Digging for Gold Investigaters

Dear everyone,

Sorry for not writing yesterday, but we had a multizone conference all day yesterday. President Calderon is an amazing teacher.

So, this week was really wet but we managed. We're entering wet season in Colombia, so it will probably be like this for a long time. Ate some soup that disagreed with me. Working with an upset stomach isn't much fun, in case you were wondering. We taught the Restoration three times in one day and we have some investigaters that are progressing. Natalie brought her son to church and both she and her husband accepted baptismal dates for December. She is the lady that came up to us in the street last week. We have an appointment with her tonight. We have two new investigaters, Gisel and her friend Paula. Gisel learned about the Church in Venezuela when she was 11 and she already has a testimony. Paula is her friend who is working here to support her son back in Venezuela. She isn't registered in the country, so we'll see if that becomes a difficulty later on. Gisel came to church, which was actually where we met her. These next weeks ought to be fruitful. We have Sylvia's new phone number, so we should be in contact with her again this week.

My companion is crazy, but I love the guy. I'm a bit more than half way through the Book of Mormon in Spanish again, and I'm loving the experience. The Book is true, and the Doctrine it contains is pure.

Love you all,

Élder King

Travel and Travail

Elder Chipana and Me

Dear everyone,

This week was surprisingly long.

In Medellin I went to El Hueco which means "the hole" which is basically just a big street market where you can get stuff for really cheap. Got a few new ties and a shirt for home. The next day we just kind of walked around and got some really expensive peruvian food. Wasn't that great, but they have some pretty good spicy sauce stuff. Don't remember what it's called.

My new companion is Élder Chipana. He is from Peru and he is hilarious. We found three new families this week. One lady just came up to us in the street and asked us where the chapel was. She moved into the neighborhood two days ago and she says she wants to be a member along with her husband and two kids. She lives really close to the chapel, so I'm hoping things go smoothly and we can baptize a family! Another family Elder Robison found contacting with Elder Morillo last week. They seem very interested and they live right behind the chapel. The family we found when we got caught in the rain also seems very interested. Once again, we seem to be starting from zero, but with three new families I'd say it's a jump start!

So, that's it for this week. Any questions?

Love,

Élder King

Transfers That Fly

Dear everyone,

So, just like that, transfers again! I didn't think our companionship would get changed, but sure enough, Elder Morillo is on the bus for Monteria. Poor fella. Worst part is he is going back with his first companion, who he didn't get along with. So, Elder Robison and I are in Medellin after a long night's bus ride awaiting our companions to arrive from the MTC. We are both going to be training, so these upcoming months are going to be interesting. But also exciting!

This week was kind of bad for lessons, but we went contacting a lot, so this next week with the new missionary should be full of new people. Really it's what we have been needing for a while.

Conference was amazing! We got to watch most of it in English and it's hard picking a favorite talk because they were all soo good! I really enjoyed saturday afternoon session. Elder D. Todd Christofferson has become one of my favorite apostles and his talk on Heavenly Father's Love was amazing. J. Devn Cornish warmed my heart with his talk. He talked about repentance and comparing ourselves to others. There were so many more that just made my heart swell with gratitude for our leaders. How inspired they are!

So let me know which talk was your favorite, what scriptures you have found recently that have helped you in your life, and any other spiritual experiences

Love,

Elder king

Almost Here

Dear everyone,

This week was interesting, we definitely need some new investigaters, but we have an investigater that is progressing pretty well. Our day with Elder Covarrubias, the assistent to President, was mostly spent contacting new people. I really like contacting, but we never make much time to do it. I plan to do some more here in this next week. Sylvia has been strenghtening her testimony a lot, even though it's hard for her to get to church (She lives far away). Her six year old son is extremely astute as well and has been a medium through which the Lord has spoken to her. He had a very interesting dream, so interesting I wrote it all down. Essentially, in his dream, he spoke with his Papa Dios and at first he just said, "Bienvenido hijo" or "Welcome, son".  After praying to remember more of his dream, he remember that the voice of God told him this: "The Book of Mormon is true, even though everyone says it's not. It's here so that when Christ comes again, we will be ready." I was blown away by this. It is pure doctrine, from the mouth of a six year old boy. The Church is true, and the Book of Mormon has that exact purpose. To prepare the world for the coming of Christ. If you don't believe me, check out Joseph Smith History. The angel Moroni tells the prophet the same thing.

Anyway, September is coming to a close and Conference draws ever closer. Make sure you prep yourself with questions and meditation. Be ready to change and apply what the prophets teach. Remember that these words are from men inspired by God to teach us what we need to do to survive the trials that beset us daily. Invite everyone to prepare and go to be edified together.

Love you all,

Élder King

Love and Friendship Day

Dear everyone,

People have a lot less time here in Armenia than in the coast. It's kind of bothersome that there is almost nothing to do until about five-ish. It has made the work more difficult. Our only investigator that has much time lives quite far away, so we are spending a lot of money and time travelling out there. It would be a lot more worth it if she was already married and coming to church, but I really can´t complain because at the very least she has gotten her answer. So the hard part is over! Now it'll just be a lot of meticulous teaching and encouraging. 

We are trying to get to know all the members in our area, and there are A LOT. The Cortez family is really fun. Two recently reactivated members and their four year old Wilfred. He's such a funny kid and he makes me happy. It got me thinking about how we all need to be like little children. It's not just in being humble and teachable, but also in enjoying life! Little children are entertained by the smallest thing and they know exactly where to go when things start to go wrong. And that's to the parents. In Gospel words, we should try to declutter a bit and enjoy life, but also trust that if anything goes wrong, we can go to our heavenly father immediately. There are soooo many promises that if we are just obedient, it will all work out. All things will work together for our good. Just fun doctrine to make life a bit easier!

Oh, Hígado is chicken heart by the way. So next time you get a cold, just eat some Chicken-heart soup! It'll fix you right up. So this week makes a year. It's weird to think about, but with the way transfers work, I've been halfway done for a while now. Just have to make the best of the next half!

Tomorrow we'll have exchanges with the assistents to President, and that should be fun.

Anyway, have a good week everyone!

Élder King

Mom: So this week marks your one year anniversary!  Wow, has that gone fast or slow for you?  Besides Spanish what are some of the things you have learned in a year being on a mission?  Any highlights?  Would you change anything?

Elder King: there have been slow and fast parts of the mission. This month in Armenia has gone super fast. I've learned a lot about applying the doctrines and principles that I have always known. I have tried to get a "good, better, best" view and focus on how I can bless people's lives through priesthood power instead of just priesthood authority. I probably would have prepared a bit more. Learning how to be unaffected by other´s bad habits would be my best suggestion for prepping missionaries.  And staying awake during church.

Colombian Curveball Codename: Higado

Dear Everyone

It was such a shame not to finish that title with another "C" word but oh well.

This week was kind of lame, we didn't get a whole lot of work in. Lot's of rain and other stuff to do. We had interview´s with President and that was fun. He essentially told me that he didn't have anything to tell me and that he is really satisfied with the work I'm doing. It warmed my heart, but I definitely could use a lot of improvement. Juggling district verification with training, planning and working never gets easy. I can only imagine how the Zone Leaders feel. Our whole house came down with a bad cold and it's made Élder Morillo a bit blue. Kind of hard to work when your sick. I'm still loving the weather here. As far as progress in the work, not a whole lot yet. A lot of work to do and not much time to do it.

As a mission we are reading through the Book of Mormon and marking all the references to Christ and a few other things. It's amazing how fast I've been able to read through in Spanish. I'm going at a steady rate of 10 pages a day and I'm learning a ton. I'm focusing on distinguishing Doctrines and Principles from stories of things that happen. Just the meat of the scriptures you could say.

Speaking of meat, back to the title. Just when I thought I had Colombian food (except for tomatoes) handled, the threw me Hígado. I've had this food four times This Week!! Imagine Squeeky cheese that tastes like mushrooms, usually with a lot of onions. Hígado is what you just ate. And guess what it is? Bet you'll never guess. Maybe I'll tell you next week. (chicken hearts)

Shame that the Y lost, I still am waiting for the days to start getting shorter and the leaves to fall but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen. Not like I'm counting or anything, but there are 360 days until I'll see a nice autumn tree.

Love,

Élder King

Exchanges

Dear Everyone,

This week was pretty hectic, lots of walking and going from place to place. Lots of time spent away from my companion, which is weird.

We found two families this week, the Muñoz family and the Rivera family. The Muñoz family has talked to previous missionaries but never really gotten the lessons or gone to church or anything. the Rivera family we found through Daniela, the youngest daughter, who has been coming to the english classes we teach here. They are very interested and have already started reading the book and the pamphlets we leave them. They went on a small vacation this last weekend so they didn't come to church, but they live super close, so I hope that in the near future they will. We also found Sylvia and her two boys through her brother, who is a member. She had already gotten to the Isaiah chapters by the time we first talked to her. She is very interested and the only difficulty might be getting her married as quickly as possible. They want to get married, but don't really have any goals yet.

We did two companion exchanges and then a division this week. I went to Elder Robison's area and worked with him for a day, then I went to the zone leader's area with Elder Canchig. This last saturday some of the members went out with us missionaries to go and see less active members. So I spent two and a half days without my companion by my side. It was weird.

I got your package Mom and Dad and I'm kind of going crazy about how amazing it is. Thanks a ton!

Anyway, I love you all,

Élder King