June 13, 2011

 Investigator Sam & his buddy

 Her district plus the assistants

 Investigators Ben & Julie

 A recent convert named Katie

 Us with an awesome returned missionary named Amy

 District

 Elders Johnson, Fellows, and Borrowman (The Elders are crazy)

 Switching up the district picture

 Billy - she calles us "her girls"

 Brother Smiley - the 1st counselor. This was taken just before he kissed my hand to break a missionary rule. I got "Smilied."

These are all members that are in Missouri doing summer sales

June 27, 2011

Hi Family!

 

This week has been good.  I've met more people and had some good lessons.  We teach about 1/2 as many lessons as I did in Springfield and I think it's because our area is huge. We only have so many miles we can go in our car, so if people live far away from us we can't see them as often.  People are also harder to get ahold of here, and we spend more time traveling.  Good things are still happening, though.

 

We met a family last night in a town called Crane, which is in the boonies.  The population size is 157 people and everyone's in trailers.  Anyway, we taught them about The Book of Mormon and the mom committed to read it and pray about it.  She had started reading it already and has liked it so far. 

 

We meet with a lot of less actives here and this week we saw a mom and daughter named Julia and Vanessa.  Julia has been having anxiety problems, and Sister Olsen said that in the past she's been really hard to have lessons with.  Since I've had anxiety problems too, though, I was able to talk about it with her and then we were able to have a good lesson and she came to church!  That was a huge blessing. 

 

There are a TON of fireflies here. In the evening everywhere you look there are little lights blinking.  They're pretty cool.

 

I love you all so much and I hope you're all doing well!  I know this church is true.  I know the Savior lives and has made it possible for us to improve and become better than we are.  Without Him we wouldn't have that hope.  So many people here believe they're saved and don't need to do anything.  I'm so grateful to know that we need to continually have faith, repent, and keep the commandments, because so much peace comes from doing so.

 

Love,

Sister Monson

June 20, 2011

Hello Family!

 

I'm in Nixa, MO now!  Nixa is a beautiful place - really, really green.  It's really spread out, too.  We cover Nixa and some little towns called Clever, Crane, Billings, and some other ones.  We have a car and I'm the driver.  Sister Olsen and I both went to Timpanogos.  She was a year older than me and doesn't remember me, but I vaguely remember her.  She's really dedicated and diligent.  She's been on her mission for a year this week.  She's only been in this area for one transfer, though, and doesn't know it very well, so we've gotten lost a few times and have a lot of people to meet, but we'll figure it out and things will start rolling :).

 

We have an investigator named Brother Donelow.  He has a baptism date in July.  He's a really sweet old man.  I've only met him a couple of times so far.  It seems like most of the people we work with are less actives and their family members.  We also work with a lot of kids who are past 8 and haven't been baptized yet.  That's a pretty big change from Springfield.  It'll be good to learn how to work in a different way.

 

Because I came from an area just 20 minutes away and it was the singles' ward, I know a lot of people here!  That's been a blessing.  I've also met a few people already from the day I'm came here for exchanges. 

 

Before transfers we had a lesson with a couple of Chinese guys and the Elders.  We tracted into them and they were excited to meet with us.  We found out in the lesson that they're Jeffrey's classmates!  That was a fun surprise.  They might be the same ones that had heard anti from Jehovah's Witnesses and told Jeffrey about it, so it was great to be able to meet with them.  Jeffrey told us he was sharing the gospel with his classmates, too, so that was great. One of them, Ray, flattered us and told us he thought a requirement for being a missionary for our church was good looks.  Then he turned to the pictures in the front of The Book of Mormon and said that Moroni was a very strong and handsome man, like the Elders, and that the woman was very beautiful, like us.  The "woman" he was referring to was Joseph Smith.  That was pretty funny. 

 

I love you all very much!  I know I'm where the Lord wants me to be and I'm so grateful to all of you for your support.  Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson

June 13, 2011

Hello family!

 

This week has been craziness!  We were all packed and ready to go to Sallisaw Thursday morning. We'd said our goodbyes to everyone and introduced our investigators to the Elders, when we got a call from President that we weren't leaving!  A sister that was supposed to be coming to our mission didn't, so everything changed.  From the conversation we had with President, it sounded like we'd either be going to Sallisaw with the regular transfer and then not coming back to Springfield, or we'd just be staying in Springfield. I thought we'd just be staying in Springfield.  We went around and told everyone we were staying and found more people. Then craziness happened again! We got transfer calls and found out Sister Gray is training in Sallisaw and I'm going to Nixa!  Nixa is that place I went to on exchanges and it's right next to Springfield.  I won't be coming back to Springfield and I won't be with Sister Gray anymore. She has been a great companion and we're sad we've only been together for a short time.  My companion will be Sister Stacey Olsen, who I went to high school with.  Crazy.

 

This week we had a lesson with a homeless man named John that we've been teaching at the park.  He fought in Iraq and has a lot of hatred toward Muslims.  In our other lessons he's talked a lot about his hate and all the terrible things he's seen.  This week when we saw him he had read from 1 Nephi 3 to 2 Nephi 2, which was the chapter we'd wanted to read with him!  He read for nine hours one day.  He was completely changed.  He was all smiles and talked about how happy he is when he reads The Book of Mormon.  He said hardly anything about terrible things he's seen and nothing about Muslims.  Instead, he talked about how he wants to help Israel.  It was amazing to see the change come over him.  The Book of Mormon is true!

We've seen a lot of people lately who are looking for happiness in the wrong places.  They turn to sin and quick fixes, and even when they know they should stop, they won't.  Then they talk about how miserable they are.  Satan is so sneaky and I feel so bad for those people.  It's hard to have something you know will fix someone's life and bring them true happiness and see them not choose it.  It's wonderful to see people who will, though.

 

I love being a missionary. I'm learning a lot about faith and about the Savior.   

 

I love you so much! Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson

June 6, 2011

Hello Family!

 

P-day is back to being on Monday, since it's not a holiday anymore :).  We're leaving to Sallisaw, OK on Thursday.  A member there is driving the four hours out here to give us a ride back, and we'll be living with another sister in a little place called Roland.  We'll use our bikes to get from town to town I guess, so we'll get enough exercise!  It's kind of scary to think about leaving Springfield and going somewhere neither of us know anything about, but it'll be a good experience.  We're both coming back to Springfield in August.

 

This week has been good.  A LOT of appointments fell through, but we still saw miracles.  We met with Nathan with the Elders because he'll be taught by them.  It was a great lesson.  He told us he knows Joseph Smith was telling the truth, and that The Book of Mormon is true. He's started telling his friends about the church, and when his little boys come for the summer he's going to bring them to church.  In his prayer he was thankful that we knocked on his door.  I am too!  It's a wonderful feeling to see the Gospel spread.

 

We also met with an older lady named Billy. She's really hard to keep focused because she has a lot to say about a lot of things, but we watched The Restoration with her and it really touched her.  She cried when Joseph Smith had his vision.  It was really cool to see her feel the Spirit. 

 

Another miracle we saw was with a guy named Mel. We met him a couple weeks ago and he was really sad, because his wife had just left him. We've been trying to see him but he never answers his door.  We biked up to his house this week just as he was coming out, and we had a great talk with him about what he can do to be happier.  He agreed to read The Book of Mormon.  He always sends us sad text messages, but hopefully he's getting happier.

 

We taught a guy named Sammy this week who heard about the singles aspect of our congregation and wants to come because he wants to date.  He came to our lesson doused in cologne and talked throughout the whole thing about his good qualities (hard-working, never been in debt, tough but emotional).  It was pretty funny.  Hopefully he'll read The Book of Mormon and be converted to the Gospel, too.

 

I know this church is true! I know the Savior lives and that He is the only way.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that through the things he and other prophets have taught, we can fully know how to follow the Savior.  I'm so grateful to be able to share what I know with others.  I'm learning a lot (mostly about what I have still to learn), but God is helping me.

 

I love you all so much and miss you dearly,

Sister Monson