Welcome Home!

Sept 3, 2015 - Sister Bonny returns home!!

Salt Lake Airport

We were all giddy with excitement!!

Where better to celebrate her return than at the Cheesecake Factory?

They misspelled her name - unacceptable!

Sierra's favorite super hero welcomes her home

Sept 21 -  Sierra and Weston shared a wonderful sacrament meeting
Bien venidos big sister...adios Elder Bonny

8/31/15 Week 76

Showing off our "gift of tongues"

Deep breath in..........still holding it........and out.....sigh........wow.  It's really the end.  Now where to begin? Ok I know I'm probably being a little dramatic, but coming home from your mission is like one of those landmark things that you never forget in life!...wedding, childbirth, mission, ya it's a pretty big deal! So I'll come back to all the reminiscing sappy stuff at the end, but for now I'll tell you a little bit about my last week as a full time servant of our Lord.

Melissa

 

Sis Strasser

Tuesday - last district meeting, lots of testimony bearing, and we went to the house of one former investigators and it turns out she is SUPER prepared!  The only reason why she didn't get baptized earlier was because she wasn't married, but now she and her boyfriend are separated and she wants to find a place for her kids and a church that "fills the gap in her heart". She pretty much quoted Preach my Gospel.

Wednesday - exit interview with President Ames up in Euless and that pretty much lasted all day.  Wow.  Real life is coming.  There is a lot about marriage I didn't realize until now. That is literally all we talked about for 45 minutes! He said "On Thursday, who knows, you might get invited to an institute dance, where you might actually have to touch a boy!" "Ahh too soon President!".  Haha but really though, the council he gave was so inspiring.  I have to be at the level of the person I want to be with.  That is something that he really emphasized.  So true.  After that interview I left just feeling so full of God's love, and excitement for the future!

Thursday - last weekly planning session.  Oh how sad... but then we went out with the Coronas and had a lesson with Hazel and Jorge.  I love them.

Friday - service at the soup kitchen.  We made about 200 BLT's and then of course I was put in charge of dishing out the chocolate covered cheesecake...resist!! Anyways, that was tons of fun. But I think maybe a bit too much because I completely lost my voice! It felt like daggers were stabbing me every time I had to talk.  I never realized how essential having a voice is as a missionary until I didn't have one! So I had to take an oath of silence the rest of that day...it was really hard! I had to break it that night when we went and taught Din's husband and found out his whole history of being a member, getting the priesthood, going to the temple, everything.  It was amazing. He will come back, but it's not his time right now.

Saturday we got to see all of my favorite people! We had lunch with the monsoon, taught Din, Idalia y Juan, Celia, and helped la familia Strasser decorate the church for a wedding reception (but mostly we just stood around and talked cuz there was nothing to do...)

Sunday was emotional, but not really as bad as I thought.  That is the one plus about my short six weeks in Denton is that I didn't really get super close with all the members.  There were definitely a few goodbyes that were kind of hard.  We later went for a family dinner with the Strassers. We had a good Texas BBQ and there were like 20 of us! All her sons told me and prepared me for the upcoming weeks, and all the awkwardness I will feel, and how awesome it was to sit and watch TV...haha! They are a family I am really going to miss:)  Tonight we have "a day in the CCM" with the Rodriguez and the Cuevas family! 11 ninos! Ahh wish us luck!

Parting gifts - I love it!!!

They have a family tradition of giving the missionaries a Disney doll that they have common traits with

Dinora...I'm all smiles when I'm with her  :)

Well. It's been real yall.  Now just one last thing left to do... I couldn't feel complete with my mission unless I close by sharing with you all my most valuable possession I have gained on my mission: my testimony of our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.  I know with all my heart they are both real.  Before I would just pray because I knew it's what I should do, but now I pray because I need to. I know He is listening, even on those days that I feel like I'm just talking to my mattress.  I know I am His daughter.  This experience has really helped me gain perspective, to really understand the why behind everything we do in this church. It's all a part of the perfect plan that He created for us.  All of those things that we may or may not do every day that He has asked of us are slowly shaping us, helping us to reach our divine potential.  It is a process called repentance:)  Repentance isn't just a list of boxes to check off.  It is a change of heart, behavior, and character.  That is how we become more like our Savior, and as a result live happier, fuller lives! I know that is true! I know they love each and every one of us. For that reason they called Moses, Abraham, Nephi, Joseph Smith, Moroni, Brigham Young, Thomas S. Monson and so many more prophets to remind us that constantly! :) Everything I've been taught my whole life finally makes sense. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Gods kingdom on the Earth today.  This is His work and He labors with his missionaries.   I love this church, this gospel, my covenants, my family, and this work. This is truth! And I share these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

con amor - Hermana Bonny Alma 26

Familia Monzon

8/24/15 Week 75

Wow so this week was seriously one of the best of my whole LIFE!!!!  

This is supposed to be a district mug shot...missionaries aren't too well practiced at that

Here's why:

On Friday we had a seriously miraculous break through with Id AND her husband Juan Carlos!  We have been meeting with Id for awhile and she has been just right on the verge of setting a date for baptism, but she is just a little scared of taking that big step.  Her husband is actually the brother of one of the members in our ward, and we have taught him only a few times and he never really seemed very interested like his wife.  Friday we had a lesson with them both at the church, and we had planned to teach el espiritu santo y preseverar hasta el fin, but the conversation just turned right to baptism.  We asked Id about it and she said that after she dropped us off after our lesson we had the week before with her, she just couldn't stop thinking about it.  She said "Could I still get baptized on October 3rd?"  Umm YESSSS!!!!  Then we turned to Juan who had been a lot more quiet and asked him if he would like to prepare for baptism with her, and to everyone's surprise, he said YES.  We couldn't believe it! Id even asked "are you sure?" and he said "yes I am."  I seriously could barely stay in my chair! Sigh...it was a good night.  Their journey is still not going to be easy, but it really was the miracle we had been praying for.

Hna Hernandez

We finally found Hazel and Jorge.  Turns out she hadn't been avoiding us like we thought, but her phone is totally busted and I guess we just went by at the wrong times.  Phew...so we talked with them about baptism as well because Hazel had a date for sept. 5th, but she really wanted Jorge to do it.  It wasn't looking like that was going to happen, but we had a talk with them and Hazel is going wait while Jorge gets ready so that way they can prepare to be an eternal family together:) aww.  But then our ward mission leader said just to baptize her anyways...so now we are confused on what to do....

The gang's all here for David's baptism

No kissing allowed Hna Bonny!!

 On Saturday I got permission from President Ames to go back to Lewisville and see David's baptism.  Oh my goodness it felt like a family reunion! Everyone was there. The wankiers, hatfields, zamoras, Hna Taele, the Stuckis, Magda, David...ahh! It was amazing! The whole time I was just thinking, "Man what would have happened if we would have just kept riding our bikes? We really almost went right past him. I feel like my favorite scripture just keeps playing through my head "through small and simple means are great things brought to pass".  So true. No effort is ever wasted. I love you all and I love this gospel!

Luv Hermana Bonny

8/17/15 Week 74

Belated pic of Rene's baptism

Without charity we are nothing.  I think that line could sum up every important thing I have learned on my mission.  I feel like this week, things just really have been clicking.  Every missionary needs to learn exact obedience.  We know that by exact obedience, we see miracles right?  Yes...but what makes those miracles so special?  It's the "why" behind it, and now I feel like I'm just figuring out that the "why" of everything is based in charity.  We should do things not just to check a box that says we did it and we are a good person, but because we really love our brothers and sisters, and more importantly God.  :) It's hard to sum up all of these light bulb experiences that have been going on in my brain these past few weeks (aka the spirit) but I think Elder Uchtdorf says it pretty good.

      "The 'what' and 'how' of obedience mark the way and keep us on the right path.  The 'why' of obedience sanctifies our actions, transforming the mundane into the majestic.  It magnifies our small acts of obedience into holy acts of consecration"  Woooo!  I love love LOVE it!  That is really the key to happiness, not just in the mission, but in life. Don't just do things because you have to do them, or because people say its right, do it out of love and watch your life change from boring routines into an exciting spiritual adventure! I know it sounds cheesy, but I know it's so true! I feel like it's something I've known in my head for a long time, but I'm finally just realizing it in my heart this transfer.  It's about time right? I haven't been happier :)

Zone Conference

Hno Saldana

Now onto just a few miracles! We had to take our car into the shop to get a few little things fixed, so we were on bikes for a few days. It was about 7:30 and we were on our way to a trailer park that isn't too far from our house.  We thought it wouldn't take very long to get there. We got to the normal road we take to drive there, and realized it was a lot busier than we thought. We didn't feel very safe about it, so we decided to go a different way that we were "sure" would get us there. (Ya not very wise on our part...) Long story short....we got very lost. We were riding for about 30 minutes and it was starting to get dark, and we were both getting pretty nervous. We had been saying a lot of little prayers during this adventure, and so for some reason when I came to this street called Farris, the spirit literally halted me. It was like I didn't even push the brakes! I asked Hna Whimple if she had ever seen this street before and she said no, but we both felt good about it. At that point I had basically given up all hope of teaching our lessons for that night; I was just hoping to get home at all. But because of the tender mercies of Heavenly Father, Farris street led us directly to the trailer park we had been trying to find! We were able to have an awesome lesson with one of our investigators, Miguel. I feel like it's one of those "New Era worthy" moments:) haha. God really does hear and answer prayers… I feel like I have been saying that every week :)

Service at THE SOUP KITCHEN

This week we also did service at this cute little place called Our Daily Bread.  It's like a soup kitchen for the homeless.  It was so fun!  Hermana Whimple is a trooper and ate a little concrete on her bike on the way there, but once we got there we met Sophia.  She is so cool!  She said that she had met with missionaries a few times and is seriously thinking about joining our church! She is our age and just moved here from LA.  We had some great talks with her, and she even came to church on Sunday and stayed for 6 hours.  She got the times mixed up and came to Spanish instead of YSA, but she was cool with staying.

 Well, all is well in Denton! Id came to church, Mig still wants to be baptized, we are having a hard time keeping in touch with Haz so that has us a little worried...but Din and Soc are still progressing as well! Please pray for them!:) Love you all! 

Hermana Bonny