August 2, 2011
July 26, 2011
I really have learned this week that the hardest part of being a missionary, and the best part is how much I love these people! Some of the people we are teaching are going through some trials, so its hard to see them suffer, and I just want them to PRAY and READ together, and I KNOW it will help them! Haha, oh well! We are working with them, and I know the savior is as well, so it will all turn out for the best!
Okay, so I sent you all the picture of Kristine, that was one of the craziest lessons ever! We always invite people for baptism in the first lesson, so they know our expectations, but the spirit was SO strong, and honestly we just mentioned the word and she LIT UP! It was funny, because then we told her to pray about joseph smith and the book of mormon, and siser cluff paused and asked, "have you already prayed about that?" and she said yep! They are true!
Haha, it was awesome to see!
So random story, we went to go contact a referral who wanted a "together forever" DVD, and we got to her house and her grandson ran out and while we were talking to her he started drumming on my bumb and sang "booty, booty, booty" haha, I wasn't really sure what to do with myself, so I just kinda ignored him! (he was like 2 years old).
Okay, so lots of you have asked about the food I am getting, haha! I am being fed a lot! Probably more than half the week we have dinners, (and on occasion we have 2 dinners in one night...I hate those nights! Haha!), I am getting A LOT of mexican food, and I LOVE it! Its always my favorite! Mmm! And then we get a bunch of random other things, but its probably mexican half the time.
So Sister cluff is freaking out about going home soon, after this transfer she only has 2 more left, for me it seems like a long time, becuase thats pretty much how long I have been out, but she is not happy about it! Mission time is SUPER weird! Because its always the same schedule time goes by super fast, but its also SO SLOW! A day feels like an eternity, I guess its like what Amanda says, "every day feels like a week, and every week feels like a day"
Sarah and Nate are doing really good, he got the priesthood on sunday and they both got temple reccommends, but they can't do baptisms till auguest because the temple is closed till then, so thats kinda a bummer! Nate is going to class for the next 9 weeks, so we will pretty much NEVER see him, so hopefully he will continue to do good, but it will also be a big blessing because we will really be able to work with sarah! I love this family! I will send a picture of them soon, because they really are my favorite family!
Okay, well I have to go! But I love you all!
Love you lots!
-Sister Lee-July 26, 2011
Hey Family! This week was a busy one!
This is the letter I wrote to my Mission President.
Hey President Clayton!
This week was really good. I love the people here, the ward here is great, we have awesome investigators, and people in general are very friendly. A really cool experience happened this week. We went to go teach someone for the very first time at a members home, her name is Kristine. When we walked in the spirit was so strong that we had to invite her to baptism, we didn't even teach her that much, mainly just how to begin, but she accepted, and is getting baptized on the 27 of August (So her family can be there!) She has already been reading the book of mormon online, and has already prayed about it, and she knows its true! This girl is amazing, and angels really have been teaching her the gospel!
I'm learning that the love I have for the people in this area is almost a double sided sword, because when they reject the message, or when they go through trials, its so hard on me! Haha, but it makes me understand the savior more, and how much love he has for everyone, and how heartbreaking it is for him, when we all chose not to obey him.
But this week was really good, after tonight we should have 6 people with a date, (We had to move Liz and Victors date because they didn't show up at church). But the Lord is blessing this area, and I love witnessing it!
Anyways, I hope you are having a good week!
-Sister Lee-
July 19, 2011
Hey Family!
Here is my letter to President Clayton:
Hey President Clayton!
Last week was a week full of miracles! Nates baptism was really great, thank you for coming to that. Nate is getting the priesthood next sunday so we are really excited about that, its too bad the temple closes on monday though! Him and sarah (His wife) will just have to do baptisms in August.
Right now we have 4 people with dates, and they are all solid investigators too. And not surprising they all have members involved in their conversion process. Our ward is really "getting it". They are talking with their friends and fellowshipping our investigators, its been amazing to see!Last week was a week full of miracles! Nates baptism was really great, thank you for coming to that. Nate is getting the priesthood next sunday so we are really excited about that, its too bad the temple closes on monday though! Him and sarah (His wife) will just have to do baptisms in August.
One experience we had this week was with a couple named Liz and victor who we had invited to baptism last week, but they were unsure. So we were planning on reading the book of mormon with them to help them build their testimony, but God had other ideas! As soon as we started teaching baptism was on our mind the entire lesson. So we invited them again, and they said yes! They are both being baptized August 6th!
This area is doing amazing, the Lord has really blessed it, and I am so happy that I am here to witness all of these miracles!
Thanks President Clayton for all you do! Have a good week!
-Sister Lee-
So from that you can see that my week was AWESOME! The lord has really blessed this area SO much! RIght now our 4 people with dates are Liz and Victor who have a little girl named ariel, Victor is a marine, and this couple is just awesome! They have been investigating for about 2 weeks now, and they have GREAT fellowshippers! I love seeing them change there lives and witnessing a light come into their eyes!
We also have a 9 year old girl named scout whose family is semi-active. We want the family to go to the temple, and we hope that as we teach there daughter, they will draw neared to God, and have a desire for the blessing given in the temple! Scout is super spunky and doesn't like conforming to anything, so teaching her is ALWAYS fun! Haha!
And finally we are teaching a girl named Katie who is hilarious! She is very blunt in her questions, and has a unique view on life (she has never believed in God, and when we taught her about Heavenly father, she always calles him an alien! haha!) But she truly has a desire to learn and know if there is a God. She came to church on sunday and took almost all of the pamplets we give out, and she has read them all, and lots of the Book of mormon as well! She is awesome!
And the best part of last week was when Nate was baptized! It was AMAZING! Sarah gave a testimony on how she has always known the church was true, and how she was grateful to nate for helping her come back! He got confimred on sunday, and like I said in the email to president, he is getting the priesthood next sunday! I have SUCH a love for this family! I cannot wait to see them sealed in the temple! They talk about it ALL the time! Its going to be great!
I am loving the work out here, There have been tons of miracles, and I have NO idea why God is being so kind to sister Cluff and I! But I'm not complaining! Haha!
I love you all SO much! I really do think about all of you, and I pray for you all! I hope you are having a good week! And I hope to hear from you all next week! Love you!
-Sister Lee-
July 12, 2011
Hey Family!
I hope your week was great, I saw lots of miracles down in San Diego! So that is always good. So I decided to attach my mission presidents letter for you to read! I figure there is no point in telling the same story twice!
Hey President Clayton!
Last week was a great week, and not at the same time! Almost all of our lessons fell through, but ALL of the lessons we had were amazing! But some of the biggest miracles of last week came from some of those appointments that never turned out.For example, one night all of our appointments fell through, and we weren't sure where to go, so we prayed about it and we decided to go see a referral we had from the Mobat we had just gotten earlier that day. The timing was perfect! They were waiting for the food to finish cooking and they let us straight in and we taught them the restoration! They came to church on sunday,and their friend says that they are reading the Book of Mormon! A huge miracle!
Also, we had almost all of our investigators, plus lots of less actives we are working with at church on sunday. it was awesome to see them all there, and it was even better seeing the ward great them all.
This area is doing great! I am loving it, and I am SO excited to serve another transfer up here!
Hope your week has been good!
-Sister Lee-
July 5, 2011
Hey Family!
This week I met President Clayton! He is AWESOME! It was the craziest thing, my zone all got together and we were waiting to meet the new mission president, and as soon as they walked in and started talking I loved them. Like instantly! It was great! He has a great vision for the mission, and I am really excited to work with him!
Mom! Thanks so much for the Canada package! I LOVED it! I have the flag hanging up in my room now, and I shared all the canadian candy with my zone! They are now converted and think Canadian candy is AWESOME! (because it is!).
The 4th of july was really fun, there is so much american pride down here its hilarious! We had to be in at 6:00, so we organized our area book and got some extra study time in, it was really nice, but we could see no fireworks.
Guess what! I am officially DONE my training...its pretty crazy, I am now only on 1 hour of study, which is kinda sad, I loved the extra time! But now I will have to learn how to be more effective with my time. It will be great to try and learn!
Something I have come to realize is how much I am changing on a mission. I cannot imagine if I had never came out, I would have never met the people I am meeting, or had these expereices, and I would never learn things about myself (Or it would have taken me a LOT longer to learn!) Haha!
Anyways! It has been a really great week, and I have had some OUTRAGEOUS lessons! Thsi one lesson we went to go see a former investigator names Derek, and when he saw us he treated us like we were long lost friends! And his buddies were over but they all wanted to know different things so we were teaching like 3 different lessons at the same time, and then they would flow together, then they would come together. Anyways, its super hard to explain, but the lesson went AWESOME, and we are seeing them all again this week! I'll let you know how it goes!
Well, sorry this letter is everywhere! I'm glad to hear you are all having fun! I love you all so much!
-Sister Lee-
June 28, 2011
Hey Family!
So this week was AWESOME for me! Really, it was full of miracles. Mom asked what ward i'm serving in, its the scripps ranch 1st ward in penesquitos. I LOVE it! Our stake was hesitant at first, our mission does things a lot different than the mission before us did (since we were white washed into the stake), but they are learning to trust us more. (I can't really explain how we are different, since to me, this is all I really know! Sorry!)
BUT on sunday we had something called a Mission Presidents fireside, and it was AWESOME! We have a missionary choir, and then Recent converts bare their testimny, and missionaries sing special musical numbers, the spirit was super strong. and president donalsdon gave his last teatimony in the san diego california mission. it was really sad, I will miss him, but I'm excited for president Clayton!
Nate and Sarah are doing AWESOME! Nate is excited to be baptized and has so many questions. Last night we taught him the plan of salvation, and since we has just taught the word of wisdom, we were just going to teach keep the sabbath day holy, but he ended up asking ALL these questions and we taught him tithing, and fasting, and fast offerings as well! AND THEN, he went to a members house for FHE and they taught him about temples and temple marriage! Overload! Haha, so we are just going to have to make sure he knows he doesn't need to understand everything. But they are doing great!
We also have a new investigator named Anna who we met and taught yesterday, she is living with some members i our ward for the summer. She is from Germany, and she is awesome! She just wants to follow god, and she loves church. On sunday she went to church, and the baptism in our ward, and the fireside. (technically we had a baptism this week, but not really, we never taught her since she wasn't in our area, but she wanted to be baptized in our ward!)
But this week was great! I saw so many miracles, and I'm getting more used to being a missionary. sometimes I have to look at my tag to reassure myself that I am a missionary though! Haha. But its great. I love this area, and the people here!
I love you all!
-Sister Kristin Lee-
June 21, 2011
Hey Family!This week was FULL of miracles. It was awesome! On thursdy morning we started a meeting called MTE (Missioary training exchange), where our stake(penesquitos), and the Poway stake missionaries all got together with our mission president from 9-12, and he just taught us and the theme was "do you get it?"
To sum up everything we were taught, I realized that there are over 3 million people in our mission, and there are only 180 people who are authorized to invite these people to participate in the atonement. I'm one of those 180 people, thats kinda a big deal! I need to get working! Haha! Anyways, it was really awesome, and after we had a training sister come out with us. (she just shadows us really)
and at one point we were going to go see a potential investigator, but it didn't feel right, so we prayed to know where to go, and a LA member who is married to a non-member came to our heads. But we had only just met them the day before, and her record weren't even in the ward, so we weren't really sure what we were getting ourselves into, but we followed our prompting and went over!
They were super nice, and he had just gotten home, so he was still in his marine outfit. We talked about the holy ghost, then intorduced the book of mormon, then we all felt impressed to talk about baptism, and he has a baptisimal date on july 16! And they are so awesome, they just want to do everything! Its great!
And we added a TON of investigatos this past week, now we just have to get them all with dates. There is this one house and there are always tons of people and they all drink and smoke, and there all about 20, and they are all MISERABLE. I feel bad for all of them, but whenever we go over there, we always add a new investigator because they just want to be forgiven, and they just want to be happy, but its such a HARD scene to get out of. But I hope they will all be able to help one another. We Will see what happens!
Anyways! Those are my stories, even though there was lots of other good things that happened.
Well family! I hope you are all doing good and I love you all so much!
-Sister Lee-
June 14, 2011
Hey Family!
This week was really good! We added a lot of investigators and we have a lot of potential who we will hopefully add in the coming weeks! Now we just need to get these people to progress! And this week I had one of my more interesting teaching experiences! A few weeks ago we were eating in a carls jr, and we saw this man reading his bible...he was just ASKING for us to come talk with him. So finally we set up a time to see him, but he doesn't want us to come to his home yet, so we taught in carls Jr. It was a little but funny. but it went well, he said he would be shocked if this church was true. He is in for a BIG surprise! His name is brian, and he just wants to follow God, so I will let you know what happens there!
Oh ya, another funny story! So we have some former investigators that were apparently progressing when we came to this area, but everytime we go over there they don't really talk or aren't home. So the other night we drive over and get out of our car, and there daughter is out playing on the lawn, and we see her book it inside and tell her parents the missionaries are home. Next thing we know the daughter and her friend run away from the house, and all the lights in the house get turned off! So we still walk up to the door and knock, and there is no answer, but we hear them whispering because there window was open! It was hilarious!
But this week has been good, I am printing pictures today, so you should all get to see some soon. Sorry I've been so bad at that!
Anyways! I love all of you, and I hope your having a good week!
Love you!
-Sister Lee-
June 7, 2011
Hey Family!
This has been a long week! Full of hard times AND miracles! Its been good. Last tuesday night sister cluff was feeling REALLY sick, but we had an appointment with a Great potential Investigator, so I went on my first exchange and I went and taught while she went and got better at someones house. It was EXTREMELY intimadating being the only missionary in the room, and this was the first time I have ever taught in that situation. Her name is Kendal and she is 15 and friends with a girl in our ward, and the entire family sat in on the lesson. We have NEVER taught in that situation before, to someone that age before, so I was kinda freaking out. But it went REALLY good, and she is reading everyday, and it was awesome. really the Lord helped me SO much. I am very grateful!
And a hard time was our investigator Chris dropped us. It was so frustrating because we got a text saying this wasn't the church for him, so we go over and talk with him. And he was saying how he wants to follow the path God wants him to be on, but he doesn't want to change anything. And he should be able to do anything he wants, and he doesn't think God will judge him for the things he does. But I was saddened because he says he wants to know the things God wants him to do, and we were sitting RIGHT there, telling him excatly what God wants him to do. ...yep, anyways, now is not the right time for him, but he says that he is now praying, which he wasn't doing before, so we did manage to bring him closer to christ, I just would have liked him to go the whole way you know?!
But another miracle is we found another Investigator named Dwayne who is in the marines and is a friend of someone in our ward. And we met him a few times, and finally we told the family that we wanted to teach his friend. And he is awesome! He is a southern boy to the T, the accent, the body build, the teeth. He's baptist and loves his "mamma!" We taught him, and when we introduced the book of mormon, he went on this big rant on how he grew up with the bible and the bible was all he knew and he didn't know anything about the book of mormon, but then when I thought he was going to kinda say no, he said, "I want to learn more!" So that was AWESOME! But our next lesson with him fell through because he broke his tooth on ice cream. Ya, the devil is sinking to new lows to keep people from learning, he is breaking teeth on dairy products!
Another thing that has been really interesting is being the new missionaries in our area. Our mission is run VERY different than others missions because we are a pilot mission, and the mission department comes a lot and trains and tries things on us. And I think the change is a little hard to adjust to for some people. But its been good. It reminds me of when we would get new young womans leaders in, and you always didn't like the new ones for a little bit, because things were different. I hope I don't get that way when president donaldson leaves. I just need to remeber President Clayton will be awesome! (This is DOnaldsons last transfer). I think it will be a lot easier for me also because I have only known him for 2 transfers!
Anyways! I have to go, but I love you all so much. And I would really like to hear from all of you!
Love you lots!
-Sister Lee-
May 31, 2011
Hey Family!
I hope your week has been good. My week was pretty good. Well, it had its ups and downs. A big down is my companion is super sick, so we have had to take things eally slow, and yesterday we spent the whole day at home. I have to admit it was a tad frustrating, but I got a lot of studying in, so I can't complain to much. On a positive note, I finally went to the temple today!!! It was awesome, and I love it, and I can't wait to go back. (In 3 months....haha, oh man).
Wow, something that is so crazy is the time out here. I was looking back in my planner to see the things I have done this week, and I have done A LOT! Haha, weird, but I guess when you schedule every hour of each day, you get a lot done. So something that has amazed me this week is how much people open up to us as missionaries. We visited a lot of less-actives this week, and it was amazing the differance in all of them from the time we got there (Super cold) to the time we left (We were there new BFF's!). Its been awesome getting to know these people and helping them out. And its crazy to see how much history every person has. Its made me realize HOW important it is not to judge people, because you just have NO idea whats going on in there life.
So right now my mind is on a lesson that we are teaching tonight to a girl named Kendall. We haven't taught her yet but she has been coming to church the past few months and only just got permission to take the discussions. I'll admit, i'm a bit nervous to teach her because her parents are lesbians. Yep, she has 2 moms. One was a member of the church, and one hates the church because of Prop 8. And right now she is only 16, so its going to be fun teaching her, but I would also LOVE advice on the matter!
Adrena (I'm pretty sure I've talked about her, let me know if I haven't), she is doing great, everytime we go over she has read and she is asking tons of questions, she just wants to understand the church, but she doesn't have a testimony of Jesus Christ, so it makes her skeptical of everything else. But she is willing to try, and I just love her!
Anyways! This has turned into a novel! But I love you all, and I hope your all doing fantastic!
Love,
Sister Lee
May 24, 2011
Hey Family!
So this week marks me being out in San Diego for a transfer! Craziness! And I'm staying in this area for another 6 weeks! Which i'm excited for. I'm not going to lie, the whole moving around every 3 weeks thing was getting old. And I am loving this area! We are still trying REALLY hard to get some more invstigators, but we have some good ones.
Tonight we are going to see James (a Less-Active) and Adrena. They live on base because he is a marine. (Ps, I love working with the marines, they are SO awesome, plus I love going on base, every time we drive on there is an officer holding this HUGE gun. I will try and sneak a picture sometime soon...but I don't want him to shoot me, so I need to work up some more courage before!) Anyways, this couple is awesome. Adrena wants to have religion in her life. But she doesn't believe in Jesus Christ. So we are going to watch finding faith in christ and just talk with them about that tonight. It should be interesting. They are awesome to teach and get to know!
So the weather is getting better, but for the past week its been cold, we have had our space heater on a lot lately as we study, so thats been a bit of a downer! Also, random side note, but on sunday we drove out to imperial valley, (1.5 hours east) so we could sing in a mission presidents fireside! This fireside is where misssionaries all sing, and recent converts bare their testimonies, and then president donaldson bares his testimony! They are Awesome! and the spirit is so strong!
Anyways! I want you all to know that this church is true. I know it is because I feel the holy ghost every day. So really fast I will tell you an "ephany" I had this week.
I was reading in mathew about when the savior fed the 5 000 men with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and I realized that the apostles gave ALL that they had to the lord. and with all they had they were able to FILL all the people, and have 12 baskets left over. This can be like us in our own lives. if we give ALL we can and have to the lord, he will bless with EVERYTHING we NEED, and there will be blessing left over!
I thought this was kinda cool! Anyways! I love you lots family! I hope your coming week is awesome!
-Kristin Lee-
I'm loving it out here, and I can't believe I've been out for 2 months...weird!
May 17, 2011
Hey Family!
I hope your week was awesome. My past week has been interesting! First off, Dad, you should have got an email from the Mormon Battalion. Thats a picture of a family we are teaching right now, they are awesome and the mom is almost ready for baptism, she just needs to gain a testimony of going to church! They are super fun. And I learned that when we take investigators to the Mobat that we can email the pictures home, so I thought you'd enjoy that!
Okay, so this week like I said was really interesting. We have met and added a few investigators, which is awesome, because when we got to this area, there weren't very many. However, none of them came to church this sunday, so that was sad. This one couple we are teaching live on base. (Oh ya, A part of my area the the army base, mainly marines live there, its awesome, everyday we have to drive through the gate and try to get approval. Sister Cluff always drives so that it doesn't get complicated with me not being american...although one time when trying to get a pass I said Eh, and I thought they were going to arrest me! Haha, because right now they are on lock down becuase of things thaty are going on in the world, most of which i'm not entirley aware of!) But the people on base are so awesome, I love working with them. And this one couples names are Adrena and James, James is a Less active member and his wife isn't a member and she is Pregnant, and the lord has prepared them so much, and I am really excited to teach them.
Oh, so side note, judgement day is this weekend, May 21st, there are billboards ALL OVER that say so, So family, I love you all SO much, and I will see you sooner than planned! (Lots of people think its the jehovah witnesses that are saying that, have you heard anythinf about may 21st?! I think its some clever advertisment scheme, and on that day the billboards will say something else...but in case they are right! I love you all, and you all better start praying REALLY hard!!!
On Sunday they had this dinner called a friendship dinner. A member of the bishopric held it, and they invited all the auxilery leaders and Less actives and investigators over for dinner. It was such a great idea. Because it was really relazed, and people made friends, and this one less active named Mandy who says she doesn't talk to anyone made all these friends. It was a REALLY great idea, and super sucessful, I really suggest trying this idea out in your home wards. It was awesome!
Well Anyways family! I have to go, I love you all so much! And I hope life is going for all of you!!!
-Sister Lee-
May 3, 2011
Hey Family!
So Guess what?! I have a NEW area, its called the scripts, yep! So our mission just took on two new stakes, so we had to send 38 missionaries up here. Two zones are being whitewashed into this area. Its crazy...and I seem to have a habit of getting moved every three weeks! Haha, but besides missing the people we taught this area should be awesome, its not like whitewashing scares me, because well, its all I know! But since it was a different mission here, things are going to have to change. In our mission 90% of baptisms take place through members, and in the carlsbad mission, only 30% do. So we will be working with the ward members A LOT. But I am still with Sister Cluff which is awesome, because in Mission President interviews last week, President donaldson made it sound like I was getting a new companion. I've only been in the area for a few hours, but it is REALLY nice up here. The enviroment is so different, I'm in the "mountains" and desert, but there a pine trees and palm trees, and its just very confusing. But I basically just went from the southermost tip of my mission, to the most north! Haha, crazy!
But this past week was AWESOME! At church on sunday we had 2 of our investigators come, and it was there first time, and they said they would be coming back next week. It was great having them there. Then this one LA family we've been working with all showed up and sat by each other, and a few of them even bore testimony. It was really great, it made me excited to go out and do more missionary work.
Thats too bad that the weather sucks up there! its HOT in my new area, this will take some adjusting to! So the conservatives have a majority goverement?! Crazy, How do you all feel abuot that? And the NDP are the official opposition! THAT is CRAZY!!!! Plus they killed osama bin laden (I don't know how to spell that name!) There are crazy things going on in the world right now. But there isn't anywhere I would rather be than in San Diego!
Okay, I know its bad, but I can't remeber much of last week, I think its because my mind is now totally focused on this new area, so i'm not excatly sure what to say! But, I will say that I love you all lots! Sorry that this letter is kinda lame...Hopefully I'll have some good stories for you all next week!
Love you!
-Sister Lee-
