Letter and Pictures - Week 30

Hey guys!

This week has been good. We went on a trade off with the DL in Vieux Fort and his companion on Friday(Elder Alldredge and Elder Tye). On Tuesday we went on trade off with Elder Wallentine and Elder Powell. I went down to Vieux Fort with Elder Tye. It was fun to go back down there. I've been down there a couple times since being up here in Castries and have been able to see some of the people down there. I've seen Earl and Ambrose. They are doing well. It was a fun time going with Elder Tye. We did some good work and we found a few people who I believe are prepared by the Lord to be taught by the missionaries. I went with Elder Powell in our area. He is a great missionary and he has great desires to do the work. When I went on trade off last week with Elder Platt we contacted into this lady named Joan and she is really cool. She's looking for the truth. We gave her a book of Mormon when we met her and she's already reading. We had a good first lesson this week and hope things continue to go well. We met with Shenelle a couple times this week. She started reading as well. Sadly she and Villia didn't come to church.  Both said they would come. We don't know why they didn't but we will follow up on that when we meet with them. This week we have MLC and Zone Conference. We leave to Barbados right after we finish emailing for MLC and then after we get back we have Zone Conference. It will be fun. I'm excited for it. It also means though that we will be out of our area a lot this week. Hopefully we can make it productive and still do some good work during the little time we have. I love you guys! Hope you all have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

 

FHE at Sister Sarah's! Kevin came along with us. She made us some really good fish cakes. I'm not sure what they are called but they were really good. After we had the lesson we ate and played a fun game. It was a good time.

 

 

Visiting Ambrose with Elder Tye this week.

 

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 29

Hey Family!

It's good to hear you all had a good week. Though I hope those who are sick get better. I enjoyed participating in the fast for Jay. I had to make a sacrifice and pass up a good meal(they had cake and ice cream too) with all the missionaries at a members house but it was worth it for Jay :) I'm glad to hear he joined in on the fast as well. It means a lot to hear all the good progress and changes that are occurring in his life. I too feel that he will be a blessing to others with his exemplary acts of faith and trust in the Lord. He is already a good example to me. This week we had zone mtg. It was amazing. Elder Moli and I taught along with the Sister Training Leaders (Sister Maico and Sister Conrad) It was a powerful lesson on the Atonement of Christ and repentance. The Spirit was so strong there and it was moving. It caused me to reflect more into my life as a missionary and realize where I'm at and where I need to go. The Spirit prompted me to reach for higher and do more as it often pleads for us to do. It caused me to think of the Savior and his love for us. His selfless act was motivated by his perfect love for us and Heavenly Father. Learning of it makes me want show my love back to him by using the atonement more in my life. I want to develop greater love for others and for my Heavenly Father and I know that that change is possible through Christ and his gospel. I gave a talk in sacrament mtg this sunday. With the busy week I soon found that sunday morning was here and I had yet to prepare. Oops. I had a little over an hour to prepare. It went way better than expected. The Spirt helped me along in preparation and in giving the talk. I thought it was really good. It was on our duties in life like our duty to God, to our families, and to others. I learned about how we have the obligation to first learn out duty and then to act and fulfill our duties. It was a powerful reminder to me that I can't become complacent and I constantly have to learn and remind myself of my duties and then go forward with faith and do them. Our main duty in life is to be obedient to God and his commandments. How we learn our duty is to prayerfully ask God to know, and the to seek an answer through studying in the scriptures, attending church/temple, and other classes and mtgs. It's been a great week. Hope you all have a great one!

Love,

Elder King

Kevin: Doesn't work but is looking for a job. He lives with his parents and has a small room where he sleeps and studies under his parents home. He comes out with us teaching most days since we have to have a male present at each lesson we teach to women. He enjoys it and is learning a lot. It's amazing to see his understanding improve day by day. He is still learning but it's great to see things coming along. He puts in a lot of hard work to learn and grow. He has a strong desire to follow Christ. He is working towards March 5th.

Villia: She does housekeeping. She loves animals. She has a lot of little puppies and cats. She also has some bigger farm animals. She too wants to change and follow Christ. She wants to be baptized and she is working towards March 12th. We taught the plan of salvation last night to her. She enjoyed it. She is always so welcoming to us.

We've met some other cool people the past couple weeks. Ariana's(the one we baptized) mother, Sister Sarah, has a friend who has been taught before by the missionaries named Kim. She actually referred the missionaries over to Sister Sarah and she got baptized a year ago but Kim never got baptized. She is now seeking help and wants the same change that Sister Sarah had occur in her life. We had a finding lesson with her and she just opened up to us. She talked a lot but when there was a pause we bore powerful testimony that the gospel will help her. We gave her a book of Mormon and invited her to read. She said she will. She's friends with Sister Sarah and talks with her. Sister Sarah wants to get involved and help out too. Hopefully things work out well and we will be able to help Kim build in faith and repent to lead her to baptism. I taught a guy named Tyson actually on an exchange with the DL (Elder Platt) and it was a great lesson on the restoration. He is so prepared. We invited him to be baptized and gave him a date to work towards (March 19). He readily accepted and is willing to do the things to prepare. He has realized in his life that the world has nothing to offer and he wants to turn his life to God.

Things are going well and I'm enjoying life here in the Caribbean! Love you guys!

The Zone :) from left to right

Top: Elder Nixon, Elder Platt, Elder Powell, Elder Wallentine, Elder Alldredge, Elder Miller, Elder Tye, Elder Hardy

Middle: Elder Mikesell, Sister Layton, Sister Campbell, Sister Maico, Sister Conrad, Sister Benn, Sister Nelson

Bottom: Elder King, Elder Ropati, Elder Moli, Elder Lameta, Elder Johnson

 

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 28

Hey guys!

Sounds like you all had a fun week! Full of good things. :) Last week at church there were a lot of tourists there on vacation. The ladies you talked with mom were there and we started talking and they asked where I was from and I obviously I told them Africa and they were like no way that's so cool! Then they said they were from Orem and I was like no way I know people from there! They are really awesome people! With all my enthusiasm she was like I definitely need to meet them and so she then got in contact with ya :) There are like 50-70 at church each week just like in Vieux Fort. The money each money is plenty but it's only used for certain things like food and travel. It's not used for souvenirs. Gas is normal but food is a little more expensive. Our apartment is nice and yes it has a shower in it. The missionaries are well taken care of. There are people here who's homes are very poor and then those that are really nice. Yes it's nice that we've found a good family to work with and progress to baptism. We teach them at different times though. Shatal is 3 months along with her baby and she had to go to the hospital for surgery. The baby and the mom is fine thankfully. I don't know exactly what it was. I think she had a thyroid or something. We went and visited her there in the hospital. She enjoyed that. She's been reading. We haven't been able to visit with her unfortunately. We will though once she's out of the hospital. She's ready to get out of there. I don't blame her though. It's kinda a sketchy place. I hope I don't have to go there for any reason. She's doing well though. She has friends and family that have been there for her. So there are two kevin's that we have been teaching. One is progressing the other, the one with the girlfriend and attends a 7th day church, said he doesn't want to waste our time and visit with him anymore because he's fine where he's at. We talked with him and let him know we are always there for him if he changes his mind. He wasn't really progressing. I think he was more curious than anything and when we tried to visit him it was hard. He may be ready later on but not now. He has a copy of the book of Mormon that he can read and he has our number if he changes his mind. He was nice and we left with our testimonies. Hopefully one day he will put in the effort to seek, knock, and ask. It was sad for us. The other kevin is progressing really well. We just had a great lesson on the plan of salvation and he loved understanding his purpose in life and knowing where he came from. He wants to be in the Celestial Kingdom with God and Jesus Christ and understands what he needs to do to get there. He was struggling to pray on his own about the book of Mormon but he overcame his fear and had faith and said his prayer one night after he read. He will continue to read and pray to gain his answer. This week we had MLC and it was amazing. I learned a great deal about the Atonement and repentance. We will then take what we learned and share it with the zone tomorrow in Zone Mtg. We have a great lesson planned for it. I'm excited. The mission life is great! Not struggle free but it's good :) Love you all so much! Have a fantastic week!

 

Love,

Elder King

 

This is Kevin in his little room under his mother's home where we teach him :) He is great! 

 

 

So Christina is the one in white and the lady on the right is Sancha who is Christina's daughter. There's not anther guy in the photo.

 

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 27

It's great to hear about all the good things that are happening! Trek sounds fun for Kaylee. It's good to hear that school and work is going well. I love hearing about Jay and the missionaries. I'll be joining in on the special family fast. I wish I could've gone to the temple with you guys. We had transfer calls last week on Saturday and then this past week on Wednesday is when all the changing around took place. Elder Moli and I took those that were leaving to the airport and then later picked up those coming in. They were 5 coming and 5 going and at several different times. It was fun. Then on Thursday morning we did all the paperwork for each of the new missionaries so they can be legal here in St. Lucia. Everything worked out well for the most part. Elder Nixon coming in from St. Maartin got stuck in Barbados for the night. He was taken care of though. We picked him up in the morning. We also had the baptism of Christina who I interviewed. She was first taught by Elder Moli and Elder Clement and then Elder Hardy and Elder Platt finished the teaching. She is a wonderful lady and loves to feed us missionaries. We've had several times of going over to her humble home and her providing for us. There home is like the ones you've heard about where it's very small and the showers are outside. She doesn't have much in the eyes of the world but she has a wonderful family and friends who love her. She was so happy when she went through on her righteous decision to follow Christ and be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. She had the biggest smile on her face and felt good about what she did. Despite the time taken away we still had some good lessons this week. We extended a few baptismal invitations and set some dates. Alma accepted a date and Villia as well for March 12. Villia and Alma are sisters who live close to each other. We teach them separately. We teach Villia and a lady named Shenellle together. Both of them came to church this week and they loved it. We will set a date with Shenelle just now. They've started their reading in the book of Mormon. We hope to see them continue to progress. Kevin has been doing everything we ask him to do and he is feeling the joy of doing so. He comes out with us to our teaching appointments and comes to church and also to baptisms. He reads and prays. His prayers are getting better each time we visit. He is a bit slower in his understanding so we are going through the lessons slowly but he is diligent and tries his best. I've been studying a lot about the plan of salvation lately and I read a talk by Elder Hales on it that I really liked. In the talk he said that as we seek to understand more about God's plan of happiness for us, His children, and couple that effort with prayer that it will change the way we see life. There is another quote from somewhere else that I liked that said that life makes more sense from the creator's perspective. I know that God's plan is perfect because of Christ and his atoning sacrifice and that this is the way to true lasting happiness. I love you all!

 

Love,

Elder King 

Christina Didier's baptism. This is her family. Elder Hardy on the left and Elder Platt on the right.

Letter and Pictures - Week 26

Hey!

So with this week being transfer week we all got our calls from President Herrington and Elder Moli and I will be staying in the same place. There are a lot of changes though with the other missionaries so we will have to deal with all of that. It will be fun. That's cool that Mom and Dad were able to go to visit the Hornes. All the missionaries love them. Miguel is the son of Sister Sarah and he is about 11. Ariana is doing well and has already found and started attending the ward out in Columbia. Alma is the mother of David. We have only taught a few times but she has started to read in the Book of Mormon. She hasn't come to church yet but hopefully next week she will come. She lives next to a strong member named Odellia who is around 20. Hopefully things work out well with Alma. We haven't been able to visit with David and Shatal unfortunately. We were out of our area a lot this week.  Elder Moli and I flew to Barbados to on Thursday evening and came back Saturday morning. We went to do an exchange with the Assistants to the President. I went with Elder Pape and Elder Moli went with Elder Stewart-Johnson. Both are exemplary missionaries. I learned a lot from them. They are so loving and selfless. We had a worldwide broadcast on Wednesday for all missionaries which was awesome. It was some really great training. I learned about the importance of the Spirit in teaching. Us as missionaries are vessels for the Spirit. The Spirit carries the message UNTO the heart of the people and not INTO the heart. God respects agency so much that he will not force anyone to have faith and repent but He is constantly inviting us to make the change and provides a way for to do so. My job as a missionary is to be worthy of the Spirit. We have been teaching a guy named Kevin recently who is really progressing. He is reading, praying, coming to church, has a date for baptism, and he even comes out teaching with us. He loves learning and has been progressing really well. Hope you all are doing well! I love you guys a ton!

Love,
Elder King

P.S. - Yep the McFarlane family were originally contacted by the Horne's and a lot came from it. I was blessed to be around them but yeah we had to walk a lot to get to them and teach them. Lots of hills but it's a pretty road to get there. I enjoyed going up there.  There are public places to wash clothes and shower.

BAPTISM OF JOHNATHAN!

 

Elder Moli taught him with his companion Elder Hardy and then was transferred so Elder Hardy and Elder Platt (the other two in the photo) continued to teach him and he was able to be baptized on Saturday. Elder Platt is the DL and since Elder Moli taught him before I performed the interview for him on Friday and it was a really spiritual experience. Johnathan was well prepared and he has a strong testimony and a desire to be baptized. Others tried to put doubts in his mind and question his judgment but he pushed forward determined. He was really happy and also nervous but it was a great experience for him and for me. He later that day came out teaching with Elder Moli and I and he really helped our investigators understand the Spirit which was way cool. We just sat back as they talked together. He is a great guy and loves the gospel.

 

This is Sister Sarah's and Sister Tessa's family. Both are members who live next to each other. Sometimes we go and have a combined family home evening with them. It's fun. Sister Tessa isn't in the pic. But in there is Ariana, Miguel, and the little girl in Sister Sarah's arms and these three and her kids. Then there is Nelida and Nile who are Sister Tessa's kids. In the back in Zidanne who you all saw on Skype. :)

Today, for P-day we went to Pigeon Island which is an old fort on top of these hills on the coast. You can look up more about it but it was pretty cool. It had a great view. 

Pirate ship sailing in the ocean

THIS IS GORDON HUMOR ALL THE WAY!

Enemy ships ahoy!! Fire the cannons! Boom Boom....oh no they're firing back at us! ahhh look out!

Letter and Pictures - Week 25

Another week down! Next week I'll hit my 6th month mark and will be 1/4 of the way complete with my mission! As I think about it I think of how nice it will be to be finished and then I also think of how much I will miss the work here. It is such a blessing to be a missionary and to have an impact on people's lives. There is a lot of joy that comes from missionary service. It's often called the Labor of Love and we all need at one point a helping hand from someone who reached out of love. Then I think of the Savior and his hands how they are always extended out to each of us. He extends them out of love for us. I know our Savior lives and loves each one of us. I know we have a loving Heavenly Father. I know they both, out of love, want each of us to return to our Father's Heavenly home. All we have to do is reach to the Savior and believe in him and his loving words. But the end of my mission is a ways away which is cool because there is a lot more goodness and love to spread around. This week was good. Unfortunately we weren't able to visit with Alma and Shatal and David. They were busy but hopefully we will catch them a couple times next week. Shatel and Joseph we saw once. They are looking for a way to get to church. We talked with them about the book of mormon and read with them to help them with understanding what they read. No real progress with those other three. It was also hard to visit them. We spent a good deal of time with Ariana and preparing her for her baptism which went very well on Saturday. She was so excited to be baptized and confirmed a member and receive the Holy Ghost. She took everything in that we taught and started applying it to her life. She absolutely loves the gospel and I've never seen anyone progress so quickly. She was so happy before and after her baptism and confirmation. She felt so good and I don't think it will be a day she will every forget. She will be a good influence on her friends and family back in Columbia as she has already been such a good influence on her mother and brother (Sister Sarah and Miguel). She wants to share the gospel with all those around her. It's been so great to see the impact of the gospel on her life. Yeah I just interviewed Johnathan but it was such a great experience for me to do so. I felt the Spirit really strong. Elder Moli and his companion, Elder Hardy, found and started teaching Johnathan. He actually just gave his first talk on Sunday and it was really good. The ship was changed after the movie. It's now like a tourist ship where people can pay a bit to take a ride and sail around. The beginning of the first movie was filmed here in St. Lucia. Yeah Sister Stewart, who was in my mtc district, and Sister Nelson, who I served with down in Vieux Fort, both got there purses stolen with a lot of there stuff in them. It wasn't cool and Sister Nelson was shaken up a bit about it. They are okay though. I'm glad they didn't get physically hurt. It would be scary to have that happen. We started teaching a few new people this week. There are three that have a lot of potential. They are Ron, Maverick, and Tyson. All three are searching for the truth. Hopefully we can give them the direction they need to find it in a way that they will exercise their faith and find it. I know this Church contains the fullness of truth that will heal us and set us free if we let it. I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week!

 

Love, 

Elder King

 

Elder Wallentine, Elder Moli, Ariana, and Elder King. I baptized and the other two witnessed.

 

Today, we all as a zone played soccer! Though there was a bit of mud from the rain yesterday! Super fun with everyone slipping and sliding around :)

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 24

Man this transfer is flying by! I feel like I just started it but it's already the start of week 5! This week was great. Monday - Volleyball! And we had FHE with a family in the branch who were baptized about a year ago. Tuesday - We taught an older guy named Alfred who wants to be baptized. We are trying our best to help him understand more about baptism and the gospel because he believes all he has to do is be baptized to be saved. We are trying to help him develop faith. We also taught a family the restoration and it went over pretty well. The names are Kevin(Father), Velma (girlfriend to the father), Craig (Father's son), and Princia (Sisters to either Kevin or Velma and then there are lots of little kids. We are trying to continue to teach them. Wednesday - we contacted a cool young couple with 3 kids who love learning about the gospel. Names Shatel and Joseph. They were taught before a couple times by other missionaries but they have a hard time getting transport to church otherwise they would be golden. We started teaching a 14 year old girl of a member who is leaving to Columbia this next week and she will be baptized on Saturday. Her name is Ariana and her Mom is Sister Sarah. We teach everyday and she loves it and has a strong testimony. She has been coming to church for a while now. Fastest baptism ever! haha It's been way fun to teach her. Thursday - More teaching and finding. Friday - Interview for Johnathan. Saturday - Baptism of Johnathan. Sunday - Confirmation of Johnathan. I'm running out of time but it was a great week. Love you all lots! Thanks for writing! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

 

Today for P-Day we went down to the Marina and saw the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean and got to go on the boat and take some pics! It was awesome! There were two boats there. The first was used in the movie in the background. It was filmed here in St. Lucia to start and then the rest was filmed on the island of St. Vincent. The original actually sank during filming and the second was built after the movies and is used to take people on tours. Both were cool to see.

 

 

 

 

 

Elder Moli and I. And in case you forgot cause it's been a while Elder Moli is on the left and I'm on the right ;) It's been great serving with him. I look up to him a lot!

 

 

The two Samoan's who sang. Elder Lameta on the left who came out the same time as me and then Elder Ropati on the right who's been out for over a year. They are companions right now. They are fun :)

 

 

 

Letter Home - Week 23

Hey guys!

 

This week we got to spend a little more time in our area but there was still a bit of other matters that we had to tend to. We are blanking the area so we don't have a big teaching pool as of now but we have a few who we have high hopes for. We contacted into a younger couple named Shatal and David who are expecting soon and really want to start their family with Christ in their lives. They are really searching. We have taught only once but it was a good finding lesson to see what they want out of life and what they are looking for. We have really been working around the members to find people to teach and also been talking to as many people as we can. There's another lady named Louise who is in her 20's that we contacted into and taught a lesson who has a lot of questions and seems really interested. We had an MLC or mission leadership council meeting this week. It was kinda intimidating to me to be around so much experience as there were the mission president and his wife, the AP's to the president, and all the other zone and sister training leaders in the mission present. It is so great to learn from their experience. The meeting went about 4 hours and was inspiring. We will be having a zone mtg. tomorrow where Elder Moli and I will take the things from the mtg. and teach it to the zone. It's great to hear about all the fun you guys are having. It's such a wonderful time of the year. I love that precious time with family. I'm so jealous of what Jay gets to experience! That tour sounds absolutely incredible! At the request of Kim my new years resolution is to study more about Christ and his character and to strive to become like him. I hope also to dive more into the book of Mormon and be able to use this amazing gift and tool to bless the lives of those I teach. I love you guys so much! Hope you all have a great week and please write! I love hearing from you all! Thank you for the efforts of those who do write me. I really appreciate it :)

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 22

A note about this letter:  I asked Gordon to give us more detail on the people he's worked with in Vieux Fort.  I'm compiling a list of his contacts and baptisms with information about each.

 

Hey Family,

 

It was great to see and actually talk with you guys! I loved it so much. I spent time writing about the different people that I taught this week. Shantel's mother's name is Shaunta. Shaunta is a member and is dating a member named Dannus. Earl is a carpenter. Rodrique works at a warehouse and is dating Mamma Sherba's daughter named Veena and they have a daughter named Skii(sky). Ambrose is a mechanic but did not work with Earl. They are friends at church but live in different areas. Ambrose lives in the main part of Vieux Fort while Earl lives up in the hills of Vigier. Sherline and Shequan kept being taught by the missionaries. She is a really strong Catholic though and so it was hard for her to get away from the ties she had there. I will need to follow up to see if she is still being taught. Christian stopped working with Ambrose and started work elsewhere. He stopped coming to church and the impression I felt from him was that he didn't really want us meeting with him and for quite a time lost contact with him. It was really sad to see. Max didn't want to give up drinking and smoking. He too was kinda running away from us and lost contact with him. Lenelle(Patrick's father) is cousin's with the McFarlane boys. I think the relation is on Pauline's side. Patrick does security at a local school and other things as well. Both Patrick and Lenelle are progressing towards baptism but the hard part is finding transportation to church. James Daniel became really hard to find home and teach. He never came to church and wasn't reading in the book of Mormon. He has health problems and one day we heard he was in the hospital so we went to visit him. He didn't look to good. He couldn't really communicate but the impression we got from him was that he didn't want us there so we left. That was the last I saw him. The strange thing was that we were told that he wanted us there by another person. Patrice comes to church a lot and she loves it. She has a daughter around 10 years of age. Patrice has a hard time understanding but has a good heart. Hopefully she will continue in her faithfulness and one day when the understanding comes become a baptized member of the church. Nash is an older guy about 63 I think. He lives with his brother named Stephen that he takes care of. Stephen has been in and out of the hospital for his blood pressure. Nash is a good guy but struggles with applying his faith in God. He came to church once but not since and because of his eyesight has a hard time reading the book of Mormon.  Urania is Megan's mother. Her grandma is named Sis. Baptist and she is a faithful member with a strong testimony. Megan I think will get baptized soon but the mother is struggling with her faith. She is letting other things keep her from going forward. It is really sad to see when people give up and quit pursuing answers from Heavenly Father. One thing I've learned about when we seem to hit a road block or when the road we are traveling gets rocky is that if we SEEK(a verb which mean action is required) help from the Lord. Just like Joseph Smith we need to turn to God in prayer and scripture/gospel study to FIND answers to our problems. Matt 7:7-8 It requires patience and faith but to those who are really seeking and really desire it answers do come. If we read Moroni's promise in the back of the book of Mormon(Moroni 10:3-5) it tells us that in order to gain answers and receive revelation from God we need to do something first. We have to pay the price to receive the reward. It won't just be given to us but the promise is there. If we do our part answers do come. I love you guys so much and I hope you all have a fabulous New Years!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 21

Hey Everybody!

 

This week has been crazy busy. Unfortunately, not much proselyting was done though. With transfers missionaries were leaving and new ones coming in so Elder Moli and I had to make sure everything worked out with that. We were basically a taxi service picking up and taking people to the airport and a lot of other miscellaneous things. And yes that means we have a car and no Elder Moli cannot drive. So before all of this I had to get a driving permit for here in St. Lucia and immediately after start driving on the left side of the road. It's been fun. It's different but not as bad as I thought. I've been here for almost 5 months so I'm used to being on the left side. If I were to start immediately driving from when I first arrived here in St. Lucia it would be harder to transition. We had a Branch Christmas Luau Party on Friday and it was awesome! It felt like a ward party back home. I like the Branch up here in Castries. There's a lot more kids and youth and it feels like a family. I'm blanking our area which means that neither Elder Moli or I were working in it so we are doing our best to find people to teach and build up our teaching pool. We are doing what we can to work closely with the members and teach their friends and family. I find that that works best and a lot of success can be found in doing so. Elder Moli is from Tonga and is one of the hardest working missionaries I know. I will learn a lot from him during my time serving with him as I have already learned a lot just this past week. He has been out 10 months. He is super obedient, he gets things done, and he really loves the people. I saw this love when we went to visit a family he had been teaching for the last time. Saying goodbye he broke down in tears. It was really hard for him to leave them. I heard Patrick and Lenelle both accepted to work towards a baptismal date this past week and Patrick came to church. He only came once a while ago and hadn't been back for many weeks. Junior is also doing really well. He as an investigator has already started going out with the missionaries teaching. He is on ch. 20 in the book of Mormon and came not only to church the past two weeks but also an activity today and the baptism for Earl. He is awesome. I love to see it when people are changing their lives. I love to see the light and happiness that follows making the right choices. Choose the right let the consequence follow. Hope you all have a great time this Christmas Season and I'll see you all on Friday!!

 

Much Love,

Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 20

Well it's been a fun time serving in the Vieux Fort Branch but it has come to a close. Now I will be up in the Castries Branch which is on the other side of the island in St. Lucia. I've finished my time with Elder Whipple and how great those 12 weeks were. I loved serving with him. He is a great missionary. He is hardworking and obedient while still being able to have fun. I will now be serving as Zone Leader with Elder Moli who has been the Zone Leader for St. Lucia. Both of us will be ZL's as he will be training me to be one. All I can say is....crazy.... but I'm happy to do it and to serve and help out in the Zone where I can. Earl's baptism was amazing. It went super well. I was privileged to be the one to perform it and Elder Horne confirmed him a member and gave him the Holy Ghost. I can probably get you guys there contact info so you can meet them. As for Skype, unfortunately because of location and inaccessibility I was sadly informed that it will not be happening....not on Christmas or any other day...only email as usual. Maybe it will work out for mother's day but we will see. Love you guys tons and I hope you don't hate me for nearly giving you a heart attack for making a funny joke ;) sorry but I had to haha. Of course there will be Skype on Christmas and I can't wait!! I will make note of mike's schedule to make sure that we Skype after 12:00 your time or 3:00 our time. Definitely send me your Skype name. There was this guy named Junior that is 21 that Elder Whipple and I started teaching and he is progressing really fast. He is awesome and I am sure he will be baptized soon. I'm sad I don't get to see it through. This past week was fun but hard. I hate goodbyes. It was hard to leave the people in Vieux Fort as I've loved serving them so much. It was so amazing and I am grateful for the time I had to spend there and the people I was able to meet. I love you guys tons! 10 days!!! Hope you all have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

 

Earl at his baptism!

 

 

 

Elder Whipple and Elder Tye witnessed and I performed the baptism. I asked Earl how he felt after and he said that he felt great! He was a happy guy. He was saddened when I told him that I was leaving. I will miss their family but I'm glad to see them all get baptized before I left.  

 

 

Ambrose and Gaius were baptized together. I'm happy that I was able to see them get baptized as well before I left. I was able to interview Gaius and he is an awesome guy. 

 

 

 

I witnessed along with Unan(member who is turning in his papers to be a missionary) the baptism of Ambrose and then I gave Ambrose the Holy Ghost. It basically was a blessing of strength against temptation. Then Unan baptized Gaius(who was taught by the sister missionaries) and Elder Whipple and I witnessed. Unan helped a lot in the teaching of Gaius.

 

 

 

Hiked to a cool waterfall two p-day's ago. The hike lasted about 30 seconds...hahah  Last p-day we went on a bus tour around the island which was cool and then this p-day we had a zone activity at a beach and played some volleyball. 

 

 

 

After the 30 second hike we went on a real hike that went almost straight up this mountain. It was a sweet hike. Those peaks that you see are called the Pitons. There are two of them and they are incredible.

 

 

 

Bamboo Bunch! Saw this on the hike

 

 

 

Another pic from the hike and you can see one of the pitons

 

 

 

Pic from the tour around the island. It was a gorgeous view.

 

 

 

 

Letter Home - Week 19

Good afternoon!
 

This week has been a good week. My understanding about faith grew a lot this week. I've been thinking a lot about improving myself and my missionary efforts. The spirit is really an amazing teacher if we listen. I found many things that I can do. I wanted to change what I was doing right then but unless I did something and applied my faith nothing would change. It was something the spirit really helped me to see and it was a great blessing to me this week. The Christmas Devotional was exceptional and so inspiring. I hope you guys got the chance to see it last night. I've personally been working on faith this week for my Christlike attribute. I've set goals and tried different ways to make sure I achieve them. Earl's baptism got pushed back a week so we could finish all the lessons but we are excited for this Saturday. We had a really special lesson with him on Saturday night where the spirit was so strong. We watche the restoration video and shared testimonies after. Dad I'll work on compiling info for each person for you guys this week. I hope you all are having a wonderful christmas time! It truly is a wonderful time of year to reflect on the Savior. Love you all! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 18

Hey guys!

 

This week was jam packed with things to do! On Monday we had a thanksgiving dinner that was provided by Elder and Sister Horne. It was amazing! Reminded me of home. We had all the missionaries on the island there at the church and had a great time. Tuesday was district mtg where I taught about our purpose as missionaries. They all really enjoyed the mtg. One of the zone leaders and his companion came down for it and then after we went on a trade off. So I was with the zone leader and Elder Whipple went up to Castries for 24 hours. It was a good experience. I learned some good things as Elder Malyon (from London and yes he has a cool accent) and I taught a few people from my area. Friday we had zone conference with President and Sister Herrington. It took up the whole day but it was worth it. I loved the spiritual boost that came from it. It helped me think about and focus on some areas where I could improve and some areas where Elder Whipple and I could improve as comps. Saturday was the baptism of Ambrose and Gaius. Gaius is Sister Maughan's and Sister Nelson's investigator and he is really cool. I had the opportunity this week to interview him. The gospel has blessed both of their lives. We taught Dorothy on Saturday with her mom and brother. She read what we gave her last time and she is understanding what we teach. She had questions and we were able to answer them. She was really accepting and believing. We invited her to start reading from the book of mormon to gain her testimony and to really find out for herself the truth. We also went up to Earl's home and taught him. We've been teaching him about the different commandments and he has been really receptive to what we teach. He has changed a lot. His prayers when we invite him to pray at the end are really heartfelt and you can see the love that he has for God and his family. He is a good man. We hope all goes well this week and that he will be baptized this Saturday. On Sunday we gave Ambrose and Gaius the Holy Ghost. Since Elder Whipple baptized Ambrose I gave him the Holy Ghost and Elder Horne gave Gaius the Holy Ghost. After teaching some good lessons there was an area seventies broadcast for the carribean. We were able to teach a less active named Ange and bring him with us to teach Natalie who is very accepting and really understands and also to the broadcast. Then today as a district we went on a hike that was absolutely gorgeous! It was an adventure! Thanksgiving for you all sounded like fun! I bet the Elders were absolutely stuffed by the end of the day! Hope you all have a fantastic week!

 

Love,

Elder King 

Letter Home - Week 17

Hola mi familio,
 

Thanksgiving is this week! Hope you guys have fun! Today us Elders went to a field  for p  day and played a little touch football :) It was fun. We are going having our Thanksgiving feast today! I'm excited. Last week I was just a few days of feeling discouraged and because of the gospel I've bounced back and feeling really good! I'm happy :) I love the work and it just puts a smile on my face being a missionary. It also makes me happy to see how well things are going with you guys at home. I love you guys and can't wait until Christmas to skype you all :) One month! Next week will be my four month mark and it feels like time is just flying. It's really great weather down here right now by the way ;) Haha hope you guys stay warm! It feels like it's still the summer for me. The families we are teaching are doing really well. Ambrose if all goes well will be baptized this Saturday! He has made some great changes in his life. He loves God and wants to serve him to the end. I'm happy for him and the decisions he is making and has made. Earl will follow Ambrose the following week to join his family as a member of the church. :) Earl has made some big changes as well. He has really come a good way since I first met him. He has really been able to humble himself before God and gain a testimony of the Gospel. He has a strong testimony now of the Church. Megan who is one of the members grand daughter has been really faithful. She reads prays and comes to church each week. She is 16 and has a testimony. We were finally able to start teaching her mom together with her and we had a couple really good lessons with them. Hopefully the mom comes around so they can be baptized together and that their relationship together blossoms. There are a couple ladies that we started teaching that I feel really good about. I believe they are prepared for the Gospel. Their names are Natalie and Andrina. We've only taught one lesson to each so we will see what comes of it. There is also this guy named Gregory that I feel good about as well. He is looking for the truth and has started going through the book of mormon. He has great questions. He really wants to change his life. Rodrique is doing awesome! He loves the gospel and is so faithful. He will be a great blessing to the branch down here. He seems like a leader. The McFarlane boys are doing really well. Their family has been greatly blessed by the light of the gospel and they are seeing that. The mom Pauline is seeing her prayers answered of her whole family being part of the gospel. The Gospel just makes life sweet! There is good in everything. We just have to look for it. Love you all so much! Have a great week and take care!

 

Love,

Elder King

 

P.S. - The district mtgs are going really well. I'm learning a lot about how to be a better teacher and leader. It's cool. I've done two and tomorrow I'll do my third one. The first time I went through a Enos 1 verse 12 about desires and faith to help motivate the missionaries to take the good desires they have and nurture them with their faith. To have the faith to find ways to help their desires of being great missionaries come true. The missionaries in my district are already amazing and are really obedient. They inspire me to be a better missionary and I learn a lot from them. Last district mtg I talked about Christ like attributes to help build us missionaries up to them in turn help build our investigators up. Both I felt like went really well. I do attend ward council mtgs along with all the other missionaries. No pec. I take part with Elder Horne(branch president who is from Orem and is returning home in January. He also owns Talons Cove golf course. I thought Mike might like that. He and his wife are absolutely amazing and are a big help to us missionaries.) and Bro. Hippolyte(First Counselor from St. Lucia) in the weekly mtg before church where we discuss things about the branch. I sit on the stand and I assume one week I will conduct the Sacrament Mtg. Elder Odhiambo did when he was Second Counselor. I think they rotate between the three of us each month. So maybe next month it's my turn. I teach quite a bit as well in priesthood and gospel principles. Lots of work but I love it! Love you guys!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 16

Hello!

 

Love you guys! Thanks for the emails and pictures! Dad to answer your question I don't do interviews for the branch but I do do the interviews for baptism. This week was hard for me but in the end turned into a beautiful one. I just felt really down. I was beating myself up for things that I later realized were out of my control. I was looking at all the negative and it made it really hard. I was looking at all the areas where I wasn't doing well and putting unnecessary stress on myself to improve all at once instead of taking things one thing at a time and like it says in the scriptures how we learn and grow line upon line and precept upon precept. We also need a plan for improvement or else we have no hope. I'm so grateful for our Heavenly Father's plan for us and how this Gospel gives us the hope we need. To get over my troubles I turned to our only source of hope. I turned to my Heavenly Father. I turned to the Gospel. It is our ray of hope in a dark world. Through Jesus Christ we have access to the power of the Atonement. Through him we can change. I focused on what I could do instead of what I couldn't. I prayed. I read in my scriptures. I read conference talks. I found answers to help me along and as I applied my faith to apply the gospel into my everyday life I started to feel a joy. I started to feel happy. I saw things in a different light. I felt better about myself. I was able to escape my head and my negative thoughts. My week finished off awesome! It was beautiful. The Gospel is true. I know it is. It fills my life with joy. I love you guys so much. Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 15

Good morning from St. Lucia!

 

It's been an exciting week with all the new missionaries coming and old ones leaving. I miss them but I like the spirit and attitudes of the new ones. As district leader  I am in charge of overseeing the district and relaying information from the mission president, ap's, and zone leaders to the district. I carry out the teaching in district meetings which are basically reports and training within the district on how to be better and more effective missionaries. I take the nightly calls and make sure things run smoothly. With Elder Odhiambo gone I'm also now the Second Counselor in the branch. Mom, I do know Elder Taylor but the other one is new and I haven't met him yet but I will shortly. They are in my zone but not my district. There are now two districts up in castries with the flood of new missionaries and one still in vieux fort. Our investigators are doing very well. We had 8 of our investigators come to church this sunday which included christian and ambrose, earl, patrick and lenelle, patrice, nash, and megan. Nash is an older guy who we started teaching and he loves sitting down with us. He has a few things to try to overcome but he has a willing heart. Megan is 16 and we are going to start teaching her mom. She has some friends in the church and has been coming faithfully to church often. She is really cool. Patrice keeps reading in the book of mormon and is doing well. Patrick has been taking the lessons with Lenelle and we are preparing both to be baptized together. That will be a great day. We continue to see progress with christian and ambrose. The highlight for my week though would be yesterday when we were finally able to sit down with earl after church. I guess after the baptism of his kids it brought a lot of questions and some inner reflection for him. We had the one lesson after the baptism with him that was really good and then from there it's been between him and the Lord. Sitting down with him I noticed a change in him. We had a great lesson and during it he was talking and basically shared his testimony of the church which has been the things holding him back. We were able to point that out to him and it was really cool. We gave him a date to work towards and helped him understand that he needs to go into the book of mormon now to further his testimony. He is willing and I'm so excited for him. I think he will be ready to enter into the waters of baptism by that date and will be able to join his family as a member of the church. I was so happy during that lesson and Earl himself in the closing prayer mentioned that he loved it too and prayed that the next time will be even better. The church is true. I love it! Have a stellar week!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 14

Hey Family!

So this week has been really good. We've seen a lot of good progress with Ambrose! He came to church this week for all three hours and fasted the full 24 hours! He spirit has changed. He is more humble and his light is growing. I can see it. He has been reading in his scriptures each day and has quit smoking!! We have a baptism date for the 12 of December for him. With Christian we've also seen some changes. He has started becoming more involved and asking questions. We haven't been able to teach Earl since the baptism because of him being gone but he came to church this week. He still has the desire to be baptized but needs to gain a testimony first before he gets baptized. Patrick and Lenelle are doing well. Lenelle came to church again and this week when we went to go see him we found him studying in the book of mormon. Lenelle and his dad are reading the book of mormon together and we extended a baptismal date for the 5th of December. Hopefully he can be prepared by that date. These two are good people and deserve to have the blessings of the Gospel. We met and started teaching this lady named Patrice this week. She has a sweet spirit and has been keeping her commitments. She loves the book of mormon and she came out to church and another activity! She also has a baptismal date for the 19th of December. This week we got transfer calls from President Herrington. Elder Whipple and I will continue to work together in the same area! I'm really excited about that because there are some really cool people that I want to continue to teach. Elder Odhiambo though is leaving the island and going to Barbados to be a District Leader. He was the DL down here so guess what that means.. I got called to be the District Leader for the Vieux Fort area. It's going to be a good experience and I'm excited to serve! Down here they don't celebrate Halloween but Elder whipple and I bought a big bar of the toblerone chocolate! It was sooo good :) I loved seeing the pictures of your holiday adventures! Loved the pumpkins! Good job! The gospel is true and it's full of light and happiness! I'm glad to hear about all the good! Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder King

Lenelle reading and studying :) It made me so happy to see him doing this! He is 14 and is such a great example to his family. Such a good kid.

This is our new "apartment". It's a 3 bedroom house and cost the same as the other apartments. I like it.
     

Us with Christian Ambrose and Max :)

Oh and with the new apartment Elder Whipple and I are now biking back and forth from it! I like that part a lot :)
 

Letter Home - Week 13

Hey family!

I love you all! It's great to hear all the good that's happening! Keep doing good! This week has been really awesome! On Saturday we moved apartments. The one we moved into is way bigger and really nice. Then later on Saturday we had the baptism of Rodrique. I baptized him. He was so happy and felt very blessed. He got confirmed by Elder Whipple and received the priesthood yesterday! He has such great faith and such a great spirit about him. He will do a lot of good down here in the branch and in bringing souls unto Christ. We continue to work with him. Shantel and Petrus are doing really well. They have a lot of good support. We didn't meet with Earl this week but I talked with him on the phone and I felt something different about him. The boys were very happy and thankful to be baptized. They expressed that they felt really good. Kyle who is 13 paid his tithing the day he was confirmed. Nyle is 11 and Shane is 8. We talked with them about the priesthood and Kyle will most likely receive it next week. We started teaching Lenelle's dad who's name is Patrick. He is receptive to what we are teaching. They said they will start reading in the Book of Mormon together. Lenelle will be a big help and strength to his dad. His dad said that he has seen a change in Lenelle since going to church. We also have been teaching this older guy named James Daniel. We had a really spiritual lesson this week with him. He said something really cool. He said,"I know it's true...I know it and cannot deny it" He just needs help in turning to Christ for help with overcoming his addictions. It's good to hear things worked out with the car! Looks nice. I'm proud of Jay. Keep on going bro! Love ya man! I hope the locker is doing okay... I wouldn't want to take a kick from Kaylee ;) Hope her foot heels quick! Mom hope all goes well with the ms keep on fighting! Glad to hear that the school year has started off successful for you Dad! Hope mike is doing well! Love towards each of you and the Douglas clan! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 12

Hey family!

 

Sounds like there is a lot of fun stuff going on at home! Hope you're each doing well! It's always good to hear about BYU! But the year they are doing good is the year I can't even watch.... This week was really good. On Saturday we had the baptism of Kyle Nyle and Shane and on Sunday we had their confirmations. It was really cool. Elder Whipple, Elder Odhiambo, and I each were able to baptize and confirm one of the boys. We continue to work with and pray for Earl. He wants to be baptized but he needs to understand about gaining a testimony and the steps of the Gospel. We had a really great lesson with him after the baptism. We talked about Ether 12:27 and having humility and faith. As well as, Alma 32:21, 26-28, and that we need to have the desire to believe. We've been watching priesthood session of conference on Sunday's in priesthood and it's been just what Earl need to hear and do. He comes to church and watched them. He loves conference. Roderick continues to progress and he is super excited about his baptism this Saturday. He is so ready for it. He has been one of those golden contacts and just taking it all in. He keeps all his commitments and wants to follow God. Hope you all have a great week! Love ya!

 

Love, 

Elder King

 

Kyle, Shane, and Nyle with each of their Elders that baptized and confirmed them.

 

 

I baptized Nyle :) Such a cool experience

 

The Mcfarlane family!

Letter Home - Week 11

Hey!

 

This week has been a week full of good things! We had at conference last week one of our investigators named Roderick come and he has been coming to church each week! He loves it! He loves the feeling there and he has a testimony. We invited him to be baptized on October 24th and he said yes! He is such a great guy and just so ready to take this important step in his life. He also has been keeping the commitments that we extend. I'm super excited for him. We also have been working with Earl and his family. The kids are ready for baptism and are getting baptized this Saturday! Earl still needs to gain his testimony first but he has a strong desire to be baptized into this church with his family. During priesthood class at church we watched some of the priesthood session which we didn't get to watch. He hadn't ever seen conference before and he loved it. He doesn't have internet but we gave him an older session of conference on dvd that he can watch which will help him to gain that light and knowledge of the gospel. He also said he will be studying more on Joseph Smith because that has been a lot of his hang up. We are continuing to work with him and can't wait for the day he gains his testimony. The family also has a cousin named Lenelle that we are working with and he wants to be baptized as well. He comes to church and he loves it. He is 14 years old and his parents are okay with him being taking the lessons and eventually being baptized. That is awesome to hear about Jay going on splits with the missionaries! It's a good experience to see what it's like. It's also cool that he will be meeting with them as well. Kaylee's concert sounds like it went great! Would've been fun to be there. The tailgate things sounds like fun! Wish I could of been there! I've been working hard with Elder Whipple. We've been doing all we can to be great missionaries! My love for the gospel and the light of it has been growing so much! When I watched conference I just wanted more and more. I've started back through the book of mormon from start to finish during personal studies. I'm focusing on references to christ and his atonement, faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. I'm learning so much and my understanding is growing. I love you guys! I challenge each of you to start going back through the book and give it your own point of focus. I know it's true and will bless each of your lives if you do. Love you guys!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 10

Hey family!

Yesterday was a holiday so we couldn't write because the shops were closed. This week was really good for Elder Whipple and I. We have been focusing on finding new people and this week we have started teaching several who I believe are ready but just need to be taught. I'm super excited for them and the opportunity to teach them the gospel. The areas have been switched up a little bit with who is proselyting in which area so I won't be continuing with Sherline but Elder Odhiambo and his companion will be. I will be teaching Earl and his family now along with Christian, Ambrose, and Max and some others. General conference this past weekend was so inspired and so good. We had one of our new investigators show up for that one and the mechanics really wanted to but were so busy with work. My favorite talk was the opening talk by President Uchtdorf. It was what I needed and I loved every word. It was the theme I felt like with conference of keeping to the basics and was a great start to such a wonderful conference. The speakers really focused on talking about the most important aspects of the gospel that will keep us strong in such a troubling time. I loved how I felt after listening to it all. I loved the light that radiated from each message. When I heard that Jay got in an accident my heart dropped. I'm so glad that he is okay. I hope and pray that this rough situation will not just be a bad circumstance but that each of you will be able to see the hand of the lord and turn it into a positive. It could've been way worse and I'm glad no one got seriously hurt. I hope and pray that everything will be alright. My bit of advice that I've learned out here in hard situations is to look to Heavenly Father and pour your heart out to him in prayer and then have faith and trust in him to lead you along as you faithfully act to find the best course to take. Things will be alright if we each look to him in every thought. I love him very much and he helps me so much in his work. He really is our best friend in time of need. I love you guys and pray for each of you. I hope you each have a great week!

Love,

Elder King

Elder Whipple and I have been trying our hand in the kitchen this week and it wasn't bad haha :)

Elder Whipple making some alfredo!

Our bedroom after trying to kill a cockroach...... hahaha

Elder Whipple and I at the beach here in Vieux Fort for some p-day fun!

District activity at the beach! We played volleyball and soccer. So much fun! From left to right: Elder Whipple, Elder Tye, Sister Carpenter, Sister Maughn, Emmanuel, Elder Odhiambo, Elder King, Sister Kaitaua, and Sister Takuia.

Some more yummy food that we made! Not half bad if I do say so myself :)

Letter and Pictures - Week 9

Dear Family,

Experiences through the week:

Monday - After doing our typical P-day activities we went to teach a lady who we feel is really special. We have only taught her once before this but I just felt something about her. Her name is Sherline and she has a son who is 15 named Shequan. The day leading up to contacting her wasn't that great and no one was picking up their phone so we walked down this road near where we were and decided to knock on her door which we usually don't do. When we first contacted her we gave her a restoration track said a few things about it and then left. When we went back to visit with her she had read the track which is surprising and it helped her answer questions she had been having about what happened after Jesus Christ was crucified. The first time we taught we taught the restoration of the gospel and gave her a book of mormon to read but what was cool was that during the lesson before we had brought it up she asked how she can know if it's true. It was a cool lesson. The second lesson was cool too about the plan of salvation and she liked the three kingdoms. She has been reading in the book of mormon and when we left we invited her to pray and specifically ask if the book of mormon is true and if the church was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and she did. We split areas with the new missionaries but I think I will continue teaching her. The only thing is that she is a strong Catholic and that's where she has been her whole life but when she gains a testimony and continues doing what she is I think good things will happen with her. It started pouring like way hard though so we ending up staying and watched general conference talk. It was good. The son was asking questions too. 

Tuesday - District mtg in Castries! I love my district here and the good times we have. We also video chatted with the new missionaries coming in for a little bit. 

Wednesday - Today we went up to Castries again to pick up the new Elders and Sisters and had a welcome to the mission dinner and devotional that was really good. My companion is Elder Adam Whipple and he is from Bountiful, Utah. He like music and drama. He is into soccer and we have been going on morning runs. He is a good missionary. He is obedient an it has been fun so far to train him. It's cool to see again through the eyes of a new missionary the first time experiencing the island and mission life and remembering back to my first experiences. It's fun to show him around. 

Thursday - So Wednesday the new missionaries stayed in Castries for paperwork and we went back to Vieux Fort. On the way back I dropped my wallet off the bus when I was letting someone out and I didn't realized. It's an hour drive so it was gone and lost. But we had an idea of where it was at so this morning we went and walked the highway to look for it. We walked for a long time with no luck but the sisters talked with this lady who insisted they check the police station and sure enough it was there with everything still in it. It was a miracle. It had a lot of important stuff in it. 

Friday - Thursday was the official first day of taking the new elder around so we went to some people we are teaching and introduced him and a few lessons. 

Saturday - We taught a really great lesson to this less active member named mernalie and we followed the spirit and bore powerful testimonies that strengthened her testimony and said she would start reading the book of mormon again. Hopefully she does.

Sunday - It was a great day! Church was inspiring as the 4 new missionaries bore their testimonies and shared why they were here on a mission. We also had powerful lessons with Shantel and Ambrose. Ambrose has really been progressing and it's so cool to see his light grow. He came to church again along with Christian and is working hard to be ready for his baptisimal date in October.

Monday - Today we had a zone activity that was really fun! we played soccer and basketball which were so refreshing to me and then we went and got dominos pizza for lunch.

I'm no longer teaching Earl with the new areas but he is getting stronger in his faith. We have also been working with Randy and Emmanuel who recently got baptized in August right before I came out. They are awesome! They received the priesthood and are now our branch missionaries. I'm super excited for General Conference this weekend! We will be watching it at the Church and are invited a lot of people to come to it. I love you all! Kaylee I appreciate what you wrote. It means a lot to me. I'm learning a lot about myself out here. I'm changing into a better person. I'm been really trying to follow the Spirit out here. I'm growing in humility and love a lot. It's been a life changing experience already. I think mainly because I've been looking to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit instead of relying on myself and I've been putting my whole heart into the mission. I've been looking to do the will of the Father instead of the my will. I think a movie in the mtc really helped with that. It was by Bednar and can only be seen in the mtc. It's called the character of Christ and it talked about how Christ turned outward instead of inward and I've been really trying to apply that. I've been thinking so much of others out here and it has changed my perspective. I love the gospel and how it changes lives. Love you guys and thanks for all the emails! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder King

We did some more service a while back where we helped mamma sherba cut down some vegitation around her home. This is called a cutlas or machette.

 Climbing a coconut tree at the service at sherba's!

Walking into the water for the baptism of Petrus

Elder Odhiambo and I at Randy and Emmauel's place! These guys are awesome! They were rasta's before they joined the church. They are really strong in their faith.

From left to right: Ambrose, Christian, and then Max. This is at their shop where we always teach them. They are really cool.

Doing some service! We carried sandbags up the mountain to Janal Felix's home. He is a recently returned missionary here and is now our branch missionary leader. He is building a basement for his home.

Elder Whipple and I at the Church in Castries

This is where we do all our studies! I've learned some cool things but mostly received a lot of inspiration for our investigators here.

My apartment here! I'm staying in this one again with Elder Whipple. It's not a bad apartment. I like it.

I thought you guys might like this :)