Week #3: Great Falls Montana

We arrived in Billings, Montana on Tuesday afternoon. President and Sister Wadsworth are absolutely amazing and I love them so much! They really love and care about the missionaries and the mission. We spent the afternoon in training meetings, and then we had the cutest western style barbecue dinner at the mission home. After, we had an awesome testimony meeting.  All of the incoming missionaries (29 of us) as well as the Assistants, President, and Sister Wadsworth bore testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and our Savior. It was really powerful.


Our group of 29 new missionaries at the Billings Montana Temple

The next morning we woke up at 5:15 am because we had to be AT the Billings temple by 6:15 am. It was a struggle, but I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go through the temple. After the temple we had training meetings for the rest of the day. It was pretty intense, but awesome. We learned about all our mission-specific rules.  I realized that I am serving in this area because I WANT to follow these rules and I WANT to be a more consecrated missionary.  I'm excited to follow all of the rules and be exactly obedient!

After the day of training, we received our area assignments!! For my first area, I am serving in the Great Falls Zone!  SO, we left the mission home at around 7:30am on Thursday morning, we had a 4.5 hr drive to Helena, where I would be meeting my zone and then driving another 1.5 hr to Great Falls. We had been on the road for about an hour when the van with a trailer attached to it (carrying our luggage) began to smoke, and the tire blew. We flagged them down the van, and then all pulled over to assess the damage. The tire rubber was completely gone and the fender on the  trailer was completely gone. Luckily we had a spare...unfortunately the spare was flat... So the Assistants drove to the nearest gas station to pump the tire back up, then came back to change the tire. So it took probably about an hour.. But hey it was an adventure!
 
Then we got back in the cars and sang Called to Serve as we continued on our journey, until around 10:30am our driver looked at his gas gauge and realized it was on empty. We quickly called the van ahead of us and told them we needed to stop at the nearest gas station...sadly as soon as we hung up, the van ran out of gas. We were once again stranded on the side of a Montana freeway. The Assistants (who were in a truck behind us) pulled over and then went to the nearest gas station (about 25 minutes away) to get us gas. An hour later, they were back with the gas, but they didn't know how to put the gas into the van! Apparently it was a new van and so it took them about 20 minutes to figure it out, haha, but eventually we had gas and we were on our way again.

Finally we made it to our destination without further delay! I met my new companion and she is awesome! That evening, we had dinner at a member's home and had a training with our stake president.  The training was for the parts of our zone
who are serving in the stake, the training was about 45 minutes away. As we were driving there the Elders car broke down...so we all pulled over to see what was wrong. It was raining pretty hard and it was freezing, so we were just standing in the rain, looking at this car that wouldn't run, and we decided that we wouldn't make it to the meeting after all. Needless to say, we had a LOT of car trouble for one day, but it kept me laughing!
 
This week has definitely been one of growing and stretching outside of my comfort zone, but it has been great! The people here in the ward are so kind to us and I am so excited to get to know them better, serve them, and work with them. My trainer is Sister Anderson and she is awesome! She is so patient with me and so loving. I am grateful for her example and willingness to help me learn.
 

My trainer Sister Anderson and the cat that lives on our porch.

While this week has been really good, it has felt like an eternity! Being in the mission field is a lot harder than I ever imagined... I'm not sure how to explain it, but I am learning a lot! We tract for a minimum of an hour each day! All of our investigators right now are from personal contact or tracting.  

 Breaking in my mission shoes!

I woke up this morning and studied about having faith. I read the talk by Elder Clayton from this past general conference and studied 2 Nephi 4 where Nephi is feeling discouraged in the natural man in himself, BUT he concludes the chapter by saying "I have trusted in thee and I will trust in thee forever." He talks about how he will not put his trust in the arm of man, he will put his trust in God. It was a reminder to me that I need to doubt my doubts before I doubt my faith. I think it was also a reminder to me that I need to be patient with myself, I need to remember that the Lord will bless me as I try my very best. I know that my trials, inadequacies and imperfections will bring me closer to Christ. My testimony of the Saviors love and timing is increasing. I am excited to go out and find people this week who are searching for the truthfulness of the gospel! I love being a missionary! I know hard days will come, but I know I can rely on my Savior.
 

Beautiful Montana sunset

I'm so grateful for your continued prayers on my behalf. I will keep
working my hardest and putting my faith in Christ. I am so grateful
for the plan of salvation and for eternal families!!

Love,
Sister Wong