Greatest moment of my life and I wasn't there!

Family,

Can you even believe how amazing the tender mercies of the Lord are in our lives?  I know that the Lord loves us and is so aware of us!  His hand is in the details of our lives!  Ashley meeting Kendall is one of the greatest moments of my life and I wasn't even there!  Haha.  So amazing! 

So transfers are on Wednesday and we just found out transfer information.  I am going to be staying here in Wausau.  My new companions name is Sister Karlsson.  I don't know hardly anything about her...  But I hear she is from Sweden or something.  So that should be interesting!  Excited to get to meet her this week and get to work.  A little nervous to take over the area.  I have done it a few times now but this time I am going to have to show her the ropes with leadership stuff.  So hope that all goes well. 

So last week for p-day we hiked Rib "Mountain."   Here are some pictures.

Sister Weaver is getting transferred to Madison 1!!!  I am so stoked!  She gets to go meet all of my very favorite people!!!!!  And Sister Kelley got transferred to be a Sister Training Leader in Green Bay so I will get to see her at MLC and stuff like that.  So lots of fun and exciting things happening with this transfer. 

So JT got baptized this week!  We weren't teaching him, the Elders were.  But we have gotten to know him pretty well and his story is pretty amazing!  He has been a flaming atheist his whole life.  The Elders met him tracting 6 months ago.  He told them not to waste their time because he didn't believe in God.  But the Elders were persistent and finally convinced him to come to a baptismal service a few months ago.  He felt the Spirit and couldn't deny it.  He has spent the last couple of months changing his entire life and entire way of thinking to now believing that there is a God.  And he is SO HAPPY!  When he bore his testimony at his baptism he said, "I have always sort of been a lone wolf, but I now have found my pack!"  He also said, "Now, it is REALLY hard for an Asian to say the word LOVE.  But I can honestly say that I love you guys and I love God!"  So that was pretty neat.  So grateful for JT's example to me.  He is a kingdom builder! 

We also got to have our interviews with President Cutler this week.  He talked to me about the importance of powerful personal prayer.  As I was studying and preparing for this interview, there was a line in PMG that really stood out to me.  It says, "No one can know of spiritual truths without prayer."  It really is so true.  God can't give us answers if we are not asking Him questions!  Heavenly Father wants to hear from us.  I know that the power of prayer is real.  I couldn't get through a single day of my mission without it. 

Sorry that I am running short on time again but I have to be quick because of transfers this week.  I love you all and CAN NOT EVEN WAIT to get to talk to you on Sunday!

Love you!

Sister King

Prayer is a supernal gift of our Father in Heaven to every soul. Think of it: the absolute Supreme Being, the most all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful personage, encourages you and me, as insignificant as we are, to converse with Him as our Father. Actually, because He knows how desperately we need His guidance, He commands, “Thou shalt pray vocally as well as in thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private.” ¹ 

^{-Elder Richard G. Scott}

BAPTISM!

Ok everyone-  Apologies in advance because I am pretty sure this e-mail is going to be kind of short and maybe a little lame.  It just hasn't been very long since I e-mailed last so not a lot to report on.  Except for.... ISHMAEL'S BAPTISM!!  It went so well this week! 

All of the missionaries in our ward with Ishmael.

In fact the couple of days that I have to write you about this week are pretty much all about Ishmael.  On Wednesday, the Spanish members of the ward get together to play soccer so we invited Ishmael to that and got to play with him and have a lesson about missionary work.  That was super fun because I got to destroy everyone at soccer, and also Ishmael made a lot of new friends in the ward.  :) 

Thursday we spent the whole day visiting less-actives in the ward.  We visited Deserae who is the less-active that teaches us how to knit.  (My scarf is coming along reallllll nice by the way)  And we shared with her Mosiah 18:21

21 And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.

So we talked about having our hearts "knit together in unity and in love" which I thought was pretty clever.  :)

We also got to see Rachel!  She is doing well.  I can't remember if I told you this or not but she just got a calling to teach Sunday School!  She teaches the 14-17 year olds.  So that is pretty cool.  She taught her first lesson this passed Sunday and that went well.  So it was fun to talk with her about that.

Friday we got to meet with Ishmael again!  We talked about enduring to the end.  Baptism is just the first step on the covenant path back to our Heavenly Father.  It is cool because teaching people about covenants and enduring to the end on my mission has given me such a greater appreciation for the covenants that I have made.  All of us are working on the "enduring to the end" part of the plan right now, and it is our covenants that help us with that.  Ishmael understands that this is just his first covenant that he needs to make.

And then.... Saturday was his baptism!!!  Ishmael was so incredibly prepared.  This was definitely the least stressful baptism that I have ever been a part of on my mission.  It was just so peaceful and nice.  It was great!  There was a great turn out from the ward.  The actual ordinance went very well!  One of the things that really drew Ishmael to the gospel was the opportunity to be born again and have all of his sins washed clean.  So it was great to be able to witness that.  He bore his testimony afterward about how much he just wanted to follow God's commandments and how following the commandments so far in his life has brought him so much happiness.  So now Ishmael is the newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! 

Frozen Lake Monona.  Check out all the ice fishers!

My BFF

I feel so incredibly blessed and grateful that I have been able to be a part of so many miracles on my mission.  Everyday I see the Lord's hand not only in this work, but also in my life.  I am grateful that the Lord placed Ishmael in our path on the bus that day.  I know that there are people out there that are prepared to hear this gospel, and as a missionary I get to be one of the people that help them to receive this good news.  It really is amazing and there is just nothing like it.  I am so grateful that I am here.

I love you all so much!  Sorry again for the shortness and lameness of this letter.  But know that I love you guys and am doing well!  Also- the Church is true!  So very true.

Love,

Sister King

Crazy this week, but so good!

Such a crazy week this week, but so good.  We witnessed so many miracles.  We have been so busy and are always exhausted, but that is the way that it goes most days.

Sister Kelley and me

Tuesday we had district meeting and we talked a lot about our purpose as missionaries.  We looked at it through the lens of the Restoration.  Our purpose as missionaries is to teach people the restored gospel.  Interesting that it always specifies that.  It is because we are living in the last days before Christ is going to come to the earth again.  We are so blessed to get to be a part of the Restoration and I am glad that I have the opportunity to share that knowledge and that joy with others.  After district meeting, we went to go visit a new investigator that we had found, but she wasn't home.  However, her neighbor Jake was outside and we started talking to him.  He told us that he is Atheist, but we started talking to him about Christmas and were able to help him to open up.  We talked to him about this new He is the Gift video that the church has put out.  (Which is really good by the way!  You should watch it.)  It has been cool to see how people that wouldn't normally talk to us or open up to us are more willing to listen during the Christmas season.  Later that night we were able to go to our ward's relief society activity.  They had a program called ''The Women Who Knew Christ."  It was very interesting.  It was pretty much just testimonies of the women who were involved in Christ's birth.  Pretty cool.

Wednesday we had a lesson with our investigator Zoe.  She has been progressing more now.  She has been reading from the Book of Mormon everyday and really enjoying it.  We talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  We talked about what it feels like and why it is such a blessing to have as a constant companion.  She just has a few concerns that we are trying to work through.  We were also able to visit a few other recent convert's and less-actives.  Nothing too crazy.

Thursday we had a lesson with out new investigator Ishmael.  He is the one that we met on the bus a few weeks ago.  We had taught him the Restoration last time and he really liked it.  But we wanted to make sure that he understood it all the way before we moved on.  So we watched the Restoration DVD with him and it was super powerful.  He told us that he was having warm feelings in his heart when he watched it so that is a good sign!  We gave him his own copy and he went home and watched it 4 times... haha.  So we are excited to see him again this week and hopefully we can set a baptismal date with him!  

Exchanges with Sister Brewster

Friday was exchanges!!!  I got to go on exchanges with the one and only Sister Brewster!  So fun to get to be back with her again.  She goes home on Thursday so it was fun to get to reminisce.  So crazy!  But this time we were back in our area together so that was pretty cool.  We got to see a lot of people that we taught together when we were companions.  We got to see Rachel together again which was really cool.  Reminded me again of what a miracle she is and what an amazing example she is too.  It was fun to be together with the 3 of us again.  We talked about the Christmas story in the Book of Mormon.  It must have taken a lot of faith on the believers part to stand up to the unbelievers when it came time for Christ's birth.  We also got to see Shay who is doing very well too!  She still reads from the Book of Mormon everyday and has started going to institute every week.  So that was pretty cool.  It was fun to get to exchange with Sister Brewster, but it was so nice to have Sister Kelley back again!  Sure do love that girl.  I am going to miss Sister Brewster when she goes home this week.

Kendall's baptism

Isn't Kendall just glowing?

Saturday was KENDALL' S BAPTISM!  It was such an amazing day!  This week was definitely full of ups and downs.  Kendall was out of town all week for business, so we had lessons with her over the phone everyday.  There was definitely a lot of opposition, but Kendall has been so strong.  Her family was not very supportive of her decision to be baptized.  But she says that she received and answer to her prayer and she knew what she needed to do.  There was really a special spirit at her baptism.  Kendall is amazing because she was already a very spiritual and Christlike person before she found this church.  But when Kendall bore her testimony at her baptism, she talked about how this new found faith is only going to strengthen and add to the faith that she already has.  Which is to true.  I love that this gospel does that.  It takes our strengths as well as our weaknesses and helps us to become better through them.  You can feel the Spirit so strongly whenever you are around Kendall and you can tell that she is just glowing with the light of Christ.  I am so grateful for her amazing example to me.  If everyone had faith like Kendall, the whole world would be baptized by now! 

When Sister Kelley and I were setting transfer goals back at the beginning of the transfer, our biggest goal that we decided on was to witness a Christmas miracle.  I think we did just that with Kendall!  She truly is a miracle and I feel so humbled and so blessed to have gotten to be a part of this.  I love being a missionary!  It is people like Kendall that make this all worth while.

I hope that you all are having a great Christmas season!  I love you!

Love,

Sister King

UNBELIEVABLE miracles this week!

Hello!!!

Ok you guys- UNBELIEVABLE miracles this week!

So on Tuesday our investigator Kendall sent us a text in the morning that said something along the lines of "How long until I can get baptized?"  I KNOW, RIGHT???  Sister Kelley and I were freaking out.  A week or two before Thanksgiving Sister Hammatt and I were teaching her and we invited her to be baptized on January 10.  A date that soon absolutely scared her half to death.  And then we weren't really able to meet with her because of all of the craziness with Thanksgiving.  We thought that we had screwed everything up and that she didn't want to be meeting with us anymore.  So when we got this text, we were super excited but also super confused. So she went on to tell us that she was really thinking and praying about it a lot.  

She was thinking a lot about a lesson that we had had with her on Faith and how faith is the opposite of fear.  She ultimately decided that her faith was being overshadowed by fear.  Putting all fear aside, she sincerely prayed to know if this is what she should do.  And she received an answer to her prayer!  She has decided that she wants to get baptized this Saturday!!  So basically this week was spent frantically running around and trying to get everything ready and make sure that we have taught her everything before then.  You guys, this is seriously the biggest miracle.  Our mission has been working so hard and praying so hard to meet our goal of 300 baptisms this year.  This is literally a miracle that the Lord has blessed us with.  Saturday is going to be such a great experience.  We are so excited!  Kendall is so amazing and her testimony is so strong.  

After we got this text, it was time to head to district meeting.  We talked about our experiences with finding and what has been working and what hasn't been.  We talked about having the faith to find.  Sister Kelley and I have been doing a lot of finding lately so it was nice to have a district meeting to help us with that.  Later that night, we were at the bus station and we had about 10 minutes until our bus came.  So Sister Kelley and I said a prayer and then walked up and down the bus station trying to find the one person that we felt that we should talk to before our bus came.  We both felt distinctly impressed to talk to this one woman sitting alone on a bench.  So we approached her and when we got there and tried to start talking to her, discovered that she didn't speak any English.  At first I was a little disappointed because we had both felt impressed that we should talk to her.  So we did our best with the limited Spanish that we both knew to try to talk to her.  It ended up going very well actually!  We testified of Jesus Christ and invited her to our Ward Christmas party and ended up getting her information.  I have no idea how on earth that happened since I don't know any Spanish.  But we gave her information to the Spanish Elders in our ward and she is now a new investigator for them!  We were totally supposed to talk to her that night.  Even though we weren't able to talk to her very much, the Lord allowed us to talk to her enough.  So that was a pretty cool miracle that happened.

On Wednesday we had to rearrange most of our plans to make sure that we had time for Kendall.  We need to be meeting with her just about everyday to make sure that she is taught everything by Saturday.  So we were able to show her the baptismal font and teach her about baptism and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Kendall really likes the concept of repentance.  Except she hates the word "repentance."  That word does kind of have a negative connotation to it.  So instead of using the word repentance, we use the word "change."  Ultimately, that is what repentance is.  It is changing to become more like our Savior.  So that was a pretty cool lesson that we had. 

Thursday we had a really cool lesson with our new investigator named Ishmael.  He is the one that we met on the bus that showed up to church last week!  We taught him the Restoration and when we invited him to be baptized, he said that he really wants to be able to get to that point.  So that was really exciting.  We are excited to get to start working with him some more.  We also had another lesson with...  You guessed it!  Kendall!  We taught her about both the Word of Wisdom and Tithing.  She has already been living these commandments and she said that she has been able to tell a difference.  It is really cool to see people when they just start living the commandments and they start to see differences in their lives because of it.  Just another testament to me that the Lord will bless us to "prosper in the land" when we keep the commandments.  We also were able to have a lesson with Rachel about the Book of Mormon.  Rachel is still doing so well and her testimony is growing every day :)

Friday was pretty simple.  Volunteered at the local food pantry and then had a lesson with Kendall.  We taught her pretty much the rest of the commandments.

Saturday was St. Nick's Day!  I had never heard of it before, but people celebrate it here in Wisconsin.  Apparently December 6 is St. NIck's Day.  I don't know the reasoning or meaning behind it, but pretty much it means that you get a present from Santa on December 6.  Sister Hammatt sent me a St. Nick's Day package to open.  So that was really sweet of her.  
By the way, she e-mailed me today and all is going well back at the MTC!  :)  Saturday was also our Ward Christmas party  It ended up being a huge success!  We had a couple of different people that we met on the bus show up which was super cool.  And Ishmeal came.

Sunday was Kendall's baptismal interview and she passed with flying colors!  We got to have dinner at the Senior's house with all 8 of the missionaries in the ward and then stayed after to watch the Christmas devotional.  I LOVED the devotional.  How cool that we get to start off the Christmas season with that.  I loved that Sister Oscarson talked about how Christmas spirit is really just Christlike love.  That is why everyone is so happy at this time of year.

Us and the Allred's with their brand new baby.

I hope that you have all enjoyed starting to read the Book of Mormon.  Man, that's a good book.  I think my favorite thing from the reading this week was in 1 Nephi chapter 6.  I think it is verse 6 where Nephi talks about how there isn't anything on the plates that isn't of great worth.  That means that every little thing that we read in the Book of Mormon was put there for a reason and it is of great worth to us.  Book of Mormon reading should not be taken lightly! 

So overall, pretty crazy but awesome week.  We are going to be having a baptism this Saturday!!!  Please keep our investigators in your prayers.  Anyways, running out of time but I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love,

Sister King

Timpview Baptisms!

Hi family!

First snow fall of the year.  And so it begins....

I don't have a lot of time to write this week because there are so many crazy things happening with transfers coming up so I will just have to cram as much information in as I can in a small amount of time.  So bear with me!  

Timpview represent!  Elder Baird and me with our investigators as they are about the be baptized!

Tuesday was pretty cool.  In order to prepare for District meeting our DL asked us to use the proclamation to the family in our finding.  We were so busy with our appointments that we hadn't really had an opportunity to do it.  So we went out right before district meeting to try to find some new investigators using the Proclamation.  We prayed so hard that we would be able to find someone.  The first person that we talked to on the street was named Connie and she LOVED the proclamation.  She ate it right up!  The thing is, it is so easy to just talk to people about their families.  And this gospel blesses families!  Because of it, we get to be with our families forever!  So relating it back to the Restoration of the gospel is usually pretty smooth.  So that was pretty successful and we found a cool new investigator out of it.  So then we went to district meeting and got to talk all about families.  It was really cool.  Of course, it made me miss you guys a lot.  But I am just so grateful that we are an eternal family.  We will have plenty of time to hang out in the eternities.  Then we had a district testimony meeting that was really powerful.  In some ways, we are like a family too.  So it was cool to hear their testimonies.  They have been my favorite district on my mission so far.  

Then later that night, we got to have a lesson with Shay.  We just went over a few last things before she had her baptismal interview and she PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS!  It was so awesome.  Afterward when we were praying with her and this is what she said in her prayer that really touched me.  She said, "Thank you so much for giving me what I have been looking for my entire life."  Shay is such a miracle and she never ceases to amaze me

Wednesday was exchange day!  I got to go back with Sister Brewster which was really fun!  It is always fun to reminisce with old companions.  We got to go work in the Madison 2 area.  We worked with a lot of recent converts and less actives.  It was really fun to be able to teach with her again.  And it was fun to be in a car too :)  But I was super excited to get back to my area to finish getting ready for Shay's baptism.  And to see Sis. Hammatt again.  

This has been my favorite district so far on my mission!

Found a mural of people protesting in Madison, so naturally had to take a picture in front of it :)

Say hello to Elim!

Exchanges with Sis. Brewster!  Check it out- we are both in a car!  haha

Thursday was the first day of snow!  And also the day that Sis Hammatt and I created our Christmas corner.  We met with our investigator Kendall and taught her the Plan of Salvation.  We extended a baptismal date in January.  We had prayed about it and felt really good about the date that we were going to extend.  But then Kendall said no... haha.  We were really scared that we maybe had scared her off.  But she texted us yesterday and said that after a few days of letting it sink it, she feels good about working towards January for baptism.  So that was a huge miracle.  WE also met with Shay on Thursday and taught her all about the temple.  She loved it and is excited to be able to go do baptisms for the dead.  And Sis Hammatt might even be able to take her in the 2 weeks that she has at home before she heads out on the rest of her mission.

We went back with Shay and took a picture in front of the bus stop where we met her!  ps- that is hot chocolate that she is drinking, not coffee haha

Love this girl!

Saturday was one of the most amazing days of my entire life.  SHAY'S BAPTISM!!!  Everything ran so smoothly.  It was perfect.  Elder Baird had a baptism that day too, so we combined them into one.  How cool is that?  Shay bore such a powerful testimony after she was baptized about how her whole life she felt like something was missing and that she knows that she has found it!  It was so amazing.  I know that I specifically was supposed to be here in Madison to find Shay!  I have seen the Lord's hand so much in my life the past transfer.  I know that he knows me and loves me and is looking out for me.  And I know that He knows Shay and that He knew that she was prepared to hear the gospel.  That is why He placed her at the bus stop with us that day.

We are now taking donations to help decorate our Christmas corner!!!!!!

Casually enjoying our Christmas corner.

I am so grateful for this gospel and the chance that I have to share it.  Thank you for your love and support!  Can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

Sister King

P-DAY B-DAY!

Sis. Brewster was so sweet and decorated the apartment this morning.

Hello Family!!!

Ok so much to tell you guys!!!  This week has been absolutely insane!  For starters, this week is transfers.  I didn't say anything about it last week because Sister Brewster and I weren't expecting it to really affect us.  We thought we would be together until Sis. Brewster goes home in December.  But then the transfer text came on Saturday and we found out that she actually would be leaving.  We just checked the transfer board a few seconds ago and she is not going too far... She is going to be my Sister Training Leader in the Madison 2nd ward.  As for me, I will be training here in the Madison 1st ward!  I am beyond nervous.  I felt nervous just knowing that I was going to be taking over the area after only being here one transfer, but now I will be training a brand new missionary too!  All I can say is that I am really going to need the Lord's help on this one.  Please keep me in your prayers!

Let me just start back at the beginning of the week...

Tuesday we had our last district meeting of the transfer.  Didn't this transfer just fly by?  Seems like just yesterday that I got here to Madison, and not I have a whole transfer under my belt!  It was a super awesome district meeting.  We talked all about asking our investigators what we call "inspired questions."  Asking them the questions that Christ would ask them if he were here to help them open up.  It was really cool and we received a lot of revelation for our area and the people that we are working with.  So that was pretty cool.  We also had a district testimony meeting which I absolutely love.  Our district really did see miracles this transfer!  We have been working hard.

My district this transfer

Mad 1!

We made dinner for a recent convert, Janet.

Wednesday we had a lesson with our investigator Zoe.  She is pretty solid and has some righteous desires, but has gotten caught up on the whole women and the priesthood thing.  So it was kind of an interesting lesson.  I just bore my testimony to her that we aren't going to understand everything here in this life.  But as long as we know that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith restored the gospel, and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today, nothing else matters.  It will all fall into place.  It is kind of interesting because a lot of those types of things that bother a lot of people about the church don't really bother me.... But they seem to bother a lot a people here in Madison.  So I just do my best to answer their questions the way Jesus would and be the best representative of Him that I can be

Out for hot chocolate because it is ALREADY FREEZING COLD :)

This is Estefany and she is one of the spanish members in the ward.  She just got her personal progress award, so we took her out to hot chocolate!

Thursday we had a lesson with Rachel.  We talked to her about callings and service in the church.  She is super excited to receive a calling and start visiting teaching!  So that is pretty awesome.  We also had a lesson with a brand new investigator named Myrtle.  Her fiance is a member of the church so he wanted her to take the missionary lessons.  It was such a miracle- we set a baptismal date with her in the very first lesson!  December 13!  So that is pretty awesome.  The work sure is going strong here in Madison.

Friday we had another lesson with Rachel.  She gave us really cute gifts.  I will cherish my picture of the temple from her for my entire life.  She really is a special daughter of our Father in Heaven.  We talked a little bit about the baptismal covenant that she would be making and we also talked about enduring to the end.  The is what she has to work on now for the rest of her life!  Enduring to the end!  We also shared our favorite scriptures about Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  Rachel was Jewish before, so it has been amazing to see her discover her Savior and what He means to her.

Rachel gave Sis. Brewster and I gifts the day before her baptism

Saturday was the craziest but best day ever.  We woke up and got to go over to the Allred's house to have a yummy breakfast and then watch conference together with Rachel.  We found out right before conference started that Sis. Brewster was going to be transferred, so that was kind of sad.  But in order to lighten up the mood, Rachel opened her brand new quad.  And she absolutely loved it!  The look on her face was priceless.  As soon as the conference session ended, we headed off to the church for Rachel's baptism.  It was the most powerful baptismal service I have ever attended.  The turn out from the ward was great!  We didn't even all fit in the Relief Society room.  Everybody just loves Rachel so much.  Rachel had asked me to give the talk on baptism, so that was super nerve wracking.  But I just bore my testimony of Jesus Christ and how Rachel is following his example.  It was pretty awesome.  But the best moment of the whole day was when Rachel got to bear her testimony.  I will send you a copy of it because I just won't do it justice.  But Rachel's testimony just absolutely glows through her.  It was an amazing experience!

Love this girl!

Sunday we got to have breakfast before conference with my favorites.... The Thurston's!  Our investigator Zoe came with us so that was pretty awesome.  You can always count on the prophet to invite the Spirit. :)  Then we watched the afternoon session with another favorite family in the ward.  It was the biggest tender mercy to get to watch most of the sessions in members homes.  Made me miss you guys!  But that's ok. 

Anyways as for my birthday today!  We are going on to lunch with my district!  So that should be pretty fun.  But mostly it was just the best birthday present to get to  read all of my e-mails from you guys today.  Thank you so much for being the best family ever.  I loved all of the cards and letters that you sent me.  Each and every one meant so much to me.  I love you guys so much!  Have a great week.

And remember, please keep me in your prayers a little extra! 

Love, 

Sister King

My Birthday package!

Opening birthday presents!