Dear Family and Friends,
When we arrived in the mission field, most of the branches had been organized for a period of time and branch presidents called. I am now having the opportunity to reorganize the leadership in many of these branches. This is done by taking a local leader with me to the church and interviewing all Melchizedek priesthood holders in the branch. The interview would include questions regarding their family, the stability of their job, their conversion to the gospel and of course their worthiness.
This past weekend when I was in Guyana, I combined 2 branches to make a stronger one and was able to interview 11 brethren for the possible position of branch president. After we met with each candidate, we felt that we had the name of the person the Lord wanted. We then knelt in prayer and received confirmation that we had made the right choice.This was Brother King! He and his family were converts 10 years ago. They have 4 children...3 boys and a girl but for the past 5 years his wife has been less active and has not attended church. I always want to know that the wife will be supportive of her husband and so I visited their home personally to ask Sister King if she would support him in his new calling. In the attached photos you will see President King and me and also their family in their humble Guyana home. Sister King is waving from the window. She said she would support her husband and he accepted the calling. I then gave him the list of the other 4 worthy men so he could choose his counselors.
Brother Jacobs, a much older gentleman, was chosen as his first counselor. When I extended the call, he began to sob. I asked him what he was thinking. He said "I baptized Brother King 10 years ago and following the baptism, I felt impressed to tell him, that someday he would be the president of this branch."
Brother Persaud was chosen as his second counselor. He never finished primary school. When he turned 10 he went to work in the sugar cane fields to support his family. When I extended the calling to him, he looked confused. He said, "President Egbert, how can I be a second counselor if I can't read?" I told him that I knew that, but that his literacy would not affect his ability to love and serve other people.
All three were sustained on Sunday. I invited Sister King to attend church but she didn't come. That evening, I took my District President with me to their home in order set him apart with his family in attendance. When I asked him his full name he responded, "Martin Luther King." So I set apart President Martin Luther King to be the new branch president of the La Grange branch in Guyana.......and now you know the rest of the story!
Your mother and I appreciate being able to share our special spiritual experiences with you. We hope that they are helping your testimonies grow along with ours.
We love you,
Dad and Trini
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