Monday, January 3, 2011

Hello Snow!

Hello Snow and everyone out there!

What a wild week of weather we have had! Let me tell you though it’s been fun to bust out the big snow coat, gloves, hat, scarf, shoe covers, sweaters, and the long johns and get out and work in a wintery wonderland! Wednesday afternoon is when the temps started to drop and the storm rolled in. You could tell right away that it was going to be a big one by how much and how fast it was coming down. It was definitely also a new experience to drive in all of it for the first time. As we were coming home Wednesday night we hit our first experience with being stuck. The road we head out home to was full of snow but enough people had come down it that it was packed down. When we went off on a little side road that goes down hill to get the mail is when we hit our problem. We tried to come up the hill and we weren't going anywhere. Elder Hineman got out with the shovel but we quickly realized it wasn't deep snow that was affecting us. It was the newly fallen snow on top of the slick ground and the older snow. We were sliding in place. So finally I reversed it and then cut back across the hill and quickly turned up and around onto the other road. When I had done that I just kept driving slowly so that I wouldn't get stuck and Elder Hineman had to run and James Bond it into the car as I slowly drove. hahaha it was fun. We were suppose to go to district meeting Thursday in Sheridan but with this storm we didn't know if it'd be very safe to go. We woke up and it was a winter wonderland outside and there were a lot of big drifts. It was also very COLD! Probably around 0 if not negative. We didn't quite know if we were going to make it out of our driveway and into town with our car but somehow we did. Once out of Dillon the drive to Sheridan wasn't that bad because once you get headed out of Dillon the winds had picked up and the snow was all just blown away. After all the snowflakes had settled we had about 8-10 inches. We ended up getting stuck two more times this week. One on Thursday in town and a guy helped push us out and one coming back into our driveway Thursday night. That last one we had to reverse it and get a big running start in low and get up our banked driveway. I wish we had a truck but it’s building some good memories for two boys from Arizona. Hahaha Oh and then on Thursday night we were picked up by the members who were feeding us because they said we'd never make it in our car. Well as we rode down their lane in their 4-wheel drive we got stuck and had to walk to the house in the cold. We ate and then their home teacher came and bailed them out with his backhoe. hahaha only in MT do you get potentially stranded at your dinner appointment. Good thing we didn't have any set appointments because by the time we got out and back to our car it was almost time to head home. So that’s the snow and cold part of our week. The coldest it got was -20 with some wind chill. That was at night though so we didn't have to be out in it. The coldest we ever were probably in was -10 with some wind chill added to that.

Teaching and finding wise we had a great week. Best week in Dillon I'd say. We were able to find two new investigators including a member referral. The member referral is the fiancé of a sister in the Second Ward who wanted to take the lessons. It was very apparent from the moment we started to teach them that he is very willing to learn and already has a testimony. It helped that she has already taught him a lot and he's already read through 2 Nephi. We commited him at the end of the first lesson to get baptized on the 29th of January. He has a lot of Word of Wisdom issues to work on but if he puts forth a strong effort I know the Lord will help him reach that date. We have met with him every day since Thursday and he was at church. He said he really enjoyed it but felt horrible when he had to go take a smoke so he really wants to quit now. It’s been amazing to see when you put forth more of an effort how the Lord blesses you. It’s been great to work with Elder Hineman so far. I really like him and I still love training especially for the third time. New Years Eve was good. Nothing too special though. We just hung out at Brother F's and listened to his war, hunting, and fishing stories. It was good. We were able to stay out till 10:30 and up till 12 but we were so beat we barely made it till midnight and then crashed. We were also able to sleep in an extra hour! Who knew waking up at 7:30 could be such a joy. Today was pretty fun. Brother F took us exploring. We went up near the reservoir and up in the mountains and then down to Lima and then almost to Idaho before he turned back. We saw a bunch of elk, deer, hawks, and even a bald eagle. It was fun to get out an enjoy the beauties of Montana. Well I better get going. I hope everyone has a good week. I hope everyone isn't too upset about having to start school and work again. I love you all. Stay warm. I know I'll be trying to.

Love,
Elder Davis