Letter Home - Week 84

Hey family,

This week we prepped Sister Jones for baptism. She passed her interview and was baptized and confirmed this week. The service was a spiritual highlight for me this week. It was simple and beautiful. I could really feel the spirit there. I gave the little talk on baptism. The coolest part was that Fred Sobers was the one who baptized Sister Jones. He did a great job. He said it was an honor to do it. Sister Jones is doing great and is happy. We were able to teach Asa this week who is the 14 year old boy that I believe I mentioned earlier. We gave him the book of mormon and now he is already on chapter 13. He keeps it under his pillow and reads every night. He has such a strong belief in Christ and such a great desire to follow him. He believes that God sent us in answer to his prayers. He accepted to be baptized. Heavenly Father has prepared Asa's heart to accept the gospel at this time in his life from all the family challenges and experiences he has had that have led him to pray hard and desire this so much right now in his life. He thinks of us like two Angels that God has sent to him. It's amazing to see and a great blessing to be able to share the gospel with him. Fred also gave his first lesson in Priesthood class. It was a lesson on the talk given in Conference by Elder Renlund on repentance. It was a really spiritual lesson and he did a great job. It's been a good week though no one came to church. We did everything we could yet it was to no avail. Here is an up to date with how all our investigators are doing:

Sister Jones: BAPTIZED!

Renee: He hasn't been to church yet though he keeps telling us that he is coming. He has been making big steps though with the word of wisdom. He still has challenges but he is making good progress. He is reading and praying and believes what we are teaching him is the truth. His wife is going to be moving in shortly. He is making arrangements for her to come. 

Patrick: He has really been studying and praying to know if the gospel is true. We promised him that if he would come to church he would receive his answer and he didn't come this week. Maybe he'll come another week but we think he is having a hard time with the idea of leaving his church. It would be difficult because he has teaching responsibilities at his church. Most reasons he gives of why he doesn't come is because of his church responsibilities. 

Juanita: She was going to come to church but she got up too late to come. We weren't able to see her this week. She has had a busy week with work. She is still reading. 

Meredith: We've had a few lessons with her and we found that she doesn't want to be baptized right now. She feels she isn't ready and she isn't willing at all to tell us why. She doesn't want to talk about it. We found that Andre doesn't really have that big of a problem with her being baptized but he just wants her to make sure she is ready before. She hasn't been to church for several weeks. She said she is coming next week though and is still reading in the book of mormon. She did say that before she makes this step she really wants to know that this is the right decision. So I think the challenge is a mix between repentance and testimony. 

Sobers: They are doing just great! They are coordinating to when the time comes to go to the temple with another Mother and Daughter that were recently baptized. 

Junika: We are continuing to reteach the missionary discussions with her. She is super smart and remembers it all. She is always so happy and her and her mom were at church this Sunday. We are going to have an FHE tonight with them. 

Keemar: A less active who started to read his scriptures more. He works a lot which makes it tough for him to come to church. Right now is a stressful time in his life. 

Ulanda: She had something come up so we couldn't teach her this week and she didn't come to church. She has been a couple times to church and is starting to make progress. 

Ziggy: He is a friend of Enrico and is 20. He has taken an interest in the book of mormon. He believes what we are teaching him  is true yet he finding it hard to exercise his faith and keep his commitments. 

Asa: The 14 year old we recently started teaching. His mother is a Rasta and doesn't believe at all in Christ but his grandmother does and took him to church growing up. He believes very much in God and Christ and wants to change his life and start going to and serving in church. He accepted baptism and is reading a lot in the book of mormon. 

Alisean: We started playing basketball with young adults in our area on wednesday nights with encouragement given by President Herrington and we found that Alisean plays at the court where we went to go play. It opened him up more to us. We had a lesson on the plan of salvation and it was great. He was intrigued by what we taught and learned so much. He accepts the things we teach him. 

Grants: We were finally able to see them and had a good lesson to help them get back on track for baptism. They want to be baptized together and they know this is what they need to do. They are praying to know a date to work towards.

Chedrian: We keep trying but we haven't been able to teach her. She is pretty busy. 

John, Simon, and Nadecia: Simon is John's father and Nadecia is John's girlfriend. We recently started to teach them and though a little doubtful they are wanting to learn more and fully understand our message. Nadecia has more potential. She is more believing and accepting. 

These are the people we are working with right now. Well I gotta go. I love you all!! Choose the right and you'll be blessed! Test it! It works! The gospel is true!

Love,

Elder King