Thursday, April 30, 2015

April 30th

I did get my flight plans!!! FINALLY!!!! :D I will fly out of Salt Lake City Monday at 2:05PM and then get to Atlanta at 7:52 and then i leave Atlanta at 10:00 and then get to Argentina at 9:00 then next morning!!!! :) I was made Travel leader for our group! Luckily its only the other two elders in our group and then one more elder! ( Elder Jones) 

I have no idea on my visa, but i havent heard anything about going somewhere different so i am thinking ill be okay! 

We got our new district yesterday!!! Thats been so great!!! :) 

On tuesday i sprained my ankle pretty good and was on crutches for that day and now i am just walking on it! its not too fun to have had to use crutches when I live on the fourth floor and my classroom is on the third floor of a different building with no elevators! So its definitely been an adventure! haha But its been healing pretty quick! So that's been a huge blessing!! 

Im so ready to leave but kinda nervous!! But hey i just have to keep reminding myself that its all going to work out! 

Advice for the MTC: Learn to laugh! Choose to be happy!!! and LOVE the people!!! Everyone is here to help!!! :)

Our Sunday devo was vai sikahema! It was so good he talked a lot on how to teach people not lessons! 

Our Tuesday devo was Donald Hallstrom of the 70! He talked about the importance of obedience and the relationship with our mission president!! 

We hit our month mark on Friday it is so crazy to think that we've been here for a month already! 

Well i love you all!! I hope all is well!! Next time i talk to you all ill be in Argentina!!! :)

Love Hermana Armstrong





Tuesday, April 28, 2015

April 24, 2015

Hi Family & Friends~
Okay Today is the start of my week number 5!!! It is insane how time has dragged on and yet flown by!!
I had a really cool experience this past week! We were teaching our "investigator" Chava, who is our teacher Hermano Rasmussen. Anyway, It was so wonderful we had such a great lesson! I can truly testify that the gift of tongues is so real!!! It was an amazing experience to have! I knew I didn't know all the words that I told "Chava" and it was so great to see that Heavenly Father will help us if we let the Holy Ghost guide the lesson!
Even though our investigators here are fake we still have come to love each of them so much!! We have this one investigator her name is Ivelisse and she is the one who hasn't come open with us to say that she is a member but we kinda figured it out when during one of our lessons we were teaching The Plan of Salvation and was talking about the Atonement and we asked her what it would mean to her to know that she could repent, she then proceeded to bear her testimony of how she knows repentance is real! It was kinda funny! haha
Also this week we had to do a language assessment! That went Okay! haha thats really the only word to describe it! It was not very nice! haha it made me feel really down about my language skills but hey im not expected to know everything by the end of the 6 weeks here!
We saw the mormon message, "You don't know the good you can do" I love that video!! we applied to how us a missionaries shouldnt ever be so busy that we miss someone that the Lord has put in our way to talk to! We also were told this story, "One day as these sisters are getting ready to go out and talk to their investigators they hear a knock at the door, Its the Elders they told the sisters how their bikes had just broke and the felt like they needed to use the sisters bikes. After some talking and convincing the sisters gave the elders their bikes. As the sisters leave their apartment they hear this woman who runs to the sisters and says, 'sisters i see you leave your apartment everyday and i try to get you to stop but you're just too fast on your bikes..." May we never be to busy to notice someone that Heavenly Father has put in our way!
Sundays are the bomb here at the MTC!! This week we heard from President and sister Johnson He's a district president! We talked a lot about teaching people not lessons and how its easy to lose the trust of your investigators and the members and more importantly the Lord! When we arent obedient to the commandments the Lord has given us we are losing His trust!
So if anyone has read the blog Hippie to Missionary! Its a great blog and always has uplifting messages on it! Anyway, the elder the started the blog is here at the MTC and i actually ran into him! It was pretty awesome!! It was really cool to meet somewhat of a instagram celebrity! haha
Tomorrow we are supposed to get our travel plans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you cant tell im pretty excited!!!! smile emoticon Im so excited for them!!! smile emoticon Also if anyone wants to send letters please send them before the 27th of April. Letters take about a week to get to me! Its a little ridiculous! haha
Do you remember the talk in General Conference where the speaker used music?? Well he was our speaker for our tuesday night devotional!! smile emoticon It was really good! He used a story about his sister. His sister was majoring in music and wanted to learn more about bach, her professor told her that if you want to learn more about bach you need to play his music. Just like us if we want to learn more about The Savior we need to play His "music" or in other words do as he would do!
Thank you for all your support and love! I love you all!!! smile emoticon
Love,
Hermana Alyssa Nicole Armstrong




Thursday, April 16, 2015

April 16, 2015

This week has been pretty rough! A lot of ups and downs! The hardest day was Monday! It was just a frustrating day and even though we had a great lesson with one of our practice investigators the language or rather the lack of the language was frustrating and my companions and I all had a good cry and now we are just taking it one day at a time! The language is frustrating but it is coming along! We have some amazing teachers that are willing to help us every step of the way! It's amazing! We are still the only zone in our district and we wont get a new zone either next wednesday. When this happens we get more teachers because they still have to come into work even when they dont have a class and so they've been coming in to help us on our way!

I forgot to mention Last sunday for devotional we had Vocal Point come and sing!!!!! It was fantastic! It was so great and a much needed break from always listening to talks and lectures. dont get me wrong I love the lessons I learn from the talks but it was nice to just take a break from thinking for a while! haha after the performance we had the opportunity to go and shake each of their hands! That was pretty great! 

This Sunday we had the BYU men's choir come! That was great as well! They brought a message about deliverance and it was really great how they sung different songs to portray that message! :) They sang songs from Prince of Egypt and also sung The Lord's prayer in Swahili! It was awesome!!!! :)

Also on Sundays, our branch president has us write talks in Spanish and then on like Saturday or even during the sacrament hymn (Like I was) you'll get called up and you give the talk that you have prepared! Luckily I was prepared and I gave my first talk in spanish! It was on El libro De Mormon! Also Hermana Hunt and I had to prepare a lesson for what's like the equivalent ofSunday school here! Our other Hermana taught relief society! Small branch = Many opportunities to serve! haha

So even though the language is super frustrating its coming along pretty well! I am definitely seeing blessings of just keeping at the language! Even if those blessings are misspelling words in english because my head is stuck in spanish mode! haha Its all kinda funny! So i apologize if i misspell any words or if something doesn't make sense! haha

I have a testimony that our Heavenly Father KNOWS us and LOVES us! He is with us every step of the way! We just have to be the ones that come back to Him! I love you all and hope all is well! 

~Hermana Armstrong <3





April 9, 2015

Dear Friends,
This week definitely had some ups and downs! General Conference was fantastic!! My favorite talks from General Conference were probably the talks given by L Whitney Clayton, about just keep on working towards that light! Dale G Renlund, he talked about how a Saint is a sinner who keeps on trying. I really loved this one. Gérald Caussén also had a great talk! I loved how it pertained to missionary work and made me so excited to be able to get back to the basics of the gospel and to see people experience it for the first time! Finally my last favorite talk was given by of course Jeffrey R Holland! I loved the reminder that our Savior is always there for us and that the atonement applies to all we just have to accept it! We had an elder go home this week that was pretty unsettling but it helped remind me of why i am here and that i am supposed to be here! I miss home but not enough to give up such a wonderful experience like this! Also this week our other zone in our district took off for their missions! That was a little sad but we are so excited for them to go into the fields! smile emoticon now we are the lone zone in our whole district! they keep saying we should get one but they all manage to get transferred out of our district! frown emoticon but that's okay! Our zone has really come to bond with one another and that's great! I have two other missionaries in my zone that are going to my mission! Elder Taylor and Elder Goodro! They are now the only elders in our zone! they are great! We found out that our "investigator" turns out to be our new teacher! She is now Hermana Martinez! She is amazing! we love her to death!
This week was a good lesson in humility! Our teachers havent really taught us how to help us improve up until last night! Which was their plan all along! They wanted us to become Closer to our Heavenly Father and to turn to Him with our questions rather than our teachers! I still wish they would have taught us a little on how to use the pamphlets and how to teach investigators more at the beginning of our MTC experience!
I love my companions! They are so much fun and such a blessing!!! smile emoticon we get along great and love to have fun but know when its time to be serious! smile emoticon I love this gospel its such a blessing in my life! Im so grateful for the MTC experience! i've learned a lot! I cant wait to get to Argentina though! smile emoticon I love you all!! smile emoticon
Hermana Armstrong
--
The Church is True!!



April 2, 2015

I made it to week one!!! YAY!!!!! It has been the longest and yet the shortest week ever!! haha
Well to start it off I have Two companions! They are both so awesome!!! Hermana Smith and Hermana Hunt! Both from Colorado except opposite sides of the state. Hermana Smith is going to Toronto and Hermana Hunt is going to Fresno California. I really couldn't have asked for better companions they are so much fun and we laugh a Lot but you guys know me so that's not really a surprise that I like to laugh! haha
So no im not on West campus it's under construction. but this campus is just as fantastic im sure! haha
Our teacher brother Rasmussen only will speak in spanish to us which is a blessing and a curse all at the same time! haha Its great because you start to learn quick but if you get lost you are LOST! haha He's pretty good at noticing if you start to not understand which is great! haha
Our district: there are 3 elders, 5 sisters! No sisters are going to my mission but there are two elders that are! Elder Goodro and Elder Taylor! That makes me happy that im not alone but i do wish that there were sisters going as well! haha
The Dear Elders you send are much appreciated!! Keep em coming!! wink emoticonhahaha
My first Sunday in the MTC was really good!! It was such a great fast sunday!!
Our Devo on tuesday was great!! We were in the choir and that was so fantastic!! Our speaker was Elder Teh from the seventy him and his wife spoke they were really funny and really good speakers!
I get to go to the temple today!!!! smile emoticon I'm so excited!! I just am not so excited for the walk to and from the temple! haha It decided to snow here this morning! haha which is kind of a big shock! haha
Im really excited for General Conference!!! I heard its going to be a great experience here in the MTC!!
If you can look up the Character of Christ! Its by David A Bednar!! It is SOOOOOO fantastic!!!!! Not sure if you will be able to watch it, it might be just something that is shown in the MTC but it is really good!!!
The days are long but the weeks are short. It's Soooo true!! hahaha its funny but so true!!
My schedule is finally settling down! The first week was just hard because the schedule was so all over the place! haha
We started teaching the day after we got here totally in spanish! haha Its been an adventure but we have some great "Investigators" we are pretty sure they are already members but they are still so sweet! haha We have a lady named Liah and another named Ivelisse! They are just so perfect! Our lessons with Liah are great! We are struggling with our lessons with Ivelisse but we are getting better! haha
I love you all and want you all to know that I know this Church is true!! It has blessed my life in so many ways! I know that We have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of us and loves us so much!
Love,
Hermana Armstrong
The Church is True!!

Companions Hermana Smith & Hermana Hunt