April 14, 2014

I feel EXTREMELY Good, I feel EXTREMELY Great, I feel EXTREMELY Wonderful!

[This picture is a hint, along with the title (which Bethany wrote) of where she is now!]

Dear Family,

Words cannot describe my week. WHAT A WEEK!! Life could not have gotten any better! I have been so excited to tell you all!

My last day in Augusta, ME was a great one. Sister Harrington made me Danish meatlof and we went on a hike called Hobbit Trail where I got a perfect picture of a bridge for Grandma Hattie's poem. I have been look for one my whole mission!

Tuesday was a great day -- transfer meeting. And I found out that I am shot gunning an area (which means that the area is getting two new missionaries and we have to rely on the past missonaries' records). And any guesses to where I am!? Anyone?

LACONIA, NEW HAMPSHIRE!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS IN LACONIA? LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE!!!!!! It is breath-takingly beautiful here. Not that Maine wasn't beautiful; it is a different beautiful. Lot of rolling hills, streams, and lakes. The best part of it is that we live with a member family who lives. On. A. Farm. On our way to our home we picked up some raw milk and took a tour of their maple syrup making machine and pancake house restaurant. And their chickens and horses.  

On Friday we got a call from the member we live with, Sister Swain, asking us if we could help with kids that were coming for a field trip. OF COURSE! The kids were coming to see them boiling the maple syrup. It is incredible. Massive amounts of steam billow off the soon-to-be syrup in the barn. And we were able to go on the second floor balcony and be engulfed in maple-smelling steam. How heavenly! We also had lunch at their pancake house. The pancakes were delicious and you all would LOVE them! I had a massive lemon berry pancake.

The rest of the week was filled with meeting the members and the people that the previous sisters were working with and trying to remember everyone's names. It has been quite hysterical. Sister Magnusson and I have had so much fun on this adventure together. It's a great ward and I can tell that we are going to have even more miracles here.

One more story -- This morning we walked over to the chicken coop to get some eggs for breakfast and we watched a chicken lay an egg and took it right after. To this, Sister Magnusson said, "Now, that's a farm-fresh egg!"

I know their are so many other wonderful things that happened this week but I can't remember, just know that I have been walking in beautiful weather with my head up thinking, "It doesn't get any better than this."

Love you all!

Sista Lassen

April 7, 2014

Last Week in Augusta, ME

My Dear Family,

On Friday I got the call that I am being transferred. I can honestly say that I didn't think I was going to. Which made the call even harder. One of the hardest people to say good-bye to was M.B. I started teaching her right when I got here. Oh, how I will miss her. When I told her that I was leaving, she had the saddest face and said "NOOoooo!" I totally started crying. And then she realized I was crying and did everything to cheer me up. She hugged and kissed me goodbye, a little too many kisses for comfort, but that's M.B!

Tomorrow I go the New Hampshire office to transfer meeting and then my new area. 

We had a great week with a lot of our potential investigators that we consistently stop by to see. One of them was J. We stopped by to invite him to watch general conference which he accepted. It was amazing because he told us all about how hard the past winter has been for him and how God has help him through it. I really felt that I should be really honest and tell him that he should get baptized, so I did! We just need to keep working with him and he will get there. He has already told us how he sees the glow that Mormons have in them. 

Another miracle was from a referral that we got from a member. We contacted them a few months ago but felt that we needed to follow up on them. When we asked the member about it she said that this person has been going through a hard time and would love anything uplifting. When we contacted the referral she let us right in and we talked about Mosiah 24 and how Heavenly Father will lift our burdens. 

General Conference was amazing...as expected. Many answers to questions as I am sure you had too. 

Today we are going to one another one of my favorite people's house for dinner. She is making Danish Meatloaf for me :)

Love you all!

Sista Lassen

March 31, 2014

Another Week in Maine!

Dear Family,

This week we had another amazing lesson with our investigator A. We watching the restoration video with her. It was amazing because she was really listening and paying attention to every detail of the movie. And her dogs were quiet the whole time which is a miracle in and of itself. She told us that she read the chapter we asked her to read over and over again and then started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning. She really recognizes and feels that what we are telling her is true. Sadly, on Saturday she texted us to tell us that her family is really against her going to church and joining and that she won't go against them. We are still going to go to see her on Tuesday for our scheduled appointment. It is just really sad because many of the investigators that we have/had have dropped us, or missionaries in the past, because of the objections of their spouse or other family members. I don't really know what to do, so we just keep praying that their hearts will soften. I will not get discouraged! 

The most amazing miracle happened for this ward. Our Ward Mission Leader Brother Abbott was praying for missionary experiences. That week when he was working he started talking to a client for the first time. This Client- L.- told him of his frustrations with the different churches that he had been to. Brother Abbott invited him, his wife, and his 5 primary age children to come. You know what?  They came! The whole ward loved them right away, especially because our primary is so small. Leo and his family LOVED it and felt the spirit. That was a week ago. During the week Satan was working hard, but Heavenly Father is stronger. They all got sick, and didn't know if they were going to come this week. We saw them at the grocery store and invited them to come again, and Brother Abbott encouraged them as well. Yesterday, L. and his non-sick children came. By the end of church L. told Brother Abbott, I can't wait to become a member. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! The prophet must be right or something and the Lord is hastening his work! 

This week I took one of the pictures of Trent that my mom sent me. It is of him on the swing smiling. He just looks so happy! So I put it on my planner and have been showing it to everyone saying "HAPPY BABY! HE IS SO HAPPY!" Every time I look at it I just laugh. This week I am going to try to use the picture to talk to someone about the gospel. I'm thinking it might go something like this, "Do you want to be as happy as this baby? Learn about the gospel!" I also used the picture to cheer up my stressed out bishop...it totally worked :)

Another Miracle that happened this week was with one of the less active members that we are working with. She moved here not to long ago and doesn't want to go to church because she doesn't know anyone, but won't let us bring anyone to our lessons. After praying all week for her at her lesson she agreed  with us to let us bring the bishop's wife with us! It is a miracle and I can't wait for our next lesson. It is so awesome. It is so rewarding and spiritual when the less active members that we are seeing are progressing because that doesn't always happen. 

This week I also had an exchange with my Sister training leader. It was really fun and somewhere in there I realized that she likes Smashing Pumpkins [for those of you who don't know, it's a band, not an activity…] and I decided we are too similar. It was lots of fun! :)

Love ya All

Sista Lassen

March 24, 2014

My Family!

Dear family,

As usual it was a good week. We had an amazing first lesson with an investigator that we found tracting. Funny story how we met her. So I really didn't want to go tracting -- I was just not up for it, but we had made a goal to find a new investigator that day and I wanted to achieve it. We said a prayer and then the "I am the tiger" song got stuck in my head and I got super pumped to talk to people. Anna was the second person that we saw/ talked to and set up a lesson that we had this past week. As we taught her the Restoration, the Spirit was strong and she accepted everything we taught. At the end we asked her what she was feeling. She explained the tingling feel that we so often get, expecting that we wouldn't know what she was talking about. We then invited her to be baptized which she accepted. It. Was. Awesome.

 Another miracle that happened this week was with a less active member that we are working with, D. What a miracle she is. She is a sister to an active member. We invited her to the baptism that we had on Sunday. If the baptism was for anyone else on any other day she wouldn't have come. But because she knew the person getting baptized and a lot of his family she came with her sister. During the first part of the service she cried the whole time and we made sure that many people came up to her and expressed their love for her. I can't wait to talk to her sister about it! It truly is a miracle. 

My testimony grew about the Spirit's ability to change people's hearts this week. We had our second lesson with a former investigator, E. The first few times we met him he expressed his thanks to past missionaries, but that he was fine now and didn't need the help. When we taught him this week the Spirit touched him and he realized that he has to always be improving -- he can't stay constant.

We also sang in church on Sunday. It was really pretty, not because I can sing all that well but the Elders in the ward played the violin and piano. We did "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul," but a different arrangement than the one in the Hymn book. 

It was a great week with lots of wonderful miracles. Love you all!

Sista Lassen

March 17, 2014

It's Still Winter!

Here is Bethany with Brother and Sister Smith, and Sister Escobar (Bethany's companion in the Saco Ward) at Stake Conference!

Dear Family,

This week we were blessed with yet another snow storm on Wednesday and Thursday. The Mainers have been telling us that this has been a bad winter and how the winters "used" to be. Well I am glad that I got the "real deal Maine winter" and not some mild winter. Now I would get to show off how tough I think I am. 

Besides that, the Spirit has truly been strong and powerful this week. Our bishop has really wanted us to take members out with us and this week we had 4 different people come out with us. It has really changed how I look at working with the members. I noticed that the lessons that we had were a lot more productive and powerful because we had a member with us. And each lesson had the Spirit 10 times more than it would have without them. Especially with the less active members that we saw. It was really cool! At one of the lessons we went to see Diana who is less active and her active sister Evelyn came with us. It was so powerful to have Evelyn there to testify about the gospel and she even thanked her less active sister for sending the missionaries to her house years ago and told her that it was her turn to help her come back. WOW! One of the most powerful moments on my mission! 

Another person that we taught was Elliot. He has such faith in Christ, but just hasn't put two and two together that when he feels the warm and good inside (the Spirit) he needs to act on that! I can't wait to see him this week. Heavenly Father has been helping us out with what we need to teach him this week. 

We were teaching another Less active this week Naomi. It was so cool because it was a "discerning their thoughts" moment. I just knew what she was really thinking and feeling and that what she was saying wasn't the truth about how she felt. 

It has just been a really powerful week. 

We also had Stake conference this week so I got to see my family! Well some of my Saco family! It was so good to see them. And I saw my old companion Sister Escobar as you can see in the picture that Brother Smith sent you, I just love her.

I also learned how to put up an electrical curtain rod this week, so watch out.

Love you All!

Sista Lassen

March 10, 2014

Just Crazy

This is a picture that Bethany sent to her dad in the mail.  She wrote, "Don't you have the most beautiful daughter ever?  Augusta, ME, Feb 2014, Red Barn Sea Food Chowder -- Butter and Lobsta Up! <3 Sista Lassen"

Dear Family,

So this month is going by freakishly fast, and is going to go by even faster. I really just don't know what to say because this week was just crazy and they are just getting crazier and I am already crazy and it is just crazy.

Like listen to this: The same day that we were yelled at to get off someone's property is the same day that was the most spiritual day ever. We had dinner with a family in the ward and one of them really opened up about all of the regret and sorrow that he has been feeling, looking to us for the answers. It was one of those times where you just say what comes to your head (by the Spirit) and then when you leave you have no memory of what you just said. 

For this past week we made a goal to find 2 new investigators, which is a lot for us. So we were praying and praying that we would not only make this goal, but find those that have been prepared. Then on Tuesday I had no desire or motivation to go tracting, so of course we prayed! At the end of the prayer I got the "I am the Tiger" song stuck in my head. So my companion and I started singing that as we walked down the street and the second person that we saw and talked to.... new investigator. mind blow. blessing. #godanswersprays. The next day we also found another investigator and made our goal. 

Oh, another story about prayer this week. So we have this person that we met who has potential to take the lessons, but is "too busy with work." I'm not bitter. Anyways so we stopped by and talked and before we left we asked if we could bless her home. She agreed and I said the prayer. As I prayed you could feel the Spirit come stronger and stronger and know that she felt the Spirit and he told her to remember the feelings that she was feeling. I said other stuff but I don't remember, because it wasn't really me saying it. 

One more person I want to tell you about. Marybeth. I just love her so much. I can't get enough of her. She is one of my kindred spirits... even if she doesn't like my nail polish. 

I'm off to another busy week! I love you all!

Sista Lassen

March 3, 2014

Lobsta

This is a picture of the Seafood Stew from the Red Barn website!

Dear Family,

This week was a fast, exciting, fun week. I feel like this whole transfer is going to go by so fast! First I want to say that I am SO excited for stake conference in 2 weeks because I will get to see my FAMILY!!! -- well, my Saco Family -- at stake conference! I don't know if I have told you this a million times but it is harder to leave an area than it is to leave home. 

This week I got a new companion, Sister Miller. She is from Utah somewhere. Completely opposite of my last companion. And I love her! It is going to be a great transfer and we are already working our butts off. Well freezing our butts off is a better way to put it. My body has really adjusted to the cold, thankfully. If it is in the high 20s I don't have to wear my coat any more and I get so hot I feel like I am going through menopause with all the hot flashes! It's pretty fun. 

This is the Red Barn Restaurant/Store that Bethany likes!
(Thanks, Google, for making it easy to find a picture!)

In Augusta they have a really good sea food place called Red Barn that is less than a mile away from our apartment, so I had to take Sister Miller because this is her first time in Maine. I got Seafood chowder of course and their was like a tablespoon of butter on the top of it and whole lobster claw meat in it. It was to die for, but a lot of butter, even for a Dane. That day we went tracting and came to a house that had a car with the license plate RBARN. And guess what?! It was the owner of Red Barn! He was super nice, I told him that we had just gone there, and the chowder had a lot of butter. He said that they would take care of me and I could get it without the butter. It was really funny. 

It has been really good to get a new companion and to learn from different strengths and talents. I just love the people here. Each and every one of them. They inspire me to do better and one of them I am pretty sure is one of the 3 Nephites, no joke. The spirit is so strong in my life the more I love, serve, and try to help (even though in the end they just help me! :) I love you all!  You know you da best! 

Sista Lassen