The Cowboy State

Hello everyone!!!

I'm officially a Montana Billings Missionary! My first area is in Sheridan, Wyoming and we cover about 120 miles of land and we're over one ward and one branch. It's crazy! We don't have any progressing investigators right now, but we certainly have a lot of less active members that we're going to visit and see if we can't help them get back in church.

1. A lot of people have asked me the difference between Temple Square and a "proselyting" mission. (P.S. They're both proselyting) But I think the biggest difference that I've seen so far is mostly just where time goes and how it's spent. On Square, the thing we spend most of our time doing is teaching. There is always someone there who wants to learn or who has questions, and if not on square, then someone online. Here, however, we spend a lot of time walking around, knocking on doors, and searching high and low for anyone to listen to us. So it's a little different in that way, but when we do find people we teach them the same things we would teach at Temple Square, and we ultimately have the same purpose here as I did there. They have different things to offer, and different things to love.

2. Something I really love is getting to know the members and seeing people face to face! I've really enjoyed getting to visit people in their homes and sitting down with them and talking to them. I loved getting to go to church on Sunday and interact with all the members there - but 3 hours was killer! I haven't been to 3 hours of church on Sunday since I left the MTC. That was hard, not gonna lie haha. 

Overall, I'm really excited to be here in Wyoming and my companion is great! Her name is Sister Gherkins and she's from Arizona. She's been out a month longer than I have, and she is so kind. She's a great missionary, and I'm hoping we stay together next transfer - right now they are in week 4 of a 6 week transfer, so we'll find out in a few weeks what's going on!

I hope you all have a great week!

--Sister Black

my apartment.......

BIG SKY COUNTRY

I'M GOING OUTBOUND!!!

The state nickname is in the subject line,  but next Wednesday (the 22nd) I will be leaving for the:

 Montana Billings Mission!

I'm so excited, Montana Billings was actually the mission my current mission president first presided over so he and Sister Fisher have been telling me everything I need to do about Montana. I'm going to be bringing my winter gear since it can get cold fast, and I'll be there until November. Woo!!!

1. This isn't spiritual, but we saw a guy get tackled on square this week! We were standing at the flag pole for our tour, and this man who was definitely on something came running up to us and was yelling and jumping and just being crazy - security came and when the man pulled out his weapon and started trying to stab people, he got tackled. Police came, and he got arrested. All before our eyes! He was so close to us though, we could of touched him when he came up to us. We're so safe here on Temple Square though, security is the best. That's one thing about outbound that I'm a little worried about... no panic pulls!

2. On a little more spiritual of a note, we found this man named Carlos who lives in Venezuela that is just the sweetest thing. He's older, but he really wants a change in his life and he wants to lose some bad habits that he has. We called him and we taught him the first lesson, and he is so excited about getting to go to church and meet the missionaries there and start reading the Book of Mormon. We are really glad for him, and I'm kind of sad that I'm leaving and won't be here when he gets baptized.

3. James is another one I'm sad to leave, he's progressing so quickly - I wish it could just be sped up a week!! But we got to call him a couple times this week, he's been going through a lot with friends who don't like the gospel and try to convince him to drop his interest. But something he said to us is that he understands the cost of discipleship and that he knows that it's only through baptism that he'll be able to return to live with his Father in Heaven again. He told us that that was worth any price. Honestly, I think that in many cases the people that we're teaching teach me more than I teach them. I can't imagine having to give up so much by way of friends and family, especially because of the Irish religious situation (if you want to know, ask me) He's an example to me of what a true disciple of Jesus Christ looks like. He's precious, I'm excited to come back in November and hear all about his baptism and see the pictures. I have a lot to look forward to in November :)

I am so excited for this new chapter in my mission, but as I've been preparing my mind to go I've realized how much it will be the same. Of course being in a ward and being with members and seeing people will be different - but my purpose won't change at all. Whether I'm in Salt Lake or Billings - I know that God has people prepared for me to find, and that He knows exactly what I need to learn and to grow and be better. I'm excited - I don't know when I'll be emailing next, so stay tuned!

 I love you all!!

--Sister Black

PICTURES!!
There are 27 of us going outbound this transfer (That's a LOT) And it was so exciting because President stood up at the end of Relief Society and said he had an announcement and then he started calling our names... it sounded like those huge NBA games when the announcer is calling off every players name and then everyone cheers.. that was how this was. I've never seen the mission more hyped up than when he called our names and when we read our calls. The missions people are going to are (and Im sure Ive forgotten some) Las Vegas NV, San Jose CA, Sacramento CA, Boston MA, Tempe AZ, Mesa AZ, Houston TX, Spokane WA, and BILLINGS MT. Everyone has at least one person going with them to their mission.. except me. I'm flying solo. But I'm so excited :D. So some of the pictures are from Relief Society when he announced.

The other pictures are with the Montana state flag that my mom sent me. (thanks mom <3) 

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Hello everyone!!

We had a really good week and had some really great experiences and tender mercies from heaven.

1. We got the privilege of helping clean the Salt Lake City Temple! It's been closed for a while for cleaning, and we got to go over and help. It was certainly an experience I'll never forget. I was pondering while we were cleaning, and I was thinking about how one of the prophets said that Jesus Christ has walked every hallway of this temple, and that it really is His home. It made cleaning it feel like more of an honor for me, I was thinking while I worked that the next time Jesus walked by this chandelier or this wall or this pillar or this room, I wanted it to be spotless. Unlike the times that I clean my apartment or my room, I wanted to be 100% sure that I hadn't missed a single spot - I really wanted it to be perfect. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to clean the temple, it's so gorgeous inside, and while I felt a little like I was cleaning things that were already clean, I like to think that the crystals on the chandeliers sparkled just a little more after I had cleaned them. 

2. I had another thought while cleaning about having eyes to see. When we first started working, I felt like I was making absolutely no difference - I was cleaning something that was already spotless. But as I spent more time there, particularly on the chandeliers, I began to see little bits of dusts and little streaks and smudges on the crystals - I began to see what we were cleaning! It made me think a little bit. I think that at first, it's really easy to look at others and just think their lives are perfect. They have no struggles, they have no problems, they have no fears, no trials... they have it all. But really, all of us have different struggles and different trials and different temptations - although some of our problems may not be super obvious to those around us, everyone struggles in some way. The Lord understands that perfectly though - He knows exactly where our smudges and our stains are, and He knows exactly how to get them out. I really have a testimony of the Savior being the Savior of everyone. That He knows and loves each of us as individuals, and not just as a mass - but that He knows each of us, He looks at the crystals not just the giant chandelier. He looks at us and loves us for who we are and who we can become. 

3. Something not about cleaning the temple - we have taken a lot of Spanish tours this week, as well as a lot of tours with people here in SLC from the transplant games! It's a worldwide event being hosted here where people who have been affected by transplants in any way (donated, received, family members of those who have passed and donated, supporters etc.) can come and have an Olympics of sorts! But there are all types of events so that everyone can participate. One of the things people do is collect and trade pins from all the different players - the pins represent where they come from. We've taken quite a few of them on tour, and now I have 6 pins! It's really fun to meet all these different people and hear about their different life experiences. 

I hope everyone has a good week! We are loving life here in Salt Lake, and we're getting more and more excited every day for the lights to be back! (Though we aren't as excited for all the weddings to be back... we counted at least 7 this morning in the same hour hahaha)

Love you all!

--Sister Black

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Hi everyone!!

Happy August!! It's been another great week :)

1. The lights on Temple Square are back!! They're not on, but they're back! It takes the light people 3 months to set up all the lights and trees and Christmas decorations, so they start early. This morning we were walking around, and we saw people already starting to string lights on trees. That means Christmas is coming!! Wow, I feel like they just finished taking the lights off the trees.. but here we go again! It really has made me think about how precious time is and how little we really have of it. This Monday I'll hit my unofficial year mark.. at least that will be the day that I have 6 months left in the field. In so many ways I feel like I just got here, and to only have 6 months left feels so unreal. It's certainly made me think a lot more about how precious time is, and that the opportunity we have to serve the Lord and represent our Savior as His full time missionaries is really so fleeting. 

2. Back to the MTC!!! We finished our Missionary Department Training this week as a mission, but now they're making it a little smaller with something called coaching! It's the first time they've been doing this, so it's still a new idea - but I love it so much. For the next two weeks, Sister Felix and I will Skype an MTC teacher for an hour about 4-5 times a week, and receive personal coaching for how we can improve our skills as online teachers of the gospel. It's so cool!! We've already done a bit of it, and it's so neat. We do live interactions with people visiting the website, as well as role plays with the teacher. It's already so helpful, and it's so nice to have some one on one training with specific help on how to improve. Something we've talked a lot about is having empathy and the importance of building a human connection with people over the internet - it's so hard. But I've found that as I try to really connect with and understand these people that come online as individuals rather than assuming I know them based off of other people I've met online and boxing them into groups I've seen before like "anti" or "looking for information" or "troll" or "willing to learn", I've seen a lot more success with understanding them and helping them come closer to Christ. Basically, I love coaching. 

3. Something else I loved from the Missionary Department Training was that we talked about 3 different types of people that we typically see that visit Temple Square - we have a lot of people that are "Not Aware" "Curious" and "Engaged" For a long time, the missionary effort has been focused on the last category: the people that are engaged in finding out if what we teach is true, that are actively praying and reading and pondering. But Preach My Gospel doesn't focus much on those that are "Not Aware" or may just be "Curious". We laughed though because we talked about how sometimes it's awkward when we try to have super spiritual conversations with people, and Chris (the missionary department guy) just laughed and said, the thing is, you're probably talking to someone who isn't aware and applying principles for those in the engaged category and then wonder why it's awkward. I just think it's really great that with the new updates to Preach My Gospel and the new training's available for missionaries, there is a higher focus on really helping invite everyone to come unto Christ from wherever they currently are. I think it helps us do missionary work a lot more like Christ would, go to where people are and lift them higher. I love being a missionary. 

Well, there's a little inside peak to the beginning of a new age of missionary work! It's exciting being so close to Headquarters with all the changes and updates going on, but more than anything right now I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ and help others feel of His love both online and on square.

Have a great week!!!

--Sister Black