Novembrrrr!

November 17, 2014

Dear family and friends,

     This week was truly a busy and crazy week! Monday the snow came and the change in weather, it is now winter! Brrr!

Monday night, and Tuesday I was saying my goodbyes to many in the West Park and Rimrock Wards, it truly was an awesome area and I enjoyed serving there! Tuesday afternoon we did a lot of prep work and testing for a broadcast we were in charge of that would take place on Thursday. There were a lot of technical difficulties but we were able to work through those and get things running better. Tuesday night missionaries being transferred from Wyoming or Glendive came into Billings and needed to be housed. The transfer van didn't get in until 10pm due to the snow and ice, it had been snowing off and on and by Tuesday night the low was below zero. Wednesday morning started at 5:30am, I drove an Elder to the mission home who had stayed the night with us and dropped him off there and met up with my new companion Elder Griffith. We were then assigned to help brush snow and de-ice 10 brand new Nissan frontiers. The temperature was 2 degrees, it was some hard work getting them ready to go for the drivers who took these ten trucks West. But anyways it was a busy day with transfers!

     Thursday we did a mission leadership broadcast all about Online Proselyting. It was about 2 hours long and it went pretty good. We were able to train district leaders, zone leaders, sister training leaders and Facebook zone specialists all about the Standards for Online Proselyting in our mission and all about the How To's.

     By Friday morning Elder Griffith and I were finally settled into our new area. We are both new to the ward so we have just been going around and meeting as many members as we can right now. Our area has been worked over pretty good and so we are seeking different avenues by which to find people to teach. The Ward is really nice and caring, we are grateful for them. I am grateful for the amazing host family I live with, they are too good to us. I am having a lot of fun serving with Elder Griffith, he is awesome!

    This week has been super cold, for about 5 days the highs were between 5 and 15 degrees and the lows as low as -12. But such is life, bring on winter!

Things are going great! This week I had a very spiritual experience. We had an all day training meeting on Friday, and there Sister Mecham pointed out that Moses, Nephi and many of the prophets "went to the mountain" and there they obtained a vision for themselves and of what God needed them to accomplish. Then she asked us, "Have you been to the mountain? What's your vision?" I took what she said to heart and had an amazing experience! I would invite all of you to evaluate yourselves, go to the mountain and seek your vision.

I know God lives and loves you and can reveal through the Holy Ghost what He would have you do and who He needs you to be! I love all of you an am grateful for the support! Have a wonderful week!

P.S. Attached pictures are of me and Elder Griffith. Yes one of them really shows you the truth of how bald I have gotten!

- Elder Organ

 

 

Hello Everyone

November 10, 2014

Hello Everyone,

    Another transfer has come and gone, where does the time go!? 

We have been really busy looking for people to teach, we had somewhat of a rough week. D----- L------ dropped us and sadly that was probably for the better, he was not really progressing. Two of our progressing less actives that have been coming to church were both in the hospital this week. And some of the other people we have been teaching just disappeared and we can't get a hold of them. But we keep pressing along as we strive to find those who the Lord has prepared.

    The fall weather has been sooooo nice! It has been absolutely beautiful weather for months and now that all changed. Yesterday was dark and dreary all day and then last night it started to rain on our way home and this morning it's all white with snow! It is supposed to snow more today and be in low 20s for the next few days with lows near zero. But such is life in Montana, bring on the winter, I am ready for it! :)

      So this week is transfer week and I am getting transferred to the Billings East Stake to serve in the Hawthorne Ward with Elder Griffith! Elder Griffith and I came out together and he is one of my best friends on the mission and one of the best missionaries I know! We will be living with some awesome members and so my new address is: 

2838 Saratoga Trail 

Billings, MT 59105 

I am so stoked about it all. I will miss serving with Elder Clark, he is a great missionary who I have loved serving with. I am also going to miss the West Park Ward and all the great people there but life continues on and I know new people and adventures are to be had! 

I am so blessed and so grateful to be on my mission, I absolutely love it! I know that Jesus is the Christ and that one can be healed physically, spiritually and emotionally if they will have true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am thankful for each of you and the support you provide me! 

Thank you and I pray all of you can have a blessed week!

- Elder Organ

Hello All!

October 20, 2014

Hello Dear family and friends,

    This week has been a busy and exciting week, I have lots to share with you all!

 

 Some of you know I have continued to struggle with my health for the last couple months, well this week I received some exciting and good news. I have parasites, my colon is full of them and they have really weakened my body which explains why I have been so sick. This is such good news because after months of searching, doctors appointments, and dead ends we finally know what to do to so I can get back to full health. I am so blessed and grateful for the hand of the Lord in my life, I have learned much the last few months because of this health trial and I am grateful for it. Thank you to all who have been praying for me, I feel of your love and support and I am so thankful!

     Three days this week I went with one of the Assistants to the Mission President, traveling to the Glendive zone to present some information to the missionaries about Online Proselyting and how to use Facebook to share the gospel with others. Elder Clark stayed with the other 2 Assistants to keep the work going in our area. The work in our area has really slowed down, we had several of our investigators and less actives drop us the weekend of General Conference. This coming week we have several times planned to find those who have been prepared to receive the message of the Restoration.

     This last weekend was a geographical area conference for Wyoming, Colorado and Montana where we heard from Craig C. Christensen, Sister Esplin, Elder Bednar, and Elder Scott. It was an absolutely amazing conference! Elder Christensen talked about members and missionaries uniting together and working together in bringing souls unto Christ. I hope each of you will not shirk your responsibility by assuming, "someone else will do it"; please ask yourself what you can do to be more united. Obviously this is from a full time missionary perspective... As missionaries we love when members share the gospel with their friends, when they ask us, "Elders can I come teaching with you this week" or "Who that you are teaching needs fellowship?" Or invite the missionaries over to teach your family the Restoration. Whatever it may be I invite each of you to do something this week to become more united as members and full time missionaries.

    Elder Bednar also talked about the hastening of the work but he made an interesting point, he said, "This is he Lord's work and He does the hastening". With that powerful statement he then asked a few soul searching questions..."Will we as individuals and as a church keep up with the pace of the Lord in His hastening the work?" "Is the hastening happening in us? Are we becoming more devoted disciples of Christ or are we simply going through the motions of being a part of the church?"  So answer for yourself those questions. Regardless of what your answers may be I know there is always room for improvement and growth. I invite all of you to again commit to doing something this week to become a more devoted disciple of Jesus Christ and engage in the hastening of the work!

    I am so far from perfect and have a lot to work on but I do know my purpose and my role in the work of salvation. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Again I am far from perfect but I strive to always give it my best effort in fulfilling my purpose. 

 

I know that this truly is the work of the Lord and He is hastening His work. I pray we can all anxiously engage in this great work! I testify that Jesus is the Christ, He lives and leads this church. Jesus Christ needs your help and has asked for your help..."If ye love me, keep my commandments". How will you show your love for Him this week? I pray you all can be safe in all that you do, I love you and am grateful for your support! Until next time...
 

- Elder Aaron Organ
P.S. Pics from the trip to Glendive Zone which is Northeast corner of Montana :)

 

 

 

Busy Busy Busy

October 6, 2014

Hello Everyone,

     Life continues to fly by as we are so busy! But I would rather be super busy than nothing going on. We had a ton of let downs this week as our investigators and less actives cancelled on us time and time again. We had someone set up to come to every single session of conference with us and they all cancelled! So that was all a bummer but its alright, we are keeping our heads held high with the hopes of a better week this week!

    The picture attached is of me with Elder Wyatt and Brother and Sister Lilly from Great Falls, they were down here in Billings where Elder Wyatt and I both serve now and so they looked us up and took us to lunch. It was so nice of them and it was so great to see them and catch up! 

Life is good here in Billings, Montana! Hope all is well with each of you, I love you and am so grateful to all of you for your support!

   Hope you all got the chance to see conference, if not, be sure to see it at LDS.org because they were all awesome talks! I know we have living prophets and apostles on earth today, what a blessing this is!

-Elder Organ

It's Been A While Since I Sent Pictures... Here Ya Go!: Sent October 6, 2014

All for your enjoyment :)

Fall in Billings, Montana

September 29, 2014

Hello Everyone,

 

      Fall is here in Billings; it is a beautiful, cloudy, and cold day here in Montana. The leaves are changing colors and dropping from the trees, it is truly an amazing time of year! 

 

Transfer information came out yesterday and Elder Clark and I will both be staying here in Billings for another 6 weeks which we are both super happy and excited about! The last few weeks have been full of adventures as we have continued to be really busy. 

 

We have J--- B------ who is a less active that has really gotten into family history lately and that has been the motivator for her to come back to church and prepare to go back to the temple. D------ C----- is also progressing well, she too has been less active for many years but has been to church several times in the last 6 weeks and she absolutely loves it and loves to learn all she can about the gospel. We have N----- W------ and his non-member wife who have been coming to church a lot more and she is on date for baptism for October 25th.  Another person on date for October 25th is D---- L--------- and we are trying to work really closely with him to help him make that date. Also there is C---- T------ and his non-member girlfriend we are trying to teach and then also D-- J------ and his nonmember wife who we will meet tomorrow.

 

 There is so much great work going on here and lots of fantastic people I have truly grown to love. It is truly so much fun to serve in the West Park Ward and Rimrock YSA Ward here in Billings! Next week I will try to attach some pictures!

 

     I know that Jesus is the Christ! I know He lives and He loves us! I know we have living prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ that will speak to us this weekend! I am so excited for General Conference and can testify that as we prayerfully prepare that it will truly be an edifying experience! This work is true and I am so humbled and so blessed to be a part of it, I truly love my job! Thank you all for your prayers, love and support! 

 

- Elder Aaron Organ

Great Week

September 15, 2014

Hey Everyone,

 

     Had a great week this week!

 

We had 2 cold days this week and on one of the days it snowed! Early September and already a 1st snow... Um yeah I am from Arizona, that's not okay! Haha I really am enjoying the cooler weather though. 

 

The missionary work is going well here in Billings, lots to do in both the wards we cover! We put a man on date this week for October 25th, we have been really working with him for a while and he is improving well as he strives to overcome the last few things that stand in his way of being baptized. 

 

I am thankful for the opportunity to be on a mission, I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know we have living prophets and apostles on Earth today and in a few short weeks we will be able to hear from them in General conference! I am very excited for that! I hope you all have a good week! Love you all and am thankful for your support!

 

-Elder Organ

Meeting An Apostle and Playing Some Basketball

August 11, 2014

Hello Everyone,

     I had a great week this week! We were really busy all week contacting referrals, trying potentials and spreading the word about a HUGE YSA event we have this coming Wednesday night. 

Then on Saturday, Elder Page (one of my companions), Elder Thomas and Elder Payne (one of the assistants) all played in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament here in Billings. It was a big tournament with hundreds of people there. We called ourselves the "Stormin Mormons" and played in white shirts and ties. Right off the bat the D.J./announcer of the tournament gave us a shout out and then throughout the day as we played our games we kept getting shout outs. Lots of people gathered to watch the Mormons play. We won all our games on Saturday and advanced to the final round which was to be played on Sunday. So when we went to registration on Saturday evening after winning our last game we explained to them we would not be playing on Sunday and why that was. The head of the tournament said, "I really respect you boys for coming out and playing some great ball in white shirts and ties and respect you even more after doing so well to step down because of your beliefs of keeping the Sabbath day holy" and then he got on the microphone and announced that to everyone and promised he would give us another shout out on Sunday. So at the end of the day we were way happy that we had played well, won our games, had gotten some amazing publicity in the community and picked up a new investigator... our ref, haha! He promised us he would bring his family to church this next Sunday.

 We had been preparing and training for this tournament for weeks playing ball early in the mornings before exercise time, I got in better shape and did well but still managed to roll my ankle in the last 2 min of our last game! It was all a fun time, pictures attached! In some of the pics we are holding blow-up pics of ourselves because we had a fan club of members and missionaries come support us and our Bishops wife made those for people to hold while cheering us on! Haha!

     Now for the biggest highlight of the week, much better than playing basketball in that tournament....Yesterday on Sunday there was a multi-stake conference here in Billings where Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles came and spoke. The conference was fantastic, so many inspiring talks given to a huge congregation! When Elder Nelson entered the chapel, everyone stood and was silent, the Spirit flooded the room. After the conference Elder Nelson stayed and shook hundreds of people's hands and hugged hundreds of children. I was on the 5th pew, pretty close to where he was standing in the aisle and just observed him as greeted so many, he greeted them with such pure, real and genuine love. I was able to make my way to him and shook his hand, he looked me right in the eyes and said, "Elder Organ, thank you for your service, I love you!" I felt the Spirit so strongly and can testify to each of you with all the conviction of my soul that Elder Nelson is an Apostle of Jesus Christ! 

I testify that Jesus Christ has a quorum of twelve apostles on earth today, the same as when he called His 12 original apostles. I testify that there is a prophet on earth today, President Thomas S. Monson, I know he is called of God! I know we will all be so much better off to listen to the servants of God and follow their council and guidance. General Conference is fast approaching once again but don't wait, read the words of living prophets and apostles this week! I promise that as you do you will feel comforted and guided in this crazy world in which we live. I love you all so much!

 Have an amazing week!

- Elder Aaron Organ