Hello Wonderful Family!
What a wonderful week this has been up here in The Ohio! The complete highlight of the week was Saturday at 2:00 when Nancy Abernathy was baptized by proper authority a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! The day went smoothly and there was such a wonderful spirit in attendance. There was a great turnout, and already Nancy is making friends who will be there to help her acclimate to her new life sans Earl but with the gospel! We met with her last Tuesday, and she made the comment, "Maybe I needed to be with Earl even though everything went South so I could be introduced to the gospel..." YES NANCY!!! YES!!! It was great. Yesterday, after she was confirmed with the Holy Ghost, she was glowing. I asked her if she would write down the feelings she had been feeling since her baptism and after her confirmation, and she promised. I am so proud of her... I just know her life is going to be immeasurably blessed. She brought with her to her baptism Saturday two of her best friends who were nothing but supportive of her and her 14 year old granddaughter. Nancy is going to be the spark all her friends and family need to bring them the gospel!
In other news, I found out people hunt for food... because they need to. NOT necessarily because they want to make deer jerky or whatever. There are lots of people who hunt up here because they can't afford meat. Wow, who knew?! Oh, and I had vennison at dinner with the Crook family yesterday. It tasted just like potroast. The Crooks also have chickens and baby chicks... I got to hold one. I WANT chickens!
I learned how to play Book of Mormon Stories on the piano. I am determined, on my p-day, to learn how to play at least a few key songs. I'll send a recording :)
Sister Parry and I got to watch the YW Broadcast. It was awesome and totally set the tone for me for conference. Speaking of Conference. it is this weekend! I'm so excited... Be there or be square!
I'm sorry this email is so short, but I'm out of time. Know that I love you all. The gospel is true, and through the atonement, we can all return to live with our Heavenly Father again one day. I love you-- The gospel is true!
Love,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
"I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives..."
Dear wonderful family,
Happy spring! Although, June tells me you're not having much of a spring in Texas... What's up with all this snow?! It's been delightfully raining and 60* up here-- y'all need to get with the program!
It's really been a great week here-- I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday battling a little bit of a tummy bug, so our weekend wasn't super productive. Saturday morning, I asked the Newark elders for a blessing, and they were nice enough to meet us at the church building to do it. The priesthood is awesome, and I'm so thankful for it! We then went to a youth baptism for Isaiah Barrick. His dad is in the military and has been deployed for a long time. He has leave for two weeks, and so it was so awesome to watch his dad, a worthy priesthood holder who is fighting for our country, be able to perform this saving ordinance for his son. It made me reflect back to my own baptism and how grateful I am I had a daddy who was able to do that for me.
Yesterday, I experienced my first real rude rejection... and it was at church from an active member, no less! Saturday, Sister Parry and I were going to a part of our area that we don't go to very often, Buckeye Lake, and we were going to go contacting down there. Well, we consulted our ward list to see who lived that way that we could visit and this elderly lady was really the only one, so we thought we would pop in to say hello. Well, Sister Parry, as politely as she could, tried to describe this dear sister as being a little less than cheerful-- but I wouldn't listen. After driving around trying to find her place, we just felt like we shouldn't drop in on her. So when we saw her at church yesterday, I approached her (cheerfully) to ask if it would be ok for us to stop by next time we were in the area, to which she responded very coarsely, "Don't come by, I don't want you to come over." "Oh! OK!" I said, and we kept walking down the hall. Hahaha, Sister Parry tried to tell me... So there you have it-- my first real rejection! I sort of felt like Polyanna with the grumpy old sick woman!
Nancy's baptism is going to happen this Saturday at 1:00. She was at church yesterday, sitting by us, and when Bishop Williams announced it over the pulpet, she just beamed with excitment! I am simply extatic for her... I just know this is what she's been looking for, and there's a peace about her now that wasn't quite there when we first started meeting with her. She didn't come to church last Sunday and then she wouldn't answer/return our calls, so Wednesday after our Zone Confrence/Mission Tour with Elder Evans of the Seventy we stopped by her house and there we found a very frazzled Nancy. After talking to her a bit we found out she and Earl got into a huge fight over the weekend and she just couldn't bring herself to church Sunday feeling as angry as she did. She was concerned she shouldn't get baptized if she was capable of feelings like that. All of a sudden I heard myself saying words with such conviction, telling her not to get discouraged and putting off her baptism was not what God wanted, but rather it was what Satan wanted. I spoke to Nancy with no fear, and after she agreed she still needed to get baptized on the 27th and we left, it hit me that the words I was saying weren't coming from me. Heavenly Father knew what she needed to hear and was able to soothe her nerves through me. It was so humbling to see myself be a tool in the Lord's hands.
Wednesday night, we had dinner at the Walkers not too far from Nancy's house, and I felt prompted to ask Sister Walker to come with us to the appointment we had at Nancy's the next day, and so she did. Wow, when we got there, we were teaching the third lesson and when we began to talk about repentance/forgiveness, it was clear why Sister Walker needed to be there-- she was able to relate experiences to Nancy to help her understand the need to forgive Earl. She was the exact right person for that lesson, and I was so thankful I was privy to and acted on that prompting.
The gospel is true, the work is great, and I know that my Redeemer lives.
Thanks for the prayers and the love, I feel them every day! Bundle up and Stay warm all you Texans!
Love,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
Lance--
Happy 4th Anniversary on the 24th-- I sent your card today :)
Happy spring! Although, June tells me you're not having much of a spring in Texas... What's up with all this snow?! It's been delightfully raining and 60* up here-- y'all need to get with the program!
It's really been a great week here-- I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday battling a little bit of a tummy bug, so our weekend wasn't super productive. Saturday morning, I asked the Newark elders for a blessing, and they were nice enough to meet us at the church building to do it. The priesthood is awesome, and I'm so thankful for it! We then went to a youth baptism for Isaiah Barrick. His dad is in the military and has been deployed for a long time. He has leave for two weeks, and so it was so awesome to watch his dad, a worthy priesthood holder who is fighting for our country, be able to perform this saving ordinance for his son. It made me reflect back to my own baptism and how grateful I am I had a daddy who was able to do that for me.
Yesterday, I experienced my first real rude rejection... and it was at church from an active member, no less! Saturday, Sister Parry and I were going to a part of our area that we don't go to very often, Buckeye Lake, and we were going to go contacting down there. Well, we consulted our ward list to see who lived that way that we could visit and this elderly lady was really the only one, so we thought we would pop in to say hello. Well, Sister Parry, as politely as she could, tried to describe this dear sister as being a little less than cheerful-- but I wouldn't listen. After driving around trying to find her place, we just felt like we shouldn't drop in on her. So when we saw her at church yesterday, I approached her (cheerfully) to ask if it would be ok for us to stop by next time we were in the area, to which she responded very coarsely, "Don't come by, I don't want you to come over." "Oh! OK!" I said, and we kept walking down the hall. Hahaha, Sister Parry tried to tell me... So there you have it-- my first real rejection! I sort of felt like Polyanna with the grumpy old sick woman!
Nancy's baptism is going to happen this Saturday at 1:00. She was at church yesterday, sitting by us, and when Bishop Williams announced it over the pulpet, she just beamed with excitment! I am simply extatic for her... I just know this is what she's been looking for, and there's a peace about her now that wasn't quite there when we first started meeting with her. She didn't come to church last Sunday and then she wouldn't answer/return our calls, so Wednesday after our Zone Confrence/Mission Tour with Elder Evans of the Seventy we stopped by her house and there we found a very frazzled Nancy. After talking to her a bit we found out she and Earl got into a huge fight over the weekend and she just couldn't bring herself to church Sunday feeling as angry as she did. She was concerned she shouldn't get baptized if she was capable of feelings like that. All of a sudden I heard myself saying words with such conviction, telling her not to get discouraged and putting off her baptism was not what God wanted, but rather it was what Satan wanted. I spoke to Nancy with no fear, and after she agreed she still needed to get baptized on the 27th and we left, it hit me that the words I was saying weren't coming from me. Heavenly Father knew what she needed to hear and was able to soothe her nerves through me. It was so humbling to see myself be a tool in the Lord's hands.
Wednesday night, we had dinner at the Walkers not too far from Nancy's house, and I felt prompted to ask Sister Walker to come with us to the appointment we had at Nancy's the next day, and so she did. Wow, when we got there, we were teaching the third lesson and when we began to talk about repentance/forgiveness, it was clear why Sister Walker needed to be there-- she was able to relate experiences to Nancy to help her understand the need to forgive Earl. She was the exact right person for that lesson, and I was so thankful I was privy to and acted on that prompting.
The gospel is true, the work is great, and I know that my Redeemer lives.
Thanks for the prayers and the love, I feel them every day! Bundle up and Stay warm all you Texans!
Love,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
Lance--
Happy 4th Anniversary on the 24th-- I sent your card today :)
Monday, March 15, 2010
You can live a happy life in this world of toil and strife, if there's sunshine in your heart!
Hello all you wonderful, happy people!
Thanks for the letters and emails this week, I feel so loved and well connected. It is so great to get uplifting things from you all! Mom, the pictures were great... way to go documenting things when I'm not there, and Cam, I just loved that video. Could little Miss Audrey get any dang cuter!??!
First and most importantly, CONGRATULATIONS Cody and Caitlin! I'm so happy and excited for this new step in your life... I would love to get a wedding announcement!!
Things here in the Ohio are super... We're sort of in a holding pattern right now, A few possible investigators have popped up in the last week. I finally met Eddie's mom, Pat. She's in a rest home right now withdrawing from all the prescription pain/anti-depressant/sleep medications her doctors have taken her off of. That's our over-prescribed country for you though! She's wonderful, and she wants so badly to live a better life. We will have the opportunity to visit her in this rest home every day for the next month. I am so thankful for this time I can devote to service! It always makes her face light up to see us!
Tevin is still spectacular. She is finding that she can trust in God because he is the one being who will NEVER let her down. I just wish she realized her divine nature and individual worth. I am so thankful for the young womens program that drilled this into me when I was a young angsty teenager!
In other news, Bob may or may not be dead. It's been two weeks since we heard from him/he's been home. The police went and searched his apartment to make sure he wasn't dead on the bathroom floor, and they (luckilly) turned up empty-handed. No one knows where he could be, we pray daily for his safety.
This Wednesday we have our Mission Tour Conference Elder Evans of the seventy will be speaking to us, and in preparation for that I have been reading a lot in the scriptures. I never realized haw missionary-action-packed the entire book of Alma is. Holy cow. What I love about that story is how bad they started out and in a truly repentant way, how good they became and how many souls they brought unto Christ. Isn't it great how we can utilize the atonement and repent when we need to and its as if out infractions never even happened!? I am so thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I particularly love the story of the prison walls tumbling down in Alma 15. Read it and realize the power we have through our unwavering faith. Faith is power. Never forget that-- we have power according to our faith!
I love you all a ton, stay strong in the gospel, and always work to increase your faith! Remember-- if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward!
Love you all forever and for always,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
Thanks for the letters and emails this week, I feel so loved and well connected. It is so great to get uplifting things from you all! Mom, the pictures were great... way to go documenting things when I'm not there, and Cam, I just loved that video. Could little Miss Audrey get any dang cuter!??!
First and most importantly, CONGRATULATIONS Cody and Caitlin! I'm so happy and excited for this new step in your life... I would love to get a wedding announcement!!
Things here in the Ohio are super... We're sort of in a holding pattern right now, A few possible investigators have popped up in the last week. I finally met Eddie's mom, Pat. She's in a rest home right now withdrawing from all the prescription pain/anti-depressant/sleep medications her doctors have taken her off of. That's our over-prescribed country for you though! She's wonderful, and she wants so badly to live a better life. We will have the opportunity to visit her in this rest home every day for the next month. I am so thankful for this time I can devote to service! It always makes her face light up to see us!
Tevin is still spectacular. She is finding that she can trust in God because he is the one being who will NEVER let her down. I just wish she realized her divine nature and individual worth. I am so thankful for the young womens program that drilled this into me when I was a young angsty teenager!
In other news, Bob may or may not be dead. It's been two weeks since we heard from him/he's been home. The police went and searched his apartment to make sure he wasn't dead on the bathroom floor, and they (luckilly) turned up empty-handed. No one knows where he could be, we pray daily for his safety.
This Wednesday we have our Mission Tour Conference Elder Evans of the seventy will be speaking to us, and in preparation for that I have been reading a lot in the scriptures. I never realized haw missionary-action-packed the entire book of Alma is. Holy cow. What I love about that story is how bad they started out and in a truly repentant way, how good they became and how many souls they brought unto Christ. Isn't it great how we can utilize the atonement and repent when we need to and its as if out infractions never even happened!? I am so thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I particularly love the story of the prison walls tumbling down in Alma 15. Read it and realize the power we have through our unwavering faith. Faith is power. Never forget that-- we have power according to our faith!
I love you all a ton, stay strong in the gospel, and always work to increase your faith! Remember-- if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward!
Love you all forever and for always,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
Monday, March 8, 2010
"...They are generous and brave; They have precious souls to save; They must listen and obey the gospel's sound."
Greetings from Ohio where the sun is shining and the sky is beautiful!
I just loved reading all of your emails! Thanks for the cards and letters this week, it really helps to hear from my wonderful family-- it totally lifts my spirits!
Audrey turns one this week, and I am so sad I'm missing the no doubt awesome day you'll all have celebrating her birth! Hopefully the weather will be nicer this year than it was last year!
How is my blog? Is someone keeping it updated? You could maybe scan some of the pics and put them up to sort of document as we go with emails and letter excerpts, etc. Bravo to you if you already are though :)
I really am just loving the people up here... Here are some broad generalizations about the Newarkians: +Everyone smokes
+Everyone has at least one cat
+People have these cute wooden baskets in their front lawn they use as planters. Way cute. I want one.
+Most people have these little geese on their porch that they dress up. Kind of cute. A little Creepy.
+Rapture balls. look them up.
+A lot of people have porch swings... if they dont though, they just stick an old couch on their porch. Everyone is very resourceful!
This week we met Tevin (like Kevin with a 'T'<-- as per Sister Parry). She's a senior in high school and she's had a super duper rough eighteen years. When school was canceled because of all the snow, she spent her time on mormon.org growing a testimony. We taught her the first lesson Friday night and asked her if she would get baptized when she knew it was true. She said, "Well, see, the thing is, I kind of know it's true already." AHH!!! So, this is what being a missionary feels like! She technically lives in Zanesville, so she isn't actually ours, but we met her because her best friend is in our ward-- so we'll see what happens with her! Keep her in your prayers though, as she is having to overcome a lot of dark personal trials.
My other 'good news minute' has to do with Nancy who is in her 60's and married to a less active member (for the last 18 years) He's leaving her in June to re-marry the woman he's divorced twice... But she is still solid and decided yesterday she wants to get baptized on March 27!!! She also has a lot of hard things in her life to deal with, but I know she's receiving so much strength from the Lord.
I have to go, but I love you all so so much. I'll write more in letters today <3
All my love,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
PS- when you send me my glasses (hopefully ASAP) please send my churchy CDs. Ipods have been outlawed, and I'm so over the 5 CDs we have :)
Lance-- Send this to SUE vis Email, please
Sue,
Thanks so much for thinking of me--- I'm serving a mission for my church in Ohio until next summer... So I'll be out of commission for a bit! Tell the kiddos "hi" for me, and good luck with the trips out of town! I miss you guys, and think of you often!
Love,
Chelsea LeSueur
I just loved reading all of your emails! Thanks for the cards and letters this week, it really helps to hear from my wonderful family-- it totally lifts my spirits!
Audrey turns one this week, and I am so sad I'm missing the no doubt awesome day you'll all have celebrating her birth! Hopefully the weather will be nicer this year than it was last year!
How is my blog? Is someone keeping it updated? You could maybe scan some of the pics and put them up to sort of document as we go with emails and letter excerpts, etc. Bravo to you if you already are though :)
I really am just loving the people up here... Here are some broad generalizations about the Newarkians: +Everyone smokes
+Everyone has at least one cat
+People have these cute wooden baskets in their front lawn they use as planters. Way cute. I want one.
+Most people have these little geese on their porch that they dress up. Kind of cute. A little Creepy.
+Rapture balls. look them up.
+A lot of people have porch swings... if they dont though, they just stick an old couch on their porch. Everyone is very resourceful!
This week we met Tevin (like Kevin with a 'T'<-- as per Sister Parry). She's a senior in high school and she's had a super duper rough eighteen years. When school was canceled because of all the snow, she spent her time on mormon.org growing a testimony. We taught her the first lesson Friday night and asked her if she would get baptized when she knew it was true. She said, "Well, see, the thing is, I kind of know it's true already." AHH!!! So, this is what being a missionary feels like! She technically lives in Zanesville, so she isn't actually ours, but we met her because her best friend is in our ward-- so we'll see what happens with her! Keep her in your prayers though, as she is having to overcome a lot of dark personal trials.
My other 'good news minute' has to do with Nancy who is in her 60's and married to a less active member (for the last 18 years) He's leaving her in June to re-marry the woman he's divorced twice... But she is still solid and decided yesterday she wants to get baptized on March 27!!! She also has a lot of hard things in her life to deal with, but I know she's receiving so much strength from the Lord.
I have to go, but I love you all so so much. I'll write more in letters today <3
All my love,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
PS- when you send me my glasses (hopefully ASAP) please send my churchy CDs. Ipods have been outlawed, and I'm so over the 5 CDs we have :)
Lance-- Send this to SUE vis Email, please
Sue,
Thanks so much for thinking of me--- I'm serving a mission for my church in Ohio until next summer... So I'll be out of commission for a bit! Tell the kiddos "hi" for me, and good luck with the trips out of town! I miss you guys, and think of you often!
Love,
Chelsea LeSueur
Monday, March 1, 2010
Oh, Hi-- O!
Hello all the wonderful people I love!
I just loved getting all the great emails this when I checked my email today... I was beginning to think only Lance and TickTock loved me because they're the only people I've heard of in the two weeks I've been in the Ohio! Sister Parry was concerned my family no longer wanted anything to do with me, and I kept defending you all saying, "I'm sure they're just busy..." but when I checked the mail today and STILL nothing, I was beginning to wonder! Thank goodness there were a few emails waiting for me here. Some snail mail love spread throughout the week would be nice though :)
Anywho, I'm really thrilled to hear that everything is going well on the homefront... Audrey is walking!??! HOLY COW!! Sister Parry says you can send me videos. I won't hear sound... but I would love to see little miss priss walking! How are the rest of the Jensens doing? And yay for the new sales person. I'll bet she's making things easier/less spread out for everyone. How is Newport doing as a whole? Is everyone's health good?
Things are sailing along smoothly up here! Sister Parry and I make up the women's section in the ward choir... Hopefully we'll be able to recruit a few more girls. It's funny because we have a lot of boys! I've NEVER seen that happen in ANY choir! Also, us and the Newark elders want to do an open house in the spring. It's still in the early planning stages, but I would love any suggestions/ideas you all have seen in ours/other open houses. What is the general layout?
Speaking of Sister Parry, she really is super great. I love her so much-- we are having such a wonderful time up here doing the Lord's work!
We have this really great potential investigator, Eddie Compton, and his mother has been taught by missionaries for a long time. She recently moved in with Eddie and that's how Sister Parry and companion found her. She's been having some health troubles, and so I think it's opened Eddie up quite a bit. We were visiting with him yesterday, and he was telling us about the situation and was really distraught over it, even though he isn't actually investigating, I felt prompted to share with him a BofM scripture on enduring to the end and the benefits of trials and how Heavenly Father is aware of him, and Sister Parry asked if we could leave him with a list of other comforting scriptures. He said yes, so we did, and about an hour later he called us asking for help clarifying an Alma scripture. He then went on to talk about how much he liked one in Mosiah, and it was a wonderful experience. I just know he has such great potential-- He kind of reminds me of the big tall bald picture taking guy in our Plano stake... name?!
My time is about up-- I'll write more in letters to you all, and I'll send them this week! The letter from last week will be stuck in there as well-- last Pday was cut short, so there was no time!
I love you all so much, and I pray for you daily... multiple times! Stay safe and healthy :)
Love,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
Bethany-- Letter is soon to come... :) :) :)
Lance-- We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings this week. I thought of you!
P to the S.
This is Sister Parry & your daughter/sister/whatever she is to you is a bit of a fibber. I DID NOT tell her, or be concerned that her family did not love her. What really went down is that she thought you all (y'all) didn't love her & I kept telling her that this is normal & she shouldn't be worried, you're all busy people. Then I told her that this stage only lasts a bit cause eventually you tell your family that you really want the mailbox to actually have something, then they send you mail!! Yay!!!! She is awesome and I love her :)
I just loved getting all the great emails this when I checked my email today... I was beginning to think only Lance and TickTock loved me because they're the only people I've heard of in the two weeks I've been in the Ohio! Sister Parry was concerned my family no longer wanted anything to do with me, and I kept defending you all saying, "I'm sure they're just busy..." but when I checked the mail today and STILL nothing, I was beginning to wonder! Thank goodness there were a few emails waiting for me here. Some snail mail love spread throughout the week would be nice though :)
Anywho, I'm really thrilled to hear that everything is going well on the homefront... Audrey is walking!??! HOLY COW!! Sister Parry says you can send me videos. I won't hear sound... but I would love to see little miss priss walking! How are the rest of the Jensens doing? And yay for the new sales person. I'll bet she's making things easier/less spread out for everyone. How is Newport doing as a whole? Is everyone's health good?
Things are sailing along smoothly up here! Sister Parry and I make up the women's section in the ward choir... Hopefully we'll be able to recruit a few more girls. It's funny because we have a lot of boys! I've NEVER seen that happen in ANY choir! Also, us and the Newark elders want to do an open house in the spring. It's still in the early planning stages, but I would love any suggestions/ideas you all have seen in ours/other open houses. What is the general layout?
Speaking of Sister Parry, she really is super great. I love her so much-- we are having such a wonderful time up here doing the Lord's work!
We have this really great potential investigator, Eddie Compton, and his mother has been taught by missionaries for a long time. She recently moved in with Eddie and that's how Sister Parry and companion found her. She's been having some health troubles, and so I think it's opened Eddie up quite a bit. We were visiting with him yesterday, and he was telling us about the situation and was really distraught over it, even though he isn't actually investigating, I felt prompted to share with him a BofM scripture on enduring to the end and the benefits of trials and how Heavenly Father is aware of him, and Sister Parry asked if we could leave him with a list of other comforting scriptures. He said yes, so we did, and about an hour later he called us asking for help clarifying an Alma scripture. He then went on to talk about how much he liked one in Mosiah, and it was a wonderful experience. I just know he has such great potential-- He kind of reminds me of the big tall bald picture taking guy in our Plano stake... name?!
My time is about up-- I'll write more in letters to you all, and I'll send them this week! The letter from last week will be stuck in there as well-- last Pday was cut short, so there was no time!
I love you all so much, and I pray for you daily... multiple times! Stay safe and healthy :)
Love,
Sister Chelsea LeSueur
Bethany-- Letter is soon to come... :) :) :)
Lance-- We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings this week. I thought of you!
P to the S.
This is Sister Parry & your daughter/sister/whatever she is to you is a bit of a fibber. I DID NOT tell her, or be concerned that her family did not love her. What really went down is that she thought you all (y'all) didn't love her & I kept telling her that this is normal & she shouldn't be worried, you're all busy people. Then I told her that this stage only lasts a bit cause eventually you tell your family that you really want the mailbox to actually have something, then they send you mail!! Yay!!!! She is awesome and I love her :)
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