Spirit Tracting

Hey Fam!

Man!  What a week. As usual I am short on time so I will just tell you about a few of the highlights of the week

Our Zone Training Meeting went really well!  Giving trainings is still really scary and stressful to me, but I feel like I have gotten better than when I was first thrown into it.  So that is a blessing.  

Something interesting that President Cutler taught us that we got to teach the other missionaries in our zone is that there are 3 different kinds of obedience. First, you can obey out of fear.  You obey because you are scared of the consequences that will come if you are not obedient to what God wants you to do.  For example with tithing- D&C 64:23 tells us that if we don't pay our tithing is like fire insurance.  So some people are obedient because they are afraid of being burned.  

Second, you can obey out of want of blessings.  There are lots of promised blessings attached to the commandments that God gives us!  This is especially important as a missionary because we need the blessings of the Lord that come from obedience if we are to get along.  Or if we continue with the tithing example, Malachi 3:10 tells us that if we pay our tithing then the windows of heaven will open and pour out blessings that we won't even have room enough to receive them.  So some people obey the commandments because they desire blessings.  

Or the last reason for motivation behind obedience is love.  We simply love the Lord.  Do we really love the Lord?  when I wake up in the morning on time right at 6:30 and throw myself onto the floor to pray, am I doing it because I am afraid of what will happen if I don't?  Am I doing it because I want the blessings that will come?  Or am I doing it because I love the Lord so much and am excited that I have another day ahead of me to devote to serving Him.  Why are you being obedient to the commandments?  It is an interesting thing to think about.

John 14:15

If ye love‍ me, keep‍ my commandments.

Also- you should watch/listen to this talk!  Elder Holland can say it better than I can!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng

We got to go on exchanges this week.  I went to Stevens Point to be with Sister Clawson for the day.  She is finishing up her mission here in a couple of weeks so it was cool to get to learn from her.  We have served around and near each other in the same zones almost our whole missions so it was fun to get to spend the day together working.

We had a cool experience this week.  It was about 8:30 at night and our last appointment had fallen through.  Pretty much the whole state of Wisconsin goes to bed at like 7:00pm so knocking doors didn't seem like the best use of the half hour that we had left of the night.  So we decided to go on what I like the call a "Faith Walk."  We said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to place someone in our path that needed to meet us that day so that we could make the best use of our time.  We started walking and knocking on a few doors that had lights on, when we passed by this woman named Angie sitting outside of her apartment.  We approached her and started talking to her and she completely broke down and told us of the struggles she had been having with her son.  We answered SO MANY of her questions with the Book of Mormon.  It was incredible!  She told us that the Jehovah's Witnesses had knocked on her door a couple of days ago and that she was thinking of meeting with them, but now she wants to meet with us instead!  It was seriously a miracle!  I KNOW that Heavenly Father needed us to meet her that night.  We will be teaching her again later this week!

Also this week we were working at the food pantry that we volunteer at every week and ended up meeting an undercover less active that volunteers there!  He is currently in jail so we aren't allowed to visit him... haha.  But we did give him a Book of Mormon that he can read while he is there!  Apparently he joined the church when he was 12 with his older sister without their parents back in California and had been ordained a Priest.  But he had gotten into a little bit of trouble... and now he wants to turn his life around again!  So that was pretty cool.

We also were out contacted a couple of people in these indoor apartment complexes and with the way that the doors were set up and with the amount of time that we had left we weren't going to be able to knock on every single door.  So we decided to do what I like the call "Spirit tracting."  Pray to figure out which of the doors we needed to knock on!  We ended up meeting the 15 year old boy named Ricky.  He is Hmong though so we referred him to the Hmong Elders in our ward.  They taught him twice this week and just yesterday they set a baptismal date with him!  YAY SPIRIT TRACTING!

Ok we also met another cool lady named Teresa this week.  She was a headquarter referral that requested a Bible and a Book of Mormon so we thought that was pretty interesting.  When we went by to give her the books we started talking to her.  And apparently she had been meeting with Elders 6 years ago until one day she came home to find her house burned down!  Her Bible and Book of Mormon were completely destroyed.  Because of all the chaos between trying to find a new place and dealing with insurance and trying to salvage anything that was left from the fire, she fell out of contact with the missionaries.  But now she feels that it is time for her to start meeting with the missionaries again!  So she is going to start reading the BofM again and we are going to start meeting with her this week!

See- so many miracles are happening!  So I didn't even miss you guys in Cancun.  :)

But really though, I LOVE this work.  There is no place I would rather be.  The hand of the Lord has never been so prevalent in my life than it is now.  I see it everyday and I am so grateful for that.  This truly is the Lord's work and "no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!"   "Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go for boldy, nobly, and independent until it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear."  I know that this gospel is true and that it is real.  It changes lives!

Love,

Sister King

Sorry!  Only one picture this week and it is from my exchange with Sister Clawson

"Mormons are some of the most Christian people that I know!"

Hello Family!

So good to hear from you this week! 

Here is an extra shout out to Ash who has now joined the ranks as a fellow cougar.  #gocougs

Things are going well out here in good old Wausau, Wisconsin!  Things are warming up a little bit.  And by warming up, I mean it was 10 degrees when we got out of the car.  So that is good news!

haha

the Elders put this huge ice boulder on the top of our car

As for the week this week...

Tuesday we met with our investigator Nancy.  She is super cool.  She is probably one of my very favorites of the people that we are teaching right now.  She was found through a Family History Booth that the sisters set up over the summer and they have been teaching her every since.  She is older, probably in her late 60's.  and she is coming along slowly but surely!  She really loves all of the things that she has learned and she told us on Tuesday that she believes the Book of Mormon is true!  The hard thing for her is leaving the Lutheran heritage of her family... :(  She really wants to, she just needs to get up the courage to do it.  She told us that she had a cool experience with her family this week though.  They were having a big family dinner and one of her grandsons brought up the subject of Mormons and said something along the lines of "Mormons aren't Christians."  I was gearing myself up for some bad news... but then Nancy told us that 2 of her sons actually stood up for the church!  One of them, the most Lutheran of them all said, "Mormons are some of the most Christian people that I know!"  Nancy said that the room just lit up and that she could feel the Spirit.  She doesn't know if her kids know that she has been seriously investigating the church, but she said that this was a huge tender mercy for her.  We are planning on trying to set a baptismal date with her either this week or next week, so keep Nancy in your prayers!

Wednesday we had a really good lesson with our investigator Kelly.  She is the one that is trying to quite smoking.  She actually has made a lot of progress this week!  She said that she can feel the priesthood blessing helping her.  So that was a huge miracle!

Thursday we had a service project at the local food pantry, so that was a lot of fun!  and Thursday night was my first experience with Hmong food!  I LOVE IT!!!!!!! I love all of the Hmong members of the ward already.  haha

I decided to take a couple of pictures of the inside of our house.  Don't worry, today is p-day so that clutter will be cleaned when we get home.

We also have a big entry way and a basement with our own washer and dryer which is going to save me a FORTUNE because in my last 2 areas I always had to get quarters for laundry.  There is also another little study room with a few couches and stuff in it.  And the bathroom.  so this is BY FAR the nicest place I have lived on my mission.

Friday was my very first exchange as a sister training leader.  I got to go to Stevens Point, Wisconsin with Sis. Kunz.  (I forgot to take a picture... Sorry!)  She is from Spokane, Washington and came out in July with Sister Kelley!  So it was fun to get to be with her for the day.  It was cool because there is a college here, UW-Stevens Point.  So we got to go campus contacting!  I WAS IN THE ZONE.  It was just like being back in good old Madison.  So that was a huge tender mercy for me.  And in the process we found some new investigators there for the Stevens Point sisters to start working with.  I think it helped Sister Kunz to get re-excited about the work.  So I was grateful for that.  As we were driving down the road, Sister Kunz felt prompted to stop at this one apartment complex and tract it out.  So we did and ended up giving away 7 copies of the Book of Mormon!  So I was so grateful that I was able to go there and help the Stevens Point Sisters get some work done.  I was super nervous at first, but I would call my first exchange a success!

Sorry- I am always running out of time!  haha.  But I thought that I would just leave you with this quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

"Success may seem tiny to you and they may go unnoticed by others, but God notices them and they are not small to Him."

Sometimes missions are hard because you don't see large amounts of success every day.  But I know that the Lord is grateful for all of our efforts.  He sees the little successes and little victories that we have.  Even ones that we don't  see.  And He will bless us for our hard work.  I know that is true!  I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that more than anything he wants us to be able to make it back to live with him again.  I sure do love you guys!  Can't wait to hear from you again next week!

Love,

Sister King