Sister Allie King: August 22, 2016

OKAY, last week was a bit dull and God thought "Nay, not 2 weeks in a row!" So this week was insane.

We were out for 20 minutes and we decided to go to this sweet old member’s house. We're driving down the street when all of a sudden we see a guy on a bike get HIT BY A CAR! And this isn’t like the last time we saw someone get hit by a car (note that it has happened twice since we've been in the area) where they got up and were fine. This guy bashed his head into the window, then the ground, and broke ribs, and was choking on his own blood, it was pretty horrific.... The driver was helping him and we started talking to her 7 year old daughter trying to distract her and steer her attention away from all the blood, and she's a lil’ cutie. We get the number of the driver so she can let us know if she needs anything (it wasn't either parties fault, the police said, just a freak accident), and she texts us a few days later. The man is okay and is now home from the hospital and she said she wants to learn more about the gospel! Soooo yeah. That’s that.

Right after the accident we were sad, so the friendly neighborhood stray cats came around to cheer us up. And we also got out of the car later to tract and 7 PUPPIES CAME UP AND SWARMED US! And we talked to the owner, who has talked to missionaries before, who would like us to come back (not for the puppies, but for Jesus). So, God loves us essentially.

So this puppy kept getting out of someone's back yard and we put him

back in the fence twice. He was following us when we were

knocking doors and posed for the pic.....
Sister King, Sister Clegg, Bakersfield, CA, August 2016

There are some stay cats living in out apartment complex so we
made them a little house outside our apt and give them water and
occasionally some food. Mama and baby named Gizbo
(looks like Gizmo) and Gary (after Spongebob). The mom hisses at us
whenever we get close, but the baby is starting to like us more!!

We were able to meet a lot of really cool people and families who want to change their life around (but who doesn’t, amirite?). This one girl was SOOO nice and told us to come back and texted us to make sure we were still coming and then RIGHT BEFORE the lesson she gets into a car crash.... She’s fine but the car got totaled and she couldn’t meet with us. Like, gosh DANG IT, SATAN, get OUTTA OUR LIVES! So we're pretty bummed, then we look at our phone and see we got a Headquarter Referral (Someone goes online and requests missionaries go over). Usually we get it and it’s for someone else’s area, or the number and address is wrong, but this time none of that applied!

We go to see her, a woman her BF who requested a free Bible, and she ACTUALLY PICKS UP! So we go over to see her but gosh dang it, the address didn’t exist. We call her up and she said she lives above a BAR! Haha they hate it there, they’re moving to Arkansas pretty soon, but we taught them the restoration and they just ate it all up :D

We also got to meet with someone we ran into about a month ago. He's super busy so we've been sending him "Godly texts" as he would put it, like a scripture or so a week, and we taught him and his GF as well! It turns out her brother is a Mormon so she already knows a ton about the church :D

AND, we met a guy SWEEPING GARBAGE!! I didn’t even realize that was a thing, but when one is in the hood and litter is out the wazoo, you gotta do what you gotta do. He's read the Book of Mormon before but just out of curiosity, not to actually seek guidance and truth. We challenged him to read just a few chapters but to do it with a sincere heart and real intent so he can come to know that this church is true, and he said that he knows it'll help him. It was kindda cute, we'd say "when you read the Book of Mormon" and he goes "again!" with a little smile. He's like 70 and his wife is 98! Bomb and still kicking!

A "Glorious Church" in a run down building, but its for
REALZ!! We walked by on a Sunday and the broken doors
were open and people were singing praises to
Jesus! Hhhaallelujah!

I've been listening to "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" on repeat this last week. It's always been one of my favorites, but the last line has been standing out to me a lot. It says:

"O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!

Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee

Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above"

It’s been hitting home for me because the more I serve the Lord, the more I realize how badly I need him in my life, how badly he wants to help me and guide me and how badly I fail every day. But God is always right there picking me up and helping me to continue to move forward. I can never repay Christ for his sacrifice, but I CAN do my best to bind myself to them, to let His grace influence all my decisions and all aspects of my life. He is there to bring joy, and THIS is true joy. I love this gospel, I love being a missionary, and I've decided I’m never coming home :D

Have a great week. I LOVE YOU!