Trunk or Treat

Highlight of my week: Trunk or Treat! The ward trunk or treat was a lot smaller than what I'm use to in Vegas, but there was a good turn out all things considered. Sister T and I wore clown noses and helped direct the traffic. The best part was when Sister H and her amazing family came! She came a little late so it was an awesome surprise! Then towards the end S&J came -though they missed the trick or treat part- and had dinner. A woman in our ward was so sweet and gave them the rest of the candy she had left over and then the H family came over with candy to share too! The funniest part was the costume parade, where all the little kids got to walk across the stage!

 

Friend of the week: Sister E. She is THE CUTEST old lady I ever did see! So funny and spunky at the at of 90, she sure can get everyone laughing! She said, "You can look [at men], but you can't touch..only pinch" along with her cute love story of finding her husband and how we need to look, and look, and look before we make a choice. Her testimony of the gospel is amazing, she knows how much Heavenly Father has guided her and helped her in life and was a faithful church goer for years without missing a day (until recently because of old age) and always talks about how much she misses it.

 

Pictures: Sister Tand I with our clown noses. Me standing in the snow/hail...you can't really see it but oh well!

 

Spiritual Thought: (3 Nephi 14:9-11) I never thought much about this scripture until I came on my mission. It has a really touching message. If we, as imperfect, selfish people, know how to give good gifts - then how much better gifts does Heavenly Father want to give us? He is just waiting for us to ask Him so He can show us with them. By not asking Him we are denying Him the opportunity to bless each of us! Not only that, but Heavenly Father knows each of us individually, even better than we know ourselves, so He knows the EXACT gift we need and WHEN we need it.

 

So...we haven't had our car for the week. The Shawano Sisters hit a deer so while it's getting fixed they have our car. So we've been bussing and biking and walking all week. Not completely sure when we are going to get our car back either. Cool thing though I got to walk through a slight sprinkle of hail/snow. It's much better than walking through rain! Tonight I'm getting my hair cut so expect pictures on Monday! Oh and transfers are on the 6th so please send all snail mail to the mission office address! Not sure if I'll be staying or leaving! We (the elders and Sister T and I) are also singing in our District Meeting tomorrow..not sure how that happened, but it should be fun. We are also teaching 3 workshops at a youth thing this Saturday and then young women on Tuesday. Seems like we never have enough time! Anyways I'm doing great! I love each and everyone of you!

 

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

TRANSFERS! They are on the 7th, we will find out this Saturday if either Sister Boggus or I are going to be transferred. Since Sis B has been in Green Bay she will probably get transferred and they will put another experienced missionary in her place.

We have a new investigators! N, is a referral we got from President Cutler. When he came he for interviews he stayed at a hotel and got the clerk there interested and now we have an appointment with her tomorrow! Oh! And G - the wonderful lady who has been to prison, but turned her life around - accepted our invitation to be baptized on Oct 19!

S&J aren't getting baptized yet, still want to and come to church and everything, just very slow on getting married. Ah well! We will get them baptized yet! 

B - a wonderful lady in our church - has been coming to lessons with us for them and I think it'll really get S comfortable in the church. B also said she'd help teach us how to crochet (no idea how to spell it) on our P-days.

We went and saw the S family s this week, mmmmmm Bro S made Fajitias and boy were they amazing! Best ones I've ever had! His wife is a recent convert so we gave her a "New Member Orientation" and found out she doesn't like temples (sealing/baptism), she doesn't believe in them, but accepts them. We are planning on working with her on that next time we go over. 

Then there is K - a convert of a year - her mom doesn't like the church, but K really wants to go on a mission and is working on her papers. Everything she brings up that she is going to her mom though, her mom ignores it. So we helped her figure out how she could get through to her mom. I hope and pray everything works out for her!

Saturday....that was a looong day. We biked from our house to B (a Jamacian guy and his family) his kids were so cute! First they offered us cookies and then muffins and tried to offer more :D His wife is very Catholic, but very open and friendly she knows our church pretty well. 

Then we biked to R&S's up and down hills, I had to walk up part of one of the hills. S was at work so we shared a quick message with R and got his baptism date reset to September 28th. They just have to get married - as do ALL of our investigators - then they will be good to go. The best part is that R brought his kids to church Sunday for the first time! (S was at work again, but came at the very end) Boy was that a great surprise! Anyways, after them we went out to a less active single lady on the elders side..WAY on the elders side (We took the bus there).  *Side note: buses have a bike rack that holds only 2 bikes so if there is one bike on it, we have to wait another hour for the next bus*

The bus to the bus depo came...and had 2 bikes on it. The big problem was that if we waited another hour we would miss the last connecting bus of the day that was suppose to take us home. So we rode all the way to the bus station and with luck and a little help from our ever loving Heavenly Father, we made it on time. In total we biked well over 15 miles that day. Yup, I'm gonna have super leg muscles by the time I get back home!

We've had dinner every day last week, which was amazing. All the members here are great cooks! We also have dinner tonight and tomorrow too! Poor elders though, no one ever really signs up on their dinner calendar. 

Another random fact - I've been hit on more times in this past month on my mission than I have my entire life (which I won't go into depth on)...I think it's the name tag :b

Monday-

Spent a lot of the day making friendship bracelets for all our investigators! (Now working on some for our elders!)

Tuesday-

Went and read the BoM with Sister H. She really loves it when we come over. We also went and did Bingo and I was able to help P. He was in an accident when he was 19 and was left paralyzed and his throat was cut so he has a hard time talking loud and clearly. He was very patient when I had to ask him, sometimes multiple times, to repeat what he had said. He is a huge green bay packer fan (who isn't! :) ) For our lesson with S&J we did a savenger hunt with their kids to help them learn about the Plan of Salvation and they ended up at the Celestial Box which held the bracelets we made for everyone. Sis B made puppy chow to send to her daughter and made too much so we got some! I love that stuff!

Wednesday-

District Meeting! And interviews with Pres Cutler. Really focused on talking to EVERYONE you meet! Oh and I found out that one of the Elders I came out with I knew back when I went to Becker Middle School, small world! Some Sisters are staying the night with us so we can all go to the Training tomorrow! We met with G, whom we have been trying to meet up with for a while now. She has a 3 week old puppy whose mom had died. CUTEST THING EVER! She is really open to the gospel and we hope to teach her again this week!

Thursday-

New Missionary Training took up most of the day.

Friday-

Played bingo again, this time with C. A Sweet old lady who has a very devoted husband. A, B, and H were surprised when I said hi and called them by their names - I guess people tend to forget them. 

Saturday-

Sore, sooo sore. We biked all day (to save on our car's miles). A great day overall though. We got to go to O's baptism (she just turned 8) and S&J came to it!! I got a lot of experience street contacting on the bus (the few times we were able to ride it), it's a lot of fun! One guy we talked to had just gotten his car painted white with a pink hood!

Sunday-

We taught Gospel Principles! The lesson was on eternal families. That night we also got to have dinner at the R's and were able to meet R (a potential investigator) and she is getting really interesting and we will hopefully be able to begin teaching her next week! We also made contact with a less active named RS. He has a very interesting story, but I don't have time to go into. To keep it short his "wife" is an x nun and strong Catholic and he doesn't have a religion. They are very welcoming of the Sisters and asked us to come back again soon.

This week we have a meal with a member everyday! Tonight we are going to the C's (She is active, he is just begining to become active) and like all Green Bayers they are grilling!

Sorry it's so short! I don't have a lot of time to write so if you want a long in depth description just write me a letter! I love you all and wish you all the best! I'll try to include more of the spiritual things next week!Love you all bunches!

Sister Kern

Where to start! I guess I'll share a great spiritual experience I had this week.

There is an older lady in our ward, Sis S. We went to visit her and share a quick message, all three of us were in tears by the end. We had originally planned to go through the Plan of Salvation, and we had everything set up in order as Sis B had decided. Well, I decided to not go with the planned scripture at the beginning and shared Moses 7:28 with her. Then I went into Heavenly Father loves all of us. Some how the lesson got into her son who wants nothing to do with the church and I shared a talk from last general conference (I think it was "The lost sheep that have wandered or something), and then the tears started flowing for her and then Sis B and I. We each related our loved ones that have gone astray. I got to bear my testimony on the Lord's plan and His promise to us that if we do what is right, those lost sheep will find their way back. Yup! Best lesson ever!

Our focus is on the less active members, we aren't even suppose to tract unless nessesary. The promise to us is that if we get the inactive active again then their non member friends will follow. Needless to say without tracting we spend the majority of our time doing service. Service for memebers, service for inactives, service for organizations. I'm loving every second of it! Saturday we had exchanges (Sis B went with one of our Sister Trainers), Sis P came and stayed with me. That morning we drove 45 minutes to Sis L's house to help her move along with our Elders. The poor old lady couldn't even carry any of her boxes. The Elders did most of the work, seeing as it was almost all fruniture. I should probably also explain that another member in our ward was moving, which was probably why no one showed up to help her (that and the fact she lives 45 minutes away). Anyways it was a blast! My workout for the next month!

Man did we eat well last week! One family served us roast, carrots, and potatoes on Monday.  Another made breakfast for dinner - french toast with powder sugar and homemade whip cream, cinnimen rolls, bacon, sasage, hashbrowns the works on Tuesday.  Another made chicken alfredo with homemade sauce and some delicous tomato topping and the best home grilled chicken ever on Wednesday.  Another family had us over for lunch on Thursday and had homemade muffins (the most delicous things ever), tons of salad and toppings and chicken. They even gave us some muffins to take home. Oh! and some recent converts gave us a plate full of cupcakes! Needless to say I'm eating more than well. No wonder people gain wieght on their missions!

I got to play Bingo on Friday (at an old folks home) and met B, A, and H. What a cute group of old guys! I bet their grandchildren love'em! S&J have their wedding rings and her dress is finally in! Her family really discouraged her getting married. HOWEVER she said, "I know the Lord provides a way, I'll go straight to the source." Our investigator quoted Nephi without even knowing it! We were so proud! 

Yesterday we went and vistited some older less active ladies in our ward. Sis E was so happy that we stopped by and loved our lesson. Sis M, you could tell doesn't get visitors often, and is so sweet! She is having eye surgery tomorrow so we are keeping her in our prayers. I'm really starting to love it even more here! It's really nice to be able to start recognizing and remembering members in our ward! They are all awesome! Well I love you! I'll write more next time! If you want a long reply you had better send a actual letter! (we can write during our lunch and dinner hour).

I hope you are all doing great!

-Brimming with love,

Sister Kern

Where to start! It's been pouring all night and raining off and on today! Love it, had to workout inside instead of the usual bike ride. I forgot to bring my journal so I'll try to remeber everything the best that I can.  The member we live with is out of town until tomorrow, makes the old house pretty creepy at night. We teach a sister every Monday and Wednesday, though we taught her Thursday instead of Wednesday because she invited us over for lunch to celebrate the 4th of July.  We had pulled pork sandwhiches and lots of other goodies!  We are going over the Book of Mormon and helping her read through all of it. Her story is truly remarkable. If I have time I'll tell it, or maybe just write a letter. After eating we went and street contacted at the local fair/festival, and I got funnel cake :D I love that stuff! Sad to say our cerfew was before the fireworks so we didn't get to see any, ah well. I didn't really mind. We spend a lot of time tracting in our neighborhood with little success. When we get lessons most of them get canceled, but we keep going! God has someone waiting for us, we just have to find him/her. In the next month we will be biking Tues, Thurs, Fri and Sat. Looots of biking! Which is great with all the junk food that we get fed! Tonight we are having dinner with a family, and apparently they like to load up the missionary's plates with mountains of food! Yum! We didn't have any investigators come to church this Sunday, sadly, most of them were out of town for the holidays. HOWEVER we were able to contact some investigators, on Saturday who we haven't been able to contact in a while. We invited them to the Stake Picnic that day and they CAME! The man seems very interested in the church and pretty spiritual overall, his wife is more reluctant. I believe they had fun there, I know their 4 year old daughter did! We had pulled pork sandwhiches at the picnic to, loved every single bite! A lot of the wards in our stake are having girls leave on missions so we usually don't have a problem getting one of them to come to a lesson. I never understood the importance of the ward members help until now! It's pretty close to impossible to find people by tracting! We get much better results from referrals! So don't be shy and do your part! Trust me, your ward missionaries will love you for it! To help our ward we are planning on holding a fireside which 5 different families preforming songs and then doing a tour of the church and ice cream sundaes at the end. We are encouraging the members to bring friends (we hope it works!). We are also planning on passing out "missionary survival kits" to members, pretty much boxes with a couple BoMs and pass along cards along with the "Ward Missionary Purpose". Hopefully we can get some referrals that way. The past week we have also been focusing on inactive members. We are working with a family that are very open and great people, they just need a little reminder about the great blessing going to church brings.

It's gotten really hot and humid here, luckily I'm use to the heat and the humidity doesn't bother me much. I'm coming to love it here! My main goal (besides all the obvious missionary ones) is to learn the roads, they have looots of round abouts here which gets me even more confused than I would have been without them! (As you all know I'm horrible with directions). Life is good! The days go by slow, but the weeks zip by, seems like there is always more to do. Sorry if this email is a little random, without my journal I'm just writing whatever comes to my mind! I hope you are all doing well! Send me snail mail too, with pictures! I love getting letters mainly because I can read them throughout the week unlike emails. Well that's all that I can think of! I'll fill you in more next Monday! Be safe! Pray daily, read your scriptures, and remember HE LOVES YOU and so do I!

-With buckets fulll of love

Sister Kern

Well here is a quick run down of everything that has been happening! I only have 30 mintues so it's gonna have to be quick!

So we left Monday (June 24th) at 7 for the airport! We got there about 10 o'clock and our flight was scheduled for 1 am!...only it got delayed until 2:30am. So we got to chill at the air port.

1. Sis A and I went to get 1 muffin each because we were starving. The guy who worked there had a friend on a mission so he gave us his employee discount and a free muffin each (a total of FOUR muffins), which Sis A and I shared with Sisters R and G. It made my night!

2. Sis R and I talked to this amazing woman and hopefully softened her heart towards the Gospel (Sis R also handed out 3-4 BoM that night!)

Because our flight was delayed we missed our connecting flight and had to wait another 2 hours or so at the other air port, fun day. Instead of arriving in WI at 9am we got there at noon. Lets just say we were all more than a little exhausted.

Anyways we got picked up and the Sisters dropped our stuff off at the Misison Home (Elders stayed at a hotel) and made our way to the Chapel for lunch and orientation. Most of us crashed on the couches and benches in between. Once we got to the Home we all crashed.

Wednesday we got to meet our Compainions and find out what area we are assigned to. 

Oh and apparently the Mission Office changed as of last Friday so the address you have for them isn't valid (I think they will still forward anything sent to me). I got to jump right into the thick of things. We went and taught a lesson at a members house (active members, mainly for practice). The Elders in our ward are B & L. L left for his misison (in Peru) today. He was only here to wait for his visa, so we will be getting a new Elder tomorrow.

Thursday....We ride bikes every morning at 6:30, its not too hilly where we live so I was able to keep a decent pace. We volunteer at a rehabilitation center (for old people) once a week for 2-4 hours. There is a big foe here in WI, a man - from what I've heard- studied our church and created his own from it called The Celebration Church. If people aren't Catholic or Luthern they are part of that church. I'm liking Sis B.  I will probably get the hang of it soon though.

A lot of our appointments fall through, except our regulars. S&J are an amazing family with 5 kids and are getting married on Aug 3 and baptized on the 5th, they are really solid and come to church every week. Such a funny cute family! There is also Sis H who is also pretty solid. We have a decent amount of dinners from families, enough that I won't starve.

Saturday I about died, our miles for the month were gone so we had to ride the bus and bike everywhere. We had 4 appts, all of which fell through, so we tracted most of the day. I did well until we were on our way home and had to go up a huge hill, I about died. I did make it so no worries! Biking in a skirt isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

Sunday we taught the Primary and that was...well...a mess. They are all pretty young so they were all over the place and the lesson Sis B and her previous companion made was pretty boring even to me. We finally ended with a matching game and that was pretty fun, cute kids!]

I love you all! I'll try to write letters and send them off today! Hope you are all healthy and well!

--With much love,

Sister Kern