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