TRANSFERS!!!!

Hey Everybody!

It was a nerve-wracking week leading up to transfers, and I had a LOT of predictions that didn't end up happening.... but guess what?!?!

I'm LEAVING WAUKESHA and STAYING IN KETTLE MORAINE full time, and I'll be TRAINING A BRAND NEW SISTER!!!!!! AHhhhhh!!!! I'm so excited!!!! There were some crazy events that happened this week that led me to believe I would be staying in Waukesha for quite a while, so I was shocked when we heard I was staying in Kettle. But after the shock wore off, I was able to feel that this really is right! Ahh, I finally know where I'll be for Christmas! And my little trainee is still in the MTC at this very moment. I feel so lucky and so honored! :D

My Thanksgiving was GREAT! I hope you all had a great one too! I definitely thought a lot about my family at the Cabin in Arizona, and I could picture so clearly exactly what it would be like. So I was there in spirit! Luckily there are some awesome families out here that made me feel at home for the holiday. 

We had two dinners, one in Waukesha and one in Delafield, with two awesome energetic families. We got to play some games too (shout out to Momma for the Would You Rathers!) and that was a ton of fun. I feel so blessed to be here, and especially in this season of gratitude, I am grateful for these past 6 months! I have learned so much about myself and the gospel. Can you believe that, folks? This Thursday I will have been out for 6 MONTHS!!!! Crazy how time flies!

We FINALLY saw Teri this week, hallelujah! She's doing great! It was so great to see her again. I got a picture with her because I knew I MIGHT be leaving Waukesha, and now I'm SO glad I did. I'll send it! She's a sweetheart!

We are still working with a couple families and several less-actives who I have come to love with all my heart. That's something else I'm grateful for; I'm grateful for the gift of love! I think as a missionary we are blessed to feel immediate and genuine love for the people we meet, and it's a gift I marvel at every day. When I found out I was leaving Waukesha, my heart was completely broken; there are SO many people there who I LOVE, and it's my first area, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. But luckily, I already know the Kettle area and I already love them all, too, so the transition will be hard but happy all at once! I love being able to feel so much love!!! 

And I love you all! Tell me about your holiday! Hope you enjoy the Christmas season! (and the pictures I am going to send because.. it's a lot of pictures!)

xoxo

Sister K.

Thanksgiving

Hey Everybody!

Hope you are all loving this Thanksgiving season. The best time of the year is upon us! Life just can't get better than being surrounded by family and food! :)

Well.... I have OFFICIALLY survived my first Wisconsin snow storm! On Friday and Saturday it snowed about 5 or 6 inches. I love snow so much, it totally made my day! And it made me feel like a little kid, looking out the window at night and seeing the beautiful flurries! I was kind of expecting it to feel like doomsday or something but honestly, Wisconsin snow is a lot like Colorado snow. Beautiful and I love it!!! It's also gotten down to 10 and 20 degrees in the mornings and evenings, but I think it's kind of refreshing. Maybe I love winter more than I thought, because it hasn't been too bad? Or maybe the Midwesterners have been exaggerating the cold this whole time? Or maybe this is just a mild winter. Probably the last one but who knows? Haha.

Well as far as work goes we've done a LOT of service this week. We had the opportunity to hand out the Thanksgiving food at the Food Pantry of Waukesha County and that was really fun. I always look forward to helping out at the food pantry, but around the holidays everyone is so much happier and more grateful. Yet another reason this time of year is the BEST!

We had several good lessons, one with a new investigator Joy. We found her through a ward member. Joy is an awesome mom and is very involved in her own church, so I've done a lot of studying to know how our church adds to what she already has. It's an interesting process! 

This week was awesome because we had Mission Tour on Thursday! Elder Gregory Schwitzer of the Seventy came and taught us about repentance and how significant it is in the conversion process. He pointed out several examples of figures in the scriptures who weren't fully converted until they went through a rigorous repentance process. I think at some point or another we all have to be torn down as low as we can possibly go so that we can rebuild ourselves in God's way, and that's what the process of repentance is. Also, I've started calling the Plan of Salvation the Plan of Eternal Progression instead, because the Plan isn't a road map, it's a process! (I sure hope that's not sacrilegious to say, haha!)

Well, love you all! Happy Turkey day! :D

With Love,

Sister K.

Christmas Stuff at Walmart... What?!?!

Hey all!

Another great week, and like most weeks I can't remember most of it! We've done a LOT of service for less actives and investigators, and actually through service we found a new family to teach! It's a mom and three daughters and they are all so precious. They've been taught by Sisters before but we're hoping this is the time it sticks!! 

We've also had some pretty awesome ward activities! In the Waukesha ward the youth did a "mini-mission" activity where they all got calls and companions and nametags and were assigned into "districts" to go around to a bunch of different stations learning what missionaries do. My companion and I were in charge of the P-day station, which is ironic because P-days are like the least missionary-ish of our weekdays!!! And they're the days I'm worst at, too, because there's always so much to do and so little time to do it! It was funny because I asked everyone, "First of all, what do you all THINK we do on P-days?" and they were all like "laundry, groceries, emails..." and I was all "Yeah that's pretty much it" and then we let them write letters to their ward's missionaries. Haha, maybe missionary life isn't as much of a mystery to everyone else as I always thought!! :P

At the end of the activity I got to bear my testimony to all the youth about missionary work, which was an awesome experience. I definitely cried, haha. It was so humbling to see all the youth in the black nametags, all dressed up like the future missionaries they are! This is SUCH a marvelous work, you know? I feel like it was JUST YESTERDAY that I was the one going to Young Women activities and looking in awe at the missionaries, but I've realized that I've grown SO much since then. My testimony and my understanding of the covenants I have made are so far beyond what they were even a couple years ago. I love moments like that, when I can acknowledge that I still have so far to go... but I really have come a long way! Also, our two investigators Althea and Autumn were at the activity, too, and seeing them there in nametags was the coolest thing ever! I got a picture with them and I'll send it today!

We also had the opportunity to go to a "worship night" at an investigator's house, which was a cool but strange experience. There was someone playing piano and guitar and two violinists and we sang songs of praise and stuff. So it was super cool, but strange because everyone there was swaying and chanting and holding up their hands when they felt the Spirit (I'm guessing) and just kind of did elaborate outward displays of what they felt on the inside. I've always wondered why our church isn't more preachy and hallelujah-y, if you know what I mean, but after the worship night I think I know. There's something to be said for that feeling of the Spirit burning in your heart that has nothing to do with what the people around you are doing. You know? The Spirit is something I can feel in the quietest moments, and I don't need to listen to loud and powerful music to feel it, or sway and wave my arms to let other people know I'm feeling it. It's all about me and the Lord and what's happening on the inside. Maybe it's just because I was raised this way, but I really like the way we worship :) It feels right to me!

Love you all! Hope your weeks have started off great! Enjoy the Christmas stuff at Walmart and Kohls because even if it's not even Thanksgiving yet... We always need a little Christmas!

xoxo

Sister K.

9 Nov 2015

This week was even busier than the last!!!! We didn't even have time for scripture study the past two days, and WE'RE MISSIONARIES!!!!! Haha that's how crazy it was! Obviously that's no excuse though so I'm repenting and I'll be better at making scripture study more of a priority... even missionaries need it every day! And without it I can DEFINITELY tell a difference!

Satnam, the sweet 84 year old man we were visiting and teaching for a while, passed away in late October. It broke my heart when we went to visit and only his wife Marilyn was there. She told us that he passed away at 5 in the morning, holding the hands of her and their niece, which is just the way he wanted it. She invited us to his memorial service, which was on Saturday, and it was really really neat! We got to see a bunch of pictures of Satnam in his younger days. I miss him! He was an incredible man! Something about the funeral that really struck me was when Marilyn was giving the eulogy, and she said that she and Satnam were married "for 58 years, right up until the moment he passed away." And in my mind it just clicked for me that Satnam and Marilyn... aren't married anymore. 58 years of being at each other's sides, and now the bond of marriage is broken. That absolutely broke my heart!!! I KNOW that marriage was meant to last so much longer than this life. Marriage is more than "til death do us part." With God's authority and in His Holy Temples, husband and wife can be sealed together for time and all eternity. I am SO grateful to know about the eternal nature of marriage and families, and THAT's what I'm out here sharing with people. The end of this life is really a greater beginning, and that's what we can hope for. Satnam taught me so much, and meeting him and his wife wasn't a coincidence! I was honored to be there at his memorial service, and it was a sweet reminder to me that death is not the end!

We have had quite a few good lessons this week, actually. I don't remember if I told you about Mari - the cute 16 year old girl we tracted into a couple weeks ago - but we had our first lesson with her! Something we did NOT anticipate was that her dad joined us a few minutes into the discussion, and started asking some pretty tough questions about the Book of Mormon and where it came from and why it matters. Funny how questions like that used to shake my testimony, but now they only serve to strengthen it! The Book of Mormon has been criticized and degraded and ridiculed and questioned for almost 2 centuries now, and even back when it was being written there were people who mocked the prophets writing the records. But guys... that book is true. It's because of the Book of Mormon that everything else falls into place; the doctrine, the ordinances, the character of Christ and His Atonement. I love the Book of Mormon, and sometimes I get a little too heated up when I'm trying to defend it! It just means so much to me! And for all those people who reject it because they already have the Bible... The Bible is a GREAT thing. And the Book of Mormon is ALSO a GREAT thing. What's wrong with more of a great thing?? Just read 2 Nephi 29!!! That says it all! See? I am already getting a little carried away. I just want you to know that if you haven't yet, READ THE BOOK and pray about it. Let a little bit of that power flow into your life! This is something I want to tell everyone in the whole world!!!!

Hmm, I am realizing I need to be better at telling stories in my emails because that's what makes them interesting! But my mind is blank and so this is all you're getting for now :)

Love you all! Have a great week!

xoxo

Sister K.

BEST WEEK EVER!!

Hello Everyone!

This was seriously the best week ever!!!! We got to go to the Trunk-or-Treats in BOTH wards (two nights of family fun, it was AWESOME and we got to meet several non-members as well!), we had Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday and ELDER RENLUND (that's right, the 100th Apostle of this dispensation) came to speak, and he reorganized the Stake presidency!!!! My companion and I sang in the Stake ward choir, and after the meeting we actually got to shake his hand!! I'm a lucky duck :)

We also found a couple new investigators, which is super exciting!!! I used to be so down on myself because I never seemed to be able to get people to listen with me or want to meet again, but I'm learning that nothing I do here is because of my own abilities; I just have to be open to the Spirit and let God work through me, and things happen! Also, a lot of miracles are happening in our mission because we are doing a 90 day fast to get 75 baptisms by the end of the year. For 90 days, at least one companionship is going to be fasting per day, so it's a continuous stream of fasting! And so far the miracles really have come! For example, we were tracting a couple days ago and I had a feeling we should go down a certain street, and at first NOTHING was happening and I was feeling all foolish... but then we bumped into a sweet lady named Alexia who agreed to meet with us again and learn more in a couple days. I'm so thrilled to be seeing these little miracles daily!

Like I said, Stake Conference was awesome! One of the DEFINITE themes of the day was that THIS is the Lord's church on the earth, that He DOES direct it and us through modern-day prophets, and that Joseph Smith was a restorer of truth and a prophet of God. Throughout the meeting the Spirit was so strong, testifying that these things are true!!! I am so grateful for the knowledge we have and I have a hard time putting my feelings about these things into words, but I want you to know that I know these things are true :)

Love you all! Can't believe we're in November!!!!

GO PACKERS!!!

Jk jk.

xoxo

Sister K.