28 Sep 2015

This week I am really loving both of my beautiful areas :) We had an amazing lesson with Teri on Wednesday! We brought a Sister from the ward with us, and she bore such powerful testimony of the Atonement and the Book of Mormon. (Fun fact: as a mission we are doing an Atonement study of the Book of Mormon, and I have learned the most incredible things! For example, just today I was reading in Moroni 7 and I found new meaning in verse 16: "Every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ." What is the "power and gift" of Christ? The Atonement! Therefore, everything good in life comes from the Atonement. It straight up says that a couple verses later, in verse 22, and again in verse 24: "all things which are good cometh of Christ." I know this to be true! Because of Christ and His goodness, we have an example to follow that leads to all good things in this life. Incredible!) But anyways, that lesson with Teri made me the most hopeful I have ever been. I know the Book of Mormon changes lives, people!!

Also, I am like a CHILD AT CHRISTMAS when it comes to General Conference. I absolutely CANNOT WAIT to hear from our prophets, seers, and revelators, as well as the other leaders in the Church. I talk about it to all the members and investigators I meet. Women's conference on Saturday was AMAZING!!!! I particularly loved President Uchtdorf's talk; I was hanging on his every word! In a strong sense I feel a lot like Ava, and her summer with Aunt Rose is like my mission. I really feel that one of the most important things I will learn on my mission is how to be happy despite my circumstances; on a mission, you don't choose what your area is or who your companion is, so you need to learn how to work hard and LOVE IT no matter what! I want to be the kind of person who radiates happiness and pure joy even in my trials. I have that vision in mind for myself, and it's time to put it to action! I have gotten a lot better already but I still have a looong way to go!

We are struggling to find new investigators (that's something that seems to be on my list of "Not Strengths") but we keep trying. I came up with a way to motivate myself: I want to spend my mission looking for the people I call my "Premortal Pals"; the people I made promises to in the Pre-existence that I would find them here on earth!!! Every day I tell myself, "Let's go find a Premortal Pal today!" Hahaha. Sounds dumb, but it's the little things that make the biggest difference.

Love you all! Hope you are loving the beautiful Fall and looking forward to Conference as much as I am!

xoxo

Sister K.

P.S. I will try to send pictures... next week...

Hey All!!

Hey All!

Another great week. We are finding a good balance between Kettle Moraine in Waukesha and for the first time I think it's really working. We have time for all the most important people we are working with, and we have time for some finding activities, too! 

I had a humbling experience this week I'd love to share with you! 

Sister Decker and I were tracting in Waukesha and no one was answering any of the doors, when finally we knocked on a door and the lady who lived there came out the side to see what we wanted. When we told her we were missionaries and we were there to share a message, she got all offended and waved her arms at us and yelled, "Go get a real job!" and went back in her house. For some reason, this really really got to me! Here we are, offering the best thing in the world to someone, and she totally misunderstands what we are here for. We're not here for money; we're not here for any reward! We're here because we love God and we want to share our knowledge with everyone! 

As we were walking away, I started crying because I was so flustered. I felt like I still haven't touched or helped anyone even though I've been here 3 months already. So we stopped at a Subway to go to the bathroom/wipe my tears (haha, embarrassing!) and everyone in the Subway just stared at me! I came out of the bathroom and the Subway guy gave me some napkins (he was actually quite sweet, his name was Ben and he said he'd come to church just to make me happy), and I was trying to explain all my feelings to Sister Decker when a cute blonde woman came up to me. She said something like, "I know wiping your eyes with a napkin is the pits; here, take this," and she handed me a cute patterned handkerchief. She gave me a hug and told me everything would be alright, then walked away. That act of kindness absolutely made my week!!!! Not only that, but it humbled me in a major way. Here I am, the missionary, the one who is supposed to be serving other people instead of getting caught up in my own inadequacies, and this random nice woman reaches out and serves ME. It should have been the other way around! Folks, I have SO much I need to work on. So SO much! But I know now more than ever before that Heavenly Father loves me. He loves me, and He loves all of you, and He loves all of His children! He puts people in our path to touch us, and whom we can touch. Any difference I have made so far in anyone's life is very much worth the sacrifice. 

I love God, and I love all of you. Hope your week was great!

xoxo

Sister K.

14 Sep 15

Hey All!

This week was great! As crazy as it is to be covering two areas, I think going back to only one someday will seem boring! Both wards are awesome and the land here is so so pretty. I'm telling you, there's nothing quite like Wisconsin skies! And I am especially happy because FALL IS OFFICIALLY HERE! Well, I'm not sure if it's technically fall on the calendar or anything, but the weather broke a couple days ago and the air is all crisp and cool and smells all nice :) And Halloween stuff is being sold in Walmart, so that defines autumn in my book!!!

We had several small miracles happen this week! First, Teri! We had a lesson with her on Tuesday, and we invited her to come take a tour of the church building on Saturday. She agreed! And she brought her fiance Rick (who we've never been able to meet) with her to the church tour, and it went really well! I've never noticed before how strong the Spirit is in our church buildings, but when it's quiet and no one else is there and you take a minute just to feel it, the Spirit is so strong. Teri said she felt peace when she was there. She couldn't come to church the next day, but I think next week she'll be able to make it! That makes me SO happy :)

There is a family in the Kettle Moraine area that is amazing, and we're really hoping to make progress with them. The dad just got baptized in July, and his wife and two kids have been investigating the Church as long as he has. His wife feels kind of pressured into joining the church and wants a break from studying with the missionaries for a while so I haven't even really had the chance to teach them yet, but we have such high hopes for them. I already love them and I've only met them twice! So that's exciting!

Friday we had interviews with President Cutler! He is the most amazing man. He carries the Spirit with him in a way I have never witnessed before. He helped me to see that Sister Decker and I are in this situation because the Lord trusts us to carry the work in both areas! Before I had kind of been thinking it was a fluke, but he built up my confidence that this is exactly what needs to happen. He also gave me a blessing, and I am so SO grateful for the power of the priesthood and the worthy men that hold it. I am counting down the days until General Conference!!!! I can hardly wait to hear from our prophets! It's going to be a good one, I can tell!!!

Love you all! Have a great week!

xoxo

Sister K. 

Transfers This Week!

Hey All!

Hope you had a GREAT Labor Day yesterday! We had an awesome ward activity in the morning and ran (walked) a 5k (it killed me) and had pancakes and played kickball! It reminded me of the great times in CO when I was growing up, when we would play frisbee at Fox Run! The Waukesha ward is so great, I am really starting to feel at home here!

So... TRANSFERS are TOMORROW! And just like pretty much everyone predicted, I will be finishing Sister Decker's training!!! Something I didn't expect, though, was that we are still going to be covering two areas!!! It's both super overwhelming and super exciting because it's a lot of work, but the pace is going to be a lot faster (fun!) and we're going to have to plan and execute our plans really well in order for it to work long term. It'll be so great! 

My companion Sister Casas, who is leaving us, is going to MILWAUKEE to be the FIRST SPANISH SPEAKING SISTER MISSIONARY in our mission! How cool is that?! She's practically famous! Haha. It makes me happy to see the cool changes that are happening. This work is great!

Did I ever tell you all about Satnam? Well he's the sweetest old man (84 years old!) ever and I just love him. We stopped by to visit him this week and he isn't doing very well; he has cancer and is probably in his last few days. I remembered he had said he liked a certain kind of vegetable soup, so we brought him a can of it and a card and it meant a lot to him. He said he had been hoping we would come visit him! He started crying, and then we all started crying, and we shared a scripture, and the Spirit was so strong! The Plan of Salvation is real, folks! Death is so scary, but in this case death is going to set Satnam free. I just know he is going to accept the gospel in the afterlife, and I feel privileged to know him.

This week I was praying to receive a witness of the Book of Mormon and some other questions I've had. My mind has been so plagued by these questions, to a point where I'm not sure I should have even allowed myself to go. But Moroni promises in the Book of Mormon that those who receive these things and ask the Father about them, in Christ's name, will receive a witness that the book is true. Well, I asked... and my answer came later than I demanded it... and it's kind of a long story I don't have time to share now... but I KNOW that book is the word of God. I know it is scripture! It has changed my life! Through the Book of Mormon I am coming to know my Savior on a far more personal level, and the things I learn astonish me every day. I'm so grateful to have this truth!!!! I know this is the Lord's work, and it's where I need to be!

Love you all! Hope school is going great, for those lucky ducks who started this week :) Keep on keeping on!

With Love,

Sister K.