After a swift conclusion to the MTC experience, they loaded us up in
a tiny little jump jet and shuttled us from the SLC to the Billings,
Montana airport. For those unawares, Billings is a city of a little
more than 100,000 people. They pride themselves on having a Walmart, a
Costco, and a single Café Rio. But, alas, my stay in Billings would be
short enough. After arriving and being helped to the greatest meal
I've had in three weeks (the MTC isn't awful, but I would definitely
not call it good), I grabbed a few personal things and spent the night
at a member's house with a handful of other elders.
The following day, after some training, we found out where we would
be spending the next significant part of our lives. The verdict was
given, and I became excited. I won't be serving in Montana, but rather
in Wyoming. "Will we be heading out tomorrow morning?" "You're heading
to Wyoming? You'll be leaving in... About an hour and a half."
And, so it was.
After a two hour and generally unimpressive drive, we arrived in
Lovell, Wyoming, where the five of us met our trainer and hopefully
best friend for at least the next six weeks. Elder Berrett, a smiling,
glasses-wearing Elder from Gilbert, Arizona, greeted me. Quickly, we
put the two suitcases in the Corolla, strapped the bike to the back,
and drove off.
I have been assigned to labor in the Wyoming West area. Greybull,
Basin, and Ten Sleep are all within our boundaries. Due to the size of
our area, we are allotted a fairly large amount of miles.
Nevertheless, we don't make it to Ten Sleep more than once or twice a
month. We spend most of our time in Greybull and Basin, population
1,800 and 1,200, respectively. The wards have a high rate of
inactivity, and much of our time has been spent on reactivation.
Elder Berrett of GIlbert, Arizona (I know, right?) has been out
somewhere about a year. He's a nerd (we're both psyched for when the
post office in Basin gets Star Trek stamps - September 3rd!), and he
knows how to follow the rules and work hard. We get along well, and I
feel like we are smooth at transitioning in lessons. Elder Berrett is
awesome, and I'm super happy to have him as my companion.
We are staying at a member home. Brother and Sister Cheatham are
both very nice, loving, and funny, and I'm grateful for the
opportunity to stay with them.
We've already had some wonderful experiences with both members and
not, but I will leave you with a spiritual thought:
One person we visited last night opened up about a concern she had.
She had heard from certain people that if one member of the family
reaches the highest degree of glory, but a child or something does
not, that they won't be together forever. We were able to testify that
because families are such an integral part of The Plan, God promises
us that we will be together. We need to follow His way in this life as
best we can, and He will take care of the rest. Of this I have a
testimony. (For further reading on the subject, may I recommend the
First Presidency message in the August 2016 Ensign?)
I hope all is going well! I love to hear from you probably more than
you love to hear from me, so don't hesitate to send some goings on,
some thoughts, questions, or anything along those lines.
Rock and roll.
-Elder Burch π
"... I can't hear a word over Kind of Blue ..."
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