A Week of Service in the Swamp

We did a whole lot of service this week and it consisted of fence-ripping-down-ing, pile-of-wood-burning and the pulling of weeds. The service we have been able to provide is opening doors for people to hear the gospel. The first service project we did for a lovely lady named Sister Keene. She is living all alone in the middle of Shreks very own swamp. She loves keeping her yard and home orderly (which is difficult due to the vast amounts of precipitation) So, we were able to help her prune raspberry bushes and move many boxes within her abode. She claimed "god must have sent you young men to my house" and the great news Sister Keene.... IS THAT HE DID! We are continuing service with her and if the Lord wants her to be ready and open to the gospel, we will be ready! The next project we did was for the Behm family. Roger Behm is one of my most favorite beings to ever walk the earth. He has had something like 3 heart surgeries and he served in the Navy during the Korean War. He has a collection of airplanes hanging in his front room and was rather excited to show and tell me all about them. I was just as excited and asked him way too many questions. After we were done doing service for him he said "you boys better come back and visit me often, I love the feeling I get when you're around and you make me feel happy. You're terrific young men" another door seems to be opening as well! After that we gave service for the Weber family. They are getting the home ready to sell and needed help ripping down a fence. Heather (the mother of the family) goes to school and takes care of 5 kids. Randall (the father) was on vacation this week and the new fencing man was coming the next day. So, they prayed all night trying to find someone to help them and we decided to randomly text Mr.Weber and see if he needed any help. He was quite excited to have our help and Heather said "God sent you boys to help us today" Although they are members of another church, I hope their hearts are softened and they become open to the message we share. The last service we did was for Sister Orthmann she is a nice member of the church we tracted into the other day.... yikes. But, God doesn't do random... She needed our help on a service project! And we were able to burn a large pile of lumber for her. Her k9 wouldn't stop barking and I attempted to impale the dog with the pitchfork I was wielding. Luckily, I missed. Never let your negative emotions towards puppies get the best of you. It isn't good for the church PR.

Miracles Happening Everyday. I Love Being a Missionary!

Vancouver North missionaries hiking to the falls.

It is yet again another marvelous marvelous Monday out in Battleground WA.  I think there actually was a "battle" out here at some point and I assume it was between the Voodoo witch doctors and the moss growing on the trees.  The land round about seems battered with voodoo weaponry and moss growing even on the automobiles.  Nonetheless, I really love being here.  I truly feel The Saviors love for each and every person I meet here. (except the dogs, they always bark and ruin my door approach.)  It has been one of my favorite weeks yet.  Earlier in the week we had Zone conference, which is basically a few small trainings and then we get to hear from the mission presidency.  I don't think I have properly expressed how awesome President and Sister Taylor are.  The whole mission runs off "trust &
respect". President Taylor is one of the greatest individuals I have ever met.  He is down to earth, super smart and a great leader.
He makes you respect him from the moment you meet him and I can vouch for all of us when I say, "I would never want to lose his trust".  I tried to soak in all the pure light and knowledge during zone conference, but I began to be "fried with the spirit".  Oka,y I KNOW I'M TURNING INTO A WEIRD MISSIONARY WITH MISSIONARY HUMOR SO BEAR WITH ME.  Miracles happening every day! I love being a missionary.  If you ever get the chance to share the gospel... don't miss the chance! It does
not matter what abilities you have... it does not matter who you are or how much you know about the gospel.  If you open your mouth and give it a chance, your mouth will be filled with exactly what to say in the very moment (you can find that promise in D&C).  It does not really even matter what you say... remember this is the Lord's work. We are servants and vessels.  He will direct his own work, all we can do is our best.  He knows what we are capable of :)  Never be afraid.  I promise you and I testify to you, this is the swampiest part of WA, and I also testify that being a missionary is the best thing I have ever been so honored to be a part of.  And you can be a part of it too.

First Baptism Scheduled!

Doing service for Cyril

It has been a wonderful week indeed and some really cool things happened.  We did service for a man named Cyril Young and he is almost 100% blind (just realized he drives us around sometimes so that's a little scary) but he really needed help and apparently his wife is 100% blind actually so they can't really pick up trash and clean up very thoroughly.  He really is one of the Lord's elect and he teaches me quite a bit.  His hair also flows like the wind.  We talked with Cyril about the Walking Dead...not sure how he even watches it because he keeps telling us he is blind.  It rains about every day.  My new scriptures are exciting.  Every morning I get excited just to mark them up!  My companion and I get along perfectly.  He is a hard working kid and he doesn't know a whole lot about the deep doctrine, just like me.  We keep it real simple.  We laugh and have fun too.  We are seeing a lot of miracles because we work hard.  I can see it happening in the area.  It was a "dead" area before this:  no investigators or lessons taught in like half a year.  The biggest thing is...I got a girl to set a date to be baptized!!!  We knock all day long on doors...and then just at church, a sister in the ward comes up and says "my friend wants to be baptized and you should teach her."  And so we did.  We invited her to be baptized and she says yes!  Her name is Andrea.  It was so cool to see how the Lord prepared her.  She was so willing to accept anything to join the church.  It was a moment I will never forget!!!

First Week in Washington

Strange voodoo in the sticks

The Swampland!

 Hello all,  this is Elder King reporting live from the set of swamp people:  Anyway it's been a great week! I got chased by a drunk man on a 4 wheeler. Found voodoo magic on that post stump and a lady answered the door with a knife and told us to join another church because we are children of the devil in the Mormon religion! It rains 24/7 which is fun honestly I really like it because church clothes are rather warm and I like feel like I am covered in perspiration.  We have had many miracles already and I have been humbled quite a bit!  I am definitely not in Utah or the MTC anymore. But the members here are so awesome. They supply almost all of our food and we stay at a members house. We also have dinner at a members house every night.

My blonde fluffy hair soaks up the water like a sponge and I often look like I ran a 5K everywhere I go.  We talked to a preachers son for about 20 minutes and he tried to tell us our church was wrong the whole time and we left. He then followed us back outside for whatever reason (THE LORD SENT HIM BACK OUT) and we eventually gave him a Book of Mormon and he said if it was God's will for him to join the church he would do it.

Yesterday was ROUGH. we knocked for 3 hours and didn't find one person. Earlier in the morning I prayed to find humility and I think I have found the X on the map of humility.  We talked to a man who said he was a Lutheran and asked him what he believed and he casually replied "we believe that Mormons aren't a real religion" and had no actual belief about God or Jesus Christ.

We encountered a hippie and he told us he was endowed with godly power from a man he met in South America. Nice fella, but I think the back woods living is getting to him a little.  My companion is so awesome he has only been out 4 months and his name is Elder Firkins.  But the spirit literally guides us where to go. We have stopped at countless houses where we just knew we had to. A man named Dan said he has been looking for a church for a long time and that is why he moved up here to spend more family time and when we told him about eternal families he was overwhelmed and started to cry. He is going to be baptized soon but unfortunately we were tracting in the wrong area...So we had to refer him to the other elders.

 Love you all and happy Easter hope you ate tons of Cadbury eggs because I have been drinking diet Pepsi and eating Easter candy every spare moment I get.

Arrival at Vancouver Mission!

New missionaries!

Elder King with President and Sister Taylor

Elder King left the Provo MTC on Tuesday March 31, 2015 to fly to his mission in Vancouver, Washington.  He spent the day at the mission home with his new mission president and his wife.  Much joy to finally be serving in the mission field!  Here is part of the "Safe Arrival" email we received here at home: 

"We are delighted to inform you that your missionary has arrived safely to the Washington Vancouver Mission.  We already love them and are excited to serve with them.  We have enjoyed becoming acquainted with them and are confident that they will become an effective instrument in the hands of the Lord in sharing the gospel with the people of Washington and Oregon.

We have assigned them a companion who is an experienced, devoted, and motivated missionary.  All of our missionaries understand that one of the greatest privileges available in the mission is to train a new missionary.  This first companion will be a special person to your missionary’s life and will help give them a great start here."  We can't wait until next week to hear all about Washington, the new companion, and missionary life!