Holy Week in Medellin

Me , Elder Steadman and the couple that are going to get married on the 27th of May

Dear everyone,

So, as you all might have noticed, this last week was easter. Here in Colombia, it's a week of parties and catholicism. Thursday, Friday, and Sunday are national holidays and they are kind of crazy. We spent the last three days just going to big parks and handing out cards, pamplets, Liahonas, and whatever else we could. I don't know how successful of an activity you could consider it, but it's better than doing nothing, which was our only other option. Most of the people we found contacting earlier in the week were busy at catholic mass the last part of it. On the bright side, our wonderful family is going to set a specific date for their marriage today!Woo hoo! So we are happy for that. Also We're getting to know the members better and with any luck, we will be working a lot with them in the weeks that come.

This week we will have a multizone conference with all four zones of Medellin. So I should see Elder Robison, Elder Chipana, and Elder Morillo again, maybe even Elder Fernandez. Should be exciting. We also have a pleasant surprise this weekend, but I'll let you all know about that experience next week. It's essentially one of my dreams coming true.

Also, I'm super excited for Tate, though it looks like it will be a long time before I get to see him. He is going to the Dominican Republic. We have a missionary here that is waiting for his visa to go to the same country, though I don't think it's the same mission.

In the spirit of the season, take some time to study the Living Christ. It testifies of the reality of Christ's mission and that He lives. How great it is that because of Him, we too can live again, and if we are faithful, we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father with Him! Never forget the great gift that Christ has given to each and every one of us.

Love,

Élder King

Happy Good Day

Dear everyone,

So we have finally gotten all the papers and errands done for the Marriage of Jose and Deidy, unfortunately it's going to take a bit longer than we thought. If we are really unlucky, they will get married and baptized after the limit changes are approved by the area and they get baptized in another ward. either way I'll be happy for them, but it would be a pity for us as missionaries. Aside from that, the work is going a bit slow here. Doesn't help I lost my voice for two days. Kind of hard to teach without talking, even harder to contact.

We are teaching english classes and we are finding a lot of new people that way, but most are just interested in learning a bit of English. Either way it's fun. There is also a little deacon in our ward who is obsessed with the missionaries. He's a funny little guy, and he follows us around for a bit after church. Also, there family that has a missionary out in Ecuador and they showed me a picture. Surprise Surprise! His companion is Elder Parker, my MTC companion. It was good to see him again after so much time. Since there are a lot of missionaries here in Medellin, we get together a lot to play soccer. I'm not very good, but I play anyway.

Anyway, Love you all,

Elder King

Last the Best of All

Dear Everyone,

How great it's been to listen to the words of our leaders this last week! I found it to be one of the most fruitful conferences of my life. It also happens to be the last conference of my mission. We got to watch most of it in English, but I stayed in the spanish session Sunday morning to be with our investigaters. At least I thought is was going to be in spanish, but someone accidentally changed it to french in the middle of Elder Clayton's talk. It was kind of funny. I found a lot of the messages spoke deeply to me and have given me extra strength to be able to keep moving forward. I've been in a bit of a slump lately. I don't know why, but things just seem more complicated here. 

Either way, our family is still going strong, we're just trying to figure out money and papers and legal stuff. The rest of our investigaters are here or there, the ward is improving on helping us do our work and retention goals are reasonable. I really hope I get to work in this area until the end of my mission.

I guess a lot of you have heard about the flooding in Mocoa and other parts of Colombia. We have been getting a lot of rain recently, but no flooding. We actually didn't have water yesterday... but that was just some pipeline construction. Slightly ironic. We are praying for the tragedies that occurred there and in Peru as well. Also one of the missionaries in my district is having some family crisis going on as well. His dad is going to have a risky surgery this wednesday, so be sure to pray for his family as well. Elder Meza is his name. We went on exchanges this last friday and got super lost. 

The approximate altitude difference between the east and west sides of my area is about 500 feet, and that is in the distance of about ten or so streets. Approximated population is around 300,000 people or more. But the limits may be changed this next week, but we still don't know much about that. My companion and I are enjoying the work a lot. It's been a long time since I worked so well with a companion and we get along great.

Love you all

Elder King

p.s. we had two meals without rice this week! new record! Also a sister gave us some Jif Peanut butter and I almost gave her a hug. I have some, but just knowing that there are people here that understand is wonderful

All Manner of Afflictions

Dear Everyone,

This week flew by. It's always kind of like this in new areas and with new companions, but even so, it seems like I got here yesterday. My area is as slanted as the coast is hot, and it's going to take some getting used to. Me and Elder Steadman are getting along swimmingly and we work well together. We have to take buses a lot and today we are going to get our metrocards to be able to ride the tram and cable cars. It was weird being in a real chapel again after so much time, and it seemed like there were a lot of people in church. None of our investigaters could make it because it was raining super hard and the terrain is a bit treacherous where they live. It rained so hard on Saturday that we couldn't leave the house, and on top of that we had to do our best to keep it from flooding.

The change in altitude, climate, and just about everything else has taken its toll, and while tired and a little under the weather, I'm still glad to be here. It's very likely we will have a family get married and most likely baptized this week and that's always exciting. Contacting is more difficult here as the people are a bit more closed off than in the coast. I'm trying to help my companion with his spanish, which I enjoy but it's really hard for me to resist the urge to just take over and do everything. God must have a lot of self control and patience to avoid doing the same with our lives.

Our mission as a whole is showing signs of improvement and I'm just glad to be part of it. I'm currently the missionary with the most time in my zone (followed closely by elder Weber) and that's a weird feeling. Other noteworthy news is that our ward boundaries are going to split the week after conference. We aren't quite sure how that will affect our area, because most of our investigaters (and our area) will be going to the other ward. Either way, the adventure keeps getting more exciting!

Love you all,

Elder King

Status Report

Dear Everyone,

I've been transferred out of Planeta Rica. I was pretty sad to go. I'm definitely going to miss the coast, hot as it may be. I'm writing you from Medellin, where I will most likely be until I see you all again. As always, the long bus rides are very tiresome. At least this time it was a little more interesting around 4 in the morning. Some delinquents threw rocks at the bus in an attempted robery and broke a hole in the front window. Talk about a jump scare! As usual, I didn't get much sleep, so I'm running on empty. 

First a bit about this last week. It was almost literally one big headache. We did exchanges on Wednesday, then I went to Montelibano to do some baptismal interviews. It is a family of five, so I had to do five interviews from 7-10 PM. I got a migraine from the stress of it all, and since we slept in the house in Montelibano, I didn't have any meds to relieve my pain. So I guess I had two sleepless nights this week. Saturday we had to go back to Montelibano to be witnesses for the baptism, and they gpt baptized in a river, so it was a cool experience, although a somewhat long drive there as well. So I think I've clocked in about 20 hours of travel time. I will sleep well tonight.

My new companion is Elder Steadman. He is from Clinton, Utah and just finished his training. I am in the Medellin Zone and my area is called Prado 2.  It's essentially a mountain side, so I expect to lose even more weight here. Here's to the hope that prayers will strengthen the feeble knees I'll have afterwards. It's a ward and the work seems to be thriving here. I'm sure it will only get better from here on out. I'm super excited to be working with someone else from the US.

I'm starting to get pumped for conference, even though it is a bit away still. Start preparing your minds and your hearts to accept the wonderful messages we will be hearing come April!

So, my camera isn't functioning correctly at the current time, so pictures will have to wait. I'll get what I can from my companion.

Love you all,

Élder King

Like Earth Right After Rain

Me, President Alonso Guzman, Maria Jose, and My companion Elder Mischa.

Dear everyone,

We had a baptism this week. Maria José got baptized yesterday morning at 7:30 AM. We spent most of our time this week scrambling to make it happen. Guess we need to plan better haha. Since we don't have a font we performed the baptism in a pool. It was pretty easy since the pool was really deep, so the water went up to her neck. I had to fix up the baptismal clothes with safety pins because it was way to big. I felt like a pretty prepared scout. Aside from that big news, not much else happened this week. Next week are transfers, we'll see what the Lord has in mind for the next couple months.

Oh, so I talked with the mission executive secretary about my release date. Looks like I'll be flying home on August 28th with another missionary from my group. We're looking at a bit over five months left that you get to enjoy my absence haha. Don't enjoy it too much...

Love you all,

Elder King

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