Answering a Prayer

Hello there!! This week was good! A little bit longer, but it was still good!!
Not a lot of exciting things happened, but it was still a great week!!

Ernie is still progressing, he has a new baptismal date for May 30th, so we're praying all will go well!!
We passed Reyna off to the other sisters, which was super depressing because I just love her so much!! But the Spanish sisters are great, so I know she's in good hands.
We haven't really had the chance to meet with our other investigators much this week, but we will this coming week! We're praying that all goes well! People like to cancel on us a lot, but it's still good!!

We have a new potential! Her name is Donna! So, cool story.
Sister Cobabe and I were starting the car, and all the sudden a puppy pops out!!! So what do we do. We turn the car off and go and pet her! After petting her, we see that she doesn't have a name tag, so we decided to find it's owner, so we were knocking doors, and knocked one door and a young guy opened the door and guess what! We had found the owner!
Apparently Donna had just said a prayer when we knocked on her door. She had been searching all morning and had given up and prayed. Next thing she knows, we're at her door!
She let us in and we started talking.. Apparently she hasn't been agreeing with what her church has been teaching lately, and has been looking for a new church!
Everything we brought up with her, she agreed with.
So now we're just waiting to meet with her again! Cool huh? It's amazing to me to see how fast God can answer our prayers!

This week was a lot harder to find different homes, and where to go. I'm still not great with directions, so we got lost several times this week.. But we're getting it!! Thank goodness we have a map to help us find out where to go!!

We're still working with the G. family! We're actually taking them on a church tour tonight!! So that should be great! They're pretty nervous about going back to church since they haven't been in years, so we offered to show them around, and they accepted! So that's pretty great!

Something I really learned this week, is that the Spirit speaks in every language! We went with to a lesson to see Reyna, and the Spanish sisters taught it all in Spanish, so I had no idea what they were saying.. But it didn't matter, the spirit was there! The good thing about how the spirit feels, is that it's personal to you. It doesn't matter what language someone is speaking in. You can feel peace, warmth, and comfort in ALL languages.
I'm so thankful for that! And to be able to share that with everyone around me, is such a blessing.
Sure it's hard sometimes, but the atonement of Jesus Christ was harder. He died for us, so that we can have peace and joy, and that's the message that I have the blessing to share with those around me. It's very humbling.

This week was hard, but it was worth it. I've already grown so much!! I love being able to grow!

So, funny story! We were eating dinner this week with and elderly couple.. And we were eating pizza, and I had finished my piece, and the elderly sister looks at me, then looks at her husband and says "Quick!! Get the little one more pizza!!!"
Haha, it's great to know that even though I'm still gaining weight, people still think I'm little!! It was pretty funny!

Anyways, I'll try to remember more about my week next Monday! Mothers day is coming up, so it's going to be exciting to Skype y'all!!!

I sure do love y'all!!!!! Thank you for all that y'all do back home!! I pray for so many of y'all.
I love y'all!!

Picture Catch Up

Sorry y'all! I haven't kept on top of Lyndy's pictures that she sends each week. I think this is the majority I've missed. Enjoy!
-Brittany

 She had to stay far away from the snake because she was scared of it- but apparently she got over her fear.

 Last day with Sister Taylor.

 New companion! Sister Cobabe!

Easter Week

Wow! What a week!! Transfers were a bummer, Sister Taylor has been transferred to Apple Valley.. AKA the desert! She'll be training again. So that's pretty cool.. We were extremely close, so it was a bummer seeing her leave.. But I know that the Lord wants this to happen, so there must be some pretty great things in store!

This week was great though!! I didn't take note of what happened though, so it's kinda hard to remember what happened this week and what happened last.. So I'm sorry if I repeat things!

We took Ernie on a church tour this week! That was FANTASTIC! We found out some of his concerns, and what exactly we need to teach him.. He promised he would be at church.. But didn't show.. So that was super depressing.. But all is well!

Reyna is doing well! We're thinking that we'll be handing her off to the Spanish sisters though... We found out she's not legally married, and in order to be baptized she'll need to be married.. But we can't talk to the husband because he doesn't speak English! Bummer!! But I'm sure everything will work out! I know it will.

Easter was great!! We went to church, which is always wonderful, and after that we went to the G. Family! The food was delicious! Ham and Jell-O eggs! Yum. They molded everything into Easter decorations/food... Anyways, the food looked adorable! I wish I got a picture of it!
After dinner, we went on an Easter egg hunt.. More of watched the kids run around, but it was pretty fun! It was kinda awkward though.. Most of the people avoided us.. BUT. It was still fun! We have SO much candy though!!! People out here keep giving us bags and bags of candy!! The candy is piling up!

Oh! I should probably tell y'all about my new companion! Her name is Sister Cobabe, she's from Utah! She's been out for about 10 months.. So she's pretty cool! Things are a little awkward right now since we just met and all... But I'm sure we'll break that awkwardness soon! I really like her so far though.

Have y'all watched the video called Because of him? It's on youtube, but also a Mormon.org video.. Anyways, it's pretty legit. I just love it! If you haven't seen it, you should look it up.
Because Jesus Christ died for us, we have SO many things. We have our family, we have our home, we have a body, we have peace, joy, and love. Plus SO many other things. We are so very blessed.
I would strongly encourage y'all to watch it!

We met Luz this week! She's a former investigator, but we're going to start teaching her again! So that's pretty exciting!

I'm kinda stumped on what else to say.. But this week was great!! It went by SO fast though!! A mission is like one long day with a ton of naps in the middle.. But it's great. I love every second of it! Can you believe it's almost been 2 months since I left??? CRAZY!!

Funny moment of the week! So we were talking with a member that came with us to our church tour with Ernie, and we were standing outside by our car right? Well Brother N. Told us how nice our car looked and asked if it still smelled like a new car.. Sister Taylor answered and said that it now smells like men! We had just gotten a new air freshener that smells like guys cologne.. It was pretty hilarious seeing his face! We aren't allowed to have guys in the car.. And hearing that it smells like men.. Anyways, it was pretty hilarious!!!!

I sure do love y'all!! I'm so thankful for each and everyone of y'all!!! I love hearing from everyone every week! I'm so blessed to see so many miracles every single day!
How are your studies going? Learn anything new or exciting??

Keep working hard! I love the feeling of when we're having a rough day, and we see a blessing clearly from God. It's the best feeling in the world.

I love each of you so much!! Have a great week! Got it?

Love you!!!!!!

Exciting week!

Hey there family!! What a week!! I haven't even been out 2 months and I've already been to the ER! As in emergency room! Super fun! Haha, before y'all freak out, I'm fine. I just had an infection in my eye!
I had some super fun symptoms, first my eye was totally red. Not good! I also had a ton of pressure on my eye, and on my left side of my head.. My vision was also going blurry, so the mission nurse decided that it would be best if I went to the Dr..... But seeing how I'm super special, she sent me to the ER instead.. They said it was just some sort of infection, so they gave me some fun medication and I'm all better now! That was one for my journal!! I thought about sending you my ER bracelet and not telling you anything.. But I'm not that mean ;)

But fo real. This week was great!! We met with Ernie again, and committed him to baptism! So now we have two investigators with a baptismal date. Just pray everything goes well! We're now seeing Ernie everyday, so that's great!
We haven't been able to meet with Reyna much this week, but we met her husband and found out he only speaks Spanish.. So that's kinda hard to teach.. So we might pass them off to the Spanish sisters.. Which is super hard because I just love Reyna and her family!!
But we're praying!!

We also have a new investigator! Her name is Michelle, she has a ton of health issues, sister Taylor used to teach her, but stopped because she kept canceling on her.. Anyways, she finally received a priesthood blessing (the priesthood is the power to act in Gods name) and she's doing a lot better! She told us how much peace she felt while she was getting the blessing.. Anyways, we have another appointment with her, and now she doesn't seem so flaky!

This week a lot of people canceled on us, so we knocked a lot of doors, but not a lot of people seemed interested.. Sad! This message can bless so many lives! And can bring so much peace and joy! Not to mention it strengthens your relationship with God.. But people slam the doors and reject it.. But, it's all good! One day I hope they give it a chance!

We've also been meeting with one of our Less active families, the G's. They're hoping to come to church the week after Easter, we'll be meeting with them on Easter with all of their family, so we're pretty excited!!!

I love the area that I'm in, we have a lot of elderly people, but they're SO kind! I just love them! I love talking to everyone, there are so many people out there, I love it!
I love when people tell me about their faith, even though they don't want to listen to us right now, they have something that keeps them going, something that gives them strength. And I'm thankful for that.

This transfer is almost over! So on Saturday we find out if we're staying or leaving! Scary.

Okay, now for the funny moment this week! Brittany, do you remember when you would always tell me about pro wrestling? Well it came in handy! .. Sort of.

Anyways, Sister Taylor were doing our companionship inventory, basically when we discuss our companionship and everything about it.
We read the question of "what is the strength of your relationship?" so I told sister Taylor that it's like a big muscular pro wrestler! But then I realized that we weren't men. Shocker. And so I changed it, I described the female wrestler, that kinda looks like a man, that's super scary but super strong! Anyways, she was cracking up!!! It was pretty funny.

We met with President Hobbs this week! He and Sister Hobbs are some pretty great people!!

Anyways, I want y'all to know, that I LOVE being a missionary, I love being tested, I love being tested because it gives me a chance to rely on the Lord and to grow.
I love talking with people, I love having fun, I love teaching and being guided and being brought closer to the Lord. I love this church, and I know that it is true. I know that because of it, I can be with my family forever! I know that I can be strengthened in whatever trial comes.

I sure do love it out here! Thank you for all the support I receive!
I love y'all so much!!!!!!!

Sister Lyndy Bond

An Overdue Letter

Hey there everyone!! Sorry I didn't write last week, we had a member and his wife take us out for lunch and surprised us with bowling afterwards which cut into our emailing time.. So we weren't able to write at all.. But here I am now! So now to catch up on two weeks! Y'all ready?

So on Tuesday we were going to one of our meetings (district meeting) and we tried to turn the car on and guess what! It wouldn't work... We sat there for like 5 minutes trying to call people telling them that we'd be late.. Anyways, me being the missionary that I am decided to say a prayer! And as soon as I said "amen" a man came out of NOWHERE and asked us if we needed to jump the car! Thank goodness the Lord answers prayers! We ended up making it to our meeting on time! But for the rest of the day, our car wouldn't start.. So we took it into the repair shop, and ended up talking to several people about what being a missionary is, and what we believe in.
None of which are interested in learning more right now, but it was pretty cool!
The church also decided that the car wasn't worth fixing (it was going to cost several hundred dollars to fix) so they bought us a brand new car!!! :D It's a Subaru legacy. Her name is Venelopy and I love her. Hahaha But that was pretty cool for last week!

I don't remember who all I've told y'all about, but I found out that we can use first names while emailing, just not first and last or whatever.. So now I can use real names!
But we're teaching Reyna and her family, she has a baptismal date for the 12th of may! She's seriously amazing! She just wants to learn more about the gospel, and wants us to teach her family! I just love her!
We haven't been able to meet with her lately though because she's been pretty busy, but she's a pretty cool lady and just wants to learn more!

We're also teaching Ernie, he's an older man that lives with some roommates.. He has two daughters and is just one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet! He's not totally there 100% of the time, but goodness gracious he's kind!
We invited him to general conference (where our prophet and apostles speak to us every 6 months) and he was going to come and meet us at a members home! Until we found out that we misunderstood some times.. And gave him the wrong time.. Later that day, we found out that he'd been riding his bike for 4 1/2 hours JUST to get to general conference!!!! If that isn't dedication, I dunno what is! We felt SOOOOO bad about giving him the wrong times!
But it was a great humbling experience to see his faith in the Savior.
Later that day, (Sunday) we went and stopped by his home and ended up teaching a surprise lesson on Faith!! We taught entirely by the Spirit.. Meaning, it was one of our best lessons that I've ever taught! We ended up getting him to pray at the end of the lesson! Which is something we've had a super hard time doing.. But he has so much faith! It's inspiring!

Oh, so cool story! I fed snakes this past Monday!!! You know the snakes that I always send y'all pictures of? Well I fed them some mice!! I have pictures, so hopefully I have time to send them! But I can mark that off my bucket list!

Oh! I also experienced my first earthquake!!! We were on the phone with some of our elders at the time, we were giving them our numbers for the week.. Anyways, Sister Taylor and I gave each other a high five.. Next thing we know, the room is shaking! It was pretty fun! I kinda enjoyed it.. Hahahaha! But it's a pretty sweet feeling to be safe! ;)

All these general meetings have been SO great!!! I love being able to hear from our prophet and apostles! They're such humble people!! They have so many inspiring messages! Holy pooh nuggets! It went by SO fast!!
But I really loved how they were talking so much on having a great attitude, and being obedient to the Lord and his commandments.
In this world, it's just going to get worse and worse, but I know that as we truly stand tall, and stick of for our beliefs, whatever they may be, I know that God will protect us and watch over us!

I love being a missionary and being able to share messages of hope.
With Easter coming up, we've been going around sharing messages about when Jesus died on the cross, and how he lives again. I love seeing light in peoples eyes, I know without a doubt that Jesus lives, and that he died for each and every single one of us! How great of a message is that? I love sharing it!

So with general conference, I was trying to think of an invitation to extend to each of you! How about y'all study the book Preach my gospel once a week? Then report to me on what y'all learn? Think you're up for it? Then I can share what I study in that amazing book!! How does that sound? I know that as you do, you'll see so many more blessings of peace, and that your relationships with your family and with God will be strengthened!

Now time for some funny stories! :D
So, Sister Taylor and I went to visit this less active lady whom we thought had moved.. So we stopped by her home to see if she was still there and to try and get some of her information for other missionaries and such! Anyways, this is how it went.

-Rings door bell-
Sister Taylor: Hi! Is Connie here by any chance?
Large man: Nope, she's at work right now. -Weird look in his eye-
Sister Taylor: Oh, well we're just looking for her information!
Large man: -creeped out look- Well she's at work right now, but she gets home around 9pm.
Sister Taylor: Oh! Well can we come back and visit after 9?
Me: Umm Sister Taylor, that's a wee bit late! Don't you think?
Large man: That's really late. -Creeped out look still-
Sister Taylor: Really? Hmm okay! We'll, we're missionaries for Connies church!
Large man: So? -bored crepped out look-
Sister Taylor: Well can you tell Connie we stopped by?
Large man: -creeped out super awkward and sketch look while saying nothing-
Me: Well you have a great night Sir!
.......After getting in the car: Sister Taylor, do you know how creepy you just sounded?
..... After thinking of the entire conversation, we started CRACKING UP! We're still laughing about it.. I think it was funnier in person... But ohmygoodness gracious, it was hilarious!!!!

Welp. There are tons of other fun and awkward stories.. But that's been one of my favorites.. Haha, we're doing this thing while tracting when we knock doors we ask if we can share a song about how we're Gods children (I am a child of God) and people just flat out say no! Or they slam the door in our face... But somehow I just laugh... Just because people think that we're some sort of plague... It's pretty great! Especially when the avoid eye contact at ALL costs! Even if it means running into a wall... Yes this has happened!
But with all of that, I LOVE being a missionary!!! It's simply the greatest!!

Anyways, I sure do love each and everyone of y'all!!! Thank you for being examples to ME! I love reading y'alls emails when I get on here!! I sure do wish I had time to write everyone.. But if you write hand written letters, you'll have a better chance of me responding ;) Just sayin' ;) Hahaha but I sure do love you!!!
Keep up the great work!!!!

Love, Sister Lyndy Bond<3