The Adventures of Yak Valley Begin

Friends and Family, 

Leaving Moses Lake was so sad. On Monday after FHE my heart was broken when I had to say goodbye to the YSA. The next day after institute, the YSA threw a surprise party for me and attacked me with cupcakes and covered me in icing. I may have lost a white shirt to red icing, but it was totally worth it. Moses Lake 11th Ward and YSA will always be very special to me. 

Life down here in the wonderful valley of Yakima is going well. My purpose here is the same purpose I had in Moses Lake, to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. It's very different here in many ways. Hispanic culture is so different! For member dinners, the wives slave and cook SO much food the whole time and the daughters run around and wait on us and get us anything we need. It is so different. We aren't even allowed to stand up to put our dishes away! We get fed authentic Mexican food every night which is a huge blessing. My stomach has a little bit of adjusting to do, and I'm going to have to be extra sure not to eat everything they get me, but my tongue is super happy with it all. 

We are working with this really solid family right now, the Valencia's. Elder Wilson has been teaching them for a little while now and they just recently started getting super interested and serious about learning more. The Mom already has a testimony of the truthfulness of everything, but she's just concerned that after baptism she'll fall away and she really doesn't want that. It's awesome to see that she understands the importance of enduring to the end and how that ties in with the gospel of Jesus Christ, however she's holding herself back from enjoying the rest of the blessings that come from the doctrine of Christ. We're really focusing on her needs and what more we can be doing to help her feel more sure of herself. 

Her oldest son Christian has previously never been involved in the lessons, but the first lesson we had with them this week he came out and we got to talk to him more and he really opened up and started asking some really great questions. It is so much fun to see the whole family working together to learn more, and how they are all at such different levels in their own testimonies. Teaching the family gets real interesting and engaging when we have to teach to the needs of every investigator and they are all so different! 

A really cool little miracle that happened this past week was on the day of transfers, while at the Quincy transfer site I was talking to Elder Wilde and I found out that a family that we found and taught back in the day in The Dalles had their hearts softened and are now working towards baptism! It really strengthened my testimony that people are ready at the right times, and that the Lord is "able to do mine own work." (2 Nephi 27:21)

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder King

RIP King's Row

Friends and Family, 

Transfers struck. Something completely unexpected happened and I am getting transferred from Moses Lake to serve in the Yakima Valley Zone. It was so out of the blue and unexpected that I would be transferred after only one transfer here in Moses Lake. I absolutely loved it here. My companion Elder Roe had become my best friend and we had so much fun together. I grew so close with so many of the members here, especially in the YSA, and now it's already time for goodbyes.

Goodbyes stink. 

I will be serving with my trainer, Elder Wilson, again. It is going to be so crazy being his companion again. I guess we didn't do a good enough job together the first time. Our area is the ulta-ghetto of Yakima. We cover some of the top neighborhoods in the US for gang violence. We aren't allowed to wear certain colored ties on certain days because the local gangs will shoot us if we wear the wrong color. There should be some crazy adventures up ahead for me! 

Elder Roe and I have seen some incredible miracles this past week. On Thursday we received a call from a man named Ramon, informing us that he had just moved to Moses Lake from Warden and wanted to start meeting with missionaries and work towards baptism. Our jaws dropped while we listened to the call, and set up church tour for later that afternoon. We met with him and showed him around and at the end of the tour we took him to the baptismal font and testified of the sacredness of that ordinance. The Spirit was so thick in that room you could cut it with a knife. I challenged Ramon to pray right then and there about September 2nd for his baptism, and he knelt down and asked Heavenly Father if it was what he was supposed to do. After the prayer he stood up, looked at us, and just smiled and told us that he really felt that September 2nd was what Heavenly Father wanted for him. We had a mud football activity later that night for the YSA and he came to that and came to church on Sunday and started fellowshipping himself and meeting all sorts of new people! 

On Friday we met with Jonny, another one of our investigators. We knocked on his door and right as his roommate let us in, he showed up and walked in the door! He was so happy to see us and apologized for being a little bit late. He went and grabbed both his Chinese Book of Mormon and English Book of Mormon and we sat at the table and had a study session with him where we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and he was taking notes on it the whole time! So cool. Earlier in the week the Relief Society President in the 11th Ward threw a BBQ and invited Jonny and he came and I was able to talk with him about the Olympics and China and taught him how to make s'mores for the very first time! 

Serving here in Moses Lake has taught me so much about the kind of person I want to become. I learned so much from Elder Roe and from the friends I made in the YSA, and they will always hold a very special place in my heart. 

Iré, haré, seré, 

(I will go, I will do, I will be,)

Elder King

King's Row

Family and Friends, 

In Selah, there is a burger place known as King's Row that is known to have really really great burgers. Throughout the entirety of my mission, I have been on a quest to find the best burger in the WYM. After MLC on Tuesday, Elder Roe and I HAD to stop at King's Row on the way back for dinner, because it's named after our companionship! They have this burger that's called the Garbage Burger that has ham and bacon and all sorts of crazy stuff on it. They also have this little secret hut back behind the main diner called King's Scoop which sells ice cream. And really really good ice cream too! The closest thing to Blue Bell I've been able to find thus far. 

The conquest of member lessons continues here in the mystical land of Moses Lake. We set up an appointment with the Relief Society President of our ward and had a lesson with her on Wednesday. He husband just got back from a long business trip in China, and it turns out that he actually works with Jonny and Jason! Our two Chinese investigators that we teach and taught how to pray a couple weeks ago! As we discussed the happiness and joy that comes from being involved in missionary work, we eventually reached a point where our Relief Society President and her husband started planning a BBQ for the next week where they could invite Jonny and Jason and other co-workers, as well as other neighbors! Seeing them get so excited to do missionary work made me even more excited about it. 

We've been having a lot of cool miracles in the YSA here as well. We got a referral for a guy named Martin who lives here in Moses Lake but he's dating a less-active girl in Othello. He's been to church in Othello before but has never been taught by missionaries because he lives here in Moses Lake and doesn't know any members here. Getting in contact with him was a miracle on it's own, because he has no phone and we don't know his address either. We set up a church tour with him throughout the week to show him around the building so that he will feel comfortable coming to church. We had some really amazing members from the YSA come out to that church tour as well, and we were all waiting for Martin to show up. 5 minutes went by, 10 minutes went by, time just kept ticking and ticking. Eventually we decided that only other thing we could do to help him was to pray about it, so we said a quick prayer in our hearts, asking Heavenly Father to help Martin make it to our appointment. A couple minutes later, we got a call from him explaining that he had just got off work and was on his way and apologized for being so late. We had a great church tour with him and answered a lot of his questions. At the end he asked, "So what things do I need to do to get baptized?". It was a testimony to me that the Lord helps us out when we do everything in our power. 

We also have another really cool investigator named Cesar. Elder Roe found him and taught him on exchanges, and we took a recently returned missionary from the YSA with us to follow up with him on his reading. We went over and sat down and talked with him and he told us that he had read all the way up until Jacob. Another miracle, somebody made it through reading 2 Nephi! Miracles do happen! He told us that as he was reading, for about 10 seconds he just felt this flood of happiness and joy and he couldn't stop reading because he wanted to feel that feeling again. The Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit is truly our best tool as missionaries. 

I went on an exchange with another companionship in our zone, and I can finally cross off being a biking missionary. Biking all day on that exchange was so much fun. It was crazy biking around because Moses Lake is all farm land and it feels like we are just biking through the middle of nowhere at times. 

Transfer calls are coming up this weekend, time has flown by so fast. Stay in school, drink your milk, eat your vegetables! 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

Simple Prayers

Friends and Family, 

While I was on exchanges this past week, we had one of the coolest experiences ever as we taught an investigator about prayer and really focused on helping him turn toward God. There are these two young men named Jonny and Jason who are here from China working at the factory in here in town. When we first contacted Jonny, he showed us a Chinese Book of Mormon that he somehow got back when he was in China. He asked us for an English Book of Mormon so that he could read both and practice his English. We went back to follow up on his reading and Jonny wasn't home but his roommate Jason was. It's been pretty difficult to teach Jason in the past, because his English isn't the best, but when we knocked on the door he invited us right in and had us sit down to talk with him. We asked if he had read any in the Book of Mormon since we had last visited them, and he confessed that he hasn't gotten around to it because he has been pretty busy. Our plan was to teach him about prayer, and it just seemed like exactly what he needed. We explained the basics of prayer and had to teach super super simple to make sure he could understand. He wasn't entirely sure how it worked, and we asked him about his belief in God and he explained that he didn't know much and he has never prayed before. We taught the essential truths of our Heavenly Father, how he is our Father and has a body of flesh and bone and wants to hear from us, and as we taught I could see on his face how it all started to piece together for him. He told us that he didn't have much more time because he had to Skype his wife, so we asked him to say the closing prayer. It was one of the most humble prayers I have heard. He started out, "Dear Heavenly Father, Hello. I am Jason. From China." and continued to thank God for his family and his job and all the blessings he has in his life. After he closed he thanked us and told us how he felt so much peace and happiness inside his heart, and promised us that he would continue to pray. 

On Monday we have an FHE for the Young Single Adult Ward and last Monday it was at the house of Clark, one of the guys in the YSA. He had a trampoline in his backyard, and everybody was doing jumps and tricks on this thing. Some of the members asked Elder Roe to get on, so he did and started jumping and doing flips and landed kind of funny and ripped the trampoline in half. It was hilarious, and he just laid there all casual and acted like nothing happened as everybody clapped for him. That same night the sisters in our zone made us this giant care package full of candy and cookies, which we thought was pretty nice until one of them confessed that they gave it to us because they didn't want to eat all the stuff and get fat. Missionary problems. 

We had a pretty rough beginning of the week. We got a call from President Lewis Tuesday night asking if we could bring an Elder from our zone down with us to a meeting we had in Yakima the next day. Both Elder Roe and I were a little puzzled, but took this Elder down with us the next morning. We found out that this Elder's father had passed away the night before unexpectedly. It was heartbreaking. Elder Roe and I tried our best to comfort this Elder, and all we could do was just hug him. Later that night, we gave him a blessing and testified to him of the power of the Plan of Salvation. As tragic as this all was, I am so grateful to know that there is something after death and that we will see our loved ones again. Please please please keep this Elder and his family in your prayers this week. 

I love you all and I'm grateful for each and every one of you. Don't pass up an opportunity to tell a loved one how grateful you are for them this week. 

"To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." -Thomas S. Monson

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

Note from the editor:  these crazy elders have added "shots" of apple cider vinegar to their daily health regimen.

Attachments 

"I'm not friend, I'm Cameron!"

Friends and Family, 

Unfortunately this weeks email update will probably end up being a little shorter. Elder Roe and I have been super busy with just a bunch of crazy stuff. Working with the YSA is so much fun, and every week on Thursday they have an activity called Sports Night. We go each week to build trust with members and meet the friends that they bring and invite, and this past week the activity was Zumba! First time doing Zumba, and it was a blast. It was funny and weird because none of the music was missionary approved so we had a small preview at worldy media for a moment while we learned some sweet dance moves. 

On Tuesday we were out trying by some YSA formers and potentials and we were sitting in the van looking through our area book when I looked out the window and saw a little kid running towards us in nothing but Superman underwear. I looked at Elder Roe and told him and I rolled down the window and said, "Hello there, friend." After that, he went off on this long rant that was the highlight of my week because it was so funny. He said, "I'm not friend. I'm Cameron! Can you help me? My brothers are trying to get me wet. I don't want to get wet because I don't like wet underwear. Wet underwear is silly. We were putting paint on our butts! Well, we weren't putting paint IN our butts, we were putting paint ON our butts. We have a big trampoline. Our house is big too! Santa can't fit though our chimney. Last year Santa brought me a puzzle. *looks down at the ground all depressed* Puzzles are laaaaame. I want a blue robot with a wind up in the back!" We were laughing so hard and I just asked him if he wanted a Spider-Man sticker and gave him one. He ran off to go tell his brothers and we drove off. 

There is this one apartment complex with a ton of Asian people there and we have these two investigators named Jonny and Jason. They are straight from China and Jonny met with missionaries over there or something and already had a Chinese Book of Mormon and asked us for an English one so he can further his English skills. He is so cool! I LOVE meeting with them because they are so funny and teach us a little bit of Chinese every time we go over. 

No pictures this week either, I have been slacking on taking pictures recently but I will repent and get better. 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King

East Wenatchee Friends

Moses Lake Bound!

Friends and Family, 

This past week has been a super eventful week. An end of my 4th transfer here in the Rocky Reach Ward up here in Wenatchee, and President Lewis must have hit his head before making transfer calls. He called me to serve as a Zone Leader in the Moses Lake ward serving in the 11th Ward and the YSA Ward. My new companion will be Elder Roe! We have been serving around each other neither the entirety of our missions, so it will be cool to serve with him. The weird thing is that even though I am a Spanish missionary, I will be doing English work over in Moses Lake. Working with white people will be an interesting change! 

This past P-Day Elder Aguilar and I went hiking up in Leavenworth with one of our favorite members. It is SO beautiful up there. Trees and rivers and all sorts of good nature. We found an abandoned mine cave that we went through, and it was super dark and water was dripping from the ceiling and it was cool. Coming out of the cave and back around the mountain we had to rappel around some boulders which was really fun. 

On Thursday our Ward Mission Leader took us on a tour of his work. He works for the Fish and Wildlife Department as a Fish Hatchery manager up in Leavenworth as well. He is in charge of spawning salmon and getting them to go out to the ocean to grow up and make sure that they come back over 500 miles to come back to the hatchery to lay their eggs. One of the funniest parts of the tour was near the end, Brother Irving looked at us and said, "Alright. Now we need to go back to my office to do something very important." I thought we were going to go back and discuss the work in our areas and correlate on our investigators, but when we walked in he closed the door and set some blank pieces of paper on the table and looked at us and said, "Who knows how to make a paper airplane?" Who says that work can't be fun! 

Once our other Ward Mission Leader found out that I was leaving, he took us and the English Elders out for sushi at this really great sushi place in Wenatchee. First time that I have had sushi in a looooooong time. It was a very nice treat to end my time here. 

One of Elder Aguilar's old investigators was baptized this weekend, and we were told that the baptism was going to be on Saturdayat 6:00pm. We found a member to drive us down to Selah, drove the 2 hours down, showed up at the Stake Center right as a baptism was starting. We walked in and sat down and about 30 seconds later Elder Aguilar stood up and walked out. I was very confused, so I walked out and talked with him and he told me that he had no idea who any of these people were and that this was not his investigator. We thought maybe the baptism was happening at another building or something, so we made some phone calls and it turned out that the baptism was rescheduled for Sunday and nobody had told us. So it ended up that we drove down to Selah just to eat some Panda Express and come back. Fun adventure nevertheless. 

East Wenatchee will always hold a very special place in my heart. I have made friendships and relationships here with the people that will effect me for the rest of my life. Sad to leave so many members who became friends, but I know that there is a reason why I am being sent to Moses Lake. 

Happiest 4th of July everybody! The best holiday of the year. Make sure to take some time to read the Declaration of Independence. The words of Thomas Jefferson are soothing and bring me hope. 

Con Mucho Amor, 

Elder King