CHINO WEEK 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dearest family and amigos,

 

This week was.... AWESOME!!!! We have just been finding families to teach like NOBODYS BUSINESS! And they are all just like really good families. We are so excited.

 

So, funny story though, like half the people we bus contact who are guys actually just want to date us. Even the old men. And so there was this one old guy named Lynn, who we had seen and talked to several times on the bus and he was like really interested, he went on to the website and researched the church and he even watches music and the spoken word. He is just this sweet old guy. He is 70 by the way. And he wanted us to come teach him more, and so we were like "okay", only thing was he lives slightly out of our area. But he didn't want the elders from that area to come teach him because he hadn't met them. So what we did was we set up an appointment and just brought the elders without telling him so that he could meet them and be comfortable with them. But ANYWAYS all four of us walk into his house and he turns on this like weird music that sounded like it was supposed to be like seductive or something haha. Obviously, I asked him to turn it off so that we could have the spirit there haha. So then the lesson goes on and he keeps bringing up how most old people think they can't do all the things young people do, but he feels like he's just getting younger and younger and he's ready to start dating again. And then he said "it's interesting how when you are young, you look to the older people, but when you are old, you look to the younger people". And me and Hermana Connelly were basically sitting there trying to hold back guffaws of laughter the entire lesson. Thank goodness we had the elders there. Not that he is dangerous or anything, he really is a sweet old guy, but yea... we definitely do not, "look to the old people" in that way haha. He is actually interested in the gospel though. He was totally fine and excited about the elders stopping by and teaching him now that he has actually met them. But situations like this happen to us quite frequently haha. In East LA people used to stop me on the street to tell me I have pretty eyes just because they are blue, and they are so unused to blue eyes haha. I even got proposed to once at a bus stop in East LA hahahaha.

 

Oh, so that family, Jorge and Sonya and kids. They are just SO AWESOME. I mean right now they still think they are super catholic. But they all committed to read the restoration pamphlet and pray about it. And they actually will. Because they are just the most sincere kind people ever. And we see them like every day since they live right next to them so we remind them like every day haha. It is so funny though because Jorge basically bares his testimony of our church to every person that is around him when we are there. Yesterday we were talking to him out in the street with his cousin, so he started telling his cousin how good people mormons are and how he loves what we do so much and how his friend converted and changed his life haha. They are the best. Pray for them though because they are having trouble understanding the whole authority being restored thing.

 

The gospel blesses families. And it is the best. If there's one thing that touches peoples hearts it is a sincere testimony of how the gospel has blessed the life of my own family and how it can help theirs.

 

Things here in Chino are picking up! Tell Sister Smith, and Rigtrup, and Cossette THANK YOU for the post cards. I think I am going to write Cossette back but it may take me a whiiiiiiiile to get around to it.

 

The GOSPEL IS TRUE!!!!! Love it, live it, SHARE IT!

 

Love,

Hermana Bardsley

CHINO WEEK TRES!

Hey guess what. WE FOUND OUR FAMILY TO TEACH!!!! And they are soooooooo awesome. There is this new rule in the mission that we have to have a quality gospel conversation with someone within ten minutes of leaving the apartment, so we have to talk to someone before we just get on our bikes to go somewhere. So one morning we walked out of the apartment and I just walked up to the first and only guy I saw outside and started talking to him. Well him and his whole family are super catholic, BUT his best friend was catholic and having a rough time in life and doing some not so good things then converted to our church and completely turned his life around and that of his whole family. So he loves mormons and missionaries and everything and KNOWS that it changes lives. So he told us that anytime we saw the big white van outside (he lives in the same apartment complex as us so it is pretty easy to check) it means they are home and that we can stop by and meet his family.

 

Well, a couple days later we did, and the family immediately just like fell in love with us. They invited us back the next day to eat tamales with them. It is a family of six, the mom and dad and then four daughters ages 21, 19, 11 and 8 and they already read the bible together as a family and pray together as a family. The favorite thing of the entire family to talk about is how awesome the dad's friend's family who is mormon is. It is like we don't even need to bring a member to our lessons because they are testifying to themselves about how awesome the gospel is. And we haven't been able to teach like a whole lesson yet, but we talked a little bit about prophets and how we have prophets today and she was like, "yeah I mean you need someone in every day and age to guide the people specifically of that age". And we were just like.............. WHERE DO PEOPLE LIKE THIS COME FROM???!!!! They are sooooooooooo AMAZING. And good people. And ready. I know when we teach the message of the restoration of prophets and that authority to do miracles and truly baptize in the name of Christ they are going to KNOW it's true. That'll happen on Thursday. We are SUUPPPEEER excited.

 

There is a lady about 10 feet away from us at the library right now, who every time I whisper something to my companion looks at us and rolls her eyes and gives us a look of death and groans haha. I think it makes her upset that we are happy and she is not. Maybe we will try to share the gospel with her haha. Some people are just so miserable. If only they knew what they were missing.

 

Well, my friends, the gospel is true. Please put fluffy socks in that package as well. My feet die every morning during studies. I love fluffy socks, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. They both make you feel warm and fuzzy. That's my message for the day.

 

Cheerio,

Hermana Bardsley

CHINO WEEK 2!!!!!!! Internet proselyting....what?!

Well, it's official, facebook has hit the Arcadia, CA, mission. Not quite sure how I feel about that. I was kind of trying to escape that for a year and a half. They are starting with the leaders. So, lucky me, my companion is a sister trainer so I have to go to the library and sit there for an hour everyday while she goes on facebook. It's so weird. But in January we are all getting ipads so everyone in the mission will be on facebook by then. Probably in the next few weeks they will let the rest of us on to clean up our facebooks and stuff to prepare. So just don't be surprised when there is evidence of me being on there. I PROMISE I'M AN OBEDIENT MISSIONARY!!!! :D

 

As for Chino this week, IT WAS AWESOME! Things are really starting to pick up. We have found some new investigators, and families too which supeeeeeeeer great. There is one family of 8 that we started teaching last night. And they are really really ready and awesome too. They are the Ramos familyIt is really just amazing how prayer works. Because since I got here pretty much the only thing we have been praying for is finding families, and now families have been the only things we have been finding really. We have also been riding the busses around and contacting like crazy. We give out a referral usually to the English elders almost everyday.  It's good fun. We are loving it. Hermana Connelly is a really good missionary and we make a really good team. It is amazing how the spirit really does just direct you. Like you just get into a house that you hadn't planned for at all and me and her are just on the exact same page and start teaching the exact same thing. IT IS CRAZY! mind blowing. I don't know how normal people get through life without the holy ghost. This gospel really is to bless people in this life as well as the next

 

Something I read this morning in preach my gospel that was a quote by Joseph Smith was that "you cannot obtain salvation without personal revelation". I thought that was pretty cool. It's so true, and it is what makes this church so different and so true. We believe in a living God who is literally guiding us today, and without whom we cannot stay on the right path.

 

Also I hit a trash can on my bike. Yep. That pretty much sums up the week. My legs are getting super buff and stuff though.

 

I'm emailing you guys today instead of yesterday because the library was closed yesterday because of Veterans day, so we get to do our emails and stuff today. And mama I looove the bacpack! It is super cute. I hope you didn't spend too much money on it, but I do like it. And as far as the scarves and stuff, I'm not really sure where they are all at, if you can't find them it's okay, I have a few and I can buy stuff down here. Somewhere there there should be a bin of all my winter stuff. Also mama, the best christmas stuff you could get me is if you get me more skirts haha. I have this problem where no matter how hard I try to be clean, SOMETHING always stains me... I don't really have enough wearable clothes to get through an entire week anymore haha. One time I was eating a cheeseburger at a restaurant and I was trying super hard to be clean, and really, I was as far as I could tell. But then I looked down and the paper in the basket that they had given me the cheeseburger in was like not pushed all the way into the basket and was angled down kind of in a funnel shape. So the whole time I had been eating nicely over the basket and my cheeseburger had been dripping grease into the basket and the paper funnelled it all right into my lap. There was literally a 6" by 6" puddle of grease on my lap when I looked down. And that's how I ruined my favorite skirt.... But it is like a curse, because always these things happen that aren't even related to necessarily ME eating messily that stain my clothes! So.... I don't know, the brand of that one was vince camuto I think, and it was that blue kind of pencil skirt made out of a stretchy material. It was one of the ones I found by googling "skirts past your knees". I remember there were lots of colors, black, blue, black and white striped, and honestly if you could find it I wouldn't mind having like all of them. Because it was really my best skirt. Perfect length, good looking, and it even was stretchy enough that it worked pretty well for biking. Oh. Also, one of these days, could you possibly send me a family picture haha? And also maybe one or two of me dancing so I can show people what I did.

 

As for Christmas stuff for other people, both hermana Lopezita (my first hermana lopez companion) and hermana Duran's moms have both sent me little stuff. Like Lopezita's mom sent me a pen from Guatemala that had cool little native weaving around it and stuff. So maybe if you sent me some little things like that for them, thatd be cool. Lopezita does a whole bunch of scrapbooking, so maybe some cool stickers or something. And Duran loves... well... poptarts haha. You don't have to get her poptarts. I just can't think of anything else that I would get her haha. But whatever you want. They are not going to be like offended if I don't give them anything, but it would be nice to. Maybe if you wrote a letter to the family of Elder Paige that'd be cool. You would probably have to call the mission office for their address, but now she is a widow who has also just lost her oldest kid, so this christmas is probably going to be pretty hard for them. I think I am going to try to do that too.

 

I am glad Terri is doing better. Tell her hello and that I am excited to see her little baby.

 

And Dad, take good care of my kitty please. Don't let her mess around too much with those racoons. She could probably take one of them, but three? I'm not sure about that.

 

Thank Grandma and grandpa and sister argyle for me! I wish I had time to write all of them thank you letters. I am still like a month behind in answering people who have written me, so hopefully one day.

 

Well,

prayer works, God loves us, and have a great week

 

Hermana Bardsley

 

CHINO WEEK 1 !!!

Well, for the rest of my days here in chino I will be known as the cow missionary I am pretty sure. Yesterday I got up to the pulpit to bear my testimony and, well, you know me, I don't always think before I talk. So I said that I was excited to be here and blah blah blah and then I was like "And! This area is really really different and special because it is the only ward in the mission that has cows! So. I am SUPER excited to be here!". And that's how my little introduction thingy ended. Well, it kind of sounded like I was calling the members of the ward cows. Everyone knew that's not what I meant, but after sacrament meeting everyone I talked to had a story about cows to tell me and laughed at me a bit. The sad thing is, it's not a language barrier, it's just a brain lack of social skills barrier haha. Nah, but I like to be known as the cow missionary! I told them all that I was going to preach to anyone who would listen to me even the cows as well haha, so they better bring me friends who are human to teach. At least now they will remember me haha!

 

But yea, Chino is pretty cool. Definitely the most organized ward I've been in thus far on my mission. It feels like an English ward. The members are awesome. They all participate in ward functions and everything. Like there is a family history class every Wednesday and this ward is just pumping out names to the temple. I talked to one lady yesterday who has 27 names she needs to send in to the temple. It's soooooo cool to have members who are actually excited about the gospel and especially about temple work. That really is the most important service we can do. And it is also one of the reasons this church is SO true. No other church even claims to have anything like it. It is so beautiful how we can perform these saving ordenances for everyone who ever lived so that they also have the chance to accept the gospel. And it is even more beautiful how we can seal families together for all eternity, because heaven just wouldn't be heaven if I couldn't steal my old daddy-os tea bottle every day of it haha. So yea, I am super excited to work with that and use that excitement our ward has about it to share the gospel with other people.

 

My companion is Hermana Connelly. She is pretty cool. She is a sister trainer. So was Hermana Duran. And now Hermana Lopez is. I think President is trying to keep an eye on me or something. He always has to put me with the sister trainers to make sure I don't run off and do something crazy. Like just ride busses all day or something.

 

As far as investigators and stuff go here in Chino... well... we aren't really teaching anyone at the moment. This area is just starting to pull itself out of a rough patch. But everything's turning around. We are finding people, and lots of them, good families too. We are going to baptize a family in December. I'm not sure who yet... but it's going to happen. Pray for that. All the missionaries here are really really good obedient missionaries who just needed a little jolt of energy to turn things around. I think President kind of thinks of me as a little energizer bunny battery. He just sticks me anywhere that needs a jolt of energy. I kind of have a lot of energy, did you ever notice? This morning I did half of companionship study upsidedown in a headstand on the couch. Yea...

 

Also, it's getting really cold some days. Chino is also the only place in the mission where it snows I hear. And since I just got here I am probably going to be here over the whole winter.  I might need you to send me the rest of my scarves and my gloves and stuff and maybe my nice looking long coat. Not sure about the coat, so hold off on that, but I am pretty sure about the scarves and gloves. Either that or I will probably just buy some here.

 

Well, The church is true, missionary work is awesome, chino is awesome, life is good, I still love the mission. It is crazy I have been out 5 months almost. Doesn't feel like it. It's so weird to think that fall semester at BYU is already starting to come to a close. Weird.

 

Love

Hermana Bardsley

 

P.S. Tell Shayne I am sending her a letter for her birthday. Not exactly sure when it'll get there.

 

P.P.S. I have this gigantic mound of chocolate on my desk and I am downing it at an alarming rate. It is the best thing ever. Thanks again to you my mama and to Jesse for contributing to the fund.

Oct 21st and Oct 28th

Oct 21st

Well. This week was pretty crazy. We were evacuated from our apartment for a day and a half because of a giant gas leak. Yea we it was pretty funny because we were carrying all our laundry and groceries back and then they wouldn't let us into our street. SO we were homeless for a bit. The elders bikes also got stolen from the bike rack on our car during that time. And then my wallet was stolen/lost. It's been a little crazy haha. BUT. The good news is.... THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!!!! I don't know, none of this stuff really concerns us too much because we are just so happy sharing the gospel!

ALSO!! we gave someone a baptismal date. He is a husband of a member, and he knows the church is true, so he has been hiding from the missionaries since she got baptized because he knew that he would get baptized if he didn't haha. He is awesome though, he has seen how it has changed his family for the better.  But yea when we came along we told the family we weren't going to teach them unless we could come at a time when everyone is home and we could teach everyone. So that's what we did, and now he is going to get baptized! With his daughter who is 8 :) it is going to be super cute. haha so yea that was cool!  His name is Douglas, and his daughter is Kimberly.

Also we are teaching an argentinean family... and it is the funniest thing of my life. The mom is SO stereotypically Argentine. She hates the son's girlfriend and so the whole time she is just like "No se que hizo para merecer ese pecado en su vida" (I don't know what he did to deserve this sin in his life) "Siempre esta con esa fea" (He is always with that ugly girl)  and then one time he said "yo" instead of the argentine "jo" and she was like "MIRA!! ESA FEA ESTA QUITANDO SU ARGENTINO! ES JO! NO YO!!! JO!!!!!!!!" She says all this in front of her son. I'm pretty sure she is just teasing him because even he is just sitting there laughing the things she says are so ridiculous. He like sits there and nods his head and mouths to us not to take her seriously. But yea we were just sitting there dying of laughter. But the son, Lucas, is super awesome. He sincerely has the desire to learn, and the spirit was super strong during the first lesson. He accepted a baptismal invite at the end of the first lesson. The mom is interested too but she pretends not to be, she goes into the kitchen as if shes not listening but then she will yell a comment in when she has something to say haha. Argentines are funny. I think if I had gone to Argentina on my mission I wouldn't been able to get anything done because I would have been laughing the whole time. 

Oct 28th

Well, what can I say, I knew I was going to be transferred because last week I completely lost my shame. The moment I started killing cockroaches with my fists I knew I had to go. But East LA will always have my heart. I am now in Chino. Which happens to be as different from East LA as is possible. And on the complete opposite corner of the mission. It is quiet and rich and there are even horses and cows out here. There are no busses and we are right by the mountains. It's weird, I've become so accustomed to the hustle and bustle and sirens and meth labs of East LA, but it is going to be AWESOME here. I am super excited to learn a completely different style of missionary work. But it will be weird for a while.

My last week in Bel 2 though was everything I could have hoped for. We finally had a lesson with Oscar, and he shared with us how he knows this is all true, and he has prayed and received the answer that he needs to get baptized. He talked about how the gospel has changed his life, how it filled a hole he didn't realize he had, and all the miracles he has seen and felt because of it. I often felt like Oscar was my purpose being in that area, and I always said, "If I could just stay long enough to be sure that Oscar will get baptized I will be happy". And well, that happened. So I kind of felt like everything came full circle this last week. Other things too. But guys, the gospel is SO true, it fills all those holes in peoples hearts. Jesus Christ payed for every hole whether it is from a sin or not, he payed for it so that he could know how to help all of us in our times of need. It gives them hope and happiness that they never knew existed. You see those holes, like with Oscar, get filled with light instead

Dad, I am super excited you are a ward missionary! You will be an AMAZING ward missionary! You will have to keep me posted about that. Missionary work is the most rewarding thing ever.

But yea, besides that THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYBODY!!!! MOM THANKS FOR ALL THE CHOCOLATE!!!! I THINK I AM SET FOR A GOOD COUPLE WEEKS NOW!!!! AND JESSE SENT ME CHOCOLATE TOO!!!!! I was just in a state of everlasting joy today at the mission office when I opened those two packages. And thank you to michelle and Joshy too!!! I am going to answer everybody but since I got transferred today and am figuring all that out it will probably be a couple weeks. But yea, I am going to keep my email short today unless I have extra time after emailing the mission president then I might send another.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is real and true. Keep up the awesome work!

love,

Hermana Bardsley

Bel 2, Week 4!!!!

Well hello everyone! This week was a little bit somber. We went to two memorial services. One for a sister in our ward who unexpectedly passed away, she was only about 50 and has a 17 year old daughter. She LOVED missionaries. Every time we would go over she would send us home with like a box of cereal, gallon of milk, things of yogurt, bananas, water and other things haha. She was awesome, well, still is. The other was for the missionary who passed away, Elder Page. He had only been in the field for a month, and was from the first batch who came from the Mexico MTC. His dad had just died three years ago. Apparently, he came to the mission and told president and his trainer that he was here to teach people about the plan of salvation because that was what he had a super strong testimony of. Everyone says that he would bring everyone to tears bearing his testimony of the plan of salvation. What has amazed me through both these experiences more are the families of these people. The husband and daughter of Hermana Reynoso were at church on Sunday, smiling, and the mom of Elder Page was more concerned about his companion, Elder Ostler than anything. 

The gospel is so true. To normal people, losing a husband and a son within a couple years would destroy them and their hope, but the knowledge of being able to live with our families for eternity and the comfort that the holy ghost brings to people in need is truly incredible. This church is SO true. If only EVERYBODY knew it so that they could also have the same peace through hard things. And it's not just peace because we convince ourselves that we can be with our families again so it's okay, it is REAL peace and knowledge that God sends to people who truly ask God for that comfort. 

OH SO GUESS WHAT??!! We had interviews with president this last week and GUESS WHAT HAPPENED?? I walked into my interview, and president was like "sister, do you really need your car?" and I was like "NOPE!" And so now we don't have to use our car AT ALL!!! We didn't even say anything to him. What an inspired man ;). We will be careful, don't worry. We aren't going to use our bikes much anyways because we like just walking and talking to people.

But yea, besides that we kind of like... dropped all our investigators this week because they didn't want to progress.... So....... YEA!!! Back to finding people :D. Me and Hermana Lopez are both kind of blunt. If someone is refusing to progress we just drop them right away.  But yea! there's just really no point in holding onto investigators like that, a lot of people just do because it is hard to find new investigators. I should start learning some chinese so I can have more conversations with all the chinese people here.  Our bus conversations are oftentimes pretty funny, but they are just happy we are giving them something in their language because we have chinese pamphlets and pass along cards and so they read it haha.

I anxiously await the chocolate. This morning I had a chocolate fit. Just ask my companion. I went around the house complaining about everything. Like, UGGGG I don't want to sweep the floor, I just want to eat chocolate. And then UGGG I don't want to do my laundry, I just want to eat chocolate. But I don't have any. So then when I went shopping today like everything I bought was chocolate oriented, cocoa puffs, nuttella etc...

And we just got our bikes yesterday!!! Be excited for next week. We are gonna take some super sick modeling poses with our bikes whipping our hair around with some gatorade and stuff. It's going to be legit.

Keep it real, the church is true, tell everyone you know about it.

Love,

Hermana Bardsley

BEL 2 WEEK 3!!!!!!???

Well. Let me see. I have a ton of things to say. Only I am so tired I don't think I am going to say too much. Our pday got moved to Tuesday this week so that we could go to the temple this morning. So we did. And it was pretty awesome. The Los Angeles temple is GIGANTIC. Someone said it is the biggest temple. I'm not sure if that's true but it was pretty big. It was HUGE. And it was one of the ones where you move from room to room to room so that was really cool. 

Anyways, BE MEMBER MISSIONARIES!!!!! yeah. I loved how like every talk talked about that. This IS the hastening of the work and all of us missionaries can't do it without the members. This gospel is SO TRUE and makes people SO HAPPY you just have to share it with EVERYONE!

Oh and by the way, the made a rule specifically for me and Hermana Lopez that all sisters in this area HAVE to use their car after 5pm. We were the only ones who weren't. So we know the rule was just for us haha. Which is funny. Sad, because riding the bus all day long was the best but whatever. But cool story about before they made that rule. One night we were riding the bus talking to people like usual and there were these people who kept looking at us funny. And well, when we got off the bus Hermana Lopez were like "hermana, those people were taking pictures of us on their phone. And I was like.... "uhhh..... that can't be good". And then then next day we were at the church and this lady came up to me and gave me a huge hug and was like "congratulations!! good job!!" and me and hermana Lopez were like.... huh? Then she pulled out her phone and showed us all these pictures of us bus contacting haha. So it was her and her husband watching being undercover members on the bus taking pictures of us. So yea I'll forward those pictures to you guys because she sent them to us haha.

Best moment of the week though was that we rekindled with Oscar!!! He had told us before not to knock on his door because the people he lives with hate mormons. But we hadn't been able to contact him in 2 months so finally I was like, that's it, we are knocking on Oscar's door. And we found him and it turned out he had lost his old phone, didn't have anyone's number and had been trying to find a way to contact us again. And then without us even telling him to come he came to conference the next day. We were there and then we just saw Oscar already there and we had no idea he was coming. He is such a good kid. 

But yea, this week was really awesome. We have a ton of awesome new investigors. Conference was really really awesome. I just kind of want to pass out because we got up at 5 to take the bus 2.5 hours to the temple. So we did 5 hours of bus riding today and we just got back like an hour ago and we still have to do our laundry and stuff. Cheers. Oh yea my bike is like aqua blue to answer your question. But I still don't have it yet, I think it's now at the mission office.