Monday, July 28, 2014

LOVE THE PEOPLE!

Hi Everyone,

Our Golden contact: Basically a Mormon.
He completely quit drinking from the first time he started meeting
with us, and has not touched it since. He feels the spirit, knows it's
true, keeps all his commitments...he's getting baptized on August
10th. We asked him how he felt about that and he said, "I still feel
the need to know more just informational stuff about everything. But
there is no way that's stopping me from getting baptized." In lessons
with other people we have him share his testimony and ask for his
insight to help others learn. He's awesome. He will be a powerful
force good, I know that much.

Ok, Maria and Iris...we haven't been able to talk to them recently,
because we need a man to go with us, and there has never been one
there. So coordinating who we can go with to suit 4 schedules is
sometimes difficult. But they are doing well. They didn't come to
church yesterday though. Btw, we had 9 investigators at church
yesterday! And next week we should have even more. I know missions are
not about numbers, but that kind of does make one happy to see the
choices people are choosing to make :)

We met a new family!!! Elder Killpack (my old companion) and I met
them while street contacting on the way to another person's house.
They seemed interested, but it was hard to figure out. We walked back
once or twice but no one was ever home. So about a week and a half
ago, Elder Dial (my new companion) and I threw them on our schedule to
go walk by and see. Lo and behold, they were sitting outside! So we
talked to them. And scheduled with them to come back. Which we have
now done 3 or 4 times. Each time there are more people sitting
outside. This past time I think there were about 15 people that were
all just there. Short story, I love this family! They are eager,
desire to learn, suck up the truth like fish in a desert finding a
lake, and love it when we come over. Plus, they are keeping their
commitments, doing the things that we ask them to do. I'm having a
hard time trying to figure out how to describe my feelings for this
family...words can sometimes be a prison, I swear ;) but they are
awesome.

Love the work,

Elder King





Monday, July 21, 2014

SKYLINE VIEW



By the way, here's some cool pictures of
 the skyline that I get to see every day:





NOT A DAY WITHOUT A SIREN

Sup everyone! 

So yeah, this week has been just about as EPIC as possible! We've had quite a few cool experiences for sure! Week started out with an awesome Tuesday. We had a lesson with two new people, María Borbón and Iris, her daughter, whose like 40. Super cool family! María is fairly old, so Iris helps take care of her and stuff. María's dad whose 94 lives just down the street. And we gave them a restoration pamphlet just for kicks. Went back a few days ago and Iris said (in Spanish of course), "my son saw that! Said some missionaries gave him one a while ago and he loves what it talks about but never got to see the missionaries again!" Church. Is. True!

Had a lesson with Marco as well, our literal golden investigator. We got there and asked him if he had read the gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, which talks about the five things we need to do to receive eternal life: have faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. Most people who say yes, well, yeah they might have read the first sentence of the first page but not more than that. But Marco said yes, so we were like, "ok, I have never heard of baptism. Tell me what it is, why I need it, and what it does." And he was spot on the money! Gave one of the purest, best descriptions ever! This guy is seriously awesome. And to see the difference in his heart, how happy he is, is night and day. Just a single experience like that is worth two years out here. Knowing that for him now, he's happy. Or at least knows how to be happy :) whereas before, he just didn't. I am convinced that the only way to be truly happy in life is to follow the Lord's commandments. They were made, literally, so we could be happy!

"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy."

And it's so true! But when we sin, we are not happy. It's impossible to sin and be truly happy and receive the joy that our Father has in store for us!

So after that awesome Monday, week went fairly normal as Camden goes. Did some service, talked to lots of people, made lots of new friends...ya know :) oh yeah! And like the subject heading says, I haven't yet gone a day without hearing a siren. Haha we had this guy today tell us, "man, I just don' knaw how yous guys does it! You walks around places that I lived in before, n' I was scared to walk around out there. And you guys just walk out like it's nuthin'!" It made us laugh fairly hard, but it is true. We walk around some crazy places out here! But honestly, I feel safe. Like maybe it's the fact that all the gangs love us, or the fact that we wear white shirts and ties and we're not cops, idk...but it's a cool feeling being out here. These people are so epic and prepared and stuff, it makes me super happy when we find someone who's not only willing to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but is willing to do something about it! It makes us pretty sad otherwise. But everyone has their agency. One of my favorite scriptures is 2 Nephi 2:27:



"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."

Everyone gets the chance to choose. Good or bad, what ever we want, it's really up to us. Just remember you've always got yourself a lifeline...there's always someone there who is willing, waiting, and wanting to give you a hand. 24/7, no matter where you are. You just have to open the door :) 

It gets crazy in Camden, but I'm sure it's still crazy back home and every where else too, so I'll keep this short, but I just want to let you all know that I love you. And that when times get tough, as they to often do, just remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you more than we can even comprehend. And next time you walk past a flower, or a mountain, or a butterfly or something like that, remember that he made it literally for you. To close with a quote, "while in the pursuit of happiness, remember to stop and be happy" -the wooden sign hanging about the wooden bench in the wooded gardens behind the BYU-I Hinkley building

Love you guys! :D smile lots! :D


-Elder Brockston King

Monday, July 14, 2014

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Hey there everyone!

Another awesome week has gone by! A bit slow...we had two or three
days where everything cancelled. But it was good! We met some awesome
people that were super prepared for the gospel that we wouldn't have
met had everything gone according to plan. Dashon and Mariah. Super
cute together! Boyfriend and girlfriend, and they don't live
together...haha I think they're the second couple we've found in that
situation! Everyone here just loves together. It's super sad. Marriage
almost doesn't even exist anymore. And the few people that do want to
get married get married so they can get divorced in a few years. The
message of the family has never been so important as it is today.

So I have a challenge for you! And a request! Please go home and read
The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and sometime during this next
week or month, use it as a missionary tool! Find someone and share it
with them! And if you can't think of anything to say, just go for it!
It might sound awkward to you, but be confident! Stand up for what you
believe in, and SHARE what you believe in! It can be as simple as,
"hey, there's something really cool I read the other day that the
leaders of my church put out a while back, but it has implications for
everyone, religious or not. I read this really cool part right
here..." And then go for it! Practice in front of a mirror if you need
to ;) that's what we do! As companions we practice almost every day
with each other. We teach each other :) super powerful! Sometimes it's
kind of awkward and weird, but if you can't tell someone that believes
in it about it, how are you going to tell someone who has no idea
about it? So there's my challenge for y'all. Email me your stories
about it! I love to hear missionary stories! :D

And to keep up with my own challenge, here's my favorite part from it:

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse
spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities
will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the
disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities,
and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government
everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and
strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

(The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

Weather's been great here! Hot the first bit, but it's getting kinda
stormy so it's cooled off. It's just SUPER humid now! It's kind of
insane. As for investigators, things are looking up. Miguel and
Maribel, one of our couples we're working with a lot, have been doing
a ton better. We talked about how to overcome addiction, and forge
first time, Maribel was actually willing to help him, rather than just
tearing him down the whole time. It made a huge difference in the
outcome of the lesson. One of our investigators has already read to
Alma 43 since last week when he started the Book of Mormon (we
think—he was in the middle and said it was chapter 43 in he though the
book of Nephi. But there aren't any other chapter 43s in the Book of
Mormon), and we are working with another less active member to get him
headed on a mission. Got his papers all but turned in! He's from
Nicaragua, and a super nice kid. Likes the missionaries a lot and
wants to learn. We are teaching temple prep classes for the ward,
setting up family mission plans with the members and teaching them how
to use Preach My Gospel (best book EVER! Only a small part of it talks
about the doctrine we teach. The rest, I'm gonna let you figure it
out, because you're all going to start reading it right!?) haha we met
with a bunch of other families, met a bunch of new families, and all
in all had a very spiritually empowering and mentally uplifting week.
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

Had a cool experience two days ago! Walked past some guys at a street
corner. They were all pretty getto, one was kind of Mexican. Gave them the regular, hey do you know anybody we could maybe help out by chance
then just started talking to them. I think we ran into the most
intelligent group in all of Camden. They started to debate with us the
origins oflaw and the constitution and how it relates to the empires of
history. We talked about religious freedom, unalienable rights,
I pulled out my constitution and we started debating the veracity and reasons behind the Declaration of Independence...He had a super hard heart about believing in religion though, said there was no literal documentation of anything and that documentation was what was proof. The guys were pretty intelligent! They were using legal termslike expedite and extrapolate and talking about all these crazy empires and origins of man and language and histories. Some random guys walked up to us while the main guy, "truth" was his name, was
discussing the origins of the American Indians and the effects of
nomadic tribes in the northern and Southern Hemispheres, and this
other kid was like, yeah I just downloaded this to read today. It was
a book called "they were here before Columbus", a comprehensive history
of the origins of the South Americans. Then the other Mexican guy's
argument was that everything material was energy, therefore God was
energy too and just made of intelligence. During this time, some
random Jamaican guy had rolled up on a bicycle, dreads, the likes.
Then "truth" mentioned the fact that He couldn't believe in a generic
God because he didn't have a name. I sad he does, we know him by
Eloheim, Jehovah, and Father. Then the random Jamaican guy pipes up
and says, "actually that's no way to show who God is at all, because
the word Eloheim came from yadayada and actually means planets. So
that simply signifies the majesty of the universe, therefore God is
part of all according to what you just said." From a random Jamaican
guy. Named Spider. They were talking about how nothing is true because
all language means something else then what we mean therefore
everything is false and how we are all Moores and descendants and weird stuff, But their whole thing was false...they were trying to prove that nothing was
provable. Doesn't quite work out well. It was funny. More so because I
stumped them a few times and for some reason they couldn't seem to
stump me! Because the gospel and the spirit had the answer to all of
their questions. They just weren't willing to listen.

Gotta love New Jersey! :D

Haha I love you guys! All of you!


-Elder Brockston King

Monday, July 7, 2014

CAMDEN NEW JERSEY DOCUMENTARY

I just learned about a documentary done by KBYU TV on their "Turning Point" show about a lady who has worked and served in Camden to help the youth in a struggling community. It gives an account of the crime and poverty in Camden, New Jersey where Elder King is currently serving and its struggles. Take a peak! Here is the link:


http://www.byutv.org/watch/ce747994-4597-4a3b-b2ce-c58681dc27a1/turning-point-camden-sophisticated-sisters

WHEN WALKING...

Well, another crazy week has gone by! We had a really hot beginning of
the week, but then about Thursday we had a nice big thunderstorm to
cool things down a bit. At least that was the end result. I was on
exchanges with my district leader Elder Casey Spain from Rigby, ID
that day, and when we got back to the apartment the power was out. The
result: the most humid, hot, sweaty room you could imagine! There was
no possible way to sleep, try as we might. The power eventually came
back on at around 1 in the morning or so, and the air conditioning
kicked in. We learned something super neat though! If you are in a
bind, take a crayon (the kind little kids color with...and sometimes
not so little people color with too =), and put it upright on a plate
or something. Then light the top of it on fire. It will burn like a
candle for almost half an hour! The things you learn in Camden... ;)

Big news! My companion, Elder Killpack, is getting transferred!!! I'm
not quite sure how I feel about taking over an area after only six
weeks or so (especially when my Spanish is not quite 100% there yet),
but I know that with Heavenly Fathers help I'll pull through alright.
I sure have grown to love Camden, and the people here. They are so
humble, loving, and kind. This mission has already begun to transform
me. Sharing the Gospel every chance I have has brought me immense joy,
and a closeness to my Lord that I didn't quite understand before I
came out. I would never, could never, trade this for anything.


Got a new guy named Marcos we are teaching. He plays soccer
with us, and we were kind of waiting for him to just come to us. He
did on Thursday or Friday. He asked if he could talk to us along with
Rigoberto, his work friend and recent convert in the ward. He
basically said, "I drink. I'm addicted. I do bad things. I'm
miserable. I want to change so bad and at this point I'm willing to do
whatever I can to do that. I've seen the change that happened in Rigo,
and even though I'm not sure it's possible, I'll do anything I can to
do that." Ok, well here's the Book of Mormon. Will you be baptized?
"Will it help me change?" Ummm...YES! "Well than is that even a
question!?" Saturday night at around 9 when we talked to him, he said
he hadn't been able to read at all because he'd been at work so much.
That kind of worried us, typical excuse, been a few days...then he
came to church the next day at 12:30 (bought brand new slacks and a
shirt to come, half the ward still comes in jeans) and said, "yeah I'm
in 1 Nephi 20 now!" 20 chapters. For working Mexican who can't even
read super well. Super proud of him. Getting some good solid people to

teach, that's for sure.

The Fourth of July was fantastic! The weather was amazing, cool, a
nice breeze—a perfect day to celebrate the day that our Independence
was declared to all nations. The one down/upside of the day: all of
our appointments fell through. ALL of them. So we basically just
started walking! We covered some ground, too! The first guy we met was
a man named Tom, catholic, upper thirties. We were walking down the
road and he was standing on his porch so we started talking to him. He
offered us a drink of water right when we got up there and brought it
out to us. After about 20 seconds or so, he said, "Well, my friend's
here, I've got to go. But you guys just stay up here as long as you
want, have a nice break, and leave the glasses on the table when
you're finished." Then he was gone. Left the door open and walked off.
With two random white guys he'd never met before on his porch. In
Camden, NJ.  Needless to say we were just a bit surprised ;)

After that we ran into an interesting little drama party. Two guys in
their upper 60's were sitting on their porch and wanted us to come
talk to them. After  a few minutes, one had to leave (I swear he wash
Irish...just had that fire, ya know?). As he left, some guy came out
from the next house over and said, "no you come back here! I have a
question for you sir!" And started being extremely obnoxious to the
older man. A cop pulls up and gets out. "Jerry, you better get back in
your house right now! Just go to sleep man, you're drunk! You know
what's gonna happen next time right?" Then he leaves. Guy goes back
into his house. We are talking to the one other gentleman there when
three minutes later, Jerry comes back out. Cop comes screeching back
out of nowhere, "Jerry, what did I tell you!? Get in your house man!"
He leaves. 2 minutes later, Jerry comes back out (he was wearing a
different shirt every time) holding a can of white paint. He says,
"yeah next time Mr. policeman comes back I'm gonna dump this right on
his head!" My companion and I left fairly quickly after that ;)

After that we went and watched the Philadelphia Fireworks show with
the Vargas family. It was so much fun! And good time spent with
everyone.