Peaches

Hey y'all!

I think I've eaten something peachy every single day. The Henderson's have a peach tree in the backyard and seriously, I've never seen so many peaches in my life. Sister Henderson is working like mad to make them into jams, cobblers, and food storage while also nudging us to eat as many as we can stand. :) It's like Willie day everyday! (Mom, you can ask Jenny  to explain what that is ;))

The dropping of investigators has continued this week. It's getting pretty ridiculous. But it really is good because it is helping us to focus on those that are ready to receive and act on the message we share. We saw some pretty cool miracles throughout the week as we have exercised faith in finding. I was with Sister Kezele a few days ago and we had some time to tract. We prayed and she picked a direction to go. We started knocking and then as we came off of a doorstep I saw a lady walking down the other side of the street. We kinda sprint over to talk to her...and she just keeps on walking. So of course we keep following her Hahahahahahahahaha She turned around after a few awkward seconds and we had a pretty hilarious conversation (she was crazy) BUT here's where the miracle starts. We finished talking to her and went back to knock on the next door and the couple that lived there were outside. We started talking to them and found out that he was a member of the church! He got baptized a few years ago when he was living in good ol Burley, Idaho. The longer we talked to them, the more I could see the spirit working on him. All of the sudden, the cup of coffee in his hands was put back on the ground. The cigarette they were sharing was extinguished, and good memories of church were shared. "It's amazing that you walked by! I've been thinking a lot about needing to find the church over here. I know I'm not doing what I'm supposed to." It was pretty cool to know that we were definitely guided there. :)

Sunday was also a super cool day. May and Ray and their two kids came to church!! We sat behind them and it was so cool to see them soak everything in during sacrament meeting. I don't think I ever realized how many analogies and weird colloquial words we use as a church until I tried to put myself in their shoes. They seemed like they loved it though and I felt that the spirit was particularly strong the whole meeting. I love serving in this Ward. There was a BBQ on Sunday night for someone getting ready to leave on his mission and seriously the entire Ward showed up to support him. It was so fun to watch everyone buzzing around like little bees to support their ward family.

I'm just super happy. Which is kinda weird... Haha There were a few moments this week where I had to really question "wait a second...I'm...still happy doing this?" Moments like.... eating this microwave watery cheesy rice for dinner at a member home. I was convinced I was going to throw up. We definitely have it easier in the states, but that one really threw me for a loop. Haha

I've been studying the "doctrinal mastery" they are doing in seminary here. It has been so cool to delve into the simple truths of the gospel. God doesn't ever want us to be left in the dark. He wants us to know him. REALLY know him. That's why it's so important to pray, read our out scriptures, attend the temple, and go to church. There's no better way to know our Father in Heaven than to spend that time with him.

Love you all!
Sister Fletcher

  

peaches and cream!

 Wendys has it right

  favorite humans <3 sorry it's blurry!

  

Big sky country

No big deal...

Hey everyone!

Wow... I am just so without words to describe this past week. It was absolutely amazing, one that I'm totally positive I will never ever forget. There were so many moments where I would be in the car, or walking down the street, or inside planning where I would just grin to myself and think "this is real life! I'm a missionary! How is it possible to be this happy?!" It just keeps getting better. :) There were some pretty funny moments this week. There's never a dull moment when you have Sister Pearson as your companion. Hahaha The crowning awkward moment was being cornered in Good Food Store by a man claiming to be Jesus Christ...ohhhh man. He showed us his ID and everything! He very sweetly invited us to be a part of the 144,000 people he is inviting with him to California to camp in tents and worship him until the world ends. He also said that we were saved and would go straight to heaven. Thanks friend. Hahahaha

But here's the deal. Time is going way too fast. I swear I hardly blinked and it's Monday again! I think I have the drive from Missoula to Helena just about memorized now. Between moving, driving, and meetings the actual missionary work in our area has taken a serious blow. But it'll build again. :) We had a pretty cool miracle on Thursday. We were eating dinner with the Kemmer's (pretty much the cutest old couple you'll ever meet. Life goals.) and this crazy hailstorm came out of no where! The hail was marble sized and it was pretty intense! So, this meant we couldn't leave dinner when we had planned to and also couldn't have our next lesson outside the church like we had planned, so we called May, our next appointment. We were planning on giving her the gospel principles book she asked for and also inviting her to take the lessons. We called, and she agreed to have us meet at her house instead! YES. So we go over there and ended up meeting her husband. She seemed very nervous about what he would think, but he sat right down and fired off a few questions. They are
both from China. Ray has a Christian background but religion is pretty new to May. (That's right. May and Ray. Reminded me of Nate and Kate;)) We invited them both to read the Book of Mormon and attend church and also meet with us. They were immediately on board for the first two, but decided they needed to chat with each other on meeting with us and progressing towards baptism (Apparently we're pretty scary?) but anyway, it was just super cool to teach a FAMILY :) May came to church this Sunday, and Ray is planning on coming next week :)  I feel strongly that they will get baptized :)

Okay okay okay. So. Meeting Elder Christofferson. Such a sweet experience. He has the kindest eyes of anyone I've ever met. The spirit that came into the chapel when he came in was absolutely electrifying. Elder Evanson and Elder Soares of the 70 were also there and spoke to us. They talked about obedience, and working with ward members. :) Elder Christofferson did a question and answer session. It was funny to see him as such a real person! He was cracking jokes left and right! Here's a few quotes.

"Your mission president and his companion are from an area settled by pioneers that the church is still thriving in.  We also settled Las Vegas...but then we lost control."

"We [the apostles] hope that we don't ever embarrass you!...and we hope that you never embarrass us!"

"It's a wonder God lets us touch anything"

*flipping though his scriptures* "I hope this verse is still where I left it! They tend to jump around on me"

Hahaha :) all joking aside though, Elder Christofferson answered a lot of questions I had. Ones that I never even verbalized! I came away from it all with a better understanding of what it means to "teach repentance and baptize converts."To teach repentance essentially means to teach about the atonement. We can only teach that by testifying of our Savior. That's what it all comes down to. Understanding who Jesus Christ is, what he did for us, and what we can do to apply it and make it count in our individual lives. I KNOW that Jesus Christ lives. I know that he has called a prophet in this day and that prophet is President Thomas S. Monson. I know that through the atonement of Christ we can be healed of any hurt, sin, or weakness. Through our belief Him we can "with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." :)

At the end of the meeting we sang "Hope of Israel" and WOW. It was powerful. The chapel was almost entirely full of missionaries singing "See the foe in countless numbers, Marshaled in the ranks of sin. Hope of Israel, on to battle; Now the vict’ry we must win! Hope of Israel, rise in might With the sword of truth and right; Sound the war-cry, “Watch and pray!” Vanquish ev’ry foe today."  It was soooo cool :)

Makes you want to stand up on a wall like Samuel in the Book of Mormon and shout the message of the restoration to the whole world!

Whata week. I'm just loving every second. :) Be happy and work hard!

Love, Sister Fletcher

 Sister Linney and Sister Styer!

 Driving the man-van.  Love these sisters~

Weekly planning last week. So many meetings.

 Our discussion for zone training. We came up with it using PMG. Pretty intense.

 

Hail. nbd

Missoula Miracles

Hey everyone!!!!

So...the Olympics are going on? Hahahaha. First I've heard of any of that. Watch lots of volleyball for me k? ;) It's so crazy how out of the world you get out here!

What. A. Weird. Week.

It was INSANE. So much driving. So many long talks. SOOOOOO much finding. We have been staying with the second ward sisters this past week because the members we live with had family come into town. It has been super fun and way crazy. Gearing up for another wonderful week with a meeting in Helena tomorrow, a meeting here on Friday and then another meeting in Helena on Saturday with ELDER D. TODD CHRISTOFFERSON. Nbd. I'm excited :) Sister Pearson and I are having a great time together. :)

Anywho.

There were SO MANY miracles this last week.

For instance, when I was in the Missoula zone last year, the zone leaders here were teaching a lady named Marcia. Marcia is the daughter in law of the Robertson's in Missoula 3rd Ward. The elders tried to meet with her, but could just never catch up with her so she was dropped. Fast forward to now... About a month ago Marcia showed up to church with Sister Robertson. We met her and chatted for a bit, but life was so crazy that she couldn't set up a return appointment. AND THEN. This week we got a call from Sister Robertson asking us to give Marcia a call because she wanted to meet with missionaries again!!! WOOOOOT!!!!! So we met on Thursday and taught the restoration and invited her to be baptized. The spirit was so strong. Her one hold up is that she feels like her deceased dad wouldn't approve (he was catholic) and she is waiting for his okay. We talked about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and that we should try to please Him more than anyone else. She committed to pray about it and to read from the Book of Mormon everyday. She came to church Sunday :) We will meet with her again this week.

Another cool one was May. At church on Sunday Bishop Anderson walked up to us and told us there was a lady sitting on the front row that he was pretty sure wasn't a member. We went and talked to her and came to find out that two lady's in the ward met May in the library and invited her to church. We talked to them after and they didn't think she would come, so they were both super late to church. BUT SHE CAME. She stayed for all 3 hours and the member that invited her set it up so that we could go over and drop off a book to May's house and invite her to learn more. It was sooooo cool to see the faith of the members put into action. Just keep inviting!

We haven't been able to catch up with Ken or Shantel this week. Jonathan has surgery on Thursday. He called us last night and said something like "I just wanted to call and tell you that if I make it
through surgery okay I'm going to go to church a lot more. And if I don't, I'm sure I'll be able to go to church up in that spirit world place you talked to me about before." I didn't know whether to cry....or congratulate him.... So keep him in your prayers.

 My favorite thing that I studied this week was a conference talk from October 1982 by Neal A. Maxwell titled "A Brother Offended". SO GOOD. I always learn so much from Elder Maxwell, but this one was especially cool. One of my favorite parts was when he said, "Let us acknowledge that the strait and narrow path, though clearly marked, is a path, not a freeway nor an escalator. Indeed, there are times when the only way the strait and narrow path can be followed is on one’s knees! And we are to help each other along the path..." So so soooo true. I know  that it is only by obedience to the commandments and our Heavenly Fathers will that we are truly able to travel along the straight and narrow path. We really can experience joy as we travel back to our Heavenly home.

I love you all!
Work hard. Be happy. :)

Love, Sister Fletcher

 

Driving to transfers in the "man van" aka Vannnnessa. Normally
the zone leaders drive it. Hahahahaha

  Polaroid and transfers

 Preparation Day fun!

  Meet Preston! He's a recent convert that one of my companions taught in Polson! He randomly showed up in Missoula and flagged us down, somehow knowing it was me! CRAZY!

Meet Sister Pearson!

Today is a good day for a snow cone

Ha. The subject line... It's all I've got ;)

Hey everyone!

Well!

Guess what!

TRANSFER NEWSSSSS!!!!!

I'll be staying in Missoula and my new companion will be.... SISTER PEARSON!!!!!!!! I absolutely love her and have been hoping to be her companion someday. She spent Christmas Eve in Billings with me and we were also in the MTC together! :) She's from Nevada and is the hardest worker slash high-fiver I've ever met. Haha But, I'm also suuuuuuper sad to say that Sister Hodgson is headed alllllll the way to WYOMING. Yep. President couldn't even keep us in the same STATE. hahaha She's going to do awesome there :) I'll sure miss her though :) ...a lot....boooo transfers! So many mixed feelings.

Ohhhhhh man.

It was a good week :)

Lots of ups and downs...

 yknow...

Sometimes, the mission just breaks your heart.

There were so many moments this week that just were heartbreaking!!! For instance, I was on exchanges in Frenchtown this week and we had this conversation with this man that has a daughter serving a mission. This man is not a member, and he is quite angry with the church for "taking away his daughter." He wants SO BADLY to understand why he can't call his daughter everyday. Why she would choose to leave for 18 months. Why the Book of Mormon is the key to understanding why she
left. Ah. It just BROKE MY HEART. No matter what we said, how much we testified, how much we listened, there was this impenetrable wall up before him that he wouldn't let down. So much bitterness and anger. There was a moment standing there listening to him where tears started to well up in my eyes. I thought about being in his shoes. Seeing things the way he did. What did he want to hear? And I honestly don't know. He just wants his daughter back. All we could do was show him that we love missionary work and we love our families. Yeah of course I wish I could call up my sisters and talk for hours on the phone about everything they're up to. And to send pictures to mom and dad each night. But because I know this church is true, I am willing to be obedient and do what the prophet has asked me to do. And I am SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL for my amazing family. They have supported me since day one. I am so grateful for their testimonies of the gospel that I have seen grow throughout the past year. I am SO THANKFUL that my family can be together forever and ever :) Oh, pray for Bob. And his daughter. I can't imagine how she does it...

Okay... Let's talk about the happy things!

We had a testimony meeting in district meeting this Wednesday. So cool. We had two departing missionaries in our district, I absolutely LOVE hearing their testimonies. There was an amazing spirit of joy felt in that district meeting with everyone sharing their testimonies of the Savior. Talking about Him brings the best feeling. :)

We have 3 people on date for baptism right now!! It's a total miracle. We started off in this area with a few new investigators and hardly anyone progressing and now look! We have been praying for miracles and we are definitely seeing them! On Friday we had a lesson with Ken in a members home with one of his other fellow-shippers. Ken is a friend of one of our Ward missionaries. He has been coming to the single adult activities for 2 months and Sara asked him if he wanted to take the missionary discussions and he said yes! He's a pretty strong Catholic, so we set it up to have the lesson in a members home who used to be Catholic and is also good friends with Ken. It was probably one of the coolest moments on my mission. I've never ever had lessons work out that perfectly before! Because we were in a members home, there were almost no distractions. The spirit was SO STRONG. Although there were a few weird moments (another story for after the mish. Hahaha) we were able to invite Ken to be baptized and he accepted! WAHOOOOOOOOO.

Other than that...we spent a whole lot of time in the car. Our mission boundaries span about 12 hours of driving time so EVERYTHING is so spread out.  Welcome to Montana my friends! We will be making 3 trips to Helena and back within the next week. So fun... But with car snacks and Nashville Tribute I think we'll make it alright ;)

Oh man... I just love being a missionary. :) And I'm so happy to be staying here in zoo town!! 

Love, Sister Fletcher

    

Driving to Hamilton eating our "staying awake snack" 

 

Sister Pepion!

after transfer calls......