June 24th 2013

Good Morning! :]

This week was pretty great with the missionary broadcast and what not! Pretty crazy that they will be giving us all that technology, I'm excited to see how it is going to work out!

We also had mission tour this week. Elder Pieper from the 70 came and taught us how we can be better and well, he just helped bring a little bit more spirit into the mission, so that was great and really helpful! I loved it! Turns out his daughter went to high school with me and we graduated the same year too! Hah, the funny things you find out later on in life! I'm not really sure who she is, but ill check the yearbook when I get home!

The members in this ward are really great, they are starting to help with missionary efforts already and I can tell that the broadcast will do a lot of good in this ward!

So a little bit about the people I am teaching, because hopefully I will stick around long enough to keep you guys updated on people without confusing you.

Mike Murray has been investigating the church for 8 months, he was introduced to the church by the example of a group of 3^rd graders in his sons class, he saw that they were outstanding kids and he continued helping out at school activities, when his son got into 6^th grade he finally asked one of these “outstanding kids” what church he belonged to and well, now he is learning about it! Mike is making a lot of progress lately and he attended his first baptism last night, so I know he is thinking about it more seriously now! Yay! He has read the Book of Mormon and is currently working on Doctrine and Covenants. He is a way cool single dad that almost went pro in football, he is HUGE!!! I told him we don't know who is going to baptize him because no one in the ward is taller than him! But it will all work out!

Laurie Bennet is a nice older lady that LOVES God. She just drinks up everything we say and is currently wrapping her head around the Book of Mormon. She is in 2 Nephi and loves it, she loves meeting with us and she is currently quitting smoking! She is funny though because she has a crazy schedule full of volunteer work so she is being taught by us (3^rd ward) goes to 2^nd ward church, and lives in 6^th ward boundaries. Thank goodness the church is true everywhere!

Ashley is an 18 yr old girl that lives with her parents and as long as she lives there she cannot be baptized :( she is solid though and wants it so bad! She attended seminary and goes to church when her parents allow, we meet with her all the time and she is so awesome! She wants to go to the temple so badly! I really hope she will be baptized soon, but we know this one could take a while. We introduced her to personal progress on Saturday and my companion and I are going to do it again with her to help her continue progression!

Jacob is on date for July 6^th, he is 10 years old and is the daughter of Sarah Chamberlin ( the less active we got to church last week) she is awesome! And she wants both of her kids to be baptized and we haven't met with the daughter (Bella) yet but Jacob wants to be baptized. She is really hoping that his learning about the church will pull him away from his video games because he used to live with his dad and during that time he got addicted to “not 10 yr old boy video games” hah so yeah, he is great!

Those are the ones that we meet with most and are progressing most, so there ya go! I love you all!!

Help the missionaries, not just by feeding them, but by going to teach with them and giving them people to teach! You will be richly blessed for it!

Love, Sister Falkner!

June 17th 2013

Hello everyone!!! :]

Happy belated Fathers Day to all of those Dads that read this!

I had a pretty good Fathers Day. I was thinking a lot of people were probably having a steak and potato dinner and then we went to our dinner appointment, and WaBam!!! steak and potatoes! :] Mmmm it was so yummy!!! and then we got cheesecake for dessert! Super yummy! This ward feeds us soooo much!!! my companion and I are gaining weight by the day! So we decided that for every letter we got via snail mail, we will run a mile! So if you love me and want me to stay skinny?! Snail Mail!!! ;] we had dinner at the Griffith's, they are an awesome family! Both return missionaries and so generous!! Sis Griffith's makes homemade bread every week for the sacrament! How cool is that? And she gave us 4 loaves! It is so yummy!!! we are enjoying it! She also made us T-shirts! That was super cool! This ward just loves and treats the missionaries well! Its really great! We are working really hard at getting to know them better so that we can build up trust and begin teaching their friends! I hope it works! So far, so good!

So, we have the big missionary broadcast this Sunday! Its going to be a historical moment, I know it! My predictions are as follows! :]

1.      CHINA opened up to missionaries ( Jason, they are coming for you!!!!! ;] )

2.      Sisters can extend to 2 years.

3.      And members will be on a higher obligation to help the missionaries. Maybe more missionary related callings?

Who knows! But those are my thoughts and I am sooo excited to hear what President Monson has to say!!! :]

Something super cool that happened this week... We got a less active to church. Yay.... haha.. less active work is not my favorite because that is the job of the members, butttt this one paid of! And I knew it would, so I was willing to do that! We visited Sara Chamberlin before church, we had tried to meet up with her like 10 times and she was never home but we finally caught her at home and we talked for a while, she said she couldn't go to the temple because she had an issue with tithing, and then she just starting crying and saying how much she wants her kids to be taught and baptized, they are 8 and 10! she said Sundays are her only day to clean and that was why she hadnt been to church in a while so we told her we would do all her dishes and clean her kitchen while she got ready for church! She followed us to church and it was so great! I felt like it was just meant for her! She was so happy and felt so good! Then we went to relief society and the lesson was on tithing!!!! what??? I was kind of nervous at first but the lesson was REALLY good and a lot of the sisters bore testimony of the blessings of tithing, at the end of the lesson she leaned over to us and said “where can I find the tithing slips?” it was so awesome, the ward now has a lot more respect for us because we actually got someone to church and now we can start teaching her children! It was just great!

That's all for now! Love you tons!!!! :]

Love Sister Falkner!!

June 10th 2013

Hello Everyone!

This week has been an interesting one! On Wednesday we went over to an investigator’s house for lunch and a lesson. We were all eating lunch out on her back patio and we went in to get dessert and I had TONS of little tiny baby spiders crawling all over me!!! AHHHH it was so GROSS!!! So my companion is picking all of these nasties off of me and then we went back out to eat our strawberries and I saw this huge web of thousands of little spiders on my chair right about where my shoulder was! Ehhh, so my wonderful companion sister Farnsworth said that she liked to eat her dessert standing up, haha Robin (the investigator) looked at us like we were crazy, but it saved me from getting 1286 more spiders all over me. I was super itchy all day, so that was no fun! But... gotta roll with the punches. My baby, Sister Stevens was freaking out she absolutely hates spiders! So that made it kind of entertaining! :]

Speaking of Sister Stevens, she is gone, she got transferred to Tacoma! So it is just Sister Farnsworth and I, as of Thursday. We are having a blast though! We had zone conference this week, those are always pretty awesome! And then we drove Sister Stevens to Tacoma and met with President Weaver and discussed our responsibilities as an STL, we will basically be going on lots of exchanges! An awesome perk to having this assignment is that next week we are having our mission tour and Paul B. Pieper from the 70 is coming, he has asked us to read the talk “Seek Learning by Faith” by David A. Bednar and find ways we can apply it to our missionary work and help our investigators learn by faith. When he comes to the mission he will be talking with the ZL's DL's and STL's about how we applied it and then he will take what we say, and combine it with his own thoughts and talk to the whole mission about it! So we get to meet with him before and it will be awesome!

The 3 things I am pulling from that talk that will make me a better missionary are

1.    Don’t attract attention to myself (focus on teaching people the gospel, not telling them how cool Sister Falkner is in the normal, not missionary world)

2.    Be a fiber optic cable (Thin strands of glass are used to create the fiber-optic cables through which light signals are transmitted over long distances. Just as the glass in these cables must be pure to conduct the light efficiently and effectively, so we should become and remain worthy conduits through whom the Spirit of the Lord can operate.)

3.    Teach them how to fish! (Help them become spiritually self-reliant, so that they can progress in the gospel all the time, not just when we go to teach them.)

This area has been a little bit more difficult because it is a pretty wealthy area compared to what I have been in before and finding people to teach by way of knocking doors is not very effective… but we are working hard and trying to build up a lot of trust with the ward so that we can get referrals from them!! :]

That which is to give light must endure burning! :]

So that is pretty much my week! I will attach some pictures from last week and this week because I can on this computer! Yay! :]

Love you all!! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Falkner

Pictures 

1 Us after shopping!! 

2 Us going to Zone conference

3 funny street sign.... hah

 



June 3rd 2013

Hello everyone

This week has been awesome!!! I am in Silverdale 3^rd ward and I love it here!!! I love my companions, I am in a trio with Sister Farnsworth, and our baby (trainee) Sister Stevens. We work hard, and we have fun! I really love it! We are kept so busy that I haven't even really had time to unpack yet but it's all good because we are doing the Lords work and we keep it pretty clean anyways. It's just sitting in suitcases still. Haha

This ward is so great, we have a lady that makes us lunches every Sunday, Sister Dodge, she puts them in the fridge for us. Also we had a lady supply us with blankets and towels because we didn't have any, and then our ward mission leader and bishop are just super helpful and give us lots of part member families! It is so helpful! :] when we got here we had one investigator and now we have six! I hope they all stay solid! They are awesome though, so I am not worried. The one we had before was Ashley, she is 18 and basically a member minus the water, her parents will not allow her to be baptized because they have read some anti, so that could be a long time coming but she will get there one day! The rest are super awesome. One was a referral from a ward member, she is reading the Book Of Mormon and is already in 2 Nephi so she is doing great and then we are also teaching someone who has a son on a mission, so that is way awesome too!! Lots of good things happening here in Silverdale.

This is a town!! There is an Old Navy across the street from our apartment, if you know me.. you know how dangerous that is. And there is a mall right down the street. So hopefully I don't spend too much money! But it's nice to be in a normal town! Haha

I love my companions, they make me laugh so much! I am really just so happy and I am so grateful for all the support I have, I love you guys! Thank you for everything!

Have an awesome week! I love you!

Love, Sister Falkner

May 28th 2013

Well, it’s been kind of an unpredictable week! After just six weeks in Belfair I guess my work here is done. I am being transferred to Silverdale 3^rd ward which is currently an Elders area. I am going in with Sister Farnsworth and we are training together so we will pick up our greenie today in a few hours and head to our new area. It will be kind of hard because none of us will know where anything is, or who anyone is but since the ward has had elders for so long am sure they will just be thrilled to get sisters (most wards are) and take good care of us! Sister Farnsworth came out with me and is currently in my district, she is an awesome missionary. I am way excited to be serving and training with her! It will be a party (of missionary work)
Also, kind of big news… they announced a few months ago that there will be a new leadership role for sister missionaries. This role is what we call an STL (Sister Training Leader) and this transfer is the first transfer that there will be sisters in this leadership position. I got my transfer call on Saturday night from President Weaver (which is weird, because the mission president never makes transfer calls) and he had Sister Farnsworth and I both on the line and informed us that we would be the first STL’s. I am really excited to have this opportunity and I think it will be great, I know I will learn a lot because I will be serving around a lot of missionaries. As part of the role, I will be going on exchanges with the newer missionaries on a weekly basis and reporting back to the president on how they are doing. This all seems so crazy because I still feel like a new missionary but after today the mission will have (I think) 62 sister missionaries and only 6 of them will have been out longer than me! So we really have to step up and learn a lot faster than usual. But it will be really great! I am excited and looking forward to this next transfer and all the adventures that will come along with it :]
My new address is
Sister Alie Falkner
9855 Bushlac Ln. #G204
Silverdale WA 98383

Thank you all for your love and support! Have a great week!!! Love you!!
Love, Sister Alie Falkner

Pictures
1. The Gig Harbor Zone (sister Farnsworth is the other tall one) haha

2. i was working with a less active in belfair and he made this table in his "garage" its soooo cool so i thought i would show it off for him! 

May 20th 2013

Hello to the 801
This week was a pretty great week! :] On Tuesday Krysta got married! Krysta had been investigating the church for 14 months now and she finally decided it was time and she committed herself to her husband and her Savior all in one week! The baptism was on Saturday, it went really well. She had her lifelong best friend who is a member speak at her baptism and her parents came down as well, other than that she didn’t really want any one there so it was very small and simple which was nice! Krysta is an awesome woman! She is in her 30’s and just has a whole ton of spunk to her which is always nice! :] she quit smoking and drinking coffee in 5 days, so that was an incredible tender mercy from the Lord. She is just really cool basically. Haha I don’t know what else to say about her other than she is on  fire and I can’t wait to see what she does for the church, her husband is an inactive (but supportive) member and I think she will get him back into it, which would be super awesome!
Then yesterday we had a mission fireside. We have over 100 missionaries and we just sing songs and testify of Christ. I got the chance to bear my testimony which was really cool but kind of nerve racking because LOTS of people show up to these things! It’s crazy!! But it was really just a great night. I felt the spirit bear witness to me and answer questions I have been asking for a while so that was great! There was this really cool guy sitting in the front row, he was someone that missionaries were teaching and he had tattoos all over, piercings, and well basically just not someone you would expect to see at one of these. But he sat front and center and just cried the whole time, it was incredibly. He kept nodding his head and silently clapping his hands! Haha I loved it!!
So that’s the exciting stuff this week.  I hope you are all doing well and just so you know, I like snail mail. Feel free to write me. That’d be great! Thanks!
Much love from the 360.
Sister Falkner :]

Pictures
1. I was ashamed of the store bought sugar cookies we made for the baptism.

2. Sister Murrieta, Krysta, and Me. at the baptism.

3. I bought these slippers this morning because.... well... because I can, and because they fit. haha. If i get sick of them maybe I will send them home to a lucky kiddo in the fam! haha but I was in a cars mood and they were super cheap, so yupp!  

Krysta's Wedding

May 13th 2013

Hey guys and gals!
Happy Mother’s day to all of you mothers out there!! I hope you had a great day! I got to talk to my family, which was super great!  So I don’t have a whole ton to say today because I talked a lot yesterday. But this week has been great. I went on my first official exchange on fri/sat with Sister Villatoro. She was so great to be around for a day because she is going home this transfer and is a very very hard worker and I just really loved seeing the way she does things. I need as much of that as possible because all of the older sisters are going home soon and then I will be considered one of the old ones, so I have got to make sure I’m doing the best I can and learn from the best while I can! So yeah, that was just great!
We also had interviews with President and Sister Weaver, those are always fun! They are just the sweetest thing!! I love it! We are starting mission firesides this week! All the zones in the surrounding areas of the stake center get to go sing and we have recent converts speak and it is really just a great spiritual experience!! I
I’m sorry if this letter is a little scattered, there is a punk sitting behind me at the library blasting his techno music and dancing and yeah, ya know... just bein a little bit strange. It’s really distracting! But I hope you all have a great week!! Love you all so much!
Love, Sister Falkner!