Oct. 26, 2009

Hello!

Wow it sounds like a lot of things are happening back home. It is so good to hear that others are leaving on their missions. I think the greatest news I've received has been that people I know have received their mission calls and are serving the Lord in other parts of the world. Thank you for keeping me posted on how things are going back home.

You are right about President Shamo. I love him and Sister Shamo, they are amazing. The mission is going through quite a few changes and they are all for the better. We are expected not to get as many missionaries either, the moves before and after Christmas aren't expected to have any new missionaries. The church is re-allocating missionaries world wide to places like South America and Africa. Here in the U.K. and in all of Europe they are hoping things will become more self sustaining and not as many American missionaries will be called here.

I got some other really good news over the last two weeks that really made me happy. My first convert, Mary Olatunbosun had moved to Nigeria right after her baptism and we had lost contact. Since then she has moved back to London, in the ward right next to where I served, Welling. The Elders there (including one that served in Catford at the same time as me, Elder Call) found Mary and reactivated her. On top of that, they taught her son who is now baptized and attends church with her! I am sending a picture of the two of them at his baptism. I was so excited to hear that she was doing well. It is a miracle that they found her, and it adds to the miracle that Elder Christensen and I are serving together again right when it happened!

In our area things are going great. We had a baptism on Friday for Ross Nicholson. The service was really good and I know he is going to progress well in the gospel. We have three other people with baptismal dates scheduled. They are parts of families though, so we hope to teach and extend dates to their other family members this week. Serge and Dorella are a father and daughter from Mauritius, and Juliet is from Uganda. All of them plan to be baptized on November 14th.

Elder Christensen and I are really enjoying serving together again. Things are going well and we look forward to even more things happening. The ward is taking care of us fairly well and I feel like I know a lot more of them.

Hope your week is amazing, you are always in my prayers!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Mary and her son at his baptism. He was baptized in the same chapel as she was because the other ward doesn't have a baptismal font. I think they even took this picture in the same place as the one we took of her!

Mom will be proud of this one. Elder Christensen and I with our brand new crock pot, slow cooker! We have used it twice already and the food turned out amazing!

Bishop and Sister Easter with their family and Ross, at Ross' baptism. Ross is standing in the middle.

Elder Christensen, Ross, and I just before Ross' baptism.

October 19, 2009

Hello again!

It hasn't been long since my last email, so not a whole lot has happened, but things are going great! It’s good to hear that you and Elder Christensen's mom keep in contact. I don't know his family that well, but I can tell he comes from a good one.

Since Thursday we have taught Ross twice. He is doing great and will be ready to be baptized this Friday. We are seeing him twice before then to teach a couple small commandments (like study the scriptures and pray often) and to have his interview. There is a new investigator that we found on Saturday that is preparing to be baptized on Nov 14th. Her name is Juliet and she is from Uganda. She is really cool and said that as she has been going to the University here she has been looking for a church to go to. She came on Sunday and said it is the first church that she has ever been to where someone has given her a hug as soon as she walked in the door, ha-ha. I don’t know who it was, but I’m grateful that the members here are fellowshipping our investigators.

Our goal for the next week is to extend baptismal invitations to two amazing families that we have met. We are really excited for them and are praying that they will accept. We have quite a few meetings this week because it is the first week of the transfer cycle, but we have set our expectations high for what we want to accomplish.

I don’t know when my driving test is, but it probably won’t be for about a month. I got your letter showing the boundaries of the new Chandler Alma Stake. Things have really changed! It sounds like it is for the better though. I got the letter before moves, so Elder Gasparato also got to read the LDS jokes that came with it. Thank you for all that you do and have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Oct. 15, 2009

Hello Everyone,

So, I'm sure you figured it out, but this was moves week. I know you asked me when it would be, but I kept forgetting to answer it in my emails. I am still in Crawley! I am not with Elder Gasparato anymore though. He is ending his mission in a really cool way. He was released as ZL and will be white wash training for his last transfer. President Shamo is actually planning to release ZL's to train more frequently now. White washing means that he and his greenie will both be new to the area. There won’t be another missionary there that knows his way around. They will learn it as they go!.

My new companion is actually someone you already know because I have served with him before! Its Elder Christensen!!! We served together at the same time last year for two moves (3 months) in Catford. Now we are both Zone Leaders and we'll be serving together here in Crawley. If it’s for another 2 moves, then we will have our second Christmas together. I was really excited when I found out because I loved serving with him. Both of us are a lot more experienced now and we are already good friends so I am really looking forward to the next several weeks.

A lot has been happening in our area. We have picked up and dropped many investigators including 3 baptismal dates. We are definitely finding people to teach, but I guess we need to work on finding the right ones. We are still teaching Ross and he is doing great. We made him a calendar of scriptures to read all the way to his baptism on the 23rd and he has been reading them all. Hopefully he will go with the youth to the temple tonight and we will see him Friday. We really need to see him more often because it’s not that far away.

I still love the area and love the people here. Crawley is really a good place to be. I am getting to know the ward a lot better and really understand who people are. It is a very large ward. I will be rescheduling my driving test sometime in the next few weeks, but I don't know what day yet. As far as I know the guys I mentioned last week never confessed to what happened at the church, but it isn't too big of a deal.

I will be emailing again on Monday, so it won't be long till you hear from me again. It sounds like quite a few of you are going on trips though and I hope they go well. Congratulate Uncle Henry for me. It’s really cool to have him as our bishop!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Oct. 5, 2009

Hello!

This weekend really was a great experience, well most of it. I really loved conference and got to see most sessions. We actually watched the morning sessions at the same time that you did, but it was 5pm for us. We watched Priesthood at 10am Sunday and Saturday Afternoon Session at 1pm on Sunday. The rule for the night was that as long as we were in bed by 10:30 we could watch as much of conference as we wanted. We live fairly close to the church so on top of the other 6 hours we stayed a little later and watch the first hour of Sunday Afternoon session live at 9pm our time.

We didn't see much of the last hour. Right when it began, we heard a loud crash by the front door and went to check it out. Apparently a pretty drunk man had thrown a hammer at one of the windows. As we turned the corner, we saw the window and watched as the man came back for his hammer and then ran away. We don't think he was trying to break in because he would have tried it around back, and he didn't do much damage because they are double pained doors, but we called the police to see if they would catch him. They came pretty quickly, but didn't catch them right away. They talked to us for a while and we gave them our information just before locking the building and going home. We were back and ready for bed before 10:30, but ended up not being able to go to bed. The police called back and said they had caught two men doing something similar in a nearby neighborhood and had arrested them. They asked us if they could come get a statement from us about the crime and they would see if the man would confess. So, we got dressed and waited outside so the members we live with wouldn't be woken up. We sat in the police car to answer all his questions before finally getting to go to bed. We won’t know what happened with the men for a few days, but it’s likely that nothing will happen because it was dark and we couldn't give a clear description.

My companion, Elder Gasparato, and one of our district leaders, Elder Komulainen (from Finland), are actually on a trip to North London today because they go home next moves. I am still in Crawley with Elder Trevisan (another Italian, the one that knows Elder Sabbah). They were here for the experience last night and will go back to their area tonight. I was supposed to have my driving test this morning and was actually feeling pretty good about it, but it didn't happen. I went to the testing center and was even early, but after waiting a half hour I found out that my examiner never showed up at work. They said the test will have to be rescheduled, so I’ll let you know when I find out when it is.

Investigator wise, things are going ok. We aren’t teaching Kevin anymore, but Ross is doing good, and we found a really cool family we hope to start teaching soon. We met and taught one of the daughters on the street and she was really excited. She wants to be baptized. They are actually from Pakistan, but are completely Christian. We have talked to the parents and hope to teach them all so they can join the church together. There last name is Joseph. We are always working with many others, but these are our best investigators right now.

Overall we really are doing great! I love you guys and hope things are still going well. I pray that everyone is doing well in school and work so I hope you are seeing the blessings. I would love to hear about your favorite talks at conference Elder Gasparato says he misses the LDS jokes you used to send haha. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges
 

September 28, 2009

Hey!

I always want to say good morning or good afternoon, but then I realize that you might all read this at different times, so that wouldn't make sense. Anyway, I hope you are having the best of what ever part of the day you are in! Things are getting colder here, so enjoy the heat while you have it. Our flat doesn't have a heater, so I hear that it is one of the coldest in the winter, but I'll survive. I have my driving test one week from today at 8:30 in the morning, so if you wake up in the middle of the night on Monday, say a prayer for me.

Things really seemed to drag at the end of last week and beginning of this week, but they are looking better now. We have had quite a few exchanges lately like I mentioned in my last letter. We actually planned to have 3 a week, but only had 2. This is the cause for things slowing down, but they encourage us to exchange with everyone in the zone. At least they used to.

Elder Teixeira from the area presidency came for a mission tour and we had another conference for the whole mission on Thursday (right between two exchanges). It was really cool and we learned about a lot of changes that will be happening. Before the conference, we had an extra Zone Leader Council with him and he advised a lot of changes, one of which was to only exchange with District Leaders.... we are happy to follow that counsel. Exchanges are fun, but we've been doing too many. Most of the changes he mentioned have to do with the politics of the mission, so they might not mean a whole lot to you, but I am excited to see them happen. The conference as a whole was really good and really motivating.

Out of our many investigators over the last few weeks, we don't have many left. Some of them we are still keeping contact with, but not really teaching. The main people we are teaching right now are Kevin and Ross. Both of them accepted baptismal dates yesterday for the 10th and the 24th of October. Kevin is the same one that has already had two baptismal dates that haven't gone through, but I think this time it will. Ross is the boyfriend of the bishop’s daughter. She has been bringing him to church for about 2 months and we just started teaching him. He is really cool and sincerely wants to do what is right.

I am grateful for you support and prayers and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

All but one of the Elders from my MTC group.

Elder Wheat, Elder Hooper, Elder Sorbonne, me,

and Elder Allred (in the front). We are missing Elder Tomlinson

Elder Warner (my trainer) and I catching up at conference with Elder Allred in the background.

September 21, 2009

Hey,

Not a whole lot has happened this week. Not even Kevin's baptism. He may still go through with it soon, but he has to make the choice. We should have a baptism this weekend though, His name is Johnson Siatous. His is 11 and is really cool. We almost ran into a problem with his father not wanting him to be baptized, but we talked to his father with his recent convert sister there and I think things are alright. The only other concern he has is that he wants to play football on Sundays.

A lot of the new people we found over the last few weeks are already dropped, but some of the families are just hard to meet with. Hopefully we will get better at working with whole families and see them all again soon.

We had a lot of exchanges and other things this week that took some time away from our area, but i hope next week will be more focused. It doesn't look like it though. We have two more exchanges and a mission wide conference with Elder Texeira. He is in the area presidency.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Have and amazing week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Sept. 14, 2009

Chao!

It’s mostly Italian to say “Chao”, but we have been meeting and teaching a lot of people that speak Latin based languages and most of them understand, especially coming from Elder Gasparato. This week has been really good. We have seen a lot of miracles happen in our area, and the zone is doing well. One of those miracles wasn’t the baptism of Kevin and Robin, but Kevin will be getting baptized this Saturday. We felt it would be better for him to wait a week and be more prepared. Robin keeps saying he doesn’t want to do it now. I’m not convinced that he really knows why he is saying no. Maybe he just needs to wait until he is older.
Many of the miracles we have seen have come from new people we are teaching. We, along with the rest of the mission, have been praying to find more families and priesthood holders. We found three families this week that we are now teaching! One is a Sri Lanka Father and an Indian mother that have twins that were born in Germany and who are now 9. Another is a Mauritian family with a father, mother, brother, and sister. The last was another Mauritian family with seven members including parents, kids, cousins, and their Grandmother! The best part about these families is that they have both parents! There are not many full families left in the UK, so it truly is a miracle that we found three in one week. We are also teaching a boy named Johnson (11) who is scheduled to get baptized on September 25.

It’s good to hear that mom is feeling better. (I was sick and unable to go to the cabin over Labor Day. I had asked him about his health and his upcoming driving test.) I hope everyone else is feeling well. My health has been great for the most part. I haven't had any illness yet, so I am very grateful. I have been practicing driving with the member we live with actually and my driving test is on October 5th! Pray for me!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Me, Elders Meats and Mclachan, Sisters Pressgrove and Hardisty, Elder Zundel, Dave (A YSA Member from our ward), Elders Gasparato and Trevisan (the Italians)

E. Trevisan knew Elder Noor Sabbah in Italy and has been relayin' messages between us haha!

Me, Elders Zundel and Trevisan, and Sisters Hardisty and Pressgrove while on Pday with Brighton District.

All of the Zone Leaders of the mission, President & Sister Shamo, and the assistants at Zone Leader Council this last Tuesday. We have this meeting the first Tuesday of every transfer.

Jenni (mother), Martina (aunt), Barney (father), and Fran (nan=grandmother) at the baptism of Taylor, (10) Thelvina (8 - cousin), and Darian (12)!