I am excited to train again, and nervous

March 18  2013

here is a picture of my temporary companion of awesome
Sister Peirson

     This week is transfers and on Wednesday (or Thursday) my companion Sister Howell got her Visa so she is flying to Brazil right now. I am going to miss her. I already miss her. She's gone. But I am staying in the same area, with the Winterwood ward, and training again. So I am going to have a couple days of not knowing where I'm at again until transfers work out and my trainee arrives.

      Melissa is progressing really well, Anthony is still being icky, they want to keep the Lord's commandments and we taught the 10 Commandments this week focusing on how the Book of Mormon and the Bible teach the same thing and how all of Christianity believes in the 10 Commandments. Throughout the lesson Sister Howell and I only really guided discussion and we focused on having our investigators explain the commandments and brainstorm ways they could keep it. Our members, the Turners, were fantastic too. We just have to be patient and keep loving and encouraging them.

The back of
Sister Peirson’s head

     This week has been good. We have an amazing referral, she wants to learn more about our church and come to church. She couldn't this Sunday due to illness but we have an appointment with her on Saturday and all her family members we have met seem really nice. I am excited to train again, and nervous, but I trust the Lord will work it out. He is the one who asked it of me so I trust that He will work it out as long as I try my best. Life is good and I am doing my best to be a good missionary and hard worker.

Sister Peirson’s ankle

I love you a lot, I hope things get better. 
Eat lots of birds.
Sister Alyssa Monson

The area is flourishing one step at a time

March 4 2013

Me and Dave!
That was a picture of us in his kitchen
Sister Howell and I helped him paint,
thats why I'm in my service clothes  >.>

     Our area is moving forward and during the last few days we have been very busy but guided every step. I am continually amazed and inspired by Sister Howell, she is such a strong and determined missionary. The other day we went contacting in a parking lot in our area, something I have never done and I was so scared but she moved forward fearlessly. She is so determined to be the best missionary she can be and she is starting to really connect with the members and our investigators. I have been working really hard at letting her be able to speak more and we are now more balanced. We have come up with several plans of how we can get more LTMs but at the moment we have not been having lessons at all with investigators. We are constantly seeking new investigators and while we have found many with great promise nothing has borne fruit yet. We are patiently waiting for that time.

these are pictures of us with Dave and his wife Mary
at the Smith Center to watch an amazing concert of awesome

     This week we had an opportunity to provide service for one of the members. He has diabetes and we helped him paint his house for a couple hours. Another member was very tired and trying to clean up when we got there so we were able to help her vacuum and put things in order. We also do what we can to help set and clean the table at dinners. Service opportunities have always been hard to find in my mission but the Lord has been providing us with more of late. We seek them always and pray for them.

Its so BIG!

      Melissa is struggling. We have not been able to go by in a while, in spite of our best efforts, but their fellowshipers have still been seeing her (she had to work this Sunday so only Anthony and the kids came to church). The things I have heard grieve my heart. The children are still doing awesome though, I feel they are prepared, we have been planning to commit the family to a baptism date goal, to help keep them motivated, but again we haven't been able to really meet with them. This week we will find a way.

Piscotta family!
I'm officially part of the Piscotta clan too...

      Many of our less actives are doing better and better. Some are asking us more questions so we can help them resolve their concerns, others are opening up more, committing more, seeking more, and the Lord is blessing us to know what to say and do to help them continue to progress and overcome their obstacles.

      We are continually focusing on our purpose and striving to make every visit and activity meaningful and we have been blessed with increasing success. I am so grateful for all the Lord has blessed us with. Things are going well and I am focusing on Faith and Hope as far as Christlike attributes go, and Listening and Asking Inspired Questions for teachings skills.


March 11 2013

I saw this Pinecone fall out of a tree.
We all know it happens, or must happen,
but how often do you actually see that happen?
Pretty awesome,
its been hanging out on my desk for about
a month now, maybe more.

     This week has gone well. We had several lessons with Melissa and her family. They are progressing well except Anthony, who has been making many comments that make it hard for me to respect him. We are doing our best to support him and Melissa and provide encouragement. We have been reading with them more, when we read Melissa gets it, and she loves the scriptural language of the King James Bible, it is clear to her. Anthony has a different Bible, International I think, one where it is 'translated' to more modern language, and she doesn't like how it words things. The wording in Anthony's Bible is simpler but she finds it harder to understand, which means the reason she is understanding the King James Bible is because the Spirit is helping her. Its easier to read old English with the Spirit to help than to read modern English on your own. Anthony struggles to understand. He claims he believes but talks in circles. Perhaps he does believe, but it doesn't seem to mean anything to him. Melissa on the other hand understands and is making sacrifices because she wants to do it for the Lord. Her kids are also doing really well. This Saturday we went and visited the temple with them. The member who gave them a ride and was present for the lesson bore powerful testimony of eternal families. We tried to set a baptism date goal but they are still struggling. They did decide to commit to know, one way or the other, by April 13th.

Melissa and her family at the temple -
her son Rodney, and her daughter Ma'khaila
also her boyfriend Anthony...

     Overall things are going well. We have a very promising referral we are trying to contact and the work is moving forward. Sister Howell is full of awesome. She is teaching really well and we are getting much better at teaching together. She is taking the lead more and more. The ward is really coming to love her. The area is flourishing one step at a time and the Ward is growing in strength. We are always seeking to do things to help build it up, and strengthen the amazing members here.

Love you Alyssa

I'm BEING A MISSIONARY! YAY!

Feb 18 2013

Our Bedroom! There is Sister Howell

Sister Howell's desk
(plus welcome sign I made for when she arrived)

      This week has gone well. The first few days were kind of crazy with the schedule change but I had an opportunity to learn a lot and increase my faith as I went with the Spanish sisters and prepared to train. Sister Howell is an amazing missionary. Sometimes I do not feel like I am a trainer but that I am just with another companion as at any other point in my mission. Perhaps it is because she was at the MTC for 10 weeks but she seems so much more prepared than I was. I do have to train her but mostly its just helping her apply what she has already learned to the challenges of the mission field and real life application to investigators. She is actually a visa waiter, waiting to go to Brazil, so she is also learning Portuguese, part of why she was at the MTC so long. She is extremely positive and I really enjoy being her companion. I suppose I am showing her the ropes, but more like teaching her tricks and teaching things that I have found to work well and adopted from previous companions or trainings. We are practicing and trying to get used to teaching together and I am teaching her what I can about approaches I have seen work and such. I have not been as diligent at street contacting as I should be, so I am recommitting myself to contact everyone. Part of the problem is that we are driving too much, we need to walk more. Miracles have already occurred in the short time we have been together. We were able to get in to see a less active lady who has seemed to be avoiding us and she told us what was going on with her. It was a very intense meeting but I think we will not be better equipped to help her come back to church. We also brought a member along to try to contact an investigator who is hard to meet with and the lesson was a perfect example as to why it is so important to bring members along. The member was able to relate to Elizabeth in ways we couldn't and bear testimony and share advice as to how the Lord helped her get through similar things.

My desk

     The members in the ward love Sister Howell, and our investigators are adjusting smoothly. Training is hard and I pray for help a lot, every day. Without planning to I have found myself demonstrating powerful teaching tools in lessons and then I try to explain them later. I can see the Lord's hand in this, showing her how missionary work can and should be. Melissa and her family are still progressing, we recommitted them to read together as a family and they are diligently and earnestly seeking. We also have a lesson tonight with a part member family we had never met before Saturday. The husband has been inactive more or less because all he can go to is night church and since his wife (Catholic) cant understand Spanish they don't really go much. We are going to talk to our Bishop to find out if there is a late English sacrament and when the latest English ward meets. Tonight we are going to be teaching them the restoration and Sister Howell is going to invite the wife (Erica) to be baptized and we have spend some good time role playing the invitation with her doing her best to identify and address different concerns Erica may have. Things are going well and we are happy and as obedient as we can be. Sister Howell says I am a good trainer. I am glad the Lord is making up for my weaknesses.

Have a Nice Day!
(My catch phrase in the Sister Fine Era
she gave me this pen because of that)

     Also this week we got to help someone paint their kitchen. It felt so good to do service but I was really worried because my back was hurting really really bad that morning and I couldn't lift my arms without them hurting a lot. I decided to trust that the Lord would help me get through since we were doing service and when we got to their house I took a paint brush, got up on a step ladder, and started edging the walls where they touched the ceiling. My back hardly hurt at all and felt a bit better all the rest of the day. The Lord really blesses us when we put our faith in Him and serve Him.



Remember that I love you a lot and The Lord loves you tons. It will all be alright in time.
Your daughter, Alyssa






Feb 25 2013

Me and Elder Halpenny!
Awesome Elder, just went home from his mission.
He lives in California but he is legally a resident of Canada.

I'm BEING A MISSIONARY! YAY!
Its fun and tiring.

     This week has been tough numbers wise. We are focusing on street contacting. Sister Howell is learning really well. She is an extremely prepared missionary and is continually focused on her purpose and how to help us achieve it. Our Investigator Anthony did not come to stake conference this week. Melissa is struggling because she is miffed at how he flip flops. We are endeavoring to do daily contact to help strengthen them. We get the feeling that the wedding is not going to happen, Anthony does not seem ready for commitment. We are obeying the white handbook and not giving Melissa personal advice, only teaching them the doctrine and encouraging them to pray and read and obey all the commandments of God. Anthony could be amazing, he just has to make that choice.

Elder Balloon!

     Sister Howell and I have been really focusing on improving our transitions and teaching together. I fear I have been taking the lead too much and one of my main goals is to focus on preparing her more before hand then pulling back in actual lessons; not that she needs much preparation. We have seen many miracles this last week and many of the less actives we have really been working with were able to come to stake conference. The Gospel is such a wonderful blessing. I want everyone to have it. I am sad to say I sometimes get frustrated because people cannot see, they are happy with what they have. I am striving to be more humble and more patient and praying that the Lord will purify my heart. I am doing the Purification Challenge again. I hate it, but I hate exercise too and the purification challenge is like exercise for your will and spirit. Its like doing stair laps. Its painful but it makes you strong. I am happy.

Green Smoothie maker
Mom you will be proud to know
that I am drinking my vegetables 

     Our area is doing well. We have a new investigator, her name is Teresa, she is really interested. She came to Stake Conference and the RC/I meeting before and loved them so much. She was mainly baptist but has studied and been to most religions, rather like our recent convert Dave, so it was really wonderful that Dave was asked to bear his testimony in the early meeting. So far she loves what she has seen and felt and we will be meeting with her soon. Some members have already offered to have her taught in their home.

I don't know what to write! I love you a lot!
Be happy and read the scriptures
Sister Alyssa Monson

PS Tell everyone I love them and I love the letters and cards everyone is sending me. It makes me really happy, I wish I could write everyone back, and I am, its just taking a while.