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

Another week in Madison

Hi Family!

This week was a pretty good.  Busy, which is always good!

Sister Hammatt and Sister King

Tuesday we had a really good district meeting.  The topic was the law of chastity so we were all super excited about it..... haha.  But it actually ended up being one of the most inspiring district meetings of my mission.  It really hit me just of important the law of chastity is!  It is so important that we are living virtuous and chaste lives.  I think for me, I always think of the law of chastity as just not doing the bad things.  It's not just not doing to bad things, we need to be doing good things too.  Chastity starts with having good and virtuous thoughts, words, deeds, and actions.  We can ALWAYS be living a more chaste life.  


D&C 121 tells us to let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly.  Virtue should be able to "garnish" or "go along with" all of the thoughts that we have in our minds.  And I will never forget what Susan W. Tanner said!  "Virtuous young men are attracted to virtuous young women!"  Later that night, we were able to have dinner with our investigator Stefanie.  Her daughter is a member of the church and she was in town.  They had us over for dinner and then afterward had a very powerful lesson on the Plan of Salvation.  Stefanie recently lost her husband and a few years ago lost her other daughter to cancer.  We testified that families can be together forever!  What an amazing blessing that is.  It really touched Stefanie and she wants to do what it takes to be with her family forever. 

Flowers from the best family in the world

I gave Janet one of the flowers that you sent me.

In front of the Madison Capitol!

Wednesday we also taught the Plan of Salvation to two of our other investigators.  It was cool because one of Sarah's concerns is telling her very catholic family about her joining the church.  She was also worried about where her family would end up in God's plan.  We taught her about the different degrees of glory.  And we also taught her that throughout the plan, God gives us every possible chance that he can to accept the gospel.  He wants all of us to make it back to live with him!  So that was also a very powerful lesson.

Thursday was interesting because we received a headquarter referral for someone that wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon.  So we went to go deliver it to him.  Turns out, he had seen The Book of Mormon musical and it sparked his interest!  So now he is reading the Book of Mormon. The Lord works in mysterious ways!  But whatever if takes for him to learn about the restored gospel!  :)  We also had another lesson with our investigator Shay.  She is the one that we met at the bus stop.  She had been reading the Book of Mormon all week and she told us that she talked to her very Baptist mom and that she would be supportive of her joining the church.  So we set a baptismal date with her for November 15!  We are so excited about it.  I feel very blessed.  I was kind of struggling for a while because I have been on the bus my entire mission, and nothing has ever come from our finding efforts on the bus.  I am sure that we have planted many seeds, but I really wanted to find someone that I could not only find, but teach and bring into the gospel!  Shay truly is a miracle and such a blessing.  A direct answer to my prayers.  But please keep Shay in your prayers because we still have a long way to go! 

Friday we visited with a few less active members and recent converts.  And we also had a lesson with a brand new investigator named Kendall.  She is awesome!  She has been dating this guy in the Milwaukee YSA ward and so we were able to meet with her and answer her questions.  We are so excited to start working with her more this week.

Saturday was our ward's fall festival!  It was super fun.  It made me realize that I really have come to love the members of this ward!  I feel so blessed to be here in Madison.  I absolutely love it.

Sister Hammatt and me at the ward Halloween party.  We did the best we could for not being allowed to dress up :)

All of the missionaries in our ward.

This is Elsa and she is a wolf for Halloween :)

So right now we are just running around and teaching as many people as we can!  Things are going great.  Thank you so much for your love and prayers.  I love you so much!  Till next week!

Sister King

9 month mark!

Hi family!!

Don't have a ton of time so I will just cut right to the chase  :)

Tuesday- coolest day ever!  I get to tell you all about Shay!  So we met Shay at the bus stop last week.  We started talking to her and told her about church and invited her to come and she said that she would.  We didn't think much of it because we invite people to church all the time and they never come.  But get this- SHE CAME!  She showed up on Sunday all by herself!  (We invited her to the campus ward because she is 19 so we didn't actually see her at church.  Which is even more amazing because she literally didn't know anyone there!)  We called her Sunday afternoon and she said that she really liked church and wanted to meet with us.  So on Tuesday we met with her and we taught her the Restoration and she absolutely loved it!  The Spirit was crazy strong in that lesson. She told us that she had met lots of missionaries before, but for some reason when she met us at the bus stop she felt something different.  She said that for some reason she felt like she should listen to us and trust us.  She also said that she was super scared to go to church all by herself on Sunday and had actually decided not to go, but she just felt so drawn to this church and decided to go.  At the end of the lesson, we asked her how she felt about what we had taught her and she said that she had never felt so complete or peaceful in her whole life.  It was amazing.  You could literally feel the Spirit testifying of truth.  It was so cool.  So that was the biggest miracle on Tuesday.

Happy Hump Day to me!  :)

Wednesday way my 9 month mark!  I am halfway done with my mission!  What?  It is very bittersweet.  Sweet because I really miss you guys a lot and think of you all the time.  But sad because I am having so many amazing experiences and meeting so many cool people and having so much fun and I just don't want it to end.  Plus, time seems to be going by pretty fast?  Doesn't it?  Anyways, Sister Hammatt and I celebrated by going to Chipotle for lunch.  It's not Café Rio, but we make it work.  :)  On Wednesday we had a lesson with Zoe.  She really opened up to us a lot and told us that she has loved what she has been learning, but she has a lot that she is going through.  She has some loved ones that are homosexual and she is doesn't know if she would be able to join herself with a church that wouldn't "accept" them.  So that has been hard and we have been working with her on that.  We also had a lesson with Sarah and she is doing pretty good as well.  She is just terrified to tell her super staunch Catholic family that she wants to be baptized into the Mormon church.  So we could really use some prayers for Zoe and Sarah! 

Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting and...... We got to watch Meet the Mormons!  It was so good and I loved it so much.  I think I loved it so much because it really showed that we are all just good (and normal) people that are doing our best to follow the example of Jesus Christ.  I also loved it because all of the people were so different.  This church has over 15,000,000 members.  That means that there are over 15,000,000 ways to be a Mormon and over 15,000,000 different distinct and individual testimonies of this gospel!  I loved the movie because it showed that living this gospel makes us happy!  So I was so grateful that we got to watch that.

Painting pumpkins with Sister Hammatt

Friday was annoying because most of our appointments were no shows... The life of a missionary!

Saturday was a pretty crazy day.  We visited a lot of less active members and recent converts. We visited this one less-active named Nickol and it was cool because she just had a new baby girl last month, and her home teacher was able to bless her in church yesterday.  That really helped Nickol to feel the Spirit.  So that was awesome.  We also had a lesson with Rachel who is doing SO AWESOME by the way.  Get this- SHE HAS BEEN INVITED TO SPEAK AT STAKE CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK. I know, right?  She is so amazing.  I sent you her testimony and I really think that you should read it.  She is so inspiring to me.  In our lesson on Saturday, we talked about the Book of Mormon and the role that it played in her conversion.  It is cool because she is getting her PHd in English so she reads and analyzes the book like an English student.  And according to Rachel's professional opinion, there is just no way that Joseph Smith could have made that thing up!  :) 

So as you can see it was a pretty solid week this week.  We really have been blessed for our hard work! 

I love you all so much!  Can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

Sister King