The Ides of March

Dear everyone,

I've survived twenty years of life. Thanks for remembering everyone! You're the best! Now, in about six months I might actually feel like an adult. Or maybe not, I don't know. As far as I can tell increased responsibility does not always mean increased maturity. Maturity and progess are both product of moral choices.

So, the baptisms didn't work out for this week. Next week for sure we'll have one unless a disaster happens and hopefully we can arrange the other before this transfer ends. I get the feeling I will be getting taken out of this area. Which makes me sad, because I love the members here. we had interviews this week and I remembered just how much I love president. Some trials don't end as quickly as you like, that's why "endure to the end" is a principle of the gospel.

I can't believe there is still snow, but that's probably just because I spend all day everyday sweating. We watched Moana as a zone today and I really liked it. One less movie to catch up on haha. February flew by like always and we're getting well into march. Time flies. I don't really know what more to say, but remember that Joseph Smith saw God and Christ, and subsequently restored their church. When you think about that, not much else matters. Love God, Love your neighbor just like you should Love yourself.

Love

Elder King

Difficulties

Dear everyone,

In case you were wondering, patience without diligence doesn't work out. You can be as patient as you like, but if you don't work towards a goal, you won't ever get there. Passage of time does not equal progress, but hard work and the grace of God most definitely do.

Perhaps if we work hard this week, we'll have two baptisms in the next, but there are a lot of obstacles to overcome, most of which we created ourselves. We are struggling to find new people to teach and those that we have found are reluctant to keep commitments. In spite of all these many difficulties, I don't lose hope that things will get better. That's one thing that has kept me going for a long time now. Persistance is the key to long term success, and by persistantly repenting and self evaluation, we can become even as Christ is. Hope is the greatest gift that He has given us and if we lose it or fail to recognize its value, faith turns to fear, repentance turns to rebellion, and membership in the church becomes a burden instead of a peaceful and happy contrast to worldly chaos.

I don't really have any funny stories from this week, I'm just kind of trucking through challenges right now. It's really great to have the Lord on your side, or perhaps better said, to be on his side. It makes things a bit easier to deal with.

Love you all,

Elder King

The Plan

Dear everyone,

If there is one thing I need to learn right now, it's patience.

Things are going well here. Our investigators are doing well and we had six people show up to church this week! It would have been great had our goal not been eight... Kind of sad when people say they will go but then for some reason don't. My advice for this week is keep your commitments!

Elder Falabella's visit was great. I hadn't felt so good in a while. He talked with us about the doctrine of the plan of salvation and it was really humbling. He explained just how little we do for our salvation. Christ made it possible, only in and through him can we obtain it. All he asks is that we try to be like him and we do our best to try. He asked us "how many of you are going to pay for your sins the way he did?" And the answer is none of us. We can't pay for our own sins and still get into God's kingdom. He taught us about repentance, how many of us view it as a painful process. The pain we feel as we repent is merely natural consequence for sin. Joy is the feeling that comes from repentance and it is also what changes us.

On that subject, I had a really spiritual experience in taking the sacrament yesterday. I just felt as though through my efforts my past errors had been cleaned through the atonement. However, I know that I need to continue working hard or that remission of sins won't last long.

Fun fact: there are these cool little banana things that look like half-bananas and taste like apples. They are called "manzanos" around here, but I don't know if that's their real name.

Anyway, Love you all!

Elder King

Bull Fights and Other Shenanigans

Dear everyone,

In case you were wondering, in Colombia, people really really really like to party. Like a lot. The town has basically been closed down for a week. Needless to say, we didn't get much work done. this will continue until tomorrow. Frustrating, but what can you do? Maria Jose still doesn't feel ready to be baptized, but she comes to church. With a lot of faith, luck and miracles, we could have 3 or so baptisms for the 4th of March. Which would be extra special for me. (It's Elder King's Birthday that day.)

We didn't find many new people, and anybody not partying left Planeta Rica to avoid the partiers, so most of the new people we found were not able to receive us this week. But this next week should be interesting, what with the coming of Elder Falabella. Did I mention that Elder Ampuño is in my district now? If you don't remember him, he was my first companion here in the mission. We had our bittersweet reunion last friday.

Well, if you have any questions about my life or about life in general, now's your chance to "ask the missionary"

Love,

Elder King

Dear Everyone,

I guess the miracle this week is that I'm not banging my head against the wall. We found more than twenty people to listen to us this week, so this next week should be packed with work! Next week a General Authority will come see us. Elder Falabela is his name. I'm doing great, gonna stay here in Planeta for another six weeks with Elder mischa. We'll see if I survive haha. Also the Bull runs are starting up this wednesday, so life is going to be very crazy the next few days.

I don't have a spiritual message aside from my testimony that this church is true. There are no others that compare. Remember to be an example of the believers. That's the first step to being a good missionary.

I love you all, I just can't think of much to write. Sorry!

Elder King

The Spirit

Dear everyone,

Just an overall statement to start out: The Spirit is very, very important in our lives. Don't ever miss out on a prompting or a chance to repent so that the spirit can be a larger part of your life.

Speaking of which, cool little prompting I had this last tuesday. Last week the office sent us to get some papers so that an investigator in another area could get married. It would require almost a whole day of work. Tuesday we had a lot of appointments planned because we did divisions that day with the Elders from Montelibano. In the morning, all the appointments for my half of the work day cancelled. I will admit, I really wanted the adventure of spending the whole day travelling to get papers from a small town, but I felt like I had a responsibility to work with the other elder, "show him the ropes" as it were. That's part of what I do as District leader, just to give better context. 

So I sent my companion and Elder Norrell to go get the papers. I gave the the permission forms the office sent me and sent them on their way. Me and the other elder had a great day of work and found a number of new investigators. Turns out the permission form was in Elder Norrell's name and I wouldn't have been able to get the register had I gone, so we would have completely wasted the whole day. Often times we don't recognize the prompting in the moment, but  all that is good comes from God. Do what is right and you won't ever go wrong (crazy that one)

Anyway, that's my story for this week. Next week are transfers, I don't think we'll see any changes, but if I don't get to write Monday it means I'm on a long bus ride.

Love you all,

Elder King

My companion Elder Mischa.  I thought the license plate was funny.

An Efectual and Continual Struggle

Dear everyone,

This week had lots of ups and downs. We lost a couple investigators, found some more and saw struggles and miracles. While walking down a street we never use a lady called out to us and told us that her son is a missionary and that we are welcome in her house whenever. We stopped by a few days later with our mission leader and she was there with her companion (her name is Edith, his Manuel). We talked and she gave us a bit to eat. They were both very receptive, and even gave us a reference. Cool right? It gets better. Later we talked with Osnaider, our mission leader, about the visit. He said he knew the family, as well as their children, one of which is the forementioned missionary. Edith used to hate the church and the missionaries, generally insulting them along with other members of the church. The softening of her heart was the greatest miracle we saw this week, but there were quite a few others.

We had the opportunity to speak with President Calderon and had interviews. They were very brief, but in short he told me that my struggles and sufferings will make me into a better missionary and a better man. I am grateful the Lord sent that man as my mission president. I am grateful to be here, and I hope you can all make the Savior a bigger part of your lives. The spirit will comfort you as you do. I know because despite all the difficulties, I have been comforted and made better, step by step. 

On a less serious note, if you are ever called to give a talk three minutes before sacrament starts, just open the Book of Mormon and look for a verse about the atonement. That's more or less what I did yesterday. I also saw a legitimate peacock for sale in the road on Saturday. I should have taken a picture but oh well. Also, when Costeños drink a lot, they all become Trump supporters.

Have a great week, Love you all

Elder King