Let There Be Light!

Hello Friends and Family!

We have had another great week here at Temple Square - crazy that we've already been back two full weeks, and with the shortening of the transfer to 5 weeks we're already about half way through! 

1. Thanksgiving! We were again adopted by a local family this year for Thanksgiving! We went to a family living here in the valley - the Gentry family - and they were absolutely amazing. We had such a good time playing games, eating, and playing music with them. Their grandfather is really into the music world, and he had a bunch of his arrangements of Christmas music that we were all singing and playing along with as he played the piano. They even gave me a flute to play along! It was so much fun, and we all felt the Spirit there. I think that many times we think the Spirit is only found in the quiet, reverent moments - but I think the Spirit of the Lord can be found in homes filled with joy, laughter, and love. We had a fantastic holiday.

2. Christmas!!! Now that Thanksgiving is over... we are officially full swing into Christmas mode. The lights are on at Temple Square, and Light the World will be kicking off this week. I love all the members that come every day - we have been asking the members of the church to tell us their favorite Book of Mormon scripture and why it's their favorite as they circle it in our copy of the Book of Mormon. It's really been an interesting experience as we learn from the members about why they love this precious Book and it's been uplifting to hear their testimonies. Something I've realized about the Christmas season, is that although there are tons and tons of members of the church here, we also have the same amount of non members as we usually do, if not more - they're just a little harder to find! So we've enjoyed the challenge of talking to everyone we possibly can and learn from them.

3. Fabiola! Fabiola is from Peru, and she's such a sweetheart. We've been teaching her over WhatsApp and it's been so perfect - she has such a strong desire to learn, but she's really leery of going and meeting people in person because she doesn't want to feel rushed, so she loves learning online! She's been reading the Book of Mormon through the app, and she has so many questions every time we video call her. It's so much fun seeing her excitement for the gospel, and Sister Deighton and I love her.

We hope you all have a great week!! I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves each one of us, and that when we pray we truly do have a Father in Heaven who is listening to us - our prayers are heard, they don't stop at the ceiling. I love you all!

--Sister Black

Welcome Home!

Hello Family and Friends!

We have had an absolutely packed first week back - it's been so nice to be so busy!! I love the structure and the constant buzz that goes through Temple Square - there's never a dull moment, and never a lack of people to teach. Literal mission heaven. The Mission Presidency and the Sisters here have all been wishing those of us that just go back a a great "Welcome Home!" And it really does feel like we've all come home <3

1.  First of all, being a Zone Leader is hard!! We have been going crazy trying to learn all the names of everyone in our zone (20 Sisters) and trying to get to know them and understand their needs. We had our Mission Leadership Council this week, and it was really uplifting. We talked a lot about how we can minister to the Sisters in our zones and districts and about what we can do to help them become effective teachers of the restored gospel. I loved it. We've already planned and gone through with a few different trainings, and we're really enjoying helping out our zone. 

2. We met a man in Pizza Studio named Paul! He's from the tippy top of England - that means his accent definitely sounds more Scottish than English. Anyways, we met him at Pizza Studio and we started talking about the church and he had some questions we answered! We ended up bringing him back to Temple Square with us, and we gave him a tour! It was so much fun, and he's so nice!! Sister Deighton is a little bit in shock because people from the United Kingdom aren't typically super open to hearing the gospel, but Paul took a Book of Mormon and gave us his contact details! We're so excited to get to teach him! 

3. We found a great new person to teach named Efrain! He's Mexican, and he's great! He was referred to mormon.org by a friend, and he really wants to learn. We're excited to teach him! As much as I absolutely loved my outbound experience, something I missed about Temple Square was how easy it is to find people to teach. We would spend hours trying to find and doing things like knocking on doors, and at the end of the day we'd have nothing - but our first day back, we found two solid new people for us to teach, and as the days go by we keep finding more. I absolutely love online teaching - this is missionary work in the modern age and it's so amazingly effective. 

The lights at Temple Square turn on Friday! We're excited for Christmas schedule. It's so nice to be back "home" While there are definitely aspects of local missionary work and people that I miss back in Montana and Wyoming, I definitely know that the Lord called me to Temple Square for a reason and I'm grateful to be serving here. 

I love you all!

--Sister Black

Pictures and Update!

Hi Everyone!!

I made it safely back to Temple Square and my new companion is Sister Deighton! She's from England, and we're so excited!! We came out of the MTC together! We are the Zone Leaders of the East 2 Zone - so we're in the Beehive House!! Here are pictures from my last week in the Montana Billings Mission!! Love you all!!

--Sister Black

Goodbye Montana!

Hello Family and Friends!

On Wednesday I fly back to Temple Square, and I can't believe how fast this outbound experience has gone! I have absolutely loved my time in Wyoming and Montana - there is certainly something special about getting to see people face to face and be in their homes while we teach them the gospel. That said, I am so excited to go back "home" - I love the Temple Square mission, and I am absolutely looking forward to going back. :)

1. While on the topic of going back to Temple Square, I received an email from our Assistants to the President on Thursday that informed me that upon my return I would be serving as a Zone Leader! I have a LOT of mixed feelings on that one - excited for the opportunity to serve and to love the Sisters, but at the same time extremely nervous and definitely inadequate. I've been reminded though that whom the Lord calls He qualifies, and I'm excited for the challenge that lays ahead :)

2. We had a lot of fun doing service this week! We learned that one of the people we're teaching had a birthday, but not enough money to afford a cake - so we ding dong ditched a little birthday cake! It was really fun, and even though the person texted us and said they knew it was us... we enjoyed it. I've been thinking about the scriptures where it says that the Savior went about doing good, and we've been trying to find things to do throughout the day that give us opportunities to go about doing good - we were driving through a neighborhood, and we saw this really old couple trying to rake and bag all the leaves in their massive yard - so we pulled over and helped! It was so much fun, and even though they weren't interested in the gospel they were so grateful for our service - and we felt good afterwards! That's my favorite thing about serving others - the feeling you get afterwards.

3. Not spiritual, but the Hamilton Broncs won semis and they're going to states on Saturday!!!! Go teammm.

Well, it's definitely been a fantastic stay here in the Bitterroot Valley - I have loved being with the members, with my companions, and with the Spirit that accopanies missionaries as we go about the Lord's work. I don't know when my next Preparation Day will be.... but I'll talk to you then!

--Sister Black

Happy Halloween!

Hello Friends and Family!

Happy Halloween! We have had a fantastic week here in the Montana Billings Mission, and we absolutely love Hamilton!

1. One of our ward members is an extremely avid hunter (well, most of our ward members are) and they had us over for dinner on Tuesday night! We ate some wild sheep steak and chicken hearts - definitely nothing I'd like to eat again, but it really wasn't that bad! They are an awesome family, and we were able to have a great lesson with Aaron and Matthew while we were there. 

2. Before the ward trunk or treat on Halloween night, we had another great lesson with Aaron and Matthew! We had invited one of our youth, and he was absolutely amazing. He taught the portion of the lesson about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and his testimony was so sweet. I am always amazed by the youth of the church - so many of them have such great desires to serve others and to do good. 

3. We had a funny experience tracting (knocking on doors) where we didn't check well enough where each of our members lived, and the first door we knocked ended up being the Bishops! Oops! We thought it was pretty funny, but when the Bishop's wife told us that her neighbor across the street chases missionaries away, Sister Bennett said she felt like we should go talk to him.. so off we went! We made it half way up the driveway before he saw us and just stood up on the porch and yelled at us to go away hahaha. It was funny, but we decided that even though our promptings don't always go where we think they will - we are always blessed when we act on them.

4. We have been getting our fair share of sporting events here! Every Saturday morning, we play Ultimate Frisbee with all the other missionaries in our zone and any youth that want to come from all of our respective wards! It's really fun, and while Sister Hunter and I are really quite terrible at the game, we have a lot of fun interacting with the youth and getting in some enjoyable exercise. We're also in a very big football town, and the whole community is really supportive of their team. Our ward mission leader wants us to go to as many as the games and sporting events as we can so that he can introduce us to the people there and so that we can be part of the community - it's fun for us, and honestly it's really effective. The first time people see our name tags shouldn't be when we're knocking on their door! The Elders found a lady there named Maria that they recently put on date to baptized! We're super excited for them, and we're all really glad to see that creative finding does work!

I'm on my last week here in Hamilton, and while I'm really excited to get back to Temple Square I will certainly miss Big Sky Country. I'm excited to have another week and I'm grateful that the Lord saw fit to send me to the Montana Billings Mission!!

I love you all!

--Sister Black