Monday, December 16th: A Picture Says a Thousand Words, and I'm Outta Words!

1. Hanging Lights up for a member :]

2. The Elders and Sisters of the Olympia 4th ward! We decorated the tree!

3. Sister Palmer and I!! :]

4. I love this!! Remember Christ this year!!!

Transfer calls were on Saturday and we are staying together! Yay!

Have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love, Sister Falkner

Happy Days, All Is Well: December 9th 2013

Let the Christmas season begin! :] The Christmas devotional was amazing! I loved the part about the Hymn "Far Away on Judea's Plains" the lyrics are so great! It is a happy day, and all is well! We have God to thank for so much and He brings so much peace into our lives!! I also really loved what President Monson said about The Spirit of Christmas and if you take off the last syllable it is simply The Spirit of Christ! I hope and pray you can all feel His Spirit this wonderful time of year!! Some fun things happened this week! I got to go on my first exchange since being released as a Sister Training Leader and it was a blast, Sister Scott came to my area, she is from Ephraim and is good friends with one of my sister Britt's old Laurels. So she knew my family a little bit already! I was praying so much that I would learn from her and our short 24 hours together and I did! She has such an incredible testimony of the Book of Mormon, we went over to visit Suzi and she was having terrible withdrawal symptoms from the medication she is coming off of, she was pacing and sweating and just could not sit still, it was kind of scary to see her that way, but we asked her to sit down and we began to read the Book of Mormon to her from page 1, within the first few verses she was completely calmed and brought to ease! It was amazing! The power of the Book of Mormon is real!! I decided I wanted to try something new this week and we did it while I was on the exchange, we went Family History tracting, we took our ward Family History Representative with us and we went tracting in a 55+ community, everyone was so friendly, which was surprising because it was a "no soliciting" community, but they all love family history and wanted to hear about it, so that was great! It went well for a trail run! We also had our ward Christmas party this week, Suzi and Freddy came, they are the main two people we are working with. Suzi is being baptized on January 1st and is doing so well at working towards her goal; she is pretty much already a member! It’s great! She is Duane's wife, technically we gave Duane to the elders, but I still get to teach him and he is just a really great guy! I like him a lot! He reminds me of my big brother Sam!! :] (on a side note, Elder Bing, that is serving in 4th ward with us, he really reminds me of Ian! haha) but Suzi is doing well and she loved the Christmas party, she brought her daughter Katy and Katy brought her boyfriend Steven, so we are hoping to be able to work with all of them soon enough! :] Freddy is awesome! he is 19 and is in the marine core, we met him my first week here and he has since already read the first 120 or so pages of the Book of Mormon, he is enjoying it and he also came to the ward party, he is good friends with an inactive member but the great thing is that his friend is willing to come to the activities with him so that he doesn't feel alone, so they were both at the Christmas party. when we got there, I saw Freddy with an apron on and putting ice in all the cups, I laughed and said "Freddy what're you doing?" he just looked at me and said "well, I’m just helping" Freddy is really awesome and he continued to "just help" the rest of the evening by serving everyone their lasagna and cleaning up afterwards! He is praying about baptism on December 28th. That's the exciting part of my week! It has been around 15-20 degrees this week, it is REALLY cold!!!! But we are managing! It’s a very different kind of cold here, it penetrates to the bone and there is nothing you can do about it but shiver! Hah Anyways! I love you all!!!

Love, Sister Falkner

This is pretty much all the snow we get here! So far! hah. We will see if more is coming!

Leftovers For Life: December 2nd 2013December 2nd 2013

December 2nd 2013

Happy belated Thanksgiving my loved ones!!! :]

I hope you all had a great day and truly reflected on how blessed we are in the wonderful life!

Thanksgiving as a missionary... well we were told that we could have as many thanksgiving dinners as we could fit in one day, or our tummies. hah! So we started our day off by being picked up at 11:30am and we went to our first dinner at the Smiths home. Brother Smith is a member and his wife is not, but she suggested that he invite us, it was very nice and there were a few of their friends and family there as well, the elders came along too!

After that we went over to Suzi and Duane's home for our 2nd dinner! They are so great! Suzi just got out of surgery this week but she wanted to feed us so badly that she made it work! They were all exhausted from the cooking and baking and moving furniture to make some space for us, but they pulled it all off and we had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner with them and their friends and neighbors! :] the greatest part of the day was at their home. Two really wonderful things happened!

1. We all went around the table and said what we are grateful for, Suzi said she is grateful to be joining the true church, she is being baptized on January 1st :] then she practically bore her testimony about the church and how blessed her life has been since meeting with us, it was so special! THEN!!!! Duane said what he was grateful for and he said "I'm grateful for you guys (looks at all us missionaries) ya’ll ain't gonna convert me though... (awkward silence) I'm just kiddin' we'll see!" it was great! Duane will be baptized soon enough! He is being prepared! Then he prayed for the food which was a huge step for him! It was so fabulous!!!

2. The next best thing of the day was the homemade butterscotch cheesecake Duane made! I had been saving room for it all day!!! He was going to make a white chocolate cheesecake, but he found out I wasn't eating chocolate and changed the recipe for me! It was so dang delicious!!

Later on in the day we went over to another family’s house, the Klumkers, they are a really great family!! We had a nice lesson with them and got to enjoy some pie, it was really nice! They have a very "Homey" house! It felt good to be there!

The rest of our week was good, I haven't been feeling very good, but I’ll get over it!

We found this really sweet old lady named Anna this week! She is 96 and wants to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year! We are meeting with her on Wednesday; hopefully she remembers who we are! :]

I love you all! We are now in the month of December, or as we call it in the mission, the month of Christ!!! :] Always remember Him and what He did for you!

Love, Sister Falkner

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125972001

Sister Palmer and I on Thanksgiving!!

We were grateful that the sun was shining!!! :]

Seers and Revelators, here in Washington: November 25th 2013

This week was a great one for the journal! On Saturday we had Elder Neil L. Anderson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles here in the Washington Tacoma Mission! He spoke to us on Saturday and had with him, Craig C Christianson from the presidency of the Seventy. It was a really incredible meeting and he got me really pumped to do missionary work! He talked a lot about missionary work and the atonement! It was good for me to hear, so that was really wonderful! He is a great guy and he took the time to shake all of our hands. This week we also had a baptism, her name is Kate Kacho, and she plays Volleyball!!! :] it was fun to talk with her a little bit about that and then a lot a bit about the Gospel! so that's great! Other than that its been kind of a slow week here, we are working at building our teaching pool and so far we are doing alright, keep the people of Olympia in your prayers! Love you all!! have a blessed week!!

Love Sister Falkner!!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2714780496001

^^Wrong Roads

The Picture is Sister Palmer, Kate Kacho, and Me at the baptism!

The work goes forth in Olympia 4th :] - November 18th 2013

Hello everyone!!! So I am now in Olympia 4th ward and I LOVE it here!!! It is VERY different being put here because this is the first time I have come into an area and there was actually already work going on. It’s strange to me! But it’s kind of nice! We already have like 10 progressing investigators and we had a baptism Saturday. It’s crazy! I am so used to being put in slow areas and having to make the best of it, so this is all so strange to me! But no complaints!! I like it and the ward seems so sweet! This week we had some serious rain! I think it rains more in the southern part of the mission because I never had this much rain in the North (this is my first time serving on the southern side of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.) we were tracting this week and we were DRENCHED!!!!!!! I hung my coat in the closet to dry and it took two days!! Every single layer of my clothes was soaked and it was so cold! It is around the 40's here but with all the rain and wind chill I feel like I am back in Rexburg in January. Haha it’s chilly. This ward is really great and because there is so much work going on here, the ward has 2 sets of missionaries now. We have Sister Palmer and I and a set of Elders. Elder Bing and Elder Johnson. Elder Johnson is from Herriman and lives around the corner from Joe (from teraflex) he loves jeeps so we have some good conversations. It’s fun to have someone that actually understands!! :] anyways, it’s very interesting sharing a ward but I like it, we work really well together and we have been giving the Elders some of our investigators and things are starting to play out the way they should be! It’s really great!! So, Sister Palmer is my new companion. She is the sweetest thing!!! Here’s the funny thing... She is from Sandy Utah.... weird huh??? hahaha she graduated from Brighton in 2011 (the same year as me) and she knows some of the kids I went to middle school with! It’s fun! She is so sweet and has been out for a little over a month! She is doing great though and the ward loves her, as do I!!! I want you all to know how much the Lord knows what He is doing! I have already found my reason for being here in this ward at this time. His name is Dwayne. Dwayne is the Husband to Suzi and she has been meeting with the sisters for a little over a month now. She is incredible and is going to be baptized January 1st. Dwayne has never sat in on the lessons with suzi but he believes in God and wants to do things his way and in his time. The first time we went over there I asked him if he would ever have the desire to be baptized by proper authority and he said "one day" then we chatted for a bit, but when we wanted to start the lesson he stood up to leave. I asked him to stay just for the prayer and he did, his wife Suzi said that was a huge step for him, so that was cool. I didn't think much of it but the next time we went over there we brought the elders because Dwayne said he might like to meet with the Elders. all four of us went in and started visiting with them and Dwayne was about to leave, I told him that he wanted elders and I brought him elders and that it would be rude of him to leave, so he agreed to sit in for the lesson. (HUGE MIRACLE) I asked if we could begin with me offering an opening prayer and he sarcastically said NO so I told him if I couldn't then he would have to, and he didn't like the idea of that so he let me say the prayer. The cool part about Dwayne is that I catch on to his little tricks and sarcasm really well and I challenge it, he has gone through some passive missionaries before and never been challenged so this is good for him. Anyways! We had a great lesson and the spirit was so strong, he began to tear up and said he had to go so we wrapped up and said a kneeling prayer before he left. He promised to be at church the next day, which made me so happy!! Dwayne didn't come to church Sunday but he had a good enough reason, Suzi worked him too hard the day before with moving around furniture and he hurt his back, but she came up to me and told me that later that night he told her that he has needed someone to challenge him and that he wants to get back into church!! Yay!!! I love him, I don't even know if this story made any sense because when I get excited I tend to ramble, but Dwayne has a spot in my heart and I am so excited for the little steps he is taking!!! :] I love you all! Oh and Allison, from Silverdale got baptized this Friday!!! I didn't get to go, but I know it was great! I love her so much! That's all.
Love, Sister Falkner

Me and Sister Palmer

The Olympia 4th Ward Missionaries. Elder Johnson, Elder Bing, Me, and Sister Palmer

November 12th 2013: A week of goodbye's always welcomes a week of hello's

Happy late Veterans Day my friends!! November 12th 2013 If you couldn't guess by the title, I am leaving Silverdale. After 6 short months here, my time is up. I am heading down to Olympia 4th ward today and I am very excited! It has been a little bit difficult saying goodbye to all those I have grown to love here, but I know that our friendships are eternal, so its okay!!! My next companion will be Sister Palmer, I don't know anything about her except that she has been out for 6 weeks and I will doing her follow-up training. It will be fun to have a companion that still feels the newness of everything! I am really excited!!! We had a leadership meeting this week and the mission made some changes, its really interesting and I don't know if any of you even care, but its sometimes fun to see how different missions run things so here are the new rules of our mission. We used to be able to eat dinner at either 4 or 7 and we would have to knock on doors from 5-7 everyday but we have made a new rule that dinners have to be at 4 everyday so that we have more time to schedule evening appointments! Its hard on the members, but I know it will really help the missionaries with scheduling :] it will be good, another change that was made is a little harder for me to get used to but I will gain a testimony of it soon I'm sure! We are no longer allowed to play sports with the elders on p-day. We can have a lunch with all the zone once per transfer and play a sport once per transfer but the only sport we can all play together is volleyball, fine by me :] but the hard part is that all the other p-days we have to spend all our time with the sisters and I feel like I will get a lot less exercise.. oh well. It will be good and keep things the way they should be!:] We also are only supposed to teach with the scriptures from here on out. No more tricks or visuals or gimmicks, analogies or anything. It will be a little tricky but it will bring the spirit so much quicker! It will all be good! Change is good! Here is Silverdale this week we had some great things happen. First off, Cindy got a calling! She is a relief society representative! We are really excited for her she is doing so great!!! Peggy is doing super great as well. She is still learning and praying about the gospel, but she is awesome! She is coming to the ward chili cook off and bringing her famous chili! Its awesome! Allison came to church this week and after Sunday school she turned around to us and told us she wants to be baptized before she moves away to Massachusetts, (she moves this Saturday) haha so she will probably be baptized this Friday! I am going to be sad to miss it, but she will be awesome and I am so happy for her!! My funny story for the week. I went to say goodbye to my dear friend Robin Plyler, I love her so much. She has a son on a mission and is learning about the church! She celebrated my birthday with me and this week we celebrated her birthday with her! She is a doll! We said our goodbyes and asked her to say the closing prayer and she doesn't like to pray in front of people, but I love it when she does because they are always unique and from the heart! This time she was kind of funny, if that's okay to say about a prayer? Hah she said “thank you for putting Sister Falkner in my lives...... (long pause) I mean life... (long pause) I'm not a cat, I don't have 9 lives....(long pause with a few escapes of laughter) Meow....” Robin is so fun and her prayers are so funny! She just speaks whats on her mind and what is in her heart, I love it so much! I love you all and I hope to hear from you at my new address which is 320 Israel Rd SW Tumwater WA 98501 Love always, Sister Falkner!

Gods Greatest Creation: November 4th 2013

November 4th 2013 <----- november?? weird... Hello hello!! :] well this week we had some fun things happen. 1. I went on an exchange to Bainbridge Island, it was fun I got to be with Sister White, she has only been out for about 5 weeks so its always fun to be around the new ones because their desire to work is so strong! I really enjoyed it! We even put two people on date to be baptized while I was there, so that was really cool! 2. We had a ward activity this week and it was a haunted forest. There is a family, the Baldridge's that have a ton of trees in their backyard and the youth went and decorated it and dressed up to be the scary people inside. We had Breann, an investigator that came and she brought her friend and her two kids. The haunted forest was fun because it was for all ages, they did a scary version and a not so scary version. When Breann and her two kids got there we asked her if she wanted to do the scary or not scary version and she chose scary, I was really hoping she wouldn't cause we had to go with them and I'm a baby... but it wasn't too bad and her kids took it like a champ!!! She stuck around and talked with a lot of people and it was a really good opportunity for her. 3. We had our downstairs neighbor and his cute daughter Chloe bring us some Halloween balloons and caramel apples they are really nice, they took us out for ice cream last week! He is a very less active member, and he actually came to church with us for a bit last week, so its cool getting to know them better! 4. Halloween night! :] Halloween as a missionary is a little bit different than most Halloweens. Haha we had a zone meeting and then we all went over to sister Bohls house for dinner. She had tons of food ready for all of us (24 missionaries) and she stayed up way late last night making caramel apples for each one of us! It was so great, she has a very fun house too, she has foosball, air hockey, ping pong, and a little arcade basketball type game. Its really fun and the missionaries really enjoyed it. We grilled up some burgers and played for a bit and then we got to watch a movie. President and Sister Weaver sent us some candy and a movie for us to watch as a zone. We got to watch Ephraim's Rescue. It was a really good movie, I really enjoyed it! Pretty funny too! It was obviously the most spiritual Halloween I've ever been a part of but I really loved it! It was a blast! Sister Bohls is so sweet!!! So those are the exciting things that have been going on here this week! This week I started a 40 day fast. I have been praying a lot about what I can give up to be healthier so that I will be more capable of giving the work 100% of my attention and energy because of my ankle and being sick the last two weeks, its been hard but I have given it a lot of thought and prayer and I am fasting for 40 days from milk and chocolate. I get sick just about everyday, but I think its because I start my day off with cereal, so I am giving up milk so I can not feel sick as often, and so far so good! And chocolate is just for my own health and to get rid of that so call “addiction” so please dont send me any! :] I know that when we take care of our bodies it is easier for us to feel the spirit and I have faith that as I refrain from the things that dont do my body good for this little stretch of time I can come closer to my Heavenly Father and show Him how grateful I really am for this wonderful gift of a body! You should all check out this video!!! :] “Gods Greatest Creation” http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages Transfer calls are this Saturday night, I will let you know what is going on next week! :] Love you!!! have a great week! Love, Sister Falkner!