Letter to/from Lily September 13, 2022

 I love to be lazy and just reply in the letter, if that's okay with you, Aussie lady :D.

On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 11:03 PM Lily Biesinger <lily.biesinger@missionary.org> wrote:

I just finished talking to my family and found out that the cougs dominated again!!! Man, I think that's what I miss most on my mission, the BYU football games :). 

Right?  That and SAGCIFoG!  You should get that going in your area! 

Anyway, this week has been beautiful and full of miracles, both big and small and it has been really cool seeing God's hand throughout the work, because like President Nelson said "He is hastening His work" and I am so glad I am part of that hastening :). 

I love how you listed these.  They really are remarkable. 

1. We have online workshops for training missionaries and I always know when I'm going to be called on because there's always a hesitation before they try to pronounce my awesome German last name. So I just wait for them and smile as they try to say it without making it sound too weird :).

That's hilarious!!! I love your awesome German last name!  That is legendary.  And I love that you just wait and let them struggle.  SO fun! 

2. We talked to a very nice Christian lady who had a very firm testimony of the Bible. We read the Introduction from the Book of Mormon together and talked about some things from it, but at the end of the interaction she put the Book of Mormon between two Bibles very discreetly, and we pretended not to notice. Hopefully the next time we get back to her she has read it the whole way through :).

Maia wants to share her Book of Mormon with a friend from acting/choir.  I am hesitant to let her, since my position as mentor shouldn't be abused.  I think I will prayerfully speak with her parents about it. 

3. I tried to make my Mom's brownies and found out that they don't taste as delicious without vanilla, so we decided to drop them off at member's houses and hopefully none of the members die or are offended by my delicious non-vanillad brownies.

I think that's hilarious that you would give the non-vanillad brownies to other people!  So funny!!!  Too bad you don't have chickens to give them too...

4. We went around heart-attacking different people's houses and some of their motion sensored lights scared the bajebbies out of us as we ran away :). We went to this one house that had a big family and their lights were still on, so my awesome companion starts army-crawling to the door (and this whole time I'm laughing really hard because it's that time of night that I lose it:)...) and when she gets there she hears a voice from inside yell "Mom, the sister missionaries are here!". We ran and hid, but they caught us(because someone was laughing), so we went to their door and heart-attacked it in front of the whole family.

That is one of the funniest things I have read/heard in a long time.  That is so funny!!!!! I love that you two laugh together!! 

5. I drove!!! I drove for 1 day and then the next day I accidently drove to the wrong side of the road on a non-busy street, but my commp drove for the rest of the day after that :).

Any more driving?  Piper is almost done with her driver's ed stuff.  We just need to schedule her time with a driver, do some more driving hours and then she can take the test on her birthday, I hope!  It will be perfect timing for us having another driver before Hyrum leaves on his mission.  Dad sure likes having his "comp" driver and, of course, I find it super handy!  They will be able to drive each other to seminary, too.  Not going to complain that Piper wants to drive! Of course, it is also a little nicer for her not having to learn on the van.  She definitely prefers the car, or at least seems to. I never really know enough about my kiddos and their changing opinions to feel like I know anything that someone prefers from one moment to the next.  Xai is even trying more food all the time, which is a pleasant surprise.

6. Here is the series of miracles :). My comp and I fasted for some of our friends to come to church, so the big day arrived and at first none of them showed up, but I remembered that it was all in the Lord's timing. Later on one of the families walked in!!!! I was so excited and just filled with this amazing love for them, but then we remembered that we promised to have something for them when they got there. We ran out to our car to drive to our Flat (apartment), but found one of our other friends sitting in his car, so we invited him to come in and sit next to us (we ended up giving the family some jewelry we had :)...) and he came in!!! One of our other friends joined in when I wasn't looking, but we found her there afterward and were able to talk :). 

But this experience really reaffirmed my testimony in Fasting and Faith, because Heavenly is still a God of miracles and that miracles will be shown after the act of faith and only according to our faith. Heavenly Father loves all of His children and wants to bring them all the happiness and joy that comes from knowing that they are Children of God and that there's a Father in Heaven that loves them. 

What a beautiful testimony. I can hear your voice throughout this email, and I love it!

Hope y'all have a great week and please continue looking for those acts of love that God has in store for you .

Thanks for the reminder. I see them every day!  I just need to make them the priority of my focus.

LOVE YOU SO STINKIN' MUCH MY FAVORITE BIESINGER........NAMED "LILY" ;D 

Sincerely, 

   your favorite Biesinger :)

Love,

your favorite mom (?) 

Lily arrived in Australia!

 Hello from Melbourne Australia Quinn & Mary!

Just letting you know that Sister Biesinger has arrived in the mission safely.  We have spent two wonderful days helping our Missionaries feel welcomed, loved and excited to be part of gathering Israel in Melbourne!   If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Sister Thomas

Letter To/From Lily August 11, 2022

 On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 11:05 AM Lily Biesinger <lily.biesinger@missionary.org> wrote:

Hello, Hello, Hello!

Howdy, Howdy, Howdy! 

This week has been going great and it has only gotten better because I found out yesterday that I will be leaving for Australia on Monday! It's going to be a 20+ flight, so my comp and I decided we were going to try to read the whole Book of Mormon on that flight :).

EPIC! 

My mom got me four two pound bags of Jelly Belly's and the sister's in my district and I already almost finished 2 of them off in the one week we have been here, so thanks mom for the Jellybeans! 

No prob, love-kins :D! 

Just so you know my emails are going to be all over the place, so just a heads up!

Love it so much!

 

So far, every time I've been to the gym I've got hit in the face with a ball of some sort, but it's been really fun playing volleyball with my comp and I feel like I've been getting better at actually setting the ball for some people.

I hope you get some chances to play in the mission field!  We want to set up a volleyball tournament for our Stake and just have people show up, be put on teams, and play.  Could be fun! 

 

After a Helping Others lesson that went really well, my comp and I talked about it and felt so happy and just so immersed in God's love for us and for the joy that comes from living the gospel. We also were able to connect "The Lorax'' to the Restoration and it's all laid out in some pictures down there.

I would love to hear how you did that, ;)

 

Fast Sundays at the MTC probably have the best testimony meetings ever, it was really beautiful hearing people that have decided to serve God, bear testimony about the beauty and peace that has come into their life.

That is so cool that you had that kind of spiritual experience!  What do you think made it so different for you?  Xai has born testimony about the Big Bang theory for two fast Sundays in a row.  What a cutie!  He is sure a deep thinker, though.

 

My comp and I went to choir (for anyone going to the MTC, choir is so much fun and would 100% recommend go even if you can't sing) and the director likened the Urak-hai that was lighting the bomb in Helm's Deep to Joseph Smith and how the people that were trying to shot him down were like Satan trying to stop the work. So like I said, choir is the best :).

Choir directors are the BEST kind of people. Super cool! What songs did you sing?  I remember Dad singing in the MTC, and he sang, "Here I Am."  He told me how cool it was so I went out and bought a copy and learned it, lol. (I was a little in love, wouldn't you say?

 

For the devotional on Tuesday, Gerrit W. Gong came and talked to us about perfectionism and afterwards he came and shook a lot of people's hands. 

Was it like a long line of people wanting to shake his hand?  Did you or anyone in your district do it? 

Yesterday, 620+ new missionaries came to the MTC and I was a part of the welcoming crew and it was lots of fun getting them hyped up about it and telling them all about the awesome things. It was also interesting the different ways families said goodbye to their missionaries.

Oh yeah?  Like what kind of ways did they say goodbye?  Like weepy people, hi-five people, congo line kind of people?

 

There was an elder from another district that pretended that he didn't know english or know how to tie a tie, so he asked the elders in our district to help him and after a couple days after one of our elders finished tying the elder's tie he was like "Thanks man" and proceeded to exit the room :).

Weird. 

How was your flight?  Did you get through the Book of Mormon?  Did it go uneventfully?  I need to get my passport so I can go to Australia, Montreal, Hungary and any other cool places all over the world I might be going.  You never know when you might need a passport, right? ;)

Penelope is running around in circles right now because it is crazy late, but I miss you and writing to you feels like you are right there on the other side of the computer.  How was the food? The people?  Were all you missionaries in one big group on the plane or were you spread out? I loved the picture you sent from the airport. It looked like y'all were having a fun time. 

Here y'all go! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in the Land Down Under :).

Sister Biesinger :)

Liesl "speaks" Hungarian and Goodbye to Sister Lily Biesinger

 Today Piper and Havala were quizzing each other on Latin declensions for their upcoming scholastic group this fall.  Liesl watched them for a while and then asked what they were doing.  

After they explained that they were learning how to say "land" in Latin, Liesl said, "I know how to say that in Hungarian."

"Oh, really," replied Piper supportively.

"Yep, like this!" Liesl rubbed her tummy in the ASL sign for "please."

****

More significantly, perhaps, we took Lily to the airport this morning so she could fly to the Provo MTC.  Wow, I'm going to miss that girl. We all are.  Anyone who knows Lily knows of her ability to love without judgment.  To care. To persist. To persevere in behaving compassionately in the face of pretty crazy opposition.

She is strong.  She is determined.  She is love.  

Australia is super lucky to have her.

Last night we had a mini "farewell" for Lily to share a talk/testimony before she left since she didn't for church.  It ended up being a blessing in disguise because then we got to invite grandparents and out of town siblings to video chat in and hear it as well.  She picked "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" verses 1 and 3 for the opening song; shared her thoughts about missionary work, testimony, the role of members and the Holy Ghost in conversion and retention and quoted a bunch from Alma 26.  It was great: at the beginning she couldn't stop giggling. I just love that girl!

She chose "Have I Done Any Good" for the closing song.  Then after we said goodbye to the online group after chatting for a few minutes, Quinn gave Lily a super sweet blessing--about loving the people, trusting God, capturing the essence of missionary work, peace in her travels, that she would be able to get along with her companions and the Australian people and, of course, a reminder that her Father in Heaven loves her and that we love her.  He also asked Heavenly Father to bless her that her sense of homesickness would be alleviated.

By the end of the prayer and especially after the hugs, both hers and her daddy's eyes were moist,  a rare instance for these two sillies.

Quinn is sure going to miss her.  Every night she would rub his feet and after we finished our section of reading for the night he would ask, "Does anyone have any thoughts....Lily?" before even finishing the question, a mark of privilege :D.  Every night, she would have some thought drawn from our scripture section, even the harder to connect with ones.  

Beyond that, she works hard, teased gently, never took offense that I can remember, and just enjoyed her dad.  And he could feel it.  They have a sweet relationship and I am glad for both of them.

Denying the Studmunks

 Lily just got her wisdom teeth out and has "enjoyed" a few days of puffy cheeks. Unable to resist, Quinn told her, "Some chipmunks came to the door last night, but I told them that you weren't available until after your mission..."

"...but I only talked to the 'stud'munks, of course."  He expertly threw in a little jibe at Piper, who once asked where all the "studmunks" were for the "chickmunks."

Oh the fun!

Rain and Holidays

 It rained yesterday. Beautiful, down-pouring awesomeness like I used to crave in Utah.  Growing up in a desert has made the sound of the storm magical.

Apparently I am not the only one in my family who finds it so.  We had just finished up a grueling five and a half hours of choir and acting rehearsal and I had called it good for the evening.  We did a quick straighten up while I put the finishing touches on dinner, we ate and then I declared the evening free.  

"Maybe we could watch a movie or something," I mentioned casually, to the delight of the kids.  

During dinner, the rain started coming down even harder, beckoning.  The older kids asked if the little ones needed a bath tonight.

"If so, can we do it outside in the rain? You know, just leave their clothes on but let the rain clean them off?" they queried.

Brilliant.

So that is what we did on our evening off...let the rain pour down.

Piper and Lily both commented yesterday about how it is like everything all of a sudden turned green.  The birds are out in choruses and everything feels alive. The sound of the distant freeway have receded even further, masked by the unfurling of all the leaves in our little woods.

I love to listen to the birds outside my window, particularly this morning when I lay there snuggling with my baby, trying to get her back to sleep in my favorite way possible...nestled up against my body. There is something equally magical about snuggling a sleeping baby so the combination of bird song, rain and sleeping baby has really set a wonderful tone for my day :D.

**********

Lily has started a new tradition of reading off all the holidays for the day.  This week we have celebrated:

-"Minimize Food Waste Day"--leftovers for dinner!

-"Blueberry Pie Day"--particularly delicious.

-"National Kids and Pets Day"--every day, right??

-"National Pretzel Day"--another yummy one with homemade pretzels

-"National Tell a Story Day"

-"National Prime Rib Day"--sadly, missed celebrating this one

-"National Devil Dog Day"--won't mention how applicable this one was

-"National Great Poetry Reading Day"--every day!

-"National Zipper Day"--or as Liesl puts it, "beezer" ("Mommy, will you do my beezer?"

It's been a riot!  Maia was sad that we didn't celebrate "National Hug a Plumber Day" last Sunday until she realized that Quinn had done a lot of plumbing work, so we felt that qualified him.  Oh, and we forgot to get out the shrimp last night for "National Shrimp Scampi" day because we got so caught up in the rain and beauty of the evening.  I am great celebrating that one a day late ;).

Sledding and Sass

 The kids just came in from an epic sledding adventure. Apparently on one run, they all tried to go on the same run and the three little ones fell off, Liesl happily dragging behind and the boys getting their breaths knocked out a bit.

After the trauma subsided, Liesl asked Lily to carry her up the hill (which serves as our driveway most of the time). “I can't carry you because you are too heavy with all of your snow clothes on, sorry!” Lily smilingly consoled her.

Lily continued up the hill. Shortly later, Piper (who was not privy to the above conversation) came trucking by with Liesl on her back.

“See, Lily...” Liesl called out as they passed. “Piper can carry me!”

Wow. Three and distinctly sassy.