Dear Family,

So as you already know, we had transfers this past week. Usually the
Christmas transfer is small since it is only 5 weeks, but this one was
just as big as all of the other transfers I have attended. Elder
Monsen is now with Elder Stevens who he was in his district while he
was in the MTC. Elder Taylor is my new companion and I am driving
again (although both he and I would prefer if he drives so we might
talk to the assistants about changing that.) Elder Teames, our
district leader, was transferred so now Elder Bunker is the district
leader.

Elder Taylor is an awesome companion. He is from Cache Valley, Utah.
He has been in the field for six months. This is his second area. So
both of us spent six months in our first areas, Elder Taylor is just a
transfer behind me. He is a hard worker and I can tell we are going to
be able to do some good work while we are together.

President and Sister Cross took us to Thai House for dinner after
transfers. When you order your food you choose how spicy to make your
food on a scale from one to five. Sister Cross said she got a three
one time and it was too much to handle. I decided to order a three
anyway since I eat a lot of spicy ramen. I couldn't taste any heat
from the volcano chicken I ordered. I kept adding more of the chili
paste, but it wasn't getting any spicier. I am wondering if I have
built up a tolerance to spicy food. Sister Cross said she would bring
us back so I can try ordering a dish with a spice of five. The same
thing was happening when a Elder Monsen and I were at Linh's Bistro
last week. I tried some of Elder Monsen's chicken that he was having
trouble handling the spice. I couldn't taste any of the spice there
either. I am sure the family is happy I am not cooking at home right
now since I tend to make a lot of spicy dishes.

On Friday, we and the other elders had the chance to do some service
and help out with Toys for Tots. We were in an electrical company's
warehouse full of giant black bags full of wrapped presents. We would
open the bags and look at the tags on the presents and sort them into
different piles in the warehouse. The tags said things like "boy's
clothing - size 4" or "girls toy - age 3". It was kind of disorganized
at first, but we managed to make it work. I enjoyed being able to
serve, that is something I have missed about Danville. This week
should have more service projects because of the holidays and we have
some members that are planning on inviting us to help them with their
volunteer group.

That evening we had a branch Christmas party at Brother Dibble's
house. He is a counselor in the branch presidency. I enjoyed the time
we had to get to know a few more members of the branch. We ended up
getting home a little late because of how far we were from our
apartment and because we needed to drop the other elders off first.


Sunday we got to sing in the Christmas program. We and the other
missionaries agreed to sing a quartet back when Elder Teames and Elder
Monsen were here. We knew there was a possibility that any of us could
leave, but we were committed to it anyway. We asked brother Beckert,
the other branch councilor, to sing with us since Elder Teames was the
only musical talent we had in our group. You would think I have some
musical talent or something for how often I get roped into choir
performances. We sang the primary song "Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus."
Elder Taylor wasn't too happy to sing with us on such short notice. I
had also committed us to teach the gospel principles class. We
definitely didn't give him a break for his first week here as the new
elder.

--
Elder Aaron King
Ohio Columbus Mission

Dear Family,

Street contacting on the campuses have been difficult this week. The University of Dayton was celebrating Christmas on December 8th and so there were no classes. Sinclair College just finished for the semester on the 12th. When UD ends their semester on the 18th we will not have much missionary work we will be able to do. Elder Monsen and I are hoping to help out in some soup kitchens or serve in any other way we can.

On Tuesday, we were leaving Sinclair and were starting to walk to our bus stop when a red car bolted down the road about 100 feet in front of us. They were going the wrong way down a one way road and we heard their brakes/tires screech right before they slammed into the curb and stopped. A man jumped out of the car and started running the other direction. Within a couple seconds about fifteen police cars swarmed the area and took off on foot after him. One officer pulled a woman out of the car at gunpoint and arrested her. This was all like a live version of the show Cops. The place we were at was in downtown Dayton, so imagine what SLC looks like near all the skyscrapers. There were a few people nearby that were freaking out about the whole thing and one lady was video blogging so she could post what happened to Facebook. If mom is hyperventilating right now because she is worried about her son being in a dangerous neighborhood, try to help calm her down :) 

We had a zone conference this week. It was nice having a fifteen minute drive to a zone meeting instead of the usual hour and a half drive from Danville. This meeting was a really good uplift that helped me see more fully what the sacrament means. The prophets have been making a big emphasis on church attendance. They know that church attendance will lead to feeling the spirit more and strengthening our testimonies. I was really interested in all that we learned about the sacrament prayer. There are three parts to the prayer:

We partake of the sacrament in remembrance

We witness unto the Father that we will keep the commandments

We are promised the Holy Ghost if we keep this covenant and will be inspired through the week.

On Friday, Elder Monsen and I had a lesson with a less active member that we were waiting for outside at UD. After a few minutes someone comes up to us and introduces themselves as a member and we had a good conversation about finding more LDS students that are on campus. After he left and a few more minutes pass another person comes up and introduces himself as Brother Andes. I was shocked. I told him how surprised I was to run into two faculty that were members randomly on campus. He said he just doesn't stand out today because he wasn't dressed in his usual "Mormon clothes" today because he was doing some cleaning. After he left, Elder Monsen was holding back laughter. He turns to me and says, "I don't know how to tell you this Elder King, but Brother Andes isn't a member, he's Catholic." I don't know why he was playing along with what I said, but he was very nice and I guess he just likes talking to the missionaries on campus.

This week Elder Monsen and I have been applying what we have learned from Elder Cardon and zone conference by being more bold with members and investigators. We start sending messages or calling people with the expectation that they will do something instead of just hoping they might do something. We don't force them, we still leave room for them to exercise their agency, but they can see that we intend for them to act. From our experience this week, people have been more willing to make commitments and follow through on them.

In elder's quorum, President Larsen (the elder's quorum president) gave a great lesson about stakes in Zion. I really liked the perspective this lesson gave in knowing my own role in a stake. I invite everyone in the family to look at ways each of you can help strengthen the Lehi South Stake. To sum the points of the lesson, there were four main purposes for a stake:

1. The purpose is to unify and perfect the members who live in those boundaries by extending to them the Church programs, ordinances, and gospel instruction.

2. Members of stakes are to be models or standards of righteousness.

3. Stakes are to be a defense.

4. Stakes are a refuge from the storm to be poured out over the earth.

Monday and Tuesday we did a lot of driving to members. We are trying to reach out to more of the active and less active members that need help in building their testimonies. Most people were out at work or school, but we got an opportunity to talk to a few parents a get a better perspective of where these members are at. Everyone is really spread out so we did a lot of driving. It is a good thing that we are incredibly under miles for this month.

On Monday we went to FHE and had a white elephant gift exchange. The other Dayton elders and us just brought some silly toys from Meijer (like a Walmart), but we didn't have any way to wrap them. So we got some pitchers from the church kitchen, and used napkins as tissue paper. Then we topped them with bows made out of napkins and tape. In the end I got two half pound Reese's cups, Elder Monsen got a Star Wars figurine and dog tag, Elder Teames got some knee high Wonder Woman socks (with capes on the socks), And Elder Woodworth got a gooey zombie slingshot as well as a Super Mario watch and Beatles playing cards.

Yesterday was full of sugar. I ate one of the Reese's cups, which was a bad idea. We were in Fairborn for an oil change so we stopped at one of the Asian markets while we waited. Elder Monsen bought a lot of Japanese candy, about $25 worth. When we were driving down to Centerville we stopped at Bill's Donuts, which was recommended by an investigator and a member, so we got quite a few really good, cheap donuts.

Last night, we had a dinner with some members at Linh's Bistro, a Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant. For some reason, the restaurant was only accepting cash that night and the members that were feeding us didn't have any cash on them. They were able to withdraw some cash out, but they realized they didn't have enough and had to go back to the ATM. Their card was flagged for suspicious activity since they rarely used that card so they couldn't withdraw anymore. The other member tried withdrawing money, but that card didn't work either. So Elder Monsen and I went out to the ATM and Elder Monsen tried to make a withdrawal, but he found out he only had $9 left on his card because he bought too much Asian candy earlier that day. Finally I just decided to withdraw the money (thanks Mom for leaving money in my account). I didn't realize a restaurant not accepting cards would cause such a hassle.

I hope you all have a great week and enjoy Christmas. Please be sure to take lots of fun photos! I want to see the happy smiles on all your faces as you are opening your presents. It is supposed to be 58 degrees on Christmas here...this is weird.

--

Elder Aaron King

Ohio Columbus Mission

Dear family,

Last Monday we went to a lot of different Asian food markets with the
other YSA elders. We went to 2 Korean stores, a Mediterranean, and a
Japanese store. The roasted squid jerky and octopus chips were my
favorite. I have learned that American ramen is not as good as foreign
ramen. The Japanese and Indonesian ramen have been my favorite so far.
I also found some Philippine ramen, but I haven't tried it yet. The
weirdest thing I got was a red bean jelly bar. It is basically just
red beans crushed so fine it turns into jelly.

For dinner we went to Skyline Chili. It was interesting. I have never
had chili on top of spaghetti, but I guess that is what skyline is
famous for.

I feel like I am eating out way more than I should be. With always
being on the move and not having the car, it is usually more efficient
for us to eat out. I don't like how greasy the food is though, and I
would prefer not to be spending this much money. With the holidays
being near, I also feel like there is going to be a lot more to eat
because members will be feeding us. I am hoping not to put on any
weight as a result. I guess I will just need to keep exercising.

Last night we had the opportunity to help the Cross' set up the
ornaments on their Christmas tree. We also got to watch the Christmas
devotional. It was at 8pm since we are two hours off from Utah.

--
Elder Aaron King
Ohio Columbus Mission