Sister Allie King: 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.