27 July 2009

Yes, that's right. Suffield, which is, like, two minutes out of our area. I went
there at the end of last transfer because our ward mission leader lives there. It's
beautiful. And Frederick G. Williams was born there. Ha!

Guess what else is really close to our area? There's a Six Flags in Agawam, Mass. which is right by the border. A recent convert actually offered to take us there. If only! Just barely outside mission boundaries. :(

Last night we had the third and final performance of our "The Living Christ" music fireside, this time in Woodbridge which is the stake center for the New Haven stake. So we drove through New Haven. Didn"t see much of it, it was getting dark and we were just rushing through. BUT, at least I can say I've been to New Haven. Not Yale itself, but New Haven. The fireside went really well. The Spirit was so strong there especially when several converts bore their testimonies. I have so much respect for people who convert,especially later in life. It is such a big change and I am so impressed with those who stick with it. Their testimonies are always so amazing to hear.

So begins Week 3 of the transfer. My fourth transfer (out of 12 or 13), my sixth month. Already! I have this constant sense of urgency, a feeling that my mission is going by too fast. Six months is a third of the mission.

As far as the work itself, things have slowed down a bit because almost all of our new investigators fell through the cracks or dropped us. But we still have so many recent converts to teach the new-member lessons to, that we are still very busy. Lots of time teaching the recent converts in Windsor means very little time left to find people in Windsor Locks. Don't misunderstand me I'm not complaining by any means. Too much time teaching and not enough time finding is a good problem to have. But we're struggling a bit with finding. Sister Darrington and I are both naturally more reserved and every minute of every day is a challenge to force ourselves to talk to those who come in our path. Some days are better than others, of course. You would think it would get easier over time and just stay that way, but it fluctuates.

Not much else to report. Hope you are all enjoying the summer, thanks for your letters.
Love,
Sister Monson

20 July2009

It was a hectic week. I said goodbye to my trainer after three transfers together (about four months). Not the easiest thing in the world, especially for being still so new and not as confident as I would like to be. But the change is good for me and for the area. Sister Darrington, from Malta, Idaho, is my new companion she's been out a year. She has lots of good ideas for ways to improve our finding and teaching and our relationship with the ward members. I'm really excited for this area—there is so much potentialhere and the change in companions will be good. Things have been very good in the area, but they will get so much better. I can't wait! Sister Darrington told me this week that this is the busiest area she's ever served in. That is both a good and bad thing, good because it means we've been doing something right, and bad because that means whatever area I go to next will feel dead to me, since this is all I know. But maybe that will be a good thing also. More motivation to work hard in my next area and make it busy. I love this area so much. Getting transferred out of here is my worst fear.


Again, we're running into the problem that all of our teaching appointments are in
Windsor, so we do a lot of commuting. With limited mileage, this means we have to walk whenever possible and scrimp and save on our miles. The middle of July in Connecticut is a fun time to walk. :) With all this humidity it's like walking in a sauna. One nice thing about it is that people see how sweaty we are and feel sorry for us, so they might offer us water even if they won't listen to us. I also have the world's greatest farmer's tan.

Thanks to everyone for your letters and support. God loves everyone and the Church is true (yes, it's a well-worn cliche but worth saying again).

Love,
Sister Monson

13Jul09

Only the craziest week of my life. Three baptisms in one weekend! to make a long
story short, they all followed through (sigh of relief). One of them almost fell through but didn't, and then the programs were stressful as they always are because things always fall apart at the last minute--someone doesn't bring towels, someone doesn't show up to give a talk, no one has keys to unlock the dressing room by the font, no one brings paper plates or napkins, blah blah blah. But in spite of it all things always work out, in my experience. Everything went really well. The ward has been really supportive of these new members which we so appreciate.

I'm attaching a few pictures. I don't want to include names or specifics on the
Internet, but if you have questions about them just ask. The conversion story of one of them, in particular, would take pages and pages to tell but it's quite the story.

This week a member had us over for dinner and we had LOBSTER. Seriously! Neither of us had ever had it before. Lobster is a pretty big deal here but rumor has it it's much more popular in Maine. For all of you non-East Coast people, there is a science to the cooking and eating of lobster. First of all, you buy them alive! they're a dark reddish-brownish-black color when they're alive, not bright red like you would think. And they come with elastics around their claws so they can't pinch you. You get the water boiling and stick them in headfirst (yes, alive) and as they cook they turn that bright red color. After they've steamed about 20 minutes you take them out, let them cool and then rip off the claws (you know it's done when you can rip off the claw easily). You take a nutcracker-like thingie to break open the shells of the claws. This is the part where it gets really really messy and you have to wear a bib, because they spray everywhere. You break off the shell and then eat the meat inside. (Yes, the claw. Who'd've thought you would eat the claw? I would think you'd eat the body, but no, you don't unless you're from Maine apparently people from Maine like to eat the liver of the lobster.) After you've eaten both claws you rip the tail off (that is also very messy), take off the shell and that's where the bulk of the meat is. It's really yummy dipped in butter--kind of like fish but more tender and less fishy.

This week about a thousand people were released, including our ward mission leader. On Sunday after the baptisms the new ward mission leader had us over for dinner at his house in Suffield. Holy banana peels, Suffield is gorgeous. We're going to petition Pres. Pehrson to have it added to our area. It's just above Windsor Locks, so it's convenient and since the elders in our ward are the Assistants and insanely busy it makes sense for them to have a smaller area. That's our reasoning, anyway. :) Oh, and the ward mission leader's wife is a seamstress who did some work on the curtains for the Extreme Makeover house in Suffield. That episode will be airing in September sometime, I hear. Everyone watch it so you can see Suffield. It's very pretty and full of historical buildings and old, beautiful, colonial-era houses.

Transfer calls came last night. I'm staying here in Windsor Locks (another sigh of
relief) and my new companion will be Sister Darrington. She's from Idaho and has been out about a year. Her brother was in my ward, freshman year at Utah State. Small world in the Mormon community. :)

Well, if any of you have endured to see the end of this novel I have written,
congratulations. Hope you are all well. Love you,
Sister Monson

Life is super. The reason? We have THREE baptisms scheduled this weekend! one on
Saturday and two on Sunday. Please pray that everything goes well. More details next
week. We've been so blessed!

Other than that, not much is new. We had a nice Fourth of July, some members had a big picnic and invited most of the ward, and we were able to go also which was so kind of them. They have a beautiful home in Granby. Word of advice to any future Connecticut travelers: Granby is GORGEOUS. Take a drive out there. There are some fun little berry-picking farms. And go to West Hartford and eat at Bertucci's. Those are some good eatins. Sister Haueter was introduced to gelato ice cream. Can you believe she had never even heard of it?

I did an exchange in Southington (farther south and west of Hartford closer to New
Haven) which was fun. We tried a new tracting approach--family history. Yes, I realize this is not new to some but I had not yet learned about it even though it's in Preach My Gospel. We wrote the info about the local Fam. History Center on Book of Mormon pass-along cards and talked to people about family history, then gave them the cards. It was in the morning so we didn't talk to a ton of people, but it's something I definitely plan on doing more of in the future.

Anyway, Southington is a cute little town. Every town in Connecticut is very unique. I hate to use the phrase "cookie-cutter Utah town" but Utah towns really are very boring in comparison. Well, maybe not boring, but just that they all look the same.

Still speculating on who my new companion is going to be. I hope I don't end up being senior. That would mean I would have to drive. Stressful experience! Actually, the driving in Windsor and Windsor Locks isn't all that bad, after the horror stories you hear about New England drivers. Rhode Island is supposed to have the worst drivers in the nation. So far the only thing I've really noticed that's out of the ordinary (besides that people speed more), is that people are always "creeping out" at the intersections and stop signs. (So that's where Dad gets it from!) Recently we saw a car that was a full car length's worth ahead of the line at a red light. A FULL CAR LENGTH. As in the white line was a foot behind them. Oh, and people start honking IMMEDIATELY when the light turns green if they're behind you. Drivers are funny out here.

That's all for now. The Church is true! Love,
Sister Monson