Spring showers bring......more bugs!

Another crazy week! The sun has been shining so Sister O and I have hit the pavement! I love street contacting! It's much more...interesting people. For instance, this older gentlemen was walking with his granddaughters and as he came to us he said, "Let's walk around the pole" and took them onto the grass and around the pole to stay as far away as possible from us. It was pretty funny!

Zone Conference was this week and as always it was amazing! A couple of my favorite quotes are:

"The change was one of attitude. Doubt yielded to faith"

"When we truly understand who we are and our responsibility we cannot be stopped"

and my own personal motto "Hit the ground running"

Every time I go to Zone Conference I just want to go out and baptize the whole world! My favorite part though was after. Sister Cutler had all the sisters gather with her in the R.S. room. There we had a little meeting all our own! I love all the sisters I have a privilege of serving with!

On Tuesday I got into a fight with a tree. We were helping Sister L clean up her yard after the winter months. Her little bush had grown into a gigantic tree like thing and I was in charge into making it back into the bush that it was meant to be. The bush wasn't thorny, but I did get a lot of scratches as I trimmed it back. It made me think a lot of the story told of the Currant Bush. I always loved how I was the Currant Bush and though it sometimes hurt when God trimmed me back,  making me into a better "me" I never thought of how He might have felt as I resisted or fought back (or tried to at least). When we resist God's gentle guidance and fight against Him, does it hurt Him? How He must feel as His beloved child rebels against He loving guidance. Surly it must hurt, He loves us so much and only wants what is best, but must watch as we often turn away. No wonder God truly rejoices in the one that returns to Him!

One of the most touching and surprising things happened this week, not only once, but twice. Both A and Sister L made the comment how much they loved Sister O and I and saw us as their adopted daughters. I was so touched by that I couldn't help, but give them each a giant hug!

President Cutler came to the Shawano Ward Bonfire! He did a little talk and everything. The ward really loved having him there and it was neat for them to meet the people I talk so much about (well not all that much, but still). I hoped it helped the members get super pumped up about doing missionary work because we truly can't do much without their help!

Sister L is on her way towards her baptism on June 7th! Her only possible set back is she can't miss a week of church (so the next 2 Sundays). HOWEVER, she came this past Sunday for the first time since 2007 when the missionaries first tracted into her! Woot! Also she expressed how excited she is to finally be baptized and even invited her daughter. She listens to the Book of Mormon each day on her computer (bad eye sight so she can't see) and prays to know it's true everyday. She feels like she finally got an answer! I'm super excited for her - a little sad its 3 days after transfers so I might not be here for it - but excited and happy for her to make this important step in her life!

I love you all! Have a beautiful week!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

Mother's Day

What a crazy week! I don't even know where to begin!

First off - S WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!  It was amazing. I'm so grateful that I was able to be a part of him coming to know the truth of the gospel! 

I got my hair trimmed and it's straight today. Sister O straightened it on Sunday.

I went to Green Bay 2 on exchanges with Sister A. I learned a lot from her and I'm excited for their baptism that is happening this Saturday.

I loved being able to Skype/talk with my family! It was odd afterwards to know that that was the last time I'd speak to them until I'm home. I'm grateful for the P's letting me use their computer and phone!

I love street contacting using family history. Many a time people aren't willing to talk to me about Christ or religion, but they are willing to talk about themselves and their families. Ask them where their parents are from and they will go on and on. 

I have 2 baptism dates for June 7th. C and E. C has come to church 8 times now I think. He just needs to have the rest of the lessons (he is sick a lot) and to read the Book of Mormon consistently. Now that we have a new phone we send both of them scripture reminders.

Which leads me to another amazing event! We got a new phone. We are literally the only phone the church pays for that isn't Sprint, because we have next to 0 service up here. It has been such a blessing not to have to drive into Clintonville to get service and make calls! 

Zone Conference is this Thursday! I can't wait! Then President Cutler is coming to my ward's fireside to speak to the youth! When he opens his mouth I can't help, but sit in amazement. His wife and he are what I call a "spiritual giants." I learn something new each time they speak. I know it will be a great experience for the youth, many of them are planning to go on missions themselves. 

Spiritual Thought: One thing that I have learned on my mission is that "As [ I ] choose to live on the Lord's side, [ I'm ] never alone."

1. In General Conference there were many warning saying how as members of Christ's church we will have to stand up for our beliefs. There are many people I've met who have challenged my beliefs, those values and knowledge that I hold dear. However, God has promised us that we will not be confounded before men and I can testify of that truth. There will be times you might not know the exact answers, but He will guide you on the words to use. It has happened to me time and time again. When you stand up for your beliefs - the gospel of Jesus Christ - you are standing up for Christ, you are standing up for God. "If God is with me than who can be against me?" https://www.lds.org/youth/video/dare-to-stand-alone?lang=eng

2. On my mission there have been a couple times that I have been/felt alone. I've learned at times  when I'm sad or scared I can always turn to the Lord. Once I got separated from my companion and I had only been in the area a month and was still unsure of all the streets. I had a faint idea where I was. It was getting dark and so I started singing "A Child's Prayer." I found a street that I thought looked familiar. Soon I was in an area that I was more familiar with and there was my companion looking for me. I know our Heavenly Father has given us the Holy Ghost so that we are never truly alone. He is always there. 

I love you!!!

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

May is here!

What an exciting week! This coming Saturday Steve will be baptized! He is the elder's now, but we get to see him at church. It was an amazing experience to tract into him on January 1st, 2014 with Sister Edwards, to teach him almost every lesson with Sister Olsen, then to see him continue to change as the elders taught him the last 2 times. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving m the opportunity to be a part of it!

One miracle this week was getting in to see Toni G a less active. I've been trying to see her for almost 6 months now and we finally got in! Sister Olsen and her had a lot in common (close family members having tumors previously) and she invited us back!

I was able to help Sister Kasson with yard work and she even sent us home with a bouquet of flowers that we picked! It is still sitting on our table! The other bouquet we made we went to a less actives and "ding dong ditched" her. I hope she liked them! We waited around the corner to make sure she got them. 

Enjoyed dinner at the Pitt's - Elder Oviatt made homemade pizza! Yummy! Then they had to take off so we got to teach the lesson. I shared my favorite video - Abide with Me - a Mormon message. 

Got to go to Kehana's soccer game and talk to a lot of people there. She did really well and makes me want to go out and play. If only I wasn't in a skirt!

Miracle number 2 was getting in to see Suzanne S! She is another less active I've been trying to see. We didn't teach the lesson we had planned, it was completely by the Spirit. Sister Olsen shared a story of a boy who's mom's died and he felt alone and how he came to know God was there and I shared Matt 27:46 and explained how God withdrew His presence from Christ and how Christ was truly alone. Because Christ was alone we never have to be. She started crying and shared how alone she had felt the past couple months. The Spirit was so strong I was close to tears myslef!

Another miracle was we were trying to figure out when we could have dinner. There was only a 45 minute block of time and being 30 minutes away from home we could go there and eat and there weren't any fast food places close so if we ended up going out to eat we were worried we would be finished in time. Thankfully the Lord had a better plan in mind. Our lesson at 5 turned out to be dinner. Sister C said, "As soon as I hung up I realized I should have asked if you wanted dinner. So just in case I have everything ready to make if you will just help me cook it." God knows what He is doing! :) His timing amazes me day by day. You'd think I'd be use to it by now...but nope!

On Sunday we held the Bishop's fireside and did a "role play" with the youth. It went better than I could have imagined!  I'll try and explain it the best I can. So Sister O was the "investigator" and the Elders were going to teach her. They knocked on the door and she let them in. I was the "narrator" of sorts. The first time she asked a question I said "Pause" and asked the youth how they would answer that question. They then told Sister O their answer and she responded as if one of the Elders had said it. It went back and forth for a while. Then we switched places - we taught Elder S. The youth really enjoyed it and it gave them a kind of "first hand" experience with missionary work without the pressures of doing it one on one..or I guess three on one. 

a youth - invited her non member friend to the activity. At the end of the role plays we opened it up to questions the youth had for us on missionary work or general questions. The friend had a lot of great questions and really enjoyed it because she liked seeing what her friend would be doing in a year.

Overall it was a fantastic week and the weather is a beautiful 30-50 degrees most days. Everything is coming alive!

Spiritual thought - My favorite scripture (of all time) is 3 Nephi 14: 8-11. 

"8 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

 9 Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?"

[Or if he ask Eternal Life, will he not give him his son?]

 "11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

I love this because we asked for Eternal Life and God gave us His son. If He gave us His Son as the ultimate gift then how can we doubt that we will give us the things we stand in need of?

With Buckets of Love,

Sister Kern

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!