June 9th 2014

Hello my close friends!

So, this week I had some incredible opportunities! On Tuesday night we got a text from President Weaver saying that all former Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders are invited to Mission Leadership Council! So, on Thursday, Sister Wilkinson spent the day with Sister Diener, from Olympia and I got to go up to Tacoma to be in the meeting! It was really special, it was President and Sister Weavers last MLC, so they wanted everyone there! In the training President said "2 Nephi chapter 2 is still in the Book of Mormon, this means that there is still a need for 'opposition in all things'"

I really liked that thought because even though we have been having a great time in Rochester and we have been so blessed, we still have hard days! Just like the next missionary! This morning during comp study we were reading a talk by President Packer and he says this...

"Life is full of problems

It's full of if's and but's

And the man that's grinning all the time

Must be completely nuts."

It brought be a lot of comfort because I know that it’s okay to have hard days, I know that it is always for our benefit and it is part of OUR plan of Happiness :] so yeah, super great meeting!!

We have been continuing to teach Brigida and her family, we talked with them about baptism this week and she wants her children to be baptized in our church because it is her husband’s favorite church!

We also had transfer calls this week, Sister Wilkinson and I are staying together for another transfer, so it will be good! We will just keep pushing along!

The greatest part of my week!!! drum roll.....

I GOT TO GO BACK TO SEQUIM!!!! Ahhh, it felt so good to be back! Faye was baptized on Saturday and since Sister Stokes and I found her and started teaching her, I got to go back for the baptism! It was so special and it was so good to see Sister Stokes again! And Faye and the Sequim ward! I just love all of them so much! My new Ward Mission Leader, Brother King and his wife offered to drive us down! It was so sweet!!!

That's all for this week! Actually we found a cool guy named DJ that wants to be baptized! But I’ll tell you about him next week!

Love you tons!!!!

Love, Sister Falkner!

1. I made us breakfast the way my Daddy used to make me pancakes! :]

2. We made a goal to take a picture everyday this week because we have been awful about it, so this was on Friday!

3. Sister Stokes and I with Faye!

Short and Sweet!

June 16th 2014

Hello my friends and family!

This week was a good week, it was kind of slow but that was just because I got sick... im still kind of sick, but it was the worst on Tuesday and Wednesday so that slowed us down a little, but we are still pushing along and I should be better soon!

So, last week I told you I would tell you about DJ. He is going to be marrying a girl in the church and wants to be baptized before they get married! We met with him this week and taught him about the restoration of the gospel and he liked it, we can’t meet with him for 2 weeks due to his busy schedule but we have an appointment and he still wants to learn and be baptized! So hopefully that works out well!

We also met with a great guy this week! His name is Russ! We tracted into Russ last week and taught him a bit about the Book of Mormon and he was interested in learning more! So we went back this week and taught the restoration, it went so well and he really enjoyed meeting with us! Russ is such a great guy! He is very sincere and kind! We took our ward mission leader and his wife who happen to live down the street from Russ! When we got there he was really relieved that we brought someone because he said he was concerned about us coming and just us being there! He said he was just planning to visit with us on the porch but then it started pouring rain so we was racking his brain on how he could meet with us and not feel weird about it at the same time! It was just really neat to see that he cared about things like that! We won’t be meeting with him this week because he has his sons for the week, but we will meet with him again next week! Sorry, I’m keeping it short this week!

I love you!

Love, Sister Falkner!

1. this is a picture of a drive we took this week, we were checking up on a less active! This is something you only see driving up the mountains in Utah, but its a normal drive here in Rochester! I love how beautiful it is here in the summers!!!

538 Jeeps...Yeah, Heavenly Father Loves Me!

June 23rd 2014

Hello to my loved ones!

So, to explain my subject line... while Sister Wilkinson and I were tractingone day we saw a train go by and the train was packed full of pretty brand new jeeps!! I watched in awe, knowing that God gives me little worldly blessings sometimes because He just wants me to know that He is aware of me and loves me! BUT!!! As if that wasn't enough... Yesterday as we were driving home from church there was traffic ahead and this confused us because there is NEVER traffic in Rochester, it’s a one stop light town... as we continued to drive I saw 3 jeeps in a row and I pointed them out to sister Wilkinson and she was on the other side of the car so she could see that there were many more to come! As we kept driving down HWY 12 they just kept going. We pulled over and decided to go and talk with some people seeing as there are never that many people in Rochester at one time! so we did and we got to talk with a few people and found out there was a funeral for a young boy (17yrs old) that loved jeeps so his parents asked on FB for any jeep drivers in the area to line the road as they drove in the casket for the funeral! It was really neat to see all the jeeps and that they would support something like that! And it was a blessing to me to have a little piece of home right there with me! There were 138 jeeps from all over Washington that showed up! Looks like Dennis was a week late! He could have been there too! ;]

ANYWAYS! On a less worldly note...

I went on an exchange this week, it was fun, I got to go to Elma with Sister Johnston and we had a good time! I got a bit sunburned so I guess I match the rest of the family this week since they all went to bear lake and got some sun also!

We have met with a lot of our investigators this week and they are all doing really good! Brigida and her family are doing to great! They all came to church this week and are preparing to be baptized this week, we will actually ask them to push it back a week because their fellowship will be out of town, but they are excited none the less! :]

Last night we had the last missionary fireside! It was in Olympia and we got to go, it was really fun and so special for all that were involved! The Weavers go home this week so it was a tender night for us and them!

I think I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but we have been trying really hard as a mission to have members at our lessons and we have had the goal of having 500 lessons with a member present for at least 6 months now and the closest we got to reaching that goal was 497. We really emphasized it this week and were determined to get it for the Weavers last full week in the mission and last night they had us all get on a conference call to tell us that we had 696 lessons with a member present this week! It was such an incredible thing to be able to see the mission work hard for the goal and to pretty much blow it out of the water! It was so great!!!! President Blatterlands on Thursday and he will be the new mission president from then on! I am excited to see what the mission has in store! I love you all!

Love, Sister Falkner!

1. Exchange day! Sisters Stucki, Wilkinson, Me, and Johnston.

2. All the beautiful jeeps!! :] some more beautiful than others!

A Week of Goodbyes

June 30th 2014

Hello, and happy almost July! Man, it’s kind of rough when there are 5 Mondays in a month because you run out of money and miles! We have to drive like 25 miles round trip to get to the library and we are only supposed to drive about 40 miles a day, so it puts a cramp in our miles! Anyways, that was just the topic of our conversation on the way here!

This week was slower than last, but it was good!

We had a specialized training on Wednesday with the Weavers to say goodbye to them, it was really neat and we basically just had a testimony meeting! Their last day was on Thursday, so it was kind of sad saying goodbye to them, but I will see them soon enough! On the other end of the stick, President and Sister Blatter landed on Thursday and he is officially our new mission president! We had a conference call with him last night and I can just tell he is going to be so good for this mission! We are having another specialized training this week, basically just too officially meet them! So that will be fun!

This week we have been over to Brigida, Eva, Joan, and Maria's home everyday to teach them and prepare them for their baptism! On Friday when we went over there it was our last day with Maria there. She flew back to Pohnpei on Saturday to live there. She liked it here, but it’s just not home to her, so she is back home! We didn't get to talk to Maria a lot because of the language barrier, but she faithfully sat in on all of our lessons and she even said the closing prayer a few times in her language! It was really neat to "get to know her a little bit" with few words! But I love her and her few words! we said goodbye on Friday and she gave us each a hug and then she just held tightly to our hands and looked at us with tears in her eyes and was able to extract the few words she does know In English and she said "Thank you, I love you" it was such a tender moment and I know that she will talk to missionaries again one day, and that she will actually be able to talk with them in her language! She has felt the spirit of the gospel, now she just needs to hear it!

Other than that, we had to push back Brigida, Joan and Eva's baptism because Brigida is so set on fully living the word of wisdom that she wants to live it for 10 days before her baptism instead of just the required 5. So she and her family will be baptizedon July 12th. What a wonderful birthday weekend it will be :]

Yesterday at church we had a little miracle! We got a voicemail in the middle of church and it was a guy names tom, he said he was on his way to church and bringing his kids. He said he met with the elders a while ago and has been meaning to come back to church for a long time and that was the day he did it! So he showed up and took his kids to primary and nursery and we talked with him, he said he was baptized at 8 but was ex communicated. He wants to come back and have us meet with his girlfriend also, and he really just wants his kids to be brought up correctly and with good standards! So that was awesome! We will meet with them this week! :] 

I love you all!

Love, Sister Falkner!

1. I have this theory and I had to get a picture to prove it. My theory is that Washington is just a whole bunch of Christmas tree farms gone wrong, there are Christmas tree farms EVERYWHERE!!! and not all of the tree's are purchased, so they just let them keep growing and this is what you get, see the different layers of trees? yupp..

2. Just a lovely photo..

Can I have one of those books?- Monday, March 17th 2014

Hello everyone! Happy St Patrick’s Day!!! :]

This week was wonderful for so many reasons! The sun is shining and on Wednesday we got to go out and do our nightly tracting without a coat for the first time this season!! Yay!!! :]

So, this week we had a lesson with a lovely lady named Julie. I believe I told you a little bit about Julie previously, she was drunk when we knocked on her door and she thought we were 7th Day Adventists and we had to break the news to here that we were not.. Anywho, Mormon or not, she wanted us to come back because she is "searching" so this week we went back and we took Sister Lorenzen. (She is always just a fabulous fellowship) The lesson went so well, we taught her all about the Restoration, the Priesthood and the Book of Mormon. I was explaining to her the importance and greatness of the Book of Mormon and she cut me off, looked at me and said "Can I have one of those books? I want to read that!!" Oh how my heart smiled! I love the Book of Mormon so much and it makes me so happy when people want it!! Julie asked questions about the Word of Wisdom and we told her that we teach 4 lessons and that was part of the 4th one, so that if she would continue to meet with us we could talk about it later, and she just lit up and said "Okay, when do we go on to level 2?" We are meeting with Julie again this Wednesday and we will be 'going on to level 2' I am really excited to be meeting with her again!

We had some funny experiences while tracting this week too, we wenton Friday night with Amy, a 16 yr. old from the ward, she is just really great and the greatest thing happened, and the weirdest! I’ll tell the greatest first! We met this guy R.C. he was out in front of an apt complex that we parked near so we started talking with him and telling him about the Book of Mormon and my goodness, it happened again!! "Can I have one of those books, I want to read that" People, the Book of Mormon is God's word! We are so lucky to have it!!!! :]

Now for the weirdest thing.... we met this guy, I don’t even know his name... but we knocked on his door and he said he wasn’t interested so we left, but as we were leaving he asked if we knew Brandon Flowers, and if we knew if he was really a member or not, we said we didn’t know anyone by that name and left. THEN!!!! We are a block away, still knocking and he followed us!!! He asked if he could take our picture to show to his friend Brandon that is the lead singer in the band the Killers. I said "that’s kind of creepy" hoping he would come to the realization of his request and back off... but he didn't and Sister Stokes, Bless her heart said "sure" so he took our picture and may or may not have posted it to this Brandon Flowers Facebook page... then he continued to follow us so we had to speed walk to a new tracting place!

Okay, I know... this is getting long... but one more thing!!!

This week we had stake conference! It was amazing!! We had Elder Baxter of the 70 come and speak to us. He is from Scotland and it was very funny! The Saturday session was great, he talked a lot about knowing the difference between the Lord telling us that we have a higher potential to reach and Satan telling us that we aren’t good enough, I thought it was really helpful to a lot of people, me included! The Sunday session was really interesting! Rebecca came and got a ride with Sister Clark. Sister Stokes and I were in the Choir so we sat up front but we could see Rebecca in the back with Sister Clark and her eyes were glued to Elder Baxter, and she was crying! Unfortunately she had to leave early to take care of her son but we will meet with her soon and see what she felt. (Other than the Spirit) An ironic thing that happened during the Sunday session, Elder Baxter left a blank in the program to ask people to come up and bear their testimony and it just so happened that one of the people he picked out of the congregation was a young man that was visiting our church for the first time! Ahhh, that would be scary! But he came up and spoke about his beliefs and it was really interesting!

Sorry, this is so long! I love you!

Oh and we had transfer calls this week, Sister Stokes and I are staying together in Sequim! Yay!

Love, Sister Falkner!

Sequim, a retirement town: February 10th 2014

February 10th 2014 Good morning everyone! This week is pretty good, I really like it here in Sequim. It’s definitely an old person kind of a town, but I like it! Most people come here to retire! I'd say minus the little kiddos (which there are like 7) the average age of the ward is 70.. hah but I like it, they are all so sweet and generally home all day so they are able to help us out a lot!! My new companion is Sister Stokes, she is great! She has been out for about 10 months and is 25, so it’s nice! I really like being transferred, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but I really enjoy it! Before i came on my mission i was pretty terrible at saying goodbye but I’ve gotten pretty good at it recently! One of my favorite things about the church is that no matter where you go, or who is there, the teachings are the same and it always feels like home! I love that so much, it makes being transferred so much easier to handle! This week we found a new investigator, her name is Debbie! She is so sweet! We knocked into her, taught her a little lesson and set up and appointment for the next day, the next day we went back and taught her the restoration and she took it really well! She wants to come to church with us sometime. Hopefully that means soon!!! :] she even made us lemon bars for our visit! It’s like she knew that was a way to my heart!! Mmmm! well, all is well here, I hope all is well for each of you! I love you dearly! Oh and by the way, I gave the wrong zip code last week so my address is really 435 W Cedar St. #4 Sequim WA 98382 feel free to write me ;]
All my love,
Sister Falkner!

Photo 1. Sister Stokes and I

Happy Valentines Day this week! My favorite scripture about love is this... John 3 :16
For God so loVed the world that he
                    gAve His
                 OnLy
           BegottEn
                 SoN
                     That whosoever believeth
                     In Him should
                     Not Perish, but have
                     Everlasting Life

Monday, December 23rd 2013: Do as He would do. Love as He would love.

This week was great!
We are teaching this young man Freddy, he is awesome! He has been reading the Book Of Mormon very steadily and enjoying it, we met with him this week and taught the plan of salvation, he enjoyed it and at the end of the conversation we got on the topic of jeeps and cars, and he has a Nissan Skyline that he takes to the SEMA show is Vegas, it was really cool to be able to make a connection with him and I feel like he thinks we are a little bit more on the normal side now, rather than just strange girls that wear skirts everywhere and can’t be anywhere alone with a boy! hahah we had a hard time meeting with him at first because he is a single male, but we meet at his friends house who is a member, and it works out really well!! :]
We also began teaching this young man David this week, he is really cool and is unsure where it has come from but has said he is getting a random curiosity for the Book of Mormon, so that was cool. Our lesson went really well and we brought Hannah with us, Hannah has been a member for about a month now so it was really cool to see her bear her testimony to him! They are both progressing really well! We have been out caroling every night this week and people LOVE it!!!! They are so much nicer to us at the doorstep than usual and it really gives them a chance to feel the true meaning of Christmas! So I have really loved that, even though I now have a cold and I raspy voice, it is for a good cause!! We moved 3 people this week; I can’t imagine the stress of moving a week before Christmas but hey, to each their own! It felt good to do some physical service!
On a total side note, this week we had to drive to the collision repair center because my comp got in a little accident with the ditch on the side of the road before I got here, so I told her we need to get it taken care of, anyways, as we were leaving the collision repair center there was a jeep dealership across the way and I saw the new Grand Cherokee, I am SO disappointed in jeep.... they went from having the most beautiful SUV on the market to the most horrendous looking THING!! Ehhh! And they are putting gold grill slots in the JK's now? That was gross! Man! Anyways!! Sorry, random tangent!
I didn't get much time to tell you about last week so I will briefly update you, last week we had the Mission Christmas Party! It was a blast and very spiritual too! We had been reading the Book of Mormon as a mission and we read the last chapter together that day, it was really neat! The first picture is President Weaver and I at the Christmas party!
I invite all of you to add a little Christ to your Christmas this year and at least read these scriptures on the appropriate day; I’ll even make it easy for you and put them on here!
Today, Monday Dec. 23rd Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
(Notice the comma between Wonderful and Counselor and that all the other names have an adjective before them, but this is not saying He is a wonderful Counselor, He is Wonderful, and a Counselor!)
Tuesday Dec. 24th Christmas Eve 3 Nephi 1:13
Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
Wednesday Dec. 25th Christmas Day!!! :] Luke 2:10-11
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Sorry this is so long, but I love you all!!!
HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Love, Sister Falkner

And the last picture is our cute Christmas tree and presents!!! :]

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!

Coke in Sacrament: October 28th 2013

This week was pretty incredible and I have lots to tell you all, so I hope you find this entertaining and not a drag, cause it could be a long one. This week on Tuesday the 22nd was my companion, Sister Young's birthday!!! We had a great day and the best part was that we went over to Sister Bohls house for dinner and she said we could invite whoever we wanted! So we had like 3 less actives and 2 non-members at her birthday dinner, it was really awesome!! I've also been kind of sick this last few weeks and I have not totally gotten better, but I went to the doctor on Thursday, as I was sitting and waiting to be called back I was looking at the options for reading materials, there in front of me I had the choice to read MotorTrend, or the Bible.... My agency was truly being tested, but I decided I ought to read the Bible while I was waiting. I opened it up and started reading in Romans 5, and in verses 3-4 it says “but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience, experience, and experience, hope.” I found it very comforting because I had been struggling a lot with not being able to work as effectively while being sick and I just felt like I didn't need this trial, but I am overcoming it and learning patience from it, so that is a good thing I guess. I'm glad I chose to read the Bible instead because I was really grateful to have run across that verse! :] So, the work is picking up here, right as I am probably about to leave, but thats okay! This week we taught Taylor Junt, she is 16 and a friend of the bishop's daughter, she is awesome and very receptive, she has been going to youth activities and really enjoys them, she is fun to teach and we just lover her, we are teaching her again tonight! Allison is another person we are working with, she is awesome! She was supposed to meet with us this week but she got sick and had to go to the hospital, we asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing and she was so honored that we offered that to her, so we went with the Elders and she got a blessing, she loved it and really felt her Father's love for her! She is plowing through the Book of Mormon like a champ! We are really excited to be meeting with her regularly when she gets out of the hospital! So keep her in your prayers!! This Sunday before church Ashley got her Patriarchal Blessing, it was amazing to be a part of that with her, she loved every second of it and, I felt so strongly how much Heavenly Father loves her! Now it's time for a fun story! This week at church we had 3 people attending for their first time. 1. Treyvon, he was invited by a friend in the ward and he liked it, but is going to stick with his baptist beliefs. 2. Tito (teeto) he is pretty cool. He just moved her from the East coast and we knocked into him about 2 weeks ago, he said casually that he would come to church sometime, so sunday we text him and re-extended the invitation and he came, it was awesome!!! 3. Breann, she is someone we have slowly been teaching and we weren't really sure how much she cared, but she said she would come to church and she wants to be baptized, so its great that she is now progressing!! she has 2 crazy kids, Eli (boy) who is 6 and Ellie (girl) who is 2. So now that you know a little bit about them. Breann walks in late and sits by Tito, she has a huge Coke from the gas station in her hand and we were in the overflow in the gym. Within 2 minutes one of her kids had knocked it over... She was SOO embarrassed and she didn't really know what to do, but heck... neither did I... so we just kind of looked around unsure how to handle the situation but before we knew it, Brother Laing and like 3 other guys were rushing back in with paper towels in hand. They were all on there hands and knees, mid-sacrament meeting cleaning it up. Haha they got it all taken care of and church went on. Kind of a crazy first time for both Tito and Breann. The nice part was that we were in the back and no one in front of us knew what was going on, so we only really distracted the people behind us! It was a good time at church for sure! The rest of it went really well! Sister Young and I have been on this kick lately about the 2 great commandments, of loving God and loving our neighbors, we have been talking about it a lot with the members and amoungst ourselves and it reminded me of this quote I got in a letter a while ago. It said “God doesnt love us because of who we are, he loves us because of who He is” I loved it! I thought it was really great, and it makes so much sense! When we can get to the point where we love people becase its just natural and its who we are, we truly have a Christlike love, rather than only loving the people that are easy to love. So that is my invitation to you this week. LOVE EVERYONE!!! I love you all!!! Love, Sister Falkner!

Hakuna Matata :] October 21st 2013

This week was a good one for Sister Young and I. We are going about missionary work a little bit differently this transfer. We are meeting with a lot of the younger people that are having a hard time getting themselves to commit to the church, but they are some pretty awesome people!!!! I love them! We have been working a lot with Isaac and Megan! ISAAC is a convert, he converted when he was 18 and went on a mission at 20, he has been home for about a year and kind of fell in a rut of missing church and hangin' around the wrong crowd, but his desire is real and he wants to come back, last week he bore his testimony is sacrament and he said he has been happier the last few weeks that he has been meeting with us and living the gospel more fully, it's really awesome to hear! This week we had a lesson planned with him and he had to cancel due to family things, so we rescheduled and he had us meet him over at his parents house who are both very less active and his sister was there also, she is not a member and has taken the discussions before, but she said she would pray with us next time , so that was great because we didn't even ask for a next time! We are really hoping to begin teaching her and see their whole family at church soon :] they are really great! MEGAN, is so great! She was raised in the church and became a bit rebellious in her teen years, she has tattoos and piercings and enjoys all of them, she likes to be artistic and different, her mother still lives in the ward and is a ward missionary, super awesome family! Megan is improving leaps and bounds!! She is reading the scriptures everyday, and her faith is so strong! She has a real desire to work at her salvation, she just needs to let it stick this time around! But we love her and we love meeting with her, this week she even brought a friend from work to church and he was really interested!! It's been really great seeing the rewards that come from working with these people!! :] We had a Relief Society lunch today and Peggy, Robin, Cindy and Ashley were able to come (I'll explain all of them later) but it went so well and everyone fellow shipped them so quickly, we really couldn't have asked for more from the ward! It was incredible! So PEGGY... she is awesome, she is engaged to Dave, who was born and raised in the church but hasn't been since he was about 20, he has a strong testimony of the truth of it all though. He loves that Peggy is taking the lessons because he is so proud of his beliefs! I love it! They are the cutest couple! They are probably in there late 50's and they are just spunky and fun! Peggy came to the Relief Society broadcast, she came with Sister Chong and she loved it! We accidentally knocked into her a couple of weeks later and she accepted the lessons, so we have met with them twice and things are going great! We love her!! ROBIN has a son on a mission, he converted at 18 and went out at 19, she has not joined the church yet, but we are working on loving her into it! She comes almost every week and to all the ward activities, she loves missionary visits!! There are some health (mental) things that are stopping her from joining, but I wouldn't be surprised if she is baptized by her son when he gets home! CINDY is our recent convert who is still just doing awesome!!!! ASHLEY is another recent convert who is doing so great! She is getting her patriarchal blessing this Sunday, we are so excited for her! She called us last night to tell us a few things and one of them was pretty funny so I wanted to share it with you. A little fact before I tell, in this mission we knock on doors from 5pm-7pm with no excuses except for with presidents permission. Ashley was over at her friends house in the other ward and the missionaries were over. They had been there for a while (longer than the allotted hour) and it was almost 7pm and she knew that we are supposed to be tracting so, she simply looked at them and asked, Aren't you elders supposed to be knocking on doors right now? Hahaha I love that she called them out on it! She is a hoot! Well, that's a good note to end on! I love you all! Love, Sister Falkner

Oh How Lovely Was the Morning :] October 14th 2013

To all my family and friends! Oh how I love you! It is a beautiful day here in Washington!!! This week was good, I got sick Friday night, that was no fun, but the work goes on!! I am feeling a bit better today but still not up to par yet! Anyways, that's not important! Although, our sweet ward mission leader and his wife rushed over to our apartment Friday night when they found that I wasn't feeling well and they brought me medicine and vitamins, it was very kind of them! This week we knocked on Peggy's door. Peggy came to the general relief society broadcast with a friend a couple weeks back. We knocked on her door not knowing she lived there and she gladly welcomed us in, she brought down her husband (even though we found out they aren't actually married...yet) Dave, He is a less active member that believes it all and loves it, just struggles with keeping the commandments! But they are great! We visited and got a return appointment for Thursday, on Thursday we went back with the Frei's because they already knew each other and were friends. Peggy and Dave had read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and the testimonies in the beginning, she had some questions that we were able to answer and then we taught the first lesson, it went so well! We asked her what her idea of a prophet is and she said “well, Joseph Smith. Right?” she is so receptive and open to learn. She is a “cradle catholic” as she says, and she says we are “cradle mormons” hahah she is so cute! We are really excited to continue meeting with them! We had Mission Leadership Council this week. That's always a really spiritual meeting because it is filled with very respectable missionaries that all have such a reverence and strong spirit, I loved it! Sister Young and I did a training at the meeting and it went well, we talked about working with the members and having them help with the work. As President Weaver says, the church has 15 million missionaries, not just 80 thousand! Then later that night we had a lesson with 3 less active people, it was GREAT!!! We sang an opening song and taught the restoration, then we had a little testimony meeting at the end and they all shared their testimony, the spirit was so strong and then on Sunday, 2 out of the 3 of them came to church! The one that didn't make it had work and it was too late of notice to get it off, but he is doing great! Those were the highlights of my week, I would love to hear about yours! I love you all! Love, Sister Alie Falkner

Back On Two Feet! :] October 7th 2013

Hello everyone!!!! I went to the doctor this week and my ankle is healed! Yay!!!! :] its great to walk around like a normal person! I love it! I cant run or jump or anything, but I can walk and tract, so its good! So this week we met a really awesome guy named Gary, he was not interested at first but he just said that because he didn't know how much our message could bless his life, we talked to him for a while and he was very receptive but still not super interested. He loves the Lord and goes to church already, but he admitted to us that he was struggling with overcoming alcoholism. At this point we had asked him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon twice and he said no both times. I felt like we couldn't give up on him yet though, so I shared a scripture with him (Alma 17: 2-3) and promised him that if he studied the Book of Mormon with the Bible that he would be able to gain the spiritual strength to overcome his addiction, at the end of my promise I asked him again if he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and he excitedly looked me in the eye and said “ABSOLUTELY” it was really great to see the spirit touch him and see his heart changed, I am excited to begin teaching him! GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh. What a marvelous weekend! Its like Christmas as a missionary! I loved it so much! Sister Young and I had a goal of watching conference in 4 different homes, one for each session, and to have someone we are working with in each home. We don't have a lot of people we are teaching right now because they are all recent converts now, but it was great because we accomplished our goal. We watched the 1st session at the Hatch home with Ashley and Cindy, it went really well, we had some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls. Sister Hatch is the Relief Society president and she makes everything handmade and its all so yummy! I love that family! The 2nd session was at Sarah Chamberlin's home she is working on coming back to church and she is just really awesome, her husband is not a member but we are hoping to start working with them as a family real soon! The 3rd was with the Johnson's and a less active Jessica Furby was there the Johnson's are awesome, they had two nonmembers at the 4th session but we weren't able to stay for that one. And 4th we watched it at the Bohl's and we are working with her daughter Megan Bohls she is really great and has such a strong testimony and desire to come back to the church. It was so awesome to watch is so many different environments but to see how each session was such an answer to these peoples prayers! I loved it so much! Some of my favorite things that were said are... God is perfect, His doctrine is pure. But he works through imperfect people. -Uchtdorf The world has enough woman of fame and fortune, we need woman of faith! -Christopherson Opposition in all things is not a flaw of God's Plan of Salvation. -Dyches Patiently enduring is part of our mortal existence. -Holland Joy is guaranteed to the Faithful. -Eyring There is not ONE of us that He has not desired to save. -Eyring Mans law cannot make moral what is immoral in God's laws. -Oaks You must become the rock the river cannot wash away. And of course the one everyone remembers... Doubt your doubt before you doubt your faith. -Uchtdorf. Take these things into your life and apply them!!! I love you all! Have a blessed week! Love, Sister Alie Falkner!

September 30th 2013, Silverdale: Rural Roots Urban Flare

Hello family, this week was really great! I went on an exchange to the Silverdale 6th ward and met some interesting people. 1. Jennifer, she is the daughter of the ex-Mormon that wrote the "Godmakers" book, she has had her records removed but is now meeting with the missionaries again. She wasn't really progressing so I was curious why the sisters were still going over there but when I went we had a good chat and she commented on my CTR ring, she said that “choose the right” meant so much more to her now than it did when she was young and she thought it was great that I wore the ring. I told her I wore two and I gave her one of mine, she cried and willingly accepted it and promised to wear it, it was a really sweet experience! Then we talked and got her committed to read the first 14 pages of the Book of Mormon before the sisters went back two days later for their next appointment. She promised to read them and said that she wants to better understand them so she would probably read them twice! It was really cool to see her make commitments and begin progressing. 2. Old Farmer Jensen. This man is the Real Deal with a capital R and a capital D. He is 95 years old and is a former prisoner of war from WW2. He still manages to maintain a farm at his age and not only that, he has a corn maze that he keeps up that is in the shape of a B-17 aircraft, it is a replica of the one he flew in the war. His corn maze is in the newspaper and people drop by to see it all the time. He said he always tells them his war stories and then tells them that after he served his mission in the war, he served a mission for the church and then he always invites them to church! Haha he is such a cute old man! He gave us a tour of the maze and told lots of cool stories and then he gave us an ear of corn and we were on our way! The rest of the exchange went well, I was with Sister Casey from my MTC district. She is fun and we had a good time together. The Relief Society broadcast was awesome right??? I loved it! Funny story... we had a baptism on Saturday, it was Jacob Pickard, he is the brightest kid!!! We have had a lot of fun teaching him. His mom is a member and his dad is not, but his dad came to the baptism and helped Jacob change into his church clothes after and was very nice, he is just a really quiet guy! One day he will accept this message! :] butttt, after the baptism we were all having our treats and the power at the Stake Center went out. There was a terrible rain and wind storm and a tree fell on the wires and took out the power. People finished there treats and headed home. As we were locking up and getting out, we saw the crew that was making the dinner for the Relief Society broadcast in the kitchen, they seemed a bit flustered and unsure what to do. We knew the power wouldn't be on for at least two hours and the dinner was in 3 hours. We loaded up all the food in our car and took it to our church building, so they could cook it there. We had to make tons of calls to get everyone to the right building and then we got the elders over and we got all the tables and chairs set up within like 10 minutes. It was so awesome! The dinner and broadcast worked out great and we had a huge turn out! Very exciting day, Saturday night we also got our transfer calls. God is granting me the desires of my heart and letting Sister Young and I see the fruits of our labors! I get 6 more weeks in the this wonderful ward!! :] Church yesterday was unreal! So this week we had a special training about hastening the work, the area authority, Elder Bussey came and spoke to the Ward Councils about hastening the work it was really awesome!! (D&C 88;73) so that's what we talked about it church and it was so cool! I felt like I was in a zone training or something! The ward here is getting pumped to help us out and they are already setting up dinners with us and their friends and inviting them to activities! I am so glad I get to stay and be a part of it and see what comes of all this “ward relations” I have been doing! This week in my studies I read Jacob 5. It's an incredible chapter and I feel like I could read it a million times and still learn and pull something out of it. This week I read it and what I got out of it was so incredible! In this chapter the Lord is pruning His vineyard, they work and work and work to prune this vineyard and they don't get as far as they like so they decide to prune it one last time and this time He tells his servant to go gather MORE SERVANTS to prune the vineyard with Him because the end is nigh. This happens in verse 70 and in verse 71 the Lord says He will work with his servants in the vineyard! I love it so much and it applies so well to the age change for missionaries, the Lord is hastening his work and he is working with us. I love what I am doing, I love being a missionary and I am happy as can be to be staying in Silverdale. :] I love you all dearly!!! Love, Sister Falkner. p.s. I go back to the doctor tomorrow morning to get my foot ex-rayed again. Please pray that it will heal fast(er)!!!!

September 23rd 2013

I will come up with a catchier subject line. I feel as though my letters are boring in comparison to my sweet cousin Sister Jensen. I will try to make them interesting. Good Monday to all! This week has been so blessed! We got to go to Zions camp with the mission and that was really fun! We got to see everyone do the ropes coarse and help them apply it to missionary work and it was a really great spiritual experience. Friday we went on an exchange to Bainbridge Island, it was really fun. We were with Sister Baird and Sister Rea, they are doing so well out there and everything is good, it is a beautiful area! On the exchange I talked with them a lot about how to work with members and helped them get that started. Working with members is soooo important in missionary work, you cant expect anyone to totally change and give there life to the church if they don't even have friends there. So I encourage you all to be a friend to ANYONE the missionaries might bring to church! Cindy Askren was baptized yesterday! She is such a sweet lady!! her birthday is actually today! Yay! Her baptism went so well and she is so happy! She loves the church, she loves us, and she loves God. Its incredible, I have loved working with her! She is just a doll! Our mission is reading the Book of Mormon all together and we are right around Jacob, its been really cool, I am reading there and where I was before in the middle of Alma, I have learned a lot from my studies and its been really great for me. My favorite verse I read this week was 2 Nephi 33:4 Read it Apply it It will bless you! I love being a missionary, the joy I find is so incomparable to anything I have found. I miss worldly things sometimes but it's silly. I've found true joy in my life here in Washington and I have gained a greater appreciation for the scriptures, the word of God. :] I have gained a HUGE appreciation for my parents and for all the wonderful support and love I receive from friends and family! I love you all so much! Have a super marvelous week! Love, Sister Falkner