Potato capital of the west

HEYYY!! Honestly can't even believe that it is already Monday again. Ya know when you just have one of those weeks or days that you know that you were always doing something but you don't quite really remember what happened? Ya, that's what I'm feeling. So I'll just try to remember everything that happened this week.

The Potato Capital of the West

First things first-- major changes to missionary life right now. On Wednesday we had a world-wide mission broadcast. It was actually really cool. Elder Oaks dropped some bombs on us and I loved it. So they did change the daily missionary routine-- pretty much it just gives us more freedom to do what we need to when we think we should do it. They also gave us an extra half hour in the morning to do what we want. They're hoping that we will choose to study or do something productive so that when we come home we will already be in the habit of choosing to read our scriptures. I have absolutely loved it! Cause when we do our normal studies we always focus on the lessons that we have and the people that we are going to teach, now we get some more time to just study for ourselves on what we want to study. It's been pretty good. Ha they also gave us 2 more hours on pday-- so that's pretty chill. Oh, they also changed our "key indicators" We had 9 every week and now we only have 4... they just said that we plan for what we report-- so the 4 are Investigators baptized and confirmed 2. Investigators who attend Sacrament meeting 3. Investigators with a baptismal date and 4. New investigators... so that's where the focus is right now. I think it'll be really good. It's weird getting used to the new things cause I have been doing the same thing every day for almost a year, so it's just different. But it's a good different.

Fun fact: P. Miles let me and Sister Sims go to a hockey game this week. Our investigator Jen's son had a hockey game and we wanted to meet her husband cause he always works during the day so he's never there for our lessons. Funner fact: I can see why Canadians love hockey so much. We were only watching 11 year olds play but it was the funnest! I loved it! 

Making burgers... real burgers

the Neufeld's

When you run out of TP then remember you have a spare in the car :)

Making noodles

As for teaching this week-- we actually had a pretty solid week. We were finally able to meet with Leona this week-- she is just a crazy busy older lady out in Vauxhall. Never have I ever met anybody who is more into family history than her... she just needs to be baptized, so we're working on it. She even said that she needs to do all this family history so that we can get the names to the temple... she's pretty much a dry Mormon so just working on that.

Helena and the Neufelds are doing so well!!!!! Oh man, I just love that family so much. They invited us over for supper on Saturday-- lemme tell ya, Mennonites know how to cook. It was such a bomb dinner! After dinner we taught the Plan of Salvation. The kids are just amazing and listen and participate and know so much, and I 'm so very impressed with them every time we see them. They really are progressing and we're just hoping that I can be here when they get baptized, cause they will get baptized eventually :)

HOCKEY GAME!!

A member gave us tator tot casserole for dinner the other night... ha reminded me of Mom :)

Yesterday was our Ward Conference in Vauxhall... ha all the stake leaders came out to it and our ward pretty much doubled... it was awesome! Then we decided to spend most of our day out there. We ended up meeting 2 families that are potentials that we're going to try to meet with again. Ha we're praying for families out in Vauxhall cause we need them, ha real bad. So we'll see what happens.

So ya, I guess you could say it was a pretty solid week. I love it here. I say that all the time but it's so true. Anyway, hope that you all have a stellar week. And a shoutout to Abby cause varsity bucket!!! :)

Quote of the week: "Our faith can reach beyond the limits of current reason" -Sister Wixom

Scripture of the week: D&C 50:24-- That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

Love you all!!

Sister King :)

Alma 49:29-- and thus ended the nineteenth year

Howdy there familia!!

Okay honestly this week has been one of my favorite weeks of being a missionary so far... no joke it was the best!!

To start out the week we got to do exchanges in Lethbridge! I got to see all of my people, it was awesome! We went and saw Ken and Linda (of course Ken wanted to talk all about Trump) but that meeting was the best! Linda told us all about her experience doing baptisms for the dead. She took some family names and she told us how she could feel that they were there. They are doing so well and it makes me so happy! They said that they are getting sealed in August and that I am invited!! Can't wait for that day! We also got to see some other people that I was working with when I left the area, it was just my favorite thing! Including Mom Francis... our dinner ended up canceling on us so she willingly let us come over for dinner. I love that lady!! 

The rest of the week was just as good! We went and helped our investigator. It was warm enough weather that she could bring the goats outside, so we went and watched them for a bit. We also had a really good lesson with this less active guy that just moved into our ward. He has struggled his whole life with drugs, alcohol, and pretty much anything else that's bad for you. But he's really wanting to change, so we met with him twice this week and he left on Saturday to go to a rehab clinic for a month. Hoping that everything will go well there!

Ken and Linda :)

Friday was just the best day ever! (Golden B-day) We had zone conference here in Taber-- so our zone and the Medicine Hat zone all came. It was probably one of the best meetings that I've been to. We watched and talked about Elder Oaks' talk about member missionary work-- that's a killer talk. We had a really good discussion on repentance. We literally talked just about repentance for about an hour. Made me realize just how important it is, repentance literally is the plan of salvation! 

We also had a REALLY good discussion on the Atonement then had a testimony meeting. I decided that missionary testimony meetings are amazing. The spirit is so strong and everybody just loves everybody and it's awesome. Ha during lunch Sister Miles had me get up in front of everybody and they sang me Happy Birthday. That was sweet. And the day continued to get better cause we had dinner with the Zuidhofs... somehow they knew that Cafe Rio is my favorite (thanks Mom) so that's what we had for dinner. 

After that we headed back out to Lethbridge because there was this concert that Wayne Burton put on. We invited all our less actives, investigators and potentials. It ended up being a really good meeting. At the end there was a missionary choir and President Miles got to get up and talk to everybody. The church was PACKED so it was a super successful night!

Celebrating 11 months with Sister Messick

Birthday party at the little house

​That awkward moment when you think that you're stepping on ice but it's actually a giant puddle
that sucks your foot in and gets all up in you boot... literally overflowed my boot.

Exchanges with Sisters Messick and Jakobi

Taber is known for the sugar beet factory... so this is a sugar beet.

At the Anderson's house they have a knife throwing wall... I did this.

Watching the Restoration video

Horse and Buggy

Ellie :)

Happy Birthday to me.. ps thanks to Mama Francis for the cute scarf :)

Mama Francis :)

Knife throwing wall

Missionary choir

Saturday was great as well. We prepared our talks cause we were speaking in Vauxhall, then we headed out to the Anderson's "little house on the prairie"-- they thought it would be a good idea to throw me a birthday party. Bless their hearts. So I said that we could but that we should invite some investigators and see if they would come. They did! So that was amazing! We had lunch and had fun then we watched the Restoration with them. All of the kids were quiet and listened, and even the dad was paying attention. After the video all the kids and the dad went out to play, so we got to talk with the mom a bit. She said that while she was watching the movie she felt something that she had never felt before. She said that there was a warm, tingling feeling in her heart... We told her that was the Holy Ghost letting her know that it was true. And then she asked us what she had to do to be able to go to the temple. We got to talk about baptism with her and she said that she is so close, and that she was going to talk to her husband about everything. So that was a MAJOR miracle!! That whole family really is the greatest and I know that if they don't get baptized while I am here, they will get baptized eventually.  So that was just so sweet of the Anderson's to let us go out there. It ended up being a really good experience for everyone.

Yesterday we spoke in church! And that went well! They didn't give us topics so we decided to go with what we know. Sister Sims talked about the Restoration and Book of Mormon, and I talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was actually pretty good considering that we had like 0 time to prepare. But it's over and done with, so that's good.

This week really has been so good! The members are just my favorite people in the world, and I am spoiled... very spoiled out here. Everybody here just loves us so much and sometimes I can't handle how much love they throw at us... wish you could see the amount of food we have from members right now, it's a little ridiculous.

But ya, life is really good. I love it here in Taber Town, and it was indeed a very Happy Birthday.

Also, feeling kind of old. But it's all good. Can't believe that I have almost been a missionary for an entire year. This past year has been the best year of my entire life. I love being a missionary and trying my hardest to become who Heavenly Father wants me to be. Life is good.

Love you all!

Quote of the week: "Heavenly Father did not put us on earth to fail, but to succeed gloriously." -Elder Scott

Scripture of the week (in case you didn't read the subject line): Alma 49:29 and thus ended the nineteenth year (and I'm going to add that it was a good one)

Driving....

Howdy y'all!

To say this week was crazy busy would be an understatement. Holy smokes! This week just flew by because we were going none stop the entire time!! 

On Tuesday we drove out to Medicine Hat-- which is like a maybe an hour and a half away and we gave our trainings. We got to talk all about how and why we love the people that we serve and we transitioned that into talking about the area book. That's one little thing that we can do that shows Heavenly Father that we love His children and we're trying our best to take care of them.  It is so important!! That way we make sure that everybody has their chance to hear about the restored gospel. President and Sister Miles came to that training meeting and it was awesome to see them again! I just love them to death!

On Wednesday we had interviews with President. So got to talk to him and Sister Miles some more. They made this new rule for missions-- we now have zone conference and interviews every single transfer. So they have to do a lot more driving now-- but we get to see them more often, so win for us :) On Wednesday we also drove out to Lethbridge for their zone training meeting. That was fun too-- I love seeing all ma friends!

The other day the moon was ginormous!! And the sky looked so cool!
Sunsets in Taber are the best thing since sliced bread

Just me and my cute comp Sister Sims

Changes to the missionary schedule

Thursday we had our zone training meeting back out in Lethbridge. That was exciting. One thing that we have been trying to focus on is just staying motivated. So we did this really fun thing at the end of the meeting. We all came with our favorite motivational speech and we did like this "motivational gauntlet" where we all said our quote and then we ran down this tunnel of high fives-- it was awesome!

On Friday we had a couple of really good lessons. A family we are teaching got back from Mexico, so we went and had an awesome lesson with them.  The dad, hasn't really ever been too engaged but at this lessons he stayed... and he participated! It was a complete miracle! He even invited us to come back! Slowly but surely his heart is being softened! We also had a lesson out with an investigator in Hays. We read the Book of Mormon with her and talked all about "tender mercies". That was really cool because then she kept naming all these things in her life that were tender mercies. It was great! 

After out lessons we drove out to Brooks to start our exchange with them. Ha we got there and they said that they accidentally washed their phone... so they didn't really have any plans for the upcoming week. So we ended up just bringing them both to our area and doing some last minute planning for having two sets of missionaries in our area. It actually turned out really well-- they were able to call some of their peeps and get some lessons going on. They're just the cutest and we got to pretty much have a slumber party, so that was chill.

Yesterday was our ward conference, and it was so good! The whole meeting was about the Sacrament and the Living Christ. President Baldry actually spoke on the sacrament before it was administered, so that was something new. And for mutual on Tuesday the YW made some fresh loaves of bread for it, it was really cool to just try to remember what the sacrament is really about. Pres. Baldry said something that I really liked, he said "The Sabbath should be the center of our week, the sacrament should be the center of our Sabbath, and the Savior should be the center of our sacrament." Kind of puts that into perspective. 

Ha other than all the driving that we did it was actually a super solid week! We had quite a few lessons and we are seeing miracles that's for sure.

Oh miracle of the week! So our Bishop told us to go stop by this less active that just moved in, and he gave us these really weird directions. So we were completely lost... all we could remember was that she lived in a fourplex and it was number 4. So we went to the first one we could see and knocked on number 4. A guy answered the door and said we could come in. We asked if the girl we were looking for  lived here and he said no... we went on to tell him that we are missionaries, ha gave him the whole schpeel. We asked if we could share a message, and he said that they were just having supper but to come back because his wife had actually talked to missionaries before. HA WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!? It was awesome!

Anyway, super stellar week full of driving but also lots of super bomb lessons :) Things are happening here in Taber Town!

Quote of the week: "The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired." -Pres. Hinckley

Scripture of the week: Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads; and they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

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

Sister King

Transfers in Taber Town!

Hey there fam!

So ya, transfers were this week. Sad news cause Sister Taylor got sent up to Calgary... but happy news cause now I am with Sister Sims!! Holy smokes, she's the cutest! She's from a little town in Wyoming called La Barge, and she grew up on a cattle ranch-- ha so she fits in so well here! She's been out on her mission for about 6 months and now she's an STL. So that should show you just how awesome she is! But ya, she's awesome and we've had lots of fun so far. Oh and I forgot to mention that she plays ball... PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!! Ha so that's been fun too :)

SISTER SIMS!!

Sister Taylor had a really bad cold...

after transfer calls  :(

Anywayyy, this week has been kinda crazy with transfers and all. We had some really good lessons on Tuesday but that night was transfer calls.  Sister Taylor found out that she would be going to Willowpark in Southeast Calgary (President and Sister Miles' ward-- I guess they wanted to keep a close eye on her ;) And I found out that Sister Sims would be coming. She has been in the Northwest part of Calgary her whole mission so far! 

We went curling last pday! it was awesome!

Sister Taylor gave me some socks to remember her by...

Climbed this big ice mound in the church parking lot and lived to tell the tale.

Bro. Anderson's wood horses

Breakfast with the Anderson's

Tying her up so she won't leave

Left me a cute little note before she left

Dean Heggie (from Lethbridge) came to see me at transfers :) best surprise ever!

Saw Sister Barlow at transfers

Last Good byes

Making stuffed meatballs... Taber style.

We spent the rest of the time on Wednesday going and saying bye to everyone for Sister Taylor. Sad sad day. It is really cool though that on your mission you make such good friends, I love it! But it makes saying goodbye that much harder... On Thursday we had a bye-bye breakfast with the Anderson's where Brother Anderson tied Sister Taylor to her chair so she couldn't go, that was pretty funny! Then we headed to transfers. 

I feel bad cause since Sister Sims has been here we've really just had to do some of the boring stuff. We've done lots of planning and driving!

On Friday we had MLC! Ha so I got to see all of my people again!  That was real fun! Plus it was such a good meeting. There were a few things that really stood out to me. We talked a LOT about planning an effective day-- so that's really what we're going to focus on. Making sure that we have effective planning sessions. Then Sister Miles talked a lot about the Area book- ha another "behind the scenes" of missionary work. That was really good. A thought kept coming to me that was like "when you keep the area book updated it shows the Lord that you are grateful for the people that he is blessing us to teach." So that was pretty fun. Then P. Miles gave a little training about loving the people, and I just loved that! We talked about the importance of ordinances and it just made me that much more excited to be a missionary! It really is just the best thing in the entire world!

The weather here has been REAL chilly lately... yesterday there was a wind chill of -26 and it's supposed to be pretty cold today too, but I can handle it :) 

This upcoming week is going to be real fun! Lots and LOTS of driving. We're heading out to Med Hat tomorrow and then Lethbridge on Wednesday and Thursday... racking up the kms. But it's great :)

Anyway, life is good!! Since school starts up today lots of our people that we're working with came home this past weekend, so it'll be good to see them again! We really are doing awesome out here in Taber Town... I just am amazed at how sweet everybody is to us-- it's ridiculous how spoiled we are out here. Wish us luck as we drive this week :)

Quote of the week: "Even at the times when you don't have confidence in yourself, the Savior does. And that's all that matters." -Pres. Miles

another one: "when we come to Him with humble and teachable hearts-- even if our hearts are heavy with mistakes, sins and transgressions-- He can change us, for He is mighty to save." -Carole M. Stephens

Scripture of the week: @ Nephi 1:15-- But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love. #lehiforthewin

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

Sister King :)