Sister Falco's Final Email

December 7, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

The Lord is able to do all things.

I have been reflecting on humility. Humility is something that I feel is misunderstood by many. I feel the best definition of humility is a repentant soul, someone who is trying to improve and trying to do better. I wish I was more humble. I feel that sometimes I take pride in my work as a missionary or sometimes I take pride in the things I achieve. I really wish I were to reflect it back to the Lord more and to give more credit to the Lord. I hope to improve. And I hope to be better! I hope to have more humility and more love towards those I come in contact with. I feel I really need to be more humble also as I pray and as I seek to receive answers from my Father in Heaven.

As my mission is coming to a close...

I am grateful for the chance that I had to serve as a missionary.

We have dinner tonight and zone meeting tomorrow and then I will be on a flight to Utah.

The emotions I feel as a missionary...first, I think I have gone numb to the idea of going home. I wouldn't say I am in denial but I just feel that it isn't real. I know I am really getting on a plane tomorrow to Utah and I will never be a full time missionary again. The first part of that sentence "I am getting on a plane tomorrow to Utah" is exciting" but the second part, "I will never be a full time missionary again" is probably the hardest reality I've ever had to be face in my life. I know it has to happen. But it's hard. It's hard because I have grown to love mission. Not just the people, but missionary work in and of itself. I have grown to love the hours upon hours I am allowed to analyze and understand the gospel more fully. I am grateful for the time I have been given to serve people and to be able to get to learn how to love more fully. Mission is nothing what I expected; it is so much more. You see God's hand literally everyday of your life as He opens doors and allows you to teach, and you see Gods hand literally everyday as you see the miracles in the mission field. Every day is full of miracles and I am going to miss seeing the miracles as the  Lord hastens the work. I am going to miss seeing doors opened and miracles happen as we teach. I am going to miss seeing and loving the people who I come in contact with. I am going to miss praying so hard for your investigators to come to church. I will even miss the hard days when things don't go exactly the way you might have planned. I am going to miss the hard days when the Lord is teaching and allowing me to repent of my will and helping me to be swallowed up in His will. I have found a Lord who is more patient with me than I will ever be with myself and I pray that I may be able to be someone who is more patient with others as the Lord has given me an example to follow. I have been made well aware of my flaws and my imperfections but I also have been made well aware of my potential and who I may become. I am grateful for every minute that I have been a missionary!

The thing I guess I can take home with me is the memories that I have of the wonderful people I have come to know, the small gifts and souvenirs I have been given, the many photos I have taken but above all else I pray to take my testimony home and to build more and more upon it. I pray that I may be able to withstand and continue to live my life as the Lord would have me do. I pray that I may be able to be who He expects me to be. I will keep the Sabbath Day holy, and I will strive to  be more and more self reliant (spiritually, emotionally and physically). And when I fall short of what He asks, I pray to rely more and more on the Savior. I have a deepened understanding of God and who He is and I have a deepened understanding of who I am and I pray that my testimony will continue to deepen as my life continues. I pray to be the mother and wife that the Lord expects me to be. I pray to be a good mother that will teach my children the Gospel and that I will learn patience and I will learn to be more God-like as I learn to teach my children. And I pray to be a wife the supports and sustains my husband in all that he does righteously. I pray to be someone who will love my husband with the pure love of Christ with the least selfishness that I am capable of. And I pray to be a better daughter who loves and appreciate my parents more fully. I pray that I may be a better sister, as I seek to love and sustain my brothers as they may face difficulties. I pray to be able to be able to love my family more deeply whether it be my current family or my future family. I pray to be able to be a more righteous mother and wife.

I am grateful that the Lord was able to bless us with two baptisms this week. Duncan and Mbanga Ngila. The Lord has once again blessed us to see these two enter into the waters of baptism. They both were miracles brought about by the Lord.

I love being a missionary! I definitely recommend it to all or any who may have the desire to embark. And I would pray that any who do go, will  see that you serve Him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. And as you do these things you will see your area change, and also yourself change. Although I would never claim to be a consecrated missionary, the battle of being consecrated has brought a change in me. And the battle of being a consecrated missionary is one that is difficult but its worth every ounce of pain that you might face as the world is being chipped away from you. They never said mission was easy, but it was worth it.

I pray to have the same attitude of being a consecrated individual. Doing whatever the Lord asks of me, I pray that I may be able to face challenges and difficulties with the desire to do what the Lord asks, to become who the Lord asks. I pray that I will use my time and talents to build up the Lord's kingdom, because the worth of every soul is great in the sight of God. And the Joy is great as we help people to come closer to our Father in Heaven. The battle of conversion is noble whether it be for yourself or for others.

Love to all...

Sister Falco :)

PHOTOS:

1. Claire Farewell

2. Claire's Cute Kids

3. Eating Mangoes with the Zulu Family

4. Grandma Teke -- only THE BEST!

5. Last Day @ Church

6. Likongi Family -- only the Best Family!!

Short and Sweet...last week's email.

November 30, 2015

 

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so very grateful for all that I have been given and I am grateful for the chance that I have been able to serve a mission.

I don’t have a ton of time to write today…but I truly do love being a missionary. I have learned and grown a ton. I have loved learning and growing and developing myself in the Gospel.

It truly is the best thing that I have ever done and I love it!
Sister Falco

(Note from Mom--I especially love the 3rd photo--look at all that is going on in that photo...eating mangoes, doing hair, sewing...and all outside!)

 

Mission Reflections

November 23, 2015

My Dearest Family and Friends,

Mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I feel that I am suppressing the thoughts and feelings about coming home. I finally started packing this morning trying to figure out how much room I have in my suitcase and my heart just ached, the emotions associated with going home are unexplainable. Don't get me wrong I love you all, but leaving this experience is probably the weirdest sensation I have ever been through. I am not going home yet, but I know its finally coming. I know I have to close the book to this experience and open a new one; it’s just so hard.

We had pizza with President Erickson and the Lusaka Zone. It was fun. I love that man more than anything and I have enjoyed learning all that I have from him. He is one of a kind and he was just rambling and rambling all day about mission while we were there. And joking about the ones who are leaving December 8^th! I will give a short update on my mission,

We have a prime investigator, Duncan. He is so sweet. He talks a lot. Very quick and grasps on to the truth so quickly and so enthusiastically. I can just see him as a missionary. The main concern was that he just BARELY got baptized in SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) but this week he told us that he was ready for December 6th. It was a miracle in and of itself, and I pray to stay worthy of him progressing and I pray to see him get baptized. And I also pray to see him stay worthy of his progression as well. He reads, he comes to church, he does everything right, I just pray that he will continue to pursue the restored gospel.

Grace--she is wonderful, has a great heart and a beautiful personality. She has many concerns and she seems to need a little more time. If a miracle occurs she could be baptized December 6^th. She’s been to church enough; she reads enough… But she just isn’t quite there and she missed last Sunday. So we will see :)

Mwamba Ngila, He is a member’s brother. He is SO PRIME. I feel substantially blessed to be teaching him. I know he is not baptized yet, but I have a really hard time imagining him not progressing to his date December 6^th.

We are taking over the Elders Area, so we will have the whole ward to ourselves… but only for two weeks. But they should have a baptism this Sunday, and I think they were planning to have two on the December 6^th as well. But we will see.

What a blessing and a privilege to be serving a mission. I have inadequate words to describe my gratitude. Mission has taught me sacrifice and the truth of the quote from Brigham Young, “Shame on that man who would so call anything a sacrifice. For it is the very means of adding him Knowledge, understanding, power and glory.” I would never call a mission a sacrifice but rather a time of learning and growing.

I feel the Lord above all else has had to teach me the attribute of patience over and over again. The feelings of inadequacy as a missionary pile up more than ever before especially as you face trials or difficulties that prove just how unconsecrated that you are. But through them all, the Lord doesn’t just test your faith, he builds your faith, he builds your hope and he helps you to truly understand his ways are definitely higher than ours. I have also found much comfort as I face difficulties to realize that even the best men sometimes fail, I have found comfort in studying the life of Peter, and Lehi and many others. Peter will forever have a special place in my heart. I feel I can’t compare myself to him, but I feel I relate to him more than anyone I have yet to discover as serving a mission.  

I have also felt my love for mankind has increased substantially and my desire to give my whole heart to every person I come in contact with has increased. And I am forever grateful for this experience and the time that I have had to be able to increase my love for my fellow beings.

Above all I have found one whom I admire above all, whom I adore and hope to one day emulate more fully and that is the Savior Jesus Christ.

As I have reflected on the Savior and his sinless life and the sacrifice he so freely gave. He not only gave his life but for a time he gave up every feeling of joy, every feeling of pleasure and replaced it with every feeling of guilt and shame and pain that each of us individually experience. I stand in awe. No greater love hath any man give than to lay down his life for his friends. I am absolutely confident that the only motive that could carry the Savior through that bitter day was his absolute perfect love for us. Love was and has been and will forever be the motive behind our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Christ’s love has made it possible for each of us to be able to find comfort through him. I truly believe that the Savior knew that he had to perform that painful atonement to make the resurrection possible, but also to be able to comfort and love us through and through. I believe that Christ begs us to come to him, he begs us to trust him, and he begs us to repent because he died to give us eternal life to become like him.

There’s meekness and humility in the fact that we need to rely on God. I have reflected on my life and I feel I have much pride to repent of. I have an attitude of I can do it, I don’t really need help. I feel the pride I have had can easily be seen as I reflect on past experiences. I am pretty stubborn when it comes to allowing someone to help me. I push people away as I face difficulties or not even push people away but act like everything is okay. Patricia Holland explains the importance of opening up to people in way that I never could, “It is not God’s will for us to socially “Go down with the ship” when rescuers are all around us I believe that ability to say, “I am hurting and I need help” is a humble and courageous act of meekness. Even Christ, when in agony, pleaded with his disciples to stay with him and pray with him as he himself prayed more earnestly to his Father. If Christ himself asked for help from friends, family and priesthood leaders, undoubtedly we will not make it through life without doing the same.” All I know is I am slowly learning to open up and I need to continue to strive to repent of the stubbornness that I do have.

The love of mankind is what carried Christ through Gethsemane and the love of God is what will carry us through our own tribulations and trials. I have pondered over much of the life of Christ. Christ’s suffering as he was tempted by the devil and was fasting gave Christ the power of the spirit (Luke 4 vs 14) The resistance or self mastery Christ obtained through these forty days is substantial. He didn’t perform any miracles until AFTER the spiritual strength he was endowed with AFTER he resisted, after he grew in knowledge and power and glory because of the trial he faced. So often we think of trials as just a proof to our Father in Heaven that we can do it, but it’s more than that. It’s a time where we are able to grow more fully and be endowed with more spiritual capacity than previously.

The miracles Christ performed were astounding. The miracles he performed allowed him to relieve some suffering from the saints. He healed the sick; he allowed the blind to see, cleansed the leper, allowed the cripple to walk. The list goes on and as wonderful as each of these events were it was a type or a foreshadow of the relief that the Savior was about to perform in the atonement. It did the world the most good, as hard as this was, to make it possible for all of us to return to him. And I feel as hard as it was it did the most good. And I feel you can compare it to each of our lives. Our hardest times and most trying times will and can bring forth the most good, I truly believe that if we humble ourselves the tree rings of growth will be well nourished with water during the season of trials and tribulation, but we MUST allow the trial to do us the most good, because trials can either make or break us.

Carrying our cross may be difficult, but will never reach our full potential if we do not carry our cross. The most good will come as we face trials. The atonement has given me the ability to realize the things we call sacrifices and the things we suffer are the greatest blessings the Lord could ever bestow upon me.

Also as I have pondered over the “Character of Christ” by Bednar. I have had a stronger desire to reach out to those who I come in contact with. I pray that I may be able to overcome the natural tendency to be self-centered as I face difficulties and to reach out as the Savior did. As I have reflected over the sending of angels to John after the temptations and also as I have reflected on the healing of the ear after Gethsemane, I admire the Savior’s ability to reach out when he suffers, but I also wonder if he is teaching us a lesson of how to deal with difficulties. Reach out as we suffer and our burden will become lighter.

I have pages and pages written as I have reflected over the life of Jesus Christ from my journal, but these are just a few.

On a final note, I would just like to testify of the craftiness and the evilness of sin. Sin itself distorts reality, destroys wisdom and limits our potential. Christ knows that when we sin we fall short of our potential. We sell our souls for something less because we don’t understand our worth. I truly believe the best way to help someone to turn away from their rebellion is to help them to know just how meaningful they are, and their potential to be relevant to God’s plan. Satan teaches us we have no worth, and he does it tactfully so that we may fall into sin and even have a more distorted view of our worth. Many who rebel, you will find them saying, “Its okay, it doesn’t matter” but I feel that under that statement there’s a greater belief of “I don’t matter”. Satan’s effective tool is to convince us we have no worth. We commonly see it even in ourselves--feelings of worthlessness and even inadequacy, but these are taking the Lords sacrifice in vain. Do we really imagine that the Lord would suffer so much for our worthless soul? Joseph Smith said it best, “The worth of every soul, (you and I) is great in the sight of God. The Lord calls you imperfect because he sees something greater inside of you.

I would like to testify that I know that He lives, and I have come to know Him more fully on mission. And I testify that I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will carry you and will change you into the person the Lord expects you to be. I can in nowise deny the power of God because I have been changed by grace. Every time I think to doubt the reality of God, I remember the days when I have felt the grace of God and when I remember those times I have the inability to deny the power of God (Moroni 10 vs 10)

I love being a missionary. And I don’t know how I will ever take off my nametag, and get on that plane to the United States. My heart will forever be in Malawi and Zambia. But I will come home a new person with a stronger testimony of the divinity of God and continue to grow and develop into the person the Lord expects me to be.

Sister Falco

Beautiful People! Sister Grace, Sister Natsala and Sister Claire. LOVE THEM ALL!!

This family is the best family I have ever come in contact with! Love them!

 Laughing!

Christmas party way back when...

 Just a picture from a long time ago...got the pictures from the mission office today

President and Sister Erickson at MLC a while ago. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!! They are the best people!!

 Running away because her hair wasn't combed yet! hahaha

So Grateful to Be a Missionary

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so privileged and grateful to be serving as a missionary. It’s hard to express my feelings; to explain just how grateful I am to have served a mission and for the growth that has taken place and the knowledge that I have been blessed to receive from my Heavenly Father. It is easily hands down the best thing I have ever done for my life!!

I feel the perspective of the Gospel helps us to love more fully. I love what Parley P. Pratt said about love when he was referring to his wife, “I have loved before but I knew not why. But now I loved with a pureness and intensity of elevated, exalted feeling which would lift my soul from the transitory things of the groveling sphere and expanse of as the ocean.” I really loved the quote from him and I feel it helps us to love more deeply.

I also have been studying the topic of character. And I really hope to always have a good and strong character. I love that the ‘greatest battle of life is fought within the silent chambers of the soul. A victory on the inside of a man’s heart is worth a hundred conquests on the battlefield of life. To be a master of yourself is the best guarantee that you will be a master of the situation. Know thyself. The CROWN of Character is self-control.’

Our area is doing great. Good people progressing. Hopefully we will baptize at least one before I go because I love them all so much but if not, it’s okay. I just love them all. I would love to see them enter into the covenant soon! I feel all of them are progressing really well and I don’t see anything that would stop them from being baptized.

Love you all!

Sister Falco

This is me with Sister Grace!! LOVE THIS WOMAN!! She is an investigator but she is more like a friend!! I love her so much!! We always laugh and crack jokes, and she is the best!! I hope to see her baptized before I go home but if not it’s okay. All is well!! I really hope to stay in touch with her also I come home!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! And meeting extraordinary people that influence my life so much :)

This is me with Sister Claire. SHE IS THE BEST!! So devoted to the Church! I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! She just makes me so happy when she comes to the church! She is a recent convert and she is so cute.

My companion, Sister Claire, me, and Sister Natsala Tapewa (a member)and they are the best!!!

The next two are of me and Sister Nyacho-- Also a very good missionary!!! She is the best! Always makes me happy and I love being with her!! She is great!!!!!!!She lives in the same house with us!

Grace & Grace

November 9, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

I AM SO GRATEFUL TO BE A MISSIONARY. I love it so much. It’s the best. I won’t even try to explain the JOY that I feel as a missionary. It is easily the best decision I have ever made. To be honest, I know everyone keeps telling me that I am coming home soon but it doesn’t feel like it at all but its okay. I feel maybe it will hit me later. Or maybe I will follow the example of Jeff and I will say it didn’t really hit me until I got on the plane ride home. I don’t know but anyways I really am grateful to be a missionary.

Duncan is doing really well. He came to church. It was great. He seems to be really enjoying the gospel discussion classes and loves contributing a ton. He seems to really enjoy church and seems to be someone who is very social so its sweet--he fellowships himself. It’s difficult to meet with him now since he started working all day long and doesn’t get home until 20 hours. (Mom note: I think that means 8 pm.)

Grace came to church. She is doing really well. We had a sweet lesson this week on the atonement and it was really, really good. We will see. She is one of those investigators that is really hard not to love I am really grateful for her and I am grateful for all that she does.

I studied about grace this week…actually that’s a lie--I studied it for one day. Something I liked is that grace is not about filling in the gaps, it’s about filling us. Sometimes when we don’t use the enabling power of the atonement, we don’t feel good about ourselves. The Gospel is a choice for us to live on a higher plane and we don’t actually understand the joy that comes from living on a higher plan if we choose not to live the Gospel. When the Gospel seems tedious, maybe we should be praying for new eyes and a changed heart. We have not yet comprehended what He is trying to make of us. When we feel burdened by our callings, temple work or service, we may need to reevaluate ourselves and learn to enjoy them more fully.

The repentant sinner must suffer for his sins but this suffering is different than punishment. Its purpose is to change us. We look at justice and it is complete punishment, but the atonement makes it possible for this pain to mean more than punishment but actually progression.

Also I feel there is a stark comparison between the way Satan refines us to be evil and the way our Father in Heaven refines us to be good. If we look at the scriptures, Satan desires to sift us as wheat and gradually sifts away our good, but you could say that Heavenly Father does the same thing. He slowly takes away our bad, but it’s our choice on who we will yield too. And that is why it is so important that we consistently receive revelation for the unseen forces are more knowledgeable than us and they will bring us down to destruction. As we receive revelation, we will be able to yield to the spirit and become a better person.

I love being a missionary.

Sister Falco

So Grateful to be a Missionary

November 2, 2015

Dear Family And Friends,

I am so grateful to be a missionary!

I really don’t know what to say this week except it’s been fantastic. I actually was pretty sick all week but I am feeling a ton better! I am really grateful for every moment that I have as a missionary. Something that I have been studying this week is humility. I feel humility is just repentance.

We had an amazing day on Sunday! We had a baptism, which was really good!! And we had a pretty good amount of investigators at church! It was great!! Duncan, one of our investigators, even bore his testimony during Fast and Testimony meeting. That was pretty cool!! One of his comments: “THIS IS THE REMNANT CHURCH”. It was pretty awesome! I felt really nervous but really excited when he went up to bear his testimony! It was really, really good and really, really sweet!

Brian came again to church. He is such a funny guy! He is great and he brought two friends with him so that was pretty sweet! Patrick, one of his friends, seems to be progressing well. Brian is, too, but he is moving back to South Africa.  That’s the only concern with him…but the church is in South Africa!! J

John is still “missing in action”! Hopefully we will see him soon. hahah That’s about it! Grace is still progressing but slowly. She is a member referral so its nice because she has an awesome support system but she seems to not be sure if the church is true or not. So we are still working on her to achieve that testimony. Hopefully we will see her progress and gain a testimony while I am still here!

“No Tracting November” is a little different but its going sweet! I am
grateful to be a missionary.

I was rereading my journal this morning and ah I love mission so much. I am so grateful for every moment. Hard and good. I am grateful for everything. I have grown so much and I have learned so much and I am grateful for everything. Mission has built me into the person that I am today.

I love being a missionary!
Love…

Sister Falco

The Character of Christ

October 26, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

The Lord truly loves me and is making me become a better person everyday and for that I am forever grateful. I am confident that He is fully aware of me and I am confident that there are no coincidences in my life. I pray to stay worthy of the spirit always.

I read an incredible talk last Monday that taught me about the character of Christ. It was by David A Bednar (The Character of Christ, BYU Speeches). I reflected on it basically all week. As told in the Joseph Smith Translation, Elder Bednar pointed out that when Jesus was tempted and in the middle of a hard trial, he thought of John who as in prison and sent angels to comfort him. It also talks about the famous story of Him healing Peter’s ear after the agony of the atonement. Everyone should read this talk! It’s made me reflect on the examples I have in my life of this. And of course mothers are all a great example of loving their children no matter what circumstance they are in. But I also thought of the story of Grandma Boo when she was so sick with cancer and my Mom visited her and found her cooking soup for a sick lady in MY MOM’S neighborhood. I started reflecting on myself and felt that I was pretty good in this area. Hahahahaha The Lord humbles you quickly. . .

On Saturday night I got very, very sick. In the middle of the night I had a fever of 103.2 and I felt like I was going to die. My mission president’s wife ended up taking me to the hospital. Eventually the fever subsided. However, during this I realized how impatient and selfish I was during my sickness. Everything irritated me. I realized I have a lot to work on before I can emulate the character of Christ. And I realized that the character of Christ is a little more difficult to apply than I thought. But I also realized the importance of applying this principle and I hope that I will be better at applying this principle of still being aware of helping others amidst suffering I am in. If we are suffering it’s so easy for us to cave in and be selfish. The natural man is real. But the atonement is also very real. I am grateful for the lesson the Lord taught me. I will continue to improve and continue to do my best as I rely on the atonement. The Lord tends to have to humble me a lot.

Something that blows my mind everyday is the mercy of Christ as well. I’ve seen where I think the Lord probably wants this person to learn a lesson from this trial and then boom the Lord lifts the trial away from them. I really love being a missionary and I love seeing the Lord’s hand in the lives of those I teach.

As for an update on our investigators…Samson should be baptized next week. John is missing in action.L Grace didn’t come to church because her member friend didn’t come. We are teaching Sandra and another guy named Duncan. Life is sweet sharing the gospel with them.

I love being a missionary and I LOVE LIFE!

Love…Sister Falco