Dear Family,
It was such a blessing to be able to talk to you guys on Christmas. It really didn't feel like Christmas at all this year without a white blanket of snow, the smell of burning firewood from the chimney of every house, and the waft of chestnuts roasting on a fire. I guess winter down south is something that takes getting used to, although I doubt I'll gave to next year. Listening to Christmas music helped a little bit but it also made me miss having Christmas back east, which is actually consistent with the descriptions of every Holiday song. I can't wait to be able to talk to you guys again on Mother's Day.
I don't have much time to write this week since Elder Ralphs and I spent our whole day biking to Scottsdale to pick up our car, which just got repaired. Not to mention that this is also a shortened p-day due to the fact that we are going to have another one on New Year's Day. So I only have like five more minutes. Me and Elder Ralphs have been working super hard, as usual, and had a pretty good week considering there were two p-days and we rode bikes (which slows down the work if you don't plan it right). The transfer is coming to an end pretty soon and I am so badly hoping that Elder Ralphs and I stay together. Elder Ralphs suggested to me that that's what we fast for this Sunday. I have learned so much from his work ethic, good attitude, and ability to speak the language with power, but there is a lot more I could learn as well. We are really buckling down and trying to get people to understand the importance of what we are saying so that they will actually act and put forth effort to do the things that we commit them to do. We have seen that the ones that do, are the ones that progress towards baptism and have spiritual experiences. Right now we have 8 baptismal dates with 3 looking solid for the month of January. It all comes back to getting people to really grasp the severity and reality of the message that we share with them. If they put forth their faith a little bit and test our promises they will be blessed so greatly.
I think one of the biggest problems we face is the problem of how casual Satan has made religion. People believe in God and Jesus but its become something that just requires people to say "yes I believe" and actually "do", the absolute minimum possible. I might have not been that bad but I admit that I was a victim of this mentality at one point or another in my life. If the scriptures are true and God really is there, then we should be doing all we can to grow closer to him. If the scriptures are 100% true, this is something so miraculous and life changing!! It is hard to instill this sense of thinking into others, especially religiously active Hispanics (and by religiously active I mean that they go to church every once and a while and have read the bible once ((and by once I don't mean the whole way through))). The one thing that is great about Hispanic people is how humble, loving and friendly they are. Because of this we are able to teach a lot and bring a lot of people closer to Christ.
Those are some of my thoughts this week ... I love you guys and pray for every one of you.
Love,
Elder Kinney
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
December 21, 2010
Dear Family,
Today is a pretty rushed P-day because it is shortened due to the full-day P-day we will get on Christmas. Actually our Zone is going to be working Christmas Lights at the Mesa Temple that day so we will be getting back to work around 4:00PM on Christmas. I will be hoping for some Christmas miracles as I converse with people on the grounds of the temple and find people that God has prepared to receive the gospel.
This past week was another really great one. I can see great strides of progress in my ability to speak Spanish as I try an emulate the skill of my companion, Elder Ralphs. Unfortunately, all of the baptisms that we had scheduled for Christmas had to be pushed back because we weren't able to teach them everything they needed to learn prior to baptism due to odd work schedules and things like that. There is this one couple that has been living together for 25 years that we are trying to get married. It can be really frustrating because when we say they need to get married within the next month (prior to baptism) they say "Es tan pronto!" (It's so soon!). I find it very hard to believe that getting married after being together for 25 years is considered even remotely soon. My companion and I fasted and prayed for them but they didn't do their part so they didn't get an answer to their prayers. It is a slow process but I am almost certain that they will grasp the importance of marriage soon.
Anyway, I don't have much time so I will answer some of your questions and address some of the comments from your emails. My Jos. A. Banks suits are not doing so well. Both of them have seam rips in various places, the pants for the blue suit are totally out of commission but the black Dickies jeans are really holding up well! I may try to buy a more durable new suit in the near future. Right now I am living with four Elders, my companion Elder Ralphs, Elder Tuttle (from St. Louis; he went to BYU for a year and is a hockey player) and Elder Chavez (a Mexican from East LA who is fluent in both languages). I will send you some pictures of them in my next email. It is kind of annoying because we only have one bathroom which is ok for me because I usually spend the least amount of time in there.
I just got the box with the candy and the Camelbak mouth pieces so thanks for those. I liked in Mom's email when she talked about the choirs of heaven singing when Christ comes again. I have often thought about that too. I am almost finished reading Jesus the Christ (right now I only have about 70 pages left) and I had a similar thought when I read about the shepherds in Bethlehem seeing the heavens open and hearing multitudes of angels singing and signaling the coming of the Messiah. I couldn't imagine what that would sound like to human ears but it was probably Mo-tab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) times a billion. It is going to be amazing hearing or hopefully being part of the hosts of Heaven singing to signal the second coming of the Messiah. Music can be very powerful for me in terms of feeling the spirit as well.
I want to share with you one quick thing that the Spirit taught me this week during my studies before I sign off. I was reading the recent Ensign magazine which contained all of the October conference talks, specifically, "Reflections of a Consecrated Life" by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. He wrote about how when you consecrate something, you set it apart completely for a spiritual purpose. My Branch President in the MTC always told us to become consecrated missionaries and I just always took it to mean "be a really really good missionary." But I have come to realize that everything that I do, every action I take needs to be consecrated towards missionary work and ultimately towards God. As I pondered some more about this talk, I also realized what it really means to be a member of this church and to be here on earth. So many times we get so caught up in worldly things, even worldly things that are important such as a job, food, shelter etc. . . but really, every action and decision we make needs to be consecrated towards one purpose which is to believe in and emulate Jesus Christ so that we can return to our Heavenly Father. This means not just going to church every Sunday just because that is what you have done your whole life. We need to come to see the reality of the plan of salvation and that our time on this earth as members of this church is meant to be consecrated towards our end goal. When we do this, we are following the commandments. We are constantly striving to grow spiritually and strengthen the relationship we have with our Savior. When we do this, all of the worldly things that we need will be provided for and we will be happy. Anyway, that is something I learned this week. Merry Christmas!! Talk to you on Saturday.
Love,
Elder Kinney
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
December 14, 2010
Hey Fam,
I don't know what time we are going to be able to call our parents on Christmas. We have two baptisms, a Wedding and are working Christmas Lights on the temple grounds on Christmas day so it could be pretty hectic.
Me and my companion, Elder Ralphs, continue to get a long really well. He is seriously such an awesome Elder that I have already learned so much from. I hope that we are companions for more than just this transfer.
This past week was pretty busy as usual and I got to work the Christmas Lights again. I had the opportunity to talk to this one lady with three kids and when I told her where I was from, she said, "Oh, is that near like where Glenn Beck lives?" When I told her he was in my ward back home she started freaking out and telling me how jealous she was. She even lost one of her kids while she was talking to me and it was like she didn't even care. She was telling me she watches him and O'Reilly every single night. I told her how I thought Glenn was a pretty good guy and that he had a super powerful testimony and conversion story. I have actually met a bunch of die-hard Beck fans in Arizona. You can actually tell him that he has contributed to the missionary work down here as well. There were these Elders in my district that went tracting, and one particular door they knocked on was opened by a man who was crying. They asked him what was wrong and if he needed any help. He said he was fine and that it was just something he was watching on TV. One of the Elders looked into the room and saw Brother Beck giving one of his rousing, emotional segments on his show. They told the man that one of the reasons Glenn Beck has such strong feelings for God and his country is because of the testimony he has of the message they were sharing -- that Jesus Christ lives and His Gospel has been restored again on this earth. They bore testimony that, like Glenn, they knew their message was true and he could know for himself through prayer. The man immediately let them in and at the end of the lesson agreed to set a date to be baptized. They told me that he had just been baptized a week ago!! Talk about being observant and teaching to someone's needs!! This is a great example of someone that the Lord prepared to receive the gospel through the actions of one of his children, in this case Brother Beck. The missionaries were guided to that door at just the right time when that man's heart was softened so he would invite the Lord's servants into his home. Make sure you tell Brother Beck about this sweet story on Sunday.
Speaking of miracles and how the Lord truly guides the missionaries, Elder Ralphs and I had a great experience with this guy that we contacted last week named Alberto. We contacted him as we were leaving a lesson. I was actually backing up the car and since we always need a missionary to stand behind the car and back us out, Elder Ralphs was doing that. I looked in one of my mirrors to see Elder Ralphs and he wasn't there, and I thought "where did he go?" I looked over to the sidewalk and saw him talking to this guy and thought to myself, "there goes obedient Elder Ralphs talking to everyone like we are supposed to..." (just jokingly, I always try to talk to everyone but I don't know if I would have in that situation since we were late for another appointment.) Anyway, we taught him a couple days ago and he told us that he had been taking the lessons where he used to live before he moved. He said he really liked having the lessons and it was disappointing that the missionaries hadn't been stopping by anymore. We continued to teach the first lesson which was super powerful and the Spirit was so strong. I taught him about Joseph Smith and the first vision and he started to cry a little bit when I gave Joseph's account. We set a baptismal date with him on the first of January. Anyway, that was one of the miracles that I saw this week which was really awesome. We also had a baptism on Saturday with this woman named Olivia who I had only taught once so I didn't know her that well.
Another pretty cool thing was that we had a ward Christmas party this past Saturday where the missionaries participated in a play about the life of Jesus Christ. We performed this song called "Sabias Que" ("Did You Know That") which was about these people singing to Mary and asking her if she knew that Jesus was going to do all these miracles during his life. We acted out each miracle as the song played. My role was John the Apostle. It was pretty fun. Over 200 people showed up for the party including a ton of our investigators, which shows how strong this area and our ward is.
Anyway, I gotta get going. It was super great to write you and share some experiences with you.
Love Elder Kinney
I don't know what time we are going to be able to call our parents on Christmas. We have two baptisms, a Wedding and are working Christmas Lights on the temple grounds on Christmas day so it could be pretty hectic.
Me and my companion, Elder Ralphs, continue to get a long really well. He is seriously such an awesome Elder that I have already learned so much from. I hope that we are companions for more than just this transfer.
This past week was pretty busy as usual and I got to work the Christmas Lights again. I had the opportunity to talk to this one lady with three kids and when I told her where I was from, she said, "Oh, is that near like where Glenn Beck lives?" When I told her he was in my ward back home she started freaking out and telling me how jealous she was. She even lost one of her kids while she was talking to me and it was like she didn't even care. She was telling me she watches him and O'Reilly every single night. I told her how I thought Glenn was a pretty good guy and that he had a super powerful testimony and conversion story. I have actually met a bunch of die-hard Beck fans in Arizona. You can actually tell him that he has contributed to the missionary work down here as well. There were these Elders in my district that went tracting, and one particular door they knocked on was opened by a man who was crying. They asked him what was wrong and if he needed any help. He said he was fine and that it was just something he was watching on TV. One of the Elders looked into the room and saw Brother Beck giving one of his rousing, emotional segments on his show. They told the man that one of the reasons Glenn Beck has such strong feelings for God and his country is because of the testimony he has of the message they were sharing -- that Jesus Christ lives and His Gospel has been restored again on this earth. They bore testimony that, like Glenn, they knew their message was true and he could know for himself through prayer. The man immediately let them in and at the end of the lesson agreed to set a date to be baptized. They told me that he had just been baptized a week ago!! Talk about being observant and teaching to someone's needs!! This is a great example of someone that the Lord prepared to receive the gospel through the actions of one of his children, in this case Brother Beck. The missionaries were guided to that door at just the right time when that man's heart was softened so he would invite the Lord's servants into his home. Make sure you tell Brother Beck about this sweet story on Sunday.
Speaking of miracles and how the Lord truly guides the missionaries, Elder Ralphs and I had a great experience with this guy that we contacted last week named Alberto. We contacted him as we were leaving a lesson. I was actually backing up the car and since we always need a missionary to stand behind the car and back us out, Elder Ralphs was doing that. I looked in one of my mirrors to see Elder Ralphs and he wasn't there, and I thought "where did he go?" I looked over to the sidewalk and saw him talking to this guy and thought to myself, "there goes obedient Elder Ralphs talking to everyone like we are supposed to..." (just jokingly, I always try to talk to everyone but I don't know if I would have in that situation since we were late for another appointment.) Anyway, we taught him a couple days ago and he told us that he had been taking the lessons where he used to live before he moved. He said he really liked having the lessons and it was disappointing that the missionaries hadn't been stopping by anymore. We continued to teach the first lesson which was super powerful and the Spirit was so strong. I taught him about Joseph Smith and the first vision and he started to cry a little bit when I gave Joseph's account. We set a baptismal date with him on the first of January. Anyway, that was one of the miracles that I saw this week which was really awesome. We also had a baptism on Saturday with this woman named Olivia who I had only taught once so I didn't know her that well.
Another pretty cool thing was that we had a ward Christmas party this past Saturday where the missionaries participated in a play about the life of Jesus Christ. We performed this song called "Sabias Que" ("Did You Know That") which was about these people singing to Mary and asking her if she knew that Jesus was going to do all these miracles during his life. We acted out each miracle as the song played. My role was John the Apostle. It was pretty fun. Over 200 people showed up for the party including a ton of our investigators, which shows how strong this area and our ward is.
Anyway, I gotta get going. It was super great to write you and share some experiences with you.
Love Elder Kinney
Friday, December 10, 2010
December 7, 2010
Dear Family,
I wish that I had more time to write, but we are really running late and our P-day is shortened today because we are working the Christmas lights in Mesa and we haven't done our shopping or anything yet. I'm just gonna tell you a little about my new companion and area, but first of all, Margarita was baptized this past Saturday!! It was so awesome!! The gospel is going to bless her life and the lives of her four little kids so much. She will be a great member. I sent you some pictures of me and my trainer, Elder Reid, with Margarita after her baptism.
My new area is so awesome and really big. The branch where I'm serving seriously has the best members who actually embrace missionary work much more as a whole than the ward I was in in Mesa. The one ward missionary that we have is a sister named Hermana Mora who has like four callings and magnifies them all. She will go out of her way to fellowship investigators without us even asking her. I can already see the results of her actions.
My new companion is Elder Ralphs and he is the best missionary ever. He is super obedient, always has a huge smile on his face, is awesome at Spanish (even though this is only his third transfer), is super humble, and an amazing teacher that I can and plan on, learning a lot from. He is seriously going to be one of the best missionaries that this mission will ever see and I am hoping I can second him in that achievement. I'll send you a couple pictures of us. Anyway, we are doing absolutely awesome as far as the work goes. I think that a part of it is me being used to my old area where it was hard to get people to come to church and for members to get activated in missionary work. This last Sunday we had nine investigators at church and set five baptismal dates, including one this Saturday and two on Christmas day, which conveniently falls on a Saturday. I am very excited for the time that Elder Ralphs and I will be serving together and I know that I am going to learn a lot.
Before I sign off I just wanted to share a scripture that I read this week that I really liked. It is Alma 4:15 when Alma is challenging his brethren to re-examine their spiritual lives. My favorite part of the scripture is when he asks, "Have ye received his (Christ's) image in your countenance?". That scripture really hit me hard because one of my goals as a missionary is be able to have the light of Christ in my countenance when people look at me or when I talk to them in the street. I feel this would be one of the best attributes a missionary could have and it is what people will remember when they talk to those two guys in suits on the street. To try and achieve this I have been praying for the gift of charity, which is the pure love of Christ, every day like Preach my Gospel teaches. I have also been trying to keep all of my thoughts focused on the gospel and to not let my mind wander, which is pretty easy for me to do at times. You really can tell when someone is a valiant, commandment-keeping member of this church just from the look on their face because you can see the light of Christ in their countenance. I think this is a goal we should all strive for as members of this church and as children of our Heavenly Father.
Anyway it was great to write you. I will have more time next week when I'm not in such a hurry.
Love,
Elder Kinney
I wish that I had more time to write, but we are really running late and our P-day is shortened today because we are working the Christmas lights in Mesa and we haven't done our shopping or anything yet. I'm just gonna tell you a little about my new companion and area, but first of all, Margarita was baptized this past Saturday!! It was so awesome!! The gospel is going to bless her life and the lives of her four little kids so much. She will be a great member. I sent you some pictures of me and my trainer, Elder Reid, with Margarita after her baptism.
My new area is so awesome and really big. The branch where I'm serving seriously has the best members who actually embrace missionary work much more as a whole than the ward I was in in Mesa. The one ward missionary that we have is a sister named Hermana Mora who has like four callings and magnifies them all. She will go out of her way to fellowship investigators without us even asking her. I can already see the results of her actions.
My new companion is Elder Ralphs and he is the best missionary ever. He is super obedient, always has a huge smile on his face, is awesome at Spanish (even though this is only his third transfer), is super humble, and an amazing teacher that I can and plan on, learning a lot from. He is seriously going to be one of the best missionaries that this mission will ever see and I am hoping I can second him in that achievement. I'll send you a couple pictures of us. Anyway, we are doing absolutely awesome as far as the work goes. I think that a part of it is me being used to my old area where it was hard to get people to come to church and for members to get activated in missionary work. This last Sunday we had nine investigators at church and set five baptismal dates, including one this Saturday and two on Christmas day, which conveniently falls on a Saturday. I am very excited for the time that Elder Ralphs and I will be serving together and I know that I am going to learn a lot.
Before I sign off I just wanted to share a scripture that I read this week that I really liked. It is Alma 4:15 when Alma is challenging his brethren to re-examine their spiritual lives. My favorite part of the scripture is when he asks, "Have ye received his (Christ's) image in your countenance?". That scripture really hit me hard because one of my goals as a missionary is be able to have the light of Christ in my countenance when people look at me or when I talk to them in the street. I feel this would be one of the best attributes a missionary could have and it is what people will remember when they talk to those two guys in suits on the street. To try and achieve this I have been praying for the gift of charity, which is the pure love of Christ, every day like Preach my Gospel teaches. I have also been trying to keep all of my thoughts focused on the gospel and to not let my mind wander, which is pretty easy for me to do at times. You really can tell when someone is a valiant, commandment-keeping member of this church just from the look on their face because you can see the light of Christ in their countenance. I think this is a goal we should all strive for as members of this church and as children of our Heavenly Father.
Anyway it was great to write you. I will have more time next week when I'm not in such a hurry.
Love,
Elder Kinney
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