January 30, 2012

Dear Family,
 
I received Sister Bray's cookies, and finished them off in about 2 days -- they were delicious.

Training is an interesting experience.  I really like my new companion.  His name is Elder Nielson and he's from Syracuse, Utah.  He is a really good learner and has grown a lot already, even though he's only been here less than a week.  Unfortunately, the MTC didn't do a very good job teaching him Spanish.  I was running through a lot of the activities they did with me when I was there that really helped prepare me for the mission field, and they seem to have done away with those things.  His Spanish is already getting a lot better.  On the first day he wasn't even conjugating words because, supposedly, they never corrected him in the MTC!!!  We have had some really effective studies and practices which have helped us both a lot.  He has a great desire to participate in the lessons despite the Spanish barrier.

It is a lot of work at times being a trainer, especially in Spanish work because you are kind of on your own when it comes to understanding.  I remember when I first came here, I couldn't understand a word people would say to me.  My ear started to really become accustomed to hearing Spanish by about 6 months in.  I'm sure that's where the "interpretation of tongues" comes into play.  We are going to start praying for that more, and we will see a difference.

We had a wierd situation with Gabriel last night regarding the baptism of three members of his family on the 4th.  Gabriel called and said he wasn't sure about baptizing his wife, but he's definitely going to baptize his two daughters.  I know he and his wife had had problems awhile back, but since they started coming to church, things had been getting a lot better.  I still really don't understand the entire situation but apparently his wife is always changing her mind back and forth, and Gabriel wants her to be set on the decision.  He told us to set up an appointment and just talk to her, so we're going to try and do that tonight.

We've been finding people to teach but we don't have any real "golden" ones at this point.  We invited a bunch to church and had 6 people there, but two other families didn't come.  We are talking to a lot of people and the Lord is blessing our efforts.  And we actually have this really awesome potential investigator that came to church with a member -- she supposedly wants to get baptized!  We've scheduled a lesson with her this week and are planning to set a date. 

Something funny happened at the bike shop today.  While Elder Nielson was getting a new bike, our Zone Leader, Elder Hiatt, was putting a bike back under a rack when his head hit the tire of a bike on the top rack, sending $15,000 worth of roadbikes tumbling over like dominoes.  Luckily nothing broke and the store owner made it seem like it happens often.  

I still haven't had the chance to make the carmelized onion pizza but I will let you know when I do.  Hope all is well in NC.
 
Love,

Elder Kinney
 
PS - Did Romney take Florida???  (Elder Kinney worked on the Romney campaign four years ago!)