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.