Letter Home - Week 43

Hey family!

I feel like I just emailed since the last time was just on Wednesday evening but that's a good thing :) Monday we flew into Barbados and stayed the night in the Blue Horizon Hotel that we stayed in when I first came into the mission. It was then that I was also with Elder Kuru as short term companions so it was flash from the past. It was great. In the morning we went on the same run we did the first time on the beach and then had their continental breakfast. It was nice. The MLC was stellar. It was great also to see many of the missionaries I've served around like Elder Moli, Elder Odhiambo, Sister Conrad, Sister Maico, Elder Taylor, Elder Alldredge and the other mission leaders. It was just awesome. Wednesday morning we flew back and then immediately had Zone Conference. It was good. Elder Kuru and I had to help conduct and lead a discussion/council. That's when I got to email while waiting for all the interviews to finish. I had my interview on Saturday before when President was here for Branch Conference. We didn't get to do any proselyting during those three days. With the rest of the days we were able to teach a good number of lessons. We continue to teach Kevin and he is doing good. We saw Stephanie and we were able to get her the book of mormon on CD since she can't read. She has begun listening to it. She didn't come to church because of the rain. We went to go bring her to church but because of the rain it got all of her clothes wet that were hanging out to dry. It rained like all day Saturday and the morning of Church. Hopefully next week. We taught Calvin the restoration by himself and he said after that he didn't have any doubts. We later taught Janelle and Calvin together (boyfriend/girlfriend and yes they live together) about the Law of Chastity. They understood what it meant and the choice they will have to make. We gave them a few good talks to read along with Alma 32 about faith. One of the talks clearly goes over what the Law of Chastity consists of and another about our choices in life. We found another good one after called Making the Marriage Decision. We also had a good lesson with Joan about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about having faith and that after the trial of her faith that she will receive her answer to be baptized into the church. She wants to come to church and she says she will sometime soon. We gave her a pathway to baptism that showed the steps that lead to it to help overcoming the fear of the unknown. It was a good lesson. She committed to following the steps that lead to baptism. She hasn't committed as yet to baptism but it's something that she wants. Kevin says hi :) I love you all so much! I'll send some good photos next week! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 42

Hey family!

It's been a great week. The Lord's work is something that changes lives and help you become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It's changing mine. It's blessing mine as well as I see the Lord's work changing the lives of others, especially those I love. This week I had some real spiritual edification with a Branch Conference on Sunday where President Herrington came, Mission Leadership Council in Barbados with the AP's and all the other Zone and Sister Training leaders, and Zone Conference with the Herringtons. I've spent some good time around our Mission President this week and it's been a blessing. I don't get a lot of time to spend around him because he is on a different island but it makes it something special when I do get some time around him and his wife. They are so great. There is a special spirit and you can feel the power of it. The focus in the mission now is to set goals, make plans, and use our time wisely. There has also been a real focus on working with the branch. Well we finally got the car back on Friday. It took a long time but we got it. It took really long to get a programmer but eventually we got one. It's nice to have that luxury back. It makes our work so much easier. Well we contacted into a less active member around our apartment late Monday night. His name is Kalev. We talked and then invited him to church. He came and stayed for the whole block. It was great. On Wednesday we had a special experience. We had a lesson with Janelle and Calvin who has a four year old son named Luke. We taught about the Plan of Salvation. They had great questions about baptism. We taught how families can be together forever and about how baptism is the gate to the Celestial Kingdom where families can be. They had been talking about baptism together which brought up questions. Janelle has been thinking a lot lately about baptism. But the cool thing was that Calvin near the end of the lesson asked if and how he could become a member. It was unexpected but awesome. He had said that he had never felt closer to God during the lesson. He was feeling the Spirit and it moved him to ask us if he could become a member. We invited him to be baptized and gave him a date to work towards. He accepted. We invited Janelle again but she hasn't accepted yet. She will just now :) We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Janelle in another lesson. She's been reading what we give her. We focused on repentance the lesson. It's the worldwide missionary focus and she has been feeling guilty lately for certain reasons and feels like she couldn't make it to the Celestial Kingdom as of now. She is willing to work towards it though. She wants it and is willing. It's giving her hope. They both came to church together with Luke on Sunday. It was such a great meeting and perfect for Janelle. It was such a spiritual meeting and I learned a lot. Janelle had to leave during the third hour and when she was leaving Calvin said he wanted to stay because of what he was feeling. He pointed to his chest and said he hasn't felt anything like it. It was hard for him to describe. They both enjoyed church and afterward they invited us to have lunch at their home. It was so good. They made us Roti! It consists of some chicken with some sauce and a handmade type of tortilla. It was a special treat. St. Lucia has dropped in numbers of missionaries and so some areas have been closed. We have taken over two other areas and so we've picked up some new people. One is named Indy. He also came to church. He has been taught for a while. He is from Taiwan. We had a good first lesson with him. We also talked about prayer with Indy just as Jay but not as what sounds like a stellar lesson. I wish I could've been there. I have a personal testimony in the power of prayer. Heavenly Father is there. He does listen. He loves us. I've learned also to visualize Heavenly Father when I'm saying my prayers and that I'm actually talking to him. Not just saying words. We are going to really start working with Indy to teach him as often as we can because he has a lot of faith and is such a great guy. He's been to church a lot. We are going to try to help him be baptized. On Sunday we were leaving church and just outside at a nearby building there were two guys talking. They were a little ways away. We waived and said afternoon as we were passing by but then I stopped, turned around, and went and talked to them. It turns out they were really in need. Both have had thoughts of suicide because of less than fortunate situations. We were there to help and placed there by the Lord. We talked with them and bore testimony. It was guided by the Spirit and was powerful. The spirit was really strong. It was a blessing to him and he was sincerely grateful. I was blessed by the special experience. We left saying wow that was cool. Lots of good stuff happening over here and it sounds like it over there as well! Keep being awesome!

With much love,
Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 41

Hey family!

Mother's Day was so nice! It was so great to see all of you again. Even if it was short it was wonderful. I love you all. I want each of you to know that. Keep doing all the good you do and being the great people that you all are. With this week there were a lot of things that took away from our proselyting time but there were still some good things that happened. We were able to sit down with a member named Sister Tessa and her daughter Nelida who is 12 this week. We talked about baptism with Nelida and she accepted to work towards it when before she felt like she wasn't ready. It was great. She loves to read and she accepted to start reading the book of Mormon. She has already finished the book of Mormon stories book with the pictures. She enjoyed it. The little book will help her understand the book of Mormon better. We also started to teach a lady named Scera. She lives next to Michael. She is really cool. She is really interested in the message we share and believes in it. We taught the restoration with her and it was a nice lesson. We set a date for baptism with her. I hope she continues to progress. We had a great lesson with Joan about faith. She read Alma 32 and like I mentioned on Skype that she said that he little seed is beginning to grow. We taught Candice about the restoration as well. We've tried to teach her this lesson so many other times but things kept getting in the way so it was nice to be able to get through the whole lesson this time without all the interruptions and noise. This week at church I taught priesthood class about the importance of scripture study. Last week I taught Sunday School about Mosiah Ch. 1-3. Sometimes the lessons get thrown onto us as missionaries because the teachers aren't there or something. It's been a great week. I love you all and I keep you in my prayers. I hope each of your lives becomes lighter, brighter, and happier as you exercise your faith. Remember your future is as bright as your faith. I love you.

Love,
Elder King

Well with how long I've been driving it was bound to happen eventually... At least we are all okay. The car...not so much... I'm just kidding haha. But this week we spent some time dealing with the car. The key to the car got damaged and the immobilizer inside the key fell out and got lost so the car wouldn't start. We thought it was the battery but after trying to jump the car and that not working we knew it must be something else. So we left it overnight because it was late and then in the morning we had it towed. We got to sit in the car as it was being towed. That was fun. We took it to a place to have them look at it and they told us it was the problem with the key. This happened on Thursday. It's taking a long time for the problem to be solved but hopefully we will get the car back today. We got a new key with a new immobilizer but now we have to wait for them to program it. It makes me grateful for a car to get around because it's kind of a pain taking the buses with three Elders with all the places we have to go. There were blessings that came from it though. We were able to talk to more people because of it and who knows maybe one of them are prepared to hear the gospel.

Letter and Pictures - Week 40

Here's a sign Gordon still hasn't lost his sense of humor.  This was his original letter home.

Dear Family,

I love you.

Love,

Elder King

It was followed later by the real thing.  Such a tease!

Hey guys,

This week was really good. We were able to teach a lot and the teaching between Elder Kuru and I is great. The lessons are full of the spirit. I love it. We are doing our best to help our investigators to progress towards baptism. Today we had a great zone mtg. that Elder Kuru and I taught. We taught about using our time wisely to keep the spirit with us. It was a lot about becoming converted ourselves so we will have the spirit to convert the investigator if they open their heart to it. I enjoyed it. The spirit was strongly felt. I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder King

Breakfast for lunch! We had pancakes and sausage and on the pancakes we had peanut butter and ice cream! It's really good by the way :)

This is Cleopha and her son Marvin. She is 19 which is surprising. She is doing well. We had a couple good lessons this week with her. One about the restoration and the other we watched a video about Joseph Smith and the restoration. She believes it is true which is the start of her testimony. We invited her to read and pray about the book of Mormon. It may seem like a simple invitation but it's oh so powerful when done. There is a real power behind daily scripture study and daily personal prayer. As one acts on these invitations that is when the spirit can testify to them of the truthfulness of it as they allow the spirit into their heart. It is from this submitting oneself that one gains a testimony on a principle of the gospel. It is through a humble prayer for help that one can soften their own heart and through love that another can help in the process of softening another's heart.

We were privileged to be invited to a member's home for Sunday lunch after church to break our fast. The couple are from Mexico and they just moved into the branch here because of work. They are so nice. The meal was great. This is their apartment. It's pretty nice :)

The meal was great. We had some really good fish and a special rice and salad. They also made a papaya juice drink which was good.

The view from their apartment is absolutely gorgeous too. It was a great experience. It was refreshing. We also had an oreo cheesecake for dessert. I liked that :)

Additional emails while online:

I am the one driving and we drive everywhere. I feel like a taxi driver haha

The weather is great. Doesn't rain much. Nice and sunny but not too hot. Elder Kuru has three siblings and has been a member his whole life. I hope and pray that Michelle will be okay. That's a scary thing to have occur. I'm glad that Kaylee is having a blast in school. I hope they do well at State. I'm glad to hear that Jay is reading his scriptures daily. That's great. It puts a smile on my face. I hope you all have a great week! I'll see you on Sunday!

With much love,

Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 39

This week has been really good. Elder Kuru and I have been getting along great. We love serving together. He is a really hardworking missionary and he is helping me grow more. After hearing about transfers Elder Moli and I went and said goodbyes to our investigators. They miss Elder Moli. He is a good missionary. This Sunday was great. The meeting was really good and great talks were given. We had two investigators, Janelle and Shenelle, come to church and Kevin administered the sacrament for his first time. He did great. He received the priesthood last week. Well I'm out of time because I was busy sending photos but I hope you all enjoy them. I love you all! Take care and have a blessed week.

Love,

Elder King

This is the zone before all the transfers. There were 9 that left St. Lucia and 5 that came in. Two Sister companionships were moved to other islands. The Senior Couple is Elder and Sister Leavitt. They are from Canada. They are great as well. They are doing a lot of great work to help the branch.

Top row: Sister Leavitt, Elder Leavitt, Elder Merritt, Elder Nixon, Elder Sandbakken, Elder King, Elder Topou.

Middle row: Sister Benn, Elder Miller, Elder Powell, Elder Mikesell, Elder Alldredge, Sister Timaia, Sister Conrad, Sister Nelson.

Bottom row: Sister Maico, Elder Hardy, Elder Wallentine, Elder Ropati, Elder Moli, Sister Campbell, Elder Lameta.

Elder Alldredge, Sister Conrad, Sister Nelson, Sister Maico, Elder Hardy, Elder Wallentine Elder Moli, Sister Campbell and Elder Lameta left Castries.

Elder Kuru, Elder Dancan, Elder Arzu, Elder Jones, and Elder Cox replaced them.

 

This is Janelle and Luke. She is 27 and he is 4. We recently started to teach her and she is doing really well. She came to church this Sunday and really enjoyed it. She has a boyfriend named Calvin who we also started to teach after being referred to him by Michael who is Calvin's friend and Calvin and Janelle don't live too far from him. She is Catholic. Luke is a ball of fun. He is such a great kid.  

This is Odellia. She recently was baptized. She loves coming to church and the happiness it brings her. She is awesome.

This is Alma. We were able to figure out a good day for her so we can visit her. She got Sunday's off so now we are going to be teaching her on Sundays. We are trying to coordinate with Shatal too so we can teach both of them.

This is Villia who is Alma's sister. We've been helping her work through keeping the word of wisdom and keeping the law of chastity. She has strong desires to follow christ and be baptized and she is willing to work toward and live these laws. 

This is Joan, her mother, and her 2 year old baby girl. They are doing well. She is reading her book of mormon and praying about baptism. 

This is Candice and her kids. We haven't been able to meet with her much, but we will. 

We had some smores on our last night together. It was Elder Moli's first time having it and he liked it.

This is Shenelle. She came for her third time this Sunday. She is doing really well. The Sister's area has closed and now we took over the sister's area. It's good to be able to still teach Shenelle. 

Some of the kids playing cricket. 

Elder Kuru and I right after his arrival into St. Lucia. He has really been enjoying his time here. We are getting along really well. Our teaching is going great together. It's really fun to teach with him. The spirit is really strong and powerful when we teach.

This is where we Elders love to eat out at. It is a Philipino restaurant that we call pino. They have good food. We ate here one last time with the Elders leaving.

We had a really fun branch activity on Saturday. Both branches combined and came together for a great time. We played games had food and good times together. It was good to see the members again down in Vieux Fort. 

Letter and Pictures - Week 38

This week has been really good. We have been able to visit with many of our investigators this week. It has been a blessing. Sometimes it is difficult to see them all with trying to coordinate our busy schedule and their busy schedule. We have been able to find a lot of great investigators who have been prepared. A lot are beginning to progress really well. Well, This week is transfer week! It's a crazy one. There are a lot of changes occurring. President Herrington called Elder Moli and I to give us our transfer call on Saturday night. Well Elder Moli after 10 1/2 months is finally leaving the island. He will be leaving to Barbados to serve with my papa Elder Odhiambo. Elder Odhiambo's last companion will be coming here to St. Lucia with me in my area. His name is Elder Kuru. He came out with me. He is from Austrailia. We will continue to serve as Zone leaders here. I'm glad to stay to continue to teach the great investigators that we have. Our area has been progressing really well. With transfers I have mixed emotions. I am glad to begin serving with Elder Kuru. With the time I've had to get to know him he is a great person and a great missionary. Though after these many months of serving with Elder Moli I've gained a great friend. Elder Moli is a man with a big heart. When I first started serving with Elder Moli I witnessed an experience to show this. It was when we went to visit a family he and Elder Clement had been teaching. Elder Moli was leaving the area and they were saying goodbye. It was hard for them to do. There wasn't a dry eye. Now that he is leaving to Barbados we went to say goodbye this time for real. He will be really leaving and I don't have words to describe how hard it was for the family. They love Elder Moli and Elder Moli loves them. It was a tough experience for Elder Moli as well. In sacrament meeting he gave his farewell testimony. With tears in his eyes he bore his love filled testimony. It left many with tears. He is a man of love. There have been many, many experiences throughout these past three transfers that shows it. I owe him a lot for what he has taught me. I will miss him. It will be a transition for me for him to leave. But it will be good. Though sad and hard Elder Moli is excited for the change. Since the transfer call we've been spending time saying goodbye with everyone. Everyone loves Elder Moli and he will be missed. I love you all! Thanks for sending those photos! Love and miss you guys tons! Until mothers day! Can't wait! Have a great week and take care.

 

Love,

Elder King

 

We've been able to start teaching Shenelle again. She came to church this week and was crying during Elder Moli's testimony. We as a district here in Castries went and did service for her at her home on Saturday morning. We helped her paint her home. She is rebuilding up her house. She has been reading the book of Mormon and already has a testimony. She had an experience of when she was having a hard time and she turned to the book and started reading. Her troubles left her and she had a peaceful feeling. Super cool :)

 

 

This is that family I was talking about. Christina, Sancha and family. They were the ones I interviewed.

 

 

This is them crying. Christina was having a really hard time. When it was time to go she couldn't do it and began wailing. It reminded me of the other side of heaven when they were mourning for the dead.

 

 

This is Michael and his family. We recently started teaching him and he is progressing well. He is reading in the book of Mormon. He loves his family very much and works hard to support them.

 

 

Taking pics today for p-day at the beach :)

 

 

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 37

Hey family!

With Skype I believe I will be able to Skype in the morning. If not I may be able to Skype the day before. Most likely in the morning. Mother's day is coming soon. I'm excited.  Can't wait to see you all. This week was great. We spent most of the week preparing Kevin for his baptism. It was great and it all went really smoothly. The baptism was a spiritual experience. I loved it but more important Kevin loved it. He is really happy. We were able to teach Joan this week about the plan of salvation. It was really good. She is understanding and beginning to accept it. She is really interested. It was a good lesson. We were finally able to visit with Alma yesterday. We will hopefully be able to visit each Sunday with her and maybe even have Shatal come and be a part of it. We are hoping. We read in the book of Mormon with Villia in Alma Ch. 7. We are trying to get her to consistently read to help her make the necessary changes that she desires to make. The book of Mormon will really help her. We are trying to help her understand that. We also taught Cleopha. She read in the book of Mormon a little. We read with her the rest of the 3 Ne. 11 and talked about baptism. She accepted a date. We are doing well. Hope you all have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

 

Kevin right after his baptism. The baptismal service was great. His mother came to support him. She is amazing. She spent all morning providing this big meal for after the baptism. It was great. We are going to try to start teaching her. Kevin gave his mom a book of Mormon. Elder Moli baptized Kevin and I confirmed him. After his confirmation we had fast and testimony mtg. and Kevin got up and bore his testimony. It was great. We are going to be working with him to receive the priesthood and a calling. I think a branch missionary would be perfect for him. He already comes out so much with us.  

Elder Ropati and I witnessed the baptism.

 

 

The missionaries from Vieux Fort came up to Castries to support Kevin at his baptism.  

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 36

Hey family!

General Conference was amazing!! Kevin and Joan came! Both loved it. It was Joan's first time. She thought the wrong time and came at the end of the Sunday morning session so she waited the two hours to watch the afternoon session. She planned on leaving after the first hour but she enjoyed it more than she thought and stayed the whole time. My favorite talk would be Elder Holland's talk about the love that Heavenly Father has and how he just wants us to keep on trying. It was great. We had a good week. We went on a couple trade offs with Elder Powell and Elder Wallentine and also Elder Hardy and Elder Merritt. We contacted the whole day with Elder Merritt. We had a good couple of lessons with Elder Wallentine. We taught a less active about Alma ch. 5. It was Alma asked these great inspired questions on if we have been baptized and if we have felt the joy of the gospel. And if we have then can we feel so now? It then testifies of how the Savior is inviting all to come unto him so we can feel of his love and partake in the goodness of his infinite atonement. It's a great chapter to read and then ask and respond to the questions yourself. I love you all! I love the Savior! I love his glorious gospel! I love how through it I can return to live with my loving Heavenly Father with all of you! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

Proselyting with Kevin! He is doing well. We are working hard to prepare for his baptism on Saturday! For proselyting here in St. Lucia it's different than in the states. There is a lot more reception to us here. It's great to get referrals from members. It's what we hope to receive from them. We try to talk with everyone that we can to share about the message of the restored gospel. With that we come across many that we begin teaching.

 

                                                               STORY TIME :)

So we found these pigs....

 

So we took them...

 

 

With us... In the car...

 

 

To the beach...

 

 

We decided to make a fire...

 

 

And... Roast the pigs...

 

 

It was a good time...

 

 

Some of us played games...

 

 

While the islanders (Elder Moli, Elder Lameta, Elder Ropati, and Elder Topou) made the preparations...

 

I got to hold the pig...

 

 

It turned out pretty well.... This is a basket made out of a palm leaf by Elder Ropati... Elder Moli cut it all up and everyone ate... It was really good....

 

 

Here is a cool pic.... Oh and since we cooked the whole pig.... There were other parts of the pig we were able to try... So... I tried the tongue.... And ... the brain...  :) The tongue was good.... The brain was not...

 

All in all... It was a great day at the beach... The End.

 

 

 

Letter Home - Week 35

Dear Family,

This week was great. MLC is tomorrow and I read one of the talks assigned for MLC about the Savior and it really stuck out to me the Savior's great capacity to love. His Atonement was the greatest act of love performed by anyone. I am grateful for his love in my life. I will continue to study about the Savior and his precious gift to me and try to follow his example. Elder Moli and I went on a couple trade offs this week. We went with Elder Alldredge and Elder Sandbakken and we also went with Elder Nixon and Elder Topou. I enjoyed the opportunities to work with Elder Sandbakken and Elder Nixon. Both are great missionaries. We were able to have a good time while doing some good work. Both days were productive and a learning experience I hope for both of them as it was for myself. We had one experience this week with an investigator where we were trying to have a lesson with a lady named Candice and go through what she had read in the book of Mormon. She is great and trying her best to take in all that she can to help her change her life. All around us though, as we sat in her humble home, was loud and distracting. There was loud music playing, her children were being noisy and distracting, and a nearby neighbor was sawing metal and beating on it (making metal drums I believe). All I can say is that it was not a good environment to have a lesson. As much as we wanted to have the lesson and as much as she wanted to receive the lesson it just wasn't going to happen because of everything going on around us. We decided to leave it until another time. But before we left we invited her to call her kids in so we could leave sing a hymn and leave on a good note. We sang "Be Still My Soul". We sang all three versus. As we sung the noise around continued but a feeling of peace came into the room. The kids sat quiet and even tried to sing along. By the end, in the middle of the third verse, the noise outside subsided and the spirit was really strong. We were able to close with prayer in peace and all be uplifted. It was such cool experience to me. I love the hymns and the spirit they bring.

Kevin: He has been progressing well. He has a date for April 9 which is in two weeks. That date for him is pretty solid. If all goes well he will be baptized! We are going through the commandments with him. He has committed to living the word of wisdom and law of chastity.

Villia: She still has a strong desire to be baptized. We taught her about the word of wisdom this week. She has an occasional drink and has coffee every morning but is willing to give it up and live the commandment. We might start teaching her son Dillan. Villia has been talking with him about baptism for herself and he might want to as well. We contacted her at her home. We just stopped and talked to her.

Kim: It's hard to visit her. When we can visit her she can't visit with us and when she can visit with us we can't visit with her. She still wants to visit with us. We are going to try and visit her this week.

Stephanie and Shana: They are sisters. We met both on the road and just stopped them and talked with them. We have mainly been teaching Stephanie. Shana usually isn't around. She is a single mom taking care of two little kids. She will be going back to work soon after being on leave because she recently had her baby. She likes learning about the atonement.

Joan: We contacted the mom at their home. We met Joan on the road out side her home. Haven't visited this week. We are going to try and visit tonight.

Candice: Contacted her at her home as well. We knocked on the door and called in (You call in here by saying, "Hello inside" or "Hello good morning, good afternoon, or good night") She is doing well. She is Joan's niece.

Shenelle: We met her at Villia's while having a lesson. She moved into the sister's area so they will now be teaching her.

Cleopha: Contacted into her at her home. She lives near Kevin. We went while waiting for Kevin to get ready to check Kerry who wasn't there and then decided to go down the road a little further and contact a couple homes. She was one we contacted.

Tyson: Contacted him while he was sitting outside his home. Haven't met for a long time. We are going to try and meet with him tonight. From what we know we believe he is still interested.

Ron: Still teaching every once in a while. It's really hard to visit with him. He has been reading the book of Mormon and we believe he has prepared by the Lord. Hopefully we can start teaching more often.

Michael: He is stellar. He was contacted recently at his home by Elder Moli and Elder Lameta on trade off. Accepted baptism. Had a couple lessons with him like Plan of Salvation. He has a lot of good questions and understands. He is very accepting to what we teach.

Conroy: Recently started to teach him. He is the husband of a member, Sister Angie. He has addictions he is trying to overcome. He has been taught before but now what's to be taught again. Hopefully we can help him. We were having an FHE with Sister Angie and he was there and that's when it was brought up to start teaching him again.

Janelle: New investigator. Elder Lameta and Elder Moli contacted her. We've has some great lessons with her. She is reading the book of Mormon. She recognizes the wrong choices she has made and feels guilt. Hopefully she will utilize the Savior's redeeming power of the atonement through faith and repentance. We gave her Alma 36 to read and taught and testified of the peace and joy that comes through repentance.

Alma: She got really busy with work so we weren't able to find a time to visit her. We met her a couple times on the road but not been able to teach. Maybe later in time she will find time for the missionaries.

Shatal and David: She lives in another area so we referred her over to them. She still wants to be taught. Hard to get in contact though.

Kerry: Referred her over to another companionship because she lives in another area. We met her at her boyfriends home. They too are having a hard time to contact her.

Shatal and Joseph: Dropped them. They weren't really keeping commitments and they lived really far away from where we proselyte so we decided it wasn't worth going up. Hopefully in the future they will continue to be taught and act on the message shared.

We stopped visiting others like Maverick, Glenda, Theresa, Patrick, Clinton, Josh, Heather, Terry/Victoria, Louise, Alfred and others for a variety of different reasons.

We also have picked up new investigators as we contact them and they are willing to visit with us.

Ariana, the one we baptized is doing really well. She is very active over there in Columbia. She is going to Church, Seminary, and other youth activities. She is really busy but having fun.

We are also trying to work with some recent converts/less actives in our area like Odellia and Yuandia. We also work with other members and try to help them by having FHE with them and their families. We take the Sacrament to Sister Alene each Sunday and Brother and Sister Joe every other Sunday. We enjoy performing that service for them.

I'm doing well. Loving life. Trying to be the best missionary I can be. Love you all! Have a great week! Happy Easter! Oh they do celebrate Easter here. It was a quiet Sunday and most people went to Church on either Saturday and Sunday. They also do other fun activities. They fly kites in remembrance of the cross... I'm so excited for General Conference! I hope it's a great weekend filled with amazing spiritual experiences for you all! I'll send a ton of good pictures next week! You will enjoy them I promise :)

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 34

This week I read some really cool things about the Christlike attribute of love. As I was studying I came across a verse that really stuck out to me. It was in Eph. 4:15 and it says, "But speaking the truth in love...". As I've examined and looked back on my teaching I realized that at times I may be so focused on the truth that I forget to love. Even if it what I'm saying may be the truth it doesn't help if it's not done in the spirit of love. I read other passages like Moroni 7, D&C 121, 1 John 3, and 1 John 4 that were powerful. Developing the attribute of charity is something I'm really striving to do. I've thought about it and it's been something on my mind for a long time. I know it's what I need to do. Knowing is good doing is better. I came across another verse in John 13:17 where it reads, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." I was thinking how I can really learn to love and not just studying about love but actually going about loving. I prayed to know how I can develop more love. I was prompted and led to PMG where on the first page in the chapter on christlike attributes it reads in big, bold letters, "How Can I Develop Christlike Attributes?" It was an answer which came immediately after I prayed. It was a cool experience for me. This week I've been feeling a lot more love for those around me. I'm still working on it but it's cool to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who cares about what I'm going through and is there to help me along my way to greater peace, happiness, and love.

Kevin: We found that he is having a hard time forgiving himself of past experiences. We taught and testified of the Savior and his Atonement and how we can become completely clean though repentance and forgiveness. We are helping him through the repentance process. He is still super faithful and comes to church each week and loves coming out with us teaching. We found him on the day he first came to church. He had stopped other missionaries who were walking in town and they talked to him and told him about church. He came and that's how we met Kevin. Kinda cool that he had the faith and courage to stop the missionaries. I'm glad he did.

Villia: We met at her home. We were walking by and stopped to talk to her as she was sitting outside her home.

Kim: We have only had two lessons so far but already committed her to baptism. She is ready I believe and she really wants to change her life. The only problem is her boyfriend. He doesn't believe in God and doesn't like her to meet with us. She too stopped other missionaries.

Joan: We contacted her house and talked with her mom. After we were about to leave Joan just arrived home from work. We talked with her as well. She has a little girl and a boyfriend who doesn't live with her. Her mom stays with her. We had a good lesson this week on the restoration. We watched the restoration video with her too and she enjoyed it.

I'm running out of time.... ahhh. What I'll do though for you is write down information for you during the week and give it to you all next week. Sorry about not writing as well as I should've. I know I need to do better. I'll work on it for you guys. Thanks for the push to do it. I know it's important and I'll be thankful for it later.

I love you all so much! Thanks for writing and telling me about your week!

Take care!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 33

The weeks are flying by! This week we did a lot of travel arrangements and immigration stuff. It was fun. Everything worked out pretty well. We also helped another member move. This week we have "moved" since our bedroom has been destroyed. We had to take everything out of our room and live in Elder Hardy and now Elder Merritt's apartment until they fix the tile in our room. It's fun. We love hanging around them. We had a DL training that we were a part of that the AP's taught. It was about counsels. I learned a lot from it. We went over a talk by Elder Ballard about it. I learned about leading with love. I'm trying hard to do that and to really love the people that I serve. There was a baptism up here in Castries for Elder Powell and Elder Wallentine. Elder Powell is the new DL up here in Castries. Her name is Shernice Montlouis. She is 21 and the service was really nice. It was great to see how happy see was. She had a big smile on her face. We've been teaching here lately a young lady named Odellia Amadee around the same age as Shernice who is a recent convert since back in August. She is great. She is going to help friendship Shernice. Some of the people that I mention in an email we end up stop meeting with them for a variety of reasons or it's just hard to get in contact or find a time to meet so there may be some that I talk about and then don't talk about because we haven't seen them in a while. I wish it worked out that we could visit every single person but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I am trying to write about the main investigators that we have but I can do better for you guys. This week we taught Kevin. We've been teaching and helping him with the commandments and also gaining for himself a testimony. We had a great lesson on forgiveness and repentance. He has had a hard time with forgiving himself for past mistakes and so we watched a Mormon message called reclaimed. It's great. It helped him. We are helping him to truly repent so he can feel the spirit more in his life and when he does he will be baptized. He has a strong desire and already considers himself a member. He is great. We also had a great couple of lessons with a lady named Joan. She is prepared to hear the message of the gospel. She wants more peace in her life and has had an experience, after teaching a lesson on charity, of applying that principle of the gospel and it bringing that peace into her life. She wants more of it. We then taught a powerful lesson on the restoration and invited her to be baptized and she said that it's something that she needs to do and accepted that invite. We hope things continue to go well with her. We also had an FHE with a lady who hadn't been to church in a long time. She works on Sundays and it's hard for her to go. She has been taught recently by Sister Maico and Sister Conrad and yesterday she came to Church! After we had the FHE and we had a fun lesson about Lahonti and read in the Book of Mormon. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 32

Hey guys!

It's great to hear that Jay found a job! That makes me happy! It's been a great week. We got transfer calls this week and Elder Moli and I will be staying together again! I'm glad to serve with him again :) I'm learning a lot about loving others because of him. He has taught me a lot. With the senior couple we will be teaching them how to do all the immigration stuff with the new missionaries coming in tomorrow. The flight to Barbados is 30 minutes and the planes are smaller to travel from island to island. Elder Martinez talked about goals and planning. The talk was addressed by President and Sister Herrington. It was great. Emily will go to Argentina. You can tell her so she doesn't have to worry about opening her call. It was straight revelation that I had. I have no doubt haha :) He learned himself from cutting his own hair. He is the one from Samoa. He did a good job. Sometimes we go to a barber. In Vieux Fort that's what we did. With interviews for Christina, Johnathan, and Sancha they were all in Elder Moli's old area before he switched and became companions with me. All three were the DL's baptisms. Sorry but I'm out of time. They are kicking me out now... Until next week! Love you guys so much! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Love,

Elder King

Elder Moli taking on the jungle! haha There was a lot of tall, think grass. We cleared a pretty big area.

We did service this week. We helped Sister Sarah move and we also helped the Branch President cut down some grass around his home.

I made Elder Moli mad..... oops ;) No I'm kidding for some weird reason in our tile floor in our bedroom during our nightly planning started to crack and pop up on its own. I don't know why.

Hiking in the jungle with Elder Hardy and Elder Johnson! Most of the zone went on the hike including the new senior couple that came in this week on Thursday. Their names are the Leavitts and they are so nice.

It started in one place and then spread through the rest of the room.  Evil spirits are coming up from the ground... ahhh

We hiked the pitons yesterday for p day. It took longer than expected yesterday to get back to Castries so that's why we are emailing today. It was an awesome hike. Way worth it. The view was absolutely incredible from up there. It was super steep and long. It took 2 hours up and 2 down. It was way fun.

This is the view from the other side of the pitons. The picture doesn't show as good as it was. It was amazing.

Elder Moli and I with Elder and Sister Martinez at the mission home. They are awesome :)

Lion power! Reunited again :)

Us and the Sister Training Leaders in St. Lucia at the mission home for MLC. Sister Maico and Sister Conrad.

It was late at night waiting around for interviews with President Herrington to be done. They were tired.

Elder Kuru from Austrailia who came out with me and Elder Odhiambo from Africa who was my trainer here in the mission home for MLC. We are so spiritual we just radiate light! ;) haha