Learning Many Languages Even in Australia!

The area is awesome, we have heaps of opportunity for upcoming baptisms, well 4!! This less active women wants her child baptized, so we will start teaching her and then set a date for the baptism, that is if the child wants to get baptized, then get in contact with the family and then they will fly in from America for it :) Then this other Family, well they are less active and the daughter is 18 and has just had a baby, and her partner is 18, so it's a young couple, and she has been asking a bunch of questions about Baptism, and thinks it sounds awesome, and I remember when I was talking to Patrick I was sharing how i was 18 when i joined the church, it's weird to think that I'm nearly 20 now! It has gone so fast!!! Well I shared my story with him and about how the gospel can bless us, we are going back tomorrow for the first proper lesson :) So we will need to get them married, before they are baptized, but I can deff see it happening in not that long a time, then there is another connection to this family, and the niece lives in Northern Queensland, she is 18 and wants to get baptized as she knows joining the church and loves the standards etc is the right thing, so is coming down these ways to live at the end of this month, so we will start teaching her and she should be baptized so heaps of miracles have been happening!!! We are really working hard, and we had interviews with President Henderson yesterday and this was the best one so far!!! It went really well, and he pretty me said how I'm training Elder Naumann, and how i will be training one day, someone who is new so like i will eventually get someone who is 1st day out on the mission! which i was awesome as we talked about this, and i can see how I have been progressing loads as a missionary lately :) smashing out the work :) also with the Languages I have been fascinated with Languages the last few weeks I can now say hello and how are you in 42 languages :) this week with Sinhalese, Tamal ) and I'm learning to bless the food in Mauri :) It has been so much fun, also I have properly been trying to learn French lately not just like hello, how are you bye, but the whole thing and it has been going really well, had my first proper conversation in French with some yesterday :) It has helped as i have picked it up quick because I have been living with a French person, so in the last week, i have just been studying it and i have remembered it, then i just talk to him with it and make sure the way i say it is clear and that he can understand :) but I don't want to move houses from him as i have been with him for nearly 7 months of my mission, i have lived with elder Ly Waut like the whole time so we are super good friends, me and him are real close now and his English is Boss!!!!!! We were also able to do service yesterday, by just helping some guy, lift a washing machine quite some way to his house, he found it on the side on the road and was trying it on his own, we were able to helped him, found out that he has just came from Iraq and has been in Australia for 2 months, we are going to help him out as he lives near us!!! also we found a fridge at the side of the road, it was was kind on a mini fridge but a lot bigger, but not bigger enough to be a proper size one, so like in between medium size hhaa, well we some how fitted it in the car, we made it fit haha, then cleaned the crap out of it, and it worked fine, going to go hard a just fill it with drinks, like Mountain Dew or something hhaha :) So I'm out of time now, have a great week!! 

Fantastic Week In His New Area!

 I Have actually had a fantastic week :) It has been super good, and I'm loving my new area it is really awesome, but what is making me love this new area is my new ward!!! It is super awesome, the people are so friendly and welcoming and they were sooooo pleased I was from London England, as it is super super rare to have an English Elders serve out here, there is one other English elder and he does not have that long left, and then I will be the only one!!! For most people, in this side of the world, I'm the only English Elder they have ever met!!! So it is super awesome getting to meet all these awesome people!! I have been trying to learn just like hello and how are you the basic in different languages and I can say it in about 30 different languages, the crazier ones being Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Mauri (the native language of New Zealand) and Hungarian etc!! and plus it's like i'm serving in Asia here, no joke, just Asian people! There are 9 missionaries in my new ward and me and my companion are the EMP English elders and the rest are Mandarin (Chinese) Speaking :) I had some of the coolest experiences this week, one that just happened about 20mins just as we were heading to emails, are next door neighbour is deaf and is this Black African from London England and I was talking to him, with whiteboards, I would write something on a white board, he would write back, we then would erase it and write more, he was the coolest guy and As i know some people in the deaf community, we are going to arrange for them to meet :) The other night we went out to Dinner with the Ward Mission Leader, and we went to this Thai place, I just had Spicy Pork Belly, but it was pretty mean :) So on Saturday it was the hottest day here in Brisbane since like 2002, or 2005 something like that it got to 42 degrees Celsius which I'm not sure what it is in Fahrenheit deff over a 100 and we were knocking doors in it!!! An awesome experience though, as i would not be serving here in the 'Sunshine state' if it was not 42 degrees and knocking on doors haha! It's super quick and i have been just loving my mission, the i have become a changed missionary lately and I can feel the difference!!! and with 2014 here it's just become a little bit more real that I'm coming back not that long!!! and My companion is super quite, and does not talk a lot, a great guy, love him to death, just trying to get him out of his shell, because if i don't talk to him, then like no words are said!!!!!!!!! Im running short on time, but next week, i will write you this awesome thing that happened last night :) So about the miracle that happened before this happened my last week in Bracken Ridge, so i was church and woman came and sat next to me and thought she recognized me, i remembered her face but not where from, so we were talking and she asked me if i used to be on the Gold Coast, and i said yea i used to serve there, and then we realized who each other was, i was working with a less active down on the GC, it was her cousin and i was around his house, and i met her had a great chat with her, then said goodbye, she was not sure if she should come to church, up in Brisbane North ways but felt like she was prompted to go and then met me there, a few months on, she said it was a sign from God as she has been praying, she said how much of blessing and how much i meant to her etc!! and then the next day, she needed a blessing on the home and family members, she did not have my number, called the mission office and got the number for Bracken Ridge, she called it and another Elder answered she was super disappointed it was him and not me, that is what she said, she said it had to be me hhaha, then the elder told me we need to go give a blessing, he was not my companion, just another one i lived with, so i did not know i was going to see her, we went there knocked on the door and she came and she was so pleased to see me, and apparently i had to be the one to give the blessing, because she just felt something about me hahaha, it was an awesome thing that happened!!!

Transferred Again!!!

 HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! well as I right this 2 you, It is new Years Eve and I have to be back in the flat soon! Also as I write this to you, I'm writing it from my New Area!!!!!! That's right I got transferred here about 30mins ago hahah I'm now in Eight Mile Plans :) I have my new companion he is new on the mission, been out just 3 months and is from the Factory, Yes Utah hahaha! I'm excited for this transfer, going to smash the work here! Can't believe I already finished my time in Brisbane North! Saying goodbye to Caitlyn was super difficult and hard, but I told her it's not goodbye, It's only a See Ya Later!  I had a great time in my last area! I know I was meant to have been there! and have met Caitlyn and go to the Temple with her!  I can't believe 2014 is here! and that when I will be in 2014 it will still be 2013 for you haha! I'm looking forward to this coming year and to share this wonderful spiritual experiences with you as well!  So one of the sisters was from Finland like i mentioned before my friend Sister Pherminson and she was baptized my President Henderson. the mission presidents son, who I met today :) I got a picture with him! It was awesome as he served there 3 years ago! Such a small world and it was crazy as i was talking to this sister missionary who i was in the mtc with, she is from Colorado Springs, Colorado and well i know the people in her ward hahah! Such a small world! It's pretty awesome and I did'nt tell you about my friend Elder Blinkov he is from Russia, I met him a few months back, he awesome, we get on super great, it was funny as i learnt a little bit of Russian of him, then later met a woman in the streets who was from Russia and got to use it yesterday! :)  also I have been working on my study journal lately and have been making it all fancy and flash or whatever and It's really helped me! I know having a good structured and organized study journal has already helped me become a better missionary, and the work will keep on being smashed! my new Zone will be awesome, I have a lot of awesome people hear! so my friend Elder Ly Waut from Tahiti, well I lived with him for the half a year i was in the Gold Coast and guess what I'm living with him again, when we saw that we were living with each other again we went crazy haha, it was sooo exciting haha! Have a Happy NEW YEARS AND START TO 2014!

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 :)