Poplar Elders October-November 2013

 These are the Elder's whom were in Poplar when we arrived.  We have enjoyed having them to dinner once a week and meeting with them in planning meetings.  Elder Meraz  (L-R) has finished his mission and returned home.  Elder Fuifatu has been out a year, and 

Elder McLaren finishes his mission in early December.



Elder Rorick, the computer buff, has about 2 mons. 
left

Before


Elder Salvador demonstrates the size of the hole in the Cultural Hall wall that Elder Allsop miraculously repaired.

After

 North Eastern Montana can have some beautiful sunsets.  This was captured driving home between Wolfpoint and Poplar in October 2013.

 The Baptism we witnessed on Nov. 16, 2013 was a special experience. It was held in Plentywood's reservoir.  A pick up truck was first backed down the boat ramp to break the ice.





                                                                       
Pictured to the left are the two Elders who taught Marcus as well as his friend Reese who baptized him.  Note the chunks of ice they are holding.

It was indeed a special experience for all.

Mission Training Center (MTC)

After a relaxed drive to Orem and a pleasant stay with Sid and Lousie overnight, we entered the Mission Training Center on time the morning of September 9, 2013.  They are efficient with check-in proceedures so it wasn't long until we knew the agenda.  There was an extra large group of Seniors Missionaries checking in that day 84, so we lucked out when we were place at the Marriott Courtyard in Orem. After lunch we assembled for a group meeting at the LDS Meetinghouse next door where all of our training was held that week. We were divided into Districts with 3 other couples. Our trainer in the mornings was Brother Zundell a young RM now a BYU student and in the afternoon were Sisters Anderson and Sister Sanford also young cute BYU studens. They were all delightful.

L-R: Our trainers Sisters Anderson and Sanford; Elder and Sister Talley from Star Valley going to Lima, Peru in Humanitarian; Elder and Sister Talley from Logan serving from home as medical advisors; Elder and Sister Johnson from May, Idaho going to the Marshall Island in Perpetual Ed. program and us.

Meal time comes around very often at the MTC especially when you are not use to eating 3 times a day.  The choices are many and the desserts irresistible.

This is for you Seth.  I spoke to a table full of Korean sisters.  They were impressed with my Korean greeting, and thank you spoken in their language.  Cute girls, huh!

We attended many devotionals with fabulous speakers.  This one was our Departing Devotional where instructions on traveling were also given.  Some applied to us and some didn't as we were driving to our Mission area.

Our Second week at the MTC was for Humanitarian training.  Everyone in our group were going to some far away place,The Talleyare going to Peru,the Singleys to Laos, the Greers to Ecuador,and the Woodruffs to Sir Lanka. People chuckled when we responded that we were going to Montana on a humanitarian assignment.

The week of Humanitarian training we were moved back to the MTC and housed in the usual Senior Missionaries accomodations. We were on the 3rd. floor of the same building as the Bookstore and Post Office. It was no Marriott, but the accomodations were fine.

We were anxious to meet with the people from the Missionary Dept. in Salt Lake and finally had the meeting on Wednesday.  We met with Elder and Sister Kimball who are Service Missionaries sent on special assignments anywhere in the world, and Brother Ferrin Squires who is working directly with the committee formed for the Native American Inititive.  They told us much about the kinds of problems in Wolf Point and Poplar Montana which are part of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

Arriving in Poplar

Arrival time was 6:00 pm September 21, 2013.  We found our cute little home at 205 D Street West.  We were pleased to have a carport and a small garage.  The home is comfortable and just right for a Senior couple.  It was like being newly weds and coming home from a honeymoon to unpack the boxes of our household items that the church provided and had setting inside. Our vehicle was also filled to the brim from what we had brought from home.

This is the view from across the street.  It is a new business, a Deli called Andy's All.  President of the Branch Pres. Hollom works there part time because it is his brother's business.  The red home on the corner of the intersection is our landlord's Don and Donna Gungell.  He is very nice, and got right on a plumbing problem and a broken washing machine.

Here is the Poplar Branch Meeting house.  The chapel has 13 benches and there is a Relief Society room and 4 maybe 5 classrooms, a library, clerks office and Presidents office and a mid-size Cultural Hall.

Our first week at church, I counted 25 in attendance which included the 4 Elders serving here and ourselves. Only one deacon comes and he passes the sacrament to everyone in about 5 mins.  There is much reactivation work that needs to be done here.

Soon after arriving, Elder Allsop and I went about cleaning up the debris and cutting down the weeds in the barrow pit next to the church.  Then we got enough interest that Pres. Hollom came with a riding mower one afternoon and began cutting the tall grass and weeds in the field next to the meetinghouse.  The Elder's and ourselves and one ward member Sister Baurers helped.  It surely did improve our image to have it done and we felt it set an example to the neighbors most of whom do not mow and keep their yards nice.

Picking up trash that is dropped and blown around, could be a daily job in Poplar.

This abandon trailer home is the view directily across the street from the Branch Meetinghouse.

To become acquainted with where people live listed on the branch membership rolls, we made a Newsletter telling about various activities going on in the branch and delivered them over the course of a couple of weeks to every one that we had a solid address for.  Here is Elder Allsop coming out of one of the homes where he left the newsletter on the doorstep.