April Already

I know it's not April, but it's close enough! I can't believe how time has just flown by!

Monday - We went to the W's for dinner. They are one of the coolest families, they are in Haiti right now while there dad does free medical examinations. Their strength in the gospel is also amazing. Both of them served missions and continue to do missionary work all the time. So the funny story here is that I didn't pull our car far enough forward so when Bro W came home he tried to go around it (and there was enough room for him to make it) but turned to wide and got his car stuck in the snow. We all piled outside and it was an easy fix.

Tuesday - DTM was great (as always). One the way home we went to try and see a less active...turns out they don't live there, but their very active parents (who come to lessons with us to S's once a week) live their now! We ended up having a late lunch with them. Then they called their other daughter (less active) who lived a couple blocks away to see if we could go see her. She said yes and off we went. We only have 20 minutes before our next appointment so the lesson was short and completely unplanned as we went it. However it turned out to be an amazsing short lesson. I was able to answer a concern she had from a scripture in the Book of Mormon. I hope we can go back soon!

Wednesday - CAKE WAR! The youth of our ward did a "cake war" they split into teams and each decorated a cake 8"-12" high. The Elders and we were judges. In the hall we debated how to choose. I liked #1, Sister O liked #2, and Elder O liked #3, so Elder B was the tie breaker choosing #2.

Thursday - I volunteered at Pine Manor (a nursing home) and a resident read his poetry to us. He is only 24 and is there - surrounded by old people - for health reasons. His poems were awe-some, his faith in Christ and ability to over come the constant trials that have come his way was inspiring. After we helped make Cherry Coke Floats (it being the aniversary of Cherry Coke) and past them out. Then we drove to Gillet (which is an hours drive from Clintonville) and saw an elderly couple. He has the most amazing testimony. He use to teach a lot - at church and seminary - but hasn't for a long while and is less active because he is sick a lot from chemo. The sweetest couple!

Friday - We walked around for about 3 hours! IT WAS AMAZING! The temp was between 30-40 and I was in heaven! There were a lot of other people out that we got to talk to. J was out shoveling so we stopped to talk to him. Turns out missionaries had come by a year or so ago. He was very friendly and took a Book of Mormon. I hope to go back in a little while to follow up. Dinner was at the P's (we also did laundry). The Elder's surprised us by making dinner for everyone. They brought their own ingredients and reciepe. The food was pretty good. Elder O (who is 6'3") tried on Sister O's jacket (she is 5'3") and it was hillarious!

Saturday - We played basketball and it was so much fun! A certain someone almost kept running me over though. I held my ground. Sister O (who was the only other girl there so I was playing against her) says I'm aggressive. I said "I'm not aggressive, I just like to win!" Later we got to watch the Women's Broadcast at the Easter's home (which they have gone crazy decorating for Easter) with all the other women (8+) in our ward. I loved every minute of the meeting! It was touching to see all the younger girls singing and participating!

Sunday - So we ran out of miles for the month, we only had enough to go 2 miles away from church and then home. We parked the 2 miles away and started walking to church. Bro P slowed down and asked where we were walking from, in unison we said, "From Clintonville". He couldn't give us a ride though with no other female present. Then the K family drove by and told us to hop in. I figured some member would give us a ride. After church we were walking by Evergreen (another nursing home), we weren't planning on stopping in, but I felt that we should and so we did. J was finally awake for once - she is always asleep when we try and see her - and we had a nice chat about being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Next was A. She is a cute old lady. She has a huge "Easter" tree in her room that she decorated with Styrofoam eggs that she had decorated with glitter and ribbon. She let us choose our favorite one to take home. She is adorable! We got to talk a little about prophets with her and the differences between the Catholic church and ours. 

Spiritual Thought - "What does it mean to you to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?" This question was asked at the Women's Broadcast and I've really pondered it. As a missionary it means everything to me. I am literally a representative of Jesus Christ. His name is with mine on my name tag. I have the joy and privilege to share His gospel with His lost sheep. But as a normal member of His church it still has a powerful meaning. A synonym for disciple is Follower, or servant. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ means you are His follower. You learn from His teachings and do as He asks - to love God, to love your fellow man, to repent and turn unto Him. I love how Mormon so boldly declares it, Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." (3 Nephi 5:13) As members of Christ's church we have each been called to be His disciple - not only to follow Him, but to share it with others. So my question to you is this "What does it mean to you to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?" Ponder this question as Easter approaches.

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

Guess what???

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I'll be coming home Dec 19th, 2014 (date is subject to change)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so weird to know that I'll be going home before Christmas for sure! It makes it feel so weird!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

General Conference is almost here!

This has been on week of miracles! There are so many things to share I'll just make a list this week.

1. We volunteer at Pine Manor (a nursing home) and work closely with MJ who is in charge of activites. Last week her mother almost past away and I felt prompted to give her a Book of Mormon with my testimony and favorite scriptures in side. When I gave it to her I mentioned how it is the greatest gift I could give her, the one thing I knew could comfort her than anything else I could say. She started crying and it was the MOST amazing thing!
2. It snowed on the first day of spring...BUT I still celebrated! I wore a blue, green and black and white flower dress, my new flower covered boots, and flower socks!
3. S is back! He had an appointment run off that was all. Thank goodness. His baptism is for April 12th (it could be a week earlier, but that's General Conference). He is doing great and has almost finished reading the Book of Mormon (he started Jan 1) and love it!
4. We not only reached we exceeded our weekly goal for other lessons for the first time ever here in Shawano! Woot! Which leads to #5.
5. Tuesday night all our appointments fell through so we decided to simply go on a walk (to get service and call people) down Main Street. As we walked down we met a lady who had lost her dog. So now our plans changed. We spent the next 3 hours looking for Rascal. Along our way we met a lot of lovely people - we even got to help move in someones fridge which was fun! Forget tracting I just want to walk around the neighborhoods now
6. Last time I checked I was in the 300s in my gratitude journal. I still have a long way to go to reach 1,000. If you took my challenge you probably know how addicting it is to do once you start!
7. I got to pet 2 horses (it was great).
8. We had Olive Garden at the Ms!
9. Sister O and I made a life size (well Elder O size) Goliath and had the Easter kids throw rocks (balls of duct tape) at him to defeat him! It was a fun filled lesson!
10. We have a Bible Study for Women 2 times a month and this past week Sister J invited a friend and she came! She is the most sincere person I've met! After the study we talked with her a while and asked if she wanted to learn more - and she did! We met with her this morning and gave her a Book of Mormon with my testimony in it. She thought it was the sweetest thing!
11. I now have the Pokemon theme song memorize..but that's another story.

Spiritual Thought

3 Nephi 4:7-10

I love these scriptures! It talks about how Giddianhi's army was super terrifing, but the people of Nephi did not fear the army, but God and pleaded in prayer for help and protection. Because they prayed they were ready when the army came. They went forth to battle "in the strength of the Lord." I know that as we ask God for help, direction, or saftey that he will answer our prayers so that when the advisary strikes we will be able to go "in the strength of the Lord" and all things will become possible to us. We will not fear anything - losing a job, being rejected by friends, or anything unto it. We will be able to go forward in faith with his strength.

My challenge for this week isn't connected to my thought, but from what I've seen this past week. My challenge to you is to write your testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to a friend. 

My promise to you is that by doing so your friend will realize how important the gospel is to you and the will not reject your offer (whether its to read the Book of Mormon, come to church, come to an activity). He/she will be truly touched by your offer and your friendship will deepen even if they decide the gospel isn't for them.

I think that's everything for this week! I love you all!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

St. Patrick's Day

I just want to thank everyone for their encouraging emails! I love reading them, even though I don't always (if hardly ever) have time to respond!

So Sister O and I forgot that it was St P's Day...We wrote the word "Green" with a green pen on our hands. It counts right?

This week was fun! Sister O and I had a peanut butter M&M fight. Originally they were for our lesson with S to teach the WOW, but he is MIA at the moment. He never missed a lesson or week at church until Thursday. We just hope he is okay!

We contacted a lot of less actives..they all wanted to feed us :b

Usually that would be beyond great, but one day we had lunch, 2 dinners, and 4 desserts within 5 hours. Sister O and I were able to roll over and die in a food coma. BUT we had great lessons with all of them! Brother P made homemade carrot/pumpkin cake (completely from scratch he grew the carrots and pumpkin) it was delicious!

We have a new investigator! She is 94 years old! The sweetest old lady! I love her so much! I can't wait to share the Plan of Salvation with her! I know it will comfort her through the loss of her husband! Pine Manor was a blast! We helped the residents cut out Shamrocks and string Cheerios onto yarn for the birds to eat. The elderly there are so sweet! Boy do they have some amazing stories to tell too! Friday a member took us out to Luigi's Pizza and we ended up finding out that some of our investigators work there! The place was pretty empty (we ate at an odd hour) so they sat and talked with us from time to time. A great blessing! 

This weekend was amazing! I LOVE Stake Conference! It filled my "spiritual bucket" to the brim and over! I love how the included the youth (12+) in the adult session. One of the speakers joined the church in October. He just graduated High School, but before he did he found out about the church. His parents threatened to disowned him if he joined, despite that he knew it was true. So in October he was baptized and disowned. Right now he is attending college and living with members. His testimony was powerful and strong. It amazes me everyday how much people give to be a part of this glorious gospel. He was a reminder that pioneers are still here to day, giving all they have for their God and Savior. 

We volunteered at the Shjazz festival (jazz players in middle school and up come and preform for scholarships). The most amazing thing happened while I was there. There was a full table of middle school boys eating lunch, one table over sat a boy alone, facing a way from them. The group of boys slowly moved there table over until it was right behind his. Then they invited him to turn around and sit with them. My faith in the youth of this day is restored! It was so touching to see them include the lone boy and soon all of them were laughing and having fun. 

This week I've focused my study on "Grace". Sister P asked us about it because she didn't quite understand what it meant. What a powerful studies I've had this week! Grace and the Atonement are so deeply intertwined with each other. It is because of the Atonement that Jesus Christ can give us grace - divine help or strength. Without grace there is now way we could ever return to live with our Father in Heaven again because of our own weaknesses. However grace is what makes it possible for us to do the good works that we, by ourselves, could never do. Grace is the enabling power of the Atonement, the power that lets us become like Him. Because of Christ we can overcome death, but because we are imperfect we are in the "hole" of sin. There is a latter to get out which we have to climb ourselves (our works). However this latter doesn't reach the top of the hole. We NEED Christ to reach down and lift us up the remainder of the way. So my challenge this week is to read: 

John 1:12

1 Cor 15:10

2 Cor 12:9-10

Bible Dictionary: Grace

and watch: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/come-unto-christ-2014-theme-song?lang=eng 

thinking about grace and to ponder what Grace means to you.

I love all of you! I hope you have a fantastic St Patrick's Day!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

9 months!!

I can't believe how my mission is just flying by! In 2 days I reach my 9 month mark and 1/2 way point. It seems like just yesterday I was dropped off at the MTC! But enough about that....it's 35 degrees outside! I actually didn't have to wear my jacket all day! Water is dripping from everywhere and I love it! I'm so excited for spring!

On another note...S is doing wonderfully! He told everyone he talked to at church that he is getting baptized. Last week we taught him the Word of Wisdom and he gave up coffee without hesitating. In our Gospel Principles class he has brought a tangent back to our lesson. He is just eager to learn and absorbing it all like a sponge. I'm so excite for him!

After Zone Training we went of exchanges! I went to Green Bay 2 with Sister T (and yes she is one of my previous companions). It was a blast! We've been trying to strengthen our relationship with the ward so we attend young womens some weeks and this week was hair! Each of the girls showed how to do a different hair do and best of all R came (an investigator) and she seemed to really enjoy it.

On Saturday I helped a sweet old lady named E shovel snow away from her house (or else the basement would flood when the snow melted). I stepped into the snow and down I went...up to my hip in snow. I had to shovel my way out and to the house. It took us and the Elders 2 hours to shovel a 3 feet deep  from her house. It was a nice warm (25 degrees) day so I was happy to be outside!

We went to the H family for dinner on Friday and her daughter (who is 7) her own Book of Mormon. On Sunday we saw her crying and asked her what was wrong. She had forgotten it at home. Her mom then told us that she has been reading it like crazy and highlighting "God" "Lord" "Jesus" every time she sees it. Sister O and I both do it, I love to see how much the Book of Mormon truely speaks and testifies of Christ.

Basketball was a small turn out. The Elders, us, and Brother Y. The fact that Brother Y came (who is inactive) was amazing though! We had fun just shooting hoops and talking to him. Hopefully the C family will be able to come next week.

At the moment Sister O and I are obbessed with the song "What do I know of holy," if you haven't listened to it you should! It was on a CD we got from the G Sisters who got it from the APs.

Spritual Thought: 2 Corinthians 4:15-18. God has given us everything! This earth, the sun, the sky and trials, pain and sorrow are all for our sakes! That we may reconginize His grace - or His divine help or strength - and thank Him for it! In doing so our spirits are renewed everyday, though our physical bodies may be exhausted or sick. Our trails are made light as we thank Him, because we remember the eternal perspective of life. God asks us to give thanks, not that He needs it, but because it can truely bless our lives! Giving thanks helps us see His love for us through the things around us. My challenge this time is a little harder than normal. I challenge you to write 1,000 things you are grateful for AND remember to personally thank your Heavenly Father for them in your prayer. I've taken this challenge up on myself as well. I'm on 115 so far! Do you think you can do it? I know that you will feel yourself become more energized, happy, and determined as you do this! You will feel God's love for you more abudently in your life as you notice all the little "I love you"s that He places around your life.

I love all of you! Have a fantastic March! Enjoy the wonderful spring!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

March

February has been one crazily insane week! For starters WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!! It's the first date that Shawano has had in over 5 months. Our lesson was on Jesus Christ - his birth, baptism, and Atonement. The lesson was great with the Spirit powerfully testifying of it's truth. Then Brother K asked S to be baptized. (To explain a little: Sister O and I felt prompted to have Bro K ask him. Bro K is a talker. He can talk about pretty much for a long time. For this lesson he was pretty close to silent. He was so nervous to ask! He did a great job though). He will be baptized on March 22, 2014!

One thing I've learned very well as a missionary is not to take anything personal. Every door that is slammed in my face isn't a big deal. For instance, we went and tried to visit a less active the other day and he opened the door and started yelling at us saying (something to the effect of) "What do you think you were doing, coming here last week on a Sunday night at 8 o'clock at night!" Sister O and I stood there shocked a bit, before I said, "I'm not sure what you are talking about." Then he kind of took a step back and said, "Well I'm not interested, bye." I just laughed it off, I'm glad he was able to use us as a source to get his anger out!

The only slight downside to my week was at church...we had our 3 friends at church. C is a talker and ended up talking for 20 minutes of the lesson, which isn't really bad or good. Then an elderly gentlemen of our ward who is hard of hearing (and sitting right next to him) leaned over to his friend and said (at normal volume) "can someone get him to shut up", what's even worse is that his friend didn't hear him and so he had to say it again! Sister O and I just looked at each other in ...well the picture will explain our reaction... I don't think he heard, but his caretaker (he is in a wheel chair) did and wasn't too happy. I'm not sure how to easily smooth this one over, but I don't think it'll be too big of an issue.

To try and get a better relationship with our ward we have been going to a lot more activities (such a MUTUAL). This week was DODGE BALL...and I realized that I don't really like dodge ball. The great thing was that L and R (who are part of a family we are teaching) came! I got to play basketball with R afterward, she is an amazing young woman.

I have to give props to a member we went to dinner with the other day. E has been a member for 2 years now after she found out about the church through her less active husband's mom. She lives in an apartment above her parent's house, which is above their restaurant. Her family drinks, swears, and does most things that she now can't do. Yet, her testimony and determination to do what is right is...awe inspiring. Every Sunday she faithfully attends church alone (or occasionally with her mother in law) and despite temptation all around her, literally, she stays strong to what she knows.

One analogy I've come to love is "feeding yourself spiritually". Our bodies need food - they need 3 sqaure meals a day or they become unheathly. Likewise our spirits need 3 square meals a day of a different sort. Our spirit's diet can range from the Book of Mormon, Bible, Ensign, and Conference talks to uplifting music and wholesome movies.  Just like a physical meal isn't complete without grains, meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables our spiritual meals aren't complete without prayer,  pondering, asking, and listening. My challenge to you this week is to try to "eat" 2-3 square meals a day. I promise you as you do so that you will feel a difference physically, spiritually, and mentally. You will have more energy, feel more hopefully, and recongnize God's love for you each day.

I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic March!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern