It almost feels like we are starting all over again

2/22/10 Email Message

Family,

First things first...the Church had google renovate their email system for them and now all missionaries are using a version of gmail. So this is the first email sent from my new missionary gmail account. Its awesome! Soooooo much better than the last one we had - and you can send me as many pictures as you want and i never have to delete! woo hoo!

Also that is so cool that Kendall went on a date! She is so gorgeous! That outfit is so you kendall! was it fun?...Mom said Wesley has a cool car - but really, is it as cool as my Mazda Protege- doubt it. Mom you should send me more pictures of Kendall!

Mom you have a facebook? I think thats cool. Too bad Kimberly wont befriend you, we'll see how long that lasts. What do you do on it? Talk to your girls? Do you facebook stalk people? Do you take emo photos of yourself in the mirror and turn them into albums? Thats what all the cool kids do. Im excited to see it. Dont worry...I'll be your friend.

Kimberly's baby is the cutest kid ever. Im so jealous all of you get to play with him all the time - I havent even met him!! The pictures Kimberly sent me are awesome. Looks like it was a fun picnic at the river.

Tomorrow we have a mission conference with Elder Choi of the Seventy. Im pretty excited. I really enjoyed his talk in last general conference so Im glad we get to meet him and get training from him.

Things here are going good. Last week was kind of tough though. We had to let quite a few of our investigators go. They werent really interested in actually putting in the effort it takes to change their lives and repent. They just wanted to be our friends and meet with us because we are so nice to them. I wish we could keep meeting with them and be their friends too, but thats not what we are called to do. We only teach people that are willing to follow Jesus by repenting and keeping commitments. We had quite a few sad meetings the past few days, but its for the best. Now we just need to rely on the Lord to lead us to his prepared people. It almost feels like we are starting all over again, but its ok. We'll just work hard and have the faith and the Lord will make up the rest. I guess thats what the mission is all about. We'll see what happens...

I love you! Sorry I dont have more exciting things to write about. I feel like the last few emails have been really boring. Haha Ill keep my eye out for something cool I can tell you about next week. I cant make any promises though

Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford

P.S. - Ive eaten American cereal every morning (and sometimes nights too) for the past week. Blueberry Muffin Frosted MiniWheats, Marshmallow Mateys, Honey Nut Chex, and Reeses Puffs. Im in heaven.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENDALL!!!!!!

2/8/10 Email Message to Kendall

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENDALL!!!!!! I hope you have a fantastic birthday. Its already February 8 here on the other side of the world. And let me tell you February 8, 2010 is amazing. Its a wonderful day to turn 16! I hope you enjoy it...also I sent you a birthday package a while back and it should get there in a few days. So be on the look out for that!

Not much going on here. Still unbelievably cold. A couple of days ago we went to a Joseph Smith fireside put on by the mission president and his wife. I was the undefeated stick pulling champion!! Ive now been to 3 of these firesides all over northern Japan and I havent even come close to losing once!! Of course I am about 40 pounds heavier and a head taller than everyone else but hey they get what they ask for ;-) Also we are going on base today and going shopping at the american grocery store - so exciting. I dont even know what to buy!

But anyways I hope you have a wonderful birthday. Happy Sweet 16!!

Love you bunches,
Elder Brendan Kingsford

I gave a talk yesterday in English! yikes.

2/1/10 Email Message

Family,

Thanks for all the emails! Especially the pictures you sent me mom - did kendall really create that? Its incredible. How did you learn how to do that?! how come I didnt get any of the talented genes? The house looks good - did we paint the front door that color before i left? I cant remember...I love when you send pictures with your emails. Thanks so much mom! The pictures look great.

Things are going good here. We have sooo many people we are teaching and sooo many good things going on. We set another baptism date last week. I gave up sweets to help our friend give up tobacco and alcohol. Anjiki kyoudai got the priesthood yesterday and he was so happy. I gave a talk yesterday in English! yikes. Speaking japanese has now become a habit. I recently realized that I havent had a prolem with it in quite a while. Its pretty amazing. I am just full of thanks.

The weather has been surprisingly warm the last few days. But thats about it.

Life is good. I love my family. Talk to you soon!

Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford

I clearly heard the Spirit tell me to stop and talk to him

1/24/10 Email Message

Family!,

Well Ive been trying to think of something to say...but I cant think of anything interesting or eloquent. So Ill just give you some random updates as they come to mind.

Im pretty tired today, but Im not exactly sure why. The streets here are covered with a thick layer of ice which makes it impossible to ride bikes. Ive got a talk in church this sunday at the military branch - in English! Scary...

Last night on our way home from a long day of dendo i met a really cool 17 year old kid who could be very prepared...it was freezing cold, I was tired, and we were running a little late, but I clearly heard the Spirit tell me to stop and talk to him. We have an appointment with him tonight. Yesterday we had an awesome lesson in elders quorum from, Elder Oaks talk on the relationship between love and law. You should read it.

Also Ive been thinking that Im not so sure about majoring in Accounting anymore. Ive started to feel like I should study some kind of science/technology/business field...I dont know why Ive been getting those feelings either - I havent been trying to think about it. They have just been popping up in my mind lately for some reason. Theres no one to talk to about it though, and no time to really think about it so im pretty confused.

Oh and I got permission from Kaicho to apply for classes on my own on Pday once the time comes to do it, so you dont have to worry about that.

Anyways thats all I have for now. Thanks for writing me and keeping me updated. I love you!!

Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford

Hot Water

1/18/10 Email Message

Family,

Sorry I dont have a lot of time today, but I just wanted to say hi and let you know how things are going. Yesterday Anjiki kyoudai got baptized. It was one of the most incredible experiences. Everything from meeting him the first time to yesterdays service was just one huge unbelievable blessing. And yesterday something really special happened.

When we first got there in the morning the hot water in the font wasnt working. Weve had a freak snow storm the past few days and all of the pipes to the font were completely frozen over. Nothing we did could get them to work. So we filled up pots with water at the kichen sink, brought them to a boil, and then filled up the font little by little. The service was at 2:00 and by 11:30 we had barely even made a dent in the font. Meanwhile the pipes were still compltetely frozen and refusing to let in the hot water. At that point our Elders Quorum president called my companion and I together and we stood and prayed to Heavenly Father and asked Him to give us hot water so that Anjiki kyoudai could be baptized at 2 o' clock. As he was praying I started to smile as I felt the power of his prayer and I felt absolutely certain that God would take care of it for us. When we had concluded the prayer we sat in silence for a few moments...before 10 seconds had even passed we heard the water heater kick in, the pipes start to gurgle, and hot water came pouring out of the faucet into the font. The three of us looked at each other, smiled, and our Elders Quorum president cried out (in english) "Unbelievable!" With ice still covering the pipes on the outside and the temperature still well below freezing, God gave us hot water so that Anjiki kyoudai could be baptized at 2 o' clock.

After I baptized him, and before we had climbed out of the font, Anjiki kyoudai looked at me with a big smile on his face, gave me a big hug (something Japanese men never do), and said "Thank you. This is just the beginning."

Its been a long time since this branch has seen a baptism. Everyone was so happy and so excited. All of the women were crying and all of the men kept shaking my hand and thanking me for my hard work. But what they dont know is it wasnt me at all. All I did was pray. The Lord did all of the work.

This whole experience is just representative of the last 2 months of my mission. Over the last two months, Ive finally learned how to pray. Ive really felt the power of pleading with my Heavenly Father. I know that no matter what happens, if we pray with real intent and with sincere desire the Lord will hear our prayers. No matter what the circumstances are, when we really need it, the Lord will provide the hot water.

I love you!! I love my mission! Miracles are happening every day. It truly is amazing.

Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford

And he knew his prayers had been answered

1/10/10 Email Message

Family,

Yay! BAMA won! Im sure Austin is on top of the world right now. Its crazy how they went from nothing to National Champions in 3 years. Hopefully they can do it again next year so I can see it.

We had transfer calls last week and we found out Elder Carthew and I will be together for at least another 6 weeks. Which is good because we have a lot of good things going on right now.

This Sunday Anjiki san is getting baptized. He asked me to baptize him because he thinks of me as the answer to his prayers. He had been praying for months to find the true church - actually he had been praying for God to send the true church to him some how. He thought about going to many different churches during that time, but he felt impressed to just keep praying for the true church to come to him. So with faith he continued to study the scriptures and pray for a miracle. And then we ran into each other on the street and he knew his prayers had been answered. Im so happy for him. The branch is super excited too.

About my return date...I've officially decided to extend until June 24. Im going to tell President in my interview this week. I dont know what your plans are for when I get home, but I hope the end of June is ok. I just feel like this is the only chance I have in my life to serve the Lord in this way, and Id like to make it last just a little bit longer. I think I can do a lot of good things here in Hachinohe and Misawa so Id like to have more time to serve the people here...Im sorry Mom ;-)

Hey I got the chips and salsa! Thanks so much - they are soo good. It made my companion happy too.

I love you! I hope everyone has a great week. And I hope Kendall is having a good start to the semester! Make sure you live it up! Talk to you soon!

Much Love,
Elder Brendan Kingsford

"I got my answer. Its true. What else can you tell me?"

1/4/10 Email Message

Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu - or as we say in English...HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

That is so cool Josh got to come for New Years and chow down on Dads famous gyouza. Has everyone recovered from the gyouza burps yet? I hope you and he had a great time together. I miss him a lot. Tell him Im looking forward to the 2011 anual Kingsford Family/Josh Bell gyouza party. It will be the first time weve had the whole clan together in a while...it should be fun!

Also Dad thats exciting! Im glad you won the contract. It sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun for the next few years. I hope everything goes smoothly - lets just hope the government stays out of the way as much as possible ;-)

It was great talking to everyone on the phone for Christmas. I think its funny how it seemed like you all were just in the other room. I havent seen my family for over 18 months but when whenever we talk on the phone its like no time has passed at all. If it werent for the fact that theres a new baby that wasnt there before and Kendall now sounds like an adult ;-) I might think nothing has changed at all. It was definitely the highlight of my christmas!

Today we went with a member family to see Jesus's grave. Apparently Jesus and his brother Isukiri are buried here in the mountains of Hachinohe. There are two graves with crosses sticking out of the ground and a buddhist shrine dedicated to Jesus to prove it. It was pretty interesting. But what was really interesting is the village at the base of the hill is called Herai machi and there are a lot of families that live around there named Herai. Herai is the Japanese form of the word hebrew. Also there are paintings from hundreds of years ago that depict brown haired fair skinned village people living in the area. Pretty weird...

But after that we went to a uma shop and had grilled uma and uma sashimi. In case you are wondering...uma means horse. Yep thats right - we ate horse sashimi...raw horse meat. And it was surprisingly really good. It was really soft and actually kind of sweet. Nothing like anything Ive eaten before. Do they sell horse meat in America? I have never heard of it...

Things are going really well. We have a ton of good investigators and we are teaching lots and lots of lessons. Its a fun time to be a missionary right now. One of the most prepared people I have ever met is getting bapized in two weeks. His name is Anjiki san. We met him 3 weeks ago and every time we meet him his faith just blows me away. He is so excited to learn about the restored gospel. He just wants to know everything - he cant get enough. Every time he learns something new he goes home, prays about it, and then comes back and says "I got my answer. Its true. What else can you tell me?" Its amazing. We are all excited for his baptism - especially the branch. They are kind of lacking in able priesthood holders so they are so excited to welcome such a strong faithful potential leader into the branch. We are so blessed!

I love you! I hope everyone has a good time watching Alabama beat Texas! Talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Brendan Kingsford