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