Monday, March 20, 2017

The Sun is SO BRIGHT!!

Hello!

Okay, so another awesome week.  President Hinckley said, "Every day on the mission should be a good day," and it is so true; even the tough days always seem to be good.  We had a lot of really tough days this week that made it hard not to get discouraged.  But, we just ate an oatmeal cookie, said a prayer, got to work, and we saw so many miracles from just enduring and continuing to work.  Once again,  it has been so cool to see the work continue to progress.  

I don't have much time, but a few highlights from this week:

1.  We had four investigators show up to Sacrament Meeting yesterday, and it was the HAPPIEST thing ever watching them as they walked through the door.  Sacrament Meeting was interesting, and I'm just gonna leave it at that, but they all seemed to have a great time and really feel loved and welcome as well.  And, I know they felt the spirit.

 2.  The Lord definitely works in mysterious ways, like having appointments cancel just so you are available to meeting with other people.  We saw that so much this week!  Our appointments and lessons would cancel, which was discouraging after awhile, but each time they did we realized they needed to cancel otherwise we wouldn't have been able to be with the people we needed to be teaching.  So...many tender mercies!! 

3.  The SUN is so BRIGHT!!!  Yes, it is the first day of spring.  We have three feet of snow, and it is still -3 outside right now, but, whatever, because it is so light--almost all day long!!!

Something I have been really focusing on this week is prayer.  Prayer is truly so powerful.  SINCERE prayer is so powerful, and falling to your knees is really truly the best way to find courage to do anything and overcome anything.  This Church is so true, and the Book of Mormon...Oh, I just grow to love that book more and more each day.  

Anyway, sorry I have to go.  Have such a good week!

Sister McKenna Lake

 Even though people don't want the Gospel in their lives, we're still happy because the Book of Mormon is true, and we want everyone to know it!!

Monday, March 13, 2017

Seven Miracles!!

Hello!

Another amazing week!  Once again--a week full of tender mercies, so many blessings, amazing studies, and one of the best Sacrament Meetings I have ever attended! 

Sister Cox and I started the week off with three investigators and ended with seven MIRACLES.  We saw the Lord's hand in the work so much this week and just felt so blessed.  We received an awesome referral from one of our favorite families this past week.  We were able to visit with the lady, discuss the Book of Mormon, and answer so many of her questions.  We love her and are so excited to meet with her again this week.  We were able to answer some of her questions about Joseph Smith, and I was able to recite the first vision for the first time in a long time.  Wow! I have never felt the spirit so strong.  Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and he DID restore the Gospel to the earth.  

Earlier that day we were able to visit with the family that we creepily hopped out of the car and ran up to the window as they were backing out last week.  We had such an incredible visit.  The spirit led us there for a reason.  They are probably one of the greatest families I have ever met!  I love them!  AND, the father asked us to start teaching his kids.  Sister Cox and I walked out of that lesson with the biggest smiles EVER and a huge testimony that the Lord knows who is prepared to hear the Gospel.  

Then, we visited with our investigators, Heather and Airilynn, and had an incredible lesson with them.  We were told that Airlynn's brother would like to be taught as well.  Another miracle!   It felt so good being able to teach people the Gospel and see how the little knowledge that has been shared with them has already helped them tremendously.  I know I say it all the time, but this Gospel is so true!  I am very excited to continue to see what happens; the Lord has blessed us so much, and I am so thankful for that.

This week I also was able to have some time for incredible studying.   I was reading in Mormon 5:23 where it says, "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?  Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll?"  And, I was able to study in more detail, ... what "in the hands of God" really meant, and I want to share what I found:  Hands are one of the symbolically expressive parts of the body.  In Hebrew, "yad," the most common word for hand, is also used metaphorically to mean power, strength, and might (see William Wilson, Old Testament Word Studies [1978], 205).  Thus, hands signify power and strength. ... "To be in their hands of God would suggest that we are not only under His watchful care but also that we are guarded and protected by His wondrous power."

"Throughout the scriptures, reference is made to the hand of the Lord.  His divine assistance is evidenced over and over again.  His powerful hands created worlds, and yet they were gentle enough to bless the little children. ... "Every one of us needs to know that we can go on in the strength of the Lord.  We can put our hand in His, and we will feel His sustaining presence lift us to heights unattainable alone. ...  "...How do we learn to extend our hand and connect to the comfort provided by the Lord? ... "Here are four keys:  Learn, Listen, Seek the Spirit, Pray Always.  "The Lord will provide sustenance and support if we are willing to open the door and receive His hand of divine assistance. ...  "Imagine the wounds in his hands.  His weathered hands, yes, even His hands of torn flesh and physical sacrifice, give our own hands greater power and direction.  "It is the wounded Christ who leads us through our moments of difficulty.  It is He who bears us up when we need more air to breathe or direction to follow or even more courage to continue.  "If we will keep the commandments of God and walk hand in hand with Him in His path, we will go forward with faith and never feel alone."

I have been studying a lot, and trying to become closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ; and, as I read this, I felt this immense love for my Savior, and an immense love that he has for me and each and everyone of us.  He loves us.  He atoned for our sins so that He can guide us through those moments of difficulty and pain, and He will know how to help us and give us that courage to continue to press forward, even if we don't think we can.

Our Sacrament Meetings this month have been focused on Jesus Christ, and yesterday was probably one of the best Sacrament Meetings I have ever attended.  The spirit was so strong!  The talks that were given were about Jesus Christ and very powerful.  I love this ward so much!  One of the speakers said, "We become more like our Savior Jesus Christ as we spend more time with Him."  That is something that I have thought about a lot, and am looking forward to coming closer to Him as I spend more time with Him.  

I know that as we put our faith in Him, study concerning Him, come to know Him on a more personal level, and try our hardest to become like Him, we will feel of His immense love and have the courage and strength that we need to keep moving forward.  This church is true, and I am so thankful for this opportunity that I have to be here on my mission.  Hope you all have a great week!

Love, Sister Lake

P.S.  A funny story for the week:  We lost the key to our apartment and then broke the garage.  In order to get in, we have to manually open the garage door each time, and with a huge dent in it you can imagine it is kind of hard.  Anyways, so we returned home, and the weather was -20 degrees.  We were trying to open the garage, I got into one of my uncontrollable laughs, and Sister Cox started laughing and peed her pants.  

 Tracting on Lake Dr....Everybody thought my last name was cool!

When Sister Cox falls so hard!

Monday, March 6, 2017

Trials Bring Blessings!!

Hello!
This week I realized that sometimes being an adult kind of stinks....Where there is bad, there is good; trials bring blessings; having faith and listening to the spirit is key to success; Anthropology candles are the greatest things ever; heaters are a necessity to live here; we need to close our umbrellas and allow all the blessings from heaven to fall upon us; and lastly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true!

This week started out on Monday evening when we finished with P-day.  We were heading out for the evening, and as we were heading out, we had NO clue what to do.  We had a couple of people to visit but it just didn't feel right.  It was about 7:00 p.m. and we knelt down and said a prayer for direction.  Afterwards I felt like there was someone else we needed to visit.  So, Sister Cox and I went to our board with everyone's name written on it.  After looking through it a couple of times, I received this super strong prompting that we needed to go visit the Garzas AGAIN.  

This is a less-active part-member family that we have tried a MILLION times to contact, and they are never home.  So, we hopped in the car and drove 20 minutes to their house.  Right as we were pulling up, they were pulling out.  Sister Cox and I said a quick prayer and hopped out of that car so quickly (Thank goodness people in Alaska have mile-long driveways!) and ran up to the car window.  The less-active rolled the window down, and we started talking with him (Creepy I know, but we had tried them so many times before and we finally saw them...we had to!), and it was so awesome!  Seriously he is so cool, and we have an appointment to meet with him this Thursday.  Such a miracle and blessing!  

With faith, the Holy Ghost will lead you to those people and put you in their path at the exact moment you need to be!  Such a testimony builder that following the promptings from the Spirit, even the littlest ones, is such an important thing.  You never know what may happen from acting upon those promptings.

Then, on Tuesday, we broke our phone, and all of our plans seemed to fall through.  Sister Cox and I were already pretty stressed because we were asked to present a training session in Zone Meeting, AND when we returned home in the evening our heater was broken!  The temperature in our apartment was a solid 50 degrees!  We woke up the next morning, and the temp had dropped into the 40s.  So, we left for the day and had an awesome lesson with our investigator.  She is progressing and wants to be baptized so badly.  We are so excited for her.  We returned home later that evening and our heater was still broken--so cold that our bananas were half frozen, haha.  So we called the STLs and drove to Fairbanks to stay with them, which was a tender mercy.  As we were driving there, the NORTHERN LIGHTS came out and covered the ENTIRE sky.  I have never seen the Northern lights that clear and amazing!!

Northern lights

On Friday, Sister Cox and I gave our Zone Conference training regarding having faith to find investigators.  We talked about how we need to rely on the Lord as we go out and find those people that are being prepared, and reading, and waiting to hear the Gospel.  We need to include the Lord in every aspect of the work, which applies to missionary work, as well as in our everyday lives.  We also always need to remember to include the Lord in all that we do.  He will lead us and guide us on the pathways we need to go down.  He will not lead us astray.  This opportunity to study and share our thoughts was exactly what Sister cox and I needed.  We had so much fun planning our presentation.  We even threw in some of our favorite celebrities in our activities.

Sister Lake and Sister Cox

 Missionaries in Sister Lake's zone

Visual Aids for Zone Conference presentation

Okay, and last miracle!  So, since our phone broke, we had to return to Fairbanks on Saturday and have our information transferred to a new phone.  This guy, named Theodore, was helping us.  Long story short, by the time our information was transferred, we had taught him about the restored Gospel, gave him a Book of Mormon, and invited him to church.  This experience was so cool.  He told us that he had a friend who was a member and said he always wondered about his religion because he was always so happy, but never asked.  He had so many questions, and we were able to answer them.  Sadly, he is not in our area, but the other missionaries are going to be getting One Elect Investigator!!  Sometimes Heavenly Father gives you trials and things that happen just so you have to go out of your way to be placed in someone's path.  Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways!!

This letter is forever long.  If you have made it this far, thanks for being a true homie.  This Gospel is true.  Our Heavenly Father loves us.  He is aware of each and every single one of us.  He will work miracles though you, keep the faith, listen to the promptings of the holy Spirit and act upon them, and you will be led and guided to those people that need you.  The Book of Mormon is powerful, so powerful and so true.  The more opportunities I have to share the book with others, the more I realize how powerful and true the Book of Mormon really is!

Also, if you haven't already seen the video, "A Shower of Heavenly Blessings," watch it here:  

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-03-009-a-shower-of-heavenly-blessings?lang=eng

If you already have, watch it again.  Our Heavenly Father is constantly showering blessings upon us.  It's our choice whether or not we close our umbrella and accept those blessings.

Also, in 365 days from today, I will be on a plane heading home.  Kind of a sad thought...my mission is going by way too quick!!!  So, Sister Cox and I had to celebrate/emotionally eat our favorite bagels this morning.

 Celebrating by eating their favorite bagels!

ANWAYS--I LOVE YOU ALL AND I LOVE THIS GOSPEL.  GO OUT AND SHARE IT!

Love, Sister Lake

P.S. Tune into the 2017 IDITAROD race on TV today and look out for a bunch of missionaries!!

Mushers from around the world gathered on Saturday, March 4, 2017, for the ceremonial start of the 45th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage.  They are traveling to Fairbanks for only the third time in the race's history because of better snow conditions.

About 2,000 dogs belonging to 72 mushers waited their turn to hit the trail this year. The race spans nearly 1,000 miles of Alaska wilderness, including the last stretch when the teams battle the frozen Bering Sea coast en route to the finish line in the community of Nome.

One of 72 teams of mushers with their dogs along the racing trail.

At our training to help with the Iditarod in Fairbanks!

Monday, February 27, 2017

It's The Little Things!

Hello!

This week was honestly one of the best weeks I have had in a long time!  We had such a good week filled with service, meeting with less-active families, teaching our investigators, and meeting a new family that we are going to start teaching.  So much happened, but I have no clue what to share.  We saw so many miracles and had so many tender mercies each and every day.  Heavenly Father is watching out for this area, and I feel so blessed for that.  

On Sunday, it was like miracles after miracle.  We had these less-actives that hadn't come in a really long time just show up.  Two minutes later some more walked through the door, and then our two investigators walked in, and we were just sitting there with the biggest smiles on our faces.  I just had so much joy.  It was such an amazing Sacrament Meeting as well.  So many blessings!!

After church, we went from appointment to appointment, which normally doesn't happen.  We had an awesome lesson with this family that we are so excited to start teaching.  They have four adorable kids, and they are all just so funny!  

 Oh, my gosh!  Here's comes Santa Claus!!!

It snowed like a total of about nine inches, so we were able to do so much service for members, less-actives, and non-members, which was so fun.  Also, living here, you have to find those little things that keep you sane during the winters, and one of those things for me has been running.  We had what we called the "miracle treadmill" because it was a legit miracle and answer to so many prayers that it was given to us!  Anyway, it broke this week, and Sister Cox and I shed a few tears, but thankfully it was 25 degrees outside, so we were able to run outside.  I never thought that running outside would bring so much happiness, but I ran those three miles that morning with the biggest smile on my face ever!  It felt like paradise, and I realized how beautiful this place really is.  You can see that we literally live in the middle of nowhere, and the roads are these small snow-covered roads without any traffic, and there's not a house to be seen.  It's the little things that keep you sane living here.

 On my beautiful, scenic three-mile run!

Honestly, this week was so good.  We saw so many miracles and had so many blessings.  I have been studying the Plan of Salvation a lot this week.  It truly is the Plan of Happiness.  It is the coolest thing being able to teach people about the plan and see the joy that comes from them finding out that they can experience that joy and happiness in this life and the next--being able to return and live with our Heavenly Father again.  I have seen it bring joy to so many people, as well as the joy it has brought me.  

I know this Church is true.  I love this Gospel.  Hope you all had a great week!  

Love you all,
Sister Lake

P.S. A shout out to Amy Christensen for the adorable PJ pants!!!  And, if any of you were wondering...if you stick your tongue to the NORTH POLE, it doesn't stick!  

 Thanks, Amy Christensen!

 Checking to see if my tongue will stick...!

Yay...My tongue didn't stick!!

Monday, February 20, 2917

Jesus, take the wheel!

Hello!
We had the opportunity to have Elder Ardern from the Seventy come and visit our mission this week, and it was such an amazing experience.  We had an incredible scripture study with him, and the Spirit was just so strong.  He asked all of us to choose our favorite scripture, and then he called a few of us up to read it.  We then thoroughly studied the scripture word by word.  I was one of the lucky four chosen to share my favorite, and it was a really terrifying experience but SO cool.  

 Elder Ian S. Ardern

Funny side story--As I was walking up to the front, Elder Ardern said in his thick New Zealand accent, "You look like a very "'hippie"' missionary, and all of the missionaries started laughing.  He meant to say "happy" but said "hippie" instead.  Even the General Authorities can tell...Haha!  It was such an awesome experience though, and I am so thankful for that opportunity to share my favorite scripture.

 Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Ardern, mission president and his wife, and missionaries in the zone

Other than Elder Ardern's visit, my companion was really sick this week, and so we spent a lot of time in the doctor's office and inside our apartment, which has given me a lot of time to study and read the book, "Jesus the Christ."  

We also had an awesome experience this week with a less-active, part-member family.  A couple of weeks ago we were looking for a less-active member, and totally got lost.  We were driving down this super sketchy road in the middle of nowhere with only three homes.  All of a sudden, I felt a prompting that we needed to turn around, and so we did.  We then drive by this one house and they have a BYU football flag hanging up.  We looked in our directory but didn't have any listing of members in that area.  I said to my companion, "Let's go knock."  We did and met this guy named Dave Adams.  He is a less-active and was shocked that we found him.  He has an awesome family who aren't members, and he told us to come back.  We ate dinner with him and his family this past week, and we had such a cool evening.  They are seriously the greatest, and we are eating with them again soon.  We were able to answer so many questions they had and just got to know them.  I freaking love them!

Heavenly Father will put us where we need to be, and when we need to be there, to find those people we need to find.  He will lead us and guide us.  He is aware of each person,  what they are in need of, and when they will be prepared.  I love this Gospel and know it is true.  I love my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am grateful for the knowledge of their love for me and each and every one of us.

Love, Sister Lake

 Singing "Jesus, Take The Wheel" while driving on the icy roads

P.S.  "Jesus Take The Wheel" has been our theme song this week because of the icy roads and stuff.  Also, transfers happened and Sister Cox and I are staying together in North Pole, but our favorite Zone Leader peaced out.  Sad day!

 Additional pictures from the Zone Conference

Monday, February 12, 2017

THE SUN IS OUT!

Okay...I am the worst and totally ran out of time and forgot to send a weekly email out.  

Quick update:  Life is so good!  THE SUN IS OUT and Alaska is truly beautiful.  We had a couple rough days but ended the week on a day full of miracles.  Such a blessing!  Heavenly Father is aware of this area, and I am so thankful for that.  

 The Sun is out!!

We met with some incredible less-active families that I just instantly fell in love with!  We taught our two investigators this week and the meeting went really well!  They are so ready!

Something important that I came to realize this week is that happiness is a choice!  I can choose to look at the fact that I am in the coldest place ever, in the middle of nowhere, where no one answers their door--LIKE NEVER--as a hard thing, or I can choose to realize that serving in the North Pole as an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, where I I have the opportunity to bring the light of the Gospel to the people here and see how its teachings bless so many peoples' lives.  I realized that once I started looking at things positively, there was a world of difference.  Happiness is a choice, no matter what situation we are in.  We have that choice, and that is something I have come to learn this week.

This Church is so true.  I love the Gospel and am so thankful for the blessings I have received and have been able to see others receive as well.  I LOVE the Book of Mormon, and I love the opportunity to serve a mission.  Hope you all have a great week!

Love, Sister Lake  

 No doubt about it...we are in Alaska!

 Bald eagle sitting on a telephone pole

Monday, February 6, 2017

Weekly Email

Hello!  
This week was good; it went by really quick!  We had Zone Meeting this week and so our mission president and his wife were able to fly in, and it was really fun having them up here.  We had such an amazing meeting, and the spirit was so strong.  We focused a lot on the importance of the Sacrament, which was such a good reminder for me.  The Sacrament truly is such a blessing and gift to be able to renew those covenants we made when we were baptized.  We also had interviews with our president and his wife, and I just love them.  It was good to spend some time and just get to know them better.

 Our beloved zone!

We also had two amazing lessons with our two investigators!  I didn't realize how much I miss teaching!  The lessons went well and the spirit was very strong.  We talked about the Plan of Salvation, which was truly such a special experience.  The investigators are incredible.  This Church is so true!

Church on Sunday was AMAZING.  The testimonies that were shared were exactly what I needed.  They helped answer many of my questions.  It is so cool when Heavenly Father answers your prayers through other people, and on Sunday that is exactly what He did multiple times.

We shared with a few people that we visited this week my favorite chapter in the Book of Moron, which is 3 Nephi 17.  One of my favorite verses is Verse 9, which states, "And it came to pass that when He had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and He did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto Him." 

I love this scripture so much because our Savior is inviting us, anyone who is afflicted in any manner, to come unto Him and as we do, He promises us He will heal us.  It is so powerful knowing that as we come unto our Savior in times that we are struggling, He will heal us.  He loves us.  It has been so special being able to read this chapter and watch as the spirit touches the hearts of the people we teach, as well as my companion and me.  This church is true.  I am very thankful for a loving Heavenly Father and for my Savior and his atoning sacrifice.

I love you all!  The temperature is dropping back down to negative 50 this week, so prayers would be greatly appreciated!  Much love from the NORTH POLE and Santa and his reindeer, of course!

Love, Sister Lake

 Sister Cox and I found the first smoothie/juice bar in all of Alaska--Pure joy!!!

 Sister Lake on Lake Dr.

 Our Fig Newton cookie obsession has gotten unreal!!