March 28th, 2016

Dear Family,

Elder Marvin is home now and Elder Low is my new companion. He is from
San Diego, California. He has four siblings. He is a really hard
worker and has been great to work with so far.

I am grateful for the opportunity to stretch myself as I take over
this area. This week has been stressful and has taken some adjusting
to make everything work. Last transfer there were three of us to get
the work done and I didn't realize how much having a third person
helps with the transfer week tasks. Elder Low is doing a great job
learning the various tasks. He isn't very confident in his abilities
since he doesn't have much prior experience, but I haven't noticed him
stumble over any task he has been given. I am optimistic that in
working with Elder Low, we will be able to make a positive change in
this area. Elder Low has a strong drive and is working hard to be the
best missionary he can be.

This Sunday has been one of the best Sunday's in the mission for me.
We were one short of our goal of investigators at church for the month
and the one that came two weeks ago, Oscar, had already said he
wouldn't be able to come. Saturday night we get a text from the family
he came with that he actually is coming and I was so excited. I had
been praying the last few days for us to be able to get ahold of him
and that any obstacles preventing him from coming would go away. I had
felt bad that I haven't been able to be out inviting a lot of people
to church for the past few days, because transfers had been keeping
our days packed, but the Lord provided a way and did all the work to
make Oscar be able to come to church again.

Elder Low and I were able to get ahold of a less active member, Sam,
that I have been wanting to get ahold of for weeks now. He has
expressed to us in the past that he was working on getting his papers
submitted. Elder Marvin had started texting him each morning with an
inspirational text to motivate him to work on his papers, but Sam
eventually stopped replying to us and stopped coming to church. I was
starting to worry so we would stop by Sunday mornings to invite and
encourage him to come to church. This was the third Sunday in a row of
stopping by, and after a lot of prayer, this was the time that he
answered. He still wants to work on getting his mission papers
submitted, so we are committing him to complete smaller steps of his
papers so that he will eventually be able to serve. I have gained an
even greater testimony of prayer this week as it has kept me going. I
know that this is the Lord's work and nothing happens without His
help. President Daine's advise to pray as if success depends on the
Lord, and work as if success depends on you has stuck with me. In
working closer to President Daines I have picked up many life lessons
and strengths to my testimony as a result of his wonderful example.

The Columbus Ohio East Stake had an Easter fireside yesterday that I
got to help with the tech work for the audio equipment. I am so
grateful that the videos worked and we didn't have any technical
difficulties come up at all. Other than the five minutes leading up to
the program starting where we were running around like chickens with
our heads chopped off to get the projector working, everything ran
really smoothly. That was probably the most stressful part of this
week. Now that I have participated in running the audio for a musical
fireside, I have a better idea of what preparations we will need to
make beforehand so that we aren't rushing to get everything set up at
the last second.

President Daine's guidance for us as tech elders to be more
informative rather than instructive has been really helpful in how I
interact with other missionaries. We are to inform, but we are not to
tell anyone to do anything or report anything directly to us. Whether
it is tech support calls or mission-wide emails, knowing my position
has helped me better know when I can help and when I can better direct
others to the proper source of authority. Usually a district leader or
office couple would be better with dealing with those kind of
situations anyway. I imagine this has parallels to how church
authority works in other church callings at the stake and ward level
and I like how on the mission I am able to learn more about how all
these processes work.

--
Elder Aaron King
Ohio Columbus Mission

Here is a companionship photo of Elder Low and I. Sorry it isn't a

full picture of us, I realized today that we haven't taken any photos
together and all photos I have of him don't have his face in the
frame.

We had dinner and FHE with the Knight family last Monday. They have a

son on a mission currently.

Elder Long, the vehicle coordinator, had the office watch some van

training videos for the fifteen passenger van. The assistants weren't
too thrilled to be there for two and a half hours.