July 21, 2014

Awkward

Dear Family,

I have made up a saying that I am living my life according to and that is...

"When things are awkward make them more awkward and then it's a joke."
I can't really pinpoint to when this knowledge came to my mind because I am placed in awkward situations every minute of every day. This is why missionaries come back weird.

So this week was made up of a whole lot of miracles. I have never been so busy my whole mission. It's amazing.

We went on splits and one of the members that came with us brought her non-member friend to go with us. When she told us she was bringing a friend it took us 10 min. to realize what was happening because it is UNHEARD OF. After we taught the restoration to our investigator we asked the friend what she thought. She said that she wanted the investigators we were teaching to stop talking because she just wanted to hear what I had to say. After the split, we invited the member to invite her friend to take the lessons. What a miracle!

 We also had a lesson with a former/part member family and the mom told us that she has just been waiting for the opportunity to be baptized and she knows that this is the true gospel. Our mind was completely BLOWN AWAY because we weren't expecting it at all.

Do you remember me telling you about the woman who came up to us last week wanting to join a church? She came to church this Sunday. Her name is D, she is my age. She came to church because we had a member at her lesson invite her to church and to give her a ride. I am so grateful to this member. I really can't do this work with out their help. There is just so much to do!

Another lesson we had was with B. He has been taught for over 2 years. Is a scientist and is still having trouble believing that there is even a God. The morning of the day that we taught him I read his 5 page teaching record and realized that every idea that we had to teach and help him has been done before. So I read Alma 22 instead to try to get some kind of revelation. Later I talked to my companion and we thought of lots of questions to ask him, hoping that one of them would help him and help us do less "preaching." What a miracle his lesson was. We asked him the questions that we planned and then took it to the scriptures. Alma 22. We started with verse 7, and out of nowhere (obviously from the Spirit) I get  to the question, "Why do you think King Lamoni was just able to believe what Aaron said?" I think it was the first time that he really though about any question we gave him. We kept reading. At the end of the section we discussed it more, and out of nowhere my companion whips out the most powerful words she has ever spoken and the whole time I am freaking out and want to wave my arms and do something crazy.  B. realized things from that chapter that we didn't know apply to him. I cannot tell you how amazing it was. When we left I was simply FREAKING OUT!  WoW just wow. That is what the spirit does.

I just want to say that this spiritual power is not limited to full time missionaries. All of us have this "joyful burden of discipleship."  And we can all be lead by the Spirit in inviting, teaching, and helping other come into the fold.

Love you ALL!

Sista Lassen

July 14, 2014

Truly Blessed

This picture was taken on June 30 in the Laconia area.  Bethany is with her companion at the Swain's home.  Erica Presby (from the Laconia Ward) sent them to me.  The little boy is David Swain, the the two girls belong to the Presby family. 

Sister Presby also sent this picture of the two sister missionaries at their pie and cake auction and BBQ.  

This is at the same event.
Sister Presby said, "Hello, this is Erica Presby from the Laconia ward.  Here are a few pics from tonight with your daughters:) at the Swain's....  We LOVE these sisters!!!!!"  And Bethany was so sad leaving Laconia!  

Dear Family,

I am really loving  Bangor, ME. Well I actually live in Old Town Maine, but close enough. We are the first sisters that have been in the ward in a long time which is always fun and the members are super excited to come out with us. This week we are talking 5 of them out with us! And more to come!

The Bangor Ward is having miracles. On Sunday Sister Houston, Elder Stallings, and I all spoke in Sacrament. It was really great and I think that it really lighted the fire for some of these members. I am really excited to see where this ward can really go. I love them already! On Sunday we had many miracles. We were street contacting and a woman on a bike rode past us and asked who we are. We could hardly Say, "Mormons!" before she was half way down the street. She ended up turning around and asking for some information. She has been looking for a church and is way interested. We have an appointment with her on Thursday! We also went to a less active Young Woman and took the Young Women's Leader with us. It was a miracle and she is coming to church on Sunday along with her sister. On top of that her grandmother knows that they are missing faith in their life and accepted the invitation to be taught. WOW! MIND BLOWN!

I also got to go on exchanges this week to Waterville. It was way fun and I got to put my poop shoveling skills to work at a horse farm! It is way fun to be with different sisters and get to know them better. 

This really is the greatest time of the year and my mission. I feel that I know what I am doing...some of the time. And that we are actually moving the work forward. Hurrah for Israel! 

Love you!

Sista Lassen

P.S. Some letters would be nice.

[Bethany also answered some of my questions:

I will try to answer all of your questions

1. How big of an area is it?  A Stake?-  EVERY SINGLE AREA IN THE NEW ENGLAND MISSION IS HUGE AND THE WARDS ARE SMALL. We cover I think 6 surrounding towns of Old Town

2. address- 190 Brunswick St. #8

Old town, ME 04468

3 Who is your companion? Sister Houston

4 Where is she from?  Vernal Utah

5 Do you travel more? Yes

6 Do you do splits more? Every week.

Feel free to write to Bethany!  Her new address is:

190 Brunswick St #8

Old Town, MC 04468]

July 7, 2014

I'm a Maine-iac!

[This is really close to where Bethany lives in Old Town, Maine.  (Thank you, Google Maps Satellite View!)
Her apartment is to the left a few blocks beyond the lower bridge.
It's going to be even more gorgeous in about 2-3 months when the fall foliage is at its peak!]

Dear Family,

I would have never guessed what this week would have brought me. Alright so I am in Bangor, ME. It is so nice to see people. I don't feel like I am in the middle of no where. So here is the situation with me being in Bangor. They took out a set of Elders in this ward and replaced it with us. We are living in the old Elder's apartment. I had never been in an Elder's apartment before, but it is exactly what I thought it would look like. Dirt and all.  You have no idea how good it felt to clean it today. But they did have an unlimited supply of hot sauce so that's tight! And we also have a legit bench pressing equipment in our apartment as well. I am planning on benching 200 lb by the end of the transfer. I love being shot gunned, so this has been a really fun week. We have been trying to meet as many of the members we can. I love them already and I am really looking forward to serving and helping them do missionary work. 

Our area also covers the U Maine college. From what I have seen of it, it seems like a pretty nice campus and school. Their is so much to do! It is awesome! 

I love you all! Congrats Lizzy!

Sista Lassen

[For those of you who don't know...  Lizzy opened her mission call last Saturday, and she is going to Boise, Idaho, reporting to the MTC on October 22.  I need a map!]

[Also other information--Bethany's new companion is Sister Houston, from Vernal, Utah.  She will be going on splits about once per week in her area/new assignment.  "Shotgunning" means to have both companions in an area new.  There is also a set of elders in the ward.  The ward has less than 100 attending sacrament meeting which is pretty big for New England.]

June 30, 2014

Vacation is Over

Dear Family,

After two short transfers I am getting transferred. I have been so blessed to serve in Laconia. This has been a really busy, spiritual, and exciting area. It showed me how important it is to have the members be ready for missionary work. The work moves forward when the members are ready. We are just here to help them. Hopefully I won't get transferred ever again. That would be nice. I hate transfers.

The work has been going great. Investigators progressing, new people popping out of no where, and teaching like crazy. It has been sweet. 

This week I also got to go on an exchange with SISTER ESCOBAR! If you don't remember, she was my second companion. And she was waiting for her visa. After all this time she finally gets to go to Brazil and I got to go on an exchange with her for her last week in the field. It was so cool to she where she and I have been to become the missionaries that we are today. The day we were together was a lot of "Remember when we were super awkward and we had no idea what we were doing?" And then we realized that we still don't know what we are doing half the time and just hope the Spirit can pop something out of our mouths. If I were the Spirit I would be like "Come on, you have been doing this for over a year, now get it together!" Good thing it doesn't work like that. There is no limit to the spiritual promptings that we receive. 

Well I love you all, and we will see where I will be going soon!

Sista Lassen 

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

June 16, 2014

Bike Week!

[So THIS is what "Bike Week" means in Laconia, NH!
(Just a heads up, don't google it, unless you want to see the seedy and skanky side of New Hampshire!)]

Dear Family,

 

This week is Bike week in good ole Laconia, NH. So that means, lots of cops everywhere and you will be driving and there will be a group of 20 motorcycles behind you. And that's even when you live in the next town there is a consistant white noise of motorcycels. It is sweet. I think I am going to buy a bike... or maybe just a T-shirt.

 

 Anywho back to the cooler missionary stuff.

 

So If you don't remeber Sister Magnusson and I shot gunned this area (meaning that we both came here at the same time) It's been the funnest thing and this week at interviews I told President Stoker that I would be happy to do it again. The coolest part is because you both don't know anyone so you have no pre judgements on anyone and you just go by the Spirit. The biggest miracle from this was a less active member, G. So, when we first got here we looked at the past sister weekly plans and it said G Wednesday- drop lesson. Which means that she wasn't progressing and they were going to take a break. The first time we met her, we felt that we should coninue to see her. And now look where she is!! Well you can't, but just believe me! She has come so far. It just shows me how much Heavenly Father loves us individually and watches over each and every one of us. And sometimes he makes drastic changes to do it.

 

One more story:

So, we were contacting another less active member, knocked on their door and no answer. We decided that we would knock on the surrounding houses and then go somewhere else. After we had done that I felt like we should do one more house, not realizing how far the next one was. When we finally got there no one was home. As we were walking back to our car another car stopped, who was it? The less active member we were trying to meet. How sweet is that? It's like this is Heavenly Father's work or something!

 

The work continues to move forward in this area, and I am so grateful that I get to serve here. Love you all!

 

Sista Lassen

June 9, 2014

Mormon Media Week

Dear family,

This week we really loved Mormon Media weekend. Mormon Media weekend is where we take out a bunch of members out with us then post about it on facebook to get the word out. If anything, it helps us to take members out with us, and get them pumped for missionary work. We also went with them to see some less active members. This made it easier to see who is progressing and who is not ready to come back. With taking members out with us and running around every where I really don't remember most of what happened.

While working with members this week we had a sweet experience. Two weeks ago we prayed to know who we should invite to find someone for us to teach. We felt prompted the G family was it, so we committed them. This week we followed up with them. Although they didn't have anyone ready for us to teach, every one of them had a missionary experience and felt more in tune with the Spirit while seeking for missionary opportunities. They were pumped, made me more pumped! It was sweet.

We have been working on teaching the restoration in 7 minutes, and have already had miracles from it. For media weekend one of our members wanted us to teach her friend. When we showed up at her friend's house she only had 15 min. Which was perfect! If we hadn't been practicing teaching in 7 minutes then we would have missed our opportunity to teach the restoration. Knowing how to teach in short lessons is so inspired! It's like the gospel is true, or something.

image from http://www.byujourneys.org/blog/about-hallowed-ground-sacred-journeys/

We also got to go to the JSM again this week. This time with G. It was wonderful and the same spirit was there. So, G. is awesome and she knows Heavenly Father is watching out for her. The day we went she was praying that it wouldn't rain while we needed to be outside. It rained the whole time we were traveling there and during the tour. But.... By the time we wanted to go outside and look at the monument, take pictures and eat dinner outside IT WAS SUNNY! Which was no surprise to G. Then it rained the whole way home. He really does watch over us.

That's all for this week! Love you all!!

Sista Lassen