12/25/2012

Hey everyone one! Surprise surprise! So we found out this morning that we get to email home! So that’s awesome! ya, oh and on Sunday I got assigned to be the new district leader, so I’ll be DL till we leave! pretty exciting, but not that big of a deal!

But ya, so today we had a morning devotional! and guess who came!!!! Elder Russell M. Nelson! ya it was awesome! Gosh the spirit here is so so Strong! It is kind of annoying because sometimes you still have some of those kids that haven't quite grown up yet, so they get a little rowdy and annoying! Especially around Christmas! But, my zone and district is so strong and awesome!!!! Gosh I love them so so much! Last night we had a nativity scene that a bunch of missionary's put on! It was cute and a little funny but more it just got the spirit so so strong!

anyways! I just want to bear my testimony to you guys about how much I love the Lord! and how truly truly grateful that we can celebrate his life! He brings me so so much joy, and I’m so so grateful for his life, because it’s through His atonement that I can return to live with my family again! I love Him and am so so grateful to have the time here to focus on the true meaning of Christmas! I love life so much! and am just so super excited to bring the joy I have to people in Guatemala!

I have been out for 41 days!!!!! It doesn’t seem like that long at all but sheez! that’s a long time! and I have loved every single minute of it!!!

I leave you to read in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:19!!!!

Love you all!!! Merry Christmas!!!

12/21/2012

Merry Christmas!

Playing 4 Square!

Big Muscles!

Well the world hasn't ended yet! :/ so I guess that’s cool! Hahaha :)

Anyway, so I’m still just living up life here at the MTC! It’s hard to write about stuff cuz we kind of do the same stuff everyday! But ya, this week I started eating salads for lunch and dinner! (Kenny would be so proud!) cuz I started getting fat from all the awesome food they have, like I weigh 170! :/ but I started working out harder in gym too! Cuz gym here is really fun and for the first few weeks I just played 4 square!  And while it gets pretty intense here at the MTC it’s not exactly the greatest work out! Haha so I’m going to try to start working out harder!:) But I’m not going to lie I got pretty stinking good at 4 square!  We even made a mini four square thing in our dorm hall and played with a bouncy ball! ~Outrageous fun!~ but ya I love it!

The temple is closed from December 15- the end of the year so we didn't think we were going to be able to go today, but then our district got assigned to help clean the temple!  So at like noon we head up there and get to clean for like 3 hours! I’m so super excited for that!!!! And ya but other than that not too much!  It’s cold here! I’m really glad I brought that p- coat! But I’ll probably end up packaging it up with some other stuff to send home when I leave!

As far as my pretend investigators are going, they are hard! Haha I have asked them both to be baptized but they haven't accepted the invitation yet!  We are still teaching and inviting! Just trying to get them to come closer to Christ! It’s so fun like studying and planning and always things of them! Always thinking of what they need and how I can help them! One of them is really hard cuz we only have 15 minutes to teach him, and he is playing an investigator that is a teenager, who doesn't believe in god! And it’s not like he doesn't believe, he has set his mind that there is no god, and he doesn't need any help! And while he still lets us come over and teach, he kicks us out right at 15 min, and it’s so hard to teach him and get him to have enough of a desire to ask god if he is there, and commit him to do it! Cuz we will get him to where he says he would like to pray to ask god if he is there, then he is like, oh but I don’t know how to pray, and I have to go, so bye, then he kicks us out! It’s frustrating! But humbling!!! Hahah but ya we’re still working on him! There is no giving up! hahah

As far as dad’s questions!!!

-One thing I wish I was more prepared in before I went to the MTC was....
My scripture knowledge! Like I know the basics but I wish I had more scriptures memorized or could at least remember where Scriptures are! I honestly have the worst memory ever! I cannot remember where scriptures are, or even what we learned last week! It’s frustrating! but I guess it’s just means I have to work on it a lot more!

-Mission Prep I would teach...
~How to really really study the Scriptures!
~How to fully use PMG (Preach My Gospel)! I thought it only had the lessons! But it has everything you could ever need to know! From how to study, to Christ like attributes, to how to plan and use time effectively! There is a whole other 11 chapters besides the lessons that are just gold!!!!
~ And probably the things they should do, is have personal experiences that they can think back on and relate to the gospel! Have a love for the scriptures! and just learn how to do things for them self! Cuz here and in life, no one gives you the answers! it is all up to you! you have to have that desire to learn and grow! otherwise you won’t go anywhere!

-The thing I have have liked most about the MTC is spirit that is here! There is a super special feeling here, and you know it’s from the 2 or 3 thousand souls here that are all constantly trying to become more like Christ!! It’s amazing!
The thing I like the least is how little time we have to prepare... I don’t know what happens, but you never feel like you have enough time to prepare for your investigators, but you make the most of your time, and then rely on the spirit to help you with the rest!

Thanks for the Christmas ornaments! I have been opening one a day and hanging them on the little tree you sent me! I love them! they are all so stinking cool!!!!!!

I love you all so so so much!!!!!!!!! talk to you next week!!!

12/14/2012

Hey hey hey! so this week was another fantastic week! Time is starting to fly here! Today is day 31 of my mish! They have a saying around here that is 100% true they say a day feels like a week, and a week feels like a day! Like man the days are long and hard but you blink and all the sudden another week has flown by! But i love it! It is hard, hard, hard, but every second is worth it! Everyday I always want a couple more hours to study (16 hours a day just is not quite enough!), but its all good! We still have our "progressing investigators" (the teachers who act like people they taught on their missions) Their names are "Eloyda" and "Marcos".  We treat them like our real investigators, and its awesome to study plan and them teach them. We usually teach one of them a day, and we have had about 4 lessons with each of them! It's honestly really humbling! hahaha,  cuz man you realize first off how little Spanish you know, and second how hard it is teach the gospel! We are not allowed to bring any cheat cards or note books,  just us and our Spanish books of Mormon! But we are learning and getting better! the Spanish is coming pretty good! I can understand probably 90 % of what anyone says (if they talk slow.... :) ) and i can usually talk pretty well.  I just need to work on my conjugation! but, its all good! Ya we have a bunch of amazing teachers here! We have our two main teachers Hermano Ralphs (who plays Marcos the investigator) and Hermana Dayna (who plays Eloyda the investigator) They are amazing at teaching us Spanish, and building up our spirits! They keep it pretty realistic with the investigators too.  They never break role in our lessons, and after our lessons they don't give us feedback.  It's up to us to figure out what we did good, what we need to work on, and what we need to teach next! I love planning studying and preparing, always with our investigators in mind, always thinking about how we can help them come closer to Christ! We have been doing alot of other stuff too,  I have the "missionary Purpose" memorised in Spanish, and English, and the First Vision memorized in Spanish and English! Last night we got more homework, we have to have Doctrine and Covenants section 4 memorized in a week! BRING IT!!!!! haha but yeah!
 Thanks for all the letters you guys send! They are awesome! And thanks for all the food and treats you send they are awesome! My companions really appreciate them! hahaha anyway, I love you guys lots! Be safe!

12/7/2012

Hey! how's it going!
So this week has flown by! man time is just flying! its already been 3 almost 4 weeks! im super excited! its a blast here! we are just working hard and studying hard and praying hard! its tough tough tough! but yous all manageable with the lords help! yeah idk not too much to write about this week! :/ just another week in the CCM! (Spanish for MTC) Spanish is so fun! its awesome to be learning and talking and hearing so much! my Spanish has really grown exponentially! but were getting more into all the different conjugations things! and that's killing me! especially cuz the dumb US education system teaches you nothing about like present or preterit, or imperfect of future tense so just getting my head to think of a word, then think of it in spanish, then think of the tense it needs to be in then conjugating it, then trying to pronounce it! its hard! and exhausting by about 8:30 everyday my brain just kinda goes dead, and i cant talk in Spanish or even English! hahaha but we are starting HSI "habla su idioma"! which is "speak your language" which means we can only answer our teachers in class in Spanish! and we have to try to talk in Spanish as much as possible! i like it! its so fun trying to sling together some Spanish words that halfway make sense! and only talking to my companion and other people in Spanish! and it helps your language grow and it makes it way way easier to speak!
but yeah thats about it! just speaking spanish and teaching the gospel! thats what its all about!

love all you guys!!!

11/30/2012

11/30/2012

Hey! So first off yes I’ve totally been getting all the letters and stuff you guys have been sending me! And I really appreciate it! I have also gotten all the packages you sent me to and I appreciate those! I also got some cookies from the Goodwin’s! And some stuff from Grandma! And yes Daniel can have my computer!

So there has been a change of plans! The Guatemala MTC Is taking on like 150 local missionaries In the next week or so, and their MTC's total capacity Is only 88.... So all North American missionaries that were going to go to the Guatemala MTC are now going to the Provo MTC for all 9 weeks! So I’m not going to the Guatemalan MTC! :(  I’ll be here for the next 7 weeks :(  But you know that’s life! And as they say, the lord works in mysterious ways! So it’s obviously supposed to be this way! I’m bummed but at least I still get to go to Guatemala! I should be leaving around January 14th! But I’ll let you know when I get my flight plans which should be in about 5 weeks! :/ and the other bummer is I won’t get to call you on Christmas! :/ they say it’s just not feasible for 4,000 missionary’s to all call home for 30 min on Christmas.... so :/ But you will get to hear from me when I leave for Guatemala!

My companion’s name is elder Brandon Brindle! And yes his P.O. box is the same as mine!

Oh as far as the picture you emailed me, the computer her doesn’t let me open it, but I do love getting pictures! So maybe if just every once in a while, if you could snail mail me a couple pictures (of just whatever (like what you guys are doing)) that would be awesome!

Anyways things here are great! We are now teaching two new Investigators! (They are MTC teachers, but they act like investigators we meet when on our missions!) So it’s awesome to practice! The language is coming ok... haha but I enjoy the challenge! The schedule is pretty nuts! It’s usually like wake up, breakfast; go to gym for an hour, change, personal study in the class room for an hour, then language study for an hour! (On your own, no teacher,) then lunch, then additional study for an hour! Then, like language study on the computer for an hour, then 3 hours of class! (Teacher talks In Spanish the whole time!) Then dinner, then another hour of companion study! Then another 3 hours of class! Then get ready for bed and sleep! They are long 16 hour days!! But it’s OK.  I love It! you have to rely so much on the Lord here, there is no way you can do it on your own!

Anyway! Love you guys! Talk to you soon!

P.s. sorry this is short! But... ya

11/22/2012

11/22/2012

Hey!!!! so first off yes I've gotten all the letters and stuff you have sent me! I really appreciate it! ya dear elder is a cool way to get stuff! and yes I go all the packages you sent!

My companion's name is Elder Brindle! He is awesome he is from.... um Kentucky!! Ya he is going with me to Guatemala city north! and the other companionship in our room is also going to Guatemala city north! Then we have 6 other guys in our district! 2 are going to Baton Rouge Louisiana! and the other 4 kids are going to Tucson Arizona! One kid was having a really hard time with anxiety and stuff so he talked to the MTC prez and he actually flew to Tucson this morning! So now there is only 9 guys in out district, but we are all super close! The 4 of us that are going to Guatemala north all leave December 4th! Our flight leaves Salt Lake at about 815 and gets to LAX at about 930 then we have to wait till midnight, then our plane leaves for Guatemala city, and we get there about 7 in the morning! idk if the time changes effect stuff or whatever but that is just what the packet told me! so Woooo!!!!!!! I leave for Guatemala in like 11 days!!!! I'm so excited!
So yesterday was Thanksgiving! We had a morning devotional! and guess who was our speaker! Jeffry R. Holland!!!! It was so awesome! He actually had a bunch of his grand kids do stuff like sing and play the piano, and bear their testimony's! Then he talked and oh boy it was fantastic! The spirit was so awesome!
then we split the MTC in half, and half went to do a service project and the other half stayed in the gym/devotional place and we had another little devotional thing! It was really fun tho this one sister missionary played a melody of Come Thou Fount on the violin, but then she like turned it in to this sweet fiddle song at the end and it made it really fun! Then the second counselor in the MTC presidency had a bunch of missionaries dress up like turkeys and pioneers and pilgrims and Indians and they did this super funny Thanksgiving skit! Then they had a few more missionaries do special musical numbers! One Elder did a version of Amazing Grace on the piano, but it was like bluesy and so cool! Noah should learn blues piano! anyway then they had missionaries stand up and say something they were grateful for, and a song that went along with it, then we would all sing the song! The spirit comes so strong when all the missionaries are singing hymns!!!! I love it!!
Then we went to the cafeteria and did a service project! We put together health kits and education kits for people in West Africa! It was fun my job was to put one tooth brush in every bag! haha it was a blast! our table put together 125 health kits, but the MTC in total put together something like 4500 health kits and 4200 educational kits! It was fantastic! I love doing service!

We are still teaching our play investigator! We have had like 4, 30 min meetings with her! The first one she said she would pray daily, then the second visit she said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, but when we went back the third time she hadn't read which was a bummer but that was ok, and when we were there for the 3rd time we asked her if she would come to church!, she said she would talk with her husband about it! and when re challenged her to read and pray about theBook of Mormon and last night was our 4th visit we asked her if she had read, she said no :( but we got her to open our visit with a prayer! which was awesome! Then we read scriptures about baptism and asked if she would be baptized! She said she would think about it! so we challenged her to pray right then and there with us if the Book of Mormon was true! and if our church was true, and if baptism was the right thing! and she prayed and asked for those answers right there with us! It was awesome!! Then we talked about the spirit, and asked her to keep praying for an answer to her questions! Tonight were gonna challenge her to be baptised again! (and don't for get were doing this all in Spanish!!!!!!)
Aanyway its amazing here!

I'm finally feeling totally over me sickness which is good!

I'm way excited for Rylan! he is gonna do awesome in Ohio!

Anyways Love you all!!!

11/17/2012 My Mission!

11/17/2012
 The MTC has been awesome! I have felt like crap, up until today.  The first day we like got dropped off then we were showed our rooms, then went straight to this classroom were our teacher talked to us in Spanish for like 30 min! he still hasn't talked to us in English yet!!!! Then we had a big meeting with the president and all the new missionary's! It was cool. Then we went back to the class and got talked to in Spanish more!! The next day we had gym! (its so nice to have time set apart to workout) Then class for three hours! Again no Ingles! but i feel like I'm starting to get a lot better at Spanish! oh and I for got to say on Wednesday night we found out that we had to teach an investigator in Spanish on Friday!!!!! Then we just had class and stuff, language study, and another three hour class where the teacher again no Ingles, so Friday came and we were freaking out about our lesson! We prepared a lot! but how much can you prepare with 2 days of Spanish under your belt?!?! So prayed and prayed and prayed! (by the way my companion (Elder Brindel) is awesome!!) so we went into our lesson with "Anna"! it went so well! we asked her about her family and what she liked to do, and about her family! she was awesome! our Spanish was so bad tho! and I had like no idea what she was saying the whole time! but we asked here if we could pray and we did, then we found a scripture Moroni chapter 2 verse 41 I think, but it was about how happy you can be with the gospel. (her family was struggling a little bit, and her and her husband had a few struggles) so then we testified to her that the gospel will bless her family! and we challenged her to read the book of Mormon! SHE SAID SHE WOULD!! then we closed with prayer and set up another appointment. So we have another appointment today and we're preparing to teach her the first lesson in preach my gospel!!! don't forget we did and are doing all this in Spanish!!!!!!
So for my bad spelling!! deal with it i don't have much time! my p day next week will be Friday! tell everyone, and Grandma Swenson especially I love them!!

Love You!!!!

Elder Kumpf.