Letter 53

Hello Everyone!

I am so glad to hear that the funeral went well. I love that Grandma was agreed to be the George Washington of the church in Delaware. She's a wonderful woman. And that stinks about Brittany's flight! It seems like she is always the one with no luck. April congrats on going to Samoa! Maloelele! That means hello in Tongan :) And hello to the rest of the family as well! I love you all!

This week was a great one. One day in personal study, I was reading in Preach My Gospel and one word that I read stuck out to me. Proactive. That became mine and Sister Hsiung's motto throughout the week, to BE PROACTIVE in everything we did and oh my goodness it was glorious. I feel like we have always worked extra hard, but with that motto it boosted my motivation and excitement every minute of every day, and we were SO effective! We did everything we usually do in what seemed like half the amount of time, and we suddenly found ourselves with ample amounts of extra time to talk to more people, call potentials, write in our journals, EAT (wow we even found time for that throughout the day haha). It was just plain amazing. STRIVE TO BE PROACTIVE in everything you do. It's the best thing ever.

On exchanges a couple weeks ago, Hermana Pilling and I met this cute girl named C. She has had such a rough life. She is 22 years old with a 5 year old son. We had an amazing conversation with her on the street, got her information, and set up a time to meet with her. We have been teaching her ever since and she is doing amazing and is loving every minute of it! The funny thing is, because of exchanges, I haven't been able to teach her once yet haha we keep meeting with her when I am gone. So it was a wonderful reunion on Sunday morning when we went to her house to help her get ready for church. C was very nervous because she didn't have anything church-appropriate to wear. So we dropped by a little before she was getting picked up with a bunch of skirts and cardigans and scarves for her to pick from and wear to church. She ended up wearing my skirt and tights, and she came looking gorgeous from head to toe and BEAMING with excitement/nervousness. She loved church and is preparing to be baptized on November 16th!

So Sister Nicole Marler (my companion in Toronto) is engaged! That didn't take very long haha we're so excited for her!

There are just so many wonderful things happening in our sisters' areas. I love going on exchanges to see the different methods of teaching, and it is a blast being able to participate a tiny bit in seeing all their investigators progress. I recently went to Toronto North area with Sister LaPoint (4 weeks out on the mission and she is POWERFUL). Their friend J... has been investigating for 3 weeks now and he just finished the Book of Mormon. It was the funnest thing ever seeing how excited he was to tell us. He knows that it is true! We also got to meet with D... G...! He is doing so well. He was recently called as the Activity Chair person in the ward, and he is working on getting the Melchizedek Priesthood and preparing to go to the temple. Amidst any trials he might face and is facing, I know that he will be able to keep going! 

   Exchanges with Sister Coleman in Toronto YSA - she is going to be a Sister Training Leader someday. That's all I can say. It was such an amazing exchange! Last Sunday was their Stake Conference, and a lady they didn't know came into the chapel. Sister Coleman and Sister Howle introduced themselves and asked about her. She said her name was J.... and she had no idea why she was there. That morning she was eating cereal, and had the impression to put a dress on and go on a walk. So she put a dress on, went outside, followed her feet, and ended up at the church..... CRAZY RIGHT?! We met with her on the exchange and taught her the Restoration. As she prayed with her specific question, we sat in silence as she finished. After about 10 seconds her eyes went wide and she exclaimed - with a mixture of fear and excitement in her eyes - "My fingers are tingling. Oh my goodness my fingers are tingling. Yep, that must have met something!" haha we testified of the power of the spirit, and without hesitation she accepted the invitation to prepare to be baptized on November 30th! Milagros!

We opened the door to go to ESL on Saturday and what welcomed us at our doorstep? Snow. Haha Sister Hsiung and I both started dancing out of excitement and crying out of sadness that it is already snowing. We ran back to our desks, grabbed our CD's, and listened to Christmas music all the way to church. We are going to have to change our finding methods with it getting much colder, and with darkness hitting at 6:30.

Sister Hsiung and I had an open schedule on Thursday and we set the goal to talk to 100 people. Things were going great, we were at 85 and were having a blast talking with everyone at Square One. I was talking to two YSA Filipino guys when suddenly a security guard comes up. I froze. He asked who I was, and with a smile on my face I said I was a missionary. Then another man in a nice suit walked up and introduced himself as the Head Assistant Security Guy on Square One, and then he started yelling at me. Kindly, but strictly yelling at me to leave because it was private property. We didn't know that - haha I guess we probably should have known that, but it never crossed our minds (nor did it cross the minds of missionaries for the past couple years). But we will obey the law of the land! That experience didn't feel very good. Now I know what the prophets and missionaries in the Bible and the Book of Mormon must have felt like when they were kicked out of cities. But that didn't stop us! We just went to the outskirts of Square One and had many amazing conversations with people there :) Yay for boldness!

Well I love you all! I love the Book of Mormon. I love being a missionary and seeing people change through the gospel of Jesus Christ. THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AMAZING WEEK!!!! Love you all! Keep your standards!!

Sister Bodine