RANDOM HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS WEEK!
#1 PRAYER WORKS.
Alright, so we did two exchanges this week and it was amazing. I was praying about who needed to go where and I had SUCH a strong impression that I needed to go to the Inwood Sister's area and that Sister Flanery needed to come to our area. It was really cool because I had a really strong impression that they needed to go see a member in our ward. And when we switched back later the next day man, that was so inspired. Sister Flanery said EXACTLY what our member needed to hear. The lord knew that just for one day, Sister Flanery needed to be in our area, and I needed to be in hers! We had an amazing restoration lesson with a YSA and his little brother. It was meant to be.
Here is what happened on the miracle exchange... This is from Sister Shell's email this week!
"I was with Sister Flanery in my area! We got to go to the temple with our district that morning, which was amazing. We (Sister King and I) went through for some ancestors for our District Leader, Elder Duvall. That was really special. Sister King and I felt very strongly that those two women had been waiting a while for that to be done, and were very receptive and grateful.
Then, we went to see Jenn. Sister King and I both felt very strongly that Sister Flanery and I absolutely had to go visit her on exchanges. So we went, and had a lovely chat with lots of laughter. Then, towards the end, Jenn asked if we had a spiritual message for her. "Of course!" I answered as I pulled out my scriptures. I was already in the process of opening them when I stopped and asked Jenn, "Actually, is there something you would like us to discuss? Like, any topic that you've been thinking about that you want to understand more that we could help you with?" So Jenn looked at me and said, "Um, yes, actually. Could we talk about hope? Because I've been kind of struggling with that lately."
Sister Flanery had the perfect scripture- Ether 12:4 I believe- and we talked about that for a minute. Then Jenn told us that she doesn't understand what she should have hope in because she knows that her condition really won't get better. Thank goodness Sister Flanery was there, because she said everything perfectly. Sister Flanery told Jenn all about her mom. She has terminal cancer, and that she used to feel the same way because she knows that her mom won't get better, and knows that eventually her mom is going to pass on. Then she said that after reading that scripture and praying she understood that she should hope for a reason and a purpose behind it, and not hurt herself by hoping that her mom would get better. She acknowledged that God can, of course, work any miracle but that realistically, that was the only thing she could truly have hope in. Jenn really liked that and the Spirit was so strong. She said, "I've never thought of it that way before."
#2 SAY THAT AGAIN?!
Exchange dos- I was in Magnolia again the Sisters were telling me about this cute little young family in their apartment complex that invites them over all the time and feeds them. SUPER nice family. The Dad is studying to be a minister and he is just genuinely curious about the gospel. He has the whole gospel library downloaded on his phone and even pulled out the "miracle of forgiveness" once while they were over and they were like, "Where did you get that?" And he's like, "Oh they have a ton of them at the church I work at!" So cool. The church is impacting people everywhere. Man. Anyway, we were walking to the apartment office and we ran into him. I introduced myself and he asked me where I was serving and I told him the "Young Single Adult Congregation".. This was our conversation...
"Oh! Do you ever go to Lonestar college in Montgomery?"
-"Yeah we go to The Mission, that christian group there every Wednesday!"
"Yup, I knew it! *looks at my name tag* Sister King! I have heard about you and Sister.... umm.. L--"
"LOO!?"
"Yeah! I work with some students that run that group. They asked me to come check it out sometime. Maybe I will come this next week!"
WHAT.... OKAY. So the students at THE MISSION are TALKING ABOUT US!!! WHO cares what they are saying, like obviously they have talked about us enough that he knows my name... so weird. But way cool. Anyway. I thought that was so crazy that I randomly met him. I am telling you. Exchanges always bring miracles. After wards Sister Hassell said, "That was so crazy, I have NEVER seen him around this time of day before.." #miracle
#3 FENDER BENDER PRAYER Almost got in a fender bender. Luckily the church supplies us with quality cars with epic brake pads (believe me, I unintentionally tested them out during this little accident) DRIVERS IN TEXAS ARE CRAZY.
Anyway, we witnessed this crash and so we pulled over with the 3 cars involved and these two young girls were so shaken up. Both of them it had been their first accident. One of the cars drove off because his car was fine. But the two girls were like shaking and so Sister Shell and I told them that they should probably exchange information and they got our number and everything too. Before we left Sister Shell said, " Hope this isn't weird but can we pray with you two?" So Sister Shell said a really nice prayer and we talked for a bit and then we headed off. It was cool. Who knows if anything will come from that, but it was awesome. Maybe they will remember that when Sister Missionaries knock on their door in 6 years. There is a reason for everything!
#4 LATE NIGHT CHATS Well, Sister Shell and I decided two things for when we get home. #1- We want to be EFY Counselors in Summer 2015 AND We want to be Ma's in the Trek. We watched Sister Shell's sisters trek DVD the other day and it made me want to go on one again SO bad. That was such a cool experience! Man their's looked HARD! I didn't know their were such big mountains in Georgia! Maybe it is just because I forgot what mountains even look like haha.
#5 SUSHI WITH KEVIN! Always a good time! He found my blog (*wave* HI KEVIN haha) Sister Shell hates sushi so Kevin and I just split like 6 rolls. And Sister Shell got some chicken. It was GEWD.
#6 ONE MORE DAY!
Saturday night we BLASTED "one more day" from Les Miserables because it was after all ONE MORE DAY until our big event. I mean y'all don't understand. This fireside was a dream that Sister Loo and I had from like day 1 in the area. AND we were counting down the hours. Last week Sister Shell and I prayed and we pretty much turned over the entire fireside to the Lord. Like we literally said, "It's all yours! We have done all we can!" And man... did he pull it off! (fun fact... "Jesus Take the Wheel" is playing right now in the computer lab haha)
Anyway, we blasted Les Mis and especially the line when Jean val Jean says, "Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in heaven has in store!" TRUER WORDS HAVE NEVER BEEN SUNG! It was a pretty great moment. We should have videotaped it! Love that song!
SUNDAY MIRACLES
BRYCE-Sister Shell and I were fasting on Sunday for a bunch of things but mainly the fireside. We got up on Sunday and my eyes FLEW open and I was like "ITS TODAY!" We went to church and all through ward council I just had this dorky grin on my face, my face still hurts from smiling all day. We had a great few meetings and Bryce (who we thought disappeared off the face of the earth) sent us a text at12:30 saying that he was on his way! We were excited and I was glad that Sister Shell finally got to meet him! He stayed for the whole church block! (One of the many pros that comes from Football season being over!) Kevin came up to us after Elders Quorum and said, "So... I think maybe ya'll should mention not smoking on church property to Bryce in your next lesson...." It was SO funny. Oh cute little Bryce. Bless his heart. We haven't quite gotten to the word of wisdom yet... haha.
ANGELICA-
During Relief Society, I looked over and say that Angelica was NOT okay. She looked as though she was about to have a panic attack. She is one of my favorite members of the ward. She is so sweet. She is the one that did our cartoons :) So I went and awkwardly made my way across the room, pulled up an empty chair and before I even said anything she burst into tears. I asked if she wanted to talk out in the hallway and she started just nodded yes. So we quickly and quietly left the room and started talking to her in the hallway. As she started talking to us, Kaylan comes out of the bathroom and can see that something is going on with Angelica. She sweetly gives her a hug and then says, "I don't know if we have officially met but I am your visiting teacher!" Miracle.
We talked with her for a while as we walked around the church building. We suggested that Angelica get a blessing of comfort before church was over. She told us that she wasn't sure, and so we had a good discussion on faith. After, she thought, and said, "I think I should get a blessing." So, we went in and got called the Elders and Johnny out of Priesthood to give her a blessing. I think Angelica was really comforted by it, and it was such a neat experience for all of us. Kaylan sat in for the blessing and got pretty emotional. She said, "how cool that I got to get to know Angelica on such a personal level. What better way to get to know her,and know how to better minister to her than through hearing our Heavenly Father's guidance for her!"
The cool part? The lesson in Priesthood was all about ministering and being ready to give priesthood blessings, and the lesson in Relief Society was all about Visiting Teaching! WHAT?! Crazy.
FIRESIDE EPICNESS
Then, we went over to Andrea's house to eat some sandwiches for dinner and break our fast. After we booked it over to the church. We started to clean and some guy walks in and helps us, we asked him how he heard about the fireside and he was like, "Oh they announced it in church today!" We asked what ward he was in. He told us and we had never heard of it. THEN we find out that the YSA branch he from is in the HOUSTON EAST MISSION. WHAT?! Yeah, somehow they'd found out about it too. We were so pumped and freaking out and just excited. We were nervous because we weren't there to help set up because we had to go get the programs from the guy who was printing them for us. But then, we came back. And everything was set up! It looked beautiful! We just had to do some last minute things, and then suddenly... it was 7pm. My heart was like beating out of my chest I was freaking out. We sat with Frank and his sister Daisy. We'd never met two of the speakers and were sort of nervous, we'd never heard the musical numbers rehearsed. It was flawless. The Spirit was so strong. My heart was STILL just pounding. Like the feeling you have when you need to stand up and bear your testimony? Like that is the feeling I had ALL day. The speakers were PERFECT. The music was FLAWLESS. And then, President Pingree said everything perfectly. Man, I just love him so much. What a guy. He said everything so perfectly and the Spirit almost felt like it was dense in the air because it was so prominent in that room. It was amazing. Frank and his sister Daisy were there. Sandra was there. Tons of other missionaries brought investigators. Tons of members brought friends! It was perfect! And man.. this is where the story just gets crazy....
We are sitting there and all of the sudden STEWART walks in with 2 or 3 other people from the mission! Remember Stewart? The PRESIDENT of THE MISSION at the Lonestar Campus? Yeah the one that sat with us when we were teaching at the picnic table that one time? Johnny (a member of our ward that goes to the mission) told us that they decided that we always support them and come to their stuff, so they can support us and come to something that we were doing! How cool huh? They were really impressed. Stewart especially liked President Pingree's talk. He wanted to go up and meet him! So of course we introduced him. He was very subdued! Normally he is very defensive, but we think that the spirit softened his heart. It was cool to see him taking everything in and trying to figure it all out in his head. He didn't want to leave the chapel. And, when he saw the temples booth, he was very impressed was really curious about that. I looked over at one point and saw him talking to President Pingree and they had a pretty long conversation! Sister Shell and I talked to a bunch of other people and there were quite a few people that were interested in learning more! So we set a few appointments for this week :)
Because of the fireside we have at least 4 new investigators. One girl named Suzanne talked with our Bishop for 10 minutes, and Bishop Parker bore his testimony on the Book of Mormon to her and read Moroni's promise with her. When they were done talking, Suzanne told Bishop Parker that she was so happy that she'd met him. Sister Shell gave Daisy a "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet and she loved it. At the end, right before we left, President came up to me and said, "I just thought that I would let you know that Stewart just walked up to me and said, 'Sir, would it be alright if I go play the piano in the chapel?' There is something special about that kid!" My jaw almost hit the floor. Of course President said, "Yes, stay as long as you would like!" STEWART?! WHAT? I almost hugged president that is how happy I was. Sister Shell and I literally got in the car, shut the door and SCREAMED with happiness. Man... THIS FIRESIDE WAS UNREAL.
Sister Shell and I are still in shock. I didn't fall asleep until like 12:45am last night that is how full of light and energy I was! It was also because Sister Shell had this crazy cool thought of a "Why I Believe Devotional" 10 years down the road, and guess who the speaker would be? Stewart. He would be standing at that VERY microphone he heard President Pingree bear his testimony at, sharing his conversion story. Man, gah! People are prepared. Maybe they don't recognize that they are, but we are planting seeds left and right here in Houston! Church is true.
EASILY one of the best days of my mission. I know it. I have no idea how we pulled it off, but maybe its because WE didn't pull it off. Heavenly Father did. We got home and knelt in prayer and offered sincere thanks for helping us and our ward. Sister Shell opened her scriptures and read this verse out loud...
"But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer,and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God." -Alma 17:3
So happy to have been an instrument in his hands, man it was hard, it was stressful, but it paid off. I love this gospel. Can I just stay on my mission forever? It is days like yesterday that make me never want to come home.
CHURCH IS TRUE!
xoxoxo
Thanks for reading my spiritual ramblings!
Now I am signing off so Sister Shell and I can go get some Pedicures to celebrate :) BOOOYA!
-Sister King
P-day with the Zone! (TITLE OF LIBERTY AND ST. PATTYS!) Note: Elder V drinking some root beer in the back corner haha GOOF BALL.
Yeah.... I met a camel. AND when I tried to pet it, I didnt see the ELECTRIC FENCE surrounding it.... So I shocked myself SO bad. It was such a bizarre feeling.
Making cupcakes with Andrea! Red velvet war paint! #armyofhelaman
MY NEW FAVORITE PICTURE! It is actually a still shot of a video we took of us freaking out about the fireside. We were SO excited we couldn't even contain ourselves!
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