Let's Remember the Wonderful!

Well, another week has come and gone.

Each day is just so jammed pack that it's hard for me to separate what happens when. (Or is that just a sign of old age?)

Well lots has happened this week! There is always opportunities to do missionary work every day so we stay really busy. Something fun though that we have been asked to do this transfer is to help with the Visitor Center training at the MTC, so every week we get to take a group of sisters who will be serving at a visitor center around on a tour of Temple Square. We get to give them the 'guest experience' so that they can have a vision of what a Visitor Center Sister really does. This week we were able to take about 5 Sisters who will be going to the Hawaii VC and the Mesa, Arizona VC. It was great. These tours are always so spiritual because these missionaries have just had a crazy week of MTC training and are all on a spiritual high and they usually all have mixed emotions about the next year and a half of their life. I remember being in the MTC and experiencing all of that, and Sister Sommerfeldt and I pray so hard so that we can be that instrument in helping these sisters be excited for their missions and have any fears just washed away. It's fun, I love being around missionaries, it's just a lot of fun :)

We also had a wonderful miracle in our area, the local missionaries for one of our investigators made contact in less than a week! Really, that's how it's supposed to be but it just never happens and so when we called our investigator and he told us that the missionaries stopped by and gave him the Book of Mormon I was just so taken aback. And now he has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and he is so excited to attend church and be baptized. Hearts are being prepared for the restored gospel right now as we are sitting around at these computers. There is always work to be done. 

Elder and Sister Clayton of the seventy paid our mission a visit and actually came to speak in our sacrament meeting. It was great. I loved Sister Clayton's testimony. She talked about "having the eyes to see the wonderful and the heart to remember". She also shared a letter that she received from a sister missionary. The sister shared how before her mission people would always tell her that missions were hard, but when she asked why she would only get the answer "they just are" and so when she went on her mission she decided she wasn't going to be one of those people and so she actually made and kept a list of why missions were hard. She shared some of the reasons that missions were hard and it made us all chuckle because she's right. Missions are hard for a lot of reasons, a lot that probably wouldn't make any sense to people who haven't had a chance yet to serve a mission-like the struggle of texting on the brick of a phone that we have. 

But then she went on to share about why missions are wonderful and missions truly are wonderful. It's wonderful to see the light of the gospel come into a family. It's wonderful when you realize the scripture you studied that morning is just what this individual needs. It's wonderful to hear the water running in the baptismal font. It's wonderful to testify each and everyday of a living Prophet. It's wonderful to be able to represent the Savior and to teach His gospel. 

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We also were able to take our lovely Zone Leaders, Sister Ryan (Australia) and Sister Orndal (England) around on a tour so that they could see how our teaching was. (See above photo) 

This is actually something that every new sister and trainer has to do and depending on how you are doing you either do it again or you 'pass off' and get to have a free meal at the Lion's House!

And guess what! We passed off! Woo Hoo! Sister Sommerfeldt did amazing and it was so fun. Now we get to go and feast this week as soon as we get our little certificate from the APs. 

Today for our P-day we are actually going to explore a little of Salt Lake City with Sister Ryan & Orndal! Sister Sommerfeldt and I are going to be pro tourists by the end of our time together :D

Well I love you all!

The Church is true and I know that you know it too!

XOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger

P.S. Herons and other water birds land on hippos in the water as though they were rocks or tiny islands. 

Top of the Mountain

Howdy Ya'll!

First off, thank you everyone for helping make my birthday the best! Sister Sommerfeldt and I had a wonderful day. Everyone always says that birthdays on the mission are the best. They were right!

It started with Sister Sommerfeldt getting up a few minutes before me and decorating our apartment and then she jumped me when I walked out of our room. Talk about making sure that I was awake. And then the rest of the day was filled with littler missionary miracles and sisters giving us lots of sweets and goodies. Sister Sommerfeldt was so excited about it being my birthday that she felt the need to tell everyone! I mean everyone. We were even talking with guests on the square and somehow she found a way to mention it in our conversation. So I'm sure that the entire square knew that it was my birthday. Haha


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This week though was filled with lots of working and lots of fun as well. I vaguely remember one of the apostles saying that 'it's not missionary work it's missionary fun!' and that's how I feel about it. We have really been focusing on talking with everyone and making sure that everyone who comes to Temple Square feels of the spirit and the sacredness of our wonderful home.

Actually, ready for some fun numbers. We did a little math this week as well. So we take on average about 50 tours a week, some weeks are a lot more and some are a little less. But generally it is usually 50. So...as a sister missionary our mission is about 78 weeks long and we estimated that you could probably average out the tours with 2 individuals per tour. Which means that on Temple Square we take about  7,800 people around on a tour over the course of our mission. That's 7800 people we share our testimonies with! Crazy right? That's more than how many people will fit into the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall combined. And really that number is probably a lot bigger because of all the motorcoaches (aka, bus tours of 40 people) we take during the summer. Our mission is so cool.

Okay enough with the math. Besides working our butts off with inviting other to come closer to our Savior we also took some time to explore so that Sister Sommerfeldt is more familiar with the resources that we are given on Temple Square. So we had a tour of the Conference Center and it was really cool. It's always a little bit odd being the tourist instead of the missionary. But it was fun. We learned a lot about how it was built. You could easily relate how people reacted to President Hinckley wanting to build the Conference Center to how people reacted to Brigham Young wanting to build the Tabernacle into what it is today. (Do you like how I always find a way to bring up Brigham Young in my emails.)

Also I have to share about what we did for P-day today! We went hiking! I haven't been hiking for probably more than a year! We went up to some mountain behind Utah University, we learned that we are all out of shape. We trying to hike up to a place called the "Living Room". Apparently it's some rocks that are in the formation of chair and it looks like a living room. We actually didn't make it to the top though. We ran out of time and had to head back home so we had the car back in time for the next sisters. But it was fun, hot and beautiful.

It's fun to be serving 'in the top of the mountains...' where all nations flow unto. Being on Temple Square we get to see the light come into the eyes of others as they feel and learn that God has not ceased speaking to His children and He has not ceased calling Prophets. There are so many people in the world who are waiting to find the restored gospel, and how neat is it that many of them come and wander onto Temple Square. We were able to meet a few individuals this week who shared with us their story about how they come to have faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. Angels are preparing the hearts of so many. One individual in particular, it was evident that he was able to have different experiences in his life because he was being prepared to receive the restored gospel. And now he is reading the Book of Mormon and going to meet with missionaries.

The church is true and the sky is blue!

XOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger

P.S. "Hippo" is a nickname for the Greek word "hippopotamus" which means "river horse"

O Canada, O Canada

So funny enough, Sister Sommerfeldt and Sister Mahoney have been singing their national anthem which means..... their national anthem has been stuck in my head all week. Oh Canadians, you gotta love them :) I'll let you know when I start saying "eh" at the end of all my phrases.

This week though has been filled with miracles. Since starting this transfer with me coming from Georgia and my sweet companion coming from the MTC our teaching pool was a little bit nonexistent...well more like a lot. But the Lord always makes things work out and that's exactly what He did. We were able to get a hold of a lot of investigators that I taught at the beginning of my mission who somehow got lost for one reason or another, well they are all back on the train and excited to keep learning. We also got to meet a lot of neat people on the square this week. So we are still working hard and finding lots of people to teach.

Something that our zone is doing this transfer is sending out #Mimo texts to everyone :). Mimo stands for 'Miracle Moment", so whenever something exciting or funny happens we send out a text to our zone so we can all celebrate together. Here are some that we have sent this week:

June 4th :

#Mimo

Took a family around from New Zealand. Felt the spirit and referred. #onetruechurch

June 7th:

#Mimo

Called a former. Has baptismal date for June 26th. #localmissionariesdidn'tgiveup #thanks

June 8th:

Talked with a couple. They left and then came back asking for a Book of Mormon. Referred and then we found out they were siblings. #awkwardbutBOMistrue

It's been a lot of fun, and it keeps us motivated about the work. And it's neat, we have learned that when we expect miracles to happen and we do our part... they happen. It's the best.

Here's some photos:

Me and my lovely companion in front of the Beehive House...no it's not raining...we are just weird.




​​Oh we also participated in 'High School Musical' today.
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We're cool.

It only lets me send 2 in one email...so more are to come :)

Love you all!!!

XOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger

P.S. Hippos have almost no hair on their bodies, and their skin can be one to two inches thick

The Lion of the Lord

Hey Y'all!

So yes, I am still saying y'all and it's really funny. People will always ask me where I am from and when I say California they always look at me funny and ask why I talk like I'm from the south. Oh Georgia.

And then it gets better because my companion says 'Eh'. Oh Canada :)

It's been another glorious week on beautiful Temple Square. I still love being back and we are just busy working and talking with everyone! It's even cooler because I have an international companion, I'm sure I've said this before but so many more people actually want to talk with you. It's absolutely the best. And I've learned that Canadians all know each other basically, or know of each other. I have a pretty famous companion.

Oh and funny thing that happened this week, we were on desk in the South Visitor's Center and this cute family walked past. I said hello and tried to start a conversation but sometimes people just don't want to talk and that's okay. Anyways they just walk out the door after saying hello, but then the dad stops turns around and looks at me through the automatic doors and then walks back in. He asked me my name and then begins to pull out his driver's license and hands it to me...I'll admit I was thinking this was a bit odd.... Well turns out that he was a Fluckiger. And because I am such a handy person I actually had my family tree on me. He didn't recognize any of the names so we are probably like 16th cousins or something crazy like that. Temple Square makes the world a very small place.

We have been spending a lot of our time in the Beehive House. It's the coolest.

“'Mormonism' has made me all I am; and the grace, the power, and the wisdom of God will make me all that I ever will be, either in time or in eternity.” -Brigham Young
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Brigham Young is such a cool guy! I mean he was having Family Home Evening every night 60 years before Family Home Evening was even instituted. Talk about cool!

We have been able to have some neat experiences as we have served there. It's always different and we always try to make it fun while also having it very spiritual. It's great. We also were able to serve there on his birthday! June 1st 1801 Brigham Young was born. On one of our tours we told them that it was his birthday that day and they just looked at each other and was like "how cool is it that we came today" and then they looked at us and ask "are you doing anything for his birthday? can we take part in it?" So if you want to wish Brigham Young a happy Birthday-now is the time.
We also have two jokes that we like to share, and it's really funny, sometimes the people will laugh really loud or they will just look at us and we will hear crickets in the background. Oh the life of a Temple Square Missionary :)

The rest of the week should be interesting. The Square is being closed down for Elder Perrys funeral this weekend. It's been interesting to be here in SLC while that is going on. How wonderful it is that we have the knowledge of what happens after this life. Sister Sommerfeldt and I were talking about it the other day, wondering what Elder Perry is doing right now. Well we don't need to wonder, we figured it out pretty fast. He's doing just what he did while he was here, preaching the gospel! :)

I love you all!
I know that we belong to the coolest and truest church on the Earth.

XOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger

P.S. A hippo can eat from 80 to 150 pounds of grass in one night.