Letter and Pictures - Week 69

Dear Family,

     It was shocking news to hear of the incident at the school. I'm glad to hear that no one died and that everyone will be alright. It was truly a miracle. It was amazing to hear of those brave acts of heroism. The love shown in complete forgiveness touched my heart. It is great to hear of the goodness in each of these individuals. The hand of the Lord was over these children and protecting them. It testifies that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is not only watching over us but is in the very detail of our lives guiding and protecting us. 

     This week was good. Thelma and Fred came to church and they brought their daughter and granddaughter again.. We love Thelma and Fred. They have such great faith. They've been taught the first four lessons and are so ready. Today we are going to teach about the temple and eternal families and I can't wait! They will love it :) 

     Elder Tye and I have really been trying hard to be exactly obedient and we can feel the Lord leading us to those who are prepared. We have been led to some really great individuals and families who humble in heart and seeking for the truth. We can feel the power come into our teaching and the spirit is working miracles. We were given a referral of a less active brother in our area and our appointments fell through so we went to go see him. He said he hasn't seen us or members in a while and he was thinking about us that morning and was glad that we came. We had a warm visit with him. His name is Bro. Trotman. He has health problems but has a desire to come to church again. It was the timing and hand of the Lord that led us to him. It's been difficult to teach less actives in our area and we had been praying to be able to teach less actives. I can see the truth of the scripture I have been pondering lately which says, "...inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper." -Hel. 4:15 As Elder Tye and I have been trying our best to make small changes and align ourselves with the will of God things have been going good and it's been a joy.

     I love you all! I hope you will all feel of the healing and sweet comfort of the Savior from the tragic event. I hope that the negative experience turns to a positive one. I know this is made possible by our Savior for this and all other tragedies in life. He is the Christ.

Take care with much love,

Elder King

 

Road Tennis! Looks like a fun game. We contacted this guy named David and he taught us how to play road tennis. David was nice and seems interested too.

 

 

Elder Tye and I like to play chess while we have lunch and today (in this pic) I actually won. Elder Tye is good at chess.

 

 

We had some french Elders come in from the french side of the mission for immigration stuff and so they stayed with us for a couple days. It was a fun time.  His name is Elder Arnett from Missouri and the other(I didn't get a picture) is Elder Pattison from Utah.

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 68

Hey family!!

     The weeks are just flying by! This transfer is already over and at the end of the next transfer in 6 weeks will be Christmas!! So Elder Tye and I are staying together again. Awesome! It's going to be another good transfer. I found the Elder Whipple is a new Zone Leader in Grenada. He switched me places because he was here with Elder Tye before I came in and I was the ZL in Grenada before. 

     Thelma and Fred continue to progress well. Thelma had her surgery and it went over well. She wasn't able to make it to church but Fred came and he enjoyed it very much. Thelma keeps saying she can't wait until she is recovered so she can be baptized. Fred is looking forward to it as well. 

     We've been teaching two friends named Ian and Leo lately. They are good friends who like to get together with other friends and play dominoes. They are in their 60's. They are doing pretty good now and have begun to progress. At first when we would teach them the lessons were hard to control and teach much as they would ask crazy off topic questions and couldn't stay focused. It's changed a lot since the beginning as we've worked with them and continued to teach them the gospel. They are reading now and taking what we are sharing with them into thought and reflection. They still have a ways to go but it's amazing to see the spirit and the gospel influencing lives. We had a lesson this past week and it was a really spiritual lesson and the questions they posed were good and on topic. They want to come to church all together. Hopefully next week. 

     Sally and Chris didn't come to church this week. Sally was at family and Chris got in real late the night before. I realized I don't really have photos of the people we are teaching so I will get on that and send some photos home to you all. We were also privileged this week to be a part of a couple blessings. One was to a sister missionary and another was to a member who has really been struggling. The blessing to the member was a special one and the spirit was really strong there. She is a strong, active member who has just been experiencing a lot of tough challenges and she needed a blessing. It was a blessing for me to be a part of and one that you could tell was a strength to her. 

     It's been a great week! I love you all! I am so glad that we all can be a forever family! Have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder King

Paul is married to Sally and they have two children named Thierry and Christian. They are not members but they are our investigators.

Kim is also an investigator. Latonia we met when we went by for the lesson with Kim. She lives near by but was visiting and stayed for the lesson. Kim isn't super solid but her daughter,Chaka (20), seems pretty interested as well as her nephew, Denzel(13).

I started going on runs with Elder Tye :) Since we have bikes he is able to just bike behind me as I run and he is willing to wake up a little earlier so I can get in a good run. Isn't my comp the best?!

Sometimes we bike through big puddles :)

Letter Home - Week 67

Hey Family!

It's been a great week! 

Monday was Halloween and it was swell. We contacted in the evening because our appointments fell through.

Tuesday we had zone mtg. It was different but nice not being the one teaching. It was well taught. Of the many things taught my favorite were the teachings on hope. It's a topic I want to study further. We were able to teach Thelma and Fred about prophets. They both believe Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson are prophets. It was cool because we just taught about Thomas S. Monson and following the prophet but as we asked if them believed he was a prophet they both quickly and firmly responded yes. The spirit works wonders. We also saw Adrian Brewster. He hasn't been keeping his appointments with us and was going to blow us off again tonight because he was tired but I told him it wasn't a good excuse and he sat down for a short lesson. We taught that he needed to keep his appointments in a loving way. We couldn't find out why he wasn't visiting with us. He says he still wants to have us come and teach him. We may sadly be dropping him shortly.  

Wednesday we had a member lesson on the restoration to practice teaching with Khalil (15 year old member). We also saw Joy. Her situation is tough. She has a boyfriend that doesn't want her to go to church. The boyfriend doesn't stay with her but he is her financial support. We taught about prayer and how she can pray to Heavenly Father and counsel with him and ask for help and guidance. 

Thursday we taught Akiel's brother Anderson. It was a cool lesson. He doesn't really have faith in Jesus Christ and he had questions from the last lesson where we read from Alma 32 on faith. We taught about faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement which is straight from out missionary purpose in helping others to come unto Christ and the spirit was felt during that lesson. I think it had an impact on Anderson. He had a lot of questions. We also saw Paul and Sally who are an awesome family that have been taught for a while. We gave them Alma chapter 5 and they only read half so we read some of it with them and talked about it. It's an amazing chapter that asks a ton of questions that helps us to reflect on our lives and how we would fair on judgement day. It will lead well into our next lesson with them on baptism. We are going to refocus with them to get them on track and working towards baptism. 

Friday was a great day for us. We made calls Thursday to set everything for Friday and it worked wonders. We were able to have 6 lessons today. We saw a less active named Keemar and talked about work and the Sabbath day with him because he works a lot and he said he would come but when we went by to bring him to church he was sleeping. His family said he got home from work around 4:00am so it's understandable. It takes him forever to bus home because there aren't buses at the time he gets off work so he takes a work bus that drops him off last of all the crew. We saw a really cool guy named Lewis. He is a truth seeker and has a lot of potential. He was taught by Elder Whipple and Elder Tye before a couple times but he needed a break for a while because of family issues. This was my first time meeting with him. He still remembered a lot from what was taught before and he's been reading and praying to know the truth. We taught it at the Garrison(A park/horse racing track) and it was really peaceful there. The spirit was really strong in that lesson and there was a sweet peace. He is a really good guy with good standards. He is smart and that lesson we were answering his many good questions and reviewing what had been taught before. He accepted baptism and to come to church in time when he is ready. When he prayed he didn't receive a no so he is having faith and pursuing forward. We had a first lesson with a lady named Sister Ford who is a strong Anglican and doesn't want to change religions. She is a happy and joyful old lady though. It was a nice lesson. We contacted into a lesson of a boyfriend and girlfriend named Jade and Jamila who were awesome! We started talking about the book of mormon and she was way interested and happy to let us share more with her. They both accepted baptism. Jade wanted to know why there are so many churches because he believes there should only be one. It was cool. We gave blessing to a less active for health reason's granddaughter. It was a neat experience. I'm always grateful for the opportunity to participate in a blessing. We taught Thelma and Fred the Word of Wisdom. We had given them the pamphlet and they read it and already began living the word of wisdom before we even taught them. They drank tea but completely gave it up. Thelma said she was telling Fred a few weeks earlier that she felt like she needed to change up her eating habits. Again the workings of the spirit! It was awesome! We found that Thelma's surgery got postponed and it will happen today. Hope all goes well. We saw Kim,Chaka(Kim's daughter), and Latonia(Kim's sister) and taught about the restoration. It was a normal lesson. Today was a good day. 

Saturday we had planned service to be the whole day until 5:00pm because we had a service project and it was also the international day of service so the branch was to do a service project but both got cancelled due to the rain. So that made things fun for us. We spent most of that time contacting. We saw a guy named Wendell and taught about what he needs to do to prepare for baptism. It went over well. He hasn't been acting lately so we are going to have to help him keep his commitments. We will have a lesson on the importance of keeping commitments to help him. 

Sunday was church. Chris came! We went by to bring him to church and he came. We walked with him. He enjoyed it. That was a big step for him. He is a guy that sits on the block and drinks and smokes but because of his big desire to change he exercised him faith and came. Sally and her two sons Christian and Thierry also came for the first time in a while. They loved it and the branch members were awesome in helping to fellowship her by exchanging numbers and stuff. We saw Jennifer and Pearson and taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to be baptized. Pearson said he wants to but not now. Jennifer said she would and accepted to work towards the 7th of January(Kaylee's birthday:) ). We contacted into lesson with a guy named Anton that was super interested and so willing to act and do what we invite him to. We gave him a book of mormon and he is excited to read it. Today we also found that Joy's boyfriend found that she had been having lessons with us and got really upset. He threw away all her books and smashed her phone so we couldn't call. It was really sad to hear. She is really disappointed that we can't visit with her and that she can't go to church. She accepted another book of mormon that she will keep at her friends house so she can still read. We invited her to keep praying and hope for the best in the future. Hopefully things will change and an opportunity again unfolds for her. We are keeping her in our prayers. 

Joy and Akiel - we haven't been able to really meet but we are still trying with them. There is still potential and interest. 

Dario - He is the pastor guy but he isn't really interested. He stopped reading the book of mormon and focused his studies on other things. 

Eon and Leo - They are brothers. We've had a few lessons. Leo began reading the tracks. They like to play dominoes a lot so for a short time we played with them. It helped them understand that we are normal and like to have good fun. Leo read 3 Nephi 11 that we had left him but he couldn't find until we showed him during that time. That was cool. 

Roger and Sharon - They are the cool family searching for the truth. We had an appointment for Saturday but something came up for them so we couldn't have the lesson but she said they've been reading the book of mormon together and she was really happy when we saw her. 

Thelma and Fred's daughter and granddaughter- we don't really know anything about them. They had to leave right after Sacrament. We are going to be trying to start teaching her and others in Thelma and Fred's family. We are going to ask them for family referrals and have Thelma and Fred help bring their family into the church. That's the goal. 

Adrian - we haven't been able to find him anywhere. He doesn't have a phone and we haven't been able to find him by his home and we go by often to check. 

Shani and Cory - They are doing a 6 week course study and won't be able to meet now until it's over. He was feeling sick so we brought by some cookies for him. We did for Adrian Brewster as well. 

Joan and Keith - I think these are the ones you are referring to when you say we committed them to read the book of mormon. We had an appointment but it fell through. Joan said she read though. 

Hope you like all the info! Thanks for the pictures! I like all the costumes and I love the pumpkins! Thanks also for the quote. It's true and I love it. This church and gospel are truer and true. Have a blessed week!

With buckets full of love!

Elder King

I love you all!

Letter and Pictures - Week 66

Dear family,

This week Thelma and Fred came to church again and they did some missionary work! They brought their daughter and granddaughter to church too and they said they would be back. Thelma and Fred said they already consider themselves members. Thelma is having a surgery on her eye this week and then they will be baptized as soon as she recovers. She says she just wants to hurry up and recover so she can be baptized. It will take about 6 weeks for her recovery. We contacted into a young adult named Chris this week and have had several lessons with him. He has a past but sincerely wants to change. He has never been baptized but has a desire to. We invited him and he accepted to work towards it. When we first met him he and his friend wanted us to read something to them from the scriptures so we started reading 3 Nephi 11 about Jesus Christ. Chris said he felt something inside like when his mother used to pray over him but just not as strong and he let us come back the next couple of days in a row to teach him the gospel. It was a cool experience. We taught about faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End and as we read scriptures with him he said baptism really sticks out to him. We left him to read the pamphlet about it and he read more about baptism. He asked a lot of questions about baptism. We also found a family this week and shared the message of the restoration with them. They were very interested and listening intently to what we taught. They said they have been searching to know which religion is right which is awesome. Elder Tye and I taught Damian this week the plan of salvation for the lesson taught to a member. We taught him the plan of salvation. It was cool because he learned something from it and he gave us great feedback on our teaching plus he gave us a referral. One miracle of the week was yesterday. We had 19 lessons for the week so far and we were trying for at least one more to reach our goal of 20 but everything was falling through. It was getting late and we had no one to teach. It was a rough day but then as we were biking down the street Elder Tye stopped at a house of an old investigator that I had never seen and they were home, there was a male present and they let us teach them a lesson and it ended up being a good lesson where the lady was committed to read the book of mormon so we were able to reach our goal of 20 lessons. It's been a blessed week. Not much is happening with our other investigators. It's tough to teach them and they aren't really progressing. Dario is reading the book but not really for the right reasons. He said he received his answer and that it wasn't true. He said he found several faults with it which when we talked with him aren't even faults and cleared them up. We just invited him to sincerely read it with faith and not to read it to disprove it and then to pray to know if it's true again. He also said in that lesson that the bible teaches that the world is flat so that was funny. Elder Tye loves astronomy and he and I got a kick out of that. He is still going to be reading the book. Today we had a Halloween Party since it's Halloween and it's our P-day. We had a costume contest and food and games. It was a good time. It's been a good week. I love you all.

With great love,

Elder King

 

P.S. - We also did a service this week rebuilding a shop of one of our members Sister Edwards. They have monkeys here in barbados. I've seen quite a few. They are just wild monkeys running around. The locals don't like them because they are pests. We started buying fresh cow milk and eggs from a farm next to our apartment. It's good. Yes we are wearing our helmets. You all will have to send pictures of your halloween adventures. It was a lot of cereal but it didn't really make me sick. It wasn't a whole bag but it was a lot. It reminds me of the tongan on the movie the RM. Fun Fact: I've stayed the same weight my whole mission.

 

P.P.S. - I also think I've grown on my mission. I'm super close to being 6 feet.

 

This was today. We had a costume contest. Elder Spencer dressed up as Joseph Smith and the sister around him are the nephites and the lamanites. I dressed up as Harry Potter. Elder Childister and Elder Tulikihakau dressed up as the book of mormon and the bible and they go hand in hand to compliment one another.

 

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 65

Dear Family,

I send my love from all the way over here in Barbados! 

Here are some inspiring and uplifting thoughts from our beloved prophet Gordon B. Hinckley:

"Be believing. Be happy. Don't get discouraged. Things will work out. 

Do not despair. Do not give up. Look for the sunlight through the clouds. Opportunities will eventually open up to you. 

You look with optimism, work with faith, and things happen. 

Strength comes from repentance.

Every day is a great day in my life. I hope every day is a great day in your lives. Life is good. Let's go out and have a good day and help somebody along the way."

I love this gospel and I am so grateful to be a part of it. I'm happy living it and I love to share it. This week has been pretty great. This week we had Thelma and Fred come to the baptism of Elvis (One of the sister's investigators) and then they came to church. They loved both. They have been thinking a lot about baptism and have been praying hard about it. During gospel principles as they were introducing themselves Thelma said she has been struggling hard because she belongs to another faith but she thinks she will join this church. Fred said he can't wait for the day when he can call us all his brothers and sisters. It made my heart swell. They both were really fellow-shipped by the branch which I was really grateful for. They said it feels like a family to them. It's been a joy to teach them. We also had a lady named Joy with a new born baby come to church. She loved it and too was fellow-shipped. She is planning on making something and coming to the branch picnic activity next Saturday as well as church. Church was the great highlight of our week. We had a lot of fall through appointments but these great blessings make up for it. We had a good trade off with the Zone Leaders. They are great. Elder Powell and I had a good time. I'm really impressed by the leaders here in Barbados. Elder Tye has really been doing a phenomenal job as a district leader. He plans very well for his great district mtgs and he puts a lot of effort into his nightly calls to make them effective and it's helping the district out. It's been a real joy to serve with him. P-days here in Barbados we play a lot of sports. We played ultimate one week, soccer another, and football this week. It's been fun. I love these wonderful missionaries that  I get to serve around. I love you all! I really do. You all are my family and a family I'm blessed to be a part of. :) This gospel is true. It's the way of happiness! Take good care everyone! 

With great love,

Elder King

Church! Who knew going to church could be so much fun and bring so much joy!! This was the best part of my week! Love these great people!  (Top: Joy and her daughter; Botom: Fred and Thelma)

I decided to put on my suit since I never wear it. It looked good but felt weird to wear. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get home. haha

Elder Tye being a great district leader!

We make personal pizzas at times and I'm happy when we do! They are good. We put bbq sauce and pineapple on it and it's mm mm good :)

I wanted cereal one night but I wanted a big bowl so I grabbed a mixing bowl and filled it full of cereal

So much cereal! But I put into practice what I learned from running and I just kept going and persevered. It was like a marathon. A cereal eating marathon. I finished and I was like yes I did it! ...But then my tummy hurt... haha

Letter and Pictures - Week 64

It's been a happy week. One of the great successes this week came from an older couple named Thelma and Fred. We recently started teaching them and we taught them a few times this week. They are so great. We invited Thelma one lesson to invite Fred to join in the lesson. She said that he isn't really a church person but she did anyway. He decided he would come down to join. That lesson not only was Thelma interested but Fred as the lesson progressed was too and even more so. When we invited them to come to church. Thelma was indecisive and looked to Fred for an answer and he quickly said yes. They both came to the district conference this week and they loved it. They are both doing really well. It made me so happy when they came. I had a lot of joy in my heart. The conference was really something special. The talks were inspiring.

We have several good investigators that have potential and we have contacted into several that I'm excited to begin teaching. One that we contacted was a young family. They were married and had two young boys. They were very happy when we met them and were very excited to have us come back. Their names are Shani and Cory. We also began teaching a mother and her 23 year old son. Their names are Joy and Akiel. Akiel read everything we gave him and wrote question down that he had. Joy wan't able to read but in our first discussion we found that she has really been exercising her faith lately unto repentance. The Lord has been working with them to prepare them. She gave up drinking, bad music, swearing, and even forgave a few that she felt she needed to forgive. It was wonderful to meet with them. There is a recent convert that we are teaching named Keemar and he is a look a like to Will Smith. His facial expressions reminds me so much of him. It's kinda cool. There was another lady named Joy who has a 6 month old daughter and we just had our first lesson with her. She is great and wants to be with her family forever. She accepted baptism. We contacted into a young pastor of another faith and had a restoration lesson with him and gave him a copy of the book of mormon. We followed up with him to see if he read and he said that he read the introduction, the testimonies and the first four chapters and that he hasn't found anything to be wrong with it. That was cool to hear.

Elder Tye and I are doing great together. It's been fun. I'm learning how to be even more obedient and we are always working on things that we can improve on. It brings an increase of the spirit and it makes life good no matter what happens. Elder Tye has two siblings. One older and one younger brother. He is a smart guy. He liked to build rockets back home. His mother is from Jamaica. He came out with Elder Whipple in Sept. but he went home for 3 months because of medical leave. He was biking and broke his collar bone. He hit his front brakes really hard going fast and flipped over them and broke it. He is fine now. He will hit his one year of serving shortly. He served in St. Lucia around me when I was with Elder Whipple. He is great.

Barbados is great. It isn't like any of the other islands. It is way more developed and a lot like America. It isn't as poor here but you still find poverty all around. It is really flat so that makes it really nice for biking. Otherwise it would be killer. The city is Christ Church. There are three branches here and this past Sunday we had a District Conference with all three branches.

Elder Dixon still hasn't emailing me about the baptisms nor photos but I heard Kelly-Ann was baptized the two Saturdays ago and the other two were baptized this past Saturday. I emailed him to send me some photos but he hasn't yet.

I believe I forwarded the mailing addresses for all of the islands a while ago but the Barbados mailing address is Trident Financial Center, Hwy7, Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados, BB15156.

I love you all!
Love,
Elder King

This is our apartment. It is nice. I like it.

District Conference!

On our way over to conference and we thought we would bring the keyboard along with ;) #playingthepianointhecar

It was held at the Savannah Hotel. It was beautiful there. 

One with Elder Tye.

Letter Home - Week 63

Hey everybody!

It's been a fun first week in Barbados though I haven't heard yet about the baptism. Elder Dixon is going to send me photos but hasn't yet.  The beginning of the week I said my goodbyes. Thankfully I was able to say goodbye to a lot of people at conference. I had my final zone mtg. as a zone leader. It was a good mtg. It's been fun to be a leader and getting a lot of opportunities to teach. We taught about finding and we did some fun contacting role plays. We also taught about virtue. Wednesday morning was hectic with all the flights. The sisters crashed their car into the gate at the church during all of it which made it really fun but everything worked out well. We did a lot of driving to pick up the outlying companionships because the senior couple was busy doing other things. When I got in to Barbados Elder Tye and I went straight to work. We've been doing a lot of contacting to build up our area. He is such a great missionary. He is always serving. Service service service. It's fun serving with him. We get along well together. He is super diligent, obedient, and very helpful. We've been able to find some good people to begin teaching. Right now we are teaching two different Adrians that are doing pretty good. One came to church and he enjoyed it. The other was coming but then someone parked in front of his car making it so he couldn't get out to come to church. We've had a couple lessons with them both and they were good. I no longer have a car which I'm okay with. We have bikes. Now instead of feeling like I'm a taxi driver I feel like I'm on the Tour De France. We are on our bikes all the time. It's fun though. It's exerting but it feels nice. It helps to keep me in shape. Church was probably my favorite part of the week. It was really nice there. The branch is really solid and there is a sweet, pure spirit here among the people. I love feeling the spirit. It is so filling and nourishing to my soul. It's so refreshing to go to church after a long week or if I'm struggling and having a hard time. I feel renewed. I love going to church. I also feel it as I study the loving instructions from my Heavenly Father. It inspires me and I receive answers to my problems. I also feel it as I sincerely pray. If I just go through the motions then I don't but if I really talk with Him I find whatever I'm looking for even if I don't know what that exactly is when I begin my prayer. I love all of you and encourage you to strengthen your relationship with your Father in Heaven through these three powerful ways. I know they work. I promise you will be happy. I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 62

Dear Family,

     What a great week it has been. I loved General Conference. It was a great spiritual feast. Earlier in the week I went on a trade off with Elder Merritt in his area. We spent a lot of good time contacting which was good and towards the end of the night we had a couple good lessons. As we talked about the last lesson of the night Elder Merritt was honest and shared some light on my teaching and helped me see where I could be better. I was thankful for it. During our weekly planning Elder Dixon also helped me out as we talked to help us be more unified. That was a big blessing to me as I recognized where I needed to be more humble and what I needed to change. He has been a great companion these short six weeks and has really helped me a lot.

     There was a hurricane storming through all the islands this week. We were prepared and were watching it closely. It was to hit us on Wednesday but it was a normal clear, sunny, and beautiful day. Thursday it was raining hard in the morning with some good wind but after we finished our studies and planning it cleared up so we could go out and work. We were told on Wednesday to stay in so we stayed in the whole day when all the way up to 5:00-6:00 we could've gone out. It got worse at night and started to rain a lot. We had a bbq on our grill that day. I read and studied a lot too. It was a nice day. The storm didn't really hit us at all but it did hit other islands like Barbados and St. Lucia.

     This week we got our transfer calls. Well after 3 months in the great Grenada Zone and Branch and after almost a year of being a zone leader I've been transferred and released. I have been called to serve in Barbados to serve with Elder Tye. I served around him in Vieux Fort and he is a great missionary. I'm excited for that. He will be the district leader and I will be a normal missionary. I've served my time as a leader and now it's time for others to have there turn to learn and grow. I'm so grateful for the time to have been a zone leader and the great blessings that flowed from it. It changed my life. It's a tough call to receive. Transfers were an unexpected change for me and it is bitter sweet. It's hard to leave now because I've loved the short time I was here with the people here(members, missionaries(We really do have the best zone), and investigators). I will miss the upcoming baptisms. Kelly-Ann, Wendy, and Princess will be baptized this Saturday and I leave on Wednesday. Danielle's date might be pushed back. It's tough knowing I won't be at MLC anymore. It would've been also nice to serve with Elder Dixon longer too. But on the flip side there are also many good things and I feel that this is where the Lord needs me right now. I'm excited to serve with Elder Tye! I've always wanted to serve in Barbados. It also means no more reports! haha :) I can also now spend a lot more time serving and doing real missionary work. It's a sacrifice but it will all work out and it's for the best. The Lord knows best.

     What I loved from conference was the wonderful music and the overall theme from the talks of missionary work and the missionary lessons, love, and repentance. The music was inspiring and uplifting. I learned a great deal from conference as I came with questions. I felt like the talks were directed towards me. The things I needed to hear were spoken. I felt a great joy and love in my heart during and after conference. We had Kelly-Ann, Wendy, and Princess come again to conference and they loved it. Danielle unfortunately didn't come like she was planning. We even went by her in the morning and she was doing what she needed to to come. I was surprised she didn't show up. We called and went by to find out why but she didn't answer and she was asleep as we came by after conference. 

    The most special experience of the week was teaching Lamar. We met Lamar at a member's home this week as we were having an FHE and he joined in. We left him some pamphlets and exchanged contact information. We later in the week got a call from him. He said he read what we left him and he wanted to talk about it. He said he wants to take baptism seriously. We were like okay! We later that day had an incredible lesson with him. I felt the spirit very strongly. I also felt a great deal of love for Lamar. He is truly an incredible man. He has a daughter that he loves very much and will all he can for her. He is actively looking for a job and doing his best to put his life in order. He has a very broken heart and wants to learn all the truth he can. We shared with him a copy of the Book of Mormon. As he took it he handled it as the great treasure that it is and read from it's pages in awe. A light shown on his face. We invited him to read. He said yes. We invited him to general conference later that day. He said yes. We invited him to be baptized. He said yes and did so with tears in his eyes and gratitude in his heart. This is what he wanted. He accepted a date. It was truly a spiritual event and as we taught we taught with power that you could feel. It was amazing and I'm grateful to have met him and had this experience before I left. He lives in the sister's area so we referred him over to them. He later came to general conference and loved it.

     Well I love you all so much! I know this work and this gospel is true. I testify of it with all my heart. I have felt the sweet witness of the Holy Ghost many times and I have felt the joy and love that comes from living the gospel. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us dearly and they want us to love them. 

With great love,

Elder King

Letter Home - Week 61

Hey Everybody!

It's good to hear about how all of you are doing! Keep doing good! Keep making good choices! I love you all! This week has been good for us. We had Kelly-Ann come to institute which she loved and the family came to church! Princess is kind of funny. She is a little crazy at times but we had a lesson on reverence that helped. She loves church and the friends she is making there. She is always happy and giggly like the rest of the family. They all have a good happy glow about them. Princess said she wants to be baptized too. We had several trade offs this week with the other Elders that went really well. I had a good time teaching with them. Danielle didn't come to church this week because of some excuse but she said that she read and has questions for when we come back so that's good. We had an awesome FHE with Bro. James this week and we are going to have another one today. Michael the son hasn't really been active or interested lately but when we had the FHE he came alive and really enjoyed himself and fully participated in the lesson. He was really excited for the next FHE and Joseph said that he would join next time too. We found Joseph reading one day in the book of mormon when we came over which was a great surprise. Bro. James is doing really well. He came to church and said the opening prayer in sacrament mtg. We had zone conference with President and Sister Herrington on Tuesday and Elder Dixon and I taught an hour segment of the mtg that was really good. President Herrington made the mtg come alive as he taught. It was wonderful. We had a wonderful dinner provided by the senior couple after during the interviews by President Herrington. It was amazing. Elder Dixon and I make good meals but it was a treat to have a real good home cooked meal  :) Well I love you all! I know God loves us and desires our happiness that comes from making good day to day decisions! The gospel is true!

 

Love
Elder King

Letter and Pictures - Week 60

The weeks keep on flying by!

Hey Family,

This week was good. We had Danielle come to church this week! She brought her kids as well. She has a real desire to be baptized. The Lord provided a way for her to come to church through another church bus which was awesome because it's hard for her to get bus but then something happened and that fell through so she couldn't get to church that way. But she exercised her faith and she found another way for her to come which was great! She loved it. We are helping to prepare her for baptism on the 15 of October. With Kelly-Ann and Wendy who are working towards baptism all together as a family they accidentally slept in and missed their ride with a member this week so they missed church. They are still progressing well and are really excited about the gospel and for baptism. We are going to have to move their date back though to the 8 of October after Conference weekend. Elder Dixon and I are doing well. I love serving with Elder Dixon because of his great desires to do the work as well as improve himself. He is a great missionary. We had a cool experience last night. It was a really spiritual night. We brought the senior couple missionary Elder Mills with us to teach an investigator and the lesson was a powerful lesson. Elder Mills is a really spiritual man and he is close to the spirit. After Elder Dixon asked Elder Mills for a priesthood blessing. He usually has his dad give him one at the start of every year and last year he had President Herrington but this time he asked Elder Mills. Elder Dixon wants to be closer to the spirit so he can have the power that follows. Elder Mills simply but powerfully taught him and me about giving our whole heart to God so we can be sanctified by the Holy Ghost and receive that power. The spirit was strong. After he gave him a blessing that was powerful. I really appreciated it. One thing that has been happening in our zone is an increase in faith and it is resulting in a lot of miracles. Every night during our nightly calls we hear of all these wonderful experiences that the other missionaries are having and it's so awesome to be a part of. There was a baptism that we were privileged to attend. It was in one of the groups and it was done in a river. The place was gorgeous. What I loved most was the peaceful feeling of the spirit that was there. It was wonderful. I gave a short talk on Baptism. We've found some great people this week that we are excited about. Below I'll write a little about the people we are working with. 

Wendy, Kelly-Ann, Princess - Wendy is the mother of Kelly-Ann(20) and Princess(9). It is a big age difference but it's not unusual to find. Kelly-Ann has a young child of her own. They are happy, love the gospel, and will be baptized soon. 

Danielle - She has five kids. The oldest is 15 and her name is Aaliyah but she goes by Sophie :) I thought you might like her name. haha She was taught before but was never baptized but now is ready. 

Jenielle - We've only seen the once because we haven't been able to get a hold of her. We will keep trying. 

Kiesha and Andrea - We also haven't been able to really meet lately. Their kids are great!

Elizabeth - We haven't been able to teach but we've been able to make contact. She is growing in her desire to repent and be baptized. She is making changes on her own. 

Alisha - We met her this week and we've had three lessons. She has a little child and lives by herself. She lives close to the Maturine's and that's how we met her. She is very smart and has good gospel knowledge. She has been keeping all her commitments and is reading and praying to know if these things are true. She has been baptized before and is hung up on authority. She is praying about it and about baptism. 

Sister Shirlan - We had a great FHE with her and her daughter. We gave her daughter a blessing.

Brother James - He is doing well spiritually but he has health problems that makes it difficult to come to church. His two boys, Jospeh and Michael, are okay but aren't really interested right now in the gospel. We are going to be starting having FHE with them on Monday nights to strengthen their family. 

Gilly/Kelsha - We had a first lesson with both of them that went well. They are Aunt and Niece. They live at the same place with their family. They are reading and are interested to know more. 

Rayneesha/Carleen - Both aren't really interested but we were led to their neighbor named Kellisha who is very interested. We contacted into her and she has a boat load of questions. I think either Elder Kasteler and I or the previous missionaries gave her a book of mormon but nothing happened from it but she began reading and she has some great questions as well as personal life questions. 

John Francis - He is 17 and can't read so we are teaching him how to read a few times a week. It is great. 

I love you all and I know the gospel is true!

Love,

Elder King

 

Witnessing the baptism of some other elders.

 

 

Letter and Pictures - Week 59

Hey family,

It's been a good week. We put in a lot of work. We were able to reach our goal of 21 lessons this week. Unfortunately Kelly-Ann and Joseph and their families didn't come to church this week. Bro. James has some health issues so he couldn't come and that kept back the boys. We are sure why Kelly-Ann didn't come. They were missed. Kelly-Ann came to the opening of institute this week though which was good. We are really impressed and amazed by her. She has a great desire to live the gospel and be baptized and it makes her so happy. She is really smart as well and knows a lot about the gospel already. We had her read the plan of salvation pamphlet and a chapter in the book of mormon and then come back and teach us the plan of salvation! We would be the investigators and ask questions that would help her to learn more as she taught. She did really well. We helped where she needed it but she didn't  really need it. It was great. Her mother Wendy had her boyfriend move out already and she has a desire to be baptized as well. Wendy came down with Zika and couldn't make it to church. We had some other good lessons and some other disappointing and frustrating lessons but things are going pretty well. I'll take more photos of the people we are teaching. It's a goal of mine so I can share my mission experience with all of you and keep all these wonderful memories of these wonderful people. Today we are flying to Barbados for MLC! I'm so excited :) It's such a great experience to be a part of. We are staying there a little longer for like a mission conference over skype but we get to be there in person. It will all be fun. We met with Carleen and her roommate Rayneesha a few times this week. Rayneesha is cooler than we thought. I think her and Carleen don't get along and that's why Carleen has a poor perception of her. We had a great first lesson with her and she had a question of the soul that we were able to answer using the book of mormon and she was happy and agreeing and loving the things we taught. She wrote some things down and accepted to read. We will see how it goes. As for Carleen we aren't going to be teaching her anymore. The lessons we've had have been pretty frustrating as she is hardening her heart and not listening to what we say and doesn't really want us there so we won't be going back. Right now she is going through a lot of difficult things that is putting up a big wall. Hopefully her trials will overtime come to soften her heart and she can continue to be taught by missionaries later down the road. It was hard. We tried talking with her to help her see and understand but she wasn't accepting it. It was a big contrast from the first and third lessons that we had with her. She had a lot of potential but satan comes with great force to bind us down, harden our hearts, and blind our eyes to keep us away from every good thing. Continue to study and pray to keep you up, to keep your heart soft, to keep your eyes open, and your flame of faith lit. I love all of you so much. I know this gospel is true. It's what we all need everyday. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder King

 

It was dark so I couldn't get a very good picture but these are Kiesha's and Andrea's kids. We gave them a couple of the Book of Mormon story books last time we were there and they absolutely loved them. They've been reading them and wrote all their names on them. We came a little late the next time but all the kids had their books open on the floor waiting for us to come. They were so happy. It was great! We watched the restoration video with them all and Aaron the oldest boy was saying he remembered that story from the book and he gave some perfect answers to the questions we asked. He is around 12 or so but if he were older he would be a golden investigator right now! :)

 

 

Another pretty sunset because they are so awesome! :)

 

 

So Monday after we finished emailing we left to the airport but....our flight got cancelled so we got a flight to Barbados on Tuesday at 12:50pm but didn't leave until 1:50pm and our MLC mtg. was Tuesday at 10:30am.... :(

 

 

We didn't arrive at the mission home until almost 4:00pm and we got there just in time for the closing song and the closing prayer and the mtg. went long by almost an hour. So we missed MLC but we got to come and stay for the devotional, dinner, interviews, and the big zone conference and lunch the following day.

 

 

It was a little bit of a mission reunion for me as I got to see some old friends :)

 

This is Elder Zivic and his wife. They were awesome and it was a really great conference.

 

 

Kelly-Ann and Wendy at their home. We went looking for their home and we found them! They live above the smith's and they are good friends with them. When I say above though I mean you have to go hiking up the mountain to get to their home. It was a fun climb and it has a good view from up there.

 

 

This is the view. It overlooks the stadium.