It was the Best of Times, It was the...Oddest of Times

This week... Oh boy this week. 

Here are the highlights:

Monday- We went to Woodbridge, which is like 45 minutes away for Zone P-Day, and they all canceled on us soooo... We went shopping! We went to Burlington Coat Factory and Target. I finally got a big ole winter coat. It is navy and it is darling. I still have yet to get boots, but, it is just because I am super picky and I haven't found any that I like enough haha. 

Tuesday- Yucky day. I woke up with a dark and stormy rain cloud over my head. It was awful. I just felt guilty all day for nothing! But, we did get to teach E and L and the Spirit was super strong! If you havent really read Joseph Smith History, I suggest that you do.

 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng. 

Wednesday- We went and did service at the Soup Kitchen. I had the most wonderful experience of my life. I will tell it in a second. 

Thursday- BEST DAY EVER. Seriously I don't know what it was that made it so wonderful but we were on a cloud! And two people canceled on us and it still was awesome! 

Friday- We got to see the W family! Sister W is a member who hasn't been coming since she got married and she started to with her two kiddos in April. Her husband is wonderful and he doesn't really know much about the church, but, we had a lesson on Loving Your Family and we gave them "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and Sister Weaver was very excited about it. We also painted pumpkins... that was cool.

Saturday- We got to see J again for the first time in like 3 weeks. We made a deal with her that we get to teach her the lessons and she gets to make it as hard as she wants for us. She is a member but she has had a lot of trials that she has chosen to rebel against the norm because of. We love her. She texted us later saying that she wants us to teach her not a character, and that she doesn't want to rebel anymore. AHHH so cool! The Gospel of Jesus Christ helps people want to change! 

Sunday- Church was amazing. After we went to a R's house (A hobbit hole) and we talked to him about Prayer and how much Heavenly Father loves him. He was able to watch Conference and he and Brother and Sister R (who came with us) all agreed that Uchtdorf has,"got it all" haha we were dying.  R has a cat named Max. Max loves me. He fell asleep in my arms. Twice. :)

Today- Ahahaha Oh goodness today. Last night the heater in the basement was making the whole house shake and it was shaking the bathroom door which was driving me nuts so I went to go and shut it and I had this feeling that I shouldn't (One would think that by now I would listen to those feelings...gah.) and I did anyway. Instantly knew that it wasn't going to open up again... the handle just turned around and around. So this morning in my sleepy, drooly glory we got dressed and went shopping and used the ShopRite Bathroom hahaha. SAD. But one of the Less-Actives in the ward came by with his wife and he opened it in like 5 seconds. Pshhh. Whatever. 

Now the moment that you have all been waiting for: The top reason that Bailey-Errrr Sister Alexander is a total Creep. 

So, like 2 weeks ago Sister G and I were driving home from Branford and we passed by this old man that I pretty much instantly fell in love with... not really...but, he made me really happy just seeing him. He is like... ummm a gangster grandpa from Whoville. I just adored that man when I saw him. So on Wednesday of this week, when we were getting in our car from service, I have to back Sister G up in the car so I stayed out and I looked up and there he was! And guess what?!?! HE TALKED TO ME!!!  Oh my goodness gracious. He is from Eastern Europe and he told me that he goes to church every Sunday and we got to give him a bunch of pamphlets. But guess what, I was so stunned that I totally spaced giving him our card! Gah! He shook my hand and then he was off. Then, THEN. Here is where the creep status comes in. Sister G was all, "Why didnt you ask for a picture?" and I wanted to cry because I didnt even think of it, so on Friday, when we were driving through Branford, and we saw him... Sister G turned around so I could get a picture. I did. :) Life MADE. He is pretty much my most favorite person on the earth. Good old Connecticut. 

Transfer Texts are on Friday. Meaning if I am leaving I will know by next P-Day. I don't want to go. 

Thought of the week:

Sister G and I were talking about Faith and Prayer and I realized (It is kind of a Dur thing, don't judge) that we share the Gospel with everyone because they literally, "Know not where to find it," I always was just like, "Well they could pray, but what if they don't know how to pray???"

You guys, we have such a huge responsibility. We can help people come to the knowledge that not only are they Children of God, but that He always loves them. ALWAYS. What a blessing.

Well, I love hearing from you all and I hope that the flooding has died down. EVERY single person I tell that I am from AZ gets all worried that my family is going to drown. 

Be Safe, Be good. 

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

My best friend in the whole world

 

 The cutest kiddos in the world. The sass is real in these ones haha.

General Conference was the BEST!

Like seriously. But I will get to that in a second. 

This week was awesome. It started with us being really worried about scheduling because last week we were always gone and we didn't have a lot of time to do it but Heavenly Father loves his servants because Holy Cow we were soooo busy this week. Our planners were so stinking full. It was amazing. 

Highlights :)

Monday- We had dinner with one of the 3 "Young" families in the ward. They play a game during dinner where they each go around and ask yes or no questions guessing our first names. It was so fun haha. I highly suggest it. I also got a cat shirt.... It is a 3XL.

 

 

I love it so much.

 

Tuesday-We had a lesson with L and with A. For A's lesson we had dinner with an adorable family in the ward. Then their son talked about the first vision for Faith in God and we emphasized the importance of the Book of Mormon. It was great. 

Wednesday- We had Book of Mormon Night and 8 people came!!!! It was awesome! We read Enos and talked about personal revelation and the importance of prayer. It was great. Then we came home to our new car! It is white and we still have yet to name it but it is a 2015 Corolla. Ish nice. 

Thursday-We got to see 3 different less actives in the ward. They were all so wonderful we are planning on seeing them again soon :)

Friday-We had zone meeting and we found out that we get to watch Meet the Mormons at the Stake Center soon. Super exciting. Go see it! I dare you!!!

Saturday- Conference!  We watched it at the church. The crazy thing about Conference here is that morning session starts at 12:00 and afternoon session is at 4:00 I LOVED the different language speakers. Their talks were some of my favorites! Oh and 88,000 + missionaries!?!?! WOOT WOOT!!!! 

Sunday-We watched "Morning session" at a members house and pretty much had Thanksgiving dinner for brunch. It was AWESOME. One of the Sisters in the ward pointed out that the Apostles were speaking about following the Prophet and the Prophet spoke about following Christ. Good stuff! 

I LOVED Bednar's talk to non-members. Gah! Conference Rocks! 

Well I love you all! Be good! 

Love 

Sister Alexander

The Sickest Week in the History of Like Ever...

Haha, I think I am so clever.

 But yeah.

 On Monday, I woke up with a sore throat and it turned into a NASTY head cold, that left me exhausted and my nose running like it is in a marathon. #HOLLA

But...IT DID NOT BRING ME DOWN!

It probably should have made me rest more but nah... 

So I left my planner back at home, so I am trying to remember what happened on Tuesday. 

OH! We visited a less active woman, and found out that us visiting her was the answer to her mother's prayers. Listen to promptings people! 

Wednesday was our planning day, which ended up with me being useless all morning so Sister Giblette made me sleep. Then we had Book of Mormon Night, which A came to along with one of the guys in the ward who is turning in his papers super soon and a less-active that Sister Giblette felt we should invite. It was great! We read the story of King Lamoni's conversion with Ammon. Ammon is a boss. Haha 'nuff said. 

These two weeks are Conference-palooza for us :) Last Saturday and Sunday were Stake Conference, then on Thursday we had Zone Conference, then Saturday was Women's Conference, then General Conference is coming up this weekend. Plus the Primary program was 2 Sunday's ago. #CONFERENCEISDA'BEST! 

Thursday's Zone Conference was up in Bloomfeild, CT which is about 2 hours north of us. I didn't really sleep at all that night because of my cold, and I had no desire to miss the conference because it was my first one and I felt that I could make it. I took an Alieve and prayed it would help and of course it did! I no longer felt like someone was jumping on my chest! Hallelujah for Modern Medicine!

The zone conference was themed on the Vision of the Mission, which is ZION. We are to be of one heart, one mind and one work. His work. I got to see Elder Lortsher and Elder Jones! We all just walked away feeling so uplifted but like we had so much that we should be doing that we haven't, YET! My favorite thing that I heard, summing up my 5 pages of notes haha, is that "You can't out give the Lord". The only thing that we can do is try our hardest and give him our will. My goal from now on is to Eat, Drink, and Breathe the Work of Salvation. And maybe some Vitamin C so I can get better... haha

Friday was our District meeting and then we had a dinner Appointment with the cutest family ever. We went on a scooter ride to the beach, and then had pizza. Then we had a lesson with A about Prophets and General Conference. 

Saturday was the Women's Meeting which was great. Like so stinking awesome. I loved the quotes: "Where much is required, much more will be given" and "In order to share your light with others, you have to glow yourself"

SO TRUE!

President Uchtdorf's talk was ON POINT. You are ALWAYS a Child of God. You are ALWAYS loved by the most perfect being with the most perfect love. What a wonderful message that we all have the opportunity to know and share?!?

Live the Gospel Joyful.

Gah, it was all so good. There is a darling little old lady in the ward who adored Uchtdorf, and Emily and I would glance over at her every now and them and see her just beaming haha. Presh.

This week was wonderful. 

This Gospel is wonderful.

You are all wonderful. 

Be good!

Love, 

Sister Alexander

 

 

Picture: The Beach that we scootered to :)

This Weeks Highlights!

Hello All!

This week was awesome! We had so much work to do and we got a lot of other things done too! I Wont bore yall with details of everything that we did but I will do my favorite thing done each day!

Monday- Sister Giblette's Birthday! We went to a local orchard and picked apples and pears and then went to Rita's and then went to the beach. It was a great day!

Tuesday- We saw soooo many people! We also saw the craziest kitten in the world. His name is Mikey and he attacked Sister Giblette's arm and my hair. But he was cute so it was okay.

Wednesday- I was feeling super ugh. My whole body was tired but I stuck it out and it was a great day! We went to the soup kitchen and we were there helping them for a really long time! It was like 4 hours but we did so much! We peeled and cut over 200 potatoes. If you know me, you know that the eyes of potatoes are like the yuckiest things in the world to me so they were all making fun of me when I would get grossed out. But we did it! They were very appreciative of it! 

Thursday-We were able to visit L, who is the most hilarious lady in the ward. She is older and she sits out on her porch all day and is seriously a riot. We were really worried that it would be hard to get her to have a spiritual discussion but she was intrigued and it was a wonderful lesson about the Holy Ghost and His role in our everyday lives. 

Friday- We had a lesson with our newest investigator A, and we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and The gift of the Holy Ghost and guess what?

He said that he would pray about a baptismal date!!! WOOHOOO!!!! We were so pumped driving home haha. He is seeing the gospel changing him and his life and he is just loving it all. 

I also had a Lobster Roll. Oh my goodness gracious, manna from heaven. Gah! It is making my mouth water all over again!

Saturday- We had Stake Conference and E came with us pretty much all day. We visited some less actives with her, and then went to C's house for an early dinner and to go to Conference. Conference was AMAZING. Elder Snow of the Seventy was there and the Spirit was so strong. President and Sister Packard also spoke. I love them sooooooo much. I was trying to put it into words in my journal and I couldn't! They are just so stinkin' wonderful! 

Sunday-Also Stake Conference. This area is just awesome. Everyone seriously wants to help with the work! Also, one of the less actives that we had seen on Saturday came! He said that he LOVED it and wants to start coming to church more often. WOOOHOOO!

The biggest thing that I got from Conference was that somehow the Lord works through imperfect people, to bring about his perfect plan and Gospel. What a blessing. 

Monday-That is today! We went on a hike with E and took a bazillion pictures! Woohooo!!!! 

Elder Snow also stated "It is true, It is worth it"

I add my "here here!" to that!

This Gospel is sooo true. Living it is sooooo worth it. Teaching and sharing it is sooooo beyond worth it. 

Also one of the Sister's in our District said something the other day that really hit home for me. she quoted someone saying that we can't compare ourselves to others.(I thought well duh, but we still do, then she said) It is unfair to us. We compare our weaknesses to their strengths. We cant see their weaknesses to compare, so don't do it. Think about it.... RIGHT!?! It is soooo true! 

Good Stuff. 

I hope that you all had an awesome week and that you know that you are all loved! 

Be good! 

Love,

Sister Alexander

 

 

 

 

 

1st pic- Sister Giblette and I today on the hike! I love her so much!!!

2nd picture-E, Sister Giblette and I and our "You did what?!?" Faces :)

Guess Who Is Staying In Madison?!

Guess who is staying in Madison?!

This Companionship!!! Woohooo! We are so happy that we are staying together! And guess what else? I am not a baby anymore! I am a toddler! So exciting! Elder Riberio is training his cousin... Elder Riberio... So funny. Oh! and it is pronounced "he-bed-oo" but you kind of roll the d. Yeah. And Sister Barney in our district is Training Sister Markert, who is HILARIOUS.

 On Monday, we went on a hike... in nature... yeah. Needless to say I got a picture or two. 

On Tuesday we went to the Family History Canter in our ward building and we were trained to use Family Search and a bunch of other sources which was the coolest thing ever. Family History is so awesome! We also met with E, who I really need to take a picture with and we went to dinner at the Young Women president, Sister A's home. They have a cat, named Larry, who is a good 35 lbs. He just comes up to you and drops down and stays there. I was dying! I love cats haha. Then we had a lesson at a restaurant with A, and E came with us. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and how we need to be able to have access to revelation to be able to return to live with God again. 

Wednesday is Service day. We went to the soup kitchen and they asked us to organize their pantry... so we were in heaven haha. Then we visited J, who is now in Relief Society with us and E! She has been sick, but is getting better! We then went and knocked the doors of some less actives and met L who came to church on Sunday! And also J, who is the cutest little old lady. We then had dinner with the Y's who are the Pathways missionaries in our ward. They are phenomenal, and they grow a huge garden that produces tomatoes out the wazoo and guess what? He hates tomatoes hahaha! He just grows them because the ward likes them and he likes gardening! 

Thursday was weekly planning day so we did  that and then we went and did some more knocking until our appointment with L. We ate pie and started to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we all just ended up on a lot of tangents. Most were spiritual but they were still tangents haha. 

Friday was District meeting in New Haven. Then we went and saw P, who lives at the most elegant retirement home ever. It seriously looks like Pemberly. So cute. She is darling. We then went to dinner at J's house. She lives in a cottage on the shore. So cute. R, one of our potential investigators came. We had a nice time and we were able to talk to him about a lot of different things pertaining to the gospel.

Saturday, we went to the primary program practice at 8 am and served all of the kiddo's pancakes. We then went with N, one of the sisters in our ward who is from Texas and is a riot, to D's home. We had a wonderful lesson and N invited her to come to the Relief Society activity on Tuesday, I hope that she can make it! N also took us to help J move. We are really sad to be losing her, but she is a lot closer to the school that she teaches at now. We then went to the C's home and had the best spaghetti ever. He is obsessed with Family History and she isn't a member. They are wonderful. We are hoping to be able to teach her soon but she is having surgery soon so we are just going to be helping her with stuff :) She taught John Mayer in Sunday school! Totally saw a picture! 

Sunday was the primary program. It was adorable. The theme is Families Can Be Together Forever and they had a bunch of families sing together. L came and so did a bunch of the people that we saw during the week. It was an awesome day! Next week is Stake Conference, so the Stake president asked all of the Full-Time Missionaries and Perspective Missionaries to sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth". It is sounding good. Last Friday, I sang a solo in Zone Meeting. I was shaking like a chihuahua but it went well haha. I sang "Help me Teach with Inspiration". I like that song.

I love this place, I love this opportunity. When else will I ever have the chance to dedicate 100% of my time, effort and desires to the Lord? I hope that you all are doing well, and I love getting letters from you!

 

  

 

 

 

1st picture- The pond that we hiked near. It was really pretty and if you yelled it echoed like crazy!

2nd picture-My feelings about physically being in nature have yet to be changed haha. Sister Giblette says that this is my "Grumpy Cat" Look, I'll take it haha

3rd- Our "High School Musical" "Nature is awesome" Picture :)

 

Love, 

Sister Alexander

Is Christ Church on the Earth Today?

PLEASE WATCH! :)

 

http://www.reallifeanswers.org/everyday-faith/what-is-the-restored-church/

 

Love,

 Sister Alexander

Humidity Is Actually A Thing...

Humidity is actually a thing...

Like seriously.

You feel like you are drowning in air. I cant even. Just NO. Hahaha just kidding. I just end up sweating like a...n animal that sweats a lot... yeah. 

It is Tuesday! That is different! Yesterday was Labor Day, and on Monday holidays we get to go to the temple! I love the temple. We also got to go shopping in Cambridge mall, WooHoo! I love shopping haha. We also got to go to Harvard Stadium and play soccer, well... watch people almost kill each other playing soccer.  The Elders get really into it and there is one Sister who loves playing and gets in the middle of them all and I seriously thought she was going to be trampled a billion times. We had to wake up at 3 am in order to get to the 7:30 am session. So needless to say, we were all super loopy coming home.

We drove with our District Leader and his companion. They are hilarious. Elder Coulson (The temptation to call him Agent Coulson is soooo real) and Elder Ribiero. Elder Coulson was called Haitian speaking but he is super white and Elder Ribiero is from Brazil, but he has lived in Utah for the past 10 years, and he came Portuguese speaking, transferred to a Spanish area, then to the office, then to open the Chinese group and now is English with Elder Coulson.  So both of them together, represents all of our mission languages :) They are fantastic. They are also the only Elders in our District.

We had 5 non-members show up to church on Sunday. It was the best day ever. We have a new Investigator named A. He is awesome, and has no religious background at all so it is all new for him. Super cool guy. He loved church. On Wednesday we volunteered at a Soup Kitchen in our area which was super cool. I love the fact that we can help others come unto Christ just by serving them. I love love love it when I can see people reading my nametag. That is super cool. 

 So I don't know if I already said this but EVERYONE here has a cat. EVERYONE. It is FANTASTIC. I have become more obsessed. 

This is the last week before transfers. We find out where we are going/if we are going on Friday afternoon... so yeah. I cant believe that I have been here for almost 6 weeks. Sister Giblette and I have decided that I need to kill her (Be her companion when she goes home) and then stay in the area another 2 months after she dies (goes home). It is happening. 

I love it here, and I love this work. I have never been so happy to be so tired! 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is True. I KNOW this with all of my heart. 

Love, 

Sister Alexander