Wednesday, September 28, 2016

9/27/2016 And a transfer

Ok so first off I just have to say thank you to everyone for all the sweet birthday emails and posts on Facebook. I felt very blessed! I may not have time to reply to all of your emails so don't be offended if I don't... I really appreciated it though!!! My birthday was fun :) Not having my family there was hard but Sister Kaufusi and I made the best out of it! 
So Hermana Vergary went home last weekend so that meant that Hermana Nokes was in a trio with sister Kaufusi and I. It was so fun!! I love Hermana Nokes with all my heart :) This week has been seriously nuts so I am sorry if this email is the worst haha but I took like 1000 pictures so that should explain how the week went!


To start off I had to get a flu shot.
 Then we did service as a zone.
We went to the American river and cleaned up garbage.
It was fun but the whole time I was missing the beautiful
Utah mountains. Rivers and lakes aren't as pretty
when there is no mountains behind them.
See what I mean?
Then we had our last district meeting of the 
transfer Best district EVER!
Best looking Zone in all of California!!

9/19/2016 TEN MONTHS

Hello everyone! Hope your week was awesome :) Our week was pretty awesome even though the work is still slow going. Sister Kaufusi hit her 3 month mark and I hit my 10 month mark. Time seriously needs to slow down! There isn't a whole lot to say today haha but I have a whole bunch of pictures for y'all:) I love you all and miss you tons! 
Here is something I read today from the Book of Mormon that I liked it's in 1 Nephi 19:23 "And I did read many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning." I have come to LOVE the scriptures on my mission. My favorite thing to do while I am reading is to 'liken' the scriptures to myself and my investigators. The scriptures really are for our profit and learning :) Well, sorry this is short! Enjoy the pictures! Oh ya and transfers are this weekend so I will be emailing on Tuesday :) love you all. 
Love,
Sister Harley Munk 





9/12/2016 Zone Conference and our new roommates

This week we had an awesome zone conference! It was really fun to see
some old rancho friends and to hear our mission president, his wife,
and the AP's give us trainings. The theme of the training was A worth
of a soul. President Jardine started off by telling us a story about a
young girl from Texas who fell into a small well and was stuck there
for 2 days. (I don't remember when it happened but it was a while ago)
He talked about how so many people from all over the country came
together in prayer for this little girl. The worth of just one single
soul is great in the sight of God. The rest of the trainings were
really good! I love being able to just sit there and be spiritually
fed :) I learned a lot about how I can improve as a missionary and how
to use Facebook more effectively. It's super weird having Facebook and
being able to use it again haha I always feel so weird getting on it
but as other missionaries have used it and shared cool stories I have
gotten used to the idea of using Facebook. The lords work is hastening
and its hastening fast! Facebook along with any other social media
site, if used correctly and according to the spirit, can be a really
effective tool.
So other than zone conference nothing really happened. Oh ya except
that sister Kaufusi and I had to move due to some...issues in our last
apartment. So now we live with the Hermanas!! Hermana Nokes and
Hermana Vergary. It is so fun living with sisters again :) The only
bummer is that the house we live in now is kind of far away from our
area so we have to travel a lot so that's kind of a bummer but it's
just temporary for the rest of the transfer (2 weeks) until they can
find us somewhere to stay that is closer.
Anyways that's pretty much our week in a nutshell :) oh ya and sister
Alicia Kelley is still doing awesome! Pray for sister Kaufusi and I!!
We need some new investigators haha Well I love you all and hope you
have a fabulous week :)
Love,
Sister Harley Munk
Got to see Sister Boria at zone training!! Love her 😀






9/5/16 Alicia's BACK!!

Happy September everyone! I can't even tell you how excited I am that
August is over haha talk about a loonnngggg month. So many good things
are going to happen this month I can feel it! Plus I turn 20 so I'm
pretty excited about that :) This week was a pretty good one even
though not much happened. I have been working on being more focused
this week and having a better more positive attitude. Sometimes it's
really hard to be happy when people are rude or to think positively
when all your appointments cancel but....I have realized that when my
mission comes to an end and I look back at all the memories I am not
going to remember the hard days. I am going to remember the amazing
miraculous things. The awesome Ward members who do their best at
sharing the gospel. The incredible investigators I get to meet and
love and teach. The insanely spiritual meetings and trainings. And of
course the coolest missionaries in the world who I get to serve with
and around everyday. I am so lucky to be a part of the great and
marvelous work of the Lord. :) Seriously missions rock.
So to recap this week on Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with a
returning less active Sister Alicia Kelley. Alicia is one of my
favorite people in the world. She has been through so much and has had
some really hard things happen in her life that caused her to slip
away. The way she explains it is that she got complacent and too
comfortable until next thing she knew she was inactive. I was lucky
enough to be transferred into this area when she decided she needed
help so she could come back. Alicia asked us to go over all the
missionary lessons with her so that she could regain what she once
had. I LOVE teaching her! She sees the joy and guidance that the
gospel brings her. At first she was super nervous about coming to
church so we started small and she came to sacrament and left. Then
eventually she came and stayed for 2 hours. Baby steps :) But ladies
and gents this Sunday she stayed all three hours and she bore her
testimony! It was crazy and amazing :) After church she jokingly said
me to "I'm back! No one can stop me now!" Hahaha she is on fire and I
am so proud of her!!
We also had a really good lesson with our recent convert Kirk :) we
are working with him so that he can start passing the sacrament but
those darn white shirts and ties....stubborn man. Anyways he is
excited about starting some family history so he can take a family
name to the temple to do baptisms :)
Wednesday nothing really happened...
Thursday we had an awesome zone/district meeting :) it's a weird
situation because our zone leaders are also our district leaders and
they are training! But it was all about having a positive attitude,
hence me trying to work on it, and we decided that whenever we would
complain to each other we would just tell each other to shake it off!
:)
Friday and Saturday we went on exchanges with our sister training
leaders. I went to Carmichael stake and worked with my home girl
Sister Christoffersen :) I seriously love her!! We had too much fun
working with the YSA people. (I super want to do ysa its so fun!)
Sister Kaufusi stayed here in east sad with sister Hyde and they
worked hard and had fun too :)
Well that's pretty much it :) Hope you all have a fantastic week! Go
share the gospel with someone!!
Love,
Sister Harley Munk





8/29/2016 Facebook and Elder Hallstrom

Man where to start... Ok so some exciting things are happening over
here in Sacramento California! FACEBOOK! Yep that's right we are now
allowed to proselyte via Facebook. I am so excited to use this new
tool that the Lord has entrusted us with to hasten His work. As
preparation for this our mission has been cracking down on what we
call safeguards for using technology. Every morning we read from a
pamphlet called safeguards and it talks about how we can use
technology in a righteous way. It gives 4 specific things that will
safeguard us from temptation or from misusing this technology. 1. Be
in tune with spiritual promptings 2. Be focused on your missionary
purpose 3. Be disciplined 4. Be one
There is a promise that we are given if we follow these safeguards.
"As you learn to live these safeguards instinctively, you will become
a more effective instrument in the Lord's hands, and you will unlock
the door to blessings in your life and in the lives of those you
teach."
The reason I felt like I should bring this up is because these
safeguards can be applied in everyone's lives not just missionaries.
Think for a second about how much time you spend on social media.
(Scary huh?) Now think about how much time you spend doing missionary
work. Now think about how easy and awesome it is to combine the two!
You already spend so much time on social media you might as well use
it in a way that can bless someone's life or bring them closer to
Christ. So I just want to extend to each of you an invitation :) I
want to challenge each of you to think about how you can use
technology to become a more effective instrument in the lives of those
you come in contact with. Whether it's the things you post, share or
comment. Social media is powerful and it can be used in so many good
ways. Let's come together as members of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or
just as good people in general, and flood the world with the light of
Christ, of hope, and of peace.
I truly believe that Facebook is a wonderful tool that we have been
given here in the Sacramento mission. We are going to be able to reach
so many more people by using it! But it is going to take some serious
discipline :) so I am going to need all your help! Make sure that you
continue only communicating with me only through emails :) Also don't
tag me in any posts or pictures unless it is something you feel like
my investigators, mission president, and Ward members would benefit
from.
Alrighty now onto the rest of the week!
Sister Kaufusi's bike was giving us problems this week and so we spent
most of Tuesday trying to fix it and part of Wednesday because it
still wasn't working hahaha stupid bikes! But we have an awesome Ward
here and they jumped in and helped us out! We still haven't heard from
Nana yet but we are hoping to go visit her this week so stay tuned and
don't stop praying for her :)
Thursday we weekly planned and did a lot of finding :) we also did
service for a lady and she gave us some solid marriage and dating
advice lol
Friday we had a zone training on Facebook and had lunch with the
President and Sister Jardine :)
On Saturday we spent 2 hours cleaning up our Facebook profiles... 2
hours and it still wasn't enough time lol
We also had the amazing opportunity to hear from Elder Hallstrom
(president of the 70) during our stake conference. It was awesome! He
gave great talks about the Lord hastening his work and about the
spirit. He told us about his experiences working closely with the 12
apostles and also the first presidency of the church. It made me so
grateful for all of those men. I am so glad I get the opportunity to
sustain them and follow their guidance. I was definitely spiritually
fed! Sister Kaufusi and I had the opportunity to shake his hand and
talk with him for a minute and it's incredible how much love that man
has for everyone. It was a good week! I am excited for another good
one :) Thanks for all you do and for who you are.
Love,
Sister Harley Munk




8-22-2016 HALFWAY

Dear Family and Friends,
I have to first start off by saying thank you so so much to everyone
who sent me "happy halfway" emails! I was so grateful to receive all
the love :) it is good to know that I have so many amazing people
rooting for me.
It's so crazy to think that it has been 9 months already. I know I say
this like every email but time is flying! Haha I have never been so
exhausted, stressed, overwhelmed, and HAPPY all at the same time in my
entire life! I am so grateful to be a missionary and especially to be
here in the greatest mission on earth! ;)
So to start off here is a recap of our week:
Wednesday: I woke up with a pretty bad migraine. This heat is killin
me lol So I just took meds and rested for a few hours. Talk about
annoying! There is nothing worse than being sick on your mission haha
but by the time is was dinner time I was feeling good enough to go to
the stake transfer dinner. It was fun! We ate at the church with the
rest of the zone and got to meet the stake leaders. Then we went and
had an awesome lesson with Nana :) Seriously the spirit was so strong
and you could see the light in her eyes as we testified.
Thursday: I HIT NINE MONTHS YOU GUYS. WHAT THE!? We had a pretty
normal day, doing our usual missionary stuff. For dinner we went to a
super nice pizza and pasta place and stuffed our faces :) then we
biked for the rest of the night and both regretted eating so much
hahaha I got to open the funniest package of my life from my crazy
family :)
Friday: Had another amazing lesson with Nana and as we taught her she
kept nodding her head because she knew it was true. She was so excited
for her baptism and couldn't wait.
Saturday: Today we were supposed to have Nana's baptismal interview
but instead we got texts from Nana saying she couldn't get baptized
and she didn't feel ready. She said she wanted to wait a few
years..... Talk about a shock. Sister Kaufusi and I hurried over to
her home and tried to talk with her but she was just so upset and
scared. It was horrible! She kept saying I can't. I can't. Then after
she calmed down we told her maybe a priesthood blessing would help and
she said maybe later and went inside. So sister Kaufusi and I walked
back to the car and by the time we got there we were just so sad and
crying and it was horrible.
So pray for Nana. We haven't heard anything from her yet :( Satan is
working really hard on her and she needs all the prayers she can get!
Although this week didn't end how we thought it would or how we
expected it to I know that the Lord is here on our side helping us
along the way. We were able to go to an amazing fireside last night.
It was a lady telling us her story. She was a little girl in
Cokeville, Wyoming when her elementary school was taken hostage my a
man and his wife and a bomb. She told us her experience and how she
knows that angels and the lord were very much apart of the miracles
that happened that day. For those of you who don't know that story
look up the Cokeville miracle it's a movie. Anyways as she talked I
couldn't help but think how blessed we all are to have the knowledge
that we are never alone. That God knows us and loves each of us
perfectly. It truly is such a comforting thing to know. Well I hope
you all have a fabulous week and go about doing good:) love you all!!
Love,
Sister Harley Munk