June 17, 2013

Dear Family

So this week was quite nice. Tuesday we went to Munich and heard Elder Nelson. That was so cool to hear. Actually we were late to the meeting. So what happened is German trains are awful. We were supposed to take a high speed train that left at 8:12. But it broke so it never came to Ulm. So with half of the zone in Ulm, and the other half on the broken train we decided to leave the other missionaries and took the slowest train. It left at 8:30 and took two hours instead of one. So we walked into the meeting 10 minutes late and the other missionaries were an hour and a half late. Ya bummer I know. So the first bit there were 3 elders from the Quorum of the Seventy. They all spoke to us. And I took tons of notes so they'll be there when we get home. And then Elder Nelson talked for the last hour. Well actually the last half hour he opened it up for questions. And I wish I would have thought of one earlier to ask. But some of the questions I learned a ton from. One of them blew all of our minds. When Jesus tells Peter, ‘Thou shalt deny me three times’ it wasn't a prophecy. It was a commandment. That's why Peter wept. I have heard so many other things about it. 

Well then Wednesday came around and we had nothing, so we just went by on tons of people. Then we met with the D. (no idea how it's spelled) and they were very impressed by us. She said how she doesn't like how the church works here and thought there were no more good missionaries. But with us she feels different. It was a very cool experience. But also very sad that she hasn't felt loved by the church since they moved here from Portugal. She also loves how mom can speak Portuguese and said it would be cool if she sent something to her. Maybe you could send your testimony in Portuguese or something. We also went by on L. She is the 16 year old who lived with a Mormon family in the states for a foreign exchange program. We are meeting with her on Wednesday. She is pretty shy, but we think she wants to join the church. She told us she really liked it but wanted to make sure it was true. 

So Thursday we planned forever doing paperwork, weekly planning all that jazz. And then we met with some 20 year olds. It was kind of a half Bible bash. half lesson. It wasn't contentious it was good nature. And the one from Florida has a lot of interest. I think he actually wants to find out what the Book of Mormon says. Then Friday was an exciting day. We chopped wood for hours but then Elder F. died afterwards. He gets this strange type of migraine where he goes half paralyzed and he got that Friday night. So he was out for the count. 

We had a lesson with a Chinese member named J.  The branch president went with me.  As we left Elder F. with A. (another member). And we were debating if we should sleep there or go back home. The zone leaders had no clue and the AP's said stay put till we say anything. And then finally at 9:40 we were able to talk to Sister Miles and she talked to President and we needed to go home. So we got driven home. Then Saturday we had two lessons. One with R. and one with a less active sister, K. And we had to change both of them to this coming week. That was super sad. But Elder F. doesn't even remember Saturday, but he is 100% now. No problems. Church was good, we had two eating appointments and calls from the zone leaders and all sorts of stuff.


Yup, Switzerland is expensive and money grows on trees there. But the missionary work in Switzerland is really going right now. The Swiss people are much more open to the gospel. That may sound weird because they are so rich. But I was talking to elder E. about it (the Swiss missionary) and he said people there are much more open to religion. And that's why there are so many more members in Switzerland. They also have the most baptisms of the mission. 

You could have seen missionaries coming here in the airport. They take the same flight as the missionaries going to Berlin. They had probably split paths just a few minutes before. 

Oh, I'm not one to get discouraged. Honestly it's not that bad here. I hear of all these missionaries who say it's rough and everything. The truth is get to work and who cares. Do your best and it will all be okay. I've never felt depressed because nothings happening. Oh. and this mission is the most coveted mission. More couple missionaries request to come to this mission than any other mission by quite a large margin.

Love

Elder Kinghorn

June 3, 2013

Dear Family,

Well first of all let me say it's been quite fun here in Ulm. We have been getting really wet recently. It has rained and rained and rained. And well rivers are flooding. Luckily people here have been planning for flooding since the beginning of time, so there isn't much damage. All I've seen is some destroyed parks. But the donau is super high right now. 

We have lots of good news. Today there is no rain. Well just a bit of sprinkling. Not little streams in the road like last week. And we found some really cool people. So Jason last week said he got into a discussion with some Jehovah's Witnesses. Well on Saturday, after a lesson with R, we were walking to our train and someone stopped us. He asked where we were from which church. So we said von der Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage. And he said, “Oh well I'm a Jehovah’s Witness.”  He asks us a pretty typical question, “What is Gods name.” So we tell him the answer, “Elohim.” And he was expecting.. I don't know. So he was pretty shocked. So he said, “What?” So we told him again. Then he was super confused so we told him, “That's God’s name.” Then he asked, “Who is Jehovah?”  “That is Elohim's son. Jehovah created the world and makes it possible for us to be saved from our sins.” So by now he is really confused. And then by now this drunk Russian comes up to us swearing saying we are Jehovah’s Witnesses and how stupid we are for being one. Then the j dub left because he didn't like this drunk Russian. So we start talking to the russian and give him a Book of Mormon saying this is about God and how much he loves you and he found out we were from another church and was super happy with us. He told us about a ton of stuff he lived through in russia and that's why he gets drunk all the time. So we are going to try to help him out. With the gospel everything is possible. There isn't a scar that can't be healed. No trial too hard to overcome. We just need to get him to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. 

Also Frau W. is doing great. She is so funny. Last week we met with a member from China, H.   We talked about genealogy. She has a lot of interest for it. So not this week but next week she wants to come to the family history lab to do some to find out her family history. She knows her ancestors moved from Germany to Russia a hundred years ago. But before that she has no idea. 

And M. is a cool guy. We have been meeting twice a week. And he really loves to talk with us. He thought we were crazy for meeting with him on Friday because it was pouring. He said we should have stayed inside so we didn't get sick. It was a really cold day. He was wearing two sweaters and a beanie. Sadly he didn't come to church yesterday. We still don't know why. Hopefully he comes again next week. 

Then R. is going great. He is still having trouble giving up coffee. He said he will try to do just one every morning and no more during the day. If he can do that it will help him get completely rid of it. 

Well I love you

This work is true. We see miracles every single day

Love Elder Kinghorn

Dear Family,

Well first of all let me say it's been quite fun here in Ulm. We have been getting really wet recently. It has rained and rained and rained. And well rivers are flooding. Luckily people here have been planning for flooding since the beginning of time, so there isn't much damage. All I've seen is some destroyed parks. But the donau is super high right now. 

We have lots of good news. Today there is no rain. Well just a bit of sprinkling. Not little streams in the road like last week. And we found some really cool people. So Jason last week said he got into a discussion with some Jehovah's Witnesses. Well on Saturday, after a lesson with R, we were walking to our train and someone stopped us. He asked where we were from which church. So we said von der Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage. And he said, “Oh well I'm a Jehovah’s Witness.”  He asks us a pretty typical question, “What is Gods name.” So we tell him the answer, “Elohim.” And he was expecting.. I don't know. So he was pretty shocked. So he said, “What?” So we told him again. Then he was super confused so we told him, “That's God’s name.” Then he asked, “Who is Jehovah?”  “That is Elohim's son. Jehovah created the world and makes it possible for us to be saved from our sins.” So by now he is really confused. And then by now this drunk Russian comes up to us swearing saying we are Jehovah’s Witnesses and how stupid we are for being one. Then the j dub left because he didn't like this drunk Russian. So we start talking to the russian and give him a Book of Mormon saying this is about God and how much he loves you and he found out we were from another church and was super happy with us. He told us about a ton of stuff he lived through in russia and that's why he gets drunk all the time. So we are going to try to help him out. With the gospel everything is possible. There isn't a scar that can't be healed. No trial too hard to overcome. We just need to get him to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. 

Also Frau W. is doing great. She is so funny. Last week we met with a member from China, H.   We talked about genealogy. She has a lot of interest for it. So not this week but next week she wants to come to the family history lab to do some to find out her family history. She knows her ancestors moved from Germany to Russia a hundred years ago. But before that she has no idea. 

And M. is a cool guy. We have been meeting twice a week. And he really loves to talk with us. He thought we were crazy for meeting with him on Friday because it was pouring. He said we should have stayed inside so we didn't get sick. It was a really cold day. He was wearing two sweaters and a beanie. Sadly he didn't come to church yesterday. We still don't know why. Hopefully he comes again next week. 

Then R. is going great. He is still having trouble giving up coffee. He said he will try to do just one every morning and no more during the day. If he can do that it will help him get completely rid of it. 

Well I love you

This work is true. We see miracles every single day

Love Elder Kinghorn

May 27, 2013

Elder Devon Kinghorn

May 27, 2013

Dear Family

Well awesome news- C. from Wiener Neustadt just got baptized Saturday! Sadly I wasn't able to make it because we had too many people here we had to be with. We can't really afford leaving because of our ward’s relationship with us. We are really trying to strengthen it. In the past I don't think this ward has had the best relationships with missionaries. Definitely as friends, but not as missionaries. So we are really trying. 

Well this week has been nice. Despite the freezing weather. They don't expect warm weather for two more weeks. The work is going well here. Elder F. and I are doing really good work together.

Elder Nelson is coming and I get to actually see him talk, the first time on my mission. There is one advantage of living in Germany instead of Austria.

Yesterday we almost had 2 people at church. Only one came. but here is the story. So R. and M. both had promised that they would come to church. So we told R. tha we would meet him at his home train station at 8 in the morning. The last train that would get us there before 8 actually left Ulm at 6:05, so we had to wake up way early to get the train. Then we took it down to Ehingen and got there at 6:30 and it was freezing cold. Rain and freezing. Then at 7:40ish after sitting there for a while kind of miserable we decided to call him and he was sick. So we were quite... devastated and took a slightly earlier train back to Ulm at 7:45 after freezing for a while. So we got back to Ulm and we met M. on the way to church. He was way happy to come. He is such a cool guy from Nigeria. He has gone through so much in his life. I feel really bad for him. Then he ended up here in Ulm and he is way happy for that. He is praying to see if he should get baptized (hopefully) and I think he could be baptized by the end of the summer.

Hmm what happened so far. Um on Sunday morning there were so many drunk people in lederhosen because of the big champions league game. It was classic Germany. Drunk people in lederhosen. Way funny though. 

I love you 

Elder Kinghorn

May 20, 2013

Dear Family

Well this week started out on a blah, but ended up great. So Elder F. last Monday started feeling really, really sick after emails. Then we cancelled an appointment for that night. Then on Tuesday he was feeling super sick and almost died. So we stayed home the whole day. So. the first two days were gone. But then Elder F. started feeling better. And so we helped a family do some furniture rearranging (the Russian investigator Frau W.) And she was super funny. But then that ended when the day was almost over. So then I forgot what we did. Thursday we had a lesson with R. and he is doing great. He had to cancel on church again. It's really frustrating sometimes. But that's how it goes. So we cancelled his baptismal date. But hopefully we can set a new one sometime soon. 

But then Friday came around, and in the morning we had nothing set. So we went to a city about 20 minutes away by train. And we had lessons with 2 less actives. It was awesome. We just showed up and they were super excited. Then we found out that neither of them have had any home teachers or visiting teachers come to them in a long long time. And all of the other less actives had the same thing. So, that night was gemeinderat uhh ward council. So we asked for a home teaching and visiting teaching assignment list so we could get people to come with us for their home teaching. All of a sudden it made sense that 80% of the ward is less active. Wiener Neustadt was about 65% active, which is astonishing for Europe. But their home teaching was incredible. Every quarter they would adjust their plans to make it better. 

Then on Saturday we had a street display right in front of the Münster (the giant church) so the whole rule about don't proselyte in front of a church. Ya, oh well. We had to apply to get a spot and that is the spot that the city gave us. But we had 2 members there (an American and a Chinese guy. They are a cool couple), and also the missionaries; so Sisters S. and C. then Elders P and G.,  We had a good time, even though it was super hot.  We found a member who lives in Munich but had lost contact with the church when he moved here from Africa. He was excited to get another Book of Mormon and the missionary’s information. That was way cool. Then we also found a cool guy named M. He is from Nigeria. He actually met the missionaries in Switzerland about a year ago. and now we found him here in Ulm. Yesterday he came to church and we are meeting with him tomorrow. It's way nice because he just lives 5 minutes from the church using his bike. So it's awesome. And hopefully he has some friends. 

That was the exciting things from this past week. The work is really going well. We had 8 lessons last week. Much better than the 0 that were happening not too long ago when I first got here.

I Love you

Elder Kinghorn