Letter and Pictures - Week 73

Dear family!

     Congrats on the new addition to the family! It's super exciting news! You all are looking great! That was very nice of Mike to take mom out for her birthday. Happy Birthday Day/Happy Anniversary/Merry Christmas/Happy New Years to Mom and Dad and everyone! This is a busy and fun time of the year! Enjoy it all together!

     With Joy and Akiel I too thought they were prepared and ready to accept the gospel because of all the awesome changes but I guess that day is in the future. With Chris one day we went by and he did not want to see us at all and flipped out. We were like what did we do and what happened?! We came back another time and he still didn't want to meet with us anymore and we don't know why. It was sad news. He found work and it took a toll on him with how much and how hard he works. It made it difficult to meet too. He also doesn't have good peer pressure and the environment he's in is tough. I all the things combined made it really tough on him.

     This week has been a good week. We received a referral this week from a member that her granddaughter wants to be baptized. Her name is Jennika and she recently turned 8. Her mother isn't a member. Jennika is great and she has a wonderful light about her. She is always happy. She gets along great with the other children in the branch and fits in well. This week she came to the branch christmas party and church with her grandmother, Sister Cadet, who has been making her way back to church herself the past few weeks. She has a lot of health challenges but is trying hard to be there.

     We were finally able to set a solid baptismal date with Thelma and Fred for the 7th of January! Yeah I know it's on Kaylee's birthday! Her eye is getting a lot better but needs a little more time to recover completely. They are so excited and we are so excited for them.

     One experience that I would like to share was yesterday on Sunday that I Elder Tye and I were asked by a member to give a blessing to their friend named Pamela who is in the hospital. We simply gave her a blessing and after sang a hymn for her. She felt at peace and felt comforted. She wanted us to stay and pray over her for the whole day. After I just felt good and I too felt at peace.

     This week we had our zone conference, our branch christmas party, and another baptism by the sisters. Her name is Ramona and Elder Tye baptized her. It was an interesting baptism because Ramona was super scared of the water. She ended up with permission doing the baptism forward and on her knees because she kept flailing as she went back. It was such a spiritual experience though attending that baptism because she did it!! Even though it was hard she persevered! Her mother was there and was so proud of her. The testimonies after were something special. It was a memorable experience. Zone conference was great. We learned a lot about improving our teaching skills. The party was a success and the food and company were great. 

     This week we were able to do some good less active work and finally get in contact with some of them. While we were searching out our less actives we came across a lady named Mrs. Jones who went out of her way to help us find who we were looking for. It was remarkable and she stopped a random lady and the lady happened to be friends with the less active and directed us straight to her. We contacted the Mrs. Jones and thanked her for her help. We gave her a book of mormon and she was excited to read it. She said she came across it at the library and she was going to buy one because it really interested her but we were able to give her one for free. She wants to come to church next Sunday. She is really cool. We were definitely led by the Lord to her and her to us. 

     Thelma, Fred, Ennrico, and Jennika were the ones at church this week. Enrico came this time in a white shirt. It was a little change but it was really cool to me. Chedrian and her mother flew out to the states this week because her grandmother is ailing and they are going to visit her. We also found that John has been gone for the past few weeks and that is why we haven't been able to get a hold of him but he should be back soon. We were able to bring Thelma and Fred with us to go see Andre and Meridith and we had a wonderful lesson. Thelma bore strong testimony to them of her conversion and it was powerful. They know each other already because they used to work together. Unfortunately they didn't come to church or the party. We still haven't been able to meet with Shervon. Lashawna accepted a date to work towards for baptism and we were able to have a really cool restoration lesson where she shared of how she is trying to reconnect with her father and she has been praying hard for it and one night he texted her. It was really meaningful to her and she connected to her Father in Heaven and she really wants to regain that connection. The path to baptism and back to God though isn't an easy one and she's been facing opposition. We've been trying to apply the counsel given at zone conference of daily contact with our investigators and frequent appointments to help feel the spirit often and have that sustaining strength. 

     Well it's been a good week! I love you all! Keep doing good and share the wonderful light of Christ that is in you all! I'll see you all next week! The church is true!

With great love,

Elder King

Zone Conference and Lunch!

Baptism of Ramona. She is great!

Service! We did some service this week for our branch president, President Yearwood. We scraped off old paint from their house so they could repaint. He harvested some sugar cane and gave us some. It is good :) Sister Yearwood also made us lunch. I don't know if the service ended up being for them or for us but I was grateful. Elder Tye since I always beat him to his shirt and iron it for him in the morning made me some breakfast. It's simple but very nice of him. That's the best kind of service.
 

This was at the branch christmas party. Enrico showed us some of his Thai Kwan Do