Tuesday, July 26, 2016

7/25/16 Sickly ;(

Sorry for the short email this week. I have been sick this past week
and so we haven't really been able to work. :(
Tequila and her family are really struggling so continue to pray for
them! They need all the prayers they can get!
While I was studying this morning I reviewed the plan of salvation. It
blows my mind every time how incredible Gods love is for all of his
children. The plan is perfect and if we do all we can to follow it I
know we will be eternally blessed :) The gospel truly does bring joy
and happiness!
I love you all! Have a great week :)
Love,
Sister Munk

7/18/16 OHANA No one gets left behind

Hey!! Man this week went by so fast! We have been biking everyday all
day which I'm not going to lie I have actually been loving it! It's so
much easier to talk to people when you are on a bike. Plus this
California sun is awesome :) it has been so hot lately! I have a
pretty awesome tan line from my watch and shoes haha We went on
exchanges this week and I stayed here and Sister Covington came and
worked with me. We had such an awesome miracle! We went and visited
Tequila and we actually got to teach her. We read 2Nephi 31 with her
and we talked with her about following Jesus Christ's example and how
important it is. We explained to her the blessings that we are
promised if we follow our savior. One of them being eternal families
:) Tequila has 5 kids and her family means everything to her. She lit
up when she heard about eternal families and she told us that is what
she wanted. She told us that she knows her and her boyfriend need to
be married and that they have just been lazy. We asked her if she
wanted to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized and she said that she
did! She told us she wants that for her whole family! Let me tell ya
guys the spirit was so strong I could almost see it working on her
heart. We invited her to be baptized August 13 and explained that it
will take a lot of work and sacrifices and she agreed :) So everyone
pray for Tequila and her sweet family that they will be able to make
the changes needed in order to enter into the waters of baptism as a
family. Her boyfriend Deandre has met with the ASL missionaries before
and he wants to get married. Our awesome mission president is going to
let Sister Cristoffersen come to the lessons with us so that she can
interpret for Deandre :) WE ARE TEACHING A FAMILY!! I am so excited :)
That's what this gospel is all about right?! I have such a strong
testimony that families are ordained of God and that the gospel of
Jesus Christ is the best way to grow and strengthen our families. I
love this work!!  I can feel another wedding baptism on the horizon
lol
Sister Kaufusi and I are working hard and although a lot of
appointments fell through this week we have been keeping our heads
held high! This week we also had the opportunity to help out some
members of our zone family. We did a zone blitz in their area and holy
miracles! Basically what we did is everyone in the zone met at Panda
Express and were given some names of potentials and formers and then
some street names and a map. Then we split off into companionships and
started working for 2 hours. Sister Kaufusi had her first experience
knocking a street :) man good times! It reminded me of the good old
days in rancho with Sister Cundick knocking every door in Mather!
Hahaha We were able to find some potentials for the elders and we even
got a new investigator for them! It was fun to be able to help out the
elders. Our zone vision (or zone motto) this transfer is Ohana. I have
really felt the unity and love from my zone Ohana this transfer. So
awesome!
Well that's pretty much a wrap of the week :) oh ya and today marks 8
months in the field :) (weird) I was thinking the other day how crazy
fast everything is going. Hunter is going to be 18 soon and I will be
20! My whole life growing up I just wished I could be older and now I
am older and man I wish I could be young again haha but I am excited
for the new chapters of my life! Let go and let God right?! Haha well
I love you all and hope you have a great week :) Be safe and Remember
that God loves you!
Ofa Atu
(Sister Kaufusi is teaching me Tongan!)
Sister Munk

7/5/16 It's a Girl

Hey everyone! Exciting news! First off Happy 4th of July and more
importantly happy Birthday Maka! I hope you got your birthday card. :)
So transfers happened this week and you're never going to believe what
is happening.... I am training again! (In the mission when you train a
new missionary you become either a "mom" if your a sister or a "dad"
if your an elder hence the subject line) What?!? I am so excited :)
Sister Erickson is going to the Sacramento Stake and me and my baby
are staying here in East Sacramento in the Ashton Park Ward!!! There
are tons of sisters that came in this transfer. Sister Cundick, Davis,
Lillie, Limb, Brown, Barnes, and Hermana Stout and Hermana Zaugg are
all training too :) I am so proud of Sister Cundick :) She is going to
kill it and her trainee is just gonna love her! There were 3 Elders
that came in, Sisters are taking over! ;)
Anyways my new missionary is Sister Kaufusi:)  She is from Texas and
she is 19 years old. I am so excited to be with her!! She reminds me
so much of my MTC companion (not just because they are both polys) She
is so fun loving and excited to get to work :) Also we have the same
birthday so pretty much we were meant to be companions! :) These next
2 transfers are going to be seriously awesome. Sorry all the pictures
Sister Kaufusi and I took are on her camera.... I will send some next
week!
So Kirk got his interviews and unfortunately didn't get baptized due
to some minor word of wisdom issues but he was given a priesthood
blessing and has been working really hard and he will be baptized this
coming Saturday instead :) I am really excited for him! He has come so
far and he really wants this in his life.
On Tuesday we had an awesome zone training about sacrifice. We read
through some stories of the early saints and about what they went
through and about all of the sacrifices that they had to make. We also
talked a lot about Joseph Smith and the incredible sacrifices he made
willingly to o bring the gospel to everyone he could. I am so grateful
for the early pioneers and for Joseph Smith. I don't think I could
imagine my life without the gospel or without the Book of Mormon and
it is all thanks to them that we have those things. It made me think
of what more I could sacrifice to show my Heavenly Father that I truly
love him and this gospel. I love this definition of sacrifice found in
true to the faith: "To sacrifice is to give up something we value for
the sake of something of greater worth." It goes onto say that if we
truly have an eternal perspective, then giving up the things of the
world is really no sacrifice at all. I love that because it's so true!
Going on my mission I was pretty sure leaving my phone at home was
going to be hard but when I started thinking about all the time I
wasted on that stupid thing when I could have been reading my
scriptures or something I realized that giving up my phone would bring
more blessings into my life.
Another awesome thing happened this week! Sister Kelley, she is a
returning less active member who we have been working with, decided
that she would be willing to come to 2 hours of church instead of just
the first hour :) After 2 years of no church this is a big step and I
am super excited for her! Sister Kelley is coming back Ashton Park!!!
:)
Oh ya and happy 4th everyone!! I hope you all had a safe holiday full
of family, fun and fireworks!
Well I hope you all have a fantastic week full of happy days and
miracles :) I love you all!
Love, Sister Munk
Ps. Shoutout to my home gurl Nikki Starnes who just returned with
honor on Saturday! Sacramento already misses you!! (Especially me)

7/11/16 Kirk Baptism

Hello!! Ok so this week has been kind of crazy but it has been awesome
:) We have had a lot of meetings with all the new missionaries and it
was a really good reminder to me of all of the basic things about
missionary work.
On Saturday Kirk was baptized by Bishop Timpson and it was so amazing.
There were a lot of sisters who were able to come for the baptism and
seeing all of them there was a really humbling experience. It just
reminded me that no effort is wasted. Kirk was taught by devoted
missionaries for 2.5 years.... It took a while but it was all worth
it! I am so blessed to be able to see the end of the long journey.
After Kirk was baptized and he was changing sister Kaufusi and I did a
little missionary moment. We taught everyone the restoration and we
nailed it! Haha It was Sister Kaufusi's first time teaching and the
spirit was so strong as she testified. She is a great missionary
already! I keep telling her she is going to train after 6 weeks hahaha
she doesn't like that but she totally could!
On Sunday night we had a miracle! We were biking and I saw this weird
looking dog so we stopped and I asked the man walking the dog what
kind of dog it was. We talked about dogs for a little bit he wasn't
interested in our message about Jesus Christ, but the other man near
by (his uncle) was really friendly. He started talking to us about
prayer and about how he has a strong belief in God and the power of
prayer. He told us some crazy things that he has been through and it
truly is a miracle that he is alive. He told us that he wants to be
baptized again but he is still looking for the right church. It was
awesome!! We read Moroni 10:3-5 with him and he told us he would pray
about it. He was seriously so sincere and we both could tell that the
spirit was touching his heart. Then we asked for his contact info and
his name. His name if JEFF. Sister Kaufusi and I found another Jeff!!!
Oh my I am so excited to go back and teach him more!!
Well I love you all and hope you have a fabulous week!! Shout out to
my best friend Kensington!!! Florida is one lucky place! Go baptized
nations Hermana Kent :) love you all!
Love,
Sister Munk

6/27/16 Wedding Round 2

Hey hey! So a ton of stuff happened since I last email y'all so I will do my best to fill you in on everything! Ok so to start off our mission had the privilege to be visited by Elder and Sister Lawrence. Elder Lawrence is a seventy and gave the talk "What Lack I Yet?" In the October 2015 session of general conference. It's a great talk you should read it. But anyways on Monday and Tuesday our mission split in half to go meet and hear from him and his wife. Our half went on Tuesday and let me tell ya the amount of gospel knowledge that Elder and Sister Lawrence have is insane. My mind was blown like 5 different times! It was seriously amazing. Before anyone have any talks we individually got to shake hands with Elder Lawrence and hug Sister Lawrence. As I was shaking his hand he asked me where I was from and I told him "Bountiful Utah!" And he said that's nice haha but as he talked to me he seriously stared into my soul and I am pretty sure he somehow with his general authority powers looked into my past and saw everything! It was a neat experience. First Sister Lawrence talked to us. She talked mainly about the house of Israel. All those who are part of the house of Israel are in that bloodline because of the things we did in the pre existence. Only a small percent of the earth is part of the house of Israel, the rest are gentile. And most members of the church are directly the house of Israel. Anyone with Israel blood is the most likely to accept the gospel because of our "spirituality" which is our ability to recognize truth and act on it. So as missionaries, we need to find those who are of the house of Israel because they will be more likely to receive it. And the Book of Mormon is the key to helping
them receive it. She went in depth on the scattering and gathering of Israel and all the promises that come with the covenant and it was all so interesting! Then Elder Lawrence gave specific direction for our mission and how we can improve as missionaries. He talked a lot about our mission baptism goal for the year which is 411. He told us as a mission we are going to really have to exercise our faith and make some sacrifices to show God that we really want to reach our goal and bring 411 souls unto Christ. So individually we are going to each email our mission President and tell him what sacrifice we are willing to make. I know that we can hit our goal maybe even exceed it! Prayer for us :) 
Thursday to Friday we went on exchanges with our stls (sister training leaders) It was so fun! I went to the Carmichael zone with Sister Christoffersen. She is super fun and a way awesome missionary. We got along really well and immediately got used to teaching together. We worked mostly with the YSA Ward and I love working in YSA work. It is seriously the best! 
Then on Saturday was the wedding!! Kirk and Colleen were married in the Shaltes' back yard by our bishop. It was a very hot day but it was a very pretty wedding. They are so happy and both sister Erickson and I are so proud of them. This is a big step in their lives and the next step is baptism for Kirk! Yippee :) 
On Sunday I gave a talk on obedience and everyone says it was good so hopefully it was haha 
It's hard to believe that today is the last PDAY of the transfer. Time is flying by! Well I hope you all have a fantastic week :) 
Love,
Sister Munk