29 Jun 09

Anyone else ever heard of grinders? I hadn't before I came out here. Apparently
that's just the Connecticut name for meatball subs.

Thanks to everyone for your letters and support. Last Sunday we had a wonderful baptism and this week he was confirmed. I am still in the process of trying to attach a picture of the baptism. Someday it will come! someday!I think it might actually work! You lucky people might get to see a picture.

Anyway, things are going well and I'm getting more excited every day about Windsor
Locks. The last few days of this month have been a bit crazy. Without a lot of advance warning we were told that our zone conference would be in Goshen, which turned out to be 100 miles away round-trip. When you only have 950 miles a month and you're constantly commuting back and forth between two towns in your area, that is a lot. So we've been scrimping and saving on our miles the last couple weeks of June!we had to get creative since we don't have bikes. BUT, we've been greatly blessed. I'm going to inherit a bike from a former sister next transfer, and the new companion and I will be able to bike/walk Windsor Locks and only drive in Windsor, which will help a lot.

We're also trying to build up a teaching pool in Windsor Locks. Due to mileage restrictions, this town hasn't been worked a whole lot for the past few years. It has been sadly neglected, and it NEEDS missionary work. The field is white here, which is exciting to say the least.

We volunteer at an adult day care center in Windsor and on Friday they asked us to help them take their clients to the New England Air Museum. They got a special guided tour and they just needed some extra hands to push wheelchairs. I wish the family could have come! they would have loved it especially Dad and Chris. I'll be sending postcards of some of the planes they have there. They have a prototype of one of the Wright Brothers' engines, and a bunch of planes from WWI and WWII. It was incredible and I just wish I knew ANYTHING about airplanes, I could have appreciated it that much more. Connecticut's best kept secret, I think. Or at least Windsor Locks' best kept secret. Windsor Locks is where the airport is, along with a military base, so there are planes flying overhead constantly. They're super loud and frequently they fly so low the apartment shakes. Nothing like living next to the airport to trunk you out!

Poor Sister Haueter, she only has six weeks left. I don't know how she does it. (Yes, I am still with my mom, this is our third transfer together and we're still getting along really well- what a blessing!)

This was one of those weeks where a lot of members suddenly decided to give us food. I mean, a LOT. Typically we only have 3-5 dinner appointments a month! This month people just started shoving food at us. It has been a great blessing. God takes care of us. He has certainly taken care of me, for which I am so grateful. What a crazy almost-five (five on July 18th) months it has been. Overwhelming, exciting, frustrating, fun, bizarre, hilarious, depressing, infuriating, crazy, exhilarating!and in spite of the obstacles I have encountered I am grateful to still be able to say that I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now.

Love you all and have a happy 4th of July!
-Sister Monson

23 June 2009

Funny tidbits:

-We knocked on the door at a former investigator's house and her two kids answered the door. She wasn't home and we asked if we could speak with her husband. One of the sons ran to get him. Then he came back and said, "Dad can't come to the door because he's going number two."

-Me: "We're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we
talk to people about God's plan for us and how we can be happy"
Random lady walking her dog: "Well, you can talk to somebody else."

-Someone at the library asked us, "So are women still not allowed in your temples?"

-Someone at the town hall asked us why we had short hair- "Aren't you not allowed to
cut your hair?"

-This is one of my favorite conversations. I called a former investigator, we'll say
his name is Bob:

Me: "Hi, is Bob there?"
Kid: "Who is this?"
Me: "It's the missionaries, he was expecting our call."
Kid: "Hang on, Dad?...Wait, who is this again?"
Me: "The sister missionaries."
Kid: "The WHO missionaries?"
Me: "The sister missionaries. He was expecting our call."
Kid: "Okay,Dad?...Um, he's sleeping right now."
Me: "When would be a better time to reach him?"
Kid: "How about tomorrow?"
Me: "Okay, what time tomorrow would be best to call?"
Kid: "Um, let's say between 2:00 and 1:50."

-I asked a family what music they wanted at the baptism and the 12-year-old son said, "Can we have 50 Cent?"

-We were running late to an appointment with Sue so we called her home
phone number to tell her we were on our way.

Sue: "Hello?"
Me: "Hi, is Sue there?"
Sue: "Speaking."
Me: "Hi, Sue, it's the sisters"
Sue: "I'm at work."
Me: "We had an appointment for 2:30"
Sue: "Yes, but I'm at work."
Me: "When can we reschedule?"
Sue: "Not for a month."
Me: "What day should we call you?"
Sue: "Call me next week."

I could write a novel about the funny things that happen out here.

We were blessed with a wonderful baptism this week but since my computer time is almost up I'll wait until next week to post the details.

Love you all,
Sister Monson

8 June 2009

Well, heaven only knows when this will get out because the computer is giving me
grief and not letting me access my email.

Lots of good things happened this week. I am really excited to spend more time in Windsor Locks. It definitely has a different feeling from Windsor. Besides being smaller and more working-class, it just feels different. Sad and depressing. Definitely a lot of needs a lot of unhappy people and a lot of work to be done. It's exciting. Now the difficult part is that all our current investigators live in Windsor which doesn't help with the mileage restrictions. We're trying to figure out how we can gradually transition things over to Windsor Locks.

As of right now we still have one solid baptismal date for June 21st.

The new apartment building is hilarious. It has an institutional look to it and there are lots and lots of long, dark hallways. Kind of like Mike and Andrea's last apartment in Texas, except with a lot more hallways. Every hallway has its own unique (but not in a good way) smell. Our apartment has a very unique smell. I'm sure all of these smells can be at least partially attributed to a combination of Connecticut's lack of smoking laws, the people's obsessions (!) with their pets, and all the little mold-and-mildew type friends that grow in such a wet environment.

Random fact for Dad: I was informed by a native New Yorker that John Travolta is from Engelwood (spelling?), New Jersey which apparently is close to Ridgewood. The guy that told me confused the two and first told me he was from Ridgewood and I got all excited. "My dad lived in the same town as John Travolta!" Not so much, but close.

I'm going to hurry and send this in case the computer kicks me off.
Love,
Sister Monson

1 June 2009

Why is it called Windson Locks?

I wish I knew. No one seems to know. And it couldn't mean "lakes" because there are
no lakes here, only rivers. We moved this week and things are hectic. Trying to get organized, figure out things like where the grocery store is, how to conserve our miles when everyone we work with is in Windsor etc etc. Fun stuff.

The other day someone called me "Sister Manson" on the phone. People are so funny. In terms of people's names, they hear what they are used to, so if they've never heard the name "Monson" before (nonmembers of course) they automatically substitute the name of someone or something they know. Usually people call me "Munson" after the Munson Chocolates that are famous here. Or it's "Manson".

My other favorite thing is when I meet members who of course ask if I"m related to the Prophet, I say no, and then they don't believe me. "Are you sure? Really? Not even distantly? No, you must be, way back when. There must be SOME connection". I think one of these days someone doing your family history work will figure it out. Really, folks? No one would like to be related to a prophet more than me! don't you think I would have figured out a way if there were?

This was a week of small miracles. The work continues to move forward. Super busy, which is great. And so my third transfer begins. Sis. Haueter and I will be companions for this transfer and then she's going to another area for her last four weeks before dying. Sister Glenn is going home with her (they're going to close that area) so there will be still fewer sisters in the mission, and there will be only four sisters' areas. Makes things less nerve-racking when transfers come around, that's for sure. "Where will I go? Let's see, there's all of four choices! Windsor Locks, Fairfield, Groton or Rocky Hill."

Andrea, I still can't upload this video I made for you. Maybe someday before the
Millennium you will see it.

Still trying to figure out this whole Atonement thing and be better, work harder, grow up and fix my attitude. I'm a work in progress.

Love,
Sister Monson