Letter Home - Week 83

Dear family,

     It's been a good week! We had our zone conference this week and Elder Gonzales of the Seventy and his wife came. It was an uplifting and spiritual mtg. All the other English Islands skyped in to the mtg. and were able to comment and participate in the mtg. Elder Gonzales also held a member and friends devotional in the evening. Thelma gave the opening prayer at the devotional. The devotional went over the similar topic as in the zone conference which was on member missionary work. There is a big focus on building up the kingdom of God and establishing the church. There was a big focus on baptism. He also gave some tips and counsel on always opening your mouth to share the gospel which is so vitally important. One of the tips that stuck out to me was that of building common ground with those we teach and talk to. That means to find something in common with the person and then teach to help them grow instead of finding things that are different first which can make them put up walls against the message we are sharing. So like if someone were to say when initially contacting them No I'm not interested I've already got my own church you would say that's great we believe in going to church too! From there you might say though we believe that God has restored his one true church on the earth today and go on from there. It works great! There was a lot more to the conference than I can write but more important than what was said was the spirit felt there and what the spirit spoke to each person there. In the mtg. through thoughts and feelings that came to me I recognized my utter dependance upon the Godhead for help. We need them for everything. They are there for us and do so much more for us than we realize. I am truly grateful for how intertwined they are in the details of my life in teaching me, in guiding me, and in helping me to find peace and joy in this life and eternal life in the next. I love them!

     Sister Jones is looking all set for baptism this weekend. We are going over the final preparations with her. We had invited her to read a chapter in Alma and she ended up reading the first  40 chapters. Since the first time teaching her she says she always feels a peace and a calm whenever we come over and recognized the Holy Ghost. She is faithfully living all the commandments and told us she's been Mormon for years with how she has been living her life. She and ourselves are looking forward to her baptism this week. Ulanda who is a less active came to church again this week. We've been bringing Bro. Sampson to teach her and they get along great. He is a great help to her. We found a youth named Asa this week who we will be seeing tonight who is just awesome! When we contacted him he was so interested and when we followed up with him he has been reading and was excited to tell us about how he read about Joseph Smith and how an angel appeared to him and showed him some gold plates. We are excited to go and teach him. There was also the counsel given to find and teach the youth and young single adults and I know the Lord has prepared this young man's heart and placed him in our path. The Lord is doing his work. It's amazing and miraclulous to witness and be a part of everyday. Fred passed the sacrament this week for the first time. He did so good. He also received an assignment to teach priesthood next week. He accepted it willingly. The Sobers also applied the counsel from the devotional in addition to finding people for the missionaries to teach to also feeding the missionaries and made us a Sunday lunch which we were very grateful for. It was a treat. :) They made chicken, rice, veggies, and mac pie! 

     I will give a more in depth update on all the people we are teaching and how they are doing next week. Things are going great though! :)

     I know this gospel is true! I love it! I love you all!

Love,

Elder King