Christmas Week!

Family and friends,

     This week has been pretty fantastic. Obviously Christmas was a
highlight, getting to skype your family after not seeing them for
nearly 6 months is always a good thing. I really appreciated letters
that were sent, kind notes and candy haha! I have lots of candy now :)
and not much else happened this week.

     On Tuesday we had our Moorcroft Christmas party and that was a
huge success! We were at the church waiting for people to show up and
the first 3 groups of people were all less actives, and they were all
ones we had never met before as well! Throughout the night so many
different families kept showing up. The members did really good at
missionary work and had brought lots of non member or less active
friends and family! We went caroling and some of the less active
members came with us and they had a blast! President Jones drove
around with a giant flat bed trailer on the back of his truck and we
all sat on hay bale benches on the trailer! It was so much fun and it
really helped me get in the mood for Christmas! I got to sit on
Santa's lap again that night as well! My 3 picture with Santa this
year, I think that's the most I've ever gotten pretty much. It was
grand.

     On Wednesday we had another great district meeting! We acted out
the nativity and because our district is made up of only Elders I had
the privilege of being Mary! Haha it was grand and Elder Perez was
Joseph. We used wrapped up scarves as the baby and put it in a little
manger we found in the church. All of us were just switching off
different parts and it was quite the experience.

     Thursday was Christmas Eve...obviously. We had an appointment
with an investigator that is really hard to get a hold of so that was
awesome! After that we had A WEDDING! SURPRISE! It was quite the
surprise to us as well. We found out about it on Tuesday at the
Christmas party. It was a wedding for a less active member and her non
member boyfriend. It was a really great surprise and we were able to
go and support them! There will definitely be pictures coming. That
night we had dinner at President Booths house. He taught us how to
play marbles and then we acted out the nativity again with some of his
daughter's non member friends when they showed up unexpectedly. Don't
worry, I wasn't Mary this time.

     CHRISTMAS! It was a great day. We had lunch at the Haskells
house. Their daughter is super adorable and 3 times during lunch she
exclaimed "This is the best Christmas ever!" And when we asked her
why, each time she responded, "because the missionaries are here. We
never get to eat with the missionaries." That's a super rad family. We
had dinner at the Gerstner's house and played lots of fun Christmas
games and shared Christmas stories.

     And lastly Sunday was my birthday! Just in case you all didn't
know haha! Not saying you have to or anything...buuuuut...if people
were to coincidentally send me happy birthday email I wouldn't mind
even if they're a couple days late haha! Anyways, it was a good
birthday. We spoke in church and Elder Bills spoke first and spoke
from 9:20 to 9:24. There was a special musical number that went until
9:27 and then I had filled the rest of the time from 9:27 to 10:02. It
was really funny and on my way up a member stopped me and asked if I
had enough prepared. I just shrugged and laughed and went for it and I
apparently prepared enough. I joked around with Elder Bills about it
afterwards but I honestly really enjoy talking in church. Well...just
talking in general. And when people have to sit there and can't
interrupt you it's even better!

I love you all and hope your Christmases went grandly!

Elder Tippetts

It's Christmas!

Family and friends,

Wow. Christmas is seriously in four days. That's wacko. It doesn't
feel like it's been an entire year since last Christmas haha! You want
to know what else is crazy? This is the last email I will send as an
18 year old! Yup that's right, on Sunday I turn 19 and then on Monday
I'll email again. That's also wacko and weirds me out. It doesn't feel
like an entire year since my last birthday! I really hope you all have
such a great week this week. It's a great week to have a great week if
I may say so myself. Share the Christmas spirit. Sharing the video 'A
Savior Is Born' is a great way to spread that spirit! This time of the
year should be a time when we all focus on the Savior. We wouldn't
have this time of year without him, in fact we wouldn't have any time
at all without him. Anyways, I'll get to that a little more
momentarily!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were super grand days. We went to
Gillette on Monday for preparation day and got to be with the Gillette
elders, I love them all! We got a call from the assistants around 4ish
saying that we needed to leave Gillette immediately for Billings
otherwise we wouldn't make it, so we rounded everyone up and headed
out. By the time we left they already had more than 5 inches of snow
in Billings, so we knew we had a long drive ahead of us. There were a
couple really sketchy parts but we made it right around 9 and spent
the night in the mission home. Tuesday was our Christmas conference
for the East side zones of the mission; Billings, Billings East,
Bozeman, Wyoming West and Wyoming East. The other 7 zones met in
Helena on Thursday.

The first thing we did was teach every missionary there to sing
like a choir! I was so happy. We split up into parts and learned and
rehearsed 3 of the Christmas hymns to perform for the Mission
Presidency, their wives and the office missionaries during the bulk of
our program. Their was a lot of confusion sometimes and they asked me
to help clarify and fix things, which I was more than happy to do.
After clarifying some basic rhythmic motifs I heard, 'Amen Elder
Tippetts!' and when I looked to see who said that I saw Elder
Hoschouer! My MTC companion! He's been serving in Kalispell Montana up
until this transfer, apparently now he's in Billings. That means my
whole room from the MTC is on this half of the mission now! Elders
Schneider and Potter have both been in Bozeman their whole missions
and I've been in Wyoming East the whole time. Don't worry, I've got
lots of pictures of our happy reunion after the program and food.
Every missionary was invited to prepare a talk about missionary
work and the atonement and we were going to be randomly called to give
them. The program went like so; 2 talks, choir number, 2 talks,
special musical number, 2 talks, special musical number, 2 talks,
choir, 2 talks, special musical number, 2 talks, choir, 2 talks,
special musical number, 2 talks, choir. The second special musical
number was Elder Thomas and I singing a super rad arrangement of The
First Noel. One of the two missionaries in charge of all the music
found it for us. When we performed it went really well, even though we
were insanely nervous and both were shaking quite a bit. The spirit
was so strong the whole program. I learned so much about the Atonement
that I'll be able to apply into my missionary work now.
We all went into the cultural hall for food after the main meeting
and they had a few surprises for us. First, they showed us Elder
McGrath's restoration rap. Elder McGrath was an assistant when I first
came into the mission, but he finished his mission around Thanksgiving
same time as my first trainer, Elder Clark. He wrote it and with a
bunch of other missionaries and President Wadsworth they made a music
video with it. Is was the first time most of us were able to see it
because I believe that right now it is going through the process of
being approved by church headquarters to put the church seal on it to
make it an official church video! I've been told that it's been
approved by all the quorums of the seventy and the twelve, now they're
just waiting for the word from the first presidency! They also showed
us a big slideshow with pictures of all the missionaries that the
office missionaries got from all of our parents. It was hilarious.
While we were eating President Wadsworth ran screaming into the
room telling us that he just got off the phone with Santa and that he
was on his way but he couldn't remember how to make it to the Billings
Stake a Center! So of course we all had to sing Christmas songs like
jingle bells and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer at the top of our
lungs to guide him! All of a sudden an elf runs into the room (one of
the assistants) quickly followed by Santa (the other one) so we could
all get pictures with Santa! It was completely grand in every way. We
left billings at 4 and made it back to Gillette around 9 and stayed
the night at the Zone Leader's apartment. In the morning for our
exercises we woke up early and played basketball and intense dodgeball
and did a bunch of different workouts all over the stake center
cultural hall.

Last thing I'd like to mention is the concept of being a true
disciple and to be Christlike. I'd encourage you all to read the
article 'The Saviors Teachings on Discipleship' from the June 2015
Ensign, Elder Holland's talk 'The Cost-and Blessings-of Discipleship'
from April 2014 conference and chapter 24 from the Teachings of
President Ezra Taft Benson. Here's two super rad quotes from Ezra Taft
Benson, “I testify to you that there is no greater, more thrilling,
and more soul-ennobling challenge than to try to learn of Christ and
walk in His steps," and, "Walking in His way is the greatest
achievement of life." During his week where we celebrate the Savior's
birth I challenge you all to take a few minutes alone to examine how
devoted of a disciple you have been recently, find areas you'd like to
improve on, set goals for improvement, repent and then do it! I know
that we can change because of the atonement, it allows us to become as
he is more fully every day.

I love you all, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Elder Tippetts

Apparently I'm not serving in Montana and Wyoming?

Family and Friends,

Don't worry, I'm not getting transfered missions or anything.
Besides, the next transfer isn't until January. I just keep feeling
like I'm not in Wyoming, even Pugh everybody says I am, yesterday was
pretty much the only day this week that it got into the low 30s and
high 20s! He had multiple days in the mid 50s and high 40s so I feel
like there may have been some big mix up, because this isn't the
weather I was expecting haha! I'm really grateful for it though.
Pretty much all the snow has melted and gone and we only had one very
light dusting some morning this week. It looks like we'll be making up
for it though, today we're driving up to Billings for our Christmas
Conference! And there's a severe winter weather warning out! And we're
supposed to get 12 or more inches of snow! And we might get stuck
there because the interstate back might be shut down! All sarcasm
aside, I'm pretty excited. I love snow and have been missing it.
Last week we had some interviews with President Wadsworth. That's
always one of my favorite things. He loves us so much and there's no
way to avoid feeling it! We had some really funny conversations with
sister Wadsworth while we waited for our turn to talk to President
Wadsworth. Sister Breinholt, the Stake President's wife showed up and
brought us all Christmas packages from the stake! They had wool socks
and candy in them, good wool socks. Then yesterday the primary class
came and invited us in to give us more presents from the stake haha!
We got scarves and ties and gloves and socks and hand warmers! Also a
really cool Wyoming Flag lapel pin, but sadly we're not allowed to
wear lapel pins :-( Anyways, the Gillette stake is awesome!
To celebrate MY FIVE MONTH MARK on Tuesday we went tracting and
did 3 entire streets, super fast too! So many people were home and we
found a couple people that seemed super interested. Multiple people
told us to come back another time, but that they'd love to see the 'A
Savior is Born' video.

This week we also had our first district meeting of the transfer, on
week 3. The first week didn't happen because of transfers, like usual,
and the second week didn't happen because of Zone Training, and this
week won't happen because of the Christmas Conference. Like I said
before, the only person that changed in our district was Elder Hatton.
Now our District Leader is Elder Bird. Funny story, he went to Provo
high and graduated in 2014!!!!! How crazy is that? We about all the
classes he had and the people he knew. He knows quite a few people I
knew so it's pretty crazy that we never officially met or that I
didn't know he was out here. He's super funny and awesome. Sadly, I
asked and he did not have Mrs. Tippetts for middle school science.
On Saturday we had a really interesting discussion with one of
our investigators. We got to his house the same time he did after a
really long and frustrating day at work. Also, apparently earlier in
the week he met a pastor while he was working and told him he was
talking with Mormon missionaries. I'm guessing you can guess where
this is going. He pulled out all the anti Mormon literature he was
given, pamphlets and DVDs, and started firing off the questions. The
first bit we were there was a lot of him not being happy and raising
his voice. Multiple times Elder Bills and I both thought we should
leave, but we both felt we should just wait it out. After he vented
for a while we got around to having a decently civil conversation. He
kept telling us how he didn't have time to read the Book of Mormon and
pray about it, but he did get around to reading all the anti stuff.
Which was 10x longer than the portion we had asked him to read. We
helped him see how trying to learn that way was a little silly. We had
to be very patient and avoid a few topics that set him off again and
had to be very careful not to argue, because bible bashing and
contention are bad. In the end it turned out alright. He told us that
this doesn't mean he'll stop coming to church or meeting with us, it
just means that he's going to be a little more wary. We love him and I
know he's a great man. He just has lots of questions and different
opinions.

On another day of the week, I can't remember which, we had a cool
experience following promptings. We were driving to somewhere for a
backup appointment and I saw a lady sitting on her porch and I felt we
should go talk to her. We pulled over down the street a block or two
then walked back and tried talking to her. She wasn't interested and
when some guys in the house saw us talking to her they ran to the door
and told us to leave. So we quickly did, I was sort of disappointed
that it didn't work out the way we wanted it to. Elder Bills suggested
we knock on the neighbors house, but I didn't want to so I kept
walking. I stopped and thought that it was unfair of me to ignore one
of his ideas and just do mine, so we went and knocked there. Another
lady answered and she was very nice. She said that from time to time
she had met with different religions and said that she thinks God
always bring them into her life. She said she'd like to meet with us
and took a Book of Mormon and said she'd read it!

Y'all are grand, focus on bringing the Christmas spirit more
fully into your lives and then naturally it will start to spread.
Share the new Christmas videos that the church has produced.
Prayerfully think about your family and friends that you could
introduce to the gospel and the missionaries at this time of the year.
It's the best gift you can give, I promise.


Elder Tippetts

Sickness :(

Family and friends,

Preparation day last week was a great start to the week. We got
the regular stuff done and then all evening we went and helped out at
the senior center. On the last Monday of every month the do a pancake
dinner. We helped set up, eat, finish a puzzle and clean up! While
people were eating we sat down and got quite a few pieces placed in
there tine 1500 piece puzzle, it was quite the challenge and we
impressed a few of the ladies that were there eating!

On Tuesday we got into the week with me being sick. I woke up not
feeling well at all, and I never get sick. So I went back to bed. When
I got up I tried to just tough it out but didn't do that well. A
member in town came and helped elder bills give me a blessing. It was
really humbling to have to ask for help like that, and it helped. I
felt better immediately, not 100% better, but it was undeniable that I
felt better. Throughout the day I kept getting better as I rested and
got my strength back. We went out tracting that night even though it
was 10° and I didn't feel good. I know I was helped to do it, I didn't
feel like passing out or falling over and the cold didn't bother me!
More rest and more rest and taking it easy paired with working really
hard when it was time has really fixed me up. Now I just have a little
scratchiness in my throat still, a stuffy nose and my voice isn't 100%
back. But it's miles better than I was feeling before!
Not much happened Tuesday and Thursday because I was still a
little sick and we had LOTS of cancelled appointments. Friday was zone
training! It was so much fun and I learned so much! One of the Zone
Leader shared a story they heard at Mission Leadership Conference that
demonstrates what faith really is, here it is:

"A Dad was walking through his house, past his little daughter's
room, when he noticed she was on her knees praying. He was curious to
see what she was praying about so he stopped and listened. She said,
'please bless that none of the birds or animals will get hurt by the
traps.' He was devastated and worried, he had helped his son place
traps out that day, and they were good traps. He knew they were
definitely going to hurt some birds. He didn't want his daughter to
lose faith when they got hurt, so he talked with her the next morning
and said 'you know, sometimes God doesn't answer all our prayers the
way we want him to, it's not because he doesn't love us, it's because
his plan is better.' To which she responded 'No. I know that no birds
will get hurt' and walked off. He kept thinking about what to say to
protect her, the next morning he said, 'you know, sometimes bad things
happen to good people too because we need to grow. Maybe those birds
need some trials, or they need a little pain or something bad to
happen so they can appreciate life more.' She again responded, 'No. I
know that the birds won't get hurt' and left. All throughout the day
he kept trying to figure out how his daughter had gained such great
trust and faith in God for Him to answer her prayers. He couldn't
figure out why, so he asked her the next morning. She responded, 'I
know God won't let any birds get hurt because the second I finished
praying I went outside and kicked all those traps to pieces!' "
Moral of the story: GO KICK THOSE TRAPS TO PIECES! God expects us
to act. When we pray for something he usually doesn't just give it to
us if we can fix it ourselves, but he will help us and give us aid to
accomplish what we wanted help with! That's faith.
Friday night I also filled up my first journal! My whole mission
I've filled in an entire page every day (except for once, the night
before we flew to billings...I only did half a page...). I know that
having this record of my mission will bless me and my family for years
to come. If you've always wanted to have a journal, start! Kick those
traps! Pray for a desire to do it and then let nothing get in your
way. When you fail or mess up pray and apologize, then ask for help to
do better. We've been counseled by prophets and apostles to keep
journals, I know it's possible and there are so many blessings waiting
for all of us as we choose to heed their words!

The Christmas Devotional was awesome, recently Elder Bednar has
become one of my favorite people to study, he understands doctrine so
well and organizes everything in neat lists. I like lists. Also, y'all
should read the ensigns. I never did before and now I do while I eat
breakfast before study time. In the December 2015 ensign there's an
article compilation of some of Boyd K Packer's teachings, A Witness of
the Savior Jesus Christ, that he chose to put in an article before he
passed on. The last one really touched me and is really cool.
“After all the years that I have lived and taught and served,
after the millions of miles I have traveled around the world, with all
that I have experienced, there is one great truth that I would share.
That is my witness of the Savior Jesus Christ.

“Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon recorded the following after a sacred
experience:
“‘And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him,
this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he
lives!
"‘For we saw him’ (D&C 76:22–23).
“Their words are my words.”
“How privileged I have been throughout my life to be able to bear my
special witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I testify in
all humility, but with absolute certainty, that He is the Only
Begotten of the Father. This is His Church; He presides over it and
directs this work. He is our Redeemer. I know He lives, and I know
Him. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”


I love you all. Catch the Christmas spirit, it's the best thing to spread!


Elder Tippetts

It's working! Missionary work is working!

Family and friends,

This week was pretty fantastic. I've been doing a couple of
things differently to get myself more involved and invested in
missionary work on every level. We've really seen the work start picks
up this week here in Sundance and Moorcroft. There are definitely many
things that the Lord is putting into motion in this part of his
vineyard and I feel privileged to witness them.
Last preparation day was fantastic because I found out that Elder
Thomas has a bunch of our approved music that I don't have so we
ripped everything off his CDs and put them on our flash drives. The
best part of it was he had a recording of one of my favorite choir
pieces, My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee! You should all take
some time to read 3 Nephi 22 and D&C 122, many of the lyrics come from
there. I'm so happy to have it now!

Wednesday was super rad! We went tracting and found a part member
family that no one knew about! They moved here in Spetember and he is
just ordained a teacher. His fiancé isn't a member and their kids are
too young to be baptized. We talked with them and he asked how old
they have to be to be baptized and she asked what the process would be
for her to get baptized! We set up an appointment and invited them to
church and got his information to request his records to be
transferred. When we left, we knocked on the neighbor's trailer and he
said he'd love to learn about our church but he's leaving to Canada
for the rest of the year, so we'll get back in contact with him then
haha! We also had our first lesson with the Tom, Alisha and their
daughter Hayley! We tracted into Hayley and she said her family used
to talk with the missionaries and that we should come back when her
parents were home. We did and they were interested again! We started
talking with them about the Restoration and then he started telling us
about his religious background and just started asking us questions
about our church! And they were good questions, the ones that aren't
unanswerable or unnecessary! He asked us what time church was, where
it was and promised to be there. It was grand.
Thanksgiving was definitely filling. We had a lunch at 1 with the
Gennings and some non member friends and family, and then another mean
at 3 at the Skeens' house! So much turkey. Plenty of leftovers too.
Sis Skeens bought chalkboard tablecloths and after dinner we decorated
them. Everyone else drew pictures and the usual things....I wrote out
a grand staff with half the music to one of my favorite barbershop
songs, Ebb Tide, from memory haha! I still find ways to enjoy
barbershop out here 😉

Friday we helped the part member family move from one trailer to
another in the same little park win the help of some of the Lawrence
boys. We got lots done and they were really grateful and were
impressed by the help we gave. After we stopped by the Lawrence's home
to meet Tyrell, he got home from his mission to Brazil on Thanksgiving
Day! He asked us to brief him on the work that's going on here and
wants to go with us on visits often, so we'll definitely use him a
lot. On Saturday we did our weekly planning because Thursday and
Friday were packed. We went around trying to contact a bunch of
investigators but no one was home. At the last one, before we headed
back to the church, we decided to knock on his neighbor's door before
we left. We found a really nice lady that hasn't lived here for long
and is looking for a church! We told her about the restoration and
offered to teach her more about it and she agreed.

This was probably the best Sunday of my mission yet! So many
awesome things. We were really excited for Tyrell's homecoming,
especially because investigators were coming! Before on my mission the
only investigators we've had come are pretty much Trent and Mikey
because they were getting baptized and they never had a problem with
coming to church, but this was going to be the first time we were
unsure about if we'd have someone show up. It didn't look like we were
going to have any luck and then 3 minutes before sacrament Tom and
Alisha pulled up! I was smiling so before the rest of church, and they
really enjoyed it. They had to leave after sacrament to go to work,
but here's the kicker. They were supposed to go to work way earlier
but decided to just not go because they decided church was more
important to them! Tom also told their boss that they were no longer
going to work on any Sundays! Sadly the part member family didn't show
up but we got to go teach them the first lesson later that day. They
hadn't come because she had fallen on Sarurday and was in pain, but it
looks like she's doing a lot better now.

I love you all! Thanks for the support! Look for opportunities
everyday to help prepare people to receive the restored gospel, your
local missionaries will be so thankful! And so will all of their
posterity!

Elder Tippetts