Weekly Letter 1-26-15

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone had an amazing week!

We had a baptism! Zach Wilde made the decision to follow his Savior Jesus Christ and to be baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints! It was so amazing, his mom and step dad were able to attend and the spirit was so strong when he was baptized and bore his testimony. His mom was just in tears, she had been touched by the spirit so much! It was amazing, because when I asked Zach if his parents would come to see his confirmation on Sunday, he said he had been asking them for months and they always said no. However, when I talked to his parents after the baptism, they said "Of course we'll be coming!" it was really a miracle. I hope we get to start teaching them soon too!

We've really been seeing miracles here, but there's just too much work to do! It's really hard to manage the Spanish and English areas and try not to let either area fall through the cracks. I'm not sure if I've started to pick up on Spanish or if my Spanish has gotten worse because I just rely on my companions to speak for me :) It's been a really fun experience though, I've learned a lot from it! One thing I've really been learning is the importance of giving everything to the work and not withholding anything. Sometimes it hard, I'm tired and just don't want to work, but when I really push myself and rely on the Savior to strengthen me through, we always see miracles and it's always more than worth it.

The assistant ward mission leader in our ward has really been a great example of diligence for me. He's usually over the Spanish missionaries, so I've gotten to work with him this transfer, and I've seen a huge difference between someone who does the work because they have to, and someone who really has their whole heart in it, trying to serve the Lord. It has really helped me to see what kind of member I want to be and what I can do on my mission to help me become that member, to always make time for the gospel, no matter what is going on or how tired I am. To always make the church and missionary work a priority in my life.

I hope that you all have a great week and that you have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone, because it really is one of the best ways to give back to our Father in Heaven. This gospel brings so much happiness into our lives, and there are so many people out there who don't have this happiness because they don't know where to find it. Everyone God places in our paths is there for a reason, whether in a parking lot or at work or where ever you are, you have an opportunity to share that happiness with someone else :)

Love you!

Love,

Sister Lesser

Mom:

I hope your week has gone well! Sorry I wasn't able to really send any stories last week about how I've seen God's hand in my life, I ran out of time. I'm glad everything went well though :) How is everything going? I can't believe you let mandee dye her hair red, didn't she learn from when I did it?!?! haha :) Also, transfers are next tuesday, we find out what happens this friday, so I'll let you know on monday :) I feel bad asking for more stuff just after the holidays :( but if you send a package will you please include orange face soap, white face stuff, face lotion, mascara, and deep blue rub if you have any? Thanks :) Love you! I hope your week goes amazing! I'm glad that you and dad got to go on a date night, you guys need more of those, I can't remember the last time you guys had a date night! :) have you gone to the temple lately? Have a great week! My leg is doing better. I bought this foam roller thing for my back and that's been helping. I've pretty much chiropracticted my self, haha :) I could be a chiropractor! I do think I have some kind of disorder where every ailment that happens to the people around me happens to me though. I think it's a real thing! It's so crazy! It's like sympathy disorders or something, it's out of control! haha :)  How is everything going there? is mandee loving her crazy hair? is she feeling any better? Haha :) Sister Holguin says hi, and to tell you before I forget that she will love you guys forever if you send more jerky, haha :) Also, she says to tell Mandee to follow her on instagram, Sisterholguin. haha :) I love you! I have to get going, but I hope you have a wonderful week! Have fun with the new puppies! How many did she have?

Mandee:

What in the world did you do to your hair?...seriously

anyway, what part do you play in the mikado? is your voice back yet? did you find out what it was? How is school going? have a great week!

Tyson:

That's awesome that you're playing church basketball! What else are you doing? are you going to do football again? Have you decided if you're going to take voice lessons or not? :) Have a great week!

Dad:

Have fun with the new puppies! :) How many did she have? Are they cute? Send pictures please! :) I love receiving your letters, thanks for your support with me being out here! It helps me so much to know that you guys are back in Utah, doing good, and striving to draw nearer to God everyday as well. :) Love you! Have a great week, be safe!

Grandma Bowcutt:

Wow! How many grandkids do you have now? I'm glad that you guys are doing so well and that Grandpa is recovering :) Hopefully the pain starts to diminish soon and Grandpa can go back to being the busy body we all know and love, haha :) Drive home safely! Love you both!

Grandma Nanna:

I received you letter, thank you so much! It really a good boost in the middle of the week to receive a letter :) I hope that everything goes well with Libby and that she starts feeling better! Wow, that's a lot of puppies! It's a good thing that you have Lacey to help you take care of those little guys! I hope that everything is going well for you! Love you, tell Grandpa and Lacey and her family that I love them too! :) 

Weekly Letter 1-19-15

Hi!

I hope everyone had a great week!

I don't really have too much to say this week. Everything is going
pretty good. We have been seeing so many miracles from meeting our
high expectations! Last Friday we weekly planned all day, and we
totally didn't think we would be able to get them! it's really cool to
look back and see how the Lord knew that would happen and he had his
hand in everything throughout the whole day! He really has his hand in
the small details of every single day, and those small details make a
HUGE difference! It's so true that "by small and simple things are
great things brought to pass"! And because of all of the little things
like meeting Several groups of people, having a lesson cancel on us,
being able to teach a phone lesson to a recent convert, we were able
to achieve our high expectations! Heavenly Father is really looking
out for us!

Elder Neilson of the 70 is coming tomorrow and we are going to have a
1/2 mission conference. Our homework for the conference was to read 2
talks by president bednar, "bear up their burdens with ease" from the
April 2014 conference, and "the atonement and the journey of
mortality" from the April 2012 ensign. I have learned so much from
them! Especially 'the atonement and the Journey of mortality". It
talks a lot about how the atonement is not only to cleanse us from sin
and change us from bad to good, but it is also to strengthen and
enable us and change us from good to better, one of my favorite things
that Elder Bednar said was that while our Savior did die for us, he
also wants to Live in us. He wants to not only direct our lives, but
to enable us to use the agency that God has given us to make our own
decisions, but to make correct decisions. Even through the worst of
circumstances, the Savior's enabling grace can help us to have the
strength to change our circumstances. It has really been helping me a
lot in the past little while to focus on the Savior and how i can
become better through Him.

I have been able to see the Savior's enabling power work in my life.
Nothing big or fast, but as I have continued to strive to put aside my
pride and turn to the Savior I have been able to see him working
through me, and the spirit's subtle promptings always helping me to
move forward and strive to become better than I was yesterday.
Sometimes it's hard because it's so easy to compare myself to others,
but the more so have abandoned my pride and let the Savior and his
work take precedence in my life, I have truly been able to see myself
change for the better.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be out here serving God and
his children! I've truly come to know over the past couple of months
how important it is to make the gospel the focus of your life and
always putting God first in everything. I have seen this Gospel change
the lives of so many people when those people make the choice to let
it change them. I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each
one of us and that everything is made possible through our Savior,
Jesus Christ. I know that he is always with us, and that he can enable
us to become better each and every day as we let him.

I love you all! I hope that you have an amazing week and that you let
the Savior work miracles in your lives this week :) you should read
those talks, they're really good!

Love,
Sister Lesser

Weekly Letter 1-12-15

Hi Everyone!

This week has been awesome! Our mission President started this new thing called "Mission Possible" and he has challenged every companionship to get their high expectations every day! (High expectations = 20 contacts a day (or 30 for a trio), 3 lessons a day, 1 baptismal invite a day). So we went hard on the high expectations this week, and we have seen so many miracles come from it! We have met so many cool people and even picked up a new family in the Spanish area!

The Spanish area is really flourishing and we've found tons of cool people! It's neat because I get to bear my testimony in English and then my companion will translate what I said and the spirit is super strong. It was hard at first to find out how I can really help out in the Spanish area, but it's really coming along. :) We met this one family and the dad told us that he doesn't usually let people in, but he had dreamed about three girls coming to his door the night before, two who spoke spanish and one who didn't, so he let us in and his family is super solid!! It's amazing to get to see the hand of God in all we do :)

We're really trying to work hard on the English area now that Spanish is doing so well, and we've found so many cool people! We met a guy who works for those gambling things at the horse races in the bay area and so many other people who have so much potential. 

I've really been seeing the difference that the gospel makes in peoples lives if they let it change them. Just the simple acts of daily scriptures study, prayer, and weekly family home evening make such a huge difference in the way people look at life and at their Father in Heaven.

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

Love,
Sister Lesser

Mom:  

It sounds like you guys are going crazy right now! That's cool that mandee's doing so many things, I'm excited for her to be in the mikado, I've heard it's really good, we studied it a little bit in that one music class that I took in collage I think. What is she doing in it? We are doing good :) not too much to report on this week. Our mission president has challenged everyone in the mission to get their high expectations every day for a week and we were the only companionship in our zone who did, so that was pretty exciting (and sad, but oh well). we picked up a new spanish family this week, and I found out that I can bear my testimony in English and my companion will translate it into Spanish, and it worked really well :) I got the insurance cards, thank you for sending them :) I don't need anything immediately, but whenever you send a package again, could you please include the crystals skin products, orange soap, white stuff, and the face lotion? Thanks, love you! Have a great week! I'll be praying for grandpa, I hope everything goes well with his surgery.

Mandee:

Oh my goodness girl! You are crazy! That's awesome though that everyone recognized your amazing talent, you worked hard for that! Have fun with that! Emma and Wyatt are so cute :) Aw, I love his smile! haha. Everyone is trying to set me up on my mission and I don't understand! haha, I'm serving the Lord and everyone's just like, hey, write my brother! My new companion is convinced that I'm going to marry her brother who is on a mission right now. haha :) good luck with all of the crazy things you're doing! Make sure that you say your prayers and read your scriptures everyday! Remember, when you put God first he will help you make time for every thing else :) Love you, have a great week!

Tyson:

That's cool that you've been doing a lot of ice fishing and stuff, Dad says you're really good at it :) I'm jealous! I want some fried trout! haha :) The members feed us pretty normal stuff. The other day we met the Elote man, he's this guy that pushes a little cart of mexican treats around and sells them. Elote is corn on the cob covered in mayo and parmesean cheese and hot sauce. That was interesting, both of my companions got one, but I'm not a huge fan of it. The Elote man was super nice though and gave me a free bag of potato chips which he covered in lemon juice and hot sauce. Those were actually pretty good. That's probably the weirdest thing I've eaten lately :) haha. That's awesome that you guys had family home evening and that you've been reading from the Book of Mormon! Keep reading it, even if it's hard to understand sometimes, the more you read it, the more you'll understand it! It get's really good! There's so many cool stories, like the story of Ammon or Captain Moroni, you'll love it! There's this really cool app out called BofM365. You can download it and it will give you a scripture of the day and help you read just enough that you can finish the Book of Mormon in a year! Love you, have a great week!

Dad:

Haha, I've missed your pitch perfect quotes :)  I can't believe Mom's already looking at school stuff for me! She realizes that I have an entire year before I go back to School right?!?! haha :) I'm really glad that you were able to give Grandpa Jay a blessing :) I don't think I've ever told you how grateful I am that I grew up with a worthy priesthood holder in my home. Being out here has really helped me to see the difference in the homes where either people aren't members or aren't active or it's a part member family, it really makes a difference! Thank you for keeping yourself worthy to hold and use the priesthood and for all of those father's blessings :) Love you! Have a great week!

Grandma Nanna:

Oh no! What's wrong with Libby? Is she doing alright? I'll keep her in my prayers. Have a safe flight to Florida! Love you! 

Weekly Letter 1-5-15

Hi Everyone!

I can't believe that 2015 is here already! It's so crazy to think that another year has already come and gone, time flies so fast! I hope you all had a wonderful 2014 and that you've made awesome goals for 2015, because it's the only 2015 you're going to get!

So this week has been super crazy! First, a super sweet lady in our ward, Sister Davidson, passed away unexpectedly. It was really sad, I really loved her and she was the best friend of our recent convert, Kathy. It's been really hard on Kathy with her passing, and It has made me so grateful for the knowledge that we have of the Plan of Salvation and where we go after this life.

With the funeral and the new year and everything I have really been reflecting on how I can become better and how I can be for others what Sister Davidson was for Kathy. It's been really cool to get to think and make goals for the next year to help me become closer to my Father in Heaven and to become a better servant of Jesus Christ.

I hope you all have an amazing week and an even better 2015! Love you!

Love,

Sister Lesser

Mom:

How are you guys doing? I hope you had an awesome week! I'm not completely sure what I want to do yet, but I was thinking of going back down to Dixie for a semester and then transferring somewhere else. I'm still thinking of going into nursing, I think maybe neonatal or labor and delivery. we'll see :) Occupational therapy might be fun too though.. I have come across many different (and strange) jobs while being out here, but I feel like nursing will probably be the best option for me if I could learn to put up with the blood and needles. Everyone I've talked to said that they've never met a nurse who regretted being a nurse, and the only one I've met is Dad, so I figure those are pretty good odds :)  Dad said in his letter today that he went ice fishing this morning :) It doesn't snow here but boy is it cold! We go out in the morning to exercise and it's like 20 degrees! It makes me remember why I went to St. George, haha :)

 :( I miss dad's fried trout! I started taking my prescription pain killers that were left over from kidney stones at night and that has helped me a lot, so as far as I know my leg is doing better :) So to answer some questions in your letter,  yes It was really hard at first to be in a Spanish trio, but I've gotten a lot more used to it now. For a while I felt very unneeded in the companionship, but I've been learning more of what my strengths are and how I can better contribute my talents and abilities. And after our first comp inventory break down we have been getting along great and have really started to love each other more and learn from one another. We all just have very different personalities and it's been interesting to have all of us around each other 24/7, but it's been good :) These last two transfers have helped me grow and stretch more than the entire rest of my mission! I've learned a lot and have grown closer to my Father in Heaven and he has really helped me to become better than I was before :) It was hard, but I wouldn't trade what I've learned for anything. It's really helped me to learn to be humble, patient, and charitable, and I feel like I am continually becoming better and not just at a spiritual standstill. The next transfer is February 3rd. It is usually every 6 weeks, but last transfer was only 5 weeks so that the people who were going home wouldn't be getting there on Christmas eve, and this transfer is 7 weeks to make up for it :) I like your new years resolutions, they're good ones :) I made 15 goals for 2015, so I won't list all of them off but here are a few of them:

-Run in the morning at least 4 times a week. It would be easier if I was awake in the mornings, but I'm just going to have to sleep run :)

-Finish reading the New Testament and Jesus the Christ. I've gotten a little way through them both but I want to get them done before next year. (There's just so much to study!)

-Work on my Humility and Charity

I wrote them down on a list and I'm keeping track of them in my Journal. I'm determined to be a whole new person this year! Haha :) Making goals and achieving them is the best feeling, being on a mission has really taught me that, we are very centered on making goals because they help us to reach and become better :) Family Home Evening is good too :) and Daily family prayer, that would be a good new years resolution! 

Haha, A good way to keep goals is to focus on them every day and think about how you are going to keep them. Such as exercising more regularly, maybe set aside a time which is usually free time to go walk on the treadmill for a half hour :) I love goals!  

Dad:

I hope you had fun ice fishing :) We actually have 2 baptisms coming up for the 24th and the 31st. It's really cool because president Eyring came to Vacaville a few years back and told them that this area was going to flourish because of the youth and that is really proving to be true! Our youth here are so great and are really helping to hasten the work among their friends! Zach and Max (the ones who are getting baptized) are both 19 and have such strong testimonies that this church is true and that getting baptized is what God wants them to do, it's so cool to see! Unfortunately I'll probably be getting transferred next transfer, but we'll see, you never know, I could end up staying here for 6 months! haha, I love Vacaville, so I wouldn't mind at all :) Thanks, but right now I don't really need anything, you guys took good care of me at Christmas! haha. Love you, have a great week! be safe!

Mandee:

I don't know how I feel about you setting me up with your friends brother...haha :)  Wow, you've got a lot on your plate! Mom said you and your friend were going to try and sing in Sacrament meeting as well, that's a whole lot for you to do! I'm sure going back to school will be great, you've always loved school, I don't know what you're talking about! Isn't it really cool the way that the spirit works? That's amazing that Sadie's sister acted on the spiritual prompting to have her sit in the front seat :) That's a miracle :) love you! have fun with all of your singing stuff! Happy new year! Set some good goals for 2015! For example: go to seminary, go to young women's, family prayer and scripture study :) Just a thought!

Tyson:

That's awesome that you got to go hunting and fishing! I'm glad you had so much fun! Are you excited to go back to school? Have you made any new years resolutions? love you! Have a fun week!

Grandma Bowcutt:

I had lots of fun talking to you guys as well! I'm glad that Grandpa got his surgery moved up, I'll keep him in my prayers! Hopefully everything will go well and he can get back to being his his usual busy body self that we all love :) I love you both! have an amazing week and a happy new year!