Gordon's Missionary Blog: Letter and Pictures

This week was great. We had a couple of really special lessons this week with Thelma and Fred. They meant a lot to me. The first one was their first FHE and they brought their daughter and granddaughter. We read the family proclamation with them. I feel it brought their family closer together and they all enjoyed it. We are hoping and looking to teach Thania. She is nice and has already been to church couple of times. The second lesson lesson was the most meaningful to me. We taught about missionary work. It was a simple lesson but the spirit was strong. They are already great missionaries and they have a strong desire to share the gospel with everyone because it has really blessed them. Thelma talks literally with everyone about how much she loves her new church and how great it is. They both expressed near the end with emotion in their voice of their sincere gratitude to us for bringing the gospel to them. It really touched me. It made me feel so good inside. It's moments like that that really strengthen your testimony of the gospel and of missionary work. It's what makes missionary work so worth it. We expressed our gratitude for them and their faith and goodness. They have been a big blessing to me in my life and have brought a lot of joy to me. Thelma and Fred came to the Chirstmas Devotional. It was so so good and they loved it. It was a beautiful devotional. Thelma and Fred may get baptized this weekend! Yeah!! Finally! It's been a long wait but they've both continued learning and growing in the gospel. It will make for a really special and happy day when they do get baptized. We find out if she can be baptized on Wednesday after she goes to the doctor. If her doctor clears that she can get her eye wet then it's a go and she will be baptized. If not it may happen the next week. Either way it's coming soon! I cannot wait :) As far as service this week I helped a less active youth named Khalil by giving him one of my white shirts. He only had one and it was by his dad. He came to a baptism to help support and he also came to church this week for the first time in a few months.

Patrick hasn't been to church in the past two weeks and he didn't come to the Christmas Devotional like he said he would. We also haven't seen him this week. We had a couple appointments but things came up. He still has potential. We are still working and trying hard with him. He is a great guy.

Enrico came to church again and he also came to the baptism that the Sisters had this week. It was great. He missed out on the devotional. Like I said he is progressing but he still has some more to do before he is ready.

John - We don't have his number so it was tough to get a hold of him. We had a couple scheduled appointments but they fell through. They didn't come to church this week.

Chedrian/Cherry - They are very cool! Chedrian had a rugby tournament this weekend so she wasn't able to come to church nor the devotional or baptism sadly but she will come next week. with our last lesson with Chedrian her mother had somewhere to go but as we were talking with Chedrian she felt drawn to the lesson and was so interested and didn't want to leave. The phone rang with someone wondering where she was and she told them she was coming but she didn't want to go. Both are really cool. We will hopefully see them soon.

Joan and Keith - They dropped us. They didn't want to meet anymore. They said they are comfortable where they are with their church.

Roger and Sharon - They can only meet on Saturdays and everyone so far that we have scheduled with them has fallen through. They are pretty busy people.

We keep trying with them. Maybe and hopefully we will have a lesson but if they aren't willing to make some time to visit with us then we can't see and teach them.

Paul and Sally - They haven't been keeping any of their commitments and they haven't given us a day to come by. We ask when we can come but they never give us a day. They aren't really seriously working towards baptism. They are such a wonderful family but now just isn't their time.

Jade and Jamila - They never answer their phones. We had never been able to schedule with Jamila because she just had a baby. when we came by again this week we were able to schedule an appointment for the next day but when we came by she said something came up and the appointment fell through. We try to visit with them but it's been difficult.

Anton - We have only had the one lesson with him. His number doesn't work and he doesn't have a home where we can find and meet him so we lost contact. We did run into him one day but he wasn't really interested in having a lesson. He wasn't as cool as we thought.

Jennifer and Pearson - We haven't had a lesson with them since we set a date with Jennifer. Something always comes up and she hasn't really been showing those good signs of keeping commitments. With them and all of these I've mentioned they are going to or have already been dropped. It's sad and tough to see but it is the consequence of not making and keeping their commitments. Hopefully seeds have been planted and they will take this time to grow until they are willing to meet with missionaries again.

Joy and Akiel - Not keeping commitments nor appointments. They are going to be dropped.

With the many investigators that have been dropping off there have also been many which have been filling their places. Our teaching pools are ever changing. Conversion is a miracle! When it happens it is such a joy!

A couple of new ones are Andre and Meridith, Shervon, and Lashawna. I'll talk to you about them next week because I got to run.... They are cool and have great potential.

I know this gospel is true and there are so many great blessings in store for us that Heavenly Father so desperately wants to give us but they come as we persevere through our tests and trials and faithfully obey and follow Him. The greatest blessing is the pure and divine love of our Heavenly Father which is oh so sweet and worth every effort to achieve. I love you all! Stay strong!

Love,

Elder King

P.S. - It was way way awesome for Enrico to bare his testimony. He still has a ways to go but he is making progress. Thelma and Fred may get baptized this weekend. We find out wednesday if Thelma's eye can get wet and if she will be able to be baptized. She says it's clearing up so I think they will get baptized this weekend. Fingers crossed :) They are so ready for it. It's great to hear that Mike was able to connect with a friend and go to church. He needs some friendship and love.

For school I'm planning on going to Weber State. I will need to work first when I get home to save up for the school semester so I am thinking I will just work from when I get home in August until the start of the Spring semester in January. Then I would be in school from January until May and then sell for the four months over the summer and start back up in August. That way I will be good financially, I will get to spend some good time with all of you, and I will be able to run and train to get back in good shape for track/xc in college. I want to run at Weber State for a couple years. Maybe I will be able to get a scholarship by the next year. The only thing I would be having to worry about when I get home is getting a job as soon as possible to start saving. I should be able to sign up for the spring semester when I get home.

This is Khalil. Wish him a happy birthday because he turns 16 this Wednesday! He is fun to teach!

Service for sister Walkes! We helped wash her windows and spray some special stuff that make the plants go away when you spray them. It was a joy to serve!

This is Chedrian! I think she will be baptized shortly once we can visit her more. This week was a crazy busy week with her tournament and other stuff.

FHE with Thelma, Fred, Thania, and Nara! So much fun. Thelma made some food and we played some dominoes for fun!

Bados is AWESOME! So we decided to do some mass proselyting to spread this precious gospel to them. We as a zone went into Bridgetown and flooded it with the book of mormon and talked to and gave as many books and tracks that we could! It was a great success!