Letter #26 3/25/2013 Cheribum and a Flaming Sword!

Hello Family!! 

Alright it's been a pretty awesome week!! Sort of. haha we've had a lot of fun... And we've taught some great lessons!! But we've had a lot of lessons fall through. We had 5 lessons scheduled on Tuesday, all confirmed the night before. And every single one of them fell through. It was pretty crazy. once the 4th one fell through, we actually just thought it was funny. Kind of a big joke. But it all worked out :) We hit the Standards of Excellence, so that's pretty neat. The standards of excellence are statistics that we as missionaries should be striving for our areas. Each standard of excellence is set by the Mission President for each individual mission. Our standards for excellence are 1 baptism for every companionship every month. 3 investigators with a baptismal date per week. 3 investigators at sacrament meeting every week. 5 lessons with a member present every week. 3 new investigators found every week. and 3 lessons taught to recent converts or less actives every week. The only standard that we didn't hit this week was New Investigators. We haven't found any new investigators lately because we've been stinking busy!! We have lessons scheduled constantly, and when we aren't doing lessons we're doing service or something else like that. Our days are PACKED!! But after the baptisms we have this week, we'll have much more time to go find people :) 

Ok, so... As missionaries we can still have fun. So we have fun while we serve :) There's this lady in our ward that has bunch of trees she didnt' want anymore, along with GIANT bushes of thorns that she wanted cleared out. Recently I purchased a Gerber Gator Machete, and clearly it made sense that a machete would be the best tool to clear these out. So we did :) We spent like 3 hours this week hacking away at vines and sawing through trees to help her clear up the yard. Basically it's been pretty awesome to actually have a use for the machete haha

Here's the next part to the story... We have time from 9:30 til 10:30 to do what we want. So lately we play fruit ninja with the machete. We'll get a bag of baby carrots and toss them to each other on the back deck and slice them in half. It's pretty awesome!! :D Well another thing we found this week is that hand sanitizer is flamable... So we thought we would be brilliant and combine the machete awesomeness with the hand sanitizer to make a flaming sword. Basically, we're freaking awesome. :D hahaha we took a couple pictures, and showed them to another missionary in the area. His first response is that what we're doing is in the bible, "cherubim and the flaming sword." Hence the subject line for this week :) I have attached a picture to show it to y'all. Yes, you can be jealous of how much fun we have as missionaries, while still being obedient :) 

So something else.... We've been having a RIDICULOUS amount of bike trouble lately. Elder Bentley's bike crankshaft fell off his bike, so we've been borrowing someone elses. Well he broke that crank shaft too, so now we're trying to share 3 bikes between 4 elders haha it's interesting... But I think I've had like 3 flat tires this week. It's been pretty crazy. It seems like every time we've tried to go out the door this week, we've found another problem with our bikes. Today was no exception. We were getting ready to leave to the church to write home, when once again I found a flat tire. It's crazy!! I'll probably get a new tube because this one has like 3 patches on it now. No fun, but hey it happens. We take it with a smile, and that's all you can really do :) 

So... That's the gist of the week I think. Service. Flaming swords. Bike problems. Teaching appointments. And setting up 2 baptisms in the coming week. We're pretty excited. Pretty DANG excited. :D 

Spiritual Thought-- okay, here's a chase for everyone!! "Go ye therefore, and teach"  It's a pretty well known scripture, but I really like it!! I think it's straight forward too, so I don't need to explain too much. GO, and TEACH. That's the gist. We can all strive to go out and teach others about our religion. Even those who have access, might just be waiting for someone to ask if they're interested. So this week take a look around, and see if there is someone you can Go and Teach about the gospel. :D 

I hope everyone is having a splendid week and is looking forward to COnference in two weeks!! I sure am!! :D I love you all!! Keep working hard!! Stay Strong!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Love, Elder Kameron Kilbourne

Letter #25 3/18/13 Do the Basics!!

Hello!!

It's been a great week here in Jacksonville!! Elder Bentley and I are still rock solid. We've starting doing a lot of "contracts." These contracts are basically deals that we make with each other. Then we put them down on paper and sign them. They're usually very frivolous, but with a good idea behind them. So... One of these contracts is to help and encourage us to maintain our diets and exercise. Both of our goals are to reach 185 by April 9th. If one person does, and the other doesn't, the loser pays 25 dollars. If we both lose, we have to give our favorite ties away to members. If we both win... I can't remember what happens then. But they're awesome contracts. We have ROCK SOLID unity. For real!! We're super good friends. :D He's promised to be my wingman when we're both home from the mission. Awesome :)

As per the work here. We haven't been doing a lot of finding... We've been slacking off on that part, because we have a lot of investigators right now. So some of our baptismal dates were postponed. S is now getting baptized March 30th along with V. S is rock solid, and can't wait to be baptized! :) V is quiet, but she's excited as well!! Our bishop will baptize S, Elder Bentley will baptize V, and I'm going to be giving her the Holy Ghost! Next in line is C. He would be baptized really soon, but he has family coming up from Texas so we're happy to wait :) We're expecting his baptism around the end of April to accommodate for his family! The next baptism we have is R. R was found about a year ago, and has been working toward baptism for probably 3 months now. They're a super awesome family! They love having the missionaries over, they've developed a gospel library, they have religious pictures ALL over the home. It's really awesome to see it all :) Brother R is expecting to be able to pay off the fines and everything by May, so we're planning on having his baptism then! 

All in all Jacksonville is just easy and awesome. Tomorrow we're supposed to have our Deep Clean day, where we spend a ton of time cleaning our apartment. So, we have intentionally not set up appointments for tomorrow. Unfortunately if people call and ask us to come over, we aren't going to say no. SO without ANY effort whatsoever to set up lessons, we have 5 appointments tomorrow. Our day is booked. And we didn't even try!! It's pretty ridiculous haha 

We really do need to find though. It's been a little difficult because Elder Bentley's bike broke recently so we haven't been able to get out as easily. Luckily his part should be coming around the middle of the week, so we're hoping we can be back to full functionality then :) I know once we get back out on the bikes, we'll be finding like crazy!!!

Another fun thing... WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!! :D Friday the 15th we were able to go the temple again!! I haven't been since my last time in the MTC which was like September. It was so wonderful... I was so glad for the opportunity to go. It's impressive how spiritually drained you can be by not going to the temple!! But I feel my cup has been filled once more. I feel so bad for missionaries that don't have access the the temple!! That would be so hard... But I'll count my blessings while I have them :)

Umm... Not much else to say. I'm super excited for conference, but that's in like 3 weeks so I have to wait a while. I'm just excited :) I'm happy, I'm working hard. I dunno, not exceptionally exciting, but I like it :)

Spiritual thought-- DO THE BASICS!! Read your scriptures. Pray daily. And remember your baptismal covenants as you partake of the Sacrament. It's crazy how easy it is to let go of the basics... Don't let it happen!! They're the foundation. They're awesome :)

I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!!

Love, Elder Kilbourne

Letter #24 3/11/13 Six Months- perspective of what matters!

Hello Family!!!

This week as been pretty uneventful... Well, sort of. Elder Bentley's bike broke when we were like 3 miles from home, so we called the other Elders to come and save us. That was interesting!! We've finalized our plans for our baptism on the 20th!! So that's pretty great. 

Ok, the Baptism on the 20th is for a kid named S. He's 13, and he was already being taught when I transferred in. However, his dad, who is not a member, wanted him to wait about a month before he set a date to be baptized. So, the month mark has passed and we're all set to go!! His dad is a non-member, but his dad's girlfriend IS a mormon, and has two twin daughters who are 8 who are going to be baptized soon as well.  He really wants to be baptized and he's really excited for it :)

Other upcoming baptisms: We have one on the 27th with a girl we found. The first week we were here we found a less active woman from the Island of Palau. She has a 13 year old daughter named V that she wants to be baptized. We've been working with her, and she's solid for the 27th! :) Her dad is a catholic, but as far as we've heard he is ok with her being baptized.

Then on the 30th we have an 11 year old boy named C getting baptized. Elder Bentley was working with his mother, who is less active, when he was here about a year ago. When we got called to the area, we checked in on them and asked her if we could teach C the lessons, and she said that would be fine! Since then she has been returning to activitity!! Up until like 3 weeks ago she hadn't been to church in over 15 years, pretty crazy right? But he's solid. C is super open, which is nice. He loves baseball, which Elder Bentley did at home, and he also loves Call of Duty, so we both have ways to connect with him. It's pretty great :) 

So as far as the baptisms go, i think we're doing pretty dang well :) 

Alright so TOMORROW is very special day for me!! It's my 6 month mark!!! Which honestly doesn't mean a whole lot. It's really more of the point where you realize the mission does in fact have an end. It's weird to think I've been out for a fourth of my mission!! It doesn't feel like it's been that long. Luckily I've had a very good experience since I've been out :) I feel like I've changed. I hope I've changed!!! I think one of the most significant changes I've had is perspective of what matters. I think before my mission I didn't really have a goal of who I wanted to be, or where I wanted to be in life. I think a big reason for that was knowing that I was going to serve a mission and that I would likely change and make decisions while on the mission. Which I have. But since I've been out I've noticed little things that can be fine tuned. I've given more attention to what I want to accomplish as a person. I've also noticed moderation in all things. I feel like I have a purpose, and I know where I'm going. One of the greatest things I've learned on the mission is how to be a better member of the gospel. There is so much that we as members can do to help the work!! I've realized the value and importance of Home and Visiting teaching. Also, the importance of being an example to those around us and reaching out to everyone!! The gospel is super easy to share if we incorporate it :) 

Ummm... Not much else to say. No drug busts this week. No bumper bikes where I got owned by the pavement... We've actually been relatively safe haha Investigators are progressing well. We didn't have as many as we wanted at Sacrament Meeting, but we're going to work on that this week. All in all I think no news is good news this week. Things are awesome as ever here :)

I love you all!! I hope Kaiti had an AWESOME birthday and I hope she loves her new laptop!! (I'm totally jealous!!)  I hope everyone stays safe!! Have a wonderful week everyone!!! :)

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Love, Elder Kameron Kilbourne

Letter #23 3/4/13 Jegas, Baby!

Ok I don't have much to say this week. We've had awesome numbers!! And stake Conference!! Which was awesome because Southport is in our Stake!! Woo!!! So I was able to see a lot of people!!! It was great :) I also saw none other than A!!!! Ok so background on this... I don't know if everyone knows this already, but A went to Utah like a week ago and spent the weekend at our home!! Well when I saw A she had a giant black boot on her leg... Because she broke her leg snowboarding at home!! I thought that was crazy. ALSO I guess her grandma was SUPER impressed with the church when she came to Utah!  

[We took A and her grandma to Temple Square and saw Music and the Spoken Word.  We had Family Home Evening.  While she was here we answered lots of questions and she read the entire book, "Believing Christ" by Stephen Robinson.  When she returned home A gave her a Book of Mormon and she has an appointment with the missionaries tomorrow!]

Ok so to answer some questions... There is not a church on the marine base here in Jacksonville. There is one off base, not too far from the base, but it isn't on base. The Marine Base is Camp Lejeune and basically EVERYONE in the ward is a marine or was a marine haha it's pretty crazy. We go on base very regularly to have dinner with members and stuff, but most of our proselyting work is done off base because it is illegal to proselyte on base. Which is why working with members is so invaluable. If people invite us on base to teach them, we can go. So members are awesome :) 

Marine home towns... Well it's basically everywhere haha There are people from EVERYWHERE here. So we try to find Utah plates as often as we can :) Haha Investigator backgrounds... Well all the baptisms that we have lined up come from part-member families. So the mom or dad is not a member, but the other spouse is. So.. Having a background with the LDS faith ALWAYS helps. if that helps? Beyond that I haven't really looked for correlation...

Elder Bentley tells everyone-- "Hi!!"

Ok this letter is super short this week... Sorry :( It'll be longer next week, promise!! Oh, transfers are next tuesday. So it's possible one of us is transferred but I don't think it's likely. I really don't have much to say. I'll have a good story for you next week :) And if I don't, I'll make one. Haha 

I love you all!! Have a great week!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Love Elder Kilbourne