Grandpa

I wanted to share a beautiful experience I had on Thanksgiving Day. I sat reflecting on the bare wood floor as my companion took a nap. I was thinking of all I had to be Thankful for. I was thinking of all my blessings, I was thinking of my family. I was thinking about grandpa. I had sudden flash of memories play before me in my mind. They were all of him, his smile, his expression, his hugs, his kindness, and love. It was a sweet and tender feeling I then had. I love my grandpa so much. I pondered over him for a very long time. I prayed. I talked with my Heavenly Father about my wonderful grandpa. My father spoke back to me. I had a great feeling , a great enlightenment about grandpa. I can tell you now that I know for a surety that it was wisdom in God and evidence of His love that Grandpa passed when he did. I know now that Grandpa was meant to be with me on my mission. He is with me and has been with me. He is my angel, or at least one of them.As I came to this knowledge, I truly felt as if grandpa was right there with me. It was ...words cannot describe. I thank God for that experience. It was a beautiful gift on such a special day.I hope that through this, each of you can have your souls warmed by it. I hope it brings you assurance and peace.

Love,

Your Bonnie

To You In My Heart

HI everyone,
I guess y'all would like to hear about my Thanksgiving spent on the white sandy shores of Orange Beach! Beautiful! We saw Dolphins. Heidi Crittenden ( yes that same one dad) invited us to spend Thanksgiving with her and her family, we got permission so yeah. It was so awesome. We were able to do so much good with her family :) Half the family is vegan so I tried a To-furkey (tofu-turkey). It didn't taste anything like turkey but was okay. Plain turkey is gross anyways.. Here's a funny thing that happened. Someone set a glass casserole dish on the stove top. Little did they know that the eye was still on......BAMMMMMM!!! Glass blew everywhere..all over the food....... The poor grandma..., " I'm going to bed!!!!" and she did for a few hours. Luckily they saved a lot of the food. It was just a little crunchy.HAHA just kiddingAnyways, this transfer has been amazing. We went over to the Jensens to teach Gwen her new member lessons ( she was baptized before I got here). She has been having a really hard time lately. She hasn't been coming to church and has been falling back into old habits :( I cannot describe all that occurred, but after much prayer before we got there ( satan has been working on us hard) God was with us and helped us say what she and her family needed. The feeling in that room at the end was of pure love. We all in that moment, just sat there in the glow of the love of our Father and eachother. I love those times, because after that, it is never the same. You are somehow bonded to one another sealed even. Love is the real power that seals families together I have come to know. What is the priesthood. The power of God? What is God's power? I say it is his all powerful, ever reaching, fully formed, perfect Love. If we are sealed in the temple and have not that love in us or for one another....are we really sealed for time and all eternity? No, we are notIf we have not Charity it means nothing and we are nothing.Please please consider what that means!Our Father said, " If ye are not one, ye are not mine."Think about that! The sacred ordinances will not seal this family together if we do not love one another. I know it is hard to get along sometimes, but please consider how important the sealing power of love is. If you have a grudge or hard feelings about any member of this family, I beg you to let it go so that we can be a forever family!It is vitally important that we learn how to love eachother. Let us love one another as Jesus Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. Let us give our lives for one another in constant service, affection, and a purer and deeper love.Please everyone, will each of you respond back to this letter. I want to know what is in all our hearts. How can we make this family stronger, more fortified, and more eternal? I love you all, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, and you...God be with usIf I could be there now with you, I would take each of you aside, give you a hug and a kiss, and tell you I am so sorry for hurt I've caused you in the past. I would tell you that I've got your back through anything. I would tell you what I love about you. I would tell you I am your daughter (mom & dad) or your sister (everyone else). I wish I could send you a piece of my heart you could keep in your pocket or under your pillow.You have all my heart,
love bonnie
Ps;
i'm sending another message after this one

TURKEYS!!

Hi everyone,
Happy Thanksgiving. Everything is going well.Roseanne!!!!!I cannot believe it! Why am I never there when that happens? I'm happy for you!!! I am really glad that another choice spirit will be added to your home, because I know it will be guided towards our Savior there :)Please send ridiculous amounts of pictures and information.ANyhow, the work has been so good lately. We've been so busy.SIs. Carpenter is still new and wasn't trained on certain things so I've been trying to help with that. Anyways, she's very bubbly, very sweet, and very giving. The people instantly took her in as their own :)The dancing is actually going pretty good. Oddly enough, I've been sort of helping all the others sister learn how to do it. ( It's nothing like hula if that's what you're thinking). ANyways i'm actually out of timehope that the Turkeys are great!Love Sis. Colvin

Mele Kalikimaka

Good morning ,

Co Khoe Khong! That means How are you in Vietnamese....pronounced Kaw Quay Koang....haha there's no way I can spell that phonetically. That language is spoken in such a different way from the way we speak....ANyways, well I'm here at the University of South Alabama library. Sadly, transfer information won't open...doesn't really matter because I got it all out of Elder Kleinman last week what was happening. :)Sis. Mickelson(the best ever) is being transferred to Andalusia to be in a Trio. I will continue to be here in Mobile and will be serving with Sis. Carpenter(from AZ woo woo!!) ANyhow, I will be senior companion and will be finishing her training as she is quite new....it will be strange driving after not being able to for over 6 months. Oh yeah, I am now surrounded by a bunch of Hawaiiian elders....I wish I could describe what that is like....well maybe when I get home... haha ANyways, They, I mean, we are putting on a huge stake Luau here. There cooking two huge pigs in the ground, tons of food, performances of singing and dancing ( one of which includes flaming swords)And oh joy and rapture, I have to be in one the dances.......................................................................................................................

If any of you know me, I am completely dancing retarded. This will be on stage in front of a lot of people!!! Ahh...The things I never thought I'd be doing on my mission.. .ANyways, the work is going really great! Sam called last night because His clippers broke in the middle of giving himself a haircut..

Does that remind you of anyone Jake?...he wanted to see if we had one....also we've been working on helping him out with his hot water... He hasn't been able to come to church for about a month and finally he let us know it was because he hadn't showered...anyways.He's been doing great and the Lord has really helped him along.As for sending a package, the only thing I can think of that I need is vitamins and calcium pills (ooh fun, I know) Sorry I can't think of anything...I just need prayers...you can probably lay off a bit on the prayers for protection as I'm sure y'all are worry warts and focus more on praying that He will help me become a better person, leader, missionary, and servant.oh yeah and pray that I'll be able to dance and not look stupid....Love y'all, be good

love sister Colvin

Mele Kalikimaka

Ps: send me some Hawaiian jokes so I can make fun of all the Elders haha

Sis. C

Hi ! How are y'all?
Happy Birthday BEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hope you have the best birthday that a brand-new 7yr old can have! Remember, the best things to do on your birthday are the things that will make other people happy.This week was good. We met a less-active woman who told us some crazy stories involving a half cow/half bear, a serial killer, and Kellog's Corn flakes (ask Sarah about it)-We just had daylight savings, which is weird because we never did that in Arizona. -I'm also learning a lot of Vietnamese.-I found out Trey's name is actually Trang...-I think I got a world record for mosquito bites...if I don't end up getting West Nile Virus that will be something to marvel over.-We've also found (let me know if you've also found this in LA Jake) a few people think that they don't need to go to church because they watch BYU TV! Too bad they can't teleport the sacrament :)We also met an amazing family, they're just like Joseph Smith's family except they smoke :) It was one of the best lessons the Spirit has taught yet. I have found myself very much able to speak beyond my normal capacity. I have full confidence in the Spirit, so I have been able to speak, even as if with the tongue of angels. It is so beautiful. I cannot boast anything of myself, I have tried to speak with just my own abilities before and have found just how feeble and pathetic those attempts have been. I'm sitting here at this computer trying to think of how I could best describe how I feel, but like Ammon (in the Book of Mormon), I cannot say the smallest part of what I feel. I know that God lives, Jesus is the Christ, and the Holy Ghost is real. This I know because I speak by that power, I love by it, and I am by it. He promised us He would be with us in this life. Let us all find that to be true.Please everyone pray for the Sanders, Sam, Trang, the Smiths,Gerry, and Dennis's family. Please also pray for your own missionary experiences...why let me, jake, & ammon have all the fun?