kinghorn's called to serve: SAYING GOOD-BYE AGAIN

April 12, 2009

SAYING GOOD-BYE AGAIN

Tonight we had a dinner at President and Sister Fry's home to say good-bye to some amazing missionaries. Tomorrow morning Elders Brown, Via Gomez, Hunt, Hulet, and Sutherland all board a plane back to America, Elder Hewlett's parents arrived last night to pick him up and Elder Doxey's parents will be here Tuesday. We will sure miss them all they are truly wonderful young men who have served the lord honorably.

Elder Hewlett and his parents above followed by some random photos of missionaries during General Conference in Donetsk

Marina, Sister Kinghorn, Elder Doxey, and Annya at General Conference in the Kalininsky Building

These two wanted to show off their cufflinks that match their ties

Their District had matching ties at Conference today

Me and two of my favorite girls

This was just a small group of the missionaries who were standing outside the church building in between conference sessions and I asked if I could get a group picture

Elder Kinghorn, Annya, and Sister Kinghorn

Genya and her mom who is getting baptized next Saturday

This is the room where most of us watched General Conference

Elders Rasmussen and Noyes

Elders Sutherland and Hulet

I promised these 4 I would post this on the blog

Today was General Conference. Every six months members of our church have the opportunity to listen to talks given by the General Authorities of the church. They have a huge conference center in Salt Lake City where the conference is held. The conference was the first week-end in April but we had to record it and then watch it on the television. Some people watch it live but because of the time change it is the middle of the night here when it is being broadcast so we watched it here today. The members of the Church watched it in our large Chapel where it was translated into Russian and most of the English Speaking Missionaries watched it in a classroom.I loved the talks and I loved being in a small classroom surrounded by these wonderful missionaries as we received words of wisdom from the leaders of our church.

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who we are and why we are blogging about Ukraine

My husband Bruce and I are Missionaries with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are serving a Humanitarian Mission in Ukraine. The focus of the Church's Humanitarian work is to relieve the suffering of the poor and needy. Every week we visit charitable organizations such as orphanages, shelters, boarding schools for the handicapped, special hospice homes, and hospitals. We have met some incredible people who dedicate their lives to helping others. We hope to share with you a glimpse of what those experiences are like for us and the wonderful blessings we have enjoyed while being on the Lord's errand. This is our story of daily life as missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ukraine.

Making the Decision to Serve a Mission

During the summer of 2006 Bruce and I both had very strong feelings that the time was right for us to serve a mission. It wasn't exactly the time we had planned to go but the feelings were so strong that we just knew it was where the Lord wanted us. So we met with our Bishop and our Stake President, turned in our application and waited for the "call" that would tell us where the Lord wanted us to serve. In the meantime we sold the house, sold the cars, quit our jobs, and put everything in storage. In June 2007 we received a letter from the office of the First Presidency of the Church calling us to "Labor with Welfare Services in Donetsk Ukraine. We arrived in Ukraine on my fiftieth birthday, November 22, 2007 which also happened to be Thanksgiving.

Missionary Service

There is an urgent need in the church today for missionary couples. If you and your companion have been planning on serving a mission "someday" I urge you do not wait any longer for "someday" to come. If you wait for the perfect time when your life is all wrapped up in a neat package you will never go. The Lord needs your service now. He needs faithful servants to be instruments in his hands. If you put your trust in him he will bless you and make it possible for you to serve a mission. He will help you prepare to serve now.

The Lord has showered our lives with blessings. We could not have imagined how much more we would be blessed by serving a mission. My sweet husband and I have grown closer to each other during the short time we have served here in Ukraine than ever before. Our testimonies of Jesus Christ have been strengthened. Our hearts have been touched by the people we have met both members of the church and the dedicated people involved in charitable work here in Ukraine.

I receive letters every week from other couples that we met at the missionary training center who are serving missions all over the world. They are filled with words of gratitude for the opportunity to be on the Lord's errand. One couple wrote, "it is a richly rewarding work that has changed our perspective on life forever." Another couple wrote, " we are being touched and uplifted daily by those with whom we serve and whom we serve. The Lord Jesus Christ is our constant companion. The work would be impossible without his presence in our lives."

We all want to feel Christ love for us. There is no greater way to feel his love and serve him than to serve a mission. I urge you to not put it off another day.

There are opportunities for senior couples to serve all over the world. We need couples here in Ukraine. We have couples going home soon and have no replacements in sight. If you would like to serve in Ukraine please e-mail us and let us know. We will let our Mission President know and he will contact you with more information about missionary service in Ukraine.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FOLLOW A BLOG?

WHAT HAPPENS IF I CLICK ON FOLLOW THIS BLOG in the box below?

My recent post will be added to your dashboard so you can be informed immediately when I update the blog. I would love to have you add your name to my list of followers. I know there are families out there who are reading the blog and would love to know who you are. It keeps me motivated to post often so that you will have current news from your son or daughters mission. So, don't be shy just click on follow this blog. Come on now, help me out I am going to have a complex and think I am not very popular, or I just may get discouraged and stop posting.

WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHO IS CHECKING IN WITH OUR ADVENTURES

I hope you enjoy visiting our site. We feel like we have having such a unique experience serving in Ukraine. We want to be able to give you just a little glipse of what life is like as a Missionary Couple. We hope that you will see through our eyes what a life changing experience it is. We hope to capture the blessings and miracles of serving the Lord. We want to share with you a small piece of our everyday experiences here. We'd love to hear your thoughts as you journey with us. It really is fun for us to read your comments it's very easy, you don't have to say much, just let us know you are checking in on us now and then.

So after you read the current post you will see a comment section just click on that a leave us a little message.

Favorite LDS artist

I want to share with you three of my favorite LDS artist. Sandra Rast , Greg Olsen, and Liz Lemon Swindle. I have never really been interested in original art. I have no artistic talent. However, when I saw the art of all three of these artist I was deeply moved. Each artist had a particular piece that spoke to me. This has never happened to me before. Bruce and I met all of them while at Education week in Provo a few years ago. I am sure Bruce was a little surprised when I asked if we could buy a few pieces of art to take home with us. He agreed but I had to agree that they could be my birthday, anniversary, valentine's day, etc... presents for the rest of the year. He bought me one of Sandra's prints of the Sacramento Temple just after the Temple opened. He also bought a print of the picture of the young man on the park bench sitting next to Jesus. I have always loved this picture and so did my mother so we bought one for her. While we were there I got to talk with Greg Olsen and we discussed his inspiration and interpretation of this beautiful piece of art. It reminds me that the Lord knows his sheep. And he will not forsake us. He is always with us. I love the picture the Liz Lemon Swindle did of Christ with the children. They all look so happy. Ms. Swindle's art is so alive. I love the way she captures the expressions of each person in her paintings. She makes the scriptures come alive. We came home with three of her paintings. I couldn't wait to hang them when we got home. They will be the first things I look for when we unpack.