My oh my what a wonderful day

Hey y'all! 

I'm currently sitting in the Krantz's kitchen. Just finished the best Chinese food from our favorite food truck. The smell of the wood pile outside, the roaring of the fireplace, and the over encompassing nostalgia of sitting in this house that became my home for the first 6 months of my mission. Oh man, best day ever :) 

I was looking through my journal last night from this last week trying to remember everything that has happened and realizing how crazy it was. I have faithfully written in my journal nearly every single day of my mission, and I don't know what happened this week...but journaling was a struggle. I get home at the end of the day, plan, and pretty much as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out. I love feeling exhausted. I never thought I'd say that! 

I forgot to mention this last week...but Kristy came to stake conference! We didn't think she was coming, so we went and sat down in the back. About 5 minutes into the meeting Brother Henderson tracked us down and told us "Hey, there's an investigator in the foyer. She said she's catholic and loves Mormons and wants to talk to you" I about fell over dead. That's Kristy! Hahaha She LOVED stake conference. We walked her back to her car after the meeting and she said "This is why I love you Mormons and your services. Because every talk, every speaker, every meeting always ties back to Jesus Christ. That's how it's supposed to be and I love it" We had another cool miracle with her this week. She has been trying to find the missionary that taught her 15 years ago. She knows his name and where he's from, but that's it. We tried finding him on Facebook, but to no avail. So we brought the Hawley's to Kristy's lesson and as we all talked Kristy told them about this missionary she has been trying to find. Unbeknownst to us, Sister Hawley's grew up in the same small Canadian town as this elder AND HAS RELATIVES WITH THE SAME LAST NAME AS THE ELDER THAT LIVE THERE STILL. MIRACLE MIRACLE MIRACLE. It was so cool. Keep in mind, this is the missionary that she told, "you can baptize me when I'm 80" She's in her 60's now and will definitely be baptized much before she's 80 if we have anything to do with it ;) 

We weren't able to connect with Melanie this week. Tawny is doing well. She doesn't understand why it's bad to drink and do drugs....oh man. She cracks me up. We taught the plan of salvation and focused on our purpose here on earth and agency. She's doing great overall. Her scriptures are all marked up and she reads them everyday :) Bonnie and Mary came to church yesterday :) They are two less actives we are teaching. Both are progressing well towards the temple. 

I've been reading a lot in Jesus the Christ lately. I'm just about halfway through and loving it. I read it a year ago, but there is so much more that I have learned this time. That probably has a lot to do with reading it on my iPad this time so I can define all of those crazy big words that Elder Talmage uses. It has been so fun to delve into the scriptures and other words of the prophets and learn who Jesus Christ really is. My favorite attribute that I've studied this week is hope. Truly, Jesus Christ is the source of real, doctrinal hope. Hope that lasts forever. Not just wishful thinking, but a sure knowledge that it's going to work out for the best :) 

Well, I'm going to go roam my old stomping grounds again!! Best day ever. Love you all! 

Sister Fletcher

My favorite elk friend :)  

 waiting to Skype into a meeting

 Exchanges with Sister Dayes! <3

 That awkward moment when you think you can make a u-turn and then end up in the middle of a 3 inch deep puddle. "Hey...sister Crosland...you're going to need to get out and back me" This was the look I got. Hahahaha 

 Reallllly big leaf 

 The cool bus. And some people trying to be cool.

 Describes our companionship perfectly.

The best Chinese food...ever. 

Four boxes of tissues

Hey everyone!!

Man oh man. It was a crazy week. Between insane lessons, exchanges, being sick, and awesome reunions with some of my favorite people...I'm not quite sure where to start!

Birthday shout out to my sister Aubrey! SWEET SIXTEEN. Where has the time gone?! All you Utah people stay off the roads! ;)

On Monday we had what was probably our final lesson with Mark. He refuses to see things with an eye of faith. I've never been so sad and so frustrated in my life than I was after that lesson! I know he still wants to know but only time will tell if he will pray about the Book of Mormon and read it will real intent. *sigh of exasperation*

I was on exchanges in the YSA Ward and we had an awesome lesson with two of their investigators about the plan of salvation. When we asked one of them what her understanding was of the three kingdoms she said "Well Celestial, that's where we go and chill with our families and God, and then Terrestrial...that's where all of the extra-terrestrials lives. And Telestial...that's where the dinosaurs are" hahahahahahahahaha so close. We spent a lot of time explaining after that. Hahahaha

Funny story: I had a pretty bad case of the hiccups in the car when we pulled up to a house we were going to knock on. I lingered for a bit because I knew the hiccups would be SO distracting to whoever opened the door. We finally decided after some time that they weren't going to go away...so we said a prayer and got out of the car. I hiccuped allll the way to the door and right up until it opened. Once the door was opened they disappeared! HOW COOL IS THAT?! They came right back as soon as the door closed. It's also true with sneezing in lessons. Hahaha

We had zone conference on Thursday! It was so great! The Wadsworth's and the assistants came to do some training and I learned so much. I. Love. The. Wadsworths. :) We talked a lot about becoming who God wants us to be by doing what we are supposed to do. I especially loved the training the assistants did on obedience and teaching repentance. In order to teach repentance, we need to be applying that in our own lives.

This weekend we had stake conference! Sunday was pretty much the best day of my life. It was so wonderful.  By the end of this transfer I will have spent a year of my mission in the Missoula Montana Stake, so it was almost like a big family reunion at stake conference. There were so many great moments. Sister Crosland and I were standing at the door talking to someone and turned around to find brother Krantz standing right in front of us! I immediately burst into tears! (I'm not kidding about 4 boxes of tissues. It was mostly from being sick though ;)) There was no stopping them! I haven't seen him in almost a year and memories of chopping wood and coming home for the night to talk to him and Sister Krantz just flooded back! SUCH A HAPPY MOMENT!!! It was also absolutely amazing to talk to C. Oh my goodness, we tried to hard to teach C while I was serving in St. Iggy. We would make excuses to go to the store he worked at just to try and make contact and do anything we could to get him to come back to church. Well, 4 weeks after I left the area, Sister Crosland came. And she tried the same route with C. Pretending to buy light bulbs, using the fax machine, anything! Haha But this time, the time was right. She began teaching him, and the walls that kept the light of the gospel from his life came tumbling down. When we saw him at stake conference there was an unmistakable light in his eyes. He was SO HAPPY. After conference he told us his story since we had both left the area. He went back to the temple and had amazing experiences there. Tears were in all of our eyes as we talked about the joy the gospel brings. It was an amazing moment. :) The gospel of Jesus Christ truly does change lives. :)

We talked a lot about the Sabbath day in stake conference and there was one part in particular that stuck out to me. Elder Scott shared the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." He explained that when we do something cheerfully, we are doing it with faith. We see the big picture and trust in God that it will work out. I loved that perspective of faith! It's so true!

I love you all. I'm so grateful to be serving in Missoula, Montana as a missionary. :) I love my Savior Jesus Christ. He is my best friend. I'm so grateful for this wonderful church and the blessing it is to be a part of it. :) Miracles happen everyday :)

Be happy, work hard!
Love, Sister Fletcher

 

YSA exchange

 

Man, my boots didn't make it.

Ah!

Hey everyone!

So, I have approximately ZERO time to email. It's been a crazy day! I'll send lots of pictures but here's a little summary of the week.

 -Most of my week was spent in areas other than 3rd Ward.  I was in 1st ward and in Lolo. Lots of fun, but I feel like I'm so out of the loop here!

-I started reading Jesus the Christ again. Oh my goodness, that book is usually WAY over my head, but the parts that I do understand have strengthened my testimony of the Savior so much. He lives. He loves us. I know that to be true.

-We had lunch with Sister Krantz today. I lived at her house for the first 6 months of my mission. Her home is still my home away from home. Between the tears and the laughter and catching up on everything, I just couldn't stop thinking about how perfect Gods plan is for us. The plan of salvation truly is the great plan of happiness. Montana...oh man. Best place ever.

-Melanie: I'm not sure if I've mentioned her before. She's less active. We found her a few weeks ago. I was prompted many times to stop by her house, and she was never home or never answered. Last week I didn't even have time to realize that I had turned my bike around and was riding to her house again- much to the confusion of Sister Crosland. But Melanie was home! She was pretty angry and had a lot of walls up at first, but they slowly came down. We stopped by again yesterday and she has made a lot of progress. "I know that this is God telling me I need to listen. I need to take the sacrament more than once a month, I want to go to the temple." We are going back this week. :)

That's all I've got time for! I sure do love you all soooooo much :)

Be happy and work hard.

Love, Sister Fletcher :)

 Last Best Pl

 

 Sister Krantz

Crunchy leaves and rainy days

Hi hi hi!

I cannot believe how much happened this last week! It's been absolutely crazy busy and I've LOVED IT. MLC was awesome as usual. I came away with a huge motivation to be better, and an equally huge headache haha. Our car was in the shop from Monday to Friday, so we were on the bikes all week minus driving to Helena when we stole the Hamilton Elders' car. There was no way I was biking to Helena. Nope. That aside, I really do love biking. And we found this fancy trail that goes straight through our area so biking was much more enjoyable and safe ;)

Still having the struggle of a lifetime with our teaching pool. I feel like I've never worked so hard in my life, and yet nothing seems to be happening! There are always little miracles everyday though and I'm confident that things are going to pick up soon :)

Wasn't general conference the best?!?! I felt like every single talk was directed exactly to me. I had about 6 questioned written down on my iPad that I was searching for answers to and I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of answers I received. Each question had multiple answers from multiple talks. It strengthened my testimony that God truly is aware of each one of us and he wants us to get answers to the questions we have.

Some highlights for me:

"As she looked to the book, she looked to the Lord" -Elder Stevenson.
Was it just me or did they talk about the Book of Mormon and the restoration A LOT?! I was eating it all up.

"We teach and baptize to bring JOY to the people of the world."- I can't remember who said that... But I loved it. And I loved all of the talks about increasing joy by repenting and living the gospel. Russell M. Nelsons was a favorite of mine.

Craig C. Christensen. Nuff said. I wanted to run a victory lap after he spoke. I've already listened to his talk twice since they posted the video on click here. SO GOOD. Joseph Smith truly is a prophet of God.

I just loved it all so much. My testimony of the gospel has been strengthened so much since being set apart as a full time missionary. I have never come across so many people that hate and revile against Jesus Christ and his church. I've never been asked so many hard questions about church history. I've never reexamined the truthfulness of the gospel so much. And yet, with all of the questions, attacks, and negativity thrown at me, I have never been so sure in my life that Jesus Christ is at the head of this church. He speaks to the prophets and apostles we have today.  Joseph Smith was the prophet of the restoration of the gospel. He did, in reality, see God and Jesus Christ. He held priesthood keys, keys that are still on the earth today. As a missionary I operate under these keys. It is the greatest blessing I've ever experienced to be serving a full time mission. I have a Heavenly Father that loves me exponentially more than I can even comprehend. He loves me so much that he lets me suffer, and struggle, and hit low points, so that I can learn for myself how incredibly blessed I am to KNOW that He has a plan for me. His plan is perfect. It's oh so very perfect. His plan provides for us the opportunity to experience so much joy. Like Ammon "I cannot say the smallest part of which I feel." I know that this time I have as a missionary is short. I can't believe how short it is. An Elder said in his departing testimony on Tuesday, "it goes by so fast it's not even fair." *Sister Fletcher ensues BAWLING* But I am so grateful for the time I DO have. It's such a blessing.

Gearing up for a great week! Missoula is absolutely breathtaking this time of year. I find myself following the trails of crunchy leaves with my bike, trying to hit as many as I possibly can Hahaha I'm pretty sure Sister Crosland thinks I'm crazy ;)

Love you all! Be happy and work hard! Email me your favorite parts of General conference!

Love, Sister Fletcher

 Beautiful Missoula. I don't know who that weird missionary is....;)

 Clark Fork

when the power goes out during studies...

 MLC with the Wadsworths :)

 

my Mtc group at MLC

 

biking allll the days