Saying Goodbye to Wiener Newstadt and Hello to Ulm

Dear Everyone,

So this week I had a successful trip to Ulm, Deutschland. It took quite a while. We left Wiener Neustadt at 6:45 am. Then took a train at 7 am to Wien. And we ended up in München around 1 pm. Then we had to wait in München for a while and we arrived at Ulm at 4 or 5. We had a third missionary with us who needed to go to Stuttguard. So we had to go to Stuttguard and back and got home at around 8. So it was quite a long day. 

For your talk just say how appreciative I am of all the things we did together. I'm sorry I didn't appreciate it earlier. But now I am so glad for all of the fun times we had together. Going across the world or even just eating together every night. Really, there is no replacement. I can honestly tell people I am glad that I can live with my family forever. 

Yes I know Ulm has a giant church. And yes, I have seen the giant church. We call it the Eye of Sauron. It is probably 500 yards from our apartment. So when we walk outside we see it. Well from the whole city you look up and it's starring at you.

And the German here is different. I won't have a problem with it. I can already understand most of it. Austria just has some hard dialects. The only German I can't understand is Swiss. But that's harder than Dutsch. I can read the Dutch Book of Mormon pretty well. 

We live in the state of Baden Wurttemberg. But the church is in Bavaria. Bayern, as we say. But I can't spell. So now I have worked in 5 different states: those two and Nieder Österreich Borgenland and Wien. Funny how that works. And this branch seems really small. We meet in an office building. There are about 30 active members. So not quite the big crowd. Wiener Neustadt had of 80 or 90. But we are working on it. 

That stinks Jason (his brother) doesn't have a visa (for his mission to Spain). Tell jason his visa isn't that important. God knows what he's doing. And Jason’s mission will go just how God wants it. On a mission it's really easy to see how much God helps us and gets us to the exact people we need to go to. I don't have a German visa yet. But it's no problem. We will just go to the Rathaus and buy one. It comes 6 weeks later. And it's good for as long as I want it to be good for. 

Germany feels different. I can't explain it right now. I still have to wait and listen a bit. But it is definitely different from Austria. This week will be a real contacting week. 

Right now we really don't have much going on. We need to find people. This isn't Wiener Neustadt where 5 lessons is a really really slow week. This is where 5 lesson is a really good week. So it's time to kick it into gear. This area has been kind of slow for a while it needs a kickstart. But that means I can really help this area grow. 

My new companion is Elder B. He is from Britain. He is going home in 4.5 weeks (this transfer is short) so it is my third one transfer companion in a row. He is really funny. And really good at the piano. His english sounds funny to me. He uses the word bit quite a lot instead of thing. 

Last monday was a fun day. I got a pair of Lederhosen. Then we had an eating appointment with a part member family. He is from Germany and is the elders quorum president. His wife is from Ukraine. They have this really funny baby daughter also. 

Tuesday was my last time seeing our GML (ward mission leader) J. It was really hard to say goodbye to the family. His daughters were trying to keep me from leaving. Holding onto me as we were walking out the door. But there is hope to see them again. We might be able to go see G's baptism in a month. It would be a really long trip but it is possible. We just have to see what president says to it. We could do it in just two days. 

After we left the P’s we went to our old 7th day Adventist. He is super cool. After that we had a lesson with C. She is a recent convert. And after her we met with E. She was baptized a year ago this month. She was a really good friend and it was hard to say goodbye to her. She loves the missionaries though. Wednesday we had district meeting and we said goodbye to everyone in our district. That was sad because we have been together for months. And then we basically ran to Bahnhof to catch a train to Baden going to say goodbye to B. She was sad I was leaving. After our appointment she said I know this isn't allowed then gave me a hug. Pretty funny. After that we went back to Wiener Neustadt where we met with C. She is getting baptized this summer. She really loves meeting with us. 

After that we had our last appointment with the A’s. We decided to surprise them so we showed up to their apartment wearing Lederhosen. It was pretty funny. We had a really good dinner and then a really good lesson. G. is so excited for his baptism in a month. I think his will get baptized sometime this year or next. 

Thursday I spent the whole day traveling. Friday we met with another super old guy. named H. He has some really high potential to get baptized. We need to meet with him like 3 times a week. Then we went to find some potential. And we ended up in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't very effective. So then we went to a family who were baptized a few years ago then went inactive but now are coming back to church. They lived  and got baptized in America so they speak perfect English and want us to speak in English so their kids can learn it. They have two little daughters. 

Saturday we went looking for less actives. We found 3 but only one was home. Her name is P. I think she will get reactivated there and her husband get baptized. She is a really cool person. 

I Love Ya

Elder Devon Kinghorn

February 11, 2013-Last Week in Wiener Neustadt

Dear Everyone.

Well I have some sad news. I am now leaving Wiener Neustadt and heading off to Germany. The address is: 

Kirche Jesu Christi

Elder Devon Kinghorn 

Ensingerstraße 36

89073 Ulm

Deutschland

It's important to have Kirche Jesu Christi in Germany because they don't use apartment numbers there. 

It is pretty sad having to leave behind an area that I've been in for the past 6 months. This ward is really really cool and I won't forget it. Who knows I might get the opportunity to come back on my mission. It happens with other missionaries sometimes. I know the lord wants me in Ulm and I know there are people there who need the gospel. 

It has been hard leaving this area behind. Wiener Neustadt is such a great ward. Our Ward Mission Leader is so cool. I will really miss him. We have had so many great experiences together. The whole family is so much fun.  

Also the family P. are way cool. They had us over yesterday for lunch. It was really nice that my last Sunday meal was with them. And it's fun to try to speak dialect with them even though I can't come close to doing it. I can understand dialect but can't speak it. They are a great family for the missionaries. They help with the work, feed us, and have lots of fun with us. Pervect! 

Then the H. family is really cool and I'll miss them too. Their son is 18 and heading out on a mission next year once he is finished with school. Who knows, he might come to the states and serve in our ward. I doubt it but you never know. There are also the S. They are a funny family. Their son is 17 and is great. 

There are so many other people....(Elder Kinghorn then names more people that he’ll miss)... I could write pages about each one of these families. Just so many people. Its really sad to leave everyone. But that's ok because I know I'm going to Ulm where the Lord wants me to be. 

Well last week I'll give a rundown. Monday after we finished pday we went contacting. We found an Australian. Not Austrian-Australian. He lived here when he was growing up and actually has Mormon friends in Australia. He is leaving this week to go to Germany then back to Australia. It was really cool to meet him. 

Tuesday we meet with C. and talked about chastity. Afterwards someone asked me if it was awkward to talk about chastity with a single girl. I just thought about it and then said no. It's really not. We also taught Spanish and German class on Tuesday. 

Wednesday we met with G, S and P. We watched The Testaments in Spanish. It was really hard to stay awake because I couldn't understand any of it. But then afterwards we asked S. what he thought about it. He really liked it. Then we asked him how he felt. And he couldn't describe his feeling. He had never felt anything like that before in his life. So we described to him that it was the Holy Ghost. We really think he will get baptized this year. He is super cool. I love the whole A. family. 

Then Thursday we spent the day really organizing our map and then had two lessons. One with C. and one with the Spanish people for German class. Then afterwards we had Ward Council. 

Friday was transfer call day. I found out I am going to Schwabenland. Then there was a zone thing in Wien. It dragged on for a while, but then we had sportabend. We played ping pong. So we went to the church and met M. there. He had a lot of fun there. But at first nobody was there. It was completely backwards. Normally there are lots of people. Luckily A and the bishop came so then it was a lot better. If it was only the 3 of us then it would have been a little bit.... ya. After ping pong we played Uno then went back home and went to bed. 

Saturday we helped M with some stuff with his new house. Then we went to Wien where we had a district thing. We got home late because it takes forever to get from the stake center back to Wiener Neustadt. 

Then sunday came. We had our last Sunday together. We went to the P.’s after church for lunch. I really wasn't hungry. I felt bad because the food was really good. We shared Jacob 4:10 with them,  

"Wherefore, brethren, seek not to council  the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works." 

We need to trust in the Lord and he always knows what's best for us. 

That's my week.

I'll miss Wiener Neustadt

Elder Devon Kinghorn

Schönbrunn

February 4, 2013

Ya I know I forgot mom’s birthday. I went to the computer telling myself, “K don't forget”.... I'm sorry. But we celebrated your birthday. We went to a Chinese Restaurant with the senior couple. They are awesome. You would love their job. They just do family history and travel to different countries helping people with family history. You would enjoy that a lot. But I hope you had a wonderful birthday. Then again it's super warm for you. You are chilling on a beach with tons of sunshine. What could go wrong? 

So we are trying to find new people. And we think this week we can get 2 new investigators. But right now we just have our super old 7th day adventist. Now he is 80. And there’s the Spanish people and you know them. But there’s the people from Equador. One of them is named M. He came to church yesterday. He is less active and super cool. He hadn't been to church in 20 years or something like that. He is such a cool guy. He speaks no German.  We love him. 

Well a lot has happened here since last week. So B. surprised us and she did not travel to Germany this past week. So she was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday in sacrament meeting. It was so cool. Also M. came to church yesterday for the first time in over 20 years. He is a super funny guy. So that was amazing. 

Also yesterday we went to a less active family for lunch. He was telling us that Jesus lived in the city where he now lives. At first he said the Catholic church said it. But then he confessed and said he just likes to tell that to the missionaries. They are a really funny family. They thought it would be quite funny to make us eat more food than humanly possible. So we had potato salad, lasagne, fish, vegetables. and about 2 liters of soda. Ugh, way too much. Then we went on a walk and after the walk we had to eat dessert. Oh my gosh it was so much food! New rule: Never ever tell anyone you are ending your fast. Just bad things happen. Also last week we decided to work on our Austrian dialect. “We went there” is  “hoch deutsch wir sind dort hingegangen”, Niederösterreichisch dialect “mia san hiengonga”. So it's just a little bit different. I can understand most dialect but I can't speak it. First I need to get rid of my terrible American accent. Then start to learn dialect. It will be lots of fun. I really like dialect. Wien dialect sounds funny. But oh well, don't tell anyone. I really like St. Gallen German. It's in Switzerland. Elder Escher is from there. It is another language though. 

So there is some sad news about elder E. He has a medical condition so he has to be in Switzerland for tests for the next two weeks.  His poor companion is just tagging along with other missionaries for the next two weeks. Last week he slept with us. We put a couch in the doorway and that's where he slept. That was mom’s birthday. 

With Elder J. we went to this city called Gumpoldskirchen. We decided it was radiated with nuclear fallout. And the ducks were really crazy. They were going to kill us.

Saturday we helped a ward member move. It only took 3.5 hours. And their "heavy" furniture was a 2 person job, sometimes 4 because it was awkward. It made me feel lucky that it wasn't a giant wooden beast bookshelf. 

I Love you

Elder Devon Kinghorn

January 28, 2013- An Amazing Week

Dear everyone who reads this,

So this past week has been amazing. Yesterday in church B. got baptized. She was so excited for it. The baptism went great and it was awesome. I was one of the witnesses and it was amazing. We didn't push B. at all and she really wanted to get baptized. It was such an awesome experience for us to be there. She was so prepared. And she knows the Book of Mormon more than most members. She reads it so carefully.  

She has been meeting with us since October. She has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and loving it. She is now about half-way done and it's through the Book of Mormon that she has received a testimony of the church. It was really cool to see her progress. There has been a change in her countenance in the last 4 months. She is so cool. She is also super German. She is from Germany and she thinks super logically. When something is right, it's right and you need to do it. It's cool. She also refused to skip Isaiah because it's part of the Book of Mormon. She would read every verse. Then when she was baptized the Spirit just rushed into the room. It was awesome. 

Also last week I gave a blessing for D. He is a member. He was worried about a final he had. So the blessing said, "You will be perfectly fine during your test-as if you weren't sick. But you will need time to get over this sickness."  During his test he couldn't feel anything. But now he is in the hospital (in Austria going to the hospital isn't like in America. It just means you're pretty sick, not dying) but he found out he has some virus. I don't know what it is. He said it's the kissing disease, so I think it's mono. Who knows. But everything is happening just like the blessing. It's so cool how powerful the priesthood is. The church really is true.

Ok and now a short recap of the week. So last Monday we spent at our GML (ward mission leader) and we played games and ate payea or however it's spelled (paella). It’s Spanish rice that tastes like heaven. After that we met with B. to teach her the last bit of the stuff she needed to hear and go over what will happen in the baptism. As we went through the baptismal questions she gave us answers better than in Preach My Gospel. We asked her what repentance meant. She told us it means to be fully prepared to follow Jesus Christ. It makes perfect sense. That is the point of repentance. 

Tuesday we had German class.  We teach Spanish people how to speak German. Well, J. just talked to them in Spanish for an hour then we played ping-pong together. One of them is a member and we are trying to get him to come back to church. But right now he doesn't want to do any work. 

Wednesday we had District meeting and it was so awesome. Elder Johnson is a really good District leader. He knows how to bring the Spirit into the district meeting. Then we helped the church by moving big pieces of furniture around. 

Thursday B. had a baptismal interview. Afterwards we had a companion exchange. I went with Elder Johnson, and we spent the day with J. First we helped him move more furniture at his place (we do a lot of moving stuff) then we taught Spanish to an Austrian named C. She is really cool. Then we drove down to Seebenstein where we dropped off some furniture. Then we drove all the way up to Treiskirchen and gave D. a blessing because he was feeling really sick, and he was worried about his final for one of his law classes.

Friday we went up to Treiskirchen to contact a referral and it was bitter cold. I almost died.  We went contacting, but nobody wants to listen to two Americans when it's freezing cold. Then we had a lesson with C. and then we had sport abend and played ping pong with Spanish people again haha.

Saturday we went to a baptism in Wien (Vienna).  She is from china. She is super cool. Elder Johnson baptized her. She is a really funny girl. Then we had a lesson that fell out. But that's ok, but we went to the hospital to say hello to a ward member and did some preparations for the baptism after that.

Sunday we had the baptism after church. It was wonderful. After everything we went to the hospital again. And then after that we did weekly planning. 

That's a full week.

I Love you

Elder Devon Kinghorn

January 21, 2013

Dear everyone who reads this,

Ok so I have some news. Last week we had one baptismal date. This week that is no longer the truth-we have 3! Yeah, we had a pretty exciting week. 

On Friday we had an appointment with B. Last Sunday in church we talked a lot about temples. And she was super confused about temples. So we talked about temples and it cleared up a ton of her questions. She thought the church was the temple (an evangelisch kirche misconception) and was wondering why we were talking about Frankfurt so much. So then she told us we should call the church the meeting house. Then no one would misinterpret it like she did. 

She bore her testimony about the church and how her life has been so blessed since we came into her life. And then she said, "I want to get baptized". And well, it was exciting. So her baptismal date is now next Sunday. Yes, in 6 days. She told us that it doesn't matter what happens, as long as we follow the commandments. But then she started to bare her testimony about the church and the Spirit just ran into the room. And then she said, "I know I need to and I will get baptized". We were super excited by this point trying to hold in the excitement. So we look at her plans and she is going on a trip in 2 weeks. So it was get baptized asap or get baptized after her trip. So she wanted to get baptized this week. So now we have a baptism for Sunday!!!! We are so excited about it. 

Then we were late to sport abend (that's where we have activities with investigators i.e. ping pong) but we didn't care. We were so excited we were basically running to the bahnhof (train station) from the excitement. We showed up 10 minutes late, but it's ok because no one showed up so instead we did service with the bishop-reorganizing one of the church offices.

So this leads us to the other date. So G. asked J., "Why haven't you asked me if I wanted to get baptized on my wedding date?" So we were hoping it would work. But of course he has to get past the wife. We fasted and prayed so that he would be able to get baptized on his wedding date. 

Then on Saturday we met with J. for a lesson with C. And after the lesson J. told us that G.'s girlfriend said that it was ok for him to get baptized on their wedding day.  It was all around an awesome day. I am so glad I am a missionary here in Wiener Neustadt. Also the whole zone set 7 baptismal dates this past week. The whole mission set 13.  It's going awesome.

Basically it's amazing. That's two of the three dates.  So, C. already had a date. She is still excited to be baptized on her birthday. The sisters yesterday had an investigator who wanted to get baptized but she had to ask her dad for permission. At first he didn't want her joining a religion because he wanted her focusing on her studies. Everyone prayed for her and now her dad said yes. So she will get baptized on Saturday. It's super exciting. 

Ok I love you

Elder Devon Kinghorn

January 14, 2013

Wien District

Dear Dad

Dad, sorry I wasn't able to say happy birthday. I remembered it but kind of forgot when I wrote emails. So HAPPY BIRThDAY!!!! We just had an awesome lesson with a lady named N. She is pretty cool. So it split up the emails. Who knows you might be awake now. That would be funny. Anyway I heard that Jason is now a fire breathing golfer on the moon. That's a really funny story. I wish I did that. Well kind of no. But still oh well. So how are you doing in the freezing cold? I bet you don't like it. Today we have been drudging through the snow. It feel so different from Utah snow. It packs so easily. It's not powder by any means.

Sadly today one of our lessons fell out. We have an appointment with the A’s but now it's Thursday. So that's a bummer. Oh well. Just go contacting tonight instead. 

So is lone peak still ranked 1 in the country? I think that's funny. A bunch of white boys dominating. 

It was funny yesterday we were talking about how today is our day off. Then we realized p day isn't really a day off. We still do a couple hours of studying, then 3 hours proselytizing and half an hour planning. So that's 5.5 hours. Plus we spend the time doing preparation for missionary work. Haha it will be weird being home and not being busy 24/7. You know what it's like. Never more busy in your whole life. Also never had more fun. It's such a blast here. Yesterday we took a long train ride to Payabach Reichenau and contacted there. But everyone said no and we were freezing cold walking through the snow. So then we took a train ride back and walked home. But we tried. And it was still a great day. 

So The wedding license finally came last week after 6 or 7 months and the wedding is Feb 9. So that's super exciting. It won't be a big wedding. Just signing a paper at the city building but still awesome. And then C’s baptismal date is set for Aug 11. She is pretty cool. Then she told us that she wanted to invite a friend. So that's awesome. We will find out who it is sometime this week. And B. had a discussion with some guy. I was thinking oh no he has anti mormon stuff. But no he is going to come to a lesson also. So he is a referral for us. And a recent convert named V. has a friend named A. He lives 1.5 hours away but has been to church twice. And we will hopefully meet with him this week. Then if we really start to teach him it will be 3 hours of trains for one lesson. Haha but he has so much interest he could easily get baptized. 

So ya I have gotten a cold but I'm healthy now. No problems with it. And I talked to some stores about repairing the lens they said I had to buy a new one. But I'll call sony up and ask. 

And ya Austrians really don't like people who don't try to learn german. But they love people who are trying to learn german. So just being able to speak a few sentences they will really love that. 

But ja I took some pretty cool pictures. It wasn't that pretty because it's January, but we have some sweet missionary pictures. And one of a swiss person. Well it's Elder Escher. And he is in a few, but I'm in some also. What you could do for Jason’s camera is buy him a point n shoot and let him take your cannon 10d. That would be a good setup. Just hopefully it never gets stolen. Spain isn't as safe as Austria. It's still super safe, but Austria nothing gets stolen. 

I can't wait to see Jason’s video. I have to wait sadly but oh well. And I wasn't super funny when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. Oh well. 

Ya missionary work here in Wiener Neustadt is really awesome. We are super busy for the next week. Our week is almost full. So it's a really good sign. 

I Love you

Elder Devon Kinghorn

January 7, 2013

Guten tag jader!!

Hoffentlich alles gute dort in Amerika. Hier in Österreich ist leben wunderschön. Ich Liebe alle die wunderbare Leute, die in Wiener Neustadt wohnen. Haha ok now I'm done with German. This past week has been really fun. We set a baptismal date with a girl.  She reads a little of the Book of Mormon every day. She has so many questions. It's awesome. 

My new companion came and he’s a ton of fun and is super funny.  Yesterday I was on the floor laughing.  He was also the first German speaking missionary to sleep in Italy.  He opened that area.  It's a city called Brixon. Um ya his pictures of Innbruck were the prettiest pictures I've ever seen. I wonder if I'll ever serve there. It is a lot of fun here in Wiener Neustadtand.

We had two awesome lessons yesterday and spent forever doing weekly planning on Friday. But that's expected. It always takes 2 to 3 hours. It is really uhh, I can't think of the word. But imagine me planning for 2 or 3 hours. It is really gaaaaa!!! But we are supposed to do it so we plan every week. 

And we have a giant umbrella we call it the condor. We were walking and it was huge. It was stormy and windy. My companion almost died, but I was using the windproof tank umbrella and it had no problem. I could go through a hurricane with it, whereas the condor almost died in that little tropical storm. 

We also have a few new people who have a good chance of becoming investigators.

I have to go, we are going to Schönbrunn today. 

I Love you

Elder Devon Kinghorn