Sister Lacey Steen: June 2014

Monday, June 9, 2014

A week of bashing

This is the Family History Library where I write all of my emails from here in Yakima, Washington

Well this week has just been hard haha I’m pretty sure we got bashed once or twice a day this week and it wasn't just the normal bash. No it was really harsh heart breaking bashes. Me and Sister Harris just had to keep going. She stopped one day and looked at me and told me she has never been so bashed and so hurt in her whole mission. She gave me a hug and told me she doesn't know why I have to go through this almost every day on my mission and so soon. I told her it’s something God needs me to experience and I really do know this is true. On top of all the bashing our investigator who is 89 lost his wife on Friday. She passed away and he is going through a really hard time but every time we are there he just tells us we are helping him get through it and that’s what keeps me going, when I’m helping someone. Isn’t that what our missions are all about?

not a lot has happened this week. Sadly just a lot of tracting but we are trying to get more trust from our members. it’s hard because they don’t always understand what you are going through on a mission. I feel like they just expect you to baptize someone every week but if we don’t have the members helping by being their friends, which I know is hard but missionaries really can’t do it all on our own. We had dinner the other night and after dinner the kids wanted to go outside. we started playing catch at the end of it i was pitching to the kids and they think I’m an amazing pitcher, witch I’m not. hahah it was way fun and the dad is breeding snakes. One is about to lay its eggs. sweet!!! we went up to Sister Cluff yesterday after church and she asked me if we heard what was going on with her son Jordan. We said no and she told us he has a tumor on his brain. She started crying and I just had to hug her cuz i didn’t really know what to say to make it better. We said we would pray for her family and Jordan. they are an amazing family!! i love my mission it gets hard at times but it’s all worth it :0

Love sister steen

Mom wrote: Tell us more about the bashing

haha well on Tuesday we decided to tract these houses on the hill in town. so we walked up this big drive way and there were like 4 houses up there. well the very last house we tracted this lady let us in and her son and his wife were there. They were maybe in their late 20s and the mom left so we were talking to the couple. They were so nice. we were able to just talk about religion and share our conversion stories. it was so amazing because you could just feel the spirit so much there. then we gave them the restoration dvd and they said they would watch it. then the mom came back and the dad came in and we were talking about heaven and the 3 kingdoms. I guess i said something that really offended the mom and then the dad just went off for 30 min just tearing our religion apart. me and Sister Harris were just trying not to cry the whole time. After he was done Sister Harris asked if he has ever read the book of Mormon before. He got up and said oh you all wanna basically fight about if I’m right and we were like no we were just wondering if you read the book. His daughter was like dad you weren’t here when they explained all the stuff he was saying so we said we are going to go. Sister Harris just walked out but i shook all of their hands and we walked out then the couple prayed with us. the dad came back for more and after it all we just cried and hugged for a little. then we walked home and its basically been like that every time but a little different.

me and elder Adeling he got transferred

me and elder Conell he also got transferred

Monday, June 2, 2014

June 2, 2014

It’s been an amazing transfer this month with Sister Harris. Linda got baptized on the 31st and it was so amazing. My favorite part was when she went under the water and when she came back up she gasped and giggled and just smiled at all the people. it was so cute!!! She is just so amazing!! we have been tracting and last week and yesterday we found a few families where the moms are really less active and they want to take the lessens. so cool!!! One mom still has a strong strong testimony of the book of Mormon and Joseph smith. She was testifying the whole time to her family. it was so crazy. There is this 89 year old man we are teaching and he is learning slowly. He is a little set in his ways but when we really sit down and explain to him he gets it. He asked us yesterday about baptism for the dead. he lives with his son in law and he is very anti-mormon so it’s hard at times but I guess they were talking about that and when we explained to him what they were for he asked if he can do that for his wife. It was so cool. His wife doesn't have much longer to live. It’s really sad. Yesterday he told us she only has hours left. We told him he can’t do baptisms for her only girls can for her and then we said we can do it for her and he smiled. He doesn't quite understand but he is getting there. I don’t know we have so much happening in the Yakima 5th ward. so we got transfer calls on Saturday night and every one was telling me that I’m going because no one stays with their greeny buster for more than one transfer so I was really sad when the call came and when I didn't hear my name me and sister Harris just looked at each other and then freaked out. It was so cool! I’m staying in Yakima 5th ward for another 6 weeks! how freaking sweet is that!!! We have a lot going on right now and I think a lot of our investigators were praying that me and Sister Harris would stay together. I’m so happy I truly know God is in this work! ahhh i just love my mission!!!!

Love Sister Steen