Work as Usual

Dear Everyone,

Another week has gone and not a whole lot of news. But the news that I have is all good news. We were talking with Ediverto and my companion asked him how old he was. He said,"I'm 39, but I'm going to be 40 soon" 

"When's your birthday?" 

"The 12th of August" 

"That's a Saturday right?" 

"yes"

"Would you like to get baptized for your birthday?"

"sounds good, I want to be ready though"

"Don't worry, we'll worry about that"

We're going to work really hard with him to make sure he makes it. We found and taught a lot of new pèople this week, hopefully they keep wanting to listen. Chatted for an hour with a Jehovah's Witness that. Made me sad how closed-off people can be. But we found various families and couples that are already married and just need to learn and accept the restored gospel. I'm excited to continue working this week.

We did the first layer of paint on the old house and will probably be finishing it up this week. José blessed the sacrament again this week. Angela and her daughter are doing great, already working on personal progress and family history. My companion and I are doing fine, he's a funny little guy. We went and played soccer today and I'm kind of beat.

July is over. I'm glad for those of you who are enjoying your summer. I'll see you soon enough. The church is more than true, it is divinely directed and sustained. Us missionaries are protected by the prayers of each of you. I thank you so much for everything you have done for me. We have a bright future if we just hang in there and do our best. Keep moving forward. The speed of your progress depends on the will of the Lord and the amount of effort you put in. Remember Repentance. It is my firm testimony that sacrificing bad habits and routines brings blessings.

I love you all,

Élder King

Elder Herrera

Nate saw Deseret on the label

Treats compliments of Dad-for working hard!

Baptisms and Transfers

Dear everyone,

Ana Maria's baptism went off without a hitch! We're so happy to see the conversion of this family. They have been giving us tons of references, including a guy named Jorge. Jorge has had a really, really hard life, but he has been able to turn it around and make his life a faith filled one. He has read the Bible 7 times cover to cover, so we're pretty sure he'll blow through the Book of Mormon we gave him. Hopefully he will be a baptism in this next month. We also contacted the guy that sold us the washer and turns out he is married! So we talked with him, his wife and son and they were very interested. With a lot of work this month will turn out very fruitful.

Elder Steadman got transferred, but he is still here in Medellin, so he didn't have far to go. My new companion is Elder Herrera. I met him when I was serving in Planeta Rica. He has got about a year in here in the mission. He is from Lima Peru. He will be my last companion unless something really crazy happens.

I read this quote from Harold B. Lee this week: "The most important of all the commandments of God is that one that you're having the most difficulty keeping today." It struck me that it is in that way that the atonement is so completely personal. There is no rating scale for the graveness of a sin, only graded difficulty in the repentance process. So whatever seems the hardest sin to let go, that's the most important one for each of us, because it is that sin that will keep us from progressing if we don't bring the power of Christ's Atonement into our lives.

I'd like to share a scripture I found a while back, I feel like it goes along with the theme. It helped me to get over some difficulties.

17 And again, he that trembleth under my power shall be made strong, and shall bring forth fruits of praise and wisdom, according to the revelations and truths which I have given you.

18 And again, he that is overcome and bringeth not forth fruits, even according to this pattern, is not of me.

Keep on perservering, keep on studying and everything will work together for your good.

Love you all,

Élder King

Warm Water

Dear everyone,

We managed to get two baptisms this week! Party in Prado!!! It was a struggle and for a bit there we were worried that they weren't going to make it. But they passed their interviews, the word organized a nice little meeting and we had a great ceremony. Everything went off without a hitch. They are both super committed to their decision and this week, Ana Maria will be following them into the water. We are very happy for them.

I had the privelege of performing Angela's Baptismal ordinance. The water was cold, but I have never felt warmer. I could feel the spirit permeating the room as these two children of God made their first covenant with him. I felt a bittersweet nostalgia, knowing that I don't have much time left to serve these people, but I felt so happy for them having made it here. I'm sure the Lord is pleased with their progress.

This is the last week of the transfer and it's most likely that Elder Steadman leaves this next week. It's been great and we are going to work super hard this week to find some new investigaters.

In other news, we baught a washing machine!! We exchanged our old fridge and some piggy bank money for a washer, a commodity that I haven't had since I got here. Saving pays off!

Stay strong,

Love

Élder King

Yohan Alexis Jaramillo Vargas and Angela Maria Agudelo

Steven

some pictures of the baptism, Washers, and Steven, Angela and Yohan's kid

Service

Dear Everyone,

More fun facts about Colombia: nobody accepts service. The members never ask us to do anything for them. We have to insist physically just to wash the dishes after lunch. Me and my companion will just get up and start washing and some of the sisters will get mad! I guess there is a saying that if someone cleans in the kitchen, they don't ever come back, so maybe that has something to do with it. But we got a desperate call from the zoneleaders begging us to go and help with a move. We were with the other missionaries in the district on exchanges, so all four of us went. It was fun, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would and we kind of wasted the exchange. It was pretty fun to finally do some service. They had me do most of the heavy work just because I'm the biggest. And while flattering that they think I'm so strong, it kind of wiped me out. My forearms are still sore. But I like service pains. They are the best pains.

Johanne and Angela want to get baptized this week. We talked about extending the date a bit so that Ana Maria could get caught up, but Angela said she really really wants to get baptized this week, so yeah. This week is going to be a rush to get all that done. Ana Maria also wants to get baptized but says she is fine waiting until she is prepared. But it shouldn't be too long of a wait. We found a few new people this week, including Santiago, a member's boyfriend. He has gone to another church most of his life, but stopped going there a year or so ago. He was very interested about the message of the restoration and we are very interested to tell him about it. 

Also, last week we also spoke with Anyela and Sebastion, a couple that heard about the church from coworkers. We taught them about Joseph Smith and asked them if they wanted to know it was true. Sebastion looked me in the eye and said, "are you telling me this is true?" And I was taken a bit aback, thinking he would just say "yeah, I'd love to know it's true. How can I?" That's how things usually go. Thankfully, we were prepared for such a question. I said simply "yes, this is the truth". He just sat back and let out a sigh of relief. Anyela also just said, "I believe it". They really through us for a loop! They started asking questions about baptism and sins (they live together). We told them they would have to get married and would need to learn a bit more, but that we would be happy to teach them. Now, as happy as this story is, there is a little cloud of sadness. They don't live in our area... But either way, makes me happy to see people of such faith.

To finish up, I just want you all to know that this is the truth. I am not so foolish as to spend two years preaching something I don't know is true. There is no message more powerful than that of the restoration of the Gospel. God has spoken and He continues speaking. If you have faith and live righteously, you can hear His voice and know that He is! What message could be better?

Keep up the good work, I love you all!

Élder King

Lots of Party

Dear everyone,

I don't know if I have yet mentioned, but Colombia has a lot of holidays. I think the second most of any country in the world. There are approximately two per month. Today is the last of three mondays that were holidays. On top of that, everyone got a July bonus and are spending like crazy. More than anything, it's somewhat frustrating because a lot of our investigaters went out of town. But no matter, the family is still going pretty strong. Ana Maria came to church for the first time and it seemed like she enjoyed it a lot. She is Angela's daughter and is already progressing quite well in the Book of Mormon. We have taught most of the commandments and they have accepted to live them. I'm pretty sure that they will get baptized on the fifteenth, but possibly just a titch later.

Life is as crazy as ever, yet this week seemed to go really slow. We haven't been able to find many new people to teach this week but hopefully in the next couple days we will find some that are willing to listen to us. I met my first atheist here in Colombia. It was kind of sad to talk with him, but at the same time really funny. He just doesn't really understand much of anything. But oh well, we know what we believe and why we do so. I also felt bad because he talked like he was afraid we weren't going to like him or that we would think badly of him because of his beliefs. We made it very clear that despite our difference of opinion, we had no intention of treating him like he was less.

Keep on being good people, be nice to everyone and remember that charity is really just love unfeigned. Love God and love your neighbor.

Love you all,

Èlder King

Moving Buddies

Dear everyone,

So, this week got pretty hectic what with the move and all. We had to figure out how to plan around deliveries and lunches along with teaching appointments and exchanges. It went fast and now we are just trying to get everything organized so we can work in our area better. We have been losing a lot of time to errands and while important, I definitely enjoy teaching and finding than moving furniture and other such nonsense. I guess I'm just doing my part to leave the area better than I found it (thank you outdoor code).

We had six investigaters come to church yesterday, and three of them were people we had never met before. The members are being a lot better about inviting their friends. The only sad part is that most of them live in other areas so we won't get to teach them. What are the odds honestly? We have a massive area. Johanne came but for some reason Angela didn't. Either way we keep teaching them both and they are both going pretty strong. I'm more worried about Johanne because he hasn't been reading as much and he seems a bit more hesitant about baptism. But hopefully all will turn out well. 

Ediverto came to church again. We met him last week when he came to church out of the blue. He is also very excited and we will be talking with him today about a baptismal date. We went up again to visit Luz Dari and she was happy to see us. We haven't been able to pass by for a few weeks now. She says she has been reading and that she wants to take some time out of her schedule to go to church. We talked about eternal families and she really liked that. She said it made more sense than what all the other churches teach. On our way home from where she lives, some guy offered us a ride. We jumped on because there were two of us and just one of him in case he tried anything funny and we were tired on top of that. His name was Efrain (spanish for Ephraim) and he is a Catholic Priest. It was nice to meet a catholic that lives their religion. He was a nice guy.

Just read the 63rd section of Doctrine and Covenants and I really like it. 64 was great too. If you haven't cracked the ol' D&C open in a while, read those sections. Also for those counting 63/7 = 9. Enough said.

Love you all,

Èlder King

Sleepless Nights

Dear everyone,

So this week has been pretty crazy. We have had to run all over the place, making tons of calls and just doing a lot of errands in general. My companion has had a hard time sleeping lately, so we went to the clinic to see if we could get him fixed up. I feel really bad for him because sleepless nights are the worst. On top of that, we are going to be moving tomorrow, and we have to fill out tons of forms, tons of calls for permission, planning a talent show etc. It gets kind of tedious, but we are almost done with all  of that stuff and it will then just be figuring out how to manage our time in a massive area.

Our investigaters are doing great, we took them to see a baptism and they seem pretty excited about their own preparation. Angela has already gotten to Jacob and keeps reading like a champ. This family is seriously awesome. They got to church on their own as well. We had a lot of other investigaters come to church, including one guy that just kind of showed up and accepted missionary lessons. We are going to teach him tomorrow. Unfortunately Gustavo still hasn't been able to make it. Most of the investigaters from the new area didn't come, but hopefully we will be able to fix that this week. Oh, I gave a talk as well. The talent show was kind of lame but that's what happens when nobody wants to take responsibility for the project.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day dad! It is a national holiday here so nobody goes to work. Me and Elder Steadman went and bought about ten pounds of cereal this morning and we found some applejuice too! We are basically making our house a constant gringo party. So that's the good news for this week. Our recent converts are doing well, Jose got the priesthood this week. I hope you are all doing well!

Love you all,

Élder King

Elder Steadman, Elder Jesus, and Elder Meza

Elder Robison and Me