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