Livingston

The view from the hill overlooking Livingston, Montana

See "My Mission"
Here is a collection of memories from Livingston, Montana, where I began my mission. I'm going to hash different experiences together here, so read on.

I learned to look outside myself as I started my mission in the "windy city". I was very homesick and depressed much of the time. I tried not to show it to people. I knew that I was doing a great work. But it was hard, and I was not comfortable at all. I discovered that if I wanted to be happy, I simply had to give more of myself to the Lord by giving myself to other people. I just couldn't keep worrying about whether or not I was happy. It seems almost contradictory, but I know it's true.

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matt. 16: 24-25

Elder Heath West trained me, and taught me so much. I didn't realize at the time how much he really did for me, and how patient he was with me.

ManyNames Winterhawk, Elder West and I at his baptism.

Together, we taught a man named Benito Leyvas, or ManyNames Winterhawk as he liked to be called. He helped me to see how far-reaching the Atonement of Jesus Christ is. He came from a very tough background. There's not much in this world that's bad that he didn't do in his past. But I watched as he let those things out of his life, and repented. His baptism was amazing.

Heather, Elder Hinton, and I at her baptism.

At the end of my time with Elder West, we invited two families in the Livingston Ward to pray and ask Heavenly Father to help them identify someone they knew who was ready to receive the gospel. Two weeks later, both families approached us at church, independently of each other, and said that they remembered working with a young woman named Heather Burrill. They didn't know why she had stopped investigating the church, but they said that she had seemed very promising. It's amazing that both came up with the same name.

Near the church, just after Heather's baptism.

I never remembered seeing Heather in our records, so I was excited for this new lead. What added more to my excitement was when, at the end of church that same day, one of the members pointed Heather out to me, sitting on the back row. She had come the very day that both families had referred her to us.
I ran to meet her as she slipped out at the end of church. She seemed very surprised to see me, but she agreed to have me and my companion over to teach her more.
She had been a Jehovah's Witnesses, and  had left that church for personal reasons. As a result, she was shunned/ostracized by most of her family. It was a very difficult struggle for her. She said that one day at work she had the distinct impression come into her mind, "You need to learn more about the Mormons."
Well, she did.
She was baptized very shortly after we started meeting with her. She later married a member of the church, and moved away, but we still keep in contact.
I heard one story which has remained with me throughout my mission. It is the story President Fisher shared many times during his mission. Here it is from my journal, July 8, 2009:
"I was listening to a story he (President Fisher) told on a cd...he talked about his mission, when he taught a Navajo Chief the restoration and origins of the Book of Mormon. He and his companion were just beginning to teach about how Christ visited the people here in the Americas (3Nephi 8-11) The Chief stopped him and said, 'No, let me tell YOU the story. Long ago, a great white God came down to our fathers. He came at a time of great destruction and death. He healed the people. He taught them. He took their children in his arms and blessed them. He promised that He would come back, but that He would send His servants first, two by two, to teach what He had taught.'" I still remember the Spirit I felt listening to that. It was an amazing witness to me that the work I was doing was true.
I found another experience in my journal about the Stake President of the Bozeman Stake, which covers Livingston Ward. We were attending zone conference, and he spoke to us for a few minutes. May 30, 2009:

Paradise Valley. Emmigrant, Montana, south of Livingston.

"President Heap...thanked us. He was very emotional when he said, 'Thank you so much for coming HERE. I know you all wanted something exotic. But we need you here. God needs you here. The people need you here. I need you here. Thank you for choosing to serve in Montana.' It was a very emotional thing for me. I have friends in Portugal, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Romania, Peru, Guatemala, Africa...I mean, I couldn't help but to feel a little shafted. Montana. Hyuk Hyuk. Darn Tootin'. But it is so amazing up here. It really is so beautiful, and I have seen miracles."

Elder Hinton came in to be my second companion, after I had spent three months with Elder West. Together, we worked hard and spoke with many people about Jesus Christ. The summer months were just beginning. I think that I really learned how to work hard and be diligent with Elder Hinton. We doubled the number of people we visited, biked and biked in the hot sun, all day long, and saw two baptisms together. I look back on Livingston with so much fondness, because of the time and work given there.
There are just too many thoughts to put, appropriately, into a blog, about such an incredible experience. There were hundreds of people I met and worked with there, and so many I love. I feel like I could take a road trip there tomorrow, and feel absolutely at home with dozens of families. What a blessing.
Livingston prepared me for the rest of my mission, and for the rest of my life.