Happy!

Hi Family!

 

Wow, the weather there sounds crazy! It's been sunny here for the past few days, but it's raining today :(  That's awesome to hear about all of the people from our stake serving missions! I hope they can make the goal of 40!

 

Well, I survived my stressful week! The youth activity on Tuesday was awesome! The youth came dressed in missionary attire, received a name badge, were assigned to a companion and to a district. The two districts rotated between two classes taught by the missionaries (Sister Stewart and I, and 2 other Sisters in the ward). We taught a class about our purpose as missionaries and had each companionship role play. Sister Spring and Sister Manwaring played missionary jeopardy, testing their knowledge of Preach My Gospel and the missionary schedule.  It was great to see the youth jump right in...they will make great missionaries!

 

Our workshop on obedience and opposotion went well on Friday. The meeting was running long so we only had 20 minutes instead of 40, but I wasnt complaining! I LOVE going to those meetings! The Spirit is always so strong! On Thursday, Elder Hunt announced what the agenda would be for the next two days. He announced that we would start off by having a testimony meeting. For the next hour and a half all 40 missionaries in attendance shared their testimonies. It was especially neat for Sister Sewart and I, being the only Sisters there, to hear these young Elders bear such powerful testimonies. No where else, besides in the Church, can you find young men who have such a firm faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It was another testament to me of the power of the Priesthood.

 

Sites has been getting a bit more busy, both because of the weather and Spring Break. We had a couple of really cool tours. One was with a group of Restorationists. They are a break off of the RDLS church (now Community of Christ). They were having some sort of womens retreat...Im not sure if they call it relief society? Anyways, those groups can be nerve racking because you dont know exactly what they believe. However, I  just followed the Spirit and continued to bear testimony of what I know. I noticed one of the women tearing up, in a few different rooms, as I shared my testimony. It showed me that the Holy Ghost always testifies of truth, as long as the recipient is truly listening with an open heart.

 

The other cool tour was with Elders serving in the Cleveland Spanish branch and their investigators and a recent convert. In the beginning of the tour we play the words of the Savior (the Christus). We decided to play it in Spanish. It was the first time I ever listened to it in Spanish. As I listened, I felt the Spirit, as I thought about the Savior and his love for everyone! I also thought about James and how he was sharing those exact words with the people of Mexico.

 

Well, I better go. I love you all and thank you for your love and prayers on my behalf! Have a great week!

 

Love Sister Kingston 

- Show 

Inviting all to come unto Christ

Whttps://lds.org/youth/video/inviting-all-to-come-unto-christ-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng 

p.s. We're showing this video to the youth for part of the activity we're doing with them. Watch it!

 

Stressed!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Sorry to hear that all the kids are sick! Hope everyone gets better soon! Mom, I would love to come to camp but Im not sure if I'll be able to? My best friend from the mission (the one who's wedding I was trying to go to in Hawaii) is having her reception in Utah on July 9th. If I can somehow make it back in time I'll come. Dad, thanks for the offer to help with the MTC. I will definitely get recommendations from President Sorensen and Elder Butterfield if needed. However, I think the greatest determining factors are going to be the number of available openings and my teaching skills. So we'll see what happens?

 

This weekend we got over a foot of snow! I'm ready for winter to be DONE! In our weekly missionary coordination meeting (Saturday) our ward mission leader mentioned the snow and asked if we were ok driving in it. We told him that it hasnt stopped us all winter long...no reason to stop us now. He then proceeds to say, "Well a snow storm is better than a Tsunami." This comment seemed rather irrelevant considering #1 we live in Ohio where the largest body of water is Lake Erie which is about 40 ft deep across #2 we had NO IDEA about the Tsunami that had just ocurred in Japan. We (the four missionaries in the ward) sat there silently awkward as we tried to figure out where he came up with comparing a snow storm to a Tsunami. Finally, one of the members of the ward spoke up and informed us on the matter. Sometimes it's nice not to know what's going on in the world today. Other times, however, we feel so out of the loop! We'll continue to keep the people of Japan in our prayers and hope they can recover quickly! It's nice to know that all of the missionaries there are safe! Four of my roommates in the MTC went to Japan.

 

 The computer is kicking me off so part 2 of this e-mail will arrive shortly

(if it will allow me to log back in!)

Here's part 2!

 

This morning we had our weekly training meeting at the John Johnson Farm in Hiram, Ohio. We had it there to celebrate the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was received there in February 1832. We were also commemorating the tarring and feathering that also occurred there  a month after section 76 was received. I LOVE the Johnson Home! To be in the revelation room where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were seen together in vision is incredible! I dont know how Im going to leave these places behind when I come home.

 

As far as investigators are concerned, Jaclyn has a baptismal date for April 9th! She still has some things to work on but she's come a long way! She texted us the other day and asked if she should take her lip ring out! We were shocked because we hadnt even talked about it yet. We read the  For the Strength of Youth pamphlet with her at our next lesson and she took it out that night :)  It seems like such a small thing to us, but it's really an act of faith on her end.

 

In other news, I have two cold sores on my bottom lip! I would always get cold sores around finals time because I get so stressed out. I think stress is the culprit this time around as well. Let me tell you why Im a little stressed this week.  First of all, Im sleep deprived! haha On top the the time change we had to wake up at 4:45 this morning to travel to the Johnson Farm. Second, we have two ward activities this week (mutual and the chili cook off) where we have some pretty heavy responsibilities. I'll tell you more about those next week. Third, we're in charge of the monthly investigator fireside and it happens to be this Sunday. Fourth, we're trying to find new people to teach and prepare Jaclyn for baptism! I think the fifth reason why I'm stressed takes the cake though.

 

Last night Sister Stewart and I received a phone call from one of the A.P.s. Elder Hunt asked if we would accept an assignment he had for us. I asked if we had to accept before we knew the terms and he said yes haha. So we accepted. He asked if we would give a workshop at the leadership training meetings this week. The topic is on obedience and opposition. We'll be giving this workshop to all of the District Leaders and Zone Leaders in the mission, and also in attendance will be President Sorensen and the A.P.s of course. We about peed our pants when we received the assignment! Especially when he told us we have 40 MINUTES! I was thinking 20 minutes max! So needless to say, Im a wittle nervous! Sister Stewart and I have been joking about what to say to these Elders for 40 minutes. We've talked about doing multiple musical numbers, all hymns focusing on obedience and opposition, and having them guess the topic of our workshop. Hahahaha! Just Kidding! We're seriously pondering and hoping that we'll receive some type of revelation on what to share. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

Well, thanks for reading this elongated e-mail! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love Sister Kingston

 

"This Preach My Gospel is good stuff"

Hello!

Happy Birthday Mom!! I hope you have a great day and know that I'll be thinking of you! I even wrote it in my planner at the beginning of the transfer :) Thanks for the congrats about BYU! Im super excited too! Dad, Im glad you had a good trip to Westminster Woods. Mom it sounds like you had a good visit with Grandma even though it was short! 

I hope the new member lesson goes well.Don't you love the ups and downs of missionary work? I'll be excited to participate when I get home. Dad, the stake activity sounds really cool! You should study lesson 1 in preparation. It's in Chapter 3 in Preach My Gospel. By the way, we'll be studying a lot from PMG as a family when I come home haha! We're even going to role play! Youre gonna love it! Ive been thinking a lot lately about teaching at the MTC when I attend BYU. It's super hard to get a job there, so Im not banking on it, but I would LOVE it!

 

This past weekend we got to witness a pretty cool baptism! The other Sisters in our ward found the Jones family a couple months ago. Sister McAlister had always noticed their house and how cute it was. So one day they stopped by and the rest is history. The family was super interested. Brother and Sister Jones and their two kids Joey (17) and Jordan (15) are solid! They act like theyve been members all their lives! Brother Jones recently got a copy of Preach My Gospel and he studies it along with the scriptures. The other Sisters received a text from him one day saying, "This Preach My Gospel is good stuff!" haha

Their baptism was Saturday and there were so many people there, we had to hold most of the service (except for the actual baptism of course) in the chapel. The Spirit was so strong! The next day it was even stronger as we watched all four of them receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Polly...or Sister Jones, was in tears and the rest of the family was beaming. They now have found true happiness and it emanates as they live the gospel!

 

Not much else to report. Well, we set a baptismal date with our investigator Jaclyn, but she broke the Word of Wisdom so we'll have to push it back now. We're still excited for her though because she sincerely wants to change! I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I hope all of you have a great week! I love you all! The gospel is true!

 

Love Sister Kingston

I was accepted to BYU!

Hey Everyone!

 

Wow, I had so many e-mails in my inbox it was AWESOME! Thanks to everyone who wrote me! I LOVE getting mail and hearing from everyone back home. I also received two e-mails from BYU and BYUI this morning informing me that I've been ACCEPTED into both schools!!!! I opened the e-mail at sites and the Sisters crowded around to see the result. Everyone was so nervous for me... when the e-mail finally opened everyone screamed when they saw the words "congratulations" on the screen! It was like opening another mission call. Except this time I didnt cry (shocker)! Ive decided to attend BYU Provo and will be starting in the Fall. There are some Sisters who want to live together, so hopefully everything works out :) I'm excited!

Well, I dont have much time to write because most of my p-day is already gone. Sister Stewart and I had to go to the Visitors' Center today to take an interesting tour. I will be making my first (and probably my last) TV debut! The local fox news came and we took the host of one of their shows on tour. It was an experience for sure! He did most of the talking. I swear it seemed as if he was talking a mile a minute, my brain could barely process what he was saying in time to answer his questions haha. It felt as if I was moving in slow mo. Oh well. The show will be airing March 21st. We hope that it will bring more local people to the Sites!

There's not much to follow up on from last week. We have yet to have any appointments with the people we met. But as always, we're continuing on with an eye of faith!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! This is the best work EVER!

 

Love Sister Kingston

New Investigator Miracles

Hi Family!

Im sitting at the Visitors' Center (libraries are closed) and my fingers feel like theyre going to break off! The heater broke a couple days ago so it's freezing in here! Theyll hopefully have it fixed by today. Last week the weather was crazy nice! It got up into the 60's :) Unfortunately winter has returned and it's back down to the 20s and 30s. But March is just around the corner! Happy Birthday Mariana! I cant believe she's 6! 

This week has been soooooooo good!!! We had some pretty awesome finding miracles. I'll share a  couple with you. One day this week we went tracting for a few hours. We decided to go to an area we had never been to before. When we arrived at the previously planned street, we park and sat in the car for a minute while I finished up a phone call. As we're sitting there a few teenagers walked passed us. They looked pretty young so we decided not to look like creepers and chase after them. We got out of the car and were walking up to the first house when we hear someone yell, "She wont answer the door! She's 98 and she doesnt answer for anyone. She's my great grandma." It was one of the teenagers who passed by. She pointed to the house next door and said, " But they'll answer.That's my house."  We started talking to her (Alex) a little and asked if she attended a church. She said she used to and that she thinks she was "bathtized". She was pretty interested and we gave her a website card and told her about the youth website. As we were talking we see someone else walking towards us and Alex says, "Hey Mom, we're talking about Jesus!" (she's 13 by the way). Her Mom came over and we were a bit nervous about how she would react to us but she was sooooooo nice! She said we could definitely come over and share our message. She was on her way to take dinner to her grandmother(the 98 year old who lives next door) so she didnt have time to meet right then. She then asks, "Do you take down numbers?" We replied, "Of course!" So we wrote down her phone number and we are calling her today to set up an appointment! We are so excited for their family to hear the gospel! After talking with Alex and Sue (her mom) we only had a few more minutes before we had to head to an appointment. We decided to knock on one last door. Tori a 23 year old answers the door. We introduced ourselves and asked if she had ever heard of the church. She replies, "Yes, my grandparents are Mormon. I used to go to church with them and they used to take me to the Oakland Temple." We asked if she noticed anything in her grandparents that was different. She said she never knew anyone who was as forgiving as her grandmother. We told her that was because of the gospel and we promised she could find greater happiness. She was super open and we'll hopefully be meeting with her this week too!

One last story. Friday night towards the end we were getting ready to leave the visitors center to head home. Sister Lee, my former companion, started telling us a story about someone they took on tour the day prior.He came to Kirtland because he said he drove past it all the time but had never been here before. He was a non-member who had tons of questions!  He also said that he had just recently learned what we believe about Christ, who He is to us. He asked about the Priesthood and after they explained it to him he said, "So if Im understanding correctly..." and re-taught it back to them. Sister Lee said he taught it better than she did, explaining that men and women have complimentary roles. She said he also asked about Heavenly Mother. He said, "So if Im understanding correctly you believe that families are eternal, and you call God Heavenly Father, does this mean there's a Heavenly Mother?" They hesitated for a minute (you often dont want to get into deep doctrine haha) but simply said yes. Sister Lee said by his reaction that it seemed he had already come to that conclusion on his own and that it made sense. He ended up staying here at the Visitors Center for three hours. He watched every video on the kiosks and continued to ask sincere questions. After hearing this cool story I asked where he lived. He didnt leave his address but they knew he was a pastor and he said some Sisters tracted (he didnt use that term haha) into him the other day as he pulled into the driveway. Immediately I turn to my companion and said, "That was us!!!"  We were shocked in amazement as we remembered our interaction with Paul the Pastor just a few days earlier. We were tracting his street and were just arriving at his driveway when he pulled in. Gotta love those awkward moments as your waiting for someone to get out of their car haha. We went up and started talking to him. We introduced ourselves and our purpose.  He said he was a pastor and we said, "Thats great, we probably have more in common than we do diferent." He then said the one thing that he knows is different is our belief in the Godhead. He said that he understood God and Jesus Christ to be one person. He wasnt argumentative just stating what he understood. I cant remember exactly what I said in response, but I told him that we do have a different knowledge about the nature of God and Christ. I testified of who they are and their purpose. I was a little surprised by his reaction. He didnt say anything. He just listened. It seemed that something the Spirit prompted me to say resonated. After what seemed like forever (in reality a few seconds) he said he had to go take care of his dog. We gave him a mormon.org website and continued on our way. Turns out he did visit the website and then decided to come to Kirtland!!! After we made the connection (that it was us) the other Sisters said," you HAVE to go teach him, he's solid!" So we're planning on going over there sometime this week! We'll be praying hard for this one! It's so neat to see how the Lord touches the hearts of people we talk to, even when it seems they are content with life. But I know people are always looking for truth, they just dont know where to find it.

Well, I better end this novel now. Thanks for everything. I love this work and I love you all! Have a great week!

Love Sister Kingston

p.s. Mom, can you start forwarding James' e-mails to me again? Thanks!

      Oh and can we just have Jacosa sing a song for the musical number for our homecoming?

       "Come thou fount" is the theme song of my mission so that would be awesome!

       Unless James has any preferences. And I dont really know why I want to speak

       after him...it just seems like he left first so he should go first haha. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi Everyone!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Mom, I did get the package you sent thank you so much! I will be making those cupcakes soon! The weather there sounds sooooooo nice! There's been a "warm spell" here too...it got up in the 40's yesterday!!! It's crazy how acclimated you get to cold weather, so much so that 40 degrees seems warm haha. It does make tracting a more enjoyable activity when it's not freezing :) Dad, what are you speaking on in Natomas 3 ward? Mom, Im glad you're experiencing gospel principles and comments that are shared. I'll have to share some stories with you when I come home...they're better told in person! As far as my homecoming is concerned, are James and I reporting on the same day? If we are I have two requests: #1) Can I speak after him?  #2) Can the closing hymn be The Spirit of God? And yes I would love to have a get together after! Some of the Sisters are planning on coming down too, so it should be fun! Dad to answer your question, we havent received mail from the Butterfields. But, we did receive a phone call from them last week. They called to update us on how their homecoming went and they wanted to see how things were here. I miss them both a lot! Elder Butterfield told us that they were at a restaurant with some of his daughters and grand kids one day and he said this, "I looked around and thought to myself, somethings missing. It seemed like we should be sitting at Max and Irmas with you two." They used to take Sister Stewart and I out to lunch for our meetings. Max and Irmas was one of our regular restaurant choices :) We thought about telling the Edmans about this little lunch tradition (so they could carry on the legacy) but we decided that it should stay a Butterfield memory.

Well, this week has been another rough finding week. Reading Alma chapter 8 has really helped me to stay motivated and to have an eye of faith! We did have a really neat experience though. Do you remember the couple that I told you about last week...Wendy and CJ who came to sites and self referred? Well, right after they left sites I called the A.P.s and told them all the background info. Elder Farmer and Elder Smith said they would contact her right away and keep us updated. Well, on Friday the aassistants called us. They proceeded to tell us that Wendy and CJ are as solid as we said they were. The Elders called them and invited them to a baptism in a near by area. They came and had an amazing experience! After the baptism the Elders took them on a church tour. Sometime within that church tour they committed Wendy and CJ to baptism and they both said yes! Wendy said the only thing really standing in her way is the word of wisdom. The Elders promised her that she would be able to overcome those temptations and that the Lord would prepare her! Isnt that AMAZING! After we got off the phone with the assistants Sister Stewart and I sat there in our bedroom and cried. Even though we are frustrated in our area and we arent seeing things happen, we are still able to fulfill our purpose at the Visitors Center by inviting others to come unto Christ.

Thank you all for everything! You know, just because Im coming home soon doesnt mean that I cant receive mail (*hint hint). Hook a Sista up! This gospel is so true and it amazes me every day how blessed I am to know that! I love you all tons!!!

 

Love,

Sister Kingston