October 28, 2013

And..... She's still in Maine!

[If you would like her new address, please email or message me in the comment line!]

New Area

Dear Family,

 

Well I was really sad to leave my loved Saco, ME. Being in a different ward makes it ever harder! But that's okay I can't mess with Heavenly Fathers plan! So I am still in Maine...bonus! I am in the capital...Augusta! But the only way you would know it was the capital of Maine is the capital building. One of the members told me that the population here is only 18,000. Isn't that crazy? And even though I am only 2 hours north of Saco I feel like I am in a totally different world. People here are way different and the ward is even more different! But hey! It sure is beautiful here! All of the leaves are just breath taking. 

 

Due to the lack of miles that we can use on our car we have been doing a lot of walking which is good because it has allowed me to get to know the area a lot better. Right now our focus is on the members and working with them to help this area. I have a really sweet Bishop and ward mission leader and I am excited to be working with them. I am just trying my best to know all the members by name and remember what everyone looks like. Thankfully we have a good number of dinner appointments! 

 

Yeah this letter is really boring. Not much to say! We have just been knocking on doors, meeting people, and figuring out what will be best for this area! I guess the coolest part of this week has been seeing how I have changed and improved from when I first came out on a mission!

 

Love you lots!

 

Sister Lassen 

October 21, 2013

Beans + Lard = :)

Photo courtesy of Brother Tim Smith, the Saco Ward Mission Leader

Hello Family,

 

I had a wonderful, but last week in my very loved Biddeford, ME. Oh, and by the way I am in New Hampshire right now at the mission office...Yeah it has been absolutely crazy. So don't send anything to my old area because I won't get it for another 2 weeks. I will start with the crazies from the begining. Monday Sister Escobar taught me how to make real refried beans! I will never ever never buy them from a can again! It was so nice to have real mexican food, because there is no where to get that in Maine. The rest of the week we taught some amazing lessons to our investiagtors. I feel we finally got down how to teach with 3 people! It was so cool to be in full unity with my two amazing companions.

 

Then of course my favorite part of the week was Saturday because Rae got baptized! The Spirit was so strong and I got to give the talk on baptism. She was so excited! Right when she got out of the water she said, "that was it!" and then when we met her back in the bathroom she looks at me and says "I bent my knees just like you told me to!" She was a true Rae of Sunshine! It was awesome because we taught her on the first day of the transfer and she was baptized on the last. That almost never happens here. She was just really prepared! I will send you pictures next week!

 

Saturday night I got the call that I was being transfered I am trying to stay positive about it, but I feel like I left home again! At the end of sacrament meeting they had me go up and bear my testimony. I felt like all I could say was how much I love them! People came up to me crying, which was awful because then I had to be the strong one and not cry! 99.9% of the time we are transferred on Tuesday so that you have p-day to pack, but this .1% was told at church that I was leaving that day. After church I called the people who were picking me up and they told me that they would be there in 2 hours. We rushed home and I packed...good thing I don't have that much stuff! I was picked up early because a missionary got her visa to Brazil and is leaving today, so my ride had to get me early. So last night I had dinner at President and Sister Stoker's house and I am staying with the sisters here until Tuesday when I get my relocation. So yeah, it has been a little crazy.

 

I am really going to miss my Biddeford Maine and all of the crazy people who I know by name and say hi to everyday. I will miss the two chain smokers across the street who sound like a dying animal when they cough, I will miss all of the amazing ward members who are an amazing example to me. I still can't wait until we all die and I don't have to say goodbye anymore.

 

Any guess where I am going to get moved to!?

 

Love you all!

 

Sista Las'n

 

P.S. Can you believe that I have been out for 6 months! A third of my mission gone! IT IS GOING BY WAY TOO FAST!!!

October 7, 2013

"Dude!"

Dear Family,

Dude! Wasn't conference amazing! I am so excited because Elder Nielsen who talked in the Saturday session about ! [exclamation point!] is coming next month to our mission! The elders and I were doing some fist pumps when he talked about missionary work. I can't wait! 

Not much to report on this week! Just talking to people, teaching, and staying safe. The usually awesome missionary stuff. 

I figured out what the secret to life is this week, so that was cool. 

I taught a sweet lesson this week. I talked to some sweet people, I also learned some sweet stuff.

Sorry it's so short this week! I love you!

Sista Lassen

[I sure wish she'd share the secret to life with me--I could use it!]

September 30, 2013

We Are Going to Eat Before Our Lesson!

Well well well, This week was just, you know AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man where to begin!

First of all, this is not at all my work, but the Lord's. I think I am just going to tell you what happened every day this week because it was so good!

 

Tuesday- We were walking and about to cross the street. There was a girl that was coming from the opposite side and I realized that she was the same girl that came to church with her friend, but we didn't get a chance to talk to her because we were talking to our investigator R. When I saw her I told my companions, and we decided that we were going to pretend we were crossing the other side of the street so we could talk to her. When she walked over to us we told her who we were, and she told us she wants to get baptized....OH YEAH. We are meeting with her tommorow. Then we had an awesome lesson with the one of the high council member's nonmember brother in law. It was a great lesson and the spirit was really strong, and then he gave us amazing sandwiches = 

 

Wednesday- We helped out at the soup kitchen and when we were serving, we found out that one of them is a less active member. He gave us his number and address because he and his family want to meet with us! Miracle? I think yes!

 

Thursday- We talked to lots of people who are interested, yeah...we gave out those copies of the Book of Mormon! And we had a great lesson with a less active member.

 

Friday-We had a lesson with R!!! She is getting baptized October 19th! We taught her the first lesson on the first day of the transfer and she is getting baptized the last day of the transfer. I don't know if I will ever meet anyone more prepared! She is already keeping all of the commandments. She is so funny. Then we had a dinner with the Davis family -- I have talked about them a lot. We purposely had our appointment at 4 so that Sister Davis wouldn't feel obligated to make us dinner. And then when we got there, the first thing she said was, "Now before we begin we are going to eat!" I couldn't argue with that...and she made GRAVY!

 

Saturday- WHAT A DAY! M. ... always good, and C. Then we met a less-active member who just got out of the hospital and we helped her wash her dishes. She is from Tampa, Florida and was baptized 10 years ago. I asked if she know an Elder Lassen [Bethany's brother Josh served his mission in Tampa, Florida about 10 years ago] but she didn't. Then we taught R. and B. -- CHEESE AND CROWS, THAT WAS AWESOME. We taught her the restoration and at the end of the lesson we asked her to pray and ask a specific question. We all knelt to pray and then she asked if this was what Heavenly Father wanted for her. She immediatly started crying. After her prayer she said she felt she got her answer. Mmmmm, the Spirit much?! Then we went to the RS broadcast. Wasn't it amazing?! It was really cool beacause I studied the purpose of prophets a little more this week and learned that one of the purposes of a prophet is to let us know the true nature of God. When President Monson spoke I could feel the truth of what he was speaking, and that it was from God.

 

Sunday- Church was so fun because we got to teach primary, and y'all know how much I love messing with kids. And I just love this ward so much. My companions let out to our bishop that sometimes I like to rap songs. My bishop just can't get over how funny he thinks that is. So pretty much the whole ward just teases and messes with me. I can't say I blame them because, I mean...  I guess I do the same thing to them. Later that day we taught another lesson.

 

So yeah, this e-mail is forever long and there were still many other miracles this week. Pretty much I feel like this is my home, and I would be on top of the world if I could stay here for the whole 18 months. I even asked my mission president if I could...  I hope that doesn't back fire on me. No joke. I will just be walking down the street and I will have the same feelings as when I am home. I pretty much love it here and wave hi to all the people we know when we are walking down the streets. So yeah, I just love all the people here. I love the people. Oh yeah?! did I tell you that I really, really, really love the people here in Biddeford, ME aka "little Mexico"?!

Anywho... I am pretty much super PUMPED how about you?!

 

I love you all! But not as much as I am in  love Biddeford Maine right now!!...Not really...but really...sorry

 

Sista Lassen

September 23, 2013

What Do You Mean, "That Long?"

Dear Family,

I had an awesome week, do you know why?! Because I got to teach the Plan of Salvation like 3 times! It is seriously the best lesson ever! And our investigator R came to church!!! She is doing so awesome! It is really funny because there is a lady in the ward and she is famous for her hugs. She will even go up behind the Elders and hug them when they least expect it! IT IS HILARIOUS! We assigned her to be the investigator hugger to everyone we have that comes to church. This ward is really good at making people feel welcomed! 

Yesterday was the best day ever. It was a day that only happens on "The District" Videos. We had 4 lessons with investigators 3/4 of them were AMAZING and NONE of them fell through! I thought it would never happen. 

One of the coolest things about teaching people is changing what we are going to teach to fit the needs of the person. For example, when we were teaching our investigator C we planned on teaching the Plan of Salvation. Which we did, but when we taught the atonement the spirit prompted me to ask her if she knew how to repent. When I did I realized that she had no idea how to repent. I pulled out the Gospel of Christ pamphlet and did an overview of how to repent. Here we are trying to help her change and have the atonement in her life, and had one idea what we were talking about. The spirit is just awesome.

One other lesson was with our investigator M. She is a former investigator, but her teaching record is nowhere to be found. She recently went through a tragedy where she, her boyfriend, and son were hit riding their bikes by a drunk driver. Her boyfriend passed away, it is a miracle that her 3 year old son is still here, and she is doing tons of therapy for her broken leg and hurt arm. Every time we went over to help her, her friend L was there and L would keep taking over, and not letting M talk, and just try to "challenge us." When we went over on Sunday it was just her and her son. M's whole attitude was totally different. We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation and talk to her about where her boyfriend is and gave her peace to what will happen when she dies. It was amazing to answer some of her deepest questions. It was our "trifecta" at its best because one companion would play with her son and two would teach and we just kept switching off who was playing with him. The two teaching were able to put our full attention on her and she was able to put her full attention on us teaching her. And she accepted a baptismal date! Good things happening in Saco!

I'm not telling you about the not so good one...you don't want to know. 

On Friday we had interviews with the President, which are always good. President Stoker is awesome and has a great desire to do what ever he can to help us. The only bad thing that happened was he asked me how long I have been out and I told him 5 month (Can you believe it!?) and he said, "Oh really, that long?"... what does he mean "that long!?" Am I supposed to know what I am doing or something!? And then her told me to be prepare for leadership. All I could think was, "crap, I am screwed." I sure hope he means not for awhile!...or ever! I thought that was one of the perks of being a sista! Anyways I'll think about that tomorrow. 

[Sorry, Bethany.  I couldn't resist the quote!]

Another funny thing that happened at interviews is when our Zone leader was giving the lesson he started blacking out and getting sick...that part wasn't funny. The funny thing was after he got some water and sat down he asked some Elder for Advil. None of them had some but they directly looked to us. Of course we had some. I thought to myself, "You know, you may have been out for almost two years and know way more stuff than I do, but hey, I've got Advil!"

Oh yeah, another sweet thing that happened when we were teaching R was she kept having the question, "Why did God pick Joseph Smith to be a prophet?" It is a good question and the answers we had weren't really doing it for her. Throughout the lesson and talking to her she got an answer that was right for her. It was totally the Spirit. It just shows that when the Spirit is there I don't really have to worry about giving the perfect answer -- the spirit will tell them all things. By the way, her answer was kind of cute/funny she said, "Well, he was the only one that would step up and do something about it!" I guess so, R!

Alright I am all out of stories that you want to hear. I love you all! Good things are happening in Maine! I feel like I am home here!

Sista Lassen

September 16, 2013

Another Week Gone By

Dear Family,

Thanks to Denae's letter that I got on Friday, I found out that Kandra is having a girl!...How long have you all been keeping this from me?! Well Congrats Kandra and Jakie!

This week went by really fast, and we have been having lots of appointments and lessons! We have 2 investigators that are only 2 blocks away from our apartment, so that has been really nice to have them so close and we are able to see them more often. One of our lesson was with R. this week. IT WAS AMAZING! We taught her the Plan of Salvation. It was amazing to see the peace that she felt when we taught her about where she came from and that she can be with her family forever. It was funny because I think the thing that she got most excited about was that fact that we are still going to be working after this life. That's R! 

It is amazing to me that people will just break down crying when they talk to us, even if we are on the street and have been talking to them for the first time for 5 min. It is amazing how much people really just need to be listened to. One person who broke down crying (who we have talked to before) just told us everything that she is feeling and the questions she has. By the end of our conversations she told us how the number 11-11 kept coming to her head, and she thinks it is a sign, but she doesn't know for what. Which is crazy because we had planned to give her 3 Nephi 11 to read that day, and 3 Nephi is the 11th book in the Book of Mormon! She then gave us her word that she would read it. We will see what happens! 

The work is going and I am loving every minute! 

Sista Lassen

September 9, 2013

"These Sistas in the House, Wear Name Tags on Our Blouse!"

[Bethany finally sent some pictures, so enjoy!]

Dear Family,

I have never felt so heart broken and happy on my mission than I did in this past week.

One thing that I did not prepare for is how much it breaks your heart when the people you love don't make the right choice and their is nothing that you can do about it, but love them of course. It is the worst thing ever and it gave me nightmares that night of just that event happening over and over again in my mind. I don't know how Heavenly Father does it. 

M and R

On other hand we had one amazing miracle this week with R. She is a neighbor to a member, M. who was recently baptized. When M. was baptized R came and met the Campbells, the senior couple in Portland. They gave her a Book of Mormon and left a huge impression on her. R has been reading the Book of Mormon ever since but every time we saw her and asked if she wanted to learn more she said she was too busy. On Friday, we went to teach M and on our way R opened her door right as we walked by. (Divine placement? I think, yes!) We talked to her and she said she had some questions about the Book of Mormon. We answered her questions and set up an appointment to teach her on Sunday. When we taught her the spirit was so strong. It was a true testimony builder to me that the spirit is the real teacher. As we explained the priesthood and baptism it all made perfect sense to her. She was baptized before with water being sprinkled on her head and she told us that it doesn't make sense that they would do that because it doesn't change you. She also told us that she knows that this is Christ's Church because of the example of the Campbells and us. R. accepted a baptismal date with tears in her eyes. It was the most amazing thing!! I mean all I can say is IT. WAS. AWESOME. 

[This picture was sent by their Ward Mission Leader, Tim Smith, with the subject line, "Yes, they are HAPPY!"]

One fun thing that we did this week was make a rap for a young couple that we met on our way to a lesson with an investigator. They are super funny. They made my ghetto voice come out. Alright, are you ready for this epic rap?

If you only knew

what we got to do

It's more important

than tying a shoe

we sisters in the house

wear name tags on our blouse

the gospel of our Lord 

is mightier than a sword 

won't you take a look

what's inside this book?

we're here to save some lives

so give me some high fives!

Oh yeah I went there. Love you!

Sista Lassen

[And a few more pictures from Bethany]

"There are beautiful cemeteries everywhere" 

"Absolutely beautiful Maine"

"Maine Lighthouse"