Letter and Pictures - Week 59

Hey family,

It's been a good week. We put in a lot of work. We were able to reach our goal of 21 lessons this week. Unfortunately Kelly-Ann and Joseph and their families didn't come to church this week. Bro. James has some health issues so he couldn't come and that kept back the boys. We are sure why Kelly-Ann didn't come. They were missed. Kelly-Ann came to the opening of institute this week though which was good. We are really impressed and amazed by her. She has a great desire to live the gospel and be baptized and it makes her so happy. She is really smart as well and knows a lot about the gospel already. We had her read the plan of salvation pamphlet and a chapter in the book of mormon and then come back and teach us the plan of salvation! We would be the investigators and ask questions that would help her to learn more as she taught. She did really well. We helped where she needed it but she didn't  really need it. It was great. Her mother Wendy had her boyfriend move out already and she has a desire to be baptized as well. Wendy came down with Zika and couldn't make it to church. We had some other good lessons and some other disappointing and frustrating lessons but things are going pretty well. I'll take more photos of the people we are teaching. It's a goal of mine so I can share my mission experience with all of you and keep all these wonderful memories of these wonderful people. Today we are flying to Barbados for MLC! I'm so excited :) It's such a great experience to be a part of. We are staying there a little longer for like a mission conference over skype but we get to be there in person. It will all be fun. We met with Carleen and her roommate Rayneesha a few times this week. Rayneesha is cooler than we thought. I think her and Carleen don't get along and that's why Carleen has a poor perception of her. We had a great first lesson with her and she had a question of the soul that we were able to answer using the book of mormon and she was happy and agreeing and loving the things we taught. She wrote some things down and accepted to read. We will see how it goes. As for Carleen we aren't going to be teaching her anymore. The lessons we've had have been pretty frustrating as she is hardening her heart and not listening to what we say and doesn't really want us there so we won't be going back. Right now she is going through a lot of difficult things that is putting up a big wall. Hopefully her trials will overtime come to soften her heart and she can continue to be taught by missionaries later down the road. It was hard. We tried talking with her to help her see and understand but she wasn't accepting it. It was a big contrast from the first and third lessons that we had with her. She had a lot of potential but satan comes with great force to bind us down, harden our hearts, and blind our eyes to keep us away from every good thing. Continue to study and pray to keep you up, to keep your heart soft, to keep your eyes open, and your flame of faith lit. I love all of you so much. I know this gospel is true. It's what we all need everyday. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder King

 

It was dark so I couldn't get a very good picture but these are Kiesha's and Andrea's kids. We gave them a couple of the Book of Mormon story books last time we were there and they absolutely loved them. They've been reading them and wrote all their names on them. We came a little late the next time but all the kids had their books open on the floor waiting for us to come. They were so happy. It was great! We watched the restoration video with them all and Aaron the oldest boy was saying he remembered that story from the book and he gave some perfect answers to the questions we asked. He is around 12 or so but if he were older he would be a golden investigator right now! :)

 

 

Another pretty sunset because they are so awesome! :)

 

 

So Monday after we finished emailing we left to the airport but....our flight got cancelled so we got a flight to Barbados on Tuesday at 12:50pm but didn't leave until 1:50pm and our MLC mtg. was Tuesday at 10:30am.... :(

 

 

We didn't arrive at the mission home until almost 4:00pm and we got there just in time for the closing song and the closing prayer and the mtg. went long by almost an hour. So we missed MLC but we got to come and stay for the devotional, dinner, interviews, and the big zone conference and lunch the following day.

 

 

It was a little bit of a mission reunion for me as I got to see some old friends :)

 

This is Elder Zivic and his wife. They were awesome and it was a really great conference.

 

 

Kelly-Ann and Wendy at their home. We went looking for their home and we found them! They live above the smith's and they are good friends with them. When I say above though I mean you have to go hiking up the mountain to get to their home. It was a fun climb and it has a good view from up there.

 

 

This is the view. It overlooks the stadium.