Good Ole' New England

Hello friends and family! 

There was so much that went on this week,  

Miracles fell from the sky, along with snow... lots of snow haha. 

We were able to meet with the W's. They are so cute. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they basically knew everything! They are so prepared for the gospel! 

Thursday was our car fast! The whole mission worked with members and didn't touch our cars. We were able to go with our Relief Society to see C, who is awesome! We had a really good lesson with her and we are working on getting her back to church :) We were also able to have an awesome discussion with L about going to the temple! She is super excited! 

Awesome miracle- So L has been going through round after round of Chemo to make sure that all the cancer is gone from her lungs. She had an appointment where her doctor was basically in shock because she still has hair and after the initial 3 days afterwards treatments she is totally fine. She just goes, "Yeah, I know that it is because of my prayers and the blessings from the Elders." She is so awesome! 

Friday was t-texts... OH. WOAH. CRAZINESS. Sister H is going to stay in Norwich with Sister B who is from Brazil. The Elders are both leaving and the Zone Leaders are coming to Norwich! Elder T is going to Pittsfeild, the biggest area in the mission. Elder L is going back to the Chinese program in Cambridge. And guess what... Sister M and Sister G are both TRAINING! What??? I am going to be a grandma! I am so proud! :) My text that I sent out... S. Alexander (I don't want to go)

So, on Saturday around 10am it started snowing... but we had things to do... so we went out... and boy did it snow! We went in for a lesson with a member and there was no snow except for on the grass and when we came out... it like someone took powdered sugar and gave it to a 5 year old haha.  We got red dotted... and then guess who came to rescue us... The B's! From Worcester! It was another Red-Dot Dinner with the best couple ever! It was so great to see them! Brother B is a boss at driving in the snow and we got to and from the restaurant (Ninety-Nine was still open... another Miracle) totally safe! 

We forgot our phone and when we got back... we found out that church was canceled. Oh New England, my good friend haha. Punk. so yeah. My last Sunday in the mission, church was canceled ahahahaha. It was a good day though because we got to go up to Greenfield Mass, where Sister H came from, to see one of the people that she taught enter the waters of baptism. The spirit was so strong there. It was a great day after all.

Well my friends, I wanted to thank you for reading these, or skimming them, or just looking at the pictures. I have felt your prayers and your thoughts in my behalf and in behalf of the people that I have been privileged to work with and around. Missions are interesting times. It is a super scary thing to come home honestly. Almost like being dropped into an unknown abyss haha. As I have been pondering it, a scripture was brought to my attention. 

As Alma looks at his work and his mission he says (I may have paraphrased a bit 😊)

"But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of [Madison, Worcester, and Norwich and the entirety of the Massachusetts Boston Mission].

  Behold, they have labored exceedingly, and have brought forth much fruit; and how great shall be their reward!

 Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy.

  And now may God grant unto these, my brethren, that they may sit down in the kingdom of God;

 yea, and also all those who are the fruit of their labors that they may go no more out, but that they may praise him forever. 

And may God grant that it may be done according to my words, even as I have spoken. Amen."

This is going to be good. The show must go on :)

You are all so loved.

Be good

Love,

"Sistah Alexandah"

Sister Alexander

Pictures

1-Me and L 

2-Sister K, Sister H and I #CarFast

Day 552

Hello Friends! How was your week?Mine has been so good! Lots of cool things happened!First, we went on exchanges! I got to go to Westerly Rhode Island and meet some awesome people! I went with Sister B who is a doll! She came out on the mission the same time that Sister H did! While I was gone, Norwich decided to explode and the Elders and Sisters here found 8 new investigators! Like WHAT!? So awesome. We really were blessed this week.We also met a couple of less actives this week. They are adorable. We also helped Sister J's mom and dad make her a birthday cake. The first one that they could make her in years due to health. It was super good and you better bet that I got the recipe!  We got to meet with our Investigator J. He is super cool and he is Haitian! We brought Sierra with us and she was a star helping us teach the Plan of Salvation. I am super excited to teach with the missionaries when I get home. Hopefully I am not too awkward ahaha. Aha moment:So whilst on exchanges we went to visit an inactive member who hadn't been to church in years. He was very nice and pretty well off. He asked us what we wanted to do with our lives, and after said, "well, good luck with that," to me... uhm, okay. He proceeded to explain that with the way the world is going being logical in our jobs is the best idea. I was like uhm rude haha. But, then I started thinking about what I had been studying earlier that day. I had been studying in Preach My Gospel about the Christlike attribute of Hope. "Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism,enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement." I realized that this man's lack of faith and desire to come to church made his optimism about life and life goals close to nothing. It really made me grateful to be able to grow and nurture my faith and for the gift of the hope that I have been given. Ahaha moments:-At district meeting, Elder G (who is companions with Elder B) was talking to us about Pday. We told him that a member wanted to take us to a cool makeup store and he was all "oh! Can I come? I need some foundation... aha just kidding, my only foundation is Jesus Christ." aha missionary humor. -Sister F, who is one of the counterparts of our Hexpanionship here in Norwich, has a bunch of birds. They are named, Eenie, Menie, Miney, Moe, Tweetie, Dreamsicle and I named the last one Phil. Elder F thought it was hilarious. -Sister J's Mother, Sister S, is known to tell missionaries who are going home when they are going to get married and every single time, she has been dead on. One kid she just goes, "3 months," and he was like, "yeah right." Sister J said that 3 months to the day he stepped off the plane he was on his way to the temple to get married... like WHAT? So obviously, with my determination to be the first Mormon Nun, I was avoiding her like the plague. Then we have dinner over there and Sister H is all, " Oh, so you know Sister Alexander goes home soon right?" She just goes, "Yeah I know, she will be married sooner than she thinks." So, Sister H is all, "YES! So August 20th?" (Her birthday) Sister S, "Oh goodness sooner than that." Well folks, looks like my cats will have to wait. ahaha Just kidding, I got a suitcase with cats on it today... :D You are all so loved! Have an awesome week!Be good!LoveSister AlexanderPicture

Us at the M's home. They are adorable. 7 kids, all awesome. 

"Women of God, Peace!" -A man waving to us as he walked out of the Library

Hey guys! 

This week was full of CHANGE! Change in rules, change in weather haha. 

This week was COLD! Like 15 degrees cold... and windy. In the words of Elder L, "It is warmer in ALASKA!" (It was like 37 in Alaska that day ahaha) 

We had my last MLC (mission leadership council), my last Zone Meeting planning, and my last Zone Meeting. Let's just say that it was emotional ahaha. 

Miracles- 

Tuesday night at 10 I was called by the APs and asked to sing for MLC. UHM what? So in a frantic hurry I called my "Children", Sister M and Sister G and asked them to help. So then, on Wednesday, we asked two Elders, Elder K(who I was in the MTC with) and Elder S(who was in Norwich the transfer before I came) to join us and we sang, "I need the Every hour" (my go to) and Sister M played the piano. It was great, I love singing with missionaries. Especially these ones! :)

So Transfer Meeting is a meeting in which departing missionaries get to bear their testimonies before they go home, we get to say goodbye to members and investigators and stuff like that. So, I was stressing about

1) what I was even going to say

2) how to make sure everyone I wanted to see was invited. Then... the General Authorities had a training and they informed missions that transfer meetings are not policy and effective now they are canceled... so I have like zero stress ahaha.  

On Thursday we were thinking about a less active family and we made a plan to call them the next day. On Friday we got to Zone Meeting and found a missed call from them! We were able to go over and see them and help them and they came to church on Sunday! 

Aha moments-

Oh goodness. There were a lot. We have been focusing on becoming consecrated disciples of Jesus Christ. Something that President said really hit me. "It isn't so much the consecration, it is the becoming that we want to focus on." 

Ahaha moments-

I figured out that my stomach sounds like a dying moose a lot, just like in high school... When I am anxious. So, lets just say that a lot of moose were heard this week. 

Also, I found cat luggage today... like a suitcase with cats on it... woot-woot!

Have a great week!

You are all so loved! 

Love 

Sister Alexander

 

 

 

Surprises and My Friend Moe

Hello family and friends!

Was your week full of parties and surprises? Ours was full of the latter! 

The biggest surprise was probably getting a call from the APs on Wednesday telling us that interviews was on Thursday. What? haha I love President Miller. We had an awesome talk about life and the work and all that stuff and it put at ease my stressed out mind. 

The second surprise was getting some letters! Missionaries love letters! 

The third... IT SNOWED! We woke up to snow blanketing the ground on the 2nd and it snowed again today. I love snow in small increments! 

Aha moments:

A couple quotes of the week

"It is better to prepare and prevent than to repair and repent."

"Using the atonement does not lower the bar, it raises us to it."

"Hope can be spread like a yawn. That is why we share the Gospel. Don't hide your hope."

Ahaha moment:

I was told 12 times this week that I will be engaged 3 months after I get home (nah). I was also told that I reminded someone of someone else 4 times on Friday, that was weird. 

Life is good. We are working really hard on finding new people to teach. Everyone kind of disappeared, but that just means we have more time for people who want to learn! 

God is great. I love this gospel. I love being here in Norwich. 

Have a great week! 

Be good!

Love,

Sister Alexander

Picture- This is me and my friend Moe. He was a small glowy Christmas Zombie. He grew into a big glowy Christmas Zombie. I love him.  

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