The Worth of a Soul.....

Wow, what a week of miracles! Seriously. The tender mercies of the Lord are ALL OVER the place in this little corner of Wisconsin!

󾓨We found a the sweetest girl EVER named Karina! She was being taught by the Neenah Elders a couple months ago, but her mom asked them not to come back. Well, the Neenah Elders got doubled out this transfer, so they gave us their area book, and we decided to try Karina again, hoping that her mom is more okay with Sisters stopping by than Elders, because Karina is a 12 year old girl. We stopped by, and it turns out that Karina has been struggling a lot with depression and anxiety and darkness from a crazy childhood, and her mother was more than willing to let us teach her and see how we could help. We met with Karina four times this week, and each time we saw her, her countenance had more and more light!!! In our latest lesson, she told us that she hasn't had ANY depressed or suicidal thoughts since she started meeting with us, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying. It's totally incredible to see the reality of the POWER of the gospel firsthand! Karina also was able to come to church yesterday. She's a sweetheart and we're SO excited to keep teaching her and seeing her life change!!!

󾓨 The Milwaukee YSA Sisters (that used to be me... THAT'S weird!) Met an AWESOME family in Milwaukee this week that lives in Neenah, and gave us their address! We stopped by yesterday and they are LEGIT. Their intent is so real and their hearts are open to learning truth! Families are THE BOMB!!!!!

󾓨 We were able to contact another referral from MYSELF in Kettle Moraine 8 months ago!! Long story short... I found a slip of paper in my suitcase with the address of a man Sister Tidwell and I gave a Book of Mormon to when we were tracting - he was visiting his mom in Monteray but actually lives in Neenah, and I wrote down his address but forgot all about it. SEEING THAT SLIP OF PAPER BLEW MY MIND!!!!!! I'm putting all my doubts behind me... THIS is where I need to be!!!!!

󾓨 Yes, I'm using the German flag as a bullet point. #fatherland

󾓨 This week was also MISSION TOUR!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Ringwood and Elder Cordon of the Seventy came to tour our mission together and train the missionaries. They are both INCREDIBLY inspired men - the spirit was SO strong throughout the meeting, and my mind and heart were FILLED to the BRIM with revelation and ALL the answers I'd been seeking. One of the favorite things I'd learned was taught by Elder Cordon; he asked us, "What is the worth of a soul?" We all answered different things:"exceedingly great," "immeasurable," "priceless," and so on. One of the missionaries said, "The worth of a soul is the worth of the Savior." That just took my breath away! It is SO true - God loved us SO MUCH that He gave us His Son as our Savior. It must have been SO HARD for Him to watch Jesus Christ suffer and feel forsaken... but that's the price that had to be payed for our sins to be redeemed, so we could return to live with our Father. I'm SO grateful for that!!!!!!!

There are so many other things I want to say... but I don't have time! Just know that this work is AMAZING!!!!! Wisconsin is MY FAVORITE!!!!!!!! I love it here!!!!!!

Love you all :) Have a great week!!!!!

xoxo

Sister K.

Hello from Winnebago!!!!

Well, "Winnebago" is actually the name of the lake, not a city... and seeing as I am NOT emailing you from a lake... Hello from Menasha! ;) Haha it is truly BEAUTIFUL up in these here parts! So green and lovely and a small-town feel but lots of new faces to see. It's like if Kettle Moraine ward and the Milwaukee YSA ward had a baby... it would also be Winnebago YSA's baby. (To steal a phrase from Sis. Gifford.) My new companion is Sister Killian and she is WONDERFUL. So sweet and kind and a hard worker and a stellar missionary and example... everything I was hoping/praying for! I feel so lucky to spend the next 6 weeks with her... hopefully more! :)

Well, I don't even know how to describe the transition to this area. After being in the Milwaukee zones my whole mission, the Appleton zone seems like a different PLANET. There are so many areas, cities, members, and missionaries I don't know! Luckily, though, there are several missionaries here that I DO know - namely, Sister Wise (serving in Appleton) and Sister Decker (serving in Sheboygan). I'm a lucky duck! And I'll get to go on exchanges with both of them in the next couple months - tender mercies up the wazoo!

I've met several AWESOME people here already - including lots and lots of recent converts! I LOVE meeting them and listening to their testimonies and their experiences with the missionaries and the Church. Every now and then I try to look at the restored gospel through a recent convert's eyes... pretty incredible, the things we do as a Church that are so NORMAL to us but NEW and DIFFERENT to everyone else. It reminds me of Bishop Gerald Causse's talk in General Conference a couple years back called "Is it Still Wonderful to You?" I hope we all take a little bit of time every day to reflect on our gratitude for the fullness of the gospel and ALLOW it to be WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!! Because it really, REALLY is!!!!

Cool experience: the night before I left Milwaukee, Sister Gifford and I had a lesson with the Petersens. The Stake President (President Elbert) came with us and bore such powerful testimony about the role of the Spirit in his life and in his conversion. The Petersens opened up and shared how there is always a TANGIBLE difference in their home when us missionaries enter it, and they want to have that feeling all the time. Arron Petersen said that after meeting with us for this past month, he can honestly say for the first time in his life that he believes Christ is the Son of God and our Savior!!! I couldn't stop myself from BEAMING ear to ear when he said that... because THAT is why we missionary work!!!! Hearing him say his testimony of Christ has grown makes EVERYTHING worth it!!! I'm so sad to leave the Petersens behind, but I know they're in good hands :) (God's hands!) (Plus the missionaries' too. Haha.) 

Anyways, it was an incredible experience! It's been a LOOOONG week... but a good one! I can't wait to report on how this next week goes!

Love you!

xoxo

Sister K.

P.S. I left my camera at the apartment... so sorry... next week for sure!! :)

Breaking News!!!

Hey Folks!

Transfers are happening on Wednesday, and our predictions were correct.... I'm leaving the Milwaukee YSA ward!!! I am sad to go - it has been WONDERFUL here, and I've met so many great eternal friends - but I'm also excited for the future :) BECAUSE!!!! I'm transferring to the WINNEBAGO YSA area!!!!!! All I wanted was to go "up north"... and technically I am! Woot woot! It covers the Neenah family ward as well, if you want to find that on a map. Kind of in the Oshkosh/Appleton area. Mixed emotions but it will be great!!!! :)

MY NEW ADDRESS IS: 1340 Geneva Rd. #2 Menasha, WI 54952

As a tribute to Milwaukee, here are a couple things I've learned from the city/ward/people/area!

1) Prayers WORK. If you want tangible evidence of this, try writing down the things you pray for every night. Weeks later you'll see that God granted you strength, patience, charity, determination, desires, etc. etc. EXACTLY when you needed it - you probably just forgot you prayed for those things in the first place! (shoutout to Sister Wise for the prayer journaling idea.)

2) "Too much kindness" is not actually a thing. We can NEVER be too kind or show too much love!!!

3) When in doubt as to what the Lord wants you to do for His people... WORK. It's easier to direct a moving object than one that is standing still.

4) Promptings are usually unidentifiable until hours, days, or weeks later. We don't need to know that the Spirit is PROMPTING us before we ACT.
5) Some of the COOLEST PEOPLE I've EVER met are 27+ years old and still single. It doesn't mean they did anything wrong - God has a plan for ALL of us and as Spencer W. Kimball (I think) said, "None of us is predestined to receive less than ALL the blessings Father has in store for us." (Or something along those lines.) (This snippet probably seems super random, but that's like the BIGGEST thing I learned from the active members of the YSA ward!)

6) I LOVE MILWAUKEE. I LOVE WISCONSIN. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!

This week. This week was a blur. We had a zone training meeting, which was good, and a miraculous amount of dinner appointments, which was lucky. There are so many solid families here - I love them!!!! We got to take out Sherry Huang, who just returned from her Mandarin-speaking mission in Arcadia, California, and that was a BLAST! So cool to talk about missions and how they change us and the lessons we learn from our mission presidents that we can only learn from THOSE SPECIFIC MEN and their wives.

We taught the Petersens on Friday - they have gotten into anti-material pretty heavily and said they almost asked us not to come back, but something always keeps them from shutting us out. WE know that's the Spirit - that they have felt something as they learn more about the gospel and eternal families - but THEY don't know that. It's hard to feel them slipping away - they are potentially the most PREPARED people I have ever met. From the Petersens I have learned how incredibly IMPORTANT it is to safeguard our testimonies - to build them CONSTANTLY and NEVER allow any room for doubt. It's not because we're brainwashed or indoctrinated - it's because we literally NEED every ounce of faith we can get!!!! EVERY chink of spiritual armor MATTERS!!!!!!!

Love you all. Hope your week is great!

With Love,

Sister K.

P.S. For anyone worried about the Milwaukee violence, we were told to let you know that all the missionaries are safe and well :) 

Umm....August?!?!

Hello!

To be real not much happened this week. Well, the Wisconsin State Fair happened, so missionary work was kind of a bust - both Marquette and UWM were both totally DEAD when we went contacting there... hardly any YSAs to be found in Milwaukee! We are entirely entrenched in a FINDING phase, too, so we were out of luck! I'm sure this week will be much better though, especially as we hone our campus-contacting skills!

MLC was Friday! That was GREAT. The meetings just seem to get better and better the more I know and the more prepared I am to follow President Williams's counsel. 

We got our oil changed!

The Senkevitchs (who I taught in Kettle Moraine) took us out to dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market on Monday!

We had a great lesson with the Petersens at the church - we took them on a tour and they really enjoyed it! Now we just need to figure out a way to get them to church on Sundays... Arron always has to work. 

We saw the PRETTIEST sunset OF MY LIFE on the lake walk the other night. BEAUTIFUL pinks and blues! It didn't show up too well on my camera but I'll send what I got. I LOVE MILWAUKEE!!!!!!

Transfers are next week so I'll probably be out of here in a week and a half. It's bittersweet!

That's everything I can think of. Haha, hopefully next week is more eventful!

xoxo

Sister K.

Tender Mercies all Around!

So... Kayla did not get baptized on Saturday :( The worst part is that, due to a dramatic and head-banging series of events on Thursday, we'll no longer be teaching her either. My heart is absolutely 100% broken. I've been pouring my heart and soul into this girl for almost 6 months now, and I NEVER anticipated that it would end this badly. I won't go into the details - honestly it's too much to type out and it exhausts me to think about it anyways. But let's just say that there were several bridges burned, and it's been a heck of a week!!!!!

Friday, Sister Gifford and I were still really struggling with the aftershock of the Kayla situation, so we asked the Brookfield ward mission leader for Priesthood blessings. That helped a ton! Brother Germanis is this big tall redheaded law enforcement manly man with the SOFTEST, KINDEST, MOST LOVING heart in the world, and it comforted me so much to know that I could turn to him for guidance and a blessing. Also he lives next to the only Chick-fil-A in the mission so we treated ourselves to some lemonade. #tendermercy! Haha really, though, there have been SO many tender mercies in the last couple days! One of those was Alison Senkevitch's baptism, in Kettle Moraine! I taught her family for 7 months, and you may remember that her two kids got baptized in April. We got to go out for Alison's baptism on Saturday, and now their family is right on track to be sealed together for time and eternity in one short year :) I got to see many of the people I LOVE, and I was able to see in myself how much I have learned, grown, and changed since leaving Kettle Moraine! What a blessing!

Another tender mercy: GERMAN FEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right folks!!!!!!! We got to volunteer at the Milwaukee Genealogical Society's booth again, and it was SO wonderful. The perfect distraction! We were able to help even MORE people find their ancestors than the last time we volunteered, and had a wonderful time! I wasn't able to take many pictures, but I'll send what I have!

I guess besides that I don't have much to report. In the last week we've given away a couple of our investigators to other missionaries based on their locations, so we are back to square 1 and on the lookout for more people to teach. We're trying to work smarter with the resources we have, especially the members, and I'm developing such a GREAT love for the members of the Brookfield ward (another tender mercy!). All in all, I just want to say that my testimony and love of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ have just shot through the roof this week. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is REAL. Christ is REAL. The Atonement is REAL. There are many words to describe the Atonement, but this week, that's the conclusion I kept coming to. The Atonement is REAL, it's not just some made-up feel-good psychology trick. There is REAL power and REAL comfort that come from Jesus Christ! This week has been the week I've been most submissive to the Lord's will and timing and ways... and it's been the week I've been FILLED the most. Sometimes I'm swallowed by my calling and responsibility, but this week I'm at peace. And I'm SO BEYOND GRATEFUL for that!!!!!!!

Hope you all are doing fantastic! Look for those tender mercies -- they are THERE!!!!!!!!!

xoxo

Sister K.

Tender Mercies all Around!

So... Kayla did not get baptized on Saturday :( The worst part is that, due to a dramatic and head-banging series of events on Thursday, we'll no longer be teaching her either. My heart is absolutely 100% broken. I've been pouring my heart and soul into this girl for almost 6 months now, and I NEVER anticipated that it would end this badly. I won't go into the details - honestly it's too much to type out and it exhausts me to think about it anyways. But let's just say that there were several bridges burned, and it's been a heck of a week!!!!!

Friday, Sister Gifford and I were still really struggling with the aftershock of the Kayla situation, so we asked the Brookfield ward mission leader for Priesthood blessings. That helped a ton! Brother Germanis is this big tall redheaded law enforcement manly man with the SOFTEST, KINDEST, MOST LOVING heart in the world, and it comforted me so much to know that I could turn to him for guidance and a blessing. Also he lives next to the only Chick-fil-A in the mission so we treated ourselves to some lemonade. #tendermercy! Haha really, though, there have been SO many tender mercies in the last couple days! One of those was Alison Senkevitch's baptism, in Kettle Moraine! I taught her family for 7 months, and you may remember that her two kids got baptized in April. We got to go out for Alison's baptism on Saturday, and now their family is right on track to be sealed together for time and eternity in one short year :) I got to see many of the people I LOVE, and I was able to see in myself how much I have learned, grown, and changed since leaving Kettle Moraine! What a blessing!

Another tender mercy: GERMAN FEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right folks!!!!!!! We got to volunteer at the Milwaukee Genealogical Society's booth again, and it was SO wonderful. The perfect distraction! We were able to help even MORE people find their ancestors than the last time we volunteered, and had a wonderful time! I wasn't able to take many pictures, but I'll send what I have!

I guess besides that I don't have much to report. In the last week we've given away a couple of our investigators to other missionaries based on their locations, so we are back to square 1 and on the lookout for more people to teach. We're trying to work smarter with the resources we have, especially the members, and I'm developing such a GREAT love for the members of the Brookfield ward (another tender mercy!). All in all, I just want to say that my testimony and love of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ have just shot through the roof this week. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is REAL. Christ is REAL. The Atonement is REAL. There are many words to describe the Atonement, but this week, that's the conclusion I kept coming to. The Atonement is REAL, it's not just some made-up feel-good psychology trick. There is REAL power and REAL comfort that come from Jesus Christ! This week has been the week I've been most submissive to the Lord's will and timing and ways... and it's been the week I've been FILLED the most. Sometimes I'm swallowed by my calling and responsibility, but this week I'm at peace. And I'm SO BEYOND GRATEFUL for that!!!!!!!

Hope you all are doing fantastic! Look for those tender mercies -- they are THERE!!!!!!!!!

xoxo

Sister K.