The Spirit

Dear everyone,

Just an overall statement to start out: The Spirit is very, very important in our lives. Don't ever miss out on a prompting or a chance to repent so that the spirit can be a larger part of your life.

Speaking of which, cool little prompting I had this last tuesday. Last week the office sent us to get some papers so that an investigator in another area could get married. It would require almost a whole day of work. Tuesday we had a lot of appointments planned because we did divisions that day with the Elders from Montelibano. In the morning, all the appointments for my half of the work day cancelled. I will admit, I really wanted the adventure of spending the whole day travelling to get papers from a small town, but I felt like I had a responsibility to work with the other elder, "show him the ropes" as it were. That's part of what I do as District leader, just to give better context. 

So I sent my companion and Elder Norrell to go get the papers. I gave the the permission forms the office sent me and sent them on their way. Me and the other elder had a great day of work and found a number of new investigators. Turns out the permission form was in Elder Norrell's name and I wouldn't have been able to get the register had I gone, so we would have completely wasted the whole day. Often times we don't recognize the prompting in the moment, but  all that is good comes from God. Do what is right and you won't ever go wrong (crazy that one)

Anyway, that's my story for this week. Next week are transfers, I don't think we'll see any changes, but if I don't get to write Monday it means I'm on a long bus ride.

Love you all,

Elder King

My companion Elder Mischa.  I thought the license plate was funny.

An Efectual and Continual Struggle

Dear everyone,

This week had lots of ups and downs. We lost a couple investigators, found some more and saw struggles and miracles. While walking down a street we never use a lady called out to us and told us that her son is a missionary and that we are welcome in her house whenever. We stopped by a few days later with our mission leader and she was there with her companion (her name is Edith, his Manuel). We talked and she gave us a bit to eat. They were both very receptive, and even gave us a reference. Cool right? It gets better. Later we talked with Osnaider, our mission leader, about the visit. He said he knew the family, as well as their children, one of which is the forementioned missionary. Edith used to hate the church and the missionaries, generally insulting them along with other members of the church. The softening of her heart was the greatest miracle we saw this week, but there were quite a few others.

We had the opportunity to speak with President Calderon and had interviews. They were very brief, but in short he told me that my struggles and sufferings will make me into a better missionary and a better man. I am grateful the Lord sent that man as my mission president. I am grateful to be here, and I hope you can all make the Savior a bigger part of your lives. The spirit will comfort you as you do. I know because despite all the difficulties, I have been comforted and made better, step by step. 

On a less serious note, if you are ever called to give a talk three minutes before sacrament starts, just open the Book of Mormon and look for a verse about the atonement. That's more or less what I did yesterday. I also saw a legitimate peacock for sale in the road on Saturday. I should have taken a picture but oh well. Also, when Costeños drink a lot, they all become Trump supporters.

Have a great week, Love you all

Elder King

One Bad Note

Dear Everyone,

We are working a bit harder this week to contact new people. I hope that we can work out our differences as well (my companion and I, that is). The goal is always better unity. And after typing that it seems really profound to me. Ponder that phrase a bit sometime this week, if you have the time.

Anyway the work is going well here in Planeta Rica. We went to a neighborhood I'd never seen before and contacted there yesterday. We'll see how they turn out, some of them were just afraid to say no flat out. People are funny sometimes, they don't really know what they want. Leonardo is doing better and even came to church yesterday, but got kind of bored and left after the second hour. We started teaching a friend of some members and she has a lot of support from the members, so much so that I hope she makes the right decision for the right reasons.

So about the title, we were singing a hymn in sacrament yesterday, and since it's a small branch we sing a capella. As such, it isn't surprising that it's a bit out of tune. However, something caught my attention as we were singing. There was one note in the melody that everyone sang wrong. It didn't sound wrong, and even sounded quite fine given the circumstances. Only someone who knows how to read music and/or knows the melody to the hymns would be able to distinguish the error. I started thinking how it was that they learned the melodies to these hymns in the first place. The only thing I could think of would be following the lead of someone who knows. So the only explanation for the "one bad note" is that the person who first taught this hymn to them taught them slightly wrong. 

This story isn't about the people singing the hymn today, it's not about music, it's about leaders and followers. We should be examples of the believers, teaching by example as perfect as we can make it. And when it is our turn to follow, we must have faith and also study and learn so that we can know for ourselves that what we are doing is correct. Sing with all your heart, don't worry about singing the hymns wrong, but when it's your turn to be an example of a disciple of Christ, do the best you can and Christ will make it sufficient. I don't know if any of this makes sense to you, but it helped me to learn a bit.

Love you all,

Elder King

Not So Freezing Rain

Dear everyone,

It rained the other day, and it was quite refreshing. I have kind of forgotten what it feels like to be really cold, but if it makes you all feel better, I had to turn the fan off at five because it dropped below 80 last night.

This week was crazy with two exchanges and a baptismal interview to boot. A lot of travelling back and forth. From the looks of things, the next few weeks will include much of the same. We have been working with a lot of new investigaters and we hope to see some progress after the parties calm down. Most people are out of town or planning their last vacation before school starts again, so the work has been slow. The best prospect we have at the moment is Leonela, who has had three lessons in this week alone and has already begun to study the Book of Mormon. The only drawback is that while she is progressing tremendously in her conversion, she will be going back to Bogota to study, so she will most likely end up being baptized there when she decides to. Kind of sad for me, but it has been wonderful working with someone who shows real interest in the message we share.

I hope that we can start contacting more this week, but we will see how things go. President should be coming next week and it'll be great to talk to him after a good four months.

Hope you are all well and that the weathermen treat you with more fairness.

Love,

Elder King

Nose to the Grindstone

Dear Everyone,

I'm pleased to inform you that we are working hard. Just goes to show that a change in attitude can go a long way. Elder Mischa is pretty cool. He doesn't have much time in the mission, so he has a bit to learn as far as teaching goes, but he works with me so we are making some progress.

Leonardo is reading well, but still struggles with his drug problem. We went to sleep really early new years because my companion has a cold and it was just us two anyway. The rest of Planeta was celebrating a lot. Most everything is still closed. We have been contacting a lot of people and we got the most new investigators than any other companionship in the zone. We're pretty much amazing.

I hope you are all recovering well from staying up late, and Happy New Year! Everyone should have the goal to make the Savior a bigger part of their life and to share this wonderful message with others. There are so many people who are still lost in the darkness of apostasy. Help them see the light.

Love,

Elder King