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

Sore But Not Sorry

 Montgomery

Dear Friends and family

We found a pretty promising investigator this week. His name is Andres and he is a friend of Miladys (a member who is prepping to serve a mission). He already has the first two lessons and he reads and understands really well. He also is the only investigator that came to church, but that's more kudos to him than bashing the others. Edison had to go to the doctor's on sunday morning, so we had to move his baptism date for the 20th of August. That's most likely my last week here in Cereté, so let's hope we can get these people converted! Oh, Andres also accepted the 20th as the date of his baptism. I'm the official chef of our zone (please, please, no applause necessary). Basically means I get to make breakfast for everone when we have zone meetings. So, like, two times or something like that. I'm thinking French Toast. Me and my companion are getting along a bit better. Still a ways to go until we are perfect, but I guess that's quite literally life. Doctrinally speaking that is. Julia gave us short notice lunch on Saturday, so we finally got in to talk to her and her daughter (both less actives that we found two weeks ago). They like us, so hopefully they'll start making steps towards active membership. Silvana, another less active, is also making progress. However, there is something keeping her from coming to church, so we still need to figure out what that is.

So, spiritual thought. The Lord definitely doesn't enjoy our suffering, nor is he the source of it. But he does allow it to happen so that we can grow and make ourselves better. At times we need a test or two, whether it be to strengthen our faith or to test our endurance. Just know that 2 Nefi 2:24 is the truth. In the verse that follows we find our purpose in this life as well. To have JOY!

Looks as though you all are having a lot of fun on Pioneer day. That's one down, one to go! Hard to believe it's been ten months already.

Love you all,

Élder King

p.s. I am sore, but never sorry. If anyone asks, tell them I'm working! :)

Dear family and friends,

This week went very slowly, despite having a lot of errands to run for the transfers. tuesday we had Elder Peterson in our area in a trio. Most of our plans fell through, but we did get to visit Milena, a less active we found last week. Wednesday we went and picked up Elder Ku after spending a bit of time in Elder Peterson's area. Elder Ku is from peru, but he looks like a tan chinese guy. He is kinda weird, but then again I still don't know him very well. THursday we walked a lot, talked to a crazy lady and almost got into a bible bash. Which, I will admit, I enjoy, but it's not something we should do as missionaries. I thought about camping a lot on thursday, not sure why. We found a possible new investigator, Kenya, visiting Draisy. She is interested, but she has almost no time. Edison finally came to church, which is wonderful because if he hadn't we would have had to set a different date for his baptism. It still isn't completely sure, but with prayer and some effort, he should get baptized on the sixth of August. We had an activity for Vanessa Gonzales, a member that will be leaving for a mission in Ecuador in the first week of august, and it made me think of my companions from the mtc that are serving in that mission.

Distances become further if you carry unnecessary baggage. That's my fortune cookie statement for the week. Do what you will with it.

I'm praying for ya'll, love

Élder King

The Bright Side

Dear Everyone,

No transfers for me. Six more weeks of Cereté!

Seeing as it rained this last Sunday, few people came to church. A shame really as I gave a great talk about true conversion. Leaning over for 15 minutes can be tiring. We met some interesting new less active members, namely Martha, one of the very first members in Cereté. Her husband is not a member, so we will see if we can do what no other missionary has been able to do. Julia as well, very interesting case. She has been less active for 15 years or so but she is very excited to get talking to the missionaries. Apparently nobody has done much work to rescue her. 

As for our investigaters, Edison still hasn't come to church, neither has Leidy. Alejandra is moving slow because she is unnecessarily embarrassed to talk to us. Marjudis, John's girlfriend, has been coming to church and is progressing quite nicely. They both have a lot of faith and are willing to make sacrifices to come to church, something I haven't seen yet in Colombia. It is strange to think that I am working with two separate couples that are all my age to get them to be married. People living together just seem like they should be older than me.

We had a zone activity to say goodbye to the missionaries that are leaving, so we wasted some time this morning. For Cereté, only Elder V is leaving, and it's about time. He has gotten kind of lazy and disrespectful since he learned to speak English.

Love,

Élder King

PS:  Thanks Guy and Sandra for the conference package!

Dear everyone,

Alejandra is back, and vacations are over, bringing good news and bad news. Most likely, people will be easier to find. But the school across the street will start it's daily ritual of making lots of noise at six and during study time.

Daniel seems to be avoiding us, seeing as we stopped by his house every day this week, and he wasn't there. Or the one time he was, the power went out and he was working in the store his family runs on their porch. Jacob and Leidy are working on a marriage date and I hope that this time they are finally sincere. Neris has all the lessons now, meaning the only obstacle is Rafael, who for whatever reason really doesn't want to get married, despite living together for five years now. Sherys and Edison couldn't visit with us this week. John Dairon and Marjudis, his girlfriend, were able to make it to church this week. Alejandra surprised us by coming with her younger sister. But those are nice surprises.

Next week we have transfers, and I'm also speaking in church. Both always fun experiences. We saw someone get robbed right in front of us yesterday, kind of freaky. But don't worry, the only kind of robbery people do here is kind of hit and run style, nobody has weapons. Two men don't have anything to worry about, except maybe each other.

Anyway, Love you all, probably forgot something, but yeah

Élder King