Better Late Than Never

Dear everyone,

Sorry for writing late, we went grocery shopping and I forgot that it takes forever to get people moving around here. I had a great time talking with the fam yesterday, and of course it was mother's day, so once again, Love you Mom! We are going to be heading out to a family home evening with some new investigaters  tonight, so I won't have a lot of time to write.

I'm doing well, especially now that a subway just opened up close to our house. They have delivery as well. I also found a five liter orange juice and couldn't pass that up. So much better that water.

We should be having a lot of new investigaters in this next week. The ward just had a good talking to about missionary work and we will be giving talks this next week as well. Hopefully they will take it to heart and start finding references for the missionaries. Speaking of which, nows a good a time as any to talk to someone about the gospel! It's super easy, you just have to get down and do it.

Anyway, love you all,

Élder King

Almost Mother's Day

Dear Everyone,

This week dragged on a bit too long for my liking. We are still trying to figure out the area changes, we lost a lot of members and a few investigaters. On top of that, one of the members of our family for baptism didn't come to church yesterday. It was really abnormal and we don't know why yet. We'll be dropping by today to see. I'm worried about them and the other less active members that live by them. We talked to Paulina, who got baptized in Cartagena and is kind of put out. She liked the members in her old ward better. Just hearing her talk about it made me really sad. I also heard some sad news about members from my area in Armenia. I just have felt a bit heavy from all the things that are going on.

Now, I hope you all don't start thinking the wrong thing. I'm happy and I've decided to stay that way. It's a blessing that I am able to say so. I am so grateful for the many things that God does for me. It's natural to feel sad or let down when other people choose to stray. But all I can do is keep loving them and serve them with more love. I guess I'm learning to love the people here, because I feel for them and with them.

I honestly don't know how to express how I'm feeling, maybe it's the deteriorated english or just the newness of these feelings. Perhaps ambivalent? I don't know really. Anyway, I'm healthy, don't worry about that. I found some orange juice and I have been loving that. Me and Elder Steadman found some Malt O' Meal cereal and that's been great too. I'll get the call stuff figured out with Mom.

Love you all,

Elder King

Business as Usual

Dear Everyone,

Looks like me and Elder Steadman are going to be together another transfer! I'm pretty happy about it. Our district didn't have any transfers other than Elder Caicedo is going to his mission tomorrow. The limit changes are officially approved by the first presidency and our area got considerably smaller. Unfortunately Antony, the policeman from last week, isn't in our area anymore, but we get to keep the Balderama family. They will be getting baptized the 27th. We are going to have to work super hard to get new investigators this week, but the ward seems a lot more excited to work, seeing as we got multiple references this past sunday.

So I've been thinking about and studying repentance and forgiveness this week. I'm trying to learn to be more forgiving and as I do I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. I'm still pretty terrible, like when my roommates don't wash their dishes, the neighbors play music in study time, etc. etc. The small things seem to be the most unforgivable sometimes. But if we can't forgive, we can't be forgiven either. It's the difficult reality. Repentance without forgiveness wouldn't make much sense if the great Mediator was the one not willing to forgive. He is, but we need to be like him (at least as much as we are able) in order to recieve said forgiveness. As Amulek told Zeezrom, He will not and cannot save us in our sins. I'm making the conscious effort to retain a remission of sins, and I invite you all to do the same. That is the yoke of Christ, which is easy and the burden is light.

So today we went to the Arvi Park, a cool forest in our area. It was nice to walk around the mountains again. Fresh air and no worries. I definitely want to visit again if I can. Still waiting for my package, although I'm pretty sure it's already here in Medellin. Just waiting for the office people to go pick it up..... any day now....

Love you all,

Élder King

A Special Witness

Dear Everyone,

This week was definitely interesting. Tuesday we had our interviews with President. They were short and sweet and I thank him so much for his wonderful service. We found a new family that we are teaching currently. Antony and his soon-to-be wife were contacted by my companion and another missionary last week in a park. He is a policeman, which makes it a bit difficult for him to get to church, but either way, we have a lot of hope for their progress. We had a stake conference this week as well, but I'll get back to that. (Elder Christofferson spoke at Stake Conference as well.)

As many of you may have inferred from the title, the Highlight of this week was the visit of Elder D. Todd Christofferson, my personal favorite of the apostles. I thought it was too good to be true, which was the main reason in me keeping you in the dark about it. I was afraid something would happen to impede his coming. But he came, and I don't think I'll ever be the same. His excellent ability to expound doctrine will stay with me as long as I live. He taught that the Sabbath is the time, the Temple is the place that we apart for the Lord and his work. He also explained to the missionaries the necessity of both being born and being reborn and the important role that each of us plays in this great work, which is the work of God.

His testimony alone is enough to make me sure of the actuality of the resurrection of Christ. He leads this church personally. Think about that. He actively participates in the leading of this Church. No other organization in the world has such a privilege. My testimony is now bolstered and strengthened by the testimony of this wonderful man.

I'm going to keep working hard, I hope you all do the same.

Love

Élder King

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