An Invitation For All

Hello my friends!!! How has your week been? Mine has been wonderful. 

I have like a bajillion things that I would like to talk about but I can't really hone in on one general topic so this email ought to be interesting... 

First of 2 people agreed to baptism this week! M wants to enter the waters of baptism on May 10th... Mother's Day! Woot Woot! And R, who has been investigating for 8 years is going to be baptized on Saturday May 2nd, this week! We are so excited for both of them to make this covenant and to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost to guide them in their lives! 

 

We went on exchanges, Sister V went to Weston and Sister C came here. Neither of them can drive so we are permanently going on exchanges like that ahaha. We did a bunch of service this week too. Like 11 hours of it total. Saturday we went with a bunch of other people in Worcester, like 2,400 of them and we cleaned up Worcester! It was super fun! We went to a trail and picked up a ton of trash! 

 

This week has also been interesting as we have nearly run out of miles. We are allotted a certain number of miles to drive each month and somehow this month they disappeared really fast... so the Hermana's have taken us places and yesterday... we walked... a lot. It was a blast haha. 

Gah... sorry my brain is everywhere haha. 

 

I love this (and I didn't even notice that it was by a member of our Mission Presidency until after I pasted it haha...)

“The ability to share the gospel isn't a 'gift' that has been given to only a few Latter-day Saints and denied to the rest. We have concluded from our own experiences and from watching others that finding people for the missionaries to teach can be easy and natural for all of us—if we go about it the Lord’s way.” 

Elder Clayton M. Christensen, “Seven Lessons on Sharing the Gospel,” Ensign, Feb. 2005

TRUTH! ( Imagine a big ole' stamp of approval right on that quote right there)

 

There is a missionary quote, that we say to members and to ourselves and it is all over Preach My Gospel and it says, "You succeed when you invite," and honestly when I first came out I was like... no. You succeed when they say yes and keep all of their commitments and make it to the celestial kingdom. But then I had an epiphany, We do succeed when we invite. When we came here to earth our entire goal was to return to live with Heavenly Father.  When we invite people, we give them a choice, a choice that gives them the opportunity to use their agency for the exact thing that it was designed for, for them to come closer to returning to Heavenly Father. We succeed when we invite other's to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. No wonder it is a commandment to open our mouths and share His divine gospel.

 

And likewise, are we striving to come closer to Christ daily? Are we following Moroni's admonition when he said, "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." Missionaries surprisingly focus a lot on the people who are in the "enduring to the end" stage. We all need to continue to have faith, repent, renew our baptismal and temple covenants and live worthily to have the spirit with us. We can not just sit there... that is why when we share it helps us grow too!

 

Yeah. these are my thoughts... go out and invite. See how many people will say no. Maybe someone will surprise you and say yes.

You are all loved!

Be good! 

Love,

Sister Alexander

Picture:

Sister M V and I :)

You Only Patriot's Day Once

Well hello there!

How are you all doing? I can say that I am doing awesome!

Today we are celebrating Patriots Day, and I can say that I legitly had no idea that Patriots Day even existed. Apparently, regions can create their own holidays? So New England celebrates Patriots Day, a day of historical war reenactments and also the day that the Boston Marathon takes place! We unfortunately had 0 miles to use and 0 will-power to wake up at 2:30 AM to go to one of the reenactments in Lexington. Oh and it is pouring rain outside, so yeahhhh... noooo..... so we are still in Worcester and we are going shopping with a member hahaha. #YOMO #YouOnlyMissionOnce But we ARE wearing Red White and Blue to celebrate. 

So yeah that is a thing. 

This week was interesting... if interesting can be defined as "a week of a full schedule, in which EVERYONE cancels except for dinner appointments at 6:30 at night" Yeah, it was a major bummer. BUT we still had MIRACLES!

Miracle of the Week:

So we were driving after the like 7th cancellation on Thursday and we remembered a referral from one of the members in 1st ward.  So we drove over and we met J and her 6 year old son J and we were able to talk about the healing aspects of the gospel and why we leave our homes for 18 months to teach people who Jesus Christ is to us. And we are meeting with her again tomorrow! Wooohoooo! #1stwardmiracles

Aha Moment(s):

On Thursday, which also just so happened to be my "Hump Day" Meaning my 9 month mark on the mission out of 18, I realized that from that moment forward I would have less time left on my mission than I had been out... #WeirdThoughtNumberOne

Another Aha moment was actually in District meeting. We were talking about using the Book of Mormon and one of the Elders mentioned that if you were to be doing a report on a country you wouldn't grab an encyclopedia and start from the beginning and read until you got to the country you are looking for, you would look in the index for the specific topic and go to where it suggests. Just like the scriptures. We have been given so many references to use to help us find what we are looking for! It was one of those "Duh, why didn't I think of it that way" kind of things ahaha.

Ahaha Moments:

So Sister V is not only awesome because she laughs at all of my jokes but she also knows how to open Coconuts. It is amazing. They are like Giant Almonds... soooo good. anywho, she went to open one on Friday at district meeting and to open it you hit it with the blunt side of a knife... but it has to be a really strong knife or else it will break in half and the shrapnel goes careening towards an unassuming Sister Missionary. Just a warning... ahahaha yeah good times. 

Also, we were weekly planning in the car (The church was FREEZING and it was soooo nice outside) and we got distracted and started talking about my arm hair... she just goes "Maybe that is why you love cats so much" Yes... probably ahaha....

Life is great. 

Be good!

Remember God loves you! 

Love 

Sister Alexander

 

PS I am super lame and I forgot my camera card reader again... I do have pictures though! One of the flowers... because it is spring and there are finally flowers... it has only been what? 7 months?  and one of Sister V and I :) I will bring it next week! Hopefully ahaha. 

Surprises From Heaven

I legitly don't even know where to start ahaha. 

This week was full of surprises. Lots and lots of them. All were really good haha. 

So I think that I will mix it up a little and go back to my old ways of a daily count. You will see why in a second. 

Monday and Tuesday- was full of seeing people so they could say goodbye to Sister L.

Wednesday-  Ha... Ha... Wednesday was interesting to say the least. It started out with a phone call from President Packard. "Sister Alexander, you are going to be a fantastic trainer. Just not this transfer." Ahaha ohhkaayyy, ohhkkay. What's going down? "We had 4 visa waiters come out this transfer, and 2 of them got their visa yesterday and will be leaving on Monday, and the Sister that you were going to train, was one of those two." Alright ahaha. Surprisingly I felt a peace. "Your companion will be Sister M V, you know her right?" Yeah I do!!! That is who "killed" Sister G (My Trainer). Wooohooo! (The companion that you have when you "Die" or finish your mission is the one who "Kills" you)

And the rest of the week is history. 

Sister M V is from Western Samoa and she has been out on her mission for 15 months. She is super cool and is a boss at opening her mouth. Like, literally every single person she sees on the street... she talks to. #likeaboss. She is super rad.

Thursday- we got like 3 referrals form a random guy we talked to on the street and now we are teaching them. P and C are cool, J is insane. We attempted to teach the first lesson on Saturday and he kept on getting mad at P for asking legit questions and then he would tell us that the only way that he would believe that we were sent by God to teach them the truth would be if we were to raise someone from the dead... or open heaven... or "shake the whole universe with an earthquake" YEAH. #NotQuiteHowItWorks.

Friday- was ZONE MEETING and let me just say... it was the best one I have been to thus far. Not because I was asked to sing a solo... that part was not fun ahaha. 

So we talked about Sacrifice, and how in actuality when you put something in and get more out it is an investment. So we made investments. Things that we know for a fact that we need to do but the blessings are soooo much more than we could ever match with the things that we give. Like life... and every good thing that we do.. #AmIRight We also got a little card thing from the Zone leaders. It almost made me cry. It is our zone scripture changed up a little bit. It says:

"D&C 124:18

And again, I say unto you that it is my will that my servant Sister Alexander should continue in preaching for Zion, in the spirit of meekness, confessing me before the world; and I will bear her up as on eagles’ wings; and she shall beget glory and honor to herself and unto my name.  #W.I.N.G.S."

It was an awesome day. 

Miracle of the Week. 

We were sitting in Gospel Principles in 1st ward with M and W and Bishop peeks in and asks me to come out into the hall. I go and there is this girl, who looks like 20 but we found out that she is 32, in jeans and a t-shirt with tears in her eyes. He introduced us and he told me that M, walked in to the church and wanted to find a place that she could change and learn. So we talked. She has 2 sons, and she is divorced. She was on a walk and she was talking to God and she asked what she needed to do to change and to grow. She got the prompting to go home and look up churches that had structure and rules that will help her to do what He wants her to. So she did and she read about Mormons and googled the nearest church and she came. The spirit was SO strong all sacrament meeting. She cried and we cried and the speakers testified and then there was a youth baptism after and we invited her and she stayed and the spirit was so strong there and now we are teaching her on Thursday. Miracles are real. We were talking to her and we realized that our prayers were answered by her prayers being answered. 

I still can barely even believe that it happened. How many people are out there who are just as prepared as she is? How many others just don't know where to look for their answers?

Open your mouth. 

Do it. 

You are all so loved! 

Be good!

Love, 

Sister Alexander

I forgot my camera card reader so you will have to wait for pictures for next week! 

One Year Ago Today

Hello my lovelies. <-- Does that make you uncomfortable and squirm in your chair a little bit? Yes? Oh good. It worked ahaha. 

How are you? I am doing FANTASTIC. Wasn't General Conference just Magnificent? I absolutely loved it. 

After first session on Saturday we were starving so we went home and we ate some food (General Conference is from 12-2 and then from 4-6 here) I was sitting at my desk when my eyes noticed the date and I had the realization that Monday, today, would be the year mark of me opening my mission call and reading the words: 

"Dear Sister Alexander,

You are hereby called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Massachusetts Boston Mission" 

Oh how much I have learned in this past year! Can you believe it has been a whole year??? 

One year ago I was: 

Bailey Alexander

Quirky internet kid

Teaching my precious 9-year olds in primary

Working at Kirklands Home (That feels like a lifetime ago)

Going to Mission Prep.

Learning how to drive ahahahaha (SAD) 

and that is about it.

Now. 

I am Sister Alexander

Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Serving in Worcester Massachusetts

Fighting for truth 

Declaring the Gospel in one of the least religious places in all of the United States. 

Praying night and day for people that I have come to love

Asking random strangers on the street what their greatest fears are and then being able to testify that through The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the world's Savior and Redeemer, they can overcome those fears. And being living proof because just a year prior I wouldn't talk to people out of fear. 

I am changing and becoming who Heavenly father wants me to be. 

I am getting ready to train a new missionary. To teach her how to help and invite others come unto Christ through His restored Gospel. 

Oh and I am driving in the #1 worst place to drive in the US. 

THAT is what a mission does. A mission transforms you into something that, a year earlier, you couldn't even imagine yourself being. 

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

In other news. 

On Friday was T-Texts. Sister L is going to be a Sister Training Leader in Bridgeport Connecticut. And I get the privilege of being a trainer! I am so excited! That is right Sister G! You are a Grandma!!!!! Ahahahaha!

Real quick ahahaha moments:

1) At my 9 month mark... I will be a mom ahahaha... trainers are called Moms or Dads. She will be like a week premature but I am totally okay with that!

2) This one is for you mom... I totally had a meltdown on Tuesday. Nothing bad or crazy I just started to cry and it took like an hour to stop. Poor Sister L haha. Yeah. Last time I don't eat anything except for a lot of sugar haha. It is a sad life haha. 

Oh and a Woohoo moment:

We set 2 baptismal dates this week! One with our Eternal Investigator R, for next Sunday. And one with J, our referral from the Spanish Missionaries, for May 3rd! Pray for them!!! 

 

You are all SOOO Loved!

If you didn't get a chance to watch Conference. Go to Lds.org and watch it NOW!!! 

I love you all! 

Be good! 

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

 

 

Picture 1: The cutest kiddos in the world. Their hair is insane. 

Picture 2: Sister L and I enjoy matching... and sharing clothes ahahha. I look super short ahahaha

Picture 3:  Easter with the C. Brother C is hilarious. 

Picture 4: Our favorite person. Sister W. She is the one who introduced us to M and L!