Click to enlarge imageSaturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The people there are like my family and the city is like my home
3/23/09 Email Message
First the good news...I transfered to Sendai city in an area called Tagajo. It is the smallest ward in the Sendai stake (about 40 people on Sundays) but its still really fun. Im now in the middle of the mission and about 45 minutes away from the mission home. There is so much activity going on around here, its kind of weird to be here in the middle of all of it, but its way fun.
My new companion is Elder Mozingo. Hes a cowboy from Hyrum Utah. He is sooo funny and way chill. Im excited to see what we can accomplish the next few months together.
The Bad news...when I said goodbye to Su shimai and Yoriko shimai at the eki [train station] we all just started crying. Su shimai ran off before I got through the ticket gate because she was embarrassed for me to see her cry. I cried for the next half hour on the train. Im really going to miss Nagaoka. The people there are like my family and the city is like my home. Ill never forget the experiences I had there.
The Worst news...I dont have email!! I am in the middle of the biggest city in the mission but I have no place to email. I may be able to find a place every once in a while, but for about the next 6 months it will probably just be mostly letters. It sucks but thats just life.
I love you! I gotta run. Weve got FHE in the mission home in about a half hour. I miss you sooo much, and hopefully Ill hear from you soon.
Love, Elder Kingsford
P.S. - When Kimberly has Asher can you call the honbu and tell them? They will call me and tell me, that way I can know the day of instead of waiting for a letter for two weeks. Love You!!
First the good news...I transfered to Sendai city in an area called Tagajo. It is the smallest ward in the Sendai stake (about 40 people on Sundays) but its still really fun. Im now in the middle of the mission and about 45 minutes away from the mission home. There is so much activity going on around here, its kind of weird to be here in the middle of all of it, but its way fun.
My new companion is Elder Mozingo. Hes a cowboy from Hyrum Utah. He is sooo funny and way chill. Im excited to see what we can accomplish the next few months together.
The Bad news...when I said goodbye to Su shimai and Yoriko shimai at the eki [train station] we all just started crying. Su shimai ran off before I got through the ticket gate because she was embarrassed for me to see her cry. I cried for the next half hour on the train. Im really going to miss Nagaoka. The people there are like my family and the city is like my home. Ill never forget the experiences I had there.
The Worst news...I dont have email!! I am in the middle of the biggest city in the mission but I have no place to email. I may be able to find a place every once in a while, but for about the next 6 months it will probably just be mostly letters. It sucks but thats just life.
I love you! I gotta run. Weve got FHE in the mission home in about a half hour. I miss you sooo much, and hopefully Ill hear from you soon.
Love, Elder Kingsford
P.S. - When Kimberly has Asher can you call the honbu and tell them? They will call me and tell me, that way I can know the day of instead of waiting for a letter for two weeks. Love You!!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
It made me so happy to realize that Josh is still my brother in the faith
3/16/09 Email Message
Family,
Well its probably my last time to be emailing you from Nagaoka. Its transfer week again and Im almost positive Ill be packing up and leaving to my first new area. Im pretty sad to be leaving but I am also pretty excited. 7 months in one area is a long time for a missionary. But Ill sure miss Nagaoka when I leave. I just hope my next area at least comes close to being as cool as Nagaoka.
This week was good. I got a letter from Elder Josh Bell with tons of pictures inside. It was so cool to hear from him and see how hes doing. It was almost like we were catching up in person. He sounds like hes doing great. He said hes been trainer the last two transfers so things have been pretty busy for him. Also, hes just as shocked as I am to look around and see all the signs that we are growing up. He too feels like we should still be practicing for the roadshow and hanging out at kids kingdom - maybe he and I will just have to hit up kids kingdom by ourselves sometime next summer. But it was really nice to hear how hes doing. I kind of felt like Alma when he met the sons of mosiah. It made me so happy to realize that Josh is still my brother in the faith and that we are both still fighting the good fight. I must be extremely lucky to have a friend like him.
But as for me, my last full week in Nagaoka was really good. We had a Ping Pong Party on saturday for our investigators, members and eikaiwa students. It went really well. Our friends got to have fun with the members, we taught a few lessons, we found one more person who wants to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and tons of people went home with a good experience at church. Not to mention it was tons of fun. Im not going to brag, but I think the Japanese culture is started to rub off on my ping pong skills ;). I may just have to get myself a table when I get home. But weve got a busy P day ahead of us to prepare for transfer week, so I gotta run.
I love you all so much and I hope everything is going fantastically! Hope to hear from ya soon!
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
Family,
Well its probably my last time to be emailing you from Nagaoka. Its transfer week again and Im almost positive Ill be packing up and leaving to my first new area. Im pretty sad to be leaving but I am also pretty excited. 7 months in one area is a long time for a missionary. But Ill sure miss Nagaoka when I leave. I just hope my next area at least comes close to being as cool as Nagaoka.
This week was good. I got a letter from Elder Josh Bell with tons of pictures inside. It was so cool to hear from him and see how hes doing. It was almost like we were catching up in person. He sounds like hes doing great. He said hes been trainer the last two transfers so things have been pretty busy for him. Also, hes just as shocked as I am to look around and see all the signs that we are growing up. He too feels like we should still be practicing for the roadshow and hanging out at kids kingdom - maybe he and I will just have to hit up kids kingdom by ourselves sometime next summer. But it was really nice to hear how hes doing. I kind of felt like Alma when he met the sons of mosiah. It made me so happy to realize that Josh is still my brother in the faith and that we are both still fighting the good fight. I must be extremely lucky to have a friend like him.
But as for me, my last full week in Nagaoka was really good. We had a Ping Pong Party on saturday for our investigators, members and eikaiwa students. It went really well. Our friends got to have fun with the members, we taught a few lessons, we found one more person who wants to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and tons of people went home with a good experience at church. Not to mention it was tons of fun. Im not going to brag, but I think the Japanese culture is started to rub off on my ping pong skills ;). I may just have to get myself a table when I get home. But weve got a busy P day ahead of us to prepare for transfer week, so I gotta run.
I love you all so much and I hope everything is going fantastically! Hope to hear from ya soon!
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
Monday, March 16, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
I'll gladly take a swing for my Savior if that's what it takes.
3/9/09 Email Message
Family,
It feels like just yesterday Mom and Kendall were going to Kimberly's wedding shower. Now you two just went to her baby shower? How crazy is that! Its pretty exciting huh? Asher is one lucky little boy. I wonder if he knows how lucky he is? I mean come on, he does have the coolest uncle in the world right?
I hope you do get to go to Gulf Shores for springbreak. I love the beaches down there. They are sooo pretty and the towns around there are soo fun. Make sure you take some good pics. Oh and are you really going to wicked?! No fair. Haha I hope you realize you have to save at least some fun for when I get back. And dont you love the spring time?
Its warming up around here too. I dont even have to wear my winter coat anymore. Yesterday the weather was absolutely gorgeous. And what made it better is we got to spend a lot of time outdoors. We helped some of our Mongolian friends change the tires on their cars for a couple of hours while we talked to them about the gospel. It was a great teaching situation.
We had district conference on saturday and sunday. President Evans (the area president) came and spoke and it was so cool. Also, Su shimai gave her first talk in church and she did great. She was soo nervous to speak in front of so many people, including President and Sister Evans and President and Sister Tateoka. But when President Evans got up and spoke he just praised her for the first 5 minutes. It was cool.
This last week was pretty good. On the first day that it really started to warm up, we went on splits in a different area. It felt so good and I was so happy to be walking around knocking on doors in such beautiful weather. We were out for a couple hours before we came to a particular house. I knocked on the door and a nice looking man came to the door. I introduced ourselves and our message. He smiled and said (in perfect english) he wasnt interested because he was buddhist. Well of course I wasnt going to let him get away that easily, so I asked him if he had ever met missionaries before. Once again he gave me the same response as before (without answering my question). I thought maybe he hadnt heard me so I asked him again. And then he blew up. All of a sudden he wasnt a little smiling Japanese man anymore. He freaked out at me. He started yelling at me (in plain form offensive Japanese). He told me that I was just a stupid American. He told me to go home and that Jesus was a fraud. He said he didnt want me in Japan and that the Japanese people didnt want me either. I didnt really know what to do. I was so shocked that I just stood there. But somewhere in the middle of his rant I just started to laugh. Big mistake. The little Japanese man that had seemed so nice and smily just 5 minutes before took my laughing as an insult, and he didnt like it at all. He stepped out of his house came up to me and took a swing. I was still a little shocked so I couldnt really react quick enough, but luckily I was able to move my head just in time. He missed, barely. He wound up for another swing, but by that time I had woken up out of my shock and was already running down the sidewalk. Apparently my companions reflexes were much quicker than mine because he was already around the corner by the time I caught up to him. Nice to know he had my back. But I guess thats the life of a missionary sometimes. Not everyone is going to accept us. And I guess some people are even going to take a swing at us. But its worth it. Ill gladly take a swing for my savior if thats what it takes.
I love you! Im so excited for everything that is going on. I miss you! But I hope to hear from you soon.
Much love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
P.s.- I dont really need any cds. all the missionaries have plenty of music to listen to. Id prefer some toothpaste, a new toothbrush, some JIF peanut butter, and some Nutella. That would be a perfect package!
Family,
It feels like just yesterday Mom and Kendall were going to Kimberly's wedding shower. Now you two just went to her baby shower? How crazy is that! Its pretty exciting huh? Asher is one lucky little boy. I wonder if he knows how lucky he is? I mean come on, he does have the coolest uncle in the world right?
I hope you do get to go to Gulf Shores for springbreak. I love the beaches down there. They are sooo pretty and the towns around there are soo fun. Make sure you take some good pics. Oh and are you really going to wicked?! No fair. Haha I hope you realize you have to save at least some fun for when I get back. And dont you love the spring time?
Its warming up around here too. I dont even have to wear my winter coat anymore. Yesterday the weather was absolutely gorgeous. And what made it better is we got to spend a lot of time outdoors. We helped some of our Mongolian friends change the tires on their cars for a couple of hours while we talked to them about the gospel. It was a great teaching situation.
We had district conference on saturday and sunday. President Evans (the area president) came and spoke and it was so cool. Also, Su shimai gave her first talk in church and she did great. She was soo nervous to speak in front of so many people, including President and Sister Evans and President and Sister Tateoka. But when President Evans got up and spoke he just praised her for the first 5 minutes. It was cool.
This last week was pretty good. On the first day that it really started to warm up, we went on splits in a different area. It felt so good and I was so happy to be walking around knocking on doors in such beautiful weather. We were out for a couple hours before we came to a particular house. I knocked on the door and a nice looking man came to the door. I introduced ourselves and our message. He smiled and said (in perfect english) he wasnt interested because he was buddhist. Well of course I wasnt going to let him get away that easily, so I asked him if he had ever met missionaries before. Once again he gave me the same response as before (without answering my question). I thought maybe he hadnt heard me so I asked him again. And then he blew up. All of a sudden he wasnt a little smiling Japanese man anymore. He freaked out at me. He started yelling at me (in plain form offensive Japanese). He told me that I was just a stupid American. He told me to go home and that Jesus was a fraud. He said he didnt want me in Japan and that the Japanese people didnt want me either. I didnt really know what to do. I was so shocked that I just stood there. But somewhere in the middle of his rant I just started to laugh. Big mistake. The little Japanese man that had seemed so nice and smily just 5 minutes before took my laughing as an insult, and he didnt like it at all. He stepped out of his house came up to me and took a swing. I was still a little shocked so I couldnt really react quick enough, but luckily I was able to move my head just in time. He missed, barely. He wound up for another swing, but by that time I had woken up out of my shock and was already running down the sidewalk. Apparently my companions reflexes were much quicker than mine because he was already around the corner by the time I caught up to him. Nice to know he had my back. But I guess thats the life of a missionary sometimes. Not everyone is going to accept us. And I guess some people are even going to take a swing at us. But its worth it. Ill gladly take a swing for my savior if thats what it takes.
I love you! Im so excited for everything that is going on. I miss you! But I hope to hear from you soon.
Much love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
P.s.- I dont really need any cds. all the missionaries have plenty of music to listen to. Id prefer some toothpaste, a new toothbrush, some JIF peanut butter, and some Nutella. That would be a perfect package!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I dont know what could be cooler than this!
3/2/09 Email Message
My Dearest Family,
Im sorry this email is going to be really short, but we have to really run today. But even though its short, just know it has just as much love as a long one!
Yesterday my companion and I went to Primary and taught a lesson about how the gospel blesses families. I brought my family picture album with me and showed all of them my amazing family. They loved it! The little 3 year old couldnt contain himself. He was putting his face up as close as it could go to the pictures (so that he could get a good look) and he was giggling and squealing with each flip of the page. He kept saying "Kawaii!" which means "cute" and "Kakko ii" which means "cool". Haha I couldnt agree more!
I love you all so much. I love my family album too. I never get tired of opening it up and turning through the pictures. My companions really get sick of me bragging about my family - they just dont understand ;) But hey I gotta run. But Im working hard and having a great time. Every day is a new adventure. I dont know what could be cooler than this! I love you! Dad said all of you are sick right now, but I hope everyone gets better soon. I miss you! Hope to hear from you soon!
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
My Dearest Family,
Im sorry this email is going to be really short, but we have to really run today. But even though its short, just know it has just as much love as a long one!
Yesterday my companion and I went to Primary and taught a lesson about how the gospel blesses families. I brought my family picture album with me and showed all of them my amazing family. They loved it! The little 3 year old couldnt contain himself. He was putting his face up as close as it could go to the pictures (so that he could get a good look) and he was giggling and squealing with each flip of the page. He kept saying "Kawaii!" which means "cute" and "Kakko ii" which means "cool". Haha I couldnt agree more!
I love you all so much. I love my family album too. I never get tired of opening it up and turning through the pictures. My companions really get sick of me bragging about my family - they just dont understand ;) But hey I gotta run. But Im working hard and having a great time. Every day is a new adventure. I dont know what could be cooler than this! I love you! Dad said all of you are sick right now, but I hope everyone gets better soon. I miss you! Hope to hear from you soon!
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
