Putting My Heart in Texas: 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