FIRE BY FAITH. FAITH BY FASTING.

OKAY. Longest week ever LONGEST EMAIL EVER. SO Sorry about that. You might want to like go pop some popcorn before you dive into this massive novel of an email. Seriously. This week was NUTS. Sister Loo and I hardly had time to even USE the LOO. At one point on Wednesday we were driving and I turned to her and said, "Hermana! I have to pee so bad!!" And she said, "GAH! ME TOO, WE DONT HAVE TIME THOUGH JUST HOLD IT!" It was hilarious. We didn't even have time to write in our journals this week so last night and today we spent like 3 hours writing in our journal... my hand hurts but it is fresh i my mind so i will just do day by day of what happened this week! Starting withMonday!

MONDAY

We went fishing with our zone! It was really fun. I was SO close to catching a little turtle but then it swam away! It was SO cute. I want to catch a turtle bad. Elder Viamatahau (Elder V) is from Tonga and he caught a fish and skinned it and then just sat there on the bank of the river eating it raw. Sister Loo and I tried it and it was so strange Just biting into the side of a dead fish that had just been caught. It was the freshest sushi I will probably ever have haha. It was legit redneck texas sushi. I love sushi but this was a once in a lifetime deal. Never again. It was really fun though. Sister Loo and I had a blast and we are for sure going to go back next week! I decided that I want to take up fishing when I get home. I mean for all of you that remember when I was obsessed with that fly fishing movie that I saw at BANFF... yeah... I think I was destined to become a flyfisherwoman. It's happening.

FHE- we had an investigator at FHE! His name is Frank. We met him at the woodlands mall and he has read the Book of Mormon and couldn't stop talking about how epic of a book it was. He went to youth conference when a friend of his in High School and said that he LOVED it. But then the girl he was dating told him that he couldn't read the Book of Mormon anymore...BUT now he's single. SO HUZZAH! He is really cool (for more on Frank see further down under under "Wednesday")

TUESDAY

We gave an amazing church tour to an investigator that we found a few weeks ago. 

Okay... It was an unreal miracle how we found him. IT WAS LIKE THE FIFTH DOOR WE HAD EVER KNOCKED ON IN THIS AREA!  AND WE FOUND BRANDON. Anyway... we taught Brandon a lesson and gave him a church tour where you talk about all that goes on in the worship service and give them the opportunity to feel the spirit. The SECOND we stepped into the chapel it was like we were hit with the spirit like a brick wall. It was so strong. I looked over at Brandon and asked him softly, "how do you feel right now Brandon?" He replied "Calm, really calm." We continued with the church tour and he LOVED the picture of jesus christ standing outside of the door knocking. We explained the symbolism and he also really liked the fact that we didn't have crosses in our church. (SIDE NOTE: One of the members in our ward was talking about crosses and I have been meaning to write about this in my email for weeks now but I always forget... anyway... Pamela said, "I dont understand why people worship or love crosses... I mean like if I died in a car accident would ya'll wear a car around your neck to remember me?!" SO TRUE.) Anyway... we gave Brandon a Book of Mormon and he was SO excited to read it. It was cool. He said that he was going to be calling us with LOTS of questions. We left, and Sister Loo and I were jumping up and down. Not only had we had an amazing church tour BUT we had prayed to know which member to bring with us to the lesson and Lonnie (who we had had there with us in the lesson) was PERFECT. He and Brandon hit it off super well. It was really neat. After Sister Loo and I contained our excitement, we got a text from Brandon saying, "Hey I posted on FB about our meeting and now my mom wants to come to the next lesson!" WHAT? So cool. Church is true.

WEDNESDAY

Okay....gah. Crazy day at Lone Star. We had not really recovered from Tuesday but we were starting off the day well on Wednesday. We went to Lone Star and talked to a bunch of people. After wards we asked Michael (President of the christan group) where the library was because we had to go there to teach a few people we had met on campus the previous week. Michael told us that he would just walk us there because he had something that he wanted to talk with us about. Sister Loo and I were a bit nervous as to what he was going to say... but he is SUPER nice and seriously is amazing, not to mention really cute haha. (I'm a missionary? Whaaa?) Anyway... we thought that he was going to tell us to never come back but then he said that he would just prefer if we didn't hand out "mormon bibles" after their sermons because its a nondenominational group. That totally makes sense so we were wa chill about it. But then he totally caught us off guard when he said, "Yeah so just don't pass those out, thank you! But... could I have one?" BAM. It was cool. I handed him the book and I said to him, "Michael. You can read this book two ways. Just like the Bible. You can read it as a story. Or you can read it as scripture. If you read this book trying to prove it wrong, you are not going to get anything out of it. You have to pray about it and read it with a sincere heart. If you want to know if what we are saying is true for yourself, read the Book of Mormon. Everything we know to be true rests on this book. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith translated it by the power of God. If the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph Smith was a true prophet and if Joseph Smith is a prophet, then Jesus Christs church is once again back on the earth restored." After I said those things I was like GOSH the spirit was so strong when I was testifying of it being true. And I wasn't even nervous. I know its true so I can support it and back it up. It would be hard to come on a mission and not know if the Book of Mormon was true. I am so grateful that I know that it is true, so I can use my testimony to help others feel and know of its power and divinity. Who knows if Michael will join the church. Right now he doesn't even think that we are Christian... But i know that he felt something as those words (that were not my own) flowed out of my mouth. Missionary work is nuts. I was feeling super bold today apparently.

We had a great lesson with two new investigators right after our talk with Michael. And we are going to hopefully be giving them a church tour this next week!

Remember Frank? The one that loves the Book of Mormon? Well we gave him a church tour (which is our new favorite thing) and the spirit was so strong. We ended at the baptismal font and we just looked into the font. The spirit was really strong and we were all really quiet as Frank just looked in, he said, "This is so cool! I just want to get in!" It was really cute. Then Jacob, the member that we had with us, said, "Frank, what would that mean to you to have a fresh start? A clean slate?" WHEW. Strong spirit. Frank kinda got scared I think. He stepped away from the font and said, "now ya'll are just being dramatic!" We sat down in front of the font at the the close of the lesson I asked him if he would be baptized. He said, "well I have already been baptized." So Sister Loo and I resolved his concerns and talked a little more about baptism. In my mind I was thinking, "Okay. You did your job, you invited him." But then... the spirit told me to ASK HIM AGAIN! GAH. I was terrified. So I asked him again, "Frank, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding that proper authority from god?" PAUSE. PAUSE. "Yes." A little smile came over his face. It was really cool. Oh Frankkkk.... Sister Loo and I gave him a Restoration DVD to watch and then Jacob said, "Let's watch it right now!" and Frank was like, "OKAY!" Sister Loo and I had to go to another appointment but Jacob stayed and watched it with him. HE LOVED it. We are going to watch the full length one this week at a members house. BRING ON THE POPCORN AND TREATS!

Sister Loo and I didn't get home until 9:30. So I attached a picture of me planning on top of the dryer while Sister Look cooked us dinner at 10pm. WHEW.

THURSDAY

Well... Thursday it rained... A LOT. And our bonfire was on Friday. We were freaking out. We were literally running around with our heads cut off. It was ridiculous. The AP's have been kinda MIA since its Transfers and our Ward Mission Leader is MIA. It was a fun few days trying to balance our appointments and activity planning. We decided to literally fast for sunshine. So we prayed and told the lord that we KNEW that he could make the rain stop. So what if it says there is a 70 percent chance of downpour... THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. That is our motto. We had worked so hard on this activity, the Lord was trying to test our faith! We decided to do all that we could and then put it in the Lord's hands. We called around the ward to see if we could borrow any tarps so we could cover the wood so it wouldn't get any wetter than it already was. I mean... Sister Loo and I are not boy scouts but it doesn't take an eagle to know that wet wood will not make for a very fun bonfire. So Sister Loo and I found some tarps and we trudged through the muddle field carrying tarps and bricks and plastic table clothes so we could cover the pile of wood. We were covered in mud and rain and grass and we looked ridiculous haha.  This week we discovered that the list of things that one can do in a skirt has grown significantly. 

FRIDAY

MY 6TH MONTH MARK! Crazy! Sister Loo and I looked outside and man.. it was a DOWNPOUR. We prayed and prayed and we said, "Well... now what." about 400 times but we were not giving up! We got a text from one of our ward missionaries and it said, "So... it's raining just in case ya'll didn't know." THANKS haha we had NO IDEA IT WAS RAINING! It was hard to be getting texts all day saying,"Soooo its raining. What are you going to do?"  "Is it still happening?" It was hard. Sister Loo and I couldn't even study that morning because we were so discouraged. Every time a zap of spiritual enlightenment would come rolling into my mind it was crippled by a huge clap of thunder that literally made us jump out of our seats. It was crazy. We had all the missionaries in the area praying that it wouldn't rain. We even had the ASL missionaries bringing investigators! It had to happen! So we prayed and prayed and prayed and then we ate some ice cream and then we prayed some more haha.

Sister Loo and I decided to drive by the field to see if the tarps had stayed on. NOPE. They had all blown off and the wood was totally soaked. At this point we had no idea what to do. It was about 3:30 and the bonfire started at 7:30. It had stopped raining but it was so muddy and so wet on the field. So we decided to switch locations to another members house that lived a few houses up. Problem... we had no wood. Sister Loo and I started to drive home in silence. But then I saw a sign for firewood outside of a hardware store so we pulled in there were also some wood pallets stacked in the parking lot. So we went inside and talked to the guy in the store. We told him that we were having a bonfire for our church and that all of our wood was wet we asked him how much the pallets were and that we maybe needed 10 of them. He said, "Oh well you can totally just take them, if its for a church that is totally fine and I will throw in a dozen logs that are totally dry. No charge." I ALMOST PASSED OUT. SO NICE. Then he said....

"Do you have a truck or how are you going to get them there?"  

"Oh! We can just have someone come pick them up in their truck later is that okay?"

"Well how far away is the fire?"

"It is at a member of our congregations house its like 10 minutes away."

"OH! Well if its that close just take my truck and my worker can drive them over there and unload it for you!"

WHAT?! UNREAL. He was an angel. Sister Loo and I couldn't stop thanking him. We made a little postcard with pictures from the bonfire to give to the whole store and especially Bob because without him the Bonfire would not have happened! It worked! The wood worked! People came! And the LORD PROVIDED A WAY FOR US TO HAVE IT. It didn't rain at all! Our fasting and our prayers worked it was unreal. I think the lord was just trying to test our faith. But hey... it worked. We had a really good turn out despite the weather and we had 13 non-members there! It was a miracle! We shared a really cool spiritual thought in front of the fire and it went really really well.

I still have so much to say about this week but mannnn.... this is way too long. So I hope that people even read it. Man. What in the world. Sister Loo and I purposely set aside time during the day today so that we could write this massive email. Geez.... and Pdays are supposed to be relaxing. Dang! Whew! Thanks for reading my novel. Miracles this week folks, miracles! Out here on the mission field it is FEAST OR FAMINE!

 I will leave you with one of my favorite things from my studies this week. I just love Elder Holland. In his talk titled "Lord, I Believe" he says, "The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue. It is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth that you already know."

SO GOOD.

CHURCH IS TRUE. Keep being missionaries! I love you all.

xoxoxoxo

Sister King

9:45 dinner and planning

 A glimmer of hope bursting through the clouds on thursday night!

 BONFIRE!!

POST BONFIRE BINGE!

 J'Leeta our favorite little member missionary

 FISHHHHH

 OH! AND I FORGOT TO SAY... HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I AM GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YA'LL! (Texan accent included)

MIRACLES ALL UP IN HUR'

GAH. I don't have much time. But a few amazing things happened this week. I will outline the best ones!

FREEZING PREACHING

(sidenote: phillip phillips is playing on the radio right now in the computer lab and oh man... i love him. Do ya'll remember when I predicted him to win American Idol? yeah... I'm that good.)

So this week we went back to that college campus to the christian group and the AP's couldn't come because they were busy with transfers so we just went the two of us and it was FREEZING. We thought it was going to be inside. FAIL. It was outside in the courtyard. Brrr.... after the preaching we all stood up and Sister Loo and I got SWARMED. We gave out like 4 Books of Mormon! I explained the Book of Mormon and used my hands to demonstrate when the Bible is just floating around by itself it can be interpreted in a million different ways as still being "God's word" but when you put the book of mormon with it, it hold the Bibles contents in place and it can't move and the word of God is stationary and just like you want to have multiple witnesses for anything, the Book of Mormon is another witness of Jesus Christ and it just clarifies and magnifies what is in the Bible. The girl took the book and then a few minutes later I looked over and saw her hand it to a group of students talking in the courtyard. I watched as she pointed in our direction and then proceeded to show them the exact same hand demonstration that I had just explained to her. It was really cool. We stayed and talked to people for a long time and then walked around campus. We were there for 3 1/2 hours. I thought I was going to turn into an icicle! But hey it was all worth it. Sister Loo and I were exhausted. I think we are still recovering from that. We are getting nervous for Wednesday because we think that even MORE students are going to swarm us with even MORE bible questions... oh man. It was cool though. I few people got defensive and then Sister Loo and I just started testifying and they shut up and something in their eyes changed and they shook our hand, smiled and we parted ways. It was cool. Who knows if they will remember that or think anymore about it but testifying really is the answer. It was cool. ALMA 4:19.

MIRACLE 

Okay... so Sister Loo and I have been working with Dianna and Francisco Gutierrez (they went to Froyo with us a while ago I sent home a picture.) They both joined the church about a year ago. Their parents are SUPER catholic. But Francisco wanted us to come and talk to them. They had never had Sister Missionaries over before and Francisco told us that they liked us way better than the Elders so we keep coming over to teach Francisco and Dianna about once a week. We try to talk to their parents but they don't speak ANY english. So Francisco's mom invited us over for mole and I was SO excited. Because hellllo...... red iguana mole is bomb.com! So I was pretty stoked. Sister Loo and I worked SO hard to try and find a member in our ward that spoke spanish to come with us to the dinner with the hope that the parents would be open to us sharing even just a SHORT spiritual message. So we finally found Pedro (a epic member in our ward) and he was going to come with us. BUT then like 3 hours before the dinner appointment, Pedro cancels. So it was a total bummer. We started texting everyone and I said to Sister Loo, "maybe we aren't supposed to have anyone come with us...Let's pray about it and see how we feel." So we prayed. Didn't feel anything.... we went into the dinner not really knowing what was going to happen... we go in and the parents were sitting on the couch watching some spanish version of saturday night live. We couldn't talk to them at ALL. We were just sitting there awkwardly waiting for dinner to be ready. The spirit is really lacking in their home. And when the parents didn't even eat with us, I didn't think that we were going to be able to pull off sharing a spiritual message but THEN..... Francisco started to tell us about his conversion story and how the sister missionaries had sang a hymn at the beginning of the lesson instead of praying. Francisco said, that he felt the spirit so strong. Sister Loo and I turned to each other and we were like, "LETS SING!" So we chose "Nearer my God to thee." Francisco and Dianna called their parents in and they were hesitant. But they turned off the TV and came to the table. The mom sat down but the dad just stood by the banister and folded his arms. Sister Loo and I started singing and OH MY. I swear their were angels singing with us. We sounded SO good. I almost wanted to turn around to see who else was singing with us. It was an amazing experience. The spirit was so strong in that tiny like bleak, dark, dining room. His mom started to cry. They had no idea what we were singing about but they felt the spirit. I know they did. After we sang we bore our testimonies and Francisco translated. Then we asked Francisco if he would bear his testimony... He did. I didn't understand anything he said but my spirit did and my heart was ON FIRE. It was such a cool experience. Later the next day Sister Loo and I found out that that had been Francisco's first time bearing his testimony to his parents. I almost cried. 

We are exhausted but its been a good week! We are getting ready for our big bonfire. We called all the missionaries in our area to see if they had any young single adult investigators or less actives they could invite. Everywhere we go, missionaries are talking about it. I am kinda scared that its gunna get TOO HUGE. Haha... oh man. We may have created a monster! haha. Oh man.... wish us luck! Hopefully we don't burn down Houston!

Love you all!

Here is a funny quote...

Tracting this week: Someone answers the door and we hear someone shout from the kitchen..."Are they trying to bring us to Jesus, or are they trying to take our money!?"

Also... while tracting... some man had Sister Loo sit down on his porch chair and extend her legs.. he tried to convince us that one of her legs was shorter than the other... and so he started to tugg on her shoes and then whispered, "oohhh! a little more jesus....ohh! You see that?! LOOK AT THAT!!" He tried to convince Sister Loo and I that he had made Sister Loo grow an inch taller... it was pretty funny. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Oh I love my mission haha.

Church is true!

xoxoxo

-Sister King

We played Speedball with a bunch of our ward members friends! (its like football mixed with ultimate frisbee only you play with a tennis ball it was EPIC.)

 

Sister Loo and I and Elder V and Elder Schmidt!

 I LOVE GYROS.

ONLY IN TEXAS would this be a christmas decoration at walmart.

KITTENS!!!

POSTCARDS

 

Know its true & be true to what you know!

EXCHANGES

Well this week I got to do exchanges with the Windrose Sisters. It was so much fun! I LOVE Sister Walker. She told me her amazing story about how she decided to come on a mission and we were both in tears when she told me about it. Exchanges are really fun but they are exhausting. As the Sister Training Leader it is really cool to be able to give advice and kinda be an older sister for the other sisters in the zone. All the Elders in the Zone call me Mama Bear. I laughed. It is just like when I was in London and I was the Grandma of the group. I guess I just have a nurturing personality or something... who knows! It cracks me up though. It was interesting being back in a family ward. I had kinda forgotten how to work with kids and old people! It was fun to go back! Sister Walker cracks me up... some lady honked at her while she was driving and she said, "SHHESSH! Calm down lady. Man alive! She needs a nap!" I laughed and she said, "I am a FIRM believer that everyone needs two things. #1- The Gospel #2- A nap!"

SOAPBOX

So I thought that I had a strong testimony before I came out on my mission. And I did! But I can't even explain how much my testimony has changed in the past 6 months. How much I have grown, and how much I have learned. I didn't really truely KNOW that the Book of Mormon was true until right before I left on my mission. I had never really understood the importance behind the scriptures but now, it's like I have put on a pair of glasses and everything just CLICKED. I can't really explain it. But sometimes I feel like I am not even reading the same book... but then I just realize that I am just reading it from a different perspective.
 I am reading it because I get strength from it and I have a personal relationship with my savior. On a mission you can't call your best friend, you can't get a hug from your mom, you can't cuddle up and sleep and watch a movie when you're exhausted and at your breaking point. NOPE. Out here serving the Lord, you turn to him. You are doing his work! Sister Walker had a really good quote on her wall talking about Jesus Christ its from Elder Holland (of course) :) It says, "How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never easy for him?" That got me thinking... its SO true. We have to turn to him. We gave a lesson to Stephanie (which I will talk about in a minute) and we were talking to her about turning to prayer and she didn't believe us that if she prayed for help even about silly little things that she would be given strength. I told her that EVERY single day I pray for energy to make it through.

Sister Loo and I were talking about how right now it may feel like we are only planting little seeds of faith within people but one day, there will be a time when those seeds are ready to burst out of the ground and the person will say, "Oh yeah, I had a few missionaries talk to me once at a park... they had a light and a love that I craved and now I am ready to find it for myself..."  I just know that this church is true more than I ever have before. It is true. K I am getting off my soapbox...

BRADY

I can't remember if I told you about Brady... I met him at a food bank when I wa serving in Magnolia. We taught him once and then I got transfered. Well..... I heard a rumor that someone had taught him and invited him to be baptized. SO... Sister Loo and I have been trying to meet with him for a really long time. It is has been really hard because we works like 80 hours a week. We FINALLY met with him and he told us that he watched General Conference and he has NEVER felt that way before. He told us that he felt warm and peaceful and loved. It was really neat to be able to see him again after 6 months. He knows that its true. He told us that one of his friends was bashing on Mormonism and calling us a "CULT" (let me count the number of times I have had that one thrown at me) and Brady stuck up for us and said, "Hey man, careful what you say, I might become mormon alright. They are good people." I felt so proud. Brady is quiting one of his jobs so he can really focus on what he wants and which direction he needs to go. Sister Loo and I are going to give him a tour of the church this week and hopefully talk to him more about being baptized. So exciting.

THE NAMETAG

Apparently the fact that we have a nametag means that we are also social workers and man... that can be really emotionally exhausting. It is also amazing to hear these people that you've known for 5 minutes pour their heart out to you. Last night we met with Kristin she is 40 but the Elder in the ward near by told us about her and we wanted to meet her. She is AMAZING. She has stage 4 breast cancer and it has started to spread to her spine. The chemo has made her bones so brittle that she has broken ribs... she has been through SO much but man... she is so strong and she is hilarious. She showed us a picture she sneakily took of a hot guy that she saw at chemo. She is hilarious. Before we left last night we shared a scripture with her (one of my recent favorites) ISAIAH 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Kristin read it outloud and couldn't even make it all the way through without crying. I stood and went over to her to rub her back. She flinched and I realized I had hurt her ribs by just lightly placing my hand on her back. She said, with tears streaming down her face, "Strength. THAT is something that I desperately miss." She went on to bear her testimony of the gospel. The spirit is so close to her. It was almost palpable as we sat there with her in the room. She is amazing. We are going to go back often. She has some great ideas for activities for our ward and she is such a fireball. I just love her. Her aid is from Brazil so Sister Loo and I are going to go over there and she is going to practice her Portugese. I am starting to pick a little bit up too! Not much... but a little!  

RANDOMS

- Stephanie (I think I wrote about her in my last email, she has asbergers and a stutter) she prayed!! It is a miracle! We had a really good lesson with her. She is really having a difficult time and I felt really prompted to share this quote with her that I somehow had with me at the time! Its by.... guess who.... ELDER HOLLAND haha

 "However late you think you are. However many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don't have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's atonement shines." 

She had tears in her eyes and she agreed to pray. It was amazing.

- Sister Loo and I have new finding technique where we just go and talk to random people at the grocery store. It makes for some interesting conversations. We met this HILARIOUS kid at Kroger. He looks exactly like Steve Urkle. SO hilarious. His name is Jimmy. We are having this huge Bonfire event next weekend and we are going to make it LEGIT. I can't wait. It will be a really good event for people to bring their friends to.

-President told us that the church did a study about converts here in the USA. He said that 84% of the people who converted to our church are already extremely active and involved in their own church and their own congregation. So... how do we reach that population.... that is on our minds right now!

-We found out about a group of Christian students who meet on LoneStar Community College  the group is called Christian Crusaders for Christ. They have a testimony and spiritual thought each week. This week Sister Loo went while I was on exchanges and she got 5 numbers for people that we can invite to our activities and slowly talk to them about the church. Sister Loo said that people were like "Hallelujah" "Uh-Huh's" and "Amens" in the crowd. Some of the testimonies were slightly outlandish...apparently one of the girls was talking about how she saw Jesus in a forest and there was lightning shooting out of his fingers. Sister Loo was funny she said, "hey, if you saw that then more power to ya!" Pretty funny. People here are so funny about religion. We are going to go back this week and talk to more people and hopefully we will be able to do a presentation and share a mormon message with them! How cool.... I mean we are Christan Crusaders for Christ also!

This email is kinda all over the place. So sorry. I know this church is true. Man, it is.

"Testimony is a place of departure, not a destination. We can't stop there. BE CONVERTED and BE DEVOTED."

LOVE YA'LL. CHURCH IS TRUE.

xoxoxox

sister king

                                                                   TACO MONDAY!

Had a bad day and came home to find this cute little cat on our porch. God knew I needed a kitten hug.

Nahum's moment of fame and Halloween

Okay, not a ton happened this week but Sister Loo and I laughed a ton. I don't even know what we were laughing about but it is hilarious having the AP's in our ward because they are so much fun. So this week wasn't too exciting but Here are a few Highlights....

TORNADO? 

So I guess there was a tornado warning? We were going to drive up to the Woodlands so Sister Loo and another visa waiting Elder could practice their Portugese on a Brazillian lady that worked with their Ward mission leader. So we called them to set it up. It had rained SO hard that day and the day before. When we called the Elders they were rescuing a bunch of horses from a horse ranch. I guess last year one of the horses drowned because the pasture flooding so much so they were being extra careful this year! So they were evacuating all the horses and had police escorts and everything.... Too bad our email isn't as exciting as theirs is this week haha. But we the Elders were like, "yeah we just heard that there is a tornado warning! So if ya'll can't come up to the woodlands don't worry about it and we can reschedule...." So we called the AP's and this is the conversation we had. I was laughing SO hard.

"Hello, this is Elder Frandsen and Elder Wilstead!"

"YO this is Sister King and Sister Loo!"

"Well whatdya know! Fellow desciples of Jesus Christ!"

"haha Question.... have you heard anything about a tornado warning?...NBD haha just a TORNADO.."

"Wait.. is this really why you are calling...."

"YES, 100 percent serious!"

"Well, Sisters, in this situation I think the best thing for you to do would be to go get under your bed for a few hours."

"Okay.... we will pack a sack lunch."

ALL FOUR OF US BUST UP LAUGHING.

4 hours later we get a text....

"Sisters, I think you can come out from under your bed now."

HAHA.

This got sister Loo and I thinking... could we even fit under our beds? (picture attached below haha)

THE SPIRIT CAN HEAL

We met with an inactive member her name is Steph. She has Asbergers and a really bad stutter. It is really really difficult to talk to her because it takes a long time to get an answer out of her but the spirit was helping us in the lesson. What was so neat about the lesson we had was that normal her stutter is almost crippling and as we talked with her during this lesson and she opened up to us about her thoughts and feelings of depression and fear, the spirit was so strong. It wasn't until the end of our conversation that I realized that Steph's stutter had TOTALLY subsided and she was able to tell us her true feelings and really open up to us. It was amazing. I don't know if she realized how much different her speaking had changed, but it was amazing. We shared with her Elder Hollands talk from October conference about depression and it was really powerful. We are working slowly with her. She needs to know that heavenly father loves her. It really hit me that as missionaries we have to continually use the principle of TEACHING PEOPLE NOT LESSONS. That is so true. Normally we would have a commitment of reading a chapter in the book of mormon or a commitment to pray everyday but with Steph... In our eyes, her commitment was small. But to her, it was a big step. We left her with the commitment to smile FIVE times a day. By the end of the lesson the spirit had softened her heart and we were laughing with her. Missionary work isn't just to preach the gospel. It is to uplift, inspire, encourage and bless. If you are doing that, you're being a missionary. INVITE people to be happier. INVITE them to hear about the church. INVITE them to come to know Jesus Christ. He has already died for them and suffered their pains and sins, they deserve to have that gift of the atonement!

Love this gospel. Love this work!

FROYO AND HALLOWEEN

This week we took out a gang from our ward for FroYo! (I attached a picture) We went with Kaylan (one of our ward missionaries) Janae (ward missionary, in remission for brain cancer), Dianna (also a brain cancer survivor) and her brother Fransisco (he and Dianna are both recent converts.) It was really cool. Fransisco and Dianna's grandmother recently passed away. They have been having a difficult time so we visit them quite often. Fransisco told us an amazing story. When their grandmother was on her death bed, she heard her husband (who passed away many years ago) singing to her and she told those by her bedside that he was beckoning her to come join him on the other side. That was such a comfort to them! We are going to try and work with their family but... we don't speak spanish sooooo... we will have to find the spanish missionaries to talk to their parents. So cool. I love this gospel.  

PS. I kinda got to go trick or treating... or at least my name tag did hahahaha this little girl wore my name tag because she was dressed up as a sister missionary but she didn't have a tag. So I let her wear mine it was pretty cute.

THE LOOKING SISTERS ARE LOOKING BIG TIME

Sister Loo and I are SO tired. We feel like we are running around in circles. God is teaching us patience. That is for sure. We have so many people willing to come out with us on lessons... BUT we have no one to teach. We are not giving up, but the members need to catch the vision! It will happen! We started a little thing in RS this week. We got a brick and we tied a cute ribbon and two pass along card on it. We are "building a foundation" and the person who has the brick that week has to pass them out and then the next week come back and report their missionary experience. We wanted to start with a BoM but we need to start small... This ward needs to work in baby steps! Pray for us!  We are feeling more like an activities committee than a missionary committee right now. We have dodgeball tonight and game night tomorrow. People need to introduce us to their friends that is the ONLY way we can find people to teach!  

We have found that the best way to find people to teach is by talking to our cashiers at every single place we go. They are all young single adults... Elder Frandsen and Elder Wilstead said that they were driving past this auto store that like sells sick rims and like stuff to like make your car look all pimped out.. and Elder Wilstead said, "We drove past and thought 'THATS where the people we need to teach are, I guarantee it.' But then we realized that we would look like idiots walking in there... like what are we gunna say?!...'oh hey bro...we are looking for a light bar for our Corola..."

I died. They are the best.

Love this gospel. Church is true.

Sister King.

ps.... the title of my email... In a leadership training we were talking about scriptures that help us when we are going through a difficult time... one of the elder raised their hand and said, "Nahum 1:7" President Pingree was SO taken back. It was hilarious he said, "Well thats a first! You know who is cheering in the spirit world right now? NAHUM!! "SOMEONE NOTICED ME!!"  We all laughed SO hard. Sometime I think that I came to Texas just for President Pingree. That is how much I love him.

RAINING CATS AND DOGS.

SO TIRED.

 "Wait.. Elders can you take a picture for us?"

"Goshh.... you're such girls."

Us and Jorge (isn't he just glowing with the gospel!? Still so happy he got baptized!)