Lincoln Branch Adventure

From Helena (A) to the Lincoln Branch (B)

Our family had the opportunity to help out in a small branch in Lincoln, MT today.

Lincoln Branch -Helena Montana Stake
1349 Lone Point Dr
LINCOLN, MONTANA 59639
UNITED STATES

First Meeting: 10:00 AM
Sacrament Worship Service: 10:00 AM
Branch President James Bosshardt
+1 406-362-4602

The Lincoln Branch is pretty small. I think they had 26 people in attendance today. That included the 6 of us, 2 missionaries, and 3 or 4 men from Stake callings. Our Stake Leaders try to help them out by asking for volunteers from other wards to travel out there and speak a couple times a month. That way the members from Lincoln aren't speaking every week. Our Bishop asked our family if we would be willing to do the Sacrament talks today.
Lincoln is a little over an hour away from our home in Helena. [It took us 90  minutes in the snowy weather this morning] The kids don't particularly love early mornings or speaking but we all got up and went anyways. I think it was an awesome experience for our family!
The Lincoln Branch meets in a little home that the Church rents. The Sacrament Meetings are held in the family room. You stand in the corner and speak to 2 different rooms- one to the left and one to the right. The kitchen is right in the middle of the home so you walk through it no matter what class you go to. The Primary children (3 kids) meet in one room off the garage. It has a small room off of it in case they want to split the older kids from the younger ones. We doubled their attendance today. ;) The Young Women meet in a corner of the kitchen separated by a divider. It was Liberty, one other girl and the leader. The Relief Society sisters meet in a bedroom. It was just me and the teacher until we recruited one of the YW leaders to join us. The closet in there has been made into the Clerk's office. The other room is the Bishop's office. One of the bathrooms has a jetted tub. The garage has been insulated to be their cultural hall. They have several long tables in there for events they plan. Actually the Branch fed us lunch afterwards with the fresh bread they made together yesterday. Yum! It's actually a really fun building but so different than what we are used to.
It made me realize how very blessed we are to have such a beautiful big building in Helena and other places around the world. It was good for our kids to experience something other than what they are used to. I hope it will help us not to take for granted how blessed we are.

I wanted to share a couple neat, spiritual experiences from today that I think are note worthy:

* We were asked to speak today on “Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." (Alma 37:6–7.) Each of us spoke on a completely different topic.
Glory- small and simple things that the Savior did- that I can do.
Victoria- By small and simple things, I can make my home a holy place
Justice- Small and simple things I can do to prepare for a mission
Liberty- Becoming Spiritually prepared by small and simple things.
Shay- Serving others by small and simple things
Brett- By small and simple things- great things some to pass
(Even our RS/Priesthood lesson talked about small and simple things and service. Luv it when it works out like that!)
We love how Gospel Principles can be applied in so many ways. And it really is by small and simple things that we can make the world a better place and return to live with our Father in Heaven.

* Since I was one of two students in RS, I had lots of opportunity to make comments. We were taking about how important it is to attend and serve in the Church. One of my comments was about a friend from Fargo that was having a really rough time in her life. She was in the midst of a messy divorce due to a cheating. She had 3 kids, had been a stay-at-home mom and was without a job. She felt alone and overwhelmed. She first asked to be released from her calling. Then she made an excuse to not come to Church sometimes because of sick kids or custody issues. Pretty soon her and her kids were completely inactive. Life didn't get easier because she didn't have a calling or didn't come to Church. In fact, her and the kids have really struggled emotional and spiritually. It has taken her several years before she found the courage to come back. And it's hard! I talked about how it is so much easier to just stick with it- even when it's hard and seems impossible- than to try to make up for all the things Satan can bring into our lives if we fall away from the Gospel.
My comment was just something that I felt added to the topic of the lesson but little did I know that the other sister there today is going through that EXACT same thing. It lead to me pleading for her to stay strong and stay close to the Lord. I don't know if it will make a difference but it's crazy how the Lord knew I needed to be there in that class today!!!

* The Lord was definitely looking out for us this morning. We feel like He really wanted us to be in Lincoln today. The roads getting there were a little freaky but God really watched over us. The bad storm that was supposed to hit this area last night- it waited one day before it hit. It was a small thing but we were very grateful!