Mi querida familia y amigos,
We had a good week. On Wednesday we were able to invite V. to be baptized on the
27th of November and she accepted. She is a former investigator and has had a few baptismal goals in the last few years but has never been able to completely stop smoking. We love her a lot and her four children and we look forward to working with her to help her meet her goal and to feel the joy of being a part of the Gospel.
Elder Ringwood of the seventy toured our mission this week and we were able to have a zone conference with him on Wednesday. He and Elder Kikuchi have completely different styles but they both carry the Spirit with them. But suffice it to say that I was able to receive answers to some of the silent prayers in my heart and to be spiritually-refueled.
One of our less-active members that the sisters have been visiting for over a year and had only been to church once came to church last Sunday for the second time in a row! This week she even brought her two children to watch the Primary program. We are so happy for the habit that she is restarting in her life.
It has started to get colder here. The members are telling us that it is supposed to be the worst winter Seattle has had in 50 years. We're glad to have the warning and I am trying not to dread it too much as I get cold really easily, but I bought leggings last week and boots a few weeks ago and it has helped. I'm just so thankful that we have a car.
We were able to have a lesson with the Sanchez family this week. They are a part-member family and we will be having dinner with them every Thursday. The lesson was on temples and we were able to look through the new Temples Ensign with them and help them to understand the importance of temples and to see how beautiful they are. When we finished the girls did an art project by cutting out pictures of the temple from our old copies of the Ensign and making a poster with their goal to enter the temple one day.
I spent a lot of time reading the Book of Mormon this past week because we were supposed to finish it before Elder Ringwood came and I was behind. A thing that really stood out to me was in 3 Nephi 7:18. I love how it says that Nephi had a testimony so strong that it was not possible that the people could disbelieve his words. Wouldn't it be great to have a testimony that strong? I'm working on it. But even still the people were angry with him. Nephi was blessed to be able to witness the coming of Jesus Christ to his people. How wonderful it will be when we see our Savior face to face, a confirmation of a testimony and knowledge that we already hold.
I love you all very much. I know the Book of Mormon is a true witness of Jesus Christ. My daily study of it is changing me and I know that it will do the same for whatever person will read it with a sincere heart and the intention to act on what they learn. Have a wonderful week!
Con amor,
Hermana Kinghorn
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Somos como los ejercitos de Helamán
Querida Familia y amigos,
There is a group of apartments here that we visit a lot that are pretty run down. Every time we go there is a lot of garbage all along the street and in the parking lot. It makes me sad that people would have to live in an enviroment like that, so we decided to do a service project there and just go with our gloves and a garbage bag and pick up the trash. We invited the English missionaries that cover that area to come with us. It was a success and the place looked much, much better after we left. The manager of one of the complexes saw us and asked us what we were doing. We told him that we were just picking up some of the trash and the next time he saw us he told us what a good thing it was that we were doing and he asked if he could have our cards to give to people who come into his office. It was a good lesson to us of how service can soften the hearts of people, just like Ammon.
We had a pretty crazy contacting experience this week. We pulled into this gated apartment complex that was actually pretty nice and noticed that at the exit there were two cars stopped and blocking traffic. Their doors were open and no one was inside. There were also several police cars and police officers around. As we drove past them, we noticed a Spanish-speaking family standing on their balcony watching what was going on. We were there to find a former investigator so we figured we might as well knock on their door too. We knocked on their door and as we were talking to them someone was looking out the window and said they heard gunshots. So they told us not to leave but to come inside and wait with them in their apartment. We waited there with them as the police stopped this car and they were out there with their rifles arresting these people. It was a pretty intense situation. So when it was all over we asked them if we could have a lesson with them to invite the Spirit and they said yes. Who would have thought that a situation like that would help us to get into someone's house to teach them.
On Sunday we had a good day of contacting people. We were able to find a new investigator named Jesus. We were looking for a former investigator and they weren't home so we knocked on the door across the hall to see if they knew if the family we were looking for still lived there. Jesus answered and he has a really good spirit about him. He works every day during the week from 9am to 10pm except Monday he only works from 2pm to 10pm. He doesn't work Saturday or Sunday. We decided to set up an appointment to stop by and talk to him at the door right before we did emails this morning. We shared the message of the restoration with him and he is willing to go to church and learn more and to be baptized when he receives an answer. He also prayed at the end of the lesson. Yay!
I know that this is the true church that Jesus Christ established on the earth and that by reading the Book of Mormon we can draw nearer to our Savior. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Hermana Kinghorn
There is a group of apartments here that we visit a lot that are pretty run down. Every time we go there is a lot of garbage all along the street and in the parking lot. It makes me sad that people would have to live in an enviroment like that, so we decided to do a service project there and just go with our gloves and a garbage bag and pick up the trash. We invited the English missionaries that cover that area to come with us. It was a success and the place looked much, much better after we left. The manager of one of the complexes saw us and asked us what we were doing. We told him that we were just picking up some of the trash and the next time he saw us he told us what a good thing it was that we were doing and he asked if he could have our cards to give to people who come into his office. It was a good lesson to us of how service can soften the hearts of people, just like Ammon.
We had a pretty crazy contacting experience this week. We pulled into this gated apartment complex that was actually pretty nice and noticed that at the exit there were two cars stopped and blocking traffic. Their doors were open and no one was inside. There were also several police cars and police officers around. As we drove past them, we noticed a Spanish-speaking family standing on their balcony watching what was going on. We were there to find a former investigator so we figured we might as well knock on their door too. We knocked on their door and as we were talking to them someone was looking out the window and said they heard gunshots. So they told us not to leave but to come inside and wait with them in their apartment. We waited there with them as the police stopped this car and they were out there with their rifles arresting these people. It was a pretty intense situation. So when it was all over we asked them if we could have a lesson with them to invite the Spirit and they said yes. Who would have thought that a situation like that would help us to get into someone's house to teach them.
On Sunday we had a good day of contacting people. We were able to find a new investigator named Jesus. We were looking for a former investigator and they weren't home so we knocked on the door across the hall to see if they knew if the family we were looking for still lived there. Jesus answered and he has a really good spirit about him. He works every day during the week from 9am to 10pm except Monday he only works from 2pm to 10pm. He doesn't work Saturday or Sunday. We decided to set up an appointment to stop by and talk to him at the door right before we did emails this morning. We shared the message of the restoration with him and he is willing to go to church and learn more and to be baptized when he receives an answer. He also prayed at the end of the lesson. Yay!
I know that this is the true church that Jesus Christ established on the earth and that by reading the Book of Mormon we can draw nearer to our Savior. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Hermana Kinghorn
Monday, October 11, 2010
Andando para alla para aca
Querida Familia
We tried something new this week to contact people: Riding the bus. We got the idea from all the stories I heard while growing up about mom riding the bus on her mission. It was kind of fun and we felt like we were really preaching the gospel. You're not allowed to really proselyte on the bus so we basically had to choose a seat and be wise to choose one next to someone who speaks Spanish. Also, the nice thing about riding the bus is that even when you're talking to one person you can kind of involve a lot of people in the conversation. It was pretty successful and we decided that it is something that would be nice to do at night to contact people because it is pretty safe and well-lit.
This week was the Regional Spanish conference in Bellevue. All of the Spanish units from our mission, the Everrett Mission and the Spanish ward in Tacoma came. There was a tour of the temple, leadership training, dinner, a talent show with cultural dances, and a fireside. I don't know why I didn't expect it, but I was able to see a lot of people from Kent. First of all, in the morning they put the missionaries to work by organizing all of the silverware for the dinner. I heard someone call my name and when I turned around there was Edward with Oscar. I was so surprised! There were both doing very well. Edward told me that he moved out of the place he was living with the bad influences and now lives with a family in a house in the other part of town. He also said that he left his old job and now works as a mechanic. Oscar was baptized in August and is also doing very well. Then we were watching the talent show that night when someone tapped on my shoulder. When I turned around it was the whole Correa family. I was so happy to see them! The boys were so cute. They all looked so happy. I feel so lucky to know them. They gave me this card that was so sweet. I kept it with me all night because it was so special. They took a picture with their cell phone and told me they were going to put it on Facebook so I'm sure you'll all get to see it even though I won't!
We have a new rule in the mission and now we can eat with members any day and it's looking like that is going to mean that we will be eating with members every day. It's good in every way except for my hips. Ni modo! Brother Garcia who is the assistant ward mission leader for Spanish has been assigning our dinners and we are eating with active and less-active members and even with investigators. The people here are so generous and they make excellent Mexican food (and a few make excellent Paraguayan and Columbian food).
Hermana Melton went on exhanges a few weeks ago and told me that a lot of the hermanas in the mission apparently use peanut butter popcorn as an object lesson with less-active members and investigators. I have been teaching all of my companions how to make it because mom told me that she learned it from her companion so I thought I would share the greatness of peanut butter popcorn too. I didn't know that my companions were sharing it with everyone else. I think they make it with the family and use all of the ingredients to show the importance of all of the ingredients in living the gospel (reading the scriptures, praying, going to church, etc).
I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. I know the Church is true!
Con amor,
Hermana Kinghorn
We tried something new this week to contact people: Riding the bus. We got the idea from all the stories I heard while growing up about mom riding the bus on her mission. It was kind of fun and we felt like we were really preaching the gospel. You're not allowed to really proselyte on the bus so we basically had to choose a seat and be wise to choose one next to someone who speaks Spanish. Also, the nice thing about riding the bus is that even when you're talking to one person you can kind of involve a lot of people in the conversation. It was pretty successful and we decided that it is something that would be nice to do at night to contact people because it is pretty safe and well-lit.
This week was the Regional Spanish conference in Bellevue. All of the Spanish units from our mission, the Everrett Mission and the Spanish ward in Tacoma came. There was a tour of the temple, leadership training, dinner, a talent show with cultural dances, and a fireside. I don't know why I didn't expect it, but I was able to see a lot of people from Kent. First of all, in the morning they put the missionaries to work by organizing all of the silverware for the dinner. I heard someone call my name and when I turned around there was Edward with Oscar. I was so surprised! There were both doing very well. Edward told me that he moved out of the place he was living with the bad influences and now lives with a family in a house in the other part of town. He also said that he left his old job and now works as a mechanic. Oscar was baptized in August and is also doing very well. Then we were watching the talent show that night when someone tapped on my shoulder. When I turned around it was the whole Correa family. I was so happy to see them! The boys were so cute. They all looked so happy. I feel so lucky to know them. They gave me this card that was so sweet. I kept it with me all night because it was so special. They took a picture with their cell phone and told me they were going to put it on Facebook so I'm sure you'll all get to see it even though I won't!
We have a new rule in the mission and now we can eat with members any day and it's looking like that is going to mean that we will be eating with members every day. It's good in every way except for my hips. Ni modo! Brother Garcia who is the assistant ward mission leader for Spanish has been assigning our dinners and we are eating with active and less-active members and even with investigators. The people here are so generous and they make excellent Mexican food (and a few make excellent Paraguayan and Columbian food).
Hermana Melton went on exhanges a few weeks ago and told me that a lot of the hermanas in the mission apparently use peanut butter popcorn as an object lesson with less-active members and investigators. I have been teaching all of my companions how to make it because mom told me that she learned it from her companion so I thought I would share the greatness of peanut butter popcorn too. I didn't know that my companions were sharing it with everyone else. I think they make it with the family and use all of the ingredients to show the importance of all of the ingredients in living the gospel (reading the scriptures, praying, going to church, etc).
I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. I know the Church is true!
Con amor,
Hermana Kinghorn
Monday, October 4, 2010
La fe para mover montañas
Querida Familia y amigos,
I love you all so much. Elder Holland's talk reminded me of how thankful I am for my family and all that you are doing to support me. Just as he said that they could not continue forward in the work without our prayers I know that I would not be able to go forward every day without the love and support that I receive from you. Thank you for your prayers.
I think I mentioned in my email when I talked about our visit by Elder Kikuchi that he challenged us to contact 80 people a day. That's been a challenge for all of the language missionaries here because we are looking to find a subpopulation that is spread out over a large area, but we have been able to increase the number of contacts that we make each day significantly. As Hermana Melton likes to say, we are looking under all of the rocks to find people who speak Spanish and to talk to them. For example, at the end of the day when it is dark and we didn't have anything to do, we used to stop by a less-active member's house or make phone calls. Now we are more creative. For example, on Saturday we were in this position and I was sick. I had Tylenol cold medicine at home, but as we all know, NyQuil is the best thing to take when you're just feeling terrible so we decided to go to Walmart to contact people (and buy NyQuil of course). Every time we go to Walmart we see tons of Hispanics that we know and we also meet new ones so we thought it would be a good idea. Sure enough, in the parking lot we were able to talk to some people that Hermana Melton had met a few months ago. They're still not interested, but we contacted 5 people. Then we went to find the medicine, but of course we took the long way to the medicine aisle to see if we could find people to talk to. We saw Saul and Maria that we had met contacting about a month ago and were able to talk to them. Then we grabbed the medicine and intentionally got into line behind some people that spoke Spanish and in a line where the cashier was Hispana. All in all we ended up contacting about 10 people in half an hour at Walmart because of our creativity.
In our weekly planning session we were able to come up with a lot of good ideas. For example, there are some homes here where a lot of Spanish-speakers live. We are thinking about reserving the community room that they have and holding a community Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) and inviting all of those who live there in the park. We will probably give out the booklet Three Ways to Have a Happier Family that the church produces and we will do a Halloween activity. There of course will be treats! We are excited because this will help us to build trust with those in the community here in Federal Way and to help them see that we are here to help their families. We plan to do the same thing at other apartment complexes here during the Holidy Season.
General Conference was this weekend and to be honest, it was a struggle for me. We ended up having to watch the whole thing in Spanish. I understood everything but I appreciated again why it is so important that people are taught the gospel in their native language. It was hard for me to take notes or really get a lot out of it because I was having to cocentrate so hard in what they were saying. Not to mention the fact that I was sick and a little bit out of it. It's also better to be able to listen to them speak in their own voice. But it is interesting how I could tell some talks were really powerful even though I wasn't getting a lot out of it.
It has been a good week here in Federal Way. Things are always great when we're in the service of God. But I do have to admit that we have been struggling here in Federal Way. There hasn't been a baptism in the Spanish group since December of
2009.
The members here are so stalwart. I have really never seen so much unity among the members of the church. They are all so kind and good. For example, this week two sisters went visiting teaching to a less-active member of the church. One of the sisters is a convert of 6 years and the other of 8 years but she herself just recently returned from inactivity a few months ago. For the one it was her first time visiting teaching someone. They are both very shy by nature but very sweet and loving. Apparently the sister whom they went to visit ended up spending the whole time lecturing them on how she already knew them and how they needed to be better at greeting people at church. They were so sweet and just listened. When we called the sisters to ask them how their first visit went they said so meekly, "Well we went to teach her a lesson, but she ended up teaching us. We need to be more friendly at church. I know we could do a better job. We invited her to come to church, but she said that she wouldn't because people don't greet her there. I guess we'll have to keep trying." That is just one example of the goodness of the members. They teach me so much.
I love serving and learning from our trials every day (or at least I'm trying to love it :D). Thank you again for your prayers.
Con amor,
Hermana Kinghorn
I love you all so much. Elder Holland's talk reminded me of how thankful I am for my family and all that you are doing to support me. Just as he said that they could not continue forward in the work without our prayers I know that I would not be able to go forward every day without the love and support that I receive from you. Thank you for your prayers.
I think I mentioned in my email when I talked about our visit by Elder Kikuchi that he challenged us to contact 80 people a day. That's been a challenge for all of the language missionaries here because we are looking to find a subpopulation that is spread out over a large area, but we have been able to increase the number of contacts that we make each day significantly. As Hermana Melton likes to say, we are looking under all of the rocks to find people who speak Spanish and to talk to them. For example, at the end of the day when it is dark and we didn't have anything to do, we used to stop by a less-active member's house or make phone calls. Now we are more creative. For example, on Saturday we were in this position and I was sick. I had Tylenol cold medicine at home, but as we all know, NyQuil is the best thing to take when you're just feeling terrible so we decided to go to Walmart to contact people (and buy NyQuil of course). Every time we go to Walmart we see tons of Hispanics that we know and we also meet new ones so we thought it would be a good idea. Sure enough, in the parking lot we were able to talk to some people that Hermana Melton had met a few months ago. They're still not interested, but we contacted 5 people. Then we went to find the medicine, but of course we took the long way to the medicine aisle to see if we could find people to talk to. We saw Saul and Maria that we had met contacting about a month ago and were able to talk to them. Then we grabbed the medicine and intentionally got into line behind some people that spoke Spanish and in a line where the cashier was Hispana. All in all we ended up contacting about 10 people in half an hour at Walmart because of our creativity.
In our weekly planning session we were able to come up with a lot of good ideas. For example, there are some homes here where a lot of Spanish-speakers live. We are thinking about reserving the community room that they have and holding a community Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) and inviting all of those who live there in the park. We will probably give out the booklet Three Ways to Have a Happier Family that the church produces and we will do a Halloween activity. There of course will be treats! We are excited because this will help us to build trust with those in the community here in Federal Way and to help them see that we are here to help their families. We plan to do the same thing at other apartment complexes here during the Holidy Season.
General Conference was this weekend and to be honest, it was a struggle for me. We ended up having to watch the whole thing in Spanish. I understood everything but I appreciated again why it is so important that people are taught the gospel in their native language. It was hard for me to take notes or really get a lot out of it because I was having to cocentrate so hard in what they were saying. Not to mention the fact that I was sick and a little bit out of it. It's also better to be able to listen to them speak in their own voice. But it is interesting how I could tell some talks were really powerful even though I wasn't getting a lot out of it.
It has been a good week here in Federal Way. Things are always great when we're in the service of God. But I do have to admit that we have been struggling here in Federal Way. There hasn't been a baptism in the Spanish group since December of
2009.
The members here are so stalwart. I have really never seen so much unity among the members of the church. They are all so kind and good. For example, this week two sisters went visiting teaching to a less-active member of the church. One of the sisters is a convert of 6 years and the other of 8 years but she herself just recently returned from inactivity a few months ago. For the one it was her first time visiting teaching someone. They are both very shy by nature but very sweet and loving. Apparently the sister whom they went to visit ended up spending the whole time lecturing them on how she already knew them and how they needed to be better at greeting people at church. They were so sweet and just listened. When we called the sisters to ask them how their first visit went they said so meekly, "Well we went to teach her a lesson, but she ended up teaching us. We need to be more friendly at church. I know we could do a better job. We invited her to come to church, but she said that she wouldn't because people don't greet her there. I guess we'll have to keep trying." That is just one example of the goodness of the members. They teach me so much.
I love serving and learning from our trials every day (or at least I'm trying to love it :D). Thank you again for your prayers.
Con amor,
Hermana Kinghorn
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