Even if we dont start a charity in Africa

11/30/09 Email Message

Konnichiwa!

Genki? [Doing well?] I am so cold right now. Hachinohe has got to be the coldest place on earth. I went from Sendai (pretty much perfect weather) to the most northern area in our mission - my first night of dendo [proselyting] was a pretty big shock. But now that Ive broken out my gloves and scarf Im surviving. After this we are going to go buy new ear muffs and gloves - so exciting!

This new area is awesome. There hasnt been much success here lately but Heavenly Father has really blessed us in just the few days Ive been here. Things are looking up. My new companion is cool too. His name is Carthew choro and hes from Australia. Hes only been out a few months but he has so many ideas and a great desire to be a good missionary. Its been fun to be with him and feel his dendo fire.

Also hes super smart and super talented. He went to one of the top private schools in Australia. He speaks french, plays the bassoon, trumpet, guitar, and piano. He also has a great singing voice. Also he started a charity in high school that goes to Africa and builds schools for children that have lost their parents to AIDS. He paid for his mission by starting his own online business that designs and builds web stores for small home businesses. And after all that he gave up a full ride scholarship to the top university in Australia to come on a mission. Which leads to my problem.

After two days with him I realized that I have no talents. Wheres my charity for starving children? Why cant I even read music? What am I doing with my life? With these thoughts in my head we went out to dendo. That night was one of the most blessed nights of my mission. The Lord led us to 3 amazing new investigators and a handful of people with a lot of potential. I was having so much fun talking to people, testifying, and preaching the gospel. But strangely enough, when we got home my companion seemed a little sad. When I asked whats wrong his answer surprised me. "I cant do anything. I cant speak Japanese. I dont know what Im doing. How are you so good? Ill never be as good as you" Thats when I realized how wrong my thoughts had been before.

The Lord gives us specific strengths and calls us each to specific callings. Theres no need to compare ourselves to others. What Elder Carthew said was so not true, but what I had been saying was also completely wrong. I do have strengths - I do have accomplishments. And God is proud of me. We just have to make sure we have the right perspective.

God loves us no matter what weaknesses we have. He'll forgive us even if we dont start a charity in Africa. And Im so grateful for that...but that doesnt mean Im not thinking of ideas for my own charity when I get home. Ill keep you updated ;-)

I love you! Talk to you soon! Have a happy Holiday!

Elder Brendan Kingsford

I'm excited to go back to real life

11/23/09 Email Message

Dear Mom,
Thanks for the pictures. I love Merritt! Isnt it funny how much a part of our family she has become. We all love her so much...Shes a good dog.

The Christmas Child project sounds like it was great. Those are the kind of things that make me love christmas so much. So many miracles happen during the Christmas season. Its like for about a month and a half everyone grows a little closer to the Savior and the world reaps the benefits. I just wish that spirit could last all year.

Was the project done at the church or was it a community project? Im glad you and kendall had such a great time. I hope you have many more experiences like that this season.

About the shoes - tie on comfortable shoes are much more practical than loafers - imagine dendoing in the snow with loafers and tassles. Haha I think regular shoes will be just fine. Preferably black. Im good on slippers, all i want is sweats for pjs, and instead of candy how does chips and salsa sound? Have I ever told you about flyingpig.com? Its a website for Costco in Japan. You can order stuff from CostCo online and then they send it straight to me. Thats how most of the elders in the mission get american products from their parents. apparently its pretty cheap. maybe youd like to check it out.

And ps I have good news. Transfer day is tomorrow and kaicho [mission president] has decided to let me be a real missionary for the last part of my mission. Im transferring up north to a place called hachinohe with a young missionary. Im excited! Ive really enjoyed my time here in the honbu [mission home] and all the experiences Ive had as assistant. But Im excited to go back to real life and just focus on dendo [proselyting] for my last 6 months.

I hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving! Ill be thinking of you a lot during this season. Also we'll be on the phone in just a few weeks. tanoshiminishiteimasu [looking forward to it]! talk to you later!

Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford

But now its my treasure

11/15/09 Email Message

Hello Everyone!

Sorry Im so late - even though its Sunday this is the first time weve been able to email. But thanks so much for all your emails, it was fun to login and see all of those waiting. Ever since I came to the honbu my mail has pretty much died. So it was nice to get so many at the same time. I love you all!

Yesterday we had Someya sans baptism and it was amazing. He bore his testimony during the meeting and it was so good. I just wanted to share a short quote from what he said. At one point he was talking about how he gained a testimony in the Book of Mormon when he said (in english even though he was talking to a room full of Japanese people) "When I first began reading the Book of Mormon it was for leisure. Then it become my pleasure. But now its my treasure." His faith is incredible. Its been such a treat to teach him and be able to see his growth and progression. Even though he just got confirmed today he seemed like a veteran church member. He was picking up hymnbooks, preparing the room for class, talking with all of the members, and participating in the lessons. It was a great day!

Dad, Ill look around for your honten [winter house coat]. I would guess it would be somewhere around 20-30 dollars - but that might be totally wrong so Ill go look first. Also about the sweats - all of the sweats Ive seen here are kind of a weird style. And I cant imagine anything tailor made in Japan to be even close to affordable these days...Ill keep looking but If you cant send some from home maybe I can just find something else that will work here.

Well I gotta run. Love you and Ill talk to you soon! Bye Bye

Much Love,

Elder Brendan Kingsford

These members are amazing

11/3/09 Email Message

Family!,

Wow an email from the new computer - how exciting! Did you lose anything when the old one crashed? I hope not - it had so many pictures and songs it would be sad if we lost all of those. But I hope you have fun with this new one. By the way Dad said something about Windows 7 coming with it - is that the new operating system? Ive never heard of that. Whats it like?

Halloween looks like it was a blast! The pictures were great - everyone looks like they had soo much fun! Where did all the kids come from? I think thats so cool that Kendall had a bunch of school friends come and have a clean fun time. By the way Kendall I got your letters! thanks so much. And I have a question - does that girl you wrote about come to church with you? Do you invite your other friends? Since Ive been on my mission Ive realized how easy it would have been to just invite my friends to church stuff - I never really took advantage of that and I regret it a lot. I think thats so cool that Aly invited her friend and helped her all the way through her conversion - that would be such a great experience for you and your friends to have. Have any of your friends ever met with the missionaries or have you ever talked to the missionaries about your friends? If not you should pull them aside this week at church and tell them you want help with your friends. They can help :-)

But anyways the party looks like it was amazing. I hope you all had fun! Im glad even merritt and rocky got in on the action.

So sad news - our party got cancelled. It was planned for the 29th but thats when Sister allred and Sister Dibb came in and had their big conference so it was a no go for the halloween. But i still got to pass out the candy to all the kids so that was fun at least. But we did have a big ward activity a couple days ago. Its called an imonikai - basically a big potato soup festival. We played softball in the morning (our team squeaked by 19 - 18 in extra innings) then we all walked over to the ward garden and picked cabbage, daikon (japanese radish) potatoes and peppers, then we all sat down and ate an awesome lunch of soup, homemade bread, and smoked meat and cheese prepared by the relief society. It was so fun and so Japanese.

These members are amazing. It was so fun to play with them but also to work next to them in the field and see how hard working and down to earth all of them are. It was a great experience. Ive attached some pictures from the day - notice no matter how Japanese I may feel Im still representin my true colors ;-)

Life is good - although it has gotten cold. It snowed a couple days ago for the first time and Im now back to sleeping with three blankets at night. It will be a happy day when Japan discovers double paned windows and insulation - but until then my big three blankets will have to do. Ill be fine until I have to add the fourth layer - then we are in trouble ;-)

I love you! Im glad you are all having so much fun together. Thanks for sending me all those pictures - and dont be afraid to send more! Talk to you soon!

Much Love,

Elder Brendan Kingsford

Garden Photos

10/28/09 Email Message

Dad,

Happy Early Birthday Dad! I wrote you a letter and packed you a package but I have not had the time to run to the post office and send it off yet. But just know its on its way. Also know that I love you!

The other day I was thinking about all the times you took us trick or treating on your birthday. Im sure there were probably other things you would prefer to do on your birthday than walk around the neighborhood and watch us knock on doors all night. But you still went. I remember once when I was really little you had some kind of meeting to go to (work?) so you couldnt take us out late, but you came home from work and took us out for an hour or so just so we could still go trick or treating. You probably could have just told us you were too busy and we just wouldnt have gone that year. But of course you didnt. Even though you only had a little time that day to yourself you spent it on us so that we could have fun and be happy. And that may seem like something just really small but it meant a lot to my little 7 year old self. And it just represents the kind of Dad I have. You always put our dreams and wishes before your own. And you are always there when we need you. Thanks so much for being a great Dad.

I hope you have a Happy Birthday. I hear Kendall is having a big party this year - and Im guessing you are clean up crew. Well I guess some things never change. Haha just dont let them eat ALL the trash dip. I love you!

Elder Brendan Kingsford

"I know - Jesus makes me happy"

10/27/09 Email Message

Hello!

Wow those pictures are so cute! Asher is one good looking kid. I cant wait to meet him. Is he going to Kendalls party too? Hes sure got a great costume! I hope Kendalls party is as fun as it was last year. Let me know how it goes. Send pictures!

Things are going great here. We are in the middle of Zone Taikai [Conference] week but weve got a day off today because Sister Dibb, Sister Allred, and the area President Elder Stevenson are in town for a fireside and we are shuttling them around all day. But tonight we are back on the road to our last two Zones. Should be fun!

Another fun thing we are doing right now is apartment hunting. I never thought Id be doing business in Japanese but weve been dealing and bargaining with Real Estate agents and apartment owners for the past couple of weeks. Weve got a new senior couple coming to run a special YSA program called Outreach and they arrrive in about two weeks. Weve gotta find the apartment, sign the contract, and set up the furnishings all before they get here. Everything we are doing is brand new to both of us so its pretty exciting.

Also we had a lesson with Someya san today that was awesome. You can just see the change that has come over him. He used to just look a little dark and depressed - his hair was long and greasy, his clothes were grungy, and he didnt really smile much. But since gaining a testimony of Jesus Christ and feeling the power of the words of the scriptures - especially the Book of Mormon - he has just changed so much. Hes happy and smiling, hes got a little bounce in his step, and hes just so happy. It really is amazing to see. We pointed it out to him today and he said "I know - Jesus makes me happy" It was so cool. Im so excited for his baptism in a couple of weeks. Its been such a blessing to meet and teach him. We are so lucky.

So as you can see things are going great. Thanks so much for sending me those pictures - they really brightened my day. Mom you have really gotten good at editing your pictures. I hope you enjoy your new computer and I hope you get time to play around on it. That is such a good gift to have. I hope everyone has a happy halloween! Dont have too much fun ;-) Hope to hear from you soon!

Much Love,

Elder Brendan Kingsford