The Tattooed Man

On Tuesday morning of Missionary Week, President King took Spencer and Noah to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Sister King, Jacob, Isaac, and I met them at the temple grounds when they were finished. We met some of the real missionaries who were serving at the visitor's center. They were so interested in what we were doing and so eager to be of help! One sweet sister missionary offered to help us tour the exhibit "God's Plan for Families." Just before we were ready to go, a man approached. He was tattooed from head to toe and the boys couldn't help but stare. The sister missionary asked him what brought him there that day and he responded, "I just needed to feel close to Jesus today." She invited him to tour the exhibit with us. Wow, was it beautiful! Nana and I were crying the entire time and the boys noticed the tattooed man weeping as well. They were so touched that he had been able to feel the spirit and learn about eternal families. This was one of the sweetest experiences of our entire week. And, to make it sweeter, Papa treated us to Dairy Queen blizzards as we left!

Later that night, the boys received their transfers and exhanged companions. Jacob packed up his stuff and moved in with Noah and Isaac got Spencer's bottom bunk.

Elder Jacob King and Elder Noah King

Elder Isaac King and Elder Spencer King

Hooray for missionary companions!

Studying and Teaching

Every morning of Missionary Week, the boys woke up and had personal study, including learning from the scriptures as well as from Preach My Gospel.

They studied a different section of Preach My Gospel every day, in preparation for their teaching opportunities each evening.

We had to adapt the lessons to concepts Isaac could teach. He loved his little Joseph Smith Diorama!

We are so grateful to the friends and neighbors who were so amazing and so willing to help us out with these teaching experiences. Thanks to the Ashdown, McLellan, Chatwin, Marley, Hartman, Wallace, Cowgur, Baxter, Heslop, Cole, Eyring, and Rencher families! Each companionship had a dinner appointment (at which they shared a message) and a teaching appointment every night. It was so fun to see them come home ecstatic about how it went each night! We laughed that Isaac challenged his very first family to be baptized, and cracked up at Sister Hartman as she pretended to be an antagonistic investigator (I thought we descended from monkeys!).

Our initial companionships were Elder Noah King with Elder Isaac King,

and Elder Spencer King with Elder Jacob King. The older boys loved the responsibility of being the senior companion, and the younger boys were a great support and brought lots of enthusiasm.

The companionships had a little competition going on as they bragged about the delicious food they ate at their dinner appointments, but we decided Spencer and Jacob won it all when the Marleys offered to let them try out their Gyro ball after they ate. It was incredible! They loved getting inside and running the ball around the park. We even took Noah and Isaac (and the camera) back later so they could do it!

As I planned Missionary Week, I had a whole list of activities we could do during down time. Well, we were so busy and our schedule was so crammed that we didn't have time to any of the extras! Each evening we all were exhausted but happy.

Zone Conference

Bright and early Monday morning, the missionaries went to a zone conference with President and Sister King. It was a wonderful morning. They learned about being good missionaries and having good manners, getting along with companions, and staying healthy.

They practiced planning, studying, and teaching with a companion and how to support each other as they taught.

After all that hard work, they earned a well-deserved break shooting hoops.

When they were good and hungry, President and Sister King took them to the Golden Corral for lunch.

They each had to "eat a rainbow" by choosing healthy food from each color of the rainbow.

Isaac couldn't find any blue food, so he chose a blue plate.

There is no better way to practice manners than with a triple chocolate treat!

Later that afternoon they got more practice being healthy when we borrowed bikes from some ward members. Spencer, Noah, and Jacob rode together to the park and I met them there with Isaac. We discovered Spencer needs some more practice on a bike when he crashed into a bush on the side of the road! Isaac had fun riding his bike around the paths and playing on the playground while Noah and Jacob played baseball.

We had so much fun! Bikes are definitely at the top of our wish list.

Meet Your Mission President

On Sunday after church, and after lunch, we told our missionaries to get in the van to go to their assigned mission and meet their Mission President and his wife. We drove to the Mesa Temple grounds, parked, and started walking towards the Visitor's Center. All of a sudden the boys spotted their Nana and Papa coming out of the building! They had traveled from Utah to spend the week with us and act as mission president and mission mom. What a surprise! The boys were so excited.

We stepped inside the visitor's center and President King welcomed the missionaries to the Arizona Glenview Mission. He greeted each of the boys with a traditional Maori welcome where they put their foreheads together and breathe in each other's spirit.

The new missionaries posed with their President and his wife in front of the Christus statue to remind them of whose name they bear as they enter the mission field.

Elder Spencer A. King



Elder Isaac L. King



Elder Jacob J. King

Elder Noah A. King

After we traveled back to our house and got settled, we had a "Culture Night." We ate food from Jeremy's mission (Peru: Lomo Saltado) and Nana and Papa's mission (New Zealand: Pavlova). Yummy! Later that night they both showed slide shows from their missions and told some wonderful mission stories.

Missionary Week

For a long time I had been pondering different ways to inspire a love of, and preparation for, missionary work in my boys. All of my ideas finally gelled together into a "Missionary Week." At the beginning of Spring Break, each of the boys received a letter calling them on an "unofficial" mission for the Church.

When they woke up Saturday morning, we gave them their letters which also told them how to prepare and pack for the MTC. Then we ate Captain Crunch, a real MTC favorite, for breakfast. The boys reported for their "missions" at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. We loaded the suitcases into the van and went to our Stake baptisms before we drove to a hotel in Chandler for our MTC experience.

We fudged a little and let them swim at the hotel when we arrived.

Spencer didn't want to swim so we told him he'd be a great missionary for following the "no-swimming" rule.

When we went back to the room, Jeremy told lots of stories about what the MTC was like. He taught them how to teach the Joseph Smith story and about prophets. The boys loved to hear the crazy stories from his mission!

After a good night's sleep, we enjoyed the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Then we got ready for church, packed up agan, and we were on our way to a week filled with studying, teaching, and special experiences.