February 8,2010

Helloooo,

We have had a pretty exciting week! Things started to get exciting on Tuesday. We went to district meeting in one district and then went on an exchange with elders from another district. During the exchange, one of the areas found 8 new investigators in one day and a new investigator was found in each area that is now a baptismal date. As we were ending the exchange and going to our fist teach on Wednesday, we got a surprise phone call from the assistants. They called both Elder Bång and I to train Elder Eyers! He is an English missionary waiting for a Visa to go to his assigned mission in Russia Samara. He has already gone to the MTC in Provo to learn the language and is doing great. He was dropped off just 3 hours or so after the phone call and we have been working nonstop every since. We don't know how long it will before he leaves, but it has been a great blessing to have a third missionary in some of our most recent teaches. We look forward to working in a tri until things get sorted.

Investigator wise, Sheila could definitely use your prayers. Her baptismal date for the 14th has been dropped because she has not been healthy enough to come to church. Pray that she will be able to live the word of wisdom and she will receive direct blessings from it. On the other hand, Emmanuel continues to be a complete miracle. We have been able to teach him in a few members' homes and he went to the temple visitor's center on Saturday. On Sunday he bore his testimony to the whole ward that everyone needed to be baptized a member of this church. His baptismal date is now for the 13th of Feb so that he can get confirmed the day after. There is another brother named Shane that is preparing for baptism on Feb 21st. He needs to show a bit more initiative and come to church.

All and all everything is going amazing. Things seem to go quicker and quicker. I hope you all have the best week ever!!

Love,

Elder Kade Karges

February 1, 2010

February 1, 2010

Hello again!

Wow I can't believe another week has passed and now it’s February! It sounds like things are going really well back home. I’ll be praying for things to be in our favor on the mountain. I do work in a car area and yes most Zone leaders do have cars, except the ones in central London. Elder Bång and I switch off driving every day.

The past week started off a bit slow teaching and investigator wise, but we had a Zone Training Day (basically what we used to call a Zone Meeting, reinvented). We prepared a presentation that went well and President interviewed the whole zone. Things picked up throughout the week and we had a couple really cool miracles. I’ll tell you of two. We have felt that we needed to work right around the church for a while and chose to set up the church to give tours (piano music). As we walked toward the Staines high street we found Jolene, from Australia.  She had just move here the day before and was looking for the supermarket. She ended up asking if she could have a tour of the church right then. We gave her one and then we arranged to meet her at Belinda's house (recent convert) the next day to teach again. She said she is now feeling so much less homesick and accepted a baptismal date for Feb.21st! The second was a man from Ghana named Emmanual. He saw us walking down the street and when we said hello, asked if we were Latter Day Saints. When we said yes, he got very excited and said he had been looking for us! Apparently around 10 years ago he was taught in Ghana and left everything behind to come here! The next day he came to church and told the whole gospel principles class of his experience praying just before meeting us that God would help him sort his life out. He is now preparing to be baptized on Feb. 14th!

Thank you for your prayers because they are obviously working. I love you all and pray for you as well!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

The Staines Zone with President and Sister Shamo

Me with my driving certificate (until I get my license in the post) and the blank test sheet :)

Elder B책ng and I baught another crock pot a while back and since then have added salads to the menu... this is the best meal either of us have ever made for ourselves!

January 25, 2010

January 25, 2010

Na Mas Day!" (how we say hello to the people from Nepal)

This week has been another great week, both for us and the zone. We have taught quite a lot of people from Nepal who are so humble. Their main struggle however is finding work. Two of them were preparing for baptism in the coming weeks, but haven't been able to stick with it. We are still trying to teach them and hopefully they'll be picked back up soon. The zone has either improved or stayed steady in every area.

The highlights of the week were actually postponed from last week (we had a mission wide temple conference that got cancelled because of the weather as well as my driving test). It wasn't mission wide, but we had a multi-zone Temple conference on Wednesday and I passed my practical driving test on Thursday morning! The temple was a wonderful, spiritual experience and it’s also exciting to officially have my license! I have enjoyed driving through the streets of London. It can get pretty crazy at times, but its fun. I actually passed my test without any marks this time (British for no faults or 100%). You are allowed like 14, so I was quite surprised. The instructor was really cool and said that he only has a clean sheet like once every 3 months. We actually talked quite a bit about the gospel as we drove around. He recently found out that he had relatives that were members and met them. He shied away from having the missionaries visit though. While I took my test, Elder Bång actually taught a whole lesson to a lady waiting for someone to finish their test at the same time. She accepted a pamphlet, but no appointment. Hopefully the Elders in High Wycombe (where I took my test) will find them again soon.

Our only baptismal date right now is Sheila, Belinda's mum, but there are several others in the works. Craig is also doing well, in fact we got word today that he’s got a new job! We have been praying hard for that because it means as soon as he gets a new flat, he can be baptized! A mother and daughter named Marjorie and McKayla are really close, but are hesitating to ask the father of the family for permission. As soon as they get permission they could be baptized. Marjorie's other daughter is a recent convert already, which is how we have been in contact.

Thank you for all your prayers!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

The latest Zone Leader Council.

Elder Warner (my trainer) and I at ZLC. He goes home next month, so this was probably our last time to see eachother

January 18, 2010

Hello again,

Congratulations on your anniversary Mom and Dad! Sorry I didn't get anything off to you. I know Brinton's birthday recently passed and Katie's is here as well, but I haven't been able stay on top of things this time around. Although there may not be cards in the mail, I still pray for you every day and remember those special days as I do. I hope they are the best days ever!

Things are still going fantastic! The miracles of missionary work never cease. Just last night we had one that I would love to share with you. We had a dinner appointment with one of our recent converts, Belinda, and her family. As we showed up she said her Mum was in the other room and didn't know we were coming. We didn't know she would be there either, but it was a good surprise for all of us. We had left a General Conference DVD with them last time we came, and it was already playing when we walked in. As we ate, we watched Elder Holland's powerful talk on the Book of Mormon and discussed it afterwards. We had taught Sheila (her mum) a few weeks back, but she didn't receive a BofM until a week after that when Belinda gave it to her. We had been following up with Belinda (because we couldn't get an appointment with Sheila), so we knew that she had been reading already. She is a very scripturally knowledgeable woman from South Africa and as we asked her how she felt when she read it, she said "Like my faith is coming back." When we asked if she had prayed and she said "Yes! In fact, just last night," we straight away asked if she believed it was true. She replied "I think I'm starting to realize that I do. We had not expected to see her that night, so we had not prayed about a date to commit her for. Instead we prayed with her and she chose to prepare for Feb. 14th! Belinda was in tears as she explained the prompting Mary Jane (her daughter) and her had both received and followed to stop by Nan's after church and invite her for dinner.

That story is all I have time for today, but it says it all. I am happy to say that it is but one of many! I love being a missionary and am always excited to hear of your experiences too! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Jan 11, 2010

Hello!

This week has definitely been different than any other on my mission. Things have been going great in the work. Belinda, MJ, and Parry all got confirmed on Sunday. It was a very powerful sacrament meeting. There were several other investigators at church as well so it was a great day. We were happy that our church stayed open.

The weather has been pretty crazy. You were right that it did close some churches and most schools. Three wards in our stake were actually closed. For that reason we had a few extra people at our ward, including the Kingston Sister missionaries. The whole ward thought they were an addition to the missionary force! They were sad to hear that they aren't, but hopefully they are still happy to have 4 Elders :) Things are still pretty icy around and it snowed a little more last night. Most of it came in one big burst, but clouds keep passing by dropping small amounts of snow. It hasn't affected us as much as other... I don’t know why, but I’m grateful for it!

We are trying a lot of new things in the zone this moves, so we hope it will boost everyone up. 2009 was a good year for the whole mission, but 2010 will be even better! As for our area, we have Pearly preparing to be baptized on Jan 24th, but we need to find a lot more new investigators! Pray that Pearly will overcome her fear of water and that Craig will be able to be baptized soon.

Since its only been a few days since my last email its kind of hard to think of new things to say. Preparation days have been pretty mission oriented for a while, so I haven’t been able to write letters very well. I hope to soon.

I love you all and look forward to hearing from you next week!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Elder Fielder, Elder Greeley, me, and Elder B책ng having a little fun at Chiquitos for Elder Greeley's birthday!

January 7, 2010

Hello!

It’s weird to see 2010 at the top of the email. It means I’m getting old in the mission! It’s exciting, but sad for me at the same time because I love being a missionary. This week has been on of the best and craziest of my mission at the same time! Hopefully the pictures I’m trying to send will explain more than I can.

We started off the new year well with three people getting baptized on Sunday. Belinda Bayes (South African mother) and her 10 year old daughter, Mary Jane, were baptized along with Parry Singh (25 year old from Bombay, India). I have already talked about all of them and the miracles that have happened to get them where they are. Belinda, Mary Jane, and Craig (getting baptized this Sunday) got to go to our Mission President’s house and the temple the day before and everything went wonderfully for the baptism. Parry continues to amaze us with how strong his testimony is and his desire to not only learn more, but share more! In fact, he wants to be a missionary, but it’s going to be close because he turns 27 in April next year and 26 is the cut off. He has just enough time hopefully to be a member for a year and then leave a few months before his birthday.

What made the week crazy was the snow and travel plans. The mission was to have a mission wide, temple conference on Wednesday as well as moves, but it didn't quite work out that way. Everyone was pretty excited because we only found out about the conference last week and moves was moved up a day for that purpose. Travel plans were made for the whole mission, but the night before it started snowing... it continued to snow throughout the night and so the conference was cancelled that night. In the morning we made another snowman and then they decided to still have moves so we got to work at making plans for our zone. I’m not totally sure about the rest of the mission, but the last member of our zone got to their area this morning. It was a really busy day, but it all worked out in the end.

As for moves, Elder Bång and I are still together, but Elder Greeley moved to Newton Abbot out in the west. The new elder here is Elder Keeble from northern England. I have met him several times around the mission, but don't know him well yet. We heard from Elder Greeley this morning and he has made it to his new area as well. Don't worry K & J, your package for the both of us came the day before moves, so we both saw it. It is hanging up in the living room of our flat now! Thank you!I also just received the mail from the Christmas ward party. Tell everyone thank you!

There is plenty more I think I could try and write about, but Ill have to save it for next time. I love you and hope you have an amazing January!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Elder Greeley and I in frony of the poster Kyle and Jenny sent us. It Arrived the day before moves!

Elder Bång and I with Balinda, Mary Jane, Craig, and Anthony.

Bishop Price, Parry Singh, Me, Elder Bång, Mary Jane, and Belinda. Everyone dressed in white for the baptisms!

December 28, 2009

Happy New Year!

It hasn't been long since our phone call. Thanks for making the previous post on my blog. It's really cool to see pictures of it. I loved talking to you and even hearing you sing! I have had the opportunity myself to do a lot of that lately and have really enjoyed it.

I mentioned in the phone call that even though it was Christmas, we still had some appointments! Parry, the miracle man that called us two weeks ago wanting to be baptized, accepted a baptismal date for January 10th. The miracle got even better over the weekend because he wasn't supposed to be able to come to church, but he sent us a text at 1am Sunday morning saying he wanted to come so he could be baptized sooner! He came to church, loved it and is now preparing to be baptized this Sunday, Jan. 3rd! He truly is a miracle and is so sincere in his desires. There is still a family preparing for the same date, so along with him pray for Balinda, Mary Jane, and Craig.

I never expected Elder Armstrong to call you! Ha-ha. That’s really cool that he did. I really looked up to him as a missionary and still do. Because there are quite a few elders from Arizona, we have all talked about doing different things together when we get back home, so it should be pretty exciting to see what happens.

Well I love you and hope this week is even better than the last!

Love,
Elder Kade Karges

Talk to you Thursday next week! because it’s moves!