My Companions
Today we hied to Kolob and found Nephi and Lehi chillin' there - haha
We explored historic Benicia today
It is always windy here
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Weekly Letter 6-22-15
Hi everyone!
This week has been pretty uneventful. One of my companions hurt her
knee a few weeks back, so we haven't really been able to go out and do
to much. Benicia is a beautiful area, but it's actually one of the
hardest in our mission because a lot of the people are closed off and
not ready to listen to our message, but there's potential here.
We went on exchanges to Fairfield on Tuesday, and I forgot how hot it
is on hat side of the mission in the Summer! We went tracking all
afternoon, and it was like I was back in Dixon again! I'm really
grateful that in Benicia we have the cool ocean breeze. It's still
really hot, but it's not quite summer in Sacramento, haha :)
We met this super sweet Philippine lady this week, Elby. She is active
catholic, but she has family members who are LDS and she loves to
talk, especially about the Savior. She gave us this weird Philippine
candy that literally looked like a pyramid and was like compacted
caramely brown sugar. She also loves plants and had the weirdest pots.
One of them was like a billion faces made into a pot! She was sweet
though and invited us to come back and have dinner with her :)
We've been doing a lot of less active work too. One of the returning
members I found out is actually the Dad of one of our members in
Dixon, and I had met him before! So that was cool :)
the ward is really great! I love the members. We have one member who
is the son of brad Wilcox, the motivational speaker, and his wife is
one of my favorite people ever. I'm really excited to keep working
with the members here :) Sister Afoa and I are singing in sacrament
meeting this Sunday too! So far I've sang in every single one of my
wards now :)
I hope everyone is having a great summer! Love you! Be safe!
Love,
Sister Lesser
Dad:
I hope you had a happy Father day! I'm getting along with my
companions. The only problem is that I've always been in really
obedient zones up until this point, but this zone isn't super
obedient, so that's something that I'm working on, trying to stay
obedient without being a nazi to everyone else. I'm definitely seeing
the difference though unfortunately. Well I hope that you have a
wonderful week! What are your plans? Do you still have puppies? Love
you!
Mandee:
You've been letting me down with pictures lately! I'm sorry that
you're not liking your job, just try and make the most of it and make
friends. Are you liking the dance boot camp? Are you just a dancer or
do you get to Sing as well? Have a great week! Love you!
Tyson:
Good luck with your talk! You will do great! I love talking about
faith. Some good references are Alma 32, Hebrews 11 and Ether 12.
Faith is such a broad topic. One of my favorite ways to describe it is
in alma 32, that faith is like a seed. Think of a big giant redwood
tree. There are redwoods so big that you drive a truck through the
trunk of them! Did you know that those giant, strong redwood trees
started out as little seeds in pinecones about the size of your thumb
print? Can you imagine that! Over thousands of years, those little
seeds grew and grew into huge trees! That's how our faith works. Our
faith grows over time as we care for it. Just like a seed needs good
soil, water, and sunlight, in order to grow our faith, we need to have
a desire to believe and we need to constantly nourish our seed of
faith with weekly church attendance and daily prayer and scripture
study and keeping the commandments. As we constantly grow our faith in
the Savior, we can grow our faith in his commandments and other
principles of the gospel as well. Coming out on a mission was a trial
of my faith, it's a trial of faith for a lot of people. We have to
have faith that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. That we have
a living prophet on the earth today, and that the message we share
actually does help people in their lives. I wouldn't be out here today
if I didn't have faith that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives
for the better and if i didn't know that my Savior lives and loves
each and every person that we come I contact with. I wouldn't put
myself out there to talk to random, sometimes very mean people on the
street today if I didn't have faith that I would find someone who is
ready to listen to our message. Even though it's hard, even though we
get rejected, even though it's a million degrees outside and every
single person we met that day yelled at us and slammed the door in our
faces, we continue to do the work, because we have faith. And faith
leads to action. Faith is the basis of everything that we do.
I hope that that helped a little :) sorry I couldn't help more! Love
you, have a great week! Good luck on your talk! You should send me a
copy of it after your done, I want to hear it to :) remember that the
most important part of any talk is your own personal testimony!
Grandma Bowcutt:
I'm glad that you had a great week and that Brian and Aliza and their
family were able to come visit, how fun! What plans do you have for
the summer? How is Grandpa feeling? Is great grandma feeling better
now? Love you! Have a great week!
This week has been pretty uneventful. One of my companions hurt her
knee a few weeks back, so we haven't really been able to go out and do
to much. Benicia is a beautiful area, but it's actually one of the
hardest in our mission because a lot of the people are closed off and
not ready to listen to our message, but there's potential here.
We went on exchanges to Fairfield on Tuesday, and I forgot how hot it
is on hat side of the mission in the Summer! We went tracking all
afternoon, and it was like I was back in Dixon again! I'm really
grateful that in Benicia we have the cool ocean breeze. It's still
really hot, but it's not quite summer in Sacramento, haha :)
We met this super sweet Philippine lady this week, Elby. She is active
catholic, but she has family members who are LDS and she loves to
talk, especially about the Savior. She gave us this weird Philippine
candy that literally looked like a pyramid and was like compacted
caramely brown sugar. She also loves plants and had the weirdest pots.
One of them was like a billion faces made into a pot! She was sweet
though and invited us to come back and have dinner with her :)
We've been doing a lot of less active work too. One of the returning
members I found out is actually the Dad of one of our members in
Dixon, and I had met him before! So that was cool :)
the ward is really great! I love the members. We have one member who
is the son of brad Wilcox, the motivational speaker, and his wife is
one of my favorite people ever. I'm really excited to keep working
with the members here :) Sister Afoa and I are singing in sacrament
meeting this Sunday too! So far I've sang in every single one of my
wards now :)
I hope everyone is having a great summer! Love you! Be safe!
Love,
Sister Lesser
Dad:
I hope you had a happy Father day! I'm getting along with my
companions. The only problem is that I've always been in really
obedient zones up until this point, but this zone isn't super
obedient, so that's something that I'm working on, trying to stay
obedient without being a nazi to everyone else. I'm definitely seeing
the difference though unfortunately. Well I hope that you have a
wonderful week! What are your plans? Do you still have puppies? Love
you!
Mandee:
You've been letting me down with pictures lately! I'm sorry that
you're not liking your job, just try and make the most of it and make
friends. Are you liking the dance boot camp? Are you just a dancer or
do you get to Sing as well? Have a great week! Love you!
Tyson:
Good luck with your talk! You will do great! I love talking about
faith. Some good references are Alma 32, Hebrews 11 and Ether 12.
Faith is such a broad topic. One of my favorite ways to describe it is
in alma 32, that faith is like a seed. Think of a big giant redwood
tree. There are redwoods so big that you drive a truck through the
trunk of them! Did you know that those giant, strong redwood trees
started out as little seeds in pinecones about the size of your thumb
print? Can you imagine that! Over thousands of years, those little
seeds grew and grew into huge trees! That's how our faith works. Our
faith grows over time as we care for it. Just like a seed needs good
soil, water, and sunlight, in order to grow our faith, we need to have
a desire to believe and we need to constantly nourish our seed of
faith with weekly church attendance and daily prayer and scripture
study and keeping the commandments. As we constantly grow our faith in
the Savior, we can grow our faith in his commandments and other
principles of the gospel as well. Coming out on a mission was a trial
of my faith, it's a trial of faith for a lot of people. We have to
have faith that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. That we have
a living prophet on the earth today, and that the message we share
actually does help people in their lives. I wouldn't be out here today
if I didn't have faith that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives
for the better and if i didn't know that my Savior lives and loves
each and every person that we come I contact with. I wouldn't put
myself out there to talk to random, sometimes very mean people on the
street today if I didn't have faith that I would find someone who is
ready to listen to our message. Even though it's hard, even though we
get rejected, even though it's a million degrees outside and every
single person we met that day yelled at us and slammed the door in our
faces, we continue to do the work, because we have faith. And faith
leads to action. Faith is the basis of everything that we do.
I hope that that helped a little :) sorry I couldn't help more! Love
you, have a great week! Good luck on your talk! You should send me a
copy of it after your done, I want to hear it to :) remember that the
most important part of any talk is your own personal testimony!
Grandma Bowcutt:
I'm glad that you had a great week and that Brian and Aliza and their
family were able to come visit, how fun! What plans do you have for
the summer? How is Grandpa feeling? Is great grandma feeling better
now? Love you! Have a great week!
Pictures 6-15-15
On the pier
Sailboats
My new companions: Sister Lowe and Sister Afoa
Saying goodbye to Elder and Sister Porter
Last day in Santa Rosa. Saying goodbye to Ken and Mike
Weekly Letter 6-15-15
Hi everyone!
I hope that everyone's summer is going well and that you're having
lots of fun! I am officially serving in Benicia now. It's a nicer
area, so the work is pretty slow here. The ward is amazing though. The
active members that I've met are all great member missionaries and are
so fun. I'm really excited about the ward. I already have learned so
much from the ward and the Christ-like attributes that they have. From
day 1 I felt very comfortable and at home in this ward, so I'm excited
to be here. The area is beautiful too. It's right on a little inlet
off of the ocean, and it's as hilly as San Francisco, so I'm really
grateful that we're not on bike!
My companions names are Sister Lowe (from Hawaii) and Sister Afoa
(from New Zealand) sister Lowe has only been out for a transfer and
Sister Afoa is on extended time :)
Well, that's about it for this week! Happy Father's Day! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Lesser
Mom:
Mandee:
I'm sorry that you're not liking work. Just remember that you can
choose to be happy, just make friends and make the best out of the
situation. I hope you get feeling better! Do something nice for dad
for Father's Day, clean the house and give him a back rub :) love you!
Have a great week!
Daddy:
Happy Father's Day on Sunday! Love you!!!!!
Grandma Bowcutt:
I'm so glad to hear that great grandma is doing better! How are
grandpa's knees? Tell him to give them a break! Haha :) have a great
week! Love you!
Kari:
It's good to hear from you, it's so weird to hear how old everyone is
getting! I can't believe hat makell is in 7th grade already! And
Lindsey is just getting so old! I'm excited to hear where Kaden gets
called on his mission! I'm so glad to hear that he's getting better.
How is Lindsey's arm? Love you! Have a great week!
I hope that everyone's summer is going well and that you're having
lots of fun! I am officially serving in Benicia now. It's a nicer
area, so the work is pretty slow here. The ward is amazing though. The
active members that I've met are all great member missionaries and are
so fun. I'm really excited about the ward. I already have learned so
much from the ward and the Christ-like attributes that they have. From
day 1 I felt very comfortable and at home in this ward, so I'm excited
to be here. The area is beautiful too. It's right on a little inlet
off of the ocean, and it's as hilly as San Francisco, so I'm really
grateful that we're not on bike!
My companions names are Sister Lowe (from Hawaii) and Sister Afoa
(from New Zealand) sister Lowe has only been out for a transfer and
Sister Afoa is on extended time :)
Well, that's about it for this week! Happy Father's Day! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Lesser
Mom:
How is everything going? What fun
plans do you have for the summer?
What are your summer goals? Are you
all still reading the Book of
Mormon together? I am at mosiah 18,
the abinadi chapters, it's really
good :)
It's pretty hot here, but not as hot
as it was in Dixon last summer.
We right on a little ocean bay thingy
here so it keeps it a little
cooler, but not much.
Yeah, it's really pretty here. They have hills like San
Francisco though. The ward is great. It's a little over half less active, so
it's small, but I have absolutely loved the active members that I've met so
far. My companions names are Sister Lowe (from Hawaii) and Sister Afoa (From
New Zealand). They're pretty cool. They area is pretty slow, we only have one
investigator right now. It's a nicer area, therefore there are not as many open
people, but I know that we will see miracles. The ward members are doing really
good at trying to give us referrals and doing member missionary work. So does
Mandee have more time off this next week? Do you think her cold came from
stress? Tell her and Tyson to get better!
I'm starting to exercise more and eat healthier too :) I'm
doing this thing called the purification process, or 40 day fast right now, so
I fasted yesterday and wrote down a list of things that "poke at my
spirit" and I'm going to fast from them for the next 40 days. One of those
things is sweets. I've been studying a lot about the word of wisdom lately and
realized that I haven't really been following it the way that I should, so I'm
going to change my lifestyle :)
The more I do it the better it makes me feel. Northern
California is exactly where I needed to be to learn to be healthy, haha!
Everyone is super organic here, and I've really learned to love most
vegetables. I'm trying to make sure that I have a veggie at every meal, I've
been feeling a lot better as I've been trying to exercise and eat healthy and
taking vitamins. Keep it up, it gets better! I've got to go now, love you!
Mandee:
I'm sorry that you're not liking work. Just remember that you can
choose to be happy, just make friends and make the best out of the
situation. I hope you get feeling better! Do something nice for dad
for Father's Day, clean the house and give him a back rub :) love you!
Have a great week!
Daddy:
Happy Father's Day on Sunday! Love you!!!!!
Grandma Bowcutt:
I'm so glad to hear that great grandma is doing better! How are
grandpa's knees? Tell him to give them a break! Haha :) have a great
week! Love you!
Kari:
It's good to hear from you, it's so weird to hear how old everyone is
getting! I can't believe hat makell is in 7th grade already! And
Lindsey is just getting so old! I'm excited to hear where Kaden gets
called on his mission! I'm so glad to hear that he's getting better.
How is Lindsey's arm? Love you! Have a great week!
Pictures 6-8-15
Our reactions when we found out transfer doctrine
Transfers....
A member took us to a super sketchy Chinese restaurant....that is indeed an octopus...
Our zone!
Twinners!!!!
So we found the coolest things ever, they were like encyclopedias of ensigns. So I was randomly going through them and this was the first page I flipped to.....while I was eating pizza and chocolate.... I think I've been rebuked by the spirit.... (It was an inspiring article though, haha)
Monday, June 8, 2015
Weekly Letter 6-8-15
Hi Everyone!
So this has been a pretty crazy week, like usual! We found out on Friday that I'm getting transferred to Benicia. I'm pretty sad about it, but I know that that's where the Lord needs me to be.
My new address is:
900 Cambridge dr. #57
Benicia, CA 94510
I'm going to be in a trio again, at least for the next 30 days. One of the sisters that I'm with extended for 30 days, so she's going to be leaving in the middle of the transfer and I'm going to be follow up training the other sister.
So this week our investigator Wally dropped us. It was so sad and so unexpected. he had come to church and was loving the lessons and the Book of Mormon, but suddenly on Saturday he called us out of the blue and told us that he just doesn't feel comfortable learning anymore. Hopefully one day he'll feel the spirit again and change his mind. It's hard to see people who you have grown to love make that kind of decision in their life. We have so much truth and goodness to share, which we sometimes take for granted, and it's so hard to see others who choose not to have that truth and happiness in their lives.
We also picked up a new investigator this week....kind of. His name is Bruce and we caught him outside his house about a week ago and got talking to him. He is so sweet, one of those people that you can really just feel how much God loves them. He has no religious background whatsoever, and when we talked to him it was like he had never heard of the Savior. So we explained who the Savior was and about his life, and he was so interested in learning more, so we went back this week....and Bruce had no idea who we were. We found out that he has severe short term memory loss. So we retaught him exactly what we had taught last week. It was just like the movie 50 first dates, but in this case it's 50 first lessons...it's hard, because he truly does have that desire to learn, but with no capacity to remember anything we can't keep teaching him. It was definitely an interesting experience though :) If nothing else, I have definitely learned this week that God loves all of his children, especially those who have disabilities and do all they can, even if they can't live the gospel quite like we can :) We actually visit occasionally with a lot of less active members who are like that. They do all they can, and you truly can feel God's love for them as you visit with them. It's an amazing experience to be able to visit with and get to know those wonderful people :)
I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week and a fantastic summer! Keep praying and reading your scriptures every day, that's the most important thing we can do to come closer to our Father in Heaven. :)
Love you!
Love,
Sister Lesser
Mom:
it's good to hear that everyone is doing good! It's so weird to think that Libbie Bakker is already old enough to go on a mission, but I guess it makes sense. I forget how old I am sometimes :P. You should send me pictures of the puppies! Cute! It's good to hear that Tyson is working hard! Tell Mandee to keep working hard too :) Swim lessons are fun and that's when you get really tan, so she'll love it. I never was able to get that ring back, but don't worry about sending me another one, I'm afraid I'll lose it again, haha :) I have still been praying about what I want to do for school, but I still haven't really gotten an answer, so I'll keep praying and get back to you about that :) Do you have any fun plans for the summer? You should get mandee to do like a Zumba or a Yoga class with you or something, that sounds like fun! haha :) Love you! have a great week!
Dad:
Have fun golfing and fishing! Love you! Have a great week!
Tyson:
You're doing a good job dude, keep up the hard work :) also, don't forget to read your scriptures, they're awesome!
Mandee:
Good luck with lifeguarding! It will get better and you will love swim lessons :) That's awesome that you're in the dance core, good luck with that! That will get you in good shape, haha, just try not to fall on your face too much :) Love you! have a great week!
Grandma Nanna:
Good luck with the puppies! That will be fun :) Thanks for the encouragement! Love you! Have a great week!
Grandma and Grandpa Bowcutt:
I'll keep praying for you Grandpa! I hope you get better soon! That's exciting that everyone is going to Bear Lake for the 4th of july! I'll be there in spirit :) it sounds like everything is going well though! I'm glad that you both are having a good summer! Any other fun plans? Love you! Have a great week!
Pictures 6-1-15
1. All of the movies that were filmed in this are :)
2. Me!
3. Sister Ngawharau (roommate from newzealand) got a letter and the
return address was for middle earth....
1. One of our senior couples went home today :(
2. Group selfie!
3. That's my companion :) haha
4. Apartment selfie :)
Weekly Letter 6-1-15
Hi everyone!
This is one of the first pretty normal weeks that we've had in quite a
while! It was really cool though because we picked up a couple of new
investigators, yay! It was even better because Wally came to church
for the first time as well as four of the less active members that
we've been working with, it was so cool! We sang in sacrament meetingas well :) this Sunday we
Mom:
Mandee:
I'm sorry that you don't like the pool, some days are better than
others, I promise :) congrats on making call backs for footloose, I
hope you have lots of fun with that! So does school get out this week?
What are your plans for summer? Summer jobs are more important than
school musicals anyway :) save up your money, don't spend it all at
once. Remember, any clothes you buy are subject to my stealing them
upon my return, haha :) have a great week! Love you!
Grandma Nanna and grandpa Bick:
Congrats on the new puppies! I hope that everything goes well and that
they don't give you too hard of a time :) how is your floor doing? Is
it all dried up yet? I hope that you can stop sleeping on the couch
soon, haha :) Grandma, have you been able to do any family history
lately? We have been talking a lot about temples and family history
lately and I was wondering if you knew any cool stories about your
ancestors that you can write up or pictures and send to me or update
to family search or something. Have fun with the puppies! Love you!
Have a great week!
This is one of the first pretty normal weeks that we've had in quite a
while! It was really cool though because we picked up a couple of new
investigators, yay! It was even better because Wally came to church
for the first time as well as four of the less active members that
we've been working with, it was so cool! We sang in sacrament meetingas well :) this Sunday we
also had the bishopric changed! Our new bishop is from Hawaii so the
whole chapel was filled with Polynesian family members and everyone
was wearing lays, including the bishopric and stake presidency. Not
even fake lays, real lays made out of real flowers. The whole chapel
smelled unbelievably good! It was funny though, Wally was so confused
and asked us why we wear lays at church, haha :)
So the other day we were walking to a lesson, and this random guy ran
up and stopped us and proceeded to tell us that he loves Mormons, but
that our doctrine is wrong because we're not vegan...what made it
really funny though is that everything he said was in rhyme, haha!
From him we learned that Shakespeare wrote the King James Version of
the bible and that crazy rhyming vegan conspiracy politicianism is
apparently a religion, haha. That was a really interesting
conversation, but it really strengthened my testimony, because I
hadn't realized how much the spirit had left as he was talking to us
until we went to our lesson right after that and the spirit came back
very strongly in the lesson as our member bore his testimony about the
power of the Book of Mormon. I am really grateful for the truths that
we have been blessed with. :)
It's so weird to think that it's transfer time already again! We find
out this Friday what's going to happen, and I'm afraid that I'm going
to get transferred again. I hope not, but wherever the Lord sends me
is where I need to be :)
I hope that everything is going well and at you all have a wonderful
week! Love you! Happy summer!
Love,
Sister Lesser
whole chapel was filled with Polynesian family members and everyone
was wearing lays, including the bishopric and stake presidency. Not
even fake lays, real lays made out of real flowers. The whole chapel
smelled unbelievably good! It was funny though, Wally was so confused
and asked us why we wear lays at church, haha :)
So the other day we were walking to a lesson, and this random guy ran
up and stopped us and proceeded to tell us that he loves Mormons, but
that our doctrine is wrong because we're not vegan...what made it
really funny though is that everything he said was in rhyme, haha!
From him we learned that Shakespeare wrote the King James Version of
the bible and that crazy rhyming vegan conspiracy politicianism is
apparently a religion, haha. That was a really interesting
conversation, but it really strengthened my testimony, because I
hadn't realized how much the spirit had left as he was talking to us
until we went to our lesson right after that and the spirit came back
very strongly in the lesson as our member bore his testimony about the
power of the Book of Mormon. I am really grateful for the truths that
we have been blessed with. :)
It's so weird to think that it's transfer time already again! We find
out this Friday what's going to happen, and I'm afraid that I'm going
to get transferred again. I hope not, but wherever the Lord sends me
is where I need to be :)
I hope that everything is going well and at you all have a wonderful
week! Love you! Happy summer!
Love,
Sister Lesser
Thank you for the package, it came right when I needed it :) also,
those idle isle chocolates are delicious! I probably don't need more
chocolate....but they sure are yummy! Mandee emailed me and I saw so
much of myself In that email as she talked about the pool, haha :) how
is everyone doing? I'm sad to hear that great grandma isn't doing too
well. I'll keep her in my prayers for sure, as well as Kaden. I'm
excited to hear where he gets called to!
I'm glad that Tyson is going up to help grandma out! That will be
good, put him to work! Haha :)
those idle isle chocolates are delicious! I probably don't need more
chocolate....but they sure are yummy! Mandee emailed me and I saw so
much of myself In that email as she talked about the pool, haha :) how
is everyone doing? I'm sad to hear that great grandma isn't doing too
well. I'll keep her in my prayers for sure, as well as Kaden. I'm
excited to hear where he gets called to!
I'm glad that Tyson is going up to help grandma out! That will be
good, put him to work! Haha :)
Mandee:
I'm sorry that you don't like the pool, some days are better than
others, I promise :) congrats on making call backs for footloose, I
hope you have lots of fun with that! So does school get out this week?
What are your plans for summer? Summer jobs are more important than
school musicals anyway :) save up your money, don't spend it all at
once. Remember, any clothes you buy are subject to my stealing them
upon my return, haha :) have a great week! Love you!
Grandma Nanna and grandpa Bick:
Congrats on the new puppies! I hope that everything goes well and that
they don't give you too hard of a time :) how is your floor doing? Is
it all dried up yet? I hope that you can stop sleeping on the couch
soon, haha :) Grandma, have you been able to do any family history
lately? We have been talking a lot about temples and family history
lately and I was wondering if you knew any cool stories about your
ancestors that you can write up or pictures and send to me or update
to family search or something. Have fun with the puppies! Love you!
Have a great week!
Pictures 5-25-15
1. Really cool snoopy statue outside of a frozen yogurt shop
2. We had comp study with our district leader and he decided to bring
mustaches....we had to teach each other like this....haha
3. One of our roommates is an illustration major and she drew us this
wonderful picture which pretty much describes this whole transfer.
It's a long story......
Weekly Letter 5-25-15
Hi everyone!
This week has been pretty crazy! Everyone asked us to do stuff last minute this week, so we ended up doing a missionary moment at a baptism, and teaching relief society on Sunday, and we're singing in two sacrament meetings next week! I was pretty stressed about the whole thing, but it ended up going really well. The spirit was
definitely there directing us and helping us to stay calm, which I'm really grateful for :) one of the biggest things that I've been learning is at it doesn't really matter what I say, it all depends on if the spirit is there or not, because he's the real teacher.
We also set a baptismal date with our investigator Wally this week! It was awesome, we brought our ward mission leader with us, who actually knew Wally before hand because they are both attorneys. Brother McOmber asked Wally why he was taking the lessons and what he wanted his end goal to be, and Wally said that he wants to be baptized! He's been reading his Book of Mormon every day and he knows that it's the word of God. We were able to set a baptismal date with him, it was so cool :) It's so fun being a missionary :)
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister lesserMom:
This week has been pretty crazy! Everyone asked us to do stuff last minute this week, so we ended up doing a missionary moment at a baptism, and teaching relief society on Sunday, and we're singing in two sacrament meetings next week! I was pretty stressed about the whole thing, but it ended up going really well. The spirit was
definitely there directing us and helping us to stay calm, which I'm really grateful for :) one of the biggest things that I've been learning is at it doesn't really matter what I say, it all depends on if the spirit is there or not, because he's the real teacher.
We also set a baptismal date with our investigator Wally this week! It was awesome, we brought our ward mission leader with us, who actually knew Wally before hand because they are both attorneys. Brother McOmber asked Wally why he was taking the lessons and what he wanted his end goal to be, and Wally said that he wants to be baptized! He's been reading his Book of Mormon every day and he knows that it's the word of God. We were able to set a baptismal date with him, it was so cool :) It's so fun being a missionary :)
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister lesserMom:
Oh my goodness! That's so scary that mandee rear ended some body! I'm glad that she's okay! So funny story about the ring, I had it for about two days and it fit fine, but then I accidentally dropped it in the car and it went in between the metal track and the plastic guard under the seat and then we were finally able to get that off and we realized that it fell into a hole and is somewhere under the carpet in the car..... We're going to take it in and see if there's anything we can do to get it back.It's a pretty depressing story....
I've been making lunches as well and making sure that I'm getting in all of my fruits and veggies every day! I'm trying to eat healthier, and i've
rediscovered my love for cooking :) since I haven't done it in like a year, haha :) we don't get very much time or money to cook at all, so I'm just throwing quick little healthy things together.
We are singing a song called carried by love. I'm singing with the other sisters in our apartment. I'm singing alto and my companion and one of the other sisters are singing a combination of the tenor/bass parts, it's pretty funny :)
Mandee:
I'm glad that your safe! That's a scary experience! God is definitely protecting you :) footloose, that will be exciting for you! Good luck with tryouts! Are they going to do practices throughout the summer again? Good luck with your last few weeks of school, work hard, read the Book of Mormon every day! Love you!
Tyson:
I did happen to eat something pretty strange on Friday. A single lady in our ward made us this strange split pea soup mixed with mashed potatoes. It was pretty scary. Then for desert she fed up overly ripe cantaloupe and warm vanilla pudding. Our tummies were not doing so well for the rest of the night. The elders were on bikes that day, so she gave us sisters the leftovers, so we went and doorbell ditched it on the elders front porch and then sticky noted their car :) haha. Well , have a wonderful last week of school! Love you!
Grandma Bowcutt:
Wow, that's an amazing story! I love hearing stories like that. Since I've been out on my mission I've really realized how easy it is to do missionary work! You just follow the second great commandment and love thy neighbor as thyself and do unto others as you would have them do unto you :) I hope that young man get the opportunity to check out the temple grounds and to feel the spirit there! Have a great week! Love you! Tell grandpa to get better soon :)
I'm glad that your safe! That's a scary experience! God is definitely protecting you :) footloose, that will be exciting for you! Good luck with tryouts! Are they going to do practices throughout the summer again? Good luck with your last few weeks of school, work hard, read the Book of Mormon every day! Love you!
Tyson:
I did happen to eat something pretty strange on Friday. A single lady in our ward made us this strange split pea soup mixed with mashed potatoes. It was pretty scary. Then for desert she fed up overly ripe cantaloupe and warm vanilla pudding. Our tummies were not doing so well for the rest of the night. The elders were on bikes that day, so she gave us sisters the leftovers, so we went and doorbell ditched it on the elders front porch and then sticky noted their car :) haha. Well , have a wonderful last week of school! Love you!
Grandma Bowcutt:
Wow, that's an amazing story! I love hearing stories like that. Since I've been out on my mission I've really realized how easy it is to do missionary work! You just follow the second great commandment and love thy neighbor as thyself and do unto others as you would have them do unto you :) I hope that young man get the opportunity to check out the temple grounds and to feel the spirit there! Have a great week! Love you! Tell grandpa to get better soon :)
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Weekly Letter 5-20-15
Hi Everyone!
President Alba sent us a really cool e-mail about the temple last week. He was quoting a book by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone. Elder Featherstone listed some really cool blessings that we get for attending the temple. He promised that if members of the Church would spend half a day in the Temple each month the following blessings would be ours:
1. A man would become mighty, and a woman powerful.
2. It would serve as great "insurance protection" for your marriage.
3. The blessings of the eternal God will be called down upon you, and great spiritual growth will be yours.
4. Unseen angels will watch over your loved ones when Satanic forces tempt them.
5. Your families will draw close to the Lord and there will be no empty chairs in the Celestial Kingdom.
6. Your children will go on missions.
7. Your children will get married in the temple.
8. The veil will be thin, you will have spiritual growth, and many spiritual experiences will distill upon you.
9. You will be prepared for exaltation-with a celestial body, a celestial mind and a celestial personality.
10. You will become receptive to divine guidance and receive spiritual perception to help you grapple with your problems and cares.
11. You will see clearly how to make critical decisions that weigh heavily on your mind.
Super cool blessings of the temple :)
It has just been a really good week in general :) I've been learning a lot for sure! We've run into a couple of people in the last week who have really stuck in my mind. One of them seemed to make the worst out of any situation, while the other made the best out of the absolute worst situation! It was so amazing to see the difference between the happiness level in these two people! One was a less active lady who contracted a virus one day and was completely paralyzed within 24 hours. Her husband left her, she couldn't take care of herself, and she just had so much faith that it was unbelievable. She joined the church and got herself a job as a member of the state disability department and is now trying to help out others who have disabilities. She is so happy, even though she can't do much, she does as much as she can and she knows that God will make up for everything in the next life if she endures to the end. She was such an inspiration to me. truly if we focus on what we're grateful for and we strive to lift others more than ourselves, then we will be much happier than if we wallow in our own shortcomings and despairs!
I hope everyone is doing well and has had a great week!
Highlights of my week:
I made banana pancakes this week, and they were the best :) I haven't eaten those in over a year, weird! We also went on exchanges this week and had a really cool experience! So my STL is a spanish speaking missionary, so we were tracting a street in our area and we ran into a former investigator who we had dropped at the beginning of my time in Santa Rosa. We talked to him for a minute and had the opportunity to teach him and the people that he lives with, but it turns out that the people he lives with only speak Spanish! So it was a super cool miracle that we were able to teach all of them because I happened to have a spanish missionary with me that day :) It's so cool to see the way that God provides and guides us. We also had a scripture war with the AP's. So long story short, the ap's made a bet with us that whoever could set a baptismal date with someone first, the other companionship would have to make them cookies...and we won :) So they made us super delicious cookies, but played a nasty trick on us and FILLED one of the cookies with tons of salt! So we decided to get them back and decided that we would only talk to them in scripture references. That was pretty fun :) they "apologized" and got 2 nephi 9:34 in return, haha. :) But we're friends again. We're going to sticky note their entire car this week, but we're friends :) mwahahahaha.
And the super highlight of my week was going to the temple, Yay!!!!
The temple was so fun :) the Oakland temple is beautiful and there is always such an amazing peaceful spirit in the temple. I've been studying a lot about the temple for the past week in preparation to attend. One thing that really stuck out to me this week is the important of being Reverent. Not like primary "fold your arms and don't speak" type of reverent, but really showing a deep quiet respect for God and for our Savior, directing our every thought toward them. As I continued to learn about reverence, I thought of the scripture D&C 101:16 "Be still, and know that I am God". So many times we get caught up in all of the loud things going on around us, and we don't take time to listen to the promptings of the still small voice and to remember our Savior.
I made banana pancakes this week, and they were the best :) I haven't eaten those in over a year, weird! We also went on exchanges this week and had a really cool experience! So my STL is a spanish speaking missionary, so we were tracting a street in our area and we ran into a former investigator who we had dropped at the beginning of my time in Santa Rosa. We talked to him for a minute and had the opportunity to teach him and the people that he lives with, but it turns out that the people he lives with only speak Spanish! So it was a super cool miracle that we were able to teach all of them because I happened to have a spanish missionary with me that day :) It's so cool to see the way that God provides and guides us. We also had a scripture war with the AP's. So long story short, the ap's made a bet with us that whoever could set a baptismal date with someone first, the other companionship would have to make them cookies...and we won :) So they made us super delicious cookies, but played a nasty trick on us and FILLED one of the cookies with tons of salt! So we decided to get them back and decided that we would only talk to them in scripture references. That was pretty fun :) they "apologized" and got 2 nephi 9:34 in return, haha. :) But we're friends again. We're going to sticky note their entire car this week, but we're friends :) mwahahahaha.
And the super highlight of my week was going to the temple, Yay!!!!
The temple was so fun :) the Oakland temple is beautiful and there is always such an amazing peaceful spirit in the temple. I've been studying a lot about the temple for the past week in preparation to attend. One thing that really stuck out to me this week is the important of being Reverent. Not like primary "fold your arms and don't speak" type of reverent, but really showing a deep quiet respect for God and for our Savior, directing our every thought toward them. As I continued to learn about reverence, I thought of the scripture D&C 101:16 "Be still, and know that I am God". So many times we get caught up in all of the loud things going on around us, and we don't take time to listen to the promptings of the still small voice and to remember our Savior.
1. A man would become mighty, and a woman powerful.
2. It would serve as great "insurance protection" for your marriage.
3. The blessings of the eternal God will be called down upon you, and great spiritual growth will be yours.
4. Unseen angels will watch over your loved ones when Satanic forces tempt them.
5. Your families will draw close to the Lord and there will be no empty chairs in the Celestial Kingdom.
6. Your children will go on missions.
7. Your children will get married in the temple.
8. The veil will be thin, you will have spiritual growth, and many spiritual experiences will distill upon you.
9. You will be prepared for exaltation-with a celestial body, a celestial mind and a celestial personality.
10. You will become receptive to divine guidance and receive spiritual perception to help you grapple with your problems and cares.
11. You will see clearly how to make critical decisions that weigh heavily on your mind.
It has just been a really good week in general :) I've been learning a lot for sure! We've run into a couple of people in the last week who have really stuck in my mind. One of them seemed to make the worst out of any situation, while the other made the best out of the absolute worst situation! It was so amazing to see the difference between the happiness level in these two people! One was a less active lady who contracted a virus one day and was completely paralyzed within 24 hours. Her husband left her, she couldn't take care of herself, and she just had so much faith that it was unbelievable. She joined the church and got herself a job as a member of the state disability department and is now trying to help out others who have disabilities. She is so happy, even though she can't do much, she does as much as she can and she knows that God will make up for everything in the next life if she endures to the end. She was such an inspiration to me. truly if we focus on what we're grateful for and we strive to lift others more than ourselves, then we will be much happier than if we wallow in our own shortcomings and despairs!
(Good Video, watch it!)
Well, I hope that you all have a fantastic week and have the opportunity to attend the temple sometime soon, because it's the best :) Love you!
Love,
Sister Lesser
Hi mom!
Hi mom!
The temple was awesome! Sorry I couldn't write you on Monday. How is
everything going? Did Mandee find out what play she's doing next year? My companion really liked the temple :) it was weird, we went to the visitors center and one of her friends from college was there. Our investigators are doing good. We're going to see mike tonight. He's working on the word of wisdom, so we're going to talk about that. We're also going to see Wally tomorrow and hopefully set a baptismal date with him! We don't have anyone new yet, but we're working on it! we've been struggling a little to meet our daily goals, but we're working on that as well, and we're going to do better next week! Love you!!!
Mandee:
Good luck with swim practice :) You'll have fun as a lifeguard, just be yourself and make friends! The drama fundraiser things sounds like fun. So when does school get out for you? any fun plans for the summer beside lifeguarding and drama camp? don't forget to save the money you earn and to pay tithing. Tithing brings blessings :) 3 Nephi 24:10. Love you! have a great week!
Dad:
I'm glad you got my card! Happy belated birthday! I hope it was an awesome one :) I'm glad that you had a fun time fishing too! We'll have to go sometime when I get back, I don't think I've ever been to lake Powell before. We are supposed to be at about 2 Nephi 20 right now in our reading :) So what's fun this week? Love you, have a great week!
Grandma Nanna:
I really loved your conversion story, thank you for sharing that with me! That's such an amazing story! I love the plan of salvation, it's one of my favorite lessons to teach because it touches peoples hearts and the spirit really testifies to them of the truth of it. God really does love all of His children. :)
So what's going on this week? Anything fun? Love you! Have a great week!
Grandma Bowcutt:
How is grandpa doing? I'm glad the surgery went well and that you're enjoying st. George! It was so good to see you on mothers day, I didn't think you were going to be there, but I'm glad you were :) I can't believe that kaden is old enough to graduate and go on a mission, weird! Well, tell him congratulations for me! Love you! Have a great week!
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