Sister Jessica Anderson: Sacagawea

Hello family and friends!

I LOVE HELENA. I would love to finish my mission here. The odds really aren't in my favor for that, but you never know! We get transfer calls this coming Sunday, so we shall see. Also we are starting to see that hunting season combined with the election is no fun for missionaries in Montana, but that'll end soon. Luckily not everyone hunts in Helena! We saw tons of miracles this week!

Monday we played some good ol' volleyball as a zone. Met a cool kid named Jack! We were contacting a referral that we had received and met his son, jack. It was a quick visit, but we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and talk about its importance and how it answers questions of the soul. It was one of the more powerful 60 second lessons that I've had.

Tuesday I spent the day in Helena with Sister Meek! I was her sister training leader down in Wyoming too, so it was good to see her again! I mostly remember the evening. It was just a great evening. It started with dinner at the Colby's! (They feed us ALL THE TIME and it's the best) then we went to a lesson with the Linters!! They're so great. The mom is a member, but hasn't been to church in a long time, then she has two of the cutest girls ever! There's Tey'ana whose 10 and Kayla whose 7. The girls really don't know anything about the gospel. so we taught very simply. Explaining who God is and what prophets are and who Jesus Christ is. Then somehow we got talking about who Adam and Eve are and you could tell that Kayla was really trying to wrap her head around it all then she says, "...they were the first ones on the earth? ...wait..so when does Sacagawea come in?" Hahaha I love them. And Tey'ana really wants to be baptized! Her and Kayla both had A TON of great questions and they LOVE learning about the gospel! They're like little sponges! For Tey'ana baptism they want to wait until their grandma can come, so that will be in January! :) We are teaching them again tonight. Oh and they came to church!! We weren't really expecting them because this weekend was the start of the rifle hunt for deer or something, but they came!! They both have friends from school in the ward as well! After that lesson we went to see another family. The dad is a less active and the wife is not a member. We taught the restoration and the spirit was SO strong! She will be baptized the end of November. :)

Thursday we thought we were going to get shot by a man in the woods when we went up the wrong driveway. He had big targets along his driveway with bullet holes already in them. There was no way to turn around other than to go all they way up to the house, which was basically at the top of the mountain. We about started crying.

Friday I went to Shelby with Sister Smith! Shelby is a great place and has got some great stuff happening there. Their investigator gave me the name of Beatrice.

Saturday we got Cafe Rio!!! And also a family that we are trying to work with, the Lewis's, came to a baptism and we gave them a tour of the church!

Sunday was great of course :) I love Sundays. Lots of church, then we met with the McKays and talked with Kayd about being baptized! He's a wild 9 year old. We also got to have another lesson with the Austins :) I love them so much. They are such a great family and I can't wait for them to all be sealed in the temple next year.

Today I've been thinking about hope and came across the talk, Hope through the Savior’s Atonement, by Elder Maxwell. If you haven't read this one for a while you should! In it he says, "Real hope keeps us “anxiously engaged” in good causes even when these appear to be losing causes on the mortal scoreboard. Likewise, real hope is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the spiritual spine. Hope is serene, not giddy, eager without being naive, and pleasantly steady without being smug. Hope is realistic anticipation which takes the form of a determination--not only to survive adversity but, moreover, to “endure … well” to the end". Hope is a great attribute that we can always be developing.

Have the best week ever and be a missionary for Halloween! ;) jk but send pictures of your cute costumes :)

Love, Sister Anderson