Letter #13 12/17/12! Big Week!

Hello Family!!

 

This week has been crazy intense, so this'll be a longer letter than usual :) haha!

 

Ok, so, first off. We held the funeral for our branch member on Tuesday. The service was beautiful. Two other members spoke, another member sang "Amazing Grace." I ended up playing "How Great Thou Art" as a hymn because it isn't saved in our electric piano, and it was his favorite hymn. I really loved the service. I really did. Funerals are SUCH spiritual meetings. I still remember Dirk's funeral, and I think I always will. The spirit of the talks, coupled with the powerful prayer of Kaiti's "Be Still My Soul" was staggering. I truly loved it. It reminds me of a talk given by one of the Apostles. I think it was Holland who said that funerals are one of the greatest meetings in our church because of the focus on God's Plan the entire meeting. I think it's so true!!! So I don't know who said that, or what the actual quote is, but you can look it up and enjoy it :) All in all, It was a Wonderful funeral.

 

Next, Wednesday was zone conference, and I had an exchange with my district leader, Elder Mayberry, but at zone conference we did some introductions because we had some new missionaries. The format was stand up, say your name, say where you're from, and something interesting about your companion. So I stood up. I said "I'm Elder Kilbourne. I'm from Draper, Utah. And something interesting about my companion is... He likes to shave his legs." People thought it was pretty funny :) Then Elder Adams stood up and said "I'm Elder Adams. I'm from Highland, Utah. And something interesting about MY companion is that I got HIM to shave HIS legs." At this point the whole zone fell apart laughing. Super funny!! :)

 

That night, on the exchange with Elder Mayberry, we received a call from the zone leaders. They said that a member was moving from the Goldsboro area and into the Southport area. In addition to the member was a non-member family, the L family. They said that the Grandmother was scheduled to be baptized on Saturday, December 15th, but because of the move it had to be rescheduled. Which means that the baptism will have to be performed in the Southport Area :) Crazy right?? Super great news!!! Anyway, something happened and they didn't end up moving out here on the 15th, but I think they're going to soon, and then we can work with the L family. Great news!!

 

Next on the list, and probably what you're expecting... A's Baptism!!! So exciting!! Ok so it was scheduled to start at 9. BUT A forgot something at home, and she lived 30 minutes from the church. So a member ran to her house, picked it up for her, and came back. So the service ended up starting at 10 instead. Brother Latta (Elder Adam's Trainer) flew in the night before to be there, and gave the first talk on baptism. Then Elder Adam's baptized A. :D :D Next I did my little piano solo. It was awful... I didn't play well at all. I played the first page, up to the key change, flawlessly. But I couldn't get down the rest of the song very well. I didn't have a ton of time to practice, so after the keychange I just sort of fell apart :/ It was a little disappointing. I still think people mostly enjoyed it, I think it was good enough. But NOT up to my standard. After my song, another member, H R, gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. It was a great service :) A was crying like the whole time. She was so happy to finally be baptized!! All in all, fantastic service :) P.S. I misplaced my camera, so I don't have pictures of the service, but I'll steal some from Elder Adams and the other people taking pictures. It'll be fine! Promise :) :)

 

Next, (I told you, big week, long letter), tomorrow is the End of the transfer.  So, the night of the baptism we received a call. Elder Adams is being transferred. We don't know where.  He'll find out at the meeting on Tuesday. I also don't know who my new companion is. I'll find that out on Tuesday as well. It's bittersweet... I've really loved Elder Adams. He's a great missionary :) He really is. He's super obedient, super humble... I couldn't have asked for a better trainer. But I'm looking forward to new experiences with my new companion. We'll continue to work hard!!

 

Ok, so, spiritual time. Last week's scripture, for those who didn't find it, was Mosiah 12:27. YAY!!! This week's Scripture to Find is.. "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell" So happy hunting!! But I really love this scripture. It's simple. It's straightforward. And it's so hopeful and Happy! This scripture echos my own personal testimony. I too glory in plainness. I too glory in truth. And I too glory in my Jesus. I ESPECIALLY glory in my Jesus. I've looked back a little bit this week to see how far I've come since I've been on my mission. I don't have the testimony I want yet, but I can definitely say that I'm closer. I know how much happier I am now. Truly. I have such peace in my life. Something I've noticed though is that peace is not the same as comfort :) It seems like when I'm working the hardest is when I have the most peace. Just a thought :)

 

Well, that closes this weeks letter. I love you all!! I miss you :) I hope you have wonderful weeks!! I hope you have a white christmas!! I miss the snow!! Acutally, with that thought, we SORT OF had snow. It was cold, and sort of raining, but it was icy sort of things. Our district called it snow. It wasn't GREAT snow, and it wasn't heavy, but there was SLIGHT snow this week. :D Made me happy.

 

WELL. I'll close now :) I love you!!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

 

Love, Elder Kilbourne

Letter #12 12/10/12 Baptism this coming week!

Hello Family!!

 

Ok, so first of all I'm extremely excited for the baptism this week!!! Like, really!!! She's been wanting this for almost six months now, and it's finally happening!! I received the sheet music, and it's perfect!! [He is playing "Come Thou Fount" on the piano for the baptism.  Kaiti and I sent an arrangement for him.]  Hopefully I can play well enough at the baptism. I really do think it's going to be an amazing service :)

 

Next, this week has been a little shaky. A lot of our investigators were sick, or had family problems, or work, or whatever else. It became really difficult to meet with them, so we didn't have many lessons with them. :/ But that just means we have room for improvement, which is always good :)

 

On top of our investigators not doing well, our branch had a rough week as well. We gave a couple of blessings this week. A member died on Friday. That was really sad... Really. We stopped by their house just over a week ago. He had a lot of health issues, and had trouble coming to church, but he was a SUPER nice guy. I think the service will be on Tuesday, but it's been a bit of a bummer.

 

Wednesday we had our Mission Christmas Conference. We drove 120 miles to Kinston to meet with half of our mission. It was super fun!! Great to see all the missionaries and the President. We sang a ton of Christmas songs and had some lessons. All in all it was great :) So here's what happened Wednesday. We woke up at 5:00 in the morning. Got ready. Left at 6:15. Arrived in Kinston at 8:30. Had the Christmas conference from 9-2. Left around 3:00. Dropped some elders off in Leland. Arrived home around 5:30. Drove from Southport to Whiteville for A's baptismal interview. Arrived in Whiteville around 7:00. Had the interview, which was about 40 minutes or so. Left Whiteville at 7:45. Arrived home around 9:15. We had like 8 hours of driving that day. It was CRAZY!!! haha but it was a great day :)

 

Thursday all the missionaries who came in with me had a conference call. I got to give a 2 minute talk on humility, and then we discussed the 12 week program. It was pretty neat!!

 

Yesterday our Branch held it's Christmas program. I'll tell you what, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! Like, really :) haha!!! It's the best!! I love all the service, and the giving, and the sweets.... Mmm. Christmas is just the best!!

 

Ok, so this week my challenge is to "apply your heart to understanding" I'll give the scripture next week, but anyone who finds it (and doesn't cheat with electronics!) gets Missionary Points!! I found this one recently and I think it's interesting. I think this scripture is the perfect way to apply ourselves to the scriptures. Often people wonder why some people understand so much, and others so little. I think this scripture holds the answer. It's all about who applys themselves to understanding. I firmly believe that if we can't apply, or "liken the scriptures unto ourseles" then we really aren't learning or gaining anything from them, even if we're reading them. So, the challenge is to apply what you read to your life :) It doesn't have to be EVERY scripture you read. But I would invite you to read until you can apply it. Deal? :) Deal!! Haha

 

Alright, well, I'm running out of time. But I love you family!! And friends!! I love you too :) I'm sure the snow at home is great!!

 

I love you all!! Hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! and HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

 

Love, Elder Kameron Kilbourne

Letter #11 12/3/12 Service Challenge!

Hello family!! And everyone else. I'm not entirely sure how many people read my emails :)

 

Well this week was a little slow. We had interviews with President Bernhisel on Tuesday, which was pretty fun. It's always great to see him!! We taught several lessons this week, but nothing really spectacular in the lessons happened. We've done service this week, including helping a family move and raking the leaves for a lady in our ward. I've never seen such a big pile of leaves!! It was pretty impressive. I'll try to send some pictures of us jumping in it :) haha!!

 

That's really about it though. The only AMAZING news we have is that A has moved her baptism up to December 15th!! Which is pretty exciting :) and she's asked me to play the piano!! I'm sure it'll be a wonderful service, and we're trying to invite all the investigators we can to it!! It'll be pretty neat :)

 

Ok, so the Spiritual Thought will be larger this week since I don't have a ton to write about otherwise. The thought this week is on service! This started last Monday when Dad sent me his sacrament meeting talk about service. I love his analysis of Matthew 25:31-46. I think it really does show a need to serve everyone! In addition, I hit King Benjamin's speech in my reading this week. This includes Mosiah 2-4, which is almost entirely about service! Granted there are the cliche scriptures everyone uses, but one that stuck out to me was Mosiah 4:17-20 which talks about beggars. 17 specifically talks about how we might withhold from beggars saying that they've earned it. I'll admit, I've fallen into the category it talks about. Sometimes I see people on the street, and my initial response is "what have you done to deserve this?" Well the scripture goes on and tells us to repent because we are ALL beggars. Which is absolutely true!! We don't deserve the atonement, and we haven't done anything TO deserve the atonement. SO here starts my challenge. Pray every morning for an opportunity to serve someone that day. Try this for a week or two, or maybe even the entire month. :) Considering it IS Christmas. But pray to find ways to serve others. Surprisingly, this brightens your entire day!! And does several things. One, you're humbled by serving others. Two, you start to realize what people do to serve you. And it just makes you happier :) It really does!! That's why the Christmas season is so amazing!!! Something Elder Adams mentioned in his testimony yesterday was that he doesn't remember most of the gifts he has received in his life. But he DOES remember the gifts he has given, and the look on their face when they were so excited to receive it. And I realized, I'm the same way!! Giving gifts really is much more exciting than receiving :) So do that!! Give of yourselves!! DO IT!! :) haha

 

Well that's my spiel. I'm looking forward to an excellent week this week!! We have several lessons set up, and hopefully our investigators progress!! They're awesome!!!

 

I miss all of you at home!!! I do :) And especially this time of year!! Christmas is the best!! I hope you all have a great week!! See you next week :) Love you!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

 

Love, Elder Kameron Kilbourne

Letter #10 11/26/12 A Pre-Christmas Miracle!!

Hello Family!! Well, first of all I missed you all at Thanksgiving this year. I miss gathering at Grandma's house and eating and then sharing what we're thankful for in the Big Room. So I miss you :) But things are FANTASTIC here in Southport :)

 

This week we had a TON of member support. We had a member at EVERY lesson. We also had a ton of lessons with our investigators!! The progress has been outstanding!! Lately we've only had about one investigator at sacrament meeting, which is A, the girl who can't get baptized yet without permission. But this week we had four!! Four people came to sacrament meeting, and enjoyed it. We also have three investigators with baptismal dates this week. So things are going well :)

 

As per Thanksgiving... It's a non-proselyting day. So we couldn't go out and teach or anything really, so we invited a couple of investigators to Thanksgiving at some members homes and that was really fun!! My Thanksgiving dinner was pretty delicious. I had a bacon-covered turkey!! Oh buddy, it was so good. And the rolls, and dressing were great. There was sweet potato pie, and deviled eggs. It was pretty good :) Dessert was amazing, too. There was this pie that basically had a brownie for filling. So good!! We also had a chocolate silk sort of thing with a ton of whipped cream. Super good :)

 

On to the miracles... SO. Like I was saying about A earlier.... Her parents gave her permission to be baptized!!! So she's set the date for January 19th for the time being, but it might be moved up depending on circumstances. In any case, I should be here for it :) I doubt I'll baptize her, but I'll be there for it! :D Next, we resolved a TON of concerns with K. She wants to be baptized, but the only thing holding her back now is approval from her grandparents. She wants them to know why she's being baptized, and she wants their blessing before she's baptized. So we're going to call the missionaries in her grandparent's area and have them give a couple of discussions. Maybe they'll be baptized too :) We had a super good lesson with her about church attendance. Her concern is that she was going to church for us, and she wanted to go to church for herself. We helped her understand that we go to church to obey the commandments, and we do it to make God happy. The spirit was super strong!! And she came to church on Sunday, to add to that success :)

 

All in all, this week has been fantastic!! We're continuing to work hard, we're being obedient, we're staying diligent, and everything is falling into place!! I feel so blessed to be here. I really do!! The work is really picking up now, and it just makes me excited and encourages me to work harder :)

 

Spritual note this week--- Continue to read "Beware of Pride!"  Alma 26 is amazing, as well!! :)

 

I love you all and miss you!! I was thinking about you over the holidays :) But I'm happy to be here!! I love you!! Have a wonderful week :) HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

 

Love Elder Kameron Kilbourne

Letter #9 11/19/12 Improvement and Progression

Alright, so this week has been pretty amazing. We had a lot of member lessons, a lot of lessons in general, and some new investigators that we taught.

First off, this week I've been missing snow. But it's only fall here. The leaves are in the middle of changing, and boy is it a sight!! They're so pretty!! Single trees are red, orange, AND yellow. It's very pretty :) I'll try to send a picture. Anyway, one day, it was a little bit cold, and I had been missing snow because I"ve been hearing about snow back home. One day we get out of the car, and it's snowing!!! But not really. I just thought it was. The cotton plants are bloomig or something and there were a TON of those dandelion floaters around, so it completely looked like snow!! But it wasn't... So it was a little bit depressing. Haha I thought it was funny though, I was so excited!! Then I felt pretty dumb. Oh well :)

We met with a lot of investigators, and many are progressing. We had to drop the baptismal date with L because she didn't make it to Sacrament Meeting, but we saw her this morning, and we're going to see her Wednesday, so hopefully we can get on track. The highlight of this week might have been last night though. We met with D. He's about 40 or so, and he's married to a member in our Branch. D has been meeting with the missionaries for like 5 years now, and he just hasn't had a witness of the truth so he hasn't been baptized. What's funny though is he has a calling. He's the Cub Scout leader with his wife. He comes to church every Sunday. He's practically Mormon, but won't get baptized. Anyway, we finally taught him last night. We haven't been able to meet with him since I've been here, so it was the first time we taught him. Last night we were reteaching him the restoration, and we were talking about receiving answers and we were sort of evaluating how he was doing, and if he was working for an answer, and if he even had a desire to receive one. He said that he felt like he was in a boat, and he was rowing toward an island, and the island wasn't getting any closer and that sometimes he just needs to take a break. WELL. For some reason I felt like sharing the experience I had of kayaking the Napali Coast with Dad and Kaiti. I talked about how when we started, the tour guides told us that lunch was around the cliff on the horizon, and that it was about 9 miles away. I talked about how when we first started, we didn't quite know how to work the kayak, especially in a partnership. I told him how as we kayaked that it seemed like the cliff never got any closer. BUT I also talked about how there were two people in the kayak. That after the first mile we could work in combination and we started to figure it out. I talked about how the end never really got closer, but we could look back and see how far we've come. I talked about how I got really hungry before lunch, but it wouldn't work to stop. I had to push harder to make it to the lunch spot. I talked about how I would take breaks every once in a while because I got tired or sore, but when I did that, all the weight was on Dad, and we stopped going forward. I found out that when I worked through the tiredness, I sort of went numb or whatever and I could just keep going. Anyway, It completely corrolated to his situation. We asked him to look back and see how far he's come. And that made him think. Then I asked him about the cliff. I asked if he was hungry. He said "I'm starving!" to which I said, "Row faster!!"  :) :) Good stuff!! His wife was also with us, and she was sort of prodding him. She was talking about getting sealed in the temple and everything. You can tell she really wants him to join so they can seal their family... So she was an excellent addition :) By the end of the night we set a baptismal date with him for the 30th or 29th of December. I can't remember which is Saturday, but basically the end of the year. We're seeing them again on Saturday, which is a ways off but they honestly couldn't meet with us any sooner so we'll have to make do. Anyway, the lesson last night was pretty great :)

Funny side story on last night.... They have a girl about 4 named A. She's a little bossy, and it seems like her favorite phrase is "I'm the boss!!" It's really funny. This is my first time in their home, but Sister  said that A whispered in her ear and said "I like the new missionary's laugh!" Which is huge. She doesn't give compliments apparently :) I thought that was funny. A few minutes later, Elder Adams asked her if she like him, and she said "NO!!" So then I asked her if she liked me, and she looked at her mom, and whispered in her ear, and Sister  said "Yep! She likes you!!" Again, pretty funny. After that, Sister  asked her who her favorite person in the world is. Her mom said, "Is it me? Is it Big D (meaning Brother )?)" Then A whispered in her ear. Then Sister  was like, "Oh no, honey!! He can't be your favorite person. You just met him!!!" Bahaha I met this four year old last night and I'm already her favorite person. I thought it was hilarious :D

For the spiritual thought I'll challenge everyone to read their scriptures this week. We had a really good talk yesterday about that, and I want to challenge everyone reading to read for 5 minutes everyday this week!! Just 5 minutes. Not 5 pages, not 5 verses, not 5 chapters. 5 Minutes. You can spare the time, promise!! :) Let me know any neat stories you have if it helps!!

Well, time is running out. I'm not sure what else to say, but this week has been really great :) Mail has been a little backed up lately, so hopefully I get that package soon!! I'm looking forward to it :)

I love you all!! And miss you. It sounds like you're doing well though!! I'm completely jealous about Thanksgiving!! That was a fun holiday with the family :) It sounds like things are going well though, which makes me happy :)

Until next week, HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Love Elder Kameron Kilbourne

Letter #8 11/13/12 Beware of Pride

Hey Mom and Dad!!

 

Thanks for the update, I'm glad you're having fun in Park City :)

Glad we got a new wreath!! And yeah, Dad can be a whiner about that wreath sometimes ;) haha!

 

The Mr. Mac jacket has been just fine, so I"m not worried about sweaters yet... But it hasn't really gotten cold yet, so we'll see.

 

If the family wants to send presents, I could probably use some warm gloves and socks. When it has gotten cold, my fingers and toes are the first to feel it, but at this point it hasn't been too bad. Maybe it'll get worse, but gloves could be nice :) If not gloves and socks, ties are pretty great! Send me some cool ties with a note or something, and I'll love it, promise :)

Pride was something I really worked on this week. I found President Benson's "Beware of Pride" talk and I've been reading it pretty consistently. My goal is to read it twice a week and evaluate my decisions. I've realized how much my rebelliousness is due to pride, and how much it stops my progression. I loved your letter, and I loved the stories. They really do apply to me, and I think they both started with pride. SO. I've been working on pride. 

This week was great!!! Things are improving I'm working harder, and we can see the results. We set two baptismal dates, we have dinner almost every night in a member's home, people are giving us referrals like crazy. It's still hard because everyone is Baptist or Catholic so they don't really like Mormons. But things are getting tons better. Haha Also, Mom will be happy to know I'm eating well. Last Monday, we ate with a family in our branch, the Spencers, and they took us to Thai Peppers. I got Masuman Curry. DANG it was delicious. We love them. Here's the kicker though. We ate at their house last night as well. Guess what she made? CAFE RIO!! Boo ya!!!! The pork was SPOT ON. The dressing didn't have the same kick, but the meal was absolutely delicious. Also, I think Mom has been praying for me to eat fruit, because this week we were given like 5 cans of pineapple, two oranges, like 5 cans of chicken noodle soup and Tomato soup. She must have a lot of faith hahaha because her prayers are definitely answered....

The limited time of emailing is in the library. Library rules are an hour for each person. They're usually pretty nice about it, so I usually end up with about an hour and five minutes, but it's probably good. We probably shouldn't be too focused on home, but it's really nice to hear how everything is going :)

On the polls- What were the demographics? and the numbers? Obama won by like 3 million in the popular vote, right? I hear NC voted Romney by like 51-49 or something, is that right? And to be completely honest, it would have been nice to have Romney, but I think voting Obama just shows where the country is right now. Without getting too political, I think people are just too social liberal and accepting at the moment, and I think it's going to come back and bite us. I don't think Obama is a bad guy, but I DO think that him being elected shows how far away we are from the right path. Does that make sense? 

I love you, and I'm proud of you too :) Which I shouldn't say, because ALL pride is bad. Perhaps I should say I'm well pleased in you, but that's borderline blasphemy. Regardless, you get the point. I love you :)

Things have been looking up :) I've improved, the area is improving, and I have the good attitude. I'm being an arrow, Promise :)

 Let me know if you want something from Carolina :)

TWO BAPTISMAL DATES. :D :D

Love you!!

 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love, Elder Kameron Kilbourne

Letter #7 11/05/12 Diligence!

Hey mom!! I AM eating well. Just so you know. But it's mostly the candy that prevents me from doing that :) haha I drink tons of water. And my cereal is loaded with vitamins. But if it makes you happy, I'll try to change my diet a little more :p  We didn't actually meet 3 investigators at Walmart. They were 3 less actives that we had been trying to get a hold of. Haha Didn't really work out too well, but oh well. Only one of them came to church on Sunday :/

 

Once again, the hurricane wasn't bad at all. Just a little rain. The hurricane's passed and we had a rainstorm last night that was about the same as when the hurricane was supposedly here... I love the rain though. It doesn't rain often in Utah, and here it rains like twice a week. I love the sound, the feel, the smell.. Ah just great. :) The lightning here is amazing too!!! I took a video but it might be a couple weeks before I send that home.

 

 This week was a bit of a drag. To be honest we weren't really willing to work hard this week. We didn't have any miles left on our car, because we had to save them for a 200 mile round trip for a training meeting Wednesday. And we didn't want to bike 10 miles to Southport, or 40 miles to Bolivia and Boiling Springs. So we spent most of the day trying to do area book. We've been struggling to get member support because people work so often. Especially during the day. Most of the people in the ward work at the nuclear factory near by and most of them have had to work overtime a lot the past 2 months. SO they've been working a lot, and they don't have time to come with us. So that's been a struggle... Plus, the priests in our branch are at school or busy with sports so they don't have time to come out with us either. It's been a struggle. SO, we have spent most of our time organizing the area book. And I feel pretty bad about that... Fortunately it's a new month, so we get new miles. But we're going to budget better so we can be effective the entire month. Yay!! It's been a bad week. I should have worked harder. Which I'm going to do!! I'll follow up with that next week.

 

Wednesday we had a training meeting with all the other elders and sisters that came into the field with me, with the President and the assistants. At one point, we went around the room and everyone shared their experience with the 12 week program. Everyone had these miracle stories about their use of the training program. I didn't... We read from it every morning, as well as 3 pages from the missionary handbook, and we use the extra hour of companionship study. But I haven't noticed any miracles like the rest of the new missionaries did. It was a bit discouraging, but I guess that just means I need to improve. Yay!! BUT I have a good attitude about it. I have a desire to work harder, and I'm going to. So again, I'll follow up about my improvement next week.

 

We DID have a new investigator come to church this week, which was neat. She's the hair stylist for a lady in our ward that lives in our apartment area. We're going to try to set up an appointment with her later this week to keep teaching her, but she said that she's really busy with school. So, we'll try hard with that.

 

Well I don't have too much more to say this week. This week was about improvement. About checking my progress and realizing there is more I could be doing. Oh, i forgot to mention my exchange... Well. I'm out of time, so I'll write home about that. Sorry!!

 

Spiritual message is on diligence-- Scriptures are Moroni 7:48 and D&C 50: 13-18. These show why missionaries MUST be diligent, as well as non missionaries. D&C89:18-21 shows the promised blessings of diligence. I know it's a short message but I'm out of time. haha  Just read the scriptures and get your own revelation from them :)

 

I'm out of time. But, I love you!! It sounds like everyone is doing well, and I'm glad to hear that. I'll be working harder this week, I'll let you know the results next week :) Keep me updated with life, and especially the election. I would prefer to know who wins, but which I will find out, but I doubt I'll get details. I wish the best for everyone!! You're all in my prayers!! LOVE YOU!!!

 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Letter #6 10/29/12 Hurricane Sandy!

Hello family! And everyone else!! Hope you're all doing fantastic!!

 

This week has been pretty interesting haha very eventful!!

 

First off, we didn't do a very good job budgeting our miles for our car, so we've been biking a lot this week. My bike is amazing!!  Rockhopper with the 29 inch wheels.  I don't know how you got those, but the bike is seriously amazing haha!!  We probably biked somewhere between 70 and 80 miles this week, which doesn't sound very much, but it's not the same as biking for fun. There are cars along the road that tow boats and they don't realize how big the boats are and almost hit you. That's not fun... But I've liked biking a lot!! It's a great opportunity to talk to people!!! Unfortunately, I had two flat tires this week. It was pretty dumb. We're trying to budget our miles, and we end up having to drive 6 miles to get me a new tire for my bike on Tuesday. AND it was a stem leak, so I couldn't just patch it up. We tried :/ That was Tuesday. Wednesday we biked to our branch mission leader's house, about 3 miles away, and did our corrolation with him. When we packed up to leave, I had a flat again, but on the other tire. It was ALSO a stem leak. Luckily, it was at a member's house so we could get a ride, AND it wasn't while biking, AND he took me to Walmart to get yet another tire. So, I'll call that one a blessing :) haha but it's still weird to get 2 stem leaks on your bike in 2 days. :p

Next event, a Blitz with our zone leaders!! We went on exchange with our zone leaders, which means I don't go with Elder Adams, but instead Elder Macrae, and Elder Adams went with Elder Moore, AND we all stayed in the Southport area. So we had a lot of appointments and got a lot done. Our zone leaders are amazing!!! They're really excellent missionaries and I learned a lot from them.

 

Next event. The hurricane!!! Holy cow!!! We had like 70 mile an hour winds, and I couldn't see out the windows because of all the rain!! We almost had to evacuate, but we didn't. I even saw a witch on a bicycle when I looked out the window!! Crazy stuff!!!    Ha. I wish. It was pretty whatever. Not a lot of wind, a little bit of rain. Nothing we couldn't handle :) BUT there were several meetings cancelled, including our Sunday fireside :/ so that was sad...

 

Saturday we had a ward event, which was the trunk or treat combined with a chili cook off for our ward!! It was way fun!! All the kids were really cute in their costumes, and Elder Adams and I were the official judges of the chili!! Way fun :) We even got to have a costume!!! We found these pairs of glasses at Walgreens for about 2 dollars a piece that look EXACTLY like Men in Black glasses, so we walked in as missionaries to the activity, and halfway through we put on our glasses. Everyone was like- "They're so cool!! They look like spies!!"  "What are they, FBI agents?"  "Whoa!! That's smart!!" etc. Basically, we missionaries are a pretty big deal ;) bahaha. Nonetheless, it was a very fun night!! We also had 2 investigators there, one of which we met at the blitz. She's a cosmetologist and she volunteered to do facepainting. Very fun :)

 

So this week was all in all eventful. This Sunday was the Primary Program. We have about 20 kids in the primary, so they give everyone 2 parts, and some of the older kids give mini talks. The little kids are SOO cute though. Oh man. This one kid has a MAJOR southern drawl, and he says and does the funniest things!! His parents are recent converts, so we get to visit them almost on a weekly basis. Which is always fun :)  They come to church every Sunday. Great family!! The program was great all in all though, loved the whole thing :) haha!! We also had a lot of the less-actives that we've been trying to contact make it there!! Which is always good :) We're continuing to try to find people to teach.  We have about 8 in our teaching pool, but several aren't progressing and we may need to drop them... We'll just see how this week goes. We'll work our hardest to keep up with it!!

To answer Mom's question, we don't eat with members that often.  Most of the time we're cooking for ourselves.  We don't eat out often, mostly because we can't afford to. Haha.  We get $115 a month for all of our expenses, food, needs, whatever.  Glad you liked the souvenirs.  Food-wise, send healthy snacks :)  like the oat and honey granola bars, Triscuits, wheat thins, Chex mix.  Healthier.  :)  Because I can't afford them.  Special request for Grandma:  Could she make me some of those Rolo cookies?  I remember those being good...

 

I'm glad to hear Parker is home teaching!! I'm starting to realize I should have put more effort into that... I wasn't a great home teacher. But that just means I can be a better one when I get back. Eternal Progression!

Times up. Love you all!! Miss you!! Wish you the best.  For a spiritual thought you can read something in the Book of Mormon. I liked the Book of Daniel this week.  It was good :) HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Letter #5 10/22/12 Working hard in Southport!!

Hello family!!! I loved the letters and package I got this week :) It came perfectly on time!! I had taken my VERY last pill the day before haha so it wasn't a moment too late. I'm hoping to send home a package this week with some goodies from N.C. Hopefully you enjoy them :) Too bad about the camera... Hopefully you can get it working!! There's great pictures there!!!  

I'm glad to hear about Alisa!!! I'm sure she'll be a great missionary :) you can send this to her from me, but i'll also write her this week-- Alisa, I am so excited that you are going on a mission!  You will love it and you will be a great missionary!  Our awesome debate skills are super valuable.  However, you have to learn to use them to teach with the spirit.  My MTC district leader said to me, "Kameron, do not bible bash!  You will win, but don't do it!"  I think the same advice applies to you.  The Lord blesses us with gifts, but we have to use them to provide an opportunity for the spirit to teach our investigators and not rely on the arm of the flesh.  I can't wait to hear where you are going!!"

About this week--

We struggled this week. We taught very few investigators. A is still our all-star.  I think I talked about her before. She has a quad. And I don't know if I mentioned it, but she now has a desire to serve a mission.

G is a woman in our area. She came last week to sacrament meeting with us when I gave my talk. She seemed to enjoy it, but she didn't come to church this week. The only investigator we had at sacrament was A. :/ 

Another investigator is S. She's a friend of a member at an "assisted living" sort of center. The member is D, and she recently had her foot amputated. Pretty sad... But she met S at this facility. S is an older woman with Parkinsons and Dementia. She has a VERY strong belief and testimony in Jesus Christ, and so far has been VERY responsive to what we have taught her. She was going to a non-denominational church before, but with her illness I don't think she'll ever make it to church. I'm not entirely sure what will happen there but I hope for the best!!

Our focus of late has actually been reactivation. I counted our attendance again this week and we had 64. We can do better... Our branch roster is 9 pages long, about 12 familys per page, and we only have 64 people at church. It's pretty rough. But we taught a lot of RCLA (recent convert, less active) lessons this week. We're hoping that if we can get more member support, we can find non-member friends and help the part-member families better. So we're working on that :) It's a good start... But it's still discouraging to only teach a few investigator lessons, and only have 1 investigator come to church. 

Yesterday we were able to attend a baptism in Shallotte!! It's a great experience, really!! Its incredible to think now about the step toward Christ people take when they're baptized by someone who holds the proper authority!!

Another experience-- I went on my first exchange this week with Elder Blackwell from Whiteville.!! He's way cool. I really enjoyed the time I had with him :)  We were fortunate enough to teach a member in his area who they contacted very recently. Her name is Y. . She requested a blessing. For some reason, Elder Blackwell decided to have me give the blessing. I forgot to mention this before, but I gave my first blessing about a month ago in the MTC to my companion, Elder Wagner. So this was my second priesthood blessing. It was really strange... I felt like I was just reciting something that someone was whispering in my ear. Super neat!! I'm not sure where things will go with her though. 

Sorry, I didn't really write a lot this week. Not a lot honestly happened... We're going to work harder this week though. Hopefully appointments don't fall through as much, and maybe we can have more investigator attendance at sacrament meeting :)

I think the letter thing works great!!! I loved having your letters, and it was a great opportunity to think about what to write throughout the week. Just a heads up, I think it takes about 6 days for things to get sent to me, not 3. Because it has to be forwarded from the mission home :/ So just keep that in mind. 

Spiritual thought comes from True To The Faith this week, on pages 74 and 75-- 

        "Alma said, 'All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a supreme creator' (Alma 30:44) 

          From time to time, ponder the beauties of creation: trees, flowers, animals, mountains, the waves of the ocean, a newborn child. Take time to gaze into the heavens, where the courses of the stars and planets are evidence of 'God moving in his majesty and power' (see D&C 88:41-47)

I would challenge everyone that they take a moment this week to ponder this message. To slow down in our busy lives and literally stop to smell the flowers. Something I have really missed out here is the mountains. But this message is so true!! Everything testifies that God lives and he loves us. I challenge everyone to look for examples of his love in their life this week :)

Well, it's time to go shop for food. I'll send a package. I hope everyone is doing ok!! Hopefully Kaiti's symptoms have decreased. She didn't email me this week, but that's ok. That's what repentance is for ;) 

I love you all, and I keep you in my prayers!! Keep me updated on life, I'm interested in the election so maybe send me a little something updating me on that would be nice, but otherwise I'm doing just great here :) I love Southport, I love my companion, I love the gospel, and I love the Lord!!! Best of luck to everyone. HURRAH FOR ISRAEL

PS Ask Kaiti for Joey's mission address, I desire to write him!! Much love :)  Tell Matt welcome home!! Love you!!!!

Letter #4 10/15/12 North Carolina Wildlife!

Elder Kilbourne keeping to the straight and narrow way!!

 

 

Alright, so this week has been pretty sweet!! So yes, I did end up playing piano at zone conference. I spent like 3 hours practicing "abide with me tis eventide" and "battle hymn of the republic." I got abide with me down, but DANG battle hymn is hard, so I didn't play that one at zone conference. It is nice to play the piano! Even if it's one of those electric ones like they have at the stake center. In any case it was nice :) I thought you would like that picture!! It's funny!! I would send home pictures, but I'm not sure yet if i'm allowed to use the wi-fi capabilities on my camera. The missionary handbook discourages use of wi-fi devices, and while I could easily justify it I figure I'll ask the president first, and if I can't I'll just send home the micro SD card and you can get them that way :) I forgot to ask him at zone conference, so I'll be sure to ask in the letter to the president this week.

 

Ok, so this week I'll have more time to write, and I won't be so rushed. The main reason I asked for letters is so that I can know what you want to know, and I can keep it in mind throughout the week, rather than having to come up with it on the spot. So, yes i'll appreciate the letters :) I got your package this week!! It was like thursday, the 11th (two weeks late for a welcome package haha) but it was still nice to receive!! I have like 3 pills left of my Lialda, so hopefully I get that package this week :/

 

 Oh! Funny story. They DO pick on the new missionaries. True to form, I was called wednesday night to give a talk on sunday about who I am and my experience with conference. Not just that, they wanted me to be the closing speaker. Ouch. So I prepared and what not. The sacrament (portion of the meeting) was super fast, it ended at like 9:15. The first speaker was sister ward, and she gave about a 15 minute talk, then we had a rest hymn. So basically, it was up to me to fill the time between 9:35 and 10:10. Yeah.... I gave a 25 minute talk and they closed early, but still. I was pretty impressed with myself. The branch is tiny!! I counted the members, and we had 63 people present at sacrament meeting, which is actually pretty good haha but they're all great!! I've been able to meet with most of them, and they're all great. I've had some neat experiences!! I've never really noticed until now how different the spirit in peoples' homes are. It's a very stark contrast to go teach a less active member who hasn't been to this branch, and then go meet with the Branch President immediately after. There's a different feeling, it's SO much more comfortable there, and you can just be happy. I dunno, I liked it haha. But it made me think a lot about our home and how amazing it is to be there!! We were actually talking about it with a family Saturday night that we ate with, the Kapu's, and Elder Adams talked about one of his friends who was always at his house, and when Elder Adams asked why, the friend said because his house feels different. It made me think of all my friends who were always over, and now I know why :) and also why I always loved staying home. It felt comfortable, it felt happy, it was a very open environment, and people could notice it immediately. So thank you family for having such a wonderful home!! Brother Kapu is hilarious though. They're Hawaiian, and apparently he was less active up until about a year ago.

 

I Really do love the members here though. The entire area in fact is just amazing!! It's different, but I love it!! Heres some info about the wild life here. There are bugs everywhere. Really. Like, just outside there used to be a hornets nest. We took some promethrin to the nest though, and watched the bees writhe in pain. It was great. :) There are red ant hills EVERYWHERE. those things hurt too, their bites sting. I've seen 3 cockroaches, 1 of which we killed in our apartment. No bed bugs yet. Mosquitos are nasty. They're rampant, but with winter coming I'm sure they'll die down. Every night little gecko frog things climb up the walls around the street lights and eat the bugs!! It's really cool haha I keep telling Elder Adams I want to send a frog home, but I just don't think he'd live through the traumatic experience :/ Let parker know I'm trying to get him something cool for his birthday though... Haha. We also have lizards!! They're cool, I've seen probably 5 of them. Supposedly there are alligators here, but I have yet to see one. We're going to sister mustards house this week though, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

 

As I said before, this is an all car mission, but it's really hard. As of today, we've used up 450 something miles, so we're a little bit over budget, but we're going to try to bike more to keep that down. I love biking!!! It's seriously the best. It feels good, and you have a better opportunity of talking to people. Saturday night we were just biking around Southport, and we found like 2 potential investigators. One of whom we're meeting with tonight, and we think he's pretty elect. He had a best friend when he was in high school who was mormon and went to byu. He said he spent a lot of time with him, and that he loved the family environment. So, that's pretty neat!! We ended up dropping C's baptismal date because we couldn't get up to her. A is still awesome as ever. We're working little by little, but we're diligent and we're already seeing the effects!! We'll just have to keep it up, and i'm sure we'll reap the rewards!! I can feel and just tell that there's a lot of work to be done here, great and marvelous work, and it just gets me excited!! I want to be the missionary that turns this small baptist/catholic area around!!

 

You asked about my mission president. He's an awesome guy!! According to the other Elders, he has a lot more rules than the previous mission president, but he isn't as strict about them, and more loving about enforcing them. So, in that sense, he will likely be lenient on the camera thing, but I'm not entirely sure. Elder Adams is his favorite, even if he won't admit it. I'm pretty sure Elder Adams is going to be a general authority. So save this email in the case that I'm right, because that makes me a prophet too :D Elder Adams is awesome. He really is. He's diligent, he's obedient, and very spiritual. We work really well as a companionship. He says I'm an answer to his prayers, and that I came pre-trained. Hopefully I can live up to that!! I really just want to work out here, and do good. But we get along really well, we're both pretty easy to live with, and there haven't been any issues as of now. :)

 

12 week program isn't really anything big. It's just suggestions for companionship study, like read 3 pages of the missionary handbook, and study the lessons in chapter 3 of preach my gospel. Nothing major. I completely agree with the increase of missionaries! I'm sure it'll happen. ESPECIALLY sisters. BUT the quality of missionaries will go down I think. Sisters have a reputation of being amazing, and I think that is due in part to their 2 years of extended experience and heightened maturity. With the age going down to 19, I don't think they'll be AS effective as the current sister missionaries, but I'm sure they'll be a great addition!! I'm all for the 18 years for guys, but I really do value the year I had at BYU. I would encourage others to have a similar experience, there's no problem with waiting a year before you go out. I think it's better to be prepared to leave, than to be time-savvy and leave before you're ready. But, that's just me. I'm sure we'll be getting some excellent missionaries, and I think Jackson would be a prime missionary!! Seriously, that kid is the STUFF!!

 

I don't want to be THAT missionary, but if anyone wants a spiritually uplifting message I would encourage you to read Moroni 7 :) It's an awesome chapter. I read it this week, thought it was pretty amazing. It's uplifting and encouraging, but at the same time it's real. You have to keep in mind all the trials Moroni was going through at that time. Pretty sad, but he endured well and never lost his faith. Emulate his Example :)

 

Well I need to go write the mission president, if I feel like I missed any thing I'll just throw it in my letter later today, or I'll write next week. Can't wait to get your letters!! Love you all!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Letter #3 10/8/12 I'm in North Carolina!!

AHHHH!!! I only have 15 minutes to write :( I'm so sorry!! Gah. Ok, i'll try to get out as much as I possibly can, but if things aren't spelled right, deal with it, i'm typing like a maniac now!! Ok so I have been called to serve in SOUTHPORT, N.C. which, is basically the farthest southeast point of North Carolina, RIGHT on the coast. Which is pretty neat :) Our area is massive, it might be the largest in the mission so we're fortunate enough to have a car!!! We can drive 900 miles a month. Which is ridiculous. Like, super hard. We have to get members to drive us everywhere so we don't go over. It's been 7 days since we got here, and we've already driven 180 miles up to today. Yeah... But we've been biking too!! I've gotten my companion to go out once or twice. i SWEAR i won't get fat. I don't care what you say mom :p I won't!!! So the area covers places like Southport, Oak Island, Bolivia, and Boiling Springs Lakes. Big area. Our church isn't a church. Neat right? We have church in an old warehouse that we have made our church. It's a cute little, baby blue shed ;) We're responsible for one branch. yes, a single branch for that entire massive area. Cool!! There are like 70 members. All of which are amazing!! Like, really, everyone is so helpful and nice, but there aren't a lot of members so that's hard. We have like 3 progressing investigators. One is C, who has a baptismal date set for Nov. 3rd. Another is D.  He keeps commitments, comes to church every Sunday, but he's been meeting with the missionaries for like 4 years. I actually haven't even met either of these people.  It's really hard to meet up with people here... It's crazy!!! But we try. So it's all good :) Another investigator, A, is prime. If we asked, she would be baptized, but her dad won't let her until she's 18. Pray for his heart to soften!! But yeah, she's great. She watched conference. She goes to church. She even has a quad!! Really!! If an investigator has a quad, I think they're prime ;) IDEA-- FAMILY CAN EDIT AND FIX MY SPELLING ERRORS. THANK YOU :D  Ok, so now for my mission companion!! His name is ELDER ADAMS. Elder Kevin Adams. He's from Pleasant Grove, Utah, and he went to Lone Peak high school, graduated 2011. Maybe Jackson knows him. He's been on his mission for 4 months. Yes, you read that correctly. He was a turn around missionary, meaning that he just got trained. Training takes 12 weeks, or 2 transfers, or 3 months. He only just got trained, and he is now training me. So he knows the stuff pretty well. He's been in the area for the past 3 months so he knows all the members, but he's still trying to figure things out and stuff. So we're working together to do it. We're being exactly obedient, at least striving to be!! OH sad news for dad!!! No classical music... Only music allowed is Mormon Artists, efy CDS, etc... So if you want to send some Mormon CDs, artists, or EFY music in the packages that would be PRIME!! :D sorry though... Um... He's a nice guy, really cool, we definitely get along well. He was into Pokemon before he came out so we definitely have some similarities ;) but he ran track in high school and played football and what not. He's a cool guy.  I like him. Conference was amazing!! Loved Uchtdorf's talk about living with no regrets. I thought about home, and before my mission and I can honestly say I lived with no regrets. I have fun with all you guys. I got to know each of you better, and I value the time I had with each of you. I also loved Eyring's talk about his sons. I don't really know why, but I just loved it. He was SOO sincere!! So emotional. So much love. I just enjoyed it. And of course, Holland blew it out of the water. He's amazing. So was Bednar!! I loved Bednar... Ah. I'm out of time. I don't think I answered all the questions, I'll try to be better next week!! I email from 10:15 a.m to 11:15 a.m. on Mondays, my Preparation day. (which means 8:00 a.m. for you guys) so be ready about that time to get my emails. I love you all!!! I'm so jealous about the cabin!!! But I heard from a member who was in Bear Lake this week that a major cold front came in this week, so it sounds like you were cold :) Nonetheless, I'm jealous, and I hope you loved conference and the cabin!!! Love you all!! Be obedient, LOVE CHRIST, and HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!! :)

Letter #2 9/26/12 Goodbye MTC!!

Hey Family!!! Things are going great!! I got the packages from everyone! Thanks so much!!! It's pretty funny, my district loves me and hates me at the same time because I've had 11 packages out of the 13 days I've been here so far. Sooo they hate me for that. But I share EVERYTHING with them. And there's so much, that sometimes I just give them an entire package. (sorry...) Really though, I can't keep up with all the food haha the MTC keeps us well fed. It's the worst food for you, greasy school food stuff, but it's all you can eat which can be nice. I've tried to limit how much I eat, and I don't think I've been too bad about it. Package of the week goes to.... DAD!! Haha!! The Jones package was amazing!!! Seriously!!! I've had to drink like one a day to keep up. Luckily, I gave one to each of the guys in my district and we're going to celebrate with them the night we leave :D It's pretty fun. It's crazy how quickly things have gone by!! At the same time days last forever!! The tennis shoes I brought ripped, so I've been dealing with it, but I think that I'm just going to toss them out rather than bring them. Are you OK with me purchasing a new pair when I get to N.C.? Just let me know. Also, I didn't realize I would need gym socks, so I'll probably purchase some of those while I'm at it. If that's ok with you. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PARKER!!! No I didn't forget :) I'll try to send something home when I get to N.C. for you, that ok? If you have any requests just send them in with mom in her letter this week ^^. Also, a pre-emptive HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ryan and Mom!!! It's weird that I'm missing your birthdays, not going to lie. Well, different, maybe not weird. Hope that they were, and will be, great :) I'll be thinking of you, and if I find anything worth sending to you, i will :) If you want any MTC merchandise as well, just let me know and I'll try to send it to you. Just let me know if you want anything!!

On to Mom's questions--

Monday I have to get up at like 3AM so I can be at the travel office at 4AM. at which point we will be taken to SLC airport. Our flight leaves at 7:15 and flies to Georgia. I think we get into Georgia around 1:15? But i'm not positive. I'll send the actual times in my letter home. If you'd like, i can probably get a call in at SLC, but that'll be pretty early. Then I have about an hour layover in Georgia where i'll also be able to call home. Let me know what works best :) 

I've been feeling pretty good!! A lot of people have gotten sick, and the past 3 days I had a runny nose and a bit of a cold, but Today I woke up without being stuffy so I think i'll be good for now. UC has been fine, no irritation, but my bowels just don't really like the MTC food much. It's so bad for you!! And I don't think my body is used to breakfast and 3 meals a day, so It's had some adjusting to do. Companions are great! I'll send home a letter with more about them, and pictures of everyone in the district, and their names. I can't remember what I said last time but they're both from Arizona, they're a little quirky, but they tolerate me so we get along just fine ;). 

Yes still working with Investigators. We teach Hannah for the last time tonight. still don't really know what we're teaching her though. Last time we taught her things got a little frustrated on both ends. We were trying to explain the holy ghost, and try to find situations where she might have felt it in her life. But every time we asked a question, she wouldn't really give an answer, and eventually she just told us that we were fishing for answers and she didn't know what to tell us. Elder wagner closed with a testimony, as did I, but I'm not really sure how things went. I think things with Mark are going pretty well. He has a drinking and smoking problem and we taught him the word of wisdom last time, but he responding positively to everything we teach. He came to church on sunday with his son, and met the bishop and had a very positive experience so I think things are going well there too :) everyone else we already taught for the last time since we leave monday, and tomorrow is "In-Field Orientation", but I don't know what that is. I can't wait to get out in the field though. I don't know how Landon and Matt suffered through 8-9 weeks here. I've only been here 2 and I can't wait to get out, even if I'm not ready. I feel like I can progress more if I'm thrown into the fire. BUT!! I'll be in N.C. for General Conference!!! It makes me sad that I won't be up at the Cabin with you guys. That was seriously the best experience last year when Lexi, Mckell and I all went down to glendale and just went four wheeling and saw the trees and aw man it was just awesome. Best time of the year :) and I remember the conference talks were great. Gah. Just a great experience :) but I'm sure N.C. will be amazing as well and I can't wait to tell you about it!!! There are 11 elders in our district, our district leader is Elder Campbell. I'll send pictures, but their names are -- Colorado springs people are  Elder Campbell and Elder Lee; Elder Gruwell and Elder Clark; then the North Carolina people are Elder Wagner, Elder Snell, and myself; Elder Gillespie and Elder Moses; and Elder Baird and Elder Steele. So just over half of our district is going to N.C. so I'll probably see them pretty frequently!!

I'm glad parker is doing well with School, I'm glad you guys are redoing kaitis room! That sounds fun!! I'm sorry to hear that Kaiti is having some pain... I'll be sure to keep her in mind :) and that sounds like she had a perfect homecoming date!! Rockclimbing and the temple? I hope she showed them all how to do it!! I have been to the temple, and I'll be going again in about 5 hours. Church is all over the place, but I enjoy it!! Lots of study time here, so It's a bit of a break from all the teaching and working. The Temple dedication was awesome!!! i got to listen to the 3:00 dedication, and Elder Packer is hilarious!! Most of the devotionals have been very inspiring, but I can see now how lucky Matt was to have an apostle!! We only have one more devotional, on Sunday, and general authorities usually come on tuesdays for MTC specific addresses, so i missed my chance :/ But we had two people who were from the 70, the first one was dry, but the guy this tuesday was awesome so I enjoyed it! P-days we do laundry, write letters, plan for teaching, go to the temple, and eat. Not a whole lot to do here at the MTC haha but for exercise everyday I play 50 minutes of basketball which is way fun!!!

I think my time is running out and i gotta get my laundry, but write me about what you guys might want from N.C. for your birthdays and I'll make it happen!! If you want to know anything else, just write me and I'll make sure to write back thursday or monday, I dont' know when my P-Days in the field are. I'll call on monday, we can talk then!!! I'll keep you in my prayers, hopefully kaiti gets better!! Keep the packages and letters coming, I love you all!!! Call you on monday, and write when I can!!! TRY to enjoy conference at the cabin, even though I won't be there ;) tell matt Hello when he gets back from Mexico!! Bye!!!!

Just saw dad's letter, sorry, Sorry Mom, Parker is right... The Red is my favorite :) Strawberry Lime!!! Dad, love that scripture!! We read it just yesterday. Very cool :) there's so much to learn in the scriptures!! Something cool I connected with this week was 3 Nephi 27 and 2 Nephi. 2 Nephi is awesome, minus the isaiah scripture. and 3 nephi is just amazing all around. Who doesn't love jesus? And I forgot my signoff phrase!! Just throw it in, HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!! (and stay classy ;))

Letter #1 9/21/12 Doing Great in the MTC!!

I love you too mom :) My first few days have been pretty great!! I sent a letter explaining a lot of it, but I'll write here again because that could take a couple days :) My companionS (yes plural, I have 2) are Elder Wagner and Elder Snell. They're both pretty cool guys, and they can tolerate my humor so we get along. Wagner is from mesa Arizona, and Snell is from Yuma Arizona. Our days consist of classroom where we learn a little bit how to teach and what to teach, we do little exercises, but mostly we role play with our teacher. So we have 4 "investigators" (I didn't put this one in your letter) our teacher Sister de Boer is Hannah, who we struggle to connect with but last time we taught her we found a way in through school and got her to read the BOM. Our teacher Brother Cowan is Mark, who is a little depressed because his wife left him. He's been pretty downhearted, but his son Chris joined the church and so we're having pretty good success with him. That's for our classroom studies. We also have Zone teaching, but my time role playing a missionary in Zone teaching is over. Zone teaching is with our whole zone, which is probably like 50 people. I teacher an "investigator" named Jacob who is an Atheist. I've had a surprising amount of success with him, and I don't think it was because he was being nice. Our last teaching sort of thing is TRC (I think that's teaching resource center) where we teach Daniel (pronounced Danielle since it's spanish) Limon ( same rules) who is a major catholic living in Texas. We've heard from other companionships that often they cant even get through the door with him until their 3rd visit. We happened to get in on our first :D We havent taught him anything yet, he isn't quite open to religion, but we're going to try next time. We got Mark to commit to baptism, so I think things are going pretty well. Its crazy that it's only been 8 days though. On one hand it feels like forever since I said goodbye, but on the otherhand it seems so short!! I've been getting up at 6:30AM everyday, today was the first time I didn't because its P-Day (thursdays are P-Days for me so i'll only have one more while i'm here) but I Should have. Instead i woke up around 7:10. Lights out is at 10:30PM, but because it's the first week we've been staying up talking, getting to know each other. Food is tolerable, Parker would like it because it's all you can eat, but I'm still paranoid about getting chubby so I only get one plate. I've seen basically everyone I could! I Saw most of my friends within the first 24 hours, namely Elder Robinson and Elder Lichtenberg, but I also saw ALL my Spring roommates as well so it's been fun to catch up with them!! It's a crazy place. There've been inspiring moments, spiritual moments, but also depressing, disheartening, and stupid moments. It's all part of the schedule I guess. Mess up here while Salvation isnt on the line I suppose. But that's been the gist!! I have LOVED all the packages and letters!! You are all so awesome!!! My whole district is pretty jealous because I've been like 5/7 for packes per day, while they've all received maybe 1 or 2. So i've enjoyed that :) by the way this letter is generally to everyone, so if anyone else has similar questions you can show them this. But I love you mom, I really appreciate what both you and Dad have done for me. I forgot to mention it, but take a look at D&C 68, the first 10 scriptures talk about the blessings of missionaries, but I think that it applies to missionary families too. I hope you take comfort in that :) Also, i was looking for a signoff phrase, like "stay classy San Diego" and I think I like Hurrah for Israel, like said in "The Other Side of Heaven". So thats my sign off phrase to everyone, because it means something different in every situation :) Hurrah For Israel!!

OH!! also, my leave date is scheduled between october first and the third. So I'll officially be in North Carolina for Conference weekend. Pretty neat, right? It's neat ;) just thought I'd tell you. and I've got about 3 minutes left, so I'll read the other letters, but hopefully you've received my pictures!! and get my letters in the mail!! I look forward to more letters and packages this week :) annnd, if it isnt too hard, Jones is like the best thing in here. Really. So if you have the opportunity, that was the best thing about the package :) I loved everything in the package, but the Jones was especially good. Have a great week Mom!! Take care of Parker and Kaiti. Dad too :) strangely he really really likes attention from you. So throw him a bone and give him some attention to him to :) ) LOVE YOU!!!!