I LOVE NEW YORK!!!

Awh my family!!

 

It is so good to hear from you all!! It has been a craaazy week! And today has been a craaaazyyyy day! haha I don't even know where to start.

BUT I'll just start by saying that I LOVE NEW YORK!!! Seriously, I can't even believe how lucky I am to be here. I am in love with Manhattan and as insane and a little smelly as it is, I seriously love it. I love walking the streets all day and I especially love walking the streets at night (don't worry Mom, we're VERY safe. Seriously.) because all the city lights are so gorgeous! I love the sky scrapers and the crazy amounts of people. It's so invigorating. It is, however, a little smelly. They don't have garbage cans here? So trash bags pile up on the side of the street until the trashman comes and squishes it all together creating one of the most pass-out-dead smells that has ever entered my nasal cavity. But it's fine. Just very interesting... I never expected that. haha On the flip side though - Manhattan is seriously one of the most gorgeous places ever. We went to Battery Park (I think...) the other day for a ward party and I was so in awe with all the gorgeous scenery that I kept not hearing people when they were talking to me! haha they understood though - I was totally in my own world just soaking it all in. I'm still completely in awe over the city. Sister Weyandt knows how to get everywhere and it blows my mind. She's so good. BUT - I know how to get to church and back now! So that's happy. And if I find a subway, I can usually get home. :) I feel pretty cool being able to navigate SOMETHING in NYC. haha

 

Anyways, I got to go to the temple to do baptisms on Friday with a woman in our ward who was going for her first time! We had to get special permission, but it was so worth it. I love it. THEN - we went back to the temple because I had my 'new missionary' interview with President Morgan in the church building right next door. THEN - today we got to do a session for P-Day! I lucked out with that one too because usually you have to put your name on a list and wait to go, but President Morgan wanted me to go today because they're not sure how long I'll be here. I'm getting spoiled I tell you what. But it was crazy cuz we were supposed to go to the 12:30 session so we left a little before 11:30 (usually 25 minutes of travel time). It took  us over an hour to get there because subways were down. So we missed the session and had to grab a later one... but anyway. OY. It's been a crazy day. A lot of the subway stations here are still down from Hurricane Sandy so they stall trains like crazy in the middle of the day while they're doing work. I actually don't really have any idea what's going on but I know it has something to do with Hurricane Sandy. I just smile and nod.

Manhattan Temple

 

So, I've been here a week and I've already gotten to do baptisms and a session in the Manhattan temple! hehe also, one of our investigators, Jobie, is getting baptized on Dad's birthday! He's so so awesome. He came to church with us on Sunday and showed up a half hour before it started just to introduce himself to the bishop and the 'early arriving members.' After Sacrament, he was like "You two go on ahead, I have to introduce myself to the members!" haha he is so excited about the church and already felt so comfortable. It's so fun to see! We have another person with a baptism date for the 14th, but we're not exactly sure if it will work (long story) but he also is so so excited about the church. We gave him the initial baptism date and he was like giddy with excitement. It's really an amazing thing to experience - someone else's learning and growth. I never really anticipated how exciting it would be getting to work with real members and real people as opposed to just teaching our teachers in the MTC all the time. haha 

I'm finally starting to stop being sore from all the walking and carrying books on one shoulder. haha I seriously didn't want to move the first three days I was here. But, I'm pretty much buff now. haha jk, but seriously, we climb so many stairs! OH MY GOODNESS I ALMOST FORGOT. I had to go to Rite-Aid today. :'( :'( It's the closest normal store to our house and we only had a few minutes to go grocery shopping today. Don't worry - I didn't buy anything. I just gagged and tried not to die while I was in there. HAHA Seriously tho - that was rough.

My companion is amazing and I love her. We have had so much fun this week, and we also work so incredibly hard. It's the perfect combination. She's the best trainer I could ask for and I'm so grateful I get to learn from her.

 

Anyways... this is kind of a ridiculous letter. I'm very sorry. My brain is all over the place cuz so much has happened!! haha but again we're short on time today which is sad. But we will have more time next week for sure! I love you all so so much! Thank you for all your emails and support! You make me so happy! I love you!! 

 

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are very safe where we live, and we are very cautious and aren't even allowed to take pictures cuz we are 'true new yorkers" hahaha OY. It's depressing. But we're safe. I just want you to know.

It's a great time to wear a badge! (:

 

Drea

Madison Street in Manhattan!!!

Oi Minha Familia!!

I am in NEW YORK!!!! AHHH!!! Can you believe it?! Cuz I sure can't. Seriously though, I am so in love with New York already. You won't believe what has happened. But before I start into my beautiful New York experiences, I will start from... Friday. OH - Wednesdays are P-Days now!! Isn't that so nice? My first day in the field is a P-Day. hahah 

So, leaving the MTC was a little hard. But we left at 2:00 AM so... it wasn't as hard. haha mostly just exhausting. And confusing. Cuz no one told us ANYTHING about where we were supposed to find our luggage cuz it came on a different bus. So... I'm glad I have my luggage now. haha But anyway, that was a ridiculously long day. I'm SO glad I got to talk to you (Mom and Dad) for a few minutes!! It was so so so good to hear your voices! I'm sorry it got all cut off. But I'm so glad I got through for a few minutes. :) Also, I got my frequent flyer miles all worked out! They had to do my Alaska number because it said the Hawaiian number was ... not working... ? Anyways. When I got to Georgia, I was a little overwhelmed because I was all alone and I was just trying to figure things out. I finally got to my gate and this woman came up to me and said "Why are you all alone?!" I explained I was traveling and didn't have a companion, and that I would soon enough. Then she said that she and her family were from Twin Falls. She had me get up and come meet them, and as she introduced me to her husband she said "This is Sister King. We're taking her to lunch!" I laughed, but she was totally serious. They BOUGHT me lunch. Cuz I'm a missionary and they felt bad for me being all alone. HAHA! How incredibly sweet is that?! If I wasn't stoked to be a missionary before... I sure am now. haha it completely made my day. I love nice people.

I arrived in Westchester finally and was met by my new president. I feel like I was kind of in a daze, but he was so warm and welcoming. We were driven to the mission home where we had SUCH a wonderful meal prepared by Sister Morgan. That mission home is the cutest house ever. I love it so much.

NYC Mission Home

One of my favorite moments of the evening was when President Morgan was talking to us about some logistics stuff then asked Sister Morgan "Anything else?" And she said "Welcome home!" and he said "We've been waiting for you!" It just made me so happy for some reason. They are so great. I love them. We spent the night in the mission home (after being fed some New York Cheesecake for dessert!!) and then went to transfer meeting this morning (after being fed some New York Bagels for breakfast. YESSS!!!). Okay. Are you ready for this?!

I'm serving in Manhattan!!!!! YEEEEAH!!! I'm SO stoked! I'm in the Manhattan South zone. So... basically everything awesome and amazing. I LIVE IN CHINATOWN. In the cutest apartment known to mankind. Seriously, I am so so spoiled. But it gets better. My companion. Sister Weyandt. She is SO amazing. I've only known her a few hours, but we are so similar. I just love her. But it gets better. Do you remember that one time when we went to New York? Like... in May? Do you remember how we went to church in Manhattan on Mother's Day and I got to talk to the sisters all about my new mission call and how you were leaving to Africa soon? And then you got a picture with the sisters? You took a picture with my companion.

She's the one you're standing next to, Mom. =O We met my companion in May. HOW INSANE IS THAT?!?!? I realized that sitting in transfer meeting because I was about to compliment Sister Weyandt's skirt. And then I had a dejavu (I can't spell that) moment cuz I realized I'd seen that skirt before. I looked up and realized I'd seen that girl before. HAHA!! CRAZY.

I'm so excited. I LOVE IT HERE!! I'm so excited to be here!! And we just ate pizza, so I'm such a happy camper. And, I've already ridden the subway twice. We have unlimited passes. It's so legit. 

Anyway, not a lot has happened yet as you probably know. But I'm just so so happy. I'm SO excited to be here and I'm so blessed to be a part of the New York North mission. I've gotten to meet a lot of people the last few days and they are all just so wonderful. I love this mission!! We also have spent most of the day getting all of my stuff home and unpacked so we don't have a ton of time on transfer day. But we have our first appointment in two hours!! :D I will try to write, but if I don't get to all of you I'm so sorry! I love you all so much!! I love being a missionary. It's so crazy to be out of the MTC. But I feel as if I have been greatly spoiled by the Lord. I couldn't ask for anything more. 

I love you all so much!! You're in my thoughts and prayers! 

Love,

New York and Porto Alegre!Sister King




The last of our district just before our new assignments.  Sad little group that last week.
 

 

Awkward sister missionary pose with our Portuguese teacher


 

                                           Look at all these missionary map pictures!!!!

New York!
 

New York and Porto Alegre Brazil!
 




Porto Alegre & Finland
 

Porto Alegre & Africa
 

Porto Alegre for me, Finland for Andrew & Africa for Mom & Dad!



A "fast" from English!!

Oi Minha Familia!!                                                                                        August 16, 2013

It is a GOOD DAY!!! I hope it is just as good for all of you. :) This week has been craaaazyyy! But soo good. Okay... we'll start at the top.



I kid you not. That tree smells like cream soda.
I do not make this up.

So, I played a musical number in sacrament meeting on Sunday!! I played my flute (and by MY flute I mean a community MTC flute which I had to force myself to not wonder how many had played before me. Don't worry... I hand sanitizered my face after every time I played.) and an Elder in my district played violin, and our zone leader played piano. We played Our Savior's Love. We've been practicing for a few weeks and it was pretty fun to get to play the flute on the mission. So I'm all pumped for the musical number, right? We practiced that morning, I had the flute and my music in hand so I knew I wouldn't forget it. We sit down (after running to the bathroom 3 times before Sacrament meeting started... I'm the worst at nerves) and I'm trying to calm myself down. I wasn't really that nervous, I just psych myself out too much. I actually did a really good job of calming down and was hardly nervous at all, and then they called the tributes (remember, those two lucky souls who have to give talks in Portuguese and don't know about it until 8 seconds before they're supposed to get up?). Yeah... "Sister King aaaand.... Elder Ajdouea;klsdjf (I just made that up because my brain didn't comprehend his name)." Do you remember how I was playing the musical number? I had just finished telling my district that this was the first week I've felt safe! Karma. So... my mouth hit the floor and I started shaking uncontrollably. And then I started laughing uncontrollably because I knew I totally deserved it. BUT - luckily for me the talk I had prepared for this week was my favorite talk thus far. So I was happy to give it. I walked to the stand, gave my talk, walked down, grabbed my flute, and walked back up. It was great. Both went really well and my branch president complimented my Portuguese... so I felt cool. Wow. Eventful day.

This is the laundry statue. haha just kidding.
He's right outside the laundry room so it makes me laugh every week!
He's not actually carrying laundry. I haven't the foggiest idea what he's doing tho. 

Tuesday was also pretty eventful. So, in choir practice on Sunday, our instructor (Who is AMAZING. Andrew, you HAVE to do choir) was making a huge deal about the piece we were doing. He was talking all about how he picked it special and it had to be good. "Because we're going to hear great things on Tuesday." So, Sister Cleveland and I decided right there we wanted to be early on Tuesday because we wanted good seats. Turns out, it was the very first ever MTC broadcast. It was broadcasted to all other MTCs AND Elder Richard G. Scott came and spoke to us!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH it was seriously so cool. Good seats, and being in the choir. Also, I was on TV. I didn't look, of course, because I'm a good little choir go-er, but my district saw me, AND our Branch President saw me. WOOOT!!! That means my friends in Sao Paulo maybe saw me! And maybe Tyler Klingler too (is he still in the MTC?) Anyways. That was definitely not the most exciting part of the evening. Elder Scott is amazing. I took really good notes that I don't have much time to talk about, but he talked about prayer. How we have the opportunity to converse personally with one who has created worlds of people. It's an incredible gift and we should express our thanks for prayer. I loved it. In the very end, he said 4 or 5 times, over and over again "We love you, missionaries. We love you so much." Then he closed. After the broadcast, the room was absolutely silent as he walked away. He turned around probably 7 times. The first few times, he waved to us all and we waved back. Then, he turned around, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "Be good!!" and everyone giggled... and cried. And he waved again. And then he turned around again, cupped his hands around his mouth again and yelled "I love you!!" And, stood there and listened as 3500 missionaries shouted "I LOVE YOU TOO!" to an apostle of the Lord. He waved a few more times and then left, and no one moved. No one WANTED to move. We finally had to, but I think any one of us would have sat there another few hours just to feel. It was truly incredible. 

One more quick thing - we had in-field orientation yesterday! And guess what?!?! My teacher was Elder Christensen from The District #2!!! bahahah!! It was so cool. He checked me into orientation and put a sticker on my book (to tell me what room to go to) and I just sat and stared at him because he looked ridiculously familiar. haha I finally got it. But it was an awkward few seconds. Anyways... I asked him if Jynx ever got baptized and she didn't. :( But he said "She will! And when she does, they'll film it and put it on District 3!" haha and then he told me to keep praying for her. So that was kind of fun to meet an MTC celebrity. lol He also got up in front of the whole group and said "just to clear the air - I am SO sorry for that Law of Chastity clip!" And everybody laughed... but I can't remember what that clip was so I was confused... but I still thought it was funny. haha 

Besides that - I think you know what the next eventful part was!! haha NEW YORK BABY!!!! I'm so excited. Thank you all so much for being so excited with me!! Did you hear I'm serving in the same mission Tom served in?!?!?! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?! I'm sad, and a little terrified to leave the MTC. It's been such a good experience and I've met so many wonderful people. But I'm SO excited to get to the field and get to serve. The Lord sure loves his missionaries. I'm so blessed. Next time I write you I will be in New York!!! hehe That's kinda crazy. But I may not have a P-Day again for a while so... we'll see. :) I love you all SO much!  Ate o proximo vez! 

Sister King

 

PS - Also on Tuesday our teacher challenged us to have a "fast from English." So I burst out in German! And he added "And anything other than Portuguese!" haha dang it... BUT - long story short. From 6:30 AM to 10:00 PM on Tuesday, I didn't speak a word of English. Besides singing in the choir. But that's not speaking. And I did accidentally speak German a few times, but a lot less than normal. haha I was just so proud of that day, I had to share. I actually felt so good about it. I can communicate in Portuguese!! (That, and I'm really good at Charades.) But seriously, it felt so good! I was exhausted. But so happy. We had more assessments today and it wasn't even as scary anymore! Thank goodness they're all church related topics cuz I can pretty much say anything church related. Well, that's not true at all. But I'm wayyy better at talking about church stuff in Portuguese than I am about... not church stuff. haha anyways. had to share. I love you! 

New York City!!!!

My Dear Beautiful Family:                                                        August 15, 2013

I write you this evening because we seem to have received our reassignments early. I am not sure why exactly... but they were in our mailbox today and after about 2 hours of serious melt downs from every single person in the district - (as we were not expecting them for another day) we opened them. I don't have time to send pictures today but I'll send pictures and a better letter tomorrow. GUESS WHERE I AM GOING. Guess. Do it right now. Oh, also- I'm totally not breaking any rules right now, they told us we had to give all flight information before the end of today. Anyways... on to it. Remember all the dreams I had before I got my initial mission call? Now I'm just being a horrible person and making you all wait before I tell you... READY?!?!?!?!

I'M GOING TO THE NEW YORK CITY NORTH MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just before we opened our reassignments
and we were freaking out

Is that enough exclamation marks? Because I don't think it is. Do you know HOW many times I dreamed I was going to New York? I dreamed at least 4 times before I got my first mission call, and I've had two more dreams here about serving in New York. JEN - how close is this to where you live? Tom - where in New York did you serve?! I'M SO EXCITED. It's such a tender mercy from the Lord. If I can't be in Brazil - I'm SO excited to be in New York. I sobbed. It's fine. Because of the dreams. But seriously. I've felt sick most of the week being nervous over this reassignment. There's so much emotion behind it because not getting a visa is hard. We have all been nervous and panicking EVERY time someone calls over the loud speakers (cuz that's when they announce visas). It was hard because I have felt needed in Brazil, and I didn't want it to feel like I was just flung somewhere random. I KNOW I'm supposed to be in Brazil someday. But it's not my turn right now and I feel so overwhelmingly blessed to have been given the gift of KNOWING I'm needed in New York too. I don't have a visa simply because the Lord needs me to be in New York right now. I honestly can't stop telling you how blessed I feel. I'm needed in New York and for that I am truly grateful. Besides all that mushy stuff - NEW YORK IS BEEF PACKETING AWESOME. And I'm stoked. AGH I'm SO STOKED.


This is right after opening the reassignment
& I'm freaking out even more!!! :) 
(Sister Cleveland is going to Oklahoma)

Now because they told us to give you flight information - I leave at 3:30 AM on Tuesday morning. My flight leaves UT Tuesday August 20 at 7:10 AM and I arrive (via Georgia) in Westchester NY at 2:25 PM. Sister Cleveland is going to Oklahoma. I'm gonna miss that girl. :( But we're both going to Porto Alegre North someday so, that's very happy. No one else in my district is going to New York so I think I'm flying alone. Which is scarier as a missionary. But it's fine. :)

I'm supposed to have at least $200 in travel fees... could you maybe check that for me Dad?

Anyway... I'm gonna let you go because I'll be emailing again in like... 15 hours. But I love you all SOOO MUCH! I can't wait to talk... write to you tomorrow!! :D :D I hope you have sweet dreams!!! :D

Love,

Sister King

ANDREW!!!!! FINLAND!!!!!!!

August 9th, 2013
FINLAND HELSINKI!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! OH my goodness!!! Thank you SO much for sending me the skype pictures of everyones faces, and I tell you what that is EXACTLY what my face did! haha AHHHHHH I have been giddy about that for like 14 hours now. I am SO excited for you Andrew. Thank you SO much for sending me a Dear Elder of your mission call!! I felt like I was opening my call all over again. haha If you want the play-by-play of my exact reaction as I got your letter, it's kind of funny actually. So, I was in my classroom writing in my journal cuz we were done with planning for the day, but we have to stay there until 9:30. My whole district knew I had been waiting for a Dear Elder from Andrew King and my district leader came in with the letters, held my Dear Elder up to the light and said "IT'S ANDREW!!!! OPEN IT SISTER KING OPEN IT!!!!" But I did exactly what I did with my mission call and freaked out a little saying "I can't do it!!!" haha and I didn't even know for sure if you had gotten it yet. So I wrote in my journal "I hold in my hands what could be the answer to where Andrew is going on his mission. I'm freaking out. I can't stop shaking..." And then I held the letter up to the light again and saw you had addressed it with Elder Andrew Christopher King and I yelled out "It IS his call - He started with Elder King!" And then I had the whole district surrounding me as I burst into tears flopped down onto my desk. haha I didn't even cry when I opened MY mission call. Anyways. They were very patient with me. I finally pulled myself together and opened your letter and said the exact same thing I said when I opened my call: "Oh wow." Which was followed by "WHERE?!" from my district. And then I read your letter to them and everyone screamed and cheered for you. And I sat in shock a little bit. Hahah so now you know, I was basically right there with you. :) I am SO excited for you Andrew. I was up way late last night trying to sleep but I was so insanely excited it took me forever to stop shaking! haha I basically screamed it at everyone I knew that MY TWIN is going to Finland on his mission and I am SO EXCITED!!! (Have you gathered that I'm SO excited yet?... I'm so excited.)


Walking around the temple grounds on a beautiful day.

Nothing that has happened this week is even remotely as awesome as my twin brother getting his mission call! haha but I'll still try to tell you some stories. It was a pretty normal week (Besides Andrew getting his mission call). My district got to host new missionaries on Wednesday which was SO much fun! We had about 850 come through, so that was pretty crazy. It was so strange being on the other side of things - as the greeters and one of the 'old missionaries' of the MTC. I don't know if they should have had me be a host because everytime one of my girls would start crying while saying goodbye to her family - I would be biting my lip trying so hard not to tear up too. haha! I wouldn't have trusted a host if she were crying when I came up to her. It's just such an emotional scene - that very first day as a missionary. But they have all been so prepared. It's amazing. One girl I got to host was going to Portugal and her Mom's maiden name is King! She hugged me too and decided she was okay with sending her daughter with me cuz "All King's are good people." haha! I loved it. This sister is gonna be -so- amazing. She was so excited to be there and it made me so much more excited too! I love it. Good experience - and we just got asked to be hosts again this next Wednesday so that will be fun!

The temple has been closed for cleaning but will reopen
Aug 11th.  I really hope we can go before we leave!

Portuguese is going well. As of Monday we were not allowed to speak English anymore, so that's terrifying. haha but no, it's actually been really great. It's actually weird to be writing so freely again in English cuz my brain is constantly wanting to translate everything. We had to do language assessments today which was also terrifying, but it's just so our teachers can see where we are at, and it's not like anything is graded so it shouldn't be scary. But it is. And besides my "Ich komme aus Seattle Vashington" attempt number 1, and my "Eu sou de Sister King" (I am from Sister King) attempt number 2, I did really well! haha and luckily that question was just a practice-and-make-sure-your-microphone-is-working question and I could redo it a couple times. The hardest question was to talk about the Apostasy, and why we still need prophets if the Savior has already come (maybe those were two separate questions... but still). We get like 25 seconds to prepare and then it starts recording. And we use no notes. But anyway, Portuguese is going really well! We've learned a lot of grammar the past few days which has been a little overwhelming to remember it all, and I'm still talking like a 2 year old, but I'm not scared to talk anymore. And I can understand everything our teacher and 'investigators' are saying and I can usually answer all their questions pretty well. So that's happy. :) Once I master those grammar techniques I'll feel a lot better tho. TRC has been really fun. We don't usually get enough volunteers cuz we're right during prime dating time at BYU - so we teach each other and the older districts get taught by the younger districts. It's kinda fun.

Another crazy thing is that we get our reassignments a week from today! I learned from some employees here that reassignments go through the exact same process as the initial mission call. We get put back into the system and we are reassigned temporarily by one in the Quorum of the 12. That actually makes me really happy. haha I guess I always imagined it was just a hired and stressed out employee somewhere having to deal with visas. haha but how's that for 5 mission calls in the family in just 6 months?! haha

Anyways, I love you all so so so much! Thank you for your wonderful emails!! They make me so happy! Andrew - I'm so incredibly excited for you. Being a missionary is the best thing in the world. Honestly, I LOVE being here and I'm so grateful to be one of the Lord's servants during this huge missionary effort. There is so much joy to be found in serving the Lord and in learning more about the gospel and the things He would have us do. I love you all!

 

Sister King

Oi Minha Familia Amado

Oi Minha Familia Amado... Amada? Nao sei. OI!!! Como vai?

I just found the elder who has the picture of me with my fly in my powerade! haha

 

It rained in Provo!!! And we were all so excited that we ran outside to look at it. And well... I ended up in puddles of course. ehem. You can't see the puddle very well, but it's there. I promise.

Well. This week has been ... eventful. Ready? I promise no rules were broken in the making of this next sentance: I threw toothpaste at my companion, she stabbed our roommate, we snuck out of the MTC, and got babies!! HAHA!! Okay, no judging that's just my cliff-hanging opening statement! Which is completely true. But hear me out. I promise I didn't break any rules!

The toothpaste thing is just because I have horrible aim and threw my empty toothpaste bottle and hit my companion instead of the trashcan. I never was good at basketball. The stabbing thing? Well, that's true. She re-pierced our roommates ear which healed up in the first week. EW. All I could think the entire time was "You let Kimmy Gibbler punch a hole in your head?!" So I jump-roped in the hallway and had nothing to do with it (It was during gym time... hence the jumprope).

Now for sneaking out. That was a TOTAL ACCIDENT I SWEAR. Do you remember how we have gym time every day and we go up to the fields and play beach volleyball? Well... Apparently sometimes the field closes! There's this tiny little sign outside the gates which tells you if the field is open or not. Aaaand we missed it. And nobody stopped us. So we were walking to the fields and I was like "hmm... I wonder why no one is playing soccer today!" And kept walking. Then we realized no one was playing volleyball either and that the equipment place was closed. Ehem... So we ran back to the MTC and realized we completely forgot to look at the sign and the field was closed! hahaha OOOOPSIES. So we just did gym time in the actual gym. But not without looking so ashamed as we came back through the gate and waved at the guard! haha I'm honestly surprised more people didn't miss it. We sat and watched the gate for a while to see if anyone else would miss the sign so we wouldn't feel so silly... but no one did. We know now. It only took 3 weeks.

And BABIES!!! Okay, so the MTC bookstore is consistantly out of stock with EVERYTHING Portuguese related. Last night, right before dinner we found out they just got a shipment of mini Preach My Gospel's in Portuguese!!!! So we ate as fast as we possibly could and joined the stampede to the bookstore. And I GOT ONE!!! They had mini hymn books too, but I already have one of those thanks to my wonderful friends at the Maxwell Institute. :) Anyway, we all had mini PMGs and it seemed like the whole MTC was abuzz with people yelling "BABIES!!!" And jumping around like it was Christmas morning. haha Oh the little things...

Anyway... I told you I didn't break any rules! haha it was quite an eventful week though. Another one of our Elders got his visa and left to Brazil on Tuesday! It's crazy... our district is DYINGGG. The sisters outnumber the Elders now and we have had more people get visas than any other district has for a long time. I start to wonder if the consolates are getting faster but I'm just not sure. I don't think about my visa much because I'm honestly so happy being here and I know the Lord will get me to Brazil when he needs me to be there. In fact, I KNOW that. Cuz an Elder in another district just got his visa and he went through the LA consolate. And didn't submit his visa papers until like a week before I did. Meaning, wayyyy after a ton of other people here at the MTC submitted visa papers. He must be needed in Brazil cuz, that's a miracle.

On that note - another REALLLLLY exciting thing this week is that I get to be an MTC host next Wednesday!!!!! I just found out yesterday and I am SOOO excited!! I can't believe I'm in my 4th week. I'm already hosting for the new missionaries and I feel like I just got here yesterday. Honestly, every new week that rolls around just blows my mind. If you don't know, MTC hosts get to stand on the curb and greet the incoming missionaries, take them by the hand (not literally) and help them get their badges, to their rooms, and help them find their classrooms. I'm pretty much stoked. :)

This is in front of our new "free bin" find! Someone found the title of liberty and we hung it on our wall and signed it. You can also kind of see my hair cut. It wasn't very much. ha ha

I truely love being a missionary. On Sunday we got to hear a talk by Elder Holland (a recording from his talk at some other MTC) and it really changed the way I think about ... everything. He talked about the importance of being a missionary and the importance of not wasting time. I only get 18 months, and to waste one of them would be only giving the lord 17 when he's asked for 18. He told us there will be days when we wake up and say "What have I gotten myself into?" And that if we didn't have those... well... we will. And we do. But that if missions weren't hard, they wouldn't mean so much to us. "Salvation was never meant to be easy" he said, and "to reach our Calvary we must sometimes cross through Gethsemane." I loved that. Missions aren't supposed to be easy. He had us reflect on our ancestors and the hardships they went through. My ancestors, the pioneers, did harder things than I can even imagine. And it's overwhelming to recognize and feel their help while we do hard things - different than they ever imagined. This gospel is so real. It's so true. And to work for it brings me the greatest joy of all. I don't know if MTC devotionals can be found online, but Elder Holland's "Missions Are Forever" is one of the most amazing talks I've ever heard.

I love you, my wonderful family! I thank you so so much for your love and support. I don't know what I would do without you!

 

Love,

Sister King

PS.  We had a substitute teacher all last week who is from Porto Alegre! It was kind of awesome to get to hear more about Porto Alegre and to hear real Brazillian Portuguese! His uncle works in some church place down in Brazil and said that the CTM in Brazil has capacity for 600 missionaries, and there are only 250 missionaries there right now because of visas. Also that in years past over 50% of the missionaries in Brazil have been from the USA, but right now only 7% of the missionaries are from the USA cuz visas are so hard. Anyway... like I said, I really don't think about my visa much. I'm not really worried about it. But maybe we just need to pray for hearts to be softened so the work can go forth in Brazil!