Miraculous and Momentous Change!

Yesterday I got to talk to my sweet mom and family. They are a huge reason I am here. 

God could have accomplished His purpose by sending us down two by two, but instead 

He organized us into families. Each family is vastly different: with their differing challenges, 

members, strengths, etc.But one thing is the same: each family is ordained of God. 

     One of our investigators, Sarah, could really use your prayers. She is the most amazing sister. 

Two weeks ago she came to family home evening with a member. Elder Moss asked her 

when a time we could come get to know her better was. She said she was fine because 

she had her bible. Then the next week, after she went to the Oakland Temple Visitor's Center 

with her fellowship (Courtney), she allowed the Spirit to teach her with us. Since then she has 

been praying; She has come to a knowledge that the Book of Mormon is true; And she is

 excited for her baptism. We love her so much, and she is so valiant. Her dad is a Lutheran 

minister, and when Sarah told he and her mom that she had been meeting with us, I guess 

they had a big fight. When they found her Book of Mormon they told her that it was not allowed

 in their home. As we have been praying over and over again about her situation we are led time 

and time again to experiences in the scriptures where people are in challenging circumstances 

when it comes to their families. Cain killed Able. Animosity arose in the family of the prodigal son

 when the father shows mercy and forgiveness. Nephi's brothers tried time and time again to take 

away his life. Joseph Smith's best friends turned against him. And why do these afflicted Saints 

continue? Because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. The end Romans chapter 8 has been one 

of my favorite passages ever since Caleb sent it to me while he was on his mission: "Who shall 

separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation,or distress, or persecution, or famine, or 

nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we 

are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors 

through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,nor principalities, 

nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 

be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I know that is pretty 

long, but Sarah knows in whom she has put her trust. 

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your example to everyone who sees you. You are a missionary!

Simple Miracles

This week just rocked! I am trying to be dignified in my explanation, but I feel like 

this is just the only way to describe this week. On Tuesday we had district meeting

and our senior couple in our zone went home. They said, "Humility isn't thinking 

less of yourself. It is thinking less about yourself." I don't know about you, but that is 

something I always worry about. I try my best to find that balance between confidence 

and humility. I realized that the blessing that we have as God's children is that we 

know who to put our trust in. To be frank, if you put your trust in yourself, you will fail. 

But if you put your trust in God, and believe in yourself enough to follow His commands, 

you WILL succeed. It is so prevalent here in the field. We have the opportunity every 

single day to see people who are going through a hard time. I know that sounds weird, 

but you know what can help anyone. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we have 

faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repent, are baptized, receive the gift of the Holy 

Ghost, and endure to the end, we truly are happy. That doesn't mean hard times don't 

come, because they most definitely do. But when we take His yoke upon us, our trials

 transform us into the person that God intends us to be. And I promise you that that 

person is happy. We set dates with two investigators this week. Thomas is being 

baptized on the 18th, and Courtney is being baptized on the 25th. The Lord is so invested

 in his work, and He truly is hastening His work in its time. On Saturday a member asked 

us if we could come help her put on a car mirror. We had no idea, but, as missionaries, 

we accepted the challenge. It was amazing to see the Lord help us with the super simple 

act of helping this sister out. At branch council this last week we had an amazing training

 on why we have the ward/branch council. Someone said some profound things about 

how in this world there are "givers" and there are "takers." It just kept hitting me that the 

Lord wants us all to be givers, and Satan tries to persuade us to be takers. The funny thing 

is that by being givers we receive so much more than when we are takers. I know this letter 

was all over the place... but welcome to my mind. Next week I promise to be more organized! 

I love you so much! I am so grateful for you and all you do to strengthen your brothers and sisters.

YSA everyday!

Working with the YSA is SO different than working in any other area. In order to teach someone we have to ensure that they are: 1) between 18 and 31 2) not married 3) have no kids... This can be odd to establish... Shocking, right? Well regardless of if they are YSAs or not, we teach EVERYONE and we invite EVERYONE to come unto Christ. He is THE only way we can find true happiness. One thing about missions is that we base our success on the number of invitations we extend, not on the number of invitations that are accepted. Our branch is so amazing. We have about 30 active members, and I learn about our Redeemer every time I interact with any of them. We had the opportunity to do two things I had been missing this week: mow a lawn and garden. Service as a missionary is somehow twenty times better than service before you are set apart. While Elder Moss was in the garden, Andrew (one of our members' 7 year old cousins) and I went and mowed the lawn. After I had been mowing for no longer than twenty seconds, Andrew insisted on mowing. The lawn was too big for him. The lawn mower was too heavy. But he did it. I was sitting there watching and I got to feel, for a brief moment, a portion of how our Father in Heaven feels. At first he just mowed random patches with no real pattern. I had to point out the spots he missed. He was so eager to mow them again. I hope this has all made since. Eventually I began to realize that the Lord is so much more concerned with how often we go to Him then He is with how often we make mistakes. Dillon is being baptized on Wednesday and we are about to go bowling for his birthday today! Please pray for him. I know you will. Thank you for all you do.

Love,

Elder King

Easter

Easter Sunday. I am so tempted to just stop writing right now. Easter is the best, and every good thought you have about it is just multiplied when you get to wear His name next to your heart the whole day. Yesterday during personal study Elder Moss looked up and asked "So people (do what they do on 4/20) even on Easter Sunday?" We really do live in perilous times. On Sunday every Christian had a choice even more so than on any other day. A lot of people chose to follow Satan: that master of all lies. This world is a rough one, but think of the wonderful Sabbath on the other side of the veil! I know without a doubt that "numberless concourses of angels" sang "He Is Risen" yesterday. This week was very interesting. One of our investigators, A, is living in very difficult circumstances. She lives with her very abusive and constantly drunk father, so she tries to have us come when he is gone. Well the other day we came by while he was there. I was able to witness some of the promises made to the Lord's servants: we were able to speak truths and this man literally had nothing left to say to us. It is difficult seeing people in such darkness that even the smallest glimmer of light blinds them. I would be lying if I tried to say it wasn't. But that is not what our days are filled with. We get to see people come unto Christ each and every day. 

We are really struggling to find. It is hard in a YSA just because they are so [flaky] by nature. I love them! But much more importantly, the Lord loves them! If you could include Dillon in your prayers I would really appreciate it. He is supposed to be baptized this week, and Satan always works the hardest right before we make covenants with our Father in Heaven. In our mission we do something called BDAW: before, during, after, warning. It is such a powerful tool! We recognize the feeling in the room when it changes. When we can literally feel a member of the Godhead with us. The Holy Ghost is real. He ALWAYS does his part. Our privilege as missionaries is to invite him into every home we enter. I love you. Thank you for your prayers. It is a different feeling being a missionary and knowing that literally millions of people are praying for you and for your purpose. The church is true!

Love, Elder King

Funny how we learn

So we toss around a quote a lot here: "Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles." It is a cool quote, but think about that? It is an amazing quote. Because Elder Moss is our District Leader he goes down to meetings quite a bit, so I get the opportunity to go on exchanges and lead our area quite a bit. On one of these exchanges we had two right in a row, so I had to plan on my own. When we get in every night we plan. We don't change out of our proselyting clothes until planning is finished. On this particular occasion (the first of my two exchanges) I was with two other Elders who were also training. Right when we got in they changed, and without even thinking I changed into my pajamas and then planned. The next day went horrendously. Everyone canceled on us. We got chased by some crazy guy. I lost my scriptures. What else could go wrong? I am so grateful for this experience. Oh and to top it all off, I was with Elder Leavitt (our zone leader who has been serving for over 20 months). So I know my thoughts are random, but essential what I am saying is that God knows what we need to be happy. The Creator of the Universe and His Father are so invested in us that they gave us a plan of happiness. They tell us everything we need by sending us the Comforter. They literally send a member of the Godhead to be with us always. Life is rough sometimes. Sometimes we fall in to ruts. I promise you that if you look to the Lord you will find happiness, regardless of your circumstances. Our baptism for yesterday fell through because our investigator had some things he is still struggling with. I love him. He is such a good example of courage in the face of opposition. Weeks go by so fast out here. 

Real quick I want to type out this awesome poem that an Elder in my zone let me see:

In His Steps

"The road is rough," I said, "dear Lord;

these stones, they hurt me so."

He said, "Dear child, I understand;

I walked it long ago."

"But there's a cool green path," I said.

"I'll walk there for a time."

"No child," He gently answered me,

"The green road does not climb."

"My burden, Lord, is far too great,

how can I bear it so?"

"My child," said He, "I know its weight;

I bore my cross, you know."

"I wish there were some friends with me,

who'd make my way their own."

"Ah, yes," He said, "Gethsemane

was hard to face alone."

And so I climbed the stony path,

content at last to know,

that where my Master had not gone,

I would not need to go. 

And strangely then I found new friends,

the burden grew less sore,

as I remembered - long ago,

He went this way before.

-Leona B. Gates

If you wonder why life is hard, just remember. He is teaching you to grow. I am so grateful for your example to me, and I pray for you always.

Love,

Elder King

Conference!

I was thinking this week about what else I would be spending 20 hours a year doing, and I can tell you that nothing comes close to hearing from prophets of God. I love this church! If there is one thing you can do to draw nearer to church, do it. I'm sure you were thinking I was going to expound on some great secret I have learned huh? Well nope. I can't do that. Our Father in Heaven WILL allow each of us to face challenges for specific reasons. I don't know all those reasons, but I know He loves His children.. So this week kind of went by without anything super amazing to tell you about... until Saturday. Saturday April 5th was one of THE most spiritually enriching days of my life. Of course I loved conference. I especially loved Elder Rasband's talk on Saturday morning, but that isn't even what was so great. If you could pray for both Aimie and Nate that would be awesome. They are both some former investigators that we ran in to. They are such stellar people, we just need to meet with them again! We had two different investigators attend conference! Dillon (who is being baptized on the 13th) came to Saturday morning with us, and then Christina came on Sunday morning with us. I want you to know that the Lord is preparing people everyday to hear the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I loved how Elder Uchtdorf talked about how we are living the Restoration. Don't let this time pass you up! Of course you are busy. Of course you have a calling.. Of course you have other things that NEED to be done. But what better joy do we have than to invite people to come unto Christ. That mutual theme for this year is so inspired. Sometimes it may be hard to see how someone has been prepared to receive the Gospel. But I promise you that they have been.. I love you so much. I am so grateful for you: my brothers and sisters who chose to follow the Savior once already. The only real test of this life is whether or not we will choose it again. Keep up the good work. Keep the faith. Never forget the feelings you feel when you have The Spirit. He is a member of the Godhead. He testifies of truth. He is the comforter. He is everything to us, and we know him better than we know ourselves.

Love,

Elder King

Splits with President Gelwix

 On Wednesday it will have been exactly one month since I said goodbye to home, goodbye to friends and family, goodbye to sports, goodbye to the world.... But I said hello to the next two years. Two years of growth, knowledge, hardships, and rewards. I am so grateful to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yesterday I mentioned to Elder Moss that it seemed like we were at church yesterday, and he said something very telling: "On your mission days go by slow, weeks go by fast, and months are gone before you know it." < So true! On Wednesday I will have served just around 5% of my mission. WHAT?! Time flies when you are having fun I guess... This last week was amazing. We had zone conference and I feel like President Gelwix literally enlarged my understanding. We had thirty minutes of FIO (figure it out) time for our patriarchal blessings. He challenged us to read it like we have never read it before. The Lord taught me so much in that time, but most of all, he taught me about you. Yes, you. The Lord loves you ABSOLUTELY unconditionally. He has a plan for YOU. That plan is called the plan of happiness. You have a plan already prepared for your happiness. So why is it that we so often find those times of despondency, depression, and despair? Well we are human, and the devil is real. Remember me talking about the baptismal date we set for N? Ya well the next day when we stopped by to see her something had changed. It was very apparent that she was not the same happy nineteen year old we had taught before. She talked about the "research" she had been doing on the church, and how she doesn't ever want to see us again. For the first time on my mission I cried. Why? Why would a loving Father in Heaven allow us to feel pain and hurt? Why would He, in His infinite goodness and mercy, allow us to have false precepts surround us? Because He loves us enough to let us learn for ourselves. I am so grateful for the trials that I have been through because as my man Kanye puts it, "that that don't kill us, only makes us stronger." (Yes, a missionary just quoted Kanye West, but don't worry, I can already feel the Spirit chastising me!) So yesterday Elder Moss and I got to speak in church and teach gospel principles. It was awesome. We had forty minutes for the two of us, so right before we spoke I leaned over and asked Elder Moss how much time he wanted. He said "five minutes." Well, I gave it to him; I ended up speaking for thirty minutes. Ya, not surprising is it? Anyway, we are teaching a brother from Iraq named A... No joke he literally asked me what part of Syria I was from! Well to keep teaching him we need approval from President, so on Wednesday I get to go on a team up with President Gelwix. No pressure. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you. I pray for you everyday.

Love,

Elder Jaron Hoani King 

Jaron's farewell will be February 23rd at 1:00. Our building address is 250 West 600 South, Lindon (it's just East of Maeser). We hope you can all make it!