HUMANITARIAN TRAINING

Today we began our HUMANITARIAN TRAINING. We took a bus to Welfare Square in Salt Lake City. We toured the Bishop's Storehouse, the Cannery, and Deseret Industries. We learned that the objective of the Humanitarian program is:

1. To relieve suffering

 2. Promote self reliance

3. Provide opportunities for service.

 

I love doing Humanitarian work for the church because of these important principles. Someone said today, "we are simply doing what the Savior would do".

I love this quote from Joseph Smith,

"We are to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all."

 We heard the story of a young man in Africa who sells bananas to earn enough money to go on a mission. You can watch a short 2 minute video about Sedrick click here.

The Missionary Training Center

Elder Kinghorn

Sister Kinghorn

One of my favorite things about the Missionary Training Center is that very special moment when they hand you your little black name tag and you get to pin it on your lapel. It is such an honor to be a representative of Jesus Christ.

 

 The first week here was awesome.  We have met wonderful couples who will be serving all over the world. This is just half of the group that we were with the first week. We spent Monday thru Friday in classes that were taught by returned missionaries who were A LOT younger than the rest of us, but they were excellent teachers.  

 

 

Two nights a week we went to a devotional where we joined the younger missionaries for a very inspirational talk and beautiful spiritual music. We were in a huge auditorium that was filled with missionaries young and old and when we sang the hymns the spirit in the room was so strong. One of my favorite hymns that we sang during the opening exercises was "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing "

During our first Sunday Sacrament Meeting I learned three important things.

1. Two people can do anything as long as one of them is THE LORD
2. You and THE LORD make a majority
3. Whom THE LORD calls, THE LORD QUALIFIES


This Sunday when we went to the Devotional we were told that our speakers would be Brother Richard Elliott who is the principle organist with the MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR AND DAVID ARCHULETA. For those of you who have never heard of David Archuleta, he is a young man who was on American Idol. He is also LDS and recently returned from a mission in Chili. He has only been home for one week but was honored to be given the opportunity to address missionaries at the missionary training center. He spoke about his mission and his mothers conversion to the church. One thing he told us that was very interesting was that his mother and grandmother were both converts to the church and on the first day his grandmother was preparing to attend church she said that she heard a choir of angels singing. She didn't recognize the song but when she got to the church she heard it again. That song was "Come Come ye Saints".
 I am so grateful to be here and to have had such wonderful spiritual experiences this week. I know with all my heart that we are truly called to this mission to do the Lord's work and I can hardly wait to meet the people of South Africa.

The Missionary Training Center and the Senior Missionaries

We arrived in Provo on Saturday morning but our classes at the Missionary Training Center did not begin until Monday morning. We decided to check in on Saturday so that we could have a day or two to relax before our training began. We checked into our room and were fast asleep by 8:30 pm. I think the last few months of preparation finally caught up with us. We had a wonderful farewell party that our daughter Karrissa and her husband Brad hosted for us the week before we left Sacramento. That is when the good-bye's began. We realized that we wouldn't be seeing my mother again because she was headed to Southern California with my niece the following Monday and would be gone by the time we departed. When my sister and her family left I knew I would probably not be seeing them again either before I left. Bruce said good-bye to his brother David and his son Dave, and then there were friends from church who we wouldn't be seeing the following Sunday who we said our goodbyes to. A few of my very close friends stopped in to say good-bye as well. With each hug good-bye I felt a little tug at my heart! I KNEW THE NEXT WEEK WAS NOT GOING TO BE EASY!



Me with my nieces, Brooke and Brittany, and Brooke's son, Mason

When we got home from the party we both felt emotionally drained.

The following day more goodbyes to our dear friends at church. We concluded the day by joining our children and grandchildren in the Bishops office so that Bruce and I could be set apart as missionaries. This is a very special ordinance performed by our Stake Presidency (leaders of our church).

A very emotional Sunday concluded with saying goodbye at the airport to our son, Nathan and his sweet girlfriend Daysha. They did the best they could to put on a happy face but I know that it was just as hard for them to say good-bye to us as it was for us to say good-bye to them. 18 months is a long time to go without seeing your children.

The next few days were filled with trying to get last minute things done and preparing the house for our renters. We managed to squeeze in as much time with the grandchildren as we could. I picked up my granddaughter Monroe after school and we went shopping for new school shoes while Bruce and Cash hung out at home. We had dinner with Brad, Karrissa and the kids two or three times in an attempt to squeeze in as much time together as we could that final week. Each time we left their house or said good-bye Cash would run and hug us and say, "good-luck on your mission" to both of us. It makes me cry just thinking about it. I heard another Senior Missionary grandmother saying today that "it was hardest to leave the younger ones because their the ones that still want to be with you and are just so happy when they see you". Cash is the youngest in Karrissa's family and we're not sure how much longer he will be so eager to hang out with Nana and Papa. That was a hard week and by the time we got our bags packed and ready to go we had decided that we would say our good-bye's to Karrissa and her family after dinner Friday night. We had a rental car we needed to return to the airport and felt it wasn't necessary for them to drive to the airport just to see us off. That last embrace with each of the children is when the tears started to flow.

I love my family with all my heart. I know that I have been blessed with a wonderful husband and great children and grandchildren. The gospel of Jesus Christ changed my life. I know that I am a child of God. I know that he hears and answers my prayers. I know that one day my family will be together again for all eternity. This time that we have on earth is but a small moment. I want to serve my Heavenly Father. I know he has called me to this mission. The day we left I received a message from my brother it said, "Somewhere in South Africa someone is praying to God for help and he is telling them to be patient......help is on the way. You are the help they are waiting for and you will bless them with help from our Father in Heaven." I am humbled that my Heavenly Father would allow me to be his servant. I know without a doubt that I am on the Lord's errand and I am excited to see what adventures await me and my dear husband. I love you all and thank you for your prayers and support.

The Missionary Training Center

WE'RE HERE!

AT THE

MISSIONARY

TRAINING

CENTER

 OR THE MTC

 

I thought you might like to know a little about the MTC. The below information was taken from the Missionary Training Center website.

"Missionaries dedicate 18 months to two years to missionary service. More than 80,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are currently serving as full-time missionaries. They are called to serve in one of 334 missions in approximately 120 different countries around the world. Missionaries begin their service at a Missionary Training Center, where they prepare to become messengers of the Lord, bringing glad tidings to families around the world. As representatives of the Church, missionaries believe that people throughout the world can obtain life's greatest happiness from following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
  
Each Wednesday several hundred missionaries enter the Provo MTC. The eager missionaries enter an exciting world of learning. The MTC curriculum consists of up to 12 weeks of studying doctrine, learning to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively, and developing excellent communication skills. When missionaries are called to serve in foreign lands, their training also includes learning a new language. The Provo MTC is well known for its language teaching program. Approximately 50 languages are taught at the Provo MTC. The teaching staff is composed largely of former missionaries, who are well acquainted with missionary life. Using state-of-the-art language training technology, the Provo MTC fulfills the prophecy that "every man shall hear the fullness of the gospel in his own tongue . . . through those who are ordained unto this power" (D&C 90:11).

Preparing to leave the USA and arrive in South Africa

Time has gone by so fast since we received our mission call on February 6th. There is so much to do to prepare for a mission. The church does a really good job of giving you a check list of things to do before you leave for the Missionary Training Center. They have a wonderful website that you can use to keep track of all the things you have accomplished on your check list. I was checking the website for some information and this little note was blaring at me.

Sister Kinghorn

Johannesburg South Africa Welfare Country Office

You report in 21 days

 

It's not that I didn't know we were down to 3 weeks but 21 days sure did get here fast! The wonderful thing about preparing to do the Lord's work is he ALWAYS provides a way. We have seen the Lord's hand work many tender mercies on our behalf to make this transition to the mission field a smooth one.

My To Do list has looked something like this

• Find my mother a new home close to my sister and my niece who will be my mother's primary caregivers while we are away. The day my niece took my mom to see the apartments that were a mile or so away from my nieces apartment my mother was told that an apartment would be available that was located on the ground floor within the next month, AND that the monthly rent was $200.00 less than anything else they had previously looked at.(Tender Mercy)
• Get the house ready to rent: The first step was to hire a painter. A young man we had hired in the past to paint for us had just been laid off from his painting job and was available to work for us right away and gave us a really good price. (Tender Mercy) 
• Find a renter  We were approached by another couple who is selling their house so that they can go on a mission in 8 or 9 months and they mentioned that they needed a place to rent. They would LOVE to move into our home completely furnished. Which meant that we wouldn't need to put ALL OF OUR FURNITURE IN STORAGE! (Tender Mercy)
• Sell the Hyundai Elantra and get out of the lease early. When Bruce sold the car to CAR MAX he was told that he payoff was much less than we had previously been told. (Tender Mercy)
•  Sell Bruce's scooter  A family member offered to buy it before we even had a chance to list it. (Tender Mercy)
• Get Immunizations  Bruce required 5 shots and I needed 7, one of which was a shingles shot and that was not covered by my insurance and would normally cost $200-$300. We felt prompted to check with Travis AFB medical clinic and we were told we could get them there for FREE. (Tender Mercy)
• We needed to sell our second car and  just when we were about to take it to CAR MAX our son offered to buy it for his girlfriend. Then our niece who was driving to Southern California offered to drive it to him. (Tender Mercy)

We have truly felt the Lord's hand in our lives each and every day as we have prepared for this mission. We know that the Lord truly does provide a way when he calls us to do his work.
  "I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" 1 Nephi 3:7