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Sister Caroline Elizabeth Faulkner is HOME!

Wrapping Up

This week was full of miracles. A dear sister that I have been teaching since December is closer than ever to baptism. She has a date and I think that she is going to make it. We were sick this week, and we rested a lot, but the time that we went out was highly productive. We still got a lot of work done and we got to visit many wonderful people and invite them to come closer to Christ. Even the time that we spent down helped us. Because of Sister Gresham's physical health challenges, she really needed a break to heal. I think Heavenly Father made us sick so she would be more inclined to rest.

A young woman who has been coming to church for several weeks has decided to take the missionary lessons.

We are pretty excited about that. Transfer calls came this week. Sister Moetala is going to Moses Lake. She is doubling-in to my first area. I got to give her a list of people that I'd like her to check on. I hope that it helps them. Sister Gresham is staying here and receiving the sister that Sister Owens just finished training. Sister Owens is going to be a Sister Training Leader with Sister Allred as her companion. I am filled with Joy.

It was hard to say goodbye to all of the people that I have loved and worked so closely with for almost 8 months. I kept it together though. I was pretty sad yesterday. Today I am doing okay. I've pretty much accepted that it's my time and I'm not upset about it anymore. I'm all packed. We cleaned our apartment really well this morning. My bags weigh far less than the 50 lb limit. Tonight I will go to the mission home with all of the other departing missionaries. The Sisters will sleep there tonight and we will fly out the next afternoon. Normally the missionaries get to go to the temple on Tuesday Morning, but some of the missionaries are flying out really early, so we don't get to go. Luckily our zone went last week.

I trust Sister Gresham with this area without hesitation. She is a hard working missionary and she loves the people we are serving, I have no doubt that many good things will continue to happen here.

I am sad to leave the mission, but I know that the Lord has a plan. Today I was reading Alma 29, where the prophet Alma writes that he wishes he were an angel and could just cry repentance all the time. He reminds himself, however, that the Lord made him the way he was and gave him the calling that he had for a reason. He makes the point that it is important to work hard in the responsibility that God gives to us and be happy in that. I was impressed by verses 9-10:

"9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

I suppose that I can be happy with the time that the Lord has given me. I will do my best to share the gospel throughout my life in many different church callings and life experiences. It is all going to be okay.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."- 1 Corinthians 16:23-24

"We also bear record; and ye know that our record is true. I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee: But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name." 3 John 1:12-14

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

Coming Home

Sometimes when people tell me stories I worry when I hear them tell me that they were alone. Then I remember that most people can be alone for a little bit and it's not a problem. I also worry when I think about staying in one place for hours at a time. I have a little alarm in my head that goes off when I've been talking to someone for almost an hour and I need to leave. I don't know how I developed this sense, but it will be useful in school, I guess.

We went to the temple today. That is always a good experience. I need the peace that we get there. Especially because preparing to go home is a pretty stressful experience. I got to see some members of the ward I served in in Walla Walla. That was exciting as well.

I had my final interview with President Ware today. I really admire our mission president. He's been a really good influence in my life and his example. I can tell that he and Sister Ware really love the missionaries in our mission. He shared a scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:

"6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

He talked about how we don't get to know what's going to happen or how it's going to go (even when we have plans) but we can be confident and trust God, who lets us learn by experience. Our Father in Heaven gives us the Spirit to be with us even though we don't get to be with Him in this life.

I have really come to terms with going home. I was kind of worried about one of our recent converts, but he's doing better and I think with that I can work as hard as I can this week and then leave in peace. I have no regrets. The stress is taking a physical toll on me though. I think I'll get through.

President Ware told me that when you are missionary you have one purpose. We "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." When we are returned missionaries we have many more purposes, though that purpose is still included. We also have family, school, work, preparing for future covenants, family history and other church callings. We have more to juggle and we have to remember that not every priority is most valuable all the time. I respect that.

The work is going well. I will miss this area. I've been here so long. But I would trust either of my companions or both with it. I have confidence that the people we baptized here will endure to the end.

I suppose I'll see most of you soon. I get home Tuesday the 16th. My homecoming talk is on the 21st at 11:30 (I think). Everyone is invited.

Thanks for your love and support.

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

Baptism Blue

 I always wear blue to baptisms. This week we also wore confirmation coral (why not?) to celebrate Laura's baptism! She's been  ready for a long time, so we were really excited for her. I am grateful for every person that I've been blessed to be able to teach in the past 18 months. I love each of them. Some of them didn't really need us, they were well fellowshipped by the members, they learned from attending church and personal scripture study long before we ever met them. Laura is one of those. I am grateful to have been able to be a tiny part of this process for her.

I've finally come to terms with the fact that I have to come home soon. I go to the mission home 2 weeks from today. That is pretty staggering. Sometimes I still have little mini silent freak-out moments. My companions usually notice and ask me if I'm okay. No. I'm not okay. I'm going home! But I prayed about it, and I know that if the Lord wanted me to wear this little black nametag for the rest of my life He wouldn't set it up this way. Also, how would I finance that? I couldn't.

I don't think I have any regrets. Not because I'm a perfect missionary, but because of the atonement. I try to repent really, really frequently.

We'll hope for a miracle and we'll plan on wearing blue one more time together this transfer. One of the people I taught that we gave to the family ward Elders in Prosser is supposed to be baptized on the 13th, so we will hope to be able to go up for that. We'll bring one of our investigators. It will be a good experience.

I gave you some pictures of my companions and I. The Young Women back home sent me Twinkies dressed as missionaries. They were both cute and delicious. 

​Thanks to everyone for your love and support. Have a wonderful day. Share the Gospel.

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

Changes in the Mission

Our mission is splitting next transfer. I won't be a part of that, but our mission is making a lot of changes right now partially in preparation for that split. One of our zones had to split in half because the mission is going to split right down the middle. Our mission has about 220 missionaries in it, I think. When it splits we will be really small for a few weeks until the transfer comes and new missionaries will come in. Lots of missionaries will have to train.

Tomorrow is my last Zone Conference. In our mission we have zone conference every other transfer (or once every 3 months) and all the missionaries who will finish their missions before the next zone conference are asked to give a departing testimony. I had forgotten that this included me until a couple of days ago. This will be no problem. Anyone who knows me knows that I am never short of words to say (sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes it's not.) Still, I'm nervous about the idea of it because I don't want to face the fact that I'll be leaving soon. I'm getting pretty good at not thinking about it.

At Zone Conference, all of the mission cars will be outfitted with little monitors called TIWI. These monitors will make sure that we aren't abusing the mission cars or endangering ourselves or others with unsafe driving. We are a little behind. Many missions in America got this technology a long time ago.

Speaking of technology, I am reminded that our mission still doesn't have iPads. I am okay with that personally, though the thought of what they can do for our studies is intriguing. I also like the idea of showing any Mormon message to any person at any time. That's okay. I get along just fine with my hard copy scriptures.

Sister Moetala, Sister Gresham and I are a very musical companionship. We have taken to singing primary songs and hymns to people as we teach. I like it. There is a powerful spirit associated with the hymns. If you need a change in your attitude or your emotional well-being try changing up the music that you listen to. It works wonders for me. We have the Spirit more in our companionship when we are playing reverent, uplifting music that points our hearts to Christ.

Keep the faith, my friends. I love you all! Stand fast in the liberty wherin God hath made you free!

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

El Dia De Los Madres

Yesterday was mother's day. I got to give a talk in church about how you don't have to be perfect to be a good mom. I think that we need to address this in our culture. Moms tend to judge themselves very harshly and blame themselves for the poor choices or circumstances of their children. Children, too, will sometimes look back at their parents with indignation because we feel that they ought to have done a better job.

The truth is very few parents wake up in the morning thinking "What can I do to ruin my family today?" Most of us are well-intentioned at the very least and each of us falls every day to human weakness. We have a bad habit of judging ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ which has the power to fill any open heart and heal any wound. Christ has the power to consecrate our afflictions for our gain (2 Nephi 2:1) and He has the power to make us better and more capable human beings in time. We need to be more understanding of ourselves and others without condoning sin.

I think that mothers and missionaries sometimes fall for the same ruse. We see the calling to represent the Savior, and we see the expectations so far beyond our reach. We allow Satan to misdirect our attention. When we focus on the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ centers on our faith, and our desires to do what is right (Alma 41:5, The living Christ, 2 Nephi 31:19-20 Moroni 4:3) we see that Christ's power to save us doesn't come after we meet someone's expectations. It comes when we have faith and we show Him that we are willing to keep his commandments to the best of our abilities. Therefore we can't be upset when our abilities, or the abilities of another person, do not match up to what we want them to be. Jeffrey R Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles said:

"So be kind regarding human frailty.Your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we." 

I think we need to be more loving. I really need to work on charity and humility (as always) I love the people we are serving, but I need to learn to be more compassionate in word and in action. That is my goal for the rest of this transfer and for the rest of my life.

I've really been working on my Spanish. We have a new investigator who doesn't want to go all the way to the Spanish branch in Pasco, and her kids speak English. We have been trying to take Spanish speakers with us, and I am working on learning how to teach better in Spanish. I can teach (very simply) the first three missionary lessons in very poor Spanish, but I'd like to be able to testify better. We'll see how this goes.

Yesterday we got to talk to our families. It was really good to see them. I am so grateful to them for helping me and supporting me here. It means so much. I know that your testimony can grow just as much in other ways because I've seen the powerful testimonies of my sister and my mother (and other wonderful people in my life) but I am infinitely grateful for the opportunity to serve.

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

May The Fourth Be With You

I apologize for the speaker who talks over the song a little bit. He's very good at not being distracting, though. I commend him for his many years of practice.

Today I hit 17 months. I can't believe that it's been this long. It doesn't feel like that long at all.

Someone asked me yesterday if I would have any regrets if I knew I was going to die tomorrow. I told him that the thing missionaries regret when they go home (which we like to call "dying") is not being bold enough with people or not giving our all to the Lord. I don't have any regrets right now, I feel that I am doing my best and I am patient with my shortcomings. I am not worried about it. This week begins my last transfer, and I want to make sure that I give everything that I can and that after this time is over that I continue to give all that I can to Christ in building His kingdom. It isn't over; it's just the new mission field.

I'm staying here in Richland (that will be 7.5 months in this area) and I get to continue looking out for our recent converts and investigators here. I have come to love them so dearly. Sister Gresham and I will be receiving another Sister Missionary in our companionship (we will be a trio). You never have more freedom as a missionary than if you are in a trio serving in a young single adult congregation. You can go anywhere. We cover two stakes worth of area. It blows my mind. The Sister that's coming was Sister Owen's MTC companion.

In case anyone is keeping track, Sister Owens hit her year mark this last month. My little baby is growing up. Now she's almost finished training her companion. They grow up so fast.

I've had this song stuck in my head for a little while now (since they played it in conference). It’s absolutely beautiful. We've got to love our Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

It's true that we can trust our Father in Heaven to pave the way before us as we go about His work. HE will take care of us and He will make us into something far greater than what we are on our own.

I got a letter from my Mom and a package from my trainer on the same day – Two letters from two "Mom"s on the same day. I was exceedingly blessed. Especially since Mother's day is coming up. My trainer reminded me that even though it's a little bit frightening towards the end to deal with the work and prepare to leave, it works out okay as you do your best to focus on the Savior. That's my plan.

I hope that you all have a beautiful day and you go forth with faith.

Be strong,

Love Sister Faulkner