Transfer 11, Week 1: RIP Missoula

Hey Everyone, 
        How are we doing this week? Is summer over yet for anyone, or not? It's been a mild summer here that's for sure. Like I'm pretty sure the high for the day is only like in the 70's. Perfect weather for Missionary work. And boy this week has been crazy. 
       So, many of you have already guessed by the subject line that I'm no longer in Missoula, and you'd be right. We got transfer news on Tuesday Morning, and unexpectedly I got transfered away. I miss Missoula. It was a lot of fun. But anyway, let me go through the week. 
       So, Monday was pretty low key. We had a zone BBQ for the last preparation day of the transfer, and then went bowling. At this point everyone was still oblivious about any transfer news because normally it's been coming on Monday night. So we acted like nothing was up, because we didn't know. Later that night we get notified that Transfer News isn't coming out until Tuesday morning. So we were like RIP Wyoming missionaries! Because their not going to have a lot of time to pack. 
       The Call came Tueday Morning. It started with a few of the other elders getting calls about leadership, then Elder Jensen was called by President Larsen. I knew it, I thought. Elder Jensen was called to be a zone leader in Powell, Wyoming. But I did not expect what happened next. I was told that we were getting doubled out for a set of sisters :( But I still wasn't told where til the zone leaders got the news for the zone. Turns out... I'm going to Kalispell Montana. Home of the ONLY Chic fil'a in Montana. 
     This made the first half of the week rather hectic as we only had about 2 days to fully pack, AND re-deep clean the apartment for the sisters to come in. Oh, and we had to move  the M5 Elders out as well. Phew, that was a lot of work. It just didn't end. We were able to say goodbye to a few people like Andrea and a couple families.
      Andrea for example was kind of cool. While we were saying goodbye. We were texted by someone who wanted to return Andrea's phone that she had lost. What a cool little miracle that was as we were able to be an instrument and help her recover something important. 
       After all of the prepartion was complete for transfers, we had another hiccup, late Wedneday night as I was trying to get something out of my suitcase, my zipper broke. And we were like what? This turned into an adventure as we had to run to Walmart to get a new suitcase quickly before it got too late. That was a nightmare. But we got though it. 
       Transfers was awesome, but a lot longer than I hoped for. Mostly because of the way we do things. So, if you're not sure of the geography of Montana, Missoula is almost directly south of Kalispell. About a 2 hour drive. But because of the way transfers works, we had to drive 2 hours to Helena, then 3-4 hours  back to Kalispell. That took Forever!!!
       My new companion's name is Elder Radford. He is 6ft 6in tall. Been out for about 11 months, and is the district leader in Kalispell He is 19 years old from Phoenix Arizona, and a pretty cool dude. 
       We had an amazing transfer dinner with the Stake President. I really love it here already. The members here are energetic about the work and want to help however they can. It's awesome. 
      The rest of the week was a lot of get to know and start to the work. One of the challenges of the area is that we are sharing a car with another set of missionaries. But that's no worry to all of the exciting times we have ahead. 
      This area is going to be great. I'm so excited to get to work and have a blast in this really pretty part of Montana. I hope you all have a fantastic week, and I'll talk to you all next week. 

Love, 
Elder Sherwood

Photos:

An awesome monument in Kalispell.

Last Missoula Zone picture.

Goodbye Thomas Family

Disk golfing from last week.

I found my street!!

Transfer 10, Week 6: Pick the "Low Hanging Fruit"

Hey Everyone, 
         How are we doing this week?  It has been a pretty good week for us here in Missoula. Not much happened once again, but we have seen a few cool miracles. So, I'll talk about those, but that's probably just about it. 
       So we went on Exchanges with the zone leaders this week. Elder Apaui came to M1 with me, and Elder Jensen went with Elder Gonzales. It was a lot of fun there. Elder Apaui and I did some finding and worked to find someone new but were unsuccessful today. 
         We had some amazing meetings with ward leaders aboutmissionary work. The Bishop and Elders quorum president in particular had some great ideas on how to increase the missionary work in Missoula, and what to do. It's what they called "Low Hanging Fruit". Finding through the people and using part member opportunities to find new people to teach. This is a great idea, and I think it will work here. 
       Being a missionary can be a lot of fun as we put forth the faith and effort. I've seen that over the time I've had so far. It is a blessing to be here and being a part of the work. 
       Sorry once again for the short week, but IDK...

Love, 
Elder Sherwood

Picture from Zone Conference: 

Transfer 10, Week 5: Exchanges, Zone Conference and Progress

Hey Everyone, 
        How are we all today? It's a nice 80 degrees here in Missoula Montana, with a great chance of Missionary work. haha! I'm doing pretty good. And there is really no reason to fret about me everything is great. 
      So I've heard there are several people a little worried about me since the last few weeks of emails have been a little short. Not to worry, I'm not trunky, yet. It just has been a pretty busy last few weeks and we have had some pretty full Preparation days, which takes away time from my emails. In fact, we are going disc golfing in about 30 mins, so I don't have a lot more time today either. But I am going to provide a good email today. 
         So to start it all off....  Monday we had a great Prepartion day activity where we did a zone Minute to Win It game where we ran around and had a lot of fun. Between that and going to the Mall, because window shopping is the best, the day was pretty full. 
       Tuesday, we had an interesting day. We had Zone Conference in Frenchtown a smaller town just outside of Missoula. We pulled up around 8 am to set up because Elder Jensen was doing a musical number. This zone conference was a little different. President had to come in late because he had some buisness to take care of. We heard some great messages on using the Atonement and becomming united as a mission.  We also had some fun playing Montana Billings Mission Family Feud.
       After this zone conference, we had dinner at Mckenzie River Pizza Co. and Elder Barlow paid for us all. That was so nice of him. I'm so happy to have great friends that serve and allow others to serve them. We also "adopted" Elder Eveleth for the next 2 weeks as his companion needed to go home. We miss that Missionary, but are excited to work with Elder Eveleth again. 
       Wednesday was the 24th of July BBQ for the 1st ward. That was a lot of Fun, and we had an investigator come, Andrea. That was awesome. 
        Thursday and Friday we went on exchanges with the Missoula 5th ward elders. Elder Christensen came with me, and Elder Jensen went with Elder Barlow. That was a lot of fun. Elder Christensen and I did a lot of finding with a bit of success. We even ran into a Luthern Pastor who said that he might invite us to come play D&D with him. That was interesting, for sure. Elder Jensen and I, before the exchange started, found a new person from among our potentials. It was great to see the progress of the area once again. Now we just need to focus on getting people to church. 
       Friday we also spent like 6 hours helping the M4 missionaries with a move. It ended up taking like 6 hours, so our day was kind of shot after that, but it was a ton of fun. 
        Saturday was pretty normal. We met with most of our investigators, and seeing how they are progressing. So... That was good. There is a lot of potential in Missoula, if we go out and search for it. 
         Sunday turned into one long and hectic day. For the most part, it was normal, but with a Deep Clean Monday coming up tomorrow, we chose to help with the other apartment. That wasn't the greatest idea, I have to say, beause we ended up staying up to around 2 am to get it done, but now it looks all sparkly clean. 
      Well, Life in Missoula is great and I love being a missionary here. But my time is running short this week, so I'll have to say c'est la vie, and talk to you all next week. 

Love, 
Elder Sherwood

Pictures... Sorry, I have some, but don't have time to add them this week. I'll put them on next week's email. Love ya'll.