Helaman's Army

Family!!!

I LOVE you all so much! And I miss you, but I love it here!

Thank you thank you for all the mail! It has been fantastic, I love reading about everything going on back home, being in the MTC you are literally away from the world. Like you can't even ever see cars. They planted the trees perfectly that you're basically trapped from the world. Which is totally cool, but when we go across the street to the field or to the temple we all joke that the 'real' world is too scary and they've given us too much freedom. But we always survive the scary, dangerous walk across the street, going from dedicated ground to dedicated ground. 

Okay so I'm going to try really hard to answer all the questions I've gotten over that last week, and if I forget one just ask me again :) 

The schedule is perfect, tomorrow's going to be different and strange because it's our first day of visitor center training so everything changes. I mean everything.... except the sisters and my companion thankfully. So basically the schedule has been: Wake up at six, District study at 7, breakfast, classroom instruction for 3 hours, lunch, classroom instruction for 3 hours, gym time, dinner, then different studies for the final 3 hours. Also our P.I. teaching would be planning during the classroom instruction, and our TRC would be right after dinner before studies. If you would like me to expand on any of that let me know. It's seriously been Go, Go, Go. One thing to the next. Which I love. The first few days were hard because I felt like I was inhaling my food because we're not given a lot of time to eat and most of that time is taken standing in line unfortunately, but I'm totally used to it now, feels normal practically. Which is why tomorrow should be interesting because everything changes again. Yay for change. I'm excited though. 

It is exhausting though! But then our district had this realization. What did Joseph Smith do after he had the Vision? What did he do after be visited by the Angel Moroni? What did King Lamoni do after he received a testimony of Christ? I could go on, but they all passed out from exhaustion. Spirituality is exhausting! We are studying the gospel for as Brother Hanson says "38 hours of the day". Which knowing there's only 24 hours in a day really tells you how much MTC missionaries study. A Lot! Everyone has told us though that it's okay to be tired, it's normal, which I was thankful for because I've been trying to be so close to the exact obedience thing that I didn't understand why I was so tired. But I'm pushing through and I'll survive.  

Next question, Food. It's not horrible, actually the first few days is was great. Yet, we've been here long enough that the same meals keep popping up and it's beginning to taste like cafeteria food. Yay for being here another week. It's weird we've only been here for 12 days and yet we're the 'old' ones. Every missionary that arrived with us on Wednesday left either yesterday or today so now we really stick out. I am so glad I''m not learning a language and would have to be here for 6 weeks. 

I love it here though, the teachers are amazing and I've learned so much. We're no longer teaching any investigators right now, we'll get more probably starting tomorrow. We'll hopefully get new TRC investigators, Teaching Resource Center. So basically TRC are real live investigators who work at the MTC. They get paid to sit for hours listening to who knows how many missionaries teach them about the gospel. Some one them are actually members, but the majority of them are not. Like Alex was a real investigator. Which was kind of scary at the beginning but now it's just normal, I mean it's what I'll be doing for the next 18 months. It's odd not having investigators though, Like I don't know what to do during study time, I feel selfish for studying for myself since for the last week I've been using every second I get to study for my investigators. So i'm looking forward to getting more people to teach. 

 I've decided that Sunday is still my favorite day, I love my branch president, President Menlove. Brother Hanson, one of our teachers talked to us about Grace before Sunday. If you haven't read the definition of Grace in the Bible dictionary, please do. We were challenged to keep re-reading it and then think and ponder either something we were repenting of, or something we wanted to improve, and then really focus on that one thing during the Sacrament. My testimony grew so much from that experience, it made the Sacrament that must more special and it really opened up my eyes to just how much we as missionaries can only rely on Christ to help us be successful. If I had to use one phrase to describe everything I've learning since arriving it would be:

"This is not my work, this is not my mission. This is His work, and this is His mission, it needs to be treated as such."

Oh and want to know how our branch president assigns talks for sacrament? He doesn't. He expects you to have one prepared each Sunday and then he calls an elder and a sister to come and give it. This weeks topic was faith. Want to guess who got called? Yep Sister Fluckiger. I was told it went great, It was an interesting experience, I don't really know how to describe it but I defiantly felt a different, almost stronger spirit with me as I gave it compared to when I gave my farewell talk. It was pretty cool, but you don't need to worry I am still the same klutzy, blonde, sometimes embarrassing girl as I was when I left. I had wanted to quote PMG (Preach My Gosepl) for my talk but I didn't write it out I just wrote "PMG pg61"...well I forgot my PMG, so instead of being smart and just ignoring it and going on, i freak out, and ask any one the elders on the stand if they had theirs, they didn't so then I decided I should just quickly run and get it from my seat. What was I thinking?! President Menlove saved me before I made it to the stairs, I used his and was able to share the quote. Talk about absolutely embarrassing! I don't know what I was thinking, but after talking to Sister Menlove, I've decided it's the Spirit's fault. She said that that quote was exactly what she needed to hear, and that she now really wants to study Preach My Gospel. She's been at the MTC for about 2 years now and hasn't studied it yet, and now she says she's going too. So I guess that's good. Didn't make it any less embarrassing, and for some reason afterward I just kept imagining either Dad or Colin just rolling their eyes saying in their minds "yep that's Alyssa, way to go"  

Also fun fact, I am a member of the largest Relief Society in the world. No joke, it is the best thing ever. This Sunday we had Sheri Dew come speak to us. It was perfect, she talked about the priesthood and how because we are set-apart missionaries we have direct access to the power of the priesthood. Super powerful! 

I'm sorry if I'm bouncing all over the place today, but email time got cut short because of silly computer problems so I'm trying to make sure I get in everything important. WE had to say goodbye to everyone yesterday, our Elders left this morning for the Everett, Washington Mission. I know they will do fantastic but it's going to be weird not having them in class anymore. It was like a bitter-sweet goodbye. I was happy and jealous they were leaving for the field but sad because of the really spiritual experiences we've had together.

I was able to ask for a priesthood blessing last night before they left, and all the sisters decided that was a good idea so they all got one. The spirit that was in that room was unbelievable. The priesthood power is amazing, I wish I hadn't taken it for granted for the majority of my life. Elder Popp gave me mine, and this was actually my second. I had asked for one last Sunday as well. I won't share what was in the blessing because of how special the experience was. I do want you all to know that I know that this is exactly where the Lord wants me. I'm so grateful for all the support you've given me in this decision. And I know that when it gets hard the Lord is always with me. Always. And he's with you too. We're doing this together. 

I am a member of the largest, youngest, modern day Army of Helaman. And I'm grateful I have been called to represent my Savior. 

"Thou art blessed for thou shalt do GREAT things" D&C 35:4

Love you ALL

XOXOXOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger

Shoutouts:

-Stomach is perfect, no need for essential oils (ick)

-My next door neighbors are going to portugal! I told them all to tell President Fluckiger that I say Hi :)

-Elder Burton from my district is from Star Valley Wyoming and knows Fluckigers-small world

-This friday I have another p-day so look out :)

-Saw Andrew yesterday! :) So fun seeing him every once in a while. It's like a little piece of home here with me 

They call me Sister Fluckiger!

Hey Family!!!

Can you believe it's only been 7 days since we last saw each other?! 

It has literally been a whirlwind here, I LOVE it, but it's been craaazy. The first three days were seriously the longest days ever. The missionaries here were not kidding, the first days feel like eternity and then after Sunday the days fly by. 

So where to begin, well Day 1 I was in a trio companionship with Sister Brooks and Sister Desjourdy because our fourth sister, Sister Mahoney had not arrived yet. I room with 5 other sisters all going to the sqaure and I love them all! Like we call each other, they're my sistas! I am now companions with Sister Brooks, our trio got split Thursday evening because Sister Mahoney finally arrived. She had visa problems and went had to go straight to the field in you home area and then when the visa arrived she came to see us :) Sister Desjourdy and Mahoney are both from Canada, they are my Canadian sisters :) they live about 12 hours from each other. My sweet companion Sister Brooks is from the good state of Southern California, so I don't think anyone won that bet. She is so sweet and extremely loving. The other sisters are Sister Skaggs, also from southern CA, and Sister Bulouoat (Boo-La-Watt) is from Hawaii. So basically our dorm is filled with 6 sisters with very different names, our first nights together with all 6 of us we took like 15 minutes practicing everyones names. We all called Sister Bulouoat Sister Hawaii for the first 2 days because we still couldn't get it haha, now we tell other people how to say it :)

The routine is PERFECT! exactly what a school-schedule loving person like me wants! After dinner I am still hitting a little bit of a wall because I'm so exhausted but It's getting better and it hasn't affected my studies yet. 

Teachers: Fantastic! Like no joke. We have classroom instruction in the morning with Brother Flores with Brother Baker as our teaching coach (no relation to Brian Baker...already asked) and then in the afternoon Brother Hanson teaches us with Brother Harward as our teaching coach.

Sister Brooks and I currently have 2 investigators, Andre who I love is our Progressing Investigator and then last night we met Alex, our TRC investigator...I don't quite love her yet because our first lesson basically went, well awful. But if you ask Sister Brooks about it she says it went fantastic. And that's why we're companions haha. No but really Alex is really sweet but she took an Intro to the Church class at BYU so she already knew everything about the restoration and the plan of salvation and really she as just curious to learn and understand more, but when we were talking to her we didn't feel like she was interested to know if our church is true, more like she just wanted to know what our doctrine is. She's already extremely religious but instead of the spirit being really strong as we talked about doctrine it just felt like the spirit that we carried just bounced off her and came straight back to us. So we are praying, praying, praying that we'll know how to proceed from here. I;m positive Wednesday will go better because we now know her personality and what she's looking for and how we can teach her. 

Andre on the other hand, we're almost positive that when we commit him to baptism again on Wednesday that he'll say yes :) we love him and love teaching him. He's basically perfect and already a member!

So ready to here about some miracles?! Cool thing about living at the MTC is that you're on dedicated ground 24/7 so miracles are basically happening 24/7. I can't wait for Temple Square!

On day 1 about 2-3 hours after getting dropped off everyone was bouncing with excitement and nervousness, no one knew were anything was but we were all ready to get started, well after meeting our teachers they took us to a building where we would have our giant orientation meeting with the MTC Presidency with all the new missionaries. Guess who walked out of the door right as I was walking in... Brother Andrew Meteer :D and yes that was a miracle, and 2 hours of being surrounded but new faces I saw someone I knew and loved. Even better during the Orientation the MTC President he asked a bunch of questions like 'How many of you have siblings, cousins, relatives here at the MTC?' 'How many of you have friends here at the MTC?' 'How many of you have people from your home stake here?' Well as he's asking all these questions Sister Fluckiger is watching all these hands shoot up and has this realization that she is completely alone. No friends, family, or even anyone from the home stake. It was horrible. And then I am reminded of the famiilar face I ran into on the way to the meeting. I know that my Father in Heaven put Andrew right in my path to remind me that I was exactly where He needed me even though I will sometimes feel all alone. 

Miracle #2 Thursday night we met with our branch presidency..but no one told us who that was or even what branch number we were. so when me and Sister Brooks showed up and they were asking what branch we were we has no idea. we were completely lost. And of course they couldn't help us, so we ended up just walking down the halls asking all the Brothers helping if they knew how we could find out. They were of no help at all and we couldn't find anyone from our district. So Sister B peeks her head into one of the rooms where none of the missionaries had arrived yet so just the presidency was in there. They turned to us and I basically said we were totally lost and the Presidents Wife shoots us and shouts "You're in here! I know you're faces!!" Miracle because both me and Sister B were in glasses with our hair up so neither of us looked like the pictures they had of us haha, and I just liked hearing someone say they knew my face :)

Okay funny experiences now? Well the Elders in our district are fantastic, totally immature sometimes and so funny and have really grown over the last few days. All the teachers here all like to interrupt our personal, companionship, and district study to tell us how impressed they are with us. I didn't quite understand why because as a newbie I assumed all the older missionaries (by older i mean they've been here 5 days longer than us) would also be studying.... and that was proven wrong. the two districts in our zone that left this morning basically never studied. If is was supposed to be quite for study time we always had to keep our door closed because they would be right next to us laughing and goofing off and basically being 18-19 teenage boys. Anyways Elder Popp is our district leader and he's fantastic, I will admit I was a little worried when he was called but he has really grown and matured for this calling. We get along so well as a district, we do pretty much everything together. Elder Popp is in charge of getting mail so the sisters really like to bug him about it :) Imagine the seagulls from Finding Nemo... "Mine Mine Mine Mine Mine" Yep that's Exactly what we do to him every breakfast and dinner "Mail Mail Mail Mail Mail Mail" It's perfect. Speaking of mail I feel I need to chastise the family. 1 package, 1 letter, and 1 talk? What is this? Don't you know that mail is literally our lifeline as a missionary? We get mail twice a day. Morning and evening :) Let's see how much mail Sister Fluckiger can get!

I love you all and I am very grateful for the package and letter :) I hung up the picture for all the sisters to see. I hope everything is going fantastic back home!

XOXOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger

Shoutouts:

-Michele Fluckiger! Brother Flores is my teacher and he said he works with you in the American Fork Band!! How cool is that. Of course it took me to ask him if he knew you when i found out he worked there because he didn't to ask if we were related. I mean really? we've got the same last name :)

LOVE YOU ALL :D

Sister Fluckiger gets her name tag!

Well Sister Fluckiger is off! She was extremely excited about receiving her name tag and was anxious to get going. Saying goodbyes was harder then we expected, but she left with a smile, and is on her way to being an awesome missionary! We were able to find her a winter coat and a few last minute items in Utah before she left. Who knew we could fit so much into her suitcase?! One of the advantages of not having to fly to her mission, we didn't have to worry about a weight limit. Good thing the suitcase had wheels.
Thanks to Andrew Meteer who is currently working at the MTC, we know she had a good first day and she's doing great. Thanks Andrew!!
I am new to this blogging world, so please be patient with me as I figure out how to do this! I will post her letters and photos as I get them. She has permission to receive emails from friends and family and she would love to hear from you. Please know that her free time is limited, so she may not be able to respond to everyone directly, but please keep writing her. Missionaries love their mail!!
Her email address is:
alyssa.fluckiger@myldsmail.net
but her time on the computer is limited, so if you feel inclined to drop her a note in the mail her mailing address is:
Sister Alyssa Fluckiger
AUGO6 UT-TMSQ
2009 N 900 E Unit 153
Provo UT 84602
She will be at that address until August 6th. I will post her new address when she gets there. 
While she is in the MTC, you can write to her directly on dearelder.com website, and they will print them out and deliver them to her for free. She can get mail everyday, but can only read emails once a week. You do have to create an account, and during the process it asks you if you want to donate money or create an account with a money balance on it. (I just did the process). At the bottom of the page that has credit card information on it, there is a little link that says "donate later". Just click on that and you can bypass all the credit card information. Its a great way to write letters to missionaries!
Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. There is no question she has been uplifted and strengthened by all of you. THANK YOU!!