Christmas in Shawano

Hey Everyone!

First off, I love Shawano! It's a complete difference than Green Bay. A lot bigger area and a lot more empty space. I tract every day for a couple hours, don't worry I stay warm. We don't have any investigators here, so we do a lot of finding. Sister E is great and thinks outside the box. The ward is small about 30 active members I think (then again it was the Sunday before Christmas). They are strong members though and adore the sister missionaries (sister missionaries were only put in Shawano 3 transfers ago)!

Friend of the week: The P family! A less active family (for heath reasons) love the missionaries and have them over for dinner every week (alternating sisters with elders - they love the sisters more). They are the family having us over for lunch and Skyping on Christmas. They have presents and stocking for us (all their kids are grown and moved out). Such a sweet, amazing couple. I love them and we call Sister P - Sister P (so we are still keeping mission rules) she really is like a mom or grandma. I just always want to give her a big hug!

Highlight of the week: We tried a new door approach and were able to hand out 6 Book of Mormons in 2 days. It was amazing! We found 2 promising potentials from it. I found that I really enjoy tracting. I guess it's just nice to be outside and doing something. Though it isn't the best way to go, but it's all we can do right now while we try to get the members more pumped up and get the work moving that way.

Other News: our mission's goal is to have 300 baptisms this year right now we have 295, with 4 more planned for next week. We just need one more, not that #'s count really, but to know that 300 people have joined the church here in Wisconsin - the lowest baptizing mission in the US - would be so incredible. Our shower hasn't really been working - a plumber is fixing it today - so we've had to have 5 minute showers the past couple days. Fun stuff. The W family is taking us to our baptism on the 28th. I'm so excited for her! Soon her honey will join her (the end of January hopefully). We volunteer weekly at Pine Manor - a nursing home that I can't say anything more about besides that we help people play Bingo. Oh and I had to bear my testimony with Elder O (the other new missionary) in Sacrament Meeting - yeah, they didn't give us any notice about it either, but it was nice. I've gotten lost of presents from the members. Hot Coco, gift cards, another present they are going to drop off and they don't even really know me yet! All my letters came at once which was cool - all 12 of them. I feel so loved, thank you! I will try to reply to all of them today.

Christmas: On the day of Christmas Eve we have a special Training Meeting with the other districts about Christ. Then we have dinner at the J's and are going caroling with them :) Christmas Day will be spent at the P's where we will Skype our families and have lunch. Then we are volunteering at a community dinner passing out food and then back to the J's for dinner again. It will be great!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

1st Transfer

I'm once again waiting for Sister Taylor to finish. I don't mind though. Gives me time to think about everything I might have forgotten to write about. I was really nervous about where I was going to be transferred, but Shawano is perfect! I cannot wait for it! I'll be living in an apartment this time (its one above a house, but they don't interact with the members much) I've been there once before when we had to let them use our car and it's pretty..interesting. They have a very small ward and chapel it's in between 1/3 and 1/2 the size of the ones in Vegas. They are in "finding" mode because they don't have any solid investigators to teach so I'll be doing a lot of tracting I believe. Which is good, I've gotten a little rusty with door contacting. Did you ever figure things out with my card? If not oh well, I don't really need to buy anything at the moment anyways. I hope everything fits in my suitcases and that they aren't too heavy. I've packed most of my things so I should be okay. Transfers are Wednesday morning. I didn't realize how much I love the ward here until I found out I was leaving. I'll admit I cried a tiny bit, but I knew it was for the best. It's rare to stay over 6 months in an area, so I wasn't all that surprised. Good news is that our District Meeting with be in the Green Bay chapel every other week so I'll be able to see Sister B occasionally :) I stay pretty warm overall. I put on thermals, tights, leg warmers and boots then my huge jacket and gloves and occasionally a hat. I hope everything is going well on the home front! I love you!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

Shawano anyone?

It's offical my time here in Green Bay comes to an end this Wednesday. I'm being transfered to Shawano. Just so you can understand the awesome irony of this I'll explain. My district has 4 companionships. Green Bay 1 Elders and Sisters and Shawano Elders and Sisters. Shawano is a whole 45 minutes away and the sister being transferred from there is coming to take my place in Green Bay! Even better news is this...our investigator is being baptized on the 28th of this month and I'm close enough to go! If I had been sent anywhere else I would have had to miss it. Sister E will be my new companion and she is amazing! We've done lots of role plays with her at District Meetings.

Be sure you send any mail to the mission address:

Sister Kassidy Kern

7111 W Edgerton Ave Ste 100

Greenfield WI 53220

It was sad to say good bye to the Green Bay 1st Ward. I will miss them all so much! They've been like my family away from home. Great support and love and such a desire to share the gospel with others. We will be spending a lot of time visiting people the next 2 days and saying my good byes. As Brother B said "Heavenly Father has been so good to me" and there is nothing I could have asked him would have been better than my time here. These 6 months I will truly cherish, Green Bay will always hold a special place in my heart, along with its members, people, and yes even it's football fanatics.

Spiritual Thought: (Ether 12:4) With Christ's birth in Bethlehem came the hope, the hope for a better world which leads people to do good. Not only were the 3 wise men and people in Jerusalem looking forward with hope for His birth, but the Nephites in the Americas looked forward and prophesied of His coming. Now when Christmas time comes around we know we can still look forward towards Christ for His coming. We have the hope that He was born, crucified, and arose. We know He still lives and will come in His glory again to the earth. We each have the hope that all the pain, sorrow, and affliction in this mortal world will end and the Prince of Peace shall reign. As this Christmas times comes closer I challenge you to study and ponder about the hope Christ brings to your life and then think of someone you know who may need that same hope brought to their own lives.

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

Snow, snow, snow and 4 degrees

Highlight of my week: Ward Christmas Party! It was fantastic! About 150 people came. Mainly members, but they brought a lot of their none member friends and less actives a long too. Everything went smoothly and the dinner was delicious! I loved being able to see all the members doing missionary work.

Friend of the week: DM! Boy is she one amazing woman! She is the most in tune to the Holy Ghost person I've ever met. She had the prompting to move to Wisconsin to live with one of her daughters here, which meant leaving her job and condo in Colorado and moving in with 6 people and she went. Everyone thought she was crazy, but she know what had to be done and went to it. She was a ward missionary in Colorado and loves being a part of missionary work (mainly with her less active family here in GB and re-activating them) and is having us over for dinner (well taking us to Ihop) tonight. She is seeing so much success! Her whole family (I like over 15 people) here in Green Bay came to the ward Christmas party and are semi-attending church regularly. "Slowly, but surely they will come."

Pictures: 

Me in the snow at 8 o clock at night. There is so much snow that it looks like it's about sunset a night long. Never gets fully dark. The sun is usually down by 4 o clock now.

Spiritual thought: "There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts  to inspire, and souls to save" Thomas S Monson. One thing I've determined to do once I'm off my mission is to reach out each Sunday to at least one person I don't know and get to know them. You never know the impact a smile, handshake, and hello can have to someone struggling. More often than not God uses us to answer others prayers. We have the responsibility to "life where [we] stand" and how can we lift together if we don't know each other? My challenge to you this Christmas time is to reach out to 1 person in your ward you don't recognize or know well and get to know them! Try to see who in your ward might need a friend or word of encouragement. Let them know you care. And if you know everyone already do the same thing, but at work, school, or anywhere else. Pick one person and "steady..grasp...encourage...inspire...and save" them. If you aren't sure who do pick then I recommend reading your Book of Mormon 10 minutes a day thinking about people you know and how what you are reading could help on of them. Heavenly Father will bring someone to your mind.

Other News: Lots and lots of snow. They keep the roads pretty clear though.Our phone died this week. Had to go without one for 2 days and lost all our contacts. Which as a missionary is pretty horrible. We did a lot of random drop byes which didn't turn out too bad over all. A great experience I had this week was teaching Sister H's twin 7 year old girls. Not that the lesson was all that great, but because their less active dad did a lot of the teaching. He chimed in a lot sharing and explaining Heavenly Father's love for them and the importance of prayer. On a sadder note our other investigators moved back to Racine on Sunday :( it was a great experience getting to know and teach them. I hope they continue to take the missionary lessons down there. Who knows, maybe it is just what they need to start taking those steps towards baptism!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

Thanksgiving here and gone

Highlight of my week: Thanksgiving! We volunteered at Divine Temple of Christ to pass out food. Lots of African Americans there, which was so fun! Boy can they cook (we only tried a little homemade mac and cheese though). Super friendly! Then we went to the R family for dinner. They had 2 friends over besides us and lots of food. They even sent us home with left overs. They make things a little different then they do back home. No marshmallows on yams, they have apples instead and instead of cranberries they had cranberry relish. Pretty good though! We also went and visited with our investigators, they are doing great and will be baptized on the 28th of this month. I received plenty of letters and a package the day before Thanksgiving so no homesickness for me! Thank you all so much!

Pictures:

1. We found a way to be both warm and fashionable at Goodwill (don't worry I'm smart enough not to try heels when its icy)

2. Bro R, Bro W, Me, C, Sis R

3. You can't really tell, but that house is a bright pepto-bismol pink. This is how Green Bay celebrates Christmas

Spiritual thought: At testimony meeting this past Sunday it was all about missionary work. I loved the comment that was made by a new member to our ward. She talked about how this earth isn't our home, but church is like our home away from home. It is a place where anyone should be able to enter and feel at home. To feel the spirit and welcoming smiles. Our ward here has stepped up its game a lot in the past month. Every time we have an investigator or less active come there are 5-6 people who say hi and introduce themselves. Not in a overbearing way, but casually and with love. A simple "hello, I don't think I've met you before" or "I'm glad you were able to come" or "We can't wait to see you again next week" makes such a difference in our investigators experiences. Church truly is our home away from home. A place we can be with those we love and strengthen each other. A place to feel the Holy Ghost and our Father's love. Take the time this next Sunday to look for those you don't know or don't know well.

Other News: Our phone died, went all wacko and kicked the bucket. We will be 2-3 days phoneless. Not sure how that's going to work...Transfers are on the 18th so anything sent after this week should be sent to the mission office - it takes 2-3 weeks to get to me when it's sent there so if it takes longer for me to reply, that's why. I was in the city newspaper. It is suppose to warm the beginning of this week and drop into 20-10 degrees on Friday. A high of 19 and low of 4. Woot! I can't really think of anything else so I love you all! Happy Holidays! Don't forget to put Christ in Christmas.

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern