Sister Missionaries in Malawi

These Sisters all live in the same apartment! Fun Times!!

Pictures sent July 28, 2014...Yeah!!

July 21st and 28th, 2014 Email Highights

Carly mentioned that she would LOVE to receive letters! She can take more time reading them and enjoy them longer. If you’d like to send a letter, her current address is:

Sister Carly Falco

Lilongwe Mission
Flat 10-558
Private Bag B 317
Lilongwe Malawi

Here are some highlights from Carly’s last two emails:

July 21^st, 2014

We had a district meeting. The message was “to see others as they may become”. I tried to apply this throughout the whole day! It was actually the coolest day ever. Every person I met I felt instant love. Whether it was contacting or teaching. It was awesome!!! My goal is to learn to apply this everyday of my life! It made mission a whole new experience.

We taught Brenda and her entire family. She told us she wanted to find another church when she realized the church she was attending wasn't true so she became  a Pentecostal. She’s a great lady!! And, I just love her Dad. He’s so funny!! He makes everything a joke. Like the first time he met us. "Oh you guys are missionaries?? Well you are at the wrong place, because I worship Satan." (joking) Or what do you do for a living? "Oh, you know, sell drugs, drink alcohol, the usual." (joking) He’s an Azungo or white person!! Well he’s 1/8 black and his wife his half black, half white!! They are a great family! I love the hospitality here! I want to be more like this in my life!

We finally committed Mkandawiri to pray. It was actually a pretty hard lesson. He told us that he’s afraid to find out if it is true because he knows that he will have to act on it if the answer is yes. So that’s why he has avoided praying. Man he’s the best though! PRAY for him. Even fast for him

Grace: She’s a great great great lady!!!! She said she prayed about baptism and felt that it was right. But then said, “if your heart is with Christ then you don't need to be baptized.” We will see what happens with her.

We are setting up a devotional on Wednesdays so that we can get the less-actives to start coming to church and participating more!! So please pray for our ward to be strengthened!!

The Malawian culture makes it hard to do missionary work. The woman follows her husband’s religion and because as missionaries we need to be in at 6 pm, it’s hard to teach any husbands because of their work schedule.

NATHAN was baptized!! He’s the Elder’s investigator I’ve gotten to know him well! What a great guy!! The baptism was the best!!

July 28th, 2014

We met with Jennifer (the lady who had the dream about the tree of life and baptism by immersion). We asked her why she hadn't been coming to church and she told us that she was scared about the language barrier. She had another dream that told her to look up some verse in the bible about Moses and how he was nervous because of his stutter. This lady has some incredible dreams! She didn't come to church though this Sunday but we'll keep working with her.

We had a devotional with the members in Ntsiliza. WE NEED A CHICHEWA BOOK OF MORMON. THE MEMBERS WOULD PROGRESS LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!  But it’s okay.  It will happen when the time is right.

We taught this guy named Brian. He’s a new investigator. When we met him he wasn't high or anything but he told us that he was a “Rastor”. I had no idea what that was and neither did Sister Quay. We later found out that his religion (Rastafari) uses weed to meditate. We seem to find all the people who have addictions! Oh well. He seemed to enjoy our lesson.

Mkwandawiri is so close to knowing the Church is true. If he doesn’t get baptized, I’m going to be sad. I’ve grown to really care about him. We want him to pray specifically if the Church is true. And he did say that if he finds out through prayer that the Church is true, he’ll leave the CCAP (his Church that he is an Elder in).

BRIAN, CATHERINE, LOVE, KEN, and GIFT came to church!! Gift is a friend of Nathan who was baptized last Sunday. So happy to have investigators come!!

THE CHURCH IS THE BEST!!! The prophets are so good. I loved watching a talk from conference this week as we prepared for an investigator. And I admire Joseph Smith so much!! I can't believe how much faith he had.

Well, I love you all!! Send me pictures in the mail rather than in the email!! It’s fun to have them all week :) Thanks for everything! You guys are great!! Tell Jeff to ROCK medical school :) Keep living the Gospel. It’s simple and straightforward.

Love you!…Sister Falco

How they baptize in Africa...

July 14, 2014

We asked Carly to tell us about the six sisters she lives with. And she answered--One is from Canada, two from Utah (Sister Proctor is one of them--I went to lunch with her before my mission), one from Ghana and one from Zimbabwe (there’s seven but the one from Zimbabwe is leaving tomorrow) and then me and my companion who is from South Africa.

July 8, 2014 - Monday

We had a Zone Meeting today! Our ZLS are great; they put a lot of effort into planning. We taught Nzinza after that! He’s great but he’s hard. He refuses to read the Book of Mormon. He says he can't believe in the Bible if he reads the Book of Mormon. He is a wise man and if he reads the Book of Mormon, he would gain a testimony. I’m sure of it.

We also taught Mkanadawir today. He is the best! I seriously love that man. He knows everything is true. He just has to be willing to change. I know it’s hard for him. His life is so centered on Christ. He really is someone I look up to who genuinely tries to have his will swallowed up in Heavenly Father’s.

We saw Grace. She’s a great lady!!! She was sick though. Also visited with Paul but didn’t have time to teach him and saw Belta on the street. Good day!

July 9, 2014 - Tuesday
We met with Robert who is awesome and a good guy. He always gets side tracked but he committed to be baptized so that’s good!!

Fred!! WE TAUGHT FRED!! Woohoo!! We taught him about temples and about the true church. He asked, “Why does everyone at your church believe that it’s the only true church?” We explained how some people have some truth but not all of it. And then he was like "if this is the only true church and no one knows about it then we have got a lot of work to do!!" His testimony is there. He just needs to get it confirmed. He hopefully will be baptized the 27th.

We also taught Cynthia, today.  She is 20 years old and a beautiful girl!! She invited her two friends for the lesson. It was a great lesson!!! Great referrals!!

July 11, 2014 - Thursday

Spent some time in Nseliza. We taught two less actives and invited them to Institute but they didn't come. We taught Patrick who is a good guy but doesn't really believe in God.

July 12, 2014 - Friday

We had coordination today. Man our Branch missionaries, Vincent and Saukani, literally dedicate their lives to serving the Lord. AND GUESS WHAT?!! Their passports came!! AWESOME RIGHT!???! SOO good!! I’m so happy for them!! They can now go on their missions finally after over a year of waiting. They basically serve missions by translating for us. They are great!!

We met quickly with Mkandawiri and reminded him to read. And then we had to meet with the Branch President. Man he’s a good guy. We need to figure out how to get Institute to kick off and Elder Jorgensen came up with an idea to do a big devotional with food to get it going. Hopefully it’ll be good.

July 13, 2014 - Sunday

Awesome! THE ZLS went to a new area to administer the sacrament. These people are members but they can’t attend church because they live too far away. They will do this every other week and soon a new area will be there, I’m sure. 35 people showed up!! Awesome!! :) It was great.

We had 4 investigators come to Church!

Love you!
Sister Falco

 On a VERY small plane, headed to her first area in Lilongwe, Milawi

 Sister Falco with her mission president and wife, The Erickson's

New missionaries who arrived with Sister Falco

Sister Erickson wrote, "Sister Falco, Natsala, Elder Maaka, Sister Quaye, Rasband and Mbonyana. This group is powerful! We could feel it the minute we picked them up at the airport....good energy and strong testimonies!"

July 7, 2014

July 1- July 2, 2014

My comp is in Lusaka for three days so I went on a threesome with the other sisters. It was fun and I learned a lot from them. It’s awesome to see how everyone does things differently and you can really learn from EVERYONE. I loved a lot of their styles of teaching planning. And I got a lot closer to those girls, too. Their area was AWESOME!!! I loved it!! It was more middle-class not so richy rich.

July 3, 2014

I've only been out a month, but one of the biggest things I’ve learned is to trust Preach my Gospel. The prophets wrote this to help us be great missionaries. I know I’m not going to be perfect as a missionary but I would hope my companion would correct me when I’m not, rather than have me continue in my error. Another thing I think is important is to just appreciate your companion or wife or husband. They aren't perfect but they are trying. They might get annoyed with you or whatever but just appreciate them. It reminds me of my favorite quote on Charity--the one from my talk.

Today was a good day!! My companion was sick, though, so we went home early but we had the opportunity to go to Nseliza and meet some awesome members--sometimes active members and sometimes inactive. Ha-ha. Nseliza is awesome! Christopher and Blessings Kapopo. We went and visited Alex and Jennifer (Lehi’s dream people) but they weren't available. I think I might of talked about this before but I love how the prophets and leaders in the scriptures are so compassionate to literally EVERYONE. "Did cause them to quake and tremble." They were "weighed down, anguish to the soul" what an awesome awesome example! I hope to one day be able to understand the value of people like the people in the scriptures do.

June 4, 2014

Today was a great day!! So awesome!! We did weekly planning and then went to the leaders meeting (the sister leader (my comp), zone leaders, and district leaders, and then me ha-ha). They set some goals as a zone. Wow I love how much love they have for the mission and how much they care about reaching their goals.

After that we went and taught Fred!! What a great guy!! He’s awesome. He read three chapters of the Book of Mormon! WOOHOO!! We read the Doctrine of Christ and he said he would be baptized if he came to know it was true. But then he said; "Now I can tell the Book of Mormon is not replacing the Bible." WOOHOO! What a beautiful statement from an investigator.

The lesson with Brother Mkandarir was hard!! He’s such a good guy. My heart just hurts for this man! He knows it’s true but he can't give up everything. It’s so sad. He’s struggling with the idea that he has to give up his calling as a church elder. His wife is supportive of seeing us and talking to us but she has no interest. He’s so good. He says he prays everyday that he can be a good servant to the Lord but he doesn't want to leave his church because he is being a good servant and feels like he’s doing a lot of good. I love this guy! Just pray for him. 

The UGANDANS!!! POWERFUL LESSON!! We taught with Elder and Sister stones (senior couple)!! They are powerful!! They blew this lesson away and at the end, Enoch (the dad) said, "Not gonna lie--these young people always brought the spirit but I didn't really believe them, until you guys came”. (the older couple) What beautiful words! We just need to make that foundation stronger by getting them to read the Book of Mormon so the family continues to know it’s true. And they committed to be baptized.

July 5, 2014 

Brenda!! We taught Brenda with a member present. Those are always the most powerful lessons when the member is present!! Africans are great people. 

We met with Belta and her brothers!! AWESOME FAMILY!! We walked in and her brothers were HUGE. There muscles were HUGE. Like HUGE. I was afraid of them! ha-ha. But they ended up being really awesome and spiritual! Africans are so awesome and humble.

We visited a less active member. The members are so great, even the less active ones. So humble. So willing to listen to you as you call them unto repentance. So great. I’m learning a lot from these people and their humility. I look at myself and think if I was less active, I would definitely not want to talk to missionaries. But they are so willing and so willing to say they are making a mistake. It’s amazing. Truly is amazing. I’m grateful for their examples.

July 6, 2014

THE UGANDANS AND FRED came to church! WOOHOOO. So nice to have progressing investigators.

Thanks for your support!!

Love you all!!

Sister Falco

June 30, 2014

Tuesday, June 24^th

Missions are the best. I am grateful I chose to come on a mission. We had a powerful district meeting. I feel like it’s important to not get comfortable but to always continue pushing ourselves to be a better person. It’s important to keep working hard, to keep trying. I also feel like one of my biggest struggles as a missionary is not really stating my opinion or even trusting in it. But I’ll work on it and have it become a strength ha-ha.

Today, we taught Sylvester who is an awesome guy! We taught him the importance of following through with commitments--he’s the one ready for baptism. He asked us how he could become a missionary. WHAT?? Pretty awesome, right? He is going to Blantyre to take exams and will be gone for one month so hopefully he doesn't lose interest. We’ll keep following up through the phone!

Mkwanaris is also awesome. We taught the Restoration and talked about the priesthood. He accepted to be baptized but isn't going to come to church anytime soon unless we figure out something quick--he’s an Elder in the CCAP (Church of Central Africa—Presbyterian). We will figure something out. He really knows the Bible--it’s kind of intimidating.

Sister Grace: We didn't really plan a lesson at all and I remember just praying and praying that something would work out. She opened the door and we began the lesson. She opened up and told us all about everything in her life. It was great. She also told us that many missionaries have come to her door and she has denied them but wasn't quite sure why she decided to let us in. This reminds me that no missionary work is every wasted.

Wednesday, June 25th
We met with Fred--what a good guy! He read everything we asked him to. However, he doesn't know if he believes in the Book of Mormon yet. He says anyone can claim something is true, but how can they actually know. He kept asking where is the evidence. And I said, “You’re holding it in your hand.” We asked him how he knew the Bible was true and he told us it was because he had read it and prayed about it. And so we encouraged him to do the same with the Book of Mormon.

We finally got to meet Molly. We have been trying to contact her. She’s a genius and knows the Bible so well. She’s a nurse and very willing to work for the community. She’s a great woman and will be a great investigator.

I almost forgot to tell you about the miracle! It truly was a miracle. So…as the day was closing we were contacting and I saw this man. And I felt so strongly that I was supposed to go to his house. I remember thinking this family needs the Gospel. And my companion was feeling exactly the same. So we went and ended up talking to a woman. She told us that her brother’s girlfriend had passed away and that she was doubting God and felt like we were sent to her to remind her that He is real. Awesome right? She’s going to the funeral and for who knows how long. Africans just go on vacation and never come back sometimes.

Thursday, June 26th
Well, Africa is a humbling place. Although everyone here struggles, they honestly would be offended if I were to tell you that everyone here is poor. To be honest, Africans hate this stereotype. So…I want everyone to know ha-ha that not every African is poor! But I saw something that was so sad. We were walking to the taxis (yes, mom, like the ones in Uganda) and I looked over and there were kids going through the trash looking for recyclables. It was so sad. They weren't teenagers but like four or five years old. It’s a humbling place. And I will forever be grateful for everything I have been given in my life.

Today I had probably the coolest experience on my mission so far. We were working in Nseliza, which is a poorer area. Sikonni, our branch missionary, was with us to interpret. We met with his uncle and his wife. We walked in a little earlier than planned and the family was watching a movie about Christ. So I’m thinking…solid family. Woohoo! Little did I know I was going to witness a miracle. We started talking about the forbidden fruit. The wife then told us about a dream she had. She literally told us Lehi’s Dream. She said there was a man in a white robe and he asked her to follow him. He led her to a tree, which had fruit that was desirable, and there were many good people who had partaken of the fruit. We had the family read the verses in the Book of Mormon. The husband said maybe the dream came because we have to change something as a family. We started talking about what gives us eternal life—faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. She then told us she had another dream of being baptized by being  immersed in water. And in that same dream, she said she was told to read a scripture which let her know not to delay this baptism. Pretty cool!!

Friday, June 27^th

Nothing super exciting happened today to write about.

Saturday, June 28^th

Today was INCREDIBLE. It was Zone Conference and the mission president came and spoke to us. MAN, how lucky I am to have a mission president like him! He is literally one of the coolest people I know. Today he talked about goal setting and planning. He talked about his career in finance. He said that all the time when he was working for this company, he would find awesome things but his boss would say no to the awesome thing to invest in because it was not part of the company’s purpose. He related it to missionary work--that we must do only those things that help us achieve our purpose and not anything else. We have to find activities that are the best, not just good. This can be applied to any goal we have in our life. We need to eliminate activites that don't help us accomplish the goal. Evaluate our life and make the needed changes. It really does take a lot of effort to make a change. We are people of patterns. We learn from patterns and we act in patterns. Change is possible through the Atonement.

I also liked what he said about living where we are. We need to live in the present and not worry about things at home. We need to be focused on the work so our mind and body can be unified…be where our body is and not have our mind thinking of things not related to the mission. Also he taught us that if we understand our purpose as a missionary, the work becomes more enjoyable. As our testimony grows, our love for the work grows.

My mission president is awesome. He talked about how he grew up in a dysfunctional home. I won’t go into details out of respect of him. He wanted things to be different for his future home. And guess what, he made that happen. You can tell his marriage is happy. You can tell that everything surrounding him is happy. Because of his goals and because he was motivated to make that change. He’s awesome. He really is such an example. He said the only way he made this change was because he set goals. Having goals in our lives makes our lives more purposeful. It helps us to go from going through the motions to having motive behind those motions. My mission president is an admirable man. I look up to him a lot.

Sunday,June 29th
No investigators came to church. Man it stinks but its okay!!! We will figure out a different way to get them to come. Ha-ha but a less active came!!!! woohoo!!!! We taught Jackie and extended a baptismal date. She said yes but she’s scared. Will keep you posted.

We also taught a teacher at CCAP, and it was awesome.  He’s a little prideful hahaha but he’s great. We gave him the Book of Mormon and man our testimony of it was so powerful, so inspired. I hope he felt the same. “I’m out here because of that book. I know its true without a doubt. I’m a 19 year old and you know way more than me about that Bible. But I wouldn’t be here today if I didn't know that book was true. I can bear testimony of it over and over and over again but the only way that you will ever know is if you read it. And I know you are probably thinking these young girls don’t know what they are talking about. But I know that you know God is real. I know that you know God will answer you. And I know the only way you will know if that book is true is read and ponder and pray about it. I can promise he will answer you." It was pretty powerful lesson. He agreed to read it at the end. So please PRAY for him. We also taught Brother Mkandarir, the Elder for CCAP. Man we keep teaching all these people who have callings in the church, which makes it hard. Because that’s their job and that’s their life and people are expecting them to be true to their church. But we need them and I believe its no coincidence we are teaching people who have leadership in other churches. We need it in our church. It’s a small branch and we need people who know how to be leaders. So please pray that we will be able to create that strong center that I was talking about in my first letter.

Love,
Sister Falco