Baptism!

So good to hear from all of you!  I am so grateful for your e-mails and letters and most importantly, your prayers.  Sounds like it was a pretty crazy week back in Utah.
Crazy week here in West Allis too!

Tuesday-  District Meeting.  This time we talked all about the Doctrine of Christ. To be put simply, the Doctrine of Christ is what we have to do in order to make it back to Heavenly Father.  4 steps: faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the holy ghost.  And then making sure that we continue to do those things as we endure to the end.  Our purpose as missionaries which can be found in Preach My Gospel is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."  


So as we talked about the Doctrine of Christ, we talked about how as we come to understand it better, it can help us to fulfill our purpose as missionaries!  I seriously felt so pumped and motivated as I left district meeting to go out and baptize all of West Allis.  Haha.  But after district meeting, Tubree had her baptismal interview and.... she passed!  I was nervous.  Not because I didn't think Tubree was ready, but because I knew that Satan had been working pretty hard to make sure that she wouldn't be baptized.  So it was a huge relief when she passed!  We spent the rest of the day planning and preparing for her baptismal service the coming Saturday.

Me and my district with the Wisconsin State Fair's famous creme puffs.  They are huge!

Wednesday-  We went and did service for this woman that we met named Colleen.  It was actually pretty cool because clear back when Sis. Newton was here, our goal for our transfer together was to find new investigators and people to teach through service.  We offered to give service to everyone that we met.  Nothing ever really came of it, but we tried really hard anyways.  haha.  But then this lady Colleen called us up this week and asked us for our help to help her move.  Colleen was a lady that Sis. Newton and I had met on the street clear back in May.  So we were able to go over and help her move and got to talk with her a lot as we packed up some boxes.  We got to talk a lot about the church.  And then before we left, we shared a scripture with her from the book of mormon.  It really touched her and she agreed to meet with us later to learn more about the church.  We won't be able to meet for a while because she is still in the process of moving so her schedule is pretty crazy, but I thought that was so cool!  Sis. Newton and I were praying for finding opportunites back in May and it finally payed off!  That is a testimony to me that no effort is wasted.  We are planting seeds and you never know who is going to call back, even if it is months later.

Thursday we had to do a lot more planning for Tubree's baptism.  We were also able to get in with a less active family for the first time in forever.  They have 2 little girls that haven't been baptized yet, so hopefully we will be able to start working with them.

Me with my favorite person in the whole wide world- Sis. Stewart!  She got me this skirt from Hong Kong!!  Isn't she the cutest?

Friday-  So I have been reading through the New Testament trying to learn more about the life of Christ and on Friday morning, I finished John.  So I am now done with the 4 gospels.  I have loved reading about Christ's life and I have learned so much from the example that he set for us.  I feel like I have a really long way to go, but I really have come to know my Savior better than ever before.  I have always wanted to have a strong relationship with Him.  All it takes is a little effort on our part.  I will tell you this much, I know that my Redeemer lives!

We were also able to have our last lesson with Tubree on Friday.  We answered any last questions that she had about her baptism and then talked about enduring to the end.  Baptism is great and important and it is our first covenant that we make with our Heavenly Father.  But then we have got to keep doing it and keep living the gospel!  The enduring to the end is the hard part.  But it is the part that makes it all worth it too!  We were also able to bear our testimonies to hear about how much we had seen her grown since we have been working with her, and also how much we have grown as missionaries as we have learned from her example as well.  It was a very powerful lesson and the Spirit was so strong!

Saturday- Tubree's Baptism!!!  Saturday was nothing short of a miracle.  I think that Tubree had been having a pretty rough morning before her baptism.  That, my friends, is how Satan works.  Lots of the friends and family that she invited to her baptism didn't come.  So I think she was a little sad about that.  But here is the cool thing about becoming a member of this church- You gain a ward family!  There were so many wonderful ward members there to show their love and support for her.  It really meant a lot to her.  President and Sister Cutler even came, so that was pretty cool.  I thought that I was going to be able to hold it together pretty well at the baptism, but... I am my mother's daughter.  I lost it at the opening song.  For the opening song we sang Lord, I Would Follow Thee.  

1. Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,
Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee—

Lord, I would follow thee.

Aren't those lyrics absolutely beautiful?  "Savior, may I learn to love thee, walk the path that thou hast shown."  Here was Tubree getting ready to enter into the waters of baptism and follow the Savior's example.  The is beginning her walk down the path that He has shown.  "Pause to help and lift another, finding strength beyond my own."  Not gonna lie, this week had been pretty hard.  I felt a lot of opposition which I knew was Satan because of Tubree's baptism.  And I also was feeling kind of sad that I was missing Kenzie's wedding and Casey and Bryan moving and stuff.  But when I heard the words "pause to help and lift another"  I realized that I literally have put my life on pause to come here to Wisconsin to help others.  And at that moment as I was sitting by Tubree singing this song.  I knew that it was worth it.  Tubree was worth it.  And this journey wasn't easy.  I definitely could not have been able to do it by myself.  I was able to "find strength beyond my own" as I turned to my Savior to help me through the difficult times.  "Savior, may I learn to love thee- Lord, I would follow thee."  Ultimately, I am trying to become more like my Savior.  I know that helping Tubree become closer to Christ has helped me to come closer to Christ as well.  What a blessing.

I don't know if any of those thoughts even make sense.  But to sum it up, that hymn was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment in time.  And I felt to Spirit probably one of the strongest times ever on my mission. 

Then, Tubree was baptized!  It was amazing and the Spirit was definitely there.  I know that Tubree felt the Spirit.  After she was baptized and had changed, she came back out and sat by me.  I leaned over to her and whispered, "How do you feel?"  She paused for a second and looked at me and with a big smile on her face she said, "New."  Wow.  What an amazing daughter of God she is. 

I feel so blessed and humbled to have been able to teach Tubree and help her on her journey back to our Heavenly Father.  After Saturday, I really do know without a doubt that this is right where I am supposed to be at this point in my life.  I am so grateful for my testimony of my Savior and how that has helped me through the ups and the downs in my life. 

The Church is so true!  I love you all so much!  Thank you for your love and prayers!!!

Love,
Sister King