This Week - 4-26-2010

David got baptized!!!!!!! I am so happy! He is just great. He has had so much faith and I am amazed by him. He doesn't even need us! Yesterday, we had Jeff come down to the trail center so we could show him the Joseph Smith movie... (The trail center is the ultimate missionary tool, so we get to watch church movies sometimes in the theater) Jeff has a problem with Joseph Smith. To put it simply, he thinks he's a creep and read a bunch of anti-mormon literature that confuses him with John C. Bennet. ANYWAY, we thought the movie might help him a bit. He has been gradually softening up, and when I say gradually, I mean VERY gradually. So yeah, we watch the movie, and David came along, cause he had never seen it. Afterwards, Jeff had lots of questions, which he normally does, and David basically took over. We had to leave so we could get home for curfew, but they stayed there and talked, and I'm pretty sure David's new spirituality had to have sunk into jeff somehow. We haven't talked to either of them yet today, so hopefully it went well. We're praying for Jeff a lot, because he's on a 3 week plan to discover that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and then he said if he knew it was true, he'd be baptized!

So, There's this hippy-ish guy who lives in Dawn's apt complex, and I've been wanting to talk to him for forever, but he's always leaving when we get there. FINALLY, we saw him sitting on his steps outside, and we "GQed" him. He told us we could come back and talk to him. SO, we did. His name is Donny. Basically, he's 25 years old, and he is very intellectual. He Believes Joseph Smith saw God... but he believes lots of people could see God. He also believes in this thing called Twin Flames, which means that every person has a male and a female half to themselves or something. Kind of like soulmates? I guess? BUT, the intersting thing is he thinks that Mary Magdalene is Jesus' twin flame, and that she suffered for all womankind. So..... we're kind of trying to figure out what to say to him about that right now. He is awesome though, he's very open-minded, and he went to church last Sunday. The problem is, he's always wanting to talk about Revelations, and it goes right over my head every time. haha. But he's great.

Our problem right now, is that most of our people are guys. And that didn't really bother me before, but our bishop came up to us and asked us if they know that there are "boundaries to be kept".... It made us feel awkward.

We have a great ward though. They are always willing to go on teamups with us, and feed us. It's great. Also, I have the best zone ever! really... I have the best mission ever! I feel so much love all the time. It's awesome.

BTW, Nebraska is incredibly gorgeous right now. The trees are all humongous! there are these cool trees everywhere that have white flowers all over and then they fall off and it looks like snow. it's cool. also, they have black squirrels here. I don't know if I every mentioned that. but the do. and it's weird.

This is Lianna's Trainer Sister Brady! Their first day together!
This is the day Dawn was baptized by her friend James!
This is Lianna and Sister Brady on Dawns Baptism Day!
Lianna getting some training at the trail center! She said they were looking for dead people... I guess they must've been at the cemetery!

These are just a few! I guess her camera was acting up so she borrowed these from Sister Brady! Hopefully we'll get more pictures soon!

Busy Week- Letter 4-20-2010

Hi family/friends!

So this past week has been amazing and the week to come is going to be amazing! On saturday I had my first baptism, Dawn... I haven't told you about dawn. She committed to be baptized before I got here, but she has been amazing. She's been through a lot, and she has so much peace now! it was funny though, she had her friend James baptize her, and he is about as small as they come, and he ended up dropping her. haha. We all shared a good laugh, so it was all good! =)

DAVID. I am always so amazed by David! I love him! He is smoke free, and asked his roommate to leave, and he is good to go for this Saturday! He went to Dawn's baptism and he was so excited! I just can't wait!

We have had some great experiences. One of our less actives is doing well. Burgess. He's great. He and his girlfriend are now living the Law of Chastity completely. They were practically living together, because she has a pretty tough family situation. But the other day we went to see him, and she moved back home, so that she can be baptized. AMAZING. everyone is so amazing. I'm always surprised when people do what we tell them to... haha.

We had to have an awkward DTR with our investigator Jeff. He's about 30, and an engineer. He's always trying us. And he seems to have a crush on Sister Brady. Before hand we had to tell him to stop being prideful and everything, and he had a good prayer experience.... so after he softened up we asked what his intentions were. after much tribulation, everything is fine, and we no longer need to turn him over to the elders....

So now I'd like to take a little time to tell you about Omaha.

Ice cream man= Ding ding man

the sentence "I have a few cookies"= "I have a couple 3 cookies"

Everyone smokes.

there are a lot of celiacs. lucky me!

you always have to take your shoes off when you enter people's homes

I'm not sure if this is because we're sisters, or if it's because nebraskans are nice, but everyone is always willing to just give out their information, and that astounds me!

WELL... I think that's all for this week! pray for david so he won't be tempted to smoke! although, the plan worked and he doesn't even crave them anymore! thanks for all your prayers! I love you! bye!


Sister Bonelli

Email to everyone 4-12-10

Here's the email from this morning!!

Hello everyone!

Well, I've had a pretty eventful week. David has been smoke free for a week today... I feel like I should help people quit smoking for a living! haha. If you have any friends who need some help, send them my way! There is a small set back. We just found out that his roommate is a girl. They are not dating, but we aren't allowed to baptize him until he or she moves out, so today we have to break that news to him. Hopefully he understands. Pray for him.

The other day, Sister Brady, Me, Our zone leaders and our investigator, Justin fasted so that Justin would be able to stop chewing tobacco. It was a cool experience. He felt really good afterward. When we ended the fast, we taught him a lesson about the priesthood, and our Zone leaders gave him a blessing. He said he felt really peaceful afterward. Sister Brady always volunteers me to sing for people, so Me and Elder Liki Liki sang "abide with me tis eventide" for everyone, and it was fun. Later that day, David was having a hard time because he wanted to smoke, so when we were teaching him, she said "would you like sister Bonelli to sing to you? That would make you feel better!" haha. So naturally, I'm always prepared for the fact that she might volunteer me. she's so cute!

We had a pretty cool experience on Thursday. We were visiting some people at the West Maple apts, where we pretty much know everyone, because we have several contacts there. There is one building that we are not too familiar with though, so we decided randomly to go there. right when we entered the building, A young adult-aged guy walked down the stairs, so we decided to talk to him...(we are supposed to talk to EVERYONE) He said he wasn't interested in organized religion, and politely, yet sternly, turned us down. Sister Brady kept talking as he kept walking to his car, and somehow, miraculously, within 2 seconds he randomly said "actually, why don't you come back here at 8. my roommate will be here, and I'll be home from work."----- when the heck did he decide to let us come back? haha. He must have felt bad because when he said that, she was in the middle of explaining that our pass along cards were in spanish, and that even though he had no idea what the card said, the website would be in english! haha. We did get to meet with him that night, and he at first was really defensive and hard to teach. But he sort of let on that he has been through some things and softened up, and eventually told us we could come back. We met with him again on Saturday and he was very argumentative because he doesn't understand why Jesus had to suffer. we spent a good chunk of the lesson trying to understand what he was trying to say to us. He is really vague sometimes. BUT, he did let us come back. So we're workin' on it.

SO.... we went Blitzing on Friday, which is where we go downtown with the Elders and GQ people---which means talking to everyone and giving them pass along cards and inviting them to have the missionaries. It was so much fun. However, We were talking to some guys who accepted the invitation, but pretty soon we realized the were street kids, and all of their friends decided to surround us, (mom, don't worry, not in a scary way.) and kept throwing out their information to us. People in Omaha are so willing to give us their information, which I think is really awesome, but weird. I would not just let random strangers in unless the spirit told me it was ok! =)... While we were walking around, Brady had me on the phone trying to find a team up for one of our appointments. I called this girl, Amy Willis, and got no answer. then someone called back, and it was her number, but it was a guy. He said we called him, and I said I didn't know what was going on, but I started talking to him about the gospel and he told me we could come visit him and he gave me his info. I was stoked! I felt so missiony. But pretty soon after that---5 minutes---- we received a text from him saying "you sound really cute... text me back.".... So basically we don't know what to do about him. We will probably send the Elders over. haha

I've worked in the trail center a few times. I will someday learn to love it. I just haven't found my niche yet, in terms of how to give tours that aren't boring. It is pretty cool though. You guys should come pick me up when I'm done with my mission so you can see it. It's awesome.

I did a session in the WQ temple. It's really tiny and pretty. Elder Oaks' brother and his wife work in the temple. So that's cool.

Zone conference is this week. I'm excited, because we have a zone activity today and i get to wear pants! haha. WOO. Elder Liki Liki and I are singing at zone conf on thursday, which is going to be fun. He's my favorite! =)... he's huge, and awesome.

WELL.... I can't think of anything else yet. but you should email me soon. It's probably best to just email me on sunday nights, because I never know exactly when I will be on the computers. Ok I love you all! I hope you're forwarding these! post on facebook to get people's email addresses so they can hear! =)... ok I love you mucho mucho! bye!

Sister Bonelli

First letter from Omaha!!!

Here is Lianna's email from today!! We hadn't heard from her since before she left the MTC! So fun to see how she's been doing the last week in Omaha!!! She sounds great! Enjoy!!

Sorry I haven't emailed in forever. I got really gipped in the p-day department when we were in VC training and then transfers. so I haven't had a pday since last friday in the MTC!... Well, I LOVE NEBRASKA. It's so wonderful here. All the houses are really cute and little, even the old ghetto ones are pretty. Everyone smokes though, and it's gross, and I smell like smoke most of the time, but it's great! haha.

President and sister Kunz are so nice. They are just the sweetest people. President and I bonded over Ireland, cause he served there. They are just so loving and kind. All the missionaries are nice too. Everyone is so encouraging and nice. I live in an apartment with my companion, sister Brady, Sister Endemann, and Sister Bleazard. I have the best apartment ever =)... Sister Brady is so sweet and fun, and hard-working. I find it really easy to work hard around her because she's so lovable, I can't say no when she asks me to do something! haha. She always does nice things for me, and goes out of her way to tell me when I'm doing something right. which I feel is not very often. She's just fabulous. We get lost a lot though. I am trying to learn how to be better at reading maps, and it's not easy, but I'm improving. It's funny, I've been here less than a week and I have been having to help sister brady find her way around. haha. I love her dearly!

My second day here was kind of a disaster. The stomach flu has been going around here, since before I came, and of course, after ten years of not throwing up ever, I got the dreaded stomach flu. all of our work was postponed. I felt so bad! I ended up sleeping in the trail center the whole day while sister brady gave tours. poor thing! she checked on my a lot though, and told me a story about the day that Indian Jones was approached by 2 sister missionaries in the desert. It resulted in the elders digging a hug hole in the ground to find water to baptize him. She really knows her church history! =) She's such a good mommy =)...

So... my favorite tidbit of info is that of all people in the united states...... I have been called to serve in.... THE WINTER QUARTERS SINGLES WARD. What were they thinking? haha. I laughed and said "oh, no" when I read my little call letter. I'm the last missionary who should be sent to a singles ward! BUT, the cool thing is, we are only allowed to teach singles, so everyone I teach is around my age, and I connect with them so much more than anyone else. We have 3 baptismal dates set right now. 2 were from before, but yesterday I set our investigator David for baptism. It was so cool. I met him my first day, and he really took in all of the information we were teaching him. He went to conference on Sunday and was in Awe over the fact that what was said was everything he has always believed. later he called us, and I answered and he said to me, "Is this real? have I really found everything I have been looking for?"... I told him that he did, and that I knew that heavenly father put him in my path for a reason. SO, yesterday, we committed him to be baptized. We put him on a non-smoking plan, so he will be good to go. We committed to give up sweets so that we could relate to him. haha. ALSO, he is a pianist, and we bonded over Lead Me Home yesterday. So my music book is being put to use =)....


We have lots of other investigators that are awesome. A lot of them are black, and it makes me so happy! =)... I'll tell you more about them as time goes on. David is the topic of the week for me, cause it's my first real missionary experience here in Nebraska.

I haven't really been in the trail center too often. I don't really want to be. haha. I love the trail center, but I don't want to be the one giving tours. I'd rather be out proselyting. Weird... I know! It is really awesome though, with all of the history. I love the cemetary, which is weird to say, but all around the cemetary are reminders that these people will be with their families again. I just think that's cool. And it's next to the temple, which is awesome. The trail center sisters are definitely spoiled. Theres what they call the dungeon, where there are clothes everywhere and treadmills and weights. And there's a kitchen for us. it's awesome. but we're not there all that much.

Well, that's all I can think of for now, once I remember more stuff I'll write a little letter! I love you all! I hope you have a lovely week, talk to you next week. I think our p-days alternate so I will probably be emailing on monday. Have fun! MUAH