Character of Christ

Hi family and friends!

So funny tracting story from the week :) Haha It brings a smile to my face just typing it out in an email.. So first house of the day we knock on this past Saturday, the door flung open with the cutest little lady standing there. So spunky, brightest hot pink robe on, and a fun hat turned backwards, just all by her lonesome jamming out to some music.. She even blew her nose with a bandanna. Every detail about this lady just was darling.  She said she was in the middle of some spring cleaning but would listen to us for a second! Yay, we happily stepped in her house and I asked how her cleaning was going, she mentioned just wonderful! She started to tell us how there was a light way up high in her bathroom that needed to still be cleaned on the inside but was a little to high for her.. I told her well i'm tall let me take a look at it to see if I can get it! So there I am in her bath tub waiting for her to bring a little stool in for me to stand on, and I hear a squeal from out in the hallway. Both my companion and I looked at each other like oh no, what just happened! She came running in and said her dog had left a little "doo doo" in the hallway and one of us had stepped in it. I looked at the bottom of my foot and realized it was me. I chuckled a little and she said she would clean it all up. I wasn't worried one bit, I mean everyone steps in something yucky every once in a while, especially here in New England where everyone, and I mean everyone has at least 8 animals! ;) So then, I proceeded to clean the light as she takes my boot and drops it right in her TOILET!! Hahaha I couldn't believe my eyes.. Lol she just stuck her hands right in that thing and started to scrub the poop off my boot. Most people probably would have been mature about it. But for some reason I got the giggles and couldn't stop chuckling.. I am standing in some spunky and random ladies bathroom cleaning her light and she is washing my poopy boot in a toilet with her hands... there really is no point to this story other then I walked out of her house with the cleanest boot that anyone ever did see! ;) Oh and we did leave her with a message that she really liked, but she said she was very set in her beliefs and ways.

On a more spiritual note everyone should go to helives.mormon.org :) It is such an awesome video that we get to go out and share with everyone we see! I feel very grateful for this week. It is such a blessing to know that we have a Savior that lives, and that he is here with each and everyone of us. This week during my morning studies I have been studying a talk from Elder Bednar called the Character Of Christ. Talk about an amazing talk. I have felt such a spirit and greater love for Him as I have read more and more about His character. I am forever grateful for His Character and His sacrifice for us. A quote that I really liked from Elder Neal A. Maxwell is that "Without Christs Sublime Character there could have been no sublime atonement." The Character of Jesus Christ is remarkable! He is really an absolutely perfect man. Which I love dearly and am eternally indebted unto Him forever. I would not be here today without the hope and grace He gives me daily.

I hope you all enjoy Easter Sunday, and remember Christ that day!! I am so excited to Feast upon the words of Christ this week by watching General conference.  I feel very grateful to be on my mission this day, and will continue trying my best to be a good representative of Jesus Christ.

I love the Lord, and I love our Father who sent him. I truly know with all my heart that my Redeemer Lives.

Hope you all have a wonerful wonerful week <3

XoXo

Sister Bee

I sent Tay a package last week so she sent me a picture with it! It might have made me tear up a little- I miss that girl!

"You know when Taylie tries to do something crafty in cooking and it usually fails?  haha I dont even know what happened to the middle of the cake we made him for his birthday.. but it tasted really good! ANYWAY he is from Pocatello Idaho and is serving here with me. Its kind of crazy cause we know a few of the same people. Elder Redford is his name! He is related to some wards that live close by or somethin... small world!"

Visiting a sweet sister who is so full of love!

I sent Tay a package of muffins to make and apparently she liked them! 

HAPPY EASTER! From Sister Bee and Sister Harper!

5 Month Mark!

Hi Family and Friends!

Here is a little weekly update.. Glad to hear you are all doing good :) This week we were just so busy! We were running to and fro to appointments and meetings, but it made for a good and fast week :)

The highlight of the week is that we were very blessed to find two new investigators! We had shared a brief message about Christ with them last week, and this week we taught how the gospel was restored back to the earth. The spirit was definitely there, and they both felt it. After the lesson Raj even asked if he could come to church!? haha I don't think "well of course!!" Has ever shot out of my mouth so fast. They are honestly the sweetest couple, both Catholic, and have a beautiful 4 year old little girl named Mia. Like seriously this family is so lovable, and full of love. They are from India, but speak really good English. They even were cooking some Indian food when we showed up and sent us home with some. They loved how The Gospel Of Jesus Christ is centered on Families, and how we can be together forever. I am more than grateful and excited to continue to teach them. This is the second Indian family I have taught on my mission. Here in Maine there are all sorts of different religions and cultures here, as well as little church houses all around. This week we talked to 3 different people on the same street that were all from different backgrounds. We met someone that was Jewish, the next house we knocked at were Buddhist and the next was Hindu.  We joked in hope that the next house would be Christian. 

I saw you guys went to the farm this week. How fun! I miss that place. New dogs and cows.. Wow! It'll be like Christmas when I get back. Glad to hear you're all doing good :) I met a mom with the cutest little boy and baby girl at the Augusta food bank this week, and it just got me excited to love on Cam and Brin, and all of you when I get home! April 1st is coming up... Ty ty.. happy birthday, I hope all your wildest dreams come true.:) Man oh man how I love April! I'm super excited for general conference, and for Easter!! 

Yesterday I hit my 5 month mark of being out on my mission.. is that for real? So for celebration of that, my ward asked me to give a talk on missionary work.. Haha as I prepared for my talk the thought every member a missionary was running through my head so that is what I focused a portion of my talk on, as well as all we have to have to serve God is a desire! We had a dinner with a super cool family Sunday night and they fed us the yummiest spaghetti!. They had ended up missing church this week because they were up really late the night before, their daughter Bree is thinking of going on a mission so the mom made me give a summary of my talk around the dinner table, haha luckily it was still in my bag and I was so happy to give it again! 

There was a quote that I wrote down from a zone conference we had this week and I just loved it! It reads, "If you want a faith promoting experience, you have to do something that requires faith!" Our mission President also said something that stuck out to me.. It was that when we hit hard times in life, on our missions, at work, all we gotta do... is "go and do, not sit and stew" and things will get better! I have definitely done both in my life, and have seen a big difference when I go and do and think of others, rather than just sitting and stewing!

I hope you all have great great week!! I love you, and miss you always. :)

XoXo

Sister Bee

Still loving Sister Harper, we work so hard together and get along great! 

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Cute Sisters

There is a road under all that snow!

Because it is! :)

Cute puppy!

A Glimpse of Spring and Sunday Miracles!

So this week was a good one, worked hard, and followed by some miracles!

Tuesday I went down to Manchester New Hampshire and received my new companion Sister Harper. She is from Boise Idaho and has been out for 7 and a half months. We work well together! I call her my Ida-homie, and we have a good time serving together. So with new transfers comes a new district! Can I get a woot woot cause my District is awesome? Had a great district meeting and really learned lots on how we can all be better missionaries. And the two cute Senior Sisters are still in the District which is wonderful because they are so cute and fun and make us some yummy lunch on Wednesdays.

The weather is finally turning around. YIPEE!! I bet you could hear me yell that in Utah from Maine. Long, but good winter, but I'm so excited for spring and some good weather. The big new weather talk that everyone can't stop talking about is mud season! Which I can already see it taking place because both my companion and I had to wear our mud/rain boots while tracting this week.

We had some good meal appointments with the ward members this week. We had them with the Fletchers, The Mittions, and The Dawbins. Grateful for a good ward, and I loved being able to introduce Sister Harper to some families!  We did service at the Augusta Food Bank which went swell, its always fun to meet people there. We also served homeless of Augusta at the South Perish Church which was a really cool experience. It is just such a blessing to live in Utah, in cute little Tremonton. I am so so thankful for that. It tends to get me to think of all the times I complained in the past or all of the times that I have been selfish and haven't shown enough gratitude.. One of the thoughts that came to my mind was all the times that I didn't have the best attitude about doing the dishes when I was home... For heaven sakes Taylie, Sister Bee.... How blessed was I to even have dishes in the sink to clean... and to have food that was just on them!! Being here has helped humble me extremely. I still have a long ways to go, but I am thankful that Heavenly Father has shown me ways I can be more humble.

So last night (Sunday) Miracle night, and I know that Heavenly Fathers hand was in it all. So we have been trying for a least a month and half to set up an appointment with the cutest couple, Brandon and Elizabeth! I met them on Black Friday when my old companion and I helped shovel a ton of snow off their car. We ran into Elizabeth a few times at the hospital when we do our service there. They are newly married and have a baby on the way. Her due date is August 21st, a day after Tawnies! (Actually before, she can't get our of her mind that my due date is August 20, but it is really August 30th :)) We have stopped by their house at least 7 times and have only caught the husband home. This last time he gave us their number and told us to call or text him to set up an appointment. So we did, and we met with them last night.. We taught them the restoration and about Joseph Smith, they loved it! And were super excited that we have a living prophet today! So the best part of the whole thing was that we left their home with.. 2 new investigators!!! Ahhh I am more than excited to be able to continue to meet with them and let them know how much our Heavenly Father loves them and wants to bless their new little family!!... After the lesson it was cold, late, snowing and dark.. but we decided to man up and tract a little bit.. after a few doors shut in our face we decided to do the typical missionary saying "one last house"... Well that one last house was a success!.. The man that answered was on the phone with his girlfriend that was Mormon. I asked who his girlfriend was and I actually had seen her at church once or twice. He handed the phone over to me and we talked for a bit, she is so stinkin cute! She told me she wants to whip her boyfriend into shape, and so that's what Sister Harper and I are going to try to do ;) We're going to try to meet with him and her sometime soon in the future. Sorry about the long paragraph, I just had to share a little bit from our awesome night.

We had a wonderful stake conference in Topsham, and Farmindale Maine this weekend. There were some beautiful talks that were given at the meeting. Something cool from it was that I wrote down and prayed about a question I needed an answer to, I asked that I would be able to figure out an answer for it at stake conference. Well word for word my question got answered. I was extremely thankful for that too.. Thankful that our Stake President was in tune, and could help me know even more how aware God is of his Children. I know that Our Father in Heaven does answer prayers, its just in his timing and in his ways. Patience is the key :) He is so so aware of each of us, and wants to help us get through this crazy world we live in.

I love this gospel and know it gives us so many reasons to rejoice! No matter what our circumstances are, with the Grace of God we can be grateful and can get through any trial. During one of our lessons with awesome Elliot we read a talk from the April 2014 conference together and it was by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, so you know its going to be a good one! It talked about how life is oh so hard and how trials do come our way... but through it all we can show gratitude to our Savior. "Sooner or later, I believe that all of us experience times when the very fabric of our world tears at the seams, leaving us feeling alone, frustrated, and adrift... There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious... We can be grateful!!" He said gratitude is a way of life, we can focus on being thankful in our circumstances--whatever they may be. The choice is ours! "When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still life up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ's Atonement. In the cold of bitter and sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heavens embrace." I know that each and every one of us can work of having more of an overall spirit or attitude of gratitude. My favoritest quote from the talk was:"How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"

Alma 37:37 Let (our) heart be full of thanks unto God.

I know that Christ lives, and that we are children of an Almighty God who loves and cares for each of us. Choose to be grateful no matter what!

The wonderful new companion Sister Harper. Its been only one week, and already love her lots!

Two awesome ladies that are in my ward :) We rode down to Topshom to Stake Conference with them. They even bought us some Mcdonalds on the way home. Love them to death!

Have a WONDERFUL week. I love and miss you all oh so much!

Sister Bee

Arabic Lessons and a Mission Conference

MONDAY MARCH 9

Heyy :)

I hope everyone is doing good. I wish I had more time to email, but todays is going to be a little short.  Crazy Monday where things will be getting changed around tomorrow. Tomorrow is transfer meeting in New Hampshire Manchester. I will be receiving a new companion but staying here in Augusta Maine for another 6 weeks! I'm excited to see whats ahead, and am so grateful I got to have Sister Collins as my trainer and companion for three transfers. I learned so much from her and am so thankful for the friendship we've created through being companions. 

I want to share a little quick story this of this week when we were tracting and we knocked on a families door that didn't know English. They were from Iraq and spoke arabic! They hurried and called someone in their family that knew english and he said he'd be there in 5 minutes! So we waited patiently smiling at the two cute little kids in front of us. We taught them the restoration lesson as their friend Gazii translated back and forth. Once we got to the part about Joseph Smith and his prayer, the sweetest and strongest spirit came into the room. My heart wanted to melt! We told them that we would get them a Book Of Mormon in Arabic and bring it over. Luckily the next day we went to Exeter New Hampshire for a missionary conference and so we had the mission office bring us a Book Of Mormon and a few pamphlets and lessons in Arabic. Who knows if this will go anywhere for right now, but I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity I had to teach them the restoration. 

So about this mission conference!! It was SO AWESOME! we had 3 amazing speakers come and talk with us. Elder Hallstrom which he is from the Presidency of the 70, and Elder Causse and he is in the Presiding Bishopric, and then Elder Bennette from the Area 70. Such a wonderful day I'll never forget! I'm hoping next week I'll be able to have more time to tell you some of the things I LOVED from their talks. Such a spiritual day as a missionary.

Have a wonderful week family. Love you so much. You're always in my heart and prayers.

Sister Bee

It's a polka dot thing!

"Went and spent two days in Yarmouth ME this week with Sister Tarawhiti! She's awesome, we had a lot of fun and did a lot of good work together! She goes home Wednesday:( But It was a fun exchange and we got to see the ocean that is behind us!"

Tay's best pal in their ward.

Mission conference! Complete with a photobomber!

Their ward mission leader brought them eggs from their chicken and Taylie couldn't believe how little that one egg was!

We can't wait to hear from Tay next week as she has her new week with her new companion! 

Let Your Light So Shine!

MONDAY MARCH 2nd

It was a good week here as a missionary in Augusta, Maine. Mainards say it "Auguster" though haha. Everything with an A on the end of it they change it into an R. For example " I had a good idear" or "Almar" or "You want some pizzar" It's quite funny! Haha

This week just flew by, I don't have much to update on.. But I'm doing good, and I'm loving being a missionary.

Oh... one funny story is that I got attacked by a women's dog this week named Molly. It was HUGE and OVERLY Friendly haha. It also didn't help that I had a yellow piece of paper in my hand, which the owner later told me it looked like a dog biscuit. So as the lady ran into her house to grab a real dog biscuit, you can imagine me getting attacked. It was so funny, but also so scary at the same time! haha it was one of those awkward moments I had no idea how to make it stop. I hope this is not one of those "you had to be there stories"... Anyways it wasn't even worth it, cause the lady said no to hearing a message from us... but I can tell you I will never forget the dog Molly. 

So this week a lot of our appointments were falling through. The people we had planned to visit just weren't home or they didn't want to listen. It got to be around the time for lunch on Saturday and I was feeling a little bummed, so Sister Collins and I just decided to grab some Arbys. (Food and a little breather can heal everything right? ;)) So kind of a cool story from what happened when we were there.. When I was ordering my food the lady read my name tag and stared at it for a minute. She then looked up with tears in her eyes and said "Will you pray for my mom?" I said sure, and asked if everything was okay? She said that her mom had passed away this morning, and she was really struggling. Which I don't blame her! I said of course I would pray for her and her mom, I also gave her a card with our number on it and the address of our church house. All I could really say to her since Arbys was so busy was " I know that we'll see our loved ones again." I was so thankful we decided to go to Arbys, and that we ran into that lady. I truly hope she'll give us a call or at least know she'll see her mom again.

  

I feel like I needed her to snap me out of my down mood, to remember that there is always an opportunity to help someone or to share the gospel with someone, and to try our best to always let our lights so shine..One of my favorite scriptures since I came on my mission is in 3 Nephi 12:14-16. "Verily verily I say unto you, I give unto you to be a light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candle, and it giveth light to all that are in the house; Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven."

I love this gospel and I want everyone to be able to feel the happiness that I feel from knowing Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that if we pray to be able to serve or help someone the Lord will put them in our way. 

The mormon channel link I shared below was a message we shared with a family this week. I loved how it shows how big of an influence we can have on others by our choices. I know that each and everyone of us have a very special light within us..So let your light so shine, and I promise we'll be able to bless others and we'll also be blessed for it. I have seen it make the biggest difference out here on my mission. 'When we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God," (Mosiah 2:17)

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/gordon-hinckley-lessons-i-learned-as-a-boy-1

I hope you all have a good week! And always remember how much I love you all. Xoxo

Sister Bee

This week we went to visit a less active. He said his wife was sick right now so it wasn't the best time for a visit. But he was the nicest man, he also took us out behind his house and showed us all of his animals! Chickens, bunnies, and 2 little goats!! The goats were so cute, and I kinda just fell in love with them. They were so funny, oh and they can jump so high!! This goats name was Fern, and it kept trying to eat my skirt and my hair.. hahah I couldn't stop laughing. I really think we should get some short funny goats for our farm when I get home. 

It's very likely that it is the last week these two Sisters will be companions. They have accomplished so much, and have also endured the frigid weather together! We are thankful they had a great companionship!

Their big mission-wide conference is Saturday and they will have the opportunity to hear from a general authority! This is when they find out the news about transfers.

We love Sister Bee!