March 28, 2011

Dear Family,
 

This week felt like it went by so fast.  I have a ton of stuff that I need to get done today so I want to apologize in advance for the brevity of this letter.  Jose has been it Tucson all week so we weren't able to teach him the lesson we planned, but we should be able to set a date with him during our next appointment.  Also he should be going to Young Mens on Wednesday night now that he is back.

One of the most interesting things that happened this week was that we found a guy named Roberto in the Grovers Apartments (photo of Grovers Apartments attached).  He is a good investigator and when we teach him he is super attentive and tries hard to think about and answer our questions.  He is also a bit above average in his critical thinking and reading comprehension skills because he can make the connections we are trying to get across in his own mind when we read scriptures and such.  For example, he understood the need for a restoration after we taught Christ's ministry among the Jews and the great apostasy.  (Something I am constantly trying to improve is my ability to teach clearly using short powerful truths and simple examples.  Unfortunately, many people we teach haven't been educated very well so I need to present the doctrine as if I were talking to a child and let the Spirit do the teaching).  Anyway, he came to church on Sunday and said he liked it, but I could tell he was a little bored at times.  He is going to be in New Mexico for a few days, so we'll see if he reads and how he feels about everything.  Hopefully, we can set a baptismal date with him.  One of the real tests for us will be how to teach the Atonement since he also told us he is gay.  When he first came out and told us he was gay, he was talking about why the church he was born into didn't accept him.  We told him that in the Lord's eyes, He views homosexuality as a sin, by which he didn't seem taken back or offended, but that we accept anyone in our church, no matter what their background, as long as they want to develop their relationship with God and Christ.

One other cool experience really quick.  We got a call on Friday from a black member named Langdon, who got our number from the mission office.  He was looking for Spanish-speaking Elders who could help him give a blessing to one of his predominantly Spanish-speaking clients who was very sick in the hospital.  Of course, we agreed to go and help him out.  When we got to the hospital we met Langdon, and he introduced us to his client, Maria, whom he had clearly developed a relationship with and was very concerned for her health.  He served a mission in Brazil so his Portuguese background had helped him learn a bit of Spanish.  Maria had been in the hospital for the past two months because she suddenly developed a blood disease that the doctors couldn't figure out.  She has very low blood platelets and her body is rejecting the medication.  It was actually pretty scary because she didn't look well and her outcome really isn't looking very good.  I did the anointing part and Elder Pierson gave her the blessing.  Before the blessing I wanted to explain the Priesthood a little bit, but Elder Pierson told me we should just proceed with the blessing.  Unfortunately, when Langdon, Elder Pierson and I were giving the blessing, Maria's sister who was also present, confused about why our hands were on Maria's head, decided to join in.  So when I opened my eyes, I noticed her hands there and thought it probably would have been good to explain the Priesthood.  I'm sure it doesn't negate the blessing but the real problem is they thought (most likely) it was no more than a prayer and don't understand the importance of the Priesthood.  We are planning on stopping by at the beginning of April to teach her since she is just sitting in her hospital room all day, every day.  We would like to go this week, but we don't have enough miles left on the car, and the hospital is kind of far away.

Anyway, these are some cool things happening with me.  I hope everything is going well at home and hopefully by next week I will have some more baptismal dates.

 

Love,

 

Elder Kinney  

March 21, 2011

Dear Family,
 
Today Elder Pierson and I went on a 20-mile bike ride to the mission home for a little bit of exercise and also to pick up a copy of the Book of Mormon in Portuguese for one of our investigators, Eddie.  He is the one that lives on the horse ranch in Scottsdale who wants to be baptized but needs to wait until his wife gets her immigration papers and they can get married.  He speaks and reads in Spanish and Portuguese but we offered to get him one in his native language.  Hopefully, it will help him to read more often and have some powerful spiritual experiences.  He is literally the coolest, most prepared investigator ever.  He works so hard and is always happy no matter what happens.  He and his wife are so grateful for us and the Book of Mormon.  His wife, Antonia and his step-son Jose love the Book of Mormon and read it a ton.  Jose is eligible for baptism and knows it is the right thing to do but feels like he is still unprepared to take that step.

I have noticed a lot of investigators have a problem with making that decision because they feel it is such a daunting and massive change.  Many say that they need to know more to be able to take that step when they already know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I know it definitely is a huge change but that it is also for the better.  One thing the scriptures mention regarding baptism is that it is the door by which we enter the "straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life."  If we enter a door to anything, we will never know entirely what is on the other side.  Luckily, God has provided us with a way to know that this "door", baptism, which we are all required to enter, will lead to eternal happiness and that there are no risks involved.  The way we can know this is the right path is through receiving a testimony of the Book of Mormon from the Holy Spirit.  I am positive that even the living Prophet, who has definitely entered this door, is still learning and experiencing the never-ending abundance of blessings that lie on the other side.  When Elder Ralphs and I set a baptismal date with Tania, we needed to help her understand she will never know everything in this life.  God had answered her prayers and given her the answer that the Book of Mormon is true and that baptism is an essential step in her eternal progression.

Elder Pierson and I have prayerfully planned a lesson for Jose so that we can set a baptismal date with him.  I really like what Alma said to those he challenged to be baptized in Chapter 18 of Mosiah*.  I plan on using that to help Jose in the next lesson we have with him.

We haven't had as many baptisms as we would have liked, but I feel the month of April will be a month of success.  We have found some great people this past week, including this woman named Ruth who was baptized when she was 12 but has been inactive ever since she moved to the United States over 15 years ago.  She lives with her boyfriend and her four daughters.  We invited her to come to church on Sunday and she loved it so much.  She brought her 11-year-old daughter who loved it as well.  Ruth has already told us she wants her daughters to be baptized, so there will be success there.  Her boyfriend accepted our message generally well, but Elder Pierson and I both think he feels guilty about something.  We plan on teaching him a powerful lesson on the Atonement.  Once he feels the Spirit and the cleansing power of Jesus Christ's sacrifice, he will be more willing to make and keep commitments.

I had a question I wanted to ask Dad, he being a former member of the Catholic church.  Did you worship idols or pray to the Virgin Mary?  I assume that you probably did but I'm not sure to what extent, because I feel Hispanic Catholics take it to another level with all of their saints and virgins they pray too (especially the Virgin of Guadeloupe).  Idol worship like that is seriously something that baffles me and is an issue that we constantly need to address with people.  I am so surprised by it because the Bible couldn't be any clearer than what is written in Exodus 20:3-5**.  It specifically says not to bow down or serve anything else but Him, the creator of everything.

This is one of the most obvious perversions of the true church of God which Christ established.  We often explain to those who believe in and pray to saints that we believe they were all great people who were good examples to us, but the reason they were so great is because they got their power from God though obedience to his commandments.  No one in the Bible worshiped or prayed to the Prophets that preceded them.  It is very frustrating for me because there are people who just can't get over praying to the Virgin Mary.  Even in the Bible, in Luke 11:27-28***, a woman in the crowd of people Jesus was teaching says that blessed be the womb of the woman that bore Jesus.  Jesus says, "Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."  I have used that numerous times and they literally can't refute it, but nevertheless continue to pray to Mary.  I know it's definitely something that has to be done with love because that's how these people have been raised.  You just need to always follow the Spirit and never try to bible-bash with people,

1. because there is almost always another verse in the Bible that can be whipped out (one of the reasons why there are hundreds of different faiths based solely on the Bible), and
2. because the spirit of contention is of the devil and the Spirit can't teach people when there is contention. 

 Dad, maybe if you could give me some thoughts on how you viewed the Virgin Mary as a member of the Catholic Church it may help me.
Anyway, thank you for all of you prayers in my behalf.  I hope all is well back home.
 
Love,
 
Elder Kinney
 
PS - I will send pictures next week

*Mosiah Chapter 18

Alma preaches in private—He sets forth the covenant of baptism and baptizes at the waters of Mormon—He organizes the Church of Christ and ordains priests—They support themselves and teach the people—Alma and his people flee from King Noah into the wilderness. About 147–145 B.C.

 1 And now, it came to pass that Alma, who had fled from the servants of king Noah, ^arepented of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi—

 2 Yea, concerning that which was to come, and also concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the ^aredemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and ^bdeath of Christ, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven.

 3 And as many as would hear his word he did teach. And he taught them privately, that it might not come to the knowledge of the king. And many did believe his words.

 4 And it came to pass that as many as did believe him did go forth to a ^aplace which was called Mormon, having received its name from the king, being in the ^bborders of the land having been infested, by times or at seasons, by wild beasts.

 5 Now, there was in Mormon a fountain of pure water, and Alma resorted thither, there being near the water a thicket of small trees, where he did hide himself in the daytime from the searches of the king.

 6 And it came to pass that as many as believed him went thither to hear his words.

 7 And it came to pass after many days there were a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon, to hear the words of Alma. Yea, all were gathered together that believed on his word, to hear him. And he did ^ateach them, and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord.

 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are ^adesirous to come into the ^bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as ^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the ^dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being ^abaptized in the ^bname of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a ^ccovenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

 11 And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.

 12 And now it came to pass that Alma took Helam, he being one of the first, and went and stood forth in the water, and cried, saying: O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that he may do this work with holiness of heart.

 13 And when he had said these words, the ^aSpirit of the Lord was upon him, and he said: Helam, I baptize thee, having ^bauthority from the Almighty God, as a testimony that ye have entered into a ^ccovenant to serve him until you are dead as to the mortal body; and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you; and may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the ^dfoundation of the world.

 14 And after Alma had said these words, both Alma and Helam were ^aburied in the water; and they arose and came forth out of the water rejoicing, being filled with the Spirit.

 15 And again, Alma took another, and went forth a second time into the water, and baptized him according to the first, only he did not bury ^ahimself again in the water.

 16 And after this manner he did baptize every one that went forth to the place of Mormon; and they were in number about two hundred and four souls; yea, and they were ^abaptized in the waters of Mormon, and were filled with the ^bgrace of God.

 17 And they were called the church of God, or the ^achurch of Christ, from that time forward. And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church.

 18 And it came to pass that Alma, having ^aauthority from God, ^bordained priests; even one priest to every fifty of their number did he ordain to preach unto them, and to ^cteach them concerning the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

 19 And he commanded them that ^athey should ^bteach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets.

 20 Yea, even he commanded them that they should ^apreach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people.

 21 And he commanded them that there should be no ^acontention one with another, but that they should look forward with ^bone eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts ^cknit together in unity and in love one towards another.

 22 And thus he commanded them to preach. And thus they became the ^achildren of God.

 23 And he commanded them that they should observe the ^asabbath day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God.

 24 And he also commanded them that the priests whom he had ordained ^ashould ^blabor with their own hands for their support.

 25 And there was ^aone day in every week that was set apart that they should ^bgather themselves together to teach the people, and to worship the Lord their God, and also, as often as it was in their power, to ^cassemble themselves together.

 26 And the priests were not to depend upon the people for their support; but for their labor they were to receive the ^agrace of God, that they might wax strong in the Spirit, having the ^bknowledge of God, that they might teach with power and authority from God.

 27 And again Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, ^aevery one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given.

 28 And thus they should impart of their ^asubstance of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul.

 29 And this he said unto them, having been commanded of God; and they did ^awalk uprightly before God, imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants.

 30 And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the ^awaters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall ^bsing to his praise forever.

 31 And these things were done in the ^aborders of the land, that they might not come to the knowledge of the king.

 32 But behold, it came to pass that the king, having discovered a movement among the people, sent his servants to watch them. Therefore on the day that they were assembling themselves together to hear the word of the Lord they were discovered unto the king.

 33 And now the king said that Alma was stirring up the people to rebellion against him; therefore he sent his ^aarmy to destroy them.

 34 And it came to pass that Alma and the people of the Lord were ^aapprised of the coming of the king’s army; therefore they took their tents and their families and ^bdeparted into the wilderness.

 35 And they were in number about ^afour hundred and fifty souls.

**Exodus Chapter 20

 3 Thou shalt have ^ano other ^bgods before me.

 4 Thou shalt ^anot make unto thee any ^bgraven ^cimage, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

 5 Thou shalt not ^abow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a ^bjealous God, ^cvisiting the ^diniquity of the ^efathers upon the ^fchildren unto the third and fourth generation of them that ^ghate me;

***Luke Chapter 11

27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, ^aBlessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

 28 But he said, Yea rather, ^ablessed are they that hear the word of God, and ^bkeep it.

March 14, 2011

Dear Family,

I can't believe I am 20 years old right now.  I don't feel like it, and I for sure don't look like it.  I may be able to grow a goatee a little faster than I used to, but I still look like I am 16.  Nevertheless, I am so grateful to be here in Arizona serving the Lord at this point in my life.  I have learned and grown so much since being on a mission and there is still a lot I want to accomplish.  I am trying my hardest to be the best missionary I can be, and the Lord is constantly revealing my weaknesses to me so I can improve.  I am looking forward to serving the Lord 24/7 for this entire year of my life.  It may be an opportunity that I will never have again.  Thank you for everything that you have taught me and for all the help you have given me so I can be where I am today.

You definitely need to tell me when the people in the grade below me start to get their mission calls.  I did get the birthday package and the letter Dad sent me from Austin.  Thank you very much.  This morning when I woke up, Elder Tuttle, one of my roommates, had made a cake and blown up all of the balloons, so that was pretty nice.

Anyway, to answer your questions . . . Sundays are usually very similar to regular days aside from the fact that we attend church and take the sacrament.  We used to meet with the leaders in our Branch for Ward Correlation every Sunday, but supposedly the new leadership manual says we shouldn't and our Branch President told us it isn't effective.  What's supposed to happen is that we correlate with our Ward Mission Leader during the week and then he is supposed to go and represent our two companionships in the meeting.  Unfortunately, our Ward Mission Leader is a 28-year-old guy who is married but doesn't have any kids yet, so he still has a "life", I guess you would say.  Our Branch President is a really great and smart guy (he's a lawyer) so he was very well aware of the situation, and he called a new Ward Mission Leader.  He name is Hermana Mora's (our Ward Missionary's husband), so hopefully things will get better with this new change.

In regards to missionary work, we have some ups and downs this past week.  A lot of our investigators that were kind of progressing that we thought had a pretty good chance have been dropping pretty badly.  However, we have made some progress with Eddie's family and Jose and Xiomara.  We are hoping to get Jose, Eddies 17-year old step-son baptized this month so that he can baptize his family when they eventually receive their papers.  We also saw a really cool miracle last night too that I want to share with you.  So there is this apartment complex off of a Street called Grovers that we just call the Grovers apartments.  When I became Elder Ralph's companion those apartments hadn't been worked for awhile because supposedly it was just filled with Mexicans who loved to drink and didn't take us seriously.  Elder Ralphs and I decided to knock on all the doors, and over about a transfer and a half of time we had found some decent investigators but at the same time understood what the missionaries who abandoned it were talking about.  During this past transfer with Elder Pierson we have seen a lot of those investigators regress and he told me that he noticed how nobody takes us seriously there.  There is always garbage and beer cans everywhere, ranchero music blasting and people getting drunk.  So last night after we found one of our investigators, Arturo, hammered we went back to the car and said a prayer.  We were so frustrated, we were about ready to dust our feet off and condemn the place.  We prayed that God would do something so that these people would understand our purpose and take us seriously.  As soon as we got out of the car we found this guy Jose unloading groceries from his car and offered to help him.  We had never met him before and had just recently moved into the apartments there.  We went into his house and met his 2-year-old son and pregnant wife.  We shared the message of the restoration with them and testified how it blesses families.  They seemed very interested in some of the things that we said and told us they would read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  We both felt like the Lord had answered our prayer and let us know that it wasn't time to give up on the Grovers apartments.  It is times like these that make me love being a missionary.

I have to go now because we have a Zone activity, but I hope that all is well in NC.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  I miss you.

Love,

Elder Kinney

March 7, 2011

Dear Family,

I guess that I forgot to mention last time that the First Presidency, in an effort to further unify all of the missions in the world, changed p-day to Monday.  So now everyone in the world has p-day on Monday, according to the information I received from my leaders.

First, let me answer the questions you asked me in your emails. I did receive the Predicad Mi Evangelios (Preach My Gospel manuals) and they are super awesome.  I gave one to my comp and I have already started studying from the other one.  I take it around with me as I go around proselytizing so I can remember stuff and apply it when I teach.  You must have done those in your office.  Thanks a ton for hooking me up with that.

I did not get the letter that was sent from Austin but I haven't checked the mail today either, maybe I got it today.  I did get Sister Bray's cookies and they were so awesome.  I sent her a thank you card a while back so I don't know why she hasn't received it yet.  I am going to write Grammy a thank-you note today and get it in the mail.

I can't believe you got to listen to Neil L. Anderson for Stake Conference!  Ever since I've been on my mission, I've never been so excited or grateful to have the opportunity to listen to the council of the General Authorities.  Their ability to speak with such power, precision and purpose, often times with nothing but a set of scriptures and some notes, amazes me.  There is a General Authority living in Arizona that talks to us every once and awhile named Elder LeSueur.  He is one of the best public speakers I have ever heard in my life.  I think he is an Area Seventy in the southwest area of the country.  I remember being like Matt and getting bored real easily during church talks but now I realize they are true, special witnesses of Jesus Christ and extraordinary examples of success, determination and love, it is much easier for me to enjoy every second of their talks.  As a matter of fact, ever since Elder Pierson got here, sometimes we will listen to old General Conference talks in the car or during studies.  I love listening to Joseph B. Wirthlin.

I can't believe that Chris got the Priesthood!! That is so awesome.  His conversion story continually amazes me and it is great to see that he is still doing well.  I still haven't gotten anything from him but an email that was like a paragraph long.  I really want to hear from him.  It is also great to hear that he is going to go to General Conference with  you.  That will be a great experience.

Before I sign off I want to share a quick miracle I saw just yesterday, as a result of fasting. So we have these two investigators named Jose and Xiomara who want to be baptized but they aren't married.  Jose really, really wants to be baptized but Xiomara won't marry him because he is currently unemployed and gets food stamps from the government.  So we decided to fast this past Sunday that he would get a job.  Keep in mind that he has been currently unemployed for more than 10 years. So we fasted and prayed and had faith that he would get a job somehow.  After church we went into the Branch President's office to give him a progress report of all of our investigators and he told us he found a job for Jose and that everything is all set up for him to get it.  I don't think that we could have received a more direct answer to our prayer, it was pretty amazing.  We are hoping that they can now get married and then baptized this month.  Anyway, that was a super sweet miracle and I am sure there are more to come as we continue to supplicate the help of the Lord with faith.

Love,

Elder Kinney

February 28, 2011

Dear Family,

This past week has been really great at some parts and kind of a bummer at others.  I met my new companion, Elder Pierson, from Raymond, Alberta Canada and he is a super awesome missionary.  He has been out on his mission for about a year and he has trained twice.  I have already learned a lot from his faith, knowledge and experience that he gained while serving a mission.

This past week has also been a learning experience for me because I kind of had to take the reins and show Elder Pierson the area.  Because of that, I was able to direct the lessons and make more of the decisions than when I was with Elder Ralphs.  He is a really awesome teacher and is so good at applying what we teach to the lives of our investigators.  For example one of our investigators, Jose Medina, (one of those marriage situations that needs to be sorted out) used to do tiling so he compared a scripture we were reading in Ephesians about Christ being the principal angle of the church to how important it is that the angles be exact in the tile business.

This past week I have really learned how to rely more on the Lord, accept His will, ask for His help, and thank Him for all of the tender mercies that He gives me.  The reason my understanding of these things has increased is because the Lord humbled me sufficiently so I could learn them.  I think I mentioned in the last letter that numbers-wise, the month of February really hasn't been the greatest month.  Saturday was the first time in this area that I didn't teach a lesson.  This drop in numbers has been really getting to me lately, partly because I can't figure out why it is happening.  We have been working really hard and trying to find people through different techniques, but a ton of people just blow us off when we have appointments.  So Saturday was a bad day for me.

This sort of "last straw" caused me and Elder Pierson to really sit down and figure out what we could do to change.  We decided to inquire of the Lord to receive revelation as a companionship on what He would have us do.  It was a very memorable moment as I felt the comfort of the Lord and new that He was aware of our concerns and also our desire to serve Him.  We felt that to reach our goals we needed to teach more towards baptism, plan effectively relying on the spirit, and to stay constantly focused on the work during proselyting hours.  That night was the night we set monthly goals for March and we set them by the Spirit more than I have ever done on my mission.

The next day, Sunday, was Stake Conference where we had the opportunity to hear from the newly called General Authority, Elder Gifford Nielsen, a former quarterback for the Texas Oilers.  We had three investigators come, which was super awesome.  After Stake Conference we went out to work and again, didn't have success until dinner.  After dinner was where the miracles started to come.  We talked to an English guy and set up an appointment with him for the English Elders, we set up a solid appointment for tonight with this lady at a member's home (which we have been trying to do for a while) and taught a solid lesson to this guy named Sergio.  It was the first time in my entire mission when I asked the question after teaching the great apostasy: "If the church Jesus Christ established had been changed, and God's children were walking in darkness, what would He do?"  And we got the answer, "He would send more prophets to lead us back".  I have been trying so hard to fulfill my purpose as a missionary and praying so hard for the Lord to help me do that and it felt great receiving an answer to my prayer.  After that lesson we thanked the Lord for the success we had that night and asked Him to help us have more faith. I am excited to work hard to reach our goals and see success for the month of March.

Love,

Elder Kinney