December 9, 2013

Dear family,

Well we are stuck between a rock and a hard place with S. We met with her on Friday. B drove us the eternity to get over there. And it was awesome. We went over the first half of the plan of salvation. And she believes all of it. She is so ready to receive the gospel. So we got everything set up for her to come to church on Sunday. The W. family went to pick her up and she was coming to church. Then about 10 miles from home she got a panic attack. But she just found out she is horrified to ride in cars. She can't do it. There is absolutely no way she can get to church on Sunday without a car. No train. No bus. The only way to do it is to walk 5 miles to the closest train station. With a baby in winter. That shouldn't happen. Too dangerous. So that is our terrible story. We have no idea what we should do. And then we don't know how she got home yesterday. She wouldn't get in the car to drive home.Then last week we met with M. He really changed a lot in the past few weeks. We gave him a break so he would have time to think. In the past 3 weeks he has really done that. Last Tuesday he prayed to God. He really wanted to get baptized by the end of the year. He was willing to do anything. Then what happened? On Friday he got permission to get baptized. God was just waiting for him to really want it. The waiting was really good for him. It made him put his priorities straight. God really knows better than us. So now he just has to meet with the stake president. The baptismal date is set for the 21st but will be pushed back if need. But I think it will work. So M. is going to go to Vienna to get baptized by Elder Abbott. So sadly I won't be there. But as long as he gets baptized, that's the important part. God knows if he is completely ready. The stake president has the final say. And I know he'll use correct judgment. 

The Ls haven't been answering. So we decided just to go over. Saturday we went hoping they would be there. It's the only bus that goes all day so we needed them to be home, or else we would have to walk 12 km to the next train station. That would have sucked, But they were home. Yay. So they wanted to take us to S. for the Christmas market. So we went and it was cool. Then we went home and went to bed. So, it was a success. We didn't have to walk 12 km to Simbach from Tann. Then they didn't come to church. That was a bummer.

This past week was much better than the previous. Things just went better. They are still rough. Meeting with Germans in December is basically impossible. But we make things work.

That was crazy race down in St. George. Luckily it hasn't been terrible here yet. No real snow. But German winters start later and end later. So I'm expecting that. Our job here is to shovel the church parking lot. Luckily it isn't that big. It's like our driveway.

Yup. I'll do St. George 2014. I'm already on track. I've lost about 14 pounds in the last 2 transfers, down to like 167 in the morning. It will be faster if I get down to like 160. Less body fat= faster runner. Simple math.

We are going to watch the Christmas devotional twice. Once for a mission activity in 2 weeks and once right before Christmas at church. So that will be fun. Hear it in English then in German. I'm excited to see what's in store. But you already know I'm guessing you watched it last night.

That was our week. Well the highlights of last week.

I Love you

Elder Kinghorn