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