Letter 44 - Be a Fearless Missionary

Wow. I am happy, working and feel like I am growing faster than I ever have before. Mississauga is a blessed place. I can't even begin to explain the joy that I feel inside right now. Talking with people about the gospel is the ONLY thing I want to do. Haha and whenever we are sitting working on something for a while, I get cabin fever for going out and talking to people. GOSH I JUST LOVE MY MISSION SO MUCH!!!!

So Sister Hsiung is amazing. She has been out for.... 11 transfers I think? She is from California but her family is originally from Taiwan. And while she was on her mission her family moved to China! She was in Chinese work, but got moved to English work. Thankfully there are a lot of Chinese people in Mississauga and we have a Chinese unit in our ward so she gets to speak it a lot! I am having so much fun, and also working so hard. We are completely focused on the work, we teach in unity, we are constantly setting mini goals, and we laugh A LOT. We have taken the principle of talking with everyone up a notch. Right when we step out of the car we both split up and find EVERYONE. It's a total divide and conquer and then we come together and tell all our cool stories and make plans of how we can improve. We are striving to teach simpler, be more effective with our time, and help out our sisters even more. This is going to be an amazing transfer.

So when we got here, Sister Stoddard and Hsiung had just cleared everyone out of there teaching pool, saving only a few haha so we were starting from square one which I LOVE. God has blessed us with so many miracles already. We met a woman named M... on Sunday - we brought a senior missionary couple to teach her with us. It went amazing. We dropped by her house the next day, and she had read the first 10 chapters of the Book of Mormon. She FEELS strongly that the Book is true, Joseph Smith is "absolutely a prophet" because everything she knew before and all her questions are just falling into place perfectly. She is so excited to have friends because she is very lonely. She has so many talents that will bless the ward. God answers everyone's prayers. He answered M...'s. He answered ours. And He answered the ward's all in one contact. It's amazing.

This ward is unbelievable. They are so missionary minded. It is a very small ward - barely enough people it seems like to fill the needed spots. Our Bishop is amazing. He looks out for everyone. The entire ward is loving, welcoming, hard-working. The minute an investigator steps into the building, they are immediately welcomed with open arms and invited by someone to sit by them. It's the best :) And what's an EXTRA bonus? No one plays the piano here either! Haha when I was still in Toronto, Bishop Fuller called, introduced himself, welcomed me to the ward, and invited me to play the piano for sacrament meeting, and give a talk! I gladly accepted :) I love playing the piano.

We went on exchanges on Saturday and I was blessed to exchange in Toronto YSA with my dear friend Sister Howle. It was so much fun getting to serve with her and learn from her. She is such a solid missionary - I really learned the power that comes from connecting with your investigators so they feel comfortable to share their feelings and concerns with you. 

I don't have much time left but I wanted to share something I learned when writing my talk: In my talk, I was asked to compare Christ's ministry with our ministry as disciples. One thing that really stuck out to me was the experience of Peter walking on water. It was an experience that seems unreal and impossible. Yet it happened. When we are serving the Lord, we should expect miracles. It is our duty to exercise our faith, and trust that the Lord will step in. I have seen that many times in my mission. I have come to see that the times when I simply exercise my faith and do what the Lord wants me to do, I find myself walking on water. Prepared people stepped into our path, I know exactly what I need to say in a lesson, investigators receive answers to their prayers. I trust in God, and as a result, God trusts me. I hope to ALWAYS walk on water so that I can ALWAYS see the salvation of God in my life. Because He is there.

I love you family! Thank you for everything! Remember to ALWAYS expect miracles from God. He will answer our prayers, He will lift us up, He will strengthen us when we look to Him. Make it a great week and know that Canada is the best country in the world! ;) hehe I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Sister Bodine

I like to eat full fish, bones and everything :)

Best Family Picture EVER!! Sister Droge (Grandbaby), Sister Gillens (daughter), Me, Sister Mendenhall (mommy), and Sister Reeves (my Sister!!! - Sister Mendenhall is training her!!:))

Me and my companion :)