LET GO AND LET GOD!

September 22, 2014

Hello world!

Man! Sorry it's been a while for a few of you. My life has become the equivalent of a squirrel who hasv to many nuts for winter trying to count them all while a bunch of little squirrel children keep switching around the piles. It's just I'm a missionary working with real love people rather than acorns. But it has been getting quite crazy out here! Haha things have been quite fantastic the past few weeks. Genesis and SuHeily are getting baptized this Sunday! Please keep them in your prayers! They are super excited! And so are we. They have been preparing very faithfully. It's interesting to me—I always manage to learn something from every one of my investigators. Whether that is how to be more diligent and faithful, how to be more susceptible to the spirit, or even sometimes good warning signs for patterns not to fall into, there is always someone I learn, that I hope in the end makes me a better person than I was.

Update: it's not as hot here now!!! Haha it really feels kind of nice out most of the time :) granted that may turn into a giant never ending ice bucket challenge once this humid winter sets in, but I guess we'll find out soon enough ;)

Life is just kind of awesome right now. Haha I'm seriously just really really happy and excited!

Hmmm. It's weird, once I start writing this I forget what I was going to say in the first place. Let's see...oh! Camelia might be getting baptized soon! And Danilo and Loyda are on their way as well. Danilo is ready to get baptized, but his wife, Loyda, still needs to know a little bit more before she is willing to commit. But we're getting there!

Interesting story. So we're on the bus a few days ago, right? Well, this lady comes up and starts talking to us, she's about 45 or 50. She says her names Dina. She then begins to tell us about her life. As she's speaking, she starts to cry. Not the kind of sobbing, shoulder shaking cry, in fact you almost couldn't even hear it in her voice. But these great big tears are just rolling down her face as she tells us about how her mom has cancer, phew husband has been on life support 72 times throughout e past year, she found her brother who had just committed suicide dead in her own bed, and she found out she has cancer, all within the past month. She said, "I have no idea where to go, I've tried every option I can think of, and I've got nothing. I always see you guys walking around and I thought you might have a suggestion for me." Well, being on a bus, we didn't have a ton of time. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and she half offered her phone number and address to us. So we took it, gave her our number, and got off. Gave her info to the sisters who were over her area. She's getting baptized soon!!! Haha it was so amazing. After listening to her stories firsthand, I guess she had heard a bunch of stories about how we were part of a cult and stuffs like that, so it was a miracle that she talked to us in the first place, something she has said herself. It is a very powerful reminder that the things you do everyday have effects that you may not even know about. Basically being a missionary rocks. ;D

So, these past few weeks we've gotten some good slogans, and not so good ones as well. Haha the subject line of his email, "Let go and let God" came straight from the ghetto streets of Camden, and although the next one is not quite so inspiring, it came straight from the streets as well: "Be good!" From the guy who just borrowed our phone to call his 3 hr late ride. "And if you can't be good **lowers brow, gets that mischievous look on his face**—be good at it!!!"

Ok, so I'm probably not going to adopt the second motto as my own, haha but I think there is a very powerful lesson we can learn from the first one! 

"...Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith."

(3 Nephi 13:28-30)

God loves us all so much! And really, I've come to gain a testimony of the fact that if we let Him, he really will provide everything we need. He'll lift us up when we're feeling low, and help us just walk on over life's trials like they're not even there. An example that I love of this is Peter, when he saw Christ the Lord walking on the water towards their little boat being tossed about on the waves. The scripture says, "And he (Christ) said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" (Matthew 14:29-31) in essence, Peter had the option to view two things. 1, the storm he was called to go through to reach the Savior, or 2, the Savior who had called him to go through the storm. As He kept his sight upon the Savior, his trials became insignificant, almost as if they weren't even there. It was only when he beheld his trials, began to focus on them and become more captivated by the storm of trials then the Savior Jesus Christ, hat he began to sink into the water. 

Another prime example of this is the found in the Book of Mormon. Lehi, after receiving a vision of the tree of life, states simply to his family that he "beheld a river of water; and it ran along, and it was near the tree of which I was partaking the fruit." (1 Nephi 8:13)

There are not many details given us about this river of water. Lehi simply states that it was near to the tree of life. Nephi, however, gives us a little more clarification. Said he, "...the water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water." (1 Nephi 15:27)

I really do believe that our trials and shortcomings can be completely forgotten in the atonement of Jesus Christ. It just depends on who we focus on. We can choose to behold the storm, the filthy water, and sink into despair, or we can choose to allow our minds to be enlightened continuously by the spirit, focusing on Jesus Christ our Savior, and be lifted up to eternal life. 

I'll admit, it seems crazy from a world like view to say we should just ignore our trials and problems...kind of impossible really. But I believe and I testify that it is possible. You've just got to  let go, and let God. In some ways it takes more effort to just let go then it does to stay holding on. But it's kind of like letting go to step into the possibility of happiness rather than holding on to the certainty of misery. One day I truly hope to learn to trust God, really trust Him and have the faith that He wants me to have.

Keep on stayin' strong!!!

Love y'all,

-Elder Brockston King

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

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

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

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.