10 feet isn't enough room and BOOOM!!!

Warning! Before you embark on reading this, you must promise not to cry, call President Slaughter, get worried, or doing anything else crazy. 

No I actually didn't ruin any pants or shirts thankfully. It wasn't too bad of a crash. That's good Katie is doing well. Hopefully she'll start enjoying it more. She can be pretty good. 

Time for transfer news! Dum dum dum. I will be..... staying another transfer here in Timber Ridge. Elder J will be

 leaving and going Zone Leader, just like I called. Hahaha that's funny about Elder H. Elder T sounds like a pretty funny guy.  We have transfers on Thanksgiving and them I'm sure I'll gain 20 lbs from eating so much. It's pretty much just party hopping when you're a missionary during the holidays. I'll see if they can take a picture. That's awesome about the U! They're going to be really good in a couple of years for sure. Packages are left in the apartment office and they have to be signed out. Warm clothing includes gloves, beanies, ear warmers, heavy duty jacket, scarfs, etc. Any of the above would be great since I'll probably be on bike for another 3 months during the winter. 

Wait hold up!  Madeline can't go on dates until I'm back. Elder J was telling me about how much his sister has changed since he left and it's crazy. It's not allowed! 

Okay time for the craziness.  So Tuesday night we were biking down the main road to get to baptismal interview that Elder J had to do. It's pretty smooth sailing like usual until we hit a little traffic. The traffic was sitting at a red light and we were just going down the bike line to get to the light. A car starts to pull out of a restaurant to merge into the lane right as Elder J goes by but it stops and Elder J avoids it. I'm probably about 30 feet behind Elder J at this point and I'm thinking to myself that was a close one. About 10 feet away from the car, it starts pulling out again even after it almost hit Elder J and I was right behind him. I slam the brakes on as hard as I can and try to maneuver out of the way but 10 feet isn't enough room and BOOOM!!! I hit his front hood and fly over the corner of his hood. So yes, I can now say that I've been hit by a car. It was as low impact as it can get but I can nevertheless say that I've been hit. The moral of the story is that when we see obstacles coming up, we shouldn't just assume that we'll be able to swerve around them and dodge them in traffic. We should be cautious and rely on the Lord to help us get through them. Obstacles are very dangerous. Thankfully, I only came out with two bruised knees, a sore shoulder and triceps, and a decently scraped up elbow. My bike's chain came off but it's fixed and there was hardly a scratch on the car. So it's been a pretty good week besides the freezing and the rain. Being on the bike in this weather is no fun at all but we did a good amount of teaching. Stay safe in Georgia.

Love,

Elder Montgomery

I cut it too sharp and BOOM!

I had a good week like always. We have mission conference with Elder Golden tomorrow. He's the General Authority from South Africa.  We ate dinner last night at the B's and he served Spanish speaking in Boston and guess who his mission president was? Dale Murphy of course! That's definitely interesting about Zach's ACL being split into two. Crazy how that kind of stuff in the bodyworks. He had visitors all weekend? I could hardly get any visitors for getting my wisdom teeth out. I guess I'm just not cool enough like him. That's good that Katie's achilles is getting better. At least someone was playing in Meet the Lions to keep the tradition alive. Sounds like Katie's team is stacked.  Following in the footsteps of her other big brother. McDermott, my boy! What a stud! And that's awesome about Jabari. I hope he's able to get some good missionary opportunities out of it. . Well I am the Golden Child after all! Usually! Sometimes! Occasionally! On a good day, at least. 

I thought you'd be interested to hear that I had my first crash on Monday. We were in a hurry to an appointment about 8 o clock and we were going down a huge hill and had to turn right onto a street. I got a little cocky and barely touched the brakes. When I turned the corner, I cut it too sharp and BOOM! My bike and I started tumbling and flipping. Of course, knowing my athletic prowess, I landed on my feet. That part isn't even a joke. You can do some crazy things when adrenaline is going like that. Luckily, I only had a couple of scrapes, nothing bad at all. I was so mad, though that I took off my helmet and threw it on the ground. I was convinced that I was going to make it the whole transfer without a crash.We always have to remember to stay humble or else we'll crash and fall. We have trials to humble us and not get cocky.It was pretty funny. I also think you'd like to know that my bike seat is as high as it goes right now. It's a miracle worker! Keep biking in Georgia or I'll come back and be able to get up Everest faster than you! (dad)

Love,

Elder Montgomery

Another Bud in the MTC.. "Dan the Man"

Elder Walton (Columbus, Georgia) and Elder Montgomery.

Pic taken in the MTC in June 2013

I traced myself back to Adam and Eve three times

Oh no I'm not sure I can bear missing these games. Make sure you record all Jabari Parker, Doug McDermott, and Utah games. I already know the first things I'm going to do when I get home (besides sleep for 72 hours). Well maybe Katie won't be the runt after all. I guess that shows what we all know. Are the Elders on a bike or in a car?

Great photoshop!!

Oh yeah I definitely wouldn't be hiking in church clothes. Well I do bike in them so I guess it's not too much of a stretch. We're all healthy. Elder J hasn't been sick a day of his mission yet or at least not sick enough to go out and work. That's cool about Family Search with Grandma! When I was in the MTC, I traced myself back to Adam and Eve three times.  We will probably be calling for Christmas. Transfers are actually on Thanksgiving. I will probably still be here. That definitely would be fun with Uncle Ray. Right now we're coming up with an outline for a family mission plan. We've come with about 25 different ways to be a missionary and we're going to have members set a date by when they are going to do them. One of them is To Watch the Best Two Years with your friends and explain the missionaries. There's some really creative stuff we came up with; well at least as creative as I could think. Members really are the key to success. Even if the friends aren't in the area, some missionaries will be teaching them. It becometh every man that's been warned to warn his neighbor. 

Love,

Elder Montgomery

We were Amen-ing, Hallelujah-ing, Dancing in our Chairs

I am definitely not fluent at all. Not even close. I can communicate and have a conversation but I still have to do a lot of translating in my brain. 

Haha Smoothie King gift cards for trick or treat are the jackpot! Ms. Terri is so smart.

No thinking about it! I am eating way more healthy now. I can count on one hand how many times I had fruits or vegetables in my last area. Now I eat them everyday. The soreness doesn't ever go away but I'm a lot more used to it. I'll probably be in this ward a while. This is Elder J's third transfer here. He started in Mission Creek like I did. We get along really well.

The ward here is good. Our calendar is already full for the rest of the month. There are lots of Returned Missionary's in the ward. I'd say my favorite meal was pork chops and mashed potatoes. I've also had some amazing home made ice cream and snickers brownies. I assumed you had used the internet to know about HEB but now I am intrigued. Did you ask Sister U or something?

Tell Aunt Adie that I definitely would choose Creighton. Maybe Clarke? 

We had a great week! The highlight was definitely going to Gladys Knight and the Saints United Voices choir on Saturday with an investigator. We were Amen-ing, Hallelujah-ing, dancing in our chairs, the whole bit! Georgia prepared me well to Amen. We definitely need more soul in our music. It's interesting that we sing the way we do because of the traditions of our fathers. The pioneers were hardened, reserved Europeans, so of course that's how our music is sung. We need to influx some soul and energy into it!

Oh and everyone should watch The Best Two Years. It's no joke. That's actually a lot what missionary work is like. So funny! 

Stay safe this week,

Love,

Elder Montgomery

I was in the Water!

Zach's injury is not fair at all for anyone and yet, life goes on. Everyone will come out stronger because of it. When riding my bike I have my lights going like crazy whenever it gets remotely dark. 
That's really cool that you saw Hyrum! I can't believe how many of my friends are going on missions! It's so cool! The ward is probably about the same size as ours with a younger average age. There are so many little kids screaming.. The ward is pretty awesome (not as good as home) and I'm eating every night. Elder J and I are the only missionaries in the ward. We had something like 6 investigators yesterday. Oh and we had a baptism Sat. and I was in the water! She is the daughter of a less active family. She's was so excited!! It was crazy! She just couldn't stop smiling or beaming! It was such a wonderful sight! I wish I could be like that all the time! 
The most surprising thing in your package was probably all of the Halloween decorations. We might decorate our bikes for the Trunk or Treat now. I guess I won't trade the tie since Elder G isn't here anymore. Oh actually the surprise was the Poppyseed cake! I'm still eating and savoring it! Thank you so much! Stay safe and don't be too stressed.

Love,

Elder Montgomery

P day playing basketball (of course)

Yes things did indeed change. No worries about anyone. So Tuesday morning, we were cleaning out our apartment getting ready for our move that was going to be on Saturday. We were on the way to Goodwill with a bunch of stuff, when I get a call from one of the Assistants to the President. The first thing he told me was that there had been an accident. So that kind of freaked me out at first. But turns out, Elder Y, who came in with me, did something to his knee last Pday playing basketball (of course) and couldn't ride his bike. Which is kind of a problem because this is an all bike area. So I was transferred during Transfers to the Timber Ridge ward with Elder J. So Elder Y and I basically switched places. Nothing too major. The apartment is definitely a lot nicer than Soapworks. It's not as nice as the one I was going to move into, but it has a washer and dryer and no mold or bugs so it's all good. The ward is pretty awesome! We get fed literally every single night. It's probably close to the size of our ward. There's also a young couple from Kennesaw and Douglasville and they're awesome! They both work at USAA. Actually, a ton of the members work at USAA so I have a hookup if I need it. The biking is going pretty well. Thank goodness it's been perfect weather or else I may have died. The bike seat is not comfortable at all and Elder J has been in a full bike area going on his 6th transfer.Elder J is going to Utah and he will never play for BYU. My quads are constantly sore now. We still study Spanish every day and I will continue to do so for the rest of my mission. I have a normal bed now so I'm sleeping on the bed. We've had some pretty good lessons lately. It was weird teaching in English but I think I'm getting the hang of it. We had something like 6 investigators at church yesterday. It was awesome! We're teaching a lot of younger people. It's so awesome to see people at church! I think that covers all the whole situation this week but it seems you know more about what's going on than me so it's all good.

Love,

Elder Montgomery

Dad's letter

We don't actually have a car... So that's kind of sad. I know if it's on DVD then I can listen to it in the apartment but I don't know if that'll carry over to any car I would receive in the future. Well I think the goals may have only been like 9'10" so that might have helped me. It is barely dunking, though. Once I'm over my constant biking soreness, I'll start working out with Elder J and get ripped to shreds! He eats so healthy. Like he buys and eats broccoli and peppers. It's awesome! The Book of Mormon reading is going great so far. I started over again this transfer and I'm studying Christ like attributes. It's amazing what you can learn when you search for something. Time is starting to go by fast now. It's so great! The days are long but the weeks are short. Haha maybe someday Ben will have hands like glue like me! 

Tell everyone I'm doing well and if they miss me then they should get baptised! :) Sounds like a good plan to me. 

Remember that we all must go through the refiner's fire!

Love,

Elder Montgomery