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
