Things I learned in Butte, America!



Ahhh, the good ole' days.

   My mission has been amazing. First I was sent to the windy city of "Great Falls", then to my Native home "Poplar" and thirdly, "Butte-The Richest Hill On Earth". Butte is an interesting little town of about 30,000. It has a rich history in the copper mining industry and has been known to be a little rough around the edges. I loved walking around old Uptown Butte which supported about 100,000 people at one point. They even had double decker sidewalks to help with all of the traffic!

Indeed, it does.

  Im going to be blogging the things I learned in a series and this is part one. I hope you might gain something from what I gained. So enjoy!

 1.Triple Negatives Don't Make A Right



Miner 1:"No, I don't not want to go in that there mine".
Miner 2:"What?"



 

  I've wrote alot about the different ways people talk in past blog post (7 Things I Learned From Serving On The Rez). Its amazing to see how very different the culture is in different towns. Here in Butte I was introduced to the "triple negative''.  The miners above show a good example of this. I heard this sort of thing multiple times around town and even once from the pulpit! Also, another funny thinkg I would hear was "Yous guys." Like "How yous guys doing?"
  I love experiencing the different "languages" in my areas, they always give megood things to take back home.

 2.Faith and Works: Its a gift

17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

 18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

 -James 2:17-18

   Something I definitely relearned was the true principle of "faith and works" and how they play a role in our gospel lives. I know the Spirit guided me to different insights on this principle. (I wrote a little more about the Atonement in The Atonement and Lawnmowers if you are not sure what "Atonement" means.)  It was one even in particular that sparked my pondering on this subject. Elder Mull and Fio were out contacting people, when they ran into a gentleman standing in front of his home. He explained his beliefs to them and said he considered himself a "Born Again Outcast". They asked if they could come back and share more about what we believe and he agreed to it. About a week later Elder Mull and I went back and his continence had changed. He became very upset with me when I opened my scriptures to share something. We got on the topic of the Atonement of Christ and he claimed there was nothing at all that we can do to make it to heaven. He said that Christ gave his Atonement to us as a gift. We don't earn gifts that are freely given. His point was that our works don't matter. The tensions were high in that home and the spirit was far from being felt, so we left.
  It was days later that I was thinking about his statement on Christs Atonement being a gift. That's when it came to me that he was only half correct. This gift is not one meant to be put in the corner to gather dust and to be acknowledged only every once in a while. It was given freely but we are expected to use it. Our true faith in Christ leads us to do good works, the works Christ would have us do.

 33And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

-Moroni 7:33

Lets do this thing.

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