April 11th, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

District Meeting was great this past week. I am impressed with the
quality of the teaching Elder Gardner gave for this being his first
district meeting. Elder Gardner is a phenomenal district leader and he
is leading by example to help us develop District Charity. We are put
in our areas and districts for a reason. We are not in our areas just
to help investigators, our testimonies can also strengthen those in
our district.

We did weekly planning at the mission home this week because there was
an elder that went to he ER in the middle of the night and needed a
day to recover. Being the closest elders, we got to be the ones to
"babysit" him. Being able to do weekly planning at the mission home
this week was really helpful though. The previous weeks it has been
difficult to keep Elder Low's focus on planning. I think there were
less distractions for him at the mission home and we were able to make
some really solid plans for this week. I get frustrated when I seem to
be the only one driving us to stay focused.

This has been the main reason I have been trying to work on being more
patient as I listened to conference. Sometimes I feel like I am the
only one motivated to work. I know that we all have our weaknesses and
it is unfair to expect perfection of others, but at times I feel like
I am trying to walk a mile to change myself and all I need is Elder
Low to move a foot. Part of this may come because I feel like I am bad
at voicing my concerns. I don't want to cause contention and I know
that Elder Low gets rather defensive when I ask him to change. So
usually I don't say anything and I let my companions get under my skin
to the point where I let the anger bubble up inside. I know it isn't
Christlike to hold onto anger and I am working to focus on "looking
for the good" as President Utchdorf said in priesthood session. I try
to ignore the problem if it is a personality difference, but even that
can be really difficult at times.

Despite disagreements, I have seen many tender mercies of the Lord
this week. These are things that people would normally call
coincidences, but I know I can see the hand of the Lord in my life.
Elder Low and I were visiting some potentials we didn't know in our
areabook and we stopped by Grant's house, someone that Elder Low had
taught over a year ago when he was on exchanges. His sister answered
and Elder Low was able to catch up with her. Grant stopped meeting
with missionaries before because his work schedule was hectic. Grant's
sister informed us that just last week Grant switched careers entirely
and his schedule has completely changed. We hope to set up a lesson
with him this week.

We also talked to Susan, another investigator that missionaries were
unable to contact after a return appointment fell through. When we
talked with her she was still interested and wondered why missionaries
hadn't followed up after the last meeting was cancelled. We have a
lesson with her scheduled for tomorrow and I am excited to see how
interested she is in our message.

Another tender mercy that happened this week is that we got a call
from Sister Carson letting us know that her husband wants to start
being active in the church again. He wants to take the missionary
lessons and wants to work towards baptizing their nine year old
daughter, Alyssa. This took us completely by surprise. Brother Carson
has never shown any sign of interest whenever we stop by. I think
Sister Carson starting to come back to church and their daughter,
Andrea, bringing Oscar (her boyfriend, another investigator) to church
has softened his heart. Most of the Carson family came to church this
week. It has been nearly a year since Brother Carson attended. The
ward did a good job welcoming him. Fast and testimony meeting was also
a great week for him to decide to come back. I am excited to see their
family grow closer together as they all embrace the gospel.

President Daines called our district and another district to meet at
the mission home to talk about contention in the zone at the last zone
training meeting. The discussion has helped me to see how I can better
help our companionship. President Daines put things in perspective by
saying that most goals going forward are interdependent. We need other
people to be able to accomplish more. Growing up, most goals people
have revolve around themselves and not accomplishing that goal they
only have themselves to blame. With interdependent goals, it is a team
effort and no one is to blame when a goal is not met. I need to learn
how to better work with others. This requires trusting in others and
also not doubting their abilities to do great things.

--
Elder Aaron King
Ohio Columbus Mission