Week 5: I Need The Every Hour

 Being doubled into my very first area is hard. I don't have a clue what I am doing 95% of the time and the rest is just a struggle. The thing that frustrates me most is words, not always knowing what it is I need to say to help people. I love words, I decided to major in English primarily because I LOVE words. I love putting sentences together in my brain and the feel of a well-formed sentence coming out of my mouth. But now I don't always know what to say, in fact I rarely know what to say, and that's a huge setback for me.

     Sister Bird and I still don't really have investigators, so we knock doors... all day... every day. And that is about the most discouraging thing there could ever be in this world. Lincoln is a super small area and with two sets of missionaries, every house gets knocked all the time, people don't really like that, so we get doors in our faces and cruel words hurled at us constantly.

     On Wednesday, the stress was mounting and Sister Bird and I were trying to decide on a place to knock that hadn't been knocked on in a while. At one of the most frustrating moments, we got a text, from Bro Mac (Brother MacDonald, a member of our bishopric) asking Elder Jocelyn, Elder Pipe, Sister Bird and I to sing in sacrament meeting the upcoming Sunday. That didn't exactly alleviate any of the incredible stress we were all under. So we talked with the Elders and decided to each come up with a list of songs and decide based on that. Comparing our two lists, we came up with "Be Still My Soul," or "I Need Thee Every Hour." After practicing "Be Still My Soul," we dropped that idea entirely, there was no amount of work that could make us singing that sound acceptable! So we were left with "I Need Thee Every Hour," after quite a bit of practice, we made it sound decent. Unfortunately, our pianist split his head open and couldn't play for us. So last minute on Saturday we called a Sister in our ward, who wound up being a vocal coach, and who found us an awesome arrangement.

   Giving missionaries the arrangement 20 hours in advance is an adventure, but we actually made it sound like we had had at least... 3 days of practice on it! Anyways, long roundabout story, but there is a purpose to it! As we sang in church a realization hit me. Here are the words so you can get what I mean:

1. I need thee ev'ry hour,

Most gracious Lord.

No tender voice like thine

Can peace afford.

(Chorus)

I need thee, oh, I need thee;

Ev'ry hour I need thee!

Oh, bless me now, my Savior;

I come to thee!

2. I need thee ev'ry hour;

Stay thou nearby.

Temptations lose their pow'r

When thou art nigh.

3. I need thee ev'ry hour,

In joy or pain.

Come quickly and abide,

Or life is vain.

4. I need thee ev'ry hour,

Most holy One.

Oh, make me thine indeed,

Thou blessed Son!

     As disciples of Jesus Christ we need him, every hour of every single day. There is no way on earth we can do this without His help and His guidance. I came to a kind of rude awakening to that fact as we sang in sacrament. As a messenger of Christ I am not only entitled to His help, but I cannot do it without Him. I am a very independent person, I like to do things myself so I can have the satisfaction of accomplishment. But I am not a missionary for myself, I am a missionary for the Savior, Jesus Christ, and I cannot do His work without relying solely on Him who is mighty to save. I know that the Savior can help every one of us in our personal struggles, as He has helped me, dragged me and carried me through mine. Christ will never leave you comfortless and He will NEVER leave you alone. I bear testimony of Him, to every person I meet and to every person who read this letter. I know that my Redeemer Lives. That He appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820 and that He restored the fullness of the gospel. I know this is true, and if you aren't sure, if you don't have your own witness and testimony, you can always lean on mine. Christ loves you! I love you!

All my love to you,

Sister Megan Monson

(Check out the mission blog posts from July 12 and July 21, 2016 for more pics of Sister Monson)

Week 4:Tears, Teaching and Tacoma

  Leaving the MTC was a tearful experience, when you spend 16 hours a day with people learning the gospel, it's hard not to love them! The experiences I had with my district will always be sacred to me. 8M room 323 will always be a sacred place to me, where I came closer to my Savior. I loved my MTC experience and the amazing people who became my family there.

Saying good-bye to dear friends

    At 3:50 Tuesday morning, I waved a hazy-eyed farewell to the MTC, and boarded a bus. The bus took me to front-runner, which took me to trax, which dropped me off at the airport. My bags came in at 48 and 49 pounds just barely under the weight limit! #proudestmoment Then we booked it to the terminal and had a few minutes to talk to our families! I love my family! They're the best! I was so glad I got to talk to them for a few minutes before I got on a plane to Washington!

    When we landed in Seattle I met my Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Blatter (pronounced Blotter). They are basically awesome, so nice and loving! The APs were nice enough to pull my bags for me, which was awesome because they were heavy enough to make blisters on my fingers. 

New missionaries at the Potomac

Potomac

    We loaded all of our stuff into the mission van and headed out. When we got to the transfer spot we met Elder and Sister Buist the mission nurse and housing coordinator. Crazy story about the Buists, they actually live in South Jordan, in the Highland Stake, so they know a lot of my friends, which is cool. President Blatter showed us the missionary board where they have all the missionaries' pictures up so he can move them around for transfers and such. He asked if we recognized anyone up there and I was kind of shocked that I did! I pointed out "That's Andrew Pipe! I mean Elder Pipe! I went to high school with him!" President turned and looked at me with a shocked look on his face, "Interesting..." was all he said. I didn't know what to think of that so I simply ignored it.

   After what seemed like hours of meetings, it was finally time to find out where we would each be going. Sister Belliston was sent to Squim and it was sad to say goodbye for a while to her! After Elder Heaton got assigned to Lakewood, and Sister Larsen got assigned to go northward, I stood "center stage" to get my assignment.... "Sister Monson will be trained in Lincoln, Tacoma Ward, by Sister BIRD!" I heard as Sister Bird rushed at me with a hug. I had no idea where Lincoln was... Still can't really tell you where I am to be honest.

   Sister Bird is amazing! It's sometimes like we are the same person because we think so much alike. She has been out for six months and has been in Centrailia the whole time. So neither of us knew exactly where Lincoln was or how to get there. So we took an unexpected detour... an hour and a half long detour. But eventually we found it!

Sister Monson and Sister Bird

   Almost as soon as we found our area, we had to turn around and head to the ward potluck. The minute we walked in the ward got super excited! This ward has had a set of elders and a set of sisters for a long time, but because of a shortage of sisters they have been missing them for almost 3 months. So, needless to say, we were welcomed with open arms. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the elders for our area, and who could it be But Elder Andrew Pipe? It's crazy how I knew only one person in the whole mission and now we're in the same area!

Sister on the move

Study time

Happy Sister Missionaries

Mustache water bottles

   The ward here is awesome, their boundaries just changed a little while ago, so they're kind of getting used to each other, but they're awesome.

    Because neither Sister Bird nor I know anyone here, we have no investigators, so we spend a lot of time knocking on doors and contacting people. We remind ourselves constantly that we just need to have the faith to find and we will!

    Because Sister Bird, Elder Pipe and I all just got into the area we were asked to share our conversion story in church yesterday. It was so much easier than when I gave my farewell talk! Mostly because I barely know any of these people!

My inspiration wall

   That's basically my week! I am so glad to be here in Tacoma, and to be helping people come to the knowledge of the truth! I love this gospel!

selfie as I write home

She arrived!

Email from Pres. and Sis. Blatter we received this morning at 11:57am

This is just a quick note to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in Tacoma today.

We took our new missionaries to the Puget Sound (photo attached). From here they will have a great lunch. Then they will be interviewed, given a brief orientation, and meet their new companion, who will also be their trainer.  After a very spiritual meeting where the departing missionaries will share their testimonies, they will be off to their new areas.

We are thrilled to welcome them into the out mission. Please feel free to contact either of us if you have any questions or concerns. You are also invited to check out the mission blog athttps://www.calledtoservewa-tac.blogspot.com/

May the Lord bless you and your family.

President and Sister Blatter

Week 3: Phone call from the Salt Lake Airport

So happy both Jaymes and Tyler were able to join us as they walked into work. John stayed home a little later and Brayden heard my happy cheers when she called. We heard her share what she loves about the MTC and what she was happy to be done with but most importantly she answered the question, "What do you think has changed the most about you in 3 weeks" and she responded, "I know my Savior better and can always depend on him." A tearful answer shared with conviction and love. Now she is on to a wonderful adventure in the Washington Tacoma mission and will be blessed for eternity. Its all over but the work! Love you Sister Monson!

-Mom

Surprise Photos from the MTC

Week 2: Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to work we go!

Snow White

travel plans

Yesterday an elder from my district told me I looked like Snow White. Which was quite comical, but I just rolled with it. We got our travel plans this week! It's crazy knowing that I'm actually leaving the MTC next Tuesday! I'm so excited! But just like Snow White and her seven dwarfs, I, and my eight elders (and three sisters!) will be headed out into the field this coming week!

I have no idea if I am at all ready; I want to believe that I am!

Sister Daum

We taught Jaqui Daum for the last time on Saturday, and I wanted to cry leaving her! It was so sad! She has such a sweet spirit and a great testimony, she definitely taught me more than I could ever teach her! We got two new investigators now though, and they are also awesome! I'm getting more comfortable teaching and that's important!

The major lesson I learned this week was about compassion. We were teaching "Brother Booth" who was really just my teacher pretending to be a 65 year-old man, and he had just found out he had terminal cancer. I had no idea how to react. You want to tell people that Christ will take care of them and that it'll be okay. But that's not what they want to hear. I felt numb; I didn't want to face the fact that Brother Booth really did go through that. Another teacher, Brother Pemberton, came and talked to me and Sister Belliston, and told us that all they want to hear is "I'm sorry," that you are sympathetic and that you care about them. This really struck me. These are real people who I will be teaching, real people with real problems. Any person you meet can drop a bombshell on you at any point, and as a missionary, I need to let the Spirit guide how I react, but I also need to show a little bit of Megan, a tangible person who cares for them. That's a hard lesson, but I know that with God's help I will know how to help His children. It reminds me of the song Lord, I would Follow Thee, verses three and four

I would be my brother's keeper;

I would learn the healer's art.

To the wounded and the weary

I would show a gentle heart.

I would be my brother's keeper--

Lord, I would follow thee.

Savior, may I love my brother

As I know thou lovest me,

Find in thee my strength, my beacon,

For thy servant I would be.

Savior, may I love my brother--

Lord, I would follow thee

This song is my very favorite Hymn. I love the message that we can love as the Savior loved. I have come to know my Savior in the past two weeks better than I have ever before. He is my personal Savior, He suffered for me, He Loves me with a perfect love. He is my older brother. I think of my two older brothers, how I know that whenever I need them, they'll be there. How when I am crying, and dying inside, they'll comfort me. If my two, imperfect, but still wonderful, older brothers can love me that much, how much more does the Savior love me? How much more does He want to comfort me? to drop everything to come to my aid? He loves me. He LOVES you! and He LOVES the people I am going to teach out in Tacoma! I can't wait to bring them this amazing message!

Enjoy the pictures!

District at Temple

Classroom 

All my love,

Sister Megan Monson

Week 1: The TARDIS

The TARDIS is an ordinary blue police public call box, nothing is overly special about its exterior appearance. The amazing thing about the TARDIS is that "it is BIGGER on the inside!" How can this be? How can something so seemingly ordinary have so much more depth? 

This week I have learned that the TARDIS concept is true of another blue thing, The Book of Mormon. Reading it just on the surface, it is just another novel about people who lived thousands of years ago. But realizing how much bigger it is on the inside makes it mean more than we can even comprehend. The Book of Mormon is my favorite book in the whole world. I love it more than i love To Kill a Mockingbird,  The Great Gatsby, and even Pride and Prejudice. I could not say that before this week. I thought I would hate studying for hours at a time but I actually LOVE it! I love getting to just dive in to the scriptures and preach my gospel! My testimony of scripture study has increased by leaps and bounds!

This week we worked mostly on lesson one, The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I LOVE this message! I was able to memorize Joseph Smith's own words of how he described seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and it is so powerful, the Spirit that brings into lessons is amazing. We were able to teach this great message to a TRC (teaching resource center) investigator. Her name is Jacqi Daum, and she knows my Aunt Mer! It was a crazy experience, she told me that she could remember my name because she knew another Sister Monson, one who lived in Springville and was recovering from a battle with cancer. My jaw just about hit the floor! "That's my aunt Mer!" I exclaimed, "she is just wonderful!" I was just filled with such a love for my family, but also for this woman who I had met just moments before! It was amazing! There truly are no coincedences! God works in mysterious ways, and one of them is Jacqi Daum! That connection just formed a bond between me and Sister Daum, I was able to bear my testimony with such confidence, it was absolutely amazing! And she was able to open up in trust, and I cannot imagine a better way to start teaching an investigator!

This experience made me realize that people are also like the TARDIS, they are so much bigger on the inside. Sister Daum, on the outside, is someone who is paid to be taught the missionary discussions by missionaries in training. But inside, she is a Child of God! How amazing that truth is!

We had some amazing devotionals this week! Brother Stephen Allen fromt he missionary department came and spoke on why the reasons missionaries find to go home are not actually valid reasons. He said that Satan is just pushing our buttons, and because he has followed us around since the moment we were born he knows which ones to push! But DON't LISTEN, don't be bothered! Ignore him! He just wants to bring you down! Such a good one to have my first week when I was missing my family!

We also had Elder Mervyn Arnold of the seventy come speak to us, but his wife spoke first, and something she said really stuck out to me. She said, "Our ability to have joy increases as we grow closer to out Heavenly Father." That was amazing to me! That's why I'm here in the MTC, to grow closer to my Heavenly Father, so I can help His children to have joy!

Other things, My District is awesome, the four sisters (including me) are going to Tacoma, and the elders are split, four going to Oakland, California, and the other four are going to Vancouver,Canada. Which is totally awesome, we have the whole West coast covered between us!

My companion, Sister Belliston, is from San Antonio, Texas, but grew up in Salem, Utah. She is super awesome, and I love working with her. We definitely are not perfect teachers, but there has only ever been one of those! So we are trying to emulate Him!

Have a fantastic week!

All my love,

Sister Megan Monson