"El campo blanco esta ya para la siega"

MTC Service day. Hermana Kinghorn and Rockwood received valentine socks.

This letter came a couple of weeks ago and I am just a little late in posting it.
Last week, February 23, Andrea called from the airport on her way to the
mission field sent a written letter that let me know that she arrived safely in
Seattle and that she loves her mission president and his wife, the Moffats.

Querida Familia,

It has been a bittersweet week. Five of the eight of us in our
district left for  South America on Monday morning. I'll admit
it, I cried when they left. I was  surprised at my reaction,
but after being with them all day for 9 weeks,  teaching with
them, eating with them, laughing with them, and testifying
with  them, it was hard to say goodbye. I know they will be
great missionaries. And  since they have dubbed me the "mom"
of the district, I am sure they will all  have the experience
of hearing at least once the voice of Hermana Kinghorn saying,
"Elder, that is probably not a good idea."

This week, the three of us that are left are going to have a
lot of  opportunities to practice teaching and evaluating
ourselves. We are also going  to speak Spanish with our
teachers for the whole day. Tomorrow we will host the  new
missionaries coming to the MTC.

The hermanas in my room and I have been having so much fun
during gym time  lately. I have discovered my inner basketball
player playing knock-out everyday.  We have even mastered
4-square. I will really miss the hermanas. They are so  great.

My time in the MTC is quickly coming to a close. It has also
been an amazing  spiritual experience that I wouldn't trade
for anything else. I remember shortly  before I came on my
mission I had the desire that I would learn lessons as a
missionary that would truly convert my heart and my character.
In the first two months, that has already been true.

I have been working on setting goals for my mission that are
based on faith. One  thing that has become more clear to me
recently is the need to set goals with  the help of the Lord
through prayer. When I receive a confirmation that the goal
I am setting is the will of God, then I can have the faith to
do everything  within my power to achieve the goal and I know
He will make up the rest. I am so excited to serve the people
of  Seattle...it is less than a week away!

Amor,

Hermana Kinghorn

Fwd: La semana antes de la semana final!

Querida Familia,

Things have been going well here in the MTC as our time

is winding down. Five of the elders leave on Monday and

the rest of us leave the next week. On Wednesday we have

a "Dia en el Campo" or "Day in the Field." Our teachers

scheduled appointments in the TE (Teaching Evaluation or

a center where missionaries can schedule appointments to

practice teaching teachers and receive feedback) for the

whole day. I will be teaching 11 times. All of our

teaching scenarios are based on real people that our

teachers taught on their missions. We have loved preparing

to teach based on real situations and we are excited and

nervous about tomorrow!

Another activity that we've been working on lately and

that we did the first few days here is watching "6 Billion

Others" videos online. If you haven't been there, I really

suggest visiting their website. Basically it is just

thousands (I think) of interviews of people from all over

the world. The interviewers ask all the people the same

questions and you're able to get a sense of who all of
these people are and how their life experiences shape them.

We have watched Josif, Penelope, and Bruno. After we watch

their video we talk about where the person is spiritually,

what more information you would want from them to better
teach them, and how the doctrines of the gospel could bless

them.

Lately my companions and I have been practicing sharing our

testimonies in Spanish. On Sunday we're allowed to walk up

to the temple and usually there are several hundred

missionaries up there. We usually find missionaries with

Spanish nametags and ask them if we can share our short

testimonies. I love testifying in Spanish because I have to

think about every word that I say and the way that I say it.

The only way for us to testify in Spanish is sincerely, and

that is beautiful.

The sisters that are going to serve English-speaking in

Seattle with me arrived here at the MTC last week. I was

a host sister, which means I greet the missionaries when

they arrive and take them around, and I was able to host

Sister Hughes (one of the Seattle-bound missionaries).

This means that when they leave in three weeks, I will be

flying with them!

Tengan cuidado. Dios vive. El los ama. Recureden que son

sus hijos. Hablen con El in oración cada dia y los seguirá.

(That was missing some accent marks above the E in "El").

Su amorosa hija y hermana,

Hermana Kinghorn

Fwd: Muchos besitos!

Querida Familia,

Our class made a commitment to finish reading El Libro
de Mormon by April 21.  That doesn't give me much time
and requires me to read a lot of Spanish everyday, but
the reading becomes easier and easier as I familiarize
myself with  the language. In fact, yesterday I finished
1 Nephi! 

I have been translating mom's conversion story into Spanish
with the tutor we  have here. I am only three sentences
away from finishing. It has been really  great language
training for me and I am excited to share portions of it
with  the people I teach.

Last week we had two new sisters arrive in our room named Hermanas
Rooney and  Drussel. My last companion left last Wednesday so
now I am companions with  Hermanas Neubert, Rockwood, and Tew.
All six of us have so much fun in our room.  They are great,
faithful hermanas that I love to be around. Hermanas Rooney and
Drussel like to exercise in the morning so we have been waking up
at 5:45 to go  to the exercise class they have for sisters in the
morning.  They teach pilates,  yoga, aerobics, and kickboxing.
The classes are so fun and are almost addictive.

:D  Something wonderful happened this morning: My companion and I
were talking in  Spanish and... something felt right! What I mean
by that is in the conversation  we had to conjugate an irregular
verb we paused for a second and then just  conjugated it because
it felt right. That is a good sign that we are learning  the
language and that we are hearing it enough that we don't have to
look up every verb in the dictionary.

I love studying the scriptures in Spanish. Comparing the different
connotations  that words have in Spanish with English has brought
a lot of insight into my gospel study. For example, the word for
"to hope" in Spanish is"esperar."  However, in Spanish it also
means "to wait" or "to expect." This has helped me  to better
understand what it means to hope for something; it is more than an
empty desire but waiting or expecting for God to fulfill His
promises because of our understanding of His character.

Con cariño,

Hermana Kinghorn