Elder Berrett : Back in Montana

Goooooooooood Morning!

Today has been a wonderful day!

So, for those of you who do not know, sorry I thought I sent out an email last week but it must not have sent, I have been transferred to Helena Montana!

Helena again, for those of you who don't know, is most certainly a place that you don't count how big it is by its stop lights. This place is huge! It reminds me of my first area, great Falls.

Things here in Helena are pretty good thankfully. It's pretty hard leaving the big horn Basin, however I am so thankful to know that I am where the lord needs me to be.

Montana is definitely treating me well :) Being honest, it's actually been a really hard adjustment. I mean the people here are wonderful and nice, I even live with members! But it's not the Big Horn Basin. I'm actually surprised with how much I fell in love with that place. I keep telling myself how wonderful it is to be in a place where they don't count how big the town is by the amount of stoplight. Or how you know a town is really big because they have a WALMART :) I know have Costco, Walmart, Ross, Panda, and just about anything I could want. But it's just not the Big Horn Basin. I hope that makes sense. It was pretty hard at first. I kept having all of these conflicting feelings about how I like it but it seemed off. However I feel like I'm starting to get over it. The last day or two haven't been too hard, and I'm starting to get to know the members we are living with. So ya. Random rant, it's just been super weird. The closest feeling I can relate it to is homesickness. I never felt this when I left home, I never felt it when leaving any of my areas, until now. I even miss the snow there (gasp!)

Thankfully though the Lord has been helping me a ton. Like I said before the members here are wonderful! I even get to serve in a small branch that we go to every other Sunday so that helps a little bit :)

So let's start at the top!

Companion: His name is Elder Shumway. He's from Mesa Arizona and went to Desert Ridge. It's been pretty fun to be with someone who I can reminisce with about home. :) While he isn't the most musical, he definitely enjoys it and let's me play music all of the time. He's a good sport :) he has a great sense of humor, I think I was a little too sarcastic starting off but he's warmed up to it and jumped right in. He has a scholarship to go play football at UofA. He's the second oldest and loves all of his siblings. Also he loves to talk so we have been getting along really well :)

Housing: we are living with the Welches. They are both an older couple who have been housing missionaries for quite a while on and off. Bro Welch loves start trek and I've caught him watching it already quite a few times. I think that's been pretty good at breaking the ice for us. They mostly stay upstairs while we stay downstairs. The only times we really get to interact with them is at breakfast or lunches on the weekends. My plan is to cook upstairs when they are home and get to know them that way :)

People we are teaching: so far our teaching pool is a little small. The elders here have been inside sick for quite a bit (where have you heard that before) however we have been getting quite a lot of referrals lately so I think it's going to really start to pick up. Immediately though we are teaching a couple named Hayley and Forest. Super great people, he's a member and she's not, sadly though she can't be baptized yet because of reasons. However she loves the church and we are super excited to work with her. Other that them though we don't have too much. We got a bunch of referrals for the branch we work in (Boulder) so I'm super pumped to try them out in a week. I got to go there this last weekend and wow! it's gorgeous over there. I'll have to take a bunch of pictures next time we go. It's just green everywhere!

The, city here is really big. I am so glad I'm not driving, think of Gilbert, now make it a little smaller and isolated from the rest of the valley and you have Helena. Granted it is much more pretty up here, tons of mountains, we are literally surrounded. And of course all of the snow :) it's crazy! We have another huge snow storm coming tomorrow so we will see how that goes. The people here are all wonderful! We cover a ward here in Helena. A. As in 1. When was the last time I only covered 1 ward. Granted we do have a branch too but still. The community here is great! We got to go to a gospel sing in a Methodist Church last night as a zone and perform, more on that later, super fun!

It's so crazy being in a zone where everyone is so close again! I just spent the last couple of hours having multiple snowball fights, playing dodgeball, a small game of pickup, and telling jokes while emailing family. This really was a great experience and I am thankful to be surrounded by such amazing people here.

And yes it is super beautiful!

I am seriously so proud of all of my siblings :) they are just so great! Tell Maddie I said to get better soon! I'll keep her in my prayers! Oh and if she feels up to it can you have ask her to write me an email? I'll write her one too :)

Holy cow! My siblings are growing up so fast! Next thing I know Christopher will be passing the Sacrament! And going to high school!

I just got those pictures, they look so awesome! And holy cow. I know definitely that I was led there to the auditorium. So many things kept falling in place as I look back. From Dylan harassing me into remembering about it. To Dr.K just being thankful that I was there to help them while the auditorium coordinator was battling cancer. I do genuinely think that it was thanks to all of the teching and orchestra and choir that I didn't get into too much trouble. I am so thankful for those programs.

Thanks for the email mom! And thanks to the schedule change we know have 2 more hours. Preparation day started at 8 so I had lots of time to get everything done that I needed to. It's been wonderful!

Also, while I don't have too much longer, I am so thankful for all of you, who have been great examples to me. I hope that you all have a wonderful day, and I hope that you all find reasons to smile. Know that the Lord will always help us find joy, I live you all!

Never give up, Never surrender!

-Elder Berrett