Kaelynn's Mission

Kaelynn's Mission Return, September 8, 2010

2010-09-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Kaelynn returned home! She looks great, she had a wonderful experience and is ready to move on. We had a lovely dinner with many family members that night. Also, Andrea and Chris called her. Thanks to everyone for making it a great day. First day back started well--we started the day with a three mile run and then scripture study.

3 September 2010

2010-09-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

So I just found out the libraries will be closed on Monday and Tuesday morning I have to go to the mission home first thing because Sister Thomas is picking up a greenie. Long story short, I won't be able to email after today, so here it is, my FINAL EMAIL from the mission field. Craziness.

The Boston Temple was absolutely wonderful. I left feeling very reassured. I still have only a few vague ideas about what to do with my life, but I know that if I stick with those the rest will be given to me in God's time. I have a lot of faith and hope and excitement about my post-mission life. The last few days have been very emotional. I go from one extreme to the other very quickly. Either it's "I can't stand this anymore, get me on the plane this second" or I feel as sad and depressed as if someone just died. Someone is dying! My mission is dying! I'm leaving these people that I love so much. But such is life. Change is good.
Mostly I'm just grateful. Grateful for this whole experience. I'm so blessed to have been here.

See you very soon. Love,
Sister Monson (until Wednesday)

29 August 2010

2010-08-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

So we’ve been getting these new trainings based on a curriculum the First Presidency put out. Our numbers have been skyrocketing the past few weeks since we implemented the new things we were taught. This week we taught 26 lessons. That’s definitely the highest number of lessons I’ve ever taught in a week. President Eyring wants all the missionaries to shoot for 20 a week, and I think we’ve hit 20 once or twice before.

We had a difficult moment with an investigator who really, really wanted to be baptized on Sunday. We told her to plan on it, but we should have communicated her progress more clearly to the WML and the bishop…anyway, the bishop really wanted her to wait at least another week so we had to tell her she couldn’t be baptized on Sunday, after she had already started planning it and shopping for a white dress and gotten all excited. She was really discouraged and disappointed and we felt terrible about the whole situation since it was our fault for jumping the gun. We were really upset about it on Thursday night—I was on the phone giving our numbers to the district leader and we got a call on the other line, which Sister Thomas was hoping would be President Pehrson so we could explain the situation to him, but it turned out to be our WML, whom we had just hung up with. To be precise, it was actually his wife. She said, “Brother Tillinghast feels prompted to come visit you, can we come over?” So they came and said a prayer with us and talked us through the situation and helped us feel a lot better. It was definitely an answer to prayer and a testimony that the Lord is aware of our every need and can work through us to answer the prayers of those around us if we just listen to the Spirit.

Quote for the week is: My guardian angel has cankles and needs a gastric bypass. (This stemmed from the idea that you feed your guardian angel when you read your scriptures…and it went from there…one of those “you-had-to-be-there” moments, I guess.)

Back to the Empire State

A Few Neat Little Knick Knacks

Amenia, ain't it a quaint little town?

What a quaint little sign.

And here we are, back to the Constitution State...I'm signing "three weeks," but now I can say ONE WEEK AND THREE DAYS! I'm not excited to leave here, just excited to be at home and see the family/friends/home that I miss. From this point in my life I will have two homes, I guess. I just won't live at the Connecticut home all the time.

23 August 2010

2010-08-23T09:18:00.001-07:00

My USB cord for my camera had a temper tantrum and ran away. I haven’t tracked it down yet. So until it gets hungry and wet (it’s raining!) and decides to come home, do your best to imagine a picture of me standing under the “Welcome to Connecticut” sign, doing the ASL sign for “three weeks.” Except now that picture is out of date because it’s more like TWO WEEKS! We got to go to New York again this month and we had so much fun eating lunch with the member who lives there. Turns out there is another member family that just moved to Amenia and goes to the Goshen ward also, and they came to lunch. He used to work on the set of “As the World Turns,” and now that the show has ended they moved to Amenia and decided to open a cute little furniture store where he is selling a lot of the furniture from the old set. I had no idea that much work was put into soap opera sets. He showed us the shop (which hasn’t officially opened yet). It’s full of all sorts of beautiful antique furniture and knick-knacks. Again, I have pictures that cannot be transported to you, thanks to the temper tantrum. (Before it left it told me all about how I got it from the orphanage to do its work, and then before it slammed the door, it said, “I’m running away! I’m running away!” Sound like anyone you know?)

Chris didn’t write anything too exciting this week and he’s getting after me for plagiarizing his emails. Since I am not creative enough to tell you anything interesting on my own, I will recount the week in random stories.

Calling a member of the bishopric who just asked us to speak in church next week:

Sister Thomas: “We can’t speak in church next week. We just found out we’re getting emergency transferred and we’re leaving Wednesday.”

Brother So-and-So (after a long pause): “You’re kidding.”

Thomas: “Yeah, I’m kidding.”

So-and-so: “You are a rotten human being! You little puke! You’re Sister Puke. I’m going to hang up.”

Thomas: “No, don’t hang up! We have a favor to ask you.”

So-and-so: “Oh, NOW you want to ask me a favor!”

Thomas: “It’s a favor for the Lord.”

So-and-so: “Are you hungry? Does the Lord want me to feed you? Well, come on over. I’ve got an arsenic sandwich waiting for you!”

Moving on to stories that don’t involve death threats, but stalking:

One member of the ward has the most hilarious child. She is such a talker. Every time we go over there she bombards us with questions, e.g.:

Kid: “What are you doing?”

Me: “We’re going around visiting people today. What are you doing?”

Kid: “Well, I’m just sitting here on the porch talking to you.”

After Dad introduces her new baby brother- “My little brother cries sometimes.”

Dad: “So did you when you were a baby.”

Kid: “I was a baby?”

Sister Thomas: “Even we were babies a long time ago.”

Kid: “Was Grandma Cathy a baby?”

Before we left: “Where do you guys live? Do you live by Grandma Cathy? Will I see you guys tomorrow? Can you come over every day? Can I sleep over at your house?”

Aliens, Yu-Gi-Oh, Ugly People, and Four-Legged Animals:

“I don’t believe none of those UFO crap.” –cool Jamaican guy

“Lewis is a young buck. We found him with Elder Seamons. He’s into Yu-Gi-Oh, so yeah.” –old teaching record

“I wanna see your ugly little faces.” Sweet old woman from the ward wanting us to come over

“Bible-pants!” Sarah referring to her former pastor

The missionary work for this week can be summed up in one word: intense. We have a lot of investigators. We still have several baptismal dates. We’re very busy and are seeing lots of miracles. Our investigators are struggling with Word of Wisdom issues and a LOT of opposition.

Miracle story for the week: We were supposed to get our oil changed Thursday morning. But when we went in Midas was busy and it was going to take a few hours, so we made an appointment to come back in the afternoon and had to rearrange our plans a little bit. Because of that we ended up street contacting on South Main and randomly decided to stop by a woman who lives on that street (we had set up one appointment with her before, but it fell through and we hadn’t gotten in contact with her since). When we rang her doorbell she told us all about the bad day she’d had and how she had been praying for help when the doorbell rang. I love that things like that happen so much on the mission that they aren’t even really surprising anymore. Still exciting, but not surprising. At the beginning of my mission I would have freaked out and written pages in my journal and said, “What a crazy coincidence!” or something to that effect. But now the reaction is more like, “Well, of course. God puts us in the right place at the right time to answer prayers. It’s just how it goes.”

Reflection/philosophizing/pretending to be deep and profound and such: I’ve been thinking about what to do with my life after I go home. I left on my mission with absolutely no clue as to what would come after. I just knew that if God had a plan for me to be here, he must also have a plan for afterward. I still feel that way, and I still don’t really know what I’m going to do. I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my mind, and they are all just still in the idea stage.

But I came upon this song by Relient K and one verse really spoke to me.

Still wondering why I’m here,

Still wrestling with my fears but oh, he’s up to something.

And the farther on I go,

I’ve seen enough to know that I’m not here for nothing.

He’s up to something.

So now’s my time to be a man [insert “woman” here], follow my heart as far as I can.

No telling where I’ll be ending up tonight.

I never slow down, or so it seems,

Singing my heart is one of my dreams.

All I have to do is hold on tight.

There is hope for me yet,

Because God won’t forget

All the plans he’s made for me.

I’ll have to wait and see,

He’s not finished with me yet.

So there you have it, kids. God's not finished with me yet!
Lots of love and looking forward to seeing all ya's in two weeks!
-Monson

9 August 2010

2010-08-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

I got a whole slew of emails this week from my long-lost brother, Chris the mad scientist. And I quote:

”I'm not sure how this works out for sisters, but for elders the general guidance is: the harder you work and the more you suffer on your mission, the hotter your wife will be. I don't think God is sexist, so I think it is pretty safe to assume that you can replace "wife" with "spouse" and have a saying that suits all comers. Just remember, you only have a few weeks left to work up in the marrying world - if you squander them, you will be stuck for all eternity with a sub-optimal specimen. We wouldn't want that to happen now, would we?”

So I guess that means the other day when that lady told us she wasn’ t interested and to get off her property, and our baptism got postponed and the family didn’t show up at church, and our investigator had 31 pairs of shoes fall on his head from a broken shelf at Payless (thereby spraining his neck), not to mention Mom broke her pelvis thanks to someone who decided to randomly spray some slippery oil on the road, that means that “somewhere your future husband is building his pecs, or perfecting his tan, or something like that. My goodness, this is WHY you would want to serve a mission! Don't mock me on this - it worked for me. I worked hard in Brazil, and in every picture Lisa sent she was hotter. When I got sick (typhoid, or yellow fever, or some crazy food poisoning, depending on who you ask) and was throwing up and had diarrhea for an entire week, I could feel her getting hotter the whole time. I tried to go tracting a few times, but I just couldn't manage it, and maybe that's a good thing. Lisa's already much better-looking than me. Had I managed to work while that sick she may have become a Miss America Supermodel, and I imagine there would be a lot of pressure being married to someone so hot.”

Really, it was a great week, I just like to exaggerate things so I can add up the “husband points.”

By the way, Chris, you are doing a very good job of redeeming yourself and working your way up to an OLWK award. Maybe not first prize, but definitely a runner-up. Thanks for the emails. Feel free to keep it up if you wish. Even if you still have absolutely nothing to write about. Write about anything! ANYTHING! Boogers. The Easter bunny. Gravel. Asbestos. Pencils. Cucumbers. There’s a few suggestions to start with. (Brian, take notes.)

On Sunday Bishop Zeiner approached us and asked us to teach all the lessons to a 12-year-old this week before his baptism next Sunday. His whole family has been attending church and meeting with missionaries on and off for about 8 years, so he knows it all and has a great testimony, but his parents wouldn’t let him get baptized and they weren’t progressing so we dropped the family back in April. But for whatever reason, they have decided to let him get baptized and he wants Brother Jones to baptize him before the Jones family moves away next week. So, here we are. Baptism on speed dial. We’re so excited!!!!!! It’s truly a miracle that they have decided to let him get baptized. Now, the next miracle will be to baptize the rest of the family, including the parents.

Well, due to the endless battling with the Trunky Monster all night long (I think I wrestled him in my sleep), I have no energy left to write anything more. Until next time,
Kaelynn

P.S. Word on the street is that Sister Thomas’s mom met President Monson at a party somewhere this week and told him that we are serving together as Thomas/Monson, and he got a kick out of it. I knew he would! Mean old President Pehrson wouldn’t let us send him a letter. L

2 August 2010

2010-08-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

The Trunky Monster has attacked me. Every night he hides under my bed, waiting for me to turn the lights off. Last night I think he dragged me out of bed and bit my legs off. But I was too exhausted to notice. (I keep telling Sister Thomas there’s a monster under my bed, but she doesn’t believe me!) I’m still working and still love it here, I just don’t want to be here anymore! Tonight I’m going to wait up for the Trunky Monster, club him with a baseball bat, and demand my legs back.

This week we walked around for hours and got burned to a crisp and found no one. Well, that was the first two days of the week, I should say. Later in the week we were blessed to find 4 new investigators! I feel like God is blessing us for trying to be diligent.

On one of those “walking around for hours and getting fried” days, we tracted one side of a street called Upper Valley Road. We have since renamed it Upturned Nose Road, Upper Snotty Road, Nightmare on Elm Street, and other such things. Every single person slammed the door, many of them while we were still in midsentence, and I started talking to the closed doors since no real people would listen to us. And the street was a “Long and Winding Road” to the point of being comical. We kept reaching a bend in the road and thinking, “We’re almost done!” only to the point of going around the curve and finding the road still kept going. On and on and on. At one point I started questioning my level of consciousness. “Are you sure we’re not dreaming?” It was like those nightmares where you keep running and running or never get anywhere. (Or like my nightmares, where ET was trying to strangle me and my voice didn’t work, as my family will remember.) Finally at the end of the street, we found a guy who would give us the time of day long enough to take a pamphlet. That was our miracle for the day.

One night this week we were planning backups for the next day. I asked Sister Thomas what we should do if our four-thirty appointment fell through. She said, “Take turns stabbing each other in the leg with forks.”

In all seriousness, life is good, we are so incredibly blessed, and I still love my mission. The greatest blessing of my life. I’m just slowly succumbing to the Trunky Monster. (I can hear him laughing right now! He’ll be going for my arms next. Then after I am armless and legless he’ll start making ME sleep under the bed, and he’ll take over my bed and I still probably won’t even wake up.) I keep reminding myself I only have five more weeks to be Sister Monson, to wear this name tag, to have no responsibilities except sharing the gospel and learning and serving. Like I said, I keep reminding, because I need it about every five seconds.

Everyone, be safe. Sleep with a baseball bat next to your bed in case a monster pays you a visit. (Whatever kind of monsters you have, I don’t know.)

-Kaelynn

10July2010

2010-07-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

I waited all week long for Monday to get here.

Then on Monday morning I waited all morning long for email time to get here.

We got to the library and there were no computers available in the front of the library, where we usually go. So we went to the children’s section which has two computers. One was occupied by a small child playing Star Wars. And boy, was he vocal about it. He did not know how to use the Force. And he wanted to be Anakin on his next game. And then his three friends had to come and watch and comment.

So Sister Thomas was on the other computer, and I sat at a nearby table. Just as luck would have it, I didn’t bring any paper to write letters, and I didn’t bring my Bible to finish my New Testament reading. All I had was my hardback Book of Mormon.

After poring over the Samuel the Lamanite story, AGAIN, I started looking for other ways to entertain myself. I love being surrounded by books I can’t read! At least these were all kid books. Young adult novels. Like the Traveling Pants books, and all their sequels, “The Traveling Pants and He Broke Up With Carmen,” and “The Traveling Pants Travel to Greece Again for Summer Break,” and “The Traveling Pants Find Another Small Child Dying of a Terminal Illness—This Time It’s Lupus,” and “The Traveling Pants Go To Soccer Camp Again and Hook Up With a Different Coach.” Maybe “The Traveling Pants and Carmen Goes on a Diet,” and “The Traveling Pants and Whatsername Gets Laid Off from Wal-Mart and Gets a Summer Job at a Slushee Stand.” Okay, those aren’t really the names but they should be. I think my titles are better than the original ones.

Then I found lists of recommended summer reading for kids and preteens, and they had short summaries of each book. Gotta love those young adult fiction novels. “Jimmy’s mom is having a new baby, and he gets paired with Meanie Jeanie for a school project. He and his best friend have a fight. He gets kicked off the playground. His Popsicle falls in the dirt. COULD ANYTHING ELSE GO WRONG?! IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD. Until Jimmy and his dad have a little heart-to-heart and then they hug and he punches him on the arm and says, ‘Go get ‘em Little Chief!’ ”

When I had read all the lists and had nothing else to do I listened to Star Wars’ older sister come and try and drag him off: “Jimmy, it’s time to leave.” (Yes it is, Jimmy! Oh please! I promise it is.) “No it’s not.” “Yes it IS!” “Tell Mom I’m staying a little longer, okay?” “It’s time to go!” “It’s time to go!” “Stop imitating me! You guys are so immature! I’m telling Mom!” (Hurry back with Mom! I’m bored out of my mind!)

After what seems like a brief eternity later, Mom comes. Mom comes! And in her sweet voice she persuades Jimmy to leave his game and give the headphones back to the nice lady at the front desk. Unfortunately Jimmy was mad so he turned off the computer as he stormed out. And seeing as these are computers dating back from the Jurassic Age, they take approximately two millennia to reboot and regain their bearings and find the Internet again.

Sister Thomas was so sweet and let me use her computer while she waited for Grandma Dell to wake up.

Anyway, this email does not sound like it was written by a missionary…it doesn’t say much about missionary work, and I will tell you now, that is because this week was a lot of drama and not much else. Good things are still happening, but nothing monumental enough to write home about. So this was my opportunity to learn patience, and pray that the drama resolves itself. It will, I’m sure. The Church is true, computers are slow, and children will play computer games until the Second Coming unless you drag them out by their earlobes.

Much love,

Kaelynn

28 June 2010

2010-06-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

This was a wonderful week, commencing with the baptism of Domingo. As he put it, he became “a new Domingo.” Sweetest man ever! Unfortunately my camera cable is playing hide and seek so I will send a picture next week. (Those kids and their games!)

So, I’ve decided Connecticut owns about 90% of the world’s cat and dog population. These people are obsessed with their pets. Everyone has about twelve dogs and twenty-six cats. Okay, well, not quite that many but close. Being surrounded by it, a non-cat-and-dog-lover has to either learn to enjoy them or offend an awful lot of people. I have succumbed to the temptation and started petting kittens in spite of myself and my allergies. I pay for it every time in sneezing and puffy eyes, but I still don’t stop. (“I can stop anytime I want!”) Anyway, so I was petting someone’s cat the other day and I said, “Cute puppy!” I must have been tired. (Don’t worry, I’m not to the point where I want to go out and buy a dog or cat. They’re fun to visit with and then leave. Like Mom and Dad always say about their grandkids.)

Speaking of cats, yesterday we met the most hilarious cat. If he were a person he would have escaped from the psych ward of Charlotte Hungerford Hospital and be panhandling out by the West Side Package Store (that’s Connecticut-ese for a liquor store) in Torrington. He is a stray that the ward mission leader and his wife have kind of adopted. (They already have about a thousand cats anyway, so what’s another one?) Yesterday they introduced us to Fu (as in fu man chu- I don’t know how to spell that- because his whiskers are very long and unshaven-looking) after giving him a bath. (They said he smelled.) He has six toes on each foot. And his eyes are crossed. Sister Tillinghast decided that if he were a person, not only would he be panhandling, but he would be saying, “Mithter Tillinghatht thaid I could come in and have thomething to eat.” (“Hey Mister! Got any change? I got me a real neat watch. It’s a Rolex!” It’s a miracle that I still remember that movie from my previous life.)

Speaking of the West Side Package Store, it’s a couple blocks away from our apartment. I can’t remember if I already mentioned that a truck ran into it a few weeks ago. As in, ran off the road and into the store. I laughed really hard at first because I thought the truck driver must have been a too-recent customer of the store (it also has a bar in the back). But it turns out someone had cut him off and he was swerving to try to get out of the way. Still, that’s quite the swerve, don’t you think? All the way off the road and into the front of the store.

One of our investigators is a writer who happens to have written several other books, including a slasher novel. It’s not published yet and she’s told us a little about it before but on Saturday night we got her to tell us the entire plot. For some idiotic reason. We kept dragging more information out of her. We wanted to know how it ended SOOOOOOOOOO bad. Then we got in the car and drove home and we were FREAKED OUT, our little pure missionary minds were on scare overload. I was afraid to let Sister Thomas get out of the car to back me, because a serial killer might be hiding in those bushes. Anyway, so we made it home and we had some rotten tuna fish in our garbage that was making the apartment unbearably smelly. (Are we sure it was only tuna fish? No. Someone probably hid a dead body in our garbage.) We took out the garbage to the big bins that are behind the house. Big bins, by that old empty hot tub, there could be anything hiding in there, and it was so dark…anyway, so we had to cross the driveway to get back to the door of our apartment. I walked by the neighbor’s SUV and had a heart attack at what I thought was a face in the window. Turned out to be a “Baby on Board” sticker.

Earlier this week we ran into a man that we had tracted into a few weeks before when Sister Mortimer was here. He was a very staunch Catholic who proceeded to tell us all about how we are a cult, and as we work our way up in the cult we learn more secrets, and blah blah blah. Needless to say, I didn’t feel too warm and fuzzy about him at first. But when we saw him again we started talking and he asked if he could read to us from a book about cults. This book is written by a Texe Marrs, who claims to be quite the authority on “cults and new-age religions.” It has a section on “The Mormons” and another section on the RLDS church. The section on the RLDS church, in talking about the origins of the church, mentions how it was reorganized “after Joseph Smith died in his native Ohio.” Really? Native Ohio? Aren’t they supposed to have editors to make sure they double-check their facts before letting stuff like that actually making it into the final draft? Some drunk on the street could have given him more accurate information. Anyway, that gives you an idea of the accuracy of the rest of the stuff in the book. Most of the stuff on Mormonism was incredibly offensive, but some of it was outright hilarious. For instance, did you know that Mormons teach that Christ was married to Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene, and that all of his wives and children were present at his crucifixion? Did you know that Joseph Smith worshiped Jupiter? (Ummm…that’s not really true, just so you know.) Really. I can’t believe the kinds of things people publish. I think I will go home and write a book about how aliens drive minivans in Fiji. Because I have totally been to Fiji and I am an expert on aliens AND minivans, and I even drove a minivan a few times. My book will be much more factual than Mr. Marrs’. Seriously. You think I’m joking.

Where was I going with that story? Oh, I digress. The story has a happy ending. The man who read us the book actually really listened to what we had to say. When we told him he could find better information about the Church from “The National Enquirer” than from his book, he actually believed us. He seemed to gain much more respect and appreciation for the Church, and actually believe that we are Christians and normal people and all that. He turned out to be very nice.

Driving is fine, it's tolerable. I don't really mind it as much. But I am definitely not an excellent driver and I am an endless source of entertainment for Sister Thomas. I keep telling her, my brain works well with words and sounds and noises. Not things you can see. Like the road. Or judging distance. Or backing out of a driveway. Or directions. We all have our different gifts. I think my gift for driving got taken back to the store and exchanged for the "freakish pitch monkey" gift. Not complaining though! I like the freakish pitch monkey.

Guess what else? I am already picking up some horrible New England driver traits. Like stopping out in the middle of the intersection instead of actually behind the line. I really should not do that. I am not a talented enough driver to safely bend all the rules like they do.

I have never had so many mixed emotions all at the same time. I really really really do and really really reallly don't want to go home. But I am so blessed that this area is busy and keeps me from getting too trunky. Sooner or later, that going home part will come, whether I want it to or not.

I love the humor of missionary life. It’s so much fun! And Torrington is absolutely wonderful. Got another baptism coming up next week! Can’t wait! Lots of love,

Sister Monson

21 June 2010

2010-06-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

What a great and crazy week. Suffice it to say that Monson is not the world’s greatest driver. (Big shock, I know.) But we have been miraculously protected and not gotten in a wreck. I’ve been feeling pretty scatterbrained with Sister Mortimer gone, and having lots of airheaded moments. Like the time we were driving home from district meeting in Canton…I somehow managed to go the wrong way until we were all the way in Bloomfield instead of Torrington. That’s at least a half hour in the wrong direction. Maybe more. I was on the right road…I just forgot to go west instead of east on the 44. J

Sister Thomas is majoring in sign language interpreting. This week she taught me to sign “Families Can Be Together Forever.” Yay! I am so excited to learn more signs.

On Saturday we did a youth fireside where the youth invited their friends. We got five nonmember visitors there. I was proud of the youth. They are such strong kids. They did a good job of inviting their friends.

Earlier in the week one of our investigating friends called and said he wanted to go back to his old church because he knows the people there and he’s afraid of not being accepted in the Church because of his past. We had a big heart-to-heart with him about the Atonement and he ended up taking his last pack of cigarettes and tearing them up in front of us. He is done smoking! And ready to think about a baptismal date! His friend, who is also taking the lessons with us, wasn’t planning on coming to church until he had a dream on Saturday night. In the dream he was in prison, tied up, and the guards were asking him, “Didn’t you used to go to the Goshen Ward?” He woke up and decided he needed to go to church.
These guys have such a crazy past, they have been through so much, but it has taught me so much about the Atonement. We love them so much and want the best for them, we don’t think about their past because they are different people today, and I know that those loving and compassionate feelings are just the tiniest portion of comprehending what God feels for each of his children. The Atonement is so real and so deep! God takes the Sauls and Alma the Youngers and molds them into missionaries and prophets. I think I sometimes take for granted the power of the Atonement. It is so important not to judge, or label people as having “baggage,” or whatever, because the Atonement works these kinds of miracles all the time. It is so important that we allow people to change, and that we let go of their past so they can put it behind them as well.
Did I mention we have six baptismal dates now? We are so ridiculously blessed. It has nothing to do with us, this area is just amazing.

I love life. I love the mission. It’s all great. The Church is true!

-Sister Monson

7 June 2010

2010-06-13T21:36:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time I was on a mission in a place called Torrington. That was a good time. Don't worry, I'm still here. Might never leave. Still threatening to lock myself up in Sister Musselman's house and "accidentally" miss my flight home. No, I wouldn't really do that. I'd at least go home and see the family first before coming back.

Below is a picture of a zone conference in Manchester, one of the wards where Dad served back in the day. ( I picked up all the dinosaur bones before I took the picture.)

Basically it’s raining miracles out here. We’ve started teaching a former investigator who originally had a baptismal date, but she cancelled it. A couple of weeks ago she told us she now wants to get baptized in July. Since we’ve been teaching her again she is really understanding it, and enjoying her reading. Her whole countenance is different. She’s like a completely different person.
We have three baptisms scheduled. Craziness! President Pehrson just told us we had 26 baptisms in the month of May which is more than he has ever had his entire time as mission president.

We had an amazing first lesson with a referral. She understood everything immediately. When she read Moroni 10 she started to cry. She says she feels like she already knew this, and it feels right. I love when that happens!

It just occurred to me how many labels for people I use in my emails. Let me explain that I think of these people as actual people, and not as “investigator” or “less-active” or whatever. I use the labels to avoid using their names, since this is going on my blog. (I have a blog, which I’ve never even seen myself. How weird.)

Funnies/quotes:

-The other day we parked our car near the corner of a street we were about to tract. While we were still in the car getting our things together, a woman came out the side door of the house we were parked next to. She was talking on a cordless phone. Then she went back inside. We were just about to get out of the car when she came out again, this time with a razor in addition to her phone, and started shaving her legs. Yes. Shaving her legs, on her doorstep facing the street. We gave her a pass-along card.
-“We’ll read a scripture and break him in the heart” (referring to a less-active member)- Monson
-A native of this "yuppy heaven" state, describing the "Welcome to Connecticut" sign: "Welcome to Connecticut. Please dress nicely."

The following conversation occurred between two investigators, whom I will call Bob and Bill:

Bob: “I want to go to the celestial kingdom.”

Bill: “With our luck, we’ll have tents instead of mansions in heaven.”
Bob: “Leaky tents. No, we’ll have a Winnebago. Loaded.”

Bill: “Loaded with what? Beautiful women?”

Bob: “Beautiful…books.”

Bill: “You take the books. I’ll take the girls.”

Sister Mortimer: “YOU’LL be in the leaky tent.”
Bill: “That’s all right. I’ll have the girls plug up the leaks with their hands.”

I love life. Especially right now. Best time ever. "These were days never to be forgotten."
-Sister Monson

2010-06-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

3 May 2010

2010-05-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Life is good! The Hartford stake had conference this weekend and Elder Condie from the 70 visited. He is such an entertaining speaker. It was wonderful to see a few people from the Bloomfield ward where I served last spring and summer. (Was it really that long ago? It doesn’t feel like it.) Attached is a picture of me with Tony, who got baptized in July and is still going strong. Yay!

After the conference there was a special meeting for investigators and new members to meet Elder Condie and also President Wood, the president of the Boston temple. I shook hands with President Wood after he had just finished talking to one of our investigators. Of course he asked if I was related and I said no. Apparently our investigator had been saying good things about us, so President Wood said something to the effect of, “You are bringing honor to that name.” Needless to say, it was a Dear Diary moment. In all seriousness, it was an answer to prayer. I remember feeling so intimidated by the prospect of being called to Dad’s mission and trying to live up to the name. Of course, anyone who knows me can attest that I am a professional worrier. I can find just about anything to worry about and fuss over and the name thing was something I worried about a lot. I think this was another way of God sending me a reminder that I don’t need to fear and worry and fret so much. As long as I do my best everything will work out, and I can say, “I have done nothing with your name of which you need be ashamed.” Which prophet told that story? I can’t remember.

Most of our investigators are doing amazingly well, getting rid of their booze and coffee and sharing the gospel with their friends. We have baptisms planned for May 30th and June 19th. This transfer stretched my capacity so much, I feel like I grew more than in the past three transfers or so.

This morning in my study I was thinking about the word “bar” in the context of Jacob 6:13: “Finally, I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with awful dread and fear. Amen.” I first thought of the word “bar” in terms of law and judgment—standing before the judgment bar of God. But then you can also think of “bar” as a verb, how the judgment of God is when the wicked are barred, or stopped, from progressing because of their own choices. Then I thought of the Tennyson poem “Crossing the Bar,” which talks about a sailor crossing a sandbar to reach the harbor and meet “my Pilot face to face,” which is a metaphor about death and meeting God. So all these things talk about being judged, seeing the face of God, being stopped in your progression if you made bad choices, etc.

Finally, I looked up the word “bar” in the Bible dictionary, and it turns out that it is Aramaic for “son”—hence, “Simon Bar-jona” is “Simon, son of Jona,” etc. “Until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar (Son) of God, which bar (Son) striketh the wicked with awful dread and fear.” The Son judges us, and “strikes” us with dread and fear if we are not prepared for that final judgment. Then he brings us to the presence of Heavenly Father, to see him face to face, through His Atonement. Yay! I am going to have such a hard time conversing about normal, real-life things when this is all over. J

Much love,

Sister Monson

26 April 2010

2010-04-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, Torrington is INSANE. This week we were out tracting and while walking from one door to the next we saw a girl sitting outside her house across the street. We said hi to her but I was lazy and didn’t go talk to her. (Lesson learned! Don’t walk past the elect because you never know who they are!) After we were done tracting and walking back toward our car she called out to us, “Are you Mormons? I want to talk to you.” She told us she was writing a fictional novel with a Mormon girl as one of the main characters, so she had been doing lots of research on the Church and wanted to ask us some questions. She invited us into her house and we sat there for maybe two hours answering her questions. She has been researching for over a year, and knows more than probably most missionaries do about the Church. She has the scriptures and Preach My Gospel on her iPhone and has been listening to them. We figured out pretty quickly that she is already converted and just doesn’t quite know it yet. She has some fears about changing her lifestyle and her friends, so she hasn’t really been able to bring herself to pray about the Book of Mormon or about being baptized. It’s because as soon as she gets an answer, she will definitely act on it. Just needs to bite the bullet and do it. It was CRAZY…CRAZY…I don’t understand what is with Torrington these days. Not complaining a bit, though!

Things are moving right along. One of our investigators is getting cold feet about her baptismal date which we are concerned about, but other than that, the place is on fire still.

Fun fact: Yesterday I discovered something called sausage bread. It sounds disgusting but it’s actually incredibly delicious. Sausage and bread…could there be a more perfect combination?

This week Sister Mortimer and I were talking a lot about our attitudes about our missions and life in general, and how to think about the future. Ever since then messages are coming at us, from all over the place, that basically say to be excited about the future and remember that while the mission is wonderful, life gets even better afterward. We attended a member’s wedding at a Catholic church. Some of her friends there were returned missionaries and they all told us that. I’ve been pondering that a lot since then, and how to enjoy the moment and also look forward to the future. I didn’t realize before how much I tend to hold on to the past.
I’ve also been impressed very strongly with messages about honesty and refraining from gossip. This is something I want to improve on. Gossip is so destructive. It’s so tempting to engage in it as a missionary because day-to-day life can be monotonous, and gossip is entertaining. But it’s dishonest!
That’s all. I’m boring today. That’s okay, the Church is still true!

-Sister Monson

19 April 2010

2010-04-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

To give you a better visual image of what I have been up to this week, here are some pictures:

1 and 2: Elizabeth Park in Hartford. This place is gorgeous beyond belief. The only thing almost as pretty as autumn in New England is springtime in New England.
3: Um, yeah.
4-14: These are all of a beautiful place in Litchfield called Daffodil Hill. Apparently some person went crazy and planted a gazillion daffodils one day. Or something like that. Whatever its origins, it is a gorgeous place. Ignore the shadows as I attempt to learn by trial and error about taking pictures.
15-17: No, that is not a tiny octopus. It is a SQUID. (I thought it looked like an alien.) And yes, I did eat it, as you can see from the pictures. It was at a Chinese buffet in Torrington called the Lotus Blossom. The red eye makes me look really evil, doesn't it? It tasted pretty good, as long as I didn't look at those tentacles with the tiny suction cups on them...

Miracles this week:
-At the end of Church on Sunday a member of the bishopric approached us and said he needed to talk to us ASAP. Turns out a member's husband, who has attended many times with her, suddenly decided he wanted to be baptized. He felt the Spirit so strongly in church, he almost couldn't contain himself. He was crying and when he talked to us he said, "I've never felt anything like that before in my life." We told him he needs to take some lessons before he can get dunked, and he agreed and set up an appointment to be taught, and set a baptismal date.

-Saturday we taught a referral and her two daughters for the second time. We had assigned them to read 3 Nephi 11. The older daughter pretty much recited the entire chapter to us. During the lesson she said she knew it was true not only because she had a good feeling, but "something whispered to me that it's true."

-On Sunday we taught Miracle Mark (the one who went to Temple Square and has been attending ever since). He taught US the entire third lesson, and about keeping the Sabbath day holy. He was in Salt Lake again this week and bought himself all the missionary packets and has them all memorized.

HOLY SNOT!!! We have 3 baptismal dates right now! Our ward mission leader asked us yesterday if we were putting something in the water. :) We've definitely experienced a great deal of opposition throughout the transfer, and I know this is why...great miracles are happening and the adversary did not want us to make it to this point.

This week I've found many verses that talk about the devil's devices in metaphors such as "chains," "cords," "bands," etc. One I noticed a lot was "snare"- a snare of iniquity, a snare of death, etc. "In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare" (Prov. 29:6). Well, today I was looking for scriptures on courage and I found this: "The fear of man bringeth a SNARE: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." (Prov. 29:25). Fear is also a snare! As I read this and many other verses on fear and courage, I was blessed for a moment to feel completely fearless. Now that I've experienced what that is like, I have more motivation to be courageous and work harder at putting fear and doubt out of my mind. I am so blessed!

Love to everyone,
Sister Monson

12Apr2010

2010-04-13T06:05:00.001-07:00

We saw some amazing miracles this week.

We are teaching a man who was introduced to the church at Temple Square on a business trip. Since then he has been coming to church regularly. He works in Ohio during the week so he meets with the Kirtland Visitors Center missionaries and has been asking them questions. He’s read everything and is already into the Pearl of Great Price. We met with him for the first time this week and he basically told us, “I don’t need any more convincing, I just want to know what I need to do to get baptized.” Then he taught us the first lesson. J What a miracle!

On Saturday we went to contact a referral and we started teaching her about the Restoration. Her two daughters, ages 9 and 13, hid in the kitchen at first, but apparently they were secretly listening because after Sister Mortimer recited the First Vision account, the 9-year-old poked her head in and said, “That was a great speech!” J Sister Mortimer asked her, “Do you think it’s true?” and she said she did. She and her sister are excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn with their mom. Good heavens, kids are amazing. They are so in tune with the Spirit. That’s something I’ve noticed even when tracting and talking to strangers on the street—kids are drawn to us, sometimes before we even say a word, and even if their parents are not interested.

I had some health challenges this week. But as always, I could feel God carrying me through. I find so many “tender mercies” in times like these. Small things that help me keep going, like tracting into a nice old lady who lets us in, or a member who suddenly wants to take us out for ice cream or invite us over for dinner. It’s like God pats my head and gives me a piece of candy and says, “I PROMISE this is not as hard as you think it is...but because I am perfectly loving and patient, I won't call you a crybaby, but I'll encourage you."

We had a wonderful baptism on Sunday. The Spirit was so strong! They’re already planning to come to Utah for their sealing next year so we can come, along with the sisters who first taught them. Yay!

I’m attaching two pictures of the baptism.
Well, everyone enjoy the spring (Connecticut is on spring break, are you?). Love,

5 April 2010

2010-04-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

We witnessed two amazing miracles this week:

We have an investigator who lives in Bethlehem (Connecticut) on the weekend but lives in Ohio during the week. He was drawn to Temple Square on a business trip and since then has been spending his free time during the week with the visitors center missionaries in Kirtland, and on the weekends he comes to our ward and we are going to start teaching him. We found out on Saturday that he has already finished the Book of Mormon and is starting the D&C. He came to a session of conference and absolutely loved it.

A husband in a part-member family is being baptized this Sunday. His stepdaughter has expressed a desire to be baptized, and at conference she said she wanted to change her baptismal date from June to May because she was so excited and felt the Spirit so strongly during conference.

The ward and some families gave us Easter presents that were so thoughtful. We are so spoiled! I love this ward. Can't wait to get to know the rest of it.

Here are some fun little pictures:

1- An Easter egg hunt/jam session in between sessions on Saturday with some members of the ward.

2- With Sister Mortimer. She does hair. She did mine. For the first and probably only time in recorded history, my hair held some curl...it was amazing...had to be recorded on camera for posterity.

3- All the sisters at transfer meeting.

4- The aprons were just too darn cute! Sister Mortimer and Elder Reynolds missed out, I tell you. (Dyeing Easter eggs.)

5- Having a little flower child moment, with Elder Carr's guitar. Name that chord! Anyone?

I loved conference so much. I was really surprised at how similar all the talks were. D'you think God's trying to tell us something? :) I started to get almost bored with the repetition of variations of the sentence, "The Church will do all it can, but the ultimate responsibility of teaching children the gospel rests on the parents." How many times did they say different versions of that statement? How many times did they mention the sons of Helaman? Sister Mortimer and I decided there was a secret conspiracy to trunk out the missionaries with all the talk about families and mothers.

I especially loved Sister Beck's talk. And of course Elder Holland delivers the smackdown, like no one else can. I was actually surprised that was the only pornography talk. When President Monson gave the closing remarks, it hit me like a ton of bricks that the last general conference of my mission was ending. I felt like he was speaking directly to me when he thanked us for praying for him, said he loved us, and invoked the blessings of heaven upon us.

Well, guess what...the Church is still true...what more can I say? Happy Easter! Love to everyone,
Sister Monson

29 Mar 2010

2010-03-29T10:34:00.001-07:00

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

22March2010

2010-03-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

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

15 March 2010

2010-03-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

-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)

1 March 2010

2010-03-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

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

22 Feb 2010

2010-02-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

The most exciting thing that happened this week (other than the bubble in my eye—see previous email) was Sunday night. We were asked (on Thursday) to do a youth fireside on missionary work. It went really well- the youth enjoyed it, they asked great questions and they seemed to be paying attention (judging by the snarky comments from the deacons J ). The best part: we passed around a sheet of paper and asked the youth to write down the names of some of their friends to refer us to. We got twenty referrals out of it!!!! TWENTY!!

I remember in the Bloomfield Ward thinking that two or three member referrals a month was nothing to complain about. We got 17 last month and this month we are already up to 22. I think I will always remember this time in my mission as the area where we had gazillions of member referrals—not necessarily baptisms, but member referrals, which is great because it means the ward is excited and things will keep rolling forward. And these youth are amazing. I wish I could apologize to every missionary who ever tried to get a referral out of me back home. “Well, I live in Utah…” What an original excuse. NOT! I’m so sorry for treating those missionaries that way. I definitely learned my lesson.

Elder Kent F. Richards from the Seventy is coming to our zone conference this week. Yay!!!

In all seriousness, I was so glad we got to do the fireside—not just because we got the youth excited about missionary work, but because it was another opportunity for reflection. I am so grateful to be on a mission! Doesn’t mean every day is a party—this week we had a couple of days that seemed to be about ten years long. But it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life.

The Church is true! Love,

Sister Monson

16 Feb 2010

2010-02-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

Remember that Toyota recall that’s shaking up the world? Well, we had to take our Corolla in for some work. And of course the nearest Toyota dealership is clear out in Milford, and we’re going to be here at least 2 hours. They have a fancy little waiting room full of tempting forbidden things like TV’s and computers with unlimited Internet access. Time to break out the willpower guns! “Bang bang! I’ll fight you off with my white handbook and my Book of Mormon.” Who needs TV anyway?

Well, at least we can do our Internet hour today while we’re here since the libraries were closed yesterday. So get ready for a long, drawn-out novel while I struggle vainly to block out the sounds of Dr. Phil and the radio.

Unfortunately I don’t have a ton to report on about this week, because we were attacked by a flu bug and shut up in the apartment, and are just now starting to feel one hundred percent normal. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a missionary and be stuck inside the apartment? I ALMOST LOST MY MIND, I was so bored. After I’d read through every single Ensign in the apartment, we started coming up with REALLY creative things to do, like making up word searches (when we weren’t sleeping). We learned lots of useful facts. For example, did you know CVS (it’s a pharmacy chain) makes a generic of Mucinex? They also sell orange juice there.

On Friday we helped a family in the ward with their son’s baptism. His grandparents were supposed to fly out from Texas to give talks, but they were stuck with snow in Dallas. (Snow in Dallas?) So we spoke at the baptism which turned out to be pretty entertaining.

You really have to know this kid to completely understand the humor. He is very, very smart for his age. His dad described him as having “the vocabulary of a 40-year-old without the social skills”. He takes everything very literally and wants to understand everything he is told. So, as is often done at baptisms, we addressed our talks to him and spoke mostly to him. And instead of listening and nodding, which people usually do at their own baptisms, he replied to everything we said, and asked us questions, while the congregation listened, highly entertained. Here are some examples:

M: “Ben, have you ever made a promise to someone?” (about to lead into talking about covenants)

B: “No, I haven’t. I’m not the most popular kid in school.”

M: “So you’ll keep going to church and taking the sacrament every week, just like you did before you were baptized.”

B: “I’m not baptized yet.”

M: “When you’re baptized you promise to stand as a witness of Christ and take His name upon you.”

B: “Could you translate that?”

In her talk Sister Johnston referred to the invitations Ben’s mom had made for the baptism. They had his picture on the front and a copy of the Articles of Faith on the back. Sister J. mentioned that the Articles of Faith list some of our basic beliefs. Ben said, “Is that why those are on the invitations? I thought my mom was just being cheap.”

When Sister J. stuck some visual aids on the white board to represent faith, repentance and baptism:

Ben: “Faith is crooked.”

She tried to straighten it.

“It’s still crooked.” She tried again.

“Faith is STILL crooked. Oh well. Whatever.”

Love you!

-Sister Monson

8Feb2010

2010-02-08T10:10:00.001-08:00

Sunday was the most amazing, miracle-filled day. I don’t know if I even have time to list all of the wonderful things that happened on Sunday. I’ll try to summarize a few highlights.

The recent convert’s fiancée, that just started taking the lessons, not only bore his testimony on Sunday, but announced over the pulpit that he wants to be baptized. When he said that I grabbed Sister Johnston’s arm and said, “Pinch me!” It seemed too good to be true.

One of our other recent converts, that has been struggling, came to church—but he forgot about the time change and went to the 9:30 service with the Bridgeport ward. But because the Bridgeport missionaries had called that morning and said, “Sister Monson, our pianist bailed, can you come play the piano for our sacrament meeting?!”, we were there to greet him. The person who was going to play the piano actually ended up coming. But we were there anyway, so I got to play the organ, which I loved.

A teenage convert of a few years, from a part-member family, has been struggling. We’ve been trying to work with the family. This teen got up in sacrament meeting and shared his testimony and said that he finally knew he had found the true church. AMAZING kid. Love him.

The member referral that we’ve taught a few times came to church again—AND stayed for the whole block, AND went to Gospel Principles instead of hanging out with the Young Men.

A girl we’ve been trying to teach, who has been coming to church for months (she met with the elders but for various reasons related to her family, we haven’t been able to teach her), bore her testimony for the first time and said she can’t wait to become a member of the church.

A member in the Bridgeport ward shared the following experience he had had recently: He got rear-ended which damaged his bumper and broke the window in his truck. The ward mission leader happened to be in the car with him. When the brother said he couldn’t afford to have the car fixed, the WML asked him if he had been paying his tithing. He said, “Yes, that’s the only thing I can afford to pay these days.” The WML said, “You are better off living in a cardboard box than breaking your covenants.” He continued to pay his tithing. A friend at a glass company was able to replace the window for free, and he took a sledgehammer to his bumper and fixed it that way. But he still didn’t have any money to pay his bills…until the insurance company of the person who rear-ended him dropped by his work and handed him a check with just enough to cover the bills. If that’s not a miracle I don’t know what is.

We were able to have the Bridgeport elders give one of our investigators, who was in the hospital for a heart attack, a blessing. In the blessing he was promised very specific things, e.g. that he would be able to leave the hospital within the week, and that God would give him the strength to quit smoking and other bad habits if he would make the effort. After the blessing was over the gentleman asked Elder Thiel what he had meant by a specific phrase in the blessing, and Elder Thiel said, “It wasn’t me!”

Best miracle of all…transfer calls came last night…but again, we sat by the phone and never got a call!!! I have been graced with another six weeks in Trumbull.

“Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.” (Alma 27:18)

-Sister Monson

1Feb2010

2010-02-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

KAELYNN'S ADDRESS IS: 6295 Main Street Trumbull Connecticut 06611

Yesterday I discovered a new delight called chicken apple sausage. The joys of sausage never cease!

Miracle for this week: a recent convert’s fiancée suddenly decided he was ready to meet with us (he had been strongly opposed to it the entire time they were dating), and he’s having some really neat experiences with reading the Book of Mormon. Truly miraculous. I love being able to witness these miracles!

Miracle number two: we have an investigator praying about being baptized in March. She’s close. Really close. She’s been taking the lessons for about two years. So excited for her!

Miracle number three: we had FOUR investigators at church yesterday. I haven't had that many for months. Yay!!!!!!!

Last Monday/Tuesday we did an exchange with the Torrington sisters, first meeting them at Yale on Monday and spending some time to walk around campus. It was rainy so there was no guided tour, and we only had a couple of hours, but it was still a lot of fun. I loved seeing Yale again. I’ll try to upload the pictures now…no promises with these finicky library computers. Oh, and I took some pictures of Torrington too while I was there. It’s a beautiful area. The area itself consists of about 13 towns (huge!) in northwestern Connecticut.

Explanation of pictures (hopefully they came in the right order):

1. The famous Munson Real Estate building. The one people always talk about when they first hear my name. There are lots of locations, this is just one of the many, on Reef Road in Fairfield.

2. Munson chocolate!! The other thing people always associate the name with. The writing on the wrapper is too small to see, but it’s a chocolate Santa that says, “Munson Chocolates, Bolton, CT.”

3. Bridgeport district picture. The flash wasn’t working for some reason, but at least you can see the pretty snow in the background.

4. With Sister Darrington in Torrington.

5. Supposedly the most frequently photographed church in Connecticut. This is in Litchfield.

6. A monument to Harriet Beecher Stowe in Litchfield, not too far from her birthplace.

My new email is kaelynn.monson@myldsmail.net.

7. A barn in Litchfield. Ain’t it quaint?

8. The Yale Musical Instruments Collection building. The building wasn’t even open! Lame.

9. Wishful thinking. J

10. The entrance to the gym. Logo look familiar to anyone? J I thought so.

11. A REAL original Gutenberg Bible. Last time it was being cleaned or something so we couldn’t see the real thing.

12. Pretty stained glass window!

13. Sister Darrington and Sister Murray on the steps of the library.

Well, hope you all are enjoying the nice dry Western winter. Love you!

-Sister Monson

25Jan2010

2010-01-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

And so it begins another micro-email. Are you seeing a trend here? This week it is
because they are updating the myldsmail.net system and I had to spend lots of time
jumping through cyber-hoops in order to get the updated version of myldsmail.net, which apparently is mandatory because it is SUCH an amazing system. SO amazing I can't live without it, I guess. If they had given me a choice I would have said "Give me an hour to write a real email instead!" but they didn't.

We have been getting member referrals like crazy for some reason. We went by a member's house to use their microwave, and ended up chatting with her about some of the Young Women we are working with (she's one of the advisors). Before we left she said we should go knock on her neighbor's door. Turns out this young man comes from a difficult background but has turned out amazingly well in spite of it. He still lives at home and his family is very opposed to religion. We knocked on his door; he opened right up and we were able to set up an appointment on the spot. After we left he talked to his mom, who said we couldn't have the appointment at his house because there was a game on that night (the Jets and the Colts, whoever they are). So he took the initiative to call this member we had just talked with, and asked her if he could meet with us at her house. Amazing, right? The appointment went really well. We are so excited!

I love this ward! I love the area. Transfers aren't happening in two weeks, and I'm
never leaving, and I'm never going home. And I'm not in denial. Not at all.

Love,
Sister Monson

19 Jan 09

2010-01-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

This was an exciting week.
There's a less-active member of the ward that lives in, well, not the most clean of
conditions. This was the third time we have left her apartment with bugs on us. The first and second times they were definitely bedbugs and we got rid of them right away. This time we're not sure if they were bedbug babies or something else. But I don't think we'll be going to visit that member anymore. (There are several other reasons besides the bedbugs.)

We have one investigator who has the potential to progress toward baptism. She and her son have been investigating about two years. For her, the only real hangup is just getting to church consistently. This week we taught them about how obedience brings blessings. I wrote D&C 82:10 on a piece of paper and told them to a) hang it on their wall where they could see it every day, and b) come to church. Sometimes I wonder if I'm overbearing. Maybe I am. But some people need it. Not everyone, but some.

We're working with several less-actives, trying to get them to come back, and also
working to get to know the Young Women better since several of the people we consistently work with are in that age group. Tonight we get to go to New Beginnings. I can't wait! This ward also really likes for us to come to Enrichment, which we gladly do. I love the ward!

And my time is up. Sorry this is another short one. Love to everyone,
Sister Monson

11 Jan 2009

2010-01-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad and everyone else-
It's been another great week. I spent most of my hour messing around with pictures, so
this will be very short. Trumbull is amazing! Getting lots of member referrals (and
really GOOD ones), and seeing some miracles happen with less-actives and part-member
families. And it's cold. What else can I say? I sure love Trumbull.

And the moral of the story is...the Church is still true! Don't go inactive, please.

Love,
Sister Monson

10 Dec 09 Pictures

2010-01-10T19:59:00.001-08:00

Here are two pictures. The gummy bears were made by Kaelynn at a member's home over Thanksgiving and the other is a picture of the Bridgeport District.

4Jan2009

2010-01-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

Remember that one time I told my family the winter weather here isn't that much
different from winter weather in Utah? Well, I lied. This week I learned a new concept: WIND CHILL. Oh yes, indeed. This means that the temperature may be listed as 20 degrees but 40 mph winds make it feel more like 20 below. Or something to that effect. Start getting excited, Mike and Andrea, Minneapolis will be a wind chill party!! I will come and visit you there, but only if we stay indoors the entire time.

We picked a bad day to try taking the bus and walking around Shelton. The wind chill was really bad that day, and apparently it gets colder in Shelton because it's farther away from the coast. Luckily there was a Dunkin Donuts on the way to our appointment we got hot chocolate and carried it with us there to stay warm. (Dunkin Donuts is EVERYWHERE here. You can find a Dunkin Donuts almost more easily than a McDonalds. People really go there for the coffee, not the donuts. But they also happen to have very good hot chocolate.) That evening I noticed on my face what I thought was sunburn, but actually turned out to be windburn. I didn't know there was such a thing.

This weekend there was an enormous blizzard. The snow is different here--more grainy and powdery. Almost like sand. It's really weird.

I've been working at, for most of my mission, becoming more bold. I've also tried to
change the way I communicate, to talk less and say more get more to the point and
straightforward. I've been blessed with some bold moments this week which was really
exciting.

Trumbull is picking up the area book is a gold mine, the ward is getting more excited and referrals are practically falling out of the sky. I keep looking at my planner for next week because it makes me excited. I haven't had this many scheduled appointments since the Windsor days. Life is good!

Last night we had a dinner appointment with a family that has three young kids. The
oldest is close to Matthew's age and reminds me a lot of him. Here are a few quotes:

Monson: "Don't you want to eat your vegetables?"
A.: "Well, some of these noodles are whole wheat."

"What if glass was made out of bread?"
"What if your hair was made out of metal?"
"What if your house was made out of paper?"
"What if the noodles were made out of wood?"
"What if spaghetti was made out of candy?"
etc. etc.
Younger sister chimes in with: "What if spaghetti was made out of noodles?"
Missions are so random. I love it.
-Sister Monson

P.S. If any of my old roommates out there are reading this, does ANYONE have Virginia's address? ANYBODY...all my letters keep getting sent back to me.

28 Dec 09

2009-12-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

I had such a wonderful Christmas. Really, really a wonderful Christmas. Christmas
Eve we spent most of the day trying to figure out the bus system, and riding/walking back and forth to Fairfield. Got back in time for dinner at the Hogans'. They always try to keep their Christmas Eve very simple and spiritual, so they had just the immediate family and his parents there and the two of us. We ate soup and sang Christmas songs. Oh, and we listened to Brother Hogan tell stories of his rambunctious childhood and Boy Scout experiences. You know, jumping in fires, shooting various kinds of weapons, getting injured doing stupid things. It was just like being back at home! My favorite part, I think, was Sister Hogan periodically inserting her two cents, which was several different versions of the sentence "What a bunch of idiots." (Mom, you would like her!!)

Earlier in the day some members dropped off presents at our apartment. I ended up opening most of mine and Sister Johnston's. This started because we thought they had mixed us up and labeled some of them wrong. So I was trying to figure out what was whose then I just kept going! and all of our Christmas Eve presents were unwrapped. Who says I'm supposed to be the mature one in the companionship?

On Christmas morning we had planned to do our studying before opening the presents (yes, we still had a lot to open even after the Christmas Eve fiasco I told you we were spoiled!). Monson thought we should be all dignified and such let's exercise and study and act like missionaries. Then I woke up at 6:30 on Christmas and said, "Let's open our presents right now! like a two-year-old.

Don't worry, we did do our studies that day. We read "The Living Christ"
together for part of our companion study. The Spirit was so strong! I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my Savior and for my mission.

On Christmas Day we were super confused about what we were expected to do, the white
handbook says to proselyte on holidays, but we were told we didn't have to proselyte
and also that we shouldn't, but we could if we wanted to you know. So we ended up
watching movies at the church with the other missionaries while we talked to our
families. It was so wonderful to talk to the family!

Family, did you know I am obsessed with sausage? Neither did I. I think I liked it before the mission but I started to like it a lot more out here, because in Fairfield we volunteer at the food bank packing frozen meat which includes every kind of sausage under the sun. I had no idea there was so much sausage in the world, of so many varieties. Anyway, the family we ate with on Christmas Day asked if we had any special requests and I asked for sausage and meatballs. They served us a type of spicy Italian sausage which was a new experience. Mike and Andrea, do you remember the first time we ate at the Saltgrass Steakhouse in Texas and the food made us giddy? It was like that. This sausage was so ridiculously good. It even inspired the "this sausage makes me happy" dance, which has since been recorded on video (don't worry, that was later, at our apartment). And the best part is they sent us home with the leftovers!!!! Oh happy day!!! I know what I'm having for lunch.

The week of Christmas ended with a bang: transfer calls on Sunday night. I had been
praying and praying not to get transferred, but still was fully expecting a call. Waited and waited for the dreaded call, which never came!!!!!! I get to stay here!!!! This will make six months in Fairfield. I am so blessed. I wasn't expecting it to happen, because there are only eight sisters now (seven after next week when we lose our Temple Square sister); this means the Windsor sisters are getting doubled out, and they are going to Torrington and Newport both of them serving with their trainers again. How random is that? That is why I expected to be transferred. I didn't see that coming. But I never do. I can never predict what transfers will be like.

This week we spent a lot of time going through the Trumbull area book and talking to the members about who to work with. Surprise: this area is a gold mine!!! Best kept secret ever. And I actually get to stick around and participate in the gold-mining process. I'm so excited.

Merry Christmas everyone! Love,
Sister Monson

20 Dec 09

2009-12-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

I made the most beautiful gingerbread house that you all will need to see pictures of,and I will hopefully send them today as well. It started out as a normal enough
gingerbread house and then turned into a white-trash gingerbread house, and then it
became a gingerbread mobile home. Can't even describe it, words don't do it justice,
so just wait for the pictures.

This weekend we had a big snowstorm. On Sunday church was cancelled and we were snowed in for a while. So I went all out with cutesy Christmas cards. Must have made about 100 of them. All for the investigators and members! Woo-hoo. When we were able to go out later we decided to walk (our cars were grounded) to the closest member family in Trumbull to visit briefly, give them a Christmas card and go tracting/caroling in their neighborhood. Well, we learned that even the closest family was much farther away, walking distance, than we had anticipated. When we got to their house they looked at us like we were crazy, and insisted on driving us home (after stopping to visit some less-actives, that was nice of them!). Come on, people, it's all part of the experience! Missionaries used to do that all the time, now they won't let us rough it even a little bit. I think I am the most spoiled missionary I have ever heard of. Our apartment is absolutely bursting with food, we have a car and a cell phone and now we get rides even when we don't drive? I'm sure my brothers are turning green right now.

We've had a lot of success this transfer with reaching out to less-active members. In some ways I really enjoy this part of missionary work. It's very rewarding when the person really does have a desire to come back, and is prevented by some reason or another that we can help with.

We have one investigator with a baptismal date, who is coming to a crossroads. She has to figure out some things and make a decision pretty soon. Not much else is going on. The biggest excitement right now is all the missionaries going home this week (sad!) and transfers happening next week. I hate getting so attached to these missionaries and then they all go home. Lame! And I am praying not to be transferred. I LOVE this area and there is so much to be done, now that the elders are gone and our area covers five towns instead of two. The ward is truly amazing.

Christmas is always such a pondering/reflecting time for me, and it's been the same
even on the mission. I keep thinking about where I was last Christmas. Sitting at home, bored out of my mind and wanting to be here. And now here I am! While I would never say that my mission has been all fun and games, I do still thank Heavenly Father every morning and night that I am here. I miss everyone back home (especially this time of year!) but I don't want to be anywhere else.

With all these missionaries going home (I've been surrounded by trunkiness!) I've
been thinking about the mission and the changes that I hope are occurring in myself. I wonder what will be noticeably different about me when I go home. This brought to mind a cheesy Michael McLean song that I love, called "In the Wink of an Eye." This verse in particular:

In the wink of an eye I'll be home,
And I'll show you the treasures I've found.
And I hope you'll see, that these changes in me
Are ones that will make you proud.

As I'm leaving, I feel sure,
We've all gone through leaving home before.

Really, truly, ten months has felt like about ten minutes and I know the next eight
months will feel like "the wink of an eye," and I just hope that I can get as much
growth and enjoyment out of them as possible. I am so blessed to be here. It's the best thing God could have done for me. That may sound somewhat trite or cliche, but it is so hard for me to express the feelings that are so deep.

Merry Christmas. I love and miss you all, and look forward to talking to the fam on
Friday!
-Sister Monson

14 Dec 09

2009-12-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

I lied. Our zip code is 06611. Somehow we were given the wrong zip code. So now you
have both the new address AND the right zip code. We're going to try to find some way to check the mail at the old apartment in Fairfield, since the change-of-address forms had the wrong zip code on them too. What lameness! So if anything was sent in the last week or so it might be a while before I get it. Sorry.

This was a great week. We had planned to do an exchange with the Newport (RI) sisters on Tuesday and swap back on Wednesday at mission conference in Bloomfield. But a huge snowstorm was predicted. The Pehrsons were worried about us doing all that driving in the snow. Especially since Trumbull and Newport are almost the farthest, if not the farthest, areas from Bloomfield in the entire mission. So instead of driving to RI, the Pehrsons had the Newport sisters come out to Trumbull and blitz our area for the evening, and then that night we all drove to Bloomfield together and stayed at the mission home so we wouldn't have to drive in the morning snowstorm. It was so much fun!!! We could get twice as much done because they could go visit someone in our area while we were visiting someone else. Plus everyone (members and investigators) in Fairfield and Trumbull LOVES Sister Baird and Sister Timothy so they were really really excited to see them again. Because we stayed at the mission home we only had to drive from West Hartford to Bloomfield in the morning. And the snowstorm did turn out to be pretty bad. I was SO
grateful we only had to drive from West Hartford to Bloomfield it was a pretty scary
drive as it was, the roads weren't plowed yet. My first real Connecticut snowstorm!

Mission conference was wonderful. We had a musical Christmas program that turned out
really well. We had some trainings and then they played a slideshow that some elders made (they had all of us give them our memory cards so they could download our pictures and videos). They compiled all the photos on a CD and put the slideshow on a DVD, and the Pehrsons made copies for all of us (as in the entire mission!) that was our Christmas present. The Pehrsons are so kind! I count my blessings every single day that I have such a wonderful mission president/sister. I have heard some mission president horror stories. But the Pehrsons really are like my surrogate parents out here. They take such good care of all the missionaries but they go to extra lengths to make sure the sisters are taken care of, which is so appreciated.

I was so spoiled on my birthday!!!!! So spoiled!!! Usually we do service at a shelter on Friday mornings, but they didn't need us (which never happens), so we went to lunch at Joe's Bar and Grill which we had heard good things about. And boy did it live up to its reputation! I definitely recommend it to anyone who ever has an inkling to come out to Fairfield.

Anyway, on Friday we were also able to visit with a less-active member for the first
time. We have been leaving her notes and messages ever since August, when I first got here, and this was the first time we got in the door. That was a miracle in and of itself and Heavenly Father blessed me with so many other miracles that day. We didn't have a dinner appointment, but the elders had been invited to dinner at the ward mission leader's house. Elder Allred called and told them it was my birthday and basically weaseled out an invitation for us to come too (I did NOT tell him to do that). The ward mission leader's wife called and invited us, but we already had a teaching appointment scheduled. But then our appointment cancelled so we ended up being able to go! I love when little things like that work themselves out. Heavenly Father and everyone else really spoiled me that day. I don't deserve it. And yes, I know I am only a year away from a quarter of a century. They keep reminding me. These kids! I mean, elders. Elders!

I am so blessed. I couldn't ask for anything more except to stay here one more
transfer at least! I am in my third transfer here and everyone keeps telling me that
sisters haven't stayed in Fairfield longer than three transfers this entire year, ever since the sisters were doubled into Fairfield in January. I want to break that trend. Transfers are the week of the 27th. Everyone please pray that I don't get transferred.

Everyone enjoy your dry Utah snow. :) Merry Christmas! Love,
Sister Monson

8 Dec 09

2009-12-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

Don't hate meâ€¦but I forgot to mention last week that we were moving. I didn't
know the new address at that point anyway, but I should have mentioned it. Sorry! We
moved on Tuesday. Weâ€™ll fill out change-of-address forms ASAP so hopefully no one has sent anything that will get lost.

New address:
6295 Main St.
Trumbull, CT
06006

The move made things a little crazy, which is to be expected. It was rather enjoyable, though, as moving goes. The weather was unusually warm so it wasn't too bad for being in and out a lot. The Trumbull elders came to help us move our furniture. They came to the old apartment and moved all the furniture out, and then the trailer was about 2 hours late. Hmmm...two elders and two sisters outside, can't go inside (un-chaperoned), and there's a bunch of furniture lying around on the lawn. What would you have done? We got creative with our entertainment. Creativity may or may not have included some of the following: throwing furniture, jumping on the mattresses, and Elder Allred testing out the stair-stepper while describing it in his Shrek voice, all on video. (I told you, he does an AMAZINGLY good Shrek accent.) Then somehow Sister Johnston was up in the top of a tree. Don't worry, nothing was damaged. No animals were harmed in the making of those films.

I love missionary life! There is just no substitute for a bunch of kids in their twenties in an environment with no TV. I've really learned how to have fun out here. The best part about this type of "creative" entertainment is that it really doesn't sound fun when you try to describe it to someone else. It's mostly those "you had to be there" moments. So everyone thinks you're strange when you describe what you do to entertain yourself. (Except other missionaries who have experienced the same.)

Then the trailer finally came and the elders had to take my stupid desk apart to get it through the door, then put it back together in Trumbull. It took forever and I felt so bad. Hey, at least I had no control over it. If they'd asked me I would've said gimme a futon instead of a desk. So much easier to transport. I can study on a futon, right? Why not?

The other day Sister Johnston and I were tracting in one of the neighborhoods that's
very close to the Bridgeport city line. Bridgeport is, well, let's just say it's one
of those cities sisters are NOT allowed to serve in. The neighborhood in question is one of those where people always tell us, BE CAREFUL! Bless their grandmotherly hearts. Anyway, someone had told us recently about a bar nearby where people supposedly have shady dealings going on in the parking lot, and then they go out and mug people while under the influence of who knows what, and they have two guys to jump you and one guy to be the lookout. Thanks, that makes us feel really safe! (I know. You don't believe Connecticut would have ghettos. No one does, until they actually get here. Hartford's supposed to be in the top ten in the nation for violent crime, or something like that.)

Long story made longer ”itâ's dark, we're in this neighborhood and are feeling a bit
paranoid anyway from all the recent stories. We're crossing from one side of the street to the other and Sister Johnston stops dead in her tracks, and is staring at something, and starting to freak out. I'm asking her what's wrong, thinking it could be any number of things. Then she points it out to me. What did it turn out to be? A TOY gun, lying on the ground. It sure looked real from far away, though. So have no fear toy guns are the scariest thing we see around here. (Things will really get fun when we get put in the Bridgeport district and have to go to district meetings in Bridgeport. Good thing those meetings are in the daytime!! That's all I have to say about that.)

Side note: I keep forgetting to mention this every single Monday Easton is Helen
Keller's birthplace! Easton's in our area. It's a beautiful town. Y'all should
come see it sometime. (Not while I'm here, though. That could be distracting.)
Trumbull is also a beautiful town. We got the first snow on Saturday, and with all the lights and snow Trumbull looks like a little Dickens village. (People go all out here with decorations, just like they did for Halloween.) The new apartment is fun it's a little in-law type apartment on the side of a house. Apparently the Trumbull Republican party previously had their headquarters in our little apartment. It reminded me of Dad going to Utah Democratic Party conventions in someone's living room. Almost the same thing, just the tables are turned now.

Anyway, we have our own washer and dryer and we're on the main floor and very very
spoiled. It does make VERY weird noises, especially at night. The first night we thought someone was banging on the side of the house, trying to break in. Nope, just the pipes! We're living in Trumbull but will still just cover Fairfield and Easton until the elders leave, the week of Christmas. Then we'll be the only missionaries in the ward. Sad! So right now we live out of our area. "Elder, can we get permission to leave our area so we can sleep?"

Wow, this is a really long epistle, and I talked about very non-spiritual things. But believe me when I tell you that the miracles and spiritual experiences are real, and they happen all the time. Most of them are so personal that I don't put them in the mass emails. You may not hear about them, but they are so real!

Love,
Sister Monson

30 Nov 2009

2009-11-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful turkey day/week it was. In terms of actual missionary work there's not a ton to speak of. We're supposed to spend all our time proselyting because everyone is at home for the holiday,Yeah, that didn't go so well. Everyone was home, yes. Did anyone want to talk to us or let us in? No. "I'm baking a cake and I'm
Catholic." But we gave away a ton of pass-along cards! Everyone in Fairfield County
will soon have a copy of "Finding Faith in Christ" and "Joy to the World" if they
want one.

We did have one miracle. I'd always heard of missionaries going to a street where a
member lives, asking the members to pray with them, and then tracting the street. I'd never tried it until this week. We were feeling very discouraged and tired. We went to this member's house. They had non-member relatives staying with them for the holiday. But they let us right in, gathered all the kids, and said a wonderful prayer with us. I felt so uplifted and strengthened. There was so much power in that prayer! We didn't even get a nibble until the very last house on the street (which is so often the case). They were a wonderful family who let us come in and teach. They seem quite firm in their own faith and not super interested in what we had to say BUT the fact that they let us come in, teach a lesson AND give them a Book of Mormon was a miracle in and of itself. That was the most tracting success we had had in weeks!

And we give ourselves the same "we're planting a seed" speech that we always give, and then we feel good about what we did. Don't get me wrong, I believe in the "we're planting a seed"speech. I've so often been the missionary to reap seeds sown by others. And that's the way it should be. People sometimes come back from their missions saying, "I baptized so-and-so," or "I taught so-and-so." But really, at least in this mission, RARELY (if at all) does one person get found, taught, and baptized by the same set of missionaries. It's a TEAM EFFORT! That's why there is no room for prima donnas or spoiled children in the mission field. It's not about "I baptized you," or "I tracted into you." I personally don't baptize anyone, of course. Need the help of the priesthood for that. And even if I find someone, it's my companion and I that find them. Just like almost everything else in the gospel, missionary work requires the effort of many, and it is NEVER about "me" or "look what I did."

ANYWAY Monson steps off the soapbox.
Until next time, folks!

Yesterday one of our investigators came back to church. He had been coming consistently for several weeks and taking the lessons before he had a major back problem that prevented him from walking or doing anything. This week he came to church and had to alternately sit and stand on a soft chair in the foyer, because of the pain in his back. What a trooper! We were finally able to introduce him to a WWII vet in the ward (we thought they might get along because this investigator is a Vietnam vet), which went extremely well. He still hasn't been able to start taking the lessons again, but he's been coming to church which I am so impressed by.

For the Thanksgiving holiday we went to the ward mission leader's house. There was
quite a crowd there. We had told them we would come a couple of hours early to help with cooking and table setting, because it was going to be an enormous group. They PROMISED us there would be tons of work for us to do. When we got there, everything had been done. So we folded napkins. Very, very elaborately folded napkins. I'm attaching some pictures of the napkin extravaganza.

After we folded napkins I suddenly had the urge to make gumdrop turkeys for the kids
table, in true Monson fashion. (No one else had ever heard of them. Come on, people, what planet are you from?) They didn't have gumdrops or orange sticks. So we used caramel candies and candy corn. We made a LOT of turkeys we got kinda bored and then we started to get more creative and make turkeys in the likeness of certain people. Whose first names happen to be Elder and Elder. I can't verbally do these justice. Hopefully the pictures will come through and I can attach them.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun listening to these elders quote Disney movies. Elder Allred (the dark-haired one) does an AMAZING Shrek accent. Keeps missionaries entertained for hours. (Hey, we can't watch football on Thanksgiving like the rest of the world. Gotta get creative.)

In all seriousness, there is so much to be grateful for!!! Mostly at this time I'm
grateful to be here, to be surrounded by wonderful and supportive companions/missionaries/ward members, and to have a testimony that keeps growing. My
testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened A LOT on the mission. I've gained a greater understanding and appreciation for the priesthood. And in my hardest times, I have gained a deeper understanding of the Atonement. I also appreciate my family so much more. Thank you for your support, I can't begin to explain how much it means to me!

Love to everyone,
Sister Monson

P.S. I forgot to tell you about my crazy morning. I ate leftover Thanksgiving cake for breakfast. While I was chewing I spit out something that I thought was a popcorn kernel. What did it turn out to be? Nothing less than a LADYBUG. I ALMOST ATE A LADYBUG FOR BREAKFAST! Don't worry, it was dead. Yes, Mom, I learned my lesson. I'll stop eating cake for breakfast. Back to the oatmeal. (But THAT has been left untouched for so long, who knows what kind of friends are in there now.)

23 Nov 2009

2009-11-23T14:04:00.000-08:00

Nothing went according to plan this week. Of course. That is so normal for Fairfield. What a strange place this is. I LOVE those days where every single appointment cancels. (Except not.) But I sure learned a lot. I'll try to summarize some of the highlights.

One of our recent converts has a husband who has been sitting in on the lessons. He is a computer programmer and keeps asking us to bring geeky members to our appointments so that he can have people explain things to him in a way that makes logical sense in his mind. Our new district leader happens to be very good at explaining gospel concepts in a logical way. (Unusually so. Really, this kid is talented. Elder! I mean elder!) So we thought we'd bring the elders to meet Mr. Computer Programmer and see if they hit it off.

The appointment started off a little strangely. The elders (who are both going home in four weeks) were asking him get-to-know-you type questions and he was explaining some of his reasons for being skeptical about religion. Then, out of nowhere, he starts going off on Freudian archetypes (yes, you can all guess where this is going) with some rather descriptive language. Too descriptive. Embarrassingly so and suddenly I'm staring at the ground, red-faced, thinking, "Did you really just say THAT word to the district leader?!" Yes, he did. Indeed. And the elders just kept plowing on through like nothing had happened. Apparently when you've been out 23 months you've heard it all, seen it all, and are not shocked by ANYTHING. :)

Saturday was exciting. My companion woke up with vertigo, of all things. Even more
random, the senior elder who works in the office happened to work in hearing and balance before he retired. He and his colleagues developed a cutting-edge treatment for vertigo. Apparently there are some crystals that belong in the inner ear, that can get knocked out into the ear canals by head trauma or something similar. That's what causes vertigo and all that needs to happen is for the crystals to get back inside the inner ear instead of floating around all over the place. So the treatment involves holding your head down and then jerking it around quickly so the crystals fall back in. Weird huh?

Anyway, the office couple came over and he did the treatment on Sister Johnston.
It seems to have worked so far. But I had to be the designated driver for a couple of days, since she was too dizzy to drive. That was exciting. People in Fairfield drive like it's the end of the world. And using your horn is as regular as breathing. Quite a shock coming from Utah, where using your horn is one of the rudest things you can do,unless it's absolutely a life-and-death situation. It's like crying wolf, though. You get so used to hearing horns that it doesn't even affect you. Then if it ever is a life-and-death situation you might not notice the horn. :)

There was so much more that happened this week! Good heavens! But I am out of time. I must continue this saga next Monday. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

-Sister Monson

16 Nov 2009

2009-11-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

This might end up being a very short email because the computer is going at turtle pace. Boy, am I spoiled. I'm so used to instant Internet, even though I only use the computer once a week. Like I feel personally insulted when the Internet is slow. The nerve! I am so impatient with this computer I want to throw something at it. Who would've thought this would happen. Even yuppy towns have libraries with computers that malfunction occasionally! Even rich people are not spared from every one of life's inconveniences. Let that be a lesson to any of you who aspire to wealth! even if you become wealthy you MAY still have a computer that is occasionally slow. I break to hate it to you. But it is the truth.

I think everyone in this computer lab can hear my angry typing. I'm typing very loud. Banging the keys. It's the only way of venting my frustration discreetly on a computer in a library. Oh, and the person sitting next to me keeps staring. I think I'm entertaining everyone. Or bothering everyone. Maybe I should type more quietly.
I'm so frustrated I might utter one of the ultimate missionary curse words, like
"freakin' heck." I only say that very rarely, when the occasion calls for it, and I
immediately repent in sackcloth and ashes afterwards.

Speaking of reasons to hate technology, my memory card for my camera has somehow damaged itself, so I can't develop pictures from it. Every time I put it in one of the machines, they freeze up, or they print out blank pictures. Last month I tried to develop some pictures, and it ended up being about 300 blank pages. I was SOOOOOOO disappointed when I went to pick up my pictures and they were all blank. My companions kept saying, "Is this funny yet? Can we laugh yet?" Oh yes, I'm so glad you find merriment in my misery. Laugh away,I have no pictures of you to remember you by, so it makes no difference! Ha! And my memory card is full so I have to keep deleting things. Looking in my photo album you would think I've only been in one area!

Okay, seriously, person, stop staring at me. I'm pretty sure you're not reading my
monitor, though. If you are IT'S RUDE TO STARE! Just because I'm silently shaking
my fist at this computer. This isn't a free show! Are you reading? Are you? STOP!

Okay, back to technology. My memory card won't print out pictures so I had this
brilliant plan. Now that I have officially given up on trying to print out pictures (so that I could delete them and have more room on my memory card for NEW ones), I was thinking I would download them and send them to Mom and Dad so they could save them for me. But technology is out to get me today. By the way, Mom and Dad, do you want to send me a new memory card for my birthday/Christmas present? That might make life much more simple for me. As much as I love shaking my fist at this computer.

Oh, yeah, missionary work. Is that why I'm in Connecticut? Things have been really slow lately. Really, really slow. Our goal lately is just to get a new investigator. Anyone! Anyone who will listen to us and make a return appointment. With all the tracting we've been doing you would think I could write the book on it. (I can't, though. I'm probably the worst at tracting of anyone I know.) It's been humbling, to say the least. These are the times when we have to remind ourselves that success in missionary work is measured by COMMITMENT, not by numbers, according to Preach My Gospel. COMMITMENT we are so very committed so committed just don't have anything to show for it.

Oh, and the rumors have become official. The Trumbull elders will be doubled out at the end of next transfer and we will move to Trumbull and take over that area while still covering Fairfield. We'll be the only missionaries in the ward. Sad! Even sadder, Elder Kirkolds (Elders Kirkham and Reynolds) are getting doubled out of there this transfer and we're getting new ones for one transfer. I guess it makes sense because the new elders are dying at the end of next transfer so they can close the area. But it's sad. Elder Kirkolds just got doubled into Trumbull. The area was NOT doing well and they just got some really good things happening, and now they have to leave. And we'll have almost an entirely new district, because one of the West Haven missionaries is dying this transfer. We had SO much fun with the district this transfer. I'm going to miss it. But that's mission life for ya. What can you do? (Sigh.) Poor Trumbull, keeps getting shaken up. No one can replace Elder Kirkolds. Elder Reynolds can do this thing where he sticks ramen noodles up his nose and snorts them until they go down his throat and then come out his mouth. Disgusting, I know, but fascinating.

I'm going to try the Internet one more time. And then officially throw in the towel. I wash my hands of you, computer. You are NOT progressing! Not reading, not praying, not attending church sorry, lame joke. But seriously!

Let me share one more reason why I hate technology. Myldsmail.net keeps telling me my mailbox is "almost full" and that I should delete some messages. I delete them
constantly I have to delete everything, even the warm fuzzy emails and it still keeps telling me to delete more. Come on, kids, these have sentimental value! But it is heartless.

What?! This is too good to be true! It's working! I don't believe it! I don't
trust my eyes.

Jacob: "But how can you believe what you can't see?"
Love interest, covering his eyes: "Can you see me?"
J: "No."
LI: "But you know that I am here."

J: "An arrangement of marriage, would be pleasing to me."
LI: "Is the place of records far?"

What IS the love interest's name? I can't remember. You all know who I'm talking
about. And if you know which movie I am quoting, you have either served a mission or been to Temple Square in the past few years.

Okay. My ranting and raving is officially done. I have faith no longer, for I know,
nothing doubting the Internet is working. I am going to send this.

Love to everyone,
Sister Monson

9 Nov 09

2009-11-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

We did an exchange with Windsor this week. Sister Darrington came down to Fairfield. It was fun to spend time with her again. She does such a great job of following the Spirit while talking to people. Everything is SO unscripted and sincere. I am still working to get to that point. I have a hard time trying to get over the feeling that I have to spit out as much information as I can before they run away or slam the door because people are always in such a hurry here.

We had a zone P-Day last week and played dodgeball in the church. Elders are BRUTAL in athletics. But when the two of us joined one of the teams we had the advantage because almost no one dared to throw a ball at us. A sister was always one of the last ones out. I may not be able to throw, but I won't get thrown at! It was fun.

Here are some thoughts I had, which stemmed from a reply to Lisa's email, regarding overcoming fears of sharing the gospel: It is scary to share the gospel. It has been a process, over months and months, that has helped me come to a point where I am more straightforward and less apologetic. We met with a family a couple of weeks ago. The mom has been inactive for years and the daughter goes to the Congregational church with her parents and hasn't been taught anything about the Church, but she loves everything we teach her. We taught about how to observe the Sabbath and the mom FLIPPED OUT! She thinks it's not realistic to get your
shopping and everything done on Saturday so you don't have to do it on Sunday, and
there's nothing wrong with sporting events on Sunday, etc. etc. She kept saying, "I
just don't agree with that." The only thing that helped me stand my ground, and not
back down, was the knowledge that what we teach is from God. It's not just my opinion. As a friend from BYU told me, "Other churches guess, we KNOW." I can apologize for, or take back, anything that is just my own opinion. But God's laws are not up for debate. If people don't like it, they're rejecting God' truths, not ours. I can only imagine what life would have been like if I had figured this all out at the beginning of my mission! I guess what I'm getting at, is that it helps if you don't think of it as pushing your beliefs on people, because these are not just your beliefs. These are truths from prophets of God. It's a big deal! And we open the door for opposition when we move out of our comfort zones, out of "safe" conversational topics like organic food and diversity, and unequivocally declare truth.

I still struggle with talking to people. One thing that does help motivate me is the fact that by accepting my call, this is what I covenanted to do. But really, that promise is also in the baptismal covenant, where we promise to stand as witnesses. We become our Savior's friends by sharing His gospel and by showing that we stand with Him. And again, this is all a process; I am still very bad at talking to strangers; but those are some thoughts that help motivate me.

Thanks to everyone for your love and support!
-Sister Monson

2 November 2009

2009-11-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

Ever since I started serving with Sister Johnston I'm doing this thing where I talk to myself, and refer to myself as "Monson" in the third person, e.g., "Where did you
put that, Monson?" or "Get it together, Monson!" Or last night, when we were late
to dinner at our ward mission leader's house:

Sister Johnston: "Sorry we're late, I think we didn't hear your directions
correctly."

Me: "Monson spaced it. I'm blaming it on fasting brain." [Referring to an
accidental 26-hour fast (that's another story.]

Anyone who knows Grandpa Monson, are you remembering the fishing video my dad took of him? "Monson, you pulled it the wrong way, you idiot!" :)

Anyway, I'm becoming Grandpa Monson (which is definitely a good thing, by the way, for those of you who don't know him). I'm also becoming several of my companions.
Apparently I don't have a personality of my own so I have to mooch off everyone
else's. I'm like this giant leech. "Hi, I'm Sister Leech. I'm here to steal
your personality. Wanna get baptized?" ANYWAY

The baptism went so well. So well! The ward was so supportive and the prelude music
turned out nicely, if we do say so ourselves (wink, wink). She had to go under four
times! First because Bro. Gallardo didn't say her full name the first time, and the
next three times because her baptismal outfit kept bubbling and not going under. She kept saying, "I must have lots of sins to wash away!" But we told her it's really
because she's so pure that she floats on top of the water. What a great day.

Halloween was fun. Apparently in New England the day before Halloween is "Mischief
Day," and that's when all the pranks happen, instead of actually on Halloween. People kept telling us to watch out for flying eggs and toilet paper, and made it sound like it was a huge deal. But nothing happened. The next day we saw toilet paper in a few yards. That was it. On Halloween we had to be inside by 6 for safety. For all the hype, it was a very quiet holiday, except for some random screaming neighbors. Oh, and we found some spiders the size of grapefruits in our apartment (okay, well, not quite that big) and I stepped on a snake at someone's house. And some nice people gave us kids' sunglasses. That was the extent of our excitement.

On "Mischief Day" the Trumbull and Bridgeport wards did a combined trunk-or-treat
which was fun. We handed out candy and pass-along cards. :) Halloween is a blast here because people go ALL OUT with their decorations. It's a HUGE deal. Utah, take
notes sorry, but your Halloween decorations are weak sauce.

We've been teaching a sweet Puerto Rican woman who is progressing really well, along
with an older Irish gentleman. It's so great when you find people and they just GET IT-things click and they make sense and most of the stuff they're already living/believing anyway.

Hope you are all doing well, and reading the Book of Mormon every day. No, really!
Really! (Sometimes I feel like a nagging parent. Read your Book of Mormon! If I
don't see you at church you're grounded from the car for the next two weeks!
Okay, not such a good way to motivate people. Good thing I'm not a parent yet.)

Love,
Sister Monson

26 October 2009

2009-10-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Update on Foodfield

Mission time is so weird! Just like everyone says. The days often drag, but the weeks FLY and before you know it the transfer is over again.

Foodfield is holding its own in spite of being threatened with closing in December (and that's almost a definite at this point). When it closes Trumbull will absorb Fairfield and Easton, and the Trumbull ward will have one set of missionaries instead of two. BUT,we are still holding out the hope that sisters will be doubled into Trumbull so we can stay in the ward (meaning that the ward would still have only one set of missionaries,but they would be sisters instead of elders), which is always a possibility. This ward is AMAZING. We love it and would love to hang around a lot longer.

We have a wonderful baptism scheduled for November 1st. The investigator had a lot of music she wanted to sing at the baptism that wasn't from the hymnbook. We felt so bad because the music is really important to her. So we told her we will learn the songs and play them for the prelude (Sister Johnston plays the violin). It's like her own private concert that no one will be listening to except her. I'm so excited!

Other than that the teaching pool is draining out gradually. Our numbers have dropped because of some health problems and other challenges we've had this transfer. (Yes, I know, excuses excuses. Oh well.) BUT, we still have about five investigators that are ready or almost ready to be baptized, and for one reason or another haven't gotten there yet. But they all progress at their own rate. And for the past several weeks we've had two or three investigators at church which is a lot more than we've seen in a while. So we're seeing small miracles and many blessings.

Here are some random/funny moments.

1. We were in the parking lot of Old Navy (we stopped to use their restroom) and a lady pulled in, in her SUV. She steps out of the car and gets out her stroller like she's going to put a kid in it. The stroller's wheels are falling off. Instead of bringing out the kid, she gets back in her SUV and drives off. Almost as if on cue, a security van pulls up and someone gets out and grabs the stroller. It was like they planned it. And it was so strange.
2. We found a "dead book" in our apartment this week. A dead book is where
missionaries take old teaching records out of the area book and separate them somewhere, because they think those former investigators are never going to progress, or something for whatever reason. Anyway, they are very strongly discouraged and I didn't think I'd ever see one. But we found one. And it's a gold mine! Teaching records that go back as far as the early 90's (that's old in mission time). All these people to go find again! And they're now back in the REAL area book where they belong.
3. One of the teaching records in the dead book listed the ompanionship "Elders Reid and Wright." Take a moment to read it out loud to yourself.
4. We saw a little girl attacking a tree with a rake. Like there's not enough leaves on the ground already? Gotta pull down some more, I guess.
5. We had a very discouraging moment one night we came home and heard the message from one of our golden investigators, that they were dropping us. So we made a paper target and attacked it with Smarties for half an hour. Very therapeutic. I felt much better. Can't attach the video- I tried but that is too complicated for me, I guess.

I'm attaching one of my pathetic attempts to capture the beauty of New England autumn on camera. I really don't know how to take decent pictures, so I can't do it justice. Plus there's not much time to take them. The other picture is the celebration of my eight-month mark. Yay!

Love to everyone,
Sister Monson

13 October 2009

2009-10-14T16:32:00.001-07:00

Life goes on, transfers come and go and Sister Johnston came. Lots of tracting, lots of teaching, lots of rejection and discouragement and then, last night, Heavenly Father reminded me why I'm on a mission.

We have been trying to teach a particular family since I got here in Augustâ€”the
previous sisters found them over the summer. At the beginning of last transfer, we went there so Sister Pulham and I could meet them and that was when we actually set up an appointment and started teaching the mom. The rest of the family isnâ€™t interested. But, when the three of us went over there for the first time, the dad asked us why we had come to see them that particular day. We told him that every night we pray about who to visit the next day, and that's how we always choose where we go. He didn't say why he had asked, and we didn't think about it again. That was in August.

Last night we met with the mom, who has been reading the Book of Mormon and asking lots of questions. She told us the reason why her husband had asked us that question the first day we came. The family had been struggling with some serious problems. She had been praying for guidance, and lo and behold, the sisters started coming around. The dad had just received some bad news the day before the three of us came to meet them, and had started praying for answers, which is why he asked us why we had come. Apparently he was expecting us to say, "God sent us here in answer to your prayer!" The mom knows that we are the answer to their prayers, albeit not the one she was expecting, and that's why she is still taking the lessons from us. Please pray for this family. They need the gospel so badly right now, if they will only soften their hearts enough to recognize that we were sent to them in answer to their prayers.

I think I usually believe, in a theoretical sense at least, in the authority and reality of my calling. But I don't always have the faith to recognize that as missionaries we are here for the specific needs of certain people. It's not like God just turned us loose and said, "Go do some good stuff for someone." God is aware of every single soul in Fairfield and their specific needs, at specific times. Every once in a while, with experiences like this, he reminds me. It's the time in between those reminders that I need to strengthen my faith.

Being the wussy missionary I am, it is easy not to try too hard when people are so quick to reject the message. They tend to say something along the lines of, "I'm a good person, I read the Bible, I don't kill anybody, I'm doing okay. I'm all set! Thanks anyway!" I tend to give up too easily rather than challenge people on this when I receive this type of answer. The reasoning is something like, "Sure, they look like a good family, they're good people, at least they're Christian, maybe they'll accept it in the spirit world, I won't worry about them." But it would have been easy to think the same thing about this particular family. They look like they don't need too much help, like they don't have too many problems. Just by meeting them one would never guess what they are struggling with. And only the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored in its fullness, has all the answers they need. There are bits and pieces of truth everywhere, but only the restored gospel has all the pieces of the puzzle. I learned from this experience that I should never assume that I know who "needs" the gospel more or who is more likely to accept it. It is always the people that you think would be the least likely, who end up being the ones that surprise you.

We have a baptism scheduled for November first! One of our investigators came to church this week after only meeting with us once! Those are the other highlights of the week. We are very blessed, as always.

Everyone enjoy your pathetic Western autumn. (Sorry to say it, but it really is. Everyone raves about New England in the fall, New England in the fall and there's a
good reason for it.) Love you,
Sister Monson

5 Oct 09

2009-10-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry about last week. The Internet gave out before I could send the last email. So
I sent a bunch of pictures but no email. Hopefully the parents got the snail-mail letter with the explanation of the pictures, and maybe if they are very bored they can post that on the blog. But here are some more pictures!

1. Don't worry, this is as close as we got to the water.
2. Wind. And lots of it!
3. Want a boat? This was at Captain's Cove in Bridgeport. It's like a mini-outdoor mall on the beach. And apparently a great place to dump off the boats you don't want anymore.
4. Awww, cute little shops.
5. Yay for fun district pictures!
6. New England in the fall if only I had a photography skills, I could really do it justice. This was somewhere in Easton. The leaves are finally turning, yay!
7. Yes, yes, I know, we have womanhood and not priesthood. But isn't this the greatest picture?

Conference was wonderful as always. It went by way too fast! So many amazing talks, but of course Elder Holland's talk on the Book of Mormonâ€¦it was so gratifying to hear the Book of Mormon defended so powerfully. Especially when you spend all your time trying to defend it, to some who don't understand or don't want to. Why would you not want more scripture about Christ, more help in finding peace in a crazy world? And why attempt to put limits on how God speaks and when and where?

As I've studied the Book of Mormon, especially this transfer, I've noticed how many anti-Christs keep coming and going in the book. Take Rameumptom, for example. I'm so
special and God, who is a spirit, has told me there will be no Christ! All I need to do is stand on my tower once a week. In our day we have people not only disbelieving Christ, but attempting to prove that He never existed. This is not a new thing. People have been fighting, and still are fighting against Christ. Why so much animosity against something that has done so much good for so many? You would think that one could choose not to believe in Christ, but still allow others to do the same. But all of this opposition just proves how true and real He is. And it is so important to our Heavenly Father that the world knows about Him important enough to send another witness in the Book of Mormon. That's all it is a second witness. Christ is real! God is still speaking! Why would anyone not want to believe that? Anyway, to step off the soapbox

In mission updates, Foodfield is starting to pick up, slowly but surely. We have a
baptismal date set for November, and another ALMOST set. I found out yesterday that my companions are getting transferred. My new companion will be Sister Johnston, from Kaysville. So bittersweet! It's been such a joy to be in a trio, and it will be so hard to part with my wonderful companions. At the same time, I feel very good about the change. It's what needs to happen right now.

Until next week,
Sister Monson

29 Sep 09--Pictures of Yale University

2009-09-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

21 Sep 09

2009-09-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

(The Rush part comes from August Rush. They love to play the "guess that note"
game with me.)

Sometimes I think Sister Baird is Craig Monson, the girl version and about thirty years younger. She just wants to run around all day long, talk to people and jump up and down and never eat or sleep. I'm exhausted! But it's a good exhausted. I don't think Sister Pulham is as exhausted as me. Maybe I'm just one of those people who was born with a low energy level. That's why my chosen career is to sit around playing the guitar with God's special children all day long. And that's why Sister Baird is a dance major. Crazy people.

What a memorable week this was. The best part was when we crashed a wedding and a
birthday party in the same day. Then I tracted into an old man with no pants (that was in between the birthday party and the wedding). I've heard so many tracting horror stories like this and now I finally have my own! People in Connecticut have a different definition of the amount of clothing required in order to answer the door. I knocked on the door and heard, "Come in." I opened the screen door a crack and there was an old man sitting on the couch holding something on his lap. He invited us in again, and I started trying to talk to him and then I realized that he was holding his pants on his lap, not wearing them. My companions didn't help me out much, they were trying too hard not to laugh out loud, and I was flipping frantically through my pass-along cards trying to find a Finding Faith in Christ card to toss at him and run awayâ€¦I was mumbling something about,"Can we leave you a card for a free DVD about Christ? then I gave up and just grabbed some random card and stuck it in his mailbox and took off with a, "Have a good day, sir!"

Yeah, about the rest of that day, the birthday party crashing wasn't intentional. The wedding crashing was. We were visiting a part-member family and remembered a less-active family that lived down the street, so we stopped by to say hello and lo and behold, someone had just gotten hitched. We ended up talking to the band who was there to play at the wedding (they're also friends of the family) and almost got a return appointment with the drummer. Lesson learned from my companions: any situation is only awkward if you make it so. Crash a wedding like you were invited to it, and everything works out fine!

Today we are going to take a tour of Yale. I can't wait. My excitement is beyond
anything I can describe in words. There is SO MUCH going on and no time to write about it. I wish I could. But there will be lots of pictures of YALE (!) next week, and also pictures of the famous New England fall. Rumor has it the leaves will start changing color in a week or two. Nothing much has happened yet.

In terms of miracles, this week has been surreal, just a lot of little things, some
things I couldn't even explain if I had time to write them. I wish I could describe
what the mission is like and how much I learn every day. But I can't! There's no
possible way. But the Church is true! Woo-hoo.

Love,
Sister Monson

14 Sep 09

2009-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

My new name for this area is Foodfield. I have never, ever been fed so much. People
are practically throwing food at us. Thank goodness President has a rule: no more than four dinner appointments a week, so if someone else tries to feed us a fifth time in a week we have to politely decline. I'm going to forget how to turn on a stove by the time I go home. I am so blessed to have a senior companion with the energy of a small child; if I weren't going like crazy to keep up with her pace, I would definitely be packing on my own personal food storage. Isn't it wonderful the members love us so much! I'm grateful.

Fairfield could also be called "The Area Where Nothing Ever Goes According To
Plan" ”Ever Not Even A Little Bit." My last area was so predictable. (Well,
"predictable" is relative. Probably as predictable as missionary work can be.) But
it's amazing to see God's hand in every detail. People boach (don't show up for)
appointments, maps are inaccurate, we get lost, and then we always end up in the right place at the right time for the right person that needs to be found right then! This was one of those weeks where that sequence of events occurred over and over. We found some amazing new investigators.

One in particular, we found after we had spent most of our morning tracting a street
where not a single person answered the door. I've never had that happen to me before. Ever. Of course we finished the street quickly and needed something else to do before our community service, so we decided last-minute to go street contacting on Post Road. This is one of the main roads with a gazillion yuppy stores; they charge arms and legs for things like organic rice and hand-painted oil pet portraits. I kid you not. People really do love their animals like children, and pay ridiculous amounts for oil portraits of their precious pooches. ANYWAY, after we tried to talk to a lady who said, "GO AWAY! I don't want to talk to you" (usually people say something to that effect, but a little more tactfully), we ran into this woman. She was sitting on a bench outside a store with her baby girl in a stroller next to her. She is a young mom who has recent-convert friends in Norwalk, and they've been trying to convince her to meet with missionaries. When they saw us her baby girl started giggling, like she recognized us, and she immediately invited us to sit next to her on the bench. She told us she felt very safe in our presence, even though we were strangers. It was the craziest thing. Anyway, we have a
return appointment with her this week. Pray for her, please!

Here are some tidbits of the wisdom of Connecticut children.

Investigator trying to convince her son to eat breakfast: "Don't you want to grow up
big and strong?"
Son: "No, I want to be cute."

Member's son, when we asked him if he wanted to be a missionary: "No, I want to be a
spaceman."

Member's daughter, when saying the closing prayer for our lesson: "Bless the
missionaries that they can go far away and go to the doctor."

Member's daughter to the three of us: "Where are your moms?"

Member's daughter to her nonmember father: "Jesus isn't happy when you smoke!"

There you have it. Children are smart. Lessons learned: be cute, go to the moon, go to the doctor, don't smoke, and don't forget your mom. Until next P-day,
Sister Monson

8Sep09

2009-09-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

We got the news not too long ago that we were getting a Temple Square sister in our
mission. (The sisters that serve on Temple Square get to go somewhere else in the US for two or three transfers at some point in their mission.) Then we found out she was coming to Fairfield! Sister Puhlam, from Lehi, arrived last Wednesday. I was nervous about being in a trio but it's been SO MUCH fun. It's like having roommates again. And I learn so much from both of my companions every day. They are so full of faith, and so positive. We're working on building up a teaching pool here in Fairfield. It goes slowly but surely.

Here is the explanation for some pictures I sent.

1. Saying goodbye to the Mazda 3 I drove in Windsor. (Well, my companions drove.) We have
a Corolla out here in Fairfield. Yay!!!
2. Sister Baird, me, Sister Darrington and Sister Thomas on transfer day.
3. Driving through New Haven for the first time!!! I was so excited.
4. More New Haven from the car window.
5. We got lost on the way to Fairfield and couldn't find a good place to turn around. Finally we found a place where we could pull in. And of all places, what was it? A Budweiser factory. Nice. :)
6. The random purple store we drive by on the way to district meeting every Thursday.
7. Sister Baird and I declared last Monday an official "Fight the Frump in Fairfield Day," which consists of sister missionaries doing their best to look like
twentysomething-year-old women that educated, wealthy people want to listen to, instead of something that crawled out of the dumpster at the crack of dawn. In spite of the schedule I still have the hope that I can look like a decent human
being for the rest of my mission. Especially here in Fairfield, it's very important.
Long story made longer, I bought some new clothes at Old Navy (it's so nice to have
actual stores! They don't have many in Windsor) and chopped the mane againâ€”now I kind of look like a flapper. It's cool. Something different.
8. Want a pony? Or a castle? Here you go! Free toys for your children. All you have to do is move to Connecticut and you can get all sorts of free stuff. Just go curb-shopping. People especially like to put their old couches out on the curb. All part of a conspiracy to transport fleas and ticks into the apartments of naive elders, too eager to show off their muscles and cram their apartments with all sorts of stuff. (There was an apartment out here that was known for its spare bedroom, all full of hubcaps. Yes. Hubcaps. President Pehrson had to bribe the elders to finally get rid of the hubcaps and hang up some pictures of, oh, I don't know, the temple or something? :)

I am so blessed! Can't wait to see what fall is really like in New England.

Love you
all,Sister Monson

Saying goodbye to the Mazda 3 I drove in Windsor. (Well, my companions drove.) We have a Corolla out here in Fairfield. Yay!!!
Sister Baird, me, Sister Darrington and Sister Thomas on transfer day.
Driving through New Haven for the first time!!! I was so excited.

We got lost on the way to Fairfield and couldn't find a good place to turn around. Finally we found a place where we could pull in. And of all places, what was it? A Budweiser factory
Sister Baird and I declared last Monday an official Fight the Frump in Fairfield Day, which consists of sister missionaries doing their best to look like twentysomething-year-old women that educated, wealthy people want to listen to, instead of something that crawled out of the dumpster at the crack of dawn.

Want a pony? Or a castle? Here you go! Free toys for your children. All you have to do is move to Connecticut and you can get all sorts of free stuff. Just go curb-shopping.

31 Aug 2009

2009-08-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

What an insane week! It started off really rough. I didn't realize how hard it would be to adjust to a new area after six months. I feel like a greenie again. The culture and the people couldn't be more different from the people in Windsor it's amazing how much variety you can get in such a tiny state! (We were thinking yesterday about how many Connecticuts you can fit in one Utah. We decided it's at least 3 or 4.)

My new companion is Sister Baird. I've decided she's not really human I think she's a translated being or something. Really. So obedient and so hardworking, and she's happy ALL THE TIME. I have a lot to learn from her. And already have learned a lot. It doesn't even occur to her to be offended by anyone she just smiles and loves
everybody especially when they're rude. I've decided she's a Mormon hippie. (Except
for the obedient/hardworking/non-smoking part of course.) Missionary work is all about peace and love here!

It's interesting how I find myself changing and adjusting to adapt to each
companion not just in the missionary work, but my attitude and my personality changes with each new companion. President Pehrson told us once that missions are the place not just to find yourself, but to define yourself. Really, this is a process that involves agency. I get to choose exactly who I want to become, and what I'm going to take from each companion to make myself into the new person that I will be after my mission.

Fairfield is on the southwest coast of Connecticut, near the New York border. The best part about it is that we're close to New Haven! This means we get to go explore Yale on an upcoming P-day!!!!!!!!! Does anyone else think that's the most exciting thing in the world, or is it just me? Anyway, yes, our area includes the towns of Fairfield and Easton which are in the New Haven stake. We drove through New Haven on the way down here. It's beautiful. (Of course.) AND, we are on the coast. I have yet to go contacting on the beach, but look forward to doing that very soon.

Fairfield is a pretty wealthy place. Rumor has it Fairfield County is the wealthiest
county in the nation, or something like that. The city of Fairfield is a lot bigger than Windsor and the culture is different because it's so close to New York. Needless to say, people are always in a hurry to get somewhere and a lot of them are commuting to Manhattan. A little different from Windsor Locks, where half the people don't even have jobs or anything to do except sit around and smoke. Much easier there to find someone willing to talk to you. :)Anyway, Fairfield is a lot closer to what I thought all of Connecticut would be like, and probably closer to what most people think of when they think of Connecticut--lots of rich and educated people, Ivy League students, etc.

I LOVE meeting new people and telling them what my name is. If they're a member, of
course it's all about, "Are you related?" and their disappointment when I'm not.
If they're not members, they can't pronounce my name correctly. Munson Real Estate
and Munson Chocolates are huge here and no one has ever heard the name Monson. So people automatically hear "Munson" and say it that way. If I'm really in the mood to push it, I'll point to the name tag and say, "Two 'O's." But most of the time I just don't bother. It's too much work. If you won't read the tag, just call me Sister and that's fine! As long as you don't insist on calling me by my first name. (This applies to strangers, not family members.) It happens more than you might think. People sometimes feel uncomfortable with the title of "Sister" for someone so young or for someone who's not a Catholic nun, so they'll ask for our first names and try to use them. No, random old man on the street, please don't call me Kaelynn. Really. ONLY on a mission, would you ever get offended by someone using your first name.

Life is good. I'm so blessed! Love to everyone,
Sister Monson/Munson/Monster/Manson/meh, whatever.

24 August 2009

2009-08-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

It's true! six weeks over already and I"m getting shipped outta here. I can't
believe I've already been with Sister Darrington for six weeks! Yes, I know I keep
saying how much the time flies and people told me it would but I didn't believe them.

I'm going to Fairfield which is in southwest Connecticut on the coast, kinda by New
Haven but not really. It's really close to the mission boundary (the far southwest
corner of Connecticut is in one of the New York missions). The address is 170 Ruane St., Fairfield, CT 06824. My new companion will be Sister Baird. She's from Sandy and has been out about fourteen months, I think. I'm excited this will be a very different experience. Fairfield is pretty wealthy, I hear. It is definitely bittersweet to leave my greenie area I absolutely love Windsor and not just because I was born here, but it really is a wonderful area. The other sisters called it the "fairy-tale area." I think it's almost everyone's favorite. But Fairfield will be wonderful too, I'm sure.

Funny story for the week: we were on I-91 driving to district meeting and saw a
motorcyclist. Not only was he not wearing a helmet, but he was texting while driving. Yes. Texting while driving. On the freeway. Sometimes I think Connecticut drivers have a death wish. Or maybe just the East Coast in general.

Girls camp was this week. The Young Women in this ward are great about member missionary work. Two nonmember girls went to camp this year, and they both came back committed to be baptized. YEAH BABY!!! One of them is in our area and the friend who brought her to camp is going to have us teach her in their home. Every missionary's dream, right there. "Hi Sister Monson, I have a friend who wants to be baptized, can you teach her the lessons?" Um, yeah, I think so. We'll try and squeeze it into our schedule. :)

One thing President Pehrson has really been pushing is having us extend the baptismal challenge really early in the teaching process, in the first or second lesson. I think the reasoning behind it is that you can weed out, very quickly, the people who are not committed. If they're not ready to commit to baptism they won't commit to reading or praying or any other commitment. That way we can move on more quickly instead of just hanging on to people so we can have someone to teach to fill up time. AND, this is what Preach My Gospel says to do. Anyway, I wish I had taken this counsel to heart earlier in my mission. I challenged one of our new investigators to baptism this week and she accepted. I need to have more faith! And less fear of offending people or scaring them away. Lesson learned: Preach My Gospel knows better! Better than me or what my trainer taught me or what everyone else thinks;hmm, it's like the people who wrote it were inspired or something. :) Yeah, I know this sounds like a "duh" statement but you'd be surprised how many missionaries in this mission, including myself, could do better with sticking to Preach My Gospel. Time to become a Preach My Gospel missionary!

Thanks to everyone for your love and support. I'm off to the coast for the tail end of summer (summer is short here, it's going to get cold soon). Love you!
~Sister Monson

17Aug2009

2009-08-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

What a week. Please pray for Elder Ginatto who was diagnosed with a heart problem,
and Elder Worthington who tore his Achilles tendon. Elder Worthington (the financial
secretary, they just got out here in July) was giving out pass-along cards to everyone in the hospital. :) He came right back to the office and has been working with his foot propped up on a chair. He refused to go back to Salt Lake for surgery and recovery. I am so blessed to be surrounded by missionaries with all this enthusiasm for the work.

Windsor Locks is as exciting as always. This week we tracted into a guy and set up a
return appointment. When we went back he had his computer and headset all set up, and said he had a friend in Cairo who wanted to listen to the lesson! She wants to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and learn more. We couldn't tell her a whole lot except to go to mormon.org and that we would try to find out if there were any members or a church in the area. As far as I know there are not proselyting missionaries in Egypt. But miracles happen. We'll see how this one turns out. We taught someone in Egypt! How cool is that?

We are still teaching the 17-year-old that we found a couple weeks ago and things are going really well. He reads everything like crazy and accepts it all. Yesterday we were teaching him the 10 Commandments. When we explained about keeping the Sabbath day holy, he exclaimed, "So I shouldn't work on Sunday then!" Yes, that is the perfect answer! He kept asking us why more people don't live the 10 Commandments. Teaching him has been a challenge because his parents didn't raise him with any religion, so this is all really new to him. You don't realize how much silly jargon we have in the Church until you try to teach it to someone who's never heard of it before. But it's been good for us, hopefully we're becoming better teachers. Now we just need to get him to go to church.

I've received many tender mercies this week and little insights into the Atonement that have strengthened me as I continue to fight my own personal battles. One thing that I learned was that the Atonement means I don't have to hate myself for my shortcomings. I need to work on them, yes, but because of the Atonement I don't have to dwell on them and get bogged down. Ammon said that "in his strength I can do all things," and that's another thing I have learned-- it is not in my strength that I can do this. Because I, alone, can't do this. But through God all things are possible and in God's strength I can do all things! Once I changed my perspective and started to exercise more faith in God, things started changing. Not overnight, but they are getting better. I'm working on being more positive and patient with everyone, including myself.

Heavenly Father knows us perfectly and he knows what we need. I was never so sure of that as I am right now on my mission. And Jesus Christ is where it's at...He is everything, the reason for everything, the only solution to every problem. Sorry if I sound preachy, it tends to happen when that's all you do every day. :)

Lots of love and thanks for your prayers,
Sister Monson

10 August 2009

2009-08-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have great news! There is a former investigator in Windsor Locks that I have been
wanting to meet with ever since I got out here. We've been dropping by his house and
calling him and he hasn't ever gotten in touch with us. He's from Albania. Last week I called and left him a message and yesterday he called back and agreed to set up an
appointment. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am! I just really want to
teach him because he's Albanian.

Sister Darrington and I made a goal to be more positive and expect miracles-- and things like that are happening. Lots of little miracles all over the place.

We picked up a new investigator this week--a really neat kid. He graduated high school a year early and doesn't know what to do with his life. Windsor Locks is kinda depressing that way--it's a working-class town and college isn't really part of the culture or the expectation of kids when they graduate.

Sister Darrington has pushed for ways to improve our relationship with the ward, and good things are happening. We're also trying to come up with new ideas for finding. Our latest thing is that we choose different themes for tracting/street contacting. We tried tracting with a family history theme, and with inviting people to church events, and offering service. Yes, may I be struck down for saying it but tracting gets monotonous, so you have to come up with ways to make it different so you don't dread it.

Transfers are coming up (yet again,this transfer flew by) in two weeks, and I'm kinda sorta hoping to get moved. (Yeah, after I've been saying all this time that I would be happy to spend my entire mission here.) I love this area so much and I will miss it, but four transfers is enough time to be in one area, I think. I need to leave my "birthplace" and get other learning experiences that I can't get here.

This week I had a couple of small miracles happen that helped me feel more strongly that I am where I need to be right now, in Connecticut. One of our recent converts called us up needing "faith CPR"he was having doubts about the Book of Mormon. We went over there and I shared some things that I have learned over the years that have helped me through times of doubt. Then he said, "I keep wondering if I joined this church just because I loved the people and they were so nice." I said, "I don't believe that. Tell Sister Darrington about the way you felt when the first sisters knocked on your door." Then I reminded him of other miraculous parts of his conversion and asked him to tell Sister Darrington about all of them. He later called to thank us and said the things we had shared really helped strengthen his faith.

Earlier this week he was having some reservations about accepting a calling in the
church. When I said the prayer to end our lesson I started spewing out something about how he would be blessed to magnify his calling and he would have many good memories of his service in the Young Men, that would be a blessing to him for many years. Something I wouldn't have said. I've heard stories of missionaries having the Holy Ghost speak through them and say things they didn't know to say. I think this was what happened to me. The point of these two stories is that I felt God was using me, and that I specifically had unique things to offer that were needed at that particular time. I haven't really experienced that before on my mission and it was a very satisfying feeling. Even if those two little things were the ONLY reason I was supposed to come out here at this time, I'd be satisfied with thatâ€”at least I feel like I have something to offer.

End of the novel. Lots of love,
Sister Monson
P.S. If ANY of my old friends/roommates are reading this, PLEASE PLEASE, I need Loraine's address! Gotta send her a very belated wedding card.

3Aug09

2009-08-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

Windsor âLocks Your Heart.

Lame, I know, but I am running out of ways to make fun of the name. Anyone else read
the talk called "Lock Your Heart" by Pres. Kimball? It's a good one. I read it for
the first time this week. You know what else is good? The Nashville tribute to Joseph Smith. We just got the CD and I'm obsessed with it. (Well, as obsessed as you can be with any music while you're on your mission, which isn't much.) Any country fans out there should check it out.

Not much new to report. Still working on building up a Windsor Locks teaching pool.
It's going slowly. We had some really great new investigators who have all started
ignoring us. Sad! Time to find more new ones. There are people here, it's just a matter of finding them.

It seemed to be the week for referrals. People just started giving us referrals out of the blue. It was great. Let's get the trend to continue, folks! We're really working on strengthening our relationship with the ward.

Our one progressing investigator agreed to be baptized by her next birthday, which is in November. Woo-hoo! We'll take that for now.

Yesterday we knocked on some doors on the way home from church. We hadn't broken our
fast yet and were both trying very hard not to be hungry/ornery, but almost no one was home. At one of the houses the cat was hanging out on the porch (Connecticut is obsessed with animals) and meowing at us while we rang the doorbell and waited. Sister Darrington said something to the effect of, "I'm starving." Right on cue the cat moved to its dish (on the side of the porch) and started crunching on kitty treats. Way to rub it in!

God definitely takes care of us out here. Yesterday in Gospel Principles we had a great discussion on women and the priesthood, trying to address some concerns that a recently reactivated sister had. I was really impressed with the brethren involved in the discussion. One of them, who is in the Young Men's presidency, told the sister that they are always trying to impress upon the young men the responsibility that they carry with their priesthood. They want them to understand that the priesthood is a responsibility to serve and be worthy and Christlike, and that it's not about a power trip or "exercising unrighteous dominion." I think it helped her feel a lot better about what her sons are being taught in church. They addressed her concerns very humbly and respectfully. It was very clear that they take their priesthood callings seriously, especially the responsibility to be worthy. I love this ward!!!! The way the discussion turned out couldn't have been more ideal.

Can you believe it's August already? Hope you are all well (staying relatively cool), and thanks for your support.

Love,
Sister Monson

27 July 2009

2009-07-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

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 areaâ€”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

2009-07-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

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

29 Jun 09

2009-06-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

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

25 May 2009

2009-05-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it wasn't exactly a lifelong dream. Just something I've been wanting to do since I got out here. Dunkin' Donuts is HUGE on the East Coast and they are everywhere here in Windsor and Windsor Locks. I was so excited to try the donuts, and after all the anticipation, I discovered they are just normal overpriced donuts. BUT, I have yet to try the hot chocolate, which is supposed to be really good. So I still have hope that Dunkin' Donuts can be everything it promises to be.

The second performance of our mission music fireside was last night, at the Bloomfield chapel for the Hartford stake. It went really well. Attendance was decent considering it was a holiday weekend. Speaking of holidays, Memorial Day is HUGE here in Connecticut. Yesterday when we went to do our grocery shopping we thought the town was deserted, until we saw that everyone was gathered at the center (that's Connecticut-ese for downtown) near the city hall, listening to someone give a speech.

We're moving to Windsor Locks today and the new address is 266 Main St. #213, Windsor Locks, CT 06096. Latest word from President is that I will stay in this area until at least August. Sister Haueter will be here one more transfer.

I forget if I've already mentioned this or not but I did an exchange in Rocky Hill a
couple weeks ago which was fun. Rocky Hill is a town south of Hartfordâ€”the area covers the towns of Rocky Hill, Cromwell and Newington. Sister Baird is more on the reserved side, like me, which was good because it required both of us to talk more in order to carry on the conversations. The Rocky Hill apartment is HUGE! Each sister has her own bathroom! I'm so jealousâ€¦Try being sister missionaries with only one bathroom. Then try having BOTH of you shower, dry your hair and do makeup in a half hour. I know I'm not the first sister missionary in the world to point out that this schedule is unrealistic for us, especially if they expect us to ook the message. What ends up happening is that you have a bunch of very tired sisters who got up earlier than the crack of dawn to get ready. Elders have NO RIGHT to complain about getting up at 6:30!
Crybabies.

The work is good planning on three baptisms in June and we have at least two more
investigators that are super close to scheduling baptismal dates. Forgive me for not
throwing out anyone's names. I figure since this is going on the Internet (and
apparently anyone can just Google it and find the blog! Not what I'd prefer but I
can't do anything about it except beg Mom and Dad to make the blog more secure), and I have no control over the security, I'd better not.

I've discovered that just like every other gospel topic in existence, I don't know as much about the Atonement as I thought I did. I've been studying it more in depth and trying to understand how to apply what I'm learning. Everyone always says, Use the Atonement! Use the Atonement! but no one seems to be able to explain to me HOW to do that beyond, of course, the obvious repenting and using the Atonement to be forgiven. I know that in some way the Atonement is supposed to heal our heartaches and our pains but I don't understand how that works. How do I use the Atonement to move past my own insecurities and become the kind of missionary I'm supposed to be? I know that I believe in the Atonement, but I don't know how to use it. Anyone with wisdom, please feel free to impart.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for the letters. Lots of love,
Sister Monson

15 May 2009--Some Pictures

2009-05-15T09:18:00.001-07:00

Some more pictures from Kaelynn's first area: Gondeks (Investigators), Bloomfield district, Kaelynn and Sister Mortimer, all the Sisters in the Mission

6May2009

2009-05-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

"Thank you, my religious needs have been met".

That's my favorite line so far that I've heard out here. Most people just say
"I'm all set" when they're not interested and are trying to get rid of us.

The highlight of the week, for me, was mission conference. Brother Stephen Allen,
managing director of the Missionary Department, and Brother Packer (President Packer's son), flew out from Salt Lake to give us training. It was very interactive and helpful. At the beginning of the meeting Brother Allen told us to take out a pen and paper, and every time we wrote down something we heard we were supposed to raise our hands. But we could only write down something we actually planned to do, or how we were specifically going to change as a result of what was said. I liked that idea. How many times do I take notes at a fireside and never look at them again? What good does it do?

Yesterday a couple we're teaching came to church and brought their six-year-old son.
After church he was showing me the candy he got in Primary. Hence the following
conversation:

"Where's my candy?"

"You don't get any!"

"Why not?"

"Because you're not a kid."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I'm not a kid? What am I?"

"You're a Mormon."

I love what happens when I try to cut slang words out of my vocabulary. Lately I've
been saying moronic things like, "Holy snot," "Holy banana peels," "Oh my
Hannah." Family, please try not to make fun of me too much on the phone.

And I have not forgotten that pictures are fun and I should send them. Here's the
dilemma: the computers at this library are beyond slow. It takes hours to upload and send two or three pictures. And I took my memory card to CVS (that's the main drugstore chain out here) to try to download/print pictures, but it didn't read my memory card. But, I will keep trying. Next week hopefully, I'll print some pictures from either my camera or Sis. Haueter's, and send them.

Missions are crazy. If my letters sound somewhat superficial, it's because there's so much more I've learned and experienced that I wish I could write about, but it is just impossible to explain through email. I'm working like crazy not just doing missionary work but really trying to be as obedient as possible and to talk to as many people as I can, learn as much as I can. For me that's the hardest part the constant sense of inadequacy. I always feel like I could be doing so, so much better. But it's not for a lack of trying, believe me.

MTC district: exaltation is exciting. Oh so exciting so exciting that apparently Elder Schumann can't keep a companion for more than 22 hours?! You are right, that story absolutely tops any of ours. I haven't heard much else from the Canada end of things. I'm wondering if Sister Jones and Elders Meyers/Byington/Lyman are still alive. Anyone heard from them?

Thanks to everyone for your letters! The Church is still true. :)
-Sister Monson

27 April 2009

2009-04-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, this was one crazy week. The weather is BIZARRE. I am not exaggerating when I say it was early spring one day and summer the next. One day it was cold and rainy, and the next morning we woke up to 90-degree weather. No joke. Apparently the weather is extremely unpredictable here. So we're into summer now, but it's supposed to get back into the 50's later this week.

Last night we had the first performance of our missionary musical fireside, which went extremely well. We got to drive out to Rhode Island, for probably our first and last time since there aren't any sister areas there and haven't been for a while. It was SO much fun. We went to Warwick, which is beautiful. I still can't get over how many trees there are out here. Anyway, the fireside went well. It was a musical presentation based off the The Living Christ document. There were several short testimonies by members of the Providence Stake and by one of the elders, and musical numbers about the Savior. There were several big choir pieces, some small-group numbers and quite a few solo numbers. I sang "On A Golden Springtime" from the Primary book. It was really more of a vocal-piano duet with Elder Park. If any of you remember what the original song is like (very blah!)Elder Park took that and ran with it, created a really amazing accompaniment. It was fun.

I have a doctrinal question for anyone who cares to answer. I found a statement by the First Presidency in 1970 regarding tithing, which basically said that one-tenth of our increase means income and no one is justified in making any other statement than this. So, if it's a personal decision whether to pay tithing before or after taxes are taken out WHY in the world have I been taught from my infancy that tithing must be paid on gross income? I've been told that even by bishops. If the First Presidency has set the record straight, why are so many members led to believe otherwise? I asked my mission president and he referred me back to the same 1970 statement. Is there anything more recent? Anyone know? I'm confused.

As far as the missionary work goes, it was a great and depressing week. We got dropped by two of our really amazing investigators, and a third one that was really coming close to baptism has panicked again. It feels like being dumped on a regular basis. BUT, we finally have a baptismal date for the teenager from a part-member family. He's such a great kid.

And, we had a really miraculous blessing this weekend. This is a great story. It begins last Sunday, when the bishop gave us the name of a lady and asked us to go check up on her. He said they had found a membership record for her. Usually when this happens it's because the person has moved and the Church lost track of them, or they became less-active and have been hiding out. So we went to her house on Saturday expecting her to be angry and bitter. Turns out she is the sweetest lady on earth, and has never even HEARD of the church, let alone been a member. Luckily Sis. Haueter kept the conversation going and started asking her about her religious background, and she said she goes to lots of churches but doesn't really affiliate with any of them. She said, "I've been looking for that special church, and I've never found it, but I'll know when I do find it. As she's saying this I'm forcing myself not to jump up and down, and we hold in our excitement long enough to schedule a return appointment, and reassure her that yes, this IS that special church. HOLY BANANA PEELS! (I haven't used that expression for years and it didn't come back until my mission.) On Sunday we updated the bishop and tried to figure out where her name came from. It must be that she happens to have the exact same name as someone who used to be a member, but the Church had the wrong address and this other lady with the same name is still out there somewhere. What a crazy story. I'll keep you posted on her status. We have an appointment with her this week everyone please pray that she follows through.

Oh, and I had another miracle this week. That was the day when I got five letters at once (probably the first and last time). From Mom and Dad, Andrea, Kelley, Nicole, and my mission president. THANK YOU to everyone who made that happen...it was better than Christmas. Mail is more precious than gold to missionaries. Speaking of mail, we don't know yet how soon we'll be moving out to Windsor Locks so if anyone wants to send a letter please send it to the mission office and it won't get lost. The address is:

Connecticut Hartford Mission, 34 Jerome Ave. Ste 319, Bloomfield, CT. 06002.

THANKS...love,
Sister Monson

21 April 2009

2009-04-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

I, for one, am astounded at how quickly time has gone. After my first week and a half in the MTC, the rest of my mission since then feels like it was about five minutes long. And already my first transfer is over. Saturday was my two-month birthday. Happy birthday self!

Mission news of this weekâ€”neither Sister Haueter nor I got moved this transfer. Phew. Sigh of relief. Because our current apartment is jacking up the rent, we will be moving probably next month to a different apartment in Windsor Locks, the other town in our area. (The area only covers two towns, Windsor and Windsor Locks. Don't ask me what "locks" means, I don't know except I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean
"lakes" because there are only pretty rivers here, no lakes.) This will be very
interesting as far as our teaching pool goes because of mileage restrictions we've
concentrated most of our efforts on Windsor up until now, so we're going to have to do some rearranging and re-prioritizing before the move. The neighborhood we'll be moving to will be a little less prosperous and it'll be nice to have a fresh start and tract out some streets that haven't been worked before.

Speaking of jacking up the rent, this state is so expensive to live in it's almost
beyond my comprehension. It reminds me of when Chris and Lisa used to live in Berkeley and pay an arm and a leg for an apartment the size of one walk-in closet. Our current apartment's rent, if we were to renew the lease, would be over $1000 a month. A MONTH. $12,000 a year. Who has that kind of money? And this isn't even rich Connecticut. I hear it's worse in the New York missions they have to bunk three and four companionships together in one apartment because no one can afford apartments there.

Yesterday we had a really wonderful experience in church. We were in the Gospel
Principles Sunday School class. We had brought one of our investigators with us, and a member had brought her friend, whom we hadn't met because she lives out of our area. The lesson was on temples and families. We talked about the importance of learning gospel principles in the home. The member's friend started crying, and she raised her hand and said, "This is everything I've been looking for." She went on to tell us how she had been to every church on the planet and this was the only time she had heard anything in a church about the importance of families. It was a really sweet and touching moment.

The work is good. I keep hearing things from other people like Windsor's on
fire!, but since I'm still so new I don't know anything different. Because this
feels normal to me, maybe that will be a good motivator when I go to other areas that aren't quite so on fire. It has been such a blessing to come into this area at a good time when the previous sisters have really gotten it going. Maybe someday I'll be the missionary that sets an area on fire. Wouldn't that be sweet.

We got some more new investigators this week and we have three investigators that are, hopefully (cross your fingers), going to get baptismal dates soon.

Last week I had a dream that Randi Cox (from high school) was coming out to our mission and I had to be her trainer. Panic attack, anyone? Right after President just got done telling me I wouldn't be transferred. And I can't train! That's ridiculous! I'm not fully trained yet myself. So I panicked a lot in my dream. Then I woke up. Gotta stop having freaky dreams.

Love you everyone! Hope you are well,
Sister Monson

13 April 2009 Letter and Pictures

2009-04-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

Here's Kaelynn's letter and pictures for 13 April 2009

Not too exciting of a week. Easter was fun, a member was so kind to feed us dinner.
We went to the Arsenic and Old Lace house againâ€”a former investigator lives there.
It's divided into two apartments so we got to go inside the entryway and up this crazy old-looking staircase, to knock on the top door of the apartment. No dice with the former but at least we can say we went inside.

We have started volunteering at an adult day care center for the elderly. This was our first time going there and to help the clients get to know us, they did a
question-and-answer session. We couldn't go too deep into doctrines, of course, but we answered a few basic doctrinal questions and a lot of questions about mission life and cleared up some misconceptions. People frequently confuse us with the FLDS and the Jehovah's Witnesses. By the end of our session even some of the staff members were asking questions too. It was great. I feel it's a good thing that even if we don't baptize a ton of people here, at least we can educate them and leave a good impression of the Church by being pleasant and friendly.

Today we got brave and daring and drove to Hartford (with permission of course). My
companion had a medical appointment. To tell the truth, the place was just barely across the boundary from West Hartford, so I only saw a tiny bit of Hartford itself. The houses on Asylum Avenue are INSANELY big. There are tons of colleges/universities with beautiful campuses. We drove by Saint Joseph College (which is a HUGE/gorgeous campus) and UConn's Greater Hartford campus. (People are always talking about UConn basketball here. I feel so clueless. It almost makes me wish I cared at least a tiny bit about sports.

The work continues. We have one investigator progressing toward baptism. SUCH a great kid. We're working on getting two of his siblings there too. Speaking of committing people to baptism, it is hard for me, for some reason. Ever since I got out here I've struggled with extending commitments. We would plan that I would teach a principle and then extend the commitment to live that principle, and what would happen is that I'd teach the principle and then wuss out without committing. Yeah, I'm awesome that way. Anyway, this week was the first time I finally succeeded in extending a commitment. I asked this couple to commit to baptism. It couldn't have been worse than popping the question. I feel so bad for guys. Yet another reason to be grateful to be a girl. It didn't turn out so well in the moment, but at least they said they'd think about it and they are seriously thinking about it.

Last night I had a dream that they made me go back to the MTC and we had to do skits as a district, which we would present for all of the other missionaries. I was supposed to play the guitar and dress like an 80's chick. When it was time to do the skit I couldn't find a bathroom or my costume, and I didn't know where my district was, and I didn't have a guitar. When I finally found my district they were all wearing these matching blue shirts, which detail they had somehow managed to leave me out of. One of the elders took me into this room to find a guitar, and the first guitar he handed me was a toy. I was like, No, this isn't going to work! I can't PLAY this,and then he handed me a lyre (a medieval stringed instrument). Of course. Since I know how to play those. I started playing this Celtic folk song. Then it was time to get on stage and I was still dressed like an 80's chick and I didn't know the script to my skit. Then I tried to go back to my dorm, but 17M looked more like a store in a strip mall, and every door had a sign that said, Please use other door. Yeah. It was a stressful dream.

Lots of love,
Sister Monson

6 April 2009

2009-04-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Conference was great. We went to our church building to watch it and then we had to
evacuate the church because there was a gas leak...our building apparently has some gas issue, this is the second time it's happened since I've been out here. Anyway, we watched the rest of conference at Pres.'s house since West Hartford is really close to Bloomfield. They were so kind to have a bunch of missionaries crash there on such short notice. Their three daughters flew out from Utah this weekend to visit them. They planned it secretly with Pres. to surprise Sister, and then they tape-recorded her reaction when she opened the door and saw her three daughters standing on porch. It was pretty cute. :)

By the way, let me tell you how hard it is to get used to having conference at 12 and 4 instead of 10 and 2. Don't ask me why. Not like it's an enormous change. It just feels that way for some reason.

So, does anyone know why we don't observe Good Friday or any part of Holy Week except Easter Sunday? We had dinner at an investigator's home on Friday (they're Catholics) and they wanted to know if we were allowed to eat meat that day.

Fun fact: you know the city Poughkeepsie, NY? Remember how no one knows how in the world it's pronounced? Well, I met someone from there this week. It is pronounced
Puh-KIP-see. Who knew!

There is a restaurant in Avon called Five Guys. It is to DIE for. The
hamburgers are probably one of the best hamburgers I've ever had in my life. Avon is a super-rich city in our district; it's close to Bloomfield, so we went there in between sessions of conference on Saturday. Apparently some celebrities live there. And apparently the Prophet's relative also lives here, and he drops by occasionally
unannounced. The Avon elders said once during district meeting that he always says
Amen!very loudly during the meetings.

Speaking of restaurants, there is a Whistle Stop Cafe here in Windsor and a member is going to take us there this week! (Anyone seen the movie Fried Green Tomatoes?)
We've picked up some amazing investigators this week. One of them is a teenager who is the son of a less-active member in the ward. Apparently missionaries have been dropping by for years in an attempt to get his mom back to church, and her son spent a lot of time with the elders and really admired them. We dropped by their house a few weeks ago and Sister Haueter asked if her son would be interested in taking the lessons from us, and she said she would ask him and give us a call. Later that week we get a call from her this kid is so ready it's not even funny. He wants to be baptized, he wants to go on a mission, he needs a ride to Young Men's this week, he needs a ride to church, etc. etc.

Another fun story: we got a referral from a recently baptized member. This kid is
also a teenager. We called his mom to ask for permission to give him the lessons, and she basically told us to get lost (politely). He came to church on Sunday and we went to his house that week, just to drop him by a Book of Mormon and ask again if there was any way we could teach him. Not only did she invite us in, but we ended up teaching him and his parents together right then, and they are scheduled to take the second lesson this week!
Life is good. :)

One of the assistants is planning a mission musical fireside that we get to participate in. Apparently this is more than just a one-time event we'll be performing it two or three times, maybe? Anyway, one of the performances is in Rhode Island. I'm so excited!!! This might be my only chance to go out there. There haven't been any sisters areas in RI for a while.

Conference was so uplifting and wonderful. I'm so grateful to belong to a church that is led by a prophet. Stick with the prophet, kids! That's the only way to be safe.

Love,
Sister Monson

6 April 2009

2009-04-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

30 March 2009

2009-03-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

This week we stopped by the famous Arsenic and Old Lace house, where all those
famous arsenic deaths occurred. Yes, the actual house. It looks like it's had some
rooms added on to it. No one was home so we didn't go inside. But when we knocked on
the door we started smelling natural gas, like there was a gas leak coming from
somewhere. So we left pretty quickly after that.

Met some really great people this week including a music therapist who works at one of the places where we are trying to volunteer. It was so fun talking with her about music therapy!

Another lady, well, we knocked on her door and she opened the door and immediately said, Come in, I know who you are, and offered to feed us! It was pretty shocking because, as you might guess, that never happens. She is not interested in taking the lessons but she has very positive feelings about the Church because a lot of
her children and grandchildren are members. And she feeds missionaries all the time. Not only that, but she defends the Church when other people say things about us. Which,sadly, happens a lot. Most people here don't know much about us at all, but the little information they have is usually wrong. Anyway, this angelic soul who let us into her house always defends the Church. The churches in town sometimes have interfaith events that she wishes we were invited to. (It probably doesn't help that our meetinghouse is located in Bloomfield, 20 minutes away, and not here in Windsor.)

We got some new investigators this week that we are REALLY excited about. Had some good first lessons. We have a new ward mission plan that we introduced this week to try and get our ward members into Preach My Gospel.

Funny stories--well, the other day we were at the home of two new members. The mom and oldest daughter in this family just got baptized and there are two younger daughters in the family, ages 7 and 5. Whenever we come to teach the new-member lessons at this home the two younger daughters do all sorts of things to try to steal away our attention from their mom and sister. It's really funny. So the 7-year-old was drawing pictures in a diary and showing them to Sister Haueter. The 5-year-old got jealous and she said, "You don't need to show people your diarrhea." Let's work on that vocabulary, kids.

Did I mention that EVERYONE HERE HAS CATS AND DOGS? I don't think it's exaggerating
too much to say that every home I've been in is a pet home. Nearly every home. I've
been really blessed as far as my cat allergies. It actually hasn't been much of a
problem. It's funny, though, being around cats. They are SO stinkin smart and they
can just sense when a person isn't comfortable around them. Cats ALWAYS know that I am allergic to them, I swear, because they always come near me when I go into someone's house.

Sister Laulu...I have no words. Except maybe "you're brave." VERY brave. Kudos
to you for having a positive attitude. I can't imagine going into an area after stuff
like that- ESPECIALLY being brand new. Way to be the amazing missionary that your pres. can trust with such a task! Hmm, well, I'm trying to compliment you and I just end up sounding negative. I'm probably not helping. Will you enlighten me in my dumbness...what does "meuli" mean? OH, and do you get to go to Graceland on your Preparation Day? I'm so jealous! I'm jealous that you're in Memphis even though it is a scary place. Well, not really jealous, I love being here but Elvis? Seriously? Go to the King's house for me! if you can. Take lots of pictures.

Love,
Sister Monson

March 23, 2009

2009-03-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is my name. Sister Monster. Some adorable kids called me that.:)People
also confuse my name with Munson chocolates- apparently they're really big around here?

Fun fact about Windsor!!! The movie "Arsenic and Old Lace" was based on a play,which was written based on a true story of a lady who actually did kill a lot of people with arsenic when they came to her house. That lady lived in Windsor. And her house is still standing. Next month when we're not so low on miles I'm going to get Sis. Haueter to take me out there. :) Cool huh?

Besides the Arsenic and Old Lace house, there is also a historic district out here
on Palisado Drive with amazingly old houses. 1700's and Civil War-era houses. We've
driven through it a couple of times.

Funny story. Very funny story. Oh, the Church is great out here members are awesome.
Yesterday in church a lady was giving a talk on was it faith? Something like that.
Anyway, she was talking about how grateful she was that the ward members understand her and that they're patient with her when she says crazy things. Then she proceeded to tell a story of a time when she was saying the closing prayer at some activity- I think it was a Relief Society gathering- and she asked Heavenly Father to bless us as ladies of the night. Then she proceeded to explain, in great detail, what she means by that-about how she feels that mothers are ladies of the evening because they have to stay up late doing laundry, etc. after their kids have gone to bed, and how they are always doing the least favorite tasks. Then she said something like, Don't get me wrong. I'm not implying that I walk the streets of Hartford at midnight! But I feel like I am the one who always does the things no one else wants to do.

Highlight of the week- we had a double baptism on Saturday, a mom and her daughter. These baptisms were already planned when I transferred into the area, so I didn't do much other than sit there and watch my trainer finish prepping them for baptism. The event itself was absolutely crazy. I can't even tell you how many things went wrong! They were both sick. The mom was puffed up with allergies and vomiting and feverish. The mom's best friend's mother passed away about an hour before the actual baptism
occurred. She and this friend had made a pact in college that they would be there for
each other if their moms died, so she had to tell her friend, I'll be there for you
later tonight, but right now I have to go get baptized. So they got to the church late and no one brought towels, and she had to get a blessing from the elders because she was so sick, and they had to leave right after the baptism to go to New York for this friend whose mom had just died. So many other things went wrong, I haven't even told you the half of it, but they are baptized! That's the miracle of it all.

Did anyone else feel like they knew everything when they got out of the MTC? I thought I was so prepared. Lately I am realizing what a moron I am. I don't know anything. I have such a hard time teaching anything coherently, because I am still trying to break out of my shy shell. I just don't fit in here. I don't fit in with Connecticut people or with missionaries either. I'm just too new to fit in with either crowd. I know it'll come with time. I'll get more confident and be able to really teach and explain things. Just have to be patient. Do me a favor and pray that I'll be able to be confident, and NOT shy.

Okay, so pictures take about a thousand years to upload on this super-slow library
computer so I was only able to upload a few of them. More to come next week. (Aren't you excited?)

Love,
Sister Monson

16 March 2009

2009-03-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

(Apparently "I'm all set" is an East Coast phrase. Which I never knew because I always heard Dad say it...but it makes sense now seeing as Dad's from New Jersey...but no other missionaries out here had ever heard it before. :)

Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing well

I am enjoying mission life out here in Windsor, Connecticut. Windsor is just north of Hartford. (Sisters don't serve in Hartford, it's too ghetto.) Windsor is also apparently Connecticut's oldest town. The sisters' area just covers Windsor and also the town of Windsor Locks. So not very big, land-wise, but things are hopping out here.

I'm riding in on the coattails of some awesome sister missionaries who got the ball rolling. My companion and her previous companion already had four baptismal dates set up for this transfer when I got out here. (And for all you South American returned missionaries four baptisms in one transfer is a LOT out here. ) We got another investigator committed to baptism this past week!

My companion is Sister Haueter (rhymes with power) from Smithfield (Elder Byington, she knew you, way back when) and she rocks. Really funny and friendly and outgoing, and very FUN which balances out my intense side so that's good. We have a great time AND we work hard.

The work is interesting out here is so much different than I thought it would be. EVERYONE I have met so far, almost, has been Catholic. Apparently Connecticut has a lot of Jews also, but I have yet to meet one. I'm told Windsor is not very diverse in comparison with the rest of the state. And of course I'm in complete culture shock because anywhere is diverse compared to Utah. There are also tons of Jamaicans here. They are AWESOME people they are very big into prayer and meditation. I had this picture in my mind of a state full of Yale atheists who are all super-intellectual. But as of this week (not very much time, I realize) mostly what I have seen is people with a strong Christian faith, who struggle with the idea of priesthood authority and the proper baptism and such. There are a few investigators who get way out there into the deeper intellectual doctrines and don't focus on what really matters, and struggle because of that. But I haven't seen nearly as much of that as I thought I would.

I have already had so many funny things happen to me out here, I can't even tell you. This place is so unique and missions are so unique, funny stuff just happens all the time. A lot of people want to pronounce my name Munson because Munson Chocolates are really big out here (yeah, I never heard of them either). Last night some investigators' kids called me Sister Monster and my companion Mister Haueter. Oh, and one of those kids, a little girl, told me, I can't go to Primary because there's BOYS.

Earlier this week a member told us, You can pawk [park] out here, and my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe people REALLY talk like that, like they're not just making it up. This member is from Massachusetts, I think. She says pawk and she works at Tawget. That accent is so common out here because people from RI and Massachusetts have it and natives of CT have it, to, but to a lesser degree.

Yesterday I met a member and I got the drill (this is starting to sound so familiar already) "Now, I know you must get asked this all the time and you're probably sick of hearing people ask you about it, but, are you related to the Prophet?" Of course I said no. Normally when people get this response they say "Oh," and act disappointed, or else they try and push it, "Are you SURE? Not even distantly?" This member happened to be shaking my hand when she asked me the question, and when I said no she dropped my hand and wiped it off on her dress and looked away from me, disgusted. I was super confused for about half a second, until I realized she was messing with me. It was HILARIOUS. Guess you had to be there, maybe.

There are not very many sisters here. Really, at any given time there are about 10 sisters and 100 elders in the mission. Really. No exaggeration. That's a lot of 19-year-old boys. It can be a little overwhelming. And I haven't even seen all the missionaries together in one place yet. Get excited for mission conference this summer!

My address is 6 Heritage Drive Apt. C, Windsor, CT 06095 if you want to send me mail (HINT HINT). I like mail. A lot. Oh, and MTC District 53, hi from your sister/grandma! (Yes I am old.) I probably won't be sending you individual emails. Sorry. But I hope you are all doing well and not freezing to death in Canada/Arkansas (yes, Arkansas! I didn't think about that when I first wrote it!). Don't forget about Elder Greenwell's kitten cups. I will remember that story until the day I die.

The Church is true! Until next Monday,
Sister Monson

Kaelynn arrives in Connecticut

2009-03-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

Here's Kaelynn when she first arrives in the mission home

Kaelynn's address

2009-03-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Kaelynn's address is:

6 Heritage Drive Apt C
Williamsburg Apartments
Windosr, CT

06095

5 March 2009

2009-03-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad, will you post this on the blog?
Dear everyone:

Life is good, I'm feeling much more well-adjusted than the last time I wrote. I think I was a little freaked out because everyone said MTC life starts to feel normal after the first three days, and for me it didn't happen for at least a week. But now I feel really normal (well, relatively normal).

I don't think I've told you much about my companion or the people from my district, so I think I'll do that because they are really fun people. My companion is Sister Mortimer, from Holladay. She is really fun. Extremely blunt. In a good way. :) In my district there is one other companionship of sisters- Sister Jones from Sydney, Australia and Sister Laulu, who is from Hawaii. Sister Jones is going to Calgary, Canada and Sister Laulu is going to Little Rock, Arkansas. We have two other elders going to Little Rock and two other sets of elders going to Calgary. Sister Mortimer and I are the only ones going to Connecticut. As far as I know we're the only sisters at the MTC going to Connecticut right now. We've met a bunch of elders from other districts going to our mission, but no other sisters.

The first week and a half that we were here, we shared a room with four Spanish-speaking sisters who were loud and crazy. :) Now they have all left except Hermana Fifita, who is delayed because of health problems. She's one of my favorite people ever. She's Tongan and grew up in Long Beach. We call her Sister Fajita. In our room there is also Hermana Lee and two new sisters who are going to Pennsylvania. So our room is now a little less loud and crazy. I don't know how people can stay here for twelve weeks! My hat is off to them.

So, friends and roomies...I keep running into people here that I knew at USU and
Viewmont. The other day I ran into Kamille Lau from USU. Lucine Emrazian is in a
threesome with one of the sisters I share a room with. I saw Amanda Beutler twice this week- I didn't even know she was going on a mission! She's going to Germany. I've seen Steph Shoell a bunch of times here. Whitney Bills is one of my MTC teachers. I've also seen Niccol Hahn a couple of times...I swear there's more people, I'll remember them as soon as I'm done writing this.

We had a Large Group Meeting presentation on goals and key indicators and I LOVED it and it made so much sense. Maybe it was just the stats nerd in me. Somehow it just rang true. Numbers are only important insofar as they represent souls...but key indicators help you know how to improve so you can bring MORE souls!

I have found some interesting referrals in the Referral Center. But I'm a dork and
somehow I never manage to set up a time to call them back. I always just end up referring them to the missionaries in their area, when I could call them back and teach them over the phone. I worry about this because I don't think the RC referrals get taken very seriously out there. Most of the calls I have done are in the South or in New York. Lots of old ladies calling in wanting a free Bible. The other day I was talking to a Baptist lady in Louisiana and she seemed to be really enjoying talking to me until I mentioned the Book of Mormon. Then she said something like, "Well, it's been nice talking to you but I have some...uh...business I have to take care of..." I was really sad for a little while, now I'm learning to laugh at it. :) People tell me working in the Referral Center is a lot like tracting, so hopefully I can get used to the rejection part of it.

Anyway, my time is up. Love you all. I fly out Monday morning at 8 AM. I'll make sure and write on my first P-day out in the field, whenever that is. Pray for me that I don't get buried in the snow out there. :)

-Sister Monson

Kaelynn's Entry 26 Feb 2009

2009-02-26T11:59:00.001-08:00

Dear everyone-
I apologize to all those I have not yet written to personally. I will get to it.
Eventually. :)

As you may have guessed, they don't give us a whole lot of free time here. MTC life is crazy, kind of like spiritual boot camp, but I'm settling into the routine.
It's a good crazy. Mostly. :) People told me missions were hard and I don't think I
believed them. I understand now-at least why they say the MTC is hard. And I have the least right to say that of anyone, since I'm only staying here three weeks!
My life now is all about studying 17 hours a day, with occasional breaks for gym and
food. I have almost forgotten my first name. And people don't ask me as frequently as I thought they would if I am related to Pres. Monson. It's only about once a day.

I start freaking out when I see people holding hands (usually teachers and their spouses), or if I hear a cell phone ring, or if any male comes close to me-even just accidentally bumping into someone. :)

Yesterday I was mortified to discover that both of my MTC teachers are younger than me. One of the elders in my district started singing, "Sister Monson is old, Sister Monson is old," to the tune of "Happy Birthday." It was funny...guess you had to be there. :)

My companion is Sister Mortimer. She is an amazing person with an incredible testimony. We are still getting used to each other because our personalities are so incredibly different. But it's good. We are both committed to working hard, trying to stay postive and be as obedient as possible.

I have had more tender mercies and small blessings from the Lord than I can count in one short week (although it feels more like a year :). The spiritual growth that happens here is something I could never explain to anyone- you really have to experience it to understand it. The Lord blesses us all as we are all thrown into the refiner's fire.

On Friday night our whole district was struggling with learning the lessons and we were all feeling very, very frustrated and exhausted. A member of our branch presidency dropped by our class, having just come from the temple, and told us that he felt the presence of angels in our midst. Then of course he gave us a copy of Elder Holland's talk- the "salvation is not a cheap experience" talk.

Another tender mercy that I had was earlier this week when I was feeling a little bit down about not learning a language. The truth is that I am excited about my mission call, and I know I am going to where I need to be. However, I get sick of people greeting me in various random languages in the cafeteria. I was starting to feel a little sad from hearing people speaking cool-sounding languages in the hallways to each other, and everywhere I went. In my scriptures I flipped to Ezekiel Ch. 3. I can't remember exactly how it goes, but the gist of it is "you are not called to minister unto people of a strange tongue, but to the house of Israel." It was a very uplifting thing for me. So I have a better attitude about it now. I try to work on my Boston accent and my companion mocks me. :)

Well, my thirty minutes are almost gone. I love you! Thank you for your support and
encouragement. I appreciate it so much. I hope that you are all doing well.
Love,
Sister Monson

PS: KAELYNN's EMAIL ADDRESS IS: kaelynn.d.monson.chm@myldsmail.net

Kaelynn letter 18 February 2009

2009-02-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Here's Kaelynn's postcard which she sent from the MTC

Kaelynn Enters MTC--18 February 2009

2009-02-18T14:46:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

Kaelynn went into the MTC today. She was very excited and anxious to begin. We are so very proud of her.....

Her MTC mailing address is:
Sister Kaelynn Diane Monson
MTC Mailbox #116
CT-HAR 0309
2005 N 900 E.
Provo, Utah
84604-1793

Here are some pictures of the Family Night before she left and the blessed event itself:

Kaelynn Mission Blog

2009-02-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Once a week I will post Kaelynn's letters onto the blog. Once Kaelynn has her email address, I will post that also so you can send her letters.

Love
Dad