Staying in Wausau for the last transfer!

Hey Family!

As usual- don't have a ton of time because of transfers going on in our zone this week.  But... it is official- I will be staying in Wausau!  I am so happy!  I feel so blessed.  I love the work that is going on here in Wausau and I love Sister Karlsson.  We are so stoked to get to be able to have another transfer together so that we can get some serious work done. 

This week we were pretty much running around like crazy trying to get everything done that we needed to for the end of the transfer.  We had two exchanges this week and a zone training meeting.  so that kept us plenty busy.

This week I got to go on exchanges with Sister Huffman in Wisconsin Rapids.  It was her very first exchange!  I don't know if you remember my very first exchange, but I was beyond nervous for it!  I was so happy that I could do my best to make it a good experience for her.  You could tell that she was nervous, but I think that we ended up having a good time and seeing a lot of miracles.  It was also kind of cool for me to see just how far I have come.  I remember when I was in Sister Huffman's shoes.  I had only been out a few weeks and still had absolutely no idea what I was doing and had absolutely no idea what to say and teach or where to go.  And I guess to some extent I still don't really know what I am doing... haha.  But I LOVE being able to go out and do this work now.  Instead of being scared to talk to people, I get so excited to be able to tell them all about this wonderful message that we have to share!  Instead of being unsure what to say, I rely on the Spirit to help me and I know that Heavenly Father will bless me to be able to know how to help people.  Instead of being afraid when people reject us or slam the door in our face, I know that we are just one door closer to finding the one who will let us in.  I love this work and I love working with people who love this work.  So that exchange was pretty fun for me!

This week we also had a lot of success getting in with less active members that missionaries have had a hard time getting ahold of in the past.  So that was a pretty big miracle.

Well I am just about out of time..... Sorry!  I will make it a point to write a better e-mail next week.  But know that I love you guys!  I am so excited to start this last transfer.  I know that miracles are going to happen as I work hard and sprint to the finish.  I have been learning a lot about the principle of enduring to the end.  I know that there is still so much that I can do and I am excited to see what this transfer has in store!  LOVE YOU!!!!!

Sister King

My place setting when we went to dinner at the Lefferts :)

World's greatest package from the world's greatest family!

This is how we teach the Plan of Salvation

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}

Hello from Wausau everybody!

This is our house!

Man what a crazy week.  Transfers are always pretty crazy and EXHAUSTING.  But we made it through. 

So to start out, here is a little update on my life.

My new companion is Sister Ashley Weaver and we came out from the MTC together.  So we have both been out just over a year.  (Actually, yesterday we both celebrated our 13 month mark.  So that was fun!)  She is from Salem, Oregon and is 24 years old.  She graduated from BYU Idaho in 2012 in Creative Writing.  She has served in Waukesha which is in Milwaukee (not too far from West Allis) and Sun Prairie (which is not too far from Madison). 

And a little more about Wausau.  So first of all, it is significantly colder here than in Madison.  And a lot more snow.  So that has taken some getting used to.  But- we do have a car!  We drive a brand new 2015 Subaru Legacy.  (I know, right??)  Wausau is ssssssuper hilly.  Like there are just hills everywhere.  And it is the funniest thing- there is one hill here that is a little taller than the others and they call it "Rib Mountain."  hahahahahahahahaha to them thinking that it is a mountain.  It was so refreshing that you guys sent me so many pictures of Timp this week.  I will have to send you a picture of what I call Rib Hill one of these days.  We don't have an apartment, we live in this cute little house.  And we live right across the street from.... you guessed it- a Cheese Factory.  Wausau is pretty much what you would imagine a town/city in Wisconsin to be like.  There is a large population of Hmong people here.  There is a set of Hmong speaking elders in our ward. And then the Zone Leaders are in our ward too.  

Sister Weaver and I doing Valentine's Day right!

Obviously I can't be 100% sure, but I would be willing to bet that this will be my last area.  So everyone can send everything to this address and don't send anything to the mission office.

So this week was pretty much just saying goodbye to everyone in Madison and then meeting a bunch of new people here in Wausau.  So not a ton to report on the week.  Sister Weaver is still pretty new to the area so we are both learning a lot together as we go along.  We have been trying to meet more of the members in the ward.  It has been cool because a few times we have gotten the wrong address and end up finding someone at that address that let's us in to teach them the first lesson.  We are working on building up the teaching pool and trying to find more people to teach.

One last picture with the T-birds in Madison before transfers

My favorite person

Dinner at the Durtschi's

Goodbyes with Rachel

Brunch with Kendall

Janet

Sarah

The Thurston's

Shay

Emily

And goodbye to my best friend!

I am sorry that this letter is so short!  But I am outta time!  I love you guys so much!  Until next week!

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

Farewell Sister Hammatt, Hello Sister Kelley!

Hello Family!

Man, this week has been pretty crazy with transfers and everything.  But it has been a really good week too.  The weather is really starting to get pretty cold.  We have got quite the winter ahead of us, folks! 

Sister Kelley and me

So... what you have all been waiting for.  My new companion is Sister Amanda Kelley and she is absolutely amazing.  She is from Riverton, Utah and has been out for about 4 months.  She went to BYU for a year before leaving on her mission and is studying Public Health.  She is the oldest of 4 and they are all brothers.  She served in Wisconsin Rapids before coming to Madison.  She is an amazing missionary.  There is so much that I can learn from her.  We already get along so well and we have a lot of the same goals and are both here to work hard.  So I am grateful for that.  I am grateful that she is the companion that I get to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas with.  We are going to have a lot of fun and see a lot of miracles.  I can tell.  :)

But... Back to the beginning of the week.

Saying goodbye to Sis. Hammatt

How we really felt about saying goodbye...

The quote wall the Sis. Hammatt and I created of all the funny things that were said this transfer.

Tuesday was just full of goodbyes.  Sister Hammatt had to say goodbye to all of the people here which was rough.  So we spent the day saying goodbye to people and packing.  It was really cool to be able to have one last lesson with Shay.  The three of us have a special relationship together.  Usually investigators go through a couple different missionaries before they get baptized because of transfers and stuff like that, but Shay was just so prepared that it didn't take her long.  So Sister Hammatt and I are the only missionaries she has known.  It has been quite the journey that we had together and I will never forget the things that we learned. 

Wednesday was TRANSFERS!  Crazy.  I can't believe that another transfer has already come and gone.  That transfer sure went by fast.  We got up early in the morning to drive to the transfer point and then the moment that I had been dreading all transfer came... I had to say goodbye to Sister Hammatt.  :(  I really learned so much from her and I am so grateful for the amazing example that she is for me.  I know that she is going to have an amazing rest of her mission in Florida.  But still tough to say goodbye.  Pretty much the duration of the day was spent waiting at the church for my new companion to get here.  From the moment that I met Sister Kelley, I could tell that we were going to get along great.  Still going to miss Sister Hammat, but excited about Sister Kelley.  Also- I was thinking.  I have had 3 companions in all of my areas.  that doesn't usually happen.  But it was nice because I had already had to introduce a new companion to the area before so it was a lot easier this time.  We were able to go to Rachel's house for dinner that night so that was a lot of fun. 

Thursday most of the day was spent weekly planning to teach Sister Kelley about the area.  And then we were able to volunteer at the American Red Cross for a blood drive.  So kind of a slow day.  But still good.  Later that night we were able to meet with Sarah.  She is planning on telling her family over Thanksgiving that she wants to be baptized and she is super nervous about it.  We brought the Bishop's wife to the lesson with us.  She was Sarah's age and dating a member when she was baptized.  And her family is super Catholic as well.  So it was really cool to have her there to bear her testimony to Sarah and give her some tips on how to talk to her family.  We are excited and nervous to see how this Thanksgiving goes for her!

Friday we spent the day visiting a lot of less actives in the area.  We were contacting some people on our ward's "lost sheep" list and we ended up finding this 97 year old woman named June in a nursing home.  When we got there she said, "I was wondering when the church would find me." haha.  June is very active and has a strong testimony but is just too old and frail to come to church.  So we were able to help the ward set up some people to take her the Sacrament on Sundays.  And hopefully we will get to continue visiting June.  :)

Saturday we met with Shay and we were able to teach her the first new member lesson.  We were kind of nervous to see how she would react to a new missionary, but she LOVES Sister Kelley!  So Shay is still doing so well!  She even went to institute this week!  She pretty much just dove head first into this gospel and has loved the blessings that it has brought into her life.   On Saturday we contacted were contacting a potential and ended up finding a family!  We have a return appointment with them this week so you can keep Franklin and Natalye on your radar.  I so badly want to find a family with the months that I have left on my mission.  I have been praying so hard for that miracle to happen and Franklin and Natalye could be it!  :)

Over all, good week this week!  Change is always hard, especially with transfers.  But I am excited about the potential that we have this transfer. 

I hope that everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving this year.  I love this quote from President Uchtdorf from his talk 2 conferences ago about gratitude. 

"We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly 

shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"

Thanksgiving is an amazing time for us to take a step back and recognize the blessings that God has given us.  But one goal that I have for this Thanksgiving is to work on having more of an attitude of gratitude.  God does not expect us to be less grateful during the hard times that he does during the good times.  We need to continually be thanking our Heavenly Father for the things we have.  Not just once a year on a Thursday in November.

D&C  78:19

 19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall beadded unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

I hope that you have an amazing Thanksgiving.  Please know that I am so grateful for you and that I will be thinking of you on Thursday!  Love you!!

Love,

Sister King

First week training!

Hi Family!

So I made it through my first week of training and taking over the area!  Yay!  :)

Though this past week has been one of the most overwhelming and stressful of not just my mission but my entire life, I could definitely feel the power of your prayers helping me through.  I could also see the hand of the Lord in helping me.  It was a great week.

My birthday package from the Smart's!

To finish out my birthday on Monday we were able to go out to lunch with the elders in the district and then go to dinner at one of my favorite member's houses.  They made me the most delicious chocolate almond birthday cake.  And then for FHE we went over to a Spanish part-member family's house and tie dyed t-shirts!  It was definitely a fun day.

My birthday lunch with my district at Nitty Gritty

The Allred's made me a birthday cake :)

The Thurston's got me a birthday present!

Tuesday was pretty crazy because we were running around doing so many last minute things before transfers.  We were able to say goodbye to a lot of investigators and less active members and they all seem excited that I am still going to be here.  So that's good.  We had a super powerful last lesson with Rachel.  The experiences that we had with one another of her journey to baptism were amazing and we grew really close.  So that was a tough goodbye.  Later that night we went and stayed at the Madison 2nd sisters apartment to make things easier for transfers the next day. 

Wednesday was TRANSFERS!!!  It was pretty crazy and hectic but everything ended up working out fine.  Instead of waiting at the church, 4 sisters that were waiting for their new companions all came and we worked in the Mad 2 area.  we visited some recent converts and then went out to lunch together.  Then we headed to the church to pick up my new companion.

Some last pictures with Sister Brewster.

Sister Sierra Hammatt is an amazing person.  She is 19 and she is from Appleton Wisconsin.  She is a trial missionary because when she was 16 her lung collapsed in an accident and they just want to make sure that she can handle a mission before they send her out for good.  But President told me that there is no doubt in his mind that she will serve the rest of her mission.  So one cool thing is that she will be receiving her actual mission call within the next few weeks and we will get to open it together!  So that will be cool.  Sister Hammatt went to BYU for a year before and she is studying English and Editing and plans to go to law school after her undergrad.  She is so awesome and we have a lot in common and we click really well.  She came out on her mission so prepared and already pretty much knows what she is doing!  Also- she speaks Spanish!!!  So she has been able to communicate with a lot of the Spanish members and she can talk to the Hispanics that me meet on the bus and stuff.  So that has been pretty much the coolest thing. We are going to have an amazing transfer together.

My greenie Sister Hammatt!

When we got back to our apartment she unpacked a little and then we headed out to work!  I was able to navigate the buses and get us to our appointments that night which was a huge tender mercy.  AND we ended up meeting 2 new investigators along the way.  So that was pretty amazing

Day 2 into the transfer and we are already matching.  It's going to be a great transfer!  :)

Thursday we were able to meet with Myrtle again but she had some pretty sad news.  She ended up moving to Indiana this weekend!  :( that was really sad because she was our most progressing investigator.  But I have faith that the Lord is going to bless us and send us some other investigators to help keep us busy.  It is also cool because Sister Hammatt has a family friend here in Madison that actually doesn't live too far from us.  So we went to and gave her a Book of Mormon and will hopefully be able to start teaching her this week.

Friday we spent most of our day volunteering at a Blood Drive at EPIC.  If you haven't heard of EPIC then you should look it up because it is a really cool company with the most amazing facility I have ever seen.  And they like to hire people from BYU, so that is pretty cool.  Many of our ward members work there.  We met a lot of cool people at the blood drive and planted many seeds.  But I think the coolest part was when we were driving back in the shuttle with another one of the Red Cross volunteers.  She told us that she thought that it was amazing that not only do we come on missions to spread the gospel, but we also come to give service and to help people.  She was super sweet and her heart is softening too!

Saturday was pretty crazy.  We met with some more recent converts and then we were also able to have a lesson with Rachel.  We talked to her all about the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  We talked about the different roles that the Holy Ghost plays in our lives, especially when we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and have it as a constant companion.  Something that I have realized since I have been on my mission is that recognizing how the Spirit is really hard for me.  I was blessed enough to grow up in a home where the Spirit was constantly and consistently there.  So because I am so used to feeling it, sometimes the only times I can notice the Spirit is when it is gone.  If that makes sense.  But I love the Holy Ghost and my goal is to do everything I possibly can in my life to always be living worthy to have it has a constant companion.  And how cool is it that Heavenly Father loves us to much that he has given us the Holy Ghost??  Like we get to have a member of the GODHEAD with us constantly to help us!  What an amazing blessing.

Then Sunday morning, Rachel was confirmed!  It was a beautiful experience and I for sure felt the Spirit there. 

Overall, it was a great week.  I really could FEEL your prayers this week.  It was the coolest thing.  Thank you so much for all that you do for me.  I love you so much!!  Have an amazing week!

Sister King