First Sunburn of the Year!!‏

Dear Family and Friends!!

     This week was a good week:) I always say this, but it is always true! We were able to teach a lot this week! We were also able to do a ton of service!!!! Everyone is starting to landscape their yards and they need a lot of help so we have helped. In fact, I got my first sunburn of the year on Saturday, I was excited, but it was also unfortunate because I was wearing gloves.... So, now I have a nice glove tan line:/ Hopefully, no on will notice too much though.

      Lets, see I don't even know where to start with this week. So far we have one person with a baptism date, and 3 other progressing investigators! The work is moving forward in this ward which seems to keep us busy. Sister Perrin and I already seem to teach really well together so I'm excited to see how we grow in that aspect. It is always fun getting to know a new ward because a lot of the time I feel like I have known the people a lot longer than I actually have!

      Goodness, there is so much that happened this week though. I don't think I could even cover it all if I tried... But it was great:) It reminded me of a scripture in on of my favorite Book of Mormon chapters its in Mosiah 24 and since it is one of my favorites I've probably shared it before. It says: "And now it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage." I love this because it wasn't just their faith that was great. They were not delivered out of bondage just because they had great faith.

       Instead, it says so great was their patience AND their faith. I feel like I have come to understand this more on my mission than any other time. We are asked and required to have faith. But, how often do we patiently wait for the answer or the miracle that comes as a result of our faith. I know that many times and many transfers I have had a hard time. People wouldn't listen or my companions were hard to get along with or I just doubted myself. But, I know that if we are patient and we keep going, then the Lord WILL deliver us from that bondage of Satan.

       Those thoughts or feelings of discouragement will go away as long as we remember that we need to be patient and if we are then all will be well. I love you all so much and hope that you are all having wonderful weeks!

Love,

Sister Bice

Another area another move!‏

Dear Family and Friends!

      This week I embarked on my sixth mission area! It has been crazy!! Whenever anyone asks me what area's I've served in I just want to respond... "It's quite a list is it okay if I just tell you the Stakes I've served in... That is much shorter!" Not only that but since I'm in a new area I've stopped telling everyone how long I have been on my mission. They all think that I've been out 'just about a year' It scares me to much when they know how long I've been out and then they just want to ask me about what I'm going to do when I get home or they tell me I'm on the downhill slide!! AHHH!!

      But this week was good! It was filled with a lot of new faces and a lot of new names... Most of which I don't remember! But, as hard as it is to leave old area's and come to new area's I just felt like it was time. I felt like I had done what the Lord wanted me to in the Jackson Creek ward and now it was time for me to move on. So here I am and I know that I am going to love it! My new companion is a blast! She is from Northern Idaho in a really really small town and she has 14 sisters and 2 brothers!!! She is also the youngest so many of her nieces and nephews are as old as she is or they are older... That is a crazy thought to me!!

       I recently started reading the Book of Mormon again and I was in the chapter of the vision of the tree of life. And as I was reading something that struck me was the Laman and Lemuel their father called them over to the tree and they refused... They didn't even commence on the path they headed right on over to the great and spacious building. I just thought about how so many people see the love of God they see the joy it may bring to others, but they refuse to even start the journey to get to the tree. Laman and Lemuel didn't even try.. They just gave up right from the get go!

       I think that there are a lot of people who see us as members of the chruch and see the happiness it brings us. But, they don't want to commence on the path it would take to receiving that happiness for themselves. There are so many people who are scared of the path for whatever reason. Maybe they see the obstacles that the path presents and they just don't even want to try. But, whatever the reason they see that love of God but refuse to fully partake of it. That just makes me so sad! I wish we could help people understand the help and that God provides for us. We have His word to hold onto that will bring us right to Him and to His love!! All He asks is that we hold on, and then when we have partaken of that love He asks that we stay strong to Him and Endure to the End...

      Those thoughts were a bit more jumbled than I intended them to be. But, I was just thinking about this a lot this week and thinking about how it pertains to those that I meet everyday. You see people at different stages of this process of coming unto Christ and receiving Him!

       I love you all so much and hope that you have a wonderful week! this week was crazy... But, maybe I will have more to report on next week!

Love,

Sister Bice

Back to the East!‏

Dear Friends and Family,

     I know that I say this a lot but time is so weird!!! It is time for transfers again and Sister Brisow and I will be split up! I will be going back to East Colorado Springs. Its so weird how things work out here... This week was a lot of preparing for transfers and such. But, it was a really good week!! Yesterday we went to a baptism of an 8 year old girl in our ward and it was so sweet! I was glad that we got to go!!

      I've been thinking a lot this week about how the Lord makes us equal to the tasks that He gives us. Often time I've served in ward or area's where I have thought to myself, am I doing any good? But, something I came on my mission with, that I think I kind of lost for a little bit is the perspective that a lot of the good that we do, we don't see. Some people have a lot longer paths to take to come back than others and if we can be a step in that path to get them closer then I am so excited to be there and be that step!
      I have come to have this love for people and the ability that we have to change and to grow. It never stops! Our whole lives we change and we become better... Maybe sometimes we fall back. But God made us all with the ability to come back. He designed a plan to help us to return home to him. Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to be perfect all at once just as we don't expect newborn babies to jump up and start running. Everything that happens is a process, it is a process of learning and growing! Yesterday, in relief society they talked about how we have to give ourselves some wiggle room. I really liked that because I often expect of myself perfection. I don't expect it from anyone else but of myself I expect to be perfect. But, that is  not what God wants us to do! He only wants us to continually grow and improve.

      This week was a great growing experience for me. I had to stop and realize that I was expecting of myself more than Heavenly Father was expecting of me. As such I was struggling with thinking that I wasn't doing enough. Sure, there is always room to improve but as long as we are doing our best then we are doing what God wants us to do. If we let Him know in our prayer that maybe 'I am exhausted and this is the best that I can put forward today' then He will help us with the rest!

      I love you all so much! I hope that this week has been a good week for you and that you will have a happy Mothers Day on Sunday!!! :)

Love,

Sister Bice

In the support of His love‏

Dear Family and Friends,

     First off, this week Sister Bristow and I did A LOT of service.... That spanned from doing fire mitigation, to landscaping and even helping someone get their canning done!! It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. But, to be perfectly honest this week was a rough one for me. I just couldn't help but wondering if I was accomplishing my purpose as a missionary. I've been working hard but I wasn't sure I was doing the what I was supposed to. All in all it was really hard and I was a mess all week long.

     However, as our Heavenly Father always does He gave me a tender mercy.  On Thursday we finished up the lessons with a member family that was letting us come and practice the lessons with them. They are a sweet family and the girl has been struggling with an eating disorder. Well, on Sunday the Mom came up to us and told us that she had a treat to bring by and when would we be home. So, we told her we would be home around 7:00 for dinner and some planning things.

      So, a little after 7:00 the Lovejoys (the members we live with.) Call us upstairs and so we go up and The mother and daughter are there. They just very nicely thanked us for coming over. Then the daughter went on to tell us that our lessons and our testimonies had saved her life and that for the first time in a long time she could say that she was healed from her eating disorder and was able to move on. It was so sweet and Sister Bristow and I were both trying not to cry. It made me think of the story of Abinadi how he went out and he preached to the wicked King Noah and his priests. Then, they killed him and he died without knowing of the impact that he made.

      As we live the gospel and are true faithful members to the church we never know what kind of impact we are making. Honestly, I saw a change in this family, but I never would have guessed the extent of that change had they not told us. We never know who we are touching when we go out and preach the gospel or even just live the gospel. It is amazing to know the power of the Atonement and the influence of the spirit and the healing that they can bring to all of Gods children!!

     I love you all so much and pray for you! I hope that you are all having a wonderful week:) Keep on moving forward. No matter how rough it gets there is always a brighter and better day. "Believe in yourself and then live as to reach your possibilities." President Thomas S. Monson.

Love,

Sister Bice

Easter, nostalgia and other fun things!‏

Dear Family and Friends!

Boy oh boy! if there is anything that will make you realize you have come full circle it is to have your 2nd Easter on the mission! Boy was that crazy!! I kept thinking about how I had been here just last year, in the exact same stake attending the exact same Easter Cantata. I do not feel like it has been long enough for all of that to happen... But, it seems that it has been. But, it was so good! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well, it is such a special time that we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. I read a quote just this morning that said something along the lines of "because he was raised up on the cross we can all be raised up to life once more." I loved that it is so powerful to see the difference the Savior has made in the life's of everyone on this earth even if they don't know or believe in him. This week was great though:) we had a lot of great lessons with Less-Active members and were able to see the change that is occurring in them.

      Recently, I think I have been wrapped up in to many other things such as training, ect. to really pay attention and enjoy the change that is occurring in people as we visit them. Just yesterday our ward mission leader pointed out to us that when we enter a home we bring the spirit with us. That is something that I have known since the beginning but that I have failed to pay attention to recently. But, I have been making sure that I remember to enjoy the little things, it is after all by small and simple things that great things are brought to pass. The small changes that may go unnoticed by the person themselves are big things that help them make the first steps to returning to the church and more importantly drawing closer to their Savior.

       Yesterday in church we talked a lot about how growth and development take time. We are all constantly growing and learning and often we don't see the change that is occurring in ourselves. But, even if we don't see it, others do. Yesterday, I spent a lot of time thinking about how the Savior's atonement and subsequent resurrection have changed my life for the better. I know that He lives and that He loves each and everyone of us. I know that through Him we can return home to live with our Heavenly Father and our families forever. I also know that because of our Heavenly Father's and Jesus Christ's love for us we have a prophet on the earth today and continued revelation to guide us and direct us. Ultimately, I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christs church restored upon the earth once more, and I thank my Heavenly Father that I am able to have that knowledge.

       I hope that you all had a great Easter and that everything was good, grand and wonderful! I love you all so much and am always praying for you! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Bice

Family and Friends

Dear Family and Friends!

     I don't know where the weeks have gone! Easter is Sunday and this transfer is already half over! I didn't think time could or would speed up any more than it already has but I have been proven wrong! This week has been a good one! First we started out and we got to do service which was fun! We were working at a small thrift shop sorting through their donations. Then as the week went on we went out and visited with people. But, there are a few instances that stand out to me this week. The first was Thursday night we got a text from a Less Active that we have been working with asking us if we could come by the next day. She said she had been having a rough time.

      So, of course we did! But, I was so grateful that she felt she could turn to us. She has been going through a rough situation with no family near-by and the fact that she was comfortable turning to us in a rough time made me feel so happy! She has been trying to come back to church but has been facing many challenges along the way. But, to meet with someone who wouldn't even let us in her door when I first came to this area and to see her tell us what a great support the church has been for her was such a tender mercy and a blessing.

     The other instance was we were meeting with a less active youth from our ward who stopped letting us come and then about a week or so ago told us we could start coming back. We were not sure what we should share and so we planned to share Elder Uchtdorfs most recent Mormon message on bullying. Even then we walked into the lesson unsure as to why we had felt the need to share that particular message. However, after not even 5 minutes of being in that house and teaching her she brought up a concern of bullying and things that she was going through. It made me so very grateful that our Heavenly Father is guiding this work and not me. He knows so much better than I could ever know what people need to hear and how they need to hear it!!

     In 3rd Nephi chapter 27 verse one we have an instance where the disciples had a question about what the church should be called and in the verse it states "it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and fasting." if we continue to read we learn that Jesus appeared unto the disciples and answered their question of what the church should be called. I thought of this scripture because at the end of this same chapter it talks about how we must ask the Father for the things that we need. There have been so many times so far on my mission where I have felt stuck and I just didn't know what a persons needs where or what I could teach them. But then we would go into the appointment with  what we had planned in studies that morning and it would turn out to be exactly what that person needed to hear. Even when my companion and I felt stuck and like we were not making any headway the Lord was always and is always very involved in his work.

      Sorry this letter is so random today... I love you all so much and I know  that God truly does answer prayers!!

Love,

Sister Bice

We thank thee oh God for a prophet!‏

Dear family and friends,

     First off I must say how much I love General Conference! I love being able to listen to the words of modern day prophets and hear their messages and the love that they have for all of us and the church! This week was good as always we were able to talk with a lot of people and tract a lot! (I'm determined to have my poor trainee love tracting by the time we are done!) So, we had a lot of fun and since we have a warm day about every 4 in 7 now we have been able to do a lot more walking!

     But, we were able to watch General Conference (at least part of it) with a less active member of our ward and then we went around to member's houses. So, it was a lot of fun! But, something that really stood out to me this conference is how many talks talked about the need to stand up for what we believe. That is something that is becoming more and more apparent to me the longer I am on my mission. Here in the Springs there is a lot of anti-mormon feelings and people out there and I have seen the youth that we have, have had to stand up for what it is that they believe. But, also as a missionary we have a lot of people who tell us that we are wrong... Just this week we had a gentleman question our relationship with Christ and call us a cult all in the same sentence... It kind of stunk!

      But, as that is not the first instance that I had something like that happen I have been able to learn that no matter how much they tell us we are wrong, we can always testify! The one thing that most people wont or cannot dispute is our pure testimony of the Savior and His atonement. In fact, I think Richard G. Scott mentioned that in his talk... Don't quote me on that though. But, as members of His true church we need to ground ourselves and prepare for the opposition that is sure to come our way. People will question, and sometimes revile us but we need to stand strong in the faith we have and courageously and courteously stand for what we know. That is what stood out to me in conference this time around!

     Well, I wont keep you all too long but I just want to thank you all for the love and support you have given me thus far! I love you all and pray for you! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Bice