Missionary Life is AWESOME!

 March 18, 2013

"Dear Family and Friends,

    Well this week up here in Lakeside, Montana has been an interesting one! 

Tuesday, we drove an hour south to Polson with a Senior Couple Elder to take care of some Mission business. We are an 18-hour drive from the other side of the Mission and the furthest area from the Mission Home in Billings. It's about an 11-hour drive to the Mission Home! Due to these circumstances, the Sr. Couple Elder is a leader here on the West-side of the Mission and operates under the Keys of President Mecham, the Mission President. So Elder Brown and I accompanied him on some Mission business that took most of our Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday we taught some lessons to our investigators and visited some others but it was pretty slow. Then, Friday morning we had to be in Kalispell at 7:30 AM for Zone Leader training. Kalispell is one of the bigger cities on the West-side of MT, it has about 10,000 people and is about 40 minutes North of our little Lakeside. So we went to the Stake Center there for Zone Leader training which was pretty much an all day training, which was awesome! 

I learned a lot and was highly motivated by my Zone Leaders Elders Scott and Burrows. They are so awesome and I love them and learn so much from their examples. I am so thankful for the relationship I have with them as my Zone Leaders and the relationship I have with my companion, Elder Brown.  Elder Brown and I get along so well and work great together. We push each other on our personal and individual goals as well as push to learn and grow together as a companionship. 

**To any future Missionaries reading this: You must always strive to have a good relationship with your companion, where the Spirit can reside within each of you to guide and help you personally as well as a companionship. If you can't get along then the Spirit can't be with you! The Spirit is the one who converts, so if you don't have the Converter, then you are wasting the Lord's precious time and resources! Go out on your mission with the determination to do ALL in your power to get along with everyone you work with. It will be so much better and more rewarding!**

    So after Zone training on Friday, Elder Brown and I stayed with the ZLs and went on exchanges. I was able to work with Elder Scott and we visited some people in their area there in Kalispell. That night we taught the 3rd lesson to an 8 year old girl named Erin. It was a little different teaching a child but she was so smart and understood it all so well, it was great to be a part of that with Elder Scott. That night we slept at the home where the ZLs live with another set of Elders. 

We all slept over because Saturday morning we all woke up and went to do a service project. Their service project was going to this lady's farm on the outskirts of Kalispell and help in the big all-day event of SHEEP SHEERING! It was sooooo awesome! We got to man handle the sheep and take their "coats" off which protect their wool, then we would take them to the sheep sheerer who would shave the sheep's wool off so fast, it was so cool to see how it all works. Then we would take the sheep from him and put on another smaller coat to protect the next years growth of wool.

I hope that all makes sense, I will get pictures sent home and then they will get up on the blog so it will all make more sense and ya'll can see me in action! It was such a blast and felt so great to help this amazing woman out with her sheep.

     

So a quick update on our investigators:

               

-We met with Kurt Wild who is on date for the 30th, we saw him 3 times this week. He is working on the WordOfWisdom and going through tremendous amounts of pain because of his back and shoulder injuries. More procedures and surgeries to come, so as a result he has not been able to come to church and his baptism will be moved back. But he is strong and growing in the gospel. We were able to give him a blessing this week. The Spirit was so strong and he said he had immediate relief. He didn't make it to church yesterday because he couldn't move from the intensity of the pain but read the Book of Mormon and prayed all day! He bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon last night and so we are so excited for him. We will meet and teach him this week several times.

               - Ute (our German lady friend)... We saw her twice this week just as a drop in visit to see how she was doing with her reading. We teach her lesson 2 this week! :)

     

- Sherry Williams, she has a long story that I don't have time to explain but we are also teaching her the second lesson this week and we will be working closely with her. She will have to get special permission from the 1st Presidency to be baptized due to some unique circumstances that I won't explain at this time, but I have great faith in her. We are excited to work with her.

This week we will be working harder then ever before, we are praying to find more to teach and know this week is going to be a great one!

 Love you all so much and cant thank you enough for the love and support! 

Till next week....

    Love,

Elder Organ"

A Picture Story

A short story of our Arizona-born and raised-Elder's life in Montana.

 March 4, 2013

 "Wake up and put it on!

Think about putting it on, every morning for the next two years!

Step outside and see what is just outside my door. Beautiful!

Look at our awesome Mission Truck (Chevy!!) and smile.

Not far into our day, the Montana weather sets in.

   

Again, thinking about doing this for the next two years...

So blessed!"

Montana Pictures From Our Favorite Elder!!

You guys.... he sent MORE pictures!! These ones were sent with his MTC photos after he'd been in Montana a few days. YAY!!

March 4, 2013

"Here are some fun Montana and snow pictures!

 

Me with my Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Mecham

Then this is a pic of Flathead Lake from Main Street in Lakeside

  A picture of the 1st two houses I ever knocked ha ha!

Me and my trainer Elder Brown in the mirror

About 50 wild turkeys in this yard which got pretty close to a doe bedded down. Haha! We see deer every day and have had some close calls driving at night almost hitting them, they are everywhere! A mission vehicle usually hits a deer every couple months! Crazy! 

 Me and my companion with the famous "Happy Hippo" which is in Polson, MT where we have our District meetings. It is a HUGE boat on wheels that drives around doing tours and can drive into the water too! 

More to come soon!"

MTC Pictures Ya'll!!

After weeks of trying to get these pictures converted to a format that was usable on the blog, we FINALLY have some picture lovin' from Elder Organ!

March 4, 2013

"Hey everyone! Here are some pictures of me from the MTC!

Me at the famous MTC map 

Me and my comp with the "Bikes and Elders"



 Elder Sagers and myself he is the one who is 6'9"! and you all thought I was tall! 

My MTC District at the Provo Temple 

Oh, and my perfectly packed bag to fly out right at 50 pounds! ;)

 

Love you all!"

Elder Organ's Second Week In Montana!!

Here it is folks! Great things happening for him!

March 11, 2013

"Family and Friends,

This email will be short because I am out of computer time! But some super exciting news from here in Lakeside, MT!  We have 2 investigators! 

One is Brother Wild; we just taught him the 3rd lesson this week and he has committed to be baptized on March 30th! We are already on the 3rd lesson with him because President Rowley (the Branch President) and the Branch Mission Leader had already taught him the first 2 lessons since there was no missionaries here before us! Anyways, he was planning on coming to church yesterday but couldn't because of his back and shoulder pain. He was in a severe car accident while on duty as a police officer in Florida. He is in the middle of several surgeries on his back and shoulder and so it is hard to get to teach him and get him to church but we have great faith in him. He really has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and knows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are true! He is amazing and we hope to see him later this week, he has a procedure tomorrow and so we don't have an exact appointment time yet but plan to teach the 4th lesson. 

   

Our other investigator is Ute, she and her husband moved here about a year ago from Minnesota, but are both originally from Germany! So she has a pretty thick accent and is hard to understand at times but she is awesome!  They are retired and live in a beautiful home overlooking the lake! We found her tracting! :) Her husband answered the door, we gave our door approach thingy and struck up a gospel discussion. He said, "I'm not really interested but do you want to talk to my wife, she has read your Book of Mormon before." So that's how it began! We talked with her and set up a return appt. which we had this week. We taught the 1st lesson: The Restoration and it went really well! We were able to answer a lot of her questions using both the Bible and the Book of Mormon which really showed how they truly do go hand in hand to testify of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was so strong and she said she would pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. (She read it many years ago and just liked it as a good book that taught her about Christ) so she is starting to read it again and to pray about it. We invited her to be baptized and she said it was too soon to decide but would certainly think about it. I feel really good about her! Return appointment isn't until next week.

   

And this week we are going to teach the lessons to a LA who was baptized about 6 years ago. He is an elderly man in his 80's but told the Branch President he wants the lessons again and to prepare to go to the temple to be sealed to his wife who passed away just a year ago yesterday. So we will be working with him. 

We also have an appointment this week with a woman who was taught off and on for several months a couple years ago. We read her teaching record and felt good about trying to find her. Well long story short, after much research we found her! She has been away in Billings for a long time at a facility to help her with some things but just moved back to Lakeside 3 days ago! She is anxious to begin the lessons again and come to church!

   

So my dear friends and family, the work has started to pick up for us! We have been working hard and praying hard! And continue to do so because I know there are more out there who are prepared for our message! I love this gospel and this work! I love all of you and your support! Till next week...

-Elder Organ"

Keep those letters coming for our Elder Organ!!

Elder Organ's First Week In Montana!!

Hey all you Elder Organ lovers!! I have a treat for you!! Here it is... FINALLY (his first week in the mission field!)

February 25, 2013

"Dear Family and Friends,

So I am here in Montana! My adventure so far... On Tuesday the 19th our group of 21 missionaries going to Montana split up into 2 flights. I was on a 9 AM flight out of SLC with 11 other missionaries. We got on to a little 24 seater jet and 45 minutes later we landed in Billings. 

There, we were met by President Mecham, his wife, and his assistants. It was a warm welcome. We were taken to the mission home/office and had lunch then we got a treat that no other missionaries coming in have gotten...We were able to go to the temple! After the temple we had interviews and training. Wednesday we did an all day training and late afternoon we were assigned our areas and trainers. 

My trainer is Elder Brown from Plasterville, CA and he has been out 4.5 months. My area is Lakeside, MT which is in the Northwestern corner of the state. It is a little town of about 2,000 people and is about 80 miles south of Canada. It was pretty crazy getting here from Billings. I had to sleep in the mission home another night because my area is a 10 hour drive away from Billings. So Thursday I got up and got in the "Transfer van" with 9 other missionaries. We drove to different areas dropping Elders and Sisters off at their various areas. Those who remained in the van were dropped off in Helena where our specific zone leaders picked us up. 

Long story short, about 11 hours after 1st stepping in that van, I stepped out of a mission truck in Lakeside.

   So a little more about Lakeside... My area! It is small like I mentioned and it has been pretty deprived of missionaries for 6 to 8 years. So all the records in the area book are old and just not very complete. Elder Brown and I are the first permanent missionaries here in at least 3 years. It is like we are detectives trying to put together records and pieces of the puzzle of what has happened here! Here in Lakeside we have a family branch and a YSA branch. We attended both yesterday. In the family branch we were both asked to speak and there was 29 people there. In the YSA branch there was 12 people and we were told to be prepared to teach Sunday School or Priesthood every Sunday as needed. Both branches were notified that we were coming and they were all super excited about having permanent missionaries! 

Everyone has extended a very warm welcome!

   An especially warm welcome was from our host family. We live with an older couple in the branch. We live in a little back bedroom there and are allowed to use anything in their home. They are extremely nice and remind us every day "What is ours is yours so feel free to dig in to whatever you want or need." 

It is a tremendous blessing! Love them so much already! And maybe will be able to help them with their Word of Wisdom problems ;) 

    

So Friday and Saturday we went tracting to try and find some people to teach because we are starting from what we consider ground zero in this area. The tracting both days was done as it snowed and the temperature dropped so it was pretty dang cold! Ha ha!! But after many, many doors we were let in by an older gentleman. It was a pretty interesting 1st experience in the mission field ha ha! He told us that he has seen God the Father and also seen and talked with the Apostle Peter. Because of these visitations, he said, "I believe 100% Joseph Smith and believe 100% the Book of Mormon, it just makes sense that Christ would visit those here in America."  So long story short, we are listening to him tell us about all these visions he has had, the book he has written and other things, then we teach about some things out of the Book of Mormon, I invited him to be baptised and he tells us, "Oh I don't need to be baptised because God told me I was baptised before I was ever born." Or in some previous life (because he believes in reincarnation) so all of it was interesting to say the least ha ha!! 

We were let into 2 other homes of Evangelist Christians and had discussions about the Godhead. We plan to follow up with one of them. So it has been an adventure thus far and a lot of fun discussing and testifying of the gospel!

     

I need to go for now but thank you all for your letters, love, and support! This is God's work and I am so blessed and happy to be one of His representatives at this time!

       
 -Elder Organ"

You guys, doesn't he sound SO good?! Love this guy so much! Keep all those letters coming because he just LOVES them and I know they never fail to make him smile. 

Elder Organ's Phone Call From The Airport!!

Hey ya'll! This is an email from Elder Organ's mom detailing his phone call from the airport! He left the MTC with a whole bunch of other missionaries heading out to Montana and was so excited to get to work!

"Dear Family,

   Just was able to speak with Aaron.  He was able to call us from the airport.  He is on his way to Montana.  He said his whole district is going to Montana, and he is ready for this next adventure!   

He said that the other district from his zone (at the MTC) weren't all going to Montana, so that was unique to his district. 

He loved the MTC and all that he learned and heard there.  

He said most everyone waiting to load the plane were wearing cowboy boots and hats.  He loves you all and appreciates the letters and support!  

Love you all, and hope you all have a great day!...Mom"