ANOTHER EMAIL FROM SISTA KINGSEY

Well this week was good. We had some high highs and some low lows, but that is the way that missionary work goes. It has been an emotional rollercoaster. 

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS

We got to watch "Meet the Mormons" and it was SO good. I hope that everyone goes to see it. It was very emotional and very powerful and it was funny too. The beginning was so funny. We were all cracking up in the chapel and President Mortenson had to calm us down haha. But as a missionary, humor is everything. It is like the only thing we have left to keep us sane so of course we loved it. Then we went to the dentists office. Unfortunately I didn't have time to write the whole Salt Lake Valley, but I did crank out a few letters. I wrote one to Ashley. (Remember Ashley I taught her and baptized her in Cypress Creek?) Well she is going through the temple and wants Sister Montierth and I to be there. I am so excited. 

We went and saw Sister V (remember she is the one where Christ was in the room and she wouldn't pray) well we read the BoM with her and guess what.... we asked her if she had prayed that week and she HAD! So all week Sister I will be like driving or something and one of us will say, "Remember that one time that SISTER V PRAYED!?" We get pretty excited and I do a car dance every single time.  

SUE AND JUDITH

 

We had lesson with Sue and Judith and Sister Love came with us. It was a really cool lesson. We taught the restoration and Sue was just soaking it up like a sponge! She had told us that she stumbled across this whole library of talks from years and years ago and she can select any topic she wants to read all about it. GENERAL CONFERENCE! She told us that she had already printed out a bunch of them and can't get enough. In the middle of the lesson while we were talking about the priesthood being restored, Judith leaned over to me and said, " Hey... so what do you think about all this Isis baloney?" I hadn't even heard of Isis until then. So I had no response for herhaha. ( We later asked what Isis was... I think I said, "What is this Iris thing Judith was talking about?" And I regretted asking about it. Man... it is nice to not know what is happening in the world. I kinda like living under a rock! It is nice. Ya'll should try it.) 

Sue and Judith are trying to apply for medicaid and so that is all that Judith would talk about. She said, "soooo do any of you know anything about medicaid??"

Or when we were closing the lesson and inviting Sue to pray. She didn't know what to pray for or what to say. So we were telling her that you thank him for things and then you ask him whatever you'd like! Whatever is in your heart. Judith sits up straight and pops her head up saying, "MEDICAID?!"

We all laughed and told Sue and Judith that YES! God will even help them answer their prayers and questions that they have about Medicaid and what to do to get medical help. 

It was adorable. Unfortunately Judith has been acting out lately and Sue hasn't been able to meet with us or come to church. Keep Judith and Sue in your prayers please. :)

FRIDAY

We had district meeting on Friday and before the announcements Sister Peterson, the Sister Training Leader for our zone told us to keep Sister Flannery in our prayers because her mother had passed away. I buried my face in my hands. I knew that this day would come eventually but I wasn't prepared. 

Sister Flannery is like my little sister out here on the mission. I love her so so much. We served in the same district together those 9 months I was in the YSA ward. And I remember many late nights we had when we would just talk and talk and laugh and cry together. She is one of my best friends on the mission for sure. When Sister Flanneryleft for her mission, her mom had cancer and was barely holding on. She didn't know if she should serve because she might miss that last year and a half she could spend with her mom. But Sister Flannery's mom assured her that her serving the Lord would bring peace, blessings and strength to their family and that she wanted her to serve the Lord with all her heart. Christmas and Mother's Day were hard for Sister Flannery not knowing if this would be the last time she would see her mom on this side of the veil. But no matter what, Sister Flannery always had a smile on her face as she preached the gospel. I love her to pieces. And I know that her Mom will now help her to serve the rest of her mission strong and be with her every single step of the way. 

 As I sat there in District Meeting,  hearing those words that her mom had passed, I felt so much love and compassion for Sister Flannery that I couldn't contain myself. I had to walk out of District meeting into the hallway. Sister I just held me as I cried. The amount of compassion and empathy I felt in that moment made me see how much love and compassion the Savior must have for each of us as we are going through these trials. Not only is he right alongside us but he has experienced it WITH us. 

I prayed a lot on Friday. My blanket was wet with tears. And I felt his love pouring out over me and Sister Flanneryand her family. He is there. Always. He lives to comfort me when faint.

Words from one of my favorite Hymns, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives"

He lives to hear my soul's complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears.

He lives to wipe away my tears.

He lives to calm my troubled heart.

He lives. 

This is a beautiful video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEA-nxcD9c

ALSO- this is EPIC. Read this. A member shared this in RS on Sunday. Her Sister sent it to her :) BEAUTIFUL STORY.

A member of our ward shared this amazing experience that he had this week. He was in an airport and was trying to find a kiosk that would allow him to charge his phone. He still had plenty of battery strength, but felt he should charge it nonetheless. He found several kiosks, but they were all full. He finally found a place and was sitting across the table from a young Chinese woman who seemed visibly upset. She was on the phone with an airport employee trying to explain her situation. The problem was that she spoke very little English. He heard her repeat the word 'Mongolian'. The employee did not speak Chinese Mongolian. My friend wanted to help, but did not speak Mongolian either; however, he had a friend who had served a mission where he had to learn the Chinese Mongolian language. My friend (Russ) called his friend (John) and explained the situation and asked if he would be willing to help translate so that this young woman could get her problem resolved. John agreed, so Russ gave his phone to the young lady (YL) & said "Mongolian" and pointed to his phone. The YL hesitantly took the phone and soon began chatting very rapidly while Russ just looked on. After a few minutes, the YL began crying almost hysterically. Russ was wondering what John could have said that made her cry, but just waited, knowing there was nothing he could do. The YL would stop crying and seemed to gain control over her emotions, only to start crying once again. Russ was totally bewildered! The conversation lasted about 15 min. & a smiling, teary-eyed YL handed back the phone to Russ. John was pretty emotional too as he explained to Russ that this YL was a girl he had taught while on his mission and he had baptized her and her whole family! She was on her way to the MTC in preparation for a mission!!! He had also helped her resolve her airport problem. 

This story gave me chills on top of chills!!! What are the chances that this would take place??? Think about it... Russ was led to the right kiosk where the YL was. Russ felt prompted to help in the only way he could...by calling his friend. Is the Lord mindful of his missionaries or what??? He is mindful of all of His children...and that means YOU!!!

Church is true.

XOXOXOX

-Sister King

My Favorite picture of me and Sister Flannery :) 

keep her in your prayers.

SORRY JUDITH, NO MORNIN' COFFEE, SWEET CAKES.

Wait....?? It is almost OCTOBER?! What the! Oh how I love Autumn. Too bad I am in Texas though... and the weather hasn't hardly changed at all. I miss the leaves changing colors. Today I bought a Glad Plug-in that is scented like "Autumn Leaves"  I'm hoping that a Maple or Aspen tree starts sprouting out of the wall but something tells me that is wishful thinking. But hey I can still have hope right? 

Sister I had never seen a orange pumpkin before! She was so weirded out by all the gourds. I hope a member invites us over to carve pumpkins this year, Sister I has never carved one before. She also had asparagus the other night for the first time. She really liked it until the Elders told her that it would make her pee smell weirdhaha. (Gotta love those Elders....) 

MY MAGIC BAG WITH A BLUE BOOK IN IT

So last week we got a media referral text for a lady named Sue. So that was super exciting! All it said was  "GOLDEN! Her Son was just baptized and she wants to learn more and get closer to Christ. She would prefer Sisters."

SATURDAY-We were so excited. So Saturday we got to her house and Sue's sister Judith answered the door. She was sarcastic and crabby (probably about 75) and when we asked if she was Sue she just scowled so we were kinda taken back... maybe we had knocked on the wrong door? Then we hear Sue call out from the background "I am Sue! Come in!" Judith invited us inside and it all started from there. Sue is about 65 and she was sitting on the couch watching a Teddy Roosevelt documentary, grinning from ear to ear when she saw us walk in. Her Son (Rob), who referred her, was just baptized 3 weeks ago. He was actually visiting them for the weekend (coincidence? I think not....) and he told us all about his conversion story. The Elders knocked on his door a few months ago. He kept calling them "his boys." So cute.  Sue told us that she saw a huge change in her Son and wanted to learn how she could feel that same peace and joy in HER life. He had already told her all about Joseph Smith and she couldn't wait to learn more!  She had been waiting for us to come! 

She started reading the Book of Mormon on her kindle a few weeks ago but she said "I just wish I had a hard copy so I could highlight the things that I like!" I smiled and opened my bag and said, "Well... Sue! You are in luck! Look what I have just for YOU."

 Her eyes widened as I handed her the little blue book that has changed my life and was about to change hers. Her wrinkled hands unsteadily grasped it from me and her shaking fingers stroked the cover. "It is beautiful. This is for ME? Oh thank you! Thank you!"

We talked for about 45 minutes and when we asked them if they would like to come to church tomorrow. Sue said "YES!" Before we had even finished the invitation. Judith (who we found out has dementia) was so funny about coming... but we got her to agree. Oh man... I love her so much. She and I fist bump all the time and she dances everywhere she goes. 

SORRY JUDITH, NO MORNIN' COFFEE

SUNDAY- Church starts at 9am. We were sitting in a early morning meeting at the church building it was about8am and I felt prompted to look at the phone since it was on silent. I look at it and we had a missed call from Sue. She had left a voicemail saying, "Hello ladies. Judith and I are at the church. It seems we may have arrived a bit early.... we will just wait for you to call us back. See you soon! Bye!" We had to run back into ward council and grab our bags. We told everyone they were here and everyone was so excited! Sister 'Ita'aehau and I walked into the chapel and found an empty chapel and two white haired angels sitting on the middle pew. Someone had seen them walking around and invited them into the chapel, bless those members hearts. Sue was excited. I mean they had gotten there at 7:50am it starts at 9am!  Sue was reading her Book of Mormon and Judith was just.... well... being Judith haha. We sat down and Judith puts her hand on her hip and says, "Well y'all. I am just here for the mornin' coffee. Where is it?" We just smiled and laughed. Sue rolled her eyes and said, "Judith, I told you. They don't have coffee here sweetie." Judith proceeds to pout her lips and then put her sunglasses on (inside the chapel mind you...) and sit with her arms folded. haha. It was hilarious. 

Everyone was very welcoming and Sue loved it. Judith was so funny. The family behind us told us later that they got such a kick out of sitting behind them because Judith was talking through the Sacrament prayers about some baptist church she had been to haha. Sister I was sitting next to her and was like, "Shhhh... Judith,we are about to pray. Can you tell me about it later? :)"

"HUH?!"

"We are about to pray. You can tell me after :)" 

*pause*

"Anyway... I just wanted to tell you that this baptist church was really small and....etc" 

Guess she didn't understand haha, bless her heart.

 We were singing in the choir too and so they got to see us up there singing and Sue was so cute about it. We are going over there tomorrow and I am so excited to teach them about the restoration! 

THE MYSTERY MAN, EMIR

The Sisters in like May contacted this guy at the park named Emir. I had only heard his name and we had textedhim a few times when I was with Sister Wessendorf. But we had like 4 separate appointments with him this week and he kept rescheduling (so in order to fit him in we would switch our dinner plans or swap appointment times with Less Actives.) But then after all that he would cancel or not show up. So he texted us on Friday and asked to meet Saturday. We told him that we would love to meet with Saturday but would he really show up? We told that our message is important and can bring him closer to Christ. But if he doesn't want to make meeting with us a priority in his life, he should think about it and let us know when he is ready to meet. He send a text back super quickly saying, "No, I really do want to meet. I promise. Tomorrow at 12:45 at the church."

Deal.

We show up and the only thing I know about this guy is that all his siblings are members and he isn't and that the Sisters met him at the park. I didn't even know what he looked like! We met at the church and he said that the minute he walked in he got the chills and felt something special. Something that he couldn't explain. His brother used to be a Bishop in NJ and his 16 year old daughter is investigating the church in NJ. He told us that he has seen a change in her and she was going down the wrong path but now she is going to church. (none of this we knew before hand.) It was NOT coincidence that we had just happened to have our lesson in the Young Women's room. On the wall there is a vinyl decal of the young women's theme. I looked over at it apparently he needed to hear it because before I knew it I said, "Emir, this is what your daughter recites every single week as she comes to church." I read the theme aloud as he read along. The spirit was so strong. I turn to him and I could see the spirit working on him. I ask, "Emir, what do you think has caused such a change in your daughter?"..... silence. His eyes started to fill with tears. "Jesus Christ." 

"Exactly. Do you believe that he can transform you and bring peace to your life just like he helped your daughter?"

"Yes, yes. And that is what I want."

Well he has come to the right people! :) 

Emir came to church yesterday also. He had to come to a different ward because of the time but we went and he really enjoyed it. He told us that he wasn't going to come but his daughter called him and talked him through it. 

MTC FLASHBACK AND A MIRACLE

We had a super cool fireside last night in Cypress! We had like 100 missionaries there for a choir, musical numbers, recent converts speak and the mission president and his wife spoke also. It was so powerful. Everyone was sitting in the pews and then all the missionaries filed in as we sang "Called to Serve" it was so powerful. There were many people crying, including me of course. The spirit was so strong. Then we sang "a childs prayer" and "the efy medly" http://youtu.be/-13tk2uPUo0 and at the end we all filed out singing "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" Man, it was powerful. I felt like I was at the MTC again. The spirit there is so strong. Just all knowing that you have the same purpose. Wow. SO cool. There were 300 people that came. Many of them were investigators, I know that they felt it.

And do you want to know the cherry ontop? After the fireside I looked at the phone and we had a voice-mail from a number we didn't know. We listened to the voice-mail and this is what it said, "Hi Sisters you don't know me but I am Emir's daughter and I just wanted to call you and talk to you for a little bit. I want to thank you for everything you have done for my dad. I want to get to you know you and talk, so give me a call back when you can thanks!"

I ABOUT PASSED OUT. HOW STINKIN COOL.

We are going to call her later today. Gah. Love this work. I miss it already. 

CHURCH IS TRUE.

xoxoxox

Trying to fix the accordian doors at the church so we could play volleyball. #eldersarestupid

Our EPIC meal when our dinner cancelled.

 A cute note.

Love these dudes. #carpool

Isn't her outfit COOL? #tonganlyfe

The Sisters in our district! Love them!

BUDDAH and LOVE

DENTIST HORROR FILM

Well, at 11:30am last P-day we found out we had to take Sister I to the dentist. We weren't prepared at all. We hadn't even eaten lunch. But we had to email. Needless to say neither of us expected to spend all day at the dentist. And when I say all day, I literally mean ALLLL DAYYY. We were there for 6 hours. I just sat in the corner staring off into space. I tried studying the scriptures but the sound of suctioning saliva from my slumbering companion's mouth harmonizing with the noise of them drilling holes into her teeth wasn't the most soothing atmosphere to receive revelation. It wasn't until hour 6 that she told me that she had a notebook in her bag the entire time. So sorry everyone. The whole Salt Lake valley would have a letter personally addressed to them in the mail this last week if I had known that there was a notebook 2 feet away from me. Maybe next week when we have to go back for round 2 I will be able to crank out some letters. 

Poor Sister I! She was so out of it. I treated her to her first ever Jamba Juice as a reward haha. She was in heaven. I was in heaven for a different reason...to get out of that dungeon of a dentist office!

CHRIST WAS IN THE ROOM PART 2!  

Remember Sister V? She is struggling a lot and we had a powerful lesson with her a few weeks ago and man... it was an intense lesson. Well, I didn't tell Sister I about that lesson that Sister Cecil had. I just gave her the background. We went in and had an even more powerful lesson. We felt prompted to sing "I Am a Child of God" and Sister I and I couldn't even get through the first few lines without intense emotion waving over us. Sister V just sat curled up on her couch with tears streaming down her face. We held her and consoled her. Bore testimony of the Atonement, it was powerful. And I could tell that Sister I was amazed at the amount of the spirit she felt. I can remember those intense moments when I first started my mission.  Especially with Matthew as Sister Folsom and I sat outside and bore witness of the Savior by candle light. The missionary mantle is real. We are given the words to say and the spirit to testify. I KNOW that. 

We prayed with her and when we got to the car Sister I turned to me with tears in her eyes and said, "He was there. He was in the room. I know he was." We both just burst into tears and hugged. I told her that Sister Cecil and I had felt that same presence of the Savior in that room. She thinks she is alone, but she is not. 

He is there.

There are many women in our ward that are struggling right now. Sister I had the great idea of burning them a CD. So we just burned 10 copies of a CD that is geared straight towards these women that need to know that they are a daughter of god. It will be a really beautiful gift to give them.

PRIESTHOOD BLESSING

We got a media referral from mormon.org.  A member from New York had referred his friend because he had told her about priesthood blessings and she asked him if we could come give her one. We called the Elders and we all went over to Crystals house to console her. She is also dealing with serious problems and she hadn't eaten in days due to stress and grief. She has a 1 year old and a 6 year old. Her boyfriend left her with .27 cents in her account and no car. She had no one to turn to. We  Since we didn't have another guy with, the Elders couldn't go inside. So all stood in the backyard and talked to her and taught her about the power of the Priesthood. We were eaten alive by mosquitoes, but Elder Barney gave a beautiful blessing. And Crystal felt the spirit. We visited her the next day and she told us that was the first time she had had a good night sleep in weeks. We shared 3 Nephi 13: 31-34 with her. She hadn't even finished the first verse before the spirit overcame her and brought tears to her eyes. "These words... I feel like he talking straight to me..."

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself...
It was so neat!

It was so powerful. We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and SHE asked US for a copy. The Bishop went over later that day and visited with her and helped her out with some things. She came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. We are excited to see what happens from here :)

BUDDAH 

President Mortensen has been encouraging us to volunteer a lot and be seen in the community. So the guess where we started volunteering every week? The Buddhist temple! So stinkin cool! We are like best buds with the Buddhist nuns there and they have these really cool dogs that just wander around all over the place. I will try and send more pictures next week! The first time I went there I could only think of that bath house in spirited away that is like exactly what its like!

The first week we were there there was a huge spider and I stepped on it violently. Luckily the nuns didn't see me because I later found from my world religions book that that Buddhists don't harm anything that is living.... oops. I think it might be because they believe in reincarnation. The elders joked that they would have a little shrine around the dead spider the next week we went haha. I really did feel bad. Elder Harris is so funny. He is obsessed with the robes that the monks and the nuns wear but all the ones in the gift shop are too small for him so they are going to order him one from Vietnam haha! So funny. We have such a fun time with Bahnka. She is the nun that speaks the best English. They even feed us lunch! It is awesome. Best service opportunity I have ever done on my mission. Their temple is beautiful, We have to take off our shoes before we go inside. The whole construction is all volunteer work and so we are helping them with landscaping and things like that.

This week has been crazy busy! I had a funny voice recording to send but I forgot to bring it. I will try to remember to attach it next week. I love this gospel and I love this work! I love all of you!

Thank you for the prayers and the love!

CHURCH IS TRUE.

xoxoxox

-Kingsy.

I WAS STARVING and all I wanted to eat was salsa. But after almost spraining my wrist trying to get the jar open I decided to lamoni on the floor....

Writing on our handy-dandy pass-along cards. We are using family history a ton with less actives and it is awesome!

 Sister I passed out on the floor with her nilla wafers


The Elders and the temple dog. His name is Panda! :) SO cute.

Who needs sunscreen when you have THESE? Epic.

The Elders, Panda and Bankah

MALO E LELEI

That means "Hello!" In Tongan. Sister 'Ita'aehau is my companion and she is from Tonga! But you pronouce is "D'ong-guh" I am learning a lot haha. It took my 4 days to pronouce her name correctly. The ward members are having trouble with it so I told her why don't you just shorten it and go by Sister Ita? She looked at me and said "no!" I was like, "okkkkay..... Nevermind!" Then she told me that "Ita" means angry in Tongan. Her name means angry chief haha. Have I mentioned how much I like my last name? Cuz I do. haha.  A lot. Anyway, we have had some really cool miracles this week. I can't email for long because Sister I has to go to the dentist to get 3 crowns put on her teeth. Not the ideal P-day.... BUT, aint no body got time for a broken tooth.

MIRACLES

Had a dinner set up with a family where the father is totally inactive. I had never met him and every time we go over there he hides in his room and doesn't come out.  We didn't know what to share and so I was praying that morning during personal study about it and I could not shake the idea that we needed to discuss the importance of the sacrament. But that is a very deep topic and they had little kids so I wasn't really sure how we were going to swing that one but I figured that the Lord knew better than I do how to make it work.

We had a great dinner with them and the dad ate with us so that was HUGE. I wasn't sure if he would stay for the spiritual thought but he did! We all gathered around and I asked the kids what the sacrament means. The two little girls didn't really give much input but the 11 year old gave an amazing summary of the importance of the symbolism of the bread and the water. It was really cool. The spirit was so strong! We read the sacrament prayer with them and had them list of  the things that we covenant to him, and what he promises us in return.

Take his name upon us, keep his commandments and always remember him. If we do these things we will have his spirit to be with us ALWAYS. 

I then turned to the 11 year old and said, "So Chrystal, when you and your sisters were born you took upon you your parents name, right?. So you are Chrystal Johnson. What does that mean to take upon you their name?"

She thought for a minute, looked at her mom, looked at her dad, sat up straight and said, "It means I am a Johnson, and nothing will ever change that."

The spirit was SO strong. Brother Johnson's eyes were filling with tears and we sat in silence as the power of this 11 year olds statement sunk deep into our hearts. We take upon us Christ's name when we are baptized. We are spiritual born of him, and we take upon us HIS name and nothing will ever change that. As we partake of the Sacrament we are washing that slate clean all over again.

POWERFUL lesson.

Church is true!

Love you.

xoxoxox

-Sister King

YO. HOMIES.

Okay- So much happened this week and I have like no time to tell you
all about it. I am training with I am really excited about. I want to
finish these last 3 months STRONG. And training is going to be the way
to be sure that I am going to keep my head in the game. It has been
really hard sending two people home right after one another. And.....
rumor has it that my companion is from Tonga!? Who knows!

Long story short- Did I tell you about the returned missionary that is
here for summer sales and he wanted us to teach his friend. He had
just randomly knocked on her door and ended up giving her a copy of
the Book of Mormon.She is amazing. SO smart. She finished the Book of
Mormon in like 10 days, and loved it. She is going to school in London
and I told her all about the church over there and about my study
abroad. It was cool. Then the Sam Houston 1st sisters ended up
teaching her a lesson at the temple because it was too far for us to
drive and they live right there. We got a text from her last week as
we were driving and it said, "I want to be baptized before I go back
to school." WHAT?! I almost drove off the side of the road... I
attached some pictures that are stills from a video we took of us
freaking out. It was SO exciting. She did like a total 180 degree
shift. It was crazy! She had a really spiritual experience and could
feel the atonement working in her and she didn't know what the feeling
was!

Anyway, so much stuff happened this week but I forgot my journal so I
can't remember all of it... my brain is kinda turning into mushhhh.

Ohhh! I remember what I was going to email about... So there is a Less
Active and she has been having a really difficult time lately I had
never met her before but her daughter is in rehab right now and her
visiting teacher told us that she was struggling. We stopped by and
when she opened the door the spirit just whispered, "Give her a hug.
Give her a hug." I had met this woman 13 seconds earlier, and Heavenly
Father knew she needed a hug and he couldn't be there to give it. So,
despite the fact that she was visibly closed off and regretting her
decision to open the door, I said, "You look like you need a hug." I
didn't even wait for a response, I stepped across the threshold of her
door and gave her a hug. She was stiff at first but then she softened,
and hugged me back. The spirit poured into her and she began to cry.
We told her that we would stop by and see her this week to check up on
her. And guess what? She came to church! It was a miracle.

I know that the Lord sometimes just needs us to be his hands to "Lift
up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees"- Hebrews 12:12

It was a total miracle.

Love you, love you.

CHURCH IS TRUE!

xoxoxo

-Sister King

Stills from the "JAMIE IS GETTING BAPTIZED!" video!

Sister Cecil and me!

I draw a picture of all my companions now, Sister Cecil's has been my favorite one so far :)

The ZONE.

WORK HARD AND EAT SANDWICHES #jimmyjohns

Snowconezzzz

A LITTLE EMAIL

PUNK DUNKED

So.... Monday we had our ward pool party and we stopped by with the Elders to get some free hot dogs and to unite with all the members and less-actives. It was fun.I didn't know this until after the events that occurred, but apparently Brother Manning has a tradition of always throwing someone in the pool and this year... he chose me haha. I GOT PUSHED IN THE POOL! He asked me if I would be mad and I said "haha! Nope, I mean it IS a pool party!" I didn't think he ACTUALLY going to push me in! I was totally caught off guard. There were a lot of people in the ward that were not happy (mainly Sister Manning haha she made us cookies the next day to apologize) I thought it was hilarious and hey it makes for a great page in my journal! I can think of other Sisters that would have had a fit and called President or something, but I laughed my head off. After I quickly got fished out by like 10 people I got handed like a bazillion towels from 30 different Sisters in the ward,Relief Society at its finest. After snapping a picture, Sister Cecil and I convinced Bishop Durham to push Elder Harris in. We all got a good laugh out of that one.

ZONE CONFERENCE

Zone Conference was this week- It was amazing. I finally had a confirmation that President Mortensen is the right man for this calling. It has taken me a while to adjust to such a different way of teaching and learning. He is stretching all of us. It is painful but that is what we are here to do. Stretch ourselves so we can help the Lord rescue and strengthen others.

A sister that is going home this next week bore her testimony and she said EXACTLY how I feel about my mission. .. "I didn't want to come on a mission. But BECAUSE he loves me, he prompted me to come." I started crying and like my WHOLE mission flashed before my eyes. It kinda hit me that I only have 2 transfers left. I couldn't stop crying. Someone would come up to me and say something and I would just cry again, it didn't even have to do with what they were saying, I just couldn't stop! Elder Nymeyer came up to me and said, "Sister King! I almost cried for the first time on my mission in there when we sang "Called to Serve"' Elder Nymeyer could see that my eyes were starting to well up again. he put his hands out laughing and said, "DONT CRY! DONT CRY!" Annnnddd.... I started crying again.

Pretty sure missionaries have made bets on me, timing me to see how long it will take me to cry. When I bear my dying testimony everyone will be looking at their watches, and not at me hahaha.

M.I.A.

GUYS BETHESDA IS MISSING. We are hoping that the family that lives in the apartment where she had her kittens found them all and took them in! We pray for her all the time haha. But I mean... All cats go to heaven but we are still hoping for the best. 

Also, last night we were visiting an inactive member and when we got in the car our car FLOOEDED with cigarette smoke and cats. It was awful. I love cat. (SINGULAR). Not catS (PLURAL). Cat lady smell and cigarette smoke is not fun. We dropped a treat off at the Elders and they smelled us and almost hacked up a lung. We may need to buy a few air fresheners....I thought I had fleas so I took like an hour long shower last night. ITS FINE, I AM ALIVE WITH NO SIGNS OF FLEA INFESTATION. 

Anyway, I love Ya'll we had a bunch of miracles this week! Thanks for all your prayers and love.

I love this quote shared in RS yesterday.

“People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgottentomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway.”

-Mother Teresa

CHURCH IS SO STINKIN' TRUE.

xoxoxoxo

-SISTER KING

Current Cat Rescue Station aka (Sister Kings Address)

20000 Saums Road #3104

Katy, TX 77449

 POOLED

 Grandma Kingsey is at it again mending Sister Cecil's Shirt

CATS (thanks for the matching cat shirts mom!)

and... DOGS

 WEEKLY PLANNING..... ZZZzzzzzzz

Sister Cecil caught a picture amidst the joys of serving in a family ward. I was swarmed by little boys trying to show me their new toys :)