April 22, 2013

Dear Family

Well this week was great. We worked really hard. And things did not go according to our plans, but oh well. So we had 5 lessons this week, with 6 or 7 that fell out( one was just come by and we can talk but he didn't want to when we got there, that's the 7th). But we did do a lot of contacting. And luckily our super contacting days were super nice weather. God didn't want us to be miserable in the rain. Thankfully. I don't even know how many doors and people on the street we talked to. But oh well we tried our best. And that's what matters. 

Also on Tuesday we had interviews with President. Our apartment was running low on Book of Mormons, so we ordered a lot in assorted languages-2 boxes of German, 1 box of English, then who knows what else. It was more than what the Visitors Centers have on display to show off how cool they are. This would be impossible to carry by hand, so we brought my suitcase to fill it full. One of the wheels already kind of died, so I was like oh whatever, kind of expecting it to die. So, we fill it full of books (literally full) and start taking it from Stuttgart back to Ulm. By the time we get to the apartment the wheels are ground down to the point where it's pretty much just dragging. From now on in my mission I'll just drag one of the suitcases every transfer. But on the bright side that's less weight when It gets weighed on the airplane in one year. 

The guy who called last week, O., he has been reading the Book of Mormon and now he has read 200 pages of it. That's quite a bit. We are setting up an appointment today because he gets his schedule Sunday nights. Yup and then R. is doing great. His baptismal date was pushed back till the 25th of May. (also the same as someone in Wiener Neustadt that I worked a lot with C. It's May instead of August) but he came to church on Sunday and loved it. After church he said, "Mein Nachbar wurde sagen das war der Hammer!" (My neighbor would say that's the hammer meaning super-cool.) And we are meeting tomorrow and hopefully another day this week. And the other self referral from last week fell out. We are trying to meet with her but it isn't working out so well for us. Hopefully it works.

So we haven't really been to any museums. But the BMW is in Munich, so too far away. And pictures, well I've taken some. But not a ton. Sorry. I'll do better with it. And the giant church is helpful when we get lost. We just look and see where it is then we aren't lost anymore haha.

It is true how much God works with people. As missionaries we don't do much. God does 100% of the work. Ok, not 100 but 99.9999999% and we just do a little bit in God’s name. That's something I've really learned is that god really looks out for us, his children. 

I Love you.
Elder Kinghorn

April 15, 2013

Dear Everyone.

So this week has been really cool. First of all, R’s  we pushed his baptismal date back a month. He just needs more time to get ready. He is really progressing and will get there, just needs time. We are meeting with him again on Thursday. (German culture meeting twice a week is a ton.) So he called the church and wanted us to come by. Which never happens. Like it happens to missionaries once on their mission. Most of the time never.

But last week someone else called the church. She is from Russia or Ukraine(her accent) and we are going by on Wednesday for a lesson with her and her daughter. They saw the website and wanted to hear more from us. So that's two times in a transfer. It gets crazier. 

So earlier today as we were buying groceries, a member called us and someone had called the church again to meet with us. So of course we were thinking, “Holy cow this is nuts” He said come by Monday or Friday, so we went thinking we didn't have much planned for Pday. So we went and met with him not too long ago. He is like 80 and has tons of religious stuff and music stuff. To get his phone number I called him and smoke on the water started playing. It was way funny. He also had an apocolipta album. I didn't see the others. But still it was great. He had a Book of Mormon about 40 years ago but moved and lost it in moving along with a lot of other books. So he wanted to get the best books back and wanted a Book of Mormon. It was so exciting to hear that. So we are going back next week. He said for us to call next week because he doesn't know his plan yet. 

Oh and on Saturday we had a finding day with Göpingen and Ellwangen. So we were in Göpingen's area and they asked who wants to go here. So I said sure, and we went there. We had for about 3 hours of finding planned. In the first hour we found 3 people who had interest to hear more. And then we doored this one house. And this guy comes to the door on his phone, probably 25 years old. So I'm thinking “oh dang”. Oh well. So I tell him our message is about families and how we can live forever. He said, “Oh I do too, you're Mormons right?” We say ya and he lets us in. It was so cool. He is from the apostolic (I can't remember the name in english) something church. His wife was there. So we talked for a while and they gave us lunch. They were so nice. It was so great. So they gave us their card and want us (the sisters) to come back or call or whatever. Then we met up with the other missionaries and told them what happened.  They were excited for us. Then we went to the center of the city for an hour and a half to try to find more people. And I think every person there had no time to talk to us. Or at least that's what they said.

When you said If I had done some sight seeing I thought no. Then I realized ya, I have. It's way cool here. We take trains through really cool places all the time. We are just immune to it. Like Stuttgart train station, you'd be saying how cool it is. And for us it's just another place. Really the sights are cool but the people are way cooler. That's something that nobody realizes before they go on a mission. How little it matters where you go for how great your mission is. Its really all about the people. Ya, I guess having a giant church is cool, but it's not as cool as just talking with people. 

The work here is really starting to accelerate. This week we have I don't even know how many lessons planned. We already had one today and we have one more tonight. So our Pday was cut short by about 3 hours. Oh well. That's the least of our worries isn't it? Then we have stuff every day just packed. It's exciting. Saturday we have 3 less active lessons. So this will be great. 

And I now that it's warm there are really two things I miss. Golf and wakeboarding. It was so cold here recently. And now it's finally summer. There are no clouds and it's just sunny and warm. Great day to wakeboard or golf. 

Love Elder D. Kinghorn

April 8, 2013

Dear Family,

This week has been awesome. Last Thursday and Friday there was a conference meeting thing in München. I saw Elder Hyatt there, and all of my last companions except for Elder B. he is home now. But was such a great time. We learned so much on how to be better missionaries and how to help the other missionaries that we work with. 

General conference was amazing. Sadly we have as of now only watched 3 sessions. The other two we missed because of, well, the weird times. So we have to watch them sometime later. We learned so much, but the best part was we had someone named Frau M. (no idea how to spell her name) She is a referral from someone. Well almost. She hasn't met with us yet. I don't think she quite understands that's what we do as missionaries. But we were in Ellwangen for conference and she sat next to me. I could totally feel that she was loving it. Then afterwards we showed her the baptismal font and she was like, whoa this is cool. And do you baptize adult? But then she said, “Oh I've already been baptized when I was a baby”.... So we have to work on that. But I can totally see her getting baptized one day. She loves the church and wants to come every Sunday to church. Oh and on the way back from Ellwangen we had a long drive. But before our drive our tire was flat-with no spare....... So that took quite a while to fix and get back in order. 

Last week I was on an austausch (split) with Elder P (the one Elder Hyatt trained) and we found 5 potentials in one day I think. So that's just awesome. One of them we had the feeling would get baptized. So on Saturday we took the really long tram to go see him and he said basically no. So that was a heart breaker. But I think he'll get baptized one day with his whole family.

I Love you family

Elder Devon Kinghorn

Easter- April 1, 2013

Dear Family

So our investigators are making slow progress. R. we had another lesson with him. (He cancelled the first one last week so we only had one). We watched the restoration film with him and he really enjoyed it. Also we found this awesome Romanian lady. She speaks really good english and german so the language isn't a problem. She is really nice.

So this past week was Easter. In Germany that means no school for two weeks.  Easter is quite good here.  The B. Family had us over yesterday. We had this awesome fondue. Instead of cheese or oil we used chicken broth, well similar to it. So it tastes really good with strips of chicken or shrimp or mushrooms. You should try it out soon. (Cheese fondue is just unbeatable though.)  I learned how to make it, so it will be great. They are way cool with 4 kids. One of which is a super happy 8 month old baby. He just smiles and laughs all day without having a desire to crawl. So we had fondue together then a few rounds of Uno (I've played a lot of Uno on my mission), then a spiritual thought about the resurrection, then we were on our way. Oh ya, and today is also a holiday. Every single store is closed. Literally every store. Even the Turkish imbiss (snack) stands are closed. 

We went running this morning. (The first time in quite a while for me. Two transfers ago with Elder W we ran to the church, played ping pong then ran home). We ran to the munster (giant church), around it and back and there was absolutely nobody. We passed 3 people and we were in the busiest part of town. 

Ok so this past week has been freezing cold in Ulm. Like really, really cold! And everyone is expecting warm weather. So everyone has been getting sick. Our branch president got sick. Half of the ward is sick. And everyone who said they'd come to church is sick at the moment. It was really sad. Literally everyone was sick. And Friday morning I felt pretty bad, but we had an appointment at 5. So we decided to take half of the day off to rest so I'd get better. But at 2 pm C. called us and told us she was sick so we couldn't come. So everyone was sick. I got it from the zone leader on an austausch (exchange) and then Saturday Elder F. (his companion) got really bad and almost died (not really). but thought we were talking about stuff when we really weren't. So we stayed in Saturday too. It was really boring. I almost died. And during the day everyone cancelled to come to church. Bummer, and on Easter Sunday too! 

Elder F. and I are getting along great. Maybe a bit too well. So we'll have to work to make sure we don't get distracted. 

So in Sigmaringen lives A. He was baptized 2 years ago. We do service with him. And it's a sweet city. You'd enjoy it. Actually I've just walked through it but it has a cool castle in the middle. We visit a special needs kid named E. and he is awesome. One on one is cooler than a dance I think. So we are his friend and he loves missionaries. His mom lives too far away to be able to visit him that often. 

I love you

Elder Kinghorn

March 25, 2013

Dear Family

Well this last week a lot of cool things have happened. Last Monday we got a call from someone who had received a Book of Mormon 20 years ago in Switzerland. He has read from it in the past and now he wants to meet with us. So we committed him to baptism and he agreed on the 28th of April to get baptized. Miracles are happening here in Germany. This mission is such a great mission. So Jason, just remember miracles happen, and try to make them happen. 

I'm not so sure if I shared the story about the chocolate last week so I'll do that now.  So two weeks ago we had a lesson with Herr P. (the 80 year old man who ran 40k on Thursday for fun) and he always gives us a snack to eat. So this time he had a plate with some chocolates on it.  Elder B. and I reach to grab one and Elder B. pops one in his mouth and I was about to when Elder B. motions not to eat it. I was super confused. Then I remembered a funny story a senior missionary told me about her giving the missionaries alcoholic chocolate when she was investigating the church. But I knew that Herr P. hates alcohol so I asked him what was inside. He said nougat (hazelnut) so I was like ok and bite half of it. Then before I know it there is this stinging taste on my tongue and I'm sitting there not knowing what to do with my mouth- half open, half way between spitting it out and looking professional (which isn't working at all),  So I decide the only thing to do is swallow it. It was awful. Then Herr P. felt terrible because he knew we aren't supposed to drink alcohol. We looked at the package and it said Kirsch wasser. Which is some type of liquor. It tastes terrible. 

That's funny about the film (a film was made with all of the kids from his brothers graduating class that are serving missions). Some other school already did that. 

And don't worry about Jason being gone. It goes by pretty fast. Sadly, I'm almost half way done. Mothers day will be my half year mark. That's also pretty nice that Jason can be able to call home on Mothers Day. 

Salzburg was well idk, we got some food met some other missionaries then went on our way. It doesn't seem super special to me. I’ve been living here for 8 months now. But a really cool city you should look up is Sigmaringen. A member lives there and we go down every couple of weeks. Cool things that we see or do on our mission always involve people. When I go home my favorite memories that I have will be from the people. There is no substitution to the people. That's just how it is. People here are awesome!

So now Elder B. is no longer a missionary. He served an honorable 2 years and is now doing something in England. I now have Elder F. as a companion. He is from Utah and has been on a mission 3 months less than me. So for the first time my companion is younger than me. That's a first. He is way excited to be here. He was in Linz, Austria before here. So we both love Austria. We enjoy it together. We have some awesome goals. We believe we can get 3 baptisms in the next 2 transfers. (I think I'll be here for 2 more transfers but we'll see what really happens) It is a difficult goal, but I'm sure it's possible. There are so many people here who are prepared to receive the gospel of Jesus christ and we just have find them.

Love Elder Kinghorn

There and back again, A missionary tale by Elder Kinghorn or Baptism and Wedding in Wiener Neustadt)

Dear Family (and Rachel because this is now legal),

This last weekend I spent a ton of time on trains. We started our journey at 9:25 am on Friday. We pulled into Wiener Neustadt at 8:00 pm. We did have a 2 hour layover in Salzburg, which was cool. We had lunch with some missionaries and then got back on our way, but we were kind of lost. Our phone didn't work in Austria. So, we had no keys and no phone at night in Austria. So of course we walked over to the P's to see if we could use their phone. S. was so excited to see us. Well me (Elder Kinghorn had been there for 5 months). J was gone picking people up from the airport. 

Then we got a hold of Elder W. and Elder S. It was great to see them. We met them at bahnhof a quarter to nine. Then we walked home. We had some dinner (ice cream) and then went to bed.... but fell asleep a bit later. 

Saturday morning rolled around and we walked over to where the wedding would be. We opened the door and I saw lots of people speaking Spanish. I saw J and just gave him a huge hug. It was so great to be able to see him again. He had missed me I could tell. Then I saw S and P. Of course giving them hugs too. Then G was there and he was so excited for this day. It was awesome. Then The P kids saw me and Michele (the 1.5 year old) just ran to me and hugged my legs. Then the wedding was about to start so we watched it. It was German with Spanish translations. After the wedding I felt really bad not giving A. (the bride) a hug. So I did. ( I don't hug everyone, A. was actually the first girl but it was needed to be shared.) 

Then we went to the church for a lunch type thing -whatever it's called. We had pizza. and it was great to be able to see everyone again. Ok most of the ward wasn't there because it was ward temple week. But the T’s were there and E. and B, who I wanted to see again. E. just received her endowment last week. She was so excited for the temple. And B. was quite sad that I wasn't able to stay longer. And the T’s are the T’s, and everyone loves them. 

Then we did the baptism pictures and I felt like I was one of the missionaries that really helped G come closer to baptism. Then the baptism started and it was Spanish with German translations. Then G and J went into the water and G. was baptized. It was such an amazing experience. The spirit was so strong. I loved it. But sadly we had to leave like right then. Our train was leaving in 20 minutes. If we missed the 4:30 train we wouldn't be able to get home that day. So we were driven to bahnhof and started our long journey home arriving at 1 am. 

Church was quite different. It was Elder B’s last sunday as a missionary. The ward sang ‘God Be With You Till We Meet Again’. It was quite sad. His farewell as a missionary. He is a good missionary and will do a lot of good when he gets home.

That's crazy that you have two sons out on missions now. This is where God wants us to be. Mom, I know you're going to go into mild depression for the next few weeks. But it's not bad- you get to talk to us in just a few weeks. On Mothers Day. And look in the scriptures. When the sons of Mosiah return and see each other, look at how happy they were. Missions are amazing places to be. In 2 years when you see Jason again you will have the same joy that the sons of Mosiah had. Ya, Jason is your little goofball of a son. But he is destined to be an amazing missionary helping innumerable amounts of people. Jason might get homesick but I'll send him a package soon with something random in it. What do you think I should put in it? I can be your package boy for Jason.

Oh, I've played that game before (the name game).  Except it was in German. It would be a good language study game. I learned a ton of really random words. Like there is a word for the cross country skiing tracks. You know, the two grooves in the snow. But I forgot what it was.

I Love you
Elder Devon Kinghorn

March 11, 2013

Dear Family,

Last week we had zone conference. It was really great. We learned quite a bit of how to work with members better. Also last week 4 of our appointments fell out. So that was pretty rough. But oh well. On Saturday we had a cleaning day. The whole mission was supposed to spend the whole day cleaning. But we had a ward activity in the morning, which was soccer. So we went and played soccer. I'm quite bad at it. Well, really bad compared to everyone else here. That was different. 

Last week I had an exchange with Elder R. He is the one from the MTC. We went to Ellwangen and found some really cool people. One of them lives in Passau so we were able to give his information to the office as a referral. He had quite a bit of potential I think. 

This week is going to be awesome. Friday we are taking a train to Wiener Neustadt to go see G's baptism and wedding. It will be so cool. And also it will be a ton of trains. To come back to Ulm, Saturday at 4:30 we have a train going to Wien. Then we get to Ulm at 1:00 am.  It will be quite a long day of trains. But I'm used to that now. 

Language update- I am pretty good at talking about whatever in German. I have learned the most of my German talking with people. I can understand everything and it's not just church German. So it's coming along great. Have fun being empty-nesters. It is a great party. Oh. and I know about the English-German relationship (question about the show Top Gear) . My companion is very English. And loves Top Gear. It's just fun and games to them, but they all make the jokes anyways

I Love you

Elder Devon Kinghorn