Letter Home - Week 78

Hey family,

     It has been another good and successful week! The work is going great here Barbados. Elder Tye and I are having a good time serving the Lord together. He will most likely leave next transfer and it will be sad when he does. He is a great missionary and he has been a great companion. 

     On Monday we went and played volleyball and soccer at the church. A few of us Elders also played a little two on two after which was good fun. I always look forward to P days when we can go and play some sport for a time with all the missionaries. We then went and saw the Sobers. We've been going back over the missionary lessons in depth with them to help them really solidify their knowledge of the lessons. We went over the apostasy sharing scriptures that teach and testify of it. They often share with us experiences they have that have strengthened their testimony that they know this church is true. It's such a blessing to teach them. They study all the time and they've been learning and growing so much from it. 

     On Tuesday after Elder Tye's District Mtg on the Book of Mormon we went contacting to an area we felt we should go. We locked our bike's and then started knocking on as many doors as we could. It wasn't long before we knocked on the door of Melissia and her family. Another prepared family! We haven't met the husband but she is super nice and her two kids are super cute. We shared with her briefly about families and how the gospel has been restored and she was really interested in learning more. She knows a very strong member and she loves all the good feeds that she posts. She said if all the members were like Sister Daniel then that would be awesome. She is really interested in coming to church. She came across the movie Singing with the Angels and it really touched her. She was in awe by the choir. She loves to sing and she was just amazed at how good they were. There was going to be a baptism this Saturday but it got post poned. She was going to be coming to that and was disappointed when it was put off. To our disappointment we found that she is moving to another area soon so we won't be teaching her but the good thing is that it will still be in another missionaries area so they can teach her and her family. She gave us some home made chocolates that she makes for a business. It reminded me of Mom's chocolates. They were so good. They were unique flavors. They were passion fruit, grape fruit, mango and tamarin. It was really nice of her. We also did some hometeaching and saw Sister Gibson. To help her read we set up to text her each morning to remind her and give her an assignment. She was happy that we were going to do that to help her. She began reading.

     Wednesday I had to wake up early to get a police report done for immigration so I can stay legal here. That took our whole morning. The ZL's took us and after we came back and we made them a nice big breakfast for lunch. We saw Sister Meredith and talked about the Book of Mormon and read with her to help her in her reading. She began really reading from the beginning and it's made a difference for her. We did some more hometeaching and then saw Sister Cadet and Junika. We taught about the 10 commandments and to help her did some fun signs to help her remember each one and then played a game with it. It was fun. 

     Thursday after lots of good weekly planning and studies we saw the Sobers again. This time we taught about the Restoration through Joseph Smith and shared scriptures prophesying of it. We saw Dwayne too. We watched the restoration video and spoke how we receive our answers to prayers through the Holy Ghost. He has been doing good with his reading and he committed to pray and ask. We saw Alisean and he was having a rough day. He had problems with school and he lost his basketball game and was upset with his coach. So we sang Did you think to pray with him and read in a chapter from the book of mormon related to his situation and it really helped him feel more at peace. He recognized he needed to forgive his coach. We also saw Nicole and her family. We found their last name is Grant so I will call them the Grant family. They are doing well. We had a short lesson on the beginning part of the restoration.

     Friday we taught Junika again about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. That was interesting to teach to an 8 year old but we kept it super super simple and it was good. We also saw Sister Jones. We taught about the restoration and it was powerful. She felt the spirit again. She asked the process of becoming a member and she accepted a date for baptism for Feb 18. She knows what we are teaching her is true and she accepted to come to church on Sunday. We also saw Keemar and his mom Caroline. We watched finding happiness with them and it was good. It was a short lesson because it was late and they were tired after a long day at work. It was great that they were still willing to have a lesson. 

     Saturday there was going to be a baptism but it got post poned and that changed our day. We were able to see Dwayne again and we taught specifically about the priesthood authority because he hasn't accepted baptism yet because he has been baptized already and it helped a lot. Things started to click for him. He doesn't completely believe this was the only church with authority but he said he would pray about it. We missed him at church this week but he's been reading. We saw Renee and taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has been reading and marking in the Book of Mormon and loves it. Though he recognizes that he needs to spend more time in it. We focused a lot on repentance and becoming clean. We found that he has work on Sunday each week for a while so he won't be able to come to church. Maybe he could get a Sunday off but when a Sunday opens up he plans on coming. We also saw Patrick and had a similar lesson as Dwayne about authority for the same reason. It turned out really good. His church has a big function this week so he didn't come to church but he committed to come next Sunday for the whole 3 hours. 

     Sunday was awesome! I gave my talk on missionary work which went over well. People really enjoyed it. Sister Meredith and Thania came to church with the Sobers. Sister Meredith was so happy. She has become a lot more happy lately and it's great! Chedrian came to church! We found that she has been planning on coming for the last serveral weeks but both weeks she went to bed really late and woke up late. Last week she went to bed at 7:00 in the morning and was still planning on waking up to come to church for 10:00 but she slept through. This week she went to bed early so she could wake up and make it to church. She loved it and received great fellowship from Sister Daniel who knew her already. Sister Jones also came and she really loved it. She was very happy and glad she came and she will continue to come. We brought Sister Daniel to the Grant family for another lesson on the restoration. They didn't read what we had assigned because they were busy so we read with them the assigned part from the picture book of mormon about the restoration. Hannah the 12 year old is super bright and understands so well. She talks a lot and asks awesome questions. They accepted to read and pray about it. Nicole said she's been praying. We also saw Juanita. We only saw her. The others were out playing road tennis. She read what we left her. We gave her a family and temples track and she really loved learning that families can be sealed together. She wants that and loves the idea. It gave her a lot of hope that her and her family can make it. She is praying that her family will join. She didn't come this week to church but she fully committed to come next week. We also had a little lesson about agency and the fall with Khalil. He's been doing well. He went out with the other missionaries teaching yesterday and loved it. 

   It's been a great week! We are really happy with our investigators and all the good they are doing. We love them dearly. We are doing all we can to help them learn and accept this gospel. It is the true way to peace and happiness now and for eternity. 

    I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder King