Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Family! 

We've got a good couple inches of snow!

It was so good to get to hear all about your Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of year.  I sure did miss all of you.  But it brought a lot of comfort to know that I will be able to share next year's Thanksgiving with you.  Thank you so much for sending updates and pictures of your week!  It always means a lot to get them.

We had a pretty good Thanksgiving week back here in Madison too!

Having a little fun on p-day

Tuesday we had district meeting and we talked about the Holy Ghost's role in conversion.  It is amazing how vital that really is. As a missionary, it is so important to always have the Spirit with me so that others can feel it.  That is something that I have been trying to work on lately, always having the Spirit with me.  We also had a really cool lesson with Sarah that night.  We have been sharing stories with her from the Book of Mormon to help her have the courage to tell her family that she wants to be baptized.  We shared the story of Ammon and how when he went to the Lamanites, all he did was serve and love the people there.  Eventually their hearts were softened and an entire nation was converted!  That is what we challenged Sarah to do.  Continue to love and serve her family and let them know that she loves them.  As she does, I know that their hearts will soften.  We haven't been able to talk to her yet so I will have to let you know next week how telling her family went!

Wednesday was a really good day!  It is so weird, nothing super crazy or special happened.  It was just a good day to be a missionary.  We were working really hard and managed to find some really cool people along the way.  A goal that Sister Kelley and I have for this transfer is to pass out more Book of Mormons.  We are kind of doing like a "25 days of Christmas" thing by trying to give away 25 Book of Mormons!  We found 2 really cool people that we were able to give a copy to that day.  So we are off to a great start!  So many people were placed in our path that day.  It was just amazing.  I KNOW that the Lord's hand is in this work.  We also had a really cool lesson with our returning less active named Emily.  We taught the Plan of Salvation and talked about how none of it is possible without Jesus Christ.  He is the center of the plan.  It has been really cool to learn and grow with Emily as she starts coming back to church.

Thanksgiving with the Thurston's

Thanksgiving with the Durtschi's

hursday was THANKSGIVING!!!  What an amazing Thanksgiving day we had!  Obviously I was feeling a little homesick, but I didn't let that take away from the day that we got to have here.  We got to go over to the Thurston's for a Thanksgiving lunch.  That was really fun because I guess technically the Thurston's are family.  4th cousins totally counts, right?  The thought of spending Thanksgiving with "family" brought me a lot of comfort anyway.  Also, I have grown so close to them and they mean so much to me that they are as family as it gets for me out here in Wisconsin.  So it was super cool to be able to spend Thanksgiving with them.  Plus the food was absolutely delicious.  And GUESS WHAT.  As we were about to eat Hayley was telling us what all of the food was and she gets to this one dish and says, "and this just some raspberry stuff."  So I was like, "Wait, what is in the raspberry stuff?"  She said, "Just eat it.  You will like it."  So then I said, "Oh, because my Mom always makes this really yummy pretzel raspberry jello stuff every year for Thanksgiving."  YEP, THAT'S RIGHT.  Hayley made the raspberry pretzel stuff for Thanksgiving!  She didn't even know!  So I still got to have our family's Thanksgiving classic out here.  Such a huge tender mercy.  But seriously though, how could that NOT be a tender mercy from the Lord? 

Afterward, we got to go to the Durtschi's for another Thanksgiving dinner!  It was so fun and absolutely delicious.  It was cool because the less active lady that teaches us to knit came and I have gotten really close with her.  So we got to spend Thanksgiving with her as well!  So that was really fun.  After the Durtschi's, we headed back to the Thurston's again for dessert.  :)

Even though spending Thanksgiving on a mission is REALLY hard, it was an amazing experience.  It is so amazing to be able to have a time of year that we can reflect on the things that we are grateful for.  Back at home when we have Thanksgiving and we all go around the table and say something that we are grateful for, my answers have always been the gospel, my parents, my sisters, my extended family, my home, Sadie, school, etc.  But this year, I was pulled away from all of those things (except the gospel of course).  But being away from those things has given me a greater appreciation for them.  It has also helped me to focus on the one thing that I still do have that I am oh so grateful for.  And that is the gospel.  The gospel has always been a constant in my life.  I am so grateful for it.  But this year, there is one more major thing that I can add to the list of things that I am grateful for- MY MISSION.  I am so beyond grateful for my mission.  I haven't loved every minute of my mission, but I have been grateful for every minute of it.  My mission has taught me and given me so many things that have changed me so much.  My mission has given me a greater appreciation for family.  It has strengthened my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ.  My personal relationship with Him has grown exponentially on my mission.  My mission has given me lasting friendships that I will cherish forever with companions, other missionaries, ward members, investigators, recent converts, and so many others.  My mission has given me a greater knowledge and love for the scriptures.  My mission has taught me how to be a better wife and mother which is one of my greatest desires.  I owe so much to my mission.  Making the decision to come on a mission was one of, if not THE, hardest decision I have ever made.  And it continues to be very difficult.  But I am so grateful that I , with the help of my Father in Heaven, made the decision to come.  I am so grateful for my mission.

Friday was a pretty good day as well.  We met some more cool people on the bus on our way to a few different places which was super fun.  We met this guy on the bus named Ishmael who ended up coming to church yesterday.  So that was a HUGE miracle!  More to come on him next week.  When we got home that night, we made ourselves some yummy dinner and then we decided to keep up with our family's tradition of watching a Christmas movie.  We weren't able to watch That Santa Clause... :)  But we were able to watch Mr. Krueger's Christmas.  So I was able to keep that Thanksgiving tradition alive out here as well.  :)

Saturday we were able to meet with Shay.  She is still doing so well!  And guess what!  She have her very first talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday!  She is so amazing and is continuing to grow in the gospel.  Gosh, I love her so much.

So that was pretty much my week!!

Ok family, before I sign off I have a very special challenge for you.  This is something that has been on my mind a lot that I have prayed about and that I really feel is a good idea.  Here is the challenge:

Starting on December 3, read one chapter of the Book of Mormon every single day.  If I have done my calculations correctly, then you will finish reading the Book of Mormon on the day that I get home!  The Book of Mormon is so important.  Being able to read from the Book of Mormon so much on my mission is what has truly helped my testimony to grow.  Even though it might be easy to let a day or two slip, make it a priority RIGHT NOW to read one chapter every single day.  It should only take about 5 minutes out of your day.  Elder Scott told us this last conference that reading from the scriptures is even more important than sleep sometimes.  So if it means that you need to get up a few minutes earlier or go to bed a few minutes later, I promise you that it will be worth it.  This is something that I feel is really important, so take this challenge seriously!  Doing it as a family would be cool, but I think that you should do it individually.  That way you can all share with me some of your thoughts in your weekly e-mails.  And you can share thoughts in family home evening and at dinner and stuff because we will all be in the same place in the Book of Mormon.  It would really mean so much to me if you would do this.  I love the Book of Mormon so much and I really want to be able to share this cool experience with you.

I love you so much!  Thank you for all that you do for me!

Can't wait to hear how your Book of Mormon reading is going!

Love,

Sister King

Life in the Empty Sea (that's what the cool kids call the MTC these days...)

Hello!  I miss you so much already!  It is so weird that I have already been here for a week and now I get to write to all of you!  This week has been crazy and so much has happened and changed already!  So this letter might be a little chaotic and messy, but I will do my best.

Loved running into Elder Merrill! 
It's funny, Andrew was in the mission prep class with me when I met Sister Packer for the first time.

It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone on Wednesday.  But they put me right to work!  It was so fun to have Mom's friend be the one that put the nametag on me. I think she had been looking for me to put it on so that was really sweet of her.  Then, I found out that my companion was Sister Packer and i KNEW everything was going to be ok.  She is amazing and we are already best friends.  I love it.  We work really well together and we fill in where the other lacks especially when it comes to teaching.  I am so grateful to have her as a companion.  Because of that I have never really felt lonely here at the MTC.  Such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.  

All of the other elders and sisters in my zone and district are amazing too.  Sis packer and I are really good friends with another companionship here in our district named sister ormsby from perry Utah and sister Plante from Orem.  They are so hilarious!  Sister Ormsby kind of reminds me of Audrey Nelson.  There is an Elder in our zone named Elder Lore and I swear to you he is Jarett Tanner in the flesh.  He is hilarious.  My district is all sisters so that is pretty weird.  The other district in our zone has 4 sister and 4 elders so the elders are really outnumbered.  It is kind of nice to have an all sisters district because we are able to focus better than the district with elders i think... haha.

When I got home the first night and started unpacking a little bit I found a present that abby left me in my suitcase!  It was so sweet and the letter definitely made me cry.  Thank you abby!  I love you!

Our teachers in our classes are amazing too.  We learn a lot and really feel the spirit but we have fun too.  One of our teachers looks EXACTLY like frozone from the incredibles.  Or obama.  Take your pick.  

On Thursday we met our Branch President and had interviews with him.  After the interviews and a short testimony meeting, Sister Packer and I were called as the Sister Training Leaders for our Zone.  This basically means we go to a lot of meetings and trainings and are in charge of orientation for new elders and sisters.  And we are in charge of looking out for the sisters in our zone.  It is a lot of responsibility.  It was very humbling because there are plenty of other AMAZING sisters in our zone.  But if Heavenly Father trusts us to do this, then I know we can do it with his help.

On Friday I ran into Elder Jared Richardson!  That was fun.  He left earlier this week.  I was able to run into him a couple of times actually.  We got a picture so I will try to figure out how to send pictures in a little.  We started teaching our first investigator on Friday.  Her name is Darla.  The lesson did NOT go well.  Haha you could tell is was mine and sister packer's first lesson.  It was very humbling and exactly what I needed though.  Because I know that I can't do this without Heavenly Father's help.  And I DEFINITELY can't teach ANY lessons without listening to the Spirit.

Sunday was great!  There is that thing that people say that if you can just make it to Sunday in the MTC then you will be fine, and it so totally true.  Sunday was like a mini P-day.  It was great.  Except for Sister Packer and I had a million meetings because we are the sister training leaders.  But it was still great!  Our walk to the temple was around 1:30ish I think.  So you all were in church.  If you try to come to the temple next week then don't let me see you because I think that would be hard for me.  But the temple walk was amazing! As much as i absolutely love it here, the MTC is for sure like a prison.  We are crammed inside of our cave of a classroom quite literally all day so it was so nice to leave and breathe in fresh air!  I forgot what sunshine was.  

On Sunday they let the Sisters watch Music and the Spoken word (which was AWESOME) and then all of the sisters in the MTC meet together for relief society.  Sister Wixom (the primary general president) came and spoke to us for relief society.  It was way good.For sacrament meetings here in the MTC they call on random missionaries to speak.  I think it is supposed to be practice for the field. haha I played the piano and actually did ok with a couple of songs I had never really played before.  Then on Sunday night we had the MTC wide devotional!  that was way cool too!    Sheri Dew spoke!  One thing that I remember she said was "Conversion requires immersion."  That is something that I need to remember here.  I am completely immersed in the gospel and I love it!  I need to help my investigators do that as well.  At the devotional I got to see Elder Merrill!  I was so happy to see him!  He is great. At dinner I saw Jared Roy and he told me that Ashley started varsity!  I WAS SO STOKED.  I told him to tell her I celebrated by eating a bowl of cereal.  I hope you understood my inside joke.  I AM SO PROUD OF YOU ASH!!  You're awesome.  I love hearing the updates of your games.  

PS I hope you had a happy birthday!  and i hope you found the present I left you.

Monday started bad and ended great.  One of the Sisters in our zone has mono I guess...  So she was sick all day.  And a lot of the sisters in our zone were dealing with that.  She got a blessing from our zone leaders and is starting to do better.  After having to deal with that, Bryan brought the cupcakes that Abby had made!  It was the best thing ever!  It was Sister Brown's 21 birthday.  We had a mini birthday for her back at our residence hall.  Everyone loved the cupcakes.  They were great.  And all of the sisters told me that I have the best little sister in the world.  But I already knew that.  Sister Brown wanted me to make sure I told you thanks too.  She said it was the best birthday she has had in a long time.  So thanks Abby!  It really was so thoughtful of you!  

On Monday we started teaching our TRC investigator.  TRC is basically you go in and teach and you don't know if they are members or not.  Lots of times it is converts replaying their own conversions and the experiences they had while we teach them.  But lots of them are real investigators!  In fact, the MTC had 2 baptisms in the last couple of weeks.  That means brand new missionaries converted them!  So we are teaching Cindy.She is from Madagascar and she is awesome and our lessons are going well.  We are getting to be better teachers.

Tuesday I had a really cool experience with a lady who is the wife of one of the branch presidency members that knew Grandma King.  Could you dear elder me their address so i can send them a hand written letter of what happened?  I don't have time to e-mail it.  

Also on Tuesday I got my first package from the Harrison family!  I loved it and it made my day.  Will you please be sure to tell them how much I appreciated it and how much I love them.  They send treats for my whole district!  I love them!  On Tuesday night there was another MTC wide devotional.  Sister Packer and I sang in the choir so that was way cool.  Also, Elder Merrill was in the choir so I got to hang out with him for a while.  FUN!  Gerald Cause came and spoke.  He is the first counselor in the presiding bishopric.He is french so it was kind of hard to understand what he was saying.... but he talked about how if we saw Christ, would we recognize him?  Interesting to think about.  That is actually what we decided to talk to Cindy about in one of our lessons. 

On Tuesday night I was laying in bed and I had a thought.  Last Tuesday I was laying in my own bed at home, today I am laying in my bed at the MTC, and next Tuesday I will be sleeping in Wisconsin.  CRAZY! 

Then Wednesday came.  A bunch of new missionaries were getting here!  SO WEIRD to think that it was me last week.  I have learned so much since then.  It was fun because since Sister Packer and I are the Sister Training Leaders, we got to do orientation for the new district of missionaries coming to our zone.  It ended up being an entire district of Elders that are going to Virginia.  It was fun to teach them what we know about the MTC so far.  In our lesson with Darla on Wednesday, I felt prompted to invite her to be baptized.  I was TERRIFIED, but guess what!  SHE SAID YES!  I wish you could have seen the celebratory dance Sister Packer and I did in the hall when we left.  I had asked Cindy to be baptized once before and she said no.... haha so I told myself I would never do it again.  But then I really felt prompted to ask Darla.  It was great!  The spirit is awesome.

Thank you so much for your letters!  We get the Dear Elder letters everyday so I REALLY have appreciated those.  Please send me more!  ANYONE AND EVERYONE WRITE ME!!!  I didn't realize how much missionaries love mail, but those letters I have been getting are GOLD.  Thanks mom, dad, and casey!  I love you guys.  Bryan is off the hook because I see him everyday.

I have seen a lot of people here.  Sara Ripley and CaLea Bagley from soccer, Jared Richardson, Andrew Merrill, Kris Crowther, Syd Lamb's Aunt, and a ton of friends from BYU.  It is so cool that we are all here to serve the Lord! The cafeteria food is great!  It actually isn't too unhealthy, its just that they serve you a full meal for breakfast, a full meal for lunch, and a full meal for dinner so Sister packer and I usually try to eat just half of what they give us.  haha it doesn't always go well but we are trying.

Overall, I really am having a great time here!  So much has happened that I can't even begin to explain to you how much I have learned.  I LOVE this gospel.  I love the opportunity I have to share it with others.  I thought I knew before I came here that this is what I was supposed to be doing.  But I ABSOLUTELY without a doubt know that this is where I am supposed to be.  I have really grown a lot spiritually.  I love that I can feel the Spirit pretty much all day long.  It really is a blessing.  I love being a missionary!  

I love you so much! Write me!

Love, Sister King

PS  What blood type was President Hinckley?

       Be positive

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA MTC HUMOR!!!!!

Love you guys!