December 28, 2015

Sister Olsen, Sister King

Christmas, 2015 

Bakersfield, CA

I can’t tell if I’m happy or sad that the holidays are over, because no more carols and Christmas cheer, but NOW PEOPLE ARE FINALLY HOME!!

This week was a bit slow and pretty strange, but we made it through nonetheless! Christmas and Christmas Eve consisted of visiting our favorite people and having them stuff my face with cookies. And since my lovely companion is allergic to both dairy AND eggs, I was the lucky soul who got twice as much dessert. I don’t think my stomach will ever be the same. But we got to go Christmas caroling at a nursing home and those old people were on FIRE! They were so happy and full of life and the spirit of God, not grumpy or bitter about their circumstances. And they sang along with us and cried and I just loved it! And of course talking to my AMAZING FAMILY was a plus! It's really hard to be away from everyone I love, but it’s just a testament to the fact that this gospel is TRUE!

Skyping with Sister King

Christmas, 2015 

Bakersfield, CA

Sister Olsen, Sister King

Christmas, 2015 

Bakersfield, CA

 

Sister King Meeting Her 

4-Month Old Nephew James

For the Very First Time

Christmas, 2015 

Bakersfield, CA

I’ve been eating a lot more veggies that I haven’t before. Tons of sweet potatoes and mustard. We had ham for Christmas AND Christmas Eve!! And so much chocolate I thought I was gonna die. I’ll be feeling that this week... but we played karaoke at the Paugas and that was fun!

The Paugas

Bakersfield, CA

December 2015

We were able to teach a 16 year old boy named Dominick twice this week, with a few young men from our ward. And as wonderful as they all are, I do not miss high school boys and their interesting comments and conversations,  but it was really cool because the young men spoke with such passion about the gospel and such a young age, and Dominick can see that and feel that spirit! We also had another lesson with Blanca, and her son Anthony received the Aaronic priesthood! So cool.

So I accidentally snapped our phone in half and had to get a new one. Just when our car got fixed too! Our appliances just can’t stay in proper working order I suppose. Another set of sisters in our zone had to go to the car dealership and the workers there told them, "We know, you need to get your box of Book of Mormons out of the car before you get your rental, and yes we already have one." Plus the guy at the rental place mentioned us to them. Three Way Chevrolet truly is my second home.

But here's the CRAZIEST STORY OF THE WEEK! Post-Christmas depression is a real thing, so Sister Olsen and I were feeling pretty off Saturday morning. But we figured that if we worked really, really hard that it would get us refocused! So we're knocking doors and no one is home. So we turn around and walk away from this one house when the person inside runs out after us. She was 15 and really cool, so we start teaching her the restoration and she's loving it! We're feeling good, feeling fly, and I recite the first vision with Joseph Smith to her when she leans against the wall. Then she stumbles a bit. Then her face turns green. Then she PASSES OUT COLD AND SMACKS HER HEAD ON THE CONCRETE. She's just lying there on the ground unconscious and Sister Olsen and I are just standing there trying to figure out what just happened. She looked dead and I figured I would be too in a second, I was so confused. She pops back up and starts stumbling again so we help her get to the ground. She said she was dizzy before, but she wanted to hear our message so she ignored the feeling.... and then she has us CALL HER MOM to explain what happened since she didn't remember anything. It was so weird. She gave us her number so we can call and see how she's doing. She's okay! But it reminded us of King Lamoni in the Book of Mormon, just so overcome with the spirit he drops down as if her were dead. What a life. Poor girl...

But for the spiritual aspect, I want everyone to go and READ LUKE CHAPTER 2 because I've read that like 10 times this last week and never get sick of it.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given... and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah is a man of powerful words.

Remember to keep Christ always in your hearts and this jolly season technically isn’t over until January!

Sister King

The Zone
Bakersfield, CA
December 2015

December 21, 2015

I know I say this all the time but WHAT A WEEK! So many fun stories to share!

So we were knocking some doors when I find this wonderful kitty named Panda, so I start petting him and he starts following me as we go from door to door. He had a collar and we went to his house but there was this huge sign on the door that said "No Soliciting." BUT we were in the area the next day and Panda came up to say hi! In his own special cat way, he got us to follow him back to his house where his owner was in the garage, so we went up to talk to him, taught him the restoration and he agreed to meet with us again to learn more!

Another day we had the address of someone who had talked to missionaries in the past and they lived on Sand Road. We plug it into the GPS and it turns out that Sand Road doesn't exist, so we just pick the top result it came up with which was Sand BRIDGE, and it picked the house number that was closest to the one on Sand Road. So basically it took us to a completely different house, but we went any way and met Ryan! We started teaching him but he had to go when a voice popped into my head that said "Wait, invite him to be baptized," and I thought, "Wait I haven't taught him anything about priesthood or apostles or anything," "Do it anyway," so I quickly in 5 seconds recapped a ten minute discussion and he was super frazzled but agreed to a date! So miracles happen when you follow the spirit, even if it's awkward!

Some of the biggest news of all is that we FINALLY GOT OUR CAR! And it was smoke free! What a glorious day!

We had our Morningside on Saturday, so the west half of the mission got together to see "It's a Wonderful Life" and we were all a puddle of tears by the end. Someone in the presidency for our mission was speaking and asked a few missionaries to share their thoughts on what their life would be like if they hadn't come on their mission, like how George wondered what it would be like if he had never been born. They asked for an Elder and a Sister. And elder spoke and I was just pondering the question in concepts and no sisters were volunteering. So they ask the AP's pick a sister to share and they both scream like 2 seconds later "SISTER KING" and my heart just like plopped to the floor, I had no idea how to form my thoughts into words. But what WOULD life be like without my mission? This gospel? My Savior? I have no idea where I would be without Jesus Christ, just some bitter lonely mess off in a corner somewhere. He gave me hope and comfort and showed me where I can find joy! He's helped me to be close with my family and friends because when we follow Him, we are blessed with His spirit. Without my mission I wouldn't have had nearly as many opportunities to see Him do this in my life and the lives of those I love. Now, picture that, stated even more poorly than it already is, and that’s what I mumbled out over tears to over 100 missionaries. But the church is still true, even if I’m weak with words!

My district is focusing on finding more people to teach, so we decided to have a fast for it. There are 10 missionaries plus the Zone Leaders.  And we're each taking a day where we go without food or water so that we can be better in tune with the spirit and find those who are ready for the gospel! This started on Friday and we found 7 NEW INVESTIGATORS in 3 DAYS, which is just unheard of here. God is real and fasting works!

Several of those people live in Buttonwillow, which is basically Bishop but smaller, but people there need the gospel! It felt like coming home, even though it was like 40 minutes from our apartment  in Bakersfield and surrounded by orchards. I have no idea why it's technically our area.

Welcome to Buttonwillow
Sister Olsen, Sister King
Buttonwillow, California
December 2015

God is real, this work is amazing and WE HAVE CHRISTMAS IN 4 DAYS HGEIOAHGKL!!! 

Sister King

Jumping for Joy

Bakersfield,  CA

December 2015

Jumping for Joy

Bakersfield,  CA

December 2015

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Sister Allie King!

December 14, 2015

December 14, 2015

I know you've been DYING to hear all the adventures involving our car this last week, so stay tuned!

We went to the car dealership (which is on the other side of town) 4 TIMES this week. We get a call telling us our car was finished and ready to be picked up.  So we go, drop off the rental, get our car and drive home. We smelled something funny, but we figured it was just BO from the workers getting in and out of our car, but it kept getting stronger. Then a bunch of smoke erupts out of the hood of the car as we pull off the freeway. Turns out they had no record of what they fixed after having our car for a week and made it worse. So we waited at a gas station for the tow truck to come to get the car and drop us off at our next appointments house. But, despite all that, we managed to have our lesson with Lara, who got BAPTIZED this Saturday! 

Broken Car
Bakersfield, CA
December 2015

  

So we got this Mom car from the dealership to use, we go back home only to have them call us and tell us we need to switch cars, so we go BACK and get this bright red Cruze. Then that evening they call and tell us our car will be ready the next day, so we go in and wait for 3 hours only to have them tell us it STILL isn't ready, and gave us a FOURTH rental car. Which we still have. We'll see if they get it right this time. We spent 10 hours there this week alone. 

Getting car fixed at dealership
Bakersfield, CA
December 2015

BUT, back to Lara's baptism! It was such an amazing service, and her family and friends all came from Las Vegas to baptize her and support her, which was so awesome to see and be a part of! She's seriously the sweetest and happiest person alive, she couldn't stop giggling and she said how she felt so much peace afterwards and she KNOWS it was the best decision for her!

Lara's Baptism!
Snow Ward, Bakersfield, CA
December 2015

The rest of the week was pretty slow since we spent our afternoons sitting around in that horrid dealership, but we managed to visit 8 less active families, and one of the girls ran after us once we left and asked us to come back and teach her more since she hasn't been to church in a while. We almost cried. We're usually the ones running after other people asking them to be taught, so the tables turned!!

PLUS we went the Los Angeles to go to the TEMPLE on Tuesday! I haven't been to the temple in over 5 months and the spirit and peace I felt there was indescribable, it was just another reminder that this church is true, that God loves us each perfectly and that there is no better cause than hastening the work of salvation!

At LA Temple
Los Angeles, CADecember 2015

ALSO, we passed Abby Lee's LA studio, no lie, it’s just down the street from the temple!

Everyone’s getting their sickies out now! We run every day and I got so sore, but also sick, so I couldn’t tell if I could barely walk because of soreness, or weakness, it was NOT fun, especially since I was walking everywhere that day!                                 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

December 7, 2015

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” (Mark 8:35.)

This. Week. Was. SO. Frustrating. Our car needed its oil changed, then tires rotated, then the check engine light came on so we spent of ten hours just driving to and waiting at the dealership for that thing to get better. I now know that building better than the chapel; I can direct you to the nearest bathroom and vending machine as well as any employee. So now we have a rental car with Nevada plates so we just tell people we switched cars with a random dude off the street to avoid the long and dull story that is becoming our life. We still need to go pick it up. Again.

Sister King pretending to play the piano
Bakersfield, CA, December, 2015

BUT the Lord understood that we were limited on our time actually working so He filled it with miracles! We picked up a ton of new investigators, but the coolest story was with a woman named Marsha. She's the neighbor of a family in our ward who are fairly recent converts. They both went to the same church when they moved into the neighborhood so we testified of this gospel and how it has blessed not only their lives, but ours as well. She is an amazing mother of 6 and has such a kind spirit, when we testified of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon her eyes got wide and excited! The Holy Ghost works miracles!

We also taught Lara, a super nice Brazilian woman who's getting baptized on Saturday, and she just LOVES this gospel! Her neighbors were like her second family growing up, and they were Mormons. She said that they'd been bringing her to church and giving her copies of the Book of Mormon and introducing her to missionaries for years, and they'll be flying in from Las Vegas to baptize and confirm her this weekend! What an amazing testimony about how we need to be patient and rely on the Lord's timing instead of our own. Not to mention we have lessons at a Brazilian member's house. And they're always speaking Portuguese. So sometimes I just smile and nod but that's okay! 

Anthony's Birthday
Bakersfield, CA, December 2015

Okay, these birds in the pond by our apartment are hideous, they are black, they have disgusting looking feet-things that are striped, their beaks go up past their eyes, they have like red eyes and they're smaller than ducks. They are called the American Coot.

American Coot

American Coot

It's hard to get into the Christmas mood when it's still in the 60's and the trees haven't lost their colorful leaves and Christmas lights are strung all over palm trees but the CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL SURE HELPED! I loved their testimonies on the savior and his amazing life. I especially liked how they talked about how we need to show our faith and love for him through our actions! God PROMISED us that if we give our whole soul to Him that He will fill us with more joy and peace than we can imagine, and I know I have experienced that spirit in my life as I strive to be more like him! I'm focusing this Christmas season on giving back, giving the Savior a gift by sharing the good news of his gospel with others! And if anyone hasn't seen the church's Christmas videos THEY MUST GO WATCH IT NOW!

Watch the First Presidency Devotional HERE.

Watch more LDS Christmas videos HERE.

I heard there was a shooting in San Bernardino, I didn't know it was terrorism, so that's about how much I follow the news.  

I love this work, even if it doesn't snow in Snow!

Sister King