Pedaling with Purpose

Dear Family and Friends,

 

What an exhiliarating week on bike! We have had a lot of opportunities arise that normally wouldn't have had we been in a car. One night we were biking home and I saw a cell phone on the side of the road! I slowed down and told Sister Porter and we turned around to pick it up. The cell phone happened to be on so we tried calling one of the contacts labeled 'Mom's Cell'. The service had been temporarily shut down so we dialed the number on our phone. We got in contact with a woman named Suzanne. She was excited that we had found her son's phone and she gave us her address. It was across the neighborhood so we biked to the house and dropped it off. She was very friendly and grateful that we had returned it. We asked if we could come back and share a message about how families can be together forever but she said "No, I'm Catholic." Oh well, at least we left a good taste in her mouth :) We were also able to do more street contacting than we normally do. I didn't realize how restricting cars were. We've definitely got better at planning visits around the part of town we're in. I'm grateful that the weather has been nice; we've only gotten stuck in the rain once. At first I was scared that my skirt would get caught in the wheels, but it's not really a problem :) Though it reminds me how Edna Mode (on the Incredibles) says "No capes!" A couple of my skirts have gotten holes but a member is fixing them; she's a great seamstress.

 

We were able to get in contact with a former investigator this week! His name is Joe. He was riding his bike one Tuesday and stopped when he saw the youth out playing frisbee. He talked to one of the parent's there and got talking about religion. The member invited him to church and he said he'd consider it. Later on, the member told us about this situation so we looked up his teaching record in the area book. We went over and introduced ourselves and talked on his porch for fifteen minutes. We briefly mentioned his neighbor (Sister DeLong: a woman who has lost her sight, former missionary, lovely 86 year-old lady) and he said he hadn't gone to see her in awhile. We said that we were headed there next and asked him if he'd like to come along. He readily accepted, so we went to her house. The great thing is that it turned into a 45 minute lesson! Joe expressed that he had prayed that morning (at 3:00am) for guidance and direction in his life. He also said he's had trouble being happy lately. Sister DeLong was really bold with him and said: "Joe, you've been telling us that you're unhappy and that you feel like something is missing in your life. It's time for you to join the church--the Mormon church!" Haha :) I love lesson's with a member present! Joe said he'd think about it. He committed to reading the Book of Mormon! His reservations with the church right now are coffee and having to go to a specific worship time. We'll check back with him this weekend; he's out of town for work this week.

 

Our car is in the shop until tomorrow afternoon. They called us on Thursday notifying us that the repairs had been completed but that the previous night a tow truck had backed into it causing the trunk to need replacing! What an ordeal! Bikes aren't all that bad though :) Also, they are a great way to get exercise. Speaking of which, with all the sisters coming in, President has banned coed sports. Now how am I going to get really good at basketball? Haha. My companions and I will still play occasionally but it'll be a lot different without the elders. President is thinking about letting us get together with the other sisters in our Zone, so we'll see.

 

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference! It was phenomenal, as usual. We talked about teaching simply, extending committments and withholding judgments. They also had everyone who will be having a birthday between that Zone Conference and the next one in December line up together. We were to say something about our companion (if he or she was on the line). Sister Porter and I were the one companionship up there together. We also received a mini green flashlight that says "Oregon Portland Mission, Leave Your Nets". Leave Your Nets is one of the biggest mission themes that we have. We have all left behind our personal cares and desires at home just as Peter left his nets to follow the Savior.

 

For P-day yesterday, we went fishing!! We went to Horning's Hideout in Hillsboro :) It was very fun! I caught the first fish! I also caught a craw-dad. Sister Porter caught two. We have o-fish-ially left our nets :) :) I'll try to attach some pictures. What started out as a rainy day turned out to be quite hot! We had a great holiday :) I hope yours was good too! I feel blessed to be able to e-mail today since the library was closed yesterday. We've been told that in a couple of weeks we'll receive a key to the Family History Center so we'll get to start e-mailing there! That way we won't have to worry about computer reservations, making sure we find computers next to each other, etc. More importantly, we'll be able to take our investigators there and teach them more about family history.

 

I have been reflecting a lot on obedience lately. President has illustrated a three-tiered obedience platform. The top layer is Rules; the things you can/can't do. The next layer is Principles; (if/then statements) If you do this, then you will be blessed. The last layer is The Doctrine. I believe this layer is where love comes in. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments". When you truly understand the doctrine of obedience, you're not bogged down in the rules. It's not hard to be obedient because of your love for the Lord. We talked about a similar concept in the MTC; there are three ways to obey: out of fear, duty, and love. Love is the most noble and the most rewarding. I know that we are filled with joy when we obey out of love. I continually strive to cultivate that love as I serve.

 

I love you all :) I hope you're doing well! Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Until next week,

Love,

Sister King

 

P.S. Transfers are a week from yesterday! Weird. We find out the details this coming Saturday; talk about anticipation!

Umbrellas and Bicycles

Hello Family and Friends!

 

Last Monday my companion and I went with a member to the Columbia outlet store. We found some really cute, nice rain jackets! And they were on clearance!! We happened to get the same one...it's a pretty teal color with a black fleece insert. I'll try to remember to attach a picture. That night the member we were having dinner with took us in her 1976 jeep/truck thing and we went to a really nice diner. (The car is also in the picture) It was a fun joy ride with our hair whipping in the wind.

 

I love the fruit in Oregon!! I buy some delicious blueberries every week. I don't remember if I've told you but there is a cute little fruit stand next to the library that we shop at every Monday. When I come back to visit Oregon, it will definitely be in the summer. Well, we're on bikes this week. We were able to obtain some nice ones from two members in our ward. We have helmets, bike locks, bike lights...the whole deal. I'll take a picture of us sometime this week.

 

Yesterday in sacrament meeting Sister Porter and I had a musical number. I played the violin and she sang. The song was "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul"--the arrangement from 17 Miracles. We recorded a practice that we did so I'll try to put it on a CD and send it to you! We're running out of time this week though, especially because we have to ride our bikes to dinner. We also went to the mall today with some sisters in our Zone! We went to the Lego store, got a $1 massage in those chairs that are there, ate some food, shopped, and went to the 'Made in Oregon' store. It was fun to do a bit of tourist-y things. Yes, I got a 'Keep Portland Weird' bumper sticker :) I also bought a keychain, playing cards, and buttons (Those kind with safety pin type things on the back). Speaking of Portland, we had exchanges this week! I found out that the east side of Portland is still in our mission because I was paired with Sister Ramirez there. Did I mention that there are two sets of training sisters? I learned SO much from Sister Ramirez! And we witnessed many miracles :) It was fabulous.

 

We were able to have a lesson with Rhonda, Jeff, and Nicholas on Friday!! We answered Rhonda's questions on the origins of race and language through the great apostasy and dispensations. We explained that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. She said to us "It makes sense that there is a latter-day prophet! Joseph Smith is no different than Noah." We invited them to church and explained how we would be doing a musical number. They were excited to come! However, they didn't show up to church. After church, we stopped by their home and Rhonda opened the door in her robe and pajamas and explained with a guilty expression that they had slept in. We offered an invite to come hear it at our pianist's house before we had to return the violin. They accepted! The spirit was so strong as we taught through music. Rhonda cried. It was also a great opportunity to bond with members of the ward! We have a lesson set up for them this Friday and will invite them to church again. They are excited for the upcoming general conference :)

Recently we've been trying to get more organized with our ward directory, area book, etc. We go through them meticulously so no one falls through the cracks. We are working a lot with our members and are going to start setting up member referral lessons this week. The bishop has had many women of the ward come to him explaining that they don't feel like they belong. He has given us some names of those women to go strengthen and help feel needed and included. It's wonderful to see their faces as we give them little opportunities to serve us at the same time we're serving them. I love our members! After a week of rejection Sunday is great to be around people who love you and will bend over backwards for you.

Yesterday Sister Porter was baking some toast in our oven on broil. Awhile later I asked, "Do you smell that?" (She's had a cold this week so she couldn't smell anything) She said, "My toast!!" She opened the oven and smoke poured out. She closed it and we watched the giant flames--it looked like a camp fire!! We sat there for a second in panic wondering what we should do. Sister Porter turned the oven off and the fire put itself out from the lack of oxygen. Once again, we were protected. We really should just buy a toaster...

A member shared this piece of wisdom with me this week: "Decide what it is that you want and then be okay with receiving what you need from God." God doesn't just hand us what we need out of the blue; that would be taking away our agency. We need to master the technique of setting goals. There is a quote by Elder M. Russell Ballard in Preach My Gospel that says: "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life." (pg. 146) We were told by President Morby that Chapter 8 is the one we take home with us. We're learning how to manage our time and set goals now. It's hard sometimes with Satan pushing against you. But I can just see God telling Satan, "Go ahead, try her. I know she won't leave Me." Furthermore, sometimes goals feel like standardized tests; we're accountable for the number key indicators we accomplish. There's no real way to measure all that we do to further the work but I know that the most important thing is accountability before God. As long as we're following the spirit and striving to fulfill our purpose, we'll be blessed.

I love you all :) Thanks for your support!

Love,

Sister King

P.S. It's been raining quite a bit here lately! Today was beautiful though, so hopefully it stays that way while we're on our bikes! :)

 

Making History

Hello Family and Friends!

 

This week was the first ever Oregon Portland Mission Sisters Conference. In attendance were all forty sisters in the mission. They informed us that last year, there were only twelve sisters in the entire mission. We were taught by President and Sister Morby, the Assistants, and the Training Sisters. We were spiritually and physically fed. Sister Porter and I, along with four other sisters sang the hymn "You Can Make the Pathway Bright" for a musical number. After the conference we had a clothing exchange! :) It's nice to not be one of the newest missionaries anymore. Though I learned that some of the sisters I came out with began training last transfer (after being out only six weeks!) I consider myself fortunate for not having to train yet. It's inevitable that I'll have to train in September though because there are 42 incoming missionaries and only 20 outgoing missionaries. President will need many trainers. And we learned that there will be numerous 'white-washes'.

 

The zoo was so fun! It was great to rub shoulders with some great members of our ward as well as see the many animals. It is a big zoo! We didn't get to see everything, even in the four hours we were there! We also helped with a funeral this week. It was interesting because the woman who died was a member of the former rLDS church (Community of Christ church?) while her husband was a very active member of our church. There were many nonmembers there and some great talks about the Plan of Salvation.

 

This work has been fairly slow this week. All of our investigators have been too busy to meet :( Rhonda, Jeff, and Nicholas requested a break from the whole world so we're going to get in contact with them today to set up a lesson this week and follow up on their commitment. Dennis has been swarmed, unfortunately, with visitors so he feels like he's being recruited. We're going to work to convey to him our love and support and concern for him as a person. We helped at the Family History Fair and taught the Bull Mountain Sisters how to do a church tour. We were able to talk to a return missionary there and hear lots of great tips on how to be an effective missionary. (He was definitely in the right place at the right time!) He shared with us the following: "If you don't taste the adversary working against you, you're not working hard enough. You have to experience a portion of what Joseph Smith went through when Satan bound his tongue. Satan only surrounds those he's trying to capture. Wicked people are targeted by only one or two because they are already walking down to Hell." It reminds me of a scripture in 1 Peter 5:8. We need to continually press forward against the opposition.

Well, I love you all!

Until next week,

Love,

Sister King

Quick Note

Hello family and friends!

 

I apologize in advance for the short e-mail; we're headed to the zoo today!! (With four member families in our ward) And Sister Porter has a dentist appointment in less than an hour (mine is next week). So, buckle up and here we go! What a great week it has been! We were finally able to have a church tour with Rhonda, Jeff, and Nicholas! :) One of the ward members offered to bring them a meal and we thought that was a great idea! Rhonda has been telling us that they've eaten out a lot recently because she doesn't feel like cooking. We made dinner with a member that lives down the street from them. She delivered it with us and then had to go to a meeting. We stayed and ate and talked with them. Some questions about teh Restoration came up and we again offered a church tour. They agreed and we went right then and there! (They live really close to the church so we walked) The spirit was SO strong!! I felit it the entire time. Afterwards we invited them to church. However, Rhonda had a terrible migraine so they weren't able to come yesterday :( Soon for sure though! Another member family from the ward delievered dinner to them on Friday. They Facebook stalked her on Saturday and saw a long descriptive post describing her gratefulness! :) It was so sweet to hear. At the church tour we also invited them to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true.

 

This week we had zone meeting (it's once a month and it replaces district meeting). We also had zone and district sports (usually both once a week). Sometimes I feel like the majority of my time is spent in meetings, but they're always superb and very motivating! I got your letters!! Thank you so much!! :) Sister Porter appreciated hers too! We probably won't have time for letter writing today, so next week for sure :) Saturday we had our monthly breakfast with President Doty (the Stake President). All the missionaries from the Tualatin Stake/Zone gathered, ate, and discussed the work. It was great to be with the Stake Presidency! We talked a lot about area books and how the work is hindered when meticulous records aren't kept. We don't want anyone to fall through the cracks!

 

Well, I need to go e-mail President now. Hopefully this e-mail will satiate your craving until next week. I love everything about living this gospel! Just as the scripture says in 3 Nephi 14:20 "By their fruits ye shall know them". Tasting of the sweetness of this gospel is one way you can know that it is true. Everything good comes from God and I am surrounded by good :) I love you and am so grateful for each one of you! Keep on keeping on :)

 

Love,

 

Sister King

Be Grateful

Dear family and friends,

 

This week has been fabulous! On Tuesday we visited Rhonda, Jeff, and Nicholas and thoroughly explained the Plan of Salvation. Now they have all the pieces to the puzzle rather than the scattered few we shared with them after Rhonda's mother died. We also discussed Alma 22. She brought up some questions she had after reading it and we were able to explain more fully the background as well as the context. The whole family continues to read the Book of Mormon. Rhonda talked about how we're all at different stages on the pathway of life. We invited her to read about Lehi's dream in 1 Nephi 8. All of their questions started to lead into the Restoration but we had already been at their house for awhile so we invited them to a church tour and they accepted this time! It was scheduled for Friday. However, when we showed up to the church with a member, no one was there :( We were sad until we found a note taped to the door from them! They couldn't find our number to tell us that something had come up. They gave a legitimate excuse. We'll have the church tour this week for sure. We're planning to go to their house tonight to teach them what Family Home Evening is :)

We also had a great teaching appointment with one of our investigator Lisa. We brought a member from our ward with us--he's a convert and was able to relate really well to her and her situation. Because of his 'wise yet harmless' (Alma 18:22) questions, we were able to obtain some much needed information on her and where her family stands towards the church. We invited her to pray specifically for a question she wants answered. We'll keep praying for her and especially her husband. He is not open at all to the church. It's very sad because he has such a great relationship with Jesus Christ!

This week I was attacked by a large dog! We were at a less active members house (outside) and his dog came charging at us! I took the hit and he nearly knocked me over! He was pretty harmless though, thankfully :) I walked away with saliva on me is all, haha. It felt like a bad dream. He lives near the Relief Society president. Speaking of her, she and her presidency put together a 72-hour kit for us! How sweet :) I know that'll make you happy, mom ;) We're kind of spoiled up here! Brother Aanderud (the ward mission leader in Cedar Creek ward) encouraged us to make an appointment at his dental practice :) Many of his patients are mormon and he always gives missionaries free teeth cleaning :) There's also a chiropractor in our ward so he adjusts our necks and backs when we have dinner at their house. Okay, I'll stop bragging now. ;) I just wanted to express my gratitude for the ward and area I'm in.

 

This week we got a new phone! Our old one was pretty beat up and was glitching frequently; it would send blank messages to people randomly! We're also due for a new car pretty soon because ours has almost hit 50,000 miles.

 

We had a great ward council meeting yesterday! Our ward is really coming together regarding missionary work. I love our ward mission leader and his family. He is really diligent and puts a lot of time into his calling. Hopefully we get some more ward missionaries soon though, recently many have been released. I am so grateful to be a missionary! I wish I would have brought my study journal with me to the library :( It has all the neat insights I've learned this week. What I do remember though is the portion of the talk on faith from the Ensign that grandma sent me last week; it was phenomenal! It really made me want to study faith more in depth. We also had a wonderful lesson in Relief Society yesterday on Faith, Hope, and Charity. The teacher talked about how they are the foundational elements of a celestial character. We truly are to walk by faith here on earth, and we hang on to that hope of the gospel--that abiding trust in God. I know that when I lack faith, I bind His hands and He is no longer able to help me. If I exercise even a tiny portion, He can work with it and produce miracles. Even though I stand in the way sometimes, even I can't stop this wonderful work from progressing :) I believe, hope, and know that this church is true!

 

Love you all!

 

Love,
Sister King