Week 18 - Another One Bites The Dust

Another One Bites The Dust

Soooo, uhhh, y'all know how last week Sister Egbert was stricken with illness? Wellll, sad to say, but this weekend I have finally caught it right as she is recovered. I don't know what it is but it has not been fun. Luckily it has been a lot shorter for me and I'm feeling tons better now! I have wanted to overwork myself, but don't worry because Sister Egbert is literally like mom, hahah. She has made me chew my food 30x per bite to make sure it doesn't hurt when it comes back up, she has carried me to bed multiple times, she plays the ukulele and sings me to sleep, and on! She is the sweetest.

 I think the reason I'm getting over my sickness so fast because she has fretted over me and not let me do anything, thus allowing my body to work on healing better. I have to say though, it has been SO AWFULLY BORING. It is just about the worst to take turns being sick with your companion. I spent about a week going crazy while Sister Egbert was dying, then a few days dying myself while Sister Egbert went crazy. As missionaries, there isn't much you can do in these situations except take "helicopter" care of the sick companion, study, clean, organize, maybe try to sleep, stare out the window, think too long about things, etc. Your brains end up quite fried, heheh.

Through all of this, Sister Egbert and I have gotten very close. We have had some pretty amazing spiritual moments in our extensive studies and conversations. One night when I was sick, Sister Egbert said something I needed very badly out of nowhere. She said something like this: "Don't dwell on what you can't control. You have the right desires, so don't worry about that! This is just something we have to go through. There is a reason for all of this, every moment, every little detail is part of God's divine design. Don't make yourself more miserable by beating yourself up! Make the most that you can of these moments!"

I was definitely having an inner struggle with all that has been going on the past week and a half. I was beginning to feel like an EXTRA unprofitable servant! It feels as though this transfer hasn't even started as we've barely gotten to do the work! God be thanked for my dear companion -- for her not allowing me to overextend myself physically or emotionally.

Anywayyyy, CHRISTMAS!! It really snuck up on me this year. Not that I haven't felt the Christmas spirit this time around, but the actual day of Christmas happened out of nowhere, hahah. I suppose it didn't feel like my typical Christmas. We made videos as we opened our gifts to send to our families. My family sent me videos of them Christmas morning too. It was wonderful! Thank you to everyone for all the sweet gifts and letters. I felt so loved!

We didn't plan well, so we had to go to the gas station for breakfast, heheheh. Then we went to the church so Sister E could make a call while I played the piano. Our first dinner appointment was a 1:00 pm and our second one was at 4:00 pm. After that we went back to the church to call our families! It never quite feels like enough to just talk with them. I have the most loving family ever, and as much as I love it here in Montana, I do miss all the hugs and snuggles at times.

Honestly, there is something so sweet about giving everything I have to the Lord, especially at Christmas. What better gift can we give, than our hearts. Even though Sister Egbert and I have been so sick, we have given as much as we can to the people here in our area. We love them and feel the Spirit guiding us as we serve them.

My life is full of joy, and my heart full of love, unlike I have felt before. Serving a mission is such a gift. When else will have 18 months that I can dedicate to the Lord without the distractions and pull of "normal" life. I am gaining such a testimony of the Spirit, of listening to the Still Small Voice, and most powerfully, of acting on those whisperings. I see the tender mercies of God everywhere. He truly is love. I feel that love so strongly and want to share it with all of His precious children.

He loves YOU. Look for it. Listen. Feel His peace. Let His Spirit into your heart and life. He will bless you. He will carry you through the trials and darkness. Hard times will always come, but through our things He blesses us with strength, compassion and empathy. It is up to us to find the beauty there and to bless others through our experiences.

I love you all!
Sister Alger

Pics after zone conference

Sister Egbert and I studying on our couch because she wasn't feeling well still

Pics next to the duck crossing sign that we both LOVE and think is so cute and funny

We enjoy making GIFs  heheh

  

 

Merry Christmas from our Zone! 

Sister Egbert and I, excited about what we ended up with in the white elephant gift exchange between our zone! Martinelli's and weird shot glasses heheh

The home that we went to for dinner on Christmas Eve was in a neighborhood that participated in luminaries! It was so beautiful, the whole neighborhood was covered in bags lit by candles!!

We took pics in the luminary light with stockings that the Niedens gave to us (you can hardly see the stocking I'm holding with candy canes sticking out of it) 

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

I love Sister Egbert!

With the Livingston sisters, Sister Stanworth and Anderson

Beautiful Sister E with me in my WONDERFUL emerald green cashmere sweater dress 

(Christmas present)💛

My first WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!

I love the fresh powdery snow!!

Us and our fluffy slipper socks that the Bucholz's gave us for Christmas!!

Is with our cracker crowns at the Bicholz's during christmas dinner with them!

Sister Egbert and her family of stuffed animals heheh. She has named them all!

Eating snow in my apartment

Mirror selfies in our Jesus shirts

 Team Jesus and Y'all Need Jesus!

We love to sing together, and be silly!

More SILLINESS!

I fell asleep during my personal study when I was sick. I guess it was my turn.

Week 17

Another week, another adventure!

This week has been an interesting one. It has been full of awesome moments and also sickness! Sister Egbert has been bed ridden for a couple of days since being here and with all sorts of symptoms… hopefully I don't catch it too!

We finally got Sister Egbert to the doctor yesterday and it seems that she started out with influenza, developed a sinus infection because if it, and somewhere before or in between had strep...No wonder she's been miserable!! Luckily she doesn't have an ear infection.

About mission life, I have to say it has been a bit tough lately because my new trainer, Sister Egbert, has been so sick. It is not as hard as it maybe should be because somehow I feel peace, plus I am a pretty patient person. She is always sorry that I am cooped up in our apartment while she is living in bed or in the bathroom, but I don't mind. I am her companion!! I am here to be with her, to love her, and to support her! I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. Of course I feel funky and zombie like sometimes, and I do wish we could be out doing the work, but her well being comes first. My philosophy is, why wish you were somewhere else or that things were different if you can't do anything about it? Why delay happiness, when you can choose to make the most of each situation as they come? Do everything in your power, and give the rest to God!

On another note, the work has been good. We often have enough lessons and contacting that we don't have a lot of time for tracting or streeting type of work (although we would like to do those more often). Our members are amazing, so loving and helpful! We receive a good amount of referrals and support from them! We haven't had any baptisms or been able to get anyone on date in my area since my being here, but we have many who are on the edge! The problem right now is not being able to do the work with Sister Egbert unwell. Plus, so many of the people we work with have asked us to stop meeting with them for the holidays (until like Jan 8th ish) or have just stopped communicating with us and disappeared. So that's a little sad. I would be on top of that going door to door visiting them and trying to catch them, but all we've been able to do lately is message and call because of illness. So that's sad. It is amazing how precious and vital each moment is as a missionary. Back home, if people didn't get back to me for a few days, it was no biggy, I even had a tendency to do that. I wasn't a good texter heheh. In the mission field though, if people don't answer for even a day, it feels like an eternity! I am getting better at messaging, emailing, and communications in general for sure heheh.

I seriously LOVE being a missionary with my whole soul! It blows me away that I can love and care for so many strangers as deeply as I do, as well have so many powerful and spiritual moments. It is funny how typing this all out is helping me see that it hasn't quite been smooth sailing and perfect, yet it feels perfectly wonderful and fulfilling. Missionary life is a bit different than I imagined but is full of such joy!

This week we had Zone Conference, and let me tell ya, it was AMAZING. Here are some things I got out of it and thoughts I had:

Allow Christ to be the blindfold that opens your eyes. Put your life in His hands, rely fully on Him, trust Him! Allow Christ to be the blindfold that blocks out the lies and traps of the world as well as the irrational limitations we set on ourselves. Allow Him to help you to reach your full potential. If we put our trust in Him, He will show us that we can do more than we ever thought possible. Rather than trying to have confidence in ourselves, have confidence in God! We are so flawed, so weak, having confidence in ourselves won't get us very far. He has all power and all wisdom, why not entrust all of your confidence in such a perfect Being? We are aiming for celestial, eternal goals, we can't get there by our own mortal means!
God's Chiseled Masterpiece: https://youtu.be/3QCkBL2DfVg

When people are "yelling at you" and pushing you, it means they haven't given up on you. When God allows us to be tried and stretched, it means He hasn't given up on us. He sees our infinite potential and He won't allow us not to have the opportunity to reach it!! TRUST IN HIM. RELY ON HIM. He will be by our side the whole time, guiding us and pushing us. It may hurt and it may seem hopeless, but by the time we look back at what we've done, we will barely believe that we could do what we did. It is ALL through Christ.
Death Crawl Scene from Facing the Giants: https://youtu.be/-sUKoKQlEC4

I would definitely recommend taking a look at the videos. They were shown in our zone conference and are what a lot of my thoughts spiraled from!

Daily pic

The night view out of the Preator's back porch deck! 

The view was incredible, not even close to the pic!!

We took some selfies in the dark hahah

We made Christmas Sunday service invitations that we will attach to peppermint bark candy (:

Me being silly

Sister Egbert and I right after making invites and being silly. We love each other a little bit (:

Scenery on the way to Zone conference in Butte

Me with my hair all pretty

Pics from caroling - Sis E and me

Our zone leaders, Elder Helms and Elder Steelman

Group pics from caroling!  -- Elder Curtis, Veazie, Helms, Eveleth, Me and Sister Egbert

-- Elder Steelman, Curtis, Schweighardt, Veazie, Helms and Eveleth, Me and Sister Egbert

I love Sister Egbert!

My family loves spoonerisms. This is for them!

We got to the conference early and took a pic when we got our seats. Sister Stanworth didn't realize and is staring off into space heheh, and then there's Sister Anderson, me, and Sister Egbert

Some members brought us dinner in Christmas bags because we were in all day with Sis E being sick

My sweet, cheerful and very sick companion, Sister Egbert (Sister Eggie to me)

Almost Christmas!!!!!

Us at the urgent care on pday

She's gorgeous even when she has influenza, strep and a sinus infection.