October 2011 CALLED TO SERVE

Sister Kimball and her companion,Sister Alberts, stop for a little lunch on the back patio after helping with yard work.
                                     Good work, sisters !

October 3, 2011 My testimony is sure !

People just love to tell us what we believe. I try my hardest not to get defensive, but I want to clear things up about what they think we believe...

Times like these frustrate me, but I'm actually grateful for them because these experiences never have influenced me to think differently. They always strengthen me. My testimony has never been so sure. I know with every fiber in my being and with all that I have and much, much more that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. He is the only way we can return to live with God again. He gives me strength, he has forgiven me,he loves me and everyone. He knows me. I know that this is His true church. I know that He is at the head and that he has called prophets and apostles on the earth today to help His gospel go forth as He had in ancient times. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has provided an additional witness that Jesus is the Christ, our very Savior. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. ( just) like Elder Callister said," It is either true or it is not." It is true! It has drawn me closer to Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost, each and every time I read, ponder and pray about it. No one, not one person or any unseen power can take this away from me!

October General Conference was awesome !

Wasn't conference amazing? I just loved every second of it. I don't know any other conference where I laughed more than this one. so many of my questions I had before conference were answered. I really liked what Elder Jose L. Alonso said although I couldn't understand him very well but the one thing I did understand was," we are to do the right thing at the right time without delay."Another talk I enjoyed was by Elder Carl B. Cook when he talked about the time he was in the elevator and had his head down and President Monson walked in and said to him,"Remember that it's better that we look up towards heaven. That way when we look towards heaven and turn to God, we will receive strength and faith to carry our burdens so that they may be light."
I could go on and on about every single talk. ..Now Elder Perry's talk on missionary work...WHOOT. WHOOT ! I loved it! He spoke of three ways we can share the gospel and not fear because there is no fear in love. He told us not to get defensive or argue but that we shouldn't hesitate to add our voice to any conversation about the church.

letter of Sept. 26,2011 continued

Visiting with the parents of the 6 year old boy that I spoke of previously, we finally got to visit with Rema and John (the parents).The Spirit was strong as we talked to them. I could feel so strongly that they were both being prepared. I felt that from the first few moments as we spoke to them. They said that they have been to our church with a few friends before they moved to Washington, however, they feel comfortable where they are now with the christian church they attend. She was really nice about it, however we continued to talk and she told us that they have read a little from the Book of Mormon that we gave them. She said," It aligns with what I believe and they will continue to read. " She expressed to us that she is confused why there are so many churches.
My heart literally broke when she told me that they were
" comfortable ".  The only thing I could do was to share my testimony with her. So I did. I bore witness that the Book of Mormon is true, that this is the way back to our Heavenly Father. We claim that we are the only church with the authority from God. That this is the way to bring her family closer together for not only time for all eternity. She was receptive, however she declined. That family is being prepared but my heart aches when I just know they are so close and they choose not to accept. As I was walking to the car a still small voice came into my mind and said, " Be of good cheer they are being prepared, they will come around." We got into the car and Sister Alberts turned to me and said," There is hope. That  is the family. Tears just started streaming down my face. I want to be a part this family coming closer to Christ, however, it's not the right time. 

PATIENCE

This the title of Lauren's letter dated 9/26/2011

It has been a very good week. Very spiritually filled. Did all you sisters watch the Relief Society broadcast? It was sooooooooooo wonderful !

Through President Uchtdorf so many of my prayers were answered. The spirit was so strong and tears just filled my eyes. I loved it. The first thing President Uchtdorf talked about was the 5 things we are never to forget. The FIRST, never forget to be patient with yourself. I often pray to be PATIENT with my companion. LOL As he continued, he talked about why we need to be patient and compassionate with ourselves and we need to stop punishing ourselves.I find that I do that a lot especially as a missionary. I am very hard on myself. I often feel so weak and I feel that I fail. For example when we don't reach our mission goals I feel that it is my fault.I often think," I can do better, so much better." Often it is very hard for me to say, " I did the best I could," because I always feel that I could have done much better. However, this week through talking with my companion, lots of prayer, through scripture study and listening to President Uchtdorf's talk I FEEL BETTER. I feel that when I honestly put forth all that I've got, even though it is not perfect, I can still say at the end of the week, " I have done the best I can."

[ the children ] uttered marvelous things...

from Lauren's letter dated Sept. 19,2011:

We got a referral a couple of weeks ago from a member in our ward. We tried to contact that referral so many times but every time we dropped by they were not home. Finally, earlier this week we found the lady home, however, it wasn't the lady that the member referred us to, that lady had moved so we shared a brief message and asked if we could come back. She said," yes" so all that week we tried to visit her, however we never found her at home. Sunday evening came around so we decided to visit her once again and she wasn't home but her husband was there. We started talking to him about the church and eternal families. I gave him a Book of Mormon and I just happened to have a tab on the page marking Mosiah 3 ( I marked it one day because I love that chapter.) As we continued to talk to him he told us why he started going to church. It was because of his son who is six years old. Before this they never went to church or prayed. However their son would talk about God and would say that he was just with God. He said that his son started to pray to God one day. His son also told his dad that before he came to earth he was with God and that God gave him choices and he said, " I choose you, Mom and Dad." How amazing is that? Than the dad told his son that he was a gift from God to us (his parents). The little boy responded," No Dad, you are a gift from God."

Isn't that amazing ? IT GETS BETTER...I talked to him about Christ telling us that we are to become as little children. ( This is where having Mosiah 3 marked previously becomes important ) I told him that there is a scripture that I have marked that talks about this. He opened the book to where I had placed the tab and I asked him to read Mosiah 3:19. He read it and after he looked up at me and said," Wow, it was marked and you knew where it was. He asked with a puzzled look on his face," Coincidence?" I shook my head and said,"no". I continued to talk about the Book of Mormon and how it will strengthen his faith in Christ and invited him to read and pray about it. He said he would. Neat,huh?

mormon.org-Look for it !

The mormon.org campaign is coming to Washington ! We got trained this past week on what is going to take place and how we need to train members and get them excited for the campaign. AHHHH this is awesome ! It is going to be on TV, billboards,radio taxi cabs,buses, etc. For those who watch CBS,Fox,PBS,ABC and ads will show prime time for sixty seconds and those who watch a regular amount of T.V. will see the ads about 80 times in a month! How cool is that! I'll be creating a profile for mormon.org. So in a couple of weeks you'll have to go online and find mine and then create your own! The purpose behind the campaign is to dispel myths, to let people know we are normal, that we have a strong faith in Christ,and that the restoration of Christ's Gospel is again on the earth. We are inviting people to come and see as Christ invited.

Alicia is excited to be baptized.

It is Alicia's baptism this week. Last night we read from the Book of Mormon with her. She is learning so much and understanding the Book of Mormon more and more. It is so much fun to read with her and to help her to understand.Her testimony is growing so much!! She gets super excited when she reads something that makes complete sense to her. I love it. It's so refreshing to see someone who is just learning and becomes so excited about the things they are learning. Every time I read with her, I learn something new and my testimony of the Book of Mormon grows. I know it's the word of God. It's either true or it's not and I know it is true.Together with the Bible we can learn more of the love that our Savior and Father in Heaven have for us. I know that God preserved this book for us to have at this time so that we may have a greater understanding of Christ's Atonement and the covenants we need to make with Him so that one day we may all return to His presence.

HOW GRATEFUL I AM TO BE A MISSIONARY

I had the opportunity in my last area ( with Sister Eaton ) to teach and then to see JESSICA baptized. She is so remarkable, amazing, and prepared. I love her. Than I come to WOODINVILLE and again I have the blessing to be a part of another girls conversion. I can't express enough how grateful I am to be a missionary. It has changed me; it has refined me; it has given me a greater understanding and comprehension of the love our Savior has for each and everyone of us. My testimony has never been stronger. Missionary work has brought me the greatest joy! It has brought me the greatest happiness that I have ever felt. To see someones life change ( because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ) to see their faith grow in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I wish I was a more eloquent writer so that I could better express my feelings but I hope you can feel the love I have for missionary work and for all of God's children.

Please take every opportunity to share the Gospel. The Gospel is true! It will bring the greatest happiness into other's life's as they come to understand and live the principles that Christ has taught.

M I R A C L E -The Lord has definitely blessed us so much this week. We worked really hard , we exceeded our goals we set, and we reached the standards set by the mission. We're very happy about it! I know it was not us alone ( with the Lord's help ) and because of our faith , diligence, and obedience we achieved it! Miracles have definitely NOT ceased but I have to say it was very tiring.

Tha miracle of Teaching with the Spirit

The 1st MIRACLE had to have been the lesson we taught to Alicia. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. We covered it extensively, there was not one thing missed. As we were teaching her that the center of God's plan was Jesus Christ, her countenance changed and she became brighter and brighter.Everything made sense to her, the scriptures we read with her made sense and she asked thought provoking questions. You could just see during the lesson how her hope grew and that the Spirit was testifying to her that these things we were teaching were true. It was an amazing and spiritually filled lesson. On previous lessons when asked if she would offer the prayer she declined but this time I asked,"Alicia, how do you feel about saying the prayer?" She said,"Yeah, I can do that." She gave one of the most humble, spiritual filled prayer that I have ever heard; tears were streaming down my face as she prayed. Afterwards I said," I'm so grateful to be a missionary", she then rushed over to me and gave me a huge hug, The Spirit was so strong. She started to cry and then Sister Smart (her fellowshipper ) cried too. Alicia described the way she felt while offering the prayer. She said that words just could not describe the way she felt and she felt so happy and so good. A single prayer spoken by the Spirit changed her. She is amazing and she has such a strong spirit. I am so blessed to be a part of this.