March started off with an email from Isaac. He is doing good. I love hearing how happy he sounded about a baptism coming up.
"It all started exactly 157 hours, 34 minutes, and 14 seconds ago when we decided it was a good Idea to teach a lady about God. Luckily the idea led to good results. She arrived at church, sat down, and listened to me and my companions talk. She will be baptized this Sunday so this week we had the baptismal interview and what not. It's kind of cool because although I have been a part of baptisms before, she is someone I was able to help find and teach all the way to baptism. Usually I feel like you only get to see pieces of people's journey to making their first covenant with God so it has been awesome being there along the whole way."
It was also a little heartbreaking hearing that his last two companions were going home. He is optimistic that Elder Kroff will come back out and hopeful they will both end up in Japan.
"Transfer day is tomorrow. I will be staying in Belle Fourche but have a new companion. It is actually pretty sweet. Elder Kroff is actually going home for a bit. It does suck having your last 2 companions go home early but it is what it is. Elder Wixom is taking a break from the church and is currently in Hawaii and Elder Kroff wants to come back but idk if he has the self discipline to make it."
He also gets to help train and is excited about that!
" I really wanted to train so I told President and he texted me and was like I want you to as well but there are no new elders coming in this transfer. He said he would see what he can do. When I was in Sidney it was me and Elder Meccariello and our trainer. Then my trainer left and Elder Meccariello trained third transfer. Now I am baby breaking Elder Meccariello's trainee so I am pretty excited. I know we will already work well together coming from the same place and people. I am excited to at least follow up train!"
Dinner with the boys
"Three of them are football players for BH. The guy to my right in that picture is a better missionary than us haha. He gives us a lot of people to teach. He also just recently rejoined the church and has helped the little group at BH come to church and keep each other accountable."
He also got to go on what looked like a really cool hike!
Hannah and Jacob's house has had a little progress. As of March 4th, they now have footers.
P-day came around again on the 7th. Isaac is doing well. He was made a district leader. He is very done with winter. He got his Covid booster this week and had a reaction to it.
"I started to feel off and then I remembered I got that booster the day before. Man that day was probably one of the hardest on my mission haha. I had non stop chills and felt like I was gonna pass out while dragging my comp who had no clue what was happening around to everything, haha. That night I walked into the apartment and instantly passed out. Luckily it only lasted 1 day. Thinking back on it I probably could have just taken some ibuprofen and been fine but it is what it is ha."
So glad it only lasted one day. Elizabeth was able to be baptized this week,
"That was awesome. I was able to be there the whole process for her and am now working with her kids! I was able to talk about baptism for the service and share some fun stories about her."I thought maybe we were done with winter but we woke up to a good 5 inches on the 9th. It was beautiful but man am I ready for spring too.
March 11th, Hannah and Jacob's foundation has been poured! So exciting.
On the 12th, Tammy and I went snowshoeing at Greens Pass Trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was so much fun. The trail was very pretty but also confusing. I'm not sure we even did the write trail. You could tell there was about 3 inches of new powder but under that was more icy packed snow which made it difficult to go uphill. You would dig in but then hit the icy snow under and fall. We both fell several times and laughed so hard trying to stand up. On the way back we stopped to make a snowman so I could take a picture for my friend Cami who loves the snow.
The trailhead.
Tammy was kind enough to take pictures and videos of me trying to get up after falling. Haha.
You can't tell from the picture but we were going straight up trying to catch a switch back. I could not get back up!
Of course I had to get a picture of Tammy too. She looked much better falling though.
Justin was in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Basketball Tournament this weekend so I had plenty of time to help address Nathan and Lauren's wedding invitations and get them sent out. They are both so busy with work and school I volunteered to do it. The invitations turned out so good!
Isaac got to do another really cool hike on March 14th. He said it as the highest point of South Dakota at around 7,600 feet. They hiked 7 miles. What a beautiful view!
He said it was about 46 degrees out but really icy. Things are going good with his new companion but he said the first two weeks were pretty rough.
Here are some quotes from this week's email.
"We went on a hike in Rapid with some hype beast missionaries that was honesty something I needed haha. Here in Belle Fourche sometimes it gets lonely feeling so separated and not in a triple. So that was a good time."
"The past 7 days I was able to see some great things go down thanks to God letting me be a small part in his work."
"I got to confirm Elizabeth a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints in sacrament meeting yesterday which was an awesome experience for me. We were able to teach both her kids after as well."
"This week we gotta make some sick stuff with someone we are teaching who welds. Him and his wife are some of the most hospitable people I have ever met."
"On my mission I feel like there is always a pilot light going inside of me that wasn't there before. I feel pretty lucky to have found that pretty early in my mission, being that the pilot light is just being happy. No matter what sucky things happen I always feel joy for some reason underneath it all. That reason probably being our Savior, Jesus Christ. I really want you all to feel the pilot light in you too. I know it's there but look to your Savior to find it!"
I think I reread the last quote probably 10 times. It makes me so happy to see his testimony grow and see the joy he has serving. I know it is not easy so I love that he has moments that help get him through the hard times. I hope that pilot light will burn throughout his life!
On the 15th, Justin and I went to see Treasure Island at Hale Theater. The set was so cool. They had basically turned a ring around it into a swimming pool so whenever they made someone "walk the plank" or threw someone overboard, they would fall into the water. It was not my favorite play we have seen there as I like more singing/action and less just monologue but it was fun to see the stage and go out together since he had been gone for five days the week before would be going to Denver the 22nd through the 24th for work.
I'll end this month with quotes from Isaac's letters from the 21st and 28th. No pictures in either of these emails and I didn't take any pictures the rest of the month either. Isaac is definitely having some unique experiences!
March 21:
"Here in good old South Dakota things have been great. Today I was able to go up to Newell where everyone is still living in the 50's and help someone bring their 120 pound dog to death by injection. Poor dog was ready to go but the owner seemed to have a hard time with the loss. She'll be alright though."
"This past Tuesday we did Exchanges with the ZL's which was a good time! I stayed here in Belle Fourche and we taught someone named Bradly. I have mentioned him before as that one guy with 5,000 crystals and rocks under black lights who calls it their shrine, which is awesome, just not something I was raised around. Anyways we sit down with some Lofi beats going on in the background as he hits his vape and talks to us. Don't get me wrong, he is a very respectful person to us. Anyways he was telling us some hard times he has been going through and proceeded to tell us things that helped him through them. He whips out four rocks and holds one of them up and says something along the lines of "So with this rock you can see about 5 dragon heads and at this angle a couple birds, and my energy connects so much with dragons and things like this." He pretty much does this with each rock. Man I was trying not to laugh so hard.... they were literally just random rocks you can find anywhere on the ground that have no appearance of a dragon."
March 28th:
"This week we found a good amount of people to teach and were able to teach a bunch of lessons. There is so much I wish I could tell you all but it would take ages to write haha so I'll focus on the important things. Yesterday was probably the most stressful but best Sunday I have ever had. John, who will be getting baptized this Saturday needed to come in order to be baptized but said he was really tired. We showed up at 9 banging on his door and HE WOKE UP so I was so excited. He let us in and I'm just kind of like sweet didn't think we would get this far haha. We set up a ride right there and stayed and talked with him as the anime called, "piano forest" was playing in the background until they got there. We barely made it to church on time and Scott, who is getting baptized Saturday as long as interviews this week go well, was in there already with his niece as well as 5 other people we are teaching. I was like a slippery snake with 5 feet. After the sacrament meeting I was trying to help everyone with introductions and where they need to go and meeting the bishop and what not but it was a 1 on 7 because my companion got dragged into a 15 min conversation with an older guy in the ward haha. One of them got bitten by a spider too so he wanted to stay for the second hour but needed to run home and get some anti ich stuff. Luckily the 4 college students stepped up and helped a lot with giving rides and showing people where to go."
"I am doing fantastic out here and growing everyday. Even if for some reason I had to go home right now I would be more than happy and grateful for the things I have been able to be a part of and experience, despite especially this week the getting yelled and cussed at, rejected and laughed at."
That last quote makes me so proud and so sad at the same time. I hate that he has to have the experiences of people getting mad at him but boy do I love seeing how he is overcoming them and finding ways to stay positive.
Well, next month should be exciting. We have a wedding coming up very quickly!
