Letter 30 -- I'm old!

Hello Family!

Thank you for the Birthday Wishes and emails!!!! I'M 20! In the words of mommy, I am pretty much 1/5 dead. I got out of my shower and jumped thirty feet when Sister Gillins blew one of those Birthday horn things. She set up all the decorations mom gave me in my package and made me German pancakes. And THANK YOU FOR THE GIFTS!!!!  What do I get to do on my Birthday? We are going to the Perreiras for dinner, we are having FHE with the Jenkinsons and they are inviting K... and J... over, and we get to talk to people! I LOVE TALKING TO PEOPLE!!!! It's so much fun being on a mission.

We went on exchanges this week. Sister Hansen came to London and we had a tri-companionship for the day. It was great! I love exchanges so much. You learn SO much when you get to work with other missionaries, specifically missionaries who have been called as leaders in the mission because of their example and their ability to teach and lead. District meetings, zone councils and conferences are the greatest for that as well. I LOVE learning haha. And I am so grateful for our Sister Training Leaders.

Our zone leaders were white washed into the YSA Branch in London so they spend all their time contacting in our area. It's like having two companionships in the same area pretty much! We get so many referrals from them. It's the greatest. That's something that I have loved about serving in London is every companionship works together. We give each other referrals so often since our areas are so close to each other.

On Thursday, we went to M...'s house planning on teaching him the Stop Smoking Workshop to help him quit. He had written down his prayer that he said that morning so that he could remember it and read it to us. "Please give me the strength and confidence to tell the Sisters that I am not ready to quit smoking and frankly I don't want to..." We sat there for a second in silence. Sister Gillins and I both got the impression that we should still teach him the Stop Smoking Workshop so that is what we did! Haha he ended up accepting it and this is his third day without smoking!

A... was confirmed yesterday and both he and G.... were sustained as members of the ward and interviewed to receive the Priesthood! Exciting times.

So Sister Gillins and I have been working really hard to make sure we stay focused entirely on the work in the things we say, do, study, everything. Just like how people say "Pray for strength, and God gives you trials to make you stonger..." in this case it is "Pray for the ability to focus, and God gives you LOTS of distractions to work on it." hahaha. One of the best ones this week was when we were teaching A... in the library. I have realized in my life that if I can hear music, I cannot focus on anything else - whether that be with telling a story, or studying, or whatever - my brain goes straight to the music. Well we were teaching A... about the Priesthood, when suddenly this HEAVENLY music begins behind us and a women's Barbershop group starts performing... I was in the middle of a statement when that happened and suddenly all my thoughts left my brain and my mind seemed to have ran over to the group and started listening to their song. hahaha I stopped midsentence and just sat there in stupor, eyes wide open, with Sister Gillins, A..., and our ward member just laughing their heads off because they knew what had happened. They stayed and sang during our entire lesson. It was the greatest opportunity I have ever had on my mission with regards to focusing on the lesson, and the spirit, and our investigator haha it was funny.

We taught K... the Word of Wisdom and she is so good to go. Her fiancé on the other hand is having a hard time with it. Her biggest reason for doing anything is "I want to live with Heavenly Father again, and J...". It was so great when we were teaching her because she kept looking over at her fiancé scolding him that he'd better pick up his game if he wants to be with her for eternity. "No 'but's' just do it!" It was awesome.

I just love this work so much. When you are completely focused on the task at hand and your purpose, not only are you accomplishing something but it makes this work SO MUCH FUN. Missionary work is called missionary WORK for a reason. Sister Gillins and I have been so happy this past week because every night as we have been getting ready for bed we honestly have no energy left. This is the most important work any of us could be a part of. I am so grateful for my life and my family and my testimony and for Heavenly's Father eternal Plan of HAPPINESS!!!!

Have a wonderful week! Make it so! I invite you all to open up the hymnbook and start singing "Scatter Sunshine". It doesn't matter where you are, just do it. It's the song of the century :) I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Sister Bodine

First Birthday Present

Ducks!!!!

It rains in Canada

Letter 29 -- It happened, it finally happened, and it's happening!

Hello Family!

Happy Victoria Day from Canada! Here, we like to celebrate the birthdays of dead Queens :) Haha the funny thing is Queen Victoria's birthday is May 24th so the holiday rarely ever lands on her birthday. It's a great way to get work off and spend time with family!

So some GREAT things happened this week! First off, A... was baptized on Sunday! He is so amazing. We have loved getting to teach him. We really didn't do a single thing. His testimony was already engrained in him and he just needed Prerequisite lessons to do something he has already been prepared to do. He is prepared and will be an amazing member of Christ's church! And he is so happy he found it. He has often said "It just makes sense" and "I just can't believe it took me 50 years to find it!" and "this is the perfect time for me. Twenty years ago I would NOT be listening to all this right now." We did a service project for a community church this week. He came with the Bishop and we all spent an hour rolling silverware (haha I can't seem to get away from it!) A... is HILARIOUS. You just laugh when you are with him. He was deathly sick pretty much with Pneumonia but he wasn't going to miss his baptism. Because of the holiday, no one was able to come pretty much. Not counting us and Adam, there were eight people there to support. A... loved it because he didn't want there to be a lot of people - he's awesome. But the spirit was so strong when he was baptized. Great times.

And G... was finally confirmed!!!! We called him in the morning and were NOT going to let him fall back asleep. So while we were still on the phone with him, we had him get out of bed, walk over to the sink, turn on the faucet so we could hear it, and walk downstairs to open and close the front door haha. He was REALLY happy afterwards which was so good to see. He is loving the Book of Mormon right now. He is so awesome, he just tends to need a little push - or a BIG push. And Sister Gillins and I are totally willing to do that haha. It's been so much fun. I LOVE MY COMPANION!!!

So M... is doing great. He sets aside two hours every day to read the Book of Mormon and write down notes. He hasn't received a confirmation and wants to because he feels that that will help him get rid of the desire to smoke. We stopped our lesson with him on Tuesday and focused on how he could receive an answer through prayer and pondering. We invited him to pray and afterwards, to pay attention to the thoughts, feelings and impressions he receives. We told him we would be silent until he broke the silence so that he could focus and ponder. After his fervent prayer to quit smoking, we literally sat in silence for five minutes while he knelt with his eyes closed. There was a peace that filled the room, and it felt so good and lingered for a while even after we left his house - the spirit was totally there. He told us he didn't feel anything different which is okay because he WILL!!! I know he will. But that was a testimony to me that the Lord can and will answer our prayers with the spirit when we are willing to not just ASK but LISTEN for an answer. What an experience :)

So LISTEN TO THIS! We have been teaching this wonderful girl named K.... She is engaged to and living with a less-active named J..... She is the sweetest girl with the cutest little 5 year old boy ever and she wants we be baptized so badly. We taught her the Law of Chastity on Friday. She is set and ready to live it, she talked to J..., and after a couple days we got a text from K... saying "The wedding is on for Tuesday night at 7 :)" .... WHAT?!?!?!?! We got SO EXCITED. She is willing to do whatever it takes. They have been staying at J...'s parents house right now in different rooms for the time being. We are a little sad though because J.... can't find his Berth Certificate and he needs it for the marriage license so they won't be able to be married tonight. BUT THEY WILL FIND IT!!! I know it. I just love seeing people's examples of making changes in their lives. I am so grateful for all of them!!

Lots of times when I don't know what to say to someone in a lesson, I just sing a song instead haha.

While tracting and contacting throughout this week, we were told that we have been "brain-washed into this and wake up and go home", I was pushed away because I was in someone's personal bubble space, and we were chastised for contacting on a street in between two funeral homes (completely unintentional haha) - all experiences like that ended with a little chuckle as we walked away. You gotta love missionary work :)

Well I love you all so much. I love this gospel! I hope you all remember the love that Heavenly Father has for you. If you don't, then PRAY! Because He is there and He will answer if we will LISTEN. Make it a great week and know that I love and pray for you all the time!

Sister Bodine

Letter 28 -- Happy Mothers Day!

Hey mi familia!

So much fun to talk to you all yesterday! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOMMY!!!! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY ANDREA!!!!! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY BRITTANY!!!!!!!! And Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women out there who have been such great blessings in my life. Thank you so much for your wonderful examples and I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday!!

I don't have very much to say from this week. Not because nothing amazing happened and not because I told you all everything yesterday already. Mainly because I left my planner at the Bishop's house after calling (worst thing to do EVER) and without it, all my memories of the past several weeks are mushed together into one haha. But I will try!

T... is awesome but he hasn't been progressing very much lately. We were trying to figure out what we were going to teach him to help him up his motivation to act. We had a few ideas but nothing really felt right - even getting to the lesson, we parked in the parking spot and said a prayer together. Sister Gillins, Sister Perreira, and I all received a feeling that we should change up our teaching a little bit and bear our personal testimonies. Sister Gillins and Perreira both picked their favorite scripture that helped them out during a hard time in their life and decided to share their experience with that. I picked a song that brought me a lot of peace and chose to sing that. We went into the lesson, and the spirit was so strong it was incredible. T... felt it as well and it was really cool to experience that together. Even with this experience we know that he still has his agency to choose if he wants this in his life, but I DO know that God has not and will not forget him, and has been giving T... many opportunities to feel the power and peace of the Spirit in his life. Keep him in your prayers! 

So some other sister missionaries gave us a referral they received from a non-member that they had tracted into (blessings of asking for referrals EVERY TIME) ->  This lady said no at first, but as the sisters were leaving she said "Wait.... I just thought of someone I think you should visit. Come in." They went into her home and she told them of a friend who was dying from cancer, who lived alone, but was very religious. This lady, her name is M..., lives in our area so we went and visited her. We knocked several times and were about to leave when the door opened. The spirit immediately was so strong. Haha she was reading the Bible just as we were knocking on the door and that got her really excited. Besides the landlord and his daughter (his daughter was the one who sent the referral) we are the first people to have come and visited her at her home. She has no connection with technology ("what's Google?") - she never leaves her home, even for food she orders it and has people bring it to her because of her cancer and stuff - she LOVES the Bible - she has heard bad things about our church but she said that she could tell that we were normal people and that it made us happy so she would love to hear more. She is being so prepared by a Heavenly Father that LOVES her. It's the best. I'll keep you posted.

We had a lot of opportunities to OYM this week and it was the best! I LOVE TALKING TO PEOPLE!!!!! Elder Urrutia and Thompson saw Sister Gillins and I contacting on the street this week and took of picture of it. Kind of fun. I will send it.

Well I know this gospel is powerful and this is a message fore everything!!! I love my Savior and I love being his representative. We are ALL His representatives! Mosiah 18:8-10. Thank you all for everything. I love you with all my heart! Make it a great week!

Love,

Sister Bodine

This must have been after this man saw that we were sisters and began bowing down to us. Haha we get that a lot ;)

Letter 27 -- One year older and still biking a hundred miles!

Hello Family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT YOU FOR THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS. I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! YOU'RE OLD!!!!

This was an amazing week. Daddy I don't know if you looked at Sister Warburton's BLog this week. If you haven't go look at last week's email :)

So we had Skills and Interviews this week with President and Sister Scott. I LOVE getting to talk to them. I made the mistake of blinking while talking to President Scott and it was suddenly over. haha it goes by so fast. They are such amazing people. Zone Training has now been changed to be called Zone Council - meaning that all missionaries in the zone are there to work together. So we sat in a circle like a council and as a group prayerfully decided what our goals for the zone were going to be for the month of May. It was a really cool experience deciding it together and getting everyone's ideas and points of view.

So Sister Gillins and I had a really cool experience yesterday. I have been working really hard at following the promptings I receive while we are out contacting. Yesterday, we had the feeling to go to Orchard Park and tract the houses in that area. Before getting there my eyes were set on a street called Middlewoods and I felt like we had been there before. It was really weird because I know that we haven't. So we drove through Middlewoods, it looked great and then we found this really nice looking neighborhood a couple of streets down that looked great and decided to park and get out there. We said our prayer in the car and just as we opened the car doors, I got a little spiritual slap in the face saying "You have been wanting to feel more promptings from the spirit - now you're getting one so GO TO MIDDLEWOODS." I got it so I told Sister Gillins, we got back in the car and drove back to where we had started. We knocked on a couple houses, and then a boy our age walked past us. We ran up and started talking to him. Long story short, he has had a REALLY hard life, he has lots of questions and he is ready to have them answered. We scheduled an appointment for him to meet with the YSA Elders. We found out just as we were leaving that he usually takes a short cut route to get to his home, but ended up taking the longer road that day. And that is when we saw him!! God is good :)

Haha Sister Gillins and I, the past couple of days, have had many opportunities to get frustrated and discouraged with ourselves, our investigators, and other things. But we didn't :) Haha there was one particular day where things did not go very well that night, and during our daily planning it was really easy to tell that both our minds were elsewhere. So we got our pillows, brought them into the study room and took a couple minutes to just scream into our pillows. It turned into laughter after a little while and it felt great haha. You gotta love missionary life :) IT'S THE BEST THING EVER!!!!!

We are working with so many amazing people right now. We have 4 friends progressing towards baptism in May right now, and they are all working really hard to keep their commitments! It is so much fun. G..., A... (name changed), T..., B.... and his son, D.... and two of her kids all came to church. It was amazing. There were so many people at church this week and it sounded like a zoo in Sacrament Meeting. Our ward is a very big happy family so everyone sits with everyone during Sacrament and kids are running around from pew to pew. Not the most reverent thing ha but we have unity that's for sure! 

So A.... is amazing. WE met him through Church Headquarters, and at first we thought he was a less-active when we first talked to him! We found out that he really isn't a member, but he is totally prepared and excited about the gospel. He has been looking for the truth for years. Thank goodness for the Osmond family and being representatives of the church and a strong happy family throughout the years. That's what sold him on it haha. We met with him for the first time this week. As of now, he is loving the Book of Mormon, he has downloaded pretty much every gospel app possible and he is striving to live the word of wisdom before we've even taught him about it haha. Thanks to Mormon.org he pretty much knows everything about our church before he even met with us. He even downloaded "The District" and watched that several months ago! Haha he is so prepared that Sister Gillins and I were nervous that he really was a member playing a trick on us by letting us teach him. Since that has happened to us before... but this is for reals :)

I might get to sing in church for Mother's Day next week mommy! It'll be for you :)

Well I love you all. I have been loving the Book of Mormon lately and most definitely been loving focusing my studies on light and the Spirit. The Holy Ghost truly is such a gift and is SO IMPORTANT for people to understand and recognize when learning about the gospel. It's so much fun to study but even more fun to APPLY!!!

Make it a great week! Family I am excited to talk with you next week! Come up with some great questions you would like to ask me. I promise I will answer them :) haha Keep your standards!

Sister Bodine