17Aug2009

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

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 that—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

Windsor “Locks 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20 July2009

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


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

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

Love,
Sister Monson

13Jul09

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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