Where Did The Time Go?

Hello from the only non-Spanish Speaking Missionary in Worcester! 

Life is great!!!! 

Miracles of the week:

Exchanges- From Tuesday to Wednesday we had exchanges and I stayed in Worcester with Sister F (One of the Sister Training Leaders) and Sister L went to Weston with Sister A. It was so much fun! I love Sister F! 

R- R met with the bishop and he is ready to set a baptismal date!!!! We are soooo excited! He has been investigating the church for 8 years!!!

Aha Moment: 

One of our recent converts gave a talk yesterday and in it she talked about a fortune cookie that solved a lot of her problems. It said, "A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work." How true is that!? I spend a lot of my time worrying and I can't do that anymore! I won't do it anymore! #saynotoworrying #saynotoogrecide #givethegiantstheirlandback

Ahahaha Moment: 

1- I got to give 2 talks yesterday... that was a first hahaha. One on repentance and the other on how I prepared to serve a full time mission. Fun times. 

2- Today is my 8 month mark... weird stuff #itsgreattobe8 #wheredidthetimego

Random:

For my talk on how I prepared for my mission I was asked to use the song "I hope they call me on a mission" somewhere in it. So I did and then I wrote another verse for it.

Here it is:

And now as I serve a mission

I have witnessed Christ's love for me and you

As I share the joy of His glad message

to work, to serve, to love as Christ would have me do. 

 

You are all loved!

I love being out here!

I love God!

Be good!

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture 1: "What is sun?" Ahahahah I am so pasty! 

Picture 2: My first day in Boston... 8 months does stuff to you!

Picture 3: This is Sister F! I can't take a normal picture...

Picture 4: My outfit on Tuesday, I was jumping around announcing my undying love for short sleeved shirts :)

Picture 5: The temperature was AMAZING!!

Picture 6: #WINGS

Metanoeo

Hello from Worcester Mass!

This week was another supah awesome week!

Miracle(s) of the Week:

Z-

We had a wonderful Baptism yesterday for a man named Z. He is from Pakistan and his wife has been a member for at least 20 years now. He just one day decided that he believed that it was all true and asked to be baptized. He is super cool and his wife totally cried the whole time yesterday. She said that it has been her dream for the past 20 years to see him be baptized. I cant wait until they get to go to the temple together!

Zone Conference- We had a 12 hour long meeting on Friday and it was the best thing ever. Like I seriously learned so much I took 8 pages of notes... really small notes ahahaha. We learned about repentance (see Aha) and I got to see like all of my favorite people. I saw Sister W, Sister T, Sister F and Elder L and President and Sister Packard and I just felt loved by everyone. I could feel the love. 

Aha Moment:

Repentance-  When the bible was first written it was written in Hebrew

Hebrew- "Shub": to turn Suggests a conscious decision to forsake sin

Then translated into Greek which is what Christ used 

Greek-"Metanoeo"- change of mind, thought and the way that you feel

Then it was translated into Latin and distributed... 

Latin- "Poenitere"- to punish

Like what? When we are told to repent it is NOT a punishment. Sometimes it may feel like one if you don't want to but we have the chance to change and become better only through Christ and he suffered the Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane, Died on the Cross, and was Resurrected, not so that we have to be punished and go through pain to be cleansed... He already did that. We just need to turn to him, and change our ways so that we can become better. 

Ahahaha Moment:

So we got our car cleaned for Zone Conference and I brought the floor protectors in because they were covered in salt and dirt from the snow and I washed them in the sink... it payed off... we won the cleanest car award #booyah

Also, last Monday, Sister L and I were walking through the hallway in the church and it was dark but we were just going to the kitchen so it was whatever and we turned the corner and it was pitch black. We both just stopped and in a split second I thought, "if I run the other way will she follow," and the next thing I knew she was off running back to the light leaving me in the dust ahahaha. We laughed so hard. Needless to say, we both don't really like the dark.

Random:

At Zone Conference, President Christensen asked us how many people were in our ward. Most of us replied around 150 or 200 that come every week. He just went. "How many people does Christ see in your ward? See, He already suffered for every single person's sins. He is just waiting for them to find out about the gospel so that they can accept his Atonement." Think about that the next time you feel prompted to share the joy of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

You are all so loved. 

Read your scriptures and say your prayers! 

Love, 

Sister Alexander 

 

Pictures: 

Picture 1: MTC Zone Reunion at Zone Conference ahaha

Picture 2: Z's Baptism

It Is All True

Hello from the Windy and Snowy New England!

Today it is 34 degrees! How warm! But with the wind it feels like 15...

This week was probably the best week I have ever had on my mission thus far. I am not quite sure why, but here are some of the Highlights :)

Miracle(s) of the Week:

So Wednesday was transfer meeting and at the last minute our ride couldn't go! We were so bummed because Sister B, who was Sister L's trainer, and Sister G were both going home and we wanted to be there for their departing testimonies and Z, our recent convert was going too. We were frantically looking and Brother C told us to call Sister L because she normally goes to these kind of things. So we did and we made it to her house just in time to get a ride! Woot! I loved hearing everyone's testimony and the spirit there was so strong!

Also, yesterday, (Sunday) we had a fireside by President Packard called "What the World Knows Because of Joseph Smith" and it was in Weston which is about 45 minutes from us... and it started snowing. Like a lot. Obviously this Arizona girl has no idea how to drive in snow but the Lord definitely guided me and we got there safe and on time! 

Aha Moment:

This week... I cant even count how many aha moments I had. I had the blessing of having the spirit testify to me over and over that I am where I am supposed to be. That The Book of Mormon is the Word of God and that it is 100% true. That Joseph Smith was called by God to restore His church to the Earth. That I will be able to live with my family for eternity if I do what is right. That Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer and that through Him I can return to live with my Father in Heaven who loves me and knows me. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's true church on this earth, that it has all of the truths that our Heavenly Father wants us to learn. It is all true. It was seriously the best week ever. 

Ahahaha Moment:

We went out on Friday with Brother and Sister B for Brother B's birthday and we were sitting there and something happened where Doctor Who was brought up and Sister Bach and I had a fantastic conversation about it. She is awesome. Oh and I made her realize that late night walks in cemeteries are no longer a possibility for her haha. #weepingangels #thanksbutnothanks

Random:

  Our mission has a website! 

http://www.bostonmission.org/

SO AWESOME!!!

Well I love you all and I love this work! 

Be good!

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

Picture: 

Chihuahua puppy! It was tiny and it would lick my fingers <3

 

Oh and...Palmer have you written President?

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!