Private Blog Time...

Hey all! Michael is doing great. I haven't gotten any letters from him lately, which makes me annoyed since I spend the entire Sunday writing him:( Ha ha, just kidding. He's super busy and loving what he's doing. As far as his health, he hasn't mentioned it in a long time so hopefully that means he's doing better? Anyway, I decided that in the interest of internet safety, I will be making Michael's blog private. That means that unless I enter your email address, you won't be able to read all of the incredibly interesting things I post :) So... If you would like to continue reading about all of the great things happening in Florida, post a comment with your e-mail address and I'll add you to the "list." (Sounds official, doesn't it?) 

Thanks!

Marianne

Michael's Health

For those of you who don't receive e-mails or letters from Michael, here is the scoop since I haven't been able to copy and paste his whole e-mails lately.

-He and his companion are getting along well. They live in some nice apartments and are liking where they are.

-He and his companion are contacting like crazy. He says last Wednesday they contacted 163 people- more than any other companionship in their whole zone did in one week.

    "We challenged our Zone Leaders to challenge 100 people and so now we have this competition every Wednesday to contact as many people we possibly can. So far we have 6 new investigators because of it."

- They were supposed to have a baptism last Thursday but the girl couldn't make it to church. Then she couldn't make it to church again yesterday, so the soonest she can be baptized is the 18th. 

- They are trying to start up another Haitian branch in the middle of where they live. They need about 25-30 solid members to start a branch and they only have 6. 

-Michael's health has been declining and he is very frustrated. His ankle bothers him and he has terrible headaches. He has been taking whatever medicine he can and he will most likely go to a dr. soon. Please keep him in your prayers as he continues to battle his trials. He is loving his mission and says anytime he doubts that he is supposed to be there he gets an overwhelming reassurance that he is where he is supposed to be. We love him and miss him sooooo much!

More later

Marianne

sorry

sorry to all of michael's faithful followers. I've been trying to paste his past 2 e-mails to his blog but it won't let me. It's very annoying. I'll keep working at it. Thanks!

Marianne

Michael's New Address

Hey all- If you are looking for Michael's new address here it is.

Elder King

3712 Castle Pines Lane

Apartment #4137

Orlando, FL 32839

Pictures

Michael being the "chauffeur" for McKay & Haley

Michael's last Sr. State

After opening his mission call

After my graduation

Christmas with his washcloth from Maddie
I was going through some pictures today and came across some of Michael. I love this boy!

8/11 Email

Today is my first official Pday, last week was a Zone Pday
where we watched any disney movie we wanted, ate food,
played soccer, just had fun. Right now since we dont have
a car we take the bus to church. Church starts at 10 but
we have to leave at around 7 in the morning to get there,
and then we dont get home until about 4, its kinda crazy
and very inconvenient. I have experienced the Florida
rain many times this week, well actually just twice,
Friday and Saturday. On Friday we were walking the 3.5
miles home from our baptismal date home and it started
pouring. It was ridiculous! I was soaked! the same thing
happened on Saturday! The roads were all flooded, it
was crazy! Everytime we go visit our baptism family
we end up walking about 10 miles round trip, so we are
walking about 15 miles a day and when we have bikes
its about 20 miles to 25 miles a day. It is really taking a
toll on my body, the MTC was a killer, and now its like I
have been out of the water for a month and go to a swim
meet, however, i am down to 176- a grand total of losing
23 pounds in just under 2 weeks. I dont know how good
that is at all, but oh well. Hey well everyone I love you
all very much! Be good, Keep me updated on all of your
lives! I love you
Love, Elder King

8/4 email

Hello- greetings from the hot and humid place of Florida,
where the haitians run around  everywhere and it smells
like smoke, rain and dirt all mixed in.

weekly report:

Monday:  I arrived in Florida and met Pres. and Sis.
Darrington,and then we went and ate dinner at their
house, it was amazing,i love yams now. 
but anyways, they have a pond in their back
yard and they have two pet alligators :)
My companions name is Elder Palsson- his family
just moved to Utah from California, they are up on
Matterhorn Drive, right across the street from the church. 
he is really neat.
I found out that the other elders in our apartment
wrecked the carand as a result we arent really able
to go shopping all that much.  but oh well

Tuesday: my first day in the field- very long! 
it was ridiculously sticky. but we found a man and
his daughter named Marcilien and Natasha,
they are really neat, we taught them and now we
have two new investigators.  we then tracted some
more and rode our bikes up by the freeway (4 miles)
to teach another family, and they all committed to
be baptized on the first lesson!  it was amazing.

Wednesday:  Two days into the field and i already have
a Zone conference.  it was really good!

Thursday:  we went and taught with a member, he
made fun of my kreyol, as did the investigators we taught,
it was very frustrating

Friday:  The pedal on my bike stripped as we were
riding to an appointment.... so think of our
situation, no car, no bike,no transportation...
we were down graded to walking everywhere.

Saturday:  Elder Evertson (Senior Missionary) 
picked up mybike and took it the shop to get it fixed,
i should get it back either tonight or tomorrow. 
we walked a round trip 14 miles to teach
the baptismal family, it was crazy

Sunday:  we took the bus to church!  haha, our
building is in another zone because they want
to keep all the haitians together,its an english ward
with haitians.  i got made fun of again by the kreyoler's

Monday:  PDAY!!!  i still dont know what i am going
to do for food haha, good thing we teach tonight
so we will just stop by a walgreens and get something.

my weekly weigh in : Monday July 28 weight
       (day i left MTC) 196.2
                   Monday August 4 weigh in  183
13 pounds in 6 days, cripes!  i am constantly sweating!


SEND COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7/15 letter

Hey all- Michael wrote a letter specifically for his blog. He flew out of Salt Lake airport this morning so we got a chance to talk to him for a minute. He called me once more to tell me he had arrived in Florida. I asked him how he was doing... "hot" he said. Florida is about 100 degrees right now... with 100% humidity. He had already been noticed by a couple people... the flight attendant had a son serving a mission so she gave him a sandwich, and another lady let him use her cell phone to call me. So, 2 months down, 22 to go! This letter was written 7/15

Bonswa zanmi mwen yo! M selman gen de semen jiskaske m kite MTC la. Li se tre dwol. M manke tout ou tre anpil. le m ale nau Florid, m ap ansey anpil neg yo konsenan levanjil la e d'Jezikri tou e anseyman li. M espere koute tout ou avant m pral Florid.
M pa kapab we ou ancor. M konnen ke liv Momon an se vre e si nov priye, n a ap vini tankou Jezikri e priye edenou simonte nenpot begay. Bon dye se avek ou jiskaske nou reyini encor. Me renmen ou. Elder King

Ha! Just in case youwere wondering, here's the translation.
Hello my friends! I only have two weeks until I leave the MTC. (this is obviously a little dated. Sorry) It is very weird. I miss you all very much. I hope to teach a lot of people in Florida about the Gospel. I hope to hear from you all. I can't wait to see you again. I know the Book of Mormon is true and if we pray we will become like Christ and we can overcome anything. God be with you until we meet again! I love you- Elder King

7/10 Email

OK- so I know I've been kind-of a slacker. (as I've just been reminded) I hereby recommit myself to be more dedicated to keeping all 3 people who read this updated :)

greetings worldly inhabitants-

T-minus 18 days until my wonderful departure....

im am sure that all of you are aware that i sprained
my ankle last week. the initial diagnosis was torn ligaments.
that would mean that i would have needed surgery.
one week later and the swelling hasnt gotten better
and so they are just putting me through therapy and giving
me many ankle massages :)  i dont even have to ask

i am going to need an ankle brace in order to wear shoes.
one of those heavy duty ones... please send ASAP,
just in case you re wondering,it is my right foot.

mckay- you sick freak- 100.04?   wow- what is junior
nationals?isn't it likea 58 or 59?  how has tj been
doing in fly? what about kyle as well?
maddie says that you are going to tell me about
the RWB- you better

fish- i received your newspaper article and i have
posted it upon my wall.every one that comes into my
room asks who you are

maddie&morgan- im happy that you two are swimming
2 a days.they are challenging but will definately pay off! 
i am exciting to see how well you both do at state

mom & dad - tyhanks for the olympic roster. 
Taryn told me that brendan hansenlost the 200 breast---
what happened with that???  oh ya you know lacey nymyer?
well i am going to get her autograph from her cousin that
does therapy with me. pretty cool.


well my time is almost up, be good, remember to write :)

i love you!

michael

7/3 e-mail

hello everyone!  how are you all doing?  everything
is pretty good here. yesterday i taught for the first
time in haitian kreyol- it was pretty good.

also on a side note, yesterday during gym i sprained
my ankle,and there is a possibility that there is a
torn ligament-they are having me come every two hours
for ice/ examination.  i am attaching some pictures of it.
the other people in the pictures are
the ones that are going to fiji- they are pretty sweet.

well i only have just over 3 weeks until i leave the mtc-
right now myschedualed time, which is not set in stone, is
july 28 at 630 in the morning...

well the church is true, my arms are sore and i have only
had the crutchesfor one day- its a really good arm/ shoulder
workout.  dont worry everyone,i have lost weight from my
bodacious size, i am sitting at 185.

mckay- when are sectionals?  olympic trials are going on
right now,thanks for the updates- how haz phelps done?
has candice swam yet? if so how did she do?

maddie and morgan- my district love your cookies- keep up the
good work! how has swimming gone?  good job maddie in dropping
time-morgan what have you been up to?

kathleen and collin- be good, i miss you very much!

fish- swim fast at the RWB!  keep up your hard work,
i love you

dad- i heard you got a new hat, thats cool.  my companion's
football coachwas shane shumway- i think i already told
you all that.

sorry that i havent written more letters, i dont
really get time except for pday

mom- are you going to coach @ zones w/ todd?
tell him hello at the meet for me

elder welch has spoken to an arabic lady, an anti-mormon,
and a mental handicap on the phone- its pretty amuzing
haha, bad i feel for him at the same time

marianne- thanks for your dedication at writing me!
haha, hopefully thatmakes everyone else angry!
haha, how has coaching been?

wog- did you like the tennis picture?  one elder that
is going to fiji thinks its the coolest ever

i love you all!  good luck at the meet today and
saturday- remember to NOT wait until next thursday to
give me results- just dearelder.com me

tell chad sorenson hello, and that i wish i could swim
against him this weekend,
however i am a little pre occupied :)

i love you-

michael

6/10 letter

Family-
Today I went to the RC- Referral Center- and I talked to this lady that was calling from Hawaii saying she wanted a Finding Faith in Christ DVD because some guy gave her a card to cal in. So I got her information and we started talking about the DVD and I bore my testimony and she was all- "I want to meet Mormons" so I was all- "You want to go to church?" So I got her the info on church. I asked if she had any more questions. She asked why we called everyone Brother and Sister. I got to pretty much teach part of Lesson 1 over the phone! And it just so happened that I had taught this section of the lesson about an hour previous. It was not a coincidence. So I testified that God is our loving Heavenly Father and he loves us- we are His children. So then she said that she wanted to be part of a church that believed that we can communicate to Him through prayer and that He will answer. I was speechless! I honestly didn't know what to say! She said she had been having a hard time abut needing someone or something to lean on and in this case it was God. So I set her up with the missionaries and told her that they would bring her a DVD and also the Book of Mormon. She asked what that was and I told her a brief history and she said that she wanted to read it! So we said our goodbyes and I made a comment on her request form and I said-"She wants to learn and be baptized- wants to read B.O.M!" I basically helped convert someone over the phone! This is just a testimony to me that Christ prepares a way for people to be taught. Right before this lady called I was about to switch my status on outgoing calls only- but I had a feeling to leave it on incoming. As soon as I did that she called! Christ works in mysterious ways. The Gospel is true. Everything about it is.

Elder Wa

Some Haitian phrases courtesy of Elder Wa

"Well I thought that you might want some Haitian Creole phrases to say, so here you go. Don't worry, its all phonetic.

"Neg la se te yon zannimo" - The man was an animal.

"Egare!" -You dimwit!

"M'gen you pye kokoyetet" -I have a coconut head. (Very useful, I'm sure)

And the one we have used the most---


"Ki moun ki pete a?!" - Who farted?!
(In a house of over 3000 boys I'm sure this one is used often)

Well I hope you have fun with these because they gave me a laugh just writing them. I love you- M'renmen ou!

Elder Wa's temwa yaj (testimony)

Yep- Elder Wa is the translation of Elder King. Michael is obviously excited about it cause he only refers to himself as that! Anyway, this was actually from a letter on June 5.

"M'kannen ke Jezi se kri la, e li te mouri pou nou. Mwen au tou kannen ke sa se vre leglizla e Liu Momon an vre. Au tou Jozef Smit te e se yon vre pwofet. M'konnen ke se levanjil la. M'konnen ke Tamas S. Mansan se pwofet la. Mwen renmen sa levanjil e sa legliz. Mwen se temwayajin nan nou Jezikri, Amen."

We've been guessing at the literal translation since he didn't include one...

Michael's Email 6/5/08

for sake of time, i will not be capatalizing anything. anyways hello! how is everything back home? email is so much better than snail mail except for the fact that i only get to email once a week and i only get 30 minutes on the computer. um, ya my email is michael.king@myldsmail.net - so you can email anytime you want and i will get back to you as soon as possible-- it will be on a thursday because that is when i have pday's. My companion is really great, he is a neat kid.

Well, yesterday we taught our first discussion in the TRC, teaching resource center. It was very intimidating because we were actually teaching people we didnt know, even if they were already memebers it was still very scary. We wont start teaching the lessons in Haitian for about 3 weeks now, but i know all the basics about the language. I know how to pray and bear my testimony and make sentances to make a conversation. It is really neat. I will be sending my french preach my gospel home because i wont need it, but i will need my french book of mormon and bible. Well, my clothes are finished taking a bath, hopefully i did it correctly- forward this message to dad, and then give me his email. I love you all, even you pwason (fish) well the church is true- stay tuned next thursday for another email- love you! michael

Michael's MTC Address

Elder Michael David King
MTC Mailbox #111
FL-ORL 0728
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Michael's P-Day's are on Thursday and he isn't allowed to e-mail while in the MTC (as far as I know.) But I'm sure he would love to hear from anyone!

Michael's First Letter

Dear Mom/Dad/Family,
Well, so far so good, I haven't been kicked out. Well, after I left the chapel this afternoon I remember that I forgot my cool toothpaste. I need it ASAP :) Anyways, they had me walk to some building that I don't know the name of to give them my shot sheet. I waited in line for an hour. NOT FUN, however, I was able to talk to a lot of really cool missionaries. My companions name is Elder Larsen, he is from Blanding, UT. He is a pretty cool cat. Elder (Aaron) Welch is my district leader and his companion is Elder Harris from Kaysville. There are just the 4 of us in the District. I have 3 Preach My Gospel's (The missionary manuals) (English, French, Haitian) and 2 Triple Combinations thet are French and Haitian and just a lot of books from both languages. Today has just gone by so slow, but now its 10:15 and its time for bed.

I need some more athletic shorts, like 3 or 4 pair, as well as t shirts because our P-day (Preparation Day) is on Thursday, but it starts next week and we can wear our shorts. I also need SANDALS!!! But other than that I think I should be fine, unless all my stuff gets stolen by the Tongans that live next to us. Well, the time has run out, but look up these scriptures and read them.

• D&C 42:6-7
• D&C 42:14
• D&C 4:7
• D&C 31:3
• Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
• 3 Nephi 11:29-30
• 3 Nephi 5:12-13

Some cool quotes from orientation:

"Attitude Determines Altitude"

"Plan to Succeed"

"Setting goals are only for those who want ot be teachable."

Well, hope that those mean something to you, as they can be applied to anything you want. McKay, if you wear ANY of my suits I will KILL you, but feel free to wear my goggles. :)

I love you all, send candy:)

Love,

Michael (Elder King)

Thoughts from Mom

Now that "THE Day" has come & gone, I must say first, I'm so very grateful for Michael & his desire & worthiness to serve a mission, yet right now gratitude is my overriding emotion. Yes, I'm tired from the preparation throughout the last month & the emotional rollercoaster I feel as though I've been on, but again, it's exciting as we look ahead as a family & anticipate his journey. I've felt a tremendous support from family, from our friends & neighbors, as well Michael's friends from school & swimming, which is very comforting as I imagine his two year length of service away from home. Finally, I have full confidence as he's on the Lord's errand that he will be in the best watch-care possible & that at this time in Michael's life there is absolutely no better place for him to be. I know there are those who are thirsting for & being prepared to receive the gospel message & what a privilege for Michael to play a role in bringing such a significant change to other peoples' lives! Michael is a quiet leader yet a leader nonetheless, who will be a great strength & asset to the mission as well. I'm thankful for the chance he has to experience new responsibilities & continue to grow.
Yes, no doubt we will greatly miss him & his unique sense of humor & goofiness but I'm willing to lend him out for a short time in this great cause! Thanks to all who know & love my son, & for your continued example & support.

the pictures promised...

Setting Apart




I have to comment on this picture- Michael likes to appear that he has animal-like arms so he makes whoever is next to him extend their arms to look like they're his. Those hands around Maddie and Morgan are Melynne's and mine.

At the MTC

Some of our cousins were waiting for Michael at the corner with some goodies to take with him

...and he's off

Thanks to modern technology friends far and wide will be able to see how Michael is doing. I'll try to keep it updated as we receive word from him.

As of right now we don't know when his P-Day is... hopefully we'll find out soon. And I also don't know his address. I do know that his mailbox # is 111- and he is the Florida Orlando Mission. I;m sure he would love to hear from anyone. I'll post a more updated address once I have it.

Well, the past few days have been a bit surreal as we have said goodbye for a time to our awesome brother, son, and friend. We were all a little emotional as we thought of not seeing his funny expressions or hearing his jokes for two whole years... but as the time came for him to be set apart as a missionary and for us to walk out of the "family doors" at the MTC, we all felt calm and peaceful as we know that he is ready and worthy to be a full-time representative of our Savior Jesus Christ. We couldn't be more excited to see the changes he makes and the person he becomes as he embarks and this new journey. We are proud of him, and we will miss him, but we are all confident that he is doing what he should be, and he is where he wants to be. Anyway, I'll post pictures of his setting apart and of him going to the MTC. Please keep him and other missionaries in your prayers!