Querida Familia y Amigos,
What a great week! I hope all is well for all of you.
Hermana Fillmore and I bought two copies of the new Personal Progress books at the Distribution Center when we went to the temple and now we are working on the faith value. We decided to do the Personal Progress program to encourage D., a less-active young woman, to work on her Personal Progress with her mom. We like reading the scriptures and doing the discussions that go with each value experience and are hoping to complete the program by the end of our mission.
As missionaries we are protected every day. This week Hermana Fillmore and I had a little scary experience, but in the moment we were completely fine and afterward when we reflected on the situation, we know that we were protected by Heavenly Father. We experience seen and unseen miracles daily.
Hermana Fillmore is a great companion. We are alike in some ways and different in other ways. One thing I am able to appreciate more and more everyday is how we can work together to have our different manners compliment each other so that the work can move forward. I am learning so much from her and we are constantly improving in our teaching.
We were teaching one of our new investigators this week who is named H. and is from Cuba. Her daughter speaks English and Spanish and had been taught by the English elders so this was H.'s first time hearing from missionaries. I just felt like we should talk with her about prophets so after she told us about some earthquake or something that had just happened that day (we are completely out of touch with current events and it is surprisingly refreshing) I told her that we have a prophet today to lead and guide us unto Christ in these unsettling times. The first thing she did was look straight at me and say, "We have a prophet today? I didn't know that. Where does he live?" It was beautiful to see her simple faith and believing heart. I think we can all learn from her.
The less-active member from Honduras came to church! We know he was so happy to be back and we could see him paying attention attentively in sacrament meeting and the member who picked him up for church told us that he was participating in priesthood. After church he called us to tell us that he cut his hair so he would look better for church! It is so amazing to witness the miracles that can happen when others feel the Spirit and are converted.
We learn so many different teaching skills as missionaries. One thing that the Spirit has really helped me with as a missionary is coming up with "parables" I guess you could say. This one came to me in a lesson when we were trying to help a couple understand the importance of the Book of Mormon. I compared it to a person whose father had died and they wanted to learn everything they could about their father because they loved him very much and wanted to become more like him. (We know that eternal life is to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ from John 17:3 and D&C 132:24). This father had written two letters: one to this person and one to their brother. Obviously the person would want to read both letters to have the most complete understanding of who their father is. But which one would be more precious to them? Which one might they give priority to? Would it make since to say that the father wrote the letter to the brother first, therefore the other person didn't want to read the letter that he wrote to them? Of course the letter written to them would have special priority and because they would learn more about the love their father had specifically for them from it. This is just how it is with the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The Bible was written for the Jews and the early saints. We learn from Mormon 8:34-35 (I think. I don't have my scriptures with me right now...) that The Book of Mormon was written specifically for our day. I know that The Book of Mormon is true and testifies of Jesus Christ. My testimony of the power of the book (Introduction and Moroni 10:3-5) grows every day here as a missionary. I can promise those we teach that if they will read the book (with sincere heart, real intent, having faith in God) they will know by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true and by that same power they will know that Jesus is the Christ and Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. I can easily make this promise because I experience it daily. I love the Book of Mormon. I love telling people on their doorstep that I am a representative of Jesus Christ -- because I am! How blessed we are to be members of Christ's church today and to have made covenants with Heavenly Father by the priesthood authority of God to follow Jesus Christ.
Con Amor,
Hermana Kinghorn
