Well, I am still disoriented and don't know where I am. This area is ENORMOUS. Fourteen towns. But the ward is wonderful and the work is going well, so I am excited to be here.
Today Sister Mortimer and I were reading Alma chapters 26 and 29 (great chapters BTW) and talking about the way we felt about our missions. So I put on the reminiscing and reflecting hat and haven't taken it off yet so here are my rambling thoughts, to go on for who knows how long...
Things I have gained or learned from my mission (not necessarily in this order):
-A real testimony! I think I was in the "knowing but not knowing that I know" camp before my mission. I have a real testimony of everything in the Church but especially the Book of Mormon. Nothing like defending it every day to make you appreciate it. The Book of Mormon is true, and all the whining in the world cannot make it otherwise. Because the Book of Mormon is true, everything else in the church is true. It's beautifully simple. Any questions or concerns either are resolved or put on the back burner by diligently studying the Book of Mormon. Like your green tea? Read the Book of Mormon. That's all you need to do.
-An appreciation for the Church. I thought I had a clue before my mission...I had NO IDEA how much work goes on "behind the scenes." I had no idea about the fires bishops have to put out every day. I had no idea how important visiting and home teaching are. The way the Church is set up, it is a perfectly organized system for God's children to take care of each other and the fact that it has all been set up voluntarily, continues to run, and continues to grow is another testimony to its truthfulness.
-I am realizing how important it is to live in the moment. I don't do this perfectly but I am consciously trying to soak it all in while I can.
-I've learned how vital humor is to my sanity.
-I've gained a greater appreciation for my parents and for growing up in the Church. To anyone who grew up in the Church and rebelled against it, I wish I could tell them all that I know people out here who would give their right arm to have grown up in the Church. The gospel just makes life more simple, it spares you from the heartache that comes from repeating the mistakes of others, and it promotes stable families which is what kids need to grow up normal. And if that weren't enough, it's true! and that's what matters most.
-I have a much greater appreciation for God's living mouthpieces. Last conference was especially wonderful for me. I have never felt more honored to be a representative of this Church, and these great men and women who lead it. (And conference is coming AGAIN!!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like President says, it's the time when we get to "recharge the batteries.")
-I have a true appreciation for the priesthood. And I no longer covet it. :) What a relief, right? I don't want it! But I'm so grateful for it and for my own role in God's plan for his children. Anyone who knows me well can testify that I could blab on this topic for hours, but I won't. But I wish I could help every woman in the Church understand what the priesthood really is and what it means.
-For the first time in my life, I enjoy exercise. :)
-I'm learning how to better communicate with people, especially the people close to me, and how to resolve and appreciate differences.
-Learning how to cope with emotions and think more realistically and positively- this has been a huge change for me.
-I think one of the most important things is that I really, truly know that God has a plan for my life which is much better than my plans for myself, and that all I need to do is trust him and follow as well as I can and everything will be fine.
To be continued...but for now that's all, folks. Love you! The Church is true!
-Sister Monson
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
22March2010
My suspicions were correct. I am getting shipped out to Torrington. Last night I had a brief temper tantrum and then I felt truly peaceful about it. I know it’s what needs to happen. Even though I feel like I’m leaving a part of my heart behind me here in Trumbull. Seven and a half months is a long time to be in one area! My new companion will be Sister Mortimer, who was my MTC companion.
I just got an email from Pres. Pehrson saying three missionaries were sent home this week. Usually when people get sent home they keep it very hush-hush, so I don’t know why we heard about it this time, but it sure breaks my heart. Especially because it’s obvious how much it breaks President’s heart when these things happen.
We’re also getting, in addition to one greenie, a sister from another mission and she is coming to Trumbull. There will be a trio here again. So we’ve been preparing for her and I spent the last two nights on a bunk bed as a result—the TOP bunk, nonetheless. That was exciting. We’ve been told to keep the beds not right next to a wall, because bedbugs sometimes come through walls. So there is a big open space between the top bunk and the wall. Might as well have a neon sign saying “toss and turn in your sleep and FALL RIGHT IN!” I have discovered I’m not the most rambunctious sleeper. I have avoided falling into that big open space so far. I was nervous because I still have vivid childhood memories of Andrea falling off the top bunk in her sleep. :) Between that and my fear of heights with which you are all well acquainted, I am very proud of myself for being SO brave as to sleep on the top bunk.
I have learned how important it is to use P-day for actual P-day things. Last Monday we helped someone move most of the day. We didn’t realize how much that would affect our energy the rest of the week. We got really drained and our motivation took a nose-dive. It was a rough week. Lesson learned! So I’m excited for the changes that are coming.
Other than that, it really hasn’t been a terribly eventful week. We’re still trying to sort our way through a bunch of member referrals, but none of them have turned into actual investigators yet. That project consumes the majority of our time.
This morning Molly, one of our favorite five-year-olds, told Sister Johnston that she (meaning Sister J) is “a teenager.” When Sister J asked for a high-five Molly said, “BORING!” She said the same thing when I asked her for a hug good-bye. Wouldn’t hug me even after I reminded her that I was moving.
Last week I called the Relief Society president’s house and her 18-year-old son answered the phone. After I asked to talk to “Sister Trump” (keep in mind missionaries are practically the only people in church who use the titles “brother” and “sister” out here, so by process of elimination it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who we are on the phone), I heard him calling her to the phone. When she asked who it was he said, “I don’t know. A WOMAN.” I have finally graduated to the level of “A WOMAN”! Tell that to everyone else who still thinks I look like I’m sixteen. (Yes, I know, I know, I’ll be grateful for my youthful appearance when I’m forty and look thirty-five.) “Woman” sounds so old and dignified. “Who’s Sister Monson?” “Oh, she’s that WOMAN over there who’s always with that GIRL.”
Now that I have become a real WOMAN in Trumbull, it’s time for me to leave. Torrington must be in dire need of some real WOMEN. So I will take my WOMANLY self outta here to pack my bags and say goodbye to my fan club. (No, of course I’m kidding! I don’t really have a fan club. But it is nice to feel so accepted and supported by the ward.)
Love to everyone,
Sister Monson, the WOMAN
I was so distracted by my WOMANliness that I forgot to put my new address in the last email. Here it is:
227 Riverside Ave. #1
Torrington, CT
06790
I just got an email from Pres. Pehrson saying three missionaries were sent home this week. Usually when people get sent home they keep it very hush-hush, so I don’t know why we heard about it this time, but it sure breaks my heart. Especially because it’s obvious how much it breaks President’s heart when these things happen.
We’re also getting, in addition to one greenie, a sister from another mission and she is coming to Trumbull. There will be a trio here again. So we’ve been preparing for her and I spent the last two nights on a bunk bed as a result—the TOP bunk, nonetheless. That was exciting. We’ve been told to keep the beds not right next to a wall, because bedbugs sometimes come through walls. So there is a big open space between the top bunk and the wall. Might as well have a neon sign saying “toss and turn in your sleep and FALL RIGHT IN!” I have discovered I’m not the most rambunctious sleeper. I have avoided falling into that big open space so far. I was nervous because I still have vivid childhood memories of Andrea falling off the top bunk in her sleep. :) Between that and my fear of heights with which you are all well acquainted, I am very proud of myself for being SO brave as to sleep on the top bunk.
I have learned how important it is to use P-day for actual P-day things. Last Monday we helped someone move most of the day. We didn’t realize how much that would affect our energy the rest of the week. We got really drained and our motivation took a nose-dive. It was a rough week. Lesson learned! So I’m excited for the changes that are coming.
Other than that, it really hasn’t been a terribly eventful week. We’re still trying to sort our way through a bunch of member referrals, but none of them have turned into actual investigators yet. That project consumes the majority of our time.
This morning Molly, one of our favorite five-year-olds, told Sister Johnston that she (meaning Sister J) is “a teenager.” When Sister J asked for a high-five Molly said, “BORING!” She said the same thing when I asked her for a hug good-bye. Wouldn’t hug me even after I reminded her that I was moving.
Last week I called the Relief Society president’s house and her 18-year-old son answered the phone. After I asked to talk to “Sister Trump” (keep in mind missionaries are practically the only people in church who use the titles “brother” and “sister” out here, so by process of elimination it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who we are on the phone), I heard him calling her to the phone. When she asked who it was he said, “I don’t know. A WOMAN.” I have finally graduated to the level of “A WOMAN”! Tell that to everyone else who still thinks I look like I’m sixteen. (Yes, I know, I know, I’ll be grateful for my youthful appearance when I’m forty and look thirty-five.) “Woman” sounds so old and dignified. “Who’s Sister Monson?” “Oh, she’s that WOMAN over there who’s always with that GIRL.”
Now that I have become a real WOMAN in Trumbull, it’s time for me to leave. Torrington must be in dire need of some real WOMEN. So I will take my WOMANLY self outta here to pack my bags and say goodbye to my fan club. (No, of course I’m kidding! I don’t really have a fan club. But it is nice to feel so accepted and supported by the ward.)
Love to everyone,
Sister Monson, the WOMAN
I was so distracted by my WOMANliness that I forgot to put my new address in the last email. Here it is:
227 Riverside Ave. #1
Torrington, CT
06790
Monday, March 15, 2010
15 March 2010
-Trumbull is home to the smallest Indian reservation in the United States? A fourth of an acre, with one house on it. And a member lives there, so we’ve been there a few times!
-There is a very rare disorder called Menke’s kinky-hair disease. At any given time there are only a handful of known cases in the United States. Trumbull has the distinction of having had a family with the disorder. Isn’t that fun?
-Easton is the birthplace of Helen Keller. (I think I may have mentioned that before.)
-Fairfield County is supposedly in the top ten wealthiest in the nation. (But as far as I understand, most of that wealth is concentrated in Stamford, Danbury, Greenwich, New Canaan, and everywhere else that is not part of the mission. I think Fairfield is as wealthy as it gets in our mission. Then again, what do I really know? Everywhere past the Fairfield town line is like a mythical land to me. Someday, in another lifetime I will see what is beyond that line!)
-I think Barnum and Bailey must have had something to do with this area because a ton of things in Bridgeport are named after Barnum. There is also a Barnum Museum in Bridgeport.
-Combined, Connecticut and Rhode Island have three stakes total. Compared to Centerville which in itself has five stakes…that would be like comparing Centerville to Connecticut/Rhode Island/Massachusetts. Utah is its own world, isn’t it?
This week we had stake conference. One of the speakers was a Brother Chatfield from the Boston temple presidency. Apparently they served a mission in Albania as well. Mom and Dad, did you know them? I didn’t get a chance to talk to them and ask them if they knew you.
We had an amazing experience last Tuesday. We tend to have not-so-positive experiences with tracting at night—pretty much anytime between 6:30 and 8 at this time of year, people are ornery or refuse to answer the door. (Tracting in general isn’t my favorite thing…there are so many other ways to do missionary work…but President asks us to tract two hours a day so that’s what we try to do.) So last Tuesday it was around 7:45 and we were in Shelton. It had been SUCH a long day and neither of us wanted to tract…we sat in the car trying to work up the willpower…and finally we said, “Okay, just three houses. We’ll do three houses.”
At the second house a mom let us right in. I was so shocked—that almost never happens—and she even let us teach her a first lesson and she said she would read and pray. She seems like a very spiritual person and she said she knew it wasn’t a coincidence that we found her—she wasn’t even supposed to be home that night but for some freakish reason she was. She said she would be willing to be baptized if she received an answer that it was true, even though she knew it would be very disruptive to her family and her lifestyle. She’s AMAZING—everyone please just pray that we can get another appointment with her. J Anyway, lesson learned: God prepares people and puts them in our path, even late at night when people aren’t supposed to answer the door and when we are tracting just to do our duty, not because we want to. J
So I’m counting my blessings. (Even though I want to whine instead, because I’m tired and we all know how the Monson women get when we are tired. J)
Love,
Kaelynn (Sister Monson)
-There is a very rare disorder called Menke’s kinky-hair disease. At any given time there are only a handful of known cases in the United States. Trumbull has the distinction of having had a family with the disorder. Isn’t that fun?
-Easton is the birthplace of Helen Keller. (I think I may have mentioned that before.)
-Fairfield County is supposedly in the top ten wealthiest in the nation. (But as far as I understand, most of that wealth is concentrated in Stamford, Danbury, Greenwich, New Canaan, and everywhere else that is not part of the mission. I think Fairfield is as wealthy as it gets in our mission. Then again, what do I really know? Everywhere past the Fairfield town line is like a mythical land to me. Someday, in another lifetime I will see what is beyond that line!)
-I think Barnum and Bailey must have had something to do with this area because a ton of things in Bridgeport are named after Barnum. There is also a Barnum Museum in Bridgeport.
-Combined, Connecticut and Rhode Island have three stakes total. Compared to Centerville which in itself has five stakes…that would be like comparing Centerville to Connecticut/Rhode Island/Massachusetts. Utah is its own world, isn’t it?
This week we had stake conference. One of the speakers was a Brother Chatfield from the Boston temple presidency. Apparently they served a mission in Albania as well. Mom and Dad, did you know them? I didn’t get a chance to talk to them and ask them if they knew you.
We had an amazing experience last Tuesday. We tend to have not-so-positive experiences with tracting at night—pretty much anytime between 6:30 and 8 at this time of year, people are ornery or refuse to answer the door. (Tracting in general isn’t my favorite thing…there are so many other ways to do missionary work…but President asks us to tract two hours a day so that’s what we try to do.) So last Tuesday it was around 7:45 and we were in Shelton. It had been SUCH a long day and neither of us wanted to tract…we sat in the car trying to work up the willpower…and finally we said, “Okay, just three houses. We’ll do three houses.”
At the second house a mom let us right in. I was so shocked—that almost never happens—and she even let us teach her a first lesson and she said she would read and pray. She seems like a very spiritual person and she said she knew it wasn’t a coincidence that we found her—she wasn’t even supposed to be home that night but for some freakish reason she was. She said she would be willing to be baptized if she received an answer that it was true, even though she knew it would be very disruptive to her family and her lifestyle. She’s AMAZING—everyone please just pray that we can get another appointment with her. J Anyway, lesson learned: God prepares people and puts them in our path, even late at night when people aren’t supposed to answer the door and when we are tracting just to do our duty, not because we want to. J
So I’m counting my blessings. (Even though I want to whine instead, because I’m tired and we all know how the Monson women get when we are tired. J)
Love,
Kaelynn (Sister Monson)
Monday, March 1, 2010
1 March 2010
Well, even though half my high-school graduating class got married while I was on my mission (at least that's what it feels like), at least I got to attend one wedding while ON my mission. One of our recent converts, and her fiancée who is working his way toward being baptized, were married by the bishop. It was a very simple but sweet ceremony. Sis. Johnston overheard one of the nonmember guests say that they felt the Spirit. Here are a few pictures:
1- The bride and groom from behind a tall person
2- We appreciated the support of many of the ward members, including the family of these two, Ben and Max (Ben is the one who was baptized a few weeks ago that I told you about). Do you think he can finish that whole IBC root beer by himself? Neither did I. (I don’t think he did, I wasn’t there long enough to find out.) Max told me all about how he wanted the root beer to explode and go up to the ceiling and through the roof. Don't you love five-year-old boys? :)
3- Aww, how cute. All married and such.
4- Check out those cakes. Someone in the ward made the guitar cake. Isn’t that amazing?
We're so, so happy for them and so excited for them to work toward a temple sealing. They really want it. I hope I can be there when it happens.
This week we had a zone conference with Elder Richards from the Seventy. It was incredible. I'll have to write more details next week when I have my notes with me.
Although we didn't pick up any new investigators this week, a less-active member asked us to teach her the missionary lessons. She has been out of the Church for over forty years. But her brother, who was called to be a mission president, challenged her to take the lessons, and she accepted. Even though she grew up in the Church she doesn't remember much at all, but she is ready to learn and wants to know it for herself. YAY!!!!
Here are a few funny quotes from another less-active member we met with this week:
"I need to come back to church and get the bishop to stamp my get-out-of-hell-free card."
"There are some people who should be alive, and some who should be dead. If you can't make the dead people come back to life, you shouldn't make the live people dead."
"Oh yes, I'm watching what I eat. I watch it very carefully as it comes off the plate toward my mouth."
Well, guess what everyone? The Church is true...still true...the fact that every missionary says that in every single letter they write makes it even more true!
Love,
Sister Monson
1- The bride and groom from behind a tall person
2- We appreciated the support of many of the ward members, including the family of these two, Ben and Max (Ben is the one who was baptized a few weeks ago that I told you about). Do you think he can finish that whole IBC root beer by himself? Neither did I. (I don’t think he did, I wasn’t there long enough to find out.) Max told me all about how he wanted the root beer to explode and go up to the ceiling and through the roof. Don't you love five-year-old boys? :)
3- Aww, how cute. All married and such.
4- Check out those cakes. Someone in the ward made the guitar cake. Isn’t that amazing?
We're so, so happy for them and so excited for them to work toward a temple sealing. They really want it. I hope I can be there when it happens.
This week we had a zone conference with Elder Richards from the Seventy. It was incredible. I'll have to write more details next week when I have my notes with me.
Although we didn't pick up any new investigators this week, a less-active member asked us to teach her the missionary lessons. She has been out of the Church for over forty years. But her brother, who was called to be a mission president, challenged her to take the lessons, and she accepted. Even though she grew up in the Church she doesn't remember much at all, but she is ready to learn and wants to know it for herself. YAY!!!!
Here are a few funny quotes from another less-active member we met with this week:
"I need to come back to church and get the bishop to stamp my get-out-of-hell-free card."
"There are some people who should be alive, and some who should be dead. If you can't make the dead people come back to life, you shouldn't make the live people dead."
"Oh yes, I'm watching what I eat. I watch it very carefully as it comes off the plate toward my mouth."
Well, guess what everyone? The Church is true...still true...the fact that every missionary says that in every single letter they write makes it even more true!
Love,
Sister Monson
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