Feliz Dia de Pacua

Friends and Family, 

Happy Day after Easter! Hopefully you all had a great Easter weekend. 

We had Zone Conference this past week, and it was centered primarily on Easter and what Easter means. It was really nice getting to see Elder Favila and Elder Wunderlich again. I haven't seen Elder Favila since that first day in the field and I have now officially made contact with all 5 members of the Yak Pak since we parted ways after being stranded in the Yakima Airport. 

Earlier in the week we went to go and contact some of the formers in our area and this one couple asked us to come back in 15 minutes. We decided that we'd go and knock a couple doors and try and share the #Hallelujah video with some people. The first door we knocked we found a family sitting around a table dying Easter eggs. We introduced ourselves and took some time to get to know them, and explained what we do as missionaries. We asked if we could come in and share an Easter message with the family, and the wife happily let us in. 

We sat around the table as the three children decorated their eggs with pirate hats, and asked what Easter meant to them as a family. As we all discussed the feelings we had towards Easter, we transitioned into the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. The father mentioned that many years ago, an LDS family he had known shared a copy of the Book of Mormon with him and invited him to read and pray about it. He had read a large portion of it, but never prayed. They were such a cool family, and it was great getting to share some of the happiness that comes from the gospel with them. 

Earlier today some guy came up to us as we were buying groceries and told us that he didn't know why but he wanted to give us a $30 gift card to help us pay for groceries. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers for us, they are being answered! 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

Happy St. Patricks Day

Hola Todos! 

There has been all sorts of adventures this past week. We spend a couple hours two days a week doing service for the city of East Wenatchee. Recently they have asked us to pick up trash off of this trail in the area. There are a ton of little spots where homeless people leave tons of pillows and blankets and trash, so we find some interesting things every now and then. On Tuesday, we found a bone and some heroin! We called the city and they called the police and they came out and asked us some questions and were very grateful for what we found. Missionary by day, detective by night. 

On Friday we drove up to this town about a half an hour north of where we live and as we were walking around we heard some Mexican Polka music playing in the distance. We followed the 'oompas' and found a man named Pablo trying to dig up a tree in his front yard. We asked if we could help him, and he said he didn't want us to get dirty in our shirts and ties. We started helping him out anyways, and got to know him as we dug and dug. His family started coming out to help as well, and at the end of it we knew them pretty well and they asked if we could come back the next week! Despite Elder West's slacks getting covered in dirt, it was great service. 

We've been teaching this less-active and her boyfriend over the past 2 transfers, and working on getting them married and helping Rafael (the boyfriend) progress towards baptism. It has been an up and down cycle, and we really decided to crank down and figure out what we needed to teach them to put Rafael back on date and get them a wedding date. We were using our Daily Planning time to find out what we needed to teach them the next day, and said a prayer asking for direction from Heavenly Father as to what we needed to teach. We sat in reflection, striving to recognize the promptings of the Spirit for guidance and direction. I felt impressed to look into the 12 Week Booklet, and saw that the lesson to learn for the next week was Lesson 5. Since neither of us had any other impressions, we decided to go with it and planned to teach about Missionary Work and Service. 

The next day, we showed up at their home and taught about the blessings that come as we share the gospel and serve others. Hermana Villa was reminded of the feelings that she felt when she was first baptized and how much she loved going out with the sister missionaries and doing home teaching. It all helped it click in her head, and is moving and planning her wedding and soon Rafael's baptism!

I hope you all had a riverdancin' St. Patrick's Day! I attached some pictures of our District Council we had on St. Patrick's day with our green ties and green everything. 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

Spanish Humor and Service

Friends and Family, 

Life in East Wenatchee has been extra peachy and extra keen this past week. We were able to do lots of cool things and meet lots of great people. One of our investigators, Abel, is one of the funniest guys I know. He and his wife Guadalupe have been meeting with us for a little while now, and every time we go over he always gives me a hard time and asks if I have a girlfriend. After every little joke he makes, he always says "I'm just teaching you!" because he's trying to say "I'm just teasing you!". I promised him that I'd invite him to my wedding someday. He has a little son named Pablo, who we have nicknamed Pablito. During our lesson, Pablito was playing with a clementine and banging it on the table. Elder West asked why the clementine was so squished, and Lupe told him "Pablito jugo" which translates to Pablo played. There is supposed to be an accent on the o, but my computer lacks the ability to do that. Jugo without the accent means juice, so Abel made the joke "Jugo de Pablito" which means Pablito Juice. It was hilarious, and I know that humor is hard to convey through email, especially in spanish, but I tried my best. 

Our recent convert Miguel had a broken sink that he was trying to work on this past week, but couldn't figure out what was going wrong. He said after 3 days of trying, he decided that he'd just try and read in the Book of Mormon for a little, say a prayer, and then try again. Right after he did that he told us that it took him 15 minutes before he was able to fix the sink. Cool mini-miracle! 

We did a TON of service this week. We walked some of the trails in the area, picking up trash for the city and played games at the assisted living center with the old folks again. Some of the ladies asked if any of us knew how to play Pinochle, and I was the only one who knew. Pinochle has always been the game to play in my family, and these ladies were pretty impressed with my Pinochle skills. One of them got a double pinochle which was cool to see! 

We also did some service for the Special Olympics that was held here. We set up a lot of decorations and helped do all sorts of miscellaneous jobs. We needed to hang something up on the ceiling but we didn't have a ladder, so I was volunteered to become the ladder. Elder Haymond, the second tallest missionary got on my shoulders and we walked around and every time we needed to hang something from the ceiling I would lift up on my tippy toes and he would stretch and put it in. It was a killer calf workout. 

I love you all, and leave you with the last 4 lines of one of my favorite poems, Invictus. 

It matters not how straight the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll.

I am the master of my fate, 

I am the captain of my soul. 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

"Tacos" and Bingo

Aloha friends and family, 

Happy Leap Year! I will be spending my extra day of the year playing basketball and knocking doors. I hope you all have an extra good extra day today. 

Lots of cool things have happened this week. There was one night where we didn't have a dinner appointment and we were out tracting walking through the Sunset Trailers when we saw this guy and started talking to him when he suddenly asked us if we've already eaten yet. We told him no, and then he asked if we wanted a taco. I told him por supesto, and he walked into his little trailer and started making us a sandwich. I guess Hispanics here just refer to all food as tacos? I'm not exactly sure. Maybe it was just him. Either way, he made us this really nice sandwich with avocados and chiles. It was cool to see how we are provided for in small and simple ways. 

One of my favorite investigators, Josue, had to drop us this week. It was sad. He works as a semi truck driver and works 8 months of the year and is on break the other 4 months, and his time to go back to work started again. He loved meeting with us and we loved meeting with him. He asked the best questions. Some of his questions from our last lesson included, 

"Where did Cain's wife come from, if it was only Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel on the earth?" 

"Why isn't the tribe of Dan mentioned in the book of Revelations?"

"Where will the telestial kingdom be?"

He told us that he is going to keep reading and studying, and that he'll call us if he ever has any questions. He was one of the sharpest guys I've ever met. 

We also had a lot of service opportunities this past week. We had the opportunity to do service for this assisted living facility where we went and played games with all of the old folks who lived there. I played this game called King's Corner with these 3 ladies, and one of them had a stroke in the past and could only communicate through "uh-huh"s and "uh-uh"s and she was one of the funniest people. I also got to be a bingo announcer for everyone there! I got a lot of hecklers who gave me a hard time for not calling out the numbers that they wanted, but it was a blast. 

Spring is finally here, the weather is so nice. I love it. It still gets pretty frosty at night, but during the day it is so beautiful. I want to leave you all with a quote that has been on my mind these past couple of weeks. I love you all, stay tinsel!

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light." -Dumbledore

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

Rockin' and Rollin' in Rocky Reach Vol. II

Friends and Family, 

I am fortunate enough to get to stay in Wenatchee for this next transfer! There has already been so many cool things and craziness these past six weeks, especially with being doubled-in. I'm so excited to see what will happen in these next six weeks. Also, I heard that there were technical difficulties last week with emails, and some emails did not make it out last week. If you didn't receive my email last week, let me know and I will try and resend it! 

One of our investigators, Miguel, was baptized this Saturday. He is so cool, and all of his family came to support him which was awesome to see. The service was in English, since Miguel's speaks English and most of the people who came speak English, so I got to translate for his Mom. She hasn't showed much interest in the past, but it was very cool to answer all of her questions and explain everything that was going on and how Miguel and the rest of her family were going to be blessed for his decision. 

We found this new investigator this week, Reyes, who told us his crazy life story. He used to be involved with the Mexican Drug Cartel and was loaded with a ton of drug money and one day his wife got mad at him and told him that he didn't want him bringing dirty money into the house because she was afraid that their family might get attacked or something. Sometime later, Reyes was attacked and had a machete in his jaw and was put into a coma for 8 days. He woke up and instantly knew that he had to change his life for the protection of his family. He started making an honest living, and changed a lot and moved to the United States to work honestly to make a living to provide for his family in Mexico. As we talked to him and shared our message with him, he told us that he knew we were saying the truth and asked us to please keep coming and seeing him because he feels something different when we are there. He told us that he knew that we could help him become a better man. 

I used to have this theory, that people are only capable of 15% change. But I have come to the conclusion that I was completely wrong. The entire purpose of this life is to change and to become better people. Even the little quirks we have, we can change for the better. Saying "Oh that's just the way I am, I can't change that." denies the enabling power of the Atonement in our lives. 

I also ate a baby octopus this past week, this Korean woman offered it to me and as a missionary, I couldn't deny it. It was very rubbery and chewy, would not recommend to most people. With that said, I'd probably eat another one again sometime in the future. 

I love you all! Stay tinsel! 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

Happy Valentine's Day

Friends and Family, 

Happy (day late) Valentine's Day! You are all my Valentine's. 

Things here in East Wenatchee are going great. One of our investigators, Miguel, is planning on being baptized this Saturday. He's so cool. He's this 18 year old kid who made a New Year's Resolution to get closer to God. One day he just decided to download a Bible app and start reading the book of Genesis, and the next day we knocked on his door. He told us that he knew that God put us in his path so that we could help him fulfill his resolution. 

We took a trip up to this little town in the mountains named Waterville this week. It's this awesome little town that is literally stuck on top of the mountain that's also stuck in the 50's. It was such a cool little town, but Elder West got altitude sickness or something while we were up there. His face got super pale and he was very out of breath and was feeling some nausea, so we only spent about 30 minutes up there before he asked if we could go back to the apartment so that he could rest. While driving back through the mountains, he asked if he could pull over for a little bit. I pulled off to the side of the highway and he got out and took a couple steps down the mountainside and crouched over. I started looking through stuff in the car and figured that I should probably look over and make sure that he hasn't rolled down the hill or something. Right as I looked, I got a grand ol' view of him spewing his guts. Just like us finding Miguel, the timing was perfect. 

We also had the opportunity to move this little old lady out of her old house and into her new house. Her name was Debbie, and she had SO much stuff. It took a total of around 8 hours to move everything and her garage was completely filled. After we finished, she fed us pizza and cookies. She told us how grateful she was and called us her 'little dear ones', which made all of the soreness from moving so worth it. 

This past Thursday we planned to teach a less-active member and his wife, and the Stake Patriarch had agreed to come out with us to teach them the Plan of Salvation. We showed up and knocked on the door, and the wife answered looking extremely distraught. We asked her how she was doing, and she explained that her mother in Mexico was sick with pneumonia and she had her family over and they were waiting for a phone call from the hospital. We gave her our condolences, and explained that the message we share could give them hope and peace in their time of sorrow. She asked that we come back another night, to which I felt prompted to ask if we could say a prayer with their family. She agreed and invited us in, and we shared our testimonies and gave a quick lesson on prayer. She admitted that her family doesn't pray as often as they should, and when we asked her who she would like to give the prayer she asked the Stake Patriarch if he would give it. He said such a powerful prayer, it was very cool.

I attached a picture from our adventure in Waterville on top of the mountain with nothing but snow for forever. There is also a picture of Hermana Villa and her family, they are so awesome. She made us homemade tortillas this week and tried to teach us how to make them. Rafael, our investigator, kept telling us that we have to be careful with tortillas made by the hands of a woman because they are addictive and will give you a big belly. 

Les amo mucho! Have a great week! 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

Thawing in the Northwest

Friends and Family, 

The snow is starting to melt, and East Wenatchee is more beautiful than ever. I get to do service for the city two times a week where we do things like shoveling snow and picking up trash and it is such a blast. Service always feels so good, no matter what it is.

We had Zone Training Meeting this past Saturday, and I was able to reunite with Elder Wundelich and Elder Kiser, two of the five members of the Yak Pak, also known as the lost tribe of Mexico. It is always so much fun to see other missionaries and catch up and share stories.

One of our investigators, Miguel, is doing so awesome. He is 18 years old and has come to church the past couple weeks and went to mutual on Wednesday and when we asked him about it on Thursday he told us, "I did donuts in the parking lot with the Bishop. Not many people get to say that they've done that." I laughed at the truthfulness of the statement. I guess whatever it takes to make someone feel comfortable!

Another one of our investigators, Josue, is so much fun to teach. He asks some of the best questions and takes notes during our lessons! At the end of each of our lessons he always asks us to make sure that we'll come back to visit him. He loves leaning more and more and really wants to know if it's true.

Despite the roughness of this past week, it is such a blast serving up here. I learn something knew everyday, sometimes something new about myself. The hard times may outnumber the good times, but the good times definitely outweigh the bad ones.

I've attached a picture of myself in what I call 'delinquent mode' as I do service for the city. The other picture is with Elder Kiser (left) and Elder Wunderlich (middle).

I hope your February has started off great, and continues to get better. I love you all. If there is anything you are curious about that you'd like for me to include in my weekly letters, please let me know and I'll do my best to improve!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder King