Hello everyone!
Once again I am amazed that this week has already flown by! Everything is great here in Albion! It has been a cold week full of lots of snow. This week it has snowed every day and got down to 12 degrees! I don't know how, but I am loving every second of it. We have done a lot of service this week especially with it being so cold. We have helped feed a lot of animals. I have fed horses, cows, chickens, and pigs. Honestly, I am wondering why I ever liked pigs when I was little. We were feeding the animals where we live for 4 days while the members we live with were gone. My companion fed the pigs for the first 2 days and asked me if I wanted to do it the next. I figured that I couldn't let this opportunity by and had to do it at least once. I put on my muck boots (which the Douglas' had left for us) and headed out to the pig pen. They knew it was feeding time and were waiting at the gate not very patiently. They were eating the fence and slobbering everywhere trying to get to the food bucket I had. I started to open the gate and they were trying to push their way out to get to me. I was terrified! These pigs are probably as big as me and I know they could knock me down in a second if they wanted to (and they wanted that food!). I was worried that if I opened the gate they would run out (especially with the way they were attacking it to get to me) and there is no way that I would be able to get them back in. Finally I realized that there is no way they were going to run out and away from me as long as I held the food. It took me a second, but I finally found the courage to open the gate and push my way past them. I hurried and put their food in the trough and ran to fill up their water while they were eating. I got out of there as fast as I could through all the mud and locked the gate as fast as I could. Now I know that I can feed pigs if I need to, but I think I will stick to feeding cows and horses!
Another animal feeding story.....
There is one nonmember that we help feed his cows every week. He is about 60 years old and his daughter is a member and is leaving on her mission in May. He lives all alone while his daughter is up at school and usually feeds his cows all by himself. So he will load up all of his hay into the bed of his truck and drive it up to the cows. He will just let the truck run while he jumps out into the back and cuts the hay. When he is done he jumps off and runs to get back into the truck! I can't believe that he does this by himself. This is dangerous especially do do all by yourself on the mountain. We go out and help him at least once a week. Emily Loveland comes with us. She is the ward mission leader's wife and is pretty much our third companion. All of the cows are about to start having their babies and it's crazy how important the weather is in helping them survive. If the cows are born in super bad weather, they will usually die. We are all hoping for better weather this week as all the cows are supposed to start calving soon. I am learning the difference between different cows, hay/straw, and even tractors! Fun fact- hay is more nutritious and expense than straw, but straw is used to help make the hay last longer and it also provides more warmth for the animals.
This week I ate ceviche at Jim's house. I was nervous, but it actually was pretty good! Jim was baptized about 6 months ago and we stop by to teach him every week. We also stop by at least every day to stack his wood. He has a lot of health problems and is struggling. Despite the many trials in his life, I have never seen him not smiling. He always pushes past his own pain and looks for ways to help others. He just barely met with Bishop this Sunday to be interviewed to get his Patriarchal blessing. I am so excited for him! We are eating dinner with him again this week and I think he is planning on feeding us wild goose. He always tries to feed us something we have never had. For the past week he has been calling me "carrots" and will just laugh so hard. He wouldn't tell us what it meant until Friday when we ate with him. He told me that it was a derogatory term that people would call Utah Mormons back in the day. I guess they would eat a lot of carrots because they grew really easy and stored well. He told me that he didn't mean it in a mean way and just thought it was funny that I didn't know what it meant. Anyway, the name stuck and now we laugh about it because I am a "Utah Mormon."
We are teaching another family here in town and they want to be baptized. It is a family of three and both the mother and daughter have been taking the lessons. Their dad wants nothing to do with the church and will not let them be baptized. He told them that they have to wait for a year. I don't know what his reasoning is behind that, but I know that these two will do just that if they have to. We still have a few more lessons to teach with them, so we will see how it goes. I know that Heavenly Father will provide a way. I have already seen that in many peoples lives that we have talked to here.
One of the things I have been realizing this week is how important members are in missionary work. There are so many people here that just need someone to talk to. This is what ministering is for and I know that this truly was inspired. Heavenly Father is using us to be his hands here on the Earth and it is up to us to take that responsibility seriously. There is so much to be done and we are here on the Earth to help further the work. Like it says in Mosiah 2:17, "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Sometimes it can be hard to serve others, especially when we do not feel love towards them. It is by serving others that we come to love and understand them. I want to challenge everyone to look for a way to serve someone this week that you would not normally do something for. I know that as you do so your day will be better and you will be able to love whomever you are serving.
I am glad to hear everything is well at home! Corbans talk was amazing! I wish I was there to hear it. That is exciting for Amy. I can't believe that she is having #15! Having babies is definitely a miracle. I don't know how cows do it and act like it is nothing. I will add the video to the drive that my companion took of the calf they pulled the day before I got here. Hopefully I will get to see one while I am here! You would think I would with all the cows around! Anyways, I love you guys and will talk to you next week!
Love,
Sister Beutler
