PICS from sister exchanges

Oh those crazy, fun missionaries!

Sister Beckstrand,Sister Eaton,

Sister Kimball and Sister Everett

SISTER EXCHANGES

Sister Kimball and Sister Everett

SISTER EXCHANGES continued

Sister Beckstrand and Sister Kimball

PICS FROM OUR DISTRICT MEETING

I can't BEAR thinking about

..leaving my mission. I love it. Can you ( mom ) extend my mission please !

I don't want to go home. I love you guys and miss you greatly but, I love it here ! It's started to feel like home. I've made Washington my home, even though, I don't want to live here, it's home.

Missionary work is home !

OUR MISSION DISTRICT @ THE PARK ON P-DAY

Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for your prayers in behalf of me and our investigators.I love the people and

I am so grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for this sacred call. I am striving to do my best to be that instrument in His hand in fulfilling His work.

Lauren really loves cats.

Ya think!

Sister Kimball and cats, cats, cats

Sister Kimball and her companion, Sister Eaton, were helping a lady move. The lady has huge cats and Lauren loves cats!

This week, the thing that really was impressed upon my mind ...

was the importance of modern day prophets. My testimony was strengthened of the great importance of having a solid testimony in the reality of our living day prophet. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God and that he does receive direct revelation from God to help us in these perilous times. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. I know that through him the keys of the Lord's Kingdom has been restored to the earth today. I know that we can receive revelation for ourselves. In Doctrine and Covenants 8:2-3," Yeah, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart by the Holy Ghost which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Mose brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground." We are entitled to receive the same personal revelation as the prophets of old. Let us be faithful, listen and tune into the spiritual promptings we receive. We will know what to do.

Saturday

Saturday we had Presidents interviews and President and Sister Wilson came and instructed us and it was amazing ! " HAVING THE SPIRIT IS THE KEY ! We need to have faith in the Spirit, faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and faith that it will touch the hearts of the people as we do our part." Afterwards we had an appointment with a potential investigator. We couldn't go inside his home so we sat outside to talk and because of that his neighbor over heard us talking and joined us. We taught them about God and that He is a loving God and because of that great love He provided a Savior to save us and to help us overcome sin. Zuir (20 yrs. old) felt that when he sins he'll go to Hell. He was baptized into one of the Christian churches and he had a lot of anxiety attacks because he was so afraid that he would go to Hell for his sins. The message we gave brought peace to his heart. The message that if we have faith in Christ and repent of our sins, He will forgive us and remember our sins no more. We then taught them about the Restoration of Christ's Church to the earth and invited them to be baptized. They both accepted.

Lake Forest Ward BBQ

The BBQ was a lot of fun and good food too. There were some less active members that came to the BBQ also and it was way nice to see them there.

Prepared People

I hope you had as great a week as we had. I don't know if that is possible !!
Tuesday we started teaching Sarah, 16 years old, she is the friend of the less active girl in our ward. She is wonderful; she doesn't have a big religious background, but she is seeking. She wants to know.She wants to draw closer to Christ and to have a closer relationship with her Heavenly Father. We knelt with her to pray and she offered the prayer. The spirit was son strong. It was a humble prayer...seriously I just love to hear someone pray that hasn't prayed much or has never prayed before. Her prayer was so simple and from the HEART.
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Wednesday We we had a wonderful lesson with Jessica. We watched the movie,Touch of the Masters Hand", it puts the poem into real life. I gave her the letter that Uncle Stan wrote for her. She was very appreciative. We also read 2Nephi 4:15-35 with her. It is one of my favorite scripture passages, especially verses 34-35. Jessica said that she just needs to continue to put her trust in the Lord and press forward. She will be baptized August 20th.

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Later that evening we taught Balen Love, fiance of Wendy Tinker, They are getting married August 6. Balen has such strong faith in Christ. He is a great guy and is very devoted to a life of service and following in our Savior's footsteps. ( We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and find out for himself if it is true) he has complete faith that he will receive an answer to his prayers to know if the Book of Mormon is true.We invited him to be baptized on August 4th, 2 days before his wedding, and he accepted. Yea !!! We are very excited for the two of them. We had an awesome member with us who talked about the importance and the blessings of eternal marriage. He wants to have an eternal marriage.

Talk to Everyone-in sign language

In the deaf branch Sister Eaton and I gave talks. I signed the first part and the last part of my talk but the rest I had an interpreter, Sister Knox. I just love sign language and I am excited to take classes when I return home. It is so beautiful and so fun! There is just such a sweet spirit in the deaf branch. Maybe one day I'll be an interpreter.

July 18,2011 continued...

Another miracle-we have two new investigators both are from Africa. Luchica is from Eitriea, the same place as Merhawi. She is a referral from members in our ward. We went to her house and taught her and we plan on teaching her again this week. Our other new investigator is Selam. She is a member referral as well. She has been coming to church the past couple of weeks. The members that are her friends are awesome. Both are returned missionaries.Selam came to church this Sunday. Out of all are investigators she was the only one that came. It was quite disappointing, especially when we invited so many to come. However, seeing Salem was great and it made me feel happy!!
As I was sitting in sacrament meeting, I kept thinking about all are investigators,(everyone was invited) tears just filled my eyes...this charity and love filled my heart. I won't give up on them. It's just so hard when we know how important church is to their conversion and important to the members. To the renewing our baptismal covenants and to strengthen our faith and our testimonies in Jesus Christ.

TALK TO EVERYONE

...after we tried to visit an inactive, but he wasn't home so as we were walking back out of his driveway, we noticed a man, across the street throwing something away in the garbage can and as he walked back to his house and was almost at his door, I had a brief thought ( as I was considering talking to him ) nah, I will have to call after him to stop him before I could reach him in time to talk with him...but WORDS JUST CAME OUT OF MY MOUTH. I yelled," Hello, how are you?" He stopped and turned to us and we met him and started to talk with him. He said," This is crazy...I've been thinking of going to church the last couple of weeks. My neighbor has been inviting me to go, but I haven't yet." I shared with him a scripture in 3Nephi18 of how Christ told us to go to church, repent and be baptized and pray unto the Father in His name. He asked about prayer.He said," How do you pray?" We taught him how to pray. He mentioned he hasn't been baptized yet," but I am just making baby steps right now." We talked with him about "small and simple things" with him. It was really cool !

P-Day preparation day

These are pictures of us at the BEACH!!! We have been a couple of times.

What's funny is....these are the beaches in WASHINGTON. It is actually the PACIFIC OCEAN. It looks like a lake, ha ha, and with the cold weather and rain it definitely doesn't feel like the California beaches! There were no waves but it was still fun and you can smell the ocean breeze which is nice and it felt a little like home.

July 13, 2011 What a wonderful week it has been...

and so many miracles! Our mission has decided to keep track of the number of people we talk to and invite to read The Book of Mormon to come to church with us. The mission has asked us to contact at least 15 people each day. I thought I was talking to everyone and making the effort to reach out to people even if it required some awkward situations and going out of our way. However, this week I realized that I am literally talking to everyone. This one time I saw someone across this busy street to talk to them and I just ran across, leaving my companion behind. ha ha! Of course my companion could still see me and possibly hear me. We had met some really awesome, prepared people to hear the Restored Gospel and of course some really interesting people. It's always fun!!

Sister Lauren Kimball

with President and Sister Blanchard. He was the Puget Sound Branch President but was released because of their call to serve a mission in New Mexico at the beginning of July. We also lived with them for a couple of weeks when I first came to Lake Forest Park.

Letter dated July 12, 2011

Sunday night we went to what our mission calls," cottage meetings " at our mission home. There are speakers that have recently joined the Church and they share their stories of their conversion. We brought Jessica. It was awesome ! The speakers were wonderful and so full of faith and happiness. The common theme that drew them into the Church was the Churchs' emphasis and importance on eternal families. The teaching of our children correct morales and principles and the knowledge that families can be eternal through ordinances and covenants made in our Temples. Jessica really enjoyed it. We had a lesson with her yesterday and it went so well. She told us that she can now say with conviction. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. The Spirit was so strong as we listened to her and then testified to her over the power of the Atonement. She is moving along beautifully.

FAMILIES ARE FOREVER

I am so grateful for eternal families. I know the Church is true. I know that families can be together FOREVER ! Obedience is true happiness !

4th of July

Later that day Sister Eaton and I went to the bishop's house for dinner. They shot off a few fireworks but nothing too big cuz it was still light out and we (missionaries) had to be in by 6:00 p.m. Around 9:45 p.m we went to our roof and watched fireworks until bedtime! Don't worry, the roof has tables and chairs and such. It was an awesome view, especially since we live in Seattle and everyone was shooting them off right by us! It was cool! I wish pictures could capture it... Well I hope you all had a great fourth of July!! I sure did !! I am so grateful that our nation has the freedom to choose religion. I have been reflecting over and over again this past week about Joseph Smith and just how prepared our nation was for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a prophet, Joseph Smith. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that he was prepared and called of God to restore Christ's Church to the earth once again. I know that we all can gain a witness of this for ourselves through prayer, pondering and reading of The Book of Mormon. I KNOW IT IS TRUE!!!
I came to find out that mostly all fireworks are illegal in Washington, however, there is a huge Indian reservation which the police have no control especially in Marysville and that's where I was last year.

Just a little soccer with our district

Yesterday was a great day! We have been having excellent weather!! We have a high of 75 which was perfect for a day with our district...we played soccer and ate pizza. We had more things planned but everything was closed( 4th of July weekend ).

Oh, more exciting news!

Merhawi, the recent convert in April, passed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday. As I saw him pass the sacrament, I was so happy! Tears just filled my eyes. I thought to myself, if this is the ONLY REASON why I came out on a mission to be a witness to this-----I've fulfilled my purpose!

Sister Eaton and I are staying together.

WE are companions through 3 transfers! But Hey, we aren't complaining, we love each other and we are doing great here. We love the people and we are still able to do sign language. We're so excited for another transfer together.

It's all worth it !

Later I reflected on the day and how much we helped people. I know my days eventually won't always be like this but I am so glad to be on the Lord's errand, to lift others' burdens and to teach His true and everlasting Gospel.

IT'S ALL WORTH IT! It really brings the greatest joy !! Words just cannot describe it. It feels so good to serve!

Attitude, love, understanding and compassion for the people and the Gospel makes all the difference.

Crazy Week !

Well this week was crazy for us! Seriously crazy! We are so busy and so many people need our help and the Spirit guided us to be in the right place at the right time. Despite the craziness of the week and the exhausting days, I am filled with JOY!

One day we were consistently going with meetings, teaching Ben and Jessica, serving, helping people move, and finding. I felt overwhelmed Wednesday morning as I thought about all the people that were in need of help. All at once ward members were turning to us for help. I wasn't sure how we were going to do it all and on top of it all, my companion was not feeling well. I prayed to Heavenly Father for help and then I sat and listened. I felt this subtle peace come over me and a soft voice whisper to me," Do what you can. I am with you. I will be your strength." Often we receive answers to our prayers that way and if we aren't listening for the answer; we miss it.I know we were able to do all that we did that day was because we both put our trust in our Heavenly Father.