Day in the Life

Well hey there, family! How's it going?? I hope you are just dandy. :) 

This week, I don't have as many awesome stories to tell you, but I do have a few!! Always! There are always exciting things that happen in daily missionary life.

First off, the little boys we teach home primary to, the Winterton's, now know all the words of Book of Mormon Stories, the primary song and it is SO cute!! They are 4, 3 and 2 and they rock it! Next time we're over there and I'm going to try and record it. :) Hopefully they like the camera! This just shows that even little kids can learn and retain things, you just have to be persistent! 

We had exchanges this week again, and I went to 6th ward's area with Sister Bentley and it was so fun!! We got to talk to some very interesting people and have some fun experiences. We talked to the daughter of a less active who is addicted to pain so she tattoos herself, but she has messed up on almost all of her tattoos, so she's not happy with them. That was a fun conversation. A member kidnapped us and took us to Starbucks to get us double chocolate chip soy frappucinos and then had us watch the prairie dogs that are in the middle of the city as we drank them (don't want to go tracting while sipping on Starbucks! It gives off the wrong impression.). We also met with one of their investigators who had polio when she was a baby, so she is paralyzed from her arms down. That was sad. But the gospel does bring her hope! SO that is always awesome. It was a really fun exchange, and very productive. Sister Bentley is an awesome missionary and I love her lots! It was fun to spend a whole day with her! But I did missed Sister Woodbury, because she's awesome. :)

Our phone broke this week so that's ridiculous. We can no longer receive text messages, which you wouldn't think would be a big deal, but it is! We have to call everyone and it is so inconvenient! We're calling the mision office today to work on getting a new phone....technology...ggrrrr!

Because our phone has been lame, we haven't had very much communication with Jessica. Which is NEVER good! The last text we got from her pretty much was "My dad said I can't be baptized until I'm 18". So we were freaking out! She cancelled our lesson on Friday, couldn't make it to the General Women's Meeting on Saturday and wasn't there on Sunday at Church!! We were freaking out! We stopped by yesterday after church and found out she had actually gone to a different ward, so that was a bonus. But it doesn't look like she will be getting baptized anytime soon, which we are SO bummed about!!! I almost started crying right there in front of her, but I didn't. And it's only because I care for her and want her to feel the peace and the joy that comes from being a member of the Lord's restored church. So we are going to continue meeting with her and we will see what we can do to continue to help her along the path of conversion. 

Remember that lady Tracy we did service for? We got in with her on Saturday and met with her for a few minutes and invited her to the General Women's Meeting, and she CAME!!! That was AWESOME!! We are meeting with her officially tonight to teach her the restoration and we are PUMPED! she is so cool and we are excited to work with her. :) 

Speaking of the General Women's Meeting, if you haven't watched it yet, whether you are a member or not, it is very much worth your time!! Here is the link so you have no excuses to not watch it:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/10?&lang=eng So there you go! Go watch it! 

We have been making a big emphasis on getting to know more members in our ward, and it is going well! We have some AWESOME members here who are so good at helping us out! Like yesterday, for example: we were walking in the dark and trying to get to a member's house to get a ride when some members saw us as they were driving and they pulled over and rearranged their kids to give us a ride. So know we are being taken care of. :) 

I hope you all have a great week! I LOVE you!! :)

sister leslie.

With a SUPER intense Plan of Salvation chart

Don't WORRY, it does NOT have coffee in it! We're not apostate!!

I pretty much survive on Ben and Jerry's

Service at the Platte River Cleanup with Sister Powell 

in front of the nifty command center!

"The tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen" (1 Nephi 1:20)

We have had so many good experiences this week and I am excited to share them with you!! 

We have found some SOLID potentials this week through various methods. The first promising one is Gregg, who we found through tracting. Sister Woodbury and I haven't been tracting in a while, so we were really nervous to go on Friday because we felt a little rusty. But, we prayed beforehand that we would be strengthened and that we would have a spiritual experience, and then we went out in faith that it would be fulfilled. A couple doors in, we met Gregg. He's super nice and works with a lot of members, and really looks up to their standards and beliefs, but as for him, he doesn't believe in organized religion. We asked him if he had tried it out before, and he replied that he had. Now, usually when a person tells me this concern, I freeze up and just walk away. But this time, a question popped into my head and I asked, "What would it mean to you if the exact church Christ established while He was on the earth was on the earth today?" He thought for a moment and then replied, "Wow. I don't know. I don't think anyone knows." I then got this surge of joy and happiness as I replied, "We DO know! Christ's church that He established while He was on the earth is on the earth in its fullness today!!" I then took a couple minutes and boldly testified of the priesthood authority, baptism, and the restoration of the Gospel. The Spirit was stronger there than I have ever had on any doorstep on my mission. His countenance changed. Suddenly our message was applicable to HIM and he accepted a pamphlet and our card. We are going to follow up with him shortly. The best part about this experience was that I said nothing, I was simply a vessel for the Spirit, and that is what made all the difference. The rest of that tracting time, Sister Woodbury and I were on fire! We were happy, positive and bold. We tied everything back to the Restoration and tried our best to make it personally meaningful to them. It was awesome!! It gave me a whole new perspective on tracting and its power.

Our other main potential is a woman named Tracy, and we came to find her through service. Saturday morning, we got a call from a Relief Society Counselor and she asked us if we could help some other Relief Society ladies clean the home of a non-member lady who was moving into our ward. Of course, we jumped on the opportunity and went over. Some of the elders were helping her move boxes, and we were cleaning, and she was SO appreciative. She was trying to move all by herself when she hurt her shoulder and needed help. Friends kept promising that they would come over, but they didn't. So one of her member friends started calling around and got a hold of our Relief Society President, who then contacted a whole bunch of people. We were texting her yesterday, and she expressed to us how much it meant to her that people that she didn't even know would be willing to take time out of their lives to help her. She said that it was a very Christlike act and it restored her faith in humanity! She just downloaded the Book of Mormon onto her kindle and has been studying what we believe on lds.org and mormon.org. She wants us to come over to explain more what we believe. Her heart has been softened because she saw the example of Church members LIVING the gospel. Now she wants to know WHY. And we are so excited!! She is from South Africa and so cool. She has a young daughter, so the gospel is very applicable to her life. 

Jessica is doing so good! We have had some really cool experiences with her this week. First, on Thursday, we had a district fast for our investigators' parents that their hearts will be softened towards their children joining the Church. It was a really powerful experience. Sister Woodbury and I fasted on Thursday along with our district and it was hard to do not on a Sunday, as we usually do!! But we got to talk with Jessica's mom and we had a nice conversation with her, which was a great start. Her mom is almost there. Jessica got a priesthood blessing on Friday because she was really sick and her mom was able to be there. It was so powerful! Priesthood blessings always bring the spirit so strong, and the blessing softened her heart.  Afterwards, she told Jessica, "I'll talk to your dad about being baptized." And that is HUGE. So fasting works!! The power in it is amazing!! Second, we recently taught her the 10 commandments using hand signals to help her remember. The next day in history, she was able to teach them to her whole class!! She also passed out a Book of Mormon for her class to look at briefly! She is so inspiring and so awesome!! She's a better member missionary than most MEMBERS! She wants to invite her history teacher to her baptism. :) So all you members out there, it's time to bump it up!! Be a missionary!! 

 

 

We also had the cool opportunity to go to a Christian Women Tea Party on Saturday. There wasn't as much of a turn out as we hoped there would be (there were 29), but it was awesome nonetheless. 15 of them were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! And it wasn't even at our church! It was awesome to see so many of us go out there. We made a huge impact. And it was funny because they had tea, lemonade and water for drink options and by the end, the lemonade and water were about halfway down, and the tea was 99% full! Boom!! So that was a cool way to also show what we believe. Yay for members bearing their testimonies through example!! It makes a HUGE difference!! 

Sister Woodbury continues to be awesome!! We get along SOOOO well!! We are getting SO pumped for the General Women's Meeting this weekend and General COnference next weekend. It will be my THIRD one as a missionary!! Time flies!!

 

 

The uplifting message of the week is the mormon message that came out on my year mark. Go watch it RIGHT NOW! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3792885561001&cid=HPFR091914425

 

(There's the link so you have NO excuses! Enjoy! It's one of my new all time favorites!!)

 

I love you! Thanks for everything!!

sister leslie. 

 

 

On our 7 Wonders of Casper hunting last week for Pday, we found the Staircase to Nowhere!

Wonder 2: The Eggbeater

Wonder 3: Car in a Box

Wonder 4: Hidden Clock (THAT was a hard one to find)

Wonder 5: The Sundial

Wonder 6: The Echo Lady

Sister Woodbury and I holding up the 1 for my 1 year mark! I was wearing the same shirt I

wore my first day to the MTC! And I didn't even plan it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner with the Flanigans and Jessica. SISTER JENSEN, does anyone look familiar????

Zone Training Meeting, Martin's Cove and Seminary

Hello again! I feel like I just emailed not too long ago, because it wasn't very long ago, but know that I don have SOME stuff to share. We've had some good times.

So for the rest of my birthday on Wednesday, we planned for Zone Training Meeting, ate dinner with a part member family and had a Sister Training Leader call with Sister Bentley and Sister Curley. SO it was a great day! A normal missionary day, but as I am a missionary, it was perfect! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!

Zone Training Meeting planning was CRAZY! We did a couple hours on Wednesday, like 7 hours on Thursday, and I was up until 11:15 on Thursday finishing the 2 trainings that I was doing by myself. I did a sisters meeting before ZTM about the oath and covenant of the priesthood, and how we as sisters can help elders uphold the priesthood, which ended up being really awesome. My other training was on "Just a job or a special calling" talking about how we can change our view as missionaries to view our missions as a special calling. I loved both of them and learning more about both of the subjects! It was still stressful planning for these and executing them, but I was given these topics last week at Mission Leadership Council, which made it nice that I could just highlight parts of the training I was given. Does that make sense? Last week, I was given the trainings I would give, then I prepared them and gave them to the zone on Friday. The Zone Leaders and I did one all together about the doctrine of the sacrament and keeping the sabbath day holy, which was really fun. But we ran out of time and only had 30 minutes instead of 60+ to give it! But it all works out in the end. I survived!

Martin's Cove on Saturday was AMAZING! We went with Brother and Sister Kler, Sister Slocum, and Jessica. It was so fun! There was also like a regional YSA activity, so we got to be with them as well (which was weird, because Sister Woodbury and I were wearing jeans to hike in and it almost felt like normal life. But we were both so uncomfortable in our jeans! As soon as we got our skirts back on, we felt normal again. haha) We were able to hike to Martin's Cove and back (while even encountering a sandy hill and making it with just a BIT of help), witness a baptism there in the Sweetwater River, have lesson on the banks of the Sweetwater River, get blacksmith shop nail rings and get a picture with Independence Rock.  We weren't able to actually walk up to Independence rock due to time, but I did get to see it. It again deepened my gratitude for the handcart pioneers and all they did for their faith in Jesus Christ!

We have a seminary teacher in our ward, Sister Flanigan, and she is having us help her teach Seminary tomorrow! We get to help teach about the Restoration, which is our very favorite things to talk about. We are SO excited! We went over last night and got the lesson and have spent some time preparing so that we can be vessels for the Spirit tomorrow to help the youth understand the importance of this great event. I am so PUMPED! It's going to be a great morning! I love seminary! So Tyler, I know you just started seminary, so we can go together kinda tomorrow! Start working on JSH 1:15-20 for Scripture Mastery and reading the Doctrine and Covenants! You want to be able to graduate from seminary! If it'll help, I'll memorize that scripture right along with you. :)

Jessica is still doing awesome!! But she is now getting baptized at the church next Friday due to conflicting schedules of everyone. It will all work out! We continue to fast and pray for her, so the Lord's will will be done. :)

Okay, so this is pretty short, but I have a lot of pictures! Those are the most noteworthy things that have happened since Wednesday. :)

love you all!

sister leslie.

 

A note I received from Sister Edwards and Sister Mower on my birthday

The first SNOW of the year! No good.

Sister Woodbury and I matched on ZTM day...aww!

Sister Woodbury, Jessica and I at Martin's Cove

We pulled our handcart the whole way, up a sandy hill and everything!

We also got matching nail rings (called Prairie Diamonds) from the blacksmith shop

Our one brief moment at Independence Rock. The wind was turning Sister Woodbury's

skirt into a parachute, so we were all laughing.

MLC: LOVE IT!!!

Hey everyone! This past week was AWESOME!!

Especially MLC (Mission Leadership Council)! I don't even know where to begin! It was the BEST thing ever! The drive to Rapid is 4 hours long, which makes for a fun car ride. We drove up at like 8am on Monday morning and got to Rapid about 12:30. We ate and then met up with all the other missionaries where Sister Jensen and I had a very lovely running-to-hug-each other welcome. It was so WEIRD to see her again but so AWESOME!!! She is so cute and she has grown a lot since we were together. She said that I have too, so that was good to hear. :) She is doing great! We ended up sitting by each other for the meeting and staying with the same senior missionaries that night. We even got to be companions for a role play, so that brought it back to old times! It was so fun and so awesome!!! And the trainings we received at MLC were awesome!! Very much things our zone needs to hear. But going along with that, I also got a lot of revelation for me personally of things I can improve on in my own life, as well as in my Sister Training Leader calling. I was also paid a compliment by one of the other Sister Training Leaders that I am very firm in my standards and that I am needed to be the STL at this time in this zone for a reason. It always makes you feel good and filled with purpose to hear those things.  So overall, it was awesome!! beyond awesome! FANTASTIC! :) We don't have another MLC until November, so that was sad to hear. :( But life goes on. They also sang happy birthday to me yesterday and made me blow out a candle and everything. So that was exciting. The mission's taking care of me! 

 

 

We left Rapid yesterday at about 1:45 and got back just after 6. It was nice to see Sister Woodbury again, I had missed her. :) We were able to teach Jessica with another member in our ward, and it was AWESOME! She is getting baptized at Martin's Cove next weekend, and yes, she will be getting baptized in the river! How cool! But that doesn't make the baptism any more important or special. It's the covenants at baptism that matter, not where it takes place. But she is just so cute!

Now we are in the planning stage. We get to convert everything we learned at MLC into Zone Training Meeting, which is on Friday. So it's always really crazy and busy! Better than being bored though!! :) I get to present the main training with the zone Leaders, and also have my own training (which is always SUPER nerve wracking when you don't have a companion to lean on! So it will be interesting.)

Oh, and parents! Way to pull a sneaky one and send up my birthday stuff with Shaina and her mom! I was VERY surprised but very touched!! I have been eating those cookies non-stop since I got back yesterday.

Wow, I really haven't emailed forever....sorry...So Sister Bentley got her new companion and all is well with that. :) They get along great! The night before her companion got here, however, Sister Woodbury and I were finishing weekly planning, specifically companionship inventory, and with the 3 of us, it was one of the most spiritual ones of my mission, if not the best! I just felt better and uplifted and happy and that was a good breakthrough for me. When I came out, I did NOT like comp inventory. But things change with time!!

Exciting news: Good first: we get to go to Martin's Cove on Saturday to visit it and hike around it and everything, which I have never done before, so that will be AWESOME! Bad news: it's in the forecast to snow tomorrow. :( And it's only the middle of September...it's supposed to be a long, cold winter. Joy.

All of our families continue to do well and they are progressing and moving forward! I am excited for this next week!

Love you!

sister leslie.

Driving to Rapid City!

Casper Zone Leadership with President and Sister Anderson

Me, My "mom" Sister Jensen and my "sister" Sister Stebbing

me with Sister Jensen!!!!!!!

We matched (on purpose this time). Zone Unity!

They decorated our new place while I was gone for my birthday.... :)

Did Ya Miss Me?

Monday Holidays are always so weird! They're the hardest to stay focused on because it feels like it should be a P-day. But! We made it through, even though it was weird. Sister Bentley, Sister Woodbury and I weren't able to get any lessons in or contacts in or anything, but it was great because the 3 of us really bonded as we were cleaning our old apartment, organizing our new one, and finishing weekly planning. These 2 sisters are seriously awesome and I love them a lot. They are helping me to grow, and I feel like in a small measure I am helping them as well. So life is good.

So moving: WE MOVED! Finally! Glory glory HALLELUJAH! I forgot to take pictures of the new place, so they're coming next week, but know that our new place is WAY nicer than the old place. A lot smaller, but we like it. It's cozy. And we get to have bunk beds again, which brings us back to our childhood memories. I get the top bunk, which is fun. It's very squeaky, but I like it a lot. It feels like a fun sleepover all the time! So a lot of what we did this week involved packing up the gross old place, cleaning the new place, moving into the new place and then cleaning the old place. Yuck! But it was fun and the Zone Leaders helped us move, which came in handy because they are very tall, and let's be honest, a lot stronger than we are too. So that was fun! But we're in, and this new place has some quirks of it's own: We have a full kitchen, but no oven, and we have a really nice bathroom with no door. So....good thing we like each other, right? haha we are going to buy a curtain today to help solve the latter problem a little bit. Oh man....quite the adventure!! But all's well that ends well. We now have a washer and dryer, and that is AWESOME!! :)

Jessica is the sweetest person ever! She is feeding us dinner tonight and then we are eating with her and she is buying me a birthday present, along with Sister Woodbury (since hers is just a month after mine). She's so cute! We also had transfer calls this weekend, and she told us that when we leave she's giving us care packages. :) She makes us feel so happy and loved!! We just love her to pieces. She's still on date for September 13th, and she might even be getting baptized at Martin's Cove!!!!!! How LEGIT would that be?? We are so excited for her and know that she is making the right decision. :)

Another cool experience we had this week is we attended a baptism for the Spanish group, which meant that the entire thing was in Spanish. We used Spanish hymnals and everything! I didn't understand anything pretty much, but the Spirit was so strong there and the man who was baptized was SO happy! So it was all worth it. I love going to foreign language baptisms!!

We've had a couple days this week where we have had double dinner appointments, and let me tell you, it is HARD! For the 3 of us, small as we are, it's a real challenge. But somehow we've made it, even though we've probably gained a little weight along the way....dang it! #missionarylife

Sister Bentley had an investigator get baptized this week in SLC, UT and then she came back up Sunday night and got confirmed. It was so cool!! After her confirmation, she just thanked the bishop who gave it and said how much she needed to hear all of the things that were said in the blessing. That NEVER ceases to amaze me, how when a priesthood blessing is given, it's NOT the priesthood holder who is speaking, it's Heavenly Father. I know it to be true and it's so powerful!!

But I attached some fun pictures form last P Day, the Eggingtons and Ken and Betty's one. It was fun!! Eggingtons is right here by the library, and it is so fun. Very artsy (similar to Boogaloos in San Fran, but the food isn't like organic or anything). I got Eggs Benedict since I haven't had it in a LONG time and I won't be home for this Christmas Eve breakfast either. And yes, it was delicious. Ken and Betty's has very good ice cream, so that was fun. Although we ate it in the car and I am a klutz so I got it all over my skirt, the car, and Sister Bentley's bag. How have I made it almost 20 years of life? I don't really know. But somehow I keep moving forward. :)

Sister Woodbury is just so cute!! She is so funny and such a good teacher and so genuine and so AWESOME! I am so glad that I get to spend at least another transfer with her, maybe even 2 more! I don't know! We'll have to see! Either way, I'm grateful for the time I have to be with her. :)

We are now channeling our inner Young Women and we started Personal Progress this week! I want to see how far I can get before I go home, and Sister Woodbury wants to finish it before she goes home, so we started it. We're also going to be doing it with a less active starting this week. So that's fun! I miss young women!! So we are really pumped about that. :)

Lastly, transfers. Sister Bentley will be TRAINING this transfer!! We are so excited for her!! Sister Woodbury and I will be sticking together, Elder Wilkinson left (sad face) to go be a Zone Leader in Rapid City, so I will get to see him next week for Mission leadership Council!! Elder Telford is staying here. In our whole zone, we are going to have SEVEN new missionaries!! 5 brand new ones coming form the MTC (they'll be here tomorrow), plus the 2 we have already in training. How cool! I love being around new missionaries. :)

I want to write more, but nothing else happened! So I guess that's a wrap! I love you ALL and I will write next Wednesday!! Have a great week!

sister leslie.

 

me, S. Woodbury and S. Bentley after eating at the delicious Eggingtons!

The 3 of us again on the same day getting delicious ice cream!!

My beautiful district! Top L to R: Elder Emmett, E. Lougy, E. Wilkinson, E. Parrish, E. Edwards, E. Telford. Front: S. Edwards, S. Mower, Me, S. Woodbury

me in the attic of our new place preparing it for the bug bomb

getting creative to clean the fan. :)

Elder Parrish, Me, and Elder Edwards. It's an inside joke what we're,

but also E. Edwards and I matched. :)

The 6 4th ward missionaries (both sets are in trios right now!):

Elder Schneringer, E. Price, E. Jugler, S. Woodbury, Me, S. Bentley

Our bowls were dirty so we ate our mac and cheese in a cup.

the 4 of us for the last time. E. Wilkinson got transferred to Rapid City being a Zone Leader.