Short and Sweet

Hallo!

Super quick, slightly boring update this week!

On Preparation day this week we played a bunch of miscellaneous games,
my favorite being poison stump, which is when all the missionaries
present (there were only elders) grip each others forearms in a circle
around an empty trash can and then try to pull someone in the group
into the trash can. When you get pulled into the trash can you're out,
and eventually it gets down to two people and it's intense.

The highlight of Tuesday was our first lesson with our investigator
Kathy! Kathy is super solid. She had asked us the week before if she
could feed us dinner and of course we said yes, so after our  first
dinner, we ran to second dinner with Kathy, 'cause we're hobbits. We
ate outside in their front yard with her and her less-active daughter.
Before dinner or the lesson started at all, her daughter made her
promise that they would both go to church a week from this Sunday
(because Kathy had work). Her daughter had to leave early but we were
able to give a simple restoration lesson. There is NOTHING in my life
that can compare to the feeling of God filling my mouth as we teach
these amazing souls. I love it. Kathy even committed to be baptized!

Wednesday morning was interesting. That morning we woke up on time and
went running for exercise. As we finished our run with a sprint, I
tripped on a rock and flew/rolled/slid for a few feet. It was a pretty
impressive tumble haha. I was pretty scraped up all over my body, but
nothing was too deep. Luckily I lost a little skin, AND a little
pride, so there is a plus side to all this! Did some finding that
night and then had to run off to a stake missionary meeting. I love
when the stake gets involved with missionary work, if they respect
President Wadsworth opinion and revelation that is, and this stake
does!

Thursday morning we woke up and headed over to Kathy's place to help
her move some stuff because she is donating a lot of the stuff she
doesn't need before she moves. After lunch we helped another nonmember
family move, and this one was a little harder haha. They had a super
heavy couch and two large toucan cages. The whole time I was just
praying that the Lord would strengthen me as He did Samson haha. He
totally did and thank goodness because those cages must've weighed 5
tons. No exaggeration. The cool thing is that after we finished
helping them, we called the Zone Leaders in the area and told them
when they'd be at their new place and where. Sure enough, when they
got to their new home, the missionaries were there waiting. I LOVE how
organized the church is.

On Saturday we had an incredible lesson with the Anthony family. The
spirit was POWERFUL. We started by reciting the first vision even
though they had heard it before. We talked about so many things and
the spirit was just filling our mouths left and right. We committed
them to come to church and they didn't come. It was killer.

Sunday night we taught the Plan of Salvation to Kathy at the
Cappelli's home! Kathy is absolutely golden. She loves the Plan of
Salvation and she soaked everything up. She even asks questions!
Nobody asks questions during lessons! The Cappelli's testimonies were
beautiful as well and added such a personal perspective to everything.
Most of all, they loved her and she felt their love.

This week I learned a lot about God's promise to us that he will "not
leave us comfortless." (John 14:18) Though last week was hard and
pressing, this week was amazing and we were so joyful the whole time.
I want to have more faith in my Heavenly Father and trust him even
more. He is always seeking to help us.

Love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

Service at Kathy's

I don't even know...

RUNNING.

We didn't take a ton of pictures this week...

Trial Week

Aloha. Mi llamo Elder Thomas.

Monday was BUSY. We gave up a little preparation day time to help a
family move in. We then finished laundry, shopping, and emails in time
to have about an hour and a half of games at the church. That night we
had another lesson with Aaron Clark, and it went even better than we
thought it would. Everyone, Aaron really needs your prayers right now.
He has had some experiences that seem to have softened his heart a
little and any help would be awesome. The lesson was amazing and we
were able to really connect with him and answer his questions. Pray
hard!

Tuesday was also extremely busy, but we had an amazing lesson with our
investigator Kathy Segmiller. She absolutely loves having us over and
asked if she could adopt us (don't worry momma, I said she had to ask
you first haha). She picked our mind on the churches opinion on a
bunch of things and sought some comfort regarding some personal and
family challenges she was having. It was an amazing lesson because we
were able to use the scriptures, stories, personal experiences and
other things to teach. The spirit was SO helpful the whole time and was
just helping us left and right. Another great lesson. Also during the
course of the day we got caught in a torrential downpour that only
lasted for about 5 minutes, but COMPLETELY soaked us so we had to run
home and change real fast because it looked like we had just taken a
shower fully clothed haha.

Wednesday morning we had Zone Conference in Billings so we woke up a
little early, grabbed some McDonald's breakfast (best breakfast ever,
except for yours mom) and went to Zone Conference. Zone Conference was
AMAZING. Any opportunity to hear from President Wadsworth is a good
opportunity. I love how obedient my mission president and his wife
are. They don't bend rules, they don't cut corners, and yet they still
manage to be some of the funniest and funnest people I know. After
Zone Conference we got to go help some other missionaries with some
service, and let me tell ya, moving people is pretty hard! Sometimes
the stuff is just way too heavy and you just gotta pray that you won't
drop it because you know they will hate Mormons and never talk to
missionaries again! That probably wouldn't actually happen, but it
feels like it would. Anyways, that night we did a lot of tracting and
contacting, and though we talked to a lot of kind people, no one was
interested.

Thursday was weekly planning! Yay! We have been trying really hard to
act enthusiastic and excited about weekly planning, even if we are
faking it haha. We just act all excited and it's the cheesiest thing,
but it works and it helps us get through it! Thursday evening we did a
bunch of tracting and contacting. It was one of those nights that
tries your faith but you just keep going anyways!

The next evening we tried a bunch of people and no one was home again!
Summer is awesome and all, but I am pretty tired of everyone taking
week long vacations! What on earth, don't they know the world revolves
around me?? We had a youth with us that night and he was pretty shook
by about halfway through the night after we had been cussed at and
yelled at a few times, but right at the end of the night we met some
very kind people who were willing to talk for a little about Christ
for a little bit. Though they were not interested it was still such a
relief. After we left the last door he turned to and said with a
smile, "that makes it all worth it, doesn't it?" I would have to agree
with him.

On Saturday we went to help some other Elders in the ward do some
service for a member in their ward. We put up some fences real fast
and then ran off to Sister Beadlings to help her with some things.
Sister Beadling has some old paint that needs to be scraped off her
house and she gave us two tiny scrapers for this huge house... haha we
barely made a dent. We were outside from the morning till the late
afternoon, and it was HOT. We went to dinner feeling pretty beat.
After dinner we hit the streets again and tried contacting a bunch of
people that appear to never be home. After another disappointing day
of trying to find more investigators and keep the ones we have already
found, we headed back to our truck when we saw a young woman out with
her dog. We did the usual and asked if we could pet the dog haha. As
we pet her dog she told us that she has a good friend that is Mormon,
and being desperate to see some fruit of our labors we blurted out
that she should go to church with her tomorrow! Her friend wasn't in
our ward, but sure enough, we saw her on our way out the door the next
day! So that made us pretty happy. Hoping and praying her parents will
let us teach them.

Sunday was ROUGH. I was already beat from the sun exposure the day
before AND I needed to fast that day. I stumbled through the day
(literally) and somehow made it all the way to dinner and we still got
work done.

This week was a little harder than some others but I know we did our
best and we will be blessed for that. I hope and pray that this coming
week will yield some more fruit for us to harvest and we'll be able to
see someone grow. Thank you for the prayers and the love!

One more thing I want to mention before I close this letter. Families
can be together forever. Our families often know when we need a little
help and a little love, even without our saying it.  This week as we
headed out for an early morning meeting, we almost tripped over a bag
of goodies on our doorstep. This was weird and we suspected some
members or some of our neighbors until we saw a little letter
addressed to Elder Neal Thomas... then we were REALLY confused! I
opened it up and found pictures of my two sisters, Colleen and
Diana!!! What little stinkers haha. On their way to Bismarck North
Dakota they had stayed in Billings, looked up my address, took
pictures of their journey to my apartment and WITH MY APARTMENT
NUMBER, got the photo's developed, bought me food and left it all on
my porch! It was just what I needed Wednesday morning. :) I love my
family!!

Co-knee-chee-wah

Love,
Elder Thomas

LONG WEEKLY. SORRY IF IT IS BORING.

Hi Peeps,

On Monday, a member and his two non member friends joined us for
basketball and pod ball, and it was awesome! I love moments like this,
when people put aside beliefs and biases and just laugh and have fun
together! That night we went and had a pretty good lesson with Aaron,
but the lesson was cut short when we got DUMPED on and started seeing
lightning left and right. It was wild. We wrapped up the night with an
awesome Facebook post from Elder Chamberlain and some contacting on
Facebook.

Tuesday was CRAZY. In the morning, we got to have interviews with
President Wadsworth himself! This amazing man has blessed my life, and
continues to bless my life every time I have the privilege of
interacting with him. When Elder Dyches was here, he revered President
Wadsworth by saying that he is "the best of the best." And I stand by
him on that statement.

After interviews, we went to lunch with the Pioneer Park elders and I
got a puny little salad at Wendy's because I'm trying to be all
healthy... It was rough. I don't think vegetarian is for me haha.
After lunch we exchanged companions, and Elder Chamberlain went with
Elder Epperson to Pioneer Park, and my good friend Elder Lester came
with me to Blue Creek! We had the very best Companionship Study ever,
with awkward roleplays and everything, then we went out and did some
contacting. Dinner was much needed that night after only eating a pile
of leaves and the amazing Nethercott family saved my starving self! We
were able to contact our investigator named Pete, and though he had
company over, he managed to once again prove he is the kindest man
alive by emphatically telling us how much he loved our ties and asking
us to come back soon! I want to be kind like him someday.

Wednesday morning we switched back to our regular companions at
District Meeting and Elder Lankford led us in another incredible and
revelatory journey through the gospel. He is such a great District
Leader, and have I mentioned that he is serving in one of my former
area's?? He is in Red Lodge and Absarokee so we have had a lot of fun
just talking about people we both know. My exchange with Elder Lester
was awesome, but it is always good to be back with your regular
companion.

Thursday was full of little gems. After doing some weekly planning in
the morning and early afternoon, we headed back home to grab some
things before going to find some people and we walked up on our
upstairs neighbors, Josh, Elizabeth and their friend, trying to move a
bed into their apartment. We offered our help and the two women very
gratefully accepted haha. We were able to move the rest of the bed
upstairs for them and had a fun conversation with Josh. We have begun
to grow so close to our neighbors and we are praying that we will have
the opportunity to share the gospel with them.

We then left the apartment and went out to follow the spirit. It lead
us to a nearby street and soon we saw a man walking his dog, so I
asked if I could pet it (which always gets them to stop haha) and we
talked with him for a while. Although he wasn't interested, he asked
for our card so that he could contact us if anyone he knew ever needed
help with anything, so we willingly obliged! The spirit then guided us
even further down the street and prompted us to knock on a random
door. We knocked on the door, a very kind man came out to greet us, he
told us he was busy right then but that he really wanted us to come
back. Sensing our doubt he said, "no seriously, I used to live up in
the heights and I would have the missionaries over and feed them all
the time. Come back Monday or Tuesday at any time." Haha that
convinced us. What a fun miracle that was!

That evening we were blessed to find a less-active member outside
cleaning out her car, so we went and offered our help, convinced her
to let us help, and then spent the next hour chatting with her and her
daughter while we helped clean out their suburban. It was such a
miracle, considering we hadn't been able to find them home in the
past. It was also a blast, even though the little girl kept walking
over the seats with her dirty shoes haha. We don't know how rapid the
progress will be with them, but we know that is where the spirit
wanted us to be that night.

Friday morning we were privileged to spend most of the morning giving
a couple blessings in two different hospitals. One of the most amazing
was being able to give a blessing to a little one year old that had a
cist (however you spell that haha) on her arm that needed to be
drained, she was also diabetic. It was so much fun to watch her
parents taking care of her and her twin and the love and patience they
had. I love witnessing love:)

Afterward we stopped at great harvest, got some AMAZING bread and a
free loaf of bread because members who own stores are the kindest
people on earth. We then stopped at the mission home to grab some
supplies and had a great time chatting with Sister Baird and Sister
Kasper, the greatest office staff EVER. And then we went down to Elder
Baird's office, the greatest vehicle coordinator of ALL TIME, and
laughed with him for a while. (The Baird's and the Kasper's are senior
couples in the office and they are hilarious, just in case I haven't
mentioned that before) And if this doesn't already sound like the best
day ever, that night we had dinner with the ward mission leader (the
Cappelli's), his lovely wife, 5 daughters and 1 baby boy AND THEN we
got to go out contacting people in THE RAIN! It was awesome. We
splashed each other the whole time and had some amazing lessons with
an active member family, and a recent convert. I DOING MISSIONARY WORK
IN THE RAIN! Not to mention I got to meet the most beautiful husky in
the entire world on the way home. Her name was Akiera. Anyways, great
day:)

Saturday was pretty darn cool too! We woke up early in the morning to
go help direct traffic for a local run called, "the heart and soul
run." the morning was beautiful and the people were awesome! It kinda
made me miss my half marathon's, but the mission is still better than
any marathon ever. Anyways, we had a little more planning and
"babysitting" (resolving silly little issues in the zone and
re-explanation of all the rules) that day and then we got to go to a
ward Father's Day Barbecue. At the barbecue there was a large group of
men taking about a 50K run one of them had just done and I missed
running again! What is this, who even misses running?? After the
dinner we tried to do some street contacting and tracting but found no
new potential investigators, so we then went and had an incredibly
insightful correlation meeting with Brother Cappelli. After the
meeting we still had to walk home and walked out onto the street to
find a woman walking her ADORABLE puppy beagle. We asked if we could
pet it and she said yes! We chatted for a little bit and then bluntly
asked, "have you ever talked with missionaries before?" She replied in
the affirmative and so we asked if we could come share another message
with her and she replied simply, "yes!" Batta-boom-batta-bang, God is
SO GOOD TO US!!

I was sick for a large portion of the day Sunday but were still able
to get out a little before dinner. Dinner was awesome, ESPECIALLY when
I found out that the members daughter is currently studying landscape
architecture at USU, which is what I'm going to do!! Needless to say,
I got pretty excited and asked a million questions. That night we had
an amazing lesson with Sister Beadling, totally down a different path
than planned, but the spirit was so strong and that is what matters
most.

And last, and not least at all, happy Father's Day to my amazing
father! I love you Dad.

Love,
Elder Thomas

BILLINGS

Street Contacting :)

Trying to get a nice picture for Facebook...

Directing traffic

Found a random mask in our truck... so pictures

Off to din-din

Everything Happens For a Reason

Dear Familita and Friendlies,

WARNING: LONG email. Sorry, too many miracles happened this week to leave them out!

Monday was AWESOME because we went to the gym and played sports with everyone for the first time in a very long time. It was sick.

Later that evening after preparation day, we contacted our investigator named Aaron. Aaron is a very interesting man. He served in the military and he LOVES to tell stories, but it gets in the way of him staying on task. When we visited on Monday, he expressed to us that he purposefully tries to distract us because he enjoys talking to us, but not about the gospel. We had to be very bold with him and bare our testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel and the sacredness of our message. He didn't seem much changed by the meeting, but we will stop by tonight, and we are praying to see miracles.

Tuesday was AWESOME. On Tuesday we had Mission Leadership Council, one of my favorite meetings in the world. To get there on time we woke up at 3:00, were out of the apartment by 4:00 and at the mission home by 4:30, with a short detour to walmart because I owe Elder Christensen money and needed some cash haha. We then got to hop on the "space shuttle," the big mission van bus thingy and ride to Helena. This was much better than it was in Kalispell, because in Kalispell I had to drive, and that was miserable. Sleep on the way there felt impossible because it is not the most comfortable situation for that kind of thing, so I just sat there with my eyes closed. Eventually everyone woke up though and we all discussed super heroes and other geeky things the whole way there. It was SWEET. Elder Hoschouer, one of the assistants to the president is very knowledgeable about the subject of super heroes and enlightened us all! We were also each assigned a super hero, and apparently I am Robin... flattering. Too bad I don't wear short-shorts!

MLC was excellent! The focus of this transfer is on effective study and using time wisely, chapter 2 and 8 in Preach My Gospel. Both things that I could really use in my life! When Elder Dyches was here, he taught us that if we can get the principles in chapter 8 down, we would be successful for the rest of our lives! So, if you wanna be successful, study chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel! Got to see Elder Angle, Elder Tippetts, and Elder Bozue this week, some of my favorite people in the world! Also got a picture with a bunch of Zone Leaders that came out in our transfer group. They are just the coolest.

The way home was pretty fun as well, full of unbelievable stories from Elder Hoschouer (he likes to talk, we like to listen) and silly little mind games that everyone else seemed to pick up right away, but I COULDN'T FIGURE THEM OUT!!! Drove me absolutely insane haha. Then Elder Chamberlain and I tried a mind reading trick which absolutely failed and that was humiliating... anyways it was stressful, but hilarious and very fun.

Wednesday was kicked off with a very powerful district meeting from our amazing district leader, Elder Lankford. I sure appreciate the inspiration that these Elders receive. After district meeting we had the opportunity to interview for baptism two of the most intelligent kids I've ever run into in my life, though they were a little crazy. They could explain all the gospel principles required for baptism perfectly, including the law of chastity. Usually kids don't understand that as well, but these two do. It was super fun.

Later that day we stopped by the mission home for some supplies, which is always a blast! Nobody gives you a harder time than those senior couples:) We then got to help Elder Baird deliver some cars to the dealership, which is now the third time I have driven in a vehicle by myself on my mission, and is always a strange experience. But once again, I sang as loud as I could the whole way because no one was judging me, except when we hit a stop light and a lady pulled up next to me. I tried to act like a normal human being then...

Later that night as we were out tracting and street contacting, we saw a younger man and an elderly woman working on a truck engine in the front yard; we asked if we could be of any assistance and were quickly reminded that we know nothing about cars as they tried to explain the situation. The man's name was Sean, and unfortunately we have forgotten the name of his mother. Sean is probably in his early to mid 40's and is a very good example of one who has been sufficiently humbled. He was very kind and generous, with no shortage of kind things to say about Mormons! We heard him say many times, "I wish I had what you guys have," which we always answered with a, "you can!!" His mother was also very prepared and promised us that as soon as their schedule cleared up, they would have us over to share a lesson, and this was before we could even ask if we could haha! Sean asked us to stop by any time we were in the area and they both expressed that we were always welcome in their home!

Thursday was another lovely day of weekly planning. The planning was great, but even better was when we had the random prompting that someone we needed to talk to was on the church grounds right then! We immediately went to the window and opened it to see if anyone was outside. Upon finding a man pulling weeds in the flower beds, we rushed out to talk to him. He was very kind and we spent a little while talking with him. We then invited him to come to church with us, which he declined but expressed that someday he might and that he had honestly been considering it! We felt strongly that we should not push him, which is kind of against our nature, but we are confident that we said what was needed to be said. It was SO cool:)

That night as we were out contacting, we got a flat tire. My first reaction was one of disappointment because I felt like we weren't going to be able to do all the finding we needed to do. However the spirit quickly reproved me and reminded me that "everything happens for a reason." So in faith, we went about changing the tire quickly as possible. A few minutes into it, a very kind Hispanic man named Daniel pulls up and says, "Do you guys need help changing your tire?" BAM. Miracles. We accepted and he came and helped us out! He was very helpful, and very talkative, getting our opinion on all sorts of subjects, from politics to raising children haha. Daniel is very family minded and loves the church's focus on family. He liked us so much that he bought us lemonade at the gas station down the street and kept telling us how excited he was to have us over for s'mores and to meet his family.

Tire miracle number two happened the next evening as we were securing the flat tire underneath the truck just in case someone felt like stealing it out of the bed of our truck. An elderly lady that lives in the same apartment complex as us was coming out to listen to a CD in her car because she doesn't have a CD player. We reached out to her and she stopped and talked to us for a little while. She told us she was going to listen to a Christian song called, "Look for me in Rainbows" because she loves rainbows and we told her we had a wonderful song about rainbows called, "When I am Baptized." we then launched into religion and she told us her whole background. She was excited to hear about not baptizing infants, but rather waiting until they were 8, the age of accountability, and baptizing them when it was there choice because she couldn't remember her baptism and felt that was wrong. She was also excited to hear that the sacrament was bread and water, not wine. It was a delightful conversation and we can't wait to keep meeting with her.

Saturday was crazy, but because I don't have much time I will just mention a few things. We had the opportunity on Saturday to join the March Against Drugs and Violence. A nonmember invites the missionaries every year to join this march around Billings downtown and the missionaries have generally supported him in it. It is a wonderful rally and the people there are all so kind and good. At one point as I stood amongst some missionaries, I could see three different missionary teaching opportunities happening at once. Opportunities like this are gold. But I do need to add, cities TERRIFY me now! I have been in country settings for almost two years, and the tall buildings and multitude of people were all making me very uncomfortable. Coming home to Utah will be interesting, I think I will stay in the mountains for a couple months.

The young boys we interviewed were baptized later that evening. I love the spirit at baptisms. The highlight of that event was definitely reaching out for a handshake and getting two hugs instead, it just melts your heart haha. Their mom quickly corrected them, but children are just so Christlike!

Sunday was awesome! Church was great and all, but the highlight of the evening was contacting an investigator of ours and getting to know her. Sister Beadling's husband was a member but he just recently passed away. Ever since then, the church has been watching over her and taking care of her in any way possible. This woman's spirit is very special and she has already taught us so much about being meek! Last night we had an awesome conversation about families and success. We read a little from Gordon B Hinckley's teachings about families and it just made me so grateful for the church and what is taught about families, marriage and eternity! It is ALL true! That night we watched the Face to Face with David Archuleta, had hot Kool-aid (Julian Smith reference) and had big bowls of popcorn. Ending the week with a BANG.

Quick spiritual/kinda funny thought:
There is a typical joke I've been hearing since I was a young boy about an American man in a boat who is sinking off the coast of Germany. In a panic, he radio's in to the coast and exclaims, "I AM SINKING, I AM SINKING!" Not knowing what to expect he hears static on the other end and then the reply, "Vhat are you sinking about??" Haha.
In missionary work however, thinking and sinking may be considered synonymous in some occasions. As you walk down the street and someone approaches from the other way, you need to make sure you don't over think the situation! Just trust the Lord and open your mouth. He will fill it.

I love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

Saying bye to Lori...

And the Creer's...

And the Westover's...

And the Boyce's...

Oh, and Eric haha

Saying goodbye to Elder Christensen 😭

New companion, Elder Chamberlain

Amanda got baptized!

Driving cuz missunury wurk

Elder Bozue at MLC

Everyone at MLC

My transfer group at MLC

District!

Have you called your Father in Heaven today?

Flat tire

Beautiful Montana

Kool-aid, popcorn, and Archuleta!

BILLINGS

Dear Humans,

I arrived in Billings safely this week! Leaving Kalispell was pretty
hard, but I am SO EXCITED to be here in Billings, I know this is where
I need to be for the last few months of my mission.

On Monday we did nothing all day, we mostly just relaxed and wrote
emails until it came time for us to go to my final cookie night. I
love the Boyce's and all they have done for me, so this last cookie
night with them was a rough one! There was a lot of laughing, good
food and other shenanigans throughout the whole evening.

The next morning I hurried and finished my packing and we walked
around to do some contacting and also say bye to a few people. I said
my final goodbyes to Lori (The "Cookie Grandma") which was pretty hard
because she is one of my favorite people in the whole world! I also
said by to the Creer's. The Creer's are a wonderful family that I have
grown very close to over my time in Kalispell. Brother and Sister
Creer moved from Arizona recently and they are still adapting to the
strange and mystical phenomenon that is Montana. They fed us an
AMAZING bagel lunch and then took us with them to pick the kids up
from school. I got to read a picture book with their toddler Gracie
and I got to say goodbye to the others that we picked up at school. I
am going to miss that family a lot.

Dinner Tuesday night was with the Westover's. I love Bishop Westover,
he was incredibly helpful during the time I spent in Kalispell and it
was so good to say goodbye to their amazing family.

After dinner, Bishop drove us to the church so we could have institute
and meet with Allie and Autumn beforehand. It was an amazing last
lesson with Autumn and I am confident she is strong enough to keep
pursuing baptism! She asked about some of the common questions we get,
including the temple garment and the homosexual issue. The spirit was
so strong and testified to each of us that what was discussed was
true. I am so grateful for the spirit and the load it takes off of us
when we teach!

Afterward, good ol' Grant from the YSA gave us a ride to the Denna's
house. Grant is a total geek and I am going to miss arguing with him
about the most inconsequential things! Haha. Barb forgot about the
lesson so we chatted with her parents for a little while until Paxton
Boyce picked us up and took us by the house for a quick picture and
the last goodbye. That was so hard. I can't really express how much
they have done for me, but they have a very special place in my heart.

Pax then drove us home and we went and harassed Erk (Eric Gardner)
until it was closer to time for bed... and then we went to bed
promptly at 10:30... Jk we actually talked till 4:30 in the morning,
which was not wise, but hey, It was our last night as companions!
Don't judge. Imma miss Elder Christensen a ton, more than he'll miss
me I'm sure haha. He did a lot for me, to help me grow and become
better and he is a very faithful friend. Not to mention how
hilariously weird he is!

The next morning Erik woke us up at 6:00 AM!! Haha he was all laying on
the horn and yelling at us... a whole 1 1/2 hours of sleep... I was
TIRED. I told him to get out of here and started trying to get ready.
We hit a ton of traffic because of construction which made us late but
oh well! In total that day I drove for 9 hours on only 1 1/2 hours of
sleep. It was rough. Eventually I had to pull over for a few minutes
and take a nap in an attempt to keep us alive. We made it though!

That night we had no dinner so I got a good nap in instead of eating,
which was exactly what I needed. After dinner we went and met the
mission leader, did some tracting and added the ward on Facebook!

Thursday morning was the greatest because we got to provide service at
the temple, planting flowers! It was sick, because I LOVE the temple
and I LOVE flowers. We spent most of the morning there, then we got
lunch, did our studies and had an early dinner. After dinner I got to
meet Bishop Hall! Bishop Hall is awesome and I am so excited
to be serving in his ward. We talked about all the things we could do
to make this transfer great and all just got really excited. After we
met with him, we went and met with the Wilsons, Brother Wilson is the
assistant ward mission leader. This man is hilarious and his kids are
SUPER adorable. Then we hit the streets. We knocked doors, talked to
people, street contacted and even found a new potential investigator!
This area hasn't had a baptism in over a year and I have never been
filled with so much fire to do missionary work!

I am running out of time so I will try to make this fast. Friday was
awesome and we had a great lunch with the stake president, president
Zaugg and we weekly planned and it was all pretty great. That night we
had dinner with the Cappelli's, which was SUPER good. We love the
Cappelli's! He is the ward mission leader so we will get to see him a
bunch. They are so educated in the gospel and life in general and it
is incredibly fun to just sit and have intelligent conversation with
them! They also have five adorable little girls and one baby boy which
makes life a little interesting haha.

That night we visited with the Tuletts, who I happened to meet before
a year from this last February because I was staying with the Zone
Leaders for a few weeks and they visited them, so that was kinda
weird.

After that we got out and did some more walking and talking. Gotta
find those elect souls!

Saturday morning we had a training with our District Leaders in the
stake office waiting room. After the meeting we all stepped into the
hallway to get a drink, but when we tried to get back into the room,
the door was locked, and our stuff was in there. We spent the next few
hours making calls and borrowing keys to try and get into the darn
offices... oh our lives are just crazy haha. Eventually the stake
president was able to loan us a key and we finally got our stuff out.
It was rough.

Let's see, that night we had dinner with the Gray's, Elder Chamberlain
ran over a kids bike as we left dinner (no kid was on it. Don't worry)
and we had to run tell them about it while the girl cried, we went out
and did some more finding and praying and some lady said she wouldn't
even pray for us. Rude haha. We finished the night up with an awesome
correlation meeting with Brother Cappelli and went home totally
inspired!

The next day was Sunday! I was SO happy to finally meet the ward! I
love the people in this ward already and I can't wait to serve them
the rest of this transfer. Cool connection in the ward; the former
temple president, president Jorden, happens to be the father of Emily
Jorden Barry who married my awesome cousin David Barry. So now he has
claimed me as his nephew, which I am totally fine with because he is
the coolest!

That night we had dinner with the Huffakers and the bishops family,
the Halls. The food was amazing and the company was even better! We
had a super spiritual thought on missionary work and talked about
praying with a promise. The idea that when you pray, you promise
Heavenly Father something in return, and then watch the miracles flow
as you act! The spirit was super strong.

After that we drove down to Pryor to have a big group restoration
lesson with 6 non-members and 6 members. It was SWEET. Probably the
most powerful Restoration lesson I have taught to this point! I love
teaching with Elder Chamberlain, he is an amazing teacher.
Unfortunately none of the nonmembers are in our area, but we committed
ALL of them to be baptized haha! They are all very choice and will
pursue baptism, even if it isn't with us.

Ok, long boring email. Sorry about that, but I love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

PS Amanda was baptized this Saturday! It broke my heart not to be
there for it, but I am SO PROUD of her for making the rapid progress
she did. She is truly elect.

Change of Scenery

Hallo!

On Monday we went golfing, and I did TERRIBLE. Dad, we've got some
work to do. It was also super expensive because the members we went
with didn't pay for us haha. But, it was good to just have a relaxing
day out on the golf course!

That night for cookie night we were a little short on time so we just
played what is called "The Gospel Game." In the gospel game, everyone
writes a random object on a piece of paper and then we mix up the
papers and each person has to relate what is on their paper to the
gospel. Playing with the Boyce's was the hardest one I've ever done
because they did a bunch objects that were SUPER hard to relate to the
gospel, like bird poop, a septic tank lid and a hole in a screen. But
everyone did very well, Lori, our investigator, even had to help me
out on mine haha.

On Tuesday I finally stopped letting the water boil over every single
time we make pasta haha. Very much a good thing! It was also a super
nice day so we walked about five miles just talking to everyone and
knocking on doors when we felt prompted. I love summer in Montana
because people finally stop hiding in their homes and we can talk to
them!

We also found some members out working on their yard so we went and
helped. I LOVE yard work. I swear it's been years since I got to mow a
lawn!! And my clumsy self boy knocked over one of their picnic tables
during the whole process, so it was a success... it's a long story...
haha

Wednesday we got to go on splits with some ward missionaries. I got to
go with Brother Wehrli and see the Roots for the last time. Not sure
I've talked about the Roots before, but the Roots are a recent convert
Family we've visited off and on and I love them to death! Their kids
Callie and Johnny are some of my best friends in the world (3 & 7 yrs.
old haha).

Got to give a blessing to a sister in the ward that is trying to make
some hard decisions. I LOVE blessings because when you are giving the
blessing, the spirit just fills your mouth. When you are not the voice
for the blessing, you pray for the one that is giving the blessing the
whole time, praying that the spirit will fill their mouth. No matter
who you are in a blessing, you have a responsibility to be acting on.

Mucked out a barn for a nonmember lady and it was awesome. This may be
weird, but I love the stinky, sweaty, dirty farm work that I get to do
in Montana. It just makes my day every time. It was cool to do this
for our librarian friend because we got to teach her the whole time we
were doing it! Sneaky Mormons, eh?

Had our last lesson with Amanda before her baptism on Saturday! She is
SO prepared, and we are so proud of her. We went through the Ten
Commandments using the sign language of the Ten Commandments, and it
was hilarious. I love this way to remember the Ten Commandments, I
could never remember the order before!

The next morning, Amanda had her interview for baptism and passed
without any problem! She's basically already Mormon, we don't know how
but she just knows all the answers to all our questions already! She
answers the questions in gospel principles more correctly than half the
members! We are so lucky to have taught her.

On Friday we had 3 lessons in a row, and NO ONE CANCELLED!! It was a
miracle. That honestly never happens! They were all spirit filled and
Elder Christensen and I just taught so comfortably together. He is
such a good man and I am very grateful to have been his companion for
this long.

That night, the Raish family took us out for dinner at this super good
pizza place. It was a blast, and we sure love the Raish family!
Brother and Sister Raish have taught me SO MUCH about charity and
love, I love spending time with them because they are so good and kind
to us. Their son Noah is one of the best kids I have ever met and is
now serving a mission. I miss him and his example, but I know he is
doing the Lord's work. Brother Raish also gave me some awesome ideas
for helping wth my asthma (he's a naturopathic doctor). I'm going to
miss this family.

Saturday morning was service at the Stuart's! We just pulled some
weeds and talked, one little kid backhanded me with the cast on his
broken arm (don't think he realized how much that would hurt),
and we awkwardly watched a kid being disciplined for hitting... haha just a
regular day haha! We have learned quite a bit from them, they are
wonderful examples.

That night we taught Autumn and focused mostly on repentance. It was a
good lesson, and we offered a million prayers of gratitude to our
Heavenly Father for Autumn's fellowshipper, Allie, because there are
so many little questions she asks her throughout the week that are
resolved before we even get to the lesson!

After the lesson we had another awesome game night with the YSA.
Autumn had a blast! We love how the YSA has adopted her into the ward
and it gives us confidence that she will continue to pursue the
gospel!

Sunday was pretty great. During third hour in the YSA we walked in to
priesthood and found out here was no teacher, so naturally the
responsibility fell on the elders... naturally. Well right then the
phone started ringing with transfer calls so he stepped out and it was
just me! Haha. The lesson was awesome though because of the incredible
participation! So grateful for that.

Transfer calls were interesting. I am getting transferred, which is
rough because I LOVE this area and my companion! I'm headed to
Billings to be a Zone Leader down there with Elder Chamberlain! It's
going to be awesome to be in Billings by the mission home, and pretty
close to Red Lodge and Columbus, my past area. Elder Chamberlain is a
really great guy, I can't wait to serve with him. A little nervous,
but trusting in the Lord!

Love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

"Spring has brought me such a nice surprise..."

District pictures

Zone picture

Photoshoot

Making sure the pot doesn't boil over.

Amanda's interview! I'm the one glowing in the back.

Fell asleep getting a ride to church haha

"Heavenly Father... what do you think about?"

My Dearest Family and Friends,

Hola, y'all.

This week has been crazy! I am honestly a little more insane now than
I was last week, and that's saying something. Monday was the best as
usual, it was nice to have some relaxation time and not really do
anything crazy for preparation day. This week we're going to go
golfing with Eric Gardner (The Gardner's are the family we live with)
and Paxton Boyce (The family we do cookie night with)! It's going to
be sweet!

Tuesday was where all the craziness started. We had to drop off our
truck for an oil change that morning and then we walked five miles
back to the apartment. As we were walking up the Gardners long
driveway, Justin Gardner pulled up and asked if we needed a ride haha.
Good timing, right? Justin is the Gardners oldest son who came back
from college to visit for a week. I've been staying at the Gardners
for 6 months and never met him, so it was good to finally meet him
this week. It sufficeth me to stay that he is quite awesome. Justin
offered us a ride to go get our truck when we needed to, and invited
us to go to lunch with him and our bishop. Lunch was AMAZING. You
might be wondering why am wasting your time talking about a random
lunch, but people, I ordered a chicken teriyaki sandwich and it had
glazed pineapple on it!!! It was SO GOOD. I don't know why that blew
my mind and my tastebuds, but it just did.

ANYways, after lunch we were able to get our truck back and go get
ready to be gone all week! We left at about 6 that night and arrived
at the home we were staying at around 10 because we had to deliver all
the other missionaries to the members they were staying with. We
stayed up late that night because we were supposed to read the whole
missionary handbook by the next day and we hadn't had time, so we read
the whole thing again and underlined all the alwayses and nevers till
midnight. I was dead tired. The next morning we had our first meeting
with Elder Dyches and the top half of the mission. It was SO GOOD. I
absolutely love hearing direction from apostles of the Lord,
especially when it's in small little groups like this because it is
unscripted and they go completely by the spirit. You can FEEL the
spirit filling their mouths as they speak and it's like their words
instantly touch your heart.

One of the things that hit me the hardest from our first meeting with
Elder Dyches was the idea that we need to recite the things we
memorize and share with investigators a lot slower. We shouldn't rush
through the words in an attempt to get through everything and say it
right. We should say it slowly so that they can really feel the spirit
and not be so focused on trying to catch all the words you're saying.
If we do that, the spirit will bring all things to our remembrance and
we will be able to recite it well. It requires a little more trust and
a little more patience but it ought to really help us out.  There were
a million other things that I learned and loved, but there is not
enough time to share all of them.

After that meeting, the rest of our zone headed back to Kalispell and
we began our lonely trek to Billings. MY luggage was absolutely soaked
because of the rain so we had to throw some garbage bags over it. The
roads on the way to Billings were AWFUL haha. We drove through a
blizzard. WHAT?? It's may. YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE
BLIZZARDS IN MAY. Anyways, we made it safely to billings around
10:00, threw my stuff in the dryer at the assistants apartment and zonked.

The next day we had our second meeting with Elder Dyches and the
bottom half of the mission. This meeting was equally awesome and there
were a lot of new insights I received. One of the biggest during this
meeting was the comparing of mentoring and training. We want to make
certain that we are not just training them but mentoring them. Working
with them, leading by example, loving them! He also taught us that "It
is much easier to be critical than correct." I love that quote, it
makes you think twice.

After that meeting with Elder Dyches, all the Zone Leaders and Sister
Training Leaders had the incredible opportunity to go to the temple!
It was so nice to go after not being able to for a whole year!! As I
prayed in the temple, I felt like I was having a conversation with my
Heavenly Father, as I always do when I'm in the temple. I thought of a
quote Elder Dyches had shared from Albert Einstein: Somebody asked him
what he would ask God if he could ask him anything, and Albert
Einstein expressed that he would ask him what he thinks about. I was
pondering on that in the temple when I realized, "here I am talking to
God, wondering how he could answer this question I have. I could
simply ask him right now!" And so I asked, Heavenly Father... What do
you think about? Before I could really finish the question I heard the
clear and beautiful answer, "YOU."

If I could share only one thing with everyone I love, I would have
them know this, that God spends His time thinking about you, about me,
about everyone on this earth. We are His children, His pride and joy!
His work and His glory is to bring about our immortality and our
eternal life with Him and our families. That is what God wants for us.
I love this understanding I have gained.

I don't have much time, but MLC the next morning was awesome. We
learned a great deal and got pumped to go teach and lead. After MLC we
headed back toward Bozeman to stay the night. In Bozeman we stayed
with Elder's Pett and Baum. Elder Pett trained Elder Christensen at
the beginning of his mission, so their reunion was adorable. They ran
off to Belgrade Montana to see some of their Converts and Elder Baum
and I stayed and did work in Bozeman. We didn't see the other two till
later that night... and no one stopped talking till even later haha.

The next morning we drove the last 5-6 hours home after our morning
routine. I didn't eat dinner, I just went right to sleep, and woke up
after dinner to go contact some of our investigators. We were lucky
enough to find Mike Roberts at home! I was dead tired the whole
lesson, but it was good.

Sunday was ELDER CHRISTENSEN'S BIRTHDAY!! I was able to secure him a
Pita Pit gift card because he is absolutely obsessed with that place
haha. It was a super good day, full of singing the happy birthday song
to embarrass him, good food, gifts, and tracting!! haha

Anyways, I love you all:)

Love,
Elder Thomas

My trainees :) :)

MTC companions!

Elder Rich and Elder Porter - best Zone Leaders ever

Some of the temple crew

Bozeman sunset 👌

Eric and Paxton haha

It's finally spring in Kalispell!

One more sunset.