Transfer 10, Week 4: Zootown is Huge

Hey Everyone, 

          How is the summer elsewhere? Is it hot, or cool like here in Missoula? Working in Missoula is awesome. There are a lot of great opportunities to learn and teach in Missoula, but I don't have a lot of spare time today so I'll make it brief. 

         We love working in Missoula, We meet new people everyday, but for the most part haven't been able to find anyone new. Our weeks are full of activities right and left so it's a slight struggle to get in good Finding Time. But we're always hopeful to grasp the opportunities when they arise. 

       I hope everyone is doing well in your respective parts of the world. I love you lots and hope you have a great one. 

     This week in the Book of Mormon, I've been thinking a lot about humility. Are we really trying to be humble like those in the book of Mormon, or are we being stiff-necked, and unwilling to follow the counsels of the prophets. Sometimes I feel like I need to check myself to make sure I don't murmur, but be Humble and follow by Faith, relying on God to help me understand. I feel like that can be applied to everyone as we are doing what we can to follow Christ. 

Love, 

Elder Sherwood

Transfer 10, Week 3: Exchanges Missoula Style

Hey Everyone, 
     How are we all doing today? Summer being great? I hope so. To be honest, this week's letter is probably going to be very short because there hasn't really been anything exciting happen this week. 
       We went on exchanges with M5 this week. That was fun. It was like an old duo back together again. Elder Jensen went with Elder Christensen, and I got to spend the day with Elder Barlow once again. It was a blast. 
      For the most part of the week, we did service of some kind. Whether that was moving someone, or weeding a garden etc... It has been really busy and fun as we continued to find places to work. 
     There really hasn't been much else going on. We've had a lot of fun. Serving here in Missoula is a blast, and the people of the Montana. I love it, and love being a missionary. 
     This week in the Book of Mormon, I started Alma. Alma is a great prophet and teacher for the people of Nephi. It's been hard to keep up though, because I set a few goals to read my whole quad by the end of my mission. So it's a little tricky, but I'm still working on it. 
     Well, I hope you are enjoying life, and keeping your eye single to the glory of God. It's a lot more fun to stay with it, and enjoy the blessings than not take the time to read. Please do so. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Sherwood

no pictures... Sorry

Transfer 10, Week 2: Baseball, Fireworks and More

Hey Everyone, 
        Happy late 4th of July! The Summer season is finally upon us here in Missoula, and it feels great. We love all of the great activities and opportunities to serve that are coming forth. This week especially seemed to just fly by. 
       To start, let me just preface by saying that this week was simply fantastic. The work of the Lord is real, even if we don't always see the success immediately. I can already feel that we have done a lot to add to the great work of the Lord here in Montana. 
      Wednesday was a blast, and it comes with a story. So we are doing our companionship study, and we get a phone call from the YSA Sisters, who have a question. They aren't apart of our district, but their district leader was busy, and the zone leaders were out of town, so they called us. Anyway... They had an investigator invite and give them tickets to the minor league baseball team's, The Ospreys, home game that night, and were wondering if they could go. Elder Jensen responded that he would check with the assistants, since the zone leaders were out of town. The answer came back as a yes. When we relayed the message, the YSA sisters gave us 3 extra tickets, which were given to their investigator who passed them on. So, we also got to go with one of our own invesigators. It was quite the fun night of baseball. 
         The fourth of July started early with the annual pancake breakfast that the church puts on. We helped  serve the food. That was a lot of fun, and we had a blast doing so. After all of the cleanup and meetings we had that day, we had a bbq with a member, played some frisbee with a few people, and after dinner had some fun playing games again. We also were given permission from President Larsen to stay out late since it was a holiday. So we went to another apartment to try to see the fireworks, but our view was blocked by the trees. :(
           The rest of the week was pretty normal thus far. I finally have met most of our investigators, and am starting to really get to know them. It is good, because we really need to get down to work, and see if we can bring a few people unto Christ. 
         Living and working in Missoula is a lot different than I'm used to as a missionary. It is a lot easier in some ways, and much harder in others, if you catch my drift. But it is awesome. I feel like we party while we work, and are able to see the fun enjoyable side to missionary work a lot more than ever before. 
      Well, I hope you all have a great week, and enjoy the awesome summer fun over the next week. Stay cool. 

Love, 
Elder Sherwood

Pictures:

My phone died, so I got a new tablet instead of a phone.

What my phone looked like as it died. It got one tiny crack, and was gone.

Selfie at the 4th of July pancake breakfast.

Pancake breakfast set-up.

Baseball selfie with Elder Jensen.

Osprey's baseball game.

Transfer 10, Week 1: Back to Montana

Hey Everyone,
     How is the summer? Is it too hot yet? Haha. I know your all probably having a lot of fun, and so am I. Being a Missionary is a ton of fun.
     So... As many of you can probably tell by the subject.... Yep transfer were this week. And I got transfered yet again. Yea!! This time back to Western Montana. I'm now in Missoula, home of the Montana Grizzlies. This is way different from anywhere else I've served up to this point. First of all, it's one of the largest cities in Montana, but it's also in one if the prettiest parts of Montana as well.
     My new companion's name is Elder Jensen. He is from Utah. He is 21 years old. Only a few months older than me. He has been out for about 14 months, and is a super great missionary. I'm excited to work with him.
     Other than transfers, there isn't much going on. Before transfers, we packed and said goodbye. And then after transfers, we started to really get to work. This past weekend has been a lot of service. Thursday and Friday we helped work on cleaning up a hoarder's yard. Then Saturday, we helped someone move for all day. And Sunday was pretty chill.
     There is a lot of work to do here in Missoula. We are teaching a few people. And I've barely met one of them. Her name is Andy. She is nice, but a handful. One of the struggles of my new area is church attendance, and I see why now. It took us over an hour, on Sunday to get someone to church this week. It was a long morning.
     The evening though was pretty sweet. We had dinner at the park, and then played some sports, and answered some questions of a few investigators that the whole zone is working on. I love Missoula already. Haha.
     Well, I think that about wraps it up for this week. I hope you all enjoy the 4th of July. Have Fun.

Love,
Elder Sherwood

Pictures:

Last selfie with Elder Matthews.

Goodbye to Amy

Goodbye to the Mortensen's

Goodbye to Liz

Goodbye to the Harper's

District BBQ (part 2)

Transfer 9, Week 6: We Almost Saw Dinosaurs

Hey Everyone, 
        How are we doing? Summer hitting anyone else like a rock yet? Not here. It's still nice and 70 degree weather with scattered Thunderstorms. haha. It's been a great summer so far. This week there isn't a lot to talk about. Its just the same old news it feels like sometimes. I wonder if it ever feels that way for any of you as well. 
        Anyway, to start off the week, other than all of the rain, we did our traditional work. On Tuesday, we had back to back lessons throughout the day with Liz, Brandon, Amy, and others. That was nice to just spend a day teaching and not be on the streets, because it was easily one of the hottest this week. 
         Wednesday, we had a BBQ in the Cowley 1st ward. That was a lot of fun. It was raining pretty hard this day too, so we had to move the location from the park to the church. haha. No big deal. It was still an absolutely great turn out. We even had an investigator, Derrick show up. That was pretty sweet. The food was Bob Acton's famous Hawg Heaven. Ohhh, It is so good. I definetly recommend it if you can catch him next time you're coming through the north western part of Wyoming. 
          A lot of the week was spent contacting investigators and trying to see some work happen. Not too much luck there to be honest, but hey, we tried. We were able to find someone new this week, late Saturday night. HIs name is Chip, and he is interested in the church. So we are excited to work with him as well in the near future. 
         Now, we thought we had an opportunity that would be fantastic to find new people, but we were chickens when we saw the price. The Circus was in town here in Byron, and I really wanted to go. But the price was $30 at the door. Yikes. Little said, we didn't go and ended up meeting Chip, but then yesterday we learned we probably could have gotten in for free, so darn. That's too bad, we missed the Dinosaurs.
          We've had some great appointments with Amy, this week and are super excited to see her progress. We, Elder Matthews and I both, forsee her Baptism coming up really soon, so we're super stoked for it. 
         Well, I think that's just about it for this week. It has been a great week for the work of the Lord. God is in the details of His work, and won't let any missionary or person be alone when they are trying their best to serve Him. That I know for sure. I hope you all have a fantastic week, and we'll talk to you again soon. 

Love,
Elder Sherwood

Pictures:

Selfie with Elder Matthews.

Posing on this cool metal tube we found.

Views from the tube.

A snow storm in June. (It's cotton.)

My family sent all of this!! #SugarRush

Selfie with Elder Matthews.

Transfer 9, Week 5: A Rather Muddy Week

Hey Everyone, 

       How are we all doing this week? Summer caught up to you yet?  haha. This week has been really fast and great. I can't believe how much has gone on so far already. 

         To start the week, Tuesday we had the opportunity to do a bit of service for the National Park Service. We weeded and cleaned up their sidewalks a little bit. That was a lot of fun, but it did make us just barely late to our Lesson with Liz. The Lesson went well though. We talked about her needs and how she wants to improve. We are one hurdle closer to her being ready to come into the fold. It is awesome. We were also supposed to have a lesson with the Johnsons this week, but they weren't home when we stopped by. :( 

     Wednesday was big. We had zone conference, so we had to get up early, and head to Billings for it. I love zone conferences, and the spirit that it can bring to each of us, and in turn back to our areas. This zone conference, the theme seemed to be focused on using the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and allowing ourselves and all others to change. This has been great, especially for me as I've been focusing on trying to become a more loving and charitable missionary leader for those I'm over. I loved all that was said. After Zone conference, we had an appointment to meet a youth by the name of Brandon in Byron. He is interested in joining the church, and has been coming to Mutual with the other young men, so it was super cool to meet him and help him begin the journey of coming into the Kingdom of God. 

     Thursday was kind of a train wreck to be honest. But it was still fun too. We had interviews with President Larsen in the morning, which turned into around 1:30 finishing. Then after some language study and a late lunch, we had our housing inspectors come and do their thing. And by the time we got done with everything, It was like 4pm and we hadn't even been in our area yet. Ugh! There was way too much going on for that day. So we tried to make the most of it. 

     Friday we went on exchanges with the Lovell 1,4 Elders. That was a lot of fun. Elder Hunt came with me to Byron and Cowley, while Elder Matthews stayed in Lovell with Elder Bekmezian. We had a blast. Elder Hunt and I had a lesson with Amy and discussed a few of her questions and other items that we could do. Amy is super interested in the Church and would be baptized already if it wasn't for the mission rule to go to church three times. (we've only been teaching her for 2 weeks). haha. I'm excited to continue to see her grow. Afterwards we went to Cowley to make a few contacts and ended up getting sent to the middle of nowhere to try to contact this interested part member family. The truck got super dirty. It was really funny. 

    Saturday, It felt like we spent all day in service clothes. We went from service activity to service activity. It was awesome. Then to add to the fun, we had dinner at the Bishop's house, and a Lightning storm came in through the area. We were told by the Bishop's wife that we were not allowed to leave until it had passed. So we got quarantined to the Bishop's house. haha 

    This week was pretty good. we had some great adventures and many other fun times as well. I can see the Lord's hand in his work as he continues to guide us to the opportunities we need to help bring his children back to him. I love being a missionary and the joys that can be felt in his service. I hope you all had a great week, and I'll talk to y'all soon. 

Love,

Elder Sherwood

Pictures:

The tree that fell down.

Service

Service

Service

The muddy truck