Gordon's Missionary Blog: Letter and Pictures

Hey my dear family!

It's been a pretty great week. We were able to visit with Janelle on Saturday. Unfortunately she didn't read since the last time which is unusual since she always reads what we give her. We brought a strong member (Sister Sarah) out with us to visit her. It was such a powerful lesson. Sister Sarah was Catholic too and being around the same age as Janelle, she also being a single mother with kids, and being the same gender it created a good connection between the two. We talked about Alma 34, which is what we left with her, and went through some of the versus. We read versus from that chapter and elsewhere that focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and really helped her understand it. We led it into a conversation about her concern with still having connections with the Catholic Church. We talked about choices and also about how in order to step from one stone to the next we have to leave the one we are on. We gave her a good talk about Decision Making the Lord's Way and she committed herself to read it. We are thinking about talking with her about "letting go" and "moving forward" to help with her troubles of letting go of old habits and traditions. I asked President Herrington about Janelle and her situation and he counseled to teach about the doctrines of eternal families and temple ordinances. Janelle did say that she wants to take things little by little but that she does want to continue moving forward in faith. We will do our best to help her overcome her concerns. We invited her to pray also, after she reads the talk, about her decision to be baptized. She said she would. We invited her to come to church and she committed herself to and then we came to find out that her mother ended up being home that morning and she went with her mother to the Catholic church. That was really sad. Oh and Janelle and Calvin I don't think will be getting married in the future. She's been hurt by him several times and I think shut the door on that matter with him. She doesn't want Luke to be without his father and it was one thing that was so hard for her and that's one reason that she let him back into her life but I think it's over now. It's sad. Shenelle left to Canada. She is on vacation there. She said she is going to visit the temple there. That made me happy to hear. She also said she would read and study each day that she is out there. I hope so. She said she will have a lot more time. This Sunday we went out in the morning to walk with our investigators to church and bus with them and we had confidence that there were going to be many of them there at church but we ended up not having any. That was so hard. We've been thinking a lot about our area and our investigators and we are thinking that we need to have a better flow of new investigators so it progress doesn't become stagnant. We've really set some good goals and made some good plans to help make that happen. Things are looking good for the future. We taught Joan a couple times. We taught about prayer to help with her receiving answers and we started into the commandments to help teach about the commandment to go to church to help her come. They were good lessons. We ended up not getting through all of the commandment lesson which is okay. We will teach the rest on Tuesday. She has been finding it hard to actually commit to doing some of the things that we invite her to do but this week she actually committed herself to coming to church next week for the first time. Hooray!! She's come to GC but not church. I really hope she comes or we'll really have to pray about the decision to continue to teach her or not. She is one of the elect of God but it may be that she's not quite ready as yet. But there are really signs that she is showing forth. Things have been going well. I loved hearing about all the good in each of your lives. It brightens my week each time I open my email. Trek sounds like a blast. It brings back good memories. Thanks for all your prayers, your kind words, and your love. God loves us. The Savior's Atonement is real. Families are forever. The Church is true. These are some great and precious truths. Another is that I love you all! Take care and have a great week.

Love,

Elder King

Hello from St. Lucia!!! Isn't this place just awesome?! Love ya'll!