The Last One

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

Sorry for not writing last week!!

Anyway this week on Monday night we had a our group departing interview with President and Sister Auna and they taught us a lot.

We got to teach our friend Ivania about the plan of salvation with the Elders. We are super impressed with how quickly she is accepting everything!!!

Remember Kathie, who's son Ben was baptized in February? She got baptized on Saturday and I was able to attend! It was an incredible experience!!

We got news we are both transferring and so I will be spending my last week in a new area, so that's exciting!!

As I look back on my mission I'm so grateful for everything I've experienced and learned. The mission is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's the best decision I've ever made.

I love you all!! Thank you all for your support as I've been out. It really has meant a lot!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Last Zone Conference

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!!!

This week we were able to visit with a family who's mom isn't a member. She had a few questions and we were able to answer them, questions about why we have so many trials, if trials always mean God is punishing us, etc. It was nice to be able to clarify for her!!

We also met with a family who had a friend over from Mexico who had questions about what we believe. She's really wonderful and it was amazing to answer her questions too!

On Thursday we had zone conference and talked about teaching with the intent to baptize, and bringing up baptism in lessons before we ask people to be baptized so it's on their minds and they're not surprised. Well immediately afterwards we had a lesson with the elders and our friend Ivania and we decided to bring up what baptism is and it went really well!!

We met with our new friend Jovita and taught her the Restoration and gave her a Bible! We are planning on getting her fellowship tonight so she hopefully feels comfortable coming to church with her kids.

Overall most of our lessons cancelled so that was sad. But on Saturday we attended a baptism and I got to see lots of members from my old ward!!

I love you all!!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Phone calls!

(Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

This week we visited a family whose mom isn't a member. Her name is Ana. She is interested in church but barely, so we are being very careful trying not to "blow out" the interest and read come, follow me with her.

We taught several English classes and also met with a woman who is a Spanish teacher in high school! We went to a combined Relief Society activity with two other wards in the stake and taught more English classes afterwards!!

We met with a woman who wants to attend church but was worried about her children being disruptive by crying, and we assured her that it would be okay, that everyone's kids come & make a little noise at our church. She also wanted a Bible so we are bringing her one soon! She didn't come to church but we will keep inviting her.

We had multiple spontaneous phone calls with people who wanted to learn about the church and about baptism, so I'll keep you updated on where those are going!

I love you all!!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Deja Vu

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!!

So this week we had transfers!! My new companion is Hermana Barrus and she is incredible!!

I am now back in Lynnwood for my last transfer! I will have spent 9 months in Lynnwood!! Kathie, Ben's mom has a Baptismal date, and the sisters in that ward are working to have her move it sooner, and if they do, I'll be able to attend!!

This week we spent meeting with members and setting up lessons, many of which cancelled, so that was tough.

I can't wait to finish out strong in Lynnwood.

I love you all!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

NICE NICE NICE NICE

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!!

So this week was super busy covering 2 wards, but that made it fun!!!

Tuesday we got a scam likely call and I answered it. The girl was eager to help me save a few hundred dollars on my cars extended warranty! I told her God is so good and shared Mosiah 2:17 with her and at that point she said I was breaking up and that she would call me back. She never did. Odd. Hermana Shupe & Sister Stevenson were enjoying it though lol.

I wasnt feeling well on Wednesday so honestly I don't remember much of what happened.

Thursday we had an in person social media training that was actually a lot of fun!

Friday we had a lesson with some Russians who were really cool and it was interesting to see their perspectives. Borris is curious about the book of Mormon and likes a lot of the doctrines of the church. He's a thinker and very intelligent. We also met with a family who lives in a tiny house, like extreme minimalism, it's actually really cool!

Saturday we had a knocking blitz again and we knocked on one guy's door & it was a family who was interested in talking. They'd met with missionaries before, and the son, Andrew, decided to step out at talk to us, and the dad, Hans, handed him a triple combination that was already marked up, and I was like "shoot is he gonna bash?" But he really had genuine questions and it was really cool to see what he had to say. And then he went in and Hans stepped out and expressed his appreciation for us and said that even though we aren't the same denomination as us he respects our bravery in sharing this message, and that what we do is good and he loves to see the common ground we have with his beliefs and understand what we believe. A very intelligent and humble family, definitely a highlight of my week.

That night we got transfer news and I will be leaving! I am so sad but interested to where the next transfer takes me!

I love you all!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Punching at a wall

 (Sister Putnam)

This week was very challenging. We put Jose on date last week and this week we tried every single day to meet with him, and he couldn't. It seems like he's going to have to have his date pushed up. It was rather discouraging because he is so close to being ready, but we are going to meet with him tonight to see how we can help him. It was hard to not see anything actually happen. Most plans cancelled last minute, and we were trying our very hardest.

We were able to meet with a few of our recent converts. A less active member came to church, and we were able to get to know her better. We spent time with her and her family after church, and they were wonderful.  Usually I don't understand what this family is saying, but after awhile I was able to understand what they were saying, so the gift of tongues is real!!

We also celebrated Hermana Shupe's 9 months on the mission!

I love you all so much!!!

PS, get ready for my palindrome post tomorrow! (That's the right word, right?)

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Baptismal Date

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

This week we were able to put our friend Jose on date to be baptized for March 5th.  It's been wonderful to see how this desire to be baptized has empowered him. We hope he is able to meet his goals. He has shared his desire to change so many aspect of his life, and his humility is incredible to see! Please pray for Jose to have strength and for us to be able to teach him everything he needs to know before baptism!!

Also pray for Hermana Shupe and I, we have no idea how to organize a baptism haha.

Aside from that, most of our plans cancelled so pray that they'll actually go through!!

Also, I hit 15 months as a missionary on the 11th, so Hermana Shupe and I did a little photoshoot since she's got some photo skills, so there's a sample of that in the pictures!

It's been amazing to reflect on what the Lord has been able to work on with me the past 15 months and see just how much more I can do!

I love you all!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

There are no accidents

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

This week we taught several English classes. One was for a man named Evaristo. He had found our number on an advertisement, and sent us a message, expressing interest in English classes. So we set up an English class on Saturday. He is a very humble man and expressed interest in coming to church too!

We had a lesson Friday with some members! Their youngest son (middle school age) had two friends over, and we invited them to stay for the lesson, and we shared a scripture. One of the friends said he wasn't in any religion but he was searching for a faith.  We were able to testify to him, and the son of the member said he'd be willing to teach his friend how to pray. He seemed interested, open, and he's a really humble kid.

Afterwards the members said it was only a coincidence that the friend was over at the same time as us. So that was really inspired! There are no coincidences or accidents!!!

Jose came to church this week and we will be meeting with him tonight, so please pray that it'll go well, and that the spirit will guide us!!!

I love you all!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Food Bank Prank

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

We visited Delia this week, the woman we met at Walmart! She shared so much with us and we love her so much.  She told us to visit her whenever we like, so we will definitely be stopping by her house this week. That was definitely a prompting felt by Hermana Shupe when we talked to her last Monday!

On Wednesday we visited this woman named Yesenia, who invited us to come by again. We had dinner with a family in the ward who invited a returning family.  They are such amazing people!

On Thursday we were having car problems so we had to go down to Lynnwood and were stranded for 2 hours.   We then ended up doing a bunch of our zoom lessons at the church, so we were in Lynnwood for like 6 hours. We had the Hermanas there rescue us, haha.

On Friday we were working at a food bank and in order to get people to take more food we offered for them to take more food. It didn't always work but sometimes it did. (Like life!).  Well, they were encouraging us to take food too, cause the food had to go somewhere.  So I got some muffins and cake and I went over to get a box of yogurt and the guy was like "actually take two" and put a second one on my first box.  I was like, "great I fell for my own tricks lol" so that was fun and now we have a ridiculous amount of yogurt in our fridge.

On Sunday we taught the granddaughter of a family in our ward. The grandmother told us this was the first time in awhile that this girl wasn't shy around missionaries! It was the sweetest thing!!

Love you all!!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

Sorry for not writing last week, it was a little crazy.

Transfer texts came out this week and Hermana Shupe and I are staying together and we are super pumped about it!!!  I finally get to keep a comp for more than a transfer!

This week we did a lot of door knocking in the rain and nobody answered.

We had a lesson with José and asked if he was still interested in being baptized.  He said yes, and shared that us visiting him and teaching him gives him strength to follow God's commandments. Before we said the closing prayer, he said that in the following weeks he would say the prayers for lessons, because if he is going to be baptized he will need to Spiritually prepare! We are super proud of him and his humility. Please pray that he will continue to progress!!!

We've also found a lot of people online interested in learning English and so that should be incredible!

Also we were at the store just now and Hermana Shupe heard some people speaking Spanish. We went up and asked to practice our Spanish with them, and so we talked with them for a bit.  They asked why we wanted to practice and we said we wanted to learn spanish. And one lady said "oh you should come to my house and I can practice English and you can practice Spanish!"  She gave us her address and phone number and we just texted her, so please pray that she will respond. We will knock her door this week.

Pictures: a billboard we found funny, a sign we found while door knocking, Hermana shupe and i out in the rain, and a killer sunrise!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Happy New Year and Snow!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone! Sooo I forgot to write last week, so sorry!

Not sure if I shared but we had snow and that slowed down the in person work but we were able to do online work and do a snow photoshoot and offer to shovel driveways for people!

We met with our friend Jose Felix last week for new years and he is such a nice man! He has things to work on but we will work with him on them.

We knocked doors and have gotten a lot of referrals and we are super excited to work with these people!!

Love you all!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

 (Sister Putnam)

Feliz Navidad, everyone!!

Wow, so a year ago I never would have thought that my second Christmas in the field I would be serving in a Spanish Branch. But looking at my track record for the last 7 years.... *looks back on moving to Saudi Arabia for 5 years, then my first year of college which was switched to online cause of Covid for the last part, my online MTC experience, and the first 6 months of my mission which were mostly in quarantine* I have absolutely no reason to expect my life to actually stay on the logically expected course, and that includes my mission 😂

This week people mostly ghosted us or cancelled for lessons so that's great...we will be knocking their doors to see what's up this week.

Aside from that we got to attend Zone Conference which was awesome, we had a full day conference center to celebrate Christmas together as two zones and that was super fun! Hermana Shupe did a lovely Christmas rendition of Hallelujah that she posted on her profile, you should definitely check it out! 😉😉All the Spanish missionaries sang silent night in Spanish and all the Sisters sang the Nativity Song from the children's songbook and we all had a good Christmas dinner together.

Today we had a pday and celebrated Christmas and called the fam, we had a christmas dinner at around noon and will go to another one at 6, its all super fun 😀

I love you all!!

Hermana Alyssa Putnam

Christmas Christmas Christmas

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, Everyone!!

Haha I forgot to write last week

Well, this week has been awesome! Kathy and Eric came to church last week and this week they brought the kids! It was a huge miracle because they've been inactive for the last few years!

Ben chose a Baptismal date for February!! We are super excited for him but really sad that we probably won't be there since transfers are coming up in a week :(

Denise texted us today saying she found an apartment! We are so happy because now she shouldn't be so busy and we will be able to meet with her!!

Please pray for Kathy and Eric to keep wanting to come to church, and for Ben to keep progressing, and for Denise to the able to meet with us, and pray for me too because I am sick!!

Love you all!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

Thanksgiving!

 (Sister Putnam)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

This past week and a half has been crazy!!

After going to the gym on Tuesday, we accidentally left the gym without our keys, locking ourselves out of both the gym and our apartment.  I  hopped the fence to the pool area, where there was a door to the gym and discovered it was locked.  We finally had go enlist someone's help from outside. This guy let us in and we got our keys and thanked him and he said, "If you hadn't gone to the gym, this wouldn't have happened. Moral of the story: Don't work out." Thank you, random citizen!

We also met with Emily and taught her a part of hte plan of salvation.  Then we went and met with Ben and Kathie and taught Ben about the Restoration and invited him to church. Kathie asked us about when we decided to follow God and our personal conversion stories, so the 3 of us shared our experiences.

On Wednesday we had a service project that lasted the better part of the day, and this lady had ducks and chickens and I caught a duck. He was quacking so angrily when I caught him lol.  We also went to Katy and Addy's house and taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  During the middle of it, I felt impressed to ask a particular question to Katy instead of do what we originally planned, and - without going into too much detail - we ended up learning a lot more than we would have otherwise, and have more insight as to how to help them both! Follow the small spiritual impressions yall, they aren't really so small!

On Friday and Saturday we went to the Stake Musical to be ushers and we also got to see how talented everyone in our stake was.  It was awesome! Lol Saturday night we had district council and night district council everyone is tired and so funny things are like 10 times as funnyb

On Sunday Ben came to church, and so did Sara and she brought her boyfriend, Ace! Sara is a neighbor girl that Sister Hatton and I started talking to in the parking lot of our complex one day. Sister Rice and I got ice cream with her and we invited her to the primary program last week but she was out of town but wanted to come this week. She said she and Ace loved it and that they want to come again!! We had a departing dinner for Sister Caldwell with President and Sister Auna, and the Senior couples and then we had a lesson with Sister Johnson's friend Nick!

Monday morning Sister Caldwell was picked up by President and Sister Auna to go to the airport. We miss her ;)

Tuesday night we got pizza and went to Sara's apartment to do a paint and pizza night and we talked a lot with her about so many things!!! She's so cool! She is super willing to share things about herself and so we asked her about what she believes about where we go when we die.   We were amazed to find out that she believes nearly the same thing taught in the plan of salvation! She was excited to find that out too! We love Sara and are planning on doing a nails night next time we meet with her!!

Yesterday we had district council and a service project with Opa and a Burn the Bird Zumba workout to compensate for how much we are gonna eat today so that was fun.

Love you all!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

One year

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

Wow, a lot happened this week! There is a member in our ward whose daughter has chosen to not be baptized yet. So, we went over to her house to see what we can do to help her want to be baptized. She seems lonely and like she needs to spend enough time around the missionaries to realize that we aren't trying to force her into anything and that we really do care. Sister Johnson connected really well with Addy, and that was cool to see!

On Thursday we went over to visit with Anna so she could meet Sister Caldwell and Sister Johnson.  It was awesome to see how well Sister Johnson connected with Anna too! It's cool to see how changes like transfers are inspired!!

On Saturday we met with Emily at a donut place because it was wet and cold.  We tried to teach her about the atonement but it was a noisy environment so it was a learning experience! We'll try somewhere else next time!

We also went and dropped flowers off at Amy's house and sent her a text to let her know.  She responded saying she's been super busy and sick and that she hasn't stopped thinking about us and coming to church.  She mentioned her birthday was coming up on Sunda,y so we stopped by on Sunday and sang her happy birthday and let her know we don't ever forget her. Then we heart attacked her door.

Also, I've been a missionary for a whole year now, as of Thursday!!! As I look back on the last year I realize how much I've changed and grown and how many people I've met and had the opportunity to impact and learn from. It's made me realize how much potential there is in a year, in every minute of day and every month of each year, and how much power we have to make a difference in others lives!

I love you all!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

There are no transfers in Ba Sing Se

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

Well, the dreaded T word has arrived!! Sister Rice and I got a call on Friday and President asked her to be STL, so we are sad we won't be comps anymore, but the next adventure is exciting! This transfer went by so fast though.

This week we finished up filming the video and Sister Rice, with her impressive editing skills, worked her magic and put the video together!

Our friend, Kathie Thomas, who wasnt responding to us for awhile, had contacted us last week saying her son, Ben, was interested in attending church with us. He had researched the church and wanted to know more, so he's been watching zoom church and he came to the Halloween party on Friday and he really enjoyed it!!

Also, we met with Dina and got to know her more, and she is getting ready to have a baby. She is interested to find a church that she would want to raise her child in, so she's interested to see our church and what church services are like. Please pray that we'll be able to help her to come to church so she can feel God's love for her!!

Also, please pray for Amy, we havent been able to get into contact with her, and Anna as well!!

Love you all!!

Pictures!!

Our pumpkins we carved! Sister Rice is the sunflower and mine is the other one (I'm not sure what to call it)

And some chickens at a service project!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

Lights, camera, action!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

So this week we went to Young Women's to get to know the young women, and it was a lot of fun! We did a painting activity and it was awesome!!

Oh also, about 2 months ago, Sister Hatton & I were getting stuff into the car before leaving to go somewhere, and the girl who parks next to our car came out at the same time and started talking to us and we connected really well.  We gave her our number, and she texted us! Well we ran into her again a couple weeks later and I was like "Hey we should go get ice cream sometime!!".  Last week we set up a time to get ice cream and on Tuesday we met her at the mall and got ice cream and got to know her.  She asked a lot of questions about our church and beliefs. She said religions are really beautiful to her and she is interested in attending Christmas services, so that would be awesome!! Sister Rice connected pretty well with her, (Her name is Sara, lol forgot to point that out) and so that will hopefully be good when I most likely transfer in a week!

Last week we were enlisted to film a video to get the youth excited about serving a mission, featuring the missionaries in the stake and their talents, so we spent a lot of time filming those.  Hopefully I can get those to you guys once they're done! It took up the majority of our week though haha, so that's the explanation for my email subject line!

Also, remember the lady from last week who needed a bed? Well, her name is Dina, and we had another Bible study with her and Sister Israelsen & Sister Durham and we learned a lot about her life, what she's been through, and she is just an incredibly strong and humble woman! We hope to teach her more soon, and to find some fellowship!

Amy has still been sick, so pray for Amy so that Sister Rice can meet her before I leave, and so that we can schedule a baptismal date for her!

Also, on Friday my Uncle Mark & Aunt Rebecca came and visited us and took us to MOD Pizza, and it was wonderful to see them, they are incredible!!

Love you all!!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

*cue Prince of Egypt Song*

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone! This week was incredibly busy but a lot of miracles happened!!

A child misread my name tag and called me Sister Platform. The most common mispronounciation is Putman, but on my mission (not even in Saudi, the foreign country where I grew up) is where my last name has been mispronounced the most. I've had people say Putman, Pootnam, Platinum, and now Platform. The list will likely continue.

Also, last week I hit 11 month as a missionary!

A lot of our friends have stopped responding to us and our area was kinda dying, so we were feeling kinda down.  But this week, a guy referred himself to us and his first language is Spanish and he wants to practice his Englis.  He's wanting to meet with us and the Hermanas and see what we believe and see if he really wants to attend church with us so that's fun! We had a phone call lesson with him and the Hermanas and they taught him the Restoration in Spanish!!

Also, the sisters up in Eastmont found someone near us who is interested in Bible studies! She also was in need of a bed and so we were looking for a bed everywhere. We  found one in 2 days on a local free stuff group on Facebook. It was just a huge miracle!

This week was full of so many miracles and it was just awesome! Love you all, I love hearing from you!!

Love you all!!!

Pictures!!

1: us getting panda

2: Sith Putnam

Sister Alyssa Putnam

Rain and Rescheduling and conference

 (Sister Putnam)

Hello, everyone!!

Well, the rain has officially started back up in Washington, and it's super cold now!

General conference was wonderful this weekend! We watched the Saturday evening session with our friend Anna. She said loved it and enjoyed Sister Eubanks talk about the church's humanitarian aid. She also really loves that we believe in living prophets and it's so cool to see her testimony grow!

Amy was still sick this week but we hope to give her a baptismal date on Wednesday so pray for Amy!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

Transfers again??

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

This week we had transfers again, and Sister Hatton & Wayman left Alderwood, so the first half of last week consisted of us going out so that Sister Hatton could say goodbye to our friends.

Then Wednesday came, and we showed up to transfers. After awhile of being there, and everyone knowing who their new companion would be, I still hadn't received my new comp.  So, I asked the APs and they said that my new companion would arrive on Thursday, and she's a Sister coming from the Nauvoo historic sites, coming to do the proselytizing part of her mission. So Sister Fodnes and I were companions for the day!

So I met her on Thursday, and she is wonderful! Her name is Sister Rice and she and another Sister, Sister Wayment, came to the mission from Nauvoo! I am learning a lot from her!

We gave a lesson to a family using paper airplanes this week. For those of you who are missionaries, you might want to snatch this idea for kids!

🛩Paper airplanes! As you make the paper airplanes with the family, have them write by each fold the things they do to choose the right. This is how we allow the lord to shape us. And because we allow the lord to shape us we can go a lot further than without those things, like a paper airplane vs an untouched piece of paper.

Sister Alyssa Putnam