7/19/2010

Happy Monday to you too!

Thank you for sending all the info about my talk(for his homecoming). I'll probably try to read it in the next couple days. I realized the typo's in the information (itinerary) they sent as well. I got a copy that was the same as yours so I called the office, but they said they had sent it to the right address anyway. Apparently it’s the church offices that had the wrong email, but the mission has the right one. It is so cool to hear about everyone getting their mission calls. I know it’s been two years, but its still feels like I just left and like some of them shouldn't be leaving yet.

The last week of missionary work has been great. We have had some good miracles. We don't have a baptism on the 24th anymore, but Terri is still going to get baptized soon. She wasn't able to come to church this week and might not be able to next week, but is still preparing for either July 31st, or August 7th. We have another baptismal date for July 31st named Sidney. He is a really cool guy from Portugal. He has never been baptized and has had a few experiences lately that have strengthened his faith. We found him walking down the street but it turns out he knows some of the recent converts and another member of the ward already. He is progressing really well, but he's only 25 and has a lot of other things he likes to do. We have been working with others as always and hopefully there will be a couple more people preparing to get baptized by the time I leave.

Audrey has been doing amazing as usual. In fact she went and did baptisms for the dead already! I talked to the brother (from another ward) who was doing the confirmations and he said he had asked her "Have you ever done this before?" to which she replied, "Yes, a week ago..... in church." Realizing she wasn't speaking of temple baptisms he asked how long she had been a member and was happily surprised to find out she was just baptized last week! The miracle gets better though. Elder Bien and I went to the temple with the ward as well and for two really good reasons. Elder Bien stayed with Lyne and her recent convert daughter, Kirsty, in the visitor’s center while I went in for an endowment session with Liliana, another recent convert from Portsmouth! Just this Tuesday, I found out that she had completed all her interviews and was planning to go and it fit in perfectly with the ward trip. It was such a miracle to have one recent convert in an endowment session, another in the baptistery and an investigator in the visitor’s center all at the same time! The Lord has been so merciful to me throughout my whole mission and continues to do so. I look forward to one last full week of miracles in His work.

Have a wonderful week! I probably won’t get to email you again, so we'll talk again in about 10 days.. in person! Love you!

Love,

ELDER Kade Karges

July 12, 2010

Hey!

Its kind of crazy to think that I'm only going to email you one more time after this... its played such a big role in my life for 2 years, but I don't know who'll I’ll email when I can just talk to you ha-ha.

This week has been really good. We are still seeing lots of miracles, the best of all being Audrey's baptism! She is amazing and so was the service. Several stressful things happened starting the day before, which caused some re-arranging, but it all came together nicely in the end. The only thing that should have been better is if we weren't late! We felt really bad because we thought we had worked things out perfectly, but it was only 10 minutes and Audrey was really good about it. She was just glowing the whole time and on the day of her confirmation she even helped fellowship one of our other investigators, Terri, at church. Terri is actually then next one scheduled to get baptized. Her date is the 24th. A really cool miracle happened with her too. While we were on exchange with one of our district leaders on Tuesday, we stopped by and she reaccepted a date (having dropped a few days before). We were able to see her two more times and she was planning to come to church when we got a text Saturday night saying she had changed her mind. We left her a message, but didn't talk to her that night. In the morning we felt that we needed to go to her house and share a scripture or pray. We ended up doing both and she even said a prayer herself for the first time with us! She prayed for the Lords help to come to church and in the end came to the last two hours!! (I don’t know if I’ve told you, but we have Priesthood, Sunday School, then Sacrament meeting here.) She had a good experience and is still preparing for baptism. We have a few other people really close to having dates, but not quite yet.

It still doesn't feel like I'm going to see you all in like 3 weeks, but I do look forward to it. I love you and am STILL praying for you all.

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

July 5, 2010

Hello!


We have had a good week. Elder Bien and I are having fun working together. The amount of people we are teaching is higher than we've had before, but we wish more people were getting baptized!

Audrey has hung in there, in fact she's amazing! Edd, even though he referred himself, seems to have disappeared. We had one other baptismal date pick up and drop within a few days, but we aren't giving up on any of them. Our second date right now is actually someone we just found. Airida is a Lithuania lady that apparently met missionaries back home. We didn’t find that out until she spoke over the phone with one of my converts, Valerijus, from Crawley. He invited her to meet us often, come to church, and read the Book of Mormon. After such a good phone call, we committed her on the spot and she accepted to get baptized on July 24th. We have had quite a few referrals recently (last week) and this week a visiting Canadian couple brought their non-member friends... Miracles! We feel good about a lot of these people progressing. Sometimes I wish I had more time to see it happen!

I'm really glad Audrey got to email you. The thought came to me a few times so I thought "why not?"! I thought she might actually get along really well with mom. She already passed her baptismal interview and plans to go into the temple for baptism a week after her own baptism on the 10th. It was moved earlier because she is definitely ready.
I hope the cabin is fun! I miss it and look forward to being there next time. Our ward mission leader and his family had us over for a 4th of July dinner. You are always in my prayers. I love you!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

June 29, 2010

Hey!

Sorry I'm a day late. I didn't know until after last P-Day that we were going to have Zone Conference on Monday, making our P-Day move. This last week was probably the best so far here in Taunton. We missed two days of proselyting to travel to ZLC and back, but still ended up with two new baptismal dates, three people at church, and more teaches than the last several weeks. On Monday we drove about three and a half hours to Staines first. We left during our P-Day so that we could get there early. We were able to teach two of my recent convert families while we were there and one of them fed us! It was a really good experience and was cool to stay in the Staines flat again. After ZLC on Tuesday, which went longer than usual, we ate dinner with the family of one of Elder Bien's recent converts in Slough. The late schedule caused us to stay in Reading for the night. We finally made it home on Wednesday and got straight to teaching. Zone conference yesterday was back in Reading (2 hours away) so we've been doing a lot of driving lately. Elder Bien doesn't have his license yet, so I'm always the driver.

The first new baptismal date is Audrey White. I can never remember what I've shared before, so if I repeat what I've told you already, or if I leave things out I apologize. She is the South African lady who was introduced to the church by a work colleague who is a bishop in Germany. After he told her to meet the missionaries, she called around and her referral came to us in the post. We called and started teaching her right away. She has been to church twice and has felt good about things all along, but knowing that I am going home, she picked my last weekend in the field to get baptized, July 24th. Edd Butcher is our other baptismal date for the 10th of July! He came from a referral in the post as well. He is English and in his twenties. Apparently missionaries taught him in the past, but he didn't have his life in the right place. Now that things are changed, he not only wants to get retaught, but baptized as soon as possible! We have been working with several other people most of which just haven't progressed as much as we would have hoped. The Rowden and the Gillard family have both been put on the back burner you could say. The other person we hope will accept a date soon is Lyne. She is the mother of a recent convert and has been taught a long time ago, but never as much as we have taught her. She could use your prayers to live commandments.

I almost forgot to explain the guy who called. He is a member in Staines. His name is Vitaly. He comes on teaches LOADS with the missionaries. I actually talked to him on the phone yesterday and he said he had called you!  He is a funny guy. Hopefully you’ll get to meet him if he can come to my homecoming. He cooks amazing food too!

I think the last of my birthday cards came ha-ha. Thank you so much everyone for making it a special time. It is a great blessing to have such loving friends and family. I have always felt very blessed in that way, which is why I think eternal families has always been the strongest point of my testimony. Every missionary's last zone conference they bear their testimony about their missions. As I did so yesterday it was a strange feeling, but I felt good as well. I don't know when it will, but it hasn't hit me yet that I'm coming home. To be honest I'd rather it didn't until I am already there. I love being a missionary and I love you!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

June 21, 2010

Hello again,

It hasn't been long since Thursday, so not a lot has changed. Instead of a long letter I'll try to send some pictures. You are right about it being good to stay in an area, especially when the people like having you. A YSA aged guy named Joe that we have been out teaching a lot with gave a talk yesterday. Of course the whole day was about fathers, but in the middle of his talk he stopped to talk about missionary work and encouraged other members to go out with us. He has recently returned to activity and this was his first talk in 11 years. He did an amazing job.

Audrey came to church and really enjoyed it. She is doing great. No day has been set for her baptism, but she is planning on it being in July. She has already invited some friends and family, including Bishop Brown from Germany (he is the colleague that introduced her to the church). Sam and John missed church again. They seem to be doing well, but things come up on the weekends. They are a great family and the gospel has already changed their lives a lot. We are also teaching Lyne the mother of a recent convert named Kristy. She has been looking for the truth for a long time and has investigated many churches, even ours before. She has come a long way in the last couple weeks and will be coming to church for the first time this week. We are also teaching a lot of new people here and there, but need to find some more solid people!

Thanks for all that you do. I am grateful for your prayers.

Love,

Elder Kade Karges


























Pic 1 - Elder Gardner, Elder Church, Elder Evans, Elder Tomlinson, Elder Hansen, Elder Bien and I after the Bath District meeting a couple weeks ago.












Pic - Elder Bien and I with our matching new comp. suits and tie and cufflink set! Don't worry it was a really good deal!

June 17, 2010

Hello!!!

I'm still in here! Elder Bien and I thought for sure that one of us would leave, but we are staying together here in Taunton. We had a ward council last night and after letting them know, the bishop told us that he had talked to President Shamo and actually requested that we stay. Every other companionship in the zone changed and I think every other zone leader companionship changed. We are excited to stay together and see another six weeks of miracles!

We haven’t had any huge successes since serving together, but feel that things have been building up. The ward is getting more and more excited and more and more members are participating in the work. A few of them have been eager to give referrals as well. A lot of our new investigators come and go, but we have had some that have come very far and just haven't decided when they want to get baptized. I've spoken of Sam and John's family before. Sam says she wants to be ready, but will choose a date in July by the next time we see her. Audrey, who I think I've also spoken of, is going to do the same. She wants to find out when her colleague, a Bishop in Germany, can come to be a part of it. The other long term couple we have spoken of is Andy and Debb. They have slowed down a bit, but are still seeking for the right answer.

My Birthday was great! We had a few teaches with people who found out, so they got me cards and things. Along with all of the cards that you sent, I have well over 21! Thank you so much for making it a special time. It was quite funny to read that you had planned to send so many cards. It explains why one of the ones I received actually came with a slip of paper with my name and address and a note saying to write me in the first week of June! Ha-ha. We had ward council at night as I said before and our ward mission leader actually brought a cake and a present from their family! We have already eaten one of the Oreo pies and were saving the other one to see what happened at moves.
I really love being a member of our family and having the friends that I do. I love you all and hope you have the best week ever!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

June 7, 2010

Hello!

I'm actually emailing on time! I even have the full hour this week. Last Monday was an amazing experience. Pete and Anne Marie Buchanan got sealed after Pete also took out his endowment. Several other members of the Portsmouth ward were there. It was really good to see them. It took pretty much our whole day to attend the temple with them, and after wards they took us out to dinner. It was a pub, but it’s normal for a family to go there for dinner. It’s kind of like having a restaurant with a bar back home. Pubs actually usually have some of the best meals.

Working in Taunton is still going well. I feel like I'm really starting to understand the area. We work in other towns quite often called Bridgwater and Wellington. President actually served as branch President in Bridgwater when he was here on his mission. The ward is getting more and more excited about missionary work. We brought the Elders' Quorum President and his wife on a really good teach. It ended up that his wife and the father of the family, Andy, had gone to the same school growing up and even gone to a lot of the same activities at the local Methodist church. She got up this Sunday and bore her testimony about having a great experience out teaching with the missionaries! Because of her testimony other members are showing more courage about coming out.

We have invited all of our current investigators to get baptized and none have a date yet, but they are praying for answers and progressing. Andy and Debb we see once a week, they are such a good family. There daughter Hannah will hopefully come to church with them next week. Sam and John have their hands full, but have been changing so much. They have come from not wanting us to pray around them to wanting to be at church every week. Sam's not concerned with getting baptized anymore, only when and if she'll be ready. We had a miracle phone call on Friday. A member from another ward use to be branch president here. He called explaining that he sometimes still gets calls related to our ward. A woman in our area had called him wanting visits from the missionaries herself. She is from South Africa originally and has a few grown children. Apparently she is a colleague with a bishop in Germany who has been answering all her questions. We have taught her once and look forward to seeing her again.

Our zone and the mission as a whole could use your prayers. Things have dropped a little and we are about to get a lot more missionaries next week. This is really exciting, but will take a lot of work too. Next week is moves, so I won't be able to email until Thursday. I don't know if I’ll stay or go, so if you plan on sending things either wait till Thursday or just send them to the mission office. Thank you for all for the birthday cards I have already received. I have always appreciated your support and love you all!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

May 30, 2010

May 30, 2010

Hello!

So the exciting news is that I am at the temple grounds right now. Pete (one of my recent converts from Portsmouth) and Anne Marie Buchanan are getting sealed and we have been allowed to come all day. The sad news is that there are five other missionaries waiting to email on this same computer.

The week has gone great! Well, we lost a few baptismal dates, but they were people that accepted dates on the first visit, so they left just as quickly as they came. The people that are sticking around are Sam and John's family with two kids and another English couple. It was really cool to teach Sam and John's family about the plan of salvation and to have them come to church all together. Hopefully they will accept baptismal dates this week.

I’ll share one short story before I have to go. Elder Bien and I felt good about working in a town called Wellington in our area. We were only there for an hour and got a few appointments and people to call back, but there was one thing that soured the experience. A bird dropping landed straight on my back! The reason why I'm telling you about it is because it is how we met Susan. We aren't teaching her yet, but when I got hit we had no way of cleaning it. Knocking on Susan's door, she almost shut it on us right away... twice, but when I called out for "help," she had sympathy. She wiped it off for me and gave me tips on how to clean it. The only thing I had to repay her was a Book of Mormon and my testimony. She accepted it and said we could stop by later in the week. I'll keep you posted on how things progress.

Love you! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

May 17th, 2010

Hey Everyone,

It has been a good week here. I really do like the area in Taunton. We do a lot more driving then I ever have before. Other missionary areas are further away and even our ward members are pretty spread out. We usually work in Taunton, or a town called Bridgewater. It’s about 20 minutes away and a lot of the ward members live there. Elder Bien doesn't have his license yet, so I do all of the driving. I like to drive, but I look forward to him getting his license as well.

I don’t know if I told you, but last moves we had a half-mission conference with Elder Snow from the Presidency of the Seventy. It was really good and it was fun to go back into central London. This moves, - actually this week - we have another conference. This one is mission wide and Elder Quentin L .Cook is coming. We are lucky to be in the Bristol Stake right now because the reason he is here is for our stake conference. We'll get to hear from him Friday as a mission and Saturday and Sunday as a Stake! I'm looking forward to it and we are trying to get as many investigators to Stake conference as possible. There is a special meeting for recent converts Sunday morning that we can take them to as well.

We have found quite a few new people, but the ones that accepted baptismal dates right away have dropped. I am anxious to see a couple of families again. that we are now teaching. It would be so cool to have a strong, English family get baptized.

It sounds like you had a really good weekend trip! I looked up pictures of the new temple on the church website and it looks beautiful. I'm excited to go through it when I get back. I got what missionaries call my trunky call a few days ago. The office wanted to know which airport I was going to fly into... I told them the right one, don't worry! :) I hope you have another good week and find lots of neighbors to refer to the missionaries!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

Elder Cook, Vitaly (Latvian Member), Elder Keeble, Elder Robinson, and I outside the Staines flat the night before moves

Elder Allred, Elder Sorbonne and I at ZLC

ZLC at Presidents house in his back yard.

May 10th, 2010

Happy Mothers Day!

So not much has changed since I talked to you last night and emailed on Wednesday ha-ha, but I Loved talking to you!! It was so cool to hear Bekah sing the ABC's. She sounds like she is growing up so fast and so does Brinton. I think they will be the most interesting ones to meet when I come back. It will even take some getting used to play with kids again. We aren't allowed to hold kids or obviously be alone with them as missionaries. Some times it’s hard not to because they jump on you and run around all the time. I wish the rules were different actually.

This week has definitely been eventful with moves and Mothers' Day. I really like my new area, Taunton, and my companion, Elder Bien, is really cool. We get along well and have a lot in common actually. The ward is supportive and excited about missionary work. Their excitement is increasing as well which is good. Elder Quinton L. Cook is coming to the Bristol Stake conference which will be really cool and we just found out that he is going to be speaking to our whole mission as well just the day before. I think it will all happen in two weekends.
I love you guys and hope you week is great. Send me more pics of the house if you can... and everyone. It’s relay cool to see pictures of what’s going on. I think everything should be normal with pdays for the next few weeks, so I'll talk to you next Monday!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

May 5, 2010

Hello!

Moves day came a day early this transfer, so I'm already on my way to my new area. I left Staines early this morning and spent most of the day at the temple grounds helping people get around. I am in Slough right now in the process of traveling. I am driving with a couple other missionaries and we needed to make a swap here. My new area is called Taunton and its part of the Bristol stake/zone. I hear it’s beautiful and that things are going well there, but I won’t be there for another couple of hours. My companion is Elder Bien. He is from Ohio, but he speaks Mandarin because his family is from China. I first met him when I was serving in Portsmouth. He was trained by Elder Judd when he finally made it to our mission (he was delayed by Visa problems and served in Utah for several weeks before coming here). Elder Cook was also serving with him at the time. Once I moved to Staines, he was one of our district leaders, actually here in Slough. After a couple moves, he became a zone leader as well and now I'm coming to serve with him. I'm excited because I already know he is a good missionary. I have been around him quite a lot and have worked on exchanges with him. It is sad to leave Staines, but I'm excited to see what lies ahead. My new address is...

22 Massingham Park
Taunton, Sommerset
TA2 7TG
England

I’ll have to tell you more about where we live on Monday or even Sunday!!! I am excited to talk to you. I can't actually give you much information on when or what number to call on. We might be changing numbers before the weekend and I'm not sure when you have church. My companion is calling home at 7 PM here, so I would probably have to call before that. 5:30 my time would be like 10:30 you time...?? I could call earlier though if we needed to do it before you go to church. The best thing to do, I think, will be to wait until Saturday and then I'll have to just call you quickly using a calling card. We can make arrangements then and I will know what phone I'll be on. We'll figure something out. I'll try to call mom's cell.

I don't know any of our new investigators yet, but I have quite a lot of other good news. First off we had two baptismal dates in Staines when I left. Mayte (mighty) and Elvis from Equatorial Gunea. They are doing great and are progressing well. They were actually referred to us by an excommunicated member. I'm excited to hear how they progress further. The recent converts there are also doing well. They bear their testimonies frequently, come on teaches, and pay their tithing! Craig received the Priesthood on Sunday. The other good news is about recent converts from past areas. Elder Wheat, an elder I came out with that is now in Portsmouth told me about them. Peter Buchanan and his wife Anne Marie are getting sealed on May 31st and Liliana is going to get her endowment before I go home. Liliana has already finished her temple prep class and apparently it has been a goal of hers to do it before I leave because she knows I can go through with her if she does. I can also go to the sealing of Pete and Anne Marie. I am really excited for all of them. It makes me so happy to know they are doing so well :)

Thank you for all the pictures. I really enjoy seeing how everyone is changing and what’s going on. Brinton and Bekah are the coolest to see. Missionaries closer and closer to me keep going home... it’s a weird feeling. The next transfer is on my birthday I believe, June 16th. There is a good chance that this will be my last area. I love you and pray for your individual needs every night!

God Bless,
Elder Kade Karges

April 26, 2010

Hello again!

You are moved in!! That is exciting. I am actually quite surprised that things happened so quick. I almost felt like I was helping you though. A mission flat was closed down so we spent most of our Saturday moving everything out. We had gone to the temple with an investigator, Larisa, in the morning. While there we picked up the mission van and cleared out the Guildford flat with the help of another Elder. It was kind of weird to spend so much time working on that. We got back to the mission office late so we stayed at the Assistants flat and then drove back in the morning. As we finished I realized that you would have been moving things at the same time. Thank you so much for the pictures of the new house! It looks really nice. I am excited to come home to it. I've been trying to send pictures home for the past couple weeks, but keep running out of time. Before I forget, moves is next week, so I won’t be emailing until Thursday and it could be from a new area! This moves was only 5 weeks long so it seems extra short.

Things are going well here. The weather has finally warmed up. We aren’t wearing suit coats anymore, but the evenings can get pretty cool. It seems kind of weird to think that I finished my second English winter already. We have had a few investigators accept baptismal dates, then drop off. Sheila and Danielle are the main ones you could pray for. We are also still working with Larisa. She loved the temple and saw a conference session for church because that is how we see the last session here. She hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet, but hopefully will soon. She is great, she just needs to follow the answers she is getting. Not much else has happened this week. We are looking for new people this week.

Thanks for all that you do. I love you guys. Give Jeff my congratulations! That is so exciting! He is going to be a good missionary. Have a great week and a half!

Love,

Elder Karges

April 20, 2010

April 20, 2010
Hello again!

Everything is going well! Sorry I am emailing a day late again. I actually didn't expect to be this week. We had P-Day yesterday, but all of the Internet Cafes were closed. Next week should be pretty normal so I should email on time.

It has been another good week. We have some new people progressing. Danielle has a baptismal date for May 16th, but didn't come to church. We've got to work on that. Larisa, came to church again and will be going to the temple visitors' center on Saturday. She doesn't have a baptismal date yet, but hopefully will accept one while at the temple. Sheila is our other baptismal date, but she is struggling health wise. Your prayers are greatly appreciated and I know they are great source of help to me and our investigators.

It sounds like things back home are going well. -Hang in there Jeff, the Lord is excited to have you serve, His call for you will come soon. If it is to some place like England and you have to wait as long as I did, then maybe we will see each other.- You'll have to send me more pictures of the house, especially when you move in. It’s going to be interesting to come back to a different house, but I'm excited. It’s good that Jacque will be in my ward she'll have to help me transfer back into the normal world.

I love you guys! Have a great week!


Love,

Elder Kade Karges

April 13, 2010

Hello!

Sorry I'm late. I didn't know before last p-day that this p-day was going to be on Tuesday. It has been another great week, but has been filled with meetings more than anything else. The reason why P-day got moved is because we had a zone training day yesterday. It went really well. Normally zone leaders are in charge of this meeting for their zone, and because this is a short moves (5 weeks- ends on May 9th) they combined us with another zone. Splitting the presentation with the other zone leaders made it a lot simpler plus we went to their chapel, so it was cool to see central London again. We ended up going to President’s house last Monday night, then had ZLC there on Tuesday and then had zone conference on Thursday as well. All of the meetings were great though, so it was definitely worth it. Despite only having about half of a week to actually proselyte in, we still saw miracles.

First off, Craig was finally confirmed!!! He had some tough opposition in the two weeks since his baptism, but he pulled through. It was fast and testimony meeting again as well, so the service was quite good. For the third month in a row now, the testimonies have been all about missionary work :) The ward is really excited about it and it is showing. I was talking to a member of the stake presidency sometime on Sunday, and he said he had taken a rough count of about 130 people in the sacrament meeting! More and more people have been coming out whether they be recent converts, investigators, or even less actives. One of the investigators that came this week was a complete miracle. Her name is Larisa and she only moved from Romania 5 days ago now. We met her on Saturday outside of the church. She was looking for a 7th Day Adventist meeting house to attend a service, but someone led her to ours. We were happy to help her and found out where the closest one really was, and then give her a Book of Mormon and invited her to come back the next day. She did, and she had read much of the index. Her obvious concern is when the Sabbath should be, but she loved church and recognized a lot of our hymns. We are helping her practice English and she is going to read and pray. Sheila, Belinda's mum, has another baptismal date. She could really use your prayers for some up coming medical test and a surgery in the summer. Her date is after the tests, but before her surgery, May 30th.

Wow I had no idea that the article was so wide spread. I just went to the church website and, after looking around the news archives a bit, even found a link to it there. I have heard a little feed back on it but it sounds like you've heard more! I am glad that it is a positive article and that it has the opportunity to have such a positive effect. I hope that it does. It hasn't affected the work in my individual area that I've seen yet, but the members are really excited about it. The bishop's wife, Sister Price called before church to let us know about it and ask if she should bring a copy for us. She brought one to put on the notice board and I have heard that has been done in other wards. President Shamo said he would get me and anyone else that was involved a copy of the real newspaper. They had to order them, so I'll let you know when I get it.

Every time I stop and think about the family I have and the opportunities the Lord has been giving me, I am amazed. I really love you all and am grateful that you are my family, and friends!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

April 5, 2010

Hello!

I was quite surprised that President (Shamo) called you as well! I talked to him Sunday morning and he said he loved talking to you :) He said he could see how I turned out the way I did. I agreed with him when he said how amazing of a mother and great of a father I had. We'll be going to his house tomorrow for a meeting, so I'll pass on your gratitude.

It has only been a few days, so not a whole lot has changed. One of the biggest events, even for myself,  was reading the article. I actually just saw it for the first time last night and read it just now. It's not exactly what I thought it would be like, but seems quite positive so we are happy. We didn't know it was going to come out so quickly. We found out a day late, so we weren't able to buy a paper. The mission is trying to order some because all of the shops send them back to the distributer. Hopefully we'll get the real thing.

General conference was the other big event. We were able to watch all of the sessions, which was nice. I think I actually liked the Saturday ones the most. Keep praying for Craig who will be confirmed this Sunday and for Belinda's mum, Sheila. We have taught her off and on, but she has been really sick. Last time we saw her, she said she wanted to be baptized before a big operation in July. We are working with the son of a member family named Sam as well. Our main focus is actually on finding some new, solid investigators. That should happen very soon, but many people have been leaving on Easter holiday trips.

I am really excited to get the other pictures of the house. It looks really nice. I do remember seeing it as well before I left. I am happy that everything is working out now. I love you and pray that your move will go well. Happy Easter!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

April 3. 2010

We were just surprised by a phone call from Kade's mission president - President Shamo. He said that we had a wonderful son who was now famous :). He knew the article that was circulating on the internet did not contain the pictures that accompanied the article that came out in the London Times Newspaper, so he ask us for our e-mail address and sent a PDF of the article to us. Youcan see Kade on both the first and second pages!

Thanks, Roxanne

April 1, 2010

Hello!

Quite a lot has happened over the last week and a half! In fact I didn't realize how much had happened until I just sat down to email. First of all today was moves, but I am still in Staines. I am really excited to be staying and to be working with my new companion, Elder Cook. He is from St. George Utah and is REALLY good at the piano. I have served around him before and he took my place in Crawley when I left. He just came from Crawley here, so it has been good to find out what has happened since I left. The most exciting thing he has told me is that one of my recent converts, Ross, is engaged to the bishop’s daughter there. They won’t be getting married for a few months, but it was quite a surprise because they aren't very old. I think one of the driving forces behind it is that her family is moving back to Canada and she would prefer to stay. I have heard that the other recent converts are doing well too.

As for what’s happening here and now, I'll start with teaching and baptizing. We are always teaching a lot of people and right now a lot of them are part member families. There are no new baptismal dates as of yet, but that is because they have all been getting baptized! I told you about Courtney and Colisha already. They are doing really well. He is excited to have the Priesthood and they are both excited that their daughter received a blessing. Both have already helped us teach other people and it feels like they have been doing it for a long time. They are AMAZING. Craig got baptized on Sunday. His service was really good and seeing how happy he was, was even better. He has really come a long way and changed so many aspects of his life. He will be confirmed on the 11th because general conference is this week. I am really excited for conference as well, both to hear it myself and to have investigators and recent converts come. I can't believe it is the last one of my mission!! Time is still going by faster and faster.

Probably the most unexpected and exciting event of the week, was being interviewed by the London Times...! Monday night we got a call from President Shamo in which, after telling us to sit down and to say yes before anything was explained, he asked us to meet with the London Times Newspaper on Wednesday. So more then a week ago now, we got the chapel prepared and two female reporters and a camera man came to visit. President and Sister Shamo were interviewed first, then the two of us (Elder Bång and I). After the interviews they had planned to shadow us for a couple of hours, so first we went out street contacting, and then we had a teach. As they came along to each thing, everything went perfectly. We had a few people talk to us and a lady from Latvia even became a new investigator right there on the spot. The photographer took loads of pictures the whole time and just before we went to the teach, he stopped us to take more. The teach we had was with a recent convert (almost at his 2 year mark) named Tseten. It went just as well as the contacting. More pictures were taken and I'm sure they felt the spirit. We were told to do everything just like we normally would, so we said a lot of prayers with them and even sang. Since I came to Staines, we have started singing hymns at the beginning of every teach. When it was all over, we gave them both Books of Mormon with our combined testimony written inside. They said the article should be printed in a section called the London Times 2 in about a month. It will most likely be online as well. For the paper edition there is supposed to be a readership of 1.8 million! Hopefully this will affect many lives and be good publicity for the church. There was a Public Relations guy from the church named Brother Adcock that came along the whole time. He said we couldn't have expected it to go any better. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated as the article isn't out yet.

That is the majority of what happened since I last emailed. It won't be long before I email again, but I'm sure many more miracles will happen. This is the Lord's work and his hand is DEFINITELY in it. I love you and hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

This is the link to the article. We don't see any pictures, but it mentions him a couple of times.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7083428.ece

FW: Kade, March 15, 2010

Hey!

So here is my five minute snapshot of the week....

We have been serving in a tri with Elder Keeble ever since Elder Eyers left on Tuesday. He will be replaced this Tuesday by another missionary needing to get his Visa to go to Russia. Elder Keeble is one of out district leaders, so it has made accounting really easy, plus he's a good missionary! We have gone on quite a few splits and things so we could be more effective. We have had a really good week. I love being a missionary!

Courtney and Colisha got baptized after church on Sunday and it went really well. I think they are the first husband and wife I have had get baptized on my mission. They are going to be a good addition to the ward. I think I said last week that I would post their miracle story because I wrote it on my presidents letter. I haven't done that yet, but will try to this week. I will send it with the ASU paper which I have already signed. Thank you so much for taking care of those things! it really helps me focus. Speaking about being focused, I really have been trying to figure out how I can better lose myself in the work and have decided to give up a few things. The two main things are to be more picky with the music I listen to (it has always been church appropriate, don't worry) and not writing as many letters. So.... if I don't write much over the next few months, that’s why! I am speaking of written letters, not emails. I will try to keep up the good record of emails :)

Brother Hinton sounds like a good guy. (Bro. Hinton from our ward went to England on his mission.  We had shown him some pictures of Kade standing in his kitchen.  Bro. Hinton asked us about some of the food he saw in the picture. )  I have never actually had Wheatabix. That box had been there for years before I got there! We threw it out when soon after the picture was taken. They do still sell fish & chips in newspaper-like paper, but not in literal newspaper if that’s what he meant. I'm sure there are some things I eat here that we don't have back home, but it is actually pretty hard to think of specific ones now that I have been hear so long.

Tell Brinton I would love to have him come to London! We would have a blast and could even go on splits haha. I love you and love hearing from all of you. Thank you for all your support and prayers.

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

The chicken at Frangos was pretty spicey. Check out the sweat dripping off my nose!

Me, Courtney, Colisha, Elder Bång and little Crissy at the baptism on Sunday! It was an amazing service their family truly is a miracle. They will be confirmed next week

Me with 125 Pink Lady Apples! We have a fruit man in our ward that will sell them to us by the box! With these kinds of deals, we are happy to be eating healthy!

Elder Keeble, Myself, Elder Eyers and Elder Bång at Heathrow airport dropping off Elder Eyers to go to Russia.

Elder Keeble, Elder Eyers, Elder Bång, and I at a place called Frangos (a rip-off of a spicy chicken place called Nandos).

My name tag at.... PLATFORM 9 & 3/4!!!! The other Elders needed to go through Kings Cross Station to work out some visa stuff and offered to take our badges haha!

March 8, 2010

Hello Everyone,

This week has been very busy. We have had a lot of extra planning to do. Stake correlation was on Sunday morning and Zone Training day is this Wednesday, both of which take a lot of preparation. We haven't even finished our basic weekly planning! We are really trying though and the Lord has been greatly blessing us. Even with three or four half days in the flat planning, it seems that we have had just as many teaches and new investigators as a normal week. The weather is getting a lot better here as well. The sun has been out for a couple days now and things are starting to warm up in the middle of the day. When the sun goes down it still gets below freezing though. You can never really tell what season it is here. Usually there are several in one week, sometimes in one day.

We have seen some really cool specific miracles, one of which I am hoping to post to you because it is quite long. I wrote about it in my president’s letter, so hopefully I can just make a copy of that. The outcome of the miracle is that a long awaited baptism of a Jamaican couple (Courtney & Colisha) will be happening this weekend. They have had some wonderful experiences, especially at the visitor’s center and the husband, Courtney even bore his testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. I can definitely see him being a future bishop. There is a young Nepalese couple that hopefully will get baptized soon as well. Their names are Araj and Anita. They are really cool, but have a bit of a language barrier. The other baptismal date we have is Craig. He could really use your prayers that not only his actions will change, but his heart! Your prayers have definitely been working and we really appreciate them. Thank you for sorting out things with ASU as well. It really helps me focus and not worry about it.

I have been trying to send pictures the last couple weeks, but the computers we have been using haven't been working properly. I'll try to find a way to send some soon. I love you and still pray for you all every day (especially for the new baby!)! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

March 2, 2010

Happy March!

It still seems like time is just going faster and faster! At Zone Leader Council this week, President Shamo talked a lot about a situation that the mission will soon be having of being short missionaries. Because of this, he went through the next several transfer dates and when people would be going home. I don't know why, but it sounded really strange to hear him talk about the date he expected me to come home. We did an exchange this week as well with Slough. I was talking to the Elder I was with about coming out on a mission and he said he had been out for five months. He made mention of how quickly it was going and then I realized that is how long I have left! These kinds of experience have really made me feel a sense of urgency about the work. I love being a missionary and even find it difficult to think about not being one. How would you feel about me extending?? haha. It’s not actually possible because of my Visa, so don't worry (mom).

The week has gone really well for our investigators. At the beginning of our week, all of our baptismal dates dropped. It picked up quickly though and now we have three. Soni, from Nepal, will be baptized this weekend. She is really cool and has been Christian her whole life (most Nepalese people aren't). We had extended several dates to her, but she said she still needed to keep praying... this Sunday after gospel principles class she told a member that her confusion had left her and she was ready to get baptized. We found out from the member soon after and called Soni to make plans for this weekend. Colisha is from Jamaica and has never been baptized. We taught her husband and sister a few months back (Courtney and Shantal). She is going to the temple visitor’s center this week and will get baptized on the 14th. The spirit has really been working on her and she is progressing well. Her husband gets pretty worked up about already being baptized, but he really supports her and hopefully will follow her example. Craig is finally preparing for a specific date as well. He used to be dating Belinda and has been coming to church nearly every week since her baptism. He is preparing for the 4th of April right now, but hopefully it will be sooner. We both would like to be here for it and the next moves day is on April 1st... sounds like a joke, but its not.

I love hearing about your missionary experiences! Keep it up guys!! I will be praying that things go well. If you give me their names, I will pray for them specifically. I always feel so blessed when I think about our family. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges