Another Transfer Come and Gone

What a crazy week! I loved every minute of it!

We split our P-day (so we just emailed on Monday and then on Tuesday did every thing else) because a member who lives far away signed up for dinner and we wanted to use those miles to go see other less actives too. On our way up we stopped by a member who is quiet so I haven't had the chance to really get her to open up. She was so excited when we came and welcomed us in. Then in a spur of the moment kind of way ended up driving us to her mother (who is in a nuersing home). They way so takes care of her mother is truly amazing, you can see the love and devotion she has. Then she excited explained every thing she was doing for the Trek the ward is having in July. Her conversion story is also something else, and the strength she has is inspiring!

Another wonderful thing happened at dinner that night! We got to meet the member's parents (who aren't all that supportive of her joing the church 2 years ago) and had a great discussion and before we left her father mentioned "Well I'm glad neither of you are getting transfered."

Next was on Tuesday night a member had us over and our dinner got intrupted by something totally incredible event unfolded. His sister had been in an abusive marriage and lived in Texas. They had tried several times over the last 20 years to get her back home, but to no avail. He hadn't physically seen his sister for all those 20 years. Recently his son moved down their for work and was miraculously able to meet with his Aunt! To make a long story short she finally got the courage to leave and got the soonest plane ticket home. She arrived in Milwaukee at 9 pm the next night. The prayers/fastings/pleading of all her family was finally answered. I learned a valuable lesson. Never. Never. Give up on anyone. 

I also learned a valuable lesson from a General Confrence talk by Elder Scott. "Loving them is the powerful foundation for influencing those you want to help." That quote stuck into my mind and I've pondered it many a time this week. Finally I decided to put it into action. In our lesson with Sister M (a less active) I was very blunt in teaching about church and how she needed to be there. I made sure to express my love for her and desire for her to obtain all the blessing that come from church. After asking a couple inspired questions (thanks to my wonderful Heavenly Father) I was able to get to the reason she didn't attend church. We addressed her concern and invited her once again to come. She didn't. However I believe the progress we made in that lesson was the beginning of truly helping her. After the lesson she thanked us a lot for always coming.

My spiritual thought for this week is to do more than just listen to General Confrence. Let is change you, each General Conference we need to Receive, Remember, and Apply the gospel better. To become closer and more like Christ. The words of Thomas S Monson are words from God. They are scripture - as if God himself were speaking directly to you. I have never believed this stronger than this past General Conference as I've studied diligently and with great effort and care the words that were spoken. Each talk has something in it for you! You just have to look for it (and perhaps squint your eyes and tilt your head. A little prayer before you start is never a bad idea too.)

I love you all so much and I hope you are having a wonderful Spring time!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

April Showers bring May Flowers!

This one marvelous week of miracles! First off my 10 month mark was the 12th! The time just keeps flying by faster and faster and sometimes I just wish it would slow down!

Monday - We volunteered at Pine Manor of G's brithday! Turns out Sister K is related to him so we ran into her there! A lot of his families asked us questions wondering why a couple of kids would be volunteering at a nursing home. A great chance to spread the word - a lot of them knew about our church through Sister K and other memebers of their family.

Tuesday - We saw K! Our lesson was how an egg is like the Atonement. Like an egg, we are white and pure when we are born. However over time we become colored by sin just like the egg does when put into dye. That's when the Atonement comes in. Just like how you can crack an egg to reveal a white skin you can use the Atonement and repentance to slowly crack away the stain of sin that you have until you are completly clean. She loved it and we had fun dying the eggs after. Then she surprised us by pulling out a plant for us! Yes they are still a live we haven't killed them...yet. They are a beautiful purple and are bulb plants. They will live for about a month and then we can take the bulbs to our next area! I can't begin to tell you how excited I was!!

This week we taught 12 other lessons -  that is the most I've had in a while and it's wonderful! We went on a walk in Clintonville down Main Street and got to talk to tons of people because they were out enjoying this wonderful weather! Today is a humid 60 degrees and it's a great day to be jacketless! As we walked we waved/smiled at everyone who drove passed. There are lots of "sweet" people in Clintonville (We got lots of smiles and waves..and a couple honks and other such things) and only a couple "sour".

Sunday - We passed S off to the elders - for a variety of different reasons - BUT we have 2 other baptism dates now. Sister L - how has been taught since 2007 and Brother L who Sister E and I met in January. I'm very excited for them, they have sweet spirits and an eager desire to learn! So during Relief Society the whole group pretty much bawled our eyes out the entire time. Sister B did an AMAZING job. She barely even spoke. Each of us got to read a story about a woman in Christ's life (from "their" point of veiw). The hardest one was Christ's mother, Mary, as she spoke of him growing up and then having to watch him on the cross. She shared a couple other videos and music clips and bore her testimony at the end. The most powerful lesson I've had at church in a while, don't get me wrong a lot of them are Spirit filled, but usually its a softer feeling.

Spiritual thought - 

1. The butterfly. It starts off as a caterpillar - not beautiful nor stunning in any sense of the word. Then it becomes wrapped in a cocoon for a time before it emerges as a majestic butterfly. Jesus Christ. He starts off as a carpenter - not beautiful nor stunning in any sense of the word. Then we suffers and dies wrapped in cloth and laid in a tomb for a time before he emerges as the Savior of the world. A simple analogy, but I'll never look at a butterfly the same.

2. I know that Christ suffered in Gethsemane for my pains and sins. He chose to die on the cross. He broke the bands of death by rising again on the 3rd die. I know that because He lives I can do all things. He is my Savior, my Redeemer, and my friend. He is the Son of God and He is risen. That is why that no matter what He asks of me I can do because I cannot fail while I am on His errand. 

I love you all! Thank you for all the wonderful Easter wishes! I hope yours was amazing too!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

P.S I'm staying in SHAWANO another transfer with Sister O!

Because of Him

One thing I forgot to send! If you haven't watched the new Easter video posted on Mormon.org here is a link to it! I had goose bumps the whole time!

http://easter.mormon.org/

It's called "Because of Him"

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

April Showers bring MORE snow?

It snowed 4-6 inches last night! I was just joking when I talked about having a white Easter and now it might just happen!

Anyways, I'm not even sure where to start my letter! I guess at the beginning is best...or maybe in the middle. 

Thursday - Interviews! I love interviews! President Cutler ways leaves my mind blown by one thing or another that he says. From what we talked about I have a sneaking suspicion that Sister O and I will be together another transfer...but then again I can never truly tell with him! Oh and funny story...so we can't take our garbage to the curb. We have to take it to the church dumpster once a week. We hadn't been able to do it for a while until Thursday. The only problem was we forgot it in our trunk and didn't remember until after DTM when we opened our car door to a horrible smell! Needless to say we drove all the way to Gillet with our windows rolled down.

We drove an hour up to Gillet to see the C family. They are a less active elderly couple. He is often sick because of chemo and had an infection when we were over. Luckily his wife was willing to talk with us. We had met with them a couple times before, and I had gotten the feeling she was a convert and hadn't been a member of the church very long even though they are both in their 80s. I was prompted to ask a couple bold questions which lead to a lot of discovery. Turns out she joined the church when they married (7 years ago) and she only joined so that she could marry him because he was very active in the church at the time. She hadn't even prayed about the Book of Mormon! I wasn't surprised when she talked about how she often felt out of place at church. So I committed her to read the Book of Mormon with him and pray about it. She agreed, I will find out next Tuesday about her experience.

Then we went to the Y family. She is a convert of 2 years and comes to church every week even though he is less active and hasn't come in the 4 1/2 months I've been here. We ate dinner with her and the B family. Sister Y really wants to prepare names to take to the temple, but her family isn't all that happy with her decision to join the church in the first place so she is nervous at what they will do when she asks them for information on her family. We talked a lot to her and shared a couple things from Preach My Gospel. Our council was to start by simply telling them she is interested in finding out where she came from. Then once the Spirit of Elijah is working on them, to bring up the why behind family history. 

Friday - We went up to Bonduel. I hadn't been feeling all that well, but we couldn't just go home. The lesson with the R family was so much fun! They have 3 little ones who ran around the whole time. I loved it! Then it was off to the P for dinner. Sister P gave me some cold medicine and I don't remember much else of that night. Sister O drove us home.

Saturday - I felt better and I didn't want Sister O to miss out on basketball so we went. I jammed my left ring finger, popped my hip out of place, and almost broke my glasses and my cold came full force...needless to say it wasn't my day. Don't worry though! My finger is almost back to normal, my hip is back where it should be and my glasses are still in working order. We went to the church and our wonderful elders brought me some meds (they only live 5 minutes from the church). Then we went home and watched some awesome church history movies (produced by the church so they are mission approved) I dozed in and out.

Sunday - Got to church. Taught "prayer" in Gospel Principles and "Importance of Book of Mormon" in young women's. Then there was a baptism after for a 8 year old in our ward. I took more medicine and pressed forward. After the baptism the (grandparents of the little boy) insisted we come over for lunch/dinner and so we did. I had a great time meeting a lot of their other family - a lot of which are inactive. Then it was off to A's for a quick lesson. Then to C's. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ using examples from his life. At the end Sister O asked them to be baptized. Their date is set for June 7th! I probably won't stay long enough to see it (transfers are April 23 then June 4th) but I'm so excited for their desire to follow the example of Christ! OH and J (a young woman) made Sister O and I braclets. They are really cool and represent "letting your light so shine". It is a white band going all the way around with blue and black on both sides of the white. Then there is a spot of yellow. Sister O found out last night that the white glows in the dark so it looks like there is light coming from the yellow, cutting through the black and blue. It's amazing!

So that was my week in a nut shell. Not sure what happened before Thursday...Oh well! It's written in my journal at home!

Spiritual thought - Look at the attached picture! In Young Women's I taught about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it is relevant to us today. To be totally honest - the Book of  Mormon didn't mean all that much to me before. I knew I should read it - so I did. The words on it's pages though didn't mean very much to me. They were just that. Words on a page. It wasn't until I started to understand what is written on it's cover that the Book of Mormon really gained meaning for me. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. As I studied daily from the pages to learn about Jesus Christ I started to feel a great change take place within me.

As I read the words of God contained within the pages I started to become like the people of Alma who upon Alma teaching them the words of God had "a mighty change...wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God" (Alma 5:13). The change that took place in them started happening in me. I wanted to become better, to become like Jesus Christ. The Son of God that was spoken of so much in the Book of Mormon. Through reading and truly pondering and studying it's pages I've been able to come to know my Savior all the more personally. He is no longer some being that lived so long ago - He is my Redeemer and He redeems me still, each and every day. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it has power through the Holy Ghost to truly change a persons desire and will to that of our Heavenly Fathers. My challenge this week is to study from the scriptures about Christ each day and ponder the fact that because He suffered for us, died and was resurrected we too can live again. Not only live again, but live with our Heavenly Father and our families for eternity. All because of Him.

I love you all and hope you have a terrific week and an even better Easter!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

P.S. I want to thank everyone for the wonderful birthday cards I receive! Thank you!

20 already

My have the years flown! It seems like just yesterday I was a little 19 year old running around...Just kidding! I am having fun teasing all the missionaries around me about how old they are though!

This has been one great birthday week! The weather has been in the 30-40s so Sister Olsen and I have done a lot of walking around. My favorite new approach is the "Jesus loves you". We have a lot of cards with Jesus on them and walk up to people on the street and the encounter is usually something like:

Us: "Can I give you a card?"

Them: "No I'm a Lutheran."

"It's just a picture of Jesus to remind you how much He loves you."

"Oh...*takes card* I know He loves me. Thank you"

One of the people we met was a wonderful women who was walking around the park during her lunch break. It turns out she is a traveling...flu-bot-o-nist and once she walked away Sister Olsen and I tried to figure out what that was. Any ideas?

At Pine Manor we got to listen to Ray's poetry. A lot of it was about the Savior and how He has saved him. This past time we went we got on a deeper topic and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. I can't wait to talk to him again so I can help answer more of his questions. 

My Birthday: Was awesome! Sister O is the sweetest! She had a whole little thing set up with a couple present and things to surprise me. We made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Leftovers and "cake in a mug" for lunch. Then we were off to a busy day! We started off at Sister C's house - one of her friends showed up and I ended up teaching Sister C and Sister O taught her friend, so we somehow managed to teach 2 lessons at the same time. Sister O set up a return appointment and we got a new investigator we totally weren't expecting!  Then we rushed off to Sister M's. After her we went off to the P's. On the way there Sister Cutler, the mission president's wife, called to wish me a happy birthday! How sweet are they!

The time I spent at the P's was great (as always) we had taco salad and cake! The funnest part was that our Elders had previously told us that they weren't going to be able to make it. Then while Sister P and we were sitting on the couch Sister P clapped her hands and out came our Elders with our dinner. They just all love surprises. It was great! 

The Elder's gave me a card that was hilarious! The P's gave me a beautiful heart necklace. Overall it was a good, good day! 

Then there was General Conference! Most of it I was writing a ton - mainly impressions or inspiring quotes, the other part of the time I probably looked like this --->   O.O    Eyes wide trying to take it all in. I can't wait for the Ensign to come in May! I want to reread all the talks again and again!

I have a couple challenges (that you can choose from if you so wish) this week!

1. Write to me about a specific time that keeping a commandment has blessed you!

2. For the next week focus on not missing either

a) Daily family prayer

b) Daily family scripture study

3. Have FHE (the full - prayer, song, lesson, song, prayer, treat) every Monday - or once a week - for the next month. 

I've loved thinking of specific instances and blessings that I've received from living specific commandments - like keeping the Sabbath day Holy. It has really helped me come to realize all the blessings I've received and strengthened my testimony of each of them.

As for family prayer and scripture study as a missionary I have to do it and the blessings I've seen can't even begin to be explained in the short amount of time that I've had. I've come to know my Savior personally - to know that He is all merciful and powerful. His power to heal is something I'm only beginning to grasp.  It's through daily prayer and scripture study those blessings come! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern