He's home!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
July 22, 2012
Dear Family,
I am more nervous to come home than I was when I left. I'm sure that feeling will go away as soon as I see you guys next week. Anyway, I'm not going to write much since there are a lot of things for me to do today (and I hate the drama of all this). See you next week!!!!
Love,
Elder Kinney
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
July 16, 2012
Dear Family,
I am loving being back in Catalina. A lot has happened since I've been gone but I still know a lot of the members and many were glad to see me back. Even one of my recent converts from Monterrey had moved to Catalina (Nancy Zuniga) and it was a really great feeling to see them again.
My new companions are awesome. Elder Fuentes is such a great missionary and an awesome leader despite being out for only two transfers. I am learning a lot from him and his great attitude towards everything and everyone. He is 100% Mexican but didn't speak any Spanish before the mission, but he picks it up fast because he was surrounded by it at home. Elder Broomhead is a great missionary too. He is half Dominican and half American, and like most new missionaries, was a little reserved for the first few days but is now taking the initiative to talk with people in the streets and bear his testimony. He'll be a great missionary. His Spanish is also really good for someone just leaving the MTC, and he'll pick it up really fast.
We have a lot of investigators who need a lot of teaching and we are working so hard. I'm so happy to be able to finish my mission in this area. Sometimes I forget I'm going to be home in about 2 weeks, which is a good thing because I guess it means I'm more focused on the work. On the other hand, reality is going to hit me hard when I'm on the plane or on
my way for the exit interview!!! I am trying to make these last weeks of my mission life changing and character building.
my way for the exit interview!!! I am trying to make these last weeks of my mission life changing and character building.
Dad, the Spartan race sounded like a really cool race. It doesn't surprise me you did as well as you did. You seem to have broadened the amount of physical activities you do since I left. I think it would be really fun to train and compete in things like that, though I'd probably be one of those kids passing out on the hill with the five-gallon can of rocks. I've seen similar races advertised here on billboards and street posts. I hope my school schedule will permit me to work out more while still focusing on grades and studying. I've lost about 8 pounds recently -- maybe you'll be able to tell in the pictures I sent.
Thanks for the packages, Scout cookies, and pictures. I would have loved to have been at Matt's Court of Honor. Looking at his picture and program you sent brought back some good memories that seem so long ago. Tell Matt congrats and I can't wait to see him soon!!
Love,
Elder Kinney
Love,
Elder Kinney
Monday, July 9, 2012
July 9, 2012
Dear Family,
The Mets game you went to last week sounded awesome. Would have loved to have been there. I'm glad the Mets are doing well, and I'm really glad you were able to see Travis at the fireworks too. Tell me how his homecoming talk was. I am already really nervous to give mine. I was reading over my farewell talk the other day and feel like my English has diminished significantly since I've been focusing primarily on the Spanish language
I am super happy to announce they will be sending back to the Catalina Branch in Phoenix were I will help train with another missionary that just finished his training process. I feel like I have been so blessed on my mission in terms of my areas. Even in this area, which was not as enjoyable as the other areas, we had a lot of success. I have a feeling these next three weeks are going to fly by and I'll be home in no time. The Branch has had a lot of work lately so I'm sure we will be very, very busy. I actually just went there to the baptism of the brother of one of my converts (that Elder Carrillo taught) this past weekend.
We had an awesome miracle this week. For a good while now, we've been talking to the first person we see upon leaving the house. So a couple of weeks ago we spoke with our neighbor who, after hearing about our message, she expressed her devout Catholic roots but nevertheless, said we could come by to say a prayer in her house. So we came back that next Saturday in the evening which kind of turned out to be a bad idea because her husband was absolutely plastered and controlled the conversation. BUT... I happened to catch a glimpse of one of his sons who looked extremely familiar, so I inquired as to his past experience with the church. Turns out he had attended Brian's baptism, one of our recent converts who got baptized about a month ago. So we invited him to come to mutual, which he said he had gone to before. The next day we planned to go by Brian's to tell him to make sure he invites this friend, Pedro, and when we got there Brian's mother was getting out of her car. That right there was a miracle in itself since we hadn't been able to talk to her since Brian's baptism because she is always working. So upon greeting her, she politely invites us into her house, offers us water, takes a seat and the very next thing that she says is: "yo me quiero bautizar asi como se bautizo mi hijo brian" (I want to get baptized just like my son, Brian) who was also right there sitting on the couch. So we did a quick tactful assessment of her actual desire, bore our testimonies, invited her to commit to a baptismal date and set up another appointment at the Bishop's house across the street for that Friday. She went to the appointment, accepted all of the doctrine and shared with us a dream she had received in which Christ, who looks just like he did in that famous church painting with the red robe on, signaled to her to join this church. It was just another testimony to me that this is the Lord's work and as long as we are doing all we can, the Lord prepares the elect. All of this came from just talking to Brian, who was a non-member, on my very first night in the area at mutual and setting up an appointment in the house of one of his friends. The youth are great in the area.
Another miracle is that one of the people Elder Carrillo and I found for the English Elders just got interviewed and is getting baptized this Saturday. We just saw her sitting on a curb with a sorrowful look on her face in one of the more squalid complexes of the area and decided to teach her the gospel. She was extremely receptive and so when we handed her over to the English Elders she progressed as fast as possible. I even got the chance to teach her on one of the exchanges with those missionaries (Elders Johnson and Clark). Anyway, those are a few of the miracles I've seen of late and it feels great to be apart of them. I hope all is well at home and that it cools down a bit for when I get back!!
Love,
Elder Kinney
The Mets game you went to last week sounded awesome. Would have loved to have been there. I'm glad the Mets are doing well, and I'm really glad you were able to see Travis at the fireworks too. Tell me how his homecoming talk was. I am already really nervous to give mine. I was reading over my farewell talk the other day and feel like my English has diminished significantly since I've been focusing primarily on the Spanish language
I am super happy to announce they will be sending back to the Catalina Branch in Phoenix were I will help train with another missionary that just finished his training process. I feel like I have been so blessed on my mission in terms of my areas. Even in this area, which was not as enjoyable as the other areas, we had a lot of success. I have a feeling these next three weeks are going to fly by and I'll be home in no time. The Branch has had a lot of work lately so I'm sure we will be very, very busy. I actually just went there to the baptism of the brother of one of my converts (that Elder Carrillo taught) this past weekend.
We had an awesome miracle this week. For a good while now, we've been talking to the first person we see upon leaving the house. So a couple of weeks ago we spoke with our neighbor who, after hearing about our message, she expressed her devout Catholic roots but nevertheless, said we could come by to say a prayer in her house. So we came back that next Saturday in the evening which kind of turned out to be a bad idea because her husband was absolutely plastered and controlled the conversation. BUT... I happened to catch a glimpse of one of his sons who looked extremely familiar, so I inquired as to his past experience with the church. Turns out he had attended Brian's baptism, one of our recent converts who got baptized about a month ago. So we invited him to come to mutual, which he said he had gone to before. The next day we planned to go by Brian's to tell him to make sure he invites this friend, Pedro, and when we got there Brian's mother was getting out of her car. That right there was a miracle in itself since we hadn't been able to talk to her since Brian's baptism because she is always working. So upon greeting her, she politely invites us into her house, offers us water, takes a seat and the very next thing that she says is: "yo me quiero bautizar asi como se bautizo mi hijo brian" (I want to get baptized just like my son, Brian) who was also right there sitting on the couch. So we did a quick tactful assessment of her actual desire, bore our testimonies, invited her to commit to a baptismal date and set up another appointment at the Bishop's house across the street for that Friday. She went to the appointment, accepted all of the doctrine and shared with us a dream she had received in which Christ, who looks just like he did in that famous church painting with the red robe on, signaled to her to join this church. It was just another testimony to me that this is the Lord's work and as long as we are doing all we can, the Lord prepares the elect. All of this came from just talking to Brian, who was a non-member, on my very first night in the area at mutual and setting up an appointment in the house of one of his friends. The youth are great in the area.
Another miracle is that one of the people Elder Carrillo and I found for the English Elders just got interviewed and is getting baptized this Saturday. We just saw her sitting on a curb with a sorrowful look on her face in one of the more squalid complexes of the area and decided to teach her the gospel. She was extremely receptive and so when we handed her over to the English Elders she progressed as fast as possible. I even got the chance to teach her on one of the exchanges with those missionaries (Elders Johnson and Clark). Anyway, those are a few of the miracles I've seen of late and it feels great to be apart of them. I hope all is well at home and that it cools down a bit for when I get back!!
Love,
Elder Kinney
Monday, July 2, 2012
July 2, 2012
Dear Family,
Thanks for the pictures!! Mom, I feel like you look younger than when I left for my mission. It must be all that time you've spent away from me!!! (hahaha) Sorry, I'll be back so soon.
This is hopefully going to be my last week in this area. I am grateful for the success we're having, but it is just not as enjoyable as I would like it to be. A lot of people this past week just didn't even respond to us when we tried to talk to them in the street. I really hope President sends me to be in a trio with the Zone Leaders in Phoenix for my last three weeks. He usually does that when there's a case like mine or when a missionary gets an extension.
I'm sure Matt's graduation was really hot. I am interested to see how it feels changing from a very dry and arid climate to an extremely humid one. I will then, for sure, be able to say which I like better. People ask me what I think is better every once and awhile but I don't really remember what high humidity feels like too well. All I know is that when it gets even a little bit humid here it's really bad. This past week there were some days above 110 which aren't fun. We'll see if I get another day of almost 120 before I leave.
Anyway, not many new things to report. We do have a baptism scheduled for the 15th of July. Since I've been in this area, I've really been blessed with a lot of success. Though I think the reason it kind of feels discouraging is because all of our personal attempts at finding have been completely fruitless. I mean, we've tried really hard to do our part to get referrals from the members, and we've gotten them. The two teenagers we baptized and the one on the 15th would not have happened if it weren't for the members. But all of the finding that we've tried to do from contacts in the street and going by formers have been absolutely fruitless. Like literally, I don't think we've taught one lesson to a potential that we've found in this area. So the Lord is blessing us but it still feels like a humbling experience at the same time. But hey, the best way to do missionary work has always been through the members, right?!?
I included some cool pictures I took of an Arizona sunset. I've probably told you this before but that's probably the best part about this state. Anyway, I hope all is well back home and that everyone is enjoying their summer.
Love,
Elder Kinney
Thanks for the pictures!! Mom, I feel like you look younger than when I left for my mission. It must be all that time you've spent away from me!!! (hahaha) Sorry, I'll be back so soon.
This is hopefully going to be my last week in this area. I am grateful for the success we're having, but it is just not as enjoyable as I would like it to be. A lot of people this past week just didn't even respond to us when we tried to talk to them in the street. I really hope President sends me to be in a trio with the Zone Leaders in Phoenix for my last three weeks. He usually does that when there's a case like mine or when a missionary gets an extension.
I'm sure Matt's graduation was really hot. I am interested to see how it feels changing from a very dry and arid climate to an extremely humid one. I will then, for sure, be able to say which I like better. People ask me what I think is better every once and awhile but I don't really remember what high humidity feels like too well. All I know is that when it gets even a little bit humid here it's really bad. This past week there were some days above 110 which aren't fun. We'll see if I get another day of almost 120 before I leave.
Anyway, not many new things to report. We do have a baptism scheduled for the 15th of July. Since I've been in this area, I've really been blessed with a lot of success. Though I think the reason it kind of feels discouraging is because all of our personal attempts at finding have been completely fruitless. I mean, we've tried really hard to do our part to get referrals from the members, and we've gotten them. The two teenagers we baptized and the one on the 15th would not have happened if it weren't for the members. But all of the finding that we've tried to do from contacts in the street and going by formers have been absolutely fruitless. Like literally, I don't think we've taught one lesson to a potential that we've found in this area. So the Lord is blessing us but it still feels like a humbling experience at the same time. But hey, the best way to do missionary work has always been through the members, right?!?
I included some cool pictures I took of an Arizona sunset. I've probably told you this before but that's probably the best part about this state. Anyway, I hope all is well back home and that everyone is enjoying their summer.
Love,
Elder Kinney
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