Hikin' and Teachin'

Hello!!

Early in the week we went on a hike with the Activity Day girls (ages 8-12) and it was SO fun, especially since we know the majority of them now.  There was one girl named Cambry, who held my hand almost the entire time.  She is absolutely adorable.  Once we got to the top, we all had lunch and then Sister Bonn and I taught a short lesson about the 13th Article of Faith.  Afterwards, the girls played in the waterfall for a bit....Sister Bonn and I opted to not get too wet and we just hopped on the rocks!  On Sunday, the Activity Day Leader, talked to us about how parents of the girls were so happy we went and that they were grateful for our example to their daughters.  Ah, my heart!  So tender!  It really was so enjoyable to be with those girls!

Cambry from the hike :)

After the hike, we had exchanges and I went in a trio with the sisters in Stevensville.  They are solid sisters so it was a pretty awesome exchange!  They teach well, are unified, and are so fun!  While we were planning, they brought out some raspberries they had picked and also chilled chocolate chips. YUM!!

Stevensville sistas!

We did service this week for one of our investigators. We drilled long sticks together and 

then taped her vacuum to them.  It actually worked pretty well!

Thursday of this week was pretty much our golden day.  We finished exchanges and once we were back in Hamilton we had appointment after appointment.  First, we met with Betty and read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon with her.  It went really well and she seemed to understand it and like it!  Then, we met with Lois. The cool thing with her is that we have met several times and she would never find her Book of Mormon, but she finally searched for it this past week and read 3 chapters before our next visit!  We were so proud of her!!  She seemed pretty happy about it too :)  Then we visited another family and we taught about faith.  The husband even dusted off his old quad this time to be able to find the scriptures we referred to.  We invited them to read Alma 32 together as a family and they were more than happy to!  They even said they would try coming to church next week! Yay!! And lastly, we visited Ed, Jamie, and Cameron.   It was awesome!  We had a dinner appointment with them and after that we had a great lesson!  Cameron is Jamie's non-member son who just barely moved in with her for the school year.  He loves the Gospel and the church so much! We are hoping to keep meeting with them to help Ed and Jamie be married and sealed and also to help Cameron be baptized. I seriously love that family so much! And Sister Bonn and I are so impressed with Jamie. She is just stellar!

Also, EARLY Friday morning we went on a hike with our bishop and other missionaries he works with at Institute (He teaches there in Missoula) and it was a total blast!  His wife and son went too and I just love their family so much!  We had a great time together and I realized I have a slight fear of heights....haha.  Never thought I had one!  And then on the way down the mountain we picked huckleberries! Sooo good.  We filled our empty water bottles with them and now I put them in my fruit smoothies :)

Something I really love about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is how much we all try to help each other. Yes, some are better at it than others, but it is definitely an overall attitude of the members in the church.  That attitude is something I have really seen here in Hamilton. There are so many families here who are so kind and willing to help those around them!  I really know that that's what the Gospel does for us. It helps us to be our best selves and to serve others.  There's a promise that comes to mind from Elder Christofferson.  He said that if we study the scriptures daily that we will have a greater desire to serve those around us.  Cool, right?  So, as we help ourselves individually by keeping the commandments and "feasting upon the words of Christ" daily, then we are also preparing ourselves to help and serve other children of God.   I've learned that helping others and doing service is the quickest way to true happiness.  Therefore, keeping the commandments equals happiness :)  There many other reasons why keeping the commandments equals happiness, but that is a solid one. 

I'm so grateful to be a missionary, to see how the Gospel changes lives, and how it continues to positively affect those who faithfully live it.  I love my Savior and the beautiful plan God has laid out for us.

I love you all!! :) Have a great week!

Sister Asay

Never have I ever milked a goat... Oh wait!! Yes, I have!

Hello everyone!!

I went on exchanges this week with a sister in our zone and I was able to have some fun experiences! First off, I got to eat huckleberries.  Super yummy! It was my first time ever!  Second, I got to ride BIKES! We don't have them in Hamilton since we were doubled in, but it was seriously so much fun! I love bikes :)  Maybe I wouldn't be saying that if I had to ride them every day, but I think there's a possibility I'd still appreciate them. And lastly, I got to milk a goat!!!  So cool right??  It was a little weird at first, but then I

got the hang of it and it was pretty fun :) goats... They're such funny animals. They were jumping all over our truck and the owner kept shooting them with a BB gun. Haha!

Yep, that's a goat on our truck. Haha.

Check that off my bucket list!

We met with Betty, our 80 year old investigator, and she is doing well.  One of her friends, who isn’t a member, stopped by and he was trying to teach our history but was incorrect in what he was saying, but Betty totally had our backs!  It was never argumentative by any means, mostly him talking, but she would say cute little comments that let us know that she didn’t agree with him.  Love her!!

Antara is doing so great!! We taught her some of the commandments last night at the bishop’s house and it went so well! First of all, I love the Roger's family and then I just love Antara and then we were teaching (probably my favorite thing as a missionary) and it was just perfect! The Rogers all gave wonderful comments that helped enhance the spirit of the lesson. She will be getting baptized on Aug. 15th :)  We are so excited for her!

... and there was also a cat that followed us and hopped onto our car. Animals on our car has become a theme for the week.

Something that has been really cool this week is seeing my prayers answered.  I have been praying that I could be more in tune with the Spirit and truly be a tool in the Lord's hands.  It

has been amazing to see that when I have a prayer and also really strive for that goal that it's able to happen! I felt guidance during lessons and I've had cool thoughts to share come to my mind as I speak that I hadn't thought of before.  After leaving lessons, I say a little prayer in my heart of thanks for the extra Spirit that was able to be there with me and direct me.  I really know that God does answer prayers, especially as we make an effort and do our part :)

We had a wonderful time when our zone when for a hike!  It is gorgeous here!

Well, I am so grateful for this Gospel and for the opportunity I have to serve.  I shared my testimony yesterday in church about the blessing of families and the beautiful plan that God laid out for us.  I really know that as we have faith and remember that we are here for a purpose that every challenge becomes that much easier to handle.  I feel so blessed to have this knowledge and faith that God loves us, that I am His Daughter, that through Christ I can have clean slates and true joy, and, most of all, that I can be with my family forever in heaven.  I know these things are true, and I know that we can all gain this testimony for ourselves through prayer and scripture study. 

I love you all! Have a fabulous week! :)

Sister Asay

An Attitude of Gratitude

Hello!! What a great week!!

We met with Betty again and it went very well! She has a little hesitancy, but she agrees with everything we teach her and we have an appointment set where we will visit her every week :) 

Also, we have been teaching Antara and she is amazing! She grew up in another church and her parents are very set on it, however Antara has felt the Spirit confirm to her the truth in what is taught at church and from what we teach in our missionary lessons. She prayed to God about it and was talking to us yesterday at church about how she wants to be baptized.  It was interesting too because at sacrament meeting it was two converts who spoke and they each shared some of their story, and later Sister Bonn and I found out that it directly answered one of Antara's questions about joining the church. How cool! I love how Heavenly Father works through others to give answers to His children. We are seeing Antara tonight and we will talk to her about a baptismal date that works best. She leaves for college in about a month, so hopefully it will work out that we can be there for it :) 

Our zone!

This week we also did exchanges with sisters in Missoula! It was my first exchange here and it was definitely interesting being the leader in the trio. It was really cool though seeing how a different companionship works and being able to be a support to them. At the end of the exchange I interviewed each of them and one sister opened up to me and shared with me her worries and her feelings of inadequacy. I was able to build her up and give her a little assignment that will help her with it. It was a two day exchange and I felt I was able to learn from them and hopefully they were able to improve or receive something positive from the exchange too. It was a great experience! It really was such a great opportunity to be able to aid and serve the sisters around us! 

The whole group!

Funny faces photo. Half of our row is doing double chins haha

On Sunday, Sister Bonn and I taught the Relief Society lesson. The lady who was going to teach had to leave for Utah since her cousin was really sick :/ and we offered to teach for her.  The lesson was based on the talk by President Utchdorf called "Grateful in Any Cirumstance".  I loved it because it talks about having an overall disposition of gratitude in our everyday life.  Yes, we need to count our blessings and be grateful for things, but sometimes there are tough circumstances where there aren't always "things" to be grateful for.  We need to have joy in the journey :) An overall gratitude each day and I personally feel that life is just happier and more enjoyable that way. I love this quote- "How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God for the rain?" When we are grateful we are showing our faith and trust in our Savior. There are many endings in this life on earth, but in Heavenly Father's plan "there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings". :)

I love you all! I can't believe Daniel goes to the MTC tomorrow. He will be such a wonderful and amazing missionary who will change so many lives :) I love you, Danny!! 

Well, have a great week everyone :)

Sister Asay

Here are some pictures from the Mission Leadership council-

Good 'Ole Hamilton

Editor's Note:  It is a double post this week to make up for missing last week.  It has been a busy time trying to get Catherine's little brother ready for his mission.  :)

Hello, hello!!

This week has gone by so fast!  We had Zone Conference last Tuesday and Sister Bonn and I had to speak in front of 3 zones (so like 50 people) for 45 minutes! Ahh! Talk about nerve wracking...but it actually went really well! And the Zone Conference overall was uplifting and just great!  Then Wednesday we had Mission Leadership Council...which is where all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders meet with President and discuss the mission, things we should work on, change, etc. It was really cool to be there and I feel more prepared for the future exchanges I'll go on with the sisters in our zone! 

Sister Bonn & Sister Moline (who is from Dallas) at Zone Conference!!

Then the rest of the week we played "catch up".  We met with a lot of people and had a good number of lessons! One cool thing that happened was when Sister Bonn and I drove to introduce ourselves to a part member family, but they ended up not being home.  We then slowly drove by the house next door to turn around and saw this cat....so of course we stopped to pet it! That's when the family in front of the next door house noticed us. We waved and it turned out that it was their cat.  After another minute or two, we decided to leave, but I felt that we should walk over to the family and introduce ourselves. After chatting with them, we found out that the lady had moved here a month ago and was a less-active member. We had no record of her at all. Crazy.  And she was willing to have us stop by next weekend!  Kinda cool how things work out right? We never would have stumbled into her if it wasn't for our love of pets, haha. Heck yes for animals!

Then, on Saturday, there was a baptism in our zone and the night before I prayed to know who we should invite to go.  The names of Jaime and Ed came to my mind.  I talked to Sister Bonn about it and then Saturday morning we called them and left a voice mail.  That night they didn't show to the baptism sadly, but the cool thing was that the next day at church they were there!! We were so excited, haha. It was interesting to see how acting on the answer to my prayer didn't bring forth what I thought would happen...but that it turned out to be something even better!  I just love those two and it was so great to see them there at church :)

We visited a family and the little girl gave me fake flowers, haha. tender.

A girl named Antara came to church as well for the second time and she is now one of our progressing investigators! She comes from an Indian background and is so solid! She already gives answers to questions in Young Women class! She's so great!

Last night we stopped by the house of a guy named Joel. He grew up in the church, but has had a hard life and hadn't been to church for a while.  He has such a solid testimony though and we could see that in his face when talking to him.  After getting to know him a bit, we shared the "Because of Him" video which is about Christ and the hope that comes from what He did for us.  I looked up at Joel at the end of the video and he had tears streaming down his face.  He then looked at us and softly said, "I'll meet with you again, I suppose" and walked into his home.  Ah, my heart.  I already have so much love for that man!  I could tell from his response that he knows and has a testimony of Christ and what He did for him. I'm looking forward to meeting with Joel again.

And here is a link to the video if anyone wants to watch it.   https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

I know that because of what Jesus Christ did, "death has no sting, and the grave has no victory".  I know that I can constantly receive clean slates and new beginnings.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer.  He saves us from death and redeems us from sin.  I have seen the growth in my own personal testimony that He suffered for each of us and that He lives again.  As we strive to get to know Christ through church attendance, daily scripture study, and daily prayer, we will always gain that witness for ourselves that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. 

On our way to Mission Leadership Council! It's a 3 hour drive to Helena....woo! Definitely made for a long day!

I love you all!! Good things are happening in Hamilton and I'm so happy to be here for it! 

Sister Asay