Letter and Pictures - Week 69

Dear Family,

     It was shocking news to hear of the incident at the school. I'm glad to hear that no one died and that everyone will be alright. It was truly a miracle. It was amazing to hear of those brave acts of heroism. The love shown in complete forgiveness touched my heart. It is great to hear of the goodness in each of these individuals. The hand of the Lord was over these children and protecting them. It testifies that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is not only watching over us but is in the very detail of our lives guiding and protecting us. 

     This week was good. Thelma and Fred came to church and they brought their daughter and granddaughter again.. We love Thelma and Fred. They have such great faith. They've been taught the first four lessons and are so ready. Today we are going to teach about the temple and eternal families and I can't wait! They will love it :) 

     Elder Tye and I have really been trying hard to be exactly obedient and we can feel the Lord leading us to those who are prepared. We have been led to some really great individuals and families who humble in heart and seeking for the truth. We can feel the power come into our teaching and the spirit is working miracles. We were given a referral of a less active brother in our area and our appointments fell through so we went to go see him. He said he hasn't seen us or members in a while and he was thinking about us that morning and was glad that we came. We had a warm visit with him. His name is Bro. Trotman. He has health problems but has a desire to come to church again. It was the timing and hand of the Lord that led us to him. It's been difficult to teach less actives in our area and we had been praying to be able to teach less actives. I can see the truth of the scripture I have been pondering lately which says, "...inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper." -Hel. 4:15 As Elder Tye and I have been trying our best to make small changes and align ourselves with the will of God things have been going good and it's been a joy.

     I love you all! I hope you will all feel of the healing and sweet comfort of the Savior from the tragic event. I hope that the negative experience turns to a positive one. I know this is made possible by our Savior for this and all other tragedies in life. He is the Christ.

Take care with much love,

Elder King

 

Road Tennis! Looks like a fun game. We contacted this guy named David and he taught us how to play road tennis. David was nice and seems interested too.

 

 

Elder Tye and I like to play chess while we have lunch and today (in this pic) I actually won. Elder Tye is good at chess.

 

 

We had some french Elders come in from the french side of the mission for immigration stuff and so they stayed with us for a couple days. It was a fun time.  His name is Elder Arnett from Missouri and the other(I didn't get a picture) is Elder Pattison from Utah.

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 68

Hey family!!

     The weeks are just flying by! This transfer is already over and at the end of the next transfer in 6 weeks will be Christmas!! So Elder Tye and I are staying together again. Awesome! It's going to be another good transfer. I found the Elder Whipple is a new Zone Leader in Grenada. He switched me places because he was here with Elder Tye before I came in and I was the ZL in Grenada before. 

     Thelma and Fred continue to progress well. Thelma had her surgery and it went over well. She wasn't able to make it to church but Fred came and he enjoyed it very much. Thelma keeps saying she can't wait until she is recovered so she can be baptized. Fred is looking forward to it as well. 

     We've been teaching two friends named Ian and Leo lately. They are good friends who like to get together with other friends and play dominoes. They are in their 60's. They are doing pretty good now and have begun to progress. At first when we would teach them the lessons were hard to control and teach much as they would ask crazy off topic questions and couldn't stay focused. It's changed a lot since the beginning as we've worked with them and continued to teach them the gospel. They are reading now and taking what we are sharing with them into thought and reflection. They still have a ways to go but it's amazing to see the spirit and the gospel influencing lives. We had a lesson this past week and it was a really spiritual lesson and the questions they posed were good and on topic. They want to come to church all together. Hopefully next week. 

     Sally and Chris didn't come to church this week. Sally was at family and Chris got in real late the night before. I realized I don't really have photos of the people we are teaching so I will get on that and send some photos home to you all. We were also privileged this week to be a part of a couple blessings. One was to a sister missionary and another was to a member who has really been struggling. The blessing to the member was a special one and the spirit was really strong there. She is a strong, active member who has just been experiencing a lot of tough challenges and she needed a blessing. It was a blessing for me to be a part of and one that you could tell was a strength to her. 

     It's been a great week! I love you all! I am so glad that we all can be a forever family! Have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder King

Paul is married to Sally and they have two children named Thierry and Christian. They are not members but they are our investigators.

Kim is also an investigator. Latonia we met when we went by for the lesson with Kim. She lives near by but was visiting and stayed for the lesson. Kim isn't super solid but her daughter,Chaka (20), seems pretty interested as well as her nephew, Denzel(13).

I started going on runs with Elder Tye :) Since we have bikes he is able to just bike behind me as I run and he is willing to wake up a little earlier so I can get in a good run. Isn't my comp the best?!

Sometimes we bike through big puddles :)

Letter Home - Week 67

Hey Family!

It's been a great week! 

Monday was Halloween and it was swell. We contacted in the evening because our appointments fell through.

Tuesday we had zone mtg. It was different but nice not being the one teaching. It was well taught. Of the many things taught my favorite were the teachings on hope. It's a topic I want to study further. We were able to teach Thelma and Fred about prophets. They both believe Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson are prophets. It was cool because we just taught about Thomas S. Monson and following the prophet but as we asked if them believed he was a prophet they both quickly and firmly responded yes. The spirit works wonders. We also saw Adrian Brewster. He hasn't been keeping his appointments with us and was going to blow us off again tonight because he was tired but I told him it wasn't a good excuse and he sat down for a short lesson. We taught that he needed to keep his appointments in a loving way. We couldn't find out why he wasn't visiting with us. He says he still wants to have us come and teach him. We may sadly be dropping him shortly.  

Wednesday we had a member lesson on the restoration to practice teaching with Khalil (15 year old member). We also saw Joy. Her situation is tough. She has a boyfriend that doesn't want her to go to church. The boyfriend doesn't stay with her but he is her financial support. We taught about prayer and how she can pray to Heavenly Father and counsel with him and ask for help and guidance. 

Thursday we taught Akiel's brother Anderson. It was a cool lesson. He doesn't really have faith in Jesus Christ and he had questions from the last lesson where we read from Alma 32 on faith. We taught about faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement which is straight from out missionary purpose in helping others to come unto Christ and the spirit was felt during that lesson. I think it had an impact on Anderson. He had a lot of questions. We also saw Paul and Sally who are an awesome family that have been taught for a while. We gave them Alma chapter 5 and they only read half so we read some of it with them and talked about it. It's an amazing chapter that asks a ton of questions that helps us to reflect on our lives and how we would fair on judgement day. It will lead well into our next lesson with them on baptism. We are going to refocus with them to get them on track and working towards baptism. 

Friday was a great day for us. We made calls Thursday to set everything for Friday and it worked wonders. We were able to have 6 lessons today. We saw a less active named Keemar and talked about work and the Sabbath day with him because he works a lot and he said he would come but when we went by to bring him to church he was sleeping. His family said he got home from work around 4:00am so it's understandable. It takes him forever to bus home because there aren't buses at the time he gets off work so he takes a work bus that drops him off last of all the crew. We saw a really cool guy named Lewis. He is a truth seeker and has a lot of potential. He was taught by Elder Whipple and Elder Tye before a couple times but he needed a break for a while because of family issues. This was my first time meeting with him. He still remembered a lot from what was taught before and he's been reading and praying to know the truth. We taught it at the Garrison(A park/horse racing track) and it was really peaceful there. The spirit was really strong in that lesson and there was a sweet peace. He is a really good guy with good standards. He is smart and that lesson we were answering his many good questions and reviewing what had been taught before. He accepted baptism and to come to church in time when he is ready. When he prayed he didn't receive a no so he is having faith and pursuing forward. We had a first lesson with a lady named Sister Ford who is a strong Anglican and doesn't want to change religions. She is a happy and joyful old lady though. It was a nice lesson. We contacted into a lesson of a boyfriend and girlfriend named Jade and Jamila who were awesome! We started talking about the book of mormon and she was way interested and happy to let us share more with her. They both accepted baptism. Jade wanted to know why there are so many churches because he believes there should only be one. It was cool. We gave blessing to a less active for health reason's granddaughter. It was a neat experience. I'm always grateful for the opportunity to participate in a blessing. We taught Thelma and Fred the Word of Wisdom. We had given them the pamphlet and they read it and already began living the word of wisdom before we even taught them. They drank tea but completely gave it up. Thelma said she was telling Fred a few weeks earlier that she felt like she needed to change up her eating habits. Again the workings of the spirit! It was awesome! We found that Thelma's surgery got postponed and it will happen today. Hope all goes well. We saw Kim,Chaka(Kim's daughter), and Latonia(Kim's sister) and taught about the restoration. It was a normal lesson. Today was a good day. 

Saturday we had planned service to be the whole day until 5:00pm because we had a service project and it was also the international day of service so the branch was to do a service project but both got cancelled due to the rain. So that made things fun for us. We spent most of that time contacting. We saw a guy named Wendell and taught about what he needs to do to prepare for baptism. It went over well. He hasn't been acting lately so we are going to have to help him keep his commitments. We will have a lesson on the importance of keeping commitments to help him. 

Sunday was church. Chris came! We went by to bring him to church and he came. We walked with him. He enjoyed it. That was a big step for him. He is a guy that sits on the block and drinks and smokes but because of his big desire to change he exercised him faith and came. Sally and her two sons Christian and Thierry also came for the first time in a while. They loved it and the branch members were awesome in helping to fellowship her by exchanging numbers and stuff. We saw Jennifer and Pearson and taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to be baptized. Pearson said he wants to but not now. Jennifer said she would and accepted to work towards the 7th of January(Kaylee's birthday:) ). We contacted into lesson with a guy named Anton that was super interested and so willing to act and do what we invite him to. We gave him a book of mormon and he is excited to read it. Today we also found that Joy's boyfriend found that she had been having lessons with us and got really upset. He threw away all her books and smashed her phone so we couldn't call. It was really sad to hear. She is really disappointed that we can't visit with her and that she can't go to church. She accepted another book of mormon that she will keep at her friends house so she can still read. We invited her to keep praying and hope for the best in the future. Hopefully things will change and an opportunity again unfolds for her. We are keeping her in our prayers. 

Joy and Akiel - we haven't been able to really meet but we are still trying with them. There is still potential and interest. 

Dario - He is the pastor guy but he isn't really interested. He stopped reading the book of mormon and focused his studies on other things. 

Eon and Leo - They are brothers. We've had a few lessons. Leo began reading the tracks. They like to play dominoes a lot so for a short time we played with them. It helped them understand that we are normal and like to have good fun. Leo read 3 Nephi 11 that we had left him but he couldn't find until we showed him during that time. That was cool. 

Roger and Sharon - They are the cool family searching for the truth. We had an appointment for Saturday but something came up for them so we couldn't have the lesson but she said they've been reading the book of mormon together and she was really happy when we saw her. 

Thelma and Fred's daughter and granddaughter- we don't really know anything about them. They had to leave right after Sacrament. We are going to be trying to start teaching her and others in Thelma and Fred's family. We are going to ask them for family referrals and have Thelma and Fred help bring their family into the church. That's the goal. 

Adrian - we haven't been able to find him anywhere. He doesn't have a phone and we haven't been able to find him by his home and we go by often to check. 

Shani and Cory - They are doing a 6 week course study and won't be able to meet now until it's over. He was feeling sick so we brought by some cookies for him. We did for Adrian Brewster as well. 

Joan and Keith - I think these are the ones you are referring to when you say we committed them to read the book of mormon. We had an appointment but it fell through. Joan said she read though. 

Hope you like all the info! Thanks for the pictures! I like all the costumes and I love the pumpkins! Thanks also for the quote. It's true and I love it. This church and gospel are truer and true. Have a blessed week!

With buckets full of love!

Elder King

I love you all!

Letter and Pictures - Week 66

Dear family,

This week Thelma and Fred came to church again and they did some missionary work! They brought their daughter and granddaughter to church too and they said they would be back. Thelma and Fred said they already consider themselves members. Thelma is having a surgery on her eye this week and then they will be baptized as soon as she recovers. She says she just wants to hurry up and recover so she can be baptized. It will take about 6 weeks for her recovery. We contacted into a young adult named Chris this week and have had several lessons with him. He has a past but sincerely wants to change. He has never been baptized but has a desire to. We invited him and he accepted to work towards it. When we first met him he and his friend wanted us to read something to them from the scriptures so we started reading 3 Nephi 11 about Jesus Christ. Chris said he felt something inside like when his mother used to pray over him but just not as strong and he let us come back the next couple of days in a row to teach him the gospel. It was a cool experience. We taught about faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End and as we read scriptures with him he said baptism really sticks out to him. We left him to read the pamphlet about it and he read more about baptism. He asked a lot of questions about baptism. We also found a family this week and shared the message of the restoration with them. They were very interested and listening intently to what we taught. They said they have been searching to know which religion is right which is awesome. Elder Tye and I taught Damian this week the plan of salvation for the lesson taught to a member. We taught him the plan of salvation. It was cool because he learned something from it and he gave us great feedback on our teaching plus he gave us a referral. One miracle of the week was yesterday. We had 19 lessons for the week so far and we were trying for at least one more to reach our goal of 20 but everything was falling through. It was getting late and we had no one to teach. It was a rough day but then as we were biking down the street Elder Tye stopped at a house of an old investigator that I had never seen and they were home, there was a male present and they let us teach them a lesson and it ended up being a good lesson where the lady was committed to read the book of mormon so we were able to reach our goal of 20 lessons. It's been a blessed week. Not much is happening with our other investigators. It's tough to teach them and they aren't really progressing. Dario is reading the book but not really for the right reasons. He said he received his answer and that it wasn't true. He said he found several faults with it which when we talked with him aren't even faults and cleared them up. We just invited him to sincerely read it with faith and not to read it to disprove it and then to pray to know if it's true again. He also said in that lesson that the bible teaches that the world is flat so that was funny. Elder Tye loves astronomy and he and I got a kick out of that. He is still going to be reading the book. Today we had a Halloween Party since it's Halloween and it's our P-day. We had a costume contest and food and games. It was a good time. It's been a good week. I love you all.

With great love,

Elder King

 

P.S. - We also did a service this week rebuilding a shop of one of our members Sister Edwards. They have monkeys here in barbados. I've seen quite a few. They are just wild monkeys running around. The locals don't like them because they are pests. We started buying fresh cow milk and eggs from a farm next to our apartment. It's good. Yes we are wearing our helmets. You all will have to send pictures of your halloween adventures. It was a lot of cereal but it didn't really make me sick. It wasn't a whole bag but it was a lot. It reminds me of the tongan on the movie the RM. Fun Fact: I've stayed the same weight my whole mission.

 

P.P.S. - I also think I've grown on my mission. I'm super close to being 6 feet.

 

This was today. We had a costume contest. Elder Spencer dressed up as Joseph Smith and the sister around him are the nephites and the lamanites. I dressed up as Harry Potter. Elder Childister and Elder Tulikihakau dressed up as the book of mormon and the bible and they go hand in hand to compliment one another.