This has been another week of go go go! Things often don't go as planned, but there certainly isn't a shortage of work to do here!
I love our area more and more each day! Montanans are seriously so generous and kind. Boy oh boy, do they know how to cook! Many people serve entirely homemade meals, including meat that they've hunted themselves! I am very grateful for the fresh foods and for their kindness in understanding my not eating sweets.
Anyway, we had 5 people come to church this Sunday! We exceeded our goal of 4, it was awesome! We had the help of some members giving rides and one member brought one on their own. We have an awesome missionary focused ward! Of course there is always room for improvement, for us as missionaries as well, but we have gotten lots of support as well as referrals! We also had a first lesson with an interested person and his fiance, who is an inactive member. It was my first time doing a first lesson! I felt it went very well, we got to know them and explained our purpose. We then answered any questions they had, and transitioned into teaching the restoration. They were so receptive and had amazing comments and questions. Their interest in the church is because of how family focused and organized it is. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon, and to pray to know for themselves of its truth. It turned out that they had already been reading it! What gems!! Not to mention the fact that when they offered the closing prayer, they thanked God for the spirit that they felt during the lesson! They recognized the Spirit, I think this will go very well indeed!! They liked the idea of us coming back to teach more. We are so excited!
If I have learned anything this week, it is to ACT. The Lord needs to know that we are committed to Him and that we will follow through. If we want guidance, blessings, or answers to our questions, we must take a leap of faith in the dark.
"Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Ether 12:6
As we have put forth our faith through action, we have seen blessings and received answers after much prayer and reflection. They didn't come through marvelous revelations, but in the little tender mercies that are revealed through searching and reflection.
Another thing that I want to talk about is building character. It may seem that the big moments and decisions we have in life are our defining moments. In a way they can be, but what truly defines and creates our character is the little decisions and moments we go through each day. During our companionship study, Sister Flake and I shared our hopes and desires for our missions before we left home, and how they have showed up or even changed as we've gone forth. Sister Flake shared that as she's looked back on the moments that she experienced the most joy and fulfillment, she was surprised! She has come to realize that the times that were the hardest have brought her the most joy and fulfillment, rather than times with baptisms or more statistical success. This is because in hard times, we have to focus more on every little decision to find joy and motivation. Therefore, as we become more consistent and integrous in each of our seemingly small decisions, we become more joyful and THAT is where you find your true character.
A scripture that I love goes along with this is 2 Nephi 32:9. It says: "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."
Prayer is how we can build and change our character through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Daily repentance is key, as well as allowing God to consecrate our performance for the welfare of our souls! Always have a prayer in your heart, so you can always have guidance from the Lord, through the Holy Spirit. We can not do life on our own, and we certainly cannot make lasting change without the gift of the Atonement. "Ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save." 2 Nephi 31:19
Fun / Funny Moments
Feeding the neighborhood ducks with an old man we ran into (after sharing a message with him of course)! He kept saying "I bet you've never done THIS before!" It was SO DARN CUTE. He said that he feeds the ducks every morning and afternoon, they are quite fond of him I believe! After that he randomly asked us if we liked jerky and gave us some before we left heheh. What a sweetheart!
I have had 2 dreams since being in the mission field that I was reassigned again! The first dream I was reassigned to Mexico and the second one was Iceland… I missed my flights both times, I don't know why but it's so odd! I wake up feeling so unsettled heheh I don't want to be reassigned again (x
A little girl at church came up to me and asked me what my name was again. She said that it's such a weird name and asked where I got it from, and I said my parents gave it to me. She had such a look of disgust and said what's wrong with your parents! Why would they give you such a weird name?!
With all my love!
Sister Alger
Snow piled up on everything, it looks so cool to me!!
Daily Pics
Me trying to get the sparkles of the snow to show on camera
I took a video that probably shows the sparkles better:
Daily out photo!
Two views from our spot in the library(:
Exchanges with the sister training leaders : Sister Brereton and Walstad!
We love them!! That day was wack and so full!!
Feeding the neighborhood ducks with an old man we ran into (after sharing a message with him of course)! He kept saying "I bet you've never done THIS before!" It was SO DARN CUTE. He said that he feeds the ducks every morning and afternoon, they are quite fond of him I believe!
These are right after feeding the ducks, we felt very accomplished!
Sister Flake got a hold of my phone...
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