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
