Old Letters

(Sorry, I'm so behind posting James' letters.  - Mom/Rosanna)
August 11, 2010
Hey Family,

Thanks for the input on things... sounds like you guys had a great week... oh and Katrina thanks so much for the package, I was so excited to see it.=) I loved the pictures, especially the one with everyone and Uncle Pat's guns...haha and thanks for the letters and m&ms.... you're the best!

As for me, my week went well! We have found some pretty good investigators that seem like they're gonna progress, which is good. Yesterday we had some pretty powerful lessons.  One of which was with Jovanna. Jovanna is part of a Christan church and has been baptised by emmersion and everything. So she's a little bit hard to talk with. Yesterday we talked about the apostasy with some pretty good scriptures from the bible, then about the restoration.. When I recited the first vision I could feel the power so strong and I knew she could feel it too.  She had tears in her eyes.  I asked her how she felt and she gave a strong answer. . . .GOOD!   I know she knows this gospel is true, she is just scared to take the next step.  I have faith that she will act on what she knows and join the church.

I'm so excited to be out here on the mission and learn and grow through helping others, it's the best feeling ever when you can see your investigators keeping they're promises and taking steps in their lives to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I gotta go but before I forget I sent you guys a package last Saturday. I sent it with a family who is going to Utah and they are going to drop the package off at Elder Combe's house and E. Combe's parents are gonna send it to you guys.  Hope you enjoy it.  It's not anything too big.
Well  I gotta go.
I love you guys... have a good week.
Love,
Elder Kingston

August 2, 2010
Hey Fambam,
 =) I'm happy to see everybody is doing great and that dad you have a great class and mom you were able to rocover from camp.
Here in my barrio, Los Andes, everything is going good.  Yesterday we had two confimations.  Alejandro and this girl, Dinorah.  Dinorah came to church last week to see Andres get the spirit conferred upon him and turned out she is somebody that we, along with many other missionaries, have been looking for. She  was baptized 8 months ago but never recieved the Holy Ghost. We started teaching her and we got her confirmed yesterday.  The Lord truly put her in our way.=) I'm just so grateful to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.  Last night me and Elder Combe went over and got them excited about missions.  Dinorah is 20 Alejandro is 17 and Andres is 16 and they all are planning on serving missions. whoo hoo! To see the joy in them when talking about serving missions really filled my heart with love for this beautiful work.  And already they are doing missionary work.  Alejandro told me he has been talking to a bunch of people about the church and he has like 8 that wanna come... its sweet! Mom, thanks for sharing that experience about Brigham Young, it's so true. Well I would love to keep writing, but I gotta go.
Love you guys and hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder kingston....
Oh and mom I think it would be better if you send me garments and I can buy the rest here.=)


July 26, 2010
Hey family
wow.... mom it sounded like you guys really made camp a wonderful and spiritual experience. Congratulations!
Well this last week went great. We comfirmed Andres and baptized his brother yesterday. They are both sweet converts. They both are planning on going on missions...=) which I'm way happy about!
Time here on the mission is going by so fast and I'm loving every minute of it, the hard times and the good times! I really wanna use this time so I can grow spiritually and I'm definitely having experiences!  One thing I started to do this change is to really love personal study. Alot of times I found myself head bobbing and falling asleep while studying but I am now keeping track of everything I study in a study journal and it has really been helping me out.  Right now I am studying the enabling power of the atonement and it is really helping keep the spirit through out the day.

I'm so grateful for all of you and everything you do.  I have to go cause im gonna send you guys some pictures but always remember that I love you.=)

Elder Kingston


July  19, 2010
Hey Family....=)
Well thank you all for your wonderful prayers. Even though I can't see you guys I still get comfort knowing that you are all praying for my success here on the mission.  This last week went sweet.  Andres, a 17 year old that came to church last week was baptized yesterday.  His mom is a member but he and his brothers are not. We went to his house last Tuesday to see how he liked church then we sat down and his mom yelled for him saying, "Andres get down here.  The missionaries are here to teach you so you can get baptized'' she said it really bluntly but he didnt argue at all.  He is a great kid with a great future ahead of him and I'm just so happy for the chance to see him start on this eternal path.  This next week we have planned for his brother to get baptized. His name is Alejandro and he's 15. He went to church and really liked what he saw.

Other than the baptism we had, this week has been pretty crazy. On Tuesday we had divisions.  Each elder in our zone was put with a different elder for 2 days.  I got Elder Bearchia and my companion went with Elder Parrera in Salinas which is about an hour away.  It was pretty fun.  I learned alot. I really like divisions cause you get the chance to get new ideas of ways to teach.  Then we changed back on Thursday. Thursday night we got a call from Elder Flynn, our zone leader, that he needed me and my companion to sleep at his house.  Turns out his companion, Elder Bearchia became one of the Presidents Assistants.  So we have been a triple for the last 3 days until tomorrow when we have changes. It's actually pretty hard cause we are having to go back and forth from his area to ours. But it's definitely a fun experience!

Wow mom you sound like your rockin it over there with camp. I know you're going to have a fantastic week. Well I gotta go but I will send pictures of the baptism next week.  Okay, I hope you all have a great week and remember that I love you. =)

Elder Kingston

July 12, 2010
Wow,  what a great surprise to have so many emails!  I feel so special....haha!  Thanks so much.

Happy birthday Kai.  Sounds like you had a great birthday!  And mom I hope you don't get too stressed out with all the camp stuff.  (read D&C 10:4) I know you are doing a great job though.

This last week was great. We have some new great investigators,  Milton and Veronica who are boyfriend and girlfriend.  They are really cool.  They are both really humbled right now,  not only for the hurricane that passed through but also about a month ago Milton was beat up pretty bad by a drug cartel who thought he was someone else.  They left him with 2 broken arms and a broken hip. He and his girlfriend came to church  on sunday and really liked the church... the only thing with them is that they are not married but have 1 child and she is pregnant with a second... but they also don't live together, so today we are going to talk to them about how they can have a family eternal and about marriage.  If you guys can pray for them that they may have a contrite spirit and follow the teachings of the spirit that would be great.  We also had a lady named Lupita come to church with us today.  Her husband is a member but she is Catholic.  They are expecting a baby and she wants the kid to grow up in one religion so she is really leaning toward joining this church.  We had the opportunity to give her a blessing last Saturday because she was having stomach pains... she told us that she felt alot better after and that it was a good experience.  I feel really good about all of them and  I know that if the Lord wants it right now they will take this next step in their lives and be baptized.

It's still been pretty wet here. I'ts been raining off and on but I'm pretty sure its all clearing up now.  The hurricane did alot of damage, in our area not as much, but in my old area which was in the center of Monterrey was hit really hard.  I'ts right by the Rio Santa Caterina.  You should look it up on google or something.  And another area right by us had the church swept away, leaving nothing,  pretty sad.  It might have taken away our material things but the only thing it did spiritually is lift us up.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of this gospel and of the plan God has for us  and for the chance to always be happy. I love you all and I am so grateful for the wonderful and supporting family God has given me. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

LOVE YOU ALL,
Elder Kingston