I want a snake when I get home!

Hello Family! 

This has been a very busy week!  We have been blessed to teach a lot of lessons this week.  Monday was a very special day.  We had a dinner appointment with R, one of our investigators.  She has a "zoo" in her home: a ton of snakes, lizards, birds, and a few cats.  Throughout the whole lesson I just had a snake wrapped around my neck, pretty cool!  Mom, I am GETTING a snake when I get home. haha.  Later that day, we had a great lesson with the J, a less-active older couple.  We went home teaching with Elder Watson, a senior missionary.  Right after the Js we went over to the M's, another less-active couple, and can I just tell you, they are absolutely amazing people.  I connect well with them and the whole time we were there, it was only me and Elder Watson teaching the lesson.  Really spiritual moment.  Tuesday we had a lesson with M again.  He is so ready for baptism this Wednesday!!!  Later that evening, we were knocking this one street and we got let in by this really nice man.  He let us in and we didn't really have a lesson with him: 1st- he wasn't really interested, he was just being polite, and 2nd- he was in the middle of making 10+ gallons of alcohol.  As we were leaving, we noticed a few marijuana plants, he says "oh, sorry don't mind my pot plants, your'e not going to tell are ya?"  Kinda a funny situation, #Clueless #Didn'tKnowWhatToDo  haha.  The rest of the week was pretty boring.  We spent all Halloween planning for the week. Oh and we had another lesson with M to go over his baptism program...He asked me to baptize him! :)  I am kinda nervous and excited at the same time.  I will definitely send you pictures next week!!!  Yesterday was a CES devotional and it was stake conference as well, so we basically spent the whole day at the church, besides leaving for the 2 dinner appointments we scheduled accidentally...I am still full!  It was a pretty full week.  We got transfer letters and WOOHOO I am staying in Charlottetown with my new companion Elder Balle.  I will tell you how he is next week.

I hope all of you had a great week!!!

Love

-Elder King

LETTER FROM OCT. 20TH

Hello Everyone! So this week was alright.  This whole transfer we were focused on getting this area organized.  We have been putting up a new wall-map and organizing the area book.  These two activities have been extremely time consuming and, at some times, frustrating, but it will all be worth it.  This whole week we were dedicated in finishing it, so we didn't have much time to proselyte.  We actually finished it on Thursday, and I am so grateful for the time and energy we put into it, because it makes everything so much easier!

Unfortunately, J, our 10-year-old investigator, dropped us this week.  His mom just randomly texted us and dropped us.  Please keep her in your prayers so that her heart will be softened, he was supposed to be baptized next Wednesday.  M has been doing really well though.  His friends, who live in Texas, bought him the Quad for his baptism and he was super stoked about that!  

We have been doing things kinda differently here in Charlottetown.  Every one of our (sisters and us) investigators have been being co-taught by all of us.  OUR investigators are THEIR investigators.  So we have also been teaching E and R as well.  E is doing well, her and I connect really well and the last lesson we had with her was an emotional and powerful lesson.  The only reason she is being taught is because of a member.  #MemberMissionaryWork  E is pretty solid, she has great fellowships and she is strengthening her testimony each day through prayer and reading.  She has a few concerns that we are doing are best to resolve but she is great!  Now let me tell you about R.  I absolutely love her.  She started investigation because she saw an ad for a free Bible and she grew curious about what we believe.  She is just so great!  Every lesson she pulls out this book absolutely FULL of questions that she writes down as she reads from the Book of Mormon.  She is far more advanced than I can handle. Before investigating, she STUDIED, and I mean STUDIED the Bible.  Each day she just confirms that the Book of Mormon AND Bible go hand-in-hand.  She is so great, she just always brings a smile to my face.  She is actually getting her husband to investigate as well!

So we had 2 Halloween parties this week. One with the YSA and one with the ward.  Both were really fun.  We also went to a fireside last night and I would suggest that everyone looks at this website: Shropshiremusicfoundation,org...It was an informational fireside about how kids all over the world are being raised in a war-filled environment and poverty.  Sister Shropsire, a missionary who served here many years ago, started an organization about how music can lift the spirits of those kids.  It was such a great fireside, it made me realize how blessed we truly are to live in a free country.  It also just affirmed how music can really affect the lives of so many.  I know that music has most definitely played a huge roll on my life.

I am doing really well!  I feel better about everything and I am a lot happier.  One scripture that I have been focusing on this week is 2Nephi 31:20...Its talks about hope, faith, and enduring...I Can and Will endure if I put my Faith in Christ.

I hope Everyone is doing well

Love you

Elder King

LOVE!

Re: Elder King!

Hello Family!

Exciting news, this has been a great week! Extremely busy and full of lessons! It started off with great Thanksgiving dinners on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with the members!  We provided service to a less active who was living in filth. (I'll show you before and after pictures)  We've been continually meeting with M, who is still on-date for Nov 5 (Along with 2 others getting baptized that day!) M came to church for the first time yesterday and loved it!  He is just so awesome!  We also taught J, a ten-year-old investigator who is getting baptized as well.  Elder Raymant and I picked up 2 new investigators this week! (Not sure how solid they are yet, I guess we'll find out!)  Also we co-taught with the sister's new investigators, who is on-date for Nov. 29 : ) Really busy and great week!  Lots of great lessons, we were seriously running late for appointments because we had so many.

Love You All
-Elder King

So this week I was studying love and charity and the atonement and I realized something, I really lack love.  I need to love the people I am serving and I wasn't!  I need to love the Lord, but it was hard to feel the love back.  After a week of studying love, I now understand why I was feeling down, I just needed to love!  These past few days have been great because I applied love and the atonement to my life and it has really been a blessing.  Instead of teaching lessons, I'm teaching people.  I am really making that connection with them and I am starting to love them.  Loving the people I serve is helping them understand how to love the Lord.  IF ANYONE LACKS LOVE I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE THEM TO ACCEPT THE ATONEMENT.  "Our love increases when we remember we are all God's children and that He loves us.  The love that results from this realization has the power to transcend all boundaries of nations, creed, and color."  

I really used the atonement in my life and I have seen the blessings that came from it.  I not only feel happier I AM Happier!  This area is really progressing right now and we are finding the lost sheep.-Luke 15. This success is because of His love.  Love is endless.  We need to love our neighbors, families, and people we are serving NO MATTER WHAT!

I bear my testimony, That I Know He loves each and everyone of His children no matter what mistakes we have made or people we've wronged. HE LOVES US, we now need to love Him and when we do, you Will receive blessings. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, amen.

THANKSGIVING IN CANADA

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! O WAIT, I'M IN CANADA.  

I hope you all had a great week!  My week was interesting.  Monday and Tuesday were regular days, nothing new and exciting happened.  Wednesday-Thursday I was on an exchange in Montague, this tiny little area where almost no one resides, only extremely old people.  I didn't really like that exchange, the area was small.  Things started to get better by the end of the week when Elder Raymant came back from New Brunswick.  So I sang with Elder Raymant, Sister Bowden and Lewis yesterday during sacrament.  Elder Raymant has 'GOLDEN' pipes.  He can sing really well!!!  Also yesterday we scheduled 2 dinner appointments, oops #NotComplaining.  So we had 2 really good Thanksgiving meals, and we are having another one tonight.  

Working through and with members is the best, and only effective way!!!  This whole transfer we made it a goal to only work with members.  We knock only where members reside and only do work through the members.  So far, it's working!  We have had a ton of dinner appointments (DA) and have got referred to a lot of receptive people.

Nothing too exciting this week! 

Love you all, 

Elder King

LETTER FROM OCT. 6TH

Hello Family,

So this week was alright.  We had a lesson with M, our investigator, on Tuesday and he is just so amazing.  When we first started teaching him a few weeks ago, he was like, "I am not making any promises, I'm not going to become converted or anything like that."  The more we taught him the more he enjoys it and feels like this is something that he can do...We've been teaching him since.  He should be baptized on November 1.  After the lesson, we drove 2 hours to Moncton for zone training the next day.  I am not sure what is going on in Moncton, all I know is that there is a certain situation that happened that caused all the missionaries there to be removed from the area, so everyone who knew the situation was sketched out about being there.  Weird right.  We had the zone training which was alright then made our way back home on Thursday.  On Thursday,  Elder Raymant, being a zone leader, needed to go on an exchange, so I spent the day with Elder Kelley, him and I are going to be going on exchanges quite a bit.  All we've been doing this week is advertising for General Conference, which by the way was amazing this year.  We had a chili dog buffet here at the church for Priesthood session, no ice cream afterwords though, :(  That's my week in a nutshell, nothing too exciting.  

Love you all,

Elder King

BEST WEEK YET!!

HELLO FAMILY!

This has been the BEST week so far!  Elder Dudley knew he was getting transferred, so we just did area book work and member visits.  We had quite a bit of dinner appointments this week.  Thursday was transfer day!  I went on an exchange with Elder McKenney for a little bit until Elder Raymont got here!  Can I just honestly say how awesome and amazing he is!!!  So we are technically in a quad-panionship, because he is a zone leader, and the other zone leader is in Montague, P.E.I, so whenever they have to do exchanges or travel...Elder Kelley and I will be companions.  He is just as new as me, so this is going to be an interesting transfer!  This is Elder Raymant's last transfer, so everything he says he has a strong testimony on it, he is a well-trained and professional missionary and I know I will learn a ton while serving with him!

So, I had not read the Book of Mormon all the way through before my mission.  Elder Dudley invited me to do a challenge with him, to finish the whole book before the end of transfer.  I CAN NOW SAY I HAVE READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!  After reading it I have gained a strong testimony and I would like to share it with you:

Before my mission, I was just an average kid who was facing problems and challenges, as everyone does.  I didn't care for the church and I was starting to fall away.  It wasn't until I had friends and family leave on their mission that I knew I needed to do something more with my life. And here I am.  The first few weeks in the mission field were extremely challenging and hard, I wanted to quit and give up, but with help and counsel from friends, family, and missionaries, I stayed.  Because reading and studying is part of a daily routine anyway, I decided I might as well read this book that I am teaching everyone about.  I can honestly say that reading was difficult my first few weeks.  I didn't really care about what was going on and I wasn't understanding the doctrine that was coming out of it.  As I continue to read and pray, things started to make sense and I was starting to understand the message that these stories shared.  I notice a pattern that occurs in my life...Things are hard at first and I don't feel comfortable trying it out.  When I do try it out, I let myself down saying "This is impossible".  As I pray, I find myself enjoying and understanding the things I previously said were "impossible".  I now have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know it is true and I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and his courage and faith that lead him to find and translate the Book of Mormon.  I know we have a living prophet today and I know everything he says is coming directly from our Father in Heaven.  I know this is the only true church.  With faith and patience anything is possible.  In the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

So this has been an amazing weekend.  On Saturday, we were going to knock a neighborhood.  It was 7:30 at night and I didn't feel good about the area, but Elder Raymant did.  We said that we both had revelation given to us, so we decided that that night wasn't the night to knock that neighborhood, but the next night might be.  So on Sunday,  it was a pretty busy day.  Elder Raymant scheduled a lot of dinner appointments with members I didn't even know yet.  We also witnessed an 8 year old be baptized.  After the baptism, we went back to that neighborhood we said we were going to knock.  Elder Raymant felt like we should knock a house further down the street, but I said lets knock this house first.  That house we first knocked wasn't interested, but he did inform us that the house Elder Raymant wanted to knock was an apartment (Upper and Lower apartment).  So we went over and knocked the upper one first and actually gave them a Book of Mormon.  Then we went around back and down some stairs to knock the lower part.  It turns out that the mother who was living there was related to the mother of the 8 year old who was just baptized an hour prior.  The mother's son absolutely loves our church and loves missionaries.  His name is J and he is just 10 years old.  He comes running outside saying I am sooo glad your here.  I want to be baptized so I can go to the celestial kingdom.  Apparently, he was taught last year by missionaries.  His mother is totally okay with him meeting with missionaries, she wants whats best for him.  If we would have knocked the night prior, we wouldn't have known to knock that lower section of the house.  THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!

Great week! I hope you all had an amazing week!!!

Love you all, Elder King

Email from week of Sept. 22nd

Hey family...This week hasn't been too eventful.  This area is struggling with new investigators.  Nobody is willing to listen.  We have tried street contacting and knocking which isn't really effective right now.  We are desperately trying to have the members in the ward help us find people to teach.  #WeNeedMemberMissionaryWork.  Our only investigators, The P Family, have been really busy and haven't been able to contact us.   The father, came to church for the first time last week, but he said he wasn't too impressed.  The daughters, A and R, have been to church a few times on their own and they love church.  We actually were planning on stopping by their new place and have a quick discussion with them, but the lesson was all about why the fother didn't like church and what we could do to help him enjoy it better.  This week seriously has been uneventful, we did in fact, possibly get a new investigator.  A recent convert's friend, referred us to him.  The first lesson was on Saturday, but we were skeptic because he said upfront that he wasn't interested in being converted.  We had another lesson last night with him and the recent convert.  He said he is becoming more interested, we did invite him to be baptized on Nov. 1st and he said "when and if I know this is true."  So as of right now we have someone on-date, hopefully he will want to continue to learn.  So yesterday was transfer letters!  Unfortunately, Elder Dudley is leaving for New Glasgow, but I am staying here with Elder Raymont.  He is the zone leader and I worked with him a few times on exchanges.  He is absolutely amazing!  This is his last transfer so he is pretty experienced.  Elder Raymont absolutely loves missionary work, he is always so happy.  This is going to be an interesting transfer.

Love you all, Elder King 

Understanding who I am...

Hey Family! So this has been an interesting week.  All of our investigators basically dropped us.  We thought that the P family dropped us as well, but thankfully they didn't.  Unfortunately, they are our only investigators who aren't even on date because  the father the mother, can't get work off on Sundays.  So basically all we did was contact all week.  

So let me tell you about an investigator.  Last transfer, Elder Dudley and Horner knocked on the door at her house.  She was a drug user and alcoholic.  We have been co-teaching with the sister missionaries.  When I first met her, I wasn't sure what to think. I will be honest, I was very skeptical of her.  She was scheduled to be baptized a few weeks ago, but ditched and completely ignored us for a week.  I was coming to a conclusion that my vibes were right.  So this week, Elder Dudley and I were going to visit and see what was going on.  Luckily, she was home and we had a lengthy discussion.  She had some family issues going on and was nervous for the baptism, but she said she still wanted to be baptized.  I was still skeptical because she didn't show up for church that Sunday, so how could she be baptized!?  After discussing it with the mission Pres. over the phone, the baptism can still happen, because she met all the requirements.  We were planning on visiting her every day until her baptism so that she could stay on track.  On Tuesday, we went over (me still being completely skeptic) and didn't even have a lesson, we had more of a discussion.  This discussion was so powerful and heart-felt.  She said "Elder King, I have known people 20+ years and I haven't told them the things I told you just barely.  You have this spirit with you that touches people.  Your parents must have raised you right."  At that moment, I just started to cry.  I didn't realize I was even saying anything that could effect her.  Having an investigator I barely knew tell me something like that and made me cry was INCREDIBLE!  Last Saturday she was baptized and I had the privilege of being a witness and being in the confirmation circle that Sunday.  What a humbling experience.  I learned something this week; don't judge people, you do not know their situations!  Everything she told me "put all the pieces together", I finally understood who she was, and more importantly I now understand who I am. I think of you often. Please make sure Ethan knows how proud I am of him for being worthy to receive the priesthood. It is such a huge blessing. I love you all so much!

-Elder King 

So the baptism font was gross...bugs, stains, etc...#NoBaptismsForAWhile 

Email from Sept. 8th

Hello family, Elder King here.

My week has been great.  On Tuesday we had a district meeting like we always do, and I went on exchanges again with one of the zone leaders, Elder Raymont.  Being with him taught me so much.  Whenever Elder Dudley and I go street contacting or knocking, we sometimes have a negative attitude about talking to sketchy people, and we always just assume that everyone is a tourist or Catholic.  When I was with Elder Raymont, he talked to EVERYONE!  He was so friendly and outgoing to be people I'd avoid, but some of the sketchy people we talked to were actually nicer than some other people we've talked to.  I learned a ton just being with him for a day.  On Wednesday, I used the skills Elder Raymont taught me!  I found myself talking to people that I would have avoided a week prior.  It has gotten so much easier talking to people.  It has gotten to the point where Elder Dudley and I would split up and talk to different people at the same time (We were still in sight and sound of each other). Later that day, we gave a church tour our golden investigator. He seriously is golden!  He reads everything we give him, he does his own personal research and studies, and he is on DATE FOR OCTOBER 11, I'm not quite sure yet, but I might be the one to baptize him!  We ate at the Bishop's house that evening. They have 5 kids, one of the kids was having an allergic reaction, so  me and Bishop gave their son a, that was a cool experience.  The rest of the week was kinda boring.  We visited, a "less active" (He goes to church every Sunday), he is so cool.  He is in his 40's, but he acts like a teenager.  He is just so down to earth.  He is another "family away from home".  Friday-Sunday we just contacted.  One of the Sister's investigators was supposed to be baptized Saturday, but cancelled.  So the four of us, Elder Dudley, Sister Thompson, Sister Lewis, and I all went to her house to see what's up. (We co-teach with the sisters)  She has a lot of issues, I don't want to go into details, but she is back on date for this coming Saturday, hopefully all goes well.  Well that's my week in a nutshell.  I love the area, it is so nice and pretty and we have someone on date so no i don't want to be transferred.  I mean Elder Dudley and I get along really well, i just need to think about what i say before i say it, we are a good companionship. I love you all and miss you! Keep me in your prayers! Love, Elder King

Great week!

Hey family! This has been a great week!  Started off with exchanges on Tuesday.  I went to a tiny town called Summerside with Elder McKenney.  Elder McKenny has been out 20 months, but his story is interesting.  He got called to the Ukraine East mission, he spent 12 weeks in the MTC, then the mission got canceled for obvious reasons.  Then he went to Kiev Ukraine for a year until they said there was too many missionaries in that mission.  Then he got sent here.  He is a great guy, but that area was soooo slow.  We didn't talk to anyone hardly.  That town was soo tiny.  Wednesday I was back with my companion.  That day was slow as well.  We didn't have any lessons planned so we spent the whole contacting.  Thursday was a powerful day.  We were visiting a less active couple, and the experienced I shared with them was sooo powerful.  The spirit was so strong.  The past few days we've been fasting and praying not only for our investigators, who know this church is true but can't come to church because of work, but we also fasted for the sister's investigator.  The sister's have been teaching Michelle for a while and she is getting baptized this Saturday, but Michelle didn't come to church yesterday with her baptism on Saturday, we don't know what's going on with her.  As of now the baptism is still on, but we will see.  The highlight of my week was Shania Twain.  There was a huge concert 5 minutes away from our apartment.  We were knocking in a neighborhood that was sooo close to the concert, we heard all the singers that sang before Shania.  On our way home we drove right past the concert, it was her opening song...How cool!  Well that's my week! I am going to send you a letter with more details of my week. I love you all sooooo much! I am praying for all of you....stay strong and healthy....scripture of the week. D & C 68:6

Elder Dudley

Elder King