Week 30: I Love To See The Temple

After over six months of waiting, I finally got to go to the Temple! What a wonderful place to be. We woke up super early Wednesday morning and drove all the way down to Olympia to get on a big yellow school bus, which took us AAAALLLLLLLLL the way up to Bellevue to the temple.

    Going from having several temples within a twenty minute drive to having no temples within the boundaries of my mission was a stark contrast.

    President Blatter decided to allow us to take one name all the way through and by a small miracle I had one name that I hadn't done any work on before I left and I was able to do all but the sealing for her this week. What an amazing thing!

     After the time spent in the place closest to heaven we loaded back on to the buses and drove back to Olympia. Just as Sister Ireland and I were pulling out of the parking lot, my trainer, Sister Bird, and her companion pulled in, and stopped us. Apparently their phone had been left on the bus which was now... who knows where? So I got to spend some time with my favorite companion in history, Sister Bird! So we spent most of the evening in Olympia, and the crazy thing about Olympia is that there is more than just a Wal-Mart and a McDonald's there, they have everything. And people, I haven't seen so many people in the past 9 weeks! I guess that is what happens when they ship you out to the middle of nowhere, a quiet and beautiful place, you forget what it's like to see people frequently!

    Other than that this week has been cold, cold, cold! It hasn't rained a whole lot so there haven't been clouds to keep the heat in, but the forecast says it will start raining soon which means it will be warmer... just wetter. Which means I will get to wear my rain boots! It has been too cold for them for a long time!

     I hope you all have a wonderful week!

           All my Love,

             Sister Megan Monson

Week 29: More Holiness Give Me

The first week of January is a week of setting goals and trying to figure out what you need to improve more on. I was stumped on what I really wanted to work on. I have so much that I am not where I want to be at ultimately and I just couldn't choose.

All week there was a song in my head that I love and adore but hadn't heard in awhile, so it didn't really make sense as to why it would be running through my head. Until I really thought about it and remembered that often the way the Spirit speaks to me is through music. Hymn number 131, "More Holiness Give Me"

1. More holiness give me,
More strivings within,
More patience in suff'ring,
More sorrow for sin,
More faith in my Savior,
More sense of his care,
More joy in his service,
More purpose in prayer.

2. More gratitude give me,
More trust in the Lord,
More pride in his glory,
More hope in his word,
More tears for his sorrows,
More pain at his grief,
More meekness in trial,
More praise for relief.

3. More purity give me,
More strength to o'ercome,
More freedom from earth-stains,
More longing for home.
More fit for the kingdom,
More used would I be,
More blessed and holy--
More, Savior, like thee.

The solution to my goal-setting problem had been there all along. So I chose the attributes of the Savior that I really wanted to work on and I found ways to do so. So my goals all are lines from More Holiness give me! If you haven't set your goals yet, read through this song and it will basically help you so much to know what you need to do! Anyways, that's all I have to ramble about today!

All my love,

Sister Megan Monson

Week 28: The Wolf-Deer

   This week was utter insanity. It started with trying to fit all of Sister Philippi's stuff into our tiny little Chevy Cruze. If you can just imagine squeezing things into every single nook and cranny, in the trunk, backseat, front seat, floor, back window, everywhere. Sister Missionaries have a lot of stuff. Then we drove down to Olympia to drop off Sister Philippi and all her stuff. I then took another sister with me to Tacoma who was transferring out of Sister Philippi's new area. So we exchanged stuff and there was still stuff covering every single surface of the car, so much stuff! Finally we made it to Tacoma where we exchanged stuff one more time and I got my new companion, Sister Ireland. 

Sis Ireland and Sis Monson

     Sister Ireland is incredible, she is from Maricopa, AZ and has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever known. And this week we worked hard, harder than I ever have on my entire mission, and that is saying a lot. We are trying to meet the zone standard of 25 finding hours a week. After working our tails off we wound up with 23, which is pretty good for not having any hours on Tuesday because of transfers.
     On Saturday we were on the verge of crazy, we had knocked for 5 hours by the time it was time for our daily 5-7 knocking and we were exhausted. As we were driving to find a new spot to knock we turned down this street in the middle of the woods wondering where it lead... and we saw it. It's eyes were glowing and I swore it was a wolf and Sister Ireland tried to brush it off as a deer, we drove down the road screaming that we were being chased by a wolf-deer. We still have no idea which it was, but we basically decided knocking doors at night in the woods is not a very good idea.

I hope your New Years was wonderful and you didn't get eaten by the wolf-deer!

All my love,

Sister Megan Monson

MTC Sisters

Sister Monson and Sister Philipi

Shelton Washington

New steeple

Inside the steeple

Shelton Ward

Week 27: Hearts Knit Together

Standing in a forest on Christmas Day

Presents!

This week a wonderful member of my ward here asked me about my hobbies, I told her about how I knit, (because on the inside I am a 72 year-old lady!) and her eyes lit up. "I have something for you!" she told me, and then proceeded to pull out bag after bag of YARN. My eyes opened wide and my mind started racing with possibilities of what I could do with all this yarn. What did I come up with?

    In the past week and a half I have taught three people how to knit. One was my companion, I will not even hide the fact that she and I struggled with unity this whole transfer, but knitting was something we could relate with. I knit to relieve stress in a productive way. It has been my outlet for a year now and it has helped me in so many ways. And now it is helping my companion.

    The scriptures talk about knitting only one time, but that's more than they talk about my other hobbies! (i.e. Snowskiing, wakeboarding, etc)

     Mosiah 18:21 And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.

     Knitting brought us unity, and gave us a greater love for each other. And now I will be making room in my heart for another Sister! Sister Philippi will be transferring to Olympia and I will get Sister Ireland! I have known Sister Ireland since the beginning of my mission and we will have so much fun! I am very excited to get to work with her!

     Christmas was great, I got to talk to my family! How I love them! That was the most bittersweet present I have ever received. Sweet because I just love my family and love talking to them. Bitter because I had to say goodbye all over again! But families are forever, because of Christ, and that makes everything okay!

    I love you all! Happy New Year!

     Sister Megan Monson

Bingham Missionaries, pick and shovel Elder Devenburg, Elder Pipe, Sis Monson

Christmas day with a wonderfully kind women

Christmas Eve present, sent with love

Christmas Eve with district

Foodbank

beautiful location

Add caption

presents

Snoopy

Standing in a forest Christmas Day

Christmas Day: phone call

Really and truly we could not ask for a better Christmas present than to SEE and HEAR our daughter, after 6 months of missing her like crazy! She sounds so good, so happy and doing well. Missionary work is hard and can be discouraging and yet she does find the joy in sharing the gospel in whatever way the people around them will listen. She enjoys serving in the local food bank each week and said that they spend 10 hours a week doing service, up to 25 hours a week tracking the streets of Shelton and Union. Sister Monson said the ward does so much for the missionaries. They feed them every night, stock their pantry with food, refurnished their apartment with newer furniture, drive long distances to pick up a new box springs for her bed, and provide space heaters and lots of blankets so they can stay warm in their old little house. She mentioned how much she has learned from each companion and how much they mean to her. Sister Belliston taught her how to deal with girls, Sister Bird was a wonderful trainer who really helped her learn about herself and what she was capable of and how to be an excellent missionary. Thanks to her! Sister Webb was a very hard working companion and they trained each other. From Sister Philipi she learned compassion and love. She told us that missionary work is HARD, harder than she could ever imagine and harder than anyone ever told her. 
She has 1,400 miles per transfer to drive on her car and it is not nearly enough to see her whole area. She spends time mostly in Union and Shelton. Lots of miracles and special experiences. Working with Ben and Chantelle and Becky. Or the funny experience where they (Sister Bird and Sister Monson) had to ask the homeless man leave from the door of the church where he was charging his cell phone. Scared them to death. She tells it much better than I can write it. 

We laughed at stories and cried at others. She was too emotional at the end to share her testimony, she said she would cry, that it was too tender and too special not to. We ended with a family prayer, grateful for a chance to have John pronounce a blessing on her. By that time we were all bawling. That is when we just had to push the disconnect button... the hardest part of the day! We love our Meggins, Meggers, Meg, Megan, Sister Monson so very much! It was a choice experience to talk to her and we can't wait until Mother's Day! Merry Christmas Sister Monson! Love you to the moon and back.

waiting for the call

She's on!

enjoying the special addition for Christmas!

Darn she is so cute!

This family could not be more happy!

Sister Monson sent us a package with little gifts for each of us! A Seattle Seahawks hat for Jaymes, a stuffed bear for Tyler, a Space Needle pencil sharpener for Brayden, a snoopy figurine for John, a handmade hand band for Me and some fun home listing papers from streets she tracked in Lincoln. A small glass lady bug from the glass museum a little elephant and coloring book. A WATAC ornament and Marvel book. Special time opening hand picked presents for each of us!

gift from Megan

special package

WATAC ornament

family picture Christmas Day!

Week 26: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Of all the songs of Christmas, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is my very favorite. It was written by an incredible poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow soon after his son passed away. Longfellow had a terribly tragic life, losing three wives and a few of his children, and the time he wrote this poem was one of the lowest points of his life.

There's an clock tower that chimes Christmas songs in the middle of Shelton, and it made me think of the words of this beloved song.

1. I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

2. I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th'un broken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

3. And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

4. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

5. Till, ringing, singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nk77EOgapg

This week is Christmas, the celebration of the birth of our Savior. It is a holiday of family traditions, the giving of gifts, and the spreading of Holiday cheer. Amid the hustle and bustle of Holiday shopping, decorating, cooking, baking and making things just perfect, let's all take a minute to think about the reason for this incredible season. This world is a troubled place where it seems "there is no peace on earth... for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men." But aren't we lucky that there is another verse! 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men. 

What a blessed knowledge! God is NOT dead! We are not left alone in this world, we have a loving Father in Heaven and a Savior who came for us! We are just so blessed! 

Merry Christmas, my Friends! May we all remember the Savior at this wonderful time of year!

All my love,

Sister Megan Monson

Week 25:Tender Mercies

Christmas party

    When it's freezing cold outside the natural inclination is to stay inside and stay warm but missionaries don't really have that luxury. We knock on doors even if it's utterly freezing! And it is! The biggest problem I have faced with that is cold toes, I hate having cold toes, it is one of my absolute least favorite things. Little known fact: rubber rain boots suck in the cold rather than repelling it and my toes were becoming icicles. I was on my knees every night this week begging for a way to keep my toes warm, I couldn't knock without taking a toe warming break! Turns out that the boots that will keep your feet dry won't keep them warm, but the ones that will keep you warm won't keep you dry. I finally figured the perfect way to position toe warmers and exactly how many pairs of thick socks to wear (2 plus a pair of regular socks) to keep my toes from getting numb, and life was okay, but it was still a struggle to keep my toes warm enough!

   But last night we felt super prompted to go and visit the Deacon family, and what do you know but Sister Deacon accidentally bought a pair of warm, water-proof boots in the wrong size, my size. And she gave them to me! I literally almost cried. It may seem like something small but the Lord really does answer prayers! I am so excited to have warm toes!

     Another tender mercy, we aren't allowed to knock this one particular street because it's a gated community, which is really sad because we kept thinking that there might be some really solid potential investigators there. Then we got a call from a member with a referral on that street! And it turned out to be a way solid investigator. We sat down at our appointment and asked about her interest in religion, and she says "I wasn't interested at all until now, and you know, I've really been thinking, I need to read The Book of Mormon." That is incredible!

     The Lord truly has great blessings in store for each one of His children, Nephi says

"But behold, I,Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." (1 Nephi 1:20) If we have faith in Him, He will bless us. It is incredible to see just how much He will! What are the odds that Sister Deacon would buy a pair of boots that were just perfect for me and even in my size? So slim, but the Lord made it happen because He knew I needed it! The Lord loves us!

I love you all!

Sister Megan Monson

Sister Monson and Sister Pen

Snow fall fun with companion

absolutely beautiful

Zone Conference