COW BRANDING?? & "Nice to see you Again!"

Hello family!! YA. i knew you were in Disney World WAYYY before you email me. I felt it in my bones. Plus i have connections up here in Lewiston.. But it's ok because I have decided to forgive you. Preachin the Gospel is greater than any wonderful....amazing...magical fantacy ride at an amusement park. Just Kidding I truly truly would not be anywhere else in the whole world right now:) IT WAS AN AMAZING WEEK! To sum a lot of it up: This week we got a mini missionary names Sister McCumbie. She is from Cheney Washington. Out here they do "trial missions" for ages 16- 18 and they get to live with the missionaries for a week to get a feel for a mission and prepare! It is the coolest thing. These youth over here are seriously incredible. I cant even imagine the generation of missionaries the Lord is preparing to serve! But she really opened my eyes to how big of an adjustment i've made to my life. Missions seriously change you so much. Well, the Lord does, but a mission provides the most perfect situation to really clue in to what is most important in life and let go of the things in the world you don't need! It's freeing..if that makes sense. Our first service we got to take her to was COW BRANDING. Yep thats right... the farm, the cattle, the cow ramps and machinery, the whole kit and cabootle, as they say (not even sure what that means) but we got to be legit ranchers this week. I of course did not participate in the harming of the animals, but I was front and center of the whole rounding them up and putting them into different pens..Its like an at I swear! they have this whole crazy awesome system! I was tryng to relate it to the gospel the whole time.. how we all experience trials that brand us..and ya..haha It was funny. I got to meet the most incredible indian man! The first day in the Lewiston ward I pointed him out to my companion and said, "I want to know his story" and my companion looked at me like I was some weirdo, but I remember feeling a great need to talk to him! (10 weeks later) we had ended up knocking on his door and him and his wife invited us in for a lesson! We had no lesson prepared and I again felt that strong feeling to ask them about their conversion story. He started to explain his back round of growing up a member of the Lacotta tribe in the black hills and how he swore he would NEVER join the Mormon church or get married OR have children (he's all that with 10 kids now) but one day he sat in on a lesson and held the Book of Mormon in his hands. He said something about the book spoke to him and how he knew that he needed to read it and that is was a story about his people! He is of Lamenite blood!!! crazy..anyway he read it and joined immediately. His whole conversion story is insane but one thing that blew my mind is that once he went to general conference and Elder Uchdorf came and shook his hand and said "Nice to see you again" and he had never met or seen him before! His tribe that he participates in every now and then is so completely connected to the gospel its amazing the similarities. but that just blew my mind. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS SO REAL. Which reminds me..the Book of Mormon musical is coming to our mission..yaaaaaay:)Its ok tho because the church get the whole 2 pages of the program to advertise "now you've seen the musical..go and read the book!" haha it should be fun to see the commentary..bring on the anti. which reminds me of something else! That pastor I taught the other week I invited him to come here me speak in sacrament! Pastor Budah..He is a great guy but he apologized for being so busy that day that he sent his son and grand daughter to our church to see it and said he would come another week when he's not so busy..planting seeds! But he invited us to attend his congregation and when I brought it up to our ward mission leader he got to excited we couldn't refuse(reminded him of his old mission days haha)...So yesterday i had great experience attending Pastor Budahs's congregation. It was cool to see but I just felt like something was missing the whole time. The spirit was so much different there and they're known to preach a lot of anti which brings a completely different spirit to the meeting...He ended up apologizing to us from the pulpit for the things he had planned on preaching but changed because we were there...that must have been eye opening to some people i hope.. but it seriously was the best experience for me. The Lord really helped me to recognize that there is no bit of doctrine or scripture that I could pull up to anyone that could convince them that this is Christs church. The spirit is the ONLY way to know and understand. Without an open heart and a willing mind the spirit litereally cannot bear witness. I'm learning that now, that conversion has absolutely nothing to do with me and the information I'm able to give. It's great so support their learning but unless they act in faith know sincerely whats true, it's just information. My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to receive that witness for themselves. and as much as it breaks my heart that Pastor Budah possible might not be ready..I truly feel in my heart that If i diligently plant these seeds, the Lord will nourish them in a way much better then I could . He is the master of the vineyard and He teaches me every​​day that “The work will be light and easy to bear if You will depend on the Lord and work. Love you all! -sister scott