Amor

Querida Familia,

I have come to learn that having a laminated picture of my family is very valuable. When I testify about how the gospel can bless families, I will often show a picture of my family and talk about specific experiences I've had. People respond well when they can see a picture of a family that believes in Jesus Christ and has made covenants to follow him.

Cultural lesson of the week: I really like pet names in Spanish because they are so affectionate. For exampel: "Mi amor (My love)", "Mi vida (My life)", or "Tesoro (Treasure)". I hear parents call their children these names all the time.

This was a very busy week for us. I don't know if we ever got a full break and it was definitely showing by the end of the week. We were both tired and I was sick. This week we've decided that it is good to work hard, but that we are given breaks for a reason so we need to take them.

I. was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. J. performed the baptism. Her husband also came to church with her on Sunday with a white shirt and tie.

We had Spanish Conference on Saturday. That is when all of the Spanish-speaking missionaries have a meeting together where we can receive training and can practice our Spanish. President Moffat came and spoke to us about using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching. He told us that when we can help investigators and members grow in their testimony of the Book of Mormon they will better understand their relationship with Jesus Christ. As he was talking I thought about one of our investigators, M. who has a son who is serving a mission in Chile right now. She wants him to baptize her when he gets back, 18 months from now. We want to help her see the importance of not postponing this covenant since she is ready. President Moffat told us that if we will use the Book of Mormon in our teachings that as investigators come to love and read it, they will be able to see the importance of making changes in their lives now and not postponing them. I know that President Moffat is inspired and we are so blessed to have him as our leader.

General Conference is this week. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and I cannot wait to hear his words and the words of our other leaders. The more I think about the reality and importance that we have a prophet today, the more anxiously I wait to receive counsel from God through Him. I love you all. Have a wonderful week.

Con cariño,

Hermana Kinghorn

A Baptism

At J's baptism with Hermana Beukers, Hermana Hoskins, J., M., Me, and Hermana Galarza

Salud, Dinero, Bautismo

Querida Familia y Amigos,

On Tuesday we invited F. to be baptized and she accepted! She will be baptized on April 24. She is 25-years-old and started learning about the church in Idaho. She moved to Seattle and kept learning from my companion a few months ago but her tios (aunt and uncle) who she lives with were very against it. The Hermanas stopped teaching her because she wasn't able to attend church or to progress. However, just last week she called us and told us that she wants to come to church and be taught again. Now she will be baptized next month. Heavenly Father is really blessing the Spanish-speaking population of this area and I love to watch it and be a part of it.

One of our investigators, J., was baptized on Saturday! The service was beautiful and he was very prepared. Many members of the branch came out to support him and afterwards they had a fiesta at one of the member's apartments. On Sunday he was confirmed and received the priesthood. This Saturday we have another baptism for I. and J. will perform the baptism. We are excited for this opportunity that J. has to exercise his priesthood right away.

Sunday was also a good day for us here in Kent as we had eight investigators attend sacrament meeting. J. had invited one of his friends to watch his confirmation, but hadn't told us about it so we were happily surprised to see her there. Also M., E.'s roommate, came to church. E. didn't come because he has long hair and doesn't feel comfortable coming to church until it is cut. He told us on Sunday that he was going to get it cut later in the day. We are going to work with him this week so he will feel more prepared to attend church next Sunday.

The best suprise at church, however, was when G. came with her husband and son. We have taught her quite a few times and she has read the Book of Mormon and has a testimony, but she would never come to church because she told us her husband didn't want her to come. We were concerned she might not progress because of this, but this Sunday she completely surprised us by showing up at church with her husband! I had told Hermana Hoskins that I didn't think anything would make me happier that day than seeing an investigator family show up at church and I think I was right, it made me very happy.

Yesterday we visited a less-active member of the church named M.. We have probably visited him four times since I've been here. Hermana Hoskins taught him before he was baptized in September, but since October he hasn't come to church. There are concerns because he seems to always have a different excuse for why he can't come to church. However this week, I was sitting down with Hermana Hoskins and I told her that based on some things he had said, I thought he had certain doubts and had done certain things based on those doubts. When we came to visit him this time we just clearly asked him if he had a testimony and he started to share with us his doubts and some of the things he was doing. The amazing thing was that what he told us was almost word-for-word what I had told Hermana Hoskins. Honestly what he told us brought the most sincere devastation I've felt since I've been a missionary. I did not want the things that I told Hermana Hoskins to be true, but they were. However, we were able to have our testimonies strengthened that Heavenly Father loves his children. He prepared us to know his situation beforehand so we could teach to his needs in the moment. We are not sure what he will do, but we know that we were able to teach and testify with the Spirit.

Today we are going to eat pupusas at a member's house. I heard they're good so we'll see!

One thing that I came to appreciate this week is about what it means to be a good missionary. I know that there have been times in my life when I have felt uncomfortable with sharing some of my beliefs because they were different from a lot of people's beliefs. I thought I had to be subtle and then maybe they would be more accepting. But one thing I've come to appreciate from looking at missionaries that I really respect in church history, like Wilford Woodruff and Dan Jones, what made them so effective was their powerful testimony and their willingness to clearly declare the message of the restoration so that those who were prepared to hear the message would recognize it. They were willing to take rejection so that those who were ready to hear the message could receive it. I've had some strange looks when I've told people that there is a prophet on the earth today, pero esto es la verdad! Tenemos la Conferencia General en solamente dos semanas donde podemos escuchar a profetas de Dios. Preparemosnos.

Con amor,

Hermana Kinghorn

Las Angeles de Kent

Hermana Kinghorn and Hoskins holding their ceramic houses

Querida Familia and Friends,

We had zone conference last week and it was great. We were able to learn about the importance of baptism. We were also able to hear from President Moffat about how important it is that we have charity. Our mission is having a 40-day fast that starts next week and ends with the mission attending the temple together. We are doing this as an expression of faith that we will be able to find people to teach and baptize and to prepare our mission for our new mission president, President Larkin, who will arrive in July. We are excited to apply all that we learned.

Hermana Hoskins and I found a new investigator named M. two Sundays ago. We set up a return appointment for last Sunday, but when we arrived there wasn't a woman in the apartment and he was on his way somewhere. He seemed apathetic and since we have a very full teaching schedule we asked him if he was really interested and he said he was. We showed up yesterday and were teaching M. and his roommate C. outside when one of their roommates looked out of the window and said hello to us. We waved at him and he told us that he was going to come outside with us. When he came outside he brought two ceramic houses as gifts for us, called us angels and handed them to us. We thought this was strange and perhaps he was trying to flirt with us so we didn't know how to react. Then he told us that his name was E. he had read the Book of Mormon and he had one with him. He told us that he was a member of the Church but was lost. Apparently he was baptized in Honduras when he was 16 and was the only member of his family. He grew up and married and had children, and decided to move to the United States to work. At first he went to church in Florida, but their work is such that there is a large group of men who all live together in a group of apartments and they are moved around every few months by their boss depending on where there is work for them. As he moved around, he lost contact of the church and started to get involved in drinking and other activities with the men he lived with. He started crying because he told us that he had been looking for the church by asking everyone he knew if they knew there was prophet on the earth because he knew that if he could find someone that believed that, he would find the church. He told us that he had been trying to save money to go to Utah because he didn't know where else there was a church around here. He said he had been driving on the freeway and had seen something he thought was the angel Moroni but wasn't sure and we told him that he had driven past the Seattle Temple. He testified to his friend, M. of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and told us he wanted to come back. What started as a strange situation made so much sense in the end. He told us we were his angels and that the elders who baptized him were angels and that he wanted us to keep the houses to show our grandchildren one day what we did for him.

We visited a member this week that we had visited my first day in the field. I had been wondering how much I was really improving in my Spanish or if I was improving at all, but I witnessed a miracle from Heavenly Father when we visited her and I was able to understand practically every word she spoke. It was almost as if she were speaking in English. I know that when we seek gifts with the intent of blessing the lives of others and we humble ourselves, God will pour out the gifts upon us and show us his hand in ways that we cannot imagine.

Estoy muy agradecida por la opportunidad de servir la gente de Kent. Cada día veo milagros en las vidas de ellos que leen El Libro de Mormon porque ellos pueden aprender de su salvador, Jesucristo. Yo sé que Jesucristo es el Hijo de Dios. Lean Mosiah 4:9-12 para aprender mas sobre como podemos recibir las bendecions de aplicar la Expiación de Jesuscristo en nuestras vidas diariamente. Los amo mucho. Cuidense.

Translation: I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of Kent. Every day I see miracles in the lives of them who read the Book of Mormon because they can learn of their Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Read Mosiah 4:9-12 to learn more about how we can get benefits as we apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. I love a lot. Cuidense.

Con amor,

Hermana Kinghorn

Saludades de Kent

Querida Familia,

How are you all doing?

About every week the Spanish-speaking sisters go on exchanges. This last Thursday I was able to serve with Hermana Beukers in Federal Way. Federal Way is right on the Puget Sound and is beautiful. Hermana Beukers was also really good about encouraging me to speak to people in Spanish even though the people we visited knew her better than me. We were able to talk to a lot of people and set up several return appointments for her and her companion Hermana Galarza.

Cultural Lesson of the week: "Agua" which means "water" in English doesn't always have the same connotation in Spanish. "Agua" pretty much means something that is mostly water. You can imagine my surprise when someone asked me if I wanted "agua" and what they handed me was not a clear liquid (but rather white or orange with some sort of fruit floating in it). "Agua natural" means the clear stuff we call "water".

On Tuesday we had a lesson with a new investigator named R.. He was the first lesson I've had with someone that I initially contacted. We first knocked on his door to deliver a DVD that his roommate ordered. The roommate wasn't home, but R. answered and we set up a return appointment with him. When we came back, there wasn't a woman in the apartment so he told us we could just have the appointment outside even though it was sprinkling. He is in his late twenties and was telling us that he first moved to the US because he wanted more money and he saw that material things were important, but he has since learned that material things aren't as important as he initially thought. He also told us that he used to want to go out and do wild things on the weekend but then he learned that those things were fun for a little while but that fun didn't last and now he prefers to read, listen to music, or practice cooking oysters for his job. We have another appointment with him on Tuesday.

The plan this week is to spend part of my time during our breaks to create lesson plans for a 6-week English as a Second Language program geared toward Spanish speakers that we can use as a weekly service project and a way to better get to know the local Spanish-speaking population. Three years ago I volunteered at an ESL program in Provo. I couldn't have seen it then, but it is amazing to see how the nine months I spent there prepared me to be of more use here.

One thing that I have come to appreciate more than ever before is how my testimony really is my greatest possession and I should do everything I can to protect it and improve it.

Los amo. Cuidense mucho.

Carino,

Hermana Kinghorn

We made homemade tortillas and they were delicious



Andrea's first day in Seattle with Sister Hoskins.

La primera semana en el campo

Querida Familia y Amigos,

Saludades from Kent, Washington. I am serving in the Kent Hispanic Branch in the Kent Stake. My trainer is Hermana Hoskins from Salt Lake (Rose Park), UT. She graduated from the University of Utah in Athletic Training and then decided to serve a mission. She is really great to have as a companion. She loves the people, is obedient, has an amazing gift in Spanish, and is patient with me.

How are you all doing?

Right now we have three investigators with a baptismal date in March. One of them is J. who is set to be baptized on March 20. I wasn't there when the Hermanas first contacted him, but they told me that they felt like they should give him a Book of Mormon. It was a very short conversation, but he showed up at church on Sunday (when they hadn't told him where it was) and by the time they first met with him, he had already read up to Alma in the Book of Mormon. When they talked about it in the lesson, he decided he didn't understand it enough so he started over and read more slowly. Hermana Hoskins and I have taught him about the Law of Chastity, and the Word of Wisdom. He is so willing to follow commandments and is a good example to me.

One of our investigators is named G.. He is very prepared for the message and loves going to church and reading the Book of Mormon. His wife is L. and they have a four-year-old daughter named M. who is very cute. G. works 4 hours away during the week and is with his family on the weekends so during the week we visit L. and teach her and M. doctrines like God is Our Loving Heavenly Father. It is important that L. is accepting of G.'s desires to join the church (and hopefully they will join together). We also sing primary songs with M.. She loves "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and asks us to sing it every time we come over. It is amazing to see the power of primary songs in softening the heart of L..

I thought I wouldn't like tracting, but I actually love it. We don't have to do it very often because we get a lot of referrals from the elders in our zone who go tracting and run into families that speak Spanish. But when we do, it gives an opportunity to meet new people that might be interested in the message.

For our schedule every day we study until 11 am, proselyte until 2 pm, then instead of having a lunch and dinner break, we have one break from 2 to 4 pm where we eat and study. From 4 to 9 pm we proselyte again.

Yesterday during our break one of the members in our branch, Hermana Torres, taught us how to make flour tortillas from scratch. It's pretty easy and they taste really good. So far I've had carne molida, a lot of salsa, beans, and some sort of soup with corn (I can't remember it's name). The funny thing is that after we ate the soup, the investigator told me the reason there were bones in the meat was because I had just eaten a pig head. I was so glad that he told me that after I was done. :)

Spanish is coming along. I'd say I can probably understand 80-85% of what is going on. Although, often times the 15-20% I can't understand are differences that can be very important in what questions people are asking or concerns they are expressing. That is why I am so grateful to have Hermana Hoskins. Every day I am trying to say a little more in our lessons.

Yesterday I was studying about fasting to prepare to teach an investigator. I thought it was interesting to see the assocation of "fasting" with "joy" that is found so often in the scriptures. What do you think this means? How has fasting brought joy to you? I am still thinking about this.

Los amo mucho,

Hermana Kinghorn