It is never too late!

Hey Family!

We had a very busy and kind of a hard week this week.  We have been working really hard.

One of the highlights of the week was Mission Leadership Council.  I got to see Sister Kelley there!  I sure miss her a lot.  It was fun to get to catch up on what had been going on in Madison and also what had been going on in her life.  MLC this month was all about FAITH.  Sister Cutler talked to us about how there are two different kinds of faith.  The bible dictionary tells us that faith is a principle of action and of power.  Action and Power.  Faith isn't really faith unless we do something about it.  But if we are acting on the faith that we have, the power will come.  It is inevitable!  Sis. Karlsson and I have a lot of work to do today to prepare for zone training meeting tomorrow and to teach the missionaries about faith.

LOOK WHO I GOT TO HANG OUT WITH AT MLC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know, when you are serving as a missionary your purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the holy ghost.  Most missionaries focus on how our purpose is to baptize.  And yes that is very true.  But that is not all!  There is so much more to it than just baptism.  And the thing is, MOST of the people we meet do not get baptized.  It is really easy to get discouraged sometimes because of that.  But put very simply, our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ.

Exchanges with Sister Quist.  She is such a cutie :)

We had an experience with that yesterday.  We were meeting with a woman named Jennifer that we had tracted in to.  The first time we knocked on her door she told us to come back later because she didn't have time to talk then.  We have gone back at least once or twice a week for the past 6 weeks only to receive the same answer- don't have time now, come back later.  That can get kind of discouraging as a missionary because sometimes you feel like you are running in circles.  But we were persistent and went to see her again yesterday.  When she answered this time, she came out holding her Book of Mormon.  She was actually ready to learn!  It was probably just because she felt so bad that she kept telling us to come back later... haha.  But we were able to teach her about the Restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smith.  We told her how the same church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth has been restored again for us today and that we have a living prophet who leads us.  Jennifer then told us of some hard things that have happened in her life that have made her feel unworthy.  I will never forget when she looked up and me and asked, "Is it too late for me?"  I was able to tell her with full confidence in my Savior, "It is never too late!"  Jennifer was moved to tears.  As we sat there on her porch teaching her about the Atonement, I kind of started to think.  I don't know if Jennifer really is ever going to get baptized (remember, most people that we meet don't), but I know that we made a difference to her that day.  As a representative of Jesus Christ, I was able to tell her that it is not too late!  And that is what I have been able to do my entire mission.

This was my district from this transfer!  This was an awesome district.  We are the "oldest" district in the whole mission- everyone goes home within the next 3 transfers!  I learned a LOT from these experienced missionaries.

Every single day, I have been able to bear my testimony of Jesus Christ and tell someone that "it is never too late" or "there is a God who loves you" or "because Jesus Christ felt your sorrows, you don't have to do it alone."  What an incredible blessing that is.  Even if there is not a lot to "show for it", I have been able to invite others to come unto Christ! I know that I have been able to make a difference in the lives of God's children, whether it be big or small.  And the amazing thing is that in the process, I have been able to come unto Christ myself.  I am so grateful that I get to be his missionary and that I get to be an instrument in His hands.  I love my mission.  I love everyday that I am here.  I know that this really is Christ's church and it is our responsibility to help others to know about it.  What a blessings.  I love this Gospel.

And I love you all too!!

Love,

Sister King

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}

Mission Conference with Elder Christensen

Hello Family!

Another week come and gone.  I can hardly believe it. 

So for starters- we found out about transfers this Wednesday.  Sister Weaver and I are going to be staying here together another transfer in Wausau!  YAY!  That is what we thought was probably going to happen.  But you can never be sure.  So it is nice to know!  :)  But there was a sister training leader area that did close down so we are going to be picking up a couple of new sets of sisters that we go on exchanges with and stuff so that should be interesting.  Gonna get to travel around the state a little more so that should be fun!  Exhausting, but fun. :)  The next transfer I believe is going to be on May 6.

This week was pretty cool.

Tuesday we got to meet with True.  Do you remember her?  She is the one that I talked about last week that we pulled over to help her with her car.  Well, we set a baptismal date with her this week!  We went over and taught her the Restoration and she loved it!  There is still a lot that we have to teach her and a long way to go, but she has a day that she is working toward.  She is a cute little Hmong lady and she is so kind to us!  So hope that all goes well with her as we continue to teach her this week.

Wednesday we met a new investigator named Andrea.  The Elders in our ward had been teaching her Dad, but he wasn't that interested.  We decided to try stopping by his daughter's (Andrea's) house to see if we might have more luck with her.  She let us right in and we were able to teach her the Restoration.  Her boyfriend has decided to sit in on the lessons too!  They loved the Restoration so much, that they wanted us to come back the very next day on Thursday to teach them the next lesson!  So we set a baptismal date with her has well.  Her boyfriend, Andres, is a little more hard-hearted and not as willing to work toward baptism.  But we know that the Spirit will soften his heart.  :) 

It was cool though because our zone (like I talked about last week) set the goal for every area in our zone to set a new baptismal date before L. Tom Perry was going to come.  OUR ZONE WAS ON FIRE THIS WEEK!  We doubled our goal for baptismal dates.  It was absolutely incredible.  We were all working so hard to prepare to hear from an apostle.  And then on Thursday, the day before we were going to be leaving for the conference, we got a call from our zone leaders to tell us that Elder Perry wasn't going to be coming anymore...  Yeah... needless to say I was pretty disappointed.  Still am a little bit... haha.  But holy cow look at all the miracles that came from just the thought of an apostle coming to our mission!  The conference still ended up being such a cool experience.

Some pictures from our mission conference

Got to see Sister Osmond!

Celebrating Gabby's year mark!

It was about a 4 hour drive down to Milwaukee because we had to pick up another set of sisters in Gresham on the way.  We didn't get to stay with anyone from West Allis.  :(  But we did get to stay with a family from Sister Weaver's old area in Waukesha!  So that was pretty cool.  We stayed the night there and then headed to the Milwaukee South Stake center in the morning.  This is the church building where the West Allis ward meets!  So many memories flooded through my mind as we walked into the building.  Such a tender mercy to be able to be in Milwaukee again.  I sure do miss that place.  And I got to see so many of my missionary friends there.  Biggest highlight though- seeing Sister Kelley!  Made my whole life.  Sure do miss that girl.  She told me all about what has been going on back in Madison too so that was pretty cool.  Praying that she gets transferred up here to Wausau next transfer... :) 

So Elder Perry didn't end up coming....  Yeah that was a bummer.  But Craig C. Christensen of the seventy still came.  And he is pretty awesome!  This is kind of sad though- he told us that the reason that Elder Perry wasn't able to come at the last minute is because President Monson and President Packer are both not doing well.  Their health just been declining so much.  And he needed to stay last minute to do some things to get ready for general conference coming up because he is the next in seniority. 

Even though Elder Perry wasn't able to be there, it was still a very special meeting!  Elder Christensen is also a very inspired man.  He talked to us a lot about the Atonement and how we can learn about it has we read from the Book of Mormon.  I thought that was interesting because that is something that President Cutler has been talking to us about that a lot lately.  So I guess they both received the same revelation that that is what we needed to hear!  Elder Christensen also talked a lot about humility.  I thought that was interesting because the question that I took to this meeting was, "How can I be more humble."  I thought this was interesting- he said, "Humility is knowing who you are and at the same time knowing who God is."  Kind of makes you think doesn't it.  I think sometimes we think that if we are humble that we need to think very low of ourselves.  That isn't true!  Humility should make us confident!  But we just need to make sure that we are equally confident in the Lord as we are in ourselves.  It is really hard to find that balance.  But then I think about how we have a perfect example to look to- The Savior.  Boy was he humble.  He did exactly what the Father asked him to do, but he was also confident in his testimony and in the things that he knew.

So this week was a pretty special one!  I think that Sister Cutler said she was going to be posting a picture of the whole mission that we took together on the mission blog soon.  (There should also be some pictures there from the last zone conference here in Wausau and from my first MLC!)

So grateful for the experiences that I have been having out here.  I miss you all everyday.  But I cherish every moment that I get to spend here. 

Love you all so much!  Have an awesome week! 

Love,

Sister King

Goodbye Madison!

Hello Family!

Well, another transfer has come and gone.  Crazy how time flies.  As it sounds like most of you already know, I found out that I am going to be transferred this week.  I have been really sad about it, but I trust that the Lord has good things in store for me.  So I just found out that I am going to be transferred to Wausau.  And I have been called to be a Sister Training Leader.  My new companion is going to be Sister Weaver.  She came out with me so if you look back at some of my MTC pictures then you can see who she is.  She is the absolute cutest so I am way excited to get to be companions with her.  I have heard so many amazing things about the Wausau area.  Sister Kelley just came from that zone and she raves about it.  Sister Newton also served there and that is all she would talk about when we were together.  

Bowling with the district last p-day!

One of my favorite recent converts here in Madison.  He is going to the temple for the first time later this month!

Also, guess what!  The Wausau sisters area has a car!  I am still learning about Wisconsin geography, but I do know that Wausau is North of here.  Which means more snow and more cold!  Yay!  I hear that the work has really been taking off there, so I am really excited to start meeting people and getting going!  So I will leave Wednesday morning to head to Wausau. 

But back to this week...  It was a little sad because I knew that a lot of the people that I was seeing was probably going to be my last time seeing them.  But it has made me realize what an amazing blessing all of these people have been in my life. 

Tuesday we had some more crazy snow storms.  I didn't think that there was even anymore snow in the atmosphere because all of it must have fallen on Sunday when church was cancelled.  But nope, we had even more on Tuesday.  We had district meeting and then when we went to catch the bus afterward, we ended up getting stuck at the bus station for an hour because all of the buses were running way behind because of the crazy amounts of snow.  And then once we got on our bus we were stuck on that bus for another hour because everything was moving so slowly and there were so many car accidents.  It was an adventure to say the least. 

But while we were stuck on the bus for so long, we were able to meet this kid named Darnell.  He is studying to become a pastor for his Unitarian church.  We were able to talk about the differences between our churches and he was very impressed with us for giving up a year and a half of our lives to teach people about Christ.  He wasn't extremely interested, but I know that we were supposed to run into him on the bus that day.

Wednesday we had a couple of appointments fall through.  It was kind of a bummer because they were people that we met on the bus that we thought were super solid.  But that is ok.  What is meant to happen will happen.  We got to have a lesson with Sarah though and we invited her boyfriend Vince to come so that we could teach both of them together!  So that was a fun.

Thursday we had a lesson with a recent convert named Shaun.  He is going to be going to the temple at the end of this month so we had a little temple prep lesson with him.  We also had a huge miracle on the bus!  So last week we ran into this woman named Marlene on the bus.  She had investigated the church back in 1999 and was going to be baptized, but then moved here to Madison and lost contact with the church.  So when we saw her we were able to get a little bit of her contact information.  But I think that maybe she hadn't paid the phone bill or something like that so we were not able to get in contact with her and we were so sad about it.  But on Thursday, we ran into her AGAIN but on a different bus!  It was seriously the biggest miracle.  She recognized us and told us that she was so sad that we hadn't been able to get ahold of her.  She also had been reading from the Book of Mormon that we gave her and she had lots of questions.  It was so incredible to see how the timing worked out perfectly to be able to get back in contact with her.  So now we will be able to start teaching her!

Friday we finally got to see Kendall again.  Her life has been kind of crazy lately and we haven't been able to see her for a long time.  Luckily things are going a lot better with her family.  Things have mellowed out a little bit and Kendall said that she has really been able to feel the companionship of the Holy Ghost is her life.  Also- Kendall got a calling this past Sunday to teach the 10 year old primary class!  So we are super excited about that,

Saturday the transfer text came and my name was on it...  I was super sad.  But it was also nice to know for sure so that I could start saying goodbye to people.  And I am running out of time sorrrrryyy...........

Sunday I actually spoke in church!  Brother Durtschi texted me on Friday night to ask if I would.  It was pretty stressful to be able to find time to put a couple of thoughts together, but we made it work.  I was actually grateful for the opportunity because I was able to tell everyone in the ward just how much I love and appreciate them.  I really have learned so much from this ward.  They are absolutely incredible. 

And pretty much have spent the rest of the time starting to pack and saying goodbye to people!

I love Madison with all my heart and it kills me to have to go.  But I think the thing that I am going to miss the very most is Sister Kelley.  She is one of the most Christlike people I have every met and she is an incredible missionary.  I prayed so hard to be able to have a good companion for the Christmas transfer, and boy was my prayer answered.  I learned a lot from Sister Kelley, but I think the biggest thing I learned from her was selflessness.  She is just so selfless!  She just has a way of making you feel loved and important and I hope that I can be more like her in that way. 

Geez.  I think one of the reasons that missions are so hard is because they are just one huge goodbye.  First to your family, then to all the people you know and love here.  It is so hard.  But it is absolutely incredible.

I miss Madison already!

Sister King

Yes, I Am Alive!

Hi Family!!

This is me out in the crazy snow storm yesterday right after we found out that church was cancelled.

This guy is just casually skiing down the street... haha.  That is how much snow there was!

Yes, I am alive.  You thought I would be buried in the massive amounts of snow that we got this weekend.  But we managed to make it out here to the library. 

Kind of a weird week this week.  We have been doing a lot of finding this week.  All of the investigators that we have had lately are either not progressing or have gotten baptized.  Haha so we have been trying really hard to find some new people to teach.  We gave away quite a few copies of the Book of Mormon this week so that was pretty exciting.  We are still following up with all of those people and hoping that something comes of it.  I know that the Book of Mormon has to ability and power to change hearts!  So hopefully we will be able to start reaping some of those seeds.

Tuesday we had a couple of lessons.  One with Sarah who just recently got back in town.  School here and UW didn't start back up again until last week.  So we finally got to see her again for the first time since the end of November.  She is doing well and has been reading a lot from the Book of Mormon.  We are planning to have a lesson this week with her boyfriend Vince that plays on the football team. So that should be good and we are excited about that.

Wednesday we had interviews with President Cutler!  Interviews are always a great experience.  I know that President Cutler is inspired of God to lead this mission.  In preparation for interviews, President Cutler asked us to study Elder Christofferson's talk from this last conference called "Free Forever, to Act for Themselves." He has really been pushing this idea to "act, and not be acted upon." I love the quote from this talk that says something about how we need to go out and get to work so that God has something to help us with.  The enabling power of the Atonement can help us as we are out doing our best and working hard.  Something that I learned and really want to start working on, is doing things more out of intention and not habit.  Or doing things for the right reason.  Do I go out and work everyday because I am supposed to?  Or do I go out and work because I love the Lord and truly want to help bless his children.  Are we reading our scriptures to cross it off of our to-do list?  Or are we reading our scriptures to change our hearts and learn more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ?  Sometimes it can be hard to figure out which reason it really is, but I think that is where the Atonement can come in and help us out a little bit.  It was so good to be talking to President about these things and I learn so much from him.  He said that things are going well back in West Allis and that Tubree is doing a lot better!  So that made my day.  He also said that an apostle is coming to visit the mission on March 21!  So that is exciting!  Who do you think it will be??  I told President Cutler that I have really loved serving here in Madison.  So hopefully he will let me stay here another transfer with Sister Kelley!  But we will see.  :) 

Thursday we got to see Ishmael which was really good.  He has been having a little bit of a hard time since his baptism.  But we taught him all about the power of the Atonement and I think that helped him to feel better.  He even ended up going out with the Elders over the weekend to help them teach some lessons!  So that was awesome!  He is pretty solid.  We also got to see Shay.  ( We have been trying to focus a lot on our recent converts lately to make sure that they are all still going strong.)  Shay is doing well!  We talked to her about fasting and the power that comes behind it.  I love Omni 1:26

26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

We talked about the role that fasting plays in this.  So then it was really cool to be able to fast with her this past Sunday.  :)

Friday we met with a few of our other investigators that haven't been progressing as much so not a lot to report on those.  We did meet a few cool people on the bus though.  One who said that she had met with missionaries back in 1999 in Chicago and was interested in started to meet with them again.  So that was a cool miracle to be able to run into her on the bus. 

Saturday we got to go to Sister Durtschi's card class.  This was great because we were able to reconnect with her friend Jeanne that has been reading from the Book of Mormon, and we schedule a time to teach her this week!  So we hope that all goes well with that too.

Sunday was CRAZY.  We woke up in the morning to probably around 5 new inches of snow or so.  Church ended up being cancelled which we were pretty bummed about.  Because no church on superbowl sunday??  A missionaries' worst nightmare!  Haha we didn't know what we were going to do all day.  But we made it work and there were actually a lot of miracles.  President Cutler gave the missionaries permission to administer the sacrament.  So we got together with the Elders in our district and had our own mini sacrament meeting.  It actually turned out to be one of the most special experiences of my mission and something that I will never forget.  While the Elders were preparing the sacrament, I was reading in 3 Nephi 18 when Christ institutes the sacrament to the Nephites and he says this,

10 And when the disciples had done this, Jesus said unto them: Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you.

I was thinking about how Sister Kelley and I had trudged through the mounds of snow everywhere to be able to partake of the sacrament.  This was us "acting" and not being "acted upon." Christ says,  "Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done."  We have to DO something!  And by partaking of the sacrament, we were keeping the commandments and doing what Christ had asked us to do.  I just felt to blessed and grateful that we had the opportunity to do that.  We spent the rest of the day trying to visit people but that wasn't very successful.  We tried to ride the bus a little but no one was on the bus because of the snow and the super bowl so that was hard too.  But there was a sweet family that had us over for dinner so that was a huge tender mercy.  I was feeling a little homesick because I wished so badly that I could have been out of the cold and wet snow and watching the super bowl with you guys.  But this family that we had dinner with had just returned from a family vacation to Disney World!!!  So I got to talk to them all about their trip and see all of their pictures.  Seriously the BIGGEST tender mercy.  We all know how much I love Disney and to be able to have that at the end of this hard and dreary day was exactly what I needed.  I know that there is someone up there looking out for me.

So we had a good week this week and I am excited to see what his coming week has in store!  Thank you for all that you do and for being the best family ever!

Love,

Sister King

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

Last week freezing, This week SO NICE!

Hello everyone!

So weird to be writing you guys on a Tuesday.  I am so sorry if this e-mail is kind of all over the place because we don't have a lot of time to write.  Because today is a normal day and not a p-day we have a couple of appointments tonight that we need to get to.  But I will do my best to give you a run down of what has been going on over here in Madison.

My home girl Sister Kelley.  I love her to death!

For starters- the weather has been SO NICE.  Ok granted, it is still below freezing.  But at this time last year I was coming home at the end of the night and doing our nightly planning session with our feet in the tub full of warm water so our toes could thaw out.  Last week was pretty brutal, but it has been so tame ever since.  Knock on wood, but I think I may have lucked out with one of the nicest winters Wisconsin has seen in a while.  We will see how it goes.

I might just have to hit some of the bigger highlights from the week since I am running out of time.

Blurry, but this is us on the bus yesterday.  The semester here at the University started up today so all of the students were getting back.  There was close to 100 people crammed on the bus.

Sister Kelley and I found this HUGE coat in our church building that we both fit inside of.

So the biggest and most important news from this week would be Ishmael!  His baptism is still set for this coming Saturday!  He is so beyond prepared.  We were able to meet with him a few times this week and they were all great lessons.  First, we got to meet with him and we brought Kendall to the lesson.  She is the one that just got baptized in December.  You guys, I think that this lesson with Ishmael and Kendall is probably one of the biggest highlights of my whole entire mission.  We taught Ishmael the principle of tithing.  We taught it using skittles and taught the analogy of "pouring out the windows of heaven."  Gave him 10 green skittles and after he gave us one back we poured the entire bag of skittle into his hand and he couldn't even hold all of them. haha so that was fun.  But the reason that I like that so much is because the "blessings" that he received for "paying his tithing" weren't all green.  Some of them were, but most of them were other colors.  That is what it is like when we receive blessings.  Sometimes it could be financially or temporally, but I feel like more often than not the blessings that we receive for paying our tithing are spiritual.  Tithing is a principle of faith, not money.  

So as we were teaching Ishmael, we asked Kendall to bear her testimony about the things that we had been talking about.  Kendall also comes from a Catholic background and because she so recently was making these same decisions as Ishmael, she was able to really connect.  She started bearing her testimony of not just the principle of tithing, but also of her conversion to the gospel in general.  As I sat there listening to Kendall bear such powerful testimony, the Spirit just absolutely filled the room.  I sat there and looked around and realized that there I sat with Ishmael who has so much faith and is so excited to follow the Savior and be baptized, and here is Kendall who was just learning these same things not so long ago but now has a testimony of these principles because she has already seen the blessings that come from living them.  It was amazing to see the change because it seems like just yesterday that Kendall was in Ishmael's shoes.  It was cool because I could see that the things that we were able to teach Kendall are now a part of her and she was sharing those same things with Ishmael.   

One of the most (if not THE most) powerful lessons on my whole entire mission.  I am so grateful for how  I was able to see the Lord's hand not just in my life, but in both of these other children of his in that moment.  I will never forget that.  Also, I just thought I would let you know how much I love Kendall she is such a great person and a great example for me.  I am so grateful that I came on a mission just because I got to meet her and that reason alone.  I have learned so much from the people that I have met here and I will be forever grateful for that.

Ishmael had his baptismal interview this morning and he passed with flying colors! He was interviewed by the one and only Elder Harmon from Timpview!  So that is nice to have under our belts and we can spend the rest of the week helping him to prepare to make this important covenant.  The other cool thing was that he had his interview this morning right before district meeting so when he saw that all of the missionaries were going to stay there to learn, he asked if he could stay as well.  So he ended up staying for our whole district meeting today!  haha.  Today district meeting was about how to have a more effective study.  And then we role played and practiced teaching.  So Ishmael wanted to practice too!  He shared with us his favorite story from the Book of Mormon.  Turns out, he had listened to the entire Book of Mormon in just a few days!  So he taught us about Captain Moroni and shared with us Alma 48:17.  He taught us about what we can do to be more like Moroni and what we can learn from his example.  It was so cool to be taught by one of my investigators!  Another highlight of my whole mission.  Ishmael is seriously so great and so ready for baptism this week!  I can't wait for Saturday!  Please keep Ishmael in your prayers this week! 

The other big thing that happened this week would be Debra and Jada's baptism.  They were the Elder's investigators, but we ended up helping a lot with their baptism and even taught some of their lessons.  So it was cool to get to be a part of that.  Debra is a single mom and Jada is just 12 years old.  They met the Elders when they were trying to contact a referral one day and invited them to church and they showed up!  There were definitely a lot of bumps in the road with their journey, but so many miracles happened to make their special day possible!  We fasted as a district the day before to ask that everything would work out.  Things didn't work out the way that we thought they would, but they did work out nonetheless!  So grateful that I got to be a part of their special day!

Debra and Jada's baptism

And yes, that is Elder Harmon.  Timpview with the win!

Also- I hit my one year mark this week!  CRAZY!  We didn't get to really do too much to celebrate or anything this week because we have been so busy.  But that is ok, I would MUCH rather be busy.  But I am so beyond grateful for this past year of my life.  I have learned and grown so much.  I can remember the day that I left for the MTC like it was yesterday.  I had no idea what was really in store for me.  I am so grateful that I still have time left to use the things that I have learned and to continue to become better.  This one year mark is also significant for you guys too because it marks one year that you have been the best missionary family in the whole wide world!  I am so grateful for you and all that you do to support me out here.  Sure do love you guys.  Can't wait to hear from you again soon.

Love,

Sister King

-36 degrees!

I hope that you all had a great week this week!  It was so good to hear from all of you.

Things have been going pretty well back here in Madison.  It was CRAZY cold this week though.  At one point it got down to -36 degrees.  So that is a little frigid.  But we are making it work. :)

So this picture sums up what the weather was like this week!

Tuesday was a great day.  We had another zone training meeting.  We talked a lot about what we have learned about The Atonement this past year.  That was interesting to reflect on. I truly have learned a lot.  I think that is probably the thing that I have learned to most about on my mission- The Atonement of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel is centered on this!  It is so important.  The way that I have learned so much about it is from reading the Book of Mormon.  That Book tells us so much about Christ.  So that was cool to get to talk with the missionaries in our zone about. 

We were also able to meet with Ishmael!  We talked to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He loved it!  He is excited to be baptized!  We had to move his date back one week to January 24th just to make sure that he is ready and prepared for baptism.  But January 24 is looking pretty solid!  So we are way excited about that!

We also got to meet with Rachel and talk about the Plan of Salvation.  She is doing so well.  She actually got a calling this past Sunday!!  She is going to be teaching the 14-17 year old Sunday School class!  She will be SO GOOD for that.  She is really excited and I am way excited for her too. 

Wednesday we had a lesson with our new investigator Jeanne.  She is the one that read the Book of Mormon in 3 days.  We taught her the Restoration and she loved it!  She said that it makes sense for the priesthood authority to be restored back to the earth.  She is still reading from the Book of Mormon, but is hesitant the come to church.  So hopefully when we see her this week we will be able to help her to make that next big step.

Thursday was kind of slow.  Just saw a couple of less active members and volunteered at the American Red Cross for a blood drive.  Pretty much we were just trying to do our best to be doing good and productive things inside and out of the cold.  So it was a littler slower.  But we were able to talk to some people on the bus.  Nothing super crazy or special to make note of though.

Friday was pretty cool.  We had to opportunity to teach one of the Elders' investigators!  Her name is Debra and she has a 12 year old daughter named Jayda.  They met them a few weeks ago and Debra was looking for a place that she could take her children to help their family to come closer to Christ, and then she met the Elders.  She was so excited and wants to get baptized this coming Saturday!  But the Elders were having a hard time being able to teach her everything before then, so we got to go over to teach them a lesson.  We talked about tithing and fasting and they absolutely loved it!  It has always been amazing for me to see people that are so excited to start contributing to the building up of the kingdom of God.  And it was so cool, we were talking about how we fast once a month on the first Sunday of every month.  And Jayda chimes in and says, "can we fast at other times if we want help with something too?"  It was just the sweetest.  So cool to see how the gospel has already started to change this family.

Saturday I got to go on exchanges in the Madison 2 ward area with Sis. Ostler.  She is from Ephraim, Utah and is absolutely amazing.  Such a great example for me!  We got to meet with a couple of recent converts in their ward and also a few less-active families.  We went to go stop by a potential investigator that they had, but she wasn't home.  So we started talking to her roommate.  We told her that we were teaching her roommate how she could come closer to Jesus Christ.  That sparked her interest and she was curious as to how.  So we were able to give her a Book of Mormon.  She said that she would read it and is a new investigator for those sisters now!  So that was a pretty cool miracle.  At the end of the exchange though, I was so happy to be back in the Madison 1st ward with Sister Kelley.

Sister Kelley and me in the Capitol building

On exchanges with Sister Ostler.  She is so great!

We made Snoopy waffles :)

Got to see Sister Christiansen for the first time in a year!  We came out together but have always served in different zones.

Things are going pretty well out here!  We are doing our best to stay busy and out of the cold.  The Lord is blessing us so much!  Please keep us in your prayers! 

Love you!!!

Sister King