Such a great week!

Hey there everyone!!! First off, my spell-check isn't on, so I'm sorry if my spelling is horrible!
Anyways, this week was so great!!! We have TWO new investigators! We aren't alowed to say their names because of privacy issues, but they're fantastic!!!
One of them, we were teaching him yesterday and we were teaching about the restoration of the gospel, and we were explaing what the holy ghost feels like, and as soon as we explained it, he said he could feel a warm breeze (we were outside) and a chill went up his arms! SO COOL! Totally the spirit working with him!
I'm feeling more comfortable talking with people, so that's great! We're so busy, but it's so great! I'm still loving being a missionary and being in California!
This week we taught a lot of members, the stake presidentcy has a lesson that we teach all the members, so that's pretty cool.. It's hard to explain, but just know it's awesome! So I've been getting to know a lot of people! It's so great!! I think I got that from you Dad, the always talking! Haha, people ask me how long I've been out, and are shocked when they find out how new I am! I love it! It makes me feel good inside ;)

I ate at in an out this week!! But, I was pretty dissapointed! It was good, but not as good as everyone said it would be :P

I swear, everytime I get on here I forget what I've been needing to tell y'all!!
The struggle man!!
Sister Taylor and I still get along great!!! We've actually been getting to bed somewhat on time this week!!! Such a blessing!!! I love sleep so much!!
This week we've really grown closer together, she's such a humble person! We can relate to many of the same things, so we're really close! I don't know what I'm gonna do when she's not my companion anymore!! D:

Yesterday we taught a little boy, M. He's about 8-9ish, so he reminded me of my primary kids back home! I forgot how much I love teaching kids! They're just so sweet and innocent, I just love them!
We taught him at our stake presidents house, so that was a little bit intimidating, but was still pretty legit!

This ward (church congregation) is super legit!! They feed us amazing food every night! It's great, but I'm gaining so much weight D: It's no bueno!!

I love teaching out here so much! We have one investigator that should be getting baptized this month, along with her son! So that's super exciting! I love seeing people change out here, they change in such a spiritual way that it's very humbling to me! I'm so thankful that God has provided a way for us to live with him again! I know that this gospel blesses me so much! And I'm so thankful be able to bring this joy that I have to the people out here! I know I say it all the time, but I'm SO blessed!!

So funny moment of the week!! Sister Taylor and I had just woken up and for whatever reason we were talking about bathrooms! Weird, I know.
But we were talking about them and all the suden, Sister Taylor goes "You know, in a way, bathrooms are kinda sacred" And me being me I said "I KNOW RIGHT??? -pause-.... Wait.. How so?" And we just started cracking up!!! Mind you it was at 6:30 in the morning so that was probably it.. But it was great!

I'm running out of time, but I'm so thankful for each of y'all!!! I love hearing about all of y'alls experiences! And even just emails saying that y'all are thinkinf of me! I have so much support when others don't and I'm so very thankful for each of y'all!!

I love it so much out here and I KNOW that this is where God wants me to be!!! We have about 14 appointments to teach people this week, and it's such a blessing! I'm so thankful to be a missionary!
Teaching out here is the coolest thing ever! I wish I could tell y'all more, but the privacy issues are pretty lame out here :P But you gotta respect that!!

Anyways, I sure do love each of y'all!!! I'll try to write more exciting things next week though!!!

Love y'all!!!!

Love, Lyndy

PS! I bought ice cream from an ice cream truck for the first time ever!!! It was delicious! I think coldstone got me addicted to ice cream though.. I still eat it like every day! Hahaha

Love y'all!!!!!!!!

Picture Overload

(Any comments on the pictures are being provided by me- Brittany.)

Lyndy said Australian chocolate is the best!

According to Lyndy their neighborhood is a little sketchy. They heard some commotion one day and looked outside to find a police car, fire truck, ambulance, and someone being taken out on a stretcher.

California

Ohmygoodness gracious! I just love it here SO much!!!!! Thank you to everyone that has been writing me! I wish I could respond to each of y'all, but I don't have any time! But please know that I'm SO thankful for the emails and letters! They just brighten my day so much!!!

So this week was SO crazy! I flew in Tuesday morning, met President Hobbs and Sister Hobbs, they're seriously some of the sweetest people ever! I just love them SO much!!! That night we a few of us sisters slept over at their place! And ohmygoodness, it was beautiful! I was so scared to touch anything because of how pretty it was! Haha, but it was great!
The next morning we had some training, and I met my new companion! Her name is Sister Taylor! She's from AULSTRAILIA!!!!! We get along SO great! Hahaha, maybe too great at times.. We're having issues going to bed on time because we end up talking when we're supposed to be planning.. BUT we made it a goal to go to bed on time this week!

So before Sister Taylor and I left to go to our apartments, President Hobbs wanted to interview me again, and guess what he told me.
I'M THE DRIVER FOR OUR CAR! These California drivers are SCARY!!!!!!!! I'm pretty sure I've almost gotten in a car accident everyday. Thank goodness The Lord protects his missionaries though!!

Anyways, Saturday we had mission conference, so all the missionaries serving in Rancho Cucamonga, and the missionaries serving in Redlands all came to our stake center and we got to hear from elder Neil L. Anderson!!! How cool is that? First week here and I'm already hearing from an Apostle!!!! He spoke a ton of how we need to have Christ image in our image. It was SO powerful having him there!
He also told us that when assigning mission calls, that they save the best for the USA! So that made me feel pretty great! ;)
He told us how if the church were to fail in the USA, that it would be extremely hard for it to stay together all over the world... So the best stay in the states! So that made me feel good! :D

I'm trying to remember everything else! There has been so much happening that I'm having issues remembering everything.

I'm in Ontario though! It's pretty legit! The weather here is GORGEOUS!!!!!! It's still kinda dry and hot.. But it's perfect like legit. EVERY DAY!
My ward is SUPER nice!!! They feed us every night! Thank goodness! But I'm gaining weight like crazy! So you should write me tons of pinterest workouts! Or any workouts! I would greatly appreciate it!

We have a car!! We're one of the few that do! Almost everyone here is on a bike, there are some sisters in our district on bikes.. One of those sisters was on crutches this week because of an infection in her foot.. And she still had to bike everywhere... I felt super bad about that D: But we don't control the car situation :P
But we've been giving everyone rides! So blessings for us! ;)

So funny story! The first day driving here, I totally got cussed out.. I kinda cut someone off without meaning to, and the guy gave me the finger and gave me a few choice words.. Haha, but I'm learning the ways of California! So when I get back home I'll be able to be a WONDERFUL driver! ;) Hahaha but fo real. People are scary out here!

I love being a missionary SO much! Like everything about it! I love talking to everyone, and I love being able to see Gods hand in everything around our day!
He places so many people for us to talk to! Right now we're teaching a few people, I'm still trying to get everyones names straight.. But everyone here is super solid!
I love being able to feel the spirit everywhere I go! And when I'm stuck, feeling my words being guided!
I'm still a bit scared to open my mouth and talk, but it's just something for me to work on! What would the world be like if we were perfect? We wouldn't need to be here!!! I love learning and growing!!! It's so wonderful!!!!

I'm not sure how much time I have left, but just know that I know that this is the restored church of Jesus Christ! I know that it is true, if I didn't know that, I wouldn't be on a mission!

I love each of y'all SO much!! I'm so thankful for each of y'all!!! I'm so blessed to have y'all in my life!!!

Keep on praying for me! I'm praying for each of y'all back home!!!
I love y'all!!!!!

Love,
Lyndy

PS: Funny story of the week!! Sister Taylor and I were teaching Gospel essentials yesterday, so as we were teaching, I said "y'all" and everyone just looked at me in confusion! Everyone knows me here as the southern sister! Hahaha, it's great! I just laugh because I'm not that southern!! I just love it!!!

LOVE Y'ALL!!!!!<3 Have a great week!!!!

Location:California

I'm a missionary now!

AHH! Hey everyone! How are y'all???  I sure do love the MTC!! It's seriously SO amazing! My companion is sister treadwell! She's from Texas, so she's pretty great! We seriously get along SO well!!! I just love her! 

I share a room with two other sisters, both are from Idaho, and we're already so close! 

We have just another set of Elders in our district, they're pretty amazing as well! They're both from Utah, and are a little quiet, but they're starting to open up and talk now, so they're pretty cool!

My teachers here are so amazing! Now that I think of it, everything is amazing! Our classes are the best.

The days are a little bit long, but they're SO worth it! Literally every hour of the day has something planned, we get up at 6:30, and go to bed between 10:30-11:00, so it's SO nice going to bed at night!

We have three investigators right now, possibly four, but I'll explain the last one later ;) 

But all of our investigators are members, but they act as if they're not, so it's amazing teaching them. 

I swear it's the coolest feeling in the world when you literally feel the spirit guiding your words, and while you're planning lessons and everything. It's truly amazing.

Yesterday we were teaching John, which was our second time teaching him, our first lesson with him was really awkward, he didn't like to talk, so it was kinda just like us teaching opposed to actually having a discussion... 

Anyways, yesterday while teaching him he asked a question about why God doesn't just tell us everything we need to know right now.. Anyways, I gave an analogy of a book and how we don't want to just read the last chapter, it would ruin the story! Anyways, after I said that, his entire apperance   changed. He totally understood what we were saying! It was amazing. 

Once my companion and I were evaluating our lesson, sister treadwell told me she had the exact same thought to explain it like a book. 

Coinsidence? I THINK NOT! Totally the spirit talking!!! Amazing.

Also, yesterday, we have this thing called TRC where you basically go and teach another "investigator" but without your teachers watching you, which is pretty cool.. Anyways, as we were going to go teach Rachel (our person) we found out that she was late.. So we were just waiting for her to show up, and this man comes up to sister treadwell and I, he saw that we were holding our bible and book of mormon, and started asking a million questions about it.. And then continued to ask questions about what we believe and just a million other questions! We ended up talking to him for about 45 minutes while we waited for Rachel, he ended up being a REAL investigator looking for missionaries to teach him. 

SO COOL! Now we're trying to find out how to get in touch with him, His name is Carlos.. And he's pretty amazing! It was TOTALLY The Lords hand in placing him in our path. 

Right after that amazing little moment, we taught Rachel.. And ohmygoodness! BEST LESSON EVER! It went SO well!!! I love being a missionary SO much!!! It brings me SO much joy!

Yesterday, before all the good, my companion and I kinda had a breakdown? Not bad, just overwhelmed  by everything, totally expected, but I'm so thankful for my trials because they bring me so much closer to the Savior, it's the best feeling ever after a trial and seeing your growth. I love it.

Oh, apparently I don't have to fake a southern accent! Apparently I already have one? I can't go anywhere without people asking me if I'm from the South.. My district always make jokes about it and try to impersonate me.. It's rather funny! What's great is I'm starting to rub off on them! Now they're saying y'all and everything! It's great!

I SMELLED THE CREAM SODA TREE!!!!!! IT SMELLS LIKE IT SOUNDS!!! SO COOL!!!!!!!! Hahahahaha, it brought me so much joy!

I can't send any pictures right now, mainly because I don't have a cord to hook my camera up to.. So if you want to send me one, I would greatly appreciate it!!!

Oh, my companion and I are the Sister training leaders in our zone, so that's pretty cool! Basically we're in charge of all of our sisters in our zone, right now it's just my district, but tomorrow we have a new district coming in, so we'll get to help them find their way around and basically be in charge of them.. So that's pretty cool! We have more meetings than the other sisters because of that.. So it kinda cuts into our study time, so that's a bummer D:

I'm trying to think of what else.. .And what other questions y'all had..

BIG shout out to Jessica for writing me everyday!! Those letters make me so happy! I normally get them at night, so it's nice knowing that people actually remember me ;) Now that y'all forget, but letters are the best!

I love the restrooms in our residence hall, every time you go in there, someone is singing a disney song! Disney is EVERYWHERE. It's pretty awesome! 

Sister Treadwell and I are normally singing frozen.. So that's pretty great!

HA. So the other day, we were walking up the steps to go into our classroom and started quoting frozen, and you know that part where Olaf is kinda in several pieces? Well he says "Quick! Grab my butt" and sister Treadwell said it RIGHT in front of some elders.. It was the FUNNIEST THING! I was dying.. Isn't it great to know that I'm still immature? Haha, maybe I'm just tired.. I dunno.

Oh! I'll also be able to call y'all when I leave the MTC! So it'll be early in the morning, but I can fo sho call! 

Brittany, be sure to send me a dearelder with your phone number if you would like for me to call you bright and early! ;)

We're going to the temple later today, so that's pretty awesome! I'm pretty excited about that!

Our devotionals are seriously the greatest! Pretty much anywhere you go, the spirit is there. It's the best feeling in the world, I swear!  I feel so at home here, you know how I felt kinda awkward at home? Like I was just waiting to grow? Well now I feel like that's happening to me!! It's the best!!! I just love it!!

Yesterday one of our elders gave me a priesthood blessing, I was fine, but I felt impressed to ask him for one.. So I did and it was one, amazing for me, tons of answers to my prayers.. And two, amazing for him. It was his first time giving one, and by the time we said amen, everyone was in tears. It was amazing.

Church is pretty great... It's weird not being at home for church though! 

I missed my primary kids this week! Who is teaching them now? I miss my kids hugs.. Those were pretty amazing.

I kinda need to go now, but I sure do love y'all!!! I pray for y'all every night and can feel your prayers SO much!! I love y'all!!!!

-Sister Lyndy Bond

PS: Feel free to send me stamps! There were other things.. But I don't remember what they were D: I'll probably write it in a letter if I remember... Love y'all!!!!!! 

Welcome To The MTC

Lyndy made it to the Missionary Training Center this past Wednesday. Her best friend was able to drop her off. She's officially there!