And a Happy New Year!

I feel like it was just P-day because I just saw you (well a couple of you) but I must email you to wish you all a Happy New Year and say that I hope that you had the merriest of Christmases! Mine was really great. We were able to visit a lot of people and spread some Christmas cheer playing reindeer games and such.  It was super great to see the fam. Kind of weird, because I will be seeing you all soon anyway but it was awesome to see Brodie...errr Elder Alexander haha. He like, knows missionary lingo now... like transfers... and member helps, you know, the good stuff. 

This week was full of Christmas Chaos and Cheer though. We had a conference up in Belmont MA by the temple. 4 hours of driving but it was so great. The spirit was super strong and being surrounded by missionaries is always an awesome adventure. We were asked to give a training on using time wisely and planning effectively so our days will be spent productively.The Lord tends to ask those who struggle with something most to train, or give talks on the topics and whatnot. Yeah, we were all like "uhm.. are you sure?" But it seemed to go over pretty well. We planned it with the Groton Elders over skype which was funny... #SaveAllTheMiles. There was a testimony meeting at the very end and a lot of powerful insights were shared. The problem is that I left my notebook with all of my insights at home... #MemoryLoss #What

Miracle of the Week:

So on Tuesday we were planning and Sister H is just like,"You know what, today we are going to find a new investigator." So I said, "Okay," and I was just thinking... "We should find 3, that would be cool." So, we go throughout our day looking and talking to people and it starts getting dark and we had some time so we went looking for a media referral. A man named J, who is Haitian and his family let us in, told us that he used to meet with missionaries in Haiti and he wants to learn more... there are 5 people in his family. He and his wife were listening along with one of his sons, and we are hoping to pick up his other two kids on Wednesday when we meet with them again! Miracles! 

I hope that you are all planning on making some good goals this upcoming year! #LetsGooo2016 I am! 

Goal number 3) Get rid of constant double chin.

Goal number 7) Read the Book of Mormon 4 times.

Goals help you change, and we are here on earth to change. 

Keep changing!

You are all so loved!

Have a Happy New Year!

Love

Sister Alexander

Christmas in the MBM

YOU GUYS! It is almost Christmas!

The internet over here at the church is being crazy so this may or may not be short. 

This week was super! We worked really hard to see people, and most of them didn't answer the door, but that is okay. Just a day in the life haha. Hey, if missionaries come to your door... let them in, let them do their job and uplift you spiritually, okay? Okay. Sweet :)

Some miracles happened:

This week the internet worked long enough for us to Skype C in Brazil. He is awesome. He always reads the Book of Mormon and he loves it so much. 

We also made a dent in our "Unknown less-actives" list.  Woohooo! I love making lists smaller! 

We also got a mini missionary from Providence this weekend! She is Liberian and super sweet. Her name is Z.

Some funny things were said:

Sister H- "So... are we cannibals because we are like 75% water and we drink water... gross!"

Elder O- "We had a tally going for using slang and whoever used the most slang words had to do the dishes... but Elder H kept on having to do the dishes so we stopped that." 

Well, I am going to let Sister H write her family now. I hope that you have a Very Merry Christmas and that you take some time to think about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and what He means to you. 

I hope that you all feel how much you are loved, and that you feel love the Heavenly Father has for you. That he would send His First born so that you can return to live with Him. 

What a wonderful season to celebrate. 

God is Great! 

A Savior is Born.

Love,

Sister Alexander

Short and Sweet!

Hey Everyone!

I hope that your week was great! Ours was!

We found out that the Norwich missionaries are all staying in Norwich for Christmas! Wooohooo! I am "Dying" in Norwich! 

In other news, the weather is like a roller coaster over here... It is foggy and weird today and yesterday I didn't even have to wear tights it was so warm... like 70! I also heard that it is really cold in AZ... like 70! . That was great though so I'm not complaining. 

This week was full of a lot of administrative things, lots of meetings and planning for meetings but I learned so much!

I guess I just want to tell you some of the things that I learned and that were brought to my remembrance. 

-I was pondering about my mission, and the things that I have learned and who I have learned from, and I realized that I have learned a lot and applied some... only some of the things... WHY? I don't know, laziness probably. So I made a list of missionary things I feel I am good at vs things that I need to work on and boy oh boy I have a lot to work on. So, of course looking at that list made me really discouraged as I realized that I only have a transfer to try to get a grasp of what seemed to be a list of things longer than an encyclopedia. Then a little thought popped up in my head.

"Be positive." 

Actually a quote from studies earlier this week is what really came to mind,  

"Eliminate all negative words and phrases from your vocabulary. Refuse to think negatively, for as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). Refuse also to speak negatively. Now you have become an optimist rather than a pessimist. There is a big difference between an optimist and a pessimist—one is positive, a believer; the other is negative, a doubter. The optimist, as you probably know, is a person who, when he wears out his shoes, just figures he’s back on his feet. The pessimist says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” The optimist says, “I’ll see it when I believe it.”

In a crisis the optimist takes action; the pessimist takes a seat. The Lord has given sufficient evidence to convince me that if you don’t do it, you really didn’t want it."

Well guys, I really want it. So I decided that I am so lucky. I have one more transfer to figure it out! And then... I have all of my life to figure it out! Wooohooo!

I also was thinking about all of the missionary examples that I have had in my life. There are A LOT. But it dawned on me that we are all trying to be like Jesus Christ, because He is THE number one missionary example. He was perfect. That is why we have His name on our badge, not Ammon, even though he was pretty awesome. 

I am excited for this last transfer. It is going to be a good one. Keep us in your prayers! 

You are all so loved! 

Love,

Sister Alexander

Massachusetts Boston Mission- AKA- The Inspiration, Consecration, Edification Nation

Hello family and friends!

Guess what... it is Tuesday! What???

Yesterday was not our P-Day because Elder Packer, President Boyd K. Packer's son, came to tour our mission. He is in the Quorum of the Seventy. It was pretty awesome. We had a Zone Conference yesterday that was from 8:00am-5:00pm. My brain was going to explode. 

Ahahahaha Moments-

So... I got a haircut... Nothing dramatic... just like.... 6 or 7 inches... ahahaha. When I walked into ward council on Sunday, The 1st counselor, Brother S just goes, "Holy Haircut," ahahahaha I love it though. Fun fact: As Sister Missionaries, it is really important to not let our hair cover our name tag, so since I have been out here, my hair has always been parted on the left side so most of the hair falls on my right shoulder. BUT, now that it is above my shoulders... I can part it on whichever side I want.... I don't really know how to handle that one. Haha little things entertain me. 

And now another funny conversation with the Elders:

After discussing an investigator with a boyfriend who is kind of a punk and who lives with her.

E.T: "I don't get it, if he wont marry her, why doesn't she just break up with him?" 

S. H: "Elder, have you ever been in love?"

*Good 30 seconds of silence*

E. L: "That's a loooong silence."

Ahahaha these Elders are so great!

Miracles of the week:

You guys, so many amazing things happened this week. 

I think I am going to have to do a miracle a day thing

Monday- We skyped with C at the Bishops home. Bishop S is so amazing. His family looks like the Weasley's. I love them so much. We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and committed him to pray for a way to get to church. He is super busy and the only day that he can see his family is on Sunday. Please keep him in your prayers!

Tuesday- Stop by's are super tedious for a missionary especially when no one is home... but on Tuesday we stopped by a former investigator named A, and she was home and she set up a time for us to come again and continue to teach her. She is from Haiti and has the cutest kids ever.

Wednesday- After dinner with the S's, we called a less-active/recent convert and she didn't answer... so we just stopped by... and she was home and in wayyy better spirits that the last time we had seen her. YAY! Sometimes... you just have to stop by... because maybe they aren't ignoring you, they are just stuck on the phone with their sisters that talk a lot... :)

 Thursday- L had her baptismal interview and it went great!!! 

Friday- We had an awesome district meeting and we also received the "A Savior is Born" pass-along cards. #Woohooo!

Saturday- Wait for it.. Wait for it... L got baptized! Woohooo! It was such a great day! Also, J came to the baptism and then later that night asked us to teach him the lessons so that he could be baptized! We were freaking out! 

Sunday- L was confirmed and we had Mission Leadership Council with a General Authority... No big deal. It was a super inspiring council. we wrote all the things our mission is good at and then wrote the things that we felt needed to be worked on and then as zones we rated them. Almost every zone agreed on what needed to be done and the spirit was super strong. Oh, and we got home at 10:30... not too late like we thought it would be. 

Miracles EVERYWHERE!

Aha moment-

So with Zone Conference I learned a bunch of things, but I will talk about those next week. This week, some cool things went down during my studies. 

So, Wednesday night I had a horrible nightmare after hearing about the craziness in California. It was basically the end of the world, and it left me feeling really hopeless when I woke up. I just felt like there was no point in having dreams and aspirations because the world was just going to end anyway (I don't know why I couldn't think about like the 2nd coming or the millennium but it just wasn't in my mind)  It was awful. So, I prayed. I prayed because I knew that if anyone could help me feel better, it was God. And guess what happened? A scripture came into my mind. One that we share with families around here a lot. 

2 Nephi 5:27

"And it came to pass that they lived after the manner of happiness" 

Now this is referring to some brothers, Nephi and Sam and the Nephites(good guys). In the same chapter, Laman and Lemuel and the Lamanites(Bad guys) their brothers are literally trying to make them go extinct. There are wars and rumors of wars and hardships... but they were happy. I was like... Wait what? That is like exactly my issue right now... So I read through the chapter again, for the 10th time and over and over it just helped me realize, to be happy, we keep the commandments, work hard and be with our families. We are obedient because we love God not because we are scared of a punishment from him if we choose wrong. I felt God just give me a big hug and say, "It is alright Sister Alexander, look at the big picture, I am here." 

So here I am, spiritually uplifted and ready for the Christmas season!

 What about you? What are you doing to come closer to Christ this upcoming year? 

I hope that these letters home have been of use to you. I try to make them mean something.  

I know that God is there and that Christ truly did die for each and every one of us. He died so that YOU could be happy here and for eternity. 

You are all so loved. 

Have a great week

Be Good

Love,

Sister Alexander

Also, I have my homecoming talk assignment.. 2 days after I get home. January 31st, I would love to see you there! 

Picture- L's Baptism!