ASL or Bust

I'm half way through my mission! What the heck! 

Ahhh this week has been great! We are keeping really busy the Lord is truly blessing us for being obedient. Yes this transfer we have what they call a tenth key, I think it should be called a 12th key as we already have a 10th and an 11th. Anyways this transfer if you get up on time, get studying on time, home on time etc etc. You get a 10th key. Which ever zone get 100% will get a pizza party! Yes and President (who is the boom, by the way) said we will get REAL root beer. Yep we are going to get that. 

We have 2 new investigators! YAY! And I like to think that all the blessings we are receiving are related to that.

We get iPads tomorrow!!!!!!! YAY!

Oh, another very, VERY exciting thing: They have 4 sisters and 2 ASL elders in the next few transfers coming and both the ASL elders are going home this transfer. A Spanish elder who I just happened to know from the MTC also knows ASL and I are going to be training the new ASL missionaries when they get here.  YES, I get to go ASL!!!! How awesome is that!??? I am very excited, despite the fact that I will be leaving my amazing area and companion. I know the Lord has called me here for a reason and I am glad to answer his call.

Well thats all the time I have for today friends.Hopefully I will have more time next week! I have more time to write letters now so I will do that instead of emailing. Send me your addresses and I promise you a letter. Some of you already have one on the way ;)

Mission Blog Post

The DC North mission has a training day after they have settled into the mission. Here's a blog post from Lani's training day:

http://calledtoserveindcnorth.blogspot.ca

D E A F

Washington DC North ASL missionaries
Lt to Rt Elder Schoemig, Elder Wood, Elder Winkler and Sister B

This week Lani learned that she will be training two ASL sisters fresh from the MTC starting mid Feb. She has mixed emotions about this as she LOVES the Seneca Ward and her new companion but she is over the moon excited to serve in a deaf unit and use her ASL more. 

The ASL missionaries had a meeting with the mission president this week to plan for three new missionaries that are coming to DC on Feb. 18th. Elders Schoemig and Winkler are going home at the end of this transfer and Elder Wood and Sister Bascom will be receiving the new ASL missionaries. 

Elder Wood and Lani were in the MTC together. He saw the sisters signing amongst themselves and introduced himself. He was not called as an ASL missionary but he has members of his family that are deaf and knows ASL. He was hoping to be able to work with the deaf too.

She is being given a huge amount of responsibility with these next two transfers. Not only will she be training. She will be having to get to know deaf members spread through out the whole mission and beyond. She will be fully immersed in a signing environment and is still learning how to serve in a more traditional way as a missionary. Please keep her in your prayers. 

Hump Day

April 24th marks the halfway point of Sister Bascom mission. 

Here's to nine more months of serving and growing.

WE have Pictures!!!

Sister Cooke posted pictures of the January Arrivals today.  Here's our loverly Sister Bascom on the DC North mission blog.
http://calledtoserveindcnorth.blogspot.ca

No Time

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sorry I haven't emailed my emailing time has been cut in half in the new mission, but thats okay just means I have to write more letters, so I need your addresses. Letters are better than emails anyways so :)

Well let me tell you about my new mission I'm in the Washington DC North mission. Well being outbound it kinda awesome.DC has been great!  I miss Temple Square (TS) is someways but not in a lot of ways. Like MEMBERS! Ahh member are awesome! We have just been shown such love and support from them. They are so willing to help us. Feels like I have a family again. Okay TS was a family but I don't like having that many sisters my age... Still adjusting to working with Elders though. 

I love being assigned to a ward the P's are my favourite I think. Sister P is so very very sweet, her cooking is great too. So healthy. We have been there twice to eat now and she came out to contact with us the other day. They were living in the middle east before here. Her husband works for the world bank. They are very strong in the church, their oldest is 14 and youngest almost a year I think. They all have been very loving and supportive.

We have had some great experiences. The first two doors we knocked on in our new area both said we could come back :)) It was a total blessing. This area hasn't been tracked really well in about 10 years. The ward is divided into two areas and we the sisters are out in a small town called Poolesville and the surrounding communities. There is a church on every other street here too! They are very prepared humble people we are very excited!

Sister Johnson and I have been working really hard and have been having a lot of fun. She is the closest companion I have ever, the long car rides help :P With all this working out I have been doing with Sister Johnson I have been needing to eat more and I'm trying to eat really healthy, I think God is trying to tell me something with me having all these vegetarian and health nuts for companions. My pants are actually getting a little loose on me now! :D The trick now is to keep all this exercising and eating healthy up after sister Johnson and I are no long companions. 

I'm glad I will be able to teach more and more deaf people. For the next 4 months I can FB (Facebook) them and teach them that way and then when I get back to TS I can VP (Visual Phone) them :) (Our local elders have contacted some people that ASL is their primary language and they can't teach them as they don't know ASL. Lani can teach anyone that uses ASL any where in the world so we can connect them and voila problem solved how to share our basic beliefs.)

The weather has been cool here it is suppose to snow this week and last time it snowed all the missionaries had to stay home... :( Dislike! I hope that doesn't happen we have too much to do!

Sorry this is one of my shorter ones but I got to go now!

Sister Bascom

Poolesville

We got a very short email from Sister Bee today. In her email she said she is not a fan of flying. She hit it off with her new mission president. She also indicated that she has much shorter email time in this mission. Because of this snail mail may be a better option for any one whom wants to send her love. Her new mission address is in the side bar on the home page of her blog. 

We learned her companion's name is Sister Erin Johnson and is from Colorado Springs, Colorado. She loves to exercise. Just before she was emailing they were doing yoga at a member's home.  They both have birthdays coming up. They are born a week apart. She is in her 5th transfer. With Lani being new to this mission Sister Johnson is the senior companion. They are both new to the area so it will be the blind leading the blind this transfer. https://www.facebook.com/erin.johnson.1671

They are serving is the Seneca Stake which is in Montgomery county the top norther part of the DC North mission.  The are assigned to the Seneca ward which can be found in German Town MD. The area they are assigned to is in the country side of Poolesville, MD. I have attached some pictures of this pretty area. Not so pretty in January.:/  Poolesville is a conservative upper middle class community that's pretty vanilla. 

She feels that we all see and hear more from her as this allows the missionaries to use Facebook for contacting and teaching. She is deciding whether she will clean out her current Facebook account or if she will start a new one. If you get an invite from a Sister Leilani Bascom it our good ol Lani Lou.

For those of you that don't know DC North mission has a unit of our church that conducts services in ASL, for the large deaf community in this area. There are presently three elders serving and teaching in ASL in this mission. Two of which go home next transfer. The remaining elder is Elder Wood whom Lani met in the MTC.  He was not called as an ASL missionary but has members of his family that are deaf and knows sign language.  Lani said he was very surprised to see her on transfer day. Lani also wrote that there are more ASL missionaries coming next transfer. She feels that her companion will stay in the Seneca ward and she will be transferred south to DC to work with the deaf. Lani's hope when she went outbound was that she would be assigned to a deaf unit and be able to develop and use her ASL MORE.

Stayed tuned for more adventures from DC .

Sister Bee's  Momma

Capital to Capital, Visitor Center to Visitor Center, Christus to Christus

So true confessions Sister Bascom's mom is a blog stalker. Yup I am. So these are the things I have learned about The Washington DC North Mission:

The Washington DC North mission is located in the Capital of the United States. There are about 140 missionaries serving in this mission. About 30 sisters 20 senior missionaries and the balance are young men. It is culturally diverse. The represent many nations and teach in as many languages.

The geographical location she will be serving in: Encompasses the District of Colombia, extends from Germantown in the North down to Lexington Park in the South. The mission boundaries remain within the state of Maryland, although it stretches as far south as Virginia along the Chesapeake.

Her mission is presided by Peter Stryker Cooke, 64, and Heather Nelson Cooke. They are from Salt Lake City, Utah. They attend the Monument Park 14th Ward, Salt Lake Monument Park Stake. President Cooke has served in many capacities in our church as a high councillor, former counselor in a bishopric, counselor in a ward Young Men presidency, ward mission leader and gospel doctrine teacher. He is the Founder/owner, PSC Enterprises, LLC. Retired Major General in the U.S. Army Reserve. Born in Miami, Fla., to Howard George and Bette Stryker Cooke.

See Bio: http://www.remembermyservice.com/Bios/bio-petercooke.html

Sister Heather Cooke has served as a ward Relief Society president, ward Young Women and Primary president, gospel doctrine teacher and in two stake Relief Society presidencies. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Joseph Fielding and Carolyn Boyer Nelson.

They have three of their teenagers living with them in the mission home in Gaithersburg Maryland. They are Elizabeth (currently 13), Joseph (15) and Carolyn (17). Our oldest son Howard (21) is attending the University of Utah and will visit when he can.

The say that religion and politics are the two hardest things to sell and Pres. Cooke has had plenty of experience with BOTH!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865570372/Ex-gubernatorial-candidate-Peter-Cooke-called-to-be-Mormon-mission-president.html?pg=all

The Washington DC North mission is the home to The Washington DC temple, a visitors centre and the international public relations office for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It appears that there are about 30 sisters from various countries. That speak and give tours in numerous languages in the visitors centre. All the sisters have the opportunity to give tours to people that come to visit the centre.

The Director of the visitors center is Harden and Loi Anne Eyring. Hareden is the brother of President Eyring of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Harden Eyring was born in Princeton, New Jersey and moved to Salt Lake City when he was seven years old. He served a mission in Switzerland and Austria. He has bachelors degrees in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Utah and a JD from Columbia University. After he and Loi Anne married they moved to San Francisco where he practiced law and was bishop of the Bay Ward.

They returned to Salt Lake City where he provided legal support to the State Board of Regent, the governing board for the public colleges and universities in Utah for thirty-eight years. He has also served on several high councils and taught in the auxiliaries of the Church.

Loi Anne Eyring grew up in Salt Lake City. She recently played her fifty-first season since joining the Utah Symphony at age 16.  She received her BA from the University of Utah and was a scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music in NYC.  She is the winner of numerous prizes and competitions, including the National Congress of Strings Competition, the Piatigorsky Chamber Music Competition, and the title of Miss Utah and Most Talented Musician at the Miss America Pageant.

She and her husband, Harden, have been married for forty five years. They have five children, ten grandchildren and one great grandchild. Sister Eyring love of music brings many WONDERFUL performances to the auditorium in the Visitors Center. The missionaries serving in this area have the opportunity to perform in monthly firesides. Lani will LOVE this opportunity to sing, sign and play her harp in small and large ensembles.

As you can see she will be under GREAT mentorship and will develop amazing leadership skills. 

The visitors centre houses another beautiful sculpture of the Saviour. Lani has grown to love the Christus in the SLC visitors center and I think she will be thrilled to see this one too.

This mission also uses technology to share our beliefs with the world.  They use Facebook as a teaching tool.This is what one sister in her mission said about this to her family and friends:

I have been getting a ton of questions about Facebook! So let me try to answer a few of those really fast. The purpose of Facebook for a missionary is to share the gospel. Whether it's through Mormon Messages, I'm A Mormon profiles, awesome quotes, or whatever, that's what it is meant for. It's supposed to be a finding tool as well. I'm there so I can answer questions and have great conversations with people about gospel related things. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, so hopefully I can do that through the internet. Now, that being said, I probably won't message you back if you are family, or an active  member of the Church (unless you have a friend you want me to teach). I'm sorry! I would really love to talk to you all, but I'll just have to wait to do that for another 4 1/2 ish months. But please remember, if I don't message you back or I hide a comment from my timeline, I still love you! :)

They are or have recently starting using Ipads to as a tool to teach from too. 

On Preparation Days (one day a week), she will have the opportunity to explore the various sites and attractions within the boundaries of her mission. There are more historic sites and attractions than she has Pdays. I noticed every thing seems to start with National... cathedral, zoo, art gallery.... 

Here are pics of some of the things she may explore while there:

The local streets, cafes, shops...

Smithsonian

Capitol Hil

National Cathedral

Arlington Cemetery

The most exciting thing for Lani about this mission is that the Ivy League of Deaf Education Gallaudet University is in her mission. This means lots of Deaf and signing students to communicate with. Her hope when she went outbound was to go to a mission with a deaf unit and ASL missionaries and she has BOTH in this mission. Her hope is that she will get assigned to this unit of the church and be able to use and develop her ASL MORE. We will see where her new mission president feels impressed to use her.

LET FREEDOM RING!

LDS Capitol to National Capitol

So just after 9AM one excited Sister Bascom called to read us her second mission call letter. Drum roll please!!!  Washington DC North. She will return to Temple Square May 14th. She flies out tomm AM from SLC to DC with another sister from TSQ and a group of missionaries that have just completed their training in the Missionary training.

She has the Washington DC temple and visitors centre in her mission. The have many unique national and historical landmarks in her mission as well. I am so thrilled for her.

Stay tuned for more exciting news as we learned for all you Deafies that Gallaudet University. Which is  Ivy league of deaf education is in her mission. She is hoping and praying that she gets to use her ASL more. So there is a chance that her mission president may assign her to the deaf unit of our church that the Gally students attend. I did learn that there is presently Elders assigned to that unit so the chances look slim.

This is the link for her new mission blog.http://calledtoserveindcnorth.blogspot.ca

Happy New Year

Snow Day on the Square

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, how was your Christmas? Mine was different then I am use to but, it was still really good.

I don't have a lot to say today my time is almost up. Sorry. I want you to know I have been doing a lot of soul searching and I am trying to be a better missionary. I have such a desire to become everything my Father wants me to be.

I hope you all have a happy New Year and you think about the past, but look to the future with new goals that motivate. I hope one of those goals is to search the scriptures everyday. By reading with your family you will grow closer together. 

I testify to you all that Jesus is the Christ that I am slowing starting to understand the atonement and am overpoweringly grateful for it. Only someone who has made a mistake and wants to be better can really understand it. I want to be better, so so so much better, and through the atonement of Christ I can and so can you.

I love you all 

See you all this year.

Remember your Braver than you Believe, Stronger than you the Seem and Smarter than YOU Think!

Sister Bascom

Missionary Christmas