Adios Elderes

Well hello there!

This week was insane! Like 50 million things happened this week #cray

Miracle(s) of the Week:

We had like 4 so I will write about all of them! 

First-Interviews with President

I LOVE LOVE LOVE President Packard and I love our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders so when Interviews come around and we are taught by all of them I get really, really excited! I am super pumped! We had so many awesome things taught to us about using the ward council and I realized that everything we do in our mission is creating a shift. It isn't the missionaries people that the ward council can help us with it is the ward's people that we just so happen to have the authority to teach. We will leave and when we do those people that we were teaching can be in good hands that know them, we just have to let them be in charge. It is a cool shift to watch happen. 

Second- N

On Tuesday we got a text from the AP's that said, "Hey Sisters! How would you like to be moms again?" And on Friday we picked up N, our 2nd Mini Missionary! Oh my goodness, she is the coolest person ever. It was super hard to let her leave on Sunday hahaha.

So a little bit about her...

 N is from Littleton Mass. and she was baptized back in November. She was first taught by none other than Elder B! Needless to say she was excited to come here! She was a super big help and we are basically best friends now ahaha. It was really cool to have her with us for the next miracle too!

Third- M and Z's Baptisms!!!

On Saturday at 11 AM we had 2 more baptisms! We were going to have it at 5:00 but there was a storm coming in (surprise surprise) so with a lot of help we moved it to 11 and it was so wonderful! Both Z and M were so happy and the spirit was sooooo strong! 

Fourth- Weather

So it has been really, really, really cold (like anywhere between  6 and 20 degrees)  and yesterday it was a whopping 40! There were kids playing in the snow in shorts! It was such a beautiful day!

Aha moment:

 See Interviews ahahaha. I have so much more but I left my notebook at home :(((

Ahahahaha Moment:

I totally got a cat mug for 50 cents at ReStore. It's the best!!

Random:

On a much different note, transfer week is this week and I am staying and so is Sister L! 

However Hermana R is reopening Revere for Sisters and BOTH of the Eldins(the name for our Elders in our phone so we don't have to search through the million contacts that have the word "Elder" in them) are being taken out.... like it is just going to be Sister L and I in Worcester 1 and 2. We are super sad. Except they called us at 4 AM this morning so we wont miss that hahaha. They are awesome and they are going to be bosses in their next areas. Fun stuff. We feel like this past transfer was just us warming up so that these next few alone we can just book it. So exciting! 

Oh and Hermana C is training a Sister from Mexico, so I really am going to have to learn Spanish because I will be he only non-native Spanish speaker in the house! Woot! 

Whelp, I love you all and I hope that you are all doing awesome! 

Be good!

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

Pictures:

1- N! Love her to death!

2-Me with Z and M!

3- #stpattysday #elderbranoutofideas 

4- #smolder

Many Are Cold But Few Are Frozen

"Hello, From Storm Headquarters"

Can't even count how many times within the past 3 weeks we have heard that or read that hahaha. President Packard and Sister Packard are awesome. Church was cancelled yesterday. That was weird. We were stuck inside the whole day because we got about another foot of snow but that wasn't the problem at all, the problem was the temperatures. Sister Packard called it being "Purple-Dotted" because that is one of the many colors that you will turn being outside in the freezing cold sub arctic temperatures. Okay maybe the sub arctic is a little bit colder but when with the wind chill it is -30 you feel like it is pretty close. 

Miracle of the Week:

We got really lost on Thursday, like we knew where we were but we had no idea what the address of the place that we were supposed to be going was. So I said a little prayer and I remembered that I had written down the phone number of the place in my planner, so we looked and called and they told us and Yay! We got to visit a little old lady(she is 95 and maybe 4'9") in a medical center and she loved it. It was great. 

Aha Moment: 

So the Elders are teaching this guy named T. And T is hilarious. He is in his 50s and really doesn't think that he is good enough to repent. So this week the Elders taught T about the Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Salvation is God's Plan for the Happiness and Salvation of his Children (Which is us!) The Plan of Salvation includes coming here to earth to receive a body and having the opportunity to make choices that can bring us closer to our Heavenly Father. However, we don't always do that. We all make mistakes and our Heavenly Father knew that we would so, He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to come and to atone for our sins and our mistakes, that way if we choose to we can repent or turn away from our sins and choose better and apologize and our Heavenly Father will "remember them no more". Now back to T. As they taught him about this and about the Three Degrees of Glory, T compared the degrees to Cable packages. 

Celestial Kingdom-->Platinum Package

Terrestrial Kingdom-->Premium Package

Telestial Kingdom--> Standard Package

He talked about how we all want the Platinum but he is 99% sure he is barely affording the standard. 

So, my aha moment. This morning I was pondering on this analogy, and I realized. We all have the Platinum Package. Christ already paid for all of our sins and mistakes but it is up to us to turn on the TV and change the channels and use the channels that he has given us. We have to make that choice to accept it. We have to install the satellite and do the things necessary to keep it up and running.

The choice is ours. It always has been and it always will be.  

 Ahahaha moment:

Yesterday, when President and Sister Packard had a Conference call to update us on the weather (Worcester is still #1 for snowiest and coldest) they were talking about frostbite and how a couple of the missions surrounding ours have had missionaries who have had it and President just closes saying "You know, we will be alright. Many are cold but few are frozen!" ahahaha missionary humor.

Random: 

On Friday we finally took pictures as a District! It was 6 degrees and Sister C wanted us to take our jackets off. We were freezing...literally ahahaha. Good Times. 

Well, I love you all and I appreciate all of the prayers on our behalf. 

Be good! 

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

Picture 1- The District 

Elder P, Elder B, Sister L, Sister R, Elder T, Me, Elder M. Sister C was taking the picture

Picture 2: Worcester English and Sister C. Just you know...being us ahaha.

Mom. I Am Sick of Snow.

I'M ALLLLLIIIVVEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the past 2 weeks of snow and snow and more snow we have had 7 1/2 feet. And guess what??? Worcester is, "The snowiest City in the US," right now... Right on. Yesterday we were red-dotted and I did a lot of crafting and cleaning... so that was fun.

I have decided to change up my emails a little bit... I may change back in the future but for now I haven't been writing in my journal because my emails are my journal and I think that I should start writing in that soooo yeah. I have decided to do it like this:

Miracle of the week: 

On Monday(2.2.15) we were snowed in... again. It was awful, well it was just really boring. But, we got picked up for dinner by two wonderful members in our ward and they took us to a Japanese restaurant and then they took us to the grocery store, seeing as we were not able to go shopping on Sunday to prepare for Monday or go that morning. But, when we went to check out, the couple called the manager over and told her that we weren't allowed to swipe our cards or pay for our groceries. They were going to do it for us. Lets just say that I was in shock. People are so kind.
Aha moment: 

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, our Zone meeting was "Love" themed... For missionaries it was a little awkward at first ahaha. But then one of the Zone Leaders, Elder T, talked about Alma 38:12 "Use boldness, but not overbearance;" and how as missionaries we should be bold, which is to have no fear and how in  Moroni 8:16 it says, "Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear." I learned that as we learn to truly love God and His gospel, we can share with a boldness and we don't fear being rejected or yelled at, because we know it is true and we know that anyone who asks God, sincerely, to know if what we have to say is true, they will know that it is and will feel of that love too. 

Ahahaha Moment: 

Went to the 1st ward's Valentines Day Soiree on Friday... Super awkward to be missionaries at a church function listening to gentile music. Also... 

Random: 

The Spanish group was turned into a branch on Sunday!!! Worcester 3rd branch! So awesome! 

I love you all! The work is hastening! 

Be good! 

Love, 

Sister Alexander

 

 

Picture 1: There is a courtyard in the middle of the Worcester chapel. This has been growing bigger and bigger every day. #winter #doyouwanttobuildasnowman It is like stabbing into the snow!!!!

Picture 2: This has been something that I have wanted for a very long time... I jumped a 2 1/2 foot snowbank and almost face planted but it was soooooo worth it!!!!!

Behold! The Ginormous Icicle!!!!!!!!

Snow Daze...Or Days...

Where do I even begin??? This week was CRAZY!!! 

Monday- We went to Denny's as a District and then we had to go home because our good friend J decided to come and visit us. J, for those of you who didn't know is the name of the blizzard that we got hit with Monday night to Tuesday night. 

Tuesday- We were snowed in and we almost went insane. We totally would have helped all of the people who were shoveling but... no one was out there. So, we did a couple of puzzles and I read the records and we studied and then it was like 2:00 pm. Yeah. It was a long day. 

Wednesday- We were red-dotted for half of the day and then we went and we had dinner with a really cute family. Their granddaughter's is pretty much Boo from Monsters Inc. 

Thursday- We saw a bunch of members, Specifically we saw Sister R, who is home from the hospital! We got to sing hymns with her and then we also got to see R, and fill out here Baptismal Record!  

Friday- We got to teach M, who has a baptismal date for Feb. 21st! We also set our monthly goals and we had District Meeting too! 

Saturday- One of the coolest days ever. We had two lessons with investigators and then we went to the Chapel, for R and J's Baptisms! They were so wonderful! The spirit was so strong! 

Sunday- We were at the church the entire day! We had church, and more church, and more church. And then, guess what??? More Church! Ahaha it was great. then we went to a baptism for the Spanish group and the spirit there was really strong too! 

I noticed something there. Seeing as I could maybe understand 1% of what was being said, I really had to rely on what I felt. And Wow. I could feel how much Heavenly Father loved M and I could feel the spirit testify to me, again, that this is what I am supposed to be doing. 

Yesterday we were snowed in/red-doted again. So that was... fun. More to come about that next week. I hope that you are all doing well, and enjoying the snow, oh wait... you probably don't have any... lucky ahaha. 

Be good!

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

Picture 1- J, me and R! 

Picture 2- So much snow!