January 25, 2016

So far, each one of my companions has been mistaken to be my mother and not my peer. This time it was a 45 year old woman who asked Sister Larsen if I was her daughter. What a glorious moment for all...

No rain, this week, sadly. Some clouds though!! At Zone Conference, Elder Morris, the car guy, went out, took pics of the crappy mission cars, and showed it to us to embarrass them into taking care of their cars. It was epic.  

Speaking of cars, ours is broken... New area, new car, same curse. We had to take it into the shop and everyone there still remembers me. Also, our phone broke. New area, new phone, and I still managed to break it. Pray for the appliances I come in contact with because something wants to halt the work here.

Sister King, Sister Larsen,
and some Roses from Kenzie
Bakersfield, CA

This week was amazing other than that though!! Kenzie when I "woke" her up from her "nap" for the lesson that "Mormons aren’t supposed to scare little girls!" I seemed to have missed that doctrine somehow. 

Out Bishop asked us to go visit a sister named Alma. All we knew was that she was less active and wanted to come back. Well, we get there and it turns out she has 2 kids who are 12 and 8 and want to be baptized ASAP and asked if we could help with that. God just dropped them on out lap, all I could say was "Uh, yeah, I think we can manage that." They’re super sweet too. Olga, the 12 year old, is 6 inches taller than me...

Sister Romero, Sister Larsen,
Sister Weaver, Sister King
Bakersfield, CA 

We also had exchanges with Sisters Weaver and Romero! They're so incredibly sweet, I went out with Sister Romero and she's just fantastic. God loves putting us in awkward situations, and this exchange was no exception. But we saw the blessings that come from pushing through hard, weird things, and these people we were scared to talk to were totally prepared to hear the message of the restoration! At one point there was a Hispanic woman I went over trying to tell her that we were missionaries and whatnot. I had no idea what I was saying but Sister Romero apparently SPEAKS SPANISH and came in and cleaned up the mess I just made. The woman was sweet; she agreed to let the Hermanas come teach her. I felt like such a gringo, but with pride!! 

This week was just jam packed with information about how we can be a better missionary; I'm still on an information overload. On Tuesday we had Zone Conference and President Wilson gave the most AMAZING talk on how faith without works is dead, but works without faith is just as bad. If we don’t have the faith that there are people who are not only READY for the gospel, but the faith that it WILL change their lives as well, what's the point of being out here? And if we truly have that faith, it'll show through our works. And then we had a worldwide missionary broadcast where the missionary council for the church spoke to us and it was an extension of Zone Conference. They spoke all about how we need to focus on the SPIRIT, not on us or our ability. This work would not go on if it were up to us; it's God and HIS ability to change lives that makes this gospel and the atonement possible. Teach repentance, baptize converts. I've heard that phrase about 100 times this month and it never gets old!

We continue to see miracles here! I love this work in the Shire and hope that this week brings actual rain since we were only taunted by storm clouds. It’s also been in the 60s. I'm super jealous that Maryland currently has 3 feet of snow... I could kill for a snowman right about now.

I love you all!!

Sister Romero, Sister Larsen,
Sister Weaver, Sister King
Bakersfield, CA
Caution: Sister Missionaries Acting Silly 

January 18, 2016

I know I always say that this week was full of miracles but IT REALLY WAS, I SWEAR.

We went on exchanges with the Bakersfield 5th sisters, Tidwell and Castro, and they're just about the funniest people on the planet. We had a blast! And on exchanges we found 8 NEW INVESTIGATORS with them, and for the week WE FOUND 18!! Madness, utter madness. 

Sisters King, Larsen, Tidwell, and Castro
Bakersfield, CA January 2016

This week we'll be sifting through finding those who are ready. We managed to find 2 families, but all broken up. We found this one lady knocking on doors, then we found her nephew walking home from school, then we found his cousin when we asked for him because the father speaks Spanish and wasn’t sure who we were asking for. And we found this other guy, a different family, knocking on doors, went back to see him, and then found his step son, and went back again and neither of them were home but the first guy’s brother was. Does this make sense? They’re all so cool!

When we were teaching this 13 year old boy, we told him how the Book of Mormon was translated from an ancient language into English and his eyes bug out and he goes "WHAT? NO WAY, THAT'S SO COOL," he was very animated the whole time, it just reminds me how exciting the gospel is! It IS cool, my word.

We met a girl who had a ton of dogs, so we just taught her through the screen door. The only problem is the fact that the screen doors here are all metal, so we can’t see in. She said how she'd been looking for truth and wanted to be baptized, but I still have nooo idea what she looks like. We'll find out tomorrow!

We have this other investigator who was just so interested in what we were saying, we took out a pamphlet (a PAMPHLET, not even the Book of Mormon yet) and she just lights up and asks "is that for me?!" We taught her about how there wasn't a prophet to lead the church and help the people for a while, but we shared the story of Joseph Smith and how we have a prophet today. She interrupts us and asks "I've always wondered why there weren't people to talk for God anymore but you just answered my question!" It's so refreshing to see people just love the gospel, especially when it's so new to them.

Also, this one guy told us how sad it was that Mormons were persecuted so much and he felt like they were so cool and hardworking, withstanding all of that and going west instead of fighting. But he told us this not knowing we were Mormon. When we informed him that he was speaking of OUR religion, he just goes "Dang, more power to ya!" It was so funny.

On Thursday when we were weekly planning, I texted, wait for it, 35 PEOPLE about setting up appointments and lessons. My hands were cramping, but it's a testimony that all those hours texting in HS have paid off! I came out on top!

"Kenzie is my twin and best friend"
Bakersfield, CA, January 2016 

 Anyway, this week was awesome. Especially Saturday, we had STL companion study with the APs and it was at my old building when my old ward was having an activity so I got to see everyone. I almost cried, it was so great! And at that comp study we had to role play doing things that make us awkward, such as going up to large groups of people and telling them all about Jesus. But the rest of the day, we kept running into these awkward situations so we had to suck it up and just go for it. There's no growth in a comfort zone, and I think God keeps laughing His head off when he sees me go be awkward in strange situations, but it's all worth it in the end! All the miracles I've seen on my mission have come from doing things that make me uncomfortable.

As STL’s, we now have a lot of calls to make in the evenings, so it’s the evenings that get lost, which means less time for journal writing and letters. It’s really great though, it’s nice getting to know and help the other sisters. 

Sister Goodall, "an absolutely amazing family"Bakersfield, CA, January 2016 

 The APs came to our district meeting on Friday and we got paired up with them to do a role play. They did an absolutely TERRIBLE job and Sister Larsen and I were so concerned. We gave them feedback and afterwards they go "yeah, we faked being bad to see how you sisters give advice. You're way to nice, you gotta be more blunt." WHAT? I felt so deceived. I don’t appreciate being tricked, but I learned that we can't help people if we don't let them know what to do, how to progress and what they can improve on. I won't get any better if people just sugar coat things that I’m doing poorly in. It was a weird lesson to learn.

Sorry if this didn't make any sense, my mind’s a bit scattered today.

Nothing too fancy planned for today, we’ll be hanging out with the other sisters in the district and I’ll be desperately trying to catch up on letters and writing and whatnot. 

I love you!!

January 11, 2016

WOW, WHAT A WEEK!

The Lord just loves putting me into situations where I have to stretch myself immensely. But it's been great! My new companion is Sister Larsen, she's from Charleston West Virginia and went to BYU for 3 years before her mission, computer science major, she’s been on her mission one transfer longer than me, and she's AWESOME! We are co-companions (no senior, no junior), and we have a lot of fun. In south Bakersfield. Which smells like cow poop but that’s okay, north Bakersfield smells like onions. The road where we run in the morning is full of chicken coops and I always hear like 10 roosters screaming so THAT wakes me up.

My new address is: 

        Sister Allie King

600 Hosking Avenue

Apt. 15B

Bakersfield, CA 93307

It rained A TON and I could not only see the mountains, but DETAILS on the mountains! It was so exciting, there's usually too much smog to do that so we're all very grateful.

A Rainbow in Bakersfield!

There were a lot of miracles this week and we found a bunch of new investigators that are all pretty solid! A few of my favorites include an older Hispanic woman who had a son pass away 8 years ago. She's still really hurt from the experience so we told her of Christ's atonement and His plan for us to be with our families forever.

There's also this guy in his 20's and said he'd been "church hopping" trying to find the right one, and we're all "well you’re in luck, we have the message for you!" It was awesome.

There also is a really cool sister investigator who has been through a ton of tough times in her life, but is learning to rely on our Savior more for peace. It's crazy how much I take for granted, I'm so used to feeling God's love and Spirit in my life I forget that others aren't as lucky. It's just a strong reminder of why we're out here serving the Lord, I LOVE helping people draw closer to our Heavenly Father.

We ALSO had an amazing lesson with a great family, the mom is a less active member who's starting to come back and she has 2 kids who aren't baptized. When we asked her son why he wants to be baptized he said: “so I can have Jesus in my life," and he said it with his HUGE smile and a light in his eyes, I almost started crying. That actually happened a lot this week, almost crying.

It's really interesting how much people will tell random strangers who knock on their door trying to tell them about Jesus. I get whole life stories at least 3 times a week from people I don't know. The spirit does strange things to people.

But on Wednesday we had our Mission Leadership Council and it was fantastic! We have doubled our Mission Standard of Excellence goal, which was a real stretch when it was set last April, but now we are exceeding it! In December we found 1,706 new people to teach and had 61 baptisms, all because God's spirit is just spewing everywhere during Christmas time. It's such a blessing to be a part of this amazing work.

Sister Larsen and I were in charge of the role play at our Zone Training Meeting, and we spoke on extending commitments to people, relating it to repentance. How cool is it that, as we set goals to be better and then KEEP them, we can receive a peace that can only come through cleansing ourselves from sin? Like, keeping commitments is literally repenting, yet it seems so simple. This whole gospel is simple. God doesn’t want to confuse us or lead us astray; He just tells it like it is. Like in James 1:5, He gives to all men LIBERALLY and upbraideth not! I've just felt so much of His love this week. Even though we had 6 appointments in a row fall through, it was still awesome!

Our ward mission leader calls this place "The Shire," like we're in England or something. And I love being able to connect with other sisters in the mission, we have exchanges this week and I'm super excited! 

Fun story. The young daughter of a recently reactivated family was talking about God. She said "I have my Heavenly Father, and His Heavenly Girlfriend (she meant mother, I hope), and Jesus, my Heavenly Brother, that’s so cool!" It IS so cool, we come from a heavenly home. I hope we never forget that.

My new ward’s pretty awesome from the looks of it! Everyone’s nice and we get fed a lot.

I love you all, sorry this is super scattered, my mind moves a million miles a minute now! You’re da BEST!!

The Old Bakersfield West Zone

Sister King, Sister Olsen, andThe Pruettes
Bakersfield, California
December 2015

Sister King, Sister Olsen, and The Taylor family
Bakersfield, California
December 2015

Sister King, Sister Olsen, and Lara
Bakersfield, California
December 2015

BELATED CHRISTMAS, THE PACKAGE TOOK 

2 WEEKS TO ARRIVE SO ALLIE HAD TO OPEN 

IT A FEW DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS!

3 Day Delivery. Ha!

Traditional King Christmas Beef Jerkey!

A Maryland Magnet! 

Awesome Star Wars Band Aids.

Washington DC Temple!

MLP Candy Dispenser!

January 4, 2016

I don’t have much time this week to write because life is just crazy!!

Transfer calls came in.... and I'm leaving. After ONE TRANSFER!! I'm going to Berkshire Ward in south Bakersfield and I'll be with Sister Larson! I've also been called to be a Sister Training Leader, which in this mission is kind of like a Zone Leader for Sister Missionaries, but I'm not entirely sure all that it will entail. God just keeps pushing me to my limits but I guess I signed up for that when I came out here in the first place. I'm really sad to be leaving Snow, but I've heard good things about this new area and I'm excited! For the most part. Also terrified. But whatevs.

This week was a bit slow, no one was home when they said they'd be and everyone has post-holiday sickness, but we had a funny experience with one of our investigators. He's pretty shy and has been starting to lose contact with us and a few of the young men in the ward, so we decided to bring a cute  young woman from the ward to a lesson (not because of her looks or anything, she just happened to be amazing). So he opens the door, his eyes bug out and he stumbles forward out of the doorway and had to catch himself. It took like 5 seconds before he could mumble out words. It was pretty funny, I don’t want her to flirt to convert or anything, so maybe we won't do that again, ha ha.

Good meal of the week: I had rice and corn and avocado and sweet & spicy mustard with Sriracha and its SO GOOD! Try it!

It now actually rains like once a week here! It was more frequent at the start of the transfer but it still gets nice and cloudy. It’s like 24 as a high in Bishop so I believe there is snow up north.

There are a few less actives that we visited this week that apparently have never let missionaries or members into their homes before, so it was really exciting to FINALLY get to know them!

I was studying patience this week in my personal study and came across Mosiah 23:21-22,: "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in Him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.”

…and that really stood out to me. God gives us trials to stretch us, to make us work harder and to GROW! When we're given hard things in life, being bitter and frustrated is wasting an opportunity to draw closer to our Savior and learn how to become more like Him. I've found that when I choose to be frustrated about a situation, I choose to be miserable. We can change our attitudes through diligent prayer and study, and I've seen the blessings that it brings! I love this chance I have to serve the Lord and I love this gospel!

Sister King

Sister King, Sister Olsen, The Hamiltons
Bakersfield, CA, December 2015

Sister King, Sister Olsen, Playing Ultimate Frisbee
Bakersfield, CA, December 2015