If Ye Have Desires, Ye Are Called To The Work

Hey everyone! This week was such a blessing. We had a baptism for our 16 year old investigator! It was so spiritual. She had so much support from family and friends, and she really was excited to make this commitment. We talked to her about the steps she would take after her baptism, continuing to learn and serve in the church, and doing work at the temple. She is so excited! This girl has been a huge example to me, and I am so grateful for all that she has taught me.

My new companion is Hermana Estrada! She was born in Guatemala but moved to Oregon when she was 6. We are a lot alike, and we are having a ton of fun. She is helping me adjust to doing missionary work on bikes! They took our car away and I was a bit nervous, but besides the sore backside we are doing good! People see us out more, and we are more thoughtful as we go from place to place because it takes a lot of energy to ride in this heat! But we are seeing miracles because of our diligence.

don't be fooled, that smile isn't always on my face! ;)

We met with a family this past week. The dad is less active and his wife and daughter are not members. They have had basically no exposure to religion in their lives so we're starting at square one, explaining who God and Jesus Christ are and what this gospel can do for their family. They have been hit with some hard things in their family recently, and so they are very open to the peace and happiness that the gospel can bring to them. We could feel it as we taught them; they had so many questions. They really wanted to know what this is all about.

We met another young girl who's mom is less active and doesn't come out to church, but her daughter wanted to go to a church, so she was going to a Christian church. She ended up not liking that one so she started going to the LDS church, and has been coming by herself for the past few months! She walks all alone in her heels down the street and around the corner (you don't have to go too far in Utah to find a chapel). She wants to get baptized and we are going to start teaching her!
I am so grateful for all of the incredible miracles I have been able to witness here on my mission. I feel so blessed to touch people's lives, even for a short while. I know that Heavenly Father is giving me the strength that I need to stay strong and "endure to the end" of my mission.

The gospel is true. I love you all and I hope you're smiling!

xoxo

Sister Boman

Bittersweet Symphony

This week was bittersweet. We had our send-off testimony meeting for our mission president who will finish his mission at the end of this month. He has been an incredible support to me throughout my mission, ever since day one. He is easy to talk to, and always smiling. One of his strengths is positivity, and it's no question why. He is such a spiritual giant, and if we ever have questions, he counsels us to take it to the Lord. "Go pray about it" he says. He has helped me to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father and to rely more on my Savior Jesus Christ. He will definitely be missed!

We had an awesome lesson with our recent convert who was baptized last weekend. It is so neat to see how her relationship with her husband and son is strengthened, and how many blessings they are seeing because of her choice to join the church. They still have hard times, but they are able to handle them with so much more faith and hope. 

This last Sunday was almost a big scare. Our investigator getting baptized this weekend needed to come to church one more time before she can be baptized, to show her commitment to the Lord. With a family camping trip and father's day weekend all in one, we were so nervous that she wouldn't be able to make it and we would have to push her baptismal date back. I called a family up in Hyrum near where she was camping and asked if she could sit with them in church. Later that night they were texting and making sure they would be able to find each other in the morning! The morning came, and she texted us and said she was at church!!!!!!! Unless you have served a mission, you have NO IDEA how big a deal this is!!! It is SO HARD to get people to church. The fact that she left from camping, with her parents questioning her decision to go to church on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning proved to us and to her Heavenly Father that she is committed to this decision that she has made! Needless to say, a happy dance was in order. 

A big shout out to all the fathers in my life! I love my dad, grandpa, uncles, priesthood leaders, and all of the wonderful men who have been surrogate dads out here on my mission. Still, no one compares to my awesome dad! I made a delish father's day breakfast for our landlords, you would have loved it dad! We ate it all gone ;)

Transfers are this week and i'm staying in my area. I will die here. Hopefully not of heat stroke (they took our car away) but it will be the last place I serve on my mission. I'm trying not to count down! I know there is still so much work for me to do here, and so many things to learn. But, I am excited to see you all when I come home!

I love you all, and I hope you're smiling!

xoxo

Sister Boman

here's a picture of a beautiful sunset in Hyrum, I went on exchanges up to my old area! 

He Knows

Something that I have been learning recently is that Heavenly Father always knows. He knows what we really want, He knows what is best for us, He knows what needs to happen, He knows what we need to learn. He always knows! And how incredible it is that He cares enough to help us out. 

It is tricky being a missionary. I love this work, I love the people we meet, and I know that Satan knows a thing or two as well. He likes to bug me! He knows how important this work us, just as much as Heavenly Father does. Every day I pray for help to fight him off, 'cause aint nobody got time fo that! Thankfully i've got someone even stronger on my side, Jesus Christ! I could not do this work without His help. He has been with me every step of the way and i'm going to need Him up until the last day!

We had a baptism this past weekend! The sisters before I came in were working with her and she was finally ready to take the step into the waters of baptism. She was really nervous because her parents and grandparents were both there, and they are not members and not very supportive of her decision. She didn't think they would show up. It was so cool to share the message of the restoration with our captive audience lol. The spirit was really strong and we are excited for her to continue to grow close with her husband and son. 

On Sunday we walked into a sacrament meeting and saw one of the less active members that we are working with sitting in the back! We were so thrilled! She said she felt prompted to come to church and she got ready in fifteen minutes to come!  The entire sacrament meeting was about finding joy in our adversities. It was exactly what she needed to hear. He knew! What was funny was that the speaker was supposed to speak a few weeks ago, but they moved her to this Sunday and gave her this new topic. Heavenly Father knows each of us and exactly what our needs are. 

I've been trying to figure out how to stay strong until the end of my mission, to keep the fire burning, and I realized that service is my key! We did some more weeding this week and some vacuuming and dusting for an older lady. It's the best way to make the least productive hours of the day more productive and fulfilling. As I serve these people I realize how much I have been blessed with and how grateful I am to be able to do this work. 

We saw a really neat mormon message on LDS.org. It's called Lift. It's a really touching story and helped me to gain a greater perspective for why i'm doing this work. You should all watch it!

I love you all, and I hope you're smiling!

xoxo

Sister Boman

Persistence

I keep writing about miracles in my emails, but I can't stop because they KEEP HAPPENING! We met SO many people this week who are prepared to receive the gospel.

We met the young girl who a young woman called us about. She is sixteen and has wanted to be baptized since she was ten! Her parents didn't want her to when she was younger because they thought she needed to be older to make her decision. She has been coming to church activities ever since, and thanks to her friend she has started meeting with us! She was kind of quiet at first, but finally she opened up and told us how badly she has wanted this. She knows it is true and she is ready to take this step! The best part is, her parents are supporting her decision!!! We prayed and fasted that they would be ok with it, and the Lord granted us a miracle! She has been reading the scriptures and praying and doing everything she can to prepare for her baptism!

The other family we met yesterday. A few weeks ago we had stopped by because we knew the dad was less active and the wife and daughter were not members. We met the husband at the door, he didn't let us in. He said his daughter wasn't feeling well, and we asked if we could come back another time to meet them. He didn't sound very interested, and told us that he's pretty sure his wife and daughter don't want anything to do with the church. Still, we were persistent and tried them again last night. As we were praying before we went to their door, they pulled into their driveway! They let us inside and we met them all. The wife didn't grow up with any religion, and the daughter hasn't learned about any church. We testified of the power the gospel has to change lives, to bring peace and comfort, and to give us a path to follow to find happiness and lasting joy. The spirit was so strong, and when we asked if we could come and teach them more, the wife said yes that would be wonderful! We are so excited to get to know them and help them to feel of the love of their Heavenly Father.

A bunch of missionaries were able to do some service at a homeless shelter. They were serving dinner and we were the entertainment! We sang hymns and people had brought guitars and ukuleles. I sat with a few people and chatted with them. I love to sing but I figured they would rather have some conversation. I met one guy who is getting baptized this weekend! He has been meeting with some elders that work down in that area. The other guy at the table had just come from Philadelphia, thinking his cousin would have a place for him to live but turned out it was the homeless shelter! Me and the other guy getting baptized talked to him about the church and how it could bless him. He had a lot of wild ideas about religion, but he said that he was praying for a girl! HA! We told him boy you're praying for the wrong thing! Heavenly Father will bless us if we are obedient and seek after righteous desires. We told him he might meet a nice girl if he came to church haha. We'll see what happens. It was so fun to just chat with everyone and help them to feel the spirit. They are so humble. Their needs are so basic. It is incredible what the gospel can do to help us find peace and hope for the future.

look at those missionaries sing!

I LOVE this gospel. It is such a privilege to share it with everyone I meet. At the homeless shelter, a young girl came up to me. Her parents were helping serve the dinner. She said "I just wanted to let you know what an awesome missionary you are!" She must have seen me talking to everybody. It made me so happy! Fifteen months ago I would not have had the guts to sit down at a table with homeless people and start talking about the gospel. I am so thankful for the trust I have put in my Heavenly Father, and for all of the incredible people He has placed in my path for me to meet.

I love you all, and I hope you're smiling!

xoxo

Sister Boman

Who Do You Love?

We are working hard to see changes in our area, to see changes in ourselves, and to see changes in the people we are working with! I am grateful for the strength that Heavenly Father is giving me to keep working hard!

A member of one of our wards spoke to us on Sunday about teaching a lady who is in his neighborhood. She had a few questions, and he figured it would be a good time for us to come and speak with her! She is Methodist, and her husband passed away last year. She is struggling to cope with the loss, but she has a lot of faith. We taught her about the restoration of the gospel and told her about the plan of salvation that our Heavenly Father has for us, and she really liked what we were talking about. By the end, she said "Well i'm not interested in changing religions..." BUT, she said she would start reading the Book of Mormon! If she reads it prayerfully with an open heart, she will know, by the power of the Holy Ghost that this church is true!

We met a young couple, she is less active and he is not a member. They have been going to some other churches, trying to find a place that they like, but nothing feels right. We were able to share our testimonies with them, and we could really tell that her husband was feeling the spirit. Hopefully we can help them to find true peace and happiness! 

We got a phone call late Saturday night from a young girl who said her friend is interested in taking the missionary lessons! We love when people call us with people ready and willing to be taught! We are excited to meet her this week!

We had interviews with our mission president yesterday and received some really great training. We talked about the difference between the Law of Moses and the higher law that Jesus Christ taught. The people needed a little more help to be obedient, so they were given the Law of Moses. Unfortunately, they kind of missed the point and focused too much on the technicalities and actions involved in the law. When Christ came He helped them to realize that it can be boiled down to the two greatest commandments found in Matthew chapter 22 verses 37-40:

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Everything we do can be brought back to these two things: Do we love our neighbor? Do we love the Lord? I have come to know that when I truly love God, I am willing to do anything He asks. And when I do what He asks, that is when I find real, lasting happiness.

I love you all, and I hope you're smiling!

xoxo

Sister Boman