Letter #35

Sent:

Mon 10/21/13 1:12 PM

 

Hi mom,

How are you? I hope that you are doing and feeling better. I feel bad that I am not able to be there for you. Know that you are always in my prayers and I think about you often. Something that I have learned to do when I'm having a bad day or a rough day is think about all of the things I am grateful for and all of the blessings that our Heavenly Father has given us. Also reading the scriptures and praying continually. Last Sunday we had a Sisters Conference Call and President Young felt inspired to talk to us about Peace. He shared with us a scriptures from the Bible, it's John 14:27. It's an amazing thing how the Spirit works. I've had a lot on my mind lately and when he told us to turn to that scripture I already knew what it was because I had been studying about how I can become more courageous and not be afraid of certain things so that I can become the missionary that the Lord needs and wants me to be. Life is hard. And sometimes it's okay to just sit down and bawl your eyes out, actually it's recommended because in a way it cleanses your soul. I have learned that when we have weaknesses or trials (and we all have them) we need to humble ourselves and learn to trust and rely on Christ. He is the only way to have true peace and joy. I know that because I have seen it throughout my mission. There have been many times when my heart has been troubled and I feel like nobody understands but there is somebody. He knows each and every one of us so deeply. The Atonement is such an incredible thing and it can literally change lives. I want you to do something for me... Will you please begin reading the Book of Mormon starting today? Even if it's only a verse a day. Mom, I know that it can bring more peace into your life than you have ever felt. My relationship with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have become so much stronger as I have read from the Book of Mormon and as I continue to. I know that life is crazy but I also know that this will improve all aspects of your life. I really also think that it would help if you went to the temple. There are so many blessings that come from attending the temple.

This week was another great one. It seems as though each day gets better and better! It's weird to think that I'm almost at my half way mark ( and I can't believe Trevor has been out 1 year! -Crazy)..... Not so sure how I feel about that. I absolutely love being a missionary and it's sometimes hard to imagine that I will leave the mission field some day. I know that I can and certainly will always be a missionary but I also know that it won't be the same. Don't get me wrong though, I miss you guys and can't wait to see you again :) Anyways, Sister Collins and I went on Exchanges this past weekend! I went to Roseburg and was companions with Sister West for 24 hours. She is a sister that was in my zone at the MTC so it was fun to serve with her for a day.I learned a lot and I really want to start working with the youth in our ward here in Grants Pass. She gave me lots of ideas and Sister Collins and I are excited to start helping them prepare for their missions!! I don't want you to worry about us teaching Ron. We have another Sister there every time and President Watts in the Stake Presidency is there sometimes too. I promise that we are being safe and we follow the Spirit in all situations. We met with Roberta this week and she is just the most hilarious women! I love that lady so much! I think she actually may be related to grandma! Her maiden name is Turner :)

 

I love you so much mom. I don't think you'll ever know how much I truly appreciate you. Thank you for all that you do.

I love you

Love,

Lyndsie

 
P.S. Our ward is starting a book of mormon reading program that I will be doing and I would love for you to do this with. The website is---------- comingtochristtogether.blogspot.com

I love you!

Letter #34

Sent:	Mon 10/14/13 1:22 PM

Hi Mom!

This week was another great one! We had a super busy week and 10 investigators at church yesterday!!!!! It was incredible! We are now teaching 3 families and they are all pretty solid! We had a ridiculous lesson with Ron on Tuesday.... It was really rough. The spirit was not there and we almost left because he was being so rude and almost yelling. We aren't sure at all what to do with him anymore. It kinda stinks A LOT. On the other hand Jill has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday with her family and she is flying through it! We did a cool object lesson on faith (it included fire) and the boys loved it!! We have been teaching a less active man Michael and his daughter Sam. She prayed for the first time the other day and it was the sweetest prayer i've ever heard. We also took Roberta to the temple this week! We got permission from President Young and we had a lesson with her in the temple about eternal marriage and families. The President of the temple came out and we showed her the baptistry. The spirit was so strong and it was just great :) The entire drive to Central Point she was very upset about something that was said and she didn't talk the whole way. When we got there, that all went away. The temple is an amazing place to be and I can't wait until I can go every week. We had a lesson with Charley again this past week and it went really well. He is really starting to progress and there is a difference in the feeling of their home when we go over. We went to Steve's yesterday and he has now been sober for 40 days!! His anxiety seems to be getting better and he said that as he reads the scriptures he feels good. I love being apart of all of this. I have seen not only a difference in the lives of the people that I am teaching but also within myself. The gospel changes lives and I am so very grateful for this opportunity that I have been given to share it. I love the Book of Mormon and the peace that it brings into my life each day.I know with all my heart that the Atonement is real. I have been learning so much these past few weeks and the more I learn the greater my love for the Savior grows. He has done so much for us and I only wish that there was a way to repay him but I know there never will be because of how incredible his sacrifice was. I want to work my absolute hardest and be the best that I possibly can. I have noticed that the more I try to be perfect though the more I realize that I am not. There is so much that I have been pondering about lately and I wish I could tell you all of it but I am out of time but I want you to know that I know my Savior lives and that he knows each and everyone of us personally. We all have challenges in this life but it's only so that we can be grow and be humbled and to learn to rely on our Heavenly Father. I know that he will strengthen us as we come to Him and ask in faith the things that we are struggling with. I see it every single day. I hope that all is well with the family and know that you are always in my prayers. That is really neat that Bob is investigating. Does he WANT to get baptized? Oh! We are going on exchanges this weekend. I will be going to Roseburg and riding a bike! I love you so much mom and really appreciate all you do for me and all of your support.

I love you so very much!

Love,

Lyndsie

Letter #33

Sent:  October 07, 2013

Hi mom!

How are you doing? I got all of the pictures you sent!! Thank you so so so SO much!!!!!! It is so good to see everyone! Romans hair is soooooooo long! He looks so different! It's crazy how grown up he looks! I hope I will be able to get all the pictures on my flash drive, we don't have much time today.

So, this week was another incredible week! We were able to see so many people! Tuesday was kind of awful but it's only because something amazing was going to happen.. that's what we kept telling ourselves and then guess what?? It did! That night we got a call from our bishop and he said that he went over to one of the families that we have been trying to teach, and they told him that they are ready to start making commitments.. hopefully meaning baptism! They are the family that President Young wanted us to go and see a couple of months ago but they were always busy, so it's super exciting that they are now ready to make those changes in their life. Then that same night, we found a new family to teach!!!!! We also visited with Charley again this week and we made some real progress with him!! He had a baptismal date for June but it never happened and it's because he has a really hard time committing to anything. It took him 16 years to purpose to his wife... hopefully it won't take that long for him to commit to be baptized. Yesterday we went and saw our investigators Cindy and Helder. They are hilarious!! They bicker like no other and he was on pain meds plus he was drinking coffee so he was higher than a kite. He rambled on and on about nonsense and when we tried to talk about the gospel he would say, we are talking about Jesus.. don't you know? It was a really scattered lesson but we will be going back this week and hopefully he will be off his meds and coffee. Yesterday we also met with our other new investigator Leonard. He is so prepared. We taught him the first lesson and it went really really well. When we read the promise in Moroni, he said, " well, I was going to give you this book back but I guess I've got to read it now, don't I? It was awesome! We won't see him next week cause he's going out of town but I can't wait to see him the following. We met with Michael again and he got custody of his 7 year old daughter last week. We aren't sure if this is a good thing or not. He has a lot of Word of Wisdom problems so we are trying really hard with him to help him. This week we also went to Central Point for a New Missionary Training Conference! I always love going to any kind of conference cause President and Sister Young are there! Right before we started we got a call from one of our investigators so we went out in the hall. While I was talking to her, Sister Collins went and stood by the outside door and when I got off the phone she said... I just saw your boyfriend! I guess he was at the church giving something to another Elder. Hah! He was right there and I didn't even know it. Anyways, General Conference was amazing, wasn't it!!!!!!!! There were so many incredible talks! On Sunday we went over to Sister Dicksons house and we had 2 non-members come! It was great! And there are a lot of other wonderful things that happened this week but I am out of time so I will tell you next week!! I love you so much mom! Thank you again for all of the pictures!! You are the best!!! Tell everyone I said Hi!

Love,

Lyndsie

Letter #32 Sent: Mon 9/30/13 12:54 PM

Hi Mom! Thank you so so much for sending pictures!! I love all of them! I wish I would have remembered my flash drive though so I could print them out. Did you get any of the ones that I sent last week?? There were quite a few of them :) Anyways, this week was pretty good. We met with a French man named Jacques! He has an awesome accent and looks like he just came from Paris! Haha! His wife is a less active member so we are going to start teaching them both the missionary discussions this next week! Things have been a bit slow lately, BUT guess what?!?!?!?!?!? WE HAD 7 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH YESTERDAY AND 7 LESS ACTIVES!!!!!!!!! It was a real miracle!! It seems like the hardest thing to do, is to get people to come to church. It was so great though to see all of them there! My testimony keeps growing each day about all aspects of the gospel but this week it was especially strengthened about prayer and fasting. Our ward started doing a special fast every 5th Sunday for missionary work and it has been amazing to see the results of it! I don't think I can even explain to you how full my heart was at church yesterday (let alone the whole chapel) and still is today. Everyday I learn something new that helps me to know the reason I am here on the Lord's errand. There are so many tender mercies each and every day that make me feel so blessed to be a missionary. It is also really neat to see and be apart of the hastening of His work. Grants Pass used to be a 1 district zone and now because of all the missionaries that have been coming out, we are now a 3 district zone. All the wards now have 2 sets of missionaries except for 1or 2 of them. It's just incredible! OH! And how did you like the Relief Society Broadcast? Wasn't it so good? I loved every minute of it and Jill came so that made it even better!! We went over to Sister Savage's house last night for dinner, she's the one that called you.. She is also really good friends with Jill and she said that when she was talking to her after the broadcast, somebody came up to her and asked when her baptism date was and she said sometime in October but that she was just waiting to hear from her mom. Jill also told us that she wants to have lunch with the two of us this week sometime and hopefully she has thought of a date to be baptized!!!!!!!!!!! I know i've said it a million and one times but I just love that family! They really are just so great!! :) We visited also with Fern and we invited her to be baptized, she said that she was already baptized when she was a baby and we explained to her about the priesthood but we think she may be getting dementia cause she repeats herself over and over so we're not quite sure she has the mental capacity to make that decision but we will see what happens. Everything is going really great. Steve is still not drinking, he's been sober for 35 days now!! Ron texted us yesterday and this is what he said....." I want to breathe with you Heavenly Father. (Meditation, Breathing; Hot Breath, Isometrics (resistance), and squeezing of the eyes, electric energy of the God Breath... Light. Inside is the light. In your Spirit, Live the most Highest & much love ;-)".... If we didn't know better and if that wasn't how he normally talked we probably would have been a bit confused and creeped out but that honestly is how he talks. That is why it is sometimes hard to meet with him because it's hard to understand what he is saying. He had an accident awhile ago and it seems like he is paralyzed on one side of his body, kind of. Something also went wrong in his brain and he is Native American so he says a lot of words we have no idea the meaning. It's actually quite fun trying to decipher what he says and i'm getting quite good at it! Hahaha!

Well that's about it for this week. Oh! One more thing! Guess what else we get to do tonight?? One of our ward missionaries signed up on the dinner calendar and she told us that we are cooking the dinner tonight!! I am super excited! We never really have time to cook much and we never get a good breakfast cause we just don't have time, so she said that she bought all the stuff for a breakfast meal and told us that we can make it!!!! That is something that I do miss, is cooking and baking. Well I hope you have an awesome week! Send me pictures of the family if you can! I love you so so so SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!

Love,

Lyndsie :)