A week in the life of Sister King, a novel...

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This week has been pretty good! We've had a humbling learning experience in regards to goal setting; we realized that if we lived in a perfect world where everyone was availiable exactly when we'd like them to be, we'd reach our goals. However, since it's not, we are learning to set our goals so they're more realistic. After weekly planning this week, we're going back to the basics and are striving to accomplish our district goals. We like to get creative with weekly planning and this week we drew a tree. On the branches are names of investigators and potentials; people we really want to focus on. On the falling leaves, there are names of less-actives we want to teach lessons to this week. On the side of the tree are bugs with names of ward members that the bishop wants us to visit. Bishop said 'bug 'em!' :) Next to the tree is the temple--under it are names of the families that we're preparing to be sealed in the temple. (Two for this summer and one later on this year!) On the other side of the tree is a church and below it are names of families that we really want to come to church. The couple that we're focusing on is Rhonda and Jeff. They've been through some hard things lately and could use the strength that comes from attending sacrament meeting. We're planning to do a church tour with them sometime this week so they can become familiar and comfortable with the setting. That idea really appealed to them.

Our teaching pool is rather small right now. We were devastated to learn that Lambert doesn't want to be baptized at this time. He believes it is too much of a commitment right now. We will keep serving him and praying for him and his family. He said we can still stop by occasionally. Our top progressing investigator is Lisa. This week we stopped by to give her a birthday present (she's 35) and see how she was doing; she just had Lasik eye surgery. We also gave her a Restoration DVD and bore our testimonies of Joseph Smith. It didn't feel right to invite her to be baptized but hopefully next time. We also started teaching Desiree (a woman in the Cedar Creek ward). She's been taught all the lessons by the elders but something just wasn't clicking so they suggested the sisters come teach her and that's where we come in. She has expressed a concern about the church's stand on same-sex-marriage. She belives it's discrimination to forbid them from being baptized. We're trying to show her that this is a form of adultery and, as a result, a sin. You must be clean in order for your baptism to be valid. I feel like I was able to connect really well with Desiree; our personalities are similar. It was refreshing after watching my companion be able to connect with almost everyone immediately.

 

We are still trying to think of ways to find more people to teach. We look forward to involving the members more to help the work move forward. We are looking forward to the Robinhood festival coming up on July 19th! It's an annual celebration they do here in Sherwood. It's probably similar to Art City Days just not as big and a little more thematic. There is a parade and many vendors. We will have a booth and want to target the children so the parents will follow. We hope to have the children be able to decorate crowns and allow them to have their picture taken with us dressed up as some type of royalty. We'll have them write down their address so we can deliver the picture to them. When we stop by to drop off the picture, they will be happy to see us and it will be a perfect opportunity to share a message. It's like specialized tracting :)

My companion and I are constantly learning and growing together. We're becoming one and know that unity brings revelation. When we recognize that one of us is disconnected from the spirit, we stop, pray, and figure it out so we can move forward. She is letting me take the lead more and more and while it's scary sometimes, I know that I am improving with the help of the spirit. She and I have many laughs and are similar in many ways. Did I mention we received our calls on the exact same day? And she's only 13 days older than me!

Every year Sherwood has an annual garage sale weekend yearly. How redundant :) Did you get the movie reference? Haha. Anyway, it was this past weekend. There are so many garage sales going on, it's insane! People put their kids in wagons and walk the neighborhood. We volunteered at a members garage sale and set up a display of pamplets and Books of Mormon. We didn't visit too many other houses but that's okay. I don't think we were missing out on much and we would have just spent money unnescessarily.

 

We also had Zone Conference this week. It was phenomenal! So uplifting, motivating, and inspiring. The missionaries that are departing between now and the next Zone Conference bore their testimonies. It's hard not to compare my practicing and conditioning to their fourth quarter but I know how hindering that is so I try not to think about it and dwell upon it. We also had car inspections. The cleanest car gets the 'Golden Plate' award and receives a special gold trim license plate cover thing. We didn't win :P Maybe next time. Our chances aren't very high because there are 92 cars in the mission, around 30 of which are in our zone. Speaking of cars, we might not have our car for much longer...They are redistributing the cars with the mission split. I don't know when we'll know. But we are sisters...so who knows? Maybe we'll get to keep it. At least it's summer, so if we are on bikes it wouldn't be all that bad. Speaking of summer, it's SO hot here!! I'm not sure what the temperatures have been but with the humidity it's quite uncomfortable. We definitely appreciate our car.

 

It was so neat to have that surprise visit from Tracey Henry!! What a stalker she is ;) I loved seeing her and chatting with her for a bit. I can't believe Sierra is engaged! If you're reading this Sierra, congratulations!! :) Send me a wedding announcement! :) I was asked to give the closing prayer in sacrament meeting yesterday...it was rather nerve wracking. Oh well. Last night we ate dinner with a sweet little old lady and her nonmember friends. We shared a message and could feel the spirit so strongly! Hopefully it pricked their hearts. We have dinner appointments every night. The meal coordinator has a sign up online that members can access. Some days we even get multiple offers because people ask if we have dinner for the night. To answer your question mom, nearly every morning we eat cereal and for lunch we try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables since our dinners are full of carbs and protein. Funny story, on Wednesday and Thursday we had homemade chicken noodle soup and brownies and ice cream from two separate families. Both tasted different but both were yummy.

 

I am so grateful for this opportunity to teach my brothers and sisters. Just like the Sons of Mosiah in Alma 17: 9-11, I've prayed to have the spirit with me so I can be an instrument in His hands and as I go forth patiently, I will become exactly that. Go read it, it's written better than I can describe. As I lose myself in this work, I will become exactly what He wants me to be without even focusing on it. I love you all and am grateful for the letters I've been receiving! Until next week,

 

Love,

 

Sister King

P.S. My new favorite song is Savior, Redeemer of my Soul. Hymn no. 112. The arrangement we have on a cd is the best version I've heard though. I'll try to e-mail you a copy of it sometime.