Merry Christmas from Elder King!

So just with Friday, it was super awesome, so Friday was the high light of the week without a doubt! Because Caitlyn who baptized last week, went to the temple on Friday night to do Baptisms and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was super awesome to be able to witness that, and go in the temple with her on her first ever time! She had only been a member for 5 days and already went to the Temple, it was so wonderful to see it and so fast, it usually never happens this quick, but super glad it did and in time for Christmas, i don't think she could properly explain how much she Loved the temple, she had such a wonderful time in there, Just Loved it!!!!!!!! It was just a great experience to see her already take that step and she had, had a super tough week! so that made everything better, and her friend that has been helping her, came and got her temple recommend just before Friday and came :) which was awesome and we talked for a bit, as she is in my ward, she is living next week, as she is travelling the world for a year, but she sent me a text thanking me, saying because of you I actually have a relationship with Christ now ect and just Thanked us again, to hear that made everything! and made the week going to the temple, as for the week, I have actually been sick, and I have been up every night, pretty much got no sleep, so hoping I can recover fully, as we are having a big Missionary Party tomorrow being Christmas Eve which will last most of the day :) So also we had a great end to the week, as I don't know if you remember me telling you about the Japanese Girl, who we found on the street, and was just praying and we answered her prayers and she has been a less active back in Japan for years and years and well she came to Caitlyn's baptism the other week and came to church for the first time in ages yesterday which was awesome :)  Also we went to the Christmas Devotional last night, and that was really awesome as Caitlyn came and we got to meet Caitlyn's mum who is a Muslim yesterday which was pretty cool just to briefly be able to say hello! I have not really picked up an accent I won't lose my accent however I do say some words different and there are words which I use a lot now which I never used before I came to Australia :) , just reading the scriptures, daily prayer and attending church are the 3 important and little things we can do that will help us spiritually, i have seen since I came into the church, that if i did not do those things, then I really noticed a difference. 

Christmas:
So the Christmas Eve Party the other day was soooo good, it went on for the whole day!!! It was awesome, there were about 240 + of us missionaries in the same room, we done a few funny things on stage and just chilled the whole day it was really great!! and Christmas day was amazing, It's soooooooooo Hot here at the moment, it's blazing outside! It was so weird to have such a hot Christmas we had a BBQ and played Snooker (Pool) and just ate so much food hahah!! We started by going to Caitlyn's then we had a mean feed for Breakfast, then went back, and had a little power nap, had Lunch, smashed some more Food, then went back to Caitlyn's and kicked it there and then, Elder B, got to Skype his family, unfortunatley I have not been able to Skype them yet, as there were some apparently really crazy storms and all the power went out, so they are sitting in the dark for the whole of Christmas and today, the power i think is out for a few days, so it was really sad as my mum could not Skype me I was pretty upset about it, but i just sent her an email reassuring her that we will Skype within the next few days :) I just can't believe the luck haha. I guess bad Weather in England..............What a shocker haha!!!! but i can't wait for when i do get to Skype them :) My day so far has been good, just been at Caitlyn's for the morning as my friend Skyped his family there, so I have not done, much I just sat there outside waiting, it was nice soaking up the sun though, although it's too hot to be wearing a shirt and Tie.  and for New Years, New Years is going to be sooooo boring here hahaha, Missionaries have to be back in the flat by 5pm! That early, just nothing to do and it will just be sooo hot outside haha!!! Well I will have to come up with some thing creative to do!!! So as you know this Mission is now a Book of Mormon mission and what Not, so i was reading the Book of Mormon, i got to Mosiah, but then when this challenge came along I started the Book of Mormon again, and I'm just finishing Alma!!!  I got the a present yesterday, from this Less Active woman from NZ and altogether it must have been about $200 worth, like it was 8kg's heavy and was in 2 seperate boxes and was just full of Christmas decorations for our flat, she also gave me $50 and said I had to go and buy $20 worth of Fish and Chips haha! It was so kind of her, just super unexpected out of nowhere, she just wrote me I have been drawn to you since the 1st day I met you and just thought I could be related to her family in NZ it was super random hhaha!  Just so nice, I'm still in shock haha! I want to call her to say Thank you! I Loved the Gold Coast ward I was in!!! You know I;m going to Die coming from living in Australia to Idaho hahah, like I'm literally going to not be able to handle the cold haha When I saw Australia is hot or warm, It's a different kind of heat on another level!!!! When I come back here it will be so amazing and also Mission President said in 2018 he is having a massive Missionary Reunion so that every single Missionary that would ever have had him as a mission president is invited! He wants to see us and our wife's and what not. I think that is pretty awesome that he is doing that and it was cool, that on the Mission Party, we had to write something down and put it in the box and we won't get to see it again until that party :)

AMAZING WEEK!

 I Love my Mission, My mission is incredible, I would be no where in the world right now rather then here, everything else can wait. AHHHH this week has been BOSS!!!! Been smashing it Like A Boss. Caitlyn got Baptized Saturday and it was so amazing, even the mission President came to this special Baptism I had spoke to him a few weeks earlier, explained the situation that was happening at the time, and He said that he would come, So she was Baptized and he spoke as well at her Baptism, It was so powerful, when we were waiting for her and Elder Davis to get changed we played some videos as there were some non members there About how every Prophet Testifies of Christ, and then we watched one on the Book of Mormon about Christ visiting the Americas. Caitlyn is probably up there with the most amazing incredible people I have ever met, she is one of my Best friends and we got on so well, it is crazy, when I say we have a lot in common, we really do hahaha! So I have not got long left on emails at all, time is ticking, which has been like nothing, but that's ok, well I was able to Confirm her on Sunday, Yesterday which was SOOOO awesome, I was nervous as I have never confirmed anyone before! and I remember that only yesterday, It seems like I was confirmed a member of the church well a lot can change in that time. After the confirmation and Church we went Christmas caroling together, me, her and the rest of the Missionaries in the Brisbane North Zone. It was awesome. Anyways with time running down the coolest thing happened Caitlyn just got baptized and confirmed and has already got her Temple Recommend and she got it Yesterday and I'm going to the temple with her this Friday to do Baptism :) It is the coolest thing ever and for her to go to the Temple in less then a week of her being baptized within 5 days of her joining is crazy we had to make a few calls and set up some interviews but it was worth it you can definitely write about this on my blog, but I will write you more next week about what happened this weekend, please Pray for Caitlyn and get your family to do so, she is going through the toughest and most hardest times, It is super sad, so please pray for her always and I will and always do pray for you and your family :)

Baptism This Week :)

Sam didnt say a lot this week, but I got some pictures:)
I have exciting News I HAVE A BAPTISM COMING UP THIS WEEK :) On the 14th of December with Caitlyn!!!!!!!!! It's so exciting!!! and we are trying to get her to the temple by the 20th of December as there is a temple trip so we want to get special permission and we can go with her to do Baptism's :) My friend, who I live with the one from Washington is Baptizing her which is awesome! we are going to spend Christmas with her!!! We are seeing her everyday this week.



Sam's investigator Caitlyn sent me these pictures:)

 

Hot Christmas in the Down Under

My P-day was Today and I only found out late last week that it was changed as I ended up going to the Brisbane Temple Today :) Christmas is so weird on my mission and also as it is super hot, I mean I Love the hot, but it is weird it being hot at this time of the year!! I was wearing a Santa on the Brisbane Temple Grounds. So we had an awesome Miracle this week, we were tracting this random street, just out of nowhere, Not even sure why we are there, but I saw his Asian Girl walking up behind us, I was busy just knocking on some door and I said my Companion go and Talk to her, so off he went and then I came over after we were talking and she was from Japan she must have been early 20's she had just came from Japan 1 month ago to Australia on her own and was feeling very lonely as she was the only was there of her family, well she could not speak a lot of English, and well she just started crying and kept crying as we found out she was Actually a Member, who had been Less-Active for most of her Teenage years, she said we were an answer to her Prayers as we found out just 30 minutes earlier she had prayed because she felt lonely and did not know what to do, then we turn up and we are talking to her and she keeps crying because she is so happy to see us and she was on about how she has no friends here as she is finding it hard because of her English and we were just like we are your Friend and the conversation kept going, we are also going to help teach her English and we are seeing her this Saturday :) So the other Night was awesome, I was bearing my testimony and sharing my Conversation story as the person really wanted to hear it, I was also asked the Question 'How did you come to Believe in God' as Obviously I never believed in God for pretty much my whole life until I was 17 and a half, and as I was sharing the story I got really emotional about it as I was thinking about how much has changed since then for the better.
 Also the other night, I was able to string up or put up some Christmas Lights at night time, so it was pretty funny I climbed up on to the roof of this house and was doing the Christmas lights for our Investigator who by the way is getting Baptized in less then 2 weeks :) It was awesome doing the lights and being up there. Her name is Caitlyn and she is 22 and has the most adorable kids, one is turning 6 and the other is 2 and they are so sweet, the 2 year he has a problem with his windpipe he cannot speak, he is the sweetest, he keeps wanting to just give you hugs and stuff, and the other day he gave me a Christmas decoration put it in my hand, walked me over to the Christmas tree and pointed where he wanted me to put it hahaha they are awesome :) 

New Ward, New People, New Experiences

 Church was really great, being able to meet the new ward :) and there was a Baptism, and we were able to get up and share our testimonies also my new companion  Elder Bejarano is the man and and we are getting on super well!!! I have been learning some more Spanish as I want to learn Spanish, well at least enough to get around :)  I just know like real basic Spanish, Like nice to meet you, what my name is, like I'm doing really good Thank you, and some cheeky Spanish, How do I get there etc.  I'm not joking I also get i'm from Spain, or Italy everyday when I'm talking to someone, and I they like wait a minute your not Australian, where are you from? I saw somewhere in europe, but you will have to guess they look at me and say I Spanish, I'm like nope, Italian? I also Always get I'm mid 20's hahaa! although my arms have gone kind of brown, people are now like your arms are not white, they have tanned pretty well, but I got smashed by the Sun the other day, I looked like a tomato, but it just went to a Tan :)  It was also super funny but awkward a like 2 weeks ago, we were teaching this elderly gentleman and he offered me a glass of water, It so hot so i was like Yes! Well he gave me a drink and i saw his ear wax fall out of his ear into my drink, It was disgusting, it was floating there, i was like Thank you so much for the water, I did not drink it I said what is that over there??? He turned around I ran to his sink and poured it down there and i said Thank you that was very refreshing hahaa! It was pretty funny at the time! So the other day, my friend and old ward mission leader just bought his New Audi, I think it was like the S5 V8 model something just expensive, he took me out in it as we were visiting members and we were driving down the GC highway I turned to him and asked him the question, can It go fast, just joking around, next second we are flying down the GC highway, it was a lot of fun though. the other week at Southern Conference when we had that massive Missionary meeting, there was like 200 of us there, and President Henderson says Elder King, can you come up here, so i get up and walk to the front and he shared a thing with everyone which i had just fond out earlier that Morning, so what happened is President's Son served his mission in Finland and he Baptized this Girl In Finland and brought her into the church, this girl is friend, as she has been serving her mission in the London South Mission, and I would see her heaps, we would also be laughing and joking around in the visitor centre, I had no idea President son baptized her though, When I found that out it was crazy!!!!!! Also This Mission is becoming a Book of Mormon Mission, we all our reading it together and will finish it just before Valentine's day. and also this mission the Australia Brisbane Mission is the biggest Mission in Australia and has 262 missionaries and they were thinking about whether or not they should split the mission because of the size, but they are not going to!!!  the place I'm serving in now is pretty Ghetto but I Love it, Me and Elder Bejarano done service for a bunch of Aboriginal people, and got food after :)  My companion is just the best at soccer growing up in South America, he learnt the craziest moves, so now we will just be playing soccer together in the morning. I have to get going now, Love, Elder Samuel King. 

Transferred to North Brisbane!!!!

 Transfers were awesome, I'm emailing you from my new area I have just got to! So my New area is called Bracken Ridge and I'm in the Brisbane North Zone, My new companion is from Limu Peru :) He has been out for 4 months, so I'm follow up training him and also we have both been what is called white-washed into a new area, an area we have both never served in so we are going to have to start from the area book and smash the work, I can't believe that I have finally left the GC the Gold Coast! But I'm excited from this new Transfer. I live with the Zone Leaders here now! I have to unpack later , that is how fresh I'm to this area :) Amery I can't believe I have been out for HALF A YEAR tomorrow :)  the 6th Month Mark I'm going to burn one of my ties I think :) and then at a year a shirt or something! The Gold Coast was soooo awesome to serve!!!  I'm really excited for this Transfer Its going to make me a good missionary I feel I'm the senior companion and as he has just been trained I'm going to help him as much as possible, we are both in a new area, we have a baptism coming up on the 15th of December, I can see myself really stepping up in  the next few weeks!  So I would burn a tie at 6 months and a shirt at 12 as it is like a tradition, there are some crazy missionary traditions but i think it would be pretty cool, we down a shirt for my mate's 12 month mark back in Burleigh! at the end of your service you burn your suit, I don't think i would do that I like my suits hahaha!  I can't believe it has been 6 months at first it was really tough and it still has been, but my mission keeps on getting better and better! I will deff keep up working my hardest, I have some awesome news which meant a lot to me, so when I was in the Gold Coast, I was working with a Less-Active woman from England, I had been working with her for a few months and i made a promise with her, I said 'Bev, you have to promise me, that on my Last Sunday here on the Gold Coast, you have to come to church with me' well she has not had anything to do with the church or been to church in over 30 years which is a super long time, well I was working with her and she came to church for the first time in over 30 years! I was so happy! I had dinner with her yesterday to say Goodbye :) She is 51 :) I have to get going now!! Love, Elder Sam King XXX

Last week in the Gold Coast:(

Honestly this week Amery is stacked, every week as a missionary is so busy, trying to find time to set apart everything to do!  the last weeks We have been working so hard, I have just noticed the change I have really been trying to KILL it lately and I'm not just going to KILL this week I'm going to KILL and SMASH every single week and make the most of it! So the last week and a bit was awesome we had massive lightning storms on one day and had a blackout on the Gold Coast highway, all the lights on the road and everywhere were dead, So there was nothing to do during dinner time as you could not see anything, so i just went to bed for a little bit. So the other night at church we had a ward activity a Trunk 'N' Treat where the Trunks of the cars or boots if your back in England is all decorated with candy etc and that was a good night a few non members came! I think next week, could be must last week in the GC transfers are coming up on the 19th! then my Half Year mark! So on one of the days I was woken up at like 4:00 am as we live pretty much on the Beach someone was having a firework display hahah it was awesome.  So I met people from a place called the Torres Straits the other day and the first people i also met from Papua New Guinea :) I love meeting all this people from all over it is so awesome!  So I also can't believe that this could be my last week in the Gold Coast, P-day will be next Tuesday for me, I feel I will be moving so the next time I email you could be from a different area. This week has been great though we have done a lot of finding and for every 6 people we spoke to we got a potential, like a return appointment and a lesson, so this week, It honestly will be the craziest and busiest week, especially as it is the last week of the transfer, we are going up to Brisbane again this Thursday for a thing known as Southern Conference! where all the missionaries come together in South Queensland for a special day of meeting and trainings. Church was really great, there was a massive thunderstorm outside that was really cool, to watch and we had our investigator come to church and a few other non members came, and also I have been working closely with this less active woman from England and i made a promise with her that when my last week comes you have to come to church with me, so she will be coming this week and we have been teaching the lessons to her again, when we met her she was not prepared to come back, but after getting her to a few activities she is feeling more ready :) and wants to work towards the temple :) we went to Brisbane last week for the temple, well we also had to go up to Brisbane the week before that to pick some things up from the mission office, and we will probably have to go Brisbane again next week for Transfers! It will be sad leaving the GC the ward is awesome, I got on so well with the people in the ward! It will be sad, but I'm really excited for a new area as well.  I can't picture snow anymore not here in Australia hahaha! I can't tell you how crazy it feels here at this time of year hahaha the Christmas trees are with the palm trees :) Talk to you next week! Love, Elder Samuel King XXX