Hello Family!!
Alright. Well, first of all I had my first transfer!!! I'm now in
Jacksonville 3rd ward, with Elder Bentley! Jacksonville is a military
base with a focus on marines. EVERYONE here is a marine. Like, really.
It's pretty crazy. VERY different from Southport, but I still love it :)
The missionaries here refer to it as J-Vegas. Not entirely sure why
yet. It might be because there are tattoo parlors and that sort of stuff
everywhere, but we tend to overlook that :) Our area is actually still
large, even though it's a ward. We cover half of Jacksonville, Hubert,
and Swansboro. The members are amazing!! I love them already. Super
great miracle-- Last night a lady made homemade Cafe Rio!! She didn't
even know it was my favorite!! I WAS SO HAPPY!!! :D So far we have had a
meal EVERY night with members. Again, very different from Southport. We
have a ton of members, so we aren't having to budget how much we use
them for exchanges. We have like 7 ward missionaries, and we've already
had like 2 ward mission meetings so everything is very, very organized.
Military might go hand in hand with missionary work :)
Here's
a miracle this week. So, Tuesday night (the night I was transferred
here) we had a meeting at the church. Well, maybe it was Wednesday. I
can't remember but it doesn't really matter. ANYWAY we were biking home
in the dark. My policy about biking is if we see ANYONE and we don't
have a commitment to keep, we talk to them. So we saw this couple, and
stopped and talked to them. These were seriously like the first people
I'd contacted while here in Jacksonville. We started talking with them,
asking them questions and what not, and they mention that their brother
was a member and he was living with them. Awesome right? They said we
could stop by the next morning and talk to him. So we did, stopped by at
10:30. Knocked, nobody answered. Rang the doorbell, nobody answered.
THEN I remembered something else I was working on. I have a goal to say a
prayer with my companion everytime we knock on a door. It's just really
nice to have that added focus. I just like it. Well, we said a really
quick prayer, knocked ONE more time, and right as we knocked someone
opened the door. It was the member we were referred to. We started
talking to him. He's an islander from Palaw (sounds like Plow) or
something. Not quite sure. Anyway, while we were talking to him his
sister pulls up in the car. We find out SHE is a member as well. They
moved in about a month ago. We start talking with the sister too, and
she said that she has a 13 year old daughter who isn't baptized, and she
would like her to be baptized. We said we would love to, set up a time
to meet with her, and invited them all to church. And both the sister
and daughter came to church on Sunday, and we set a baptismal date for
March 27!! Woo!!! SUPER MIRACLE!!! And it happened in less than a week!!
CRAZY!!! Haha!!
On
another note, here is some stuff about Elder Bentley. First of all, we
get along perfectly fine. We have very similar senses of humor
(sarcastic). We're both willing to work hard. We both want to be
obedient. We listen to each other. It's just like the PERFECT
companionship I swear. haha Anyway, Elder Bentley is from Mount
Pleasant, Utah. He loves baseball. His favorite team is the San Franciso
Giants. He played baseball for a year at Snow College before coming on
his mission. He has a girlfriend at home, and they basically are
engaged. I think they have a date for next February or something. The
letters are pretty dang disgusting. Haha but they make me laugh. Elder
Bentley has been on his mission about 16 months, so he's farther in his
mission than either of my previous companions. BUT here's the crazy
thing. Elder Bentley has served in Jacksonville 3rd ward before. This
was the first area in his mission, and he came back. OH another thing I
need to tell you, we white washed this area. That means that both the
elders that were previously in the Jacksonville 3rd ward transferred
this past transfer. We're both new to the area. In a sense--since Elder
Bentley served here a year ago. Anyway, that's crazy. Like, that NEVER
happens. Nobody goes back to a previous area!! But I'm sure glad he did.
So we've been SUPER busy trying to figure some things out. The previous
elders left really good notes to help us out and get us situated, but I
can tell that this is just going to be an amazing area. :)
So
with that said, this past week Elder Bentley and I have gone and seen
several of the contacts that he used to know, and was working with. We
stopped by like 4 Less-Actives homes, and ALL of them came to church
yesterday!!! This place is SERIOUSLY taking off!! It's incredible!!! Oh
man I'm SOOOO happy to be here!!! :D Crazy stuff.
I'm
not sure what more to say, so I'll just throw some random stuff out.
There are two sets of elders in Jacksonville. One covers the 2nd ward,
and we cover the 3rd ward. There is also a set of sisters that cover
both wards. We don't live in the same apartment as the other elders, but
we live very close to them and are in constant communication with both
the elders and the sisters. District unity is THROUGH THE ROOF. haha
We're all super fun. :) Elder Bentley says that Jacksonville is the 2nd
highest baptizing area in the mission or something. I don't know how
much I believe that. And not that it really matters. There's work to be
done everywhere. It doesn't have to be a baptism :p haha The people are
very different from Southport. Southport had a LOT of older, retired
baptists and catholics. So everyone was really nice to you, but nobody
was interested in hearing more. Here, people are little bit rougher. But
they're honest, and you can tell that a lot of them are looking for
something and are willing to change. It's great!! Absolutely wonderful!!
:) The marine base here is called Camp Lejeune. I think. There might be
like 3 camps or something, but we specifically cover Camp Lejeune. The
only way to get on base is to either ride with a marine living on base,
or go and sign up for a day permit. It's basically like getting a new
drivers license at the DMV, except only for one day. We try to get rides
with the members as much as possible so that it is easier. When you
pull up to the gate, there are like 4 Marines with assault rifles
waiting to check your clearance. Pretty crazy stuff!! haha There's also
some sort of artillery thing that the miliary shoots pretty frequently.
We live several miles away from the base, but when they shoot it we can
hear it and even feel a small shake (VERY SMALL, but you can still feel
it). It's pretty neat. Hopefully nobody goes to war soon because if they
do I can guarantee I would not be in the safest location! haha
Well
that's really all I can think of about the area right now... If you
have anymore questions I would love to answer them :) Just send them to
me, and I'll try to answer them!!
Spiritual
thought!! I was reading this morning and I found a passage. "Perfect
love casteth out all fear". For those who play my game, it shouldn't be
too hard to find. But I love the reference!! If we have a perfect love
of the Gospel, we don't fear to share it. If we have a perfect love for
the Savior, we don't sin. If we have perfect love and charity toward our
fellow men, we don't fear to share the gospel with them and help and
serve them. The passage rings true!! So, my challenge this week is to
try a little harder to have a little bit more perfect love towards
somebody. I can promise it will bless your life!! :)
I love you all!! I hope you are all doing well!! Have a wonderful week. Know I'll be praying for you!!! :)
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!
Love, Elder Kameron Kilbourne
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