Double Trouble

Welcome to Walla Walla Land of the Wheat home of the not-so-free state penitentiary!

Walla Walla has Everything. 

Sheep!

More cute sheep can be seen at this website

Mountains!

Trees!

Cool Streams!

And Cinnabon Delights!

 A Fox!! I saw a fox and I did not get a picture of it because it was bounding away from us. But it was a moment I had been waiting for for about 12 years. It has always been a dream of mine to see a fox not in a zoo. 

This is not a real fox. Nor do I have permission to watch this video on my mission. Thanks to Lisa for sharing it for me. 

NOTE FROM LISA:

For the record it is against my better judgement to include this video.

Getting Doubled in Means that neither me nor my new companion Sister Owens knows the area at all. So we had some fun getting lost. Hence the mountain picture.  

I'll miss Moses Lake and Sister Reyes. But she'll have a blast holding down the fort while I continue to get lost and meet great new people down here.

We live in  an apartment! Not with Members. And the previous Elders were nice and did some DEEP Cleaning. 

We have a car. Which may be more stress than it's worth. (Let's just say we got REALLY lost.)

I don't know why I worried about training. Sister Owens came Pre-trained. She knows how to do most everything. As soon as we learn the area and get into the swing of things we'll be doing just fine. We already have lots of appointments for this week!

Eternal Truth for the Week: People love Sister Missionaries. Sisters and Elders are good at different things. After a while of having Elders our ward was really very excited to have Sisters. We already have 12 days in May on which ward members have volunteered to come out with us for a little while. They loved the Elders very much - and from the note that the Elders left us - I can tell that they loved the ward back.

Still. People love Sister Missionaries. 

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

It's Training It's Pouring

We had a baptism this week! A Wonderful woman we found on Christmas Eve named Rebecca was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Easter Sunday. It was such a great experience and lots of people from  the ward came out to support her. I am so happy for her and I know that this will help her throughout her whole life. 

It's a bittersweet ending to 3 great transfers in Moses Lake.  Sweet because I've seen our area grow so much in 4 months and I've grown to love the ward and the people that we teach, like my own family. Bitter because I have to say goodbye.

Eternal Truth for the day: Just when you get comfortable, the Lord calls you another way. He keeps us on our toes. He asks us to stretch. 

This one pertains to salvation. This life is about growing and becoming- so it's no surprise that I have to leave this area that I love so much and go do hard things so that I have to be humble and rely more on the Lord. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to serve in this little place. 

But I know that my next area will be a blessing as well.  I know that the Lord asks us to do far more than we can do alone. He asks the weak and inexperienced to do hard things so that we will do them in His way. I only hope that I can do that. This next transfer I'll be training a new missionary in Walla Walla, Washington. There are lots of sister missionaries in Walla Walla. We'll have lots of fun, I'm sure. This used to be an Elders' area so this will be all the more exciting. I know that the Lord will put us in the path of people there that need us and are ready for our message. 

 I hope that as I train I can rely on the resources the Lord has given to us like the scriptures, the words of the mission president, the white handbook, Preach My Gospel, and the advice of living prophets since my own experience is so limited. 

Also, this week was Easter Sunday! We had a great program in church. I love the Easter Hymns. We had a great Ward activity about the Passover and how it relates to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Sacrament (or the Lord's Supper as it is sometimes called). The ward showed us a lot of love and I got a package from a friend as well. These are some of the gifts we were given to us. I love these people so much!

We moved in with another member family this week. Just in time for me to pack up and move again.

Thanks for your love and support.

Love,

Sister Faulkner

Excuses Excuses

Sorry about all of the missed weeks. Things got a little bit Crazy with a temple trip and the library where we email being closed for a week. I'll make up for it. Maybe.

  

I'm pretty sure the old adage is "April showers bring May flowers," but I think the flowers got a little bit confused. Moses Lake is covered in flowers right now.

Magnolias, Tulips, Daffodils, and Hyacinths are popular. There are also those icky-smelling pink or white trees that we also have in Provo. 

My companion saw deer for the first time in her life. 

We are coming up on the end of my third beautiful transfer in Moses Lake. I have grown to love this little town even more than I loved it when I came. 

I am having tons of fun learning a little bit of Spanish from my bi-lingual companion. This week I learned how to tell people about asking questions in prayer and how to say whether I want or like something. Useful stuff. 

Easter is this Sunday and I would like to share a really great video about Jesus Christ.

http://easter.mormon.org/

Christ's Sacrifice changes everything about my life. Because of Him, I am where I am. Because of Him, I have hope that my family can be together forever. Because of Him, I can change and repent every day and return to live in my Heavenly Father's presence one day. His sacrifice for each of us inspires me to love others.

Time for three Eternal Truths that do not pertain to Salvation.

1. Mail is worth it's weight in gold. Missionaries love mail. It means that someone loves them.

2.  Flowers bring joy to people. Weeds that have flowers do not bring as much joy to people. If we allowed flowering weeds to grow in our gardens they would last longer and require less care than the flowers that we work so hard to maintain. 

3. People come outside when it's warm. They stay inside when it is cold. It is way easier to find people to talk to when it's warm outside.

There are the kittens that I didn't really take in but I am claiming as my own- even though other people take care of them and feed them. 

I love you all. Happy Easter. With all the new life we see around us - let us look to Christ and remember the light and life that He offers us every day.

Love,

Sister Faulkner

Come! Listen to a Prophet's Voice!

Imagine you lived in the days of Isaiah, Abraham, Jeremiah, or Moses. You knew that there was a living prophet of God- a special witness of Jesus Christ on the Earth- and he was coming to your town. What would you do to be there? Would you want to know what he had to say?

Our loving Heavenly Father calls Prophets and Apostles- men with the responsibility and authority to lead and guide God's church under the direction of Jesus Christ. Every 6 months they speak to the world. The words that Jesus Christ wants us to hear today- to give us guidance for our day just like He gave guidance to prophets of old as recorded in the Bible. This weekend they speak again. They will testify of Jesus Christ, His love, and His gospel. 

It will be on the internet (Click Here) the television, and in some places on the radio this weekend. It will be available in meetinghouses across the world. 

10 AM and 2 PM Saturday if you live in Utah, 9:00 and 1:00 in Washington or Arizona, and accessible after the live broadcasts on lds.org (Click Here). 

It's been fun inviting everyone to watch it. Learning about living prophets makes a huge difference in people's lives. It means that Christ still speaks- and He loves us as much as He loves the people who lived before He came to this Earth to perform His mortal ministry and Atoning sacrifice for us. 

It has always been hard for people to accept living prophets - Noah, Jeremiah, even Jesus Christ were denied by many people while they taught on Earth. I know that we have a living prophet on the Earth today who testifies of Jesus Christ. But that is something that each person has to learn personally by prayer.

That is what we invite people to do. Pray and find out by the Holy Spirit.

This week was tough. We've been less able to go out and visit people because we've sick. We lost one of the people we were teaching - and some of the people we haven't lost aren't progressing like I wish they were. Sometimes the work is hard. As Elder Holland said "Salvation is not a cheap experience." But, as I watch people decide not to act in faith and learn for themselves or act on what they have learned, I feel Christ's love. I understand His sacrifice for me a little bit more. I love Him more and I want to serve Him.

Yesterday I found a street in our area that I have never been on. It was like Christmas. More people to talk to. 

People have been really nice to us, too. I can always count on our ward to support the missionaries.

My companion learned how to put my hair in corn rows.

This is one of my favorite letter pictures so far.

I FINALLY learned how to do that missionary trick with my hands. The one where you make a snapping sound without snapping.

I love you all. Stay faithful, stay stalwart. Keep up the amazing. 

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

Greenie BUSTED!

The companion that you have after your trainer "Greenie Busts" you. I'm not really positive what the significance of this term is yet. 

I can tell already that my new companion Sister Reyes is going to be great for our area. The people we are teaching already love her.

Here is a picture of Sister McMurtrey and I right before she left for Yakima. She is a gem. I'm sure Yakima will love her.

Here are the other Sisters in our Zone before transfers- I love them all. Only four of us are still in Moses Lake.

Sister Reyes and I are already having a blast though. She has a lot of enthusiasm for this work.

You know what's coming up?

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!

Get ready, folks, for the first weekend in April- when we hear the words of a living prophet of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I know that President Monson is a prophet. I am so grateful to my Savior- that He continues to give us direction and guidance personally through the Holy Ghost and to the world through a living prophet and living Apostles.

Time for the Eternal Truth that does not pertain to salvation for this week:

2. Waking up early actually helps you be less tired than you would be if you woke up late.

Real. Thing. I wish that I could explain this sufficiently to you with science and stuff. All I know is that (provided you go to bed on time) Waking up at 6:30 helps me to stay alert throughout the day. Exercise also helps. I exercise way more now than I ever did before my mission - and I haven't gained any weight yet. So my new advice about not gaining weight on your mission is: never exercise before your mission and then you'll be in better shape on your mission than you were before. (Don't actually take this advice.)

Have a fantastic week of greatness and glory!  2 Nephi 26:23-28

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

When Transfers Call

That should be the title of a horror movie. Transfers are so stressful! I am starting to go gray, folks. But it's okay because...

I'm Staying in Moses Lake! I'm losing my trainer! But that's okay. My new companion has been out a while and I'm sure she's amazing. We have had a really great few weeks- despite the weather (sometimes) and some difficulties with our investigators- we have been really happy! We have really felt Christ's love for us. I'll be sad to see my companion go on Wednesday, but she'll have fun- she's been here so long it'll be good for her to get out of our tiny little area.

It's a new transfer!! That means I get to make a new planner! I'll post pictures when that happens.

I'll also continue to send beautiful letters. These are my favorite:

We made transfer predictions- which were mostly incorrect.(that's me with the chalkboard)

Somebody in our neighborhood decided to put a creepy mannequin in his car! Scared me half to death!

And I made my own Plan of Salvation cutouts to use to teach about our purpose in this life!

One of the Sisters who was in our zone made a list of "10 Eternal Truths that do not Pertain to Salvation" That she has learned on her mission.  I have decided to come up with some of my own and include them in my posts. the first is this:

1. If you are going to take your child out of Sacrament Meeting- you had better make it a lot less fun than it is to be in Sacrament Meeting.

This is something my trainer taught me. It doesn't describe one child or parent- rather it describes the struggle that many (all) righteous parents face as they do their best to rear their children in righteousness. I have compassion for them. I know their struggle. Struggling parents, know that we love you dearly.

This transfer shall be full of splendor and miracles!

3 Nephi 27:20

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner

The Wonderful World of Color

When it snows, the world gets a little bit drained of color. Right now there is ice on the roads, snow on the sidewalks and in the fields, and rain falling from the sky. Lots of gray.

But! We have a lot of fun anyway. I just have to find ways to put color into my little missionary world.I made a scripture case:

I color my letters to friends and family. Here are the letters I sent out last week:

They represent respectively: Swan Lake, Rapunzel, Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer", and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. (inaccurately because of the electric light. Pretend those lights are hand-lit streetlamps and candles from the early 19th century).

You can't really see this giant pile of tumbleweeds, but the wind was being extremely persnickety the day before it last snowed. They totally blocked the sidewalk. Now they have snow all over them.  Not really colorful. Just fantastic. This wins the largest tumbleweed competition for now- but we've had some great contenders in the past. Some bigger than me. None large enough to block the entire sidewalk. Tumbleweeds aren't really colorful, I guess. Just amusing.

If you write me a letter you will get a colorful picture on the back of the envelope that holds my response.

Have a wonderful day!

I take comfort in Doctrine and Covenants 61:36, and Doctrineand Covenants 84:88.

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner