April 18, 2011

Hello, Family!

 

This week has been good.  The bikes are still an adventure.  We got our helmets from the mission office, and since we're the first sisters with bikes they're meant for Elders.  They're huge.  Last week it was windy and as we were riding the wind blew Sister St. Clair's helmet off the top of her head so it was all skee-wompus and covering her eyes.  It was funny.  They probably aren't very safe.

 

Monday night we were tracting. We knocked on a door and the man who opened said, "Didn't you see the sign outside? You aren't supposed to be knocking here." And then shut his door.  That made me sad. As we were leaving, though, he ran out and apologized and said he was just concerned for our safety, because it was late and dark and we shouldn't be knocking on random people's doors.  We thanked him for his concern.  The next day we were talking to a man who lives across the street from that complex, and the same guy saw us and walked a block to come and tell us we could come by his apartment sometime, when it wasn't dark.  We did and had a lesson with him, and he believed the things we said and wants us to come back! It's amazing to me that Heavenly Father can make something good come out of something that seemed so bad at first.

 

Saturday we had another baptism.  The guy is named Luke Simpson.  He's in our ward, but he's been taught by the Elders because he has a thing for Sister St. Clair and tries to flirt with her all the time.  When he first started investigating about four months ago he asked her out to a dance.  We got to have a part in the baptism process, though, and it was a good baptism.  It's been a huge blessing to be able to see so many people join the church in the short time I've been on my mission.

 

We met a guy from Nigeria named Shola a few weeks ago and we got to meet with him this week.  When we asked him how he feels about the Savior, he said words can't describe his feelings.  The Spirit was so strong as he said that.  We taught him about The Book of Mormon and he said he believes it is true, even though he hasn't read it yet.  It was really amazing. 

 

Once again, we forgot the other pictures.  I'm so sad because I've been excited all week to show them to you.  We will (hopefully) bring them next week, though! 

 

I love you all so, so much!  I know this church is true and I know our Savior lives.  I am so grateful for Him and for the things He was willing to go through for us. I am especially grateful as I am away from you that He made it possible for me to be with you, my amazing family, forever. 

 

Have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson

April 10, 2011 Ward News Letter

Dear 3d Ward,

My mission has been wonderful so far!  I'm serving in Srpingfield, MO in the singles ward here.  When I started 6 weeks ago the sisters had 5 baptism dates set, and I have been blessed to see 4 baptisms so far.
The first one was a girl named Rachelle.  Her family is Baptist and they were very upset with her for joining the church, but she bore a powerful testimony to them at her baptism.  She first knew the Book of Mormon was true while reading Joseph Smith's account of his vision at the very beginning of the Book of Mormon.  She described her feelings and testified so strongly of the truth of this work, and now many members of her family are reading the Book of Mormon.
The second was Tyler Jones, a 19 year old black basketball player from St Louis.  He found the church when he walked up to the booth we set up on MSU campus every Friday morning.  His baptism was also wonderful.  He bore his testimony about how much God has done for him in his life.  He's now preparing to receive the Priesthood.
Last but not least were Do and Bang.  They are two Vietnamese students.  Before meeting the missionaries, Bang knew nothing about God and Do had a desire to follow Jesus Christ but didn't know how.  After reading the Book of Mormon each day (in Vietnamese and English), and learning to pray, they were converted to this gospel and now are on the path back to Heavenly Father.  When they do go back to Vietnam they will be able to share what they've learned with their families, and the gospel will continue spreading throughout the world!
It's so amazing how Heavenly Father is mindful of every single nation, and every single person.  It's been incredible to see His love for the people here in Missouri as he's led us to those who are ready to accept Him.
I know God and Jesus Christ live and love each of us.  I know Joseph Smith was called to restore Christ's full gospel to the earth, and I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I know that if we'll read it every day our testimonies of Jesus Christ will grow and we will know what we need to do to live worthy of being in God's presence again someday.  This gospel brings me so much joy and I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to see it change people's lives.
Thank you for your support and your letters!  I hope you each have a wonderful month!

Love,
Sister Monson

April 11, 2011

Hello, Family!

 

CONGRATULATIONS KRISTEN AND JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe my little sister is engaged!!!!!!!!  I'm so happy for you!

 

This week has been a good one, again :).  Austin got baptized!  His family, who aren't members, came, and they were very supportive of him.  The day he was confirmed, we had nine nonmembers at church (a lot of them have religion classes so they're doing projects on our church), and he was able to share with several of them different things about the church. It was great to see him become a member and then immediately be able to do missionary work!

 

We met a little old man named Frank last week tracting.  The first thing he said was that the only religion he would ever join would be the Mormons, because he likes the idea of having more than one wife (not realizing we were Mormons). He was a little crazy. He loves the 10 Commandments movie and told us all about it. He even demonstrated parting the Red Sea, which was epic.  He said he hates organized religion because he feels he can worship better on a horse than in a church, and he feels judged at church, too, but he agreed to come to ours (we explained that we don't have more than one wife). He went to the Elder's ward because he's older, and he will be taught by them. He called us 8 times in two days, though, leaving really long messages about his confusions and concerns.  The last one came after he had been to church. He said he loved it and will be going back, he knows God brought us to him for a reason, and he wants to get baptized! 

 

We got a phone call this week from a guy named James we had met on campus several weeks earlier.  He said he wanted to meet with us because he has a class on the Apocalypse and he wants to know our religion's view on it.  We had the lesson outside and we talked for 2 hours and we didn't talk about the Apocalypse at all.  He had so many questions! He came to church last week and was totally bombarded by members wanting to get to know him, but he was very kind and he seemed to enjoy it.

 

We had a lesson this week with Jeffrey on the Plan of Salvation and I'm pretty sure it was just like what teaching the gospel in the millenium will be like!  We had it at the park because it was bright and sunny and we couldn't find a girl to come with us. We sat under a tree and went through the plan and Jeffrey understood it and loved it and said he would apply it to his life. The morning had been a hard one, but Heavenly Father was mindful of us and sent us a wonderful blessing to brighten our day and increase our faith. Missionary work is amazing!

 

We forgot the cd with more pictures, so I'm sorry about that.  Hopefully I'll remember next week.

 

I love you all so much! Thank you for being the best family ever! :)

 

Love,

Sister Monson

April 4, 2011

Hello Family!

 

This week was good, especially because of General Conference!  It was really neat to be able to share that with people this week and invite them to come, although not many did. 

 

Austin got interviewed for his baptism on April Fools Day, so he and the District Leader decided to pull a prank on us by saying he didn't pass.  I only believed it for a second, but that second was pretty terrifying.  Thank goodness it was a joke, because Sister St. Clair and I yelled April Fools and it would've been bad if we'd been wrong. 

 

We've run into a lot of people this week who have had misconceptions about our doctrine or who just have really different opinions about religion.  One guy told us, "God didn't create us because He loves us.  He created us to worship Him."  I felt so awful and sad when he said that, I felt just the opposite when when Elder Perry said "the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath."  I am so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed us with ways to know truth, and I'm so grateful I already have it in my life, because the truth is so amazing and so beautiful, and it brings so much happiness.  We have a Heavenly Father who loves us, and we He has given us a prophet and apostles so we can be guided in this crazy life.  I love the gospel!

 

For service we've been going to a nursing home each week and visiting the people there.  Many people don't have any visitors, and they're lonely and sick, so it's been so rewarding to see them.  When we first started going we met three sisters who are absolutely amazing. They have so much love for each other. One of them, Wanda Gray, has an Elementary School out here named after her, and they were all school teachers.  The oldest sister, Wilma, had alzheimers and repeated letters all day like she was teaching kids. Wanda has had a stroke and so she has trouble speaking and remembering. One day when we came Wanda was holding Wilma's hand and listening to her, trying to understand and help her even though she wasn't making sense.  She had clearly been sitting there with her for hours, trying to help.  The next time we came Wilma had passed away. When we got up to leave after visiting with them, Wanda, who hadn't said much, gave us both kisses and told us she loved us. She was clearly in so much pain because she had just lost her sister, but she still had so much love and shared it with us. I want to have the kind of love they have and live the kind of life they've lived.

 

 Love,

Sister Monson

 

So...I'm attaching some pictures but there will be more next week, and better ones. We left one of the picture cd's at home.  Bang is the shorter one, Do is the taller one. The guy standing with them in one of the pictures is Mike, who baptized them.  The one of me on my bed is when my bed was on the kitchen table.

 

PS - the institute director here knows Chrissy! His name is John Lawson. He dated her friend and she dated his. There are so many people out here who have connections to people I know.  Two of the people in the ward served missions with people from my wards at Glenwood, I went to the house of a girl who was in my class last semester, and one of the girls here is the sister of the roommate of a guy I dated.  It's a small world!

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