Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Duc knows it. And I know it.
8/24/09 Email Message
Family,
So this was a great week. Our companion exchange this weekend was fantastic. I worked with Allred choro. He was my senpai in the MTC and he was actually my Zone Leader there too. I remember when I first arrived at the MTC he was the first senpai I met. He had been there 6 weeks, but from my perspective he might as well have been there 6 months. I looked up to him during our entire stay in the MTC - and last weekend I finally got to work with him in the field. And it was a blast. We found a lot of interested people and had a great time talking with them. It was fun.
And then on Sunday Duc got baptized. And it was a great. His story is awesome, so I want to share that with you. Duc is Vietnamese but he is going to graduate school in Japan to get his PHD in Mechanical Engineering. He began meeting with missionaries about three months ago. He came to church a few times and heard a few lessons. But at that time he just could not believe in the Restoration. He said he could not believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ would appear to a 14 year farm boy just to answer one prayer. He also could not believe that the Book of Mormon was true because of "inconcistencies" between its teachings and the Bible's. So after about a month he stopped meeting with the missionaries.
Fast forward to about three weeks ago. In the middle of the day, we got a call from Duc. The first thing he says is "I have had a significant spiritual experience and I would like to be baptized. When can we do it?" We were shocked. We didnt really know what to say at the time, but we set up an appointment to meet and talk about it. We met the next day and he told us what had happened.
For about 6 months he had been working for his cousin, delivering CDs that his cousin had sold over the internet. What Duc didnt know is those CDs were illegal pirated copies. About a week after he stopped meeting with the missionaries, the police came to his home, arrested him, and took him to jail. He was in jail for over three weeks. He cannot speak Japanese so he had no way to help himself get out of his situation. All he could think to do was to pray like the missionaries had taught him. And as he did so, he felt like he also needed to read the scriptures. He called a friend and had him bring him a Bible and a Book of Mormon. And over the next three weeks in jail, he read the entire Bible and the entire Book of Mormon. By the time he had finished he had received an answer from God that everything the missionaries taught him was true.
Through careful study and prayer he received a testimony that the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon was the word of God. He realized that there are no "inconsistencies" between the two, but in fact they actually support and complement each other perfectly. He gained the knowledge that Jesus Christ is his Savior. He also received a burning testimony that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God who actually met Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. At that point, Duc told Heavenly Father that he would serve Him the rest of his life and would follow the Savior and be baptized no matter what happened to him. As soon as the police figured everything out and released him, he called us on the phone. And on Sunday he followed through on his promise to God and entered His church through the waters of baptism. It was such a spiritual experience to witness all of it.
When he got up and bore his testimony at the end of the meeting it was just amazing. He stood up and said very simply what his heart knew to be true. God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. The Bible and the Book of Mormon both contain the living word of God. Christs church has been restored in our day through a prophet of God, and we can all be happy forever by living the gospel that has been restored. Duc knows it. And I know it. From the bottom of my heart.
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
Duc, me, my companion, Takami choro, and the Hansens (the office couple, who also helped us teach a lot)
Family,
So this was a great week. Our companion exchange this weekend was fantastic. I worked with Allred choro. He was my senpai in the MTC and he was actually my Zone Leader there too. I remember when I first arrived at the MTC he was the first senpai I met. He had been there 6 weeks, but from my perspective he might as well have been there 6 months. I looked up to him during our entire stay in the MTC - and last weekend I finally got to work with him in the field. And it was a blast. We found a lot of interested people and had a great time talking with them. It was fun.
And then on Sunday Duc got baptized. And it was a great. His story is awesome, so I want to share that with you. Duc is Vietnamese but he is going to graduate school in Japan to get his PHD in Mechanical Engineering. He began meeting with missionaries about three months ago. He came to church a few times and heard a few lessons. But at that time he just could not believe in the Restoration. He said he could not believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ would appear to a 14 year farm boy just to answer one prayer. He also could not believe that the Book of Mormon was true because of "inconcistencies" between its teachings and the Bible's. So after about a month he stopped meeting with the missionaries.
Fast forward to about three weeks ago. In the middle of the day, we got a call from Duc. The first thing he says is "I have had a significant spiritual experience and I would like to be baptized. When can we do it?" We were shocked. We didnt really know what to say at the time, but we set up an appointment to meet and talk about it. We met the next day and he told us what had happened.
For about 6 months he had been working for his cousin, delivering CDs that his cousin had sold over the internet. What Duc didnt know is those CDs were illegal pirated copies. About a week after he stopped meeting with the missionaries, the police came to his home, arrested him, and took him to jail. He was in jail for over three weeks. He cannot speak Japanese so he had no way to help himself get out of his situation. All he could think to do was to pray like the missionaries had taught him. And as he did so, he felt like he also needed to read the scriptures. He called a friend and had him bring him a Bible and a Book of Mormon. And over the next three weeks in jail, he read the entire Bible and the entire Book of Mormon. By the time he had finished he had received an answer from God that everything the missionaries taught him was true.
Through careful study and prayer he received a testimony that the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon was the word of God. He realized that there are no "inconsistencies" between the two, but in fact they actually support and complement each other perfectly. He gained the knowledge that Jesus Christ is his Savior. He also received a burning testimony that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God who actually met Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. At that point, Duc told Heavenly Father that he would serve Him the rest of his life and would follow the Savior and be baptized no matter what happened to him. As soon as the police figured everything out and released him, he called us on the phone. And on Sunday he followed through on his promise to God and entered His church through the waters of baptism. It was such a spiritual experience to witness all of it.
When he got up and bore his testimony at the end of the meeting it was just amazing. He stood up and said very simply what his heart knew to be true. God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. The Bible and the Book of Mormon both contain the living word of God. Christs church has been restored in our day through a prophet of God, and we can all be happy forever by living the gospel that has been restored. Duc knows it. And I know it. From the bottom of my heart.
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
Duc, me, my companion, Takami choro, and the Hansens (the office couple, who also helped us teach a lot)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Gift of Tongues is Real
8/13/09 Email Message
Family,
Wow I cant believe all of that happened to Grandpa and he is still alive. I guess he is just too strong. I think this is a sign that I should write him a letter. That will be the first thing I do next P-day. If you talk to him soon tell him I said Hi. And Im praying for him.
I have kind of a cool story from over here in Japan. So in the MTC they drill three little letters into your brain. No matter what you do you cant get away from these three letters. They say it in class, they say it in the halls, they say it in devotionals, they say it in gym, they say it in your dorms, they say it at lunch - its everywhere! After three months in there all you can think about is those three letters. "S.Y.L." - Speak Your Language. Its a little reminder to keep you speaking the language that you are learning at all possibilities and in all situations. They used to promise us that if we kept "speaking our language" one day Japanese really would become "our language". Sometimes I doubted if that was really true.
Well after "speaking my language" for over a year there are a handful of Japanese words that have become part of "my language". Recently Ive been doing a lot of translating at church and other places for the Hansens (the senior couple that is in the office here) The most difficult times are when someone says one of "my words". If someone says something like dendo or kamisama (God) I repeat it back as dendo or kamisama. There have been a few times when they have to look at me and remind me they dont know what Im saying. Sometimes I just dont even know the English translation. Its a testimony to me that the gift of tongues is real. Its a crazy experience thats for sure.
I have a few questions. Did you get my memory card for my pictures in the last package? Also are you going to send my childhood pictures soon? If so please include pictures of high school too. It would be great to have pictures of back home. Also please send my baptism picture and one of me and kimberly in our kimonos. It would realllly help with investigators and in lessons. Please send those ASAP. Also did I tell you I broke my camera? If not - i broke it. Should I buy one here? What should we do? Also one of my suits is falling apart. I need a new one. I can get a good one for about 80 dollars. Also I need to get my drivers license here and we have a problem. I need my driving record from Alabama. Please copy that and email it to me ASAP. Thank you!
Love you all! Thanks for writing me. Talk to you soon!
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
Family,
Wow I cant believe all of that happened to Grandpa and he is still alive. I guess he is just too strong. I think this is a sign that I should write him a letter. That will be the first thing I do next P-day. If you talk to him soon tell him I said Hi. And Im praying for him.
I have kind of a cool story from over here in Japan. So in the MTC they drill three little letters into your brain. No matter what you do you cant get away from these three letters. They say it in class, they say it in the halls, they say it in devotionals, they say it in gym, they say it in your dorms, they say it at lunch - its everywhere! After three months in there all you can think about is those three letters. "S.Y.L." - Speak Your Language. Its a little reminder to keep you speaking the language that you are learning at all possibilities and in all situations. They used to promise us that if we kept "speaking our language" one day Japanese really would become "our language". Sometimes I doubted if that was really true.
Well after "speaking my language" for over a year there are a handful of Japanese words that have become part of "my language". Recently Ive been doing a lot of translating at church and other places for the Hansens (the senior couple that is in the office here) The most difficult times are when someone says one of "my words". If someone says something like dendo or kamisama (God) I repeat it back as dendo or kamisama. There have been a few times when they have to look at me and remind me they dont know what Im saying. Sometimes I just dont even know the English translation. Its a testimony to me that the gift of tongues is real. Its a crazy experience thats for sure.
I have a few questions. Did you get my memory card for my pictures in the last package? Also are you going to send my childhood pictures soon? If so please include pictures of high school too. It would be great to have pictures of back home. Also please send my baptism picture and one of me and kimberly in our kimonos. It would realllly help with investigators and in lessons. Please send those ASAP. Also did I tell you I broke my camera? If not - i broke it. Should I buy one here? What should we do? Also one of my suits is falling apart. I need a new one. I can get a good one for about 80 dollars. Also I need to get my drivers license here and we have a problem. I need my driving record from Alabama. Please copy that and email it to me ASAP. Thank you!
Love you all! Thanks for writing me. Talk to you soon!
Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Be a Hinckley Scholar. That's all I ask
8/3/09 Email Message to Kendall
hello kendall!
school already huh? crazy. what grade are you in again...6th? 7th? no wait 10?!!! huh? how did that happen!&%! i remember when you were getting ready for your first day of kindergarten. we went to elementary school together. can you believe that! and every time i'd walk past the kindergarten section i'd stop and take a peek to see if i could see my little sister. how did you make it to high school so quickly?
your schedule looks so fun. who are your teachers? i'm glad you are taking a lot of honors classes. you will be happier there. and next year take as many APs as you can. you will enjoy yourself most there. also this year do all you can to make all A's. people may tell you its ok to make B's but they are wrong. dont sell yourself short. also make sure you find some cool clubs to join and don't be afraid to take leadership positions. that's where all the fun is anyway. don't be afraid of doing too much - do as much as you can. do it all. work hard and have fun. and remember you have to prepare to be a hinckley scholar. that's all i ask ;-)
you got to see Tyler [cousin] play baseball? no fair. i wanna see him too. did he play? what position? and kimberly's apartment sounds fun. i'm glad they live so close so that you can see them a lot. isn't family fun? and that is so cool that stephanie came to girls camp and was able to strengthen her testimony. i love that she has learned to recognize the spirit. does she still come to other church activities? tell her i said hey! also tell her i said she needs to get baptized...oops thats the missionary coming out ;-)
so since i came to the honbu [mission home], i've been listening to a lot of music. we have soooo many church cds. but i think i've found a favorite. its an efy cd. the theme is Stand in the Light. I'm not sure what year its from but it may be 2008 or 2007...pretty recent i'm sure. anyway, i think you would love it. it would be a great sunday cd. i like track 1, 4 and 5 especially. 4 reminds me of you. i recomend it.
i love you! you are the best little sister i could ask for. thanks for being so cool. keep makin' me proud!
Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
hello kendall!
school already huh? crazy. what grade are you in again...6th? 7th? no wait 10?!!! huh? how did that happen!&%! i remember when you were getting ready for your first day of kindergarten. we went to elementary school together. can you believe that! and every time i'd walk past the kindergarten section i'd stop and take a peek to see if i could see my little sister. how did you make it to high school so quickly?
your schedule looks so fun. who are your teachers? i'm glad you are taking a lot of honors classes. you will be happier there. and next year take as many APs as you can. you will enjoy yourself most there. also this year do all you can to make all A's. people may tell you its ok to make B's but they are wrong. dont sell yourself short. also make sure you find some cool clubs to join and don't be afraid to take leadership positions. that's where all the fun is anyway. don't be afraid of doing too much - do as much as you can. do it all. work hard and have fun. and remember you have to prepare to be a hinckley scholar. that's all i ask ;-)
you got to see Tyler [cousin] play baseball? no fair. i wanna see him too. did he play? what position? and kimberly's apartment sounds fun. i'm glad they live so close so that you can see them a lot. isn't family fun? and that is so cool that stephanie came to girls camp and was able to strengthen her testimony. i love that she has learned to recognize the spirit. does she still come to other church activities? tell her i said hey! also tell her i said she needs to get baptized...oops thats the missionary coming out ;-)
so since i came to the honbu [mission home], i've been listening to a lot of music. we have soooo many church cds. but i think i've found a favorite. its an efy cd. the theme is Stand in the Light. I'm not sure what year its from but it may be 2008 or 2007...pretty recent i'm sure. anyway, i think you would love it. it would be a great sunday cd. i like track 1, 4 and 5 especially. 4 reminds me of you. i recomend it.
i love you! you are the best little sister i could ask for. thanks for being so cool. keep makin' me proud!
Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford
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