Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Letter Home - Week 4

Good Afternoon Family!

What an adventure it has been for me! From the emails I see that each of you had a pretty good week! As much as you all look forward to Monday I do as well. I love hearing from you guys. I finally got mike's email. I don't know why they weren't going through. I'm happy for Jay that he is trying to get his license. I know he will pass that test. I had a laugh from his picture last week. I'm glad he shaved the goatee off haha. School has started! That feels weird to me. I'm glad Kaylee likes her classes and that Dad you have found a great goal and purpose for your students this year. Mom tell sister Goss and her family thank you for the treat in the mtc. It was appreciated and I had a good laugh when I opened the package of cheese balls. I wish I could've been there for Sydney and Paige's farewell talks. I bet they were amazing. They will both be awesome missionaries. My companion, Elder Odhiambo, is a convert and was baptized at the age of 14. The missionaries found him and taught him. His dad is a member and his mom is now taking lessons. He has three sisters and no brothers. Only one sister is not a member. He likes to eat and drink coke. Lots of coke. He is a sprinter not a long distance running like me. We have gone a short run once and plan on running like three times a week in the morning. He plays rugby and is a strong guy. He's from africa and always says he is a lion and I am a king so together we make the lion king hahah. They have a store here that is like a mini version of macy's that we get our food from so I have a lot of food from home that I can get. We don't really eat at the members homes. We always eat at our apartment but I have had some food that's from here. I had some fried fish that was good. I also had this fruit called akies that is small like a grape with a pit and you suck on it. It was interesting. The island is gorgeous. It is also very dirty. The people are amazing but their circumstances are quite humble. It amazes me how they live and are still so happy. They remind me of the people on cool runnings and the other side of heaven. It's been so awesome to work with them. They are so accepting to listening to us. I haven't had much experience with rejection out here. They are so humble and believe in God. They are poor and don't have much but still are happy. They don't complain. It has taught me a lot. Back home it's like a paradise and yet sometimes we can still be so ungrateful. My apartment is humble and yet still nicer than a lot of the people's homes. In our apartment it is only air conditioned in the bedroom so while we study and plan and stuff in can get really hot. I often end up going in the bedroom to study haha. The temp outside isn't bad because of the breeze that is there. It feels nicer outside than in the apartment. The best part of my day is when we go out and work with people. It brings me great joy. We are able to listen to a lot of great music in the apartment which is awesome too. It kinda feels like a farm out here because they have animals everywhere. There are dogs wandering the streets all the time but they aren't scary at all which I'm glad about. They are timid stray dogs. They also have goats, pigs, horses, frogs, cats, bulls or cows, and lots of bugs. Yesterday I found a couple of huge roaches in the apartment....ahhh haha they're harmless though. The mosquitoes aren't as bad as I thought. Only at night do they get annoying. Nothing really too bad. For travel we walk a lot but there is also a fun transportation system to get us from area to area. They use "buses" or vans and they drive on the left side of the road!!!. It was an adjustment to get used to it. They have small roads and there are some crazy drivers here haha. In certain areas is hard to get a bus and one of those days was the day of the baptism of shantel. We were far away at a teaching appointment and only had a short time to get back in time for the baptism. We got a ride from some people but then had to get dropped off because we were going on a different route. It started pouring on us and so we started running downhill for a least a mile to the next bus area and were finally able to make it to the church for the baptism. The baptism of shantel was great. It was such a cool experience. Not just because of the baptism but seeing shantel before during and after being baptized. She progressed well while teaching her and then after the baptism she was talking to me and asked can we do that again tomorrow. She was really happy. It was also cool to be able to do it in the ocean. The Smith's from PG were there and we had a good time with them. I'm learning a lot about the basics of the gospel and my understanding has grown immensely. I feel like I'm becoming a good missionary and the tools given like preach my gospel are helping a ton. PMG is inspired. I'm learning how to really love the people here. I've felt a lot of love for them from the beginning but it's growing. We are teaching a lot of lessons and finding good people. We teach everyone members, investigators, recent converts, and less actives. It's so fun. I'll write next week about the different people we are teaching. For pictures it is too hard to send them all with the limited resources I have and it takes a lot of time to even send a few so I thought of a way that I could get you guys the pictures. If you could send me some flash drives in the mail I could download all of them and send them back. If you send quite a few I can continue to send them every few weeks or so. Right now I have like over 300 so this is the only way I can think of. I don't want to lose them and would like you guys to see all of them. If you send it in an envelope and do something to protect the flash drives I think it will work really well. Then I can delete the photos I have and take more. It will take a few weeks I think for you to send them to me and then to get back to you but it will be worth it. Anyway I'll talk to you all next week! I love each of you so much! I know this church is true!
With much love,
Elder King

Monday, August 24, 2015

Pictures - Week 3

MTC Companion



Letter Home - Week 3

Hey Family!

It's so good to hear all about what each of you are doing! It brings a lot of comfort to me to hear about your lives and to feel all of your love. I love you all so much and miss everyone! It sounds like all is well. Kim it would be nice to hear from David, Aaliyah, and Sophia. If you could ask the girls what they would want to say and then write it in letter that would be awesome! Tell mike again to write me. 

Well, a lot has happened since we last talked at the airport. I'm in a totally different world. We left the SLC airport to New York and there at the airport during our layover all of us missionaries started talking to people. We met a lot of people and did some good. It brought me a lot of joy when I would get over my fears of talking to complete strangers and speak about the things I know. I met in the boarding line a guy whose name was Bob Johnson and I talked with him a little and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. It felt really good. I bore testimony to him and extended the commitment to him to read and pray about the book to know if it is true and he said he would. It was my first time and it felt good. 

After the long flight to New York and the long flight to Barbados we finally arrived. The flight was during the middle of the night and it was so hard to get any sleep on the plane so we were all tired but we went to the hotel after finally getting through security. haha I had little glitch in the process but after calling the mission president we got it all figured out. We then after dropping our stuff off went to the mission home and had devotionals and met one of the seventies there. He was a really great man. After that we were finally able to get some sleep. 

We went for a run on the beach here the next morning and the following day which both were absolutely incredible. An awesome experience. The islands here are beautiful and the people are so nice. I'm running out of time but the flight to St. Lucia was good and the island I'm on is even prettier than Barbados. It is astounding. My companion Elder Odhiambo is awesome and has been teaching me so much. He is new himself so we are learning together but he knows a lot. He is a great missionary. I'll tell you all more about my week next week but so far it has been a great experience. I attached some pictures from my experience in the mission so far. There are a lot more but I don't have time because I have to do them one by one.

If you would like to send mail the address for it is:

PO Box 923 
Gable woods mall, South
Vieux Fort, St. Lucia
West Indies

They don't have addresses for every home here. It's weird, but this is the address for the senior couple in my mission so if you send a letter they will get it and give it to me.

I love you all so much and am grateful to you all for your love and your spirits! You are in my prayers!

Lots of love,

Elder King

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Pictures w/ Mission President - Week 2



Letter from Mission President - Week 2



Dear Parents of Elder King,

We are so pleased to welcome your son to the Barbados Bridgetown Mission! He arrived safely in Barbados on 10 August 2015. On Tuesday, he and the other new missionaries from the MTC were taken to the mission home where they were given training and interviewed by President Herrington. He also received instruction from Sister Herrington and the Assistant's to the President. We spent the remainder of the evening with him in the mission home for a welcome dinner and a spirit-filled devotional. We were especially grateful that our Area President, Elder J Devin Cornish was in attendance for this.

We have loved getting to know your son and we love him already. He is a bright and thoughtful young man and is clearly excited to go to work teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Each new missionary has now travelled to their assigned area. Elder King has been assigned to labor in the St. Lucia Zone in Vieux-Fort. There is a growing population of members there and the missionaries enjoy much success working closely with them. His new companion is Elder Odhiambo, an experienced and faithful missionary who will guide your son through a 12 week training program.

Elder King's faithful studies in the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel and the 12 week training program will prepare him to be an inspired teacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please encourage your son as he begins this challenging but extremely rewarding work. His gospel study and diligent obedience will help him teach effectively by the Spirit and to grow in his own testimony and conversion, which will be a foundation for his mission and also for the rest of his life.

Your son is encouraged to email his immediate family and his mission president every week on Monday, our preparation day.

We look forward to getting to know him and working with him in the great work of salvation in the Barbados Bridgetown Mission. Thank you for sharing him with us!

Sincerely,

President and Sister Herrington

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Letter Home - Week 1

Hey Family!

It is so good to hear from all of you! I love and miss you guys! I'm glad Kaylee had a great week at girls camp and that she learned a lot. I'm happy for Kim and David for being able to move out. That so exciting. I would love to hear from Jay and Mike as well. I've only been here a week and I have learned some amazing things that I wished I had learned earlier in life, but I'm very grateful to be able to learn them now. My testimony of the gospel has grown so much as well. The Spirit is so strong here. It has been an amazing experience already. The other missionaries here are great. I already got my prescription and have been using it every morning and night. I've been taking pictures and I'll send some to you next week. My companion is Elder Clement and he is from Lindon, Utah. He is awesome and I'm glad I am able to be comps with him even if it's only for this short time. I am flying out to Barbados this Sunday evening at 6:00. I'll either end up in Barbados or St. Lucia for the first part of my mission. I'm excited to head out there. Our schedule here is so packed that the only time I get to email or even look at it is for an hour on p-day. Here at the mtc it is a little different and I have p-day on Tuesday but starting next week it will be every Monday since I will be out in the mission field. On Sunday, my birthday, we had sacrament and priesthood which was very cool. It was fast and testimony meeting so a lot of Elders and Sisters including me bore testimonies and it was a cool experience. We also had a devotional where Sheri Dew spoke which was really powerful. The best thing we did though was watching the character of Christ by Elder Bednar. It was one of the greatest talks I've heard. It was so powerful and I was changed from it. I wish I could watch it again but they only show it here at the mtc. I didn't really do anything specifically for my birthday but that doesn't matter to me. I had a great day. I loved spending it learning about the gospel in one of the greatest places on earth. I wish I had more time, but I'll write more next week. I love you all so much! I know this church is true! I can feel it!

Love,
Elder King

Letter Home - Week 0

Dear family,
 
I love you! I love it here at the MTC! Everything is going great! I am learning so much! The church is true!
 
This email is to let you know that I am alive and well.
 
Love,
Elder King