5k Fun Run

Well hello again!

All the sisters in our zone

Today has been kinda weird, President Miles assigned our zone to volunteer at this 5k run so the day has been all messed up. Also, today just happens to be the coldest day that I have been here thus far so that was really fun. We were out in the rain from 8-11 but it was fun because there were all these little kids and we were in charge of giving the little kids medals (among other things) but that was definitely the most fun.

spa night (or as close to it as we can get... just face masks)

Our investigator

5k fun run

5k fun run

one more from the fun run

This past week was actually like the slowest one since I have been out here, not because we weren't teaching lessons... I really don't know what it was the week just went by so slow! 

On Tuesday we got to meet with our investigator in the hospital. Seriously just love her to death! She loves us and loves when we come! We read with her the Book of Mormon and she was really excited about it. I guess it is a pretty good book ;) We also got to have a meeting/dinner with President Mclennan and his wife. Their house is really fancy and it was one of the fanciest meals I have ever eaten in my life. We got steak, which reminded me of home. Usually we get like pasta or something so it was fun to spice things up a bit. That night we also got to meet with this less active family. The mom is super awesome and wants her daughter to be baptized so we come and teach them lessons. The daughter turns 9 in a couple weeks. She loves when we come and teach her. It's really nice teaching these people that really appreciate what we are doing for them.

Wednesday was the start of the down pour. The whole province has been praying for rain and, boy oh boy,  have we gotten it. It started raining on Wednesday and it hasn't stopped since! We met with a few less actives and that went over really well. We also taught our investigator from Nigeria. We taught her the restoration and she loved it. So we're pretty excited about her, this next week we're trying to meet with her brother so we'll see how that goes. 

Thursday was so much fun! We went and helped a lady that is in a rest home.  We helped her to decorate her room. I'll have to take a picture of her room the next time we visit her cause it's just got a lot going on if ya know what I mean. We met with H again and her sons were there so we got to talk to them for a bit, trying to open some doors. Then we met with this other less active lady in our ward. After that was my favorite part of the whole week. We went and met this family from Syria. That was really fun. They told us about how their life was back in Syria then they left to Lebanon and were there for 5 years. I can't even tell you all the hard things that they had to go through but I am very humbled and so grateful for the life that I had growing up... They would walk around the streets on top of dead bodies and when they would hear gun shots they would try to hide, the 2 daughters couldn't find their family for 7 months. So ya, they've had a really hard life and they taught us all about their culture and stuff, very eye opening! 

Friday was great. we just did our weekly planning then we met with a few less actives-- nothing too crazy but still a good day. 

Saturday was okay. We met with a recent convert in the morning and talked to her about life then we had a lesson with A. We are so excited about him. He's still on date for June 4 and we talked to him about how he was feeling and he said that he has prayed and read the scriptures every day and the more he does that the more comfortable and excited he is about his baptism. We're pretty stoked. The rest of the day we just called and contacted a bunch of part member families. We didn't have a dinner so Sister Francis, being the wonderful lady that she is, said that she would take us out to dinner. We went to Tony Roma's, it's pretty much like a Texas Roadhouse but barbecue version. It was really good!

Sunday was just a very eventful day! We gave a presentation in ward council. Our zone is starting this new initiative in getting members more involved in missionary work. Pretty much the gist of it is that members need to get nonmembers and less actives to help them fulfill their callings. So ya, that went really well and I really think that it is going to help us get more referrals. Then we rushed over to YSA and got to speak in church! That went really well! A came to church and it was good because we could actually control how the meeting went! We ate dinner with like our favorite family in the Chinook ward, the Mcleods. They really are the best. just love those guys. The rest of the day was super busy and we met with 4 other people that day. We have been keeping busy that's for sure!

Super glad that we have been getting all this rain but it is a lot easier to be happy when the sun is shining, so let's hope that we see the sun sometime soon! There were a few really good talks that I read this week. Approaching the Throne of 

God with Confidence. If you have time please please read that! Also, the quote of the week for me was "I've discovered that the Lord's "no's" are merely preludes to an even greater yes". It is so true! Sometimes it is really hard to see why God would say no, but it is because he is preparing something even better for us and something better is in store!

Love you all and hope that you all have a fantastic week!! 

Much love,

Sister King

Al-birth-a (Sister Blake's birthday)

Family!! Hello how are you! It feels like forever since I've been able to talk to you, this week has gone by so fast but has been jam packed!

Monday was just it's usual fun day- the weather is very similar to Provo in the sense that it is hecka bipolar! So Monday the weather was icky at the beginning of the day, got really nice then ended icky again. But for FHE we went out to Raymond and got to play 3 legged soccer with the ward. Okay that was super intense and hilarious! I was partnered with Sister Palmer and the first play of the game a member of the bishopric and his wife and then me and Sister Palmer all went after the ball... ha they completely took us out and we were tied together so none of us could get up. Ha so funny! We were just laying there on the ground for like 15 seconds waiting for them to get off of us So ya, that was hilarious!

Tuesday was great! We had an awesome district meeting. I just love training meetings! The sad part of the day was that we got another bike and so we went on our bikes for the day... and lets just say we were going up a curb and Sister Blake couldn't quite handle it. Total face plant on the bike! Luckily she didn't brake anything and she just has a gnarly bruise on her knee. Ha so far our bike experience hasn't really gone as planned. First a bike gets stolen then Sister Blake turfs it...

 

Wednesday was great! We stopped by a few former investigators and some Elder's in our zone gave us this great referral for a lady named Holly. She is in the hospital with failing kidneys and her roommate in the hospital went to say his prayers before he went to bed and that just started a whole conversation about why he did that and it sparked an interest for her. So we've gone and met with her twice this week and she loves everything! She literally just absorbs everything we've told her so far! It's so fun to introduce people to truths about our gospel because there is so much hope in the message that we share and it makes her so excited! 

THURSDAY WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!! We got to go to the Cardston temple for zone conference. The whole southern part of our mission (like 100 missionaries) all met at the temple and we went through and did a session together. To have that many missionaries in the temple at once was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The spirit was the strongest that I have ever felt in my life! When we were all in the Celestial Room together... words can't even describe how happy I was. Such a special spirit. 

When we walked out of the temple it was a complete blizzard outside!! What?!? That was funny, it had snowed the entire time we were in the temple and everything was covered in snow. We went to the church across from the temple and had lunch then we had a discussion on the Atonement. For the past couple weeks our mission has been reading and studying conference talks about the Atonement, that was fun and there was as special spirit there too. Then we had testimony meeting. I wish that we could have been there the entire day! 

Friday was same ol same ol. Weekly planning and stuff. We did meet with this less active house of returned missionaries. That is so sad to listen to these returned missionaries who knew that the gospel was true and have now turned Atheist. So so sad! But we had dinner with the cutest couple in our ward, so that helped us feel a little better.

Saturday was awesome! We met with our investigator Alex-- who is doing fabulous by the way. He told this super cute story. So he went to breakfast with his mom and he told her that he had been taking the lessons from us and that he wanted to be baptized, all of a sudden she just started bawling. She said that she hadn't prayed in years and this past week she was overwhelmed with a feeling that she should pray for her son and that he would find God. Boom, spirit! Isn't that so fun?! He's doing great and is still on date for June 4 :)

Ha so Saturday night was crazy! Sister Francis planned this surprise party for Sister Blake. So I was in charge of getting her there without giving anything away. Which is probably one of the hardest job in the entire world! Sister Blake loves to know everything and anything... so I was really proud of myself for getting her to the Francis's house without her suspecting anything. The party was like 30 minutes but it was way fun. The Francis's are literally too nice to us, I promise we don't deserve everything the do for us!

Sunday (Sister Blake's 20th bday)

This was a fun day! She got to open her birthday package in the morning then after our studies we ran over to this rest home and sang I feel my Savior's love in their sacrament meeting. The rest of the day was great! We taught gospel principles and got to have dinner at the Francis's (they really are too good to us). Then we got to end the day by going to this Syrian Refugee fireside. That was really cool! Canada brought in like 26,000 refugees and some of them are here in Lethbridge. It was very humbling to hear from them and the journey that they have had to go through. Anyway, Sunday was a great day and Sister Blake had a wonderful birthday! This week was great! Also, thanks to everyone that sent me a letter this week. Totally made my day :)

Lethbridge's version of Cafe Rio (Cafe Verde)... not as good

BLIZZARD AT THE CARDSTON TEMPLE!

Skyping!

Celebrating the birthday girl!

Party!

Dinner with the Francis'

3 legged soccer

Driving to Cardston 

Driving back from Cardston

Love you all so much!

Sister King :)

Alburrrrrta

HELLO!!! Long time no see :)

It was seriously so nice to talk to you all yesterday, you all looked great (even you Bryan). The subject is because it has been so stinking hot here then we woke up this morning and it was freezing!

Anyway, this past week was just full of tender mercies. First of all the fires in the northern part of Alberta have been the talk of the town. Fort Mcmurray is almost completely burned to the ground and everyone has been evacuated. There haven't been any fatalities that I have heard of yet, but yesterday the whole province of Alberta did a fast for the weather to help put the fires out... and we woke up this morning and it was pouring rain. Fasting works!!

Monday was great as usual. We had dinner with a bunch of widows in our ward-- they absolutely love us! They're all adorable! We then went to FHE with this older couple in our ward. He has been in charge of making all these videos for the church so he showed us this interview of the first Sister Missionaries to go into Bulgaria. That was super cool and it made me so grateful that I am here in Canada! 

Tuesday we had ZTM and that was great. Our zone leader, Elder Henry, came up with this cool idea to help get the members more involved in missionary work. So we are trying to have members get less actives and nonmembers to help them fulfill their callings-- cool right! It's so easy to get someone to help, a lot easier than getting them to take the discussions with the missionaries. So that is what you all should try to do! Get people more involved because everyone is willing to serve! We also had a lesson with our investigator, Rachel Li.  She is so cute and so ready to be baptized it's ridiculous! Her mother won't let her be baptized so we have been praying for her mother's heart to be softened so that she can take those steps to baptism and  hopefully, something will happen there! We ended the day by just contacting some people on our ward list.

Wednesday was fun because we had cleaning inspections. Ha we have new people that do it and they are so nice so it was fun to get to know them. They even had me install the new detector and they said that they were super impressed with me and Sister Blake because we were doing things that not even the Elders could do! So funny! We tried to have a lesson with Vanessa but she hasn't been feeling too good so we had to reschedule. I also got a blessing and it was one of the neatest experiences of my life. I had like 4 things that I had on my mind and boom.boom.boom.boom Elder Henry just hit all 4 of them right in a row. Yay for the priesthood and for the spirit! 

Thursday was great- we spent lots of the day with our weekly planning (ps I forgot how fair of skin I have and my legs turned into tomatoes... but only the front of them so I have a pretty funny looking tan line now). We started exchanges this day and so Sister Brown came with me here and Sister Blake went to Taber with Sister Larsen.

Friday was so much fun! It was fun yet also stressful to be in charge of the area. But we ended up having a pretty solid day. We met with Fred Tam, a less active, and read with him some of the Book of Mormon. He's so funny! We stopped by a few former investigators and even picked up a potential investigator. Her name is Margaret and she is from Hungary! So cool! We met her just out and about and we saw her gardening and went to her. That's how lots of the "street contacting" goes here. We also had a lesson with Vanessa and that went over really well! She is starting to really progress-- hopefully her health gets better so that we can pick a date for her to be baptized. We ended the day by meeting with a less active in our ward. Okay she is the funniest and most positive person I have ever met! Like the cutest! She gets happy for literally everything. I remember her saying "God loves us so he gave us bubbles!" Ha as weird as that sounds it is so true! If we look for little things like that we will see that literally everything that we have cones from God! 

Saturday was probs my favorite day! We made some scotcheroos for the cool moms that are here and we had a lesson with our investigator Alex and his less active roommate, Jordan. That lesson went so well! Alex is now on date for June 4! So we're really excited about that! It's crazy how someone bearing a sincere and simple testimony can bring the spirit to fill the entire room. That's how the lesson was... I can't even describe it, it was so cool! Later that day we picked up 2 new investigators! They are both from Nigeria!  We're going to meet with them next week so hopefully that will be good!

Sunday was the best!! Our sacrament meeting was so  good! Emily Wallace and her husband spoke in our home ward-- they are the cutest couple and we love them!  They spoke about their mothers and it was such a sweet meeting. It made me very anxious to skype the fam! Then we ran over to YSA and ha no one was there that could play the piano so I had to (which was why I was late to the Skype call) but anyway, MAN I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD!!! I really lucked out! It was so good to be able to talk to you guys and hopefully you have seen a difference in me. 

It's hard to convey over skype but I really am becoming a better version of myself-- all through the Atonement! The Atonement is so cool! We had dinner yesterday with the Nickels. Ha for some reason they had us over and it was right during their skype call with their son in Costa Rica... we felt kinda like we were imposing but Sister Nickel loved having us there and we all talked to him. We then went to see this old lady in a rest home.  I'll have to send a picture of her sometime because she is adorable! We come sing her songs and yesterday this guy came in and said that his dad wanted us to sing to him too, so we did! Songs are such a great way to bring the spirit. We decided that we were going to go back and sing to a bunch of the residents there sometime.

Overall the week was fantastic!! Hopefully this week will be just as good! I love you all and I pray for you every day! I definitely feel all your prayers as well. Things are really happening here in Lethbridge!

Love,

Sister King

Mother's day skype!

We got to spend about an hour skyping with our Ashley!  It was great!  We had a wonderful visit and we feel so good about the work she is doing!  She has a great attitude and giving it her all!

Ashley skyped us from the Francis family's home.  Jan Francis sent these pictures to us!

We got to "meet" Sister Blake!

#tendermerciesarereal

Family and friends, hello how are you?!? 

This past week has been a complete blur, how in the world is it already Monday?? 

I am so stoked that I get to see you all to skype on Sunday! So pumped!

We both happened to wear our BYU sweatshirts for service, cute right?

 Ward talent night

Random house that just had some pretty flowers!

Henderson Lake

Henderson Lake

Henderson Lake

Anyway, Monday was fun as usual. We had dinner with our Ward mission leaders (they happen to be father and son) Ha so really sad story. On Monday we decided that it would be a good idea to get a bike lock for our bikes that we were all excited about. So we went to Walmart and got a lock and by the time we get back... Sister Blake's bike had been stolen. Ya so that was super sad!!! Ha we even filed a police report and it hasn't turned up yet but she might go get a bike sometime soon, but really that was so sad!

Tuesday was good! We met with a bunch of less actives and they actually let us in their home, that's a miracle in itself! We also got to meet with the girl in our YSA ward that we reactivated, she was doing great still so that's always fun to hear.

Wednesday was kind of a weird day. We had such a good day planned out and again they fell through. It's like these people aren't worried about their salvation and stuff (jokes jokes) But really, it breaks my heart that people seem so willing to meet with us then we show up to their house and we can see them in there but they don't come to the door or answer the phone. Maybe me and Sister Blake are scary looking or something... but who knows?! We did have a lesson with this investigator. That was honestly one of the hardest lessons I have ever taught. He was telling us that his brain works very logically, so how do you tell someone who thinks like that how the Holy Ghost works? We did get through the lesson and we will probably meet with him again which is good!

Thursday was just the best!!! Some of our plans fell through but we didn't even care because we had such a good lesson with our investigator Alex. He is so solid! We were going to teach him and we found out that Alex wanted his less active roommate to come to church. THE INVESTIGATOR WAS HELPING US REACTIVATE HIS ROOMMATE!! So awesome! We went in to teach him and the roommate was just getting ready to leave. We talked to them for a little-- they coach basketball so we talked basketball for a bit which was good because I think it helped the lesson not be too intense and help them know that we are real people. It was great! Alex said that he wants to be baptized, we just have to pick a date. His friend was there who is getting ready to serve his mission in... PROVO UTAH (I was giving him advice and stuff for Provo) and at the end of the lesson he bore his testimony and started crying and the spirit was so strong and he ended up staying for the whole lesson. And wait it gets better, he was at church on Sunday and Alex had work on Sunday but said that he would be there next week! MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING PEOPLE!! That was just the high point of the week for me. Plus we were teaching the plan of salvation and how we all have purpose in our lives. I think sometimes I take it for granted the fact that I know why I'm here, where I'm going and where I was before I came to this earth. It's so simple and yet it changes lives just having that knowledge. 

Friday was super fun! We volunteered at the food bank which was a very humbling experience. We also had our ward talent show. Some people that we had dinner with brought some nonmembers with them and we talked with them and hopefully we're going to meet with them sometime this week. Member missionary work is so dang important!!

Saturday was fun too-- we helped some people move. Ha all the high priests and stuff that were there were impressed that I was doing the heavy work... Yes I do have muscles, it's all good. We also met with our recent convert and he brought his sister (nonmember) and we're most likely going to teach her this week as well. So exciting!

Yesterday was great! We didn't have any meetings in the morning so we got to study and not be in a hurry. So for the summer our YSA ward combines with another YSA ward so we showed up and the whole chapel was filled! It was so cool!! The most YSA people in a sacrament meeting I have ever seen! We also got to go to the YSA broadcast. That was super good! It was about the restoration and all of Joseph Smith's accounts of the first vision. It was very intellectual but it didn't go over my head, so that's always good. Sunday night was randomly really hard for me. I got in and just was overwhelmed with how homesick I was. I just kept thinking about how much I missed home, and what all I missed (boy am I grateful that I have so many things at home that make it hard for me to be away) but I also got thinking about how much I am loving being a missionary. This morning for my personal study Heavenly Father definitely answered my prayers! I read a talk by Neal A. Maxwell called Applying the Atoning Blood of Christ. It was seriously exactly what I needed to hear! So don't worry, I still miss home but I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now and I am going to put my whole heart into this work. I love this gospel so much and the Atonement is just the best! The more we get to know our Savior the more we will see his hand in our lives and how much he truly does love us! TENDER MERCIES ARE REAL!!!

Love you all so much and can't wait to talk to you on Sunday :)

Sister King