HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE WOOT WOOT!

Wow wow! Hi everyone! I cannot believe this week marks HALFWAY! Wow. It is so crazy to think that at this point I know about half of what they say I'll need to know before Peru..yeah YIKES! Haha! Well, I am excited to tell you all about this past week! This week Ihave seen SO many miracles and little tender mercies! I hope you are all so good!

Funny story before the daily rundown..last night we were going to put all of our mattresses in one room and celebrate the last night before pday (!!!!) and guys, we LOVE pday around here haha! Anyways, we got home from our Tuesday night devotional and we all changed into pajamas and got ready for bed. I went in to ask the other Hermanas who had our house devotional and when I came back into my room not even FIVE minutes later, Hermana Miles was DEAD ASLEEP on her bed. Sooooo long story short we didn't have our sleepover BUT we told scary stories instead. So there's that for a funny story...haha!

Wednesday the 20th:

Okay so this was pday but at the end of the night we had STL training! It was so fun! We had meetings until 9:00 but we loved it! OH so I didn't know in the Latina culture the Hermanas all kiss cheeks. Trying to be the best STL I could, I asked some new Hermanas if they needed help finding a classroom and so when we found it they all started to line up and hug and kiss me haha! So that was a good time not knowing about that till the moment of. We made friends with all of our new Hermanas in our branch and they are so amazing!

Thursday the 21st:

Today was great! We played volleyball against district 1B and they are our best friends! We love them! If anyone asks we KILLED them but if they ask it might be different. It was good! And fun! Hermana Miles got sick so we had to wash all the sheets and wash our apartment to start fresh! So we stayed up late! BUT we have a community snack pile that we all contribute to everyday so it's a good time! So many Mexican treats! It's the best! We stayed up late but had a party doing it!

Friday the 22nd:

We taught Manuel the importance of families! It was so fun because I love talking about my family and I can do it in Spanish now! Woot! Family is so important! I can't wait to teach the people in PERU about mine! Our whole district is SICK and so there was a lot of throwing cough drops around during our grammar lessons the past few days...haha! Okay! We translated "Father I Adore Thee" in Spanish and it is my favorite song to sing here!! So for all the young women it is now being sung in Mexico with a LOT of the Hermanas! We played kickball with our favorite other district and we had so much fun!! Read 2 Nephi 4:20! It is amazing!! 

Saturday the 23rd:

We taught Karla today!! She has been really hard to teach for the other companionships but we had a really, really good lesson! Gift of Tongues is real!! So a few weeks ago I explained that we have to write talks in Spanish every week and I didn't finish mine until about 11 on Saturday night..! Our elders had a hot dog eating contest for dinner and uhhhh hahah bad idea haha! Class for 3 hours after that made for a REALLL good time. Haha! Okay we had a mercy moment today! Hermana Miles had lost her Spanish hymnbook a few weeks ago and she was having a hard day without it. I stopped studying and ran to the district leader and asked to go on a split! Hermana Wahl and I ran all around with Elder Barrowes and Rundquist to try and find it. It was NO WHERE! AND the tienda was closed so we couldn't go buy one SO being the great people they are...The elders gave up one of theirs and we superglued the front pages so she couldn't see the name on it haha! And then I wrote a letter on it so she really couldn't tell haha! Giving it to her was the best! She loved it and it made me happy to do something so small for her to make such a big difference in her CCM experience!

Sunday the 24th:

Today was GREAT! If you've caught on, you know how much I just LOVE Sundays!! We got sustained today as the new STL's!! So that was fun! We had meetings with the branch president after and it was good to talk to him. His english was good so that's a blessing! We had the best lessons today and learned so much! We learned about Sacrifice and the Book of Mormon! It was amazing. Every class, everyday it just shows me and proves to me that I am supposed to be here! We said goodbye to the old STL's and that was so hard. We have become so close and it is crazy that they're in the mission field now! They will be absolutely amazing. We had choir practice and a devotional! We sang Getsemani! It is the prettiest song, especially in Spanish! The Spirit is so strong! We took pictures so that was fun! We are only allowed to take pictures outside on Sunday for about an hourish and then on Pday! 

Monday the 25th:

Hermana Miles was still not feeling good so we spent about 6 hours at home so I did a lot of studying from home! We talked about being more converted (in the class we actually were in today haha) and it was so powerful. Our first convert is ourselves!! It is so important to focus on our own testimony before we go and share it with people! We left class again in the afternoon and so that was hard not being in class! BUT I am so happy my comp is slowly getting better! Little miracles, right? We stayed up late again this night and talked about life! It was fun to hear more about the life of the hermanas outside of mission life! They are amazing. 

Tuesday the 26th:

We taught Manuel again. I was so nervous to teach because we hadn't been to class in a few days and so I was worried...BUT the word my teacher used to describe it was perfect. I KNOW!  I can't believe it either. It was crazy. When I say there are miracles throughout the day I really mean it. I was able to jump right back into class and I started to understand more than I usually do in those lessons!! We taught Karla too! We originally were planning on talking about the Godhead but we ended up talking about the Book of Mormon! It is so scary going off of our plan because we memorize questions and stuff in SPANISH about what we are planning to talk about BUT it went great!! I was so shocked haha! It was awesome! We had a really fun workshop but ended up leaving early again but we were able to make it back in time for the end! So that was awesome! Tuesdays are PIZZA TUESDAYS woot woot! And it's Costco pizza so you could say we are eating pretty over here in Mexico! Haha! We had STL training with a presidency member and it went so well! It made me so excited to get to work!! We have our first meeting with new missionaries TONIGHT! (Wednesday) so that's exciting!! Wish us luck! We had the best devo from my favorite counselor in the presidency. It was amazing!! We learned how to be better missionaries, go figure right? haha! BUT it was so uplifting and just what I needed! MIRACLES! We sang in the devo tonight and it was so cool! There's about 400 people in the choir and it is just amazing! 

TODAY!! 

Oh how we LOVE WEDNESDAYS!! Today has been so good. Video chatting my family is the best thing in the world. I love them. Today we played volleyball, ate ice cream and just had the best day! 

Okay. Here is my testimony for this week. 

I am so grateful for my Father in Heaven. This week has been the hardest, but everyday there is something to be grateful for. I am so grateful for the ability to see Gods hand. I know that this is the true gospel and I know that God loves each and every one of us. God is aware of us! He knows us and is wanting to bless us with so much, which He does. 

My challenge for you all this week is to write down little miracles throughout your day. There may be bad moments, but everyday can be a great one if we change our mindset! I love you all so much and I love mission life. I hope you all have the best Thanksgiving! You are all amazing! And I love you!!

Always remember that Dios es nuestra amoroso Padre Celestial y somos Sus hijos!

LOVE YOU ALL! REMEMBER TO SMILE!! 

Love,

Hermana King :):)

Screen shots from our "visit" on Wednesday....

So, even though we have been able to hear Abby's voice and text back and forth, this is the first time we actually got to see Abby while we were doing google hangout!  Yay! 

Can someone say MUY FELIZ!?

Abby got to go to the Mexico City Temple on Wed. Nov. 20!

Abby and her companera, Hermana Miles at the Mexico City temple

Hi guys!! I am so happy and excited to tell you about this week!! STAY TUNED FOR FUN, EXCITING NEWS!!

Thursday the 14th:

We taught Manuel and he went to church! So WOOT WOOT! Spanish lessons have been clicking!! Which is a BLESSING lemme tell ya! We played volleyball with some LATINOS! Oh my gosh guys haha it was so fun!! Okay so story time, so there's two words, MUJER and MEJOR and they mean best and woman haha! So let's just say she accidentally was calling everyone women and all the Latinos had a grand ol laughing! Haha! We practiced contacting at night at MAN I have never laughed so hard. We were contacting about family history and um I don't know a lot of english words about family history so my spanish is a lot less than that..haha! So we had some fun laughing. That's important while learning here at the CCM right?? 

Friday the 15th:

Okay wow today was the definition of HOLY SPIRIT like holy wow it was amazing! We did a BOM share today in class and the CRAZIEST thing happened! We all picked the same 3 scriptures. What. We started laughing because so much for learning about the scriptures haha! BUT we got so much out of it. Our teacher had us share OUR perspective on the verse we picked and everybody's was different! How cool! It was our longest BOM we've had yet the least amount of scriptures..haha! Our whole district played volleyball together which was so fun!! The hermanas that live above us had a prompting to knock on our door and wow. Talk about miracles. I was going to go back to our casa and going to have a rougher night..but they decided to come talk! MIRACLES! Wow. We are so taken care of here!! God is good! I've been sick for a few days which has been hard but I'll get better!

Saturday the 16th: 

We emailed our branch president today! I talked with the STL's one on one and man. God is good!! How many times can I say that!! They are the best at what they do. We played knockout and DAD you would have been so proud. I got second hahaha but like take 30 elders and then put me in the middle. And in my opinion, I should have won but whatever. QUOTE OF THE DAY!! Okay this is from Elder Uchtdorf I believe! "Do well what you can control" guys!! this is so true!! We can only control so many things right? Don't worry about things we can't control!! Do well what we can!!

Sunday the 17th:

Okay if you're still reading this, then good job! You've made it to the good stuff!! Sundays are the best! Especially today. Long story short the Branch President pulled me and my companera out and told us we were presenting about computers on Sunday! JUST KIDDING that's what I thought he said..thats a little insight on our spanish is coming...LOL! He got the STL's to come out and translate and SURPRISE! I'm the new STL!! What a big surprise and I'm trusting God on this one. I am nervous about training! But I have faith in God and so I am getting more and more excited!! God gives us so many miracles, it takes just a little bit of faith to find them! Choir practice is one of my favorite parts of Sunday!! 500 missionaries singing spanish hymns is something so cool! I love it. We watched LEGACY the movie for Sunday Devo!! Woot! It was so funny because like I said, 600 missionaries fit in the auditorium and that means the relationship and kissing scenes in this old church movie is HILARIOUS! Haha! The CCM President was laughing because of how funny we all thought it was. haha!

Monday the 18th:

I'm still sick but still smiling and still learning!! I love every day, even the hard ones. Okay cool story of today! Hermana Miles hasn't been feeling well since she got here and so we took a walk in the morning so she could get some air. I stopped halfway down the hall and thought to myself "wow. what the heck. there are 8 worthy priesthood holders in the classroom." We marched back and I asked the district leader if someone could give her a blessing! I said a prayer with Hermana Miles and then she picked who she felt that should give her a blessing. Turns out the elder she picked, Elder Harper had never done a blessing! That was one of the most spiritual blessings I have ever been there for. It was amazing. wow. She felt better within 10 minutes! And man am I grateful for that! I got my companion back! Haha! Today went so good. Everyone read Enos because it is amazing. That is what my Maestro taught today and it was amazing. My teacher Hermano Castillo is amazing and everyday makes me feel like I am supposed to be here! I AM SO HAPPY!! GUYS!! I love it here and am learning and loving it! We did a service project and EVERYONE GOT ATTACKED BY FIRE ANTS!! No joke it was so bad! haha! It was laughable how bad it was!! We are all good around here but dang. haha! Tonight was special for me. It was a rough night. I cried for the FIRST time! I opened up to Enos 1:15 and it saved me. I prayed and prayed that night. 

Tuesday the 19th:

TODAY WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!! Guys last night (Monday) was rough. I said a gratitude prayer to start my day because I had complained enough to God. GUYS! EVERYONE! Faith is the answer. Prayer is the answer. Leaning on God is the answer. I woke up and decided to find the little miracles. We taught Manuel today and my teacher almost cried after our lesson. Words just came out and it was everything he needed to hear. GOD IS GOOD!! I can't say it enough. Lots of smiles today. We had a devo tonight!! Choir went great and we sounded good too! The CCM president and his wife spoke about the new mission handbook and WOW WE LOVE THE NEW HANDBOOK! haha! He talked about how much the Primera Presidency trusts and loves us and wow. I am so grateful!!

Wednesday aka TODAY!!

Wow today was great!! Woke up and did laundry and video chatted my FAMILY!! Agh I lucked out!!! I love them!!! SO MUCH! We went to the templo today and it was amazing!! It was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in my whole life. wow. I have STL training tonight!! Wish my luck!!

I have a challenge for you guys! Okay. I challenge all of you to share a scripture or a SIMPLE testimony with someone once a day. Little miracles everyone. You could be a miracle for someone else!! 

I am so happy and I am doing great. I love you all and I am BEYOND grateful for your thoughts, prayers, emails and pictures!! Never stop trusting in God. I believe in this gospel with my whole heart. It is amazing!! I love you!! Have the best week!!! 

LOVE YOUR FACES!!!!!

Hermana King :)

So. Many. !!!!!!!!'s

Hi guys!!

I am alive and safe here in Mexico!!  Man, am I having the best time!! I love it here!!! I am having the time of my life! I have officially been here over a week and I can't believe it! I love you all and appreciate your emails and love as well as prayers!! Thank you, thank you! 

I thought I'd give you a breakdown of everyday! There's so much and you all know how I can talk...and I can email just as much sooo lets see if Hermana King can condense! HAHA!

The first day (the 5th) was insane. This will be the most detailed day of all hahaha okay so we had to leave at 3:30 in the morning and we got through the goodbyes and security went great!! When I got to my gate (WITHOUT A PHONE) my flight was delayed over an hour..so say goodbye to the connecting flight too..I tried the payphone to call church travel and it didn't work..so all my emotions hit and I MAY or may not went into the bathroom and cried in the stall..yup so definitely happened..haha! Said a million prayers and then questioned what I was doing haha!


 I tried the payphone and nothing..so then I cried again and then saw this older guy with his wife and mother talking to another missionary! (there was no other missionary on my flight haha) I walked up to him and I was crying and asked to use his phone. I called church travel and long story short...we had to change my flight to A DIFFERENT terminal haha so I went back through security and got my bags again.


I thought the next time I would be walking through the exit doors of the SLC airport my whole fam would be there and Id be coming home from my mission haha! Nope, hadn't even got started! I had a few miracles that happened and I want to make sure I share those! When I was talking to the guy who let me use his phone who was sitting there with his wife and mom and turns out his mom served in my mission :)


Second miracle was that as soon as I got out and gathered my bags, another mission family came up to me and asked if I needed help and so i explained everything! They have a son that was leaving the my MEXICO MTC right then! They went and said goodbye to him and then they came right back and insisted to carry ALL of my bags to the new terminal. The mom texted my mom some more pictures and then texted my mom the next day and asked if I was okay! Man. People are so good and GOD IS SO GOOD!


I finally got settled and slept on the first flight and then I finally met up with another sister on my second flight to Mexico! We traveled together and the guy sitting next to me BIBLE BASHED ME! Ah yes you read that right!! I was like um..wow. Hahahahah so yes that happened.


 Hermana Hill and I got to Mexico and went through customs no problem! Then we got our bags and headed out to meet our ride! ..... BUT there was no ride...for an hour...and then another....yup. Finally someone came and we got to the CCM around 11! This whole time I was worried about my mom! But calling her and talking to my parents when I got here made the whole day worth it. I love them and I'm just so grateful for everything!!

Okay the rest of this email will go pretty quick! 

Wednesday the 6th:

-okay today was the roughest day..haha! We got a tour and had some classes but um they're all in spanish and wow it was rough to understand everyone! We had a sub in class but she was so good! We met our district and I honestly think our district is the very best! They are so awesome and we have a good time! I was able to see some people from high school! Elder Hurtado, Elder Brayton, Elder Sandholz and Elder Hubbard! It was so fun to see them!! I met the girls in my room (there are 6 of us) and I love them all!! My companion's name is Hermana Miles!(headed to Lima West) She's so fun and believe it or not, she has more to say than me! Yes, I didn't know that was possible either..


So I've been able to listen more which has been nice and something that I know I've needed to work on! I count it as a blessing. The other hermanas are Hermana Christensen(Paraguay), Hermana Crum(Costa Rica), and Hermana Wahl and Hermana Sommers(both headed to Trujillo South)! We are just the best of friends!! We also met our Branch Presidency! Everyone that is new has a white dot on their nametags and ALL OF THE MISSIONARIES will say "Bienvenidos" and if you don't know what that means, it means "Welcome"! If you're new like we were, we didn't know.. so of course we said it back to be polite! HAHA! Yes we did find out later...

Thursday the 7th-

Today lifted me up so much! We met our actual morning teacher Hermano Castillo!! He's great and we laugh a lot!! We memorized the first half of the First Vision IN SPANISH!! Ahh! I just felt so uplifted and realized that the Gift of Tongues or Don de Langues doesn't need work immediately but works as we are working hard! I was able to memorize it and man it was exactly what I needed!! I love it here!!

Friday the 8th-

In class we learned that "missionaries have the opportunity to LOVE like God" As missionaries we are given access to the love that God has for each of us. We spent the first few days talking about our purpose and it is so powerful! Wow! It motivated me to work harder so I can be the best vessel of Christ I can be. Our purpose is to Invitar a las personas to come unto Christ!! We have personal study time and I love study time!! haha! It's awesome. My spanish is coming! We had the best devotional and it was so uplifting!! We taught our first investigator, Manuel. We got to meet him and talked to him a little bit! Guys, this was in all spanish and ,wow, it was a little iffy...but he got it!

Saturday the 9th- it was our first half pday! haha my pday is on WEDNESDAY! but because we were training that day we couldn't use Wednesday! I got to talk with my family and ah I love them!! God is good and He is looking for any opportunity to bless us! We just had some class before and after our 3 hour long pday! 

Sunday the 10th-

SUNDAYS ARE SO FUN!!! So we have to come to Sacrament meeting prepared with a talk and you find out who speaks during the meeting..I wasn't chosen. YAY! haha! Sacrament Meeting is in spanish and then Relief Society is in english so yes yes we love english haha! The rest of the day we just had devotionals and meetings! Which were all so uplifting and AMAZING! Guys I am so stoked to share my testimony with everyone in Peru and my investigator Manuel! We had choir practice today! It was awesome. I don't know if you've ever heard 300 missionaries singing in Spanish but can someone say SPIRITUAL!!!!! I also got pics with the elders from Timpview!! 

Our white dots came off today!!! So now we get to go to all the newbie missionaries and say Bienvenidos and they won't know we are only 2 days post dots...hahaha Missionary jokes are the best aren't they? hahah! 

Monday the 11th-

We taught Manuel and WE WERE PREPARED THIS TIME!!! It went so good and our teacher said we did so good!!!! Guys I am actually learning spanish and I know if it wasn't for Heavenly Father and His confidence in me I would not know spanish. Today was just a blessing day. It was amazing!! Our district all sits together every meal and gah I love them!! All the elders are headed to Argentina! The food here is so good. Like I was nervous but IT IS SO GOOD!! Like I eat more here than I did during the day at home haha! I hope everyone had a good Veterans Day! I was thinking about Dave and the program at Timpview! We did a service project which was fun!

Tuesday the 12th-

ELDER SOARES CAME TODAY!!!!! oh my wow it was amazing. It was the first ever broadcast FROM the Mexico MTC!! It was broadcast to 10 other MTC's!! Woot!! Who know there were that many! haha! He and his wife spoke and it was so amazing. One of my favorite quotes from him was "I didn't say it was hard, I said it was possible" He also explained that our missionary work is a "priceless privilege" and wow he couldn't be more right! We sang in spanish for the devo and it was so good!!! At the end of the devo, we all stood and hummed hymns as Elder Soares left and I have honestly never felt the spirit more than those 5 minutes. It was so powerful! We talked about the devo with our district after and Elder Barrowes made a comment that really hit all of us "what if we kept the Holy Ghost with us as much as we do our companions." GUYS! What if we kept the Holy Ghost with us as much as we are using our phones! It's so true!! 

Wednesday the 13th! 

TODAY!! Today has been my most favorite day! Waking up this morning not needing to have anything memorized or prepared was the best feeling ever. I woke up and spoke in english because I could haha! We met as a district and then ate! We cleaned our rooms and then the 4 hermanas in our district went and bought a ton of Mexican snacks! And WOW YUM!! and now I'm emailing!! I got to see my family and man I get so happy whenever I see them. I'm so happy to be with them forever!! I'll email and then we're going to go play tennis with our district! Then food and personal study!

side notes- We can only take pictures outside on pdays and on sundays from 5-7! Yes the food is amazing!

Okay I am so sorry this email was so long!! I promise the future emails won't be this lengthy! I just want to quickly say how much I love and appreciate every single one of you! Thank you for the thoughts, prayers, emails, and love! I love you guys and I hope you know how true the gospel is. I love this gospel and the opportunity it gives me to be with my family forever. I will try to send pictures and get back to all your emails!! Please keep sending me them!! If i don't get back to you today, I will next week!!

Love,

Hermana King!! :)

Timpview represents at the Mexico CCM!

Abby's first photos from the CCM!

This is Abby with Hermana Hill, whom she met up with in Atlanta.  They flew together to Mexico City.

Hermana King with her companera, Hermana Miles

Other hermanas in her district, Hermana Sommers, Hermana Wahl, Hermana Miles, and Hermana King.

Here is what their dorm looks like

Beautiful shot of the mountain outside the CCM

More views of the CCM

Hermanas Wahl, Sommers, and King

Abby's District

More views of the CCM

Classrooms

The video chat didn't work.  She could see us but we couldn't see her!  We could hear her though!!

Abby's view of us from the CCM