Week 17: Hide and Seek

Monday, January 27, 2025  10:28pm

These weeks are going by fast, yo. This is crazy. 

Most things are still the same, so I guess I'll just tell you about it with a slightly differing description. 

Our friends like to pretend that they are ghosts; they don't answer our texts, phone calls, or their door. I swear, we are doing everything we can to bring people to church. So far, it has still been only the friends and family of members that show up. This is why members are so vital to gathering Israel. 

But hey, me, Elder Romero, and our ward mission leader gave talks on Sunday because our bishop is trying to get more members to actively help us! Our the ward mission leader went first, took way too much time, so I had to be quick, and Elder Romero was told to only give a brief testimony about missionary work. But yeah, that was a fun expirience. I enjoyed preparing a talk in Spanish. 

Since Elder Romero is our district leader, he had to conduct a baptismal interview with a friend of some of the sisters in our district. But unfortunately for us, the chapel where they were gonna have the interview was not super close to us, and we couldn't find someone who could give us a ride. So we biked an hour. Their friend ended up needing to work on a few things before he can get baptized, but he wants to, and he's trying. We did end up getting a ride home. Thank goodness, haha. 

Today, my district wanted to go ice skating, but that didn't work out because they were not open until 1:15 and us not having a car complicates living in a city a little bit. So we walked to Walmart, then to Wendy's, played some uno, and had spa day #2. 

There's also this super cool store in our area that has a ton of returned, damaged, extra, or whatever else might qualify them; Amazon packages. Everything in the store on Friday(the day the restock) each package is $7. Every day, the price goes down by one dollar until Friday again.

Unfortunately, all the good stuff is usually gone by Monday, but it's still fun to buy a random package to see what you end up getting. My comp and I bought a couple boxes. He got some weird black cup things that have an unknown function, and I got... a car part. The part that activates the turn signal and wiper blades. Casi, pero no llega. 😔 

I'd like to share a scripture that we read with a friend tonight from Alma 32. The famous chapter about faith. In these scriptures, Alma talks about faith as a seed, alikening it to farming; something the people he was teaching probably could relate to. 

37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.

38 But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.

You can only see the fruit of the Gospel if you intentionally and carefully work for it. The work to start can be difficult, but the fruit is most sweet, above all other sweetness. I can testify that there is nothing more desirable. 

Alright, I love you guys. Con todo mi corazon. Have a good week! 

Hour with Elder Haupert

👀💇‍♂️💇‍♂️

Exchanges with Elder Teddy

I am the best great-grandmother in the world

I am the best great-grandmother in the world

Spa day #2

Week 16: Fighting Crime

Monday, January 20, 2025   10:59am

Whoa, that was fast. It's already Monday again. 

First big thing I can remember is that we have bikes now. My bike might be for children... but uh, it's missing a gear or two, and whenever I change the gear, it has like a 20% chance of making the chain fall off. But I've missed biking, I don't think I have touched a bike in years. And it does cut our travel time into a fraction of what it was before. 

A lot of our friends are being reluctant to attend church, which is pretty silly. God literally promises you with food, work, (their specific needs) and a heckin ton of other  blessings for keeping the commandments. But they're just like, "Nah." The only nonmembers we have at church are the ones that the members bring, which is actually super awesome. People are a lot more likely to be baptized when their friend invites them, so if you guys would wanna help out the missionaries in your area, pray to know who you can reach out to, and don't postpone your prompting! 

I also had an opportunity to practice self defense, for anyone wanting some more action. Remember that dog I mentioned last week? Well, if we ever thought he might have been friendly, he is not. 

In the evening, we were riding our bikes through a street close to the one we found him the first time, when we see a couple of dogs outside of their fences. Not a great sign. But most of them were chill. It was the one we didn't see that was the problem.

This dog is a very dark gray color, so we can't see him very well at night. I just heard my companion making typical 'go away' sounds. Somehow, it left him alone, and came for me. I started to yell at the dog, but that seemed to convince it I might be a good snack. It started biting my pants while we were flying down the road at 18mph. 

So, naturally, I kicked it in the face. It was not deterred, so I kicked it again. Coming in to attack a third time, I was able to get a solid thump, and it finally left me alone. It was sort of a highlight; I'm not really liking the dogs here. 

On that note, I read a really cool talk called The Missionary Purification by Elder Gene R.Cook. Whether you are a missionary, or a normal person, it is crucial to as the prophet says, have "the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." Elder Gene R. Cook talks of an expirience he had on his mission, that taught him how to purify himself. 

He simply wrote a list of all the things he did or thought that might drive away or distract from the Spirit. Then he prayed to ask for help and promise God that he would fast 40 days from those thoughts or actions. Every day, he would go down the list to see how he did, to repent and pray for more strength the next day. 

The effect it had at the end of the 40 days was that his habits changed, and he had been sanctified from the desire to think and do unnecessary and was more sensitive to the Spirit during lessons, and they baptized like, 16 people in that month, which was not normal for his mission. 

Obviously, if you are not a missionary, there are plenty of other things that you are doing, worrying about, and all kinds daily tasks  that require your time and effort. But the more we try to feel and listen to the Spirit, the more we will recognize what we were missing before! 

A lot of the things I found personally weren't 'bad' things, they just weren't things I needed to focus on, and stop me from paying attention to the promptings of the Spirit. I love that whenever we take the time and earnestly seek to #HearHim, we can undoubtedly feel the Spirit. God promises that whoever seeks shall find. He also promises to him that recieves, will He give more. When we show God we are ready to listen and obey, He will give us more opportunities to hear and to serve because He trusts us to pay attention to His efforts to communicate with us. 

Therefore, I would exhort you to reflect on how you can feel the spirit, and pay attention to what you might learn. Remember, every good thing(thought) comes from God! (Which would make those promptings, right?) 

Okay, I love you, bye bye! 

Just like Mama used to make

Week 15: We Lose The Batmobile

Monday, January 13, 2025   7:46pm

Hey, how's it going? 

Transfers happened! I'm not sure how transfers go on the sister side, but for us it was chaotic. At least, it sure felt that way because nobody tells me what's going on. 

Because no missionary can travel alone, after meeting my new companion we had to go all the way across our mission to accompany one other elder. It's strange to me that Mission President just sends out the transfer information and the missionaries just have to figure out how they're gonna make that happen. 

My new companion is Elder Romero! He's got 21 months in the mission apposed to my 3. Together, we are a full 2 years. Other than that, I'm not sure why President made us companions because we are a bit of an odd pair. He's from the Dominican Republic which means his Spanish accent is harder to understand than any I've heard. It's like that thing that Venezuelans do where they leave off the end of some words but worse. He does speak enough English for us to communicate, though. 

The other big change from transfers was that they took our car away. We also do not have bikes. So now we have to walk an hour to get to church. And it snowed this Sunday! We ended up being late because we had some friends we wanted to wake up on the way and we didn't get the sacrament. Oops. We are working on getting the car back. 

While we were walking, we were charged by a dog. We threw water at it and it stopped, but whenever we turned our backs it would start running again. Utah. 

Walking does give us extra opportunities to meet people we wouldn't with a car! Multiple times we've been somewhere at the very precise moment someone was leaving their house and we would not have otherwise found them. But I would still like a car. 

I love reading and responding to any of your emails, thanks to any who have remembered me...

This Gospel is true, guys. Keep nourishing your testimonies. 

Bye. 

Yo tampoco

Don't know who this is, but thanks

26 inch pizza. I've been waiting for this.

Uh.... Wanna golf?

Week 14(?!): I'm Getting Adopted

Monday, January 6, 2025  7:50pm

Heeyyyy! Transfers this week! The last transfer was a little short, only 5 weeks, so this one was 7 weeks. It went by super fast. (That also means my trainer only had 11 weeks in the mission before training me instead of the usual 12. So technically, I follow up trained during the first week of my mission.🫠) 

But yeah. Elder Haught is getting transferred, so I get to stay in Parkway. There's no other place like Parkway, it's a little wild. Elder Haught has a lot of stories about how weird this area is, like someone climbing into the trunk of his car and exorcisms. Can't wait to see what else another transfer here will bring me. 

This week, we were invited inside several times by catholics. On one of those occasions, it was a family of three who seemed receptive to our message despite having the most catholic decorations I've ever seen, but the dad was pretty drunk. When he learned I speak Dutch(Which some of you, I'm sure just figured out), he wanted to hear me pray in Dutch. He made us pray 4 different times through the lesson. I don't think any of us knew what was happening. 

We felt like we had a pretty good week of finding. We gave a lot of referrals to the sister missionaries in the YSA ward, we were having a bunch of lessons with new people, and they all seemed like they were gonna come to church. Contacting all our friends on Saturday, a lot of them promised to come, so we were excited. I'm sure you can tell where this is going. Not one of them actually showed up. This was a bad way to end the transfer. 

This morning, we had a district brunch as a district as requested by the sister who is going home. We made some really good french toast. I always feel like the hungry little caterpillar now unless we eat with 2 members in a row. That and the members probably have a little to do with me gaining 10 pounds since I left home. All pure muscle, of course. 

Yesterday, after dinner with a member, they talked to us about their testimony and things they learned from their mission, and were really intent on making sure I understood that what we're trying to do as missionaries is to provide everything a person needs to find their own answers through personal revelation. 

Isn't it interesting that the more contact you have with the spirit the more converted you will be? It's a lot easier to love the Gospel if you seeking to feel the spirit every day. I know that's true because much greater appreciation I've gained after spending so much time in the scriptures, praying, pondering, and seeking the guidance of the spirit. What can you do to increase your love for the Gospel and deepen your conversion? 

See ya, 

Elder Montgomery👉

These people might be a tiny bit Catholic

We have to refer so many contacts to the YSA hermanas

First attempt at omelet (lleva pollo)

Whoa, it tastes good. Hopefully it doesn't kill me

Random bird chillin on the trampoline

Finally got some good snowfall

The Grinch didn't only steal Christmas this year...