On our way to IDAHO
Hello Everyone!
This week has been amazing! I don't even know where to start. We flew into Idaho where our Mission President was waiting for us and spent the night there in Boise. The next day we met our companions and got our assignments. I am companions with Sister Meredith and we are the missionaries over Albion, Idaho! We are kinda out in the middle of nowhere, but that makes it even more fun! My companion is from Hawaii and has been in this area for 2 transfers. She only has 2 transfers left and is an amazing missionary. She loves the people here so much and jokes that she is going to come back and live here.
Friday night we got a call from our zone leaders and they said that they are expanding our area to include Elba and Almo as well. The funny thing is these two places are even smaller and remote than Albion, if you can believe it! We are whitewashing this area and I still don't know a ton about it yet. We haven't had much time to get out there yet and see the area.
A little bit about Albion is that there is about 358 people in the town. There is no grocery store here. We have to drive to Declo if we need anything. There is one gas station in town called Creekside and it is the place to be! There are two pumps there and that is all that this little town needs. It is where everyone in town goes if they want to do something. There are a lot of ranchers here and a lot of animals. So far I have got to help feed cows, pet pigs, and stack a lot of wood! We are waiting on all of the calves to be born so we can help with that as well. The day before I got here, my companion got to help pull a calf and showed me a video of it. It is crazy that a 70lb baby can just come out of the cow and the mom acts like it's nothing!
We drove through Almo and Elba the other day to look around and it was just like driving through a western movie! They also have a little gas station (with one pump) that functions as the post office, store, and little diner. It is cute because at the counter they have a big puzzle that the town members come to work on. Every few weeks they have to set out a new one. I guess there is one old man that comes in every day and will sit there for an hour or so working on it.
There are a lot of members here and there is a building in Albion and one in Almo. So now we are over 4 wards/branches. We have the Albion ward/YSA branch and now we also have the two branches in Almo and Elba. The hard thing is that they all start at the same time! We are still trying to figure out how we will make it work, but I think we are going to go out to Almo/Elba once a week and then go on splits on Sundays so we can go to all the wards. We get fed every night and everything is delicious. Apparently there is one guy here in town that likes to feed the missionaries weird things like pigeon, cougar, and whatever else he can find. He brought over some pigeons he had cooked the other day to the members we live with and he had done them up all nice. He cooked them like he would a turkey and had them plated all nice. I don't think anyone ended up eating it.
We are living with members and they are amazing! We are in their basement and we are very lucky with the things we have. We have a fireplace and even a treadmill that we can use! Everyone says that I was sent to the best place that I could ever go. The family here that we live with has a little farm and they have cows, chickens, bunnies, and wait for it.......pigs! I got to pet one and I have to say they are kind of disgusting! They have 2 golden retrievers that are the sweetest dogs ever. One is a puppy and every day we get home, she comes running out to greet us. She also sleeps outside our door in the garage at night.
Everyone here has dogs, but they are all so well trained. I have not met a mean dog yet. If anything I don't think I have ever met more well behaved, sweet dogs in my life. They are all big dogs, I don't think little dogs would survive out in the snow. Even the cats are well behaved! At the house we live at the two cats there sleep right next to the dogs at night. One of the people we are working with, his name is Casey. He is 21 and is one of the best people I have ever met. He has not started taking the lessons yet, but he has told other members that he knows it is true. I guess that he agreed to take the lessons at one point and then ended up backing out a few days before. I know that he would do it in a heartbeat, but his grandparents are super Anti to the church and family is so important to him. The other day we ran into him as he was going to check on his cows (that are supposed to be calfing any day now) and he showed us his dog, Chip. She is a boarder collie/Australian shepherd mix and is the smartest dog I have ever met. He started making all of these sounds and signals with his hands. She ran out to the field and started rounding up the cows. As she ran back, Casey would just hold up his hand and she would stop and wait until he told her to come again. He did this a few times, and each time she obediently obeyed.
Family is so important to everyone here. The town is almost like one big family! When I got here everybody already knew about me and where I was from! Our ward mission leader knows Tiffani Wright. His name is Isaac Loveland. Him and his wife are so great. They are so involved in the work and are always ready to help us out. His wife, Emily goes on a lot of visits with us. She is like our third companion!
Everything is beautiful! I love the mountains and the fields everywhere. It has snowed every day here so far and is very cold. I am definitely grateful for my coat and boots! One day we even had a blizzard and we could not see a single thing outside! I love the snow and am not sick of it yet.
Some other fun facts is that they have an elk farm here. It is funny because they sit there and hold so still that it looks like they are frozen in the snow! They also have 2 camels that are famous. Apparently they are the camels that the church uses in all of their videos. Another cool thing is that in Almo there is a guy that breeds bulls that he sells for professional bull riding. Who would have known all of the things you would find here in this small town!
Right now we are teaching 4 kids. Their mom is a member and their dad is not. They are so sweet and are doing really well.
Also, my Preparation day is on Monday, but in our mission it is a rule that we have to be out working on holidays. So this week we got bumped to Tuesday. As to calling, right now we are only allowed to make one phone call and it is supposed to be to our parents. We can talk to other family members if they are present when we call. It is crazy all of these changes that are taking place and I truly believe that it will help a lot of missionaries out in the field. We do get to email from our phones and can do that all throughout the day. We do not have a set time.
I will call you guys sometime today and then I probably will not call you every week, but it will be nice to know that I have that option if I need it!
I love you guys, talk to you soon!
Love,
Sister Beutler
