Secrets on Temple Square

Hello Everybody who actually reads these letters... :)

The days continue to pass by way faster than I can even imagine. I feel like it was just yesterday that Sister Hara and I became companions. Crazy.

Lots has happened this week. I was able to attend the Women's session of General Conference and it was great. I love being able to be in the Conference Center with the wonderful and inspired leaders of our church. We were also given the opportunity again to attend Elder Scott's funeral that was help in the Tabernacle. That too was a wonderful experience - being able to hear the testimonies of others that the Lord still calls Prophets and Apostles. This weekend is going to be an exciting weekend as people come from all over the world to hear the word of God spoken through the mouth of the Prophets. It's going to be awesome! One of the most exciting weekends on Temple Square!

Speaking of conference, this week Sister Hara and I have been working on a Top Secret project for the assistants to help prepare the sisters for this Conference Weekend. Tomorrow we have Relief Society and the lesson will be a "Pump-Up for Conference". It's going to be great! We actually had some of the senior couples going around on the square asking and filming members what their expectations are for us this conference weekend. It's been a crazy week putting everything today but today we had our last song practice (yes we will be singing as part as our training) and it's going to be great. We are putting on an entire show for the sisters tomorrow. You know in a weird way this mission is exactly like Girl's Camp when we are not on the square - we just do the same quirky things. In a way though our outcomes are different. The outcome we want for this meeting is to have the sisters understand the role that members play in regards to missionary work. They play a huge role and we want to be able to help them understand how they can help the members do their own missionary work. We as members need to be helped and uplifted just as much as any other guest that walks onto Temple Square. 

I love General Conference and I love being a missionary during this time because the Lord allows us to witness so many miracles, not just with the members that come but also with the random guests that come to Temple Square just to figure out what all the commotion is about. The Lord always has a way to lead His children home, whether it's from having missionaries knocking on doors or by having all the streets in Salt Lake City backed up because everyone is trying to attend Conference - there is just always a way.

Another exciting thing happened this week and that was transfers! Monday morning we met at 7am outside the Church History Museum ( the square was closed due to the Funeral so we weren't allowed to us it like we normally do ) and our new companions and assignments were announced. We then met we inside the museum in a theater that they had to hear from President and the departing sisters. While President was talking with us he mentioned that he wanted the mission to focus on the Book of Mormon in this new transfer. He attended a Mission President's Seminar a few weeks ago and they talked a lot about making sure our investigators and converts are converted to the Book of Mormon. Well the only way to make sure that happens is if the missionaries are converted. I'm excited because I recently just finished the Book of Mormon and I'm excited to start it over again with the mission. This is the "Keystone Transfer". I've always been determined to make sure that all my investigators are reading from the Book of Mormon because really everything can be solved within those pages. It's the 'one size fits all' idea - the Book of Mormon, when read with the Spirit, truly can solve, uplift, heal, and mend any problem or situation that we might find ourselves in.

Speaking of investigators I am currently teaching one of the sweetest mothers. She has been to church a few times and is now meeting often with the local missionaries and is loving what they are sharing with her. They gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon but she soon asked for more and now each member of her family, even her sister and her family, all have their own individual copy of the Book of Mormon. 

I love serving where I am. I may not completely understand the purposes of the Lord but I know that I was sent to serve here on Temple Square for many different reasons and it's been great! We have the opportunity to talk with just so many people and to help them understand a little bit more and experience what the love of God is. We also get to testify to them that God still speaks to His children. On Monday Sister Hara and I took a tour of about 20 different individuals and were able to testify of Prophets and explain General Conference. Many of them had lots of questions and a few even wanted to know how they could participate in or watch General Conference. What a blessing that General Conference is broadcast, it just allows so many more people to listen in and gain a witness from the Spirit that God has a Prophet on the earth today.
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Oh and I did get a new companion.... isn't she great :) Her name is Sister Juntilla...can you guess where she is from?

She is from the Philippines! We have both been serving for a good amount of time and have been able to serve pretty closely together actually. We were roommates for 3 months while I was with Sister Sommerfeldt. I am so excited to be serving with her this transfer and we are assigned to the Beehive. Yay!

I love doing what I'm doing and I'm grateful for all of your support and prayers in our behalf.

Love you all!

XOXOXOX

Sister Fluckige

General Conference Fever

Konichiwa Family! 

Another week has flown by and each day I am getting more and more excited about General Conference! I hope all of you are just as excited as I am! 

I've even been working on my conference talk...just kidding...I'm too small for this big pulpit ;)

The last few weeks I have had a lot of meetings and different trainings that I had to attend which really cut back on our proselyting time, and this week we also had lots of different activities and meetings planned. I was determined though at the beginning of the week that we were going to be able to reach the standard of 50 tours a week. The week isn't over quite yet but the Lord has been very merciful to us. This week we have had very little time on the square but the Lord blessed us so much and we were able to meet so many wonderful people and be able to have some great converting lessons on the square with those that we met and found a lot who were interested in learning more about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! Nothing is better than being a representative for Jesus Christ! 

One particular person we found just walked into the Visitor Center. She was visiting from Germany and she had been an exchange student in Utah about 5 years ago and just came back to visit. She shared with us that she had actually gone to church and met with the missionaries 5 years ago when she was here but when she went back to Germany she lost contact with them. This transfer I was blessed with a wonderful companion and she was able to get her interested in meeting with missionaries and attending the church again. We were assigned to a desk in the South Visitor Center when she came in so a lot of crazy things were happening during this conversation so I had to leave to help some other guests but Sister Hara followed the Spirit and was able to teach exactly what this lady needed. I love that the Lord always knows exactly where we are and then when He leads one of His prepared children to us He gives us the words that we need to say. We are just never alone in this work thankfully! :) 

A lot of other exciting things have happened this week, for one we were able to get a hold of the ward mission leader in the ward that one of our investigators is attending. This truly was a miracle because I have been teaching her since November...that's a long time! And right about when I went outbound she lost contact with the local missionaries that were teaching her because they were transferred and ever since the missionaries have never visited her. It has been quite a struggle for me since there is really no more that we can do besides keep sending and resending the referral. It can get a little discouraging sometimes. Well the past few weeks we received permission to call the congregation phone and try to get a hold of the ward clerk so we can get in touch with the Ward Mission Leader - calling a phone that no one ever answers is sometimes just the worst! The Lord always comes through though and yesterday we were able to have a conversation with the Ward Mission Leader and he said that he would send the local missionaries over that night! Yay! We are excited to start seeing some progression now that our investigator will have that support from the local missionaries! 

I just love it when a plan comes together! 

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Well I've been out long enough so I'm sure that you've noticed but serving on Temple Square has it's perks sometimes. The Church History Museum has been closed the last year, they closed it right after the October Conference and they will finally be opening it again this Wednesday! Yay! This past Wednesday they allowed the sister missionaries from Temple Square to tour the museum so we could know what it contained. Yep it's basically the coolest thing now. The church is so missionary focused and so the Museum is now totally centered on non-members learning about the Restoration and the history of the church leading up to when they left for the Salt Lake Valley. It's the best, so if anyone is coming out for General Conference you need to put the Church History Museum on the list of: Things to do while in Salt Lake City.

It's so hard being able to put everything that happened within one week into this little letter. I have such a testimony that the Lord is hastening His work. Sister Hara and I are continuing to teach a lot of Japanese people and it's been wonderful. We are teaching one girl in particular who is just the cutest! She did an exchange in Utah which is how she met Sister Hara and so she knows a little English but at the end of every lesson she always tells me 'thank you' in English and then I tell her 'thank you' in Japanese. I have been keeping a list of the different things that I have learned since I have been out on my mission and one thing that I continue to learn each and every day is that we are ALL children of God and we ALL mean everything to Him. It's just wonderful. 

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This is my amazing district that I have served with the past 6 weeks! Tonight we are hiking Ensign Peak to celebrate the wonderful miracles that have happened as we have served together. 

I love you all so very much but God loves you oh so much more! 

XOXOXO

-Sister Fluckiger

Helaman 5:11

Happy Friday Everyone!

Missionary work is a lot of fun - it's also a lot of work - it's also very rewarding. So really the picture is: I'm having fun, I'm very tired, yet very blessed. Everyday is just a whirlwind of exciting things. 

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This is my current zone! Last p-day we went to a place called Gilgal Garden - a really cool mormon rock garden basically. Well we were all so tired so after taking this photo we all ended up just sitting around the picnic tables eating food. It was fun though! This was also probably the last day of good weather, it's starting to get colder here so Temple Square has unpacked the boots and sweaters. Yay! (well maybe not yay, every day Utah locals are telling me that this is going to be one of the colder winters) I survived one winter, I can do another right?!

The work is continuing to push forward. This week the leaders in the mission received training from the missionary department on how we can be more effective missionaries. "The Lord is hastening His work...which means we must hasten as well or else we will get left behind." I don't know about you but I don't want to be left behind, especially not in this exciting work! The training was on how we can better help members do their own missionary work and how we can get our guests and investigators excited about meeting with local missionaries. It was a perfect training, exactly what our mission needed. 

Because of the training, Sister Hara and I were able to see a lot of miracles happen as we did our best to apply what I had been learning in the various meetings. Yesterday we had the opportunity to take a scheduled Japanese tour, it was a guy who has been living in America for the past month learning English. His English was very good which made it a lot easier for Sister Hara with the translating. Since he has been in America he has actually already attended church twice and starting praying. Wonderful! We talked a lot about what church means and why we go since he didn't understand a lot from the times that he attended. At the end of the tour we were sitting up by the Christus Statue, there was almost no one else up there so it was nice and quite. We taught and testified about baptism and how he could come closer to God. I'll admit I had one of those moments (this actually rarely happens) when I took a step back in the middle of the conversation with this child of God and I realized what I was doing - I was testifying of the one thing that has truly brought the most peace, the most happiness, and the most understanding into my life, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary but I'll admit that sometimes I still can't believe that I am actually a missionary. Deciding to serve a mission is so far the best decision that I've ever made. Well, I guess it's second to the decision I made to come to earth with all of you wonderful people. :)

Our Japanese friend will be returning to Japan next week and he will be meeting with the local missionaries and going to church! Miracles every day!

Aside from being on the square and walking around in circles we also spent a lot of time on the phones teaching our investigators. One investigator in particular hadn't answered the phone for a little bit, but this week she answered! I met her maybe like 3 weeks ago, she called in because her member friend told her about the church. Yay for member missionary work! Well when we talked with her we found out that she went to church the next day after I first spoke with her and invited her. I'll admit I just love it when investigators just show up at church with no warning, I'm sure the Elders who were there were just as grateful as I was :) She has also been able to meet with the missionaries and she has introduced them to her entire family! It's always the best when God leads someone to you, you lead them to the missionaries and then they lead the missionaries to their family. God just has a wonderful plan for each of His children! As we talked with her we re-explained the Book of Mormon and re-invited her to read and pray about it. She expressed to us that she knew that this is what her family needs to get closer to God. I know that she is right.

You better all have a great weekend! I hope you all can see the angels in your life that God has given you :) I have many in mine!

Love you all!

XOXOX

Sister Fluckiger 

Standing with God

Wow! This week has been packed with so many different things. Weeks really go by way to fast. It's really sad, on temple square we are only allowed to say over or under a year when people ask us how long we have been out. For the last few months I was just saying "about a year" because I didn't like admitting that I have actually been out this long. Well then I felt like I was lying since I was saying that for a good 2 months so this week I started saying 'over a year' and it's even worse! Now everyone just gives me sad replies: 

"so you're on the downhill slope"

"it only gets faster from here on"

"Bummer, now you're almost a veteran"

"You almost have to go back to reality now"

.... I could continue. Being a missionary sure is rough. You even have people reminding you every day! :)

But this week truly was amazing! I was able to finish up exchanges with the sisters, meet some incredible people, help answer some people's prayers, and be able to celebrate President Poulsen's Birthday! Oh and President Russell M. Nelson also surprised us this morning. It was definitely a memorable week. I hope y'alls week was just as good :)

I want to tell you about a few of the people that our Heavenly Father led to Sister Hara and I. 

First earlier this week we were signed up to take a scheduled Motor Coach bus tour with only about 10 individuals. It was actually a Chinese tour bus but there were a few Chinese people who live in American who prefer to speak English now. I love the Chinese people, I love every type of people, but they are so open and ready for the gospel. It breaks my heart though that we cannot teach anyone once they go back to China. One day we will, I know it! Well this tour that we took wasn't exactly the best one ever- actually it was pretty bad. The guests were rushed, they weren't paying attention and it was just hard to keep them focused and help them feel the spirit. Well we wanted to end in the Tabernacle but the organist was playing which made it even harder for the guests to focus haha and so we tried to gather them outside to just have like a closing testimony and an invitation. Well that didn't work, once we made it outside they all scattered. But one girl, about my age lingered and we were able to talk with her. Her family is from China but she is going to school in California and has been living here for a little bit now. She has met members at school before and she shared with us that she is a bit curious about God and how she could find out. We testified to her of God's love and how He does indeed know each of us individually. It's a wonderful knowledge to have! We are going to be getting her in contact with the local missionaries when she gets back to California! It was a great miracle, and a testimony to me that even when we think we failed, when we are standing with God we will always witness a miracle. 

Another sweet moment happened yesterday, we ran to the bathroom right before we had to go and take a tour. As we were headed back outside we spotted a sweet lady who was sitting by herself and she looked very sad. We sat down and talked with her for a bit and she opened up to us and shared with us the trial that she is currently going through. She was a member so we asked if she would like a Priesthood blessing, at first she said no and it was evident that she was trying so hard to be strong but the longer we talked she finally decided that a blessing might help. We called Elder Bradshaw, one of our faithful Senior Missionaries who serves on Temple Square and he headed right over to us. We found a small theater and went into there for the blessing. It was a beautiful experience. I love being able to witness the Priesthood in action. After the blessing this sweet sister thanked all of us. She then told us the prayer that she offered before she came to Temple Square. She prayed that she would be able to help someone and that someone would be able to help her. Well right as she was parking her car at Temple Square a man knocked on her window and said that he was a few dollars short for his hotel and was wondering if she would mind helping. Then we ran into her and was able to help her receive a Priesthood blessing. She shared with us her testimony of prayer - God really does know each of us and is always caring our burdens with us. 

The next thing, and probably the last thing because it's almost about that time. But This morning President Nelson surprised us! President Poulsen has been at a mission president seminar for the last few days but he received a phone call this morning that President Nelson wanted to come and visit our mission...so he did! He spoke to us about a few different things, but mostly about our lineage and how we were saved for this particular day. 

He gave us permission to add Doctrine and Covenants 86:8-11 to each of our patriarchal blessings because he shared with us that it was written specifically for us. It's such a blessing to have the knowledge of this church. I truly know that we have living Prophets on the earth today and we get to hear from them so frequently. I don't think there is any other knowledge besides the knowledge of the Atonement that is evidence of God's love for each of us. 

I love you all so very much!!

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Here is a photo to make you laugh.....this is what she does whenever we try and take a nice photo :)

Love you

XOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger

WWJD?

Learning, I love it! 

As a missionary we study the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is wonderful! I had some sick sisters this week which meant I was blessed with a little extra time to study the scriptures as they rested. It was great. Something that is cool about our mission is that we serve so closely with each other, meaning it's close quarters and we really get to see everyone almost everyday, and we get to have great gospel conversations. There's nothing better than talking about Christ and how we can more fully understand His teachings and live them day to day. 

Last Saturday we were blessed to have Mission Leadership Council which is where all the leaders in the mission have a meeting with President and the Assistants and we receive training on what President would like the sisters to be focusing on this transfer. It takes about half the day but it is always totally worth it! 

President Poulsen does like to spoil us sometimes and so we have our MLC meeting on the 10th floor in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building-which is where everyone has their wedding receptions. So the room where we had the meeting was probably one of the fanciest rooms I have ever been in, second to the Temple of course. Well this transfer the focus of the meeting was about becoming like our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did so much and there is so much about Him that I had never thought about before. Pondering the characteristics of Christ was a great activity, if you haven't done it before or if it's been a while, I highly encourage it! 

When we understand who Christ is, it is easier for us to become more like Him. We get asked a lot on the square if missionary work is required in the church and if we receive 'special privileges' when we return home from our mission. I'll admit, that has become one of my most favorite questions to answer because it always throws off the people that I am talking to. Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for my mistakes, my shortcomings, and my sins. Without Him, I would never be able to live with my Father in Heaven again. Because He did that for me, I will do this for Him. It's that simple. Yesterday I was on exchanges with lovely Sister Menzie from Australia and we took a tour with a fella who asked us this question and then his followup question was if there was a high percentage of individuals from our church who voluntarily choose to serve a mission. I think both of us were very humbled by our simple answer of 'yes' - his reply: "That says a lot about the faith that you have in your Savior"


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Being a missionary is such a blessing. You learn a lot. You are blessed to be able to serve others. You meet so many wonderful people. And you get to share with them what you love so dearly. 

The more I learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the more it just makes sense to me. We met a man on the square earlier this week and it was right after he finished walking through the South Visitor's Center for the first time. We asked him if he had any questions, and he just looked at us and replied "where do I even start?" Really that question could mean anything but my companion and I both felt that the spirit had really been working on this man as he was walking through the Visitor's Center so we started with who we were and why we were doing what we were doing. Which nicely led to clarity that comes from knowing that there truly is 'one true church'. As we were talking with him he just kept nodding his head and replying, 'that makes a lot of sense'. He was very interested in learning more and we found out that before he left Temple Square he was able to talk with more sisters and committed to meet with missionaries and to pray if this church was true. It's so nice to serve with 200 sister missionaries, because it's comforting to know that even though the specific individual might not have been willing with you, eventually after having spiritual experiences, one after another, their hearts are softened and they are ready. Which really is what happens with everyone in the world, it just can happen a whole lot quicker when guests come and visit Temple Square!


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'I'm trying to be like Jesus, I'm following in His ways.' Life is just better when we try to be like Jesus Christ. It's hard, but luckily he doesn't expect us to be perfect at it in this life. Elder Cook also came and visited our Sacrament Meeting last Sunday and also shared with us the importance of being like Christ. He told us: 

"You are the message! More so on Temple Square than in any other mission." 

So that's what I'm trying to do, and gratefully I have a companion. It's a lot easier to use the enabling power of the Atonement to become better when you have someone with you everyday who's working on it as well.

I love you all so very much! And I hope that we can all become like the little rain :)

"Give," said the little rain,

"Give, oh! give, give, oh! give."

"Give," said the little rain,

As it fell upon the flow'rs;

"I'll raise their drooping heads again,"

As it fell upon the flow'rs.

XOXOXOX

-Sister Fluckiger