Email Letter - December 26, 2011

Hi everyone! This is more for the people I didn't get to talk to yesterday. This week has been good, the highlight of course was Christmas when I got to talk to family and do nothing all day. The Tafua family is amazing. We spent the day at their house, they got both Elder Thueson and me a Nike sweater and some chocolate covered macadamia nuts imported from Samoa, which are delicious, and they offered up their home to us to talk to our families. It's great to have amazing people like them that we associate with on a daily basis to take care of us and love us as their own children.

As far as the missionary work went this week it was really slow due to the holiday. We knocked hundreds of houses because everyone cancelled appointments because they were going to be gone, or busy, or whatever. We did, however, have a really good lesson with a less active in the ward that's been coming back with her recently baptized husband, and we think she finally gets it. Before now we know she wasn't doing the things that she was supposed to be doing, that all of us are supposed to be doing like prayer, scripture reading and so on, because she didn't see the need. But now we think that she sees that it is only going to bring happiness to her and her family if she does. We think she finally gets it.

Sorry again for the short letter but that's all for today. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, I know I did!

---Elder King

3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - December 25, 2011

Hey family, merry Christmas! I'll talk to you on the phone soon. To everyone else, merry Christmas as well, take care and have a good day!

---Elder King

3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - December 19, 2011

Hey everyone, things were good this week, it was really long because there weren't a lot of people that wanted to meet. A lot of people are out of town for the holidays and that sort of thing. As far as the work goes it's been slow because of that. But that's okay, it happens and we keep working.

I don't have a lot to say though this week. We're excited to have a lot of open time to meet with our younger investigators due to school break and that sort of thing. It's all going to be good this week, we have a lot planned and a lot going on, so it'll be a good week. Then, at the end of it, I get to call you guys, super excited for that! That'll be very good. Brother Tafua will be taking care of us all Sunday long next week so we'll be with him for the calling. I love that guy, he's like another dad to me.

Anyway, that's all for this week, sorry it's a shorter email but there isn't much to say, last week was boring. Take care all of you and for those not of my family, Have a very merry Christmas!

---Elder King

3rd Nephi 5:13

New Mission Blog Address

http://californiarosevillemission2011-20.blogspot.com/

Email Letter - December 12, 2011

Hi everybody! It's been a good week in the CRM. We finally were able to get some service, we really need the blessings from it, so it was good to have it. We were able to help one of the members hang drywall and during the cutting and measuring period we raked up his leaves. I like to think we helped a lot.

We also picked up a new investigator, named Bill. He came looking for us and seems pretty promising, he is a client of a local chiropractor and through talking with him became interested. We started teaching him last Friday and when he had a kneeling prayer at the end we asked how he felt and he said that he felt he was on the right path to truth, but didn't want to jump in with everything until he knows more. We're very excited to see him, as well as our other investigators, grow. It's very good.

We had Stake conference yesterday which was really good also. We got to get together with all of the other missionaries in our stake, as well as with President and Sister Weston and their family. It was great to see them all and enjoy a good time with them. All of the talks were really good but one in particular stuck out. The young woman's president spoke about how our attitude makes a big difference in our spiritual growth. She shared a lot of the story of Nephi's positive attitude in contrast to Laman and Lemuel's negative one. One of the major points was that when we have a positive attitude as to what the Prophet, in this case Lehi, asks us to do we grow and learn from it, and instead of just doing as Laman and Lemuel did that we become what the Lord has asked us to become. It was pretty cool. One of the other talks from a member of the stake presidency completely denounced anyone that doesn't call us Christian because we don't believe in the Trinity, but in three separate Beings that make up our Godhead. That one was pretty cool too.

Sorry I don't have much to say this week but know that I love you guys and everything is going great. Take care!

---Elder King

3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - December 5, 2011

Hello everyone! I have another fun story for you this week, about my adventure with Elder Tigges. Before I begin though, let me tell you about Tigges, this guy is a character! He grew up in North Carolina, and was homeschooled so he is a little on the non-social side, but this kid is a crack-up, his favorite jokes he got from his grandpa who was a member of the Klan, so you know what those are all like, he is a ginger so we give him a hard time for that. Plus, he's really creepy.

When I get my camera adapter back from another elder, whether today or next week I'll send video from my adventure with him. Until then let me tell you about it. The fog was awful, during the day we could see about 15 feet, at night we could see about 3 (maybe). Well, we were heading to dinner, it was dark, around 5:30 at this time, and dinner is about a 15 minute ride away. BUT dinner is also on the other side of this dirt path that has a 20 foot drop off of that path if you don't ride extremely carefully, that we could not see due to "the mists of darkness that were upon the face of all the land". So we had to take a detour through a field that had recently been plowed. So we were sinking into the middle of our shins as we walked through the field, the ground was too soft to ride the bike. Then, we end up on this ridiculously sketchy street that we did not feel good about. So we booked it out of there, good thing too because the member we were eating at told us that as he drove down that street shortly after we got to his house there was a car that was squished and an ambulance and all of that good stuff.

At dinner, a cat jumped onto my lap, so I punted it as I stood up and it dropped. It deserved it, the little devil. Kindly the member gave us a ride home and it was much better than walking across a "dark and dreary waste". Also, dogs chased us that day. Twice.

What a great adventure! The work has also been an adventure, we have a gator getting heart surgery in a week, that's interesting to prepare for. We have on that we're extending a date to this week, and we just found a family to teach! I'm super excited to start teaching them, we're working hard here and reaping the benefits of the Lord's trust. Everything has been lining up really well for us. That's just how it goes sometimes!

Anyway, that's all for this week. Take care everyone, I love you all!

---Elder King

3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - November 28, 2011

Hey everyone. It was a good week this week. Getting ahold of people was tough because of the holiday but that happens. I'm sure it'll be similar when Christmas time rolls around.

Let me tell you about how my Thanksgiving went, because it was a blast. Our morning started at 6 am, when we went to the Stake center to play soccer, we do that every Tuesday and Thursday. I'm starting to get good now and can compete with some of the better people when it comes to footwork and the such, which is really nice! We played that until just before 8, when we went outside to start our football. The weather was perfect! It was raining, kind of, it was really more of a super light mist, which was just the right amount to keep us cool. Every missionary in the zone, totaling 24, was there and it was great. A couple good runs, 6 for 6 on catches and 2 TDs, so it went really well for me. We stopped playing football around 10 and went back into the stake center and played dodge ball and a form of kickball we call 5 base for about an hour and a half. Dinner was at 1 with the Stake President and his family. That was good. Everything was there but the ham. But we had that at our second dinner, which was with an investigator - John, and his family. After that we went to the Tafua's where we had our third dinner and where I emailed you. To finish off we went to another missionaries' apartment and played monopoly until our curfew. A busy and full day, it was great.

The week was kind of slow, like I said because of the holiday. But was still very good. We weren't able to meet with anyone we are teaching sadly, they were all sick or out of town. Some good new though, Dan had his interview with the bishop for Melchezidek priesthood this last week, he's very excited about that and should be getting sustained in stake conference on the 11th. It'll be good for him to be able bless his family further.

That's about all the news for this week, I don't have any fun stories about casting out devils, healing the sick, or raising the dead as I travel abroad in the service of the Lord. Have a great week!

---Elder King

3rd Nephi 5:13

The FOG:

Email Letter - Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone, I hope your holiday was great! Don't worry the rules are not being broken, it is a p-day. I just wanted to tell you all my day was great, the people here, member and not, took great care of me and Elder Thueson. I love you all! Have a great day!

---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - November 21, 2011

So, I have some fun stories to share with you this week. But first, we got transfer calls the other night, and there's been a big shake up! My son and I are shot gunning (also known as whitewashing) Penn Valley ward, Elder Garner's first ward, in Auburn! It'll be so good. I'm pretty excited, but also very, very nervous. JUST KIDDING! President wouldn't do that to me. I like Auburn a lot though, we were there a few weeks ago for a zone conference, and I like the fact that it has hills. I would like to serve there at some point.

So good story, I was on an exchange with my friend Elder Rakuita in the Sutter Buttes ward last week and we had such a fun day. We started off by teaching English and American History for the citizenship test to a bunch of East Indian people. The funny part of that is Elder Rakuita, an elder from Fiji and not a citizen and was the primary teacher of the lesson because I didn't know what to do. A Fijian teaching a bunch of East Indians about the U.S. Funniest thing I've ever seen.

Much of the day was menial work, door knocking and the such. But we finished off with this great adventure! We went to see this lady, Brenda. Well, Brenda has had a demon haunting her the last couple of days apparently, and it has one ear, a huge wart, two horns, and the eyes of her mother. What a crazy thing! We found out why this demon was bugging her, this lady was praying to, and kissing a picture of, King Tut! AND IT WAS SPEAKING BACK TO HER! So what did we do? We cast the demon back to Hell where it belongs, and took the book, and burned it. It was pretty much the greatest. I love going out with Elder Rakuita, because it's always a fun story, and a great journal entry!

The work hasn't changed much, we weren't able to meet with two of our investigators this week which was frustrating but it happens. Our little one, Hayley, we are extending a date to tomorrow night, and so we our planning on December with her. It'll be so good.

That's all for this week family. I love you all!


---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - November 14, 2011

This week has been a great week! We picked up another new gator named Hayley. She is nine, the daughter of a less-active who is coming back, and she wants to be baptized so she can make Jesus happy. Isn't that so great? She's really shy, but pretty funny. She was telling us jokes before our lesson this week, as she gets to know us better we think she'll open up more.

As for the things with our other investigators, we have two that are really close to baptism. If you remember Yvette, she told us the other day that she knows the church is the true church but just wants to hear everything we have to teach before she commits to a date, a little frustrating but all we have left is the commandments and we'll be taking care of that this week and next. I'll keep you updated there. Dustin, the "you rock God" kid is progressing as well. We started teaching the actual lessons with him yesterday and things are going good. The way the work is progressing is impressive. That's what happens when both companions work as hard as they can. We knocked about 300 doors this week, which isn't much, but the success that comes from knocking doors is small. Of those 300, 0 asked us to come back or were interested at all. It's okay though, the Lord is blessing us for doing what we're supposed to be.

Yesterday, both Elder Thueson and I were privileged to speak in Sacrament meeting. I wish I was more comfortable speaking in front of people, and that I didn't get so nervous when I was up there. The topic didn't help either. Elder Thueson spoke on the Restoration, focusing on Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. He did very good. I was asked to speak on the Atonement, and how we can apply it into our lives and the effect of doing so. Pressure much? The Atonement is never an easy topic to speak on. Even though it is the most fundamental doctrine of the religion, it is also the least understood of any of them. I think it went well overall, I did my best to make a clear path throughout the talk and what I was speaking about. It was good. I'll attach a file copy of the talk so you guys can see it. Of course I didn't follow it exactly, there are a few more scriptures that I used and quotes from prophets and the such that aren't in this version  because I added them in during the talk.

Anyway, that's all for this week. I love you all! Have a wonderful week.

---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - November 7, 2011

Hi everybody! Everything went really well this week and it was all good, except for the weather. Seeing as how I hate the cold and the rain here is freezing, and I'm biking in it, it's no fun. I love the rain, but not as a missionary. I am enjoying today's sunshine though.

So this week we had interview with President Weston. It was so great, I love the guy. He truly is an inspired man, saying exactly what I needed to hear. It's always good to know your leaders are completely capable and trust them. That's an important thing for each of us I think. One of the things he said was "As talented as you are, and as good as you are, look heavenward." What a simple thing for us to live by, especially as missionaries.

So lately we've been working with the less-actives of the ward trying to find people to teach while also trying to get them back to church and that work is finally starting to pay off! One of the less-actives, Israel, invited a non-member friend to our lesson last night and we started teaching him as well! Fun story about this kid, Dustin is his name, and the end of the prayer we got him to say, he said "You rock God, you rock Jesus. Amen" It was so great. Thuey and I could not stop laughing after. It was hilarious. We'll start teaching more about reverence next time.

As for things with everyone else the work is moving along. We should have some good things happening here soon. It's all picking up as we work harder and open our mouths more and more.

That's all for this week family and friends. Have a wonderful week and stay excellent!


---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - October 31, 2011

Hey everyone! Happy Halloween! Halloween is not a good holiday for missionaries though, sadly we cannot dress up and go trick or treating, although I hear Mormon Missionary is going to be an 'in' costume this year with Mitt running for office. We also have to be in our apartment by 6 to 'avoid persecution' as it was put. That's alright though, being cooped up in an apartment all night is a good thing, it'll be so much fun! We'll play death ball.

As for the work this week it's been kinda slow again, but that's alright. We keep ourselves busy. We've started doing a 21 day promise thing issued by Robert E Wells of the Seventy that is starting to work its magic. One of the members that had her cycle of 21 days end yesterday and she had a less-active with her at church that hadn't been in over 10 years! How good is that? SO GOOD! We're beginning to meet with a lot of the ward's less-actives and find new people to teach through them as we reactivate them as well. It's going really well for us in that area and life is good. Things are going really well for our recent-converts as well, both of them hold callings now and are excited to go home teaching regularly. Mike said just the other day, "I didn't get to go on a mission when I was your age, so home teaching is my mission now". Needless to say, that is something we really like to hear! Especially since the home teaching in this ward is not very strong, and that is a way that we find new people to teach as well.

Things with Thuey are going really well too, we're working hard. It's nice to have someone that will push me to work harder, I need that, sometimes my own self is not quite enough. That's what companions are for right?

Well, nothing very monumental happened this week, so there isn't much to say. But here, enjoy a picture of how we're going to be celebrating tonight! I love you all! Enjoy your week, the holiday and such. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER! Love you buddy, you're such an old fart.


---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - October 24, 2011

Hello everyone! It's been a great week here in California. The weather is wonderful, staying in the mid to low 80s and sometimes even into the seventies. It has been quite enjoyable.

Elder Thueson is great too. We're working hard and the work is picking up. We're still looking for more success in finding new people to teach though, but that happens, it's slowly coming around. Remember Yvette? I brought her up before when she was still being lame and not wanting anything to do with us because of the member she was no longer dating. We got a call from her last week asking if we could drop by and begin teaching her. SCORE! She's definitely been prepared, as we found out. Last Thursday we taught the message of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She accepted the message, but not the invitation to be baptized offered by Elder Thueson. She said she wasn't willing to jump right into the Gospel, because she's making the decision for her son as well, and she wants to make sure it's right for him as well as her. But the fact that she's willing to listen regardless of her relationship with that member, and keep commitments and such is a very good sign.We're hoping to pick up a family of 5 today after our P-day activity. Some other missionaries were out street contacting and ran into these people, Bill and Carrie that live in our ward. They seem promising so we shall see how that goes. The one thing that is holding me back about this family is that they live on the sketchiest street in our area. Not knowing this Elder Thueson and I went and tried to contact them at about 7 o'clock at night, long after the sun went down. Most people were drinking or smoking on their doorstep, or cat calling us with things like "what message does Satan have for us tonight boys" and that sort of thing. After that particular one I decided to mumble under my breath "We wouldn't know what message Satan has for you, but you can ask him yourself if you like" I was pretty lucky they didn't hear that I think, but Thueson and I had a good laugh at it. I went back the next day with Elder Rakuita, my big brown Fijian friend, in the middle of the day, to talk to them. The appointment we set is for today. We've decided to make sure that we're not there too late after dark this time.

All in all, it's been a good week. We've worked hard and done well. We're expecting more success for the work this week! I love you all!


---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - October 17, 2011

This week has been the most stressful week of my mission thus far.

So Elder Garner went up to Chico early on Tuesday, and is doing well and working hard up there. He's enjoying being in a car. His comp goes home in 5 weeks, and he goes home in 11, making them the oldest companionship in the mission, alongside the APs. I have been out a total of 13 weeks in the field and my new companion has been out 1 (almost) making us the youngest companionship in the mission, alongside another of the missionaries that came out with me that is also training. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks that is funny. The missionary from my group happens to be training Elder Thueson's MTC companion.

Anyway, the reason this week has been super stressful, even though I know that I'm qualified to train because I have been called of God by President Weston, I barely know how to be a missionary myself and am still trying to find out how to train a new missionary when hardly know how to be one myself. Elder Thueson has joined me from Parma, Idaho, which is about 40 miles west of Boise, near the border with Oregon. The kid is great. The MTC has changed their training program from the lessons in Preach My Gospel, to what they call the 8 fundamental lessons. These lessons are the basis of helping the missionaries in every aspect of the teaching process. For example, "How to begin teaching" and "My missionary purpose" are for before teaching, "Revelation through prayer" and "Revelation through the book of Mormon" are for helping the investigator feel the Holy Ghost and so on. My time in the MTC was the time they were starting the switch so I got the lessons in PMG and the fundamentals, which is good because I am adequately prepared to teach the lessons, and lead through expanded study of the fundamentals. The changes sure are helping out as we've seen a lot of success with the last group to come out with this new training program.

A little bit more about Elder Thueson: He comes from a family of 7, 5 boys and 2 girls and he is the youngest. He played tennis in high school and is very similar in mannerisms as I am. Plus, the fact that he is my "son" it is only fitting that he looks like me! I'll include a picture with this email.

As for the work, we've started to do a lot of the things that are taught in PMG, and are going to start meeting with the leaders of the Ward and help them fulfill their duties in each of their areas. In doing this we are going to seek Less-actives and Part-member families to teach and bring into the fold. We believe and have faith that this will increase our teaching pool, as it promises in PMG, giving us investigators to teach and bring to the truth. All in all, we are going to become more and more like how we should be as outlined in Preach my Gospel.

Anyway, that's all for this week, as things start to unfold with Elder Thueson and with the families we'll hopefully start teaching, I'll keep you updated. I love you all!


---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - October 10, 2011

Big shake ups with transfer calls this week, not really what we were expecting but good stuff none-the-less.

Elder Garner is going to the Chico First Ward, which is on campus. It's a dangerous world up there. There's a sorority that is out to destroy missionaries. You can't be admitted in unless you come with an elder's garments and tag. Scary stuff there, a lot of missionaries get sent home. At least he's going to be there only for the winter when they're at least bundled up. Also, he's not zone leader like we thought he would be but President Weston has set him up to train his last transfer.

Speaking of training... That's what I'm doing. Yes, enter Papa King. Admittedly the rumors started last week so I was almost sure that I would be, but it's still nerve racking. I'm going to be responsible for a new missionary as he enters the field. I've only been in the field twelve weeks, it's unheard of for a missionary to train this early. The earliest we have heard of before this is 18 weeks. I'm nervous as freak! But I know that I'm ready. I told President that I was ready and willing to take any responsibility that he and the Lord thought that I was ready for, and apparently they think I'm ready too, so in saying that, I have no reason to be nervous or feel inadequate to do this!

I'm very much excited to meet my greenie tomorrow! It'll be great. I need a banner to hang outside our apartment that says "It's a boy!"

As per the work this week it was another slow week, both of our promising potentials have asked that we back off a bit until they get into the Book of Mormon more, I guess I can't really complain too much about that but I would rather start teaching them the doctrine. Things with our current 'gators are going well, we've found the right members to help us teach and places to teach them where there will be minimal distraction. We plan on extending the commitment to baptism to Yvette this week as well. It'll be very good as we feel that she will accept.

Anyway, there isn't much to say other than that! I hope you guys are just as excited for me as I am for myself.


---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - October 3, 2011

This week was really busy as I expected it to be. It was really nice having people to teach instead of trying to find. Remember that Yvette girl that ditched out a couple of weeks ago? We’re teaching her now and things are going really good with her. She always has awesome questions and we always have awesome, inspired answers. We plan on committing her to baptism this week!

There have been a few other really good things also but not much to say about them quite yet. Other than Yvette we picked up Kathy as well, I'm pretty sure I told you about her. We tracted into her a week and a half ago and gave her a book of Mormon to read, she was already 5 chapters in before we were able to come back and start to teach her. It's great how the Lord prepares His people to be taught.

Conference was awesome. That would be enough to say normally but it won't suffice this time. There were too many great talks this time around. It was different this time because I wasn't only watching conference for me though, in each talk I either learned something for myself or the people that I'm teaching. Hearing Elder Bednar's talk on genealogy for example was great. A few days ago Dan shared a bit from his Patriarchal blessing about how he is going to be a "Savior on Mount Zion" Elder Bednar explained just how to do that. Cool stuff huh?

Later this week I'm going to scan my notes at Dan's and send them over to you guys, that way you can see what I learned, and I can get cookies from dad for showing my notes. Even though I'm on a mission that still applies right? There was so much to learn and I can't wait until the Ensign comes out so I can look at the talks in study time. It'll be a great thing to have and a great tool to teach with. I think the most exciting part about conference though was the announcement of the new Provo temple. You should have seen me; it was very distracting for the other 15 missionaries and the families in the stake center.

One of the messages that hit me most was Elder Holland's talk in priesthood. The part about how missionaries can't afford to bind their tongues intentionally. Also the Brother's talk about synchronizing our will with the will of the Spirit, to teach by it and not in front or behind it. His name escapes me now but I'm sure I'll remember as I leave the library.

I love you guys! I'll talk to you soon!


---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Video! - September 28, 2011

Here's the first video that I've been able to upload and send. It was taken at our half mission conference a couple of weeks ago. I'm about 7th or so in from the left, behind and to the right of the shortest elder (not me!).

We're singing our mission song which was written I think in 2000.

You can see the sheet music and the story about our song here:
http://californiarosevillemission.blogspot.com/search/label/Mission%20Song

Here's the video:

Master, may we all do it well.



---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - September 26, 2011

This week has been another rough week, things were slow again but that's ok. This last week has set us up for a really good week this week. Even though we didn't have many lessons we contacted a lot of people and if all works out we should pick up 4 or 5 new gators this week. That'll be nice to have solid people to teach.
One of those people is Kathy, a bushy head Cherokee Native American that can trace her genealogy back to the trail of tears! When we talked to her on her doorstep we talked about how Christ came to the Americas after he was resurrected, and she said that she already believes that. We promptly gave her a Book of Mormon and with Christ's ministry to the Nephites bookmarked and set an appointment for this Thursday. We also have appointments with 2 other potentials, a former and a less active that just moved into the ward. Even though last week was on the tougher end, this week will be good. The work of the Lord will not be frustrated. It'll all work out.

Funny story about last Saturday before I end. It needs some background though. There are two prominent Latino gangs in Yuba, the Nortenos and the Sorenos. Nortenos wear purple so they can have Sacramento Kings shirts that have SK on them for Soreno killers (or Sean King!). Sorenos wear red. Well on Saturday we were asked by the Spanish elders if we could help them clean out and repair a member’s chicken coop. As we showed up, each and every one of us was wearing red, in an almost all Latino neighborhood. You see the humor of 8 missionaries having the possibility of some Nortenos around the corner ready to shoot them up? I sure do, it's great that the Lord was looking out for us in making sure there weren't any purple people around.
Well everyone I love you, I hope you enjoyed that great story, next week I'll try to include some videos about what missionaries do when they're bored! Have a great day!

---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - September 19, 2011

Hey everyone! This week was really tough but it was also really good! This week after the conference was really hard, not a lot of people wanted to hear what we had to say, and it just goes to show that Satan works really hard to bring you down after really good spiritual experiences. What a jerk! That's ok though, we'll get over it. We did get a pick-me-up yesterday though as Mike was confirmed and then ordained a priest! We also got permission from Maya's mom to teach her and baptize her if she so chooses, which is great!

So, there is a brother in my ward, Brother Nelson, that likes to give everyone a hard time. Yesterday he noticed the pink ribbon on my back-pack and gave me a hard time for that. Later on, at dinner he also began to give me a hard time, where the title to the email comes in. he said, "You are wearing a purple tie (my paisley one), you have a pink ribbon, and you play a club sport? Destined to drive a Prius my friend." It was great fun! Well, it's a short one today. I'm going to attempt to send pictures and a video. Have a good week everyone, Love you!

---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - September 13, 2011

Hey everyone! Sorry for another day-delayed email, we weren't sure which day we were going to have half mission conference and it turns out we were on Monday instead of Wednesday like they said we would be. For the conference, we were instructed by President and Sister Weston, but also a General Authority. Who you might ask? Elder Kearon from the quorum of the seventy and his wife! When we found out that Elder Kearon would be coming I was very excited, he gave one of my very favorite talks in the priesthood session last October. The one about following the path of the righteous ones that came before us, listening to the counsel of our parents, and not disobeying commandments out of either laziness or rebelliousness. Very good talk indeed! There were a lot of questions that I had that were answered very well and the spirit was especially strong.

I would share pictures and a video but we went to Brother Parry's ranch again this morning and haven't been back to our apartment yet, where the cable and everything for the camera is. We almost didn't even make it to the ranch! I am scared every time Brother Parry is behind the wheel. After he ran a stop sign he declared the person that almost hit him "I'm Don Parry and I'm in town! Pay attention, gosh dangit!" Shortly after that he went straight on a left turn only lane. As much as I love that crazy old coot, I don't think I'll be getting into a car with him again. He also mentioned that it was one of his better days for driving.

Anyway, those will come next week. The video is of all 80 or so of the missionaries there singing the mission song, which I love. I sing it all the time, not just because I love it, but because Elder Garner gets so easily annoyed by it. Having been out for 20 and a half months he's heard and sung it quite a bit already and it's old.

This last Sunday, Mike was baptized! Woohoo! It's very exciting to see a 'gator that I had a part in teaching get dunked, er, partake of the ordinance of baptism. It was very special. It was the first of hopefully many times on the mission when the spirit has been palpable. Surprisingly, his faithfully catholic father and step mother were both not only supported, but also mentioned that they felt something they never had before the moment they entered the building. We got there address, Elders are on the way, maybe they'll accept too and will join the fold of the Lord. Another great thing was Mike's daughter, Maya, came up to us after the baptism and asked when she can be baptized! What a treat! We start teaching her Friday, so expect another baptism in a couple of weeks. Brother Tafua, to recount, he is Mike's father in law and also our Ward mission leader, talked to her and mentioned that she could be baptized by Mike after he had the priesthood. That'll be a treat! It's all very exciting. We also think we found out the way to crack DJ's resistant outer shell. We've already laid out the doctrine for him and he says he hasn't really felt the spirit. We think otherwise, so now we're going to teach about the spirit and how it impresses us, but also lay out the commandments as well so we can make sure that he's living in a way that he should so he can receive the spirit's promptings. Hopefully that'll do it, but if not we'll keep trying.

Right now we're really struggling for people to teach. People don't trust the missionaries around here. Apparently there hasn't been any trust for a while. Some missionary about 5 months ago broke a window in the stake center, when he shouldn't have been there anyway. So the stake president doesn't like missionaries, and since there's no stake trust, there is not any ward trust either. We rely heavily on referrals because most people slam doors in our faces, and there's no referrals coming in. Do any of you know anyone in the Yuba City area that we can teach? That would be nice if you could send them our way. As for now we'll keep on trying to find and teaching the less-actives that decide they still like the church.

In a couple of weeks I'll be sending my first journal home, you'll see why when it gets there. It'll be a pain to pack around in its current condition. Again, you'll see. I like the idea that I had, but if things keep going as they are I don't think I'll be able to carry on with it. I'll send a picture of it in its current state next week as well. Sorry I don't have the cable!

I'll be sure to email on Monday next week, nothing foreseeable is in the way of that. I'll talk to you all again then! Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove you!

---Elder King
3rd Nephi 5:13

Email Letter - September 5, 2011

Well, this week has been tough. We had just about every appointment cancel, so there's not much to talk about. Mike, the guy with the date for this week is doing really well, we're meeting with him 3 times this week to finish up the commandments and such, things are going well with him.

Funny story about this week, with transfers last tuesday they held mail at the office just in case anyone got transferred. So last friday, we went to check mail, and I had received the package from Scott and Jenny, (thanks guys), and 4 letters, Elder Garner was not very happy that he only got one. Mail is a commodity that you usually stop getting around 6 months. The funny part is that later that day, since we got the letters earlier from the hands of the mail man, we decided to check again. Guess who got another letter; no, it was not Elder Garner.

Anyway, things are going well overall. The only down side of this last week was the two new people we found, Lupe and Yvette, decided that they don't want the gospel. They said "it's not right for them" of course they're wrong but what can you do?

Well, that's about it for this week, like I said there wasn't much to talk about. Love you all!

Email Letter - August 29, 2011

When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

Now you may be wondering about the subject heading for this email. I'll explain: This week we found a neat place called wing stop. Wing stop has pretty good wings as you might imagine, they are indeed delicious, but one of the times that we went there were members there and they decided that it would be a great idea to buy all of the missionaries some "atomic" wings. Now, we all joked saying that these wings could not be that hot. Guess who was wrong. At first they weren't bad at all, but after a minute or two, you're wanting to throw up because of the heat of the wing. That was a catastrophe waiting to happen there wasn't it? Other than atomic wings, wing stop has another pretty cool thing that blew our minds. The coke "freestyle" one tap, one hundred options. Check that out sometime. It's pretty great.

Good news: The last couple of weeks we've been attending a lot of baptisms, none of them being ours. Jealous, we set a date with Mike! He's pretty excited and so are we! The date is coming up quick and there is still a lot to teach him but we're now meeting or talking with him every day and getting it taken care of.

More good news!: This week we also picked up two new investigators! We found Lupe tracting while I was on exchanges with Elder Tervort. Crazy story there, we weren't planning on tracting at all that day because we were so busy, but we had two appointments fall through. We went back to the apartment and started to decide what street we were going to tract. Before we were going to start tracting I thought it would be good to visit some past 'gators and see if they would let us back in and after we knocked their doors we could tract some streets next to their houses. Tervort had a different idea and thought it would be good to hit a different street than the two I had decided, when he said the street we should tract, Jewell, I thought it was right so that's what we did. It was then that something that never happens happened. The first door we knocked we were let in for a bit and then invited back to bring our message. That is the story of Lupe. The story of Yvette is less fun, but that is just fine. She asked a member of our ward out to have the official title of "couple" and he told her that he doesn't really date girls that aren't members of the church. When he said that, she told him that she wanted to learn. Flirt to convert works!

Bad news will be omitted due to the excess of good news in this email. Just know that my mouth still burns from the atomic wings two days ago.

Email Letter - August 22, 2011

Alright, another long week and still not much to say. A lot of the same which happens around here. This week we had some really good lessons which all went very well. After our lesson with Mike, our black investigator that I haven't said much about, he asked us how we pick what we teach because it was just what he needed to hear. It was a great opportunity to talk about the spirit again and I think he gets it better now. It was really cool to have that experience with him. A few days after the lesson he told his wife, who is the daughter of our Ward Mission Leader who in turn told him, that he wants to be baptized. How GRRRRRRRRRREAT is that? We're going over either tomorrow or Thursday, or both, and going to give him the challenge again and find out why exactly he wants to be baptized, important to make sure they don't do it for the wrong reasons and immediately go less-active.

The good news: Mike isn't the only person that is wanting to get baptized, Chaneille, a 'gator that had her baptism date fall through and had disappeared off of the face of the earth, has returned to the planet. She has decided she still wants to get baptized and is working out finding a date when her sickly grandparents can come and see. I wish she wouldn't put it off because that's when things go wrong, but we can't force her to do anything.

The bad news: We are planning a funeral service for my friend Elder Lyman. He dies next week and we will miss him. So we're going to throw a party! It'll be good for him to get home, especially since he's checked out already.

Email Letter - August 15, 2011

Hey everyone, there isn't much to report this week it was very slow. There was a lot of finding being done, except there wasn't. We tried with little success. Sadly that's how it goes sometimes.

We did go to Brother Parry's ranch this morning which was pretty great! I'll include some pictures that I took.

The good news: Elder Garner and I picked up a new investigator this week as we visited some more formers. John Munoz is his name and he has a lot of questions and is very much interested. While on exchanges, I went with Elder Bodily, one of the ZLs and did about 4 hours of service for him in redoing his backyard. Most of my time was moving and rearranging stones that weighed anywhere from 25 to close to 100 pounds! it was great redoing a stone sidewalk. needless to say, his back yard is much better looking, and my back hurts. But it was quite good, we did that on saturday and we go back to teach him this coming saturday. it'll be good.

The bad news: Elder Garner got licked by a cow! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

That's all, another short one this week. enjoy!
-Sean

Email Letter - August 8, 2011

Howdy Y'all! Things are still going well. We won the competition for the top numbers, as I knew we would. It was hard work though, 20 lessons in a week. Aside from that though we haven't done much. Just doing work. I did get kenzie's package, it had been waiting for us since the 28th. The mail man never put a note on our box like he was supposed to, the note the lady from the office we didn't get until two days after she had put it on. In any case, it's here. This week's letter will be shorter because you get pictures!

The good: Dan, our convert, we have been teaching his son, DJ, the lessons. He is very receptive and progressing quickly. We've gotten him to pray a few times now, once asking if this was the true church and if he could have a sign. we're thinking of making a big sign and putting in in front of his house. That'll be good.

The bad: even though we had 20 lessons total, we still had 5 fall through and one ask that we don't come back. We're not sure what happened there but we're going to try and dig to find out.

Other than that, things are going well!

-Sean

Pics from the field - August 8, 2011

I have updated new pictures. You can see them by clicking through on the slideshow in the right navigation area, or by clicking here.

New Pics from the MTC

I have updated new pictures. You can see them by clicking through on the slideshow in the right navigation area, or by clicking here.

Email Letter - August 1, 2011

Hey everyone! things are still going well! Elder Garner and I are having a competition starting this week with all of the other companionships about who can have the best numbers and most lessons. The sisters in our district cover two areas and have a distinct advantage but that won't stop us. We will win. But in any case things pretty much are the greatest here. This week we've had much less flat tires and much more contacting. we went out tracting and got the door slammed in our face a couple of times but that was expected.

The good news: The highlight of this week is we picked up three new investigators that are very excited to learn. Two of which are a couple that have met with missionaries before, a few years ago. They were quite surprised when we showed up at their door. Elder Garner and I have decided that we are going to visit all of the area's former investigators to help boost our numbers. We also have plans to commit at least one of our progressing investigators to baptism this week as well, so hopefully there will be another dunking soon. If things go as well as we hope they will, we will have two baptisms this month and a few others committed. We're awesome! Oh, and humble too.

The  bad news: Right before I got here Elder Garner and his last comp had a girl, Chaneille, that was going to get baptized but didn't because her grandpa went into the hospital. I met her the first day I was here, and haven't heard from her since. We've tried and tried to talk to her but she never answers texts, or calls, or anything. We're super worried about her.

That's all for this week! I forgot my camera hook up again so no pictures this week either. I promise some will come next week!

Email Letter - July 25, 2011

Hi everybody! so this week has been so great! I'm going to organize my emails into 3 categories from here on out. A basic summary of what happened, the good news and the bad news. sound good? it had better because unless i change my mind that's how it's going to be! so, this week has been very busy, getting out to Cali, meeting Pres. Weston, meeting my new comp Elder Garner, and so on. Very much fun. This week I've found myself in Yuba City, which is the 'central' area in the mission, and i'm in a biking area so I'm very happy. more news on that later. In short, I love it here, I'm very glad to be out in the field finally. We have 4 progressing investigators now, and we just contacted a few new ones while tracting. Lovin' it! Another thing, is the older missionaries in the zone all give out nicknames to all of the younger missionaries. for me, they're deciding between Franky, as in Frankenstein. As my head is very boxy according to Elder Lyman. Or hook, short for hooker. yep. Even here. They just had a missionary leave that played rugby that taught them about the positions, and when they heard I played, they asked what position. and now it's stuck.
The good: so the very good comes first, as it's the best. I had my first baptism! And I can count it because I taught him two lessons before the fact. His name is Dan Martinez, a used-to-be gangster. Seriously. Look up the episode of Gangland about the Fresno Bulldogs, he was part of them. pretty nasty group if I say so myself, but I love the guy, he's so great.According to Elder Garner, he has made a huge transformation since they first started teaching him. His wife, who grew up in the church but was 'less-active' is interested again too, and now his son, DJ is starting to sit in on daily scripture reading! Maybe some potential for him, hopefully. It's so great.
More good: Elder Garner is freaking awesome! I love this guy. So, the first thing I thought when I saw him was, "When did Trent Andrus grow 5 years younger and come on a mission?" I looks just like Trent, and it's kind of scary. But moving on, he likes the same kind of music I do, plus just about everything else that someone could have in common. It's pretty ridiculous really but I love it. We get along super well.
The last good: as I said I'm in a biking area, which makes me very happy, we serve in the Hillcrest ward which feeds us very well and takes care of us in every way possible, my district is pretty much the best. We have some really awesome elders, Lyman and Tervort, and Wooley and Poll. and also some sisters, Reid and Hurtado. Everyone works super hard and pretty much kicks butt. It's pretty great
The bad: This week we decided to study and learn about patience, as we decided to study a different Christ-like attribute from preach my gospel every week. Anyway, as I'm sure the more experienced people know, when you pray for and study about patience, you're going to be tested. Thursday was a very patience trying day, we had borrowed a bike from a member the night before, my bike didn't get into my hands until friday, but while we were studying in the morning we hear this pop and leak sound, but didn't think anything of it. While we were wheeling out the bike we noticed that the back tire had zero air in it. Frustrated we walked 3 miles or so to our appointment. on the way back we stopped at another member's house, and they offered us their bike while they tried to fix the first member's. So we took that and rode off to our dindin appointment. We got there and pulled our bikes behind their house, and we heard a leaking sound again. Not thinking it was the bike, as we were next to a dripline that was running, we went in and had dinner. As we came out and were wheeling the bikes out to the curb, Elder Garner jokingly told me to check my tires. Sure enough, flat front tire on the bike. UNBELIEVABLE! two tires, on two different bikes, in one day! It was a very, very long day.
The other bad: nothing, I just felt that the bad needed to have two sections.
Anyway, that's about it! except for the things I need sent to me. Items such as: a blanket, and a pillow. That's all! Note: unless otherwise noted, please send packages to the mission office, to guarantee that I get them. It may not be timely, but at least I will get them 100%. That's the 8583 Watt Ave adress, in antelope. Thanks! I love you all very much, and I'll talk to you next Monday.
-Sean

Letter from the President - July 22, 2011

We received the following letter and pictures from President Weston.

Hey we've made it to the mission home safely, life is good. I just finished my interview with President Weston, I love the guy. Everything here is wonderful. I love you guys and I'll talk to you soon. Tell Taylor I'm sorry and I love him.

Call from the airport

We chatted briefly with Sean this morning. He is sounding really good. Pretty nervous, but that's to be expected, and I'm sure he'll get into the swing of things soon enough and be just fine. He sends his love to all!

Subject line: "Last email from spiritual prison"

Yes, spiritual prison. Give me a hard time about it and see how much I care! Anyway, life is very good. I'm getting pretty antsy here, very nervous. We leave tomorrow at 5 am, so bright and early. It kinda reminds me of football. Shaun J and I are in the same travel group though, so we'll get a good CYA in before we jet. literally. Not much to share about this week, I did get a new tooth this morning, which is nice. for the record, it was the implant and not the bridge. The screw was stripped somehow, my mouth is just cursed that way. I honestly don't have much to say other than I love you guys, I just can't get my mind off of leaving tomorrow so everything I was planning on writing about has spaced. That's how it goes for me sometimes. Thanks for your prayers, they're much needed, and I feel them every day, know that I'm praying for you all and that I am praying for you too.
I'm going to try to upload pictures after this, so if you're lucky you'll get some!
~Sean

New mailing address!

Elder King will be leaving the MTC this Tuesday, the 19th. It's time to start mailing to a new address:


Elder Sean King
California Roseville Mission
8583 Watt Avenue
Antelope, CA 95843

We'll post updates for direct mailing if and when we get them if they are different from the mission home.

Email Letter - July 11, 2011

Howdy y'all! If I were Elder Fullenwider (yes that is his name, when you eat a lot of food what do you get? Full 'n' wider) that's what I would say, he's from Flower Mound, Texas, which is in the Dallas area. We give him a lot of crap because of his name, one of the sisters calls him Elder Fat'n'Chubby because of the way he described how to say his name. I realized in the last email that I didn't really give a description of the district I'm in. My comp Elder Roley is from Washington state, on the Canadian border. He makes more fun of canadians than I do. Elders Fullenwider, Coburn and Netane are a trio. Fullenwider is a loud mouth, and always has something to say, usually inappropriate. Elder Coburn is a goof, he's always dancing or singing some crazy dance or song that he just made up. Elder Netane (net-on-A) is the strong silent type, the kind of guy that when you look at him you don't want to mess with him lest you lose your life. We have a trio of sisters in the district also, and I love them all very much. Sister Maybin reminds me a lot of Tania, Sister Pearson is one of my kinfolk, meaning a dwarf. But she is very kind, and very smart, she's actually already graduated from BYU and decided she had nothing better to do than to come on the mish. Sister Warner, makes me think of Sister Wilson a lot, in the way that she always has a story to tell that will help us learn. We've all become very close, and more like a family than anything else. All of the Elders will be in the Roseville Mission with me, so there's always opportunity to see them again. The sisters are heading to the Philly mission. But we plan on keeping in touch.

One of the most amazing things I've noticed since I've been set apart is the capacity for love has grown, and it's so easy to love someone you don't even know. Our first morning here, we watched these videos from a New York Times website called one in a million (might be billion) that is all about people that have overcome some really hard situations in life. It was so easy to love those people after watching their videos, I don't even know them and want them to be happier. It's amazing really. It's crazy what the Lord does to bless His missionaries. I hope you are all feeling the blessings as well. I love you all very much and I'll talk to you again soon, if you have any specific things you want to hear about send an email back with it in the subject line. I'll be sure to follow up! Peace an' Blessin's, Peace an' Blessin's!

Letter - July 06, 2011

Rather than transcribing this one, I thought it needed to just be scanned to get the full effect. Enjoy.

Email Letter - July 04, 2011

Hey everyone! life is pretty good in the MTC, it's a lot busier than I thought it would be. We have 6 hours of class a day, at least 2 hours of personal study time and at least an hour of companion study time scheduled it. Elder Roley is the name of my companion, and we mesh really well. You can tell that the people that assign companionships are inspired. Everything is going really well, i've only put on a pound since I got here, I decided that I'm going to be careful of what I eat and how much I eat of it when I'm on the mission. besides, it's more better that way. So it's only been 5 days, and I have already taught 3 lessons, with more to come. we do a role play with our teachers, where they act like investigators they taught on their missions, and we go in and teach those investigators. Even with them it's amazing how the spirit takes over when you're teaching. You can feel a physical presence there with you when you teach, and the words are put into your mouth, it's so strong here,the spirit. I'm loving it here. I don't see shaun much during the day but we have rooms close to each other so we make it count after classes are done at 9:30. It's also really nice seeing Alec again, I almost didn't recognize him at first, you can tell that people grow up so much here. I look in the mirror and barely see the Sean from 5 days ago. My district is really tight, we've grown so close already. We have my companionship, a trio of elders and a trio of sisters. Sadly, one of the other elders didn't show up, and Anna's cousin is in a different zone. A zone is 3 districts together. I really enjoy everyone in the district though. From what we hear there is usually a companionship in every district that slacks off but I don't see that in ours. I'm very fond of the people I've met. So we did a tie exchange saturday for the district leaving today, to build comradery and such, but I felt so badly for some of the elders. their Ties were terrible. I've never seen so many ugly ties in my life. One elder, Elder White, had this tie that we called "rainbow trout" black base with burnt orange, swamp green, and urine yellow designs on it. It was horrible, and Elder Roley traded for it. My companion loves ugly ties, and I don't know what to do! At least that's the only concern I have about my companion though. Anyway, I'm running out of time, we only get 30 minutes on the computer for email. I should have come prepared with something to say, I'll do that next week. Love you all!

-Sean

Letter - June 30, 2011

Hey Fam!

It's the first full day here and life is good. Unlike Taylor my comp and I get along really well. His name is Elder Roley from Orville, Washington. Things are going really well here. Shaun isn't in my district or Zone unfortunately, but our rooms are close together so we see each other often. Anyway, the days are busy and I don't have much time to write, which is why this is short. But I love you guys and I'll see you soon. Two years isn't too long.

- Sean

Tuck and Roll at the MTC

We did the curbside slowdown at the MTC today. "Tuck and Roll", quick hugs and on the way, leaving Elder King and his boon companion Elder Johansen in the hands of the Lord for the next two years.

What a blessing and a joy! Tears shed... for many reasons.

We love you Elders!