It's a Ho King Thing!

HELLOOOOO lovely people!!

So yes, transfers happened this week and "I have a feeling we're not in Taber anymore"

Betty Moline and Barb Pierson

The Roberts family

Zuidhof's-- I already miss them A TON!! like it's ridiculous

Good ole Mother and Father Tanner. I wouldn't let just anyone do this to me...
but they are the exception.

The Andersons. Aka Grandma and Grandpa Canada.
Did I mention that he made me a rocking chair? cool hey?

Ma girl Amber Jensen

ALEXIS KNIGHT!

Sister Robison

Sister Poll

Elder Misiluki

Saying bye to Sister Sims... sad day

Sister Lane! She's replacing me in Taber... they got another redhead :)

Elder Rodriguez

Got to see ma girl Sister Taylor at transfers

Elder Henry-- served around him for a year of my mission. so that's chill.

So Sister Burnside is in my zone now. Is this the best day of my life? You betcha.

SISTER HO CHING!!! or should I say Sister Ho King? ;)

Waterton

Jen Crowson-- my fav

Just a couple sisters that I came out with all at the transfer station

Ha nope, not even in the slightest. So I got transferred up to Fish Creek in Calgary. I'm pretty sure it's the Southwest. But my new comp is Sister Ho Ching (hence the Ho King... that's our companionship name)-- She's from American Samoa. Ya, there is an American Samoa and an Un-American Samoa... who knew?!? But she's great. She's been out for almost 8 months and she's just adorable!! We're serving in a YSA ward up here as well as a family ward. Lemme just say that being back in YSA has got to be like the weirdest transition ever. We had a ward talent show for the YSA ward on Friday and there was a room full of young people my age and I'm just awkward and don't know how to talk to people my own age... but give me an old lady and I can talk for forever!! Ha but it's all good. Our area is pretty big cause of the YSA ward-- we cover the whole stake :) yippee skippee.

But really I'm seriously so stoked about life right now. There is a TON of potential here and we're just so so excited to go out and find people to teach! We did have one investigator in our YSA come and watch conference with us and she's awesome. She is super involved in her own church but is wanting to learn more from us. So that was pretty fun. We also picked up a new gator this week. He is 18 and just has so many questions and it's awesome. We taught him the Plan of Salvation this last time and after watching conference I was just like "go watch the first session and it'll answer all your questions."

WASN'T CONFERENCE JUST THE BEST THING OF YOUR ENTIRE LIFE?!? Cause it was for me. There was literally a talk directed towards investigators-- it was awesome!! Literally all the talks were just so good. Like all my questions got answered in the first session... and then it just got better and better from there. So much about the Plan of Salvation, the Godhead-- especially the Holy Ghost and not being fearful... ya know my favorite scripture D&C 6:36-- totally applies :)

I just love the spirit that comes from conference, it went by wayyyyy too fast. Can't wait to get the conference edition of the Ensign-- ha cause us missionaries got to wait for that and can't pull out a handy dandy phone and look it up. But ya, it was awesome. It's always good to remember that God's "work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." GOD WANTS US BACK!!! Hard times happen but Heavenly Father wants all of His children to make it home. 

Also, wasn't it just the best thing to be able to hear from President Monson?!? I love that man. He truly is called of God. He just keeps fulfilling his calling all the way to the end. 

One other thing that I especially enjoyed was how many times we heard the phrase/scriptures line upon line, precept upon precept... and brighter and brighter until the perfect day. That's what life is all about. Learning one step at a time, God wants us to learn but He's going to give us what we can handle when we can handle it. He's perfect. And as we strive to follow the Savior and "walk with Him" then one day... way way in the future we'll be able to be perfect too.

Our spirits are high and I am just so happy to be a missionary right now. We're also starting to share the new Easter message with people now-- if you haven't seen it go and watch it right now!! #PrinceofPeace don't you just love that word peace?!? Peace is exactly how I would describe the Savior and how you feel when you have Him in your life. There's so many people who don't have that peace in their life and I get to be out here 24/7 trying to bring people that peace. It's awesome!!

Ha sorry if you got bored but I'm just excited.

Life is good. God is good. Abby and Mom are in NYC. Pumped for Easter.

Love you lots!! Have a great week :)

Scripture of the week: John 3:16-- For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Quote of the week: (from conference yesterday) "TAKE THE MISSIONARIES SERIOUSLY!" -Joaquin E. Costa

LOVE YOU!!

Sister King 

Taber's Got Talent

Hello lovely familia!!!

This week has been absolutely awesome! First of all, the weather has been great! It reached +17 and it was sunny... that means NO TIGHTS!!! So pretty much that's the best news ever.

We have had a really good week this week!! So I guess that main thing that went down was that we had our ward talent night. This is something that me and Sister Sims proposed in Ward Council like a month ago and we finally got to do it! So me and Sister Sims pretty much had to plan and prepare like EVERYTHING... but that is a-okay!! Cause it was awesome!! We had some really fun talents from people in the ward and there was some really cool art and things displayed as well. We originally planned to have it so that we could get our investigator families to come out to the church. THEY ALL CAME!!! Major success! Na and her son came, the Friessens came as well as the Neufelds-- they sang "I am a Child of God" with us... it was pretty cute,  not gonna lie. There were a couple tears shed from people in the audience, so we knew we had done well :) It really was a huge success-- they said that they were going to make it an annual thing for their ward cause it went so well.

Ha so we were out in Vauxhall this week and one of our appointments canceled on us. So we knocked some doors and it was really cool cause we knocked on the doors that we felt prompted to and literally every one that we knocked on ended up being good for us somehow. We met this guy amed Rod,who has like hundreds of Alpacas and we started talking to him about religion and stuff. Talked to him for a solid 10 minutes then he gave us his number and said that we should come out and talk some more with him. That was chill.

Then we got some other return appointments with some Mennonite families. Vauxhall is just packed with Mennonites. It's awesome. We just need to crack open and baptize one of them and then they'll all follow... so we're working on that. 

Oh ha I almost forgot!!! We went to Waterton this week! That was awesome! There was still quite a bit of snow there and the town was almost completely shut down, so we were like the only ones there. It was awesome. We got to walk around the lake and just be in the mountains. Man I miss those Utah mountains. 

We went on another exchange this week with Sister Messick and Sister Barlow. That was super awesome! Me and Sister Messick had a super solid day. We got to see some of my favorite people and even meet a couple of new ones that the sisters are working with that we tried to work with when I was in that area. We had an awesome lesson with this part-member couple. We talked all about repentance, forgiveness and the Atonement. They cried. It was awesome. Ha I hope that's not weird that I like when our people cry cause then you can tell that the spirit is really working with them.

HELENA!!! Oh she is doing so well! We got to see her yesterday and we talked to her about the talent show-- she absolutely loved it! The ward did such a good job of taking her in and loving her, I think that was exactly what she needs to feel. It was the saddest thing ever yesterday when I told her that I could possibly be getting transferred this week. She said "that hurts deep in my heart..." and I just sat there like "I know!! I feel you!" I just love her and that family so much.

The McClennans!!!! aka my favorite people ever-- also they will be in Utah this weekend :)

homemade pepperoni

homemade sausage... welcome to Vauxhall

When you drive 30 minutes out of Taber to your appointment and they aren't there.

Learned to play the accordion.

family pictures with the Neufelds

oh so close to the border.....

Andersons-- he made me a rocking chair... he also had me try on this thing that they wear in India

Women's conference was just the best thing of my whole life. Made me so excited for conference. It was cool how like all the talks focused on how we can keep our lives "centered on Christ." So ya, we're just pumped to hear more next week! Hopefully we'll get to hear something from Pres. Monson but it's cool to remember that it doesn't matter how long he speaks, it just matters that we he says gets listened to.

ANYWAYYYY! So yes, transfers are coming up this week. We find out tomorrow night what will be happening but it's about that time where I think I'll be heading. Who knows though?!?

So ya, life is good. Things are happening. The Book of Mormon Is true. Casey is pregnant. I love this gospel so much!

Hope that you all have a good, safe week!!

Kill it in NYC blabbs and mom-- take lots of pics!

Scripture of the week: 3 Nephi 4:33--And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction

Quote of the week: "because you are His child, you not only need Him, but He needs you." -Rosemary Wixom

Love you lots!!!

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)