Letter and Pictures - Week 77

This week has been a great week! We had our District Conference/Area Broadcast this week. It was awesome. It spirit was present and powerful. It felt like a General Conference. Elder Anderson was the Apostle presiding. I thought it was going to be one of the first presidency but Elder Anderson's talk was great. We had many we thought were going to come but didn't. The Sobers were there and Junika and Dwayne were there. Meridith wasn't able to but she is planning on coming next week. 

     We taught a less active this week named Sister Gibson. She has a great knowledge and love for the gospel still and she has a testimony that it's true. She kept telling us she doesn't know why she hasn't been to church in past lessons but this week she opened up to us and shared of the pressure of being an only member in her family. She said because she is a member and a church goer whenever she made a mistake she would receive a hard time for it and it was hard for her to bear. We were teaching about the Atonement and how the Savior knows how we feel and can help us which helped bring the spirit and as we asked inspired questions it helped her open up. Hopefully now we can help her to overcome her challenge. 

     We contacted into a great family last week. This week we had our first and second lessons with them and they have been awesome. The whole family is prepared. It's a married couple named Clarence and Nicole. They have four children. Two of them are of baptismal age and they actively participate in the lessons. They all want to be baptized together. We are super excited about them. They have a strong desire and a willingness to do what they need to to be ready. There is an energy and excitement. They just want to learn and take in all they can too. They weren't able to come to church this week but they are working hard to come next week. Nicole's sister is a member in another branch but they haven't been taught before and really want to learn more about the church. We taught them the plan of salvation in two lessons because they had another daughter pass away at birth. It was hard on their family including the older kids but as we taught them it had a familiar ring to them and it brought peace and comfort. When we pray at the end the whole family comes and kneels together and it puts a smile on your face and makes you feel so good. They are a great family and you can tell there is a lot of love between them and they are very close with each other.

Here is a little information/update on some of the people we are working with:

The Sobers - They are doing so good. Fred is preparing to receive the priesthood soon and we are working with the branch on getting them home/visiting teachers as well as callings and to be home/visiting teachers themselves. 

Sister Meridith - We came by to talk to her about the baptism and talk to her about her pathway to baptism and we found that she isn't quite ready for the date we had planned for her. She is still conflicted. She hasn't received her answer yet. She is still seeking answers. Right now she hasn't accepted a day for baptism. She doesn't know when yet. We found that she also has fears of falling back after she is baptized and she doesn't want that to happen. We are still working with her. One day when the time is right I believe she will be baptized. 

Junika - She came and she was really happy at the church. She is doing great. 

Keemar - He is a less active. We haven't been able to get ahold of and see him in forever. We planned one morning to try and go see him and as usual we prayed as we were leaving our apartment. As I prayed I felt the spirit guide my words and I prayed specifically that we would be able to find Keemar home, that he would be awake, and that we would be able to visit with him. Our prayer was answered. When we knocked on his door he answered and we were able to have a lesson with him. We found out that someone from work called him that morning at 6:00 and it woke him up. He probably would've still been asleep when we came by as he usually is if the worker hadn't of called him. I know this was the hand of the Lord. 

Patrick - He hasn't been to church in a while but he has been reading and praying. He is willing to let us come and teach him but I don't know if he is really working towards baptism. We may be dropping him but for now we are continuing to meet with him.   

Juanita - We saw her yesterday and we shared about the first part of the restoration and coming closer to God and Jesus Christ. She really wants to and she still has a desire to be baptized. She wants her family to join her in the lessons. It saddens her that they haven't. When we went by the husband and kids were outside playing road tennis. I briefly talked with him after. He asked how the lesson went and I told him it was good and that his wife really wants him to join and invited him to sit in the next lesson and he said he would. Hopefully he does. We want to have a family home evening with their family to bring the family and the gospel together. We went by earlier in the week on evening to schedule when we could visit and we started talking with them both and I played a little road tennis with the kids and I think it helped to soften the husbands heart and helped him to see that we are normal people. The whole family is into sports (which is cool :) ) and we found that the husband is really into ping pong and we talked with him about going a playing some ping pong with him and his family all together and sharing a message after. He was interested in doing that. 

Chedrian - She is home and this week on Saturday she said she was coming to the Broadcast. We were looking out for her and were sad when we didn't see her there. We haven't gotten a hold of her yet to find out why. 

Sister Jones - We finally got to have our first lesson with her yesterday and it went well. We contacted her a long time ago but haven't been able to teach her. She has been reading a lot from the book of mormon and she says that she feels like she can't put in down when she reads it. We taught about the book of mormon and she said that as we read and taught she felt this warm feeling. She is already recognizing the spirit which is cool. We invited her to be baptized and she said she would. She wants to come one of these Sundays to church. 

I'm going to try to get more photos of them all this week and send them to you. 

I love you all!!

Love,

Elder King

 

Some food we had this week. Elder Tye made some good looking burgers and a salad with potatoes. The salad I had was the way I have it back home and it was really good. This is Dwayne. He came to the District Conference Broadcast this week. He really enjoyed it and one of the stories about an investigator's growing testimony and conversion touched him. He has been starting to progress and has been to church several times.