(insert creative title here)

ASHLEY!

So... everyone is sick. Not fun. It is hard to be a missionary when you are sick! But this week has been amazing! Ashley got Baptized! It was an amazing day. She is so prepared it is just amazing. I love her to pieces and I know that we will be friends for life. She loves the church so much! Her family is so supportive as well which is not usually the case so its AWESOME. A supportive family makes so much of a difference! 

Before her baptism we gave Ashley a framed picture of Christ, a picture of the temple and some scripture markers. She was so excited! We met with Ashley in the chapel before we went in to the room with everyone. We knelt down and Ashley offered SUCH a gorgeous prayer. She was so filled with the spirit and we were all crying. The spirit was so strong you could cut it with a knife. It was neat. Later that night our ward mission leader told us that he had walked by the chapel and felt something radiating from the room, he looked inside but didn't see anyone (because we were kneeling) and then he saw us and heard just a small portion of Ashley's prayer, he was blown away by her spirit and her light. When Ashley was baptized I felt as though I was watching it in slow motion. When she came back up, the spirit overcame her and she put her hands over her mouth and started to cry, she was pure, clean and as the scriptures say she is a "new creature in Christ." 

We met her in the bathroom and Sister Loo and I gave her a huge hug, I didn't even care that I was soaking wet after. We braided her hair and Ashley just kept saying, "Wow... that was amazing..." "Oh my gosh... I can't believe I just did that! GAH!" Over and over again. So cute. Her famliy was really overwhelmed by the spirit too. They are just as prepared as Ashley! Her parents were both crying, especially after Ashley bore her testimony. Afterwards they said, "We have never heard her talk like that!" And her Grandma even accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon! We told Ashley to break something in her house this week so that the Elders can come fix it haha. 

SO proud of her. Her whole family also came to church yesterday to see the confirmation! And they loved it. Bishop gave her a gorgeous blessing :) 

CHURCH IS TRUE.

MIDNIGHT PHONE CALL

Well we got a text from Frank last week and it said, "Is it bad that I know that the church is true and I love the church, but I want to be myself 100%?"  We texted him back and talked over text messages for a bit and realized that we needed to have this conversation face to face. Unfortunately he was unable to meet for another week and so we felt that we needed to call him even though it was close to curfew. We said a prayer asking for guidance and help in knowing what to say to him. Frank has earlier expressed concerns with the Word of Wisdom and so we guessed that this was the issue in being himself 100%. 

But, we gave him a Word of Wisdom lesson because he didn't understand why we don't drink. He was raised through his culture with it and doesn't view it as a bad thing. We ended up talking to him a lot about obedience and the desire to follow God so he could receive 100% of the promised blessings and not just 99%. We promised him that if he would obey ALL, not only some, of the commandments that he would understand and feel a deepened sense of happiness that he has never experienced before.

We finally got him to commit (an hour later) to try to stop drinking. At the end of the conversation he says, 

"Can I ask you one question?" 

"Yes Frank. What is it?"

"Am I stubborn?"

"YES FRANK YOU ARE!"

And we all started laughing together.

We went to bed at 12am and committed him to live it. Frank is so funny. We just love him. He is a character, he gives us such a hard time! #lilbrotheriheverhad

ASL MOMENT

We found out that is American Sign Language you have a name sign so you don't have to finger spell everyone's names out, mine is the letter "K" and then you move your hand across your chest like a sash. Kinda boring. Guess what Sister Loo's sign is? It is TOILET! HAHA. Get it, LOO?  I DIED LAUGHING. Oh man... so great. ASL has a good sense of humor. The best part is that once a deaf person gives you a sign it is permanent.

STARVING FOR MUSIC

We had a meeting with the Elders at a Frozen Yogurt shop and "Sweet Disposition" by Temper Trap came on and I just about died I was so happy. I died inside.

PEARL OF GREAT PRICE MYSTERY

Our District Leader was explaining to us the Pearl of GP facsimiles and they were SO cool. We started reading them and we were so intrigued! Sister Loo said, "OH MY GOSH!!! I FEEL LIKE I AM ON NATIONAL TREASURE!" I died. #nicholascage

CHURCH IS TRUE.

xoxoxox

-Sister King

ASHLEYS BAPTISM!

SISTER LOO BBQing #Polygirl

EXCHANGES! On a bike for the day! Loved feeling the wind in my hair :)

ZONE ZOMBIE TAG

(since we have ASL in our zone we have a zone sign, its UNITY in sign language so that is what we are flashin' haha)

FRO YO!

Happy 2014!

Well I don't have a whole ton to write about! We have been staying really busy these last few weeks! Our zone got combined with another zone so now instead of just doing exchanges with one companionship a transfer I will arrange to do exchanges with 6 companionships! So one a week! I am excited! 

DEJA VU

Well Sister Loo and I are just getting along as dandy as ever. We pretty much know everything about eachother. It is awesome. We are going to be friends forever. I have made such strong friendships since I have been here! With members, investigators, and with my companions and other missionaries! We were over at a members house and we just love her to pieces. I think I have written about her before. But she has Stage 4 breast cancer and she is just the sweetest lady ever. We visit her about once a week. She has such a strong testimony! We were talking about missionary work and I felt prompted that we needed to show her the youtube video of all the Olympus Highschool kids opening their mission calls and she LOVED it. We were all just crying. It was so strange remembering when I opened my call. It seems like a dream. I can't believe that I am here now on a mission it is just crazy. I was so emotional. If I had known what would be in store for me here in Houston when I first opened that envelope, I think I would have said, "ALRIGHT WHERE IS THE AIRPLANE TO HOUSTON?! I AM READY!" It was a strange feeling. I wish that I had my journal from back home. I think I wrote about opening my call. I am pretty sure that I did! It will be really cool to come home and read my journals from my mission and compare them to the journal entries that I had when I was deciding to come out or right after I got my call. Sorry this is so scattered. My fingers are freezing and we are trying to hurry! Anyway, it was neat to watch those videos and relive the experience of opening my call. SO many emotions! 

MATTHEW

Well I have been thinking a lot about Matthew since I have been in the singles ward. I know that he got a calling as the Young Men's secretary and then then I heard that he hadn't been to church in a while :( He moved so he is still the Magnolia 1st ward boundaries but it takes a lot of miles for the Magnolia missionaries to go visit him so I guess they haven't? Not really sure. Sister Loo and I decided that we were going to save up our miles all week and make the trip to go see him. I wish I could say that it went well. I also wish that I could say that I was prepared for the things that Matthew said and the way he looked. 

When we first got there it was pitch black. And FREEZING. We were in the middle of nowhere and we had no cell service. His house has a huge fence around it with a padlock and 3 huge black dogs barking at us. We shone our brights on the house and prayed really hard that Matthew would see us and hear the dogs barking and come outside. After about 5 minutes he came stumbling out of the house. I wasn't sure if it was him or his brother. My heart was beating out of my chest. As he got closer the light of the moon caught the side of his face. I could see him. He looked sad and lonely. Frankly he looked terrible, the light was gone out of his eyes. The last time I had seen him was at his Baptism. His countenance had flipped 180 degrees.

 Earlier Saturday morning I had been praying about what to share with Matthew when we made the trip up to see him. I thought about a scripture but I wasn't sure if it would fit. So I decided to keep reading my scriptures and hopefully the answer would come to me. I said a prayer, opened my scriptures and turned exactly to the same verse I had originally been thinking about. Mosiah 27:29-  I have Matthew's name written in the margin of my scriptures next to verse 29. 

"My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more."

As I stood there in the freezing cold with only the light of our cellphone I read to Matthew verse 29. I got a bit choked up as I finished. But slowly as we talked and testified to him, we saw the light coming back into his eyes little by little. I don't know why we felt prompted to visit him, or if that scripture even hit him at all. But he is lost. Very, very lost. We ended with a prayer and I said it, and I have to tell you that it was hands down one of the hardest prayers I have ever said. The best prayer I have ever said was at Matthew's baptism. The spirit was leading me to know what to say, and the now the spirit was guiding me in a prayer that was totally opposite from the one I had last said with Matthew. Pleading to have his heart softened, and to remember Christ, and the spirit. To remember the love, peace and comfort he once felt with the gospel, to be gathered into christs arms once again. 

Pray for Matthew.

Man, Matthew has just put me on a roller-coaster. He knows its true. I can see it in his face!

Love you all!

Church is true! 

-Sister King!

Trying to get our milk. It was SO far back there! I look ridiculous!

                              TACOS with the new sisters in our district! SO excited!

BEST BILLBOARD EVER.

First Lessons Are DA BOMB

CHRISTMAS

First off! I just want to say thank you for all the christmas wishes and cards! You are all amazing. I am so happy that I had the chance to skype my beautiful familia! It was great and Sister Loo and I had an amazing Christmas. This year Christmas took on an entirely new meaning. I really had the chance to dig deep into the meaning and the power behind the Savior's birth. Sister Loo and I studied the Savior every single day in December and it was so amazing. On Christmas Eve we watched Joy to the World (the christmas DVD that the church put out) and we were so overwhelmed by the spirit and the true meaning of Christmas. The spirit testified to us of the truthfulness and personal importance the Savior has in our lives. If you had walked into our apartment you would have felt the spirit hit you like  wall. It was amazing. We were crying and laughing out of happiness and love for the savior, it was so cute and funny all at the same time. I just love Christmas. Remember how Halloween used to be my favorite Holiday? Well.... I am going to have to jump on the Bandwagon and say that it is Christmas. THERE I SAID IT!

SHE FOUND HOME!

We got a call from the Klein Oak elders a few days ago and they had a referral for us. An 18 year old named Ashley she has been going to church for about 8 months in Japan with her boyfriend's family who are members. She went away to school in Arkansas and felt like something was missing in her life. She finally realized that it was the church. She loves the church so much. Andyesterday she went to church with the Elders in the family ward and she left with a job! One of the ward members was looking for someone to cover a shift that just HAPPENED to work with Ashley's schedule. It is a miracle. We taught her the restoration last night and we had two members there with us as well as the elders. It was just a big restoration party and the spirit was SO strong. My heart was beating out of my chest the entire time. Man...she is adorable and was grinning from ear to ear the entire lesson. When we started talking about the apostasy her eyes were huge and she was like, "WOW I have never heard it explained like that! But that makes so much sense!" It was really neat to see the testimony and relationship with Christ that she once had come back to life in her. And we didn't even have to do anything! She was SO prepared. 

At the end we asked the members to share when they gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Ashley loved their testimonies and started sharing her own testimony! It was so powerful and she opened her mouth to say something and then just started to cry. I reached over and rubbed her back and then of course I started to cry. She just started to smile and said, "I can't believe that I finally found it." She said she was so happy and she knew this is where she was supposed to be. That this was the right thing for her and she missed feeling the spirit in her life when she had not being going to church in Arkansas.

Sister Loo and I had prayed before the lesson about extending a baptismal commitment and we felt that she was ready to be baptized on January 11th. At the end I put my arm around her and asked her if she wanted to be baptized onJanuary 11th and her mouth dropped open as tears filled her eyes. She was so excited and exclaimed, "YES! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this." She couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear and she started to laugh! Oh I was so happy for her! She is going to be a great member of our church! SoJanuary 11th is the date! So neat. The Lord is hastening his work. So happy to be a part of it.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Talking to some YSA's about the church and addressing their statements and concerns (which had more likely than not, been fueled by anti-mormon material :( Sad day.) We testified of Christ and the truthfulness of our church and the Book of Mormon. The conversation ended with the guy (who was struggling to think of things to battle us back with) said, "Well...Y'all should really look up your religion on youtube... just sayin' I think it would clear up a few things for you." 

HA. Sister Loo and I tried not to laugh as we walked away. I am SO glad that he is educated by such a credible source such as youtube. WOW.

LOVE YOU ALL!

CHURCH IS TRUE! (I don't know that it's true via Youtube...  I know that from: spirit of God, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, my own personal prayers, 23 years of trying to live it and now teaching it to the people here in Texas) 

Dont take it for granted. 

xoxox

Sister King

CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE (And Elder Moulton's fake tooth poppin' out.) I am going to miss Sister Jacobsen! :(

ZOMBIE TAG for Pday- its like walking dead for real! glowsticks, nerf guns, pitch-black and LOADS of adrenaline

ONZIE PARTY with one of our favorite members of the ward. She ALWAYS feeds us!

Some of our favorite ward members!

The AP's White Elephant Gift. TEXAS HOUSTON MISSION.

Most AWKWARD sacrament meeting ever and MORE.

Well... A lot happened this week. I don't even know where to begin. But.... some cool things happened this week so I will just share the best parts. I am going to try and make this short. But who knows, you may want to make some hot chocolate and cinammon toast (that sounds SO good right now).

 

GROCERY STORE PRAISES 

Monday night Sister Loo and I were going to the grocery store to contact. There is this one Grocery store called HEB and it is CRAWLING with young single adults (Sister Loo and I are such creepers. Being a missonary is so awkward.) Like it is weird doing missionary work exclusive to one specific category of people. I mean we talk to everyone we see not just college age people, but its just weird to be targeting the gospel to a specific type of person. It is going to be weird to go back to a family ward (crossing my fingers that never happens. I would be more than happy to just stay in YSA wards! It is so much fun and you can BE YOURSELF!) Anyway.... we were at HEB and we walked in and Sister Loo said, "Dang it! We forgot to pray before we came in!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the canned vegetable isle. We were like "well.... this will be awkward, but we need all the help we can get!" Sister Loo started to pray. It was just a few seconds before I heard someone's footsteps coming down the isle. I couldn't handle the awkwardness so I opened my eyes and my arms half folded, pretended to read the lable of the nearest canned item I could get my hands on. Meanwhile I look at Sister Loo as an awkward smile forms on her face while she continues to pray as fast as she can (barely audible) with her arms folded and head bowed. The guy just looked at us like we were crazy.... Sister Loo quickly ended, "In the name of Jesus Christ Amen!" I grabbed her arm and we sped around the corner laughing hysterically in awkwardness. 

 

BRANDON IS ALIVE!

 

Okay... so remember Brandon? We tracted into him and we had an amazing first lesson and church tour a while back? Well we thought that he was MIA (Muddling in Anti) That is my new acronym. Just came up with that, like literally as I typed it. (clever eh? haha) Anyway, we figured that he had maybe gotten into some AntiMormon literature or youtube videos because he would not text or call us or his fellowshipper. It was very unlike him. So last week we fasted for Brandon and our other MIA investigators, that we would be able to make contact with them. AND this week we got a lesson with Brandon. It was a miracle. Turns out he hasn't been MIA but he has just been super busy with work lately. We had a really good lesson with him and at the very start of the lesson we asked him if he had any questions about the Book of Mormon or about the Restoration or anything.. and he says, "Yeah actually I do have a question about Missionaries for ya'll... So since I am 21, have I like missed out on going on a mission?"  WHAT?!? I almost passed out. Sister Loo and I just looked at each other and I am pretty sure that Lonnie's jaw hit the floor (Brandon's fellowshipper). We hadn't even asked him to be baptized yet. It was pretty amazing. We taught him the plan of salvation and it was really neat. He is such a visual learner and Sister Loo and I had made this really cool diagram laying out the different steps to the plan. It was really neat to watch it click in his brain. All through the lessons we teach he rarely makes eye contact while we teach he just looks down with his brow furrowed just like really, intent on understanding. He has such good questions and you can tell that he just really wants to get it. He is sincere and very appreciative of us taking the time to help him become closer to Heavenly Father and Christ. He said such a neat prayer at the close of the lesson. "Thank you for this plan that you have put before us to help us become closer to you...help me to know if these things they are telling me are what you want me to do and take hold of." It was really powerful. Hearing investigators pray is such an amazing thing. I LOVE it. 

 

OUR TEXAS BROTHERS

So we have Kevin who is our older Brother. He takes care of us, watches out for us, feeds us and is just such a cutie. He needs to find an adorable wife. He's hilarious and he took us out to get BBQ the other night. It was really funny. Sister Loo and I had never really been to a legit Texas BBQ place. And so we had NO idea what to order. I wanted Kevin to videotape us ordering but he was too embarrassed... we were holding up the line and asked like a million questions. Sister Loo loves food even more than I DO! Never thought that would happen. We are both indecisive so that didn't help either. But Kevin was pretty embarrassed by us haha my favorite question we asked the cashier was:

 

 "What even is creamed corn? is that like a Texas thing?"

-"ummm I hate to be sarcastic but it is CORN and CREAM."

 

Kevin was in stitches.

 

We also have Frank who is our little brother. He just loves to joke around with us. He is ridiculous. Such a little smart-alek. It is ridiculous. I feel like he is the annoying little brother that Sister Loo and I never had. We were teaching him about Baptism and the Holy Ghost and we told him that when he is baptized, then he gets the gift of the holy ghost and it can be with him always! Frank paused, grinned and said, "I don't really think that I would like having the chills 24/7...." It was pretty cute. He wants to be closer Christ and follow him and we told him that if he comes to church he will be one step closer. He said that he would come! (more to come on that...)

 

JAMAICAN ME CRAZY

 

Fitz is an investigator we met at the Mission. I can't remember if I wrote about him but he is an AMAZING piano player and he invited us to his house for what we thought was a lesson. We were SHOCKED because we have only met in the Library of the college and so this was a HUGE step in the level trust he had with us. When we asked him if we could bring a friend to fellowship him he responded saying, "Yes but only one. Be sure that they dont bring alchohol, or any iilegal substances of any kind. They are not allowed at my house." Does he not understand that we are Mormon? :) haha But really....Sooo...this made us think that maybe this lesson was not a lesson but that it was a party for the end of finals. We got there and his parents who are from Jamaica had made this AMAZING lamb Curry. (Too bad we were fasting.) We took some home and it was FAR the best thing I have had to eat on my mission so far. Dad you would have LOVED it.

 

Anyways, it turned out that it was a party to wind down from finals and there were 4 other friends of his there. Score! Finding through investigators! They all were musically talented and so we ended up having a little talent show for us. His friend Max played the classical guitar, Casey the trumpet, Elizabeth sang a German Opera song for us, and Fitz played a piano. Fitz is an incredible pianist. We requested he play an impromptu Christmas song and it was beautiful! As he was playing we would request to change it to different genres like blues, swing, reggae, and different key changes. And he would do it off the top of his head! He is so talented as well as all of his friends. We thought to invite them to be a part of our christmas sacrament meeting program as a way to draw them to church and they all agreed to play! They were really interested and excited to play for the ward... We still have to talk to Bishop about this. But I hope it works out.

Before we left, Fitz's dad started talking to us about leaving a legacy, building love and trust in the home, and our purpose. He kept going on and on. Sister Loo and I were trying to take every opportunity to testify and let him know that we believed in the same things he did. But he kept talking and talking. But it was so crazy because he is SO close to the truth. I wanted to bring up the Book of Mormon but I didn't want to over step the boundaries. So I decided to wait. We are going to go back this week and have a lesson with them! It is so cool how the spirit works between you and your companion when you are unified. Like I didn't have to worry about Sister Loo testifying of the Book of Mormon because if we are in tune with the spirit then our brainwaves are the same and we will just fluctuate to what the spirit wants us to say. I can't even count the number of times we have prepared a lesson and it is turned into something TOTALLY different than we thought! It is really cool. #COMPUNITY 

 

FASTING WURKS PART 2 

 

So... yesterday was EXHAUSTING. But it was really good. Not only did Sister Loo and I give the opening & closing prayers, but we sang in the choir and had 3 investigators at church! You could say it was quite the day, but there was so many miracles that happened:

#1 Elizabeth who we met the day before at Fitz's party ended up coming with us to sing in the choir for sacrament meeting! Super cool. And man did we need her. We were TERRIBLE.

#2 Bryce's phone was disconnected and we had no way of communicating with him and invite him to church. Sunday morning we get a call from an unknown number and guess who it is? Bryce and he was telling us that he was going to come to church! We hung up the phone and we were jumping up and down for joy.
#3 Frank attended all 3 hours of church! And he loved it!

#4 Sister Loo and I decided to make a goal on Friday and fast to have 4 investigators at church and we ended up having 3! - Bryce, Elizabeth, and Frank.

 

HIGHLIGHT OF THE MEETING: The fact that it was a CHRISTMAS program and a member of the high council outlined the law of chastity in PAINFUL detail.  What a day to have three investigators at church.... :0 It was beyond painful. MERRY CHRISTMAS! So glad that we can come together to celebrate our saviors birth! Now lets talk about the law of chastity! Cool.... real cool. God has a sense of humor apparently. He made us sweat a little bit too much yesterday. Whew. It was painful. We had to sneak into the bathroom between classes and just say a prayer that we would be able to keep it together and that our investigators would be able to keep it together, despite the talk.   

PLANTING SEEDS

 

So when I was in Cypress Creek Sister Montierth and I had a little family that we would stop by that lived in our apartment complex. There was this lady named Cindy we met when we were out walking, a 60 year old chain smoker of a million years. She is super nice and had experience with Mormons when she lived in Utah for a little bit. She really loved it! Someone did the 12 days of Christmas to her and she always raves about that. (you never know who you are going to leave an impression with! People remember random acts of kindness!) Well Cindy was someone that we would visit from time to time and we got her twin 9 year old grandsons involved in scouts, they loved it! Well CINDY IS GETTING BAPTIZED IN JANUARY!! Miracle times 1,000! I didn't know how interested Cindy really was in the church, but she did love that the Book of Mormon was about her ancestors (she's got some native american in her). Miracle! Miracle! #Miracle When we would visit her she didn't even seem interested. I dont think that we ever even taught her a lesson. But Sister M would keep me updated and she is getting Baptized! How cool! I didn't teach her or anything but if I hadn't talked to her while she was smoking on her porch the sisters would have taken years and years to find her. If ever! Talk to everyone! Plant those seeds, people!

 

CHRISTMAS THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

I was reading this week in Jesus the Christ and it was really cool it was talking about the humble and poor shepherds and how they saw the christ child and then went to testify of his birth to all that they could! But only the poor and humble would listen to the shepherds. The rich and stuck up people still needed to know of Christ's birth, so god sent the 3 wisemen to declare to those that were proud and wanted learned men to prophecy. James E. Talmage says is better than I can, "But there were classes of people among the Jews whom these lowly Shepherd witnesses could not reach, and had they been able to reach them the story of the angels visit, and the concourse of angels singing the magnificent song of "Peace on earth, good will to men," would doubtless have been accounted an idle tale of superstitious folk...Hence God raised up another class of witnesses--'the wise men from the east'...God raised up witnesses for himself to meet all classes and conditions of men--the testimony of angels for the poor and lowly; the testimony of wise men for the haughty king and the proud priests of Judea." (Jesus the Christ page 109) It made me think about us as missionaries. We may not be professors or have a masters degree in ministry, or have a religion degree. But we know that Christ lives and we tell EVERY single person that we can about it. So neat. I love that. I had never thought about the wise men and she shepards that way. I love thinking about different angles to the Christmas story. Anyway... MERRY CHRISTMAS! Y'ALL!

 

Church is true!

 

xoxoxoxo

Love,

 Sister King

This is us at Pday last week with most of the missionaries in our zone! SO fun. I will write more about it some other time. We played Zombie Tag. Nerf guns and glow sticks included.

Fasting Wurks.

80 DEGREES AND XMAS TREE SHOPPING

Well Sister Loo and I decided to be legit and cut down our own Christmas tree. Too bad that we went to the Xmas tree farm and the littlest tree was like 50 bucks! I was thinking that they would maybe be like 25 or 30? But nope. The trees were BEAUTIFUL. But they were very expensive. So Sister Loo and I headed back to WalMart for the third time in the same Pday to get our tree. We went to get groceries, we went back to get a tree-stand, and then we went back to get our tree. A cute member in our ward asked if we wanted to use her extra xmas decorations so she dropped them off at our apartment and she even gave us a cute little poinsettia. And then when I got mom's cute little advent calendar and gifts, we just about died! It is so cute! Our apartment is so festive. The members are taking care of us! We even got some gingerbread hand-soap, it makes me hungry. 

So we got out tree but we didn't have a saw to cut off the bottom so we tried a steak knife. FAIL. Then we went to a few of our neighbors... FAIL. Then we asked the AP's. FAIL. Then we asked our maintenance guy at our apartment and he looked at us like we were crazy but we got one! I wish we had taken a video of us sawing off the end of our tree. I was COVERED from head to toe in sapp. It was hilarious. We felt pretty boss afterwards though so we snapped a picture of us in our gangsta onzies. #Htownpride

#POLYGIRLPROBS

Sister Loo's family send her LOADS of Polynesian food and whenever she gets a package I say, "20 bucks says its full of food!" And it always is! haha. So funny. I always scrunch my nose and say, "that looks nasty!" But then i end up loving it. So now whenever she gets something and I start to scrunch my nose she rolls her eyes and says,"REALLY Sister King? you do this every time and then you end up loving it." She may or may not have converted me to spam and eggs (never thought that would happen haha) Oh I love Sister Loo so much. We go really well together. She is the best. I have been way too blessed with my companions they are all my best friends. Today we are getting out hair cut and I am going to bring stuff to write letters because Sister Loo has like 10X as much hair as I do. When I braid her hair I like no joke get like a forearm workout. I feel like I have been rock-climbing whenever I am done braiding her hair. I am dead serious. One of these days we are going to brush it out and it will be a fro. I will be sure to snap a picture.

CHURCH MIRACLES

So Sister Loo and I fasted yesterday for our investigators (who are all at a standstill, or ignoring us) we think that some of them may have gotten a hold of some anti-mormon literature.... Sad day. Man, as soon as they get close to knowing the truth, blasted Satan steps in and with a click of the mouse they doubt the spirit that they felt. So Sister Loo and I have been wondering what to do about that, we weren't sure if we should approach them about it and tell them to come to us with any concerns they may have, and not google. We were fasting for that and we were also fasting for our lesson. We taught in Relief Society yesterday and we planned out this really good lesson about missionary work. We shared a bunch of really cool quotes and then we shared Russell Ballard's talk from this last General Conference when he said, 

"We are not asking everyone to do everything. We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just 'one' between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior.” - Elder M. Russell Ballard

We told the Relief Society that we could give the Savior an amazing gift this Christmas. We came up with a goal of 3 baptisms in our Relief Society before Valentine's day! It was cool to incorporate all the things that Sister Loo and I do every day like asking and praying for goals and numbers and names and have the Relief Society do that also. On the hand out we had a little spot to write down our goal and who they were going to reach out to before Christmas. It was neat. Sister Loo played, "I Know That my Redeemer Lives" on the piano and we had everyone think and pray about who to reach out to. Then we invited everyone to kneel and pray to know who the Lord wanted them to reach out to. The spirit was very strong, Sister Loo and I knelt down as well and man, it was powerful and our Relief Society grew so much closer! And we had so many Sisters come up to us after and tell us that they had all these names come to their mind and they were going to do it! And we have gotten texts today about Sister's friends that need to be reactivated. It was such an inspired lesson. It was all the Lord. We were just his mouth piece. It was amazing. 

We had 5 less actives at church and one investigator. I could hardly breathe because our investigator was covered in cigarette smoke. But then I remembered a quote that I once heard saying "we should smell cigarette smoke in sacrament meeting, because that means that people are where they need to be." I really liked that. They are in the right place. Also... Bryce send us the cutest text ever. He got a job at an Italian restaurant and so we helped him find a red tie. He can't afford to buy one. So we found him one and this was the conversation we had: :)

Church is true. Man, it's true. I love this time of year. I hope that you were all able to watch the Christmas Devotional it was so so good. Now that I really truly have a personal relationship with my savior, Christmas means oh so much more to me than it did before. As we were hanging up the advent calendar mom sent, "I believe in Christ" was playing and the Christmas spirit was very strong. I KNOW that Jesus Christ lives. Man I know it. And the priesthood is very powerful, we are so very lucky to have it on the earth today. 

Sorry to get all mushy. Love you all! :)

Oh and PS. I performed at the Christmas Talent Show... it was pretty great. Yeah I sang with my mouth closed. It was pretty epic.... haha. Love you all! 

xoxoxox

Sister King

Ward Christmas Talent Show- We showed up in our Ugly Christmas Sweaters. Elder Wilstead is a party pooper.

Temple day! 

Fitting the tree in our car trunk...

 Our tree :) 

Footsie thugs

Our ADORABLE ADVENT CALENDAR!

Xmas Tree Farm... then we cheated and went to walmart because it was cheaper. Like WAY cheaper.

GOBBLE GOBBLE

Alright... let me start off by saying, Hope everyone had a FAB thanksgiving. I know that Sister Loo and I did! We had a jam packed day. Sister Loo is infamous for being able to fall asleep anywhere, anytime, and she proved that to be true when we got in the car and had I had literally driving for like 4 minutes and I look over and she is PASSED out. I tried to get a picture without her noticing but my camera made this obnoxious noise when I turned it on and it woke her up.. not to mention that I almost crashed the car in the process. I figured that living to seetomorrow was probably more important than the hilarity of the picture. But not by much. It was pretty funny. We were tired!

 

THANKSGIVING

 

So Sister Loo and I found out from the Christan group that there were some people getting together to feed the homeless at a halfway house for women. So we decided to join them! It was so cool, we talked to a bunch of people. Sister Loo served the mashed potatoes and I did the gravy. We served SO many people it was really neat. The people were very grateful and we met some very sweet people. One man who reminded me of Jack Coleman (from the picture I have seen from your emails) he was a cute, tall, slender, black man and he said, "Thank you thank you. Where are your wings and your halos, ya'll do a great job in hiding those. You are truely angels." It was really neat. Such a cool way to spend our thanksgiving morning.

 

After wards we ate dinner with Kimberly Jones (a member in our ward) and her family. They were super nice in having us over and goodness they were so proper. I have never seen a more beautifully decorated home in all my life. Sister Loo and I pulled into the neighborhood in the woodlands and our jaws just about hit the dashboard. As we pulled up, Sister Loo said, "Do you think it'd be rude if we asked for a tour?! haha"  Well we didn't even have to ask! Kim's cute little nieces dragged us all around the house, and mannn it was gorgeous. Kim's mom did all the decorating and I just about died, mom you would have LOVED it. They had crystal doorknobs and gorgeous cabinets. k.. no one cares about this but Sister Loo and I were in heaven. (Side note: They play Christmas music in the office of our apartment which is quite a treat. We love it. Sister Loo is currently belting "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by mariah carry and i can only picture Sarah-Ashley with bright red lipstick on. haha. SO funny. Oh I love our family.) Anyway... we had a great Thanksgiving. Kim's dad is the area seventy for Mexico and he was super nice. We shared a message about the Atonement and he told us that he was talking to Elder Maxwell about the atonement and said "I have always viewed the atonement as being so personal that the savior saw MY face while he was in the garden and didn't suffer for all our sins all at once but one by one, each individual sin, one at a time." Elder Maxwell responded by saying, "Yes. That is exactly right." Then President Jones said, "How crazy is it that in the scriptures is says that christ suffered for 3 hours in the garden but really... how could he have felt all pains of every single one of god's children one by one...after all 'time is of man, not of god' [Alma 40:8] who knows how long he really knelt there. It must have felt for him, like an eternity. But for us.... for YOU. He still did it." I LOVED that. Sister Loo and I just looked at each other and were like... Wow. It was cool.

 

Thanksgiving was great and don't worry I got a pecan pie at the service lunch we did! It was a MINI pie. It was so little and cute!

 

HASTENING LIKE CRAYZAY

 

Okay... So we got a crazy phone call last week. Elder Cluff and his companion Elder Blake called. You're probably thinking, okay.... so what two elders called? BUT.... they are serving in California in the Santa Rosa California Mission... So why are they calling us? Good question. We were thinking the same thing. Sooo....In the Santa Rosa mission they have iPads and can use Facebook and Skype to teach people. And Elder Cluff is FROM Spring, Texas. And as missionaries using FB, they have their own FB page and they add all their friends from back home and talk to them. So Elder Cluff was calling to tell us that he has skyped with his friend from High School a few times and shared the restoration with him and talked to him about the church. Amazing. They were calling to pass him off to us and ask us if we could drop off a Book of Mormon to him. It was really neat! Like to think of the amazing things that are going on in the mission field. Sister Loo and I were BLOWN away. Like how amazing is that to be using the technology like that! Truely inspired. They told us that they have taught lessons via Skype in Pakistan and mainland China. NOTHING can stop the lord's work from progressing. So neat.

 

The next day at FHE a member of our ward came up to us and said, "Random... but you were in my little brothers weekly email home today! He said he called you to give you a referral!" It was weird! Elder Cluff's brother is in our ward! Man... the world felt a little too small there for a second. It was cool. We set an appointment to go over and visit Elder Cluff's friend whose name is Juwan. And before we went we were praying to know what do share with him and I felt really strongly that we needed to invite him to be baptized. Crazy and terrifying since we had never even met him before... but we went over and he AND his 17 year old sister were there. We taught them both the first lesson and the spirit was SO strong. Easily the best Restoration lesson that Sister Loo and I had ever given. At the end Sister Loo invited them to be baptized once they knew that what we were teaching them was true, and Juwan's sister almost jumped out of her seat and said, "YES! I have always wanted to be baptized!" It was really cool. Juwan said yes also! Really neat. We are going to pass them off to the Elders in the family ward I think since Juwan's sister is not old enough to be in our ward, and we want them to stick together. (Sidenote: through this experience I realized that I am TERRIBLE with black people names. I have to write them down so I can remember them. Our district leader and his companion are teaching someone named DeQuanshay. Oh man... so great. Also they are teaching someone who used to do drugs with Lil' Wayne all the time. And yes... he has teardrop tattoos on his face. But HEY! EVERYONE needs the gospel, especially lil' wayne and his friends haha :) So great. I love my mission!)

 

PRAYER

A Member told us a really cute little story that I have been thinking about a lot lately. She said that a 4 year old little girl that she knew was saying the prayer at the dinner table and she mumbled and mumbled and was praying really, really, quietly. When she was done she said, "AMEN!" The grandpa, said, "Honey, I didn't hear anything you said! When you pray you need to speak so we can hear you!" And the little girl folder her arms, closed her eyes and proudly said, "Well... Grandpa! I wasn't talking to you, was I?!" I thought that was so cute. Sister Loo and I were invited to pray with all the girls in the Christan group this week and it was SO strange. Everyone was praying for like attention and for praise. Prayer is between you and god. It is not for other people to hear. It doesn't matter what you say... it's if you MEAN what you say. I thought that was pretty powerful and I have been thinking a lot about that this week.

LIVIN' ON A PRAYER

 

On Saturday Sister Loo and I were not really sure what we needed to do and where we were supposed to be. (You feel that way a lot when you are a missionary) I was feeling like we needed to walk to one of our Less Active member's apartments but its like super far away and so I was like, "Pshhh yeah right." and then just didn't say anything. I didn't even tell Sister Loo. About 3 hours later. We decided that we needed to pray about it. We knelt down and asked what god wanted us to do. We waited, and listened and then thought to walk to jennifers apartment hit me again! I really felt like we needed to... no idea why. But we got up from our knees and Sister Loo and I looked at each other. I said, "Get anything?" "Nope, you?" "I think we need to walk to Jennifer Rudolph's apartment." "WHAT?! That is so FAR!" "I KNOW!!" We knelt down again and asked if that was what we were supposed to do... and as I said the prayer my heart was beating out of my chest! I closed the prayer, stood up and Sister Loo said that her heart was beating out of her chest. We put on our shoes, got our bags, grabbed an apple, said another prayer, (are you getting an idea of how much we pray as missionaries? haha) our Books of Mormon and headed out the door.

 

As we walked we waved to every single car that we saw. It was fun! We have such a big area that we drive most of the time. It was cool. We talked to EVERY single person we saw, not knowing where the lord needed us. Jennifer wasn't even home! BUT we got 2 potential investigators, got a referal for the elders in the area, asked some random lady if she had any bandaids for Sister Loo's blisters, left a Book of Mormon on a car, ran into some random cashier that we had talked with over a month ago, laughed a lot, switched shoes half way through so our feet would equally take the toll of walking on the side of the graveled shoulder (companionship unity at its finest), and grew our faith. It was a really cool experience. Who knows if anything will come from it, maybe someone driving by just needed to see us and remember, "Oh yeah.. I remember when I met with the missionaries, I think I still have their number." Either way, it showed the Lord that if he gives us a prompting, (even if it is to walk almost 7 miles) we are going to follow it! It was pretty neat.   

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Sister King: "I am terrible with silence. It drives me nuts...So I have just had to get used to awkward silences on my mission..."

 

Elder Mitchell (an American Sign Language Missionary): "Yeah, me too."

 

I DIED LAUGHING. Elder Brookes and I couldn't stop laughing. I had to sit down that is how hard I was laughing. Oh man.... It is pretty funny. He is surrounded by silence all day every day.. how strange would that be?! I think I would go crazy haha. If I had a deaf companion I would be really tempted to listen to legit music and I think god knew that haha.

 

 

LOVE YOU ALL!

 

Church is true!

 

xoxoxox

 

PS. New favorite scripture this week: Alma 42:36 "Let the Lord have FULL SWAY in your heart." We sometimes feel our heart pulling us one way or another but let the lord control what we want and what we need and we will succeed!

 

PSS. ALSO... in testimony meeting yesterday someone bore a really cool testimony and said that he was reading about personal revelation and when we have been praying for something for a long, long time and we haven't gotten a specific answer, that is probably because the Lord trusts us to make the right decision. I LOVE that. I felt that way a lot when I was trying to decide if I was going to come on a mission. I wasn't sure but I decided that I would just go for it and if I wasn't supposed to go, heavenly father would let me know. And... man, I sure am glad that I let the lord have full sway. Let go and let him take the reins. It is hard but "TRUST IN THE LORD WILL ALL THINE HEART AND LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING." Proverbs 3:5

 

 

Sister King

Thanksgiving!

 

The town was like a ghost town so we had some fun taking some "texan"pictures at random places

 TACO CARTS!