June 23, 2014

Happiest Missionary

First, I (mom) will include a letter we received from a member of Bethany's Ward, along with this picture that she sent:

Your daughter was here for supper tonight and saw this picture that we have of our last Family Home Evening.

We meet every Monday night at 5:30 at the Chapel, which is in the background, and enjoy a pot luck supper before a lesson.  We are done and out the door by about 7.  We started with about 4 couples in homes in the area and grew to too many to have in homes and got permission to hold it at church.  The Elders and Sisters are always invited if they don't have a place to eat on Mondays so we get the pleasure of having them once in awhile.  We also get them to be the speakers at least once during their stay in Laconia.

Your Daughter is a great missionary and we have enjoyed having her in our home for a meal and a lesson.
I hope when she gets ready to leave that you will be able to come to New Hampshire for a visit.

I am the one kneeling in the front and my husband is the man on the left end.

Thanks for having such a wonderful daughter.

Don and Nancy Stephenson

Bethany is second from the right

Now, on to Bethany's letter:

Dear Family,

You are now reading the letter of the happiest sister missionary. I cannot describe the amazing week we have had. I have been experiencing really great studies and I have learned two things. First, Diligence. Not that I wasn't staying busy or working, but I have been trying to have the Christlike attribute of diligence and I feel an increase in the Spirit and Heavenly Father's Blessings. Second, Giving EVERYTHING to Christ, just handing it all over to Him. Every little thing. When I first got this prompting, the first thought that came to my mind is, "But it's HARD!" So I got on my knees and prayed. The most amazing thing has happened. It was easy and I thought that I already had the Spirit with me, but now it is spirit 2.0. Which is good because I desperately need all the help I can for the people that we are teaching.

We had a lesson with our investigator E. this week. WOW! Just WOW! We had already taught him the first three lessons, but he wasn't understanding the importance of praying about the Book of Mormon. For our lesson this past week we read 3 Nephi 11. That chapter has so much power. In the middle of the lesson Matt walked in to ask him a question. Before he left we asked him how he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He bore a powerful testimony and confirmed everything that we just told E. Answer to prayers? I think yes. After we read 3 Nephi 11 we asked him a few questions and he said... out of the blue, "I think I want to get Baptized." This man is experiencing true conversion and it is AMAZING to see the Spirit work within him. WOW, WOW, WOW. You don't even know how amazing this is! After that lesson I was shaking.  All I could do was jump and shake and go crazy. I have been so blessed to be the mouth-piece, and just wow. I am so grateful. E. also came to church on Sunday in a full suit like he is already a member.

Some other fun things that we have been doing is planting tomatoes, weeding, herding cows, staking hay, and my favorite, shoveling cow poo. I am totally not playing, that really is my favorite part! Sister Magnusson and I think that we should have a cow poo flinging competition at the fair. It would be sweet. I am loving farm life.

Family, you really have no idea the miracle and blessing of sharing the gospel. I would have never thought the amazing joy that it would bring me. I expected to increase my testimony, met cool people, learn the gospel, and have crazy stories. But I never expected the amazing joy that sharing the gospel and helping others would bring to my life.

Love you all!

Sista Lassen