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

Prado Times Two

Dear everyone,

The transfers were quite interesting this time around. Me and Elder Steadman are staying together, but we have a new area! Prado 1 got closed and we are going to take all of the Prado ward now. Our area is massive to say the least. But I'm super happy to still be with Elder Steadman, even though we are all alone now. We will most likely be changing residence this week so that will be interesting.

One of the families we found last week now has a baptismal date. These are the ones that my companion found that had already heard the missionaries before. We visited  them three times this week, they have already begun reading the Book of Mormon and most of them came to church this week! Their names are Johanne and Angela (the parents) with Ana Maria and Steven (the kids) Ana Maria didn't come for some reason, but she will come next week for sure. They have a date for the 15 of July and if all goes well, they should be our next baptism. We also have taken over all the investigaters that Prado1 had so we will be getting to know them in this week. It's going to be a crazy week for us and I think this last stretch is going to fly by.

Love you all,

Élder King

Diligence and Hope

Dear Everyone,

This week we were blessed with many opportunities to find new investigaters, something we need a lot. As of yet, there aren't any that are progressing, but our recent converts are still going strong.

We have been doing a zone contacting effort recently. We go to each area and just contact a ton of people for two hours. We did it in our area this last thursday. My companion with another missionary found an old investigater that basically said he wants to be baptized. We went back and talked to him yesterday. Him and his girlfriend both received us very cordially and asked us how many times in a week they could visit with us. We responded, "why, as many as you like!" So we will be meeting with them this next tuesday, friday, and sunday most likely. They still have their pamphlets and Book of Mormon from when they were listening to the missionaries before. I guess one of the missionaries just decided he didn´t like them and stopped coming. Kind of sad, but great that we fouind them again.

So we are going to be working hard this week and keeping our hopes high. One thing that is sometimes difficult to remember is that unless we are giving our full effort, it´s not enough. That's where diligence comes into play. Diligence is the attribute that makes us qualified for divine grace in our everyday actions. It can be difficult but it will definitely be worth it. Sometimes the burden doesn't feel so light as promised, but compared to the burden that we justly should have, I would gladly take the yoke of Christ.

Love you all,

Élder King

Weddings and Baptisms

Dear everyone,

We were blessed with a wedding and two baptisms this week. The wedding went off without a hitch, which was the most surprising. It was somewhat stressful trying to organize it all, but we were able to involve most everyone. The Bishop baptized Jose and the new Stake president baptized Deidi. I was glad to have the ceremony over, just because of all the stress involved in organizing it. But for the first time in a long time, the ward was able to see how a baptismal service should be and I hope that in the future, we will be able to do it in a more organized fashion.

So as we left the wedding, I noticed there were a lot of people in the lobby. I heard them talking about something at 9:30. I assumed that they were there for the next wedding. I thought to ask them about it. But I decided not to. Then the thought was persistent. So I said a little prayer and I promised to talk to the young man (who I assumed to be the groom) if I was given the words to do so. So, the same question came to my head and I asked him. After talking to him for a bit, I found that he was to be married that day and I asked him if he would like to learn how his family could be eternal. He accepted and I'm pretty sure the missionaries have passed by his house. I'm going to verify that as soon as possible.

We also had a fun experience with Yolanda, a recent investigater. We went and talked with her and gave her a Book of Mormon. The next time we visited her, she was already in chapter 4 and said that she felt the book was true. We invited her to pray about Joseph Smith and attend church. She wasn't able to make it this week, but considering her situation it is understandable.

So yeah, Love you all,

Élder King

Insights on the Spirit

Dear everyone,

This next week, we should have some good news. We had a bit of a scare this week, because our gold family didn't make it to church. My companion called them in the second hour and he didn't really understand what they were saying. He just remembered one word "apuñalar" which means "to stab". So we were understandably worried. Turns out on the way home from work Saturday, José got stabbed in the arm by some guys that were fighting in the street. He got some stitches and he's okay now, but they were in the hospital all night and couldn't make it to church. He said he even felt prompted to take a different route home, but decided against it. So there was a lesson to be learned and they are still very decided on their baptism this Saturday.

We have been focusing a lot lately on getting help from the members, and we have seen some progress. There is still a long way to go, but I feel like we are at the beginning of a great movement here in Colombia. I just hope we can get it moving as fast as possible.

I had an experience recently. It was very interesting and insightful for me. As members of the church we are constantly striving for improvement. As we improve, we feel the spirit in greater measure in our lives. But as we sin and continue in error, our revelation channel, the spirit, cannot convey its message because we make ourselves unfit to recieve it. I felt as though I had done just that, through personal error. A wave of bitterness came over me. I felt as though despite my efforts to become better, it wasn't working and that I was confined to an annoying cycle of pride and misery. I felt as though I had been abandoned in my struggle, that because I had made a mistake, that help was no longer available to me.

 But then, as I stretched my soul to feel the spirit again to enjoy that wonderful blessing that I had, until my flaws reared their head, been a recipient, I felt the warmth of the spirit as though it were trying to reach me through a thick cloud of darkness. I realized that God was trying to get to me, trying his hardest to get me back. I felt the urgency of his love, I felt just how much he wanted to reach me, but that it had been me that had pushed him away, however unintentional it may have been. I don't know if I have ever felt that way, it's always so hard to remember that joy. I know it must be the joy of repentance. I'm still not perfect, but I know that I'm trying and God knows as well. The more I approach Him, the more I feel that he approaches me.

 Keep on chugging and don't worry about your sins. Christ took care of those. What each of us needs to worry about is how we can utilize the Grace of Christ to overcome our sins and weaknesses.

I love you all,

Elder King