There are NO Coincidences.

Mom Post:
When we received Lani's first letter home she told us about all the missionaries in her district. In passing she said there is an Elder R who's father is deaf. Twenty five years ago I served a mission. I had the blessing of being called into the deaf program and learning ASL like my dear daughter.

While my daughter was growing up I shared with her the conversions stories of the people I had the opportunity to share basic lessons with of the doctrine of our church. This is one of those stories:

Do you remember me telling you the story of a young man named S that I taught while on my mission. He use to come to church with his friend named D. She was an interpreter at the Community College. Her parents are deaf and she was fluent in ASL. My companion and I introduced ourselves to him and told him that if he ever wanted to learn more about the church we would be happy to meet with him any time. Several weeks later he asked if he could set up a time to meet with us.

That evening we had dinner with him D and her family. He they went on to tell us his history. He said when I was 10 years old I found the true church and the sisters were teaching me and then one day they stopped coming. I always wanted to find that church again. Then when I met D at the college we would talk about what we belived and church... I told her I had already found the true church I had a book from that church and that I was going to find it again. She asked me to bring the book to school and I did. It was a Book of Mormon reader which ASL missionaries often pass out to investigators as an introduction to the stories from the Book of Mormon. That night we asked him if he was ready to have lessons to prepare for baptism and when he knew that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the true church on the earth if he would commit to be baptized and he said yes.

We lived with members of the church in this area as housing was really expensive. When we arrived home we were so excited and we shared the story with the S family.  Bro S said “ I knew I recognised him.” He went on to tell us that he was the bishop when S was 10 and he felt impressed to tell the sisters not to baptize him. He felt strongly that he wouldn't have enough support to remain active through his teen years. He felt that he would come in contact with the church again when he was older. The sister discussed this with his parents and they agreed and the never returned. I had the wonderful privilege of sharing the lessons with him and seeing him get baptized.

While he was learning and preparing for baptism a national Single Adult conference for members of our faith that communicate using ASL was held in our area. We were asked to assist with checking in all the attendees. While we were doing this we were chatting with D and S. All of sudden S became very excited and was signing really fast which was hard for me as a new signer to understand. When he calmed down I learned that a woman had walked in the room he recognized as the sister that had taught him all those years ago. They were able to reconnect and she later came out to visit again for his baptism.

 I was transfered shortly after that. S went on to serve a mission. Dad and I went to the deaf ward one weekend shortly after we were married. We were pleasantly surprised to able to see him just before he went home. I have not had contact with him since. I have a feeling that the Elder R in your district is S's son. I think S went on to marry D.

I did some research and I found S and D and I sent D a Facebook message.  If I am right this is such an exciting thing for me to reconnect with them after all these years.

This experience has strengthened my faith that there are no coincidences in life but that we are all kept in the hallow of his hand. That my daughter is meant to be in the district that she is in in the MTC. That she is meant to be serving with whom she is serving and that there are people prepared to learn the gospel from her at this time.

MORE Snail Mail

Sister Bascom and her MTC companion Sister J

What a pleasant surprise to get more mail from Sister Bascom this week:

She is being stretched and going through growing pains as she and the other sisters in her district adjust to missionary life and life in the MTC. She comments that she get 8 hours of sleep in the MTC and is still tired. One of the sisters in her district has strep throat and several of the other sisters on her floor have also been ill.

She shares with us how much she likes her Branch President in the MTC Pres. Born. She has enjoyed her interviews with him. Adores her first Zone leader. She much to Sis Bascom's disappointment left last Wednesday.

She has run into Becky Smith whom is the same building as her. She was thrilled to see Ammon Kaopua and is excited for her friend Shane Dola to arrive.

She states that she got extra letter writing time while she was waiting at her companions eye appointment.  She was pleased to get a break from the MTC for a while.

Snail Mail

Day 1

The MTC is AMAZING! I LOVE it here. The spirit is so strong and there is so much love felt amongst the missionaries. 

Let Me tell you about the missionaries in my district; There are eight of us five sisters and three elders. All of us already know some sign language either from school, family or both. 

The five sisters share a room in the dorms. Sister John is my companion. She is 21 next month and is from Colorado. She was in deaf studies at Utah Valley University. (This is were Lani would like to attend school after her mission.)  She will also be serving on Temple Square. Sister Abbot is also 21 and from Oregon I believe. Sister Benson is 22 she is hard of hearing and is very sweet I can't wait to get to know her better. Sis Mecham is 19 as well and we are becoming fast friends. 

Our Elders are Elder McGill whom is deaf, Elder Rainey who's father is deaf and Elder Cowley whom has taken three years of ASL. Our elders are very nice. All the other missionaries are in the deaf program and I think they are all going either to Oregon or California.

Our Teachers name is Brother David. There are lots of interpreters to watch too.  

The other missionaries are constantly asking where you are going and trying to sign to us. It is pretty funny.

Day 2

Today was hard I felt overwhelmed by the end of the day. Zone meeting is what was overwhelming the sisters and I are still trying to remember everything. I am already understanding so much. 

Sister Benson is extremely helpful and under standing. Sister Mecham and I are getting closer everyday. We have a lot in common. She is also 19. She is a dancer mostly ballroom. So we did stretching together for about 15 during gym time. She also wants to go to UVU after her mission which makes me want to go even more. We could take ASL and dance there together ;)

Saw Becky Smith today I totally forgot that she is here. She is leaving next week. So write her while you can.

Sister Bascom's favorite Sister in her District Sister B

Day 3

Today was such a GOOD day. I can already understand so much more in class. Mom you would of been so proud of me (Mom note: I AM!!!) I have had so many good conversations with deaf people and I understood 85% of what they said and the other 15% I could piece together.

Mom Note: When missionaries learn a language in the MTC they get six weeks of language instruction with returned missionaries that have already taught in the language. Lani's district is the only district where they are language immersed. The difference is that the minute she walks in the door she is has to use her language with native signers as most of the time the district has missionaries with varying degrees of hearing loss. It is like being thrown in the deep end. They all come up swimming and this is the best way to learn. Oh and stay tuned for more on Elder Rainey after I confirm some information.

The Lord has truly blessed me already. 

All my love to the family.

Sister Bascom

Finally PDay

Sister Bascom enjoying her preparation day with Sister A

Nine days later and this is what we got:

AHHH finally pday! So nice! The MTC is really frustrating, awesome, hard and amazing. We have had some awesome speakers and some not to awesome speakers. Some great food and some terrible food. My district is awesome. I love each and everyone of the sisters and the elders. They are all really cool. I hope you get my letters soon sent them awhile ago. So any day now, I hope. 

Talk more later. Love the dearelders they are really encouraging. Will email more later <3

Sister Bascom

PS Her Companion's name is Sister John. She is 21 and from Colorado. That's all until the snail catches up with us.

65,635

Yesterday Lani landed in Salt Lake City and was taken in to the loving care of our friends.  The spoiled her rotten and brought her to the MTC. The sent us some lovely pictures of her. The also sent this email.

                                                       

As for memories of the MTC, they just do a drop-off now (not the presentation with the missionaries exiting one way and families the other way); but since we were there 8 months ago, there are a LOT more missionaries there.  The sister who is in the picture with her is just one of the HUNDREDS of missionaries lined along the sidewalk, ready to help with luggage and getting them into the building where they need to be, giving high fives, etc.  There's a lot of good energy.  Also nerves.  Lani said to Ash, "There are so many people here!  I'm really nervous."  Ashie said, "No way!  You are going to be GREAT!"

This was a beautiful day for us.  You've raised a lovely young woman, and we are blessed to have gotten to spend time with her.  Thank you again and again for giving us this opportunity.

At April conference President Monson announced that we currently have 65.634 missionaries serving. There are approx. 20,000 waiting to leave and 6,000 applications in process. We as of today there are now 65,635 and one less missionary waiting to leave. GO get em Tiger!

Communication

Hey all heads up. My Mom and Sister are monitoring my blog and Facebook account starting Monday night. I will not be checking messages or comments on either of these accounts. Therefore I will not be responding to birthday wishes and blog comments. Sorry

I would love to hear from you all during my mission. I will however have limited time to respond to mail weekly. Cassie and Mum will keep contact info current on my Facebook account and on the sidebar of my blog.

During my time in the MTC you can send me letters via Dear Elder FREE :) Thanks for this service Dear Elder! If you post a letter before 12:30 Utah time I will get it that day. :) Snail mail and email work too.

After I leave the MTC at the beginning of June if you want me to get info quickly it is best to send it through Dear Elder. I'll have it in 48 hours and it is cheaper than Canada Post and faster for that matter.

For those of you that don't seem to make it to the mail box to get the paper to the snail. You can use my email addy. If you have any questions fire them at Cassie or Mum.

See ya in 18 months \"/ ( love ya in ASL)
Sister Bascom

There She Goes

I am standing on the sea shore,
A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her
Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:
"She is gone."

Gone! Where?
Gone from my sight - that is all.
She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me,
not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
"She is gone",
There are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:
"There she comes!"

This morning Lani said her good byes to her family.  We departed from our home to make the three hour drive to Calgary for her to board her plane. She had a lovely nap. Catching up on all those late nights Skyping with friends.

We arrived with plenty of time for her to enjoy some sushi in the airport. Check in and get through customs. Lani is the second child of EIGHT ( you can gasp. Many people do.) so she hasn't had the opportunity to fly since she was wee. So you can imagine that she was excited to experience flying again.

Mean while our dear friend Aundrea was having the longest day of her life waiting for her to come. She and her family are picking her up in SLC spending the evening with her and taking her to the MTC tomm.

I found this lovely graphic that plucked my heart strings this morning. We are thrilled to see her leave the safe harbour of our home and are excited to see where the wind takes her these next 18 months. Fair winds my dear Leilani.