Monday, April 22, 2013

Letter #30 4/22/2013 Goodbye Elder Bentley :(

Hey Family!!!
How are ya'll doing this week?? I've had a pretty great one :) But I left out some details and miracles from last week, so I'll try to include those!! Ok so Last Monday (Two weeks ago) We had dinner with the C family. She's an active member, he is not a member. He is SUPER funny. he had a very similar sense of humor to Elder Bentley and me. It was awesome. He builds motorcycles for a living, and as such he has one of those HUGE redneck beards. Haha it is AWESOME!! But we were talking at dinner, and at some point general conference came up and Elder Bentley and I were talking about how fantastic of a talk Elder Holland gave. Then he says back "Psh.. Elder Holland... Everyone knows the best Apostle is Uchtdorf!" Basically, it blew our minds that he actually knew who the apostles were. We kept talking, and he starts bringing up references from talks President Uchtdorf gave like 2 years ago. It was awesome!! So at the end of dinner, we asked him "So, would you be interested in taking the lessons?" To which he responds, "I thought that's why we had you over for dinner!" Basically, super awesome miracle finding a super elect investigator!! We're PUMPED!!! But, he was busy for the next two weeks, so we set up a lesson with him tomorrow, April 23rd. We're very excited :)
Next miracle was last monday. We were finishing up our preparation day  when we get a text around 4:30 from the J family asking if we had dinner that night. I didn't know who the Js were, so we told them we didn't and they told us the would pick us up around 6. So we get over, and have dinner with them, and it's one of those easy dinners where it's really easy to talk and they're funny and we all get along really well!! As the dinner progresses, He brings up that they haven't been to church in a while. He says the they converted in Arizona about 5 years ago and had an awesome experience there. A year or two later they moved to Utah. Which is the mormon capital, so again they had a very good experience with the church. Then, in October of 2011, they moved out here to North Carolina. They were expecting to again have a really good experience with the LDS church. They didn't expect that things would be a little different. They told us they hadn't seen their home teachers since they had lived here, and how different it was. She also had some health problems that came up, that made it a little more difficult to make it. They didn't blame the church. They acknowledged that they knew that they had control over their decisions, but that they didn't expect it to be as difficult as it was. BUT. What they asked us over for dinner for was because they wanted to get active again. When they lived in Arizona and Utah, they were ON FIRE with the gospel. And they knew that they still had a fire burning, even if it wasn't as big. He said they watched a lot of conference, and recommended that they watch Elder Holland's talk. We thought it would fit perfectly with them. In any case, we're really excited for this family :) Then, yesterday, they were at church!! Which is the first time i've seen them there since I've been here in Jacksonville. Basically this whole experience increased my understanding of the importance of Home Teaching. That that one small act shows how interested and loved that family or person is. I know at home I SERIOUSLY failed in my responsibility as a Home Teacher. That mostly happened because I simply didn't understand, but I still should have done it. Home Teaching is SO valuable. The families you teach NEED the monthly message. And it's not even just the message. It's the responsibility of checking on them, and meeting their needs. They need to have someone they can rely on. It is VITAL!! So if you aren't Home Teaching, START!! :)
Ok, so I think everyone knows... But Transfers are tomorrow!! And Elder Bentley is leaving :( So I will be getting a new companion. I will find out who he is tomorrow. Its sad to say goodbye to him though!! I'm seriously going to miss him. We've had a ton of fun together! It's been great!! Elder Bentley knows where he is going though. He is going to be starting new in an area. I think I already explained it, but it's called whitewashing when a companionship is transferred into an area together. So he will be whitewashing an area in Raleigh as senior companion. Good for him!! He's really excited to serve in the city! He's been in country areas his entire mission, so he's excited to see what the city is like!! I wish him the best!! :)
Ok so a report on this week... It's been decent haha It seems like EVERY investigator we have got sick or something else at the EXACT same time haha so we didn't too many lessons this week... But we made a TON of appoitments for next week! My new companion isn't going to know what to do with all the appointments we have! He's going to think Jacksonville is easy!! And it is :) Haha! Or it seems like it at least. In any case, next week will be better for sure :) We're excited!!
One last thing!! Ok so I've talked about it before, but here's an update on Southport!! A's Grandma has moved her baptismal date to May 11th!! And she has asked my Dad to baptize her, and for kaiti to play a special musical number!! That's super exciting!!! What's really funny is that on May 12th I get to call home, and my family will be in Southport! My first area in my mission, and only like 50 miles away from my current location! That is WEIRD!!! But all exciting :) I'm stoked to see where everything ends up!!! I hope it all works out :)
Well I'm running out of time :) I hope you all are doing well!! I hope you're smiling, and having fun, and making the most of your life!! If not, Start!! :) I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!
Love, Elder Kilbourne

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