God hears our prayers no matter what language we are speaking in

Hey Fam!

What an incredible week we were able to have this week!  We saw so many miracles.  While the rest of the mission was being transferred all around the state, Sis. Karlsson and I took this opportunity of having so much extra time to work and try to jump start our area for this transfer.  I am really excited to have a new transfer ahead of us.  We have some great goals and exciting ideas to help us to have a lot of success.  So I am excited to see what happens.  I know that  Heavenly Father will bless us for our hard work.

Contacted into a lady who had met with missionaries multiple times in the past.  She had accumulated this many copies of the Book of Mormon from them.  haha it is super cute to me to see how missionaries are always so excited to share this book.

So a member in our ward served his mission in Sweden the same time that President Cutler was the AP there.  He had pictures of all the people he served with in that mission.  So this is President Cutler as Elder Cutler!  haha kind of fun.

We met a lot of cool new people this week.  We were out tracting one day and knocked on this door and a little boy answered.  He ran without saying anything to get his dad and they both came back.  We tried to start talking to the Father, but soon realized that he couldn't understand what we were saying.  The little boy told us, "My dad is deaf.  But I can sign to him for you if you want."  We were able to teach all about the Restoration of the gospel with the help of a 9 year old boy who knew some broken sign language.  This family was very Christian and already had a church that they attend, but they were very kind to us and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon.  At the end, the Father said a prayer for us in sign language!  It was really such an incredible experience for me.  On my mission, I have worked closely with people who speak Spanish and Hmong.  And I have gained a testimony that God hears our prayers no matter what language we are speaking in.  And I KNOW that God "heard" his prayer in sign language that day.

We also met this cool new investigator named Ryan.  We were out and about and had had some of our plans fall through.  We were in the area of a less-active new move-in that the ward wanted us to track down, so we decided to stop by.  We knocked on the door looking for an Ashley, but Ryan answered.  It was very dark in the apartment and you could tell that it was a little dark in his eyes as well.  We could tell something was wrong.  We started talking to him a little bit and he told us that he did not believe in God.  He said that there were too many bad things that happened to good people.  He felt that God had given up on him, so he had given up on God.  We were able to testify of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of God's love for all of his children.  As we continued to talk with him, you could tell that he was facing some hard times in his life.  He told us, "don't worry about it.  It is not your burden to carry."  I know that what I told him next came directly from the Spirit.  Immediately the scripture in Matthew 11 popped into my head:

28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

We testified of Jesus Christ and how our burdens can be made light through Him.  And then testified how we were set apart representatives of Jesus Christ.  We were there to help him to feel the power of the Atonement in His life.  Tears were falling from his eyes as we told us that he had given up on God, but decided to say one more prayer asking for help.  And that is precisely when he heard a knock on the door and saw us standing there.  We are so excited to continue to meet with him and help him feel the power of the Atonement in his life.  I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal our hearts.

We also had another miracle when we stopped by the visit a less-active family.  We have been meeting with them weekly now and haven't seen a lot of progress.  But this time when we got there, they had invited a friend (Sue) to the lesson and we were able to start teaching her!  (We ended up setting a baptismal date with her and she came to church yesterday!)  While we were talking, another friend/neighbor of theirs (Leann) walked up to us and asked us about who we were and what we were teaching.  So we sat there teaching these two new people about the Restoration and we saw a fire start in the eyes of this less-active family.  They started bearing their testimonies of the gospel and were able to testify to their friends about the Restoration.  I have such a testimony that sharing the gospel and doing missionary work is one of the best ways that we can strengthen our own testimonies.  And the coolest thing was, before Leann got up to leave, the mom of the family leaned over and gave her a temple pass-a-long card.  Leann looked at it and turned it over the read the back.  The back of those cards have questions on them like "Where will I go after I die?"  After she read the card she looked at us and said, "My husband asked me these exact 3 questions this morning."  So cool, right??  We are so excited to start teaching Leann and her husband!

With Father's day being this week, I have been able to reflect on the blessings in my life of both my earthly Father and my Heavenly Father.  I sure am blessed. 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/earthly-father-heavenly-father

John 3:16

16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father loved us enough to give us His perfect Son.  So that we can all return home to live with him again and to be with our families forever.  I am so grateful for the knowledge of this gospel and how it blesses my life everyday.  There is nothing greater than being a full-time servant of the Lord and getting to share this beautiful and perfect message every single day.  I love it!

Love,

Sister King

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

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

Gresham, Wisconsin and Hmong food this week!

Hey fam!

Another week has come and gone.  I feel like this week went by especially fast because p-day was on Tuesday instead of Monday.  So it feels like not a ton has happened since I last talked to you. 

But a couple of highlights from this week:

We spent a lot of time with the Hmong people this week so I thought I would include a few pictures of what they feed us.  It is heaven on earth!  We met quite a few Hmong people this week.  It can be kind of hard to start teaching them because they don't really have a Christian background.  It is so cool to be able to teach people about Jesus Christ when they don't know much about Him.  Sometimes it is so hard for me to understand that there are so many people that don't know who He is because my entire life has been based on and founded in the teachings and example of the Savior.  It has been cool to teach people that don't know about Him because it has helped me to realize just how much He really does mean to me.  Grateful that I do have to opportunity to tell people about Him that don't even know.  Everyone deserves to know that they have a Savior who loves them!

This week I was also able to go on exchanges with Sister Dunlap to the good old town of Gresham, Wisconsin.  This area is a legend in our mission.  Gresham is a town with a population reaching a grand total of 586.  But they have a ward there because about 85% of the people who live there are members.  Most people in Wisconsin have never even heard of Gresham unless they are a Mormon.  haha.  Years ago there were two sisters that joined the church in Milwaukee and then moved the Gresham and that is pretty much how Gresham started.  So basically everyone in this town is related to each other in one way or another.  The sisters that serve in Gresham live with Grandma Rekow.  They help her do chores around the farm and house.  When I was there we got to go out and pick the asparagus in her garden and feed her baby chicks.  It was pretty much like camping for the weekend!  Haha.  Grandma is known for catching rabbits in her backyard and then having the missionaries gut them and cooking a rabbit stew.  So it was quite the adventure to get to go there for a little while.  A lot of fun!  We were able to teach a family that the sisters there are working with and help them to read the Book of Mormon together.  So the work is coming along slowly but surely there.

This is me with Grandma Rekow!

So sad to hear this week about Elder L. Tom Perry.  He was such an incredible man and a great example for all of us.  We are so blessed to be able to have living prophets and apostles on the earth today and it is so sad to have to see one of them go.  Weird to think that he almost came out to visit our mission just a few months ago.  I loved his last conference address that talked about how families are the basic unit for the structure of heaven and here on earth as well.  This transfer I have actually been studying the Christlike attribute of obedience and I LOVE this quote from Elder Perry. 

"Those who rely solely on themselves and follow only their own desires and self-inclinations are so limited when compared to those who follow God and tap into His insight, power, and gifts. It has been said that someone who is all wrapped up in himself or herself makes a very small package. Strong, proactive obedience is anything but weak or passive. It is the means by which we declare our faith in God and qualify ourselves to receive the powers of heaven. Obedience is a choice. It is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power and God’s unlimited wisdom and omnipotence."

Elder Perry was an incredible example of obedience himself.  He has faithfully served and basically devoted his entire life to serving the Lord and I hope I can do that very same thing. 

I am grateful for your examples of obedience as well.  I love you guys!  Keep up the good work!

Love,

Sister King

5.26.15

Hey Fam!

As usual, don't have a whole lot of time to write.  :( but this week was pretty crazy busy!  I was really sad to be missing all of Ashley's graduation festivities, but I knew that the Lord would bless us extra for our sacrifices and boy was that true!  We had such a miracle week!

Yes, the people here love their Packers THAT much!

A few highlights:

We FINALLY got back in contact with our investigator Linda.  She is the one that was a HQ referral.  She was all excited to work toward baptism, and then we fell out of contact.  Then she randomly showed up at church a few weeks later, and then we fell out of contact.  But this week we were finally able to teach her again!  She has had a lot of opposition which I think is the reason that it has been so crazy.  But she has been reading from the BofM every day and she told us that she received an answer that it is true!  So we are super excited to continue working with her.

We have a Laotian investigator named Thim that has been working with the missionaries for a long time.  She had to cancel one of our appointments this week and felt kind of bad about it so she ended up inviting us to a family birthday party that they were having.  We got to eat SO MUCH delicious hmong food and then most of her extended family members asked for copies of the Book of Mormon.  Us and the Hmong elders in our ward have now started teaching much of Thim's extended family! 

My favorite miracle of the week was that we met this really cool girl named Jamaylah the other day and gave her a BofM and she invited us back to teach her more.  Well, went we went back yesterday to teach her, she was in the middle of a little emergency and had to leave right when we got there.  So we started talking to her older sister.  We ended up teaching her an entire Restoration lesson and it moved her to tears.  She accepted a baptismal invitation and a date to be working toward!  And invited us back to teach her husband and 3 children (who are all above the age of 8 might I add :) )  later this week! 

There were definitely a lot of ups and downs this week, but the ups always outweigh the downs and the downs make the ups taste that much sweeter.  

 

 

Don't have a ton of time- but here is a quote for President Uchtdorf's last conference talk that I LOVE:

I marvel to think that the Son of God would condescend to save us, as imperfect, impure, mistake-prone, and ungrateful as we often are. I have tried to understand the Savior’s Atonement with my finite mind, and the only explanation I can come up with is this: God loves us deeply, perfectly, and everlastingly. I cannot even begin to estimate “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height … [of] the love of Christ.”

I know that the Savior really does love us!  I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share that love with others and feel it more abundantly myself as a full-time servant of Jesus Christ.

Love you all so much!  Until next week!

Love,

Sister King

Hey Fam!

Can't believe that another week has already come and gone!

We have been pretty busy and seeing so many miracles!  It is the best. 

The highlight lesson of my week this week was definitely with our investigator Rachel.  She is actually a lay minister in her Lutheran church.  She is a very good Christian person- probably one of the most Christian people I have ever met!  She was on her church's Facebook page the other day and someone posted something along the lines of "Please pray for the ____ family!  They have chosen to leave the Mormon church and we are so glad that they are finally able to escape.  We need to pray that they will be able to find the truth and to stay away."  Isn't that soooooo sad? Yeah.  Rachel thought so to.  She commented on the post and said, "Please remember that Mormons are God's children too."  Within 3 minutes the Lutheran pastor deleted her post and sent her a personal message about why what she said was wrong.  Well that just didn't sit right with her.  So she decided that she wanted to find out why everyone thought the Mormons were "so terrible"and she also wanted to understand the doctrine of the Mormon church so that she could correct any misconceptions next time she was in a conversation and Mormonism came up.  So she started meeting with us!  :)  We answered all of her questions and taught her about the Restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith and the miracle of the Book of Mormon.  The first few times we met with her, she was very stand offish and made it very clear that she was only there to gather information- not to convert.  Well we invited her to be baptized anyway!  haha.  And we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so that she could know for herself.  The first couple of weeks she hadn't been reading.  But when we met with her this week, something was different and you could tell right off the bat.  Her countenance was different. 

When we asked her how her Book of Mormon reading had been going, (expecting her to say that she hadn't and then to just move on) to our suprised she whipped out her Book of Mormon and a study journal where she had been taking notes!  All she had been doing was reading just one chapter every day and you could tell!  We spent our entire lesson just discussing the Book of Mormon and the amazing plain and precious truths that she had learned about just in the first few chapters.  Then, we asked her if she had been praying about it.  She told us that her and the Lord had been "chatting" about it a lot lately.  And that the whole time she has been reading from the Book of Mormon she has had a calm and peaceful feeling.  She knows that it is true! All this time she told us that she was not interested in converted, but now she has been considering and praying about the decision to be baptized.  She told us that she really wants to be, but she is just concerned about leaving her Lutheran church where she is a mentor for a couple of the girls.  So please be praying for Rachel that she will not only receive an answer, but that she will have the courage to act on it.  I feel so good about her!

Also- just wanted to point out that The Book of Mormon never ceases to amaze me.  It is the BEST tool to have as a missionary because if people don't really want to listen to us or if they have a lot of questions or concerns, we just give them a copy and let the book do the work! The Book of Mormon is a book with a promise.  Everyone can come to know that it is true for themselves.  So as a missionary it is so awesome to have a little book full of truth!  We have the ultimate trump card!  haha. 

Also- this week was...... my last zone conference.  Yeah I know, it is super weird.  At a missionary's last zone conference President Cutler invites the departing missionaries to bear their testimony.  i remember at my very first zone conference seeing all the missionaries that were about to go home giving their testimonies and thinking to myself 2 things.  First, they must know everything!  And second, that day is never going to happen to me.  well that day came, and I don't know everything.  Not even close.  But I have learned a lot though.  I bore my testimony of the Atonement.  You know, the Atonement is a pretty incredible thing.  I NEVER would have been able to get this far on my mission without it.  It has changed me and enable me to do things that I never could have done on my own.  I am so grateful for the Atonement. 

This Zone conference was focused on something very interesting.  It is a very important commandment that I think we don't take as seriously as we should.  Keeping the Sabbath Day holy!  I love this commandment!  I thought that I understood it, but President and Sister Cutler really opened my eyes. 

 In Ezekial 20:12 it says,

12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.

That is kind of an interesting phrase.  That the sabbath is a sign between us and God.  But what is it a sign of?  It is a sign to God of how much we really appreciate the Atonement.  The most important thing we do on the Sabbath day is to partake of the sacrament as a reminder of his sacrifice for us.  With the sacrament, we renew our covenants.  People tend to think that the sacrament is only a renewal of our baptismal covenant.  But that is not true.  Modern day prophets have taught us that the sacrament renews ALL of our covenants!  So that is pretty neat.  President Cutler also taught us that all or the ordinances that we do in the church we only do for ourselves once, and then we do them for other people.  For example, we are only baptized once and then when we do baptisms for other people in the temple.  Except for the sacrament!  The sacrament is the only ordinance that we repeat purely for ourselves over and over and over!  That is how important it is. We need the power of the Atonement in our individual lives so badly.  We can not make it back to live with God again and with our families forever without it!  I love this quote from Elder Petersen:

Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead.

So think about the Sunday that you had yesterday.  Were you showing God just how grateful you are for the Atonement of His perfect Son?

Definitely an area that I need to improve!  haha.

I am so grateful for how much I am learning.  I have learned so much!  And grown so much too.  But I know that I still have a long ways to go.  That is why I am so grateful for the Atonement.

I love you all so much!!!  HAve a great week!

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}