Look what you missed! Gates of the Mountains Boat Tour

Only Barbara, my daughter and I went to the Helena area for the Gates of the Mountains boat tour but it was well worth the trip! R'ki and I shared my SLR camera and we got some amazing photos! The Bald Eagle was the best because it was unexpected but it was also really fun to find the faces in the mountain and the aligator. See if you can find them!Being on the boat was great it was big and rode well. I didn't get sick till after we'd gone back to the shore. It was sooo relaxing and a rewarding trip even with the time it took to get there. Enjoy the photos!

Gates of the Mountains Boat Tour

Bozeman Stake Conference with Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Elder Donald D. Deshler, Sept 10-11

September was certainly a month to receive spiritual guidance from our advanced leadership! First the Singles got to hear from an Area 70 and next Bozeman held it's Stake Conference on Sept 10-11 and we had the honor of having Elder D. Todd Christofferson from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles and Elder Donald D. Deshler from the 6th Quorum of the 70.

I wrote lots and lots of notes! I'm sure you don't want them all on this page as typed out it was 6 pages single spaced. So I will give you the very condensed version.

Elder Donald Deshler, "(There are..) blessings of honoring the Sabbath day. Powerful blessings when we honor the Sabbath day. This day is a day to rest from your labors. To not do anything else on Sunday except to do church and family. The Lord honors his promises to those who keep his covenants. The Lord loves us!"

Elder D.Todd Christofferson, "The Lord is aware of each individual that is present (at this conference). That he could not love you more if you were the only child of God!"

Stake President David Heap, "Elder Christofferson and Elder Deshler had report that they flet power in this place (our valley I believe he was referring to or the Stake building with members filling it...) & that the Saints are good here but that Satan is on the prowl and will lead you away. May we not adopt the ways of the world! God is real and that he knows you."

A brother in our ward attends Pres. Heaps Institute class and the class asked him about his experience with meeting an Apostle of the Lord, one of the 12. This brother stated that Pres. Heap mentioned that Elder Christofferson said that, "He was able to teach and give blessings because of the reverence in our stake (at conference)." Hope I got that quote correct! :) It was very reverant even when the children were attending on the Sunday session.

There was sooooo much more that I wrote and this by no means was the most impactful for me. I wish that I could write more, more so I wish I could take us all back in time and experience it again. For those that attended the meetings we all were spiritually fed!

Billings Conference, Sept 3, 2011

Ron and I were only able to attend the Sat session of the Billings Conference but what we were able to experience was really good! The photos below this section are from that conference. There were no workshops but there was two speakers one just after breakfast and one after dinner. Elder Terrence Carlyle Smith and his wife Rita from Alberta Canada were the morning speakers. Elder Smith is an Area Seventy in the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy since April 2004.

A quote from Elder Smith was, "All good (people) can come to call for Jesus but we ALSO have to go to him."

Elder Smith was a wonderful speaker and it was great to hear from him and get his council and answers from a question answer session. However, Brother David A Christensen was the speaker for the evening session and he was an amazing speaker! I don't think I've heard many speakers that are as good as he was! One minute you were laughing and the next crying with the spirit that was touching everyone in the room with his amazing gift of speech.

I often write notes when I'm in church meetings, it's a habit I learned a long time ago. The following was part of the notes I'd taken, "We are all in this (life) together! There are things that matter and there are things that don't matter. How you handle it (divorce, death of spouse, death of a child or any other circumstance) makes the difference! You are blessed in life but not in the way that you expect. You give the commitment to the Lord but you don't know what he will take, (ask of you) but, we are all in this together!" It was a wonderful conference and exceptional speakers!

If you want a better description of the two speakers lives then connect to the web site that we signed up to for the conference and click on http://wyomontsa.com/ Speaker Info. Thanks to all of those that went to the conference with us!

Billings Singles Conference, Sept 3, 2011

The men hiding behind Pres. Heap! :)

Float the Madison & BBQ, August 20, 2011

I don't have photos of the actual float but I heard that they had a blast floating the Madison, the weather was great and Byron was an amazing cook! Everyone had fun and enjoyed themselves!