Happy Easter!!!

Hey all!

Hope you had a Happy Happy Easter! I've always loved Easter but this year was especially good... I am gaining so much love and respect for our Savior and so much appreciation for what He did for us. Every time I think about Him or learn about Him He becomes so much more real. Even though Christ lived more than 2,000 years ago, I am grateful that we can still know through the scriptures and through the Spirit that He lived then and still lives now! What a blessing!!

Went on a couple exchanges this week... they were great! It's a lot of fun to see how other Sisters work and what other areas are like. Tender mercy: on exchanges in Milwaukee, I got to teach a lesson to a girl and her mom... and then on Sunday, they came to our church building and didn't know where they were supposed to go for Sacrament meeting (three wards meet in that building, so it gets hectic), but because I knew who they were I was able to greet them and show them around! Little things like that happen all the time because of exchanges, and I know God is aware of each of us and gives us little daily blessings because He loves us!

People have been gone a lot for Spring break lately so it's been hard to meet with a lot of them. Kayla is in Utah, and is LOVING it!!!! She went on a tour at the Salt Lake Temple's visitor center, and she said she knew more about the church than her friend who showed her around!! haha. She's practically a Mormon. We love her so much, it's insane. I have never felt so much anxiety about a person's soul... she is PRECIOUS and she is prepared, but if she doesn't discover the truthfulness of this NOW, I don't think she ever will! So that's why I am anxious! Haha. But it's all in the Lord's timing, I guess.

We've been doing more bus contacting and it still scares the living daylights outta me. I had a not-so-good experience with a 30 year old man one day, and then a downright BAD experience with a rude old lady the next day. Kind of took a toll on me I guess. But whether I like it or not, whether I'm good at it or not... I've still got to do it. So I might as well like it AND be good at it!!!! So I am slowly learning!!!

The Women's general broadcast was AMAZING!!! For anyone who didn't get to watch it, I encourage you to look it up! SO good. It was all about service... there is always so much more we can be doing. Not that we should feel overwhelmed by the amount of service opportunities... we should be grateful we have so many chances!!! Because as President Monson said, "Opportunities to serve are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable." May we all recognize opportunities to serve and take them... especially this Easter season... because that's exactly what our Savior did!!

Love you!!!! HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!

xoxo

Sister K.

Spring is in the Air!!

We've had some nice days and some not-so-nice days as far as weather goes but I really can't believe spring is already almost here. I don't want to get my hopes up that winter is actually over! That would be too easy! I was blessed with the best winter ever! #luckyduck! haha.

Well, I'm pretty sure this is the busiest I have ever been in my life! There is so much work to be done in this area, it's insane. But I love it! The people are SO great (that's a theme I've noticed in my life; there are always INCREDIBLE people no matter where we are!!!) and I love getting to know them better. The YSAs are cool. I'd say the hardest part about serving in a YSA ward is that it makes me miss college life SO much! It's such a fun phase, and sometimes it's hard to remember that that's just not the phase I'm in right now. I can't wait to be back at BYU and be able to apply all the things I've learned out there, because I've learned a LOT! Mostly I think my perspective has changed; it used to be all about me, and what MY plans were, and what I wanted for MY future and my family's future; but now I see it's not actually about me at all. My whole life I have prayed to get the answers that I wanted, but now I am learning how to pray for what God wants for me. I want to do what He wants me to do! I've found that personal revelation flows easier when I pray that way :) It's definitely a work in progress though. I still have no idea what the future has in store for me... but I am practicing receiving spiritual revelation on the day-to-day things first, so that when the time comes I can receive revelation on the big stuff :)

Speaking of revelation, I gave a talk about it yesterday in the Brookfield ward. Definitely an inspired call, because I really needed to study more about the Spirit. A quote that really stands out to me from Preach My Gospel is, "Salvation cannot come without revelation" (Joseph Smith). The more I think about this quote, the more it rings true! We NEED to know how to receive revelation. We NEED to know "how to make important things happen by our faith" (Russell M. Nelson). If we know how to receive guidance, we WILL see our children grow "without sin unto salvation" (D&C 45). That's a promise!! I think personal revelation is the most underutilized resource in our lives. What a gift! It takes a whole lifetime to master... but it's worth practicing!!!

Anywho, as far as events go... we had exchanges with the Milwaukee First sisters, and I was with Sister Gross in the YSA ward! It was great. That was my first time traveling by bus without Sister Wise, and we made it all the way to Marquette and back without dying! So that was cool! (Mom, Dad, you know my sense of direction/navigation... so it was a pretty big deal! haha.)

We had another lesson with Kayla... ohmygoodness, she is AMAZING! I can't even wrap her in words. She's in Utah this week and is going to go to the Salt Lake Temple Visitor's Center! Ahhh!!!!! I hope SO HARD that she has an incredible spiritual experience and comes back wanting to be baptized :) Or something. Haha. No, she will probably take a lot more time, but she is incredibly worth it! We are also teaching some others that we are so excited about, especially Dora! She's so cute and she came to church yesterday, and said she plans on coming back again!!! :)

We got to go back to Waukesha this week for a lesson with a recent convert... and holy cow! It was SO STRANGE to walk those streets again! I've come so far since then! I served in Waukesha FOREVER ago! But it also feels like just yesterday. Crazy how time flies!

Love you all. Happy Easter!!! I am so grateful that we know of the Living Christ and all He does for us. Hope you make this week great!!!

xoxo

Sister K.

Jenna's Happy Birthday

THANK YOU everyone for the birthday wishes!!!! Holy cow, I can't believe I'm 20 years old! Two whole decades!! Ahhh!!! haha. It was a great birthday! Well, a looong day, but great nonetheless! We were at the church for 9 hours with meetings and stuff and after a while everything starts to blur all together when you're at church that long. But I'm lucky because the YSAs always have donuts after church (long story) so it felt like a party! Haha. Also, an awesome family in our ward - the Nussbaums - had us over for dinner and birthday cake. Man, I am SO grateful for all the families that have brought me into their home and made me feel like a part of the family! Mom, Dad, THANK YOU for always having the missionaries over for dinner!! (even though I always hid from them in my room... sorry bout that haha). It makes all the difference in the world to be invited to warm welcoming homes and sanctuaries from the world! (Not that Wisconsin is all scary or anything but you know! It's nice to have a refuge once in a while!) :) So once again, THANK YOU!!!!

This week was my first time going on exchanges as an STL. Our mission is doing this thing where we go on blitzes for exchanges now; instead of switching places, we bring BOTH Sisters to our own area. It's actually awesome because double the work gets done in 24 hours and we saw a lot of miracles. I got to take Sister Hall from Port Washington around to work in the Brookfield ward, and what did we do all day? We knocked doors!!!!! Haha. I felt a little bad making her tract for so long but our mission president is really emphasizing teaching the First Vision as many times as possible in a day, and we were able to teach it a LOT and found a couple people who seem truly prepared! Sister Hall is awesome and I learned a lot from her, and actually really enjoyed the exchange! Which was a blessing because I was so nervous!!

The best birthday gift ever was that Kayla came to church yesterday!!! YAY!!! And the part-member family in Brookfield all came too, and one of our other investigators! It was great! I am learning more and more how refreshing church is - that really IS where we're supposed to be on Sundays!! - as well as the significance of taking the Sacrament every week. It didn't used to mean too much to me, and in fact I thought the ordinance was kind of odd, but as I've been reading the New Testament, I've realized that we need as many reminders of Christ and His sacrifice for us as we can get!! It's a huge blessing to be able to renew our baptismal covenants every week. I feel like every time I make or renew a covenant, I am binding myself to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again and again. And I NEED that binding. We all do! That's how we get access to the powers of Heaven!

Thanks again for the birthday wishes! Love you all!

Have a great week!

xoxo

Sister K.

P.S. car selfie with Sister Hall!

Happy Spring!!!

Today when we woke up, the sun was shining... and it was 50 degrees! This is short sleeve, legging-free weather folks! What a miracle! The word on the streets is that winter is basically over... and this next week is supposed to be mostly sunshine with a few spring showers :)

This week was great! I am getting more comfortable in my new area. The Brookfield ward has gone through a lot of changes in the past couple months with Stake Presidency/Bishop/ward mission leader changes, so it's an exciting time to be transferred in. We're trying to focus a lot on part-member families, because there are MANY of them in the area, and just this week we were able to meet with Miriam, who is a member but has two non-member kids and a non-member husband. She was baptized in Brazil when she was 8 but remembers nothing, so she agreed for us to come and teach her family the lessons! We are SO excited about Miriam and her family!!! :)

In the YSA ward, the person I am most excited about is Kayla! She's the friend of a member and is reading the Book of Mormon every day with him. She says she's not really interested in joining the church, but the more we talk with her the more I see how PREPARED she is. She is the absolute coolest person I've ever met and I feel so much anxiety for the welfare of her soul! But I KNOW that as she reads the Book of Mormon, her testimony will grow! The difficult part will be pointing out to her what the Spirit is trying to say. 

Well, I got to go bus contacting for the first time this week! It was scary! But great! Haha. We were the first ones on the bus, and I said a little prayer that Heavenly Father would send someone to sit next to me who I could talk to. People kept getting on the bus but sitting as far away from me as possible (typical human nature, to avoid human interaction at all costs... plus, I'm sure the nametag didn't help), and I was kind of relieved but also sad haha. But then a scruffy guy with a bunch of tattoos came to the seat behind me, and I got to talk to him! And our conversation was actually REALLY cool! We started talking a lot about the purpose of life and the Plan of Salvation, and so many things that he said gave me the perfect opportunity to share what we believe. He's a recovering drug addict, spiritual but not religious, and working really hard to put his life back together. I was so amazed by him, and also amazed that Heavely Father really did put someone in my path to share something with. So I KNOW I'm already a missionary... but even missionaries have to pray for missionary opportunities sometimes. And when we pray for those opportunities, they WILL come! We just have to open our eyes and accept them!

Sister Wise is the most amazing missionary! In so many ways she reminds me exactly of my sister Kayli :) I am so blessed by her example!

Love you all! Hope it's spring for all of you too :)

Have a happy week!

xoxo

Sister K.

Happy Leap Day!!

Hello Family and Friends!

I don't even know where to begin. It's the weirdest feeling ever to be starting over in a new area! Every time I wake up I am shocked that I don't live in Oconomowoc anymore! I live in New Berlin now! Before I forget, here's my new address:

1501 S. Sunnyslope Rd.

New Berlin, WI 53151

So in this area, we cover two wards; the Brookfield family ward, and the Milwaukee YSA ward, which covers the Milwaukee North and the Milwaukee South stakes. It's SO COOL to actually be serving IN the city of Milwaukee! I NEVER expected to be here, but it's awesome. Both wards seem really strong, and good things are happening! We are in a big finding phase right now, which is great. It's fun to start from the bottom up and meet a bunch of new people. We didn't meet many this past week, but today we'll buy our bus passes and from there we'll do bus contacting and street contacting close to the UWM and Marquette campuses in Milwaukee!!!! Woohoo!!!! :)

My time in Kettle Moraine ended well! I feel at peace knowing that I fulfilled my purpose in serving there. I will never forget the great people I served and loved, and the great companions I served with!

Man, I don't really know what else to say. These past few days have been so busy, I don't even know what to talk about. I guess I am just grateful to be doing what I'm doing. I'm always so tired, and the hard times are way more frequent than the happy ones, but every day as we run about doing our business, I just think to myself... "and they lived after the manner of happiness." Because that's what this is! It's a privilege to have 24 hours a day to focus on the Lord's work. And I've met so many individuals who are just as dedicated to the Lord's work as we full-time missionaries are! It's amazing! Thanks everyone for your love, support, and prayers. It is felt and much appreciated :)

Love you!!!

xoxo

Sister K.

P.S. My companion is Sister Wise and she's excellent!!!!!! I am learning so much from her already!!!