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