BEST WEEK

 How can it be the END of January?! What the heck! Time is flying way too fast! My prayers have started to become a lot of asking for time to slow down but I guess that's not what God has in mind! Ha! This week was a GREAT one:) 

I am extending my challenge first thing today! I want to invite you all to write down services that people do for you throughout your day. Or one a day for a week! (Ex. I walked into the store and this kind man opened the door!) I promise you will be happier every single day. :)

Here are some highlights!

- we had 3 back to back to back Stake Coordination Meetings with Stake Presidencies and communication directors! We are reevaluating all of our social media efforts and plans as a mission with each stake! So we got to see our mission president a lot this week which was THE BEST! He is the best and my best friend!!!

-  we got to go film an advertisement this week with some of the greatest missionaries! We drove quite a lot this week which was so fun to get out of our office and drive throughout parts of the mission! Our mission has a little bit of everything! From beaches to open fields and HORSES haha! It's the best:)

- this week we went to the Lakeland zone twice and when we pulled in to the church parking lot last Thursday I had a feeling like we weren't supposed to be there. We thought we needed to go to Wendys. It was like 7 at night but we looked at each other and felt we needed to. Long story short, we walked in and the cashier was who we needed to meet. Her name is Ke'Ara and she noticed we were missionaries and started asking a bunch of questions about our journeys and what we do! All of her coworkers came over and started listening and talking! Ke'Ara looked at us and said she was needing us. She is deciding to get back on the right path back to Jesus and she called us her miracle! She is 23 and so we scheduled a lesson with the YSA Sisters! She is ELECT and so happy about learning more. She told us she believes we have something important to teach her! 

- we had so many district trainings this week! We have been doing social media exchanges with each district! It has been great to see all of the missionaries(over Zoom haha) 

- I got to see Hermana Breshears AND Hermana Marler this week and I MISS THEM so much

- we also had INTERVIEWS IN PERSON this week with President AND Sister Hollingsworth! This interview was the best interview I have ever had since being on my mission! He sat down with me and told me everything I needed to hear, he asked all the right questions and listened to me with SO MUCH LOVE AND PATIENCE. I know one of the reasons I have been called to the Florida Tampa Mission is because of President Hollingsworth. 100%! I feel so grateful and so blessed. 

Today we had a very eye opening experience. We were at Walmart and in the parking lot we saw this lady screaming and swearing at this guy. I felt so embarrassed for her. The guy walked away after saying sorry and we went over to him to ask if he was okay. He had been having a hard day and accidentally got in this lady's way. It just reminds me that we are ALL GODS CHILDREN. No one is the exception! 

A quote that popped into my head when thinking about this is one from President Nelson. “Whom wouldst Thou have me help today?”

Everyday brings opportunities to serve. Not just to serve but to find not only God's children but our brothers and sisters to help. We all have bad days, we all have trials, but we also all have the Spirit that can help us during those times. Every interaction we have with people should reflect our divine calling to represent Jesus Christ as lifelong disciples of Him:) 

You are all AMAZING examples to me and I love you SO MUCH!

Make this week the best:)

All my love!!!!

Hermana King :) 

- my favorite people

- sister moli made her famous teriyaki chicken

- us doing what we do everyday hahaha

- CUTE SISTER HOLLINGSWORTH 

- cutest sisters that we got to visit

- funnest time filming the ad!

- LAKELAND SISTERS

- we're officially part of the USF crew

- MY FAVORITE PEOPLE EVER

Blessings on blessings type of week : )

 Hello!!! I still can't believe it's JANUARY! I hope you all had the best week:)

This week was busy!! I'll keep it brief!

- we have been doing companionship trainings ALL week! Each training is 30 minutes and we've done over 50! And we aren't quite done yet...it honestly has been so fun to see each of the companionships get excited about using this new tool that our President is excited about! 

- coming into the mission I was so excited to meet everyone! With the corona virus we have had everything virtual and so it's been hard to meet the missionaries! BUT I feel so lucky to be in a position where I literally get to meet EVERYONE! 

- I hit 14 months this past week and it's CRAZY how fast time is flying! I am so grateful to be on my mission!! I NEVER WANT IT TO END.

- i tried a new food! It's called Musubi and its seaweed, rice and spam and I'm a fan! It's different but super good!

- we got locked out of our apartment on Sunday because the Sisters we live with felt like they needed to lock the garage door but that was our way in so as soon as Sister Moli and I got home and realized what had happened we were LAUGHING. We got back in our car and headed back to the church and watched videos for the rest of "lunch" THEN the Elders that we work with (President calls us a quad companionship haha) came to our room and said they had made some extra food they wanted us to try! They had no idea we hadn't eaten! TALK ABOUT LITTLE MIRACLES haha!! 

- we also has MLC this week!!! It was all about goals and alllll virtual! It was one of the best MLC'S I have gone to. We knelt in prayer as leadership to pray about our goals and President Hollingsworth said one of the most powerful prayers I have ever heard. I am so grateful for the Florida Tampa Mission!!!!

Something that is different about my mission right now is I'm not having continuous spiritual experiences. I'm not teaching lessons, I'm not contacting anyone and I'm not proselyting at all. Something I have noticed is the importance of trying to see God's hand in my life on a daily basis. I have been able to rely on the Spirit and rely on seeing small miracles throughout the day. I would love to hear from each of you on a miracle you have seen in the past week! :)

I wanted to share a really cool experience Sister Moli and I had yesterday at church. Like I've said in the past, we aren't assigned to a ward and so we attend the ward that meets in the building where the mission office is where we work. We were sitting in Sacrament meeting and Sister Moli turned to me and said she felt like we should check the foyer to the right of us! We got up and checked..no one, we checked outside..no one. The Sacrament was about to start and Sister Moli headed in but I was running the the other side..she asked me where I was going and I said to follow me because we were not suppressing a prompting from the Spirit. We made it to the other side and there was no one there. Sister Moli ran to the door and we checked outside..no one...for a few seconds..then we made eye contact with this guy in his car. We ran over to him and basically opened the door of his car and asked him what is name was! He said his name was Michael and that he was afraid to come in. WELP. We told him that he could come in with us and we'd go together:) He had met with the Sisters one other time and wanted to see our service. He came and sat by us in the back and WE MADE IT so he could partake of the Sacrament. We explained what it was and as it took the bread and water tears came streaming down his face. As the meeting concluded we started talking about his life story and he had fallen a few years back and barely made it. He had super bad head trauma and he said he heard the words "I gave you another chance. Go do my will." He had been looking for a way to change his life and accomplish everything God had in store. We were all in tears and we told him how proud God was of him for being there and how much he is loved. We passed him to the Sisters right then and there and they had a lesson in the chapel. Sister Moli and I went to our room and just sat for a bit. These are experiences in my mission that I will never forget. We are here as missionaries to help our brothers and sisters remember where they came from and how much they are loved. Well this earth is one big mission right? We are all called to be missionaries. We all have the Spirit with us. It's up to us to follow it. I am grateful for Michael and I am grateful for my companion. I am grateful for the example that I have to follow from our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I want you all to write down the miracles you see throughout the week. And I can promise you that through the Holy Ghost, God will tell you someone you need to serve this week. So my invitation is to ACT and DO:) 

I love you all!!! I pray for you all!!!

Love,

Hermana King:) 

Pics:)

- we ate peppers doing MLC 

- Hermana Marler was dropping her companion off for transfers and so I got to see her!!!!

- Sister Moli and I made MUSUBI

- we had over 25 hours of meetings this week so this is what every companionship saw hahaha

- our red eyes 

- we started doing Bible ads on Facebook Marketplace and BOOM it's working!!!

- we don't have in person exchanges so we did a mini exchange with the sweetest sisters!

- Sister Moli cut her hair so we celebrated with the yummiest acai bowls! 

- the Elders always try to screenshot us in our best moments 

2021?!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! This week it'll be 2021,  I can't believe it. 

We had the best Christmas! We had a super fun Christmas meal with our district and another meal with the senior couples! 

This week was a lot for learning, a lot of growing and a lot of laughing. We presented a new plan for social media to the big council and it got shut down pretty hard, but we counseled a lot after that with our small council and we were able to make another plan for proselytizing on social media! And PRESIDENT IS PUMPED. We are going to be changing how we do things quite a bit. We met with all of the leadership for the mission and all of the Sister Training Leaders and the Zone Leaders and explained all of the changes! 

We had a CRAZY COOL experience this past week! On Sunday, all 7 missionaries sang in church! It was awesome and we tried our best haha! Afterwards, this ward member, Brother Steve, came up to us and smiled. He said that he gets certain feelings about things that have happened in other people's lives. He looked at Sister Moli and I and started telling us all these crazy DETAILS from our lives. It was crazy haha! A little freaky but super interesting! He looked at us and said we made his whole day. Haha, we were on edge that our whole lives had just been told to us but it was crazy cool! Haha!

I feel very blessed to work around amazing missionaries! I wish I had more of an update, but I hope you all know how happy I am. I have never been happier than I have been on my mission. I've been on my mission for 2 Christmas's now and I wouldn't of done it any other way. Being on my mission for Christmas has been some of the most memorable days of my whole mission. This week I have felt extra close to my Savior, Jesus Christ as I have studied his life. The life of our Savior changes lives and it's definitely changed mine. 

I wanted to share this quote with you all today:)

"I testify to you that God has known you individually ... for a long, long time. He has loved you for a long, long time. He not only knows the names of all the stars; He knows your names and all your heartaches and your joys!"

- Elaine S. Dalton 

If you've read my weekly emails for awhile, you'd know how much I love studying and talking about the love that our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ have for us. I love it so much. As we start the new year, I hope we all can take time to think about not only new goals or fresh starts with hobbies but also we should take a fresh start with being so hard on ourselves. Our Heavenly Father knows us, individually on a personal level. He wants us to be confident in who we are and that is sons and daughters of the Creator of the world. 

I have so extremely grateful for the gospel in my life and the happiness and purpose it gives me. I love you all and I hope this next week is full of LAUGHS! 

Love you!!!!

Hermana King:) 

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!

 This will be the shortest email I have sent! We had someone run their car into our house. The car didn't make it all the way through the wall but everyone is okay and safe! We were all home when it happened which was a blessing but it definitely has made today a crazy one!

Well CHRISTMAS is this week! SO CRAZY! I'm so excited! Because we don't have an area, one of the senior couples is putting on a Christmas for us:) SO BLESSED!

Okay super quick highlights!

-we went to the ZOO today with some of the sweetest sisters ever!

-we have had so many meetings with President Hollingsworth, a few other missions in the states and we just got Personal Proselytizing from Personal accounts approved for a zone to try out which is AWESOME news!! It is so crazy to me how the Lord has been needing us as missionaries to really hasten the work. 

Like I said, this'll be pretty quick but I did want to share a simple testimony. 

Yesterday I finished the Book of Mormon and as I said a prayer I just sat there and didn't say anything. I have never had a more powerful, overwhelming feeling from the Spirit ever before in my life. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that it really does testify of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This week and everyday we get to celebrate His life and His birth. I know that Christ was born for each of us, I know He lived for each of us, I know that he died for each of us and I know that he LIVES for each of us. I invite each of you to find a story of Christ and read it and ponder it. I know that you will be able to feel the love that he truly has for each and every one of us:) in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

I love you all so so much. Have the BEST Christmas ever!!!!!

Love,

Hermana King :)