Monday, December 28, 2015

Christmas Excitement

Words cannot express the amount of things/work that we accomplished this week. 
So here are some pictures instead:


A lost sheep who is no longer lost :)-  I found him a year ago when I was companions with Sister Fingerle


We took the Organ tour Christmas morning!
Following the tour we gathered together as a mission and had a Christmas Devotional and then went and opened presents together!


YAY...Santa came and visited us :D


We had to buy 30 pizzas the day after Christmas....luckily the Lord provides a way...
He provided Costco...


That's all the fun things that happened this week, I won't bore you with all the meetings and office work. 
However, the Lord really did provide for us this week with our investigators! They are all doing wonderful and all made it to church yesterday and some of them are preparing for baptism now! Yesterday was our day that we prayed to be able to get a hold of every single one of them and they actually ALL answered the phone! (that never happens!) God sure is good!
We also had time this week to go on some exchanges with the Zone Leaders, it was fun, I served with Sister Sonku (South Africa) and Sister O'Dell (Maryland) for the day. Sure learned a lot from them and probably laughed a little bit too much. Then this morning we had a special training with Brother Billings who works in the Missionary Department and is over all the Visitor Centers - we will be going down to the MTC for a special training with the new Visitor Center Directors and Mission Presidents - and he was able to give us a wonderful compliment of telling us that we don't have the 'missionary voice'! This might sound weird, but it's a real thing and we don't like it because, to me at least, everyone who has the voice sounds like a robot. So to anyone who is preparing to serve a mission, don't fall into it! It's not cool.
Okay, well it's short and sweet but we have to run, we are spending most of our preparation day today in meetings. I love you all and hope you had a wonderful Christmas filled with the Spirit of our Savior.
Love you lots!!
XOXOXOXOX
Sister Fluckiger 

Monday, December 21, 2015

Merry Christmas!

My oh my, this week is Christmas! 
I have loved being a missionary this Christmas season, it's a good thing that the Lord blessed me with two Christmas' because this time around I've had my own testimony deepen of how special this season is. 
The closer it gets to Christmas the busier the square gets and the more fun we have :)
I'll admit though, this week was probably one of the busiest and craziest weeks of my mission. So many things happen that I can't even remember any of them... just kidding haha.
 

Tuesday we spent the majority of the day with the departing sisters. We were able to attend the temple with them and then lunch at Olive Garden. 
Then on Wednesday I was able to pick up my new companion, Sister Rajah from Perth, Australia. And yes she does have a pretty cool accent. 


​We spent most of Wednesday in the mission office with the new sisters. We had 13 wonderful and powerful sisters arrive from the MTC. We met all of them, interviewed them all and then met with President and paired them up with their companions. . Sadly, after getting through Wednesday both President and Sister Poulsen came down with a pretty bad cold, so they have been out of the office for the past few days. So that's been a bit tricky as we needed to plan for our big Mission Leadership Training and Council which happened this morning. This week we also had a stake that volunteered to feed some of our sisters missionaries which is such a blessing for us. We will be going to dinner this week right before Christmas, so it will be really special. 
We also had the blessing of being able to hear from some wonderful people. Brother Michael Wilcox came to our Thursday Relief Society and shared a wonderful message about the first Christmas that happened in the Americas so long ago. Then on Friday, Elder Lynn Robbins came and spoke to us about the difference between doing and becoming. He taught us how we can use our missionary planner as a tool to help us become better disciples of Jesus Christ. it was wonderful! Then on Sunday we were blessed to have Elder Ronald Rasband come to our Sacrament Meeting. It has been such an uplifting week. And I promise with all of these fun perks we still had the time to do lots of missionary work. One lady who Sister Nogueira and I had been teaching, we actually found her one evening wandering the square with her brother who was a member, she shared with us that she has been able to recognize this as truth. She attended church yesterday and has decided that she wants to be baptized. The gospel is true! I'm grateful to be a missionary and to be able to serve the Lord in this way.
I told Sister Rajah and we weren't allowed to get tired over the next few weeks because we just have too many things that we need to do between helping President and our investigators. This week we are going to be having the Christmas Devotional this week and we somehow have to figure out how to hook the sound system up in one of our bigger theaters. So if you want something to pray for, there you go :) me and techy things haven't been the best of friends the last few weeks. We also want to be able to find a lot of time to teach our investigators. Using time wisely is a skill the Lord is trying to teach us right now. I know He will succeed :)
The work continues to move forward, I'm grateful for this Christmas season and for all that I have learned this year. I love you all lots and hope you have a merry merry Christmas! 


XOXOXOX
Sister Fluckiger

Monday, December 14, 2015

The Snow is Falling

G'Day everyone! 
Is anyone counting down for Christmas? I was talking to some kids this week and asked them if they knew how many days left until Christmas...their response- "no, if we keep tract then it will go slower" haha cute kids! The month of December has just flown by though, it's crazy. Salt Lake City is also preparing for Christmas, we woke up this morning to about 6 inches of snow on the ground! Yay! And it continues to fall as we speak. We've been told that it will snow all day today and tomorrow. 

The snow isn't as untouched as when we found it early this morning but it's still pretty close. It looks like a winter wonderland. 
This morning was transfer conference. It's crazy to think that an entire transfer has already gone by. It's not fair that we only had 5 weeks. So this morning as a mission we all gathered together in the Assembly Hall and were blessed to be able to hear from both Sister and President Poulsen. This is their last transfer here on Temple Square. They will be departing in the middle of January. It's so sad to think about, I love them both so much! I really believe that I was sent to serve on Temple Square because I needed to learn from them. This transfer has been great to be able to spend more time with them and learn from them, not only them but also the entire mission presidency! 

Wednesday my sweet companion, Sister Nogueira, will be departing which is also sad. Five of my mission companions will be finishing their missions this week. Crazy how fast time goes. Temple Square really has become my home away from home and the sisters that I serve with I know with all of my heart are really my sisters. We were buddies up in the pre-mortal life and we knew that we would be blessed to be able to serve together. Each Transfer Conference we get to hear from the departing sisters and we also sing them our mission song to close the meeting. I love my mission but it's not fair that we come from all over the world, makes it harder to be able to see everyone after the mission. President always says "never in your life will you be able to stand with a group of sisters as strong as this and all be united in the same purpose" I know though that as we all return to our different parts of the world we are going to be strengthening the church and preparing more individuals for the blessings of the temple.
We were able to attend Music and the Spoken Word this week (the last week of the transfer they always recognize the sisters who are leaving). We all agreed that the program was one of their best yet, of course that is all our opinion. The spoken word really stood out to me because I feel it's what I've been telling members and guests all day every day since the Christmas lights turned on. -
"Two thousand years ago, a child was born-in a small town, in a small stable, the only place His mother could find to spend the night. The world He entered was full of conflict, in desperate need of peace-not that different, actually, from today's world...He grew from child to man, from grace to grace and brought a message of love and compassion and long-suffering... in the process, He changed the world forever....As we remember His birth and life, may our celebrations take us back to that which is small, quiet, and peaceful. In a world so large, loud and unsettled, we can make this season a welcome change-small, quiet, and peaceful."
The scriptures always tell us to "remember, remember" and it applies to Christmas time too! I spoke to a cute little family this week and I was able to ask the kids why they loved Christmas time. One of the younger kids replied very fast and loud and said "because I love Jesus!" That kid understands! Being a missionary on Temple Square is so special and unique. Everyday I have been blessed to see the hand of God work in somebody's life which results in His hand working more in my life. 


Aside from the snow and the normal missionary routine this week was beyond crazy for us. We were able to participate in two different focus groups with the Missionary Department, one was for a new Temple Square historic guide for missionaries (woot woot) and the other one was for improvements that they are making with our online Teaching Center. Those were both exciting but now we have found ourselves a little more involved than we were expecting. One of the Brothers who works for the MTC and is over our Teaching Center is now having us pilot all the new features, which is fun to see things start to work and progress. That all happened this week. Then on top of that we finished transfer planning with President, and prepared everything for Transfer Conference this morning. Yay! Another week accomplished!

Wednesday I will begin serving with an Aussie :) Sister Rajah from Perth, Australia. She is great! We were actually in the same district last Christmas, crazy to think that the Lord has brought us back together. She is perfect for the calling and I know that she'll be able to help me a lot. I know that we are going to have a lot of adventures together and be able to learn a lot! 
I hope you all are doing well and that you are beginning to feel the special spirit of Christmas.
I love you all!
XOXOXOX
Sister Fluckiger

Monday, December 7, 2015

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Hi Everyone!!
This will probably be a quick and short email. This week seriously has just flown by. Last night as we were planning we were looking back through the past 7 days and we both just feel like we were robbed of some extra time. Did you know that we spend 1/3 of our entire missions sleeping? Can you believe that?! Seriously, what a waste of time. Sister Nogueira and I have decided that we wish we could be vampires..but in a good sense. But really, if we didn't have to sleep we would be so much more effective. We would do all of our office work and planning at night time when everyone else is sleeping, that way we can just spend all day long teaching and testifying. If only that could really happen. 
Some crazy things have happened though this week. We spent most of it with President, Monday and Tuesday we had Zone Leader Reports and then Wednesday we starting Transfer Planning. Crazy to think that that time has already come!
Getting to be with President is a lot of fun, even if we are in meetings all day. He is just so funny :)
We have been able to spend a lot of time out in the lights though since President usually leaves in the evenings. I love Christmas time on Temple Square, it's magical and filled with the Savior. It's also filled with lots and lots of people. This year has actually been slower than last, at least the weeknights are slower, but the weekends are still packed. Which means we mostly see couples and teenagers. For whatever reason, we both love talking to like 14-15 year old kids. They are just hilarious and then of course we invite all of them to start now to prepare for their missions. We've had a lot of really good spiritual conversations with some really good kids. Every once in a while though, you see or meet kids like this:

​hahaha they plugged their phones into the Christmas lights and then stood there for a good long while just texting. Gotta love it!

















I know that this church is true! I know it with all of my heart. We were able to teach on of my recent converts this week, he was baptized about a month ago, and we asked him if he had been able to receive a home teaching assignment. He was so happy and excited to tell us - turns out that he goes home teaching twice a week! He absolutely loves it. He even shared with us the message that he had prepared for his next visit. "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." He is a perfect example of this, and I have been able to learn the importance of it. I love this gospel and I love my Savior. 
Have a Happy Happy week!


XOXOXOXOX
Sister Fluckiger