6 MONTHS.....

Wow, so it's already Monday again and I'm starting to get super worried cause the time is going by wayyyyy too fast!! 

I hit my 6 month mark on Wednesday, so to celebrate we were able to go to the temple. The Parkinsons, serving a couples mission, took us. That was really fun! It had been a while since both me and Sister Burnside had been to the temple so that was a really fun experience!

Temple day!!

I think that Elder and Sister Parkinson beat our jumping picture :)

On Monday we were able to meet with our recent convert. He has been working in Saskatchewan for a while so we hadn't seen him for a bit. It was great to see him and see how well he is! He's gone more than 70 days sober from everything! That is a major accomplishment and he wanted me to share with everyone that he is doing so well!  

Thursday was Sister Burnside's 3 month mark! How neat is that? Ha I feel like she just got here... my baby is growing up! 

Saying bye to Brad-- doing the "brad pose"

The teaching this week was a little slow. Summer is winding down so everyone and their dog is busy... which means we get to be creative with our time and try to find some people to teach! We've been going through our area book a TON lately and we always wish that we were teaching more lessons but I think that we did pretty good with our time. 

We were able to have a meeting with our Stake President, President and Sister Miles and our district. So that was really fun! We talked a lot about what we can be doing with the members to get them more involved and stuff, super great! Plus it's always good to be able to see President and Sister Miles. That night we had a fun relief society activity. It was really fun because I got to talk to a lot of the people that I've really grown close with over the past couple months... I'll probably be leaving Lethbridge in a week and a half so it was good to see all of them.

We were able to go to the Francis's for supper on Friday-- we made chimi-changas. So that was super fun. They really are too good to us.

This is Wendy!

On the way home the Parkinson's took us to this crazy little beach in the middle of nowhere!!!
Don't worry, we didn't touch the water or anything!!

Crazy moment of the week. We got a referral from this guy in Cardston to go and visit one of his friends who has been struggling a lot lately and is trying to find meaning in her life-- SCORE (that's every missionary's dream) so we go and see her and she happens to live in like THE sketchiest place I have ever seen! Smelled like drugs, beer and anything else that you can think of. So we were super scared to go in, but the girl came to the door and she is just adorable! She had gotten into a lot of bad things but she was super cute and loved meeting with us. We're meeting with her again next week-- this time probably somewhere else. But we made it out alive and it was a neat experience!

The Thompsons are doing great! Their health is going down hill a little bit so if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great! But they are just loving everything church related! It's great! Alex is doing wonderful as well! All my peeps here in Lethbridge are doing great!

We're teaching a little girl and she is so close to committing! So that is exciting!

Anyway, the work is going great and I'm just very grateful for the time that I have had in Lethbridge. Hoping that I can stay just one more transfer here but I think my time is coming to a close... but it's just that much more exciting to see where the Lord needs me next!

quote of the week: "being distinct and different from the world will draw some criticism, but we must anchor ourselves to eternal principles and testify of them, no matter the world's response." -Neil F. Marriott

Scripture of the week: Hebrews 12:1- Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Love you all!

peace out (kip voice)

Sista King

Sealed it with a kiss

HELLLOOOOO FAMILY!!!

How are all of you?! This past week flew by!! 

First things first, Linda is now an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How neat is that?! Any who, her baptism was seriously fantastic. The spirit was so so strong!! I've got to say that the actual baptism part was super interesting. Ken was able to baptize his wife... his best friend, Brother Lander was helping him and then we had Brother James in the font as well to make sure that everything ran smoothly. It was quite a full font-- but still everything went well and Ken and Linda were so excited. Her confirmation yesterday was awesome as well. We looked over and Ken was bawling the entire time. So cute! We also met with them yesterday and I wish that you could all see the difference in them. 

One of the first things that we teach people is that the gospel blesses families-- and I've seen first hand how them embracing the gospel has affected their relationship. They've been growing closer to their Savior and in turn grew closer to each other. Ha they told as ahead of time but they decided that they wanted to seal the baptism and the confirmation with a kiss... ha it was adorable. So ya, the baptism was wonderful and they are doing fantastic!!

We had a zone conference this week-- so we got to see a bunch of missionaries and President and Sister Miles, that's always fun. Ha so before we went Sister Burnside was a little nervous because they had told us to practice some role plays (which we did) but she was afraid that we would have to get up in front of all the missionaries and do it. Ha I assured her that I had never seen that before and that it wouldn't happen. But let me tell ya, the Lord has a very good sense of humor and me and Sister Burnside were picked to do a role play in front of everyone... don't worry it went well and we survived. But standing in front of 80+ missionaries teaching the Restoration to Sister Miles (pretending to be and investigator) is actually pretty dang scary.

Fun thing this week. Our stake did a softball tournament. Each ward had a team. And you had to have 4 girls on the field at all times-- our ward didn't have that many so they recruited us sisters to come and play with them. WE crushed it. Our ward ended up winning the entire thing! Dad you would have been proud! Plus we had some nonmembers come to play as well-- so it ended up being a pretty good finding activity. 

Fun story of the week. We were talking with one of our less actives in our family ward and she randomly said that she wanted to share a story with us-- she didn't know why. She told us about how she was down in Utah and she didn't have any money and was homeless and this super nice family took her in and she lived with them for 2 months then they paid for her to get back here to Canada. She talked about how this family had completely changed her life and how she wanted to be able to thank them someday and that she wants to find out how to contact them. I asked her what their names were and she said their last name was Pentz. Well, we have an Elder Pentz in our zone-- so we gave him a call and this family happens to be his cousins. So he got their contact info and she's going to be able to contact them. Ha what are the odds right?!?

This week really was just so great! This might sounds cheesy but I am just so happy and I love being a missionary. When you see someone embrace the gospel and see an evident change in them, it really makes you feel like you're doing something good. I'm just so happy! I know I was sent here to Lethbridge for Ken and Linda. Love them to death! Being a missionary is the best thing in the entire world!!!!

When we came home our landlords had cut this whole in our wall to fix the AC.

Yay for olympics!!!

This is Jackson.

Just a little pre-baptism selfie :)

Quote of the week: "The Atonement's reach is individual and infinite."

Scripture of the week: Alma 26:12 Yea , I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. 

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!

Sister Ashley King

"This is soon-to-be SISTER Thompson!"

Hello hello!!!

Okay I know I say this practically every single week but HOW IN THE WORLD IS IT ALREADY MONDAY?!?! I feel like I was just barely writing you guys!

But anyway, this past week literally FLEW by! It was a super solid week though! It was definitely a service packed and lesson packed week (love it!)

First things first-- I saw Robbie Dahl! Boy was that so much fun! We went to Wing Wednesday at Earl's-- it was great! I felt like I was right back in Provo. It was good but weird to hear about everything going on back in the 84604... but still super great!

Earls with the one and only, Robbie Dahl

On Tuesday we were able to have zone training meeting and we had some special guests. President and Sister Miles were in the south and came to our meeting. So it was good to see them-- just love them to pieces. The meeting was super awesome. We talked a lot about the Restoration and going back to the basics. There was definitely a special spirit there. 

Elder Behm's Birthday

Zone Training Meeting

Ha when we got out of ZTM we had a voicemail from Linda-- she's is like super super pumped for her baptism and she started out by saying "This is soon-to-be SISTER Thompson." It was adorable. But we planned out her baptism and it should be super good-- it's this Saturday so we are getting so excited for it!! Ha Ken is literally one of the funniest people that I have ever met. We had a lesson with them the other day and right in the middle of the lesson he pauses us and says "I want you to hear what I've been practicing.... Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ I baptize you"-- ha he went on to recite the rest of the prayer. It was great. Then he told us that he had this dream about him dropping Linda in the font (they are both very frail) but we told him that we would have a "lifeguard" be in there with them. Ha he gave this huge sigh of relief and said "Thank goodness! I can see it now in the headlines of the Herald. Man drowns wife in baptismal font..." Ha he's just a funny guy but we reassured him that they would be a-okay! 

Tender mercy of the week. We were doing some service at this golf course-- it was a fundraiser for the Lethbridge food bank. Anyway, we were out on the gold course and don't ask me why 2 red heads forgot to put on sunscreen or bring anything to protect us from the sun... but we got fried. Luckily these 2 nice ladies brought us an umbrella. I can't even imagine what we would have looked like if they didn't bring that to us. So ya, prayers get answered and the Lord protects his missionaries :)

Volunteering at the gold course. Was it fun? You can Bet on it... (video to follow)

Lobster Legs... we purchased some sunscreen don't you fret

We picked up a new investigator this week, well he's actually a former investigator. His name is Aron and he's super jacked and has tattoos all up his arms. It's awesome. But his daughter just left on her mission to Virginia Chesapeake (Which just happens to be where my MTC district went) but he's all sad about her leaving and was wondering more about what she would be doing. Which means he is super humble and has a soft heart. SCORE! So we're pretty pumped about that.

This week was just awesome. Things are popping here in Lethbridge! Can't wait for Linda's baptism on Saturday! 

 Fun fact-- our apartment flooded and so our land lords brought over this insanely loud and large fan so obviously we had to do some model shots-- they are ripping out some of the wall today so that should be exciting!

One of my favorite ladies, Jean.

I can pretend to like cats every once in a while.

Natasha-- from Thailand. She gave me the cutest, most slobbery kiss on the cheek before we left. So cute!

Hope that you all have a great week! This gospel is true and teaching it to people is the most rewarding experience of my entire life. Love you all!

Quote of the week: "Keep your chin up, trust in God and believe in God things to come." -Elder Holland

Scripture of the week: D&C 84:88 "And whoso receiveth you, there will I be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

Love yall!

Sister King

Another Baptism Coming Up!

Hey hey there fam!

So this week was seriously one of the best ones ever. No joke. 

Sister Burnside puts up with my weirdness... only sometimes does she question the weird things I do.

First things first. LINDA IS ON DATE!! It was the best thing of my entire life. I don't know if I have mentioned this before but a little more than a month ago she got hit by a car and has had a concussion... and that was kind of her excuse for not being so for baptism. But this week when we went to meet with them we talked to Ken about him receiving the priesthood and that he could potentially baptize his wife and when she heard that she said that some switch flipped.She felt like that is why she was holding out. So she just got this adorable little smirk on her face and I asked her what the smirk was for and she turned to Ken and said "So, when are you going to be ready to baptize me?" IS THAT NOT THE CUTEST THING YOU HAVE EVER HEARD!! Me and Sister Burnside were freaking out! So... She is on date for August 13-- Ken got the priesthood yesterday so he will be the one to baptize her. I just love this.

Ha we had some other really funny moments that happened this week. First of all--  we walked out of a lesson and there was a mother deer feeding her 2 fawns (pictures to follow.) 

Our wildlife of the week. And as promised here is the Mama deer and her fawns :)

We also had a dinner this week with this super awesome couple in our ward. Their garden was growing outside and she gave us these peppers and said to give them to the Elders because they were the hottest thing she had ever tasted. I believe she said that they were apache peppers. So of course me being me had to try one to see if they truly were the hottest thing... let me tell you. My mouth has never ever been that hot in my entire life. Never will I ever question the members here ever again :)

Fun tender mercies this week. Our power went out (along with our entire side of the street) and was out for about 3 1/2 hours and we were worried that our food was going to go bad. The Elders called us for board updates and said that they were going to come get our food so it wouldn't go bad (it was a little after curfew) but me and Sister Burnside just said "No. Obedience brings blessings." and legit right after we said that the power turned back on. It was crazy!

Other tender mercy of the week. Yesterday at church we got there a little early because Ken had his interview for the priesthood so we talked to him before that. And the sacrament meeting before ours got out a little late so we walked by and I saw out of the corner of my eye someone leaving the chapel that looked super familiar. I literally ran after her and caught her just before she left the building. It was my home girl Kenzie Knapp! Yay for seeing my Provo friends. That was really fun to see her for sure!

MCKENZIE KNAPP!!! 

The most interesting lesson that we had this week was with our investigator, Karen. Ha we walked in and the first thing she said to us was "I have a problem... I fell asleep in the bathroom putting on my makeup." Ha and I just thought to myself "same girl." But me and Sister Burnside couldn't help but bust up laughing. That lesson was also interesting because we were talking about Lehi and his family coming to the Americas and she just got hung up on the boat. She kept asking us "but what happened to the boat?" She asked us that like 5 times and we were just like "This happened like 600 years before Christ. I have no idea where the boat is." She eventually understood us but it was super funny.

On Saturday we had the opportunity to speak at this little girls baptism in our ward. We had gone and given her some lessons before her baptism and she asked us to speak at it, so we were all excited about that. I guess it went well because a couple people told us that was the best talks they had heard at a baptism. So either they were just being really nice or the spirit was super strong. But ya, it was really fun!

The little boy told me that he had a crush on me... So he wanted a picture :)

Baptism!

One other awesome thing that happened this week-- we have been trying ever since I got here to get a lesson with this little girl. And this week we were able to get in and have a lesson with her and I think that this upcoming week we should be able to put her on date. So that's super exciting!!

We did zone service finding and all of us sisters piled into the swagon wagon... never felt like more of a soccer mom in all of life.

Anyway, this week was just awesome! Lots of super spiritual moments but also lots of fun memories. I love Lethbridge so much!!

Quote of the week: This is Elder Ballard speaking about missionary work and he just sums it up perfectly! "weaknesses become strengths, challenges become opportunities, trials become triumphs, and adversity becomes an adventure in the service of the Lord."

Scripture of the week: Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 

Love you all and hope that you have a fantastic week. God is good.

Sister Ashley King