Cactus Mailbox and Chickens

Sister Heidi Bonham

Loving the new Fall weather - down to 99 in Palm Springs. With the weather cooling down Heidi and her companion get to get out of the car and walk around and meet people. 

Heidi has learned something:  Something I have been realizing more and more is the importance of fellow shipping and just being friendly with everyone.  I have seen a lot of judgment from others as well as from myself and that CAN'T happen.  It is so important for us to be there for each other and love each other.  I love not only learning about the gospel and having a testimony of it, but learning to be truly converted to it.  Actually acting and striving to develop those Christ-like attributes.  The world is getting worse, and we need to have strong people.  I'm grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity I have to share it with people!


Things are going so well in Palm Springs! Lots of great people there. Interesting mailboxes, too:

Sister Kelli Bonham:

Kelli had a great week of applying her faith to be able to teaching her lessons, and it worked! Her sincere prayers and total reliance on Heavenly Father helped her to get her confidence up and deliver a great lesson! She feels so happy!

The family she lives with has chickens. They also decorate for Fall, which makes the transition to rainy Fall sweet!

Great times!

Service project and Dole Whip!

Sister Kelli Bonham:

Thanks to the lady of the house where Kelli and her companion live, we got a couple more pictures of the Sisters. They were involved in a service project with their ward. Service projects are a fun way to be with people and work together in a worthy cause.

Kelli's companion wasn't feeling well this week, which was very hard on her, but they still worked so hard teaching many people! They are enjoying the people they work with. One person they have been working with will soon go to the temple and they get to go with her. They are really excited about that!

Kelli wrote:

Alright, I will talk to you later!  I love you all to death!  Be happy!  don't EVER forget the church is true. EVER!!  There are some TWISTED things going around on the media that is unbelievable.  Never stop reading the Book of Mormon, never stop praying, ever.  Always have a strong relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Helaman 5:12.  Let Him be your rock and foundation!!!!  Never give up, never surrender!  LOVE YOU ALL!! :)

Love, sister Kelli Bonham

Sister Heidi Bonham:

Heidi and her companion found out they get to stay together for another six weeks. Yay! They are so excited! They were able to attend the temple. The Sisters love to see people's lives change as they turn toward Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Miracles happen, and they are witnesses of them. Heidi wrote about a lady that got baptized last month:

...she's really trying hard to live the gospel and I have been able to witness the change in her.  There is a light in her eyes that was not there when we started teaching her.  She is amazing and I can tell that she is so much happier now.  What a blessing for me to have been a part of her growth in the church! She got to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  I'm so proud of her!!

On a fun note, our family loves to eat Dole Whip at Disneyland. Well, the Sisters found a place in Palm Springs that serves Dole Whip. Heidi said:

Here I am with my precious Dole Whip.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!!

It was a great week for the Bonham Sisters!

Rainstorm, Fresh Peach Pie, and Lucille Ball Statue

Sister Kelli Bonham:

Kelli had heard so much about the rain in Vancouver. Several times in the past few years, it has rained for 45 days straight. She has been there over two months (summer) and Vancouver finally had a rainstorm. Kelli writes:

Everything is going well!  We had our first rain storm thing!  It only rained for like an hour, so it wasn't an actual rain storm, but it was big for us!  We both had our huge raincoats on and our boots, but everyone else had no jacket and sandals pretty much.  Haha, we are definitely not Washington-ers!

These Sisters are prepared!

Kelli really enjoyed the first family she lived with, but missionaries don't stay too long in any one area. Kelli and her companion have moved to a home in the ward where they are continuing to serve. The mother of the home sent this picture when the Sisters arrived in their new area:

                                                                       Kelli and her awesome trainer!

The mother of the home also made fresh peach pie for the Sisters. Yum! The best part? She sent another picture:

Kelli closed her letter to us with this:

The work is hastening and we are right in the middle of it!! :D  I am starting to feel true happiness here in the work!  THE CHURCH IS TRUE! :)  have a fabulous day and week!  Love you all!

There was a Stake Conference and Kelli's companion was one of the speakers. Kelli says she did a fabulous job!



Sister Heidi Bonham:

Heidi wrote:

THIS WEEK was...good...

It was a roller coaster, but we learned a lot. We learned to rely on the Lord for everything and just keep moving forward!!!

I'm slowly, but surely, realizing how useless I am without God.  The mission is humbling and eye-opening.  I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to learn and grow in ways that I never would have before.  My testimony is being questioned and bashed all the time and I've never had to cleave to my already weak testimony.  But, the more I cleave to it, the stronger it gets and the easier it is to hold on to.  I Love This Gospel.  I'm grateful to know about it and learn of it everyday.  This is the Lord's work.  I can only be an instrument in His hands and as I am an instrument in His hands, hopefully my hands can become more like His.  

Always PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT!!!  We're all in this battle together and we are on the winning team!  Now all we have to do is stay on it!

I love you all!!! 

One of the ups of the roller coaster is that the Sisters were introduced to a family of five who want to take the discussions. Nice!

One of the downs, the Sisters have been teaching one man and they realized that he lived one block out of their area. They gave him over to the Sisters in his area, so the other Sisters are now teaching him. That's good that he accepted the change.

Appointments fell through, disappointing, but a great way to develop more faith!

During P-Day, Heidi and her companion got to eat some Dole Whip, just like the Dole Whip from Disneyland! Here is a picture of Heidi with Lucille Ball on P-Day:

Yay, for the Sisters Bonham!

Time is a Weird Thing

Sister Kelli Bonham:

Kelli notes: "It's already September!! Time is moving fast! Yeah, time is a weird thing on the mission... days feel like weeks, weeks feel like hours, and months feel like blinks.  The trick is to stay busy, and then time will fly!" 

Kelli and her companion are so busy teaching the gospel! " ... the work is moving forward!!  We are over Fairway Village and they are on fire!  We are getting referrals left and right and new investigators being put on date and baptisms, and things are going really well!"  They have another baptism this week, the third since they have been in the ward. Kelli loves being in Washington with the wonderful people there. Her companion, Kelli's trainer, is fun and awesome and Kelli is learning soooo much from her.


Sister Heidi Bonham:

I think for Heidi, this past week seemed like months. She had a hard and discouraging week. As she said, "The mission is definitely humbling. :)"  But, she is learning that with hard weeks comes the great opportunity to learn to rely completely on the Lord. "The mission is hard.  We just have to keep going in faith.  My mission president described working in an area as a motor boat.  When you first start up the boat, the engine is PUSHING against the water so hard and the boat is barely moving.  But, once the boat gets going, it is smooth sailing.  I'm not saying that it will be rainbows from here on out, but if we keep working and don't stop, our efforts will pay off." 

Missionaries learn important lessons that will help them throughout their lives. It is amazing what the Lord can do with these young missionaries!

Here is Heidi and her companion and a friend: