Elder Garian Tippetts

311 Michael Grove Unit B

Bozeman, MT 59718

Monday, April 3, 2017

🎶Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice🎶

Dear Family and Friends,

Everything is still going great here, especially with General Conference. I was literally just so stoked for this conference and it definitely didn't disappoint. These past few transfers I've come to appreciate more and more what a blessing it is to have the knowledge that there are living prophets on the earth today. We had a bunch of errand and places we bounced around between Saturday and Sunday and it was so weird just seeing people going about their normal lives while such an amazing event was happening. I was yelling at people at the top of my lungs, "DON'T YOU KNOW THERE ARE PROPHETS SPEAKING!?!?!?" But alas, my sly companion locked the windows so I didn't make a fool of us. This weekend I especially felt the need to go tell people that God hasn't left us alone to kick against the pricks and try to understand scripture and His will all alone. There is so much hope in knowing that He's speaking today, that He hasn't changed.

Here's a couple quick moments from the week:

Last Monday we had our lesson with Tatum and she really enjoyed it and the spirit was strong but at the end of the lesson she sorta dropped us. She's a very independent person and until about a year ago she wasn't actively religious at all. The past year has led her to try to find the truth and seek God's will with an honest and open heart. The good thing is that for now she hasn't dropped the Book of Mormon or the Church, just us. She said she feels like we've given her what she needs for now and she'll continue to read and pray everyday and to come to church when she can but she doesn't want to meet as regularly with us. She's afraid having too much will falsely influence her own opinions so she's taking a couple steps back to examine where she wants to go from now. I really admire her personal maturity in taking charge of her own life. The day before this lesson happened I fasted to better understand my situation in this area and with our investigators and I just felt peace that things are working out. With this lesson there was of course the potential to be completely bummed out but I just felt peace.
Wednesday night we had dinner with our recent convert, Kelsey, out at her place in Belgrade. One of our Ward missionaries, Max, came with us and we got an awesome meal and the opportunity to meet all of Kelsey's roommates! All three of them were so nice. During dinner we brought up the church and they were all so curious and had never really known much about Mormons besides: Polygamy, coffee and the Book of Mormon. So we got to explain all that and answer a couple questions! We left them all with copies of the Book of Mormon and they said they'll definitely read. Kelsey was so excited to see some of her best friends open up to us and consider our message. They said they're definitely going to have us back over again because that means Kelsey has to cook a family meal again. Both College students and missionaries appreciate home cooked meals more than ever before.
Milo is rocking life! He is doing so well. He's been reading the scriptures more consistently and is loving the lessons. We taught him the night before his interview and talked about the atonement of Jesus Christ and it's significance in our lives. He said he didn't feel nervous at all for the interview because he's becoming more confident in his testimony. The interview went well and now we're waiting to here from the first presidency for what the next step is. Most likely Milo will drive down to Salt Lake to meet with a member of the Seventy. He watched all of Sunday Conference and gave the honest response that some of it was boring. But he said he watched it anyways and a couple of the talks were super interesting to him and helped him find more courage to continue pressing forward.
Do y'all remember Natnael? I think I mentioned him a couple weeks ago. He's the one that came here from Africa and after we met with him and he ate up the message of living prophets he talked to a lady that was very anti-Mormon. We haven't been able to get a hold of him since that happened about a month ago. We felt to go stop by his apartment on Saturday and he was home and let us right in. He had been filled with so much anti so we went through the process of cleaning up so much garbage. From secret handshakes and clothing to coffee and continuing revelation. His big focus was that he was told we look to many other sources for salvation other than Jesus Christ. We assured him, with special emphasis after Saturday Conference, that "salvation comes in and through the atonement blood of Jesus Christ and in no other way" (Bruce R. McConkie's final testimony in conference). As we just continually testified of the Savior's saving power he listened more and more. He won't cut ties with those the other church because of some obligations but we helped him understand his need to get our side of the story. He even agreed to come the Sunday Afternoon session of conference! He came and enjoyed it! Hopefully things will continue to progress there now. He says he hopes he becomes convinced of our message, he loves the idea of living Prophets.

Thanks again for all the support. We'd appreciate prayers in our behalf as well as Tatum, Milo and Natnael. Don't forget to pray for your own missionary efforts to, never stop praying for opportunities to share the gospel yourself. Missionary work always works best when members are the source from which new investigators are found.

Elder Garian Tippetts

311 Michael Grove Unit B

Bozeman, MT 59718

Monday, March 27, 2017

Edification

Dear Family and Friends,

Things have been super awesome this week! I'm really just loving life and working hard. Elder Schneider is such a stud, I seriously feel so blessed to be his companion. This area is so awesome too, everyone in the YSA is awesome and missionary minded. The work here is hastening.

Lots of good things happened this week. On Wednesday our Bishop was signed up to feed us dinner but he lives ~30 minutes outside of Bozeman so he signs up on the days that he has work and then has meetings at the church so he can use the hour break he has to eat dinner with us! So he took us out to a Chinese buffet. And I love Chinese buffets. They're by far one of my favorites. So that was a plus indeed. Bishop Smith is such a great, honest, kind and spiritual man. I've learned a lot from him so far about compassion and reverence. You can't help but feel the spirit around him.

We had Zone Conference this past week on Tuesday. It was all the way over in Helena with the Butte and Helena Zones as well. So we had to get together with all the missionaries in the Zone and coordinate a carpool caravan with all the elders fit amongst the smallest amount of vehicles possible to conserve miles and the sister's following us. It was a fun road trip with 5 of us crammed in our truck rocking out to youth music, the lower lights and MoTab. The meeting was amazing, I really left uplifted. The Assistants weren't able to make it to this training so the Helena Zone Leaders did their assignments for them, another reason why I'm thankful we weren't hosting it in Bozeman. We learned lots about recognizing the Spirit and becoming better teachers. Also, the Helena Zone Leaders asked if I would do the special musical number but I said I wanted to give someone else a chance because I've done it for 3 of the last 4 Zone Conferences and this most recent MLC. And the musical number was awesome that happened! I like singing and all, but I don't like to do it every time because then I feel like I'm showing off.

Tuesday night was institute and it was so amazing having Brother Bishop back. He's such a great teacher. I don't think we did a shabby job when we taught, it just definitely wasn't Brother Bishop status. Every time I hear him teach and usually just anytime I speak to him my mind is blown. Sometimes he goes pretty deep into things but I especially love it when he talks about the simple and basic principles of the gospel. He lays them out so clearly and they are brought to a new light and level of understanding. Kelsey loved institute and Brother Bishop was super impressed by how well she participated in class! Also, yesterday we had a meeting with all the missionaries in our Zone at President Repscher's home, our Stake President. He's a really young guy but he knows so much about the gospel too. He reviewed the Stake and Zone goals we have and taught us how to more efficiently reach them. Then he just said, "okay Elders and Sisters, ask me any question! Any question at all about the gospel!" It takes a lot of confidence to make a statement like that and he has the knowledge to back it. A simple question was asked about preparing investigators for baptism and then aiming for the temple and a powerful 20 minute discussion and scripture chase ensued. Again, mind blown.

The only Investigator I really feel to tell y'all more about is Milo. He's the one with 56 siblings. We had a lesson on tithing with him on Wednesday and he accepted the commandment just like everything else we've taught but in the process the concern came up that he wasn't sure whether or not President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God or not. We realized that we had taught him about the need for living Prophets and that there was one but that we hadn't spent too much time on it and we hadn't checked for understanding. Because he grew up with a polygamist background in a church that had broken off of the True Church he was really unsure about that. He was taught growing up that somewhere in the process of the original church stopping polygamy they no longer held the priesthood and a man led their colony with the proper priesthood. Then that man died and he always thought we were just living in apostasy again. So that can throw a wrench into things, you can't really get baptized if you don't believe in the prophet of the church your getting baptized (or at least you can't if that church is true

). So we assigned him a talk by President Monson to read, "Dare to Stand Alone", because Milo really wants to be firm in his faith so he can be a good example to others. So until our lesson on Saturday we kept praying so hard for him to come to know for himself that President Monson is the Lord's living prophet on the earth today. We get to the lesson on Saturday and start with the normal introductory stuff and followed up with him on his commitment to watch that talk and pray about it (and we had texted him a reminder to do so earlier that day #dailycontact). He said he did it and prayed and got an answer. Milo bore such a powerful testimony that brought the spirit into the room in a way I haven't felt in a long time. Possibly ever. Tears were flowing everywhere (except for me but I'll get to that later). Milo is so confident in his decision to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. He loves the church and everything it has to offer. He's found the peace that comes from the realization that God hasn't left us alone but has given us lifelines to stay linked with him. So Milo is getting interviewed this Friday by our mission president to get the process of having someone else come interview him, usually a seventy.

About the not crying thing. There have been very few occasions when I've cried feeling the spirit. And when I do it's usually a single solitary tear. This has always bothered me. I've always seen so many people that get emotional when they're feeling the spirit and I've thought many times that something was wrong with me because I wasn't feeling the spirit the way they were. Sometimes strong emotions are a product of the spirit but that's not the way it works with everyone. A missionary shared this with us a couple days ago in another meeting we had and it stood out to me. "President Howard W. Hunter offered this counsel: “Let me offer a word of caution. … I think if we are not careful … , we may begin to try to counterfeit the true influence of the Spirit of the Lord by unworthy and manipulative means. I get concerned when it appears that strong emotion or free-flowing tears are equated with the presence of the Spirit. Certainly the Spirit of the Lord can bring strong emotional feelings, including tears, but that outward manifestation ought not to be confused with the presence of the Spirit itself” (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, 184). The Spirit of the Lord always edifies." (PMG pg. 99). I've read this a bunch before but it really made sense to me recently. "The spirit of the Lord always edifies." To edify mean to instruct or improve or to build up. When we need to recognize the spirit ask yourself if God is building you up, if He's instructing or improving you. That's what the spirit ALWAYS does. When Prophets say ALWAYS they mean ALWAYS. Over this past week I've been able to recognize the spirit more in my life as I've thought about this. I'd encourage you all to think about this in preparation for General Conference. Think about your struggles, weaknesses, trials or anything and I promise that the Lord will build you up, instruct you and improve you through the mouths of his chosen servants.

Elder Garian Tippetts

311 Michael Grove Unit B

Bozeman, MT 59718

Monday, March 20, 2017

Kelsey's Baptism!

Family and friends,

Yet another fantastic week. We made it through Spring Break busily and productively! This week was full of miracles, especially miracles in my own personal progression. I've learned a lot of things that the Spirit has impressed heavily on my soul and helped me improve lots on! So I'm happy and continually pressing forward!

Probably the most exciting thing y'all want to hear about is the baptism! Kelsey got baptized and it was pretty awesome! The week leading up to her baptism we had her interview on Tuesday, a lesson on Wednesday, watched the Joseph Smith movie with her and some members on Thursday, and then taught another lesson Friday night! The Friday night one was super awesome because she had 3 friends that were going to BYU Provo that drove up and one friend that came from Hamilton. It was fun to meet some of her friends and 3 of them were return missionaries. Adam is the one from Hamilton and he got home less than a month ago and is the one that originally gave her a Book of Mormon ~2 years ago when he left on his mission. It was cool meeting the man that put it all in motion and he was even the one to baptize and confirm her! Her final pre-baptism lesson was awesome and spiritually packed. Then Saturday we met up with her friends, Mom, Sister and some members of the YSA and Kelsey made crepes for us! So we all got to spend some time together and then we were off to fill the font and set up for the baptism. We had over 50 people at the baptism! That's huge! Especially when our YSA Ward averages 65 people at sacrament meeting each week! So there were lots of people there, it was awesome to see everyone's support! Everything went smoothly until they got into the font, there's something wrong with the font apparently because the baptism was at 2 and we'd been filling it up since 11 that morning so we don't know how a decent amount of water drained down to 1.5 feet. I had even taken of my shoes, socks, rolled up my pants and sleeves and climbed in there before the baptism to make sure there weren't any leaks around the plug. Alas, it still drained so we had to deal with it. It took 3 goes to get her all the way under. But what counts is that she made it! In the end it all worked out! And finally Sunday she was confirmed and is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

It's been a blast of a week! We did exchanges with all the elders in our Zone. It was fun being around each of them and working in different areas. It's always fun to be in someone else's area and meet so many new people. It was weird talking with families again though. Other than that I'll be sure to send pictures next week! Have a great week!

Elder Garian Tippetts

Monday, March 13, 2017

Today's Elder Schneider's Birthday!

Family and friends,

The week has been amazing like normal! I love the YSA Ward so much! Things have been going well. This week will be an interesting one, it will definitely stretch our faith for sure. So since its Spring Break almost everyone from our Ward and teaching pool is out of town, so please send a couple extra prayers our way this week! We're still going to be productive and we'll take advantage of this week to go on exchanges with every Elder in our Zone and work in their family wards! We're super excited and still have some cool things lined up for this week! Also, a member Elder Schneider knows here took us out to the Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse today for his birthday. It was super good! It's like Tepenyaki/Kobe/Hibachi and all those other places like it.

We taught institute this last week and it was fun but it's definitely a relief to not have to anymore. There are so many solid members here in our Ward so we're always really nervous to teach, especially because Brother Bishop, the institute director, is one of the most spiritual and knowledgeable men I've met. So we always have big shoes to fill. That's why I'm thankful that the enabling part of grace is able to make up for our inadequacies. Both weeks we went in super nervous and left very humbled and grateful that the spirit is the real teacher. If it were just up to me we would have flopped on our faces.

Also this week we were fixin' to teach Hondo a lesson but a guy named Nathan walked into the institute. He asked if he could ask us a few questions, we told him that we had an appointment with Hondo but Hondo insisted we talk with him, so we obliged. Turns out he's from the Montana Bible College at the Grace Bible Church here, they're notorious for strongly disliking Mormons. The school gives extra credit to their students if they Bible bash with Mormons. So he had an assignment from school to come 'Interview' some Mormons and we happened to be the ones he ran into. We talked with him and we're very intent on not bashing so we didn't. He said he'd only take a few minutes so we answered some of his questions it turned out to be a 45ish minute discussion. We made sure it wasn't contentious and made sure he knows we don't believe we're saved by works. At the end he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, our testimonies and let us pray with him! So it ended well. We had less time to teach Hondo, so that was a bummer, but Hondo said he felt like he learned a lot from us just watching us talk with Nathan so I guess things turned out alright.

Kelsey is still doing bomb like always and is getting baptized THIS SATURDAY!!!!! We're doing her baptismal interview tomorrow and couldn't be more excited. This week we had FHE with her on Monday as well as finished setting up her baptismal program, Tuesday she came to institute, Wednesday we went over the baptismal interview questions and then Thursday we read the Book of Mormon with her before she left out of town on Friday. She went home to Hamilton over the weekend for a friend's Homecoming talk, he's the one that'll confirm her this coming Sunday! Keep praying for her and for us this week, the week before a baptism usually holds a couple curveballs but we're staying on top of it!

The church is so true and the gospel holds every good answer to every real question. Keep striving. Recognize the Lord's hand in your life and humble yourselves in the face of all the mercy he shows us. The Lord is so good, never stop loving him.

1-2. Our District my first transfer w/Elder Bly.

3. The Standard of truth we made with scriptures/quotes that help us remember our purpose.

4-5. Our Zone my first transfer w/Elder Bly.

6. Our District my last transfer in ZOO-TOWN

7. We take Zone pictures a little too seriously...

8. And then a little less seriously...

9. And then not seriously at all...

Monday, March 6, 2017

Transfers

Family and friends,

This week was interesting for sure. It's been a super good week though. Main news is Transfers! Elder Schneider and I are staying and I couldn't be happier! Things here are the best. Nothing too radical happened this week but it's been a good week. I was mostly out of commission on Wednesday because I had the worst head cold I've ever had so I bought a whole bunch of Vicks scented tissues and looked like a druggie because I was sniffing them so much. Anyways, life is good! I love you all! I've got so many pictures to send over the next few weeks so here's a bunch.

1. Old Eaf riding a buffalo

2. Another old guy riding an elk

3-5. Pictures from the hospital

6-7. Pond Hockey back in Seeley Lake

8. Combined preparation day back in Missoula with the Stevensville Zone

9. A cool thrift shop in Missoula

10-11. Saying goodbye to some cool kids, Peter and Dan, in Clinton. They're the best. Then Kimber came and cried on me.

Monday, February 27, 2017

"Keep on keeping on, and do it more effectively"

Family and friends,

Yet another week has gone by too fast. It's completely insane to me how fast this transfer has gone by, the fastest of my mission by far. It's also been the best, busiest and most fun transfer of my mission as well. Life in the YSA is bomb. I just can't believe that this coming Sunday we'll be getting transfer calls. It doesn't feel real that the transfer is almost over.

This week we had a really awesome Zone Conference. It's always refreshing to see President and Sister Wadsworth, the Assistants and the nearby zones. I really learned a lot by impressions from the spirit about commitments. I'm trying to deepen my commitment to my Savior in each moment by always remembering Him. Also, they showed us a segment from the most recent Mission President's Training Seminar about finding. It was all focused on finding and teaching those between their mid-teens and their mid-twenties. Elder Anderson shared a clip from some general authority trainings they were doing where they asked 300 general authorities to stand first if they were baptized after the age of 25, second between the ages of 9 and 25 and lastly 8 and younger. By far the majority were converts between the ages of 9-25. This and many other studies show that this age group is the most receptive to the restored gospel and are most likely to remain active and flourish in the church. I really enjoyed the training because it offered some cool insights about working in the YSA Ward. Also, I felt like our whole Zone was just staring us down because most companionships in our zone have been receiving self referrals for or just finding by their own efforts some really solid YSA aged individuals. I felt sorta bad but I'm not complaining. Like I said earlier, the YSA life is the bomb.

Investigator updates:

Kelsey: She is doing so well. She's still reading the Book of Mormon like a champ and has read the past decade of General Conference addresses. We taught her 5/7 days of this past week, we're teaching her tonight and we're probably teaching her tomorrow too. She is just unbelievably excited for her baptism. Yesterday we finished off all the missionary lessons! His is the first time that I've taught an investigator from the first lesson all the way through. Most people I've taught in my mission I either started on the lessons and then got transferred of I got their right at the end of the lessons. It's been cool to be a part of the whole missionary process. Kelsey has some friends and coworkers that are former investigators and less active members and has been sharing the gospel with them. One was baptized when he was 8 but was never really active. He wants to know the Book of Mormon is true but says he struggles finding the real internet and sincere heart to know its true so she's been teaching him how to do it and sending him her favorite verses and chapters and bearing testimony to him. We had dinner on Friday with her, Meg and Joseph which was really awesome. As we left Kelsey and Meg told us that they decided to take a road trip to Rexburg on Saturday to see the temple and just explore I guess. So that's the second temple that Kelsey's visited! Last thing, quick funny story. So they were in Rexburg and they wanted to get some Chick-Fil-A so they put it into google maps and followed the directions and guess where it took them? Straight into the temple parking lot. I laughed so hard and said, "I've always known it, Chick-Fil-A really is the celestial restaurant!" It was one of the best moments of my mission.
Tatum: Tatum has been coming to church for a couple weeks now and we finally got to have a lesson this week with her. She had a couple friends here in the YSA Ward but they all just left on missions so now she wants to meet with us and find out if she feels comfortable here because it's the truth or just because she was with her friends. She participates in church and is already so committed to following God. We're teaching her tonight and things seem to be going well.
Milo: He's preparing to be baptized but we're not sure what date exactly because he has 56 siblings. 56 siblings isn't technically a problem, it's just a little complicated because he has so many because of polygamy. He grew up in a polygamist colony down by Chihuahua, Mexico. Good thing is he has no desire to ever practice polygamy and is currently living with his 2 nephews that both also have polygamous parents but are really active in the church now and one of them' an RM so he has lots of support! He's doing awesome and always comes to church.
Ethan: He's actually a recent convert, he got baptized a couple months ago and he is such an inspiration to me. He is so faithful even in the face of so much opposition. His whole family was very opposed to him being baptized and they are always coming to him with new anti-Mormon topics. He always responds so well and says that when he was first baptized it always gave him a couple doubts that were soon washed away but since he's had so many concerns and questions answered he now doesn't get shaken at all. Even if he can't find an answer he recognizes that the spirit has testified to him of truth and so he knows that there is an answer out there somewhere and that sometimes it's okay to not know what it is. He's such an example of real faith. Even with so much opposition and still being pretty new to the church he's planning on serving a mission because he loves it all so much.

This week has been filled with so many awesome lessons and miracles. The Lord blesses you as you get your heart right and serve Him for the right reasons. The gospel of Jesus Christ contains answers to every single question or concern out there. God has a plan for all of us and that plan is perfect. We just need to find out what He wants us to do and then do it. We are taught in Mosiah 3:19 that we are to yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit. Think about what it means to yield. Basically that means that the Holy Ghost gets the right of way. Become more committed to live your life in line with God's will as you discover His will through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Look to the Temple

Family and friends,

This week was pretty good because it was all working towards going to the temple on Saturday. I don't know how I forgot to tell y'all last week that we were planning on going to the temple but it was great. I'll talk about that last.

Lesson/Investigator highlights:

Greg: We started teaching an awesome less active member Greg this week. He joined the church just a couple years ago in Oregon and has been struggling to get in the habit of coming to church here in Bozeman. He's not sure how he feels about the YSA Ward because he's only ever gone to family wards before and feels more comfortable there. But he has such a sincere desire to come closer to the Savior and feel the spirit in his life again. He looks at himself with such a humble attitude and is so ready to improve! We taught him twice and both lessons went really well until the end of the second lesson because he brought up the church's stance on Homosexuals and went on a rant about how he doesn't believe in it so contention came and the spirit left. We just told him that we can't give him a perfect answer or convince him of anything so we encouraged him to just hold onto his testimony of the Savior and the church. Luckily it ended on a good note.
Hondo: We taught Hondo again and he was really distracted during the whole lesson. Suddenly he just stood up and said he had to go so he left. The member that was with us went ahead and left as well so Elder Schneider and I stayed behind to talk about how the lesson went. While we were talking, Hondo showed back up and apologized for leaving so suddenly and told us about everything that's stressing him out right now so we were able to turn him to the Savior (he's Jewish) through prayer. He prayed and was feeling really good after! It was such an honest prayer.
Kelsey: Kelsey is doing stellar like always! We taught her Thursday and now she's all the way to Helaman! Then we taught her again on Sunday and instead of reading more of the Book of Mormon she read all of the 2015 and 2016 October conferences! That was wild. We taught her about tithing and she accepted it willingly and then we started to teach about Fast offerings and she just said, "I don't even know what that is but I'll live it, I'm excited to." So golden. THEN Meg, our recent convert from Georgia, and another member from the YSA took Kelsey to the temple the same day we were there! The coolest thing was that while she was in the waiting room one of the desk workers came in his white suit and was talking to her and he said, "I just wanted to let you know that I see a lot of people come through here and sit in that waiting room and you can always tell who's comfortable and who's not and you're comfortable here. You belong here. And I cannot wait until the day I can let you past the front desk." As she told us this Sunday night she was of course in tears and just cannot wait at all for when she can go to the temple after her baptism!
We also had a lesson with Meg this week and Kelsey came as well. We talked about missionary work and they are both just trying to spread the gospel! You can see how the gospel is changing their lives and they just want to share it with everyone! Many tears were shed in that lesson as well.

And the temple. So the Assistants do exchanges with all the Zone Leaders and the checked to see if any of us had someone we once taught getting sealed this transfer and it just so happens that the Sessions family from Powell were getting sealed on the 18th! So we went on exchanges with the Assistants in Billings on Friday. I went with Elder Hoschouer, my MTC companion, it's always good to be back with him! Then Saturday we went and got to go through a session with them and attend their sealing! And guess who else got to come? ELDER STONE! We spent 4.5 months together teaching the Sessions and least once a week and did lots of service for Brother Sessions when Sister Sessions got sent to the hospital. It was just a powerful day. It was amazing to see the fruits of something that started almost a year ago. Also, the missionary that reacted into and baptized Sister Sessions 8 years ago came as well! So I'm sure he was glad! It was just so good to be there again. It was a recharge that I've definitely been needing. I you are able to go to the temple, go. Don't make excuses, make time for it in your schedule. I haven't been able to attend the temple in ~19 months and will never take it for granted again. Go as often as possible. Time in the temple is never lost or wasted time.

Elder Garian Tippetts