. We hope
we get the opportunity to teach him!

We also provided service at Project Hope, the thrift store in
Columbus. I love doing service hear because all of the elderly ladies
that work there are so appreciative and they love it when we come and
help. After we served at project hope we went to contact a referral in
Columbus. This man was referred by his daughter in Utah. When we
talked to her it was obvious that she wanted him to have the gospel so
bad. When he came to the door it was obvious that he knew who we were
as soon as he saw us. He said he was busy at the time but we should
come back later. A little bit about contacting people in this area,
it's kinda crazy. The thing that makes it hard is the fact that we
live in the middle of nowhere and everybody else lives in the middle
of nowhere too. We have two branches and we can only work in one
branch a day, sometimes only one small town because of our limited
miles. It's hard, but it's worth it.

We saw Lynn this week and she tells us that she is still reading! Yay!
We hope and pray that she will continue to read and to pray about the
Book of Mormon. We only got to see Patty for a little bit this week
because they were busy at work, hopefully next week. Adam & Christina
are still on their honeymoon, those lovebirds. Keep them all in your
prayers. I love you all very much, I'll try to write longer next week!

Love,
Elder Thomas

Beautiful Montana!

We've started singing in members homes. This is us practicing :) 

What a mean sign.

The alpacas at Jim and Gail Young's ranch. They let us lead some on a rope. It was crazy.

I LOVE MONTANA! 

Studying outside!

Transfer Week

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday and Tuesday were my last days with Elder Ross! Goodness, I love
him! We became such good friends and I'm so thankful for everything he
has taught me! We went in to play dodgeball and a game called pod-ball
Monday because it was zone preparation day. We had a ton of fun
seeing the zone before transfers. On the way home we saw a super cool
double rainbow, the picture is good but it was even better in real
life. Most of Tuesday we spent saying bye to members in the branch. It
made me a little sad to see him go, but the Lord has work for him to
do in Ronan!

I got Elder Harper on Wednesday! Elder Harper has been out for 19
months and we share a common interest in singing, tons of movies,
(even Joe vs. the Volcano!) and even the toy we played with as kids!
(Lego/Bionicle) He's going to teach me how to beatbox... If he can!
The Fowlers say they love that we sing all the time, we'll see how
they feel at the end of this transfer!

Elder Harper was very sick when I got him on Wednesday so we went home
and he got some good sleep. The next day was wonderful weekly
planning! After weekly planning we went and did service at the
Wildlife Conservatory. This place was crazy! They had bears, mountain
lions, bears, elk... Etc. it was fun to be raking leaves and look up
to see a coyote running around it's enclosure. We saw a lot of the
customers as well.

We had to go to a District Leader meeting in the morning on Friday and
then go back to Columbus for service in the afternoon. We served at
the Project Hope thrift shop for a couple hours and then headed over
to the Mccally's to help them with some yard work. We spent quite a
while at the Mccally's raking the rocks out of their yard and sifting
out the rocks so that they can lay some sod. This was quite exhausting
and left us both completely weak, but they fed us after, so it was
perfect!

On Saturday we walked Red Lodge Main Street. We wanted to go visit our
Lutheran friend, Lynn, but on our way to visit her in the little shop
she works in, we ran into a familiar face. A while ago I wrote about
running into a drunk guy on Main Street, well we ran into him again.
He seemed more sober so I thought I'd give him a chance to see if he
was kinder. He was, but his girlfriend was not, in fact she was very
rude. She rattled off a bunch of her questions that I imagine she'd
been saving up for a long time, all of which were manipulative and
unanswerable. I was trying to look for a kind way out of the situation
but eventually I just walked away. Elder Harper laughed because the
drunk guy he was talking to was super kind. Bars are such weird
places. When we talked to Lynn she said she had started the Book of
Mormon!! She has been reading the testimonies and introductions and
has loved it so far! We are so excited for her.

Well, I love you all, but I gotta go play pod-ball! Have the best week!

Love,
Elder Thomas

P.S. Adam and Christina are married now!

Elder Ross!

Cool moon above the sprawling metropolis of Roberts...

Beautiful sunset

Found this gem :)

Transfer Week

Dear Family and Friends,

On Monday, Gail Young fed us lasagna. She was super nervous because
she hadn't made lasagna in thirty years! So nervous, that she made a
whole lasagna the night before to see if she still could! She made
another one for us on Monday as well so she invited us to come back 
Tuesday night as well.

One of the most intriguing things as a missionary is that everyone has
a story and sometimes it feels like everyone wants to share it with
you. On Tuesday we went Tracting in Joliet. While we were walking down
a street, Elder Ross saw a man working on a car outside a house, which
immediately appealed to Elder Ross. He wasn't interested in talking to
us but an elderly lady came out to talk. Her name was A-lee. A-lee
left her home at the age of 9 and lived on the streets. She shared
many of her incredible adventures with us, it was an amazing
experience. We had arranged to meet with the Pratts that night as
well. We were both very nervous for this meeting because after much
prayer and pondering, we felt we needed to drop the Pratts. We had
been working with them on three commitments my whole time here,
praying, reading the scriptures and attending church. They could not
keep any of these and sometimes the best thing to do is to let them
know you weren't going to be coming back until they were willing to do
their part. It's sad, but sometimes there is just nothing you can say
to help if they aren't willing to do the work. They understood
everything we said, I think they had seen it coming. They will be in
our prayers.

This whole week we've been trying to contact three referrals we got
last week. One referral told us the man had been reading the Book of
Mormon and was interested, but his wife is less-active. When we went
to contact him, his wife answered the door and turned us away just
about as fast as she could open the door. For the other two referrals,
we had a very hard time finding their houses and when we got there
there was no one there.  For one house we had to drive out on dirt
roads for about an hour before we found he house, but no one was home
so we left a restoration pamphlet with our number. We got a call the
next morning from the man who lives in the house and he told us that
the referral no longer lived there. Hopefully we can contact her on
the phone.

We had a hard time contacting our investigators this week. Adam and
Christina are getting married in 5 days!! And when they get back a
week after that, we'll be able to teach them again!! We didn't get to
see Patty this week but we're going to stop by tomorrow to see how she
is doing. We went and visited Lynn in e Village Shoppe and she let us
know very excitedly that she was going to start the Book of Mormon
that night! We can't wait to see how that goes.

Saturday was CONFERENCE!! We watched conference with the Fowlers, the
members we live with, and had a great time. The talks were so inspired
and answered all my questions. The gospel felt so real that day.
Before we went to bed that night we went out on the front porch and
looked at the beautiful stars. It felt like we could reach out and
touch them. Heavenly Father was so close that night. The next morning
we went to the Mccally's, our branch mission leader in Absarokee, to
watch conference. What a powerful way to end conference! It was so
amazing how Elder Holland's talk ended up being exactly what I needed.
I needed his words and his inspiration. It was amazing.

Now for Referral news, Elder Ross is leaving. This makes me super sad
because Elder Ross and I have become super close and we were super
excited for our next transfer! He is headed up to Ronan by Missoula.
My new companion will be Elder Harper, an Elder I've known for my
whole mission. Elder Harper loves music and running and many of the
same things I do, I think we'll get along really well.

I love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

My District :)

BIG FAT LUNCHBOX!!

When it snows in the spring and you forgot a coat.

Found my next companion!