"I am being reassigned (temporarily)..."

I found out on Wednesday that I am being reassigned (temporarily) to the Florida Tallahassee Mission! Which, coincidentally, is also kind of deceiving because the only part of Florida in my mission is the panhandle and the rest includes about half of Alabama, half of Georgia, and a little corner of Mississippi. So needless to say, I will be kickin' it with the gators and swamp people for a little while! There is a girl in our Zone from that area and she said we will be fed well, so it looks like I'll continue packing on the pounds for at least another six weeks... She also warned us of using our manners correctly, you know, the "yes ma'am, no ma'am" kind of southern hospitality? Yeah. I don't think it should be a problem getting back into those Prosper roots, but I hope I don't get a bad reputation for forgetting to be polite!

Needless to say, I'm quite excited to get out of the MTC and do some real missionary work. The experience here has been great and it will definitely be weird leaving the people I have been around  for my entire mission so far, especially the 11 other guys in my District, but it's part of progressing! 

So the other reassignments from my District include Billings Montana, Seattle Washington, Baton Rouge Louisiana, Salt Lake City Central, and Provo Utah. Haha I had to laugh a little about the guys staying in the freezing cold up here for a little longer, but they're in one of the most successful areas in the US so I guess they are willing to sacrifice.

So this week has been extremely rough. I have struggled to stay motivated and diligent in my studies because there has been so much excitement! We have still done a ton of work and I have continued to learn, but I know I could have been doing so much more, so I found myself asking the Lord for forgiveness for wasting His time each night... It's something I'm working on so don't judge!

We have been blessed to hear mission stories from our teachers and have fun with each other since we wont really be seeing each other much after this week. I have grown to love each one of these fine Elders on a personal level and ithasn't been easy, but it has been a great experience! They each have strengths and have taught me so much, I'm so grateful for these past two months. I know this is a principle we can all apply in our lives as we are surrounded with a myriad of people with different personalities and different lessons they can teach us. I challenge each of you to find a lesson you can learn from each person you associate with and understand how that can make you a better human being. Some of the best lessons I have learned have come from times when I have struggled with my companion or struggled with an investigator, but the blessings and lessons that came out of it were worth the temporary displeasure. I want all of you to be the happiest people in the world and I know that you can be by finding the blessings in your life each day and constantly thanking our Heavenly Father for all He has given us. So do that for me and I promise you will see a difference in your life!

One more thing from the Devotional this week. Elder L. Whitney Clayton and his wife spoke about loving one another. A thing Sister Whitney said was that in order to enjoy the thrill and the rush of going down the hill, you have to endure the ascent up the hill first. We can do hard things! Ask the Lord for help and He will undoubtedly help you! Trust Him! I love you all and hope life is going absolutely wonderfully! Be happy and help others share that happiness! Eu amo voces!

Love,

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.Org

"His Plan is Absolutely Beautiful and Perfect Because He is Perfect..."

I can't begin to tell you how fast these days and weeks are beginning to go by now. It seriously scares me how quick things are going to go by, especially once I'm out in the mission field and doing the real work!

This week has been absolutely great. I have learned a ton in the gospel and have even started getting back into the swing of learning Portuguese. I kind of hit a wall for a while and needed to get back into it or I would have been in big trouble with the natives... I still probably will, but I will be way better off than most of the rest of my District!

We are teaching 4 investigators right now: Germano, Michel, Xavi, and Morgan. This week, we have committed all but Morgan to baptism and even though these are practice scenarios, the Spirit is just as real as if we were to be teaching true investigators! Helping them overcome their struggles and to gain faith and teaching by the Spirit is such an amazing experience and I can testify to all of you that this is truly Christ's church!

I also was able to finish reading The Book of Mormon all the way through today and let me tell you, there definitely is not a more true book on this earth that can bring you closer to God. Please, if you aren't reading it now or if you have never even read it in your life (non-members included), just take a few minutes out of your day to read it and experience the pure happiness that comes from it! I know it's the word of God and He will bless you for reading it diligently, seeking to learn! Moroni 10:3-5 says it all!

I got to host the new missionaries again this week and only got to host one and he was from Tahiti and spoke purely French. It might have been one of the coolest experiences I have had here with another missionary because even though he was miserably cold in the 5 degree weather and couldn't communicate with anyone, he was so excited to be here and doing the Lord's work! He is a convert of just a year and in the little English he did know, he told me that he wanted to meet the missionary who baptized him (I guess he works here at the MTC) and thank him for the best gift he has ever received in his life. That touched my heart so clearly and made me so much more excited to bless the lives of others by bringing them God's true word.

In other news, I think we might have broken the freezing point today because the snow is FINALLY starting to melt and I was able to walk outside in shorts and a t shirt. So if you'd like, go check Provo's weather for the day and tell me how crazy I am for thinking 30 degrees is a nice temperature.

I want all of you to know that I see the hand of the Lord in my life each and every day and feel His love more than ever because I have dedicated myself to living according to His word. Having experienced the worldly happiness and this true happiness, I would choose the spiritual side every time! I want you all to share this love and joy with me and I invite you to change whatever you need to change in your life to be in accordance with Heavenly Father's word! His plan is absolutely beautiful and perfect because He is perfect.

I testify that He loves each and every one of us equally and desires that we submit to His will by seeking true forgiveness of our sins, big or small, and doing all that we can to show our love to Him. We can all return to His presence through His great and eternal plan!

Eu amo voces muito and miss you tons! Please keep/start writing me! Have an amazing week and go do some good in the world! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.Org

"Have Faith That He Hears and Answers Your Prayers..."

It has been one crazy week here at the MTC and time is really starting to fly by like nothing else. 

Well on Saturday at TRC (a small thing where we get to teach members lessons like family home evening) I met a Blake LeSueur from Arizona who met Grandma LeSueur a little while ago randomly and then I taught a guy named Patrick that had a photography class with Chelsea not too long ago, and he was super excited to meet me! I have found it's easier to speak Portuguese when you have something in common with someone and it just flows! 

So that was cool, then Sunday flew by, Monday was nothing special, and then Tuesday was insane. 

We were privileged to have Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speak to us and he completely blew us away. He spoke about staying active [in the gospel] when we return from our missions, and how Preach My Gospel came to be for that reason of keeping RM's active. 

He went on to speak about the Son's of Mosiah and all the great missionaries in the Book of Mormon and how they taught with power and authority (turns out thats the most used phrase in the book) and how we can maintain that power and authority. He also talked about how everything that has ever gone on in the Church up to this point has been building to this time and we are responsible for carrying out the plan Heavenly Father has for us. 

Even more than that, all the prophets of old knew that their time wouldn't end with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In other words, they knew that their dispensation wasn't the chosen one for having Christ come back to cleanse the world, yet they still carried on their work and fulfilled their responsibilities because they knew what we would be doing exactly at this moment to hasten the Lord's work and bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Seriously, everything connects and its so awesome to think about and make those connections and have a personal witness of the truth of everything! 

f you haven't had a witness yet or you want one, I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon and sincerely pray about receiving a witness that the words spoken in it are true. I testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and you will become closer to Him upon reading it and by gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you can know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true as well. I promise you all that I wouldn't still be here if I didn't know that what I was doing was true! I love you all so very much and I want you all to have the peace and joy and TRUE happiness I have in my life! 

Another cool part from that was when he said the dedicatory prayer for the new buildings on campus. He blessed them to be protected by angels that nothing would ever harm us or these facilities. Such an awesome blessing and it meant so much coming from a man of his stature! 

Other than that, I got to host new missionaries this week on Wednesday and they were kind of funny. They were a little culture shocked, but nothing different from me! I know they're in the right place and they will get along just fine. 

I want you all to know that I know this Church is true with all my heart. Heavenly Father loves us and knows each one of us individually and all of our struggles. He is waiting for us to humble ourselves in prayer and ask Him to bless us, once we do that, He will! I promise! Put your trust in Him and have faith that He hears and answers your prayers. If you don't have faith that He will, what would it hurt to try?

 I love you all so much! Please keep writing me! Be happy and share love with all those you meet! 

Love, 

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.Org

"Do Good Things and You Will Be Happy..."

Hello all my amazing family and friends! Have I told you lately that I love y'all so much? Seriously, I can't explain how grateful I am for each and every one of you! This past week has been absolutely great, I have gotten more letters than I know what to do with! (I still expect more from those of you who haven't written me though...) 

As a quick Provo update, we had a couple days of record breaking highs of about 35 and 40 degrees this week! I know it sounds horrible to most of you, but it was nearly shorts and a t shirt weather... And now we're back to the dang snow and freezing temperatures. 

A little news from the week: Elder Ginez had to get glasses, so we were able to abandon the MTC campus for about four total hours on Monday and Thursday. I was so excited! Seeing real people, and real cars, and real magazines and newspapers that were from last November. It got me so much more excited to leave the bubble I live in here and get out to Brazil! Anyways, I know I'm here still for a reason beyond what I can know at this point, so I will just keep taking life as it comes and doing everything I know I'm supposed to be doing! Other than that little adventure outside of the MTC, we have basically been doing the same exact thing as we have always done here. I think that's really helping the time fly by because it feels like I have a P Day every other day! 

So my Spiritual thought for the week is something we heard from Elder Enrique Falabella at the Devotional Tuesday night. He spoke to us about charity and making changes in our lives and one thing he said which I'm sure most of you have heard before but could always be reminded of is, "If we keep doing things the same, we will get the same results. If we do things differently, we will get different results." This can be applied in several ways. First and foremost, if you aren't happy for whatever reason, make changes! Whether it's the people you're hanging around, the things you do in your free time, or whatever you notice that isn't helping you out. I can promise you this: Wickedness NEVER was happiness and never will be. Do good things and you will be happy! I promise! That's one of the benefits of serving a mission. I am continually doing good and therefore I am always happy! Study the scriptures, serve people, PRAY. These are a few of a million things you could be doing to be happy! Please seek true happiness and not the vain, temporary happiness the worldly things has to offer. 

Another quick note he shared with us was that repentance leads to charity which leads to a desire to share the gospel. Repentance is a gift, even though we tend to give it a negative connotation. How cool is it that Christ paid for our sins so that we can be cleansed of them? But it's not automatic... It takes recognition on our part and a true, sincere desire to make the CHANGE I was talking about earlier. Charity is a necessary characteristic for salvation, so please work on that and then you will WANT to share the gospel with others because you WILL be happy! 

I testify of the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the peace and happiness it brings you afterwards. I love you all so much! Be happy and share your love with those in need! 

Love,

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.org 

"We Can Become Perfected Through His Atonement..."

Hello my amazing, beautiful family and friends! How is everything going? Was Christmas as awesome for y'all as it was for me? I know my family had fun with a new baby and all (Congratulations to my beautiful sister Cami for having her second child, Abigail Rose Jensen!) and I just wanted to say, Christmas at the MTC was by far the BEST one of my life! I don't mean to say the other ones with my family haven't been awesome too, but it was a true Christmas here and the joy and happiness I felt all day long was just so amazing and I hope I can carry that with me for the rest of my life!

We really were so fortunate to have an Apostle of the Lord speak to us, Elder Russel M. Nelson, and his wife Wendy. They spoke to us about the importance of recognizing the spiritual gifts we have and utilizing them as often as possible! We are all so blessed in our lives, we just have to sit down and ponder the things we have received and thank Heavenly Father for them daily!

I testify that He hears our prayers and will continue to bless us more and more as we strive to be obedient to His commandments and live a righteous life. I have witnessed this constantly in my life even since being here at the MTC! We are constantly going at 100 mph and there's no time to just sit down and take a break, but that's what I'm here for and I know the Lord is blessing me for my diligence and hard work.

Anyways, the whole day we got to spend time thinking about and focusing on the Savior, which is what Christmas is truly about, and it was so much easier here because we weren't distracted by the things of the world that so easily creep into our minds and make us lose sight of the most important things. The Adversary is very real and he will do anything possible to distract us from doing the things that will help the work of the Lord to progress. I have had experiences with this with my companion. We are both hardheaded and like to argue, so as you can imagine, we get into some pretty lame disagreements. But the fact that I can recognize that and put it behind me helps me put off the temptations to be angry or unmotivated.

Whenever you're feeling like you cant take it anymore, pray to Heavenly Father that He will give you strength to overcome the obstacle you're facing and close in the name of Jesus Christ. He is waiting for you to call upon Him so He can help you, but with our agency, He can't help us without us asking for it first. "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." not sure the exact scripture quote, so look it up! The Atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to feel peace and joy and hope even when we are in the pits of depression. Again, you must call upon the Lord to help you. Let go of your pride and ask for help! I know its hard, but I PROMISE you will feel the pure love of the Savior wrap you up and get you through your trials! I'm not perfect, you're not perfect, nobody is perfect. But because Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself and because He IS perfect, we can become perfected through His Atonement. I leave my witness with you of the peace and love that comes with being obedient and searching for His assistance when we cant do it on our own.

I love you all and I wish you all the best and a Happy New Year! Make some changes to be better and serve others. Serving others will make you happier! I testify that Heavenly Father is hastening His work and the fact that He has called me to do His work is the highest honor I could ever receive in this life. "We are as the Army of Helaman, we have been taught in our youth. And we are NOW the Lord's Missionaries to bring the world His truth." I love every one of you more than you could ever imagine! Be happy and love others!

Com muito amor,

Elder LeSueur

Mormon.org 

"It's amazing the things we are capable of..."

Hello my beautiful friends and family! Sorry it has taken me more than a week to finally write this email... our P-Day is on Friday and since we got in on Wednesday they didn’t let us have one last week! So finally I’m here to tell you about how well everything is going! Gosh this experience is so amazing. It has been a whole bunch of ups and downs but the ups WAYYYY outweigh the downs! 

I have been doing more learning this past week than I did the entire time in Hawaii... I have learned more Portuguese in the last week and a half than I learned Spanish in my whole freshman year in high school! Holy cow its amazing the things we are capable of if we have the Lord on our side and are doing what we know He wants us to do. Conversely, life is much harder whenever we aren’t doing what we are supposed to be doing so the choice is yours, but BE SMART. 

My companion is Elder Ginez and he is from San Luis, Arizona. He speaks Spanish natively so Portuguese is much easier for him, but I think I’m catching up ;) he is such a great companion though. I have learned so much from him its amazing! 

I love the Spirit here and the people and the teachers. Everyone is so friendly it makes me want to hug every single one of them! I miss all of you though. I know that I'm here doing something much greater than what I could be accomplishing at home so i cant complain.

I just want all of you to know that I know that God loves every single one of us and the evidence is in the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. He sent His Son to die and pay the price for ALL of our sins and through sincere repentance we WILL be forgiven of them. I know life is tough and there are a lot of things that happen that you wish didn’t, but its not always up to us. But Heavenly Father will always love us no matter what! And I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Anyway, I hope all is well back home! I know you are all missing me soooo much but don’t lose sleep over it... It’ll be a couple years ;) but if you want to write me, do it through dear elder. I only have 30 minutes to email so I don’t want to spend it all reading yours! Thanks guys I love you all so much! Make good choices! 

Elder Trevor LeSueur

Mormon.Org

"I Couldn't Help But Feel Like..."

Elder LeSueur's first letter arrived in the mail today, and it is just amazing to hear how grown up he is already. Wow. We couldn't be more proud of our missionary. Anywho, without any further ado, here's the letter:

Mormon.Org

Officially

Elder LeSueur's journey officially began today. Wearing the tie he was given by Brother Goodrum, his young men's president, he felt especially prepared because this tie was worn on the first day of Brother Goodrum's mission, the first day of all of his brother's missions, and the first day of Trevor's good friend Chris' mission. He said goodbye to his family in Texas, chatted it up with a guy behind him in the airport security line, and boarded a flight in Dallas at 10:00 AM where he sat by a man who was a member of the church and had also served a mission several years ago. After a little nap (the last one he'll be taking for a while), he landed in Salt Lake City at noon.

"I love you Uptay"

 

Sionara to our cute grandmas

Ta ta Jensen family (and 'Jensen to be')! 

 

Couldn't be more proud of their baby son.

Chelsea picked him up and she enjoyed imparting her missionary wisdom on her baby brother-- after all, she had just been in the very same MTC he was about to report to just three years previously.

When they got back to Provo, there was a quick stop by the creamery to say goodbye to two of his soccer buddies and one of his dear friends from high school, and then it was a curbside drop off and a quick hug and goodbye for two years at the Provo MTC.

At the BYU Creamery saying goodbye to Lucy Scholl, Alex Neff, and another soccer buddy

Hugs goodbye to soccer friends

At the MTC, ready to go and do...

This was the cute man who helped Trevor get to where he needed to be. 

God be with you 'till we meet again, Elder LeSueur. Go forward in faith and shine your light. You'll be brilliant!

Mormon.Org