Sister Allie King: October 2015

Monday, October 26, 2015

October 26, 2015

I don't have too much time to write, but this week has been FULL of miracles!

We had Zone Conference in Ridgecrest and it was AMAZING! President is such an inspired man, we focused a lot on teaching simply and focusing on the Atonement and how it CHANGES LIVES! And of course..... BEING BOLD! That was our focus when we went on exchanged with the Sister Training Leaders (STL's)! Teaching right there, not taking no for an answer, talking to everyone and being super persistent! And let me tell you, the Lord blesses us when we give Him our all! We picked up 4 new investigators this week and all because we wouldn't leave until they heard this message!

Sisters Wheeler and King (in the middle), flanked by
the Sister Training Leaders
October, 2015

I won't go into details about all the lessons, but I WILL talk about Michelle, the sister of a recent convert. She has had an extremely hard life and is a single mother of 4 children. We taught her the restoration and I've never felt the spirit that strongly before! She cried when we recited the first vision, she talked about her desire to draw closer to the Lord and her brother testified of all the blessings this gospel can bring into their lives! She has the strongest desire to be baptized and to be better! We've stopped by her place a few times to give her some scriptures to read and she looks at them like they're pure gold, what love for the word of God! There is so much I can learn from her.

We found a lot of solid people to teach and have been seeing the Lord work through our efforts. Sister Wheeler is a superstar, she is such an amazing missionary and person! We're loving it here in Bishop!

We've been focusing on prayer this week and what we can do to make them better. We found a scripture, Alma 32:9, and I just felt the spirit slap me across the face. WHAT ARE YOU DOING SISTER KING, WHY AREN'T YOU PRAYING MORE AND GIVING HIM YOUR ALL! needless to say, i will NOT be taking advantage of the gift of prayer any more!

We also had the chance to be chased out of a neighborhood and blatantly ignored! It builds character ;)

The package you was awesome! i already told you about it in another email though, but it was everything i needed, thank you!!

My driving is gradually improving! I still get lost sometimes but not too badly, just missing turns I need. We played a game, how many times will Sister King make a u-turn today?

We try to stay under 1,500 miles a month. ZTM is in Lone Pine, 55 miles away. We have zone conference every other transfer in Ridgecrest, so we went down there twice this month, its like 130 something miles one way, so that kinda killed our miles.

I LOVE training, but mostly because I don't need to train her too much since she's already a freaking fantastic missionary! She's super weird like me, we always quote Spongebob and memes and whatnot. She's really nice too, she's just amazing

I am planning on being in Bishop in the holidays, yes! But Elder Vakalahi will probably leave next transfer.

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you all so much!

Monday, October 19, 2015

October 19, 2015

Wow, what a week!

I had to say goodbye to Sister Liebelt on Tuesday and that was just extremely hard. But I know she's going to be an amazing Sister Training Leader in Palmdale and will continue to hasten the work!

My new companion is fresh outta the MTC and she's AMAZING! Her name is Sister Brenna Wheeler and she's from Alaska, although her family lives in Florida now! She's very grateful she went to the beautiful and cool area of Bishop and not Bakes. We're all grateful, actually. But she went to BYU for 3 years before coming out, so she's already 21, 2 years older than I am. And I'm "training" her. HA. She came pre-trained, she's already a pro! I just love her, she's so loving and kind and hard-working and has such passion of this work and for the gospel. Heavenly Father continually pours His blessings upon us. Sister Wheeler sounds just like Kylie though. We were driving back from Bakersfield and I was looking at the road and I legit thought it was Ky next to me, madness.

Elder Thunhorst, Elder Vakalahi, Sister King, Sister Wheeler,
Bakersfield, CA, October 2015

Sister Wheeler, Sister King, Sister Liebelt,
Bakersfield, CA, October 2015

DDAAANG!! That’s madness about the mudslides. Yeah, we got texts warning us about flash flooding and mudslides, we knew the highway was shut down, but I didn’t know it was THAT bad!! There’s no flooding in Bishop, it's been super nice because it’s been raining in the mornings, but it’s all dry by the afternoon.

I’m in Mammoth today, we had the most EPIC snowball fight that lasted the whole hike, it was warm enough so that we weren’t cold but there was still snow. So good.

Elder Vakalahi, Elder Thunhorst,
Sister Wheeler, Sister King
Mammoth Lake, CA, October 2015

Sister King, Sister Wheeler,
Mammoth Lake, CA, October 2015

Sister Wheeler, Sister King
Mammoth Lake, CA, October 2015

Sister King, Sister Wheeler
Mammoth Lake, CA, October 2015

Mammoth Lake, CA, October 2015

We picked up 2 new investigators this week, and we've been trying to get them for a while! One is Isaiah and he has a wife and young daughter. He came to the lesson with a list of questions he had and took notes, I felt like a teacher giving a lecture. But he was super into it! The other one is Mike and he's just the coolest guy. He's seen us walking around and asked us about what we're doing. He says he's been looking for a church and accepted a Book of Mormon and has been reading it for the last little bit! We finally got the chance to sit down with him this week and he said what strikes him the most is the passion and fire we have for this gospel. I guess it doesn't come to my mind that often, but sometimes we get loud and excited during lessons because IT'S JUST SO DANG COOL! This gospel isn't just true but it is so stinking interesting. Not only that, but we've been talking to a few former investigators of ours and they said they want to start meeting with us again and learning more. It's so amazing to see the Spirit work in others’ lives, and I'm so lucky to have this opportunity to help others draw closer to Christ!

Every year, the city of Bishop throws a Trunk or Treat and has the missionaries help out and judge the cars and costumes! It was so much fun, and we got to see a lot of people in the community and I felt like Leslie Knope (from Parks and Rec), trying to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Elder Thunhorst, Elder Vakalahi,
Sister Wheeler, Sister King
Trunk or Treat Judges, Bishop, CA, October 2015

Sister Wheeler, Sister King
Trunk or Treat Judges,
Bishop, CA, October 2015

Leslie Knope, Assistant Director,
Pawnee Indiana Parks and Recreation Department,
Sister Allie King's inspiration for the Trunk or Treat judging

We visited a TON of less actives this week, but I'd say my favorite would be Betty, who happens to be the sassiest old woman in the world. She lives in the care center right now and was making all these faces and sly comments under her breathe, her body aged but her mind is still as sharp as ever!

One of the biggest things I've learned this week is how crucial it is to have a firm understanding of the Plan of Salvation, because THAT is what shapes our actions. Elder Hale (I believe it was him) had an amazing article on that in the Ensign and it fits so well with missionary work! We're going out helping people understand who they are, why they're here and where they're going so that they can have the ability to choose accordingly and see the blessings that can come in this life and the life to come! How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father and a merciful Savior who gave everything for us. I'm sooo excited for this coming week to see what other miracles the Lord has in store for us! WE HAVE DOUBLE GREENIE FIRE!!

Sister Allie King

Monday, October 12, 2015

October 12, 2015

The Lord thought it was time for some changes...

So we're minding our own business, planning for the upcoming week when we get a text from President Wilson asking Sister Liebelt to call him. We both immediately think someone's dead or whatnot so she goes into the other room and calls him since he requested it be in private. She pops out a few minutes later and I feel as though I'm about to throw up, when she tells me she’s GOING TO PALMDALE! The only transfer calls that are made on Thursday are for Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders, but President requested that she "not tell me of her new calling." Hmmm, I wonder what it is? I'm SO EXCITED FOR HER! She's going to be amazing! But manly tears were shed at her loss. We're best friends and I'm going to miss her more than I can say, I'm so grateful for the chance I had to be trained by her! And speaking of training...

THOSE calls come on Fridays, and the rest of the transfer calls come on Saturday. We go about Friday as if it were any other and at the end of the day we're both chilling on the couch before bed at 10 (!!) o'clock at night when the phone rings. I don't check to see who it is and Liebelt answers it. I hear a young man's voice on speaker and immediately I know it’s the Assistant's to the President. Aaaaand, I've been called to train a brand new missionary AS a brand new one! I couldn't move for a few minutes, I'm still in shock and I have no idea how I'm supposed to be senior companion to a greenie (a brand-new missionary) when I'M still a greenie, but I know that through God all things are possible! And they assured me that this call came from the Lord through president. Not only that, but Elder Vakalahi is training as well! We'll have 2 brand new missionaries in Bishop Ward and all of us have been out for fewer than 8 months! WHAAT?! The greenie fire is real.

This weekend has consisted of saying goodbye to the ward and packing up. But we had a really cool experience with our new investigator, Travis! We went to the house of a potential we found, Ronnie, but he wasn't home. Travis is his brother-in-law so we started teaching him about the restoration. He said that he's seriously been considering being baptized but didn't know how to go about it, didn't know what it is. And then we show up with that answer! How grateful I am for that promise we can make with our Heavenly Father to always follow him, and I'm even more grateful for the blessing of the Holy Ghost as a CONSTANT companion if we do so! I wish I could adequately express how this gospel has blessed my life, but it suffices me to say that I couldn't be happy without it!

We spent an hour looking for the elder's keys since they lost them, so we counted that as service! This one woman opened to door, told us off and to get out of her life, then spat at us, but her aim was way off, ha ha, she missed. We met a dude walking a dog in full cowboy attire by the high school, with a Native American jacket that had a ton of tassels. He related his Christianity to Latin, Roman, and Greek nonsense, he was super nice.

We also found a ton of really cool potentials this week, and Liebelt is sad she won’t have a chance to teach them. We've been meeting with Carol, the investigator whose dog attacked me, and she's been really opening up! She's starting to read the Book of Mormon and is understanding more about where it came from and why the Lord blessed us with it in these days. My testimony in it has strengthened immensely after helping others develop one of their own. And the only way to get one is to READ it! I can't tell you how many people have concerns or questions after never having picked it up! The Lord blesses us with knowledge and testimony AFTER we begin to show Him we're willing to put in an effort. I've seen it change my life and the lives of those I love and I know that it truly is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet! How grateful I am to have been blessed with this knowledge of the gospel in my life, and how lucky I am to share it with others!

It's been in the 90s this week even though it snowed last week. And I'm now in charge of driving, so prayers for our safety would be appreciated!

I'll find out the name of my new companion when I meet her at transfer meeting. It's humbling to have to teach and lead since I've only been out 3 months and they'll be brand new. We go down to Ridgecrest, stay the night, then go to Bakersfield for the transfer meeting, pick up my new companion, and then all the way back up to Bishop, it takes an entire day.

I love Halloween; it is such a wonderful time to be alive.

Love

Sister Allie King

Tuesday Night Fellowshipping though Basketball

Sister King, Sister Liebelt, and the Romero Family

Sister King, Sister Liebelt, Sister McLaughlin,
and the Romero Family

Monday, October 5, 2015

October 5, 2015

October 5, 2015

Mammoth was interesting today, see the pictures below. October sure is proving to be wonderful.

So I guess this week was all right, it's not like we got to hear FROM THE PROPHETS OF THE LORD OR ANYTHING! ;) I wish I could put into words how incredible General Conference was and the amazing spirit that I felt the entire time! Especially when the NEW APOSTLES bore their testimonies, I felt as though the spirit rolled over me with a bulldozer, God has given us men on the earth today to let us know exactly what we need to hear for out day and age and they are the most selfless, wisest people out there. I am so incredibly grateful for modern day revelation and for the confirmation that the Lord knows us each individually which, I felt like those talks were just meant for me!

The biggest lesson I learned this past weekend was to appreciate the beauty of the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ and his church! By simply following and making covenants with Him, we can be cleansed from sin and doubt and worry and fear, his yoke is easy and his burden is light! Why over complicate what was meant to be pure and clear to begin with? Heavenly Father made the steps to return to Him straightforward for a REASON. And the blessing of having the Holy Ghost as a constant companion has just, wow, how do I even explain? Changed my life, made me happy, made me better, helped me come to know my savior and my Father, made me who I am. Although I am fully aware of my weaknesses and shortcomings, I know that through the Atonement of Christ, those can be made strong, and I know that He cares so immensely about me.

Every talk was just earth shattering, but I was struck most by Elder Rasband's testimony.

"If I could leave one small message with you today, it would be this: the Lord has said, “Love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34). I’m conﬁdent that there is no choice, sin, or mistake that you or anyone else can make that will change His love for you or for them. That does not mean He excuses or condones sinful conduct—I’m sure He does not—but it does mean we are to reach out to our fellowman in love to invite, persuade, serve, and to rescue. Jesus Christ looked past people’s ethnicity, rank, and circumstances in order to teach them this profound truth."

This is what we aim for as missionaries, to see others as Christ does so that we can love and help them as he does. I am eternally grateful for the support I have from Him and from those whom he has blessed me with in my life. I love this gospel more than I can say.

You can read / watch / listen to conference here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/10?lang=eng

As for the work, it was a little slower this week but we saw the Lord's hand guide us to people who needed our service and love. Plus we found a few families who were interested in learning more. The spirit is so strong here. I hope others can feel it as strong and as often as I am! I love you all!

I don’t mean to brag but I made fried rice with pineapple that almost made Sister Liebelt cry it was so good.

Transfers are 2 weeks FROM TOMORROW which means I’ll have been in the field for 3 MONTHS, WHAT THE HECK!!!

We hiked Mammoth Mountain today and it was like a blizzard, snow everywhere and we couldn’t see beyond 10 feet because of all the fog. Here are some pictures from our outing. It’s been in the 90’s in Bishop, but a blizzard up in Mammoth.