Armenia

View from the chapel

a mural

Dear everyone,

I'm working, and I'm tired. But I feel the best I have since I started the mission.

I'm testing a lot of new waters here. I have a lot to learn and a lot more responsability. The work here is slow, mostly because people actually work most of the day. That makes for some late nights. My area is very large, but I'm getting to know it pretty quickly. The Branch we are in is great, more than a hundred people attend and the leaders are all very dedicated. We don't have many investigaters yet, but give me a week or two. We have visited Freddy Cortez and his family, and they are super cool. They are a recently reactivated couple and they have plans to go to the temple. We are working with members of their extended family to get them baptized. Then there is the Rocha family. Omer is a recent convert, though I must say the missionaries who taught him didn't seem to worry too much about his testimony, but no matter as we are teaching the whole family the lessons so that they can all have testimonies. There is another sister, Consuelo, who was baptized in West Valley, which was super cool to find out. She is getting reactivated as well, but she never really lost her testimony or anything like that, she just didn't go to church while she was living with one of her daughters in Bogota. Her records ought to get transferred here pretty soon.

I'm still getting used to my duties as district leader and it's been tough trying to juggle studies, planning, work, and training all while learning the area, but it's also been super fun. Elder Morillo is super awesome and I think he'll be my favorite companion so far.

Oh and there is a Sister here, I think she is the Primary president, but she has family in the Mount Ensign ward!! I'll try and get names. It was super cool when she told me.

Love you all!

Élder King

Transfer News

Dear everyone,

Well, this week was crazy, but not quite as crazy as the last two days have been

I watched almost every investigator I worked with these last two transfers make the wrong decision to postpone their gospel learning ergo, their eternal progress, for one reason or another. I learned the transfers Saturday afternoon and it came as a big surprise. Both me and Elder Fernandez were taken out of Cereté and a new missionary is going to be training there. More on that a bit later. That same day, we found three new families to teach, all in all nine new investigators. So I'm a bit worried about how the next missionaries will handle that, but we left lots of information about the area (somewhat frantically). I had to give a talk my last week in the area and I talked about the Book of Mormon and why it's important. I'm getting a lot of messages recently on just how important the Book of Mormon really is. I try to think how my life would be if that book didn't exist or wasn't true, and I cannot imagine it. It has played such a fundamental role that it is impossible to imagine my life any differently.

I'm sad to leave Cereté behind, but definitely happy to be moving on with my adventure. After 18 hours straight of traveling, I arrived yesterday in Armenia, Tres Esquinas. I'm the District leader of 10 missionaries and I'm finishing up my companion, Elder Morillo's, training. He is from Ecuador, close to guayacil and has two months in the mission as of yesterday. As of today, I have eleven. It was weird sleeping with a blanket again last night and it feels like Summer here. I don't really know anything about the area still, but I'll let you know how things are next week. It's strange not sweating from everywhere. Elder Morillo is super cool and I've always wanted to train. I already love it!

The church is true, Love you all!

Élder King

Fried Corn and Elder Petersen

Fried Cheese

Darn Rain

Dear family and friends,

Well, it seems like there won't be any baptisms this transfer. We were only able to have two lessons with investigators this week, and neither one is progressing at all. Alejandra and Andres seem to be avoiding us, but I think that's in part due to my companions over-persistance. This next week will be the defining week for them. So, sadly, Elder L. Whitney Clayton will only be visiting the missionaries in Medellin and we will later be informed about his suggestions for our mission. Kind of a bummer, seeing as he is in the Presidency of the Seventy, but oh well.

We met Julia's daughter, another less active member, though more recent. Her name is July Ana. Her story is pretty sad too, mostly because none of her problems have come because of her own sins. Just other people's poor decisions. I had an exchange with Elder Peterson on Tuesday. I think Elder Ku is just trying to get away from Elder Peterson, but I never know what he's thinking.

It rained sunday morning, so we got about 60 people that came to church. Nelson is still coming, which makes me happy. 

I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish this Morning. I'm pretty proud of myself. In case you were wondering, the book is true.

Love you all,

Élder King

Work, Work, and Then A Bit of Work

Dear everyone,

I feel like I'm back in Manizales. Not like it's any cooler, just that none of our investigaters can make it to church. Oh well, guess we just have to work a bit harder!

Meeting with less active members, we have learned a lot about problems that members face here. Julia told us her first contact with the church, and I thought it was so wonderful. It's really a tragedy that she is less active for annoying circumstances. She was looking for her friend's church, but she couldn't find it. But she saw that our church was open and thought that must be the one. She went in and it was general conference. She heard President Hinckly speak and said she felt that this was were she needed to be. She looked around and saw some members sleeping, some bored and she marvelled to herself "Why are they sleeping? Don't they feel this special spirit?" That experience got me thinking. Do we feel that special spirit when we go to church? When we listen to the words of the Prophets? Try every day to feel that and you'll never go astray. I am often frustrated with the progress of less actives and investigaters alike. Then I think how frustrating it must be for the Lord to work with me.

We met a woman who lived in the United states for most of her adult life. She seems semi interested in the church, but it may be hard to get back in contact with her. We contacted a few references that all told us (graciously) to shove it. At least in effect. But I'm sure their time will come. A general authority may or may not be coming this week. It's either this week or the next, so I'll let you know more about that when I know more.

Kiwi donuts are interesting, I had a Katelyn moment when I finally realized why "Icebreakers" (the breathmint) is named such. It's still hot. The weather forecast for today is: Cloudy/rainy with a high of 104 degrees fahrenheit and a nice cool low of 78. Hope the roads don't flood.

Love you!

Élder King

Tad Bit Late

Dear friends and family

Sorry for not writing yesterday, but situations made it difficult to get on. So I'll be writing for a short while today.

This last week we were able to teach Andres a bit more and he is progressing well in the book of Mormon. He just needs to ask God a few sincere questions and he will be good to go on his testimony! I just hope he'll have the faith to ask. Alejandra is less busy now, so she will most likely begin to progress again. She's good to go on the Word of Wisdom. They both came to church. Edison didn't, and today we ought to find out why.

We contacted Lina Vargas, a cousin of a ward member. She apparently has had the missionaries before but didn't like their pressure placed on baptism. Teaching her should be interesting and rewarding. Alejandro is a new investigater that Francisco invited to church. He is actually Edison's neighbor, so he has already seen us before. I'm glad to have a new investigater, especially one that lives close by. (We walk a lot)

We helped out with a stake cultural activity. Our district was assigned to talk about the municipio of Sucre. We really just helped the Ward explain it's display.

The reason I couldn't write yesterday is because we went to the beach for a zone activity! Super exciting and we didn't know about it until Friday. But we got home later because we live further than most missionaries in our zone. Had a great time and I have lots of Pictures! I love the beach, but obviously we couldn't go swimming. The bus ride was like you would imagine a bus to Cartagena. Except with missionaries singing hymns. These buses could use some better suspension.

Don't be afraid to bear your testimony and don't let other people tell you what to believe. Pray and learn for yourself, over and over again, that the Church is true and like house with a firm foundation, you won't be destroyed by the storms of life. As fun as the beach is, you still shouldn't build a house on shifty sand. That parable can be really deep if you think about it a lot. Give it a try, it's fun

Anyway, Love you all,

Élder King

The display for a cultural activity.  Nate said is was kind of like doing a school project.

Elder Petersen and Elder King

My companion Elder Fernandez

Yeah, packages!  Thanks family and McQuiveys!!

And Best of the Week, a trip to the Ocean!

what happens when you let Latinos alone to build the new fan